Of a Sweeter Kind
by Kameko-Lullaby
-

-

PART FOUR

-

-

Feel That Fire - "Please, please pay attention to the pretty Asian girl! Thank you!"

It was Thursday.

It was a normal, boring Thursday. It would have quiet too if it wasn't for Kuki screaming in the background about some missing Rainbow Monkey Doll. An orange Rainbow Monkey.

"Gremlins took it, Abby! Gremlins!" the Japanese exclaimed, tossing around the rest of the stuff animals that cluttered her room in order to find the precious one. She was nearing the point of hysteria when the darker-skinned girl put a hand on her green-clothed shoulder, her other one massaging the bridge of her nose – a habit picked up from Nigel.

"Which is missing, girl? You got a million of' em," Abby asked, ignoring the absurdity of Kuki's claims.

Kuki turned to her then, pretty violet-eyes flooding with tears, cheeks red from frustration. "Wallikins is gone!" she sobbed, throwing her arms around Abby's neck, crying dramatically into the hollow of her throat.

Oh, lord.

"Uh, girl, I'm sure he's around," she murmured patting the raven-haired girl awkwardly on the top of her head. She let her whine for a few moments before gently removing her fingers from around her. "No more of that now, your hugs are better for Numbuh Four,"

Something seemed to click within Kuki relatively innocent mind, "Numbuh Four…?"

Abby nodded a subtle hint of confusion on her usually collected features from Numbuh Three's abrupt change in attitude. "Yup,"

It only took a second for something to come together.

"He took – no, stole - Wallikins!"

Abby slapped a hand to her forehead in exasperation.

If she was ever going to go crazy it would be Kuki's fault. No, wait, scratch that; it would be Kuki and Wally's fault.


"What in the world is wrong with her now?"

The boys of Sector V where huddled in the main room area of the tree-house, eyes fixated on the hallway leading to the bedrooms. They had been playing video games – rather Wally and Hoagie where, Nigel simply read – when a rather loud cry had gathered their attention. It was completely obvious who it was.

"Cruddy sheila prob-"

"Numbuh FOUURRRRRRRRR!"

Hoagie turned to him then after the rest of his best friends' sentence was silenced to his tongue, a grin etching itself on his face, "We should have figured."

Numbuh One was looking at Wally now too, a bit of bemusement pooling into his features, "What did you do to Numbuh Three?"

"I didn't do anything!" the blond boy argued, fingers twisting tighter around the controller. She was always doing that. Always blaming him for everything, every little thing that went wrong.

It really - - -

Green eyes closed shut, forcing the thought back, before reopening at the sight of a fuming Kuki in the hallway, looking at him with absolute disgust dripping off of her usually beautiful features. Abby was close behind her, visor pulled down over brown eyes, shaking her head.

- - - Why is it always me?

Kuki lunged for him.

Hoagie let out a yelp before scrambling out of the way, the word "DUCK!" falling out of mouth as he fell to the floor, getting on to his feet next to Abby. Nigel merely leaned out of the way out of the rampaging Japanese vixen's path, narrowly missing a sneaker to the face as she smashed into Wally's stomach.

His breath left him in a rush as 93 pounds of Kuki slammed hard into his solar plexus point, the blow sending him over the arm of couch and onto the floor, and the petite girl on top of him. Straddling his stomach, she didn't even give him a chance to recover before she had him by the collar.

"Where is he, Wally?!" she hissed, pink-polished lips pulling into a vicious scowl. If he wasn't so annoyed himself, he probably would have found the flames dancing in her eyes threatening.

"Where is what?!"

"My Rainbow Monkey!" she screeched into his face, shaking him violently like she expected her missing toy to suddenly tumble from the cloth of his pants and t-shirt. You don't touch Kuki's stuffed animals without her permission. It was the one rule for dealing with Numbuh Three, and she constantly accused Wally of smashing straight through it.

He made an annoyed sound at the back throat that sounded quite-like a growl which, Numbuh Three returned, her face now so close to his that every exhale of her breath was hot against his skin. "You think I took your cruddy doll?"

"I know you did!"

"You're bloody insane!" he suddenly retorted, making Kuki blink and lose her hold for a second, "Why would I take somethin' I hate?!"

Her violet eyes were now narrowed into slits, annoyance and anger bubbling hot in her chest, heating her words on her tongue, "Because you're jealous!" It came out in a long rush of air with a violent shake at the end that made Wally grimace.

The Australian didn't know if he should laugh at her or get her to explain what in the hell she meant by that. He didn't need to waste his breath because she continued right on, "Because you couldn't spread love and joy if your life depended on it!"

His emerald gaze suddenly became guarded as he stared at her through his shaggy bangs, something touching them before, swiftly, it was forced back. She stared back, violet orbs losing their glimmer and desire to fight. It was obvious she had said the wrong thing and suddenly - - she knew it.

"I..."

Her slender fingers left the cloth of his shirt to flutter uselessly in the air. She was suddenly unaware of where to put them, and very aware of the four sets of eyes that looked at her.

"…didn't mean…"

Her eyes began to hurt as the pressure of newly sought tears started to rise. Her hands curled into tiny fists and found refuge against her cheek-bones. Her bottom lip quivered as she struggled to keep herself from crying.

Wally pulled himself upward with his elbows, adjusting his weight onto his tailbone as he glanced down at the girl. From his change of position, she was now sitting in his lap, her thighs brushing either side of hips.

One,
Two,
Three
- - -

"…IT!"

The dam had shattered, crumbled and was now fully obliterated. Kuki was crying rivers, rubbing at her eyes in a fruitless attempt to hide her tears from the boy she was sitting so close too. The said boy had covered his own face with one of his large hands, rubbing at his forehead. Tears were just one of those things he was not good with. He didn't like it when girls cried, especially this girl.

