Gotta say, not as much action in this one, but the story is building up now! I've got a good idea of where I'm going and honestly I can't wait to write it. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!
Also, thank you so much to both Olive Tree Hugger (I know I've already thanked you but hey) and LoveYourStory for reviewing, I really do appreciate it XD I get so excited when I see new reviews, they motivate me to write more. Thanks also to Olive Tree Hugger, kpop72 and Kkat999 for adding this story to your story alert list! I really do appreciate it. ^.^
Chapter 3: Healing
Jack was crouched by a group of bushes, wondering whether the Xiaolin Warriors had found the Shen Gong Wu yet and he was just wasting his time. He rose from his crouching position and stretched his muscles, feeling a little cramped. Jack jumped when he heard someone running towards him. He turned in the direction the sound was coming from to find the previously masked woman running in his direction. He was about to move out the way until he realised that she wasn't even going for him. She was just running away. Why? He turned round to look at the mystery woman again. She had a bloody weapon in her hand. Worry suddenly struck Jack. Who's blood was that?
He ran in the direction where the woman came from to find Omi crouched by Kimiko, panicking. He had his hands firmly on her stomach, and his hands were stained slightly from blood. 'Fuck. She stabbed Kimiko.' He ran over to them quickly and fell beside Kimiko, similar to Omi. "What happened!"
"I do not know! I heard her scream and when I had arrived she was lying on the floor bleeding!"
Jack inspected her closely, well as best as he could with Omi in the way. "How bad is the wound?"
"Bad. She will not stop bleeding and it looked deep. She was already unconscious when I had come to her side."
Jack grunted while taking his phone out of an inside pocket and he phoned the local emergency number. (Local emergency numbers for major countries was something he decided to memorize when he started getting involved with collecting Shen Gong Wu.) After struggling to find someone who actually spoke English he explained the situation and the woman on the phone said they would fly a helicopter in, it being a quicker way to reach Kimiko as they were in a rural area rather than an urban one. After Jack put his phone away he sat back down next Kimiko and stared at the floor, unable to look at Kimiko's injury or her face.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Kimiko stirred, feeling uncomfortable. While she was half asleep she realised that her movement was restricted and she felt different. She woke up and tried to get up but couldn't. Annoyed, she tried to get free of the restraints that tied her to the bed.
"I wouldn't do that if I you. You were strapped down for a reason."
Kimiko turned her neck in surprise and saw Jack leaning against the doorway. But he was different than usual. He was wearing a pair of jeans and plain black sleeveless top, holding a bottle of water. Kimiko, realising that he didn't mean her any harm, looked around the room.
"I'm in a hospital?"
"There was no other choice. I mean I suppose you could've gone back to the temple and the monks could've bandaged you up but I doubt they could help you against infection.
"I had an infection?"
Jack nodded while taking a sip from the water. "Still do actually. You get injected with antibiotics twice a day and will be for another week."
Kimiko looked down at her arms and noticed an IV drip. "How long have I been out? And why did they feel the need to strap me down? And why are you here? Where are the other guys?"
Jack sighed and sat down in the chair near her bed. "In order, you've been out for 3 days and considering the amount of tissue, blood and flesh you need to grow back and heal they didn't want to wait for you to wake up to get food into you. They felt the need to strap you down because you move around in your sleep, like most people. It's hard to move around without moving or stretching your stomach, which meant the wound kept reopening. I'm here because it made sense. The woman who stabbed you is still on the run and trying to get Shen Gong Wu. We all decided that it was best that the Monks go after her and continue grabbing Shen Gong Wu, especially as we don't know what she wants to do with them, or even how she knows about them. But they didn't want to leave you here alone so I stayed with you. It made sense really, they're stronger than me and I was the one who admitted you to the hospital."
Kimiko nodded and took a moment to digest all of the information. "Why did you volunteer to be the one who stays with me?"
There was a moment before Jack spoke. "I wanted to make sure you were ok." Another moment of awkward silence passed before Jack spoke again. "Look, I know we all fight each other for Shen Gong Wu and stuff, but honestly I wouldn't call us enemies. Not really. And there was no way I was going to watch you die. How could anyone do that?"
Kimiko raised an eyebrow. "Well I imagine someone who's evil could." Jack felt uncomfortable. "Jack are you sure you're evil? Because you know you seem more like an antihero. You know the whole has bad qualities but in the end is generally a good guy."
"I know what an antihero is."
"Just because you do bad things doesn't mean you're evil."
"Look can you drop it?"
"It's just that-"
"Kimiko!"
"Ok ok!" Kimiko huffed after that, a little annoyed that Jack had pretty much ended the conversation, but she could understand. I mean he had turned fairly defensive pretty quickly, and he looked uncomfortable. Kimiko wondered whether Jack had thought about this before. It's not fun having someone question you about yourself, but it was even less fun when you start to question yourself.
Kimiko sighed. "Jack?"
Jack looked up. "What?"
"If it was one of other the guys, like if Clay for example got stabbed instead, would you do the same thing?"
