Me no own, you no sue.

Chapter 4-The Belle Has a Temper

Jamila was hugging a pillow, watching the rainfall outside. It had been a week, and things hadn't even gotten better. Pietro was avoiding her like the plague, and Remy found reasons to be around her all the time. A slight growl shook her slender frame. She sighed and blew some of her hair out of her face dejectedly. What she really needed was some of the ice cream her mom kept for PMS purposes. She hopped off her window ledge and went downstairs. She located the Snickers with almonds ice cream easily, because it was covered in death threats. She grabbed a spoon and dug in, leaning on the 'island' in the middle of the kitchen.

"Bonjour petit."

Jamila choked in surprise and Remy began pounding her back. She shook off his hand irritably. "Ah'm fine, thank you very much." She put the ice cream back and stormed upstairs, brushing past St. John, who looked surprised.

"What in the hell did you do to that sheila to piss 'er off so bad?"

Remy shrugged and ran after her. He caught up with her just before she ran up the stairs and grabbed her wrist. "Still not talking to me, chérie?"

"Damn straight." Jamila shook off his grasp and continued upstairs.

"Remy jus' want a chance, belle."

"A chance to what? Get in my jeans? Well, you ain't gettin' one." Jamila quickened her steps.

Remy decided to play his last card. He ran up to her, spun her around and kissed her roughly. She responded by digging her claws into his stomach slightly. "Don't you EVER touch me again." She pulled her claws free, and continued to run. Remy pulled up his shirt to check his injuries. Lucky for him, she had grabbed mostly loose shirt, but there were four bleeding scratches running vertically down his stomach.

Jamila didn't stop running until she reached her room, where she locked the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily. A flood of tears overcame her, and she sank to the floor, crying softly. Someone knocked, and Jamila managed to choke out, "Go away!"

"We need to talk."

Jamila used the hem of her shirt to wipe her eyes and opened the door. "Pietro, don't fuck with me," She growled, preparing to swing the door shut. Pietro made it in, and lounged on Jamila's bed.

"Didn't come here to do anything but talk," He said idly, as though nothing was wrong. Jamila bristled.

"What makes you so sure Ah wanna talk?"

"I saw you with Remy today."

"And your point?"

"I saw what you did."

"Like Ah said, and your point?"

"I'm sorry," Pietro muttered in an undertone.

"What? Ah cain't hear you."

"I said I'm sorry," He repeated.

Jamila turned his face towards hers roughly. "You're damn right! Ah didn't even do anything!"

"I know, I just got jealous."

Jamila scoffed. "Obviously." She let go of his chin and leaned against the window.

"Why are you acting like that?"

"Because you pissed me off, Pietro! Where the hell do you get off getting mad at me for being honest? He does like me, and Ah won't give him the time of day! You were actin like a freakin' baby, and Ah really don't know if Ah wanna put up with it!"

Pietro's blood was roused. "You know what? Forget I even said anything!"

Jamila snorted. "Fine, now get the hell outta mah room!"

Pietro turned on his heel and stormed out. Jamila punched the window, hissing at the pain. She stalked out of the room. She had just turned a corner when she collided with something solid and warm. Shaking her head to clear it, she looked up into her father's eyes. She snarled at him and showed her fangs before shoving past him. Victor looked after her expressionlessly before continuing about his business.

Jamila stalked outside, growling softly. She walked until she came to a group of trees. She walked to the shortest tree, a weeping willow. She sat down underneath the tree, where it was dry. Reaching between two big roots, she pulled out a book and began to read. Less than five minutes passed before she slammed the book back down huffily, and began to sulk. A raindrop fell and she froze it idly. She stayed like that for a while, freezing raindrops as they plopped off the willow tree's branches. It had been her favorite pastime since her powers had first manifested themselves. Someone touched her shoulder. "This seat taken?"

"Course not, St. John, sit." St. John sat down next to Jamila. The only good thing so far about the past week was that she had become friends with St. John Allerdyce, or Pyro.

"You'll bring on the rain again with a face like that sheila," St. John said, turning Jamila's face towards him. "Remy been bothering you still?"

"Ah'd be surprised if he even looked at me again," Jamila said, laying her head on St. John's shoulder.

"Is it Pietro?"

"Yes." Jamila pouted.

"Tell ya what, sweet'eart. How's about we go get some grub, while you tell me all about it."

"Sounds like a plan. Come to mah room in thirty minutes."

