Chapter 11: What is this "Love"?

"Well, partner, it's uh…um…"

Clay, like the rest of the residents of the Xiaolin Temple, was unnerved by Omi's persistent questioning almost as much as Raimundo joining Chase Young's crusade against Hannibal. "Love" was something that would be almost impossible for an orphan of a limited reality like Omi to comprehend.

"See now, love is…complicated really…" the Texan trailed off.

Dojo reasoned it was better to consult a dictionary. "Love is 'a deep, tender, ineffable affection and solitude toward a person…'." He looked up with complete disappointment. "Ironically, 'ineffable' is probably the best definition for 'love'."

"Omi," Clay stated, "Raimundo likes Kimiko more than you or me or Dojo or anybody else, and I hope she feels the same."

"You believe Kimiko likes herself more than anyone? That is most conceited of her." Omi pondered.

"No, lil buddy, that's not what I meant." Omi's weak grasp of the concept was ironically causing Clay to gag.

"You see, Omi," Dojo began, "there comes a time in every boy's life when-"

Clay cut him off. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself there, Dojo."

Clay reflected slowly on their past escapades to form an answer that Omi could understand. There was the subtle bond between himself and Jesse, but their sibling rivalry was probably not the best of examples. There was Wuya's obsession with Chase before she was returned to her fleshy form, but that was just plain wrong.

"I think I got it!" he declared. "Omi, there are two kinds of love: 'family-love' and uh…'love-love'. 'Family-love' would be the way you feel about people in your family, like Kimiko and Mr. Tohomiko or you when you thought you were 'Omi Crud'."

"Oh, I see." said the novelty sized living cueball, "so I 'love' Master Fung?"

"Yeah, I guess," Clay said, "He is your adoptive father, I suppose. "Now, 'love-love' would be the kind of emotions you felt during that rodeo we had with Dyris."

"Grotesque horror and disgust?" Omi questioned. "I understand Kimiko can be aggressive at times, but that is rather cruel of Raimundo to think that…"

"No no, Omi." Clay told him, "I mean before we found out she was a monster: when we were all under the impression she was a beautiful maiden."

"So…Raimundo believes that Kimiko is beautiful and not a bloated demon?"

"Right. Rai 'loves' her cause he thinks she's the most beautiful and important person in the world to him. Now that I think about it, his aura's the same color as her eyes…Blue isn't a natural eye color for Oriental folk." He looked down at Omi's beady eyes. Both were pure black…

"Clay, do I 'love' Kimiko?"

"Well, I guess in the family sort of way…"

"No, I mean, do I love Kimiko the same way that Raimundo loves her? More than the 'family' kind of love?"

A part of Clay anticipated a question like this, but he was still at a lost of words. Omi, like the rest of humanity, didn't fully understand all the concepts of love, but Kimiko was, after all, the only girl he had ever met not bent on world domination, save that Yo-Yo showdown with Wuya.

"I…don't know, partner…I mean…maybe?"

The Dragon of Earth began to walk off, afraid that further conversation will rekindle Omi's rivalry with and loathing for Raimundo. His progress away was hampered by Omi's questioning once more.

"Clay, do you really believe that Kimiko would love Raimundo?"

"Well…Yeah, Omi, I do..."

And with Clay gone, Omi was left to ponder his own thoughts beside Dojo, who was reading a biology textbook. It was true, Kimiko was someone special to him, who gave him encouragement and comforting "girl-hugs". And Raimundo was a slacking jokester, undeserving of Kimiko's attention or affection. But Omi had just learned what love is; Possibly some of the feelings he couldn't identify before were actually this "love"…

His face fell with the thought of Kimiko and Raimundo, slowly turning to anger and jealously before becoming confused by a random thought.

"Dojo," he inquired from the mystical snake with appendages still at his side, "earlier, when you said that something happens to boys of a certain age, did you mean that they 'leap on love'?"

"Um…Sure, Omi," Dojo said, his eyes shifting left and right for an exit, "They fall in love…Don't look into it any further than that."

And with those words, he slithered off, leaving Omi to sort his emotions.