Kai was curled up under some blankets, he has had a bath and a change of clothes, everyone was back at the bounty.

One would think that after that ordeal he wouldn't want to touch water again, at least in the foreseeable future.

...They weren't completely wrong.

The truth was not only he was cold and wet, his clothes heavy and clinging uncomfortably to the body, he was also full fo salt, it just hadn't felt good so a shower is what the kid settled on once he flet well enough to actually do it.

Which might've been thirty minutes moreless since his feet touched the wooden floor of the ship.

Once Kai had actually gotten up to do it he had been quick because he really really didn't like water.

It made his long hair heavy, he felt particularly sluggish and sleepy after soaking on it for too long, honestly it made him just want to curl up and sleep.

But at least the water from his shower was hot and warm, steamy even as he could see the.. well, the steam float around, honestly it felt quite nice on his skin.

Nya had lingered around for a bit, he knows, he could hear her outside the room, still worried about his near death encounter.

He didn't mind much, Kai really enjoyed her company, which is also why he didn't want to worry her.

It had been his fault after all. He really shouldn't have run off. He knew better, he wa supposed to know better, or so the nagging voice on the back of his head repeated.

He felt guilty, how could he not?, which lead to him deciding to just lay low for the rest of the day, not wanting to cause more trouble.

Besides, Kai felt tired, you don't get near death experiences on the daily, right?

It made for a good excuse to rest.

Well... all in all it really didn't matter did it?

He was expecting to be watched a bit more carefully if he was even allowed to go out again, maybe some chores... or maybe not considering he broke a plate earlier.

He was asking to be thrown out of the ship wasn't he?

Breaking things, running of... almost dying, definitely not his best presentation, he clicked his tongue, deciding to be on his best behaviour from now on.

That should suffice right?

At least he hadn't actually drown.

And now he was back at the ship, a flying ship, a ship that flew the sky and not one that was on water... Yeah... He was back on that ship... Good.

Yawning he walked towards the living room, Nya nowhere to be seen but by the sound in the kitchen he figured she would be there.

He arrived at his destination, deciding to just crash on the sofa and forget about everything for a bit while watching TV or something. He would deal with the consequences latter.

But he didn't even get to do that, instead just lying down on his back in the floor and staring at the ceiling for who knows how long.

How did he end on this position? Who knows.

Watching the ceiling wasn't that interesting but he just didn't felt like doing anything else, besides the floor was pretty comfortable. Oh and he was sure he found a face-like marking on the wooden ceiling.

See? Fun.

And if he stayed very quiet he was able to hear voices coming in from the kitchen, Kai would be lying if he said he didn't want to eavesdrop.

The brunette just knew Jay, Cole and Lloyd were being scolded.

Right...

He would have to apologize to them later.

Idly he wondered if Zane was inside too as he hadn't seen him after arriving to the ship. Maybe he was scolding them, or maybe he went off to do something else.

Sighing he rolled over, ending wit him looking at the black surface of their TV. ... Their? Was he gonna be living here permanently now?

... Maybe.

He mussed on that, at least until he heard footsteps approach. It sounded... metallic.

One of the Nindroids?

They were heavy that's for certain.

Most probably the Nindroids, yeah.

Looking up he found his suspicions confirmed as a femenine figure appeared on his vision.

Pixal was her name if Kai remembers correctly, as he looked curiously at her he could notice something on her hands.

A cup of hot chocolate.

She stood right besides him, tilting her head.

"Why are you on the floor?"

Kai just shrugged.

She blinked.

"I don't think the floor is the best place to drink this"

And she offered him the cup.

Quickly he got up, first on a sitting position and then pretty much crawling the short distance to the couch before finally climbing onto it and sitting, hands on his lap and a small smile on his face.

Pixal scoffed, and Kai took that as a good sign.

She had been keeping her distance, not like he has been for long on the bounty but still. He thought she just didn't want to bother with him.

A warm but wary smile adorned her face and she offered the cup to him, again.

He had quickly grabbed it once it was within his reach, shooting her a grateful smile before starting to drink the hot beverage.

He sighed happily, it warmed him up inside, just what he needed.

The kid blinked up confusedly as he felt the side of the couch sink as Pixal took a tentative seat besides him, she still keep her distance though but Kai figured it was fine.

Carefully she brought a hand up and moved away a few strands of hair that were covering Kai's face; normally he would've flinched or moved away, he wasn't really one to enjoy a lot of physical contact, especially without asking first.

