Adventures of the Amuro Duo!
Part 1 - The Cookie Plan

The two siblings stood in the middle of the kitchen floor.

"See that?" Anji asked.

"Huh?" responded his little sister Keiko.

"That," he repeated, pointing higher.

Keiko whined, unable to see what her big brother was making such a fuss
about.

"You're so stupid, you little jerkwad," Anji muttered.

"Wah!" Keiko's eyes filled with tears, and Anji hastily clapped a pudgy hand
to Keiko's mouth. She wriggled around, trying to bite him.

"Shhh!" Anji hissed. With his free hand, he guided Keiko's round face until
she was looking at the object of his desire. When her eyes focused, he
removed both of his hands and pointed. "D'ya see it?"

"Jar?" Keiko asked, calming down. "Why?"

Anji sighed at his little sister's ignorance. You don't know anything when
you're only three, he thought in disgust.

"It's not just any jar," Anji said patiently. "That jar contains cookies."

Keiko's eyes gleamed. "Cookie?"

"Yes, Keiko-chan. Cookie. Many cookies. But it's very high up, and we can't
reach."

Keiko's face fell, and her lower lip quivered.

"No, Keiko-chan! Don't cry!" Keiko's face turned steadily red as she prepared
to let out a much-needed wail. "I have a plan!" Keiko looked even more upset.
"It'll give us all the cookies we want!"

Keiko's eyes, filled with prepatory tears, started sparkling instead.
"Cookies?"

"Yes, cookies! But see, you've gotta listen to me, first."

"Okey!"

"Good. Now, cookies are all the way up THERE." Anji pointed to the big brown
jar. "And we're stuck down here, 'cause we're too small." Keiko nodded
agreement. "But, I have a fan-tas-teek, magnificentio, supercalifragilistic
plan that'll get the cookies to US. You still with me?"

"Yup!"

"Good. If you help me in my plan, we'll split the cookies fifty-fifty -- only
I get more 'cos I'm bigger and I thought of the plan in the first place. Now,
we need things to stand on. Keiko-chan, can you find some things to stand
on?"

Keiko-chan nodded happily. She disappeared from sight, toddled up the stairs
into her room, and returned back dragging her prized stool/chair. Made of
wood and decorated with flower stickers, it was her most favorite item in the
entire world (besides her favorite doll, and her toy makeup set, and her
minature kitchen set with pots and plates and plastic containers, and...) and
was actually quite useful: the wooden back of the 'chair' part would swing
down to become a step, which transformed the seat into a footstool.

"That's good," Anji said, "but we're going to need more."

Keiko obediently left again, and came back lugging a phone book.

"Even more."

Keiko left again. This time, she took quite a long while, and Anji could hear
a rhythmic thumping long before she returned. Huffing and puffing, Keiko had
pushed a huge black book all the way from their father's study to the
kitchen. Anji, who'd been learning the alphabet, started reading the big
silver letters on the cover.

"T-H-E-C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E-...I dunno what that letter
is...-O-R-K-S-O-F-S-H-A-K-E-S-P-E-A-R-E-...dunno that letter,
either...-N-A-B-R-I-D-G-E-D...sounds really boring, Keiko-chan." He tried to
pick it up, and nearly dropped it on his own foot. "Umph! Heavy!"

Keiko nodded, then started rubbing her own strained arm muscles fiercely, the
book having been VERY heavy and Keiko-chan having been VERY strong to have
brought the book the ENTIRE way from Daddy's study and VERY smart to have
thought of it as now they could have cookies...

Keiko's eyes sparkled again, as she went off into a cookie-themed daydream,
with herself as a princess and being able to eat all of the cookies she
wanted, and then having a handsome prince to come and dance with her, in her
cookie-shaped ballroom...

Anji's brow furrowed as he considered the relative height of the books, the
stool, and the Amuro siblings as compared to the height needed to reach the
cookie jar. "But we're still going to need more books...go get some more,
Keiko-chan."

Shaken from her happy fantasy, Keiko did the sensible thing and stomped on
Anji's foot. Anji's eyes filled with tears as he manfully tried to stifle his
howls.

"Okay, okay, I get the point! I'll get the next books myself!" Anji muttered.
He walked to his own room and looked at the bookshelf. Comic books...no...not
his manga...no...not big enough.

His eyes scanned the rest of his room. His clothing, strewn across the floor,
wouldn't be of any use, nor would his little action figures. He started
rummaging through his closet...

...a-ha! Wedged in his closet was a big red-bound medical encyclopedia a
doting grandmother had given to "her grandson, who'll be a doctor some day,
won't he, Madoka?" on his fifth birthday. Too young to appreciate the
anatomical pictures buried within, Anji'd never really had a use for it until
now.

