I'm SO SORRY for neglecting this fic for, like, a month! I was just busy, and I had other fics, too, so... yeah. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!
Okay, anyway, I'm giving this a shot, even though I don't know too much about this ship. It was a request from "Satoshi and Touko". Can you guess what the request was? XD
It was indeed Ash x Hilda, otherwise known as Satoshi x Touko, Ash x White, Ash x Shiro, Satoshi x Shiro, and a whole bunch of other things, but you get the idea. Okay, enough author's note. I hope you like this one!
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Looking Back - OthelloShipping (Ash x Hilda or a bunch of other names for those characters which I already mentioned up top. I'm using Ash and Hilda.)
...
He had met her when he was traveling in Unova.
He had just happened to bump into her one day - literally. Ash had been so excited about winning his Nimbasa City Gym battle - Iris actually teased that he was "drooling over that dumb badge, just like a kid" - that, while walking to the Pokémon Center through the streets of Nimbasa, he didn't notice her right in front of him. Ash bumped right into her, startling them both and knocking her down.
"Ow!" She said angrily as she picked herself up off the ground. "Watch it, that... hurt..." The girl looked up and saw his face, and she trailed off.
Ash was looking down at her, concerned. "Oh - oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you. Guess Iris was right, maybe I should put the badge away..." He quickly held out his hand and helped her up before slipping the badge into its case.
"Oh darn, now where did my bag go?" She muttered, looking around as she brushed dirt off of her clothes. Ash's eyebrows shot up when he saw her bag, and he picked it up for her, handing it to her with a crooked grin.
She looked up to thank him, and his heart fluttered for a moment when he saw those brown eyes of hers. They were beautiful, like melted chocolate...
Ash caught himself staring before she could notice. He quickly looked away and mumbled something about how he needed to get going, and brushed past her.
Hilda stared after him for a moment, the wind rustling through her large ponytail as she watched him disappear into the crowd. Didn't even get his name - or his number, she thought with a sigh.
"Oh well," she murmured to herself as she searched through the contents of her bag to check that everything was there. "Just another one of those times when you see a person once, but never again, I guess."
...
The next morning, whether by fate or by sheer luck, they met again.
Ash was headed out of the Pokémon Center with Cilan and Iris, ready to set off for the next town yet slightly reluctant to leave Nimbasa City's wonders, when he saw her, absentmindedly sitting on a bench and gazing out at the crowd, looking almost as if she were analyzing the passersby. Ash wasn't sure why, but he didn't hesitate to split off from his two companions and jog over to the bench where that girl was sitting.
"Hey!" Iris complained. "Where are you going now?"
"Ash, wait!" Cilan protested. "Come back!"
But Ash ignored his friends' comments as he walked up to the girl. "Hey," he said, startling her out of her trance.
"Oh!" The girl's face turned red. "I-I'm sorry, was I in your way? I..." Her eyes widened when she saw him. "It's you!"
Ash grinned. "It's you."
The girl laughed, her ponytail swaying slightly as she did so. "Funny we should run into each other again, huh?"
"Yeah... well, not literally this time." Ash replied.
She laughed again. "Yeah. You know, I never actually caught your name."
"Oh, it's Ash." The raven-hakred Trainer relied nonchalantly. "Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town."
She smiled. "Well, I'm Hilda White of Nuvema Town."
"Nuvema Town, huh? You know a guy named Trip?" Ash asked curiously.
"Oh, you mean that kid? He's really cute. I'm fourteen now, and the last time I saw Trip was back before I left on my journey - when he was only six. I guess he's older now, huh?" Hilda said thoughtfully.
"Ah," Ash didn't exactly know what to say. He had never been good with awkward situations. Was anyone ever good with awkward situations?
Well, she's fourteen, he mused to himself in the silence. That's a year older than I am... wait, why am I even thinking about that? I don't care how old she is...
"U-um, c-could I get your number?" She suddenly asked, sounding nervous. Her face was a little pink. Ash nodded quickly, pulling out a scrap of paper from his backpack.
As he scribbled his down and she wrote hers, Ash saw Cilan and Iris making their way over to him out of the corner of his eye. Oh, great...
"Soooo, Ash, who's the girl?" Iris asked teasingly. Hilda looked up with a frown, obviously unsure of how to react.
Ash rolled his eyes. "Just another Trainer I met, okay, Iris? Jeez."
"Oh, come on, Ash!" Iris sighed. "I wasn't being rude or anything. You exchanging numbers?"
"Yep," Ash replied as he finished up. He handed the scrap of paper to Hilda and took hers, as well. She folded it up and tucked it into her purse, and dropped his into a small pocket in his backpack.
