It was night time, the gibbous moon casting a white light on the black trees that surrounded the clearing. Footsteps crunched on the dead leaves below foot, causing small animals to scurry out of their path.

Kiki was crouched over the fire pit, poking the small flames until they crackled ad burst into life. She didn't hear Jax until he cleared his throat. Yelping, she leaped to her feet, ready to run until she saw who it was.

Jax stood awkwardly at the edge of the clearing, partially shrouded in darkness. He stepped into the light, a small smile stretching on his lips. "I didn't mean to startle you…" He shuffled forward a few more meters until he stood in the center of the clearing.

She relaxed, her face slightly colored in wonder. "You came again," she said. Taking a step closer, Kiki looked to the duffel bag in his hand. Did this mean he liked, or at least tolerated her? Normally, whenever someone visited, it was never with the intention of coming back, and the motive behind their visit was always negative.

But Jax came back, and there was the smile on his face when they're eyes met. Kiki decided those were the primary traits of a friend, if not one in the making. "What's this?" She only then noticed the straps that were looped through his fist.

"What? Oh yeah. I…figured you needed some more things, so…" Jax held out the bag, a few oblong objects stretching out the dark grey fabric. "There's food and some clothes. And there's a fire starter kit and mouth wash and some sanitary…" He paused when Kiki didn't take the bag. "Is something wrong?" he asked, hoping he hadn't somehow offended her. Maybe she was too proud to accept help? He thought about how long it had taken him to acquire some of the supplies, how he'd gotten his hopes up when he imagined what Kiki's gratitude might have looked like. Would she have smiled brightly? Cried? Hugged him?

Rejection wasn't something Jax had considered.

"I…this is really nice, Jax." He voice, heavy with gratitude and maybe tears, was soft as she took the bag and sat directly on the ground with it. Working the zipper over some lumps, Kiki began pulling out rolled clothing, then small packages of food, blankets, and mouthwash—he'd even found supplies for her more feminine needs.

Jax slowly sat down on the damp ground across from Kiki. When she looked up, his face was a strange shade of dark pink. "Sorry it's taken me so long to get back, I…I had trouble finding some things and…" he stammered, his eyes beginning to travel to the rocks that lined the edges of the clearing. Suddenly too embarrassed to speak, his voice trailed off into his fingers as he covered his mouth with his fist.

Kiki watched his strange behavior. He was cross-legged on the ground but hunched over, his shoulders crowding his ears. He refused to look at her.

Had she lost a friend already? She always took refused eye contact and silence as someone not wanting to be acquainted with her—it was all she'd ever seen her whole life. Although deeply saddened that this could be the last time she saw Jax, she forced her voice to remain happy. In a way, Kiki was; she had food and soap and so many things she hadn't used for such a long time. It was hard not to be excited.

"Thank you," she said softly, pulling out a pink-and-green package. There was a smiling cartoon woman on the front, but other than that she had no clue what it was. She narrowed her eyes, trying to read the darker-green words on the front. C-L-E-A— Kiki gave up, setting the package on the side and pulling out plasti-wrapped food.

Jax watched her silently, chin in hand. She looked like a child opening birthday gifts; she quickly unwrapped and examined each item before moving on to the next, carefully setting each aside. Her smile, although a little damp, made her purple irises light up and glow. "What's wrong?" he asked, removing his hand from his mouth. After the first few items Kiki had fallen silent.

"Hm? Oh, nothing's wrong," she answered quietly. She was almost done with the duffel bag, different colored packages forming small piles around her. Despite what she said, she didn't look at him, her hands wrapped tightly around a bottle of water.

"Kiki, what's wrong?" Jax's back straightened as he looked at her with concern. "Is there something in there you don't like? Is there something I forgot, or…" He considered reaching out to her, but kept his hands to himself.

"No, no, it's…" How did one ask if they had a friend? Jax's willingness to talk again confused her. "You're…we're friends, right, Jax?"

Jax coked his head to the left. "Friends?" Where had that come from? He regretted the question when he saw Kiki duck her head, her chin almost to her chest.

"I-It's just," she muttered, running her finger along the smooth edge of the bottle, "you said you would come back, and you did. You…you brought me things and you talked to me. That's what friends do, right?" She sounded hurt.

