“Any luck,” Claudia asked as Katie now scowered the area behind the shed. “No,” Katie said sadly. “I don’t see it anywhere. This is bad Claudia who knows where it’s gone to.”
Claudia blushed bright red as she continued to search. “I’m,I’m so sorry,” she muttered. “I lost my head for a minute. Please Katie can you never forgive me.” Katie sighed as she gave her friend a sideways glance. “I can forgive you Claud,” she sighed. “But you can’t ever do this again okay. If we don’t find that ring we’re going to have some big problems on our hands. Plus Lisa will kill me.”
Claudia nodded sadly returning to her search. She was feeling incredibly stupid at the moment, her actions may have doomed her sister to reliving her life over. As she continued to wallow in despair she felt her phone vibrate. Curiously she pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the text message smiling. “Katie good news,” she squealed. “Julia says they found the ring. She wants us to come back upstairs.” Katie sighed with relief. “That’s great who found it?” Claudia scrolled down the text message, her face turning pale as she now looked at Katie. “Ummmm your aunt.”
Katie had let out a massive string of curse words as the girls now made their way back upstairs. She was dreading what was about to take place. Looking back she could see the sheepish look on Claudia’s face. Hopefully nothing too awful had happened and they could just fix Julia and be done with it. As she opened the door to the bedroom she realized that wasn’t going to be an option.
“Look Kumi,” an annoyed Lisa said. “It’s my niece. You know the one that said don’t worry mom I’m not going to do anything screwy with the Ring.” Katie frowned as she looked at 10 year old Kumiko and Lisa on the bed. The two grown down adults were adjusting their overly baggy clothing. The sandals they had been wearing had fallen off of their feet, which now dangled off of Claudia’s bed. “I didn’t do this,” Katie answered, feeling like she was arguing with a younger sibling instead of her adoptive mom. Lisa frowned giving Katie as stern a stare as her 10 year old features could muster.
As the two now began to argue Claudia stepped forward sheepishly. “Ummm Ms. Lisa, Ms. Kumiko,” she muttered. “This wasn’t Katie’s fault. It was mine I kinda tackled Katie and took the ring from her.”
Lisa frowned at Claudia as she folded her hands across her chest. “Well That was dumb,” she muttered. Lisa sighed as she now looked at Claudia. “Ugh sorry Claudia I’m kinda acting like a brat. Being this young you start acting like your this age for real, especially if your angry.”
“No you have every right to be mad,” Claudia answered. “I deserve that at the very least. Now let’s change all of you back.”
“PleAse,” Lisa sighed. “I’d rather be going on a date with Jason instead of a play date with his daughter.”
“Yeah,” Julia added. “Besides it’s gonna be hard for us to do anything together if I have a bedtime.”
Lisa, Julia and Kumiko now smiled as she handed the ring back to Katie. Katie placed the ring on her finger wishing the three to become their original ages once again. Sighing happily the three now began inspecting their bodies for a return to adulthood.
“So how long have you been able to do this Mika,” Kumiko asked as she raced past 11 and became 12. Mika fidgeted slightly as she looked at her preteen aunt. “I don’t know a little while.”
Kumiko frowned as she glared at her niece. “Well I hope your careful,” she said. “If Lisa hadn’t found me I could of done some serious damage with that thing.” Lisa turned to Kumiko as they both became 13. “If I hadn’t found you I wouldn’t be reliving puberty....AGAIN.”
“Wait Kumiko found the ring!” Kellie exclaimed as she watched the two girls reentered high school. They both nodded as they now became 16 like their nieces.
“Yeah I was looking for you because I wanted to tell you something Mika,” Kumiko said. “I’ve been working on your parents and they may actually be willing to take you back in.”
Mika nodded. “Oh,” she muttered. “That’s um great.”
“But,” Kumiko stated becoming 17. “Here’s the thing. Even though they may be willing to take you back I was really hoping you would keep staying with me.”
Mika’s eyes bulged as she looked at her teenage aunt. “Really!?!”
Kumiko nodded shyly as she looked at her niece. “Well yeah,” she said. “I know it’s only been a couple of weeks but I really love having you around. I never realized how quiet things were at my place, you....you kind of bring a lot of joy into my world.”
Mika stood speechless as she gaped at her aunt. Unable to answer she instead threw herself onto her aunt giving her a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. Kumiko looked dumbfounded at her niece before smiling. “So I take it that’s a yes,” Mika nodded happily, hugging her aunt once again.
As the three women continued to age they talked happily. Katie and her friends explained the ring to Kumiko, Julia, Cole and Derrick. The group listened attentively, understanding that while it was fun to use they needed to be very careful with it. As they got older Julia noticed her brother Cole staring at Kumiko.
“Cole,” a now 19 year old Julia exclaimed. Cole jumped startled by his sister. “Geez Julia what!”
Julia furrowed her brow as she looked at him critically. “I see you ogling Kumiko don’t tell me your crushing on her.”
Cole shrugged as he looked at the 24 year old Kumiko. “I don’t know maybe,” he shrugged. Julia shook her head as she pushed her larger brother. “Well don’t just sit their like a lump go to talk to her.”
Cole didn’t need any more prodding as he now began to strike up a conversation with Kumiko. As the group watched they could see that the two seemed to be hitting it off rather well as they exchanged pleasantries. Lisa and Katie smiled as they watched.
“Well good for Kumi,” Lisa smiled. Katie looked at her 25 year old aunt in confusion. “What do you mean mom,” she asked. Lisa continued to smile as she looked at her niece. “Kumiko has been single for way too long and there are far worse things she could do than dating Captain America over there.”
Katie nodded as 25 year old Cole began to flirt with a 26 year old Kumiko. “Hope the age difference isn’t any issue when Kumiko stops growing up.” Lisa looked at her niece laughing. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned recently it’s that age is just a number.”
Katie looked over her friends as the group happily talked. With a smirk she now began to wonder if any event they went to would be normal.