Chapter 19: And We're Not Meant To Be.
Petrified, Raimundo didn't move a muscle. Who was at the end of the path?
Chase Young? Most likely. Wuya? Maybe. Dojo? Highly doubtful.
"SAVE KIMIKO YOU IDIOT!" That was what his mind was screaming at him.
The
shadow was moving closer, and Raimundo was losing time. If it was
indeed Chase, then he would take Clay and Kimiko. Then he's going to
know there's another.
"Rai?" Kimiko was looking up at Raimundo, unaware of the approaching animal, or whatever it was.
"Wind." he whispered.
Kimiko flew into his arms, she felt butterflies and everything, but she knew this wasn't going to last.
"You have to get Clay too!"
"I'm running out of time Kimiko, and he already can see him!"
Raimundo pushed off his branch and flew away from the eye sight of the villain.
"I don't understand why you can't save Clay! And WHO was there?" Kimiko asked, eyeing him warily.
No.
He couldn't explain. He knew there was something out there, trying to
get the four elementals. And if Raimundo and Kimiko stuck around a lot,
they'd be captured, and Raimundo wanted Kimiko safe. He'd even die for
her.
But now, she didn't need to know all the details on the side.
He might as well keep her somewhere, in a place where he could keep an
eye on her but not be noticed.
"Are you going to answer me?"
Raimundo shook his head, and landed on the ground, the moon was already starting to fall behind the trees, and dawn was coming.
"We can't be seen together. You hide out, and I'll be somewhere, ANYWHERE except the palace."
Raimundo turned around and began walking to Dojo's den, but Kimiko's hand stopped him.
"Why can't we be seen together? We're in love. We can do anything we want."
"No.
We can't. I'm a Prince, and you're a... Commoner. I can't do anything
about this. Evil is after both of us, and I can't let you get tangled
up in this mess."
Brushing her hand off, while he avoided her
pleading eyes; Raimundo flew away, and when he was out of sight, Kimiko
made a final decision.
"If he's not going to be there for me, then I'm not going to either!"
She stalked toward the town, and that was the wrong direction. You never know who's waiting for you at the corner.
The Temple was in sight, and something was nagging at Kimiko.
("Don't go in there, it's dangerous!"
"You know that Wuya is going to be there, watching you."
"Something bad is going to happen, I can smell it.")
All
those thoughts were nothing. She was going to prove to Raimundo she
could survive on her own, with no one there to care for her. Then
Master Fung would be there, Keiko; and the rest of the monks. She would
live happily ever after, and die alone, while the Prince married dumb
Sophia.
And when was that going to be? There was a bulletin board in
the center of the village, and she could take a small peek at it, and
it wasn't like she was jealous.
Kimiko didn't wave at anyone, or offer a smile. Something was definitely going on, people seemed too happy.
Finally, there it was, the plain old board with paper on it.
Kimiko
looked around for the announcement of the Wedding, secretly hoping it
wouldn't be held, and the eighteen year old Prince could be himself,
and marry whoever he wanted. Which would probably be Kimiko.
"Ah.
There it is," Kimiko mumbled to herself, "So it says: The Grand Ball is
Held on the 25th to Honor the Prince's Wedding, to Sophia Sweinhart;
New Queen of Xiaolin."
There was that feeling in Kimiko. Jealousy.
Anger, and most importantly, KIMIKO WAS GOING TO GO TO THAT WEDDING,
AND SHE WAS GOING TO WRECK IT!
Noticing she was turning a bright
shade of red, Kimiko relaxed her shoulders. She needed some time away
from this place, even though she had only been there for a small while.
Sticking
out her finger, Kimiko glanced around, everyone seemed to be inside
there house. Her finger caught on fire, and she moved it toward the
Wedding announcement. It burned quickly, leaving a pile of ash on the
ground.
Kimiko dug her heel in the ash, mushing it around.
"There's going to be a surprise Sophia, and you'll feel it's full sting."
Kimiko held her nose high, while she made her way to the water fall. This time, no one was watching.
At the water fall...
The water was somewhat comforting to Kimiko. All this water gave her a sense of freedom, so she could think about anything, and the only thing she thought about most was Raimundo.
How could he have been so
sharp? They had been together for a couple of days, but those days were
heaven. Then Raimundo had to break it apart by doing something stupid.
But was it his fault, or was it Kimiko's fault? She was the one being
overly picky and stubborn.
"And he used to admire by eyes," Kimiko
said, wading her feet through the pool of water. "Sophia has eyes like
these. Maybe he'll be loving to her too. Then he'll forget of me. I'll
have someone to look up to. Like... Dojo."
Her thoughts wandered
away to the elemental plot. If this was real, then Clay was one, Omi
was one, and Raimundo was one. But how did they find out in the first
place? So confusing.
