ChibiChaos' notes:

All right, so we all know Jack Spicer, the evil boy genius, a real child protégé (seriously, how many kids can you name that are capable of building their own robot from scratch?) and the 'evil' nemesis of the four dragons. This is just a little fic dedicated to him, as my personal favorite character from Xiaolin Showdown. I'd just like to note that Jack at this time is only seven and still very naïve in his perspective of the world and therefore is OOC, however I have tried to incorporate some of his personality traits that he shows in the series to show where it all begins.

Pairings: Jack/Kimiko friendship

Disclaimer: The author forfeits any and all ownership of Xiaolin Showdown and the characters within it.

The Gift

Jack Spicer surveyed his surroundings, pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes into a serious look, or at least as serious as a seven-year-old can look. The red headed child had currently hidden himself discretely in the shadow of a fountain, though the artistic beauty of it was somewhat lost on him as he merely considered it a useful area to conceal himself from pretty much everyone else.

Jack was silently taking mental notes on the positions of the enemy, i.e. his parents and their friends. The main party currently consisted of a buxom platinum blond, an old lady complete with blue dyed hair along with her mousy haired companion, and a pair of old men; one with watery blue eyes and rather jittery disposition and the other with a noticeable gut and wheezy laugh. Jack gingerly felt his cheeks, they'd probably be bruised tomorrow considering the amount of abuse they'd undergone so far, he reflected forlornly, then returned to deciding whether he should promote the obnoxiously loud ginger haired woman to a main adversary or not.

It was not as though Jack was a cynical child, despite his upbringing, in fact in all respects he was a fairly trusting, energetic individual, however, even at his tender age, Jack had come to loathe, to completely and utterly despise the pointless gatherings that his parents persisted in throwing. Truthfully he couldn't fathom how either of his parents could possibly find them entertaining.

The only thing that the parties did was to prompt his mother into wearing another hideous ensemble, even he knew that fuchsia and maroon should not go together like that, then flutter around like some over grown insect while pushing him around to meet all of her dear 'close friends'. After that he'd be cooed and fawned over like some amusing pet as they'd titter about what an exotic and unusual colour his hair was or 'tsk' about what a pale complexion he had and other such nonsense, seriously how was his complexion any of their business?

As for his father, the man must derive some sort of sick amusement from dragging him to meet each and every member of the party, who was in some way, in a high position of power. The man would then clap an iron grip on his shoulder and forcefully hold Jack still, leaving him to endure his father's boastful acclamations about his 'genius son' to the guest and occasionally ruffle Jack's carefully styled hair until it was nothing more then a fluffy mess. This sort of unwanted attention generally led to Jack being stared at like a new animal specimen brought to the zoo, he was certainly beginning to feel like a caged tiger or some sort of beast that most defiantly did not deserve to be locked up and ogled at. Jack was seriously beginning to worry the he'd develop a tick before he hit puberty if his parents continued this inane quest to gain social status.

Which was why, for today's party, Jack had safely hidden himself amongst the garden foliage in an attempt to avoid any and all unwanted attention that might be forced upon him by the overbearing adults.

"Ah, Jack my boy, there you are, I've been looking for you. There's a new business associate I'd like you to meet."

Unfortunately his attempts weren't good enough.

Mr. Spicer positively beamed down at his son, Jack groaned mentally; he'd learnt to keep his thoughts to himself at these gatherings. He reluctantly took the hand offered to him by the Asian man before him and dutifully shook it.

"And of course his daughter, Kimiko."

Jack froze at the word 'daughter', past experience had taught him, painful past experiences, that if was a daughter involved, the situation would not end well for him.

"We'll just leave you two to get better aquatinted."

The two men turned from their children towards the banquet table set out in the middle of the garden. Left in a disturbingly familiar state of shock, Jack could feel his blood turning to ice as he sluggishly turned his head towards what would surely be his own personal little hell for the next hour, already dreading the image of absolute destruction he was sure to see…

He blinked; twice actually, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, because unless he was mistaken, and that couldn't possibly be true as he was a friggen genius! Or so he was told by anyone he came into contact with, absolute destruction was not quite so, destructive as he'd been led to believe, in fact he'd go so far as to say it was rather cute, in a giggly kind of way he supposed.

Despite his first impressions though, Jack continued to survey his new companion wearily, acutely aware of his earlier times with other members of the fairer sex, especially those around his age. Some of the other girls his father had 'introduced' him to were down right Scary, with their gossip and giggling and, God forbid, talk of make-up and shopping. The raven-haired girl standing nervously in front of him seemed normal enough though. She was a little shorter then himself, with wavy black hair, and wearing a dark red party dress. She twitched more then him, it was rather fascinating, he thought, watching her shift her weight from leg to leg, he wondered mildly why she was so nervous. Having completed his observations and deciding she was not about to bring his whole world crashing around his ears, Jack held out his hand to her, as he'd been taught and spoke,

"Um…hi,"

She blinked, and momentarily glanced at his hand before taking it,

"Hello."

