Operation: K.E.N.D.O

Kid

Enters

New

Destination

Overseas

The Eastern New Kid

I don't know how it all happened. Maybe it was just a coincidence. But then, I'm not sure if it was.

My name is Kimiko Ikin, a ten-year-old kid. Please call me Kimi for short. Everyone I used to know makes fun of my full name. I'm a tomboyish girl with short-trimmed black hair and a bit of a temper (from my annoying little brother's P.O.V). My taste for fashion is wearing a long-lengthened blue chemise over my green and black-striped shirt, weary gray pants, cool running sneakers and fingerless gloves.

Okay, let's forget my description and get on with the story. I was moved from China to this town, regardless that I didn't want to. I mean, move to another country?! I didn't want to. I was fine where I was, in my home, with my friends, doing my kendo lessons... But my parents said it would be great for my little brother and me. I knew they were lying.

Oh, and why we moved here? From my dad's side, it's because my dad wanted to spread his business in somewhere that people would find his cooking unique but from mom's side, the real reason was to help save our financial problems. Yup, my dad is a chef, now the boss of an Asian multicultural restaurant built right here. My dad (a Eurasian) is the best chef ever. He "creates" every splendid dish and each is spectacular. My mom is a waitress (she's Japanese), working there and a part-time artist.

Even though Dad's cooking was great, it wasn't bringing a lot of customers back in China. Maybe it was because we were next door to a famous fancy restaurant run by Mr. Swine Chow. My dad kept saying, "He's hogging all our customers." But because of that restaurant, we lost business in China.

And that's how I landed here, in a new boring life. Without friends, without anything to enjoy or even to look forward to. What was the point living here? I didn't want to be here in the first place.

I haven't made friends in a week at school. No one came up to me or anything. Maybe it's because they thought I didn't speak English.

When the first week of school was over, the next week came. And I wasn't gonna expect someone to come talk to me until I walked around a corner in school.

"Oof!" A girl and I yelled as we hit each other without knowing we were there. We crashed right onto the floor after contact.

"Ouch...!" the girl cried. "That hurt!"

"Sorry," I apologized as I got up. "I didn't see you there."

"That's oka – Hey! Are those Winged Sonia Sneakers, the latest running shoes of Hip-Hitch Sneakers Inc?!" she suddenly yelled with a big gapping mouth.

I first examined the girl. I took that she was be a Black American by her skin color. She wore her black long hair in a typical braid. Aside from her taste on golden loop earrings, she was wearing a blue white-striped clothing and a pair of white shoes. I couldn't see her eyes from under that red floppy cap but she had her sight targeted.

She seemed to have taking notice of my sneakers, knowing what brand they were. Yeah, they were the latest brand from Koshi-Kodawari Kutsu Goudou, (Translation: Hip-Hitch Sneakers Inc), called Winged Sonia Sneakers. It's a brand for girls, though. They're cool-looking blue and white sneakers with a touch of glossy white inflatable wing on each heel. Like the sandals belonging to Hermes, the Messenger God. They advertised that it would make you go fast. My little brother, Arika, thought they were stupid but I kinda like them.

"Where did you get those?! They're not even out yet until next year!"

"My mom gave them to me two months ago. She was a friend of the company's boss so she got them for free."

"For free?!"

"Yeah, in China, they've only made ten of these. I heard the shoes were very rare back then, until now they're becoming wide world."

"Man, you're one lucky girl," she said.

"Well," I mumbled. "Used to."

"Used to?"

"My family moved here, rather than stay back in China. Things have been pretty wretched since we started to move. So far, I haven't gotten a friend yet," I told her. I looked down at the floor and wondered how much miserable I'd be in for the rest of my life.

"Well, girl," the girl said, throwing her arm over my shoulders. "You just earned yourself a new friend. Name's Abigail Lincoln. Call me Abby for short. What's yours?"

"Kimiko Ikin."

There was a long moment of silence. Then...

"Pss-hee-ba... BWAHAHAHA!!!"

Just as I expected, she was laughing at me. My name stinks. Why couldn't my mom named me Sakura or Amaya? ANYTHING BUT KIMIKO IKIN!!!

While Abby was laughing her head off, I just walked away, hoping laughter would choke her to death but she stopped me.

"Wait! I'm...ha-ha...sorry I laughed at you."

"Don't bother. Everyone does," I groaned. "But everyone back home used to call me Kimi for short."

Abby smiled at me, seeing I wasn't too angry with her. Well, how can? I got myself a first friend since we moved here. Finally, my life isn't a total misery.

"Okay, Kimi, how about I show you around the place?"

"Oh, sorry, but I gotta go. I have to help my parents with the restaurant." It's true. My parents always wanted to see me helping around. Although I was young and needed freedom from adults and teens, I was currently still the oldest child in the family and the job I took was either washing the dishes or taking orders. I do have an older sister, but she's having college now. So all the being the oldest responsibility has been handed down to me.

"Restaurant? Say, are your folks the owners of that new place called Oriental White Sands?"

