Author: TippierCoffee.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I claim the rights to any characters, of the show Codename: Kids Next Door. All Credit goes to rightful owner Mr. Tom Warburton.
Enjoy :)
It had taken the better of three weeks for the Kids Next Door organization to rebuild the tree house on the moon. Delays had been made due to the fact they also had the adults to keep at bay, and their own tree houses to look after.
No one had mentioned much of the senior city zombie incident after wards, mostly people had just admired the return of Numbuh zero, who just so happened to be Nigel Uno's Father, and getting over the initial shock of The Delightful Children From Down The Lane, being the missing sector Z.
Now, three weeks later, a couple of adults would try something sinister, and the Kids Next Door would go to stop them, so everything had gone back to its normal own pace. Or; that would be, almost everything.
Besides Numbuh one, who still hadn't fully processed the whole thing about his Father being Numbuh zero, two other team members of sector V had been struggling with the aftermath of the events as well. One of those was currently preoccupied in his room, pounding the unliving crap out of his training robot at a fast and steady pace. His blond hair was cast around him in messes, some of it sticking to his sweating face, while some of it from time to other would sting into his green eyes, just to be flicked out with a quick motion of his head, or the blow of his rapid breath.
He kept bouncing and pounding, adrenalin rushing through his small, soon-to-be-eleven-year-old body, and muscles tightening and loosening with every move he made.
An echo of Numbuh three's voice asking him t kiss her in that dreaded closet rang through his head once again, and every inch of him cramped in a tension just to be released onto the bot. Pathetic! As if Kuki would actually ask him to randomly kiss her. He should ave figured she was a zombie back then and just pounded her, but no, he just had to go and grow into jello at the sound of those words, and give into her, after using too much time screaming at her how such a thing would never happen. Numbuh four would not kiss a cruddy girl in his life! So why had he said okay to her? And why had his heart pounded in his throat when they accidentally held onto each other after escaping Tommy?
Thwack! Another punch landed square on the bot, who was as relentless as Numbuh four himself. It would not seize its attacking before he swung it to the floor and turned it off, but honestly he was not done blowing his steam. It wasn't just the fact that he had eventually been so cruddy dumb to actually say okay to kiss Numbuh three.
Honestly, why had he even done such a girly thing? No, it was the fact that in his mind he had felt how everything had been spinning and buzzing, and pounding and screaming. Screaming in joy and excitement, speeding up his heart and making his stomach grow tingly, and his breath had caught in his throat, probably stopping at the time his lips puckered and his head grew weary with anticipation. Thwack! Numbuh four was almost furious with himself. He had been wanting to kiss her and he had been looking forward to actually meet her lips! Yuck!
-Cruddy girly feelings!- He thought angrily as he landed yet another punch onto the soft surface of the training bot.
How Numbuh two had managed for it to not be rock hard was a mystery only the guy himself knew.
Thinking about it, the worst part wasn't even that she had actually ended up kissing him, which resulted in his turning, as well as the memory loss of everything he had done as a cruddy senior city zombie. If she hadn't been a zombie at the time when she kissed him, he might have enjoyed it because of whatever she had done to him. That was the worst part of it all.
Numbuh four, the tough unbreakable guy who despited girly things — one of those things being love — had actually wanted to be kissed by cruddy Kuki Sanban! Another punch was landed o the bot, and ten Wally grabbed onto its arm to toss it to the floor, before bouncing to its backside and turning it off.
-Stupid cruddy Kuki! Why'd she have to ask me to do that any ways?- He moved to the edge of his bed, sweaty, out of breath and most thoughts of frustration out of his system. He hadn't even been able to really face her as of lately without loosing his breath and feeling his face heat up in an intense blush.
He knew she had noticed it, especially when they had been teamed up together the two of them, and she had apparently made a number out of asking him what was wrong, and why he was acting so funny around her. All the time he had either shut up or just settled with saying Nothing. Most times he could ignore her constant begging, but as of lately it had just really gotten to him and made him extremely agitated. A couple of times he had even yelled at her that she should forget it, because it was nothing, and then she had of course started crying and he had felt stupid and horrible after wards.
