Waltz for the Moon

Part Une

Nigel Uno, a.k.a., Numbuh 1 of the Kids Next Door organization, was never one for dances. He wasn’t much of a people person to begin with, and not only were they negatively associated with the Teenagers and Adults, he had also always seen them as unpleasant, pointless and a complete waste of time. Not to mention that they distracted his team from the mission at hand and any traps that they might’ve overlooked.

…Like now, for instance.

It all started when the invitation came this afternoon: a dance party at 7:00 P.M., at the Delightful Children from Down the Lane’s Mansion. To his consternation Sector V had reacted with enthusiasm, instantly chattering about who would be their date (Wally had hooked up with Kuki and Hoagie, Abby) and what they would be wearing. It was with much embarrassment and reluctance that Nigel rang up his girlfriend Lizzie and asked her to be his, ahem, support for the mission.

Nigel simply couldn’t understand how his team-mates could be so excited about it. Couldn’t they see that it was a devious ruse designed by the Delightful Children to lure them straight into whatever trap they had set? And yet, there they were, laughing and joking like it was nothing. “Lighten up,” his friends had said, “Let your hair down once in a while; it’ll do you good.”

Famous last words, in his humble opinion. And he was very certain that they were making fun of him with that last sentence.

Well, he for one wasn’t going to be complacent, he promised, his azure-blue eyes narrowing behind his shades. He was going to smoke out and expose whatever nefarious scheme the Delightfuls had cooked up, even if he had to do it on his own. Perhaps that would be a lesson to his Sector that a KND operative did not let his guard down under any circumstances.

He paused to scratch his neck. The suit was too tight and scratchy, and the bow tie – he cursed the person who invented the abomination – was practically strangling him; yet another reason why he detested social functions.

His lip lightly curled in disdain as he watched Numbuh 2 guzzling a large helping of shrimps (which Nigel had tested earlier for tampering; the results came back negative) at a nearby refreshment table, while Numbuh 5 looked on with a disgusted expression on her face. On the dance floor Numbuhs 3 and 4 were doing the Tango along with several other couples. Earlier on, Lizzie had pestered him to dance with her, and Nigel had declined, retreating with the hurried excuse that he had no idea how to dance.

That was a lie, of course. During his time at the Arctic Base as a Cadet Next Door, long before he joined Sector V, Nigel had been trained in all kinds of skills in espionage (counter and otherwise) and subterfuge, especially the ones involving undercover duties during formal/social functions like this one. Dancing lessons, therefore, were a necessity. Nigel simply had no intention whatsoever of going out there and drawing unnecessary attention to himself.

Especially not on an important mission.

And so here he was, in the safety of leaning against a nearby pillar, away from everyone else and where he could look out for anything suspicious. Idly he observed Lizzie dancing with a brown-haired boy, laughing, seemingly enjoying herself. He knew he should be feeling jealous, like any other boyfriend would, but he wasn’t like other boys. Besides, he had other things to worry about at the moment.

A few minutes had passed; the latest song slowly coming to an end. So far, there was no movement from the Delightfuls, who were at the moment playing the role of good host…s. A passing waitress had offered him a glass of fruit punch, which he politely accepted. He was feeling a little parched.

Taking a sip the British boy looked at the skylight above him. The moon was full this night, its silvery disc-like shape peering down at him along with the scattered, miniscule stars. A shooting star cut across the sky, leaving behind a glowing trail. He stared after it for a moment before lowering his gaze, and as he did so something on the dance floor caught his eye.

Amidst the dancers on the floor was a solitary figure, also looking up at the skylight with an expression of wonder on her face. The girl was around Nigel’s own age, with shoulder-length blonde hair that framed a delicate heart-shaped face with gray eyes. She was clad in a light blue-white dress which reached below her thighs, accentuating her slender form, along with tiny shoes that matched her dress.

As though sensing his eyes on her the girl looked over to him; with a small smile on her face she raised a hand and pointed at the skylight, as though silently telling him that she saw the shooting star as well. Nigel tilted his head in reply, entranced by her face and her smile, and at that moment the girl began to walk towards him. From the way she moved, Nigel surmised that she was a KND operative. Probably here for the same reason I am, he thought.

The girl drew closer, her eyes twinkling with playful curiosity and interest. A warm, flowery scent wafted past his nostrils as she rapidly closed the distance between them, and her smile for some reason set him at ease, even as his heart began to beat faster.

“You’re the best-looking guy here,” she said as she looked him up and down, her soft voice laced with interest. Nigel resisted giving a snort; being bald as a boiled egg wasn’t exactly what one would normally call attractive.

“Dance with me?” she asked hopefully.

Nigel didn’t answer, having known what she would ask before she even uttered it. Instead he took another sip from his glass and turned his gaze somewhere to his right. The girl may have been pleasing to his eyes, and she may have caught his interest, but Nigel was here on a mission, and he would not do anything to jeopardize it.

Surprisingly, the girl was undeterred by his seemingly-cold response. “Let me guess, you’ll only dance with someone you like. Right, then…” Snapping her fingers she made a show of holding an imaginary pendulum in front of his face. “Look deeply into my eyes…you’re going to like me…you’re going to like me…” she intoned in a manner of a hypnotist, slowly swaying the ‘pendulum’. Her expression shifted hopefully. “Did it work?”

Nigel couldn’t help but let out a brief chuckle. “I can’t dance.”

“You’ll do fine,” the girl assured, taking him by the arm. “Come on; I’m looking for somebody. I can’t be on the dance floor alone.” The next thing Nigel knew, he was being dragged over to the dance floor, and a nearby kid suddenly found himself being granted a free glass of punch as the bald operative and blonde girl passed by.

