Human Experiences 7

Chapter 7:  

Touko awoke the next morning to N gently pulling his shirt over her head. She laughed as it got stuck over her face and N desperately tried to disentangle her from it. Exasperated, she sat up and tugged it off and handed it to him, a smile playing on her sleepy face. She sighed as she watched him redress; she had dreamed of him all night long. She felt her face growing red as she allowed herself to revisit them and immediately wished that she hadn't.

N stretched out his long limbs, yawning groggily. Touko smiled as she took him in, stifling a laugh more than once as she took in his ragged clothing. She then remembered that she currently looked just as ridiculous and fell back into her sleeping bag in annoyance.  She rolled on to her side and pulled her bag over to herself. She rifled through it until she found her cell phone.

She took a deep breath in preparation for the onslaught of missed calls and unanswered text messages that she had been dodging. She had no idea how to explain her decision to her friends and family. She groaned as she imagined what her mother was going to say to her when she had to explain that she was going to travel around with a man she barely knew. This is going to be brutal, Touko thought as she finally turned on her phone.

She immediately wished she hadn't. As her touch screen's backlight illuminated, a flood of unread messages popped up on the screen; twenty-three, to be precise. "Ugh," she groaned, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. Reluctantly, she sat back up and opened the first of several messages from Bianca.

Touko—Cheren said he saw you ride away on Reshiram with that N guy. Where are u?

She felt herself cringe. Of all the people to see her leave with N, it had to be Cheren. She was sure he had exaggerated what he had actually seen to make it seem as though she had been abducted. After reading through several more messages from Bianca, all asking her where she was, she came to one from Cheren. She knew he must have been worried about her to actually text her; Cheren never texted anyone.

Are you okay? I saw that freaky guy put you on Reshiram; you looked terrified. Please let me know that you are safe.

Touko rolled her eyes, her worse fears confirmed. She was certain that Cheren had told everyone, including her mother, that she had been kidnapped by a bizarre green-haired man who whisked her away in a storm on the back of dragon. She could see it now—her mother having a panic attack as he recounted the whole tale of her capture, including how he had gallantly tried to rescue her before the mad man had swept her away. Fantastic, she thought bitterly.

She glanced up over her phone to check on N. He was sitting crossed legged in in the entryway of the tent, humming quietly to himself as he doodled something in the dirt with his finger. She swallowed hard as she skipped through the various other messages Cheren and Bianca had sent her; finally, she came to the text she had feared reading the most. A tiny envelope flashed at her, bearing the name Mom. Suddenly, her phone seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. Touko could feel sweat dripping down her face as she tentatively touched the screen and opened the message.

It's mom, Touko. Where the hell are you? Cheren and Bianca just told me that some weird guy put you on a dragon and flew off with you. What's going on? Are you okay? Please, please, PLEASE answer me, Baby.  

Touko dropped her phone and let her head fall into her palms. Oh, God, she thought, dread filling her. How am I going to explain this to them? She sucked in a deep breath and picked her phone up. She opened a message from Bianca and typed a response to her before her bravery had time to dissolve.

Bianca, it's Touko. Please tell everyone that I haven't been kidnapped by a deranged man and that I am fine. I'll be home soon.

She stared at the last line of the message for a long time before actually sending it. She had planned on going back home with N at some point during their journey—just not so soon. Of course, she knew that people were going to overreact to the whole situation, but if she just gave them some time to adjust to the idea…she sighed;  even she didn't believe that. If she was being honest with herself, the reason she didn't want to go home was to avoid fighting with her mother.

It made her feel incredibly childish to admit this to herself. After all, she was nearly twenty years old; she was an adult now. She should be able to make all the mistakes she wanted. She sucked in her bottom lip, something she tended to do when she was stressed out, and contemplated her current situation. She had two options—go home and explain the whole mess or continue on with N as though nobody was missing her.

She hadn't been back to Nuvema Town since she had left nearly three years ago. The lure of returning to her home, of sleeping in her own bed (even if it was just for a night), of seeing her mother was excruciating. She wanted to show Professor Juniper how many Pokémon she had already seen and recorded in her Pokedex; at least she would be excited to hear that Touko and N planned on traveling the world for quite some time. She even found herself excited to introduce N to her mother; she wondered how both her mother and N would react to meeting each other.

As that awkward scene began to play itself out in her head, she found herself longing to hop on Reshiram or Zekrom with N and fly off, never giving Nuvema Town a backwards glance. Life could be about only her and N; they could come and go anywhere as they pleased, not having to explain themselves to anyone. She sighed, enjoying the notion of living a romantic and free life with him. Her head felt swimmy as she let her thoughts once again drift to her dreams of N. She felt herself blush and she lightly bit her bottom lip, trying to take her mind off of her wishful encounters with him.

She let out a low groan. There was no way she could enjoy her time with N when she knew that people would be worrying about her the whole time. It was inescapable; she had to go home and straighten this whole mess out. She stretched out her legs in front of her and yawned, suddenly feeling fatigued. She had a feeling that today was going to be very long.

Touko stood up and walked over to N. She sat down next to him and as he continued to draw intricate patterns in the dirt.

"Good morning, Touko," he said warmly. "Did you sleep well?"

"Better than you can imagine," she said coyly.

He looked at her inquisitively. "You find camping agreeable?" he asked, truly confused by her previous statement.

She smiled at him and giggled. "You could say that; especially when I have such good company."  

N smiled, trying to keep the blush from his cheeks. "Ah," he said simply. He wanted to tell her how much he had enjoyed himself last night too, but the words just wouldn't come. He frowned, full of frustration. Touko put her arm around him and let her head lean against his shoulder.

"What are you drawing?" she asked.

"Just a tentative plan for the places I want to visit with you."

