Glossary word for this chapter.

Haori - a light, hip- or thigh-length jacket worn by both men and women with kimono. They are worn for warmth as well as to add formality.

"WHAT?" Cole yelled, pulling Zane into his room and closing the door behind him. "Say that again?"

"I need to talk to you about intercourse." Zane repeated.

"Dude, if this is about what I said earlier, I was only yanking your chain." Cole insisted.

"Innuendo aside, I am perfectly serious," Zane said. "after what happened on the roof-"

"Oh ho, so I did interrupt something then?" He smirked, raising his eyebrows.

The droid sighed deeply, and his eyes went glassy, as a wide, lovesick grin took over his face. Zane crossed his arms and stared off into nothing as he had been doing earlier, floating away into the still fresh memory of being on the roof with Pixal; in the quiet of the night with snow falling all around them, her bright, smiling face beaming at him, her soft inviting lips…

"Oh yes…" He growled.

"On second thoughts, I don't wanna know." Cole interrupted him, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"I Just need some advice," Zane pleaded. "I know the specifics, I know the science, I know how 'things' work, but how do I bring it up with Pixal?"

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot just ask such personal questions about her... equipment." Zane felt his face heat up again.

"Pffff..." Cole put his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. "Listen, if you really can't ask Pixal, your best bet is Nya."

"I do not understand." Zane answered with a perplexed expression.

"Look, Nya and Pixal are sharing a room, right? And Nya's been gearing Pixal up, yeah?" Cole expounded as Zane nodded in agreement. "Well, you know what girls are like, I guarantee if Pixal has noticed anything 'interesting' about her body, the person she'll tell is Nya."

"Even so, it will be a most awkward conversation to have." Zane rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well, it's a bit late at night to be calling Mr Borg," Cole shrugged. "but I can't imagine it'll be any less awkward asking Pixal's creator about this sort of thing."

Zane mused on the ideas given to him. Cole was right, it was far too late to be calling Mr Borg on a non-emergency basis and asking him about Pixal's... features... would be considerably more uncomfortable than asking Nya.

"Thank you for your help." Zane said candidly as he walked out of Cole's room.

He drifted through the halls for a moment, before stopping at the entry to the living area, where Jay's northern light projector was still shining over the Christmas tree. It was every bit as majestic as Jay said it would be, glimmering against the baubles and emulating a shower of sparkle all around the room. When they first came down from the roof and saw it themselves, Pixal was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, the dazzling gleam reflected in her inquisitive eyes.

Seeing no one else in the room, Zane took the opportunity to switch the lights off. He headed back to his own quarters, opting to leave any awkward conversations for the next day.

"Your light box turned out pretty good," Cole said as he sat opposite Jay the next morning. "what's your next project?"

"I don't know yet, just waiting for inspiration to strike." Jay replied as he took a bite from the slice of toast in his hand.

"So, what was the inspiration behind the northern light projector?" Cole wondered.

"The thought of dealing with you and Kai fighting every year." Jay smirked, snickering between bites of toast.

Just as Cole was about to retaliate with a clever witticism of his own, Zane entered the room, stretching his arms upwards and yawning loudly.

"Well, well, good morning, Romeo," Cole teased. "spoken to Nya yet?"

"About what?" Jay asked, looking back and forth between Cole and Zane.

Before Zane could protest otherwise, Cole leaned over the table and began whispering into Jay's ear. Jay's expression went from mildly confused, to wide eyes and open-mouthed shock. He promptly dropped his toast and lifted his hands to his face.

"No way!" Jay exclaimed, grinning at Zane like a mad man. "I thought we were only joking around yesterday; I didn't know you actually wanted to-"

"I have always loved Pixal, but I have never really thought about the physical side of our relationship until I saw her yesterday morning," Zane mentioned, taking a seat next to Jay. "if I had, it would've been the last thing that occurred to me when I asked Mr Borg to rebuild Pixal's body."

