Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers.

A/N: I love the idea of Tommy being with Kimberly in High School; but I just couldn't believe a lot of stories that gave them both a continuation of their high school romance in a reunion fic.
The idea for this story came to me as I was reading a forum, which said that Tommy/Kim fics aren't original anymore. That people are writing the same things over and over again with different wording, so I figured I'd give it a crack at it and try to do an original Tommy/Kim story.

Innocent Beggar
Part I / Through her Eyes

A few steps more and the long hallway would now be a left turn. He turned quickly as he clumsily stumbled on a thick rug with his small feet. Holding the clipboard tight, Henry Kirk squeezed his fingers inside his tight denim jean pocket to retrieve a small paper that had been given to him earlier that day. Buzzing about in his head, he counted his rapid breaths as he approached the door to his destination.

Calling her name was of great importance to the short bald man as he opened the dressing room door slightly after knocking gently. "Ms. Hubert, they're ready for you ma'am." He spoke softly but audibly enough to be heard as he poked his head in through a barely opened white door.

Linda Hubert turned having to stretch her head a bit more than anticipated as she sat in her make up chair. "I'll be right there," she said as she got up and began walking toward the elderly man. He smiled at her, making her smile back at him as she let her short black hair sway from side to side as she followed Henry to the photo-shoot.

"Ah-ha!" a loud voice came shooting her way. "Ms. H number one!" the photographer said as he saw from the corner of his eye, Linda approaching. She was taken back a bit by the sound, but saw the sight in front of him and could quickly see the happiness he held in his voice.

Linda smiled at this as she saw her best friend, usually opponent, Kimberly Hart sitting strong on a balance beam holding a powerful pose for the camera. Behind her read the statement, 'Train Hard, Win Harder', being this month's slogan on the popular sports magazine, Sports Digest.

The two girls met in Florida at the tender ages of sixteen and eighteen. Linda was already a Pan Global champion and was put as Kimberly's mentor in various gymnastic coaching by the head coach, Schmidt. The two girls won various competitions against each other and other American or foreign girls sometimes coming in first and the other in second. They were often called 'The Hot H's' for their competitors' strive to be number one. One thing always remained clear between the two, no matter how much they hated one another in competitions, they loved each other like sisters outside of the arenas.

Pulling a thick strand of greasy uneasy hair behind her ear, she felt the main hairstylist come at her quickly before pulling the strand back to its rightful position. "No" he said in a hoarse tone, "don't pull hair back, front like this" he said in a thick Brazilian accent as he positioned it once more.

"Okay" she said slowly as she looked at him questioning his sanity somehow instantly knowing the answer. "I won't touch it" she agreed making him turn quickly and walked away with his head held high mockingly.

Kim saw this and grinned at her friend who smiled back at her. Shrugging her shoulders and chuckling under her breath, she turned back at David, the photographer, who was almost done with this segment. "Okay" she heard the muscular British man say. "That takes care of the first shots."

Removing her pose, she exhaled strongly as she stepped down from the balance beam. "Shouldn't we get a couple of shots together?" she asked as she pointed to her friend's side.

"Not this one, I have an image in my head" was all he said in his British accent as he prepared for the next installment of shots for Linda.

Kimberly, seeing as he wasn't going to resume speaking of the subject, retrieved her robe from her nearby assistant and walked toward her friend. "Good luck" she simply said passing her by and tying the belt in front of her before getting pulled back a bit.

"With a guy like this" Linda whispered into her ear, "I'm gonna need it."

Kim at this laughed silently and gave Linda a slight nudge on the back pushing her toward the set up gym jokingly.

- - -

Yawning with exhaustion, the petite gymnast cursed under her breath as she let herself free fall onto the large king sized bed in her mansion home letting her legs hang off the side of the bed. Spreading her arms out, she looked up at the ceiling seeing herself in the mirror just above her. She smiled at her reflection before making a funny face by trying to tweak her nose from side to side. Not being able to, she then puffed her cheeks out and smiled making them puff even more. She let out her breath and closed her eyes as she banged her hanging heels back and forth. Yawning once more, she felt her eyes close to have them open with liquid in them. She wiped the tears away and felt a bit of a sting in both her eyes and the hint of heaviness in them.

Her body jerked abruptly as she heard the phone ring loudly. Pressing her right hand over her chest, she pulled herself up and instead of grabbing the phone, she saw the time first for some reason. "Hello" she said as she picked up the receiver.

"Hey K, we're all going out tonight" came the distinct voice of her friend Carol Loud. Although her last name was Loud, Kimberly often thought her first name should be Really.

