Kimiko was in her element.

And for once, that wasn't meant literally as she waded through fire while the boys whined about the heat (big babies…) looking for a wayward wu. In fact, today was 100% wu-free and all about Kimiko, her credit card, and the most glorious expanse of civilization the tech-heiress had seen in a long, LONG time.

"Welcome to the Mountainview Mall!" a greeter chirped at Kimiko as she walked through the automatic doors and basked in the florescent lights as the smells of the food court wafted through the air, and other mall-goers chattered happily with their friends.

Kimiko almost felt like crying.

It really has been too long since I've had some retail therapy. Kimiko mused dryly as she wandered past kiosks looking for a store that caught her fancy. Clay had told her as much before practically pushing the girl out of the temple with the Blue Ray Manta Ray to get some shopping done at the mall and replace the wardrobe she'd lost when Chase destroyed their home. There hadn't been any wu action in a while, and everyone was getting a little twitchy, Kimiko especially, which had the boys walking on eggshells around their female teammate. As the only one who possessed both tact and common sense, Clay had managed to talk to Kimiko without anything getting set on fire, and convinced her to use the rare peace to get some shopping done. Though honestly, he didn't have to twist Kimiko's arm that hard. She loved her boys, really she did, but she needed a break from them sometimes too, and she really did miss being surrounded by fashion and fun rather than mystical artifacts and potential world domination schemes.

Spotting a store for one of her favorite brands, Kimiko brightened up and practically skipped inside, eyes sweeping around for anything of note before finally noticing an interesting display to her left. Zeroing in on a cute top, Kimiko made a beeline for the corner. Reaching out for the topmost shirt in the pile, Kimiko tried to grab a shirt for herself to get a closer look, but ended up putting her hand on top of someone else's when they tried to do the same. Cursing her lack of focus, Kimiko snatched her hand back as if she was afraid of losing it.

"Oh, I'm so-!" She started to apologize, turning to the woman who's hand she'd accidentally grabbed only to freeze when she realized that the other woman wasn't a stranger. "Shadow?!"

Shadow, for her part, looked just as surprised as the Dragon of Fire to find one of her mortal enemies shopping in the same store.

"Kimiko." She drawled, raising an eyebrow at the shorter girl. Kimiko bristled, glaring at the Heylin darkly. She always hated the way Shadow said her name, like she was tasting it. "Well this is certainly a surprise."

"Yeah right." Kimiko snapped, falling back into a defensive position and preparing herself for a fight. "What are you doing here Shadow?" Did she hear that Kimiko was going to be alone and figure she could take the female dragon out? The only wu she had were the Medusa Comb and the Blue Ray Manta Ray so it wasn't likely she was here for a raid, but Chase had been scheming up all sorts of violence for the monks lately, though he'd mostly been targeting Ping Pong since the young monk was new and wasn't as wise to his tricks as the rest of them. Still, that didn't mean that Chase couldn't change targets if he wanted to or if one of the monks made themselves vulnerable and he saw an opportunity. But if that was what was going down now, Kimiko wasn't going to go without a fight.

"Lun Apparel was having a sale on their new line. I popped over there for a bit to see what I could grab, then came in here to see if they had anything good." Shadow explained with a careless shrug turning away from Kimiko and back to the shirt. Kimiko gaped for a bit, a little thrown at being dismissed so carelessly by an agent of evil. Over a shirt, no less.

"You're shopping?" Kimiko clarified, rightfully skeptic.

"Is that really such a surprise?" Shadow scoffed as she studied the shirt she and Kimiko had collided over for a moment before draping it over her arm.

"Yes." Kimiko answered flatly, "I would've thought that you'd have better things to do. Like drown puppies. Or poison small children."

"Could always make time for that, I suppose." Shadow shrugged before tossing Kimiko one of the shirts in her size. Kimiko caught it automatically, but faltered for a moment afterwards, unsure what to do. She definitely didn't want it anymore, if Shadow was getting one too, but putting it back seemed like it would be admitting defeat to the other girl, with was absolutely unacceptable. Huffing, Kimiko decided to buy the shirt, just so Shadow didn't think she didn't think she'd changed her mind because of her (even if she had). She'd donate it to charity or something later. "But lucky you, today's my day off. I don't get them very often, and I don't feel like squandering the ones I have on the usual business. Besides, my wardrobe needs an update desperately. Chase doesn't have anything that isn't at least a century old and stained with dried blood." That actually made Kimiko crack a smile. Not a big one, but still.

"I know what you mean." She said. "It's the same at the Temple. I mean, the boys might not care at all if all the clothes are as old as Dashi, but I like to stay a little more current as far as fashion goes."

"Can you believe that Chase doesn't even know what a stiletto is?" Shadow queried incredulously. "He thought it was some kind of new weapon."

"Oh, they can be, actually." Kimiko said cheerfully. "I've used some to take out Jack's robots before. And Jack always surrenders without a fight when he sees me wearing them now. Apparently, I broke skin at least once before with a high kick. Sad thing is, he's the only one of the guys who knows what a stiletto is."

"That's hardly the saddest thing about the Weeny Boy." Shadow scoffed, pulling a jacket off of a nearby rack and holding it against herself for appraisal. "What do you think?"

"Not bad, but you might want it in a different color." Kimiko responded. "Puke green doesn't look good on anybody."

"True." Shadow snickered, flagging down a clerk. As Shadow talked with the man about getting the coat in a different color, Kimiko reeled a bit.

As strange as it was, and as much as she didn't like or trust Shadow, it had been years since she had done something so normal as shop and talk clothes with another girl. She'd virtually lost touch with her old friends in Tokyo, and the guys had a tendency to hide when the word 'shop' came out of Kimiko's mouth. It was… nice.

Whoa girl. Kimiko reminded herself. Don't start this again. Remember Dyris? The boys had forgotten about the conniving mermaid from their youth and welcomed Shadow into their fold with open arms. It was only because Kimiko had remembered and kept her guard up that she didn't follow. She wasn't going to let herself get fooled into thinking of Shadow as a friend. Nuh-uh. No way.

Still… it was nice. Especially since Shadow didn't get weird when she started talking about fighting and blood and things like that, because she got it too, like Kimiko's friends got whenever she took time off to visit them in Tokyo. They always tended to shy away when Kimiko casually mentioned things like that and steer the conversation back to boys and parties and celebrities, which always left Kimiko feeling a little awkward.

It couldn't hurt… could it? She never got any girl time anymore, and it was only one day. She wasn't gonna repeat the same mistake she made with Dyris, so what harm was there really in just hanging out with another girl and doing a little shopping?

"…I think there's a sale down at Gavio's today." Kimiko said casually when Shadow returned with a new jacket.

"Really?" Shadow said, raising an eyebrow. Kimiko had a feeling that she knew full well what the tech heiress was asking, but she was gonna play dumb until Kimiko asked her outright. At once, Kimiko's pride flared and took over.

"Yeah, I figured I might hit it once I was done here." She said, heading to the register. No way. She might be lonely and pathetic, but she wasn't about to beg. Not from Shadow, at any rate.

"They have some nice jeans there, actually." Shaodw commented as she got into line behind Kimiko with her own purchases. "Think I might join you."

…Kimiko tried very hard not to smile at that. She didn't succeed.