Hearts Intertwined By Fire

Musashi houses secret feelings for Nyarth and Nyarth does the same. They just don't know that they love each other. When one cold night pushes Nyarth to his breaking point, Musashi takes it upon herself to help him, making them both realize just what they mean to each other.

Kojiro was mad, he really was. Though he really shouldn't be. Them losing to the twerps and Pikachuu was a normal occurrence in their daily lives now. Even Musashi, who normally was the one to be off the walls being angry had calmed down a few hours after they had gotten blasted off again. But Kojiro, for some reason was still mad about it.

Maybe it was because it was one of those rare times where he had an idea that he came up with by himself and he felt like it was unstoppable. Only when it was defeated and destroyed by the very ones they had been following for more years than they could count did he find himself being sucked in with the anger and being unable to contain it, even longer than Musashi could.

After he had had his 'raging fit', as Nyarth liked to call it, he simply did not speak to the other two as they sat by the fire which was crackling in front of them. It was silent, none of them daring to speak, none wanting to be the victim to any of the others' rage or annoyance.

Kojiro was sitting on his own side of the fire, just staring into it, as if nothing else was there, just the fire and his thoughts. Musashi had been on her own side, alone, until Nyarth had joined her on her side, probably not wanting to give James the chance to lash out at him. That mostly had been happening to Musashi. Nyarth, wisely, she would give him that, kept his distance, wanting to give the blue-haired man his space to let him cool himself down.

But in the silence, it allowed Musashi to think, something she normally didn't do, except when they were in these short times where silence would befall the three of them. She would be the first to admit that she knew that she often times acted first before thinking and would usually have to live with the aftermath of whatever it was. Normally, it had something to do with their plans to get Pikachuu but never did she admit to that, not when the other two were already angered and annoyed enough after their continued failings.

But then Nyarth had sat besides her, his gaze not focused on anything. If anything, he was looking into the woods around them, like he expected something to pop out at them. Maybe he was right to be careful, they didn't know exactly where they were in the first place anyways and anything at all could be in the forests of the Kalos region.

But the moment he sat besides her, her thoughts were immediately cut off by a strange little feeling inside of her. She felt this a lot more than she cared to admit. The feeling would spring up whenever the scratch cat would be besides her, and even looking at him could cause it to come up. But what it was, she didn't know. Any other time, she would be unable to think about it but now she actually had nothing else to do but think.

She hadn't always felt the feeling. But maybe she had because only a few years back did she actually notice it. When exactly, she could not recall but she did remember as to when the feeling had been at it's strongest point.

It was when they were in Unova, not anything like their usual selves and actually taking everything seriously, even going far enough to do dangerous missions without even thinking about it. It was when they decided to embark on their Ghost Train mission and, knowing that the twerps and Pikachuu were going to be there when they were going to launch their plan, they all decided to let Nyarth make up the story that he was kicked out of and left behind by Roketto-dan. It would allow him to join the twerps, gain their trust, get the Pokemon into the Pokemon centre and steal them and all of the pokeballs by throwing them through the air ducts.

It was simple enough. All three of them knew that the story was false and that they would never do that to Nyarth but when he left, she felt sort of... empty. Maybe Kojiro noticed it, maybe he didn't. It didn't matter because at the time, they were too busy getting the Ghost Train ready to notice each others' behavior but Musashi did notice her own behavior, and it scared her to say the least.

Nothing really scared Musashi. Maybe dying or being permanently separated from her best friends but this feeling was so strong when Nyarth was gone that it almost overtook her. But the moment that he had returned, the moment he lept down that air duct and right in front of them, the feeling subsided, only a little bit.

They remained professional and although they did share a moment after their failure, the feeling had told her to do something that she reasonably resisted. She wanted to rush to him and hug him like she was afraid she had lost him. She knew he would return and plus, hugs just weren't her thing. So then why did such an urge flow through her entire being right at that moment?

