Chapter Nine: Split


When the group in Japan finally got done with their shopping, and Leslie Ann had an impressive haul of new books to take home, the group headed out to their next stop: a nice sightseeing walk that they never got to really start before, just as Logan had predicted, they were quite suddenly surrounded by a veritable wall of black clad ninjas.

In an instant, the bamfs disappeared with both Leslie Ann and Kate — far from the action, as promised, though they were still able to see the rest of their friends.

"Watch," Kate said, one hand on Leslie Ann's shoulders and a little grin on. "This should be fun."

It wasn't long at all before the group of ninjas tried to separate their friends from each other, as K had said would happen, though even without the bamfs waiting to work backup, that was nearly impossible. Between the claws that K and Logan were swinging, and the swords that the bamfs had brought to Kurt, anyone trying to force them away from each other was rewarded with a stab wound or a severely damaged limb.

The three of them were working in a swirl, but even with as close as they were operating, eventually, the ninjas did manage to put some distance between the three of them. As soon as they did, it was clear that Logan's first warning was exactly why. Several of the ninjas hit him at once — not even trying to cut deeply. Just to make a cut. Any cut.

Kurt wasn't the least bit pleased by the situation, using both swords to bash aside a few ninjas to move to teleport closer to his friend, looking for enough space for the both of them before he gave up and instead teleported to snag Logan by the arm and shoulders and simply go elsewhere, several yards from the thick pack of ninjas that had descended, to turn and fight with a little more ferocity.

And for as upset as Kurt was, K had moved into downright furious as she tore into them ruthlessly, openly snarling in defense of Logan. The knives that they'd used she quickly picked up and stabbed them with, just sinking each knife or sword in to the hilt and leaving it there to find the next poisoned blade to return to its owner.

While the two of them were working on the ninjas, finally … Shin made his appearance.

Logan was staggered from the toxins but was still on his feet, shaking his head hard to clear his senses as best he was able, waiting for K and Kurt to get closer to where Logan was standing.

When Kurt did teleport over to Logan, he'd clearly caught sight of Shin — the look was unmistakable. "How are you feeling, mein Freund?" he asked with a little steel to his tone. "Ready for another round?"

"I'll be fine," Logan replied. "Just need my sword."

"That I can do," Kurt replied with a small smirk as he turned to his bamfs with a pointed look.

As soon as the sword was in Logan's hands, he shot forward and engaged with Shin as he charged. With the drugs into play, it was almost an even match. At the beginning of the fight, Shin actually had the edge, but Logan was skillful enough to deflect his attacks until the toxins started to burn out of his system.

Any attempts by the ninjas to poison him again were met by K, snarling and on the edge of a full berserk affair, which had Kurt's attention torn. Half of him was watching Logan's fight, and the other was making sure that K didn't take it too far.

The samurai fight was starting to warm up in earnest as Logan shook off the effects of the drug … the cuts that the ninjas had managed to rack up on him were all slowly disappearing finally, and the more they healed, the more focused he got. And then, finally, he disarmed Shin and had him again with the tip of his sword at the young man's throat.

From a distance, they heard the familiar twang of an arrow, though this one came from a ninja and not Kate. But it never made it to the two dueling samurai as K launched forward to catch it, more than happy to hand it to Shin the hard way, entirely fed up with the backstabbing crap the boy was pulling.

But before she could get to him with the arrow, Logan finally did something that Kurt never thought he'd see. He picked up the honor sword that Shin had dropped and jammed it into the ground — very much the same way that Kurt had done not long ago, considering.

"You've shamed your family," Logan said clearly. "There's no honor there anymore. You and your father made sure of it. Any other attempts to use me to manufacture anything close to what you had years ago will not be allowed to stand. I've reached the end of my patience for you, and I'm all out of mercy."

Shin glared at him for a moment. "You're nothing but a disgraced ronin," he spat.

"Still more honorable than your whole clan," Logan growled out. "I'm tired of carrying you for what you refuse to do for yourself."

Kurt watched Logan for a moment as Shin gaped and seemed to grow more furious, though Logan was done with it and turned away. In an instant, Kurt teleported over, grinning widely. He clapped a hand on Logan's shoulder and disappeared with him, not trusting Shin not to do something else, before they reappeared several yards down the street where Kurt simply hugged the daylights out of him, unable to stop the laugh.

"You feelin' alright, Elf?" Logan asked, unsure of what it was that had taken him over.

Kurt beamed at him. "It's about time," he said.

"I … just couldn't see a way out of it," Logan explained.

Kurt couldn't stop chuckling. "Well, you married an intergalactic lawyer," he teased. "Leave it to the two of you together to put an end to it."

"It took her a while to understand how the system worked," Logan said with a smirk. "But … she found a way around it. I should have seen it sooner, honestly."

Kurt was still grinning when the girls teleported down with the bamfs, Leslie Ann beaming excitedly as Kate crossed over to where Kurt was. "So, no more ninjas?" Leslie Ann asked, looking around the streets half-expectantly.

"Didn't say that," Logan said, shaking his head.

"But you dealt with that guy… right?" she asked, one eye shut as she tried to wrap her head around it.

"Yeah," Logan agreed, nodding as K made her way toward the group, still looking like she wanted to hit someone.

