Part 9 - Foxfire

"Well," Kari started with a sarcastic sigh. Wayne's ear flicked and he stopped purring. "Basically what happened was, we had this final exam, in science class. It was on this whole thing about chemicals and temperatures and crap, I didn't really care. So, I was stuck with this guy, I REALLY hate him. Anyway, we got stuck together doing this exam, and he was controlling the flame, and I was in charge of the note taking, and graphing, and what not. So while he was working with the equipment, he kept nagging at me that I wasn't graphing the status right. And he just kept provoking me, then I just got really angry, and I slammed down the clipboard, then the fire just went all haywire somehow and it caught on his lab coat."

Kari flexed her hands and gripped the blanket on her bed nervously. She stared at her fingers and extended them, then curled them back and gripped the blanket. She did that a few times during the long silence.

"He got third degree burns across his stomach, and the school blamed me, and I got expelled." She added quietly. John stared at her.

"There were pretty much two sides to the story," she added again in an undertone.

"Two sides? How?" John asked.

"Well, when the principle called in my parents, she also had the boy's family there, and she explained to them that I had somehow turned up the meter on the fuel expulsion on the equipment, and that was what caused him to catch on fire. When my parents asked me if that was true, I said no. Then he said 'Of course that's not what she did, she never touched the equipment.' Then they asked him if that's not what happened how did I do it, and he said 'I don't know. But she did it somehow.'"

Kari continued to grip the blanket nervously and John watched the movements of her fingers. They seemed almost as rhythmic as when he clicked his lighter. Her fingers would straighten, then curl up and flex tightly, almost out of anger. He watched them do this for a while, until he looked back up and noticed her eyes were beginning to glaze over with anger again.

Don't leave her yet.

John took a deep silent breath and pondered as he watched her eyes change from a deep green to an almost pearly black. It was the first time he noticed them physically change. Before it was almost a sense of emotion shift. This time he actually saw her eyes change. He mulled her story over in his head. She didn't sound very much like himself. It was strange how he seemed so connected to her now. He was brought back to his senses when he noticed she seemed to be shaking. Her eyes were wide open, almost all black; and her hands were flexed so hard he could see her veins.

"Kari?" he asked cautiously. Her back started arching forward like a rabid dog and he almost sprang from the bed. Or at least he wanted to. He stood up carefully, and backed away from her with a slow pace.

"Kari?" he asked again. Wayne sprang from her lap and his fur stood straight up. His ears flattened against his skull and he uttered a low hiss. John almost begged him to shut up, in case he startled her and caused her to freak out. John almost started shaking himself when she almost seemed to growl.

"Kari!" he said loudly, shocking himself from his worried tone. Within seconds, before he could act again, she flew from the bed and slammed him against the wall with on arm, the other raised, fingers outstretched and flexed. Her nails had somehow elongated into sharp claws. He grabbed the wrist holding him by his neck futilely, choking and beginning to lose breath.

"KARI!" he hacked. He didn't notice until now that he was raised almost six inches off the ground, and his feet were kicking air in his attempt to get free.

"What's going on in here?" Kitty poked her head through the wall and almost screamed.

"ROGUE, GET IN HERE! HELP ME!" she yelled, jumping through the bookcase and grabbing at Kari's free arm. Rogue came in through the door and gasped at the sight before her.

"We need Logan or some one, I can't get her to let go!" Kitty said, trying to pry Kari's fingers from John's throat. His face was turning pale and he was almost out of breath. Kitty ran out of the room as fast as she could, through the walls and everything. She even passed through Kari's mom's room, making her scream and jump a foot in the air. She went through the wall and into the backyard, screaming for some one to help her at the top of her lungs.

Almost a minute later she had Logan and Storm behind her. Unfortunately, they had to take the backdoor when she went through the walls again, making Kari's mom jump and yell again. When she got back into the room, Rogue was still prying at Kari's fingers, and John was losing energy. He was still kicking, and then he stopped.

"KARI!" Storm yelled once she got in. With an enormous struggle, they managed to pin Kari to the floor after getting her to release her victim, who dropped to his feet, and then fell face first into the carpet.

