Author's note: Basically, my excuse is that life got in the way. But, lately I finally gathered myself together and forced myself to sit down and write this out! :D I hope you like it!

Disclaimer reader: Moonlite Streak does not own pokemon. But she owns her OC though! :D

Chapter 5: Introductions

Moon's POV

I winced for the umpteenth time and I involuntarily let a hiss slide from between my teeth. Immediately, I saw the girl's back stiffen in response to my thinly veiled discomfort and I cursed myself for letting her notice. I felt her stop her ministrations and, as a result of the sudden lack of tension, the bandages slipped slightly, chafing my already raw nerve endings.

I growled again, forgetting about the girl for a moment before remembering to compose myself, aware that Streak was already in a considerable amount of distress, and that she didn't need me to add any more to her list of worries right now.

The girl was barely a breath behind me, the both of us sitting with crossed legs on the floor as she gingerly reached around my torso to try her best to bandage the gash. I could feel her hesitant breath against my neck as she contemplated how to continue. We weren't gonna get anyway at this rate.

I sighed and tilted my head back towards her, wincing again at the slight spasm of pain the movement caused. Now I could see the hesitance marked clearly in her face and posture. The girl was so fragile; simply my being in pain was giving her distress. She should know that it's not her fault! Geez, I never was good with feelings. Or words in general. I cleared my throat somewhat to get her attention.

"Um, hey, uh...Streak, I understand that this may take a while, but I ain't got all day you know," I called roughly, though the slight hint of worry that somehow leaked into my voice ruined the act a little.

My jibe seemed to create the intended effect. Streak raised her head from its previously bowed position and a small quirk returned to the edges of her lips. Obviously she had realised that I was just trying to cheer her up, and that I didn't really intend any offense with my words. She even chuckled a little before returning to her work, a slight crease of concentration once again etched between her eyebrows as she focused fiercely on the task before her.

Strange, I thought, how much things had changed in just a few short minutes. As gentle as she seemed, she was obviously unstable, the shadow possessing her whenever she sensed immediate danger. Or in this case, a shadow hunter, myself.

The next few minutes were spent in a companiable silence, Streak's rhythmic motions lulling me into a calm and contemplative state. My pokegear should still function normally, as I had left it back on my bed in my haste to discover the source of the shadow scent. I would have to call the boss and consult her on how to proceed, evidently when they had made the rule book they hadn't factored in my situation. A half-shadow huh? But she's just a girl, younger than even myself, she doesn't deserve this.

"Moon?" Streak's voice, soft and reassuring, roused my consciousness from its panicking state. I fought the sudden urge to laugh. Life was so unfair. I sighed softly, the change in my breathing barely perceptible.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Not. What will happen to her? How did she become a shadow? I really have to contact the boss. Oh hell, she's gonna chew me out big time for sure! This was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission, investigate and inform, risk and injury free.

Streak had apparently picked up on my stress.

"No you're not." Immediately her cheeks took on a red tinge. I found myself amused at her shyness.

"That's what Father would say when something went wrong in the lab. Mother said that nobody ever means it when they say it." Her large, doe eyes immediately shimmered with unshed tears. Aw hell, I made her cry! Shaymin gave me the Evil Eyes. I glared back. Geez, what am I supposed to do about it?

Streak had finished the bandaging by now, and I rotated my arm tentatively, avoiding eye contact. My sister had always complained that I was socially awkward.

"You did a good job," I began tentatively, feigning nonchalance. She looked at me inquisitively, obviously asking for further clarification.

"On the bandages." A sound that sounded way too similar to a chuckle drifted through Shaymin's telepathic link. I huffed irritatedely.

"You did a good job on the bandages, alright?" I coughed slightly to cover my unease. I turned my head minutely, gauging her reactions in my peripheral vision. Good, her lips had a slight uplift to them. I continued.

"Who taught you first aid? They must be very apt at what they do."

There was silence as Streak's smile froze in place, a contradiction to the sudden tension that now graced the room. Dammit, what did I say this time? The girl eyes began filling once again with tears, but to her credit not one strayed. My stomach tightened when she started blinking rapidly. Against my better judgement, I began talking again, with no idea of what I hoped to achieve.

"No, wait, don't answer that, geez, if I'd known you'd react this way I wouldn't of said anything, and I'd have kept my foolish mouth shut." Great, you made this girl cry. Again.

"Aw no, don't cry,-"

"It was my parents." Her soft murmur interrupted my babbling. Her expression had been locked into place, smile still frozen and yet the tears didn't fade.

