Chapter 3: The Green-Eyed Monster Rears Its Ugly Head
The ever constant ebb and flow of ocean waves, sang-froid against her fingertips, the gentle yet powerful blustering of breezy wind, dramatically whipping through her blonde tresses and caressing her arms, the glancing reflection of morning sunlight against locks of golden blonde and brown, a confident, assuring pressure against her hand that suddenly faded, leaving behind only sparking and trembling nerve endings as evidence it ever existed. These images flashed constantly through her mind, sending her thoughts into a turmoil of light, color, sound, and feeling. After a few dazed, awestruck moments, she realized she was once again earthbound, no longer basking in that glorious feeling of floating upon the wind. She found it unusual that she hadn't even felt herself smoothly landing, she hadn't even noticed when her feet had softly brushed against grains of sand and firmly planted themselves against the earth's surface. She dreamily turned to face Raimundo, who was observing her spellbound reaction with the slightest grin.
"Rai...if I ever ask, will you take me flying again?" she voiced softly, her sparkling azure eyes misting over and glimmering with sunlight.
"Anytime."
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! The blaring bellowing of an alarm clock suddenly and rudely burst its way into Kimiko's blissful dreams, or rather, fantasies.
"Just five more minutes, otokooya..."she muttered, groaning groggily and pulling the fluffy blankets even tighter around herself. Clutching her cushy pillow with a death grip, she tossed and turned her way in the opposite direction, attempting to escape the ear-shattering, annoying repetition of the alarm. However, she miscalculated the exact width of the bed, and crashed with a noisy bang to the floor, blankets and all.
"Chikushou! Not again!" she grumbled frustratedly, rubbing her sore backside and uttering various Japanese curses under her breath. Kimiko was definitely not a cheerful morning riser; at least not on vacation, that is.
Forty-five minutes or so later, she was vigorously sudsing up her hair while steamy, intensely hot water rained down on her from above. She sighed, breathing in the hypnotizing, feminine fragrance of her pomegranate passion shampoo. She smiled to herself contentedly...and a booming knock pounded against the bathroom door.
"Oi! Kimikoooo! Pressa, girl! We've been waiting for you forever!" the lovely, shouting voice of Raimundo resounded from outside the now vibrating door.
"You call a half hour shower forever? Dame desu!" she growled spitefully. What was with him always interrupting her scarce, fleeting moments of peace, which were way too few and far between?
"To a guy, hell yeah!" his indignant shout was heard once again from outside the door, "You better hurry it up, or I'm sending myself a special invitation inside."
"Ii yo, Ii yo!" she pleaded desperately, then, after a second thought, retorted threateningly, "And don't you even dare come in here!"
"I knew that would get you to hurry up," she heard his smug voice reply with the slightest hint of a chuckle. She merely grumbled under her breath as she turned off the shower, and hesitantly emerged from amidst the arising steam that created a hazy veil throughout the bathroom, clinging in water droplets against her newly-shimmering skin. After quickly grazing a dry towel against herself, she promptly wrapped another fresh towel around her still damp body, and turned her attention towards the mirror, which was foggy with water vapor and enveloped with steam. Kimiko gave a firm swipe with her palm at the mirror's surface, and gazed silently at her reflection, now revealed through the mist. A pretty Japanese girl with sky blue eyes, rosy cheeks, porcelain skin, and sodden wet golden blonde hair stared unwaveringly back at her. The girl in the mirror sighed, her eyes shimmering as if unshed tears lingered in the sapphire depths. Kimiko averted her eyes from the illusion of the mirror; sometimes she felt as if she didn't know who the girl in the mirror really was anymore...
It reminds me of that song, she thought to herself, the song I used to sing to myself whenever I was lonely...Who is that girl I see? Staring straight back at me...Why is my reflection someone I don't know? When will my reflection show who I am inside? Enrapturing music echoed mournfully throughout her mind; overwhelming, lingering, sorrowfully sweet, and pungent at the same time. Kimiko promptly and violently shook her head, as if trying to erase her tortured thoughts, and escape from the trance that had encaptured her mind. As she grasped the nearby hair-dryer and turned it on, she heard a cautious creak of the door, revealing a inquisitive Raimundo in the mirror's reflection.
"Nada!" he panted, fanning his hand desperately in front of his face and sweating in the steamy atmosphere, "What are you trying to do? Sweat yourself clean?"
Kimiko glanced at him slyly from the corner of her eye and retorted sarcastically, "You do remember that I'm the Dragon of Fire, don't you?" She then returned to suavely performing her early morning ritual. He merely shifted to claim a place beside her at the mirror, completely and utterly unfazed by the fact that she was covered in absolutely nothing save for a damp with steam, body-clinging, and slightly skimpy towel. Or at least, he seemed unfazed to the observant eye; his countenance revealed nothing, no matter whatever thoughts and emotions were coursing through him at the moment.
"Stupid girly habits." he grumbled moodily, while reaching for his hair gel among the various counter-top toiletries.
She heard and saw this, and immediately the flame of her hotheaded temper once again sparked to the surface, as if it had never been quelled just a moment before. Kimiko growled back a scornful reply in a similar tone of voice, "Male chauvinist pig."
"QUE! Take it back!" he challenged, swiveling towards her with a deadly glare, his hands clenched into fists.
"You take it back, baka!" she shouted, matching his indignant glare with one of her one, of equal might and fervor.
