Chapter 4:
Kimiko could feel her legs trembling against the wooden chair she was sitting on. Her injured collarbone throbbed painfully and her heartbeat pounded in her chest. Master Fung sat across from her, not saying at word. Somehow, that was worse than if he had started screaming.
Raimundo sat beside her, and clutched her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, as if to tell her it would be alright. She was not convinced.
"Tell me again, Kimiko." Master Fung requested gently. He had remained entirely calm so far, not reacting the way she had expected at all. She had expected him to scold her for not talking sooner, but so far, nothing. He had sat quietly, as if deep in thought. She suspected the scolding would come later.
Kimiko repeated her story once more, telling Master Fung everything that had happened, including the reason she had fallen, the eyes behind the curtain, the whispers of her name, even the hand on her shoulder. But the tattoo on her shoulder – that was the thing that concerned her the most.
"May I see it?" He asked, equally as calm.
Kimiko nodded, and along with Raimundo's assistance, he peeled back her shirt to reveal her bare shoulder, to show the old man the black, intertwined circles inked onto her skin.
Master Fung traced his fingers over the lines.
"Does it hurt?" He asked, soft as a whisper.
"It has been stinging." She admitted. "I didn't realise there was something there... I thought it was maybe, I don't know, just a bruise or something from the fall."
Master Fung gestured for her to take a seat once more, and did so himself, sitting opposite her with an expressionless face.
"Kimiko," Master Fung began. "I'm afraid..."
Kimiko's breath caught in her throat, waiting for him to tell her what the mark meant. What any of it had meant. What the hell was happening to her?
"Well," He continued, "I'm afraid I have no answers for you."
Kimiko's jaw dropped. "What?" How could that be?!
"I'm sorry." Master Fung said, looking completely and utterly lost for words. "I'm afraid I really do not what this symbol means, or indeed, how it came to be upon your shoulder. I have never encountered its like, nor heard of any similar cases."
"But..." Kimiko was bewildered. "Master Fung, if you don't know what's happening to me... What am I supposed to do? There must be answers somewhere!"
"Whatever happened to Kim, it ain't right, Master Fung!" Raimundo interjected for the first time. He had kept quiet so far, so his sudden outburst made Kimiko feel slightly comforted that she wasn't overreacting, that this really was something to be truly worried about. "We gotta find the answers somewhere." He got to his feet, as if furious at Master Fung's lack of help.
"Please calm down, young monk." Master Fung said, his eyes narrowly slightly, and Raimundo obediently rescinded. He knew better than to mess with Master Fung.
The old man shook his head wordlessly, before drawing a long breath.
"Kimiko..." His soft blue eyes were filled with concern, and she thought she could sense the fear in his voice. "Whatever this is... it is a great evil."
His eyes flickered to Raimundo, and Kimiko saw Raimundo's mouth fall.
"How... But... What did..." Raimundo began, but words continued to fail him.
"You knew." Kimiko said, deciding it was time to come clean. "I heard you both talking."
"Then I trust you'll understand our concerns. This cannot be a coincidence. There is great evil at work here." Master Fung said, casting his eyes between the two of them. "Greater than we have seen before."
"So what do I do?" Kimiko asked. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She only cried a few times since she'd gotten to the Temple, and she'd tried to never let the boys see her weakness. And she was determined not to cry now, but she could feel her eyes stinging, and Raimundo's grip on her hand tightened slightly, as if he knew she was trying to be strong too.
Master Fung shook his head again, slowly. "For now, all we can do is remain vigilant. Should anything else occur, you must tell us immediately. Perhaps we can piece together the mystery."
"We've faced great evil before, Kimiko." Raimundo offered softly. "We've always been okay before."
It was all Kimiko could do to nod. True, they had faced evil before, but it had been all of them on the receiving end. Not just one of them.
Why me?
This felt more sinister. Could it be something new that they'd never faced before? How did it all work out this way?
"I'll consult with the Temple elders..." Master Fung said, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps they can offer some insight. I suggest you explain the situation to Omi and Clay, and perhaps search through the hundreds of scrolls in the archive. There may be something in there that has some kind of relevance. Though I do not recall anything."
"Thank you, Master Fung." Kimiko said, more out of politeness than real gratitude. In truth, she felt unreasonably let down by Master Fung. He knew everything that was just what he did. And not knowing was somehow, worse than knowing.
Kimiko managed to quench back her tears, feeling her fiery element tingling in her fingertips. She wanted to escape, to throw herself onto her bed and sob until the tears stopped coming, but instead, she took a deep breath.
