Caring

He woke up that morning incredibly warm, warm enough that he fell right back asleep. Sure, he was usually a comfy temperature, but something was different about it today. Something was definitely better about it. As he woke up for the second time, he tried to figure out what it was. He knew it was definitely warmer than usual, almost hot. His bed seemed comfier too, softer. As he woke up further, he realized there was something that felt like ropes wrapping around his waist and holding him tight. As he thought about it further, he realized they felt an awful lot like arms.

With that revelation and the idea of a caring Misty in mind, Ash became much too petrified to even think about opening his eyes. Contrary to the common boy's perspective, a girl in his bed was by no means, a nice present to wake up to. He was quite terrified of anything that had to do with love stuff. It made you weird and stupid, and he was well aware he couldn't afford to get more of either.

(Morning, Ash. How's the latest wish?) Pikachu chirped, eyeing her obviously awake and frightened master.

Ash tried very, very hard to convince himself that he was asleep, that he was dreaming and this was some sick and horrible, horrible nightmare. He did this by closing his eyes very tight, clenching his teeth, and tightening up all his muscles so he could relax and fall back asleep. Maybe if he managed to do so, the next time he woke up she would have been bored with him and would have moved on.

(You're awake, Ash, promise. Misty's cuddling with you.) She began to fake cry, burying his head in her tiny little paws. (I feel just like Delia! My little boy is growing up so fast! Soon you'll be holding hands and kissing and making love in cornfields and I'll never see you again!)

Understanding enough to catch her gist, he attempted to sit with a violent: "Shut up!"

"Ash! Don't go! I thought you were comfy! You hardly ever do this!" Misty cried, cuddling closer. Her head dropped to the base of his neck, giving her the perfect spot to breathe down the slight opening in his shirt and send goosebumps all over him. She murmured, "It's alright, Ash. I'll watch the clock and you can sleep as long as you want. We can just lie here together if you want."

That soft, sugar sweet voice she used was strangely soothing and his body seemed unsure of how to react. First, he was very intimate with a girl, which was very exciting and nervous making and frightening. Second, that girl was acting very sweet, almost as if she was peanut butter or chocolate or some other comfort food. These were two very conflicting emotions, and he needed to decide which to act upon. His brain was no help, as it had stopped working all together, and his body wasn't quite ready to leave yet. This left him sitting stiffly on the bed, staring intently on the spot on the wall and focusing intently on her cool breath.

(Why don't you ask her why she's in your bed, Ash?)

"Whuh…" he began, swallowing thickly. He forced himself to ignore her body resting against his, her soft arms clinging tight around his neck. "Why did you…?"

"Come into your bed?" she supplied. He dipped his head the barest centimeter in confirmation. "We didn't do anything, don't worry. We all know that you didn't sleep well last night and tonight I noticed you were shivering. I thought I could come into your bed and warm you up. You were" – she giggled – "very responsive to say the least."

"What's that supposed to me-oh. Oh, um, I'm awake now so you can go," he said with a nervous laugh, attempting to pull away.

She only clung tighter, getting up on her knees so her ducked down head was at his ear, whispering, "What if I don't want to go, Mr. Pokémon Master? And what if I was pretty sure you didn't want me to either. It's been such a long time since we've seen each other and you could probably use a little training. I don't think you've forgotten your strategy last time, hmm?" She giggled again and sat on her heels, gently kissing a bare spot on his collarbone.

He yelped loudly and twisted away, falling off the bed in the process. "Misty! You shouldn't…you…you can't-"

"Why not?" she pouted playfully from his bed, legs kicking over the edge. "We do this all the time and you've never been this nervous before. Well, except for maybe that first time. You were a wreck then. It was hilarious!"

"Wait! Before? How long?"

"Since we started going steady!" She laughed. "It's been at least four years now."

(Oh, wow! I did not think they would have thrown a curve ball this late in the game. They're really driving the point home!) And she laughed too, much to his dismay.