He let out a groan and lay on his back, with his legs dangling at the edge of the bed. There were no two ways about it, this was something he would never tell Kuki, no matter how much she begged or cried. She would just laugh at him, call him silly and say she'd never actually ask him to do something like that. A sigh escaped and he closed his eyes.
"Please Numbuh two?" Kuki begged the pilot, not for the first time ever since the incident.
Originally Kuki had asked Abby if she knew anything, but of course the dark girl didn't, seeing as she had been a zombie at the point, and Kuki knew she didn't remember after the point where she stopped to check on her poor, poor hamsters, and they touched her and turned her. But every time she had asked Wally why he kept his distance to her, he said it was nothing, though one time he had slipped and let out it had something to do with the incident. That was all he had ever let slip to her, and he seemed to regret it greatly, but now it was not so much a question about whether or not Kuki wanted answers. Now it felt more like she needed answers, and she had found out Hoagie definitely knew something. What, she wasn't sure, but when she had asked about her and Wally, he had cringed ever so slightly, just to set his mouth straight as fast as possible, then giving her an expression that was a mix of compassion and seemingly disgust, before he'd told her that she really didn't want to know that. But she did. She had to know, it was not fair.
"I'm sorry Numbuh three" Hoagie simply stated, that stupid expression on his face again. "You really don't want to know, and I really don't want to remember" his face turned almost green at the last statement. He had seen something.
"Come on Numbuh two!" She squealed, tears pricking behind her eyes and something boiling deep inside her. She hated being left out like this. Especially when she had been involved. "I really need to know!"
"Go ask Numbuh four!" He simply said before walking off to get some candy. Another excuse to avoid her.
"He's not telling me anything!" her yells meant nothing, Hoagie couldn't hear her any ways, he was already out the door.
She felt how the tears started pricking harder, and her body turned warmer. So warm it felt like it'd start burning soon, while her throat tore itself without her screaming. Her head was buzzing with what seemed to be a million voices, all of them wanting answers, and if they didn't get it blood might be spilled. She lost control of it, tossed her hands in the air with a high-pitched scream as she let her tears of anger stroll freely down her cheeks. She felt like smashing something, like beating someone, like ripping either Wally or Hoagie — or maybe even both of them — apart until one of them would tell her what in the world was going on.
Her legs started moving, fast, hard and furious while her head kept spinning and burning, and tears blinded her almost completely. She knew where she was headed, she knew what she wanted to ask, and the anger was only fed even more because she also knew the answer she would get. She really didn't care any more, she would force it out of Wally if necessary.
Blinded by darkness, and terrified, he decided to be honest with her after she had closed the closet door after her. He knew she wouldn't tease him about it. She was probably the only person in the world who wouldn't.
"Kuki. I-I'm scared. I Don't know what to do next."
"Kiss me!"
His eyes shot open with those words echoing in his had, her voice as clear as the day they had been in there. He shook his head with ferocity, then hit it lightly while grumbling to himself.
"Stupid, cruddy… Just forget about it already!" His heart skipped a beat when his door was torn open, then slammed shot and angry steps came towards him. Why did she have to come now?
"Numbuh four!" she screeched, her face wet with tears, he teeth gritted and all of her hairs on end. She almost looked like a monster, because she was that angry and hurt. He looked to her, his eyes shooting lightning at her, and yet, he felt strangely guilty for the way her face was contorted right now. "I want answers and I want them now!" she pulled him up by the collar in his hoodie, her face a matter of centimeters from his own.
He felt his face burn up and his eyes struggling to focus on hers.
"What now?" He groaned. He already knew. She was going to ask him about the incident. If he had just been smart enough to never let it slip, she would have left him alone a long time ago, but no. He had let it slip and she had become more demanding after that.
"You know what?" She spat, fresh tears traveling down her pale, round cheeks. "I know you think I'm an airhead, but I'm not! I want answers and I want them now!"
