Kim & Kira: Chapter 1

By Ryan T. Morris

Notes: The Power Rangers are the property of The Walt Disney Company. This story begins at the beginning of summer before DinoThunder starts.

Kimberly Hart's life has been pretty good for the last few years. She won gold at the Pan Global Games, went to college, got her degree in teaching with a minor in business, and opened a gymnastics academy in the small city of Reefside, California. Soon, students from all over the country were coming to the Pink Crane Gymnastics Academy to study under Kim's expert eye. All levels of expertise where enrolled in the academy from the young beginners to Olympic caliber experts. Kim even lent some of her time to coach the local high school gymnastics team.

Kim entered her apartment after a long hard day at the Academy, she plopped down in her favorite chair and her female gray tiger cat, Furball, climbed into her lap. Kim smiled and petted her furry companion. "Hey, have a nice day lying around the apartment doing nothing?" Furball meowed and Kim chucked. Just then the phone rang; she got up and walked over to the phone. "Hello?…. Yes, this is Kimberly Hart… Yes, I have a sister, Kathy… What! Are they OK?… Yes, I'm on my way…" She hung up the phone and headed out the door.

A short time latter, Kimberly arrived at Reefside Hospital. She rushed into the emergency room and saw her niece, Kira, sitting in the waiting area.

"Aunt Kim…" Kira walked over to Kimberly, hugged her and started to cry.

"Shhh… It'll be OK… Tell me what happened."

"I'm not really sure I was driving home from rehearsal when I saw the ambulances. I slowed down and saw one car smashed up, then I saw my Mom's car…" Kira started to cry into Kim's chest again. Kim walked herself and Kira over to the chairs, they sat down, they sat down and Kim comforted Kira as she continued with the story, "Then I pulled off to the side of the road and started to run to the wreck. A police officer stopped me; I told them that my mom and dad were in one of the cars. He told me that they were very badly hurt and that I shouldn't see them. But he was nice enough to drive me here and to call you."

Just then a doctor walked up to them and asked, "Ms. Ford?"

Kira looked up, "Yes?"

"I'm Doctor Collins. I'm one of the doctors that worked on your mother and father."

"How are they, Doctor?"

"The injuries your mother and father sustained were extremely severe. We did everything we could, but it just wasn't enough… I'm sorry."

Kira started to cry harder and Kim comforted her niece as best as she could.

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A couple of months later, Kira was sitting on the sun porch on the screened-in back porch of her house, working on a new song she was writing. Life was starting to return to somewhat normal for her. Kim moved in shortly after the funeral and gave Kira a part-time summer job as a receptionist at the Academy. Kira heard the sound of little feet walking across the porch she looked and saw Furball. She set her guitar down, picked Furball up, set Furball in her lap, and started to pet her. Furball purred with content as Kira petted her and as Kira petted her she thought back to the first night Kim moved in.

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Kira was in her room, she was laying on her bed, face down, crying. Furball was walking around the house getting use to her new surroundings. She made her way up the stairs to the second floor and heard crying coming from Kira's room. The door to Kira's room wasn't completely closed, so Furball pushed the door open, walked toward the head of Kira's bed, then jumped on the bed. Kira lifted her head up, and looked at Furball, "What do you want?" Furball walked toward Kira and rubbed up against Kira's face. Kira smiled. "You crazy cat." Kira then picked up Furball and cradled her like she was a baby and scratched the top of her head. Furball purred and Kira started to feel a little better.

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As Kira was thinking back, Kim walked on the porch, "Hey."

"Hey," Kira answered back.

"It's getting kind of late. You better think about heading to bed. First day of school tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'm heading up in a little bit."

"OK. So, are you looking forward to your Senior Year?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"So how late do you expect to be tomorrow?"

"Well school gets out at 3, then I'm heading over to Ben's house for rehearsal… I should be home about 6. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm thinking about making tacos tomorrow night and I wanted to know what time to start making dinner."

"Oh, OK," Kira yawns and stands up, "Well, good night, Aunt Kim."

"Good night Kira."

To be continued…