"I agree with Cole, you can't exactly go asking Cyrus Borg – he's basically Pixal's dad – so Nya is your best shot." Jay concluded.

"Can I get that in writing?" Nya joked as she entered, causing Zane to jump in his seat.

"Hey, Nya…" Jay smiled flirtatiously as she helped herself to the juice in the fridge, pouring out a small glass of orange.

"Have Kai and Lloyd left already?" She asked, having a sip of juice.

"Yeah, they've gone grocery shopping." Cole said.

"I hope they took the list with them," Jay pondered. "we need everything on that list for the party."

"So… when I walked in, you were saying I was 'your best shot'; what did I miss?" She enquired with a smile.

And without missing a beat, Zane immediately responded.

"Jay was just saying what good taste you have in clothes," he bluffed. "you made Pixal look so cute, he would love to see you in something similar."

Both Jay and Nya immediately started blushing.

"Is... Is that really what you think, Jay?" She sweetly beamed at him.

"O-of course," Jay grinned back at her.

"Maybe later, I could show you some other stuff I got while I was out shopping with Pixal, if you like..." She replied, putting her glass in the sink.

"Yeah, yeah that would be awesome!" He excitedly agreed.

"Later then." Nya winked as she walked out of the room.

"Oh, hey Nya, wait up!" Zane jumped up and went after her.

Jay, his face still red as a cherry, turned to Cole with a big silly grin on his lips.

"He might not be human, but he makes a good wingman." Cole chuckled to himself.

"So, you've come to me for a favour?" Nya repeated. "Well, make it quick, I gotta go out for some Samurai X weapons testing."

Zane raised his eyebrow at her.

"Hey, I might be a ninja now but I still gotta keep the Samurai X equipment working, you never know when we might need it."

"I just have some questions," Zane restlessly played with his hands. "and I hesitate to ask, but you're the only person I can talk to about it."

"Is this about Pixal?" Nya asked him outright.

"Yes." Zane sighed.

"Oh, I get it, you're coming to me to find out what Pixal's been saying about you, right?" Nya incorrectly guessed. "Well, you'll be happy to know she's completely enamoured of you – I don't know what you said to her on the roof, but she was practically floating in my room last night."

"Wow, really?" He put one hand on his chest and smiled warmly. "Actually, that was not what I wanted to ask, but thank you for the insight."

"Zane," Nya looked him in the eye and put her hands on his shoulders. "are you wondering about her physical capabilities?"

Immediately, 3 of his fuses exploded, and thin lines of smoke emerged from the joins of his face plates.

"I totally get that you maybe don't wanna ask Cyrus Borg about this, but I'm not the right person to ask either," She corrected. "you need to speak to Pixal, so go take a shower or meditate in your room – whatever will help you muster up the courage to ask – and just be honest with her, okay?"

Nya smiled at him confidently.

Zane watched Nya walk away from him and his heart sank. He was hoping to bypass any awkwardness with Pixal but had inadvertently dropped himself right in it. Now he had no choice but to ask directly. In his time being a ninja, he had faced many deadly foes, fought many outnumbered battles, had died once and come back regardless, but all that seemed so easy compared with his current task.

Nya was right about one thing though; a shower would be great for his nerves. He went into each room to see if anyone needed to use the facilities before he got into the shower, only to find the entire temple empty; Cole and Jay were no longer in the kitchen, Kai and Lloyd left half an hour ago and Sensei Wu was currently on a long-distance errand himself. There was no sign of Pixal anywhere, but he imagined she was on the roof as she had been last night.

Pixal...

Zane smiled to himself as he turned the shower on and waited for the water to heat up a little before stepping in. Not that the temperature made much difference to him, but he liked the residual steam that came from using hot water. He rinsed his face and hair, and the water droplets trickled down his body in a very soothing manner. Although not a one for admiring himself, Zane looked down the length of the body that he and Pixal had built; he was a droid, but externally, he had everything a human of his programmed gender had... quite literally. Would it really matter if Pixal didn't?

