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Miles trotted down the hallway, just slightly ahead of Alison, green stuffed critter firmly tucked under his arm, a wide smile nearly taking over his entire face. Alison chuckled as she followed him at a more sedate pace, easily keeping up with him as he looked for someone new to show off his new toy to.

Kitty was sitting in one of the parlours off the hallway, in theory studying but in reality just sort of staring at her laptop and trying _not_ to think about all the ways that meeting Jamie's parents could go bad.

The open door caught Miles attention, and he neatly veered off to the right, wondering if there was a person he knew that hadn't seen his new toy yet - his very own toy, new and clean and pretty. He paused shyly at the entrance, peeking in and being very careful about not stepping into range of whomever might be inside without warning.

"Miles?" Alison called out behind him softly as she noticed him staring inside, something or someone having clearly caught his attention.

Kitty looks up at the sound and spots the little boy in the doorway. "Hello," she says quietly, not reacting at all to his skin color. "You must be Miles. I'm Kitty."

Miles' eyes widening slightly in recognition of the name. This was one of the people he'd been told to always warn when coming near if he knew they were unawares of him, so his next question made all the sense in the world, really. "Hello Kitty," he whispered, looking up at Alison now standing behind him for an instant, before taking another step closer, still keeping her out of his range. "Can Miles come closer?"

Kitty can't help but smile, very glad that he seems to be aware of the possible complications. "Yes, of course," she said, holding out a hand.

Hugging his Tonbery to himself tightly, Miles closes the distance slowly, as though needing to make sure for himself that he won't make things uncomfortable for her somehow. Leaning in the doorway Alison smiles slightly, nodding her head in greeting at Kitty. "Hey there, kiddo. How you doing?"

"Hiya. I'm... ok." Kitty's not phased, so she doesn't even feel anything when Miles steps into range. She eyes the distance between them, and once she's quite sure he's affecting her she places her hand on the couch and tests it. Sure enough, she can feel her inability to phase, but for some reason it actually makes her smile a little bit.

That last gesture is all Miles needs as confirmation, and he closes the last few feet at a trot, holding out his new toy proudly. "Miles get new toy all for himself! Marie-Ange gave it to Miles!" He stumbles a bit over Marie-Ange's name, giving it a more English intonation than French as he's heard Alison do before.

Kitty smiles as she looks down at the toy. "Oh, he's very cute," she says. "Has he got a name yet?"

"Miles not know yet," is the cheerful reply as he set the toy in Kitty's lap and crawls up on the couch to sit next to her. "Miles need to ask Marie-Ange first."

"We're looking for her now," Alison winks, giving Miles a wink as he beams at her.

She shifts her laptop to make more room, then examines the toy in her lap quite seriously. "Well, he certainly is a fine looking little guy. Very healthy, very clever. And, I'd say, he's certainly found a good home with you." She smiles as she offers the toy back.

"Miles have good home now," is the agreeable reply, although the clear blue eyes do darken a bit. Looking down at his toy, and then back at Kitty, he smiles simply and the shadows disappear just like that. "Miles has to be especially careful with Kitty," he says matter of factly, patting his toy idly. "Kitty will let Miles know when has to phase, so Miles won't stop her?"

Kitty nodds. "Yes, I will. And thank you for being careful of me. I appreciate it."

There is a long pause at that, and Kitty can practically feel the tension from Alison as Miles looks down at his toy, swallowing heavily. "Miles can be careful now. No one forcing Miles to use powers," he whispers quietly. Silently Alison pads into the room, sitting on the couch next to Miles and slides an arm around him as he leans against her side. After a moment, he turns to give Kitty a small smiles. "Miles is glad can be careful."

Kitty smiles back, aware that she's managed to step on a touchy subject. "I'm glad to Miles," she said. She reaches out a hand slowly and rests it on his shoulder, rubbing her thumb along his collar, ready to move it if he doesn't look comfortable. "I'm very glad you're with us now."

The gesture isn't unwelcome, Miles squirming only a little as he giggles - clearly, a ticklish little boy. "Miles like it here," he declares, with a definite fervent note to his voice, looking up to grins at Alison as she tugs as his shirt teasingly.

With a smile for Kitty he scrambles off the couch, turning around to carefully tuck the toy under his arm again. "Miles go look in hallway for Marie-Ange," he says, giving Alison a stern look. "Alison stay here so Miles can find her again. Bye bye Kitty!" He waves, smiling at both of them before trotting outside, peeking out into the doorway to make sure no one is wandering by that he has to be careful for, before wandering outside.

Kitty laughs a little bit at the sudden departure, then glances at Al. "He's cute," she says. She quickly shifts and tests that she can phase again before looking back at Alison. "Hey Al, can I talk to you?"

With a nod, Alison turns on the couch, bringing her legs to curls up as she settles in comfortably. "Course you can, kiddo. Fire away."

"Well, you know Jamie's parents are coming, right?"

((And the two of them talk, and Kitty tries and fails not to worry so much.))

