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Set after this post and this e-mail.

Shiro's been spending a lot of time the past week or two alone. Sometimes he was just playing his Playstation in his room, but he mostly spent his time either practicing his martial arts (because Harada would kill him if he fell behind) or his powers. So Monday night is no different. Around dinner time, he leaves leaves the mansion and lifts up into the air, his body surrounded by fire. He sets off in no particular direction, quickly reaching his maximum speed.

Furious, Marie sped out of the house needing to, literally, cool off. Her feet left the ground before she was three steps from the door and she soared up and toward her favourite peaceful haven, the lake. The sky was clear and the moon was up and she could see the lake sparkling and white, waiting. Spurred by anger, she swept down toward it at a dangerous speed.

Shiro soon finds himself heading towards the lake himself. He's moving so fast and tapping into such power that from a distance he looks like a gigantic fireball. He's about to just pass by the lake and go elsewhere when he notices a disturbance in the water below. Halting, he hovers in place to try and see who's there. Someone who flies, obviously, which limits it to M, Ms. Munroe, Mr. Worthington, Mr. Guthrie, or Marie. But from the height he's at, he can't make it out.

Flying low over the lake, her fingers in the water unfrozen in the center send up plumes of silver water at the speed she's going. She doesn't usually go this fast, but anger and will make for powerful fuel. Before she hits the shore, she pulls up sharply and tests her speed at gaining altitude, her mind still churning with angry thoughts.

"Dare de aru ka!" he calls out. He hesitates to approach the other flyer with his blazing aura. When he doesn't get an answer, he repeats: "Who's there?"

Another voice, up here in the sky, startled her and she lost momentum and concentration and started to fall before she caught herself. Looking around, she quickly focused on the fireball hovering some yards away. "Rogue," she said automatically. "Marie," she corrected.

"Aa, the other one who hates Marko with a burning passion, ne?" he says, a little hint of teasing in his voice. He flies towards her slowly as he wills the fire to die down to a dimmer golden glow. "Yoshida Shiro. I do not believe that I have met you yet."

"No, we haven't," she says, hovering in mid air, taking in his light with a curious expression. "It's nice to meet you, Shiro. Haven't seen you out and about before. I guess you're not a morning person."

"I am not a 'people person'," he corrects. "I spend a good deal of my time out here. In fact, if I remember correctly, weren't you and that man with strange hair throwing snowballs at each other a few days ago? I saw that during one of my flights."

Marie laughs. "Logan, and yes we were. Apparently his solution to losing an argument with me is to throw me in a snowbank. He's going to be in trouble when the thaw comes again. ...or he'll suggest we go back to Alaska. I understand about the not-a-people person thing. I like people. Logan doesn't, much, but he puts up with me fine. Is there anyone here you put up with?"

"I used to put up with my roommate. Before he disappeared." Shiro represses a sigh. He's still not heard from Alex, nor has anyone else, apparently. "And Ms. Munroe, but I haven't seen her in weeks." He scoffs and crosses his arms over his chest. "How . . . ironic is the word, I believe, that the two people who never got on my nerves have both vanished."

Marie smiles. "I miss Storm too. She's awesome. And she understands things without being all... rescuish, you know? And as for Alex, he's a big boy. When he wants to come home, he will. Sometimes I think running away is a necessary part of sorting out your head."

"It's cowardly," he spits venomously. But as soon as the words leave his mouth, he looks away, ashamed. "The reason he was here was to learn to control his powers," he says much more calmly. "What does he expect will happen if he just leaves because he slipped? What if he loses control in public next time, instead of here?"

"I understand completely," she says soothingly. "And, yeah, he could have handled it better. But I don't think he's running around being unsafe. I think he needs to come to terms with himself. He'll be back. I know how he feels, a little. I suppose, at least, I only hurt myself with the most recent set of powers. I did run away the first time, though."

"I never ran. Even when I lost control myself, I did not move." Hovering in place, arms crossed over his chest, back straight, surrounded by fire, Shiro looks every bit the part of the strong, powerful supernatural warrior. He is obviously proud of the fact that he never acted cowardly, at least according to his definition. "I do not understand those people who believe that trying to escape from their problems will lead them to a solution, however temporary." It must be an American thing.

