disclaimer; I don't own Pokemon.

All's Fair in Love and War

-x-

eye of the storm

-x-

and you see the sun

warm, peaceful

but behind the rays

of june sunlight

lie stormclouds in wait

-x-

"Shhh!" Dawn's eyes were wide, desperation in her tone as she dragged the teenager into the alley, her voice hushed.

"What are you doing? Everyone's frantic!" the girl hissed, her red hair a vivid shade of orange in the dim sunlight. Dawn's heart fell, and she ran a hand through her hair, a habit she'd picked up from Paul.

"I had to get away." Dawn mumbled sheepishly, kicking at a rock absently with her foot. Misty stared at her reproachfully, before attacking her in an infamous Waterflower Hug.

"Arceus, I was so worried. Don't ever do that again, you hear me, Berlitz?" Misty demanded, glaring pointedly at Dawn, who only laughed weakly in response. "Where are you staying? Don't dare tell me you're roughing it in the streets. A priss like you can't get her dress dirty."

Despite herself, Dawn burst out in a fit of laughter, the fear of having been discovered ebbing away. It was only Misty.

Misty Waterflower.

"Don't say that so loudly, I'm Hikari Saisei." the blunette wiggled her eyebrows, causing the carrot top to smile slightly. "And my dress is perfectly fine."

She twirled in the rough cotton frock, the taupe colour such a contrast from the powder blue or soft pink gowns she was usually found in.

"But who are you with, seriously?" Misty repeated stubbornly, crossing her arms.

Dawn blushed, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Erm, the Shinjis." she admitted, playing with the hem of her dress. Misty blinked, before cracking up.

"I knew it! You have a thing for Paul, don't you? Arceus, I knew it! Ash owes me four rubics then!" the carrot top looked smugly at the blunette, rubbing her hands together eagerly.

Dawn's jaw dropped, a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"I do not!" Dawn stammered, stumbling over her words. She cursed herself for never paying attention to her presentation tutor. She wanted to melt in embarassment at the look Misty was shooting her. "Who are you to go betting on my personal life anyway?"

"Since the first day you declared me your best friend." Misty winked, sticking her tongue out.

"I don't like Paul." Dawn mumbled.

"Then you're the type of guy who goes for older guys? Reggie, then?" Misty joked, barely able to compose herself before cracking up at the end of her sentence.

Dawn wrinkled her nose.

"No! Arceus, no! And Reggie's with Maylene, no?" Dawn grinned back. Misty paused to consider this.

"Maylene and Reggie. Maylene Shinji. Sounds good." she shrugged, her cerulean eyes twinkling. Dawn rolled her eyes, unable to keep the amused twinkle out of her eyes.

"Arceus, when did you become such a matchmaker? And how is Ash doing, hm?" Dawn said suggestively with a raise of her eyebrows.

Misty grinned broadly, before biting her lip and furrowing her brow.

"You know Reynaldo is furious, right?" Misty pointed out, tapping her foot almost thoughtfully.

"How bad?" Dawn winced, flipping her hair over her shoulder, her gaze on Misty.

"He had the leader of your search party killed when he couldn't find you. The official word is that he contracted black flu and died." the carrot top shrugged, raising her eyebrows at Dawn's bewildered expression. "It's Reynaldo Cadavera, D-Hikari. What did you expect?"

"Arceus." she muttered, wringing her hands.

The sky was beginning to dim, the grey haze of dusk beginning to drift into the horizon.

"It's getting late now, Ash will be expecting me home." Misty said finally, breaking a long and uncomfortable silence.

"Misty Waterflower's getting marrieeed sooon..~" Dawn sang under her breath, giggling at Misty's affronted huff. She patted the carrot top on the shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, I've got to be back soon too."

"Because I'm an absolutely lovely person, I won't make fun of you about that. Now, I won't tell anyone about you, alright?" Misty smiled warmly, tapping her friend on the crown of her head like she always did. "Now goodbye."

"Arceus bless, Misty." Dawn called out, a smile on her face.

Misty only grinned back, turning around and waving once before bounding across the street corner.

The wind whistled through the bare tree branches, goosebumps crawling up her flesh, but Dawn only smiled to herself, a warmth that only Misty could bring surging through her.

Suddenly, the prospect of Reynaldo didn't seem nearly as terrifying.

-x-

"What are you making?" Dawn questioned, sinking into the ratty red armchair and leaning over towards the mauve haired boy.

Paul scowled, picking up his knife blade and continuing to work away at a tiny section of firewood.

"Are you whittling?" Dawn asked quietly, not wanting to irritate him.

