A/N: Well, this has been a long time in the making, however, I finally have a sort of follow-up or spin-off to my WAR fic, Waltz for the Moon. I have to say that I really had fun writing this and really making Hilda/White/Touko (in this case, her name is Anya) my own, and hopefully you enjoy reading this. Thanks, as always, goes to Chibi for proofreading, and Char for giving a bit of feedback.

Disclaimer: Pokemon is not mine by any means, though certain OCs and references (mainly Sophia) are mine, as well as this idea.

She punched him the moment the door was open all the way. N didn't have time to react before there was explosion of pain along the right side of his face that sent him stumbling backwards off the porch and falling on his butt in the layer of fluffy, white snow covering the ground. She didn't move as he dazedly lifted a hand to touch her point of impact and then raised his eyes to where she stood, fist still raised in the air, glaring right back at him with those fierce blue eyes of hers. They remained like this for moments, angry blue eyes meeting confused green ones, before she dropped her fist and spoke.

"You've got some nerve, N Harmonia, showing up here." The words were softly spoken, but carried no less menace than if she had snarled them at him, not that it bothered him. N was still looking up at her blankly and holding one hand up to his jaw where she had punched him. In this confused state, the first thing he chose to notice aside from her eyes, which were the same ones he remembered, was the fact she wasn't wearing a hat and her hair was down. Her once wild ponytail now tumbled down around her face and over her shoulders in distinct waves…it looked good like that, he found himself thinking before he realized that the young woman before him expected a response and his mind scrambled in all directions to come up with one.

"Do you have any kind of idea how hard it was to find you?" he spoke without thinking, and it was when she narrowed those angry eyes at him that he backtracked. "I came because there are things I want to say to you. Things I probably should have said long before I told you farewell two years ago…" The anger in her gaze softened, and she shook her head slowly.

"You know, you look like a moron, sitting there in the snow with your hand to your face like that?" she asked him before crossing the porch and crouching down to offer him a hand, which he took slowly, letting his other hand fall from the now bruising spot on his jaw. She'd already punched him once, and N wasn't keen on being hit again, however it didn't seem that she intended to as she helped him up out of the snow. "Anyway, I imagine it was rather hard to find me, since I only just came back a few days ago. Mom guilt-tripped me into coming back…you know this is only building up on my opinion that you're a stalker that still exists from two years ago, right?" N gave her a look of surprise—she had just gotten back from where? What was she going on about?

"I guess my timing was lucky, then—I wasn't aware you were gone, Anya. I was only aware you'd moved." The young woman gave a frown that only existed for half a second before she smiled.

"Guess so, then. Yeah, I've been gone for a few months, but—" she was interrupted by a knock on the door, which was still open behind her, that caused both to look at the girl standing in the doorway, her own blue eyes fixed on Anya. "What, Little Sister?" the young woman asked, to which the girl gestured to the open door rather animatedly before following through with a handful of other gestures too quick for him to follow that made the little brown ringlet ponytails on either side of her head bounce. It left N more confused than ever, though it seemed that Anya understood, as the young woman muttered something before she spoke again. "Look, I know it irks Mother, but it's not killing anyone if I leave the door open for a little bit, is it?" The little girl replied with more gestures N only half caught. "It really isn't and you know it, Little Sister. Mother just decided to send you because you're the cute one," Anya replied. The little girl smirked at that before beckoning Anya to come back inside and followed up by rubbing her arms like she was cold.

"It is cold out here, isn't it?" N piped up, causing the girl to suddenly realize he was there, standing next to Anya. All at once, her face brightened up and she gave Anya a glare as if to say 'You have a guest? Why haven't you invited him in yet?'

"Don't give me that look, you don't know him. You don't know what he did to me," Anya shot back, and N cringed, not that she caught it since her eyes rested on the little girl. The girl just shook her head and gestured to N in a way that suggested he come forward, however he looked over at the young woman standing near him as if to ask permission first.

Anya regarded him with a look that almost seemed tired to him before she sighed and moved towards the little girl in the doorway. "Well, you had the guts to show up, Harmonia; might as well come inside," she said without looking back, though the little girl's eyes stayed trained on him even as Anya passed her. After a moment, he followed, unwilling to stay out in the cold any longer.

"Please, don't call me—" N's soft request was cut off as another woman who looked to be a good bit older than Anya, her own thick mass of brown hair pulled into a ponytail about halfway down its length, approached the young woman who had invited him in and began gesturing in much of the same manner the girl had done before her. This same girl had since shut the door behind both Anya and himself and stood just behind him, and watched the exchange with a slight smirk he saw as he glanced back at her. After a moment of frenzied hand gesturing, Anya reached out and grabbed the woman's hands, effectively stopping her communication.

