Kitku skated down the banister and popped her skateboard at the last possible second avoiding the ball at the end of the railing. She landed smoothly on the floor and sent herself towards the kitchen for breakfast. She banged the tip of her skateboard against the door to open it and sailed over to her chair. As she sat down, she caught the raised eyebrow and disapproving look from Professor Xavier.

"Sorry, Sir," she mumbled her head down.

"In the future, we do not skateboard into breakfast, lunch or dinner," Professor informed her in a firm manner.

"However, snack time is another thing," Warren added in a jovial manner as he took his seat across from her.

"At anytime, Warren," Professor corrected him in the same tone he had used with Kitku.

"Sorry," Warren responded his head slightly down but gave Kitku a crooked smile.

Kitku smiled back and did not feel so bad that she had upset the Professor. She spared a glance toward the Professor and caught a small smile creeping across his lips before he turned his attention to the morning paper.

"We used to get the same lectures and warnings," Warren whispered across the table to her. "Put on a shirt, shave your face, don't fly in the house, pick up your feathers, don't brush your fur at the table – that was for Beast -- and of the such."

"Really?"

"Yeah, now, I guess it's just sort of a game."

"Except for skateboarding into the dining area and on the banisters," interjected Professor, not looking up from his paper, as he was about to take a sip of coffee.

"Gotcha, Sir, dining area and banisters," Kitku acknowledged with a thumb up. "Not a problem, Sir. Walls and ceilings are okay, though, right?"

Professor sighed.

The door swung open, before he could answer and Wolverine came in, ruffled Kitku's hair and sat down beside her. Scott came in from the kitchen with a plate filled with pancakes and held them out to her. She took two and Scott handed the plate to Wolverine, who opted to pass them on without taking any.

Kitku scrutinized him from under her bangs and raised an eyebrow like she had seen the Professor do when he was silently questioning someone's actions.

Logan looked at her from over the rim of his coffee cup. "What?"

"You're not eating?"

"Ate earlier."

"Uh, huh." She turned her attention to her breakfast without further comment.

Warren grinned at the exchange but one look from Logan and his eyes were immediately on his own plate. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Logan snorted and stole a piece of bacon from Kitku's plate.

"Hey!"

Another hand reached from the other side and took the other piece of bacon. Kitku turned, fork in hand and ready to pounce. Jasmine laughed as she shoved the bacon into her mouth. She ruffled Kitku's hair before slumped down next to her. "Morning, Kit."

"Morning," she mumbled as she pulled her plate closer under her guard before attacking her breakfast. She wolfed it down before anyone else could take something from her plate.

Scott and Jean watched from the other side of the table. "Do you think she's even chewing?"

"Hmmm, not sure," Jean replied. "Perhaps. Reminds you of someone?"

"No, not really." He felt a flush coming to his cheeks and moved his left arm from its protective position around his plate. At the orphanage, the faster you ate, the better chance for seconds. It was a long formed habit that had been slow to break. He knew, better than anyone here did, what it was like to have to fend for yourself. Granted, he had been older before he ended up on the streets, after he had runaway from the orphanage and found himself involved with a bad influence.

He looked at her and marveled how the little girl had kept such a purity of heart, something he had been unable to do. It was hard for him to trust, hard for him to open up and share even a bit of himself with another person, except Jean. Even now, however, after all these years, there were times when he still had a difficult time sharing with her.

"I guess so," he finally admitted.

Jean smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

Jasmine nodded coolly to Logan from around Kitku's head and he returned the gesture. She was still mad at him for not admitting that he was what was best for Kitku and she knew he was still mad at her for meddling in his business. She abruptly averted her attention to getting coffee and a bagel.

Wolverine shook his head and went back to his coffee. They were both stubborn and would keep to themselves until their anger blew over or until one of them broke the silence. Usually, if he remembered correctly, they ended up in the kitchen cooking together or outside working in the garden. After a few minutes, the conversation would start and they would work whatever the problem was out. But this time, he doubted they would end up resolving this.

Jean raised an eyebrow to Jasmine but said nothing. However, the exchange did not escape Kitku who was too young to not say anything. "What's with you two?"

Wolverine shrugged and Jasmine forced a smile. "Nothing, why?"

"Don't know. Just seemed you were…" Kitku caught Professor's warning glance to cease her questions. "Nothing. Must just be me."

Wolverine grunted and finished his coffee as he got to his feet. "I gotta go to town. Be back later."

Jasmine shook her head but said nothing when she saw the pained expression on Kitku's face as he left the room. On the inside she was seething, he had not even paused to ask the girl if she wanted to go with him. Immediately, she sprung into action. "Hey, Kit, would you like to keep me company? I have to go to the mall, if someone would be so kind as to loan me a car?"

Jean nudged Scott, who handed her keys to his convertible. "Here."

"Thanks. What about it, Kit?"

"I guess," she replied quietly, her head down.

"Cool," Jasmine grinned. She knew she was not Wolverine but maybe Kitku would at least have some fun.

Controller stared at the backs of the two men as they left his office. He sighed and wondered what had possessed his employer to send those two after that poor woman.

"Ours is not to question why…" he muttered as he checked his computer to make sure that the funds had indeed been transferred to the bogus account. He watched the screen as Liberty moved the money into another account and then another, until finally it rested in the correct register. He smiled at her efficiency; there would be no way to trace the money back to them or its final destination.

He turned his attention to another laptop that presented him with a picture of a man. He studied the male's picture and sighed. His name was simply Logan; a Canadian involved with special government and military work from several years back. They assumed he was involved in special operations, recon, terminations, etc. But there was more to him than just some military background. More, much more but until their computer expert could break into the necessary files, he was an enigma.

