Aha! Chapter 7! This is the reason why I wrote the story itself! Watch the series and look out for these little signs if you don't get my meaning.;) Most of the stuff that's in here actually did happen.:D

Ch7

"These ones I remember!" Kimiko said excitedly. "These have been some of the happiest days of my life!" She saw herself entering the Temple for the first time.

"I know," her younger self said slyly. Kimiko didn't pay attention to her, because she was caught up in the scene. She winced. "Was I that self-absorbed?"

"You have no idea," younger Kimiko said. "The Temple was really good for you, you know. It taught you maturity… among other things."

"What things? Oh wait, sssh! This is where I learned how to control the Tangle Web Comb! Hah! I sure showed Raimundo!"

"Did you really?" The child said innocently.

"Yes, see! He even made a bet against me, the jerk! Wonder how much he…" Kimiko's eyes widened.

"You were saying?" The younger Kimiko asked smugly.

"He was rooting for me?" Kimiko said, flabbergasted. "Wait a minute!" She rounded up on her younger double. A horrible thought entered her mind. "This isn't my memory! I don't remember this happening! Besides, I'm up there, so I couldn't have heard what they were talking about! Who are you, and why did you abduct me?" She said, going into battle stance.

"Come on, Kimiko! After all this time together, and you can't even know yourself when you see her? Besides, if I were an enemy, I would have taken you out earlier!"

"Well, then how come I can see what's going on in here?"

"Maybe another Shen-Gong-Wu made the effect more powerful," the kid shrugged her shoulders.

Her eyes were still narrowed. "How do I know this isn't a lie?" She relaxed a bit, dropping her pose, but she was still tense.

"Will you relax? You would know that it's a lie, Kimiko! I'm you! Besides, this still is your memory, see!" pointing at her battling Jack Spicer. "All that's different is that you can literally see the bigger picture now." They looked on in time to see Raimundo say, "I knew she could do it!"

Suddenly, her surroundings seem to lurch. "What's going on?" Kimiko cried.

"I don't know." Her doppelganger's eyes grew wide. "Maybe the Wu's effects are starting to wear off! We have to hurry!"

"Hurry for what? We won't be able to look at all my memories if I'm about to wake up!"

"Then we won't view all your memories! I want to show you some things to prove what I've said earlier!"

"What did you say earlier?" But her younger self was already pulling her to a different memory and didn't reply.

"Recognize this one?"

"Yeah," Kimiko said quietly. Her heart clenched. This was when Raimundo turned to the Heylin side. "Do we really have to watch this?" she asked. She didn't know why, but seeing her best friend evil wasn't something she wanted to repeat ever again.

"Why don't you want to watch it? It's already over. You know Raimundo won't turn back." Her younger self said, looking at her sternly as she did as if daring her to contradict it.

"I know. It's just…" Her heart tightened again as she watched herself and the others battling Raimundo.

"Besides, we won't watch the full thing anyway. I just want to show you something." Everything moved in fast-forward, until they saw Raimundo trapping Wuya in the new puzzle box, and them going on Dojo's back. Finally, the scene slowed down to normal speed.

"Know what's going to happen next?" The child said slyly.

"I kissed him on the cheek." For some reason, Kimiko blushed. "But that didn't mean anything!" She said hastily, "It's, you know, to welcome him back and for defeating Wuya, and all."

"Yeah, but why didn't you kiss Omi when he got back from the Heylin side?" When Kimiko opened her mouth to protest, her younger self raised her hand. "Anyway, whatever the reason, let's watch the scene, okay?" Kimiko saw herself wrap her arms around Raimundo and give him a kiss on the cheek. What she didn't expect was Raimundo to blush and smile gently before Clay gave him a high-five. Did I just see what I think I saw? She wondered. She glanced down at her younger self, who was smiling up at her.

"Would you like a replay?" Mutely she nodded, and again she was given a view of that blush and that smile. Both stunned her. She had never seen Raimundo smile like that. Oh, she's seen him with a friendly grin, a sneer, a happy smile, even laughing, but she's never seen him that one on him – until now. It was a smile that looked oddly contented and happy, which seemed out of place in Raimundo's face, but seemed to fit him perfectly. It made him look gentler and more human, in a way. And Raimundo blushing? She wouldn't have thought it was possible if she didn't see it herself. Unconsciously, Kimiko's hand reached up to that image, but then dropped it.

"What are you trying to tell me?" she quietly asked her doppelganger.

"Exactly what you're seeing. Hold on, we have some more memories to go through, and I don't think we don't have much time left." They skipped to another memory.

