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Kimiko isn't really sure how it started.
At least that's what she told herself late at night, during her nightly routine.
Somehow, she remembered as she moisturized, one kiss turned to ten and ten turned into...actions Master Fung probably wouldn't approve of.
It started one day, after the betrayl--now called the unfortunate Wuya Incident--but before the Wudai promotion, somewhere in the middle.
Kimiko vaguely remembered following Raimundo to the rock garden, slightly suspicious of his actions.
He had been disappearing around midnight every night for a while now, but she followed him without making herself heard, silently listening as he talked to someone on the phone in Portuguese.
Kimiko only interfered when she saw her phone with him.
She felt sucker-punched, if she was being honest.
No one had ever taken a cue tip from her without her permission, much less a phone.
She waited until he was done with the call to announce herself--she had manners after all.
"I hope you're not planning a career in petty theft when the world is already dealing with your hideous pants", Kimiko said, face completely straight.
Caught in the act, Raimundo should have probably seen his chances and started apologizing at that very moment.
Instead, he decided to joke around.
"I am a master in sleight of hand, you know."
Kimiko was about to start with the rant she prepared beforehand on manners and actually asking people for stuff, but then she noticed that Raimundo's eyes were a little red.
"Well, then--are you crying?"
He quickly started wiping his face with his sleeve. "No, I'm not!"
Kimiko rolled her eyes; it was too late for this.
"You can cry in front of me."
"I know, but I'm not."
Realizing that she wasn't going to win this round, Kimiko changed her focus.
"Who were you calling?", she asked, not bothering to hide her curiousity. "And why did you stop using your phone?"
Raimundo scoffed. "Honestly, the amount of stalkers I'm beginning to know..."
"Just answer me", Kimiko said, sighing. "I really want to go back to bed."
He deflated, exhaustion clear on his face too.
"Fine, I was calling home."
That couldn't have been good, Kimiko concluded.
Generally a teary face and a call to home usually meant something bad happened.
She moved closer to him. "Everyone okay?"
He nodded at first, once, twice, before he started shaking his head.
"No, my--you're going to think it's silly."
Kimiko was insulted that he would even think that.
"I'm not. Seriously, Rai, I'm not!"
He avoided looking at her completely, the only tell-tale sign they knew meant he was embarrassed.
His cheeks never redenned to the point of ridiculousness like Clay.
"It's Mimi", he mumbled. "She died."
Kimiko felt something drop in her stomach and quickly hugged Raimundo.
"I'm so sorry."
He didn't return the hug, but seemed to mumble something in her hair.
"I didn't catch that", Kimiko said, face scrunched up in confusion.
"Mimi was our cat", Raimundo repeated, much less confidently.
Kimiko didn't say anything for a while, not knowing what to make of this development.
"I know it's stupid", he began, apologetically. "But it's just...I grew up with that cat--she was there before I was born and--"
Kimiko cut him off. "It's not stupid."
He didn't respond so she insisted.
"It's not...I mean was surprised because I thought it was", Kimiko paused, not really wanting to say she thought it was a family member. "More...serious."
She was somber in her tone, trying to be as respectful as possible of his pain.
Hearing him laugh was the last thing she honestly expected.
"Dude", Raimundo said. "I'm bawling my eyes out over the cat, I wouldn't be able to handle 'more serious'!"
Kimiko smiled, happy to see Raimundo back to himself again.
"Don't take this the weird way", she began. "But I'm sort of happy I saw you cry."
"That's a very sadistic thing to say", he interjected.
Kimiko tried for a glare but she laughed instead.
"I'm serious! I actually thought you didn't have tear ducts for the first couple of months we were here...never seen a single tear, even when we were getting our asses handed us in training."
Raimundo shrugged it off.
"What can I say? Only emotional pain gets to me."
"So that's why you didn't let any of us near you when your team lost that football match."
"Shut up!"
They both laughed for a while before a comfortable, if slightly-awkward, silence set in.
Kimiko snuck a look at Raimundo's face.
He seemed happier than when she found him, but she could see he was clearly thinking about the cat.
An idea popped into her head suddenly.
She could cheer him up right then and there, or at least make him forget about his dead cat for a few minutes.
Kimiko stood on her tip-toes, mentally cursing her height, and prepared to kiss her grieving friend on the cheek.
Unfortunately, that's when conversation fodder hit him and he decided to turn his face, making her not exactly facing his cheek.