"Of course not," he said aloud, answering his own question. "I love Pixal, nothing will change that."

He turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around himself – the temple was empty when he got into the shower, but that didn't mean it was still empty now that he was out. He walked over to his room, to find the door ajar, which wasn't how he left it.

An intruder? He thought.

Zane took a deep breath and launched himself through the door in a defensive pose, ready for battle... only to find Pixal looking incredibly jittery.

"Pixal? Forgive me, I did not expect to see you here." He apologised.

"I am very sorry," mumbled a startled Pixal as she bowed. "I did not expect you to come in without knocking first."

"This is my room, typically you only knock before entering the room of someone else." Zane explained.

"Oh yes, so it is, I was wondering why Nya's ninja attire was suddenly white and silver." She smiled.

Zane looked at Pixal, wearing only lilac shorts and one of his haori jackets, and stifled a growl that threatened to rumble from his throat. He fixated on her, standing cutely in his room wearing very little, and struggled to maintain his composure…

Zane eventually woke to a monstrous headache; he always got a headache when he slept in too long. He wasn't even sure why he was still in bed at all, until he rolled over to see Pixal lying beside him, still wearing his white and silver haori but otherwise completely naked.

"Ah!" He immediately sat up and cradled his head as the whole carnal affair replayed in his mind.

He thought about the abundant mutual enjoyment they had experienced, and he wondered; was this one of the upgrades Mr Borg spoke of? Cyrus had outsourced these mysterious upgrades, so it was possible that when he had said he wanted to make sure Pixal had 'whatever she needs' to live a good life, he was referring to this particular physical modification.

Even in her sleep, Pixal was conscious to Zane's movements, and she too rolled over, only to see him sitting up and looking as though he were deep in thought.

"Zane," She sleepily asked from beneath the warmth of his blanket. "is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine," He smiled, stroking her hair.

"Are you sure?" She queried. "You look like you are in pain."

"I need to replace a number of fuses," He lightly chuckled. "such is the affect you have on me."

Pixal sheepishly smiled and pulled the blanket further over her head. Zane couldn't help but grin at her cute nature. He got up, threw on a t-shirt and some pyjama pants, and headed over to his bedroom door. He stopped for a moment, looking back at Pixal, who was rolling around under the covers and giggling. Smiling to himself, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

He walked past the kitchen, stretching his arms outward and rotating his head from side to side. Why was his neck so sore? Maybe he just fell asleep at a strange angle. Come to think of it, he didn't really fall asleep as such, he just passed out. Explaining this to the others was going to be interesting. Would Pixal be allowed to sleep in his room, or would she have to continue sharing a room with Nya? Would it have any impact on his friendship with the others? Should he have asked himself these things before he was intimate with Pixal?

He would get answers to those questions in due time; right now, however, he needed to focus on replacing the blown fuses in his head and torso. On his way back to his room, he once again entered the other rooms to see if anyone was home yet, only to find that they were all still out. To be honest, he was relieved, he didn't know how soundproof his bedroom was, and things could've gotten very awkward.

When he opened the door to his room, he saw Pixal was no longer in bed but was sat at his desk, wearing his haori and her lilac shorts. She spun around, and he could see that she had begun to gather the tools to fix his burned-out components.

"You are back," She grinned at him as he approached. "would you like to sit down so I can begin your repairs?"

He sat on the bed as she rolled towards him in the swivel chair, armed with replacement fuses and a flat head screwdriver.

"It is a good thing that we installed so many back-up currents into you," Pixal mentioned "any other droid would not work at all if this many systems failed at once."

"I guess I am no ordinary droid." He laughed.

"No, you are not," She glanced at him with a coy smile. "now keep still, I need to remove your face plate."

