(a/n: This chappie is dedicated to Sadie Joyce - Myst Lady, 'cause after I
came home from eight hours of hell, a.k.a. work, that review made me smile.
Thanks. Btw: Still don't own 'em. Want to. Don't'. Read on.)
Chapter 2.
Seki Yukiko sat near a hospital bed, the smell of the heavily sterilized sheets floated up to mash all her senses into blandness, and she was bombarded by how much everything screamed 'she's going to die' at her. Of course, Seki didn't believe a single one of the things that screamed. Makoto Kino was going to live, or Seki would kill someone, if only to accompany the girl to heaven.
Makoto Kino had been unconscious for over a week. The hospital staff, including Makoto's personal physician, Mrs. Mizuno, was astounded to see that all of her body's functions, were actually in an overdrive. Whenever someone actually survived being struck by lightning, they were basically comatose until their body could be deemed 'recovered' or they died.
Sometimes that took months.
And there she was, a sixteen-year-old girl, who was on the verge of either dying or waking in the next few moments. And Seki and Akemi had barely left her side, hovering protectively over her, making sure she was attended to, and otherwise taken care of while she was there. It wasn't a problem. Mrs. Mizuno acted more like Makoto was her child than just her patient.
"Did anyone get the license number on that Mac truck?" The brunette slurred, opening emerald green eyes to a slit.
"Mako-san!" Akemi buried himself into her arms. "We thought you were gonna die! Didn't we, Seki? Yes, we did. Are you all right, Mako? I'm sure glad you weren't carrying corn, or else we'd have popcorn, not fried rice! We've been so worried. Are you sure that everything's okay? Do you want us to call Mrs. Mizuno?" Akemi blurted this entire speech within a matter of seconds, as children have a tendency to do.
"Mrs. Mizuno doesn't need to be called, she's here." The doctor walked into the room, a small smile of good humor decorated a beautiful face. She took her place at Makoto's side, and gave her a thorough, yet swift check up. Just to see if everything vital was functioning as normally as could properly be expected.
"Well, she seems to be completely healthy. To have it put in simple terms, there's reasoning behind that, that I feel you ought to know. Have a seat, I think that this matter needs its proper attention, and it will be given." Mrs. Mizuno shut the door, and pulled up a chair beside Makoto's bed, while Seki sat, and Akemi settled at her feet.
"Makoto, you were struck by lightning scarcely a week ago, and yet you're operating as if it were months. I handled everything in your care, including your CAT scans. Something odd came up, and I went a little more deeply into it. It seems that you are one of many individual born with what we, in the medical profession, have called the 'x-gene.' That simply means, in laymen's terms, that you're a mutant."
Makoto stared with unguarded disbelief at the doctor. "The abilities that are said to accompany the gene have already begun to manifest openly. One of them, I believe, is accelerated healing, hence your quick recovery. I could be incorrect, of course, but that's my present theory. There are facilities for those like you, or you could simply continue your present life."
"Are you telling me that Makoto . . .is like those monsters on the television?" Seki gasped, horrified and disbelieving. "No! Makoto-chan is normal. She's completely human, and you're wrong. Makoto is not a . . .a freak!"
"You're right about that!" Makoto snapped. "I'm no freak, even if I am a mutant."
Directly after Makoto finished Mrs. Mizuno jumped at the woman. "If you can't control yourself and your language, you will leave this ward. Miss Kino is my patient, and I will not have even her charge harassing her. Mutants are * not * freaks, they are simply different. If you can't handle that, you need to release all the bonds you have with Miss Kino, because she is a mutant, whether you like it or not."
"I won't believe it, and you can't make me. Makoto is * not * a mutant, and she and I will be going back to my restaurant. Thank you for your help, thus far. We won't be needing your services again."
"Sempai . . .I am one. A mutant, I mean. I'm a mutant."
*~*
"Erm . . .hello?"
"Hello." Replied the one with the German accent (a/n: again, I'll not butcher it. So just keep pretending it's there. Please and thank you.) "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? Forget that! How did you * get * here?! That was fascinating! Can you do it again? Does it hurt? Do you-?"
