Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, any of the characters, or any of the Shen Gong Wu. They all belong to Kids'WB.

This is the last chapter everyone! Enjoy!

Chapter 12

The monks woke up at ten o'clock on Christmas day. They all (in their pajamas) went to the tree room that morning. There was four presents under the tree for each monk. Three of them were from the other monks (they had previously bought them before the blizzard) and the last one was from Master Fung and Dojo. They were color coded with their element (Kimiko's were red, Rai's were white, Omi's were blue and Clay's were yellow) in wrapping paper.

"My friends, can we open them now? Please?" Omi asked.

"Sure cue ball. You can go first," Rai said.

Omi (completely ignoring Raimundo's name calling) rushed to the tree and grabbed a box wrapped in blue.

"This is from Clay," Omi said reading the label.

He gently took off the paper (apparently wanting to keep it) and opened the box. He took out a small cowboy hat and put it on his head.

"Thank you my friend Clay! This will be most helpful on a sunny day!" Omi said.

He took another present and said, "This one is from Kimiko,"

He un-wrapped it and took out his own Pochicka Radar game.

"Thank you Kimiko, now I can teach this game a lesson in humility!" Omi said setting it aside.

He took another present and said that it was from Raimundo. He opened it and took out 'The Book of Slang'.

"Ah! Now I will be able to understand everything you all are saying! Thank you Raimundo!" Omi said.

Master Fung then walked into the room.

"Young monks," he began. "I would like to request that you all open mine and Dojo's gift last,"

"Yes Master," Omi said. "Raimundo, would you like to go now?"

"Sure," Rai said. He reached for one of his gifts. "From, Clay,"

He opened it up and took out a lasso.

"Thanks Clay," Rai began. "I always thought trick roping looked interesting,"

"It is!" Clay said.

Rai reached for Omi's gift and opened it. He took out a snow globe with a snowman inside.

Raimundo shook it up then said, "Wow, it's really nice! Thanks Omi!"

Omi gave a big grin.

Rai reached for Kimiko's present and opened it. He took out a soccer ball with three signatures from Brazil's professional soccer team. The signatures were his three favorite players.

"How did you get this?" Rai asked.

"My dad has connections!" Kimiko said.

"Wow! Thanks a bunch!" Rai said. "Okay Clay, your turn,"

"Alright then," Clay said reaching for Omi's present.

He opened it and took out a new pair of boots.

"Thank you buddy!" Clay said. "These ones were getting a little torn up!"

Clay reached for Kimiko's present and un-wrapped it. He took out a game called 'Lasso Adventure'.

"Thanks Kim, this looks interesting," Clay said.

"Yeah, it's one of my dad's latest games. He said when you guys visited, he was struck with inspiration," Kimiko said.

Clay opened Rai's gift and took out some sort of country CD that no one else had ever heard of.

"Thanks buddy! I've been waiting a long time to finally listen to this CD!" Clay said.

"You're welcome!" Rai said. "Kimiko, your turn,"

"Okay," Kimiko said. She took out Clay's gift and un-wrapped it. She took out 'The Book of Hairstyles v.5.0'.

"Thanks Clay!" Kimiko said. "I can probably get some inspiration from this!"

She reached for Omi's gift, un-wrapped it and took out a pair of blue high tops.

"Wow, Omi, thanks!" Kimiko said.

Kimiko reached for Rai's gift and opened it. She took out a pair of small hoop earrings with a flame in the center.

"Rai, they're beautiful! Thank you so much!" Kimiko said giving Rai a smile.

"No problem," Rai said.

"Young monks," Master Fung began. "Now I would like for you to open mine and Dojo's gift,"

The as they were told and took the last gifts. They each opened theirs and inside it and inside each there was a circular bracelet that went half way up to the elbow from the hand. Each was silver and thick.

"Uh, Master Fung?" Rai asked.

"Yes my young Shoku Warrior?"

"Not to be rude or anything, but what exactly is this?"

