Gagnat d'Amour : Chapter 9

Old Habits Die Hard?

Go out with Ash?

The term was beyond weird.

"What will change?" she reasoned with herself. "Nothing…except maybe we'd ki-" She shook her head violently. Again, the image was beyond her conception. What was so hard? She already knew that Ash liked her, so there was no fear of rejection…but why was it so hard to tell him she felt the same way?

Vulnerable. Misty hadn't felt so vulnerable since her parent's deaths. Threatened was also a word she would have used to describe herself. The secret part of her she'd hugged tightly and never let anyone see - now the time was right to let it free - but she didn't feel ready.

She loved the magical feeling as the chemistry between them reacted under her skin whenever Ash touched her…and now she imagined him touching her lovingly - the ungloved tips of his fingers trailing down the side of her cheek to her chin as he guided her lips to his. Part of her felt wrong for thinking this of her best friend, but the majority knew it was right.

Misty was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the door of the bedroom creak open and click shut. She didn't hear the slippered feet that haltingly walked across the room to her. Feeling added pressure on the bedsprings, she opened her eyes, and instead of seeing the panels of the bunk above, she saw Ash grinning down at her with opened, excited brown eyes. Her face creased up in a matching grin as she sat up, stifling a yawn.

"The final match isn't until tomorrow evening," he pouted. "And the match to see who I'm up against is in the morning. You gonna come and see it?" It was almost 6pm, and the sky was transforming to a band of navy and orange streaks over the horizon. The early shadows cast across Misty's face, accenting her features as she sat in front of him.

It was killing him

Sitting there chatting as if nothing had ever happened, Ash felt like he was betraying his own heart; he couldn't ignore the revolution that had occurred there. His head kept him controlled, sitting in a fixed position, but everything else protested. All his instincts wanted to reach out and touch her - she was so close to him the hair on his arms were lifting up! He could imagine grabbing her tenderly, softly laying her back down and…

NO! He couldn't even think of that (not THAT sick peeps out there). Like with Misty, the thought of even kissing each other was foreign and frightening.

So he just looked at her sadly as she answered him and started another topic. He watched, nodding at the appropriate times, as she smiled and gestured animatedly as she talked. He felt like the guardian of some great treasure. He could look at it, touch it, and in some context he could even say it was his. But the time would come when the treasure would truly belong to someone - "And that someone is not gonna be me…" he thought dejectedly. And it would kill him, but he'd have to smile sweetly and watch her go.

Misty would never be his. A small smile escaped his lips at the thought of his fiery Misty belonging to anyone, but he knew that she'd never be…his. He was living for these blissful borrowed moments when they sat so close together and he could shut off reality and imagine she loved him, and that snaking an arm around her shoulder to draw her into a kiss would not result in a piercing scream and a mallet to the crotch.

And all the while, Misty had to struggle to keep her focus on her speech. It would be so easy to pitch forwards and satisfy the alien yearning in her lips. Meaningless words came pouring quickly out from between those lips, as if to keep them occupied while she decided if those three all important words would be among those spilling from her mouth…

==::Meanwhile::==

"Come Jo-sephine, in my flyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing maachiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!" warbled Brock, standing in the middle of the Pokémon Centre lobby, complete with Elvis wig and small hula guitar. The guitar was desperately in need of decent tuning, as Brock demonstrated when he occasionally strummed it. Jo was perched on the counter, where Brock had deposited her after whirling her around the lobby (knocking a few Trainers over for good measure). "Oh Jo, mah only loooooooooooooooooooove!" crooned Brock, obviously enjoying himself and fitting in lyrics from all and any love songs he knew. "When you neeeeeed to crash, then crash and burn, you're not allllloh-oh-own!"

==::Meanwhile::==

Deciding they were hungry, Ash and Misty ventured out of the dim bedroom in search of their dinner…and found an empty kitchen. A tumbleweed could of blown across the floor and looked totally at home. Eerily, Brock's pink frilly apron hung on a hook; the ruffles moving slightly in the draught from the door. Ash giggled as he noticed that Brock's "serenading" guitar was missing.

"Poor Jo," he murmured, pointing this out to Misty. Then reality hit him. "Okay, so Brock's off serenading, and will probably be back in a few hours, maybe more if Jo decided to press charges…" He looked across the kitchen at Misty who was busy bustling around behind the counter, whacking spices and packets of unknown substances on the work surface next to the wok. "Tracey's off somewhere…he probably followed Linda when she went to that shoe sale outside the village…they'll be back in an hour or two as well…" His chain of thought stopped as Misty spoke.

