Kimiko: Well I do admit, the margin between updates is shorter THIS time.
Omi: Kimiko, I'm sure he was just busy.
Kimiko: I know, but still. I got worried if you would ever update this. This story is really good.
Marcus: I know. Sorry. Like Omi said, I've been busy, despite finishing college for the year. But there was something else too.
Kimiko: What's that?
Marcus: I haven't really thought this far in the story yet. So I wasn't sure where to take it next.
Omi: HUH?!
Kimiko: I guess the story became more popular than you thought, huh?
Marcus: Practically.
Omi: Well, considering how you've been writing this so far, the writing may turn out interesting.
Marcus: Development.
Omi: That too.
Kimiko: Say, Marcus? There's something I want to ask you.
Marcus: What is it, Kimiko?
Kimiko: You said the inspiration for this story came from something you thought up when you imagined yourself in Xiaolin Showdown, right?
Marcus: That's right.
Kimiko: I'm assuming you imagined yourself as one of us Xiaolin Monks, right?
Marcus: Of course. I'd NEVER join the Heylin side, like Raimundo did!
Omi: *laughs*
Kimiko: *giggles* So, anyway, when you imagined yourself as one of the Xiaolin Monks in the show, what was your Dragon element?
Marcus:….Well, this may sound a bit crazy, but…..I chose Light.
Omi: The Xiaolin Dragon of the Light?
Kimiko: Funny. I thought light was born from heat, aka MY element Fire. So why did you choose Light?
Marcus: I don't know….I guess it has something to do with the attributes seen in Yu-Gi-Oh!, another one of my favorite shows.
Omi: ?
Kimiko: *looks something up on her PDA* Ah, I see what you mean. The Attributes featured in Yu-Gi-Oh! include WATER, EARTH, FIRE, WIND, LIGHT, DARK, and DIVINE.
Marcus: Precisely.
Kimiko: I think I can understand that. WATER, EARTH, FIRE, and WIND are filled. And no WAY would you choose Dragon of the DARK.
Marcus: Of course not! That would depict me as a Heylin warrior.
Omi: Yes. But then, why didn't you choose Dragon of the DIVINE?
Kimiko: I think DIVINE Dragon is a better way to put it.
Marcus: Do I LOOK like a god to you?!
Omi and Kimiko: *shake their heads*
Marcus: I didn't think so.
Kimiko: So the only selection you had left was LIGHT.
Marcus: Yep.
Kimiko: I see. Well, that answers that question. And I know I've said this before, but thanks again for doing this story. I really like it, especially since you chose to pair me with Omi.
Omi: *blushes*
Marcus: Of course. The pairing of you two is the MOST evident.
Omi: Really?
Marcus: Of course, little dude. Recap: She gave you EIGHT hugs throughout the show, she even thought you were cute, she was willing to teach you a bit about the modern world and introduce you to technology, and she clearly shows great care and worry for you.
Omi: She does?
Marcus: Oh my gosh, you should've SEEN her outburst when she learned that Jack Spicer was unable to bring you back from the time of Grand Master Dashi.
Omi: *looks at Kimiko* You were THAT worried about me?
Kimiko: *gently hugs Omi* Of course I was.
Omi: *blushes* Aww. Thank you, Kimiko.
Kimiko: Anytime, Omi. *kisses his forehead*
Marcus: That's cute. Now let's begin the new chapter.
"Omi?!" Kimiko exclaimed in surprise. Omi turned to see Kimiko right behind him. His eyes widened in horror.
"K-Kimiko?!" He stammered. "Wh-What are you doing here?!"
"Well, I was going to do my day chores before practicing." Kimiko explained, trying not to think about what the Heart's Desire said. She wasn't ready for Omi to know yet.
"Are you okay?" She asked. "That ice attack was WAY off target. Is something wrong?" She then started to approach him.
"Uhhh, I'm fine. Sometimes, you just miss." Omi stammered, slowly backing away.
"That sure didn't look like a mere miss.." Kimiko raised a brow, still slowly approaching the little monk. "Your aim was WAY off the mark. Are you sure you're okay?" She started to sound concerned.
"I-I said I'm fine." Omi stammered. "I-I just need more practice!" And with that, he bolted away before Kimiko could say anything else.
"Omi, WAIT!" She called out. But it was no good. Omi was already gone.
What was his deal? She thought to herself. She sighed as she went on to start her chores.
After that, Kimiko had rarely seen Omi for the rest of the day. She assumed he went off to train a bit more, but got a bit concerned. In fact, she thought about him while she was doing her chores. Then at around noonish, when Kimiko was spraying the outside plants, she saw Omi nearby. Omi saw her, but quickly darted away without saying a word. That was when Kimiko realized it. He was trying to avoid her. This make Kimiko very sad.
