Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown.
(A/N) Someone asked me to do a prequel to 'Remember Me Rai?' back while I was writing it. However, I got an idea for a sequel and did that first. However, I'm getting this done now. This is dedicated to everyone who reviewed 'Remember Me Rai?' and 'Keep With Me Kimiko'. You've made those two my most reviewed stories so far. Major thanks! You're all brilliant! Luv Becky.
Raimundo stared out across the land, looking down at the Xiaolin Temple below. He sighed and ran a hand through his spiked up hair. He hadn't been back since he had helped Wuya back into her body and he was beginning to miss it. He leaned against the rock wall behind him, thinking. Nothing had made him miss it before. What was it all of a sudden? Why did he suddenly want to go back? He knew deep down, why he wanted to go back, but denying it was the only thing keeping him sane right now. He missed his friends.
Raimundo closed his eyes and faces of his friends went across his mind. Omi, clay, Dojo, Master Fung and then Kimiko… his thoughts lingered on her pale face. The pale skin, shining eyes, the small smile and long, flowing black hair.
"Raimundo!" came a croaking voice behind him. He rolled his eyes and turned around.
"We're supposed to be hiding from the Xiaolin Warriors until we have more information of their plans, now get away from the entrance to the cave." Snapped Wuya, flicking her long hair back over her shoulder.
"Whatever," said Raimundo, walking past her and following the lights down to the main room in the network of caves.
"Don't speak to me in that arrogant tone!" snapped Wuya.
"What are you going to do? Find another Xiaolin Warrior to help you out?" asked Raimundo, smirking, "Or would you prefer Jack Spicer?"
Wuya didn't answer. She knew that she needed his knowledge of the Xiaolin Warriors to beat them and if it hadn't been for Raimundo, she wouldn't have known about this network of caves which would allow her to get to the temple quickly. What was worse was that Raimundo knew it. He was constantly throwing it in her face that she needed him as much as he needed her.
"I am interested in why your thoughts keep returning to your friends in the temple," said Wuya as Raimundo froze in the passage, "And why they always halt on Kimiko."
"That, is none of your concern," said Raimundo, imitating the phrase which had so often been used on him by Master Fung and now Wuya.
"Why do you insist on denying that you've had thoughts of returning to the temple?" asked Wuya.
"If it was any of your business, I would tell you," said Raimundo, "But for now, just be happy that I'm on your side and that's where I'm staying."
Raimundo walked away, leaving Wuya standing near the entrance to the cave. As she followed him down the passage, she didn't notice the three remaining Xiaolin dragons, walking along the path below the mountain, towards the river…
"What do you mean?" asked Kimiko, "I could win in any fight!"
"You are only fourteen, and a woman!" said Omi, ignoring Clay's signals not to play the 'woman' card, "therefore, you are at a disadvantage to most men!"
"Oh really?" said Kimiko, stopping and placing a hand on her hip.
"Oh yes," Said Omi, nodding his head solemnly, "Although you are strong for a woman, you don't have to upper body strength that most men have to their advantage and would therefore, lose in a fight to me or Clay."
"I'm not so sure," Said Clay, "I think she'd do pretty fine in a fight against one of us."
"She could defend herself well, of course, I am not denying that." Said Omi, "however, she would not win."
"Oh well in that case," Said Kimiko, "Maybe you would like to fight me now? Then we'd see who'd win in a fight."
Omi shook his head and breathed in deeply.
"I'm afraid that is not possible," Said Omi, "It would be a waste of our time and you strength."
Kimiko promptly smacked his across the head and continued to walk stiffly towards the river.
"That," Said Omi, "Was rude."
The river hadn't changed since the last time they had come, but last time they had come, Raimundo had been at their side. Kimiko looked down at the water, flowing smoothly below her. The occasional ripple would appear where a fish would stick up its head but other than that, nothing moved. She sat down pulled of her sandals before dipping her feet into the cool water. It was difficult to imagine that time now. Raimundo hadn't been on their team for about a year now.
It was strange, but she almost longed for those times when everything had been much more simple. Back then they didn't all go silent whenever someone mentioned Raimundo. Back then they had never had to face the fact that the next showdown they entered could be against him. They never considered that they might have to fight each other. However, back then Wuya hadn't been solid and they didn't have to worry about her killing them any moment.