"Stop blowing a fuse and slow down, Mother. You know I can't understand a thing you're trying to get across when you move your hands that fast." N blinked—this was Anya's mom? He only barely saw the resemblance, and Anya's treatment of the woman that had given birth to her shocked him. If he had known his real mother, he certainly wouldn't have spoken to her that way, or grabbed her hands, though the fact that she and both the little girl were dead silent confused him.

"The door, Anya, dear. You know Mother hates it when it's left open, especially in the winter when it's cold like this." N spun around to see the speaker, a woman who looked to be that same age or close in age to the woman whose hands Anya was still holding, who had the same brown hair Anya did falling in soft waves to her shoulders. The woman was bent over a sink, washing dishes, and didn't bother to look up as she spoke. Anya let go of the woman's hands and sighed.

"Sorry, I was a bit thrown off by who was at the door, mom." N blinked. Had she just called the other woman mom? But then why would they both be calling the other woman 'Mother'?

"Wait, what? Didn't you just call her," he paused to indicate the woman with the ponytail, "Mother?" Anya turned her head to look at him, and rather suddenly began to laugh.

"I would have thought you figured it out the moment you saw them, but I guess not," she replied, shaking her head.

"Dear, don't prolong the explanation, just tell him before the poor boy ends up devastatingly confused. Would you like some tea, young man? My daughter doesn't have the best people skills, as she's already made rather apparent, so you'll have to forgive me offering rather than her, and not using your name, as I don't know it," the woman at the sink said. Anya just shook her head, grumbling.

"So you really don't get it?" Anya asked him, ignoring her mother's blow to her social skills. N took a moment to answer both of them.

"I would appreciate some tea, thank you for the offer, ma'am. Anya can be rather abrasive sometimes, but with some people being how they are in the world today, you need to be able to be a bit tough, and you can call me N. Anya, no, I really don't get what you're going on about," he sighed, looking at the little girl just behind him again. Anya burst into laughter once more.

"N, Mother is a Zoroark. Little Sister is a Zorua. Neither of them is related to me—they just sort of came with those names." N blinked in confusion as the little girl burst into giggles and the woman who stood before Anya smiled smugly.

"They came with… How…? Why…?" Anya held up her index finger to her lips and smiled.

"Mother's quite good with telepathy when she wants to be, which is rarely. Before I left, Mother and Little Sister found mom and introduced themselves…and they've been sort of part of the family ever since. I'm just glad they don't mind putting up with mom when I'm away, and that they're willing to protect her, should, Arceus forbid, the need ever arise." The ponytailed woman nodded in what seemed to be agreement, smile faltering slightly.

/I should hope the need never arises, but one can never be too careful these days./ N started as a firm feminine voice filled his mind. It was the kind of voice he'd imagined his nonexistent human mother having once or twice in his childhood…or maybe the mental voice just made him imagine it. It was odd to have a Pokémon speak inside his head, it was rare for Pokémon to speak to him through telepathy since he could speak to and understand them using their own language. Actually, it hadn't happened since a few months ago, when he'd met that girl and her Gallade—Sophia and Musei. They were why he was here; well those two and Reine. It was that thought that brought him out of his mental wandering to find Anya looking at him oddly.

"True," he replied softly, a moment before a shrill whistle sounded from the kitchen, startling him and making him jump. Anya and the Zorua, Little Sister, burst into giggles in response, earning them a look of disapproval from Mother.

"Anya! Tea's ready; come get it—your social skills might be lacking, but your legs certainly aren't broken!" The young woman turned to the kitchen and frowned, grumbling something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'They certainly aren't, and if you keep harassing me, I'll use them to walk back out that door again,' before her expression softened.

"Hey, Mother, Little Sister, mind clearing out for a bit? I'd like to have a conversation with N in private, if you two don't mind," Anya told the pair before heading to where her mom had set a pair of cups on the counter. After a moment, the girl turned back to look at him, "Hey, what do you want in your tea?"

N blinked in confusion. He had accepted the offer for tea because it seemed like the polite thing to do, but now he was clueless—what did one put in tea? Was it like coffee? He wasn't sure, though he knew Ghetsis and many of the other Team Plasma scientists had consumed copious amounts of the drink. N had tried it all of once and had hated the stuff. "Ah…I'll have whatever you put in yours," he found himself saying without much thought. This was followed by a groan from Anya's mom.

