Rei rolled over onto her back and stretched out, her hands laced together on her stomach.
"Tell me about Mina." Kurt asked, stretching out on his stomach, tail twitching lazily in the air. I mean, if you don't mind."
"Alright. I don't mind." Rei sighed softly.
"We were born on October 31, 1979 in Tokyo, Japan. We're American, but we were born there. I'm the oldest by seven minutes. We spent a lot of time together. Mina always liked to be with me. I remember one time," Rei giggled. "she had gotten beat up at school and she came to me and demanded that I go and beat the guy up."
Kurt gave her a look.
"We were eight years old. I went over to the guy and shocked the heck out of him by shoving him and he fell down. She looked like me except she had freckles across her nose and blue eyes. I had blue eyes until I got my powers. Anyway, she liked to take pictures. Always said she wanted to a photographer when she grew up. She took wonderful pictures too; for some reason she loved me being her subject, said I took a great photo. Her specialty was sepia tone and black and white. She was a fantastic cook too. I was good, but she was a little better."

Kurt sat up and took Rei's feet in his hands. He slipped off her shoes and began to rub her feet.
"When I was fourteen, we both became interested in the same guy."
"Let me guess, that's when you got your powers right?" Kurt asked, rubbing his fingers around and on Rei's ankle.
Rei smiled sadly. "Sorta." Rei swallowed and wiped her eyes.
Kurt put her foot down, scooted closer and pulled Rei into his arms. Rei settled her head on Kurt's shoulder.
"It's okay liebling, let it out."
"It's not fair damnit! It's five years later and it still hurts. When is it gonna stop Kurt? When will the pain go away?"
"In time. Just give it time."

Rei sniffled. "My powers had already started showing up. My eyes started changing and the fur around my eyes had started to show up a little bit. I got into the habit of wearing wrap around sunglasses. Mina saw my eyes one day. At that point, they were still blue but they had streaks of dark yellow and were slitted. The fur hadn't really shown up yet, it just looked like black eyeliner. I spent an hour trying to get it to come off, but it never did."
"We were fighting about the guy, his name was Nelson, and she slapped me hard enough to knock off the glasses. When I looked at her I guess my eyes were yellow because she looked shocked."

Rei let the tears fall and Kurt held her tighter, gently talking in German.
"I remember my skin feeling itchy. I looked down and saw fur. Mina made a comment along the lines of freak. I was already scared and I panicked and the next thing I remember Mina was on the floor bleeding."
Rei fell silent and pulled in a shaky breath.
"They took her to the hospital but she was pronounced D.O.A. The doctor said that it looked like she had been mauled." Rei snorted. "They have no idea how close they were."
"When I got home, I looked in the mirror and took off my glasses. My eyes were like they are now and the fur was all there. About a week later, Mina was buried. My father saw what I was the day after she was buried.
I had had a nightmare about Mina and woke up screaming. When he came in and turned on the light, I had claws, fangs and of course my eyes. I was also slightly furry. I had shredded the blanket in my sleep. My father took one look at me, grabbed me and said, "What in Heaven's name are you?" He called me a monster, an animal, a freak of nature."

Rei burst out sobbing, her breath coming out in gasps.
"He…He said that I wasn't his daughter anymore. Then he turned around and walked out, only stopping once to tell me that when the sun was up, I was out of there forever, and to not come back. As far as he was concerned, I didn't exist anymore." Rei whispered.
Kurt growled. He couldn't believe that someone could be so cruel to their own daughter. Then again, he had felt people's cruelty first hand.
Rei heard Kurt growl and looked up at him. "Kurt?" she whispered.
"It's not you mien liebling. I'm sorry liebling. I'm so sorry." he whispered softly, pulling her even closer and holding her tight.
"I left that night. I packed a bag, snagged some money and left. My mom found me, I don't know how, and brought me here."
"You weren't wearing sunglasses when we met." Kurt said.
"I didn't want to anymore. They reminded me of too many bad things."
Kurt nodded. "We should get to bed. Come on." He could see that Rei was too tired to walk, so he picked her up in his arms and 'ported to her room.
"Stay please?" she asked, snuggling in his arms. "Right now I need a nice blue teddy bear."

