A.N: OHMAYGAD GUYS! It's my OTP's freaking day! *fanboys for hours!* eherm, now that I seemed to have composed myself, I present to you my Ikarishipping Day one-shot fanfic! For the story though, I used their japanese name since I find it very cute haha this isn't just dedicated to my darlings Shinji and Hikari, but to all Ikarishippers out there! Happy Ikarishipping Day everyone!

I certainly don't own pokemon!

~~Happy Reading!~~

Reiji's Flawlessly Epic Scheme

Home sweet home.

A very common and overused phrase used by most people whenever they would return home from a long vacation, work or even just being outside for a couple of minutes. Shinji, however, was not one of those you call 'most people'. In fact, he's considered to be one of the rare persons currently breathing up to this point who sometimes does or say things outside the social norm.

He's unusual, yes, but not enough to be someone considered weird.

He had been walking since early morning after his arrival at the Sunyshore City Port and seeing the red roof of his crib just starting to surface from the horizon in Veilstone City, it gave him a sudden nostalgia and stress-relief.

Shinji heaved a sigh as he paused and stretched his back.

"I can't seem to remember but I don't think living back with Reiji could be something bad." He muttered as he continued to walk onwards. "Hopefully though."

A month has already passed after the Johto League, though he didn't get the first place, he got second and it was more than enough for him. And thinking about how tiring it really is being a full-time trainer, he then decided to spend a few weeks back in his home city to relax and relieve some stress before continuing his training.

Now that he had arrived at his house, he was pretty sure he was going to be stressed. He couldn't point his finger at it exactly, but the smile filled with peril and naught on his older brother somehow confirmed it for him.

"Shinji!" Reiji clasped his hands together and squealed his name. "I missed you!"

He didn't react, but just rolled his eyes at the idiocy of his older brother for failing to be someone who should be a role model for him

Reiji was standing just near the front porch of their two-story house, holding a peculiar blue pokémon in his arms. Shinji then remembered that Reiji gave up his dream of being a trainer to become a breeder instead, to take care of pokémons with love, care, affection and more words more or less synonymous to what he considered himself as something ugly, useless and wasteful.

Shinji didn't care whatever pokémon Reiji was nursing.

The peculiar blue penguin pokémon perked its head sideways when it saw Shinji walked nearer.

"Pip!" It squeaked out happily seeing the purple-haired trainer.

There was something weird about the blue pokémon that gave Shinji a weird sensation in his stomach, he may be hungry but he was hundred one percent sure that it wasn't because of hunger. Actually, it reminded him of someone he knew, or someone he should have known.

But having great confidence in his memory of knowing everyone he acknowledged, he just shrugged off the annoying feeling knowing that it might have been someone he just passed by

"Don't you think this Piplup is cute!?" Reiji exclaimed, winking at Shinji who got by the door frame.

"Am I supposed to agree with you or say something?" Shinji replied coldly as he pushed his way through. "Because it annoys me just seeing how weak it looks."

Shinji dropped his bag on the floor and flopped down on the sofa, he was able to hear unintelligent murmurs coming from the annoying pokémon and his annoying older brother, but he just shrugged it off thinking that maybe it was just something stupid and irrelevant.

"Aniki!" He called out to his older brother when he saw 12:30PM on his pokégear. "Don't you have something for lunch? I'm hungry!"

"Oh it's by the fridge!" Reiji yelled outside. "Can you come here outside for a bit?" He added.

Sighing, he stood up from his seat and met Reiji outside just near the door.

"Sumomo just called me to the gym." Reiji said as he awkwardly scratched his head. "So uhm could you please look out for this little guy for a while?" Reiji finished up with a smile.

Shinji only answered with a grunt, which his older brother knew very well as something equivalent to a 'no'.

"I don't wanna do something so tiri-"

But unluckily, he was interrupted by Reiji's dust bursting from his behind as he soon disappeared within the horizon within mere minutes.

Shinji groaned and felt his head and just looked at the penguin pokémon just beside his feet. "I don't think you'll be a huge headache right? Considering your actual weight and height."

"Piplup! Pip!" It answered happily as it waved its tiny blue flippers at him, begging to be carried up.

He just answered with another grunt and went back inside, closing in the door barely letting Piplup in.

