CREAM MEETS KIKURI!

Cream was bored and lonely. Amy was chasing Sonic, Tails was out on a date with Cosmo, and Bokkun was hiding from her mother. Even Cheese was out, vising Chocula for the day in the chao garden. She supposed she could go fishing with Big, but even her brain started hurting after awhile, listening to his long, rambling stories that went nowhere.

Cream decided to go to the park. Maybe there was somebody there that would play with her.

When Cream got to the play area, she saw only one other person. It looked like a little human girl about her age. She was sitting on a swing.

"Hi!" Cream cried. "I'm Cream! What's your name?"

The girl turned to her. She had big dark purple eyes. "What?" she asked.

"I said, I'm Cream," Cream repeated. "What's your name?"

"Kikuri," the other girl said. "Why? Do you want something from me?"

"I was just being polite," Cream said. "Do you like to swing?"

"Sometimes," Kikuri said.

"Me too!" Cream said. She started swinging.

Kikuri started swinging too. Then she tried to swing sideways, and hit Cream. But Cream stopped just then. Her left shoe had come loose. Kikuri went flying right off of her swing and hit the ground with a thud.

"Oh no!" Cream cried, jumping off of her swing. She hurried to the other girl. "Are you okay, Kikuri?"

"I'm fine," Kikuri said. To herself, she added, "I thought she was stupid, but she saw what I was trying to do, and outsmarted me! I'll have to try something more clever!"

"Wow, you sure have pretty eyes!" Cream said. "Mine are just ordinary!"

"Let me borrow them then!" Kikuri said, reaching for Cream's face. But Cream had already turned away. Kikuri's fingers raked only empty air.

"Daisies!" Cream cried. "I just love daisies! Don't you love daisies, Kikuri?" She started picking them. Kikuri stared, wondering what she was going to do with them. Cream made a crown of them, and placed the crown on Kikuri's head.

"There!" Cream said. "You look like a princess now!" She turned away. "Oo! Dandelions!"

Kikuri started to pounce on Cream, just as the little bunny blew on a dandelion. The fuzz got in Kikuri's nose. "Watchoo! Atchoo!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Cream cried. "I didn't know you were allergic!" She handed the other girl a handkerchief.

"HOOONNNNKK!" Kikuri blew her nose.

"Um…you keep it," Cream said.

"Okay," Kikuri said to herself. "She's on to me! I'll have to wait until she's not paying attention!"

"Let's go down the slide, Kikuri!" Cream cried.

Kikuri looked at the slide. It was over ten feet high, and was closed in. She could kill the little bunny in there, and no one would know until they tried to use the slide. "Perfect!" she whispered.

Cream slid down the slide. "Weeeee!"

Kikuri followed, hoping to kick Cream in the head. But Cream had already come out, and started up the ladder again.

"Where'd she go?" Kikuri wondered, sitting at the bottom of the slide.

Pow! Cream landed on her.

"Oh!" Cream cried, helping her up. "Oh my goodness! Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay, Kikuri? Should I call your mommy?"

"She's trying to kill me!" Kikuri thought, rubbing her head. "It's her or me!"

"Maybe we should just sit for awhile," Cream said, kicking herself for hurting a new friend. She helped Kikuri over to a bench. "Isn't this a nice park?" she asked. "I just love it here! Of course, I usually come with my chao friend, Cheese! Cheese is the best friend ever! Well, he doesn't like Bokkun, but then, most people don't, which is really sad, because he tries so hard to be liked, and…"

As Cream droned on and on, Kikuri could feel her brain getting dumber. "She's trying to hypnotize me now!" She thought. She reached into her kimono and pulled out a tiny dagger. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at nothing in hopes that Cream would look away.

"Oh wow!" Cream cried, jumping up and just missing a swipe by the dagger. It flew out of Kikuri's fingers and landed with a splash in the lake.

"Snapdragons!" Cream said. "Wow, Kikuri, you sure have good eyes!"

"My knife!" Kikuri sobbed. "Ai gave it to me! You're pay for that, little bunny rabbit!"

