More Than You Think You Are

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or Card Captor Sakura.

I've decided to replace the previous chapters of this story with the re-write mostly because I hate that I've got all these chapters just gathering (metaphorical) dust on my computer. Hope you enjoy.

Because that the Pokemon fandom tends to be (for lack of a better word) less Japanese oriented than most anime fandoms, I've got a massive set of notes at the end of the chapter for cross referencing peoples names, Japanese words, and naming conventions. Apparently I was very thorough when I wrote this.

Summary: AU CCS. Satoshi is a young mage entrusted with the task of collecting the mystical clow cards, who for some reason, and despite Kasumi's best efforts, would much rather be Shigeru's rival. As the three battle to collect the cards (aided by Takeshi and Natsume), they begin to wonder if maybe this is not the place they are supposed to be and find that they must each give upsomething important in order to return to their own world and where they belong. Pokeshipping, Mangashipping & Rocketshipping.

More Than You Think You Are - Bittersweet Rivalries

A pair of brown eyes opened slowly taking in everything around him. He could see two figures crouched by an open fire, their heads close together as they spoke in low tones.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" one of the crouched figures asked, her voice light and feminine. He noted the way her hair reflected the bright embers of the fire.

"I don't know," the other figure replied, this one male with familiar spiky hair.

"T-tak?" he questioned, his voice rough. It was an effort to say more than that.

The female figure ran to his side. "Ash, don't speak," she commanded, her voice soft and full of concern. "It'll all be alright," she told him with conviction in spite of her previous question.

He shook his head, glancing at the girl before him. He didn't think that he had ever seen anyone more beautiful in his life. Her hair was a deep red like molten lava. Her eyes were blue-green like the deepest oceans. And her lips were so pink they seemed to beg him to kiss her.

But something wasn't right. Because he wasn't Ash. He was Satoshi, and as beautiful as she was, he had never seen her before in his life. And yet she acted so kindly towards him that it couldn't possibly be the case.

"Hey, Ash, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly, noting the confusion washed across his features. "It's me, Myst, you can tell me anything."

"Who are you?" he rasped, his voice straining to find the words. He regretted them as soon as he said them, seeing her face become awash with sadness in grief. "Myst," he said, trying to take them back. "Myst-"

"Go to sleep, Ash," she told him softly, her voice soothing as her fingers traced lightly over the contours of his face. She placed a light kiss on his forehead as he closed his eyes, smiling slightly to himself as she lulled him to sleep with her soft caress.

"Good night, my love."

Satoshi flinched as he felt the first rays of sunlight burn against his closed lids. He wasn't accustomed to waking up with the sun – in fact he could sleep through absolutely anything – but the strange dream he just had made it impossible to return to sleep.

"You okay, kid?" a soft voice asked, the words inflicted with a sharp Osaka accent. "Your aura was off the scales just now. Was it a prophetic dream?"

Satoshi shook his head, turning to his guardian as he wiped his sleepy eyes. "I don't think so," he mumbled sleepily. "It was strange, Pika-chan," he admitted to the plush-like false form of the guardian beast of the seal. "It was like I was someone else.

"There was a girl," he elaborated, fighting back a blush at the thought of the beautiful apparition in his dream. "She kept calling me 'Ash' and I felt like I knew her somehow."

The flying plush toy frowned at this, crossing his tiny paws over his chest. "This is very strange," Pika muttered to himself.

"Is something wrong?" Satoshi asked, noting his guardian's strange expression.

"Yes," Pika replied. "I ran out of KETCHUPPPP!" he wailed.

Satoshi was about to reply when his door flew open to reveal an older female with bright pink hair pulled back in a style that almost defied gravity itself. "Oh, you're up," she intoned blandly upon seeing her little brother awake in his bed. Her eyes land upon the stiff plush toy in his lap. "Don't you think you're a little old to be playing with soft toys, twerp?" she asked with a sardonically raised eyebrow.

"Satoshi no twerp!" he growled, tossing Pika at his older sister on reflex. She pulled the door half closed and ducked behind her shield, causing Pika to hit painfully into the solid wood door.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Just hurry up alright. Okaa-san has an early start today, so she can't drive you if you're late."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as she closed the door shut. "I'll be down in a minute."

