Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
The ending result from an all day hiking trek had left Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu all exhausted and desperately in need of rest.
Ash barely unfolded his sleeping bag before he collapsed on top of it, already dead to the world. Brock however, unfolded his in due time. Sleep was evident in his heavily lidded eyes as he shrugged of his pack for the night. He mumbled a quick 'Goodnight' to Misty before sinking into his own place to sleep. The red-headed trainer herself had slipped into the confines of her place for the night.
The minutes ticked by. Possibly an hour passed, only to find herself tossing and turning.
But then something prompted her fully awake, thus preventing any means of even dozing off. She knew it was nothing close to a dangerous presence lurking nearby, especially since Pikachu only twitched its ear while dreaming.
Nope, Misty just suspected it having to be a classic, mild case of insomnia. Sighing gently, she covered her hands to her eyes. She didn't understand. She should be in as heavy of a sleep as her two travelling companions were. Even Pikachu fell asleep faster than she had, and she walked just as much as Ash and Brock. Her body certainly felt like lead. Though her mind seemed to be abuzz.
Ash's snoring didn't exactly help matters much, either.
Rolling to her side, Misty yanked up the camping bag covers to her face and tried for a second attempt at sleep. It wasn't until the sounding she guessed to be tree branches, snapping, somewhere in the distance that caught her attention. It barely caused a stir among her, leaving her baffled that the mild disturbance hadn't roused the sleeping Pokemon in even the slightest.
Though nonetheless, Misty carefully stood from where she lay and set out to investigate the source of noise. The fallen leaves crunched beneath her stepping as she felt somewhat paranoid having to check on something that was probably a stray Pokemon.
She shivered as the thought of Caterpie crossed her mind. Rolling her shoulder to dismiss the thought, she continued forward. But a few minutes later, she stumbled into her search and found herself face to face with what she least expected.
Or, who.
Dressed in the famous uniform of white pants, cropped white shirt adorning the giant red 'R' emblem and black gloves, stood male Team Rocket member, James himself.
Who by now, was staring as equally surprised as Misty at his findings.
"James?" She asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?" She added, before taking into account how strange seeing her must have been in his eyes too.
And sure enough, James raised an eyebrow.
"I could ask you the same thing."
Jumping into an attack stance, Misty eyed the slight glint reflecting his green orbs, already surpassed suspicious.
"I heard something out here and thought.. wait," She roamed her eyes beside him, noticing the absence of his fuchsia haired partner and talking feline.
"Where's Jessie and Meowth?" She couldn't help but ask.
James only chuckled, lowering his gaze slightly.
"A few blocks away."
The trainer squinted her eyes in further suspicion. "And what, may I ask, are you doing out in the middle of nowhere by yourself?"
James narrowed his eyes, the stray strand of icy blue colored hair drifting partially to the right side of his face as a gentle breeze drifted by. Misty's paranoia only increased during the silence, barely aware of the fact that her fingers had enclosed around her Starmie's pokeball.
Then out of nowhere, James reached out and grasped her arm between his gloved fingers, bending slightly toward her to whisper, "If I was going to attack you, I would have done so already."
Misty retracted her arm from his grip as though burned. James only righted his composure as she did so.
"What do you want?" James caught the apprehension in her voice with a smirk.
'So easy to sway this one,' he thought.
"Air." He shrugged.
Misty began to feel her intolerance surface. "Air? Oh, yes. I suppose travelling in a giant hot air balloon, that finding air would be difficult." Did he take her for a fool?
"Well," James casually leaned himself against the nearest tree trunk and shoved his hands into his pockets. "You'd think that recouping in an old, abandoned, dusty shed with the available space for barely an armchair would be comforting, but oddly it isn't."
"Recouping? Did your last Pokemon snatching go awry?" she sarcastically quipped. James only placed a hand above his heart. "Oh, that hurts." He mocked. The redhead resisted the urge to roll her eyes. James only chuckled to himself as he played with her confusion.
Misty's intolerance quickly dissolved to anger at his apparent amusement. "I'm waking Ash." She snapped as she turned on her heel.
James sighed and heaved himself from the tree and blocked her from going any further. He figured she shouldn't be defensive if he hadn't initiated an attack.
"Relax." Though no sooner were the words out of his mouth that he wished he could take them back.
