Disclaimer: I do own the X-Men.
38
Blaze stood next to Angel, panting. During the last week, her flight lessons had been relocated to a nearby grassy slope, due to the drowning incident. Blaze had also managed to learn how to land without falling on her face. Now, she was trying to learn how to take off, which was actually much harder than it looked.
"Wait," Blaze said. "How come you taught me how to land before teaching me how to take off?"
"So you know how to land properly when you fall out of sky after a bad take off," Angel told her.
"Oh," Blaze said, nodding. "I guess that makes sense."
"Yeah," Angel said. "So, now, I want you to get a running start and try to take off at the top of the hill."
"Come on," Blaze said. "We've been doing this for forty-five minutes."
"And the lesson isn't over for another fifteen," Angel said, nodding. "So get to it."
Blaze shook her head and took off running. Then when she got to the top of the hill, she leapt into the air and began to flap her wings.
Then, suddenly, she was coasting on a westward air current.
"That's it," Angel said, flying towards her. "See if you can follow me."
Blaze nodded, but as soon as she managed to turn in the direction he was flying, she started to fall. She hit the ground hard and managed not to fall down.
"Damn it," Blaze said as she sat down and folded her wings. "Why is this so hard?"
"Well," Angel said. "You've gotten a lot better since we moved away from the ocean."
"I can't imagine why," Blaze said sarcastically. "There's really not that much around here that can kill me so, you know, I feel hell of a lot safer."
"Yes, well," Angel said, "I suppose we've done enough for today. You can go."
Blaze nodded and headed back up to the mansion.
"Well?" Kurt said after he had teleported to Angel's side.
"Her schedule is clear for the rest of the day," Angel told him.
"Do you know where she was headed?" Kurt asked him.
"No," Angel said. "I didn't bother asking."
"Oh, great," Kurt said. "The mansion is enormous. It will take forever to find her."
"Well, you better start looking then," Angel said.
"Right," Kurt said, nodding. Then he teleported back to the mansion.
After Kiara had checked her training schedule and got changed, she decided to go hang out in the library. No one ever hung out in the library on Sundays. In fact when she got there, it was completely deserted.
Kiara walked up and down the aisles for a few minutes before she finally gave up. What was she doing here?
There weren't any books she wanted to read in here. She just wanted to be able to stop thinking about Kurt.
Kiara sighed and sat down at a table. Then she noticed the book that someone had left there. She picked it up silently.
It was a Bible and a long string of rosary beads acted as a bookmark.
Kiara opened it silently and almost threw across the room when she saw what was written inside of it. It belonged to Kurt. He was the one who had left it here.
Kiara groaned quietly. Why did he have to leave it here?
Why did everything have to remind her of Kurt?
Kiara to began to flip through the book's yellowing pages. It was ancient and dog-eared. Kurt must have had it for years.
Kiara stood up silently. She couldn't just leave it here. She had to give it back to him.
Kiara stood outside of Kurt's bedroom door silently. She felt awkward and terrified. She had spent weeks avoiding Kurt. He was probably furious with her.
Everyone else was.
Kiara sighed and knocked on the door, but no one answered. She reached out and pulled the door open. No one was there.
"Good," Kiara said as she stepped over the threshold.
She looked around the room silently. It felt as though she hadn't been in here in years. Everything seemed so different, even though she was sure that Kurt hadn't moved anything. Then she saw what was different.
Kiara crossed the room and saw the picture she had made of him hanging above his bed.
"Kiara?"
Kiara turned to see Kurt standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing in here?" Kurt asked her.
"Oh, you left this in the library," Kiara said, holding out his Bible. "I just thought I should bring back to you."
"Oh," Kurt said, taking the Bible. "Thank you."
"Right," Kiara said, nodding. "I'm just going to go now."
"Nein," Kurt said, grabbing her arm as she started to walk away from him. "I want to talk to you. Now."
"Oh," Kiara said, looking at him. "About what?"
Kurt closed the door behind him and guided her to his bed. "Kiara," he said, taking a shaky breath. "I want you to tell me how you feel about me -- how you really feel."
"I don't feel anything for you, Kurt," Kiara said, looking away from him.
"Then how do you explain this?" Kurt said, pulling her notebook out from under his pillow.
"Where did you get that?!" Kiara demanded, snatching the notebook from him.
"You dropped it in the hall at school," Kurt told her.
"Then why you didn't you give it back to me?" Kiara said, standing up.
"Because I can never find you," Kurt said, getting up. "You've been avoiding me like crazy, remember?"
"Whatever," Kiara said. "You could have given it to Rogue. You know, my roommate."
"Look," Kurt said. "Why don't you just tell me something, Kiara?"
"What?" Kiara said. "What do you want to know?"
"N.C.," Kurt said. "It doesn't stand for Nick Crenshaw, does it?"
"Oh, my god, no," Kiara said. "Why --"
"That's right," Kurt said. "It doesn't stand for Nick Crenshaw. It stands for Nightcrawler, doesn't it?"
"What?" Kiara said, scowling. "Kurt, why do you even care -- you're dating Kitty, remember?"
"I'm not dating Kitty," Kurt said. "I went to the dance with her so that Lance would stop bothering her, that's all. I don't even like her that way."
"Well, why didn't you tell me?" Kiara asked him, sitting down on his bed.
"I already told you," Kurt reminded her, sitting down. "I wanted to tell you, but I could never find you."
"You could have written me a note or something," Kiara said, shaking her head.
"I doubt you would have read it," Kurt said.
"Probably not," Kiara admitted, smiling at him.
"Well," Kurt said, "then I'm really glad you're here."
Kiara stared at him, confused, as he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. Then he traced a line down to her jaw and rested his hand on her collarbone. He pulled her towards him.
The kiss started off slow and innocent, but it wasn't enough for either of them. Kurt wound his fingers in Kiara's hair as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself even closer to his body.
Then they melted into each other -- scales on fur -- as Kurt traced the outline of her lips with the tip of his tongue, begging for entrance, which Kiara allowed. Then he could taste the fire in her throat as she dragged her tongue along his sharp, canine fangs.
Then, after what seemed like hours, Kiara pulled away from him, sobbing.
"What's wrong?" Kurt asked her. "Don't you want this?"
"I'm just so sorry," Kiara sobbed. "God, I'm so stupid. I've acted like such an idiot. I'm so sorry."
"Nein," Kurt said, wrapping his arms around her. "It's alright. I forgive you. I just want us to be together."
"Really?" Kiara asked, looking up at him.
"Yes, Kiara," Kurt said, smiling. "I'll never hurt you or force you to do something you don't want to do. Ich liebe Sie.(1)"
"Ich liebe Sie auch(2)," Kiara said, smiling.
"You understood me?" Kurt said, laughing.
Kiara nodded and said, "I looked it up on the internet ages ago."
"Do you have any idea how adorable you are?" Kurt asked her.
Kiara shook her head.
"Completely," Kurt said simply.
1) Ich liebe Sie - German for I love you.
2) Ich liebe Sie auch-German for I love you, too.