A/N - So I started this fic about three years ago and have worked on it on and off since then. I only just finally got around to finishing it =P Anywho, because I worked on this piece over the course of three years, it's a bit all over the place and for that I apologize. But whatever, enjoy it anyway =D

Disclaimer - Xiaolin Showdown does not belong to me. Nor do I own The Wedding Singer The Musical which is what this was originally inspired by way back when.

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"So, remind me why we're here again?"

Kimiko Tohomiko glared at the brunette from over the top of a dress rack. "For the millionth time Rai, I need a new dress for my papa's party!"

"Kim, you've got tons of dresses back at the temple," he said, rolling his eyes at the thought of the girl's wardrobe. "And you'd look great in any of them," he added in a mumble.

"I'm sorry," she said with a cold look, thinking he had made some rude comment. "I didn't catch that last part."

"Never mind. But really, why am I here?"

Kimiko sighed. This was so typical. "Well, I wanted a second opinion. On the dress I mean."

"You're going to make me ask again, aren't you? Honestly, why me? You know I hate shopping!"

"Who was I supposed to bring?" she asked incredulously. "Clay would head straight to the food court, Master Fung has no fashion sense, Dojo's a dragon, and you can imagine what it would be like taking Omi shopping!" the girl cried in exasperation.

Raimundo chuckled at the thought of letting their bald headed friend run loose in a mall.

"It isn't funny Rai! Besides," she continued, seeming to choose her words carefully. "I thought maybe we could spend some time together. We've been so busy lately, I really can't remember the last time we got to hang out." This was for the most part true. Ever since he had become leader, their training had been kicked up a notch and they never had time to just relax or have fun. Kimiko had thought that a nice trip to the mall would be a good break for them and maybe even bring them a bit closer together, but Raimundo obviously thought otherwise. "I guess if this is just so horrible for you, you could always take the Silver Manta Ray and go home," she suggested. "I'm sure Dojo wouldn't mind picking me up when I'm done."

Raimundo looked slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected her to tell him he should leave. Truth be told, he was actually kind of enjoying their time together.

"Nah, it's cool. Just pushin' your buttons girl," he grinned.

"Oh, grow up," she muttered, sending him yet another glare

Raimundo began to argue when he was cut off by someone.

"I'm sorry I don't mean to seem nosey, but, well..."

Both Rai and Kim looked up to see a middle aged saleswoman speaking to them.

"Well, it's just that I see young couples fight in here all the time. You two look so cute together and I'd just hate to see your relationship fall to pieces over a silly argument. Why not tell yourselves you're both wrong or both right? Maybe then you'll make up faster."

Kimiko and Raimundo exchanged glances before bursting into peals of laughter.

"We... we're not..." Kimiko said between spouts of giggles. "It's not that kind of thing," she finished in an almost convincing tone. Almost. The saleswoman raised an eyebrow.

Kimiko glanced at Rai, silently pleading for help. "Yeah," he began uncertainly. She could tell he was scheming up a perfect way out of this. "We fight all the time 'cause we're, uh... we're siblings! Yeah, that's it..."

The Dragon of Fire felt like smacking herself on the forehead. 'So much for perfect.' The saleswoman's eyebrows arched even further. She looked the pair up and down, but said nothing.

Realizing the awkwardness of the situation, Kimiko grabbed Raimundo's hand and began pulling him out of the store.

"Well bro, I don't think any of these dresses are really what I'm looking for." She turned to the woman saying, "We'll just be going now."

They were gone before the woman could even blink.

"God, you are such a moron! Siblings?! Seriously Rai, do we look anything alike?"

"Hey, we could be adopted for all she knows. Anyway, it's not like you had any better ideas." the boy scoffed.

"Yeah well, I was gonna..." she trailed off, her eyes drifting away from the Dragon of Wind to something in the distance. "Ooh, a sale! Let's go!" Kimiko exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as she stared hungrily at the bright signs. Grabbing his hand she began to drag him across the mall.

The Dragon of Wind rolled his eyes and dug his heels into the ground in an attempt to slow the girl down. "Uh, Kimiko, that's the housewares department. I don't think you'll find a dress in there."

"Hm, good point." She blushed deeply before apologizing, "Sorry, it's like a disease. The sale signs hypnotize me."

He chuckled softly at her response. "I noticed."

She glowered at him, but soon found herself smiling. "Rai," she began, but for the second time that day, their playful banter was interrupted.

"Honey, look! A sale on towels!"

The pair turned to see that the loud cry had come from a relatively young couple heading towards the same sale signs Kimiko had pointed out just moments before.

