Washed Up Popstars

by shadowkittyxX

Gary, Ash, Paul and Drew are a famous singing group at just 17, but 2 years later Ash gets writers block and things start to go downhill. What happens when they use four girls to keep themselves known until Ash can start writing again?

25. Funeral

Soooo...apparently I died a couple of months ago in a car accident? I guess that means that I'm a ghost. Boooooo! I will haunt you all!

Jokes. But seriously, whichever dumbass guest reviewer wrote that on angelcutepie's story seriously just needs to shut up. I wouldn't doubt that they're the same person pretending to be me and writing rude reviews on her stories too -.-

Anyways, I haven't finished my other stories yet and they'll probably not be updated till after 22nd June so don't continually ask me to update. I'll do it when I get time, but since I finally finished this chapter I figured I might as well update it. At least that'll be one thing done. This chapter is quite sad, so maybe you should grab a tissue...or maybe not because I'm not sure if I got the feelings across properly :/ But on the bright side, there's lots of pearlshippy-ness in it :D

By the way...apparently i'm a loser because i have too much drama in this story? Well, to the guest reviewer that said this to me, I have four words: Sticks and stones, sweetie. your words mean nothing when insulting me but sure as hell do NOT insult my best friends! How dare you call Angelcutepie a loser too! and your adaption of a metaphor "losers of a feather must flock together" is just about the stupidest thing i've ever heard! Never EVER insult angelcutepie or any of my friends!

Anyways, no more annoying you, I'm sure you've been waiting quite a while for this chapter so without further ado

actually wait...if you see any mistakes, please let me know :)

Now you may read!

---

Ash groaned as his pokéball shaped alarm clock blared into his ears. His mother had set it to wake him up at seven since the guests would be arriving at seven-thirty. He slapped the alarm clock too hard and ended up whacking it into his wall with a loud 'crash', making it break into two pieces.

"Oops..." He mumbled sleepily before sitting up and running a hand through his head "Jeez, couldn't these people come in the afternoon or something?" He forced himself out of bed and dragged his feet towards the bathroom so he could get ready, giving a quick glance at the extra mattress in his room.

"Whoever this guy is, he's taking up half my bedroom so he better not be annoying." The raven-haired boy grumbled as he splashed cold water on his face to help him wake up properly. He wiped his face with a towel and took his toothbrush, squeezing toothpaste onto it and then scrubbing it over his teeth.

He was not keen on sharing his room with some other guy. The room belonged to him and he felt very territorial about it. Only Gary, Drew and Paul were allowed to share his room – no one else and if it wasn't for Gary's parents' funeral, he would never had allowed his mother to invite someone to live in his room for two weeks.

He spat out the toothpaste and washed out his mouth and the toothbrush a little before placing it back in his mouth and scrubbing again. These people were complete strangers as well. The parents were practically best friends with Professor Oak and good friends with Gary's parents and lived in a different region – he wasn't sure which one – so his mother offered to let them stay.

He spat out the toothpaste again and washed his mouth and brush before placing it back in the cup and wiping his mouth. "This sucks." The boy let out a frustrated sigh and walked back into his room, picking out clothes before going back into his bathroom so he could shower.

It was exactly seven-thirty when he finished getting ready and walked out his bathroom drying off his hair. He threw his towel on the bed and put his lucky cap on his head before looking at himself in the mirror with a roll of his eyes. Honestly, he would've just stayed in his pyjamas – well, they weren't technically pyjamas but whatever – but his mother lectured him about how he had to look presentable. Even then, he refused to wear something flashy so here he was in a blue v-neck with black jeans – casual, but decent.

The raven-haired boy yawned before leaving his room and almost fell down the stairs at the excitement of the smell of pancakes. He ran into the kitchen and tried to grab one from a plate but Delia whacked it away with a hot spatula and glared at him.

"Ow!" Ash yelled as he shook his burning hand repeatedly and glared straight back at his mother "That hurt! If you keep doing that I won't be able to hold a microphone anymore and you'll ruin my career!"

"Then wait until the guests arrive before you devour your breakfast."

"They're not here yet?" He moaned and looked at the clock "They're late! That's not my fault and I'm starving!"

"Then drink a glass of the chocolate milk from the fridge, it'll help you."

"What am I, five?" He almost yelled "My bones are strong and I have enough calcium in my body – I don't need milk. Especially not chocolate milk."

"Well you're definitely acting like a five-year-old." The woman didn't look at him as she flipped a pancake over in the pan "If you don't want milk then eat some fruit and go back to your room so I can concentrate and don't burn these." She gestured to a blackened pancake she had recently thrown in the bin.

"Fine...but if they're not here soon, I'm gonna give that guy a piece of my mind." He grabbed an apple from the fridge and left.

"Ash! It's not a b-" She sighed when she realised that he was already gone. He would have to find out on his own.

---

Ash took a bite of his apple and fell onto his bed with an irritated groan "Where the hell is this idiot and his family? How long does it take to get off a freaking ship and come here? Pallet Town is like a fifteen minute car ride from the docks – Are they walking or something?"

His stomach growled and he took another bite of his apple, finishing it in minutes and throwing it in the bin. This was not enough to calm his stomach down. It was almost begging him to feed it and using pain as a threat.

It was then that he heard the front door open and heard his mother talking outside. His head snapped up and he quickly made his way down the stairs before coming out the door

"Mum?!" He called out "Are the guests here yet, I'm hun-Dawn?" Ash's eyes widened in shock and he saw the bluenette's expression was the exact same as his. She then relaxed her composure and gave him a fake smile.

"Hello, Ash."

"Y-you're the one staying with us for the funeral?"

"Is that a problem?" She cocked her head to the side "Because if you want me to leave, I'll gladly g-"

"No!" He shot out a hand to stop her but brought it back when he realised she hadn't moved. Delia looked at her son strangely before smiling at the bluenette.

"Why don't you come inside, dear? You must be hungry and I'm sure you and Ash have a lot to catch up on."

"Of course, Mrs Ketchum. Thank you" She smiled at the woman and nodded, taking her suitcase and her mother's before dragging them both up the driveway.

"I'll take them." Ash took the suitcases off her and pushed down the handle so he could pick up the bags before walking inside, leaving the girl to walk behind him.

"Thanks."

He could tell that she was feeling extremely awkward as she followed him inside the house and he was feeling the exact same. How the hell was he supposed to share his room with his girlfriend who hated him? This wasn't going to be easy – especially because as usual, his mother was completely clueless of the current bump in their relationship.

As they entered the home, Ash took the suitcases upstairs and placed Johanna's in the spare room before hesitantly walking into his own room and putting Dawn's down next to the extra mattress. All this time he'd thought he was sharing his room with some other guy, but he was actually sharing it with her.

"Some warning would've been nice, mum." He muttered under his breath before leaving his room and walking back down the stairs to join his mother, Dawn and Johanna who had returned from wherever she had gone. A thought then hit him.

If Dawn was here, the other girls must've been here too and where would they be staying? He had a hunch that it was with Gary because that boy honestly had more guest bedrooms than he could count. Drew, Paul and Reggie were staying there too – this wasn't gonna be good.

"Hi, Mrs Berlitz." Ash greeted the older bluenette with a wave "How are you?"

"I'm fine, dear, how have you been?"

"I've been...okay."

Delia, sensing the awkward feeling between the two teens, handed them both a plate of pancakes and gestured to the stairs. "Why don't you two eat breakfast in Ash's room and catch up? And Dawn can set up her things too."

"I'm staying in Ash's room?" The younger bluenette did her best not to shout as she looked at both her mother and Ash's mother in surprise and confusion

"Of course, Dawn, he is your boyfriend after all." Johanna nodded with a smile

"Not anymore. Haven't you read magazines or watched TV lately?"

"You know..." Ash interrupted "You didn't technically break up with me – you just got angry."

"Well then." Delia clapped her hands together once "You two should go sort that out upstairs and Johanna and I can get to know each other better."

"Okay..." The younger bluenette sighed and looked up at the raven-haired boy "Lead the way."

"Yeah," He nodded "Follow me."

They both walked up the stairs and down the hall till they reached Ash's room. He opened the door and Dawn raised an eyebrow as she studied the place.

"I didn't know you could keep your room so clean."

"Actually, Drew, Paul and I cleaned it on Saturday." He replied sheepishly as he sat on his bed cross-legged before picking up his fork and taking a large bite of his pancakes – he was starving.

"Impressive."

"Another thing that's impressive is the fact that we match." He couldn't help but smirk a little as he gestured to her outfit. She was wearing a blue v-neck with a pleated, black skirt. She had taken off her black flats downstairs but was still wearing her black socks.

"That's more coincidental than impressive." She sat down the spare mattress, making a slightly upset expression when she realised how stiff and low to the ground it was but forced it away before Ash could see it.

"I'm sorry the mattress isn't that great." He apologised and she cringed when she realised that he had seen. "You can sleep on my bed and I'll use the mattress."

"It's okay. I'm fine."

"You sure?" She gave a stiff nod before taking a small bite of her pancakes.

Slowly and silently they ate their breakfast, trying to pretend the other wasn't there – it was much easier said than done. Once they had finished, Ash sighed and looked at the girl.

"I was being honest with what I said down there."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Her tone of voice was cold and she didn't bother looking at him.

