I'm back!! cackles evilly

Alright, this one's when Kengo and Reiji join forces to create...the Ikari torture duo!! DUN DUN DUN!!

On with da story...


"Oh! Hi, what are you doing here? Come in!"

Shinji looked up from the book he was reading with a cocked eyebrow. Reiji was standing at the door talking to the person who'd knocked-they hadn't been expecting anyone, and Shinji didn't like guests that much. So much for peace and quiet today. He always liked to be alone.

He let out a long sigh as his genial brother continued to gab.

"Wow, but who is this? Okay, okay, so he's not your boyfriend! I understand. Umm…Kenny, right? Hey, Shinji?"

What now? The boy thought with a sigh, and raised his head from the book. "What do you want?" He called out in an irritable tone.

"Come say hello to Hikari and her friend!"

At the first sound of his voice, Shinji frowned, not willing to waste his time on any sort of 'socializing.' He fired back at Reiji, "What the hell is a Hikari?! I've never heard of him."

Suddenly a shrill screech deafened the teenage trainer, and he felt someone's loud voice ring in his ears, deafening him. "I'm A GIRL YOU IDIOT!! AND YOU STILL DON'T REMEMBER ME, YOU INCONSIDERATE JERK??"

Shinji craned his neck at the screaming voice. Sure enough, he recognized the stupid white-and pink hat, night-blue hair with bright yellow clips…and of course, the short miniskirt. He scowled; he never liked the pathetic coordinator; her Pokémon were way too weak, she only cared about dressing up and, like her traveling companion, she had a brain about the size of a peanut. Somewhere in his mind, though, he was relieved that the loser and breeder weren't there with her.

What he didn't count on seeing was a green-clothed, brunet boy about her age standing next to her and tapping his foot impatiently. He suddenly felt an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach…something about the way the pre-teen hovered around Hikari had Shinji feeling a little…jealous. He glared at the both of them, now standing behind the sofa he was sitting on, and then switched his venomous glance to his ponytailed brother for letting them through the door.

"What'd you let them through for?! Great. Just what I need to make my day. A bratty, troublesome girl, and…" He trailed off, looking at the new loser, "What are you?" He spat out the first and last words with fierce scorn, and seemed satisfied when he flinched and exchanged quick glances with Hikari.

Humbly he took a step forward and said, bowing slightly, "My name's Kengo. I'm Hikari's friend. Um…Pleased to meet you."

By his tone for the last sentence, Shinji wasn't too sure that Kengo was happy to meet him, but he did have a bit of pleasure with the formal way the brunet spoke to him, like if he was powerful. He smirked and said, "So, what are you two idiots doing here?"

Hikari still had a bad mood from the purple-haired boy calling her 'him' earlier. "Well, Lady Suzana sent this for you…she told me not to open it; I wonder why…Anyway, Kengo and I went through all this trouble through blizzards and everything just to get you a stupid box. You're welcome," she snapped, showing him a purple, velvet box. She wondered what it held inside it…probably it was the badge; maybe he had to run an errand and forgot the badge at her Gym. But it wasn't like Shinji to do that…

Suddenly Reiji's voice called out from the kitchen. "Hey, Shinji, lunch is ready! Why don't you bring down your friends, too?"

Shinji felt a rush of annoyance, and was about to shout back that they were NOT his friends, but he seemed to think better of it and called back, "Coming down in a minute!" He turned to the two childhood friends and asked, "Do you mind?"

Hikari narrowed her eyes, but she agreed, tucking the box into her bag. Kengo just seemed to follow everything Hikari did, and it made Shinji want to throw up.

Once they got downstairs, Reiji had laid out the tables with bowls of rice. Shinji took his seat next to Reiji, not wanting to sit anywhere close to the beetle-brained girl. Hikari seemed to be thinking the same thing, and stayed well away from the cold-hearted trainer. The indigo-haired adult and Kengo stayed quiet as the air crackled with tension.

Eventually Reiji broke the silence. "So…how have you and Hikari been, Kengo?"

"Well," Kengo started, beginning to grin, "Pikari's pretty good. She's a lot better now than she was back in kindergarten."

BOOM.

"I TOLD YOU. NOT. TO. CALL. ME. PIKARI!!" She shrieked in everybody's alarmed faces, and somewhere across the ocean, a distance away from Sinnoh, a flock of Pidgeys heard the noise and fled their roosting area.