"Oh dear Arceus, you're putting yourself at the mercy of my daughter where tea is concerned? You are a brave, brave young man," the woman said as Mother and Little Sister left the room in a fit of almost literally barking laughter and giggles. Anya reached across the counter, swiping at her mother and missing, laughing at the same time.

"My tea is not that bad! You just can't handle the sugar content, old woman!" she shot before moving back to the cups and picking up what looked like an oversized salt shaker and, in one quick motion, upended the container over one of the cups. When she was done with the first cup (which N was now sure contained more sugar than tea), she moved on to the other, though she seemed to take a small bit of consideration for N and didn't hold the container upside-down above it for as long as she had the first one. The overload of sugar was soon followed by the addition of a spoonful of something that was golden in color, two spoonfuls went into Anya's, much to her mom's displeasure, if the grimace on her face was any indication. When Anya finally came over with the cups, N was unsure of whether or not he actually wanted to try drinking the concoction, however he'd come to apologize, and he wasn't going to make her more angry with him for not drinking the tea she'd made from him.

He accepted the teacup with a soft "Thank you," and a smile. Anya nodded in acknowledgement before moving over to a huge white armchair by a window across the room from him and practically flopped down into it. N didn't move, he simply stood there and held onto his cup, still trying to psych himself into drinking the tea. This continued on for quite a while before Anya began to laugh, though not the happy laugh he had heard before, it almost sounded like she was close to tears.

"You know, it's so stupid," she said softly, shaking her head. "I've been hoping this would happen for two years—two years, N, and I still manage to screw it up. I know you're the one who said you had things you needed to say, but you aren't the only one. I have things I need to say myself, but I go and punch you the moment I open the door, and then just sit here, too frozen up to say anything!" N looked over at the girl in confusion, had she just said…?

"At least you weren't the one who finally decided to come back to apologize after two years only because of a girl you met at a party you weren't even supposed to be attending. I thought I was ready to come back and make things right because of her. And then there was that other girl; the one from Aspertia that reminded me, and from the way it sounded, most other people, of you. Because of her I thought I was ready to thank you for everything you helped me realize, but obviously I'm not. I'm standing here, just as silent as you and trying to convince myself to drink this tea and say what I came to say," he admitted, glancing up to meet her eyes. Anya's blue eyes were fixed on him, wide in surprise and…something else.

"Where have you been, N?" she asked suddenly. "I've been looking for you for two years. Ever since you told me farewell in the throne room of that castle Plasma built around the Pokémon League before I could tell you that… I wanted to tell you that maybe we could learn together; I could try to teach you how to make friends, and maybe you could try to teach me how to understand Pokémon like you do. It was a childish thing to think, but even after you left, I wished I could have said it to you. I wished it so much that I searched for you from that day on…until my mom practically begged me to come home, and then you just showed up on my doorstep. Where did you go off to that I couldn't find you?" N blinked. Anya looked like a hopeful child, and her words had touched him. She had really wanted him to stay? She really wanted to both teach and learn? He sighed and took a sip of the tea.

It was sweet, but not overpoweringly so. Along with the sugar, other familiar tastes filled his mouth. He puzzled over it a moment before he finally asked her, "Honey and orange?"

Anya's face lit up. "You like it, then? Mom thinks I'm crazy, but I love it."

"Yeah, it's good… As for where I've been? Zekrom and I went far away. To other distant regions to make new friends and learn by ourselves. We spent quite the chunk of time in a place called Sinnoh; that was where I met my biggest inspiration to come back and talk to you. All the people there were pretty friendly, but she…she had the same ability as I do, and her Gallade about tore me to pieces for jumping to conclusions. Before I met Sophia and Musei, though, Zekrom and I just spent a lot of time wandering. He shared stories with me, and so did other people. I learned a lot about the bonds between people and Pokémon there, and learned Team Plasma wasn't the only group to ever cause a region trouble. Then when I came back here, I heard Ghetsis was causing trouble again and went to help the girl standing up to them…I nearly lost Zekrom, but she helped me get him back. It was her, Reine, who made me realize I needed to find you and thank you too, not just apologize, like I told Sophia I wanted to do." Anya smiled at him before seeming to give something a bit of thought. N watched her eyebrows knit together in a "v" formation before she spoke up again.

"I guess you learned without me, huh?" she murmured, but N just shook his head. "And you said Sophia? Did she have blonde hair and funny, kind of rusty colored eyes?" she asked before N could speak, flooring him. She had met Sophia, too? All he could do was nod.

