Hiya guys got another Negaishipping one-shot for ya! However, I can't take all the credit for the idea, cause I got it from one of my favorite authors Kia-B. She doesn't do Pokemon fanfics, she does Naruto ones and is a big SasuHina fan (and if you're a SasuHina fan to I really recommend checking her fanfics out) and the idea came from a SasuHina fanfic she entitled Neighbors. I really loved it so I'm dedicating this one-shot to Kia-B …even though she might into read it. Anywho, for those who are reading it, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon

Chapter 11: K is for Keys

Thump! Thump!

That was the sound that filtered through the air. It was a very soft sound, hardly audible, and would have been missed if hadn't been for the complete silence it disturbed.

Thump! Thump!

Eyelids twitched in annoyance at the dull sound. He had been trying to ignore it, but the sound had been reappearing every other thirty seconds for the past ten minutes! Dear, Arceus it was enough to drive a certain raven haired nineteen year old insane! And it would have if the much needed nap he was trying to take hadn't kept him captive to the ever so comfortable couch.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

There it was again, and the two previous thumps seemed to have made a friend with a third thump, much to Ash's dismay. "'Move out' she said. 'It'll be a fun and new experience,' she said.' Ash muttered through gritted teeth as he grabbed the pillow that had been cushioning his head and placed it over his face in attempt to muffle the sounds as they crept through the wall again.

Despite his many travels to different regions Ash had always looked forwards to coming home to his mother, Mr. Mime and his mother's amazing cooking. And after exploring another region, conquering the regions league, meeting new Pokemon and people and taking one more step to reaching his goal of Pokemon Master, Ash had returned home, only to get lectured by his mother. She had said something about him getting older, responsibility, his room being too small and still not having a special someone, but since his brunette mother had graciously placed a large plate of food in front of him before speaking Ash was paying little to no attention to the point she was making and had just nodded and agreed with whatever his mother had said between bites of food. Whatever he agreed with Ash had no memory of, which lead to him being uber confused when his mother, happily, announce that he'd be moving out to live on his own. At first the raven haired teen thought she was joking, but turns out his ever so clever mother already had a place picked out for him and everything. Granted the apartment complex was nice and he could pay the rent easy, it was just the fact that the place was all the way in Unova that bugged him. Not only would he be separated from his mother's warm hugs and cheery smiles, her food would be a whole three regions away!

"Then again her food was what got me living on my own in the first place." Ash reminded himself.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Ash groaned loudly and yanked the blanket he had been using over his head in annoyance. This only earned him a squeak of protest from the Electric Mouse Pokemon that had just had the blankets yanked out from under him and was now on the floor next to the couch. "Sorry, bud" Ash mumbled, he had forgotten that Pikachu had fallen asleep in his arms on their way home from this morning's intense training session. Being too tired to walk to his bedroom Ash had settled for the couch and was happy that he hadn't bother to put away the pillow and blanket from yesterday night's moving marathon with said electric type Pokemon. Not having his mother nagging for him to clean up all the time was one of the perks of living on your own, not that he left the apartment a total mess…for the most part.

"Pika pi chu" Pikachu chattered, upset for been woken up from such a peaceful nap. Besides it wasn't Ash that was going to feel sore after all that training today, all the raven haired teen had to do was run around, shout words of encouragement and commands to him and the other Pokémon and occasionally jump or make a nose dive for the ground and then later on rant when one of them 'accidentally' launched an attack in his general direction. Sure, he had fallen asleep on the way back, while Ash and to walk to get them home, but if he was going to be awake so was his master. "Piii CHU!" Pikachu cried unleashing a Thunderbolt on the teen on the couch.

"GAH!" Ash yelped as he ended up on the floor with yellow sparks jumping from his singed body. Ash grimaced at the laughing Pokemon, he opened his mouth to expresses his anger in a series of a few four letter words that instantly came to mind but his attention was captivated by something far more annoying than Pikachu at the moment.

THUMP!

"For the love of Arcues!" Ash said, stumbling against the blanket that ensnared him as he got to his feet. "What the hell is making that noise?!" the sleep deprived and irritated raven made his way over to the door, not caring that his hair had a severe case of bedhead and that he was still dressed in the ripped jeans and black tank top he wore to go training this morning, and wrenched it open. Narrowed amber eyes suddenly widened at what they saw and his mind went blank, forgetting all the things he wanted to yell at the source that was producing the thumping sound. The reason was because of the girl. The pretty girl, might Ash add, that was across the hall from his open apartment door.

