Title: Teddy Bear
Genre: Romance/fluff
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown. I really don't want to mess with the legal system!Word Count: 3152
Time of Completion:3:44 pm, July 25, 2007
dedication: To a reviewer named Alanna, I don't know if you still read these, but if you do this one's for you. I'm sorry for letting you down, I really meant to write another and make the winter series a trilogy, but that never happened. I'm back, this time for good, and I want to thank you for that last review!
Summary: Raimundo is away on special Shoku training, and Kimiko's having a bad and lonely night. She's about to find out what true comfort a teddy bear can really bring. Rai x Kim oneshot. Yay for Ninja Fred!
Here she stood, the castle around her heart falling to the ground. She needed desperately to tell him how she felt or the ruins would surely take her heart and bury it beneath them. It shouldn't be so hard, and she shouldn't have been making such a big deal of this anyway. It wasn't like he was falling off the face of the planet or something.
Kimiko sighed and shook her head slowly trying to clear it. She just wished he didn't have to do independent training anymore. She hated life at the temple when the over-cocky prankster was away on special "Shoku training."
"I believe she is out of the zone," Omi stated jumping up and down like a jelly bean and waving his yellow arms in her face.
"I think you mean zoned out partner." Clay corrected kindly. It wasn't that bad of a mess up in actuality. Omi's slang was getting a little bit better.
"Earth to Kimiko, you in there girl?" Raimundo laughed.
She didn't respond, but Rai watched her lips twitch downwards into a faint, hurt frown, and some dazed, sapphire eyes gloss over with clear tears.
"Hey Clay, Omi," Rai grinned (which was actually more of a upwards grimace), he hated to see Kimiko cry, but he wasn't about to be a comforter in front of the guys . "you wanna go through her stuff again? This time I call dibs on the diary!"
"Don't you dare touch my stuff Pedrosa!" Kimiko snapped.
"She's back," he laughed. "Why've you been so spacey lately?"
"I have NOT been spacey!" she insisted.
"Mmhmm, you're spacier 'n Jess when she got her first beau." Clay laughed, unfortunately everyone else was too disturbed by the idea of Clay's sister dating anyone to even consider laughing.
Rai coughed to clear the awkward silence.
"Any—way," he stressed. "You have been really out of it lately. Anything on your mind?"
"Nothing I feel like sharing," she snapped.
"Aww, girl I have to go in a few minutes, if you don't tell me now I'll be wondering about it the whole time!" Raimundo whined.
"Nope," she said popping the word like bubble gum. The thought of being on his mind for hours and hours was too good a chance to pass up. Although she didn't know she was on his mind pretty much all the time anyway.
"Kimiko, that is most unwise. If Raimundo has something on his mind he will lose focus and then he will never become as good as me," Omi chided. The initial acceptance of Raimundo's leadership had passed, and old habits die hard.
"I think you forgot something cheeseball, I'm better than you!" the wind warrior snapped.
"You got the leadership because you were reckless and lucky; if Master Fung had really thought about it he would have chosen me," Omi insisted.
"You want to say that again!" Rai yelled losing what was left of his temper.
"Chill out partners, no use hollerin' about chickens that wont hatch (a/n: things that won't change)." Clay calmly reasoned.
"Then tell the yellow balloon here to deflate his ego!" Raimundo growled forgetting he was supposed to be the more mature.
"You and your ego are sadly mistaken," Omi retorted. "I am the most modest person I know."
"That's it!" Raimundo shouted lunging at the four foot kickball.
Kimiko and Clay leaped in just in time to pull the two apart before any damage could be done. Clay stepped in front of Omi and forced the little monk to back up. Kimiko stood with her arms out blocking Raimundo, hoping (since she was sort of petite) that he wouldn't jump over her.
"He started it!" Omi insisted pointing a finger at Rai from behind Clay.
"Real mature Omi," the brunette grumbled sticking out his tongue.
