Ganazu

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 3: Someone's In The Kitchen…

The truck's engine puttered as it came to a stop in the dirt in front of the house. Nani stepped out of the vehicle, shutting the door with a heavy force. She walked around to the other side, and opened Stitch's door. He was looking at her expectantly through the glass, and when the sunlight hit his eyes he squinted.

Nani walked up the steps to the house while Stitch was just starting to hop out of the car—literally. He had to jump out, he couldn't grab onto the door handle; his arms were bound with restraints. The cylinders clicked as his two pairs of arms absorbed the landing. He quickly ran to catch up to Nani, who was just now opening the front door.

She strode in casually, giving Stitch a glance on her way in. He sunk his chin into his throat as he looked back up at her from the tops of his eyes. She didn't stop walking. Stitch glared at her back, and ran toward her.

"Eh, eh, eh!" He stated, punching her leg with the handcuffs. Not enough to hurt, but enough to let her know he really wanted them off about now.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I almost forgot." Nani said, rolling her eyes. Stitch turned his head away from her as she took the key from her pocket, and released him. She took the restraints and threw them on the couch with a sigh, and looked back with curiosity as she heard what sounded like metal tearing. Stitch was on the couch with the restraints torn like paper in his hands, smiling at them devilishly as though he'd just won some kind of war. "I can always just order new ones from the Council." She yelled as she went up the stairs.

"Techuta." He snapped at her under his breath.

"Lilo and Angel should be home soon, I'm going to lie down before I have to go to work. Keep an eye on things would ya?"

"Oketaka." Stitch said while sighing, giving her a half-hearted salute. After he heard the door shut, he immediately skulked into the kitchen. Trips to the animal shelter often made him hungry. He looked behind him, waited a moment, and eagerly, yet quietly, lifted his hand. His fingers twiddled against his palm once before he quickly grabbed onto the handle of the fridge, and pulled it open with a muted click.

"And no food, you just had breakfast!"

"Doh!" Stitch groaned as he slammed the door with tension. "So close!" Feeling defeated, he slumped his shoulders and went to sit down. His claws clicked against the smooth kitchen table as he drummed his fingers, waiting for the girls to get home. He stared at the reflection of the window on the surface of the table, and listened to the quiet, even tick-tock of the kitchen clock.

"Kicha agito…" He said with a sudden curious realization. "There no clock in kitchen!" He looked around to make sure, and just as he suspected there wasn't a clock on the wall, yet the tick-tock-tick-tock continued. "Gaba chimista…" He said with wonder. He scratched his head as he shifted his ears, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from, but as soon as he started to pinpoint the location, it stopped.

Stitch growled; something was amiss. He sniffed the air. The usual scents came to his nose; Lilo, Nani, Jumba, Pleakley, Angel, his own, and the burnt meat loaf from a week ago. But two smells were recent—Lilo's and Angel's—fresh, like they had just been there not a moment before he entered the kitchen.

He sniffed for the origin of the trail, which led him out into the living room. It started at the door, and meandered—on purpose—up and down the stairs three times, around to the couch where he had just been, and then finally zigzagged into the kitchen, and simply vanished right where he had first smelled it.

He looked around again, bulging his eyes separately to see more without having to move his head much. But it wasn't his eyes that alerted him—it was his ears. Somewhere close by, he heard a tick. He looked around; it came from above his head somewhere. He panned the kitchen again, waiting for another noise. He was rewarded with a tock, this time in a different location. He grinned.

"They got home sooner than we thought." He looked at the two places where he knew he heard the noises: third cabinet above the shelf from the left of the window, and the big cabinet behind him next to the fridge. "Oh well," he said, acting casual, "guess Lilo and Angel not here yet. Going to wait upstairs in room." He stomped his feet on the ground, walking in place, but lessening his force with each step to create the illusion of him walking away.

