~*~

CHAPTER NINE

~*~

Misty yawned, and studied her long, bare nails intently. Jyou sat on the sofa next to her, playing with that damn phone again. Anju was stalking up and down by the front door, glancing at her watch, to the clock, and to Jyou. Suddenly, the clock chimed twelve and Anju straightened up as if she had been shot.

"Ooh, time for my shift, see ya later guys!" she warbled, as she practically ran down the hallway. Jyou, for once, shifted his attention to Misty.

"Fixed the TV yet hun?" he asked. Misty nodded wordlessly, as Jyou reached over for the remote. The screen pinged on, showing a female Pikachu in her den, with two newborn Pichu snuggled close to her warm body, and one un-hatched orange striped egg sitting nearby, covered in camouflaging leaves. Misty looked away; but then the announcer started speaking, as a male Pikachu hopped onto the screen.

"Pikachu, the Electric Mice Pokémon may produce up to five Pichu eggs in the wild, but if bred in captivity, only one will be produced, as with all Pokémon," the deep voiced man said. "Pikachu are excellent parents, and it is very uncommon for any of this litter to die. Pikachu mate for life, and if they are separated from their mate; if it is captured, of if it dies, then the remaining Pikachu will not mate again."

"Aw cute," murmured Jyou, as he shoved the corner of a baguette into his mouth. Misty squeezed her eyes so tightly shut, her head hurt, but then she opened them again, startling slits of blue and green.

"Jyou?" she muttered softly. "We need to talk."

~*~

An hour later

~*~

Ash stood outside the modest apartment door, the small silver key Anju had given him, shaking in his hand. Ash swallowed, but it didn't do his dry throat any good. Fidgeting, he scratched the side of his nose, then brought that hand down to his jeans to wipe off the accumulating sweat.

Okay it's just Misty…

JUST Misty?

Ash held his hand steady as he opened the door a crack and peered in. There she was. Just suddenly…there. She was sitting on the floor with her back to him, leafing through a magazine and eating a chocolate bar. The scene was so familiar to him he felt like crying. He shuffled through the door, but she didn't heed him, thinking it was Anju. Feeling braver, Ash kicked off his trainers, making as much noise as he could. Walking closer, his face broke into a grin.

"Hey Misty you're never gonna guess what kinda Pokémon I saw today!"

"Hmmm? What Po-" Suddenly Misty stopped, as she realised what she was doing. Her shoulders shuddered violently, and she whirled around, her mouth open with shock.

"What have you done to your hair!" Ash teased. Misty's expression of shock, rapidly turned to anger. Her teeth clenched.

"Get out."

"Whaaaa?"

"You heard me."

"Myst?"

"Don't call me that! Just go! Leave me alone! I don't ever want to see you again!" She turned her back on him, her shoulders still shuddering. Ash just stood there, confused. Then his eyes wandered down to her flat stomach.

"Misty what happened to the baby?" She turned around gain, the teal eyes he loved so much wide open with surprise.

"How do you know about the baby?"

"Jo…"

"Cuh, figured. Well Mr Ketchum as you can see, there is no baby so just go away," she ordered, her voice cold, but cracking. She turned away again.

"Oh his eyes, I just can't look at him. I hate him so much, but every time I see him looking so hurt I just…"

"Listen Misty, I know why you're doing this," Ash stated, cockily. "You don't have to protect me anymore! I'm not the Master! I gave up my title, just for you! I know about your father, and what you did for me!" There was no response from Misty but a twitch of an eyebrow. "You can come home with me, back to Pallet Town now Misty!" Ash reached out to touch her, but she jerked away, and jumped up.

"You stay away from me!" she yelled, her legs shaking as much as the arm that held the pointed, accusing finger. "Stay away! From me, from Anju, from this Gym, just STAY AWAY FROM ME! You've ruined my life! I never, ever want to see you again!" In disbelief, Ash reached out his hand again, and Misty heaved her half eaten chocolate at him. Ash glowered at her as he wiped the chocolate off his cheek.

"Oh yeah, nice to see you've matured," he said bitterly. He had no idea what was going on. So he asked her.

