(a/n) quick warning. This oneshot is part of my "Fifth Dragon" series. if you haven't read at least "Seven Sins" and Begun By Blood" then this will make almost no sense to you. If you want to read the series, check out my profile.

anyway, this oneshot is part of my "Fifth Dragon" series and is going to lead into another ongoing story in that series. Hope you all like this. It's been almost ten months since Ive done anything involving Xiaolin Showdown.

A Story for Another Time

Kimiko waited in the parking lot, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel of the car in harmony with the music playing softly on the radio. She had to admit she was a bit nervous, the anticipation of these last few minutes causing thoughts of how they would react to race through her head. Would they love it? Would they hate it? Or would they simply question this new change in their daily lives. She really hoped it was the last one. She just chuckled and turned up the radio a bit, drowning the thoughts out of her head. "You worry too much, Kimiko." She said softly to herself. "It's no big deal." She then heard a bell ring and sighed. She turned the radio off and stepped out of the care, beginning to make her way to the building before her. "After all… it's only school."

She waited a few minutes outside of the elementary school, watching as children as young as her own all the way to as old as eleven exit its doors, most getting onto busses, but some getting into cars which belonged to their parents. Finally she spotted her own children just inside the door. They saw her too. A woman, presumably a teacher, opened the door for the two five year olds and they raced out to her with a loud "Mommy!" as she dropped to her knees and embraced them in a cheerful hug.

"There are my favorite kids." She laughed. "How was your first day of Kindergarten?"

"It was great!" Bonny exclaimed. Kim had assumed that Bonny would like school. She'd always been the more curious of the two, even if Riku was a little more adventurous. "My teacher taught us about the letter A."

"Well that's cool." Kim said, enthusiastically humoring her daughter as she stood, took both of the children's hands and led them to the car. Then she turned to her son. "What about you, Riku? Did you like school?"

Riku just shook his head. "Why do we have to come here?" he questioned.

Kim had expected this too. Looks like Riku had inherited his father's bullheadedness too. "Because school makes you smarter." She explained. "Don't you want to be smart?"

"I'm already smart!" Riku announced as Kim strapped him into the car seat.

The twins had both inherited Raimundo's tan skin, but as a trade off they'd taken on their mother's raven hair. Bonny usually had her hair in pigtails and Riku's hair was a little shaggy because he absolutely hated getting hair cuts. Riku's emerald eyes really made him look a lot like his father, but Bonny had her mothers sapphire irises.

As Kimiko sat back into the driver's seat, she noticed Riku struggling to loosen the little tie he was wearing in the rearview mirror. "Don't mess with it, Riku. I'll help you take it off when we get home." She said. She thought it was ridiculous that the school made the kids wear uniforms, especially since it was an elementary school, but it was one of the best schools in Hawaii (the place Kim and Rai had chosen as their home after not being able to decide between living in Rio or Tokyo, so they went in the middle). His outfit consisted of a little tie, a white button up shirt, and slacks.

"But I don't like it!" Riku whined.

"I said wait, Riku." Kim scolded.

"I like my school clothes!" Bonny announced. "They're pretty!" Her clothes were similar to Riku's, only she had a dark blue skirt instead of slacks.

"I'm glad you like them." Kim said, smiling to her daughter in the rearview mirror. Because I guarantee that you'll think differently in about four years. She thought as she pulled the car out into the street.

About five minutes later she turned into their driveway, which led into the beginnings of a forest which hid their home from the lights of the town. Kim was proud to say she worked at home, not just as a mother, but as a popular "fiction" writer. Because she knew only a few people in the world would believe the stories, she wrote down her adventures with her friends back in the days of the temple and had them published. She wrote them in chronological order and so far she'd just sent the rough draft of Saya's (or, rather, Sonya, as she changed their names for obvious reasons) return to the temple to her editor (a certain Australian-turned-Spanish woman that she'd once thought was in love with Rai).

"Mommy!" Riku whined, still fumbling with his tie.

"All right, all right." Kim said calmly as she stopped the car in front of the garage and threw it into park. She quickly helped both of her children out of the car and helped Riku remove his tie before even going inside.