The kiss lasted a few seconds, mostly fueled by shock.
"Uh", Raimundo said, a little unfocused. "Okay?"
Kimiko stepped away from him, panicking.
"This was nothing", she said as they headed back to their room.
Apparently it wasn't nothing.
During the next few weeks following the kiss, they had talked about it and called it a misunderstanding.
The only probelm was that Kimiko found herself wondering if that misunderstanding can happen more often.
She shook the thought from her head immediately, unwishing the unfortunate unnecessary deaths of house pets.
It didn't make sense.
By all accounts, he was supposed to be the one dying to kiss her, not the other way around.
After all, Kimiko was quite a good kisser.
She was almost about to doubt her kissing prowess when Raimundo came around.
"Kim, can I talk to you for a second?", he asked, uncharacteristically nervous.
Kimiko nodded. "Sure."
She left Clay and Omi's action figure strategy game and followed him to his part of the room.
"What's up?"; she asked as they sat down on the sleeping mat.
Kimiko didn't miss the way Raimundo bounced on the mat, probably still used to the air mattress he tried to make Master Fung keep.
"Lots of things, actually", he said, nerves taking the best of him. "Inflation, tons of football matches, the new mall they're opening in town--"
"I meant, what's up with you", she interrupted him.
Raimundo grimaced. "I was hoping we wouldn't get to that so quickly."
Kimiko raised an eyebrow; he seemed intent on beating around the bush.
He was about to start another rant when she stopped him.
"This is about the kiss, isn't it", Kimiko said, making a statement rather than a question.
Raimundo sighed in relief. "Thank you."
"So what about it?"
"What do you mean what about it?"
Kimiko shrugged. "You obviously want to talk about it or something?"
"Yeah", he answered, giving up.
"So..?", Kimiko prompted.
"The thing is", he said. "I kinda liked it."
Kimiko was about to ask what the hell he meant by 'kinda', but she noticed that Raimundo was impossibly close
"Well, uh", Kimiko began, the retort lost on her tongue. "I...cool?"
"Cool", Raimundo repeated, leaning in.
This kiss was much longer than the first and was definitely a little more exploratory, Kimiko thought.
Though she did have mixed feelings about Raimundo being just as good of a kisser as she was.
About a minute or so later, they broke apart, slightly panting.
"Good talk", Kimiko said, sarcasm getting the best of her. "We should do that more often."
On the day Raimundo got promoted, Kimiko pulled him to a storage room after bedtime.
"Isn't a congratulations in order?", she said, trying for a coy tone that didn't take it too far.
He smirked. "I was hoping that cheek kiss was just a practice run."
"Hope you're not being smart with me", Kimiko said, mimicking his voice.
They're never quite sure who starts kissing first, though both like to think they both did.
After the second kiss, the whole thing turned into a little game: who would initiate first?
"So what, we're not keeping score", Raimundo had grumbled after his third loss.
"You're just a sore loser right now", Kimiko replied, trying to focus more on his neck. "If you win, you start gloating about it to no end!"
Raimundo's face was a weird mixture of a smirk and a sigh.
"So that's why you always try to beat me?"
"Someone has to give you a reality check, and this is not something we can really get Clay or Omi to interfere in."
The kissing game eventually expanded to include certain touches and words and maybe a couple of gestures.
All of which were fine by Kimiko, honestly.
The grey area was the hiding, of course.
They silently decided that whatever this was between them, it should stay hidden for now.
It wouldn't have been a good look to begin with, what with the world almost ending every couple of weeks or so, but now that one of the four dragons was in a superior position, well....Kimiko prayed that they were good hiders.
"What's that on your neck, partner", Clay asked one day at breakfast, curiousity piqued.
Raimundo instinctively covered his neck. "What's on my neck?"
He looked around him, thinking of an excuse. "That's a, uh--"
"Don't insult our intelligence and call it a mosquito bite, Raimundo", Omi said, already debunking the excuses before they were said.
Brimming with nerves and anxiety, Kimiko tried to act quickly.
"Well duh, Omi", Kimiko said with an exaggerated scoff. "It's a hickey!"
"A hickey?", Clay repeated, a giant grin appearing on his face. "Who've you been galocher-ing with?"
The three stared at him, forgetting their breakfast completely, waiting for him to explain.
"Clay", Omi began. "What does that even mean?"
"Oh, gloacher is French for making out", Clay answered only to get more weird looks.
