In the night I hear them talk,

The coldest story ever told somewhere far along this road,

He lost his soul,

To a woman so heartless,

How could you be so heartless oh,

How could you be so heartless,

How could you be so cold as the winter wind when it breeze yo,

Just remember that you're talking to me though,

You need to watch the way you're talking to me yo,

I mean after all the things that we've been through,

I mean after all the things we got into hey,

I know there are some things you ain't told me

And yo I did some things but that's the old me

And now you want to get me back

You're gonna show me

So you walk around like you don't know me…

But in the end,

Still so lonely…

How could you be so heartless…Kanye West~

Heartless

Thunder crashed over head on the grounds of Xavier's School for the gifted and in the midst of the raging storm a young woman stood, her long hair swept up in the winds that screamed around her, lightening flashing in her eyes and around her hands as she held them palm out at her sides. The only reason she was getting away with this display of power was the fact that Storm wasn't there to stop her, wasn't there to control the storm that was being called up. Luckily, hardly any of the students were home, the only ones that were, were younger members of the X-Men and they knew better then to get in the middle of a fight, especially the one that was taking place between Kitsune and Wolverine.

Logan growled in pain, his jaw working as he shook one hand, then the other, sparks of the remaining lightening that had struck him crackling down his claws before striking the ground, smoke sizzling off of his exposed skin. The only reason he was even still standing was the fact that their X-Men uniforms had been altered to absorb and insulate them from shocks, especially since two of their members could manipulate electric energy. What had really fucked him over was the metal of his claws, even if the suit had deflected most of the strike, what had landed traveled through his claws and up and down his skeletal structure.

Before Kitsune could catch her breath though Wolverine shook it off and charged her, snarling in Japanese, not wanting the others to hear what they were fighting about and knowing Lexi would be able to understand him, hell, he had taught her pretty much everything she knew. Which might be a problem… she knows how ya think…how ya fight…

Kitsune answer the snarl with her own, baring her fangs with flashing eyes and with a sudden and slightly violent movement she threw her hands back and up, fingers splaying as she twirled, her upper body dipping down in some odd pirouette as if she were dancing. But as she came back around to face Logan again, she was moving forward, her hands slicing through the air in an arch from either side of her head and the lightening that had been circling them turned to liquid, a funnel of water that had followed the movements of her hands while she had spun.

Logan barely had enough time to react, throwing his hands up in front himself then slashing down and to the side, deflecting the ice shards she had aimed at him. At first it appeared she had meant to whip him with tendrils of water, a favorite attack of hers, but at the last moment they had suddenly frozen over and splintered off, forming a multi shard attack that probably would have killed anyone else had it actually landed. Maybe even put him down for a while… She's defiantly pissed…

"What the hell is going on, why are they fightin'?" Over the sounds of the storm Rouge yelled, shielding her eyes from the brightness of the lightening strikes and she had to catch herself, her heart almost stopping when Kitsune landed a particularly nasty hit on Logan. The two older X-Men had been gone for months, they had left together one night, unexpectedly without a word, at least not to any besides Xavier. Rumors where they had gone to Japan together, both looking for something they hadn't been able to find in the states, Logan as always, probably chasing his past and the peace of mind he never really seemed able to hold onto, Lexi following him like she always did, for her own reasons, though some had always speculated that she had feelings for him, might have even loved him, but idle gossip didn't answer the questions everyone was asking.

About two weeks ago Lexi had come back without Logan, pissed off and almost in a state of feral rage, snapping at everyone, her powers more out of control then they had ever seen. The only thing that Lexi would consent to tell anyone was that Logan had been able to find someone that had helped her learn how to channel her powers. Everyone knew Logan had been to Japan before and he had taught Lexi martial arts, but it was only after she had come back from their most recent trip that they had seen her use the martial teaching in conjunction with her mutant powers and even Xavier had been impressed with how much more controlled and powerful the techniques were. But that hadn't explained the rage that was consuming Lexi.