She didn't seem to have noticed the sound of his door opening or his presence as she continued to mutter to herself. "Damn it!" She had a death grip on the door handle of what Ash was assuming was here apartment door, and was jiggling it roughly only to be rewarded with a disheartening clanking sound. A sound signalizing that the door was locked.

This particular girl had obviously locked out herself out of her apartment. Even if the scene of the girl fighting with the door wasn't playing before his eyes Ash would still be to guess her predicament. The way her eyes, that reminded Ash of melting dark chocolate, narrowed and were gleaming with frustration, the crease of her milk chocolate skin as she furrowed her brows and not the mention all of the contents of her now empty pink bag were strewed on the floor around her bare feet all implied that she was indeed locked out.

"Ugh! I leave just to get the damn mail and go and lock myself out! Great job, Iris!" Iris, what a beautiful name. The said girl growled as she threw, what appeared to be a gift card, over her shoulder after its futile attempt to open her locked door and then she turned slightly and rammed into the door with her shoulder.

Thump!

So that's where the annoying sound was coming from. A pretty girl, named after an equally pretty flower, who had locked herself out of her apartment after grabbing her mail.

"Arceus, damnit! Now what?" The girl rested her head against the door as she let out a sigh of pent up anger.

The raven haired nineteen opened his mouth in hopes to answer Iris's questioned when she suddenly gasped and jerked her head up as if she had thought of something. However she didn't seem to take action right away, she remained still as if hesitating for some reason. "But…I-I don't want to ruin it…" she mumbled, barely loud enough for Ash to hear, but after a moment Iris sighed and Ash watched as she reached up for the yellow beanie, that had the image of a smiling Pikachu printed on both sides, and yanked it from her head.

Amber eyes blinked in amazement at how much hair she had, making him wonder how in world she managed to shove all of it under the small hat. Iris's hair was a deep royal purple color and was up in a large messy bun that sagged to one side as she titled her head and maneuvered her fingers to where the bun was held together. When she removed her small delicate fingers, Ash drew in air at the breath taking sight of the bun losing it's shape as Iris's long purple tresses tumbled down her shoulders and back in an almost too elegant way.

The movement of her falling hair sent a whiff of the dark skinned girl's fragment shampoo drifting in Ash's direction and he found himself inhaling. A smile graced his lips at the scent of lavender filled his scenes…so much so that he felt his nose twitch. 'Oh crap.' Was the last thing Ash could think before he jerked forwards with the strong force of his unavoidable sneeze.

The sudden loud sound forced an equally loud scream of surprise from the girl with royal purple hair. Iris whipped around, the gold hairpin; she was going to use to pick her door's lock, aimed threateningly at the boy that made the sound. "Whoa, whoa!" Ash cried, holding up his hands in defense at the wide eyed girl. "I-I didn't mean to scare you."

Iris remained unresponsive; she just stood there with her back pressed up against her locked door allowing Ash to get a full view of her. She wore a pair of sweatpants, obviously not to been seen out in public with due to various berries printed on it and the comfortable fuzziness of it, and pink t-shirt that stopped at her navel, exposing her flat stomach, and that was made out of a thin material, giving amber eyes a full view of the bright yellow bra that stood out against her dark skin and emphasized her-ahem- rather large bust.

"Hey! My eyes are up here!" Iris snapped, her cheeks were red from him staring at her chest and quickly brushed her long locks in front of her shoulders to hide it.

Ash's eyes widened in horror at what he had just did. "Uh, oh! I-I wasn't looking t-there…well I-I was but I wasn't trying to-"

Before Ash could finish a blur of green lunged at him! What came next was a razor sharp pain in his left and then to right cheek. Ash was barely able to recoiled from the pain when he felt a blow to the stomach, knocking him to the floor.

"Axew!" Iris shouted, in a stern tone. Whatever was on top of him responded to the sound of Iris's voice, causing it to stop and turn it's head.

But before Ash could get a good look at the thing Pikachu Quick Attacked it off of him. "Pikachu, no!" Ash said, sitting up, only to wince at a dull pain in his abdomen. Gritting against it, Ash watched his small electric type tousled with a green Pokémon, about Pikachu's size, that he didn't recognize.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu cried as he swung his Iron tail at the green Pokemon, sending it flying.

