Lucid, Ch. 2

Chapter Two

Unexpected Confidantes

Kimiko awoke to the sound of someone knocking on her bedroom door.  She didn't want to get up- snuggled down in her bedroll, she had fallen asleep thinking about all the things that could have happened in the Dragon's cave if Rai hadn't interrupted her staring contest with Chase Young.  The knocking had ripped her from slumber before she could find out if that train of thought would have influenced her dreams.  Sure, the guy was evil, but it was nice to pretend something more could come of it.

She flicked the knob on the small lamp beside her.  'Whoever it is, they are so dead.'  Finally getting up, Kimiko stumbled half asleep to the door.  She pulled it open just a crack and peeked around, surprised to find a pair of weary, concern-filled dark green eyes staring back at her.

"Rai?  Wha-"

"I, um . . . I can't sleep.  I need to talk to you."

'You can't sleep so you won't let me, either?  Real nice, Rai.'  "It's the middle of the night, can't this wait 'til morning?"

"Oh."  Nodding, he hung his head.  "Sure, okay.  Sorry."

She watched as he turned away and began to head down the corridor before grumbling under her breath and giving into a sigh- she hated to see him sad, she hated even more that she was somehow the cause of it.  "Rai, wait."  She took a step back, holding the door open.  "C'mon."

For a time, he stood looking at her uncertainly then nodded again.  Entering the room, Rai went straight to the window, staring out as she closed the door and sat down cross-legged on her bedroll.  When he at last faced her, he froze for a moment.  Her long black hair hung in loose waves around her shoulders and down her back, tired but curious blue eyes staring back at him and he realized that every now and again he forgot how pretty she actually was.  So much so that sometimes he found it difficult to even speak to her, despite their years of friendship.

"You going to tell me what this is about, or just stand there staring at me?"  She asked with a sleepy half-smile.

Shaking his head, he laughed quietly at himself.  She didn't even realize what guys saw when they looked at her.  Taking a seat on the floor beside the bedroll, he reached out tentatively, pulling a gleaming blue-black lock of hair between his fingers.  She didn't move away- which he was glad for- only watching his hand before raising her eyes to find his gaze searching her face.

"I keep forgetting how long your hair's gotten."

She giggled softly, tilting her head.  "I don't think you came to my room at . . ." Kimiko picked up her cell phone, blinking exhaustedly at it until the digits came into focus, "two thirty six in the morning to talk about my hair.  What's up?"

"I wanted to talk about earlier today."

'Just when I stopped thinking about Chase Young . . .'  "I still don't know what you want me to say."

Rai shook his head.  "No, you don't need to say anything, I do.  I realized you didn't know what was going on."

"What?  You mean when you tried to pick a fight with a fifteen hundred year old bad guy?"

"Yeah, that.  I just reacted to what Chase was doing, I couldn't help it."

Searching her memory, she could only quirk an eyebrow at the statement.  "What are you talking about?  He didn't do anything."

"Remember all those times you tripped and almost busted your ass?"

"Yeah, you kept helping me up.  So?"

He nodded.  "It wasn't me."

Kimiko's face went blank, understanding beginning to dawn in her sleepy brain.  "What?"

"Don't get me wrong, I tried, but every time you started to slip I wanted to reach for you and before I could even react, he had you in his hands."  He lowered his gaze, looking guilty.  "I just got so angry at him.  It was like he wouldn't let me touch you."

She was glad he'd averted his eyes just then, his wording brought back the way she'd felt when Chase had held her against him.  Her cheeks burned just a little, but she could easily explain it away as embarrassment if she needed to.  In that moment, a single thought stood out in her mind.  'Funny, last night it would have put butterflies in my stomach to find Rai at my bedroom door in the middle of the night.  What's changed?'

"I, um . . ."  Her teeth sunk slowly into her bottom lip as she thought her words through.  "I still don't think that's a good enough reason to have stabbed the man.  It sounds like he was only being gentlemanly."

When he finally brought his gaze back to meet hers, he made a face as though she'd just sprouted a second head before his very eyes.  "Yeah, that don't strike you as strange?  That a 'fifteen hundred year old bad guy' was being nice to you?"

