(a/n) you guys got extremely lucky on this one. as the title of this chapter implys, I felt like taking a break from action after all the adventuring that I've writen about in the last three chapters, so I just went with an semi-ordinary day at the temple for this chapter. the ideas flowed like a river and I got it done in no time at all. I hope you all enjoy this chapter from its hylarious begining to its surprise yet predictable ending. now get to reading!

Chapter 11: An Ordinary Day… Sort of

Well, after successfully retrieving three of the four remaining Gauntlets and Dojo having to search half the planet for the five young monks, the team returned to the temple and, despite wanting to celebrate, took a well deserved rest. It was early morning now and everyone was sleeping peacefully in bed. It wasn't until about ten in the morning that anyone woke, at which point a still half asleep Clay walked out of his room mumbling something about a shower. With his eyes closed, however, he failed to notice that instead of heading for the bathroom he was about to walk right into a wall. The resulting thud managed to rouse two, not all four, of his friends: namely the two Chinese siblings Omi and Saya.

"Who put this wall here?" Clay asked, now a bit more alert than before.

Saya could barely hold back her laughter. Omi on the other hand, considering his adventures at sea yesterday (or whenever you want to call it) simply leaned against a wall and began to snore again.

"C'mon Clay," Saya said before helping the cowboy up and pointing him in the right direction. "You might as well wake up Raimundo and Kimiko on your way. I'm not sure whether Master Fung's gunna give us the day off today or not."

"He'd better!" Clay snapped. "I'm sorer than a…"

"No metaphors right now, cowboy. Now go wake up Romeo and Juliet."

"All right, all right! I'm goin', I'm goin'." Clay groaned before continuing toward the other side of the room. As ordered. He poked his head into Raimundo's room on his way. "Hey, Rai. Time to…" he stopped, unable to finish his sentence because of the sight before him. He just stood there with his jaw hanging open slightly before yelling, "WHAT IN TARNATION!!!"

Saya immediately forgot what she was doing when she heard Clay yelling and went to investigate. She pushed Clay out of the way and looked into Rai's room. Like Clay, she was temporarily dumbfounded by what she saw. There was Rai, still wearing his clothes from the day before, still sleeping. The shocking part, however, was that he had one arm wrapped around Kimiko who was lying down next to him. Like Rai, she was still wearing her clothes from the day before, but just the fact that they were lying next to each other, asleep, was enough to put their friends into a state of shock. The only words Saya managed to say were, "Clay, keep Omi back."

Now it was the Wind Dragons turn to awaken. He sat up, removing his arm from Kimiko's waist, yawned and stretched his arms. He looked up at his door (curtain is more like it) to see Saya standing there, half shocked and half embarrassed. Then, after glimpsing some black hair to his left, he turned his head to find his girlfriend lying down next to him. His eyes bulged out of his head and his face turned bright red. He turned back to Saya and said, "I swear, this isn't what it looks like!"

"What… isn't what it… looks like?" yawned Kim, who was now half awake.

Saya folded her arms over her chest. "The fact that I happen to find you and Rai sleeping in the same bed!" she exclaimed.

"Wha…" Kim yawned again. She sat up and opened her eyes a bit more. It was then that she noticed that she was, in fact, in Rai's room and the boy in question was sitting next to her. She snapped to her senses and said, "Ok, I can explain this!"

"Don't bother, we can get a pretty clear, yet disturbing, image from what we've seen thanks." Clay called from the other side of the curtain, followed by, "Omi, sit down! You ain't goin' in there!"

"What you guys do behind closed doors, or curtains in this case, is you're business. I, for one, could honestly care less. But if Master Fung finds out…"

"Master Fung isn't gunna find out because we didn't do anything!" Rai snapped. "Did we? My memory is a bit fuzzy after we left the underworld."

"That's because you fell asleep right after we got out of the Ying-Yang world." Kim explained. "Now, if everyone is ok with it, I'll explain how this happened."