Like Rouge, Lexi was able to absorb others powers, use them as her own, but unlike the unfortunate Marie, Lexi was able to control it and could touch people. It was only when she went into a rage that her powers went out of control and like Rouge, if she held on long enough, she could kill with just her touch, steal another's powers permanently. That was how she had ended up with her two most distinct powers. Her elemental manipulation and her fox form.

The name Kitsune was Japanese for a fox demon and Logan was the one who had given it to her. Before either of them had ended up at Xavier's, they had been traveling together for quite sometime. Like Logan, Lexi seemed to have an extended life span, but that hadn't always been the case. On their first trip to Japan they had run into a few other mutants like them and for some reason or another, a few of them had taken a dislike to Logan and a fight had broken out at a local bar. One large male that was distinctly fox like had gotten the upper hand on Logan and had been about to rip his throat out. Logan had told Lexi to get out, to just leave him, no matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to kill him but at the sight of Logan about to get mauled, Lexi had reacted without thinking and with a snarling cry had drawn the tanto she kept on her (a present Logan bought her their first night in town), stabbing one of the mutants that had a hold on her and slashing the throat of another before she was able to latch onto the fox mutant. But the large male had seemed undisturbed by the multiple stab wounds, at the most he had appeared annoyed and as they both watched, he healed before them.

At the shock of another mutant with Logan's healing, Lexi had dropped from his back and landed on the floor, gaping with large eyes. All the while Logan had been trying to get free and had been cursing at Lex, trying to get her to run, only when the fox mutant had turned back to Logan and shifted forms, wanting to rip his throat out in the most violent way he could in front of what he thought was the other male's woman, did Lexi finally push her powers.

The last thing that she could remember about that night was the feel of thick fur under her fingertips, the sounds of several men yelling and screaming and then the most violent and terrible power she had fever felt flood her before everything blacked out. Logan had said the other mutant had died within 30 seconds, reverting back to his human form and when Lexi had dropped to the floor, she had shifted to a massive black and red fox form before reverting to her natural state as well.

Ever since that night Lexi had had even more problems with her rage and sometimes she wondered if the personality of that other mutant had fused with her own. She had told Logan later, that after that night, she sometimes had dreams, flashes of what that man had done and had told him she had felt the rage and lust that had fueled him to try and kill Logan. The fox mutant had been almost purely instinct driven and when he had caught sight of Lexi, he had wanted her, but he had seen Logan as a rival, a threat to what he wanted.

Logan had felt terrible for what had happened to her, even blamed himself in part and he had kept her close ever since then, helping her learn how to control that animal rage he was familiar with. And in an odd way, it had given him a measure of peace, something to help keep him focused and temper his own rage with.

The second set of powers Lexi had gained were fairly new and this time it had been to keep another of her friends safe. Cheska had grown to be her best friend out side of Logan and she knew, even if Wolverine wouldn't admit it yet, how much he cared for her. About a year ago, almost right after Jean's death, Lexi, Cheska and Logan had gone out searching for a new mutant that seemed to need their help. Storm had been feeling ripples of power like her own, surges that only she seemed able to pick up on and when she had asked Xavier to check into it, they had learned that another weather controller was near by. Unfortunately Storm hadn't been able to go with them, just a day before they were scheduled to go out an anti mutant remnant group had caught her off guard and wounded her pretty bad. In her place Cheska had volunteered to go.

Everything had been going well, it looked like the new mutant wanted to join them, but something had felt off to Logan, he hadn't trusted him and while they had been getting ready to take off, the storm catcher, as he liked to call himself had turned on Cheska. Logan had been outside the loaner jet they had been able to get from Warren Worthington and the bastard had closed the hatch before he could get there. Lexi had just barely been able to vault through the closing doors in time, but the sadistic monster had immediately unleashed a lightening strike inside the metal bird, forcing Cheska to watch as he tortured her friend in front of her, stopping the lightening from frying them as they watched.

Even Logan had been struck every time he tried to get near the jet the lightening frying down his claws and sending him flying backwards before he'd been able to either claw an opening or make it to the windshield in time to smash through. It had been before Xavier and Beast had looked into a way to ground the uniforms, they had never needed to worry about it before.

