A/N: Thank you all for your support! Here's the next chapter, a bit shorter than usual, but don't worry, the next one will be longer again. Enjoy!

To Hi: Ah yeah, you'll have to wait and see to know if Cilan suspects something. Thanks a lot!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover.

Tomboy

Chapter 11

The room was almost completely dark when Iris woke up. The thick curtains of the Pokémon Center were unable to completely keep out the light of the streetlights, and she could see the outline of the door as light from the corridor shone through the cracks, but it was very clear to Iris that it wasn't time to get up yet. She wasn't sure what had woken her up, but now she felt wide awake and she knew with certainty that she wasn't going to fall back asleep anytime soon.

With a sigh, Iris turned on her other side, her back now to Cilan, not ready to give up sleep yet. Soft breathing and the occasional snore came from the dark contours of the Pokémon in the room, Fraxure's silhouette the most obvious.

Iris smiled. She still couldn't quite believe it, and yet at the same time it felt as the most normal thing ever. After the battle, Fraxure had been exhausted from both the battle and the evolution, but that hadn't stopped him from wanting to try out his new power and size. Cilan advised against it, and Iris agreed, knowing that a Pokémon needed its rest after the energy-consuming act of evolving. Fraxure hadn't agreed, and it was only when she threatened to put him in his Pokéball he finally relented to visit Nurse Joy.

He's a teenager now, Cilan had explained, even though Iris had already known that. But she had let him explain and he talked about how her partner could stop listening to her, how he would try her rules and how he would just generally be a nuisance, but it was needed for him to become a well-balanced Haxorus.

Cilan liked sharing his knowledge, he liked helping people, and yes, sometimes that made him a bit of a know-it-all and a pain, but he always had good intentions. And really, it was probably only due to that distraction of explaining things (and her own seemingly endless luck) that Cilan hadn't mentioned the odd thing of Axe- Fraxure knowing Outrage.

When her thoughts reached that point – Cilan – Iris knew it was a lost battle. Silently as not to wake Cilan or the Pokémon, she sat up in bed and drew her knees up to her chest. She did so reluctantly, because she didn't want to think about him, she didn't want to think about her strange reactions around him, and she definitely didn't want to think about what would happen when he found out!

Iris sighed. But there was no escaping the truth, and she knew she had to face it sooner or later. She had already managed to procrastinate for days and days on end, but now, in the darkness and with only her thoughts for company, Iris knew she couldn't avoid it any longer.

Cilan would find out. There was no doubt in her mind about that. It might not be tomorrow or next week or even later than that, but even if he never grew suspicious and she managed to keep up this charade for the rest of their journey to Kanto, the wedding would surely end it all. If she appeared as herself…

Her heart clenched and Iris rested her head on her knees. His reaction would not be good. Not good at all. An involuntary shudder ran through her, and she tightened her hold on her knees.

Their friendship would be ruined. Even if she did tell him now, right now, at this very moment, their friendship would be ruined. The remains of her friendship as Iris with Cilan, and the newfound friendship as Ike.

That thought frightened her, and Iris knew she would do everything in her power to prevent him from finding out. And that, that thought, her own reaction, that was perhaps just as frightening.

It was irrational, it was stupid, it couldn't last- There were many and more reasons why this was hopeless, and she knew that for their friendship's sake, telling him sooner rather than later would be the best thing to do.

But she didn't want this to end. She didn't want this friendship to end. She didn't want to lose Cilan.

Another thought she had tried to suppress for so long arose: was it just friendship? Or… She had already admitted to herself that there were still some remnants of her crush left and that those were the cause of her stupid feelings, but what if…

Did she dare think it? Iris found herself chewing her nails, a habit she had developed when there was nothing edible around and she was talking – or thinking, apparently – about a certain subject. That subject being…

Iris wanted to scream. Arceus, she was such a coward! She couldn't even admit it to herself! Admitting would make it more real, it would mean she would have to deal with it, and she didn't know if she could.

Several curses flew through her mind and she clenched her fists. Damn it! She was well on her way to becoming a Dragon Master, she was even getting over her fear of Ice Types, and yet she was still afraid of her own feelings…

Iris glared in the dark and clenched her jaw. Say it, she encouraged herself. Say it!

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Frustration mounting, she snapped her mouth shut, and her nails bore into her palms. C'mon, say it!

"I'm in love." Her whisper was barely audible, but still seemed to cut through the silence of the room as if it had been an explosion. It might as well have been, for the emotional impact it had on her felt very much like one.

"I'm in love," she repeated, a bit stronger now. "I'm in love with Cilan."

Next to her, the young man in question stirred.

Iris clapped a hand for her mouth, eyes wide in horror and she silently cursed herself. He could not find out! She held her breath, the seconds dragging on as she waited for another sign of his waking, but nothing more happened and Iris relaxed again.

Maybe it would've been better if he had woken up, she thought bitterly. At least then she wouldn't have had to continue with this act any longer, nor would she have to consciously end it. He would've found out without her having to directly tell him.

Gods, she truly was a coward.

Unbidden tears sprung in her eyes, another sign of her weakness, and she clenched her eyes shut in a feeble attempt to stop them. With a shaky sigh, Iris lied back down and turned her back to Cilan's sleeping figure. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, and then stared unseeingly in the darkness.

It was a long time before sleep claimed her again, and not even that could truly alleviate her fears.

A/N: Sorry there wasn't much action in this chapter, but we need Iris to realize the extent of her actions, and the poor girl just did… Anyway, thank you for reading, and please leave me a review!

Thank you!

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Please, if you have any recommendations, let me know, my list is growing shorter and shorter haha, so I need them!