Kurt smiled and laid her on the bed. "Is that all I am? A teddy bear?"
Rei sat up and put her arms around Kurt. "No. But right now I need a blue, fuzzy teddy bear that snuggles back." she said, kissing his chest sleepily.
Kurt slipped his arms around her and hugged her with all his might. "I'll always be there for you. I'll never leave. I love you Rei." he said.
Rei smiled. She knew he loved her, she could feel it in her soul. "I love you too, Kurt." Kurt laid her down again and when he was sure she was asleep, stripped off his jeans to reveal black silk boxers that clung very nicely to him underneath.
Rei wasn't as asleep as he thought. She saw the boxers thought slitted eyelids and thought, "Damn. He looks positively sinful in those. They should be fucking illegal on him." Her mind whispered while admiring the line of his legs, and the way the fabric clung to him whenever he moved.

Kurt climbed into bed next to her and Rei quickly snuggled into his arms.
The next morning Rei woke up early. She gently unwound herself from Kurt and watched him sleep. His chest rose and fell evenly and the sunlight made his fur glisten softly. One of his arms was lying on his stomach, the other loosely around Rei. Rei studied his face quietly. The way his hair curled softly onto his forehead and felt so soft and velvety when she ran her hands through it. His eyelashes were long, black and curled at the ends slightly. At the moment, they looked like crescent moons against his face. His cheekbones were high and prominent. Rei loved the way the fur was soft and downy on them. His jaw curved strongly, Rei liked to run her knuckles along his jaw line, enjoying the way the stubble felt on them. Rei's eyes drifted to his lips. She gently rubbed her thumb against his mouth, feeling every dip, indention and soft, fluffy, short fur. She leaned in and gently kissed him.
Kurt slowly woke up to find Rei kissing him. "Should wake up more often like this." he thought, kissing her back and slipping his hand through her hair.

Rei pulled back slightly, breaking off the kiss. "Morning Fuzzy Elf." she whispered.
Kurt smiled sleepily. "Hello liebling." He tucked a strand of hair behind Rei's ear.
Rei grinned and laid her head on his chest. "Hey to you too. By the way Kurt," she leaned up to whisper in his ear. "nice boxers."
Kurt blushed, his eyes widening with shock. "You…You saw?"
Rei smiled evilly, liking how Kurt looked when he blushed. She nodded. "Uh huh. Enjoyed the show too. Very yummy."
"Rei!!" Kurt yelled. He grabbed the pillow beneath him and hit her with it.
Rei shrieked. "What?! What'd I say?" she laughed, as she grabbed her own pillow and fought back.

Rei smacked Kurt with her pillow in the ribs. Kurt retaliated with a pillow up the head. This went on for several minutes with lots of laughing. It finally ended when Kurt had Rei pinned down to the bed.
"Ok, ok." Rei breathed in. "I give up you win."
Kurt loosened his grip and started to let go.
"Gotcha!" Rei yelled, as she lunged forward and pinned Kurt to the bed. Rei strattled Kurt and held his arms above his head. She leaned down and kissed him long and slow.
"Mmmm. Can we do this more often?" Kurt asked. "Like everyday?"
Rei laughed and got off Kurt.
"Down Kurt. Don't get greedy."
Kurt sat up and nuzzled her neck from behind.
"I should go." he said.
"Yeah."
Kurt didn't move.
"I should go." he repeated.
"Yeah." Rei said.
He still didn't move.
"I really should go." he said.
"So why aren't you?" Rei asked.
"Because I don't want to. Because I've got the world's most beautiful woman right in front of me."
Rei blushed and smiled.
"You should go. Now. It wouldn't be good if the Professor or someone walked in on us."
"You're right." Kurt said.
He got up and put on his jeans, much to Rei's disappointment.
"You look better in boxers, but I'm not complaining now either."
Kurt laughed, grabbed Rei and kissed her, then 'ported to his room. He took a shower and changed clothes.

Which brings us back to this morning.
Kurt yawned and was thinking about last night when he heard.
"Kurt are you alright? You look half dead."
Kurt looked up. It was Storm.
Kurt grinned. "Ja. I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"Not sleep well?"
"Something like that."
Storm said that breakfast was ready and Kurt went to eat.
Rei stepped into the shower. "Hate to wash off the Elf's scent, but I gotta."
She closed her eyes and let the water and soap swirl away down the drain. Later that day Rei was in the library studying her German vocabulary, or at least was trying to, when Kurt came in.

