Ride

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

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Chapter 4- Roam

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Having made their way across this sprawling megalopolis into its Shinjuku district, a pair of weary travelers now neared what was their ultimate destination within this area of Tokyo. The unavoidable fatigue that had slowly begun to set in on Logan and Laura was one directly attributable to their harrowing journey here, the majority of which had been spent aboard an ocean freighter over the last couple of days. This, after having had to carefully evade Madripoorian and other maritime authorities eager to bring in the two individuals responsible for the chaos that had been left behind on that small island nation in their wake.

But, it was also due to a lingering aftereffect of the physical and psychological toll that those very same events had taken on them. Particularly for Laura, who would carry the wounds from her pivotal showdown with the former Madame Hydra with her for some time to come.

Choosing to stick to the sidewalks and side-streets even in this one of Tokyo's more liberal special wards, all in an attempt to keep from drawing any more attention to themselves than was already unavoidable in such a densely populated urban sector, Laura closely followed Logan's lead as they headed to meet up with an old friend of his. And soon they had reached an apartment complex that, while appearing a bit neglected and weathered on its exterior, still loomingly towered several stories above the other surrounding structures. Which was then shortly followed-up by a loud knocking at the front door of one of those inlying units from the narrow hallway outside.

"(Who is it?)" A female voice from within questioningly called out in Japanese.

"Just an old cowboy just passin' through, darlin'." Was the vaguely gruff response that she received. Yet, it was all that she needed to hear to cause her to come running to her door.

Appearing now before Logan and Laura was a beautiful young woman, who was currently dressed very casually in only a pink cutoff haltertop and gray biker-shorts after having been unexpectedly caught in the midst of a rare leisurely day off.

"Oh my god, it really is you!" Were the words squealed by one Mariko Yashida, as she opened the door and immediately jumped up to embracingly throw her arms up around the neck and shoulders of this surprise guest standing there, "And old cowboy is right, just look at you."

Having taken a brief appraisal of Logan's appearance right as she laid eyes on him, it was apparent to Mariko that their shared cowboy descriptive was one most appropriate. Especially given the leather jacket, Stetson hat, cowboy boots, and jeans that Logan had on, albeit all in a rather tattered condition.

But in that same moment something else, or more accurately someone else also caught Mariko's attention from the corner of her eye, imparting upon her that this cowboy certainly hadn't been traveling alone. A someone, who this entire time had been suspiciously eyeing Mariko and her 'warm-welcome' that she had given to Logan.

"So, who's the kid, 'Hopalong'?" Mariko took a step back and wryly asked Logan.

Which drew a very vocal response from the subject of her question, whom Mariko was now looking over towards her left at.

"I AM NOT A KID!" Laura let it loudly be known from where she was standing a few feet away in this confined corridor.

"Yeah, and that was you acting so mature just now." Mariko whimsically rolled her eyes and replied to this indignant vociferation.

"M'iko, this is Laura. The ki...the young lady I was tellin' you about last time we talked." Logan now said as he made a more formal introduction between the two women.

"I should've guessed, especially with that whole mild-mannered way of communicating with people she seems to have inherited." Mariko sarcastically said with an ever-present grin, as she continued to look over at an equally ever-brooding Laura.

"Don't mind her. She's just feelin' a little grumpy from the long ride over here." Logan playfully said, which drew a none-too-subtle scowl now directed at him from Laura.

Although he attempted to paint a humorous face on the morose demeanor that Laura had been displaying since leaving Madripoor, mostly in the hopes of at last pulling her out of it, Logan knew that her hostile behavior was more likely the result of Viper's having managed to escape them yet again, combined with the residual hyper-toxins still in Laura's system that her healing factor was even now hard at work trying to fully neutralize and flush out.

"Why don't the two of you come inside? You know, while I still have some neighbors not ready to call the landlord and/or cops on me for keeping up a loud commotion out here." Mariko now said with an inviting gesture, as she turned to head back into her apartment.

Walking in behind Mariko, Logan and Laura entered this small two-bedroom apartment that, while fairly roomy and spacious by Tokyo real-estate standards, was a far cry from the lavish upbringing of Mariko's youth. But, this place was one that she had grown rather accustomed to and one that Mariko was proud to now call home.

"So, what brings the two of you by anyways?" Mariko asked, as she went over into her space-conserving kitchen to return to the tea that she had been preparing for herself moments before, and now began to prep some for her guests as well.

"Just happened to be in the neighborhood after a run-in with a couple of old friends." Logan replied, once he and Laura had finished removing their boots, coats, and Logan his cowboy hat just inside of the front door.

