Chapter Two

I woke up feeling well rested on Christmas Eve morning. I couldn't say the same for my uncle Larry and Cheren, however. They stayed up late into the night, peeking out random windows in hopes of spotting N returning to the old run down cabin. I assumed they had no luck as they never came barging into my room ecstatic about anything they saw.

But Bianca sure did barge into my room, ecstatic about what she saw. "Touko! You're never going to believe this! I just saw N!" Bianca exclaimed. She was on the verge of tears it seemed.

This wasn't a good thing. Bianca wasn't supposed to be in on the spying game, but yet here she was with her accidental results. She would only complicate things if N truly was living right next door. Why? Because we want to confront him, and she would just get in the way and try to prevent it.

I raised my eyebrows at Bianca and became slightly open mouthed. I wanted to look as surprised as possible. "Wow. Wait, wha?"

"And I swear I saw Ghetsis too!" Bianca continued on.

My stomach churned in what felt like fear. Yes, it had to be fear. Or was it just simple anxiety? Because now there is a possibility the real criminal is right next door as well.

"Bianca, are you sure?" I said in a hurry. I couldn't wait to hear what Larry and Cheren had to say about this. They would flip out at Bianca's Ghetsis sighting. Especially if they truly did stay up all night peeking restlessly out windows with no luck.

"Yes!" Bianca continued on. "He has the same build and is the same height. His hair is all chopped off though, and it looks gray. But he was wearing a black eye patch, and that is a dead giveaway, right?"

She was right. The eye patch is a dead giveaway. And the fact that N was present is an even greater one. I shot out of bed and hurriedly got dressed, even with Bianca still in the room. It didn't bother me none, I was in a hurry to wake Larry and Cheren up.

"What were they doing exactly?" I quizzed as I pulled on my black leggings.

"Talking it looked like. N was talking to the man that I know was Ghetsis while he smoked a nasty cigarette." Bianca made a gagging sound, signifying that she thought cigarettes were absolutely disgusting. She did the same thing to me a few years back when I smoked on occasion. I shrugged my shoulders at her.

"So N smokes? Maybe I'll go over there and bum one off of him," I said kiddingly. Bianca didn't find that funny.

"No, idiot! The older man was the one smoking and I wouldn't allow you to do that anyway!"

I cringed. Nope. I wouldn't dare head over there and ask Ghetsis for a cig.

"I say we spy on the cabin!" Bianca suggested, in a more hushed and excited tone this time. I raised my eyebrows at her. She must have been more adventurous than I thought. I was surprised. I wondered if she would be up for going over there later tonight and peeking through the windows.

So I decided to test her.

"Yes, we should!" I said in agreement. "We should go over to that cabin tonight and –"

"NOOO!" Bianca growled in a low, anxious tone. "Touko, what are you thinking!? I mean spy on them through the windows. You know, with binoculars or something."

I rolled my eyes. Of course she would suggest what we have already tried. Little did she know she had amazing spying results compared to Larry and Cheren and myself. But she wasn't willing to pull out the big guns. Speaking of guns, I wished we had some on hand in our Pokemon's place. For protection, of course.

"I'm telling Cheren. I want his take on all of this," Bianca said as she rushed out my bedroom door. I shook my head. Judging by Bianca's reaction, the rest of us were going to have to spy on N, and possibly Ghetsis, in secret. But how? Bianca and my mom were always around, and if they found out, they would flip their shit.

I headed down the stairs shortly after Bianca rushed out of my room. I could smell the heavenly scent of eggs, bacon, and pancakes coming from the kitchen. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Larry at the bar feeding his face. It didn't look like he lost a minute of sleep. Bianca and Cheren were talking in hushed tones on the far end of the bar, obviously discussing what Bianca saw.

"So how'd everything go?" I asked Larry, smiling sarcastically.

He shook his head as he stared into his scrambled eggs. "I fell asleep ten minutes in," he responded as he slowly turned to me. He shrugged. "Too many beers." I laughed lightly to myself and turned to the chair by the window where he supposedly sat. It did look more comfortable than the other furniture. It was a recliner after all. I couldn't blame him.