Sighing, Clay crossed his arms. "What? Cowboy can't know French slang?"
Omi nodded, unconvinced.
"...Okay. So, Raimundo, answer the question."
Raimundo over-chewed his cereal, trying to think his way out.
"Yeah, a cowboy can definitely know French slang."
"Not that question! Who did that to your neck?"
"Would you relax, O? It's just a hickey; don't interrogate me on it."
Raimundo finished his cereal and started to get up, making sarcastic quips under his breath as usual.
Kimiko sighed, at least the danger was over.
Or at least that's what she thought until she caught Clay giving her a rightfully suspicious look.
"You know, Rai", Kimiko said, verbally stopping him from leaving the table. "I saw you last night..."
Raimundo was confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Seriously", Kimiko said, adding way too much triumph. "I saw you sneaking back in!"
Understanding dawning on him finally, Raimundo tilted his head.
"You saw me?", he asked, acting peeved and slightly busted.
"Yes, I did", Kimiko nodded. "And you reeked of perfume. By the way, your girl has good taste."
Raimundo let the faux-peeved expression drop.
"She does, doesn't she?"
"Quit it", Kimiko said, yanking her hand as if she was burned by a hot poker--ironically, a sensation she will never experience.
Raimundo laughed. "Can't I hold my girl's hand?"
Kimiko sighed, exasperatedly. Even two months after, he still wouldn't let it go.
"Not in public", she finally said. "They could see us."
"Who could see us?", Raimundo said, rolling his eyes. "The humans? We're alone, Kimiko!"
She sighed again.
"Just because Clay and Omi took a different route doesn't mean we're alone--besides we can run into them at any second."
Kimiko walked faster this time, putting a reasonable distance between her and Raimundo.
She could swear he's come down with a case of the grabby hands if didn't make her sound corny, because apparently that's what had happened.
The 'your girl' comment, hastily thrown into conversation when Kimiko was trying to cover both their tracks, had a magical effect on Raimundo.
They continued making out as usual but somehow he seemed, dare she say it, sweet.
It started with touches that stayed too long whenever either of them handed the other something.
Then came the dopey-eyed smiles that eventually made the others strap Raimundo to his sleeping mat because they honestly thought he had a fever.
By the time it got to the lingering gazes, which Kimiko thought nothing of at first, things started getting out of hand.
They were in the scroll room, looking through some ancient texts, when the staring started again.
Kimiko silently thanked Dashi that Omi and Clay were getting the temple groceries today.
"Is there something in my nose?", she finally asked, more than slightly annoyed.
Raimundo snapped out of it. "Hmm?"
Kimiko raised an eyebrow. "You're staring at me?"
"No", he said. "There's nothing in your nose."
Sighing, Kimiko checked her pocket mirror.
Sadly, she knew from experience that if she did have something in her nose, Raimundo would just let her go about her day with it.
She checked her nose but found nothing.
"Did I lie?", he said, all but saying 'I told you so'.
Kimiko shook her head. "You could have made it sound more sincere. So, why were you staring?"
Raimundo shrugged. "I can't look at you now?"
"You can, but you were staring, dude. Now, I know I'm very stunning bu--"
"You are."
Kimiko was struck speechless. There wasn't a single sarcastic dip in his voice.
She snapped. "Are you on something, boy?!"
Raimundo snorted. "I agree with you and suddenly I'm on something?"
Kimiko pinched the bridge of her nose. "This isn't how we do this!"
She was right.
Usually when either of them bragged about looking good or having great taste, the other would say something witty in response, starting a little game that ended when someone found the ultimate winning retort.
It was all in good fun, and they both made sure the other knew that. This game had started a few inside jokes after all.
But right now, Kimiko didn't think about the inside jokes or any witty retort to say.
Instead, she was looking at Raimundo as if she was having a fever dream.
"We make fun of each other", Kimiko added. "You'd say something like I'm not all that and then I'd say something like if I'm not all that, why shove your tongue down my throat--that's how we do this!"
Raimundo nodded. "I know that. I kinda was there."
Kimiko was seething, so he explained.
"Is it really that wrong to not make fun of my girl for once?"
So that's what it was about. Again.
"Oh", Kimiko said, voice much lower. "You're still on about that."
She thought he was over that tiny verbal slip after the last time he tried to hold her hand in public, but apparently he wasn't.
"Why wouldn't I be?", he asked, confirming her thoughts. "You finally acknowledged that there's something between us."