"These are your elemental battle shields. When calling out your element while wearing the bracelet, it turns into an un-breakable shield," Master Fung explained.

"Can we try them out?" Kimiko asked.

"But of course," Master Fung said.

Rai put the bracelet on his left arm and then called out, "Wind!"

Out of nowhere, a circular shield appeared. The wind was flowing through it and never stopped moving.

"Raimundo, when you are attacked the wind from your shield will extend and throw the enemy in any direction you please," Master Fung explained. "This is the same for all of your shields,"

"Cool!" Rai said removing the bracelet (the shield vanished after it's removed).

Omi put his on and then called out, "Water!"

A circular shield appeared and water was flowing through it. Just like Rai's, it never stopped flowing.

"Most amazing!" Omi said taking it off.

Clay put his on then called out, "Earth!"

Again, a circular shield appeared. It was made of rock and sand. The sand was moving around and never stopped.

"Well I'll be!" Clay said taking it off. "This is one mighty fine shield Master Fung sir!"

Kimiko put hers on and called out, "Fire!"

Once more, a circular shield appeared. Fire was burning and flickering through it, (a/n: AND GUESS WHAT?) but it never stopped moving within the shield.

"Thank you Master Fung!" Kimiko said taking it off.

"Each shield represents something different. Raimundo, your shield resembles freedom and happiness. The more free and happy you are, the tougher your shield will be. If you fail to do these while you are using your shield, it will vanish. Omi, your shield represents being fierce and graceful. Just as Raimundo's shield, you must be calm and graceful when using your shield, or else it will vanish. Clay, your shield represents toughness and loyalty. If you fail to be tough and loyal, your shield will vanish as well. Kimiko, your shield represents faith and being calm. If you fail to be faithful or calm, your shield will vanish," Master Fung explained. "Understood?"

"Yes Master Fung!" they four monks said.

"Now enjoy the rest of your day," Master Fung said leaving the room.

"Kimiko must be calm while using her shield? That means that her shield will vanish a lot!" Omi said.

"EXCUSE ME?" Kimiko yelled.

"Hehe, never mind," Omi said obviously scared.

The monks went to change into their robes and then went to breakfast. Clay had made some French toast and hot chocolate for everyone. Omi sat next to Clay and Kimiko next to Raimundo.

"So Kimiko," Omi started. "How many cranes do you have now?"

"Nine hundred and fourteen," Kimiko said.

"Nine hundred and fourteen?" the three boys shouted.

"Yeah," Kimiko said.

"Have you ever done this before?" Clay asked.

"No, but Keiko has. Her wish did actually come true," Kimiko said.

"What was her wish?" Rai asked.

"Her mom used to be really sick, and she had to stay in the hospital for six months. Keiko wished that her mom would recover, and she did," Kimiko said.

"That's amazing!" Rai said.

"So hopefully, it'll work for me too. I want to try to finish tonight," Kimiko said.

"Does it matter when you finish?" Rai asked.

"No, I just want to finish it tonight,"

After breakfast they all went and fiddled with their gifts for a while and hung out in the tree room.

"Raimundo," Omi said looking at the slang book. "I do not get why we say, 'what's up' instead of 'what's down,'"

"Doesn't it say it in the book?" Rai asked playing with his soccer ball.

"Yes,"

"So, why'd you ask me?"

"Because it says: You say 'what's up' because 'up' will also refer to 'new' or asking someone 'how are you doing?'" Omi said.

"Yeah," Rai said. "That makes sense,"

"Oh, my horribleness," Omi said.

"Flip to page twenty-nine," Rai said with his head in his hand.

Omi flipped the pages then said, "Oh, my bad,"

"Omi," Kimiko said. "Considering it's you, I think that it's best to just ignore the explanation, and just say what's written in the book,"

"Yeah partner," Clay said. "Sometimes you can understand things like a deaf dog being told to sit,"

"Oh! Where is that in the book?" Omi said flipping through the pages.

"Omi, it's the book of slang, not the book of strange metaphors," Rai said.

"Hey!" Clay said.

