Title: In your Arms.
Author: Madmaddie.
Pairing: Raimundo/Kimiko.
Fandom: Xiaolin Showdown.
Theme: #22, cradle.
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown or any of the characters.
It was cold.
Yes, cold, that was what the water was; cold.
And horrible.
He'd never much liked water, maybe because he didn't get along so well with Omi.
Either way, he defiantly didn't like it now.
He hadn't meant to get his foot caught. Really, he hadn't, it was that bloody Spicer and his ridiculous inventions. Honestly, shooting goo at people? Though, it seemed to work as he hadn't been able to move and then it had been too late. Because the giant robotic fist had suddenly swung into him, completely knocking the air out of him. And tearing him from the goo. That had hurt; his legs had been wrenched painfully from the sticky blue substance. He was almost positive that he had torn a few ligaments. And he was certain that the bloody robot had broken a few of his ribs as well. And he had been soaring through the air, too dazed to so much as think of flying.
And then he had hit the water.
He had hit it hard as well. So hard in fact he had gasped instinctively, too out of it to realise what he was doing, and water had filled his lungs. And he had started to choke, even more bubbles of precocious air slipping from his mouth as more water forced its way in.
And the water was cold and wet and horrible and he was sinking. Too tired to fight back, his leg was throbbing painfully as his lungs began to burn.
He was going to die.
Raimundo almost snorted. This was kinda pathetic really. He had hoped he'd have gone out with a bit of a flare. But here he was, sinking to the bottom of the ocean, about to die all by himself.
There was a sudden flash of light from above and Raimundo looked up blearily. Through the murky darkness of the water he could swear he could see bright flashes of light. Which must mean that the others had defeated that ridiculous robot. Good. Stupid Jack Spicer that would . . . show . . . him.
And Raimundo suddenly found it hard to keep his eyes open. Though it didn't really matter, everything was going black anyway. Blinking desperately Raimundo made a last-ditch attempt to swim. But his limbs were so tired and his lungs were burning. And he just didn't care any more. And as the darkness began to close in he could have sworn he felt a hand grabbing his own and was almost certain he could see a shiny yellow head.
And then he saw no more.
"Rai!"
Oh god, he hurt.
Raimundo coughed, his lungs were contracting painfully as water spewed from his mouth. Groaning, someone rolled him over, rubbing a hand up and down his back as he tried to stay awake. His chest was hurting and his leg was unbelievably painful and he really just wanted to sleep. He was so damn tired he couldn't even muster the energy to open his eyes. But he couldn't sleep; some part of him knew he couldn't sleep not just yet. But he was so tired and he was still coughing and it was so painful and –
"It's okay Rai, its okay." That was Kimiko. He recognised her voice and the small hands that were running up and down his back.
"It's okay, you're safe now." She murmured, her tone soft. And as much as he was glad she was paying attention to him, he really didn't want to be babied. So he opened his mouth to tell her this and started to cough. Again.
Kimiko made a soft cooing sound, which took Raimundo completely by surprise, and pulled him into her arms. Pressing his face against her shoulder, cradling him against her as if he was the most delicate thing in the world right now. And Raimundo didn't like being babied but here, in Kimiko's arms, the coughing didn't see so bad, and his legs wasn't as painful and he could barely feel his broken ribs any more. So he would let it pass, this time.
"I don't believe it! Raimundo takes a little tumble into the water and you're all over him Kimiko!"
Raimundo had the sudden urge to open his mouth and yell at Spicer and ask him if he wanted to be hit into the water with a giant robotic fist? And let's see how much you enjoy it!
But Kimiko beat him to it.
"You arrogant good-for-nothing little pansy of a boy. Raimundo almost drowned and I'm making sure he's alright, you stupid irritating ass!"
And despite the fact that Kimiko had pretty much just yelled right in his ear Raimundo smirked.
"Smirking, huh? You with me Rai?"
The brunette nodded against her shoulder, too tired to reply just yet.
"Good, stay with me okay."
He felt a hand run through his hair, ruffling it. "Omi and Clay are almost finished with Spicer. We'll be going home soon, okay?"
Raimundo nodded again, pressing himself closer to Kimiko. He had suddenly realised how cold he was. Really, really cold in fact. So cold that he was beginning to shake.
"Rai?" The worried question was accompanied by a hand running down his face. Fingers gently tracing his check.
"Rai, are you okay?"
