DISCAIMER: This is getting old. I don't own pokemon, but I do own this story.
I hope people enjoyed the last chapter. I put a lot of effort into it (ehehehe). I thank my reviewers for reviewing, I really appreciate it.
Now, on to chappy 4!
F I R E F L I E S
Promise Under the Sakura Tree
By Hoppip
Her sanguine spirit turns every firefly into a star.
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Misty was confused. She did not like the guy. He broke her bike. But she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. His house was burned down and his mother was gone. It reminded her of herself, and the fire that took the lives of her parents when she was four. It wasn't exactly her fault, but her sisters blamed her for it. She still remembers it clearly…
F L A S H B A C K
"Mommy, Daddy, are you like going to like watch our ballet recital today?" A ten-year-old Daisy asked in her high-pitched girly voice while innocently curling her newly straightened blond hair.
"Like yeah! We're like the Three Musketeers this time!" Eight year old Violet and Daisy said simultaneously. They still haven't got over their "twin thing" yet.
"Sorry kids. We're too tired today. Maybe next time. Let your aunt take you there today." Their father said softly, slumped over on the couch.
"Let us rest. I promise we'll see your next performance." Their mother said with a tired smile as she ran her fingers through her bright red hair.
"It's like all your fault Misty." Lily said as she turned to the little girl who had the same exact hair color as her mother. She sat on the blue loveseat. He eyes were similar to those of her father's, but they are able to change color according to her mood.
"Like yeah! We like hate you." Violet added as she flipped her dyed indigo hair and turned to put on her dainty ballet shoes.
"Like whatever! Let's go girls!" Daisy said as she stomped out of the door. The other two followed.
"Mommy, Daddy, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made you swim with me today." Misty said sadly as she crawled off the loveseat. "How about I sing something for you?"
"That would be lovely darling." Her mother said softly as she closed her eyes. Misty grinned. She got up from the loveseat and nearly ran to the piano. She climbed onto the chair that was quite big for her and lifted the lid of the Steinway grand piano. She squealed in delight as she settled her tiny hands onto the nicely polished keys. She loved that piano. Her family owned it for many generations. The age of the piano only made the pitch richer and clearer. As little Misty started to play, it was like nothing was happening around in the world, just her and the piano. Soon, she began to sing…
In the night sky, they twinkle
The far stars of gold
The same color as the small bird that looked up in my dream last night
In the sleepless night, I sing this song alone
Together with the blowing wind,
I fly riding on my thoughts
In the night sky, it sparkles
The distant moon of silver
The same color as the wild rose that was blooming in my dream last night
In the gentle night, I sing this song alone
Let me sing with you tomorrow
Riding the wings of dreams
In the gentle night, I sing this song alone
Let me sing with you tomorrow
Riding the wings of dreams
(music stops)
Misty lifted her hands from the piano keys and stood up, feeling much happier now. She turned to her parents and bowed, with a bright smile on her face. She saw that her parents were already asleep and giggled. Her parents deserved that rest. They were swimming with her for hours and hours, they were exhausted. But Misty, their little mermaid wasn't tired at all. She had loved the water since she was really really young, not that she wasn't young at the time. So, not wanting to wake her parents, she tiptoed out of the living room and went out of the house and into the backyard. She was expecting fireflies that night, like every night before. But there were none. She used to dance with the fireflies every night, it made her happy, but not seeing them that night made her heart feel empty.
Suddenly, she heard a loud explosive noise coming from inside the house. As she turned her head, flames exploded out of the windows and hit her. She was flung onto the cherry blossom tree in her yard. The trees shook and pedals rapidly spun in the smoking wind. Misty squeezed her eyes shut against the billowing smoke. Misty opened her weary, dull blue eyes and stared at her burning house.
"Mommy, daddy…" And everything went black.
E N D ~ F L A S H B A C K
As Misty came back to reality, she tried hard not to let the tears flow out of her eyes. She could not cry in front of Ash. One, she did not want to show any weakness. Two, he already felt bad enough, and it would be weird to see the last person on Earth that would be crying with him. Besides, she didn't feel like explaining all that to him. She didn't want people to feel sorry for her. Pity was something for other people, not Misty Waterflower.