"Oh, no! Axew!" Iris exclaimed, watching as the Pokemon slammed rather hard into the nearby wall. "Are you okay?" Instead of answering the small reptile like creature got to it's feet and shot a determined look at Pikachu before charging an indigo orb of light in it's mouth. "Axew! NO!"

"EW!" What Ash could only assume was a sneeze admitted from the small Pokemon as it clamped it's mouth shut upon hearing Iris's shout.

"Ah! Get down!" Ash was startled when the purple haired girl threw herself at him, forcing him to flatten himself against the floor, but was rather grateful to her when there was an explosion two seconds later.

The raven coughed and sputtered as the smoke slowly cleared from the enclosed space of the hallway. "What in Arcues's name was that?" He muttered as he shook his head to clear his ringing ears only to hear a panicked voice from above.

"A-Are you okay?" Amber eyes met dark chocolate ones as Iris stared down at him. She was kneeling beside him, one hand planted on the floor while the other rested ever so gently on his chest. Her touch sent this warm fuzzy sensation pulsing through him, but Ash couldn't dwell on it too much as Iris shook her head, purple locks bouncing as her eyes filed with worry. "Oh, you're bleeding!" Her small delicate fingers grazed his z marked cheek, making him flinch slightly he felt s stinging sensation as Iris pulled away, showing red stained fingers. "I-I'm so sorry that my Axew used Scratch on you!" Iris's expression was apologetic as she helped him sit up, before it molded into an angered one and she looked over her shoulder. "Axew, apologize for scratching up this guy's face!"

The small green Pokemon, who Ash now knew was Axew, looked up from the smoke stain on the hallway carpet, eyed Ash and shook his head. "Ax axew!" He then pointed his finger at his owner's chest and then back to the raven haired teen.

"Ax-Axew! He wasn't s-staring on pu-purpose!" Iris stammered, a red tint coloring her milk chocolate complexion. Turning to Ash, Iris bowed her head apologetically. "Sorry, Axew can be a bit protective of me when it comes to strangers…"

"Oh, no it's fine." Ash said, shaking his head as he got to his feet and helped her up as well, enjoying the tingly feeling from holding her hand as he did so. Motioning to Pikachu, who had mounted his shoulder and was glaring at Axew, Ash continued. "My, buddy, Pikachu here can be the same way. I just hope his Iron Tail didn't hurt the little guy."

At this Iris grinned and a glint of pride appeared in her dark chocolaty eyes. "Axew maybe small, but he's toughs as nails," Ash watched she went over and scooped up the reptile like Pokemon. "I'm just glad I didn't have Dragonite's pokeball with me, or things could have been a lot worse."

Ash blinked, so she had a Dragonite? Pretty impressive for such a cute girl…wait cute?! Ash felt heat rise in his cheeks at the random thought and it quickly started spreading to the tips of his ears and the back of his neck as Iris touched his face again. "Ouch, looks like Axew cut kinda deep," Ash flinched and made a small sound at the sting as she touched one of his bleeding cheeks. Smiling warmly she motioned her head over to her door. "To make it up to you, how about you come inside so I can patch up you face," She took a step forwards but then paused and sweatdropped, "That is if I can get my damn door unlocked! Ugh! I'm so stupid!" dropping Axew, she grabbed at the door handle again and jiggled it angrily, only to groan in defeat.

"Hey, no need to stress about this," Ash said, coming over and leaning down to examine the door handle and lock. "I've locked myself out of my apartment plenty of times; I bet I can open this lock, easy." Reaching into his jean pocket Ash pulled out his keys.

"Um, I know I may not know you too well, dude, but I doubt your apartment key is going to unlock my door," Iris said, looking up from gathering the contents on the floor and replacing them in her pink bag.

"That's not the key I'm gonna use," Ash flicked through the assortment of keys before stopping at a paperclip that had been clipped to the key chain. The piece of metal was bent and twisted in an odd way, causing Iris to arch an eyebrow, but Ash just shrugged and inserted it into the door's keyhole. "I always use this as a makeshift key whenever I lock myself out."

Ash heard Iris laugh; it was a cute and innocent laugh that made him grin despite his bleeding and stinging cheeks. "So, are you, like, a key expert of something?" She asked, flipping through the magazine that she had collected from her mail box about fifteen minutes ago.

"I wouldn't say that," Ash said, jiggling the paperclip and twisting to the left. He nodded in approval at the sound of the lock unlatching with a loud click. Turning, Ash smiled up at Iris's shocked expression. "But I guess I'm good enough to have unlocked your door."

