Author's Note (Numero Dos): First, I HAAAAATE this chapter. I didn't like writing it, I did not did not diiiiiidddd NOOOOOT like the way it turned out AT ALL. The only reason that I recommend reading it is because you learn a lot about the Spirit Council. Also, before you read I don't support JackxKimiko!!!!11!!! I only wrote what I wrote in this chapter PURELY for fanservice. Second, I am going to post all the chapters I have written so far (bear with me cuz it's a lot) up so I don't have to worry about them anymore :D so this story's gonna have like eight chapters by the end of the night :P
Chapter III.
Bitter Reunions
It was barely the break of dawn over the temple and yet life had stirred. Jack groaned and growled as an excessively hyper Ninamori, poking him with a piece of hay. He grumbled, arose, and dressed for the day. The others were awake and training, as instructed by the monks everyday, except for Amy and Raimundo who were simply observing. Afterall they were preparing for their inevitable trip to the forgotten city.
"How can you all be up and about this early," Jack complained, "The sun hasn't even risen yet!?"
"How is it possible you complain so much?" Kimiko retorted sarcastically. The other's chuckled under their breath and Jack shot her a look, "Kidding of course…It's a learned thing."
"Yeah princess," Raimundo laughed, leaning against the walls of one of the many temple buildings, "Which means you'll have to learn to get up and not keep the rest of us waiting! We could have been in the Forgotten City by now!"
"Chill Rai," Amy sighed, rolling her eyes, "We're not going to the Forgotten City today. I think we need some time to adjust to things first."
"Whatever," Raimundo rolled his eyes, "I think that'd be pointless…"
"Hey," Kimiko snapped, putting her two cents into the conversation, "Amy's right! All of us have had a pretty traumatic last couple of days! Maybe a day to just sit back and breathe would be good for all of us."
"Thank you Kimiko," Amy added with a smile.
"So I do have one more question," Jack began, as the teens congregated around Amy and Raimundo, "What exactly is the Spirit Council? I heard a lot about it, but no one ever told me what it is exactly…"
"Go figure you wouldn't know what the Spirit Council is!" Raimundo snapped.
"Hey!" Jack snapped, "I don't want to be an aspect any more than you want me too! But the least you can do is try to tolerate me!"
"Yes!" Amy interrupted, "We all need to learn to be tolerant of one another and that is precisely why we need to take some time to get used to each other."
"Fine by me!" Raimundo snapped, turning away from Jack.
"Me too," Jack growled, "As long as you keep that psychopath away from me!"
"You wanna run that by me again!?" Raimundo shouted, clenching his fists.
"Enough!" Amy shouted, "Raimundo, you're supposed to be the leader! So start acting like one! And Jack, learn to keep your mouth shut!"
"Fine," Jack and Raimundo hissed, exchanging disdainful looks.
"Now," Amy continued, leaning against a wall, "Where was I before I was so rudely interrupted…The Spirit Council, right?"
"Yeah," Jack nodded, "What are they?"
"The best way that we can describe it," Ninamori interjected, "Is a society of some of the most powerful people in the world."
"Only it's not political power," Amy interrupted, "In fact a lot of the Masters here at the temple went to help out the Spirit Council. See, most of what the Spirit Council does, is mainly to keep the peace, you know, make sure that the natural order of things isn't upset and all that jazz…"
"So the minuet somebody comes along making a scene about taking over the world," Raimundo added.
"You can bet the Spirit Council is gonna do all that they can to make sure it doesn't happen," Ninamori continued.
"So I'm guessing that the Shade are like," Jack inquired, "Numero uno on the council's list."
"Uh-huh," Amy nodded.
"A bunch of immortal and super-evil versions of ourselves running around making trouble," Kimiko continued, "That has Spirit Council interference written all over it."
"And I'm not sure why," Amy added, racking her brain for a possible explaination, "They are also particularly livid when the Shen-Gong Wu falls into the wrong hands."
"Of course Amy," Omi nodded, "The Shen-Gong Wu are most powerful, and can bring about ten thousand years of darkness if placed into the wrong hands!"
"I goes a bit beyond that though," Amy sighed, "If they were only worried about that happening, they would have interfered thousands of years ago, back when Wuya, Chase, and Hannibal rose to power…It's gotta be more than that."
"What exactly do you guys mean by interfered?" Jack interrupted once again.
"Well," Amy replied, "Everyone in the Spirit Council is of vast importance when it comes to defense against the Shade or protection of the Shen-Gong Wu. So naturally, everybody in the Spirit Council is immortal."
"That 'er damn near close to it," Clay added.
"In fact," Kimiko continued, "Dojo and Master Fung left to assist the Spirit Council a few weeks ago."
"Hmm…" Jack replied, saying nothing and taking a few steps away from the group.
