A/N: I finally finished this chapter! I had some time before work this morning, so I buckled down and just did it. The last chapter is probably going to be a quick one, like the very first chapter was, so I should be able to get that one done relatively soon. So close to the end! I can hardly believe it! I'll talk more about future plans for writing more when I post the final chapter!

See you then!

Sarah

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or its characters.

Chapter Four: Confession

Misty inspected her work in the mirror. It was later that night. Darkness had already enveloped the earth. The door leading to her terrace was closed, but the sounds of Hoothoots and Noctowls could still be heard through the thick glass. It had been a long time since she went on a real date. This time was different than all of the others—and there had been a lot of them. She was going on a date with Ash Ketchum.

Of course, she was still irritated with him. The effort to make amends was there, as far as she could tell, and it was helping her journey to forgive him. That was the thing about love. If the other person does something hurtful and deserving of contempt, eventually you fall back into love's embrace and find forgiveness. At the end of the match, she saw something in his eyes, but she had trouble figuring out what that was. As she stood in front of the mirror, a startling thought occurred to her. What if he wanted to make up to salvage their friendship? It wouldn't be the end of the world, for she had missed her best friend. Yet, there was an ache in her heart because what she really wanted was something more.

She double-checked her make-up, even after she had spent nearly two hours getting ready. There was a knock on the door, and thinking that it was one of her sisters, she told whomever it was to enter. To her surprise, and her slight dismay, it was Ash.

"How did you get in here?" she asked, her face being to flush from his presence.

"You told me to come in!" he retorted.

"I meant my house, Mr. Pokémon Master."

"Your sisters let me in," he said as he set Pikachu down. "I figured that it would be okay to leave Pikachu and my other Pokémon here."

"I'll kill my sisters," Misty muttered under her breath as she clenched her fist.

Ash chuckled at the reemergence of the old feisty Misty—that rough and tumble girl who pulled him out of the water. He was about to respond with something cheeky, but as soon as he paused for a moment to take a good look at her, his breath caught in his throat, unable to escape. He watched her as she struggled slightly to put on a pair of cobalt high heels, which matched her dress, his heart hammering. Why did she have to be so beautiful? It unnerved him to his bones.

She shuffled, getting her feet to properly fit in her shoes, until she reached Ash, halting in front of him. He was close enough to her that her scent began to drive him crazy. His mind wandered to the night he had taken her to his bed. The image of her naked form popped into his head, and it took all of his self-control not to grab her and kiss her. Instead, he tucked a loose strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Shall we get going?" he asked.

"I guess," she replied, grabbing her purse from the nightstand. She released Clefairy from its pokeball to give Pikachu some company before heading out the door. With one last glance at her room, Ash closed the door behind them. He caught up with Misty and grabbed her hand, delighted when she didn't recoil away from him. Other than pausing so she could put on her coat, their hands remained attached all the way to the restaurant.

Misty shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. She had been expecting a small restaurant, maybe a fancier café. No, instead they sat in the most crowded, most expensive one in town. She picked at filet mignon nervously as he chatted idly about his afternoon. She had to wonder how he managed to get a table when she recalled a three-month waiting list last time she called to make a reservation, and that relationship ended before the day ever came.

"Just explain to me how you managed to get a table here—in an afternoon," she blurted, interrupting Ash mid-sentence.

"I have my ways," he mused, not wanting to admit that he spent an hour begging the owner on the phone to help him win back the woman whom he now considered his soul mate.

"Fine," she said. "You don't have to tell me about that…but I think that it's time to tell me about this Serena girl. You owe me that."

"Now?" Ash choked out, his water going down the wrong pipe.

"Yes, now."

After his coughing settled, he cleared his throat and said, "Where do I even begin?"

"Anywhere is fine," she replied, not amused by his stalling.

"I've known her longer than you actually," Ash confessed idly, his eyes fixated on the lights above them.

"Huh?"

"Yeah I met her when we were kids at Professor Oak's lab years before I knew you. I hadn't heard from her since then when I randomly crossed paths with her in Kalos. She started traveling with me for a while like we used to…and stuff sort of happened I guess."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Okay well, I guess what I mean is that she asked me out at some point, and being the clueless guy that I am, I didn't know what she meant at first. Of course, she got all huffy with me about it…it was a bit awkward for a while. We stopped talking…and then it dawned on me one afternoon what she wanted. It freaked me out to be honest. I mean why would a girl want me like that?"

Misty could think of a few good reasons, but she kept her mouth shut for the meantime, not wanting to reveal her hand. She had to keep him guessing until she made her final decision: was he worth it or not?

"But then," he continued after taking a few bites of food. "I thought 'hey maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Why not try it?' So, she became my girlfriend for a few months. It was good for a while, and slowly things began to get weird. She seemed frustrated that I wasn't becoming this great Pokémon Master or something…and then one day she just dumped me for that guy you met because she felt like I wasn't good enough anymore."

