Of a Sweeter Kind
by Kameko-Lullaby
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PART FIVE
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Completely Incomplete – "…nothing in the world can change my mind,"
The orange Rainbow Monkey found the way home. Or at least that was what the Japanese member of Sector V kept saying. The tattered toy was sitting on her bed amongst her other toys when she woke up on that Friday morning.
Numbuh Five had said nothing but, smiled gently at the girl when she excitedly told her about the Monkey's amazing return. The story had run on into another of a completely different nature but, the darker-skinned girl continued to half-listen to her younger teammate babble, nodding every-now-and-then.
The petite Kuki had been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride the last week. She could be happy and giggly for a few hours then mad and utterly frustrated the rest of the day. If Numbuh Three had been anyone but herself Abby could have blamed the symptoms entirely on PMS. The mood swings weren't doing the whole yo-yo routine though. The change of emotions was a gradually one, indicating a catalyst of outside nature.
The answer to what the said catalyst was, well, that was simple.
Wallabee Beetles, Abby thought with a soft grin.
His new found attention to little Numbuh Three had made her extremely giddy. Simply not pushing her away quickly as usual was indication enough but, the boy was practically giving her a red neon sign with "I'm desperately in love you," flashing with his body language. And Ace's sudden lack of interest was a red-flag starring her in the face.
When the two finally did get together it was most likely be the biggest news in the TND. Everyone and she meant everyone was just waiting for the damn Aussie to finally get some balls and just tell her.
Honestly, it was like watching a goddamn soap opera.
Problem was Kuki was oblivious, like brick-wall oblivious but, then again the frustration said otherwise.
"Mind if I kill Two?"
The two female teammates turned at the sound of their British leader's accented voice. He looked sleepy still, like he had just rolled out of bed.
"Morning, Numbuh One," the girls chimed together making Kuki grin. Nigel yawned with a muffled reply as he settled himself into a chair across from Numbuh Three who bounced in the seat closest to Abby's right. The Japanese joyfully retold him the story of Wallikins' amazing and 'unexpected' return. He just nodded looking at her over his sunglasses.
"So," Abby began taking a sip from the mug she clutched between her hands, turning to him, "What's that boy got you out of bed for?"
"He's doing something with a drill up in his room – it's quite annoyingly loud," he told her, rubbing at his temples. Honestly, who woke up at six o'clock in the morning on a summer vacation Friday? It just wasn't heard of. Unless there was a mission of course, then it was a whole different story.
Numbuh Five grinned before taking another sip of her drink, "Just like him," a small, nearly unnoticed fond smile passed over her lips after the statement.
Kuki giggled, brushing her dark-hair off her shoulders, "Now we just need Numbuh Four to get up with us!" she made the Rainbow Monkey in her lap do a dance as she spoke.
"I wouldn't bet on it, girl," Abby chuckled, "you known he don't move until almost lunchtime unless the alarm goes -" she stopped herself when a little grin came to grace her lips.
"Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear," Nigel murmured his blue-gray gaze now on the doorway. The happy-go-lucky Japanese girl just spoke his codename and he appeared. There were moments when he wondered if the two didn't have some sort of physic connection that they didn't tell the rest of them about. Honestly, it wasn't the first time that he had appeared randomly only a few short moments after Kuki mentioned wanting to see him. It was extremely amusing none-of-less.
The said Numbuh Three was thinking about nothing other then being absolutely, positively, utterly delighted to see Wally even if he looked completely ruffled like he rolled out of bed. She was always happy to see him. He always made her happy and tingly and giddy and a whole lot of other things. It was just him that made him feel like butterflies were playing in her tummy, like she was flying.
Just him.
Unless he made fun of her Rainbow Monkeys, then it was a completely different story.
"Good Morning, Numbuh Four!" she called cheerfully.
"Morin'," he grunted, collapsing into the chair next to her. He looked exhausted. The poor boy was never an early morning person. "It's too cruddy early," he muttered to her but, mostly to himself.
