Title: Feeling the Rio Heat

Chapter Title: Burning Tradition

Word Count: 3,427

Disclaimer: I do not own Xiolin Showdown.

The sun had sunk well below the skyline by the time Raimundo finally lifted his head from atop Kimiko's as they continued to sit curled up on a shared beach blanket.

"You know I have feelings for you, right" Raimundo finally broke the silence after a nearly an hour had passed.

"No," Kimiko answered honestly, "Sometimes I think you do, and sometimes I don't know what you want"

They'd grown a lot from the immature teens starting out at the temple. Over years of training and living together they'd learned to start open conversations which cut down on some (but never all) of the bickering they had done in their youth.

"Well I do." He stammered, trying his best to tear down some of the many walls he'd built to keep her out.

Instead of saying anything in response Kimiko shuffled from her position in Raimundo's lap and moved to kneel in front of him. She had been patient enough for today, and despite all the development and personal growth that Kimiko had undergone over years at the temple, she still wasn't good at waiting to get what she wanted.

He looked at Kimiko with a raised eyebrow "Kimi?" He queried cautiously.

Her response was to close the distance between them and softly kiss his lips. Raimundo, though stunned and a bit reluctant at first, returned the kiss after a moment. Despite everything they'd talked about all day Raimundo felt himself giving in to his desires as Kimiko urged him onward by running her tongue across his lower lip. He compliantly opened his mouth and roughly pulled her into his lap. For a while they were lost in each other's passion, making-out on the edge of a darkened beach. This wasn't the first time they'd kissed, as they'd shared a few spur of the moment kisses at the temple, but those had always been quick, chaste kisses out of fear of interruption so this was drastically different by comparison.

"Kimiko" Rai groaned as hesitation crept back into his voice.

She knew that his tone meant she'd pushed things too far for now. He broke away from her and forced himself to make eye contact.

"We should head back" He said plainly calling no attention to what transpired between them.

"OK" She sighed.

"Golden tiger claws" Raimundo called out offering his hand to Kimiko as they stepped through the portal together.

They wound up back in Raimundo's room, bypassing any interaction with his family much to Kimiko's relief.

"Tomorrow is going to be a long day; we should probably try and sleep" Raimundo said blankly "I'm going to sleep on the floor."

Kimiko sighed but knew enough not to fight him on this; it was her fault he was retreating from her again after all. Though the sparks between them had certainly felt right so she was confident in the end their beach make-out would be a point in her favor. Wordlessly she took her pajamas's to the bathroom to change. When she returned to the room, Raimundo, clad in boxer shorts and a plain tee shirt, was curled up on the floor with a pillow and blanket. Kimiko climbed into bed and almost instantly fell into a dreamless sleep.

In the middle of the night, Kimiko awoke to a small hand tugging at her arm. When her eyes adjusted she could see the 6 year old, Ana, crying and trying to get her attention as well as Rai's.

"Rai" Kimiko whispered, though the wind dragon hardly stirred in his sleep.

Upon noticing that Kimiko was awake Ana clumsily dove into the bed with the fire dragon who instinctively wrapped the child in a protective hug. Rai was suddenly awoken at the commotion.

"Huh? What's going on?" Rai asked confused, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Nightmare" Ana whimpered fearfully snuggling closer to Kimiko.

Raimundo stood up and plucked Ana from Kimiko's arms.

"Tell me a story, Mu" Ana trembled.

"Okay, Okay" Raimundo soothed calmly, "The first day I arrived at the temple -"

Ana cut him off "I need to snuggle with you both" She interjected.

Kimiko shrugged and scooted over on the full size bed, 'you don't argue with a 6 year old' she thought with a small smile.

Raimundo reluctantly sat down next to Kimiko and placed Ana across both their laps. Ana instantly snuggled in and visibly calmed down.

"Now are you ready to hear about the first day I spent at the temple?" Raimundo asked feigning impatience and earning a delighted giggle from Ana.

"I'll take that as a yes," He quietly laughed launching into his story "You were just a toddler, I left our house in the dead of night, to ride a green giant flying dragon named Dojo all the way across the world to China. When I arrived I met four strange people. The first was the master of the temple, Master Fung, he pretty much ditched us upon our arrival so I had no idea what to think of him initially. Another stranger was a big cowboy from Texas named Clay, he had a ten gallon hat and even a lasso. The day we met he lassoed the smallest among us, a round headed, yellow kid named Omi who'd lived at the temple his whole life. Admittedly Omi had been annoying me the whole first day so I found Clay lassoing him to be pretty funny." Raimundo shrugged at this point earning a small chuckle from Kimiko.

