Title: Unheard Words

Author: The Kirei Rocket


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Jessie sat down next to her sleeping partner. She had been up for awhile, worrying. She looked at the bandage on his bare stomach, stained with dried blood. She took off her jacket and layed it over him, hoping it could bring him some warmth. Then she sighed, and brushed that one always-stray piece of hair out of his face. He stirred a bit, and she recoiled, but he was only turning over in his sleep. She sighed in relief and and curled up at the opposite end of the twerp's couch. She pulled her half of the covers over herself and fell back asleep, thinking about the events of that day.



~*~*~*~



"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make that double!"

"To protect the world from devistation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James..."

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"



The twerp squad gave them a weird look. "Where's Meowth?" the female one asked. "Meowth is with the boss. His Persian died the other day. Now, hand over that Pikachu!" Jessie shouted. "No way!" Ash shouted back. "Pika pi!" Pikachu replied. "Then you leave us no choice! Go, Weezing!" James shouted. "WEEEZING!" it said, and looked at it's master for directions. "Not today, you two! Ash, go with Plan B now..." Misty said and snickered. Ash looked at Misty, and she nodded. He put his hand behind his back, pulled out a gun, and shot it, aiming for the bushes. "GAHHH!" he heard a scream, then "JAMES!" followed. Ash dropped the gun and backed away, not believing what he had just done. "Oh my god..." he mouthed, but no words came out. "Good work, Ash!" Tracey said and patted him on the back. "But I-I swear I wasn't aiming for him! I-I wanted t-to scare them, s-so I shot at th-the bushes!" Ash exclaimed. "That's a nicer way to put it... heh heh..." Misty said. "No no... no..." Jessie said, bending over James and squeezing his hand. "I will never speak to you again! I hate you so much, Ash Ketchum! You... you..." She couldn't bring herself to say anything that ment James was dead. She tried to think of what to do, when Ash said, "Check for a pulse! He may not be dead yet!" Even though she hated to admit it, the Twerp was pretty smart in situations like this. Her fingers flew to his wrist. "He.. he has a faint pulse..." she said. Without another word from anyone, she lifted his now rather heavy body and ran down the path towards town, which was luckily not far away. Weezing bobbed around in the air, not exactly sure what had happened to his master, or why his master's friend was so upset. Ash was still in shock when he noticed Misty and Tracey were walking a ways up ahead. "Pikachu, come on. We're going to the hospital."



***



Ash walked into the Nairuma Hospital, and found Jessie in the waiting room, staring blankly at the ER doors. Pikachu said on top of his head. "Pika, pi pikachu... pika kachu pikachu..." Pikachu said. Ash looked up at him. "I can't, Pikachu... I don't think I'll ever be able to talk to those two again. I mean I know they hate me, but I'm sure they hate me much more now... that is if James makes it." "Kachu. Pi pika, ka." Jessie's head shot up suddenly. "You two... what are you doing here?! I thought I said I did not want to speak with you ever again," she said, narrowing her eyes at Ash. "Jessie... please... I swear I did not aim it at anyone... I can't believe I let Misty talk me into getting a gun..." Ash said and lowered his head. "I don't believe you, Twerp! I swear I'll-" She was cut off by a dinging sound. The ER room doors slid open, and a Nurse Joy walked out. "Are you Jessie?" she asked. "Yes... how is he? Is he going to be okay!? PLEASE tell me he'll be alright... please don't let him die..." Jessie begged. "He'll be fine. The blow knocked him out, but it didn't hit any vital organs. He'll wake up soon, and then we'll show him how to take care of the wound and we'll let you two go home. We'd have him stay longer, but we really aren't supposed to treat Team Rocket members here, I was breaking the law by helping the boy at all. His shirts are both done for, so you'll have to get him a new one when he gets home," Joy said. "Can I go see him?" Jessie asked. "Sure." Jessie got the room number and ran through the sliding doors. She found the room easy, and went inside. He was knocked out from the pain killing drugs, but the nurse had said he'd wake up soon. She took his hand and held it tight. "James..." she muttered and just looked at him. She looked at his closed eyes, hoping and praying he would open them soon, so she could see those eyes again. "He won't wake up for another hour," a nurse who had been walking by said. "Oh, okay... thank you," Jessie said, and the nurse left. "James... please wake up soon... I miss you..." Jessie said, and kissed him lightly on the forehead, "Don't you worry... I'll be here when you wake up."