Once she had successfully removed her son's tie Riku raced inside to change his other clothes. Kim glanced at the time on her phone as she stepped inside after him. Rai wouldn't be home for at least two hours. Before they were married, back when Kim has still in college, Rai had been a professional surfer, traveling to all kinds of exotic competitions for competitions. But after the twins were born he retired (for the most part, he still did competitions if they were local) and opened a martial arts dojo. He wasn't about to miss watching his kids grow up after all.

Kim stepped into the living room, finding Bonny sitting on the couch, already changed, watching some show on the Disney channel. She could hear Riku doing she could only guess what upstairs. "You want a snack, Bonny?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Bonny exclaimed.

"Yes please." Her mother corrected her.

"Yes please…"

"All right. Go get your brother and meet me in the kitchen." Bonny nodded, jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs, calling Riku's name. Kim went into the kitchen and grabbed two apples from the fridge. She cut each apple into eight pieces, leaving out the core, and placed them on a couple of plates. As she heard Riku and Bonny come down the stairs she reached into the fridge again, grabbing the caramel sauce and put a spoonful onto both plates, just to get them excited about eating something healthy. "Here you go." She said as the two five year olds sat at the table and she placed the plates in front of them.

"Guess what we're doing this weekend." Kim said with a smile, sitting across the table from them.

"What, mommy?" Riku asked while chewing on his food.

"Don't talk with your mouthful, Riku." Kim said. "It's that time of year again."

"Christmas?" Bonny asked?

"No." Kim laughed. "We're going to the temple in China like we do every year, remember?" They both shook their heads. Kim sighed. "Well, you did sleep through most of it last time… and you're too young to remember the times before. I guess that's no surprise."

"Why are we going?" Bonny asked.

"Well, every year, even before you guys were born, your Dad and I go to a big place called the Xiaolin Temple. That's were we met when we were kids. We go so we can see old friends… even ones that we'll never see again."

"Is this the place where that lizard lives?" Riku asked.

Kim nodded. "Yeah. His name is Dojo."

Riku smiled. "I remember him! He was funny!"

"Yeah." Kim agreed.

From there she left the kids to finish their snack. She did a few things around the house she had yet to do while Riku watched TV and Bonny played a computer game. She kept thinking about their trip to the temple this weekend. Not only would there be the usual meeting with old friends and honoring of Rush, Raven, Master Fung, and the others that had died all those years ago, but apparently both Mimi and Saya had recently had baby boys (making two kids for Mimi and three for Saya), so she was looking forward to meeting her newest nephews. They obviously weren't really her nephews, but that's what she considered them, along with all the kids that the others had had, because of how close she was to everyone.

About two hours later she was just beginning to prepare dinner. She'd decided on lasagna that night. It was something the kids had never had before. She knew she'd have no problem getting Bonny to have some, but Riku, as much as he loved spaghetti, would probably be harder to convince to at least try it. Kim sighed as she remembered her little time traveling experience all those years ago. So far, Riku and Bonny were turning out to be exact clones of the teenage versions she'd met… Bunny was overly curious and Riku was destined to become an attitude problem. Kim was actually kind of disappointed that she knew how her kids would turn out. But then again, that was an alternate time line. Who knows, maybe they would turn out completely different. After all, the only reason she and Rai had given the names they had was because of the future Kim saw.

Kim's head instinctively turned towards the front door as she heard it open. "Guess who's home!" she heard her husband call out.

"Daddy!" both Riku and Bonny jumped up from what they were doing and ran to hug their father. Kim also set down the pasta she was working on and went to greet him, but stopped in her tracks and gasped as she saw that Rai's cheek was bruised and puffy. "Honey, what happened?" she asked, walking up to him and gently rubbing his injured cheek.

Rai just laughed. "Let's just say I've been teaching some of them kids a little too well."

"So long as you're not teaching them to make tornadoes from their palms." Kim joked before giving him a quick kiss. She pulled away as soon as she felt Rai flinch. "I'm going to get you an ice pack."

"How about an ice cold beer instead?" Rai suggested as he knelt down, scooped up both of his children in his arms and picked them up.

"Not until the kids are asleep. Remember what happened list time?" Kim called from the kitchen.

