Chapter 1
It had been a week since the Sinis Trio episode and Kate's confidence had been shattered along with her nerves. Rythmi had had enough of this and decided to take Kate on a shopping spree. They hadn't even had a chance to spend the giant bonuses they had received for helping during Operation Brighton and this would be the perfect opportunity. She and Kate had practically been sisters since ranger school and it was obvious that Kate was usually the older sibling. Even after Kate's ordeal with the gang of thugs she still made sure Rythmi was happy.
"It's my turn now…Kate I'm gonna help you get your confidence back no matter what!" thought Rythmi.
1 hour later
The girls had been in practically every shop in Puel Town and were now stopping off at their favourite smoothie joint Smoothie. Rythmi's plan was to make Kate wear an awesome outfit, wear it to Groovy Smoothie and let the boys there drool over Kate so she'd see how amazing she really was. So far the plan was going perfectly. Kate had left her hair down so it brushed her shoulders and Rythmi had convinced her to wear a white pair of tight quarter length trousers, a red and white quarter length sleeved top that showed off her flat midriff -making her bust look great- a cute pair of red heels and a necklace with a circular pendant with a Pachirisu hugging a strawberry on it.
"'kay so I'll just go and order the smoothies now what do you want Kate?" asked Rythmi
"um I'll have a strawberry kiss. It's been forever since I had one!" laughed Kate.
Rythmi's POV
Kate and her strawberries! They all ways seem to put a smile on her face.
I walked up to the bar and ordered the smoothies looking over at Kate as I waited. The boys were all looking at her with anime style hearts in their eyes. My plan was working! The only problem was that Kate didn't seem to notice it! The man gave me our drinks and I walked back just as this MEGA hot guy came up to Kate and sat down beside her.
"Hey there sweetheart. You wanna hang out with me? We could go check out peace tower if ya want." Said the guy in a seductive voice while looking hungrily at Kate. Kate blushed making giant anime hearts appear in the guy's eyes. I could tell he was completely won over by her.
"U-um w-well I-I" stuttered Kate. The guy looked like he was just struck by cupid and the some of the others had passed out from nosebleeds. I couldn't understand why Kate was that shy when she could make guys as hot as them act like that!
"I'm kinda here with my friend a-and I don't wanna just leave her here." She said as her blush grew.
NO SHE CAN'T PASS THIS UP!
"Oh Kate you can go if ya want we were gonna go home when we'd drank our smoothies any way!" I said putting the cups down.
"W-well I suppose that's true…" said Kate in a quiet voice.
"So you wanna come with me?" asked the guy eagerly.
"I'm sorry but I'd rather not…sorry I hope you understand." she said making the guy look like he was about to cry.
"H-heh y-yeah I-I'll just a-ask someone else…B-bye" choked out the guy looking devastated.
When the guy had gone I asked Kate rather angrily why she rejected such a hot guy.
Kate's POV
Rythmi asked me why I rejected such a hot guy.
Man she's gonna go crazy at me for this.
The truth was I didn't think that I was good enough for that guy. I mean come on that guy was a MEGA hunk! Rythmi didn't go crazy like I thought she would but she was angry at me. After we finished our drinks, Rythmi walked back to her room at the Union. Because I had a couple weeks off thanks to the Sinis Trio thing, I decided to walk back to my parents' house it would be nice to see my lil' sis Holly again. This gave me time to think about that hot guy again.
How could I measure up to a guy that hot? How could I measure up to anyone? I'm so pathetic even Ice thinks so…WAIT why do I care about his opinion? Bad mind! Stop thinking about the enemy!
It had been ages since our last battle and I still thought about it. It drove me crazy.
