Chapter Four – Sign Me Up

Raimundo avoided Clay the rest of the day after the whole mop incident, not wanting to humiliate himself even further by retelling the events to his friend. Various scenes from that episode played in his head, haunting him and laughing at him. 'Where's the mop?'-was that the best you could come up with? Stupid mop.

He couldn't avoid the Dragon of Earth forever, however, and soon the Dragon of Wind was forced to recount his horrid, unproductive, and not to mention embarrassing day. The end of the story left Clay crying, if not for Raimundo's failure, but for trying oh-so-hard to keep the laughter inside. Clay obviously couldn't hold it in any longer, what with his occasional snigger, so with a sneer, Raimundo said, "I know you want to laugh, so just laugh."

"Sorry, Rai, I couldn't help it. That's a stupid thing that you've done," was what Clay said after bursting out laughing and continuing his laughter for a few minutes. During his laughing fit, Raimundo just sat there, wondering if his laughter could go on any longer, and answering himself saying, Yes, oh yes, his laughing is going to last forever.

"Yes, I know, Clay. I know what I did was stupid. That is why I'm here right now, girlfriend-less and being laughed at by you, my supposed friend, instead of living the dream." After having said that, Clay burst out laughing again, receiving an irritated death stare from the one and only Mr. Pedrosa.

"Well, anyway, my offer still stands about that blind date," Clay was careful to mention the blind date somewhere in the conversation.

"Nope. Sorry, none of that for me," Raimundo said.

"Suit yourself, but if you change your mind…" And with that Clay walked away.

"I won't," Raimundo called after him.

Argh… mop.

Kimiko looked into her closet with a distraught expression. She had no clue of what she wanted to wear. Sure, she had stuff she could wear on a daily basis, when they were all venturing off in search of Shen Gong Wu, but did she have anything to wear on a date? Apparently not.

She finally picked out two dresses and held them up in front of her in the mirror. "Blue dress… Or green dress? Blue dress... Or green dress?" She gave each dress a turn in front of her as she debated aloud.

"Green dress," said a voice. She squealed in surprise and turned around to find Raimundo leaning against the doorway, watching her choose between the blue and the green dress.

"Rai, what are you doing? You scared me."

"Sorry, I was just passing by and heard you talking to yourself, so I figured I'd see what you were doing," he said trying to sound as cool as possible.

"Oh," Kimiko started, then with her mind drifting back to the dresses in her hand, she added, "So the green dress? Are you serious?" She turned back to the mirror and held the green dress in front of her.

"Yeah, I am." Raimundo nodded. "What's the occasion anyway?"

Kimiko started to blush a little. "Well… Actually, Keiko set me up on a blind date."

Raimundo's eyes widened a bit. "Really…"

"Yeah, I haven't seen the guy yet, but we're supposed to meet up at this restaurant."

"Well… have fun on your date," Raimundo said dully, starting to turn around.

"Thanks," Kimiko replied.

"Oh, and I changed my mind; blue dress."

Kimiko was going to inquire more about the sudden change in opinion, but the boy was already gone.

Kimiko glanced nervously at her cell phone, which showed a text message from Keiko. " Pasta Palace," it read. Looking up at the restaurant in front of her, she found that she was in fact at the Pasta Palace. She smoothed out her dress one last time, and yes she had gone with the blue dress, then she touched the red flower in her hair, making sure it was still there. That was the plan, after all: she'd wear the red flower, and she'd look for a guy in a red suit.

When she entered the restaurant, she looked around to find a sea of black suits and colorful dresses. This should be easy, then, she thought, reasoning that if everyone was wearing a black suit then she'd definitely find her date in the red suit. After looking around the room, she found him: a guy wearing a red suit, waving at her to come thither. He was very decent looking, cute with a mess of black hair on top of his head, and she quickened her pace, excited to meet him. She stuck out her arm.

"Hi, I'm your date, Kimi-…"

"I'm sorry," the boy said, looking down at himself. "I didn't realize I was wearing red as well. Here is your date." He stepped aside to reveal Tubbimura, already starting on his meal of fish.

"WHAT?" Kimiko exclaimed. "He's my date?"

"Yes, sorry again for the confusion… Oh, would you like to place an order, or should I come back in two minutes?"

"Two minutes, please." And the waiter walked away, picking up a tray that was placed on a separate table.

Kimiko sighed. She glanced across the table to see Tubbimura looking under the table.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kimiko asked, loudly and with obvious irritation.

Tubbimura looked up, oblivious to his company. "You! You are one of the Xiaolin warriors, are you not? Why are you here?"

Kimiko pointed to her hair, too exasperated to talk.

"Oh… you are my date."

"Yup. Well, you better still be paying for dinner," Kimiko said, picking up her menu, and Tubbimura bent over to look under the table again.

Keiko is so dead. Of all people, Tubbimura's my date?

Clay found Raimundo sitting on a rock outside the temple, a pout plastered on his face. He had his head on his hands and had a far-off look in his eyes, but he could sense Clay's arrival.

"She's out on a date right now," he said without looking up.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Are you feelin' alright?"

"Could've been better."

"So what're you gonna do?"

Raimundo lifted his head from his hands, directing his eyes at Clay's. "I was thinking about going on a blind date." Raimundo gave him his little trademark smirk. "So, sign me up."

Clay grinned back at his friend. "Alright then, par'ner."

A/N: I know, I know, it took forever, right? At least I got it done. Now if you all would be so kind, reviews would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks to all past reviewers! You've all guilt-tripped me to continue, despite my being lazy. X) Special thanks to Stormy Dreamer for giving me the idea for Kimiko's first blind date. If you have any ideas for who Raimundo or Kimiko should go on dates with and even what could happen, pleaaase feel free to share them!