"Oh, this oughta be good." Saya said under her breath. And so, Kimiko went on to explain how after Rai ended up passing out on the way back to the temple and she was the one who ended up carrying him back to his room. After setting him down, she was just so tired that she collapsed down next to him.

"And that's what happened, nothing else. And I swear, if I hear one crack about this from you or Clay you'll both wake up tomorrow with your hair on fire."

Both Saya and Clay, who'd managed to hog-tie Omi with a rope by this time, eyes the other two suspiciously. As much as their instincts told them that Kim's story was a lie, the look on the Wind and Fire Dragons faces said otherwise. Either Kim had a really good poker face or she was defiantly telling the truth. And as for Rai, well, he just had that look that said, "Listen to her." After about as much internal debating as one can stand, the blond girl and the cowboy both accepted Kim's story and left the room for breakfast, dragging Omi along behind them.

As soon as he was certain that their friends were out of the bed chamber, Rai plopped back down on his mat and sighed. "Well, that was embarrassing." He said.

Kim giggled. "Can you believe that they actually thought that we…" she couldn't bring herself to say the rest.

"I know, what were they thinking?" Rai chuckled.

"Well, you've got to admit, their suspicions were perfectly reasonable." Kim said. "I mean, what would you think if you walked in on Clay and Saya in the same bed?"

"I dunno. But thanks for putting an image in my head that I didn't want to see." Rai joked. "Besides, those two aren't dating."

"Yet." Kim said with an amused laugh.

"Yeah… yet." Rai agreed. "I've gotta admit one thing though, Kim. That was defiantly the best nights sleep I've ever had."

Kim smiled mischievously as she lied down next to the Brazilian boy. "Well," she whispered in a seductive tone, "Play your cards right and this might not be the last time you sleep this well."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe." The two just lie there for a while, silently enjoying each others company. It wasn't until Rai got to his feet, helping the Japanese girl up after him, that anything really worth mentioning happened.

"Well, you do what you want, babe. But I'm changing and getting breakfast. I think I smell bacon frying."

Kim giggled quietly before kissing her boyfriend quickly and heading to her room. "You do that." She said. "I'm gunna have a shower before I eat."

"Mind if I join you?" Rai asked, using his first sarcastic remark of the day.

"You try anything like that and I'll fry your bacon." Kim called back before she closed the bathroom door behind her.

THAT AFTERNOON

After everyone had had their breakfast and a shower, they began their daily routine. Though they didn't have to search for the Amethyst Gauntlet for the day since they gathered the other three in amazing time, they still weren't exempt from training and chores for the day. All and all, it seemed like it would be a pretty normal day, other than Clay and Saya constantly snickering every time Rai and Kim entered a room together.

With their chores done and having just training finished training minutes ago, Rai figured that this would be the perfect time to ask Master Fung if he and Kim could leave for the evening. He looked over his shoulder quickly to make sure the cost was clear. Kim and Saya were chatting about something by the fountain, Clay was snoozing with his back propped against a tree, and Omi was running away from a squirrel, screaming like an idiot. He slipped away unnoticed and eventually found Master Fung drinking Tea in the Kitchen. "Master Fung, could I have a word?"

"Of course, Raimundo." Master Fung said, "I always have time to speak to one of my students."

"Thank you sir." Rai said, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head. "You see, I was wondering if maybe, with your permission of course, Dojo could fly me into town tonight. I kind of have plans with someone." Master Fung eyed him suspiciously with one raised eyebrow. Time to drop the bombshell. "Actually, not just me. That someone I have plans with… it's actually Kimiko."

Master Fung lowered his eyebrow and nodded, taking another sip of his tea before he spoke. "I thought something had changed between the two of you." He said. "Very well. You have my permission. However, you are to be back no later than midnight, and there is to be no after party, if you catch my drift."

Rai nodded and said thank you politely, but I his head thousands upon thousands of words like "Yes", "Woo-hoo", and "All right" were going off like fire works.