"What is that supposed to mean?", she asked, unsure of how Raimundo was trying to play this.
"It means this", Raimundo said, gesturing vaguely between them. "Has been going on for almost a year and I'm still not sure what I am to you."
"You're", Kimiko started, trying to think of an appropriate word. "You're, you know..."
"No, I don't know", he snapped, mood completely switching. "The only thing I know is that you called yourself 'my girl', whatever that's supposed to mean."
Kimiko tried to keep herself from yelling.
"I was diverting attention from us when you were this close", she said, bringing her index and her thumb together. "To blowing our cover!"
Raimundo said nothing, opting to look at his slippers at the moment.
"You know, Omi has been giving me nonstop judgemental looks for a couple of weeks now", Kimiko added with a softer voice. "And don't even get me started on Clay, he--"
"Did you ever think maybe I wanted to blow our cover?"
The question cut through Kimiko like a knife.
"I didn't know you wanted that", she said a minute later, and she meant it.
They've never talked about it much, or at all.
Kimiko had assumed they both were content with all the hidden tryst-type of thing they had going on.
If Raimundo wasn't happy with it, he hadn't let it on.
"Of course, you didn't", he said, accusingly. "You never asked."
Kimiko was indignant. "Well, you never told."
Raimundo tried to say something, but Kimiko interrupted.
"No seriously, you never said shit", she whisper-yelled, worried that someone was passing by the scroll room. "I'm not a mind reader, Raimundo!"
He sighed. "I was wrong."
Rolling her eyes, Kimiko started a retort. "Of course, you we--wait, what?"
Now Kimiko was seriously worried Raimundo might actually be sick.
He never liked saying he was wrong, ever. And when he usually did, it was during moments when the world was about to end or something was going horribly wrong.
It seemed foreign that he would just sit there, with no rumbling earth or evil green fire, and admit he was at fault.
"I was wrong", he repeated, this time with a sheepish smile, as if this conversation was about spilt milk. "I should've told you how I felt. But to be fair, those two little times I tried, you didn't give me a chance."
Kimiko cringed at the last part.
She had almost succeeded in forgetting the two times when Raimundo asked her cheesy yet valid questions like 'what are we?' and 'what are we really doing?'.
Usually, Kimiko answered by kissing him so hard he'd forget about the question and it worked...or at least that's what she thought until now.
"Yeah", she said, way too casually. "I wasn't ready to talk about it then."
"Are you now?"
Kimiko tried to give a long elaborate answer, but before she knew it, she shook her head.
"No."
"That's okay", Raimundo said, his face showing that he wasn't at all okay. "We'll--later, we'll talk about it later."
"Rai, I--"
He cut her off. "I'm going to get a snack. You want something? I'll get you something."
He hurried out the door before she could stop him.
Biting her lip guiltily, Kimiko sighed.
They never brought up the conversation in the scroll room after that day.
Kimiko had thought that that conversation was the end of their weird little thing, but Raimundo made a show of getting over it.
He still talked to her the way he always did, still smiled at her and make jokes at her expense, and still kissed her like he wasn't really dependant on air.
One day, while they were making out in a hidden spot in the rock garden, Kimiko actually asked him that.
"Don't you need air like a normal person?", she asked, breathlessly.
He was panting too, but he was less red in the face than she was.
"I can hold my breath, no biggie."
Kimiko shook her head, incredulously. "That's a big deal! You have to teach me that."
He quirked an eyebrow. "What are you going to need to hold your breath for exactly? You're good the way you are."
Knowing full-well what he was referring to, Kimiko punched him in the arm.
"Ow!", Raimundo exclaimed as softly as possible. "Dude, seriously if we're off training ground, you don't get to do that."
"That's not a rule."
"It is now."
"I wonder how that conversation is going to go", Kimiko said, smirking. " 'Guys, no one gets to touch me out of training because Kimiko did that when I was making innuendos about her'. Good talk, yeah?"
Raimundo shrugged. "You said it."
She scoffed. "Shut up!"
"You wanna shut me up so bad then make me", he said, a knowing grin on his face.
She smiled too.
"Maybe I will", she said and she did, shutting him by an overwhelming kiss.
After they broke apart, they both looked at each other, panting and smiling along.
And then of course, Raimundo had to ruin it.
"Someone's getting the hang of this girlfriend thing."
Trying to keep her frustration in check, Kimiko forced a smile.
"And someone's not getting the hang of taking a hint."
