Title: Feeling the Rio Heat
Chapter Title: Burning Sand
Word Count: 2,627
Disclaimer: I do not own Xiolin Showdown.
The compatible elementalists arrived on the other side of the portal in front of a tiny house in the middle of a lush rainforest nestled precariously on a mountainside. Kimiko turned around and found herself looking over the bustling city of Rio de Janeiro juxtaposed chaotically against it's serene coastline. It was then Raimundo's anxiety quipped and he began to question whether a girl like Kimiko from a well-to-do family would change her mind about him after seeing the general poverty his family and a lot of Rio locals lived in. He didn't want to hide this part of himself from her, but he'd already been hiding it for a long time.
"Rai," Kimiko spoke calling his attention, "Where are we?"
"My parent's house." He nonchalantly said. "Ready to meet the family?"
"I thought you said we were going to the beach first?" Kimiko stuttered, wondering how presentable she'd be for her first time meeting his family.
"We'll be staying here, might as well drop our bags off" He replied, "Besides, I didn't want to wait another hour after we got here for you to have to change into a beach outfit after a meet the family outfit" He teased.
"Well if they hate me, that's on you" She pouted.
"Come on, they'll love you" He laughed and grabbed her hand as they headed for the door.
"Mamãe" Raimundo called out as they entered the house.
Within a minute Kimiko found herself swarmed by 3 young brunette children.
"Mu" a 6 year old girl squealed at Raimundo as he picked her up and spun her around.
"Ana!" Raimundo laughed "You've gotten so big!"
Kimiko shuffled uncomfortably as three adults filed into the living room. Judging by the relative age, two must be Raimundo's parents and one was likely his older sister. His family all shared a general look, relatively thin without being gaunt, brunette, and tan skinned. The only real difference was all the others had dark brown eyes whereas Raimundo's bright green eyes stood out.
"Who is she?" piqued a boy who looked to be about 8 years old as he pointed at Kimiko.
"Eduardo," The older woman chided, "We talked about this, that's Raimundo's girlfriend"
"Why is she so short?" Eduardo asked earnestly.
Raimundo's mother and sister gasped and seemed ready to launch into a lecture about properly greeting guests, but before they could Kimiko spoke up.
"You know, I wonder that myself sometimes" Kimiko replied with a laugh. She mentally noted that Raimundo didn't correct his mom on the girlfriend comment.
"Well futura nora," Raimundo's mother adressed Kimiko, "I'm thrilled to finally meet you. You can call me Ma" as she said this she embraced Kimiko in a big hug.
"It's nice to meet you as well, I'm -"
"Oh dear we know all about you, Rai has told us much over the past several years" Ma said with a grin.
" Mamãe," Raimundo warned blushing immensly "I also remember I told you not to call her that."
"Filho, I call it like I see it, you don't like it, then don't se apaixonar por ela" Ma chided switching to portugese to emphasize a point that Kimiko was remiss not to understand.
Kimiko made a mental note to ask Rai about what his mom had been saying though based on the cherry red blush on Rai's face she doubted that it would yield many answers.
Rai sighed, "Maria, some back up on this?"
"Nah" Maria laughed "I'm with Ma on this one."
Raimundo childishly stuck his tongue out at his older sister.
"You must be the bride, congratulations and nice to meet you" Kimiko smiled extending a hand towards Maria who instead pulled her into a tight hug.
"It's wonderful to meet you finally" Maria expressed, "Rai was going on and on about you when I last saw him so it's nice to put a face to a name."
"He was, was he?" Kimiko mischeiviously smirked, "What exactly was he saying?"
"Oookay" Raimundo hurridly interjected "You've met the family, now we should drop our bags off and head down to the beach before it gets too dark"
"You're staying in your old room filho" Ma cut in.
"And Kimiko…?" Raimundo nervously asked.
