Title: Actually I need help on this little aspect of the story...any suggestions?

Rating: M for Mature

Summary: Not your typical "new X-Man" story...and I hope you'll understand and see why. Very dramatic, hopefully lots of action, and I'll update the summary as the story progresses...

Chapter One

Logan quickly surveyed their surroundings, looking for anyone that appeared suspicious. Seeing no one, he waved them off. Rogue, Bobby, and a group of their friends eagerly entered into the bustling streets of Grafton Street in Dublin.

It was the Professor's idea that they all get out the Institute for a while. With all of the drastic changes and strong emotions encircling the recent happenings, he felt a vacation was well-earned. Logan was just happy to be out of the Institute.

Logan glanced over past Storm to Scott. Though you couldn't see his emotions through his eyes, you could tell that the vacation wasn't helping him cope very well.

Might as well make the best of it all, Logan thought to himself.

He wandered down the street. The road was blocked off to cars and was covered in cobblestones. Thousands of people shopped along these streets. Little novelty stores and kiosks lined the sidewalks, and street musicians added a bit of culture to it all.

Logan looked into one of the store windows and saw Rogue, an oversized cowboy hat on her head. She was attempting to shove a flowery hat onto Bobby's head, but she was losing due to her height. Bobby planted a quick kiss on her lips. Logan felt a small bit of remorse for the couple. Quick kisses were all they could share.

He turned from the two lovers and caught sight of a young man sitting on the sidewalk across the street. He was wearing a tuke pulled tightly over his head, nearly covering his eyes. A few locks of long red hair could be seen shooting out from the back of his hat and near his exposed ear lobes. Logan guessed that the boy's hair probably covered about as much as the hat he wore now did. He sported a black sweater, torn and dirty, with a green button-up shirt underneath, its collar revealed at the top of the sweater. He wore old blue jeans with small rips in the knees and thighs. Old brown dress shoes completed the disheveled look. The laces on his shoes had been broken many times, and the leather was rubbed raw, so thin that you could almost see his sock. The boy looked in his late teens. He was playing an old acoustic guitar, strumming complicated chords and tapping his foot with the beat. The song sounded oddly familiar to Logan, although he knew he'd never heard it before. He could see that the boy's lips were moving as if he were singing, but he couldn't hear the words. He gave in to the urge to walk across the street.

Logan reached into his pocket and fished out a single Euro as he walked. He flipped it into the kid's guitar case and sauntered away.

Abruptly, the boy stopped playing. Logan turned around and peered at him. The kid was staring at him fixedly, not in anger, but in interest and pure confusion.

He knew Logan was different.

Just as quickly as it had happened, the moment vanished. The boy turned his head towards a disturbance down the street.

A young street girl was being dragged into an alley by two men. Her screams were silenced by the noise of the crowd, and Logan may have missed the whole occurrence had the boy not looked towards it.

The boy had dodged off after the girl, possibly looking to help her. Logan couldn't control his desire to aid this kid. He wasn't sure what it was about him, but something drew him in, as if he were under a trance.

Logan followed the boy's hat through the crowded street.

Rogue couldn't control her giggling as Bobby tickled her through her shirt.

"Bobby...Bobby...stop...stop it..." she managed to get out in between laughs.

Bobby stopped for a second. "Stop doing what? This?" And he continued, smiling maliciously.

"No...stop it...Bobby..." Rogue's cries became more urgent. Noticing this, Bobby stopped immediately, concern in his eyes.

"What's wrong? Am I hurting you?"

"No, no." she assured him "It's just...everyone's looking at us..."

"So? Let them watch. I'm not ashamed that I'm in love with you." Bobby leaned in to plant a fleeting kiss on her cheek, but she ducked her head out of the way.

"I'm not ashamed of it, I just don't like flaunting it. Save it for when we're alone."

"Yeah, when we're alone, so I can show my love for you from a safe distance."

"Bobby..."

"No, Rogue, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of only being able to put my arms around you if you're wearing sleeves. I'm tired of the momentary kisses. I'm tired of..."

"I know, Bobby, I know." Rogue placed a gloved hand over his lips. "I'm tired too. But I want to keep those moments we have special. And I just don't feel comfortable showing affection in front of an audience." She gestured to the crowd surrounding them.

Bobby's eyes drifted past her.

"What is it?"

He took a step past her and swiveled her around, his hands on her shoulders. She saw Logan frantically pushing his way through the crowd.

"Bobby..."

She had barely finished speaking his name before they rushed out the door.

Logan smelled blood.

This new sensation made him quicken his speed down the abandoned alleyway. Stagnant water from puddles splashed about him, soaking his clinging black tee. Shadows of movement and muffled screams met him as he turned the corner...

The girl was naked now. One of the guys had his hand on her breast while the other held her arms, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

The kid was knocked out, bleeding from a big gash on his head, and his arm was twisted strangely underneath his body. The hat was just barely clinging to his head.

"Get your god damned hands off that girl."

The two perverts turned towards Logan.

"Laddy, I ain't fucked in o'er a month. Tends ta make a man antsy, don't it, Frankie?"

"Aye, it do. Real antsy. So antsy that any pussy-ass cunt that get in our way..."

Frankie didn't even have time to finish his sentence. With his claws unsheathed, Logan picked him up, kicked him in the groin, and tossed him into the nearby wall like a child's toy. Frankie immediately curled into the fetal position, trying to catch his breath.

"'Oly mother o'...a...a..."

"Mutant? No shit, Sherlock."

By this time, the girl was the last thing on the two goons' minds. She instantly reached for her clothing and began putting it on.

"You'd better get your friend out of here before he 'accidentally' trips and breaks his neck..."

His friend picked up Frankie and, still eyeing Logan suspiciously, they retreated behind two large dumpsters and disappeared.

Logan walked over to the girl. "Hey kid, you ok?" He placed a hand on her shoulder.

She flinched under his hand and backed away from him. "Get your 'ands off me, you freak." She leapt over the kid on the ground and ran down the alleyway, almost colliding with Rogue and Bobby, who watched her curiously before looking to Logan.

"Friendly little town," he laughed.

Rogue knelt next to the kid at once, surveying his injuries.

"I think he's broken his arm. And his head..." Rogue gasped as she lifted his hat, not because of the gaping gash, but because of something else.

Just underneath his wavy red hair were two perfectly pointed ears.

Things suddenly made more and more sense to Logan. The kid was one of theirs.

"Should we bring him to the hospital or..."

"No, they'd slaughter him there. People here don't seem too friendly towards our kind. We'll take him back to our room. Bobby, help me carry him."

Author's Notes

So yes, this is definitely a working title...please leave reviews because I love them...and please give me any suggestions of titles if you would, because I'm completely mindless...