Mutants

By: K-promises-fall

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Mai Hime in any way.

It wasn't exactly the best job in the world.

The air was stuffy, the scenery was depressing, the patrons were either loud and... unpleasant or quiet and brooding, and the pay... She had earned more money simply watching her neighbour's pets. This job was wholly undesirable, especially for a beautiful 22 year old who would, without trying, turn many heads and garner many smiles.

It would not matter that she was covered from head to toe in dark, unsavoury tones, or that she kept the hood of her jacket up at nearly all times – her job being the only exception. It didn't matter that the colours of her clothes were washed out and that the seems of her jeans were fraying from dragging along the ground or that her sneakers were dirty and scratched from untold adventures. No, it didn't seem to matter at all. Wherever she went she was remembered, and that was not the best thing when the entire world was ready to hunt her kind.

But we have drifted from the subject at hand.

Her job, decidedly temporary due not only to its unpleasantness, but by fate itself – fate which loved to repeat itself with her life – was a bad and dangerous one.

She opened the small slit in the wall of the kitchen to peer into the diner. The drunken group of six was still there, regrettably. Their half eaten meals lay forgotten as they laughed and made crude jokes, and Shizuru could not help but narrow her eyes at them.

"They prob'ly ain't goin' t' pay."

Startled, she turned to look at her only company at this dark hour. The night chef was a skinny 40 year old man who always smelled of old sweat, stale bread and cheap cologne. She supposed most of that was due to his environment. And she couldn't complain, since she was seeking refuge in his kitchen. They rarely ever spoke, as he was part of the gloom of the entire place and spent most of the nights brooding as he made use of leftover food from the day to fix meals for the few customers they received at night.

She took a step away from the wall and turned to look at him as she replied, "I'm more worried about them leaving without breaking anything." Like me, she finished in her mind. He was sitting on a stool in front of the two stoves, and not for the first time Shizuru marvelled at how small the room was. The two small, rusting stoves took up an entire wall of the enclosed room and the ceiling was low. She had only been in here for five minutes but she could feel her shirt starting to stick to her back under her hoodie.

"Eh..." He waved off her comment as if it was a fly. "We've gotten pretty gud at fixin' the furn'ture these idiots break."

She quickly bit back the comment that sprouted to her mind. Things that are repeatedly broken eventually become irreparable. Not only was the comment rude in the face of his bleak joke, but it brought to mind the many times she'd ended up with broken and fractured bones. Would they, too, become irreparable?

That was when she heard the faint sound of the door creaking open and she let out a sigh at the prospect of another group of drunken fools. She heard a sudden burst of jeers and ruckus laughter and questioned whether it was from the first group or the new arrivals.

"You'd better ge' out there 'fore they start bangin' down the kitchen door. We can't 'ford for anything in 'ere to ge' damage."

She glared at him, but he wasn't looking at her, instead picking at the rust on the stove burner. Shizuru let out another sigh before opening the door that led out and ducking her head under the door jam. She looked around the diner, ignoring the whistles she got from the earlier group, which was still sitting at their table, their faces and necks red, and finally spotted the person who had entered sitting at a corner table, far from the group of men. She was secretly glad at that, she didn't want to be anywhere close to them, and wished they'd leave (and hopefully crash the pickup they arrived in into the deep, dry riverbed a few miles from here).

As she moved closer to the lone person sitting at the table, she noticed that it was a female, a beautiful one at that, dressed in a dark blue rider's jacket and jeans torn at the knees. Her raven hair was wind-tossed, and dark sunglasses covered her eyes as she sat slouched over on the table, her head propped up on her hand as she gazed out the window. What was she looking at? Rather, what could she look at with how dark it was?

The woman's nose twitched and she turned to look at Shizuru who made the final steps to her table, revealing her full profile. She looked like a girl... but she had to be at least 20... maybe 19.

"What can I get you?" Shizuru delivered the standard question without a smile and without warmth. It was not a tone she herself would have like to be served with, but this place didn't have the type of customers Shizuru wished to see again.

The woman turned to look back out the window, and Shizuru stood for a while before making to leave. If she wasn't going to order she would return to the safety of the kitchen.

"I'll have a chicken sandwich. Whole wheat, no vegetables."

She half turned to the source of the low, gruff voice and saw that the woman... girl, was still staring out the window. "I'll be back with your order." She was answered with a snort before she quickly made for the kitchen. One of the men stood up to address her, a large grin on his stubbled face, as he was encouraged by his friends. Shizuru side-stepped him and walked to the door. She heard the men laugh as the guy ordered his friends to "Shut it" and felt all eyes on her as she entered the kitchen and locked the door.

"Well?"

She half regarded the chef as she leaned against the door and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. That ... girl, unsettled her. "A chicken sandwich, no vegetables. Whole wheat."

He grunted and got to work.

Shizuru walked over to the wall she had previously looked through and again opened the small slit, looking towards the corner where the woman sat.