Flinging her mind back to reality, she realized only then as to how cold the air around them was. It wasn't shivering temperature just yet but it would no doubt turn to that point in maybe less than an hour. It was only then did the warmth of her friend besides her actually become noticed by herself. And right when she noticed how close they actually were, the feeling from long ago sprang back into her being.

Hesitantly, she looked down at him, as he didn't notice, for he was still watching the trees around them, his eyes narrowed in determination to ensure that he could look out for danger without the aid of anybody else.

Looking at him just made that feeling grow a little bit and once more she felt the urge to wrap her arm around him and pull him closer to her body but once more, she resisted it. The feeling was no longer seen as just a one time thing from being separated from one of her best friends for a few days but as an actual thing that she needed to figure out. But it was just so strange that she didn't know what to do, she didn't even know as to what to think.

Never did she feel this way towards Kojiro or anyone else for the matter. No, it was only Nyarth. Only the crazy, determined, stubborn, joking, loyal, smart, caring, soft, cute-

Wait, what?

Cute? Now where did that thought come from?

Nyarth was crazy, not insane, but he did come up with some wild ideas. Ideas that both Musashi and Kojiro often agreed with anyways. He was also one of the most determined people and Pokemon she knew. Unless it was a literal Pokemon battle, he would never back down from a challenge, even if the odds of him coming out on top were low. That was one of the things she actually admired about him, though she would never admit to that, well except to herself.

Stubborn was exactly the reason as to why she often times buttheads with the feline whenever they had an argument. Like his determined state, he was also extremely stubborn and didn't take 'no' for an answer unless, of course, he was literally thrown into a wall. But even then, most times that only made him more stubborn to get his point across.

Nyarth had said that he was the joker of crime and she agreed with him the entire way through. He was a joker who often times came off as sarcastic or would pull a joke or pun without even thinking. And, although she hid it rather well, whenever he would do one of them, she would internally laugh at them, though why she always hid it was a mystery, even to her.

He was loyal, that had been proven so many times. Even when he had the many chances to leave them, to leave Roketto-dan, he never took the chance. And if he did, he always bounced back, stating that he could never leave his best friends and his life's cause. He was loyal to Roketto-dan. He was loyal to Kojiro. He was loyal to himself. And he was loyal to Musashi.

He was smart, he had to be to have been able to teach himself how to walk bipedal and to talk but that didn't top his knowledge on technology and the many daily things in life and the world around them. He being a Pokemon also made him know literally everything about Pokemon, and his ability to understand and translate what the Pokemon were saying was smarter than anyone else she had ever met was. Sure, he wasn't the smartest in the world and he often did many stupid things but he was smart and that just made her think that he was more cute-

There it was again. What was that?

He was caring and soft feline though. Underneath all of the tough and hardness of his character, he was indeed, a caring and soft person. He hid it very well, most of the time. He was able to hide his emotions, even when he was simply about to explode. Very few times had she seen him reduced to tears but each and every time... That feeling would just want her to pull him into a hug and not let go until his tears were reduced to nothing.

But, like always, she could never bring herself to do that. But he was caring, rarely not helping one of them if they needed it, even when they would refuse his help. Despite anything they would do or say to him, he still cared. And that just made the feeling grow stronger.

He was soft. That could be taken two ways and both shone a light onto his very being. To the touch, he was soft. Each and every small time she would actually be able to touch him, she had the urge to just pet him and let the soft feeling of his fur on her hands stay as she did so. If anything, she just wanted to be able to hold him, for him to actually like it and lean into her while doing so.

Okay, what was with these sappy thoughts? There was no way that would happen. Even if Kojiro was able to pet him a little bit on his head when the feline was near him but the lingering fact that she was never able to share the same moment with him, hurt. Yes, it hurt.

But again with the weird thoughts. Why was she thinking like this?