"About how you didn't technically break up with me. You never said that you were breaking up with me, you just said how you hated me and how you never should've trusted me and how horrible I am for using you the way I did."

"That kind of implied that I was breaking up with you."

"Implying doesn't mean that it was official."

The bluenette set down her plate and looked up at the boy "Can we not talk about this, please? I'm not in mood."

"We have to talk about it some time."

"Just...not now, please?" She looked like she was about to tear up so he nodded and changed the subject.

"How was your trip from Sinnoh to here? It took like two days, right?"

"I don't wanna talk about that either." Dawn shook her head at the memory of what Drake tried to do to her.

"Then what do you wanna talk about?" He ran a hand through his hair "Look, I'm trying to get rid of this awkward atmosphere but if you barely talk to me, it's not gonna work. You're here for two weeks, you might as well smile and pretend nothing's wrong."

"It's not as easy as it sounds, Ash." She looked up at him, sapphire eyes glaring "You weren't on the receiving end of all this."

"I know and for the thousandth time – I'm sorry. It was the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life and I know that I'm a complete jerk."

"Yeah, it was and you are." She gave him a small glare but then sighed "But you're also right, I might as well just pretend that everything's okay. The ambience here is already depressing and I don't want to be selfish and make it worse."

"So, back to the original question: What do you want to talk about?"

"How are your new songs going? Did your fans like them?"

"Yeah," He nodded "They loved them. But they were dedicated to you."

"I told you I didn't wanna talk about this." She did her best not to sound irritated as she laid down on the mattress "I'm really tired so is it okay if I just sleep for a while?"

"Sure," He smiled before gesturing to his bed "Seriously, you can sleep on my bed. I know how stiff that mattress is and you'll feel more comfortable on mine."

"I'm fine," She repeated "I don't need your bed." She lifted up the blanket on her mattress and was about to shuffle inside when Ash noticed something.

"Why is there a bruise on your wrist?" He pointed to the bluenette's right arm and focused on the bluish-purple bruise that had formed like a ring around her wrist.

"I fell."

"If you fell it wouldn't be all the way around your wrist, it would just be a small mark." He stated "Did someone try to hurt you?"

"Look, Ash," She sighed irritably "What goes on in my life is not your concern anymore. You just worry about yourself and leave me alone."

"Well if you don't tell me I'm gonna go ask your mum." He shrugged nonchalantly "After all, she still considers me to be your boyfriend – which I am."

"Ugh, fine," She narrowed her eyes at him "Some creep kidnapped me and tried to rape me when I was on the ship. I got away from him before he could and Misty, Leaf and Barry beat him up for it. Happy?"

"WHAT?!" He shouted angrily but lowered his voice when he remembered the adults downstairs "Are you okay?" He jumped off his bed and knelt down next to her, cupping her cheek in his hand "He didn't hurt you anywhere else did he?"

"I'm fine, Ash. You don't have to treat me like a baby, because I know how to take care of myself."

"I'm sorry, but you know how much I love you and I can't stand to see or know you've been hurt."

"Do you have any idea how much of a hypocrite you sounded in that one sentence?" She rolled her eyes and laid back down on the mattress, covering herself with the blanket "I'm exhausted so please let me sleep in peace."

He nodded and allowed her to go to sleep. Once she turned around so that her back was facing him, he smiled. She never denied that he was still her boyfriend – there was still some hope for them after all.

The raven-haired boy grabbed his mobile and exited the room so that he wouldn't wake the girl up. It was a good idea to call Drew and find out how things were going over there, since the other girls and Barry were staying in Gary's house too.

The phone rang twice before Drew picked up and before Ash could say a word, the other boy spoke in complete surprise.

"Is Dawn staying with you?"

"Yeah, she is. I just called to ask how it was going with the other girls. They're all staying at Gary's with you, right?"

"Yeah, they are but it hasn't been too bad. They're just avoiding us so nothing out of hand has happened."

"Dawn's sharing my room with me so we can't avoid each other. But I'm actually really happy about that because it'll be easier to figure things out with her."

"You're so lucky...May is in the room opposite me and I could tell from her face that she wanted to throw a fit. If the circumstances weren't so serious, she would've."

"How did Gary react when he saw Leaf?"

"He hasn't seen her yet. He's been down at the stables all day with the Ponyta, Rapidash and all of his pokémon. His Arcanine is sticking to him like glue because he can tell how hurt he is. It just won't sink in that his parents are gone."

"Poor guy," Ash sighed "He still hasn't cried yet, has he?"

"Not a single tear."

"It's not going to sink in until he does. He's keeping it all bottled up inside him and that's not healthy at all."

"How are we supposed to make him cry?"

"I think the funeral will be enough. Just wait till tomorrow and if he still doesn't cry, we'll need Plan B."

"Which is?"

"Leaf. She's probably the only one that will be able to get through to him."

"Hopefully."

The raven-haired boy held a solemn look "It sucks that of all days it has to be tomorrow."

"I know, right? Poor Gary, it's so unfair on him." Drew sighed

"Anyways, I'll talk to you later. I have to go get Pikachu out of the spare room before Dawn's mum comes up."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye."

Ash hung up the phone and entered the spare room smiling when he saw Pikachu curled up on the pillow, sleeping peacefully. Ever since Saturday, the pokémon had decided that it found the bed in the spare room really comfortable. He shook the mouse pokémon continuously until it woke up, resulting in a rather strong thunderbolt with Ash doing his very best not to shout.

"Pikachu!" The boy glared when it had stopped its attack "The guests are here and you need to get out of this room."

"Pika..." It grumbled before jumping off the bed and running out of the room. A squeal of excitement was heard from the pokémon and Ash walked out of the room and back to his own to see his partner pokémon jumping up and down in excitement as it saw Dawn asleep on the mattress. It looked up at Ash with a wide grin and pointed to the bluenette "Chu! Pikachu!"

"Not now." He whispered and shook his head "She's sleeping; you can play with her when she wakes up."

"Pika." It nodded sadly but still ran over to the girl and snuggled up next to her so it could go back to sleep. The raven-haired boy held back an 'aww' before taking a few of his pokéballs and leaving so he could train some of his pokémon outside.

---

Drew tossed his phone onto his bed and fell down next to it with a frustrated sigh. He had been the one to open the door when the doorbell rang and his heart stopped when he saw May, Misty, Leaf and Barry standing outside with Dawn's mother. None of them seemed very thrilled that they were staying here and he had instantly realised that since Dawn wasn't here, she had to be staying with Ash. After all, his mother had continuously been talking about keeping the house clean because guests were coming on Monday.

They hadn't said one word since they'd arrived, except a 'thank you' to Professor Oak for allowing them to stay. Once they had been shown to their rooms, they locked themselves inside to unpack and had not exited since.

Paul had been just as shocked when he saw Misty walk into the room next to his but she didn't give him a single glance and just shut the door. When he thought about it now, though, he realised that it was inevitable that they would come. Dawn's mother was great friends with Professor Oak and would never abandon him in his time of need. She also knew Gary's parents quite well.

Ash didn't know how lucky how he was for having Dawn in his room with him. For one, it was obvious he wouldn't try anything on her and it would give the bluenette no opportunity to avoid him. Ash had a much higher chance of sorting things out with her and hopefully bringing things back to normal...or at least remotely normal.

The biggest thing he was worried about was Gary's reaction. He'd been down at the stables for about two hours now and knowing him, he'd probably spend the rest of the day there. He'd have to come back eventually though and when he did, he would be in for a really big shock. Leaf was probably the last person he'd expect to be here and the chartreuse-haired boy was worried about how Gary would react after seeing her.

"Too much drama," He mumbled before sitting up and running a hand through his hair "way too much drama. I need food." As he stood up and opened the door to his room, he saw that May's door was also open and she was sitting inside stroking her Skitty's fur.

"Hey..." He gave her a small smile as he leaned against her door frame "Is your room comfortable?"

"Hm." She didn't bother looking up at him as she continued to listen to her Skitty purr as she stroked its fur. Drew sighed and walked inside the room, sitting next to her on the bed and put a hand on her shoulder

"I know you're not thrilled about being in the same house as me, but I really think we should try and talk this out."

"Don't touch me." The brunette replied in a voice so cold that it made him flinch slightly.

"Alright, fair enough;" He let go of her and stood up "I can understand that you don't wanna talk just yet...but we're gonna have to eventually."

"No we don't." She finally looked up to face him "After the funeral, I'll go back to Sinnoh, graduate, go back to Hoenn to be with my family for a while and then the girls and I will restart our journeys together. I'll never have to see you again."

Skitty jumped off her lap and curled around Drew's leg, purring softly as it rubbed itself against him. Skitty clearly wasn't aware of the circumstances going on between her trainer and the boy and she loved Drew so she continued to nuzzle against his leg.

"Skitty, come back here!" May shouted but lowered her voice when she remembered she wasn't the only one in the house – and that Skitty was still in the same room. "Please?"

"Nya, nya!" It shook its head and continued to purr against Drew's leg, causing him to smile and chuckle softly

"I guess she just likes me too much." His smile faded instantly when he saw the golden Roselia that was sitting on the bedside table "Where did you get this?" he walked over, ignoring the fact that Skitty followed him, and picked up the small statue before looking at the brunette in surprise "I've got a collection of golden pokémon statues and this is one of the few I'm missing. Where'd you get it?"