He pressed a key and a picture of the woman.

Jasmine Daniels, renowned artist -- in certain circles – not intensely popular but obviously underrated. After her Mother died from bone cancer, she struck out on her own to make it as an artist leaving behind her Father whose whereabouts are presently unknown. She also had an older brother, Jackson. They knew his current whereabouts but not to his little sister. He wondered how much she really knew about her brother Jack. Controller doubted she knew very much at all about him.

He grinned openly at the name Jackson Daniels. Jack Daniels. He shook his head. At least his parents had a sense of humor, although he knew Jack did not care too terribly much for his name.

He eyed the screen carefully, as if trying to read the picture's mind. She had the most incredible eyes and her face was so aristocratic. He continued to study the picture for several long minutes before coming to a decision.

He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and made mental contact with his employer. "Perhaps, we should just capture her."

"Why? " came the harsh response at his intrusion.

"Because, I don't trust Viper or his whelp, Kim. I just can not get past this whole excuse that these people kidnapped that girl," Controller insisted. "The profile does not fit. Especially not hers."

"It doesn't sit well with me, either," his employer agreed. "Viper's strong enough in many ways, financially, connections, and physically. He's a mutant, there's no reason he shouldn't have been able to take down two civilians. "

"Understood, sir."

Kitku walked along with Jasmine at the mall, they had stopped at a couple of antique and thrift stores that Jasmine had spotted along the way. Kitku had fun dressing up in the old style clothes and hats and goofing around with Jasmine who dressed up with her. Jasmine purchased them a few outfits for, as she put it, "When we're feeling a little absurd and the whole world is too inflexible."

They window shopped for most of the afternoon but Jasmine did purchase several articles of clothing for Kitku. "Can't have you running around in the same jeans day after day."

Kitku shrugged her response, but never the less agreed to the need for more clothing. She was practical in what she picked out but through prodding by Jasmine, did indulge in a few unnecessary articles. She was particularly taken by the variety of bubble bath products and purchased several varieties.

"Hey, you never know when you're going to have to smell good," she informed Jasmine.

"True, very true."

They finally took a break at the food court and ordered plenty of junk food to satisfy any mall shopper and then some. They chitchatted about films and music, men and boys, and of course, baseball. Kitku discovered that Jasmine was somewhat of a closeted sports freak and Kitku revealed that she was very interested in art, even if she did not understand half of what it was supposed to mean.

A man walked by Jasmine's chair, he bumped her and his hand grazed her shoulder. The touch sent a shiver down her spine. She turned her head everso slightly to get a good look at him. He was medium height, stocky, with short brown hair covered by a ball cap, and his eyes were concealed behind mirrored sunglasses. He wore a military jacket, jeans and combat boots. Jasmine wasn't sure what it was about him but he made her wary. He gave a small glance back at her as if in apology for bumping her chair, Jasmine forced a smile to the unspoken apology.

She watched him saunter away as he moved easily in and out of the crowd. It struck her just then, that no one came even close to touching him. He moved with such grace and easy, that he avoided any contact with people, yet he bumped into her chair.

"What?" Kitku asked in question to the puzzled look on Jasmine's face.

"Oh, nothing," she smiled easily. "Just my artist's imagination running wild."

Jasmine may have assured Kitku but not herself. She waited a few more minutes before gathering up their trash and leading Kitku off to the arcade so the kid could blow off some of her pent up energy.

Wolverine stepped out of the barbershop and smiled to himself as he slid the papers he had obtained into his breast pocket. Even though he now owed Nick Fury a favor, he still could not help but think he got the better end of the deal. He went to his jeep and pulled out into evening traffic.

The custom built black sports car pulled out behind him and hung back two car lengths.

She watched as Kitku flitted from game to game and even tried her hand at one or two. But still she could not shake the feeling that the man had left with her. She watched every face that entered the room or came near her until they blurred together. Jasmine felt a tug on her shirtsleeve and looked down into Kitku's face.

"Ready?" Jasmine asked as she looked at her watch, it was after six.

"Yep."

Jasmine picked up their packages, handing some to Kitku and headed out to the car. They piled their treasures into the trunk and started to get in the car when Jasmine felt something bite into her neck. Her hand touched the burning sensation on her neck and her body immediately began to fever. Her eyes found Kitku who was currently struggling with a rather large Indian male. She raised her hand and fluxed her power but the world swirled into blackness as she fell solidly onto the ground.

Wolverine decided to stop off and pick up Jasmine's favorite wine as a peace offering. All last night and today, he had thought about what she had said. He had to admit that what she had said made sense. He was afraid. He was scared to death to loose that little girl.

Granted, what she had said was harsh and to the point but that was Jasmine. Most would have taken what she said as severe, bordering on cruel, and extremely thoughtless. If Jasmine was one thing, it wasn't thoughtless. She did not mince words nor did she pretend to be something she was not.

That's why he loved her. He stopped at the door of the liquor store and blinked. He shook his head, guess he did still love her, even after all these years, but that would have to wait until he got things straight with Kitku.

He purchased the wine and Kitku's favorite soda and headed back to his jeep.

His hackles stood on end as soon as he reached his jeep. Slowly, he set the items in the car and deliberately took his time, waiting for whatever it was to show its self. He saw a flash of black to his right and turned quickly but nothing was there. He sniffed the air and caught a scent. He tilted his head trying to identify the scent, it was familiar but at the same time it was not.

Wolverine felt rather than saw the attack come from behind, he dodged to the right and faked back but the attacker moved so swiftly, he was only able to catch him with one slash of his claws before his foe retaliated. He was struck twice quickly and efficiently and harder that Colossus or Rouge could have mustered. In that moment, Logan looked into the face of death. He dropped like a limp rag doll.