Once Shinji took out a frozen waffle from the fridge, he was surprise to see the penguin pokémon right beside his feet again, looking up at him with expectant eyes. His forehead formed wrinkles as he went back to the sofa and sat down. But still Piplup was right beside his feet, still looking up at him.

"Pip!"

"What do you want from me?" Shinji groaned, starting to get annoyed of the routine. He broke off a little piece of his waffle and threw it at the floor, thinking that it must have been hungry. But he only got annoyed more when the blue pokémon just sneered at him as if what he did was something stupid and wasteful.

"What do you want from me godammit?!"

It was then he noticed that the blue pokémon has a sort of picture locket necklace hanging around its neck. When Piplup noticed that Shinji was staring at the necklace, it climbed up his jeans and on to his lap to show him the picture inside the locket.

And it was a picture of a smiling Hikari.

Shinji grimaced at the sudden realization he just came up with. The weird sensation he felt in his stomach earlier, Reiji's devilish smile and how Reiji didn't want him to say 'no' for looking out for this guy.

And especially how he thought that he would definitely be stressed coming back here. Now he remembered why he should have never come back home in the first place.

He missed the most vital information why he should have never bothered coming home –Reiji's matchmaking trouble.

"Y-you are.." He gulped noiselessly. "That troublesome's pokémon!"

He was not supposed to say 'troublesome' to be polite, but he was just not good at remembering her name, he just didn't care as well. All he remembered was how annoying, unnecessarily loud, clumsy and troublesome she was.

And knowing that Reiji forced him in to looking out one of Troublesome's pokémon, he knew that he was in for a big trouble.

A very big trouble.

He wanted to inspect the picture more so he bent a little, but Piplup suddenly closed the locket and gave him a mocking wink.

Shinji looked offended for a minute, but composed himself immediately. It has been over a year since he last saw the troublesome girl, sure he got annoyed at her pretty much most of the time they would cross each other's path, but that was just because she kept on telling him what and what not to call her and her friends.

Especially at her, at the idiot and the breeder.

Why would she be mad when I was just telling her what I actually saw and observed?

He just thought that she was just being the annoying and noisy girl she really was.

"Do you think I would be that crazy to be curious to see her face again?" He answered knowingly and smugged at the tiny blue pokémon.

"Piplup!" It squealed out proudly, as if it was approving that Shinji was indeed very curious, clipping its hips with its flippers with its own smug on its face.

"Are you implying that I have some kind of lousy emotion towards your even-more-lousy trainer?!" Shinji exclaimed, his voice going higher octaves.

"Pip! Lup!" It cried out, forming its right flipper into something that barely looked like a thumbs-up, winking at Shinji.

Shinji mentally cursed.

He then remembered his entire encounter with Troublesome, how he easily got annoyed at her bossy attitude and how she would react spontaneously everytime he would call her names. It was somehow satisfying, and not really as annoying as he would have thought it would, and that was because how she would react spontaneously at him.

But the story was different here, he just called its trainer lousy but instead of receiving a bubblebeam attack or a whirlpool for it, which could have been much much better, the tiny blue pokémon just mocked and teased him even more.

He could literally sense Reiji's corrupted soul possessing the poor tiny blue pokémon.

He thought that he should at least feel a bit happy that Troublesome's own pokémon agreed to him that she was indeed someone lousy, but seeing how the penguin pokémon seem to behave like Shinji was having a stupid crush on her or whatever was just something he couldn't swallow.

"Well let me tell you something." Shinji cleared his throat, thinking that all this pokémon's claim was nothing but mere crappy hallucinations and selfish delusions.

I got no interest at the girl, I found her someone immature, and most of all, I would never be in love and if I would, it would never be someone as annoying and weak as her.

Shinji felt a cold chill as if he was going to eat everything he thought later on.

Like hell I would!

"I call her Troublesome, Noisy, Annoying and Clumsy, which is by the way what she really is. You should really be stupid for implying something crappy like that you know." He smirked.

But the penguin pokémon only swooned on his lap and formed hearts of its eyes. Judging by the way how it acted, Piplup behaved like a crazy fanboy. "Piplup! Pip! Piplup!"

"Calling someone names is not cute for Pete's sake!"

"Piplup!"

"We don't look cute together!" Shinji enraged as he stood up, causing Piplup to fall on the floor. "And how come I get to understand what you're actually saying?! That's impossible!"

"Pip! Pip!"

