Jysella: well the e-mail's are in and I received a grand total of- zero

Audience of delusions: you expected more?

Jysella: actually yes, yes I did. But, oh well

Audience of delusions: so you wrote more

Jysella: well, Jubilee (who gets pixi-stix for being the first reviewer) asked for more

Audience of delusions: and you like the excuse enough to finish this fic and ignore nameless?

Jysella: that pretty much sums it up-

Audience of delusions: right, none of these characters are owned in any way at all by Jysella

Jysella: so there is really no need to sue me, right network execs?

Network execs: right- now will you untie us?

Jysella: no, enjoy the fic

Loose threads

It didn't rain the day they were buried, though the three solemn friends they left behind wished it had. No, it didn't rain, instead a warm golden sun filtered in through the sparse green willow tree overhanging the grave- playing over the peaceful faces of the children. Their bruises had been hidden well by the expert hands of the funeral parlor, their skin shone with luster it had lacked for years. They didn't seem the children they had known. Before their grave the pastor droned on, as he had at the wake before, in his dry tone, scathing the surface of any skin it touched. Not a dry face surrounded the double casket as they peered one final time at the twin sacrifice, imprinting a last vision of their friends forever on their eyelids.

The pair was beautiful in death as in life. Her pale skin had been accentuated with thin lines of blush, her lips lined with a dark liner so they floated, and her eyes closed. The beautiful raven hair she had taken pains to care for had been allowed to remain loose and flowing, despite traditional techniques, it covered some of the silky green kimono that caressed her body, touching on the creeping bouquet of babies breath, buttercup and chrysanthemum embroidered on its surface. The kimonos silent folds covered her feet and one of her delicate hands, obscuring the clubbed nature of her extremities. Her entire body lay separate from the boy beside her, kept on it's on side as though by an invisible border excepting one hand which, with his, was wrapped around a solitary fern stem- clutching one another in support as they had in life.

The boy was clothed in a plain black suit, with a white under shirt. The only memory of clothing choice, the orange tie worn loosely about his neck. As with the girl expert hands had accented his slightly rugged features. The vague beginnings of a square jaw, the soft fuzz lining his cheek, the innocent recesses of a cherubic face's death- all lined with a devouring pink blush drawing them to the eye. His hair as well, blonde as the day he had joined his team, remained pushed to the side in a position foreign to his face- revealing eyes that were forever shut. Unlike his maiden bride, however, his hands were left free for the world to see, his clubbed blue cast fingers out of place against a lively death, a visible sign of his life's plight.

The pastor droned further, scratching tones tearing at the face of the three friends that outlived the pair. The three friends who, squeezing one another's hands like a last line of support, sat staring mutely ahead, dealing with their own private turmoil's. Directly before their second row seating sat the two mourning families, separate from one another as the children in the grave.

"As we lower young Kukoko and Wallabe we remember not the youths that were taken from beyond our grip but the deeds that survive them." The pastor called, the talons of his voice finally withdrawing from his audience. The entirety of the party remained seated until the two families had stood and filed down the isle. The rest soon followed, milling about the graveyard in an attempt to offer final sympathies.

The two families stood together near their children's joint grave, siding against one another for support. A tall blonde woman, obvious parent of the vicious aussie, leaned against her husband and sobbed silently while the willowy man stood awkwardly against her sobs. A petite asian woman, the only parent Kuki had, stood mere feet apart from the now childless couple closing her red rimmed eyes against the pain of loss and a hangover. Before her two young children stood. One with long black hair, like her older sisters, in pigtails with dual colored ribbons; orange and green. Her pale ivory skin had tear marks running down her cheeks but she stood her ground.

Stolidly standing before the broken families in her small black kimono taking the sympathy of strangers that the adults in her life couldn't handle while keeping a careful eye on the second girl. She couldn't have been more than seven. Beside her a young child stood solemnly, though she understood nothing of the proceedings about her. Like her two older sisters she had a pale ivory skin and slim features however her flaxen hair and light eyes gave way to features that didn't seem at all part of the family lineage. The younger girl, in a similar black kimono, never moved from her spot and never spoke or complained of boredom as most children do, as most three year olds do.

A short distance away from the families stood the trio of remaining KND agents and the who had been their at the last moments. Despite the personal sentiments of the moment they were locked in an intense conversation centering around one of the children on the hill.

"Numbuh one look at her" a young African American, one of the aforementioned trio, had said pointing towards the older sister " is it fair? Can we really ask her to do this? I mean, she can't take her sisters place!"

"No" a bald boy had responded sadly, lifting darkly tinted glasses from his pocket and placing them on her face " she can't take her sisters place, but they are direct orders from HQ"

"So that's it Numbuh one? That's all it is? We just waltz up say 'sorry about your sister's death and oh, by the by, want to join the organization your sister was part of?' That's all we do? Well sorry baby Numbuh five can't hang that way" the girl responded, containing her rage in escalating whispers.

"She's right you know, Numbuh one," the third party, a thinning boy with brown hair and a blue dress shirt had said. Between his hands he held a leather cap, crushed to an unintelligible blob through his nervous fiddling. The other two glared at him, annoyed at his interference in their fight, but they, nonetheless, could not ignore the third member of their recently reduced team.