On their way to Misty's house, none of them spoke a word to each other. As they reached the glamorous townhouse villas, Misty said, "We're here." Ash, who was walking with head down the whole time, glanced up at the 3-story townhouse and gaped. Even though he lived in a single house, the townhouse that stood right in front of him was elaborate. The outside was painted pearl white, with vines running down the walls in appealing patterns. The windows were enormous, all with baby blue railings. And the yard, it was beautiful. Roses, daisies, violets, and lilies were planted with flavor. There was a small fountain with live fishes inside. Beside it, there was a baby cherry blossom tree, yet to bloom.
"Those flowers were planted by my sisters, or their gardening specialists. But I planted the tree there." Misty broke the silence and pointed at the small tree. "Since you're going to be living here, you're going to be the one who takes care of it."
Ash recognized the type of tree immediately. He gave a worn out smile, completely different from his usual toothy grin. "Sure, it's going to be just as big as the one in my front yard."
Misty was shocked. She never knew that. She was trying to be nice to him, well kind of. But she wasn't expecting to give him a painful memory. But seeing the smile on Ash's face, she relaxed. Why was she caring about him anyways? He's the stupid one who's always happy. But losing someone that important was an exception. "Why don't you come inside before you catch a cold?" She said. Ash jumped a little, for the first time that they were standing in pouring rain. But of course, he couldn't distinguish his tears from the heavy raindrops. So he shrugged and followed Misty as she unlocked the door.
"Make yourself at home. Knowing my sisters, I'm pretty sure that they already got you a set of clothes ready." Ash nodded. He followed Misty upstairs like a lost puppy, not bothering to admire the lavish furniture and decorations around the house. Misty stopped at the first door up the stairs and found a note stuck on the door with neat, cursive printing in pink pen.
Misty, Ash's going to be sharing a room with you. We already got his stuff ready for him. You two figure it out yourselves. We're really busy today so you deal with your dinner.
-xoxo Daisy
"Bullshit." Misty muttered under her breath, "How dare they come into my room without asking." She pushed the door open angrily and gestured Ash to go inside. At first, he wanted to just dump his dripping backpack on the floor, but he was awestruck at Misty's room. He didn't expect anything too girly, but he didn't expect anything as cool either. The walls were painted with large wave patterns, giving it a strong aura. There was a bunk bed by the extremely large windows, each with sapphire blue sheets, which looked comfy. There were two desks on each side of the room, one was black, and the other was silver. Ash took off his shoes and stepped onto the fuzzy, baby blue carpet, warming him slightly from the rain. He turned his body towards the door, only to find a huge closet with a mirror surface. After hearing a click, his gaze explored the room, finding water Pokemon posters all around the walls.
"At least my sisters didn't take off the posters." She muttered crossly. Misty also explored the room a little, sliding the closet door open, and saw two sides. On the right side, there were her old clothes. On the left side, there were a few articles of male clothing. "Looks like we'll have to shop for your clothes. But change first. Take something from this closet and go to the bathroom. Don't come out until I tell you to."
Ash walked to the closet, randomly pulled out some clothes and walked to the bathroom that was connected to the bathroom. After he closed the door, Misty sighed. She began to rummage through her wardrobe and pulled out a large yellow t-shirt and loose gray sweatpants. She rapidly pulled off her drenched uniform and slipped on her casual attire. "You can come out now."
On cue, Ash opened the bathroom door and slowly stepped out. He was wearing a form of skinny jeans with a loose red hoodie. He looked awkward and Misty tried her best not to laugh at him. His clothes did not suit him at all, especially the jeans. His face was a tint red, hinting that he wasn't exactly comfortable either. Without a word, Misty walked out of their bedroom, waving a hand for him to tell him to follow.
"We're eating ramen tonight. Trust me, you don't want to taste my cooking." She said as the descended the stairs, trying to lighten the mood, not that she cared. As they reached the kitchen, she immediately opened the cupboard and randomly took out 2 packages. As she cooked, Ash stood in front of the petite dining table. He felt numb, from what happened in the morning. He still couldn't believe what happened to his mother. After Misty was done, she brought their food to the table.
"Sit down. The space is quite small but it'll fit two people." She settled herself in one of the white leather chairs. "My sisters don't usually eat at home." With that, she started eating her ramen almost soundlessly. After a few bites, she would glance up at Ash. Each time, she just found him sitting there, not touching his food. Like that, two minutes passed. Misty had already finished her dinner whereas Ash's was just sitting on the table, untouched.
