Chapter 2 (Nori)

"Aiko, take a deep breath. It'll be okay, whatever it is. What's wrong?" I ask. It breaks my heart to hear my poor motherless niece crying. I'm glad I'm here, tucked between the men I love, to hear whatever it is she has to tell me. What is it? Is Ken dead? Is he hurt? Is she hurt? Is she at the hospital? Whoa, breathe, Nori, she's twelve, it's probably some kid at school being mean to her.

Finally, Aiko speaks up. "Auntie, I… I think I'm a mutant."

"Well, yeah, sweetie. Remember, Dr. Reyes tested you for the X-gene? Is that what's wrong? Did your power manifest?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well, that's great! I mean, I thought you wanted to be a mutant. Like me. Like your mom."

She's breathing more regularly and she says, "Yeah. Yeah. But it's kind of scary."

"Of course. It's a new feeling. But I promise, you'll get used to it. It'll get better. Um—so, what's your power?"

"I don't know, Auntie… but I'm just, I feel things that aren't my feelings!"

"Well." I can relate to that, for sure. "I'm sure that is scary. But, Aiko, it'll be okay. I can help you. Professor Xavier can help you, and you can learn how to control it."

Aiko sniffs. "I wanted something cool, like flying."

"I know, right? Me too. But this is good, honey." I'd been half-afraid she'd end up with something uncontrollable, like Rogue, or even with a healing factor like her mother, or like Logan. Even though Stryker was dead, it just didn't seem like a great idea to have one. "How long ago did it start?"

"Just—today."

"What happened?"

"It was—it was auditions for the spring play, and—well, I was kind of nervous, and I guess everyone was nervous, and—and—I just freaked out."

"Oh, how awful. I'm sorry, love. Was—did anything—happen?"

"I—I mean, I didn't audition. I think—everyone just thought I was scared."

"Okay. Well, don't you worry about that right now. Everything will be fine."

"If you say so."

"I do say so. Do you want to come here, to Xavier's? I'll come get you right now."

Remy squeezes my knee at that. I reach out and telepathically clue him and Logan in. It's Aiko. She thinks her power's manifesting. She's okay, though.

I'll come with you, Remy immediately thinks back.

Me too, Logan says.

I smile at them. They are so protective. I know there was a time in my life when I would have bristled at that, would have insisted that I could go by myself. But I love them for it. And truth be told, after the things that have happened to me, I don't really want to go anywhere by myself.

I kind of figured you would, I respond, smiling at them. On the phone, Aiko says, "Y-yeah, can you come?"

"Of course, sweetie. Can you put your dad on the phone for a second?"

"Uh, Auntie… I… I kind of haven't told him…" she admits.

"Oh, sweetie, you should tell him. You know he loves you. He'll love you no matter what. He loved your mom to pieces and she was a mutant."

"Will you tell him? For me?"

I admit it—I feel a tiny swell of satisfaction that she trusts me more than she trusts her father. But I bite it down and say, carefully, "Sweetie, I'd be happy to talk to your father if you're sure that's what you want. But before I do, really think about it, about what it will mean to him to hear it from me, instead of from you."

She sighs. "What if… what if you just come here, and we could tell him together? In person?"

"All right. We'll be there as soon as we can, okay? Four, maybe five hours. Okay?"

"Okay," she says in a small voice. "I love you, Auntie."

"Love you too, Aiko, love you always. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Call if you need anything else. I'll see you soon. Okay?"

"Okay. Bye." She hangs up and I stare at my phone for a moment. It sounds like it really could be worse. She's not physically hurt, and it doesn't even sound like anyone at school found out she's a mutant. But still—she's my sister's only child and she's in emotional pain, if not physical. I close my eyes and reach out for Professor Xavier. Telepathically, I tell him everything Aiko's told me.

Of course, Nori, go to your niece. I trust you'll bring Remy with you?

Yeah.

Do you want to take the jet?

That seems unnecessary. It's only a four hour drive, and it's not an emergency.

All right.

We'll probably stay the night there, I'm not sure. We'll call when we get there.

Thank you, Nori. Let me know if we can provide any assistance. And, of course, we would be happy to take Aiko as a student.

Thank you, Professor, for everything.

I open my eyes and say, "Well, let's go to Boston, I guess." I shut down my laptop and head upstairs to pack a bag. Remy and Logan follow me into our room.

"Do you want me to come, darlin'?" Logan asks. I hesitate.

"I mean, I would love for you to come, but—but it might be better if you stayed. It's already going to be kind of tense, I think—and—"

"And I ain't the best at making new friends," Logan supplies.

