Title: Closure

Author: Chibi/Warlordess

Pre-Author's Notes: Welcome, readers, to the fifth chapter of 'Closure'! I know that things are speeding along here, probably faster than you'd like them to, and that it got pretty serious last time but... Have no fear! I shall find SOME way to deal with all of the trouble that's happened. As for the reviewers from last chapter, thanks for your comments/opinions/questions/whatever-else-you-people-didn't-understand! For the DEDICATED readers/reviewers, bunches of thanks and showers of joy and chocolate-chip cookies for coming back again and again!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I don't even think I own this idea. I'm just the first person that I know of whose decided to post anything on FFN/anywhere else about it.

Summary: Ash’s stupidity gains him a visit to Misty’s Gym after his finish in the Hoenn League and there, things between them get a little hasty. Implied and possibly serious AAMR.

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Chapter Five: The Dreams of Fickle Hearts

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Misty ran back towards the gym doors, ignoring that dull hurt that was beating inside of her chest and the thunder and lightning that struck in the background. And she had tried... She really had... To be everything that he would approve of... Why couldn't everything be just like in those books she read whenever she got bored; those romance novels..?

Yea, right... If my life were like a stupid novel, then he would have all ready pulled me into his arms and--, She broke off as she jammed her key into the front entrance and turned it, leaving it there and jumping up two steps at a time in order to get to her room as fast as was possible. She didn't care; if any strangers tried to break in to her home, Psyduck (Well, not likely...) or the other Pokemon could handle them.

She didn't need this. No one needed their head bitten off, especially by the guy that they--

Her eyes darted open and she saw that she had absentmindedly collapsed onto her bed, facing the moon glowing outside her window. She sat up, looking at her soaked-through shirt and shorts, her hair sopping wet. She felt the ticklish trickle of rain water falling down her cheeks and arms, before her mind turned to other matters.

What had she been thinking..? She had been so short with him, the guy that she--

"I've gotta deal with my feelings right now... This isn't time for a pity party. I need to write in my diary. I know that I can always confide in that." She jumped off of her bed, wiping her eyes and heading to shut the door real quick. She needed absolute privacy when handling something so... fiddly, as her diary.

Instead of stripping herself of her damp clothing, she ended up sitting down at her desk, pulling out a pen from her drawer, and her laying her face gently, and tiredly, in one of her hands. Misty drew breath and began to write:

Dear Diary,

I should have known that no visit from Ash could have been simply "friendly". I dunno what happened exactly but I'm willing to bet, considering it was between the two of us, that it was stupid. I guess I don't really listen to myself when I get angry, otherwise I'd have realized long before now that what I say about him really hurts.

What is it about him that makes me act like that? I'm so defiant; I act one way when I mean the other. Maybe if he could see that me, instead of the obvious me, then he'd realize.

I'd like to change just like "that!" but it would be kinda hard to explain why I was suddenly acting so friendly and open... Especially now that we've both said such personal things to each other...

Misty yawned; her eyes were dry now, but somewhat chapped from the sleep beginning to hang around them. She rubbed it away with her hands and blinked. All of that stupid crying had tuckered her out... She was tired enough to ignore the fact that she wasn't even laying in her bed. Actually, this chair was mighty comfortable at the moment...

Why did I have to open my mouth and complain? It's never enough to know that I'd made him happy, taking him out to that restaurant so that he could get a nice, poison-free meal... I know what he really thinks of my cooking... Who can blame him? I never would have eaten it, had I had a choice... I just don't know why he lied to me yesterday when I asked him what he thought.

There's no mistaking the misery I've been ladling to him. He'll probably get the first ferry outta here and then he'll be angry at me for a year or two and our relationship will die out and...

Okay, maybe I'm over-reacting.

But, he probably hates me now. It's just another cracked stepping stone that's gonna make it harder for me to reach forward to him and admit how much I...

Misty's head drooped onto her desk, her deep and even breathing the only evidence to the fact that she'd fallen asleep right there.

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"Stupid!" Ash muttered furiously to himself, his hands in his pockets along with the protruding candy-cane handle to Misty's umbrella as he walked back towards the gym. He didn't know why he was bothering; he had a distinct feeling that Misty would have locked him out for the night. In any case, "Why don't I just take a crack at her family and really get her mad at me!"

