Author's Note: This is an AU fic. Some, or others, are or will be OOC.

Summary: Kimiko Tohomiko wants to prove to her father that she doesn't need to depend on him or his money. When she moved into her new apartment, she never knew that the guy who lived across from her could be the worst neighbor she could ever imagine. RaiKim!

Pairings: Raimundo Pedrosa x Kimiko Tohomiko. Clay Bailey x Keiko.

Rating T. Just for your safety and mine.

Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Guitar Solos At One In The Morning.

She should have known better. Her father was testing her. She should have known it right from the start. She groaned when she felt her shoulder tense up as she dragged another case of shoes up the stairs. She wanted to prove to her father that she was independent. She didn't want her father to use his money to control her life.

Before she had even left for her flight, she had a nasty conversation with her father. His words were still echoing in her head.

"You're not going to last a month without my money, Kimiko. So why do you even bother trying?"

She would have asked someone from the floors below hers to help her carry her things from the taxi, but she decided she might as well start her independence at the door of the lobby. Plus, she was afraid of the men who lived on the first floor. They looked at her as if she was an expensive steak. She didn't really want to get to know them, and she really didn't want them to know what floor she lived on.

Sticking the key into the doorknob, she heard the lock click before the door swung open. Using the money her mother had given to her in her will; it covered the cost of rent for the next few months while she looked for a job. She didn't want to be like daughters of rich, wealthy businessmen who milked their father nonstop for money.

Sighing with relief, she wiped the bead of sweat off of her forehead as she grabbed a bottle of water off of the kitchen's counter top. Taking a sip, she eyed her apartment. It had taken her over an hour to bring up her possession without any help. She was about to reward herself by buying a new pair of shoes when she reminded herself that she had to be independent now.

She could still feel her father's credit card burning in her wallet. Before she had left, her father had handed her one of his many credit cards saying, "This is just in case." She knew what he had really wanted to say was, "Kimiko. You're not going to make it on your own. This is so that when you finally realized how foolish you are, you can use this to pay for your flights to come back home."

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, she set the bottle of water back onto the counter top. She was glad that she didn't have to bring the flat-screen TV upstairs. Her best friend was supposed to come by later with her fiancée and help her bring up the heavier things. Until then, she had hours to kill.

"Might as well unpack," she said, chewing on her lower lip. She really didn't know where to start. "Keiko better come by soon or I'll be unpacking until I'm fifty."

-x-

"This building looks familiar," Keiko said as she watched her fiancée, Clay Bailey, push the TV across the living room. "No, honey. The TV needs to be a bit more to the right."

He grunted as a reply. "This is the finest TV I have ever seen in my entire life."

Kimiko grinned. "My father gave it to me as a 'going away' gift. He also gave me a sports car. He acts as if I can't do things myself."

"That was your car outside?" Clay said, his eyes widening with envy. He whistled. "Woo-wee, girl. Now tell me again why you want to leave a life of luxury for a life like this?"

Pouting at him, Kimiko said, "That life is very boring and dull. I want to live a life where my future's not planned out. Go with the flow. Things like that, you know?"

Keiko pursed her lips. "I'm glad that you're doing this, Kimiko. Show your dad how independent you are!" She grinned at her friends as she gave her friend a 'thumbs up' to show how she was supporting her friend. Frowning a bit, she said, "You know… I think it might sound strange, but I think I've been in this apartment building before. I've been in an apartment similar to this one."

Clay chuckled. "Many apartments look alike."

"You're right," Keiko said, smiling a bit. "I don't know what I was thinking." She looked at her friend who was sorting through the dishes next to her. "Can you believe it? I'm getting married to him in a month!"

Kimiko grinned at her friend. "I know! I'm happy for you, Kei. I really am. But right now, let's focus on unpacking, hmm? Perhaps later, we can all go out for dinner?"

Keiko shakes her head. "We're supposed to meet Clay's parents for dinner later. How about we hang out tomorrow? We can go to the mall and try out the new clothes."

"Women and their love for shopping," Clay muttered, shaking his head.

"Men and their love of football and cars," Kimiko shot back, causing Clay to grin at her.

"Touché," he said, tipping his hat at her before pushing the TV slightly a bit more. "Ladies, is the television in the 'perfect' location now?"

Glancing up from the dishes, Kimiko and Keiko exchanged looks.

"I guess," Keiko said in a distasteful tone. "Now be a man and help us unload these dishes."

"Will do, ma'am," he replied, as he sat down across from the two. His left brow slightly rose as he saw the picture of a cat on one of the many dishes in the box. "Do I even want to know?"

Kimiko stifled a giggle at the sight of the ghastly plate. "There was this guy who thought I liked them when we were window shopping together." She sighs. "I couldn't get rid of it, because it's not lady-like for someone to throw away their gift or give it away."

Clay nodded. Coming from Texas, he knew a lot about hospitality, which was why he quickly understood what she was saying. "I think that my grandma has this pattern." He grinned, watching a grimace appear on her porcelain face.

Keiko slapped his arms. "Clay. Play nice. I think it's cute."

"You think everything's cute," Kimiko pointed out, causing Clay to chuckle.

"That's so not true," Keiko shot back, folding her arm over her chest as a scowl appears on her face.

Clay smirked at his fiancée. "I'm sorry, honey, but I agree with Kimiko. You think the sweater my aunt Janice sent us for Christmas was cute."

"Well, it was!"

