It's Supposed to be a Cinematic Fairytale;;;
I'm not honestly here right now, am I?, you ask yourself as you take another carefully placed step forward. The snow underneath your feet crunches quite loudly, and he doesn't even turn around. You can't even hear his breath in the frigid air that surrounds the three of you. There's a blush rising on your cheeks already, and with that, you march as loudly as humanly possible to reach him.
He doesn't do a thing once you are within talking distance.
There's a sudden burst of annoyance that is flaring from deep within you, which doesn't make any reasonable sense whatsoever. Even when you first met Silver you hadn't been this upset with his antics. You carefully file this away, plant a smile on your face, and hike up the snowy natural made stairs with Typhlosion tailing right behind you. You're five inches away from him, and he still does not make a noise.
Red. That's his name. The legend that is even greater than Lance himself, the hero of Kanto, and the young adult who inadvertently created bedtime stories that children are told. (You specifically remember the one your mom told you about Red being the dashing prince who rescued you from a raging Dragonite, with only his bare hands.) Red has his back towards you, and is intently staring into the distance in front of him. Hands resting gently in pockets, and a baseball cap sitting atop of messy russet hair, makes him look like the poster child of summer.
You can even imagine that he tastes like dew on a rose in the early morning, an unquenchable heat that will burn you in the most incredible ways.
No, no you can't, because that's not the point of training for months by yourself just to get swept away by a crush on a unattainable guy who doesn't even know you. But being this close to him, does not help. At all. Shoving away all of these nonsense thoughts, you tap him on the shoulder,
"Hello, I'm Kotone, it's nice to meet you." You politely introduce yourself for the first time in what seems like forever. Sure, being the talk of the regions has its advantages, but it takes away the perks of being able to fit in comfortably with peers. Red's eyes quickly look you up and down, without moving his head a single inch. His gaze is intense, thoughtful, and the most piercing thing you have ever witnessed. It sets you into a fit of self-consciousness. Chocolate brown hair in its usual style, covered by a giant marshmallow hat, and wearing the usual overalls and red three quarter sleeve t-shirt.
Red nods to you, but does not move from his spot. There's no immediate action of removing a poke-ball from his belt, and accepting your unspoken request to battle. It's unusual and unsettling. You can still remember your very first battle with Joey, and how eager he was to battle against your Cyndaquil. Red's response, or lack of it, seems insulting to you. The annoyance from earlier adds to this, and it's getting somewhat harder to be the groomed, casually cool, champion that you usually are. You decide that a different tactic must be used here.
"Do you get a lot of challengers up here?" You ask, and even though it's not subtle, you think that it will open up the gates of conversation. Red's response is an almost imperceptible shake of his head. His eyes meet yours though afterwards, and they're a gorgeous topaz that just scream contractions of being old, yet sparkle with youth.
You're trapped within his polite stare, once more.
"Please tell me you're not mute." You say, totally forgetting the poise and grace Lance had taught you to use when speaking to other accomplished trainers. "Oh my Arceus, you are, aren't you? Oh that's just great!" You rush through your words, hysteria obvious in your voice. "Wait! That's not good, that's bad! Bad, bad, bad! Oh, Mew! I'm sorry that you're mute!" You take a deep breath, planning on continuing your mini-freak out, when suddenly there's a gloved hand covering your mouth.
You look up at Red, to see that he is currently smiling down at you. You haven't realized the insane height difference until then. He seems to be about a foot taller than you, while you're resting comfortably at five feet tall at the age of fifteen. This isn't fair, man!, you think sullenly to yourself. Yes, Red is a guy, and three years older, so it's reasonable that he would be taller, but you're used to being the tall one.
"I can talk, Kotone. I just choose not to." Red explains quietly, which makes your face transform into a look of 'Oh. I'm so dumb.' and the blush on your cheeks becomes as red as his vest. He removes his hand then, and you desperately already miss the constant warmth he had provided. (Instant thoughts of how else he could provide warmth swarm your mind, and it takes every bit of self-control to not just tackle him down to the ground, and-absolutely nothing!, you yell at yourself.)
