Breaking China

Kimiko sat with the boy at the table that they used for eating. The other two boys were eating their food, glaring at the two younger ones. Kimiko didn't feel very comfortable with the whole situation. Finally, Tao spoke up, glaring at them. "I've packed lunches… Doan and I are going to go out and practice… Lian-Li and Ching, you two are going to clean this place from top to bottom, then you can have your lunches."

"Hold on… we always practice together, all of us," the younger boy stated.

"You two have to be punished for that Showdown," Tao commented.

"It isn't your job to hand out the punishments," the boy mentioned, glaring at the other boy.

"Well," Doan glared at him. "They'll be back this afternoon, you can take it up with Master Dashi then."

"Until then, I am in charge and you have to do what I say," Tao got up and got a bucket of water and scrub brushes. "We'll see the two of you later."

Kimiko finished eating and she hurried to start cleaning. Her new friend followed behind her reluctantly, having left a whole bunch of his food behind. His cheeks were still slightly flushed from embarrassment. She got down on her hands and knees and began scrubbing on one side.

"So," Kimiko started. "I take it your mad at me?"

The boy didn't answer, which made her want to chunk the brush at him. "Hello! You obviously aren't listening to me."

"Sorry… you're a girl," the boy said slowly, still scrubbing the floor. Suddenly Kimiko's brush went flying and hit him in the head. He looked up at her, anger in his eyes. "What was that for?"

"You think my being a girl is something bad, don't you!" Kimiko snapped.

"No… that's not…" he pushed the brush hard and it went flying across the floor back to her. "It's just… I've… are you betrothed to any body?"

"What kind of question is that?" Kimiko was so busy in her work that it didn't click what he was getting at. Thus he was able to change the flow of the conversation a bit.

"Look… most girls have some sort of arranged marriage… don't they?" the boy commented. "I can't figure out how you ended up able to come here. You aren't running away from an arranged marriage are you?"

"No… I don't have an arranged marriage," Kimiko commented.

"Then why did you come here?" the boy asked, only to have a fire ball hit his bucket. He yelped and almost knocked it over. "You… you're a Dragon of Fire?"

"Yes," Kimiko said, continuing with her work.

"Lucky for you… they'll accept you more then they do with me… you're practically one of them… me… I'm the apprentice without an element who some how managed to get to Wudai rank without powers…" the boy said.

"I am in need of speaking with Master Dashi," Kimiko commented. "It is very important…"

"I can't imagine why… the biggest problem we have is Wuya,"

"That old hag?" Kimiko asked.

The boy stopped, turned and stared at her. "How do you know about her?"

"I've heard worm of mouth how despicable she is," Kimiko commented. "Now please, let us just get this done. I don't want to say anything that might make you think I'm a bad guy."

"That not…" the boy said, only to be interrupted by her.

"You were the one who called me a Heylin witch if I recall correctly,"

Kimiko didn't see the boy's face turn red again, but she did hear what he had to say. "That was because of the ridiculous way you were dressed!"

"Believe me… where I come from, there are girls who dress worse," Kimiko had to look up as she heard a squeak come from the boy. This caused her to glance up to see the boy, his face completely pale, not to mention red again. "What exactly is your problem?"

"Girls shouldn't… they shouldn't attract attention from boys… if Tao and Doan…" the boy said, suddenly bursting into a fit of hiccups.

"My, oh my, aren't you the knight in shining armor type," Kimiko mocked him.

"I don't get what you're saying…" the boy hiccupped some more.

"I would have beaten them black and blue if they had tried anything," Kimiko commented. She then glanced up, noticing that the boy had run out of the household trying to get a hold of his hiccups. "So you're going to leave all the work for me?"

M

Ching, or Chase as his real name was hurried out of the place he was supposed to be cleaning and went and sat on the rock and put his head between his legs. He had never been in a situation like this before and didn't know what to do with it. He would have told Gaun if he was there, but the older boy wasn't. And if he told Tao and Doan, they would laugh at him, uncontrollably.