Jack leaned back in his chair as he thought. "Maybe not quite the same thing. I mean I would call an ambulance and stuff, but I don't know if I would've stayed with him, especially for this long."
"...Why?"
Jack was unsure of what Kimiko was asking. "Why what?"
"Why did you stay with me then?"
"I already told you. I wanted to make sure that you were ok."
Kimiko shifted slightly. "Why am I different?"
Jack shrugged while looking down at the ground.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Kimiko sighed softly. Jack had gone to get himself food leaving Kimiko with nothing to do. She was still strapped down and her doctor said she would have to be for a few days more at least because they didn't want to risk making her injury worse. With Jack out of the room and her strapped down, she didn't really have anything to do, except sleep really. But she had been sleeping for days and while she was tired, she didn't really feel like sleeping again. Jack knocked on the door and asked if it was ok to come in.
"Dude, I've been strapped down for days. What could I possibly do?"
"Good point."
Jack opened the door one handed while carrying a tray of food and with Kimiko's doctor following him. Kimiko raised an eyebrow. While Jack put the food on Kimiko's bedside table her doctor explained. "Now that you're awake we would like you to try eating normally again. While the IV drip keeps you well nourished, it is better for you to eat normally. However we will have to start small as you haven't eaten manually for a while." Kimiko nodded. "We're just waiting for a nurse and then we'll carefully and slowly lift you up so you're more or less sitting, ok?"
Kimiko nodded again. "Sure."
After the nurse came in Kimiko was lifted into a less than straight sitting position and the nurse changed the bed so that it was at the right position so Kimiko could lean against it comfortably. The doctor left the straps on her wrists undone but he re-strapped her at her waist and feet. "Sorry about this, but it's the best way."
"Oh don't worry I understand. Jack explained it to me."
The doctor smiled. "Yes, you have quite a dedicated boyfriend. Anyway I have other patients to see."
Kimiko turned to Jack, her expression demanding an explanation.
Jack looked a little nervous. "Look when I admitted you to the hospital it was just a hell of lot easier and quicker to say that you were my girlfriends on the forms and the paperwork. Otherwise they would be phoning your father every time they needed permission to do something and seeing how busy he is it would mean things would go a lot slower. It just made sense. It's not like I had any ulterior motives or anything."
Kimiko narrowed her eyes, but accepted her the explanation. "I guess that's fair enough."
Jack gave her a weak smile before handing her the tray of food. "Here, you should start eating before it goes cold. But remember to go slow."
Kimiko took the tray and balanced it carefully on her legs. "Thanks."
XxXxXxXxXxX
Jack watched as the nurse injected Kimiko (who was now asleep) with antibiotics. A slightly uncomfortable expression graced her face as the nurse pulled out the needle but she settled down and her face went peaceful again. Jack sat back down in the chair and started thinking. Was he actually evil? Kimiko was right, anyone who was evil wouldn't care if she was going to die or not. At first he thought that it was just because it was her. But then he realised that he would've called an ambulance for any of the Xiaolin Warriors. Well, he'd probably call an ambulance for anyone who was stabbed in the stomach, even if he didn't hang around. That wasn't exactly evil behaviour.
So he wanted to take over the world. Well he did. Kinda. But he never wanted to take over the world to destroy it or anything. He just wanted to be in charge of something. To be noticed. When he was a kid he thought about what he would do if he did take over the world. He would probably rename places, do stuff to make sure people knew he was in charge, give himself a ton of cool stuff, but that was it really. He never made plans to make peoples' lives hell or anything. Besides taking over the world wasn't really a goal of his any more. Jack had grown up and matured over the years. He saw it as an unrealistic goal these days.
The reason he collected as many Shen Gong Wu he could was because they were fun. Plus they had their uses. He once used the Serpent's Tail to steal from a bank. See now, that could be deemed evil, but the only reason he stole the money was because he desperately wanted to get his own house and move away from his parents. Was that evil? A little pathetic maybe, but not evil. Jack sighed heavily. Maybe Kimiko was right. Maybe he was antihero. It made sense really. He did do good things, and he did bad things but he usually did those bad thing for a reason. Even he wouldn't call himself evil. But it was so much easier to be on the bad side.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Kimiko woke up in an empty hospital room. Keeping her midsection as still as possible she grabbed the clock on her bedside table. '8:23. I managed to sleep for 16 hours? Wow.' She mildly stretched her legs as carefully and as much as she could before stretching her arms above her head. She wondered where Jack was. She actually enjoyed talking to Jack yesterday, much to her surprise. When they first starting fighting over Shen Gong Wu Jack was an annoying little coward, at least that's what she thought. But these days while he still had cowardly tendencies he was much more mature and a lot less annoying. Kimiko couldn't help but wonder how old he was now. He was obviously a teenager back then, probably a young one, but she wasn't sure how old he was now. She figured either he was an older teenager or an adult. The concept of Jack being an adult was kinda weird, until the past couple of months or so she thought of him as an irritating kid, but that wasn't the case. He didn't even annoy her any more. Well, he rarely annoyed her.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Kimiko was eating a light breakfast that was given to her by a nurse when Omi burst through her hospital door causing her to jump. "Kimiko! It is true! You are awake!" Omi walked ran into the room followed by Raimundo and Clay, who had Dojo on his cowboy hat and had her backpack on his back.