'I must be more tired then I thought.'  "I don't follow."

"Oh, c'mon.  It's the oldest trick- it's in like every movie.  The bad guy tries to get the girl by making her think 'hey, maybe he's not so bad, I can change him' and then what happens?  The girl ends up being the one to turn sides."

She couldn't help laughing, which only further soured Rai's serious expression.  "Okay, I think you're reading way too much into this."

"Maybe, but you never know."

"Knock it off, Rai."  The moment the words left her lips her eyes became apologetic- the subject had touched on a nerve that she'd never given much thought to before; it was one thing for her male friends to pick on her for being a girl, but when a female enemy didn't view you as any sort of threat it was just degrading.  "The Heylin never wanted me.  They wanted you and Omi.  Why would that change?"

"Because you've changed, Kim."

"No, Rai.  I haven't."

"Yeah, you have.  And I don't just mean the way you look."

She blushed, hanging her head.  "I didn't think you and the others even noticed."

"Eh."  He shrugged.  "We pretended not to 'cause we didn't want you to feel uncomfortable, being the only girl here, but- c'mon!  We're guys, of course we noticed when your robes started to . . ." he cleared his throat, voice lowering a bit, "to, uh, fit a little better."

Giggling shyly behind her hand, she responded.  "Okay, I get it.  But that's no reason for-"

"But it's not just that.  There's other stuff, like the way you carry yourself is different, you control your abilities way better then you used to- better than the rest of us- you're so confident now and it's really hard ignore, Kim- you are really hard to ignore.  I think they noticed it, too.  At least I know Chase did."  His eyes became hard for a moment as he recalled, "I could see it- it was in the way he was looking at you."

Kimiko's gaze lowered involuntarily.  "There was nothing there, Rai.  You're imagining things."

"No, I'm not.  I know what I'm talking about because . . ."  His voice trailed off as he reached out, gently cupping her chin and lifting her face until their eyes met.  "It's the same way I look at you."

Even the air in the room seemed to still for a long while as she stared back at him, unblinking.  His gaze lowered, lingering on her mouth and then he was leaning towards her.  Kimiko moved into him, her eyes drifting closed as Rai's warm breath whispered over her lips.

CRASH!  "Dang nabbit, stupid urn!"  An all too familiar drawl boomed from the corridor despite a clear attempt to whisper.

The interruption brought them back to reality and she pulled back a little, blinking up at him.  "I think you'd better go help Clay- sounds like he woke up in the middle of a sleepwalking spell again."

Rai hung his head, giving a defeated half-smile.  "Yeah, I guess I should."  His gaze returned to hers.  "Are we okay?"

Now that the moment was broken she remembered how tired she was, grinning sleepily.  "Of course.  Now, please let me sleep."

"Okay, Kim."  Nodding, he finally stood and headed for the door.  "See you in the morning."

When she was alone again she drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she allowed herself to fall back against her bedroll.  "Thanks a lot, Clay.  That was almost my first kiss.  Well, at least it got me to stop thinking about Chase Young."

Just saying his name brought the last image she'd seen of him in the cave floating into her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut, grumbling.  "Oh, damn it Kimiko!"

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Outside Kimiko's bedroom window, a pair of darkly golden eyes glittered with the faintest hints of triumph.  "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah.  Hard to believe it since she's like, what, seventeen?  Even harder to believe is that Raimundo lives with her and hasn't tried to hit that sooner."

"Well, it does work to my advantage.  This will go much more smoothly- and quickly- without outside influence."  Chase smirked.  "Never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually thankful for that offish earth-dragon at the moment.  You have it?"

Nodding, Jack retrieved a small vial of clear odorless, tasteless liquid from his ever-present backpack and handed it- and the Serpent's Tail- over.  "I'm not sure this is going to work.  She hates me."

"Of course she does, Jack- that's part of your charm."  He responded flatly, weighing the vial in his palm.  "Should be enough here for perhaps a month of waking dreams."

"She'll sleep for a month?"

"Why Jack, you almost sound concerned for her.  No, you fool.  It only takes affect when she falls asleep and wanes when she wakes up.  I thought you read up on this."

