Title: Flowers for a Lady.

Author: Madmaddie.

Pairing: Raimundo/Kimiko.

Fandom: Xiaolin Showdown.

Theme: # 11, gardenia.

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

Kimiko Toho was amazed. Truly, completely and utterly astounded. Astonished beyond belief. She was totally dumbfounded.

Really, it wasn't possible.

…

Was it?

"Repeat that."

Raimundo glared at her, green eyes narrowing as he tried to inflict wounds upon her with just his gaze. Not that it was really working.

"Will you help me?"

Kimiko leaned forward from her perch on her bed. "I'm sorry?"

"Will. You. Help. Me."

Kimiko shook her head, absolutely positive there was something wrong with her hearing. "What?"

"Dammit Kim, it's a simple question. Are you going to answer it or not?" Raimundo snapped, folding his arms across his chest defensively.

"Um . . ." The Japanese girl blinked, once, twice. Realised that Raimundo was still there ergo, he wasn't some kind of bizarre hallucination brought on by the weird food Clay and Omi had fed her. And nodded. "Sure."

He looked at her from his position in her doorway. Well it wasn't really a doorway per say more a curtain that separated her little bit of the room from everyone else's bits of the room. Sometime she really wished Master Fung would expand the temple. Was her own room too much to ask for? But that's not the point, the point was that Raimundo was looking surprised and a little . . . relieved? Maybe Clay and Omi's food really had done something to her. Pushing those thoughts from her head she locked gazes with the brunette once more.

"Well?"

"Well what?" He huffed. Though there was very little venom behind his words.

"Well, what do you want my help with?"

For the second time that day Kimiko was left utterly astounded.

Raimundo was . . . there was no other way to put it; he was embarrassed. His cheeks had flared up, making the tanned skin take on a rosy hue. His eyes were downcast, his shoes suddenly a lot more interesting then her. He was fiddling with the sleeve of his tunic with one hand. Twisting from side to side slightly, squirming under her gaze.

Kimiko had rarely ever seen Raimundo embarrassed. Sure, he got a little flustered when he messed up in training but so did the rest of them. She had never seen him so uncomfortable; his body was practically a bundle of nerves. He looked as if he was about to bolt form the room any second.

A voice at the back of her head told her that Raimundo looked absolutely adorable when he was shy. However, she chose to ignore this voice. It appeared numerous times before, to tell her stuff about Raimundo more than usually, and had decided it was nothing more than a nuisance. So she fought to ignore the blush that was threatening to spread across her own face and forced the voice to the back of her mind. Trying not to focus on the fact that it was appearing more and more often and usually happened to be making comments about how good-looking Raimundo was.

"Rai?"

The brunette glanced at her from under his bangs. He quickly looked back down again, blush still in place. Kimiko had to fight the urge to squeal and hug him.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what I'm supposed to be helping you with." Kimiko stated matter-of-factly. He looked back up again, his blush fading slightly.

"It's my sister."

The Dragon of Fire rose an eyebrow. Indicating that that was clearly not enough information. She got a scowl for that.

"She got dumped."

Kimiko nodded.

"She'd been dating him for a year and a half."

Kimiko nodded once more, wincing slightly. Long-term relationship. That hurt. She watched as Raimundo sighed, drawing in a huge breath before quickly finishing off his explanation in one go. "I want to get her something to cheer her up. So I need your help because I don't know what to get her."

Kimiko mentally grinned to herself. Even though Raimundo could be a jerk and he had just barged in her room without so much as checking to see if she was in the middle of changing or something. She still found him sweet. How many other little brothers would you find willing to send a present half way round the world to you because you had been dumped.

Not many.

"Ah sure." Kimiko said, hopping off her perch on the bed. She strode across the small space and grabbed his hand in hers, proceeding to drag him out the door. "I know exactly what to do."

Two hours later and Raimundo was regretting his decision. Kimiko had dragged them down to the village. Where she had proceeded to take him to practically every shop there.

"Lighten up Rai."

"I don't like shopping." He muttered; a scowl on his face. Though it looked more like a pout than anything else. Kimiko suppressed a smile and continued down the street.