"Anyways…" Kengo decided to continue with his story; "Did you ever hear the time when Pikari's mom carried her for a haircut?"

Hikari was fuming now. "Yes, actually they did hear it," she hastily lied, "Ash told them."

But Shinji didn't want to let this girl ruin his teasing with her. "No, he didn't, carry on," he said to Kengo.

"Alright," he continued, "Pikari didn't like a haircut her mom gave her, so when she got the chance, she grabbed a scissors and tried to cut it herself. She looked like a Chimchar!!"

At that moment, the two brothers exploded laughing. It wasn't Shinji's nature to laugh, but this was just too hilarious to pass off. Hikari didn't even bother screaming; she was ducking under the table, flushing red with utter embarrassment.

While Shinji was still trying to get a hold of himself, Reiji was still stifling giggles, but had begun to speak.
"You know, that reminds me of a crush that Shinji used to have in second-grade."

Shinji stopped laughing. He was staring at his older sibling with sheer horror in his eyes.

"Really?" Kengo's voice had sharpened with interest. Hikari sat silent, sour feelings churning through her. Did Reiji say that Shinji had a crush? Something about that made fury surge within her. Was Shinji still in contact with his childhood 'girlfriend' like she was still friends with Kengo?

"Yeah," Reiji said, looking away at some memory. "He was totally in love with this red-haired girl when he was in school. He was failing his tests, just because he'd been staring at her all day."

Shinji stood stock-still, as the blue-haired girl opposite him kept on thinking. If the purple-haired boy was still hanging around with the red-haired girl from his childhood, did he still have any feelings for her?

Suddenly realizing something, she shook her head. Why should she even care? She hated the jerk-he was cold, mean, and it didn't matter to her what relationship problems he might have. I mean, she wasn't even in love with him…

…Right?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the older sibling's voice. "Yup, I think her name was Leiko…she really was pretty, but she was arrogant and rich too. Soon Shinji tried to tell her how he felt…"

"Did he get a bowl of spaghetti in his face?" Hikari asked, hoping that Reiji would say 'yes.'

"No," Reiji finally said after thinking. Hikari was silently cursing until he said, "Even better. He succeeded, but soon found out that Leiko only liked him for his silky hair." He brushed a hand through his little brother's hair to show it, while it was Shinji's turn to blush, and Hikari, in some little way, wished it was she who passed her hand through his hair…

"How did Shinji find out?"

"Huh. Well…When it was nap-time, the girl came with a razor and cut off all his hair!!"

The other two's mouths were gaping open now, and their eyes were wide. "All his hair?" They glanced at a poorly hidden Shinji and tried to imagine him bald. The thought of it made them want to both puke and cackle simultaneously. Kengo had nearly tipped over in his chair, because of giggling so hard. Shinji scowled, for the second time today, and glared at his stupid brother.

"What the heck did you tell them that for?!" he yelled.

Kengo gave him a swift glance, but didn't care much about the outraged trainer. "Hey, wanna hear about the time Pikari got mad at the teacher?"

Reiji leaned forward. "Keep talking."

Hikari thought she was going to die of embarrassment. She was lucky that Kengo hadn't told Satoshi and Takeshi about this, but in front of Shinji? The master of insults and torture, who Pokémon thought burnt his useless creatures and ate their heads?

Shinji just smirked, seemingly getting over his shock, and got ready to fire a retort at a very unhappy Hikari.

"Okay, so Pikari-"

"Don't call me Pikari."

"-Pikari, she did this English test and she failed it! She got into this huge fight with the teacher because she was convinced that her paper was A-plus material. But when she got really, really mad, she grabbed the teacher's hair and kept pulling it while screaming out the F-word! She got suspended and grounded by her mother!! It was so funny!"

Both brothers turned wide black gazes onto the blue-haired girl in disbelief.

"Please don't laugh at me," Hikari begged.

Too late. Reiji was trying not to out of courtesy, but his efforts were in vain. Shinji, however, was as solemn as ever, although Hikari thought she saw a look of mirth flash in his eyes.

"Guess I'm not as bad as the teacher, huh?" he asked, seeing her expression.

That jackass, she thought in annoyance, then she realized that his cheeks were still slightly pink from the last episode.

"So, how long did it take for your hair to grow back, Shinji?" she asked in an icy tone, and Shinji's face became red again.

But before he could spit back, Reiji answered; "About eight months for it to get back to normal. Now he screams and struggles whenever I take him for a haircut!"