She was the same as she had left her, and Shizuru was reminded of a boy that was in her class at the school she used to attend; he was always gazing out the window during classes, but Shizuru had never been able to find what he was looking at. Perhaps he wasn't looking at anything I could see. Perhaps he was looking into a world I could not enter.

As she ended the thought the woman, turned and stared right at her. Shizuru stared back in shock for a few seconds, then rapidly closed the slit, holding a hand to her pounding chest. She was sweating, was it only because of the room?

Taking another deep breath, she turned her attention to the chef who was placing the reheated chicken on a whole wheat bun and covering it with the other half. He set it on the counter on the wall opposite the stove and took a glass from the sink, rinsing it quickly before filling it with water and placing it next to the plate. There was no ice.

She took the plate and glass as he set about washing his hands and slipped a fork on the plate before braving the diner again. I will quit tonight. She'd move on to the nearby town and past it, continuing north. The men were whispering to themselves as she walked past and Shizuru went to her hopefully last customer in this place and set the food down on the table.

She looked up to meet shaded eyes and schooled her face to stay as it was as her heart once again raced. Why was it that this woman affected her so? Was she afraid of her? Why? And could she make up her mind if she were a woman or a girl? The way she held herself spoke of an understanding that came with age, and yet that understanding seemed trapped in an adolescent's body.

The girl's nose twitched, and despite her racing pulse, Shizuru started to find the act to be cute. But... how long had she been standing here? Certainly much longer than was necessary. She tried to move but found that she couldn't, the woman's gaze had her pinned. What is she looking at? What does she see? She hoped it wasn't a threat. Shizuru would rather leave calmly, not in another mad dash for her life.

Then that gaze shifted and Shizuru found herself released. Choosing to escape while she still could she turned to leave, and instead found that the group of men from earlier were blocking her.

A sinking feeling settled in her stomach and she glared at the one directly in front of her. "Could you please move?"

He grinned at her and shrugged his shoulders. "Please? Hear that boys?" He laughed. "Now she knows manners after she so rudely snubbed our friend." The other five around him made various sounds of agreement. He glared at her. "You really hurt his feelings."

This wasn't looking very good.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Lying's unbecoming of a lady."

"She probably ain't a lady! Looks nice and all in the face, but you can't make shit out of the crap she's wearing."

Shizuru glowered. The one she had labelled as leader looked thoughtful at the remark, which caused her to get angrier.

"You know..." he leered at her. "He's got a point there. Are you a pretty little boy underneath all those layers?"

She struggled to keep her voice even. "Please, move."

"Now that just sounded rude, little boy." His hand moved for her wrist, but Shizuru moved back and he missed. He started to follow after her when the woman behind Shizuru spoke.

"She said move, so move. You're ruining my meal."

"You stay out of this weirdo!" From the one who had attempted to approach Shizuru earlier, the one she had "snubbed". "Unless... let me guess... is this your little boyfriend? Do you get some kind of kick out of having him dress up like a girl, you sick fu-"

"Get your lapdog a muzzle before he starts frothing all over my food."

"What did you-?"

"And get him fixed while you're at it before he starts spreading disease." Shizuru watched as the woman pointed at the noticeable bulge in his pants and the man went red in the face.

"You-!"

This time it was the leader that interrupted him, laughing loudly. The others were laughing at his expense too, shoving him and rustling his hair. He shoved them off him and glowered at Shizuru's would be rescuer.

"You know what lady, I like you." The leader laughed again and Shizuru took another step backwards to stand next to where the woman was sitting, and she was definitely a woman now, but did she have any idea what she was doing? "I apologize for my friend here, he never was able to keep it in his pants. He's you know," he pointed a finger at his temple and made circles with it, "not all there." The others laughed again at their friend's expense. Shizuru spared a glance at the woman sitting beside her who finished her sandwich while they were laughing.

"That's nice. We're leaving."

She stood up and Shizuru puzzled at the "we're" before understanding. She means me? She's taking me with her?

But could they leave? The group of men hadn't moved and the leader was grinning at them. The situation was only getting worse.

"Now wait a second. Maybe I could offer you two a drink to make up for it."

"No."

"I insist."

"I said no." The two were glaring at each other now.

She had to stop this. She didn't want to fight them, she'd lose! "I'm afraid we really must decline."

But he was ignoring her. The others were glaring now too, at both the woman and herself.

"When a man offers to get you something you smile sweet and say thank you." He stalked closer to the two of them, pushing his face inches from the woman's.

"What man? All I see are a bunch of idiots." She took it back, this was a girl, a foolish girl out to get herself killed.

Maybe she could...?

But the man spotted her attempt to retreat and grabbed the sleeve of her hoodie. At that moment the woman took up her empty plate and smashed it against his head. It had started.

She quietly cursed as she pulled her arm free and watched the woman punch the leader in the face. The other one, the one who had tried to hit on her, tried to tackle the woman along with two others, and the two left behind came after Shizuru. Why did she always end up in these situations?

