Of a Sweeter Kind
by Kameko-Lullaby

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PART SEVEN

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Every Rule – "But the universe is designed to break your heart, right?"

After a sleeve and a half of Oreos, two mugs of green tea and every consoling thing she could think of to say, Abby finally got Kuki to go to sleep. The sweet and welcomed heaviness of sleep set in quickly after the broken, quaking sobs and short, quick inhales had ceased. She slept soundly, her chest rising and falling steadily, slender legs tangled around her comforter.

Rising off the stuffed animal of a bed, Abby gently brushed a strand of damp onyx-black hair away from the slumbering Japanese girl's face with a soft sigh. Kuki always felt things much deeper then anyone else did. From breakups, fights, insults to the divorce of her parents – everything left a bruise, a scar, an aching reminder on her heart. Maybe that was why she felt so protective of her. The petite Asian with the innocent, big blue eyes had been nothing but, a baby sister to her since day one.

Turning down the volume on the CD player that sat on the bedside table nearby. She picked up the discarded cup and wiped away the dampness it left on the glossy wood. "Goodnight, girl," Abby murmured softly, making her approach to the curtain that served as a door, closing it gently behind her.

"So, how is she?"

The dark-skinned vixen lifted her chocolate brown orbs to meet a pair of sky-blue colored eyes. She gave him a weak smile, the corners of her plump mouth barely curling. "Better, I guess. Abby finally got her to sleep."

Hoagie sighed, moving his goggles into his shaggy, brown hair. "That is an improvement," he shifted his weight to a different foot, adjusting himself on the wall in the hallway he lent against. "She was crying so hard I could hear her through the vent."

Numbuh Five clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Did ya expect her not tah? Ya know how she gets when she's been hurt." She flicked a few strands of her brown hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah, but it was just the way she was crying. It was so…" the American boy trailed off, the correct word for the river of tears and the amount of Kleenex used in the last three hours escaping him.

"Broken?" Abby added for him, straightening the used mug in her grasp.

The pilot nodded sympathetically, brows furrowing. He was probably mulling over the chaotic events of the night, which brought her to her next question.

"Where did Wally go?" she asked, voice flat. Her mouth tightened into a straight line, lips pulled so tightly against her teeth that they were devoid any color.

"Home," Hoagie replied. "You busted his cheek up pretty badly, Abs."

Abigail shrugged, "I did warn 'im." It was true that she had done just that just a day and something hours before they were invited to the ball. She had told him that if he broke Kuki that she was going to give him the same pain tenfold with her fist. It may not have been stated in so many words, Abigail Lincoln wasn't known for her speech, but her point had been clear.

It was quite apparent that he had completely ignored the threat, it passing through his swollen head without a second thought. Maybe she didn't know her Australian comrade as well as she had originally assumed considering that she had never has taken him for the kind to make idiotic bets. Stupid, yes, but could she see him making a bet to win money for standing to be with Kuki for a whole week with no interruptions? Not in a million years. Then again he had always been a bit selfish with what funds he did come across; living without what the rest of them had could do that to a person. But she had never taken him to be cruel, not intentionally anyway.

Abby raised a hand to her forehead, rubbing at it in an attempt to stop her spinning thoughts. Man, she could seriously use a couple aspirin at that moment and a nice cold drink of Cola. In the morning, she may be able to think straighter. Now it was too late, and she was simply too tired.

"Uh, Abs?"

The dark-skinned female blinked her eyes open at him, her fingers falling to her side. She moved to stand in front of him, shoulders rolling to ease the pain aching in her skull. "Yea?"

"I - Geez, Wally did – No, wait – I – " He was struggling for the right words to form whatever he wanted to tell her. Abby felt a smile tugging at her lips, despite her foul mood towards Wallabee. Hoagie could always make her smile. He annoyed the hell out of her with his puns and jokes but, somehow she found his clumsy, geekiness rather endearing. Cute, she thought briefly before the thought fell back to mirror her early ponderings on Numbuh Three's highly current complex love-life.

With a soft sigh, she patted him on the cheek. "Hold that thought for 'morrow, baby. Abby's got a headache the size of Nigel's rear-end." She passed by him, making her way to the kitchen.

Hoagie watched her go, blue eyes falling shut with a sigh of his own. "Right," he murmured running a hand through his brown hair. Glancing at her fading figure, he turned on his heels before entering his bedroom. The lock clicked quietly into place. It was the last noise of the night that escaped into the hall expect for the soft melody that continued to play on in the room belonging to a heartbroken Japanese girl.


If I were a boy,
I think I could understand,
How it feels to love a girl,
I swear I'd be a better man…


"Wallabee, what are doing home? I thought you were staying at the Uno's tonight." It was his mother's voice. She was standing at the top of the stairs in her robe, blonde hair mussed and emerald-green eyes glazed with drowsiness. The sound of him opening the front door must have woken her up.

