Twelve Weeks of Ikarishipping

Title: Scrapbook

Genre: Humor

Rating: K+

AN:SUMIMASEN, MINNA-SAN!! I know, I know, this chapter was supposed to be up LAST WEEK, but I was on my Spring Break vacation. I was hoping to finish it BEFORE I left, but otou-san didn't give me much choice in that matter (he deleted all of the work I did!!). So, I hope you guys aren't angry, so put down those pitchforks and torches and back away. I have the prototypes of the next Coincidence? chapters and I'm not afraid to use them. In other news, please enjoy this late(st) installment of Twelve Weeks!

Summary: Takes place in the Upside-Down Worlduniverse. I might expand on it a bit when I get to updating the story. Hikari wanders and wonders. Shinji is on a safari hunt. What does a scrapbook have to do with anything anyways? Glossary at the end of the story!

Disclaimer: -Holds up sign that says: Attention all: Standard disclaimers apply.-

Week 8: Scrapbook

The fall of footsteps could be heard as Hikari dashed down the deserted west wing. She had been wandering about Shinji's mansion for quite some time now, looking for the stairs that would lead her downstairs. The attempt, however, had been failing. Miserably. She had a date with Rei in several hours, and she couldn't even get downstairs for breakfast. Shinji was probably having a hoot.

Fuming at the idea of her boss enjoying her predicament (there were surveillance cameras everywhere! No doubt Shinji was down in the security room, watching her wandering about!), Hikari threw open a door. She was sure that the mansion was built by a maniac--the wing was full of doors that either led into rooms, or into another corridor with even more doors.

Shinji had probably given her her room in the wing because he would enjoy watching her get lost and confused out of her mind.

"ARGH! CURSE YOU, SHINJI!!" she screamed. "HOW IN THE WORLD DO I GET OUT OF HERE?!"

Meanwhile...

"Ah-choo!"

Shinji raised an eyebrow as he reclined in his chair. "Komashiga-san, daijoubu?" he asked, eyeing the owner of Komashiga Corp.

The older man nodded and dabbed his nose with his handkerchief. "Yes, yes, I'm fine," he wheezed. "Now, back to the matters at hand: Are you willing to partner with my company?"

Shinji pressed his fingers together and rested his chin upon them, furrowing his brows. "Hn. Let me sleep on it, and I will answer tomorrow, if you do not mind, Komashiga-san," was his reply.

The older man nodded and the two stood up and shook hands. Then Shinji summoned for a maid to show Komashiga out. Shinji narrowed his eyes when Komashiga sneezed again and hurried out of the room. He had no time to get sick--not like his dead brother, Reiji.

Shinji couldn't remember Reiji much, except that Shinji looked exactly like his older brother, and that Reiji had been a sickly boy when he was still alive, just like his dead mother. She was weak and sick and was in labor with Shinji. She was too weak to survive after giving birth to her youngest son and died soon after naming him.

The sound of something slamming into the wall could be heard throughout the mansion as Shinji withdrew a bloodied fist. He had no time to reminence. He had work to do. Taking a deep breath, Shinji pulled out a Pokétch and phoned for his secretary.

"Moshi moshi?" came a weak voice. "This is Hikari..."

"Oi."

"Sh-Shinji-san!" Shinji could hear her voice perking up. "Oh, thank Diaruga-sama it's you! I need your help soooo much!"

Shinji could feel himself twitching. The woman really was too much, sometime. "What is it this time?" he growled, clenching his Pokétch tightly. "And if it's something stupid..."

"I'm lost!" she wailed. "Your west wing is soooo confusing! I was just trying to get downstairs for breakfast, but I think I took a wrong turn or something. And you know what? The next thing I knew, I was in a completely different hallway that led to others! I took this left corridor, but I ended up in a dead end. I tried to go back, but somehow the regular passage disappeared!

"I opened the closest door, and that led to another hallway! What's wrong with your house, Shinji?! Is it magic?!"

Sighing, Shinji fought off the urge to knock himself out cold and let Hikari fend for herself. "No, it's not magic, baka no onna," he replied in an exasperated tone. "This mansion has been designed to confuse and trap intruders. Naturally, an ahou like you would get lost."

"A-ahou?! Who are you calling an ahou?!" Hikari shrieked, causing Shinji to wince and rub his ears.

"Oh shut up, onna," Shinji snapped. "Do you want me to send help or not?"

"Hmph. Fine. Just hurry up--hey, what was that? Shinji-san, do you, uh, keep anything else for security?"

"Hmm...oh, yeah. I do have a pack of Windie..."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"I suggest you get out of there before they get you..."

