Operation: WITNESS

Wandering
Innocent pre-
Teens
Never
Even
Shared
Seeking friendship

By ahhelga

Chapter 2: Try Not to Run

Author's Note: Hey my fellow fans of KND. Okay, as you know, there was, uh, suspense in the last chapter! I hope that was enough to make you squirm! Heh, heh, heh, I love to do that! Heh. Time for more of my worthless chapters!

Rated for: violence, cussing, and kissing scenes.

Disclaimer: Sorry, like all the rest of the people here, I do not own Kids Next Door. Yeah, unless one of them is secretly Mr. Warburton or Mo Willems. Yeah… That'd be cool! Tell me where you are!

Keiko stared at the girl in front of her.

No, no, all this time. She couldn't—shouldn't—have come back there. Dangers lurk. And she didn't want to drag the rest of them.

Wait. Maybe if they weren't who she thought they were. I mean, what are the chances? She almost had to laugh at herself for thinking of it. There was no way that this could happen. A one in a guh-billion chance. Obviously, they weren't...

"Do ya need a hand, girl?" the dark girl leaning over Kuki had said.

Keiko blinked, her face almost blank, barely registering the girl speaking to her. She blinked from the hand offered to her and to the girl above her. Hesitantly and rather slowly, she took the hand. Keiko was immediately pulled up from the ground, creating a lightheaded feeling in her head.

"You 'kay?" she asked.

Keiko silently nodded, shaking off the lightheaded feeling. No, it wasn't them. It couldn't be them. ...Could it?

"Hello? Can't choo speak?"

Keiko nodded, visibly shaken, and composed herself just enough to say, "Yes. I should be going. Thank you for your help."

Abby suspicious of the girl's tone, finally took note of another thing that had her worried. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ya got a nasty cut right on yeh knee."

Keiko looked down at her knees. It was stinging like bloody hell. If she were only a year younger, she would be crying her eyes out, even as her Sector's nurse... but after joining the WPP, she had developed to be more durable and independent, on account of constantly training. The year was full of training and no friends. In a way, she was like her mother before the whole... ordeal. Her chest swelled at the thought of her mother. Her frail, worried mother who was now...

"C'mon, Numbuh 5 can fix it right up if you just follow her." Keiko was brought of her mind in an instant and her eyes burst wide. No, no, no, no, no!

The memories flashed immediately. "Hi, you must be the new operative. Numbuh 1, your new leader, here." "What you haven't heard of Yipper? C'mon, I'll show you my whole collection! I'm, Numbuh 2!" "I can 'elp you wit' tat. Bah the way, I'm Numbuh 4!" "Welcome to da team! Numbuh 5 is glad to 'ave you 'ere."

She tried to blink off her memories, making her look near ridiculous with the constant blinking. "What?"

"Numbuh 5 said that we'll help you with that cut. It looks nasty!"

"No, no, I'm fine. I don't need help."

She turned on her heel; she had to get out of here. Quick. But she felt Abby had grab her forearm, and she couldn't move. She was frozen under the touch.

"I can take care of myself," she replied stiffly, not looking back at her captor.

"We could see that already. Stupid Sheila," said the voice of the Australian boy.

Keiko instantly whipped her head around. She just wanted to see him one last time. Just this once. Then she'll leave. To Japan or somewhere.

His messy mushroom cut hair was exactly as she remembered. The hoodie of his was just as familiar. And he still looked pretty cute. She bet he was as much of a fighter as he ever was. He was the same boy. He was her same boy...

Numbuh 4. Wallabee "Wally" Beatles, Hand to Hand combat.

Keiko smiled sadly. Tears threatened to spill out of her blurried eyes.

"Are you alright?" said the one in the middle. Her eyes darted to him.

Ah, Numbuh 1, Nigel Uno, the Leader Commander.

Keiko nodded, then let her eyes scan the rest. The chubbier one on the left of him seemed in his own little world, staring into the air.

That was Numbuh 2 for you, The Doofus, also known as Hoagie P. Gilligan Jr.

Everyone was there, still fighting crime. But where was her replacement? She was sure she'd have one. Perhaps they were at the Tree House. They were probably back at the Tree House, giving commands to them. Her replacement must have been a cool, authoritative operative; so much better of KND member than her. She felt sadness, and slight envy, sinking right to the very pit of her stomach.

"C'mon, girl, we're here to help you, it's our job. To protect children," Abby said.

"I said I don't need help!" Keiko snapped sharply. "Now leave me alone!"

"Sheesh, well ye don't 'ave ta be so mean!" Wally snarled back, almost to a growl, as he stepped closer to her. "We could see that we don' need ta help ya, we just 'ave to! It's our job!"

"Well that's great for you; I don't need help in any case! I need to go, leave me alone," Keiko her voice rising, also moving closer. "I was telling the truth earlier when I said I wasn't in the mood for this BS. You're not making my situation any better!"

"Fine! Leave, why don't you?" Wally was screaming now, his face now inches from hers. "See as if we care! Stupid girl!"

Keiko glared at him; she just couldn't deny that she wanted to stay. She was absolutely rooted to the spot, as if her feet knew that her life depended on staying in this exact moment. In any case, Keiko knew to revel in the fact that she was near Sector V, if only for a few moments once more. But the tension was still thick, and Wally was giving her the cruelest leer. Abby broke in and stepped between the two.

"Chill, guys," Abby said. "Listen, we're just here ta help, so, why dun we go ova to the Tree House and take care of that cut."