"John!" Kitty yelled, rushing to sit him up. Logan and Storm still fought to keep Kari on the ground. Logan held her arms as Storm held her legs. She was "growling" almost, and arching her back, trying to thrash and get free. She pulled her feet back and forth, trying to get Storm to release her, as she snapped at Logan's hands, which were iron tight on her wrists. Soon, Jean came in with a small needle, piercing Kari's skin just above her collarbone. Kari arched her back once more with a loud scream/growl, then fell limp and made no response. Jean gave a great sigh and Logan cautiously released her wrists.

Rogue caught her breath and looked at Jean.

"What did you just do?" she asked.

"It's a high dose tranquilizer. I'm not sure if she'll act up again, but this will keep her asleep for at least a few hours." Jean pocketed the needle she had and stood up with a sigh.

"Should I even ask why you have it?" Kitty said, half panting.

"Medical reasons."

John gave a sudden heave and coughed, his eyes springing open. He coughed a bit more and held his throat, shutting his eyes tightly in pain. Kitty held him steady as he tried to breath.

"Are you all right?" Logan asked. John slowly nodded, giving another cough and taking in a deep, wheezing breath.

"What the hell happened?" Kitty asked, looking at Jean, Storm, and Logan in turn.

"I don't know," Jean answered, "But the professor might, once he wakes up."

"Which will be when? She could freak out again!" Rogue exclaimed.

"Not any time soon," Logan commented, nudging Storm, "Hey, help me get her on the bed."

They lifted her gently and set her on her bed, where she still made no response. John stared at her, with a large mixture of confusion, anger, and somehow, hurt.

"Here," Kitty helped him up, "Let's get you some water."

Rogue followed them out the door. Storm gave Kari a cautious glance, then left the room with Jean and Logan in tow. Kari's mom came out of her room curiously.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Its okay, everything's fine." Jean gave her a smile and everyone went into the living room. John was leaning on the counter, his head hanging low as he steadied his breathing to normal instead of sharp wheezing. Kitty patted his shoulder and handed him a glass of water, which he gratefully gulped down quickly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked in an undertone. He nodded and set the empty glass by the sink. He stood up straight and scratched his head tiredly, messing up his hair again. Wayne came trotting into the kitchen, sniffing around. John gave a tiny smile and bent down to pet him lightly on the head. He rubbed against John's knee and John stood up again, letting out a great sigh.

What the hell just happened? One second she was fine, then the next, she tried to kill him! He looked around the bar of the kitchen and saw Logan carrying the professor outside.

"What are you doing?" Rogue asked. She had now gone back to tending to Bobby, who seemed calm, but was still running a high fever.

"We're taking him to the ship. Jean's going to help him there." Logan exited the house and John walked over to Kitty and Rogue with Wayne heartily trotting at his heels.

"He seems to like you," Kitty laughed.

"Yeah," John said with a sigh, then looked at Rogue, "How's he doing?"

"Better, I guess. He hasn't gotten too bad in the past hour." Rogue laid a damp towel on his forehead.

"That's good," John nodded. He couldn't get Kari off of his mind now. What the hell had she done? Why did she suddenly want to kill him?

He pondered everything he knew, letting it roll over in his mind. She wasn't the girl he knew before. She was suddenly more sensitive, and a lot more, well, like him.

John looked up and suddenly realized he had walked back down the hallway, and was now standing in Kari's doorway, staring at her. She seemed so calm now, but it wasn't five minutes ago she had an intent to rip him apart. He looked at the wall where she had held him. There was a dent there, either from his head or his spine, he didn't know. So much had happen in such little time, he thought. When they first met, they were practically sworn enemies. And it was that way for almost two months. Then suddenly, almost five days later, he was wanting to know so much about her. Almost as if he wanted to…help her.

He shut the door and stood by the bed. He knelt down and stared at her. She seemed so peaceful and content now. She's like a foxfire, was his first thought. It old legends t a Foxfire was meant to help, and be harmless at times, but when angry, could go out of control and turn into a raging firestorm. She was just like that. Caring and thoughtful, but when angry, she could hit you pretty hard.

He smiled and looked at the carpet, then back up at her.

So what now, Foxfire?