As soon as Musashi left, he ran to apologise to his somewhat dazed guardian.

"I'm so sorry, Pika-chan," he said. "I forgot you were there."

"Oh look, a Clow card," Pika replied, stumbling drunkenly as he tried to stand.

Satoshi smiled sheepishly as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, as he was prone to do in such situations. He was going to have to buy Pika an extra large bottle of ketchup to make up for things. He left the guardian with a few single serve ketchup packets for when he came to and headed down stairs.

"Ohayo, Okaa-san," he said warmly as he ran into his mother at the bottom of the stairs. Hanako Ketchum returned his bright smile with one of her own, her eyes lighting brightly with pride and love.

"Ohayo, Satoshi-kun," she said warmly, wrapping her son in a warm hug and kissing his cheek. She paid no heed to his protest that he was fourteen and almost a man, and that it was somehow inappropriate for her to still go around kissing him. She simply smiled in return. "You'll always be my little boy, 'Toshi," she told him, ruffling his already messy raven hair.

"Your lunch is on the counter," she added, picking up her things. "And I signed the permission slip – it's on the fridge. Don't get into any trouble, and don't forget to change your 'you-know-what's'."

"Ma!" he complained, but she was already out the door.

His sister barely restrained a snort. "I don't know why you're laughing, 'nee-chan," he proclaimed. "She tells you the same thing, and you're eighteen."

She shrugged. "Just hurry up already," she complained. "We're meeting Kojiro and Yamato-chan at the corner."

"How come we always have to walk to school with your friends?" he complained. "Don't you ever want to spend some special sibling time together?"

"It's because I like them more than you," she said simply as she dashed out the door.

Satoshi sighed a little as he followed her. He didn't really mind too much walking with his sister's friends. Kojiro was always friendly, and Yamato was never cruel even though she tended to ignore him most of the time. She only really attended to him when she wanted something, and it was in those moments she would toss her yellow blonde hair and bat her violet eyes and take advantage of his schoolboy crush with absolutely no qualms whatsoever.

He jumped on his bike and tried to catch up to his sister who raced gracefully ahead of him on a bike of her own.

"'Sashi-chan! Satoshi-kun!" Kojiro called, waving wildly at the pair of siblings as they made their way towards him. "I was almost afraid you weren't coming," he commented as an after thought more to Musashi. He sent her his most charming smile, blushing slightly when she returned it.

"I'm glad you finally made it, 'Sashi-chan," Yamato sighed with a tone of slight annoyance, emphasising Kojiro's address. "Morning, Satoshi-kun," she added nonchalantly as she noticed her best friends little brother staring up at her adoringly. She offered him a forced smile and turned back to her friends. "We better get going."

They all nodded in agreement as they made their way to the high school. Musashi and her friends were all seniors at Seijou High, where as Satoshi had begun high school the previous April. Although Musashi would never admit it (not even to Kojiro) his being in high school made it much easier for her to watch over her little brother. No matter how old he got, she would always think of him as an accident-prone little kid, and it would always be her duty to protect him.

Kojiro often teased her over her 'sister-complex'.

"Remember what Okaa-san said," Musashi teased as they split to their different parts of the high school.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he ran off to meet his friends.

Satoshi was in a good mood when he walked into the classroom. This was probably because it was the first time in weeks that he hadn't woken up to a shower of freezing cold thanks to his sister, and that would put anyone in a good mood.

His two best friends gaped at his presence.

"Satoshi-kun, is that really you?" Ayumi asked in surprise, not quite believing it to be true.

"No it can't be, Ayumi-chan," Takeshi replied, checking his watch for confirmation. "It's only ten to nine. It must be an illusion."

"Maybe it's a card," she gasped, suddenly quite serious. For some reason, she didn't seem to understand that Takeshi had been joking. "Who are you and what have you done with Ketchum Satoshi?" she asked, taking on a poorly orchestrated defensive stance. She seemed quite ready to fight whatever this thing really was.

