AN: Just a short simple little one-shot I managed to come up with. Interesting fact - started as a Jack/OC fic, then the OC turned into Kimiko who then turned into Rai. This takes place between Crystal Glasses and Pandatown, which really has little importance- it's just the only time in the series where Jack's with Wuya and Rai's the only non-apprentice. I think. XP So read and review!

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The plan was simple. In and out. Infiltrate the Xiaolin Temple, steal the Shen Gong Wu, and leave. Easy breezy. It should have gone off without a hitch.

Should have.

Nighttime was the best time to steal Shen Gong Wu; if you did it quietly, the monks would just sleep through your thievery. And so Jack Spicer made his sneakiest attempt yet to grab the Wu - and still he was thwarted.

The midnight stars blazed in the sky above as the evil boy genius tiptoed through the temple grounds. It was a warm night - crickets chirped lazily in the yard. He was careful not to step on any; Jack was aware of the old Asian myth.

"In and out," He repeated to himself, as he made his way toward the vault. "Sneak in, steal the Wu, report back to smelly ghost witch." He jumped over a cricket and repeated the words, "Sneak in, steal the Wu, report back to smelly ghost witch. Sneak, steal, report. Sneak, steal, report..."

Easy breezy. It should have gone off without a hitch.

But as Jack rounded the corner, he knew the plan would fail. For there outside the vault, sat the Dragon of the Wind.

"Damn," Jack hissed. Even if one warrior was awake, it was cause for alarm. They were all dangerous - and even if Raimundo was not yet an apprentice, he was still a formidable foe.

But, Jack observed, Raimundo did not seem to be paying any attention to Jack. The young monk was staring up at the sky, observing the blazing stars with a forlorn kind of air. Perhaps, Jack thought, he could just sneak past the monk.

It proved easy to do. Raimundo was staring straight up into the sky, his head tilted far back to get as many as the stars in his line of vision as he could. If Jack just stayed to Raimundo's right and took tiny steps he could - aha! He was in!

But something about this victory seemed unsatisfying to Jack. He glanced anxiously in the direction of the Shen Gong Wu, but it still didn't feel as good as it should. He looked back at Raimundo and frowned. He knew it - it was too easy.

Jack sighed, but strode back over to Raimundo anyway. He stood there for a few minutes on Raimundo's right, waiting to be noticed. After a few seconds of silence, Jack leaned forward. "Uh, hello?"

The boy's eyes slid in Jack's direction for a second, then slid back up to the sky. "Oh, hey Jack."

Jack felt his jaw drop a little. "Alright, well, I'll just be stealing your Wu, then." He took a step toward the vault and paused to see if Rai would stop him.

But Rai just kept staring at the sky. Absentmindedly, he murmured, "Alright, go ahead."

Jack's jaw hit the floor, and he bounced back over to Raimundo's side. "What! You're just going to let me do it! Just going to let me waltz right in and take as many Shen Gong Wu as I want? No fight, no TYPHOON BOOM, no nothing!"

Raimundo lowered his head and sighed. "I'm not in the mood, alright?"

The tone he used stopped Jack dead in his track. And for some reason, he could not find it in himself to enter the vault. Was this some new technique the monks had learned?

Jack was revolted as he realized he was feeling sympathy for this boy - and Jack very rarely felt sympathy. Against his better judgment, Jack found himself sitting next to Raimundo.

"Uh - you wanna talk about it?" He asked, lamely. He could feel a fire burning in his cheeks, he wondered very briefly what the heck he was doing. But the thought fled as Raimundo began to talk.

"My mother's...dead," the boy said, in a strange tone. He sounded strangled, and Jack had the most horrifying feeling that Rai was holding back tears.

"Oh," Jack said, numbly, "I'm sorry."

Rai was silent for a moment, and his gaze traveled back up toward the stars for a second, then flickered back to the ground. "It was pneumonia." A twisted sort of smirk came across his face. "Pneumonia." He mocked the word.

Jack blinked. "Isn't there a, er, cure for that?"

Rai laughed. "Yeah, sure is." He shook his head. "Mom was poor, though. She never woulda been able to afford it." A weak laugh escaped him. "She couldn't even afford me - sent me off to live with the Brazilian circus. Then it was off to this circus."

Jack - spoiled boy genius whose rich parents gave him everything he ever wanted - blanched at the idea of 'poor'. "Well, couldn't you have sold some of the Wu? I've been checking - this guy named Pandabubba, he'll give a lot of dough for--"

Raimundo interrupted. "She never told me. Not once in any of the letters she wrote did she ever mention the fact that she was dying. And it's not like she stopped all of sudden - I got a letter everyday...up til the day she died." He laughed, a laugh that made Jack feel a bit uneasy, "But you know, I probably would have sold the Wu, if I had known." He smirked a bit and looked up at the sky, "Guess we're not too different after all, Jack."

Jack turned his gaze to the blazing stars. "Yeah - maybe not. Wuya got us both, didn't she?"

He was staring dazedly at the stars, reflecting on everything Raimundo has just said, when he felt the intense gaze upon him. He turned slowly, finding the Brazilian boy staring at him with a strange look upon his face.

And suddenly, it happened. He didn't know if he had started it, or if the other boy had, but suddenly they were kissing. And all Jack could think was, Oh - so that's why I didn't raid the vault.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Jack found himself staring at the other boy, who was staring just as intensely back, looking rather and very confused.

"Rai!" A girl's voice came from over the rooftop. Kimiko. "Rai, partner, you here?" Followed by Clay. "RAIMUNDO!" Omi, too.

Jack turned to see where the other monks where, and had just barely gotten a glimpse of Kimiko turning the corner when he was flying through the air.

"TYPHOON BOOM!" He heard Raimundo shout. "And don't EVER try to steal our Shen Gong Wu again!"

Jack soared through the air, feeling more confused than he had ever felt in his life. And with Jack, that's saying something.