Cream stuck a snapdragon in her hair. "Do you want one?" she asked Kikuri. "Or are you allergic to these too? It must be sad, not being able to smell flowers."

"She's mocking me now!" Kikuri thought furiously. She noticed a wooden plank that went out into the lake about a hundred feet. It was for fishing. Just the place to drown someone. "Did you ever walk to the very end and jump in the water?" she asked.

"I'm not really that good a swimmer," Cream said.

"Perfect!" Kikuri thought. Out loud, she said, "you don't have to jump in. I'll bet the scenery's great from there!"

"You're right!" Cream said. "Let's go!"

Kikuri let Cream go first. When they got to the end of the wooden beam, she pointed in the water. "What's that down there, Cream?"
"Where?" Cream asked, looking where she had pointed.

Kikuri took a couple of steps back to get a running start, then came at Cream, hands stretched out to push her in the lake.

"A worm!" Cream noticed, skipping over to pick it up. "Big'll like this!"

Splash!

"If you wanted to swim, you should have brought a bathing suit, Kikuri!" Cream said. She tried to help her out of the lake. Kikuri pulled her in.

Splash!

"Oops!" Cream said, giggling. "That happened to me the other day!"

"I thought you said you couldn't swim!" Kikuri complained.

"Oh no," Cream told her, "I said I wasn't very good at it. Now, my friend Cosmo is a great swimmer!"

Kikuri muttered curses under her breath. Then she splashed Cream.

"Oh! You want a splashing fight, huh?" Cream said playfully. She splashed Kikuri back. Angry, Kikuri started splashing like crazy. Cream, thinking she was playing, retaliated. But Cream forgot her own strength, and Kikuri soon had water up her nose and started choking.

"Oh no!" Cream cried, patting Kikuri on the back. "Are you okay?" She helped her back onto the beam. When she tried to climb back up herself, Kikuri tried to dunk her head underwater. She slipped and fell back in.

Splash!

"Boy, you sure do love water!" Cream said, helping Kikuri back onto the beam again. "It's been great fun, but I really should be going home for lunch! I'll see you again soon, I hope!"

"You won't be seeing anything again!" Kikuri thought, following Cream off the beam. Once back on dry land, Kikuri excused herself, saying that she also had to go home. She snuck away into the bushes, planning to waylay Cream.

Cream skipped merrily through the woods, not noticing Kikuri hiding behind a tree, taking off the belt from her kimono. She snuck up on the little bunny, planning to strangle her. Just then, a big wind picked up. Untied, Kikuri's outer kimono blew off of her and started tumbling through the woods. She chased after it. Cream, noticing only the wind, held her ears down and kept on going.

Kikuri found her outer kimono lying in the midst of some funny-looking plants. She didn't pay any attention to them though. She tied on her outer kimono, then started towards Cream again. Then her arm itched. She scratched it. Now her neck itched. What was going on here?

"Oh, my," she suddenly heard Cream say. "Maybe I should have warned Kikuri about all the poison ivy around here!"

Poison ivy?!? And suddenly, Kikuri itched everywhere!

"That's it!" she sobbed. "I can't stand it anymore!" Poof! In a cloud of dust and smoke and brimstone, she returned to the underworld.

"How was soul hunting on Mobius?" Hell Girl asked her.

Not wanting to admit she'd been beaten by a harmless little bunny rabbit, Kikuri sobbed, "It was awful, Ai! A horrible monster, with huge ear-horns! It grabbed the knife you gave me, and kept throwing me in the lake and laughing at me!" She threw her arms around Hell Girl and cried her eyes out.

"Aww! Don't worry, Kikuri!" Ai assured her. "I'm sure you'll do just fine next time!" She scratched her arm. "Why am I suddenly itchy?"

"How was your day, dear?" Vanilla asked her daughter as Cream came in.

"Great, Mom!" Cream said. "I made a new friend! She loves swimming as much as Cosmo does. But the poor thing has flower allergies!"

"Well, as long as you had a good time, dear!" Vanilla said, hugging her daughter.

"I sure did!" Cream said.

The End!