Nick, Leyu, and Shiro

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Leyu burns up when she formally meets Nick. Literally.


It was a disgustingly hot and muggy summer, as was all too common for southern New York. Leyu Yoshida preferred Salem Center's weather over Tokyo's, though, since the heat was more spread out and there weren't ten thousand people standing on top of you all the time. But even so, today was particularly nasty, and Leyu decided to try to cool herself down in the outside pool. The cold water didn't seem to do much good, though, and she felt like she was burning up even while just floating around.

Nicholas Gleason was finally returning from his most recent exploit into the woods. Even though they were getting more and more crowded recently, he was still happy to be out into the fresh air. But he had only taken a few steps out of the tree cover when he noticed the girl in the pool, the same girl that had actually been the first person he had seen at the mansion when he arrived months ago. He froze in his tracks for several seconds, looking back and forth from the mansion to the girl, before finally deciding that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get to know his make-shift mentor a little better. Biting his lip, he slowly meandered over to the pool, tilting his head to meet the eyes of the girl as she floated along. "Hey, you're Leyu right?"

Leyu opened her eyes to see who was talking to her. Oh, cute! She blushed at the thought, hoping Nick would just interpret that as an effect of the heat, and swam over to the side of the pool. "Yes I am! And you're Nick. I remember you from the front door."

The boy scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, that was me." A nervous smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He slowly began to remember the way he looked when Dr. Essex left him at the school, he hoped that the girl wouldn't hold it against him. "So what is it that brings you out to the pool?" He dipped his legs in the side as he fell onto his behind at the corner of the pool, his pants already ripped to shreds and at no threat to be hurt by the chlorine.

Despite being Shiro's younger sister, Leyu wouldn't know how to hold a grudge if she were given an illustrated guide. And besides, Nick was hardly the first scared and confused mutant to cross that threshold. Leyu had been there once, too, although minus the mutant part. She smiled at her fellow student and brushed her hair away out of her face. "It's too hot inside, even with the air conditioning. What happened to your pants?"

Nick looked down at the shreds that were left clinging to his legs. "Let's just say that claws on your feet don't usually mesh well with cloth." Leaning back on the heels of his palms, Nick let out a deep breath. As he took fresh air into his lungs, he noticed just how warm the air was around him. "It really is hot today isn't it?"

Yes, you are. "Yeah, it is." She could feel her face reddening deeper. Stupid weather. "And the water isn't even cold. I wish Mister Drake was still here. He could turn it all into ice cubes. That would be much better."

"I've heard that he was quite the character." As he looked up into the sky for a second, he slowly let his eyes fall down to the girl as she floated in the pool. He took a quick double take as he did so. "Are you ok?" Although he wasn't the most observant of the mansion's residents, it would be hard not to notice the face of the girl which had become flaming red.

Leyu turned away in embarrassment. What was happening to her? She never acted like this, even in front of Artie. "Yeah, I think so. I think I just need a drink." She pulled herself out of the pool and quickly padded over to where she'd left her towel and a bottle of water. She was dry by the time she reached them.

Nick quickly kicked his feet up out of the pool, crawling on all fours as he moved towards the girl before he was able to push himself up to a standing position. His look of curiosity was very rapidly becoming a look of concern as he stepped towards her. "Seriously, are you sure you're feeling alright?" He was at her side before he noticed that she was already completely dry, his confusion growing.

"Yeah, I . . ." Whatever she was going to say next was interrupted by her shriek, as her towel exploded in flames. She threw it away and it landed in the pool. The fiery mass hissed as the water extinguished it. "W-what's happening?"

Nick's eyes widened and he jumped back with shock as the towel ignited, but he quickly tried to calm himself down as soon as he could. His mind quickly went to the first time that he had suddenly transformed. The fear was absolutely the first thing that jumped into his mind. Instinctively, he held out his hand in front of him. "I... uh..." His eyes quickly began darting around, looking for an answer. But just as quickly as his search began, the answer came to him. His eyes open wide, he looked back at Leyu. "Will you be ok to stay here while I go get your brother?"

"Y-yes, p-please." Leyu jumped back into the pool since that would be the safest place to keep a girl on fire. The lukewarm water helped to clear her head. She was manifesting, that much was obvious. And about time, too. She'd known that she carried the x-gene for a while but no one knew what her mutation would be or when she'd manifest. Would have been nice to have a less embarrassing opportunity, though. The realization that this was natural did much to calm her, although the steam rising around her was worrying. Kyle was going to kill her for turning the pool into a sauna.

Nick had never run this quickly since his arrival. He quickly burst through the doors of the mansion, not bothering to close them as he quickly bound up the stairs. The boy was happy that the room he was sprinting down the hall towards was one of the few that he actually knew where it was. He overran the door, but quickly grabbed its frame to stop himself. After regaining his footing, the boy quickly began pounding on the door. "SHIRO!"

Shiro had been lying on his couch in a daze, lost in his own little world, a pastime that was becoming increasingly common. He needed a job. Or better yet, a life. The intensity of the knock shook him back to reality, and the urgency of the voice had him bounding over the coffee table for the door. "Nick. What is the matter?"

The boy quickly leaned over, letting his hands rest on his knees as his back heaved up and down as he tried to catch his breath. "Leyu... pool..." Trying to get the words out faster, he quickly began miming flames with his hands as his voice was obviously failing him. "Fire..."

The combination of the words "Leyu" and "fire" was almost enough to ignite Shiro himself. He leaped over the coffee table again to get to his room and grab one of the fireproof blankets he had recently begun to carry with him. "Outside pool or inside pool?" he demanded, dashing down the hall at breakneck speed.

"Outside." Nick panted as he tried desperately to keep up with Shiro as he too ran down the hall, although he was obviously losing ground with every step. His lungs burned, but he wasn't about to give up if there was anything he could do to help Shiro, he would be there.

Shiro jumped off the top step to launch himself into the air. Flying inside was generally forbidden as a fire hazard, but he could fly much faster than he could run and he needed to get to his sister now. He'd pay for any necessary repairs later. He opened the front door, nearly ripping it off its hinges, and flew around the mansion to the backyard pool. "Leyu-chan!" he called frantically. There was no fire. What was Nick talking about? Just the pool that looked like it was boiling in a tea kettle.

"Onii-san!" called a voice from the cloud of steam. Shiro dropped down and found his sister, her skin red and her bathing suit in shreds. He turned his head away to maintain her dignity and handed her the blanket, which she quickly wrapped around herself. Once covered, he lifted her out of the pool and onto the ground. "I don't feel so well," she said woozily, falling into her brother's arms.

Shiro held her tightly, panting from the exertion and the receding fear that something bad had happened to her. "~It's okay, sister. You will be fine. Let's go find a doctor.~" He half-led, half-carried her into the mansion. His mind was racing a mile a minute. Leyu was a mutant, apparently a pyrokinetic as well. Nothing disastrous had occurred and she'd surely be fine. She already seemed to be doing better than he did when he'd manifested. No destruction or death for her. Maybe she didn't have that fire in her. Or maybe she just had better control. Whatever her situation was, she was spared from replaying his. That much was a blessing.

He called up the elevator to take them down to the basement when he saw Nick round the corner, still huffing and puffing. "Thank you," he said, inclining his head in gratitude.

Nick nodded back as he put his hands on top of his head, trying to fill his lungs with air as quickly as possible. "Not a problem..." Still trying to catch up, he nodded his head back at Shiro. "If you ever need any other help, just let me know." He flashed one quick smile at the pair before beginning to limp back into the depths of the mansion, understanding that both of them probably needed some privacy right now.