Pretty Pink Ribbon

Disclaimer: Hmm.

I was thinking of doing a baby fic, but somehow it evolved into this- my second little TK story. Kim is around 5 years old and Tommy is 6, slightly older than her. AU, obviously.

"Why are you wearing a swimming suit?"

Kim blinked and stopped skipping, the multicolored jump rope lay limply across the ground. She turned around and saw a boy –older and taller than her- standing a few feet away. Her nose scrunched up. "Did your mom add a bit too much cleaning powder when she washed your clothes?"

His frown made her fidget a bit but she held her ground. Dad was inside and they had always told her that she was a good screamer. There's also the big scary man with gun standing in front of the bank. If that boy dared to do anything funny…

And she had her jump rope anyway; her Christmas present from Auntie Molly. In this movie she saw once, the heroine also had a rope with her and the bad people always ended up weeping.

She would be fine.

Kim stood a bit straighter.

"This is my karate gi." the boy answered, pointing at his white-to-toe uniform. "Why are you wearing a swimming suit? The day's hot today though."

"This is not a swimming suit," Kim protested, stomping at her foot. "It's a leotard!" And not just any leotard. It was pink with golden glitters all over it as though Tinkerbell had waved her magic wand. Her mom had bought her a matching pink hair ribbon. It was big and precious and pretty that Kim had put it in her 'treasure chest' so that the Dragon could protect it.

"Leopard?"

"Leotard! I am a gymnast." She declared with pride.

"Okay." He strolled closer towards her. The parking lot was nearly deserted although in the freeway cars were speeding back and forth. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly someone clicked on a switch in her head and she remembered what her parents had always told her. Kim looked at the taller boy cautiously and turned around, back facing him.

"I'm talking to you."

Kim crossed her small arms across her chest, shifting her weight from one foot to another.

"Hello, anybody home?"

Kim wanted to whistle but realized that she couldn't. She would ask her dad to teach her make that wonderful sound someday.

So she hummed instead.

"Fine," she heard him say at last. Then quiet settled in again and Kim picked up her jump rope while continuing humming the song of the Care Bears intro. Hmm-mmm-mmm...

"Hey! Watch out!"

Kim dropped her rope and spun around, alarmed. The boy was still standing on his same spot. He was still there!

He was holding his face, grimacing and panic seized her. Did she hurt him? Did she whip him with her rope? Would he start crying like the baddies?

"I, I'm sorry," she apologized meekly. "I thought you left."

"Oh, so you can talk after all." He scoffed, bringing his hand down from his face and Kim paid closer attention – no red marks or cuts. She sighed in relief.

"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." her eyes narrowed and eyed him suspiciously. "And you said you did karate. I saw people kick and punch and hurt each other in the sports center once."

"That's not true," the boy retorted. "Sensei Mark says that we must not hurt others. Karate will make me fit and healthy and when I am older I will be able to protect other people."

"You don't even have a belt…" Kim trailed off.

Grinning, the boy ran to his bag pack and came back with a neatly folded red belt. He tied it around his waist carefully. "I overheard Sensei Mark tell Dad that I passed the test with flying colors. I don't know what it means, but I think it's something good cos Dad bought us pizza for lunch."

"Sounds fun."

"It is!"

"Your hair is short," Kim pointed out, still unconvinced. "Most karate boys have long hair, longer than mine sometimes."

"I'm growing my hair out. I will have long hair." He said, determined.

Kim stared at him with dubious eyes as his grin changed from kind to playful. "I saw little girls wearing colorful suits like yours before. All they did was tumbling and jumping around."

Kim pouted. "We're not just tumbling and jumping! I bet you can't do this." She had started to extend her legs when she realized where they were. She looked down at the cement ground with distaste. It was a brand new leotard.

"Can't do what?" He was laughing and the sight was enough to set her off. Mom could wash it later. Mom always knew what to do. Now she had something to take care of first!

Kimberly extended her legs to both sides of her torso and went on until she did a perfect right split. Legs straight, toes pointed, chest up. Like Coach Knight loved to say after she managed to finish her routine well - wonderful!

"Can't do this." Kim looked up at him smugly and stuck her tongue out. The sky was mildly gray so that the cement ground didn't burn her skin like she had feared. She held the pose for a few more seconds, feeling more superior than ever. Then she hurriedly picked herself up and dusted herself. It was a move she'd mastered pretty fast. Coach Knight was very proud of her today and she had-

The boy was doing a center split.