Kimiko bit her tongue, regretfully. That was a poor choice of words.
Raimundo thought so too. "I can't take a hint? Oh how we have evolved!"
Kimiko got off him, giving him room to get up.
He was pacing in front of her now, threatening to expose the secret spot in the rock garden.
"Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say", Kimiko tried only to be shut down.
"Well, Golly, I'm glad we both agree on something!"
Kimiko grimaced. Things had officially gone to total crap.
Raimundo only used words like 'Golly' and 'whoop dee do' when he was really pissed off, a weird transformation from his normal constantly swearing self.
Kimiko was trying desperately not to smile when Raimundo inserted 'jinkies' in his rant with a completely straight face.
Failing to hold it in, Kimiko laughed a little.
"I'm sorry, Rai, I just can't take you seriously like that."
"You can't take me seriously at all", Raimundo corrected, completely somber now.
Kimiko tried to fix things. "Don't be like that--"
"Like what? It's been three months and I still can't say the words 'dating' or 'girlfriend' without you freaking out."
"I don't freak out", Kimiko said, defensively. "I was just a little surprised your sister had a new girlfriend already...you said she just broke up with her ex a week ago."
Raimundo looked incredulous. "Now you're badmouthing my sister? Everyone deals with break-ups differently, you know."
Kimiko looked at Raimundo and realized he was arguing for the sake of hiding what he really wanted to say.
"I'm not going to do this", she said, getting off the floor too. "What do you want?"
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
Raimundo shrugged, trying too hard to appear casual.
"I want to know if the girl I took to my sister's wedding is my girlfriend or not."
"First of all, you have like four more sisters so it's not that special", Kimiko said, a little too bitterly. "And you took all of us to the wedding."
Raimundo gasped. "I only have three other sisters, you jealous only child!"
He paused for a second. "And besides I'm asking about you right now."
"Does it matter?", Kimiko asked, shrugging. "You already know what you are to me."
It was true and he did.
Kimiko still regretted letting it slip out, but it happened in a moment's notice, and she wasn't able to suck it back in.
Raimundo said nothing.
"I swear to God, Raimundo, you're so intent on wanting an official thing that it's a bit sad", Kimiko added. "Can't you just enjoy this?"
"Sure", Raimundo replied, too cheerfully. "As long as you stop enjoying my lips every fucking day."
Kimiko narrowed her eyes. "What are you saying?"
"I answered your question", Raimundo said.
"Yes, but that makes no sense", Kimiko said, waving her arms. "You literally said you would enjoy this if I wasn't kissin--oh."
After four years, the nerve on that boy still surprised her.
Except this time, the surprise wasn't amusing or at all funny.
It was a break-up.
Kimiko couldn't help but look at him as if he betrayed her. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I feel like I'm being used", Raimundo admitted.
"I'm not using you", Kimiko said, shaking off the ridiculousness of the claim.
"Really? Because I can honestly swear if we weren't living together, you would've pretended like you didn't know me."
"That's ridiculous."
Kimiko wanted to say more, but she felt the words trapped in her mouth.
But then again, she didn't want to say anything about her apprehensions of actually putting a name on their relationship.
She didn't want to say she was afraid because she would turn to Girl Sidekick, the one who's doing the leader.
She didn't want to even think about how the group dynamics would change. And yes--and maybe she was a little shallow for this--but it was a lot of fun keeping it secret.
Kimiko kept quiet, ignoring Raimundo's prompting looks.
"You're just going to let it go like that", Raimundo said, more a realization than a question. "Wow, Sun Chi Lantern got your fire or something?"
Kimiko shrugged and turned away from him.
"I'm sorry", she finally said, meaning every word.
The aftermath of the break-up didn't really go how Kimiko expected.
For one thing, Raimundo didn't avoid her at all.
In fact, he seemed way too eager to be around her, if she wasn't mistaken.
He'd still joke around with her, whether around Omi and Clay or just when it was both of them. And he still helped her rig the votes on Movie Night to her favor.
Kimiko was more than a little surprised, but after a couple of phone calls with Keiko, they both agreed that maybe he was just being a mature person.
"It makes sense", Keiko had said, talking to her between classes. "You're going to be teammates forever. Bad break-ups definitely can't happen."
Kimiko agreed with her at first, but she was still fairly certain Raimundo was not over her--she did share a wall with him, after all, and he did sleep-talk once in a language she understood.