Yet he stayed, it wasn't so bad and he sensed she was more curious than anything, he kept on idly slurping his hot drink as Pixal caressed so so lightly his cheek, it was barely a touch, the droid seemed worried or even scared of just... touching.

There was a certain look in her face Kai couldn't exactly decipher, but he could at least tell there were conflicting emotions behind those mechanical green eyes. He decided not to think too much about it.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Pixal barely touching Kai's cheek while he finished his drink as if both were in some kind of trance.

Trance that was broken once Kai decided to lean onto the hand, making Pixal jump a bit.

Quickly she retracted her hand.

"Sorry" she muttered. She ruffled his hair slightly.

Kai shrugged, because it wasn't that big of a deal in his opinion; had he not liked it he would've complained, and ultimately put down his empty cup on the table in front of the couch, hands back to rest on his knees.

Without saying anything more she grabbed the mug and got up, leaving.

He honestly expected her to walk towards the kitchen to, you know, leave the dirty mug or wash it or such, but instead she walked towards...

Actually he didn't know where she was going.

He licked his lips nervously before looking back onto the direction of the kitchen, the voices had hushed by now and he guessed they were just talking about anything but what had happened earlier.

It also meant he could now walk inside the room if he wanted to but there was a possibility.

All eyes would be on him though so he decided against it.

After considering it for a but he made up his mind, getting and quickly following onto the direction Pixal had gone.

It was fine, he was gonna stay inside the bounty after all.

Pixal was not stranger to kids.

Really, while babysitting kids was not her forth (She hasn't really done it okay?) she really wasn't that bad when interacting with them.

After all they thought Samurai X was cool. (Then again, everyone thought Samurai X was cool, have you seen it?)

However she really wasn't equipped to deal with an actual kid, as in, taking care of them for long periods of time.

So you can imagine her surprise when the group arrived back at the ship with a kid saying said child was Kai.

As in, Kai Jiang Smith.

The current fire elemental.

It was kind of a shock to her.

Not only for the fact he was a kid, which in her book was already troubling enough.

But because he just... Didn't act like the Kai she knew.

It was as if he had somehow made a 180° turn on his behaviour, Kai was usually loud, snarky and overall lively.

Like you wouldn't forget he lived there.

The kid on the other hand seemed like a ghost.

Hell the kid didn't even talk! How? Why?

It was giving Pixal a headache, or the close to a headache she could muster, and it was even more confusing how everyone else seemed to just take it in stride.

It was just... Too much, and it's barely been a day.

So in the meanwhile and while she figured out what to do she has mostly been keeping to herself.

Which was good, except she might've miscalculated the reaction she got from Kai when she decided, In a whim, to make the kid hot chocolate.

Because when she turned around from her working table on the hangar and found Kai in front the vehicle she was working on she had to admit she was more than surprised.

She thought he would just... Go play or wander around or something.

Maybe sleep, kids that age constantly took naps right? (Well Kai was constantly taking naps anyway, it wasn't that farfetched)

Just ... Do what five-year-olds usually do, you know?

But maybe he just felt lonely? Kai was known to just linger around people even if he wasn't actively participating in whatever they were doing.

And she had hear Nya scold the rest of the team.

Considering how clingy Kai had been since they found him it made sense he was just looking for someone to stay with, like a lost puppy.

That was the logical answer which lead to...

... Kai being there, as in, five year old Kai, there, right in front of her. Inspecting the vehicle she was working on, his vehicle.

Uhm...

She blinked, he blinked, she blinked again.

Both froze for a moment as if lost in what should be the next step.

Finally, Pixal decided to just-

"Oh... Hi"

She waved.

Kai smiled, waving back, before going back to look at the vehicle.

She couldn't tell if he remembered this was his vehicle she was working on or he thought this was just a giant toy. (Well, the normal Kai already thought that so)

Deciding to go back to work and let him watch as long as he didn't got in the way she noticed she still had the cup on her hands.

"Uh, I guess I'm more distracted than I thought" She murmured, before leaving the empty cup by the console.

She would take it back to the kitchen during dinner.

And so she went back to the vehicle, picking up her tools and sitting down on the floor.

Kai sat there, close by but not enough to interrupt her.

He seemed interested on what she was doing.

Natural curiosity most probably, Kai normally didn't ask much whenever they did things as he would get easily confused by it but she guessed kids just were curious by nature.

The silence wasn't completely uncomfortable but Kai seemed to be getting restless so why not try and teach him?

She hoped the very few research she had done on children would suffice.

She breathed deeply, even though technically she didn't have to.

"Kai, can you come here?"

