Serenay Moon
Special XXXXI: Silent Threat 1: The Shopkeeper
©2003 Kitty Ocean
Edited by: Chloé aka Uumie

 

Carefully she placed the boxes on top of another. Standing on her toes, she tried to move them further by using the tips of her fingers. "Just a little... bit... more... WACK!" All of a sudden it rained brown carton boxes and covered the poor girl.

But, the girl did not cry. No, far from crying. First she growled, but then she started yelling. "Darn stupid boxes!!" She cursed. "Isn't it bad enough I have to work all by myself!?" But, she already knew why she had to work alone. It was her own suggestion.

After all, she said: 'You bring in the money, then I'll do the rest.'

Then she crawled from underneath the boxes. The girl fanned her wild brown hair from her face, and placed her hands in her hips. "Maybe I should ask Hades to help me out a bit..." She pondered.

"Oh my gosh..." She then heard and spun around. "So it IS true! You're really going to do it?!"

The girl looked at the young man. He was older than last time she saw him, but not as old as his other form. His dark blue hair and purple eyes made sure she recognised him... even though she'd rather not see him.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Her own eyes were a shade between red and pink. "What are you doing here Ryu?" She snarled and picked up a box.

Ryu walked in, almost tripped over something unidentifiable, and looked around. "I heard some rumours about you." He mumbled. "Your uncle said you were going to open a shop!"

"Yeah, so?" She opened a box and took some stuff from it, placing it on a shelf.

"We're DEAD Courage!" Ryu exclaimed, and widened his arms; almost knocking something from the counter.

"Hey, you break it, you buy it!" Courage snapped at him. She then showed Ryu some t-shirts. "Well, what do you think?"

"I came back from the underworld, and all I got was this T-shirt..." Ryu read. "I still can't believe you're going to do this. This is the afterlife, we don't need shops!"

"Of course we need shops!" Courage said. "Everybody needs shops."

"We don't even have money Courage!" Ryu tried. "If we want something, we think about it, and it's there!"

"Then start thinking about money, because Hades made sure that everything in this shop, cannot be wished for!" Courage smiled. "Unless it's a bootleg. Of course."

"This is not going to work Courage." Ryu sighed. "What is the use of money if you have it, but can't spend it?"

"Look!" Courage hissed at him. "If all you can do is picking at me and complaining about me, then maybe you should leave!" She pointed at the door. "You have no right to haunt me! After all, Zachyboy and the twerps are responsible for your death! Go haunt them!"

"Eh... technically you killed me..." Ryu mentioned.

"Details, details." Courage fanned it away. "Now leave!" And she pushed him outside. "Some people need to work here!"

She slammed the door shut after him. "Who was that?" A voice sounded and a person materialised in the room.

Courage growled at the door. "That? That was the most obnoxious, twerpy, wimpy and what not more loser I've ever known while I was alive!"

"Really?" Hades mumbled. "He seems nice."

"He's not!" Courage yelled. "He's annoying, a loser, a wimp, an ant, a frog and in case you were thinking that, dead people don't fall in love!"

Hades smiled while he walked away. "You think? There were also people who said that opening a shop would be a waste of time..."

Courage sometimes got so annoyed by the God of the Underworld. Sure, he was a nice guy when it came to playing cards, chess, and opening shops, but he was always so wrong. She was the one with the merchant spirit! She was the one who made up all those cool T-shirt texts.

Courage inhaled deeply and decided it was best to focus on her shop for now. She took a list with all the things she had ordered and checked if it was all there.

"Eye of Ocara..." She mumbled and looked in the box. "Check. Statue of Zeus and Hera... check. Orb of Silence- oh that looks nice! Maybe I should keep it for myself...." She went down the list but then stopped. She double-checked the list, and then looked back into the box. "Odd..." She mumbled. "It's not here..." Again she looked, but then shrugged. "Ah, who cares. I'll find it eventually. It couldn't have just flown away. Jewellery doesn't have wings. Not yet at least."

 

Far, far away, a hand released something that clattered on the table. "My gosh!" One exclaimed, looking at the jewellery. "You actually did it!"

"And so easy as well." Another mentioned.

The first one nodded again, looking around the table, seeing the 4 other persons. "Indeed. Let the trade begin..."

 

It was a beautiful day on earth. The year 3714 had just begun, and the January snow had painted the surroundings white. In the cities, life seemed busier than ever, but the small house not too far from it, kept serenity and peace.

Soft laughter was heard on the lake behind the house. The water was frozen, and Zach, Kitt, Mika, Moka and Derak were skating on it.

"Watch out, here I come!" Kitt smiled and skated backwards over the ice.

"It's so cold, too darn cold..." Zach complained and carefully skated over the ice.

