Merry Christmas! I haven't updated in like, forever, I know. But here's the next chappie, and I''m not quite sure whether or not operatives have to burn any of their belongings that might remind them of the KND, but it'll be that way in my story.
Oh yeah! I forgot to post a disclaimer the last three chappies... gulp. Hmm... maybe Mr War will forgive me... it's my first fanficcy anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own KND, or any other thingees I've used in this fanfic. times 4(for the other chapters)
... And thanks soooooooooo much for all the reviewers! especially you, Blue-Eyed-4. Hope you enjoy the new chapter! I don't really know where I'm going with this story, give me suggestions if you like, right now though, I'm concentrating on Kooks...
Kuki sighed and got out of bed. She couldn't sleep. She was very tired but she just couldn't sleep.
She was excited. Excited about tomorrow, and, yes, a little nervous.
Tomorrow she'd be going to her new school. All the people she knew before from Cleveland Elementary had probably moved on to Cleveland high. She would see all her old friends again.
But what if I've changed too much? What if they've changed too much? Will they accept me back? What if they've moved, too?
What if I didn't have any friends?
The thought struck her hard. If she couldn't remember her friends, that meant she didn't have any, right?
She walked to her window and looked out into the night. The snow glittered by the yellow lamplight and graced the trees.
The sight of those trees took Kuki's breath away. They where leafless by now, and looked black, camouflaged against the darkness. The bright snow looked like fine lace, hanging in the cold, crisp winter air.
Her breath became smoke against the window. She drew a heart in that mist, and watched it disappear slowly.
No… I had friends.
She knew she did, for sure. She remembered the laughs, the comforting hugs, the video games…
She rubbed her arms with her hands, realizing it was cold.
It must be past ten. That would be why the heating is off.
She snuggled down deep into her still warm blankets and tried to go to sleep. Something haunted her, as well.
The thought of something she loved dearly, lost, and coming back to her as a ghost, slowly rising up out of cold, hard, wooden floors.
Kuki guessed it was just her common sense to let it go and just go to sleep, but it was more.
"… Making with da Z's, baby!"
"What?" Kuki shot up, forgetting the cold. Who had talked to her?
"… 'cause that's where Numbuh Five's headin'!"
It was coming closer now. She had had these flashbacks since she left Cleveland, but now it felt real. She had never really believed it; never really paid attention to it, but she knew now for sure it was real. She was loved.
But she didn't know by who.
The whole house was quiet and dark, everyone but Kuki was asleep.
She crept to the end of the hall in silence, stopping right in front of her parent's bedroom's door. A small bathroom was near; she went in. She took the ladder in the corner, placed it in the middle of the hall. Climbing up, she could discern a large square on the ceiling.
Praying that the trapdoor wouldn't be too loud, she pushed upwards.
It swung open effortlessly. Almost too easily. She caught it right before it hit the floor of the attic, and set it down carefully.
The attic was dark, dirty, and freezing. The floor was made of uneven, splintery planks, and there were spider webs everywhere. Kuki shivered. There where boxes everywhere. Where should she start?
Maybe… see what they're all marked. That might give me a clue.
She made her way towards the boxes the farthest away from her. She could see from far away, in big, Japanese writing, that they were marked, "Photos."
The first pictures she saw where all baby pictures. No good. She moved on to the second box. She could see her in Japan, probably before she even knew that a place called Cleveland existed.
I'm not getting anywhere!
Right before she wanted to move on to the next box, she spotted something.
Waaiiit… that's the Japan airport behind me!
Sure enough, the next picture was one where she was waving to the camera, right in front of Cleveland Eementary. She was covering up the "l" with her head.
As she went through them, she found some that gave her huge clues to who she was. Sometimes she could have sworn that she saw the people in the pictures move.
She came by an album that was marked, "Kuki-Chan's Ninth Birthday Party"
I gotta make a scrapbook of all of this…
She saw one of herself waving at the camera brightly (as usual), and five kids sitting around her: one beautiful African girl, politely eating her Japanese dinner although still being a little unhandy with chopsticks, a pale, bald boy, wielding chopsticks as if he had done some kind of research about them, Hoagie, a little chunky, eating with knife and fork and looking like he ate anything alive or dead anyway so he probably didn't even care what it tasted like, and another boy, short, scrawny and blond-haired, poking his food with one chopstick as if he thought it was some kind of bug, eyes big and tongue hanging out.
It made her giggle. But why was Hoagie in there? And… he looked so different… how did she even recognize him?
She shrugged and turned the page, and saw two big photos: one where she was unpacking her gifts, almost all of them stuffed animals, but also other, more intellectual ones: video games. The other one was obviously one of the games they played: spin the bottle. The blond haired boy was kissing her on the cheek, blushing furiously, and she herself had her hand to her mouth, obviously giggling. All the others where laughing their heads off.
She put all the photos she had seen that where helpful in the album, which she put under her arm. She climbed back down the ladder; put it away. She stored the photos in her suitcase, which she stored, in turn, under her bed.
She stretched and yawned widely.
Now… I'm satisfied. I'm not sure why I don't remember any of the photos. But at least I have somewhere to start…
She snuggled deep in her bed, which had now completely cooled off, and drifted off to sleep.
Something hit her. It knocked the wind out of her; she just lay there trying to catch her breath. It burned her like fire… it was fire. She could hear more of it, crackling around her.