Nyarth was soft in the way that he could be angry one second and then calm and understanding the next. She had noticed this switch more than once. Most times they had to do with hurting Pokemon but they also slipped into that category of both Musashi and Kojiro. Like him being caring, he had a very obvious soft spot for his best friends.

Cute... It was a simple yet strong word and looking down at him now, she wondered just why the feeling would grow stronger and stronger the more she connected the word with Nyarth. She wanted to reach her hand out, to gently pet the top of his head but for some reason, she was... scared. She was scared of him jumping away from her or just downright rejecting her. That too would also hurt.

But she was immediately brought back to reality as Kojiro broke the silence they had been encased in for the past hour or so. He barely held any emotion in his voice as he finally spoke. "I'm going to bed. Do me a favour and don't wake me" He got up and from his seat and walked over to his large, blue sleeping bag and crawled into it, hugging it to himself in the process.

Musashi and Nyarth knew better than to say anything, let alone say anything to Kojiro.

It was only then did the temperature of the air really hit her. It was downright cold, to the point where she almost shivered. Almost. She knew that both Kojiro and Nyarth were awake and showing the sign of possible weakness in front of them was not something she was up to do anytime soon. No, she just took it and tried her best to ignore it.

The fire before them was dwindling to almost nothing now, letting the coldness really hit the two of them though she suspected that he was more protected from the cold what with his fur and everything.

It took only a few more minutes for Nyarth to speak as well, though more casually and more to himself than she was sure he had intended to do so. "Well, I guess I'm gonna go hit da hay as well" he said in his adorable little accent.

Okay, seriously, stop with the crazy thoughts already. Just stop!

Nyarth stood up and casually walked to his smaller, yellow sleeping bag and crawled inside of in, curling into a small ball within it.

It only took a few more minutes afterwards for Musashi to finally give into the cold. Ignoring another shiver within her body, she followed the others' leads as she found her magenta sleeping bag and climbed into it. It took only a few minutes for her to fall to sleep.

And then, she woke up.

The feeling. It was back. It had woken her up. There was something wrong.

Peeking her eyes open, she became immediately aware of the feline in the golden sleeping bag a little ways next to her. He was curled up in his bag but holding the cover off his head. He looked to be shivering now. Not just any kind of shivering though. It was shaking his entire body and even beginning to shake his bag.

The feeling was becoming stronger each and every second she stared at his shaking form. She felt the urge to pull him into her own bag, to let him share her warmth and to make him stop shivering. But how could she ever do that? He would think that she was crazy.

Eventually, Nyarth crawled out of his bag and Musashi immediately noticed that the normal confident and over-the-top glint in his eyes was gone, replaced by a frightened and hopeless one. The look was one she had to force herself to not react to. It reminded her too much of herself, when she was child.

He was careful as he approached Kojiro, who normally would be fine with allowing him to sleep besides him but this time, she knew it would not end very well.

And she was correct. When Nyarth had attempted to wake him up, he was met with an angry and annoyed response, not once, but two times. The first was just annoyed, telling Nyarth to go away but the second was more forceful and mean-spirited.

It had hurt Nyarth. That was clear as day. He knew that Kojiro was not in a good mood but completely taking that anger out on him for simply not wanting to freeze was a new low, even for him.

Flattening his ears against the top of his head and allowing his tail in fall limply to the ground, he sulked back to his sleeping bag and, very carefully, curled back into it, pulling the cover once more over his head as he tried to gather whatever extra warmth he could around his body.

Silence overtook the area before the muffled and faint whimpers and cries were able to be heard by Musashi. Kojiro had already fallen back to sleep.

Nyarth's cries were enough to make that feeling slip almost out of control. It told her to convince him to sleep with her. In more ways than one, she knew that this was the right thing to do. And she honestly had no real control over her actions, nor her emotions anymore.