Kim felt her mouth hang open, surprised. No way! She huffed, quickly thinking of some other moves; ones that this karate boy shouldn't be able to do. She watched him get back on his feet, solemnly brushing the dirt off his white pants. He threw her a satisfied smile and Kim noticed for the first time that he had such long eye-lashes. Her pout deepened.

She lifted her arms over her head and started bending backwards. She held her breath until her hands were safely planted on the ground. She usually could do back walkover with eyes closed but the boy was intimidating her. Boys suck!

Kim threw up one of her legs, spreading them as far as she could before her other leg followed suit. She finished the routine with both arms up.

"That's neat, but wait till you see this."

He let out a loud 'ki-yai' that made her jump and began to do a set of combination of kicks and punches before twirling around and kicking his right leg up, aiming her head. Kim shrieked and closed her eyes tightly, both hands coming up to cover her face.

She was waiting for the blow, but nothing came.

Then she heard a chuckle.

"That's a roundhouse kick."

She peeked out from between her fingers and saw that he had put down his dangerous leg. And he said that he wouldn't hurt people!

"Are you crazy? If you hit me, then you would…" her voice was wavering; her heart still beating hard inside her chest- thump, thump, thump. "Then you would go to jail!"

"Don't be silly, I didn't even touch you." He replied back.

"Let's do a competition," Kim suggested stubbornly. "Can you do a handstand?"

"Of course."

"Whoever can stay upside-down the longest wins."

"Fine."

He took his place in front of her and for a moment they're glaring at each other. Dark chocolate versus soft doe eyes.

"I will count to 3 and then we start," he nodded his head and Kim took a deep breath. There's no way she would let the pretty boy win. "One, two… three!"

Kim bent forward, left leg behind the other. As soon as her hands touched the ground, she kicked her legs up until both legs met overhead. Coach had said that she had to be as straight as possible.

She kept her body tight. Rigid as a board. Stiff as a tree.

It seemed like a minute had passed when she felt her arms grow tired. Beads of sweat began to collect on her forehead and her leotard seemed to press tighter against her back, smothering her.

No! She had to win this! She had to show the pretty boy that she was better.

Her legs swayed a bit and she fought to regain her balance. Her shoulders were burning and she could see dark dots swimming in front of her eyes.

No! She must not-

She finally dropped to her knees.

Kim blinked a few times to shoo the dots away, feeling terribly thirsty all of a sudden.

"You okay?"

Still a bit dizzy, Kim glanced up and saw that the boy was now kneeling next to her. Her face fell.

"You won," she mumbled, disappointed. "You could do longer handstand than me."

He shrugged and dug into his bag pack, retrieving a small water bottle. "Do you want to drink? Your face is red."

Kim gratefully accepted the water and after taking several sips she felt significantly better.

"I have to be strong so I can help people." he said before taking a seat beside her. "You are great too, though! When you moved, it was graceful and elegant. You reminded me of this one bird. It was pinkish white and had a long neck. It was beautiful."

Kim shuffled her feet, smiling shyly.

"So…you can break bricks with your hand?" She asked in a more amiable tone, feeling that the boy was alright after all.

"Not yet, but I will be," his face lightened up when he spoke. "I want to be like Bruce Lee."

Kim wanted to ask him who Bruce-ley was but decided that she wanted to appear smart. She hated that he was not only able to do splits, he'd also beat her. And he had pretty long eye-lashes!

"Are we ready to go?"

At the familiar sound, Kim quickly twirled around. Ken Hart was smiling at the two kids and Kim immediately scrambled to her feet but not before taking her jump rope. She slipped her hand into her father's and pulled him away almost instantly. "Finally! Come on Dad, or we'll miss Duffy!"

She was halfway dragging her father back to their car when he asked, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to your friend?"

"Oh!" Dropping his hand, Kim trotted back to the taller boy. Once there, she grinned widely, hands swinging idly on her sides. "I have to go home, but it was fun meeting you," she tip-toed and delivered a quick peck on his cheek before running back to her father. "Bubye!"

He watched in awe as the white sedan pulled out of the parking lot. The girl in pink was waving briskly at him from the window.

"Who's your friend?"

Tommy turned around and found his parents. His mother was looking at him like she had caught him with his hands in a jar of candy. He felt his face go red, realizing what they must have seen.

"Dad, what are those birds in that painting in your study room?"

"Cranes."

Before he could question his son some more, his wife called out, "It looks like it's going to rain soon, let's hit the street before the first drop hits."

Tommy quickly gathered up his things and as he climbed into the backseat, he silently hoped that he had remembered to ask her name.

Maybe one day they'd meet again.

:) like it? hate it?