"You typical man!" she laughed. "You're sitting there staring into space while the woman does all the cooking!" She shoved some meat into the wok where some vegetables were already sizzling. Ash gave her a lazy smile.

"That's why woman were created," he teased. "To serve men, give birth to boys and raise them into men. Then the whole cycle starts aga-owww!" His masculine drawl was cut short as a wok with half stir-fried contents slammed him in the face.

"Oh do your own cooking!" Misty yelled as she stalked angrily into the sitting room and logged onto the computer provided. Now alone in the kitchen, Ash slowly moved to grab a cloth and cleaned the floor. In the sitting room, Misty angrily punched the letters on the keyboard as she sent an email to Giselle, the head girl of Pokémon Tech. She was an old acquaintance from the earlier parts of Ash's journey, and they had met her when she was only in the beginning class. Now, just as she had prophesised, she ruled the school.

Misty finished ranting, raving and swearing about Ash in her email, and was about to click on send when she heard the tiny click of the front door closing quietly. She walked into the kitchen to find no one. However, the floor was clean, and a plate of stir-fry sitting on the table, supposedly for her. Suddenly feeling remorse, Misty searched the house for a sure to be sulking Ash, but couldn't find him. Unhappily, she sat down to eat the food he had made for her with apologetic love.

"When did it all get so complicated?" Ash whined to Chikorita. Needing to unwind, and wanting his Pokémon to relax before the finals, Ash had taken them to an extension of the Xanadu Nursery outside Pallet. Here his Pokémon could relax and play, and Ash had a quiet place to think. Stubborn Chikorita had refused to play with the others, and instead had remained by her Trainer. "Everything used to be so clear," he continued. "Catch 'em all, win all battles, earn my badges and become the Master." He had achieved so much already. Winning the Orange League, the Johto League after two tries and now here he was, up to the finals of the Indigo Plateau League. Quite a few people knew him by reputation, every now and then there was an article about him in the paper or something.

Determination. According to the tabloids, he had so much determination and courage that, "young Mr Ketchum can do nothing but right". Misty had joked if a journalist had offered her ¥156,645,980.66 (A/N: This is exact to £1 million! How dedicated am I to my writing!?), she'd spill the beans about how the respected young Trainer had sent a weakened Caterpie out against a wild Pidgeotto, and other things she said that were sure to amuse the paparazzi.

Ugh. Misty. Everything linked back to her. Fortunately, he knew her well enough that she'd calm down eventually, and it would just be another notch in her "Ash is a dense moron" ideals. Ash thought back to other advice Brock had given him; things about if she didn't like him for the way he was, they weren't meant to be. "Oh well, there's no need not to apologise for being a jerk," he thought as he whistled shrilly, assembling all his Pokémon. In one motion, Heracross, Typhlosion, Croconaw and Muk were called back. In another motion, Chikorita and Donphan were called back, and Pikachu scampered up to sit on his hat. The rest of his now quite large collection of Pokémon were at Professor Oak's. Whistling softly, Ash shoved his hands in his pockets and left the Nursery.

"For you," he whispered in her ear as he produced a long stemmed white rose with a pale blue silk ribbon tied around the stem from behind his back. Four years of silent observation gave him the knowledge that this was her favourite flower. (It had started off as a bunch of them, but Ash had kept breaking the stems as he tried to tie the ribbon in a bow)

"Aw Ash…" cooed Misty, taking the rose delicately. "Why all Jamesy all of a sudden?" Ash shuffled and sat down on the grass next to her.

"Um, I'm sorry for being a pig…and for probably poisoning you with that dinner I made…" Misty laughed.

"It was…edible. Interesting, yet edible!" she teased. She was running her fingers lightly over the satiny texture of the petals, when suddenly she dropped it, yelping. "Damn, my finger!" she exclaimed, shoving the tip of her index finger into her mouth.

"Lemme see," said Ash. "Did a thorn get you? You want a plaster?"

"Mo, mi'm mokay," she mumbled, still sucking on her finger. Ash sighed, exasperated. She was so stubborn.

