I could feel my mouth opening and closing like a Magikarp as I inwardly fought over how to react. My gut reaction was to tell him no way, since traveling with a guy after everything that went down with my ex was the LAST thing I wanted to do. However, even though Drew's egotistical attitude reminded me a bit of my ex, he had proven himself to be helpful and oddly kind. He had given me his endorsement, saved me from a rampant Wooloo, and even taken care of the broken fence for me. Not to mention he had just said that I was helping to inspire him just by being myself...

The beginnings of a stress headache were beginning to rumble and I pressed two fingers up against my temples and rubbed slightly as I tried to weigh the pros and cons. Surprisingly, Drew didn't say anything as I went through my internal war and just patiently waited for my response. Squinting my eyes, I glared up at Drew and he gave me an innocent smile that made me snort in derision as I realized what I was about to get myself into.

"Before I agree to this I am going to lay down some ground rules right now," I said firmly, holding up a warning finger at him. Drew's eyes widened and I could just see the amusement lurking behind his irises and making his green eyes glimmer, but he nodded silently, waiting for me to continue.

"First, there will be no funny business from you. If we travel together we are just traveling as friends. Nothing more," I said firmly. Drew quirked an eyebrow up at me and languidly leaned against the railing behind him.

"I'll have you know I am a perfect gentleman. I would never force myself on a woman. Although, if you ever decided to change your mind I wouldn't be against the idea of..."

"Yah, not going to happen," I said, interrupting him with finality. Drew chuckled and nodded his agreement.

"Fine. Anything else?"

"You are not allowed to compare me to other girls. Ever." My mind wandered to past memories of when my ex had constantly been telling me I should look or act like this, that, or the other girl. It had worn down my self-identity until I could barely even recognize myself, and even after changing myself so drastically to suit his tastes, he had still cheated on me.

Drew's face took on a puzzled and slightly concerned expression as he met my gaze and I found myself shifting my eyes away from him. He slid over slightly against the railing, coming closer to me, and bent forward so he could meet my eyes again.

"Why do you think I would compare you to other girls?" he asked with concern evident in his tone. I took a small step back from him and shrugged my shoulders, once again looking away from him.

"It doesn't matter why. Just know that it's a rule," I said firmly. He continued to frown but he nodded his acceptance.

"And if any of your fangirls see us together you are not allowed to pretend you don't know me or pretend I'm your girlfriend. Just own up to the fact that we're friends and if they try to attack me then you have to stop them, or else I am not to be held responsible for my actions."

Drew let out a startled laugh at my last condition and I felt my cheeks warm up slightly.

"These are oddly specific conditions, Sayuri. Have you traveled with someone famous before?" Drew asked, looking at me with open curiosity. I frowned as I shoved away thoughts of my failed first love and folded my arms.

"It's in the past. Do you agree to my terms or not?" I asked, glancing over at him and almost wishing that he wouldn't. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I could handle the constant reminder of my ex, but I wanted to help Drew if he thought I really could be helpful.

Drew held up one hand and began pointing at his fingers. "Be a gentleman. Don't compare you to other girls. And don't let crazy fangirls mob you or think that we are anything but friends. I can do that."

I blinked up at him as he grinned in that annoyingly cocky way of his and I felt myself relax a bit. When I started this journey I had planned to do everything on my own, but I had to admit that a small part of me had been lonely. I had been shoving those feelings as far down as I could get them until I had nearly convinced myself that they didn't exist. Drew wasn't exactly who I would have picked for myself as a travel companion, but I didn't think it would be all that bad.

Drew grinned widely and held out his arms with a teasing grin. "Shall we seal the deal with a hug?"

I felt my sense of happiness crumble and my usual annoyance at his smug face came back in full force. Not deigning his joke with a response, I spun on my heels and began marching down the path that Drew has dragged me along.

"I'll take that as a no," Drew said from behind me, jogging a few steps to catch up and walk along beside me. I rolled my eyes at him and tried to keep myself from smiling.

As the weeks went by I was shocked at how happy I was. Drew kept to his word and acted like a gentleman, although that didn't keep him from teasing me. The longer we traveled together though, the more I realized that he used it as a weird way to show his affection. I was surprised when we ran into other people he knew and he would either act casually or pompously towards them, but he never teased or goaded them like he did with me. When I called him out on it, he admitted that I had really good reactions and he hadn't found anyone else he could banter with like he did with me. As weird as it sounded, that kind of made me feel special, and I started to enjoy our teasing arguments. I even got him back a couple of times.