"Whoa! One at a time!" He answered, holding his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. "Who are you? And why aren't you running, screaming in terror?"
"Well, that would be rude, wouldn't it? Boku wa Mizuno, Ami." She bowed slightly, and met their confused gaze a moment later. "Sorry! I am Ami Mizuno. Habits die hard. Now, how did you do that?!"
"What makes you say he did it?" Asked the demon-in-appearance-only.
"Believe me, I know it was him. I just . . .do." Ami answered matter-of- factly. "Are you-mutants? What did Duncan say . . .'muties?'"
"We prefer mutants, thanks."
"Don't tell me, you're friends with that . . .jerk." The first boy spoke again.
"Right, you just ask him that, see if he doesn't think you're nuts. I know him 'cause I kneed him in the crotch today. That would make him a hard person to forget in my books. He called me a 'mutie' 'cause I'm a better fighter than he is." Ami rolled her eyes as she spoke.
"Who isn't?" The first speaker replied. "I'm Kurt Vaugner."
"Emira Lawrence, and this is Bryan Williams." The demon murmured. "Thanks for getting us out of there, they would've killed me."
"No problem. I've been there."
"Elf, what are you doing here?" Snarled a new voice, followed by the appearance of a short, very muscular man. "We expected you hours ago, dinner's already over."
"Logan!" Kurt returned. "These are Emira, Bryan, and Ami. We were just talking. I got Emira and Bryan out of some trouble with a group of violent humans."
"Get back to the Institute. Now." The man named Logan snapped.
"Don't talk to him like that!" Ami frowned menacingly at the man she could easily look in the eye. "He didn't do anything wrong!" She quickly went to Kurt's side, and laid a hand on a shoulder. He flinched at the contact, but Ami didn't seem to notice, she was glaring at Logan.
"Listen, Ami, it's okay." Kurt interrupted what was sure to turn into a rant.
"No, it's not. Is this your guardian or something? 'Cause he's not a very good one, if he's that brusque with you. What if you were hurt? What if you couldn't just . . .appear where you need to go?! No, it's not okay at all. I don't know whom you are, sir, but maybe you should stay away from him. 'Cause I don't think I trust him alone with you." Ami scowled.
Logan's face broke into a genuine smile. "Lookee, elf, you've got yourself a nice little girlfriend. I like 'er. Now, you need to get back to the Institute, now; it's important. Red said she saw an old buddy of mine. Porcupine figured out the hard way you kids don't need to be out here. Now."
"Right." Kurt agreed, and turned to Ami. "Don't worry about it. Logan means well. I've got to get back home, now. I'll see you around school, alright?"
"I'd better see you around." She answered almost sternly. "I suppose that means you'll be going as well, Logan?"
"Bye, Tough Stuff. I'd suggest you all leave, as well." He answered with a half smile, and whipped around to escort Kurt back home, and hopefully far from his old 'friend' . . .Sabretooth, of course.
Little did he know, that exact person was present, and waiting for the Wolverine to leave, much as he wanted to kill the other, some things were more important. Sabretooth bared his teeth as his oblivious opponent headed in the opposite direction, leaving three children unguarded. He would regret that decision.
When Logan was far and well out of sight and hearing distance, and after an even longer wait to get out of smelling distance, Sabretooth acted within seconds. He entered the clearing silently, and crept behind the girl with the bluish hair. She reacted quickly to her unseen enemy, having heard him, and Sabretooth was not prepared for anything for anything but high- pitched screaming.
Ami spun on her heel, and kicked out at him, but he caught her foot, and flipped her so she hung in midair. Without missing a beat, she twirled her hands and the water of the pond followed her control, and twisted up in a spiral, and shot at Sabretooth, like a huge speeding bullet.
The water missed him, but he had to drop Ami in compensation from the pain. She gracefully maneuvered her body so she landed neatly on the balls of her feet. Sabretooth snarled and ran after the only one of the three that seemed to not notice him. The purple-skinned girl. He sped at her, and took hold of her right arm.
"LET HER GO!" The boy could shout very loudly. He foolishly ran at Sabretooth, and was caught himself, by Sabretooth's other arm. With both arms busy, Ami took advantage of his plight.
