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Chapter Two

Kim's POV

I stumbled down a long stone corridor. I was barefoot and freezing, wearing torn and battered robes. The floor beneath my feet sent chills up my spine every time I took a step. I didn't like the feeling I had here. I felt strangely out of place, yet somehow at home. I pushed through several large oak doors until I was in some kind of training room. Fire crackled near the back wall, where someone sat and observed me.

I felt my body begin to move on its own. I began throwing punches and kicks into the air, spinning and flipping and training against thin air. I evened my breathing and let my fire energy move through me. I flipped and thrust out my hands, sending out a wall of midnight black flames. My eyes widened at this but my body would not stop. My mind was screaming to stop, but I could not. I felt a great presence behind me, and when I turned to look, a man was mimicking the exact moves I was doing. I was so confused.

Soon I felt myself being pulled to do these moves, as if the man was controlling me. I was… I was his puppet. Kick, jump, punch, flip, flame. He made me repeat this over and over. My mind was exhausted, as was my body, but I was no longer in control of either. My thoughts were filled with dark images. I saw my enemies burning, my friends burning, the entire world burning. It was horrible. I had no control over anything, and soon I found myself bowing down to the wall of flames before me. The man was beside me, the man I had hated for so long. The flames grew even darker, and all that could be heard was the sound of a distant chuckle.

I woke up and curled up into the fetal position. Silent tears ran down my cheeks as I lay there, trying to clear the images of my friends burning out of my head. A sob escaped my lips before my mind went haywire. I couldn't control any of my thoughts. I knew those images were going to happen, but what killed me inside was that it would probably be my fault. Hatred swelled up inside me for the man that was controlling me. I wanted to kill him… I really did. Never in my life have I ever had true hatred for someone. You think I would love him, but I could never love a monster.

I hadn't noticed that I was sobbing and talking to myself out loud. Before I could stop myself a tall figure stumbled into my room.

"Kim, Kim are you okay? What's going on?" He felt around in the dark for me until he touched my side. He picked me up and set me in his lap as he leaned back against the wall. He laid my head on his chest and stroked my hair for a few minutes, letting my sobs turn to whimpers and my talking died down to me repeating no ever so often. My mind finally relaxed and I was back to normal. I sat up and looked into his emerald eyes. I was met with a soft kiss on the forehead, and my cheeks began to burn. He smiled slightly before gently wiping the tears from my face and embracing me in a warm hug. He opened his mouth to speak, but I guess by the look on my face he could tell there was no way I was ready to talk about anything. Instead he laid me back down on the mat and pulled the covers over me. He kissed my forehead again before walking toward the curtain.

"Rai," I whispered, my voice cracking, "stay." That's all I had to say. He crawled back onto the floor behind me and wrapped one of his arms around my waist and rested his chin on the top of my head. I felt safe and secure and knew I would have sweet dreams being enveloped by the sweet scent of this special boy. He was always my best friend, and always would be.

"Kimiko… KIMIKO!" I woke up to a small yellow boy poking my forehead repeatedly. "Wake up! I have been doing research!" Even when I opened my eyes, he continued poking. I grabbed his finger and threw him across the room. He collided with one of my bookshelves and everything began falling to the floor. I laughed at the mock hurt on Omi's face before sitting up. Rai's arm fell from around me and the image of them all burning flashed through my head momentarily. I shook my head until the image was gone. I stood up and stretched and started gathering my toiletries.

"Kimiko! You never let me finish. I have been doing research aaaall night on you, and I know what's going on!" He bounced up and down, from excitement and probably just a little too much sugar. I couldn't help but giggle and decided to humor him.

"And what is that Omi?"

"You've been reading ancient Japanese scrolls and training secretly behind our fronts! You are trying to outdo us all and become the best. But you will most certainly not win, for I will train day and night! Never will I let a mere girl beat me." He puffed out his chest and I rolled my eyes. Normally I would be pissed, but I was too tired and still a little shaken to get upset. I just shoved his head backwards so he stumbled out of my cubicle. I heard him walk off and mumble something about my upper body strength. As I stood there, what he said registered in my head. Ancient Japanese scrolls. I've never read one of those, and I don't even remember what I said. I got a knot in my stomach, realizing the boys had seen what happened. Would they tell Master Fung? I sure hope not. I shook those thoughts out of my head and continued to gather everything I needed to get ready. As I walked to leave, a hand grabbed me around the ankle.

