Starlit Night

It was a cold and lonesome night back at the Supreme Leader office of the Moon Base. Numbuh 274, or Chad Dickinson, was by himself, pondering about his time with the Kids Next Door as he finished up filling out his last pile of paperwork for the week. In all honesty, he didn't know what he was signing up for when he decided to take the place of Numbuh 100. In his head, he'd imagined going on classified missions, battling adult tyranny where ever it reared its ugly head, and leading the Kids Next Door to a never-ending string of victories against their enemies.

...Unfortunately, the only thing he'd remember doing for the past couple of years was going through mountains of paperwork, and listening to operatives complain about just about everything. The last time he checked, he was the "Supreme Leader", not a psychologist! But he had to do what he had to do, and Chad was no fool to the responsibilities he held. If he were to just vanish over night, there was no telling how the Kids Next Door would cope, let alone keep itself together.

But that was just the thing... he was almost going to literally vanish over night. It was only a month till his thirteenth birthday, and that would technically mean he would be "decommissioned", well, that's what everyone else would think. Fortunately for him, he'd been notified that he was already officially assigned to the Teens Next Door, and, well... another intergalactic organization. Despite having attained this privilege, Global Command had formulated a plan that would undoubtedly tarnish the well-reputed operatives image forever. Over the last couple of months, with the help of spies such as Numbuh 362, they had discovered that the Teen Ninjas were formulating a plot that would detach the Moon Base from it's home celestial body and send it straight into the sun. Now in order to help stop this from happening, and to deter any similar attacks from occurring in the future, Global Command had decided that they would make Chad "send" the Moon Base to the Sun himself. Of course they wouldn't really condemn the Moon Base to its doom, that would just be straight stupid. Instead, every event that happened over the duration of this plan would be carefully orchestrated and calculated to prevent such error from happening. Now it gets a hell of a lot more complicated than that, but Chad didn't feel like thinking about the nearly five hundred paged document outlining what was known only as "Operation: E.N.D"

He couldn't even begin enjoying the holidays when all of this weighed heavily on his mind. Chad absolutely hated the fact that he would be viewed as turning his back on the organization he devoted nearly his entire life too, but he was doing what must be done. Of course, every great leader needs an equally great successor, and he was going to leave his position to someone more than capable of becoming-

...Knock Knock...

Chad's thoughts were broken by the sound of someone at his door. And here he thought he was only one on the Moon Base. He glimpsed at his monitor that showed a familiar blonde girl standing outside his office.

Numbuh 362, why am I not surprised? He said to himself. She too was a workaholic, perhaps even a little more so than him. He pushed a button that opened the door to his office, allowing Rachel to swiftly come into the room.

"Thought you might be here." Rachel smiled a bit, standing in front his desk.

He grunted, typing away busily at his computer, "What do you want Numbuh 362?"

Her cute smile dimmed down into an angry frown. "Well sorry you jerk, no need to have a harsh tone with me."

An awkward silence fell between the two, before Chad spoke again, this time in a much softer voice. "Really Numbuh 362, why are you here?"

"I just came to see if anyone else was still here, you know? And please, stop calling me Numbuh 362, it makes me feel like I'm still on duty."

"Alright Rachel." Chad rolled his eyes.

The blonde girl got up, slowly leaning her body against his desk and practically sitting on it. "So... still working on paperwork I see?" Chad nodded, glancing at her a few times. Despite the bitter love hate relationship they had, he had to admit she was very attractive. Even though he didn't show it, he did harbor some feelings for Rachel, but why should he try to make her his? First off, they were only kids, and second off, him and her together would produce nothing but heartache and misery for the girl. He didn't want her to suffer because of his actions, in fact, he didn't want anyone to share his burden.

"Why don't you go home Rachel? It's Christmas Eve, shouldn't you be at home or something?"

Rachel sighed, "I would, but my parents are at work again... ughh, sometimes I just wish they would be home, just once."

Chad nodded in understanding, "Wouldn't they at least be home tomorrow on Christmas day though?"

"Yeah." She said back, "I guess it's not all that bad then, especially when compared to your situation."

His mood dimmed down. She had reminded him of the daunting task he was about to act on sometime during the next year. Much to his surprise, he felt a warm hand grip his shoulder, "You sure you want to do this Chad? You don't have to you know..." Rachel's pretty voice echoed in Chad's head, nearly causing him to slump down in his chair. For the time being, any barriers that usually stood between them seemed to be completely broken down.

"I'm sure, and I don't have a choice Rachel... you know that."

He could sense her nod in acknowledgement, ceasing her soft touch on his shoulder and removing her hand; much to his disappointment. He honestly couldn't tell if she was doing it affectionately or to merely comfort him, but either way, he enjoyed it. Chad stood up, walking towards the large window that gave a bird's-eye view of Earth. Around it he could see the the infinite number of stars twinkle in the ever-expanding universe.

"You think the KND will miss me?" Chad asked as he glared outside into space.

"I think they will miss what you were, but not what you would have appeared to become." Rachel responded from behind.

"What do you mean?" He questioned again.

The blonde girl paced towards the window, until both him and her stood side by side, both watching Earth from afar.

"As it stands right now, you are a role model everyone can aspire to, but when you carry out your final task as Supreme Leader, that image will change. You see, once everyone believes that you tried to destroy the Moon Base, and created a conspiracy to keep yourself in power, they will think of you as nothing but a traitor, a painful memory that everyone would wish to forget. Even Numbuh 1 won't ever see you the same."

Now that didn't make him feel any better AT ALL.

"But what they will miss is what you were during your time as Supreme Leader. Look, not everything is doom and gloom, but what you're doing is not an easy path to take is what I'm saying." Rachel scooted next to his body, and stared up into his eyes.

"You're sacrificing everything for everyone, and most people won't even know it..."

Chad knew that what Rachel spoke of was true, and there was virtually nothing he could do about it. But at least he knew he was leaving the KND in good hands, under the care of her. She was a perfect mix of intelligence, reason, compassion, and patience, which is why he choose her as his successor.

"That doesn't matter, as long as the KND is alive and kicking I'd have done my job. Besides, you'll make a better Supreme Leader than I ever will."

Rachel couldn't help but blush at the compliment, and she began to think that perhaps there was a softer side of the boy under all that thick armor. She decided that maybe she could take it a step further.

"And why's that sir?" She said back in a flirtatious voice.

"Don't push it McKenzie."

"You got it sir." And without his foreknowledge, Rachel wrapped her arms around him and instantly planted a kiss on his cheek.

The blonde boy's face turned red uncontrollably, surprised by her uncalled action. He locked his sharp dark blue eyes with her gentle brown ones. She smiled back happily, knowing completely what she had just done.

"Merry Christmas Chad." She beamed at him.

And for just a second, he put all his worries and troubles behind him.

"Merry Christmas Rachel."

Today, the two weren't trying to annoy nor outwit one another. But instead, simply enjoying the close friendship that both of them were too stubborn to admit they had.

Unknown to them, the stars outside emitted an even brighter glow, and if they hadn't been too busy gazing at each other, would've noticed the passing shooting star.

A/N: Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays! I hope you all enjoyed this one shot/Christmas special. I sure did have fun writing it.

As an update, for those of you who are following any of my stories, YES, I am still working on both of them but haven't been able to devote much time to any of them due to finals (which are done thank God) and the holidays. I'm still here just to let you all know!

Anyways, I again hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year!