"Carol, it's Wednesday…" she began to say before having her friend's voice jump in.

"Since when have we checked our schedule on going out?" she asked.

"Well, technically…" she began again before getting cut off.

"Come on…we're going to The Link…" silence through the line, "I heard DJ Mix will be in charge of the music…" no more needed to be said.

"I'm there," Kimberly said wanting to see her famous, gorgeous two-month fling again.

Mario Vastros, also known as DJ Mix, was somewhat of a bad boy being rude and inconsiderate to whomever crossed his path. Making thousands by his own mixing music, and millions from his turn-table skills, fame went to his head quickly. Yet all in all, he always seemed to take a rare liking to Kim. Sure he treated people like crap, but her; he was different with her. He always acted like a gentleman around her and whomever she hung out with. He didn't know what it was, but he took a distinct pinch of lust toward her from the fist day they met at a celebrity birthday party.

- - -

What seemed like the longest line to a rock concert could be seen pasted on the side of the wall at The Link. Two bouncers could be seen checking for ID and declining some people's entrance. A new hot club, Yores, was opening, but everyone wanted to be part of The Link. The club's owners new Yores was opening that night, so they set up a meeting with DJ Mix and had him DJ that night to keep their clientele at full capasity.

Getting off of her new Ceno Bentley, Kimberly and her friends walked toward the door giving her keys to the valé, and easily walking inside without having to look at the bouncer.

"Nice turnout" Linda said as she took off her light jacket from the heat of the club already getting to her.

"Yeah, it's really…full" Kim said halting her words as she looked up to the DJ box grinning as she saw Mario doing what he was there to do.

"I knew it!" Carol said taking her boyfriend's hand, "As soon as we walked in, I told George you were going to look for him."

Kimberly at this scoffed. "I don't think so. I was looking at the dance floor," she said as she began to walk to their usual reserved booth. "There's a lot of cute guys tonight" she tried to play off.

"Yeah right…" Linda said looking up at the box, "but all you want is right there." She moved her hands in a circular motion toward the DJ. At this, Kim quickly turned her way and pulled Linda's hands down.

"Okay fine, yes, I'm looking at him; but do you have to make it so obvious?"

"Yes!" she yelled in Kim's ear having the music blazing louder now as they continued to walk, "How else is he going to see that we're here?"

- - -

Drinks were freely passed around, heads began to get light, and eyes started to get pink with blurry vision. Kim laughed the songs through as she danced with random guys, friends, and fans; while the entire time she kept looking up to see if Mario could see her. Then finally, it happened. He looked down at the precise moment she was looking at him. Holding part of his headphones in one ear, pressing it against his shoulder as he scratched the album, he made eye contact with Kimberly.

She smiled at him as she continued dancing with Linda. Her smile soon turned to a frown as she saw him grin at her for less than a second before looking down at his equipment. Wrinkling her eyebrows, she abruptly stopped dancing and walked to their booth. "What is it?" Linda asked her as she followed her friend hurriedly to sit down completely unaware of what had happened.

"He dissed me!" she yelled at her friend as if it were somehow her fault. Kim turned around toward where Carol was dancing with George a couple meters away from where she stood next to the booth. "I can't believe I let you talk me into coming!" she yelled her friend's way before getting her drink and storming out of the club.

Linda just sat there. Shocked at what she just saw. Her mouth wide open, eyebrows wrinkled, she squinted her eyes, then blinked. What was that? She thought to herself as she slid her drink to the side and having recollection that her mouth was still open, closed it. Still having her eyebrows in a questioning look, she looked up at the DJ box. Mario wasn't standing there anymore.

"What happened?" a loud voice next to her yelled into her ear.

Linda jumped at this and looked immediately to her left. "Mario? Uh…I don't know. She just left. I think she went to make a phone call." Not knowing what to say in the situation having that it had never happened before, she didn't know how to cover her friend's tracks, or knew if Kim even wanted them to be covered.

"Should I go talk to her?" he then asked seeing as how Linda was now getting up and fixing her jean skirt.

"No" she said waving her hand in front of his face from being a bit tipsy herself. "She's fine. I'll be right back!" she yelled into his ear before walking out balancing herself out of the club.

She searched for her friend once she stepped outside. Sitting on the curve, smoking a cigarette, she saw Kim crossing one arm around her flat abdomen, and the other leaning her elbow on her knee as she exhaled another hit.

