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 FIVE:
COPING
WRITING OPERATIVE:
Sgamer82
"Kuki?" she called through the door, "Kuki, honey?"
"Go away!" Kuki called back. Her mother opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Kuki was in bed, lying on her stomach, her face buried in a pillow.
"I made dinner. Are you hun-"
"NO!" she yelled, her voice muffled a bit by the pillow. Kuki moved her arms over her head as if to block her ears. Her mom noticed her sleeves had gone over her hands gain.
"Kuki," Mrs. Sanban said with a sigh, "I wish you wouldn't stretch out your sleeves like that."
Without moving her head, Kuki responded by taking hold of one of her sleeves and pulling at it as much as she could. Mrs. Sanban took the hint and just left her be. She'd come down when she was ready. She went downstairs to eat with her husband.
Upstairs in the bedroom, Kuki was sulking to herself. She was wondering if she should've kicked her mom out like that. Kuki was starving. But she didn't have any appetite. She wanted to eat, but at the same time didn't want to. She rolled over onto her back and sighed. There had to be something she could do. Some way to convince her folks to let her rejoin the Kids Next Door. But nothing was coming to her.
It was well past dinnertime and Kuki still hadn't left her room. Mr. Sanban was starting to worry she'd stay in there until she was near starving. Mrs. Sanban seemed unconcerned. She knew Kuki had to come out of that room eventually. Despite how Kuki was handling this, she had convinced herself that taking her daughter out of the Kids Next Door had been the right thing to do. However, with her increasing confidence in the decision, Mr. Sanban was beginning to feel less convinced.
As the parents got themselves ready for bed, Kuki's father was beginning to get distressed by the Kids Next Door situation. Neither parent had expected Kuki to take this so hard. She had taken the news that Rainbow Monkeys weren't real better than this. Mr. Sanban was beginning to wonder if those kids meant more to Kuki than it seemed. The Delightful Children had made it sound like they were a bunch of vandals that would turn on each other as soon as it suited them. He knew Kuki wasn't like that and, judging by how sad Kuki has been, he wondered if the rest of the kids were as bad as he'd been told.
"Dear," he said to his wife, "have you heard anything before now about these Kids Next Door?"
"Um... a little bit..." she said, "Hey, do you know if any good movies playing this weekend?"
Mr. Sanban wasn't about to let the subject change though.
"I'm starting to think those kids from down the street didn't quite tell me the whole truth."
"Perhaps..." Mrs. Sanban said absently.
"You think we should've waited and found out more before forbidding Kuki-chan to hang out with them?"
"No." replied Mrs. Sanban matter-of-factly, "Keeping her from the Kids Next Door was the right thing!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"At first, I wasn't. Kuki took it so hard I almost took it back. But, then I remembered my own time with them and knew it was for the best."
"Your own time?" asked Mr. Sanban. His wife jumped a bit, as if she'd let slip something she hadn't intended to say. She looked at him, obviously trying to decide what to say next. After a second it seemed she'd come to her decision. She went to the bedroom's dresser and pulled out a small wood box. Mr. Sanban had seen it plenty of times before, though Mrs. Sanban had always kept it hidden away. It was clearly something precious to her.
She opened the box, inside was a small, crudely made badge. It was red and had two lines written on it in white paint. Mr. Sanban took the badge from his wife's hand and read what it said.
"KND. Numbuh 30." he was confused, but then he remembered what Wallabee Beatles had called Kuki when they'd spoken on the phone.
"You... you were a Kid Next Door!" he said. Mrs. Sanban nodded. This was a shock, he had thought they were just a little kids' club.
"The Kids Next Door," Mrs. Sanban began, "is a long standing group made up of kids from all over the world. Their cause is to fight for the rights of kids, and against the oppression of adults who would try to force their will on children. I was a part of the group when I was a kid, but was decommissioned when I turned 13, the, sort of, mandatory retirement age."
Mr. Sanban was taking it all in, but it was hard to believe. A worldwide group dedicated to protecting kids. It was a bit hard to swallow. But he saw his wife's eyes and knew she was speaking the truth. He wasn't sure what to think of it all.
"I don't get it. If you were in this group, wouldn't you be proud of Kuki for finding it, too?"
"I am..." she said, her voice growing quiet, "but the work the Kids Next Door do is very dangerous. You'd be amazed how many adults out there are just plain crazy. The Kids Next Door are the most important, most imperiled, line of defense against those grownups.
"I remember every mission I ever went on." she continued, starting to get teary eyed, "I remember being very frightened a lot of the time. It's dangerous work, and I was almost happy to be decommissioned. When I was, I swore to myself, that if I ever had kids they would never put themselves in that kind of danger. Kuki can hate me for the rest of her life if she wants, but I will never let her put her life on the line."
"But..."
"And not you, or anyone else, will convince me otherwise."
Mr. Sanban went to bed that night a little wiser, but still unsure of what to do about his daughter and whether or not his wife is right.
At the time that discussion was happening, the Kids Next Door, melancholy bunch after the day's events, sat in the tree house base. The shock of Numbuh Three's resignation was still affecting them. Fortunately, there were no missions scheduled for the day, and there had yet to be an enemy attack, so the lack of morale wasn't affecting their work, yet.
They had tried to take their minds off of their sadness, but nothing they tried worked. They had tried Hide and Seek, but ended shortly after realizing that some of the best hiding spots were under Numbuh Three's stuffed animals. All the hiders could be under there and the seeker would never find them. So that was out.
They attempted watching TV, but it just happened that today was the day of the annual 12 hour Rainbow Monkey marathon. Just the mention of the apes made them think of Numbuh Three, one of their biggest fans.
They tried to busy themselves with some maintenance work, but soon the lights started dimming. The hamsters missed their caretaker already. And it was showing in that they were less motivated to do their job as power generator for the tree house.
Finally, they attempted playing cards. Even stayed up most of the night doing it. But even that wouldn't work.
"It just isn't the same without Numbuh Three!" Numbuh Two cried out as he put his cards on the table.
"Yeah, I can still pic'cha 'er sittin' 'dere, yellin' "Go Fish!" lamented Numbuh Four.
"Then one of us would have to remind her we was playin' Gin Rummy." said Numbuh Five with a sigh.
"Then, ten minutes later, she would forget and we'd do it all over again." said Numbuh One, "I can't believe it. It was so sudden."
"Yeah," said Numbuh Four, "one minnit she was 'ere, the next, she was sayin' how delightful it was knowin' us..." Numbuhs One and Five suddenly had a strange look on their faces.
"What?" Four asked.
It was only just now registering that Numbuh Three had used the word "delightful" when she'd said good bye. The Kids Next Door usually avoided using that word, considering their worst enemies were the Delightful Children From Down The Lane.
"That's it!" One and Five shouted simultaneously.
"What's it?" Numbuh Two asked.
"She was tryin' to tell us!" said Numbuh Five.
"The spies, the ones who were eavesdropping on us..." said Numbuh One.
"They were the Delightful Children From Down The Lane!" Numbuh Five finished.
"They're the ones who exposed Numbuh Three!" said Numbuh Four, feeling both anger, at the Delightful Children, and relief, at the fact that it hadn't been him who did it.
"We have to do some-"
That was as far as Numbuh Two got before the explosion blew apart the tree house wall.
END OF TRANSMISSION FIVE
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It should be noted that this story was also written prior to the episode "Operation: E.N.D.".