Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon!

A/N: I wanted to write a fanfic, but I just couldn't write anything! I kept switching between specialshipping and a Project K Kukuri fanfic. It was so frustrating! But I somehow ended up with this… Ruby's kind of OOC… Also, thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, and/or liked my last stories! All the comments, advice, and favorites help me keep writing.

A Crown of Red Tulips

~/~

"Are these sketches for more of your dresses?" Sapphire asked. She and Ruby were relaxing at her secret base ("Our secret base, remember, Sapph?") when she had spotted some papers on the small Pokeball shaped table there. She sat down on one of the matching stools and started to leaf through the designs.

Ruby looked to Sapphire from where he was polishing her Aagron's, Rono's, armor. "Those? Oh, yeah. I tried getting inspiration from flowers, but it just didn't seem to work," he sighed. Ruby dipped his sponge back in the bucket beside him and went back to scrubbing Rono.

Sapphire looked at the sketches, drawing up what little she knew about beauty to help her evaluate his designs. She really thought that they all looked fine, but she could see that these were different from his usual works. She couldn't really describe it, but they didn't seem to fit with Ruby's style or standards. She spent a few minutes trying to come up with words to describe what the dresses were missing, but she just couldn't figure it out. Was it individuality? 'No, only Ruby could come up with something that looked like… that…' Sapphire thought. Could it be style? No, Ruby was the most fashionable person she knew. Frustrated that she couldn't describe it, she stood up abruptly, causing the little stool to fall over. "I'm leaving!" she stated suddenly. "Let's go," she called to her Pokemon.

All of Sapphire's Pokemon got up to follow her, Rono leaving Ruby with a dripping sponge in his hand. "Hey," Ruby called before they left, dropping the sponge in a bucket, "where are you going so suddenly? I didn't get to finish polishing Rono!" He got up and dried his hands on a small towel.

"To fix that!" she said pointing to his designs on the table from the mouth of the cave

Ruby looked over his shoulder, not understanding what she was pointing at. "The table?" he asked.

"No, Prissy Boy! Your designs!" she said. At this point, Sapphire didn't know what was coming out of her mouth, but she really wanted to help Ruby get the results he wanted out of his design. She couldn't say this to his face, though, for she knew he would tease her about it. "I'm going to make them better!"

Ruby looked at her skeptically. "You're going to fix my designs? Sapph, how are you going to fix my designs when the majority of clothes you have were made by me?" he asked. He couldn't believe that Sapphire had actually thought that his designs were that horrible. He knew that those designs were not his greatest, but he couldn't believe that the fashion-dense Sapphire actually thought she could make them better than he could. This was a direct challenge to him as a designer. "You couldn't improve my designs any more than you could win a contest," he retorted as he crossed his arms with a smirk.

Sapphire's eyes narrowed in anger. One contest, it had been one contest. She had participated in one contest because Ruby had really wanted her to and he was her only weakness. She would do anything for him, even if it meant dressing up nicely and flaunting her Pokemon. Sadly, though, she failed horribly and came in fourth. Unlike Ruby who was good at contests and battles, Sapphire couldn't win a contest even if Hoenn's fate was on the line. Although Ruby had comforted her over her crushing loss at that time, he brought it up whenever they had an argument, especially if fashion was the case. "You always bring that up!" she yelled at him. "Let it go, you pansy! It was one contest! I could so beat you in another!"

"Is that a challenge?" His smirk grew wider.

"No!" she yelled. "This is about your stupid designs!"

Ruby's smirk immediately fell as his expression changed to one of defensiveness. "My designs are not stupid! Fashion is-"

"'-very important! Makes the world pretty!' Yadda yadda yadda! I've heard it all before, Ruby!" Sapphire interrupted. "Well guess what? I will be the one to fix your designs and it's going to be awesome!" She gave him a hard glare, telling him to shut up. She turned around and said without looking at him, "Watch, I'll bring back something great for your design!" He just crossed his arms again and avoided her gaze defiantly as Sapphire left by swinging on a jungle vine, her Pokemon running after her.

After she was gone he sighed heavily and said under his breath, "Sapph, what are you doing…?"

~/~

It had been a week since their argument, and Ruby was at his limit. He couldn't improve his designs no matter what he did, he had lost to some newbie during a contest due to his distractedness, he wanted to apologize to Sapphire for being snarky when she wanted to help and he hadn't seen her since she had swung off into the forest to "bring back something great" for his designs.