"Looks more like you guys' happened to get into some kinda major fight with those old friends. Big shock there." Mariko sarcastically remarked, looking up at them to once again take note of her guests' worse-for-wear appearance in general, and at the state of Laura's brown jacket and pants outfit in particular, which had been ripped up pretty good in a few spots, "If you guys' want to shower up or anything, bathroom's down at the end of the hall."

Logan and Laura then looked at each other, appearing to have something akin to a conversation with one another without the need of words being exchanged. And after just a few moments of eye movements and gestures so subtle that they would be barely perceptible to most other individuals, Laura quickly turned to head down the hallway where Mariko had just pointed.

"Well, I figured you'd wanna know about our little get-together, since one of the folks we threw down with in Madripoor also happens to be your brother." Logan now said, as he came over to take a seat on the floor underneath a kotatsu table in the center of the main room that lay adjacent to the kitchen.

"I'm not surprised. After his big prison-break, I knew he'd be turning up somewhere sooner rather than later." Mariko replied, as she prepared a serving tray that had a small hotwater kettle, tea bowls, a whisk and other necessary utensils for the tea's mixing and consumption.

"Just like the wind blowin', huh darlin'?" Logan commented as he bit into the wagashi that had also been set out before him, while Mariko now prepared a bowl of tea for him.

"When it comes to my family it's pretty much business as usual, either with my brother's latest exploits of the thuggery-kind, my father and his shady business dealings, or my cousin using his criminal intellect and expertise to ensure that the family empire remains untouchable in spite of it all." Mariko told Logan, as she slowly and carefully ladled hot water into the tea bowl, then used a small bamboo whisk to thoroughly stir it in with the powdered green tea that she had just placed in there moments before, "It's no wonder that Clan Yashida has become nothing more than a symbol for the most vile forms of corruption."

At that moment, a pause purposely came into Logan and Mariko's conversation, as she passed this tea bowl that she had been readying over to him.

Taking it in with both of his hands, just as it had been handed to him, Logan then gave a small yet respectful bow to his hostess. Which in turn was immediately reciprocated to him from Mariko, as she watched her guest across from her take several precise and predetermined sips from the tea bowl. A ritual tradition that, even with its informalities here, was one that this pair very much adhered to.

Just as they had going back to the very first time that they shared this custom together.

"So, how've things been back in Bayville?" Mariko asked as she now followed a process similar to the one that Logan had just completed, doing so with her own tea bowl before sitting it back down on the table in front of her.

"Fine. Well, except for that anti-mutant, fascist-wanna-be prick who fancies himself the second-comin' of George Wallace, that is." Logan replied, as only he could, referring of course to Governor Graydon Creed, "It's only a matter of time before that bastard has those Sentinels of his right at our front door."

"I think I remember seeing something about him, now that you brought it up." Mariko replied, then took another sip of her tea, "And, I know where you're coming from. It wasn't all that long ago that the people of Japan were cheering Lady Torch. Now, there's talk even here about passing mutant regulation provisions."

But just as Mariko and Logan were in the midst of their conversation, the pair suddenly became a trio once again.

"I'm finished." Laura now announced, mainly for Mariko's benefit, as she appeared off to one side of the room wearing one of Mariko's terry-print shower robes and had a large white bath towel wrapped around her head.

What surprised Mariko though wasn't Laura's reappearance in the room. Rather, it was the fact that her teenaged guest had just taken what was probably the shortest shower Mariko had ever seen by anyone!

For Laura, growing up under the harsh militaristic training of HYDRA, showering had been nothing more than a necessity that was to be completed as quickly and efficiently as possible. It had never even occurred to her that it could be used as a form of relaxation and rejuvenation, and was one of several conventional quirks that struck her as odd when she first moved into the Institute.

However, in spite of the briefness of her cleansing experience, it had still been long enough to have something of an invigorating effect on Laura. As evidenced when she went to remove the bath sheet wrapped atop her head, which resulted in a small amount of friendly giggling from the other side of the room.

"What's so funny?" Laura gruffly asked, directing her question at the only other female in the room.

"I see that hair with a mind of its own is something else that runs in the family." Mariko happily replied, as she stood up from the table that she and Logan were seated under.

Walking over to where Laura was, Mariko came and put her hands up on Laura's shoulders and guided her over to a nearby mirror mounted up on the wall. Where Laura could see that even with her very short-lived exposure to the heated moisture back in the bathroom, it had apparently been more than enough to cause her hair to become extremely frizzy and voluminous, a by-product of her bathing that she was by now all too familiar with.