St. John agreed, and being the gentleman that he was, walked her to her room. Jamila grabbed stuff for a shower and left for the bathrooms. She stood in front of her closet fifteen minutes later, slightly damp from her shower. She toweled off her arms as she searched her closet. She wanted something casual, but sexy enough to catch Pietro's eye. She chose a pair of tight bootcut black jeans and an ice blue halter-top She flipped her hair out and let the left side hang in a swoop across her forehead. She added heavy doses of black eyeliner and mascara, and a touch of light pink gloss. Grabbing her black leather jacket, Jamila swung open her door, only to be met with a fist.

"Sorry bout that. Ready to go?" St. John looked, for lack of a better term, dead sexy in his black jeans, black shirt and black leather jacket. He took Jamila's arm and led her to his black Harley with flames emblazoned on the side. Jamila swung onto the cycle and put her helmet on. St. John followed suit, and they sped off. Pietro watched from a window, face unreadable.

St. John drove Jamila to T.G.I Friday's. Jamila would have preferred Outback, but in her friend's words, "bloody Yanks couldn't cook proper Australian food if their lives depended on it." Luckily, it wasn't crowded and they were seated quickly. "Well?"

"Ah'll tell you after you buy me a chocolate milkshake."

"You drive a hard bargain, love, but a milkshake it is."

"Can I start you off with something to drink?" The waiter asked.

"A beer for me and an extra thick chocolate milkshake for the sheila," St. John said promptly. The waiter wrote it down and left.

"So, what do Ah do now?"

"Make a choice, love. Remy or Pietro?"

Jamila rested her chin on the palm of her hand. "Couldn't Ah just pick you?"

"No can do, sheila. Fire and ice don't mix" St. John chucked Jamila gently under her chin. Jamila pouted playfully.

The waiter brought their drinks. "Are you ready to order?"

"Ah'll have the Caesar salad."

"A steak, well done."

"Like Ah was sayin'..." Jamila gave her friend a run-down on the day's events. She leaned back. "That's it."

"You have every right to be angry with him, but the bloke's just that, a bloke. Everyone gets jealous sometimes."

"But he didn't have to act like that!"

"I see where you're comin' from, but you want him back. That bed of yours must be gettin' pretty lonely, ay love?"

"Yeah, but Ah don't like bein' messed with."

"Allow me to let you in on a little secret about Speedy. He may come across as an arrogant lil bastard, but he's a little wary around the sheilas. Doesn't have a bloody clue how to act round 'em." St. John thanked the waiter as he set down their meals.

"Sounds like a personal problem," Jamila said, stealing a bite of steak.

"Listen Jamila; you're more of a woman than anybody I know. If there's a female in the world who can teach the bloke how to be a man, it's you." The conversation halted for a little while as they dove into their food.

Jamila chewed pensively. "Ah guess." She wiped her mouth and sat back. "You wanna go for ice cream? Ah thought Ah saw a Baskin Robbins and a Krispy Kreme back a lil ways. Mah treat."

"If you're gonna treat, sure." St. John paid and they left. A few moments later, Jamila was contentedly eating from a box of doughnut holes, while St. John nursed a root beer float. He stole a doughnut hole and grinned.

"Thief," Jamila muttered.

"You ate some o' my steak earlier. It's payback." Jamila stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled and finished off his float. "Ready?"

Jamila tossed the last doughnut to St. John, who caught it in his mouth. "Let's go." Night was well underway by the time they arrived back at Magneto's. Jamila brushed her hair off her neck as she climbed the stairs to her room. She opened her door, and stopped in the doorway. "Pietro?"

"Jamila, I'm sorry."

Jamila regarded Pietro carefully for a moment. "Ah'm sorry too." She lowered her gaze to the ground and gave Pietro a fleeting half- smile. "Ah missed you."

Pietro cautiously wrapped his arms around Jamila, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Wanna show me how much?"

Much later, Jamila rolled over, and thought to herself, Make up sex. Nothing quite like it.

At the Institute...

Jendayi was lying on the railing of her mother's balcony. She rested her left arm on the railing, and her left leg, and let her right side dangle over the edge. The cold marble was no substitute for a tree, but it did the job of putting her into a state of relaxed consciousness.

"Yer gonna fall over the edge if ya ain't careful."

Jendayi gave a startled growl, and would have plunged over the edge, if a large arm hadn't shot out and grabbed her by her wrist. Logan pulled her back onto the balcony.

"What'd you do that for? What the fuck did Ah ever do to you?"

"Watch yer mouth. Yer mom won't stand for it."

"When did you start being all paternal and sh-," Jendayi caught Logan's look, "stuff?"

