I do not own the Kids next door. :(

Authors note- Kuki, Wally and the whole gang is sixteen in this story.

And when the words are like this it means its someones thoughts.

Reviews are welcomed.

Ch.1 The cracked smile

POV: Wally

Here I stand in the pouring rain saying good bye to the two most important people of my life. I feel my body giving out. I fall to my knees and start to cry my eyes out. The pain inside me doesn't leave or ease up at all; it just gets more intense with every tear drop that falls. The ache in my heart is starting to burn. Even the cold rain can't put the flames out. I can't move even though I want to. I want to run away from this nightmare that's all too real. This reality is too cruel and unfair. Neither of them deserved to die in that accident, while, I came out of it without even a broken bone. Just a few scratches and a little cut on my head that needed stitches.

My whole boy is shouting out in rejection to this cold reality. I hugged myself I didn't want to let go afraid that I would fall apart. I felt a sob coming on and I didn't stop it. I lay there on the ice cold grass and sob. I cried out with every fiber in my being.

"Why?! I should have died! Not you two!" I can't say anymore. I give into my exhaustion and lay there silently crying. Hoping that my cries can reach them wherever they are. I closed my eyes and passed out.

Early the next morning-

I wake up to see that someone had brought me back to the tree house and put me to bed. I lean up and rake my hand through my messy hair. Then everything that happened yesterday came over flowing into my mind.

My dad crying over both their caskets. The funeral and how I had to stand there alone and watch them both be put into the cold unforgiving ground. My dad could not watch his only love and second son be buried. Everything else is a haze. I remember the pain that I was feeling and the pouring rain that was beating down on me. I remember shouting something but I don't recall what. Then everything goes blank after that.

Except I heard someone softly crying and saying my name over and over again. It sounded a lot like Kuki but it was probably just a dream.

I'm brought out of my thoughts by the sound of my door opening. I look up to see Kuki picking out from behind my door.

"Numbuh four...are you okay?", she asked in a sad voice. I saw her eyes were red and swollen from crying. I tried to fake a smile but it just made it harder to swallow my tears. I did not want to seem weak in front of her.

I tried my best to fake a smile and said,"Yeah. I'm fine Kuki."

She walked over to my bed and just stood there looking at me with this sad look on her face. She reached over and touched my cheek. She brought her hand up as if to show me something. I found on her hand, my tears.

"Wally. You're a bad liar," she told me. She smiled at me but it wasn't her smile. It was an incredibly sad and worried smile. I realized that she wasn't smiling for herself but she was smiling for me. I can't even imagine what kind of pain she's in watching me break down like that but there she stands smiling at me.

I lowered my gaze from hers and asked her something I was deathly afraid to ask.

"Kuki. Why are you smiling?" There was a silence between us. Like she was deciding on what she should say to me.

"I'm smiling for you, Wally", she told me in a shy voice. I look up at her with an aching heart. Just as I thought, she was smiling that same smile, the smile that held no happiness or joy. Again, I dropped my gaze. All at once I felt anger and sadness run through my body. Sad for the people I would never see again, and angry for letting these cruddy tears escape from my eyes, making me look weak.

Again I felt I was about to fall apart. So I hugged my knees to my chest and cried. I cried for all the pain I was causing everyone. For everything that I did wrong, before they died. Everything was coming out through these tears. All my anger, fear and sadness.

"Kuki...." I sobbed. I felt her arms wrap around me. I could feel warmth, something I felt for at least week now. She rubbed my back and held me while I cried like a cruddy little baby. The tears wouldn't stop; they just kept coming, almost like a waterfall.

"Why? Why didn't I die with them", I sobbed into her green sweater. She tightened her hug around me.

"Why do you ask such a thing", she asked, with sadness in her voice. I didn't know how to answer her. Finally I said the words that have been echoing in my head.

"I don't deserve to live", I whispered under my breath. There was an eerie silence between the two of us. Kuki grabbed my shoulders and gently pushed me away. She sat on my bed looking at me, with tears streaming down her face. The next thing I felt was a stinging feeling on my cheek. It took me by surprise so much that I didn't realize Kuki had slapped until she brought her hand back a second time, to slap me again.

I caught her wrist and shouted,"What the hell was that for?!"

Kuki took her wrist back and started punching my chest with all her strength. I didn't stop her I just took her blows with a straight face. Finally her punches stopped and she started to sob. Her cries made her whole body shake. Before I could say anything she sat up and glared at me.

"Wally. Why do you think I'm so upset", she yelled. Her sadness was replaced by anger. She tried to push me away, but all her energy was already used up from crying. I grabbed her hands and held them in mine. At that moment I realized how much I had grown since we were ten.

She looked so much smaller and fragile then she use to. I finally found my voice and asked her.

"Why are you so upset", I whispered. More tears started streaming down her face. She tried to get her hands out of mine but when she realized it was a wasted effort, she gave up and put her forehead against my chest.

"You idiot. If you have died in that accident along with your mom and little brother, my....my world would have no meaning", she whispered. Her tears were starting to seep through my orange t-shirt but I didn't care. All I cared about was stopping her tears.

Very slowly I moved my hands away from hers and hugged her gently against me. Her whole body was still shaking but it seemed to slow her tears. She looked up at me with sadness in her eyes; she put her head back against my chest. For a few minutes nothing was said between us. All that was heard was Kuki's shaky breathing. She took a deep sigh and hugged me back, tightly.

"Wally. Do you have any idea how scared I was, when I heard you got into an accident?" Her voice was so small and scared sounding, that I held her even more tightly, as if to calm her fears. She raised her eyes to look at me.

She reached up and touched my stitches on above my left eye. It stung a little and I winced at the pain. Her face showed nothing but concern for me.

"Does it hurt?", she asked me.

"Yeah. A little but I'm okay" I tried to smile at her but I just couldn't bring myself to. She hugged me tightly and smiled at me. All our tears were gone for now.

Kuki sat on my bed next to me talking about so many random things when a question popped into my head. She was in the middle of a sentence when I interrupted her.

"Kuki."

She looked over at me with a happy smile on her face.

'Wow shes cute when she smiles like that'. I shook my head andand rubbed the back of my neck nervously. 'Stop thinking that Wally! Remember your Question.'

"What is it Wally? Are you sick, your face is all red." Kuki reached for my forehead to feel if it was hot but I gently grabbed her wrist.

"I'm fine Kuki. I'm not sick, I just have a question." I let go her wrist and she smiled.

"Ask away numbuh four", she chimed.

"Well....is it possible for someone to forget how to smile?" I looked at her and she looked at me for the longest time. Finally she grabbed my hand and smiled.

"I guess it is possible. But if you're saying you forget how, then I guess, I'll just have to teach you."

I know this chapter was a bit boring but the next few chapters should be interesting. And thank you for reading my story. :)

This it for now. Signing out