AUTHORS NOTES

Ok, this chapter will be full length lol.
Lot's of shipping hints in this one. Including one I made up.
HiddenEyesshipping- MayxKite
Yeah I know it sounds dumb, what are you going to do, write a letter? Bwhahahaha

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"Worst….boat ride….ever" Sange said.

"This is the first time I actually agree with you." Said Dawn.

Kite, Ash, May, Dawn, Kiri, Brock and Dean all sat on the Pokémon centers balcony and stared at the battered ship that had carried them to the southlands. They had finally been able to set foot on dry land earlier that day, all of them happy that the nightmare was over.

"That was probably the scariest boat ride I've ever been on." Ash said.

"What about the S.S Anne Ash?" Brock asked. That boat had gone down to the bottom of the sea, taking Ash and his friends with it. Ash glanced at May, who was looking out across the ocean, but only for a second.

It's nothing compared to that, I watched my friend die….

"Ash?"

"oh umm…I was young then…I guess I didn't know fear that well." He lied. He didn't want May to worry about what he had seen from Moon's future sight. Before they had gotten into port, Ash had asked Kite to keep what they had seen a secret. Kite agreed, he had been having problems himself. Although he didn't say anything, Ash could tell he had been troubled by something. What he didn't know was Kite was trying to understand why he had risked his life for the girls.

But they had bigger problems.

"Guys I really think we should take it easy for today and tomorrow." Brock said and the group looked at him. "I mean, we're in a pretty sorry state…"

Kiri's dress was still ripped up from when the storm had first started. She had several bruises and long cut along her leg. Kite had done his best to clean and dress the wound, but she still had trouble walking. May also had some torn clothes, and her bandana was gone, lost at sea. Ash was fine physically, but his mind was still struggling to recover from what had happened. Kite could see he had a somewhat odd stare, characteristic of emotional trauma, he would have to keep an eye on him. Dean had several cuts from flying glass, but he had been through much worse, he had the scars to prove it.

"I think we need to change first…no point looking like we've gone through a war." Kite said. Everyone agreed, but May looked a little sad. Ash saw this and went over toward her.

"What's wrong May?" He asked. May looked at Ash's auburn eyes and sighed.

"Nothing…I just lost my bandana." She straightened up. "Doesn't matter…should be more happy I survived." Ash wasn't convinced that it "it didn't matter." He gave May an intent look, she gave him a look of slight confusion. May held his gave for a moment then walked away with the rest of the group to go change.

"Are you just going to stand their looking like any idiot?"

Ash turned around and saw Kite smiling at him.

"What?"

"If you want to make her happy, then go make her happy." Kite said. Ash looked at the slightly older blond haired, ponytail wearing man. He still didn't know what to make of Kite. He seemed to be full of surprises. But he had practically saved May and Kiri, so that made him a friend. Thinking of what happened, he couldn't help remember the incredible display of agility he had put on while carrying Kiri when the second rouge wave hit the ship and threatened to swallow them.

"How do I make her happy?" Ash asked. At the moment, he really wanted nothing more than to make the brown haired girl smile. He wanted her eyes to lit up in happiness.

Blank eyes in the water

He knew he was going to have nightmares from this…

Kite looked at him like he was an idiot. "You know you could go get her a new bandana…."

Ash jumped up from his chair suddenly, Pikachu unsuccessfully tried to hold on.

"BRILLIANT!" He began to dash towards the exit, "I'll be back!"

Kite smiled and watched him go. Ash seemed to remind him who he used to be, with his youthful demeanor and lack of patience.

The old kite….another life…another time…

Kite sat up and walked over to his bag. He reached in a pulled up a small head set that fit directly into his ear. He began to walk outside towards the beach.

It was time for business.

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"Please state name, call sign and identifier"

"Kite, Call sign: Hurricane, Identifier: Kilo Eight four." Kite said while looking out across the calm waters that gently lapped against the sandy beach. There was an air of tranquility about the scene that made Kite relax. The ocean here was the complete opposite of what he had experienced a few days ago.

"Voice pattern confirmed." There was a clicking noise as he was put through to a different channel.

"KITE, about time, we thought you might have been lost in the storm." Zach practically yelled. One of these days his ears would probably start bleeding because of Zach. If his flying didn't kill him first.

"Looked iffy for awhile out there, but I managed."

"That's great. We couldn't get a single to you for crap, the storm was blocking all our transmissions, you know how squalls are and all that yakity-yak. Willow was having a freaking heart-attack down here."

"I didn't think she cared." Kite said dryly.

"More like worried about possibly losing one of the leads on the advent, I don't think she would give a rats ass about you." Zach said laughing. He was joking of course; both of them knew Willow cared about Kite.

"So I'm guessing the brass wants an update?"

