Title: Perfect World.

Author: Madmaddie.

Pairing: Raimundo/Kimiko.

Fandom: Xiaolin Showdown.

Theme: #8, our own world.

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

First off, I apologise for it being late. I was in Wales, water-skiing, and then came back for a few days before I was off to St Ives. And then it was off to France and when I came back I hadn't done any of my homework so I had to do all that and then school started and that was hectic. I know it's really no excuse but I'm really sorry and I'll try to be better in the future.

"AMULET OF GENMU!"

Flash!

"Kimiko!"

Four people screamed her name, not that she heard it.

Raimundo was the loudest.

And the fastest.

It took him the better part of all three seconds to shoot up into the air and catch the falling girl. Jack Spicer's laughter was ringing in his ears as he cradled the petit Japanese girl closer to his chest. The laughter quickly stopped when he was hit by a fierce whirl wind which sent him flying towards Omi and Clay. Who quickly proceeded to beat Jack Spicer to within a inch of his life.

Raimundo left them to it. He had more important things to do.

Landing, he gently lowered the unconscious girl onto the ground. Biting his lip he stared at her. It looked like there was nothing wrong with her. She had a few scrapes from the showdown earlier but nothing serious. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he would say she was sleeping. Her hair had come undone form its ponytail and was arranged messily around her head. She never wore her hair up to bed, and odd habit that she always kept to so it almost looked like she had been planning on taking a nap. Her eyes were closed and there was an almost-smile on her lips as if she was having a good dream.

What the Hell had that Shen Gong Wu done to her?

"Dojo?"

The green dragon, who had been carefully picking his way across the battlefield, slithered to a halt in front of the brunette.

"Dojo, what's wrong with her?"

The dragon frowned and looked up at the boy.

"Spicer said Amulet of Genmu, right?"

Raimundo nodded.

Dojo winced.

Raimundo scowled.

"Alright, if you don't tell me what's wrong with her this second I swear to God I will-"

"Hey, hey take it easy," Dojo yelled, waving his arms around frantically. "I just had to make sure, okay?"

Raimundo glared clearly saying that it was not okay in the slightest. Kimiko was unconscious and he wanted to know why.

"The Amulet of Genmu traps a person within their mind."

"Within their mind?" Omi asked, walking over with Clay, having finished dealing with Spicer, who was fiddling with his hat nervously. "How does that work?"

"And why the Hell is she smiling!" Raimundo snapped, eyeing the girl who was now grinning widely.

"I'd explain it if you would let me." Dojo snapped, clearly annoyed at the interruption.

All three dragons-in-training fell silent as they waited for the explanation.

"The Amulet of Genmu traps the person within their own mind without them knowing it." Omi opened his mouth to ask how that was possible or something to that degree. What, however, was never known as both Raimundo and Clay's hands shot out to cover the smallest member's mouth.

"It reads what their greatest desires are and feeds them an image of it happening. It picks up off immediately from where they left the conscious world but it gives them everything they want. So Kimiko probably beat Jack Spicer then we all went home and well . . ." Dojo shrugged, clearly indicating that he didn't know Kimiko's most heartfelt desires.

"You're telling me," Clay said in his southern drawl, "That Kim is now living out her life in her head?"

"Yep," Dojo muttered. "But everything she ever wanted is happening which is why it's so effective. It's kinda like . . . well, when you have a bad nightmare, you want to wake up and so usually force yourself into doing that. A good dream however, you're quite content to continue with, meaning that you don't want to wake up. So the person living out their life's wants wont fight the Wu's magic."

The boys nodded their heads in understanding, eyeing their comatose friend.

"So . . ." Raimundo said, eyeing the Dragon. "How do we wake her up?"

Dojo stared at Raimundo for a while before reply incredibly, "Why would I know?"

Jack Spicer hadn't stood a chance against her. Smiling, Kimiko skipped into her room. Dropping onto her bed, she yanked out her PDA and began to check out her e-mail. She jumped slightly when a knock sounded outside her door.

"Who is it?"

"Raimundo."

Grinning to herself, Kimiko felt a blush spreading across her cheeks. She always liked spending time with the brunette, even if she didn't make it too obvious.

"Coming."

Dropping her PDA onto her bed, she walked over to the door and yanked the curtain open. And quite promptly blushed. Raimundo was centre meters from her. Leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest and his most charming smile on his face. The one that made her knees go weak and her pulse race.

"What's up Rai?"

"I wanted to congratulate you on your splendid thrashing of Jack Spicer."

"Oh, really?" Kimiko drawled, starting to smile.

"Really," Raimundo drawled back, grinning. "I would like to congratulate you by taking you out for ice-cream."

