Chapter 2

The boy took a step back, and tripped on a stone, falling into the water. He sat up, staring, wild-eyed at Kimiko. Kimiko crawled forward through the water. The boy flinched as she lifted her hand.

"It's okay," she said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

She raised her hand again and he closed his eyes, as she rinsed away the rest of the blood off his face. There was a wound buried in his hair. That explained the blood. When his face was completely clean, he opened his eyes again, shaking his head to get his hair out of the way.

"It is you!" Kimiko said, "Raimundo!"

She lifted her arms to hug him, but he flinched and moved away. This girl was beautiful, and kind; the first kindness he could ever remember knowing. So why was he afraid of her? Because you can't trust anyone, he answered himself.

"Raimundo, it's me," she said, "Its Kimiko!"

This stopped his heart cold. Something flickered into life for a brief second inside his head. That name! He knew that name. It was what kept him alive inside those caves, but he didn't know this girl. He didn't even remember his own name.

"Raimundo…" said Kimiko quietly, "What happened to you?"

He didn't answer; he just stared at her face, trying to remember. With all his heart, he wanted to remember that enchanting face going with that name, but he couldn't, and because of that, he didn't know if this girl was the same Kimiko he used to know.

"You…you don't remember?" asked Kimiko, her eyes filling with tears.

The boy opened his mouth.

"Ki…ki…" he stuttered.

"Yes?" asked Kimiko gently.

"Kim-i-ko…" he stuttered.

A smile spread across her face.

"You do remember me!" she said.

He shook his head sharply and moved back.

"You don't remember me?"

He shook his head.

"But you remember my name?"

He nodded slightly, still moving back.

"Do you remember anything else?" she asked.

He shook his head again.

"What about your friends? Your home? Your name?" she asked, but he continued to shake his head.

She leaned forward and wiped his hair out of his eyes.

"Rai…" she said, leaning forward and hugging him tightly, "God…I'm so sorry…"

He moved awkwardly, putting his arms around her. He could smell her perfume, feel her soft hair, and yet he still had no idea who she was. And he had no idea, what she was sorry for.

When Raimundo had joined Wuya on her journey to world conquest, the monks, including her, had given up on him. His anger had twisted to a deeper evil, where he betrayed his best friends and declared to have nothing more to do with them. And once they had defeated Wuya and sent her underground, Rai had gone with her. That had been two years ago, and Kimiko had felt a great emptiness at his absence. Now that he was here, in her arms, she felt almost whole again! Yet she blamed herself for never going after him sooner.

"Kimiko?" he asked, as she pulled away. Looking her in the eyes, "Are you Kimiko?"

She nodded, a small smile dancing on her lips. She was trying to stay brave, despite the tears in her eyes. She looked at him closely in horror; taking in every cut on his chest, the angry red scars, the wound on his head, the bruises on his face and the slits on his wrists, accompanied by marks from recently removed chains.

She touched his chest lightly, "Who did this to you?" she asked softly.

He only removed her hand and said nothing, but his eyes showed great fear. One Kimiko had never seen in him, since she'd known him.

"Come on," she said, standing up and holding out her hand, "I'll take you to the temple."

"Temple?" he asked.

"That's right," she said, "You'll be safe there. I promise."

He hesitated before taking her hand and standing up. A few seconds later he began to sway. Kimiko caught him just before he fell. He was suffering from blood loss and starvation, and he needed help now! Kimiko heaved him onto her shoulder, allowing him to walk with her support.

Once they were back at the temple, Kimiko hooked her fingernails around the edge of the shutters to her bedroom, tugging them open. She climbed in, and surveyed it before helping Raimundo in too. She helped him onto the bed, where he lay down, exhausted.

Master Fung had given them each their own rooms once they had grown older, as he understood that they needed their own space. It was much better than the curtained cubicles and mats they used to have, and it currently worked to Kimiko's advantage.

"You wait here, I'll go get some medical supplies and some food and water, not that you need it, you're soaked," she said, "I'll get you some more clothes as well."

She walked over to the door and opened it slightly, checking that no one was in the corridor. She stepped out; locking the door behind her to make sure he didn't leave. She walked quickly along to the medical room, opening the wooden cabinets and pulling out bandages and disinfectant. She then made her way to the kitchen and grabbed some food, before slipping silently into the laundry room and grabbing a pair of Clay's jeans and one of his shirts. He shouldn't notice they were missing. The guy didn't notice much of anything, unless it was food. She then grabbed a couple clean towels.

She sneaked back along the corridor and unlocked her door.

"Kimiko?" asked a voice behind her.

She threw the items in the door and quickly shut it again before turning around. Master Fung was standing behind her. She gave a large, fake smile.

"Master Fung!" she said, bowing.

"May I ask as to where you have been?" he asked, "And what you were doing with those clothes?"

"Um…Omi and Clay ran off in the mountains and I was looking for them…" she began.

"They returned a little while ago, saying that they had lost you in the mountains," said Master Fung, "Now may I ask why you are wet?"

"I fell in the lake…that's why I needed new clothes!" said Kimiko.

"I suggest that you get dressed quickly Kimiko," Master Fung said, before walking away.