"Ahhh! They're so big!"

"...play dead."

"...you're kidding me, right?"

"Do you want to live?"

"Point taken."

Shinji closed his eyes as he heard the tell-tale sound of a faint thump and then the click of a Pokétch turning off. With a sigh, Shinji prepared to call for a servant to go aid Hikari when he remembered that it was Sunday. All household servants had the day off after they finished their tasks, and the last one left after showing Komashiga out.

In other words: Shinji would have to find Hikari herself.

"Shimatta."

And in the West Wing...

'Go away, go away! Please go away!' Hikari thought desperately as the alpha male of the Windie pack prodded her with his snout. 'Mou! Shinji, where are you?'

The alpha male sniffed her, rubbing his cold, wet nose against her cheek. Hikari bit her tongue and desperately tried to fight off the urge of giggling. It would not do to have a pack of security Pokémon on her trail if she gave herself away.

However, it was a lost cause when he gave her a lick.

"Ahhh!! SHINJI, TASUKETE!!"

In the surveillance room...

"Ack! !(&)!)#!)&#&(!#)&-!" Shinji pulled off the head set and rubbed his pounding ears. They were still ringing from Hikari's loud screech. "Chikusho! That woman has a loud voice! Kami-sama, I'm going to go deaf by the time I'm twenty!"

Grumbling, the teen quickly jotted down the last place he had seen her in, grabbed a map, and hurried to her rescue.

In other places...

Footfalls echoed in the silent corridor as Hikari wandered yet again. She had managed to throw off her pursuers (maybe it was a good thing that the house had a slide hidden behind a door...) and was now wandering aimlessly through the halls. She was sure that if she kept that up, Shinji would find her.

Eventually.

The corridor was empty, save one lone door at the end, half hidden in the darkness. With no way to go back, Hikari pressed forward, arriving in a few, short steps. Curiosity closed its grip on her, and Hikari pushed open the wooden door.

Moments later...

Shinji strode into the room silently, gazing upon a silent Hikari. 'Well, that's a first,' he thought lightly.

She was kneeling on the floor of his old nursery, leafing through an old scrapbook, a gentle smile on her face. "I knew you'd find me eventually," she said softly, fingering a photograph fondly. "This one reminds me of when we were younger. Remember that trip to the beach?"

A rare smile graced Shinji's lips as he settled himself down next to her. "Yeah, I remember," he replied. "That was when you were chased around by a flock of Kyamome that wanted your ice cream cone, right?"

Blushing, Hikari muttered some incoherent things under her breath and adverted her gaze. "Jeez, why do you always have to remember the embarrassing stuff?" she grumbled, hastily turning the page. Her azure eyes lit up with delight at the picture. "Oh! This was the festival where you accidentally got drunk and started singing that song from Naruto Nippon! Umm...Naruto's Neko Song!"

Shinji's face turned crimson at the memory. "W-what? You still remember that?" he stuttered. "D-demo!"

Hikari giggled and flipped the page. "It's been a long time since we've actually sat around like this and talked, ne, Shinji?" she stated with sadness in her tone. "It's like...we're childhood best friends again..."

"Hn."

Hikari brightened up again. "Shikashi...we're still friends, ne? We just fight a lot."

"Hn."

"Shinji...whatever happens..."

"I know."

"Mm. I just hope that we'll have time to sit with each other like this some other time, ne?"

I don't know...does this chapter seem longer or something? Well, no romance in this one: strictly friendship because in the USD universe, Shinji's and Hikari's relationship with each other has to build on a tentative friendship/love/hate basis. Touching, isn't it?

Glossary:

-Shinji: Paul

-Hikari: Dawn

-Sumimasen: A formal way of apologizing.

-Minna(-san):Everyone

-Komashiga: Eh, made up character.

-Rei: Hikari's (short-lived) boyfriend; a "Gary-Stu" character that I made up all for the sake of Gary Stu/Mary Sue bashing. Yeah, I made him to torture him. Isn't that swell?

-Reiji: Shinji's (dead well...in this universe he is...) older brother

-"Moshi moshi": "Hello?" on a phone.

-Diaruga:Dialga

-Baka no onna: Stupid woman

-Ahou:Osakan (and Saitou Hajime's) way of saying idiot/stupid

-Windie:Arcanine

-Shimatta: Shit

-Tasukete: "Help me!"

-Chikusho: Dammit

-Kyamome:Wingull

-Onegai: Please

-Naruto's Neko Song:OMFG, this song is SOOOO funny! You all need to hear it, dattebayo!! XD -dies of laughter-