A/n: 'Kay, I know what you're thinking. "Finesseful, another chaptered fic? Seriously?" But it'll be worth it. I hope.

I DON'T OWN THESE CHARACTERS!


"Ugh, Touko, sometimes you drive me absolutely insane!" Bel grumbled, dragging me into her cabin. "I swear, you never listen to me!"

"What are you talking about, Bel?"

She narrowed her eyes, turning to face me. "What do you think I mean? You'd have to be brainless to miss everything I saw."

Crossing my arms, I thought about what in Isshu she could be talking about. I had no clue. "Well, thanks for the compliment best friend. Why don't you just save me the time and explain?"

"I thought it'd be obvious," she whispered, rubbing the back of her neck. "I mean, couldn't you see Touya staring at you while we were all hanging out? And he sits next to you, and he talks about you, and- and-" She sighed. "Y'know. Stuff like that."

"So?" Yeah, I noticed Touya doing all that. I figured it was a phase. He'd once had a massive crush on Sinnoh's champion, Cynthia; even going so far as to paste posters of her all over his room. He'd gotten over her since then. Surely he'd get over me, too.

She bit her lip, an angry look flashing in her eyes. I wasn't used to seeing Bel mad. "You know how I feel about him, Touko!"

Oh. Right. She liked him. I forgot. "Well what do you want me to do about that, Bel? I can't help it if he likes me." To my instant regret, I heard a tiny bit of pride creep into my voice. I knew right away that I shouldn't have said that; but it was flattering to have that attention.

Her hands balled into fists. "Touko! You could tell him you don't like him back!" She paused. "U-unless you do like him . . ."

I scoffed. "As if. Believe me, he's all yours."

She sat down on her bed, sighing. "And to think, I thought a cruise to Hoenn with you three would be fun-"

"What are you implying?" I asked angrily. I didn't like how Bel's mood was lately. She'd been touchy, and all those negative emotions were affecting me.

"I'm saying you guys have been excluding me! It's not fair that you have both of them in love with you, Touko."

That made me stop. "W-wait a second; did you just say 'both of them'?"

Her brows furrowed into a deeper scowl, and she rested her forehead in her hand. "Are you really that blind, Touko? And everyone says I'm the oblivious one."

"Bel, what did you mean by both of them?"

"Hello, what do you think I mean?" Furious tears threatened to pour out from her eyes. "Cheren's had a huge crush on you for the past four years! And now you get Touya too? I don't think so!"

"I-it's not my fault, Bel!" I insisted. "Listen, I had no idea about Cheren." My voice was calmer now. "Besides, as I said before, I don't love Touya like that. He's more like some annoying cousin that you learn to tolerate over the years."

"And Cheren?"

I didn't know what to say. Goodness, when I'd agreed to go on a cruise with them, I hadn't thought I'd be verbally attacked. I felt a little bad; Bel did have a point. The guys had always hung out more with me; I couldn't help it. I was a bit of a tomboy and could connect with them better than the delicate blond could.

My mind drifted back to the topic of Cheren. He was a more difficult case. I didn't really know what to say about him. I'd started to wonder a year ago just what our relationship was. We were closer than friends, but something kept me from seeing him as family, like I saw Touya. Cheren understood me better than anyone I knew, except my mother.

He'd always been there for me; so what were my thoughts on him? "I'm not sure," I finally managed.

"Right," she murmured, as if expecting me not to have an answer. "Well, the least you could do is stop leading Touya on."

My expression turned to agitation. "I am not leading Touya on! Bel, you know I'd never do that!"

"Do I?" she asked, eyes away from me, almost as if she was ashamed of me or something.

"Ugh! Sometimes you are the hardest person to get along with!"

"Is that the thanks I get for paying for everyone's stay on this cruise? Including yours?"

"Don't start," I muttered darkly.

Tears were rolling down Bel's face now. "Sometimes I wonder why we're even friends."

"Me too." I refused to look at her. "I'm going to bed." Leaving the room, I heard her whimper behind me.

As I walked down the hall, I thought I saw eyes watching me. Looking back yielded nothing. 'It must be my imagination.' Later, I would find that no, it wasn't.


"Thanks a lot, Bel," I grumbled aloud to myself. "Thanks to you, I'm stuck thinking about Cheren." Since she'd made that one little comment, I'd been unable to get him off my mind. Sitting on my bed angrily, I tilted my head up in thought. She had to mention him. Why did she have to mention him?

As I got ready for bed, the thoughts didn't stop. Unfortunately, they piled up more and more until I could barely take it. Not just about Cheren, either. No, I was thinking about Bel and Touya, too. We were a rag-tag group of friends; and if our parents hadn't all been best friends and if we didn't live in the same town, we all might never have even crossed paths, let alone learned to enjoy each other's company.

Touya was someone who embodied all things that annoyed me. Something about him, though, kept me from despising the sight of him. He was-whether I liked it or not-charming in a certain way. I couldn't deny that he was fun to be around (most of the time), and he was a nice guy (usually). He was just a little . . . enthusiastic sometimes.

Bel was another tough case. To someone else, we might seem like oil and water; we were complete opposites. We really didn't share that much in common at all, so sometimes it amazed people that we were friends. In truth, it amazed me sometimes too. However, Bel was someone who was near and dear to me, despite being annoying sometimes, and usually, I'd do anything for her. This time, though . . .

What did she want me to do? Just tell Touya 'I don't like you' to his face, out of the blue? Wouldn't that creep him out or something? Besides, it would probably embarrass him. I couldn't do that to him, so whether Bel liked it or not, she'd just have to wait for this phase of his to pass. I knew it would.

And I came back to Cheren. Why couldn't he leave my thoughts? Why did he have to make me feel the way I did? Was it just some phase I was going through? But then again, I didn't know any phases that lasted for nine years. I sighed, turning off the light and climbing into bed. Maybe it was about time that I came to term with my feelings. I did like him.

Oh, goodness, it was scary to think that.

But it was true. He'd always been there for me, supported me (in his own Cheren-ish way), and been my best friend. I could count on him for anything . . . so maybe I should tell him? The problem, though, with crushes on your best friend is whether or not the feelings will be mutual. I knew he would still love me as a friend, even if he didn't love me the way I loved him, but things would be awkward if I told him how I felt and he felt differently.

If what Bel said was true, then I had nothing to worry about. But she'd been wrong before on things like this; very, very wrong.

So there was the dilemma. It seemed like most friend-loves-friend dramas were like this, or at least the ones I'd seen on T.V. or read about. So really, the real question was this:

Was I in a love story, or an angsty one?

I knew what I wanted the answer to be, but that couldn't determine the actual end. I closed my eyes in anger.

This was all Bel's fault. She had to make me actually think about these things!

But still, I decided to at least scope out how Cheren felt tomorrow. That would help me figure out what to do.

As I drifted to sleep, my thoughts became more and more abstract; my dreams were even weirder. My last conscious thought was this: 'All of this is Bel's fault.'


A/n: So yeah. I just love Checkmateshipping so much that I had to post this. That, and I wanted to know what people thought. So, uh, reviews? :3 Please?

And don't be mad at me if I don't update for a long time. DX

Finessefully,

X