"This isn't funny! This is serious! I'm not any good at this romance stuff! I don't want to hurt you, Misty, but I can't do this stuff. I think whatever relationship we've been having for the past…four years needs to end now because…I'm no good at this." He smiled reassuringly, attempting to quote every break up he'd ever seen. "You could do better than me."

"Oh," she said softly, climbing off the bed and striding towards him. "It's that again.'

"What again?" He asked. His voice was shaking, and he didn't like it.

She sat in front of him, hands on his shoulders, and said very slowly and importantly: "I love you. I've always loved you. I don't want you to be stronger or faster or smarter or better at all the romance. I want you for you. I know you think you're bad at kissing or bad at feeling me up or whatever, but I like that you still have trouble getting my bra off. It's cute. I think it's funny that every once in a while you forget how to kiss. I like that. You're not a fairy tale but things are much, much, more interesting with you."

His throat clenched. "You sound like you've done this before."

"Too many times to count. I have it written down in case I need to email it." She smiled and rested her forehead on his.

He backed away, not too far as her hands were still on his shoulders, and stumbled out yet another excuse: "Misty, listen, you don't understand. I mean, I'm really, really no good with this romance stuff. I'll say something wrong and you'll get upset and I don't want that to happen."

"And how many times do I have to tell you I don't care? We're only kids, Ash. The fact that we're in love is more than enough in a relationship."

"Love?" he squeaked. "Don't you think this is all a little…a little fast for that?"

She chuckled and, ever so delicately, tilted her head and kissed him, hands sliding up from his shoulders to his chin. She hadn't slammed her mouth onto his, nor was so light he didn't know she was there, but a practiced, perfect pressure as her tasteless lips kissed his. She had done this before, or thought she had. This wasn't a real first kiss, he guessed, but he didn't think the last one counted either.

Still, this one was Misty. This wasn't the weird science version of her, this could be her. This was Misty on a good day. Here was the girl that comforted him after a major loss and danced with him at parties. What's more, this very real Misty had a very real passion. This swept away his mind, like a real kiss would. This was where his heart stopped beating and his eyes closed and his palms got sweaty. This was where she began to pull away, but he would push forward, kissing her until he had to take a breath.

"That felt like love." She sighed a bit dreamily, then opened her eyes. "Don't you think?"

He didn't want to open his eyes, he didn't want to lose the tingling feeling. He knew she would be gone in a moment, and he'd probably lose the chance completely in another twenty four hours, but his first introduction to romance was definitely more than enough for him. "That was incredible."

"Thank you." She giggled, giving a little kiss to his nose. "Glad you're feeling better. You get some more rest and I'll come check on you later, alright?"

(You really enjoyed that then?) Pikachu smirked as Misty's footsteps faded down the stairs.

"That was…wow." He fell back on his carpet with a childish giggle and stared up at his ceiling. "It's like flying on Charizard."

(Can't believe you liked a kiss. I never would have thought you had it in you. When she pulled away I thought you'd wipe your mouth on your sleeve, you know? You really are growing up, aren't you?) She sighed and settled down feeling like the world was pressing down on her shoulders. (Growing up, spending more time on romance and falling in love with…It's not that I want you as a mate, but I can't help but be a bit jealous. I can't help hating her a little.

(I really think I might lose you.)

They were both very quiet for a while, every once in a while Ash would mumble something strange about how shocked he was that kissing wasn't disgusting. The fact that kissing wasn't disgusting took much greater priority over the fact that he had finally kissed a girl and had enjoyed it very much. For years he'd been instructed by all his male companions that kissing was gross and a way for girls to control guys like crazy slaves. He didn't want to be a slave to a girl, but it didn't feel like being a slave. Not at all.

(Ash!) Pikachu cried suddenly, leaping to her feet as she gawked out the window. (Ash, you'll never guess who's walking up the road!)

"I'd say Gary, but he'd be driving in his hot red car. Y'know, I bet he lied about the kissing. I bet he likes it too, and he just didn't want to tell me because he knew I'd like it too. Gary's such a jerk. I can't wait to rub it in his face that I kissed a girl."

