A/N: Special thanks to enchantedlight, & 4Rogue for your reviews of the last couple of chapters.

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"How much farther do we have to go?" Rogue asked Logan as they walked down a small street, about two blocks from their hotel.

"Not much." Logan replied as he looked at the street sign ahead of him and then turned back to her, "What, are you actually looking forward to one of our trainin' sessions?"

"Yeah, Ah guess I am." Rogue answered, "It's become kind of like a release for me."

Rogue walked alongside Logan dressed in a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants, while he had on his usual leather jacket, white t-shirt and denim blue jeans. As they continued down the street that was just starting to bustle with the morning crowd, she asked him something that had been on her mind for awhile.

"Do you really think Ah've gotten any better since you started teaching me?" Rogue asked, as she wanted Logan's opinion on her martial arts skills so far.

"You tell me. How do you think you're doin'?" Logan said as he threw the question back at her.

"Well, I know Ah've learned a lot in the last six months." Rogue answered.

"Then there's your answer." Logan continued, "I could talk 'til I'm blue in the face about how much I think you've improved. But if you don't believe it yourself, then it won't do you much good."

After walking another block, the pair finally made it to the Tochikura Dojo in the Ginza district. Morihiro, the manager of the hotel where they were staying, was a friend of the dojo's owner and had recommended it to them. When they walked inside, they saw that other men were already in there training. Some were working out on various types of exercise equipment, while a few were sparring inside of the several boxing rings that had been set up within.

"Go over and start warming up, I'm gonna go talk to the owner for a minute." Logan said as he pointed over to an unoccupied floor mat. He then turned and walked over to a large office in the dojo.

Rogue went over to the mat and removed the hooded sweatshirt and warm up pants that she was wearing. Underneath, she was wearing a black body-glove style suit, trimmed in a light-green color. She had bought it the night before at the local shopping mall, after she and Logan had finished their tour of the Imperial Gardens. She wore this suit, along with a matching pair of gloves, to protect the both of them from any unintentional skin-to-skin contact during their training session.

As Rogue continued stretching and preparing for another one of Logan's intense 'torture sessions' (as some of the other students at Xavier's referred to Logan's method of teaching), a tall & muscular young man walked over in her direction.

"It looks like somebody here is lost." He shouted to the others in the gym.

"I'm not lost." Rogue replied as she continued her warm up, unphased.

"Well, since you can't read, this is a man's gym." He told her.

"Then Ah guess you don't belong here either!" Rogue responded as she rose from the floor mat to her feet.

"There a problem here?" Logan asked as he walked up behind the big man known as Sadao. The two men stood staring at one another for a moment. Then Logan made the first move.

"C'mon Rogue." Logan said as he led her over to one of the empty rings, "We're wastin' time here."

As they walked off, Sadao went back to the punching bag he had been working out on previously. Both he and Logan continued eyeing one another as they both continued their workouts. Meanwhile, Rogue started right where she and Logan had left off from their last workout back at the mansion.

"Go ahead and show me the body punch we were working on." Logan instructed her.

As Rogue threw the punch, Logan had her stop and he held her arm as he led her through the mechanics of the movement.

"Okay, you wanna start lower. Extend from your own center of gravity and then aim in a slightly upward motion." Logan said as he demonstrated it for her and then had her repeat it for herself.

"Like this?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, that's a lot better." Logan answered.

As they continued, Logan marveled at how quickly Rogue had mastered all of the basics. She had learned in only a few months, what took some a couple of years to master. Now she had to work on improving her form and timing, and work on perfecting her fighting instincts. But the one thing that she was still lacking was confidence in her own abilities. To Logan it seemed almost as though she didn't want to believe she was a good as she was, and he had not yet discovered a way to overcome that obstacle with her.

After drilling Rogue for nearly an hour on how to throw a body punch correctly, Logan had her move on to something a little more difficult. He showed Rogue how to deliver the perfect jump kick, one that an opponent could not easily defend against. As she tried to work out the specifics for herself, Rogue fell to the mat more than a couple of times, which was normal for a beginner. But the man named Sadao used this as an opportunity to try and belittle Rogue's ability.

