When The Wind Blows

A/N: So with a weird streak of inspiration to update this story - after a very VERY long wait, I shall give you a chapter and see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Chapter 5: Live

Charlie leaned forward, his hazel eyes narrowing in frustration. The guy in front of him nodded his head, his sun-kissed hair wavering in the slight breeze. He couldn't figure out this move, and Clay had offered to help him. But somehow he was starting to think it wasn't enough.

They hadn't been looking for Kimiko as much as he wanted to. She could have been out there and hurt, although judging by the blood they had found on the ground, it was definitely not a very big wound. Of course, the brunette favored over-analyzing things.

He shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet, positioning himself in a determined battle stance, watching the blonde across from him mirror his movements. He would get this down and master it, even if it was the last thing he ever did... He would do this, and then he would train a bit more, then, whether his team was with him or not he would go find Kimiko.

"Charlie..." Just as he started his attack on the Earth Dragon in front of him, a voice behind him stopped, the air he had conjured (a very rare thing for him to do), disappearing with the lack of concentration.

With anger rising into the extremes, he turned around to see Master Fung. His icy blue eyes were soft and apologetic, but even with Clay's hand resting on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, Charlie couldn't help but feel his agitation climbing.

"Yes, Master Fung?" He asked through clenched teeth; it would do no good to get mad at the man now... After all, he was still keeping him here, even though everyone knew he was indeed not the Dragon of Wind.

This killed his motivation to do anything that included training. He believed the only thing keeping him going was finding Kimiko. Though he didn't have the power his friends possessed, he had more drive to do things (except lately) than they ever would, and he knew that he had to keep going no matter what.

"May I speak with you?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow, the sun shining behind him in a perfect notion where Charlie couldn't clearly see his face; he swore the old man did that on purpose sometimes.

"Aye..." He glanced up at the cowboy standing quizzically behind him, but shrugged off the strange sense he got from his best friend.

Shaking his head, he followed Master Fung into the meditation room, where he was invited to sit and have some tea. Although he simply wanted to get back to training, he simply couldn't refuse. As he sipped his tea, he waited for the man to start their conversation, but he never did. Awkwardness arising in the situation, Charlie spoke.

"So what's this all about?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You do plan to look for Kimiko once you have trained, am I correct?"

"Umm..." He was slightly freaked out sometimes at how much Master Fung knew - he had hit the nail right on the head. "Yeah..." He simply couldn't lie to the man.

"I forbid it."

"What?" He jumped up in a rage, knocking the tea over the floor.

The other monks would not appreciate having to clean it up when it was he who made the mess in the first place, but at the moment he didn't care how much anyone else liked him. His eyes blared with a new found hate of the situation at hand - for the man forbidding him to put his plan in motion.

"You have been blinded by rage and anger at the loss of Kimiko, and your anger flares at Chase Young. I mustn't let you do something rash and irresponsible..."

"Forget rash and irresponsible!" He yelled, arms flailing in the air, his eyes narrowing in accusation, "She could be out there and hurt, or worse and -"

"Kimiko is a strong individual. Her power over fire will ensure a survival until we are ready to look for her. The Golden Tiger Claws are gone..." He let this sink in for a moment, "She has found a place to go..." He nodded then, "Trust her, and trust me."

"How can I bloody trust you when you're sentencing the girl to her death?!"

"It is not death, young one."

"The hell it isn't!" With that he stormed out of the usually peaceful room, stomping over to his own, and screeching the metal the curtain was on by sliding it shut so fast.

??

"To China? To train?" The old man questioned, running a strong hand through his graying hair.

"Papa, this is a huge opportunity!" She whined, her sapphire eyes wide with beauty and fascination, "You have no clue how wonderful this could be!"

"What about high school? It starts next year Kimi..."

"But... But..." She huffed and crossed her arms, whipping around. "I'm going to the temple to train, Papa... It's doing something important, something to help the world! And I have to do it! It's the difference I've always wanted to make!"

He smiled at her, "Where in China is this?"

She shook her head, "It's by some mountains in some forest..." She chuckled at how odd that truly sounded - he was breaking, she could tell, "But it's more in the western part, probably more south than north. Papa it's so pretty there, and they explain it's in a rural area - it'll be a good change!"

"Do you know anyone else who's going?"

"Just three others, but from different countries entirely. It'll be so exciting!"

"So long as you write me all the time, and make sure you keep up with everything you need to do..." He finally let on a big grin, so proud of his daughter, she could have cried at the time had she noticed it...

??

Sapphire eyes popped open, raven hair flying in front of her face, as she sat up and looked around. She was still on the beach, still hearing the ocean water wash back and forth on the sand. She was laying on a blanket, another tangled in between her legs.

Looking around, she saw the fire still barely alive in the pitch black of the night, and behind it the brunette mumbling to himself as he slept, a smile gracing his lips as he squeezed his eyes tighter shut and flopped over on his stomach. She could have laughed if she wasn't so jumbled about the dream.

Crawling across the sand, not caring how much was coming off of her clothes, and just how much she was adding to it all, she shook awake the brunette, "Raimundo!" She hissed, her voice quiet as the ominous looking waves curdled against the mud-like sand.