"I'm Jack."

"Kimiko,"

She murmured distractedly, gazing around the courtyard.

"Are you, enjoying yourself?"

She turned sharply towards him with a bored look in her large blue eyes and an expression on her face that said, what-do-you-think? Jack fell silent, having run out of topics to talk about. Admittedly, he wasn't the most social of butterflies, and when he did attempt contact with others of his species, it tended to go sour for him, this conversation being such an example. For not the first time, nor probably the last, he longed for the comfort of the basement that he was steadfastly turning into his own safe house, a workshop for his creations, where things made sense and he was in control.

"How can you stand it?"

"Hmm?"

Surprised, Jack turned to Kimiko who had resumed their conversation.

"How do you put up with all of this?"

She waved towards the cheerful façade of perky business people happily chatting to each other, the scene expertly hiding the ambitious, back-stabbing sharks they truly were as each attempted to outdo the others. Jack gazed at the picture expressionless, he was used to such acts now and while amusing at first, now they were merely pathetically repetitive in his eyes. He could state every move, every person in the party would make in their quest for power now, he had been around this game since he could walk and was well aware of how it was played now. Glancing back at Kimiko, he realised she expected an answer to her question. He hesitated, unsure as to whether he should divulge his secret to her yet; they had only recently been introduced.

"I uh…"

Her face twisted into a scowl,

"Aren't you dying of boredom?"

Jack hovered indecisively, on one hand he had someone who was apparently willing to follow him and in all honesty, he was dying to show off his basement, but on the other hand, he still wasn't sure if he was prepared to trust her with his secret. Twisting his head he noticed the platinum blond from earlier heading towards them with a large, toothy smile on her face, and her bony arms outstretched. Jack made a swift decision, grabbing Kimiko's arm he darted away and into the crowd, weaving in and out of the guests and leading his companion into the house. Not stopping, he veered to the right and down the hallway before halting in front of a door of plain appearance. Kimiko wheezed softly next to him, getting her breath back from the long distance sprint they had just done. Jack waited patiently; although there was an air of suppressed excitement around him, resting one hand on the doorknob, when she had calmed her breathing back to a steady rate he gently opened the door and led her down the stairs.

"We'll be safe here for the remainder of the party,"

He murmured, flicking on the light switch, Kimiko stared around the room with interest.

"Where are we?"

There was a wooden bench pressed against the wall on one side, covered in tools and several scraps of metal. Another pile of metal, this one larger and with chunkier pieces was shoved in the corner; other odds and ends were randomly scattered around the room. Above her ran a maze of pipes in different sizes. The room was scarcely furnished, but it had a lived-in quality that the others didn't, she turned to Jack who was standing with an anxious look on his face, unconsciously chewing his bottom lip. She allowed a smile to cross her face,

"Homey, I like it."

Jack's face lit up like a Christmas tree, his eyes glittered and before Kimiko realised the true effect of her words, the boy had launched into the tale of how he found the room. He excitedly told her how he planned to make so many inventions in it and all his plans and dreams for the future with an energetic enthusiasm she hadn't know he'd possessed. In short, Jack was acting like the child he was for the first time that afternoon, allowing every expression to cross his face and pouring his little seven-year-old heart and soul out to a girl he'd only met today. In return, Kimiko listened to him, then eagerly spoke about her own life, her interests and then the two discovered a common interest in computer games and fought over their favorite ones.

It wasn't until they heard Kimiko's father calling for her that they stopped talking. Jack softly led Kimiko back upstairs to her father, formally apologising for keeping her. He watched her car drive away from inside, the dark-haired girl waving cheerfully to him.

---

Jack only saw her once more after the party, when her father arrived to finalise a deal he had made with Jack's father. The meeting was short and she had only had time to swiftly press a clumsily wrapped box into his arms and smile sweetly at him before her father summoned her and she was gone. Jack had watched her car drive away for the second time with the gift still roughly clutched to his chest, this time though she just stared up at him and gave a small smile as they left.

Several minutes later, Jack was once again in the basement, buried within the recesses of his ever-growing lab and drowning out the sounds of his parents upstairs with the loudest music he could find in his father's collection. This time though, there was a new pair of welding goggles perched on his head and a small smile on his lips. Jack stepped away from his latest creation, admiring his work with a proud air,

"I dub thee, Jack-bot."

FIN

ChibiChaos' Notes:

Well, that's it, I hope it was alright, I think I may have made Jack's attitude a little too old at times…um…okay. First, if you're wondering, the reasons Jack was so open to Kimiko was firstly because he's a kid and therefore more trusting. Secondly, I believe that because of his parent's negligent behaviour towards him, he hasn't had anyone to speak to and share his experiences so he told everything to Kimiko, like when you're bursting to tell someone something, you tell the first person you feel you can. Anyway, whatever your response, please please please, R & R, feedback is always helpful and feel free to give me some creative criticism. Ja for now!