'What have I just done?' she asked herself, walking sadly through the city while the rest of the population went about their own business, oblivious to the heartache of two people within the city walls. She had made the biggest mistakes of her life in the last half an hour. First, she had kissed her best friend, and not in the best friend way but in the way she had wished for the last few years. With love, passion and lust. Then she had left him, with no explanation, apology or anything. But he had followed her. Followed her through the streets and refused to let her go until he had said his piece. Then she had run again, like the coward she was.
'Why did I run?' She asked herself again. He had just admitted his true feelings to her, feelings that she knew could run no deeper and that must have been the hardest thing for him to do. Running away after he had poured out his soul to her, described the love for her that resided within him must have crushed him. 'How could I do something like that?' But she could think of no reason for her running. Not one single pitiful excuse or honest reason why she had left him standing in that deserted alleyway, watching her vanish again.
Her wanderings had taken her into an unfamiliar area of the town and she paused by a corner, leaning against the wall to gaze up at the once clear skies that had now begun to cloud over with shapeless, swirling grey entities. Tears began to leak from her eyes, creating shining streaks down her cheeks that reflected the harsh light of the street lamps. Her resolve suddenly tightened as she pressed her eyeslids tightly together and clenched her fists so hard that her nails left deep marks in her palms. "I will not let it end like this!" she stated to the world before turning back the way she had come to search for her love.
Somehow she managed to find her way back to the alley where she had last seen him, but he was no where to be found. Despair clutched at her heart once more at the idea that she had lost her only chance to make up for her recent mistakes. But the newly formed resolve in her heart refused to give in and she continued to search frantically throughout the city.
She struggled on through the dark streets, searching down every lane and in each alley for a single trace of his presence. The sound of her heels on the pavement echoed through the deserted streets with every step she took. Her hope had almost vanished when she rounded a corner, and there he was, just a few feet before her with his hand against the door to their hotel.
"Ash!" she suddenly called out, making him halt in his tracks and turn to see her. Their eyes met again and the pain in his cut through her like a freshly sharpened knife to sear straight to her heart and shatter it into a million pieces.
She felt her feet frozen to the spot by his piercing gaze, her hand clutched over her bleeding heart while willing herself to speak and make up for her wrongs. His eyes narrowed slightly and he looked away, closing them tightly before pushing the door open and stepping inside. Their eye contact lost, Misty could move again and she rushed forward again to place her hand on his arm, holding him in the same manner he had done earlier in the evening. "Please Ash. Can I just talk to you?" she inquired, already fearing his answer and what it might be.
He remained silent for a moment, not agreeing to nor denying her wish, but neither did he move away. The pressure on his arm through her hand increased and he allowed her to pull him around for them to face each other. Linking her hand through his, she whispered, "But not here." and gently pulled him back onto the street to walk in the direction of the park.
They walked on in silence with Misty slightly before Ash, leading the way and she couldn't help but think back to earlier in the evening when they had trodden the same path but in completely opposite moods. She had ruined their entire evening and now it was up to her to put right those wrongs.
Arriving at the entrance to the park, Misty glanced briefly down the path they had previously taken, the one that lead to the view point over the stunning moonlit landscape before turning and walking away in the opposite direction.
They continued on through the dark trees in silence until coming to a clearing with no light other than that which could penetrate the surrounding trees from the street. Misty stood still, her back still towards him before slowly turning around to find his face concealed in the shadows.
She hesitated again, averting her eyes to her hands where the small box with only one remaining earring lay nestled within the velvet. Gently touching the pokeball with the tips of her fingers, Misty felt warmth, power and confidence flow from her fingers to her heart, surrounding it with love. She closed her eyes momentarily before gazing up to where she knew Ash's face to be and took in a deep breath of air to force a sound to emerge from her lips and prevent an eternity of silence.
"I…I…" but her voice caught in her throat. However hard she tried to form words, none would come to express her feelings. Her stuttering was soon absorbed by the darkness which interrupted with a heavy silence that hung in the air like a lead balloon.
