One

Kuro was walking home after he finished his daily visit to the candy shop. He was exhausted from his day at school. He'd never been good at athletics and the coach made them do 20 bar flips and some pull-ups. "I mean really," He thought. "Isn't that a BIT much?" he sighed and trudged up the hill to his apartment where he lived with his mom and two sisters. He only had a couple friends, which included Connie, Joey, and Erin. They all understood each other and stuck together.

"So you made new friends huh?" Kuro's mom asked.

"Oh ya," Kuro said. "And I know they're keepers because when Joey got hit with someone's flying burrito, Connie went over there and found out who did it. You should have SEEN what she did to those jerks."

"Okay, that's great Kuro! I'm so proud of you. Now can you please start a bath for Yuki? She needs one, but I'm exhausted," she said.

"Yeah sure. No problem mom. Come on Yuki," he said while lifting her up. Yuki was a 5 year old who was the youngest of the family.

"Kuro Kuro!" she yelled excitedly.

"Yeah, Yuki?"

"Can you put the bubbly in?" The whole family knew what that meant. She wanted a bubble bath.

"Sorry Yuki, we haven't bought it since you dumped that whole bottle into the tub. We'll get it soon, so for now, do your big brother a favor and take a normal bath." she pouted, but still allowed him to take her up the stairs into the bathroom. "Okay Yuki. I'm going to start the bath but then I'm going to bring your older sister in to wash you okay?"

"Okay!" she said. She started to hum something that sounded like the Barney theme song. Kuro started up the bath and waited till it was a bit hot.

He walked out of the bathroom and yelled around the house, "HEY ARIA! COME INTO THE BATHROOM AND HELP YUKI!" A loud sigh was heard from behind one of the doors, and Aria came out looking all but happy.

"I was playing chess with someone online," she complained. "Could you have called later?"

"Nope mom needs you to bathe Yuki, and I've already started it."

She sighed loudly again. "Fine." Aria was 14 years old and she spent most of her time on video games when she wasn't eating, sleeping, or helping her mom. So if anyone challenged her, it was people who didn't know her.

"Anyways," Kuro said. Aria turned to face him. "Mind if I finish it for you?" Kuro loved puzzles and was always excited to play things people hadn't yet found a solution for. So chess was perfect for him.

"Fiiine," she said. "But if you mess this up for me, I'll kill you. Got it?"

"Yup." He gave her a thumbs up. She walked into the bathroom and Kuro opened the door into her room. He wasn't surprised by what he saw. Dirty clothes and dishes sprawled on the floor. She rarely left the place. He sighed and pulled the chair to him. He sat down and grabbed the laptop off the desk. He smiled and began to play. Thirty minutes later, Aria walked in.

"So?" she asked. He turned the screen to her. What had been 99 wins in a row was now 120. "Aw great, you beat my record again Kuro! Now I have to get back up until I get 120 ON MY OWN."

"Thanks for the play." he stuck his tongue out and walked back into the hallway. He walked into his own room and pulled out his binder. It was full of puzzles, riddles, crosswords, anything that stretched your mind. In only ten minutes, he had done 35 and 1/2 of them. "They're all too easy," he thought. He went downstairs only to find his mom wasn't home. "HEY ARIA!" he yelled.

"UGH WHAT?!"

"S'MOM HOME?"

"NO IDEA WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?" End of conversation. He walked back upstairs and checked on Yuki. She was on her leapster.

"Whatcha up to?" Kuro asked.

"I'm helping out Princess Kina. Someone's trying to steal her crown again. But I'm taking care of them." This was also a puzzle game. In fact, Kuro had shown her this game.

"Well, if Aria asks, I'll be on a walk." Kuro said.

"'Kay." She returned to her game. He walked out the front door and took a deep breath and inhaled the night air. He looked down and saw a black cat and jumped back in surprise.

"Hi," a voice inside Kuro's head spoke. "My name's Em. I need your help."

"My mom told me not to trust talking cats," he said.

The cat chuckled. "Yeah," it said. "You can help."