I've never really 'fallen' for a girl before. (And no, I have not fallen for a guy, either.) The whole idea of being with someone has never crossed my mind. Ever since my father had left me, I only had a few missions in life. And they were to show Team Rocket how pathetic they were, find my father and, of course, show him how much I had improved.

It was hard. I had to train a lot. I had to focus. I had to detach myself from everything and everyone so that I could focus on getting stronger. I did some bad things. I was horrible to my Pokémon. I was horrible to everyone, in general. But it was easier that way. So I never really questioned it.

When I met Kotone, she meant nothing to me. I didn't even know her name at first. I challenged her just as I'd challenged many other trainers.

I lost that first battle. It angered me, but I figured that if I just forgot about it, I could get stronger. She was just some other trainer, right? But then she showed up again. And again. After she beat me a second time, I was starting to get annoyed. She treated her Pokémon as if they were her pets. She was much too kind to them. So why was she always stronger than me?

That was when I started following her. Not consciously. And I always made it obvious when I had found her again. I wasn't watching from the shadows. I was just waiting for another battle. I was waiting for the day when I'd beat her finally.

The day never came. I trained extremely hard and got so much better. But so did she. I don't know when it stopped being about my strength. It was always about my pride, sure. I had to beat her eventually.

But something kept forcing us to run into each other. As lame as it sounds, it felt like there were a rubber band around us. No matter where we went, it would eventually snap back and bring us together again.

I don't know why it became so personal. But it did. Nobody affected me like she did. I pushed her away like I did with everyone else. But something was totally different.

Maybe that was why I went a little overboard when I saw her wearing that uniform. Rocket. Team Rocket. I could recognise her a mile away, even in that ridiculous outfit.

And when I did see her, it really, really angered me. I figured that she was using it to get into the Radio Tower. I told myself that it was a cowardly thing to do, and that was why I had to show everyone else that she wasn't a rocket member.

I probably didn't need to strip her in front of the other members. But I had to get her out of that thing. No matter what.

I think about it differently now. I think that it angered me because Team Rocket were the ones who failed my father. They failed him. And seeing her in that uniform… I didn't want her to fail me, too.

Not that a uniform could change anything. But I cannot associate her with those imbeciles. I just can't.

You know, I didn't even look twice when I pulled that stupid thing off of her. I didn't care. I wasn't trying to be perverted or anything. I just wanted to get her out of it. Not that she really understood. She went bright red and started yelling afterwards.

I kind of expected it. My story seemed a little strange. Especially seeing as it wasn't quite in context for her.

Eventually I did confront her about it. She had started talking to me more and more once she'd come back from Kanto. One day, I just decided that I really needed to clear up the entire incident.

I told her that my father was the head of Team Rocket. I told her that they screwed up and he left. I even told her about how I suspected it was him that messed up the most, but it was easier to blame the rest of the Rocket's. It's who he blamed.

I told her that I spent most of my time trying to get stronger so I could give them a piece of my mind over the entire ordeal. I told her that my image of Team Rocket was not a good one. That group were the ones who made my father leave me, alone, while I was still rather young. Too young to be alone, anyway. If it weren't for them, he wouldn't have left me. And seeing her in the same attire as them was extremely troubling.

It should be noted that at this point, I still didn't care about girls all that much. Maybe I did subconsciously, but I most certainly did not realize it consciously.

But when she turned to me and told me she totally understood, well, I couldn't help but like her a little bit more. Any other girl would probably have told me that it didn't mean I had to practically attack her. But Kotone? She acted as if she already knew what had happened. She was not surprised at all. She was much too understanding.

I was kind of hoping for some kind of backlash. I needed a reason to be angry. I hadn't been angry with her in months.

Of course, when she pressed her lips against mine, it was even harder to be angry. Surprised, maybe, but not angry.

I have decided that there is more to this world than strength and my deadbeat father. Much more.

Oneshots are awesome.

This wasn't much of a fic, really. I hated the idea of Kotone and Silver, but I've started getting into it a little. So I wrote this as my way of proving to myself it'd be a good ship. Lol.

Although, if you changed it a little, you could just as easily make it PreciousMetalShipping.

Title fail. I had absolutely no idea what to call this. So I pretty much closed my eyes and pointed at a random word on the page/screen. It was understanding. ^^'

Anyway, review please.