The quiet of the school in the evening is both good and bad, Shinobi reflects wryly, when one is out of practice at playing music. He's down in the music room, seated in front of the piano with his eyes closed, one foot slowly tapping out a beat on the floor while he plays. Or, well.. tries to. He's improving, though - he's managed to get about halfway through The Rainbow Connection, now, but as his fingers misaim, he grimaces, shaking his head and taking a deep breath before starting over again.

Kitty knows better than to phase much anymore with Miles about, but she also hates interrupting people in the music room. For one thing, they tend to stop what they're doing. Glancing down the hall she checks to make sure Al and Miles aren't anywhere around then ducks quickly through the door.

Shinobi might have noticed Kitty's arrival, too, if he wasn't so focused on his playing. Well, and mouthing the song's lyrics, which he probably *would* stop doing if he knew he was now being watched - the Muppets aren't exactly something wealthy socialites are supposed to be able to sing along to, right? Still blissfully oblivious, his fingers continue their dance across the keys, the movements finally beginning to feel comfortably familiar to him.

Kitty smiles as she watches him, slowly relaxing. The Rainbow Connection is one of her favorite songs, has been ever since she ended up dancing to it in the third grade. She's perfectly content to wait until he's done, although she settles onto a chair.

In private as he is - or, well, *thinks* he is - Shinobi allows himself a rather boyishly proud grin as he finally manages to get through the song, opening his eyes to peer down at the piano smugly. That's when it dawns on him that something is different, and blinking, he casts a look off towards the previously empty chair. "Oh," he stammers after a moment, trying not to look too embarrassed. "Hi. How long've you been here?"

Kitty grins back. "Oh, not that long," she answers. "Long enough, though. You're pretty good."

"I used to be better," Shinobi counters with a shrug, shaking off his embarrassment and grinning lopsidedly. "But thank you. Think I'm getting the hang of it again."

"Al teaches music lessons, if you want more regular practice," Kitty offers, in part to make up for apparently startling him.

Nodding, Shinobi absently folds his hands in his lap, casting a brief glance back to the piano. "I'm definitely looking into that.. if for no other reason than to learn to play something else." He chuckles. "I got piano lessons when what I'd asked for was guitar."

Kitty snorts. "Ah parents, never really going to give you what you _really_ want, are they?"

"Not mine, no," Shinobi replies with a dry grin, lifting one hand to ruffle his own hair in thought. "It kind of makes this place very.. disorienting. But in a good way. I think."

"Well that's good, I guess." Kitty's not really sure how comfortable she is actually talking about Shaw senior, but parents are much on her mind at the moment. "I'm glad we're a good sort of disorienting, at least."

Shinobi seems rather comfortable - but that may just be because he's shifted around on the bench to face Kitty, pulling his legs up to sit crosslegged. "So am I. I really wasn't expecting it. Still getting used to.. well, a lot of things."

"Yeah? Like what?" It's been so long since Kitty first came to Xavier's she's kind of forgotten what it's like to be new.

"Like seeing people my own age, for one," Shinobi grins, resting his hands on the bench in front of his crossed legs and lightly leaning against them. Music always seemed to make him go boyish, whether he realized it or not. "Being addressed by something other than 'Shaw's boy', for another, though that *has* happened once or twice.."

Kitty grinned somewhat wryly. "Well, it is one of the notable things about you, especially at first. I saw Jamie's comment, so you obviously know some of the problems we've had with your father."

"Sarah, Emma and Pete have filled me in, I think," Shinobi nods, briefly making a bit of a face before offering her an apologetic smile. "Kind of distressing, how long it took for them to bring me up to speed. I *think* I'm up to speed, anyway."

"Mmm, if you've gotten the mutant hunting robots and the attack and kidnapping you're at least as up on it as I am."

"That's about everything," Shinobi replied after a moment's consideration, nodding once. "Father's never really done things in halves, unfortunately."

"Well I guess that's one way to put it." Kitty couldn't quiet help the hint of a grin.

"I know it isn't much consolation, but we're quite furious with him," Shinobi replies with a helpless shrug, before pausing. 'We're' wasn't very helpful, was it? "Er. Emma, Sarah, myself.. bloody well near everyone, I guess, when you get right down to it, actually."

"Yeah, near as I can tell he's not getting any presents from this corner of the world for his winter holiday of choice. Except possibly exploading coal."

"Oh, that'd be brilliant," Shinobi laughs, cracking a lopsided grin. "I'd send him something, but that would have the downside of a return address. I'll think of something."

"Give it a fake return address and post it from the city so the postmark's not useful," Kitty suggests.

"There's a thought." With a grin, he eyes Kitty curiously, a downright impish gleam in his eye. "You don't happen to know where I can buy a dartboard, do you? Or which of the color printers here is nicest? I have a nice mugshot of him, and I want to stick it on a dartboard and give it to Emma for Christmas."

