Chapter 6

Rogue and I and moved our conversation downstairs to the kitchen. I sat down at the table opposite Rogue and set two bowls of ice cream down on the table.

"I'm not sure where to start." I slowly started to eat the bowl of rocky road in front of me.

"Try the beginning". Rogue had not touched her ice cream yet.

"I'm not sure when the beginning is. You see I don't really remember a lot."

"Amnesia seems to be a norm around here." She looked at me cold. "Logan for example can't remember anything past 10 years ago."

"Yeah, when I first meet Logan he reminded me of a man I had known long ago. But they can't be the same." I put my spoon down and bean to play with my hair. "I didn't learn bushido from a book I was trained by a man named James Howlett he was a samurai in the clan Yashida. I left when our master Ogun went mad and destroyed the temple. He said that the Hand had been corrupted by gaijin." I sat up straight not wanting to look at her. "That's when I went to Manchester University. I decided to put that life behind me and start over"

"Does the professor know about this?" It felt like she was burning a hole through my head the way she was starring at me. "I thought you said that you had grown up in England"

"I did, you see I'm not really 18 years old. In fact I don't know how old I am." I refused to look at her so I began to play with my spoon in the ice cream.

"Oh, amnesia thing right." She sounded like she was loosing her fire.

"Yeah I guess, I don't remember a lot. Most of my memories up until my parents adopted me are chaotic. It is as if I spent a lifetime living off pure emotion. Scents, I remember scents and colour. That is it; it is as if my life was a painting coming into focus. The doctors said that they could not determine my age by any of the usual methods. So they dummied a birth certificate."

"How did you know what your name was?" She sounded like she was getting defensive.

"I can remember a voice saying that a woman's voice. She sounded nurturing. Anyway, I always remembered that voice. I remember feeling a desire to find that voice again. I searched for it but I never found it. Not that I can remember anyway. I remember that my parents found me in an orphanage in London. I was a mess I had learned most of my English from the nuns there."

"I'm sorry this must be really hard for you," she sounded sympathetic. "I don't remember much from before my parents adopted me either. Though I'm pretty sure I'm not any older than I look."

I looked into Rogue's eyes and saw total compassion she had lost none of her bite but had instead transformed it into a kindred love that I doubt we will ever be able to break.

"Raven must have done something to us to keep us from remembering her." Now that the mood in the room had lightened considerably, I smiled and began to devour my ice cream. "Some mother she is huh?"

"I wonder if she even remembers that she has children. I mean after all the times I have meet her during the time I have been with Xavier you would think that she would have at least acknowledged me." Rogue had a sour look on her face that could have killed a boar.

"I'm sorry, it must be tough."

"What gets me is that she has no problem talking openly to Kurt but giving her daughter the time of day is too much to ask".

"Hold on Kurt is my bother too, how many x-men did she conceive?"

"That's it I think, but at this rate we may come across a nest of blue scaly children any day now!" at that rogue broke out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"God, when did my life become day time telly? I swear things were much less complicated before I came here."

"Come on being trained by a demon samurai who just happened to be a member of the Hand isn't complicated." Rogue rolled her eyes licked her spoon.

"How did you now that Ogun was a demon?" I was completely dumb founded I would never have guessed that a gaijin like rogue would have known Ogun's identity.

"I've heard Logan talking about him. He had a lot of respect for him."

"So did all of us he may have been crazy but he was a great samurai. I however hold no remorse over his death. My only regret is that Ogun didn't live to see the Hand and Yashida finally come together."

"What do you mean? I thought you said the Ogun was I member of the hand. Logan is always saying that the members of the Hand aren't true samurai."

"That is because the clan Yashida split from the Hand years ago. Recently the leader of Yashida named the Silver Samurai and Elektra the new master of the Hand combined their schools. This is the best thing that has happened to these two dojos for centuries, hopefully." I returned to my ice cream and had finished the bowl when I was hit by a sudden burst of enlightenment. "You said that Logan knew Master Ogun. How is that so?"

"He said that of the memories that are the most intact from the past few decades the most vibrant are the years he spent studying under Ogun."

"That's odd you would think that I would have met him their." I was becoming very confused.

"I think you did you said that there was something about Logan that reminded you of this James character right. So maybe they are the same person. I think he certainly knows you. He says the name rose often enough in his sleep."

"What?" she was in for it "no wonder you two are always flirting with each other. But isn't it a little weird dating a guy that's so much older than you?"

"Well talk about it later I think you need some sleep before your meeting with the professor tomorrow." At that, we went back to our room to catch what little shuteye was left in the day.

I could not help but think that this had been one crazy day. But then again who knows what tomorrow might bring.