In a usual occurrence, he would probably have just scaled the side of his home and snuck in through his own window. He didn't feel like extremes tonight. The blonde boy really didn't want to feel at all to be honest at the moment.

"Uh, I felt like heading back…homesick and all," Wally replied, a hand moving up to press against the tender and bruising area around his eye. He grimaced when it flickered to life with a sharp spark of pain. He pulled off his tie with his other set of fingers, ignoring the questioning gaze of his mother.

"Alright, sweetheart, don't stay up too late," she yawned. Wally waved her away, a muffled "Whateva" passing through his lips. Mrs. Beetles rolled her eyes kindheartedly before making her way back to her bedroom.

The blonde teen waited until her soft, lazy sounding footsteps disappeared under the noise of a shutting door before he stumbled off to the bathroom.

In the fluorescent shimmer of the light bulbs above, the damage to his face looked even harsher. The spot right directly below and surrounding his left eye was shade of red that rivaled the red sweater of his leader. By morning it would be a disgusting and painful looking shade of purple that would be a reminder of his stupidity. Stupidity was what Abby liked to refer to it as, he, on the other hand, liked to think of him as the one wronged.

Ace had lied right to Kuki's face and the cruddy girl couldn't even see it. Before this cruddy week even happened, hadn't he spent time with her out of his own free will? He may have claimed it was just to make her shut up and stop crying and mostly it was but, part of him genuinely liked to spend time with the happy-go-lucky girl. His massive pride may have stopped him from actually showing what he really felt but, it was still the truth.

She believed Ace over me, he thought miserably leaning against his sink. He let his eyes drop down to his wrist. His gaze settled over the black band, fingers already moving to trace the stitching. Always Ace, he muttered internally. It wasn't like he had actually given her anything to make her believe him anyway. As soon as the bold lie had fallen from the ugly mouth of the pilot, his brain seemed to shut down. His walls built up again, lock and key shutting off the world.

Wally had simply resigned himself to shutting his mouth and believing that Kuki knew him well enough not to believe a word of what Ace was saying. He was beginning to learn that his tongue was constantly digging his grave, slowly but, surely. But in true Wallabee Beetles' fashion, he had bitten it at the wrong time.

The pretty smile on his Kuki's face had cracked in half, happy blush fading.

"Wally? You did – tell me that's not true!" Tears were already sparkling like crystal in her lilac eyes that were always spilling over to much for his liking. His tongue was lead, heavy and unmoving. "Wally, please… he is lying, right? Tell me!"

But why did I have to? He thought as a slow, hot burn began in his belly. You should have already known.

She was always calling him her 'bestest friend' and dragging him into the multi-colored depths of her room but, if she couldn't get the basic fact that he didn't hurt his friends intentionally, especially her, then maybe they were not as close as the oriental girl liked to think.

As Wally liked to think.

He dragged a hand through his blonde hair, scowling into the mirror as images from the "almost" kiss floated on the edges of his brain.

His face throbbed along with a new ache in his chest.


I can't be held responsible,
This is all so new to me,
Just when I think I'm invincible,
You come and happen to me…


"Oh, it was just a simple bet to see if he could survive a week of alone time with you. And get paid for it, what in the heck is wrong with you, dude?!" Hoagie bellowed into his cell phone, voice an angry half-whisper.

There was a soft chuckling on the other side of the line. "It was a simple little white lie."

"Little isn't the right word, man," Numbuh Two replied, a scowl etching onto his attractive features. "You know that Kuki believes just about everything it is told to her!" He was yelling so much that he was starting to wheeze a little.

"Exactly," Ace replied calmly. "It's all part of the plan."

Hoagie ground his teeth. "And I'm not helping anymore. I don't like to see my friends hurt."

"Yes, that was an interesting punch your friend Abby threw."

"Don't talk about her," Hoagie snapped, pulling back the sheets of his cockpit of a bed. "And you know what I mean, dude. Did you see Kuki's face?"

"Like I said," Ace repeated, his accent quilting every word. "It's all part of my plan."


A/N: It is quite short compared to its predecessor but, none of the less, I did enjoy writing it. And it is up a heck of a lot faster too.

If you are confused, it basically goes like this: Ace lied to Kuki about the dynamics of the bet, Wally swallowed his tongue and Abby tried to kill him like she threatened and Hoagie is a confused follower in all of this.

All will be revealed about the devious plan of Ace in later chapters, along with a lovely flashback from poor Kook's point of view.

I kind of want to punch Ace at the moment.

Wally is the hardest character to write. Honestly, he is. I swear I fail at him.

Ja ne!

-Lullaby :)


KND © Mr. Warburton
"Invincible" Lyrics © Crossfade
"If I Were A Boy" Lyrics © Beyonce