Rebekah

We've been eating (read messing around) for about ten minutes when a tallish woman wearing a hood walks up the drive. Kurt gave a big grin.

"Rogue's back!"

She turns and I spot bright green eyes and a strand of white hair.

"Hello Kurt. Who are our guests?"

"This is Isaac and Rebekah. They just turned up. Out of nowhere."

"Isaac and Rebekah?"

I offer out my hand. She frowns then gives me a gloved hand.

"Rogue."

"I know."

"Have these rats been telling you stories about me?"

"Only good ones."

A slight smile flicks across her face. Then she frowns.

"Your eyes?"

I sigh. I actually looked in the mirror before I went to get Isaac. I could actually see them changing. The iris is spreading and the pupil is contracting.

"Can't help it."

She gives me a look that's a mixture between pity and comprehension. Isaac is looking worried, as if he's trying to find a way of excusing himself from touching Rogue. I would not want to see what happened if they touched.

Inspiration seems to strike.

"I can't touch. I copy people's mutations."

That's got her interested.

"Copy or steal?"

"Er…"

Kurt bamfs around us.

"Copy."

Rogue's expression is unreadable. Maybe she's jealous, maybe she's relieved there's someone like her.

"Memories?"

Isaac frowns.

"No. And not physical things."

She nods.

"You have gloves?"

"Er…no."

"You'll need some."

And suddenly they're having a talk about being a 'leech' and Isaac's asking all sorts of questions. I shrug and get up. Kitty and Kurt stand up as well.

"Let's leave your boyfriend to talk to Rogue."

Silence. Both Isaac and me are staring at Kitty. And then we explode simultaneously.

"WHAT!"

"BOYFRIEND?"

I push Kitty away from Isaac.

"Don't. Just don't."

"What? I thought you were…"

"We write. We didn't actually meet each other until whatever day it was we turned up."

"Oh."

I push her into the mansion and she glares at me.

"What is wrong with you? We could have stayed out there."

"I thought it was a conversation Isaac wouldn't appreciate us listening in on."

"Huh?"

I roll my eyes. Cultural differences.

"Just… don't go out there."

"Yes Your Highness."

"Oh shut up. Are you Sprite or Shadowcat right now?"

She blinks.

"What?"

"Sprite or… Oh what's the point?"

"I'm Shadowcat."

"Fine."

"You have a codename?"

"What? No. Why would I?"

"You're an X-Man duh."

I blink. Codename? Really? I mean, sure, everyone at one point in their life has tried to see if they have superpowers, some more disastrously than others, but a codename?

"I don't think I'll be much use out there. I talk to cats. End of story. How much use is that?"

Kitty frowns.

"I suppose."

"Look, I have a cat to feed."

She nods and wanders off. When I open the door to my room, Silver-Paw looks up from the bed.

"I brought food."

"Yum."

I pull the food and water bowls out, fill up the water bowl with water from the tap in the bathroom and bring out the food pouches.

"We have tuna, chicken, beef, lamb and salmon. What do you want?"

"Chicken."

I shrug. Cats don't do please and thank you. Silver-Paw is soon daintily eating the chicken chunks in jelly.

"Good food."

I shrug. Then I have to ask the question I've been burning to ask.

"What does it mean to be a cat?"

He swallows the last mouthful and frowns.

"It means… To be a cat is to be alone, to walk in the dark, to hear the noises of the night, to hunt, to prowl, to be stroked-"

The words wash over me and slowly lose meaning. I imagine what it is to be a cat, how it would feel to crouch when hunting, to walk alone in the dark. And my back screams. I try to cry out but nothing happens. I'm shrinking and compressing and changing. Then, as suddenly as the pain started, it stopped. Silver-Paw tilts his head.

"Why, you're no more than a kit."

I leap up onto the desk, wondering at the power my legs now have. A tortoiseshell face peers out of the mirror at me. I turn my body and frown. I'm not a fully grown cat, but I'm not a kitten either. My eyes are a brilliant emerald green. I seem to be mainly ginger and black, with bits of chocolate thrown in for good measure. Then I jump back down. Right, now to change back.