(And you liked it. The point is it's Daisy walking up the road. Come on, you know the words for 'walking' and 'road', you've got to know Misty's sister! Daisy! Come on, it's a flower!)

Pikachu spun in a circle and gestured madly towards the window, but Ash was now very focused on Gary lying to him. It was as if it was an entirely new phenomenon. It wasn't, but she knew that Ash tended to be a bit too gullible for his own good. So, with a good, strong charge up, she zapped him to a nice blackened state and continued to call and beckon him forward until he finally groaned and rolled to his feet, crawling to the window.

His eyes immediately widened. "That's Daisy!"

(Yeah. It's Daisy. Whoever would have thunk it! Daisy showed up and I was telling you that Daisy was walking down the road! Of course you never noticed, not in your hormone crazed state.) She stuck her cold nose in his ear, making him shriek in a feminine manner and leap into the air. (Don't you think you should greet her?)

"What's she going to say when she sees Misty?"

(What the fudge have you done to Little Sister?)

"She's going to kill me!" he wailed, collapsing back to the floor. "I finally found out kissing doesn't suck and now I'm going to get killed. You…you know I bet sex is fun too and the guys were lying about it! I bet it isn't just a way for girls to control guys and I bet it's more for just making babies and now I'm never gonna find out! I finally get why people keep crying about how they don't want to die a virgin!"

(As a boy, I have to say that you're supposed to discover that younger than this. Honestly, do you even realize the fun you can have with that thing in your pants?)

"I don't want to die a virgin!" he shouted, covering his eyes with his arms.

It was convenient that he did so, because at that moment Misty wandered in, doing her best to keep the giggles in. She crept around him, sure to step close to his head but off to the side, and carefully leaned down to his ear to whisper, "Don't you think that's a little fast, Mr. Pokémon Master?"

He shrieked in a feminine manner again, sitting up quickly and hardly missing her head as he did so. Misty was broken. He had been kissed. Her sister was going to kill him. He was going to die a virgin. All in all, he was having a pretty bad day and he really wished that he had just stayed in bed and played video games all day. Well, she had turned up in bed with him, so that wouldn't have worked. Maybe he should have just never made the wish.

Or maybe he should have just paid her back for the damn bike a week in so she would have left him alone and he wouldn't have this problem. Why couldn't he have been dealing with Celebi? Why couldn't he be dealing with…well, Celebi was the only one that'd be useful. Maybe he should have just taken any other legends because none of the others would ever do something so cruel and unusual to him.

"Gees, you're jumpy. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ash blurted. "Everything's going fine! Hey, wanna make me a sandwich or…or something that involves you doing something else?"

"You hungry? I can make more than a sandwich, but I'd really like it if you could come with me." She leaned forward and kissed his nose gently, ignoring his low, quiet whine. "I want to keep an eye on you, see if I can figure out what's making you jumpy. I can't do that if you're up here and I'm down there."

(Hey, Misty, your sister's here. You should go down and say hi to her in a really loving way,) Pikachu hummed, leaping to the floor and wandering to the door. (Oh, Ash, we're going to have fun today!)

"My sister's here?" She got to her knees and peaked out the window. "Daisy! Daisy's here! That's weird. I didn't think she'd…wow. I wonder why she's here. Ten to one says it's probably because they have to tend to the gym. It's not like they're terrible at it. I don't know what they can't just handle this stupid stuff for a week. It's fun."

She got up to leave with a sigh, which turned into a scream as she was tackled into the floor by a terrified Ash. He honestly had no idea what to do anymore, and though clutching to her ankles didn't seem to be the best idea, and it didn't seem like it would slow her down much, all he could do was clutch to her very, very tight, stare at the far wall, and throw the switch on his brain into hyper drive as to what he could do. Nothing seemed to arise from this cramming for a while, and he was too consumed in thought to listen to her complaints.