Kimiko laughed. "You asking me out on a date, Rai?"

The brunette's smile suddenly turned serious. "And if I am?"

Kimiko blushed, eyeing the brunette. "Then my answer would be yes."

Grinning, Raimundo pushed himself off the doorframe. "Great, pick you up in two hours, kay?"

Leaning in, he brushed his lips against her cheek before spinning on his heel and walking off down the corridor. Giddy with happiness, Kimiko stepped back inside her room. She couldn't wait to tell her Mama that the boy she liked had finally asked her out!

It had taken Clay and Omi a while to get Raimundo to stop trying to kill the small green Dragon. It had taken them even longer to get Raimundo to stop glaring at Dojo and muttering death threats under his breath every five seconds.

"I'm afraid," Master Fung said, making all three boys wince as he entered the room. Staring a sentence off with 'I'm afraid' is never a good thing. "That the scroll does not say anything about how to wake someone from the effects of Amulet of Genmu."

"How is that possible?" Raimundo demanded, fists clenching.

"It was not a Shen Gong Wu that was used a lot."

"So we're gonna have tah think of a way to wake her up ourselves?" Clay asked. Master Fung nodded, frowning.

"I will go and discuss this with the other monks. Please continue to think about what you plan to do as well."

The three remaining monks watched their Master leave the room, annoyance written on all their faces.

"Well," Omi said, turning to face his companions. "What shall we do?"

Groaning Raimundo, pushed himself backwards, landing spread-eagled on the floor. Closing his eyes the brunette suggested, "How about killing Spicer?"

"Though a nice idea, ah don't think that's gonna work, partner." Clay murmured; a small smile on his face.

"If only we could tell her." Raimundo muttered, "If you know you're having a dream it means you can fight it. Kimiko has no idea."

"Raimundo! That is it!" Omi yelled, jumping to his feet.

The brunette sat up, cocking an eyebrow at the joyful monk. "What's it?"

"We send one of us to sleep as well!"

"Err . . . how's that gonna help us partner?" Clay asked, pushing the rim of his hat up so he could eye Omi curiously.

"Because the other person would join Kimiko in the same make-believable world."

"How'd you figure that?"

"When two or more of us hold onto a Shen Gong Wu and activate it we all share the same power. I bet that the Amulet of Genmu cannot affect us all separately and would make a world where both the people got what they desired!"

"This," Raimundo muttered, "might just work."

"Yeah, but we need the Shen Gong Wu, right? And Jack Spicer has that."

Grinning, Raimundo jumped to his feet.

"That, Clay," Raimundo said, clapping the cowboy on the back. "Is why we are going to pay our dear friend, Jack Spicer a little visit."

Kimiko flattened her skirt for the seventh time in the last minute and eyed her nail polish again. Hoping that none of it had chipped. Raimundo was late by a grand total of five minutes but she couldn't help but worry that he might stand her up. What if he didn't like her outfit? What if he suddenly decided he didn't want to go out with her? Or worse, it was some huge elaborate plan to humiliate her? What if –

"Sorry I'm late girl; Master Fung was telling me off for running in the hallways again."

Turning round Kimiko grinned to herself. Raimundo was dressed in a pair of tight back jeans and an emerald green t-shirt. Kimiko mentally applauded herself. Firstly, for not drooling at the sight of Raimundo in his new outfit and second, for her choice in outfit. She was wearing purple with a few splashes of green. Green and purple went so well together and her green even matched his green.

"So," Raimundo said, extending an arm. "Shall we go?"

Grinning, Kimiko hooked her arm through his and they set off.

After quite happily breaking into Jack Spicer's lair and threatening him until he handed over the Wu the group decided to get to work.

"So, how do we go about this?" Clay asked, eyeing the Wu. It was silver in colour and looked like a mini handheld mirror. Apart from it didn't show you your reflection; in fact it wasn't showing much at all. The circle in the middle was a simple, plain, white.

"This is stupid." Raimundo stated. Clay nodded in agreement. For the past ten minutes they had been staring at the tiny Wu trying to work out what to do. They hadn't been able to find much about the Wu in the scroll. And so had decided to work out how to use it themselves, so far it was going very well.

"We're getting absolutely nowhere." Once again Clay nodded at Raimundo's statement.

Leaning down the brunette picked the Wu up and held it out.

"So, um, do you just point it at who you want to knock out and yell its name? Or do you need to concentrate or something?" Raimundo asked, waving it around. The Dragon of Wind blinked when words flashed onto the white surface when he waved it in front of Omi.

"Huh?"

"What is it Raimundo?"

"Hold still." The Dragon of Wind replied, holding the Wu in Omi's direction. Words wrote themselves across the white surface in elegant black handwriting.