Thunder rolled in the distance, rumbling through their cores and sending shivers over Misty's bare skin. Ash lowered his head, clenching his eyes tightly and looking to the side to avoid any chance of catching her eye. "Misty." He began in a halting, shaking tone. "I understand if you don't return my feelings but please don't waste my time trying to come up with a reason to try and make me feel better." And with that he turned his back to her, pausing slightly to mention, "I'm going back to the room to get my things and I'll be gone in fifteen minutes. Please don't follow me."
He had barely taken two steps before large drops of heavy water detached themselves from the heavens and crashed down upon their heads. All Misty could do was stand, rooted to the spot as she watched the man she loved, the only man in the world she could ever imagine loving walk further and further away from her. "Ash wait!" she suddenly cried, leaping spontaneously forwards in her urge to stop him where he stood.
"Misty." He replied in a harsh, iron tone. "I thought better of you. Obviously I was wrong. Just leave me alone." And continued away from her, his body rigid and fixed in suppressed emotions.
"But Ash, please wait!" she found she couldn't stop. She had to tell him and rushed forwards to grasp his arm and turn him around to face her.
"Damn it Misty. You just don't know when to stop, do you?" he screamed in her face, the stored anger, hurt and frustration beginning to fly from his being as fast as it could. "You've done enough damage, why are you trying to make it worse?"
"Because I'm trying to make it right." She wailed back at him, her tears falling down her cheeks to mingle with the heavy rain that had already soaked the two in such a short time the intensity was so great. "I…I'm...I'm trying to tell you how I feel but I don't find confessing my feelings as easy as you do!" Her body shook with sobs as she clung to him harder than before, ensuring there was no way for him to escape or for her to stop. However, her words held him intrigued to the spot and his confused mind was attempting to see the sense and meaning the lurked behind her actions. "Ever…ever since I can remember on our travels, through Kanto with Brock, Johto and finally again with you over the last few weeks I've cared for you in a different way to how I have ever cared for anyone else." She paused again to look away in agitation and helplessness, wishing for something to help her with her words and make the entire process easier.
She glanced up to see that his head was bent, his black and unruly hair falling over his eyes so all she could see was the outline of his lips. Lips she wished to kiss and feel against her own. But that would have to wait, if she was lucky and he could forgive her for the bitch she had been this past night. "I'm not trying to give you excuses or anything of that sort. I'm trying to tell you that I...that I love you too." The gates that had held in her confession for so many years crashed open to flood Misty with an enormous sense of relief. She gazed up to where Ash's eyes lurked beneath the shadow created by his hair and she faulted. He hadn't move or said a word.
Feeling like a whipped cur she hung her head, eyes tightly closed to allow more tears to fall and mingle with the rain and trails of dark mascara as her grip on his arm loosened to allow her hand to fall to her side. In utter silence, Ash brought up his ands to wrap them warmly and tenderly around the top of her neck, lifting up her head to gaze into her crystalline eyes.
"Misty…" he gently murmured, wiping her porcelain cheeks with his thumbs that expressed all the tenderness that was in his heart. This calmed her greatly to the extent that her mind went blank and her body weightless while she was dragged deeper and deeper into his chocolate brown pools.
The space between them narrowed and tentatively their lips met, softly at first, savouring the sensation of intimate contact between them before increasing to express their feelings in actions rather than words. Misty's arms snaked once again to lie around her love's neck, bringing him closer to her as if to secure the fact that neither of them would ever run from the other again. Similarly, Ash wrapped his arms around her small frame, pulling her closer and securing his hold on the only person he could ever love.
Breaking apart, they stared deeply into the others eyes before a small stream of giggles burst from their lips, increasing to the size of a fully flown river after the melting of the winter's ice. Filled with such undiluted happiness, Ash seized her fully and lifted her into the air, swinging her around with the blue silk of her dress fluttered behind her like a banner.