"Sorry about that." You sheepishly apologize, reaching a hand to itch the back of your neck just to keep your hand from being idle. Red smiles in response, and then you can feel your heartbeat accelerating at the sight of those intoxicating lips and snow white teeth.
"ANYWAYS." You shout over a particularly loud gust that comes from nowhere, "Would you like to battle me?" You smile devilishly at Red, plucking a great ball from your waist, and backing down the stairs. Red's face instantly glows a little brighter, and picks up his own poke-ball. He stays still though, waiting for you to approach your spot.
It's eerie how fitting he is standing on the little platform during this battle. He is the king, you are the court jester, waiting to amuse him. He is the grand master, while you are the insolent puppet, who is not content with the role she is given. He is the king, and you are the queen, trying to create a checkmate to win this game. (You're surprised that you haven't fallen off of this mountain yet.)
"I've heard about you, Kotone." His voice is unintentionally alluring, and you can't help the gulp that accompanies your name. "I know what you've done in such a short amount of time." His eyes meet yours, and you can't help but let yourself be sucked in completely.
"Well, good!" You quip back to him, somehow managing to find your voice. "It wouldn't be fun if you didn't know that I'm going to beat you!"
Red doesn't respond with words. In fact, he doesn't move an inch. (You're wondering if he's even breathing, the way he's just standing there makes it seem like he isn't.) It's a tense silence, where neither of you know how to break it. Minutes pass by, and you kind of think that maybe you should go check on him, when he is suddenly running down the steps to end up standing in front of you. He offers you his hand, and you're no idiot, you accept it quickly. You don't care about the lack of shaking this handshake has, you're concentrating on the feel of his calloused fingertips on your palm. The fact that despite them being so rough, they are the softest things you have ever felt.
It's the kind of handshake that makes you wonder what it makes him feel.
You wish that he's feeling the same bouncy house feeling that's happening inside your ribcage at that very moment, or even the crazy amount of tingling that's occurring between your skin to skin contact. But you'll never know, unfortunately, but that doesn't mean that you can't hope for this second to mean as much as it does to you, to him.
He's the first to pull away his hand, and you mourn the loss. Red retreats to his platform, his reigning domain, to officially put this battle back on track. He throws his poke-ball up into the air, and waits for his Pokemon to materialize before you both. It's a Pikachu, a cute one too, and you wish that you had the time to ask about how he manages to get its coat that shiny. You signal Typholsion to wait besides you, and toss your great ball into the air in a similar manner. Your Hippowdon makes a grand entrance by growling impressively at Red and his Pikachu.
His smile is small, and directed at you, before he twists his cap around and takes on a battle stance.
You're both in-between Pokemon at the moment, and it's the first chance you've got to actually think about something besides calling out the right moves. Red is good, you've got to admit while grinding your teeth together. Scratch that, he's amazing, and it's obvious how he managed to become the master he is today. He's so awesome that he hasn't had to call out a move for his Pokemon to retaliate against your own moves. Which is ridiculous.
Grudgingly (because you're still in battle mode), you've got to admit that it makes him even hotter than he already is. It's the little things that are you drawing you in though, like how he constantly looks at you whenever a move from his Pokemon hit yours' for a spilt second before resuming his stoic routine. How he lets you both have a small break to regroup your strategies before battling again. (It's still the hardest battle ever though, no doubt.) These breaks don't reduce the intensity at all, if that's possible. Because Red constantly is meeting your glare and returning it with a smirk.
He's patiently tapping his foot, waiting for you to get your head back into the game, to send out your next Pokemon. That damned smirk though, stays on his face, taunting you with an almost full out grin. You stick your tongue out at him, before you nod to Typholsion to make his grand entrance into this circus that is a battle. Red does grin then, like a mad man in fact, when the red light from his poke-ball transforms into a giant Snorlax.