But that was all she seemed to do around him. That and be mad.

"Like I said, you're crazy," he sighed.

Kuki just buried her head into his chest, blubbering something through her tears that sounded like "I still want my Rainbow Monkey." Wally's face heated from the contact.

"Three…uh," comforting others was not one of his strong points.

Someone stifled a laugh.

Wally glared at the people standing over him and Kuki, a 'shut-up-before-I-kill-you' look passing across his face before being replaced with a desperate 'what-the-hell-do-I-do?' expression.

Adjusting his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, Nigel turned to Abby who was grinning at the sight of her two teammates, "Maybe we should assist?" he offered.

"Abby thinks you're right. God knows how hopeless he is with this kind of stuff,"


He had snuck off to the kitchen easier than he originally thought he would. Kuki and Wally's small confrontation had covered up the sound of his cell phone ringing to the point that neither Abby nor Nigel reacted. That was probably a good thing, considering who was on the other line. His darker-skinned friend, with her uncanny intellect, would have sensed something a brew easily.

"What do you want, dude?"

The reply to his question was spoken thickly laced in a Spanish accent, "I was simply calling for an update." Hoagie could almost see him, smirking into the receiver, adjusting his sunglasses, and flirting with girl nearby the phone booth.

The teenager was a womanizer in the making no matter how you said it.

Hoagie blinked, turning his attention to the main room. "Uh," was all that managed to leave his mouth as he watched Abby attempt to 'de-cling' Kuki from Numbuh Four's abdomen.

"I can hear her crying,"

The pilot ran a hand through his shaggy brown-locks. "She does do that a lot, you know," the statement was true enough. The Japanese princess did shed tears over the pettiest of circumstances. It was usually over a stuffed animal or her Australian object of affections' complete ignorance when it came to the workings of the female emotional system.

- - - Not that he knew much about it either, of course.

"He did it, didn't he?"

Numbuh Two saw no point in lying. "Sort of,"

There was laughter on the other end. "He really needs to learn how to treat a woman,"

"He tries. He likes her, a whole lot, you know,"

"I know, but he needs to realize that she isn't going to wait forever, and his petty jealousy isn't going to work as a single flare neither will his childish arrogance give him what he wants," Ace said coolly.

Hoagie blinked, pulling the phone away from his ear, giving it an odd look, like it was to blame for the twisted statement of his friend. "Dude, are you-"

The Spanish pilot chuckled on the other line, cutting him off. "Kuki's happiness is my top priority, Hoagie. Understand that."

And with that, the phone went dead.

A dull beeping filling his ears, Hoagie pulled away from his plastic cell. If he ever figured out what the hell just happened it would be a miracle. He shrugged it off, filing the conversation for later.

"Who was that?"

Darn it.

Abby had come into the kitchen as he was slipping the small piece of technology into the pocket of his cargos'. He opened his mouth to reply, an excuse about his brother and chemicals popping into his head. His mouth closed sharply when her thoughtful brown eyes flickered away from him, and glided up. Her soft features had broken out into a grin.

"Boy, do you see what Abby sees?" her hand had lifted from her side to gestures to the cabinets above. Whatever she had noticed was highly amusing to her.

Hoagie turned quickly on his heels, the buttons on his sky-blue over shirt making a soft clicking noise has they made contact with the counter. His blue-eyes filled with confusion.

The tail of an orange Rainbow Monkey was sticking out between the doors.

He pulled softy on the stuffed animals' appendage so that it toppled out into his hands, bringing a box of Kuki's instant rice with it. He held the tattered toy between his fingers, staring, before he passed it to Numbuh Five.

"I thought she said she left it in her room?"

"The girl did say that," Abby remarked, grinning softly. "But it looks like it was a ploy,"

Hoagie glanced at the love-worn toy in her hands. "Are you saying she knew exactly where it was?"

Numbuh Five smiled. "Yup, the girl needs a reason to get Four's attention now that Ace hasn't been 'round," she stated. Her warm-brown eyes flickered towards his pocket with a knowing glint.

Numbuh Two pondered this. "Where is she now?" he was oblivious to the gears working in Abby's pretty head.

"Dragged Wall an' Nige to her room to find the monkey,"

"Why Numbuh One?" it was a bit odd for her to forcefully take Nigel anywhere. She did though occasional tease him into doing something for her. Her 'cute' spell had a bit of an effect on everyone.

Abby shrugged, throwing her long braid back over her shoulder. "Abby guesses it cuts down on the awkwardness," she pulled herself out a chair from the kitchen table, bringing the Rainbow Monkey with her, and setting it in the center of the table. "And Boss has always had a bit of a soft spot for her love of those toys," she added.

The two teammates exchanged knowing smiles before Five settled herself into the task of dinner, humming along with her i-Pod. Hoagie let his gaze drift from her to the Rainbow Monkey that grinned from the dinner table's center. The thing stared back at him, its black beads for eyes shining with Two's own reflection in their depths.

He shuddered.

A week would be up in a day-and-a-half.


A/N: I'm slower then death, I swear. I hope I didn't make you guys wait to long if anyone is still following this. I've had a lot going on with school the last week-and-a-half.

Oh, and in response to a flame I received, I just have to say that I'm sorry that you can't pick up on the hints in the flow of each chapter. And if you ever try to insult me again, because I really don't mind flames, please attempt it with correct spelling. I just laugh otherwise.

On another notice, I'm really sorry for any OCC-ness. I'm still mastering the art of KND.

-Lullaby :)