"C-Co-ld." Raimundo managed to mutter round suddenly chattering teeth. Which was ridiculous, he shouldn't be cold. They weren't even in a very cold country but here he was shivering like a little kid. The thought that it was rather embarrassing crossed his mind then –
He was suddenly warmer, the arms that were wrapped round him were rising in temperature. Even in his half-dead state Raimundo realised that Kimiko must be using her control over fire to heat her body up and, in turn, heat him up as well. A hand was pressed to his forehead, as Kimiko made a thoughtful clucking sound with her tongue. The hand moved up to gently brush back a few of the wet strands of hair that were clinging to his forehead before retreating to curl round him again.
"It's okay now Rai. You can go to sleep if you want."
Sighing slightly as he began to warm up again, Raimundo buried his face in her shoulder and allowed sleep to finally claim him.
When he woke up again he was in his room. Though it took him a while to realise this and even longer for him to wander why he was suddenly in his room and feeling like absolute rubbish. A sudden rush of memories – ohcrapRobotpainsinkingchocking –hit Raimundo and he tried very hard to sit up
And failed spectacularly.
It was probably, Raimundo reasoned, partly due to the fact he had almost died – stupid Jack Spicer - and was still probably pretty weak from the experience. The other reason was in the form of one Kimiko Toho.
Raimundo turned his head to the side, staring at the petit Japanese girl. She was curled beside his bed, her feet tucked beneath her. Her head was pillowed on one of her arms, while the other was stretched across Raimundo's bed, with his hand clasped tightly in hers.
The brunette blinked.
Kimiko stayed right where she was and didn't fade like he expected a normal hallucination to do.
Which meant she was real.
He really hadn't expected to see Kimiko like this and certainly not because of him. Obviously tired because there was no way anyone who wasn't tired could fall asleep in that position. And there were black smudges under her eyes which definitely weren't some new weird make-up style. And she was clinging to him in her sleep so she had to be tired because she was worried about him. Which was odd and unusual and totally unexpected but he wasn't really about to complain.
Because despite the fact that it was odd and unusually and totally unexpected it was . . . nice. Oh God, had he hit his head too? But it was nice because she was worried which meant she cared. Which was good. Very good in fact. And . . . and this was getting him no where.
Shifting onto his side, with a great amount of difficultly and pain for such a simple task, Raimundo turned to face her. Sighing he reached out hesitantly to brush a stray strand of hair back behind her ear where it belonged. Because really, despite the fact that she was tired and had messy hair which was falling out of its pigtails, she looked downright . . . cute. And it shouldn't be cute. She wasn't allowed to be cute. He had trouble dealing with her on the rare occasions she was cute when he wasn't dead tired like now. He just knew he'd make a right idiot of himself if she woke up now.
Chuckling to himself about the absurdity of the situation Raimundo almost jumped when a voice sounded in the room.
"Rai!" The brunette started and turned his head sharply to look at Kimiko who was blinking sleepily at him. Using the hand that wasn't clasped around his to rub her eyes. Great, just what he needed. She was looking cute. Again. "You're awake."
"That's kinda obvious girl." Raimundo muttered, or would have muttered had his voice not come out as a rasp. Coughing, Raimundo brought one hand up to his throat and pained look on his face.
"Oh, poor Rai. You're throat must still hurt." Kimiko said, letting go of his hand she turned to the side and picked up one of the few bottle sitting beside her. Which he hadn't noticed till now. Wow. That was a lot of drugs. No wonder he felt so dopey.
"Okay," She said taking a white tablet out of a small brown bottle. "Take this one; it should help with the cough."
When Raimundo made no move to take the offered tablet she frowned at him. Raimundo said nothing; he didn't like drugs. His parents were into all that homeopathic stuff and it had rubbed off him. He wasn't going to take some random bunch of tablets. No way.
Almost as if she could read his thoughts Kimiko grabbed his uninjured hand and forced the tablet into it. "Take it."
"Now." She added as Raimundo opened his mouth to protest, "It's only going to make you better."
"I don't like this kinda medicine." Raimundo muttered as the Japanese girl forced a glass of water, that seemed to appear from nowhere to Rai, into his hand.
"I know." Kimiko said matter-of-factly as she shuffled over to pick up another bottle and began to undo the top. "That's why I had Daddy check out all the drugs and their backgrounds when the Doctor prescribed them to you. They're all okay."
"Oh." Raimundo said, because there really wasn't much else to say, and he popped the tablet in his mouth and downed it was a mouthful of water.
Leaning over he placed the glass back beside Kimiko who was still fighting with the bottle.
"Kim?"
"Yeah?"
"How long have I mean asleep for?"
"Four Days."
Raimundo nodded slowly.
"Kim?"
"Hm?"
"How many of those days have you been watching over me?"
