Six months, he'd been on the run now. Running, running, running. Always looking over his shoulder, trusting no one. It'd taken even his remarkable immune system three weeks to heal from all of the damage he'd sustained in those damned tunnels. An ordinary person would have died. He'd stumbled out of the tunnels, somewhere close to New York. A bit of charm, and he'd conned a woman into nursing him. He'd only stayed with her two days, while his wounds healed enough to travel.

Then it was into Canada, not a place he'd be expected to go. He'd healed there. Once healed up, he'd hopped the first flight he could find. Somewhere not his stomping grounds.. he went to Italy. He'd spen a few weeks in Italy, freshly healed and still as haunted as the day in the tunnels. He couldn't get it out of his head. It haunted him.

He stole like a madman. Heists the Thieves Guild would never have dared to make, and every one of them a stolen piece. Museums, private collections, rich or poor, it didn't matter. He stole anything ill-gotten from the hands of those who'd acquired such things. He didn't line his pockets with the money, either. He couldn't. Not much anyway. He had to survive, had to have a stash for what was after him if he needed the resources.

So he'd split his 'earnings' fifty fifty. Half went into his various accounts for rainy days, and half he gave to the down trodden. To the homeless, the poor, the sick. Some went to actual charities, but a good bit of it went directly to the people he encountered in need.

He'd been surprised during his stay in Poland, four months after he'd started his mad dash across Europe, to find that the reputation of Gambit was spreading. The criminal circuits whispered with respect and fear of a thief who must be more a ghost then a man. No one ever saw him, or even caught a whiff of his passing. He blew in like a breeze, availed of himself of whatever he set his eyes upon. That was what they feared, feared that they themselves might become a target to this Gambit, a Thief who no one but the honest were safe from.

Well, the Honest and the Guild, but they hadn't figured that out yet. He wouldn't steal from his own Guild, exiled or not. Then there was the touch of respect, that made him want to weep or laugh. This Gambit was a modern day Robin Hood, he took from the rich and gave to the poor. He sweeped in to a city, saved Damsels from distress, helped the benighted, and vanished just as he'd come.

He laughed every time he heard the whispers and the stories in the bars he'd frequent in each city. They didn't understand. They didn't understand at all. They were turning him into a folk hero, whispering of him as if he was a living legend, a Hero, when all he was was a pathetic wretch who could steal anything. A wretch that no matter how many good deeds he piled up under his belt, he'd never earn salvation. Redemption would be forever beyond his grasp, for what he'd done.

Yet with each country, each city, his fame grew. When people spoke of the best thieves in the world, the elusive Gambit was listed as the best. The greatest irony for Remy though, was the fact Remy LeBeau was rated as the third best, just behind Jean-Luc LeBeau. No one had realized that the cajun was one and the same as The Gambit.

An idea he fostered, as he slipped across the length and breadth of Europe. He changed identities every time he crossed a border. He changed accents just as often. While he thought in his native cajun tongue, he found it was time to speak like someone else. It might keep him alive. Every once in a while, he'd pop up somewhere luxurious and use his real name. A week in the Bahamas. At High Holidays in Rio. Anything he could do to sow confusion.

Anything to keep Sinister five steps behind him.

Yet as the months wore on, he began to suspect Sinister was just waiting to get him at a time of his choosing. But he had no reason to stop. No where to go. There wasn't a person in the world he could turn to. Oh, his Family would try to help, but it'd just endanger them, and he would not bring Sinister down upon them. He checked in with them every few weeks to make sure no one got attacked by Essex, but otherwise he shared nothing.

Jean-Luc was worried silly about him. Henri was frantic with fear. He'd told them he was Gambit, and to keep it close to their chests. That just made them worry even more, when they began to piece together the insane heists he'd been pulling off to him. They'd suspected, but confirmation was another matter. Jean-Luc admonished him that Tante was ready to come to Europe her own self, and track him down and drag him back by the ear, and beat some sense into her.

The image still got a smile out of him, whenever he considered it. At least someone cared for him. But he couldn't tell them the real truth. They'd disown him, and he couldn't bear that last loss. So he travelled, and stayed alone.

And that was how he came to the Land of the Rising Sun, in the sixth month of his Gambit World Tour.