"What are you thinking," Ninamori asked, walking towards Jack.
"I'm thinking," Jack began, "That if the Shade need the Shen-Gong Wu, and this 'Spirit Council', this ultimately powerful group of immortals, is finally coming to assist you guys after all these years of turmoil and threats of ten-thousand years of darkness, then something badder than bad is about to go down."
"How bad do you suppose, Jack Spicer?" Omi questioned.
"Bad," Jack replied, "I'm not entirely sure how bad yet, but I can tell you it's going to be a lot worse than ten millenia of darkness. I'm thinking it might be something along the lines of extinction of the human race."
"You think so?" Raimundo asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well assess the situation," Jack replied, "Think about what I just told you and then think about this: If the shade are the negative copies of us, what makes you think all of the negative copies of everybody in the world wants their goodie-goodie double running around with them?"
"Jack makes a good point," Clay nodded, "They probably want as many people out of the way as possible."
"I'm also thinking," Jack continued, "That there is something more to the Shen-Gong Wu that we aren't seeing. There is something more to them that the Shade need."
"Well magical artifacts that give a person untold powers," Raimundo stated sarcastically, "Yeah, if I recall you wanted them too."
"I'm talking about their unseen abilities!" Jack growled, "What's below the surface! Something is up with the Shen-Gong Wu, and for now we should make it our priority to find out."
"I know someone who could tell us," Amy smiled, as though she had a big secret.
"Care to share?" Raimundo gestured.
"Heiba," Amy smiled, "One of the thirteen old masters."
"Old masters?" Jack inquired.
"The thirteen original dragon aspects!" Omi stated proudly, "Also the original creators of the Shen-Gong Wu!"
"Bingo!" Amy smiled, "If we can find a way to contact Heiba, we might get a lot of our questions answered."
"Only one problem with that Amy," Raimundo scoffed. Amy raised an eyebrow at him, curious as to what the problem was, "Heiba is a two-thousand year old immortal who dropped off of the face of the planet after the rest of the old masters died!"
"Then it looks like I'm going to go do some investigating then," Amy scoffed, walking away from the group.
"Where's she off to?" Jack inquired as he watched Amy storm off into the temple.
"To run a fools errand," Ninamori rolled her eyes, "But one thing is for sure, you've got a point about the wu, and I think it is something we should look into."
"Do what you want," Raimundo shrugged, walking in Amy's direction, "I'm going to go talk some sense into Amy…"
"Well I've got stuff that I need to take care of," Ninamori chirped, skipping off in her own direction, "Got people to do, places to meet, and stuff to visit!"
"Wait isn't it-" Jack began.
"Don't question her," Kimiko laughed.
The group dispersed, leaving Jack and Kimiko by themselves to talk. Jack looked awkwardly towards her, as if he wanted to ask or say something. Kimiko smiled and laughed quietly to herself.
"Would you like to take a walk with me?" Kimiko asked after several moments of silence.
"Well," Jack began, looking up towards the grey sky, "It looks like it's about to rain soon."
"I don't mind," Kimiko smiled.
"Then lead the way," Jack smiled, following after her.
* * * * *
Kimiko was seated under a large cherry blossom tree that was sheltering her and Jack from the downpour that was falling around them. Jack was standing in front of her, as he entertained himself by plucking the leaves off of the petals of the branches' blooms.
"It really is beautiful here," Jack began, staring into the cherry blossom tree, "You guys have been lucky…getting to train here that is…"
"Well you get to train here now too," Kimiko replied, "But I guess we were pretty lucky…"
"Yeah," Jack smiled. The tree made a poorer umbrella than they had thought, for Jack was now almost completely soaked.
"Jack," Kimiko began as she started to pluck grass from the ground meekly. He knew she was going to ask some awkward and personal question, so he braced himself, "If you don't mind me asking…what is your situation with Amy?"
"Excuse me?" Jack retorted, not that her question was out of line, it was only he hadn't quite understood what she meant by his situation.
"Well," Kimiko continued, "You two seem to be…what's the word?"
"We're not an item," Jack chuckled, "Far from it actually."
"You and Amy are just friends then?" Kimiko questioned.
"No," Jack shook his head. Kimiko was slightly taken aback by this response, realizing that getting a straight answer out of Jack was not going to be an easy task.
"Than what are you to her?" Kimiko began, "You seem kind of important to her, and it just made me start to think that-"
"She's my sister," Jack stated softly. Kimiko looked embarrassed for asking, and Jack smiled at her, "It's okay…I didn't even know until a few days ago."
"Okay," Kimiko smiled, "I'm sorry…it was out of line for me to ask in the first place…"
"No it wasn't," Jack reassured, "It's natural to make an assumption like that. I don't blame you anyway…"
It was silent between the two for a few moments, when the same strange question kept popping back into his mind. He looked to Kimko.