"It works for some people," Marie says simply. "Everyone needs to find their own path and there's many types of courage. Sometimes staying is courage, other times it's paralysis. Every trial is different."

"So abandoning your friends is courageous?" he mutters. "Alex is smarter than that. I do not believe that he left just because he felt 'paralyzed' here. Something must have pushed him. Maybe Marko made some asinine comment about him," he says wryly.

"I'm not saying it's courageous to run away, necessarily, not in the classical sense," Marie demurs. "But we can't pass judgment until we see all the pieces. We're only human and assuming something about our friend like that, especially when we know he's basically a brave person, it doesn't help anything. And, yes, I think something did push him." She made a face at the mention of Marko's name. "I don't know about Alex, but that is something I worry about with that man. He's a bull in a china shop here."

"He epitomizes everything I hate about your country. Somebody should drop an atomic bomb on him."

Marie giggles and drops a foot before pulling herself back up level again, shaking her head. "Maybe when he's on vacation. I like the Mansion where it is."

"If the mansion were destroyed, his ghost would complain about desecrating an historical landmark, I assure you."

Marie laughs out loud this time, the sound echoing across the lake. "Then we'd never get rid of him. Terrible idea, Shiro."

A brief smile appears of his lips at the sound of her laughter. He makes a mental note to add Marie to the very slowly growing list of people who don't drive him mad. "I'd like to hear you come up with something better, then. Or we could just set up a poll or something on the students' board and see everyone else's ideas."

"Hmm, I think I like the democratic approach, indeed. We do have some creative colleagues," she says, eyes glittering with mischief. "I think we ought to share. It could be good for school spirit." She says the last with a roll of her eyes that speaks volumes of sarcasm.

"Nothing unites young people like rebelling against authority." His tone matches her eyes. "Although in certain cases, it certainly is justified."

"I don't want to rebel," Marie says with a shrug. "Not on principle. I want some respect for what I've achieved. And I tell you, if I want to set my ass on the roof of a house I walked bleeding and naked in the night to get back when I got taken by the army, I will set my goddamn ass on the roof so I can look at the stars, and screw Mr. Marko."

"You were kidnapped by the army?" Shiro asks, suddenly confused. "There's a new one. I don't think I've heard that from anybody yet."

"I got taken prisoner when we were on a mission to retrieve John. There was an accident and I was trapped in one of the buildings, in a fire, with one of Magneto's men. We both went down. The team couldn't retrieve me without serious risk and so I was left behind. The Army dug me out and kept me for experimentation until I got out a few days later. I got loose when I was being transferred and literally ended up walking home stark naked, with all my injuries. Fortunately for me, I was found and didn't have to walk the whole way." Her voice is light and her expression untroubled as she recounts the event, her gaze steady.

"A professional therapist could make a dozen lifetimes worth of fortunes from this school." He notices her tone, and rather than coming to the conclusion that she is one of those people who believes that forgetting their troubles makes them go away, decides Marie must be one who doesn't bother herself with angst and brooding and faces her problems. Like himself, he believes.

Marie nods at him. "I hope that's still true when I get around to getting my degree, if I ever do get to go to university. I'd like to drive a nice car... and help solve the ills of all the students here, of course," she says with a wicked grin. Her altitude wavers again, she drops several feet before stabilizing, and she makes a face. "I'm still learning all this flying stuff. Who knew staying still would be the hard part. I must be getting a little tired."

"You had best have the patience of a bodhisattva if you wish to." He grins at her when she falls, his own altitude remaining constant. "Flying is not too difficult a skill. It's a lot like walking, but requires some more concentration."

"Yes, well, I wasn't born with this. I just acquired it this last year. You should have seen me the times I did it in my sleep. It's a long way down from the ceiling at three in the morning."

"How fast can you fly?" he asks, suddenly feeling a bit competitive.

She shakes her head. "I don't know, really. As fast as I can make myself, I suppose."

"How about a race?" As he asks her, the fire intensifies, and he appears ready to run at a moment's notice. If she agrees, Shiro will not let her cheat like Ms. Munroe did.