"Rai," Kimiko warned placing her hand on his chest. "You are the leader, don't be stupid."
"Come on, let's head inside" Clay instructed leading Omi back to the temple door. "Bye Rai," Clay called not bothering to wait for a response, and not that he would've gotten one anyway. The Brazilian boy was seemingly under a trance, he was waiting for her to flip him into the ground but she just stood there as entranced as he was.
Kimiko and Raimundo stood in complete silence staring in each others' eyes, trying to read the other person's thoughts, and too dazed to move. Well that was until one itchy little, green dragon cut in.
"O-kaa-ay, this is really awkward!" Dojo enunciated.
"Sorry" Kimiko blushed finally turning her ocean blue eyes to the floor and dropping her hand.
Raimundo turned his forest green eyes to the side for a moment, but then he turned back to face her. In that moment he found the courage to tell her his longest kept secret at the temple, but before he could spill a word of it Dojo interrupted again.
"Come on Raimundo, I haven't got all day you know."
"By Kimi," Raimundo sighed.
"Bye Rai, when will you be back?" she asked feebly. She already knew from his past training sessions that it was either unknown or classified.
"I don't know, but as soon as I possibly can come back I will." he promised.
She watched with breaking heart, as he climbed on Dojo, and the giant green lizard flew off. She stood watching until the two were no longer visible, and she was all alone. Kimiko flopped down on the soft, green grass just outside the temple gates, and she cried.
'Green and soft just like his eyes' she thought miserably. She stayed out there with her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, and her head down. She felt he was so close to saying something that would change their relationship. She just felt it, and she knew in her heart that it had to be something good and important. These were going to be the loneliest days of her life.
...Day three...
tap...tap...tap...tap...tap...tap
she was pacing the temple halls around 11:00 pm. It wasn't as though she had anything to do but sleep anyway. That's what everyone else was doing. Sure they still trained during the day, but at night they had free time, and she spent her's pacing. Her remorse and restlessness kept her awake all night anyway.
Tap...tap...tap...tap...tap...tap..tap...tap
Three whole days. Three long, long, seemingly eternal days. By day one Clay had stopped making sense, by day two Omi had forgotten the fight with Rai and started arguing with her, and now day three she seemed almost insane to anyone who didn't know her better.
Tap...tap..tap...tap...tap..tap...tap..tap...tap...tap...tap..tap
Her thought's were whirling, she was sleep deprived and empty. At that moment even Jack Spicer could have beaten her, but she'd never admit that to anyone. She tried other things to calm down. She tried calling Keiko (who just laughed saying she had it bad), talking to the others (though she was reluctant to let them know about why she was upset), she'd even tried knitting to calm her down (which didn't go very well since she had no clue how to knit, and the needles couldn't be pulled out of the wall after she threw them there). In the end she found her only means of calming down were in pacing. Pacing kept her sane, and it calmed her thoughts, but with each time she walked the length of the hallway outside the cubicles her pace increased.
"Is this something ya've had on your mind a while, or is the fact that Rai's gone doin' this to ya?" the tired Texan asked nearly scaring the hot headed girl to death.
"Both! Neither! I don't know!" she stuttered, jumping nervously.
"Can't ya jus' find somethin' to comfort ya?" it's really hard to sleep with ya racin' back 'n forth outside the rooms." Clay yawned.
"Sorry. I guess I feel uneasy about R-I don't know." she apologized.
"Night Kimiko," the cowboy said before retiring once again to his tiny room.
'Comfort me? I've never had anything comfort me. Does he mean like comfort food?' she thought walking into her room and flopping down on her mat. 'Kids always have a blanket or stuffed animal to comfort them...right? I never did...I guess I was too wrapped up in electronics, and I always called Keiko when I felt down.'
Suddenly something in her over-exhausted mind clicked. Silently (or so she thought) she snuck into Rai's room and began to search for something. If she could find it that would be great, but if not a t-shirt or something would work too. She just needed something of his to hug for a few minutes.