As we journeyed I had been thrilled to find and catch a Yamper of my own and the sweet little thing became my unofficial protector from Drew's Wooloo. Drew found it hilarious how crazy Wooloo would get when he saw me and I felt no guilt when Yamper zapped it with an electric attack if it was ever getting close to me. Taking on the water type gym was a breeze with Yamper and Chesnaught, and when I won I was once again bathed in a shower of petals from Drew's Roselia. Apparently, some of the spectators from the grass gym had seen my battle against Nessa too and had nicknamed me Flower Princess, which was so cringy I could hardly stand it.

Some of my favorite times during our traveling were late at night after we had finished cleaning up dinner and Drew and I would just talk. I loved hearing his stories of how he had become a Master Coordinator and all of the places he had visited. To my surprise, Drew never talked about having previous travel companions. He talked about his rivals in detail, and he talked about several older trainers who had become mentors to him, but I wondered if someone who seemed so outgoing actually didn't have a lot of people he considered to be friends.

"So here's a question for you," Drew said one evening, pulling me out of my own musings. "What exactly happened with your ex?"

I sat bolt upright at this unexpected question and blinked rapidly over at Drew as he regarded me with a slightly guarded expression. Quickly calling up memories of all the conversations I had had with Drew, I couldn't remember ever actually coming out and saying that I had an ex. I had avoided talking about him so I wouldn't have to think about him and I frowned at Drew.

"What makes you think I have a story about an ex?" I asked. My voice came out tight from my repressed emotions and I mentally winced at how obvious I was being. Drew frowned and leaned forward from the tree trunk he had been leaning against.

"I'm not an idiot, Sayuri. We've been traveling together for over a month and you completely shut down whenever you see a guy with black hair in my hairstyle. Plus, you have those weird rules for us traveling together which makes it sounds like you've been treated pretty terribly in the past. So spill."

Drew's green eyes were fierce with stubbornness as he stared straight at me. My gut reaction was to tell him to back off and leave me alone. But after spending time with him I knew that I would truly miss him if he actually took me to heart, which his pride might make him do.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said after a hefty pause. Drew's frown deepened and leaned back against his tree trunk.

"You may not want to, but I think you should," Drew said in a serious tone and I felt myself prickling up like a defensive Togedemaru.

"Why should I? It's in the past, it's over. I don't want to think about it," I snapped, folding my arms and turning away from Drew's piercing gaze.

"Obviously it's NOT in the past if you can't even bring yourself to think about it." His voice had a strange edge to it and I glared over at him to find that he was glaring right back at me.

"Why are you suddenly so curious? It doesn't have anything to do with you," I snapped, standing up and turning to march away. Before I had even made it a step though a firm hand gripped my upper arm and pulled me to a stop.

"Of course it matters to me, idiot. I hate seeing you all mopey and sad. I didn't travel with you so I would constantly feel bad for you," he growled in a much deeper voice than usual. I knew that I was being irrational, but his comment made me snap and I wrenched my arm out from his grip and shoved him in the chest.

"Well sorry for making YOU feel uncomfortable. If you hate being around me so much then find someone else to travel with," I growled, feeling my eyes stinging as I tried to hold back my frustrated tears.

"That's now what I meant," Drew barked angrily and I surprised myself when a bitter laugh shook out of my chest.

"Really? 'Cause that's sure as heck what it sounded like."

Inside I was screaming at myself to stop, to not ruin the happiness that I had finally grown accustomed to. But all of the pent up emotions I had been damming up inside me were suddenly exploding and I couldn't even begin to stop them.

"I just want you to get it off your chest so you'll stop dwelling on it," Drew said, looking part furious and part genuinely worried as he advanced towards me with clenched fists.

"There's nothing to tell! This is just how I am and if you can't handle it then leave me alone!" I yelled at him, glancing around for something I could throw at him.

'Stop telling me to leave. I'm not going anywhere, idiot," he growled as he continued moving towards me.

"Don't say that! You don't mean it!" I was nearly screaming now I was so worked up.

