Shiro & Clarice, Monday afternoon

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Shiro and Clarice finally have a long overdue conversation about Japan and Mariko's wedding. It really does not go well. At least Marie-Ange and Doug came out without any property damage.


"So, which one have you been stuck with?" Shiro asked Clarice, doodling in his notebook while Clarice continued to read the seemingly never-ending pile of reading that Scott and Ororo had given to her. "Tinky-Winky seems kind of gay. Leapfrog does not seem so bad, except for the association with Toad."

"What do I have in common with frogs or leaping?" Clarice asked, closing the current mission file and opening another. She had thought all the readings about war and tactics and whatnot had been bad when she was only a potential trainee, now that she was official it was much worse. Thank goodness she did not have to do all this and go to school. She would have lost her mind. "I think the majority of votes went for Tinky-Winky," truthfully, the name didn't bother her. If only because Cyclops or Wolverine having to say it was highly entertaining.

"Leap as in teleporting. Like Quantum Leap but without the time travel." He ripped the page out of his notebook, crumpled it up and tossed it into the trash can. "And 'Rainbow Connection'? Kermit the Frog? There you go."

"Frogs are green," she pointed out. There was something about 'leapfrog' that just rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was the connection to Toad. "And Quantum Leap was a stupid show, the main guy wasn't even that cute. Maybe I could be Blueberry Pie or something. That would work. I mean, why does my name have to be all evil or whatever, Cyclops, Sunfire, Wolverine. I'm not evil."

"Wouldn't it be scarier to get beaten by Tinky-Winky? I mean, can you imagine having to tell Buckethead that you got your ass kicked by Tinky-Winky? He'd never stop laughing! It would be awesome!" she made large gestures with her hands as she got more into the idea "And besides, the X-Men are the good guys, you save people too. So you can't scare people all the time!"

Shiro snorted. "Who wants to be saved by Tinky-Winky? I would rather take my chances with the fire. And Tinky-Winky does not cut off people's hands," he said before he could catch himself. Whoops.

Oh he did Not go There. Clarice instantly stiffened, her relaxed attitude gone. "Fuck you, Shrio," she hissed, closing the current folder with a snap and stood to leave. "You don't like what I did in battle then don't fight with me."

Shiro dropped his notebook, stood up, and grabbed Clarice's arm in one swift motion. "As I recall, you did not leave me with much of a choice. And I am not saying that what you did was wrong, I just . . . Well, yes, I take it back. You really messed up."

"You're judging me? You, who nuked your own teammate, is judging me?" she asked in disbelief, shaking with rage. She would not teleport away with his hand on her arm and he knew it, "Judge not, lest ye be judged. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone," she quoted from the bible. How dare he!

"How many alternatives did you have?" he asked, still gripping her arm tightly enough so that she couldn't pull away but not enough to hurt her. "At the very least you could have 'ported him across Tokyo, not just his hand. I left that out of the mission report, you know. I did not think that it was my place to tell. Have you told anyone about it?"

"I 'ported his hand like, five feet. And let him go get it so it could be put back on. That took care of several ninjas, not just a couple," she defended herself, "And I couldn't port him! I was so exhausted I could barely 'port, remember? Or did you conveniently forget that along with the fact that I had no X-Men training! I've been a trainee for like, two weeks!" she didn't answer his second question.

Shiro let go of her arm and threw up his hands in a frustrated manner. "Exactly why you should have returned with my sister." He should have insisted it, really, but he lacked the energy at the time to do so, as his mind was on Mariko's well-being and that's it.

"And you would have lost," Clarice pointed out harshly, "Lost not only Mariko, but probably your life as well. And you wouldn't be on speaking terms with your family either. There is no honor in a pointless death that could have been stopped!"

He knew she was right about that, and that just made him all the more frustrated. "Stop talking about my family like you understand us!" he said harshly. "What do you know anyway? You hate your family just as much as I hate mine. I should not take advice from you about family dynamics."

Clarice blinked at him slowly, "But I don't hate my family. I love them," she said in a small voice as if she'd been hit. "I just hate how they can make me feel."

Shiro gulped. The worst thing to happen in an argument is to say something so vile and so misguided that it proved just what an idiot you really are. "Sorry. I . . . that was uncalled for."

Nodding, Clarice looked up at him, eyes welling with tears. She shrugged her arm away from him violently and ran out the door. She was not going to let him see her cry right now. He'd lost that privilege.

"Clarice!" And he was not going to just let her run away from him. Grabbing his notebook, he practically flew after her. She could obviously get far far away from him if she wanted, but he hoped that she was just being melodramatic and wouldn't pull that trick.

Hearing her name made Clarice run down the hall towards the girls’ dorm even faster. She did not want to continue this discussion right now. It would only get worse and it may not get better. Ever. And that was just not something she wanted to think about. "Go away!" she yelled back, her voice breaking.

Ignoring everyone's curious looks as they ran down the hallway and conveniently "forgetting" the rule about powers in the mansion, Shiro took off (absently making a note to help Cain replace the scorched rug later) and literally flew in pursuit. She careened straight into him as he landed, taking them both down. "Can we be adults about this, please? And talk?" he asked.

Clarice landed with an 'oomph' on the floor getting rug burns on her knees from the impact, "Fine. Talk." she muttered sullenly, sitting up and checking her knees. They'd heal.

"Somewhere less in the public eye?" he requested, looking around at all the kids staring at them. He really didn't want to be Doug and Marie-Ange part deux. Getting back to his feet, he led Clarice to a nearby empty classroom, and shut the door behind them. "So." What to even talk about? "Have you told anyone?"

"Yes," she replied, sullenly. And it wasn't a total lie. She hadn't told Scott or any of the X-Men, but she had told Dr. Samson. She wasn't seeing him regularly any more, but she had made an appointment immediately after getting back to the school. "Happy?"

"Not really, no. Did you tell Storm or Cyclops or Xavier?" Because they were the people who mattered, the people who could actually talk about such actions.

"That is none of your business," she hissed, glaring at him, "I said I told someone. If they feel the need to include you in discussions about what happened, then that is their choice. I do not. Got it?"

Shiro forced himself to keep calm and not disintegrate the blackboard. "Actually, it is my business. I brought you into that situation even if it was you who demanded to stay there."

"For the love of -! Shiro!" he was completely exasperating sometimes, "You are not my brother, my team leader or my father. You are my boyfriend. I am not your 'responsibility.' And if you think I am, then we shouldn't be having this conversation," she hadn't wanted to have it anyways and the more they 'discussed' things the more certain she was that this was a bad idea.

"I and an X-Man, and you are a trainee," he reminded her, his tone depreciatory. "In a combat situation, that gives me responsibility over you."

"Now, yes. Not then," she retorted. The little voice in the back of her head had said that being a trainee with Shiro as an X-Man was not going to be pleasant and it was already boding true. Sometimes she wished she could shut that voice up. Damn guilty consciences.

"So now I am telling you that your well-being is not only my concern because you are my girlfriend" - amazing how he could sound so possessive when he said that - "but my responsibility because I am your superior."

"Fuck off, Sunfire," she retorted immediately, opening a portal behind her and taking a half step backwards, disappeared.

Stalking out of the room, Shiro made another mental note to reimburse the school for a new blackboard, too.