"You could say that." Willows voice came over the speaker. "First off, have you met the target yet?"

"Yes, but he's not a target." He said, feeling irritated for an odd reason. That was strange.

Kite wasn't in Delta City to see Willows grin.

"So I take it you've become friends with him?"

"Yes and his other friends?"

"Other friends?"

"Check your files, you got stuff on May, Dawn and Brock. But also look for Kiri Rainydew."

There was a pause, then Zach's voice came on again.

"There are several Kira Rainydew's all across the planet."

"Look for one with a large yellow hat."

"…………..oh"

Kite couldn't help but laughing. Kiri's hat had to be cursed or blessed to have survived the storm.

"So what do you think about Ash?" Willow said.

"Kind of clueless, not much patience, loves to eat like a friggan lawnmower, has a tendency to-"

"I mean can he be part of the Advent?"

Kite began walking across the sand, feeling the sand beneath his feet. He looked out across the horizon. The sun was slowly making its way across the sky.

Damn it's going to be one hell of a sunset tonight

"From what I know about him, that's a definite negative." He said absent mindedly, still staring across the water.

"Ok, but keep a close eye on him, someone managed to get into our system and take some files, one of them was about Ash Ketchum."

Kite immediately began paying more attention.

"Any idea who?"

"None just watch your back." Willow said. Kite heard Zach laugh in the back ground.

"Telling Kite to watch his back is like telling this city to stop raining."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kite said dryly. There was a loud SMACK and he heard Zach mutter a curse.

"We'll monitor your progress Kite, Good luck, SOC (Spec-Ops Command) out."

Kite sighed and looked out across the ocean then he sat down in a cross legged position. Now that he was finished with reporting in, it was time for him to do a little soul searching.

He took a deep breath, and began to meditate.

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"I don't know buddy, I want to get her something special." Ash said holding up the plain red bandana. He had come into the clothing store with the intention of purchasing a bandana for May, but so far he was having trouble deciding on what type to buy. Pikachu pointed to another stack, this one having several different colors of bandanas, each one with an odd symbol on it. Ash looked at the symbol.

It was an eight pointed star, but the point on the bottom was larger than the others. Behind the star was a symbol of a sword over a shield.

"Wonder what this is..." He muttered to himself.

"That would be the symbol of the Southlands." Came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw a young woman in blue jeans and a white short sleeve T-shirt. Ash almost didn't recognize her, except when he saw the large Yellow hat.

"Hey Kiri!" Ash said. During their time after the storm, Ash had gotten to know May's friend pretty well.

"Hiya Ash." She said, she then walked over and took one of the bandanas and showed him the symbol that was on it.

"As I was saying, this is the Southlands National Symbol. As you see, the star represents a compass pointing south. The sword represents the Southlanders history of being a warrior people. And lastly, the Shield represents their resilience to the elements and danger."

"That's cool, you know a lot about this stuff." He said.

"It never hurts to study Ash," She said with a smile. Her tone suddenly became playful, "I wonder why you would be getting a bandana…." She trailed off and Ash blushed.

"It's for…well uhhh, May." Ash managed to get out. Kiri almost let out a loud squeal.

"That's so sweet of you Ash!"

"eh-he.."

"Do you have a crush on her?!" She asked suddenly. Ash dropped the bandana he was holding and began to blush. Kiri laughed.

"I'm just saying!" She said while laughing as her friend transformed into a cherry.

"I don't have a crush on her….I'm just being nice." He said in a voice that even the world's most gullible man would have seen past. Kiri knew this, but she decided to let him off easy.

"Ok, I understand, need help picking one out?" She said.

"Yeah…I think I might get her the one with the southlands symbol on it, but I can't decide on the color." He said while thumbing through the dozens of colors they had.

Kiri thought for a moment. "to you, what is the most beautiful thing about May?" Instead of blushing like Kiri expected him to do, Ash put on a thoughtful expression. After a few moments he came to an answer.

"I would say her personality….but it's so unique I don't want to label it with a color….but her eyes are beautiful…" Ash realized what he said and blushed.

Kiri smiled at his words.

Wow, he's older than me, but when it comes to this….

She reached into the stack and pulled out a blue bandana. It was the same color as May's ideas.

"Problem solved." She said smiling.

Ash took one look at it and grinned.

"It's perfect!"

He took it to the cashier and bought it. He even paid and extra five dollars to have it placed in a small box and wrapped in red wrapping paper. He took the box from the cashier and turned to Kiri.

"Thanks Kiri, I'm going to go give it to her now!"

"Hold it! Let me get some new clothes real fast, I want to see you give it to her" She said with a smile.