The sudden loss of contact between her feet and the ground sent a rush of adrenaline through Misty, causing her to hang tightly on to Ash's neck before burying her face in his chest. Gracefully reuniting her feet with the solid ground, she remained with her head as close to his heart as possible, trying to heal all the hurt she had caused to it during the evening. She suddenly felt pressure on her hair from above where Ash could not stop kissing her and holding her tight with his eyes kept firmly closed, afraid that, should he open them, she would vanish as though a mirage and he would awaken from a dream.
Fully content for what felt like the first time in her life, Misty just stood there, absorbing all the love he could give. Letting out a deep sigh she realised that this was what true happiness was about.
Time became unknown between the two lovers and it was an age before Ash realised Misty had almost fallen asleep from exhaustion while remaining on her feet, supported by her pillar. Gently moving her to bring her back to their world, he reached into his pocket to produce a small earring, a pokeball hanging from the small golden curve of wire and chain. "I think you lost something." he murmured in a low breath that tickled the hairs that had fallen across her face.
She smiled serenely back and brought up her right hand to discover the small box was still there, the other earring still in place. Tenderly, Ash placed the one from his pocket beside its partner and closed his fingers around the box and her own porcelain hand. "Let's go back to the room and get some sleep." he suggested in a low voice, full of all the hope, love and warmth that he held in his heart for the beautiful woman before him.
She smiled sleepily back, kissing his cheek while her eyelids fought to conquer her eyes for the battle between remaining awake and falling asleep right there. Together they began to make their way out of the park, Misty's arm held loosely around Ash, beneath his jacket to remain as close to him as possible and seek the needed warmth from his body. The night was beginning to grow cold, the rain like ice upon her bare arms where goose bumps were already making their presence known. However, Ash's arm draped across her shoulders kept the knife edge of the temperature and rain at bay to leave her completely content.
The short walk from the park to the hotel was dreamlike. People on the street seemed to vanish at their presence, huddled under umbrellas, to leave them only conscious of the person beside them. Silently walking through the doors and across the marble floor of the reception area with the clickety-clack of Misty's heals upon the ground to accompany them, the couple made their way to the lifts that could take them the short way up the required distance with minimal effort on their part.
The artificial chime of the elevator announced their arrival to their floor and the doors slid open to reveal the red carpet clad corridor, doors on the left and right, running to the grand windows at the end. They walked down until arriving at the third door on the left, pausing while Ash fumbled through his pockets for the key.
"Where is it…" he muttered under his breath, beginning to become more agitated the harder he searched through his pockets. "Have you got a key?"
Misty giggled in response, holding her arms up and away from her sides, "With no pockets, what do you think?" For some reason, the more distressed and annoyed Ash became, the harder Misty began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" he frowned, a slightly hurt expression upon his sweet face.
"It's just…it's just, oh I don't know!" she admitted, laughing even more. Feeling he was providing a little too much merriment, he grasped her in a hug, placing his forehead upon hers and staring into her eyes, a mild smirk on his face. She immediately stopped laughing once her back became pressed up against the wall.
"Gotcha!" whispered Ash, a broad and all knowing smirk across his face.
"No, wait, no that's not fair! No!" she screeched as Ash's fingers began to tickle her madly all the way down her sides and on her bare back. In order to escape her fate, she threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lips firmly upon his, achieving the desired result of stopping his mad tickling session.
The door to their room squeaked open slightly and muffled hysterics could be heard, causing the two teenagers to pull a part and glance down to where a little yellow blur was seen before the door was slammed shut and the scrabbling of hasty claws could be heard on the wooden floors.
Letting out a deep sigh, Ash knocked heavily on the door. "Pikachu," he said through the white door, "can you let us in please."
Silence.
"We saw you buddy so we know you can hear us!" said Ash, a little louder this time. "Can you hear that?" he whispered to Misty, moving to let her stand by the door.
Pressing her ear against the cool, white door she closed her eyes and concentrated, able to make out the faint noise of definitely more than the known pokemon inside. The strange noise made once a pokemon was returned to its ball was heard a few times and all fell silent again. "I think someone's been having a party in there." She giggled, turning back to Ash who knocked again on the door, hoping his mischievous pokemon would stop messing around.