"What are we looking for anyway? You keep talking to all the people in the shops."

"Flower shop." Kimiko said absentmindedly, looking down at the direction the last shop-keeper had given her.

"Flowers?" Raimundo asked incredulously.

"Flowers." Kimiko muttered; they'd taken a wrong turn. They would have to go back and take the left turning instead of the right.

"Flowers!"

"Yes Rai, flowers." She turned to look at the brunette, an annoyed scowl on her face. "Flowers and a huge box of chocolates along with a really nice card. She'll love them."

Raimundo snorted. "I could have thought of that. Couldn't you be a little more inventive?"

"Raimundo Pedrosa," She said, levelling him with her best no-nonsense stare and talking to him as if he had said something incredibly offensive. "Trust me when I tell you that flowers and a large quantity of chocolates, preferably expensive, are what she needs right now. I'm a girl, I should know."

Turning back around, she looked back down at the directions. "Anyway, we're almost there now."

Reaching behind her she grabbed his hand, smirking to herself when he jumped slightly. Starting off down the street she dragged Raimundo behind her, refusing to let go of his hand the entire way. And to her surprise, and deleight, he didn't let go either.

"Here." She muttered, releasing Raimundo's hand with something akin to disappointment filling her. Stepping inside the shop, Kimiko glanced around, forcing the odd emotions back down again. A grin spreading across her face as she took in all the different flowers in the room.

"You're serious about the flowers aren't you?"

Glancing over her shoulder, Kimiko looked at her friend. Raimundo was scowling, hands stuffed in his pockets. His pose practically radiating 'I am so annoyed.'

"Rai," Kimiko said softly, reaching forward to place a hand on his arm. His head snapped round to look at her, eyes wide. Clearly not used to her being so . . . gentle with him. "You have to trust me. I wouldn't be horrible and mess up something as important as this."

She smiled, a kind smile. Her blue eyes soft and the corner of her mouth pulled upwards ever so slightly. She paused slightly, allowing the hand on his arm to drop. Her fingers trailing down his arm and latching onto his fingers. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before turning back round to face the display of flowers.

"Which are her favourite?"

"Huh?"

"Your sister, what are her favourite flowers?"

"Roses."

Kimiko pulled a face and began to look around for some. Raimundo watched her silently for a few second before taking off after her.

"You don't like roses?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I like them." She muttered, finally finding a selection at the back of the shop. Red, white and yellow. A difficult choice.

"Then what was with the face?" He asked, coming to stand behind her. Kimiko shrugged, checking the price of each of the three types of roses.

"It's just . . . Never mind." She whispered, turning to go and ask the shopkeeper how much the red roses were. They didn't have a label.

"No." Raimundo reached out, one hand latching onto her shoulder and holding her in place. "It does matter. Tell me."

Kimiko sighed, tugging her way out of Raimundo's hold so she could turn round and look at him. She almost smiled when she saw the frustrated frown on his face. It made her happy to know that he was interested in her, albeit just about her taste in flowers but it was better than nothing.

"It's just common, you know? Every girl one day hopes to get roses be it from a friend or boyfriend. It's symbol of love. Platonic or romantic." Here Raimundo cocked an eyebrow, clearly telling her that he already knew that. Rolling her eyes at him, she continued. "I just think it's kinda common and if someone liked me, it would be nice to know they were interested enough to find out what my favourite flowers were." And suddenly Kimiko frowned, her voice trailing off. "But that's not interesting to you because you're a boy. So I'll shut up right about now."

Trying to fight the oncoming blush down she turned back round to the roses. It might be better to just send white and yellow roses instead of red. He could afford two types and red was just totally a romantic colour; probably something she didn't need reminding of.

"So which are your favourite?"

"Huh?"

Kimiko asked, turning round her mouth open in surprise. A thoughtful look was plastered across Raimundo's face instead of his usual cocky expression. Making him seem so much more . . . nicer. He looked gentler, almost as if the look had softened out the lines on his face. Making him seem . . . seem . . . gorgeous, wonderful, perfect. Okay, now was the time to shut that stupid voice up again.