He dragged the thick book to the kitchen, where Keiko was waiting.

"It's time for Phase 2," Anji said solemnly.

Keiko cheered.

---

"Waaah!"

"Shh, Keiko-chan!" Anji hissed. "Just a little bit more..."

"Scary!" Keiko wailed, albeit quietly.

Anji gritted his teeth, balancing on an unsteady pile of wobbling books.
Gathering up all of his strength, he boosted Keiko up onto the counter.
Having reached that point, she curled up into a little ball.

He let out a sigh. Things were not going to plan. He hadn't planned on Keiko
being afraid of heights...or on his baby sister being so heavy. Well. If he
wanted the cookies, it was time for drastic measures...

Anji made a fist and pounded it into his open palm. "I most definitely won't
lose! I'll get those cookies if it's the last thing I do!" When he stood
straight on the books and stool, the top of his head was even with the shelf
below the one Keiko was on, which was still the shelf below the
cookies...Keiko had the cookies within her grasp, but she was too scared to
move...

He grabbed hold of the shelf Keiko was on and put his right foot on the
dishwasher. His grip seemed secure, so he hesitantly placed his other foot on
the dishwasher. His left foot hit a button, and the dishwasher started
vibrating violently. Anji eeped, and instinctively kicked his foot off. His
foot hit the stack of books -- and knocked them over, spilling them all over
the floor.

"Uh-oh," whispered Anji, not wanting to alarm his sister any further.

Utilizing his amazing athletic skills, he stepped back on the dishwasher,
stepping on buttons and unknowingly starting a variety of cycles in the
complex machine. After taking a deep breath, he pushed off with his feet
andgrasped for a firmer hold with his hands. Lucikly, he managed to grip
some steel hooks with his hands, and used them to pull himself up onto the
shelf.

"Keiko-chan," he whispered. "We made it!"

Keiko was still huddled in a ball. He pulled her thumb out of her mouth.
"Keiko-chan, we can eat cookies now! All we want!"

Keiko looked upset. "Scary..."

"Fine, I'll do this myself." Carefully, Anji moved around Keiko, then crawled
carefully to the gap between shelves. Anji manuvered himself so that he could
crawl onto the top shelf and get his prize...

...but, alas, the Amuro household had not been very careful when installing
the uppermost shelf, and it was very unsteady. Anji had barely put any weight
on it when the shelf started wobbling. The cookie jar fell off and crashed on
the ground, spilling its contents -- those precious cookies! -- on the ground
and shattering.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! THE COOKIES!" screamed Anji, and he heroically jumped to the
ground in an effort to save all the cookies he could. He landed on his behind
with a loud thud. "OWW!"

Keiko started bawling at the top of her lungs.

---

Amuro Madoka was jolted from her nap at a crash and the twin screams of her
children. She instantly zoomed upwards, all thoughts of sleep banished from
her mind, as she pictured horrible situations whihc ould be happening to her
children, her children, her children...

She stopped as she saw the kitchen. Anji was sitting on the floor, rubbing
his behind. Around him were shards of pottery and cookies. Keiko was nowhere
to be seen, although her screams were loud enough to pierce one's eardrums.
Bits of foam were starting to ooze from the sides...

Madoka hurried in and turned the machine off.

"Mama!" shrieked Keiko. Madoka looked around the room, didn't see her, looked
up, and found her huddling on a shelf. Madoka hurriedly lifted her down.

"How did you get up there, sweetie?" she asked her trembling daughter.

"A-Anji-chan lifted me up..." Keiko whispered. "I wanted cookies..."

"Jerkwad," muttered Anji.

"That's no way to talk to your sister!" snapped Madoka. "Go to your room!"

Muttering, Anji left, still rubbing his behind.

"Now, Keiko-chan," Madoka said soothingly, "I'm going to clean up this mess,
and then I'll call Daddy at the office and get you a whole box of cookies."

"Cookies?" Keiko, far from looking scared, now had starry in her eyes.

"Yes, with lots and lots of chocolate chips!"

Keiko passed into a state of bliss.

---

But, even when Keiko was given an entire box of cookies, she was sure to
smuggle some for Anji. After all, his plan had worked. She had all the
cookies she wanted, just like in her fantasy.

Keiko sighed happily as she had another fantasy. She was much older (sixteen
or seventeen, she'd be so old!) and was very beautiful, with long brown hair
and a wonderful pink (or maybe purple) dress, and she was dancing with a
tall, dark-haired man...ahhh, the future was going to be so good, she just
knew it!

After all, everything looks good once you've had enough cookies.