We could be forever- chapter 39

~Kyouhei~

The pokemon Center?

Sure.

Hyuu sent me the message after I so easily conquered the ground gym leader, Clay. I just managed to finish this battle which mean I had five badges now—far more than what I imagined I could ever get.

It was crazy to think that my first battle with Roxie had caused me such turmoil. I was so scared of harming my pokemon that I simply didn’t have faith in them, and now I looked down upon Kukui, who was battered but far from broken, and smiled a genuine smile. Things were… going good. For the first time in a while I had to stop and think about just how lucky I was to have things working in my favor.

“You did good Kukui.” I held her ball in my hands. “Do you want to rest here until we get to the Center?”

She shook her head, wiping a smidge of blood from her mouth. I didn’t like walking with her when she was hurt because it made me look like a cruel trainer, but she wasn’t exactly willing to go in the ball. She looked like she was happy as hell to be able to sport her battle wounds—I never thought upon finding this pokemon, that she would be such a good fighter. It was interesting to say the least… to be able to watch pokemon grow like that.

Huko was getting stronger every day as well, and though he only played a small part in this battle against Clay’s ground type pokemon, he fared well and was proud of himself. That’s all I could truly ask for. Hageshi was in no need of fighting this battle so he was tucked safely in his ball, though I felt like maybe he needed some fresh air soon. After I healed Kukui and Huko I should let them all out for a good training session—Hyuu would probably be willing since he had two battles to now fight.

We approached the pokemon center slowly, walking on the cement path lined by grass and few sparse trees that had all died within the chill the other day. It had dropped to a temperature so low that pipes almost had time to freeze, and then luckily it went back to normal, though it threw a wrench in natures system and ended up killing a lot of foliage. The dreary city looked even drearier in this instance.

“Kyouhei!” I reverted before reaching for the door handle, a strange vibrating electric shock sparking in my chest as I saw that Hyuu was running up the path, a goofy grin in his face as always—only he looked rather tired from what I could see.

We talked for so long last night… just catching up on what we had missed of each other, and then of course discussing the Team Plasma issue. Despite the fear and the anger I had towards Hyuu I realized that this wasn’t something I wanted to hold a grudge against. Hyuu could love me all he wanted, but as long as he was ok with me NOT loving him then no big deal. He was still my friend.

“Waar?” I looked down in surprise to see Kukui gripping my pantleg, and then slowly releasing it as I scowled at her—that look in her eyes. Like a love struck puppy. I sighed as she darted away from me, yelling out to Alec, who I happened to notice evolved.

Hyuu hadn’t said anything about evolving Alec… but, judging by the shit eating grin on his face I could tell that he had done it purposefully as a surprise. He looked so proud of his pokemon, and had every right to be—though it made me flinch internally for some reason.

“Kyou.” Hyuu stopped in front of me, smiling down at the embrace Alec had on Kukui—it was a little disturbing in my opinion… but then again how could I sit there and say that I hated it? Kukui looked utterly happy.

I forced a small smile on my face, thinking that maybe Hyuu looked a little different to me… but still the same in a sense of awkward.

“Hey.” I swallowed, reaching down into my bag where I put my badge case. “Look what I got.”

Hyuu shook his head, excited over such a sparkling new item nestled next to the other four badges. He was jealous, I could see it in his eyes, but he was determined too. Inspired maybe? I never thought anyone could be inspired by me, especially with battling.

“You’re way too far ahead!” He snorted. “Alec! Come on we’re going to battle Clay!”

Alec sheepish and embarrassed released Kukui, who looked as if her greatest wish had just come true. I eyed her suspiciously.

“Wott Deowt!” Alec barked, his eyes rolling as Hyuu snapped his fingers at the pokemon. “Come on you have a job to do.”

“And Kukui need to rest.” I added, reaching down and scooping up my pokemon like I used to when she was smaller. They sent each other a disappointed and longing look.

“Oh and…” I turned back to Hyuu. “We’re staying in the hotel down the street. I’ll be there whenever you finish your battle.”

Hyuu nodded in agreement. “Perfect~”

……….

~one week later~

~Hyuu~

“A—Another cold spell.” I shivered, tucking my nose into my jacket. “I—I wonder how close Team Plasma is.”

Kyouhei was in a pretty horrible mood for some reason today, though I hadn’t asked why and I was afraid to try and comfort him (even though I really wanted to), so my words felt hesitative, as if he would turn and bite my face off if given the slightest reason to.

“I fucking hate the cold.” He snarled as the water on the ceiling fell in clumps of slush. “A—and this wet suit is just holding it all in.”

I glanced at him crossly, seeing that his face was a shade of dark pink because of the cold, and his eyes were shut as if he was in pain. Wetsuits were designed to hold in moisture and keep you warm in the chilly oceans, but when it was just cold air they retained no heat.

We were nearly threw Chargestone cave when the cold set in, and it was almost pointless to keep moving on. With no signal on our pokegears and no clue how far we were from getting out of here we decided to take a chance and settle down for the night.

The cave was very dark, only illuminated by the brilliant blue stones that seemed to be few and far between—just barely enough to give us light when we were walking. Though we set up camp next to one so that we would have enough light to see and that we could keep an eye out for wild pokemon that might come a bit too close. Kyouhei let Hageshi out at this point and the giant snake was just as irritated as the rest of us. It made me uneasy, though Kyouhei swore he wouldn’t do anything to hurt me—he was out to scare the wild ones away.