He finally decided he would jump up, run to the door, slam it close to slow her down, race outside, grab Daisy, drag her into the woods and talk all of it over there. It sounded sound in his head, so he attempted it. The attempt did not go well, as he tripped when he jumped up, and Misty simply escaped down the stairs before he could catch her. He jumped up again, not tripping this time, raced down the stairs as planned and witnessed the extremely awkward, one sided meeting of the two.

"Hey, Daisy!" Misty threw herself into the elder, hugging her close with a bright smile. "How are you?"

The blonde stood awkwardly, staring down at her sister's head. "I'm…fine. Are you…did you eat something weird?"

"No."

"You sure?" She winkled her nose.

"Yes! I'm very sure!" She laughed, releasing her. "You're being as weird as Ash today. Speaking of weird, what did you come over for? You never come over here. You don't know Ash well enough to come visit him and I don't know if you've even seen Mrs. Ketchum. You don't know Dawn and I can't see what you'd need Brock for."

She snorted. "Like, what do you think? You've been here for a week, Mist. I, like, came here for you, but I didn't want to run into you acting all weird. You're not playing some joke on me just because we had a stupid argument, right?"

Ash jogged the few steps to close into Daisy, tugging her down and going up on tiptoe to whisper in her ear: "I know she's weird, but it's because there's Legendaries screwing with her head. She's caring today, and she's got a different personality every day, whatever I wish for. And, I mean, I just keep wishing even though I don't mean to. She's just so frustrating! I mean, not that she's a terrible person or anything but-"

"You're, like, rambling."

"Right," he said with a nervous cough. "Point is, Misty's only messed up because of the Legendaries, and she'll get better soon, so you don't need to worry and she's definitely not mad at you. She doesn't know she's screwed up, and neither does anyone else, because the Legendaries keep erasing everyone's memories and making them think she was always whatever way she is now. Does that make sense?"

"No," she growled.

"Told you he's been acting weird," Misty said, slinging her arms around him and pulling him to the table. "You should sit down. You haven't been able to stand upright all day. You're probably getting sick."

He sat down, and Daisy sat down, though her actions were a lot rougher. Misty hadn't let him go, however, not to make a sandwich or do anything else that might leave him and Daisy to discuss it alone. It only made the entire situation tenser than it should have been, with her cheery, loving attitude spicing up the things unsaid.

"Why are you all clingy to Ash?" Daisy asked uncertainly, suddenly beginning to chew on her bottom lip. Her body had stiffened, and Ash could see the muscles in her arms tighten as she grabbed her jean shots tight under the table. "Did you…you, like…you, like, lost a bet or…or something, right?"

"No!" She laughed, cuddling closer to the frowning boy She tapped her nose to his cheek, tenderly closing her eyes before focusing back on her sister. "Ash has been feeling down about the stuff he's usually down about so I thought I'd try to cheer him up. I mean, look, he's still frowning! I know it might seem a little…" She paused, trying to choose the right word. "It's open for me, but it's not crazy."

Daisy hissed, lowering her chin to mere inches above the table, as if doing this and dropping her voice would somehow only allow Misty to hear, though Ash was technically closer. "But you don't…you don't, like, do this kind of stuff in public. And you'd never do this much for Ash! It'd, like, be pushing it if you did, like…like all this for the pokémon or us!"

"I told you." Ash sighed and attempted to shake Misty off a bit. She didn't move, so he sighed again and plunged on: "They changed her, and if you stop here tomorrow night you'll probably forget in the morning too. It's been like this for a while now. I can't figure out how to stop it.

"Well, you'd better! That's my sister! How could you just roll over and, like, let them do that to her? You're Ash mewdamned Ketchum! This should be fixed already if it involves you, so fix it!" She shouted, jumping to her feet.

"Calm down, Days! Don't yell at him. Even if he was coherent, he's not some supernatural hero. He's just a boy just like you're a girl and an ordinary human. It's doesn't matter anyway. He's been delusional all week, practically. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Poor guy's been rambling about how bad he feels about everything all day. Won't let me kiss him anymore either."

