Morning

Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Pokemon. Just thinking about that makes me cry.

"No...Axel...don't leave me..." I whimpered, my vision blurry as his dark form padded away from me. Not once did he look back; his scarlet eyes were fixed determinedly on the path ahead.

"It's what I have to do," He had murmured in my ear before turning away. Seething, I bounded in front of him.

"Was this all a lie then? Does our being mates mean nothing to you?" He half turned his head, not quite meeting my eyes.

"You're calling me a liar? I, your mate who protected you, fed you, taught you how to hunt and fight am a liar?" His frown deepened. "I know I screwed up once, but aren't we past that already?"

I winced at the hurt tone in his voice. "I didn't mean it like that....I'm just afraid..." I shuffled my paws against the dewy grass. "I'm afraid I'll never see you again." I'm afraid you'll find someone else....

He let loose a throaty chuckle laced with bitterness.

"Save your worrying for yourself, baby. I'll be fine." He looked at the path before him. "This is an opportunity I just can't pass up, and once I finish my work we'll be stable enough to have easy pickings for life."

I looked at my paws. "But..."

"Don't you want us and our future kits to live in comfort, with no threat of danger or disease?"

I shivered, remembering the plague that wiped out half my clan. "Yes."

He leaned over and nuzzled my growing belly. I craved more than that simple show of affection, but kept still. "I'll be back for you as soon as possible. I may even be able to send a few messages to you in a month or so. Take care, precious."

"Good bye sweetie...I love you...." His ears twitched, so I knew he heard.

Once he was out of view I sank to the ground and lay there crying. It wasn't until nightfall that I mustered up the will to go back inside the Clan building.

That was when I allowed my eyes to open. It happened so long ago, yet my dreams made it feel as if I were reliving the memory.

I lay there among the ferns for a few minutes, the events of last night flooding back in a rush. The moonlit lake, the run through the woods, that terrible fall into the ravine, and.....

I wrapped my tail closer to me. Storm....

The male eevee was nowhere to be seen. I heard him calling my name late into the night, while I sprawled under a low-lying bush and drifted in and out of consciousness. Sniffing the clear air, I flinched as I realized that the fur on the entire left side of my body was wreathed in his scent. Then it all came back to me.

I remembered, right before I passed out for the final time, the sensation of another body close to mine. A warm body, pushing close to my own, protecting me from the cold as I lay shivering. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. What little pride I had left was completely crushed by this revelation.

Never mind the fact that I don't like depending on anyone, it was the mere thought of being protected by the one who got me into this mess in the first place. What right did he have, hurting my feelings then cuddling up to me in my moment of weakness? Angry tears rolled down my face as a feeling of shame swept over me. Was he purposely doing this to humiliate me?

Gingerly, I rose to my paws and stretched, my aching joints cracking in protest at every movement. I inspected my mud-streaked fur and sighed. At the very least, I needed to give myself a thorough grooming before going back. I started off by wiping my paws clean on a patch of moss, then brushing them over my face and behind my ears. I felt a little self-conscious doing this in public, but it was reassuring to know that I was the only one there. I wasn't sure if I was ready to be seen by anyone else yet. After last night, I felt a little shy at the thought of speaking to another pokemon face-to-face.

I shook out the soft ruff of fur around my neck, taking care to comb out the dirt with my claws without snagging my skin by accident. That finished, I shook the dust out of my tail and began licking my fur clean.

I paid close attention to my ruff and tail, wetting my pads and smoothing the fur until it lay soft and flat. Satisfied, I cleaned between each digit of my paws and under my claws. Feeling better, I took a moment to consider my next action.

First, I needed to get out of here. The sides of the ravine were steep and slippery. I was better off walking along the bottom of it until it leveled out enough for me to climb out. Hopefully, I would find bushes laden with edible berries along the way.

I stretched my foreleg, wincing in pain. I wasn't going to get far at this rate.

"You're hurt..." My ears pulled back instinctively as I hopped around on three legs to face Storm.

"What do you want?" I snarled as he approached, a bundle of leaves tucked under his chin and against his chest. The peculiar method of carrying things enabled him to speak without dropping his load. I sniffed suspiciously and repeated the question, flinching as a sharp pain shot up my leg.

He gazed at me with infuriatingly calm eyes. Soft, amber eyes, I noticed for the first time. Very different from the cold, furious orbs that glared at me the night before. "Moving around like that will only make your injuries worse." I looked away.

"You should know,"I muttered under my breath so he couldn't hear. "It's your fault I'm like this in the first place." His ears twitched.

"I know," he said quietly. I looked away again, this time in embarrassment. I didn't mean to make it sound as if I was pitying myself, nor did I intend to make him feel bad. Searching for an excuse to change the subject, my eyes alighted on the leaf bundle he was carrying.

"What's that you've got there?" I asked curiously, indicating it with my hurt paw. I managed not to wince.

"Pecha," He said simply, allowing the leaf-wrapped berries to drop in front of me. The skin was firm, yet velvety soft. There were no visible blemishes on them; they were all was a healthy pink with round, lighter pink spots. I felt my initial anger dissipate as I realized that he had put an effort into giving me the most perfect, unflawed berries he could find. I tried not to let my hunger show as I bent down and took a small bite out of one. I closed my eyes and chewed slowly, savoring the sweetness that flooded my mouth. Before I knew it, I had finished off about four of them before I remembered I was being watched. It did not help that I was happily waving my tail in the air like a fool kit, either.

Embarrassed at my rudeness, I stopped eating and looked away. "Um...why don't you have some?" I dared to look at his face, and was shocked to see him hiding a grin behind his paw. His shoulders were shaking, evidence that he was holding back a lot of anger. If there was one thing I hated more than being harassed, it was definitely being laughed at. Furious, I picked up a pebble and threw it at him. I was aiming for his forehead, but I somehow misjudged the distance and pelted it into the bushes behind him. I swore I heard something squeal loudly, then a thump.

My eye twitched. Storm's shoulders shook even harder. Without a word I whirled around and walked away, limping as quickly as possible on three legs. I thought I was going pretty fast, until Storm drew alongside me at his regular walking pace. And looked at me with an amused expression on his face. Defeated, I settled for glaring at him. I was not losing the tiny shred of dignity I had left.

"If you keep looking at people like that, your face will end up stuck like that. Permanently."

"Leave me alone," I muttered, laying down on my side and panting. My chest now hurt every time I breathed in. I lay my head on my paws and closed my eyes. This nightmare was getting worse and worse.

I heard Storm's pawsteps coming closer, then froze as he licked my ear gently. I held my breath, but opted not to jump and react aggressively. I was a little curious, and wanted to see where this went. Taking my silence for an indicator to continue, he bent down and licked between my ears with long, soft strokes. I purred quietly; I hadn't been touched like that in a long time, and I ached for more. I didn't realize it then, but my tail was rubbing against his side; an affectionate gesture, but one that could easily be mistaken for intimacy.

He licked my shoulder, his strokes reaching up the side of my neck to my jawline. I inhaled sharply; he suddenly jerked his head up, and, as if realizing that what we were doing was wrong, backed away several feet. "I...we left the food behind," he said in a rushed voice, and hurried back the way we came. I stared after him in complete shock for a few moments, then curled up with my tail over my face.

I did not want him to see my tears.