Wiping her face with a napkin, Misty said, "not that it's any of my business, but your mother wouldn't want you to starve." Not wanting to press on at Ash's fragile stage, she pulled herself up from the chair and headed towards the patio door. As she was pulling on an indigo blue hoodie, she stole a glance at her raven-haired new roommate. His chocolate orbs were shining dully. He stared blankly down at the food he was currently slowly eating, chewing soundlessly without any vigor. It was obvious that he was trying to hold back tears. Misty sighed softly and slid the glass door open. She put on an old pair of red sneakers and stepped outside into the cool evening breeze. It had stopped raining, but the grass in her backyard was still damp. Tying her damp red hair in a side ponytail with her newly found hair tie, she set out to work.
At first, she strolled to the front yard, and took out a pair of gardening scissors from a rough bag behind one of the rose bushes. Then she used the scissors and snipped off five blood red roses, pricking her left hand as she held them. Then she went a few steps west and picked four white daisies. Moving front, she cut off four violets, adding them to her collection in her hand. She turned her body around and got a few lilies, white with a pint of pink. She then returned the scissors to the bag and headed to the backyard again. Caught by surprise, she found Ash staring at her from the side of the yard. Only looking at him carelessly for a mere second, she walked to the middle of the backyard and placed the flowers there. Then she started inspecting the yard, looking for something. For a few minutes, with her hands behind her back, she walked around and around. The moonlight shining on her face gave her a look of serene innocence, not the usual iciness she had before. Stopping in front of a rather large rock with ragged ridges, she leaned down to pick it up. Somehow, she grinned as she brought it back to the middle of the yard. Ash saw that but kept silent. She settled the rock down lightly on the grass, lifted the flowers up and arranged them neatly at the edge of the rock.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she glanced at Ash who slowly slumped over to her and dropped his knees onto the grass. They stayed like that for a while, Misty standing and Ash kneeling.
"Thank you Misty." He whispered. His voice wasn't shaking. "My mom would have loved these. She did not deserve to leave like this."
"Don't worry fa- Ash, the police will find out what happened. Until we find her body, this is where we would be paying our respects for her." She whispered back. Suddenly, a cool current blew across them, making the grand trees howl. From behind the messy bushes came a flooding of light, sparkling up the dim night. They swarmed the two, circling them again and again.
"Fireflies…" Misty looked around in awe.
"Goodbye mom."
TO BE CONTINUED
To ten million fireflies, I'm weird cuz I hate goodbyes. I got misty eyes as they said farewell.
-Owl City "Firefiles"
Some of you might've noticed that the song I was using "Yoru no Uta" from Cardcaptor Sakura, the translated version. I thought the piano part was quite simple so it wouldn't be too far stretched for a little girl to be playing it. And I thought the melody was quite soothing too, perfect for making people falling asleep.
I'm really sorry for how long I took for this update, but school has been really tough. I had 7 tests in 3 days…and I'm only in grade 8. I'm also working on another fic with my friend, FrostyShadows, called "Rebellious Hearts". I can give you the full summary right here:
Long long ago, when the world was at peace, Team Rocket and Team Galactic fought for the strange power that could allow them to take over the world. Without luck, they decided to take over the world by force, but they had to get rid of each other first. So the war had begun. Hidden in the depths of Hoenn, Team Aqua and Team Magma were formed, allies, who were trying to end the chaos once and for all. Their hard work paid off, sending Team Rocket and Team Galactic to the depth of the Earth. They had become heroes. But years later, they had their own feud, which led the world into chaos once again. Because of their mistakes, the future had to pay for it. Murder, robbery, and gang rape rates were increasing, and the "heroes" did nothing but fight each other, killing innocent people, while Team Rocket was rising once again. Both teams were furious at Team Rocket's strong revival and decided to take over it once and for all. They each sent a team of elite teens to the Team Rocket Training Academy as undercover agents to tear it down from the inside. The kids did not know anything but hate each other, not knowing the true meaning behind their respective teams. As they met unknowingly, they became friends, maybe something more, but as they learned each other's identities, they had become foes. But their journey together only helped them learn the truth about all the blood and hate going around the world. Soon, they had decided to work together and end all the fighting around the world. They were to rebel against their teams, which was what their hearts told them. Multishipping
There you have it. Not the best summary. We have the first chapter up so please check it out and leave a review. Thanks.
~Hoppip