'What?" she shouted. "You're Little Sister! You don't kiss boys! You hit them! We don't want you making out with every boy that walks past! You're the special one! You're chaste and no one's even going to see you in a low cut dress until marriage and all that crap and Ash Ketchum, what the hell did you do to her?"

"Nothing! It's not my fault! None of this wouldn't have happened if she had just stayed in the Cerulean gym!"

"Oh, so now it's my fault!" She gasped, clenching her fists at her sides. "Don't try to turn this around, Ketchum! It happened under your watch! You should have been looking out for her! You should have locked her up in a box and thrown yourself off a cliff! That's what you're supposed to do with all your stupid friends because you're the Chosen One and you're the hero and nobody else should be hurt because you're a moron!"

He jumped up now, his shoulder clipping Misty's chin as he did so. Still, despite the concern from both sides, neither seemed to care very much for her bruising skin or throbbing jaw line. "I'm not going to lock everyone up just because they're trying to help. I didn't even know anything was going wrong! I can't put them all in a cage all the time! And I'm not trying to blame you! How was I-wait!" He pointed an accusing finger. "You said something to her!"

She took a step back. "I…I didn't!"

"What'd you say to her that made her leave? You did something that sent her over here." His eyes narrowed. "What'd you do?"

"Calm down. Gees, you two are getting worked up over nothing! All she said was that I was a mistake. She didn't really mean it anyway, and, besides, what's wrong with that? How many people were planned? Practically never happens, and it's not like anyone ever plans to have four kids, especially not four girls in a row."

"Mom always said there was a difference between a mistake and a surprise. I was a surprise, most people were surprises. You told Misty she was a mistake. There's a huge difference! That means they didn't want her, that it was wrong to have her. It wasn't! I bet they loved her like my mom loves me, so she was only a surprise."

"It was…what's the word? Semantics. It's all semantics. I might have said it but she says…she knows…You've said and done worse than that!"

"Yeah, but I'm not her sister. I'm just a friend. It's completely different when you're related. It matters more then, because you're not supposed to lie. Maybe I could say it, but you can't. I mean, it's not a joke if you say it."

She scowled. "Well, what am I supposed to do? It's not like it mat-"

"Take it back. Tell her the truth."

She glared down at her feet, breathing slowly. "But that is the truth. I really wish it wasn't but it is. They really didn't want her. They thought it'd be nice if they had a boy but…it was another girl and…and they didn't want her. I can't lie about that. But…but I was a mistake too, and when the twins came they had meltdowns too. My aunts told me. They were, like, really crappy parents."

"You have a really screwed up family, you know that, right?" Ash asked awkwardly.

"You still ruined my sister, so you better change her back so she can kick your ass for stealing a kiss." Her eyes flicked to the redhead and she began to shake. "She's, like, my little sister. You, like, can't ruin her like that. It's not fair."

"I'll get right on it. Now that, you know, you explained it to me I should do something. I'll definitely get on it. Because I didn't know there was a problem before," he snapped. "What do you think I've been doing all this time! I've been trying to get her back. I don't want her to hit me when she gets back, but that doesn't mean I don't want her back!"

"Calm down, both of you." Misty groaned, rubbing at her jaw. "Gees, Ash, want to hit me harder next time? Whatever the problem is, it won't be solved if you stay all worked up on it. So calm down and you'll get through it. Talk it out or write it down or whatever, but I'm not going to have my family at odds with my boyfriend. Settle it." She didn't sound angry, though, anything but. Sweet.

It made him wonder if they gave her magical powers this time around. Her voice had the same effect as it had that morning, like warm water sliding over his head, down to his feet, but it sure didn't sound like anything but Misty. It reminded him of moonlit conversations now, and talks after losses. It felt like comfort and home and right, and it felt like Misty was there again. A little more mellow than normal, but still Misty.

"We're worried," he told her.

"About what?"