"That was pretty obvious" Kimiko grinned.

"Were you there too?" Ana asked Kimiko curiously.

"I was," Kimiko smiled at the small child, "But I thought all the boys were pretty dumb so I stayed on the phone with my friend from home for most the first day"

"Boys are dumb" Ana agreed with childlike conviction.

"Yes they are" Raimundo reaffirmed protectively to his tiny sister "You should stay away from them for a very long time."

"More story" Ana yawned settling back in.

"The same day we arrived this bad guy named Jack Spicer who had bright red hair, wore eyeliner, goggles and a trench coat released a magical ancient evil ghost named Wuya."

Ana shuddered at the mention of an evil ghost and Raimundo quickly backpedaled.

"Luckily, they had no chance against four awesome monks in training" He boasted confidently.

Ana nodded sleepily yawning with contentment.

"Our purpose was to collect magical Shen Gong Wu and the first to reveal itself was the Mantis Flip Coin, which gave the one who controlled it the ability to leap with the skill of a mantis..."

Before Rai could even finish his story, Ana was snoring peacefully snuggled up with them both.

"She's pretty cute, huh?" Kimiko whispered with a soft smile looking down at the brunette child nestled close.

"Don't be fooled; She'll be a terror in the morning" Raimundo rolled his eyes while gently picking the 6 year old up. He exited the room carrying Ana back to the room she was sharing temporarily with the younger boys. Raimundo tucked the tiny child in to her makeshift cot and made his way back to his childhood room.

Kimiko looked at him with sapphire eyes adjusted to the darkness as he reentered the room.

"So why does Ana call you 'Mu'?" Kimiko asked curiously.

"It's all she could say when I left." Raimundo answered, "Me leaving hit her harder than it did anyone else. I guess she called out for me nightly for a year"

"Oh," Kimiko responded gently, "I guess I never considered how hard it would be on siblings, with me not having siblings and all. You're good with kids though."

"I'm good with family. I don't know about kids" Raimundo retorted indifferently.

They laid in silence for a while, Raimundo from his spot on the floor and Kimiko on the bed, both wanting to break the silence but neither ready to lay it all on the line again. Instead of conflict resolution, eventually both fell into a dreamless sleep.

Raimundo was awoken early to the smell of brewing café da manhã,the traditional morning coffee smell he'd woken up to for the majority of his life. His back ached from sleeping on the floor and he inwardly grumbled thinking about how he should have brought his sleeping mat from the temple. As he sat up he found Kimiko to still be asleep, and after all the commotion yesterday he hardly judged her for it. He smiled as he studied how peaceful she looked in her sleep and internally debated whether or not he should prank her in her vulnerable state. Despite his normally childish nature when it came to pranks, he decided she'd been suffering enough this weekend with all he'd asked of her and he didn't need to piss her off on the day of Maria's wedding.

"Kimi, we gotta wake up." He whispered knowing full and well they would be expected to help his sister with set up at the venue in a short while – mentally he kicked himself for not bringing the Ring of the Nine Dragons or Shard of Lightening to help speed the process up.

"Too early" She mumbled in response keeping her eyes tightly shut.

"We gotta get up." He emphatically stated.

"Unless there's a new Shen Gong Wu or the earth is in danger, I'm not getting out of bed right now," She grumbled sleepily.

"Fine; if you're not getting out, then I'm getting in," Raimundo childishly responded.

Kimiko became acutely aware of Raimundo stealthily sliding under the thin sheet and curling up next to her.

Raimundo realized suddenly that the tank top and shorts Kimiko had started off wearing to bed must have been removed at some point in the night as he found himself pressed against an abundance more bare skin than anticipated.

Kimiko, noticing his whole body stiffen in response, also remembered that she got fed up with the Rio heat around 1:00AM and had stripped down to her sports bra and underwear. She blushed a vibrant red while still refusing to open her eyes.

"Rio's too warm at night" She mumbled awkwardly.

"Yeah…" Raimundo responded distantly. He'd seen her less clothed than this any time they went to the beach, but he was never directly pressed against her. The intimacy factor was also elevated as he knew with certainty that he was the only one to ever see her this way. His mind was tearing him in three directions, the first of which was to leap out of bed and run away from the whole situation to avoid the awkward discomfort, the second to stay in this moment for as long as possible, and the third was telling him to make a move.

