Hey! It's the start of a new story! Dun dah dah dun! :)

Alright, alright. Well, I'm pleased with how it's starting out... but if it's not so popular, I'll leave it off. So comment about what you think, please!!

(Also, Two Doors Down... well... I'm not sure what to call it... The spirit doesn't move me, you know? Or it's just writer's block. Either way... I'm sorry. I'll update it as soon as the spirit does move me, though!)

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

"Shuu! Come over here right now!"

The green-haired toddler reluctantly shuffled over to his mother from the playground. Glancing from his mother to his Pre-K teacher, he knew that his mischief at lunch was not unknown to his mother. As her striking blue eyes glowered straight into his, he cast his eyes down in fear. His mom was scary when she was mad, and there was no doubt she was mad.

"Yes, mommy?" His voice shook as he spoke.

"Why is Mr. Satoshi telling me that you put gummy worms in his sandwich?" Her voice resonated in the kid's ears. He squeezed his eyes shut, his whole body shaking with his fists clenched out of fear. As she expected, she received no answer. "Tell your teacher you're sorry and that you'll never do it again."

"I'm sorry, Mr. 'Shi." His eyes were still shut, trembling.

"And…?" His mom's clear voice sliced through the air.

"I'll never do it again."

There was a brief silence before Shuu felt a pat on his head. Opening his eyes, he saw Mr. Satoshi kneeling down in front of him, mussing his hair with a smile, "It's fine, Shuu. Now go play with the rest of your friends."

Shining a grin, Shuu ran off to go join his classmates.

Standing up, the teacher turned to the parent, "Haruka, you didn't have to be so harsh on him." The scolding was accompanied with a chuckle.

Haruka let out a sigh, shaking her head, "That boy—I swear, he'll be as cheeky as his father was when he grows up."

Satoshi glanced over at Haruka. It was rare for her to mention her son's father. He was a figure that Satoshi did not know much about and Haruka did not like. She didn't notice her slip up, so he smiled and brushed it off. Every time he had tried to pry into it, she had left irascible and he with no success.

"He's still growing up—we don't know for sure how he'll turn out." She shrugged in response. "So… are we still set for dinner?"

Haruka turned her gaze from her son to Satoshi with a light blush, "Yeah, of course! You said that you're taking me to meet your friends, right?"

Satoshi beamed lovingly at his girlfriend. She took this as a confirmation, and her blush increasing, she subtly moved her hand to his. Satoshi's grin broadened as he grasped her hand tightly.

After a couple minutes of silent bliss, the bell rang, dismissing the students. Shuu ran back to his mom, backpack in hand. Haruka let go of Satoshi's hand, blush still in place. She started moving toward her son when she was dragged back by the arm by Satoshi. He leaned in, lightly kissing Haruka, his clipboard held so that it blocked the view of all others. Chuckling at her deepened blush, he nuzzled their foreheads, whispering, "I love you."

She brought her eyes to look straight into his dark brown eyes and smiled, "I love you, too."

H released her and said, faking professionalism, "I'll see you soon, Ms. Haruka."

She chuckled at her son's confused expression, remnants of worry as to whether he was forgiven yet present as well. "Indeed, Mr. Satoshi," she suddenly addressed her son; "Tell Mr. Satoshi bye and you'll see him on Monday."

After getting over being slightly startled, Shuu waved to his teacher, "Bye, Mr. 'Shi! See you on Monday! And I'm sorry about the gummy worms." Shuu then chased after his mom's hand as they walked off to their home.

Five minutes of silence passed before he gathered enough courage to speak, "Mommy?"

"Mhmm?" It was still hard to tell her tone from the response.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"What do you think?"

"I promise to be good tonight! I won't give the babysitter any trouble."

Haruka hid her smile and spoke sternly, "You promise? That's a big word. You think you can live up to it?"

"I will! I will!"

She pulled him gently to the side. She crouched down to eye level as she smiled, saying, "I forgive you, dearie. Just behave when you're with Mr. Satoshi, okay?"

He nodded vigorously, "Okay! I like Mr. 'Shi. He's nice."

She threw a puzzled look at him, "Then why did you prank him?"

"I wanted to get closer to him. He looked like he needed a laugh."

Haruka smiled at her son, hugging him. "Show that you care in a different way next time, okay?"

She felt his nod on her shoulder, and she stood up, hooking her hand in his again. "Let's go home."

Upon the arrival of their apartment, Haruka fixed dinner for two, placing it on the table. Then she went to the bedroom, fixing herself up. She parted her hair evenly, pulling it into two loose, low pigtails as she used to wear when she was younger.

She slipped into a smooth, simple red dress. It was one of the few formal dresses that she owned. She examined herself in the mirror, twirling the skirt of the dress. A slow smile spread on her face, approving her own self-image.

The doorbell rang, and Haruka moved to welcome the guest. However, Shuu had already gone and let the babysitter in.

"'Sumi! 'Sumi! Let's play!"

The redhead was dragged by Shuu into the apartment complex.

"Calm down, kiddo! Let some circulation flow through my wrist, will ya?"

Shuu let go, running into the bedroom Haruka had come out from.

Haruka looked at her spunky red-haired friend. With a grin she said, "Hey, Kasumi. Thanks for looking after Shuu while I'm out."

"Oh, please. While you're out on your lovey-dovey date, you leave me behind with your brat. I think I deserve more than a pat on the back." Kasumi stuck her tongue out, and then beamed at her best friend, "So how is it on paradise?"

The pink that formed on Haruka's cheeks was enough of an answer for Kasumi. "That perfect, huh," she said cheekily. "Wish I could meet a guy as great as yours! Speaking of which, what are you still standing here for? Go! Don't keep your prince charming waiting!"