'Omi's Desires located. You may activate the Amulet of Genmu.'

"Huh, I suppose that make sense."

"What makes sense, Raimundo?"

"Well," Raimundo said, handing the Wu over to Clay. "It tells you when it's located someone's desire. Which makes sense because if you just activated it normally without targeting someone specifically you would knock everyone out, including yourself."

Clay nodded as he tested it, quickly handing it Omi, who began waving it around.

"So . . . who's joining Kimiko in dream-land?"

Kimiko grinned as Raimundo handed her the ice-cream he had just bought. Beaming at her he turned back to his own treat, strawberry though Kimiko had always been a chocolate fan herself, and started to eat. Smiling, Kimiko started to walk in step with Raimundo, her new boyfriend

Kimiko suppressed a delighted laugh. How long had she been waiting for Rai to make a move? How long had she been subtly flirting with him? Waiting for him to finally work out why she spent so much of her free time with him? It was about time he finally got round to it and she was enjoying her just desserts.

"So, where next Kim? Movie?"

Smiling the petite Japanese girl turned to face the brunette, murmuring, "There's a new Horror movie that's just been released that I would like to see."

"Horror Movie?" Raimundo asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Kimiko turned a rather wicked grin on her companion. "You're not scared are you Rai?"

Raimundo smirked. "Oh no, I was worried about you."

"Oh?"

"If you got scared I was going to be there for you but . . ." Raimundo murmured, turning away. Grinning Kimiko, deciding that she suddenly liked this new game, ran after Raimundo. Wrapping her arms round one of his, she pulled herself in close.

"Well, when you say it like that I might get a little scared."

"You sure, girl?" Raimundo muttered, turning round to face her, pulling his arms free at the same time. He now used his recently liberated arm to wrap around Kimiko's waist and pull her in close. Kimiko blushed slightly but continued grinning up at the brunette.

"I mean, I've never pegged you as the type that would be afraid of a horror movie."

"Maybe I just like the attention I get for being scared." She whispered, running a hand down Raimundo's arm, her eyes following the path. She felt herself almost blushing again when she noted how tanned he had become in the past few weeks. Kimiko tried to tear herself away from the sight of his body, before she started doing something embarrassing like thinking about how nicely toned he was and – She looked up and realised, with a jolt, that Raimundo was leaning in to kiss her. Smiling, she closed her eyes, patiently waiting for the brunette's lips to press against her own.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Raimundo muttered, sitting himself down next to Kimiko. Clay hid a grin behind one gloved hand and took a few steps back.

"You're the best person for the job besides you'll more than likely be there already partner." Clay murmured, though the last part was more to himself than Raimundo.

"What?" The brunette asked, looking up at Clay in confusion.

"Never mind, ya ready?"

"I suppose so." Raimundo muttered sulkily, leaning over he picked Kimiko's hand up. Lacing her fingers with his, he brought their now woven hands towards him.

"I'm all set." Raimundo said, eyeing the two before him. They nodded and Omi held out the Amulet of Genmu.

Just before Omi spoke Raimundo turned to face the sleeping Japanese girl. "You are so gonna owe me for this."

"Amulet of Genmu!"

His lips were coming closer. Closer, closer . . . She had been waiting for this for so long. Too long.

Raimundo's world flickered black then back to the picture of Omi and Clay then to Kimiko then back to the boys then back to her. It was as if the Wu was having a hard time adding him to Kimiko's Dream-World. He supposed it would have something to do with the fact that he hadn't entered this dream world at the same time as her. Groaning, Raimundo screwed his eyes tightly shut, this just had to work!

She could feel his breath, warm against her lips, as he slowly leaned in towards her. Without realising it Kimiko sucked in a breath and held it and –

"Kim!"

The shout of joy and delighted surprise made Kimiko's eyes shoot open. She looked up at Raimundo who was grinning down at her, a pleased look on his face.

"Rai . . . ?" She mumbled, confused as to why he had suddenly stopped. She wanted her kiss, thank you very much.

"Brilliant, I made it."

"Made it?" Kimiko asked, her nose wrinkling in confusion. "What are you on about Rai? Made what? Why did you stop?"

Unwrapping his arms from around her Raimundo leaned in close, holding her by the shoulders.

"Okay, what I'm about to tell you is going to sound a bit ridiculous but you have to listen to me okay?" Raimundo asked, waiting for her affirmative nod before continuing. "Jack Spicer used his new Wu on you and-"

"It didn't work; he obviously hadn't practised with it enough. You saw me kick his ass."