Then her sight came. A burning room, it was huge, it looked like the entrance hall of a palace, with majestic banners hanging from the ceiling. They where all on fire. Someone approached her, burning, buthe wasn'tin pain. She knew who he was. She couldn't look at him; he was brighter than all of the fires in the room, yet his fires where a deep red.
Her eyes stung with tears but she couldn't cry. She was afraid, scared out of her mind, but she couldn't run. Another hit, across her stomach. She was swept away, her belly felt like it was burning up inside. She kept flying until finally she hit the wall. She slid down, trying desperately to breathe, and expected the final blow. In a moment, it would all be over.
Her enemy said nothing.
"Goodbye, Numbuh Four… "
A sharp sound that definitely didn't come from him shocked her awake.
"Eat this!" She heard a girl shout, and her enemy cried out in pain. Cold, fresh water sprayed on her face.
She dared open her eyes a crack, just to see what was happening. A boy… the boy she had seen in the pictures was running towards her.
"Don't worry Kooks. I've got ya." He picked her up gently. She saw two other kids firing cold water and ice cream at him, then a small, dinky-looking jet fly low along the ground, pelting him with ice cubes. She could look at whoever he was now; he wasn't on fire anymore. He was kneeling down on the floor in pain. He was… black. Completely black, he looked like a shadow, a silhouette.
She was set down on the floor gently, but she couldn't take it. Her back felt like she had been flogged. She screamed out in pain, causing many of them to turn, alarmed. The girl whom she had heard earlier set down her water hose and rushed to her side.
"Take the hose, Numbuh Four. I got her."
The boy hesitated a moment, then obeyed.
"Don' worry, Kuki, Abby's right here."
"It hurts!"
"Where does it hurt, Kuki? Tell me, Abby will fix it." She cooed softly and calmly.
"M-my back! Help me, Abby! I-I need water! I-I'm hurting so bad, Abby! Help m-me!" She cried, and finally her tears came, spilling on her burning cheeks.
"Sit up, gurl. Lemme see yo' back." Abby, as she had already guessed she was called, pulled her up by her shoulders. "Alright, now jus' hold that, ok?" She felt soft hands pull up the back of her sweater, then heard Abby gasp. "Oh, he got ya bad, gurl. We gotta get ya to the Moonbase fast." Abby got up.
"N-no! Don't go, Abbs!" She caught her by her hand.
"Aw, gurl, I'm sorry. I gotta get Numbuh Two to at least call you a flight."
She sobbed. She almost saw Abby cry. But she caught herself, smiled bravely, and turned to Numbuh One.
"Numbuh Three's badly wounded, Numbuh One. We gotta get her to the Moonbase as fast as we can."
"W-we've almost got him, Numbuh Five! Grab your- -"
"Numbuh One how could you? I'm getting my communicator, and I'll call for extra troops- -"
"Good, Numbuh Five. We really need that. Tell Numbuh 86 we've almost got him."
"- -AS WELL AS A SICKBAY TRANSPORT." She continued, and took from her belt an old piece of telephone with a fork strung on to it.
She walked away from Numbuh One and sat down next to Kuki.
"Yes… this is Numbuh Five of Sector V. We have an emergency. Calling for extra troops at the Delightful's castle. Request immediate response." She paused.
"The Delightful's Castle? I'll hook you up to Numbuh 86." A boy's voice called. She could hear several beeps. "I'm sorry, is it a REAL emergency? Numbuh 86 is in bed."
"Yes it is a real emergency! We've got a wounded operative!"
"Well then, what about you're medical officer?"
"The wounded operative is our medical officer! Think we haven't thought of that, foo'?" Abby cried hoarsely.
Some more beeps; two clicks. Then a shrill voice with a heavy Irish accent was heard on the communicator.
"Why do ye need troops there, Number Five?"
"We were on a rescue mission for Numbuh Three. She was captured by Father. We have him now and are at an advantage."
"Good. What state is Number Three in?"
"Very bad, Numbuh 86. Request you send transport immediately. Burn marks everywhere."
"Ah… granted. I suspect you need troops with especially cold ammo?"
"Yeah. And extra ammo for us. Please hurry, Numbuh 86. I can't even lay Numbuh Three down!"
"Good thing you where there on time. Moonbase out."
Abby put away her communicator. She pulled out her elastic, even though she was sweating and hot from the flames. She put it in a high ponytail in Numbuh Three's hair and whispered, "They're comin' in for ya gurl. You'll be ok. I promise."
There you be going! I won't update for a while, even though you might wanna know WHYYYY Kuki's got KND evidence right in her attic... Ahhh won't tell ya now though. Next chapter will probably take even longer than this one. The stupid vacation bungalow park I'm staying in doesn't even have an internet cafe, so I hafta wait till we get a break from visting relatives & friends of mah parents to travel to a nearby city where they do have an internet cafe and mess around there... and besides, I need time to write a chapter on Word, so I need a place where my dad doesn't barge in and say time to go home now! And then I hafta say wait I hafta put this masterpeice(snicker...) on the internet and then the internet gets stuck and my dad gets all mad because it's late an' blahh blahhh blahhhhhhhhhh...
By the way, I don't expect you to understand any of that. Do you think I should bring the rating down? I don't think this qualifies for Romance/General anymore, either. Tell me what I should do about that, ok? I want it to be Action/Adventure, but it's getting alittle more angsty than I thought. PLUSSSSSSSS I wanna stuff in some Romance too! AAAAAAAAAA...