Memories
Catnip
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.
Kurt had been planning to watch a few movies that night and generally relax. But when he saw Tora curled up of Logan's lap, fast asleep, he couldn't resist. Since Christmas, they apparently had become joined at the hip. The only argument that they'd had was something about Logan being overprotective in battle and getting in the way of her fighting. But everyone in the mansion sensed the other undercurrent of dissention between them. Logan was all for them sharing a room –and a bed. Tora was apparently dead set against it. They were being completely civil and courteous about it but bets were being placed on how long it would take Tora to crack. Or, in Jean's case, how long it would be before Logan proposed out of necessity. Kurt gave an impish grin. Those photos were so being sent to the Avengers. And the Fantastic Four. And all the B-list superheroes. Oh, this was going to be good.
Thirty minutes later, Kurt was cursing. Stupid Tora and her stupid digital scramblers. All he had was photos of Logan. And not even Logan doing anything stupid. But he could still make their lives misery. He rummaged in the box of circus memorabilia for the cat toys.
Logan ran his fingers through the black streak in her hair. There was something about it that meant he loved twisting the silky black hair around his hand. Perhaps it was because it was a representation of her dark streak, the side she kept so well covered but he sometimes saw reflected in her eyes. He hungered for her but she kept him at arms length, which was probably the best way of getting him to stay. And she didn't even know she was doing it. Suddenly she bolted upright. She was scenting the air. Could he have missed something? He sniffed as well and caught a scent. He was going to kill Kurt. The scent of catnip was winding its was into the nostrils of both ferals. Logan remained unaffected while Tora seemed to be going into a state of euphoria. He'd seen that before but only in cats. She was tracking the scent, trying to find it. Then she pounced. It looked as though Kurt had bought three hundred cat toys, slit them open and poured all the catnip into one huge bag. She was plucking at it like a cat does and making soft noises in the back of her throat. She was purring! Purring! A ferocious warrior, an X-Man, purring! He was so going to tease her about that when she returned to sanity. She looked at him and her pupils were huge. OK, this was getting out of control. In the end he had to get some pickles from the kitchen. She hated the smell and the taste. They were too strong for her enhanced senses and they managed to shock her out of her madness. After she'd shaken the worst of the clouding around her mind away she looked up at him.
"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Kurt."
"You do know you purr."
"I do not!"
"Oh yeah?"
He started tickling her until she collapsed then started scratching under her chin and behind her ears. The low purr came out before she could stop it. She looked slightly shocked.
"Well what do you know? I do purr."
The look of slight surprise on her face caused him to start laughing his head off.
"I never heard her purring."
"That only happened when she was alone. With Logan."
"Oh, spare me the mental image."
"How much did you make out of that bet?"
"A tidy amount."
They were dodging falling debris. How often did this end up happening? Tora had given up counting. She loved this. The adrenalin shooting through her system as she ducked and leapt. She felt alive and she planned to keep it that way. Backing up, she met Wolverine and the two began their long perfected double strike.
"When we get back Tigress, I have something I want to ask you."
"Can't it wait Wolverine? If you hadn't noticed…LOOK OUT!"
She pushed him out the way of the heavy metal girder. He crouched down to look at her.
"You okay?"
"Aïe"
She naturally switched to the French version of "ouch". Deeming if she was able to be sarcastic about it, she was fine. Leaving her under the girder wasn't the best bet but she'd be safer than fighting.
"Wolverine, don't you dare leave me under this thing. I have a right to fight as well."
"Sorry darling. But Colossus is busy."
"I am so going to neuter you when we get back."
"Just let me ask you that question, then I swear I'll stand still and let you attack me. If you still want to."
She twisted under the girder, feeling her back scars break open. The pain gave her the incentive to tear her way out and go back into the fray. Hank wouldn't want to help her so she was going to have to sneak into the medi-lab. Things had got crowded when the original X-Men had decided to come home. With the Mississippi girl who'd joined things were actually getting quite crowded. Things had almost reached breaking point when Logan had insisted that the LA kid, Jubilee stayed there as well. Another reason to strangle him. That girl either followed Logan around like a puppy or made snide comments about her relationship with him. It had started driving her slightly insane. Of course she liked Miss Lee. It was almost impossible to dislike her. It's just that she was slightly overpowering.