The past three days may have brought no luck whatsoever but good fortune was about to come her way. Tugging back the covers of his unmade bed (trust Raimundo to never do more than he had to) she found the little, brown bear. Gingerly she picked him up and held him to her in a loose hug. She thought she just needed to hug it to feel better, but suddenly she felt tempted to take the little brown critter back to her room, and curl up with it. Temptation got the better of her and she took the bear reasoning that Rai wouldn't be back for at least a few more days.
She curled up on her mat with the tiny grizzly in her arms. She brought it up to her face and inhaled the scent. It smelled just like Rai did, and that brought her true comfort. She missed him, but his scent made it seem like he was right there with her. She kissed the small creature on his dark nose and then fell into a blissful and much needed sleep, wondering why she never had a stuffed animal.
...midnight...
Exhaustion was a major understatement. He hadn't slept for three days straight, and he was really looking forward to going and collapsing with Ninja Fred. He couldn't believe he forgot his bear (although if anyone asked it was only a good luck charm)! That was one of the reasons he had been unable to sleep. Another was that he'd had the guts and the chance to tell Kimiko how he felt and it slipped through his fingers like ashes.
The training had been rigorous and rather random. He had to help a nearby town that had been flooded and someone always needed something more, so he never got a break.
Finally Dojo landed in the gates and curled up in the dirt fast asleep. Raimundo lazily walked into the building dropping Dojo by the meditating room. Part of being the leader was taking care of the others before taking care of himself. He was always very good about that since he grew up in a large family.
He finally made it to his tiny hole in the wall and flopped on his mat. He ran his arms across the floor searching for Ninja Fred, too tired to even open his eyes. It was a failed attempt, and Rai's eyes shot open. He started frantically digging through all the junk, and tossing things everywhere just to find the teddy bear. It didn't matter how tired he was, if the bear was gone, he wouldn't sleep.
"What'd you lose?" Clay asked making Rai jump five feet in the air.
"Don't do that! You scared the heck out of me!" Raimundo snapped.
"Well it's been a really terrible night. I can't sleep with Kim pacing, and you digging like a maniac!" Clay argued.
"Well, I'm missing something!" Raimundo blushed, unwilling to admit the item's identity.
"Your teddy bear?" Clay asked knowingly.
"Well, yeah." Rai admitted turning bright scarlet.
"Kim may have it. I think she went in here." Clay reasoned.
Raimundo started storming out his room, ready to face the girl who he assumed took it as a prank. Clay stopped him at the curtain.
"Don't be mad at her, I don't think she meant you harm. She's had a rough past few days." Clay whispered, the big brother in him showing.
"Huh?" Rai was caught off guard, "what's been wrong with her?"
"She didn't say, but she was pacing the hall a little less than an hour ago. She looked really upset. Ya need to talk to her. Tell her, but Rai-" Clay cut off blushing. He had never been good about talking about this.
"What?" the wind dragon asked a little irritated.
"Control yourself." the blonde cowboy warned walking back to his own room for some much desired sleep.
"Control yourself," Rai mimicked laughing. His temper would flair up sometimes, but he didn't think he was that bad. Little did he know Clay's warning had nothing to do with tempers...
He pulled back the curtain to Kimiko's room and almost aww-ed. Although saying something like that kind of demotes you as a guy, but he had to admit she looked pretty cute curled up around Ninja Fred. He almost left the room, he almost let her have the bear, but then he wouldn't be himself. She teased him for the bear all the time, but this time the tables were turned. He pushed his tiredness aside, walked up to her, and poked her in the stomach gently. She released the bear for a second, and he snatched it. He was going to wake up the peaceful, black-haired girl, but she'd subconsciously realized the teddy was missing and grabbed for the next closest thing: him.