Maybe that was why she was surprised when she heard her pseudo-ex was going on a date with a girl from the town nearby.
Without thinking anything through, Kimiko cornered Raimundo alone after training.
"We're already asking other people out? Really?"
He turned slowly to face her, the training Shen Gong Wu on the ground forgotten.
"She asked me out actually", he said, smiling at her disbelieving expression. "I did nothing but mind my own business and get the groceries with Omi."
Kimiko gave him a look. "Omi literally just told me you took your shirt off in the middle of the market."
"He's the one who asked me to show him the tattoo on my rib", Raimundo shrugged.
"Because you said you'd teach how to nutmeg", she said, mimicking the football move.
Closing his legs to block her foot, Raimundo sighed.
"Look, whatever way this is going to go, I still didn't ask her out so I win."
"For Dashi's sake, this isn't about winning", Kimiko snapped. "It's barely been two weeks and you're already asking other people out!"
"Asking other people out", Raimundo repeated, surprised. "You know, Kim, that would mean I asked you out?"
Kimiko sighed in exasperation, but Raimundo was on a roll.
"That means I took you out on a date", he added, redundantly. "You remember dates, don't you?"
He paused, as if waiting for her answer.
"It's when people who like each other agree to go out together and when it's over they make more plans to get to know each other-"
Kimiko cut him off, voice annoyed and snarky.
"Or they just fake their death, get their friends to help, and send their date an e-vite to their funeral, knowing fully well that they will not go because it's halfway around the world and they didn't even know them that well."
Raimundo rolled his eyes. "That was one time and this is beside the point."
Kimiko did her best to look surprised. "Oh, so this had a point?"
"Yes", he replied, peeved. "My point was that you don't get to say we went on dates when we never did because you were too hung up about making it official."
"I'm hung up?", Kimiko asked, surprised at him and at how she used the present tense. "You were--"
She stopped herself, choosing to say something else instead.
"You know what, you probably told your date that you work out, already. You say it every ten minutes!"
Raimundo's date came and went without anyone in the temple paying attention.
Clay only told him to avoid a certain restaurant because it was too expensive and Omi asked him to say hello to his date for him.
Even Master Fung didn't mention anything about curfew.
Kimiko liked to think she was just as casual, but she knew it was a lie.
Truth was, this date wouldn't have even happened if Raimundo didn't decide to showboat so he can piss Kimiko off by dating someone else.
Kimiko also liked to think it wasn't working, even though she did feel slightly more upset than usual when she did laundry that night.
"I just don't understand", Omi began, sleep written all over his face. "Why we should stay up until Raimundo comes back?"
"Me neither, partner", Clay said, shaking his head at Master Fung's unusual request. "I reckon it's so we make sure Rai will come back tonight."
Both Omi and Kimiko raised their eyebrows at that.
Kimiko laughed it off. "Please, he wouldn't do that on the first date."
Clay scoffed. "Could'a had me fooled. He took all necessary, uh, precautions with him."
Kimiko ignored the sinking feeling she got, while Omi rolled his eyes at Clay's coded words.
"You know, Clay, I can understand you!"
Raimundo came home thirty minutes later, to the relief of the impromptu night watch.
"Finally", Clay said, getting up as Raimundo made himself some tea. "I'm goin' to bed."
"Wait for me", Omi said, as he followed him.
Surprised, Raimundo accidentally poured some of the tea on the table instead.
"You don't wanna hear about my date?"
"Tomorrow, partner."
Raimundo shrugged, as he got a rag to clean the mess he made.
Kimiko looked at him for a few seconds, trying to decipher something.
"How was your date?"
"Fine", he began. "We went to that really old cinema near the docks and then we got something to eat."
She was about to make a joke, but something seemed awfully sad in his reply.
"What happened, Rai?"
When he didn't respond, Kimiko prompted.
"She has bad taste? Slimy kisser?"
He shook his head. "No and no."
"Then what is it?", Kimiko asked, ignoring the sheepish way the second 'no' was said.
Raimundo didn't speak right away.
"Remember that Drake song? The one we hate?"
"The terrible one with the bad beat?"
Raimundo nodded. "Yeah, it came on today and I started trashing it as usual but it turns out that's her favorite song."
"That's sad", Kimiko said, genuinely dismayed.
"Yeah."
Raimundo said nothing more, but he continued staring at her.
Kimiko stared back, looking him in the eye.
He didn't say he missed her or anything and he wouldn't because she knew him too well, but his face said it all.