She leaned forward and inspected the complex network of cris-crossed lines and little dots. It all just looked like a tangled mess to her. "Uhm…" she said hesitantly, "is Nuvema Town on here?"

"Yes; I have it placed right there," he said pointing to a dot on the far left of his picture. "I think we should visit there in the summer so we can see the Tympole's spawn here."

"Yeah, about that…" she said timidly. "I checked my phone this morning and I guess my friends and my mom are kind of freaked out that I just took off without telling them anything...mostly because they think you've kidnapped me." She winced, preparing for his reaction.

"They think I've abducted you? Why would anyone think that?"

"My idiot friend Cheren saw you put me Reshiram while I was freaking out about the storm."

N smiled and nodded. "I guess I can see how he may have gotten the wrong idea. You looked like you were going to pass out."

"Yeah," Touko said, shuddering as she remembered the thundering of the storm. "Well, anyway, I think it would be best if we stopped off and explained that you are not some pervy creep holding me against my will before we continue on."

"Pervy creep?" N repeated, perplexed. "I don't know that expression. I take it that it isn't good to be 'a pervy creep.'"

"Not at all," Touko said, a smile spreading across her face. "They probably think you're corrupting my innocence."

"Me? They should be worried about my innocence with you around."

"Yes, but they don't think I'm a pervert."

"Oh—perv is slang for pervert. No, I suppose it's not good they think that about me. We better get you home before the police show up," N said jokingly.

Touko gathered up her bedding and hastily shoved what she could fit inside her pink satchel. She inhaled the berries N had brought back to her ravenously and was immensely grateful that they were going to a town with actual food. She was getting really sick of eating bitter berries and boiled roots.   

N took down the tent and packed it away as she brushed the tangles out of her long hair. She pulled it up into her usual ponytail and put her hat in her satchel. She knew that if she wore it while they were riding on the dragon it would get blown away. She helped N tie his hair back, enjoying its softness and the masculine scent it possessed. He let his hat hang loosely on his head as he normally did. She wondered how he had managed to keep it on during their last flight.

They gave their campsite one last look over before N summoned Reshiram from his pokeball. The great white dragon looked around their campsite, surprised to see that they were still in the same place it had taken them last time.

"We'd like to go to Nuvema Town, Reshiram," N said calmly. "Do you mind taking us there?"

Not at all. It'll feel good to stretch my wings. Please climb aboard.

Touko shuddered, still unused to the sensation of being communicated with telepathically. Reshiram's voice continued to echo in her head as she climbed on to the dragon's great feathery back. She could feel herself shaking as N sat down behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She wanted desperately to get off, to put her feet back on solid ground, to not have to go explain herself to her family.

"You can fly slower this time, if you want, Reshiram," Touko sputtered. "There's really no rush."

She could feel N's chest heave with laughter as the dragon let out a small growl. "He says you can't run from your problems forever. You might as well get it over with."  

Touko huffed indignantly. Way to use N as the messenger when you want to say something bratty, she thought sourly.

"Hold on, Touko," N said gently, remembering her previous reaction to flight. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and she took a deep breath. The dragon stretched out its massive wings and began to flap them. Soon, they could feel Reshiram dip and bob; the forest floor began to look further and further away, the trees seeming to shrink in height. Touko shivered as the wind whipped past her, wishing that it was still summer rather than fall.  

The forest turned to a green blur beneath their feet. N yawned lazily as he leaned his head over the side of the dragon to survey the land, as though this were a common occurrence for him. "We should be in Nuvema town in less than an hour," he whispered to Touko. She swallowed hard, hoping that he had miscalculated. She could feel Reshiram's muscles tighten beneath her and braced for whatever was about to happen.

The dragon shot forward in the air, much faster than she had expected or thought possible for something its size. She could barely breathe, partially from the shock and the altitude, but mostly out of dread. N seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself; he had a wide grin on his face and would often breakout in fits of laughter. Touko tried to convince herself that it had something to do with the thrill of flying rather than the terrified look on her face.  

After what felt like a very short span of time, Touko began to feel the dragon descend. She turned awkwardly on Reshiram, burying her face into N's chest. Maybe she could just hide here until everything was over. The great dragon touched down and kneeled low for them to easily slide on to the ground. N had to catch her as she ungracefully tumbled off, her legs shaking violently. He stroked her hair gently as she fell on to him and held him to her for a few moments. Reshiram let out a low grumble of annoyance and N pulled away from her laughing as he returned the dragon to its pokeball.  

Touko surveyed the area in which they had landed. She knew it instantly; they were on Route One, just outside of her home town. Her stomach turned itself in knots as she realized just how close her hour of despair was upon her. N grabbed her hand enthusiastically and pulled her forward.

"I don't want to do this," she whined, feeling her feet literally drag behind her.

N stopped and turned towards her, pulling her forward so that she lightly smacked into his body. He held her in his penetrating gaze for a moment before lightly kissing her on the forehead. "I'm nervous too," he said quietly. "But, you said it yourself; people who are worried about you think you've been kidnapped by a perverted man who rides a dragon."  

She giggled as an image formed in her mind of a sleazily dressed N flinging her over his shoulder as he rode away on the back of a Dragonite, smoking a cigarette. She was glad he was with her to calm her down. She gently leaned forward and gave N a chaste and innocent kiss, just the way he kissed her. His lips felt warm and relaxing against hers; she felt him rub her back idly with his thumbs, sending little bubbles of warmth all through her body. She wanted to kiss him more passionately, but he pulled away from her and continue to drag her forward.

She sighed in defeat as she saw her small town pop into view on the horizon.  She was still far away from it, but could tell almost nothing had changed since she had left. Her stomach felt as though it were full of stampeding Rapidashes. N put his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently, giving her silent encouragement. She swallowed hard; she was going to need all the encouragement she could get today.