Later on, Clay was walking past the kitchen entrance when he heard sniffles coming from inside the kitchen. He looked inside and saw Kimiko cutting onions. Tears were flowing down her eyes.
"Hey, are you alright, Kimiko?" The cowboy asked.
"Huh?" Kimiko turned her head to see Clay in the doorway. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You sure?" Clay asked. "Because it doesn't look like it to me."
"I'm fine." Kimiko lied. "You know what onions do to you."
"Those tears don't look like they're from the onions." Clay raised a brow. "You wanna talk about it?"
"I said I'm fine!" Kimiko snapped.
"Ok, ok." Clay said. "But if anything is wrong, don't be afraid to let us know. We're your friends, after all." With that, he continued on. Kimiko just continued with cutting her onions. There was something upsetting her, but he couldn't let anyone know that. So she hoped Clay would just shrug it off.
But Clay didn't just shrug it off. He knew something was upsetting Kimiko, and he assumed he knew what it was. So he went to find Omi. He soon found him in his room, meditating.
"Omi?" He asked the little monk.
"Yes, Clay?" Omi asked, still holding his position.
"I think you should check on Kimiko." Clay told him. "She seems upset about something."
Omi broke from his position when he heard Kimiko's name.
"Wh-What?!" The little monk exclaimed. "I-I can't face her! N-Not after…"
"Still thinking about what Raimundo said, huh?" Clay asked.
Omi nodded in embarrassment.
"I understand that, partner." Clay said. "But I don't think avoiding her will fix anything. You're only hurting Kimiko's feelings."
Omi's eyes widened in disbelief. He hurt Kimiko's feelings? He never wanted to do that to her.
"Perhaps you should talk to her." Clay suggested.
"Ok. That is probably the best idea anyway." Omi agreed.
Later, Kimiko finished her chores. She then decided to go outside to train herself on her sub-element. She stood at a distance from a wall and faced it.
"Judilette Flip! Lightning!" She yelled, flipping in the air and sending a lightning bolt towards the wall. The bolt hit the wall head on, but it only left a little burn mark.
"Aw COME ON!" She yelled in anger. But she composed herself and got ready to try again. She tried to keep her focus on her target and the emotions that made her sub-element strong. But Omi kept coming into her head. She tried to shake it off and focus. She tried to throw another lightning bolt at the wall, but as she stepped, she tripped and fell to the ground as she threw her bolt. She groaned as she rubbed her rear end. But what made matters worse was that her lightning bolt didn't hit the wall. Instead, it went off target and struck a nearby tree, setting it on fire. Kimiko was greatly alarmed by this.
"WATER!" A voice from behind her shouted. It was Omi, who came out to talk to her. The minute he saw the tree burning, he sprung into action and sent a stream of water at the tree. The water hit the tree head on and put out the fire. Kimiko just stared at the no-longer-burning tree, lip quivering. After a few seconds, instead of exploding into a burst of anger, she broke down and cried.
What have I done? Omi thought sadly as he watched the Xiaolin Dragon of Fire drown in her tears. He then decided to come to her rescue. He slowly approached the sobbing girl.
"Kimiko?" He spoke. "What's the matter?"
"Why, Omi?" Kimiko sobbed.
"Why what?" Omi asked.
"WHY HAVE YOU BEEN AVOIDING ME?!" Kimiko yelled through her tears. Her eyes were now red from crying. Omi saw this and hung his head in shame.
"I am SO SORRY, Kimiko." Omi apologized. "I never meant to hurt your feelings. I was just so overwhelmed by confusion, I…I couldn't face you."
"What are you talking about?" Kimiko asked, still wiping her eyes.
"Your lightning power is strong because you have feelings for me, is it?" Omi replied, causing Kimiko to look at him in surprise. "That's what the Heart's Desire showed you, right?"
"Huh?!" Kimiko exclaimed in shock. How does he know about that? There was only ONE way that was possible. "Were you spying on me last night?"
"No," Omi shook his head. But Kimiko wasn't convinced. Her lip quivered.
"Raimundo did." Omi admitted. "He challenged me…..for YOU."
Kimiko's eyes went wide and she frowned in shock.
RAIMUNDO spied on my last night? And he challenged Omi over me?! THE NERVE! Her face boiled red as these thoughts went through her mind. And steam blew out of her ears like a train whistle.
"You okay, Kimiko?" Omi asked.
"I'm fine." Kimiko said through gritted teeth. "Could you excuse me for a moment?"
"Oh quit yer yappin', ya rustler." Clay told a groaning Raimundo. "You deserved it."