He kicked a pebble that had been laying "in his way", as he walked down the Cerulean Valley Road towards the bridge off leading to the gym. He didn't understand where his sudden outburst had come from. One moment Misty was criticizing his publicly humiliating display back at the buffet restaurant, the next his mouth was open and his voice was spouting out the many factors about Misty that had, at one point, greatly annoyed him.

It didn't really bother him anymore that she was a little mouthy, and demanding, and aggressive, and cooking-impaired... It was all part of the package you received when Misty was your best friend.

"...Pika?"

Oh, yea! He'd forgotten about Pikachu being there.

"Pikachu, were you awake when we were... You know... Shouting at each other?"

"Pika, Pikapi, chu ka pi chu pika."

Ash sweatdropped, "Yea, I guess... You're right... It would be kinda hard to sleep through that... But, don't you think that it was her fault? I mean, she just started biting my head off about all of my most interesting traits like they were the takes in some random horror movie--"

"--Pika, kachu pipipi!" Pikachu laughed slightly as he commented.

"That was real LOW, Pikachu; you shouldn't treat your friends like that!"

Both Pikachu and Ash became serious after his bristling statement.

"Pikapi, pika kachu pi pi chu."

"Yeah, I guess I had better go and try, at least." And Ash, sighing as he resigned to his fate, walked up the lawn to the front door, expecting that he was going to have to bang on it for a few hours before she actually let him in, and getting quite a shock when his fingers had barely brushed the knob before the door fell open and the key in the lock dangled freely, tapping against the surface, "Why would she leave the door open?!" He whispered furiously to himself, his mind in a state of slight panic (it was too late in the night for his alarm to be full-blown) as he threw open the door all the way.

Nothing greeted him, not even the ticking of a hallway clock. It was rather creepy when it was that dark and silent.

"Pikachu, do you smell any type of unfamiliar scents..?" Ash asked, just to be cautious, as he twisted the key in the knob and removed it, placing it on the small table next to the door.

Pikachu leapt off of Ash's shoulder, silently sniffing for a moment, before turning back towards Ash with a calm, relieved expression on his face.

"Pika, Pikapi." He shook his head and Ash let out a deep, easing breath.

"It must just be me, then. We'd better lock up and go to bed, Pikachu... I wanna try and make things up to her tomorrow..." Ash turned the lock from the inside of the hall, cautiously placing his hands in front of him in order to feel his way towards the staircase so that he wouldn't end up tripping over something and cracking his head open... Or at least stubbing his toe...

Upon reaching the upstairs landing, Ash looked down the hallway and saw a light contrasting from underneath Misty's door, turning a single, dark, bare strip of wooden-paneled floor to sweet honey-brown. He walked slowly forward, pressing his ear to her doorway and listening for any negative sounds coming from within.

None were apparent so Ash tried knocking hesitantly upon the entrance to her room, his breath bated slightly as he bit his lip, hoping against hope that Misty was a little calm and reasonable-enough to listen to him begging her for mercy. After a minute or so of no answer, Ash felt his heart beginning to race again. After all, even if she'd been ignoring him just because she was still angry, she would have had the heart (and ferocity) to yell, "Go away!"

What if Pikachu just hadn't been able to pick up a scent from forced entry downstairs, or if it had been masked? What if someone was inside of Misty's room right now, searching her belongings and holding her hostage, or else forcing her down onto her bed right now, gagging her so that she couldn't call him for help--

"Misty!" He threw open the access-way to be greeted by the least expectant of sights; Misty, slumped over her desktop, her face pressed against the pages of some anonymous book, her breath coming in small, even takes, and her room empty accept for the calm, innocent light of the table lamp beside her, "Oh... Heh, heh..." He whispered, realizing how awkward it would have been, had Misty actually woken up to his shout.

"Pika..?" Pikachu quirked one of his bright ears in question as he looked over Ash's shoulder at the calm, almost sweet, scene before him, "Pikachu pika kachu."