"Keep it." She said simply before returning Skitty and standing up

"Are you sure?" His emerald eyes were full of surprise "It's solid gold, are you sure you want to just give it to me?"

"I'm going for a walk." The brunette ignored him and walked out the door, deciding to find Leaf and Misty first and then go for a walk with both of them. She wasn't so sure about Dawn because the girl had seemed exhausted when they arrived and she looked like she was about to pass out. It was probably best to leave her and let her rest. Hopefully, the bluenette wouldn't be mad at her for giving Drew the Roselia she had given her. Why did she give it to him again?

May shook her head and knocked on Misty's door, waiting for it to open. Whatever the reason was, it was best not to think about it and just move on. If Drew wanted the Roselia he could keep it – She had a Beautifly one back home anyway.

The door opened to reveal Misty, who smiled at the brunette "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much, I just came to ask if you wanted to go for a walk, maybe get to know Pallet Town a little better. We can get Leaf to come along too, that way we can all get our minds of everything that's happening."

"Sounds great," The redhead smiled "But Leaf's gone into the backyard. Professor Oak said the fields outside were the perfect place to relax because of the cool breeze and the pokémon and in general it's a peaceful environment."

"Uh..." May drew out the word "I don't think that was a very good idea. I heard Drew on the phone to Ash before and he said that Gary had been in the fields all morning and probably wasn't coming back anytime soon."

"Oh," Misty bit her bottom lip "Do you think we should go get her?"

"That place is huge...we're not gonna find her very easily. Hopefully, Leaf and Gary won't see each other."

"Even if they do, it's bound to happen at some time anyway." The redhead sighed "Come on, let's go explore Pallet Town."

"Yeah, you're right." She nodded "Let's go."

Both girls left the room and walked down the never-ending hallway until they finally found the stairs. It was a long staircase as well so it took them a good thirty-to-forty seconds to get to the bottom, followed by trying to find the door. The Oak mansion was bigger that the boys' mansion back in Sinnoh and the main reason was because it was also Professor Oak's laboratory, although the interior was lavish and practically screamed their wealth.

Once they finally found the door, they exited the home and breathed in the fresh morning air. It was only eight-thirty in the morning so they had the whole day ahead of them to spend roaming through Pallet Town and finding out what was where. Hopefully there was a Pokémart around so they could get some supplies.

---

Leaf took a deep breath as she ventured through the giant field that was Oak mansion's backyard. She'd been here for about half an hour and she had gotten herself completely lost. Right now, though, she didn't want to be found so it didn't matter much to her at all. She had released Leafeon to keep her company and sat down on a grassy hill, watching the pokémon play below her. A smile grew on her face as a small breeze caressed her cheeks, everything was just so peaceful, it was like all her worries were gone and there was nothing wrong with her life. It was perfect.

"I wish our home had such a huge backyard, Leafeon."

"Leafeon!" The grass-type nodded and laid down next to the girl

"Not only would it be good for training, but it would be great if I could just come and relax like this every day."

"On! On! Leafeon!" The pokémon sat back up with a look of fear on its face

"I know that it would be easy to get lost, but it would still be fun. There's no need to sound so afraid." She stroked her pokémon's fur "Besides, we'd map it all out so that we wouldn't get lost."

"Leafeon!" It cried out again, causing Leaf to raise an eyebrow until she felt the ground shake under her and a loud sound coming closer and closer. She turned her head towards the front to see a herd of Tauros running straight towards her.

The brunette jumped up and returned Leafeon to it's pokéball before letting out an ear-piercing scream as she started to run away from them as fast as she could. From what she remembered, these were Ash's Tauros that he had foolishly wasted all of his safari balls on and as a result, was banned from the safari zone.

"I am going to kill him for this...if I don't get killed myself!" She continued to run in every direction as an attempt to get away but they seemed to be following her. She was an intruder in their eyes and needed to leave.

Now she was really regretting that she had gotten lost. She had no idea which way to go to get back to the mansion and the only thing around her was grass – there was nothing to hide behind. There was no time to bring out a pokémon because they were too close behind her and thirty Tauros against her one pokémon had defeat written all over it. She didn't want to risk her poor pokémon getting hurt.

The brunette sped up a little but ended up tripping over her feet and screamed as she hit the ground. There wasn't enough distance between her and the Tauros to get up and start running again. This was it – she would either be killed or severely damaged by these Tauros. If she died, her ghost was going to haunt Ash forever.

"Arcanine, use flamethrower!"

Out of nowhere, a stream of fire hit the Tauros and they ran away in a different direction, narrowly missing the frightened girl. She let out a sigh of relief and looked around to find the person that saved her. Her eyes saddened when she saw Gary's stoic face looking down at her.

"What are you doing here?" He reached out a hand and she took it as he lifted her up. She took a few seconds to catch her breath before answering

"I'm...I'm sorry for your loss." The boy's face softened slightly

"How'd you find out?"

"Dawn's mother is really good friends with Professor Oak and knew your parents pretty well." She sighed and gave him a sad smile "I couldn't not come here...no matter what happened, you didn't deserve this. No one does."

Gary shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking back, gesturing for the fellow brunette to follow her. She obeyed and stayed in step with him.

"I just can't believe they're gone..." He mumbled quietly, but loud enough for her to hear "I hadn't seen them in almost a year and barely spoke to them over the phone. I neglected them so much and now they're gone. I never even got the chance to say goodbye..." He trailed off, letting out a shaky breath.

"It's a horrible feeling, isn't it?" The female brunette questioned sadly "I was two when my father died so I remember nothing about him. I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye either."

"At least you still have your mother."

"Yeah…" she trailed off. The rest of the walk back to the mansion was filled with an awkward silence and Leaf inwardly cheered when the back door came into view. They walked back inside and she continued to follow Gary up the long staircase and down the winding halls till they reached the corridor that had their rooms.

"Leaf," Gary turned to face the girl as he opened his door

"Yeah?" She stood in front of her own door – directly opposite him – and looked at him

"Thanks…for coming." He didn't wait for a reply and disappeared inside his room, closing the door behind him.

"You're welcome." She whispered quietly before entering her own room and closing the door.

She spent the next few hours unpacking her clothes and placing them neatly in the closet and in the drawers in her dressing table. Despite only being here for two weeks, she had bought a lot of clothes and her dresser was almost full. She was planning to do some shopping while she was here as well because there were certain clothes that were native to Kanto and extremely hard to find in Sinnoh.

She could only hope that Dawn was doing better than she was because the brunette was on the verge of crying again.

"I'm such a whiny cry-baby." She mumbled to herself "Why can't I just stop already? It's so stupid." She let out a deep sigh and flopped onto her bed "I think…I'm starting to overreact about this."

The brunette rolled over so that she was lying on her stomach with her chin on her hands that were flat out in front of her. It had been almost a month since they had found out the truth and every time things started to cool down, something happened to heat it up again.

This time, it was the death of Gary's parents.

---

"Thank you for the dinner Mrs Ketchum, it was really nice." Dawn smiled at the brunette woman as she stood up from the dinner table, not really bothering to wait for a response "I'm going to go get ready for bed now."

"I'm done too." Ash stated only moments after the bluenette had left and stood up, but was stopped by his mother

"Ah, ah, ah." She shook her head and waggled her right index finger in front of him "You're not going anywhere until you help me do the dishes."

"But mum…." He whined and drew out the word 'mum' "The funeral is tomorrow and I want to get to bed early!"

"It's only seven-thirty, Ash. You don't need to sleep until at least nine-thirty or ten."

"I hate doing the dishes, I always get wet!"

"It's alright, Delia." Johanna chuckled at the boy's excuses "I'll help you do the dishes, let him go."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly let you help me." The brunette looked at her in surprise "You're our guests."

"Yes, but I want to help you." She insisted "I'd feel horrible to just laze around and treat your home like a hotel." She stood up and headed towards the kitchen "I'll wash and you can place them in the dishwasher."

"Alright," The woman sighed in defeat before glaring at her son "You better not do this again, young man. I expect you to do your fair share of work around house and just like Johanna said, not treat it like a hotel."

"Fine…" He groaned "I'll do the dishes tomorrow night." Once his mother nodded, her instantly whipped around and ran out of the dining room and towards the stairs. The more time he could spend with Dawn before bed, the better.

He jogged up the stairs and opened the door to his room, hoping to find her there...and he did, but she had gone back to sleep. His groaned sadly as he saw her figure hidden under the blankets – she wouldn't even show him her face.

"Oh well…" He mumbled quietly "Might as well just get ready for bed." He walked over to the bathroom to get his pyjamas but stopped dead in his tracks after opening the door. Dawn was standing in the middle of the bathroom in nothing but her lingerie. This time, she wasn't even wearing pants, and of all colours, it had to be white. The bridge of his nose turned red but the bluenette just sighed irritably and rolled her eyes.

"This is the second time you've done this." She took her shorts off the counter and put them on…unfortunately – or fortunately – for Ash, she had to bend over to do this "Do you not know how to knock? If not, then you should seriously get a lock for this door."