After a momentary pause he opted for choice one and sprung out of the bed and raced out of the room fast enough he may as well have been using the Shard of Lightening.

Kimiko sat up and started slowly pulling her sleepwear back on.

"Sorry about that" Raimundo called from outside the door 5 minutes later.

"It's fine" Kimiko shrugged. 'Let's get today over with. I never thought I'd long for the temple over the real world'

"Ma says you're getting ready with the girls. Apparently I get to go set up the venue...you okay with that?" He called through the door cautiously.

"Makeup over set up?" She laughed breaking the awkward tension, "You know I am."

"I'll see you in a few hours then" Raimundo responded, "Oh, and you might want to grab a shower now. Ma's got coffee so she'll be distracted for a bit and Ria hasn't woken up yet"

"Got it" Kimiko replied hastily grabbing her shower gear.

The morning progressed like any standard wedding morning, perfect aside from a bump or two along the way. Around 9AM Kimiko was showered and dressed in the dress that Maria and Raimundo had picked out for her about to start on makeup when she heard a wail from the room over.

"Mamãe!"

Though Kimiko was just getting used to Raimundo's family, she knew it had to be Maria calling out in panic.

Both Kimiko and Ma rushed into Maria's room at the same time and found a panicked Maria sitting in a bath robe frantically scrolling through her phone.

"What, linda?" Ma worridly asked.

"The hairdresser, she cancelled" Maria exasperatedly explained.

"We'll find someone" Ma answered.

"Or I can do your hair for free" Kimiko smiled confidently.

Maria looked at Kimiko hopefully, "Rai did say you're good with that, though he also said he likes your natural look best."

"Boys," Kimiko shrugged "They don't get fashion."

Ma sighed in relief, "Futura nora, if you don't mind attempting to do Ria's hair, I will call and make back up plans for a hairdresser just in case. I don't want you to fell pressured."

Maria had calmed down significantly as a dual backup plan was now in place.

Kimiko smiled at Maria, "You washed your hair last night?"

"Yes," Maria answered, "It's Rio in June, the heat would damn near kill me if I left this mane down, I was hoping for a simple, sweet updo."

Kimiko nodded and got to work. After all those quick hairdos at the temple that had to hold through vigorous Shen Gong Wu battles and all the innovative looks she playing around with in her spare time due to their recluse nature made her a natural at doing hair. She was even luckier that Maria's hair texture was similar to her own so she had no surprises there.

"Do you have a picture of what you'd like" She asked Maria after treating her hair with a heat protectant and volumizing product.

"No, I was just going to ask the stylist for a natural updo and leave it at that." Maria sighed rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

"How do you feel about braids?" Kimiko asked gently.

"Sure. I trust you." Maria grinned warmly.

In the end Kimiko created a french braid from either side of Maria's temple leading back to a simple messy low bun.

Maria gazed joyfully in the mirror at her hair. "Ma, cancel your plans, Kimi did it!" She squealed.

"Hold on for just one minute" Kimiko smiled racing out the door to the family's flower garden off the porch.

"Ma," Kimiko called into the house as she got outside.

Ma stepped out the door in response "Yes, futura nora" Ma answered.

"Do you mind if I pick a few of these freesia's to add to Maria's wedding updo?" She asked carefully.

"Ria will love that, they were her grandmother's favorite." Ma answered earnestly "I think her bridesmaids are wearing yellow, orange, pink, and purple so get one of each color"

"That's a lot of colors for one dress" Kimiko nervously responded.

"Oh, no no no…" Ma laughed, "In Brazil, it's normal for each bridesmaid to choose her own color of dress, the brighter the better!"

Kimiko smiled in response as she plucked two of each color flower and ran back into the house to line the top of Maria's braid and bun with the fragrant freesias.

With the addition of flowers Maria whooped in joy and clasped Kimiko in a tight hug.

"Thank you for saving the day, this is better than I ever imagined." She trilled.

"It's no big deal" Kimiko responded blushing.

"Ma!" Maria called.

"Yes?" Ma replied finishing up her hair and makeup from the bathroom.

"Can you get the sewing kit out quickly?" She smiled.

"You have a name you need to add to your hem?" Ma asked knowingly.

Kimiko looked around confused "A name for your hem?"

"It's good luck, normally for my single friends, but I want to add your name. You're good for Rai. I can see why he's so head over heels for you and I want to add your name as a wish that it'll work out." Maria confidently answered.

