Chapter Twenty Four

Tears Of Fire And Winds Decision

Kimiko looked at Raimundo with pure heatred. She slapped him, then crumpled in a heap on the floor sobbing her heart out. Edward ran up to Raimundo and punched him hard in the jaw, sending him reeling backwards.

"YOU DAMN BASTARD!" Edward screamed, and kicked him down to the floor, punching him as hard as he could in the face.

Raimundo kicked Edward off him and jumped up to his feet, glaring at Edward evily. kimiko then got up off the floor, her tears seemed endless.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!" and Kimiko slapped Raimundo again, harder this time.

"Kimiko-"

"DON'T 'KIMIKO' ME!" Kimiko turned her fist to flames and punched him full on the face.

"Wind!" Raimundo exclaimed, and used his element to fly well away from the others, well away from Kimiko and her burning hatred towards him.

Kimiko stood sobbing hard into her hands. Edward watched Raimundo fly away with Zakmes, Xsin, Aketai and Ryuu with hate pressed into every bit of his face. He then turned to Kimiko.

"Are-are you okay?" he asked awkwardly.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" Kimiko wept bitterly.

"Sorry," Edward apologised, he then thought to himself stupid question.

"Raimundo!" Shashine called after him, but he was soon out of sight.

"We've got to find Master Fung," said Rei.

"Right...I'm going after that winged guy," Morgan said, and ran off fast at top speed.

"I am going to kill him for compelling me to even do this," Xavier sighed, and darted off after him.

"I'm going to KILL Raimundo!" Kimiko spat, and ran off as fast as her legs could carry her.

Edward nodded and ran off to, the others all following.

"Maaan!" Xsin moaned, and slowed to a halt then ran backwards to where Zakmes stopped "I can't be bothered Zakmes!"

"I want to fight them," Ryuu growled.

"Exactly Xsin now get your fat bum over her!" Aketai snapped.

Xsin sighed and trailed towards them. Raimundo was first to fight. He ran up to Edward and blew him into the air with his element. While in the air, Edward sent lightning down on Raimundo. Raimundo was hit with furious lightning bolts and screamed out in pain, clutching a bloody arm. Edward fell fast from the sky.

"Electric barrier!" he exclaimed.

He put the barrier under his feet so when he landed he didn't hurt himself. The barrier dissolved at landing and he charged right for the weakened Raimundo, driving a fist right into his gut. Kimiko ran up to Raimundo and kicked him in the side of the head, sending him falling to the floor. Morgan went straight for Zakmes, kicking him in the stomach then pummeling him in the face. Morgan was just a blur as he attacked with so much speed and agility. It was very hard to avoid his attacks. Zakmes leapt up in the air and went slamming down on Morgan. Morgan was too fast for him and dodged out of the way with much time to spare. Instead, Zakmes went crashing into the ground and not at Morgan. Zakmes growled, got up and tried to punch Morgan in the face. Morgan grabbed Zakmes' fists and threw him to the floor.

"Too slow," Morgan taunted.

Zakmes kicked at Morgan's foot which he wasn't expecting and fell flat on his face. Zakmes pulled himself up off the ground. Morgan tried to get up but Zakmes just kicked him back down to the floor. Morgan rolled over onto his back and kicked Zakmes full force in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards. Morgan got up from the floor and attempted to kick Zakmes again. Zakmes put a hand up infront of him and Morgan kicked his palm instead.

"Too slow," Zakmes said back, smiling maliciously.

Morgan glared at Zakmes then punched him hard in the jaw. Great, I've been forced to use a last resort Zakmes thought, rolling his eyes as he managed to dodge a kick from Morgan.

"Shadow of Fear!" Zakmes called, holding out the Wu.

All the fears infront of everyone pure good. Zakmes looked over his shoulder and his jaw dropped. He had commanded the Shadow of Fear to only hit pure good people and yet he saw Raimundo battling with the Jellyfish monster. Yet, infront of Morgan was nothing.

"Guess you're not pure good then," Zakmes grinned.

"Guess I'm not afraid of anything actually," Morgan growled and kicked Zakmes in the stomach, causing him to stumble backwards.

"Come on, you've go to be afraid of something. Even I'm scared of ...something-" he then realised what he'd said and aimed a punch for Morgan "Pretend I never said that!"

Morgan had a sneaky glint in his eye and made a grab for the Shadow of Fear. Zakmes held it back and managed to kick Morgan in the jaw, knocking him backwards. Morgan ran towards Zakmes and his hands closed around the Shadow of Fear...which began to glow.

"Morgan, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown," Zakmes looked at him evily "My Scroll of the Wolf against your..."

Xavier threw Morgan the Fist of Tepigong.

"Against your Fist of Tepigong," Zakmes continued "Whoever falls first, loses."

"Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!"

The scenary totally changed. Floating rocks appeared and right at the end of them was the Shadow of Fear. Two floating rocks appeared on either side. On one side was the whole Xiaolin team and on the other side was Raimundo, Ryuu, Xsin and Aketai.

"GONG YI TEM PAI!"

"Okay, I know this is wrong but...I'm evil after all," Zakmes grinned.

He flapped his wings but couldn't lift up off the ground. He tried with all of his might but he didn't lift up off the ground.

"Hey," Morgan spoke up," Maybe this showdown is cheat proof."

He leapt onto the rock right next to Zakmes then with another huge jump he stood right next to Zakmes.

"Fist of Tepigong!" Morgan called, and punched the ground.

The rock rumbled and the two of them fall. Didn't think of that Morgan cursed himself, grabbing onto the side of the rock. Zakmes hauled himself up and back onto the rock. Morgan pulled himself up too then aimed a kick at Zakmes. Zakmes grabbed his foot and threw him sideways. Luckily Morgan landed on the rock beside the one that Zakmes was standing on.

"Scroll of the Wolf!" Zakmes called.

He transformed into a grey wolf. He howled then sped off along the rocks.

"Damn!" Morgan cursed, and ran off after him.

Zakmes turned sharply and bared his fangs.

"Hey, wolf breath!" Morgan yelled, and ran up to him "Fist of Tepigong!"

He punched Zakmes in the side. He whimpered and fell onto his opposite side, panting. He was close to the edge. All Morgan had to do was give him a little shove...

"Bye bye big bad wolf," Morgan said, and kicked Zakmes.

But suddenly before his foot even made contact with Zakmes, he got up from the floor and sunk his fangs into his leg growling madly.

"Yeah, he has a habit of that!" Vixtra shouted down from her rock "Look at my finger...well you can't because he ripped it off!"

Morgan shook his leg but Zakmes wasn't letting go. Zakmes was drawing blood. Eventually he was forced to let go of Morgan's leg and he bounded off towards the Shadow of Fear. Morgan cursed under his breath and ran across the rocks. Zakmes was almost there, he howled in triumph. But that's when Morgan jumped on him and punched him with the Fist of Tepigong. Zakmes whimpered again and fell over the side of the rock. He howled as he fell until he was heard no more.

"Go Morgan!" Kimiko cheered.

Morgan raced towards the Shadow of Fear and grabbed it.

The magic ceased...Morgan had won!

"Owww!" Zakmes got up in (not in wolf form anymore) and rubbed his sore back.

"Go Morgan, Go Morgan," said Rei, doing a little jig.

"Now for you," Morgan rounded on Zakmes with the Shadow of Fear in his hand.

Zakmes looked petrified, spread his wings and flew off.

"Crap!" Xsin called "Hey wait for us! We don't have wings you know!"

Aketai, Xsin and Ryuu followed Zakmes. Raimundo stayed behind.

"Kimiko..." he couldn't find the words.

"JUST GO AWAY!" Kimiko screamed, bursting into tears once more.

Raimundo looked over to Edward who was giving him the meanest look ever. Raimundo sighed.

"Wind!" he yelled, and followed the others.

The others looked up at the temple, thanking the lord that it had not been destroyed. They then looked back at Morgan. Morgan handed Clay the Wu that he'd won off the showdown.

"Bye," he said, in his cold harsh voice "See you at the war."

Then he ran off at super fast speed. The warriors headed into the temple.

When back in the temple Shashine and Kimiko locked themselves up in their rooms (A/N: I was about to put 'slammed the doors' but I remembered that the doors were curtains! XD). It was getting late and the Xiaolin warriors had to go to bed. Master Fung said that they needed the rest. Kimiko lay face down on her bed, crying.

Flashback

"HEY RAIMUNDO!" Kimiko screamed, then lost it.

Screaming in anger she ran up to him and punched him with a fist of flames right in the face. Raimundo was knocked backwards with the impact. He slowly got to his feet rubbing his nose.

"What the...Kimiko..."

"SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO EVEN SEE YOU! YOU'RE A NO GOOD TRAITOR! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WENT BACK TO THE HEYLIN SIDE!"

Kimiko began to punch him hard in the chest, sobbing while she did so.

"I-HATE-YOU!" she screamed, tears falling down her cheeks.

Then Raimundo grabbed Kimiko's arms and forcefully kissed her. Kimiko's eyes widened and she tried to pull away from Raimundo but his grip was too strong.

End Flashback

She didn't have the slightest feelings for him and Raimundo had never acted like he fancied Kimiko before the kiss. Why was he acting so out of sorts?

Shashine flopped down on her bed in her pyjamas and burst into tears. She thought that Raimundo had feelings for her, not Kimiko. Or was he just using her? Don't think that Shashine mentally told herself, biting her lip her eyes overflowing with tears.