Kimiko grinned. As much as the boys got on her nerves she did love them to pieces. "Hey guys!"
Omi went and sat down on the chair near her bed while Raimundo sat on her bedside table, Clay stayed standing and pulled Kimiko's backpack off of his back, handing it to her.
"When Jack told us you had woken up we figured that you'd probably want some of your stuff. We packed some clothes, your laptop, your PDA, all that sort of thing."
Kimiko grinned. "Great! Thanks a lot, it can get a little boring around here."
"We figured as much."
Raimundo spoke up. "So how're you doing Kim?"
"I've been better. My stomach constantly aches, and that's with painkillers. And I'm feeling really stiff, but other than that I'm ok, thanks. What about you guys? Made any progress with that woman?"
Omi shook his head. "Not really."
Clay spoke as he leaned against the wall. "We've just about managed to keep her from grabbing any more of the Wu, but we still dunno anything about her."
Raimundo sighed as he shrugged. "Well, Spicer said he'll look into it. You never know, he might find something, seeing as he good with computers. Actually that's like the only thing he is good at."
Kimiko spoke as she carefully sat up a little more straight. "Where is Jack anyway?"
Clay shrugged. "When he talked to us he told us you were our responsibility from now on."
"I'm surprised he stayed with you for so long." Raimundo added.
Kimiko nodded, a little confused. Jack said he wanted to make sure that she was ok, but then he goes off without even saying goodbye? 'Jerk.'
XxXxXxXxXxX
It had been a week since Kimiko had been discharged from the hospital. She saw Jack briefly when he came to sign the discharge papers, well she actually heard him before she saw him. She heard him keep on asking if she was definitely ok to be discharged, that she was healed enough to be released. After the nurse told him repeatedly that Kimiko was making quite a speedy recovery and she was able to walk now (although she did have to be careful while sitting down and getting back up). Jack finally gave in and signed the papers. When Kimiko started walking towards the front desk to talk to him, he panicked, finished signing the papers quickly and left as soon as he could, leaving a very confused Kimiko.
It upset her more than it annoyed her. She liked talking to him, it was surprisingly nice to spend time him. She kinda wanted to spend more time with him, but then he ran away with no explanation. She couldn't figure out why he did that either. She sighed as she slowly lowered herself down to a bench in one of the temples many gardens. Before much time had passed Master Fung sat down next to her. "Is something bothering you young monk?"
Kimiko sighed again. "Yeah, a little."
"What is troubling you?"
Kimiko shifted her position, a little uncomfortable. "I'm not entirely sure I can tell you."
"And why is that?"
Kimiko shrugged. "You might judge me?"
"Talking about problems is often necessary, I will not pass judgement on you."
Kimiko thought back on all of the times Master Fung had given her advice. The vast majority times his advice worked out well. Kimiko turned her whole body slightly to face Master Fung a little better. "Ok, well, er say if there was a guy who you were supposed to be enemies with." Master Fung nodded once in acknowledgement. "But it turned out he wasn't that bad. That actually they were a pretty nice guy. And you actually got on pretty well for a while." Master Fung nodded again. "But then suddenly that guy runs off and doesn't talk to you since. Like...what would you do in that situation?"
Master Fung thought for a moment before replying. "Well young monk, if I were in that situation, if they wouldn't talk to me, I suppose the only thing I could do was to try and talk to them instead."
Kimiko leaned back on the bench. "How would you do that though?"
"Same way if I tried to talk to anybody else. Just start with hello." The somewhat elderly monk gave Kimiko a kind smile before walking back to the temple. He stopped soon after he started walking to offer Kimiko one last piece of advice. "However young monk, if I were to go and talk to this 'guy', then I would do it before it is time for bed. Oh, and please be mindful of your injury."
Kimiko watched Master Fung walk calmly back to the temple and then leaned back on the bench again, crossing her legs as she thought about what Master Fung had said. It made sense. If Jack wasn't going to talk to her, she should just go talk to him. And that was exactly what she was going to do. What was the harm in trying? She went into her room and grabbed her mobile phone in case she got into a rough situation, especially with her still not fully healed injury. She then went into the Shen Gong Wu vault and grabbed the Shard of Lightening and the Serpent's Tail. She pulled the zip of her jacket up (she was wearing her normal clothes rather than her monk robes) and set off for Jack's home.
Ok I admit that Omi, Clay and Raimundo may be a little OOC. I don't connect to them as much as other characters, which makes them a little more difficult to write, hopefully I'll get better at that. I haven't really gotten Omi and Clay's speech patterns down properly either. But that should get better with the more episodes I watch (which I admit haven't been many recently, I've been busy unfortunately). But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter might be a little longer than the ones that have already been published, a plan for a lot to happen. I hope you look forward to it! :)