Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Just to Satisfy ❯ Spring Cleaning ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: I do not claim any of the Pokemon characters used in this chapter, because they are all property of Satoshi Tajiri and I haven't stolen the rights from him yet. I bet he has people try that all the time, actually; probably has to have bodyguards and stuff.

 

 

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Kitty had assumed that she would get used to Gengar's strange behavior eventually and develop a routine to ignore his antics-if she didn't kill him first. She was disappointed to find out that she was dead wrong.

 

Walking down the path towards the bridge that connected her to town, she hadn't expected to be caught alone by the ghost a second time in the past month and was regretting her decision to tell Sakura to have a day off. I almost ordered her to relax, actually, and now I'm wishing I had let her talk me out of it. Why are good deeds always punished? She cast him a glare that clearly showed how aggravated she was with his presence as her pace quickened in hopes of leaving him behind, but he simply took longer strides to keep walking alongside her as his smile expanded into an arrogant smirk. She huffed quietly. “I don't think you're getting the hint, Gengar. Leave me alone.”

 

“Kekeh, I'm getting it, don't worry. I'm just choosing to ignore it.” When she groaned rather loudly at his statement, he snickered before asking lightly, “So where's your BFF this time?”

 

“Your lackeys?” They seemed to have this exchange often, for some reason.

 

“Slow to wake up,” he answered with a scoff before giving her an expectant stare, and she sighed halfhearted before she decided that she might as well tell him the truth. He'll figure it out eventually, anyways. No point in hiding it.

 

“She's on a holiday.” As he nodded in deep thought, the gears kicking into high-gear in his head, she mentally grimaced before informing him of the day's plans with the hope that the long list of tedious chores and such would scare him away. “I'm off to help Kangaskhan organize her storage, dust the kecleon brothers' shelves and any odd jobs that the villagers need. Then I have a simple escort mission in Great Canyon that shouldn't take too long, an item delivery for a gummi fanatic, and I'll finish up the day by going to the other members of the team to distribute missions. Then, hopefully, I'll get a good night's sleep.” She closed her mouth when she had finished reciting her schedule, suddenly feeling like she had talked too much, only to open it again to tentatively ask him, “What about you?”

 

He had seemed entertained by her busy day and unexpectedly talkative mood, and his amusement showed in his voice as he answered casually, “Well, I was going to go do some rather boring missions with my team, but now I think I'd rather spend time with you.” He was expecting her shocked squeak and grinned at the way her mouth opened and closed without forming any words. “Your day sounds a lot more fun, kekekeh.”

 

Kitty was horrified to find her plan had completely backfired on her, and her indignation was evident in the way her voice was shrill when she finally managed to ask incredulously, “What?!”

 

“We can split the profits,” he went on as if he hadn't heard her, starting to count on his claws as if already calculating his income while she spluttered huffy nonsense. “I'm sure that'll help things move along faster, too. Kekeh, I'll go warn my teammates that they'll be wandering by themselves for the rest of the day.” He gave her a conspiratorial wink before setting off to inform Ekans and Medicham of the change in plans, but not before calling back to her smugly, “Don't worry, I won't be gone long!”

 

She scowled and gave him a fierce “Take your time!” as she wondered ironically about Blade's absence. Aren't absol supposed to be able to sense oncoming disasters? Where is he, then? She laughed quietly and grimaced when it sounded bittersweet, and her heavy sigh showed her exhaustion even in the early hours of the morning. “And here I was hoping today would be productive . . .” Dragging her feet into town and kicking every pebble she came across, she approached the cheery owner of storage and mumbled sourly, “Good morning, Kangaskhan.” She was beginning to regret waking up today, and she wondered idly if she could pull off a faint and sleep through the rest of the day.

 

“Well, don't sound too excited,” the mother muttered, then cocked her head to the side and asked curiously, “What's the matter? Are you tired?”

 

Kitty sighed and walked around the counter to glance at the shelves filled with bins that she was supposed to sort-now with Gengar's help. “Ignoring the irritating sunlight, I unfortunately have a helper today.”

 

“Oh, that's wonderful!” When the fox only scowled, the normal-type placed her claws on her hips and scolded her lack of appreciation for the additional help. “Otherwise, you and I would have to do this all by ourselves! Any help is welcome.”

 

She rolled her eyes at the motherly pokemon's misguided scolding. “Well, yeah, but not when it's a certain ghost-type that's been acting really weird lately.”

 

“Oh, you'll be fine,” Kangaskhan disagreed with a short shake of her head before handing her one of the bins on the very top and started to instruct her on the organization system she used. By the time Gengar returned, she had already started working, and she refused to look at him as the owner of the storehouse turned to greet him warmly and thank him for his help. “I'm sure Kitty is grateful, too,” she added, giving the dark-type a stern look before explaining what they were doing, and the smug grin he gave to Kitty made her want to smack him-when Kangaskhan wasn't watching, of course. They took down bins, rummaged through them and reordered the items there according to kind, size and use, and it was mostly quiet except for the occasional question from either of the assistants when they were unsure of an object's placement. During this time, Kitty had plenty of time to fume over the events that had conspired that morning to ruin her day, and by the time they had all finished with their respective side of the hut she had childishly decided it was all Gengar's fault. I need someone to blame. Grumbling darkly to herself, she barely nodded at the normal-type's farewell and scowled when “and thank you, Gengar” was added as an afterthought.