"Oh yeah." Rai chuckled, remembering the other week. He and Kim were lying on the couch one night soon after he'd gotten home. He got up briefly to grab a can of his favorite drink from the bridge, opened it and took a quick swig before placing it on the coffee table and lying back down. While he and Kim were distracted by the TV, they almost didn't notice Riku walk into the room and try to steal as swig of Rai's drink, the young boy not knowing what it was obviously. They just barely stopped him. "Guess and ice pack will have to do then."

Rai took Riku and Bonny into the living room and sat down on the couch. "So how was your first day of kindergarten, huh?" he asked as he set them down on the cushions beside him.

"It was cool!" Bonny said.

"It was boring." Riku said. "Do we have to go back?"

Rai just chuckled. "Five days a week for the next thirteen years, buddy." He said as he rubbed the top of his sons head. "Minus vacations of course." Riku groaned and fell onto his back, his arms and legs stretched out over the couch as he stared up at the ceiling in frustration. Bonny laughed.

A couple hours later the four of them were gathered around the kitchen table eating dinner… well, three of them were eating. Riku was staring at the lasagna on his plate, trying to decide whether to try it or not. "C'mon, Riku. Eat your dinner." Kim instructed.

"But it looks weird." Riku complained.

"So do you." Bonny laughed. Rai laughed right along with her.

"Rai! Don't encourage that! It'll lead to sibling rivalry."

"What? It was funny." Rai said. "Besides, a little sibling rivalry is good for you."

"Well of course you would know." Kim said. "How many brothers and sisters do you have? Eight?"

"Give or take." Rai said. He then looked over to Riku who still wasn't eating. "Riku, I'm going to tell you what. I just want you to take one bite. If you don't like it, you don't have to eat any more. But you're not getting anything else to eat tonight, understand?" Riku nodded and picked up his fork, stabbing it into one of the bite sized pieces of pasta on his plate. He slowly put the food into his mouth and removed the fork and began chewing. "That's my boy." Rai said proudly.

"It's good!" Riku announced, his mouth still full of lasagna.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Riku." Kim said.

"Yeah, Riku." Bonny agreed.

"Bonny, don't taunt your brother." Kim said.

"What does taunt mean?" the girl asked.

After dinner they all went into the living room to watch TV together. Riku and Bonny fell asleep within the hour. Rai and Kim gently woke them and then carried them up to the room they shared, helping them change into their pajamas before laying them down in their beds. Both fell asleep almost as soon as they hit the mattress. They kissed their children good night and flipped the lights off, but stood in the doorway together and watched them sleep for a while. They were both thinking the same thing. "They're in school now…" Rai said, wrapping one arm around Kim's shoulders.

"Yeah." Kim agreed. "They're growing up so fast."

"Before you know it they'll be fighting the forces of evil and saving the world from ten thousand years of darkness."

"Oh no they wont." Kim protested. "You know what Dojo said. There won't be any new dragons until we're gone. And I don't intend on letting my kids go around risking their lives on a daily basis until I see some supernatural abilities. Got it."

"Relax, Kim." Rai said. "They're five. They're not going to be doing anything like that for a good eight to ten years. Just remember what we agreed."

"Yeah, yeah." Kim said. "If they want to do it, we won't stop them."

"That's my girl." Rai said. "Now come on. Let's go to bed. Gotta get those two up early again tomorrow."

Rai and Kim returned to their bedroom, quickly changed clothes and crawled into bed, watching the television for a few hours before shutting it off for the night. Kim gave Rai a good night kiss before getting comfortable under the covers and closing her eyes. It was only a couple seconds later that she felt her husband spooning behind her and one of his arms wrapping around her waist. "Rai, the kids are right down the hall." She protested, knowing what he was up to, despite smiling and pressing her body closer to him. "Not tonight, okay?"

"I'm sorry. Since when does cuddling constitute an R rating?" Rai questioned sarcastically.

Kim laughed. "Right. Cuddling. That's all you're after."

She felt Rai smile behind her. "Well, if this leads anywhere I'm not going to complain."

Kim turned over and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, resting her forehead against his and smiling. "If it leads anywhere…" She said with a grin before kissing him. She pulled away a few seconds later to finish her sentence. "… I guess I won't complain either."

She didn't.