Kimiko looked up, past the mountains. It was confusing and unusual, but sometimes she would feel like Raimundo was right there, watching them, but at the same time this made her uneasy that Wuya would be right there as well. She remembered all the photos she had back at the temple. Lots of them had all four of them together. When Raimundo had first switched sides, Kimiko had cut him out of a whole lot of them, but there were still a few that she'd missed.
Kimiko laughed to herself, thinking of how she could just be sitting there and Raimundo could be hiding up in that mountain, looking down at the temple, thinking the same thing …
"Kimiko! Why did you run off like that?" Called Clay, "you're not pissed off are you?"
"Don't take me so seriously," Laughed Kimiko, sarcastically "Remember, I'm only a woman."
They laughed and Kimiko pulled her feet out of the water. But really, she thought, the idea of Raimundo staying in the mountains watching over them was quite ridiculous.
Long after night fell; Raimundo looked down at his 'glow-in-the-dark' watch face. The dragons would right now be told to turn of their lights. Sure enough, as he stuck his head out of the passage and looked down, the lights in the temple windows went out. The last one to go out was probably Kimiko's and any moment now she'd light up the screen on her personal computer to carry on whatever she was doing. She did the same thing every night. She didn't like to be told to go to bed early. After all, she had been the spoilt daughter of a rich Japanese Business man and wasn't used to taking orders. That was why she hadn't liked Omi when she first met him, but she'd been too busy talking on her mobile phone to tell him.
"The lights are out," He called back down the passage.
"Good," Said Wuya, staring at him icily.
She wasn't going to mention the fact that once again she knew that his thoughts had gone straight to Kimiko. She wasn't even going to explain to him what these thoughts probably meant. He could probably figure it out himself if he bothered to put his mind to it. However, his mind was normally busy trying to figure out how to do the next task Wuya was going to ask him to do. That, or they were reminiscing that the temple. Quite pathetic now she thought about it. The only two things on his mind directly conflicted with each other. How to rejoin the temple and how to steal from the temple. Luckily for her, the stealing side was the one dominating … for now.
"Then shall we attempt to gain entrance?" Asked Wuya.
"Yeah, keep your wig on," Said Raimundo, "We'll be in and out in a matter of minutes."
"Good, then let's get going." Said Wuya.
"Cool it," Said Raimundo, "We've got to be careful. If you aren't then one of the dragons could wake up and right now I don't really feel like doing a showdown. Especially not three against one or even two at that."
"Well in that case, be quiet," Said Wuya, "and get moving."
Raimundo glared after her as she descended elegantly down the side of the mountain. If his plans worked, he'd do more than just 'get moving'. He'd be moving straight out of this damn cliff and off to Brazil. Back to a real life. Hopefully, with Wuya dead and buried, but he couldn't think about it now. Not with Wuya constantly reading his thoughts to check he as still loyal. Oh yes, he knew she was doing it, even if she didn't know he knew. No one sneaked around in his brain without him knowing. That creepy little witch. She wouldn't stand a chance once his plan was put into to action.
"Are you coming or not?" Wuya snapped back up at him.
"Yeah, whatever," Said Raimundo, starting down the side of the cliff, forcing him mind onto the plan at hand.
Kimiko switched off the light in her room and turned on her personal computer screen. The light lit up the page in her diary that she was writing on and cast a pale blue light on her already pale face. She put pen to paper and started to scribble down the usual garbage about how Omi had said this and how they had all done that.
Kimiko suddenly slammed the book shut. What was the point? The point of a diary was to express yourself, but she never did. All she was really feeling was annoyed, disappointed, impatient and hurt. All she was thinking was about how Omi had annoyed her, how Raimundo hadn't shown up in ages, how Clay was remaining so calm through all this; hiding behind a smokescreen of ridiculous comparisons.
She put the book down and switched off the light on her computer before lying down and pulling the covers right up to her chin. Maybe a decent night's sleep for a change would make a difference in her thought pattern.
No sooner had Kimiko closed her eyes than she heard the clunk of a paving slab being thrown aside. There was a hiss from a familiar voice to be quiet. Kimiko sat up. She knew that voice for definite and it was the same one she had been constantly focused on. At a guess, she wasn't going to get the good night's sleep she had been hoping for. She climbed out of bed and looked out of the window. There, climbing through a passage that only the dragons knew about, was Raimundo, shortly followed by …
"Wuya!" Gasped Kimiko.