"Could I be alone, for a little while?" She asked Raimundo.
He nodded, looking at her with concern.
"I'm fine," She lied." I just want some space... You know, impending evil and all that..." She tried to force a laugh, but her voice was strained.
"Should I tell Omi and Clay?"
Kimiko nodded. "Go ahead."
Without really thinking about where she was going, she left the room, and somehow, found herself on the roof of the temple. She knew no one would think to look for her on the roof, and she could finally be alone.
Omi and Clay will think I am some kind of freak...
They'll never let me be alone again.
They'll treat me like some kind of pariah.
Maybe I should leave the temple? Perhaps it'd be safer for them? If some dreadful evil is coming for me, it might be better to separate myself.
No, they'd never let me leave. Unless I left now? They'd never know where I'd gone...
But I can't leave without saying goodbye. They'd never understand.
Well, I'm sure they'd appreciate me leaving if I spare them from a terrible fate.
Stop being silly, Kimiko, you're a Tohomiko. Tohomiko's are stronger than this. You're not going to let some silly mark scare you, are you?
Finally, the she couldn't stop the tears any longer. She let out a silent sob, and all the confusion, the pain and the anguish started flowing from her eyes.
She wasn't sure how long she cried for. All she knew was that the sun had gone in by the time she climbed down, and it was starting to get cold.
Her feet carried her to the archive, where she could hear Raimundo, Omi and Clay talking in soft voices.
"There must be something..." She heard Omi say.
"We've been here all day and found nothin'." Clay threw back. "I give up."
"No, you don't." Raimundo said sternly. "Kimiko is our friend and there is something happening to her. We can't sit back and do nothing."
"I meant nothin' by it." Clay responded, sounding a little wounded.
"Did you guys find anything?" She asked, trying to sound cheerful, but her voice was cracked and strained. Her face felt swollen, and she knew they knew.
Raimundo and Clay had the decency to pretend that they didn't notice her tear-streaked face. Omi, however, was not so graceful, and looked up from the tattered parchment in his hand and gasped at her face.
"You look terrible!" Omi said, loudly.
Kimiko couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "Thanks, Omi."
Raimundo rolled his eyes, and then rolled up the scroll in his hands. "We've been searching all day. Nothing yet. But there's still lots to go through. You wanna help?"
She gave a nod, and wordlessly, she joined the others in their quest for knowledge.
They stayed there all night, reading old bits of text around fighting techniques, Shen Gong Wu, the history of the elders and the Temple, there was even an amusing story about Dojo getting stuck in a decorative plant pot, but nothing about symbols.
Kimiko had seated herself between two bookshelves, which were both at least 8 feet tall, and stacked high with scrolls, and was sorting through the shelves as she went. Though she could not see him past the shelves, she thought she could hear Omi snoring, and assumed he must have fallen asleep while searching.
She read several more scrolls, seeing the letters instead of reading them properly, scanning through to see if she spotted the symbol, or anything mentioning it. Her back was aching from sitting on the cold stone floor, and her eyes were beginning to sting.
To cruelly remind her of why she was there, the tattoo would occasionally sting, making her grit her teeth and scowl miserably.
"This is useless." She sighed quietly, more to herself, and moved yet another useless scroll over to the pile of read scrolls which was slowly mounting up.
"I can't find anythin' either." She heard Clay whisper from somewhere behind one of the bookcases.
"Me three." Raimundo's voice came from further away.
"Should we take a break?" Kimiko asked, getting to her feet and stretching. Her legs felt numb as she got to her feet, and her back twinged painfully.
She heard the other two do the same, and the three ventured to the kitchen area together, leaving Omi snoring underneath a pile of scrolls. Clay stirred up a pot of hot coffee, and the three gathered together to whisper in hushed voices as the Temple around them slept quietly.
"What if we don't find the answer?" Kimiko asked quietly, clutching to her cup tightly.
"We'll find it, Kim." Clay reassured her. He looked terrible, with dark circles under his eyes and drooping eyelids, Kimiko patted him softly on the back.
"You should get some rest. You both should." She gestured to Raimundo, who gave a shrug and downed the rest of his coffee.
"I got another few hours in me." He told her, though she could see he was exhausted.
"Rest?" She tried once more, but he shook his head.
"I can read a few more. There's gotta be something somewhere." Even his voice sounded tired.
