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Kai

Kai felt a little self-conscious, walking around headquarters in casual clothes. He was attracting an awful lot of stares, that's for certain.

He tilted his chin up in defiance. So what if he wasn't in uniform? It's not like it was compulsory to wear the uniform inside headquarters. Besides, he was finished for the day. What Rampion wore their uniform after they'd finished for the day?

Still, it was with relief that he stepped out of the elevator and into the R&D department. All the people down here were way too busy with various projects to notice his presence.

Kai didn't go down to R&D often. Sometimes if they were working on something he found particularly fascinating he'd go to see if they'd made any recent discoveries. But (as far as he knew anyway) the most interesting thing they were working on at the moment were Cinder's prosthetics, and that felt way too personal to actively learn about.

He raised his communicator band up to his face. "Display recent messages."

A list of message subjects flashed across the screen, with the newest one flashing at the top. Kai clicked on it. He just wanted to double-check. It'd do him no good to knock on the door of the wrong lab and interrupt whatever the scientists were doing.

GOT ANOTHER CHECK-UP AT R AND D. THEY ARE BEING REALLY CAUTIOUS WITH MY NEW PROSTHETICS. IF WE GET SENT ON ANOTHER SURPRISE MISSION I'LL BE IN LAB 13A. DON'T BOTHER SENDING A MESSAGE THEY MAKE ME TAKE OFF MY COMMUNICATOR BAND IN CASE IT ACCIDENTALLY STARTS RECORDING STUFF. THESE GUYS ARE SUPER PARANOID.

SENT FROM MECHANIC 17 MINUTES AGO.

"Lab 13A" Kai muttered to himself. He checked the sign of the nearest lab. 10B. He wasn't far. The thought made his heart jump.

Taking a deep breath, he continued down the hallway. It wasn't a big deal. Really, there was absolutely nothing to be nervous about. It wasn't like he was asking her on-on a date or something like that. He was just going to ask if she would be open to a walk around the town, just to… get to know each other better. As friends. Definitely not a date.

So why were his palms so sweaty?

Kai reached lab 13A. By now his heart was thundering like a stampeding bull. He pressed his fingertip to the scanner beside the door. A dry, robotic voice intoned: "FINGERPRINT IDENTIFIED. KAITO ROYAL, ALIAS: DIPLOMAT. ACCESS GRANTED."

The door slid open smoothly and Kai stepped through into the room. And froze. He was no expert, but he was pretty sure that you didn't have to be unconscious for a prosthetics check-up.

"Dmitri, what happened?" He cried, rushing over to Cinder's body sprawled on top of the operating table. Her tan face was unnaturally pale.

The scientist sniffed. "That's Dr Erland to you Kaito, and she is completely fine."

"She doesn't look fine!"

"Well, she is. I discovered an anomaly in her cybernetics and carried out a test in order to figure out what it's function is."

"You could have just asked her!"

"I did. She didn't know what it did either."

Kai gaped at him. Not even Cinder knew what this thing did? She'd always seemed so sure of her body's capabilities. The fact that it had a feature even she didn't know about seemed impossible!

A groan escaped Cinder's lips and her eyes fluttered open.

"Cinder? How do you feel?" Kai asked, sitting down beside her.

She turned her head and stared blearily at him. "Kai? What are you doing here?"

"Yes, what are you doing here?" Dr Erland asked suspiciously.

Kai ignored him. "I wanted to talk to you. Are you okay?"
"I think so." Cinder said, sitting up. She glanced at Dr Erland. "Do you know-?"

"Well, given the fact that you've been awake for a total of seven seconds, no."

"I was just asking!"
"A rather stupid question."

Kai sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Doctor, don't you have some other project you should be working on?"

Dr Erland scowled at him but nodded sharply and walked stiffly out of the room, leaving Kai and Cinder alone. Together.

Kai cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry about him. He can be a bit… sharp."

"That's an understatement. So what did you want to talk about? Have the Lunars robbed another hospital?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that! I was just wondering if you'd like to go for a walk around the city with me." The words were easier to get out than Kai had thought they'd be.

Cinder blinked at him, obviously taken aback. "A walk?"

"Yeah. We haven't really hung out much, and I would like to get to know you better."

Cinder continued to stare at him. He smiled at her. It's not a date, it doesn't matter if she says no, it's not a date, it doesn't matter if she says no…

"Okay."

Kai grinned, hoping it didn't look too relieved. "Great! I'll meet you outside!"
"Can I-" she paused, swallowing, "can I change into something more casual first? This uniform tends to attract attention."

"Why do you think I'm not wearing mine?" He replied, smirking. All of his nerves from before had winked out of existence. She'd said yes. She was going to go for a walk with him. He'd punch the air with triumph, but he had a feeling that would look pretty stupid.

"How have we not been attacked by an army of fangirls yet?" Cinder asked wondrously.

Kai grinned at her. "The power of the hoodie."
"No one thinks it's suspicious to be wearing a hoodie in the middle of summer?"

"I think they just think I'm crazy."

"Aren't you hot? Or does that thing have some kind of secret cooling system?"

"Sadly, no. It's just a regular hoodie. Though right now, a better word would be "torture device"."

Cinder sniggered.

Despite Kai's immense discomfort, he was actually really enjoying himself. Cinder was fun to talk to, and, ignoring the heat, it was a very nice day. The fact that he didn't have to deal with Thorne's suggestive grinning and Iko's dreamy sighing didn't hurt either.

"Have you lived in New Beijing long?"

"Since I was eleven. Before, I lived in Europe."

"Cool! What was that like?"

Cinder hesitated. "I… don't actually remember. I had the operation that turned me into a cyborg when I was eleven and I don't remember anything before that."

Kai's eyebrows rose with interest. "Oh. Do you know what happened?"

"I was in a car crash. The collision killed both my parents and very nearly killed me."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. It must have been a really bad crash if it meant you had to get a whole new hand and leg."

"Among other things." Cinder laughed bitterly, "Like a whole lot of hatred for example."

There was a pause. Kai wasn't blind. He saw the way the other teams had looked at Cinder during trials, and the disgusted looks they shot at her metal hand. He knew that people didn't like that fact that Cinder was part machine. He just didn't know why. So what if she had prosthetics? So what if she had a computer in her brain? She was still an incredible person, a prodigy with some of the coolest powers Kai had ever seen. He just didn't know why other people refused to see that.

"For what it's worth," He ventured tentatively, "I think the whole cyborg thing is pretty cool."

Cinder stared at him, obviously caught off guard by the comment, before smirking and rolling her eyes. "You're way too nice to be beating people up for a living."

Kai grinned at her. "Even if they're evil people?"

"Even if they're evil people."

A/N: Kaider fans rejoice! I've got to give these two more time in the spotlight.

Dr Erland is here and being as blunt as ever. Stars almighty, I love writing him so much!

When will Cinder's new power manifest? And when will Kaider become official in this fic?

Please review!