"Good morning Kim." He smiled up at me with tired eyes. I smiled and bent down to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "How did you sleep?"

"A lot better when you came." I smiled and left the room. On my way to the bathroom I heard the gong ring from the courtyard. I groaned, knowing I wouldn't be able to clean up quick enough. I quickly slapped on some make up, threw my hair up into a ponytail, and slid into a pair of jeans with a cute hoodie. I sprinted to the courtyard, knowing I would be the last one there.

"We've got another one kids! And we've got to get going, it's all the way in Texas. Hope on!" Dojo supersized and we all sleepily climbed on.

"Yee-haw! I can't wait to be home!" Clay beamed as we took off into the sky. The cool morning air felt good against my skin. I sighed happily and let the wind whip my hair around my face. Everyone was still pretty tired, so it was a silent ride there. When we arrived we were in none other than a desert. I couldn't stand this place… being used to the busy streets of Tokyo and then being stranded in the middle of nowhere. How could anyone stand it here? I kicked a rock and dust flew up everywhere. It was disgusting.

"So what are we looking for?" Raimundo asked as Dojo shrank down to normal size.

"I thought Kimiko showed you the scroll already." He said as he scratched the newly appearing rash on his back.

Crap! I knew I was forgetting something. They all turned to look at me and I glared at them. "What! So I forget one time; big deal." I stuck my tongue out at them and started to walk off.

"I always wondered why we put a girl in charge of remembering to bring the scroll." The small little voice rang through my ears.

"I can't hear you!" I called over my shoulder while I kept walking. I heard them start to follow and was pleased that was out of the way quick, I did not feel like burning someone's head off. I heard tiny footsteps race to catch up with mine, and little big-head rushed past me.

"Sorry Kimiko, but I believe a male should be the leader of a search party." He smiled innocently back at me before walking directly in front of me. I gritted my teeth. I was doing really well at controlling my anger today, but Omi has had three strikes already and he should be out. I'll give him one more chance… "Kimiko watch out! I did not want you to hurt yourself on that giant rock. I know how delicate you are." That's it.

My hand burned with fire and I threw it at him playfully. I laughed as he danced around trying to put the fire out on his sleeve. He laughed once it was out and splashed water on me. I smiled and threw another fire ball, this time setting his entire robe on fire. I kept laughing until it actually became a dark chuckle. My hand still burned with fire and I thought I could see the faintest hint of gray in it. I started shooting more and more fireballs at him until I couldn't control it anymore. My laugh became maniacal as I watched him dance around my deadly dark fireballs.

"Kimiko!" I heard someone scream from behind me. I turned and hissed at the advancing figures and they jumped back. No one knew what to do, nor did I. Images of them burning flashed through my head and a cruel smile appeared on my lips. Something in the back of my head told me to make it happen and for a second I really wanted to, until I crumpled down to the ground and beat my fist against the hard dirt.

"Stop!" A circle of black fire appeared around me for a second until I pounded my fist into the ground again and it disappeared. I stayed hunched over on my knees for a second while I heard everyone scramble over to me.

"Kimiko, what in tarnation just happened?" Clay asked as he picked me up off the ground and dusted me off. My knees were weak and I leaned on him for support.

"I-I don't know. I was just joking around and I guess I lost control. I'm sorry." I couldn't look them in the eyes. I stared down at the ground and kicked a small pebble on the ground.

"Kim…" Rai knew something was up and placed a hand on my shoulder. He placed his hand under my chin and tilted my head up to look him in the eyes. Tears were beginning to weld up in my eyes. I didn't want them to worry though. I slapped his hand away and glared at him as two tears managed to escape.

"Really I'm fine. Let's find the Shang Gong Wu please." I pulled away from all of them and began to walk in the same direction as earlier. I knew I had freaked them out, but if I make a big deal out of it they'll end up telling Master Fung, and surely he'll know what's going on. I'm just glad no one else was around to see it.

No POV

Up on a mountain, far off in the distance, a dark figure loomed. It watched the fire display down in the desert before disappearing into a cloud of dust.