"I already told you!" he pushed her off and stood up, letting her stay there. "There is nothing to cruddy tell. Nothing happened!"
"Liar!" She shot up to her feet, stepped closer to him, and started poking him hard in his chest. He wouldn't show that she actually got to him, so he didn't. "Something happened after my hamsters showed up, and I want to know! Numbuh two even knows!"
"How many time do I have to tell you— Wait, Numbuh two knows?"
"He knows something! I bet you told him!"
"I didn't tell Numbuh two anything! The same as you! Nothing cruddy happened, so let it go!"
"You'll tell me!" She screamed hoarsely, it was a wonder she even still had a voice with all the yelling and screaming she'd been doing since she came in. "Tell me now or I swear I'll—"
"You'll what? Go cry?"
"Break your video games!"
Silence. It was almost blissful after the room had been filled with such a volume, but the silence was tense and short lived.
"You wouldn't" He said, his voice lowering and his eyes narrowing, while starting to ignite in lightning. A crease formed in his forehead because of his eyebrows coming together.
"Yes. I. Would" She spat. Her voice dead serious and her eyes hard, cold and filled with tears. "I'll break them and enjoy it if you don't tell."
Wally looked to her, barely recognizing her because of her behaviour and her boldness in action. Her voice had grown strangely cold, so even though he wanted to believe it was just an empty threat, something in his gut told him to trust, that now, she was being for real. She was not playing around any more.
"Why do you want to know so badly any ways?" He asked, annoyance coating every single syllable.
"I'm tired of being left out!" She struggled to keep the hard stone voice. It was softening and going groggy. "I just… I'm just tired of it! I need to know why you're being so mean and not talking to me any more! Aren't we friends?"
She was breaking down by now, and it made his heart sink. Again with those cruddy feeling she somehow had poisoned him with. He let out a sigh, his body tensing and loosening, his heartbeat picking up and slowing down, his head spinning and spinning, until it made the room spin along. Slowly he felt how his body heated up, sweat prickled at his hairline on his forehead, near his template, at his throat, on his chest. His chest tightened, his throat went strangely dry and he was quite sure he'd start hyperventilating soon, because it was starting to feel like he was being suffocated. Suffocated by the fact she wanted to know, and had his beloved video games on the line this time. Suffocated because he would have to tell her now, because she was definitely not playing around and giving him empty threats. Guilty because she thought he didn't see her as a friend anymore, and somewhat heavy that she saw him as only that; a friend.
A sigh of defeat and his body growing heavy. She had him cornered and he'd be a fool to deny that.
"Fine." His head burned up, his heart got stuck in his throat, and the echo of her voice telling him to kiss her rang in his head again. What a stupid moron he had been to actually believe it. "You might wanna… Sit down I suppose…"
He didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. The way his body was cramping and denying him air. The way his heart kept speeding up and thrusting against his rib cage, like it wanted to escape and let him die. The way he was sweating and hyperventilating, and avoiding to open his eyes. He really did not need to look at her right now, and the best course was the hardest course. Tell her, and be over and done with it. Then he could worry about enduring her laughter later.
"It's about." He gulped down thick spit and hoped to get some air in as well. This whole thing was just not looking good for him at all. "It's about how I got turned. I guess you don't remember, because you were a zombie back then, but I didn't know that! I swear, I thought you were right behind me, that you just pulled your hand out of mine to be able to speed up or something. I didn't know you had stopped to check up on your cruddy hamsters!
"So I ran into this stupid closet, and you came in a little after, and I figured you wouldn't laugh if I told you I was scared, because I was, so I told you. I told you 'Kuki. I'm scared. I don't know what to do next' and you… Argh!" He ruffled his hair and stood up, blood rushing through his body and an urge to just pound something into the next century.
"You know what, it doesn't matter okay?!" He stomped back and forth, hoping to vent out his frustrations. "It was just something dumb!"