"Guys, I'm not that bad," Satoshi protested. "I do occasionally wake up on my own my own accord you know."

Takeshi scoffed. "Satoshi, you would sleep through the most important day of your life and you know it. You're lucky your lovely sister seems to take such pleasure in waking you up, or else you'd never get anywhere."

Satoshi frowned and made to retort, but in that moment their homeroom/mathematics teacher, Ivy-sensei, walked into the classroom with an air of importance. Takeshi went into his usual 'pretty-girl-mode' and Satoshi knew from past experience that it was impossible to get through to his best friend when a pretty-girl was in the vicinity.

"Ohayo, minna-san," she said, addressing the whole class. "I'm glad to you're all on time today," she added, giving Satoshi a pointed look. Apparently Ayumi and Takeshi weren't the only ones surprised to see him so early.

"Class, today-" she began, but was interrupted by a soft knock on the classroom door. Every eye in the room turned to the door at the back of the classroom as it opened to reveal an unfamiliar figure attired in the Seijou uniform.

Satoshi's eyes widened immediately as he recognised the telltale red hair and cerulean blue eyes that had seemed to haunt his dreams. Her bright eyes seemed to twinkle with mirth, and a small smile quirking on her lips as she absorbed the attention given to her.

It was the girl from his dreams, or rather the girl of his dreams if he was ready to admit that. He felt his heart race at the sight of her.

"Myst," he breathed softly as she walked past him on her way to the teacher's desk at the front of the room.

She stopped upon hearing this and whipped her head around to face him sending him one of her most threatening of glares before continuing her trek to the front of the room.

Satoshi let out the breath he had subconsciously been holding as she turned her back on him and handed a piece of paper to the teacher. She looked so completely innocent, as if she hadn't been glaring daggers at him only seconds earlier. But the thing that struck him most was that she was even more beautiful than in his dreams. In this light her flaming red hair seemed to shimmer like liquid fire or something just as rare and unimaginable. The blue in her eyes seemed so much clearer now, it seemed to swirl perfectly into the green as if the two separate colours were one in the same and always had been.

He supposed she would have looked even more beautiful if it wasn't for that constant smirk settled so quickly across her face.

"As I was saying," Ivy-sensei began again, "we have a new student with us today transferring from Hong Kong."

The students began to murmur with excitement as they examined the new student. It was rare for a transfer to happen so late in the year. It was almost September, and preparation had already begun for their coming exams.

"Students," Ivy-sensei said, bringing the class to silence. "This is Yawa Kasumi. I hope you will all do your best to help her settle in and make her comfortable in her new school.

"Now where to put you?" she asked aloud, briefly scanning the look of the sea of faces. "Aha! There's a seat right in front of Ketchum Satoshi. Ketchum-san, please stand."

"Hai," Satoshi answered, doing as he was told. He knew that it was more a command than a request, and Ivy-sensei intended for it to be followed immediately.

"Ohayo, boku wa Ketchum Satoshi desu," he said with a friendly smile, holding his hand out to the new student. He desperately hoped he wasn't blushing as hard as he thought he was. "You can call me 'Satoshi'."

"Whatever, Ketchum," she said swatting his hand away. "You already know my name and I don't really care what you call me – although 'Yawa-senpai' is preferable. 'Myst' is not," she added with a snarl, "and I don't know where you got it from, but I'd appreciate if you would refrain from repeating it."

"Um . . . uh . . . hai," he replied awkwardly, thrusting his rejected handshake into his pocked. "Domo, Yawa-senpai. I'm very sorry . . . I . . ."

"You can stop now," she muttered, turning her back on him and dropping into her chair.

All Satoshi could do was stare at the spot where she had previously stood, his eyes and mouth hanging wide like some idiot.

"Ketchum-san," the sensei questioned. "Would you mind sitting?"

Satoshi blushed madly as he nodded his head. He tried to meet the eyes of the other students as he took his seat.

"Baka," he heard the pretty red head in front of him mutter disdainfully.

He sighed to himself. How would he ever get this girl to like him when she thought we was an idiot?

