My Amour

Honey-Blonde Hair

Ash was acting... strange.

Not to say Ash wasn't usually strange. He was one of the weirdest boys that Lillie had ever met, in a good way. He got into all sorts of unusual encounters (Who just went and fought an Island Guardian?) which were jarring at first, leaving Lillie floundering, but she eventually learned to just go with the boy's strange rhythm.

All in all, unusual things seemed to happen to Ash all the time. But no matter what happened, he was never one to be nervous.

Which is why Lillie was so surprised by his behavior that day at school.

The day went normally enough, until a lesson from Kukui on feeding Pokémon. It was the last period of the day, and Lillie was daydreaming about how she fed her Vulpix when she heard a noise.

A rhythmic tapping, so quiet that Lillie was sure that she was the only one who could hear it. She began to scan around the room, looking for the source of the sound until she spotted it.

In his seat, Ash was fidgeting.

Now, that wasn't an unusual behavior for Ash. If he was itching for a battle, or really wanted to comment on whatever he knew on the lesson Kukui was talking about (He was quite knowledgeable) he would fidget around, trying his best not to speak up in the middle of the lesson.

This was different.

Ash was playing with his hands, something he never did. He was tapping on his desk, and staring. Lillie curiously followed his eyes, and saw that he was staring at... the clock?

Weird.

Lillie glanced once more, and saw Ash's bag propped beside his desk, already packed.

Moments later, the bell rang and Ash leapt out of his seat, dashing towards the door. He almost made it too, but was stopped by an arm thrown out by the professor.

"And where," Professor Kukui said, with a playful look on his face, "do you think you're going?"

Ash shifted from one foot to the other, clearly trying to think of something that wasn't the truth.

"I, well... was craving... curry! And I wanted to hurry and grab the ingredients so we could have it for dinner tonight!" Ash smiled, proud of his quick thinking no doubt. Knowing his appetite, it was possible that craving curry wasn't a complete lie.

The Professor gave him a slight once over for a moment, like he was trying to see if it was a good enough excuse for whatever Ash obviously had planned after school. His features then settled back into a smile, and he pulled his arm back.

"We'll then you'd better get going, my all-star curry recipe needs a few hours to stew!"

Ash grinned, shot the professor a thumbs up, and dashed out the door.

The professor's smile instantly morphed into a quizzical look. One that Lillie at that same moment was sharing as she stared at the spot Ash had just been.

~~~

She shouldn't follow him. If Ash had wanted any of his classmates to come, he would've insisted on it. He wasn't one to do anything alone unless he wanted to be alone.

These were the things Lillie told herself as she followed Ash from twenty feet behind, ducking behind bushes whenever he nervously looked around.

So she couldn't help it. Oh well. The whole situation reminded her way too much of her mother's tendency to hide and avoid, and this was a rare situation where she could act on her urge to find out what was being hidden from her.

So sue her.

So Lillie followed Ash, and after a lot of ducking and weaving, hiding in bushes and apologizing to her poor Vulpix for having to endure the tough ride, Ash finally stopped at his destination.

A convenience store.

...huh. Pretty normal.

After one last look around, he ducked inside. Lillie hurried in behind him, carefully ducking behind shelving and peeking around corners until she finally spotted her friend.

Looking at magazines.

Lillie pulled back behind her cover slightly, and drank in the scene before her.

Ash was standing completely still. His eyes were on a magazine that he had in his hands, and his eyes were strained.

Hurt. She realized. His eyes looked hurt.

Whatever he was looking at was hurting him, but he also just wouldn't look away.

He stood like that for an agonizing minute before Pikachu nuzzled his face, causing him to snap out of his trance and give a raspy laugh.

"I'm alright Pikachu, promise"

But even Lillie knew it was a lie. The smile he gave didn't reach anywhere close to the grief in his eyes.

Pikachu didn't buy it either.

The mouse Pokémon responded by giving his trainer a deadpan look, then a light shock of electricity.

Ash shouted, "Hey!" Ash shouted, then retaliated by flicking his Pokémon on the forehead. They were both truly laughing now, and Lillie looked away, feeling like she was intruding on a rather intimate moment.

Eventually, the two calmed down and went around the store picking up curry ingredients, coming back around to pick up the magazine.

Lillie stayed in her hiding spot until she heard them leave, then dashed over to the magazine rack to see which one Ash had been looking at. She reached it to find...

A contest magazine.

"Young Prodigy Takes Hoenn!" Was plastered across the cover, along with a picture of a girl with honey-blonde hair and striking blue eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary with it. Just another pretty contest girl with a dazzling smile.

Lillie quickly flipped through the magazine, looking for any kind of sob story or obituary. Anything to explain the look on Ash's face.

But there was nothing. It was just a tabloid on contest stars.

Lillie left the store and walked home, pondering what could've given Ash that look on his face. Maybe he'd been a competitor in contests before, but one day gave up that dream? But knowing Ash, he definitely would've mentioned something like that.

Lillie went home that day with more questions than answers.

It was all so weird.