A happy grin overtook the pretty girl's face. "Oh, thank you so much…uh…"

"Ash. Ash Ketchum." The nineteen year old stuck out his hand and felt his face heat up as the purple haired girl clasped her smaller hand with his larger one. "And don't mention it; I'd hate to be locked out my apartment."

"Yeah, especially since I walked out looking like I just rolled out of bed," Iris added with an embarrassed giggle, indicating that her attire wasn't what she usually wore. Not bothering to let go of Ash's hand she lead him inside, saying that she had to return his kind deed by at least clean up his face. "Sorry about the mess." Iris quickly shoved a blanket and few articles of clothing aside to clear a space on her couch for Ash to sit.

"No, it fine," Ash said with a laugh, "besides it's great to know that someone else's apartment is just as bad as mine."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Iris asked, coming over with a small first aid kit. Ash opened his mouth to apologize but Iris gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm just joking, you little kid," She giggled at his pouting expression and took a seat on the coffee table, that was in front of his couch, to face him. Opening the kit's lid, Iris paused for a moment and then held out something to the raven haired teen. "Ash, could you hold this for a moment?"

Nodding, Ash took the small object she had been holding and blinked seeing that it was the golden hair pin she had pointed at him when he had startled her with his sneeze. The pin was slightly larger than the normal hairpins he had seen his mom use, not to mention that it was a shimmering gold instead of black. Moreover Ash could see little silver gem stones lining up the pin's gold frame while a marble sized diamond shaped gem, colored a few shades lighter than Iris's long flowing locks, adorned the very top. "Is…this pin important to you?" Ash asked, and then winced as she dabbed rubbing alcohol to the cuts on his left cheek with a cotton ball.

Chocolaty eyes glanced up from his cheeks before an unhappy expression flickered through them. "Um, yeah…my grandmother gave it to me." She paused to replace the now bloody cotton ball with a fresh one. Iris gave a small sound of amusement as she resumed her work. "Well, she wasn't really my grandmother…but I treated her like she was."

Taking notice at how Iris used past tense of was and treat, Ash replied carefully. "I-I bet you to were…um really close."

Her delicate fingers paused from swabbing his cheek for a second, as Iris realized he had caught her verbal slip up that implied what she couldn't say out loud, well at least without choking up and forcing back tears. As she slowly resumed Iris nodded, silently thanking him for not blunting saying what he understood. "Yeah…" Iris straightened up to grab a small cloth and gently wiped his wet cheek and then started to unwrap some gauze from the small roll. "That pin was a gift she gave me for my birthday two years…before…you know…" She took a moment to carefully place the patch of soft cotton like material over the sanitized cuts. She asked Ash to hold it in place as she cut a piece of tape with her teeth and then firmly applied it to keep the gauze in place. Iris grabbed another cotton ball, dampened it with rubbing alcohol and went to work on his right cheek and continued to speak. "I usually only wear it on special occasions, or when it's the first thing I can find to hold my hair up in the morning. All the rushing I did earlier almost left me with no choice but to use it to pick my lock."

"I would have never guessed that I meet a person who was anticipating getting their mail so much that they locked themselves out of their apartment." Ash teased.

Iris just shrugged and stated coolly, "If you were waiting to hear back from Opulicid City's Gym Leader, Drayden, I'm sure you would do the same thing."

"Oh, were you planning to work there as one of those greeter trainers or something?" Ash asked, not knowing why Iris would want to a job like that since those trainers always got creamed time and time again.

(Tg2012: When I say greeter trainers, I'm talking about the trainers that insist on battling you before you battle the gym leader every time you challenge a Pokemon gym in the games. Ugh, they are so annoying and a waste of time!)

"Nah, I've actually already landed the job I applied for."

"Oh really, what is it?"

"Gym leader."

"Well that's rather-wait w-what?!" Ash cried, eyes widening as he processed the words that Iris had said in such a nonchalant tone. "Yo-You're going to be gym leader of Opulicid City?!"

(Tg2012: Btw the apartment complex they are in is stationed in Opulicid city..)

"Yeah," Iris said with a nod as she wiped away the extra liquid the rubbing alcohol left behind. She started to apply the gauze. "I don't see why you look so surprise."

"Well I-I just…I m-mean I-I wouldn't have…" Ash was rather startled. He couldn't imagine such a pretty girl taking the place of such a strong gym leader like Drayden!