"If you guys can somehow get out of the way, do it." Ami demanded, and again took control of the ready source of water, forming them into liquid splinters the size of daggers. She sent them flying as quickly as she was able. Bryan disappeared completely, and Emira sank into the shadowed ground beneath her. Sabretooth was hit on target, and was bleeding slightly.
The cuts were completely healed by the time that it took Sabretooth to rush at Ami and take hold of her neck, his sharp claws sinking slightly into the tender flesh there.
"Hey!" Was all Emira said, as she flung herself on his back, sinking her clawed fingers and toes into him, holding on for her life.
Sabretooth, using her free hand, reached over his shoulder, and threw Emira across the clearing, and halfway into the water. "If I so much as imagine any of you using a power right now, I will break her neck." He growled, licking his lips, displaying teeth far sharper than Emira's.
Bryan sighed and appeared next to Emira, and he helped her up.
"Let the child go." Demanded a soft voice. Sabretooth jerked around, looking for the source, 'accidentally' ringing Ami's neck, with bruising force. Said girl gasped in pain as she reached up to try to pry his fingers away from her neck. "I said, 'Let her go.'" The voice repeated, and was accompanied by the appearance of a beautiful woman with white hair and a diamond-hard look in her eyes.
She raised a hand at him, spreading her fingers, and his fingers, one by one, left Ami's neck, leaving finger-shaped bruises along her neck. She slumped to the ground when she was released, and Emira and Bryan each took one of her hands, hauled her up, and shuffled her away from Sabretooth. "Go." She snarled at him, and he left, an utterly blank look in his eyes.
"Are you three alright?" She questioned, and knelt before Ami, who was sitting on the floor, catching her breath. She looked in the woman's silver-blue eyes, and found pools of sincerity and understanding.
"I'm okay. Thank you, but how did you do that?" Ami responded.
"I'm a telepath, dear. Come with me, if you'd like. I have a student about your age who can help. Only if you want, though. Perhaps you have somewhere else to go."
"I-I'll come." Ami answered, and Emira and Bryan nodded in agreement. All three followed the strange, kind woman. Who was taking them to what felt mysteriously like a home they'd been waiting for all their lives.
~*~
"Makoto, you're . . .you're imagining things. You're just a normal girl. Don't believe her."
"Sempai, she's a * doctor *. It's her job to know these things. Mrs. Mizuno, where are these . . .facilities. I think it's a good idea that I find one." Makoto turned to the doctor.
"Well, the most prominent that I know of is in America. But mutants are also exposed there, and acted very openly against. If you go, it won't be easy." The blue-haired woman warned, with a flash in her eyes.
"It's worth it. I need to know everything there is to know about this. But I don't have enough to get there."
"Don't worry. If you're really interested, the Professor may well come here and get you himself."
"Really?"
"Really."
*~*
"Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Hear me. Earth. Air. Fire . . .fire. Argh. I can't concentrate!" Rei Hino scowled darkly, shifting from her comfortable lotus position so she was sitting on her heels. "Sacred Flame, give me respite." She muttered to the dangerously dancing flames. She stood slowly, and bowed slightly to the fire. She turned away when she'd safely backed to the door.
"Rei?" A withered voice called to her.
"Coming, Grandpa." She answered, and left to converse with the elderly man. Glancing once around her prayer room with stormy violet eyes, just to make sure everything was set, Rei noticed a spark fall from the flames.
With merely a thought the spark died, and the ash rested in place. Rei closed the door behind her when she left.
Just when she was about to leave the back room of the temple all together, to head into the main room, where many girls came to giggle over their charms, Rei let a wave of completeness fill her. She snapped her fingers smartly, and a flame danced just above where her fingers had met, and she let it die in an instant.
"Still got it."
~*~
(a/n: that's all for today, ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to give y'all somethin' to chew on. I'm goin' out of state, so it'll be a bit before I get more up. Not too big a bit. I'll be back in less than two weeks, though it may take me a bit longer than that to get more up. I somehow doubt that I'll be allowed to write. Read it again, if you really want more. Or go read my Harry Potter story. Lmao. I hope you like it. I'll be back sooner than you'll notice. R&R. Remember. You review mine; I'll return the favor.)