"Relax? Relax?!" Misty's voice rose as she indignantly threw her head over her shoulder and retorted sounds of disbelief. James broke through the smooth barrier by showing signs of despair as he raised his arms, pleading that she lower her voice.
"Relax? Really? After the countless times you've tried to steal Pikachu, trapped us into a ditch, or a net," She began ticking off one by the finger, prompting James to run a hand stressfully through his hair.
"...trapped us in some mediocre scheme that always went gone wrong, tried stealing other Pokemon to top that-"
James sighed. "It's not like we've killed someone."
Misty stopped halfway, looking mildly irritated. "Sure, not yet."
"I wouldn't kill someone." James stated blankly as he stared at her.
Misty just rubbed her forehead, wondering why she was even having a conversation with her best friend's worst enemy.
"I shouldn't even be talking to you right now. I should be smoking your ass into oblivion and calling it a night." She muttered stubbornly.
James only furrowed his eyebrows together in response.
"Smoke me, then." He shrugged.
"...What?" Misty gaped. "Just like that?"
"Why not? I'm in no hurry to rush back to what Jessie calls, 'her good graces' anyway. I'm tired of it, needed a break, and went for air." He finished as he gestured around the area.
"So what, then? I'm supposed to head back like none of this ever happened?" Misty was beginning to feel that maybe she was still asleep. That this was just a dream.
"None of what?"
"This! Whatever this.. is!" Misty raised her hands and indicated to them both to her statement.
"I don't see anything wrong with us just talking. We bumped into eachother, and that was it." James reasoned. It seemed perfectly harmless in his eyes. Though when he cared whether anything was harmless or not, he didn't know.
The look Misty threw upon him was priceless. Like he were an alien of some sort. He actually found himself holding back a laugh. James couldn't remember the last time he wanted to laugh at something. Except for the times their plans have seemingly gone without a hitch, but it was more from malice. Didn't count.
"You've lost your mind. I almost feel like suggesting that you go back to Jessie and Meowth, where you belong."
James' jaw locked, any trace of amusement now leaving his eyes. "Where I belong?" He repeated.
"Did I stutter? Yes, where you belong." Misty replied grudgingly.
James clenched his fists, then calmed himself. Misty barely noticed that her words seemed to have an impact on the young male, but didn't take anything back. No sense in lowering her guard now. The last thing Misty Waterflower would ever do for a man, especially on enemy lines, would be to lower her guard.
"I didn't specifically ask to be apart of her team, you know. Not everything goes as planned." He retorted coldly.
Misty raised her eyebrows at the ice dripping in his voice. Seems she touched a nerve after all.
"First, my parents. This job, this.. plan," James tugged at the ends of his shirt, as if to accentuate his point of the lettering imprinted there. "Was the only choice I had to get out. It was either this, or I follow in whatever footsteps my parents wanted me to walk in. Not exactly fairing in my opinion, but. Not much I can do about it now. It is what it is."
The redheaded trainer stood dumbfounded at his words. Never, in all her instances upon crossing paths with him, even while she actually met his parents on one occasion, had she ever heard him talk like this. Gazing upon a rarely vulnerable James, and for perhaps maybe the second time in her life, she had taken a slight pity on the man. Though she despises everything he stands for in his line of "work", the part about his parents' control issues eventually driving him into this lifestyle was sad. That she couldn't deny.
And evidently it must have shown, for now James had regained all composure and resumed back his smirk.
Misty still didn't think this was any acception to cause emotional pain to others. But not wanting to delve any further into the matter at hand, she kept this thought to herself.
Suddenly though, another thought struck her.
"Is that why you aren't attacking me? Because Jessie isn't with you?"
James only laughed, but it was far from amusement. "You could say that. I skate past any order I can from her. I only have one boss, not two." He stated. "She's my assigned partner in this current employment. I have no choice but to follow through whatever.. scheme, I think you called it, that she comes up with. But that doesn't mean I can't think for myself when she isn't around."
Again, Misty was dumbstruck at the way he was speaking about her. "I'd think you and Jessie would be together long before now." she couldn't help but blurt. His eyebrow raised at her latest input.
"Jessie and I?"
The way he spoke made her feel uncomfortable, as if she were stupid to have wondered such a thing. But she made a fine mask of covering herself before any evidence of this spilled across her face.
"Well.. this long of two travelling companions, male and female, I'd think something would have developed." She chose her words carefully. But James only shook his head.
"She's my partner, nothing more. It's all I can do to stand her as it is."
