Disclaimer: I do not own X-men or any of the original characters. I do own Iris Hunter.

WARNING: This is a yuri fic. That means girl x girl, don't like don't read (as for why you would be on chapter three, that's beyond me.)

---The Mansion---

Rogue made her way down the dark hallway, pondering over the exchange that had occurred only moments before. Kitty approached from the darkness of the hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. Rogue stopped and crossed her arms. "Your girlfriend is asleep already."

"She's not my girlfriend! You're just stuck on this aren't you? And how would you know?" It was late, and most of the others had already gone to sleep. To be honest, Kitty herself would have been asleep but she couldn't manage to drift away. "Wait, you didn't-" She said, looking down to Rogue's ungloved hand. Recklessly, she grabbed it. Nothing. She tried to phase through, she could feel her power cancel out. "How did you-?"

"She held her power back, ok? She wanted me to." She slid on her glove as she spoke, pulling it away from Kitty's grasp.

"Really?" Kitty seemed to believe her and cooled down, though she still sounded like she wasn't sure. "W-well what did you see?" She asked. She had learned a lot about Iris during their lunch together, but obviously there were a lot of things she was hiding. Her curiosity got the best of her.

"I promised I wouldn't tell." Rogue said with a slightly irritated tone. "But I will tell you that you two may have something in common." She stressed the words 'you two' as if maybe trying too hard to exclude herself.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kitty asked, crossing her own arms and scowling at the other girl. Obviously, she took it offensively.

"I never said it was a bad thing, stop taking things so seriously."

Kitty was genuinely confused, had those words really just come out of Rogue's mouth. Rogue, of all people, telling Kitty to lighten up? She was speechless, she simply turned and made her way through the wall of an empty room and back up to her own space. What the hell happened in that room? Her jaw was still hanging when she reached her room, the confusion and shock still evident.

---Training---

"Professor, are you sure that I can handle this?" Iris asked, turning to the entrance where he sat. "I mean, my powers aren't exactly the most useful in a battle situation."

"You're part of this team, and you will be going on missions with the rest of them. There are times when you may be put into a battle situation, it cannot be helped. There are times when your ability will be useful in the field as well, you'll just have to discover them yourself. For now, just focus on staying alive and making sure your comrades do the same."

Iris smiled, then turned to look at her teammates, they were all preparing themselves. "Even if my powers aren't particularly useful most of the time, I'm sure that I'll be able to help in a few ways. Oh, professor, when do I get my own cool costume?"

The professor couldn't help but laugh, "Storm is working on it as we speak, I'm sure it will be done by the end of the day."

"Are you ready?" Kitty asked, smiling.

Iris turned around to face her, "I think so, as ready as I'll ever be." She looked the girl up and down, catching herself and forcing her eyes away. What good is telling someone a secret and then blowing it the next day? She thought, a light blush on her cheeks.

"Are you sure? You look pretty nervous."

"A little I guess, but I'm ready."

Professor X made his way up to the controls, Scott and Jean were waiting for him to give the go-ahead. In the training room was Kitty, Rogue, Iris, and Bobby. "Is everybody ready to begin?" X asked over the intercom, each member motioned to agree. "Good, capture the flag."

Moments later, guns were blazing. Rogue tapped Bobby, just enough to snag a bit of power. He was a little woozy for a few seconds. Kitty held onto him to phase through the gunfire. Iris hid behind one of the raised pillars to shelter herself until the team was ready to move.

The training went smoothly, the other cutting down the guns while Iris played defensively. In the tend she felt like she had done nothing. She was unable to help. "The point was to make sure that you were able to study how you team members work and how to work with them. I have a feeling that our next exercise will leave you feeling much more accomplished." The professor assured. "Scott and jean, you'll be participating as well." He added, facing up at the control room.

---Outside---

"We're going to play a similar game, but this time you won't just be up against a computer." X held his hand out, behind him stood Amara (magma), Evan (spyke), Scott (cyclops), and Jean. "You'll be facing each other this time. Be as devious and cunning as you can manage, try to work together with rest of your team to capture your opponent's flag first."

Both teams went off in opposite directions, the flags were not placed too far apart, but he exercise took place in a dense part of the forest that lined the edge of the institute. Team Rogue didn't split up at the beginning, each member traveling together and awaiting an opportunity to their plan into action. The plan was open for improvising, so it would work in most situations. Opportunity presented itself. Iris paused and placed her hand on Bobby's shoulder to stop him from moving foreword. She tilted her head in three directions, she could sense the others. All but one. It was meant to be an ambush.

From the branches of a tree, Jean flew out into the small clearing that the other team was standing in, spikes started flying from another tree. "Bobby and Rogue, go!" Iris called, "Kitty!" Kitty knew what to do. Iris herself ran into the forest, she was after the third.

Bobby took Rogue's hand and took off on a trail of ice up toward the sky. When they got too close, Jean raised an hand and stopped him in his place. He flung Rogue with all his strength toward the psychic woman. In the air, she pulled off her glove and raised up her own hand. She was coming too fast for Jean to react. When jean went out, Rogue lowered her safely to the ground.

Bobby was being bombarded with spikes, using an ice shield to protect himself. "Kitty, now!" Iris called, stepping out into the clearing with Amara as a 'hostage', her powers temporarily cancelled. Kitty phased through the trunk of a tree and took hold of spike, pulling the spikes on his back and arms into the branch and leaving them stuck there. "Bobby, take care of her." Iris said, looking to Kitty then to Rogue. "Kitty, you head for the flag, me and Rogue will handle Scott."