Kitty grins back. "There's a sporting goods store in the mall, and the best public color printer's the one in the art room. First floor, down the hallway right of the stairs, third door on the left."

"You, my dear, are a saint." Shinobi beams cheerfully. "I have no idea if darts are her game or not, but in this instance, I think it's the thought that counts."

"Indeed. As for sainthood, well, don't cannonize me yet. I've no real interest in converting."

"That's certainly fair enough. Even if 'Saint Kitty' does have something of a ring to it."

"Saint Kitty, patron of hackers and cat burglers, hmm?" She arches and eyebrow, grinning.

"Oh, are we a bit of a thief, too?" Shinobi sounds pleasantly amused by the prospect, tilting his head to the side. "That just makes your name even more appropriate, doesn't it?"

"It's the whole 'walking through walls' thing. I'm not really, not without cause," she ammends, thinking back to a certain office last May, "but between that and the ability to crack your average security system, you must admit the opportunity is there."

"Very true." Shinobi falls silent for a moment, considering something, before giving her a thoughtful look. "Hypothetically speaking, if I were to want to try and dig up some dirt on my father's fellow members of the board in order to ensure that the Sentinel Programme doesn't see the light of day any more than it already has, do you think you could help me out? Hypothetically."

"Hypothetically, I'd say it wouldn't be out of the range of possibilities. Depending on the time frame, and the effort they've put into hiding what they're up to there could be problems, but given enough time I could probably find you what you wanted. Hypothetically, of course."

"Hypothetically," Shinobi repeats, allowing himself a bit of a grin. "There's no real time limit on it or anything just yet, so if on the purely fantastic you were to decide such might be worth your time, you wouldn't need to put it before anything else. I do know that I would, however, be hypothetically eternally grateful if you could find anything out."

"Well, I would, hypothetically, need a list of names. And any of their above board info you can get me would be very useful as a starting point. Hypothetically."

With a sage nod, Shinobi made a mental note. "I should be able to get that to you tomorrow pretty easy. Hypothetically."

"Well then, hypothetically, you've got a deal." Kitty held out a hand to shake, smiling.

Leaning forward on the bench, Shinobi stretched out a hand to give Kitty's a friendly shake, with an unmistakably grateful smile. "Thank you. A lot."

"You're very welcome. And thank you."

Blinking twice, Shinobi tilts his head curiously, still smiling. "For what?"

"For distracting me," she answers. "Jamie's parents are coming into town tomorrow and I'm... a little tense."

"So I gathered," Shinobi nods, his smile going a little sheepish. "Can't say I've had the experience myself. I don't envy you the nerves, though, so.. happy to help."

"Yeah. And, I mean, I know it won't be as bad as when he met my parents, but still..." That had been a whole different level of bad, and nothing could top it, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to worry.

Shinobi grimaces in sympathy. "I take that to mean meeting your parents didn't go very well, then. Should I ask?"

"Yeah, not as such. It was... apparently my parents are having problems which they didn't feel the need to tell me about in advance. Which made the whole thing eight thousand times worse than it otherwise would have been." She manages to say it without stuttering, without pausing, but she's pretty clearly covering up that she's upset.

And if there's anyone in the mansion who can recognize severe upset being covered up, it's probably Shinobi. "Ugh," he states intelligently, frowning sympathetically. "I'm sure you'll have a better time with Jamie's parents.. and hey, look on the bright side. At least you aren't meeting *my* family. That would be fairly impossible to go well, under any circumstances."

"Oh gods yes," she says with a snicker. "I can just imagine it. 'Oh, hello Mr. Shaw. My what lovely large robots you have.' 'The better to capture you with, my dear.'"

"You need to sound a bit more stuffy and upper-crusty-English, but that's about right," Shinobi grins, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Stuffy upper crust English. I don't think I can do that one. I've got Wisdom's accent pretty well, and Jono's, but neither of them qualify as upper crust."

"If you want to learn, I could flashback to the last Club party for you, if you want," Shinobi shrugs, his grin going lopsided. "The London parties are all *about* the stuffy accents."

"Oh that would be interesting..." she says. "I'd definitely be interested."

"Even if I'd feel vaguely dirty speaking like that outside one of the functions, I think I could make an exception, just this once."

"Well, how about I take a rain check, huh? It's getting kind of late..."

Blinking, Shinobi looks down, tugging up one of his sleeves enough to let him get a look at his watch. "Aiya.. it is, isn't it? I should let you go and get some rest."

"Yeah, I should at least pretend like I'm going to sleep tonight." Kitty runs a hand through her hair, looking frazzled.

"It might help," Shinobi agrees, looking up again with an apologetic grin. "Try not to worry too much. I'm sure it'll go just fine."

She nods. "Thanks, for everything."

"Anytime," Shinobi nods, smiling slightly. "And thank *you*, too. Come track me down when you're free, and I'll get you that list."

"Excellent. Later." With a smile she stands and heads out of the room.

Grinning, he lifts a hand to wave. "Later. And good luck."