As he stumbled forward Nigel decided that the quickest way to escape from this situation was to prove to his persistent partner that he was a horrible dancer. The girl pulled him into the middle of the floor, just as the music changed to a waltz melody, and spun around to face him.

“Here, like this,” she instructed, placing the Brit’s right hand on her waist and his left on her shoulder. He was growing nervous at her close proximity to him, and as her scent once again assailed his nose he swore that his heartbeat was loud enough for the entire mansion to hear.

“Just try to follow my lead.” She took the lead, and he made her work for every step. “Now, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three…” His feet dragged on the floor, his steps hesitant and uncertain. He stayed put as she went left, stumbling clumsily after her, and as she stepped right, he fell in that direction, his movements a carefully staged mockery of all his months of training four years ago. It truly took an expert to be as bad a dancer as he was, Nigel mused as she moved backwards and he stumbled right into her.

The girl simply smiled with patient amusement, and Numbuh 1 realized with consternation and mild horror that she was actually enjoying ‘teaching’ him these dance moves. She replaced his hands in their proper positions, and started to lead him again. Nigel decided to pretend to almost know what they were doing for a while. “See, it’s easy!” the girl said…

…and then as she performed a breakaway and came back, the bald boy stumbled forward and crashed heavily into her, a movement he perfectly timed himself.

There, Nigel thought in satisfaction. If that didn’t show her that picking him was a bad idea, nothing would. Shaking his head and shrugging, Nigel turned around to leave, only to have her pull him back after he took barely more than a couple of steps.

“Wait! Just hold on a second!!” the girl pleaded, and as he looked at her face he found it utterly impossible to refuse her. She took his left hand in her right, raising it up, and began a delicate step and turn around him that he wasted no time ruining. As she tried to lead him, he not-so-subtly guided them closer to another dancing pair, and when she took a step toward them, both Sector V Commander and his partner were sent crashing into that couple.

“Hey! Watch it!!” grumbled the kid, who was none too pleased at having his dance interrupted. The blonde girl apologized hastily, and she looked back at Nigel, a knowing expression in her gray eyes. Instantly he knew that somehow she’d seen through the whole charade, and was willing to go on until he grew tired of it.

Yup, Nigel concluded, she was definitely a KND operative. And one who had been trained in the same arts as him, no less.

Ah, what the heck. Nigel sighed and took a step back, raising his right hand, matching her pose perfectly. He nodded, allowing the girl this dance; she had earned it through her persistence, after all. Not to mention that there was a part of him inside that actually wanted to dance with her.

The music hit a crescendo, and they stepped, their legs weaving around in a delicate, coordinated and yet complex pattern of taps and twirls. Nigel’s undercover training skills were now kicking in, and as he moved he saw that the girl was matching his moves exactly, almost as though she were reading his mind. The pair seemed to move as one, stepping around each other, he grasping her hand and twirling her around, stepping around and outside as she spun close and inside.

All the while, the girl was laughing joyfully, and Nigel couldn’t help but crack a smile.

The song hit its climax, and it ended with a final step that drew the pair in close together. Her scent once again filled his nose and her warmth pressed in, and as he gazed into her eyes he felt her against him, along with the rush of startling and pure right, a singular intimacy unlike anything he’d experienced. For him, it was truly a moment of perfection.

A moment he’d never felt with Lizzie.

He suddenly heard the sound of clapping. Startled, he looked around, and to his shock he saw that the entire room had their eyes on them, applauding. Everyone was clearly astounded by the duo’s flawless dance. Even the Delightful Children looked impressed. And that was saying a lot.

“Uhh…” Nigel blushed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. As he turned to his partner he noticed her eyes widen as something over his shoulder caught her attention. With a whispered “Excuse me” she broke away from him, walking past him. And the moment she did so, the feeling of right and belonging vanished, leaving behind a strange sense of disappointment. As the girl walked away Sector V gathered around him, chattering excitedly and praising his earlier display.

“Whoa! Never knew you had it in you, Numbuh 1!” said Wally.

“You’ve got to teach me that sometime!” added Hoagie.

Lizzie, on the other hand, wasn’t as encouraging or positive. “Who was that girl, Nigel?!” she demanded crossly, arms akimbo. “And I thought you said you couldn’t dance!!”

Nigel, however, wasn’t listening to either of them. His gaze still lingered on the blonde operative’s retreating back, as though he were trying to take in her image one last time, even as she disappeared into the crowd.

“Who is she?” he wondered to himself.

His earlier longing and disappointment soon made way to disdain. He mentally shook his head; as he expected, that dance was pointless, a total waste of time. He didn’t even know what possessed him to take the girl up on that offer in the first place. Besides, Lizzie was still his girlfriend, and that blonde girl – no, operative – merely a fleeting fancy; it was highly unlikely that he would see her again. In short, it was a mistake that could have easily cost him the mission, one he would never make again.

Oddly, though, his silent words now lacked their usual conviction.

Author’s Notes

I was inspired to write this after watching the ballroom scene between Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly in Final Fantasy VIII (The name of the melody playing during that scene is the title of this fic; I swear, Nobuo Uematsu’s a freaking genius), and I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if Nigel and Rachel first met in this manner in Operation: D.A.T.E.? And voila, this was born. I’m rather proud of how it turned out.

Hmm, Nigel as Squall and Rachel as Rinoa. The possibilities…

Obviously, this takes place before Rachel becomes Supreme Leader of the KND, when Chad (a.k.a., Numbuh 274) was still in charge.

Rachel’s dress was inspired by the one drawn by Allie-Twig (a.k.a., Nigel’s Leading Woman) on DeviantArt.

There will probably be a companion chapter (or two) to this; keep an eye out.

With that aside, please tell me what you think.