"It had three arms," Clay pointed out, smiling at her. He looks at Kimiko. "Is she always like this?" he asked, teasing his fiancée.

"Afraid so," Kimiko said, going along with him. "Good luck, Bailey." She pulls out a wine glass and stares at it with a funny look on her face.

He nods at her. She was the sister he never had. Sure, he had a sister back at home in Texas, but Jessie was nothing like Kimiko.

"Well, Clay and I have to get going. I have to go meet his parents. Their flight should be arriving soon."

Kimiko beamed at her friends. "Have fun, you two."

Keiko nods at her friend. "This apartment still looks familiar…" She muttered as she and Clay walked out the door of Kimiko's apartment.

-x-

By the time she was finished unpacking the last box, it was around midnight. Her hands were dirty, there were smudges on her face, and her hair was untidily tucked under a blue patterned bandana. Throwing an oily rag onto her coffee table, she collapsed onto the sofa and blew a strand of hair out of her face. She was worn out, tired, and kept on picturing herself relaxing in her bathtub, trying out the bath salts that Keiko gotten her for her birthday.

Curling up on the couch, she watched the news for a bit as she slowly drifted off into a night sleep. That was when she felt the couch, along with her apartment floor, and everything else that wasn't nailed down started to shake, vibrating as she heard an electric guitar being played.

She groaned in despair, drowning out the loud music by grabbing the throw pillow and pushing it against her ears to keep the music out. Just as she had hoped would happen, the music slowly drifted to a stop. Smiling smugly to herself, she dropped the pillow onto the ground and turned so that she was facing the coach. She pulled her knees closer to her chest, at the brink of falling asleep when the music returned—louder than ever.

Groaning, she pulled herself off the coach. Grabbing the bat that her aunt had forced her to take with her as a safety precaution, she walked out of her apartment and looked down the hallway, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. She knew that she was living on the top floor, so that meant that the person who was playing the loud music was only on her floor.

Propping the bat on her shoulder, she clutched onto it tightly as she kept her back against the wall to make sure that no one could sneak up from her from behind. Realizing that the volume of the music lowered as she walked further and further away, she quickly sprinted back towards her apartment. That was when she knew which apartment had the loud music.

"Why isn't anyone complaining?" she muttered in disbelief. She made a mental note to tell the apartment's supervisor about the music. Politely knocking on the door, she was wondering when the racket would stop. It felt like an hour as she waited in front of the door. Taking it up a notch, she started pounding on the door rapidly. She was too focused on knocking on the door to realize that the music had stopped.

"Can I help you?" the door quickly swung open, revealing a tall, towering young man. He ran his hand through his hair in a suave-like fashion; a smirk appeared on his face as his green eyes sparkled with mischief. "I didn't know that call girls come at one in the morning."

A scowl appears on her face as her eyes narrowed. "Ex-cuse me?" Hands on her hips, she snapped, "I am not a call girl."

His eyes quickly examined her small body. "Too bad…" He looks at her. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"No! I—"

But before she could say anything else, he slammed the door in her face.

"Why… that bastard!" She started pounding on the door rapidly again. If I had gone to the gym more, I would have been strong enough to kick down this door, she thought to herself as she heard her knocking being drowned out by a guitar riff.

The door swung open once again. "I didn't know I have a fan already." He smiles at her. "How… cute."

"Can you turn it down?" she snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "There are some people that live here that aren't deaf from the sound of your crappy music yet."

He looks at her once again. "I've never seen you around before. New around here?"

She hesitated. "I live across from you." She jerked her thumb to point to the door behind her.

He nodded. "Cool." He looks at her. "Are we done now?" He asked, blankly. "I have rehearsal to get back to."

"At one in the morning? Who would have guitar solos at one in the morning?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes. "I'll report you to the supervisors!"

"I'd like to see you try," he said, smirking at her. He folded his arms across his chest and slightly leaned against the frame of the door.

She scowls at him. "I think I will!" She said. She turned on her heels, and stormed off. Looking over her shoulder, she added, "And just so you know, I am not going to be nice about it."

"I'm so scared," he mocked, smirking at her. This is going to be very interesting, he thought as he was about to close the door.

"Shut up!" she shouted, giving him the finger.

"I'll dedicate my next guitar solo to you, princess." He slammed the door before she could say shout something obscene towards him.

She glared at the door with a shocked expression. "Do not call me princess!" And with that, she slammed her door.

A/N: "I start out with a sizzle, I end with a bang." This shall be my quote from now on. I just came up with it off the top of my head. XD

As you can see (from this one and Bittersweet Love), I like to pair Keiko and Clay for some strange and odd reason. My reasons are: Kimiko is like a sister to Clay, and vice versa. Stories about how a girl falls in love with her best friend's brother are cute. Therefore, I ship Keiko and Clay. Since Keiko's best friend is Kimiko... Do the math. ^_^

What is a call girl? If you're wondering what a "call girl" is, it's a prostitute. A "classy" prostitute.

And if you're wondering, yes… that was Raimundo. Unlike Bittersweet Love, this fic is AU, fully AU, and nothing but AU. Lol.

I know that I'm still writing Bittersweet Love... but I hate just working on just one RaiKim story (not one-shot).

Therefore, I shall write this one and the other one. Plus, this one will be better (in my opinion) since it doesn't focus on Heylin/Xiaolin dragons and what not. That's why this one is fully AU, not partly AU.

Anyways...

Comment and review? It'll be very much appreciated.