James then cocked his head to the side, his ocean colored locks falling to the side as he did so.
"What about you? You travel with two.. friends, I suppose. What about them?"
Misty felt a blush creep up to her cheeks. "That's none of your business!"
James smirked once again, raising his hands in a surrendering fashion. "You asked me first."
"Well, so what. You could have declined."
"Fair enough." James felt the corners of his mouth tugging upward at her expression. He couldn't help but find her reaction amusing.
"What?" Misty snapped, having caught onto this.
"Nothing. I just forgot you were the pistol of the pack." he shrugged.
The redhead folded her arms in response, unable to really deny his statement. "I really don't see why that's funny to you. Don't you travel with someone like that already?"
James took a moment to ponder her question. "She leans more toward being abrasive. Headstrong, straightforward, and so on."
Misty was about to protest that she was too, but he held up a hand to halt her.
"The difference is that they still consider you as their friend. Jessie doesn't. We've been partners for over three years, and we're barely just that. You seem to be like that in a way and can still have your friends at the end of the day. I only have myself."
Misty sighed. The feeling of pity ran its course through her system yet again. Though she wasn't about to offer her friendship. "So then.. leave her. Stop the scheming."
But the Rocket member only shook his head. "If I did that, I'd have to go back to my parents because I have nowhere else to go. Or live on the run. Because if I ever quit, there would be a bounty on my head."
The female trainer mulled this over in her mind, supposing he was right.
"So in any case, no. You and Jessie are not alike. You may both share the same qualities, but you also have a side to you that she doesn't. So it's unusual to be in the presence of a girl somewhat alike to her, but who also is very different at the same time." He finished, glancing her once over.
Unsure whether James was just trying to change the subject or not, Misty found herself frozen to the spot, not at all used to being appraised in such a way. Why was he saying this? Wasn't she too, his sworn enemy?
She turned away, both astonished and ashamed at herself. Here she was, conversing with someone she had been on opposing sides with since her journey with Ash. Someone, she couldn't help but notice, who was quite handsome up close when he wasn't in the course of trying to deceive her and her friends.
Misty then held her stomach and turned away, feeling it churn over. Of all people, anyone in the world.. why James? And why now? She felt just as deceitful as he was. She did have friends, as he said. No wonder where all this guilt was stemming from. And of course her own principles came into light.
"What's wrong?" James whispered. Misty jumped and turned back around, having been too lost in her thoughts to notice he crossed the space between them and was now a few mere inches away from her. She swallowed.
"You need to go," She choked out. He frowned.
"Why?"
"Because! This isn't right!" She shook her head.
"It wasn't right when you got here, and its even more... wrong, now."
If she was mistaken, James almost looked like he wanted to stop her.
"How do I know this isn't all a trick?" she added.
But he shrugged. "I guess you don't."
Damn, he had her there.
"The only thing I can say is.. quit. Find a way to live your life without having to live it like this. You'll be glad you did. And actually try being friends with someone who isn't a partner, and doesn't have to be. Maybe then you'll find a girl you won't have to be forced into being with."
Misty took a moment to catch her breath, having said all that fairly fast.
"I thought I was." James replied.
Misty eyes widened to the size of saucers. "...Us? You- us?! You thought I meant me? ...No! What could you possibly be thinking?! Are you insane?"
He just stood back, staring at her. "It's not as if I'm asking as to why not."
"You can't be serious. I can count off numerous reasons as to why this would absolutely, never, work. No." she shook her head, holding up her hands.
"Please don't do that again." James replied, referring to her counting off her fingers again and causing a scene.
Misty scoffed, having jutted out her hip and crossed her arms.
"It's just. James, it would never work. Despite the fact we've nearly tried to spill eachother's guts in the past, we're just too different. Good and evil." She took a moment to frown, casting her gaze somewhat downward as she searched for a better choice of words. "We're like fire and ice, you and me. Do you know what you get with fire and ice?"
"Yeah," James took a moment to survey the girl, then advancing on the unsuspecting redhead and finished with a whisper..
"Steam."
And with that, James raised a gloved hand to her face and pulled her lips directly to his own. Misty didn't have time to react and could only gasp in surprise.
And for a split second, it was as if fire actually had collided with ice.
By now James had encircled one arm around her back, pulling her further into him. He was kissing her with such a fierceness as if tomorrow might not exist. He had put everything into this moment. Though what he was doing, or why, was unclear. He just needed it. Her. To have at least one moment of his life that spared him maybe a second of misery.