He held her eyes for a moment, mouth hanging open awkwardly. There wasn't any reason not to tell her. She wouldn't hit him now, and she probably wouldn't believe him. But, he guessed, there was just as much reason not to tell her - in his mind, more. She wouldn't believe him, so she couldn't help, she'd only help tomorrow, and it was a nice thing to do not to worry her, wasn't it? He hoped so, and answered accordingly: "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it."

Daisy slammed her fist on the table, seeming strikingly like a blonde version on the girl behind him. Well, at least until she talked. "I think maybe she should, like, worry about it! Don't you think it's her problem too?"

"Well, it's not like she can do anything about it. So, you know, we can handle it," Ash mumbled.

"You should be able to handle it, Ketchum, considering who you are." Daisy stopped her accusations for a moment to try and think, staring fixatedly at the table. "I mean, it shouldn't be hard to do. You've tried wishing for her back, right?"

"Yes. I said, 'I wish Misty was back to normal'." Ash wasn't quite sure if this was true, but he was saying it now and he thought that accounted for something. A wish was a wish in any context so far as he knew. "Yeah, I wish Misty was back to normal. Should work, but it doesn't."

"Are you sure?" Daisy insisted.

"No. I sat down and thought for a while, then I decided that I wish Misty was depressed. I wished for her to go back to normal loads of times." Well, he had already started lying, there was no point in stopping anymore. "I wished for her to go back to normal and again and again and again. If she doesn't go back to normal with all of that I don't know what to do. Maybe if I just tried not to make anything like a wish."

"You could run if it does work."

Ash wrinkled his face up. "How would that help?"

"Because if she's not back to normal soon I swear to Articuno I'll kill you." She was bent forward over the table, her narrowed eyes on his, her golden hair washed around her very flushed face, her plump lips pulled back thin to reveal deadly white teeth frozen in a snarl. Her hands clenched the table tight, and Ash was once again caught up in the idea that Daisy could very well be a blonde version of Misty.

"You shouldn't be here tonight," he said awkwardly. "They'll probably erase your memory too."

"I won't forget."

"How are you gonna remember?" he cried.

"I'll find a way!" she snapped, eyes unblinking but glistening with tears. "I swear, Ash, I swear you better fix this. I want my little sister back and if you don't get her back to me I'll kill you. I don't care if the whole world dies with you, it doesn't matter if you're so stupid you can't even save her. We already screwed up, we know we screwed up, but none of us had it easy. It doesn't mean you did but…"

"Daisy, what if I can't?" he whispered.

"If you wanted her back, she'd be back by now! You've gotten everything you ever wanted once you set your mind to it! You're incredible, Ash. Brock thinks you're incredible and we can never get Misty to, like, shut up about you." Her voice cracked and she finally dropped her gaze. "So, like, no, I don't think you do."

"Why wouldn't I want her back? She's my friend!"

"Good question. I know she'd do anything for you, and I…I know that you can't…she's, like, a really good girl, okay? You can't live with yourself if you, like…like, you can't…" She broke off and spun away, pressing her hands to her eyes to mop up the tears.

He swallowed. "I'm sorry."

With that broke the dam, and with that went the sobs.

Ick. That sounded funky in some parts. I don't know how to smooth it out. –sigh-

Today's Topic: Did anyone get a "what the hell" factor from Candice this week? That was just illogical. You can't tell from the first two words "Abra is" what the rest of the question is going to be. There's no way to know! Not unless you've heard the question before. That was so stupid! I could understand if it was just trivia or you actually had to critically think, but it wasn't critical thinking, it was pure guesswork! The question could have just as easily been, "Abra is a pokémon that has an IQ of X. How high is Alazakam's IQ?" That was so incredibly stupid. Screw you, Candice. I thought you were awesome in the games and then you sucked in the anime. I can't wait for Ash to kick your ass with his wicked battle skills!
I agreed with Brock's little gem of wisdom when he went off on that, but Candice tested it wrong. –pouts-