But this was hard on her too.
"You should have asked out someone with better music taste", Kimiko said finallly, leaving the room.
Even though Raimundo had opted to continue not avoiding Kimiko, his attitude towards her started feeling off.
Kimiko had thought nothing about it then and continued not to think about it now, but it was a little dismal that Raimundo stopped rigging the Movie Night votes for her.
Kimiko was about to start a new level on the newest trial Goo Zombies game her father sent when Keiko called and said she was coming for a visit.
She didn't ask if she could come or bother for an excuse, Keiko just announced she was arriving which was code for 'everything's been taken care of'.
Kimiko had desperately waited for the day her best friend was due, already having had enough of Raimundo's cold shoulder and Clay's increasingly weird Texasims.
Omi was still relatively fun to hang out with, though with him embracing the moody fourteen year-old role a little too well, it was up for debate.
Keiko arrived a day later, much to Kimiko's enthusiasm and utmost relief.
"Oh thank God", Kimiko said, hugging her. "I was this close to calling one of our evildoers to hang out just so I can be around a girl."
Keiko hugged her back, but was still surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah, I was thinking about calling Wuya--totally vindictive and evil, but she reminds me of Aunt Mizuki after vodka."
"Oh, Kimi, that's so...sad."
Keiko was one of the few people--well, the only person--who knew about the weird thing going on between Kimiko and Raimundo.
She was rightfully by her friend's side and immediately began giving Raimundo a taste of his own medicine.
If his was a cold shoulder, Kimiko decided, Keiko's was icy.
"I still don't know why we're not talking to him", Keiko began, later that night as they sat alone in the guest room. "But I'm with you a hundred percent."
Kimiko smiled. "Thanks, but I'm not sure why he's not talking to me either and I don't want to focus on that."
"Cool", Keiko said. "You know Yumi got a tattoo?"
"Shut up! Where?"
Eventually though, Keiko decided to bring it, ignoring Kimiko's protests.
"By all accounts, it makes no sense", she began. "You too still like each other and apparently there's a very easy way you can get back together."
Kimiko was surprised, but at something completely different.
"He talked to you? What did you bribe him with?"
"Money", Keiko answered as if it was obvious. "I started small so I can make a big impact when the number gets bigger--by the time I mentioned I could get him Clasico tickets, he started to cave."
Kimiko snorted. "Typical."
"Yeah", Keiko shrugged. "Those are some expensive tickets though so you're paying half!"
"It's your idea."
"It's your boyfriend."
Kimiko blinked before her old exasperation seeped back in.
"Whatever he told you--"
"He only said 'she knows what's wrong' and said something about commitment", Keiko interested.
"Oh", Kimiko said. "I thought he'd have said...more."
Keiko scoffed. "I don't have enough money for that."
Kimiko bit her lip.
"I don't even know why you were asking. You already know everything that's happened."
"I do", Keiko agreed. "And yet somehow I thought I could understand more, but I was wrong."
Kimiko ignored the silent prompting.
"Whatever, let's just watch this horror movie and go to bed."
Over the course of the next few days, Keiko made it pretty clear that she didn't have enough money to be handing out Clasico tickets.
She mentioned it during breakfast, in the short training break they got, at lunch, and by the time it was dinner, Kimiko was fed up.
After looking for him for nearly everywhere in the temple, Kimiko finally stumbled upon Raimundo at their room.
"Meet me in my room", Kimiko said, dramatically. "Right now."
Raimundo, who had been just standing in front of his section of the room, simply sidestepped to the right.
"I'm here!"
Kimiko narrowed her eyes.
"Listen, smart-ass, you'll return those Clasico tickets to Keiko right this very second or else!"
"Yeah, about that", he said. "I never got those."
"What?", Kimiko asked, tilting her head.
Raimundo shrugged. "She said she'll give them to me if I talked to her but I didn't."
That was surprising.
"Oh", Kimiko replied. "You didn't?"
"Yeah, I don't kiss and tell", Raimundo said, wryly. "And no one likes meddling, you know."
"Yeah", she agreed, though she failed to add up the information. "I still can't comprehend you gave up match tickets for me though; you're always talking about how much you love..."
Kimiko trailed off, realizing that she didn't even remember the team name because she automatically started tuning Raimundo out the minute the word 'football' came out of his mouth.
"No problem", Raimundo said, laughing.
He didn't leave and neither did Kimiko.
