A/N: Another chapter! Whoot. Ah, I really need to one day just work my butt of on my stories. I have so many to do. Sadly I cannot. One day maybe.
Gah. I've had some much trouble with this chapter. I promised palletshipping, but I didn't realize how absolutely horrible I am at it. And the plot line is so screwed. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing or what's going to happen next. I have only a very vague idea of how I want to do this. I fail so much with this. So please please please. If you actually like Hidden and want to see it through to the end, please let me know. Let me know there are still supporters to this story and that I shouldn't try and give it up again. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy.
Crimson droplets splatter onto pure white. Horrified screams of men, women, innocent children. Pleas and begs desperately asking for mercy, a chance to live. Warm skin turned stone cold as the last flicker of life leaves their eyes. Screams. Death. Crimson. His own twisted laughter.
Satoshi woke up screaming, deep red eyes flying open and beads of sweat rolling down his pale face. It took him a moment to remember where he was. Blue carpet and cream colored walls, a window pouring sunlight. He was in Kasumi's guest room. He wasn't there anymore.
He sat up, removing the heavy blanket from himself and ran his fingers through his long raven hair. It was damp with sweat. He sighed. The boy hadn't had a nightmare like that in almost a year, when he was first taken. They were far worse now than they had ever been before.
There was a small knock at the wooden door and Kasumi poked her head inside, looking worried.
"I heard screaming," she explained. "You okay?" Satoshi didn't speak for a moment, thinking if he actually was or wasn't anymore. He believed the latter was the correct answer.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied, looking up at her but not looking her in the eyes. "Just a bad dream. Sorry if I woke you," he apologized, now getting up out of bed. Kasumi closed the door behind her and shook her head,
"No, we were already awake anyway," the red head assured. "More importantly, what kind of dream was it? It'll help if you talk about it y'know," she kindly suggested, about to cup his cheek motherly but pulled back when she remembered how painful her touch was to his icy skin. She instead put it on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about me," he said, removing her hand from him the wrist. "Why don't you go back downstairs? I'll be down in a minute."
Withy a slight uncertainty, she left and closed the door. When she was gone, he grabbed the clothes that were folded neatly on the dresser. He slipped off the black shirt he had been wearing and looked at himself in the full body mirror. He was thinner than he had really thought that he was. His extremely pale skin was stretched over his torso, enough so that he could've counted each of his ribs. He slipped on a new cleaner black shirt, which was quite baggy on his frame. The light blue hoody seemed to fill him out a little more though, making him seem a normal weight and he left it unzipped. He picked up a small yellow hair tie and pulled his hair into a ponytail that touched just below his shoulders. He laughed a little at the black fingerless gloves, yellow at the bottom, and slipped them on. He lightly touched the reflection of the old scars on his face, the last thing about him that could honestly be the only thing about him that hadn't changed and made his way downstairs.
Kasumi was just taking out a plate of reheated breakfast from the microwave when Satoshi walked into the kitchen. Haruka and Hikari weren't there.
"They went to get more groceries. If there's anything you want let me know and I can text them," Kasumi said, predicting what the boy would ask, setting the plate down on the table. Scrambled eggs, two slices of bacon, a piece of toast on the side. He took a nibble of the toast's corner. It tasted good and his stomach suddenly felt hollow and starving. He took a bite of egg.
The two remained silent, making it feel a little uncomfortable. Kasumi worked with the dishes, occasionally glancing over her shoulder, making sure that he was still there, that he didn't mysteriously disappear again. That it wasn't just her going mad and hallucinating his presence. But he was still eating, sitting there, looking sad. But there.
There was a loud banging at the door.
"Hey, can you open the door! Our hands are kinda full!" called Haruka from outside. Kasumi was about to go, but Satoshi easily beat her to the door, opening it for the two girls and scooped up most of the bags from them. They gave a little smile as they walked in with their groceries. There was a small spark of warmth in Satoshi's chest. For the first time in some while, he felt a small bit of happiness.
"Ohhh, I don't want to do this!" the woman complained as she leaned over the side of the hot air balloon. Her blue haired companion patted her on the back.
"C'mon Musashi! We do this assignment and we'll be living a life of luxury," Kojiro encouraged his girlfriend and partner in crime. After a moment, she nodded.
"Right! Besides how hard is it to find the twerp anyway? We always seemed to run into them everywhere," she said a little more enthusiastic. "Still, it's an odd assignment. Why does the boss want the twerp? Why not Pikachu or any pokemon?"
"What I wanna know is where the twerp's been hiding? We haven't run into the brat for almost a year right? And I haven't heard about him either."
"I don't know, but there must be a good reason for why Sakaki-sama needs him," Musashi shrugged, a little puzzled. The Team Rocket member looked back at the new supplies sitting on the floor, new equipment given to them by the organization so they wouldn't have to spend their own pocket money like usual. It was an unusual gesture, but it was rather welcomed. But it did show the seriousness of their mission.
"Kurenai-sama, why did you have Sakaki-sama send those two idiots to fetch Satoshi?" Shinji questioned concerned as he followed his superior down the white hall. Kurenai gave a small laugh.
"Oh, they aren't going to retrieve him. They're too stupid to do that. They were sent to find him. And because they're so useless, it won't be any loss to Team Rocket if they happen to, and most likely will, die," Kurenai explained casually. "Once we find where he is, we'll send some of my men to bring him back."
"I see…" Shinji nodded, not too enthusiastic about sending members to their death, but there would be no way he would ever say his concerned aloud to her. He would have been killed without hesitation.
A/N: So here's another chapter. I felt like I needed to add Team Rockets beloved Jessie and James. Unfortunately they will not have a kind fate. Originally, I had a different idea for them. You know how they were all evil and serious in Black and White. They were going to be failed projects of Kurenai's, hence the white uniforms and new attitudes. But that didn't sit too well with me. I like goofy Team Rocket. Oh and I don't know why, but pokemon just don't seem to play any part except to be killed. That's why I didn't but Meowth. I just don't like writing pokemon.
Oh and I promised Gary and a little palletshipping, so he'll be in the next chapter.
Oh by the way, I know this is completely irrelevant since it was two months ago. I was attending Anime Expo. It was so much fun, especially since it was my first convention. I bought so much stuff. I spent foolishly most of my money on little pins. But I did get some awesome photos of cosplayer, especially some good pokemon cosplayers. I found a six year old Cilan who was adorable.
Anyway, let's get back on topic.
The next chapter of Hidden will hopefully be out soon (smart people will not entirely believe me). So I hope you review and give your opinion, critiques, flames, comments, and jokes. I'm love reviews so all is fine! Thank you again for reading and putting up with me and my horrible posting schedule. Until next time!