"No, Kim," Raimundo murmured, a slightly panicked look on his face, "The Wu worked, alright? It puts the person it's used against into a dream world. They go to sleep and start dreaming their life away starting from the very second it left off. Which is why you think you beat Jack. In reality you fell quite a few feet and nearly smashed against the ground because you suddenly went to sleep. This dream world gives the person everything they want. Which is why no one ever wakes up form the dreams because they're happy. We're trapped in our own world where everything we want is given to us."

Kimiko trembled slightly, a sense of foreboding filling her. "Then how come you're here?"

"We took the Wu off Spicer and Omi used it on me. We hoped it wouldn't be able to construct two different realities and merge ours. So that I would end up with you in your dream world."

Kimiko snorted. "How do you know you are not in your own dream world?"

"Because it starts off from where you left off and me, Clay and Omi would be sitting in the main room. And then you would come bouncing in, no longer under the effect of this stupid Shen Gong Wu. Now come on girl, we have to wake up."

Feeling slightly sick, Kimiko turned a glare on the boy before her. "How?"

"I-I," Raimundo paused slightly then swore violently in his native language. "We didn't think about that before the zapped me with the Wu. Bloody Hell!"

"Smart." Kimiko muttered under her breath. She couldn't believe that this had all been some kind of dream. It – it was so nice and –perfect, oh god, too perfect and -

"Yo Girl!"

Snapping round Kimiko arched an eyebrow at Raimundo. "What?"

"When you have a bad nightmare, and you can tell it's a dream, you can sorta force yourself to wake up. We'll do that."

"Oh really?" Kimiko drawled, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "What if I like this dream?"

She was only doing it to annoy him but Raimundo took it seriously. His face was suddenly solemn and the look he levelled her with made her stomach churn with apprehension.

"Because as wonderful as it is here. It will all just be given to you on a silver platter. Don't you really want your own life? Where everything you get you worked hard for? Don't you want a real husband and family and not just an imaginary one?"

Kimiko blushed slightly and rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah, whatever, let's get out of her."

Closing their eyes the pair focused on waking up and-

"Raimundo! Kimiko! You have awakened!"

"Yo Omi, turn it down a notch!" Raimundo grumbled clamping a hand over one ear. He would have used both but the other one was still holding onto Kimiko's. Or rather she was holding onto him. Her grip was tight and he doubted that he could pry his hand free, even if he wanted to.

Sitting up slowly, he looked over at Kimiko. Who was lying on the floor with a dazed expression on her face.

"Kimiko? Ya okay partner?" Clay asked waking over towards them. Kimiko said nothing. Omi frowned and bent over, eyeing her.

"Kimiko?"

"Kim? You with us girl?"

Blushing suddenly she sat bolt up right. Wrenching her hand from Raimundo's she scrambled to her feet and ran for the door.

The three gazed after her, surprise etched on their faces.

"Well . . . Ah guess it must of been a bit of a shock." Clay muttered under his breath.

Slowing down Kimiko continued to make her way down the corridor at a more sedate pace. She felt as if there was a gaping void inside her. Not having something wasn't nearly as bad as being given it and then having that something taken away. Sighing, Kimiko shook her head. It was not the time to be thinking of this.

"Hey, Girl! Wait up!"

Turning round, Kimiko fought down a blush. Raimundo was running after her, she paused until he reached her then continued walking.

"Hey." She replied as he fell into step with her, his hands now stuffed casually into his pockets as per usual, as they continued their walk towards their rooms. Kimiko snuck a glance at her companion from beneath her bangs, perhaps he hadn't realised she had wanted to kiss him or go out with him.

She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Snapping her face around she ground to a halt in front of her curtained-off room. Turning to Raimundo she opened her mouth to say something when a pair of lips pressed against her own. It was a chaste kiss. But in the few seconds she managed to note down how soft and gentle the lips against her were. How it made butterflies erupt in her stomach and make a hot blush spread across her cheeks.

Blinking in surprise, Kimiko stared up at Raimundo who was bending over slightly, a delighted grin etched onto his face.

"For the kiss I owed you earlier."

Winking at her, Raimundo stepped into his room. Leaving Kimiko standing there stupefied, her hand pressed to her lips. Grinning Kimiko turned on her heel and skipped into her room.

Who needed a dream-world? Here life was perfect as it was.

End Perfect World

Hm, this one is . . .well. I don't usually write the other characters in. There's usually quite a bit of comedy in the show and I find it hard to write the humorous group dynamics. Especially Dojo, I can never write a good Dojo. And it's quite long; the whole idea needed quite a bit of explaining. And I'm not sure if the stuff about the Shen Gong Wu would really work. But hey, best to explore, right? Anyway, here it is. I hope you liked it.

Genmu means dreams; visions; phantasms in Japanese. I was going to use Chinese but I couldn't find a good translator and I have a good Japanese one so . . .