The three slowly got to their feet and shuffled back to the archive room. Together, they searched another hundred or so scrolls, before Clay let out a long yawn.
"Maybe we should call it a night." He whispered, so as not to wake Omi.
Feeling exhausted herself, Kimiko yawned. "Till morning..." She agreed.
Raimundo chuckled quietly from somewhere behind her. "It's been morning for an hour already, Kim."
"Really?" She asked, completely unaware. Being caved in by the bookshelves had meant that she had blocked out the window, and hadn't noticed the room lightening.
"I miss the roosters crowin' at home." Clay's voice came from the other side of the bookcase. "You'd wake up to their crowing and hear the sheep bleatin', and then you'd hear the cows wakin' up too with their big bells. I miss Texas."
Kimiko chuckled softly. "I think I must be a cow." She replied, more to herself than Clay. "I've been branded, haven't I?"
Silence followed, and then Raimundo and Clay's faces appeared, both looking horrified.
"Kimiko... what if that's exactly what it is?" Clay questioned.
Kimiko raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying I'm being raised for slaughter?"
"Maybe." Clay said as Raimundo's eyebrows knotted together.
"Maybe not slaughter." Raimundo offered, sounding half in thought. "Maybe something else. Maybe you're a target. Maybe that's all it is. A sign of evil." He said, raising his hands ominously, as if it was all a joke.
"This is all speculation." Kimiko said, trying not to run away with the idea.
"But why target her?" Clay asked. "Why not all of us?"
"Hmm." Raimundo rubbed his temples. "Maybe Kimiko is just the first, and ours is coming too. Or she's a target for something else. Maybe it's a warning of something to come. Or maybe someone just has a crush on Kim."
"Well, we do know someone who's always had an unhealthy obsession..." Clay smirked, and Raimundo smirked back at him.
Kimiko rolled her eyes.
"Spicer would totally do something creepy like this." Raimundo stared at Kimiko, expecting her to be nodding in response.
"This isn't Spicer's style. The voices, the tattoo, he's not clever enough to do something like this." Kimiko tried to reason.
"Well, it couldn't hurt to question the little creep. He might know somethin'." Clay said thoughtfully.
"I don't think Spicer is behind this. It doesn't feel like Spicer's handiwork." Kimiko said. The tattoo twinged painfully, a constant reminder.
"I still think we should pay him a visit. Our only other contenders of great evil are Wuya, who's floating around somewhere without her body, and Chase Young, who we haven't seen for ages. Spicer is the most likely. The fact that no evil has actually happened yet is a good indication that an idiot is behind it." Clay said.
"Well, Clay and I will pay Spicer a visit. Kim, you stay here and keep looking." Raimundo decided, and got to his feet.
Kimiko nodded. In truth, she knew their journey was a wasted one, but so far, they had nothing, so there couldn't be any harm in trying.
Raimundo snapped a quick picture of Kimiko's tattoo on his phone, and gave her a quick hug.
"We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise." He whispered gently in her ear. "We won't let anything happen to you."
She felt comforted by his words, but she had a feeling they would come back empty handed.
Omi snorted in his sleep, rolling over and mumbling.
Raimundo went to wake him, but Kimiko grabbed his arm. "Let him sleep a while. He'll be able to help when he's awake."
"Kim, someone needs to keep an eye on you." Clay reminded her.
"I'll be fine. I'll wake him soon, but he can't help if he's exhausted. We all need to rest." Kimiko could feel her eyes stinging with tiredness. She envied Omi getting to rest.
"Stop mothering us." Raimundo told her with a frown.
"Go to Spicer's. It'll be fine. I promise." She gave him a sincere look. "I won't move from this room. I'll be looking at the scrolls. That's all."
"We'll be back soon." Clay told her, patting her hand gently.
Kimiko nodded, and the two boys left.
Aside from Omi's snores, all was quiet, which somehow made it even harder to concentrate on the scrolls. Clay had a habit of humming as he read, while Raimundo would let out small grunts or sighs of exasperation every so often that would keep her focused if she started to fall asleep.
After what felt like hours, Kimiko sighed. Her back was aching, her legs were numb, and her collarbone and tattoo were both becoming increasingly painful. Slowly, she got to her feet, remembering her promise to wake up Omi. She had no idea how long it had been since they left.
As she went to rise, she heard a rustling movement from towards the doorway, which was on the other side of the bookcase, as well as the sound of footsteps.
"Rise and shine." She said kindly, getting to her feet. But as she rounded the bookcase, Omi was still sound asleep on his side, and quietly snoring.
