FF A WEEK LATER

It had been a week since Raimundo's mother called, and my fiancé was frantically running around the temple trying to make it look perfect. Several times, Master Dai would joke around with Rai only to have a dark glare directed towards him.

"Rai-Rai, if you keep this up, we'll never get to spend time together." I said the day his mother was supposed to be coming.

"No time Anna. Everything has to be perfect for..."

"Oh Raimundito!" came a shrill voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Raimundo just groaned as a plump Brazilian woman came in and grabbed Raimundo in a bone-crushing embrace. "Oh, my little Raimundito has grown so much! I can't believe my little baby is nineteen now!!!!" She had dark brown hair and amazing emerald green eyes. This woman had to be Rai's mother. I quickly cleared my throat and got her attention.

"Um, hi Mrs. Pedrosa. I'm Anna Rockbell...Raimundo's...fiancé." I struggled to say the last word. I felt so nervous meeting Raimundo's mother for the first time and telling her that I was engaged to her son. What made it worse was her reaction. She gave a concerned look to her son.

"Are you sure that this is the girl you are marrying?" she asked, her thick Brazilian accent prominent in her speech. Raimundo gave his mother a questioning look.

"What are you talking about Mom? Of course this is her. This is Anna, the girl I've been telling you about." Raimundo explained, and I shifted nervously on my feet as his mother's gaze drifted from her son to me. Mrs. Pedrosa began to circle around me like a buzzard, clicking her tongue the whole time.

"I don't know Raimundito." She said as she came to a stop in front of me. "I just don't like her." My eyes widened in shock.

"Mom! How can you say that in front of her?" Raimundo yelled at his mother, but I put up my hand to stop him.

"It's okay Rai-Rai. I can understand that it may be awkward. I'm just gonna go hang out with Omi and the others." I said and gave my fiancé a quick kiss and left to go out on the lawn. Outside, I watched as the others talked and played around, and it brought back so many fond memories. A sigh escaped my lips, and Omi looked over at me.

"Oh! My friend, have you come to join us in the fun?" he asked with the same child like wonder I had grown accustomed to. I smiled at him and nodded my head. We hung out and did everything under the sun, and Kimiko let us play Goo Zombies 8. Although, no matter how much fun I was having, I couldn't help but wonder what Raimundito was doing.

RAIMUNDOS POV

I watched as Anna hung out with our friends and played the latest Goo Zombies game. The others hadn't even noticed that her happiness was kind of fake. She was still thinking about what my mother had said. I still couldn't believe that Mom would just come out say something like that in front of Anna. I love Anna, so why can't my mom just accept it? A warm hand on my shoulder brought me from my thoughts, and I was looking up into the face of Master Dai.

"Hey Raimundo." He said in a slightly cheerful tone. I looked the other way over at Anna. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Master Dai asked, and I still remained silent. After a while, the new temple master sat down next to me.

"If you're gonna start talking in those weird old proverbs like Master Fung did, then don't bother. I didn't listen to them when he said them, so don't think that I'll listen to you when you say them." I half expected Master Dai to get upset for talking that way about his dead uncle, but instead he chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, I never really liked them all that much either. I always got confused. No, I just want to talk. I overheard what your mother said about Anna." He said, and I let out a sad sigh. "Ya know, you really shouldn't let what your mother says get in the way of your love life. If you truly love Anna, then you should get married like you planned." I had to admit, for a weird prank-pulling monk, Master Dai had a good point.

"I guess your right." I said as a smirk graced my lips. The monk chuckled again.

"What do you mean 'you guess'? Of course I'm right! Now, go get your woman!" Master Dai pushed me over to the three Dragons, and gave me an encouraging smile. I smiled back and started to walk over to my fiancé.

"Hey Anna." I said, and the brunette girl looked up at me.

"Hey Rai-Rai!" she smiled up at me and I pulled her up into a tight embrace.

"I'm really sorry for what my mother said. It was way out of line. I just want you to know that I love you." Tears of joy formed in her eyes as she nodded in agreement.

"I love you too." she said, and we moved in close for a kiss.

"Dinner time!" came my mother's voice. An aggravated sigh escaped my lips and Anna smiled a bit.

"C'mon Rai-Rai. We can hang out later tonight." she said in a lusty tone, and then my expression lightened. I gave her a swift kiss on the cheek and we left to go eat.

ANNAS POV AT DINNER

Raimundo and I sat next to each other, but then I felt my chair being scooted away from him. Mrs. Pedrosa put her own chair between Raimundo and me.

"Uh, Mom? I kinda wanted to sit next to Anna." Raimundo said hesitantly, and his mother gave him a hurt look.

"You don't want to sit next to your mother after all these years of not seeing each other? I feel so hurt that my own son is ashamed of me." Raimundo gave an exasperated sigh and gave in. Mrs. Pedrosa looked over in my direction and gave me a triumphant glare. What in the world was going on? All throughout dinner, Rai-Rai's mom kept shooting me evil looks that said back off my son. Why did Mrs. Pedrosa hate me so much?

FF To After Dinner

Raimundo and I were leaving to go to our room, when Mrs. Pedrosa came and stopped us.

"Oh my little Raimundito! I have been looking everywhere for you! I just got you something for your room!" she said with a false cheerfulness. From behind her back, she pulled out a small set of weights. "It's a little heavy, so could you take it from your dear old mother?" Raimundo grabbed his 'present' from his mother.

"Uh, Mom? I don't think that we should have this in our room."

"Our room? Why, Raimundito. I think that after all of these years you can sleep without getting a nightmare."

"No, I mean mine and Anna's room." A scowl crossed Mrs. Pedrosa's face.

"Oh, well in that case, you may need them anyways. After seeing that girl pile everything on her plate, I think she may need these more than you." She giggled a little at her own cruel joke and then left. I was so upset, that I couldn't care a less that my body was shaking with rage. I had tried so hard to be nice to that woman. If she doesn't like that I'm going to marry her son, then she'll just have to learn how to deal with it. From here on in, it's war!