FLASHBACK
Ice's face looked as impassive as ever except for a smug smile on his face. This however faded leaving a playful smirk on his porcelain like face as he looked over at Kate. Unlike anyone else in the room Kate had gotten pretty good at reading what Ice was feeling so she was left a little confused by the playful smirk. I mean come on when is Ice playful"You may as well just give up! You already know we have powered up our Miniremos there no hope for you now!" yelled the pink haired admin as her Magmotar sent a powerful flame thrower attack at the rangers. The three rangers dodged the attack but the flames had made the icicles above fall and separate Kate and Ice from the others.
"Keith! Sven!" yelled Kate as her friends and partner disappeared behind a stack of icicles. She could just make out the sound of the other rangers yelling her name and Pachi's frantic squeeks as they were separated. Suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth and drew her into someone's well toned chest. "Heh looks like its just us now…Kate-n00b." hissed a man who was now resting his head on her shoulder so his mouth was barely a centimetre away from her ear. This made the young top ranger blush making her look very cute.
"Ice!" thought Kate as he turned her head so that they were looking directly into each others eyes. "W-wow he's really handsome…NO! Bad mind! Bad, bad, bad mind! He's the enemy!" she thought while staring into Ice's sky blue eyes.
"Wow you're actually pretty cute like this." Smirked Ice as he slowly ran his tongue up Kate's neck then with his lips on her collar bone he spoke "maybe I should hold you like this more often." This made Kate shiver which Ice smirked at as he ran his hand further down her body and tugged gently on her belt buckle before she snapped out of it and elbowed him in the gut making him release her.
END OF FLASHBACK
I took a short cut through the forest so no one from the Vein Town ranger base would see me spacing out and worry. I ended up getting tackled into the ground and tickled relentlessly when I walked into Partner Farm by my pokemon. My dad came up to see what was with all the noise. His eyes went wide when he saw me. Probably because it had been weeks since I'd been home. I still sent letters to home and got letters back but it was so much better to see each other in person.
"Hey dad what's all the noise." Asked a little girl who I now saw was Holly she was followed by my mom both of them froze when they saw me. By now the pokemon had stopped tickling me.
"B-big sister?" whispered Holly. "BIG SISTER YOU'RE BACK!"
She ran forwards and hugged me pushing me back onto the ground. My new outfit was probably filthy but I didn't care. I hugged Holly tight and felt my parents hug me as well. Tears silently made their way down my face as I realized how badly I needed them.
"We heard about what happened and we're here for you if you need us." whispered my mom. She knew how much this had hurt me even though I tried to hide it.
"That's right…never forget that Kate" whispered my dad.
AT DINNER
We were all enjoying my mom's veggie stew and just talking about the farm. Before I knew it Holly was falling asleep on my shoulder. Smiling I picked her up on my back and took her upstairs to bed.
"unngh Kate?" asked Holly snuggling into my hair.
"What is it Hol?" I whispered.
"Can we sleep in your bed like we used to?" she whispered as if she was scared.
"Sure…"
THE NEXT DAY AT THE HARBOR
Rythmi's POV
I decided that the thing Kate needed to regain her confidence was a boyfriend but there was no way she'd date someone she didn't trust. The problem is that the boys she trusts are her friends so even if they had feelings for her most of them wouldn't tell her in case it ended up ruining their friendship. To make matters worse any of the ones who were prepared to take that chance weren't fully aware of their feelings plus all of the possible boys' feelings for her are still growing. There was only one person who could help Kate now.
"Hey Rythmi how's my little sister doing?" asked a woman who looked like an older version of me. That person was my big sister Kyūpiddo a perfumer who was one of the world's biggest romantics.
"Did you bring the perfume?" I asked. Kyūpiddo smiled and produced a pink bottle with a heart shaped stopper.
"Don't worry Ryth you know I won't mess something like this up." She replied.
"It will work right" I asked.
"Of course. As soon as Kate puts a dab of this on any boy who age 18 to 30 for her will desperately want to make her theirs. But are you sure you want to do this? Once she puts it on there'll only be one way to break the spell." replied Kyūpiddo with a small smile on her face. I nodded and she handed over her greatest creation. The Passion Perfume.