"Yeah." he growled, working the knife blade over the bark and letting the sheets of bark fall to the floor. "I'm making a Staraptor. For Reggie. It's his birthday, soon."

Dawn noticed the tiny jars of dye and varnish placed carefully on the table next to him. She walked over, turning the jar around in her fingers. It was a tiny bit, maybe no larger than the jars she'd place her makeup in back in the palace.

"Is this berry juice?" she asked, watching the blood red dye swirl around in its container.

"Do you ask this many questions every day?" Paul snapped back, his brows raised. He placed his blade on the table, blowing at the piece of wood.

Dawn watched as the shavings of sawdust danced in the air momentarily, before resting on the bare brick of the floor.

"It's a bunch of different things. The red is berry juice, yeah. Some of the darker stuff is Sawsbuck blood though. The blue is crushed mineral from the river, and the green is ground up grass stalks with some plant bast skin and water. The varnish is something I picked up from a trader." Paul said, pointing at the jars of dye as he spoke.

"Sawsbuck blood?" Dawn wrinkled her nose, although she'd come to terms about Paul's poaching since the first night he'd dragged home a Lopunny, his telltale arrow sticking out of its eye.

"You do what you have to." Paul shrugged, whittling away at the curve that would become the Staraptor's neck.

"Hm." Dawn hummed, leaning over to watch Paul work, neither of them saying much.

Paul whittled away the wood, the shavings falling to the floor as he cut, sanded, and varnished the wood into a work of art. Soon, the Pokemon began to take shape- the eyes, the neck, the chest, and the gracefully folded wings and the way he stood erect, ready to fly. Dawn could almost imagine the Pokemon crooning. The male paid attention to every detail- the soft down feathers that peeked through, the attentiveness in its eyes, every grove in its clawed talons.

"Hey, that's nice." Dawn grinned, looking at Paul in question. He nodded, exasperated, handing over the varnished Staraptor to Dawn. "You've got talent, Paul."

"Too bad talent doesn't mean shit." Paul rolled his eyes, grabbing a straw broom and sweeping up the shavings. He dumped it unceremoniously outside the front step of their house, and Dawn resisted the urge to chastise him, before remembering that she was, in all technicality, their guest, and decided to keep her mouth shut.

"You could sell those." Dawn pointed out rationally, her voice level.

"What, me, rugged old Shinji, become an artisan?" Paul smirked, sweeping his bangs out of his eyes with an elbow as he washed up his hands, which were sticky and splintered from handling the wood and varnish.

Dawn ignored the pounding in her chest at that one simple action, and grinned.

"Why not? Make out for the wild, sell whatever you have, live under bridges, do what you must! Sounds adventurous!" she giggled, gesturing wildly.

Paul raised an eyebrow, amused by the girl's naivety.

"Your perception of reality is skewed, Troublesome," Paul said blankly, gesturing for Dawn to get up. "Do you have a jewelry box?"

"Sorry?" Dawn blinked, and Paul sighed, his tone changing as if he was talking to a toddler.

"A jewelry box, Princess. You know, a box for necklaces and all that? The one you keep all your shiny pearls and sparkling diamonds in?" Paul repeated, impatient. Dawn felt herself frown at how presumptious he was being.

"I happen to detest pearls and diamonds," the blunette huffed indignantly.

"Does it look like I give a Stantler's shit?" Paul snapped back. "Do you have one or not?"

"Yes, I do, but wh-"

"I need to put the Staraptor in it, so Reggie doesn't see. It's traditional, see?" Paul growled, eliciting a blush from Dawn.

"I-I'll go get it." Dawn squeaked, running off to her corner of the room and rummaging between her sheets.

"Troublesome girl..."

-x-

"What's it like? Just... being normal?" Dawn asked, her dagger in her hands, her porcelain skin calloused and hard from weeks hunting in the woods.

Despite her upbringing, Dawn was pretty handy with a blade, and she'd been lent Reggie's old hunting knife to follow Paul into the woods. Paul had protested, but admitted he needed a decent hunting partner, not one that went traipsing through the woods, scaring off the prey (Dawn noticed Reggie flushing slightly at Paul's words at this point).

"Normal? You know normal doesn't exist," Paul scoffed, pulling back his bow until the string was taut, quickly releasing it and watching the arrow fly cleanly into the Buneary's eye.

"Hm." Dawn hummed, attentive as she heard the slow crunching of dead leaves. She licked her lips, before turning around and throwing her dagger, which landed in the flank of an unsuspecting Girafarig.