Chapter 2.
Seki Yukiko sat near a hospital bed, the smell of the heavily sterilized sheets floated up to mash all her senses into blandness, and she was bombarded by how much everything screamed 'she's going to die' at her. Of course, Seki didn't believe a single one of the things that screamed. Makoto Kino was going to live, or Seki would kill someone, if only to accompany the girl to heaven.
Makoto Kino had been unconscious for over a week. The hospital staff, including Makoto's personal physician, Mrs. Mizuno, was astounded to see that all of her body's functions, were actually in an overdrive. Whenever someone actually survived being struck by lightning, they were basically comatose until their body could be deemed 'recovered' or they died.
Sometimes that took months.
And there she was, a sixteen-year-old girl, who was on the verge of either dying or waking in the next few moments. And Seki and Akemi had barely left her side, hovering protectively over her, making sure she was attended to, and otherwise taken care of while she was there. It wasn't a problem. Mrs. Mizuno acted more like Makoto was her child than just her patient.
"Did anyone get the license number on that Mac truck?" The brunette slurred, opening emerald green eyes to a slit.
"Mako-san!" Akemi buried himself into her arms. "We thought you were gonna die! Didn't we, Seki? Yes, we did. Are you all right, Mako? I'm sure glad you weren't carrying corn, or else we'd have popcorn, not fried rice! We've been so worried. Are you sure that everything's okay? Do you want us to call Mrs. Mizuno?" Akemi blurted this entire speech within a matter of seconds, as children have a tendency to do.
"Mrs. Mizuno doesn't need to be called, she's here." The doctor walked into the room, a small smile of good humor decorated a beautiful face. She took her place at Makoto's side, and gave her a thorough, yet swift check up. Just to see if everything vital was functioning as normally as could properly be expected.
"Well, she seems to be completely healthy. To have it put in simple terms, there's reasoning behind that, that I feel you ought to know. Have a seat, I think that this matter needs its proper attention, and it will be given." Mrs. Mizuno shut the door, and pulled up a chair beside Makoto's bed, while Seki sat, and Akemi settled at her feet.
"Makoto, you were struck by lightning scarcely a week ago, and yet you're operating as if it were months. I handled everything in your care, including your CAT scans. Something odd came up, and I went a little more deeply into it. It seems that you are one of many individual born with what we, in the medical profession, have called the 'x-gene.' That simply means, in laymen's terms, that you're a mutant."
Makoto stared with unguarded disbelief at the doctor. "The abilities that are said to accompany the gene have already begun to manifest openly. One of them, I believe, is accelerated healing, hence your quick recovery. I could be incorrect, of course, but that's my present theory. There are facilities for those like you, or you could simply continue your present life."
"Are you telling me that Makoto . . .is like those monsters on the television?" Seki gasped, horrified and disbelieving. "No! Makoto-chan is normal. She's completely human, and you're wrong. Makoto is not a . . .a freak!"
"You're right about that!" Makoto snapped. "I'm no freak, even if I am a mutant."
Directly after Makoto finished Mrs. Mizuno jumped at the woman. "If you can't control yourself and your language, you will leave this ward. Miss Kino is my patient, and I will not have even her charge harassing her. Mutants are * not * freaks, they are simply different. If you can't handle that, you need to release all the bonds you have with Miss Kino, because she is a mutant, whether you like it or not."
"I won't believe it, and you can't make me. Makoto is * not * a mutant, and she and I will be going back to my restaurant. Thank you for your help, thus far. We won't be needing your services again."
"Sempai . . .I am one. A mutant, I mean. I'm a mutant."
*~*
"Erm . . .hello?"
"Hello." Replied the one with the German accent (a/n: again, I'll not butcher it. So just keep pretending it's there. Please and thank you.) "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? Forget that! How did you * get * here?! That was fascinating! Can you do it again? Does it hurt? Do you-?"
"Whoa! One at a time!" He answered, holding his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. "Who are you? And why aren't you running, screaming in terror?"