"Becoming Opulicid's gym leader will take me one more step closer of reaching my dream of becoming a Dragon Master." Iris said, determination glowing in her dark chocolate eyes. Flashing a smile at the dumbfounded teen, she poked his nose. "Hey, maybe if you up to it, you and your Pikachu could come and battle me," finished with patching up Ash's face she glanced over to pile of mail beside her. "Of course you're gonna have to wait for that stubborn man to stop acting like a little kid officially transfer the title of gym leader over to me."

Ash sweatdropped at how Iris spoke about Drayden. "Uh, Drayden maybe retiring, but I don't think he'll be happy to hand over the job to someone who talks about him like that."

"But he is stubborn! It took me months just to convince Daddy that he was starting to get a bit old for the job of gym leader."

"Da-Daddy?!"

"He's not my real dad," Iris informed, rolling her eyes as she closed up the first aid kit. A frown than molded onto her features. "It's not like I had real mom, dad, siblings or…well anything really…"

Amber eyes blinked at her words and it took Ash a moment to realize what Iris was saying. He was about to open his mouth and try and say something comforting, but instead Iris started to explain. She told him that she was in fact an orphan, never knowing who her real parents were, or of their whereabouts. Iris a rather disorientated childhood, and after switching though a couple of foster homes and families, she fell under the care of her village's elder, the one she referred to as grandmother previously. But once her grandmother was gone Iris was at a loss again, and since she was fifteen at the time, she knew that she would have no choice but to return to the foster home. However, Iris didn't have to stay there long since she had been bold enough to challenge gym leader Drayden to a Pokemon battle, when he passed through the Village of Dragons. In the end Iris was able to impressed man, despite losing. And after he learned of her situation, the gym leader deiced to adopt her as his own daughter and assist her in her dream of becoming a Dragon Master.

"He may get on my nerves sometimes and I gotta admit that we agree sometimes." Iris paused at the last letter in her pile and sighed realizing that the papers of recognition of her title of Opulicid City gym leader hadn't come in yet. "But if I hadn't met Drayden, who know what would have happened to me and I couldn't be more grateful to him. Besides, he even allowed me to move out once my eighteenth birthday came around!" Ash smiled, so she was a year younger than him? And she was cute?! This new friendship was starting to look rather promising. "But I don't think I could call it much of a privilege since he made sure the apartment I chose was only five blocks away from his house." Iris muttered. She then blinked at the look of displeasure that had overtook the teen with patches of gauze on his cheeks, smirking she poked his nose and asked. "What's up with that little kid pout of yours?" Ash felt himself blush, was his disappointment of knowing that her father was only a hop, skip and jump away really that obvious? Before Ash could come up with anything to say Iris rose to her feet to put the first aid kit away, passing by Pikachu and Axew who seemed to have made up rather quickly and were now playing what looked like rock paper scissors. "But that's enough about me, what your story?"

"My story?" Ash repeated. "Well, it's nothing as interesting as your story, Iris. I'm just a guy, with a dream of becoming a Pokemon Master,"

"Pokemon Master?" Iris sounded intrigued as she came back with two cans of soda in hand. She tossed one to him and took a seat on the coffee table again. "That's rather ambitious isn't it?"

"I guess," He admitted as he opened the can. "But as long as I put 110% of me effort into my dream, I'm sure it will come true."

Iris giggled at the way his amber eyes gleamed with determination, she found it adorable. "So, you came to Unova to pursue your dream?"

At this Ash sweatdropped and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well there's also the fact the my mom kicked him out of the house." Iris snickered, nearly choking on her drink. "She gave me this long lecture about at nineteen year old should be living on his own and exploring what life has to offer, like responsibly, paying rent, meeting a special someone-"

"You don't have a special someone yet?" Iris asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "I would have thought a hot guy like you would at least have a girlfriend." Ash's face flushed red at Iris's bold words. Did she just straight out tell him that she was attracted to him?! Iris giggled, the sound resembling the tinkling of wind chimes, at his stunned expression. "That's no way to take a complement, didn't your mom at least teach you how to say thanks!" Ash only blushed even harder as he fumbled over his words to find something to say, but was caught off guard when Iris leaned forwards and winked at him. "But I guess sitting there and blushing like a cute little kid is thanks enough!"

"I-I'm not blushing!" Ash retoured, quickly turning away and taking a long swig of his drink to him the true fact.

"Come on, don't tell me you've never been called handsome before." Iris teased.