" Why are you so interested in me so suddenly?" He inquired, finding it a bit strange that someone who used to loathe him desired his company.
Kimiko began, softly, "I don't know anything about you really…and I want to know a little bit more. I also want to learn a little about who you are. I mean I've got just about everyone here figured out…except you. I guess you could say that I'm trying to make out your character…in a sense."
"And what have you discovered," Jack asked quietly.
"Very much," Kimiko smiled, "I've learned that you are more difficult than you appear to be…and that you are just as stubborn as you appear to be too."
"Is that all," Jack smiled, "Or is there something else that you'd like to tell me?"
"Well," Kimiko smiled, rising to her feet, "for one thing, I find you different, and somewhat fascinating. For whatever reason, I think you're interesting."
"Well I can't question you about that, now can I?" Jack smiled.
"I didn't think so," Kimiko smiled, wrapping her arms around Jack's neck.
So not good…Jack thought as he wrapped his arms around Kimiko and their lips met. After several moments, Jack pushed her away gently.
"I'm sorry," Jack shook his head, feeling as though he did something wrong, "I can't…whatever compels you to me…I'm pretty sure that gravity has something to do with it…"
"What the hell is going on here!" Raimundo shouted, standing in the pouring rain, arms crossed, staring into the caressing teens.
"None of your business Raimundo," Kimiko snapped, not letting go of Jack, "I'm at liberty to be with whoever I want."
"And you expect me to believe that this creep didn't push you into it or anything?!" Raimundo snapped, pushing Jack away from Kimiko.
"Believe it or not," Jack retorted, pushing Raimundo back, "She came on to me!"
"Oh that's believeable!" Raimundo laughed, pushing Jack back, "Like you'd fall for a looser like him!"
"You wanna run that by me again!" Jack shouted, pushing Raimundo to the ground, "I might be a looser, but at least I'm not pushy, aggressive, and controlling like you are!"
"What did you call me," Raimundo shouted, rising to his feet, "Pushy and aggressive!?"
"And controlling," Jack smiled smugly, "Not to mention your lack of care for anybody else but yourself!"
Raimundo stood quietly, glaring hatefully at Jack. Several moments went by before Raimundo thrusted his fist into Jack's face. Jack fell to the ground. He seized Raimundo's ankle and pulled him down next to him, when Raimundo seized the roots of Jacks hair and pulled him up to his feet. Jack let out a small shreik and thrust his fist into Raimundo's stomach. Raimundo let go and fell back, holding his abdomen. Raimundo then rushed towards Jack and seized his throat. Jack panicked and repeated Raimundo.
"Let…go!" Raimundo gasped.
"You…first!" Jack gasped in reply.
"I'll…admit…Jack," Raimundo gasped, "You…got tougher…since I last…saw you…"
"Thanks…" Jack gasped, "So…will you…let go now?"
"On three," Raimundo gasped, "One…two…three!"
The pair released one another and exchanged some rather dirty looks.
"Jack!" Kimiko exclaimed, "Are you alright?"
"Fine…" Jack gasped, "Just fine…"
"Yeah…" Raimundo gasped, glaring angrily at her and Jack, "Tend to your new boyfriend!"
"You know what Rai!" Kimiko snapped, "Maybe if you weren't such a self-centred muscle head I'd be more into you!"
"So you pick this thing!" Raimundo scoffed, pointing to Jack, "I'm waaay better than him!"
"Yeah…" Kimiko nooded, laughing slightly, "You see…that is your problem!"
"Kimiko don't do this!" Raimundo growled, as Kimiko stormed away from the two boys.
"This," Raimundo growled, pointing a finger in Jack's face, "This is all your fault! Why didn't you just stay in Boston!"
"From what I can see," Jack replied haughtly, "The fault here is all yours…."
Raimundo gave Jack another dirty look as he left Jack by himself under the damp cherry blossom tree. As soon as Raimundo was gone, Jack let out a long and drawn out sigh as he fell back against the ground.
"AAAAGH!" Jack shouted, placing his hands over his face, "Is this some kind of punishment for being such an ass-hole in the past!"
Jack layed upon the damp ground for several long moments, letting the falling rain pelt his face. He let out a long sigh, analyzing his current situation over and over again in his head, debating if it would be in everbody's best interest if he wasn't there.
"I've been trouble since I got here," He whispered silently to himself, "maybe I should just go?"
So Jack layed, feeling sorry for himself, and wallowing in his own self-pity for almost an hour, and possibly catching some kind of illness. He sat up, looked around aimlessly, and rose to his feet. He began walking back towards the temple with a strange smile of contentment across his face.
This just means that I'll have to prove myself even more, Jack thought as he advanced towards the gardens, This is going to be fun…