"I…I…I…"

"You...you…you…what?" She mocked and put her hands on her hips

"I wanted my pyjamas." He shook his head to get out his stupor "I'm sorry, I thought you were asleep." He gestured to the mattress behind him.

"That would be Piplup and Pikachu." She explained with another roll of her eyes "Now please stop staring at me."

"Right, sorry." He nodded and turned to leave. After two steps, however, he stopped and turned back around to face the bluenette.

"Did you forget something?" She did her best not to glare…starting to remember that she was in his house, in his room. Not the other way around.

"Yeah," he nodded and walked back till he was in front of her "I wanted to give you a hug." He didn't bother waiting for a response and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a tight hug. Her almost bare skin felt soft against his arms and slowly he turned her around so that her back was against his stomach and softly rested the palm of his right hand on her stomach.

"W-what are you doing?" Dawn stuttered as she felt her face heat up "L-let go of me."

"You know," He ignored her "I always wanted a little girl, and I'd love one from you." He tilted his head to kiss the side of her neck and she instinctively turned it in the opposite direction, allowing him more access.

"Are you trying to convince me to sleep with you now of all times?" She whispered, unable to bring herself to push him away "You should've tried this before I found out you were lying to me."

"I wasn't lying when I said I loved you and I'm not lying now, but when we were together, I never had you all to myself. There was always someone around."

"Both of our mothers are around right now. They're downstairs and the last thing we need is for them to walk in on us…can I please have my shirt?"

"Not until you tell me if you'd prefer a girl or a boy."

"You're acting as if I'm already pregnant." She continued to whisper; slightly worried that Mrs Ketchum or her own mother would walk in at any moment. Even though she was positive they would knock first, she couldn't help but worry a little.

"I wish you were…" He muttered under his breath, but she heard

"Yeah, because that would be an interesting story for the media." She smiled sarcastically "'GPAD's Ash Ketchum knocks up his ex-girlfriend'. Oh they'll love that, some juicy gossip and Ursula gets to label me as a slut for getting pregnant when I'm nineteen – all of them win."

"You're not my ex-girlfriend." He corrected before going back to the original topic "Girl or boy?"

"Both." His grip loosened and she moved away, taking her shirt off the counter and pulling it over her head. She then looked up at him, crossed her arms over her chest and elaborated "I'd love to have twins – one boy and one girl. Can you stop trying to seduce me now?"

"That would depend on whether it's working or not." He couldn't help but smirk a little, causing the bluenette to groan in annoyance.

"Ash, I'm being serious. Stop seducing me."

"So it is working?"

"I need to call the girls so please leave me alone."

"Fine," He nodded and grabbed his pyjamas from the hook on the door before moving aside so she could leave "But we'd make amazing babies together."

"I agree," She smirked "But I don't think you're not worth the pain anymore." She didn't wait for a response and left the bathroom so she could get her phone and call the other girls.

"Wait," He called after her and followed her out the door "So you're saying I used to be worth the pain?"

"Maybe." She replied simply before unlocking her phone and searching through the contacts till she found May's number. It rang five times and went to the answering machine, so she hung up and tried again, accidentally pressing the 'speaker' button "You better pick up this time, May."

'Hey, Dawn!' The bluenette shook her head knowingly

"You don't have to pretend to sound so cheery around me, May. I know you're not too thrilled about the accommodation arrangements."

'Maybe not, but there's no point whining about it.' The cheeriness in her voice disappeared 'At least the rooms are comfortable. How's yours?'

"Not so great." She sighed "My mother got the spare room and because it's too small to fit us both, I'm sharing Ash's room with him."

'Oh my god, you poor thing!' She could tell that the brunette's jaw had dropped

"Hey!" Ash glared "There's nothing wrong with sharing my room!"

"Stop listening to my conversation!" Dawn growled and turned the phone off speaker before moving her hand in a gesture to leave. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly left the room, but she knew he was probably still eavesdropping outside. At least he couldn't hear what May was saying.

'What a jerk!' May huffed 'It's as if it's in all the boys' nature to listen in on other people's conversations.'

"May, you've eavesdropped on my conversations too – remember?"

'Yeah, but they do it like a second nature.'

"True." She shrugged "Anyway, how did today go? No drama, right?"

'No, thank god.' The brunette sighed in relief 'I was worried that there would be an explosion or something when Leaf and Gary met, but they were perfectly fine. They kind of acted like acquaintances – kind of.'

"That's good. The last thing we need is more crying and drama – the drama from Gary's parents' death is more than enough." She flopped onto the mattress on her stomach and lifted her legs in the air "I feel like giving him a hug…I really think he needs one."

'He does. He really does.' May agreed 'He didn't even come to the dinner table tonight. Apparently he hasn't ever since he got here. Daisy told me that he's been skipping a couple of other meals here and there too.'

"Okay…I'm gonna give him a hug and condolences." The bluenette confirmed, slowly stroking Piplup and Pikachu as they slept "I don't know what else to give him asides from that."

'He wants Leaf back.' She stated 'He really wants her back but from the way he was acting today, I think he's just about given up.'

"It's not fair on Leaf for us to help him get her back just because his parents passed away. He may want her back, but I'm not going to help him until I'm positive Leaf wants him too. Besides," she snorted "I still haven't entirely forgiven him myself."

'Do you think maybe we're blowing this a little out of proportion?' May's tone of voice seemed uncertain 'I…I don't know why, but I just feel like we should just get over it. They did the wrong thing by us, I know…but I also know that all of us still love them.'

"I was kind of thinking that myself on the ship ride here." Dawn mirrored the girl's tone "I-I don't know if I could ever trust him enough to date him again…but maybe we could at least be friends?"

'That would be nice…I guess. But do you think they'd agree to only stay on a friendship level?'

"I don't know." She shrugged and flipped onto her back, staring up at the giant Kanto legendaries poster that was stuck there "Ash was trying to seduce me right before I called you."

'Really?' Her voice was laced with both surprise and interest 'What did he do?'

"He walked in on me while I was changing and then started stroking his hand over my stomach, saying that he'd love to have a little girl with me." She rolled her eyes "Then he asked if I preferred a girl or a boy.

'What did you say to him?'

"I told him I wanted both. You already know that I've always wanted to have twins – one boy and one girl." She sighed quietly and closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again "But I'm not so sure I want them with Ash anymore."

'Let's just wait until after the funeral tomorrow.' May suggested 'There'll be one huge thing out of the way and we can concentrate on what we want.'

"I think that's a good idea." Dawn nodded "Anyways, Ash probably has his ear glued to the door, so I'd better go. I'll see you and the other girls at the funeral tomorrow."

'Yeah, we'll see you then.'

"Goodnight, and tell them 'goodnight' from me as well." A small smile grew on her lips and she knew May was doing the same.

'I will. Goodnight!' They both hung up and Dawn pushed herself off the bed before walking towards the door and opening it, allowing Ash to fall forward and topple onto the floor. He was now wearing his standard pyjamas – a white t-shirt and light blue, striped boxers.

"How did I know you'd be listening?"

"Well, you were talking about me." He shrugged nonchalantly as he stood up and brushed himself off "Of course I'd listen."

"It's quarter past eight and Piplup still hasn't eaten." She changed the subject "I need to go wake him up." She turned away from him and walked back to the mattress, slowly shaking her partner pokémon till it finally awoke – hitting her with a stream of bubble beam in the process. "Piplup!"

"Lup?" The penguin pokémon stopped its attack and looked at its trainer apologetically "Pip…lup"

"It's okay…" she took her hair in her hands and wrenched it till most of the water came out, dripping onto the mattress "It's getting late and you need to eat."

It nodded and jumped up, effectively waking up Pikachu in the process. The mouse pokémon yawned, blinked a few times and then checked its surroundings before noticing Dawn smiling at it.

"Pikachu!" It cried out happily and jumped on her, snuggling into her neck "Chu!"

"I swear," Ash grumbled "If he could, he'd pick you to be his trainer instead of me."

"I don't know why he's so attached to me," She giggled and nuzzled her cheek against him "But I'm not complaining. Your Pikachu is such a sweetie."

"You…" He eyed her carefully "Should probably change that." He pointed to her soaking wet and slightly transparent, pachirisu singlet top "White goes see-through when wet."

Dawn gasped and slapped her hands over her chest, a deep blush growing on the bridge of her nose. She looked around for another top or a jacket to cover herself and Ash couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

"I don't get why you're making such a big deal out of it." He grabbed a jacket off his study table chair and tossed it to her "It's not like I haven't seen it before. Infact, I've seen it twice now."

"Yeah, and both times you were being rude and didn't bother knocking before you opened the door!" She tried not to yell, worried that her mother might come in "Ash, I don't care how many times you've seen my bra, I'm not gonna just openly walk around like a slut and let you see it out of my own free will."

She put on the jacket and zipped it up till her top was covered, but the jacket was too long and made it look like she wasn't wearing any shorts. Ignoring that slightly irritating fact, she opened her suitcase and pulled out a large container that had small brown pellets inside and a large, silver bowl.

"I'm pretty sure Pikachu hasn't eaten either, so you guys can share. Then I'll give you both some poffins for dessert." The bluenette smiled at the two, tiny pokémon and bent down to their level so that she could fill the bowl with their food.