Iris smirked. "Good luck with him," she said to Hilda. "He is such a kid... you could be totally blatant with him and it'd go right over his head."
Ash appeared confused, no clue what Iris meant by that, proving her point. Hilda turned bright red - again - looked away.
"Y-yeah," Hilda mumbled. "I'll keep that in mind."
"So... shall we go?" Cilan intervened. Ash nodded, and the group of three left Hilda sitting on a bench alone, contemplating what the heck had just happened.
And, even after Hilda was out of sight and he could barely see Nimbasa City in the distance, Ash kept looking back.
...
A Few Months Later
...
Ash's phone was ringing.
He groaned, rolled over in bed, reached over to his nightstand, and grabbed the device, checking the time on the screen as he did so. It was too early for phone calls, wasn't it?
The clock on his phone read 11:45.
"I guess it's not too early for phone calls," Ash sighed. He pressed the 'answer' button and pressed the cell to his ear, not bothering to check the Caller ID. It was probably Iris or Cilan or Max or one of his other friends he had traveled with in distant regions. Now that he was back home in Pallet Town, he had a lot more time on his hands, and his friends apparently realized that, as they started to call him all the time...
"Hello?"
Ash's eyes widened. He recognized the voice, but it was definitely not one he would have expected to hear.
"Y-yes? Hilda?" Ash replied, unsure.
"Oh! So I didn't call the wrong number! Hi, Ash!" Hilda replied cheerfully. Ash grinned. She sounded like she was in a pretty good mood.
"Hey, Hilda," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant, though he was suddenly nervous all of a sudden. Why was he nervous? It was just a fellow Trainer. Just Hilda.
"Well, see, the reason I called," Hilda began, "is to tell you that I'm coming to Kanto!"
"Really?" Ash's eyes widened. He'd get to see Hilda again! Maybe. It all depended where in Kanto she was headed for...
"Yeah!" Hilda said excitedly. "I'm visiting some relatives, actually. And the best part is I'm going to Viridian City! That's really close to Pallet Town, your hometown, right?"
Now Ash was really getting excited. "Yeah!" He nodded vigorously, even though she couldn't see him. Oh well. She could still here the vigor in his voice. "Think we could meet up?"
"That sounds great!" Hilda gasped. "How about... um, there is a Pokémon Center in Viridian City, right?"
"Oh," Ash frowned. "Uh, Hilda, we don't have Pokémon Centers in Kanto."
"Wh-what?" Hilda sounded bewildered. "Oh. The other regions are so different... wh-why don't you..." the Unovan Trainer trailed off, not sure what to make of what Ash had said.
"Hilda, I'm kidding!" Ash laughed. "Yes, there's a Pokémon Center in Viridian. Should we meet there?"
"Oh!" Hilda laughed, too. "Silly me. Anyway, yeah! I'll be there a week from today. Can we meet at Viridian's Pokémon Center the day after I arrive? That's next Wednesday."
"Okay. Does 6:30 pm work for you?" Ash asked..
"Mm-hmm," Hilda replied. "Okay, then. See you there!"
With a click, the line went dead, and Ash was left wondering if he had somehow just sort of accidentally scheduled his first date.
...
"Where is he?" Hilda mumbled to herself. It was now 6:40 pm Wednesday night, a week and a day after she'd called Ash and they had scheduled this "date" of sorts. Was it a date...?
"No." Hilda shook her head, murmuring to herself. "No. Course it's not a date. It's not like we're... boyfriend and girlfriend or anything..." She trailed off, staring out at the horizon, letting her thoughts drift.
"Hilda!"
Her head snapped up. She whipped around, looking for the speaker, wondering who it could be -
And then she saw him.
He was rushing toward her, panting, Pikachu running faithfully by his side. Hilda's face broke into a smile. "Ash!"
He grinned that crooked grin of his. "Uh, sorry I'm late..."
She smirked. "It's fine. So, you wanna go somewhere, now that we've met up?"
"Um, yeah. See, I was thinking..." Ash hesitated. Should he?
"Yes?" Hilda prompted.
"Well, there's this one place I think you might like," he said sheepishly. Hilda smiled.
"What is this place?" She inquired.
"Just, um... follow me, I guess." Ash shrugged. She laughed and nodded.
"Okay."
...
"Oh. Oh, Arceus, Ash - it's beautiful!" Hilda's hand flew to her mouth. The sky was filled with a gorgeous pallet of colors - seemingly hundreds of shades of pink, red, orange, yellow, and deep blue toward the edges. Hilda swore she'd never seen such a beautiful sunset.
