Title: Spring Rain (75/100)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,460
Genre: Character Study, Fluff, Slice-of-Life, Romance
Summary: Green/Kotone(Lyra). In the end, he realizes, she's been the one with the plan all along.
Disclaimer: Pokémon isn't mine.
Author's Notes: I play fast and loose with the games' chronologies here: Green's still three years older than Kotone, but there's a greater time gap in-between the two generations—the Gen II crew left home a lot later than Gen I did. Just don't think about it too hard. One of several fills for a challenge over at LJ.

She laughed excitedly as she danced through the gym doors, dripping wet from the storm without an umbrella in sight. The power had gone out two hours before, and Green was just making a few last checks—the building was old and the roof tended to leak, and he wanted to prevent what damage he could.

"We're closed," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Green! You're Green, right?" she asked, breathless from running as she squeezed water out of one long pigtail. He winced at the puddle it made on the pristine floor.

"The one and only," he answered with a sardonic wave of his hand, "but the power's out and—" He stopped when he realized she wasn't listening; instead, she had taken a few steps inside and was admiring the shadowy walls, her fingers laced behind her back. He pinched the bridge of his nose, starting to get annoyed. "Look—"

"I'm Kotone," she said, turning to him with a brilliant smile. "From New Bark Town."

"You're pretty far from home, then," he replied, nonplussed. "Seriously, you're going to have to come back tomorrow. We're closed."

For the first time, she hesitated. "What?" he snapped. It was getting pretty cold in here, and he'd wanted to be home twenty minutes ago.

"I...I don't have any place to stay," she said, looking down as she scuffed a toe on the stone tiles. She peeked up at him from under the rim of her hat. "Could I...um...?"

"No," he replied without a moment of hesitation, meeting her surprised expression with a cool stare.

"Please? It's just for one night and—"

"No, I said. Haven't you got a tent or something?"

"...It broke last night," she said, then bit her lip. "The wind was blowing really hard and I didn't set it up right because I was so excited to se—battle you today and—" she stopped as he held up a hand.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"You're old enough to take care of yourself," he said with a frown. "You should be more prepared for things like this."

"Sorry," she mumbled.

He stared at her for another moment, and a blush spread across her cheeks.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kotone," he said firmly, pushing her gently towards the door.

"But—!"

"One night won't kill you. Good night."

o-o-o

The next day, she showed up with dark circles under her eyes, moving carefully as if everything ached, and Green felt a little guilty despite himself.

Then she proceeded to beat him so soundly that when she asked again if she could stay one night, just one, he nodded thoughtlessly, his mind still reeling.

o-o-o

She cooked them dinner and he slept on the couch, and the next day (just one more day, she promised) she kept him up late, asking for stories from his life like a child at bedtime. He began to tell her—begrudgingly at first, the things everyone knew—but as the days went by she continued to listen, far longer than he had expected her to, and before he knew it, a month had passed.

The lack of sleep these talks caused cost him a second battle to a young man from New Bark Town who, for some reason, didn't look very surprised when he mentioned Kotone's name.

As she began to tentatively rest her hand on his, he found himself telling her more—things that only Red and Leaf knew, then things only his Eevee knew, and then things he'd never told anyone, the fears and regrets that kept him up at night. When he ran out of words, she repaid him in kind, whispering secrets of her own to him in the dark.

She settled into his life as if she'd always belonged there; training in the morning, walking through the forest in the evening, sitting on his balcony as dusk fell, resting together and talking about the past. They were not so different, the two of them, ambitious dreamers who hid behind masks—arrogance for him, innocence for her.

She treated his life like a fairytale, and the more he told her, the more he began to believe that his stories were just that—stories, fables which he could learn from and walk away from, whenever he chose. "Once upon a time," she said, and "Happily ever after," she said, and when he questioned it she would smile at him. "Of course happily ever after. In the end, it always turns out right."

"No, it doesn't—"

Her arms around him felt like absolution. "Then the story isn't over yet."

o-o-o

She stayed with him for three months. When she finally left, he told himself he wouldn't miss her.

He did.

o-o-o

Kotone is nineteen now with too many badges to her name, a legend in her own right. She sits patiently in the entry hall, a faint smile on her lips as she watches Green walk in without seeing her, shaking the rain from his umbrella and kicking his shoes off with abandon. When he looks up, he stumbles, and she leaps to catch him. They both end up wet, his rain-soaked bangs dripping on her face as he kisses her, his damp shirt clinging to her skin as she holds him close.

Later, they're remembering that first night; Kotone spent it curled high up in a tree, half-terrified of falling, half-terrified of being attacked in her sleep. "You could have just let me stay," she complains.

"I wasn't going to let a minor sleep in my house!" he replies, laughing at her pout.

"You did the next day!"

"That was different." He grabs her and pulls her against him, burying his face in the crook of her neck as she dissolves into giggles.

"How?"

"...You got my attention," he mutters against her skin, and she smiles at this, running her hands down his bare back. "Why were you so determined to stay over, anyway?" It's a question that has bothered him for years.

"Don't you know?" she asks, looking incredulous.

"Would I be asking if I did?"

"I've had a crush on you forever," she says, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. When she sees his expression, she kisses his nose. "Ever since you were the Champion, all those years ago. I saw you on TV and ever since then, I've wanted to meet you."

"But—" he doesn't know what to say, torn between feeling flattered and simply confused. "But you didn't even know what kind of person I was."

"Oh, I knew." Her face is serene as she looks up at him. "Don't you understand?" She was laughing at him now. "You really don't?"

He shakes his head. "Perhaps I was the one who was unprepared," he murmurs, and she gently tilts his chin up and kisses him, telling him that it's okay.

o-o-o

The rain continues through to the next morning. They're staring at each other through the bathroom mirror, Green's hands resting on her shoulders as she brushes her hair. The cherry blossom tree outside taps a disjointed rhythm against the glass, and a few translucent pink petals are smeared across the window.

"Are you going soon?" she asks, and he nods. "Cinnabar again?"

"No...maybe Mt. Moon this time."

She adjusts her hat. "The new digging site?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kotone replies easily, looking over her shoulder at him with a smile. She never does, and Green's okay with that, because she always finds her way back.

o-o-o

They stand outside the door, shaded by the awning for a few more moments. Green offers her his umbrella and she takes it. She'll lose it within hours, he knows—it's a tendency Champions have; they don't pay attention to the little things and often catch cold in the process.

"You should loosen up sometimes," Kotone says, her hand resting on his cheek. "Have some fun, you know?"

"I do have fun," he replies evenly, and she chuckles. "I have more fun with you," he adds after a moment. Her eyes soften, and the umbrella pokes into his back as she curls her arms around his neck, leaning up on tiptoe for a kiss.

"I'll be back soon," she tells him.

"Me too," Green says, and when she laughs, he smiles with her.

"Shall we head out together, then?" she says.

And when they both step out into the rain, they're holding hands like children in love.