Keiko looked down at it. It was one of the worst she had had in almost her entire life, but she was essentially a trained nurse, so this was simple for her. However, she knew she had nothing, except for time... and this offer for a place to stay for the meantime. Her head turned towards Abby, ignoring that her knee was practically killing her now.

"Okay," she whispered slowly. "I'll go with you, but only to heal my leg. And to spend the night."

"Great!" Abby exclaimed. "You won't regret it! Finally, another girl in the house besides Numbuh 2!"

"Hey!" said Hoagie defensively. "Numbuh 5, last I checked, I was a boy!"

Abby snickered and muttered something low under her breath. Keiko, feeling the effects of the lighter mood now, had to humor herself so she asked, "Why do you call yourselves by 'Numbuhs'? It's a little strange if you ask me." It was almost funny how good of an actress she had become. This was getting to be silly now.

"Oh, we're in a group called…" Abby started but was cut off.

"…Called the Kids Next Door!" Nigel finished for her. "We protect children from mean old adults and teenagers and any other kid that tries to get in our way! We just don't want to get our identities revealed to the adults with our actual names. As operatives we have to keep our identities hidden."

"Oh, sounds interesting," Keiko said, with no doubt in her mind about it; the fact was definitely true for her. "I'd love to join but I've got too much on my hands."

"You can't join just like that, anyway. You have to be tested, accepted and/or invited," Nigel said.

Keiko remembered this detail clearly. She hadn't told the others, but she was invited to join. Despite her air-headed personality, she had the qualities that were ranked very high in the requirements. That was why she was put in a team that was older than her.

"Well, okay," Keiko said blankly. Her mind was still occupied by other matters. She glanced at Wally, who was looking at her with an unreadable expression. She wanted to be able to ignore it, but she couldn't help but ask herself what it was. In attempt to get it out of her mind, she turned around and started heading towards the Tree House. They were there in a flash, but she had forgotten a significant detail.

"Hey, how did you know where the headquarters were?" Hoagie asked, reminding her what she should have kept out of being so close to Sector V.

A light sheen was building up on her face after a moment. She nervously replied, "Well, it isn't hard to miss that. I figured that it was where you're based."

Nigel gave her a suspicious look but quickly dismissed it by climbing up the ladder to the main room. Keiko followed, while the others climbed too.

As soon as they reached the top, Keiko inhaled the air that she once knew so familiarly, recognizing it instantly. The main room of the Tree House where Nigel would brief and debrief the team was kept exactly the way she remembered... It felt so wonderful to be here, especially since it felt like nothing had changed. Except for one detail: her. But Abby broke her thoughts, "C'mon ova here."

Keiko walked behind Abby to the Medical Room. She was well familiar with the pathway, since Keiko was the nurse back then, though most days she simply fixed her stuffed animals when they needed mending.

Now, she was just a lone memory that had no where to go, except for the depths of only Keiko's mind.

Abby beckoned her to sit on the bench as she stood in front. As soon as Keiko sat, the questioning came quick.

"So, where do ya come from?" Abby asked. "Ya said ya lived a horrible life; now tell Numbuh 5 all about it."

"I don't want to talk about it," Keiko said softly, with a hint of resentment in her voice. Her voice was so low that Abby almost didn't believe she had heard it.

"Numbuh 5 understands," she whispered back. There was a pause, where Abby internally debated whether or not she should continue, but she knew better. "Now, let's get to that wound."

They were both silent; so silent, in fact, that you could hear the proud yells that Hoagie was gloating about winning his game out in the main entertainment room. The silence kept up for only a few moments before Abby spoke up just as she was finishing up mending Keiko's wound.

"Uh, by the way, besides my Code-Numbuh, Numbuh 5's real name is Abigail, but call Numbuh 5 Abby in private, okay?" she said. "Numbuh 1 would go ballistic if ya called Numbuh 5 bah 'er real name."

Keiko replied shakenly, "Okay, uh, Abby. Oh, I'm, uh, Keiko."

"Keiko, huh?" Abby said conversationally. Though the tense, heavy air was still around them, which Keiko noted with chagrin, Abby was at least making an attempt at light conversation. "Nice name, Numbuh 5 likes it."

"Well, I don't. It... symbolizes who I'm now... You could say who I am now isn't so great," Keiko sighed heavily as she hung her head. She didn't look up.

Abby blinked, and leaned in, curious. She wanted Keiko to look at her. "Why would ya hate yaself so much? That's sad."

"I can deal with sad. I've always been sad ever since - ah, I've just been sad. Hating myself comes with the territory."

"No, say what ya were gonna say. Ever since what? Abby would like to know."

Keiko looked up now, almost a little warily. She tried to search Abby's face for anything that wouldn't indicate that she should trust her, but all she saw was goodness in the operative. She took a deep breath. "Well, I had a good, no, great life, before I, uh, moved, as you would say."

Abby knew that story telling was done for the meantime. She nodded as she patted Keiko's knee, the one which she finished wrapping up. Keiko stood up slightly wobbily and hurriedly pulled on her black, skin-tight pants.

"Abby remembahs a friend always wearing 'er pants like that."

"Really? That's… nice to know," she said hurriedly. "Now, I have a couple of questions for you..." Keiko looked down as she paused. "Who, and where is the Numbuh 3? Just making an observation. I can tell that there is someone missing. It's kinda obvious that there's a missing… 'Numbuh'."

"Guess ya figured it out, eh?" Abby sighed. "I figured ya would. Lemme start from da beginning."

Hmm. not as good as the others but I like it at least. That chapter was 4 ½ pages long. Not as bad as the others. Uh, thanks for the reviews and the people who are reading this right now! I love you all!

That's me
Ahhelga
AKA Pauline