I don't think I really need to say it, however, I do not own Codename: Kids Next Door. KND and its characters are the sole property of Mr. Warburton. Unless they were created by me, specifically for this story.
CONTINUING...
KIDS NEXT DOOR MISSION:
OPERATION:
P.A.R.E.N.T.S.
Parental
Attention
Readily
Exposes
Never
Told
Secrets
TRANSMISSION TWO:
RETURN TO NORMALCY
WRITING OPERATIVE:
Sgamer82
Kuki Sanban, also known as Numbuh Three, stood before the front door of her house. She was feeling better after the Kids Next Door got her back to Headquarters. They had bandaged her cut and she wasn't experiencing anymore dizzy spells. By the time her injuries were patched up and the Kids Next Door mission debriefing had finished, it was nearly seven o'clock. Kuki had opted to return to her home instead of staying over at the tree house as she often did. She had already done so four times this week and, while Kuki's parents usually didn't mind, she knew they would prefer she slept at home more often.
So there she was, getting ready to enter her moderately-sized suburban home. It wasn't much different from other houses on the block. Two stories, white on the outside with a blue roof, good sized yard. Three began to open the door when she suddenly realized something she had to do. She looked at the stretched out sleeves of her green sweatshirt and rolled them up to her wrists. Her father often made a big deal about Kuki stretching out her clothes. She also ruffled up her bangs a bit, trying to get them to hang down lower over the bandage on her forehead. Her mother would freak if she saw it. She was very protective of Kuki.
Kuki unlocked the door using the key she wore around her neck and walked in. It was dark inside so Kuki assumed her parents had either gone out or were already asleep. But she no sooner closed the door when she heard someone lazily mumble "Kuki?" from the couch in the living room. The back of the couch was to the door so the speaker, Kuki's mom, had to get up a bit to see if it really was Kuki.
"Hi, mom." Kuki said happily, "What're you doin' down here in the dark?"
"Your daddy an' me were watching a movie and I guess we fell asleep." Mrs. Sanban said as she got up off the couch and stretched out a bit. Kuki now noticed the TV was on, though whatever movie they were watching had long ended. Kuki saw her father's head on the edge of the couch, sound asleep.
"So, dear, how was your day?" Mrs. Sanban asked her daughter as she walked toward the kitchen. A walk that would take her right past Kuki.
"Oh, it was okay." Kuki said, slowing inching her way to the staircase in front of the door before her mother could see the bandage on her head. However, she didn't get halfway there before her mom turned on a nearby lamp and lit up the room.
"Kuki... what's that on your head?" her mother asked as her eyes got used to the light.
"Um.. nothing." Kuki said, trying now for a full dash to the stairs.
"Kuki." said Mrs. Sanban in a much more stern tone. Kuki stopped in her tracks and braced herself for the inevitable. Her mother lifted the bandage, which was lightly taped on Kuki's head, and saw the cut underneath, slightly healed but still looking pretty gruesome. As expected, her mother freaked.
"Oh my goodness! Kuki! What happened!"
Before Kuki could answer the question her mother scooped her up and carried Kuki to the upstairs bathroom. Mrs. Sanban wasted no time in putting Kuki down on the toilet and opening up the medicine cabinet.
"Iodine... iodine..." she muttered to herself before pulling out a bottle.
"NO! Not that!" Kuki shouted. She attempted to make a run for it, but her mom caught her and held on to her.
"Kuki, this will go a lot quicker if you just stay still!" her mom told her.
"But I don' want it to go at all!" Kuki whined. She was flailing her arms about and squirming trying to break her mother's grip.
"Kuki, I promise it won't be as bad as you think it will."
Kuki hesitated.
"You promise?" she asked.
"Yes, now please, sit down."
Kuki did as she was asked and gritted her teeth. It really wasn't as bad as she thought, though it wasn't very pleasant either. When her mom was done she walked out of the bathroom, rubbing her re-bandaged head from the sting of the iodine. She was so busy trying to rub out the lingering sting that she ran right into her father's legs.
"Oof..." Kuki muttered as the impact knocked her on her backside. She looked up to see her father looking down at her.
"You okay, sweetheart?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"What was all the screaming up here about?"
"I got a cut on my forehead and mom got iodine-happy again."
"Ah." said her dad, showing no surprise.
This happened fairly regularly. Kuki's mom was just a teensy bit overprotective of her daughter and would often overreact at even the smallest of injuries. Cuts would often result in a trip to the bathroom and a couple of drops of iodine to help the cut heal. Needless to say, Kuki never enjoyed this. She went along with it, though. It wasn't like her mom was trying to be mean. She was just scared for her little girl, and Kuki knew it.
"By the way, Kuki." her father called as Kuki started heading to her bedroom. "Why are your sleeves so stretched out?"
"Oops..." Kuki had accidentally undone the tucked in sleeves when she was fighting her mom. After a brief lecture on keeping her clothes in good condition, Kuki sighed and headed to her bedroom. She was tired after the excitement of today.
She got into a nightdress and went to bed. Her room was a bit more drab than the one in the tree house. It was decorated in pastel wallpaper and had a small collection of stuffed animals on top of a toy chest. Though the amount was incredibly small next to the collection that took up the first three feet of her tree house bedroom.
Nevertheless, after the long day she'd had, the bed felt good. Kuki drifted off quick.
The next morning Kuki got out of bed and dressed in her usual green sweatshirt & black pants. She ran downstairs and headed towards the kitchen for breakfast.
"G'morning." Kuki said to her folks as she sat at the table.
"Good morning, Kuki." said her father.
"Or," her mother said, "should we simply call you Numbuh Three."
Kuki's head suddenly jerked straight up. She saw she was still in her room, the morning sun starting to peek through he windows. It was just a dream. A nightmare, really.
Ugh... she thought to herself, Why can't I have more Rainbow Monkey dreams? I like those!
Her parents had no knowledge of the Kids Next Door, or her membership in it. Her mother being how she was, Kuki knew her mom would never let her be a Kid Next Door if she knew. So Kuki was determined to make sure they never knew. Though sometimes, the deception got to her.
Most of the time, her dreams included ice cream, Rainbow Monkeys, her bunny robot Hippy-Hop. But every so often, she had a dream like that one. Where she was busted, her secret exposed. She always hated waking up from these nightmares. Her heart was always beating double-time when she awoke. She was almost always sweating. She especially hated when she woke up in the middle of the night because it was near impossible to go back to sleep.
Fortunately, it was already morning. While Kuki normally slept for a while, she wasn't feeling tired anymore. So she went ahead, got dressed and left for Kids Next Door HQ. Her parents called her for breakfast before she left but she didn't feel like breakfast at home today.
END OF TRANSMISSION TWO