"Are y'all fightin' again?" Clay interrupted, heaving an exasperated sigh as he paused by the open doorway. "You two keep goin' at it worse than cats and dogs, I swear. Pretty soon I'll be a fixin' ta knock ya both right upside the head..." he rambled on, his Texan accent fading in the distance and reverberating against the hallway as he proceeded on his way. Kimiko and Raimundo merely glanced at each other hastily, shrugged innocently, and continued their previous courses of action before the beginning of their heated argument, yet another of their frequent, but fleeting tiffs.
Meanwhile, Omi, who was enveloped in exercising his sense of balance by perching precariously on an edge of the beach house porch, had overhead every word of his friends' conversation, despite being quite a far distance away. He addressed the sullen cowboy, "Clay, my friend, I am most disappointed. I thought the main purpose of this 'vacation' was to escape from the anger and the fighting..."
"Never mind them, Omi," Clay explained bluntly, unconsciously running his fingertips against the rough edges of his signature cowboy hat, "That's just their way of flirtin'."
Omi couldn't have been more confused; his priceless expression was the epitome of misunderstanding. "What is this "flirtin'" of which you speak?" he uttered.
Clay simply smiled at the little yellow monk; he was far too used to Omi's confusion by now. "I'll tell ya someday, lil pardner, that is if ya don't figure it out by your ownself first."
Kimiko was furious, she was absolutely, positively furious, and for the exact same reason as usual: Raimundo. At the moment, the flirtatious Brazilian was suavely chatting up an extremely attractive, but ditsy-looking blonde in a skimpy string bikini, which Kimiko believed looked more like a revealing stripper's uniform than a bikini. Flaring with anger and some other emotion that, until now, had been unknown to her, she intricately examined every aspect of the so-called slutty girl; perfect, shiny beach blonde hair as if from a shampoo commercial, deep, glowing amber eyes, voluptuous body with sensual curves...a low growl rose, rumbling from within the depths of her throat...Ok, so she's sort of sexy and attractive...so what, the thought crossed her mind. She fumed silently, trembling with sheer rage, as she watched Raimundo cock an eyebrow, smooth a hand through his spiky chocolate locks, and smirk seductively... she clenched her fists forcefully, her posture noticeably stiffened, and brightly burning sparks of flame began to erupt simultaneously like fireworks from her tightly gripped fists.
Clay, passing by, raised a curious eyebrow questioningly, "Whoa doggy, looks like the green-eyed monster has finally reared its ugly head." "What did you say?" she sneered in reply, frightening malice eminent in her tone.
"Neva mind..." the cowboy sighed exasperatedly, shaking his head as he tromped off, then ducking hastily and shielding himself from the fiery sparks rapidly bursting, emitting angrily from Kimiko's clenched fists.
I'll show him...was the only thought coursing through her mind, her eyes momentarily gleaming a vengeful, blazing crimson. A transfixing sight against the morning horizon promptly caught her eye; in the far-off distance, a muscular, blonde surfer approached from within the safe haven of the crashing, foaming waves and bounded with vigorous, powerful strides towards the sandy shoreline. Kimiko's mystified eyes widened considerably, glittering starrily as he slowly advanced towards her, his golden locks dripping almost sexily with seawater, and droplets sliding swiftly across his tanned mystique. A dreamy, wistful smile slowly spread across her bedazzled face.
Aa Un, I'll show him, alright...
Translations: I would put them underneath the words themselves, but it kind of disrupts the paragraph structure...
otokooya: father
Chikushou: Damn!
Pressa: Hurry!
Dame desu: no way
Ii yo, Ii yo: Okay, Okay!
Nada: Damn! (Yes, believe it or not, nada really does mean that in Portuguese)
Que: What!
Aa Un: Oh yeah...
A/N: So, what do you think? And, yes, the 2nd chapter was all a dream sequence, sorry if I disappointed you...but it'll become more significant later on. This chapter was originally going to be 3 times as long as it is right now, but since it was taking me sooooo incredibly long to update, I decided to split it up so I could update quicker! Aren't you just overwhelmed with joy? Heh heh...anyway, please forgive me for taking so long, I'm just completely stressed out with life in general. But, don't worry, this fic will become better as time goes on...You won't believe what I have in store for this one...
Don't worry reviewers, I didn't forget you! (Sob)I love you guys! You're the best! (Bawls and suffocates the reviewers in a virtual hug)
Veritas.Aequetas.Redemptio. I absolutely love your name! I think I know what it means, just by first glance, but I'm not sure...Anyway, I know exactly what you mean. The romance that's idealized by society is so unrealistic...people don't just fall in love at first sight. If someone reading this actually has fallen in love, I mean authentic love, at first sight, then I take it back. In my case, I practically cringe when I think about the totally unromantic way that I met the guys that I thought I was in love with. But then again, people can dare to dream, can't they? I hope this chapter was worthy enough for your wonderful review! Oh, and merci beaucoup for the compliments along with the helpful criticism; after all, no one ever learns anything from people telling them how great they are...
JuJu17: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! (phew)
Chaseforever: Sumimasen for the overdue update. You better keep updating too! lol! You're infinitely better about updating than me! Oh, and I absolutely love your new stories! Thanx again!
dArkliTe-sPirit: I just love your reviews, they make me laugh! And laughter is seriously lacking in my life right now. Merci beaucoup! :P
Animeang3l7: You really like that I'm descriptive?(sob) Really?(virtual hug) Thank you soooo much for your reviews!
Blue Brittney:) Thanks so much for reading!
Illegally Blonde: Omg, I love your name! Thanx!
And thus concludes Chapter 3! Give me criticism, encouraging reviews, or just drop by to say hi! It's all cool...