"Huh?" He flung himself up, trying to look alert even though he wasn't, his groggy eyes looking around for the source of his wake, "Oh... Kimiko?"

"I know where we're supposed to go!" She grinned at his dumbfounded expression turning into a grin.

"That's great!" He smirked, and smoothed down his shirt, then glanced back up at her, "What's wrong? You don't seem too happy..."

"It's just... I know... We're supposed to be going to..." She paused and took in a breath, puffing it out with the word, "China."

"China?" He let out a low whistle, his eyes glinting with what was left of the fire, "That's crazy... But whatever we have to do..." He trailed off, looking away out to the water.

"You don't mind?"

"I promised I'd get you back, didn't I?" He questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"But that's such a long ways away..."

He chuckled and stood up, dropped the blanket back into the sand, and slipping off his shoes... He walked closer down to the water, and put his feet on the wet sand, getting the very edge of the now seemingly peaceful wave leaking onto shore.

"How about this..." He was going to propose an idea to her.

"What?" She carefully walked to the back of him, straying away from the water she thought looked absolutely terrifying. He knew she thought that about the water, which was where the idea was going...

"You swim with me..." He smirked at her blushing complexion, "And I'll take you all the way to China until someone knows who you are!"

"No way! Absolutely not!" She took one look at the water and turned around, going back up by the warm fire, "I refuse to get in that water!"

He walked stealthly behind her, and picked her up, ignoring her protesting squeals and struggles. He had every intention to going to China with her, not wanting to abandon such a pretty girl to find her lost memory on her own. No, he would go with her even if she sobbed for him to let her down, and she never ended up going in, but it was always fun to get something out of the deal.

Exactly what he was looking for, he wasn't sure, but he just figured something interesting might come out of their experience in the water. As gracefully as he could, he tossed the struggling girl into the water, watching her body make a splash. Laughing, he dunked under himself, the cold water refreshing to his hot skin from laying to close to the fire.

She came out, spluttering and coughing, panic apparent in her eyes. She tried to dog paddle, the automatic thing for people to do when they can't swim, to the shore, but he wouldn't let her.

"I'm going to teach you how to swim..."

"Y-you're c-c-crazy!" She managed to inform him, her teeth chattering together as shivers wracked her small frame.

"We'll get out in a couple minutes..." He smirked, "It's not even that cold."

"What-t-ever..." She shuttered, as he preformed a single stroke around her.

"Try floating on your back..." He smiled, "Come on try it, swimming is a part of life, Kimi."

"Kimi?" She raised her eyebrow, slightly amused.

"It slips off the tongue, don't blame me..." He winked, and instructed her yet again to float on her back. Taking in a huge gulp of air, she steadied herself on the surface of the water, glancing around, freaked out he was going to pop out of nowhere.

She jumped anyways, when he put his hand on the small of her back. Grinning and leaning over her, he informed her that she was successfully floating on her back, and that a wave was coming, and that she was going to ride it while still on her back. Immediately she tried to flop back over, but he held her in place.

"It's really not all that hard, just take in a breath..." He told her, smiling when the wave got close, "Ready?"

"Don't let go!"

"I won't..." He laughed, and took in a breath, signaling for her to do the same. Immediately as she did this and squeezed her eyes shut, she felt his hand slip from her back, which made her freak out, but she kept still, not wanting to make the situation any worse.

After the wave was gone, he appeared again, only his eyes and the chocolate hair clinging to his face above the surface. She gasped as his hand reappeared on her back, making him smile at her.

"You were great..." He praised, raising an eyebrow, "You sure you haven't swam before?"

"How am I supposed to remember!" She shrieked, catching another small wave in her mouth because he didn't warn her this time. Scampering around in the water, she ended up clinging around his neck.

He looked at her with a slightly shocked expression, a blush creeping to both of their faces. While he still had the nerve, he quickly shot his head forward, capturing his lips with hers.

For a long while, Kimiko's mind couldn't process what was going on. The shock built up inside of her definitely wasn't something she was used to. When he tried to pull back though, she surprised herself even more, but following his lips with her own, not wanting him to back away. The kiss was pure magic, and although she didn't know where it came from, even the water that overlapped their head where he stood, the water up to his chest, Kimiko protectively held in his arms, she didn't care.

This was a part of life, and she was going to embrace it. After all, what else did she have? He was an amazing kisser... Though the possibilities of her old life were endless between already being married, and having absolutely no connection with boys at all, as the flashbacks were sketchy, jumping from some people to the next, she allowed herself to kiss this boy she had just met.

Just like she had said, it didn't matter what was going on in her real life, it was the here and now she was enjoying, Raimundo the only one with her every step of the way. They both deserved a reward...

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A/N: Wasn't expecting that, were you? Hahaha. It's been such a long time since I've written this story it's absolutely insane! Depending on how popular this story still is - perhaps I'll go and update again :D You have to leave a review to let me know of course though lol.

Charlie yes, is if you recall, English... But I've lost touch with my English accent for a long time now, and if I can get it back great! But you must give me a break when it comes to that kid. He's an OC I'm not used to in the least bit - you have to give me time to get reused to him. He might not be too English for a while :D

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the what? Two year wait :P

-zesty-