The plane reverberated lightly as it touched down upon tarmac. Gambit just sighed, and stared out the window at Tokyo. A large city, one he'd stick out in as an outsider. Yet he hadn't hit Japan yet, and it was that time now. Besides, he'd always liked sake.

He smiled at the stewardesses as he disembarked from the plane, but not the seductive smile. That hadn't crossed his lips in months. No one had shared his bed, he'd known only solitude. It was a self imposed punishment. He knew how he was drawn to touch, to caress, to feel. To bask in the glow of another. He was a social creature, even with his empathy often being a hindrance as much as a boon.

He reclaimed his bags at the baggage carousel, then went out to find a cab. An hour later, he'd dropped his things into a rented apartment. The weather was chill enough to warrant his coat, and he didn't bother with sunglasses – vanity contact lenses hid his eyes from the world. They stung at his eyes, but they let him pass for normal.

And that was how he ended up in the dingy bar in Tokyo's less savory element. He didn't want to deal with business men, or anything else of the like. So he enjoyed some sake, a platter of fried vegtables and fish, and just let the current of the room sweep around him.

What he had not expected of course, was a table mate. About a half hour after he chose his seat, a dark haired native dropped into the seat across from him, smiled a devil may care smile at him, and waved at a server to bring more sake for the two of them.

"Looking good, Gaijin." Dark brown eyes slipped over him, weighting him. He felt the urge to withdraw into himself. He could feel her curiosity stirring in her. More, she was pure poison to him as he was now. She reminded him of himself, before so much had gone wrong. A free spirit, who threw their life into the wind on just a chance. Pure poison. Especially when he could already feel a rising lust in the woman.

"This is looking good? I thought I looked like a jet lagged over travelled college student too poor to drink or eat in a respectable establishment?" He felt himself answering with a touch of humor in his tone. Yup, pure poison. Her emotions were rubbing off on him, pulling at him. After what happened in the Marauders, he didn't want to use his powers the way he had. Not unless he had too. He could deflect her through just conversation, with some time.

"Gaijin, if you're jet lagged and this is what you look like as a mess, you must be pretty enough to give the so-called Prince of Thieves a run for his money on a good day." She was chortling as if she'd made the best joke in the world, and Remy felt himself staring at her confused.

"Who?"

"The Prince of Thieves. Son of the Patriarch of the Thieves Guild of New Orleans. There's a Guild branch here in Tokyo you know. Secretive lot, but outside of one or two individuals, it's where all the really skilled thieves are. No, I see you're still confused. The so called 'Prince' is supposed to be one of the hottest guys alive. That's what the girls in the Guild branch here say, anyway, when they saw him at a Guild gathering a few years back." She was grinning in a way that was unsettling him.

"So what you're saying is that I'm gorgeous and you want to sleep with me?" Might as well try being forward, right?

"Bingo, Gaijin. Hole in one, even. You're easy on the eyes, and from what I saw of when you came in, you have a pretty good body under that coat. You seem to know a little bit about the world too. You've clearly never been in Japan before, the way you dress, but you've listened in here, cased the point like someone who's done a job or two. So how about it, you share my pallet for a while, and I'll teach you how to be a real thief?"

Her smile was almost dazzling, but Remy had to fight down the indignant voices screaming in his head. Here she was mocking him, putting him down, while he was currently the most famed thief in the world. He'd even heard his name here in the bar! His poker face held though, none of the indignity showed.

"So, I sleep with you – how I know you're any good as a thief by the way – and you teach me huh?"

"Oh yeah. I think it's a totally fair deal, don't you?"

He couldn't hold back the laughter, and he set his hand on the table to grasp the sake and down some it.

So you got a name, oh glorious lady of thieves? She looked startled when he switched to her native Tongue, and then nodded. Of course he understood Japanese, if he'd been listening so intently to everything around him. He could read that thought clear on her face, and just a tint of blush at her cheeks.

I'm called Yukio. I should warn you, I am a Ronin.

That got a startled noise out of Gambit. Not because he was really surprised, but because if she thought he was a novice, he might as well play along. He'd surmised as much by the way she moved. Graceful, like a cat. She definitely knew martial arts at the very least, and likely carried as many concealed weapons on her as she did.

