Chapter 7: Learning

Touko woke up with her arms wrapped around a rather large stuffed toy. She thought for a moment, when had she ever a stuffed doll that was as bigger then her? Then she remembered what had happened the night before and realized that besides for not being in her own room she had shared a bed with N. N seemed to already be awake because she heard him whisper. "'Morning."

"How long have you been awake?" Touko asked, a bit confused and very embarrassed.

"A while, I guess."

"And you have been lying here the whole time?"

"I didn't want to wake you."

Touko blinked then smiled, "Thanks, that was really sweet of you N."

N blushed in reply, "Your welcome."

After what felt like a long awkward moment Touko finally convinced herself to get out of bed. She was so happy she was still in her pajamas. N followed suite. Touko felt her cheeks become hot. Why hadn't she noticed N slept without a shirt? Though he was still wearing his pants. The same pants he had been since the day before yesterday…

"Do you not own any other clothes?" Touko suddenly blurted out.

N looked down at his pants then at the shirts on the chair and shrugged "They were all I ever needed. Why?"

Touko looked shocked, "They must be filthy! We need to get them washed and find you something to sleep in."

As soon as N was standing Touko stripped off the sheets from the bed. She saw N wince and could only guess what he was thinking. Still as she had guessed the sheets were covered in dirt from the clothes N had worn.

"Well nothing we can really do about this right now. I guess we should head down stairs and get something to eat. We have some thinking to do."

N nodded to Touko words. He was already back in his street clothes and ready, though his shoes were off. As the two made their way down stairs Touko could hear the TV coming from the living room. There was another news report about Cheren and Alder, though the report still did not know Cheren's name. "'… Reportedly they are still in the 'castle' but besides that we have not gotten any new reports. Now on to the weather with Yancy.' 'Thanks Curtis. So as we look over the map we can a cold front heading towards Icirrus City…" Touko's mother sighed turned off the TV. She then turned on the couch and saw her daughter and N standing behind her.

"Sweetie, your finally up." She said with forced cheerfulness. Touko could tell her mother was worried about Cheren.

"Yeah." Was all Touko could say.

"That's good, would you like some breakfast?"

"Sure…"

"Can I help?" N asked pleasantly.

Touko's mother smiled "Sure. Thank you N. Oh Touko, sweetie, before I forget Bianca stopped over early. She wanted to talk to oyu but as you were still asleep I sent her home and told her you would stop by when you woke up."

Touko nodded, "Got it. I'll get dressed then head over." And with that Touko made her way upstairs. She quickly changed into a pair long blue jeans and a white t-shirt. She let her hair hang loose but still wore her hat and black military style boots with pink laces. As soon as was dressed she ran down the stair and looked into the kitchen. Her mother was teaching N how to make muffins. Touko smiled; that was sweet, she thought to herself. "Bye Mom, bye N. I'll be back soon."

"Bye sweetie."

"Be careful Touko."

Touko nodded and waved goodbye as she ran out the front door. As Touko made it to Bianca's house she heard yelling. Touko recognized the voice as being Bianca's father. She sighed. She had no idea why Bianca's father was yelling but it was such a common thing it did not surprise her. As she walked to the front door of the house and knocked she could Bianca's mother try to quite her father. Only when they heard the second round of knocks was their actual silence. Bianca's family no longer tried to hide the fact that they were always at war with each other. When had all of that changed, Touko thought to herself as the door opened and Bianca stood there.

"Touko!" The blonde girl cried joyfully. She felt Bianca's hug so tightly around her that Touko had let out a gasp of air.

"Who's there?!" Bianca's father bellowed at the door.

"It's me, sir." Touko was not quite sure why she called him that. Maybe the because of years of training had stuck.

Training…

"Oh… Well Bianca don't just stand there, let Touko in." And with that the older man left the room followed swiftly by his wife.

Touko stepped inside and closed the door as Bianca made her way to the couch. Following her best friend Touko sat down on the couch next to Bianca. There was an awkward as neither girls suddenly knew where to start. Luckily things seemed to have calmed down, as Touko could no longer could hear yelling. Finally Touko asked, "So, why did you stop by so early?"

Bianca looked over at Touko. She was frowning. "I wanted to talk to you about N. And I wanted to know everything that happened two days ago."

Touko swallowed hard. "What about N did you want to talk about?" She had a feeling she knew, but she wanted to hear her friend out first.