"Nice." even Paul looked impressed, and Dawn felt a blush creeping onto her cheeks, so she made her way towards the fallen Girafarig and busied herself with cleaning off her knife. "Can't believe a princess like you would have such deadly aim."

"So don't piss me off, Shinji." Dawn laughed weakly, as she reluctantly opened the eyelid of the Girafarig. Dead, gone, cold as stone. Trying to suppress the sinking in her heart and reminding herself that this Girafarig would feed herself and the rest of the Shinjis for a week. The guilt still weighed on her shoulders, so Dawn groaned and wiped the knife clean of blood with a rag, looking away from the corpse.

"You forget I shoot Pokemon through the eye with an arrow, right?" Paul laughed decisively, before crossing his arms. "Are you still squeamish, Princess?"

Dawn huffed, indignant.

"Well, sorry, Skuntank Man, this is sort of new for me, if you can't tell." Dawn said defensively, grinning as the smug look on Paul's face faded away.

"Skuntank Man? Mature, Princess." Paul growled, but there was a faint dusting of pink on his tanned cheeks, something that didn't go unnoticed by Dawn.

"Well, yeah, I mean, you practically live in the woods, and you've got purple hair too. I thought you'd be offended if I called you Stunky Man, so I made you manlier and made you Skuntank Man." Dawn grinned childishly, blowing at the knife before sticking it back onto its holster, which was fastened in a belt securely around her waist.

"Tch." Paul scoffed, cheeks pink.

"Aw, is Paul blushing?" Dawn teased, grinning.

Paul pulled her aside, stepping closer and locking his eyes on hers.

Dawn felt the heat rise to her cheeks as his dark, smoky onyx eyes lingered on hers, reflecting the depths of his soul and yet so mysterious.

Paul's lips upturned in a sardonic smirk.

"Aw, is Dawn blushing?"

-x-

Dawn didn't know what they were- reluctant friends, acquaintances, or something more?

There was something behind his eyes, a kind of unrestrained desire, a hunger that roared behind his slate grey irises.

Not that she'd risk a relationship with him- with Cadavera breathing down her neck and holding a knife to her throat, she barely dared breathe for fear he'd jumped out the next bush, wielding a sword and screaming curses at her.

Reggie's birthday came and past, with him marveling over Paul's handiwork as the mauve haired teenager handed him the Staraptor carving. We had a feast of Girafarig and wild berries that Paul recognized from his stay in the Appalachia region of Unova. They tasted tangy and sour with an aftertaste of sweetness- not unlike Paul.

"What are we?" she asked one day, as she nervously skinned the feathers off a Starly she'd shot.

"Whatever the hell you want us to be, Princess." Paul scoffed bitterly, refusing to raise his gaze from the sheath of arrows he was cleaning with a dry rag.

Dawn blushed and bit her lip, quickly averting her gaze to the ground.

"Well.. what do you want us to be, then? Friends?" Dawn finished lamely, feeling a blush creep onto her cheeks at the look Paul gave her.

His eyes lingered a little too long, before he threw down his rag and sighed.

"Sure. Friends. Whatever the fuck makes your little royal heart happy."

-x-

"When are you going to be leaving?" Genevieve asked nervously, shivering as Stefan's warm breath tickled her ear.

"Whenever you want, love." he answered huskily, letting his hand linger on her waist as he leaned down for another kiss, sucking on Genevieve's lower lip.

"No, but in seriousness..." Genevieve continued, smiling shyly as Stefan's hands trailed over her body, letting her hands come to rest on the small of his back.

"Whenever Cadavera decides to give up on this wild goose chase." Stefan answered, sighing. His eyes glinted. "Do you know where Dawn is?"

"I may have a few ideas." the young pinkette smirked, placing a finger on his lips. "Now shut up, will you?"

"Yes, ma'am." Stefan smirked, kissing her again.

She loved how protective his arms were, and she felt safe and secure in his arms. She felt that familiar lightness in her chest, letting the butterflies in her stomach guide her as she felt his lips on hers.

She moved her lips with his, her tongue swiping his lips occasionally. He nibbled her lower lip as he sat up straighter, and Genevieve's body followed his. Stefan's hands fell to her waist, and hers came to rest on his shoulders.

Genevieve felt that primal hunger claw at her, roaring in her chest. She wanted him, and she kissed him with more need and more passion. He sucked in his breath.

"I love you." he whispered, and Genevieve felt her heart skip a beat.

"You fool." she smiled, watching his brows knit together in confusion. "I love you too."

Stefan smiled, smiling that stupid lopsided grin that could make her day.

"Take me to stars." Genevieve whispered, and she felt him stiffen.

"Are you sure?" he breathed, his breath hot and inticing against her ear.