"They were scientists, dedicated to finding new ways to help and heal. We lived in the Old Chateau, in the Eterna Forest." I still hadn't moved from where I was. Hesitantly, I reached over to her, and wrapped my arms around her slim body awkwardly. The shooting pain in my arm had reduced to a dull throbbing, and I ignored the burning protest it gave.

Streak sniffed once, twice, then sighed and I knew the worst was over. I patted her back and pulled away, just in time to catch a glimpse of her tomato-red face. I nearly chuckled at her expression, and bit back the urge to comment on the effects of my illustrious charms.

"Thanks." Her face had returned to normal, the rosy tinge to her cheeks the only indication of what had happened previously.

"Uh, you're welcome? I guess," Ah yes, with the elegance of a Rhydon. As conversational as ever Moon. I needed to know what was going on here. And I needed to contact the boss. While I'm at it, I guess I need a new shirt to. I scowled to myself. Damn.

She noticed my glare at said torso and bit her lip.

"Is your arm okay? Is it hurting you? I'm truly sorry; do you need me to do anything for you?"

Now look what you've done, you've gone and made her worried. Real smooth Moon, real smooth.

"No, like I said, you did a great job bandaging it." I hurriedly moved on, keen to move the topic of conversation to a safer subject.

"I was wondering if I could speak to Shaymin for a moment. Privately." I tacked on with a slight smile as an after-thought, to take the unintentional bite out of my words. I knew that I didn't really need to be alone to speak to the fluffy green ball, given that Shaymin seemed to have a nifty little skill called telepathy, but all the same, Streak looked like she could do with a rest, and I didn't want to stress her out more than necessary.

"Of course." Her statement was immediately followed by a yawn. I was right on the money. "I think I might go to sleep then." We turned simultaneously towards the mangled mess of wood that was previously a bunk bed. Ah.

"You know..." I could feel my face already heating up. "You could just take my bed. Third room on the right, here are the keys." I turned abruptly and held out the aforementioned keys, silver flashes that chimed gaily in the silence that followed my outburst. My outstretched arm screamed in protest, so I lowered it back to my side when she objected to the courtesy.

"No, no, I certainly couldn't take your bed, I mean, just look at your shoulder! I'll be fine!" She explained, but her wince did not escape my notice.

I huffed; did she have to be so selfless? Besides, I had suffered much worse than this before the resistance took me in.

"So where will you sleep?" I answered.

"Where will you sleep?" She shot back immediately. Damn, she's good.

And they say chivalry is dead. Shaymin interjected in a sing-song voice. Not what I needed right now. I could feel a headache coming on.

I huffed again and took a step towards her, breaching the space between us.

At this rate, none of us would get a good night's sleep. I took her hand and placed the keys in her palm. Somewhere in the back of my mind I noted that her nails were no longer the hellish claws they were during the shift. The keys jangled innocently as they changed possession.

I ran my fingers through my thick hair, a habit of mine when I was stressed or tired. At that moment, I was both.

"Where do I go now," Streak whispered, biting her lip gently and looking down at her bare feet. We both knew that she wasn't referring to the sleeping arrangements.

"I have friends in the resistance; they will know what to do. For now, at least, we will travel to the HQ in Hearthome City. I know of a shortcut that will cut days off our journey, and doesn't require us to go through Mt. Coronet." I suggested. The boss would no doubt take her in, she was nothing if not generous, and in this case more than a little curious to know about a half-shadow.

After all, the resistance are like family, and are always willing to accept more refugees, emotional baggage and all. God knows I had enough of that when they found me.

~..*..~

Streak's POV

It was a dark dawn that found us sitting on the faded beige carpet of my room, bandaging the results of our impromptu battle. It had lasted no more than half an hour, and yet already the time of twilight loomed on the horizon. My momentary distraction was ended by a suppressed hiss by the half pokemon in front of me. I froze, hesitant to do more damage, and the bandages slipped slightly in my loosened grasp. This time he growled, and I hastened to continue with my task.

In a corner, Shaymin observed us quietly, absently winding her small paws in with the tendrils of the carpet fabric. It brought back a flash of memory, of restricting vines in their thousands, glowing ethereally, winding and winding, until I could bear it no more, a feral snarl ripping through my teeth...

I shook my head, as if to physically shake myself of these thoughts. The self-loathing remained however, the large weeping gash on Moon's back a not so subtle reminder. The bandaging stopped again, as I paused to consider ways to continue; yet inflict minimal pain.

My chin rest lightly on the base of his neck, my head bowed and I sighed silently. Once again, I wished for a normal life. Here in this position I stayed for a short while, gathering myself together. While my will was strong, the grief in my heart was still raw, and the shadow was a constant irritant, rubbing my soul raw. Moon's wound seemed to mock me, the darkness in my heart whispering that it was my fault, all my fault.