The kid perked up, looking at her with some doubt dancing in his bright eyes, before he shuffled a tiny bit closer, but not enough.

Pixal patted the place besides here and Kai obeyed, he eyes the vehicle and he made a face.

Kai made a face, why? Pixal wondered momenarily if it was because of her or because the work she was doing, had she read him wrong? It wouldn't be the first time.

He turned around looking up onto those green eyes with a silent question and confusion.

So, how does she start with this? Uhm...

"Do you know what's this?" She vaguely motioned towars the vehicle.

Kai shook his head. Well, that's a good place to start as any so Pixal took the opportunity.

"Okay so this is a motorcycle" She got up, Kai followed as both circled it.

"You see it isn't working properly" She looked back and so far Kai seemed to be following, good.

She stopped, Kai stopped too, keeping his distance. He tilted his head.

"This is the engine" She signaled, the young fire elemetal nodded. "And is being hotter than it needs to be" He nodded again. "So we're fixing it"

He tilted his head again.

"You are helping me"

Realization seemed to hit and he looked down, scratching his head, unsure. Carefully she took his hand and sat him down right besides her.

"Is not that difficult" Or so she hoped, what this okay for a five year old? "I will be helping too"

The words seemed to do the work and he nodded, looking up again.

"Alright, first we have to figure out the problem"

Kai nodded.

"I already checked the tires" She pointed to them. "You can see youself, they aren't flat or under-inflated" Pixal saw Kai poke one.

"Next we check there's no smoke" And Pixal turned the vehicle on, Kai jumped a bit at the sound, but then nodded once he confirmed there wasn't smoke coming out of the engine.

The droid turned it off.

Without sitting down she motioned him to get up and see closer.

"Here, these are the breaks, take it and clench it on your fist, then let go"

And Kai did as he was told, then looked up to her.

"See how it goes back to be as it was before?" He nodded "Then it means they're working as they should"

"So, let's see the engine again"

Both sat down.

"See, this is a liquid-cooled motorcycle" Seafoam eyes just looked at her. "The liquid here" She patted slightly the coolant reservoir "Makes the engine" she patted the engine "From getting too hot"

"So we need to check if it has any liquid left"

Kai peeked in, it was empty.

"And that's why it's getting too hot, so it just need to be filled it up again"

And that's exactly what she did, this time she didn't ask for help as it was probably too heavy for him. Once she was done she turned around to address him.

"Did you understand all that?"

He game her a shy smile and shrugged.

So he didn't get all that. Got it.

Yet she can see he's trying, despite being confused, is honestly admirable. Well, they were done with that, time to find other stuff to entertain Kai with since it didn't seem he wasn't leaving anytime soon.

She looked around searching for something, Kai found it first, he took a small rounded object she from one of the messiest tables.

She made a mental note to chide Jay about it, it wasn't safe to keep so many stuff at the reach of a five year old.

"That's a new project, Jay has been working on it, is a third dimensional holographic model"

Kai had absolutely not understood a single word that had just come out of Pixal's mouth if his face was anything to go by, so she pressed the button, turning on the object.

It wasn't miss to her how Kai eyes widen at the sight.

She chuckled slight and moved some settings, having the cube hologram to something more interesting, birds flying.

Seeing the holograms move made Kai perk up, eyes attentive on the birds as he moved closer to them, hand looming above, almost as if he wanted to touch them.

She played with the settings again until a dragon appeared.

His eyes shone as he smiled widely, small fangs showing on his admitedly quite yellowish teeth.

Pixal made a mental note of getting him something related to Dragons.

They spent the next hours together, watching the holograms move and change, at some point Kai had ended up resting his head on her shoulder as he watched the images move.

She didn't noticed when it became so late.

Nya had come by earlier, most probably to ask if she had seen Kai but when she spotted the kid sleeping soundly on Pixals lap she had smiled from her spot on the doorway and quietly left.

It had been a hectic day after all.

Pixal didn't even noticed her, she did notice Lloyd when he came by to check on them again though.

Turns out Dinner had passed and Kai was still deep in slumber eventually after a hushed conversation they decided it was better to just let him sleep, if he woke up again at night with hunger then he could eat something (Zane made sure to leave some food for him if that were the case).

Lloyd made a small motion to pick up the kid but Pixal was faster, cradling the five year old on her embrace she walked all the way towards Nya's room, before tucking him in and turning the lights off.

If she received a bright smile next morning at breakfast by a certain kid, well, she didn't say anything.

Pixal thinks this isn't so bad after all.

Later that day Kai got a new toy, a small motorcycle.

He spent all day playing with it.