Kimiko blushed as Ma pulled out a sewing needle and some bright red thread and started stitching Kimiko's name into the hem of Maria's wedding dress.

Kimiko busied herself finishing up her makeup as the three women occupied the single bathroom in the Pedrosa household unapologetically.

Thirty minutes later, the boys had finally returned from their task of setting up the venue and rushed to get ready.

Conflict rolled steadily around Raimundo's mind as he knotted the tie for his suit. On the one hand he undeniably had strong feelings for Kimiko, and he'd been steadily pushing the boundaries on their friendship to the point where even at the temple they'd often hold hands and occasionally cuddle when the other monks weren't paying attention. He knew it wasn't fair to her that he'd been able to get the physical and emotional support he wanted from her, when he knew (and had known) that she wanted so much more. He also knew that on more than one occasion Master Fung had stressed to him the rule forbidding relationships at the temple. He knew it could cost him his leadership position, or even his wind monk status, and he certainly didn't want to go back to just being some poor kid from Rio.

At points he'd debate whether or not he and Kimiko could maintain a secret relationship, but he felt the second they gave in to their feelings things would uproariously get out of hand. Kimiko had that effect on him where it already took every inch of his resolve to cap their relationship at cuddling and hand holding...if they went one step further it likely wouldn't be just one step, because he knew his own pent up feelings would drive him to taking things too far, too soon. And he also knew she was ready for that based on how she'd tried to advance the relationship and he'd have to feign ignorance to maintain the status quo.

He sighed as he realized there were no easy answers to be found and so his internal debate ended in the same place it always did – undecided.

He steadily rapped his knuckle on the door to the bathroom where Kimiko, Maria, and Ma were all getting ready.

"We ready yet?" He called through the sturdy oak door.

"Relax, Filho, it's a Brazilian wedding, if a noiva is early something's wrong" Ma chided.

"By 10 minutes, not an hour, Ma" Raimundo retorted.

"Futura nora," Ma addressed Kimiko much to Raimundo's discomfort, "you are ready. Go distract that pesky son of mine for now"

"Mamãe" Raimundo warned cautiously.

"Pfft, Filho" Ma needled.

Kimiko stepped out of the bathroom and Raimundo was rendered speechless. She looked positively angelic in the airy blue dress Maria had helped him choose for Kimiko. Her hair was in soft curls that fell around her shoulders and her makeup, aside from her normal sharp eyeliner, was much softer as well. She looked like herself and he adored her for it.

"You realize your mom has called me that enough times I can just look it up on a translator now, right?" Kimiko broke into his thoughts.

" Uh…" He stammered nervously.

"It's 'future daughter-in-law'" Maria called nonchalantly from inside the bathroom.

"Thanks 'Ria" Raimundo sarcastically called back.

"She's too good for you, Rai," Maria teased from the other side of the door.

'Isn't that the big problem' he thought momentarily before turning to a stunned Kimiko.

"You told your family we were dating, just how serious did you tell them this was?" Kimiko whispered cautiously.

Raimundo pulled at his tie anxously, "Pretty serious...sort of…"

"That's a non-answer Rai," Kimiko retorted.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her outside quickly.

"They misinterpreted my first letter home after we got to the temple." He sighed.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Kimiko frantically exclaimed.

"I guess I focused too much on you, I thought I was expressing annoyance, Ma and Ria took it a different way...at some point I just let them think we were together so they'd stop hounding me to ask you out."

"Your sister is having my name put into the hem of her wedding dress as we speak" Kimiko sighed, "Rai, this is too much."

He looked at her sadly. "It's good luck even if it isn't with me."

Kimiko threw her hands up in the air in frustration and walked towards the jungle in her dress. In that moment she was both the most beautiful and dangerous thing Raimundo had ever seen.

Chapter 3 done…Hope you enjoyed. Next installment coming soon, likely Sunday or Monday of next week depending on free time.

Preview: Burning Hope

Kimiko lined up with the rest of the single girls for an American style bouqet toss as a slight indignant response to Raimundo's hot and cold act from the weekend. Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' played in the background as Maria stepped to up to the edge of the dance floor and faced her back to the ladies.

"One...two….three!" Maria called out as she released the bouquet into the air. It arced up and three sets of hands stretched out grasping at stems. Kimiko was no where close to catching it as it was going to land on the opposite side of the lineup, but a single flower escaped the bouquet and fell into her hand, almost as if it was knocked out by a slight gust of wind.

It was a small promise, but it meant the world to Kimiko.