"I'm not saying we can't ask her. -It seems a shame to leave the tree house so empty- all I'm saying is do we have to ask her today?" she gestured up at the hill, catching the attentions of a stoic seven year old who was bravely facing pity driven adults- and warding off their charity. With interest she watched the action on the bottom of the hill, recognizing the embroiled trio to be the remainder of her sibling's 'team'.

"Numbuh five I know, as well as you do, that it's wrong to ask her. Especially today. But this is a direct order. We must ask today. As soon as possible." The bald responded, glancing himself uneasily at the top of the hill.

" There's no way of getting around the order" the brown haired boy asked sheepishly, adding a third glance to the accumulating collection. The bald agent merely shook his head.

"No, Numbuh two, there is no way out"

"But she's too young, doesn't the code book specify an eight year requirement for joining?" Numbuh five asked, grasping, in desperation, at the proverbial straws. At the top of the hill the seven year old's interest grew and she informed her pained mother that she would return in a few moments. ' I just need some alone time' she called, fleeing down the hill.

"Numbuh five they write the code, they can break it" Numbuh two replied before Numbuh one could. In turn their leader nodded sadly.

"It's agreed then, we ask Moshi today"

"Ask me what?" the seven year old in the simple Kimono asked from behind the trio. The three of them turned embarrassedly and glanced at each other before Numbuh five stepped foreword to talk. She bent over and placed her hands on her knees in order to be eye level with the younger girl and spoke in a very slow, simple, voice.

"Moshi do you remember when you were very little and your sister brought you to space with us?" the younger girl nodded and Numbuh five continued,

"Well she, Wally, and all of us were part of a- a- a club called the kids next door. Do you understand so far?" again the smaller girl nodded

"Well because Kuki- Kukoko- is-ah"

"Dead" Moshi filled in blatantly.

" Because Kuki is dead we can invite you to join and come live with us in the tree house, okay?" The younger child though about this and, until a wavering voice screaming 'moshiko' carried on the wind, the world seemed hung on her studious reverie.

"You guys fight adults?" she asked simply, ignoring the pleading figures at the hills top. Numbuh one nodded. "And I can hurt whoever did this to my sister and Onii-kun?"

"Onii-kun?" Numbuh two asked, puzzled.

"Wally" she answered as Numbuh five spoke.

"Moshi, you know Wally and Kuki did this to themselves, after so many years on the medications they couldn't, well their bodies gave up"

"No," the child responded shaking with rage, " my sister and Onii would never do that to me, to us. They would never leave Amane and me alone with mom and uncle for more than a few days, they would never leave us like this forever on purpose. Not if they could stop it!"

"What do you mean they" Numbuh one asked in unison with Numbuh fives " mom and uncle?" question. For her part Moshi looked at them and smiled sadly.

" You don't know anything about them, do you?" she screamed at them harshly, shaking her head with a mixture of shock and rage. "Well do you want to now? Are you curious? Well here's the truth want it or not, We, my sister and I, and Kuki when she was alive, live in Wally's house" she sighed lightly and looked down briefly " Yes, we live in Wally's house and life there isn't exactly a barrel of rainbow monkeys, So I'm in, if I can bring Amane" the three looked at one another, ashamed at how little they knew about their friends, and sighed.

"Maybe" Numbuh one responded as Wally's dad came down the hill "maybe"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The tall blonde roughly grabbled the young girl by her elbow and muttered a few harsh words to the girl.

"No uncle" she responded bitterly " I did not mean to wonder off and worry mother, I know she is ill." The man glared at her but she refused to lower her eyes. " I was only talking to Kuki and Wally's friends I did not realize Amane would wander from mother's sight"

"She didn't" the man responded gruffly, "she stayed like a good girl, unlike her sister"

" I am sorry uncle" the girl said again as the man jerked her towards the car. It was a rough movement, which jarred her entire body, but she didn't cry as he pulled her off. Instead she rushed to keep up with the taller man, nearly jogging to the car in the effort.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jysella: so that is it for the second chapter, I meant to finish the third chapter but then I realized something, school. But it is half done

Audience of delusions: wonderful

Jysella: so until then, prod the bound and gagged network execs

Network execs: we're not gagged

Jysella: well, if you want

Network execs: no that's okay

Audience of delusions: and review

Jysella: wait, wait, wait! I haven't finished my piece. First, flyinghapsterofdoom if you're still confused about what happened to three and four read "every time", if you're still lost after that, e-mail me, I'll explain

Audience of delusions: are you done yet?

Jysella: still no- I'm switching off script form- secondly if any one gets the symbolism in this chapter you are either brilliant or spend too much time in English, either way if you can point all the symbolism (in an email, use my email address lest the fanfiction police track me down) you'll receive a prize, however be warned I'm an anime junkie so it will be anime related you get hints, aren't I kind, first think of numbers (like ages) as well as names (yes there is a reason I changed Kuki's name a bit) and flowers because, yes, they're important too. Finally there is one anime reference (cameo, whatever) in the chapter which you get a special prize for if you recognize it. But you won't like the prize unless you catch the reference so don't look for it. That's it

Audience of delusions: done?

Jysella: yup, ja-ne