"I haven't. I just figure you deserved a warnin'."

"Yeah, whatever. What are you doin' in mah mom's room anyway?"

"I came to talk to you."

Jendayi leaned on the railing and folded her arms. "About what? What could you possibly have to say that Ah haven't heard a million times already?"

"Yer depressed. You need to see Chuck, maybe he can help you."

"Ah'm fine."

"That why you ain't had a decent night's sleep since before Jamila disappeared? Enhanced hearin, remember? I can hear you when you sneak downstairs and sit in the kitchen. You don't get any food, and you don't drink anythin'. You just sit there. I can hear you cryin' in your room every mornin' before you leave yer room. I figure you can tell yer mom, instead of me havin' ta tell her."

"Ah told you, Logan, Ah'm fine. You must be hearin' things."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Logan left, and Jendayi looked out over the institute grounds.

Jendayi left her mother's room, and walked down to the kitchen. She found some chips, and idly popped one in her mouth. One turned to two, two to six, and before she knew it, she had downed the whole bag.

"You know vat they say, you can't eat just one."

"Yeah, Ah guess you're right. I didn't mean to eat the whole bag, it just sort of happened. What up?"

"Nothing. Are you okay?"

"Ah'm fine." Kurt gave her a dubious look. "Okay, Ah'll admit it. Ah'm scared that we'll never find Jamila. Ah'm so worried about her. She's more gentle than Ah am. She gets hurt more easily than Ah do. Ah'm afraid she'll get hurt bad. She's been gone for almost a month!"

"If she's anything like you and your mother, she'll have Magneto tied up in knots." Kurt rested his palms on her waist, rubbing gently.

"Ah hope you're right Kurt, Ah really do." She said, rubbing her head against his shoulder. "Mah dad says Ah'm depressed. What do you think?"

"I don't know. I'm not around you all the time."

"That has nothin' to do with it. Ah asked you if you thought Ah seemed depressed."

"Vell...ja, you are a little depressed."

"That's all Ah wanted to know. Kurt, Ah don't know where Ah'd be without you."

"You vouldn't have fur on your clothes, that's for sure."

"Ah'm half panther. Like Ah don't shed." Jendayi rolled her eyes. She wound a lock of Kurt's hair around her finger. "You have pretty fur. Blue's mah favorite color and your hair is so nice and silky." She kneaded her fingers through Kurt's hair gently. Kurt's eyelids began to droop. That was his one weakness, people, namely girls, messing with his hair. "Oh, Ah'm puttin' you to sleep. You should be in bed already. Ah'll walk you to your room." Jendayi took her hands away from Kurt's hair. She took his hand. "Come on."

"I guess I am just a little tired. How about I valk you to your room?" Kurt gave a huge yawn. Jendayi giggled, and led him to the stairs.

"Fine, since you are such a gentleman." Jendayi giggled again. "Are you sure you can make it up the stairs?"

"Maybe not." Kurt and Jendayi disappeared in a poof of blue fog. They reappeared in front of Jendayi's room. "Guten Nacht, Jendayi."

Jendayi kissed him softly on the cheek. "Guten Nacht, Kurt." She went into her room and shut the door. Once inside, she threw herself on the bed, and buried her face into a pillow. She screamed, long and loudly, the sound muffled by the pillow. "God, Ah hate this!"

In Ororo's room, she had come back from talking to the professor, and was sitting in front of her dresser, brushing her hair. She threw the brush down and burst into tears. Outside, the previously clear night sky began to cloud up. An ominous rumble of thunder sounded, but Ororo couldn't stop. Outside, the sky opened up, and it began to pour. Logan walked into the room.

"Cripes Ro, it's pourin' outside."

"Go away Logan." Ororo murmured from where her face was buried underneath her hair.

"No." Logan walked over to where Ororo sat, and stroked her hair. "You don't need to be left alone, Ro."

Ororo stood and moved away from him. "Yes I do."

Logan hesitantly pulled the sobbing weather witch into his arms. "No you don't. You have to be strong.

"Everything's falling apart, Logan. I can't be strong."

"Ro, that's bullshit and you know it. Yer a strong woman, and if Jamila's anythin' like her mom, she'll get through this too."

"Logan, how many times have I told you not to curse?" Ororo said, wiping her eyes. She looked up at Logan and managed a shaky smile. He smiled back, and leaned down to kiss her. The door swung open, and they jumped apart.

"Jendayi's gone crazy!" Scott announced.

(Eyes of Green; Eyes of Gold)

On with the rewrite!