Meanwhile, back outside, Kim and Saya were still sitting on the edge of the fountain talking about god knows what. So far, the conversation had only been meaningless banter going from topic to topic. But there was one question that Kim had been itching to ask Saya, something that might or might not be decent revenge for that morning. "So Saya, what's going on with you and Clay?"

Saya went red instantly. "Wha-what are you talking about?" she stuttered, trying to hider her embracement.

"Ah, so now the tables have turned." Kim joked. "You mean that you two constantly hanging out, the way you called him a gentlemen when he first spoke to you, the look on your face when you two were teamed up yesterday, and countless other things have all been in my imagination?"

The blond sighed. "No, I guess not."

"So, spill girl. What's really going on between you two?"

"I don't know." Saya muttered, looking at her reflection in the water. "I mean, unlike you, I'm not going to deny it. I do like Clay. And I have to admit it; I've already pecked him on the cheek twice. But really, nothing big is going on. It's not like he's jumped in the way of a lethal hammer like Rai did for you."

"Don't reminder me." Kim groaned. "That's not exactly how I imagined I'd ever get together with anyone."

The next thing either of them knew, Rai was standing next to them. He had that grin on his face that either meant that he had really good news or he'd just pulled a hilarious prank on someone. "What's up Rai?" Kim asked.

"Kim, you'd better get ready for tonight. You and I are going to town!" Rai announced. "Oh, hey Saya. I didn't see you there."

"I'll just leave you two alone." Saya said before getting up and walking away.

"So. Master Fung actually said yes?" Kim asked after Saya was out of ear shot.

"Yep. We just have to be back before midnight and, put into his terms, there's to be no after party." Rai explained. "So, just meet me here around seven. I was thinking we could catch a movie."

"Sounds good to me." Kim agreed. "I don't really care what movie we see." She got up from where she sat, pressed her body against Rais and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Besides, odds are we won't really be paying attention."

"I like the sound of that."

Unknown to the two in question, who were now sharing a bit of a moment, a certain blond Chinese girl was listening to their every word from around the corner. She couldn't help but giggle at the fact that, had it not been for the talk that she'd had with Kim in practically the exact same place, those two probably wouldn't be having their plans.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it isn't polite to eavesdrop?"

Saya jumped and quietly yelped at hearing Omi's voice, having thought that she was alone. After getting back to her senses, she retaliated with, "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not polite to sneak up on people?"

"Not really. I never had anyone to sneak up on before the others came to the temple." Omi explained. "So, what're those two up to?"

"Oh, nothing Omi. They're just arguing, as usual."

Omi gave his sister an annoyed frown. "You know, I'm not as stupid as everyone thinks. It became perfectly clear to me about Raimundo and Kimiko after you explained it to me a few weeks ago."

"I'll remember to give you more credit from now on, now leave. You're gunna blow my cover!" Saya ordered.

"Too late."

Saya froze at the sound of Kims voice. She slowly and shakily turned around to find the Dragons of Wind and Fire standing behind her with that "You're in trouble" look. "Kim! Rai! What're you doing here?" Saya asked nervously. "Omi and I weren't talking about anything! Especially not how I was listening to you guys… oh, damn it!" The Dragon of Lightning stormed off to find Clay before she could betray herself again.

Once she was gone for sure, Rai burst out laughing. Omi and Kim joined him soon enough. "Thanks Omi man. I'll get ya that five buck soon enough."

"I believe the deal was ten dollars." Omi snapped. "Don't think you can trick me. I've out smarted pirates, thank you very much."

"Fine, fine! Ten bucks. It's yours as soon as Kim and I get back tonight."

"That's more like it."

After leaving the love birds and her brother behind, Saya decided to look for Clay. It didn't take long to find the big lug snoozing under a tree. Odds are only one thing would wake him up. She snuck over to where his was lying, leaned over, and said, "Hey Clay, Master Fung said he's making us all give up on eating meat."