"Well, that would be rude, wouldn't it? Boku wa Mizuno, Ami." She bowed slightly, and met their confused gaze a moment later. "Sorry! I am Ami Mizuno. Habits die hard. Now, how did you do that?!"
"What makes you say he did it?" Asked the demon-in-appearance-only.
"Believe me, I know it was him. I just . . .do." Ami answered matter-of- factly. "Are you-mutants? What did Duncan say . . .'muties?'"
"We prefer mutants, thanks."
"Don't tell me, you're friends with that . . .jerk." The first boy spoke again.
"Right, you just ask him that, see if he doesn't think you're nuts. I know him 'cause I kneed him in the crotch today. That would make him a hard person to forget in my books. He called me a 'mutie' 'cause I'm a better fighter than he is." Ami rolled her eyes as she spoke.
"Who isn't?" The first speaker replied. "I'm Kurt Vaugner."
"Emira Lawrence, and this is Bryan Williams." The demon murmured. "Thanks for getting us out of there, they would've killed me."
"No problem. I've been there."
"Elf, what are you doing here?" Snarled a new voice, followed by the appearance of a short, very muscular man. "We expected you hours ago, dinner's already over."
"Logan!" Kurt returned. "These are Emira, Bryan, and Ami. We were just talking. I got Emira and Bryan out of some trouble with a group of violent humans."
"Get back to the Institute. Now." The man named Logan snapped.
"Don't talk to him like that!" Ami frowned menacingly at the man she could easily look in the eye. "He didn't do anything wrong!" She quickly went to Kurt's side, and laid a hand on a shoulder. He flinched at the contact, but Ami didn't seem to notice, she was glaring at Logan.
"Listen, Ami, it's okay." Kurt interrupted what was sure to turn into a rant.
"No, it's not. Is this your guardian or something? 'Cause he's not a very good one, if he's that brusque with you. What if you were hurt? What if you couldn't just . . .appear where you need to go?! No, it's not okay at all. I don't know whom you are, sir, but maybe you should stay away from him. 'Cause I don't think I trust him alone with you." Ami scowled.
Logan's face broke into a genuine smile. "Lookee, elf, you've got yourself a nice little girlfriend. I like 'er. Now, you need to get back to the Institute, now; it's important. Red said she saw an old buddy of mine. Porcupine figured out the hard way you kids don't need to be out here. Now."
"Right." Kurt agreed, and turned to Ami. "Don't worry about it. Logan means well. I've got to get back home, now. I'll see you around school, alright?"
"I'd better see you around." She answered almost sternly. "I suppose that means you'll be going as well, Logan?"
"Bye, Tough Stuff. I'd suggest you all leave, as well." He answered with a half smile, and whipped around to escort Kurt back home, and hopefully far from his old 'friend' . . .Sabretooth, of course.
Little did he know, that exact person was present, and waiting for the Wolverine to leave, much as he wanted to kill the other, some things were more important. Sabretooth bared his teeth as his oblivious opponent headed in the opposite direction, leaving three children unguarded. He would regret that decision.
When Logan was far and well out of sight and hearing distance, and after an even longer wait to get out of smelling distance, Sabretooth acted within seconds. He entered the clearing silently, and crept behind the girl with the bluish hair. She reacted quickly to her unseen enemy, having heard him, and Sabretooth was not prepared for anything for anything but high- pitched screaming.
Ami spun on her heel, and kicked out at him, but he caught her foot, and flipped her so she hung in midair. Without missing a beat, she twirled her hands and the water of the pond followed her control, and twisted up in a spiral, and shot at Sabretooth, like a huge speeding bullet.
The water missed him, but he had to drop Ami in compensation from the pain. She gracefully maneuvered her body so she landed neatly on the balls of her feet. Sabretooth snarled and ran after the only one of the three that seemed to not notice him. The purple-skinned girl. He sped at her, and took hold of her right arm.
"LET HER GO!" The boy could shout very loudly. He foolishly ran at Sabretooth, and was caught himself, by Sabretooth's other arm. With both arms busy, Ami took advantage of his plight.
