Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own anything.
A/N: This chapter is short, and really not as good as I had pictured, but whatever Here it is!
When love's not enough
Chapter 8
Numbuh 5 carefully shut the door behind her as she left the room. Numbuh 2 and Numbuh 4 were waiting for her out in the hall.
"How is he?" Numbuh 2 asked with a concerned voice.
"He's still unconscious," she replied and shook her head with sadness. "That big fireball was enough to knock him out for hours. He's got some serious wounds from it, and second degree burn. Numbuh 5's worried he won't be able to get out of bed in the next few days. Sector V's without a leader now."
"What?" Numbuh 4 exclaimed. "But… we can't be without a leader! Father might attack us now that he knows that we're weak!"
Numbuh 5 placed her hands on her hips and lowered her eyebrows, once again resigned by her team mate's ignorance. "Exactly, Einstein! At least you figured that one out in less than twenty seconds."
"'Ey, stop calling me stupid!" he shouted.
"Guys, stop it!" Numbuh 2 whispered angrily. "Numbuh 1 is unconscious, Numbuh 3 is resting, the whole team is down now, we have no plans what so ever – and all you two can do is stand here and fight!"
Numbuh 4 lowered his head, his blond bangs covering his guilty eyes. Numbuh 5 took a deep breath and avoided eye contact with the chubby pilot.
"This isn't exactly what we need right now," Numbuh 2 continued. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room reading some comics and resting." He walked off, leaving the two others behind.
"You know he was right," Numbuh 5 muttered to Numbuh 4.
"Me?" he yelled with fury. "You're the one that started it!"
"What evuh! Numbuh 5'll be in her room." She left as well.
Numbuh 4 growled at her as she disappeared down the hall. But then he quickly understood why she was so aggressive now. He assumed it was because she was scared and tired and worried about their leader all at once. She usually kept those kinds of thoughts to herself, but with the team so vulnerable he supposed she was clueless. He knew he was. And he was very worried about Numbuh 3 as well, even if she wasn't hurt half as bad as Numbuh 1. He just couldn't help but love her.
He shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants and wandered off towards his room. When he made it to the stairs that led down to his room, he stopped. The stairs that led up to Numbuh 3's room were right beside his stairs. Something inside him told him to go up there and check on her, even if he was just up there half an hour ago. Yesterday's event was still bugging him. He was embarrassed about it, and it made it hard to look her in the eyes.
The stairs were calling for him. But what if she was sleeping? It wasn't like the stairs cared. And neither did he in the end. He quickly but silently made his way up the stairs. The long hallway seemed so deserted. It was as if the entire Treehouse was abandoned because of the silence that haunted it. There was no music from Numbuh 5's room, no sounds of mechanic construction work, no happy voices, no alarms.
Numbuh 4 went over to Numbuh 3's green curtain as he finally made it to the end of the hall. He was about to knock on the wall next to the curtain, but hesitated as he suddenly felt worried about disturbing her. He forced the feeling away and knocked softly.
A few seconds later he heard Numbuh 3's sleepy voice reply: "Yes?"
He looked into her room. "Hi… Numbuh 3…"
She sat up in her bed (, the giant Rainbow Monkey that she used for a bed, that is) and stared at him. "Numbuh 4, you were just up here."
"Yeah, I know," he replied awkwardly, looking down at the floor.
"Was there something you wanted to say?" she asked, tugging the blanket up to her chin.
He went into the room and let the curtain fall shut behind him. "Well, I… I was a little worried. I mean, I am. So I guess I just wanted to check on you… again." He swallowed down hard, as he realized he'd sounded so incredibly stupid.
Numbuh 3 giggled. "That's cute of you, Numbuh 4. I'm feeling better now, but I still need to rest. You knew that, silly."
"Y-yeah…" He shook his head. He knew why he was up there now. He wanted to know what it was Numbuh 3 had wanted to tell him back in the dungeon. "Listen, Kuki… I-err…" He scratched the back of his head as he moved closer to her bed. "Remember there was something you wanted to tell me earlier… at the mansion?"
"Oh, that." Numbuh 3 blushed slightly. "I-I don't know if I want to say it after all…"
Numbuh 4's heart sank. "Oh, well… ok…" he stuttered. "I mean, it's up to you really." He suddenly felt sick again. His stomach was twisting. "I guess I'll leave, then." He was about to turn around and leave.
"Wait!" Numbuh 3 exclaimed, reaching her hand out after him.
He turned to face her again, frowning.
"I… Maybe I should say it after all," she said hesitatingly. She motioned for him to sit down on her bed. "I've been thinking a lot about this, Numbuh 4."
He went over to her bed and hopped up on it. In his mind, he cursed his short legs. "Thinking about what?" he asked, staring directly into her violet eyes.
"About what you told me yesterday," she replied, hugging her knees.
"Oh, great!" he muttered sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Please just forget about the whole thing. I shouldn't have said it, it was unprofessional of me, it will never happen again! So, I guess it's better if I just leave now." He felt how he was getting angry. "Before you can say more stupid things to me and make me feel even worse about myself!"
"Calm down, Wally!" she said, surprised to see him react like this. "I'm really sorry about what happened… and what I said."
He rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, but you still can't say that you like me or something like that, blah, blah!" He shook his head as he continued. "Look, Kuki – I really don't need to hear that. You made it perfectly clear to me last night!"
"Would you let me finish?" she asked, feeling a little hurt.
He exhaled, gritted his teeth and gave her a quick nod.