She shrugs. "I won't be able to keep up with you, I'm sure. But if it makes you happy, I'll see how fast I can go. I've never tried to go very fast. I'm still not sure of everything that comes with these powers. They weren't mine, you see."

"If anything, you can test your limits. Which is important to understanding these new powers, ne?" He grins. "One circle around the mansion and back. Ready?"

She looks a little reluctant but nods. "I think I can do that. Very well."

"On three. One, two . . . three!" He waits a fraction of a second before flying forward, just to make sure that he and Marie start moving simultaneously. He reaches his maximum speed within a few seconds, and heads towards the mansion leaving a trail of fire behind him.

Moving fast was new, at least moving this fast, but it was surprisingly easy to make herself go this fast with Shiro setting the pace. The night wind stung her face as she chased after him. She kept pace with him, a little behind and upwind to stay clear of the flames. Racing was almost as fun as diving.

He grins back at her as he starts circling around the mansion. While normal flying doesn't give him the rush and sense of freedom that romantics make it out to be, racing and pushing his limits give him a thrill only a few things can beat. But he doesn't notice the blackness slowly creeping up the skin on his hands and arms.

Marie pushes to catch up to him, notices the slight colour change growing and, remembering Haroun's story, she worries a little. "Shiro?" she calls to him.

But he doesn't hear her, due to the howl of the wind, the crackling of his fire, and the blood pounding in his ears. He just continues forward, only a few feet ahead of Marie.

Sometimes, fear is a better spur than competition. She doesn't know Shiro and all she can think of is Haroun's damaged body. With a determined effort, she pushes forth the last few feet to get his attention. "SHIRO!"

He nearly bowls into her, and stops just an inch in front of her. Heart pounding, he looks at her like she's deranged. "What? We're not done yet."

"Your hands..." she points, her face pale and her brow gleaming with sweat in spite of the cold. "The colour, I didn't know if it would hurt you..."

He growls when he sees the color of his hands, and a stream of Japanese profanity leaves his lips.

"Are you okay?" She reaches out her own hands, gloved in green leather. "I was worried."

"It's . . . it's nothing," he says, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't concern yourself with it. It will go away soon enough. I hope."

"One of the other fliers," she says quietly. "He was hurt... badly... by his own power. I didn't know if you'd get hurt too. If you want to come by and see if anything I have will make it go away faster, God knows I have eighty different kinds of skin creams and whatnot."

"I think I've tried every remedy on this planet since it first happened. Nothing works except waiting for it to disappear. Dr. McCoy said that it is probably due to overexertion of my powers." He scoffs and looks away. "I just think it's hideous."

"Let me see?" She holds out her own hands.

He hesitates. Everyone always makes a big deal out of it, but he doesn't think it's important at all. But knowing that he'll likely be nagged if he doesn't, so holds his hands out in front of him for her to see.

She takes his hands in hers, turns them over to look at the palms. "Well," she says with some humour. "If you ever want, I know some lovely glove shops."

"Green is not my color," he says dryly. "It seems I owe Dr. McCoy another trip. He'll be thrilled, I'm sure. And I do so enjoy being poked and prodded when nothing is wrong with me."

Marie smiles. "Well, I have every colour in the rainbow personally. And, maybe Hank will have something new for you this time. Come on, let's go in for now. I'm getting tired and I don't want you to have to try and catch me or anything silly."

He nods, withdrawing his hands immediately and shoving them back in his pockets. He flies to the main entrance to the mansion, slowly so that the blackness doesn't spread. As he touches down on the main steps, he turns to Marie. "I would appreciate it if you kept this between us. Not that I am ashamed by this, I would just prefer that it does not become public knowledge."

"Absolutely." She shrugs. "I've no reason to tell anyone and I respect your desire to keep it to yourself. It was good to fly with someone," she adds, smiling. "Maybe we can do it again some time?"

"I would like that," he says with a small smile. "I am not one to pass up a good race. Maybe we can even finish it next time."

"Definitely." She gives him a charming grin. "You might even win... but don't count on it. I'm in room 219, by the way, if you ever feel like going for a fly with some company. Otherwise I'll see you around. It was good to meet you, Shiro."

"I'll make you eat those words," he mutters, grinning, as he follows her inside.