"That's it," Raimundo said to himself "I can't do this anymore. I'm not Heylin."

Raimundo snuck out of the room and down the corridor. He almost stepped on a sleeping tiger's tail. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, stepped over the tiger and proceeded down the corridor. He was at the front of the lair and the wall slid sideways and opened for him. He walked out and felt as if a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders. He smiled and dissapeared into the night.

Suddenly Shashine heard a knock, but it wasn't coming from the wall next to the curtains. Instead it was coming from the window. She stood up to see Raimundo standing outside of her window. Her heart lifted and filled with happiness. She opened the window with great speed and flung her arms around his neck.

"Wait..." she let go of him "You've not come here to kill me have you?"

"Why would I do that?" Raimundo asked, climbing throught the open window.

Shashine closed the window and looked at Raimundo with delight.

"I'm sorry shashine," he said quietly, rubbing his arm awkwardly "I'm sorry for betraying you...and..."

"I forgive you Raimundo," Shashine said to him, a serious expression on her face "But I just have one question...why did you...kiss Kimiko."

Raimundo's eyes dropped to the floor and he looked saddened.

"You'll kill me if I tell you," Raimundo replied, his voice barely audible.

"I don't care," Shashine said, putting an arm around his shaking shoulders "Tell me."

Raimundo couldn't bring himself to even look at Shashine for what he said next.

"To...to get back at Edward. I was sick of him stealing everything from me. He even stole you at one point-"

"Don't say that Rai."

"But it's true. So I stole something most dear to him. And that was Kimiko. I knew he loved her the second he came to the temple and I just wanted to take her away from him so he would be jealous. I mean, Kimiko is pretty but I probably wouldn't be able to cope with her if I ever went out with her. She'd probably bite my head off the second I asked."

"I understand that you really wanted to get back at Bedward but you didn't have to do what you did to Kimiko," Shashine told him.

"I didn't think it would have been so much of a big deal at the time," Raimundo shrugged.

"Raimundo," Shashine whispered "You stole her first kiss."

Raimundo flinched and stepped away from Shashine, shaking his head.

"I didn't," his voice was filled with pain "You're making that up. I bet she's kissed Edward millions of times! She's pretty, she probably had tonnes of boyfriends. Besides, how would you know?"

"Because I asked her."

Flashback

Kimiko and Shashine stod outside, waiting for the others to wake up so they could get up with training.

"How can you sleep for that long!" Kimiko exclaimed, looking at the temple doors incase one of them came outside.

"I know, I mean, I need my beauty sleep but I don't sleep for that long!"

The two of them looked at eachother then burst out laughing.

"Well," said Shashine, after their laughing fit "Seeing as we're gonna be sharing a temple, I'm gonna have to ask you the ultimate question."

"Oh," Kimiko raised an eyebrow, smiling "And what's that?"

"Have you ever been kissed before?" Shashine asked.

"Ewwww no!" Kimiko grossed out "Have you."

"No," Shashine smiled "But it'll be alot of fun finding out what it's like!"

End Flashback

"I can't believe what I've done," Raimundo was looking down to the floor,tears shimmering in his eyes "I just can't believe it..."

"Oh Raimundo," Shashine said quietly, and hugged him.

Raimundo couldn't help but let the tears fall from his eyes. Suddenly the two of them heard footsteps coming up to the room.

"Shashine, are you alright?" a girls voice asked.

"Yeah, I heard you talking," a guy said after.

Just then the curtains opened and there stood Kimiko and Edward. Shashine let go of Raimundo and he tried to hide the fact that he was crying.

"Raimundo!" Kimiko shrieked "What are you doing here!?"

"Kimiko, Edward," Raimundo didn't want to look up because he still had tears falling down his cheeks "I'm sorry."

"Sorry's not good enough," Edward replied harshly.

"Please," Raimundo looked directly into their eyes, his eyes swimming with tears that began to fall down his face "Forgive me."

"I will never forgive you for what you've done to me," Kimiko spat.

"Nor me," Edward growled "No matter what you do or say, I can't forgive you."

The two of them turned on their heels and left the room, leaving Raimundo feeling depressed, confused...and most of all...

Ashamed.

There you have it! Of course, Raimundo couldn't stay evil for that long, he's too kind hearted. I feel so sorry for him though, Kimiko and Edward are being big meanies! They made Raimundo cry! Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. Stay tuned for the next chapter : 'REEEIII!'

ToXiC xxxx

p.s. On the chapter Letters From Home I was meant to put that Vixtra's letter was from Momma Jessie because if you remember Momma Suki was dead on The Falling Of Thunder. Just pretend I put Momma Jessie okily :).