Kaia stared at the red roses that Turbine had brought in today while she was asleep. She loved the color red. He was so nice to have gotten her roses of her favorite color. Her eyes moved to the many get well cards that were now forming a wall in front of the roses. They were all from her closest friends. Turbine, of course, Bill, the Boz, and one from Blocken. She was happy to know that they were all thinking of her. A sudden, quiet knock on the door stirred Kaia from her gifts.

"Come in." She called. Turbine never knocked on the door, he always made a bunch of noise as he came down the hall, so it must have been someone else.

A familiar sombrero entered the doorway and Kaia wondered why he came to see her.

"How are you doing?" Peyote asked as he closed the door behind him.

"I'm fine. I am numb from laying in this bed all day but my foot doesn't bother me as much." Kaia smiled.

"That's good." Peyote sat down in the chair next to the bed. "I heard you were in the hospital so I thought I would come to see you, if that's okay with Turbine."

"I'm sure he won't mind." She smiled sweetly.

"I don't know. I think he doesn't like me very well." Peyote said.

"I wouldn't like someone who would never show their face either." Kaia teased but Peyote took it the other way.

"I suppose I could take my mask off once in awhile." He said as he took his sombrero off and took his bandana and goggles down to hang around his neck. "Is that better?"

Kaia nodded as she observed Peyote's face. His head was half shaved, except for a lock of red hair that hung over the left side of his face. His eyes showed hardly any emotion, only alertness. She could barely feel his aura now. It was very sad, Kaia almost felt sad herself. She was determined to know why. Her curiousity was often a curse.

"Why are you so sad?" She asked him.

"What?" He asked, suprised at her question.

"I sense that you are sad. Why?"

"It's nothing you should be concerned about."

"People shouldn't be weighed down by burdens or regrets. People should be as free as birds, not having to worry about things that they can't control." Kaia said her favorite philosophy.

"My friends were stupid and got into fights all the time. That's what they got for being as free as birds." Peyote squinted his eyes at nothing.

"Your friends... That's why you're sad?" Peyote nodded. "I lost my parents when I was young but for some reason, I am not sad. But when I do get sad about other things, Turbine is always there to help me." Kaia smiled at the ceiling as she laid in the bedsheets. "I'll be your friend, Peyote." She turned to face him and held out her porcelain hand from the white sheets.

He stared at her hand for a minute, unsure of what to do. "I guess." He mumbled to himself as he took her small hand in his gloved hand.

Kaia's stomache rumbled and she sighed, letting go of Peyote's hand.

"Oh, I also thought you would be tired of the food they gave you here so I brought you something." Peyote remembered as he pulled out an aluminum foil wrapped object from his leather bag and handed it to her.

"Thanks Peyote!" Kaia exclaimed as she unwrapped it and found a cheeseburger. She hadn't had one of those for so long! As she ate, trying not to scarf it down, she remembered her first cheeseburger when they were dropped off from the Patch Jumbo Jet and Turbine got her something to eat at a diner.

As Kaia finished her cheeseburger, the doctor came in to the room. "Kaia, we have done some more x-ray scans and decided that you can go home now. But you must take it easy and come back in a month."

"You hear that Peyote? I can go home now!" Kaia grinned at Peyote.

"I'll take you home then." Peyote smiled slightly as he watched the girl limp around excitedly and then trip and fall on her blankets that had tangled up around her cast. He knew that she was okay when she started laughing at herself.

Kaia rambled on and on about how good the cheeseburger was as Turbine's face went red with anger.

"So he's your friend now!?" Turbine raised his voice as he stood up from his chair, enraged.

"Peyote is my friend." Kaia admitted, not affected by Turbine's angry aura. She simply ignored it as she nibbled a cookie Bill had passed to her. "Peyote is lonely and that's why he came to see me." She looked up at Turbine and smiled. "Don't worry Turbine, you'll always be my bestest friend."

In all of his rage, he was quickly tamed by the small girl's sweet words and smile combination so he sat back down calmly. He couldn't get mad at her. She didn't understand. The situation was nothing to her, she only thought that she was friends with him. Turbine knew better. He knew about the evil that humans could do, he's seen it before. Like how Kaia lived as an orphan in the streets of Baghdad for all those years. She was persecuted for her red hair and was going to be burned at the stake for it. That's when Turbine's senses were awakened and he decided that humans could no longer exist. He and Kaia would follow the calling of the comet, sensing that it was no ordinary comet for humans to gaze at. When they finally arrived in Japan, that's when they met him. Hao Asakura. He would help them rid the world of humans who had persecuted Kaia. Justice would be served and Kaia could live an innocent, happy life with him. But he had to get Peyote out of the picture first.

To be continued in Chapter 12!