"I think that's why he likes you so much." Ash stated as Dawn stood back up "You pamper him and spoil him to no end."

"Pamper and spoil are the same thing." She deadpanned while pulling down the zipper slightly, to see if the top had dried – no luck yet.

"Why don't you just wear my shirt?" He took off his t-shirt and threw it at her "You can give it back when your top dries."

"What are you going to wear?" She held up the shirt in front of her face with a sceptical look "You have another night shirt, right?"

"I did…but I put it in the washing basket on Saturday and my mum hasn't given it back to me yet." He shrugged and flopped onto his bed with his arms behind his head on his pillow "It's not like it's cold or anything."

"Just wear a day shirt then." She put on his shirt and then worked strategically to remove her wet shirt from underneath.

"Why?" He raised an eyebrow and sat up, but then smirked when he saw her blush "Oh come on, you love seeing me shirtless. I know you do."

"Shut up!" The bluenette growled and threw her wet shirt at his face "That's not funny."

"Who said I was joking?" He couldn't stop smirking at her reddening cheeks.

"Give me back my shirt."

"But you threw it at me. It's mine now."

"Ugh!" She threw her hands up in frustration "I give up!" She sat down on the floor, leaning against the mattress since it was wet from Piplup's bubble beam. Hopefully it would dry soon.

The raven-haired boy laughed quietly but didn't say anything else. The only sound now was Pikachu and Piplup munching away happily at the last few pieces of pokémon food left in the bowl. They then jumped onto Dawn's lap, asking her for their promised poffins. He watched as the bluenette pulled her poffin case out of her bag and opened it before tipping the small, pink, football-shaped poffins into the bowl.

"Enjoy!" She giggled softly at their enthusiasm before taking a book out of her bag and making herself comfortable against the mattress edge so she could read.

"Whatchya reading?"

"'The Hunger Games'." She didn't even bother to look up at him as she turned the page

"I watched the movie."

"And?" This time she looked up at him with curiosity

"It was epic." He eyed the cover of the book before looking back at her "Did you watch it?"

"No." She snorted and waved her book "I prefer to read the book first and if I like it, then I watch the movie."

"I see." He nodded and rested back on the bed for about ten minutes before starting to get bored

"Hm, Hm, Hm, Hm-Hm-Hm, Hm, Hm, Hm, Hm…" Ash hummed a tune and moved his right foot along with the rhythm "Hm, Hm, Hm, Hm-Hm, Hm-Hm-Hm-Hm-Hm-Hm, Hm…"

"Do you have to?" Dawn looked up at him from her book and glared

"Do I have to what?" He looked at her innocently

"You know what!"

"Not really."

"Can you stop humming?"

"Sure." He smiled and nodded

"Thank you."

"Why does it feel so good but hurt so bad? Whoa….My mind keeps sayin' 'run as fast as you can'." He started singing the words to the tune he was previously humming "I say 'I'm done' but then you pull me back, whoa…I swear you're givin' me a heart attack, troublema-"

"ASH!"

"What?"

"Telling you to stop humming doesn't mean you can start singing!" The bluenette growled angrily and stood up "You know what? Forget it, I'll just go read on the sofa downstairs."

"No! Dawn, wait!"

"No, I want to read in peace."

"If you stay, I'll tell you a secret." She stopped when she reached the door and turned slightly

"What secret?"

Ash smirked. He knew Dawn was a sucker for secrets. She loved knowing them and she loved keeping them.

"First you have to promise you'll stay."

"Fine," She turned around completely and walked back towards him before sitting on his bed in front of him "I'll stay. So, tell me the secret."

"You know Drew and Paul?" He leaned in closer to her

"Yeah?" She leaned in closer towards him, curiosity and excitement filling her eyes – yep, she really loved secrets.

"When we first started our band…they sucked." He whispered "They didn't know how to sing at all."

"Really?" The bluenette's jaw dropped "But then how come they're so good now?"

"Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of training." He chuckled "Didn't you ever notice that in our first couple of songs, it was mainly Gary and I that sang. Drew and Paul didn't really sing much. Drew was especially bad."

"Now that I think about it…you're right." She appeared to be deep in thought "Like, in 'cruise control', they hardly sang at all!"

"That was an awesome song. I wrote it in one of my awesome moments."

"Well, aren't we modest." Dawn rolled her eyes but smiled "You're right though, it is an awesome song – one of my favourites, actually."

"It's one of my favourites too. But anyway, they had to be auto-tuned for a couple of songs because they were so bad."

"But then what about when you sang 'superstar' at your farewell party?"

"You can't tell anyone at all! But…" He looked left and right as if checking to see no one was around before whispering "It was pre-recorded."

"You're joking!" Her jaw dropped "You can't be serious!"

"I'm very serious." He confirmed, no longer whispering "They sucked harder than a little kid sucks a lollipop so we pre-recorded it and auto-tuned their voices. They're awesome singers now, though, and don't need to be auto-tuned at all." He chuckled as Dawn looked at him strangely from his analogy.

"That sounded so disturbing in more ways than I can describe…" She screwed up her nose "I can never eat lollipops again."

"Since when was your mind this perverted?" Ash raised an eyebrow before smirking "It's an interesting change."

"I was going to ask you the exact same question." The bluenette stated "Tonight you are acting like the biggest pervert when normally you're so innocent and sweet."

"I'm still innocent and sweet." He gave her an innocent smile to emphasise before eyeing her "There's something on your face."

"What?" She brought a hand up to her cheek to see if she could feel anything "What is it?"

"Hmm…" He leaned in closer as if trying to get a better look before winking "It's me."

"Huh?" She was about to cock her head to the side but before she could, he pressed his lips to hers in a searing kiss, pushing her down on his bed so that she was flat on her back. Dawn tried to push him off but was beginning to succumb to the spark she was feeling and he moved his lips against her in a soft motion. Instinctively, she started to kiss him back, deepening the kiss and she could feel a small smile grow on Ash's lips as he continued to kiss her.

"Trust me," She whispered as she pushed him away "You don't want to seduce me now of all times."

"Why?" The raven-haired boy whined as he pulled himself off of her and allowed her to sit back up on the bed "I was just getting started."

"Because one, I'm not letting you deflower me," Dawn glared "and two, you'll get blood all over your sheets."

"Blood?" Ash raised an eyebrow, but then raised the other one too as he understood what she meant "Oh!"

"Yes…'oh!'" She imitated his reaction with a hint of mockery "It's almost over – thank god – but it's still a bad idea. It'll always going to be a bad idea, until I get married."

"You mean till we get married." He corrected

"Are you proposing to me?" She let out a laugh and stood up "Nice try, Ketchum, but I'm not getting married till I'm at least twenty-four and I don't think you're guy for me anymore. Besides, when I get proposed to, it has to be special – not like this."

"Is your period why you're so cranky today?" He looked at her strangely "Is it really so painful that you can't even think straight?"

"I'm on my fourth day – in fact, I'm pretty sure it's my last – so I'm not feeling any pain at all and I'm thinking perfectly straight." She raised an eyebrow "Why?"

"Then you should know that I am the guy for you."

"We'll talk tomorrow, Ash." The bluenette replied simply before switching off the room light and lying back down onto the mattress, only to realise it was still wet.

"You wanna come up on my bed?" Ash's voice was sincere this time instead of the perverseness that it had been laced with before "You'll catch a cold if you sleep on that mattress."

"I'll be fine," She did her best not to shiver against the cold mattress "It'll dry soon." There was small shuffling noise heard and then Dawn felt two strong arms wrap around her and pull her from the mattress "Hey!" Before she knew it, she was lying down in Ash's bed with him snuggling up next to her.

"I told you I would be fine." She grumbled against his chest. He has his arms tight around her waist and was holding her close to his shirtless torso.

"Your shirt – or technically mine – is all damp." He stated matter-of-factly "That mattress won't dry anytime soon. My bed is comfortable and warm – just stay here tonight."

"Fine," She breathed, starting to feel a little dizzy from his musky scent. It was clouding her senses and since he was shirtless, it was even stronger than normal.

"Goodnight, Dawn." He kissed her forehead and she blushed in the darkness

"Goodnight, Ash."

Twenty minutes later…

"Hey, Dawn?" Ash whispered in the darkness "Are you still awake?"

"Yeah," she sighed "I can't sleep."

"Want me to sing to you?"

"Sing to me?" She looked up towards him, now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could actually make out his face "What do you mean?"

"When I was little and I couldn't sleep, my mum used to sing me to sleep." He explained "Then when I got older and realised that I knew how to sing, I used to sing myself to sleep."

"You sing yourself to sleep?" The bluenette raised an eyebrow "How does that work?"

"It just does." She felt him shrug "Do you want me to sing you to sleep?"

"Sure," a smile grew on her lips "Why not."

"What song?"

"Any,"

Ash started humming a soft tune while stroking her arm slowly before singing the words in a slower rhythm to normal "I try to write this down, the words just don't come out, it's hard to say how you feel."

"I remember this song," Dawn whispered, "It's on your new album."

"Shh…" He hushed her and continued to sing, "Been down the longest road, said 'yes' when I mean 'no', I lost control of the wheel." It was normally a medium-paced song, but he was singing it at a much slower pace to make it more soothing to listen to "'Cause you know that, things get so bad, you've got my back, make me wanna sing and girl I'm singin' 'bout you."