"Well, that, and Ken is kind of jackass. And Aiko's freaked out, and she doesn't really know you yet…"

"I get it," he says gruffly. I twist my lips sadly and hug him. Poor Logan. I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I'd rather hurt him than hurt Aiko.

"We'll be back before you know it," I say, keeping my tone bright. I pull his face down for a kiss. I smile at him and zip up my backpack. "You ready, love?" I ask Remy.

"Whenever you are, cher." Honestly, I've been living with the man for most of five years now. You'd think I'd gain some kind of immunity to that silky voice of his. But so far, nope. I'm so thankful he's decided to use his powers for good, because I'm pretty sure that if he asked me I'd be in the Thieves Guild before he could wink a single scarlet eye at me. Remy kisses Logan goodbye. We pull on our coats and Logan walks us out to the garage. I give him one last hug.

"We'll probably be back tomorrow," I say. "Love you."

He kisses my forehead and says, "Take care." I slide into the passenger seat of the car Xavier had given me and Remy as a wedding present. It has heated seats. This car is nicer than my last apartment. It makes me a little uncomfortable, honestly. But Remy loves it, and he's always the one who drives. And if my biggest problem in life is having too nice of a car, well, I can handle that. (Though, of course, it's rarely my biggest problem.)

We make it to Somerville in record time and ring the doorbell. We shiver on the doorstep for a few minutes before Aiko opens the door and throws herself at me. Unfortunately, she's five inches taller than me so I can't give her quite the hug I'd like to. It's enough, I guess. Finally she pries herself away from me and gives her Uncle Remy a hug.

"Hey, petite," he says. "Good to see you. Think you might let us inside? Kinda cold out."

"Oh! Yeah, come in," Aiko says. "And I'm not petite. I'm average height."

"Rub it in, why don't you?" I ask, gratefully stepping into the warm house.

In Japanese, Ken calls, "Aiko, who is at the door?"

"Come see," she says, and my brother-in-law, wearing sweatpants, a white Oxford shirt, and a plaid bathrobe, trundles into the living room.

"Ah. Noriko, Remy, how lovely to see you," he says in a tone that conveys the opposite. It also tells me that Aiko hasn't told him anything. I shoot her a glare and she shrugs.

"Well, we were in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by," I say.

"It's a school night, and I have to be at work early," Ken says.

"Well, you know, there's always time for family," I reply, again glancing at Aiko. She's not throwing me any ropes here. "Uh… can we talk to Aiko for a minute? Alone?"

In Japanese, Aiko says, "I need to talk to Aunt Nori about… girl stuff." Girl stuff? Dammit, Aiko, now I have to leave Remy alone with Ken. Well—thank God we didn't bring Logan, I guess.

Telepathically, I apologize to Remy. He smiles reassuringly. You are the best, I think to him.

I know, he replies. God, I love that cocky bastard.

I follow Aiko up to her room, leaving my serene husband and my supremely irritated brother-in-law in the living room.

"Aiko, what's wrong?" I ask. "You know your dad will love you no matter what. Wait, or is there actual girl stuff?"

"No, just… the mutant thing."

"Okay. Well, I don't get why you're afraid to tell him, honey. Your dad married your mom, and he knew she was a mutant. Are you scared of coming to Xavier's? Because you don't have to. You don't have to go anywhere you don't want to go."

"No! Xavier's is cool. I want to go there."

"All right, so…"

Aiko cries a little. "I don't know!"

I hug her. "Fair enough. What does it feel like? Can you feel everyone's emotions?"

She nods.

"Okay. Don't worry. You can learn how to control it, I promise. Do you want me to help you put up a shield?" Why didn't I offer sooner? I guess I'm still not thinking of her as a mutant.

"You can do that?"

"Yeah. Here. This might feel a little weird." I take her hand and cautiously enter her mind. I show her how to shield, like Xavier had once shown me. She calms down immediately.

"That was cool, Auntie. Thanks."

"You're welcome, sweetie. Now, let's go talk to your dad. I promise, I'll be with you."

"Okay, auntie. Okay. Let's go." I take her hand and we head back down to the living room. Ken and Remy are watching CNN in silence.

I clear my throat. "Aiko has something she'd like to say." I hold her hand and give her a meaningful look.

She sighs. "Ota-san… I'm a mutant."

Ken blinks. "Well, I know. Are you saying your power, ah, started?"

"Yeah. At school today."

"Are you all right? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

She shrugs and spills out her story. Ken handles it well, I think. He hugs her and tells her that he loves her. Eventually, he looks up at me and says, "Is that why you are here? To take Aiko to your school?"

I blink. "I came because Aiko asked me to come. She's welcome to attend Xavier's, of course. Of course. And I do think that she could benefit from meeting with Professor Xavier, to help her learn how to control her gift. But I certainly didn't come to take her away immediately, not if she doesn't want to, and not if you don't want her to."

