Ups and Downs (An Eeveelution story/Pokemon drama)

Chapter 15: Where is Sakura?

Niko was taking a nap by the fire in the living room. It felt warm and wonderful as he dozed off in peace. 

Hooman and Randi had just gone out to do some errands. The eeveelutions had eaten their dinner, and now it was time to wind down for the night. They were all in the living room except for Kage, Mirai, Raiden and Sakura. 

Hoshi saw that Haruki and Yuki were asleep on the leather couch next to each other. They both had expressions of contentment on their faces, and Hoshi smiled herself. It was nice to see both of her best friends together. To her surprise, Mizu and Seika seemed to be getting along in a similar way, it was like everyone was falling in love...except her. 

She couldn't seem to shake the thought of romantic loneliness from her head. Hoshi was a sylveon, she wanted...no, she needed to bond with another pokémon. She wished she were more independent like Kage or Seika, who didn't seem like they cared whether or not they loved somebody, but Hoshi was a very caring pokémon who needed someone to care for, and it was like an empty hole, or a shadow. 

"Where is Mirai?" asked Mizu, interrupting Hoshi's thoughts, "I haven't seen her since noon."

"I don't know, maybe she's hiding someplace. She and Kage sort of had an argument, I think she just wants to be left alone," said Seika. 

"What?"  said Hoshi, a little too loud. 

"Oh, you didn't know? Apparently, Kage said he wasn't sure about being Mirai's mate and said he wanted to "wait on it". He can be such a jerk sometimes," said Seika. 

Hoshi was still processing the information. Kage was questioning his relationship with Mirai? Why?  "I mean...it's his life. If he needs more time to be certain about being someone's mate for life, than he deserves it," she said. 

"But they've been together for months! I don't want to see my sister brokenhearted by someone who took way too long to let her down," said Mizu. He cared a lot about his twin. 

"Mizu, one, I said no more fights, two, we don't know anything about it!" said Hoshi, defensively. 

"Why are you siding with him all of a sudden?" said Mizu, suspicious of her. 

"I'm not, I just don't think you're being fair to him!" said Hoshi. Then she raced into the hallway to look for Kage. 

"What was that all about?" asked Seika, in confusion. 

"I don't know," said Mizu, "But it's not like her."

~

It had been so long since Mirai had felt so alive. She and Raiden came through the eevee door from the front door, that had just been installed by Randi. 

Yuki ran straight to them. "Niko is getting worried, none of us are able to find Sakura, did she go with you two?" her voiced quivered. It was clear that she was frantic. Mirai couldn't imagine how Kage and Hoshi were feeling, though she could have checked if she wanted to know. 

"I'm not the one irresponsible enough to lose an eevee!" said Mirai, throwing another passive-aggressive insult at Yuki. 

"Mirai...that's enough," said Raiden, keeping her in check. "Yuki is worried, you don't need to criticize her now."

"Sorry..." said Mirai feeling bad, she really needed to back off of Yuki sometimes. "Where did you see her last?"

"It's fine," said Yuki, and Mirai was surprised at how quickly she forgave her, "She was training with Hoshi and Kage last I heard."

"Hoshi...and Kage?" said Mirai, wondering why the two were even collaborating training the eevees. Didn't they not get along? Was there something she didn't know? Shaking away the thought, Mirai tried to focus on Sakura.