Dawn closed her eyes and listened to the words with a smile. His voice just made it sound so peaceful and it actually was helping her fall asleep.

"No sweeter sound than what I've found, no perfect love could be more perfect than ours." He kissed her cheek before singing the chorus "Ooh baby, it feels like, it feels like, music sounds better with you baby, it feels right, it feels right, everything's better with you."

Instead of continuing to the second verse, he moved to the third bridge and then the chorus again "Every song, every rhyme, every word is better with you. Every day, all of the time, every word is better with you. Ooh baby, it feels like, it feels like, music sounds better with you baby, it feels right, it feels right, everything's better with you…"

He trailed off, starting to feel drowsy himself. He was pretty sure Dawn was already asleep because her body had completely relaxed against his. Hopefully she was because Ash was positive that he would fall asleep at any second.

"Dawn?" He whispered "Are you still awake?"

No reply.

"Good." He whispered to himself and closed his eyes, drifting off into the world slumber only minutes later.

---

Ash's eyes opened to the sight of Dawn combing through her hair, repeatedly trying to get rid of a stubborn kink. She was wearing a black dress but had yet to zip it up all the way, revealing the clasp of her black bra since she had her back facing him. A small blush grew on his cheeks and he ran a hand through his hair before coughing to make his presence known.

The bluenette turned around and – to his surprise – gave him a relieved expression. She quickly walked over to him and sat down on the bed.

"Oh good, you're up. Can you zip up my dress for me, please? I can't get it all the way and there's a stupid hook too." She moved her hair out of the way so that it wouldn't get caught in the zip as she felt his fingers on her back, zipping up the dress and then attaching the tiny hook to the thread. "Thank you!"

She smiled at him gratefully and jumped up, returning to the mirror to try and brush the kink out of her hair. She was wearing a one-shoulder, black, silk dress that went down to just below mid-thigh and tightened around the waist to emphasise her figure. The right shoulder had a netted short sleeve but there was a black mini-jacket lying at the edge of the bed so he assumed she would wear that on top. She was wearing black, netted stockings – to match the sleeve – that had rose designs on them and was currently shoeless. Even at a funeral, she had to look stylish.

"Oh god, the funeral!" Ash's eyes widened and he almost looked like a ninja the way he jumped out of the bed and dashed into the bathroom to get ready. Moments later the sound of the shower being turned on came and Dawn couldn't help but laugh at the boy's antics.

"No wonder I fell in love with him," She mumbled while going back to brushing her hair "His craziness reminds me of myself." When the kink wouldn't go away she threw the brush on the bed and groaned "Stupid kink, go away!"

"Dawn, are you okay?" Ash's voice came from the bathroom. The shower was still running so his voice had an echo to it.

"I'm fine," She called back "No need to worry!"

"Alright…" his voice was uncertain but he didn't speak after that and just continued to shower.

"If I keep brushing that one spot, my hair will frizz." The bluenette mumbled irritably "But if I don't, I'll be stuck with this stupid kink!"

It was ten and the funeral started at eleven so she needed to hurry up. She picked up the hairbrush and tried to comb her hair once more but the kink still wouldn't leave.

"Ugh! I hate this!" She threw the brush away, effectively hitting Ash in the face as he opened the door and causing him to fall flat on his butt.

"Ow!" He brought a hand to his head in pain and picked up the brush before looking at the girl in confusion. "What's with the rage?"

"I'm so sorry, Ash!" She ran towards the boy and helped him stand back up "It's just that there's a kink in my hair and it won't go away and I need it to go away and I keep trying but it just won't and-"

"Okay, okay, relax." He put his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down "I'll help you."

He sat her down on the bed and took the piece of hair that had the kink in it. Slowly, he began to brush through it, making sure that the lock of hair stayed in his hand to help it flatten out. After a few minutes he let it fall back into place and turned the bluenette to face the mirror.

"See, it's gone. You just needed to focus on that one part instead of your whole hair." He smiled and handed her brush "I still need to get dressed so you can go start on breakfast and I'll meet you downstairs in about fifteen minutes."

"Thanks, Ash." Dawn resisted the urge to give him a hug and put the brush back in her suitcase before heading downstairs.

Right now they were acting like nothing was wrong and she liked it this way. Last night had been really unexpected but at least his singing helped her sleep. His voice was just so soothing. He turned a medium-paced song into a soft, slow one that put her straight to sleep. He'd also told her a secret that could potentially ruin his career.

If people found out that Drew and Paul used to be auto-tuned because they couldn't sing, all hell would break loose from the media and GPAD would never be able to get its reputation back to its original standing. No, she would never tell anyone this secret – not even the other girls.

As she reached the kitchen, she noticed a yellow post-it-note stuck to the fridge. She pulled off and read over it:

Hi sweetie,

Johanna and I decided to head over to the crematory earlier so we could help. Make sure you and Dawn both eat well and then meet us there before the funeral starts at 11. Try to be there at least 10-15 minutes early, please. And don't forget to take your vitamins!

Love,

Mum.

This note was for Ash but she still tossed it into the bin and opened the fridge to see what she could eat, eventually deciding to go with an omelette. She pulled out two eggs – one for her and one for Ash – , an onion, a bag of shredded cheese and some milk before looking for a fry pan. It took her a couple of minutes to find everything she needed since she wasn't familiar with the kitchen but once she did, she was able to work quickly and make two cheese and onion omelettes and pour the milk while they were cooking.

As she finished putting the second omelette on a plate, Ash appeared behind her dressed in a black tuxedo with his hair neatly combed and for once, he wasn't wearing his cap.

"Here," The bluenette handed him a plate with a knife and fork before explaining what the note had said "Our mum's decided to leave early for the crematory so that they can help out. I hope you don't mind eating omelettes and your mum said to take your vitamins."

"Are you serious?" He sweat-dropped "I don't need to take vitamins anymore…" He rolled his eyes before changing the topic and smiling at her "I love omelettes so thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled back before remembering something important "Our mum's want us there by ten forty-five at the latest because it starts at eleven."

"That gives us…" He looked at his watch that read '10:22AM' "just under twenty-five minutes and it's a ten minute drive so we need to leave in fifteen minutes max."

"Wow," She looked at him with a small smirk as she teased "Your maths has definitely gotten better over the years."

"Hwey if wad newer baf!" Ash grumbled with his mouth full

"Eww!" She cringed "Don't you know it's bad table manners to speak with your mouth full?"

"Sowwy," He muttered an apology and closed his mouth so he could properly chew and swallow his food.

They spent the next ten minutes eating their breakfast in silence until Ash finally spoke when Dawn took both their plates to rinse them.

"Dawn, you don't have to wash the dishes," He stated "My mum can do that when she gets home."

"Sorry, Ash, but I refuse to leave dishes in the sink." She didn't bother to look at him as she rinsed the plates and utensils "They attract cockroaches and other insects and you'll probably end up with wild ratatta running around your house."

"You really know how to exaggerate things…don't you?" He raised an eyebrow and could help but laugh as she placed the last dish in the dishwasher and then turned to face him while drying her hands with a towel.

"It's true!" She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest

"Then I'll just use Paul's Ariados to eat them." He shrugged nonchalantly and Dawn's eyes widened in fear

"No!" She shrieked "No spider pokémon! Please no spider pokémon! No Ariados, no Spinarak, just no spider pokémon!"

"What's wrong with spider pokémon?" he looked at her in confusion as she finished rinsing his dishes and put them in the dishwasher "Ariados is a pretty awesome pokémon."

"You should know, after all," She glared while opening the pantry and pulling out a bottle "You did read my diary." She filled up a glass with water and handed him two pills from a bottle "Take your vitamins."

"I'm not a five-year-old!" The boy groaned irritably, but still took the pills, throwing them in his mouth and then swallowing with a big gulp of water. He rinsed the glass and put it in the dishwasher before Dawn could complain again and then turned to face her. "Every time I come to see her, she makes me take these stupid vitamins."

"I think it's sweet that she cares." A small smile grew on her lips as they both left the kitchen and went to the door where they pulled out their shoes – black, strappy heels for Dawn and black dress shoes for Ash – and then left the house.

"It was sweet at first, but then it just got annoying." He rolled his eyes and unlocked his car before sitting in the driver's seat.

"You really should be more considerate of your mother, you know." The bluenette looked at him in disappointment "She hardly gets to see you and when she does, you complain about her motherly gestures."

"I guess…" He trailed off, obviously wanting to end the topic. There was silence after that for a few minutes until a 'GPAD' song started playing on the radio.

"'Psycho.'" She recognised the song

"It was the first song we wrote together." He smiled as he listened to it "Back at the café."

"Does it ever feel weird?"

"What do you mean?" They stopped at a red light and he turned to face her with a look of confusion

"Hearing yourself on the radio," she elaborated "does it ever feel weird?"

"It did at first," He answered, turning back to the road when the light turned green "But now we're all used to it. It feels kind of awesome to hear your own voice coming out of the radio."

"It would feel pretty awesome to hear yourself on the radio." She nodded in agreement before turning to look out the window "Kanto is so pretty. It's so rustic and beautiful, you're really lucky to live here."

