Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. =p Be for warned, though. I can't help /but/ use some yaoi in any story. What's yaoi, you ask? It's M/M relationship. If you can't handle it, don't flame my ass because you're simple minded and can't read.

Shishi (Shigeru x Satoshi), Neoshippy (Butch x Cassidy), Princess-shipping (Musashi x Kasumi), and Ericshipping. That's my term, so don't think too hard; that'd spoil the surprise. ^^;

:B I figured it was about time... considering I know a few people who'd like this... Well, I hope. And, I have no idea if Brock's mom's alive (I've heard both), so.. she's dead here. :B

Romany Curse
by Luna Tiger




Ten years... It'll finally be over, Takeshi thought to himself. No more lusting after the beautiful face, no more drooling over nice legs.... No more making an utter fool of myself infront of women.

It was a gorgeous day. Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees on that side of the forest path. The woods were full of roosting pidgey and spearow, singing the day away. A small horde of sentret raced around the worn path, not noticing the human who shared it with them. He was dark, like the trees. Maybe a dryad. Wood nymphs were fun to play with, but not now. Too many things to hide and seek after! They were back into the woods before anyone knew it.

I've beaten you. Both. There's something I want.... and neither of you will get it. Pure and simple.

A breeze blew past, blowing at the dark spikes and across bare skin. Only a few more hours and his nightmare will be over..

Takeshi sat under one of the trees, back up against it's trunk. Dressed only in his slacks and hiking boots, the man sat very still, hardly shivering at the cool air. One leg was propped up, his other trapped behind it. His left arm held his weight to the side, the second... It was held up on his raised knee, palm down. And on the back of his hand was a metallic-grey stone, oblong and nearly four-sided, almost spanning across the entire width of his hand with the end's looking like points, lacking the tips. It rested peacefully, unaware, for it wasn't alive, that a pair of eyes were staring hard at it, figurative holes boring into it. But on one of the ends, the one closest to his pinky, was an eye and a chain strung through it.

Time to go. I'll get there shortly before it needs to be done.

The pendant found itself suspended in midair for a brief second before Takeshi caught it in the hand it had been lying on. The once-gym leader rose to his feet and picked up the knap sack at his feet. The bag full of the few possessions he owned was slung over his shoulder and he started off again. By now, the long walk didn't bother him a bit. If anything the 'twerps' had gained during their adventure, it was a workout. A serious one.

Maybe that's why Kenji was just a little thick those years ago. They were island hopping, not wandering around and getting lost at every turn. He smiled. Lucky guy.

They had changed. All of them.

Satoshi had reached his goal of Pokémon Master at age 19, only a year ago. Funny thing is... Shigeru beat him to it, by six months. Needless to say, Ookido's grandson had offered to help the poor boy afterwards, but out of kindness, not pity or obligation or to laugh in his face about it. Surprisingly, Satoshi proved to have intelligence. What Ash saw was a door, that lead straight back to their friendship.... and much, much more.

How happy Ookido-san and Hanada-san were to find them engaged shortly after Sato's claim to fame.

Kasumi moved on too, going back to her sisters and taking over as gym leader, leaving the three to their shows and performances. No one's really heard from her in a while, save for when she dropped by last night. It was nice to see her again before this happened.

Kenji still worked with Ookido-san, and nothing really changed... except that he disappears often at night, every other night, and for one or two days on the weekend, only to come back exhausted. Never could get an explanation out of him. He either flusters or gets defensive, sometimes both.

He'll tell one day. Takeshi just hoped it was a very soon 'one day'.

Rocket Dan was disbanned when Sasaki was captured by the police five years ago. He escaped not long after and no one's heard from him again. As for the four Rocket members that made the most appearances in Satoshi-tachi's lives, they lived together, doing well for ex-criminals, going under foreign names. ... Jesse, James, Butch (what kind of name was that?), and... something with a C. Catie or Cassie. Who knew.

He sighed. Someday.... Someday.

"Where is he?!"

Shigeru shook his head, resisting the very strong urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in result of a headache. "Will you calm down? You're getting a bit too hyped up over him, Sato-chan. He's a big boy, unlike some jari-booi I know."

Satoshi gave 'Geru his best retaliating pout. "But, he just up and left in the middle of the night! Without even leaving a note!"

"ASH! JUST CHILL OUT!"

".....Yes, Kasu-chan."

Kasumi gave an irritated grunt, but that was a responsive habit she couldn't break from her younger days. She gave Satoshi a little glare before concentrating of their whereabouts.

They were looking for Takeshi using Shigeru's Arcanine, riding atop the Legendary pokémon's back as they sniffed the man out. Somewhere on the other side of the woods, the ex-Rocket members were following Kojiro's now evolved Arcanine and Musashi's Arbok.