From where my head was resting, I felt him shift and tilt his own towards me, his overgrown fringe brushing my own as he cleared his throat.

"Um, hey, uh...Streak, I understand that this may take a while, but I ain't got all day you know," He spoke suddenly, his voice slightly rough from not having conversed since before my change.

I felt a little hurt by his callous words at first, but I felt him shift again and realised that it was not venom that laced his voice, but concern. He was more socially awkward than me! I smiled inwardly at his conversational efforts, and felt my mouth curve upwards just a little at the edges. I looked up in acknowledgement of his sentence, my eyes twinkling slightly as I felt the shadow shrink back to the edges of my consciousness, away from my happiness.

He obviously wasn't mad at me, judging by the concern in his own crimson eyes, and for now it was enough. I chuckled a little at his expectant face, and saw it relax in response.

I decided to return to the task at hand, focusing completely on the bandaging, relying on the skills that had been drilled into me by way of constant practice from a very young age. When working in a laboratory, one needs to know all the health and safety procedures, in case of an emergency.

Over, around, up and back; over, around, up and back. Just letting go of my emotions for now and sinking into the familiar motions, I felt content and peaceful, the shadows almost quelled completely for now. How interesting, I wondered distractedly. They seemed to be very emotion-based, reacting violently to panic, stress or fear.

I gently drifted back to reality as the task neared completion. In the new state of awareness, I could feel the muscles across Moon's back tense with agitation and he kept making little noises that further hinted at his stress.

"Moon?" I inquired in a soothing voice. It seemed to work, I felt him jolt slightly, calm down, then sigh quietly, so quietly that I would never detected it had I not been in the middle of bandaging his shoulder. My arms were constantly close to him, enabling me to perceive the faintest breath or movement.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered brusquely. I could tell he was fretting over something, and by the way his gaze kept falling back to me, I knew immediately the object of his thoughts. He looked so worried, I decided he needed someone to support him and rid him of his doubts.

"No you're not." I reprimanded loudly, and I realised soon after that, in my haste, I provided neither a reason for my sudden protest nor did I curb the volume of my voice. I could still hear my proclamation echo in the small room. My face heated up almost instantly in embarrassment and I resisted the urge to bury it into my nightgown. I glanced at his amused face and decided to further clarify my objection to his condition.

"That's what Father would say when something went wrong in the lab. Mother said that nobody ever means it when they say it." I elucidated, my voice trailing off towards the end as my previously placated feelings of grief emerged again at the recent death of my loving parents.

While I fought to contain my tears, Moon looked at me in alarm and immediately turned to avoid my gaze. I wanted to explain that it wasn't his fault, that I was still in shock, but my throat choked up and I was unable to speak. The shadows in my heart seemed to attack my anguish, tearing down my walls and making sure to fill every empty crevasse in my soul with that sorrow.

"You did a good job," He mumbled, still examining his bandaged arm, Umbreon ears drooping ever so slightly. I sniffled and looked at him questioningly, hoping he would elaborate, anything to distract me from this mind-numbing sadness that had been triggered so suddenly.

"On the bandages." He grunted, after noticing my inquiring look. The haze in my mind cleared a little, and I was able to breathe a bit easier.

"You did a good job on the bandages, alright?" He finished, with a cough. He was focused on something in front of him, but I noticed his eyes flicker to the side and back again, assessing my reaction. His concern flooded through me, easily melting the shadow and once again restoring the volatile shadows to normalcy. I wrung my hands nervously, pleased by the praise, however awkwardly it was delivered.

"Who taught you first aid? They must be very apt at what they do." My face froze in place, the all-consuming shadow flooding through me again, and I tried once again to stop it from playing with my emotions.

It seemed that while I had stopped it from taking over my body, I still hadn't stopped it from ruling my emotions. I knew instinctively that over time I would be able to prevent it from penetrating my mental defences completely, but until then I was helpless, at the complete mercy of my emotions.

"No, wait, don't answer that, geez, if I'd known you'd react this way I wouldn't of said anything, and I'd have kept my foolish mouth shut." He started quickly, panicked by the look on my face.

How could I tell him that these weren't my emotions? While I felt grief for my lost family, it was nothing compared to the torrent that was hailing down on my present mind, manipulated by the shadows.

"Aw no, don't cry,-" He continued until he was unexpectedly cut off.