Ruby was seriously worried about Sapphire. He couldn't stop thinking that maybe she got attacked, or she was kidnapped, or she was trapped somewhere, or- 'No!' he thought. 'I have to keep calm. She's fine…' Ruby had gone over to Professor Birch's house yesterday and asked if he had seen Sapphire. Professor Birch wasn't worried at all; he said that Sapphire always spent a few days or weeks away to study Pokemon, whether it was for his research or to satisfy her own curiosity. Of course, Ruby couldn't just accept this answer and only continued to worry more.

Under all his worried thoughts, there was one that Ruby tried to bury and keep hidden. It would pop up often, especially when his thoughts wandered to Sapphire or when it was silent. It would laugh and play with his senses, making him go crazy with the desire to see that his most important friend was safe. It rang in his head, over and over. This thought was short and simple, but it was slowly tearing at him: 'What if I never see her again?' This thought alone made him frantic and pulled up many other thoughts: 'I'll never get to apologize?' 'The last thing I did was yell at her?' 'I could've so easily stopped her, told her not to leave…' When these thoughts began to plague his mind, Ruby would just inhale and then exhale. He knew he shouldn't worry, and he wouldn't. Sapphire was fine…

Right?

~/~

Two weeks had passed and no one had seen Sapphire. Ruby had started searching for her at any moment he had free time. He went to the base every day to see if she had been there, and returned scared, confused, and worried every day.

He was on his way through the forest to the base to check again, walking with Nana, his Mightyena, at his side. "Nana, what are we going to do? I've already searched almost all of the forest…" he sighed. Suddenly, the trees around him shook and the leaves rustled, causing the forest to seem like it had come to life. Ruby looked up to find a Tropius heading for him. He looked at it closely and noticed that it was Pilo, Sapphire's Tropius. Pilo landed with a thud in front of Ruby and roared.

"Pilo!" he exclaimed, surprised. He looked around it for Sapphire, but found no sign of her. He looked into the Pokemon's eyes and asked with worry, "Where's Sapphire?" The Pokemon roared again, and this time, Ruby detected a hint of sadness in its voice. Pilo spread its wings and lowered itself for Ruby to get on. Ruby immediately returned Nana to her Pokeball and got on Pilo. The Pokemon flapped its strong wings and took off into the sky.

Pilo flew far from the edge of the forest where the secret base was. Wind whistled past Ruby's ears as the strong Tropius flew so far towards the heart of the forest that no matter where Ruby looked, all he saw were trees. Thoughts ran through Ruby's mind of what had happened to Sapphire. If Pilo was taking him to her, what had really happened? Suddenly, Pilo quickly dove down into the forest, causing Ruby to pull his hat down on his head so it wouldn't fly off. The strong grass Pokemon gently landed with a thump in front of the opening to a cave. Ruby climbed off the Tropius and dusted off his clothes while he looked around. This part of the forest was unfamiliar, and the cave in front of him didn't have a landmark stating its name. Ruby also noticed that the land was extremely fertile; moss grew on the rocks and there were flowers everywhere. Sadly, he didn't see Sapphire. Pilo gave Ruby a small push in the direction of the cave.

"In there?" Ruby asked. He didn't know how deep the cave was, and it would be hard to find Sapphire if she was in there. Pilo gave a small nod to the red-eyed boy. "Alright," he said, "I'll go find her. Thank you, Pilo." After petting the Tropius one more time, Ruby turned on his heel and entered the cave.

~/~

'If Pilo brought me to the wrong spot,' Ruby thought viciously, 'I'm going to set him on fire!' Ruby had been walking for what felt like hours as his Kirlia, Ruru, twirled beside him. He had no choice but to teach Ruru flash so that he could see in the cave. The strong wild Pokemon in the cave were surprisingly hostile, and none of them hesitated to attack. His Pokemon managed to hold their own, but Ruby knew that they wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. The dark cave had plant life everywhere, and the ceiling dripped constantly. The dripping water had hit Ruby a number of times, and the thought of stains, wet spots, and moss on his shoes and clothes made him grit his teeth in anger.

After a long while of walking, Ruby and Ruru stumbled onto an exit. The two exited the cave to be faced with a beautiful field of flowers. The field was small and seemed to be inside some kind of valley or depression so that the only entrance into it was the cave, but it was still breathtaking. The setting sun lit up the flowers in such a way that the flowers seemed to shine. Flowers of every color decorated the field, making it seem like the Earth was a rainbow. But Ruby forgot all about the flowers when he saw a familiar head of brown hair lying face down in a patch of red tulips.