"Territorial," Kate whispered K's way.

"Very," she growled back as she finally got up to Logan and pulled him away from Kurt.

Kate smirked and then slipped her arm through Kurt's. "So ... back to sightseeing, I think. I mean, that was fun to watch and all, but I can watch you two hug and joke around all the time."

"We need to celebrate," Kurt decided with a grin.

"I'm up for it," Kate said, matching his grin and clearly enjoying Kurt's good mood.

"How would you guys feel about takin' this to a little island in the south?" Logan asked. "It's a lot like Hawaii."

"Ooh, yes please," Kate agreed quickly, though Leslie Ann seemed to pause.

"Is it just gonna be you guys being… you or…?" she asked.

"Little bit of both," Logan said. "But there's a jungle …"

"And beaches," Kate said. "And the bamfs are killer good at beach volleyball."

"It's Okinawa," Logan said. "Actual tropical jungle."

Leslie Ann finally had to grin at that. "Well… alright. That actually sounds pretty cool. I bet the plants feel different."

"Great," Kate said, beaming as she stepped in a little closer to Kurt and stole a kiss. "Let's get moving. I could use a vacation from the vacation," she teased.

"Then let's gather up our stuff and head out to the beach," Logan agreed.


"You're going to drive Annie insane, Scott — and we all know she's the best thing to happen to you in some time."

Scott looked up and then smirked when he saw Storm, then gestured for her to sit with him. He was back to looking over the applications and requests for asylum from mutants the world over and trying to figure out the logistics of giving everyone a shot, and he knew that it left him stressed and probably not easy to deal with.

"She's the best thing to happen to me since Jean died," Scott said.

"Then why don't you ask for help, Scott." When Scott looked up, he saw that Ororo's eyes were sparkling with barely-contained laughter. "We all like Annie, after all."

Scott shook his head at that and then gestured to the paperwork. "I'm just… trying to figure out what to do," he admitted. "It's been long enough since the last time someone successfully started up a genocide that we have more mutants asking for help than we have room and board for here."

"It's a nice problem to have," Storm pointed out.

"Yeah."

"And I certainly won't complain that there have been no genocides recently."

Scott looked up and gave Ororo a look. "That's not what I was trying to say."

Ororo smiled, then reached over to rest her hand on his arm. "I know," she said gently.

Scott let out a breath that moved his shoulders with it and then turned his gaze back to the paperwork. "It's just… this place is supposed to be a haven. It's always been a beacon of hope. I don't like the idea of having to turn anyone away."

"I'm sure we can find some way to help," Ororo said, pulling over a stack of papers for herself.

The two of them fell easily into silence, simply sifting through what was in front of them. Scott had already been through the requests a thousand times himself, but for Ororo, it was interesting to see the patterns in the requests themselves.

"There seem to be two different frames of mind," Ororo said at last, drawing Scott's attention again. "There are people looking for a haven, and then there are people looking for a school."

Scott nodded. "After the Leslie Initiative—"

Ororo waved a hand. "Yes, I know why, Scott," she said. "But maybe…" She held her breath, then let it out all at once. "Maybe it's time we stopped trying to be a cure-all for mutant ills."

Scott raised an eyebrow at that. "What are you thinking?"

"Well…" Ororo gestured to the stack of papers she'd just been reading — and sorting into two different categories. "It seems to me that there are different needs that we could meet if we were to specialize. Of course, every child that comes to us will need training with their powers, but not every child needs, for example, a combat class."

"They all need self-defense."

"Oh, I'm not arguing that," Ororo said. "But… maybe we need to look at ourselves as a school again."

Scott nodded slowly. "Alright. I'm listening."

"It's just an idea," Ororo said, just as slowly as Scott was nodding. "But perhaps if we were to split our focus, have multiple schools…."

"I don't want to split the team, Ororo."

Ororo held up her hands. "That's not what I'm saying. No one wants to do that again." When Scott frowned but didn't seem to argue it any further, Ororo let out a sigh and leaned forward. "But wouldn't it be nice if we could give these children an almost-normal education?"

"Novel," Scott said, smirking despite himself.

Ororo chuckled at that and then leaned back in her seat. "I'm not saying we should split apart, Scott. But I am saying that it might be time to branch out."

Scott nodded, and Ororo could practically see the gears turning as he worked it out for himself. "We've had a few other people play headmaster here," he said. "We've got people with experience."

"I'm sure you could entice Kitty to stay out of the clouds," Ororo teased.

"That's… actually not a bad idea," Scott said. "But honestly, my first choice would be you."

Ororo raised both eyebrows at that. "Scott…"

"You're the one who has always stepped up to run this school when I couldn't do it. And I know that's where your heart is," Scott told her honestly. "If we built another one, I couldn't think of anyone better to take the helm on it."

Ororo reached out to put a hand on his arm and give him a little squeeze. "That means a lot," she said gently. "Especially because I know how much this means to you."

Scott nodded and covered her hand with his. "We'll want to reach out to the others and see where they'd prefer to put their focus," he said. "I'm sure some of the X-Men with families would prefer to be in the 'normal' school."

"Not you, of course."

"Oh, never," Scott said with a smirk.

Ororo smiled as she got to her feet. "Then it looks like we have work to do."