Rating: PG (This one ain't that limey... wow. ^_^)
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters... understand?
"Kojirooo... I'm home! Oh, Kojiro! Where are you?"
My infectiously good mood is quite inexplicable, even to myself. Work wasn't all that great, as usual, but I am still uncharacteristically happy, and don't even feel it needs to be explained. Now I am standing in the main room of the apartment, hands on hips, still waiting for Kojiro to appear. He hadn't been waiting at the door this time.
Shrugging, I head to the bedroom, where I change into one of Kojiro's old tank tops and a pair of his boxers that are even too large for him. The result on me is that they keep sliding down my hips so that I have to hitch them up constantly. But that doesn't even bother me. I slink out in bare feet, ever so carefully in the hopes that the floor doesn't creak, to find my "missing" husband. The bathroom yields nothing, and since the main room is still empty too...
He is in front of the counter in the kitchen, frantically doing something that appears to be fixing supper. With a sneaky grin, I creep up behind him to fling my arms around his waist. He jumps about half a mile before turning around to say, "Musashi! When... when did you get home?"
"Silly. I called for you, but you didn't come out."
"Oh... sorry." The expression on his face can only be described as worry. I move my arms up around his neck, kiss him warmly on the lips, then gaze up at him sternly.
"Alright, Kojiro-chan... What did you do?"
"What did I... do? I'm just fixing supper, and--"
"No, I said what did you do?"
"I don't understand," he replies, his attempt at sounding confused not working too well.
"You will," I say. I begin looking around the kitchen, studiously examining just about everything while Kojiro watches nervously. Then I take his hand and lead him along with me to repeat the process in every other room. Finally, I stop in the main room and nod to myself. So he didn't break anything... All that was left now was to get it out of him somehow.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing!" he exclaims a little too quickly. I sigh, shaking my head at the way he has his fists jammed into the pockets of his jeans and his eyes are watching anything but me. I pull the chair out from his "work" desk in the corner, turn it around, and push him down into it, creating a height advantage that usually comes in quite handy. His forehead wrinkles up worriedly as he shifts around on the chair in discomfort. I lean down to stare him in the eyes.
"Alright, Kojiro-chan... Tell me the truth now, what have you done that is making you act so strangely?"
"Musashi, supper is going to burn..."
"Nonsense. You tell me now, or else..." Now he sighs, as if realizing his defeat. Really, he should have known that he can't hide things from me; we are too connected to each other.
"Promise you won't get mad?"
"Umm... Well, I'll promise to try," I laugh, my mood catching up with me again. "So what is it?"
"Well... See..." What he is about to say is cut off by a thumping noise coming from what sounds like the closet in the bedroom. Kojiro turns pale as I narrow my eyes at him.
"And what was that?" Without waiting for his answer, I stride out of the room, with Kojiro shadowing me, to open the door, fully expecting to see some thief, or maybe Kojiro's secret girlfriend, come falling out. What I do see makes me scream.
"Kojiro! There's some... some thing in there!" I shriek, diving behind him and clutching at him. "Do something!"
What has me so scared could only be described as some kind of rodent, in my way of thinking; it has a long, slender body colored tan and brown, with brown bands around it's lower half. It is balancing on stubby hind legs and peering inquisitively at us out of shiny black eyes, it's pointed ears twitching occasionally.
"Oh... That's just Ootachi," Kojiro sighs tiredly. Angrily, I jerk him around to face me.
"What do you mean, 'Oh, that's just Oo...' whatever you said?" Again, I don't wait for his reply before dragging him back to shove him in the chair again, noting with satisfaction the way his teeth snap together from the force with which he lands. I may have been in a great mood before, but now I am considerably unhappy.
"What has gotten into you now? Didn't I say no Pokémon? What the hell is that thing anyway?" I know I must be screaming, from the way Kojiro's fingers twist in his lap as though he is struggling not to stick them in his ears.
"You promised to try, Musashi-san..."
"Yes, I did, but it didn't work. Now quit sidestepping my questions."
"Well... I went for a walk today in the park and... well, that's where I found it. It did seem to be all alone... wandering around like that... I just couldn't leave it..."
I hadn't noticed that the little creature was cowering behind my husband's leg until I look down. My face twists distastefully, but Kojiro continues speaking before I can start again.
"I know it's an Ootachi because of this," he says, holding out the small booklet he has taken from his shirt pocket. I glance briefly at the cover.
"'Newly Discovered Pokémon'... But Kojiro, what makes you think you can just keep it? After what I've told you," I say, my anger heating up again.
"I just... Ever since we sold our Pokémon, I really wished we could have at least one... I just thought that this one wouldn't be much trouble... I can pay for it's food and take care of it myself, it doesn't eat much anyway and I'm sure I can--"
"No. Absolutely not."
"But Musa--"
"No. You take that thing back to where you found it, and I don't want to hear about it ever again." I stomp off to the bedroom, stopping to peek around the edge of the door to make sure he does what I told him. He is slumped down in his chair now, the little Pokémon at his feet craning it's head up to look at him.
"I'm sorry, Ootachi..." he begins, bending down to pat it's head gently. "But Musashi is very angry with me right now... It seems like I only exist to make her mad sometimes..." This last part comes out very softly, then he shakes his head abruptly as though he had been greatly distracted by that thought.
"She wants me to take you back... I don't want her to be angry, Ootachi, it's not that I don't like you..." The Ootachi is making sad sounds, rubbing it's head along Kojiro's leg. He pets it for awhile, frowning like he is deliberating in his mind, and finally picks up the Pokémon with a heavy sigh. "Making my Musashi happy is what matters most... I just hope you can find someone else to be with now."
As he starts toward the door, I stare after him. Hadn't I always wanted him to be happy? Those times when we were in Rocket-Dan together, didn't I always wish I could do something for him when he said he wasn't happy? And now, am I preventing his happiness by placing my own before his?
"Kojiro... wait."
He draws up short from the door, confusion clouding his eyes. "Musashi?"
"I think... I think you should keep it. What you said made sense. I know you'll do a good job with it, and you must be lonely here by yourself all day... I just want you to be happy." That had been hard to say, admitting that I was wrong, yet I know it is all true. Kojiro puts Ootachi on the floor and comes over to hug me.
"Thank you, Musashi... But you make me happy without even trying."
"Oh, Kojiro... You're getting too mushy. I may lose my appetite before we even eat." He just smiles at me as I turn to look for the Pokémon. "So... what does it do, anyway..."
"It digs tunnels... That's why I stuck it in the closet where all your dirty laundry is piled up. I'm sure it had a great time. Ouch! Musashi!"
I try to glare at him while he rubs his arm where I'd slapped it. Then he laughs. "I'll just have to take it on a walk every day so it can get some exercise and work off some of that excess energy."
Glancing down at my feet, I notice that Ootachi is hopping in circles around me, weaving in between our two sets of legs. Instinctively, I clutch Kojiro a little tighter. "Are you sure it won't bite?"
"I'm sure. It's just showing how much it likes you. Now."
"What do you mean, 'now'?"
"You scared it before."
"And how is that?"
"Oh, the same thing happens to me when you get mad."
"Would you like to be scared again? I can arrange it."
"That's alright! Really! Heh..."
Still, I tackle him to the floor, and by the time I am finished doing
everything I want to him, I am afraid that supper did burn. But
what's one burnt meal when you're happy?
