Hey guys, this story used to be published under my other account Kakikitsune but I have written more on the second chapter so i am reposting it here... hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I have not, will not and never shall own the x-men movies/characters/comics/cartoons. Don't sue XD

Her rapid, forceful footsteps echoed through the narrow tunnel like thunder, her sneakers squeaking on the cheap linoleum flooring that covered every square inch. Her breathing was erratic and her heart was beating like humming birds wings. To say that she was at her wits end would have been the understatement of the year.

As if all the energy had left her weary body her frantic running diminished until it was only a half hearted jog... and soon she was standing utterly still in the middle of the underground tunnel. Her chestnut hair hung in front of her face in wild disarray. With a sigh she slumped against the wall and quietly began to sob.

What had happened to her life?

She had been a straight A student with a loving family, caring boyfriend and friends galore.

Where had that gone?

Genes. One of the few things that a person cannot control, the genetic material that had spliced and duplicated in the womb to make her the person she was turned out to be the deciding factor in her life. When it came out that one of the sets of her chromosomes were different from the rest of the human population, she saw through the lies and farces her life had been.

Her family, the loving and caring parents she thought she knew, disappeared and in their place stood judgmental and scornful strangers. Her friends, the ones who she thought she could count on to be with her through thick and thin turned their backs on her, wouldn't look at her. And her boyfriend... the boy she thought she loved more than anyone else was no longer a person but rather a vegetable, lying on a bed in the hospital. She was different and everyone she knew couldn't deal with that fact, so instead they labeled her as inhuman... a monster.

A mutant.

And how could she blame them? Their fear wasn't uncalled for... her mutation was scary. Her skin had properties that made it poisonous to the touch. But unlike poison ivy, it didn't make people itch or scratch. No, her skin was deadly: one touch could make someone weak in the knees, fall into a coma or in the extreme cases... it could cause people to drop dead. Looking at what happened to Cody… there was little wonder why they were scared. So, she ran and left them all behind, for her sake and theirs.

But that was fine, because even though she lost her family and friends, she had made new ones. Ones that she thought would understand and who wouldn't judge and scorn her because they too were different. Meeting Logan had to be one of the best things to happen to her since she found out about her mutation. She had found a kindred spirit, another loner who could relate to her and in the short time that she had known him he had become the father figure she wished could have had.

And then she found the school for mutants or mutant high as her peers nicknamed it and she thought that this would be a good thing. Lots of kids her age who she had tentatively hoped that maybe, just maybe they wouldn't be scared of her. And it had been looking good; Bobby seemed to take an interest in her and didn't seem to mind the no touching thing. But it appeared to have been too good to be true as yet again something went wrong that ruined everything.

She squished her eyes tighter together in a last ditch attempt to forget what had happened, to try and forget what had caused her to run this time. Away from a potential family that would have understood, who would have stayed by her side even though her genes were different, because they too were different. But apparently she was too different and scary for even the x-men.

Logan was moaning and grunting in his bed and she had wanted to wake him up. She thought of him as a good friend, and she hated seeing those she cared for in pain or discomfort. So, slowly she reached downwards towards his shoulder in an attempt to wake him but had to pull up at the last second.

Her hand was bare.

Mentally cursing, she hovered and tried to talk him out of his nightmare but it was proving to be a fruitless task. He wouldn't wake up, and he seemed to become more and more restless and agitated.

"Logan? Logan ya need ta wake up... Logan?" That was all she was able to get out before he shot up in a blink of an eye, screaming like a mad man and punched her.

Or so she had thought, but his screaming had hidden the distinct sound of his claws popping out of his hand and her sudden surprise had numbed her to the pain that was radiating through her chest. But the numbness lasted but a few seconds and then the pain hit her like a ton of bricks. Logan was staring at her with a look of pure horror as he stared at the holes that he had poked through her.

She didn't think… she couldn't really through the pain that was clouding her judgment. She relied on instinct as she reached out for him, barely hearing him calling, screaming for someone to come and help. She touched him and absorbed his healing ability to save herself.

As the holes in her chest healed Logan's eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed.

That had been it, the moment where her life went to hell once again. She had hurt the man she considered to be a good friend and father figure, possibly even putting him in a coma. She had scared the population of the institute with her blatant display of her power and scared off the one boy her age that she thought she might have liked.

She shook her head gently and tears streamed down her face. 'Damn am I ever good at burning bridges' she thought to herself.

She leaned back until her head hit the cool tiles that lined the walls, staring dimly at the flickering lights that were trying but failing to provide light for the tunnel before shutting her eyes with a sigh. Where would she go now? Back up to Canada as she had planed the first time? Or maybe somewhere else, someplace unknown.

Opening her eyes again to look around she was surprised to find a man with sun glasses sitting on the floor not far from her, his body angled so he was facing her. And even though she couldn't see his eyes, she knew he was staring at her. With a scream that sounded more like a squeak due to her throat being clogged up from crying, she tried to put some distance between herself and this stranger that she hadn't heard sit down. Unfortunately for her, the wall was closer then had she thought and she just smashed her head against it instead.

Leaning forward, his hand was stretched out to help her when she flinched away violently, causing him to stop all motion and retract his hand. But even though he took back his helping hand, he didn't get up and leave. She scooted back a couple of feet just in case and started to nurse her throbbing lump that had formed on her head.

"What are ya doing here? Do ya make it a habit of scaring the crap of random strangers ya don't know?" She snapped and him, her heart still pounding from how his sudden presence startled her. Despite the tone she had used, she wasn't ticked off at the stranger but more angry with herself for not noticing him sooner. What if he had reached down to help her up? He could have touched her skin by accident. She had to be more careful.

"But Chéri, what's an homme to do when he comes across a belle femme crying? Just seeing if you needed anything, s'all." He said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He crocked his head when he saw that she didn't have any bags with her. "Do you need me to call you a taxi so you can get back home?"

Home.

That one word seemed to echo and reverberate within her mind, reminding her over and over again that she had no home. Would she ever be able to have some place to call home with her mutation? Without her knowing it, tears started to stream down her face again.

With a start the man in front of her reached out again to comfort her but this time she batted it way with her hand (gloved of course) and let out a sob as she moved back a bit more. Apparently he had not been expecting her to suddenly lash out and he was slightly put off balance. As he righted himself, she happened to glance up and let out a gasp of surprise.

"Ya eyes..." She mumbled as she stared at his unique eyes. He quickly covered them up again with the dark sunglasses he wore, but she had seen enough. His eyes were hypnotic with a ring of burning red set on back, definitely not the normal blue or brown on white. Eyes like those were definitely not the norm for the everyday human being. "...Yer a mutant aren't ya?"

And with that simple statement his whole body stilled and the tunnel seemed to darken with the tension in the air. He tensed as if waiting for the rejection and scorn he knew was coming.

"There're beautiful." She whispered and when he heard those simple words, his jaw dropped in surprise before he slowly began to smile.

"Merci Chéri, da name's Remy by the way," he said softly as he stood up. Looking down at her, he held out his hand to help her up. "And what would your name be ma Chéri? "

"Rouge."

So Review please! The second chapter should be coming in the next few days!

A/N (09/02/2013): Minor grammatical and such changes