"I was… freaked out last night," she started. "I had no idea you felt that way about me. Well, it might have crossed my mind before, but I never knew you actually… were in love with me. I want you to know how bad I felt last night after you'd left."
"You felt bad?" he shouted, clenching his fists. He raised his voice even more. "You felt bad? What about me? How do you think I felt, for cruds sake?"
"Stop yelling at me!" Numbuh 3 whimpered and held her hands over her ears. She felt like crying, but managed to hold it back. It was just so painful to deal with both the physical pains in her chest and the heartbreaking yelling of his. She let her hands down and again hugged her knees tightly while lowering her head. "I do feel bad, because you feel bad. So after you had left last night, I started to think. And I thought about what you had said. I started to search for what I felt about you."
"And you found out that you hate me," Numbuh 4 added. "Great, like I didn't already know that!"
"Wally, please let me finish," she pleaded, her eyes starting to feel watery.
He tried to ignore his shaking chin as the image once again flashed before his eyes. He told her about his feelings, and she laughed.
What is it that she wants to tell me, then? Maybe I should shut the crud up now and let her finish. But… I get so angry. And sad…
"I'm sorry," he muttered, staring at her with guilty eyes. "Just finish what you were going to say…"
"I actually don't want to when you're being so mean to me," she replied with a sad voice and turned her head away form him.
"What do you want me to do - beg you to tell me?" he asked. He rolled his eyes again and tried to calm down, which he failed miserably. "Look, Kuki. I just want you to tell me."
"Ok, but promise you won't interrupt again," she said irritated.
"I promise," Numbuh 4 replied. He took a deep breath and told himself not to freak out and get all pissed off, no matter what she said.
"I want you to know that this is really difficult for me," she continued. "But I will tell you anyway." Her heart was now beating faster. She moved closer to him, carefully taking one of his hands in hers.
Numbuh 4 had mixed emotions about this. He kinda wanted her to hold his hand, because he still liked her. But on the other hand, he held a grudge against her now, after what she had caused him to do the night before. It was her fault he ran off. It was her fault he sat down on the playground to be alone. It was her fault he was there the moment the Delightful Children drove by. After blaming her for all that had happened, he suddenly felt a lot better about himself.
"You said you like me," she said carefully. "And I realized that I like you, too." She exhaled and swallowed down hard, curious about how he'd react.
Numbuh 4's eyes widened. This was not what he'd expected at all. Not from her. Not now. "You what?" he tried to say, but it only came out as a choked whisper.
She smiled and blushed. "I like you the way you like me, Wally! You know what I mean."
Numbuh 4 quickly tugged his hand back. He stayed shocked, not at all planning to smile back at her. Numbuh 3's smiled faded.
"What is it?" she asked with a worried voice.
He couldn't say a word. This was not expected. He turned his head away so she couldn't see his face and the anger that now changed his confused expression to fury.
"Wally, please say something!" Numbuh 3 pleaded, her voice starting to sound a little tearful. "I-I thought you'd be happy to know that I liked you back."
Numbuh 4 clenched his fists and forced himself to calm down. Then he turned to face her. "You know what?" he asked with an irritated voice. "I don't care!"
"What?" Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Yeah, that's right, Kuki!" he growled. "I don't care! Not at all! And you wanna know why? 'Cause when you rejected me yesterday, I started to dislike you, bit by bit! I don't have a cruddy crush on you anymore!" He got up from the bed and shook his head. A resigned laughter forced itself out of his mouth. "I don't even know what I ever saw in you!"
"You can't be serious!" Numbuh 3 sobbed. Tears were running down her face. Her heart really started to feel all painful. It was now her turn to get her heart broken.
"Oh, I'm very serious!" he shouted. "Good night! I'm leaving!"
She couldn't get out a single word. She couldn't do anything but cry. Was this even possible? Or was it all just a bad dream?
Numbuh 4 just left her crying like that. He was so angry he needed to hit something. "Who does she think she is?" he muttered to himself as he walked down the hall, pulling his hair with fury. "I'm not some cruddy toy you can play with when you feel like it! I have real emotions! She can't just suddenly like me! She must be losing it!"
Numbuh 3 face was wet with tears. She dried her eyes with the long sleeve of her purple nightgown, but they were soon filled up with new tears. She couldn't believe he had been this mean to her. Her heart was broken now.
"It's not fair!" she sobbed. "I thought he liked me!" The pain was unspeakable. She now shared the same pain Numbuh 4 had been through the night before.
The sun was now gone, leaving the sky dark and filled with stars. It was a sad night for the entire team. Numbuh 1 was still unconscious, lying in his bed to recover. Numbuh 2 was in a terrible mood and he didn't even feel like eating much. Numbuh 3 was heartbroken, and she cried herself to sleep that night. Numbuh 4 was furious, pummeling the boxing bag around for a few minutes to get most of his rage out. Numbuh 5 was quiet as always, staying in her room and listened to music on her headphones for the rest of the night.
Numbuh 4 sat back in his bed up in his wrestling ring in the big branch. He was angry, hurt and tired. Plus his back hurt from sleeping on the hard floor in the dungeon the night before. He was thinking about Numbuh 3 a lot. He had mixed emotions. It made him sick to his stomach just thinking about it.
Numbuh 3 held her orange Rainbow Monkey tightly in her arms, still crying about what had happened. She wanted to be angry with Numbuh 4, but all she felt now was a broken heart. She had never felt anything like it. It was an indescribable emotion, and she hoped she never had to go through it again.