Kuki pouted and patted his knee in a comforting gesture. "It's OK! We all had to get up early too!"
"Yeah, well, I don't do early!"
"Nope, you do noon-time or is that really tea-time? I think it is - Oh, maybe you just call it lunchtime," she pressed a finger to her chin, mulling over the correct term for the period of time between ten and twelve.
Wally gave her a foul look. "Who cares?"
"I care silly-willy!" she laughed before – "PANCAKES!" she sat up straighter in her chair, nearly knocking her Rainbow Monkey from her lap.
The entirety of table turned to look strangely at their youngest teammate. Abby raised a brow before choosing to linger into the world of Kuki. She ignored the Aussie, next to the Japanese, who was making the 'freakin' crazy' symbol with his finger. Nigel chose to completely ignore the outburst. "Uh, hun, what do ya mean?"
"I was thinking that Mister grouchy-pants over here," she reached up pat Wally on the head, who shrugged away from her touch, scowling at her, "could use some yummy pancakes to feel better! And the rest of us could too! Except for Two because he's dummyhead," she continued to ramble on, breakfast suddenly turning into what she was going to do for the rest of the day.
Numbuh Five smiled. The girl was a cutie even if she was a little exasperating.
"Actually, Abby thinks you should go get dressed first, girl," she began, collecting Kuki's attention from her mini daydream. "Five and boss have to talk to Numbuh Four here."
A pair of emerald eyes shot to her face, gaze narrowing.
Kuki blinked, "Oh, well, okie-dokie then!" she jumped from her seat before wrapping her slender arms around Wally's neck, burying her face into his blond-hair. The boy looked half-flustered and somewhere between wanting to throw her off of him and enjoying it.
"Hey! Let go!" he spluttered.
She obeyed before giving him an odd look and skipping towards the door. "I hope you're not in too much trouble, Numbuh Four!"
And just like that, she was gone, the door swinging behind her.
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"Jeez," Wally murmured to himself, rubbing awkwardly at his neck. He felt all warm and weird. "Why she's got to do that everytime she sees me I'll never know." He knew quite well what he hoped the reason was but, he'd keep that thought locked, gated, walled and sealed in a select place in his brain until the moment was right. The right moment was probably going to have to be soon.
Someone chuckled and he glanced up.
Nigel was looking highly amused and Abby was grinning wickedly at him, a knowing glint in her eye that made damn her intuition to hell. In his world, he did a darn good job of keeping his feelings (ew, girlie much?) at bay and perfectly hidden. Sometimes, he doubted that when it came to Abby. Right now was one of those moments.
"Shuddup," he scowled, hoping the heat in his face would just shove off and die like he kind of wished Ace would. The mere thought of the stupid pretty-boy made his scowl deepen.
"We haven't even begun talking yet, Numbuh Four." Nigel answered smartly; gathering himself into a persona he sought better was for the image he was trying to present. Tough strong leader concerned for his underlings. The second part was more-or-less right but, the first? Pfft.
Not even in his dreams, Wally thought with something close to a laugh.
"Now," Numbuh One began, "Numbuh Five and I have noticed a change in your behavior with our lovely Numbuh Three,"
What in the cruddy-?
"…I'm not any different then I was yesterday," his voice was rough. He really, really didn't want to talk about this with them. With anyone. Expect for maybe Kuki herself but-
"No but, your attitude has improved considerably since a mere week ago and -"
"Hey! What was wrong with the way I was 'fore?"
Nigel waved a hand to dismiss his comment. He had nearly forgotten the Aussie's way of taking things the wrong way and getting mad way too fast. "Nothing, Numbuh Four but, we merely wanted to say that we are glad that you have adapted a new tolerance level for her, uh, antics towards you,"
"Ya mean stupid 'Rainbow Mon-DORKEY Tea Party Fun-time'?" It kind of scared him that even got the name of the bloody game right, even going far as saying the name of her demonic toys almost right. It wasn't much of a surprise though, if you considered Kuki had been conning him into playing it since they were like eight.