She ducked under a swipe for her neck but failed to dodge the upper cut that was driven into her ribs right under her breasts. The blow left her breathless and stumbling back as the guy narrowly missed grabbing the front of her hoodie. But she had forgotten about the other man. And he tackled her to the floor. Her head hit the floor hard and she saw stars, what little air she managed to retain blew out of her lips as she landed. The guy straddled her and grabbed her bare neck before he started hitting her. He sent blow after blow at her left cheek, snapping her head to the side to hit the ground and catching it again as it bounced back.

She vaguely heard the sounds of the fight the other woman was caught in.

The punches got weaker with each blow, and started spacing out. The grip around her neck slacked. In a daze and acting only on instinct Shizuru pushed him off her and he fell pathetically to the side wheezing.

Taking time to catch her breath she turned slightly, ignoring the stinging pain in her face. She was surprised to find the other five men being easily thrown around by the other woman, who moved around their punches like water and countered with vicious kicks. What was she?

Not caring to stick around to find out she forced herself to her feet and headed for the exit. She would continue heading north. She'd go north into Canada before going west and crossing over into Russia. There were research facilities in Russia, places that could cure her. There were also places she could hide, and could get away with fully covering herself. If Russia couldn't fix what was wrong with her, it could give her a new start, a quiet start where no one would know her face from the police inquiries or Friends of Humanity hunts. But she had to get there. And to get there she had to live.

She was two steps from the door when her ribs spiked painfully and she was blindsided by a body colliding with her. She once again hit the floor painfully, her ribs crying out in heated protest along with her elbows, her head once again knocked the floor with precise accuracy to hit the exact same spot as earlier. This of course, caused her battered face to throb in accompaniment and Shizuru was ready to just lie there and let them beat her right then because she wasn't going anywhere.

She opened her eyes to find the guy who had landed on her opening his. She made to push him off, but he caught her wrists and pushed her back down, sneering evilly. His nose was broken and his lip was split. The look was similar to that of a slobbering bull dog as it was growling, only the drool was red.

There were a few grunts and crashes from the other side of the diner and then a hand with three shining silver claws, speckled with blood, grabbed the back of the guys shirt. He let out a cry as he was pulled back off of her and then turned to the woman, using his arm to force her to let go of him as he stumbled away. Shizuru watched as the woman retracted her claws and lifted a nearby chair.

"We've gotten pretty gud at fixin' the furn'ture these idiots break."

She swung the chair and it struck the man in his face. Shizuru watched with morbid fascination as the chair leg splintered and broke and the man was sent reeling, blood flying from his mouth and his new wound. Then he collapsed and the diner was suddenly quiet.

She had a few moments to look around at the broken tables and unconscious (dead?) bodies before the woman grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Shizuru groaned, the sudden movement aggravating her probably bruised ribs.

"Come on."

She had no other option but to follow as her arm was tugged. The woman walked briskly, pushing the door hard enough for the hinges to scream protest as it swung open fully, and then trudged into the dark night air, pulling along a wincing Shizuru who stumbled slightly every few steps.

She tried to force out words. "Where...?"

"Somewhere. Shut up. You're in no condition to talk."

Her ribs emphasized that point with another sudden spike of pain.

They reached a bike which the woman instantly let go of her hand to straddle, starting the engine and turning on the headlights. Shizuru hesitated and tried to ask again.

"Where...? Who...?"

There was the creak of the door and Shizuru turned around in a panic to see the chef standing there with a shotgun aimed at her. He cocked it, and Shizuru felt herself pulled onto the bike which roared to life just as the first shot rang out. She winced at the sound and clutched tightly to the woman's jacket. They were off with a jerk and another shot rang out. Then they were down the road and soon out of firing range.

After a few minutes to assure herself that yes, she was still alive, and no, the pain was not from a gaping bullet wound, she pried her eyes open to look ahead. She was settled on the bike uncomfortably from her hasty mount and took the opportunity to make herself more comfortable as she leaned her head to the side slightly to avoid the woman's long blue hair trying to whip at her already hurting face.

On the run again.

She breathed out, wincing again at the pain and resting her forehead on the tense shoulder in front of her.

At least they were heading north.

After Note:

This actually isn't the completed thing, but I figured it has been sitting around in my computer gathering dust for long enough and this first part was enough to post on it's own.

'Mutants' is just one of (so far) two Powers scenarios that I am working with. The Powers series will include multiple oneshots featuring Shiznat with different supernatural abilities in different worlds/situations. It is completely AU. I'm regrettably unsure as to when I will add to it, but I will at least try to clean up and post what I already have written for this.

Last Note: I am aware that 'Mutants' bears some similarities to another fic called X-HiME written by drink'milk. Whatever similarities you see here are where those similarities end. Whatever plot I may spin off this in the future should be strikingly different.

Thanks for reading.