"Ooh! These are so kee-yute!" the woman exclaimed as she held up a towel and examined its floral print. "Will you hold my purse for me while I look?" she asked her companion, holding the small bag out to him. He stared blankly at it for a few moments before looking back at his girlfriend.

"Baby please. No," he answered flatly.

The Xiaolin Dragons in training watched in amusement as the girl turned to her beau with a look that could kill. She stomped her foot down and growled, "I said hold it!"

The poor guy took a slight step back before taking the purse, acknowledging he had lost the battle.

Kimiko turned from the scene to Rai, only to find him staring right at her. He raised an eyebrow before snorting, "That guy is such a wuss!"

She merely giggled before replying, "Well, I guess we know who wears the pants in that relationship."

"Yeah..." he trailed, clearly getting lost in some sort of dream world. She stared at his thoughtful expression for a moment before waving a hand in front of his face.

"Hello? Earth to Rai..."

"Sorry, it's just," he paused to consider if he should voice his thoughts. "Well, do you think that's how we seemed to be acting in front of that woman earlier?"

Kimiko opened her mouth to tell him that was absolutely ridiculous, but immediately stopped when she actually thought about it. 'Okay, so we weren't actually fighting. It was just our usual bickering. More like a joke really. Could other people see it as a couple's fight?' She blushed at the thought.

Realizing Rai was still waiting for an answer, she quickly recovered and responded with "Who knows? That lady was off her rocker anyway."

"True that," he agreed with a smirk. "Completely nuts. I mean, who goes up to people and says stuff like that?"

Kimiko began to laugh but was suddenly interrupted by the rumbling of a stomach. She turned to her companion, who shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"Rai needs food," he stated simply, rubbing his tummy for emphasis.

"Come on," she sighed with a smile.

Arms linked, the pair headed off to the food court.

"So..." she began, picking at the sushi on the plate in front of her.

Rai was nearly on his third slice of pepperoni pizza and she had barely touched her food. Obviously their first intimate dinner together (well, as intimate as you can get in a public food court) was not as nerve racking for him as it was for her.

In fact, not only was this her first dinner alone with Raimundo but it was her first time eating dinner with him in what felt like forever. Ever since he had become Shoku Warrior and her new leader, Raimundo had been having extra one on one training sessions with Master Fung everyday early in the morning. And on top of that, he had training with herself, Clay and Omi everyday from noon until early evening. Needless to say, when Rai wasn't training he was exhausted. This in turn resulted in him skipping out on dinner most of the time. And on those rare occasions when he was there, he was usually half asleep with his head dropping dangerously low to his plate. Kimiko could not even begin to fathom how he managed. Regardless, just the other day, she had overheard Master Fung and another monk discussing Raimundo's request for even more training.

Kimiko turned her gaze from her barely eaten plate of sushi to the boy sitting across from her.

'Boy? No,' she thought suddenly. While it was true that Rai had not been leader for very long, the new position had certainly contributed a great deal to Rai's transformation into the young man Kimiko now found herself unable to look away from. 'He's just so... mature compared to the annoying prankster I met three years ago.'

Suddenly getting the feeling that she was being watched, she came back to reality, her vision only to be met by a pair of confused emerald eyes.

"What? Is there something on my face?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled by his pepperoni and cheese filled mouth.

Kimiko shook her head vigorously, embarrassed with herself for getting caught staring. She fought down a blush while averting her attention to picking at the food in front of her.

'So Rai has definitely matured a lot recently, why haven't his eating habits changed?' she smiled to herself.

"Ay girl, what are you thinking about over there?"

"About you," she blurted absentmindedly.

Raimundo's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he choked on a large hunk of pizza.

Realizing what she just said, Kimiko attempted to recover in the quickest and least humiliating way possible.

"Uh, I mean..." she stuttered, hands wringing her chopsticks nervously. "I-I was just thinking about how we don't spend as much time together as we used to... before you became leader. We were best friends..."

As he listened to her confession, his eyes softened. "We still are Kim. But I have a lot of responsibilities now, and I feel like with everything that went on in my past, I just... I really need to prove myself."

"I know. I mean, I get it." she smiled. "I just miss when we used to goof around all the time."

"What do you think we're doing now?" he grinned, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call this goofing off. I mean, we did come here on a mission to find me a new dress."

"What are we sitting here waiting for then? Raimundo Pedrosa has never failed a mission and he's not about to start now!" he exclaimed with a pump of his fist.

She smiled at him wearily replying, "Love the enthusiasm, but Kimiko Tohomiko is tired and thinks she has seen every dress this mall has to offer. Sorry Rai, but maybe I'll just do some quick shopping when I get to Tokyo before the party. Besides, I know you're probably dying to get out of here so..."