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(Authors notes, this next sequence takes place in kites mind, each different format (plain, bold, italics) is a different voice of his personality)

I still don't know why I rescued her

She's the closest thing to a friend you have besides Dean

She's not a friend, you only used her to get closer to Ash, and He clearly likes that girl

Why do I care what Ash thinks? He's just part of a mission

He's more than the mission

But why? This is the first time I've seen a target in a different light.

They're still just targets, the only difference is that one of them has the face of the person you love

She's not Genevieve, she's May Maple

Just a face

Just a Friend

Just an echo of a lost past

More than just a reminder

But why did I risk my life for her. I could have sat in the room, telling myself she was swept off the boat on the first Wave

You would have believed it

I'm such a bastard….

But you didn't, you got up and saved both May and Kiri

But what did you get out of it

Ash trusts me…

You saved a life

But still, why?

She is not afraid of your eyes

Why?

I really don't know…

Doe it really matter? She was telling the truth

Was she?

Yes she was….

But is that the only reason?

She made me smile…

You smile all the time

It wasn't fake

Are all your smiles fake?

They used to be….until they showed up

And that's a good thing…

Or is it? What's more important, the mission, or everyone else?

Don't make me answer that…

Why?

Because I'm afraid that one day I'll know the truth, and it won't be pretty.

What would Gen say?

Gens gone, does it matter what she would say?

Of course it does…

Then what would she say?

She would say….

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"I think you had the right idea about the beach Kite" May said with a laugh. Kite jumped to his feet so fast, that a cloud of sand erupted into the air, momentarily blocking Kite from May's view. May jerked backwards, surprised. Quickly, the sand fell to the ground to reveal a angry looking Kite.

"Can you not sneak up on me when I'm meditating?" Kite said angrily. May stepped backwards.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know you we're meditating…I just came down here to watch the sunset and I saw you. So I came to say hi." Kites face softened. May didn't know how lucky she was, usually people that snuck up on him would find themselves either dead or inches from it.

"Sorry….I get a little jumpy when I'm meditating." He sat back down and motioned for May to sit next to him. She walked forward and sat down next to him. Her head looked somewhat empty without a bandana on it. He hoped ash would hurry up with getting her one. The two of them stared out across the water and watched the sun as it painted the clouds several different colors. It was breathtaking.

Kite looked over at May who was sitting with her arms around her legs. Her eyes betrayed a deep and far off look.

"Something on your mind May?" He asked.

"It's just….well a lot of things….why I'm here….Ash acting all weird all the sudden….it's just….well I don't know…"

"Why are you here May?"

Instead of answering, she seemed to shudder a little. Kite decided not to press into it.

"Ok what's with Ash?"

May turned to look at him. "I don't know….that's the thing….I just don't know, he hugged me after we got out of the storm….that was the first time he's ever hugged me, and then he's suddenly staying beside me and asking if I'm alright every two seconds…."

Kite sighed, he knew exactly why. He remembered his promise to Ash, but then he decided May had a right to know.

"Just before we rescued you…I had my Gardevoir use future sight to find you…..and we did" He said slowly.

"You found me and?"

"You were swept out to sea by a giant wave…..Ash watched you die….he even saw the life leave your eyes…"

"I…was supposed to die?" May said slowly, her eyes we're wide in shock.

"no no….you would have died if we didn't do anything…..we saved you…but the damage to Ash's mind was done."

"He saw me die….." May said slowly.

"To him it was absolutely real. I think something snapped in his mind, and now he want to do everything he can to protect you. He doesn't want to see….your dead eyes."

May struggled to make sense of what Kite was telling her. But after a few moments it made perfect sense. Ash now cared for her more than anyone…..

"…..What do I say to him…." She said after a moment.

"Nothing, I wasn't supposed to tell you."

"oh…well…thanks…." She said. She tried imagining what it would be like to see Ash die. All it managed to do was release a small river of tears from her sapphire eyes. Kite saw this.

"……..May." Slowly, not even sure of what he was doing he put his arms around her and held her tight. May cried into his shoulder. Kite, although he couldn't escape the feeling of awkwardness, did his best to make her feel better. He heard a voice in his head.

I think she would tell you to do exactly what you are doing right now

Yeah…..she would

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Ash watched from the balcony as Kite hugged May. He sighed.

Guess it would be kind of inappropriate to give her it now…Kite seems to a good job of making her happy

Ash picked up the red package and walked towards his room. Kiri watched him go, feeling a sad feeling in her stomach. She had also seen Kite hug May.

"Poor Ash…." She said to nobody but herself.

Outside, the sun disappeared from the horizon.

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Authors notes.

No action whatsoever in this chapter, sorry action junkies. But this was a shipping geared episode. What feelings does Kite have toward May. How will Ash react towards the two of them. How will May react towards Ash knowing what he saw. Questions questions questions…..