After about five or six excruciating electrocutions Lexi had finally snapped and as she rose from the floor of the jet for the last time, something primal flashed in her eyes, curled her lips and as both Cheska and the storm catcher watched, she unleashed her own rage, letting the fox demon inside of her free for the first time in a very long time. And as with the last time she had stolen another's life and powers, Lexi blacked out, unable to really remember any of what had happened. Cheska had said it had been frightening, the storm catcher had tried to stop Lexi, but the lightening had only enraged her and as she shifted forms the static electricity had made her thick fur stand on end, racing across it, but the thing she had said that had stuck with her the most, was the look in her friend's eyes and how, as she roared in anger at the male, his last lightening strike had crackled down her body, jumping over her fur and sparking from her fangs to bounce around inside her mouth as she flew past her and sank her fangs into the man's neck.

In her right mind, Lexi had only been aiming to throw the man off her friend and she had managed to do just that, her huge fox body slamming him against the controls before she flung her head and tossed him to the floor, landing protectively in front of Cheska with a panting snort, but the storm mutant had freaked out and when he hit the floor he slammed his hands down, lighting up the entire frame of the jet, aiming to kill them all and as Lexi dove at him again, trying to shift to her human form to touch him, he hit her full force with both hands, freezing her shift midway as she landed and closed her paw like hands around his head, curling up around him with pained yelps and screams.

Again, it had taken less then 30 seconds for the storm catcher to still and Lexi had whimpered, pushing off of him with all four paws and curled up on the floor, yelping from time to time as random bolts of electricity shocked through her system. Outside, Logan had said the strangest thing had happened, it had looked like two storms had suddenly risen up and were fighting each other right over the jet, then one last deafening peal of thunder had sounded and everything went silent.

At first Lexi had been scared to use the storm control she had, like the fox mutant, she had felt the storm mutant's emotions, heard his thoughts, saw into his personality and he had been chaotic and scattered, random like the storms he loved to conjure. It had take a while for Storm to talk her into tapping into that power, explaining that the longer she went without learning how to control it, the more dangerous she was going to become and with Storm's help, they had found out not only had the storm catcher been able to control the weather, he had been able to manipulate several different elements.

"I didn't even know Logan was back…" At Rouge's side, Warren frowned, his wings shifting uneasily as he looked up at the sky and the angry black clouds that were looming over them. Indeed, the only one that seemed to know had been Lexi, she had been sitting in the library, just staring out the window silently when she had suddenly looked around, seeming to listen to something no one else could hear, then had taken off with a low growl and burst through the back entrance of the school, just standing on the lawn and staring down the road till Logan's bike had come into view.

At first Warren had thought Kitsune was happy to see her friend, not willing to think that Logan had been the cause of her rage and personality switch, Logan had been nothing but a close friend to her, a source of strength and comfort, he couldn't imagine what could have happened in Japan to make her so angry at him. He couldn't think of a single thing that could have torn them apart. But when Lexi had struck his bike down with a lightening bolt and Logan had charged at her, Angel had been forced to rethink everything he'd been pondering the last two weeks since Lexi had come home alone…

Kitsune snarled as she watched Wolverine bat aside her ice shards, she had hoped it would have taken him off guard, but she simply switched gears slightly, veering off to the left, both her hands darting backwards, the movements looking as if a swimmer were parting water after a dive and when they hit the point furthest behind her, two mini funnels of wind erupted from them, propelling her faster. Her aim had been a large boulder about ten feet ahead and off to the side and as she hit it, she used her air funneling, pushing off the top of it and throwing her body upwards into a high back flip over Logan, bringing a fist down to strike him at the base of his neck, this time fire engulfing both her hands, one to add pain to the strike and the other acting more as a jet flame as she kept it extended behind her to add to the force of her punch. She just wanted to bring him down to his knees in front of her, she wasn't aiming to kill, it would take a lot a more then a supercharged punch to take Wolverine out permanently…