~THAT WEEKEND~

The weekend came faster than Kim expected. Before she knew it She, Rai, Riku, and Bonny were on a plane headed for China, followed by a five hour buss ride to the nearest village and finally another hour of hiking up the mountain to the temple (Riku and Bonny being carried most of the way, obviously). When they finally arrived at the temple gates, Riku and Bonny asleep in their arms, they were greeted by their favorite shape shifting dragon. "Bout time you guys got here." Dojo chuckled. "The others were starting to think that you weren't going to show."

"Like we'd miss this." Kim said. "We've only been doing it for the passed fifteen or so years."

"So are we the last to arrive?" Rai questioned.

Dojo shook his head. "Julia, Elena, and Riley haven't arrived yet, though they called a few minutes ago and said they're on their way. Haven't heard anything from Jack and Nina."

Riley was Julia and Elena's daughter and only child who was just a few months older than Riku and Bonny. Counting Clay, Saya, Omi, and Mimi's latest arrivals, the group had had a total eight children. Obviously Rai and Kim had their twins Riku and Bonny, and Julia and Elena had Riley. The children of Clay and Saya that Kim and Rai knew were both girls: Sarah and Hikari. Sarah was the oldest of all the kids, being seven and Hikari was a little younger than Riku and Bonny. Until their latest child, Omi and Mimi only had their son Logan, who was a year younger than Sarah. If Kim recalled her little time traveling experience correctly, their newest child should be a boy named Peter. Kim racked her brain to try to remember the name of Clay and Saya's third child, but then remembered that in that future they'd only been alive long enough to have Sarah.

Jack and Nina, unfortunately, hadn't had any kids yet. Apparently, when Jack lost his leg he also damaged his "components" and now, while it was still possible, they were having trouble conceiving a child.

When they entered the temple they were immediately greeted by Mimi who was holding a sleeping baby in her arms. "He looks so much like you… and Omi too." Kim complemented. As Kim had expected, it was a boy and Mimi introduced him as Peter. Dojo went off to wait for the last arrivals while Kim, Rai, and Mimi went to the chamber where they had all once slept, which Omi and Mimi, who lived at the temple now, had converted into Logan's room, as well as Peter's now. Mimi laid Peter down in a crib while Kim and Rai gently shook their children awake.

"Wake up, guys. We're here." Rai said softly.

Once Riku and Bonny were awake and able to walk without holding their parent's hands, Mimi spoke. "Why don't we head outside." She suggested. "Peter may be asleep, but little Hunter's still wide awake."

"Hunter? So Clay and Saya finally had a boy, did they?" Kim asked.

"Yep." Mimi said with a grin. "Hunter Bailey. Has a ring to it, doesn't it?"

"You mean Hunter Giligan Bailey." Rai corrected, chuckling.

Kim and Mimi looked at him suspiciously. "Do we want to know?" Kim questioned.

"Not right now." Rai said, gesturing towards the kids. "Let's just say Clay lost a bet and I had a little impute on the middle name of his first son."

"Guess again." Mimi said. "Clay told me about that. Apparently Saya wouldn't allow it."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Rai groaned.

"What's going on?" Riku whispered to his sister.

"I don't know." Bonny responded.

Once outside they were greeted by the smiling faces of Clay, Saya, Sarah, and Hikari sitting around a picnic table, little Hunter cradled in Clay's arms. Farther away they saw Omi and his son Logan playing a game that looked like a combination of tag and martial arts. Omi was still short, but not nearly as short as he used to be. He was now just barely under five feet tall, but Mimi still dwarfed him at five foot six inches. With any luck Logan and Peter would take after their mother in the height department.

Mimi called Omi and Logan over and everyone sat around the picnic table as they waited for Julia, Elena, Riley and Dojo to arrive. Kim and Rai spent most of their time complementing Clay and Saya on how much Hunter looked like the both of them. At about the same time that Hunter began yawning and Clay took him inside to put him to sleep, they saw Dojo leading the three missing members of the group over to them. Julia and Elena stood side by side as everyone greeted them, their daughter Riley hiding shyly behind Elena's legs. "Come on out, sweetie. Say hello." Elena urged her.

"But they're scary, mom…" Riley said.

"Oh, they're not scary." Julia said, bending over and picking up her daughter. "These are our friends. You've met them before. Don't you remember?" Riley just shook her head and Julia sighed. "Sorry about this, guys. She has gotten really shy lately."