"Does he still like Leiko?" she asked him. She meant this as a joke, but as she asked it she realized the answer was important to her.

"After that? No way!"

Shinji exploded. "ENOUGH!!" he yelled, standing. Hikari was surprised at how furious he looked. All those dimples that appeared on his face whenever he was angry…well, all of them showed now, and it didn't look cute anymore.

"Don't you two have something better to do?" he seethed to Kengo and Hikari, who were frowning in confusion.

Hikari stared back at him, some part of her wanting to stay. She looked at Reiji, but the man just shrugged and shook his head in a gesture that they should probably go. Hikari sighed and got up, while Shinji turned and walked away, his back turned away from them.

"Fine, we're going," she growled, holding Kengo's arm.

"Good, get out of here," he spat at her leaving back.

As the door slammed behind them, Hikari felt sad. Some part of her felt as if if she spent a little more time around Shinji, she would get to know him better. Suddenly she remembered something.

"Oh, man! I forgot to give him the box!!" She hastily pulled out the tiny cube, and studied it. She looked behind her at Shinji's house, knowing he wouldn't let her in again. Reiji might have, but his younger brother would probably prevent him from opening the door.

As she kept walking away, her eyes stayed on the box, and she didn't look where she was going. Suddenly she squealed as she tripped over a root and stumbled, dropping the precious delivery.

"Oh, I broke it!!" she said in shock, seeing it split open as it hit the hard floor. She ran up to it and picked up the broken pieces while Kengo looked on curiously.

"Hey, look! It's a ribbon inside…! And two pieces of paper?"

As Hikari looked on, she realized he was right. There was a beautifully jeweled ribbon inside the broken box, and small parchments, one rolled up and wrinkled, and the other new and written with sky-blue ink.

Briefly her eyes passed over the ribbon. Why would Gym Leader Suzana give Shinji a ribbon? When Satoshi and co. met up with Shinji by the stream, where Chimchar went cuckoo, Shinji made it clear that he shunned coordinators and scorned them with hatred. So what would he want with this?

She raised the note by Suzana and read it. It was addressed to Shinji.

Dear Challenger,

You left this at my Gym...it dropped out of your bag as you were leaving. I couldn't help opening it, though. Sorry, but you've heard about me! I can't help but stick my nose into everyone's problems! ;D

Anyway, I hope your crush likes you as much as you like her. Trust me, she'll like the ribbon. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this, seriously. Not even to Denzi. Good Luck!

-Yours, Suzana.

How strange, Hikari thought. Who was Shinji's crush? Did Suzana know?

Hesitantly she reached for the older, wrinkled piece of paper, and her heart nearly stopped when she read the untidy handwriting.

Daisuki da yo, Hikari,

-Love, Shinji.

She brought the writing close to her face, making sure it was Shinji's handwriting. Did it really say that? Or was it a hallucination? Was this a hoax? Was Suzana just trying to get the two together? But then she wouldn't give it to Shinji, would she? Shinji? In love with her? That was impossible…but she could tell it was his handwriting. She didn't know how she knew he meant it; she just knew.

"Hikari…?" Kengo asked uncertainly as she began to smile for some unknown reason. She turned toward her friend, beaming happily.

"We have to go back. 'C'mon!" She said, grabbing his hand and dragging him back to Shinji's house.


The doorbell interrupted Shinji's reading once again.

"Grr…what now?" he grumbled, and cursed under his breath as he walked slowly toward the door, and his cursing voice got louder as he opened it to find her standing there.

"What do you want?" he asked her. Somehow his voice came out softer than usual. Maybe it was her wide, shining smile…but that sort of unnerved him.

"I have a delivery!!" she told him in a sing-song voice.

He groaned. "What…? Okay, just give me the damn box," he ordered, holding out his hand.

"No, not that," she whispered, "This one's from me." Slightly, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Shinji's eyes widened for a few minutes before grabbing her waist and deepening the kiss, as Hikari sighed.


Meanwhile, Reiji saw what was happening and started to edge toward Kengo.

"Are you getting it?" the young adult asked in a soft tone in the brunet's ear.

"I'm recording it as we speak," Kengo whispered back, grinning and showing him a camera phone, where Shinji and Hikari's kiss was being recorded.

"Awesome." Reiji raised himself up and smiled. "Wait till Sumomo sees this!!"

Kengo just snorted. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sending this one to Coordinators Weekly! This'll be my best story yet!"