He wanted to slap himself, when he realized he was thinking about how fun it might be to search her to find out just where and how many of those concealed weapons she might have on her. He was punishing himself. He wasn't allowed to have a woman. Especially not a woman who was smiling with a smile that promised pleasure as good as he'd find anywhere else on God's Green Earth.

There was one problem. She'd see through a fake name in short order. He had a feeling she already suspected who he was, the way she'd kept bringing up the Guilds. So he could either be Remy LeBeau while he was in Japan, or he could be Gambit. If there was a guild Branch, and people who knew his image..

I should be afraid that you are a Ronin? The problems incurred on you are your own, unless you intend to take me on as a student? An arched eyebrow at her.

To which she laughed and grinned merrily. A man who understands. That's rare. So you have a name, pretty boy?

Remy smiled. Let's see if she sputtered. He toyed with his fork a little, drawing out as if he was debating which of a dozen aliases to tell her – any thief had at least that many ready at any given time. When she reached for her sake and began to drink, he spoke.

"Remy LeBeau at y'service."

The reaction was him getting her spit and sake in his face, and she started laughing nervously, before going a bright crimson. "Ohmy. I just.. you.. I mean.. uhm.. no insult?"

Remy just laughed, and reached a hand up, to crooke his finger in a beckoning motion to her. "No insult taken, chere. But it be interesting t'see if you can teach me anyt'ing after all. Know I'll be teaching ya a t'ing or fifty in de bedroom t'night."

She went even more crimson at that. Ah yes. He was beating her at her own game. Wait. No. He'd lost this game, because he was breaking his own punishment. Damnit! Dis femme got me all kinds of off sorts. Why she tempting me so much? Ain't like she got a body the likes I ain't seen before. It's dat damn grin of hers. It's full of life...

The rented apartment had proven unnecessary, but he kept it just in case. Five days later, he lay admist the white sheets, letting his fingers toy with Yukio's hair. She lay covered in sweat, and breathing heavily.

"Don't you ever get tired, LeBeau? I'm so sore I don't even want to think about sex again, and you're sitting there practically whistling dixie and ready to go again."

Remy just offered a grin to her, and kept playing with her dark hair. "Not really chere. Toldja I was a mutant, de eyes ya know? De more kinetic stuff going on around me, the more energy I get. An when a femme got as much energy as you, slamming ya hips like dat, I get a lotta energy indeed."

She punched him in the arm. "Bastard. You could've told me that before you challenged me to a no holds bar sex off. That is so cheating."

"Not my fault ya didn't ask earlier, an it ain't like I didn't tell ya fairly soon off dat I'm a mutant, eh?"

"It is your fault I'm sore. Ass. I'm not built like those huge Gaijin women you're used to, you big filthy foreigners have to be gentle with women like me." She was laughing harder then he was after she said that, and he just tapped her nose.

"Pft. You liked it, an don't even try ta tell me otherwise."

"Well, there is that. You cocky son of a bitch. Until I met you, every man I'd been with stammered that I'm the best they ever had. You don't even compliment me, or tell me I'm good. You're such a huge prick."

"Well yea, I do got a huge.. kinda why you complaining, chere. As for de compliments.." He shrugged, and lit a cigarette with the brush of his finger tip, and exhaled a smoke ring before continuing. ".. well. I see it like dis. Each time we have sex, I'm complimenting ya. I'm here each morning still, ain't I? Dat's a compliment in itself, Yukio. If de sex wasn't good, I wouldn't be staying around."

She snorted and poked him in the ribs. "Oh please, you're just hoping to learn what my next job is or get info from me for that Guild of yours, and I know it."

She was startled at the bitter laughter that escaped him. She'd seen him go mopey, disturbed, but never had he sounded that bitter. "Petite, I be banished from de Guild. I don' exactly go around spying on free agents for dem, when I ain't even welcome amongst 'em no more."

"Oh... but.. you're the son of the Patriarch.." She sounded so confused. At least that part of his history hadn't spread far and wide on the gossip vine. A small pleasure.

"Don't matter none. Exile be exile. Now, if ya too sore for more fun, den I win de contest, and I get to claim my prize..." He couldn't help smirking at her, as she shut her eyes and flushed in embarassment.

