Edit(many hours after posting): Went in and fixed some stuff. Checked stats. 51 hits. -sob- 2 reviews. -sobsob- So on average only four percent of people review around here? Thanks to those who have!

This is a one-shot, but there may be a counterpart that will be added as a second chapter. Don't get your hopes up. :P

You can take this as romance or not. It doesn't matter.

Just so you know, I personally really like how this one came out. :)

+Hero For a Day+

Kimiko held her breath as she plunged headfirst into the icy water below. Wuya's perversely happy laughter faded into the background of Kimiko's mind as she struggled to turn herself upright and stay afloat in the fast moving river water. Survival was on the forefront of her thoughts. She opened her mouth and took a breath. In reward, her lungs were met briefly with air. Biting, cold water swamped her after that one, short breath, the current continuing to viciously pull her along. The water filled her mouth, throat and lungs so she could no longer breathe. Beginning to panic, she choked and coughed as she flailed about, trying to put the riverbank in her sight. She felt lost and confused. Her vision blurred. She blinked frantically to clear water from her eyes as her whole body slammed into a rock. She gasped as she remained pressed against it only for a moment. Her fingers clung at its smooth, mossy surface and were ripped away. She continued downstream. Her body began to sink. She raised her arms in one last desperate plea to no one. This was it.

Hands grasped Kimiko's wrists. Her entire body wrenched from the waters, she felt her skirt clutch against her legs in a chilly breeze as she lifted into the air. Her mind was hazy. She had not the strength to even raise her head to see who her savior was. Was she flying or falling? How? She felt the ground barely under her feet and collapsed when the hands suddenly released her. What had been a steady humming, buzzing sound began to sputter then stopped. She lay gagging on the ground, water draining from her lungs in a bodily instinct as she curled over on her side.

An irritating, female voice screeched nearby.

A sigh-heavy, male voice—almost whining—defended.

Then a hand, somewhat pawing, touched her shoulder and turned her over, onto her back. Kimiko blearily opened and shut her eyes. She was still too dazed to clearly see anything.

Another hand, trembling, touched her face and pushed her soggy hair out of it.

"Breathe, ok?" Urged the male voice.

The irritating female voice returned—lower—sounding a bit worried. "Let's go now that you've ruined everything. The others are coming."

"Just gimme a sec." Said the male voice.

Kimiko drew a heavy, hard breath and coughed again. Something was lain against her skin; it was a bit rough, but warm.

A cry was uttered by the female. "No! Don't do that! Let's go! Are you an evil boy genius or not?"

"Alright, alright! Coming, you old hag." The male huffed.

The cloth was tucked under her chin carefully.

"If I had my powers I'd smite you right now, you stupid boy."

"Well, you don't. So, c'mon, let's go. I'm cold now."

The hands drew away from Kimiko's body, leaving her tingling and still confused. She could hear the sputtering, buzzing sound starting again. The noise overshadowed the voices. Were those helicopter blades? The argument began to seem distant, as did the noise.

Kimiko opened her eyes and turned her head, trying to follow the sounds as her body shivered in protest to movement. She barely caught sight of a figure floating away in the sky carrying another. They were too far off to recognize. But maybe one of them had been Wuya? The female voice had sounded so alike to the witch's, after all.

The Japanese girl closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She remembered the showdown with Jack and winning, with Wuya grabbing her arm from behind afterwards and flinging her into the freezing river. Kimiko's parka had remained in the witch's hand. It was winter. The river had iced along the edges last night so even with this cloth over her body, the ground was cold beneath her.

The water still soaking her was cold too.

Kimiko struggled to place her thoughts. Were the others okay?

Her fellow monks had been desperately fighting off a swarm of vengeful Jack Bots which had attacked after Jack had lost the showdown—her friends had been unable to come to her aid. Someone had saved her obviously, but who, if not them?

The hero couldn't have been-?

Loud voices and heavy footsteps pounded towards her. A very different set of hands, more slender and strong this time than the others before gripped her shoulders and shook her. She opened her eyes. Three anxious faces crowded her view.

"Kimiko! We were more worried about you than cows in a Kansas tornado." Clay said, his face close to hers. He felt her forehead with a warm hand. "We're awfully glad you're alright."

Omi leaned down and pressed his head against her chest. "Oh! How good it is to hear you heart still pounding inside of you!"

Kimiko lifted a hand up, reaching for reality, she thought, and it was grabbed and held tightly. Whatever lay over her was pushed back by this movement and the cold, winter air slipped in under it. She opened her mouth and croaked out what she wanted to be words. "Hey, guys. I'm ok."

Raimundo squeezed Kimiko's hand reassuringly. "You are now, at least." He kneaded his brow together as he fingered the cloth laying over Kimiko. "Spicer's jacket? But I thought…"

Kimiko turned her eyes downward and with help from Clay sat up. She leaned against his arm as he supported her. She too fingered the clothing curiously. "I guess so. I heard two people talking. Wuya and Jack apparently didn't agree about what she did after I won the showdown. It's his jacket, though I didn't notice before."

"That Spicer's such a pickle." Clay said with a sigh. "But I guess it was good for us this time 'round."

Omi wrapped his little, yellow arms around Kimiko's neck. Smiling she touched the side of his face with her hand as he hugged her. Omi laughed. "We will have to thank Jack later—an honor to him for the honor he has done us. He has given us a most precious gift today."

"Good grief, Omi. That's more 'pickle' than Spicer is. Thank him? It's his partner that threw Kimi' off the cliff in the first place!" Raimundo objected loudly. "I'd rather stay the heck away from those two—for good!"

Kimiko shook her head. "I don't know, Raimundo. I'm not sure why or how, but now I owe Jack my life." Her eyelids drooped in protection against the sun as she looked up to the sky where Jack and Wuya had disappeared. "We should just pretend nothing happened. That's what Jack's going to do."

Omi clapped his hands together. "Oh, that humble Jack Spicer! Always he is pretending to be so bad and yet he cannot help but do the right thing. Honor belongs to him today."

"No kidding." Kimiko mumbled. "Help me up, guys. It's time for us to go home."

Weary, the foursome trudged up the riverside. The weariest, a girl, glanced skyward one last time.

She had been saved by Jack Spicer—Evil Boy Genius Extraordinaire.

Who was, apparently, hero for a day.

R and R; thanks. :)