"If I have the Star Hanabi, then everyone else
has their own item. Raimundo has the Sword of the Storm, and Clay
doesn't even knew he has powers, but what does Omi do? He might have
done something once... But I think I have forgotten..."
There was someone in the woods.
Kimiko
could hear them, and feel some sort of power coming from them. The Star
Hanabi appeared in her hand, and Wind pushed her head-first into the
water.
"I do not know why I betrayed the palace. But I must find Raimundo! I am his loyal servant, and I do not abandon him,"
Omi? Was it just Wuya taking a different shape, or was that really Omi? Well... Only Omi would be able to work with water.
"Raimundo! Where did you go? To the water fall? RAIMUNDO!"
Kimiko held her breath, she was going to dive into the pool, and if that was really Omi, he would have felt her in the water.
This was going to be a long swim.
And
it that really was Omi, would he even know he should go and get Kimiko
out of the water? Or he could let her drown, because Kimiko wasn't
coming up anytime soon.
Dojo's den...
"I don't know
what to do. I always don't know what to do;. I can't even help Kimiko.
What's wrong with me?" asked Raimundo, fiddling around with his fingers.
Dojo
was tired of going over this with Raimundo, the kid kept saying it was
all his fault, and he couldn't protect Kimiko, but it wasn't that much
of his problem. It's was fate's problem.
"Okay Raimundo. Kimiko can
take care of herself. She still likes you, and she's good right now.
Probably in the Temple making something for all the people who are
sick. And look at yourself, you're worrying over her, and you say you
don't love her, and I know you still love her. There's no 'Maybe' in
love. You either love her or you don't." Dojo drawled, picking at his
nails.
Their was a long silence. Everything did take a while to sink
into Raimundo's head, and sometimes he wasn't listening so you had to
repeat what you said over again. (Kimiko was the only person that could
stand that)
"What happens if there is a maybe? I don't know if I
even like her anymore. She's too perfect for me, she deserves someone
with a warm enough heart to care of her."
"You have a warm heart when you want one. You like her, by the way you talk about her, the way you think about her. If your thoughts constantly say you hate her, then you hate her. It's as simple as that. You can get boring with your words, do you know that?"
Raimundo thought all this over one last time.
He
couldn't say he hated Kimiko; he loved her, but they just couldn't be,
and fate wouldn't allow, the whole world would disapprove. What to do
when the whole Earth is against you?
"I have one idea Raimundo, go
to the Temple, and check on her. If she's there, then good, come
straight back here. It's not okay to wander around when it's almost
dawn."
Raimundo nodded and got up from the door.
"Oh yeah. Raimundo, here's something I picked up from Chase Young when he attacked me. Here's the Moby Morpher."
Confused, Raimundo attached them to his arms. "
Everyone is who they think you are, so if you do see Kimiko, that is Kimiko. Don't get tricked."
Still,
Raimundo was edgy. Maybe Wuya could turn into someone else, she after
all was an all powerful witch; and Chase could too.
Dojo was wrong, these days you couldn't trust anyone, because eventually they'll turn on you. Even Kimiko?
Running
through town wasn't going to be easy, but Raimundo did have the Moby
Morpher with him, if he could become Kimiko... "MOBY MORHPER!"
Hm. Everything was strange from this point of view. She was way too short...
Along
the way, several people waved. Even though Raimundo didn't know them he
found himself waving back. This was a weird life, to be just like
Kimiko.
He (Or she) knocked on the Temple door, hiding the Moby Morpher wrist guards under his sleeves.
"Hello...
Kimiko." Master Fung had just answered the door, and he was looking at
Raimundo strangely, as if he knew it wasn't Kimiko.
"Would you care for some tea? I'm sure you can wait a while before you meet Keiko."
Master Fung's eyes still stayed on Raimundo as they walked.
You
would expect something like this from a Temple Master. Raimundo
wandered through the hallways, frowning at how bad of a condition it
was in.
"Kimiko, you seem different today." Master Fung commented, suspicion lurking in his words.
"I think I need to talk to you, Master Fung."
Raimundo did admit, it was kind of odd talking in a girl's voice. It was too squeaky.
"Very well." Master Fung led Raimundo to a tea room, on the way Master Fung closed the screen behind them.
"Raimundo. I see Dojo is still very clever,"
Clever? Hardly.
Raimundo stared at Master Fung in awe. How did he know he was Raimundo instead of Kimiko?
As
if reading his mind, Master Fung remarked, "It is very simple to tell
you aren't Kimiko. Look at the way your eyes shine. I can see right
through your disguise."
"So? How do I know if you're Master Fung or not?" asked Raimundo, crossing his arms and jutting out his chin.
"I'm the Master of the Temple, and I think you could tell by this." He held out a piece of fire fern.
"Why does everyone at the Temple have one?" Raimundo asked, feeling quite dumb for not knowing anything.
"Time will tell, Raimundo. First, you must consult an oracle, and if you didn't know, I am the oracle."