"You're serious? Right now?"

"Oiu. Right now."

"You just.. you're insufferable, LeBeau. I won't be able to walk at all!"

"A bet be a bet, Yukio. You gonna pony up, or I need ta find something else t'be doing for de rest of the day?"

"You could just sleep, you know. You haven't slept in over 24hrs..."

"Quit tryin to distract me."

"Fiiiiiiiiine. I hate you so much, Remy LeBeau." She was laughing when she said it, and as they both begun shifting on the bed, his hands running along her back.

"Sure ya do, chere. Ya wanna scare me, tell me ya love me. I be out of Japan before Nightfall." Chuckling, but the sound was soon replaced by very different kind of noises, from both of them.

The days passed in something approaching a bipolar holiday. There were ups, downs, arguments, spats, and an awful lot of sex. Yet Remy felt at ease with Yukio. If only because his empathy told him one thing for certain. She had nothing approaching love for him. Affection, friendliness, but none of the emotions he was so used to his lovers having towards him.

It was like a weight off his shoulders. Everyone who loved him came to ruin. If she had, he'd have been gone so fast she'd be left eating his dust. He couldn't afford to see that kind of ruin on any more innocents. At the same time, his play time with Yukio wasn't getting him any closer to atonement either.

Which lead him to an interesting discussion with Yukio, as they longued in her apartment in front of the TV, sipping rice beer. Him smoking a cigarette, and her twirling one of her slightly odd shaped shurikens between her fingers.

"Dis show such bullshit. Dat really what ya believe Yukio? Dat someone make a mistake, do something dishonorable, dat dey should just off demselves?"

She looked surprised at the question, eyed him specuatively for a few long moments, and then shrugged. "That depends, Remy. We're thieves. What we do isn't exactly honorable to begin with, and I'm a Ronin on top of that. We're not exactly regarded as having excess honor to begin with, except from other ronin. Or when it comes to a movie." Laughter then.

"Dat really ain't an answer, chere."

"It's not, but what can I tell you Remy? You won't believe the answer I would give you."

"Try me anyway."

Then she actually sighed, and gave him a look at his stubborn tone. Which he returned at her lack of answers. Maybe she was just grumpy he was pulling them into serious discussion time, instead of careless banter. She tended to not like the serious.

"Fine." A grimace crossing her lips. "Here's the deal, Remy. You're a good guy. In fact, you're an amazing guy, considering who you are. I expected a spoiled heir, an idiot, just a pretty face when you told me who you were. You're not. You're smart, you're in tune with people around you. I've seen you slipping money into peoples wallets, instead of out of them. You care. But you're one of those damned cursed people. You've had some bad things happen to you, that you thinks all your fault. I don't know what your mistakes are, and I don't care Remy. In my book? You don't need atonement. You're a good friend, a great screw, a master thief, and amazingly enough, not a bad drinking partner. See? I told you you wouldn't believe me."

His face must have shown his doubts, and he schooled it back to a light grin, before shrugging. "Dunno chere. Dere a lot you don't know."

"Maybe there is, but I'm right, LeBeau. You just won't accept that I'm right, or those words, until they come from someone you're in love with. It's written all over you, the way you move, the way you screw, you love sex, but you want love more."

Remy choked, and sputtered as he tried to clear his windpipe of having beer in it. "Uhh.. don't t'ink so."

"Rems, when we have sex you don't kiss me like a friend, and we never kiss at any other time. Even when we hang around, we both behave that way, because that's all we are. But in the bedroom, every kiss, every touch, everything about you just reverts to love. Oh, sometimes it's about the sex, but it's pretty rare. You're lucky I think you're a moron, or I'd probably have fallen for you." She was laughing at him, once again.

He sighed, and complied. "An jus' why ya t'ink I'm a moron?"

"Cuz you are. You'll see it yourself, some day. And I better get going, I have a job tonight. No sidekick action for you either, it's for someone who spies on the people he hires, and he hired me. Not me and you."

"Oh sure, I see how dis is. You mock me, den run off wit'out even giving up any of dat sweet ass before ya run?" She smirked when she stood up, turned around, and patted her rear, waggling it at him.