 

He clapped his hands together eagerly, seeming to have enjoyed the change of pace the chore had provided. “Right. What's next, Kitty?” He turned to her with a glint in his eyes that she didn't appreciate, and she grimaced when he remembered what she had said earlier. “Oh! The kecleon brothers, that's right. Kekekeh, well, let's go!” He strode on ahead, not seeming to notice how she lagged behind as he hummed a cheery tune to himself that sounded oddly familiar. Shaking her head and deciding to just bear with it, she caught up to him just as he finished explaining things to the brothers-who looked reasonably anxious at the thought of letting him near their wares. Finally, someone's acting like they should around here.

 

“Don't worry,” she reassured the kecleon as she pushed into the shed behind them, “he won't steal anything. I'll keep an eye on him.”

 

Gengar smirked and followed her into the shed, asking mischievously, “You'll be watching me, eh? Kekeh, I was waiting for you to notice how handsome I am.” He cackled at her skeptical huff and stepped forward to grab the orb from her, explaining when she glared at him, “Keh, wouldn't want you hurting yourself on my watch.”

 

“How backwards,” she mumbled as she sourly dragged a box of TMs away so she could clear its place of dust, but stopped when she heard a soft snort from beside her and glanced at the ghost with a scowl. “What?”

 

He raised an eyebrow at her hostility and calmly asked, “When have I ever hurt? You make it sound as if I used to beat you up or something.” She narrowed her eyes at his words, and his mouth twitched in amusement before he challenged her, “Kekeh, go ahead. Name one time when I hurt you-physically.”

 

She gritted her teeth as her first example, ruining her reputation, was eliminated by the specific condition. “Alright, well . . .” She trailed off when nothing came to mind immediately to rebuke him, and Gengar watched her with a satisfied smirk on his face as she struggled with her memories. After a while of leaving her sentence unfinished, she perked up and answered energetically, “Team Foxfire's first day, when you forced your way into our mailbox. You-”

 

He raised a claw to stop her, and as she fumed over his interruption he coolly countered, “But I pushed Sakura aside, not you. You were standing away from the mailbox. And no,” he quickly added when she looked like she was going to protest, “hurting her doesn't count as hurting you.” He chuckled at her growl of frustration and leaned against a shelf, crossing his arms smugly as he appeared to be triumphant. “Kekeh, face it, Kitty, I haven't laid a claw on you. Not once have I hurt a single hair on your pretty little head!”

 

Scoffing at his compliment before furrowing her eyebrows in deep concentration, her efforts were rewarded as an incident did come to mind-she quickly turned on him and contradicted his claim, pointing out proudly, “What about when we were both looking for Metapod? You attacked us towards the end, and I especially remember how you decided a lick attack was appropriate for the situation.” She grimaced at the disturbing memory, remembering how disgusted she had been as she used her pecha scarf after the battle to wipe away the remaining saliva on her. “So ha!”

 

His eyebrows flew up at the reminder, as if the memory had completely escaped him until she brought it up, but then he gave a soft, surprised laugh as his confident demeanor returned. “I admit, you've got me there. I remember how you tasted like a hairball.” Smirking at her noise of resentment and laughing louder this time, he then put a claw to his face as if scratching his chin in thought as he mumbled distractedly, “Maybe a move like sweet kiss would have been more appropriate . . .”

 

Kitty choked on air at the mad suggestion. “N-no, it wouldn't have. I would've just kicked you even harder.” She tried to get the mental image out of her mind as quickly as she could, but a shuffling sound distracted her as she turned her head to see what he was doing-only to have his claw tucked beneath her chin and force her to stare into his face with wide eyes. “W-what-”

 

He smirked at her panicked confusion, and he dropped his voice to a whisper so the kecleon brothers outside wouldn't be able to hear him if they were eavesdropping. “I wonder . . . what would you do if I kissed you now?” His fingers twitched slightly as he watched her expression for something, and after he seemed to find what he was looking for, he mulled over it for what felt like an eternity before releasing her with a cheeky grin. She backpedaled so quickly that she stumbled over her own feet and accidentally kicked an orb across the room, causing it to react and explode with a flurry of wind that unsettled many of the items in their storage boxes. Alarmed by the sharp sound of breaking glass, the older brother poked his head into the hut and examined the shattered remains of a blowback orb with disdain, looking to Kitty for an explanation.

 

“I'll pay for that,” she whispered miserably.

 

Turning back to the shelf and swabbing the thick layer of dust with his finger, Gengar examined how dirty it became before telling her smoothly, “We've got a lot of work to do. Kekeh, we better get paid handsomely!” She could only nod mutely, ears and tail drooping in despair as she tried to work as far away from him as possible in the small hut. She missed Sakura.

 

 

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Theme: Dead Wrong

 

Lots of dragon-y love (and cookies!),

~DL (“Dragon Lover”)