Instantly, Clay's eyes snapped open and he leapt to his feet. "Why that no good, bald headed, tofu eatin', slave drivin'…"

"Whoa, Clay! Calm down!" Saya broke in. he's not forcing us to be vegetarians. I just said that to wake you up."

The Texan stared at her, half dumbfounded and half enraged. But there was also a small part of him that was still too tired to do anything about it… for now. "All right, so whad ya want?" he yawned as he sat back against the tree. Saya sat down next to him.

"Just wanted someone to talk to. I was sort of eavesdropping on Rai and Kim so I'm trying to avoid them right now. And as for Omi, well, let's just say he's being a brother and leave it at that."

Clay nodded. "So, what were Romeo and Juliet talking about?"

"As it turns out, those two have a date tonight."

"Really. Well, good for them."

Both fell silent. The subject at hand had gotten them both thinking. Saya was mostly thinking about her earlier conversation with Kimiko. She'd admitted no more than ten minutes ago that she did have feelings for Clay. She also had to admit that all of Kim's accusations were true. So what force on this earth was keeping her from admitting everything to his face? Some primal human emotion, no doubt. Nervousness, fear, shyness, there's a list a mile long. If only there was a Shen Gong Wu that could rid people of such feelings. Well, there's not! Saya mental scolded herself. Oh, screw this! We're alone. I might as well get it over with.

As for Clay, well, basically the same things were running through his head… except for the parts that involved Kimiko. And unlike the girl sitting next to him, Clay hadn't really spoken to anyone about this. But like they say, "If not now, when?" right?

One second they were just sitting there in complete silence and deep in thought. The next, by some amazing stroke of luck, they were speaking the exact same simple yet affective words in perfect unison. "Do you want to go out some time?" They both said it quickly, almost as though they didn't want the other to hear.

The two both turned red instantly and turned towards each other. Saya was smiling sheepishly while Clay was slightly gawking stupidly. "Did you just…" Clay began.

"Yeah." Saya answered. "And you too?"

"Uh-huh." Clay nodded.

They both fell silent again. This time, however, neither of them were thinking anything except, "Yes, god damn it! Yes!" But for some reason or another, they couldn't bring themselves to utter anything. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Eventually, Saya managed to find her way back to reality. Had it not been for what she did next, Clay might not have ever come out of his own shock. She replaced her sheepish smile with a seductive yet still shy one. She leaned in slowly, watching the shock and anticipation grow in Clay's eyes. After a few long, antagonizing seconds, Saya pressed her lips against Clays. The kiss was brief (though it lasted longer than the first kiss of the temples other resident couple), but not brief enough that Clay didn't get the message.

Saya backed away. She knew full well that Clay got her message, but she couldn't stop herself from saying in anyway. "Yes Clay, I'd love too."

Unfortunately for those two, they were too caught up in the moment to realize that in the branches above their heads, three pairs of eyes were watching them. Raimundo and Kimiko sat on a branch just high enough that their feet weren't dangling in sight. Omi sat on a branch above them. All three of them had that "how cute" smile as if they were watching a puppy and a new born baby playing together. "Revenge is sweet, isn't it Rai?" Kim asked.

"I've got to agree with you there, Kim." Rai agreed.

"As odd as it is getting my sister 'hooked up', as you put it, I feel strangely pleased with myself." Omi said.

"Congratulations team." Rai said. "Operation match maker was a complete success."

(a/n) I'd just like to say I have no idea where I got the idea fro Rai and Kim to sleep in the same bed by accident, it just came to me while writing the moon chapter. also, I can honestly say Im happy with the way I got Clay and Saya together. it wasnt all that romantic and tragic like with rai and kim, but trust me, those two will go through their own tragedy eventually. now its time to talk about chapter 12. I'm not sure what I'm gunna do at this point. I'm debating between splitting it between Rai and Kims date and finding the amethyst gauntlet, or something else.