Author: TippierCoffee
Disclaimer: I do not own the show "Codename: Kids Next Door", all credit goes to rightful owner, Mr. Tom Warburton.

Will try to upload one chapter for "Alone" today, and see if I can finish first chapter of "Decisions" as well. But I do not promise anything, seeing as I'm reading for exam at the moment (taking a little break to breathe here)
Enjoy :)

Friends?

Monday

Kuki had memorized the names from her childhood photography, before stuffing it inside her bag pack this morning. If she just approached these people they would think she was crazy, she would need the proof she had found, to convince them she wasn't just a random stalker.

She had felt blessed when she went through the student book this morning and found out that three of the four kids in the photography attended the same school as her, but when she had looked for the fourth, the yellow pages had revealed that he lived somewhere in Bristol, United Kingdom.

For a moment Kuki thought it was weird though, all but one of the four kids from her childhood were in the same school, and just like her they seemed to not remember. Otherwise they would surely have approached her by now, right?

She shook her head and tried remembering the things that mattered remembering.

Abigail was in class B, Hoagie and Wally were in class C and she was in class A.

For a moment she wondered how well Hoagie and Wally knew each other since they had ended up in class together. If they got a long and had discovered knowing each other as kids. If they by chance had found pictures of Abby and herself, but had been too doubtful to approach them.

Class B... She wondered what kind of people went there, if they were nice or if they would bully her for coming in? She took a deep breath and pushed the feeling of doubt away, then she entered the classroom.

Only few people had stayed in here during lunch break, most of them still bought food from the lousy cafeteria. Kuki had only tried it the first week before deciding it wasn't worth the money, and from the looks of it it seemed like Abby had come to that same conclusion.

She was seated at a desk fit for two people, some had pushed another table over to where she was, and besides her there was one other girl, and three guys.

"Abigail Lincoln?" Kuki asked uncertainly and quietly from the door.

The dark teen looked up from her chair. She had cut her hair shoulder length and had dropped the red cap. It just shimmered in the braid she had made out of it. Her eyes seemed sharp and almost orange in the shimmering lights from the window. Black tanktop and worn out dark blue denim jeans, as well as white sneakers. She loooked like the kind of girl who could easily have a tiger, or a dragon, tattooed across her shoulder, and shoulder blade, without looking foolish with it.

Her ears were double pierced and in both holes she wore small fake golden rings, with a ball connecting it. Kuki had seen people with lip piercings have this kind of ring attached in the hole. It looked really good on the female in front of her.

Kuki took a step closer feeling strangely immature looking at this beauty.

"You're Abigail Lincoln right?" she asked carefully.

The girl exchanged confused looks with her friends before answering in a rasp, yet feminine voice.

"Yeah I'm Abigail. What of it?"

Kuki felt herself getting a little intimidated by the girl's attitude. Not that she was harsh, she just seemed like an incredibly strong and self assured person, who was perfectly relaxed being just herself.

"My name is Kuki Sanban. Could I... Maybe talk to you for two minutes?"

Abigail raised an eyebrow at the Oriental girl, scanning her quickly. Long sleek black hair, Autumn eyes which seemed to shine golden in the reflection of the sun, purple three quarter sleeved blouse and black knee length skirt as well as black converse sneakers. She seemed somewhat childish.

"I promise it'll be worth your time, but if you feel like it was a waste just forget it afterwards. I just really wanna talk to you. Please?" Kuki hardly noticed she send the girl gleaming puppy-dog eyes, but she knew she didn't have to.

"Sure. I guess Abby can hear you out" she said, casually getting up from her chair, giving her friends a salute kind of wave with two fingers, and then shoved her hands into her pockets as she walked out into the hall with the Oriental girl.

"What 'you want with Abby girl?" the confidence in her voice made Kuki somewhat envious and slightly intimidated because she wished she could be that relaxed about things herself.