"Pikachu!" he called through the door again. "Open this door right now or I will make sure that no ketchup finds its way to you, in any shape or form!" His threats fell upon the uncaring door. "Pikachu!" he cried the creatures name again, banging his fist against the door in frustration.
"Shhh, calm down." Smiled Misty, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I've got a plan." She passed him an evil smile. "Pikachu, I know you can hear us and I thought I'd let you know I'm on my way down to reception to get a spare key and once we get in, a large bowl of mud will be coming with us."
Ash gave her a quizzical look, baffled by the strange nature of her negotiations. However his look of confusion transformed to utter amazement once a small click was heard and the door gently swung open. "Just think for a moment, what type is Pikachu?" she inquired of the pokemon in question's trainer.
"He's electric…" replied Ash, following her into their room, not seeing the link between the pokemon's type and a bowl of mud.
"Right, and what is the strongest type of move against an electric type?" giggled Misty, enjoying the fact that the intricacies of her plan had still bypassed the clueless Ash.
"Ground I guess…" he replied stifling a yawn before a look of amazement crossed his face at the realisation. "Oh, that's clever. Why didn't I think of that?"
Misty rolled her eyes at him before darting past into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "Ha! I've got the bathroom before you!" she playfully teased through the keyhole, suddenly feeling more like a small child than the young adult she was.
"No fair! I'm soaking wet!" Protested Ash, holding out his arms to watch as large drops of water fell from the cuffs of his sleeves to the carpet.
"Tough!" was the one reply to come back and silence followed until the hum of the hot water flowing through the pipes could be heard on its way to the shower. Taking off his heavy jacket and hanging it on a peg above the bin to catch the water he turned his attention to the mischievous yellow pokemon sitting on the couch, pretending as hard as he could to be asleep next the genuine snores of little Azurill.
Calculating his strategy carefully his gently picked up his best buddy by the end of his tail, lifting until his whole body was upside down in the air. Ash brought Pikachu's face close to his own, glaring until he peeked through one closed lid, hurriedly shutting it again once noting that he was being closely observed. "Would you mind explaining to me what that was with the door and the exact location of my key to the room?" challenged Ash in a level voice while the suspended Pikachu remained "asleep".
Unable to keep up his feinted look any longer, Pikachu burst into a stream of giggles and mirth while attempting to wriggle out of his trainer's grasp. "Am I going to get that explanation if I let you down?"
"Pi pikachu," replied the wiggling rodent, smiling brightly up at his trainer once taken carefully into his arms. Taking a seat in the armchair before the bathroom door, Ash gently placed Pikachu on his lap, scratching him behind his ear in his favourite spot. "Pi, pika pichu chupika pika pikachu…" he began, chattering away while Ash listened. Once hearing the long stream of excited explanation, he let out a low laugh, playfully pushing the cheeky creature to the ground.
"What am I going to do with you?" he asked the smiling face full of mischief and plans for an exciting future.
The door to the bathroom suddenly clicked open, causing him to turn and catch Misty as she walked across the room, clad only in a towel that barely brushed the top of her knees. "Bathroom's all yours." She casually remarked, blushing slightly and closing the door behind her to the bedroom while flashing a shy smile.
Once the door was closed, she couldn't believe quite what she had just done. Leaning against the door and stifling her giggles, she found she didn't really need to. Pikachu was making enough noise to cover up anything, most likely laughing at the fantastic expression upon Ash's face. It was of shock, fear and general surprise at her bold actions. His mouth had been hanging open and just picturing his face again was enough for her to cover her mouth with her hand to stifle the glee.
She heard the door to the bathroom close and the expected sounds of Ash as he entered the shower. At least he didn't sing, like some people.
