To Steal the Heart of a Thief {Pokemon Ranger Fanfiction} (Pokemon Watty Awards 2015)

Chapter 22: Heartbreak

(Third Person POV)

Eight years ago...

"Umm, father?" The little nine-year-old girl blinked in her seat at the kitchen island, raising her head up to look at the tall man before her.

A tall man with short black hair and dark blue eyes in his mid-twenties turned around to look at the little girl he had met one week prior, now alert. "Yes, Rena?"

Rena dropped her eyes to the counter, kicking her legs that hung down from the stool she was sitting on. "Why did you take me in?"

Sam Monroe, the notorious world-class thief renowned for his heartless and emotionally-detached behavior, felt his gaze falter. He couldn't help but smile happily at the little girl he had already grown to adore so much. "Well, Rena, it's because you remind me of myself when I was your age."

"I do?" Rena blinked at him curiously, slowly sitting up straight all of a sudden.

"Yes." He smiled, then ruffled her shoulder-length brown hair. "Just like you, I didn't have any parents to take care of me. I grew up in a dojo with my Sensei, who was the one who taught me everything I know."

Rena just stared at him very shocked. "And you want me, of all the little girls out there, to be your daughter...?" Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared down at the floor. "Why don't you just pick someone better..."

Sam smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes, gently making Rena look up at him. "Rena, do you remember how we met?"

Rena grimaced, then sweatdropped. "...I...tried to...pick-pocket you..." She awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

Sam just cracked up at the sheepish look on her face, and he ruffled her hair again. "Yes, you did. And do you remember what I said to you?"

Rena shuffled in her seat. "When you found me in that alley after I pick-pocketed you, you turned around and looked at me and said, 'I'm insulted that you managed to pick-pocket me so horribly,' and you grabbed my hand that held your wallet..." Rena sweatdropped again.

"Don't you see?" Sam smiled at the little girl. "There is no one better than you, Rena."

She was so caught off guard by the compliment that she didn't know what to say, and she just dropped her jaw. "...h-how...?"

Sam patted her on the head, annoying the girl by messing up her hair again. "Because you've got guts." He grinned at her. "You ran away from your orphanage at age nine and tried to live off on the streets by yourself; that takes guts, Princess."

Rena cracked a teensy smile at the amount of respect Sam held for her. "So, Sensei---" She caught her mistake and quickly corrected herself. "I mean, father, what exactly do you do...?"

Sam stiffened just slightly, and his eyes darkened. "Well, Rena... Unlike most adults, my job isn't exactly...legal."

Her eyes couldn't help but widen in shock. "Wait, really? What is it?" Rena's curiosity got the best of her once again.

"I'm a world-class thief." Sam smirked, watching as a little Poochyena trotted into the room and jumped up onto the kitchen island. He started petting the Pokemon Rena had brought with her when Sam had unofficially adopted Rena.

"Whoa..." Rena stared at him, completely amazed. "You are?"

Sam simply nodded his head yes. "I steal specific items requested by my clients, art from museums to sell on the black market, and I currently run my own gun-smuggling ring across four international borders." He smirked, proud of his achievements.