AN: This was written for Gracie on my LJ with a prompt of "J is for jewel theft." I hope you enjoy it. I don't own DC/MK. Thanks for reading!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Having friends over to play was an essential part of growing up, and Nakamori Aoko was no exception. Hence, the invitations extended to several of the other little girls in her class to come over to her house and play for a while one Sunday afternoon.

They played many of the games that little girls will play, as well as some that many little girls do not play (Aoko quietly hoped that her father would not get too upset about the state of the garden and the dirt on the floor), and now they were sitting on the floor in the living room playing a board game.

Aoko was still a bit leery, though. When she had mentioned this afternoon play date to Kaito, he had gotten that look about him. She knew that look. It rarely boded anything good for her. Even in the short time she had known him, she had seen that look quite a few times. It meant that he was planning something.

But he hadnt shown up to make trouble for her yet. So either he had decided to not screw things up for her (unlikely), or he just hadnt shown up to do it yet (very likely).

After a few rounds of things like Sorry and a few card games, they found the Pretty Pretty Princess box on the shelf in the closet. Being at an age when becoming a princess was still a very valid dream, they opted to play it immediately.

But upon opening the box, they made a rather startling discovery. Namely, all the rings and necklaces and pieces of jewelry that were supposed to be part of the game were missing.

Aoko was confused. The jewelry pieces had all been there the last time she had played this game. She remembered how silly her father had looked in the crown (he was a good dad). So where in the world had they gone?

Shrugging it off, they found another game to play.

It wasnt until the next day that Aoko got her answer. She walked to school with Kaito, as usual, but said nothing about the odd disappearance of the jewelry from the board game. Kaito, for his part, was acting much his normal self. In other words, teasing her mercilessly about anything and everything he could think of. And she snapped back.

Morning ritual and all.

At school, she slipped her shoes off to put them away in her locker. It was there that she got a big surprise. Either her locker had decided to rob a vending machine, or someone else had been in there.

For sitting in the locker, laid out on top of her school shoes in a surprisingly tasteful display, were all the colored jewelry pieces from her game. The earrings were taped to the sides of the locker, and the crown took pride of place in the very center.

Aoko stared. How in the world had that

But then she realized that she didnt really have to ask. She knew.

Especially when Kaito peered over her shoulder and made a comment about the prettiest princess at the party, and Aoko grabbed one of her school shoes and proceeded to commit attempted murder with it.