"Sapphire!" he yelled out as he ran towards her, Ruru following quickly. As he got closer, Ruby saw that the girl had a bunch of scrapes and cuts; one especially deep claw mark on the back of her right shoulder. The scratch had torn right through her shirt and skin and it was bleeding. 'These injuries had probably come from the Pokemon in the cave,' Ruby thought. Knowing that she got hurt made his worry increase. "What are you doing here?" he asked worriedly. He rolled her over so that she was on her back with her head in his lap.

"Ruby…?" she asked, dazedly. She forced her eyes open and tried to focus her vision on the person in front of her. It was Ruby, but he looked so fuzzy.

"Why were you here by yourself!?" he yelled, his expression a mix of anger and sadness. "I had to go through all that trouble to find you! Look, you're hurt! What would you have done if Pilo hadn't gone to get me!? Now my clothes are all dirty, and-"

"Shut up, Ruby…" Sapphire said quietly, her eyes closed. She wasn't in good shape, but he just had to scold her for making him worry.

Ruby sighed before saying, "Don't run off like this again, Sapph."

"Okay," she responded simply. Ruby knew she was in bad shape if she was submitting so easily. He knew that he had to get her to a doctor, so he got into a position to pick her up when she scooted away and quietly asked, "Can't we stay like this a bit longer?"

Ruby instantly shot down the idea. "No. You're injured and you need medical attention right away."

"Fine," Sapphire whispered, "but I want to give you something first."

"What is it?" he asked a bit icily. He was angry that she wasn't as concerned about her health as he was.

"I found it," she said. She reached out to her side and grabbed a small crown made of red tulips that she had woven together and placed it atop his head. The crown was light, and from what Ruby saw when Sapphire was holding it, the flowers were fresh and beautiful. "The thing for your designs… I found it," she said quietly with a smile. "What you were missing… was a personal connection to the designs, wasn't it?"

Ruby allowed a small smile to grace his face. She really hadn't given up, had she? He chuckled lightly and picked her up piggy back style. Sapphire wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head on his shoulder. Her heightened sense of smell appreciated the smell of Ruby mixed with cave water and flowers. It was a pleasant once-in-awhile change. Ruby adjusted her weight before replying, "I guess." With that, he began the long trek home.

~/~

"I'm fine, okay!?" she yelled at him. "Leave me alone, Prissy Boy!"

"Sapph, you're not 'fine'! Look, your wound opened up again! Now sit down and stop squirming! You're making it worse! If you bleed too much, you're going to leave a stain that is going to be a pain to remove!" Ruby yelled back.

She growled angrily, "I've already been in here for all of yesterday! I've let you pamper me, brush my hair, blabber about fashion, and now I'm ready to go outside!"

It had been two days since Sapphire was back. While he was taking care of her yesterday, he learned that she had spent the two weeks looking for that flower field. She had said that she knew that those flowers would really help Ruby's designs and that she just had to get them for him. Some wild Pokemon had weakened her in the cave, a wild Crobat being the one to leave the deep scratch mark, before a particularly strong group of Bellossom and Vileplume took her out while she was collecting flowers.

"I just want you to get better, okay?" Ruby tried reasoning.

She pouted and retorted, "I am better! I don't wanna sit in my room anymore!"

"Sapph," Ruby said matter of factly, "if that wound is exposed to dirt, it's going to get infected and you're going to die."

Sapphire shifted her weight uneasily at first before sitting down on her bed. "You didn't have to go and say that, ya' know? That makes it sound really depressing."

Ruby then walked over to Sapphire's desk chair from where he had been standing to guard the door. He flopped down into the chair and dug threw his backpack before he found what he wanted. He pulled it out and held it out to Sapphire. A blush adorned his face as he said, "I only say those things because I worry over you, okay?"

Sapphire took the white tulip Ruby had held out to her gently and smiled, a blush of her own appearing. She giggled a bit and Ruby looked away, pouting, only viewing her from the corner of his eye. He was blushing a lot more now, and she responded, "I know, Ruby, I know."

~/~

"Love is the language of flowers."

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A/N: Ruby is major over-protective here. I need more practice writing with him. The ending was a bit bad, but I kind of liked it… Well, what do you guys think? Oh, my next story is going to be my FIRST multi-chapter one. Yay! It's going to be a PokeSpe Fantasy AU! I hope you're looking forward to it! Also, my main theme for this story was flowers. Each flower mentioned symbolizes something. If you would like to Google what each one means, go ahead. I think it's more fun if you do. But if you would just like me to explain, they're right underneath:

pansy (Sapphire called Ruby this early on) – loving thoughts

red tulip – declaration of love

white tulip – [asking for] forgiveness

Well, I hope you enjoyed this story! Thanks for reading, and until next time!