Crime and Punishment, Punishment and Crime

An eight year old Dora Winifred Read, aka DW, was sitting on the couch in the Read house living room, watching My Princess Pony. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and Kate Read came rushing into the living room. She jumped on the couch, and asked DW, "Whatcha watching?"

"TV." DW said sarcastically, because frankly, she wasn't going to answer any of Kate's questions.

"What kind of TV?" Kate asked, oblivious to her sister's disgust. DW discreetly shot Kate a nasty look, and said,

"Leave, Kate."

Instead of leaving, like DW wanted, Kate snuggled closer to DW. Kate started laughing at a joke DW had decided wasn't funny, and DW just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"So," Kate began as the show ended. "How was your day?"

Instead of responding, DW got up, and threw the television remote on the couch. She walked up to her and Kate's room, to get away. Of course, having to share the room with Kate, that was worse than a stupid plan.

Kate came into the room after fifteen minutes, causing DW to get even more irritated.

"Weren't you ever taught to knock?" She asked a bit angrily.

Kate sniffled at DW's harsh tone, and then said, "But this is my room."

"No," DW said, "This is my room. You're just an unwelcome guest!"

Kate continued to sniffle when DW sighed and asked, "What do you want?"

"I wanted you to play Tower of Cows with me." Kate said.

DW scoffed and rolled her eyes. "That game is for babies."

"But Arthur plays with me all the time."

DW snorted, "Case in point."

Kate then moved over to DW's desk. "Well, what are you doing?" She asked. She caught a peak of a drawing of James, which DW quickly covered. "Leave." She hissed.

Kate slowly backed up.

"NOW!" Kate ran back downstairs. Around fifteen minutes later, Kate came up again. DW squared her jaw, and looked at Kate. "What?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"I brought you some paint in case you wanted to color your drawings." Kate said, holding up her pail of paints and crayons. DW flushed bright red. "It's okay if you like James, DW, there's nothing to be," Kate cut off when DW got up and slapped her across the face.

"Quit pestering me!" She said. She then grabbed Kate's "Pail of Art", and hit her with it. It was at that moment, that Arthur and Robert rushed into DW and Kate's bedroom. They had come in not five minutes before, and were going to their shared room, when they heard the lashes. Kate was shaking with sobs, and cried out to her mom. Thinking quickly, DW threw the "Pail of Art" at Arthur's feet, then put on her best dramatic face.

"You monster!" She said. Arthur eyebrows shot up in shock.

"Me!?" He asked. Robert just smacked his head on the doorpost.

"Arthur!" Jane scolded, walking up to the scene. "How could you hurt Kate like that!?"

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Oh no, no! I'm not the one to blame. DW," Arthur pointed at said aardvark, "is the person who hit Kate."

"We just came home from the Sugar Bowl." Robert said.

"Yeah, yeah, see?" Arthur said.

Jane gave Arthur a cold look and said, "You're grounded. Two months. Wanna make it three? Argue."

"I can't believe this!" Arthur started.

"Three months. Grounded." Jane pointed to Arthur's room. He shot Jane a soft glare while walking to his room.

"I hate this place." He grumbled.

"Four months." Out of anger, Arthur slammed his door shut. "Five."

Robert insulted Jane in pig Latin at her terrible judgment, and walked to Arthur's room.

"That's five months detention with your brother." Jane scolded.

Robert rolled his eyes, "Boo. Hoo." He slammed the door behind him. When Jane picked Kate up to take her downstairs, Kate shouted, "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Startled, Jane blinked, and asked, "What?"

"Why do you always believe her?" Kate asked. "Arthur would never hurt me!"

"Until now." Jane said, placing her hands on her hips.

Kate glared at Jane then limped to Arthur's room. She then shot a glare at DW. "You won't get away with this!" She shouted.

DW mouthed to her, "I already have." She had a huge smirk on her face, that Kate wanted to slap off. So she did. She dashed over to DW and slapped her. DW momentarily forgot that Jane was right there, and slammed her fist into Kate's stomach.

"Don't you ever do that again!" DW shouted angrily. Kate looked up at DW and smirked. When DW realized what happened, she turned and saw Jane giving her a very deep look of disapproval.

"Three months. GROUNDED, young lady." Jane said.

Kate asked, "What about Arthur and Robert?"

Jane said, "Mm, rest of the day." She patted Kate on the head, and asked her, "Want to help me bake some cookies?"

Kate's eyes lit up. "Boy, would I!" She then followed her mom downstairs.

Inside Arthur's room, Arthur asked Robert, "Will we really be grounded five months?"

"I give it a day. If not, a week."

Happy were they to know, that it truly was for just a day.

A/N: Theme 001 Punishing the brat. Something everyone's wanted for a long time, but unfortunately, at Kate's expense. Feel free to complete the themes yourselves, credit me and DASL for the theme ideas 001 to 030. From 031 to 037 give special thanks to QuirkyDreamer. Also submit these on dA if you could, Korpen9999 is moi, and the lovely SS-Chyrys and her creativeness, is of course, DarkAngelSnapeLover. Without further ado, REVIEW!