Understanding Chase

Chapter 12- Lost

As the days went by, Kimiko felt more and more desperate to have Chase back beside her. She missed him, she wasn't going to lie about her feelings. And everybody felt the waves of her depression 24/7. Raimundo offered to give Chase a piece of his mind, but Kimiko always said to leave Chase alone. She wanted nothing more than to take him in her arms and tell her that she didn't care if she got hurt, so long as she never had to leave him.

A Shen Gong Wu had been activated. Dojo told Kimiko she didn't have to go if she didn't want to, but she said she would help.

"It lets you see what the deepest desire of one's heart is…" Raimundo read aloud, "Huh… Useful if you wanna use it against someone I guess…"

Kimiko perked up when she heard that. If she could get the Wu, she could know if Chase was really what she wanted. She had to know. She felt so lost right now, anything would satisfy her.

Thoughts bounced around in the cavity that was Kimiko's tortured noggin as they flew to retrieve the Wu. When they landed, it barely registered with her.

She didn't really try to fight the Jackbots and the vicious attacks from Wuya and Katnappe. She just walked in a direction. She didn't know where she was going or why she went that way, but something told her to go that way. All attacks coming her way seemed to go in slow motion to her. She ducked as a Jackbot flew towards her; it rammed into Wuya. She dodged Katnappe's kittens by merely lifting her leg a little higher when she stepped. She ignored Jack's rants and just kept walking. She felt so lost, she didn't realize she knew exactly where she was going.

She spotted the Wu and reached out gingerly to take it. An all too familiar gloved hand touched the other end of the strange heart shaped Wu.

Kimiko felt her spirits lift and her heart sink as she looked up to find Chase's eyes staring into hers.

She suddenly had one thought. "Chase, I challenge you to a Xiaolin showdown! The game is truth or lie! First to fall loses! No Shen Gong Wu! Just you and me battling for this!" she shouted, sudden confidence filling her head.

Chase accepted and the landscape floated away to reveal balloons. It looked all too familiar to Jack and Omi, as they had done the same challenge years ago. Omi had a feeling that Kimiko had some sort of tactic in choosing this challenge.

They yelled Gong yi tempai together and Kimiko started.

"Did that night mean anything to you at all?" she asked, her voice full of hate and sorrow together.

Chase stood, facing her and said calmly, "Of course it did. It meant the world to me, Kimiko. I told you that."

"Then why did you tell me to leave?" she yelled, tears spilling out of her sky blue irises.

"Because I wasn't ready to commit," he said. The balloon turned and popped beneath him. He lied.

Kimiko screamed at him, "Don't lie to me! Why did you tell me that things couldn't change?"

Chase groaned. "Because they can't!" the balloon popped. He hadn't lied, it just wasn't entirely true.

Kimiko looked at him, her eyes full of hurt.

"Why can't you see that I'm not trying to hurt you?" he yelled, regaining his balance on a new balloon.

Kimiko retorted, "Because you won't let me! Why can't you just tell me why you won't accept that we have something?"

"I have accepted that!" he snapped back, "We just can't be together! Why can't you understand that?"

"Because I finally felt like things were going right! I thought you would see how happy you made me!" she sobbed.

"I did see that! Didn't you see that I felt the same way?" he asked, his voice harsh.

Kimiko yelled, "Yes! That's why I don't understand why you can't just tell me! Why are you so adamant on us not being together?"

Chase yelled back, "Because we just can't be!" the balloon popped beneath him. Once again, he hadn't lied, he just hadn't answered her question.

"Why won't you just tell me?" she sobbed, holding her ribs as they began to ache from yelling through her tears.

Chase yelled back, "Because I thought you'd figure it out on your own!"

Kimiko blinked and looked at him. He hopped to the balloon she was floating on.

She asked, "Then why? Obviously I haven't. Why?"

Chase sighed. "Kimiko, I don't want to see you get hurt. If we stayed together… And Hannibal tried to use you to get to me… I couldn't give you up. I'd give in instantly.. But he would still hurt you. I know what he's like… I don't want to see you broken…" he said, kneeling down to caress her face.

"I feel lost without you, can't you just give up on feeling worried for me? I can take care of myself, you should know that…" she said, her voice shaking with her freshly cried tears.

Chase said a single word and the balloon popped underneath them. He made certain that she was above him, making himself heavier by positioning his body. The showdown ended with Kimiko holding the Shen Gong Wu and Chase standing before her.

Chase had said yes. He had lied. He could never stop worrying about her. Now that he had something he wanted to protect, he didn't want anything to happen to her. He just wanted her to stay safe.

She looked at him, her eyes were lost in his. Chase smiled softly.

"Use the Wu, see what the deepest desire of my heart is," Chase said, opening his arms to let her. Kimiko said the name of the Wu, but she pointed it at herself.

Everyone was shocked by this. They had all thought she wanted it to see what Chase wanted. Why did she want to see what she wanted? Didn't she already know?

Kimiko saw into her mind. She saw herself, sitting in a hammock with a baby in her arms. It had a few tufts of black hair on its head and it had glimmering gold eyes. Just like his father. Chase approached her and sat beside her on the hammock in her mind. He put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. Kimiko could see in the vision that she was pregnant. She had the young baby boy in her arms as Chase rubbed her glowing stomach.

The vision ended. Kimiko opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her. She looked at everyone's questioning gazes and she knew they wanted to know what she had seen. But she did not answer. She looked Chase dead in the eye.

"It is you…" she whispered. Chase looked slightly taken aback, the others looked lost. They had no idea what she was talking about.

Chase spoke, his voice calm, but weak, "Kimiko… I know what you saw, but… I'm not the one… I'm not the answer for you… I… It can't be me."

With that, chase vanished into thin air. Kimiko smiled gently, however. She knew exactly what she wanted now. She wanted a family with Chase. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized it made sense. She began to realize that she had wanted it ever since the first time she saw him. Joy swept over her.

She had to let Chase know that he was the answer. He was the missing piece to her puzzle! He was all she wanted, and she knew what direction she had to go to get him to see that. She no longer felt that feeling of lost. She knew what she had to do, now the only thing left was how to do it.