'Not that I want her to like me,' he added hastily to himself, trying to deny the fact that Kasumi Yawa had definitely sparked his interest. He had never felt such a desire to get close to someone before in his life, and the fact that she seemed to hate the very core of him was causing him various degrees of pain. He wondered if such feelings were normal.

He heard Takeshi snicker as a note was passed onto his desk.

I see my little Sato-chan is finally taking an interest in the fairer sex.
~ Tak

I'm not.

He wrote back, but the words seemed to lack conviction even to him self as he recalled her final words in his dream. She said she loved him, although not in so many words, and that had filled him with warmth even when she was nothing but a figment of his imagination. Now she was a more persistent figment and expressing almost the exact opposite sentiment, and all he could do was hope that she changed her mind.

'How dare he!' Kasumi screamed in her head as she stalked out of the classroom, glad that lunch hour was finally upon them. In spite of it being more than three hours since that initial confrontation, Kasumi's mind was still upon the impertinent boy who had addressed her by one of her most despised nicknames without even knowing who she was. The very nerve of him! Who did he think he was going around divulging old, forgotten nicknames?

She knew exactly his type. He was the kind of guy who could get away with anything just by turning those sweet chocolate brown eyes against any female he was forced to contend with. She imagined that naïve looking, clueless stare he had given her had melted many hearts into doing his bidding, but it would not work on her – she was stronger than that and would not let her knees go weak just because some cute looking boy was giving her his undivided attention for a few seconds.

Kasumi Yawa was not like those other girls. She would not fall prey to his idiotic charm or that irresistible denseness. At least she hoped she wouldn't.

She steeled herself slightly as she made her way towards said boy, seeing him laughing happily among a group of friends. She would have loved to simply avoid the boy for the rest of her stay in Japan, but she got the sinking suspicion that he was the only reason she was even there. The second she had walked into the classroom, she felt herself almost drawn to the strong red aura that curled around him.

"The sooner I get what I came for, the sooner I can go home," she reminded herself as she crept closer to the group. She took a deep breath and forced a sickeningly sweet smile onto her face as she closed the last few meters of distance between them.

"Um . . . Satoshi-kun?" she questioned as she tapped him on the shoulder. She sent him a sweet nervous smile and glanced at him through her lashes as she quashed the mixed feelings his gaze seemed to instil in her.

Satoshi almost shuddered at the jolt of electricity that radiated from her touch. The very thought of her seemed to send tingles down his spine, but here she was before him, saying his name and giving him a look that made his heart want to jump out of his chest. He was pretty sure this was the definition of heaven.

"H-hai, Yawa-san. H-how m-may I be of s-service?" he stuttered, trying his best to be completely smooth and sweep the pretty girl off her feet. He could see Takeshi withholding laughter, and it was clear this was more for her sake than his. Takeshi shot him a 'thumbs up' as a sign of encouragement, but given his friend's own track record, he thought very little of it.

"Well, I uh . . . kind of need to talk to you about something," she said shyly her eyes suddenly finding the ground rather interesting. "Do you mind if we . . ." she trailed off.

Satoshi nodded dumbly. He was struck by how beautiful she was, and how cute she looked with this shy demeanour. Something inside him seemed to warn that this wasn't the real Kasumi, but with her looking at him like that, he could hardly care.

He followed her, hardly noting as they moved into a deserted part of the school. Soon they were the only two people around, and the beauty before him turned abruptly with the fiercest glare he had ever seen spread across his favourite features.

The beautiful innocence that had been displayed across her face only moments earlier was once again replaced by that look of hatred he had seen in the beginning – a look that only ever really seemed to be aimed in his direction. It made him wonder what was wrong with this girl; as far as he knew these sorts of mood swings were not natural, nor were they hormone induced.

Not that he cared all that much. All he could think in that moment was how anger seemed to make her even more enchanting. Her cheeks were flushed a healthy pink, her eyes seemed to simmer with heat, and her hair seemed even brighter than usual. He determined that she would always be at her most intense of beauties in his presence.