But, what Laura also saw was a still grinning Mariko standing right behind her, which caused the younger female to spin around and shoot a death-glare at this person whom she hardly knew.

"And, I see that taking things waaay too seriously is something else that got passed down." Mariko looked down and said to this noticeably angry person right in front of her, who was now beginning to growl at a faintly audible level.

While Laura thought that she was being made into the butt of some mean-spirited joke, Mariko had only intended her remark as nothing more than good-natured ribbing. Like the usual banter that regularly took place between her and Logan.

"C'mon, let me help you try and tame this wild-thing." Mariko now said, extending a sort of peace-offering to Laura in light of her unintended offense.

"Help me?" Laura replied with a raised eyebrow and a bit of suspicion to boot, particularly since it wasn't like she hadn't been dealing with this hair-care challenge on her own for her entire life.

"Sure, it's kind of like my thing." Mariko further elaborated, "I can even give you an awesome new style while I'm at it?"

Which was something that Logan could personally vouch for, having seen for himself the number of rather 'unique' hairstyles created and worn by Mariko over the years that had been borne of her own fearlessness in the realm of coiffure.

And to which, Laura at first just skeptically and silently stared up at her in response. But after looking over behind Mariko to Logan, who once again seemed to be saying something to her without actually saying anything, Laura suddenly became a bit more open to the idea.

"Okay." Laura finally broke her moment of quietude and agreeably replied, although with a bit of defensiveness still present in her tone, "But I'm telling you right now, I don't do pig-tails."

With that last statement, Mariko turned to her right and lifted her hand up to a position just underneath the single mass of short tied-back hair hanging down over there, instantly recognizing that Laura's critique was one with regard to her own twin-bunch hair styling preference.

"You only wish you could rock this 'do half as well as me!" Mariko sarcastically laughed in response.

Mariko then took Laura and guided her back towards her bedroom, which is where she kept many of her beauty items and hair care accessories.

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More than an hour later, Mariko and Laura finally re-emerged from her bedroom to show off the end product of her hard work.

"Ta-dah! So, what do you think?" Mariko asked, as she walked back into the main room of her apartment with Laura following closely behind her.

Logan looked up and over at the pair, turning his attention away from the television that he had gone and taken up a position in front of during the interim. Standing to Mariko's left, Logan could see that Laura was now sporting her aforementioned new hairstyle, which consisted of numerous thin braids that had been plaited closely together back across her scalp.

"It looks nice." Logan replied, before turning back to the television program that he had been watching.

Which was his knee-jerk response to most inquiries of a fashion or appearance-related nature, coming from a man who for the most part felt little need to engage in extensive elaboration of his opinion when it came to these subjects.

And, from one who had learned from personal experience that it was often smarter not to.

Meanwhile, the one person whose opinion on her new look ultimately mattered most now walked back over to the mirror again to take another look at it. Carefully assessing this hairdo that Mariko had told her would help make her locks a bit more manageable, Laura found that she wasn't dissatisfied with the final result of Mariko's efforts, certainly not as much as she had been expecting.

"Well, we're going to head out to show off this latest Mariko Yashida creation. And, to do a little shopping while we're at it." Mariko now happily announced, having in the time since she disappeared with Laura changed into a more presentable outfit consisting of a pink/white long sweater, a white just-above-the-knee length skirt, and a fashionable pair of oversized strap-buckle boots.

And in that same time Laura had also changed into something more appropriate for going out in public as well, having traded the borrowed robe she had on earlier for a red t-shirt, a violet denim jacket, and a matching pair of violet jeans that were a bit too long and had to be rolled up down at the cuff. All of which were also on loan to her from Mariko, since she and Logan had to ditch most of their belongings during their escape from Madripoor.

But her footwear for this afternoon foray would remain her own, as Laura went over to strap back on the worn and slightly tattered black roundtoe biker-boots that she had on prior. Which, had been specifically designed for her to accommodate for the release of the single toe-claws housed in each of her feet.

"You know, you're more than welcome to come along too?" Mariko remarked to Logan, noting the lack of any discernible movement on his part to indicate that he was getting ready to join them.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just hang back here. I've known you long enough to know better than to get anywhere near between you and a sale when it's goin' on." Logan loudly quipped from the small sofa where he was currently situated.

"Cute." Mariko replied with a sarcastic smirk that was aimed right back at Logan and at his comment.

Mariko then turned towards the other person who would be her lone companion for this afternoon, as she and Laura went to the front door to go take their leave.

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Next chapter: Come out and play