"Hey! Don't rush me off so quickly! Dinner's on the table, make sure Shuu does whatever homework he might have and that he's showered and tucked in by 9." Haruka rattled off, ticking requests off on her fingers.

"Haruka. It's Friday. Give the kid a break."

"Fine. 9:30. But no later."

Kasumi rolled her eyes at the overprotective mother.

"Shuu, I'm leaving!"

Shuu rushed out into the living room again. "Mommy! Have a good time!" After shuffling his feet for a second with his head down in front of Haruka, he wrapped his arms around Haruka's legs. "I don't want you to leave!"

She smiled and knelt down to him, hugging his small body, "I'll be back before you know it, dearie." She nuzzled his soft green hair with her cheek, "I love you."

Suddenly, unwanted memories flashed in front of Haruka's eyes. Chartreuse hair. Embrace. Love.

"I didn't want you to leave either, Shuu."

Haruka was jerked away from her son. She turned to see Kasumi's worried gaze with a hand clenching her shoulder. She turned back to look at her son, who was oblivious to the burst of memory she had just relived.

"Haruka."

"I know. I know—I'm over it."

"You need to—"

"Yeah. And I am. I did. I'm fine."

"Haruka…"

"Really. I'm fine. I'm over it."

"Are you over him?"

Haruka averted her eyes from her friend's steady gaze. "I love Satoshi."

"That's not what I asked."

"I should go." After blinking rapidly a couple times, she smiled softly, "Yeah. I don't want to keep Satoshi waiting. Make sure not to burn down the apartment, yes?"

Kasumi shook her head, knowing it was impossible to talk to Haruka when she set her mind to not talk about it. "Yeah, yeah. Run along now."

Giving Kasumi and Shuu both a kiss on the cheek, Haruka hurried out the door. Within ten minutes, she found herself pushing open the restaurant doors. Refusing the waiter's assistance, she searched the restaurant, blue eyes scanning across the darkened room.

"Guess who."

Hands had slid over her eyes, and she felt the whisper brush against her ear. A smile slowly forming, she put one hand on top of the mystery man's hand. "Why, it could only be my beloved—but my beloved wouldn't be so mean?"

He chuckled, turning her around. Holding her close with hands that now rested around her waist, he gave her a chaste kiss. "You're late. I have the right to be mean."

She faked a scoff, "I'm not!"

"It's 7:10."

"Fine—just a little bit." She broke out her smile, unable to hold it back any longer. "In my defense, I haven't seen Kasumi in a while."

"Oh, right," his stern façade not breaking so easily, "This Wednesday was so far off."

She giggled, "Okay, okay. I admit it. I'm late."

"You've got ten punishments coming at you tonight—one for each minute." Satoshi finally smiled. "One."

He leaned down and kissed her again, longer this time.

Breaking away, he moved so only one arm was hooked around her waist. "Come on. Everyone else is already here." He steered her into a private room.

Looking around, she noticed four other people in the room. Before she could depict the blobs that were the other people, however, she was glomped by one of the said blobs.

"You really should call home more often!"

Haruka shifted her eyes to look and identify the boy. Surprised, she yelped, "Masato!"

After he broke apart away from her, he held her shoulders, examining her up and down. Haruka couldn't find the smile she had had before as she faced her brother.

"You never called during the past six years. What's up with that?"

She shifted uncomfortably, "You're exaggerating. It was five and a half."

Satoshi glanced back and forth between the two. "You know each other?"

Haruka cringed at the awkwardness the question brought. "Yeah, we're siblings."

"Despite the fact she hardly acts like it."

Awkwardness rose to another level.

Seeing his girlfriend's discomfort, Satoshi stepped in and said, "Oh, well, Masato is my coworker. I'm surprised you guys haven't run into each other before."

Haruka wasn't. She only paid attention to the Pre-K class anyhow. She forced out a smile to her brother. He looked as if he were about to smile back when he just turned around and sat again.

After a second of silence, a chipper voice cut through the air, "Geez, Masato! Way to kill the mood." She tutted at him before turning to face Haruka cheerily. "Hi! My name is Hikari!"

Haruka nodded, opening her mouth to answer when another guy cut in, saying, "And I'm Takeshi. Would you bear my children?" He was simultaneously punched by Masato and Hikari. Haruka chuckled before she saw Satoshi bearing a murderous aura. She rubbed his arm, smiling when he turned to face her.

Ignoring the cries of "I was joking!" and "You moron!" not to mention "You're such a perv," Haruka said, "Oh, Satoshi—you know the only children I ever want to bear are yours." Then, she thought for a second before adding, "Besides Shuu, of course."

In a blink of an eye, Hikari rushed up to Haruka, grasping her hands, "Whoa! Whoa! What?!" Haruka blinked in response.

Satoshi chuckled, "Hikari, chill out." Turning to his girlfriend, he went on, explaining, "You are never gonna believe this, love. One of my pals here is named Shuu as well."

Time slowed down as he pointed to the young man, who had apparently sat there, twirling his drink in one hand, staring bored into the ceiling. His eyes dropped to meet hers and, simultaneously, both pairs widened.

The green hair was unmistakable. The matching eyes just confirmed her thoughts.

Hesitantly, she breathed out, "Shuu?"

The male stared at her shocked a little longer, before turning to meet Satoshi's eyes with a glare, "What did you say her name was?"

His voice. Oh god, his voice. She shook her head. She really didn't need this right now. When things were finally starting to go right. Not now. Not now.

"This beautiful woman's name is Haruka." Satoshi chuckled out, not realizing the intenseness that filled the room.

A brief silence settled in again before it was shoved aside as Shuu started saying, "Haruka, listen—"

The woman cut him off, dropping her gaze, "Nice to meet you, Shuu."

Comments and flames are welcomed with open arms!