He locked his eyes with hers, they had grown cold again. A few minutes ago they had softened because he had actually started telling her something, but now a dark cloud had settled inside them, making them appear almost black.
"Fine!" She said, clearly offended. She got up, crossed her arms, and turned her head away from him. "I guess I'll go break video games then, wonder which one to do first. Oh I know, Street Fighter!"
She started walking, her steps determined, and Wally was getting more than desperate now.
"You told me to kiss you!" He blurted out.
She stopped dead in her tracks, her heart seemingly stopped and her eyes widened. She turned around to look at him, and when she saw he was his beat red face, eyes focusing on the ground, and cleansed fists, she felt herself heating up.
"I—"
"Told me to kiss you." He said again, this time a little softer, his focus never leaving the floor.
"Oh." She said, a lack of a better way to respond him with. No wonder it had been hard for him.
She walked over to him and simultaneously they sat down next to each other, her a little confused and looking to Wally. Him, just looking at his cleansed fists, now in his lap.
"Did…" She was a little cautious to ask this, but a part of her felt like she needed to know it. Though it made her body feel strangely numb and she started feeling dizzy. "Did you do it?"
More blushing. Both of them were now beat red and sweating underneath their skin.
"F-First I said no." He kept staring at his hands, now wishing more than ever that he had never let anything slip in the first place. "I said no and was going to tell you it would never happen, but then…"
"Then?" She kept focusing on him, now holding her breath.
"Then I ended up saying okay, and you said pucker up, and so I did, and Numbuh five opened the closet door, and I saw you were a zombie, and I freaked out, and you grabbed me, and you kissed me, and it was weird." He started panting heavily, as if he'd forgotten to breathe while telling her that, and she could have sworn she felt her head explode from embarrassment.
"Yu-you said okay?" She asked, her heart now beating so fast, she was a little scared it would result in her having a heart attack.
"Yeah I said okay, all right!" He tossed his hands to the air, with an angry and embarrassed expression. "I said okay and I was turned, end of story, go ahead and laugh!"
"Why would I laugh?" She asked, fiddling with her hands and avoiding his eyes. She suddenly felt shy.
"Because I said I'd kiss you, why else?"
"Would you say okay if I asked you again?" Why did she ask? Was she even sure she wanted to do this? Something inside her felt like she did, but mostly it just felt like she was scared.
Not because of him, bit something else. Something she feared might shatter if they actually kissed. Like it would put a barrier between them.
"What do you mean?" He asked,clearly confused, but there was something else in his voice. A spark of hope, perhaps?
"K-Kiss me." She whispered softly, finally looking at him.
His head shot up, even more red than before — if that was even possible.
"What!" He was paralysed, couldn't even back away from her. Wasn't it enough he had to live with that memory? But now she wanted him to kiss her for real? "No way! I ain't gonna kiss no cruddy girl! You'll never see me do that, it's all gooey, and disgusting, and—" He stopped himself when he caught her eyes, and everything inside him melted into something he wasn't really sure what was. Same as in the closet. Something drawing him to her and wanting to feel her lips.
"Okay." He heard his voice whisper, while his body acted on its own and moved a little closer to her.
"Okay" She giggled and closed her eyes, leaning closer to him, and hoping to actually hit his lips in her blindness.
She could feel him, or more like, she could feel his energy. It made her body tense and her heart pick up in speed, and soon enough she could fee his warm breath lingering on her skin as they came closer to each other still. So close, their lips brushed each other lightly, and then the alarm in the tree house went off.
Hi! This was stuck in my head now, and I had to get it out before I forgot.
No, I haven't forgotten about Operation Reconnect, don't worry. I'm still just in the middle of finishing up the first draft of my own story. I'll try to update in here as often as possible, but as I've said in some of my other stories, I am a bit occupied with this whole draft.
I really hope you enjoyed this. As always, criticism and/or advice(s) on improvements, is/are very welcome :)
~*~TippierCoffee~*~
Yes, I am aware of the typos. They will be corrected somewhere in the future, when all of my stories go through a rewrite :)