Jax didn't say anything for a moment. Very slowly, he crawled around the pile and sat next to her. "Kiki, we're friends, alright? I…don't' know what kind of environment you grew up in, but you can trust me." Gently, he rested his hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but didn't pull away. Jax took that as a sign that she wasn't quite ready to be touched. "Okay?"

Kiki nodded, her smile returning. "Yeah, okay Jax." She looked at him, her eyes bright as the moon above them. "I've never had a friend before."

"You haven't?"

"No."

Kiki began packing everything up again, only managing to half-zip the duffel bag again. "What else do friends do?"

"They hang out, I guess." Jax stood when Kiki did. She forced herself not to skip as she went to the small cave and placed the bag under its low roof. She came back to stand in front of him, a sweater in hand.

"Would," she said, wringing her hands in front of her, "would we be able to do that? Hang out, I mean."

It was strange, seeing a grown woman act so shy and insecure. Even stranger was the sound of Kiki wrangling with idioms.

Jax barely managed to suppress his smile. He was sure the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards. "Yeah, if I had the time. My profession doesn't really allow me to take much time off."

Kiki nodded. "Okay, I look forward to it. Are…you leaving now? I…I washed your sweater and dried it over the fire." She handed the fabric to him, head ducked under her hair.

"Thank you, Kiki," he said. He took it and held it under his arm. "About my leaving…" Jax's face twisted into something like slight apprehension and moderate discomfort. "About that, Kiki…" His hands reached out again, this time, clasping her biceps. He was gentle, but he could still see the alarm rising in her eyes. Slowly, he rubbed her arms up and down to calm her. "I don't want you to run away—"

"Why? What's happening?" Panic was starting to make her voice tremor. "Is something wrong—"

"I decided it would be nice if you met some of my friends, Kiki," Jax said, gripping her arms tighter when she started to try to pull away. "There's nothing to be afraid of—"

"You brought people here?!" Kiki's chest began to heave as she struggled to fight her way out of Jax's grip. "They're going to kill me! You want to try to kill me—"

"They won't! I promise, Kiki, that they won't hurt you!" Instead of letting her free, he pulled her closer, close enough that they were almost touching. Jax lowered his voice, so soft that Kiki could barely hear. "I'm going to protect you, alright? These people are not going to hurt; they'd have to get through me first."

"Jax, everything okay over there?" a deep voice yelled. A head poked through the line of trees, bald like Jax, glancing around the small clearing with a slight look of disdain.

Jax didn't know if it was because of the man's deep voice, or maybe the sudden appearance of another person, but Kiki when stiff, a small yelp caught in her throat as if staying still enough and quiet enough would make her invisible. Eyes wide and filled with terror, she locked eyes with him.

"I-I-I—" she stammered, choking on her words. "I-It's a…a man. H-How many of them are men, Jax?"

"Kiki…" Jax pursed his lips, unsure of how to answer. Did she have a fear of males? But she'd opened up to him relatively quickly—unless it was because he'd had food on him.

"Tell me, Jax!" she hissed, words shaking almost violently. Her eyes shifted back and forth between him and the face that watched them.

"All of them. They're all men."

"And you say they're not going to hurt me?!" Her face was a mask of terror and fear.

"Kiki, I don't know what it was that happened between you and other men, but these are good people. They will not lay a hand on you without your permission." Jax didn't know what had happened to make her fear so much—and he had a feeling he didn't want to—but a sense of protectiveness was already rising in his gut.

With tiny, shuffling steps, he spun them so Kiki's back was to the line of trees.

"Take a deep breath, Kiki," Jax said, having gone back to rubbing her arms instead of gripping them. "You'll be fine."

She forced her breathing through her nose, but she nodded. Jax turned her around, hands on her shoulders. "You need to open your eyes, Kiki."

She opened her eyes and audibly swallowed.

"You can come out now!" Jax called to the trees. More heads poked between the trees until they formed bodies, and those bodies walked into the clearing and gathered in front of the pair.

On instinct, Kiki yelped and jumped to hide behind Jax. It was useless; they were about the same height, his shoulders only broader. Kiki's fingernails dug into the skin under his shirt as she trembled behind him.

The men stood in a small group, all the exact same height, with the exact same brown eyes and exact same faces.