The young man shrugged.  "I thought maybe I'd missed some-"

"No matter.  You've helped her more than once in the past and the inherent flaw of the Xiaolin is that it is those moments that they choose to cling to.  Now get in there, I don't care what you say to her- distract her, get her to drink the damned tea- just get her mind off of that little shit Raimundo.  If I am the last thing on her mind when she falls asleep, she'll be much more susceptible and far less likely to question her subconscious.  And, by the way, if Wuya has poisoned this, or tampered with it in any way, you'll be carrying that woman's head around on a pike."

Jack nodded again, shuddering at the mental picture of such a thing and began to turn back towards the window when the ferocity and inflection of certain words in Chase's statement hit him.  "Hey, wait a minute . . . do you actually like Kimiko or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous."  Chase muttered, leveling his bored gaze at the boy.  "In case you hadn't noticed, the only thing I like is the notion of ruling the world."

"Uh-huh.  And if you woke up one morning and she just happened to be lying beside you . . . ?"

Chase scowled impatiently.  "Well, I wouldn't kick her out of my bed, but that is hardly something one has to justify with any sort of caring and that wasn't the question.  Now get in there."

'The things I do for evil.'  Shaking his head, Jack tapped on the window as Chase stepped back, sinking into the shadows.  

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Switching  the light on once again, Kimiko blinked a few times, getting her eyes back into focus.  She hadn't quite gotten back to sleep yet, but had come so very close to it that this new disturbance made her want to cry.  What the hell was that sound?

The tapping came again and she looked toward the window, uncertain of how to respond to the bright red hair and matching eyes peering in at her.  "Jack Spicer?"  She muttered in disbelief.  'Will it never end?'

He gave the goofy, lopsided grin he always used when he needed help and she groaned, rolling her eyes as she pulled her blanket around her body and got to her feet.  She was reluctant to open the window, but knew she risked waking everyone in the temple if she tried to yell through the glass.  The last thing she wanted was to have to attempt to explain to Rai what the 'fifteen hundred year old bad guy's' sidekick was doing visiting her bedroom in the middle of the night.

She frowned at him for a long moment until an all too familiar look of pathetic pleading came into his eyes.  Melodramatically throwing her head back, she groaned again, but trudged over to the window.  She reached for the lock, pausing for a second, her fingers resting against the metal as she clearly mouthed the words, 'remember I can kill you.'  Rather than looking frightened or spooked, he merely nodded and she realized his presence- for the time being- did not pose a threat.  Finally unlatching the window, she pushed it open.

"Jack,"  she whispered harshly, "what the hell . . .?"

"I kinda need to talk to you."

"Wha-"

"Look, I'm having a problem."  He fished around in his head for something- anything- to tell her.  "You are the only one who might be able to help, it's about . . . a girl.  And . . . you're the only female I know who both has a heart and is willing to speak to me."

After a long while of simply blinking up at him, she finally smiled, letting out a quiet giggle.  "Jack Spicer having girl trouble?  Never thought I'd see the day."

"You don't think I'd have trouble with a girl?"  He asked in a hushed but surprised tone.

"No, I never thought you'd have a girl to be troubled over."

"Hey . . .  Okay, you're right.  This is totally new to me . . . so, will you please help me?  I just wanna talk, then I'll go away.  I promise."

Leaning out the window past him, she looked around, squinting into the surrounding darkness.  Apparently satisfied that he was alone, she finally took a step back.  

"Fine, come in."  Pointing a small, but threatening finger in his face she murmured, "But if I so much as think you're trying to pull something underhanded, I will fry you 'til you're crispy."

"Hey, no problem."  He climbed in, surprised at himself that he didn't make a sound.  'Maybe skulking around with Wuya all this time has finally paid off.'

She sat on the bedroll, leaning back against the wall and stared at him until he sat down, as well.  "I can't believe you're in my room."

Nodding, he gave an awkward laugh.  "Neither can I.  Um . . . tea?"

"Tea?"  She echoed, frowning.  "Jack Spicer, I am not making you tea."

"No, no.  I have tea."  Pulling off his backpack, he began to rummage around inside of it.

"You carry hot tea around in your bag?"

