Enjoy!
Long, pale, slender fingers wove their way through a mass of auburn, braiding against the scalp attached and forming a precise cornrow. The twelve-year-old responsible giggled, lying on an airplane-shaped bed with her fuzzy slipper-clad feet kicking back and forth. "Numbuh Two, I told you your hair grew long enough to be braided!"
Hoagie shifted in his position on the floor, not removing his azure eyes from the classic, old-fashioned, black-and-white cartoon playing on the television – though he raised a chubby hand to feel the braid. Firmly, he declared, "That's cheating, Numbuh Three!"
"Ooh, I didn't know it was a contest! Do I get a prize when I win, Numbuh Two?" Kuki's fingers paused their patterned movement, resting comfortably in the boy's mane as she bent over – head tilted, lengthy obsidian locks falling over her shoulder – to look at him eagerly, hopefully, with a smile alight on her Oriental features.
"You know what I mean," Hoagie chuckled, glancing at her and then at the TV. "You're braiding it against my skull – which hurts, by the way – you could do that no matter how short my hair is!"
Kuki let out a frustrated sound, the high-pitched scoff erupting from her throat, accompanied by an eye-roll. Dismantling the plait and proceeding to ruffle his hair absently, she commented, cheerful, willing determination coating her tone, "When I do it over, you'll have the prettiest braids that have ever graced anyone's head in the history of braids, Numbuh Two!" Patting the top of his head, she quickly began to assemble another pigtail in the shaggy tresses.
Tilting his head back to face the girl, he pointed out, "Ah, Numbuh Three, you forget that I am always right!" Taking the furrow of her thin eyebrows and the tilt of her head as a prompt to elaborate, he continued, "Seeing as I said that my hair, while a work of art, is not long enough to be braided like a girl's -" he crinkled his nose in a way that made Kuki wonder if she should be offended, "- it cannot be."
Teasingly, the medical officer of Sector V reached over, pinched the bridge of his yellow-tinted optics, pulling the goggles back and releasing to produce a gentle snap on his face; her way of getting some of the extra air out of Hoagie's big head (or trying to).
Incessantly stretching the vowel in a high-pitched, sing-song voice that was part the musical chime of bells, part innocence, and all Kuki, she stated, "We'll seeeeeee!" I wonder if he'll look like Lizzie when I'm finished? Now grinning, the very tip of her tongue poked out from between her teeth as she continued her work; her dream job quickly switched from doctor to hair stylist.
Author's Note: a little ficlet I'm not quite proud of (*kicks Hoagie*). I felt like writing this, though, because I was randomly struck with the idea that one of Kuki's many quirks was a fondness of braiding hair, and, well, I find it adorable when a guy stubbornly neglects to get a haircut. XD let me know what you think!
*pokes* green is a great color, you know *glances at review button* I mean, why else would Kuki wear it all the time?