"This is when you trained with Master Monk Guan," little Kimiko told the older one unnecessarily.

"Yeah, this was when Raimundo pretended to turn over to the Heylin side again," Kimiko said. She could see what was going on, but she also felt the twinge in her chest when she thought Raimundo's left her – them, she hastily corrected herself – again. She saw Raimundo beating up Clay and Omi, and then it came down to the two of them. She blinked. One minute she was prepping to fight Raimundo, the next, Master Monk Guan got in between them. Where did he come from? Why didn't he show up when the two guys were being beaten? She frowned in confusion, but then suddenly saw Master Monk Guan give Raimundo a wink before the latter left the Temple. What is going on? She wondered. She saw her younger self looking at her. "What, you have an explanation for that?" already expecting an answer.

She wasn't disappointed. "Master Monk Guan and Raimundo planned this to trick Hannibal Bean, right?"

"Yeah."

"So don't you think they also staged this fight scene?"

"But that's absurd! If they really did plan everything, then why did Master Monk Guan allow Rai to beat Clay and Omi up?"

"Didn't you see the wink earlier?"

"He might just have had something in his eye!"

Kimiko's doppelganger didn't even bother to answer. She just looked. Kimiko blushed, then cleared her throat. "So what else are you going to show me?"

Her younger self grinned. "I thought you'd never ask!"

It was already nighttime, and Kimiko still hasn't woken up. Raimundo was getting worried. Sure, Kimiko had stirred, even tossed around once, but there was still no sign that she was going to wake up. That does it, he said, and made his way to the Shen-Gong-Wu vault.

Kimiko found herself watching flashes of her memories. She couldn't believe just how much memory she stored of her and Raimundo: them just hanging out, sparring, and in battle. She saw just how much Raimundo made an effort to be her support and to protect her. When Omi thought he found his parents and Hannibal Bean attacked the Temple, Raimundo had thrust her behind him to keep the mutated bean from hurting her. Not that that didn't do much good, but Kimiko didn't realize the weight of the action until now. She also saw them in Dojo's back on numerous occasions, with Raimundo almost always right behind her, making sure to let her know that he's there in case her fear of heights takes over. He always pulled her up and got down first to lift her down. She even found the answer to the question she had forgotten earlier: Raimundo had indeed changed, and it wasn't only because he was made Shoku warrior. His transformation began when he had gotten back from the Heylin side. Kimiko was astonished to see just how much Raimundo's actions betrayed him: how he tried to impress the Dragons and Master Fung, him staring at them when he wasn't made Apprentice yet, the joy on his face when he finally received the belt, and how he worked harder than even Omi when it came to training after his stint with evil, even if he didn't show it. She also saw scenes that were of Raimundo alone: how he was the first one to use his Wudai power while only as an Apprentice to try to rescue Omi from Chase, how he'd help his hometown in Brazil, risking his life in the process, how he'd helped the old woman that turned out to be the Bird of Paradise. A lump rose in her throat. She saw them in practice, Raimundo making a way so they could almost always be sparring partners…

Suddenly the scene in front of her changed, and she saw herself and Raimundo, his arm about her shoulders, in a movie theatre watching what seemed like "Raimundo Pedrosa's Most Amazing Home Videos." The scene again distorted, and she found herself back to what she was watching a few minutes before the strange interruption. Weird, she thought. I must not have a good cable subscription, she thought wryly to herself, chuckling, and continued to watch.

She saw them sparring together, and even if Raimundo didn't really try to be gentle with her (it was training after all) when they were practicing, when she's down, he would always run to her side and see if she's ok. She saw him dart jealous glances at Clay and Omi when they got to her first in the rare instances she gets in trouble in battles, bending his frustrations in his own fight. She even got the chance to watch a scene she didn't believe possible: when the Dragons' (except Omi's) chis were sucked by the Chi Monster. She watched, astonished, as Dojo shoved Raimundo's chi bottle down his throat and how he, instead of doing the same thing, instead took her in his arms, dipped her and gently made her drink the contents of her bottle. She watched herself push Raimundo away when she regained consciousness and winced when she saw Raimundo's face contort in pain before he skillfully cleared it. She saw herself on the verge of tears when Raimundo offered to drink the Lao Ming Lone Soup to get them out, and felt a strange surge of relief flow through her when Chase Young instead took it. She saw Raimundo's tortured face when all four of their Heylin enemies appeared in front of her in their four-way tag team Xiaolin Showdown, and how he tagged her to save her. And she saw herself going into his embrace and kissing him again when he was made Shoku warrior, and how his arms automatically wrapped his arms about her as if they belonged there, and how he obviously looked regretful of letting her go when he went to Omi. And his eyes…

He seemed much like the first time she kissed him, except that this time, there was this sense of fullness about him, as though he doesn't want anything else in the world except this, Shoku warrior or not. She looked at his eyes and marveled at the depths behind it: the combination of pain, insecurity, happiness, and joy, but also something else whenever the light upon Kimiko: love. There was so much in his eyes he had been trying to tell her, and some he even translated into action, but she had been too blind to see it. Or is she? She wondered.

