My Angel, My Love

Written by Arti Cuno

The pain in his arm was nothing compared to that in his heart.

Shigeru held his upper right arm as he sat on the bench in a town park. He wasn't even sure what Town he was in, all he knew was it was dark, but it seemed familiar. Everything about it seemed blue based, and it seemed to have a love for Articuno along with other pokémon. The park centre had a beautiful statue of an articuno and a girl with wings and a tail of an articuno. He half smiled remembering where he was, Prussian Town, home of the girl who declared her love for him. The pain in his heart began to lift ever so slightly as he stood up with Eevee still at his side. He looked at the smiling face on the statue, it was Arti, the gym leader, with her usual half smile tugging at her lips. She reminded him of an angel, an angel that loved and protected him.

He remembered his battle with her all to well, it was another loss for him, but it didn't hurt like that others had, it didn't haunt him. Eevee rubbed against his leg and "wee"-ed, looking concerned for her trainer and friend. Eevee seemed to recognize Arti too.

During the first battle one of Arti's birds had attacked harder then she'd expected and badly injured Eevee, Arti had called the fight to and end and rushed out the help the injured fox-puppy. She didn't care if it was considered throwing the mach meaning it would have been her first loss, she cared more about the safety of the pokémon.

Shigeru looked about, still holding his arm. It'd been a while since he'd been to Prussian, and he didn't remember where everything was. For a town, it was nearly city size. Eevee sniffed the night air, then shivered. It was cold, Shigeru knew it but tried to forget about it. They'd been on a boat for two hours before reaching Prussian. Shigeru didn't care where he ended up, he just jumped on the nearest boat to get as far away from his mother as he could. He couldn't stand the pain she cause him anymore, the hurt was too much, if not the physical hurt, the emotional hurt. Every other word seemed to be something that was intended to insult him.

Eevee wee-ed and trod off with her nose in the air sniffing still. She seemed to smell something, or someone. At the thought of Eevee smelling something, Shigeru heard his stomach growling, it's been nearly 18 hours since he'd ate anything, his mother said he was getting fat and wouldn't let him eat lunch or dinner, making him leave the kitchen whenever he entred it, even for a glass of water. He followed Eevee while fixing the bandage he had on his shoulder. He'd spent the first hour on the boat pulling glass shards from his shoulder and arm from breaking his room's window as an escape route from his mother. Thankfully one of the sailors had been nice enough to help him with the bandages.

Eevee jumped as a pidgey flew from the grass beside the dirt trail she'd been walking down. The bird cooed and kicked up a dust storm with its sand attack causing Shigeru and Eevee to run off coughing. "Weee..." Eevee apologized, lowering her ears.

"It's alright, Eevee." Shigeru comforted her. "You didn't know it was there."

Shigeru's head snapped upwards at the sound of something flying overhead. He looked around and finally noticed the silhouette of two large birds and another object with wings. He thought of all the pokémon he knew that could fly but none of them matched the shape. He glanced back to the statue, then to the sky again. Arti.

One of the birds squawked and attacked the other, missing as the second one dodge. A voice from above called "Ice beam, Cuno!"

Shigeru knew for sure it was Arti, one of her articuno was named Cuno, and she was one of the only, if not the only trainers with an articuno. The first bird was hit with the ice beam and fell to the ground in a chunk of ice near Shigeru. He and Eevee jumped to the side as the frozen bird went sliding across the dirt trail skidding to a stop.

Arti flew from the sky with her juvenile articuno at her side. She unfroze the bird and was kneeling at its side. Shigeru was tempted to go to her, but didn't want to disturb her. She seemed to be checking the bird over for something. He tried to look around her but Cuno was in the way. The large ice bird turned around and looked him in the eyes. It seemed mad, and cooed angrily. Shigeru gulped, the bird didn't seem to recognize him. It waddled building up speed and spreading its wings as it got closer. "Cuuu!" it cooed loudly, tackling him.

Shigeru closed his eyes as the bird smashed into him. When he opened then he realized it was cuddling him. The bird had its wings about him cooing and rubbing its beak along his arm, unfortunately, it was his right arm. He bit his tongue, trying not to yell, but he couldn't hold back. He screamed in pain and pulled away clutching his arm.

He looked to where Arti was and noticed she'd jumped up, shocked. She seemed to be finished looking after the bird she had laying before her. Shigeru saw the familiar light of a pokémon being called into a pokéball as she caught the bird then ran over to where he was. He knew she didn't know who cuno had tackled, and probably thought it was attacking someone.

"Are you alright!?" she asked, almost accidentally stepping on Eevee as she pulled Cuno away. She paused as she looked straight at Shigeru. "Shige-chan!"