Genevieve answered with a kiss.

He kissed her, letting his tongue explore her mouth, and leaned forward, pressing himself against her.

"I'm always sure when I'm with you."

-x-

"You may now kiss the bride."

Weddings in the village were never anything special- more often than not, they were married by a local pastor at the church, and then left to celebrate with whatever family or friends they had.

They were still a cause for celebration, especially when it was Ash and Misty getting married.

Ash smiled, his brown eyes lighting up as he leaned down and brushed his lips against Misty's. The carrot top blushed, before pulling him into a deeper kiss.

"That is adorable," Dawn giggled to nobody in particular.

"It's gag inducing." Paul scoffed.

He was dressed in a plain woven shirt with nicer pants, and Dawn wore a knee grazing blue dress that Reggie had found in Luna's closet.

"You're just boring." Dawn laughed, smacking Paul good naturedly on the arm.

Paul rolled his eyes, smirking as Dawn's eyes lit up at the sound of Drew playing the guitar.

"Hey, let's dance!" Dawn dragged Paul out, her smile fading as Paul crossed his arms.

"I don't dance," Paul answered simply, but Dawn was relentless.

"It's just one dance." she insisted, but Paul didn't waver.

Dawn frowned, before she grinned.

"I don't need you to dance!" she pointed out, and went into the throng of dancing people.

Paul watched as she danced, first with Drew and Ash, then with a young girl he identified as Violetta.

A man approached her, maybe twenty five, and a sudden flare of protectiveness washed over him.

He strode over to her, taking her hand and leaning closer to her.

"Can I talk to you?"

He glared at the crestfallen man, watching him walk away, back hunched in disappointment, before turning to face Dawn, amused by the blush painted on her cheeks.

"S-sure." Dawn blinked, letting Paul lead her to a spot closer to the flowers, where the wild pansies grew.

"You look nice." Paul smirked, and he watched as Dawn blinked nervously, her eyelashes catching the weak sunlight.

"T-thanks." she mumbled, face pink, taking a sudden fascination in the shoes she had on.

"Sometimes, Troublesome, I wonder what you find so interesting about your feet," Paul rolled his eyes, sitting down next to her.

"They're nice shoes," Dawn replied weakly, refusing to meet Paul in the eyes.

The two fell into an amiable silence, both of them quiet but observing- Paul noticed the way her eyes flitted between him and the ground, Dawn noticed how his thumbs fiddled with the hem of the dress shirt he had on.

Dawn's face brightened, and she leapt to her feet, entertwining her fingers with his. He tried to ignore how her fingers fit perfectly between his, soft and delicate against his own callous fingers.

"Let's dance!" she giggled, eyes bright.

"There's no music, Troublesome," he retorted, gesturing towards the large clearing where the faint music of fiddles could be heard.

"Who said we need music?" she laughed, twirling, and he watched, watching how she giggled, how the skirt of her dress billowed as she spun. "Whoa, I'm dizzy now..."

"Must of been that spinning," Paul rolled his eyes, reaching out to steady the blunette, who seemed a bit woozy.

"Maybe," she smiled, her eyes glancing up to meet his momentarily. "now let's dance."

She pulled him up, and Paul felt a sudden tightening in his chest, a warmth that spread from his stomach that he really couldn't ignore.

"No, I'm not much for dancing," Paul answered coolly, and Dawn shrugged, as if to say 'well, suit yourself,' as she danced and twirled, laughing and singing along to the flock of Starlys that had come to rest on a nearby branch, watching the dancing blunette with a quiet fascination.

"Maybe the skies are falling, and maybe the stars are shining-" she sang, and Paul laughed softly to himself.

"Where'd you learn that, Troublesome?" he questioned, and Dawn stopped, furrowing her brows.

"My mom used to sing it, when she took me out on a walk. We'd walk along the pathways in the woods, and she'd point out all the stars and constellations in the night sky. She used to sing, too, and dance, like I did. But her singing voice was so beautiful, even the Starlys stopped to listen."

Her voice became quieter, and her eyes fell, clouded with emotion.

Paul stood up, taking her hand into his and pointing at the birds that sat on the branch, cocking their heads, wondering why Dawn had stopped singing.

"Looks like they stopped to hear you sing too."

A/N: Oh boy that's embarrassing.

I don't even know what half my plot is anymore

I need to reread my own writing someday. I have continuity issues, I know u_u;

uugh, apparently, my teacher told me I've been writing dialogue wrong for the past eight years. So I'm sorry. I'm in the process of changing but I CAN'T, guh.

I hate this chapter ew.

Reviews, please?