Climbing out of her own sleeping bag, she became aware of the shivering cold in the air, which she immediately shivered upon feeling it. No wonder Nyarth was being pushed to tears from the cold. His bag was smaller than theirs' meaning it was without the amount of weight on it, making it lighter and not as warm. Even with his fur, it still wasn't enough to help him.

Carefully, she walked to his bag, kneeling down so that she was on his level. She hesitated. She could easily turn back now and move away but no, seeing him shivering and crying because of it reminded her too much of her experiences as a poor child who had also suffered from the cold and being unable to do anything about it but remain awake every night and cry herself to sleep, unsure if she would even wake up the next day or if she would freeze to death.

Now, she was seeing one of her best friends suffering the same way and more so that this strange feeling was causing her to want to help him more than ever. She knew what she had to do but she didn't know what the outcome would be.

Reaching her hand out she softly called his name, nudging him gently, something she rarely did, ever. "Nyarth. Nyarth, wake up" she said.

His muffled cries became silent as he seemed to tense up at her voice and her touch. Seconds felt like minutes as he slowly pulled the cover off of his head to gaze up at her, his ears still flattened to his head.

At first, she couldn't help but to stare. His eyes, a perfect shade of blue were one of the most beautiful things to look at, the only thing beating it being her own beauty, of course. She felt like she could stare into his eyes forever. But the fur below his eyes were stained with wet tears, some still threatening his eyes in general.

It took his voice to snap her out of her trance. "Mu-Musashi? What do ya want?" He spoke quietly as he struggled to not allow his voice to crack and falter in front of his hard-hearted friend.

His voice was also something she found herself becoming transfixed by. It held a slight accent but it still was enough to make her believe that it could be the one and only voice she could listen to forever and never grow tired of. She kind of wanted him to continue to talk, just so she could continue to listen to his voice. But she knew better than to do that.

She took a few moments to go over her answer, knowing there was no going back now for the feeling was completely taking over.

But Musashi did not respond in words. Instead, she responded by reaching her hand down to gently touch the back of his head, noticing him tense up at her rare, gentle touch. She knew that he was scared that she would hurt him or something and that fact alone hurt her more than anything.

Her hand touched his soft fur, though she resisted the strong urge to pet him. To the touch, he was soft but also cold, so cold she almost shivered again. She knew that her childhood self had been extremely cold at times but Nyarth felt like he was just going to turn into an ice cube at any given second. Sure, maybe she had felt that way before but seeing one of her best friends suffering the same way, she just couldn't stand it. He didn't deserve to suffer any more than he had already did, especially as a kitten.

"You're cold" Musashi stated. Nyarth simply gave the smallest of nods without speaking. Letting out a small sigh, she held her hand gently against the back of his head as she spoke once more. "Come sleep with me, Nyarth" she said softly.

His reaction was what she had expected but there was something... off by the way he reacted, like he really didn't mean it. "N-No, I-I can take care of maself" he said, a slight crack to his voice as he turned his head away from her gaze, probably to avoid her seeing the clear tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

He was literally crying because of the cold. He was being stubborn again. The feeling was growing stronger and stronger. It was like she no longer had control over her actions or her words. But that honestly didn't bother her too much.

"Please, Nyarth" This got his attention. His flattened ears pricked somewhat at the word. Please... Musashi rarely used that word and if ever, it was to be sarcastic or something like that. For her to actually use the word in a nice way and directed towards him, no less, was enough for his own judgement to freeze up, to the point where he had no idea as to what to do.

He turned back to her and looked up to meet her eyes, noticing her actual worry and understanding look. It was a new look in his friend and he had no idea what to make of it, hence why he did not answer her.

But he did not need an answer for Musashi carefully moved forward and gently picked the feline up. Normally, this action would be to probably throw him into a wall or something along those lines. But this time, she was careful with him, not sure as to how he would react to her action. But it was enough to make him turn his head to meet her eyes once more. Musashi had to force herself to not keep staring into his eyes.