"Oh Kim, don't tell me you're going to give up that easily!" he cut in hastily. To be honest, it's not that he really wanted to keep shopping. He just wanted some more one on one time with her before they went back to the temple. Because everything she had said earlier was completely true. Now that he was leader, he had little free time where he wasn't too tired to do anything and he felt that, as silly a thought as it was, his friendship with her was slipping. He knew that without a doubt they would always be best friends no matter what. However, he thought recently they had been making progress to becoming something a bit more. That is, until his Shoku training took over his life and things basically went back to the way they were. He knew he'd be lying if he said he expected to get anything more out of their outing together other than a time well spent with his best friend but a guy can hope, right?

"You know Rai," Kimiko began, "I think that you just might be right... for once," she added as a little afterthought and enjoying the playful glare it received.

"C'mon Kimiko. The mall closes in an hour and you still haven't even tried on one dress let alone find one you like!" Raimundo complained, feeling exhausted from the hours of walking around. He was now regretting his urging her to continue onward in her search for the perfect dress.

He stopped walking and plopped down on a conveniently placed bench.

Kimiko frowned , slumping down onto the seat next to him. "Maybe I should just give up," she said, sounding defeated. "I mean, you were right with what you said before, I don't need a new dress. I just wanted one because..."

"It's a girl thing," he finished, receiving a questioning look. "I've got five sisters," he explained. "Trust me, I know."

She gave him a sad smile before turning her gaze away. Raimundo couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl sitting next to him.

"So, uh, what's this party for anyway?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, well, it's for the grand opening of the first Tohomiko Electronics store."

Raimundo turned to her with a confused expression on his face. "But I thought there already was a store. That building where we first met your dad..."

But she shook her head, replying, "No. That was the headquarters. There are a lot of offices there, and the factory, which you saw, but they don't actually sell anything there. Up until now, Tohomiko Electronics has just sold their products through other retailers."

"Oh. So this grand opening is a pretty big deal, huh?"

"The biggest," she stated, sliding down further into the bench.

"And it's really important that you look your absolute best, right?"

"Yup," she replied with a sigh. "My dad even wants me to have an escort," she added in a mumble, more to herself than anything.

Raimundo fought down a blush and a bit of jealousy after hearing that. Attempting to ignore the idea of Kimiko being escorted by some guy other than himself, he continued, "Well, let's keep going then. We can go back to that first store we were in." Her head snapped towards him, eyes wide. "Oh, don't give me that surprised look, I saw you eyeing some dresses in there."

"You mean the store with the crazy lady?" she groaned. "What if she's still there?"

"Don't worry, her shift is probably over by now. And if it's not, who cares?" he said with a shrug. "Look, do you really want to go home empty handed?"

"Well, I guess not but..." she trailed, scratching her head.

"Nuh-uh, no 'buts'! This is supposed to be an important night for you and your dad! You have to look amazing."

At this, Kimiko gasped, feigning offense. "You mean I don't always look amazing?"

The split second of sheer panic in Raimundo's face was enough to make her smile.

Realizing she was only joking, Rai began to laugh. "That's my girl!" he exclaimed, jokingly giving her cheek a small pinch. "Always willing to soldier through for the sake of fashion!"

Rolling her eyes, she pushed him away lightly, hoping he didn't notice that her face had reddened significantly when he had said 'my girl'.

"C'mon Kimiko, we gotta get movin'!" The girl looked up to see her companion was already two stores down.

"Um, Rai? The dress shop is that way," she said, pointing in the opposite direction.

"...Right."

"Red or blue?"

"Huh?"

Kimiko turned away from the mirror, slightly annoyed that he wasn't listening. "I asked which dress you like better, the red one or the blue?"

"Blue," Rai answered without even looking up from where he sat half dozing.

"Really? Because I was leaning more towards the red..."

Raimundo groaned, slumping lower into his chair. "Then why did you bother asking me?"

Kimiko only shrugged in reply, turning back to the mirror and examining herself as she held each dress in front of her. She swayed a bit, examining each one with a careful eye. "On second thought, I don't want either of these," she decided, tossing both dresses into the growing pile at her feet.

At this, Raimundo nearly fell out of his chair. "Girl, you've got to be joking. They're going to close up shop in less than twenty minutes and pretty soon the temple is gonna send out a search party!"

Kimiko glared at him with her hands on her hips, clearly not amused. "Ha ha, very funny Rai. Let me just have one more look around and then we can leave."

Knowing she wouldn't take no for an answer, he nodded slowly, waving her off. She smiled in thanks before heading back out into the store.