It's not that there were too few rooms, it was just the feeling of being crowded. The library wasn't a safe haven anymore, even if Dr McCoy was the only other one who went there regularly. People would stick their heads in all the time, meaning it was impossible for her to read properly. Even her thinking spot down by the lake wasn't private anymore. Everyone knew they could find her there. She didn't know why everyone seemed to like offloading their troubles to her. Bobby told her about doubting his powers, Jean about the fact the Phoenix Force was coming back (whatever that was. Details seemed to be a little hazy), Ororo about how she had to control her emotions all the time, Kitty about the 'Piotr Problem' and Angel about Wolverine (Thankfully that conversation didn't last long. She'd just pointed out it was her boyfriend he was being rude about so shut up). She'd helped in what ways she could, mainly by listening to what they said. And then word had got out she would listen to all your troubles just as long as you weren't rude about her boyfriend and now everyone came flocking to offload their troubles. They seemed to think she could hold their secrets close, help them with the problems they had. Even the new woman, Rogue, came and talked about the fact she couldn't touch anyone. And in a single moment of empathy, in the second when she saw someone like her, Tora had reached out and brushed her bare fingers to the other woman's face. Not enough to allow her memories to pass to her. She wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. But enough to give the green-eyed woman a taste of her abilities and also the emotion that she was being trusted. The ex-Brotherhood member had just looked at her with a shocked look on her face and Tora had just walked away.
She slid back into the present as she twisted under a blow. She'd 'leant' her powers to Rogue for the fight and it was quite interesting to see how she fought. Tora grimaced as she felt her reopened scars heal shut. Unfortunately that was another costume soaked in blood. She heard a camera shutter close and she had a feeling a picture of her uniform with the X of blood on the back would be splashed across the papers that had nothing better to print. But the scent of that photographer… Her head snapped round and she saw a brown-haired, brown-eyed man in his early twenties taking photos. She smiled slightly. All she needed was an excuse to get close. And there it was. One of their opponents about to attack him. Tora tensed and leapt, pushing the man out of the way. Then smiled slightly.
"Salut mon ami."
"I'm sorry?"
"See you later Spidey."
"Sorry?"
"No fooling the nose Wall-crawler. See you around."
She dived back into the fray. Ten minutes later he swung in. She knew he couldn't resist a fight. The two were soon having a small chat as she threw her opponent and he webbed his.
"How did you know it was me?"
"Highly advanced sense of smell, remember? I'm amazed you were stupid enough to come."
"Why?"
"I catch your scent, Wolverine catches your scent then bang, secret identity down the drain."
"You won't…"
"I'm not about to reveal your little secret. I don't even know your name so…"
The man dressed in red and blue lowered his voice.
"Peter."
"Tora."
The two heroes exchanged smiles. At least it looked like he smiled.
"So, are the rumours I've been hearing from the Avengers true?"
"What rumours?"
"About you and Wolverine?"
"What do these rumours say? I can't answer unless I know."
"It depends on who you listen to. Ask Iron Man and you're sleeping together. Ask Quicksilver and he tried to kiss you and you attacked him. Ask Cap and he just says that he hasn't even met this guy so isn't going to spread rumours about him."
"I really need to meet this Captain America."
"So then, are the rumours true?"
"None of the things you said are true."
"Comeon. Please. I really want to know so I can annoy Logan next time we team-up."
"If you don't shut up I'll shout your name out loud."
The conversation faltered as they chose new opponents and dived in.
"Did you hear that the Avengers are hosting a party for New Year? The X-Men are invited."
"Sorry, big parties aren't my thing."
"But I could introduce you to Cap."
"Maybe."
The being who once went by the name of Jean Grey turned to look at the other person. Her companion's head was bent over the pool, long silver grey hair almost touching the water.
"You miss the old times."
The side of the face uncovered by ice showed pain.
"Of course I miss them. Sometimes I think I managed to keep more of my humanity than you."
"I miss them too. But you can't let that get to you."
"I thought for a few sweet years I would never have to lose those I cared for most. Then all my friends aged away. And my children died and even the man I loved passed away in his sleep. I'm supposed to protect, Jean. Why couldn't I protect them?"
"You tried. That's what mattered."
Out of the ice mask a single red tear dropped from the carved eye. For a second another face appeared there. Hair bright, face whole as the force inside her withdrew from the pain only those who lived could feel. Then the mask reappeared, the hair lost its brilliance. The thing inside her settled back into it's shell and the sorrow of many lifetimes was swept from her face.
"I never understood why you let your hair fade."
"Perhaps I needed to remind myself, that for all I seem to be more, I'm still only a mortal."