"No."  He quirked an eyebrow at her as he removed a few items.  "Kimiko, you forget who you're talking to.  Bottled water, tea bags, cups and a self-heating kettle."  Showing her a little red button on the teapot's handle.  "Just have to press that and in like two minutes, you've got tea."

"Wow, you really come prepared."  She was mildly surprised that Jack was actually behaving decently- and that he was the type to drink tea.  "And if I hadn't let you in?"

Setting the kettle to brew, he shrugged.  "Eh, you know me.  I'd be off somewhere, alone, crying into my teacup."

Kimiko laughed softly, but quickly remembered who it was making her laugh and stopped instantly.  "Who's this girl?  Is it Katnappe?"

"NO!"  He responded in a loud whisper.  "I hate that girl more then I hate you guys."

"And yet, here you are."

"You're tired, huh?"

Scowling, she muttered.  "Gee, ya think?"

"Okay, sorry."  'Hey, now I can find out what really happened- he said I could talk about anything- but I'm not looking forward to where it'll lead.'  "Will you tell me what happened before we found you guys this morning?"

And just like that, she was thinking about Chase Young- shirtless, watching her over his shoulder- again.  "What's to tell?"

"You're kidding, right?"  He poured the tea, handing her a cup, but she only stared at it for a long moment.  "Fine, I'll taste it first- I wouldn't poison you, Kimiko.  That's low, even for me."

He drank from his own cup and she finally accepted the other taking a tentative sip and then handed it back, nodding almost appreciatively.

"Even I saw the way you and Chase were looking at eachother."  He turned away for a moment, setting the teacups against the wall behind him and turned back, making certain his own moves were obvious and quick so she wouldn't be suspicious.  "It was like if the rest of us weren't there, you two would've-"

"Why is this any concern of yours?"

'And here comes the part that I hate.'  "Because it's of concern to Wuya."

Her brow furrowed, the words not quite making sense in her sleep-deprived brain.  "Wuya?  Why would you suddenly care what-" Blue eyes suddenly showed white all around.  "Wuya's the girl?"

With such reluctance that it almost caused him pain, Jack nodded.  "She didn't like what she saw.  I personally don't care, but if Wuya and Chase ever hook up, it leaves no room for me."

Kimiko's eyes raked across the floor as she turned his words over in her head.  "Ever?  I thought . . ."

"Nope."  A quick poke in his spine told him that her tea was fixed, so he turned back- every gesture as broad and harmless as before- and retrieved the cups.  It was easy to tell which was hers- he'd intentionally filled hers higher, so that even after she'd sipped he wouldn't mix them up.  "Oh, not like she hasn't wished it, but he's never given her the time of day."

She took another sip.  "If that's the case, then why would it matter if his eyes wander?"

Jack shrugged.  "They're immortal, she's convinced she can whittle him down.  Ya know, in another century or two, maybe."

"I don't know what to tell you, Jack.  I don't know what happened, really."  It felt almost strange to be having an adult conversation with Jack Spicer of all people and it was even stranger to realize that if they were on the same side, they would actually be friends.  "Doesn't Wuya just see you as, like, a pet or something?"

He nodded, hanging his head- it was too hard not to watch her lifting the cup to her lips and he didn't want her catching any hints that he was up to something.  "Yeah.  But if there's something between you and Chase, then she'll realize that- sure, we've had our ups and downs, but we keep coming back to eachother."

"If by ups and downs you mean constantly abandoning eachother."

"It's what villains do."

"Have you tried not acting like such a damned goofball all the time?  You may have to win the woman over on your own merit"

"Win a woman over on my own?  Hi, I'm Jack Spicer, have we met?"

She laughed, setting down her teacup.  "Did, um . . . did Chase give you some reason to think something happened?"

"Yes and no."  Jack leaned over, peering over the brim to find the cup empty.  "More?"

Kimiko shook her head, blinking tiredly.

"He didn't say anything, but he was just acting different."

She quirked an eyebrow.  "Different how?"

"Meaner, mostly.  He only does that when he's preoccupied.  And whenever your name was mentioned he'd suddenly start paying attention to the conversation- or accidentally crush to dust whatever he was holding at the time."

Kimiko found herself again remembering being held in his arms . . . and felt the butterflies it sent zipping around in her stomach.  'Damn it!'

