[A/N: This story has nothing to do with the King and the Trainer for those wondering, I'm just having a lot of N feels tonight and I wanted to try something new. I've never really written a canon character x reader fic, but I've been reading a lot of them lately, so I figured this might be a way to get all my N feels out, haha. Sorry if anything is wrong, I've only played the first Black&White and I haven't gotten around to even buying Black&White 2, mostly out of pure laziness and the fact that I don't think I will be able to handle all the feels. - Ugly sobbing - I think I might do more of these, mostly because they sate my fangirling over characters I find attractive, lolol.]

"Love doesn't always come when you want it to. Sometimes it just happens, despite your will." – V.C. Andrews, Flowers In The Attic

He was different from all the other boys you'd known, but you supposed you had no room to talk.

After all, you had always been different too. You had never quite fit in with all the other pretty damsels, with their perfect hair and their perfect dresses and their perfect manner of speaking that didn't seem to consist of anything but gossip and faux kindness. You had always been different, with your [h/l] [h/c] hair and your [e/c] eyes that had a tendency to find something they liked and lock on like a missile. The roses of Nuvema had never found you fit among their ranks, and thus you had been shunned into exile. Perhaps that was why you took such great joy in returning home; seeing the jealous faces of those who once ignored you always gave you great satisfaction.

But Nuvema and its beauties were long forgotten, as you now stared at something else of much more importance.

"N."

The name was barely a whisper, smaller and tinier than your Emolga had been when you'd first met. You'd spent years searching for him, looking in every crook and cranny that Unova had to provide and coming up empty. It was only when your mother pointed out another region on your map that you realized he might not be in Unova at all. So you traveled, to Johto, to Kanto, Sinnoh…

And all the while, he'd been in Hoenn, seemingly oblivious to your attempts to find him. You didn't know how he'd remained unaware, but you had a sneaking suspicion that he was all too knowing of your attempts to find him. How couldn't he be, with your name all over the headlines and newspapers all over the world?

But now he was there, standing with his back to you and seemingly unaware of your presence. He hadn't changed: his hands were still shoved down in his pockets, his cap still rested on a mop of emerald hair. But something was off, and as he turned to face you, you placed what was wrong: his innocence was gone. The naïve eyes that had once loved Pokemon, loved people, loved everything though he vehemently denied it…well, they lacked. Instead of being hopeful and idealistic, they were almost…dead.

"[Name].." His voice cracked, and you took half a step forward in concern. Where was the hopeful boy who'd left you behind?

As he fully turns and locks his gaze on you, you realize that the hopeful boy was long dead, and in it's place remained a grown man with no purpose. Your feet begin to move slowly, agonizingly so, but you can't seem to move at any other pace.

"You should have stayed in Unova." The words hurt worse than anything you've ever felt, and you draw back in surprise. Why isn't he happy to see you?

"W-why?"

His smile is a parody of what it was before. "Because Zekrom likes you a great deal better than it does me, and I'll be jealous if you stick around too long."

Your legs free you of their slowness as you grin, and you're closing the space between you and launching yourself at him. You're briefly aware of a weightless feeling as your arms wrap around his neck, and you realize that he's spinning you like a little girl and not the champion that you were. It must surprise the pedestrians who pass by. Aren't you the champion, the tough girl who refuses to show emotion?

No, you're not that girl right now. Right now, you're [name], and he's N, your rumored lover, and you feel safer in his arms than you have ever felt in your life. You don't know why. Maybe it's because you've come to associate his scent, which is a mixture of all the forests you've been in and all the rivers you've surfed and all the nature you've seen, with safety. Or maybe it's because he's looking at you with all the love that Cheren could never give you, like you're the most precious Pokemon in the world and he's in awe.

Either way, you never want to leave, and you hide yourself in his chest again.

But then you remember the significant lack of gleam in his eye, and you reluctantly draw back. Your hand touches his cheek, exploring carefully like he's a mirage you'll never see again, and his lips flicker in amusement. Yours do the opposite.

"You're sick." His small smirk fades as you touch your lips to his forehead, his cheeks, checking for warmth just like your mother used to do when she thought you had a fever. He shakes his head as you pull away.

"In mind only, mi'love." You like the way he says that last bit, the way he rushes it together like it's one big word instead of two, but as the thought comes you shake yourself. There are more important matters at hand.

"Then what..." You trail off as you notice a poster behind him taped to a building, a poster that has a sketched picture of that face you love so much on it, and below it, a reward posted. But that is not what makes you sick. It's the words after it, written in big bold letters like the poster is shouting them at you, that make you want to retch: DEAD OR ALIVE.

Your gaze returns. "But..Alder said.."

"Alder has no say in the matter anymore, remember?"

You feel nauseous. That must be why he wears his hat so low nowadays, then. To hide his face from the public that hunts him.

"But…no one told me..."

"They didn't have to. They just had to make sure you remained unaware of the matter." Now it's his turn to trace your cheek, to smear the carefully placed make up that those accompanying you on your travels had applied that morning. Bianca would have a fit, but as three curious fingers travel across your cheekbone, you realize that even she could not stop you from enjoying this.

"You can come back to Unova with me. We'll run away, change our names..no one will ever remember who we were. Not even us." The offer hangs in the air, but you know that he'll never take it. Despite that, you beg. "Please, N. Let yourself be happy."

His smile is sad, and he says a simple word that crushes you. "No. I will not have you throwing away all you've worked for."

For a moment, you feel like you're watching him fly away again. "You have duties as champion, and I..." he takes a glance back at the poster himself before he continues. "I am merely meant to admire you from afar."

From afar. You can't hold his gaze anymore, and you focus your eyes on his chest instead. Your reply is almost mumbled. "But I can't kiss you from afar." There are worse things you'd like to do than kiss him, shameful things, but you know that you might embarrass him if you voice your girlish wants.

Cold fingers brush your [h/l] hair out of your face, and you lean into the touch as he chuckles. "No, but you may kiss me all you like now."

You gladly take advantage of the offer while you can, his digits tangling themselves into your hair, your mouth nearly crushing his as he does the same. It's searing and burning and it should have happened sooner, but you're not about to complain. Instead, you lock your arms even tighter around your neck, pressing yourself up against him as if any amount of space between the two of you is unbearable. After all, it will not last forever, [you'll be lucky if it lasts all day] so you will most certainly enjoy it to the best of your ability while you can.