Raimundo was in his room, groaning with a headache from getting beat by Omi, and a couple bruises from getting roughed up by Clay.
"Oh stuff it!" Raimundo snapped. Clay just shook his head in annoyance. Then he saw something that was telling him something was gonna happen.
"Uh oh…" The cowboy said.
"What?" Raimundo snapped, not looking up. A figure then appeared in front of him. He looked up and there, standing in front of him, was an angry-faced, growling Kimiko.
"Oh, hey beautiful.." Raimundo sweet-talked. "You hear to tend to my wounds?" But Kimiko was in no mood for sweet talk. She grabbed Raimundo's shirt and lifted him up.
"I AM NOT SOME PRIZE TO BE WON, RAIMUNDO!" She seethed. She was super mad.
"Oh I know that." Raimundo lied. "I would NEVER treat you like that."
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Kimiko snapped. "I KNOW YOU CHALLENGED OMI TO A SHOWDOWN OVER ME!"
Raimundo's eyes widened.
"She got ya good, partner." Clay smirked.
"OH COME ON!" Raimundo snapped back. "WHAT DOES THAT CUEBALL HAVE THAT I DON'T?!"
"HE HAS HEART!" Kimiko seethed.
"Come on, toots." Raimundo tried to butter her up. "Can we just talk about this?"
But Kimiko was in no mood to talk. That was when she started beating Raimundo up. Raimundo screamed in agony as Kimiko unleashed her wrath on him. Clay watched with amusement. Omi later arrived and saw what was happening. Clay explained everything to the little monk, who understood and decided to watch the show too. About a minute later, Kimiko left Raimundo's room, brushing her hands off.
"That takes care of that." She scoffed.
"Something tells me he's not gonna be able to walk for a week." Clay laughed.
"Ooog…." Raimundo muttered as he lied on the floor, battered and bruised.
"Now I believe you two have some catching up to do." Clay reminded Kimiko. Kimiko knew what he meant. She walked up to Omi, got down on her knees, and took his hands in hers.
"Omi, I'm sorry about all this." She apologized.
"Why are YOU sorry?" Omi asked. "Raimundo was responsible for all of this."
"Maybe, but it's my fault he did it in the first place." Kimiko admitted. "I never should've used the Heart's Desire."
"You only wanted to know what was missing from your lightning attacks." Omi reminded her.
"I know, but still…" Kimiko said sadly. "Master Fung warned us how dangerous using that Shen Gong Wu can be, and my desperateness made me disregard those warnings."
"And we got a glimpse of what that meant, didn't we?" Omi asked.
"Looks that way." Kimiko nodded.
"So," Clay spoke up. "That missing link….is Omi, huh? You must really got it bad for him, don't ya?"
"CLAY!" Kimiko snapped in annoyance. But Clay didn't smirk. He cocked his head to gesture to Omi. Kimiko looked back at the little monk, who was looking away sheepishly.
"Omi, I know what you're feeling right now, and I understand." Kimiko said. Omi looked back at her in surprise.
"You do?" He asked.
"Of course. It's a confusing emotion, I know. And it's a lot to take in." Kimiko nodded. "Believe me, I didn't understand it when I saw what the wu showed me. I wasn't sure to believe whether it's true or not."
"Wh-What are you saying, Kimiko?" Omi asked, blushing.
"I'm saying that I understand that you're not ready for this sort of thing yet." Kimiko explained. "And that's okay. So for now, let's just take things one day at a time. Does that sound good?"
Omi smiled and nodded. Kimiko smiled too. Then she slowly took the little monk into her arms and gave him a gentle hug. Omi blushed, but returned the embrace.
"Thank you, Omi. I'm so glad we were able to work things out." Kimiko said happily, tears of joy running down her cheeks.
"I'm glad too." Omi agreed.
"I'll be looking forward to what lies ahead for us." Kimiko said as they let go of each other. And then she leaned in and kissed the little monk on the cheek. Omi blushed as she stood up.
"See ya at dinner." She said as she walked away.
"Yes, at dinner…" Omi said after her, still blushing.
Something tells me those two are gonna be okay. Clay thought to himself.
Well that's it for this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it. I admit, I got worried about where to go next with this one, but I am so glad I was able to continue the story. Thank you all for your support.
Love the review Power Taco. I admit, it played a great role in the inspiration for this chapter. Again, thank you for your undying support.
Love the review waterfire98. I was glad I decided to write this story. I had low expectations when I started writing it, but now I got this far, and…..it's crazy. Again, thank you for the support.
I will try to update my other stories as soon as I can. And as for this story, I'll see where I decide to take it next.
That's all for now. See ya all soon!