"If you guys can somehow get out of the way, do it." Ami demanded, and again took control of the ready source of water, forming them into liquid splinters the size of daggers. She sent them flying as quickly as she was able. Bryan disappeared completely, and Emira sank into the shadowed ground beneath her. Sabretooth was hit on target, and was bleeding slightly.
The cuts were completely healed by the time that it took Sabretooth to rush at Ami and take hold of her neck, his sharp claws sinking slightly into the tender flesh there.
"Hey!" Was all Emira said, as she flung herself on his back, sinking her clawed fingers and toes into him, holding on for her life.
Sabretooth, using her free hand, reached over his shoulder, and threw Emira across the clearing, and halfway into the water. "If I so much as imagine any of you using a power right now, I will break her neck." He growled, licking his lips, displaying teeth far sharper than Emira's.
Bryan sighed and appeared next to Emira, and he helped her up.
"Let the child go." Demanded a soft voice. Sabretooth jerked around, looking for the source, 'accidentally' ringing Ami's neck, with bruising force. Said girl gasped in pain as she reached up to try to pry his fingers away from her neck. "I said, 'Let her go.'" The voice repeated, and was accompanied by the appearance of a beautiful woman with white hair and a diamond-hard look in her eyes.
She raised a hand at him, spreading her fingers, and his fingers, one by one, left Ami's neck, leaving finger-shaped bruises along her neck. She slumped to the ground when she was released, and Emira and Bryan each took one of her hands, hauled her up, and shuffled her away from Sabretooth. "Go." She snarled at him, and he left, an utterly blank look in his eyes.
"Are you three alright?" She questioned, and knelt before Ami, who was sitting on the floor, catching her breath. She looked in the woman's silver-blue eyes, and found pools of sincerity and understanding.
"I'm okay. Thank you, but how did you do that?" Ami responded.
"I'm a telepath, dear. Come with me, if you'd like. I have a student about your age who can help. Only if you want, though. Perhaps you have somewhere else to go."
"I-I'll come." Ami answered, and Emira and Bryan nodded in agreement. All three followed the strange, kind woman. Who was taking them to what felt mysteriously like a home they'd been waiting for all their lives.
~*~
"Makoto, you're . . .you're imagining things. You're just a normal girl. Don't believe her."
"Sempai, she's a * doctor *. It's her job to know these things. Mrs. Mizuno, where are these . . .facilities. I think it's a good idea that I find one." Makoto turned to the doctor.
"Well, the most prominent that I know of is in America. But mutants are also exposed there, and acted very openly against. If you go, it won't be easy." The blue-haired woman warned, with a flash in her eyes.
"It's worth it. I need to know everything there is to know about this. But I don't have enough to get there."
"Don't worry. If you're really interested, the Professor may well come here and get you himself."
"Really?"
"Really."
*~*
"Earth. Air. Fire. Water. Hear me. Earth. Air. Fire . . .fire. Argh. I can't concentrate!" Rei Hino scowled darkly, shifting from her comfortable lotus position so she was sitting on her heels. "Sacred Flame, give me respite." She muttered to the dangerously dancing flames. She stood slowly, and bowed slightly to the fire. She turned away when she'd safely backed to the door.
"Rei?" A withered voice called to her.
"Coming, Grandpa." She answered, and left to converse with the elderly man. Glancing once around her prayer room with stormy violet eyes, just to make sure everything was set, Rei noticed a spark fall from the flames.
With merely a thought the spark died, and the ash rested in place. Rei closed the door behind her when she left.
Just when she was about to leave the back room of the temple all together, to head into the main room, where many girls came to giggle over their charms, Rei let a wave of completeness fill her. She snapped her fingers smartly, and a flame danced just above where her fingers had met, and she let it die in an instant.
"Still got it."
~*~
(a/n: that's all for today, ladies and gentlemen, I wanted to give y'all somethin' to chew on. I'm goin' out of state, so it'll be a bit before I get more up. Not too big a bit. I'll be back in less than two weeks, though it may take me a bit longer than that to get more up. I somehow doubt that I'll be allowed to write. Read it again, if you really want more. Or go read my Harry Potter story. Lmao. I hope you like it. I'll be back sooner than you'll notice. R&R. Remember. You review mine; I'll return the favor.)