As soon as she was gone, Raimundo proceeded to lean aback in his chair in the dressing room hallway, attempting to allow himself to nod off into a quick nap before he would need to make the late night drive back to the temple in the Silver Manta Ray. Unfortunately, his mind was buzzing with too much activity to allow him that luxury.

While trying to drift off, his mind kept wandering back to what Kimiko had said earlier about her father wanting her to have an escort. Just the thought gave him an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Did she have someone in mind? Or did she already make plans to go with someone? Raimundo didn't really like the idea of Kimiko spending the night with some guy he didn't know. He hated to admit it, but he'd be happier is she were going with Clay or even Omi! Sure, it would probably make him a little jealous, but at least then...

'Wait a minute, jealous?!? And of Clay and Omi, what the heck? I mean, it's just Kimiko. Raimundo, get a grip, man!' his mind screamed at him. Groaning, he allowed his head to fall into his hands and he began to massage his temples in attempt to sort through his jumbled thoughts.

"Hey, Rai?" he heard Kimiko's voice call to him timidly and he almost jumped at the shock of the small sound snapping him out of his thoughts. "What do you think of this one?"

While lost in his own world, Raimundo had failed to notice that Kimiko had not only returned to her dressing room but had also tried on yet another dress. She was now standing a few feet in front of him, awaiting his opinion.

And for once, the cocky Raimundo Pedrosa found himself speechless.

Now, in Rai's experience, he generally noticed that when a girl puts on a pretty dress, they tend to look as if they've been transformed into some stunning beauty. And while the simple, black dress fit Kimiko perfectly, Raimundo just knew that to anyone else, she would have looked somewhat haggard in appearance. Her hair was falling out of place from the nice ponytail it had been in that morning and he could detect faint shadows under her eyes, reflecting her exhaustion caused by the day's events. Despite her weariness however, she was still able to, as usual, hold her hands on her hips and glare at him, taking his silence to mean something bad.

No, Raimundo reasoned that this dress had not transformed her into a stunning beauty because he thought that she looked stunning just the way she was.

And even though he could have voiced all of the above and in turn swept her off of her feet, all he could manage was a lame, "It looks great."

"Really?" she gushed, all traces of annoyance gone. "That's great! Yeah, I really like this one. It's very form fitting, no?" She twirled as if to prove her point.

Raimundo couldn't help but roll his eyes at her sudden mood change as he stood up and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her spinning. She gave him a questioning look before he stated, "The tag is sticking out."

Her mouth formed a small 'oh' before she glanced up at him, watching his blank face while she felt his arm snake around to the back of her neck. Her whole body shivered involuntarily as his fingers brushed against her back, pushing the tag back beneath the fabric.

"Um, Rai?" Kimiko breathed out suddenly, noticing his touch still lingering on her skin.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Raimundo found himself moving forward and his lips pressed firmly against Kimiko's. Bewildered by his sudden actions and Kimiko's lack of response, Raimundo made to pull away until he felt her lips curve upwards into a smile and she began to kiss back.

"Eh-hem..."

At the sound of the small cough, the Xiaolin Warriors jumped apart, turning to look at their interrupter.

There, standing in the doorway of the dressing room area was the saleswoman they had encountered much earlier in the day. She smiled knowingly before turning to head back out into the store. "Not that kind of thing, hmmm?" she chuckled lightly over her should before disappearing into the store.

Rai could only stare after her, wondering just how much stranger this day could get. Shaking his head, he turned his head back towards Kimiko only to find her shuffling nervously and staring at the ground.

"Hey, Rai?" she asked meekly.

Shifting his whole body to face her, he suddenly felt himself get a little nervous too. "Yeah?"

"Well, I still need an escort to the party..." she trailed, looking up at him uncertainly.

Raimundo felt his trademark smirk return at hearing her statement. "Oh? And are you asking me to be your escort?"

Kimiko found herself smirking as well. "Maybe," she replied.

"Well then maybe I'd be honored," he answered, grin widening.

"Great!" the girl exclaimed, reaching up on her tiptoes to peck him lightly on the cheek. "You'll need a new suit so we'll have to go shopping again tomorrow, kay?"

"Uh-huh," Raimundo replied, grinning goofily to himself, not exactly realizing what he had agreed to while in his love-dovey stupor.

'Yup,' he thought. 'Shopping again tomor-... wait, WHAT?!?'

Fin

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Well, that was... eh. I guess it makes me realize just how out of touch I am with these characters. But anyways, as always please review! I appreciate every review I get!! Constructive criticism is welcome too, of course. Oh, and feel free to point out any glaring errors (if there are any). I only read it over like, twice, so I may have missed something XP

Stormy