"It was my parents." The murmur that I hadn't even realised came from my own mouth stopped his voice. Immediately, the shadows calmed to a more noticeable level. It seemed that talking helped me reign it in, almost like I was sharing the burden. My eyes still burned with suppressed tears, but the clenching of my chest had subsided to a dull throb. I continued.

"They were scientists, dedicated to finding new ways to help and heal. We lived in the Old Chateau, in the Eterna Forest." We were still sat on that faded beige floor, my fingers grasping at the material like a lifeline.

Slowly, with an unsure look on his face, Moon reached over and wrapped my arms my around body. He was warm, and he smelt of disinfectant and of earthy pine trees. Of home. I closed my eyes and buried my face into the soft skin of his neck, letting the tears flow unchecked. After a while he hesitantly wrapped his strong arms more firmly around my waist, and rocked me gently. I felt calm; loved, and the shadows were nothing more than a mere puddle, lapping ineffectively at this warm feeling that blossomed inside my chest.

The shadow eradicated but for a trickle, I wiped my eyes and snuggled deeper into his torso. His shirtless torso. My eyes flew open. Ah.

He seemed to sense that I was done crying, and so patted my back and pulled away slowly, his face pulling into a smile when he noticed my no doubt very red face. I watched him bite back a comment as his eyes twinkled.

"Thanks." I said, unsure of what to say. He still had that good-natured look in his eye, and I had a feeling that behind his indifferent masks he was quite a sensitive person.

"Uh, you're welcome? I guess," He answered, then winced at the ineloquence of his response.

I watched as a thought suddenly occurred to him and he scowled at his shoulder. I gnawed nervously at my lip.

"Is your arm okay? Is it hurting you? I'm truly sorry; do you need me to do anything for you?" I fretted.

"No, like I said, you did a great job bandaging it." He quickly replied; a bit too quickly in my opinion. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion - he'd better not be hiding any more injuries.

"I was wondering if I could speak to Shaymin for a moment. Privately." He added swiftly, dropping a smile in my direction. I returned it with one of my own, all suspicion dropped for now.

"Of course." I replied good-naturedly. I yawned immediately thereafter, and caught the grey of the dawn through the window out of the corner of my eye. It had been a long night.

"I think I might go to sleep then." I continued, and turned towards what was once a bed frame. I saw Moon do the same. So much for catching a few hours sleep.

"You know..." I looked towards the owner of the voice as his face blushed. "You could just take my bed. Third room on the right, here are the keys."

I ignored the outstretched arm in favour of objecting his offer. He was clearly injured, he needed rest! I conveniently ignored the aching of my own ribs, from where I had bruised them earlier.

Not bruised, cracked, argued Shaymin. Since when could she read my mind? On second thoughts, perhaps I just wasn't hiding it as well as I thought. Nevertheless, I continued my opposition.

"No, no, I certainly couldn't take your bed, I mean, just look at your shoulder! I'll be fine!" I argued, gesturing towards his wound. Nobody missed the wince that followed. My torso started to throb sickeningly, leading me to assume that I had damaged something further by waving my arms about.

I heard Moon sigh with exasperation.

"So where will you sleep?" He asked. I didn't miss a beat.

"Where will you sleep?" I answered back, proud that my voice didn't waver and expose me.

The half-pokemon huffed again and closed the small gap between us. He simply took my hand and pressed the cool metal into my palm. I reluctantly closed my fingers into a fist and looked down at my feet.

The cooks were waking up, and with my tuned shadow senses, I could smell the food being prepared. My stomach stirred with hunger pans and anxiety and I wondered despondently what I would do now. I had no money, no home and no place to go.

"Where do I go now," I whispered, biting my lips to prevent my voice from cracking with my unease. From what I could see of Moon's face, he knew what I was talking about. My palms were sweaty and the cool metal kept threatening to slip from my grasp. Just like my control on the shadow. I took a deep, wavering breath to calm myself down.

"I have friends in the resistance; they will know what to do. For now, at least, we will travel to the HQ in Hearthome City." He paused, looking thoughtful. "I know of a shortcut that will cut days off our journey, and doesn't require us to go through Mt. Coronet."

I looked up at him and saw his small smile. And as I returned it with one of mine, I felt something stir inside me. I felt hope.

Author's Note: I lack inspiration and time to write this, so expect updates to be sporadic. I finally planned out the story, but it is considerably smaller than I expected...maybe around 75,000 words in total? Anyway, please review and give me feedback on my plot, character development and grammar/vocabulary. It all helps :D

Sorry it took so long, (yeah yeah, a whole year, I know,). By sheer coincidence, it was a year to this very day that I last updated. Funny how things go eh? Consider it a Christmas present! Merry Christmas!

Love,

-Moonlite Streak-