"Oh, it's all right." Kim assured them. "Every kid goes through a stage like that… So Julia, about the book?"

Julia nodded. "Finished with it on the way here. Not bad for your first romance story, but it needs some work… and I think a more creative title than The Fifth Dragon."

Kim sighed. "I'll work on it."

Clay returned soon after that and they spent the next few hours talking around the picnic table, the kids going off to play together after a while. Even Riley joined them after a while, to Julia and Elena's delight. At about the time that the sun was setting, turning the sky twilight, they heard what they thought were jets flying far overhead. But as they looked to the sky, they found two figures slowly descending down to the ground with jets on their backs. Only two people they knew had the gall to make that kind of entrance. "About time you two showed up." Omi said as Jack and Nina landed.

"Jack insisted that we test his new jetpacks." Nina grumbled.

"There were a few complications." Jack said, scratching his nose.

"You call falling out of the sky a few complications?" Nina demanded.

"It was just a minor bug…"

"I nearly crashed into a car!"

"All right! I'm sorry." Jack said nervously. "We'll take a plane home."

Nina sighed. "Thank you."

"So… I'm guessin' that since Nina risked her neck comin' here that you guys still haven't had any luck in the baby department." Clay said. Jack and Nina just nodded. "Well, too bad. But hey, now that everyone's here, we can eat!"

"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day." Nina said. "…Unlike using jetpacks."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Not until you get me pregnant."

Jack just smiled and shook his head, walking up behind his wife and wrapping his arms around her. "Then I guess we'll have to try again when we get home." He whispered so only she could hear. Nina just smiled and blushed. Jack then turned his attention back to the others. "So, what do you guys say we get started?"

"I'll get the barbeque ready!" Clay said.

"Hold it, Cowboy." Saya said. "Food comes second, remember?"

"I was jokin'." Clay laughed.

They all headed to a part of the courtyard that had been newly added when the temple was being rebuild: the graveyard. Everyone who had died during the battle with the Seven Deadly Sins had a headstone here, despite only a few of them leaving bodies behind to be buried. The graveyard was a fenced area on the edge of the temple grounds, sitting on the edge of a forest. There were a total eight graves: Jet, Jess, Chief, Charity, Master Fung, Dashi, Raven, and Rush. They stood silently among the graves, honoring their fallen friends with their thoughts and memories. It was strange, knowing that it was because of these brave people that the earth still existed, and yet they would be the only ones to ever know their names.

"I guess that's how the world works." Kim said aloud. "The real heroes rarely get recognized while people who do nothing more significant than making a few movies or songs are remembered forever."

"Maybe that's how it should be." Rai said as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. "The real heroes, the soldiers and life savers, maybe they don't want to be remembered by everyone forever. Maybe they just want to be remembered by those who knew them best… until they get to see each other again."

Kim smiled and nodded, looking down to Rush's grave. She then looked up to the forest, noticing some movement. It was the same thing every year. Chase Young, Hannibal Bean (in his suit of armor), and Wuya stood silently in the forest, watching the group as they remembered and honored their friends. As soon as they were noticed the disappeared into the trees… except Wuya, who always stayed slightly longer, allowing a single tear to run down her cheek and fall to the ground before following Chase and Hannibal. It seemed like she had it the worst. Because she was immortal, she would never see her love again. They all felt bad for her, even if she was one of their most hated enemies.

"Mommy, who were these people?" Bonny asked.

Kim looked down to her daughter, remembering that they'd never been told the stories. "You really want to know?" she asked as she picked up Bonny. "It's a long story"

"Tell us! Please!" Riku said as Rai, with Riku in his arms, walked up to them.

Kim smiled. "All right." She agreed.

And so, over dinner, Kim, Rai, and everyone else told the stories to their children (editing out the more mature parts of course). Unfortunately, it was already late and dark, so by the time they were half done all of the kids except for Sarah were asleep, and Sarah was getting pretty tired. They put the kids to bed and then headed back outside for another tradition for when they all got together like this: fire works. As they watched the rockets fly into the sky and explode into colorful patterns, Kim couldn't help but think about another story… A story that they all knew, but agreed never to tell their kids, and that Kim and Julia had agreed would never touch paper. It was a story they had prevented from happening…

But that's a story for another time.