This is possibly the worst (yet the most fantastic) battle you've ever had in your entire life. It even beats out the latest battle between you and Lance, which you had over a month ago. It's so intense, that even though you've only been calling out moves, you're sweating right along with your Pokemon. It's kind of embarrassing, but you're past caring (you're so not lying to yourself at the moment) what Red thinks of you at the moment. You're going to win damn it, no matter what. Red has the upper hand in this battle though, he's still got two Pokemon who haven't even entered the battle, and Snorlax, while you've only got Hippowdon, Typholsion, and Ampharos, all of who are weary with exhaustion.
You can see from across the field though, that Red is struggling with himself to not shout something to you. You know that he's going to ask you if you're okay though, so you just give him a quick bob of your head while you return to planning out your next move. It's pretty weird now that you're thinking about it, how you're adjusting to being almost quiet for long period of times. Get a grip Kotone, you have plenty of time for this later, you rationally explain to yourself.
It's a shame your heart doesn't agree with you, if the rapid thump, thump, thumps are any indications of how you can't be rational about this.
You don't know what to do now. Whether you should scream in ecstasy, cry in relief, or to stay silent and wait for Red to make the first move. After all, it is still his palace, and you are only a guest. His topaz eyes stare into your eyes, and you can't decipher the look. There's a tiny bit of the relief that Lance exuberantly showed the day you first defeated him. But the rest of Red's face is a mystery, closed off to you. There's a smile carefully taking place of the blank look, and that's a respite to your worries about him.
He turns around to face the never ending sky, and just sits down in the thickly packed snow. You don't hesitate, you're walking like a maniac just to sit next to him. The snow crunching means nothing to you now. It's unimportant compared to the guy who is everything to everyone in Kanto. You gracefully slide your legs underneath you and sit next to him, leaving no distance between you.
You may be in his domain, but you are now the ruler of how things work here.
The sun is finally shining down on you both after an insane blizzard, and you relish the warmth that is beaming from above, and the heat radiating next to you. He's quiet, so quiet that you can practically hear his brain processing the fact that he just lost to you. You want to give his championship back to him, suddenly. It feels wrong, to have so much power over two regions when you're only fifteen years old.
"I was fifteen when I became champion." Red informs you quickly, before you can even open your mouth. It's still creepy (as well as comforting) to have him read your thoughts. "I had to take it away from my best friend." He meets your glance from the corner of his eye.
"You what?" You sound like a dumb little girl when you ask that. But you're honestly just so shocked that his reign as champion was a result of defeating his best friend to get it.
"I took the championship away from my best friend." Red whispers, soft as feathers, and you take in the fact that he's just too still, and too uncaring, to actually be okay. You wonder if you should direct the conversation away from this, or just let him be. Your eyes frantically search his, but he immediately reverts his gaze back to the sky. The twitch of his lips, tells you that he's trying to stay strong in front of you. You grab his hand, and wrap yourself underneath his arm, burrowing into his side. Finally, you can hear his breaths. But the minute you're pressing into his side, Red treats you with a sharp intake of air, that makes you smirk in victory.
He gulps quietly before he continues his story. "My best friend was a bit power hungry back in the day. He didn't deserve all of the roles that being a champion entitled."
"I'm sorry." You apologize, voice somewhat mumbled from the fabric your lips are pressed against. Red's smell is inebriating, a clean cut meadow mixed with a faint spiciness of a Leppa berry. The feeling of being surrounded by Red is indescribable. You never want to leave him.
His answer is putting his chin on the top of your head, and gazing back out at the seemingly clear sky.
A/N: FINALLY. I had such a tough time starting this story out! :p But then I got addicted, and I decided, what the hell, let's make this a multi-chapter. :) But hey, let's thank Sparks101 for requesting me to write this, otherwise this never would have happened.
But to anyone shouting at me to get the next installment of my reversed Kotone/Silver storyline out, calm yoself. I'm almost done with it. I just gotta work out this awkward part in it. XD & to the person who requested a Hikari/Jun fic, I'll get that out soon! XD
Let me know what you all think of this one though:D