She quietly picked her way back to her sleeping bag and placed Nyarth next to it. She climbed into it and pulled the cover back to look at the Pokemon who was watching her with curious and confused blue eyes. He seemed to be shivering more than ever now and seeing it caused the feeling to just grow and she had no control over it anymore.

"Come here, Nyarth" she softly urged, reaching her hand out into the cold towards him, beckoning him.

He stared at her, an uncertain glint filling his eyes. "A-Are ya sure, Musashi?" he asked carefully, unsure if this was a joke or not. If anything, he was confused by her sudden kindness towards him.

"Yes, come here" she responded gently.

He didn't react at first and simply stared at her confusingly, as if waiting for her to laugh and hurt him further by saying that it was a joke. It never came. The cold was already making him shiver even more and he couldn't stand it. He had no other choice. Trust Musashi and hope for the best or go back to his own sleeping bag and cry himself to sleep and possibly just freeze to death doing so.

Carefully, he crawled into the bag besides her and found himself unknowingly being drawn by his friend's body heat. Before he could think about it, he moved closer to her, an action he would normally be met with by being shoved away. Not even Kojiro would allow him to be that close to him.

He prepared himself, for the hurt and the shove that he was sure to come. He prepared for the cold once more and the kindness from Musashi replaced by annoyance and anger once more.

But it never happened.

If anything else, he expected her to just ignore him but her next action sent a wave of surprise throughout his body.

As he became closer to her, taking comfort in his friend's body heat that was helping to warm him, Musashi gently wrapped her arm around him and pulled him closer to her. The new sensation that spread throughout the feline's body at that given moment was so foreign that he had no idea what it was. All he knew was that it felt right and that all of this was alright. How he knew that, even he didn't know.

Musashi herself could feel that the feeling was at its' strongest point ever now. Nyarth was right next to her, pressed up against her with her arm draped over his body. She had done something nice for him and he liked it. But the feeling was not subsiding, nor did she want it to. This was probably the closest she had ever come to her feline friend and she wanted the moment to last as long as possible.

But her thoughts were interrupted by his soft voice. "Musashi, why are ya doin' dis?" he asked in his adorable accent.

That was the question, wasn't it? Why was she doing this? She knew it was all in the feeling but no way was she telling Nyarth that. But in a way, it was also something else, something she knew she could actually tell him.

"I-I guess you reminded me of myself when I was a child. I don't want to see you suffer like I did" It was a reasonable response, one that she meant a little more than she was letting on to.

"So, ya actually do care 'bout me?" Nyarth asked simply.

His question hit her heart harder than anything else. He didn't think she cared about him? After all they've been through, did he really think that she didn't truly care about him? If he truly did, then her heart may as well just have broken right then and there.

"Nyarth, you're one of my best friends. Of course I care about you" she said.

He seemed content by this and even relaxed against her. "I care 'bout ya taa, Musashi. Ya an' Kojiro" he responded, his voice softened as he found himself beginning to give into the temptations of sleep.

She too was about to fall asleep when a thought hit her mind. In that moment, she knew what the feeling was, and just why it was directed towards the feline. It was something she knew existed and had always thought that it would be directed at someone else, maybe even Kojiro in the long run. Never did she suspect finding herself falling for a Pokemon, her best friend.

And never did she imagine herself being perfectly fine with it.

In a way, she should've figured it out long before, after seeing how the feeling had already coursed through the feline's body and even many others, but never did it click until she felt it herself.

Was she playing with fire by falling for him? Possibly. She herself was even going far enough to be downright unsure if she should even call the feeling this. But it was strong and she knew it was true.

Nothing else seemed to matter now. All she cared about was that Nyarth was besides her now, no longer shivering and feeling safe and relaxed by her side. Carefully, she reached her hand that was not around him to the back of his head where she gently pet him, receiving a small shift of his body as he pressed closer to her, enjoying her touch.