"Because we're talking about my crush on your 'even-more-lousy trainer'?"

"Argh!" Shinji started to chase the little blue pokémon, circling around the living room. "Just let me take a look at the picture for a second damnit!"

Shinji wasn't able to catch the speedy little devil as it sprinted outside the door, leaving the poor, tired, frustrated, grumpy trainer gasping for air by the door frame.

Piplup paused near a tree as it saw how it got Shinji very tired, considering that he came a long way just by walking. Piplup toyed with him again, practically waving the locket in front of him, though Piplup stood quite a few meters away from him.

Shinji let out a grunt. "Yeah! Go away! Don't you come back here ever again!" He shouted at the blue pokémon as he closed in the door hard.

He stomped his feet walking as he made his way back to the sofa and sat down. He saw his cold waffle again on the armrest as he grabbed it and took out one hard angry bite.

A lot of things were currently wrong with Shinji. He didn't even know where to start. One thing was his emotion toward the blue-haired coordinator, did he miss her? But throughout his journey in Johto, he didn't even think of her, not even once. He just thought of her now after seeing her in the picture in that locket.

And the smile on her face was something Shinji considered as something annoying.

"Annoyingly cute?" He thought for a bit. "Annoying, just annoying, not cute, maybe a little, less than five percent cute."

*Facepalm*

But why would he be desperate to take a look at the picture? Sure it wasn't love at first sight, knowing how many times he had seen her already. So what was it? Pure curiosity? He found it hard to believe that it was just pure curiosity. Pure curiosity would never make him run around the room like some stupid hyped up lunatic Poochyena chasing a Meowth.

"Am I looking forward to seeing her again?"

Shinji mentally cursed as soon as the sentence escaped his lips. His legs were trembling in deep annoyance of how everything didn't make any sense for him at all.

He was starting not to like himself.

He abruptly stood up and finished off his waffle.

"If I have time to think about crappy things like these, then I should be more worried about how I let some stupid weak pokémon get in danger because I chased it out trying to look at the picture of a girl inside its locket!"

Shinji hurriedly went outside and deep into the forest where he believed Piplup went. It took him hours of looking around and soon it was starting to get dark.

Shinji cursed at his current predicament at hand. Darkness was starting to blanket the forest and all of his pokéballs were left inside his bag. He paused for a while and thought of something clever to do. He felt a cold metallic object in his pocket and he facepalmed how he just remembered that he owned a pokégear and that it could be used to dial up a call.

He immediately took it out and saw the one and only contact he ever had in his pokégear.

"That's why I almost never bothered buying this. It sucks so bad having only an annoying older brother to have in the contact list. I feel so socially ostracized."

He then pressed the icon of Reiji and a beeping sound could be heard from the gadget. Shinji soon heard his older brother pick up.

"Aniki." Shinji started after clearing his throat. "That little blue weak pokémon ran off, any idea what to do?"

Shinji was shocked that Reiji didn't panicked after hearing what he just said. That the blue weak pokémon was in fact missing in the huge, deep, dangerous and darkening forest.

He knew it, this was all according to his evil plan. By this time, Shinji was surely regretting everything from the day he decided to come back home after the Johto League, no, he was regretting everything since the day he was born having Reiji as his older brother.

But what shocked Shinji even more was what Reiji advised him to do, that it even scared the living daylights out of him.

"You're not going to make me say that! You hear me! OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

"But it's the only way. Come on, it's not like someone's going to hear you out there ri-?"

Shinji immediately turned off his pokégear and stuffed it back into his pocket.

Surely someone was gonna hear him out here.

A million thoughts ran through his head, like how troublesome the situation has become, how he deeply regretted coming back here, how he didn't miss his old miserable life with Reiji playing matchmaker, and now that stupid penguin pokémon following Reiji's example.

He was someone not into some weird occult practices or beliefs, but to what's happening to him right now, all he could say was that he was definitely cursed!

Badly cursed!

He didn't even know if he should believe what Reiji told him, but it was the only lead he got. Whether this would work out or not, nothing would change Shinji's plan of murdering Reiji tonight.

That damn weak blue pokémon! How could it be this evil?!

He breathed out slowly.

"Hi-Hi-Hik-Hika-ri…" He muttered out. "Poop! This is harder than I thought!"

"Hi-Hikari.."