What he didn't know was why he was effected this way by a girl. He never had been effected this way before… or had he? Gaun had in fact kept the girls at bay. It helped that Gaun could, whenever there had been trouble attract the attention of the girls so he could escape. This girl, Lian-Li as she so called herself was the one girl who had gotten close to him since…

It had to be since he had come to the temple… even before that. The only other females he really remembered was his mother and the females that stayed near him. "My mother…" the boy thought, not happy that he was now thinking about the bad memories that came to his mind. She was to him the most beautiful woman in the world.

"No," he thought to himself after a bit, biting his lip. He actually thought Lian-Li was prettier, even when she wore boys clothing. This thought process couldn't be a good thing and was making him Master Dashi or Gaun could be there so he could talk to them. He leaned his hand on his cheek, his hiccups starting to go away.

The biggest problem was, he was wondering if his thoughts were the honorable ones he preferred to keep. He decided to stew on all of this for awhile and let the demons in his chest settle down. He still couldn't believe the girl said there were actually some girls that dressed even more inappropriately! His mind racked all he had heard about dealing with girls and the only thing that he could remember was what he had heard from Toa's mouth… which might not be a good thing.

M

Kimiko was not happy about the fact that, well… the person who was supposed to help her in cleaning had taken off on her. She couldn't figure out why he was so upset at the idea that there were girls that dressed with more skin then she did. Rai would have been drooling by now. Clay… well, Clay would have been blushing, but not bursting into hiccups. Omi… Omi wouldn't have gotten it.

She tossed the brush into the wooden pale and went and grabbed the lunches. She planned to give the boy a nice hard lecture and quickly found him perched on the rock. She frowned as she knew that he had been out in the sun to long and it was a little warm. She sat down and set his lunch and opened hers.

"Thank you for helping me with the work," she muttered, planning on going into a lecture.

"I apologize Lian-Li," the boy said nervously.

His tone caught her attention and she stopped opening the small parcel. She glanced up, not looking at him. "Is something wrong Ching?"

"You… are… a… girl… right?" the boy said, one word at a time.

"Yes," Kimiko said, suddenly turning, though some gut instinct told her not to. The next thing she knew, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her. She closed her eyes and shoved him away, suddenly putting her palm into his nose and causing it to bleed again. She then shoved her food into his face, causing the rice to splatter every where. "What was that for?"

"I… don't…" the boy started but didn't finish.

"You stole my first kiss!" Kimiko hissed at him.

"S…s…" the boy started, his face turning red, not to mention pale.

"You didn't have a clue what you were doing, did you Ching!" she snapped. His looking down at the ground told her that was true… he had guessed and flubbed it, which was probably a good thing. She closed her eyes and said in a low tone. "Look… I'm from the future… it would never… work out!"

With that she turned and stormed off, anger in her eyes. She was surprised to see Tao and Doan standing their, their mouths dropped in shock. She knew that this couldn't be a good thing. "What… do you want!"

"That little mud ball!" Toa commented storming off to confront the younger boy. "I can't believe that he did something that stupid… and that gross!"

"Seems that Ching has done something really bad this time," Doan muttered. "I apologize… he's… Ching is with Gaun the best behaved at us… I would have expected this from Tao… except…"

"Except what!" Kimiko snapped.

"Except with a girl… or multiple girls," the boy watched as Kimiko paled. "You got the implications of what Ching just did and why it's a big deal."

"No", Kimiko thought to herself. "I was thinking about the fact you two still don't know I'm actually a girl."

Tao had grabbed Ching by the front of his tunic front and had lifted the boy up and was shaking him hard. He then saw the two looking at them. "Lian-Li… Master Dashi was looking for you! Go, now!"

Toa's eyes said something that she didn't like seeing and Doan pushed her down the path and she hurried off towards Master Dashi. She glanced over her shoulder to see the two boys dragging her friend… who happened to have a crush on her, into the house. She bit her lip.


Author's note – Surprise? Anyways… I figured that Chase, being as honorable as he is, would actually be freaked out at the idea of girls dressed even more 'immodestly' then Kimiko was when he first saw her… expesully when he is that young. Oh, and the title doesn't refer to the country of China…