"Cheren couldn't stay awake either. At least he stayed up till 4AM," Larry continued. I looked up at the clock above the shiny black stove. It was 9AM. So Cheren got some sleep, at least.

"Eggs? Touko?" My mother asked, handing me a paper plate loaded with scrambled eggs.

"Please! Thanks, mom!" I said, happily taking the plate of delicious protein.

"Bacon?" she offered another plate. I took it graciously and thanked her again.

"Supposedly Bianca saw N this morning," I whispered to Larry as I sat down beside him. He about choked and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Well she had more luck than us and she wasn't even in on it!" Larry shook his head, wiped his hands on his red and green Christmas tree pajamas legs and started to sip his coffee.

"And she saw Ghetsis . . ."

Larry snorted French vanilla coffee all over his plate and on the table.

"Larry!" My mother exclaimed loudly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, yeah, Sarah. It just went down the wrong hole is all," Larry responded after coughing several times. My mother shook her head sympathetically, threw him another napkin, and turned her back to us to start cleaning up.

"What?" Larry asked in a whisper.

"Yeah," I proclaimed again. "She saw –"

"Ghetsis," Cheren cut me off as he strolled over with Bianca in toe.

"I say we spy on the cabin!" Bianca said excitedly in a whisper.

Larry, Cheren, and myself looked at each other and nodded our heads. Maybe if all four of us spied all day long, we would finally find something worth calling the police over. But it would also make for an extremely long day.

And an extremely long day it was. Bianca ended up not spying at all. She got bored with it the first thirty minutes. Her boredom was a good thing because she kept my mom occupied. But then again, my mom also asked me to play a few board games with her and Bianca, so I couldn't spy for too long. And Cheren's spying post was constantly interrupted by Bianca as she demanded his attention. He reminded her several times that he was spying and how it was all her idea. Bianca eventually said that what she saw wasn't true, and that it was probably someone else.

I can't believe she doubted herself so fast. And it didn't help that she was the only one that saw Ghetsis in the first place.

So Larry was the only one that could spy on the neighboring cabin. But he fell asleep several times in the same recliner he sat in the night before. So by the end of the afternoon, virtually no spying was accomplished because I had to occupy my mother, Cheren had to occupy Bianca, Larry kept sleeping, and Bianca gave up on the whole idea a long time ago.

It wasn't until Bianca went with my mother to get groceries for Christmas dinner did the three of us get together again to discuss what the next game plan was.

"It's pointless spying through the blinds of our cabin," Cheren started off saying. "The only time we can see anything is when someone comes and goes, plus the windows to that cabin look like they are draped with heavy curtains. You simply can't see inside, especially at night."

"And we can't just neglect Bianca and Sarah by staring out windows all day long either," added uncle Larry. "This is our Christmas holiday. We are expected to spend time with each other, not spying on the neighbors."

I agreed. "So what do we do?" I asked. I was anxious to see N again. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to know what he was doing with his time since our last encounter. But most of all, I wanted to know what he was doing in that cabin.

We all stood silently in the large living room for a moment, giving each other questionable sideways glances, until my anxious curiosity couldn't take it any longer.

"I say we go over there and at least try to see through the windows!" I blurted out.

"I second that." I looked to uncle Larry and grinned. I was glad he was so quick to agree. He never was a cautious adult, and I didn't mind that one bit. It was Cheren that I was worried about next.

Cheren had a worried expression on his face. And then he looked down to the hardwood floor, deep in thought. Seconds later he looked up to us all and said, "We will have to go over there when the other two are asleep. If Bianca finds out, she will freak."

We all agreed.

I couldn't believe we were being so reckless. But it was so exciting. We weren't doing anything bad at all. We were just peeking in windows. And it wouldn't take very long.

We all had to know what N was doing, and Ghetsis too.

I had butterflies in my stomach the rest of the night as I anxiously awaited our expedition outside into the unknown. It was only a matter of time before my mother and Bianca went to bed.

A/N: Merry Christmas! I am going to try to do a double upload today for this story. :)