"Hikari.." He muttered out again even more silently than he did the first time, as if he was afraid that by the moment he said the name, someone would immediately come out from nowhere and hear him out. He had a bad feeling that someone was watching him.

But so far everything was going good for him.

Remembering what Reiji told him earlier, saying the girl's name was half of the trouble. In fact, he has to say a particular phrase somehow, that it was the only thing that would effectively call out the troublesome weak penguin for being a fanboy of the trainer and its coordinator, and it only started with her name.

Shinji bit his tongue so bad, hoping that he wouldn't have to go through all of this because he accidentally bite-off his tongue.

But that was no good.

Why did I even chase it out here in the first place? Just because I was purely curious, yeah right, what a lame and retarded reason.

He breathed in another deep breath.

"Hikari..I-I li-like y-y-you.."

*Bump!*

He unconsciously punched a nearby trunk of a tree as the embarrassment slowly consumed his whole being. He felt his face erupt a million degrees Celsius and his heart pumped a million gallons of blood towards his face. His fist shivered on the trunk as he tried saying again what he said earlier.

Nobody is around.

Nobody is around.

Nobody is freaking around!

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he felt a cold and dark presence that seemed to have been observing him.

He took a quick glance at the surrounding before heaving another deep breath.

Please let there be nobody around!

Especially Reiji!

"Hikari, I-I li-like you.." He was able to say it a bit more clearly a second time. He felt a churn in his stomach, and Metapods seemed to have evolved into Butterfrees in his gut. Heck he even thought that the Butterfrees in his gut mega-evolved. He wasn't able to stop the blush illuminating on his face as he tried to push forward.

This is not true damnit! This is for the sake of that stupid weak pokémon! I won't eat my own words!

"Hikari, I like you." He was finally able to mutter it properly this time. He inwardly smiled, like he just got a new gaming achievement. He was supposed to feel irked and disgusted saying the phrase knowing that it wasn't true and it was for the troublesome weakling.

But was he sure? Maybe.

Love? He has no need for something so annoying.

But what he didn't understand was the way he was feeling. He didn't feel irked or disgusted at all. In fact, he felt a little relief, he still felt his heart beating maniacally trying to burst out in his chest, and the scorching temperature on his face, well, was still scorching.

Though unlike earlier, he felt less uncomfortable. He was beginning to conclude that he was starting to go nuts.

From what exactly? Probably everything.

"I think, I think I could actually do this!" He heaved himself a visible smile that would definitely make any Gyarados cry of how unreal it was. With his hand still forming a fist on the bark, he gave it another pound before continuing,

"Hikari, I like you.."

It was starting to sound quite audible for someone else to hear out, for someone standing a foot away from him maybe.

A little more push. If he wanted to find that damn blue little devil immediately, he needed to get this done and over with. Nobody would hear him out anyway. Or at least that's what he would like to believe.

"Hikari, I like you."

Shinji felt a weird unknown excitement and rush over him that the fear he felt earlier seemed to have went down the drain. He crazily laughed a little. "I can do it! I'm going crazy! I can say it!"

"Hikari, I like you!"

"HIKARI, I LIKE YOU!"

"HIKARI!"

"I!"

"LIKE!"

"YOU!"

"Piplup!"

Shinji widened his auburn pupils at the sound he heard behind him. He couldn't believe that it actually worked! He quickly made a swift turned around to see the annoying Piplup.

"There you are you-" Shinji paused as what he witnessed drained all the gallons of blood his heart pumped earlier to his face. His pupils widened for the second time as what he saw proved that he was indeed badly cursed. His jaw dropped and his heart stopped beating.

There was Piplup, but not on the forest floor, but was held in the arms of its own trainer, the very girl that occupied Shinji's thoughts for the last six hours and a half, and the very girl whose name he shouted so shamelessly around the dark forest like some crazy head-over-heel rabid maniac.

He was surely going to murder Reiji tonight, then maybe commit suicide afterwards.

After seeing how the blue pokémon let out a giggle in her embrace, Shinji immediately wore his menacing glare and stormed at the puzzled and dumb-struck bluenette.

Shinji harshly took hold of Hikari's shoulder, shaking some sense into the seemingly petrified coordinator.

"Idiot! I didn't mean what I said! I mean yeah I said it but, no! What I'm trying to say is, uhh, I was looking for this but then Reiji called, err I mean I called him cause, no no no, what I mean.."

