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 FOUR:
FAREWELL
WRITING OPERATIVE:
Sgamer82
Kuki was glad to be home. The day had been pretty dull. Nothing but research and more research. The only exciting thing that happened all day was the incident on the phone with her father. Numbuh Four still seemed pretty upset about being tackled when Three left. She made a note to try and remember to maybe draw him a picture or something in apology. The other Kids Next Door spent their day studying up on how someone could be eavesdropping on them. Three didn't join in it. It was too boring for her. When she tried to study on something like One or Five had been doing, her mind would always wander. So she just made some lemonade and, when that made Numbuh Five's face do things Three didn't know were possible, poured glasses of soda for everybody.
Just as she did the night before, Kuki used her key to open the front door. This time the inside of the house was well-lit. Her mother and father were standing in front of the front door. They seemed upset. But she couldn't fathom what.
"Hello, Kuki-chan." her father said.
"Or, perhaps," said her mother, "We should just call you Numbuh Three."
She didn't just say that! Kuki told herself, her heart beating triple-time, It's a dream. Just like all the other times... It'sadream!It'sadream!It'sadream!It'sadream!
"Well, Numbuh Three," her mother said again, "Which would you prefer?"
It'snotadream!It'snotadream!It'snotadream!It'snotadream!It'snotadream! They knew. Somehow... some way... Of course! That had to be it!
"Mom... dad... I told you... we were playin' sp-"
"Sanban Kuki! Don't you lie to us!" her father snapped. Kuki knew she was in for it now. Her father had just said her name in the Japanese style of family name first, then given name. For Kuki, that was the rough equivalent of when most other parents used their child's first, middle, and last names all together. In other words, uh-oh.
"I- I'm sorry..." Kuki said, starting to tear up. "I'm sorry I lied..."
"It's not just that you lied!" her mother said, "How could you go putting yourself in danger."
"It was for a good reason!" Kuki yelled.
"Yeah, sure." her father replied, "Vandalism, disobedience, causing all kinds of trouble. Those delightful children from down the lane told us all about it."
The Delightful Children! Kuki suddenly realized, They're the spies! Numbuh One would be happy to know that... but then she remembered her current situation. She probably wouldn't get a chance to tell anyone.
"And fighting!" her mother said, continuing from where her father left off, "Fighting! Kuki we raised you better than that!"
Kuki didn't know what to say. She just bowed her head down and tried to hold back the tears in her eyes.
"It ends now, Kuki-chan." her dad told her. Kuki's head instantly shot up.
"NO! You can't!" she cried.
"We can and we are." her mother replied, "There will be no more Kids Next Door in his house."
Kuki was speechless. She always knew her mother would ban her from the Kids Next Door. But she never really been prepared for it actually happening. She couldn't stop herself anymore, tears started flowing down her cheeks.
"No..." she said softly, "Please... no..."
Her parents seemed to soften a bit at the sincerity of Kuki's sadness. They knew the difference between real tears and fake this'll-get-me-what-I-want tears. But they stood firm.
"I'm sorry, Kuki." said her mother, "I know you consider them your friends. But you cannot be with them any more. First thing tomorrow, while you're at school, you're going to tell them that you are not a Kid Next Door any longer."
That was it. Any desire to hold anything back left Kuki at that moment. She ran past her parents, up the stairs, into her bedroom, and slammed the door hard. Mr. and Mrs. Sanban could hear Kuki's loud sobbing.
"Do you think we did the right thing?" Kuki's mother asked.
Mr. and Mrs. Sanban considered what had happened. Kuki had taken their forbidding her from the Kids Next Door harder than they had thought she would. To Mr. Sanban, he had taken his daughter away from a band of troublemakers who would only drag her down with them. It had been for her own good. He wasn't so certain of his wife's feelings though.
He had been home alone when the Delightful Children had revealed all about the Kids Next Door. His wife had been putting in a few extra hours at work when it happened. He had explained to her what the children had told him. But her reaction hadn't been quite the same as his. He had been horrified to learn that his little Kuki-chan had been involved with such hoodlums. She seemed more stunned than anything.
"I'm sure we did. We don't want Kuki being part of a gang of troublemakers like those kids."