"Hi liebling." he said, nuzzling Rei's neck.
Rei smiled, turned around and kissed Kurt's cheek.
"What are you doing?" Kurt asked, sitting next to her.
"I was working on my German, but you came over and distracted me."
Kurt pulled the book over so he could see it. "Oh this is easy."
"This coming from the guy who speaks German fluently."
"Well that does kinda help." Kurt said. "Do you want me to help?"
"Hai. What does liebling mean? You always call me that, but never told me what it meant."
"It means darling."
Rei nodded.
They had been working for about 30 minutes when Rei realized that Kurt's right hand wasn't on the table. As a matter of fact, it was slowly inching its way up her thigh. Rei let her pencil drop and breathed in, swallowing.
"Something wrong Rei?" Kurt asked innocently, his eyes sparkling, his hand slowly massaging Rei's thigh.

Luckily there was no one near them. Bobby and John were there, but they were in another part of the library and Rei had a good idea what they were doing.
"Kurt…" she hissed.
Kurt's hand crept up her thigh. Kurt set his chin on the palm of his left hand, still acting like nothing was going on.
"Ja?" he asked.
Rei's mind went blank for a second. She then slipped her hand under the table. "Please…stop." she said, stopping Kurt's hand from going any farther up her thigh. "
"I am liking this way too much." she thought.
Kurt saw the look on Rei's face and took it the wrong way.
"I'm sorry liebling." he said, withdrawing his hand.
"Kurt wait…"
But Kurt had teleported away.
Rei sighed. "Shitmatta." Rei turned into her panther form to find Kurt. "Why did he run off? I love his touch." she thought.

She tracked his scent and found him in his room. Rei shifted to her human form and knocked on the door.
"Come in." she heard.
"Hey." she said, entering Kurt's room and shutting the door behind her. Kurt's room looked like a typical guy's room, except there was a jungle gym hanging on the ceiling. Kurt looked up from the chair he was sitting in, his feet propped up on a stool in front of him.
Rei leaned against the door. "Why did you leave?"
"You didn't like what I was doing, so I left." Kurt looked away.
Rei came over and strattled Kurt's legs. His tail brushed Rei's leather clad knee.
"You look good in leather pants."
Rei smiled. "Thanks." She scooted closer until her legs touched the chair. She tilted Kurt's chin up.
"I liked it. I liked it so much it scared me." Rei asked if she could sit down. Kurt moved his feet and she sat on the stool.
"You have no idea what you do to me do you? How you make me feel?"

Kurt shook his head. Rei leaned forward, her forearms resting on her knees. "When I'm with you, that's all that matters. I love being together with you, you make me laugh and happy."
Kurt gave a small smile at that. "At least I'm good at something other then being your teddy bear."
Rei lightly smacked Kurt's knee. "I'm serious." she said, smiling.
"I know." Kurt replied. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"That's alright."
Kurt pulled Rei into his lap.
"Do you notice that I'm always sitting in your lap?" Rei asked.
Kurt nodded. "I don't hear you complaining though."
Rei smiled and whispered. "Anata to nara, itsumademo dare yori mo."
"What?" Kurt asked.
"If it's with you, I always want to be closer." Rei translated.
Kurt laughed softly and kissed Rei. "Sounds nice to me."

The two were quite for several minutes when Rei saw the serious look on Kurt's face. "What is it Fuzzy?"
"What?" Kurt asked.
"You looked so serious." Rei imitated his face "I was wondering what it was you were thinking about."
Kurt played with Rei's hair. "I was thinking about us."
"Oooh, I like that subject." Rei said, scooting more into Kurt's lap.
Kurt smiled slightly. "I was wondering… why me? Why did you pick me? You could of have any guy you wanted and you pick me. Why?"
Rei sighed and turned Kurt's head so she could look into his eyes. "Because I wanted you."
"You didn't want someone normal looking?" Kurt asked. "I mean look at me. I'm not exactly your nor-"
Rei placed a finger over Kurt's lips and shushed him. "I wanted you because you weren't normal. You are to me, incredibly handsome. I don't care about the fur, or the tail, or your fangs. I fell in love with the Kurt Wagner that's in here." Rei pointed to his chest. "That is the Kurt I love. Why? Does the fact that I can control my fur coat bother you?" Rei asked.
"Sometimes. At least you can go out in public."
Rei shifted into her cat/human form. "I don't have to."
Kurt gasped. Sure he had seen her change before, but to have her change in his lap was different.
"See? I can do the same as you." She shifted back. "Now, no more moping about why I picked you out of all the guys. It's you I want, it's you I got and intend to keep for a very long time."
Kurt smiled, ecstatic that Rei was with and wanted to be with him.


The End