She quickly pulled on her gear and headed for her bedroom door. She wasn't going to let them steal their Shen-Gong-Wu and get away with it.
Raimundo quietly slipped into the chamber. The Shen-Gong-Wu vault was now directly below them. He checked that Wuya was still behind him.
"How did you discover this passage way into the temple?" Asked Wuya.
"All the Xiaolin Dragons know about it. It's there as an emergency escape only route." Explained Raimundo.
"Why haven't we used it before?" asked Wuya.
"Because we needed to wait until they stopped guarding it. If we waited then they'd presume that we'd decided not to bother with the Shen-Gong-Wu." Explained Raimundo, not really paying attention to questions Wuya was shooting at him, "That way we can sneak in now."
There was a sudden, loud gong from behind them. Raimundo turned around and stared at the slender figure standing in the entrance to the chamber.
"Long time no see Rai," She said coldly.
"Kimiko!" Shouted Raimundo, "How did you know?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to stick around and listen out for you to go throwing paving slabs around the temple." Said Kimiko, "Just in case you decided to use the old passage to sneak in. Of course, we thought you'd given up," Her eyes thinned, "how stupid we were."
"I guess you're smarter than I thought," Said Raimundo, jumping into a defensive position.
"Yeah, but you never bothered to find out," Said Kimiko, preparing to attack.
"We're right behind you Kimiko!" Shouted Clay behind her, Omi at his side.
Raimundo smirked. Typical dragons, they all supported each other until it came to someone questioning what they were fighting for.
"What are you laughing at?" Asked Kimiko.
"You lot," Said Raimundo, "You all cling together until you have nothing left to cling to, then you attack."
"Well we'll see who's clinging to what when I've won!" Shouted Kimiko, jumping into the air and coming down, one leg outstretched.
The kick connected abruptly to Raimundo's chest. He fell backwards and she pinned him down. Checking that Omi and Clay were distracted with Wuya, he rolled over so he was on top of Kimiko. He pinned her arms adown and leant forward, close to her ear.
"Kimiko, I need your help," He whispered.
"What?" Said Kimiko, trying to struggle free, "Like I would help you, you traitorous bast …"
Raimundo put a hand across her face to keep her quiet.
"Please Kim," He said, his green eyes filled with sadness, "You're the only one I can trust."
Kimiko stopped struggling and he took his arm away.
"What makes you think you can trust me?" Asked Kimiko, her eyes thinning.
"Because I always could," Said Raimundo, "I know I was always a jerk to you, but I trust you and I need your help."
"What do I have to do?" asked Kimiko.
"Nothing yet." Said Raimundo.
Raimundo got up off her and reached out his hand. She took it; he pulled her up, winked … and punched her straight in the face. She flew backwards across the chamber and smashed into the wall. Raimundo stared at her for a second. Her face was flickering in the light coming from the lamps scattered around the chamber. He quickly turned to Wuya.
"It's not going to work! We've got to go!" He called.
Wuya glared at him. His idiotic plan had failed already and the passage would now be guarded. They'd never get a chance to return that way.
"Fine!" she called and grabbed him before running out of the temple.
Raimundo smiled to himself as they ran towards the mountains again. The message had been planted. With any luck the plan would work, but he couldn't think about it now. He could already feel Wuya starting to probe his mind for more ideas. He thought sternly of another way to get into the temple without getting caught, but secretly, he was smiling. Phase one was complete.
"How did Raimundo get past you?" Asked Omi.
Kimiko glared at him, rubbing her nose.
"I was stupid enough to trust him for a split second." He glared at the door way, "Jerk."
"What made you trust him?" Asked Clay, staring at him in disbelief.
"Nothing … it was my own fault." Said Kimiko.
She had decided against telling the others about Raimundo asking her for help. He didn't deserve her help anyway. She wasn't going to waste her time on him. However … why was he asking her in the first place? Why did she feel the urge to trust him? And why was her heart thumping beneath her chest at a thousand beats per second?
(A/N) This is part one. I'm only planning on doing a few chapters for this one. I'm hoping to squeeze it into as little as possible, however it will be detailed and they will be long chapters. This is the final part to Raimundo and Kimiko's tragic yet romantic tale. The story before the story. Hope you enjoy it. Luv Becky.