Huko also came out, but only for a short period of time to light us a fire because this place was so dank that it was cruel to make a fire pokemon endure it for our own selfish needs.

However despite the cold though, this whole place was brilliant and beautiful and I couldn’t believe just how utterly lucky we were to see it. How many other trainers walked this path for generations, stopping here to bask in the glory of such awesome stones?

“Fu—Fuck!” Kyouhei hunched forward, holding himself as chills shook him through to the core. We had blankets, but we had to lay one down so that the icy ground wouldn’t freeze us through our sleeping bags, so now he was wrapped up in the smaller one which really wasn’t doing any good. I had a heavier jacket so I didn’t have the blanket on me. Plus I was a little more used to cold weather because I knew how to snowboard and spent a large portion of my childhood going up to Twist Mountain in the winter to do so.

“M—maybe we should…” I swallowed, looking at the way his held his hands cupped over his face. Was he ignoring me? I didn’t want to suggest we cuddle because he would flip out…but in all honesty it seemed like a good solution. And it seemed better than suggesting he take off his wetsuit (since the only other clothes he brought were a pair of sweats and jeans (jeans didn’t retain heat at all and the sweats were tattered at this point).

Kyouhei looked up at me suspiciously, his eyes reverting around as if he knew what I was thinking—my face grew hot at his anger.

“Fine.” He muttered through chattering teeth.

“Wai—wait what?”

“But if I don’t wa—warm up, I—I’m punching you.” Kyouhei didn’t look me in the eyes as he pushed up off the ground. “A—and I’m not staying  on the cold floor.”

Heart hammering in my chest Kyouhei perched himself over me, not giving me the chance to even brace myself before he slipped down into my lap, forcing my back up against the cave wall where it really was unbearably cold. I flinched for a second, about to tell him no when I realized that this was everything I had ever dreamed of (except for maybe making passionate love to him). Teeth chattering he laid his head on my shoulder, his hands bringing forward the blanket that was around him so that he could drape it over both of us—my stomach coiled and jumped with angry butterfree at the action.

Kyouhei was small… I realized it for the hundredth or so time when he sat on me. He was lanky and short and had a slender frame that was almost too precious to hold. I didn’t want to say I felt like I would break him, but I wanted to admit how fragile he was. I was afraid to touch him, and yet every vein in my body screamed for it.

Ever so softly I raised my hands, closing my eyes as Kyouhei began to relax, his body succumbing to the warmth of mine—It was probably because I was so embarrassed did my body feel so hot.

“K—Kyouhei…” I whispered, my hands hovering above his back. “Ca—can I hold you?”

“No.”

I sighed, letting my eager hands fall to my sides again. Kyouhei would never give me the time of day would he? He would never allow me to love him… so I shouldn’t even care enough to do this. I didn’t have to let him sit on me right now, but what killed me was I loved it so much—the simple way he took advantage of me—that I couldn’t push him away. I couldn’t begin to negotiate the things I do for him, because I wanted to do them… even if he hurt me when he wouldn’t let me do anything more.

“Mmn.” Kyouhei pushed his cold nose into my neck as if to tease me. “I hate this.”

“You hate everything.” I mumbled sadly.

“It shouldn’t be this fucking cold.”

I sighed feeling both my butt and my back growing numb from where they touched the stone. Our tiny fire was not holding up well because there was very little timber to use and the rock was too damp anyways.

“Try and calm down… it will probably pass soon.”

“Why is your heart beating so fast?” Kyouhei barked then, pulling his face away from me and pushing against my shoulders. His milky brown eyes seemed to turn a creamy light grey in the glow of the stones, and they made my stomach jump again.

“I—I don’t know.” I bit my lip, trying not to let my stomach lead to other places—I could NOT get hard now. That would go over like a fart in church.

Kyouhei’s eyes narrowed though he said no more as he rested his face back into the pocket of my shoulder. I shivered.

“I—I’m sorry.” I sounded choked. “I know you don’t want me to love you… b—but I can’t stop my heart from racing.”

He was silent as I spoke.

“A—are you warm?”

Again he didn’t speak, not wanting to answer my question when the answer was already there. He was getting warmer because he was slowly getting over the shakes and chills throughout his body.

“I don’t love you.”

My heart sank further into the reality pit that it had been for so long now—of course he didn’t love me. He made that quite clear.

“And I don’t know why you love me.”

I was about to open my mouth and tell him that love was something that couldn’t be explained, and that somehow it just happened. I was going to tell him that it was the night he walked out of the ocean and I saw him with the moon on his skin. That that night was when I fell for him and that I hadn’t been the same since.

“But if you want to then fine.”

“Wa—what?” I blinked as he hid his face further from my view. If I didn’t know any better I would even say that he was turning hot from being embarrassed himself. My insides all seemed to leap at the same time, and my voice wasn’t coherent as he grumbled.

“Hold me if you want.”

“I—I—

Stumbling over my own words I pulled my hands up, setting them on his thighs first and pushing them up at his hips, feeling the lean muscle there—probably developed from his ability to surf so well. I brought them forward, hidden under the blanket we both shared and wrapped my arms around his back. My heart was ready to burst in my chest as Kyouhei seemed to shrivel within me.

“Is this ok?” I rest the side of my head against his, breathing in his natural ocean smell.

Ever so slightly he nodded.