"Look at her. Maybe she should learn to walk, before trying to jump." Sadao remarked.

"And maybe you should mind your own business." Logan replied as his newly found patience was quickly running out.

"Says who? You?" Sadao asked.

"I asked you before, You gotta problem, bub?" Logan shouted.

"My problem is this a dojo for real men, not little girls." Sadao said, "Maybe you should take her back to the sandbox where she belongs."

Logan could tell by Rogue's reaction that Sadao's words were starting to bother her. She had come so far from that young girl he had first met in a back road bar in Canada. She was now becoming a confident young woman, an X-Man, and the junior squad's deputy leader. Logan was determined that he wasn't going to let some local knucklehead screw all of that up.

"Since you feel so strongly about it, I got a wager for ya." Logan said.

"What would that be?" Sadao asked.

"I got Ten thousand Yen here that says the girl drops you like a bad habit." Logan stated as he pulled the currency from his pocket and handed it to another man that had been training in the dojo.

"It'll be the fastest money I've ever made." Sadao replied as he took the bet and then handed his money to the same man.

"Logan! Are you crazy?" Rogue yelled at him.

"Probably, but I figured you already knew that." Logan answered with a large smile.

"I'm serious." Rogue continued with a concerned look, "That's like a hundred dollars you just bet with that guy."

"Your point?" Logan inquired.

"That's a lot of money to lose." Rogue pointed out.

"Then don't lose." Logan said with a smirk as they walked to one of the sparring rings in the center of the dojo.

All of the men in the dojo came over to watch the young American girl take on Sadao, a man who was infamous for his brawls in bars and back alleys all over Tokyo. Even the dojo's owner, who had come out to see what the commotion was, wondered what kind of chance the foreign girl stood. As Rogue got inside of the ring, Logan noticed that Sadao was bare fisted.

"One rule," Logan said to him, "no hitting above the shoulders."

"What, are you afraid I'll mess up her pretty little face?" Sadao asked.

"No." Logan answered, "You're ugly enough as it is, bub."

"Just for that, I'm gonna wipe this entire gym up with her." Sadao said as he walked over to his corner of the ring.

"Logan, look at that guy." Rogue said as Logan got into the ring and went over to her corner.

"I'm lookin'." Logan replied.

"I don't know if I can beat that guy." Rogue told him.

"You don't give yourself enough credit." Logan said reassuring her, "But I got confidence in the training I gave you."

"It's easy for you to be confident, you're damn near indestructible. Ah don't have that kinda luxury." Rogue commented, "Plus, he's so big."

"You've gone up against Pete in the Danger Room. He's bigger 'n faster than this guy, even when he's not armored up." Logan pointed out.

"Yeah, but that was only practice." Rogue replied, "Plus, Peter was holdin' back with me. This guy is for real."

"You'll do fine." Logan said to her as she walked to the center of the ring.

"Ah hope so." Rogue replied, far less confident about her chances than Logan.

Sadao met Rogue at the center of the ring and looked down at her for a moment. Then, he suddenly lunged at her. Rogue quickly moved out his way and let him fly by to allow him to become more 'acquainted' with the ring canvas. He then got up and proceeded to run and dive at Rogue once again, in an attempt to knock her to the ground. This time she did a leap-frog over him and sent him back down to the mat. As he hit the canvas for a second time, more than a few chuckles could be heard among the spectators. This caused Sadao to become angry and lose some of his focus.

"Enough of this!" Sadao said as he got up to his hands and knees and then stood up, "Let's fight!"

Sadao then got into a traditional fighting stance, and Rogue did the same. He began throwing punches wildly at her, figuring that one would connect and would be enough to knock her out cold. But Rogue didn't panic, instead she remembered what Logan had taught her and reacted accordingly. She ducked and avoided his unfocused punches and waited for an opening. When Sadao was most vulnerable, Rogue hit him with a front leg sweep and took him completely off of his feet.