"Yea, that does look kinda uncomfortable for her, Pikachu... I'm gonna put her in her bed, so that she doesn't wake up tomorrow with a cracking neck." Ash stepped forward and bent down over Misty's silhouette, placing one of his arms under her bent knees and the other one under her neck, and lifted her from the chair. She was pretty light, but that didn't mean that she was the easiest thing to carry.

Ash stumbled a bit as he slipped her carefully under her blankets, making sure that she looked content before turning to leave. Heading back towards the door, his eyes fell upon her desk. He stepped forward to turn off her light... Before his eyes rested, once again, upon the vibrant red book that was her diary.

The pages were all ready open to a certain entry, and unbeknownst to him, his eyes were all ready scraping down the page. Try as he might, he couldn't stop himself from feeling somewhat interested in what Misty would have time to write when in such a negative mood; he had a strong notion that it was about him.

"...No visit from Ash could have been simply 'friendly'... I guess I don't really listen to myself when I get angry... Would have realized... What I say... Really hurts... What about him makes me act like that...? I act one way when I mean the other..." Ash stopped reading for a moment, his eyes swerving frantically over Misty's form as she shuddered out a single sigh and turned towards the wall; he rotated back and continued reading, "...Maybe, if he could see that me... Then he'd realize... I'd like to change... But it'd be kinda hard to explain... Why did I have to complain..? It's never enough to know that I'd made him happy... So that he could get a poison-free meal... I know what he thinks of my cooking..." Okay, that comment stung. And Ash had thought that his acting, no matter how little he DID act, had been quite good, "...I just dunno why he lied... There's no mistaking the misery I've ladled onto him... But he probably hates me now..." Ouch, ouch, and ouch. He couldn't believe that Misty would think, after a stupid, single fight, that he would just turn around and hate her! "...Just another stepping stone that's gonna make it hard for me to admit how much I..."

Ash backed away with a shuddering breath. He'd been holding it all through his second half of reading her diary entry. Now finished, he didn't think he'd ever be able to breathe again. She'd never finished writing, but something about her tone of hopeless misery, mingling with what could have been along the lines of hope and affection, from the text had made him think that she was about to put down how much she...

He gulped and raised his hand to turn off the light, looking carefully to see that Misty was still asleep; she was. Ash flicked the light switch and, looking longingly at the shadow of the book that the moon cast along the table, he picked it up again and closed it, placing it carefully under his arm.

Pikachu refrained from shouting out his master's name. No matter how wrong it was for Ash to be taking Misty's diary, it was even worse if he ended up waking her and hearing her scream bloody murder in the dead of night.

Once they'd stepped out into the hallway, Pikachu bit Ash's ear in order to get his attention, which had still been wandering blankly over the diary's past contents.

"Pikapi! Pikachu chu pi!"

"Shh! I know, Pikachu, but... I've gotta know what she thinks about me..! You have to understand; this could help ME understand!" Ash whispered urgently, holding the book closer to him and tip-toeing back down the hall.

"Pikapi..." Pikachu growled, not sure that he wanted to hear his master's excuses.

"Pikachu, I'm sorry; I know that it was wrong and everything but..." Ash huffed, trying to find the proper words, "Misty likes to write her feelings in truth in here! Everything she said to me earlier could all be a lie, just like her attitude towards me! I need to know what she really thinks, Pikachu! About me, about our friendship, even about herself! What she wrote sounded really depressed, and self-degrading and I..." He broke off as they exchanged dark looks of resolution in the darkness, "Look, I'll read a few of the passages that seem about us and then I'll sneak the book back into her room and put it on her desk before she wakes up in the morning! She'll never know!" Pikachu threatened to Thundershock him, "I'm not doing this just to invade her privacy... I'm doing it because she'll never tell me the truth on her own; she needs help with speaking about her feelings towards other people. I'll steer clear away from anything that has nothing to do with us."

Pikachu looked at him as though daring him to go through with this, to think of the consequences and do otherwise, but Ash's mind was set.

"Don't worry..."

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Post-Author's Notes: Whew! What a heated, yet somehow still boring, chapter! I know that much didn't happen in this one but the characters NEEDED an intervention. I'll make some "stuff" go on in the next chapter so that you readers won't be tempted to rip my head off.

In the meantime, review and tell me what you think of the fic so far!