"You have something of mine," she said vehemently, her blue-green eyes boring into his chocolate brown. "I want it back."

"I'm sorry," he said, trying to remain cool in her presence. "I d-don't know what you're t-talking a-bout." His voice had betrayed him once again.

She scoffed. "I'm in a good mood," she said sarcastically, "so I'm going to give you one more chance."

A brilliant sapphire blue aura suddenly flared around her. It was powerful, and radiated magic much like the cards themselves. "Where is it?" she asked pointedly, emphasising each word. She narrowed her eyes and held a hand out towards him.

He was beginning to get the hint. This beautiful magical girl was after the cards. Pika had warned him about the Clow cards getting into the wrong hands, but he couldn't have meant her, could he? Satoshi hated the thought that they had suddenly gone from classmates to mortal enemies – now he'd never have a chance with her!

So he lied, somehow hoping that it would be in his favour. He played dumb, pretending like he hadn't seen the azure aura swirling around her and that magic was not something he was familiar with. "I promise, Yawa-san," he spoke sincerely, his words technically honest, "I have nothing that belongs to you."

"Bullshit," she muttered harshly. "You think I didn't do my research before I came here? You think I haven't noticed the way you draw magic towards you? Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"Um . . . no?" he offered weakly.

She rolled her eyes. "Well now that's been established, I suggest you just hand over the Clow cards and get this all over and done with," she said, holding her hand out once again. "I don't know what you're doing with them, but as a descendant of Clow Reed himself, I demand that you relinquish whatever you have collected to the rightful owner and just forget they ever existed.

"I will not have my destiny thwarted by some stupid kid," she added coldly with narrowed eyes. It wasn't fair. She had been trained her whole life for this, and then some silly boy comes along and accidentally opens the book and takes all that away from her.

Satoshi returned her glare. "I was appointed by Pikachu, the guardian beast of the seal, and if you wish to take offense to that, then so be it," he growled, his stance becoming defensive. "Take it up with Clow Reed if you havta', seeing as you two appear to be 'tight', but leave me alone."

He turned to walk away, but Kasumi stopped him, grabbing his arm. She shifted her grasp to his tie, pulling his face close to her own. "Give me the Clow cards," she said in a low voice, their faces only inches apart.

Satoshi met her gaze, his changed feelings making it easier to do so, although he didn't fail to blush at their proximity. "Assuming that I was totally for that, I reckon it would be kinda hard to, given they're not even on me," he muttered sarcastically. "Give up, Yawa-san. Pika-chan chose me. Get over it."

She almost snarled at him as she stepped back, pushing him away in the process. "I guess you want to do this the hard way," she muttered back. "Just remember that I gave you the option, Ketchum."

She closed her eyes, summoning a strange board with Chinese markings into existence. She whispered something quietly in Cantonese as the board in her hands began to glow brightly. As she called the last word, a beam shot from the board and pointed at the satchel hung on Satoshi's shoulder.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked, menacingly. Satoshi didn't, but he could certainly guess. He cursed silently under his breath.

She seemed to smirk at his response, but continued in her explanation regardless. "This is a laizen board, passed down from Clow himself. It has one purpose and one purpose only – to detect Clow cards. According to this, there appears to be a Clow card in your satchel.

"Did you know there was a Clow card in your bag, Satoshi-kun?" she asked with false sweetness, a smirk upon her lips.

He shook his head, which only caused her smirk to widen. "You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you, Sato-chan?" Satoshi shook his head again, ignoring the chill that went down his spine as she spoke his name. Funny, his body never reacted like that when Takeshi said it.

"This is you last chance, Ketchum," she said, reverting back to his last name which was somewhat relieving. "Give them up now, or I'll have to use force."

She gave him a few moments to make up his mind, but when his decision became clear, she stalked towards him and made a grab for the bag. Seeing this, Satoshi took the bag in one hand and held it above his head and just out of her grasp. Kasumi was tall, but luckily for him, he was taller. Her body brushed against his as she made a jump for it, filling him with warmth.

"Give it to me now," she growled, reaching for it. Satoshi almost smirked at how easy this was, but the next instant she swept her leg along the ground in a low kick, and knocked him off his feet.