"C'mere," he mumbled, blushing, as he grabbed her hand and extracted her finger. He could see the shiny spot of blood oozing from the tiny prick in her finger. Sandwiching her finger between his thumb and index finger, he applied the necessary pressure; all the while keeping the brim of his hat down, and concentrating very hard on when he was doing. No one spoke. Misty looked at the top of his hat and smiled.

"Hey Ash?" she whispered. Slowly, he lifted his head up, and met her eyes.

"Yeah Myst?"

"If I asked for your hat, would you give it to me forever?" He didn't take very long deciding.

"Yeah, suppose so," he mumbled, trying to bring his eyes back down, but Misty grabbed his chin and yanked his face back up.

"Ash!?"

"What dya want now?"

"If I asked for your heart, would you give it to me forever?" Ash gazed at her, completely clueless. Misty didn't say a word more. Ash's eyes narrowed in scrutiny. But she still didn't say anything. She just stared into his confused brown eyes. She moved her hand from a rough grip of his chin, and let it drift up his face, gently cupping his cheek.

Ash got a lump in his throat as he looked into her eyes and realised it wasn't a joke, or something very gory. He lifted his free arm and placed it on top of her one on his cheek. Then he realised she was waiting for him to speak.

"Gosh I dunno," he grinned, as he changed his hand that had been applying pressure to Misty's fingers, so it was holding her hand; fingers loosely entwined. "I guess I kinda need a heart to live, so I'd need one in return ya know…" Misty grinned widely, and all of a sudden threw herself at Ash, almost knocking him over. Ash was far too preoccupied to notice how well Misty's soft curves fit into his angular build. As the looked at each other, they fell sober again. "I can't believe this is happening…" he whispered.

"Nothing's happened yet," Misty replied. Then again, suddenly she pitched forwards and confidently kissed him. Ash's eyelids shot open as he sat up rigidly, staring at Misty while she kissed him, who had her eyes closed, and seemed totally unperturbed by everything. Ash felt like his lips were burning and his heart was melting, all at the same time. After about 20 seconds, Misty began to draw away, but Ash grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back.

This time he kissed her, looping his arms around her waist, while she let hers settle around his neck. Both sets of lips were equally busy, but no words were spoken as the clouds passed overhead. As they kissed, they rose from a sitting position to their knees, and it was in this position they found themselves when they opened their eyes and released each others lips.

Applause? Waaaa? A chorus of claps reached their ears, and they both looked around guiltily where Brock, Tracey and Jo were standing, complete with all the Pokémon Ash and Misty had. Jo had tears of happiness streaming down her face, Brock was trying to console her, Tracey was leaping around with Marril and Poliwhirl was handing Pikachu some money.

Ash looked back at Misty, blushing. Misty laughed.

"Stuff 'em!" Grinning back, Ash's lips drew back to Misty's as they started at it again.

==::A few days later::==

Laying on his stomach of the large bed of the Indigo Plateau's largest suite, Ash finished painstakingly writing in French, then tossed the paper to Misty, who was sitting at the desk watching Togepi chirp at its reflection in Ash's newest trophy.

"Ensemble pour toujours, n'importe comment longtemps dès maintenant jusqu' à la fin du temps nous serons ensemble, et vous pouvez être sûr que pour toujours et un jour qui est combien de temps nous resterons ensemble et pour toujours plus"

Smiling her easy smile, Misty moved across to sit with Ash on the bed. Quickly kissing his cheek, she motioned for him to sign it, then hastily scribbled Misty Waterflower next to his name.

French had always been her favourite language.

::THE END::

(For more of this story see its sequel "Perdant d'Amour")

[A/N]

Woohoo! It's done! And it only took me like a year!

Okay, I know I totally bombed on the kissing scene, cos I can't describe kisses. Sorry…

Oh, and I know you won't get the end, but you will as soon as PdA starts up, it will make sense I promise.

And in case I didn't make it obvious enough, Ash won. Duh. Sorry, I really couldn't be bothered to do another battle…maybe I'll do it as a flashback in PdA.

Oh, and please don't try to translate my awful, awful French, cos I bet it's all wrong. I'll translate it for you in PdA…in fact it's quite easy to get from the first line (if you know French that is).

Oh and PLEASE NOTICE that they didn't say they loved each other. That's important.

Okay, I'd better go…please don't flame me? ^.^ Pwease?

And ya'd better read Perdant d'Amour when it comes out!!

Love Riny-c