"Ehm" she stuttered, cursing inwardly at how lame she must seem to the dark girl at this moment. "I just... How to phrase it? I found this picture the other day, of me when I was like ten. And... Well... Four other kids were in it with me, and apparently I wrote their names on the back of the photo. It's a habit I have" she quickly added when she saw Abigail raise her eyebrow in wonder.

"Anyways. I read the names on the back of this photo and it seems that you are one of the four other kids in it, so I guess... I guess I just wanted to know if maybe you remember ever having been friends with me?"

Kuki held her breath and looked timidly at Abigail. She must have sounded so stupid, and Abigail looked like she was trying her hardest not to toss out accusations of Kuki being a lonely lunatic, just trying to make quick friends.

"Ehm" Abigail started, unsure what to say to this girl in front of her. She looked almost ready to cry. "I'm sorry... Abby don't really recall ever having met you... You sure you ain't got me confused with someone else?"

Kuki's short moment of hope quickly evaporated and she hung her head low. She knew it. Of course this girl wouldn't really believe it. Kuki wasn't even sure if she actually believed it herself, but she knew she had some proof, and if the younger her who had written the names, had mistaken the kids for someone else, then she'd probably end up crying on the spot.

"This is you, right?" she asked, showing the picture to Abigail, pointing at the dark ten-year-old girl in the photo, who supposedly was this girl in front of her right now.

Abby looked at the picture baffled, with her breath catching in her throat for the briefest second, her eyes almost popping out of her head.

How could she be in this picture? When was this taken? Had the Oriental I front of her used time trying to find these kids and edit them into this?
No. They were there. Their shadows were cast the same and matched up on the grass behind them, and onto the persons next to them.

"How?" for a moment everything seemed to shatter within Abby's mind. She didn't know these people! This didn't make any sense. "I don't remember this" she said quietly to herself, but still loud enough for Kuki – or whatever her name was – to hear it.

"Neither do I" Kuki said calmly, yet there was a hint of sadness hidden somewhere deep in her petite high-pitched voice. "Is it you though?"

"Yeah" Abby answered breathlessly "Yeah, that's Abby..."

"Pfff! Hahahaha! You're kidding me right?" a tear of laughter rolled down his cheek. His extended arm held onto one corner of the picture Kuki had shown him.

He had lost some ten kilos since childhood, and dropped the aviator cap, but he still wore the goggles on top of his brown-haired head. His eyes had turned out to be deep blue. He wire kneww length dark brown khaki short and an ordinary blue T-shirt. In all honesty his clothing style looked much the same as in the photography.

"I mean I can imagine me maybe having been friends with you at a younger life, but Beetles? Hahaha! Beetles isn't even friends with himself man!" he wiped the tears away then looked at the girls, his smile slowly disappearing and seriousness settling into his eyes. "I'm willing to believe you, and maybe build up this friendship I don't even remember about, but I'm telling you now. Especially you Kuki, since it was you who found a photo and initiated contact.

Don't waste your time on bullies like Beetles. You'll end up getting hurt"

That was what he'd said, and Kuki felt how her heart sank a bit.

It was bad enough that one of the five had moved to United Kingdom, but now she couldn't even recreate contact with the blond boy either?
For some reason it seemed so silly to her that it saddened her. She didn't even know the guy. Maybe she had just set her hopes too high about getting all three of them to create a reconnection of something none of them remembered, and now they were already two people short.

Kuki looked down with a little frown, accepting back her picture and looked at her younger self, who hugged the boy with a huge grin.

They must have been really close friends, since she had decided to place herself like that near him. She could have placed herself nearer the other girl, but for some reason she was near him.

She couldn't help but wonder how Wally had turned from someone who looked like her best friend, to some bully.

Surely, even the younger Kuki wouldn't hang around with bully types?
And to be honest Abby and Hoagie didn't seem like people who would hang around bullies either, they seemed to smart for it.

Ja ja, I try 8D
And now I'll continue my exam project. Have to calculate some metabolic weight for Zebra, so I can figure out how much to feed them, and read about anaerobe fermentation 8B
See you around ^^
Criticism and/or advices on improvement(s), is/are still appreciated ;D
~*~TippierCoffee~*~