"Kim" she called out before jogging to her friend's side and sitting next to her. She noticed not a single tear on her friend's face. Through all the years that she's known Kimberly, she always put up a brick wall when something got emotional in her life.

Her friend turned to look at her and cocked her head to the side. "What?" she said dryly.

"This isn't you" Linda told her. Kimberly wasn't one to smoke, she wasn't one to throw any type of tantrum… but then again, even though she was Incredible Woman in Linda's eyes, she said to herself that she was human.

"I know" retrieved Kimberly before taking another puff from the cigarette.

"Where did you get that cigar from?" she asked as she beat around the bush a little.

"He gave it to me" she said swaying her head to the side motioning to a tall thin guy in his mid twenties next to the girls.

Silence fell on both of them before Linda asked the question she was dreading to ask. "It's Mario isn't it?"

Kim at this turned her head quickly toward Linda as if she had accused her of murder. She stared into her best friend's eyes gloomily before looking down at the pavement. "It's true," she simply said before looking back up at her friend, "the strong emotions come out when you're drunk." She smiled and flicked the cigarette on the street.

Linda looked at her friend who began to smile. A chuckle escaped her lips and then another as the two girls began laughing at the short soap opera style they pulled. "Kim…go in there and talk to him."

Smiling, Kim looked down again and pressed her hands in between her knees. "I'm such a loser," she said jokingly, snorting a small laugh making the two girls laugh again, this time harder.

- - -

As the lights in the club turned on and illuminated most of the dancers and snakes around the clothed strippers, Kimberly sat up and looked at her cell phone. "Wow, it's four already" she said placing a strand of damp hair behind her ear. She looked up and saw Mario getting his things together and ending his long shift of the night and early morning. She started to look down at the table before she saw him taking a glimpse of her and giving her the smile she was waiting for. She grinned and simply looked down smiling still.

"Well?" Carol told Kim as she began to get her purse.

"Well what?" Linda responded for her.

"Come on K, you gotta talk to the dude sometime tonight" George said again butting into a situation that he wasn't invited into being completely unaware how early it was.

"I can't go up to him like this. I look horrible" she responded brushing her still damp hair with her fingers.

"Hmm, don't worry" Carol told Kim before getting a gleam in her eyes, "you won't have to go up to him." She grabbed George's hand and motioned to Linda with her head to leave with her. "Cuz he's obviously coming over here." She ended her quick statement by taking both friends with her and heading to another section of a nearby bar.

Kim at this turned quickly and froze trying to think fast of what could be done. It was too late, once she turned, she saw him sitting next to her in the booth.

"Hey beautiful" he told her as he sat down putting an arm around her.

She looked at him questionably and pulled away from him making him drop his arm and land on his leg.

"What's that about?" he asked her confused.

"I just want to ask you a question" she told him looking at him in his eyes making quotation marks with her fingers, "why did you 'kind of' smile at me then just looked down as if I didn't exist?"

He looked down at the table smiling before chuckling a bit to her frustration. "Look, you wanna know the truth, cutie?" He licked his lips. "Remember Javee's party last month? I gave you a call and you told me you'd call me back. Needless to say…I'm still waiting for that call."

Kim drew back the statement of insults she was holding in her mouth as she closed her lips shut hearing his voice once more.

"When I did that to you, I'm not gonna lie, it felt right to ignore you." He quickly started his next sentence before having her slap him for what he just said, "but seeing you leave like that; it made me realize that it was stupid. The last thing I wanna do is hurt someone I really like. Kim…I'm sorry if I hurt you. Honestly…that's the worst thing I could do to someone so incredible."

Her frown turned to a small smile, then grew as she saw him draw closer to her.

- - -

The sun rose from the east slowly bringing light into Kim's room. She felt the warmth of the Florida skies hitting her chest calmly then getting hotter as it rose to her face. Forcing herself up, she opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. Looking around her bedroom, she noticed her bare skin uncovered. Quickly pulling the sheets up over her chest shyly, she turned to her right searching for a missing body that should have been lying next to her. Instead, there was a note with a well-placed short stem rose on top of it. She opened it and read it to herself.

'Kimber-Sweet, can't see those beautiful chocolate brown eyes of yours flutter open. I have an early meeting with Robinson to talk about the California dancers for the show. I'll call you as soon as I can. –Your favorite Check, Mix'

She laughed tenderly at the letter and wrinkled her nose before smelling the strong scent coming from the rose she held. "This might be the one Kimmie" she told herself as she pulled the white sheet against her chest a bit tighter.

- - - - - - - - - -

Coming Next: Tommy's life isn't all fun and roses.