DISCLAIMER: I don't know anyone from Pokemon, I don't own Pokemon...for goodness sake, I haven't even been to either Japan or America! :) So pleeeeeease don't sue me!

A/N: Okay, this is a short fic about...yeah, Ash and Misty. I had to write one, I was motivated to after seeing everyone else's fics! So here we go!

Love is always where you least expect it. This has been the case for many people, including myself. Romeo and Juliet, for example - who knew the great rivals of Verona would fall in love and ultimatly cause both a tragedy and a reconcilliation?
Well, my story is hardly relative to Romeo and Juliet. I did not fall in love with my rival, nor did I kill myself or pretend to kill myself. Yet I somehow feel a kinship with the fictional characters.
I have always been a romantic. I have always watched the soap operas where the good-for-nothing slob suddenly enters the living room and sweeps the unsuspecting girl off her feet, and I have always been a huge fan of the Mills and Boon books, even throughout my somewhat strange journey.
So when this happened to me, I was scared.
Why was I scared? I should know, but I don't. When it happened, I just wanted to run. But I knew I couldn't. For that would just be cowardly. And believe you me, I am no coward. I have saved a town from ultimate destruction, (Tentacool and Tentacruel) I have risked my life to save something I hardly even knew, (Marill) and I have been trapped on a sunken boat with my arch-enemies without panicking.
Sounds amazing, huh? But it all seems so...so normal for me. For you see, I am a water Pokemon trainer. I am twelve years old. I was born, raised and a gym leader in Cerulean City. My name is Misty. How did I end up with that name? Do not ask, for it confuses me, as well. My sisters were all born with beautiful names - Daisy, Violet and Lily...yet poor little me, the youngest, was stuck with Misty.
It kinda describes my mind sometimes. Like this time...

* * * * * *

I stared out at the grassy fields of Cerulean thats stillness was occasionally interrupted by a Butterfree or Pidgey. I had been the stupid little girl that was still inside me, and I had run. I was now scolding myself for it.
The sleek morning dew had made my feet damp, and I sat beside a river, watching the water run through as if it were carefully choreographed. Over a rock, through the moss, through a dam some kids had built two days ago...over and over and over again.
Just like my mind. The same thing, over and over and over, until finally...too much thoughts had made me run like a coward.
I can't tell him. I just can't. I am no longer the Misty my sisters grew up to know as the tough, verbal, speaks-whatevers-on-her-mind tomboy. No, now I am the shy, reluctant and totally deniable Misty that only Brock and Ash know. If I dared to tell him, he would split my heart in two. I can imagine his first words..."Yuck, that's disgusting, Misty. There are far more important things than love. For example, Pokemon..." Then I would go home and cry and probably lay self-abuse upon myself...
I couldn't look at him any longer without my mouth opening and the wrong thing coming out. I was getting frustrated at myself. That's why I had come here. To the soothing serenity of the Cerulean fields. Here, no one could find me, hurt me, talk to me or make me mad. I was totally alone.
Hot tears sting my eyes as I think about him again and again. I love you, I want you, hold me in your arms and say the same...but instead I say, "You rotten little twerp! Do you think you're Mr. Hotshot Pokemon Trainer, do you? Well, you're not, you're a total loser who can't think for himself..." Just as the tears spilled over, I heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, what are you doing all the way out here?" I looked up, tears streaking my cheeks and my hair now ruffled from the running.
"Oh" I sniffled. "Nothing." I quickly wiped my tears as Ash sat beside me.
"Yeah, you're just crying cos it's the hottest trend right now" he said.
I glared at him. "Gee, you're sooo sensitive" I said sarcastically. My heart was pounding. It does that when I say something I don't mean to. I'm surprised my heart doesn't leap out of my chest every time I talk to Ash.
"Look, let's be brief, huh?" Ash suggested. I looked at him in confusion.
"Brief about what?" I asked suspiciously. Now he was getting weird.
Ash sighed. "I know you're considering staying here for good..." he started. My eyes grew wide. I could feel the fear mount up inside me. He read my diary...oh no, oh no...
"How do you know that?" I asked in anger. If he read my diary, he was in for it.
"Daisy told me." Damn her! Daisy is such a bigmouth, she couldn't shut up if her life depended on it! Why did I tell her? About staying, about Ash...
"Well...yes, I feel my sisters may need some help running the gym" I explained.
Ash shook his head. "You're running from it, Misty."
I eyed him in confusion. "I'm not running from 'it' whatever it is."
"It's us, isn't it?" Ash asked. Then I could suddenly feel something I had never felt before. And it scared me to death. It was almost as if I could feel what he was saying, what he was thinking. And I knew now that he was being brave.
"I...I, um...yeah, uh..." I stuttered, scared out of my wits. This was ten times worse than sleeping next to a Caterpie, or eating a bowlful of carrots. I stood up and started walking, Ash followed close behind.
"You're doing it now!" he yelled out as I walked faster. The river got a lot deeper here, the current got a lot faster. There was a bridge nearby, I knew there was....I stopped as I heard his words.
I started sobbing into my hands. All the tears from my heart flowed, right in front of him. I nodded. "I know I'm doing it now. It's all I can do..."
"No, it's not, you silly girl" Ash said, walking up to me. "You know, occasionally I do take my mind off Pokemon and food to think about you" he whispered.
I looked up, heart pounding even faster. "I've got...to stay...help sisters..." I muttered, my head jumbled with fear and confusion.
"You're not staying. Not if I can help it, anyway" Ash said.
"Well, you can't help it!" I yelled. "You can't, you go around with a head as big as your stomach and say you're this great Pokemon trainer, and yes, maybe you are good, but you've forgotten yourself! You don't seem to have feelings or thoughts or..."
"Misty, I just told you I think about you" Ash said. "And I can help. I can do this." He leaned closer, and before I knew what was happening, our lips had met. I was still crying, I was still telling myself not to do this...but I couldn't stop it.
"I love you" I whispered my thoughts accidentally. Ash smiled.
"I love you too, silly girl. Now, how about packing your things and getting out of here. Your sisters can manage, I'm sure" he said with a sly grin.
"How do you know they can manage?"
"I, ahem, 'talked' to them beforehand."
I sighed. "You told them I wasn't staying, didn't you?" I asked warily.
Ash nodded. "Cos I knew you wouldn't."
"You're right. I'm not" I said. I was still half-scared, but also half relieved. It was all out in the open. But how would things change? What if we broke up in the middle of his training?
I forgot my worries and walked back with him to the gym, suddenly feeling like the unsuspecting girl in a daytime soap opera. The slob has come. He has swept me off my feet.
And now I'm not scared. I'm happy...and I'm in love.


A/N: Awww, I'm sorry everyone, I had to write a short romance fic, cos we all know those two belong together! You don't have to review this, I just thought it would be a nice story for the hopeless romantics such as myself, lol! Enjoy!