She straddled his stomach, keeping him pinned as she made a grab for the bag. Satoshi acted quick, using the weight discrepancy to his advantage, and forced her round onto her back, pinning her down with his body. She squirmed underneath him as she tried to find some leverage, causing all sorts of thoughts for his post-pubescent imagination. In that moment the Clow cards were the farthest thing from his mind.

Finally she stopped squirming and just glared at him hard.

"Do you give up?" he asked, his voice low and husky. He was almost breathless from the exertion and the fiery look in her eyes.

"Never," she growled back, her eyes hardening.

"Really?" he smirked, leaning forward unconsciously. "You certainly aren't in the position to negotiate."

"As-"

"Err hem," came a loud cough, cutting her off in whatever she was attempting to say. The two jumped apart immediately, Satoshi leaping to his feet, while Kasumi sat up and innocently played with her skirt.

"Okido-sama," Satoshi greeted awkwardly, bowing respectfully to the renowned teacher. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Satoshi-kun," Professor Okido replied. "I see you've been acquainting the new student with the school grounds."

"Sensei, it's not what . . ." Satoshi began to protest, his cheeks going red as he realized how inappropriate it must have looked. "We weren't . . ."

"I think the two of you should get to class," the Professor suggested, giving Satoshi a knowing look.

"Uh . . . h-hai," Satoshi agreed weakly. He quickly grabbed Kasumi's hand and began to pull her away, both of them too stunned to protest the touch. He blushed brightly as he heard his teacher and family friend chuckle.

Once they were far enough away he turned to Kasumi, stuttering awkwardly once again. "So . . . I . . . um-"

"Whatever," she said, disdainfully pulling her hand from is grasp. "If everyone just wants to damn the world to suffering because of some idiot, then it's their problem not mine."

And with that she stalked away, leaving Satoshi with nothing to do but to wistfully watch her receding figure.

'Well,' he thought to himself, 'that certainly went well.'

~ to be continued~

Next chapter: Satoshi and Kasumi combine their forces against their first card.

Notes:

Satoshi Ketchum: Ash Ketchum. Also known as 'Toshi', 'Sato-chan', 'Satoshi-kun'.

Osaka: Southern Japanese city. Kinda rural. I think this is the Japanese equivalent of say a Brooklyn accent or low-Australian. Before you ask, Meowth is not Osakian, 4Kids just suck.

-chan: Honorific. Dimunitive suffix. Used mostly for girls. Suggests familiarity.

-kun: Suffix often used for boys. Like '-chan' it suggests familiarity - chan is more familiar.

Ohayo: Hello. Informal.

Okaa-san: Mother

Musashi Ketchum: Jesse (Team Rocket). Sister of Satoshi. Also known as 'Sashi-chan' (mostly by Kojiro. Note this is a very familiar address - implies not merely familiarity, but intimacy).

Hanako Ketchum: Delia Ketchum

Kojiro Tsuki: James (Team Rocket). Musashi's best friend.

Yamato Syoku: Cassidy (Team Rocket)

Ayumi Gensou: OC

Takeshi Nibi: Brock Slate. Also known as 'Tak'. Takeshi and Satoshi rarely use honorifics to speak to one another suggesting they have a close relationship.

Ivy-sensei: Professor Ivy. '-sensei' is an honorific indicating teacher among other things.

Minna-san: Everybody.

Kasumi Yawa: Misty Waterflower. Also known as 'Myst', 'Little Mist', 'Sumi-chan', 'Xiao Xia', 'Xia xia', 'mei mei'.

-san: more formal/generic suffix.

Ohayo, boku wa Ketchum Satoshi desu: Hello, my name is. Masculine form.

-senpai: suffix used when addressing superiors e.g. senior students. Kasumi is thus implying that Satoshi is her inferior.

Domo: Sorry. Informal.

Baka: Idiot.

Okido-sama: Professor Oak. I decided it was more appropriate to refer to him as '-sama' rather than '-sensei' because he is the top of his field and widely reknown. Suffix meaning 'master'.