"In your room as well. You are adults filho; by the time I was your age, your father and I already had Maria" Ma said calmly. "Besides Maria needs her old room to get ready tomorrow, and the boys and Ana are already sharing a room"
Raimundo wanted to crawl in a hole at that moment. Because he couldn't find enough courage to look at Kimiko, he instead made eye contact with his father who just quietly nodded approval. Without glancing at Kimiko he grabbed her hand and their bags and led her to his childhood bedroom silently hoping that his mom had taken down the magazine pictures of women in bikinis that used to line his wall.
Raimundo sighed in relief as he entered his old room realizing his parents had pretty much cleared it out save for the basic bedroom furinture. He dropped their bags at the foot of the bed and flopped down on the mattress.
"I thought you wanted to go to the beach?" Kimiko inquired curiously.
"I do, but right now I need a minute to just die of embarrassment" Raimundo dramatically sighed.
"Your family is nice, though I can't tell if your Dad likes me or not" Kimiko said with a bit of hesitance sitting on the bed next to Rai.
"He likes you, he just doesn't speak any English which makes him reluctant to talk" Raimundo mumbled with his face shoved into a pillow.
"Oh," Kimiko said softly, "I had no idea"
"No reason for you to" Raimundo replied. "Sorry this is more than you bargained for; I'll sleep on the floor, you can have the bed"
She eyed him curiously.
"You do realize when we stayed at Master Monk Guan's temple we essentially shared a bed, why should this be any different?" She asked quietly "I mean, we are here as friends, right?"
'Why should it be any different?' Raimundo mentally stressed 'Maybe because then I was more concerned with the fact that the plot Master Guan put me in was going to hurt you to really think about the fact that I was sleeping next to you. I still spent the majority of that night staring at your face as you slept, mentally torturing myself at the fact that I was ruining any chance I'd have with you.'
"I guess you're right" He shrugged fighting down his internal battle.
Kimiko silently wondered if this was how the weekend was going to be; some weird limbo between boyfriend and girlfriend and just friends where he runs hot or cold on the issue depending on a momentary whim.
"What did your mom call me that made you so uncomfortable?" Kimiko asked curiously.
"Uh, nothing, forget about it, we should head down to the beach now anyway or we'll miss the sunset and there's nothing quite like a Rio beach sunset" Raimundo stammered changing the topic suddenly.
"Okay" Kimiko sighed standing from her seated place on the bed. This weekend was supposed to bring them closer, but so far all she'd felt was Raimundo building up walls to hide her from parts of his life he had been so adamantly willing to share mere hours before.
"Golden tiger claws" He called out as they stepped though another portal. This time she did not accept his offered hand and he made no effort to press the issue.
"Where are we?" Kimiko queried looking around at the long stretches of white sand on either side of her.
"Barra da Tijuca; I used to surf here a lot when I was growing up" Raimundo answered casually.
"It's beautiful" Kimiko smiled enjoying the feeling of the June heat on her skin.
Raimundo smiled as he looked at her face bathed in the golden glow of a soon to set sun. Whether or not he was courageous enough to tell her, she was by far the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen especially now as she soaked up the sun in tranquil delight.
They had just barely gotten settled on a beach towel at the edge of the beach away from the tourist crowd when someone called Raimundo's name.
"Who is she" Kimiko nervously asked as Raimundo shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.
"Adriana" He replied curtly offering no follow up.
"Do you know her?" Kimiko queried staring at the busty, tan blonde on the other side of the beach. 'No wonder he's not interested in me, she's absolutely gorgeous' Kimiko thought sadly.
"I used to" He answered vaguely.
Kimiko studied his face for a moment in an effort to find some hidden truth, but Raimundo kept his gaze blank. Eventually she sighed and garnered the courage to ask what was on her mind.
"Did you date her?"
"Something like that. It's a long story" Raimundo sighed.
"Well I have time" Kimiko dejectedly responded.
But time wasn't really something they had at that moment for a minute later Adriana sauntered up to them and made her presence known.
"Raimundo. I thought that was you" Adriana trilled charmingly.
"Adriana" He replied curtly avoiding her bright gray eyes.
"It's been a long time; you left for that whole monk thing...how'd that turn out?" She piqued curiously ignoring Kimiko's presence entirely.
"Still ongoing; just home for Maria's wedding" Raimundo tersely answered.
