Merry Christmas everyone! I know, it's about two weeks already. And it's kinda short too. But anyway, at least I did it, right..?

Chapter 10 - Mornings

".....yawn~....it's morning...."

"... are you awake Riku?" Akira looked at the person beside him. He was sleeping peacefully, and Akira smiled at him. "Better not disturb him then..." he thought. If he did Teleport then it might startle him. So as quietly as he could, he slowly went down the bed.

"...Big brother..." Akira was surprised. Did he wake him up..? He turned around and sighed. Riku was just sleep-talking...that's all.

He always wondered about him..."What happened to Senri anyway..?" he thought at the back of his mind. Everyone tried to avoid it yesterday. They never really said anything about it. The only thing he knows is that he must have been a very nice person and he was a skilled pokémon trainer. What did they say..? Something about that he disappeared....

Akira walked to the door and used Confusion to turn the doorknob. He had better control of it now...maybe because he just hatched yesterday and didn't had much control at the time. He didn't really care much about it and went downstairs.

It was quite early since the sun was just rising above the hills outside. He expected the room to be empty, but he was wrong. He smelled something...food. Someone's cooking something, and it smells delicious..! He followed the smell to the kitchen...

"You're awake already?" a voice went. It was Riku's grandma. She was cooking some eggs on the pan.

"Y-yeah...I did sleep a lot yesterday..." he paused. "O-oh...I'm sorry for disturbing you Mrs. Harada..."

"You learned my name already?" she looked amazed and bewildered.

"I-i overheard the professor using it so..."

"You're a smart pokémon aren't you? You almost remind me of Senri-chan...." she fell silent after that. Akira knew that it was wrong but it felt like the perfect time to ask.

"What...happened to Riku's brother?" she continued to cook the eggs quietly.

"Please tell me. I really want to know. Riku's always so troubled because of...well whatever happened to him--"

"Two years ago." Akira stared at her. "He...disappeared...two years ago?" she nodded.

"Isn't it strange? Two years...it was only two years ago...and everything then was completely different." a small tear fell. Akira stood there...he wondered if it was right to even ask her that now.

"Akira?" he jumped in surprise. He looked behind him and saw it was Riku. "You could have woke me up you know." he said while yawning.

"S-sorry...it's just that you were sleeping so peacefully so I..."

"It's fine." he gave a big smile. "Don't worry about it Akira." he faced his grandma. "So what were you talking about?"

"U-um...nothing important." that's all she said. Akira wondered why she didn't say anything about Senri. But Riku looked like he didn't mind. "What's for breakfast?" he asked her.

"Eggs. And pancakes if you like. But I'm not done yet. Go outside for the meantime okay?"

"Alright." he turned to the hallway. "Come on Akira." he nodded and followed Riku. Soon it was just her in the kitchen.

Riku's grandma sighed. "Poor Riku-chan...I still can't talk to him about it...up to now...I still can't..."

"Ah~...it sure is windy today..." Riku was sitting on the grass along with Akira. The wind was pretty chilly and the skies were filled with clouds. Riku's hair was blowing gently as the cold breeze blew by. You could easily tell he was enjoying it.

"*Achoo*...it feels too cold for me..." Akira said while sneezing again.

"You don't like it Akira?"

"...I guess so..." he replied with another sneeze. "You're okay with it?"

"It doesn't come that often you know...it's the start of July."

"Right...*Achoo*" Riku stared at Akira with a small frown. "You better go back inside then or else you might end up catching a cold."

"What about you?"

"I'll just stay here a bit longer." Akira nodded and went back into the house. Riku sighed. He's alone again. Like it has always been before he ever knew Akira. Even when Senri was still around, he'd prefer to stay inside. He hated the cold, unlike himself.

"One of the many things that makes me different..." he laughed to himself, then sighed again. Senri was quite famous when he was a pokémon trainer. Of course making him a bit famous as well. Everyone besides his grandparents thought that he also had a lot of potential to be as skilled as his brother. But they're not that similar...actually they are pretty different from each other.

"B-but I can't blame them...Big brother was skilled at almost everything...from arts to sports...but he hates cooking!" he grinned. He stared at the scenery. "I...really miss him..." he closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I-i wish...he never...disappeared..." he cried softly to himself.

"Oddish..?" Riku lifted his head. "...Oddish-odd..?" the small pokémon looked at him in worry.

"It's okay Oddish. Go back to your family." he pointed at the small group below the hill.

"Odd..." it hesitated, but it ran back to the group anyway. Riku made a small smile. "Well, I better go back in the house for breakfast." he stood up and walked back to the back door. But then, he thought he heard something. Loud. A poacher..? Riku looked behind him. It seemed like nobody was there.

"There are few places to hide around here...and the trees are pretty far...so...how did I hear something like that..?" the sound he heard a while ago was like something made a rustle in a tree, or bushes. But there aren't any bushes nearby. Only trees. Yet the sound was really clear. Like it was happening right in front of him.

"Could it be just my imagination..?" he paused for a moment. "Yeah...must be." he turned the knob and went inside.

"...That was too close...I better be more careful from now on..."