"Damn straight it is, Remy. See ya later!" She was still laughing when she walked out the door.

"Women..."

Good things of course, had to come to an end. It was the trademark of Remy LeBeau's life. With Yukio, it came the day she got a job to steal from the Guild branch. They'd argued for over two hours, and then had furious sex for an hour, before arguing even more.

It began their competition. Their days were spent sleeping, or together. Their nights spent stealing. Almost always competing for the same target, ever since he'd swiped the pinch she'd taken from the Guild from her while she was in the process of leaving the Guild. She'd never even noticed he took it, but he'd been cheating. Using powers and distractions were cheating. There'd been more angry sex after that, once she realized he'd thwarted her.

They settled into a pattern, he and Yukio. They never spoke to each other about stealing. It was off limits topic, now. No edge given to either, as they began to thwart each others pinches. They talked about sports, music, cars, weapons, anything and everything but the jobs. Yet every other night, sometimes every night in a week, they were in competition. He'd go for a job, and she'd try to beat him. She'd go for one, and he tried to beat her.

His time helping her prior to the competition had helped. She'd been good before he met her, now she was up there in the top five with him. If she had suspected he was 'Gambit' in the beginning, he'd have eat his own shoes. Now, he was fairly sure she suspected. At first she took the fact that he won over two thirds of the time in good humor. But when it became apparent that trend kept up, sometimes getting closer to fifty fifty, but usually hanging a good bit in his favor, she started to get a bit snappy.

But that wasn't the end of the good things. It came as they lay soaked in sweat after a particularly good bout of sex, him playing with her hair and smoking, while she traced symbols on his stomach. He stared at the ceiling, feeling fear in the pit of his stomach.

That time. That time. She'd cried his name during it all, and the emotions from her weren't just friendly affection anymore. Oh .. damnit. Figures she one of dem psycho competitive freaks. She's falling for me cuz of dis. Mebbe it because I basically won our contest, and she can only love someone better den her? Shit, I don't understand it, but dat was love dat I felt in her head. Christ, what I gonna do? I can't stay here no more.

"Yukio?" "Yeah Remy?" "Wanna go again?"

"Hmm. Give me maybe ten minutes? Still catching my breath, you filthy gaijin."

Remy just nodded. He'd get a plane ticket tomorrow, and go.. he didn't know where yet. Somewhere. Maybe Madripoor. Madripoor could work well. Lawless Madripoor, it'd fit his mood now.

While she'd slipped out to do some grocery shopping, Remy had packed his things, and headed to the airport to get out of dodge. He picked up his ticket from the reservation counter. She'd never heard him make the phone call, he knew. He'd be gone and safe from bringing ruin to yet another woman soon.

As he breathed a sigh of relief and headed for the entry into the terminal wings, he froze in step. Yukio was leaning against a pillar not twenty feet ahead of him, looking at him with wide eyes. Hurt eyes.

He wanted to turn around, avoid that hurt look. Her pain beat at him, and he sighed, walking forward to meet her. As he approached, he slipped a finger up, to press against her lips. To bid her silence for him to talk first. She bit him on the finger for it, but let him talk. All while those brown eyes stared into his soul, even with the contacts hiding his devils eyes once more.

"I'm not running from you, Yukio. I'm running for you. Ruin follows on my heels, an trouble won't leave me alone. Like a lost little puppy dog dat follows after me anywhere I go. Death an ruin are all dat ever comes to anyone dat loves me, or dat I dare t'love. I won't let dat happen to you. I can't let dat happen to you. One more innocent hurt cuz of me, and I'll break. I can't take it, Yukio. I can't."

The truth. The honest truth. He couldn't lie to her, she'd know. Hell, she suspected that much about him weeks ago he knew. Yet that was before she'd started to come to love him. How much of her would handle this logically? Illogically? Why wasn't she speaking, just staring at him with those brown eyes he could fall into.

Then she laughed, and his heart stopped feeling like it was clenched in a fist. "Remy... you think I'm innocent?"