"Of course I have…" ash said, even though he was sure that having his mother say it didn't count.

"Well, than how come your still single, Ash?"

"Uh…I donno, I guess I was too caught up with my Pokemon and stuff to concerned dating. Besides I never really met a girl that was pretty and interesting enough to grab my attention." Ash swallowed hard. He had never really been the bold type but there was first time for everything right? "Well n-not until to-today at least…"

An awkward silence settled between the two. Ash's heart was hammering in her chest and his stomach was doing flip flops. He had never confessed his attraction to a girl before and he was just hoping that Iris didn't notice how nervous he was as he waited for her to say something.

Dark chocolate eyes continued to stared him in disbelief, and a blush tinted Iris cheeks. "Oh…wow," she said softly as she lowered her drink from where it had been hovering at her lips. "N-No one's ever…called my pretty before…"

Was this acceptance of his confession? Should he have waited for another time to tell her this sudden feeling of attraction? Did she now think that he was a creepy for just saying that he liked her despite being a stranger who lives across the hall from her?! Not knowing what to say or do next, Ash panicked and quickly excused himself, but as he rushed towards the door Iris stopped him, saying that he was forgetting his makeshift key.

"Y-You can keep it." Ash said, giving a dismissive wave of his hand at the paper clip that sat Iris's palm. "It's just my way of paying you back for fixing up my face."

Iris shook her head, long purple locks bouncing at the movement. "But fixing your face was my way of thanking you for opening my door, ya little kid!"

"Uh…w-well" Ash stammered, face burning in embarrassment as he realized the calm, cool and collected girl before him was right. "I-I insist, you keep it! Bye!"

Iris had never seen someone run out a door so fast in her life. It was hilarious though and it made her laugh. It was obvious that was the first time that raven haired cutie had confessed before and did a horrible job of hiding it, but deciding to be nice, Iris never brought it up again no matter how many times she saw Ash over the next few months. At first it was just saying hi when the passed each other in the hallway or a when they were walking to and from the building. When Iris got her job as Gym leader of Opulicid city Ash would show up at least a few times each week ,watching her battle trainers and congratulating her when she won and taking her out on a snack run as a pick me up whenever she lost. Ash himself even challenged her, the end results usually ending with a draw and with an occasional win on either side. Having seen him so much it didn't take the purple haired teen long to fall for him and relish more and more in the time spent with the teen who acted oh so childish, despite being a year older than her. Much to Iris's dismay, she found that it didn't take Drayden long to pick up on her feelings towards the Kanto trainer, making things rather awkward whenever he would frequently show up at the gym or at her apartment, claiming that he came to 'visit' his adopted daughter that just so happened to be having Ash over at the moment.

After almost six months of this crush/friendship, Iris was beginning to wonder if Ash still believed what he said to her the first day the met. She didn't want to straight out ask him, knowing that he'd panic and come up with some lame excuse to not answer, but thankfully she found that she didn't have to and it was all thanks to a visitor Ash had one day.

"Ash Ketchum!" It was a brunette lady that spoke, well not to her directly, but over her shoulder to her raven haired friend who was in the other room. She sounded upset and Iris was hoping that she hadn't chose the wrong time to return the jacket Ash had left at her place a few says back, besides the lady did jump and gasp in shock when she opened the door and saw her standing there. "How could you not tell me you had a girlfriend?!"

"Girlfriend?!" Iris repeated, the word sounding foreign to her tongue.

"W-What are you talking about? I don't have a girlfriend…" Ash came up from behind the brunette and instantly brightened when he saw the purple haired girl. "S-She's not my girlfriend…this is I-Iris, mom."

So she was his mom? Iris quickly adjusted her low cut shirt, and tugged at her snug pants, she didn't want this woman to get the wrong idea about her. "Um, yeah my name's Iris Dragonlight, nice to meet you." Iris said politely.

Instead of replaying the mother stared at Iris, causing her to sweatdrop under gaze until she snapped her fingers in realization. "Oh, Iris!" the mother turned to her son and smiled. "Isn't this the girl you said you helped out by unlocking her door with that flimsy paperclip key, Ash?"

"Um, yeah that's her, mom." Ash confirmed,

"Well, she seems very nice." The brunette complemented, before Iris could respond she added. "And a lot cuter than how you described her to me, Ash."

"Mom!"

"Oh, sweetheart, don't act like you forgot the long phone call about how much you enjoy spending time with Iris and how you think she so beautiful!"

