Summary: Rogue is a skip tracer and contracted by Professor Xavier to find Wolverine. Alternate Universe. Post X-Men: The Last Stand

Rating: T/M

Author's Note: This is an itch I had to scratch. Ever since I saw The Wolverine the premise for this story kept dancing in my head.

Within You

"Just leave kid. Go on. Get the HELL outta here!"

I stood still, dead locked, completely stupefied. Mystified…so to speak. I was in tune with the knowledge that was facing a volatile and snarling Wolverine and shockingly I was not quivering like a leaf. I tilted by head, goddam hair falling in to my face again. Fucking platinum locks tickling my face and nose. I could've sworn I packed a hairclip, but that's not entirely important right now.

I kept my eyes trained on the feral mutant in front of me. Menacing claws cast in indestructible metal glinted at me a like a fucking omen. I've seen firsthand what those claws could do. Shred…dismember…gut anything and anyone who stood in its path. And I was now standing in that path. My eyes slid close. A decision made. A stupid one.

So stupid.

He could kill me. Would he kill me?

The look in his eyes betrayed the demons roaring in his brain like the ire of a dragon. He didn't know me anymore. I felt a slice in my heart at this revelation. A winded breath launched out my throat in an effort to stem the tide of fear now threatening to swallow me into oblivion. Christ! I was dying of thirst. I felt like I had swallowed the Sahara desert. I'd been traveling too long. Searching… to finally find what I was look I felt no true fulfillment.

I dumped the scrap that made up my belongings on the pile of earth and rock that formulated the cave floor. Or what I presumed was a cave. Seemed more like a niche cut into the side of a mountain. The climb to this particular summit had been steep. I lost count of how many times I slid on my ass…skinned my knees on jutting rocks…felt the pierce of sharp twigs and thorns into my flesh.

I pressed on. Driven by what? Who the hell knew? A cosmic entity? Sheer force of will? Oh! Wait…totally dim witted…I was here on duty. X-Men duty…contracted to me by the honorable, incorruptible Charles Xavier. Find Wolverine…if you can? Sure. He didn't have to stare down this crazed lunatic that's ready to tear my throat out. What the fuck did the Old Man expect me to do? There appeared to be no coddling or reasoning with the guy.

Did he expect me to hog tie Logan and throw him in the back of my truck. Sure I had handcuffs. I was after all a skip-tracer. Not a bounty hunter per say. I normally hunted down assholes who skipped out on their bail and left some poor sucker with the tab. Yeah, it isn't a glamorous job but paid the bills and kept the blood flowing.

You'd be amazed by all the looks I get from every crystal meth tweaker or wife beating dipshit I bust. Yes! They got their asses handed to them. Yes! I'm a girl and…

Whoa! What was I talking about? Oh…yeah…the grungy nut with the claws. The one I used to idolize…fantasize…love. Stupid fucking high school crush talk about wasted years. Time is truly wasted on the youth.

I moved.

A growl erupted from the base of his throat. I eyed a dead tree stump and walked cautiously towards it. Easing out of my coat I dropped it on its surface for a make-shift seat. The winter cold slammed into me at all sides but I wasn't fazed. The cold didn't bother me. Nothing ever truly bothered me. Not anymore.

I sat down and found my voice. It took a while (I haven't been able to shake the accent—god knows I've tried) but it came out deeper, richer, and more mature. It should. I wasn't sixteen anymore. And even though I've aged ten years. I knew I would never be able to age again.

"I can't leave Logan," I sighed, bone tired, weary.

I guess if I was going hold my end of the bargain to the Professor…I sure as hell don't want that check to bounce. I got a part of the money if I fail, but I sure would like it all. I looked at him eyes challenging. I gotta start somewhere. I flicked out a pocket it knife from the side of my evergreen hooded coat and with the haunted looking eyes I knew I possessed drew a red line across my wrist. Blood leaked from the wound as expected but very soon the wound knitted together to scarless perfection. "I got too much of you in me."