Finally, he stood still, and turned without noise toward the cabinet behind him. The door would open, and one of them would look to see if the coast was clear, and thinking that they missed their chance to surprise him, they would come out. That's when he would surprise them. He grinned with excitement as the cabinet door creaked open a slight bit. He waited a moment, and then-

"Chibito!" He screamed, as he reached around and pulled the cabinet door open, and reached inside to startle whoever was unfortunate to occupy the hiding place. And the unfortunate occupant surprised him, for it was a pot that had been put inside in such a way, that the handle appeared to be what pushed the door open, not the hand of Lilo or Angel like he expected. Stitch flinched back as the pot fell out of the cabinet and crashed blatantly on the floor.

"What the heck is going on?" Nani screamed, as she ran to the head of the stairs. When she saw Stitch leaning against the table, and the pot on the floor, she sighed. "Should've known." She shrugged, smiling as she walked away.

Stitch let out his breath, and let the shivers out of his arms. When they were gone, he picked up the pot, but almost dropped it again when a last shiver rippled its way through him. He let out a tired, recomposing mumble, and looked up into the cabinet as he proceeded to put the pot back.

"Hi, Stitch!"

"Ah!" he yelled, flinching back and dropping the pot on the floor again. Lilo sat on her knees inside the pantry, and acted as though she'd been there the whole time, or just appeared there out of thin air. Stitch fell back against the table again, his heart racing with shock at the sudden surprise.

"Oh boochie-boo!"

"Yah!" He screamed again, as he felt two hands clasp around his ankles. He jumped back up on the table, crouched on all fours, and peeked over to see Angel smiling up at him. His arms and legs shivered as he tried to keep steady and calm. Both of them giggled hysterically as he gasped for air to try and settle his nerves. Lilo emerged from the cabinet, and Angel crawled out from under the table, both of them giving each other a high-five when they stood up.

"Got him!"

"And good!"

"You and me should be secret agents." They looked at Stitch, giggled at his reaction one last time, and sat down on either side of the table with a satisfied sigh. Stitch looked left, then right, and raised a corner of his mouth.

"Naga regitakka again!" He said slowly, catching his breath on each word as his arms and legs finally stopped quivering.

"Don't worry." Lilo assured him.

"That was a one-timer." Angel finished. Stitch cracked his neck, and fell back into the chair behind him.

"Well, that was fun. Nice idea Angel."

"Egato." She thanked.

"The look on his face: priceless."

"How did Lilo…?" Stitch started to ask, but trailed on purpose. She knew what he was asking; about how she 'appeared' in the cabinet.

"Hm…well…I would tell you…but then that would ruin the fun of the idea…what do you think Angel, should we tell him?" The stress in her voice suggested she was giving her accomplice a hidden message in her question.

"Mmm…" Angel thought, scratching her chin. "Naga." She replied quickly, and followed with a sly grin toward Stitch.

"Alright then, you don't get to know." Lilo said with a happy-cruel tone as she shrugged. "Besides, that would waste our time."

"Yeah, I want to get started again where we left off this morning." Angel commented eagerly as she scooted away from the table and stood up.

"Alright, the next thing we have to cover is experiment-rehabilitation." Lilo said as she scooted out and stood up herself. She looked sweetly toward Stitch. "Will you help me, Stitch?" She cooed. He wasn't buying it.

"Mmm…" He thought, scratching his chin. "Naga." He replied quickly, and followed with a sly grin toward them.

"Fine." Lilo said, shrugging off the gesture Stitch gave her, which hurt a bit more deeply than she wanted it to. "Come on Angel, let's go to Jumba's room."

"Oketaka." She said, as she chased after Lilo up the stairs. Stitch tapped his finger against the table, the quietness immediately setting in. Two minutes…three minutes…four minutes…five.

"Rrah." He grumbled, giving up. Hastily he scooted out, and made his way up the stairs to Jumba's room, aware that he was possibly walking further into humiliation. The day had only just begun, already it was The Girls: two—Him: nothing.