Zane watched her intense focus as she gently pried the left side off with the screwdriver. She placed it next to him on the bed while she started to remove the damaged parts from his left cheek. As Pixal set about replacing the faulty fuses, he got a better look at what she was wearing and could feel himself getting overheated again.

"Zane." She spoke, not taking her eyes off the task at hand.

"Yes Pixal…" He replied.

"You are overheating quite quickly these days," She mentioned as she took out another destroyed fuse and replaced it with a new one. "it is concerning."

"I cannot help it," He answered. "you light a fire in me."

Pixal paused for a moment and observed his sentimental expression with great enthusiasm. She smiled at him, and as she innocently licked her lips, the fuse she just put in promptly blew up. They were both startled for a moment, but soon melted into light-hearted chuckling. He smirked at her and shrugged. She placed her hand on his chin to adjust the position of his head. With the last of his cheek fuses fixed, she reattached his face plate and turned his head to face the other way. She pried the right face plate off and managed to replace the fuses in that side without incident.

"I need you to take your shirt off." She said as she fastened his right face plate back on.

He did as he was told, pulling the shirt over his head and throwing it to one side. Pixal ran her fingers along the sides of his torso, trying to locate a point where she could get into his chest cavity. At this point Zane was glad he was wearing loose pants, as her delicate touches were doing things to him that he couldn't control. Admittedly, Pixal knew exactly where to pry to remove the chest plate – she had helped to rebuild him after all – but she was rather enjoying just touching him like this. She had never stopped to look at his body like this before, it only really came to her attention earlier on, when he walked in on her trying on some of his clothes. He had obviously just gotten out of the shower at the time; water dripped down his face and torso, hot steam was floating upward from every bare inch… it was fascinating for her.

She took the screwdriver to the right side of his abdomen and gently levered the casing open from three different points. As she opened the panel to observe his inner workings, her eyes were drawn to the heart-like power source that he had halved to bring her back, not just once, but twice. After the blackout, he had given her half of his heart. Then when he rebuilt himself, and she had found a second power source, he halved it again when Cyrus Borg created another body for her.

Just the memory of his sacrifices was enough to bring her to tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, concerned that she had started crying out of nowhere.

"I am just thinking about everything you have done for me." She wept.

"I would do it all again in an instant," He promised as he reached up to wipe her tears away. "I would do anything for you Pixal."

"Zane, you are so good to me," She sniffled. "I will do my best to be worthy of your affection."

"You already are." He confidently said, shuffling closer to her and placing a loving kiss on her soft, supple lips.

Pixal melted into the sweetness and began kissing him in return. Zane wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck as his power source began glowing. He moved towards her and as he went to pull her into his lap… he got stabbed in the side by the screwdriver Pixal was still holding.

"Ah!" He cried out, holding the area where he'd been prodded.

"I am so sorry!" She squeaked.

"No, no, it is okay," He insisted, removing his hand to show there was no damage. "see, no harm done."

"Perhaps we should focus on finishing your repairs." She timidly said.

It did not take long for Pixal to locate and replace the broken fuses. Perhaps it was for the best that she had integrated so many fuse boxes when she rebuilt his circuitry. She loved seeing his original blueprints, but because he had been originally built from spare parts, she was restricted to specific technology when rebuilding him. The last thing she wanted was to use modern equivalents and risk interfering with his ninja and elemental abilities. Once finished, she closed his chest plate over and smiled at him.

"Thank you." He beamed as he stood up and put his t-shirt back on.

"You are most welcome," She replied. "I should probably get dressed also; the others will most likely be home soon."

"Pixal?"

"Yes Zane?"

"…I love you." He smiled sincerely at her.

"I… love you too…" She answered sweetly.

She stood in the doorway and studied him for a moment. Droids were hardly commonplace, but she had never met another droid like him before; that said, she had never met a human like him either. Between his elemental powers and his determination to fight for what he believed in; he was just an extraordinary individual.

Pixal soon realised she'd been staring and quickly waved at him before making her exit.