Aiko switches to Japanese and says, "Please, Dad, let me go back with Aunt Nori and Uncle Remy tomorrow. I… I want to learn how to control my power."

"Tomorrow? I have to work tomorrow."

I say, "She can come back with us tomorrow, and you can come up for the weekend to visit the school and talk to Professor Xavier, figure everything out then."

"Yes! Please, Dad?"

"You have school tomorrow."

"So, I'll go to a different school. Tell the school I'm touring a private school. It'll be true."

Ken looks at me wearily. "Are you certain it will be no trouble to take Aiko to the school on such short notice?"

"No trouble at all," I assure him with a smile.

"Very well, Aiko, you may go with your aunt and uncle tomorrow. Make sure you pack appropriate clothing, and your toothbrush. Now, go be a good girl and get the guest room ready for them."

"Yes, Dad," she says, kissing his cheek and running off.

I smile at Remy. "Aiko's coming back with us tomorrow for a visit."

"That's great," he says warmly. I know he likes Aiko—she's hard not to like, in my admittedly biased opinion. We chat with Ken for a while about the school, and then we head for bed. We decide to leave first thing in the morning, before Ken leaves for work. Remy pouts a little about the early hour, but he'll be fine. I change into my flannel pajamas and snuggle tightly against Remy, fighting off the cold.

In the morning, we drag ourselves out of bed and pack up our small bags. Remy takes Aiko's suitcase out to the car and she says goodbye to Ken. We promise to call as soon as we get to Westchester. We promise to drive safely. We promise to be careful, and finally Ken leaves for work and we hit the road. I flick through the radio stations looking for a good song and I pause when I hear breaking news.

"Harvard University is being evacuated, and all local residents are being urged to steer clear of the Harvard campus. The terrorist group the Brotherhood of Mutants have made threats against Harvard University for its admissions policies, which they say are discriminatory against mutants."

Motherfucker. I look at Remy, whose mouth is tight. We should go try to stop them. But Aiko's with us! We keep listening and soon hear that a fire is starting at Memorial Church. Pyro.

"We have to go, Remy. I can stop him."

"Cher—it's dangerous. Let's let the police, the firefighters handle it." Just then his phone rings. I grab it and answer. It's Scott.

"Nori? Where are you?"

"We're in Somerville. We were just about to head back to New York but then we heard the news, about the Brotherhood…."

"Do you—can you go try to stop them? It looks like it's just Pyro."

"Yeah. We can. We—Aiko is with us, she's coming back to the school."

"Well, don't put her in danger."

"Of course not. Of course not. It should be fine. If I can just block his power, then the firefighters can put out the fire and we can be on our way."

"Can I talk to Remy?"

"Fine," I say, and hand over the phone. Them and their X-Men talk. Not that I really miss being on the team.

Remy doesn't say much to Scott, just terse agreements. He hangs up and turns the car around. When we get to the Harvard area, everything is blocked off. Remy and I confer for a moment and we decide to park the car as close as we can and then I try to focus my power on Pyro. I can sense him, but I'm really too far away to effectively block his power.

"Remy… I can't do it from here. I have to get closer." He sighs, and I say, "Maybe—I should go, and you stay here with Aiko?"

"Absolutely not," he says immediately. I shrug.

"All right, well… okay, well…. I can get the police to let us past the barriers, and I can shield all of us."

"We should just wait for the X-Men to come. Scott said they were leaving immediately in the Blackbird."

"The longer we wait, the more of this school is going to burn." I turn around and look at Aiko. She looks interested, but not terrified. "Goddammit, let's just go, Remy. I'll shield us, and the firefighters will put out the fire. It shouldn't be that hard."

"Cher, you sure about this?"

"Yeah. Let's." We both turn to look at Aiko, and I say, "Aiko… this is dangerous. You have to be careful and listen to anything we tell you, and if we tell you to run away, you run away. Okay?"

"Uh, okay."

"Good. I love you. Let's go."

We step outside and shiver. I pull my fuzzy white hat a little tighter on my head, and for the first time I really understand the black leather outfits. I felt a least a tiny bit intimidating when I wore mine. In my winter clothes, I definitely do not feel intimidating. Whatever. I pull a tight telekinetic shield over each of us and blithely convince a few policemen not to notice us. The air is smoky. I wrap my scarf around my face and tell Aiko to do the same. I don't like this at all.

I reach out with my power and walk in Pyro's direction. I shut down his power and wait. We don't have to wait long before we see him striding toward us, a furious glare on his face. I lift my chin and take a few steps forward, making sure that the shield around Aiko and Remy is tightly in place.