The Twelve Soul Dragon

By Gigawolf1

Chapter 3: Golden Tiger Claws-Kimiko

Kimiko's POV

Another day, another couple of Shen Gong Wu Jack doesn't have. Since the Ruby Rooster is one of my Shen Gong Wu, I'm much happier with Pandabubba beaten again. And it means we beat him up again for tricking Papa. Raimundo beat both of them so easily. We each have three Shen Gong Wu we can use with out elements right now. The only problem is that Raimundo and I both use the Eye of Dashi.

Now Clay's coming over to talk to me. He probably thinks I'm trying to meditate or thinking about Japan. If he had the Mind Reader Conch, he'd be in for a shock. Mostly I'm thinking again about how much I hate his down-home sayings. They're almost as annoying as Rai. Almost.

"Hey, Kimiko," he says. I bet he feels all high and mighty. He let his sister keep the Wings of Tinabi because she gave the others back. What's really sad is that not only is he the only one of us with any siblings, but Raimundo was right when he said that Jesse looked like Clay with lipstick.

"Hi Clay," I said distractedly. If he even tried to say a down-home saying, I could freak. And then I came up with the ultimate idea. "Hey, Clay, I bet you can't go two whole weeks without saying a single down-home saying!" I said. He just grinned and replied, "I normally wouldn't cheat a girl out of her money, but I reckon I can make an exception,"

"Good. Winner gets the loser to do all their chores," I said with a grin. Either way, I win.

And now Raimundo is looking at us. He does that a lot more often than usual lately. He looks at me and Clay. Or me and Omi. Or me and Dojo. Or me and whoever I'm with at the time. I bet he doesn't know that I know. But Master Fung sees all, and he told me to practice with the Golden Tiger Claws. He says that the more Raimundo uses them, the more warped his mind will become. One thing I noticed is that every time Raimundo worked for Wuya, he used the Golden Tiger Claws. Except, of course, the fact that the second time he used them to save his home town, and then they controlled him.

I go around to a hidden part of the temple, not too far from the courtyard. This is what I've done for a few weeks now. But with the incident involving Pandabubba a while ago, Omi is training harder. He's practicing with the Monsoon Sandals and their Water Power. He likes to make it rain, but since it gets in everyone else's way, he does it in private. Just my luck, he's practicing beside where I hid the Golden Tiger Claws this morning.

But now Master Fung is coming from the other side of the small garden. He's coming to distract Omi, I guess… Wait, is that Raimundo with him? Is Master Fung going to let him use the Golden Tiger Claws, even though they affect him negatively? Doesn't he care what could happen to him? Oh, my mistake. Master Fung is motioning for me to take the Tiger Claws away quickly. I leap and roll. Ducking back into the shadows, I think that both Omi and Raimundo missed me. As I walk around the corner, I find out that I was wrong.

"Hey Kimiko. Where are you going with the Golden Tiger Claws?" asked Raimundo. Since I don't have an answer, I just say, "I thought you might want to practice your Wind Element to master it. After all, if you master it, Omi can't bother you about being weaker. Well, he can try, but…"

He just nods. Why is he being impertinent? Does he think he's better than me? I mean, sure, he beat Wuya twice, but that was only because he gave her a body. And both times he used the Golden Tiger Claws. Come to think about it, every time he's used the Golden Tiger Claws, except for when I first got them, he's helped Wuya, whether he wanted to or not.

"Thanks, Kimiko," he says. As I hand him the Golden Tiger Claws, I wonder what I have done.

As I walk away, I think I hear a voice saying, "Raimundo…"