"Yeah. Besides, now she won't be putting her life on the line." said Kuki's mother.
"Her life?" asked Mr. Sanban, "This is a pretty quiet neighborhood, dear, I doubt there's anything life threatening around here."
"Yeah... of course." she said.
Always worried about Kuki-chan. he thought.
"Still, Kuki shouldn't hang out with kids like that." said Mr. Sanban, "She may hate us for this now. But later on she'll be grateful we kept her out of trouble."
"You're right..." said Mrs. Sanban. Though she sounded like she wasn't entirely convinced.
"We did the right thing." said Mr. Sanban.
Kuki laid on her bed, curled into a fetal position, crying her eyes out. She held one of her stuffed animals close, hugging it to her tightly.
----------
How could they do this! She thought. The whole incident had been worse than she ever dreamed it. For a brief moment, when her mother told her that she was going to have to tell her friends she was out, she hated her parents. She wanted to sic the Kids Next Door on them and then run away to the tree house to live there forever.
She'd calmed down a bit now. She wasn't sobbing so loudly, but she was still crying. Her head was a little clearer. She understood that her folks were just worried about her. But it didn't do anything to alleviate her sadness.
What am I going to do, now?
She soon cried herself to sleep.
The next day, Kuki sat in school, wondering what to tell her friends. She had avoided them most of the day and school was almost over. She couldn't bear to tell them what her parents had told her to do.
She sat at her desk in the middle of the classroom, her head resting on her hands, waiting for the final bell to ring. Her parents had practically had to drag Kuki to school today. She wasn't looking forward to what she knew was coming.
The final bell rang and Kuki headed out of the school building. She found the other Kids Next Door out front waiting for her, but farther up the path she saw, parked on the street, her father, waiting for her. Well, she'd put it off long enough.
She walked over to the other Kids Next Door, where Numbuh Five, who shared her class with the Delightful Children From Down The Lane, was saying that they'd been acting strangely all day.
"All day, they'd glance at Numbuh Five an' just start laughin', like they knew something Numbuh Five didn'."
"Very strange..." Numbuh One said, rubbing his chin.
They almost didn't notice Kuki walking up to them. But Numbuh Two saw her and greeted her. But they immediately noticed something was wrong.
"Guys..." Kuki said, "... I have something to tell you..."
"Numbuh Three, what's wrong?" Numbuh One asked.
"Yeah, you look like you just received the worst news of you life." Numbuh Two said.
"I can't be a Kid Next Door anymore..." Kuki said, so quietly the other Kids almost didn't hear her. But they did, and they realized, she did receive the worst news of her life.
"What!" Numbuh Five shouted, "Why not?"
"They know..." said Kuki, "My parents found out... and now... now..." Kuki started crying. She couldn't do this. She ran off towards her dad's car, but stopped halfway there. She turned to the other Kids Next Door.
"It was delightful knowing all of you! Take care of the hamsters!" she called to them, before finally getting into the car with her dad and driving off.
The other Kids Next Door watched the car drive off. Their mouths all hung open from the shock of all that had happened. Numbuh Three was gone? How? Why?
"What... what happened?" Numbuh Two asked.
"Numbuh Three's parents... didn't know she was a Kid Next Door." Numbuh One explained, "It's really... it's quite common. Most kids are afraid the adults will try to get info from them regarding the Kids Next Door. In Numbuh Three's case, though, her mom and dad are very protective of her and she worried that they'd never let her put herself at risk the way a Kid Next Door does."
"So Numbuh Three kept it a secret." Numbuh Five said, understanding the situation.
"It's mah fault." muttered Numbuh Four. He was looking down at the ground, his fists were clenched, he was shaking.
"Her dad called, an' I blabbed we were the Kids Next Door... I blew it for 'er."
"There, there, Numbuh Four..." Numbuh Two said, trying to console his friend, but it was no good.
"I even called 'er Numbuh Three!" Four said, "I shoulda known betta'."
Nobody corrected him. Nobody really knew what to say, or to do. It was a very depressed group of four Kids Next Door who went to the tree house that day.
END OF TRANSMISSION FOUR