The Japanese girl hunched over the bottle slightly, freezing for a second before she continued her attempt to open the bottle. She didn't answer the question.
Sighing, Raimundo leant over, ignoring the sharp pain in his ribs at the movement, and hit her back lightly. The Dragon of Fire glowered at him over her shoulder and he smiled. Here was his Kimiko. Plucking the bottle from her hands, Raimundo pressed down on the top and twisted. The cap came off in his hands.
Smirking he handed the bottle back to the disbelieving Dragon. "Child-proof lock Kim."
Scowling at him she tipped two tablets into her hand and shoved them towards Raimundo. Who took them and the glass of water, which was partly splattered across his bedding from the force Kimiko had shoved it at him, and swallowed the two tablets. Handing the glass back to Kimiko, Raimundo winced at the pain in his throat. It surprised him that swallowing water had hurt. Though maybe it was those two tablets they were pretty big and it had felt like they had got lodged somewhere in his throat. He looked up at Kimiko who was staring rather avidly at him, concern etched on her face.
Raimundo smirked. "You gonna answer the question?"
Scowling, Kimiko pressed a hand to his shoulder and gently, despite the look of outrage on her face, pressed him back down to lie on the bed.
"For four days." She muttered as she pulled the covers up around him.
Raimundo almost bit right through his tongue in an effort not to say anything. He knew it would come out sounding stupid or insulting. And he didn't want to do that, especially after she put to so much effort into taking care of him.
Sighing, Raimundo relaxed into the mattress and began to adjust the blankets to the way he liked them. Wriggling under the heavy covers Raimundo felt a tickle start at the back of his throat. Pressing his lips together Raimundo tried to suppress the coughs that were suddenly trying to force their way up. Turning on his side, Raimundo slapped a hand to his mouth in an attempt to stifle his coughing fit. Even though he had been teasing her moments ago, he didn't wasn't to worry Kimiko. If she had been watching over him all this time the least he could do was make her last bit of watching less worrying.
He jumped slightly when a hand came to rest against his shoulder.
"Rai, you okay?"
Well that plan just went straight out the window. With a huge mental sigh the Dragon of the Wind opened his mouth to reply but ended up coughing instead. Clamping his hands over his mouth Raimundo tried not to wince as he began to violently cough. His whole body shacking with the effort to try and stop them.
Actually, he was still shacking even though he had stopped coughing. Groaning Raimundo tried to bury himself in his bed as he continued to tremble - how humiliating.
"It's okay Rai." A pair of arms wrapped round his waist suddenly, a warm body coming to rest just behind his back. "You inhaled a lot of water which is why you're throat is raw, you were coughing so much." Her voice dropped here and Raimundo found his heartbeat picking up; he could practically feel the compassion and worry she was radiating. "You bruised two ribs and broke one. Which nearly pierced your lung which is partly the cause for your coughing." A face was suddenly pressed against his back and Raimundo could have sworn he felt the smirk on Kimiko's lips through his nightclothes. "And why you're trembling like a baby."
"I am not-"
"I know. Just wanted to check if you were feeling better."
Raimundo smiled to himself and settled back down, Kimiko spooned against his back. Her hands gently rubbing his chest in an effort to ease his breathing. Sighing, Raimundo felt himself relax under Kimiko's touch. He had felt like rubbish when he woke up and the fact that he had had trouble breathing had worried him. But here, cradled in Kimiko's arms like a small child, it didn't seem like such a big thing. Like she was forcing all the pain away. Which was stupid because there was no way she could actually do that. It was probably the drugs making him drowsy or something that was making him feel like this but . . .
He did feel better.
And he felt better because she was here. Because she cared enough to watch over him and make sure he was alright. Because she had spent the last four days making sure he recovered properly.
It was all because of her.
All Because Of Her.
"Kim?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
No more needed to be said. She understood and he knew she understood. And he was glad because he was sleepy and the pain was finally fading away so he just didn't have the energy to explain it to her even if she hadn't understood.
"No problem Rai." Kimiko murmured, moving herself so she could lean over and press her lips against his forehead in a gesture that reminded him of his mother. Smiling he clutched at her hand and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
Because he had never felt the peace he felt now as he was cradled in Kimiko's arms.
And the bitch probably knew that as well.
End In Your Arms.
Hm, I really liked this idea. Don't know why, I think it may have been exploring the possibility of Kimiko having a maternal side to her, like in 'My Baby'. But I kinda got stuck half-way through, stupid writers-block, which was really annoying. And then we had exams. So sorry. But you guys must be getting used to this by know, huh? Sorry, I really will try to better.