Author's Note: Hello! The characters are slightly OOC (Forgive me!). It's quite sweet/cheesy... and will please any RaiKim fans...
Summary: Kimiko always wanted to know whether or not her boyfriend was as romantic as she hoped him to be. And he wants to prove it to her, despite how bad he is at being as romantic as she wanted him to be. "You said that you wanted sparks." Semi-fluff one-shot! RaiKim!
Pairings: Raimundo Pedrosa x Kimiko Tohomiko
Rating K+. There is no foul language in this fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown. The second I do, I'll make sure to make 100+ new episodes right away...
Sparks
The two of them lay on the hood of his car, staring at the stars twinkling above them in the night sky. For some reason, he knew he was in for it. In trouble, that is. She was staring at the stares, her sapphire eyes framed by thick, long lashes that hide her eyes from his many glances he kept on giving to her.
He knew that she was thinking; her brain probably coming up with questions or comments on what he has done wrong… this time. He was more concerned on what she was possible thinking about.
"Why?"
He looked over his arm to look into her eyes. He finally had a good shot at her eyes. Sapphire blue orbs that would always allow anyone to see how she was truly feeling. He could tell that she was upset, more than anything, but she was trying hard to make her real emotions less obvious.
"Why what?" he asked. He was tired of trying to figure things out. He hated trying to decipher things, as if everything she said would force him to decode her words as if her words were symbolism and such.
"You said you wanted to watch the stars with me," she said, quietly.
He looked over at her once again. "What are we doing right now?" he asked, trying not to snap at her. The last thing he wanted to do was to get on her bad side. She was known for her fiery temper, after all.
"While we are looking at the stars, we're not gazing at them."
"Aren't those two words synonyms? Don't they mean the same?" he asked, trying to make the situation light. He gave her a crooked, wry smile.
"Looking at stars isn't romantic at all, Rai. Stargazing is. It just depends…"
"Depends on what?" He was grinning at her now, finding it quite entertaining that his girlfriend was fussing over something so small.
"We're on your car. Not a very romantic setting, actually. Rooftops are more romantic… because it's a more romantic setting."
"How is a rooftop a romantic setting?" Raimundo asked, raising a brow.
"You feel on top of the world up on the rooftop," she replied, slightly exasperated.
"Unless you have a fear of heights, because then you feel traumatized. Plus, our roof has a lot of singles. I'd hate to find shingle imprints on my butt," he teased. Despite how hard he tried to be fully concerned over how she felt about their current "situation", he couldn't help but find the entire situation silly. Realizing the scowl on her face, he immediately said, "Oh, come on, Kimiko. It was just a joke."
"Everything is a joke to you," she said dryly, finally looking at him.
"Not really. Some things aren't a joke to me," he admits, scooting a bit closer to her.
"Oh really? Like what?" She demanded, still glaring at him.
"You." He planted a quick kiss on the temple of her forehead, causing her to blush. "You're not a joke to me, Kimiko."
"Why can't you be more like this?" she whispered as he was putting his hands behind his head.
He was looking up at the stars when she had asked that. "Like what?" he asked, feigning cluelessness. He didn't want to guess as if he knew the answer to her question, because then, she would just be even madder at him. Acting as if he was clueless would keep him from getting yelled at.
"Be more… what's the word? Romantic," she said, loud and clear for him to hear.
He gawked at her. He hated it when she asked him why he wasn't romantic. Sure, he wasn't good at relationships, but he was never good at relationships. He always preferred things short and simple. Dating Kimiko was a challenge. Being the daughter of Toshiro Tohomiko, she was spoiled to the point where she believes whatever she wants, she gets. In a way, she will always end up getting whatever she wants. She knew it. He knew it.
"What is romantic? Do you and I—do we have two different definitions of the word? Whereas you want me to become one of those adoring boyfriends who adores their girlfriend and every breathe she takes? While I think romantic is doing the cute little things for a certain someone?"
She sighed. She knew he was trying by the efforts he would attempt. She knew she was asking him for something he might not be able to give, but her heart told her that he will somehow, in the end, make things right. And she loved that about him. "Rai, I'm not trying to force you to change."
"You just want me to willingly change myself, am I correct?" he smiled. Some things never do change.
"I don't want you to change, Rai. You will never change. You're just you—as always. And I love that about you." Her cheeks turned pink at her confession.
"But?"
"'But' what?"
"I sense one coming. I have a knack for figuring out when a 'but' is coming." He grins at her.
She sighed. "But, I just want to feel sparks."