She moved to the doorway, but there was no one to be seen. All was quiet.
Trying not to panic, she whipped around, casting her eyes nervously around the room. Just what the hell was she looking for anyway?
And then she felt it. A soft, gentle graze that moved from her tattoo up to her shoulder. At first, she thought it was just another painful twinge, but this was different. It was something very, very real.
Horrified and frozen with fear, she slowly turned her eyes, seeing a familiar black and gloved hand resting upon her shoulder. Her heart thudded and her head screamed at her to run, but her legs wouldn't obey.
She went to scream, but another hand gripped her mouth, and a soft, cold breath whispered in her ear. "Shhhhhh..."
Her hands flew up to yank the hand away from her mouth and she felt her fire preparing to explode. Kimiko turned sharply, and came face to face with two, piercing orange eyes.
She screamed.
Darkness came.
XXX
A voice.
Meet me at midnight.
XXX
"Kimiko?" A hand was shaking her. "Kimiko!"
She groaned, and opened her eyes. Omi was shaking her violently, looking down at her with concern. She was lying flat on her back in the archive room, dazed and confused.
"What happened?"
"I don't know." She said stupidly, sitting upright slowly. Her entire body ached where she had fallen, and her tattoo stung painfully.
"You screamed." Omi said, helping her to her feet.
Not again.
She got to her feet unsteadily. Her feet felt numb and her knees were trembling, so she gripped his shoulder for support, feeling as though she might fall again.
"What happened?" Omi demanded of her.
"I... I don't know. I thought I saw something. But... I don't know..." She trailed off, feeling foolish and unable to explain herself.
"A spider?" Omi said in a patronising tone. He could be that way sometimes.
"I just... I think I fell asleep. I had a nightmare." She said, though her voice betrayed her confusion.
"A nightmare?" Omi asked, one eyebrow raised as if he didn't quite believe her.
Kimiko nodded, not knowing how else to explain what she saw without sounding like she was crazy. She was exhausted, it could have just been tiredness. Or it could have been something more sinister. Frankly, she didn't care at the moment. Her body sagged with exhaustion. "I need to go to bed." She mumbled.
Omi grabbed her. "Kimiko, wait, what happened?"
"I just fell." She groaned, shoving him off. She could barely keep her eyelids open.
Omi let go, looking dejected. "Rest, then." He said, softly.
She didn't need telling a second time, but when she lay her head on the pillow, she could think of nothing but the darkness, and the voice that had sounded in her head.
Meet me at midnight...
XXX
Raimundo and Clay felt strange travelling alone on Dojo. It was rare that only two travelled together, but the green dragon flew swiftly, and it wasn't long before they arrived at Spicer's home.
They had heard on the grapevine that Spicer's parents had moved out some time ago, leaving Jack to run the family home. It had drastically changed since their last visit some time ago. They almost didn't recognise it.
The house had been repainted a burnt orange colour, with black detailing. It was very Spicer. Along the perimeter, Jackbots patrolled, their glowing red eyes shining in the distance. Raimundo pointed to each corner of the towering fence that surrounded Spicer's home and said: "Look, sentry turrets."
Clay narrowed his eyes. Sure enough, sentry turrets were sat, awaiting orders, though the cowboy couldn't help but notice that they seemed to already be pointing towards him.
As Raimundo approved the large metal gate, a voice sounded:
"Meet me at the door."
It was Spicer's voice, sounding from a speaker that must have been positioned somewhere, though the two dragons couldn't spot it. The sentry turrets and the Jackbots bowed their heads, showing that they were allowing the pair to pass unscathed.
The gate swung open, and Raimundo and Clay approached Spicer's front door.
Raimundo lifted his hand to knock the door, but a series of beeps, clicks and sliding sounds came from the other side of the door, no doubt Spicer was undoing many lock combinations.
When Spicer finally opened the door, Raimundo and Clay were shocked at the person behind it. Instead of the small, scruffy, spiky haired boy they'd grown up with, a tall and muscled man greeted them. His long red hair was tied back in a ponytail, with his familiar goggles nestled in his hair. The black eyeliner that had once adorned his face was gone, and his eyes were a soft brown instead of the glowing red they had grown up with. He wore a red vest, showing bulging arms, though very pale, that were covered in tribal tattoos.
He did not greet them with a smile, but instead had the manner of someone disinterested and bored.
He isn't afraid of us anymore.
