The Longest Night
by KentaMarina

A/N: Yeah, I rewrote this. It's been a while, eh? But do enjoy anyways!

"The Longest Night"

        Marina suddenly bolted upright from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes, got up and put on something more warm. She then proceeded to head out of her tent and found Kenta on night watch duty.
        "Hey there," Kenta said casually without even having to turn around. This surprised Marina.
        "Um...hey," she replied, still surprised. "Isn't Jun'ichi supposed to be the night watch?"
        "I offered to take over," he replied. "He was probably falling asleep anyway, and I just happened to wake up in the middle of the night."
        Marina could only nod, even though he still had his back turned to her, occupied with stoking the fire.
        "What are you doing standing there? Have a seat," said Kenta, smiling to her when he finally turned around.
        "Huh? Oh, sorry," was Marina's dazed response as she sat down on the log right next to Kenta, still occupied with the fire to the point where he almost looked like a little kid discovering the wonders of what gave people warmth out in the open. Marina on the other hand, seemed a bit uneasy sitting this close to her childhood friend, who she knew had changed so much in the past years that she was away from him, and not just his height.
        "How come you don't ever put your hair down like that?" Kenta suddenly asked, which snapped Marina out of her daze again.
        Marina turned red and suddenly rushed to put her hair back up as best as she could, but she only made her hair even straighter in the process. "Ah, well, um, I didn't think it would look good," she stammered, still red.
        "Well I think it looks nice," said Kenta, continuing to smile. You look cute, he thought.
        Marina smiled, and seemed more at ease. "Thanks," she said, smiling.
        "Reminds me of way back when we were kids," Kenta suddenly said, looking up to the stars. He sighed. "The only times I've seen you with your hair down like that was when we were kids," he then paused, but chuckled, "and now, actually!"
        Marina giggled. I guess some things don't ever change, you still make me laugh, she thought. "Speaking of which," Marina suddenly began with a nervous tone in her voice, "do you remember that little promise we made when we were kids?"
        Kenta thought about it for a minute, but his eyes then widened. "Oh! That one!"

* * *

        Kenta fell back down onto the ground in exhaustion and relief. He sat there for a few moments before he rushed toward where Marina was hidden for her safety. She then hugged him tight, and began to sob.
        "Are you okay?" the young Kenta asked her, lifting her face up and wiping her tears.
        "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt," the young Marina sobbed.
        "Well I'm still here, aren't I?" Kenta said in a joking tone.
        "That's not funny," Marina protested, hitting him on the shoulder. "You could've...you could've..."
        "...caught that Pidgey? I guess it would've been nice, but I'm not old enough to be a Trainer just yet," Kenta finished, still in a joking tone.
        Marina then couldn't help but laugh as she pulled away from him. She then realized what she had just done, and suddenly turned around and turned red.
        "Marina?"
        "Kenta, can you promise me that you'll always be there for me?" Marina suddenly asked, even though she had difficulty in asking him this.
        Kenta went in front of her and held her hand. "I promise."
        "Pinky swear?"
        Kenta nodded and extended his pinky, and Marina did the same. Needless to say, the promise was made.

* * *

        "Yeah, I still remember," Kenta said as he looked at Marina.
        "I'm happy you kept that promise," she said, smiling. "Thanks so much."
        Kenta laughed. "No problem, but that doesn't mean I'll stop being there or here for you, you know?" he replied, holding her hand to reassure her. But the moment he realized what he just did, and when Marina suddenly gasped, he pulled away his hand from her and turned red. "Sorry about that," he said nervously.
        Marina reached for his hand. "No, no, it's okay," she then said. "I...we haven't held hands since then, and I missed you...I-I mean, it."
        I can't take this anymore, rattled off Kenta inside his head. His heart pounding hard, he decided that he had nothing else to lose, and hugged Marina tightly, who gasped in surprise.
        "Kenta..."
        "Marina...I missed you too," Kenta said, holding on to her tight. "I can't hold it in anymore, I can't wait and drag this on anymore," he began. "I've...I don't know how else to say this, but...I've fallen for you.
        Marina's eyes widened in shock. She could've sworn her heart was about to pop right out of her chest from beating against it so hard. Is this real? she wondered. Can this really be happening? Kenta...I...I...I lo-
        "I love you," he whispered in her ear.
        The moment he whispered those three little words, a shock went down Marina's spine, and her eyes began to water. She hugged Kenta as tight as he was hugging her.
        "I never thought..." Marina began, her voice cracking as the tears finally fell down her cheeks and onto his red sweater, "I never thought that you'd...you'd feel this way...about me...and I'm happy..."
        Kenta pulled away from her, and wiped away the tears in her eyes and gave her a small smile to cheer her up. "To be honest...I've been scared all this time. Everytime something bad happened or whenever you have something wrong with you, I wanted to be able to hold you tight and tell you, 'it's alright, I'm here.' But I didn't know how you felt about me...so I couldn't do anything else but to try and make you laugh."
        "Kenta..." she trailed off.
        "It really doesn't suit you when tears run down from your eyes," Kenta continued, "and everytime I see you when you're down, it hurts because I feel that I'm not living up to my promise to you."
        "But you're always there for me...even now," she said, smiling. "I love you too."
        The fire was slowly dying, as Kenta forgot to tend to it. Before each of them knew it, they were starting to lean towards each other's faces, closer and closer to the lips.
        "Kenta..." Marina softly said as she closed her eyes.
        "Marina..." Kenta also said before he too, closed his eyes...

        ...and Kenta suddenly bolted upright from his dream. He rubbed his eyes and let out a groan as he fell back down in his sleeping bag. He got up and put on his sweater and sighed as he put the palm of his hand to his face.
        "If only..." he muttered as he went outside his tent. He then saw Jun'ichi there, tending to a small fire that was about to go out, no matter how hard he tried to keep it alive.
        Jun'ichi noticed his presence. "Kenta! What are you doing up?"
        Kenta shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Nothing really, I just...woke up," he said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
        "Really now..."
        "Well hey, since I'm up, and if you want to, I can take over being the night watch," Kenta offered Jun'ichi.
        "Are you sure?"
        Kenta nodded and Jun'ichi got up from his seat on the log.
        "Well if you're so sure, I'll head off to bed then," he said laughing with a hand behind his head. "Thanks, Kenta!" he then said as he began to walk towards Kenta's tent.
        "Sure, sure," was Kenta's reply as he sat down on the log and tended to the fire. Within minutes, he was able to get the fire high enough, but not so high as to burn down the entire forest.

        It was only several moments after that when Kenta heard movement coming from one of the tents behind him, and the sound of the footsteps made it clear to him that it was Marina.
        "Hey there," Kenta said casually when she got closer while still tending to the fire.
        "Um...hey," she replied. "Isn't Jun'ichi supposed to be the night watch?"
        Something hit Kenta in the back of his mind. He paused for a moment, while now stoking the flame a little higher. "I offered to take over. He was probably falling asleep anyway, and I just happened to wake up at this time of night," he then said. He then noticed that Marina was still standing behind him. "Well, what are you doing still standing there? Have a seat," Kenta offered as he turned around and smiled at her.
        And there was Marina, with her hair down, looking exactly like how she looked in Kenta's dream. Kenta then smiled at her.
        Looks like this is gonna be a long, long night, he thought as she sat down next to him.

END