His hands found their way through her hair. Misty stood completely floored. It was almost as if she were being magnetically pulled toward him. Was this even happening? No, it couldn't be. And why hadn't she moved away yet? This had to be a trick..
Though admist to all her thoughts, she couldn't help but note that James was quite the experienced kisser. Misty also noted that she should have thrown him off of her by now. But the way he was pushing his body against hers was as if he knew she were thinking these things, and trying to chase them out of her head. What only aided her confusion was that she was kissing him back. He began to part his lips and that's when she knew the outcome result would only be worse.
'No, no, no!' the back of her mind screamed. Misty's fists had bunched themselves against his chest as he pulled her body flush against his. She let out something close to a whimper, but then started to panic as this probably fueled James to continue his actions.
But, to no avail. Misty's conscience had won as she finally pulled herself away from the Rocket member.
The sound of their lips parting and James' frantic breathing momentarily filled the air.
Misty didn't even know where to begin. Was she angry? Confused? She knew she most certainly not happy. Even if she was kissing him back...
The look in his eyes confirmed that he too, was indecisive of what to feel. Misty's eyebrows furrowed together in uncertainty as she took a step backward. Luckily there had been no evidence of what took place, but this did nothing to ease the rapid manifestation of guilt that started to takeover.
"You're my best friend's enemy.. this is wrong on so many levels." her voice shook.
Another step backward.
James reached an arm out halfway to her, but then lowered it as though he decided against it. He looked as if he knew she was right. No matter what he wanted at that moment, she was right. Nothing could be done about it. Neither one of them could go back in time and undo all the hurt and pain James and Jessie costed them. But still, Misty despised that she seemed to cause him even more emotional wreckage than it looked like he could take. On top of the fact that this was the same person whom Ash deeply resented.
"Misty? Where are you?" came the sudden faint, distanced voice of Ash himself.
Misty's eyes widened as she glanced over her shoulder in a panic. Suddenly it was if someone unpaused everything from slow motion to fast forward, both movements and words becoming hurried and frantic.
"Go." James spoke firmly. He knew better than to try and persuade anything to be different, not when now it came down to avoid being caught. Misty threw him a look of desperate uncertainty as she fled back to her campsite, unsure if she would ever overcome what just happened.
James watched her figure become smaller and smaller into the distance and felt a pained grin etch its way across his face, devoid of any happiness whatsoever, as if he knew that's where she was meant to be. With the ones she trusted, who trusted her. Not with someone whose life was a disaster in the making. Someone like him would only taint the life of someone like her, if he hadn't done so already.
He heaved in a sigh after a thoughtful moment before finally turning to the other direction.
Upon the quest back to his hideout, he was met with Meowth peering out from the window, followed by a rampant Jessie storming out of the shabby front door.
Who looked fairly pissed, to say the least.
She threw up her hands at the sight of him.
"Where have you been, James?!" Jessie nearly screeched.
"I took a walk." He replied calmly.
"A walk? At this time of night?!"
James cleared his throat. "Yes. I left to get some fresh-"
But he the next thing he felt was the sting on the left side of his face, where Jessie had slapped him.
He made no move to strike back, instead choosing to let his head linger to the side for a few moments before returning his gaze back to hers.
"You fool," Jessie hissed. "Have you no idea the cost of what would happen if we were exposed?!"
James briefly pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek where she had struck him.
"It was late. Everyone is sleeping by now."
"Clearly you weren't!" snapped Jessie. "We stumble across unexpected situations nearly everyday! Who knows if someone had seen you or not!"
James only snorted and cast his gaze to the side, his mind going over what happened not too long ago.
Jessie squinted her eyes at him suspiciously. "Is that truly all it was, James? Air? Nothing more?"
James threw a look over his shoulder before glancing back at his partner.
"Nothing more."
The fuchsia haired Pokemon snatcher straightened herself up. "In that case. Let's get back inside and salvage what little sleep we can."
James simply nodded his head, and followed. He ignored the sarcastic mutterings from his female companion, growing more tired of it with each passing day. But what he couldn't ignore was the dull ache somewhere inside his blackened heart, since his travels from earlier that night.
I like the idea of the Misty/James pairing. Unlikely as it may be.. hope you all enjoyed, though. :] don't forget to review!