He grinned back at her, and brushed a thumb along her cheek. "Not in de sense most use de word, but yeah chere, you are innocent. You're a free spirit, a thief, a scoundrel every bit as much as me. If we stayed t'gether, you'd lose dat. My life.. chere. De last two months here wit' you? Been amazing. You don't even know how much it means dat I was able to forget, at least partially, de shit dats lurking at my back."

"Then stay with me, and make a new life. I don't care about what's in the past, Remy. You don't care about mine. What does it matter? We can be happy."

"I can't, Yukio. Dere stuff. Bad stuff. I.." Remy sighed, and just leaned forward to kiss her. Letting his lips speak for him, and when he pulled back, they both gasped for breath. The look in her eyes as she gazed him was even more hurt now though, and her emotional pain laced through him as if someone electrocuted him.

"You love me too. Or you're starting too. Screw the past, cajun. We can have a future."

Remy hated to, he knew it'd break her heart, but he shook his head. "I can't chere. I don't got no future, not until I made some measure of atonement for what I done. Seeing dat look in ya eyes.. just makes even more dat I got to atone for." He looked down, then, he couldn't stand the sight of pain in her brown eyes that'd been so happy only last night. They'd been happy the whole time he'd known her since that first moment. Even when they fought, she'd been happy.

Well, cepting when she having dat time of de month. Den she a raging bitch, but kinda expect dat from most femmes.

"I can't believe you. Whatever you did it can't be that bad, Remy. You're such a fucker. I should stab you, but I can't even bring myself to do that. I want to hate you, but all I can do is see the pain haunting you.. Go, Remy. Go. Maybe some day I'll be able to just hate you. As much as you want to, but don't want to be loved, you draw people to you Remy... you magnificent gaijin bastard. Get out of my country."

Her slap spun him around and left his head ringing, and echoed through most of the airport entry. By the time his vision cleared, she was long gone. He knew she was, he'd felt her leaving, but still.

Ruin. He always brought ruin.

"Ciao, Yukio." He whispered to the air, blew a kiss after her, and turned to find his terminal and his flight out of Japan. It was for the best that he be gone. It was for the best.

The flight had gnawed at him. He landed in Signapore, then took a boat to Madripoor. He was a flurry of emotions inside. Guilt was the strongest. Always the guilt. And the arguments on if he'd done the right thing came constantly.

Madripoor, the island of crime, was a break from the constant war within himself. He spent three weeks there. Often slightly drunk. He brawled, he got involved in debauchery with women left and right, and he tried to submerge himself, to forget Yukio.

Three weeks, he'd lived like a low life criminal. It was in that third week the owner of the Princess Bar had ruffled his hair, as he paid out money for property damages to her, and told him to get out of the country before he made enemies he couldn't just rough up in a bar.

Standing on the same boat that'd brought him to the island as it carried him away, her words replayed in his head.

"Your a man that's running from something, Remy LeBeau. You're also hiding from fate. You need to be gone, and not come back until your head is back on your shoulders. Fate is out there waiting for you, and it sure as shit isn't on this damn island."

He doubted she'd known how accurate those words were. Atonement was what he sought, and it wasn't to be found in Madripoor. In fact, he couldn't find it in the far corners of the world. It had to come from the hearth. He'd been too long without seeing Tante, without being in America.

"It's time to go home." He was almost as startled to hear his own laughter, as the few others on the boat were as they eyed him. He just flashed them a scoundrels grin, shrugged, and took a drag off his cigarette.

Five hours later, he was at an airport, and using a phone.

"Tante? It Remy."

"Remy boy, where are you? You got everyone worried sick here boy! You ain't called in months, but tha Japanese Branch contacted Jean-Luc and said ya were there until recently, and seemed to be okay. You better be okay childe."

"I'm okay Tante. I'm okay."

"Good, then you won't be too badly hurt when I take a piece out of your hide for worrying all of us like this."

"Love ya, Tante. Can ya pick me up at de airport?"

"You coming home?"

"Yeah Tante. I'm coming home."

"We be dere den Remy. Me, Jean-Luc, and Henri. All t'ree of us be dere."

He wondered why the world looked blurry. Then he realized it was because his eyes were watering up.

"I see you soon, Tante. Love ya."

"We all love ya too, ya dirty scoundrel, Remy LeBeau. See you soon."

I'm going Home.