"Yeah, but I haven't actually lived here in a while." He sighed, "Being famous has its perks, but it also has its downsides. I hardly see my mum anymore and even though I may not show it, I miss her."

"I know how you feel, I've always been really attached to my mother. I never went through that rebellious teenager stage where you want nothing to do with your parents, so being at Mesprit was tough in the beginning."

"I didn't go through that phase either," he shrugged "maybe it's because we both only have mothers? My father left when I was only one year old and my mum just kept telling me he was on a business trip. When I was eight, she finally told me that he was never coming back."

There was a short silence before Dawn sighed "I don't know who my father is."

"What?" He turned to face her in shock "What do you mean?"

"Keep your eyes on the road." Her voice was void of emotion as she gestured to the windscreen

"Right, sorry." He turned back to the road but continued to question "What do you mean that you don't know who your father is? Like, do you mean he passed away before you could get a proper memory of him or did he leave like mine or…" he trailed off.

"I came from a one-night-stand." She forced back tears. No one knew this…not even Leaf or the other girls had even the slightest idea "My mum and her fiancé got a little drunk one night when she was twenty-three and well…basically the same story of Gary and Leaf. The only difference is that my mother got pregnant and Leaf didn't."

"But then, what about your mum's fiancé?"

"He left her." She shrugged "The asshole gave her an ultimatum of either him or me…he wanted her to abort me."

"But…why?" Ash could hardly believe what he was hearing "He was her fiancé, they were going to get married soon anyway."

"I don't know and I don't care. My mum was living in Johto with him at the time so she moved back to Sinnoh with her mother and had me. Since she was twenty-three and in a completely different region, no one made a big deal out of her being pregnant."

"And your mother never showed you photos of this jackass?"

"No," She shook her head "I think she ripped them all up and burned them when he left her. She also won't tell me what he looked like. I'm just grateful that I look exactly like my mother…I don't want any part of that creep visible on me. She told me the only thing about me that relates to him is my crazy personality.

"It took me so long to start believing that not all guys are heartless jerks...Kenny happened, but I got over it. Conway happened, but I got over it. Lucas happened, but I got over it. But when you happened…I just broke."

They'd arrived at their destination five minutes ago, but they remained in the car as Dawn poured her heart out to Ash. His own heart was breaking a little more at each word she said.

"I…I'm sorry, Dawn." He pulled her into a hug and rubbed small circles on her back "I had no idea that you'd been through so much."

"No one knows," she sniffed and pulled away to look at him "No one outside of my immediate family knows. My mother was a top coordinator, which kind of made her a celebrity. She couldn't have let anyone find out."

"I get it," He nodded "and you have nothing to worry about, I won't tell a soul. Forget souls, I won't even tell a wall."

"Thanks, Ash." She giggled at his lame attempt to be funny. No matter how much she wanted to, she had managed not to cry, which she was really grateful for.

"Do you think we can be friends?" He decided to change the topic and stretched out his hand to her "I know there isn't much hope for a relationship right now, but can we please be friends again, at least?"

Dawn looked at his hand warily before looking up at him and smiling again "Sure," she put her palm on top of his "We can be friends again."

"Thank you, you have no idea how much it means to me." He sighed in relief as he let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding in.

"We should get going or we're going to be late." The bluenette gestured to the funeral ground just ahead of them and opened the car door to exit. She was joined swiftly by Ash and they made their way down a few concrete pathways until a large building came into view. They must've been one of the last to arrive because once they entered, almost all the seats were taken by people who had come to pay their condolences.

They walked to the front to see Leaf, May, Misty, Barry, Drew and Paul and Reggie sitting in the first row, right next to Professor Oak, Gary and Daisy, who was crying in her older brother's arms. The male brunette had his eyes closed as he held onto his sister and rubbed her arm slowly in an attempt to comfort her.

In front of them were two open caskets and despite the fact that she had never actually met Gary's parents, it brought tears to her eyes. She took a seat next to Leaf and Ash sat beside her as a preacher continued pray that their souls would rest in peace.

One-by-one, a few people made speeches, including Delia, Johanna, Professor Oak, Daisy – who had to force herself to stop crying – and two other people the bluenette didn't recognise. Finally, Gary stood up and walked to the podium, keeping his eyes on his parents' motionless bodies in the coffins beside it.

"I…I never thought something like this would happen." He began "Ever since my career kicked off, I barely called or visited you guys. I guess I turned into one of those worthless idiots that lets fame get to his head so much that he loses interest in the people that really matter and their feelings." He eyed Leaf at this.

"I can never forget the day I took a packet of sharpies and drew on the walls." He chuckled a little "Instead of getting mad at me, you got a frame, popped out the glass and put it on top. They're still there to this day. You were the best parents anyone could've ever asked for, always understanding, loving, there wasn't one day when I was around you that you didn't tell me how much you loved me…every time you called, you'd tell me, any chance you got, you'd tell me. I hardly ever told you.

"People say 'when life hands you lemons, make lemonade', but I don't know how I'm supposed to do that this time. I wish I'd payed more attention. Maybe then I would've been told of your accident the day it happened." He eyed Professor Oak "Maybe then the last time I saw you wouldn't have been a year ago…maybe then I would've gotten the chance to say goodbye."

He let out a long sigh and left the podium, but before walking back to his seat, he walked over to the caskets and placed a kiss on his mother and father's foreheads, trying not to shiver at their ice-cold skin.

The preacher then returned to the podium after Gary sat back down and said a few more words before everyone stood up and the caskets were closed, lifted up by two men per coffin and then taken into a room nearby, where they were to be cremated.

Slowly, people made their way out of the hall and over to Professor Oak to give their sympathy. Dawn saw Gary and instantly made a beeline for him, wrapping the boy in a tight hug before he even knew what was happening. Once he did, he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and held onto her as if she was a lifeline.

"I'm so sorry, Gary, you didn't deserve this at all." She mumbled against his chest "But everything will be okay," she looked up at him and gave him a weak smile "I promise you, you're not alone."

"Thanks, Dawn." His voice held little to no emotion "Everyone has to go someday. I guess they just decided to leave a little earlier. But I'm okay with it."

"He's in denial." Drew whispered in Paul's ear and the plum-haired boy nodded. Gary may have been acting like he was fine, but everyone knew that deep down, he wasn't. This was exactly how Paul had acted when his parents had passed away, trying to be strong and act like he was okay with the fact that he would never see them again. It took him a good month till reality hit him hard in the face and he spent days crying. Something Paul would never do.

"Gary," Ash looked at his brunette best sympathetically "it's okay to cry."

"I don't need to cry." He shrugged nonchalantly "I've accepted it, crying is useless – it won't bring them back."

"Gary…"

"I SAID I'M FINE!"

Everyone jumped back at his sudden outburst and watched him storm off with solemn expressions. Dawn turned to face Leaf and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Go talk to him."

"What good will that do?" The brunette questioned"It'll be better if Paul talks to him because they've had the same experience."

"Yeah, but out of all of us, you're the only one he won't snap at." Paul countered "Look, I know you're still mad at him but please, just talk to him."

"He needs to cry." Drew continued "He's been keeping it all bottled up inside him and it's not healthy. You need to make him cry – please?"

"Alright," She sighed in defeat "I'll go talk to him."

"Thank you." Ash smiled gratefully as she walked off in the same direction Gary had gone. Once she disappeared, he turned back to the other girls "and thank all of you guys for coming today. You didn't have to, but you still did."

"It's alright, Ash." Dawn nodded "How could we not have come? It's not just about Gary, Professor Oak lost his children and Daisy also lost her parents."

"Wait…" Drew looked at the two in confusion "You're talking again?"

"Yeah," The bluenette nodded "He asked if we could be friends, and I agreed. I realised that holding a grudge forever is useless and too stressful, so in my eyes, you're all forgiven." She then gestured to May and Misty "As for these two and Leaf, that's completely their decision."

"Drew," May looked up at the chartreuse-haired boy "Let's go for a walk."

"Gladly." He let out a sigh of relief and the two walked away so that they could hopefully, finally sort things out.

"Ash, let's go over to Professor Oak." Dawn suggested, gesturing to the solemn-looking professor that was talking to Johanna and Barry.

"Yeah, good idea." He nodded "I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to him at all since all of this happened." They walked off in the direction of the three, leaving Paul and Misty alone.

"So…" Paul began, awkwardly shoving his hands in his pockets "How have you been?"

"Okay…I guess." The redhead shrugged "How about you?"

"Yeah, me too." He scratched the back of his neck nervously before sighing "Look, I know that you're probably still mad at me for everything but I just really want you to know that I'm sorry."

"I get it." Misty nodded and gave a small smile "I've thought about it a lot and…well…" she hesitated before continuing "I think I'm finally willing to look past what happened and give our relationship a chance. That is, if you still want to."

Her smile faltered when he gave her no response, but returned when he pulled her into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and whispered into her ear. "I'm definitely willing." He leaned in to kiss her lips but she turned at the last second, causing him to kiss her cheek instead.

"Sorry," She started to explain when he looked at her in confusion "But we're gonna have to start this relationship as friends, first."

"Okay," He nodded "We can build it up; that's fair."

"That is, if it even manages to build up into something else." The redhead stated but Paul simply smirked

"Trust me, it will."

"Trust you?" she raised an eyebrow "We'll see."