"Hello, losers." Jack said, the faintest trace of a smile appearing on his lips. His voice was no longer a squeaky mess, but a strong and deep voice. "What do you want?"
"I reckon we got the wrong house." Clay said with a small smile. "We're lookin' for Jack Spicer."
Jack grunted, though he seemed to laugh with his eyes. "Come in."
Inside his home was almost exactly as his parents must have left it, except bits of circuitry and robotics were scattered everywhere, as well as discarded clothes, empty soda and beer cans, as well as odd shoes and empty pizza boxes. Clay nudged a robot arms aside as he stepped over the threshold.
Jack pointed at a doorway, and the Dragons entered a room with an air hockey table in the middle of it, and some chairs surrounding it. Spicer took a seat on one, throwing his feet up on the table.
"So, what do you want?" He grabbed a beer can from the table, shook it gently to see if anything was inside, and gulped what remained.
"Just wanted to ask a question." Raimundo swiped through his phone and brought up the image of Kimiko's shoulder, and showed it to Spicer. "Know what it is?"
Spicer narrowed his eyes, staring at it intently. "Nope. Why?"
Clay sat upright. "You sure about that? You sure you don't know what it is?"
Jack shrugged coolly. "Pretty sure. Why are you asking?"
"Because it's appeared on Kimiko's shoulder and she doesn't have a clue what it is or how it got there." Raimundo said seriously. "And we can't figure out what it means."
Jack smirked. "Sounds like a drunken night to me."
Raimundo scowled, and proceeded to tell Spicer exactly what had happened to Kimiko, and how the tattoo came to be.
Jack raised an eyebrow slowly and sat back in his chair. He took a deep breath, scratching his head.
"Well, I've definitely never seen that symbol before, but tattoos appearing all on their own sure aren't good news. Whatever it is, something big is coming."
Raimundo eyed Spicer suspiciously. Until now, he had been unsure whether to trust him, but he could see in his eyes that there was no malice there. The rivalry that had once been between them was gone. Spicer wasn't behind this, he was sure.
"You got any ideas where we can find out what it means?" Clay asked, and Spicer shook his head.
"No, but whoever did it is powerful, and they're gunning for Kimiko." Spicer said. "I guess combined with the other creepy behaviour, this has to come to a head somewhere."
"What do you mean, Spicer?" Clay asked.
"Well, whatever this is, it's gotta mean something. Whoever is behind this will reveal themselves in time. If you can't find out what it means, then all you can do is wait. Whoever is doing this clearly doesn't want her dead, at least not at the moment, so there's gonna be more of this." Spicer said calmly. "You're gonna have to watch her, because they're coming."
XXX
Kimiko gasped awake. Her eyes flew open to reveal her bedroom flooded in darkness, with the sound of Clay, Raimundo and Omi snoring in their rooms beside her. She knew she must have slept all day, with the boys finding nothing at Spicer's. They would have woken her if they had found anything.
She gave a stretch, as much as her pain would allow her, and got unsteadily to her feet. In the darkness, she tiptoed towards the kitchen, deciding to make some warm milk to take her back to bed, though she doubted she needed any more sleep. She did not know how long it was until morning, but judging from the twilight above, dawn was a long way off.
The forest...
The thought came suddenly to her head, as if out of nowhere. The forest would be calm, peaceful. A night time stroll would be good for clearing her head, and helping to calm herself from the worry of the last few days. She found herself marching towards the doorway, before she halted in her tracks.
Meet me at midnight...
And then she knew where the thought had come from. She froze, panic seizing her heart and her throat.
"No." She whispered, a half sob of fear. Fear of being insane, fear of not being insane, fearing if she went and fearing if she didn't.
"Come to the forest."
The voice echoed in her head.
"No." She said, gripping the doorway as if something was going to make her move. "I won't."
A faint but gentle creaking sounded behind her. Kimiko felt her legs lock in sheer horror, and she squeezed her eyes shut tight, not daring to move.
"Don't be afraid." The voice was all too real this time, and she wheeled around, coming face to face with the man himself.
"Chase Young?" She whispered, not daring to believe it.
He stood before her, inside the Temple, bold as brass, with a smile on his face. He wore his familiar armour, with his sleek black hair falling softly pass his shoulders. His eyes pierced her skin, making her feel vulnerable and unsafe.
The man before her bowed, with the hint of a smirk on his face, and spoke calmly. "Good evening, Kimiko, or rather, good morning. I believe it's just turned midnight."
XXX