Rainbow of Friendship

August 31, 2006

3rd Person POV

"Leukemia?" Kim looked at her brother sadly. "Are you sure?"

Billy hesitated, then nodded. "Affirmative. Your white cell count combined with—" he stopped short when a blast from the viewing screen caught his attention.

Billy and Kimberly watched as the original Loki and his six clones formed a circle around the Rangers and shot blasts at them. When the smoke cleared, the Rangers were revealed to be trapped in chokeholds. Snakes wrapped themselves around the Rangers, squeezing mercilessly, while Loki reconvened into one being, played his flute in victory, and danced around the prone Rangers.

Billy turned back to Kim. "I'll be back…I've got to get out there…the guys need me."

"I'm coming with you."

"Are you joking?" Billy looked at her as if she had grown a third head. "Kim, you can't be serious. You have Leukemia! You just collapsed not an hour ago, and you're saying you want to go out again?"

Kim sat up, anger with her situation taking itself out on Billy. "I'm not a child, Bill! I'm an adult, and I'm a Ranger. This is my job…my life. It's who I am…that's not gonna change because I happen to have a tiny little disease. I've fought when I was sick before."

"Kim, this is different. You don't have a cold, you have cancer. There's a difference, and it's not going to communicate itself to this monster like it did before. Please, I don't want to have to worry about you, too. Mom and Dad will never forgive me if something happened to you."

She gave a small, wry smile. "You know, you're enjoying this brother thing entirely too much. If I promise to be careful, and to come back here if I start to tire, will you let me go? You're going to need the help, and I can't just sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Besides, what if you end up like Tommy and Trini and the others?"

Billy looked away, then turned back. "What do you think, Zordon?" he asked.

"I SEE NO REASON WHY KIMBERLY CANNOT GO. IF SHE PROMISES TO TAKE IT SLOWLY IN THE BATTLE, AND TO RETURN HERE IF SHE TIRES, THEN SHE MAY GO," the wizard replied.

Kimberly smiled. "You bet, Zordon!" she stood up and moved next to Billy, who grabbed her hand before she could reach for her Power Coin.

"Kim, wait. I just want to tell you, before we go out there, that I love you. No matter what happens, I'm glad that you're my sister. As difficult as it was to learn, knowing about our relationship and having you as my sister is infinitely better than having you as my friend. Remember that."

Kim's eyes threatened to spill over the tears that were pooling. Shaking her head, she hauled herself into Billy's embrace. "I love you, too," she replied, her voice shaky.

They hugged momentarily, then moved apart, each reaching into their back pocket for their morphers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Billy delivered a spin kick to Loki's head, jumped backwards, bounced off a tree, side kicked him and somersaulted through the air to land in front of the same tree he had just utilized. With his attention on the man in blue in front of him, Loki didn't notice Kimberly flanking him, her nunchucks swinging.

"Hey, Kermit!" she called. "Wanna see something cool?" Loki turned his gaze from Billy to Kimberly, who was spinning her nunchucks expertly. Kim watched the eyes of the monster carefully. Once she was sure she had him completely mesmerized by the spinning weapons, she threw first one, then the other at him, the nunchucks circling his neck and knocking him in the face.

Billy remembered something from an old Psychology course he had taken with Kimberly in college. He whispered his idea into his headset, and Kimberly looked up, smiling at her brother. "Billy! That's brilliant!" she replied. She moved to stand next to him and the two began a kata together.

Sixty seconds later, their kata was finished, and Loki was destroyed amid a shower of sparks and smoke, along with the snakes that immobilized the rest of the teams. Finally free, the other Rangers ran over to the twins and congratulated them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"OK, I so wanna know how you thought up that whole kata thing, you guys," Aisha insisted, once the Rangers had teleported back to the Command Center, cooked dinner, and sat around the various dinner tables.

"Yeah, how'd you guys come up with that?" Rocky echoed his girlfriend.

Billy and Kimberly looked at each other and started laughing. Billy calmed down first and explained it to them. "Most of you probably don't know this, but Kim and I went to college together for our undergrad degrees. We had a lot of classes together the first two years, and one of them was a Psych course. I remembered our professor talking about how siblings have a certain…connection…to one another, and that connection is even more pronounced in twins. He even theorized that the bond between twins was strong enough that, if harnessed, could be materialized and used as raw energy. Kimberly and I just tested that theory for him."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Later, while the Rangers were settling in for a Pinochle tournament, Dana, Jen, and Kendrix announced their pregnancies to the others. The women ran up and hugged the three expectant mothers, while the men slapped Jason, Wes, and Adam on the back. The announcement, however, reminded one of the Rangers of a happening earlier in the day.

"So, Billy," Tommy turned to his friend, "I'm assuming that Kimberly's little spell earlier was just exhaustion…I mean, since she came back with you, obviously she's fine, right?"

The Rangers saw a small glance shared between the twins, and Jason noticed Dana bowing her head sadly. Kim stood up to field her boyfriend's question.

"Actually, today was my last day as an active member of the team." The others looked up at her sharply, most of them gasping in surprise. Jason stood up, along with Tommy, Zack, Trini, Aisha, Rocky, Adam, and Kat.

"What? Kim, we need you out there! Billy, talk to her," Trini implored.

Billy shook his head. "I actually support her on this. I think it's a wise decision," he replied sadly.

Dana stood up next to Jason. "So do I," she agreed, looking Kimberly in the eyes and nodding.

Jason looked from his girlfriend to his "sister" and "brother" and back again. "OK, what's going on here?" he demanded. He looked at Kimberly again. "Sis?"

Kimberly looked at the people she loved, the family that had always been there for her. Jason…Trini…Zack and Angela…Kat…Rocky and Aisha…Adam…Billy…her gaze settled on Tommy and tears spilled over.

"It's bad, isn't it?" he asked quietly, scared of her answer.

Bowing her head, she nodded as Billy's arm came out to rest around her shoulders. He squeezed reassuringly and she looked up. "Leukemia," she whispered, the only one knowing how much that word would scare Tommy.

The White Ranger gripped the chair in front of him, his knuckles turning white from the effort. Aisha, Trini, and Kat moved closer to Kim, followed by Jason, Zack, Rocky, and Adam, creating a sad group hug. They broke apart slowly and Tommy walked toward her slowly, tears streaming down his face silently. He crushed her in his embrace and buried his face in her neck.

"I'm sorry, Tommy," she murmured sadly.

"I love you," he countered unsteadily. "I love you, Kim…always."

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A/N: OK, I know you all hate me now, but there will be more soon, I promise…I am determined NOT to let another three weeks go by before I update again.

Slshadowfox: Here is a list of the couples as they stand now: Tommy/Kim, Jason/Dana, Billy/Trini, Zack/Angela, Rocky/Aisha, Adam/Kendrix, Lucas/Kat, Zhane/Karone, Andros/Tori, Cam/Ashley, Carter/Tanya, Eric/Taylor, Xander/Vida, Cole/Maya, Mike/Cassie, Hunter/Kira, Ethan/Madison, TJ/Kelsey, Chad/Katie, Ryan/Alyssa, Sky/Syd, Bridge/Z, Carlos/April

Of course, I'm not saying that more couples, with the remaining men, won't show up sometime in the future…