Renovations

(I love Mouse Hunt. I have just learned about the manga, Karin, and the gears in my head started turning...)

Disclaimer: I own a few of the traps, but nothing else.

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Chapter I

"Refresh my memory. Where are we going again?" Ren Maaka asked as he struggled with a large, moth-eaten leather suitcase.

"We've been telling you all this month. We're taking a vacation to Transylvania to visit relatives." Henry said as he jammed a final shirt into his travel bag and slammed it shut. Suddenly, the bag gave a groan and burst open, showering clothing everywhere. "Oh, come on! Half of this stuff isn't even mine!"

Ren sighed as he watched his father struggle to pick up the clothing all over the floor. He didn't especially care for going to Transylvania, especially with the Tokyo regional chess championship coming up. Ren had made an oath ever since he started playing the game; nothing short of Earth colliding with another planet would keep him from that tourney. Suddenly he got an idea.

"Dad, how about if I stay home and watch the house while you're out? "

Henry gave a howl of pain as he slammed the bag closed on his hand. Turning, he stared at Ren. "What?"

"Dad, come on!" Ren pleaded. "I'm 19 years old, I know how to cook, I can get the mail for you, I can handle it all! Please, let me prove how mature I can be! And besides, it'll save some room in that bag."

Henry turned away and forced the bag shut. Ren waited. He knew that something was about to happen that would guarantee his father's consent in about three...two...one...

BOOM!

Henry stared forlornly at the clothing newly scattered all over the floor. "All right." He said finally.

Ren barely suppressed a cry of joy.

"But..."

Ren's grin wavered. "But?"

"Not alone." Henry said as he began separating Ren's clothes from the rest in the bag. "I'm not ready just yet for you to watch the house all alone. You need someone else here with you."

Ren's grin vanished. "Like?"

"Karin."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

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"Bye, you guys!" Called Calera Maaka as she and Henry waved out the window of the car as it disappeared down the hill. Ren managed a weak grin, which vanished as he stared down at his sister, Karin.

Karin watched the cloud of dust fade from the road. "I wonder why they chose me to stay behind."

Ren turned to walk back into the house. "I just thought of a few reasons."

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"Bored." Ren groaned as he tossed the 367th pencil into the ceiling. Karin was reading a back issue of MAD magazine, then sighed and tossed it away. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she appeared to be in deep thought. Suddenly, a slow grin crept across her face.

"Ren, I just got the best idea."

"Mm?"

"Lets renovate the house!"

Ren looked up. "Come again?"

"Yeah!" Karin said happily. "Just think about the look on Mom and Dad's faces when they come in to see the house completely redone!"

Ren looked positively stunned. "Karin, be realistic here! What do we know about renovations? I don't even know how to spell the word!"

Karin shrugged. "Well, if that's how you feel about it. But personally, I bet it's a lot better then tossing pencils into the ceiling."

Ren chuckled. "Well, how would you know?" He asked as he tossed another pencil upward and into the house's sprinkler system. "Oops."

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(A/N: So how was it? R and R!