"He's… well, he's the king of Team Plasma. There leader. He's evil. It's because of him I almost lost Munna. How can you be helping him? He is nothing but trouble. He's caused us all so much pain… It's because of him that Cheren is…"

It was at that moment that something very strange popped into Touko's mind. She was not sure why that moment but it happened. Bianca and N where very much alike. They were both so innocent but everything about the families they had come should have made them hard and cold.

Touko paused before reaching out and touching her friend's should. "He's not evil. He was just raised in bad place. He had no idea of what Ghetsis was planning on doing. I know he would have tried to save Cheren if he could… It's just that… there was no way to safe everyone."

I was so broken at that moment I wasn't able to anything. N was trying to save me…

Bianca looked. That was when Touko know that Bianca had been silently crying. She felt so terrible seeing her most beloved friend like this. Bianca wiped her eyes and looked at Touko. "He wanted to save everyone?"

Touko nodded. Even if it was not 100% true this was what Bianca needed. "Of course. Look later today N and I are going to start figure out a way to save Cheren and Alder. You want to join us?"

"I don't know…" Bianca looked over to hall where her parents had vanished down. After moment she said, "All right. How about I meet you your house around four?"

"Sounds great." Touko said brightly and stood up. Bianca stood up and the two girls hugged. As Touko made her way to the door she turned around and said to Bianca, "Stay strong, we'll get Cheren back. You'll see."

All Bianca could do was nod as Touko left, a faint trace of a smile finally appearing on Bianca's face. Touko was happy to see hope return to her friends eyes.

After Touko had gotten home and ate breakfast she convised N to go shopping. Thank goodness there was a small shopping area in town that sold clothes and what not. N had been forced to leave the house in some old short that had once belonged to Touko's father and one his old polo shirts. N wanted to know more about Touko's father but she managed to change the subject with ease. N could only guess that this sort of conversation had happened to her a few times before.

After they came back from their short shopping trip where N had gotten more tan khakis and black and white shirts as well as a dozen pairs of new socks and boxers the pair sat on the couch and did almost nothing. All of Touko's and N's pokemon were out of their pokeballs and mostly outside the house with the exception of Retto, Sakura, (Touko's Samurott and Lilligant) and N's Zoroark who were sitting inside near their trainers as well as Zekrom and Reshiram who were still in their pokeballs. Touko's Mother was also out of the house, as she needed to get grosseries since there were three people and a ton of Pokemon now at her house.

Touko's mother had only two pokemon that Touko really knew of. An Espeon and an Umbereon, from the days of when Touko's mother did contest. Touko's mother had moved to Unova to study at the Castelia City where she had met Touko's father. N had found all that from his morning of cooking with Touko's mother. It was nice to know a bit more about Touko since she knew so much about him but knew almost nothing about her.

So once again N asked Touko, for the second or third time that day, "So what was your dad like?"

Touko gave him a cold look, but they had been silent for so long and the TV was off Touko saw little way out of this. She sighed and leaned against N while the pokemon napped on the floor and chairs. "Well I don't really remember. Dad died when I was really young. We were actually living in Castelia at the time. Dad was doing work at the Univeristy at the time. I do remember him being very nice. He always had a big smile on his face and would try to teach me things about what he working on. I never really understood it but it was fun to sit on his lap while he showed me picture of diagrams that he working on." Touko scrunched her brow trying hard to remember. "The last thing I really remember him working had something to do with trying to find the true of all pokemon. He was working on that with two other guys at the Univeristy."

Touko closed her eyes. There had once been a picture of three men but she had not seen it in years. Now she could no longer remember any of their faces, not even her father's. She sighed, had it really been this long since she had seen him. Well over ten years. She was sixteen now, almost seventeen, and her father had died when she was three. Time had certainly flown by.

N lazily played with Touko's hair and said nothing as Touko spoke. What she told seemed like the same story that her mother had. Her father had gained tenure for his work in the sciences and was well like professor. That was where Touko's mother had met him. He had been her teacher. But no one really knew how he had died, and Touko had only vague memories. That all made sense. N asked. "So what was favorite part about your father?"

Touko thought for a moment then smiled, "His laugh. He had a great laugh. His nose scrunched up and his eyes would light up. And it was not hard at all to make him laugh."

N smiled. That was a good thing to like he had to admit. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Touko sat up. "Bianca is here. Man, I did not realize it already four. I guess we are going to start planning."

N frowned, "Planning what?"

"A rescue. We are going to save Cheren and Alder."

Well this Chapter was way longer than I thought it would be. It also took a turn I was not expecting it to take. Not that I mind. What I thought was going to happen is simply going to happen next chapter. And yes I did just pull a CLAMP on you. What, I love CLAMP.