"Well it's a shame I won't see you there. I couldn't find a sitter for Afonso" She sighed. "Send Ria all my love"
"You know Maria never liked you; don't pretend you were invited" Raimundo said bluntly.
"But you liked me, and that sister of yours is a sucker for whatever her baby brother wants...I mean she'd do anything for you especially after Francisco…" Adriana sing-songed while twirling a lock of her long, blonde hair.
"Adriana" Raimundo spat with a controlled rage to his voice, "You have no right to bring up Francisco. It's your dead-beat baby daddy's fault he's gone. And I may have thought I liked you when I was younger, but I've grown up and moved on to better things. Clearly you haven't as it seems you're the same manipulative, selfish person you were when I knew you."
"Actually, Rai, your brother got himself killed after defying my man in an effort to keep you from joining the gang. So technically it's your fault he's dead – if you hadn't tried to join, he'd still be here. I'm sure your mail order bride probably doesn't know that you got your very own flesh and blood killed" Adriana venomously retorted finally turning her attention toward Kimiko.
"First of all, she's my teammate and girlfriend, not some kind of -" Raimundo yelled before Kimiko quickly cut him off.
Bringing fire to her hands, she looked calmly at the tall, curvy blonde in front of her. Such controlled rage made Kimiko appear intimidating despite her petite stature. Playing nonchalantly with the fire in her hands she casually turned her attention on the blonde before her.
"Raimundo and I have been through enough together that I don't need to know every detail to be certain how I feel for him. He's fought at my side in some of the toughest battles on earth, we've traveled the world, and shared every part of our lives. I don't fear you, in fact I feel like you're acting out of jealousy because you want what I have, but it's inconsequential to me" Kimiko said with a tranquil demeanor.
"How the hell are you doing that with fire? Are you some sort of demon?" Adriana shouted nervously losing her edge.
"Something like that," Kimiko trilled savoring the fear that washed over Adriana's face.
Realizing this was a battle she in no way could win, Adriana stormed off down the beach at a loss.
Kimiko and Raimundo stood in silence staring as the sun slipped below the mountains behind them and the sky over the water became a red-orange glow of soft light. This wasn't anywhere near as nice or romantic as Raimundo had hoped it would be thanks to Adriana's intrusion.
"I'm sorry," He said suddenly cutting into the thick silence, "I realize the past several hours I've been less open with you than usual" He stared at his feet which he shuffled in the sand as he spoke.
Kimiko brought her hands to his chin and tilted his face so he was looking at her.
"You kind of sprung all this on me and I really don't know how to feel or what to think when you're giving me all these conflicting signals" She whispered still holding his face.
"I know. It's just being back here brings out a lot of things I'd rather not share" He sighed.
"But then why bring me?" Kimiko asked with a slight tremble in her voice. She was uncertain if she truly wanted the answer.
"I want to be able to share them with you. I don't think I could move forward without you knowing some of these things about me because I'd be too worried you'd wake up 10 years from now with regrets" He answered honestly.
So he had been aware of her advances and ignoring them. There was a reason sure, but it would have been better for him to mention this before she was at a weekend long event with his family putting her in a catch twenty-two of wanting to share his world with her, but being unwilling to share it.
"Rai" She whispered his name softly as she embraced him.
It had been a taxing few hours and he melted easily into her embrace. Unwilling to break contact he pulled her to sit with him on the beach towel they'd set out earlier.
"You keep telling people I'm your girlfriend, but you keep telling me I'm not," Kimiko pointed out quietly.
"I know" Raimundo replied looking steadily at her.
"So which is it?" She asked with a tremble of nerves ringing clear in her voice.
"I don't know," Raimundo sighed.
"It can't be both" Kimiko challenged. They'd already stepped over the line of where things were comfortable, she might as well jump right into the burning sand and firewalk.
"I know" Rai sighed cautiously, "I need time."
Kimiko sadly shook her head.
"You realize this hurts me?" She communicated honestly.