Until it was dinner time, the monks had been teaching Omi slang and Kimiko had folded some more cranes. For dinner, Kimiko had cooked some spaghetti for them all. She said that she should cook for once and give Clay a break.

They all sat down in the same seats and began to eat. When they finished eating, they all stayed at the table and just talked. It was very peaceful, that is until, Omi jumped up onto the table.

"My friends look!" Omi said pointing out side to the window.

The all looked outside, and this time, they actually were able to look outside. The snow had completely stopped and the full moon and the stars were shinning brightly.

"It stopped snowing!" Kimiko said.

With out discussing it, they all immediately changed into their winter clothes and ran out side.

They were all screaming with joy while diving into the snow and throwing snowballs at each other.

The snow was very deep and there were a few spots that were extremely deep and Omi had fallen into some of them. They, of course, found him and resumed to throw snow at each other.

After a while, Kimiko walked over to Rai, grabbed his hand and brought him to the cherry blossom tree.

"What's wrong Kim?" Raimundo asked.

"My wish was to tell you something really important," Kimiko said.

Rai was silent.

"And I thought that making these cranes would bring up my courage to tell you," Kimiko said. "But now I realize that there is not enough courage in the world to make my wish come true,"

"Why are you telling me this?" Rai asked.

"Because you were so curious about what my wish was," Kimiko said.

They stood in silence for a minute until Rai said, "Kimiko, I wasn't lying when I said that I had a wish,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you see, my wish, is for your wish to come true. I want you to be happy Kimiko," Rai said. "But you don't need to wish for courage Kim, you already have courage,"

"Thank you. That's really sweet of you," Kimiko said.

Rai blushed then said, "So, do you want to tell me?"

"You know I want to tell you, but I'm afraid,"

"Afraid of what?"

"I can't tell you!"

"What you're afraid of?

"What my wish is!"

"Why not?"

Kimiko, being a bit annoyed at this point yelled, "BECAUSE I KNOW THAT YOU'LL REJECT ME!"

Kimiko immediately put her hands over her mouth and Rai stood silent.

"Kim," Rai said softly.

"Rai," Kimiko said equally soft. "I love you,"

"What?"

"I love you! My wish was to tell you that I love you Rai! I love you!"

Rai stood there a bit confused at what just happened.

"But I know that you would reject me, because you think that we're just friends," Kimiko said. "That's why I was afraid,"

"You had no reason to be afraid Kimiko," Rai said softly. "I love you too,"

Raimundo pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. She returned the hug.

She pulled away then asked, "Y…you do?"

"Yes Kimiko! I love you! But, now that I said it, I can't stop saying it! I love you, I love you, I love you!" Rai said.

Kimiko gave him a smile and they both began to lean in. Then they kissed. They both loved it, knowing that this time; they were kissing with their own will. Kimiko wrapped her hands around Rai's neck and he wrapped his hands around her waist. After what seemed to be like forever, they pulled apart, both blushing and their hands still around each other.

"There's not mistletoe around, right?" Kimiko asked.

Rai looked up, "Nope, just some snow," They kissed once more.

Speaking of snow, within one second of the kiss, the snow from the cherry blossom immediately was disturbed from a snowball thrown by Omi. All of the snow fell on Raimundo and Kimiko.

They both stood up again and started laughing, and then they saw Omi and Clay waving.

"My friends!" Omi shouted.

"Yeah?" Rai shouted.

"You all promised that when the snow stopped, we would make a snowman!" Omi called.

"Okay! We'll be right down!" Rai called out.

Rai held out his hand to Kimiko and she took it. They both ran down and joined Omi and Clay to make a snowman. They all knew that this was a Christmas to remember.

-The End-

END OF STORY PARTY TIME!

xD

Besides the last sentence of this story, I really liked it! xD Any who, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this story, and everyone who is planning to review this story! I was practically tearing up while writing this. Not because it was sad because I didn't want it to end! Anyways, review and tell me what you thought of it! I'll be uploading more stories soon!

vivi-raikim14