While Shinji was busy trying to articulate whatever words he could come up with so that what he said, err yelled, earlier wouldn't sound like what it actually did, Hikari just stared blankly at him. His explaining was no use, for all the stayed in Hikari's realm of thoughts was how Shinji yelled that he liked her.

"ARGH! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"

Still the bluenette just blankly stared at him, her face was glowing bright red and Shinji just pathetically realized how intimately close they were all along that Piplup just gave a sheepish laugh in between them.

Realizing that it was of no use and he was just tiring himself even more, he dropped his hands from her shoulder and groaned and heaved a very huge sigh.

"Just, just go home already Troublesome." He turned his back against her and dragged his feet back to his home. "I just came from Sunyshore walking, I had a chase scene with your annoying pokémon at home, I looked for it for hours here in this forsaken forest, I shouted your name like some crazy Exploud on rabies, plus I tried explaining what actually happened and not even a grain of it penetrated your head."

"I think I deserve a rest."

"I like you too Shinji."

The brusque trainer stopped walking and its ears perked up at what the bluenette had spoken at him. Without even making any slight effort, his mouth curved into a smile. And if there was any effort exerted by Shinji, then it would be how hard he tried so hard to conceal it without looking like a total idiot of himself.

What Hikari said to Shinji was probably too much for him to handle that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't help but smile.

He beautifully cursed inwardly as he realized that in the end he did choke on his own words.

Meanwhile on Hikari's side, since she was facing Shinji's back, all she felt was worry at how tired she made Shinji. She felt like she needed to do something, but was also scared at the same time that she just stood frozen in her place.

She saw Shinji turned his head a few degrees, they were quite far from each other, about a distance of three meters but Hikari somehow caught a glimpse that Shinji was smiling. She wasn't sure though but she felt like he did smile, even though she thought that it might be just a hallucination on her part, it was something she would like to believe.

"Do you think that would be enough to compensate how tired you made me this day?"

"No…"

"Good, you'll have to date me then."

Shinji finished off before running back outside of the forest failing to hold back his overpowering smile, leaving Hikari breathless and flustered back at the forest floor.

"Did you just hear what I heard Piplup?"

Piplup gave no response in her arms as it had already been totally fainted due to the insanely cute moment that happened between Hikari and Shinji, though Hikari didn't know that herself.

Unlike Shinji who seemed to understand whatever the tiny penguin pokémon would act or mutter out.

Meanwhile back at Shinji, he was finally able to compose himself as he stood in the front porch of his house, he couldn't believe that he asked her out and chickened out at the same time.

He was about to reach out for his pokégear when he felt another cold metallic object in his pocket. And again, his auburn pupils widened.

It was the picture locket necklace that Piplup owned.

He suddenly turned around and was about to make a run for it back to the forest when his brain pictured out the blue penguin pokémon winking at him.

"He must have slipped this in to my pocket when I shook her shoulders."

He heaved himself a sigh as he went back inside his house.

"What a troublesome pokémon."

He then dialed up Reiji since he was still not home, without knowing that he was already right behind him.

'HIKARI! I LIKE YOU!'

Shinji grimaced at the sound coming behind him. And it was no other than Reiji, holding his own pokégear just within his palm.

"Isn't this a very cute ringtone Shinji?" Reiji exclaimed.

Yep, Shinji knew it all along that this was all smoothly planned by his older brother, everything from looking out for Piplup until the part where Shinji screamed Hikari's name deep in the forest. He was clearly observing him right from the start.

"YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALIVE YOU LIFE WRECKER!" Shinji tried to catch his older brother but he was just too fast for him.

"I better send a copy of this ringtone to Hikari!"

"ANIKI!"

So was it a 'home sweet home' for Shinji?

Only he could tell.

A.N: So how was it? Reiji is quite the sensei isn't he, haha. If you didn't know by the way, Aniki is a japanese term equivalent to an older brother, so uhh yeah haha. Oh and an important notice to those who read what I wrote in my profile and followed my Romeo and Cinderella, I won't be posting new fanfics until October ends because I will be super busy :( but this fic, as well as my Contestshipping one-shot fanfic coming this Contestshipping Day, are the only exception since they are for a special day. But I think it is still subject to change,xD
Happy Ikarishipping Day again guys! :D

Please read and review!

~~KicksAndKisses~~