None of the others protested. Iris made a pretty good leader, she had come up with a plan and the team had executed it perfectly. Why hesitate now? With a nod, Kitty headed back into the forest, and with the others in sight Iris didn't have a hard time tracking down Scott. Once he was in sight it was simple. Rogue used her newfound power to launch Iris at the sprinting man, he didn't have time to react once she was on his back. All she had to do was keep her hands on him to cancel his power and have Rogue hold him in place until Kitty held the flag.

Spyke managed to unstuck his arms from the tree, but Kitty just phased through his spikes along with the trees. Victory was theirs.

"Excellent." The professor said with a clap. "Each member of the team knew exactly how to handle the situation based on a predetermined plan, of course things don't always turn out how we expect so there was plenty of open space for improvising. Very well played, team Rogue."

"Thank you professor, you were right." Iris said with a smile.

---That Night---

There was a knock at the door. Iris sat her sketchbook on the table by her bed and stood

up. "Just a sec." She called, kicking her dirty clothes into a pile before answering the door.

"Hey," Kitty said with a smile as the door creaked open. "Haven't heard from you since dinner, I just thought maybe I would come see how you were doing."

"Come on in." Iris said with a wide smile, pushing locks of her short wet hair behind her ear. "I'm doing well. I didn't realize how tiresome a day could be. School then training, dinner and homework. Is it always like this?" She led Kitty in and they both took a seat on the bed.

Kitty laughed, "Well, we only do training, like, three times a week or so. Sometimes we have to go on missions and stuff though so it can get pretty crazy. Speaking of that, your plan today was great. Usually we end up trying to follow Bobby, and he usually just expects us to be able to know what he wants us to do without giving us any sort of idea."

"That can't work out too well." Iris said with a laugh. "Thank you, Miss Pryde, it means a lot that you think so." The girl couldn't tear her eyes away, Kitty's eyes always seemed to be so full of joy. She could normally read people like an open book, but to her Kitty was a mystery. Sometimes she would be outgoing and excited, and other times she would be reclusive and seem almost shy. She could tell that she was hiding something, even though she seemed to be so open about everything.

Kitty's cheeks grew bright red, she looked away. "No problem. I think you're a great ally, I'm really glad you came to stay here." She couldn't help but look back into the other's blue eyes, though her cheeks were still warm. She couldn't explain the way she felt, at least not logically, to herself. When she had a crush on a guy at school she seemed to blabber on and on about nothing and act like a total idiot. She could tell that this was a crush, she could tell that she sounded much too happy when she spoke to Iris. What she didn't understand was why it was so different, and on top of it why she had a crush on a girl.

No, she did understand. Iris was tall and attractive, she was intelligent and artistic, and she was a very caring and gentle person. Gender just was not a sufficient reason to not be attracted. "Um," Kitty finally spoke after a long pause. She bit her bottom lip and looked up, "I was gonna stop by last night, but Rogue said you were already asleep." It's not what she was planning to say.

"Yeah, I ended up going to bed later then I expected, I'm sorry I missed you though. It would have been a welcome visit." Iris was a bit confused by the remark, it seemed to have come from nowhere. "I'm really glad that I came to stay here too, I thought it would be nice to be surrounded by others like you. At first I was really nervous, but when I got to know you I thought this place would be a great home. You've really welcomed me to Bayville, and I really appreciate it."

"R-really?" Kitty said excitedly, her blush growing darker again. "I-I mean, you're welcome."

"Are you alright?" Iris asked, Kitty's voice had gotten low. She looked into her eyes still, unable to pull herself away. A few strands of hair slid from behind Iris' ear and into her face.

Kitty reached up to push them back, hesitating a moment. She gently slid the strands back into place, her eyes still focused on the other's. "I'm just a little…" She let her finger travel down and over Iris' lips. Iris reached up and grabbed Kitty's hand, instinctively rubbing the top of it with her gloved thumb.

"Confused? Nervous?" Iris said, though she was actually talking about herself. Kitty nodded, but she didn't speak. She leaned in, hovering over the other's lips, as if waiting to see if she would pull away. Iris leaned into Kitty's lips, holding her hand a bit tighter. She pulled away a few seconds later, biting her lip.

"I-I'm sorry." Kitty said, covering her mouth. "I-I didn't mean to-" Before she could finish she phased through the floor. Iris debated whether to go after her, but both of them needed some time to figure out exactly what just happened.

Iris lie down in her bed and pulled her blankets over her. The lamp on the table next to her was turned off, but she wasn't going to sleep. She stared at the ceiling, tracing over her lips. It played over and over again in her mind. "Don't be sorry." She finally said aloud, rolling over onto her stomach and pulling the sheets up over her farther.

So that's it for chapter three. Just to be clear, this DOES NOT mean that I have chosen to go in Kitty's direction, she just got there first. I still want some input from you guys. Tell me which direction you want the story to go. In case you haven't noticed there has been a pattern with Kitty and Rogue, so the next chapter will be more about Rogue's side. After that though it will begin to meld together, so by the end of next chapter the decision will be made and the story will be written according to the votes. If you don't tell me here how you want to see this, I'll have to ask around myself and hope you guys get what you want.