One second he was leaning over her, and the next he was sprawled on top of her. She nuzzled her head in his shoulder and she could have sworn he heard her murmur his name. Finally he reacted trying his best to get off of her and wiggle out of her grasp. Her grip on him tightened and her legs wrapped around his waist. He had to do something quick or he'd lose to his hormones which were screaming at him to take her. He coughed loudly to clear his head and ended up waking up the sleeping girl.
Blinking a second she looked at him puzzled.
"Rai?" she asked tentatively.
"Yes?" he replied still fighting and losing to his hormones.
"Am I dreaming?" she queried carefully.
"No. Please no!" he moaned trying to fight as best he could but feeling defeat closing in on him.
"Are you alright?" she questioned a little frightened.
"You. Legs. Damn hormones." he grunted mincing up the sentences.
"What?" she was shocked by him right now. She had yet to realize the torture she was putting him through.
'Think cold,' Rai forced. 'Glaciers, pushups, ice, Canada, snow...'
"You look a little warm? Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she asked giving a half pout.
'Why?' Raimundo's head was screaming. 'Someone must hate me!!'
He couldn't take it anymore. He brought his lips crashing down on hers in desire and passion. He hands began to roam up and down her body, and oddly enough she didn't pull away.
His morals were screaming at him saying that it was wrong, he was leader he should know better, and that he would regret this, but his hormones argued that she was kissing back.
Suddenly she pulled away looking a little confused and quite a bit upset.
"What are you doing?" she asked seeming very hurt.
"What?" Rai questioned. It was then the hormones in his head screamed "abort" and fled.
"My dreams have never gone that far before." the fire dragon blushed but was firm of voice, "and I don't know if I want them to."
Raimundo realized what she was talking about and quickly removed his hand from under her night shirt. He didn't remember placing it there and now he felt especially guilty about it.
"Girl...I don't know how to break this to you, but...you're not dreaming." he apologized wracked with guilt. Then something else hit him. "Hey wait, you dream about making out with me?" that was a major stroke to his ego.
"I'm not dreaming?" she whispered turning so bright a red it would put a tomato to shame. If this was dream it was turning into a real nightmare.
"No, and I'm sorry you were kinda..." he cut off embarrassed .
"I must be dreaming. I fell asleep with your teddy bear. You're away on training!" she insisted frightened.
"Well, actually I got back a while ago, and Ninja Fred was missing so I came to find him. Clay said something about you having him. I tried to take him back but you pulled me down and your legs...wrapped around me. You're a distraction enough normally, but that was too much." Raimundo explained adding an extra "sorry" at the end.
Kimiko released Rai, jumped away from him, and she burst into tears.
"Why're you crying? Come on girl, stop crying now." he pleaded scooting close to her again.
"I just made a huge fool of myself in front of you, and now you probably think I'm crazy of something." she cried.
"I don't think you're crazy, girl I love you." he stated blushing like crazy.
"Really?" she sniffed slowing the tears down to a stop.
"Yeah, I meant to tell you before I left for training but Dojo cut in." Raimundo grinned.
"I-I love you too." she smiled wiping her eyes, "oh, and Rai..."
"Huh?" he asked.
"Sorry for teasing you for having a teddy bear." she giggled.
"See I told you Ninja Fred was good luck." he said.
The two scooted together and shared a simple, tender kiss.
"Night Kim," Raimundo whispered ready to finally collapse back in his own room.
"Rai, I could still use some comforting. Maybe you'd like to stay and be my teddy bear." she timidly cooed.
"Sure," Raimundo smiled.
In the other cubical a blue-eyed Texan was shaking his head. All this sleep lost over a stupid teddy bear.
Finnies
I hope you liked it. I don't have too much to say about this one. I think Ninja Fred is pretty cool. It makes Rai seem more human, more vulnerable, and that's kind of a nice thing to see in a cocky, tough guy. I like teddy bears, so this one's for Ninja Fred! Yay! This is a oneshot, thanks in advance for all who review. I'm not afraid of flames, and I do appreciate useful criticism. Thanks for reading! Please review!
Much love,
Heart