"Um, yeah..." Ash looked away. "The rocks down there, on the beach - they're real sharp, and the cliff's edge, it's kinda unstable..."
They were on a cliff above the beach on the edge of a forest just west of Viridian City. The sunset was amazing, and Ash had only been here once before to see the amazing view - when he was about six years old, he'd come here with Gary. The sunset was just as gorgeous that night as it had been years before.
"...so the edge, it's kind of dangerous." Ash finished.
"I'm a dangerous girl," Hilda said with a shrug. Ash couldn't help but smile. She plopped herself down on the grass and looked up at the sunset, and a dreamy look came into her eyes. Ash sat down beside her.
"Kenga! Kengaskhan!"
Ash's head snapped up. An angry-looking Kengaskhan had just stomped out of the bushes nearby.
"Oh, crap," Ash muttered. "Must be its territory..."
"Ash?" Hilda's eyes were wide with fear. "What's that?"
"Kengaskhan," he muttered. "They are very territorial. I'm assuming that's why it looks so mad..."
Hilda bit her lip. She looked pretty scared.
"Go, Pikachu! Iron Tail!" Ash yelled. Pikachu nodded, and with a cry of "Pika!", slammed his tail down on Kengaskhan. The Pokémon flinched for a second before advancing on them, forcing both of the young trainers backward, toward the edge.
"Pikachu! Iron Tail, again!" Ash yelled. Simultaneously, there was a loud crack and a scream from Hilda.
The Kengaskhan fell to the ground, knocked out. Ash whipped around to see Hilda clinging to the cliff's edge with everything she had, her fingers slipping, her body dangling over the deadly rocks on the beach below.
"Hilda!" Ash yelled, grabbing her hand. There were tears in her eyes, and try as he might, Ash couldn't pull her up.
"Let go," she whispered.
"No!" Ash cried, fire in his eyes and desperation in his voice.
Tears streamed down Hilda's cheeks. Her hands, damp with sweat, began to slip out of Ash's grip. "Ash, I think I..."
"Hilda, it's fine, you'll be fine!" Ash shook his head. He was starting to cry.
"Ash, no, I - "
"T-tell me when you're safe, Hilda!" He cried out.
"Ash. I think I love you," Hilda told him. Her fingers slipped further.
Ash's grip tightened. "I - I think I love you, too..." he gasped.
Hilda's hands slipped.
And she fell.
"HILDA!" Ash yelled.
He looked away, tears spilling down his face. She didn't scream, she just fell. He didn't look over the edge. He knew she was gone.
"Hilda," he whispered. Pikachu climbed into his lap, and the little mouse was crying, too. "Oh, Pikachu - Hilda's gone. And it's my fault."
Tears stung his eyes as he stood. He wasn't going to look over the edge. He couldn't.
Ash hugged Pikachu close. "Oh, Mew. Pikachu, she's gone..." He couldn't bring himself to believe it. Tears kept coming. He couldn't believe this, no, he couldn't...
But as he stumbled toward Viridian City to get help, Ash couldn't keep himself from looking back.
...
"Sh-she was an amazing girl. She must've been a great trainer, too. I... I wish I could've gotten to know her better." Tears stung Ash's eyes as he spoke. He tried to continue, but his voice failed him. He started to choke up.
"Thank you, Ash." The priest nodded toward him, and he hurried back to his seat. Once he sat down, he ducked his head low. Tears dripped onto his lap.
They lowered the coffin into the ground. He hadn't seen Hilda after her death. He hadn't wanted to. The coffin had been closed, anyway.
"Come on, Ash," his mom whispered. "It's over. Let's go now."
He nodded numbly and stood, letting his mother lead him away from the horrible place. He hated funerals. He hated cemeteries. He hated death.
The tears kept coming. He couldn't stop them, and he didn't care to, anyway.
As they walked away from the funeral site, though, Ash lifted his head to look back. He couldn't see the grave anymore, just the crowd around it.
He forced himself to look forward again. Then he looked back.
He was looking back not only on Hilda's gravesite, but what they almost had, and what she'd said to him, and everything he thought was within his grasp before it slipped away from him, just like that. Death was too easy. Too quick. Too sudden.
Just like that, she'd slipped away, leaving him behind in a suddenly lonely world.
He didn't want to give her up.
And so, as he walked away from Hilda and what she left behind, Ash found himself constantly looking back.
...
Whew! That was pretty long! Hope I made you cry. ;) See you next chapter, whenever that may be, or in one of the next chapters of my other stories, which I hope you'll read... *cough cough*... ANYWAY...
Yeah! So, don't forget to read and review! ;) I love you, my wonderful readers and reviewers!