Title: Comforting Swings
Fandom: Xiaolin Showdown
Characters: Rai, Kim
Prompt: 015:Blue
Word Count: 756
Rating: G
Summary: He died. She's upset and finds comfort from someone who can't seem to understand.
Author's Note: Kinda popped into my head. Can't really help it. I just write them...

It was nice. Short, but nice. Like anything in life. Or death. But even in death, you still live on. Right? That's what she always thought. And it's a belief she has always lived by since her mother's death. But now, her mother's grave has new company. One that holds her dear beloved husband.

The Dragon of Fire could not believe it could happen so soon. One day, he was alive and well and the next... well, lets just say it's the direct opposite of those things. She didn't even know that he has fallen sick. As it turns out, he had a life threatening disease growing inside of him. Like a little parasite. It could have grown years before she was even born or it happened just recently. Either way, he was still dying. Perhaps he didn't tell his daughter because he didn't want her to worry so much? Or it not need to be learned. But she was still a little angry that the whole thing was kept secret. Only a little because she still loved her father and could never be mad at him. For she had no one to blame but herself.

So left the funeral long after it was over and came to the park. There she saw a set of blue swings. Tears welled up at the memory she had with her father. It was one of many rare day offs that he would take her here and set her on the swings. Too young to pump by herself, her father insisted on pushing her. And every time, she would laugh as she reached new heights and the wind blowing in her face. When she got a little older, he even taught her how to pump on the swing. Legs in and legs out. Every single time. And on her last day in Tokyo, before she moved to the Xiaolin Temple in China, they had spent the majority of the day on the swings.

Today, she sat on the very same swing motionless. Looking down at the sand below her feet as her hands delicately wrapped around the chains. A tear escaped at the many thoughts.

"Kim? Are you all right?" She looked up in surprise and saw her comrade approach her with steady feet. She quickly wiped away the tears as to appear normal. Well, as normal goes anyway. She sniffed as he stood beside her.

"I'm fine," she choked out. "Why ask?"

"Because I can only imagine how hard it must be," he said as he sat in the empty swing next to her.

"You can't possibly. You never lost someone you consider close," she retorted disdainfully.

"Maybe not, but I said I can imagine. Y'know, you're so use to seeing them every day. And then, the next thing you know, they're not there. Is that right?" She looked back down at the same spot of sand.

"That's not even close to what I'm feeling." Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him get up from the swing and moved behind her. He held the chain above her hands and made the swing sway a bit.

"Then enlighten me. Tell me what a feel likes." She started to grimace at the thought alone.

"Well... he has been there all my life. He was the one person I can count on whenever I accidentally fall and scrape my knee. Now that he's gone, it feels like there's one gigantic hole in my heart. It's the part where you know nothing can fill it." He gracefully moved his hands down over hers and stroked his thumbs over hers. She looked up at him and saw his reassuring smile. She tilted her head at the sight of his eyes though. They told her something very unfamiliar. Like the way a friend would let them know that he would always be there for her. In her time of need, he's there to lend a shoulder to cry on, to talk things through an unsteady time, and to hug her when she was most angry. To those thoughts, she got up and walked around the swing and wrapped her arms around his neck. She hid her face in the crook of his neck and start to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back soothingly.

"I loved him so much, Rai," she hiccuped into his shoulder.

"I know, Kim. I know," he whispered in her ear. They stood there until she was comfortable enough to move on.