Abby smiled, "Yup, we thought we'd just tell ya how much happier lil' Three's been,"
She took a sip from her mug, "And Five thinks you seem happier too."
Wally looked away from her to stare at his hands. Was he happier? A little, he supposed. Ace hadn't been around to constantly flirt with her in front of him, and try to take her away from the at 'arms reach' place he let her stay at. And having her attention, no matter how many stupid things she made him do, focused nearly solely on him was really - -
Yeah, let's not go there.
"I don't know what you're taking about." It was stern and simple response.
Abby shook her head, her braid bouncing against her back. "Ya really don't think Abby sees it?"
Something was telling the blond boy to officially bolt from the conversation and make his way to his room and punch the day-lights out of his training robots but, as we know, Wallabee Beetles does not back down."See what, ya cruddy sheila?"
Numbuh Five grinned, the glint back. "Where should Abby start? The Kid suddenly doesn't give a damn 'bout lil' Kuki when Abby knows you know that no one has ever broken a date with that girl,"
Like I said before, Wally does not back down or give in. And that was probably going to be the death of him at some point. "Maybe he finally realized Numbuh Three doesn't like him? It's about time too. He was really getting -"
"Abby wasn't done, Four," Numbuh Five suddenly interjected, cutting him off.
Wally scowled at her, green-eyes narrowing behind his shaggy blond bangs.
"Like Five was saying, he goes MIA and you're suddenly, well, nice," she ignored the rude gesture Numbuh Four threw at her before turning to Nigel. "Don't that spell somethin' fishy to you, boss?"
The British boy shrugged, looking Wallabee's way over his dark shades, "It's a possibility, Five but, don't forget that Wally has always had a large soft-spot for Numbuh Three."
The Aussie blushed, fingers clenching into thick fists. "I don't like Kuki!"
"Nobody said you did," Nigel sighed with a smile.
You're a dumbass, Wallabee.
Wally made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat, cheeks still hued pink. He let his gaze wander anywhere but, his two fellow teenagers in front of him.
"But," Nigel spoke sensing Numbuh Four's discomfort, "I hope your new tolerance keeps up for awhile. The new calmness is helpful to missions and other top issues." He then excused himself from the table, mentioning checking the mail and getting dressed.
As soon as the bald-boy was safely out of hearing-range, Abby turned to the Australian, taking another sip from her mug to drain it fully of its liquid, "Abby has another message for you, Four."
Wally just looked at her, rolling his eyes, "Really now?"
She nodded, "Yeah, its real simple too, break Numbuh Three's heart and Numbuh Five gets to kick your ass."
The darker-skinned girl said it so calmly that it almost unnerved him for a second. But then again he was Wallabee. "Pfft. Yeah, whatever,"
Abby shrugged as she stood, pushing her chair away and dropping her cup into the sink, "It's a warning, boy."
With that, she disappeared past the door, leaving Wally to his lonesome in the kitchen. He stretched out, sliding his 6" foot frame lower in his chair with a sigh.
It wasn't really necessary for her to make threats at him. It's not like he planned to go and break her heart like all those other guys that chased after her would.
And if tomorrow went well for him those guys would never, ever come near his Kuki again.
Sadly, things had a tendency not to go the way he wanted.
A/N: Yeah, I know I said Saturday but, some things came into play and I just couldn't make it happen. Besides, this is really filler just but, I wanted to show that Abby is checking on quite fast. It has come to my attention that I snuck a 2x5 hint in there and didn't even realize it. That shows you how much I like those two together.
Oh, and if the way I plotted this still stands through, 'Of a Sweeter Kind' only has four chapters left before its complete. Real shame, isn't it? Oh, and I just realized that one I first started writing this story my goal was to get three reviews. Now look at me!
I love you all, and just so you known, not in that way.
-laughs-
Ja ne!
-Lullaby :)
Codename: Kids Next Door © Tom Warburton