The blue haired, red eye-ed girl flung herself at Shigeru and rested her head on his shoulder. He yelped slightly at the pain in his arm but used his other one to hug her. "Hey.." he said softly. "Didn't think you'd be around at night... I was only going to stay here a while and leave with Eevee for the Jouta League tomorrow..."

She kissed his cheek before noticing a cut on the side of his face. "What happened?" she looked at his bandaged arm. "Shige-chan..."

He brushed her hair from her eyes. "I'm alright. Only some cuts and a broken arm this time..."

Eevee pawed at Arti's leg and looked up at her, as if pleading that Arti look after her trainer. The fox-puppy whimpered then looked to Shigeru.

"This time..." Arti repeated and looked to the ground. "Shigeru.. PLEASE don't go back to Pallet again... I can't stand to see you being hurt so." she looked back up, into Shigeru's eyes, crying. "I want you to be safe from people like your mother." she clung to him tightly. "I love you... I don't want anything bad happening to you."

Shigeru began to cry too. He hated upsetting Arti. Whenever she saw him after he'd visited his mother she was always upset to see what had happened to him, even if he escaped any physical harm, deep down he was hurting from the insults and cures he always suffered. He rested his head on Arti's, and blushed slightly as his stomach growled again, louder then before. Cuno jumped and squawked, shocked. Eevee put a paw over her nose and "weee" -ed.

"She wouldn't feed you again I hear." Arti sighed. "Come with me back to my place, you can stay there for the night and leave tomorrow if you still want to go."

Shigeru nodded. Arti lead the way though she was at his side, Eevee bounced along in front of everyone while Cuno flew off ahead. Eevee seemed happy to be back in Prussian, Shigeru noticed. for the first time in a long while he smiled and looked over to Arti. Should I stay here? he though to himself. Eevee's happy, Arti seems happy to have me back, even Cuno was happy to see me. He looked at the stars above. Even I'm happy here. People actually care about me.

As they arrived in the actual town that was built around the park Shigeru yawned and looked at the buildings. It was nicer then Pallet, it had an older feel to the town, buildings all lined up in a row, you could hang out the window and look to either side of you and see your neighbour. Even though no one was around, he knew the people was always nice, most at Pallet were too, but not to him. His mother had spread rumors about him all over the town, trying to make his life miserable, like she claimed he did to her. "Your birth was the worst thing to ever happen to me!" was a quote she often used when referring to him. His mother claimed he attacked her all the time and even went so far as to put on make-up to make it look like she was hurt. The truth of it all was Shigeru had never touched her. NEVER. Not even when he was little. He'd never been hugged or attempted to hug her, other then once. He was about three at the time. His mother wasn't nearly as bad as she was now, but she still hit him. He was an innocent child copying what he'd seen Ash and his mother do, something he'd never done before. A simple hug, a gesture of love. Which ended with the beating of his life. He was in the hospital for a week after. Doctors asked about what happened, his mother said he fell down the stair, and then some bully from school beat him up. What Shigeru wanted to know is since when did SHE go to school, SHE was the "bully".

They arrived at Arti's house, she went straight to the kitchen and began to look about for something to cook for Shigeru. He came in with Eevee who jumped into a chair then onto the kitchen table. She sniffed at an apple in a bowl then grabbed it in her mouth and sat down to eat. She knew she was allowed to take it, she always was allowed to before. Shigeru also grabbed and apple to snack on to hold him over until Arti had cooked something, he watched as she muttered about "Renku and his appetite... Eat me outta house and home."

After finally getting something ready and placing it in the oven she sat at the table with Shigeru and Eevee. "Have you decided on where you'll be tomorrow?"

Shigeru shook his head though he had a strong feeling he'd be staying in Prussian. He wanted to go to the Jouta League to prove himself to his mother. But now there was no need to prove anything to her, he planned on staying away from her forever as Arti hopped and begged him to do. He didn't have to prove himself to Arti. She loved him regardless if he was the best trainer around or not. And though he'd never told her, he loved her too. "I'm not sure yet." he replied.

Arti looked disappointed but didn't say anything. Shigeru sighed. He'd left her before, upsetting her, after he'd lost the battle for the badge she had. Then he was only concerned with making his family proud and trying to get them to love him. But it was obvious now he was only hurting the one that loved him in an endless struggle to win his mother's love. It seemed love couldn't be earned from one filled with hate.

"Actually." he decided. "Would you mind if I stayed with you?"

Eevee's ears perked up and she yipped happily. Arti smiled. "Of course I don't mind, Shige-chan. I'd love to have you here."

Shigeru smiled 'I'd love to have you here' was something he'd never heard anyone say before, he'd never felt wanted anywhere before. Arti stood up and walked over to Shigeru. She sat on his lap and kissed him softly. "I promise you'll be happy here, Shige-chan. You'll never be hurt again."

He kissed her in turn. "I know, my angel, my love..."