"Come on," He took her hand and gestured to Dawn and Ash who were locked in a conversation with smiles on their faces "Let's get back to the others."

---

"Would you like to tell me why you did what you did?" May turned to face Drew and they continued to walk along the grass.

"I did it because at the time, I was a self-absorbed, pompous, arrogant, selfish jerk and I was only thinking about myself and becoming famous again." He could see a tiny smile on the brunette's face – most likely because he'd just insulted himself five times in one sentence.

"At the time?"

"Okay, fine, I'm still pretty self-absorbed."

"And?"

"And arrogant."

"And?"

"And selfish."

"And?"

"Oh come on!" He groaned "I've insulted myself eight times for you now, can't you cut me some slack?"

"Fine," She giggled lightly and sat down on a large rock in the grass, patting the space next to her, for him to join her "I guess you have improved, considering you willingly called yourself all those true things."

"I really didn't intend to hurt you." He sighed "I was just too caught up in myself-"

"As usual" she interrupted, but he ignored her and continued

"-Ash and Paul both warned Gary and I but we wouldn't listen. We forced Ash into it and Paul eventually caved as well after spending time with Misty."

"This all sounds exactly like a movie." The brunette sighed "The boy uses the girl for his benefit then inevitably, falls in love with her."

"The thing is," He admitted "We were supposed to tell you that this was fake…but as stupid as this sounds, we forgot."

"You forgot to tell us that you were pretending to date us for publicity?" She looked at him in disbelief as he nodded sheepishly

"I told you it was stupid. But, what you said about this being like a movie, is exactly right because inevitably, we all fell in love." He closed his emerald eyes and looked away "You have no idea how much in love I am with you. I close my eyes and I see you, I open my eyes and everything seems to look like you, I think about you all the time and I can barely concentrate on anything but finding a way to get you to forgive me for my foolishness."

"You didn't seriously just use that pick-up line on me, did you?" May raised and eyebrow "That is one of the cheesiest things I have ever heard."

"It-"

"But I loved it." She didn't let him reply and instead, pressed her lips against his. She intended for it to be a simple peck, but just as she started to pull away, he pulled her into his lap and deepened the kiss. May brought her hands around his neck, feeling herself melt into the kiss. He bit down on her bottom lip softly, asking for entrance but she pulled away and shook her head.

"You're gonna have to wait to get back to that kind of thing, pretty boy." She winked and stood up, smirking at his disappointed expression "Sorry, but it's your own fault."

"Yeah…" He trailed off and also stood up "But are we back together now?"

"Not yet." She crossed her arms over her shoulders and looked at him expectantly "Don't expect me to just randomly get back together with you. You have to ask first – properly."

"Okay," The chartreuse-haired boy looked around and smiled when he saw what he wanted. He plucked a red rose from the nearby flowerbed and got down on one knee "May Maple, will you be my girlfriend again? I promise to never ever hurt you the way I did and to love you more than I love myself."

"Wow…that's a lot of love." Her sapphire eyes went wide in surprise but then a smile broke out on her face "Drew Hayden, I would love to be your girlfriend again." She took the rose from him and jumped into his arms for a hug as soon as he stood up.

"I missed you." He mumbled into her hair

"Let's go," She kissed his cheek "The others are probably waiting to get back home."

"By the way," He questioned as they started to walk back "What made you decide to forgive me?"

"Well, the ferry here gave me a while to think about everything and I guess I just realised that I was kind of overreacting. I was letting it take over my life, which was wrong and I decided to just forget you and move on, but I couldn't. That was when I realised that I was hopelessly in love with you, no matter how much I denied it."

"I knew I was irresistible." He smirked, causing May to roll her eyes and whack his arm lightly

"Don't act so pig-headed, it's a serious turn-off."

"Yeah but you love me no matter how much you deny it." He used her previous words against her

"I wish I'd never told you that." She groaned before yawning. She'd gotten up way too early for her liking this morning.

"Too late," Drew teased before grabbing her and pulling her towards him "Come on, I'll give you a piggy-back." He knelt down and gestured for her to get on his back "I'll carry you back to the car."

"You're sweet." She smiled gratefully and got on his back, gripping her arms around his neck and he stood up. He started walking and she looked at him strangely "What, no comments of how heavy I am?"

"Nope." He shook his head and continued to walk

"Wow, you're really committing to the whole 'I'll love you more than I love myself' thing, aren't you?"

"I promised you, didn't I?" He replied simply, resulting in a giggle and a kiss on the cheek from the brunette

"I think I'm going to enjoy the new Drew."

---

Leaf walked along different pathways in search of Gary but couldn't seem to find him anywhere. The crematory was a huge place with several buildings and gardens and had a place dedicated to peoples' ashes. Professor Oak had decided to keep the ashes instead of burying them so that his son and daughter-in-law would always be with him. They were going to put the ashes in two separate boxes, one for Ben and one for Alicia, and keep them in their home. (1)

"Where are you?" She mumbled quietly to herself as she continued to search for Gary "At this rate, I'm going to get lost." She scanned the area and let out a relieved sigh when she saw him sitting on a bench a short distance from her. "Finally."

The brunette turned in his direction and jogged up to him, slowing down to a walk when she was close-by. Once she reached him, she tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Damn it, Ash! Why can't you just leave me alone?!" Gary yelled angrily and shoved Leaf, causing her to let out a shriek and fall onto the ground. At the sound of her yelp, his eyes widened and he turned to see her on the grassy ground, looking to be in pain. "Oh my god, Leaf! I'm so sorry!"

He stood up and quickly helped her to her feet, brushing off any grass that stuck to her – including her backside, which caused them both to blush. He helped her sit down on the bench before continuing his apology.

"I'm so sorry! I thought you were Ash, trying to lecture me about not holding everything in."

"It's okay," She whispered softly and looked up at him "I forgive you."

"Thanks,"

"But he's right, you know." She elaborated when she saw the male brunette's confused expression "It's not good to hold it in. If you want to cry, then cry."

"Crying is for weaklings." He stated "Only weak guys cry."

"No," she shook her head "Crying doesn't make you weak, especially in circumstances like this. Infact, I'm shocked that you haven't cried."

"You want me to cry?" He looked at her in disbelief

"I really hate to say this to you, but yes. You need to let out your emotions. Holding it in is really unhealthy, Gary."

"You wouldn't understand." He sighed

"What wouldn't I understand?" This time, she looked at him in belief "That you've lost family? Gary, all of us understand. Dawn, Ash and I all don't have fathers, Misty's parents are never around, Drew's father disowned him and because of that he never gets to see his mother and don't forget Paul. He lost both his parents in a car accident, just like you – but he was only nine years old at the time. Granted, May hasn't lost anyone but the rest us do understand."

"I know…but-"

"But what? No one is going to make fun of you for crying. Your parents just died,two of the most important people in your life – gone."

Leaf hated saying these things to him, but she had to break him. If he didn't cry, then who knew what could happen to him from all the stress – it just wasn't healthy. He was close though, She could see the boy's eyes start to become glassy and soon enough they would be filled with tears. Just a few more words, then she could finally stop hurting him.

"Gary, you say you've accepted their death but I know you haven't. You're not going to be able to accept it until you actually cry the emotions out of you."

"Stop it!" He shouted, tears finally beginning to spill from his eyes. His body began to shake as sobs broke through his lips "Please stop it…" His voice raised an octave.

"I'm sorry, Gary." Leaf pulled the boy into a hug and rubbed his back "But I had to…I had to make you cry."

"I'll never see them again." He sniffed "I hardly spent time with them and now I'll never be able to spend time with them again."

"They may be gone physically," she pulled away from the hug and gave him a weak smile "But they'll always be in your heart – never forget that."

"Thanks," He sniffed again but smiled slightly as he wiped away some tears "I feel a little better. You were right, I shouldn't have held it in."

"There's one other thing I need to say." Her expression turned glum again

"What?" he looked at her in confusion

"Today was supposed to be about you, but then this happened and now I'm pretty sure everyone's forgotten. I know it's not the best of times to say this to you, but it's not fair on you to not say it."

"What do you mean?"

"Happy Birthday, Gary."

---

Wow, I'm such a bitch to Gary, aren't I? first I make him get drunk and sleep with Leaf, then I kill his parents and now I made the funeral on his birthday. The irony of all this is that he's my favourite pokemon guy XD

(1) my best friend did this with her cat. Its ashes are in a tiny wooden box with a lock on it and it's placed on one of those royal looking pillows ontop of a cabinet. So just imagine two, tiny wooden boxes with locks on them :)

Song used was 'Troublemaker' by Olly Murs feat. Flo Rida - I love this song! :D

So...did you like? yes, no, maybe so? I hope it suffices for the extensive delay :/ on the bright side, I got a credit! :D I was hoping for a distinction but hey, credit it still pretty good - they're really hard to get at my uni.

Ash turned perv-mode in this chapter XD but now he and Dawn are friends, as are Misty and Paul. May and Drew are back in a relationship and well...Leaf and Gary is still to be determined :)

Oh and some very sad news :( unfortunately this story is almost over. I'm not sure exactly how many more chapters are left, but there's not many :/ I'm gonna miss it so much!

Thank you for reading and pretty please review :)

ShadowkittyxX