Moka helped Mika to skate. "Careful, careful!" Mika said repetitively while holding Moka's hands. "Not so fast!"

Moka smiled. "Come on Mika, you've skated about 2 inches since we got on the ice 2 hours ago. I promise you I won't let you fall!"

"But I know I will fall!" Mika complained. "I told you I needed those pink skates! White ones are just no good!"

"Mika, you know that there weren't pink skates in your size at the moment."

"But Kitty has blue ones! I want pink ones!"

"Mika...."

Kitt skated around with awesome speed. Almost breaking all speed records, she floated over the frozen water. "Move Derak!" She grinned and pushed him forward. "Skating means moving! Mika goes faster than you do!"

But Derak didn't move. He just kept his hands in his pockets. He slid forward for a metre or so, but then stopped sliding. The green haired boy just yawned, and stood still.

Curious Kitt came closer. "Yo, Derak!" She said, and waved her hands for his eyes. But no reaction came. She then took his sunglasses and removed them from his face. "WHAT THE?!" Kitt exclaimed and looked at the guy that was a year older than she was... who was standing on the ice... snoring and asleep!!!

Zach came closer. "Again?" He asked. "I thought he slept last night!"

Moka came closer as well, carefully holding Mika who tried to keep her balance. She kept on saying 'careful, careful', but Moka did not pay attention to it any more. "I told him to go to bed when I turned in. He's just so desperate at finding his gang... I guess he stayed behind the computer all night!"

Silence fell for a second. "What are we going to do with him?" Kitt then asked.

"We can't just let him stand here..." Moka pondered and let go of Mika. Next thing they heard was a >BAM< and someone opening her personal siren.

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"  Mika cried so loud that Zach wondered if her voice would let the ice crack. Moka quickly kneeled at Mika and tried to comfort her; apologising more then once, and promising her pink skates if she would be a big girl and stop crying.

Kitt and Zach had plugged their ears, but it was of no use. In the mean while, Derak slowly woke up blubbery and yawned again. "I thought I put my alarm-clock off..." He blubbered, carefully skated a few passes, then slipped, and slept some more on the ice.

Kitt and Zach sighed while Mika's crying slowly died out. "... and you'll get that pink teddy-bear too! Just please stop crying! I'm sorry! Really am!"

Zach raised his shoulders. "I'm going to bring Derak to bed." He suggested.

"Wimp!" Kitt smiled and poked him. "I know you were looking for an excuse to skip true fun!"

Zach shrugged; he knew Kitt used irony and sarcasm quite often. He was used to it. "Well, you know me, I'm just boring." He helped Derak up. "C'mon big boy, time to nap!"

Balancing on the edge of sleep and awake, Derak followed Zach inside. All of a sudden Zach heard something bleeping in his pocket. He stopped for a moment and took a cell-phone from his pocket. His mother had encouraged him to take one. That way she could send him messages all the time! After all, her little boy was moving out!

"Please prepare dinner... you're an angel..." Zach read and turned around, and saw Kitt waving with a cell-phone in her hands.  Zach sighed and smiled. Of course he would take care of dinner!! "The best dinner that little devil ever tasted..."

 

After putting Derak to bed (and closing the door because of heavy snoring), Zach walked downstairs. He decided to prepare the table first.

Zach chose a nice plaid with snowflakes that Kitt found at the mall. Then he took the special napkins Mika had shaped into little birds. She insisted on pink napkins, but Kitt told her that pink napkins were not foldable. And, of course, Mika believed it.

Then Zach put nice plates and table-wear on the table. A few candles, a little music...

After all that Zach went to the kitchen and picked something nice to drink. Some juice for Derak and Kitt, and some soda for Mika and Moka. He poured them into nice glasses and brought them to the table.

Good. The table was ready. Zach went to the window and looked outside. Kitt and Moka were teaching Mika how to skate, and with 2 people she was less scared. But, Zach wasn't very fond of the snow. It was too cold for him. He liked the sun and the heat; maybe it was because his element was fire, and Kitt's water.

Sometimes he even wondered if things would work out between him and Kitt. After all, she was water and he was fire. But, that thought was easily pushed away. Their elements wouldn't matter. All that matter would be how much he loved her and how much she loved him. Nothing would ever come between that.

So, Zach turned around and looked at the kitchen. Everything was ready, except for dinner. He wondered what he should prepare. It had to be special; it had to be magnificent! It would have to make everybody go 'ooh' and 'aah'!

The boy stretched himself and was ready to start the battle called dinner. He took a few trays, and then picked up the phone. He dialled a few numbers.

"Hi, Asian Chow Meng?" He started. "I'd like to order Chinese for 5."


To be continued...

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