"You're a soldier…" Kiki whispered, a new depth of horror in her voice. "You did come to kill me…"

Jax tried to catch her before she tried to run, but she jumped out of his grasp. "Kiki, don't—"

"No! Stay away from me!" she screamed, backing herself into the cave. She couldn't believe that she'd lost a friend so quickly already, after everything Jax had said and everything he'd done to try to make her happy.

"Kiki, I'm not going to kill you!" Jax fought to keep her voice down. One of the men in the group tried to take a step forward.

"If you want us to—"

"No, stay back! She's afraid of you, just stay over there!" Jax turned back around to face Kiki, hands out in front of him.

It took twenty minutes to calm her down enough to stand again. She was now standing next to Jax rather than behind him, her hands pinching his right arm to a point where he was beginning to lose feeling.

"They're going to come up one at a time now, and introduce themselves," Jax said. "Just take a deep breath; you don't have to say anything."

Kiki nodded mutely, watching as the first man came up to them. He was bald like Jax, the only thing to set them apart a scar on his jaw.

"I am Edger," he said with a slightly gruff voice. He stood up straight, tone and attitude formal, but Kiki didn't miss the look of disgust in his eyes. He held out his large hand.

Kiki yelped, hanging on to Jax's arm even tighter. She stared at the outstretched hand before quickly taking it and squeezing. Edger squeezed back too hard. Kiki flexed her hand when he finally let go.

"Easy on the grip, Edger," Jax hissed, giving him a look. He nodded to the next man to step forward.

"My name is Ratchet," he said, also holding out his hand. Despite his tough-ish shark fin haircut with red streaks in it, he had a soft voice. When Kiki heard the slight hesitance in his voice she got the feeling he didn't talk much.

Kiki took Ratchet's hand, glad his handshake was soft. He stepped to the back of the group.

The next man to come up had pale, almost-pupiless ice-blue eyes that made Kiki shiver. His voice was low and deep when he spoke, and he had perfect diction. "I am Cord." He shook Kiki's hand firmly but gently, with a short nod.

The next man, Kiki decided, had a kind face. There were laugh lines around his eyes despite how young he was. When he went up to her, he smiled gently. "Hello, my name is Marik," he said with a friendly tone. Marik's spiky hair clashed with his friendly personality. "Did you like what you got in the care package? I helped with that." He smiled again, this time brighter, as he waited for Kiki's answer.

"I-I…yes, I did. That was very kind of you, Marik," she said shyly. Never had she met a man that was kind to her. Kiki spared a glance back to the duffel bag that waited in her little cave.

"Is it alright if they stay for a little bit?" Jax looked to Kiki. "If you don't want to get to know them just yet, they can leave now."

Kiki chewed her lip. She was hurt that Jax hadn't told her something so significant, but he cared about her enough to try and get her some friends. She looked back to the five men in front of her, all watching expectantly with varying degrees of neutrality.

"T-They can stay," she decided. "I'll even show them where the creek is. Sometimes in the spring, when it's warm out and the little blue beetles are hatching, I catch a fish. I don't always have the materials I need, but…" she trailed off, shifting again to stand behind Jax.

"Do you know what kind of fish it was?" Marik seemed to be the only one willing to share more than three words with her.

A startled expression crossed her face before she quickly recovered. "I think it was silver, with a blue stripe down its sides."

"Can I fish with you in the spring? I might be able to bring my own supplies."

Jax had forgotten about Marik's lack of sensitivity. He was often slightly too loud or too fast when it came to certain things, or asked the first question on his mind. Marik tended to speak with childlike bluntness. He was ready to answer when Kiki spoke up for herself.

"T-That would be nice. The…the rest of you could come too, if you wanted." Spring wasn't for another month and a half, but Jax had faith that Kiki would be at least a little bit comfortable with them by then. He was glad she was opening up so quickly.

He was even gladder, however, that she was making an effort to be more open to people. By the time Marik and Kiki were starting to get chatty, she had completely let go of Jax's arm.

This is a while in coming, and I apologize for that. But! Here, we have Kiki meeting what is soon to be Crusade Squad (well, soon enough, at least).

Review, comment, critique, etc. Anything is appreciated!

~AAx