"He's getting embarrassed by a young girl!" One of the local men laughed loudly.

Sadao was temporarily disoriented after being taken down by Rogue, and she saw her chance to finish the match. As he got up to one knee, and then staggered to both of his feet, Rogue started running in his direction. She performed a jump kick on him just like Logan had been teaching her. It landed squarely in Sadao's chest, and she knocked the wind out of him. He fell back through the ropes of the ring and onto the floor outside.

"I'd say that ends things right there." Logan said out loud as he climbed into the ring, "Unless, he wants the girl to do him some serious damage."

As Sadao got up and walked off, beaten and humiliated, the other men in the dojo got in the ring and gathered around Logan and Rogue. Logan expected trouble from the group, most of whom had lost money betting on a sure thing. Logan was looking forward to trouble, since he hadn't been in a good brawl for a few days. But he wasn't going to get his wish, at least not now.

"You were very impressive!" One of the men said to Rogue, "I am glad somebody finally showed Sadao a thing or two. This is one bet that I'm actually happy to lose."

Each of the men walked by and congratulated Rogue, thanking her for showing the local bully that size wasn't everything. As they went back to their workouts, the man who had been taking bets came up to Logan to give him his winnings.

"Give it to the girl, she's the one that earned it." Logan instructed him.

As the man handed the money to Rogue, she was still taking in what had just happened.

"I can't believe I beat that guy!" Rogue said excitedly.

"I told you before that you could do it, but you needed to see it for yourself." Logan replied as Rogue went over to put her sweatshirt and sweatpants back on over her workout attire.

"What you said earlier, do you think I could really have hurt that guy?" Rogue asked as she pulled the baggy top over her head.

"If you had the inclination, you probably coulda killed him." Logan pointed out, "I was watchin' that guy train most of the morning. It's just like I was tellin' Pete back home, you may be big and strong but you can't completely rely on that. In Sadao's case, that's exactly what he did. That, along with a dose of over-confidence, made him a sloppy fighter. He ended up learnin' an expensive lesson about underestimatin' someone solely on their smaller appearance."

As they walked towards the front door of the dojo, Logan looked at the large amount of Japanese currency that Rogue was putting into her pocket.

"You decided what you're gonna do with what you won?"

"I sure have," Rogue replied, "I'm gonna get you a new outfit to wear on your date tonight with Mariko."

"What kinda outfit?" Logan asked apprehensively.

"You'll see." Rogue smiled as she walked out of the dojo with him, contemplating Logan's new look…

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Meanwhile at Narita International Airport, a flight was landing from the United States that carried a most unique visitor to Japan, who had been brought there for a most unique purpose. The young man exited the plane and made his way through the crowded terminal. He went to the loading area at the front of the airport and waited. As he stood out there with a duffle bag over his shoulder, he proceeded to light a cigarette in his right hand. Suddenly, a very well dressed older gentleman approached him.

"Mr. Lebeau, I presume?" The older gentleman said to the newly arrived traveler, "Please come with me."

"How you so sure I'm him?" He replied.

"You fit our contact's description perfectly, from the long trench coat to the hauntingly handsome features." The gentleman pointed out, "That, and another one of our operatives has followed you here from New Orleans, to ensure your prompt arrival."

"Dis must be some kinda special job, for me to get such tender, lovin' care." He responded.

"Indeed it is. Lord Keniuchio awaits your presence, so let us not delay Mr. Lebeau." The gentleman said as a long limousine pulled up to the curb in front of them.

"Y'all sure know how ta ride in style." He replied to the gentleman as they both got inside, "Oh an' jus' for the record, de name is Lebeau, but you can call me Gambit…"

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Next chapter: Logan & Mariko go on their big date, and Gambit learns the reason why he's been brought all the way to Japan, as he comes face to face with the Silver Samurai…