"MOM!" Ash was blushing so red, Iris feared he might faint!

"Oh, I know, Iris how about you join us for lunch?" Ash's mother asked. "Ash insisted that we go out to eat and I'm sure having one more person to join us would be lots of fun!"

Despite Ash's protests and Iris's polite refusal, the brunette ended up getting her way and dragged her son and herself out to eat. The food was great, but Iris nearly choked three times because of all the laughing she did at all the stories Ash's mother told about her son. Honestly she felt bad for her friend, who just sat there glaring at his mother with his face as red as cherri berries. When they got back, the elevator ride up to their floor was rather awkward, even without Mrs. Ketchum, who had dropped them off and left for the train station saying she had to leave early if she wanted to arrive in Kanto the next day.

"Uh…well that was fun." Iris said, breaking the silence as they walked down the hall to their apartment doors.

"I donno if you call having your mother humiliate you fun," Ash muttered, causing Iris to giggle.

"If I would have known she'd say such embarrassing things I wouldn't tried harder to resist coming." Iris admitted with a smile.

"I don't think you would be able to, 'cause once my mom seats her mind on something there's no changing it." Ash said. He then glanced over at the girl and smiled slightly. "but thanks for not laughing too hard back there."

"No problem and don't worry, all those things you mom said will stay between you and me." Iris promised as the approached their doors. After saying their goodbyes Iris went and unlocked her door, but before she could step inside her apartment Ash groaned.

"Aw, damnit," the teen was digging through his pockets frantically, only to come up with them empty. After watching him jiggle the door handle once or twice Iris laughed.

"Did someone forget to grab their keys?" Iris asked.

Ash sweatdropped and blushed at her teasing tone. "Uh, kinda."

"Good thing I always keep this with me," Iris held up the bent up paperclip with a smirk of remembrance. Approaching the locked the door Iris leaned down with the makeshift key in hand. "Mind if I do the honors?"

"Go right ahead." Ash said, remembering all the times he had witness her unlock her own door time and time again with the key he gave her. AS he watched her work Ash bit his lip. He loved Iris. He truly did, and after all the time he spent with the purple haired beauty he couldn't help feel ashamed that he continued to not say anything day after day of hanging out with her, encouraging her, learning more about her, loving her, and wishing she was his. Swallowing hard Ash mustered up all his courage and let his words flow. "Hey, Iris remember when we first met and you said that you never had a real anything before?"

Dark chocolate eyes glanced up from their work. "Um, yeah."

Ash felt his cheeks grow warm. "Well...I-I've felt really bad that you never really had a family or anything to call your own…and um…"

"Ash where are you going with this?" Iris asked, gripping the paperclip harder as she worked it through the lock. He knew that she didn't like thinking about her past and it angered her slightly that he would randomly bring it up.

"I-I was just wondering I-I mean…" Ash took a deep breath and took Iris by the shoulder, turning her so she faced him.

"What?" She snapped.

"I just wanted to know if you would oppose to the thought of having a real boyfriend?" Ash blurted out, his face on fire.

"A wha-?" The rest of her sentence was stolen from her as the raven haired boy took her moment of confusion to dart his head in and kissed her. Iris was dumbfounded! Ash was kissing her, that little kid that freaked out after randomly telling her that he liked her somehow became bold enough to kiss her full on the lips. Blushing as well, Iris indulged herself in the kiss and upon getting lost in the moment she leaned back against the locked door, well what should have been a locked door. The two gave cries of shock as the door gave away and Iris landed flat on her back, with Ash hovering over her, the kiss having broken from the fall.

Amber clashed with dark chocolate and for a moment nothing was said. Ash opened his mouth to utter something but someone else beat him to it.

"Aw! My baby boy finally found someone special!" It was Mrs. Ketchum; she stood there gushing at the sight.

"Mom!" Ash wailed in utter mortification.

Iris laughed. "Oh stop being such a little kid," She said and then pulled him in for another kiss, neither of them noticing at how the paperclip key fell from the lock and it's new bent position resembled a heart.

Well yeah, that's all I got for this chapter. Ugh, I fell like a made it too long, but hey at least I manage to wrap everything up rather nicely. I hope you guys enjoyed this though! And please stay tuned from the next chapter! So until next time:

Lots of Virtual Hugs and Kisses: Toadettegirl2012

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PPS: And whoever has ideas for a one shot for this fanfic please PM with your idea and the letter you want to use!