"What are your favourite flowers?"

"Uh . . ." Kimiko blushed slightly, not quite understanding why. "Gardenias."

Raimundo nodded, reaching past her to pick up a bouquet of yellow and white roses. "Will these do?"

Kimiko nodded, shaking her head as he wandered off to the till. The look on her friend's face was new. She had very rarely seen him look like that. Then again she had learned about Raimundo today. She only hoped that she could learn even more about him in the future.

It had been two weeks since they had been shopping. And Kimiko had found herself spending ludicrous amounts of time with Raimundo ever since. She seemed to crave his attention when he wasn't there, to smile at her, laugh with her, make her happy. She only ever felt truly content when he was by her side or at least near by. Sighing, the Japanese girl shook her head and dropped into her seat.

"The usual for breakfast?"

Clay nodded, "The cooks here don't appear ta know the meaning of the word 'change.'"

Kimiko grinned at the cowboy who nodded and stood up, moving to put his bowl in the sink.

"Tell Rai that it's his turn to do the dishes today. Omi hurt his hand in training yesterday and can't do it. So he'll be taking Raimundo's turn next week."

Kimiko nodded as the blonde left. Leaving her to eat her food in peace. Though that didn't last long. Not that it ever did at the Xiaolin Temple.

"Morning Kim."

"Morning Rai, you-"

"Close your eyes."

The Dragon of Fire eyed her companion, who was grinning broadly, his hands behind his back. Clearly hiding something.

"Rai, what are you up to?"

He just continued to grin. "Go on, shut your eyes."

Kimiko sighed, two weeks ago she would have refused but after spending so much time with the brunette lately and nothing happening to her she was prepared to trust him a bit more. Sighing she closed her eyes.

"This better not be a prank Rai."

He didn't answer, instead she heard him moving closer. She frowned slightly when she heard him put something down on the table before retreating again.

"Open your eyes."

Instantly Kimiko looked down at the table where a bouquet of gardenias lay. The light seemed to glint off the huge maroon petals. Each flower was beautiful, freshly picked and the entire bouquet was wrapped in white and gold paper.

"Rai . . ."

"It's a thank you, for helping me out with the present for my sister. She called yesterday, saying she really liked them. She sounds a lot better. So I felt I owed you something for helping me out."

He had that grin on. The cute grin, that was gentle and extremely hot all at the same time. The grin that made her heart pound and her pulse raise. The grin that made her insides feel as if a hundred butterflies were flying around. The grin that rendered her completely speechless.

The brunette smiled at her again. "You like them?"

Wordlessly, Kimiko got to her feet. Walking the few steps round the table so she was face to face with Raimundo. She wasn't quite sure what she was doing because, really, her brain had practically short-circuited when Raimundo had smiled at her. She had no clue about what she was going to do next. Or even why she was doing it.

Apparently her body did though.

Standing on her tip toes she leaned forward, her hands moving to rest on Raimundo's shoulders. Quickly she pressed her lips to Raimundo's. It was a brief kiss, barely lasting a few seconds. But for Kimiko it seemed to last an eternity. And in those few precious seconds she memorized everything. From the heat radiating off his body, to the surprised, yet pleased, look in his eyes, to the slightly chapped feeling of his lips against hers.

And she stepped back.

Grinning somewhat shyly at him she tried to fight the blush down. "That was . . . my thank you for the flowers."

Raimundo nodded, clearly still in shock. Kimiko grinned, spinning on her toes to face the door. Marching over she tried to fight down the feelings of happiness as she picked her bouquet up on the way past.

"Oh Rai, Omi's hurt himself so you have to do the dishes today." She said before walking out the door.

"What! Kim get back in here!"

Ignoring his annoyed yells she walked off towards her room. If she was lucky, he might get her flowers next time she helped him out.

Or maybe, just maybe, he might give her a kiss as a thank you.

End of Thank You.

I forgot to mention this last time, so I'm telling you now. This is for the 30 kisses community challenge. Meaning that I'll be doing thirty different one-shots, in thirty different settings, each involving a kiss between Raimundo and Kimiko. So . . . prepare yourselves.