Anya's mouth fell open. "I started out farthest away…I met her parents in Kanto. That girl's mother has an incredible story. Her parents think they know why she can do what you do, but that's only a story I'll tell if you want to hear it, though I probably shouldn't. It's something I don't think her mom would have told me if I hadn't told her about you, and it's almost unbelievable."

"I'd love to hear it sometime… Maybe you could do it while you were teaching me to behave a little more like a normal human? I've learned a lot, but it always helps to learn from the best, does it not? And I don't know how well it would work, but you seem willing; I could try to help you understand Pokémon like I do. Well, I mean, if you still want to teach and learn?" N offered. Anya bolted up from the armchair, spilling tea everywhere, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I…" The word barely came out as a whisper. "I would love to!" N let out a soft chuckle before turning serious.

"There are two things I have to say first, though. First of all, I am sorry for all the trouble I caused you two years ago," a small smirk tugged at his lips. "And seemingly ever since. I can only hope you can forgive me for the mistakes I made back then, and accept my thanks for setting me on the right path in the end. For teaching me so much in such a short time and showing me that what Ghetsis taught me was only for his benefit in the end. In short; I'm sorry and thank you." A smile tugged at Anya's lips as well.

"You can't help how Ghetsis raised you, N. I won't ever hold that against you, so you were really forgiven before you even asked about that. However I'm glad I could help you realize that you can't see the world in just black and white, you've got to look for all those in-between shades of grey, too. I'm also glad I could help you get on the right track…even if you did it before I could offer my help. You're welcome." She gave him a warm grin before suddenly closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around him.

"You know, I've always thought you needed one of these. You always seemed so alone two years ago… Have you ever been hugged before, N?" Anya asked him softly. Confused, the young man just shook his head, trying to think.

"Anthea or Concordia might have when I was little, but Ghetsis was distant and strict. He never really showed affection, but I can see why now," he replied. N could feel the fading warmth of Anya's spilled tea seeping into his shirt, but he didn't have the heart to try and push her away. He wasn't sure he'd ever been hugged before, and now he was beginning to grow certain that if he had, he would have remembered the feeling that came with it. He was certain he would have remembered the warmth that wasn't just from spilled tea clinging to a young woman's sweater, or the certainty that he wasn't a freak in that moment, or the feeling that finally something was right in the world. "I think I would have remembered if I had been, though…unless it happened before I can remember…"

"Don't think about it too hard; you're going to need your brain to learn," Anya laughed, breaking apart the sadness that had crept up on him. He found himself starting to laugh as well when Anya's front door flew open.

"Hey, Anya, I was just wondering if maybe you wanted…to…go on a trip for the Professor with me…?" the peppy female voice fell flat at the end of her sentence. The girl knew she'd stepped in on something she probably shouldn't have, and looking over, N just barely recognized the girl standing in the doorway as one of Anya's friends. Anya didn't let the situation bother her in the slightest.

"Hi Bianca," she greeted her visitor cheerily, letting go of N. "I know this is probably a bit odd, but what can you do? Anyway, in light of recent events, I think an introduction is in order—Bianca, this is N. N, this is Bianca." That didn't get much of a reaction; N and Bianca just kind of looked at each other oddly, neither quite sure what to say. N was pretty sure the original Team Plasma had stolen Pokémon (or at least tried) from this girl.

"Ah…hello, Bianca," N found himself saying, letting his learned politeness kick in. The girl frowned a moment before she spoke.

"Hi, N…" Bianca said shyly, playing with the lime green beret that sat atop her head.

Anya only grinned as she helped the two through introductions and managed to convince Bianca to allow N to accompany them on a simple field study of the Pokémon living on Route 1. As they stepped out the door, she elbowed him gently to grab his attention. "Looks like your learning starts now; hope you're ready for it," she whispered so that Bianca couldn't hear. N fought back the urge to laugh. If this was what being a normal person was like, N thought he would enjoy being normal for once.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that he remembered he had Sophia's Xtranciever number written messily on a small scrap of paper that was tucked inside his hat. When he finally remembered, Anya found him sitting on her living room couch one morning, typing a quick message. After a bit of poking and prodding, he admitted he had sent the message to Sophia and that it simply consisted of three words: "She forgave me."

If only Sophia could have known that Anya had done so much more than that.

A/N: And that's that. I think I've finally put this interlocking series of fics to rest, lol. Anyway, thanks for reading. I always appreciate feedback, so feel free to comment on what you liked, what you didn't like, etc. Hope you enjoyed the fic!