"What's going on? Oh you're still as dense as you ever were - didn't you hear me the last million times? You have ruined my life Ash Ketchum!"

"Wait a minute, I never asked you to run off like that! Don't try and blame your stupid idea on me this time!" Misty shifted.

"It's a good thing I did leave then, because now I know a lot more about you Ash, and I know that I'd never be able to spend my life with you."

"But why?" Ash said sadly, but still trying to sound angry. "What did I do?"

"It wasn't what you did, but rather what you didn't do," Misty said, through her gritted teeth, as her hands moved up into fists by her ribs. "You never came to look for me. All that crap you said about staying together forever, and how nothing would come between us - bullshit!" Ash blinked. Misty never swore that badly. Misty swung her fists onto her thighs, and let her head hang, and her tears that she had tried to stop in vain drip to the carpeted floor. "All that stuff Anju said the other day about me being so brave to give up everything for you - I think I only did it because I knew, well I thought in my heart that you would come and get me, find me, save me, and tell me everything was going to be okay, and that you lo-" Misty stopped, and lifted her head up to glare angrily at Ash again.

"I only found out why you left a little while ago Myst! Honest! Pikachu said she saw you go, so I thought you must have left because you wanted to, and I cared about you enough to leave you alone! You broke my heart."

"Oh yeah," Misty sneered. "You looked really broken hearted all those times the tabloids took pictures of you with Miss-Big-Titted-Supermodel, or Miss-Peroxide-Blonde-Talentless-Singer!" Ash glared at her, unable to keep resentment out of the gaze.

"Oh please, you're just picking at me. You know just as well as anyone that their agencies pay mine so they can be seen with me! I take one picture with them outside a premiere, or a battle, and then they're gone! I never see them again, and I sure as hell don't want to!" Misty stared at her slowly unclenching fists. "Are you going to tell me what happened to the baby or not?" he yelled.

Suddenly, Misty was wracked with a sob that brought tears to his own eyes, and he reached for her again. He wrapped her in his arms and rested his lips against her hair as she cried. Suddenly, she straightened up, and pushed him roughly away.

"Our baby?" she cried, only a few steps away. "You, you and your stupid Badges and title killed our baby. If it wasn't for you it'd still be alive!" Ash stood there shaking.

"How is it my fault?" he bellowed, tears falling freely from his furious dark eyes. "For the last time, I didn't tell you to, or make you leave!"

"How could I have done anything else Ash?" Misty cried. "I had convinced myself that I," her mouth twisted up in a sneer at the word, "loved you, and that I'd do anything for you. You couldn't fool me, no matter what you'd have said. I've known you only an hour or so less than Pikachu, before you were a proper Trainer. I watched you win every single Badge and League, and I knew that your dream of being a Master, even if you'd already accomplished it, was always going to be number one in your priorities list. But God, oh God Ash," she wailed. "It broke my heart. It changed me, so if you came here looking for 'your' Misty, she's not here. It was 'your' Misty who couldn't sleep at night for the first six months; it was 'your' Misty who waited and waited for you to come and save her; it was 'your' Misty who had to bury your stillborn baby in the middle of the night. And do you know what? The doctor said the baby was born four months early because of stress, and do you know who caused me that stress Ash Ketchum? You. You!"

Ash's chest thumped painfully, and he gasped for breath for no reason at all.

"Don't try to blame this on me Misty," he yelled.

"It's your fault!"

"Huh, talk about me being as dense as I used to be, it seems that you, are still the spoilt brat you've always been Misty Waterflower!" Angrily, Ash aimed a kick at the sofa, which teetered backwards a few inches before thumping to the floor again. Furious at her, and everything else, he violently grabbed his shoes and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door so that the whole room shook and loose pages of Misty's magazine flew all around the room.

Outside in the hallway, Ash leaned back against the door, feeling the cold air calm his flushed face. His tears began again; not angry ones this time, but slow, sobbing tears of pain. He let his trainers, which he had been holding by the laces, fall to the floor as he raised his hands to cover his face.

"My family…" he whispered into his palms. After a minute or so, he collected himself and lurched down the hallway, unhearing the echo of his tears from inside the apartment.