Shit! Logan barely had enough time to register what it was she was doing, her movements had been that fast, especially now that she knew how to almost fully channel her powers. Grunting with an inward curse, Logan forced himself to stop, throwing his right fist down to punch the ground at an angle, claws fully extended to help root himself into place as he twisted his body around to follow the 90 degree angle of his rooted punch. Slamming his right foot behind her head, he hooked her with it trying to drive her into the ground beside him. He didn't want to give her a chance to get a hold of his face, to touch any part of his skin, even if he was fairly certain she wouldn't actually try to drain him, it wasn't a chance he was going to take with how uncontrollable he knew her rages could be, how the fox inside of her could completely overrule her, even to the point that she would harm herself. He wanted to try and put her down quick, avoid her rage getting to that point and hopefully, he'd actually be able to try and talk to her.

With a gasp of surprise, Kitsune threw both her hands in front of her face, blasting the ground with an explosion of fire hard enough to throw her backwards and away from where Logan had been trying to ground her, but the suddenness of his defensive switch had been enough to catch her off guard and the explosion went a bit wild, the flames flaring up and around her as her arms flailed back, making her look eerily like a back winging phoenix, flames even burning in her eyes as she stared at Logan.

"Oh my gawd…" Rouge froze as she watched what had happened, a hand moving up to her mouth, the fire light mirroring in her green eyes and she looked to Warren, then the other of the younger X-Men, wondering if that had been anything like what Jean had looked like when she'd been possessed by the Phoenix Force. From everything she had heard, this fox mutation was a similar entity in the way that it could shut down Lexi from her rational mind, fuel nothing but the base animal instincts like what the Phoenix Force had done to Jean and with that kind of primal rage, Kitsune's powers were that much more heightened. Rouge had no doubt that if Lexi were ever to give in fully to that primal animal the Fox embodied, she could easily destroy the entire school, do just about as much damage as The Phoenix Force had done when it had consumed Jean. Thank gawd Lexi isn't a telepath… Xavier should be able ta shut her down if she ever got to that point…

Don't like that look… too familiar… Logan shook himself as he sheathed his claws, dropping down into a half crouched position and quickly followed her movements, feeling a sickeningly familiar pang ripping through him as he watched the fire, felt the intense heat on his face and he snarled, knowing in part that she was doing it on purpose, trying to fuck with his head in the most cruel way she knew how. It was her specialty, mind games and psychological torture… Fire has always been her element… not everything she does it ta fuck with your mind, Bub…

Kitsune snarled as she watched her ex friend, some part of her mind realizing what it was she probably looked like to him and a small part of her took some sick pleasure in it. With a dark smirk she lowered her hands to her side, palm down, using the fire to help steady her and calling up a more intense heat haze, letting it make her hair fly around her face and whip up the blood red light trench she had been wearing. She really hadn't even thought about what it was she had put on this morning, but it was very similar to what The Phoenix Force had chosen to wear, only her corset top was black and only her pants and trench were red. It probably didn't help any that she had been dying her black hair a deep black cherry, giving it a red glow in the light.

Still smirking at Logan, she slowly let the fire dwindle twill she was only inches off the ground, head lowered as she stared at him, letting the heat blaze all around and start to twirl, kicking up debris in its wake. With a tilt of her head she looked around, lips pursed as she tired to feel something out, then with an even darker grin she dropped to the ground, bowing her head and raising her hands in a crane style fighting manor, the ground shaking all around them and the fire blazing out of control.

As the others watched, the ground started to split around the courtyard, sudden bursts of water gushing up and circling both her and Logan, echoing the way Phoenix had staged her last attack, both fire and water tumbling together, rising a curtain of steam.

For several stunned moments Logan was frozen, struck with how she looked and as the ground cracked and started to break upwards he stumbled, a terrified moment of panic going through him as he thought for a wild moment Lexi had somehow gained telekinesis. But as a pipe from the water system flew past his head he let out a breath, trying to shake himself, The piping for the water, moron, she's not Jean… And as that last thought crossed his mind, Logan snarled in rage, throwing his hands down and extending both sets of claws, finally starting to feel the effect of how she was acting, a part of him feeling a heavily crushing constriction in his chest that Lexi was doing this to him, exploiting something she knew was so painful for him, and taunting him with it…