There was always rain
I wasn't able to post anything for a long time due to many exams and the loss of my laptop, so I have to rewrite my files first. The continuations of my ongoing stories will follow, but it might take a while longer.
This is mainly because I wanted to show I'm alive, but I still hope you like this little OneShot.
Reviews are very much appreciated, for everything that comes up in your mind, be it about my writing style, the content or anything else. Thanks a lot to all the people reading what I type. ^^
I don't own the characters, places or Pokemon itself, and I have no intentions to earn money with this story in any way!
There was always rain. Whenever he had nothing to do, there was rain. Rakutsu hated having nothing to do. He hated it because that was when he noticed how lonely he was.
He had actually thought of it as a good thing for a while. He enjoyed being alone. His thoughts were the only friends he'd fully rely on. But he hated being lonely – a big difference people used to miss. Being alone means taking a break from your friends, being lonely means feeling like your friends aren't there.
Now he walked down the longest road in Aspertia City, trying to ignore the rain pouring down on his face. He had no destination or plan, he just had nothing better to do than taking a walk. Taking a walk and think, because those were the only things he didn't consider to be a waste of time when he wasn't working.
It was a little girl that pulled him out of his thoughts. „Hello", she just said. First he didn't know she was addressing him. When he noticed there was nobody else around, he had to find the source of her voice.
A moment later, he discovered it was coming from above him. He looked up to see the child leaning out of a window looking down to him. „You're Hugh's sister, aren't you?", the young man asked as he started to recognize her. She had been in the audience whenever his class got a reason to appear on a stage.
„You're Faitsu's boyfriend, aren't you?", was her respond. It caught him off guard. Obviously, to an outsider, his constant flirting would imply that, since he didn't spare the former member of Team Plasma on stage as well as anywhere else.
It took him a while to find an answer. „I suppose it's something like that, yeah", he slowly muttered.
And her next question surprised him even more: „Are you sad?"
„Why…", he avoided her gaze and stared at the clouds, which still bombarded him with water drops.
On the day she left him, it had been raining as well. He had won. He had defeated them all. Each and every known member of Neo Team Plasma had been taken into custody, and he had everything Ghetsis and Colress had worked for, destroyed in his bag.
And yet he had lost. He had lost her. Whenever he closed his eyes for too long, he saw himself just standing there, watching the last followers of the old Team Plasma flee. Watching her flee. Just once, she had turned around and met his stern gaze with watery eyes. If she had been crying, one wouldn't have seen it in the rain. He hadn't said anything to stop her. His look had expressed more than he could find the words for. But it wasn't enough. She had still left. If he had been crying, one wouldn't have seen it in the rain.
„Why would I be sad?"
The girl however didn't take her eyes off of him. „Because you're lonely", she pointed out.
„I'm just alone", the superintendent said, shrugging to fake carelessness.
But she didn't buy that. „No, you're lonely. I know what it looks like when people are lonely, they have this look. Hugh has this look whenever he thinks I'm not watching…"
He found himself out of answers yet again. The girl had something disarming to her. „I'm sorry for that", he decided to answer.
„He is lonely because he thinks it's his fault nobody sees him", she explained. „Why are you lonely?"
This was the point he finally looked into her eyes again. He saw a mixture of curiosity and sympathy. He didn't have to think about the answer for this one: „Because I think it's my fault that everyone left."
That was the point. Everyone had left. Looker had been chosen for another mission in Kalos. Leo had started traveling again to train for the next tournament at the league. Hugh had made it his mission to seek out the Shadow Triad after they escaped from the final battle. Faitsu had chosen to leave with N.
„Why would it be your fault? Leaving is just what people do." The way this little girl said it, nobody could ever doubt it. Nobody except for Rakutsu, of course.
„I don't think that's right in this case", he whispered. „I think I just wasn't enough to keep them here."
The superintendent thought Hugh's sister was done surprising him, and that he was prepared for her kind of questions. But what surprised him more than anything was her laugh. A kind and gentle laugh that almost made him smile… „You'd be enough to keep me here", she finally chirped. „Out in the rain."
He hadn't noticed it, but by now she stretched her head out of the window far enough to be hit by the rain. Since this wasn't healthy, it was probably best he ended the conversation. „You shouldn't do that", he started, but before he could say anything else, she spoke up again.
„Just one more thing", she declared, making it clear she would insist on this. „If everyone has left, where do you go?"
„Home", he responded. Then he left.
As she just wanted to close the window, he turned around one more time. „Thank you", he uttered with a smile. And she returned it with the purest grin he had seen since she left him.
The window was closed. The street was quiet. The moment was gone. All that was left of it was the rain. There was always rain. He had said he was going home. But he wouldn't go back to the school building he still lived in. He would travel to find some friends. He would not be lonely.