His move finally finalized the feeling, just what it was.

It was love. She was in love with Nyarth.

Pulling her hand back, she gently pulled the cover of the sleeping bag over both of their heads before she rested her head down next to Nyarth's. But she couldn't fall directly to sleep. Even if he didn't hear her, she knew that she had to say it, just for her own closure so she knew that she was correct and to make sure that it truly did feel right.

"I love you, Nyarth" she whispered so softly that it almost like it was not even spoken. It felt right, so it was right. Content, she tightened her grip on the feline as she closed her eyes and allowed sleep to take her away.

Nyarth was no heavy sleeper and did not fall asleep very quickly or easily. He felt Musashi begin to pet him and, thinking it was somehow her just showing that she cared about him, he pressed closer to her to show that he liked it.

But even when the calls of sleep were nearly upon him, she uttered the next four words so quietly that he almost didn't hear her. But somehow he heard her and her words were as clear as day due to his sharp hearing. He froze, his heart skipping a beat and his eyes snapping open.

He remained still for a few long moments, listening to his friend's breathing, recognizing the soft and slowed breathing so that he knew she was asleep. That was good, sort of. Not really because now that just left him to his thoughts and he honestly didn't know what to think.

'JMusashi, l-loves me?! No, dis must be a joke! Dere's just no way!' he attempted to reason in his mind. But to no avail. The way she said it and her kindness towards him, even her gentle touch just screamed something more than friendship.

Yes, they were best friends but how could she love, out of everybody else, him? He was a Pokemon and to many others, he was just that. A Pokemon who could walk and talk. He was nothing more than a partner or maybe even a friend. Best friend was pushing it but for the hard-hearted and tough red-head to be in love with him?

He shook his head, his heart beating a mile per second as he realized that the more he shifted, the more the sleeping Musashi was wrapping her arm around him and pulling him closer and closer to her. Kojiro rarely ever let him sleep close to him and even in the rare occurrence that he would wrap his arm around him, it would feel awkward to both of them. This... This was different. Somehow, this felt right. This felt nice. He liked this.

But love, it was a strong word. He had felt it for Meowzie, that was the whole reason he was who he was now but over time, his thoughts of love for her had subsided, replaced by an ever growing hatred. He gave her everything not once, but twice and still she broke his heart. He didn't love her any longer. He hated her.

And the other Pokemon he would 'fall for', it never felt right. It just sort of happened, like he had no control over himself or what he was thinking. Afterwards, he would always feel confused. Now, he felt a question creep into his mind, one that made his head hurt from thinking.

Did he ever feel true love before?

Meowzie, maybe, but the others, no. No, he didn't. In a way, he loved Musashi and Kojiro. They were like family to him and that he could say without thinking it was the wrong thing to say. Even thinking it was enough to calm him down in a stressful situation because he always knew that they were by his side.

But Musashi... She loved him. Somehow, someway, she loved him. Instead of freaking out like some normally would, he was oddly calm with the new information. It was like he was fine with it but with that, the real question hit him hard.

Did he love Musashi back?

Narrowing his blue eyes, he focused his mind on the many times he could've felt that feeling towards her. Thinking about it, he would get more urges to try and hug Musashi than Kojiro. However, he normally did so with Kojiro because he was scared of angering Musashi. But that didn't mean that the strong urges weren't there. If anything, resisting them only made him want to do it more and more.

He was good at hiding his true emotions, that even he knew. But love was a very hard thing to hide but somehow, he had been able to hide it for so long. He had done literally the impossible of being able to hide it from himself.

Thinking about it, he knew it was real. He knew it was true.

He was in love with Musashi.

Smiling softly to himself, he nestled himself deeper into her chest and shut his eyes, whispering a very soft five words. "I love ya taa, Musashi"

The two fell asleep together, two friends who secretly were holding feelings for each other. And to them nothing else mattered. As long as they were together, things would be alright.

Hopefully.