"I don't want to not talk to you", he finally said. "I missed this."
Kimiko let a small smile out. "Me too; it's not very fun when you keep your trash talk to yourself."
"I know!", Raimundo exclaimed. "I started making a list so I can share it with someone who'll get it."
"Can I see?"
"Sure, but don't make that weird face you do when you don't like them."
Kimiko felt happy that they started talking the way they used to again, despite still not understanding the reason Raimundo had given her the cold shoulder in the first place.
They joked around like old times, but it still bothered her.
One day she decided to ask him about it.
"Hey, Rai?", she asked.
Cleaning his shoes with a rag, Raimundo responded with a hum.
"Why were you being a dick earlier?"
"I'm a dick several times a day, Kim. You'll have to be more specific."
Kimiko rolled her eyes. "To me, before Keiko came for her last visit."
That made him look up from his shoes.
"Oh, that."
"Yes, that."
"Well, you know I had a bad date."
Kimiko scoffed. "So? We both went on pretty bad dates before."
She was right, sort of.
She had went on bad dates after Raimundo decided to spite her, while he just went on a bad date...and a half, with the same girl who had awful music taste, and he had left the minute the date badmouthed Salt-n-Peppa.
"Besides you were being pretty icy the entire day", Kimiko added, conveniently leaving out the part when he hinted that he missed her.
Raimundo winced. "Yeah."
"So? What was that about?"
He took a deep breath.
"You remember how Omi asked out Jeremaine that day?"
Kimiko nodded, unintentionally smiling. "He used all those cutesy pick-up lines, how can I forget?"
"Yeah", Raimundo said, biting his lip. "Those were my lines--he got them from me."
"Shut up", Kimiko said, gasping. "He did not!"
Raimundo nodded. "Oh, he did. He was asking me for advice and I gave it to him, but"
He paused. "Those were the lines I planned to use to ask you out, but I figured that wasn't likely anytime soon."
Kimiko didn't know what to make of the revelation.
It sounded sweet, yet she knew from observation that those lines were--
"Tacky", Kimiko said before she could stop herself. "I mean, cheesy."
Raimundo raised an eyebrow. "They were sweet a minute ago."
"For Omi", Kimiko explained. "But honestly, I heard better from you and those were mostly unintentional."
"I was trying to be sweet", Raimundo said, defensively. "But you're right, I could do better in my sleep."
"No please, stop undermining yourself", Kimiko said in a deadpan voice.
Raimundo gave her a look and she gave him one too.
Both tried to hold it until they couldn't and the laughter exploded out of them in waves.
The laugher continued for an impossibly long time, only stopping when both Kimiko and Raimundo realized that in their hysteria, they held each other for support.
Laughter dissipating, Raimundo looked at her with a touch of the lingering gaze the freaked her out before.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss you", he started. "I don't even care about naming this thing, I just want it back."
"Rai", Kimiko said, as she broke away and gave him her back.
She didn't say anything for a long time, choosing to think about it instead.
She knew she missed him just as much as he missed her, but she also knew from experience that if they started this again, he wouldn't be happy. Just like before.
The word 'girlfriend' stopped freaking Kimiko out after Keiko had offhandedly mentioned the word 'boyfriend' that day.
It was just a word, a scary word sometimes, but it Kimiko could live with it for now and it certainly did have a better ring to it than 'one of my best friends who I also make out with and treat like a boyfriend'.
It was a word, a simple descriptor, and only Raimundo had to hear it until they were both ready to tell the others. Or not.
Turning back to face him, Kimiko cleared her throat.
"My cousin Mayumi is having an art show tomorrow. Wanna come?"
Raimundo was confused at the strange turn in the conversation, but nodded nevertheless.
"Sure, I'll tell the guys and--"
Kimiko cut him off.
"Actually, I was thinking we should just go together. We're sort of overdue for a first date."
To say that Raimundo was surprised would have been a gross understatement.
His shocked impression gave way to an ecstatic one as he tried and horribly failed to hold back his smile.
Naturally, Kimiko smiled back, though hers was tinted with nervousness.
She hoped that he wouldn't take this as a gateway to discuss all their issues, which she knew Raimundo was dying to do.
Apparently though, Raimundo knew better than that.
Smirking, he silently mouthed a 'don't worry', before asking in a way too casual manner Kimiko knew was supposed to make her feel less nervous.
"Is Mayumi the hot cousin with the tongue piercing?"