All my rationale had fled and I grabbed my backpack and started flinging it's contents at Drew. He batted away the useless projectiles as he marched right up to me, ripping my backpack from my arms and grabbing my shoulders to keep me from running from him.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Drew yelled, obviously getting tired of my temper tantrum. Tears were streaming down my cheeks now and I balled my hands into fists and beat them against Drew's chest.

"Guy's lie! Even if you say you won't leave me you will eventually. So you should just go already," I growled as I stubbornly stared at Drew's chest and beat my fists against it, refusing to look into his eyes. Drew's grip on my shoulders tightened for a second before he suddenly let me go and grabbed my wrists, holding my arms off to the side and bringing his face within inches of mine so I had no choice but to look at him.

"You're really starting to piss me off, Sayuri. I know whoever he is did a number on you, but I'm NOT that guy. Why am I not allowed to compare you to other girls but you are comparing me to him?"

My entire body froze at Drew's angry question and I blinked slowly, my tears drying up from the shock of it. He's right... I'm being a complete hypocrite. But... I just don't want to get hurt again. I don't think I could survive another betrayal like that... I'm not strong enough.

Drew's eyes scrunched up in concern and he slowly lowered my wrists so that our arms hung loosely between us. He studied my face in silence as I tried to come up with something to say and then he let out a long sigh.

"Look. I didn't mean to upset you. But I hate that even though I am right in front of you, you are thinking about another guy. It makes me edgy and annoyed and I want you to just talk about it so you can move on," Drew said, his grip tightening slightly on my wrists. I blinked mutely at the strangely conflicted expression on Drew's face and felt myself frowning.

"Why..." I was surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded and I cleared my throat gently before trying again. "It's not that I'm thinking about him..." I tried to say and Drew groaned. He raised our hands up and wiggled my arms around, looking like he wanted to shake some sense into me.

"You're lying to yourself, Sayuri," Drew said with an angry glare. "Even if you think you're not, you are constantly looking over your shoulder and jumping whenever someone resembles him comes by. I don't even know the guy, but I could probably tell you more about him than you could. He was a jerk who hurt you and he doesn't deserve to have you think about him," Drew said with a growl of frustration in his tone. I shook my head, trying to reconcile the meaning behind his anger with an answer that didn't make me want to find a hole to crawl into and hide.

"Why does it bother you so much, Drew?" I asked quietly, surprised at how broken my voice sounded. "We're just friends... so why are you getting so upset about this?"

Drew's eyes widened with disbelief and we stared at each other for several silent moments. His face screwed up in a look of pure frustration and before I could even think to react he let go of my wrists, slid his hands around my cheeks, and pulled me towards him, meeting me in a rash, hard kiss.

Warning bells rang out like crazy in my head and I pushed against Drew's broad chest, trying without success to get him to stop. Drew just pulled me tighter against him in response though and I could feel my entire body start to tremble slightly. This was unlike any kiss I had ever experienced. It was hard and possessive, but strangely... warm. Nothing like the cold kisses that my ex had given me that had filled me with a sense of wanting more but being unsure how to get it.

When Drew finally pulled away from me we were both breathing hard and my knees were trembling so bad I was surprised they hadn't given out yet. Drew's face was slightly flushed in the evening glow of sunset but I was surprised at the hurt that was shining within the depths of his green eyes.

"I've never thought of you as 'just' anything, Sayuri. Why don't you get that?"

It was taking all of my strength just to keep standing, so I didn't even attempt to respond to him. Drew heaved out a long sigh and slowly backed up. He turned slightly and brushed his hand angrily through his bangs for a second.

"I need to cool down," he announced coldly before turning his back to me and walking down the grassy hill we had set up camp on and disappearing from view.

As soon as his figure disappeared from sight my knees buckled and I flopped down onto the grass. I felt numb after my emotional explosion moments before and I couldn't tell you how long I sat there in the grass not even able to form a coherent thought. When the numbness did begin to lift, I was surprised that the first emotion that registered was a horrible, stinging sense of guilt.

When... did this happen? I wondered, my brain still moving sluggishly as I tried to process what I was truly feeling. Did... did I really fall in love with him?

A/N No choices this time. It may seem like this is heading for a sad ending... but have faith, and I hope you enjoy the ending