Kasumi was already missing Musashi's presense. She really should've gone with her and Yamato, but that would've meant to the magenta-red haired girl that Kasumi didn't trust her. I trust Musashi, but I just don't trust Yamato.

....Nope, no trust in Yamato, despite her being with Kosaburo. Gods know that Yamato and Musashi have a history and Kasumi couldn'd help but marvel at the blonde's luckiness. And rivalry friendships, as she had found out, /can/ lead to relationships. She thanked Satoshi and Shigeru for that little bit of information.

The crossroads were coming up, one that lead back to town in a shorter distance, but it wasn't as scenic as this one. And Yamato and Musashi were waiting there, as pre-planned.

"Any luck?"

Musashi shook her head sorrowfully. "No scent to follow. But it probably doesn't help that he was raised in a town made of stone and walked through the woods a lot, however." She looked at Satoshi accusingly.

And Satoshi looked ready to break down into tears. "You can't pin that one on me! All people who wanted to become masters or whatever the old fashion way traveled by foot. I'm sorry we never took the bus!"

"Sato-chan!"

"Okay okay. Shutting up..."

Shigeru closed his eyes. He really hated how Satoshi could be manipulative, even when he didn't mean to. Hell, he didn't even know he could be. Turning around on Arcanine's back, he gave Sato a reassuring kiss on the cheek. "You're worried and we all know this. Out of all of us, you don't exactly have control over your emotions and can't hide them very well, because Kami knows you have very strong feelings... too strong, actually. But try to keep it inside, please? You're a magnifier of other people's feelings too. Last thing we need is to all be screaming our heads off in blind panic because Takeshi went AWOL."

The raven-haired boy just stared for a moment, but nodded slowly in confirmation. Kasumi rubbed at his back a little and he cast her a small smile. Friends were great.

"So what do we do now?" asked Yamato after the fuzzy feeling had gone down.

"Ash, what pokémon do you have on you?"

"Um, Pikachuu's back home and I have... Ivysaur, Croconaw, Typlosion, Heracross, and Noctowl."

"Noctowl have Fly?"

Satoshi shook his head. "No, I kept forgetting to teach it."

Shigeru bowed his head. "Kasumi?"

"Sorry. All water."

"And no streams... Dammit." His eyes fell on the two Rocket girls. "Neither of you would happen to have a rider pokémon on you, would ya? ... Probably should've asked before hand, but.... Ye~ah."

Yamato said nothing as she unhooked a pokéball from her belt and gave it a casual throw. Out of the red light came--

"Fearooooow!"

--a shiney Fearow. It practically gave off it's own light with all those sparkles.

"Yup. Gary, you should've asked sooner," said Kasumi.

Shigeru laughed nervously. "Gomen."

The blonde waved it off. "S'all right. .... Fearow can carry up to two people, so if anyone wants to go with me.." She let the offer linger.

"Can I go with you, Yamato-san?"

"Sure, Sato-kun," she said with a little smile. "Let's go."

Satoshi hopped off of Arcanine and Shigeru offered the seat to Musashi, who took it graciously. Kasumi gave the girl a hug and Shigeru groaned light-heartedly. "No nookie. That's all I ask."

"We wouldn't dream of it," Musashi snickered.

"Hey, what about KoKo?" inquired Yamato, balancing herself and Satoshi onto Fearow's back.

"I doubt those two found anything. They couldn't find a penny on a table to save their life."

Yamato laughed; at least they could lighten the mood. "Don't short-change them, 'Jesse' dear. After all, it's the dumbest who do great things. On the other hand, they should be howling for their lives any--"

"YEE~AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"--second." She blinked. "Wow."

"C'mon," said Musashi, pointing in the general direction of the screams. "That way."

~*~

"Slow down, Growlie!"

But the fire type wouldn't; he was hot on the trail of something and neither blue haired ex-Rocket was going to divert him!

Kosaburo sighed and clung tighter to Kojiro's waist. "Maybe if we're lucky, it's Takeshi's scent he's picked up."

Kojiro nodded dully as he buried his face deeper into Growlie's fur as another low branch came flying towards them. "Maybe we could keep screaming?"

"Hey, my throat's scritchy as it is. I can only scream so much."

The Shiroi Rocket chuckled quietly, getting a better grip the red and black fur as Growlie leaped a log. Kosaburo was a great friend, now that he got to know him and if he wasn't obsessed with someone else, Kojiro would've been very tempted to seduce Kosa-kun "over to the other side". Hell, if anyone could do it, Ko-chan could.