Looking about the room, she realised it was not quite as they had left it earlier that evening. Her pyjamas had been laid out, next to Ash's sleeping attire and the two single beds were a lot closer together than she remembered. Glancing around the room, there were a few other changes, more subtle ones. A vase of red roses had been placed on the window sill. Small pieces of red filter plastic had been carefully attached to the lights to dye the room slightly red and soften the harsh white of the walls while matching pairs of fluffly slippers lay at the end of each bed.
Changing into her comfortable pale pink fleece pyjamas, one size too big for maximum comfort, she joined Pikachu on the couch to watch the end of a movie with Azurill nestled on her lap. Her eyelids began to droop again and she cast a glance over the clock in the corner. It was already well past midnight and she had still not recovered from a few nights ago when she had walked miles to get as far as possible from Saffron City.
Just as the movie was ending, the bathroom door opened. She had set the stakes earlier. How was Ash going to follow up?
As the door swung on its hinges, Misty pointed her head to the television while allowing her eyes to wander over to the opening of the bathroom. Casually Ash, dry with the exception of his damp hair, walked the short distance across the living room to the bedroom, closing the door behind him. She stifled a small giggle that made Pikachu glance up momentarily, a questioned look on his bright face that was soon replaced by one of despair at how hopless the young woman was. His trainer had been wearing his trousers and fine, nothing else but she had seen him like that before. 'Jeez,' grumbled Pikachu to himself, 'they tell each other how they really feel and become completely hopeless!'
As the credits of the film began to rise, Ash emerged in his sleeping attire and stood, resting his arms on the back of the sofa. "Good film?" he inquired.
"Pi pika." Replied Pikachu with his eyes still glued to the screen as he automatically answered his trainer in a bored monotone.
Catching each others' eye, Ash and Misty broke out into a snorting laugh to be hit with a cross expression from the electric rodent who cackled electricity dangerously. Getting to her feet with Azurill sleeping in her arms, Misty stretched slightly before gently kissing her baby pokemon's head as she stirred slightly.
"You coming Pikachu or are you staying out here tonight?" questioned Ash as he stood up properly from leaning on the back of the sofa.
"Pi pikachu chupi." He chirruped back, perhaps slightly louder than required while throwing a strong look into Azurill's peeking eyes.
"Azu?" she replied with a foggy, sleep filled mind while Pikachu gave her another strong expression. "Azu azuzurill azurill." She suddenly spoke, wriggling slightly until Misty put her back on the couch where she promptly fell asleep again resting against her "uncle" Pikachu with her tail wrapped around him. Finishing off their little plan, Pikachu comically waved the two teens out of their presence and snuggled up next to little Azurill, his eyes tightly closed.
"Guess we're not wanted then." Chuckled Misty as she left the two creatures in peace, walking into the bedroom before Ash and leaping into her bed before he even had the door closed to confirm the fact that as he was the last to bed, he had to turn out the lights.
Glaring at her face that was just visable from beneath the blankets, Ash switched off the light and climbed into his bed. "Night Mist." He said to the darkness, mid way through a yawn.
"Night Ash." She replied, waiting for something that never came. Pretending to shiver slightly with her back to him, she whispered, "I'm kinda cold…"
"Want me to get you a blanket?" asked Ash, his eyes still closed.
"No, it's alright." She sighed. He just didn't get it. Rolling over onto her back she glanced into his peaceful face, relaxed in an attempt to find sleep. Taking a hold of his right wrist, she gently rolled back onto her side, twining her fingers with his and shifting back slightly to share their warmth. Surprised by her actions, Ash tried to say something but was quickly countered by Misty's command to shut up and go to sleep. Relaxing again to find sleep, neither of them could stop the small smiles of happiness that remained upon their faces, content in the others closeness.
A few hours later when both were fast asleep, the door was gently eased open and one, two, three…a total of nine small faces poked through the gap. The light from the next door room illuminated their trainer's faces to show the gentle smiles of contentment still in place, asleep in each other's arms. Withdrawing to the other room and closing the door behind them, all the pokemon did a silent cheer and dance at the success of the evening.
The End