Doubts filled her. Maybe she's just blowing this out of proportion. Maybe those things didn't mean to him, as much that they are coming to mean to her. Maybe he was just worrying about her, fellow Dragons and all. Or maybe, Kimiko thought with a pang, I'm the only female here, and he's just playing with me. She knows fully well that Raimundo's a ladies' man. When they go to the beach, his eyes stray to just about every woman that passes by. Her heart clenched at the thought.

"What does it all mean?" She practically pleaded to her younger self.

Her doppelganger gave her an understanding smile. She knows full well what Kimiko is feeling: doubt, confusion, and something else she isn't yet prepared to meet. "You tell me," she stated. "What does this mean for you? Don't think first of him, just think about the effect on you, seeing all these again."

She thought again. What does this mean for me? What do I feel for him? He's my best friend, but… A thought came to mind, not as a result of the effect of the Shen-Gong-Wu, but still it came unbidden.

"I gotcha, Kimi. Don't worry, I won't let you go." Did he mean that only in the challenge, or is he trying to tell me something?

"I gotcha, Kimi…"

"I gotcha, Kimi…"

"Kimi…"

"Kimi…"

"Kimi!"

Kimiko roused herself. That sounded like Raimundo! She looked around wildly, and looked at her younger self mutely. The child nodded.

"It's time for you to wake up, Kimiko."

"But I don't know what it means!"

"Why not try talking to him? If you must know, that's him trying to wake you up."

"I know," Kimiko said distractedly, running a hand through her hair, and completely missing the knowing smile her double gave. "What do I tell him?"

"You tell me, you're the older one." The child laughed, and embraced Kimiko. "Now go! We didn't go through your past for no reason, you know!"

Kimiko laughed ruefully as well, and hugged her back. "Wish me luck…"

The kid laughed again.

Kimiko blinked. It was already night, and she was at her room. She yawned. "What happened?" She asked to no one in particular, not really expecting an answer. She yawned again.

"You got jacked, that's what happened," a voice with a Brazilian accent spoke up.

Raimundo! Kimiko blushed, remembering what she just went through. She saw him peeking out from the door of her room, and she motioned him in.

"How are you feeling?" Raimundo asked her gently, sitting down beside her.

"I've had better days," Kimiko said flippantly. Raimundo laughed, and hugged her quickly. She blushed again, but hugged him back.

"Rai…"

"Yeah?" Raimundo asked.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For everything." Raimundo quirked an eyebrow at her. "Urm, I mean, you know, for bringing me back here to the temple, and then waking me up, and everything." She finished lamely. He must think I'm an idiot. "You did wake me up, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, I did." In the dark, Kimiko didn't notice Raimundo hastily shoving his hands on his back. "After Dojo warned me not to," he finished sheepishly.

"Well, that didn't stop you before," Kimiko said teasingly, but regretted saying it when Raimundo winced. When Mala Mala Jong first came to life, Raimundo had gone back to the Temple to see if he could help them, against Master Fung's express orders to guard the Wu. That cost him not to be promoted to Apprentice with the rest, and which ultimately triggered his joining the Heylin side. "Sorry, Rai, I forgot," she said, biting her lower lip.

Raimundo looked at her before he cleared her throat. "For someone who's supposed to be remembering, you seem to forget a lot of things," he said teasingly, and Kimiko was forcibly reminded of what her younger self told her. Come on, Kimiko, ask him! She urged herself.

For his part, Raimundo was worried that Kimiko didn't answer to his remark. Usually, she had a retort up her sleeve, but her not saying anything was something new. "Hey, I was just kidding. It's alright, you know," he said, tracing her jaw with a finger.

Startled, Kimiko pulled back, then regretted it when Raimundo's eyes widened with hurt. He stood up. "Well, I better go now," he said stiffly. "I'd better tell the others you're ok." He stepped out of the room.

"Rai, wait!"

"What?"

"Good night."

"Good night, Kim." He left.

What am I going to do? Kimiko asked herself, miserable.