***



It was two and a half extreamly long hours later... and James still had not woken up. Jessie began to cry. "No, James... you have to wake up! Wake up... please James..." she pleaded, squeezing his hand some more and looking at his extreamly pale face. She continued to cry for about 5 minutes, until she felt a fain squeeze back. "James!?" she asked. His eyes fluttered open. "J-Jess?" he asked. "It's me James... you're going to be alright. The LAST thing I needed was for you to die on me James..." she said, and began crying again. "Don't cry... please... It's okay, I'm alive, see? I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Even if I don't have that much to live for," he said. Jessie was a bit hurt by that... She wasn't something to live for? She covered up the fact that that statement hurt her, and went back to her normal self. "The nurse will be in in a few minutes to show you how to take care of your wound, then we have to leave," she said, "I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be back."



***



Jessie walked out of the room, but not to the bathroom. She had to find that Ketchum kid. She found him still in the lobby. "Hey, Kid! You're lucky he's alive, or else you would have been a very dead boy, I'd have made sure of that." Ash's eyes went to Jessie. He looked like he'd been crying. "He's alive? Yeah!!!!!!!! I was so worried I'd killed him. I swear, Jessie, I did not try to shoot him! I know you probably don't believe me, but..." Jessie cut him off. "You are telling the truth, aren't you? Don't tell me you were out here crying because you thought you'd killed him?" Jessie asked. "Well... yes..." Ash muttered and hung his head. Jessie faintly smiled. "Guess maybe you weren't lying. You're not too bad, twerp. But shooting my best friend doesn't come free, ya know." Ash raised his eyebrow at her. "What do you want with me?" he asked. "Pallet Town is only a few miles from here. We need a place to stay until James gets better. If you don't want us to be angry with you, will you let us stay at your house? Really, we have no place to stay, except TR HQ, and if we go back there, the Boss will kill us anyway, and James would have been better off dead a few hours ago." Ash took Jessie's hand, and shook it. "Agreed. Only if my mom asks, I didn't shoot the guy..." he said. "No problem, kid. We'll just say it was an accident."



***



"But Ash, those two are with Team Rocket! Aren't you afraid they'll steal your Pokemon?" Ash's mom objected. "Mom, I owe those two a huge favor. They saved my life once... they aren't very bad people at all. Plus the one person is injured, and they have no other place to stay until he gets better!" Ash explained. His mom was hesitant, but she finally agreed. "Alright... but if there is any trouble from either of them, then they're both out. One will get the couch, the other can have the floor," she said. "Oh, don't worry. They can both sleep on the couch," Ash said. "Are they...?" "Nope. But they should be. It's totally obvious they like each other. Anyway, they're really good friends and have to do that kinda stuff all the time. Thanks again, Mom, I'll go tell them."



***



"So we can stay with you for a couple weeks? Thanks, kid..." Jessie said and smiled at him. "Can you please not call me kid? I prefer Ash..." he said. "Okay. Sorry, Ash." Jessie helped James walk to the elevator, followed by Ash, who was carrying some medical tape, some sort of medicine stuff, and gauze pads. Jessie pressed a mess of buttons, and they started going down. "Ughh... I *hate* elevators..." Ash moaned.



***



"So, you two must be Jessie and James? Ash has told me... lots about you two. You'll both have to share the couch though, there's no other place to sleep," Ash's mom said and smiled. "That's okay, we're used to stuff like that," Jessie replied, putting on her seatbelt and helping James with his. Ash jumped into the front seat, put on his belt, and shut the door, and they were off.



***



"I hope you guys will be alright tonight. There are extra blankets in the closet over there if you need them. I'll be down the hall, if you need me. Bathroom is next to my room. Good night," Ash said, and started walking down the hall. "Hey, Ash?" James asked. He stopped and turned around. "Yes?" Ash asked. "I know you didn't mean to do anything," James said rather blankly, staring off into space. "Thank you, James. Good night you two." And with that, he walked down the hall and closed his door. "Jessie?" James asked. "Yes, James?" "You're not going to leave me alone, are you? Now that I'm even more useless?" he asked, dead serious. Jessie gasped. He thought she was going to leave him? "James! Of course not! What made you think a thing like that?" she asked. "Nothing really... you've just never seemed to like me much," he said. "James, that's not true. You're my best friend. I... I... I like being your partner." Jessie cursed softly. Why didn't she just say it? "You do?" Jessie nodded. "Of course. Now go to sleep," she said. He nodded. "Goodnight Jess." "Goodnight, James. I love you..."



~*~*~*~



Jessie flashed back to reality. She looked to see James, staring at her. "Jess, what were you thinking about? First you winced, then you kept on getting other odd facial expressions, and just before you noticed me you cursed at yourself! And after that I *swear* you said I love you for some reason!" he exclaimed. "I did no such thing! Who would I say I love you to?" Jessie asked. "Well now, I dunno." "That's what I thought," she said. She layed back down. James sighed. "Goodnight Jess... I love you, too."