"So, was there something there, or not?"

"First you tell me something."

"What?"

She smiled wickedly.  "Are you in love with Wuya?"

'Oh, God, don't make me say it!' He knew this was where the conversation would lead when he'd started it.  "I . . . I don't know.  Maybe."  He lied smoothly, but the conversation did bring up something he'd never given much thought to; if Chase ever gave into Wuya, where would that leave him?

"Now your answer."

Shrugging, Kimiko realized sadly that when Rai had been there earlier, she'd lied to him; she hadn't meant to, but she'd done it just the same.  "This conversation doesn't leave this room?"

"And risk you turning this whole thing on me by telling everyone I'm in love with Wuya?"  He shook his head.  "I won't talk if you won't."

"Fine."  She let out a long sigh- she might as well say it, after all she needed someone to confide in, and she couldn't tell any of her friends; she just never thought Jack would end up being that someone.  "Just before you guys came running in Chase and Rai got thrown against the wall really hard.  I got sneezed out like two seconds later, but . . . before I could get hurt . . . Chase caught me."

"What, on purpose?"  He asked in a bit of shock- clearly there really was more to this than Chase had admitted.

She wanted to say no, but then Rai's words ran through her head.  'Before I could even react, he had you in his hands  . . .  It was like he wouldn't let me touch you'.  "Seems so.  And he just held me until we were sure the dragon wasn't a threat and then we just . . ." she shook her head.  "I don't know, it's like we just sort of . . . got stuck looking at eachother."

"So there was a look before the one we all saw?"

"Yep."

"And?"  He asked anxiously, making Kimiko certain that if he'd been sitting in a chair he'd have fallen out of it just now.

"It felt like there was something between us, Jack.  I have no idea what it was . . ."  Becoming defensive suddenly, she added, "But just because there might be some sort of spark doesn't mean anything.  Xiaolin, Heylin- do these words mean nothing to you?  He's evil, I'm not, remember?"

For a moment, he looked frightened by her whispered outburst- if he kept pissing her off, she just might set him ablaze- but it faded quickly as the source of her agitation struck him.  "He really got to you, didn't he?"

"So what?"  She mumbled with a shrug- why did she even care?  They were both good-looking, why wouldn't there be an attraction?  "I told you it doesn't mean anything.  Why is everyone making such a big deal about this?  It was only a look."

Jack laughed, as much at her discomfort as at her adorable level of naïveté.  "Yeah,"  nodding, he mused in a quiet, absentminded tone, "a completely mutual look that pretty much said 'I want to tear your clothes off and ravage you six ways from Sunday'."

For a long moment Kimiko was speechless, her mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to form a response, staring at him wide-eyed and scandalized.  "That  . . . is just . . . totally not . . . true."

Shrugging, he began to pack up his things.  "Of course not, what do I know?  I'm just the overly-observant boy-genius in the room."

Her eyes raked over the floor again as a blush colored her cheeks and he could tell she was running his observations over in her mind.  He flicked off her lamp and stood, shouldering his backpack.

"I'll let you get your rest.  Thanks for the talk.  'Til the next Showdown . . . or the next time I try to steal your Wu, whichever comes first."

She nodded numbly, watching as he waved and disappeared back out the window.  He'd even closed it behind him, but Kimiko was suddenly far too sleepy to get up to lock it.  'I'll get it in the morning.'  Pulling her blanket tightly around herself once more, she lay on her side at last falling quickly to sleep.

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Even before Kimiko opened her eyes, she knew she was dreaming.  She felt like she was floating and every thought having its own, surreal edge to it.  She was snuggled against someone's side- a wholly unfamiliar feeling- but it wasn't until she felt fingertips tracing along her bare back beneath her nightshirt that she opened her eyes.

She looked up at him to find his gaze already locked on hers- and the pleasant surprise that he wasn't wearing a shirt.  "Well, this is a nice dream."  Lucid dreaming was something she'd never experienced before, but if it was like this, she was definitely willing to give it a try.

Teeth sinking slowly into his bottom lip before giving into a wicked grin, Chase Young murmured in response.  "I think I've got a few ideas on how we can make it even nicer."