He sighed mentally. He might as well give up his little love quest. He could do all the good in the world, cross dress a thousand times over, but he could never catch the eye of probably the straightest person in the group. C'mon Takeshi. For once in your life, do something appealing and come back here.

Arcanine suddenly haulted at the edge of the trees, right where the dirt road cut trough the forest. He sniffed at the ground, confused. There was the smell of Sentret to pursue! But... that scent Kojiro gave to him before on that piece of clothing was in the air too. Actually, it was more... on that tree! Arcanine galloped up the road a bit and sniffed at the trunk of the maple. Yeah, there he was. A little sweaty, passed by a flock of pidgey and... yes, a nest of rattata and raticate. ... Wait. Wood nymph? Kojiro and Kosaburo both blinked at the actions of the lost Arcanine. "What's the matter, Growlie?"

The giant dog whined pitifully. "Arcaaaaaaa ar.." I... But...

"KOJIRO!"

Both the boys and Growlie swung their heads to the pathway behind them, finding Arcanine and his riders speedily running towards them. Above, the cry of a Fearow shrilled against the blue sky, making a low fly-by with one of the passengers dismounting in mid-flight. Satoshi landed neatly, if not with a slight wobble, onto the trodden ground. Kojiro blinked at Shigeru, asking the universal question, "What?", while Kosaburo murmured something along the lines of, "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"You guys alright?"

The white Rocket nodded. "Hai, we're fine. Growlie just took us for a nice stroll through the woods."

"We can see that," said Musashi, pointing to a dead leaf sticking out of Kojiro's hair.

It was removed with an idle hand. "Anyway, I think we found something. Can we have that shirt, Geru-kun?"

"I have it," piped Satoshi, digging around in his bag and pulling said shirt out and handed it to Kojiro. "If he went through here, he might be heading for Mauve Town... or the Black Ash cliffs."

Shigeru and Kasumi nodded in agreement. "Nothing else beyond that, except Viridian."

"Mmm... Growlie, here."

The Arcanine raised his head from tasting the grass around the maple and took a few experimental whiffs. His eyes widened. That's it! Dryad! He swung his head around to face down the trail and howled, aiming to direct the riders in the right direction. Kojiro smiled and hauled Satoshi up to join them, seeing as the other Arcanine was getting crowded.

Now they were getting somewhere.

Said the twinkling of faery wings in the starlit sky, so will the echo of elven footsteps across the barren tundra. To all the spirits of hexed legend, imprinted into the magic of the travelling ones, release me from the hold my maternal figure placed upon me.

Takeshi stood overlooking the Black Ash cliffs, into the deep crevice below. From here, he could almost see Pewter Town. Viridian City was a vast, yet small portion of the valley.

"Ten years has come and gone, Toruko... 'Kaasan, and I've won. No woman could compare, no man more satisfying to look at under this terrible curse. And I could look, because I've never seen a man try as hard to become what he's not.."

She said I'd be happy. I didn't believe her.. and now she's only half right. But it doesn't matter. I love him. I have loved him.

With a sigh, he slipped the stringed hematite stone about his neck; it was a parting gift from his mother, but it also acted as a spirit channeler...

"Keep this, Takeshi, to remind you of your heritege.. and me. It will guide you through the world like it did your ancestors, so hold it close to your heart and be free."

... "But you cursed me. On your death bed.. A Gypsy isn't allowed to like the same sex, I guess.. Otousan was for the first time proud of Mama's magic craft. To curse his eldest son into getting grandchildren. I've won."

And he began to chant.

The two Arcanine were doing a wonderful side-by-side pace of 30 miles-per-hour down a path that was clearly meant for only one giant creature at a time, but once the accent of the cliffs were reached, both stopped on a dime in horror-filled fright. Not only did they crash into each other, their six passengers went flying foward as well. The Lengendary pokémon were in a tangle of limbs and branches while their humans were messed up in a tangle of just limbs.

Spitting out a rock, Musashi sat up and glared at the two fire creatures. "Stupid mutts."

While Shigeru and Kasumi dusted Satoshi off, the raven-haired youth coughed out, "What made them stop?"

Shigeru shook his head. "I don't know. Something did, though."

While they debated what could've been wrong and got up to help the Arcanine, Kosaburo and Kojiro were staring up the path...

"Do you feel that?"

"Uh huh...."

The two exchanged worried glances. There was some... feeling in the air, like a tingle of static electricity. Kosaburo coaxed Kojiro to follow him ("The others can catch up when they're more collected," he said) and kept walking the path.

The air grew thicker the closer get came to the end of the trail. In fact, once dirt gave way to grass, the wind blew by minor lightning streaks. And in the middle of it all..

"Takeshi?"

(TBC...)