"I know." Raimundo answered, "But the temple and the rules, and my position as leader, it just makes everything messy. What if this doesn't work out? What if by the end of the weekend you realize you couldn't deal with someone with 4 siblings who all live in the poorest neighborhood in Rio. Because even though I don't show it at the temple, I am this. My options were trying to be the best at surfing or working to become a soccer star because college was never an option. I was almost part of a gang because everyone here is, and my brother died to keep me out of it. Life in Rio isn't like life in the Temple. I never fixed all the things that broke me here and even if I had, I'm still just some poor kid from the outskirts of Rio."
Raimundo looked at her stone faced.
"First of all, that's not true. You're more than just some poor kid from Rio. You're a Xiolin Monk and beyond that a leader to the team. So decide at the end of the weekend what you want for us" Kimiko curtly replied. "I can tell you right now, nothing is going to change my mind, but if you need to see that then so be it."
He could see the fiery resolve in her eyes, but his insecurities kept him reserved.
"Ok." He replied with less conviction than he'd have liked.
Raimundo found himself exhausted from talking so he pulled Kimiko into his lap and buried his face in her hair while wrapping his arms around her waist.
She sighed lightly. She could tell what he wanted, but wished he wasn't holding himself back from letting her in. As the last wisps of sunlight faded below the skyline and a clear dark sky took it's place the two sat on the beach just holding one another wordlessly, each lost in their own tumultuous thoughts.
-XS-
Chapter 2 done! I hope the translator didn't lead me astray – I don't speak Portuguese (which is actually the language spoken in Brazil) so I tried to keep it simple. I'm not sure how many chapters this will be total; it's a story that's been rolling around in my mind for a few years so I could see it being somewhere along the lines of roughly 5-6 chapters.
Sneak peek for Chapter 3: Burning Tradition
Conflict rolled steadily around Raimundo's mind as he knotted the tie for his suit. On the one hand he undeniably had strong feelings for Kimiko, and he'd been steadily pushing the boundaries on their friendship to the point where even at the temple they'd often hold hands and occasionally cuddle when the other monks weren't paying attention. He knew it wasn't fair to her that he'd been able to get the physical and emotional support he wanted from her, when he knew (and had known) that she wanted so much more. He also knew that on more than one occasion Master Fung had stressed to him the rule forbidding relationships at the temple. He knew it could cost him his leadership position, or even his wind monk status, and he certainly didn't want to go back to just being some poor kid from Rio.
At points he'd debate whether or not he and Kimiko could maintain a secret relationship, but he felt the second they gave in to their feelings things would uproariously get out of hand. Kimiko had that effect on him where it already took every inch of his resolve to cap their relationship at cuddling and hand holding...if they went one step further it likely wouldn't be just one step, because he knew his own pent up feelings would drive him to taking things too far, too soon. And he also knew she was ready for that based on how she'd tried to advance the relationship and he'd have to feign ignorance to maintain the status quo.
He sighed as he realized there were no easy answers to be found and so his internal debate ended in the same place it always did – undecided.
He steadily rapped his knuckle on the door to the bathroom where Kimiko, Maria, and Ma were all getting ready.
"We ready yet?" He called through the sturdy oak door.
"Relax, Filho, it's a Brazilian wedding, if a noiva is early something's wrong" Ma chided.
"By 10 minutes, not an hour, Ma" Raimundo retorted.
"Futura nora," Ma addressed Kimiko much to Raimundo's discomfort, "you are ready. Go distract that pesky son of mine for now"
"Mamãe" Raimundo warned cautiously.
"Pfft, Filho" Ma needled, unbothered.
Kimiko stepped out of the bathroom and Raimundo was rendered speechless. She looked positively angelic in the airy blue dress Maria had helped him choose for Kimiko. Her hair was in soft curls that fell around her shoulders and her makeup, aside from her normal sharp eyeliner, was much softer as well. She looked like her natural, beautiful self and he adored her for it.
"You realize your mom has called me that enough times I can just look it up on a translator now, right?" Kimiko broke into his thoughts.
" Uh…" He stammered nervously.
-FreeWritinginFreeTime
Next update coming next weekend. I don't have free time aside from the weekends quite yet!