Kimiko was slightly confused, but she quickly opened the door and ducked inside her bedroom. Raimundo watched her and then looked down at the items on the floor that she had thrown into the room.

She gathered them up and sat next to him on the bed, passing him a towel. He looked down at it blankly. She looked at him sympathetically and took it back, wrapping it around his shoulder and then drying his hair. He flinched as she caught the wound on his head.

"Sorry," she said, before picking up the bottle of disinfectant, "this is going to sting a bit,"

She poured a little on the towel and dabbed at the wound. His eyes tightened slightly and his shoulders stiffened, but this pain was nothing to what he had been through already.

Once all his wounds were clean, Kimiko wrapped the bandages around him. Once again she flicked the hair out of his eyes. He glanced sideways and quickly looked away as is cheeks turned slightly pink. Kimiko looked down and suddenly understood why Master Fung had told her to change quickly. Her wet, white sun top had gone see-through; revealing her patterned bra underneath!

She quickly stood up and walked over to her wardrobe. She pulled out a t-shirt and a denim skirt. She pointed to Clay's jeans and shirt.

"You get changed into those," she said, before walking into the small toilet that was attached to her room and closing the door.

She got changed quickly after drying herself off with the second towel. She let her hair down and brushed it quickly before walking back out. Raimundo was pulling on Clay's shirt with great difficulty. Kimiko quickly walked over and held it out for him so he could put it on more easily.

She then stepped back to see how they looked.

"They're a bit big," she said, "But not bad."

She picked up the bread and meat from the bed and handed them to him as he sat back down.

"Go on," she said encouragingly, "You've got to eat if you want to get your strength back."

She sat next to him as he bit into the food hungrily, swallowing large chunks at a time, occasionally having to stop to wait for the food to go down. Kimiko smiled.

"You never did learn how to chew," she said gently.

There was a knock at her door and she stood up quickly.

"Quick!" she said, "Into the bathroom,"

He got up and walked into the bathroom as instructed and closed the door. Kimiko opened the door. Clay and Omi were standing outside.

"What?" she asked.

"We wanted to apologize for running off in the mountains." Said Omi, "It was very impolite of us to leave you there."

"Yeah," said Clay, "We didn't mean to upset you or nothin'."

"No problem." Said Kimiko, trying to shut the door, but Clay held it open.

"You are not mad at us are you?" asked Omi, sounding concerned.

"No," said Kimiko hurriedly, "Of course not, but I've got stuff to…later."

She slammed the door in their faces.

"Oh yeah," said Clay, "she's mad at us."

Raimundo came out of the bathroom, cautiously, checking it was safe.

"Sorry," she said, "Omi and Clay wouldn't take a hint."

He looked at her, obviously confused. Kimiko cursed herself for being so dense.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting…" she said, "You don't remember them do you?"

He shook his head. Kimiko hesitated. She didn't want to upset him, but she was curious.

"What…what do you remember?" she asked carefully.

Raimundo thought carefully and closed his eyes. Kimiko stood up.

"I'm sorry, it's none of my business…" she began, but he started to speak.

"Caves…I remember…how to get through the caves…I remember the sorceress…" he closed his eyes again and bent down over his knees, "And a name…Kimiko….Kimiko…"

He began to rock backwards and forwards. Kimiko sat down next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Kimiko…always…when I fell asleep…I remembered…that name…" he spoke softly, taking long pauses as thought trying to remember how to speak, "I heard that name…Kimiko…whenever she struck me…Kimiko…I hear Kimiko…"

He continued to rock backwards and forwards.

"Why Kimiko?" she asked, "And how did you not forget that, when you forgot everything else?"

"…Kept in dark…had no name…no friends…but…kept hearing it…Kimiko…whispering inside my head…Kimiko…even when she hurt me…" he said, starting to falter.

"When who hurt you?" asked Kimiko.

Raimundo looked at her, completely terrified.

"The sorceress…" he said.

"Wuya…" said Kimiko, she suddenly grabbed his shoulders, "Was it Wuya who did this to you?"

"Wu…ya?" asked Raimundo.

"The sorceress…did she ever mention Shen Gong Wu? Or Showdowns? Or dragons?" asked Kimiko.

"Dragons…Xiaolin…dragons…" said Raimundo.

Kimiko covered her mouth with her hand. It was Wuya. Wuya did this to him; she tortured her own accomplice into a state of near insanity! Kimiko leaned forward, hugging him again. No wonder he wasn't in his right mind! He had been tortured by the most evil being on the planet.

When he drew away, Raimundo began rocking backwards and forwards. His slowly drying hair kept falling over his face into his eyes.

"I'd better cut your hair for you," she said, standing up and walking over to her dressing table and picking up a pair of scissors.

"I just don't get her," said Clay, sitting at the table in front of Omi, "I mean, we're supposed to be her best friends, and she acts like she doesn't even have time for us when we try to apologize."

"Perhaps she was busy!" suggested Omi, running his finger along a delicate scratch in the tabletop.

"Perhaps we're just not good enough for her!" said Clay, "Well I want to find out what's goin' on!"

He stood up and was quickly followed by Omi.