Misty said nothing. She had nothing to say really. It was hard for her to hear about Ash with another girl. Her mind wandered to the image of them together, and she started to feel uneasy. She continued to pick at the rest of her meal as he continued.

"It wouldn't have been that bad if she hadn't basically told me that I was a failure and would never become a Pokémon Master. Never before had anyone said anything like that to me…but maybe she is right. I've been trying and failing since I was ten. So I thought maybe I should give up. That's why I came home."

"Well that's stupid," Misty said when she finally found her words.

"Huh?"

"You can't let one person's opinion stop you from achieving your dreams! That's not your best decision…I mean I can understand feeling a bit down because she dumped you, but that's no reason to give up on the one thing you love the most. I mean if you had been training, you would have beaten me for sure. What you should have done was worked even harder and won the Kalos league to prove her wrong!"

Ash was taken aback by her statement. He knew that she had always supported his quest to be a Pokémon Master, but he never realized how much she believed in him. She was right though. It had been idiotic of him to give up training because of Serena. He wasn't thinking clearly, but then Misty came and dragged him out of the fog.

"Thanks Misty."

"For what?"

"It's nothing," he said, brushing it off as he placed money with the check that had arrived in the middle of their conversation. "Shall we get going then?"

"Uh sure."

They strolled through the streets of Cerulean with no real destination. They wandered around with nothing to do until Misty suggested that they walk north to the cape. As they headed in that direction, the wind started picking up. There was a comfortable silence between them, but Misty still had some questions unanswered.

"So why didn't you tell me about her?" she asked, rubbing her arms.

"Well," Ash responded. "At first, I didn't want to talk about it…too painful, I guess. Part of me felt ashamed though because I hadn't talked to you once while I was dating her. For some reason, I was afraid that you would be mad if you knew that was the reason I had been absent."

"I wouldn't have been."

"I realized that after a while I think."

"Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I did," Ash confessed. "That night you brought me dinner. I told you everything, but when I turned around to face you, you had fallen asleep…and then I thought it might have been a sign that it wasn't the right thing to do."

"Oh."

They had reached the cape at that point. The lighthouse shined above them, cascading its light on the shore below them. It was a cloudless night, and the breeze whipped around them. Misty, whom Ash believed to be gorgeous in the moonlight, shuttered at the wind.

"But why didn't you tell me the whole story when we ran into her?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

"I don't know, okay?" Ash said, putting his hands out in shame. "Seeing her there just threw me off. I wasn't prepared for it…and I had a lot of things on my mind."

"Mmmhmm."

Misty had begun to shiver from the cold. Ash sighed at her stubbornness. He knew that it was the reason why she hadn't said anything about being cold. He removed his scarf and wrapped it around her neck. It was dark green, the yarn fraying. She inspected the knitting job of the scarf and stood frozen because she recognized it. Tears began to form in her eyes.

"You kept this, after all this time?"

"Yeah, of course. Why would I get rid of this?"

It had been a Christmas gift from years ago. Misty had learned how to knit for this gift specifically. Due to her lack of experience, it was a bit poorly made, but Ash didn't care. It was special because his best friend had spent so much time and effort making it for him. He wore it all the time in the cold months, even though he had better scarves as gifts from some of his other friends.

She was touched by his gesture. He cared about her after all. Why else would he keep such a crappy gift? Even if he wanted her as a friend, she still had to make it right with him and give him that much. She owed him that much.

"Ash," Misty began. "I know that I've been mad at you for the past few weeks and that you only slept with me because you were sad about Serena, but I still want us to get past this and be friends again. I've missed having you to talk to."

"You still don't get it, do you?" he said, cupping her face in his hands so he could look into her eyes. "I didn't sleep with you to get over Serena. I did it because I wanted to."

"Huh?"

Ash sighed. "And you call me dense."

"Hey, that was completely uncalled for—" she started to say but was interrupted by his lips crashing against hers like the wave kisses the shoreline.

He wrapped his arms around her as he did the one thing that he had been craving all that night. She responded eagerly, realizing that he hadn't been using her at all. She had been wrong, all along, hadn't she? She had to tell him. How could she have been so stupid?

"Ash, I'm sorry for doubting you. Please don't hate me."

"Mist," he chuckled before kissing her again. "Hate you? How could I possibly do that when I'm hopelessly in love with you?"

"You what?" Surely, she had heard wrong.

"Misty Waterflower," he said slowly so she could catch every word. "I have tried denying it for a while, but I can't hold back anymore. I am, and maybe always have been, unconditionally in love with you. My one hope is that you love me too."

He looked at her earnestly, relief washing over him. Now that he had told her, that burden had flown off of his shoulders. She gaped at him for a brief moment before throwing her arms around him again. She kissed him with everything she had. He lifted her off of her feet as they kissed under the stars. Even after they had broken apart, he hadn't returned her to the ground.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, of course I love you, you idiot! Now put me down!"

"Not until you say that you'll be my girlfriend."

"On one condition."

"What's that?"

"You start training to be a Pokémon Master again."

"It's a deal," he said before he sealed it with one last kiss.