Nothing. I think of all the things that make me human. Nothing. OK. I need help. But first, I need to get out of this room. I try to jump at the handle but fall short. Then I clamber back onto the desk and jump, landing on the handle with an 'Oooph'. The door opens and I scamper out. Whoa! Four legs and a tail take a little time to get used to. I run along until I find Isaac's room. Pitifully scratching on the door, I shout his name.

"ISAAC! Little help needed here!"

Isaac sticks his head out.

"Hey puss. Who brought you here? I'll take you to see Bekah and she'll tell me what you want."

"I AM BEKAH YOU BLITHERING IDIOT!"

"Are you hurt? Is that why you're wailing?"

"NO I'M STUCK AS A CAT!"

"I'll take you to see Hank. He'll give you the once over."

He scoops me up.

"I AM BEKAH! ISAAC, I NEED HELP! ISAAC! LISTEN TO ME!"

"There there puss."

Isaac

I watched as Rebekah dragged Kitty off. Girls can be so weird sometimes. I turned back to Rogue.

'Sorry, where were we?'

'You were explaining your powers in more detail.'

'Oh yeah. I don't have to touch people to take their powers from them. I took Quicksilver's powers and Logan's without touching them but I have to be scared. Also, I don't lose the powers I copy.'

Rogue looked at me strangely. 'You keep them?'

'Yeah.'

'Wow. So who's abilities do you have?'

'Everyone's pretty much. Except Xavier's, Ororo's, Jean's and Dr. McCoy's and Rebekah's.

'Goodness. Anyway, Ah've got to go and unpack. If you come see me in about an hour Ah'll lend you a pair of my gloves.'

'Thanks. I'll see you later.'

I walked up to my room at sat down at my desk. A couple minutes later I heard a scratching on my door. I opened it. There was nobody there. I heard a pitiful meowing and I looked down. It was a cat. I bent down and picked it up. I carried the cat down to the lab where I lay it on the table. The cat tried to stand up on it's hind legs but it fell over backwards.

Hank glanced at it. 'Why's that here?'

'It was outside my room wailing like a banshee. I thought it might be hurt.'

Dr. McCoy checked it over the cat meowing the whole time.

'It's fine.'

'I'll take it to Bekah just to be sure.'

'It does seem to be trying to communicate with us doesn't it?' The cat was leaping around like a frog.

'Yeah, it does. It's very energetic.' The cat suddenly leapt of the table and bolted out the door.

'Hey! Come back here you daft animal!' I yelled chasing after it.

Rebekah would never forgive me if I let her cat escape. I slipped into slow-time and sped after it. I caught up with it easily but as I bent down to pick it up it darted off to the right. By the time I had slowed down and gone back the cat was nowhere in sight. I plodded up to Rebekah's room trying desperately to think of an excuse of how I'd managed to lose her cat. I knocked on Bekah's door. There was no answer. I pushed the door lightly and it swung open. The cat sat smugly on the chair next to Silver-paw. There was a laptop on the desk which the cat was tapping on.

'Where'd you get that?' I asked. The cat gazed back at me steadily.

'Yeah, stupid question. You can't talk.' The cat nodded. I gawped at it.

'Did you just nod?' The cat nodded again.

'So you can understand me?' Another nod.

'Wow. You must be a special mutant cat or something.' The cat yowled indignantly.

'Or not,' I added. The cat pointed its paw at the computer. I looked at the screen. It read 'im beka'.

'Did Bekah name you Beka?' The cat shook its head then pointed at the screen again.

'You're Bekah?' Bekah nodded her head furiously.

'This is bad! What should we do?' Rebekah tapped away at the computer awkwardly. 'Prof' was written on the screen.

'Go to the professor?' Rebekah nodded her head again. I turned away for a second. I didn't really want to see the professor.

I sighed. 'Okay, let's go.'