"Sparks?"
"You know… they say that you can feel fireworks when you kiss the one."
He snorts. "There is no such thing as 'the one', Kimiko. Do you not pay attention to the world? People get divorce, left and right. People fight, break up, and fall out of love… It's just the way of life."
"Why are you so cynical?" she asked, glaring at him. "I just want to be in a world where I can feel the sparks, watch stars on the rooftop with my boyfriend, and have small, cute moments between the two of us."
"And this doesn't qualify as one of them?" he teases, grinning at her.
She jerked her thumb to the Clay's beat up truck that was parked right next to his car with a look on her face that simply answered his question. "I'm going inside. We have chores to finish, Rai."
He looks at her, still thinking about why she could be so upset. She knew the type of guy he was the second she had agreed to date him. She wants to feel sparks, huh? I'll give her sparks.
"You coming?" she asked, looking at him. "Master Fung knows that you tricked Omi into doing your chores last week."
Raimundo snorted. "I'll come in a second." Now… How do I make sure she feels the sparks?
-x-
There was nothing that could compare to how much he hated the feeling of Déjà vu. It felt just like the night before, even though he intended for things to turn out different. The two of them were lying on the same car, which was still parked next to Clay's beat up truck, just like the night before.
His hands were under his head; his forest green eyes were focusing on a particular star. He knew that she was even more pissed this time, but he already had a plan. A plan that took a lot of convincing to get Clay and Omi to go along with. He was glad that she had agreed to meet him. It made things a lot easier for him, and made his plan less complicated to follow through.
"Is it me, or do we wound up here a lot?" she asked in a slightly agitated tone, staring at the stars.
"I don't know what you're talking about, girl," he replied, flashing a smile to her. He watched her roll her eyes and he couldn't help but smirk.
"Stargazing… on your car. Having arguments about the same old reasons. Does any of that ring a bell?" she asked, annoyed.
"Nope. Not at all." Another smile was flashed. He gives her a sly grin as his puts his arm around her shoulder. "I was just kidding, Kimiko."
"Is everything a—"
"Joke? Not at all, my dear Kimiko. You said that you wanted a romantic boyfriend. Now, I know that I can't always be the guy you want me to be, Kimiko. Because if I was, you'd be bored with me."
"I would never be bored about you if you were or weren't the perfect romantic boyfriend."
"Perfection is imperfection, Kimiko. There's nothing boring as a plain old snobby boyfriend."
"True, true." She looks at him. "You'll never be the romantic boyfriend of my dreams, will you?"
"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?" he put his hands to his chest, pretending to be hurt.
She smiles at him. "It means that you're perfect just the way you are."
"But you'd wish I was a little more romantic, right?" Raimundo guessed.
"Kind of…" she looks at him. "But you're perfect just the way you are."
"You sound disappointed." His leaned in closer to her, so that their faces were inches apart. He could feel his heart beating fast, and he was pretty sure her heart was pounding just as fast as well.
"I'm not…" she said, smiling at him. "I'm just—" Her sapphire eyes widen as her jaws slightly dropped. He could hear explosion-like noises in the background, and he turned to look over his shoulder.
"Aww man!" Raimundo muttered, watching the sky explode with rainbows of colors. Of course Clay and Omi would set the fireworks off before I give them the signal. He looks at his girlfriend to notice the strange look on her face. "You said that you wanted sparks… you just never told me how you wanted it delivered to you."
She looked at him, blushing. "Now that, Raimundo, was romantic and cheesy."
He scowls at her. "Can't a guy be a little cheesy once every while?"
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "A romantic guy was way overrated anyway."
He smiles at her, taking a glance at the sky from the corner of his eyes. The sky was still thundering and exploding with millions of color. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
Despite how cheesy the moment was, she couldn't help but think about how the firework's sparks couldn't compare to the sparks she felt when he kissed her right then, right there.
A/N: I am just craving to write fluff-whether it's really fluffy or not. I've had this story stuck in my head for a while (for months actually)... I had intended for this to be a Ben 10 fic, but if I had written this as a Ben 10 fic, the characters would have been so OOC. Plus, I'm in a RaiKim mood. There are so many nice RaiKim writers and supporters for this fandom.
Raimundo's plan was to kiss her, and give his friends a signal to set off fireworks. That way, she would actually see sparks instead of feel sparks when he kissed her. But as you have read, Clay and Omi had set the fireworks off a little too early. I hope you enjoyed it!
Comment/Review? It'll be very much appreciated!