"Yeah." Guess news fly fast. "We just opened the place. My dad's the chef and mom's the waitress. We don't have that many employers yet. Since I'm needed there... want a ice kachang?"

Abby had one eyebrow furrowed under her red cap. "What's the heck is that?"

"How do I put it? ...A Chinese version of ice-cream. You should try it. Dad makes the greatest ice-kachang ever."

"Hmm... Sure, why not?" And we were off to the restaurant. I had a hunch Abby was expecting ice-kachang to be like any normal American ice cream.

Anyhow, we got to Oriental White Sands. And as usual, it was empty like a ghost town. No one had come to our restaurant since we opened, much to my disappointment.

"Whoooa...!" Abby gasped as we entered. Mom was our special designer of our restaurant, decorated everything to give it an Asian taste. It was like as if you've flown around Asia in just one day. Mom painted the walls with details of jungles, Malay and Chinese people, animals from Asia like the Mouse Deer and famous buildings like the Merlion from Singapore. The structures of the pillars were the likeness of those in an emperor's palace in China. The tables and chairs from our old restaurant were still brand new, giving a touch of Chinese architecture. Lastly, statues, vases and a fountain were put up as a finishing touch.

"Yeah, cool, huh? My mom did the decoration. Call her an artist, if you like. She used to travel all around Asia before she met Dad."

"You sure she's not the Asian version of Leonardo da Vinci?

"Yup. Though I am still investigating that."

"Kimiko! Is that you?"

My eyes went wide. I turned sharply to the kitchen. "Dad! Please! It's Kimi!"

"Sorry, sweetheart," he laughed as he walked out of the kitchen, wearing his white fancy chef clothes. I slapped my face. How could he call me sweetheart in front of my first friend?! "Oh, I see we got ourselves a first customer! What will it be, Miss?"

"Dad, she's my friend that I invited over for a treat! Sheez!" I said, rolling my eyes. "This is Abigail. Abigail, meet my dad, the best chef and ice-kachang maker ever."

"Hi," she greeted.

"So what will you both have then?" Dad asked with a smile.

"We'll both have ice-kachang," I replied. "With lots of cherry syrup."

Abby gave me a look.

"Two special ice-kachang coming right up!" he yelled and rushed into the kitchen. We were left alone for a while.

"Quite quiet here," Abby said.

"Yeah, would be great if we had some people come here. Hopefully better than our last business," I said with a deep sigh.

"Last business? What happened?"

"Some rich guy built a restaurant right next to ours. We lost a lot of our regular customers because of that." I sighed again. "That's why we moved."

"Whoa, must have been pretty hard for ya."

"Yeah." Silence fell for a moment. Then something crossed my mind. "Hey. My dad is offering the first 50 customers a 25 discount on all the meals they can eat. If you like, I can register your family or friends as one of the first 50 customers."

She looked at me with big eyes. "You can?"

"Yeah. Dad wouldn't mind a registration under your name. Dad is begging for one customer to walk right into this place. What'd you think?"

"Wicked," Abby said with a big smile.

"Alright, kids!" Dad shouted from the kitchen. He carried our pink-colored ice-kachang to us. "Enjoy. Oh, and Kimiko, you can have the day off with your friend." He then drew close to my ear. "Don't worry. I'll wash the dishes for you. We'll keep this little secret from your mother."

"Thanks, Dad," I whispered back and watched him disappearing into the kitchen.

"...This is ice-kachang?" I turned back to see Abby looked shocked at her plate. "Crushed ice with syrup on top?"

"Seriously... you've never seen ice-kachang before, huh?" I asked. "Come on, it's a Chinese and Malay desert. What are you afraid of?"

"What's underneath the ice."

"Okay, so it has black worm-shaped jelly and mangoes underneath the ice but it's good. Trust me," I said as I took a bite. Dad's cherry-flavoured ice-kachang was the best ever.

Abby gulped, seized the spoon, scooped a small chunk, closed her eyes and slowly drove it to her mouth. And ate it. She opened her eyes again.

"Hey, this is good!" she cried.

"See, told ya so," I said. After her bravery over the ice-kachang, we spent the afternoon talking and eating our ice-kachang. She was very interested to talk about Asia. We later said goodbye and she left. Luckily, she wasn't around to meet Arika. He's such a twit and would have embarrassed me before Abby.

I felt happy I had met someone in my second week here. Abby was my first friend. But it wasn't gonna be the last. This was going to be the biggest turn of karma in my life.

Vickie: Hello to KND readers and welcome to the first fanfic of KND, introducing my first KND OC. There will be more continuation fanficswith her and other OCs in it (depending whether I'm not busy). I had quite a difficulty on Kimiko and KND as I only started watching a few shows. So if I make any minor mistake, please be helpful. And I like to thank a friend of mine for helping me with the title, KENDO. The first chapter will start as Kimiko's POV and the rest will be third person view. Hope you all enjoy this. And please give it a chance. The action is gonna come real soon!