The Blind That See

TITLE: The Blind That See

AUTHOR: Jos Mous

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own anyone and am not owning anything.

UNIVERSE: X-Men: Evolution

RATING: R

PAIRING: Kitty/Rogue

NOTE: While this Kitty/Rogue series of mine has never been very big on plot, this little piece must the most plotless one of all. I’d almost label it PWP if it wasn’t for the lack of _graphic_ sex.

Rogue rather liked the autumn. She wasn’t fond of it for any kind of spiritual reasons, but more because, while autumn wasn’t exactly cold, people didn’t look at her strangely for wearing several layers of clothes. Another thing she liked about the autumn were the holidays. True, there weren’t a lot of them, but those that were there weren’t surrounded by any kind of commercialism or the umpteenth rerun of “It’s A Wonderful Life”.

As a few red leaves fell down around her, Rogue walked up to a perfectly ordinary house. She raised her hand to the doorbell mere moments before the door opened.

“Hello Rogue,” said Irene.

“You could’ve at least waited until I actually rang, you know,” said Rogue.

“It’s nice to see you too.”

Rogue smiled. “Yeah, good to see you.”

“Come in,” said Irene, stepping aside.

“Don’t mind if I do,” said Rogue.

Rogue put one cup of tea on the living room table and gave the other to Irene before sitting down on the nearby couch. Irene had raised some objections to Rogue making the tea, her being a guest and all, but Rogue had subtly pointed out that, while Irene was good at seeing the future, she had some very fundamental problems when it came to seeing in the present.

“So…” said Irene, sipping her tea.

“So…” said Rogue.

“Everything going well in school I trust?”

“I’m muddling through.”

“Xavier treating you right?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s good. Did he give you much trouble about coming here?”

“Why should he? You’re my mom. Or the closest thing I have anyway,” said Rogue.

“Hmm… that’s true I suppose.”

The words “Even though I’m friends with Mystique” hung unspoken in the air for several moments.

Rogue coughed. “So how are you keeping up?”

“I’m doing fine,” said Irene.

“Good for you.”

Silence filled the room for a moment. It was the kind of silence where one person was going to ask a question which the other person didn’t really feel like answering. Rogue had the feeling it wasn’t her who was going to do the asking.

“I saw you’re in a relationship now.”

“That’s right,” said Rogue, hoping that her stepmother hadn’t seen just who she was in a relationship with.

“With a… Katherine Pryde.”

Damn. “Pretty much.”

“A girl.”

“It surprised me too,” said Rogue.

“What do you mean with “too”?” Irene asked with a faint smile.

“What, you knew?”

“In a way,” said Irene. “I saw who you’re going to end up living in a single house with when you were six. It surprised me then, I’ll admit.”

“You could’ve saved me a lot of trouble if you gave me a few hints back then.”

“I don’t think you would’ve believed me if I told you you like girls.”

“Point,” said Rogue.

“So how is it working out for you?” Irene asked.

“I’m pretty sure I love her and I like being around her,” she said, then sighed. “But lately, when I’m with her, I just want to…” she trailed off.

“Kiss her?” Irene said.

“Yeah…” said Rogue, grateful for the offered PG-13 ending to her sentence.

“Still… I’m sure you’ve found some way to… mitigate the problem somewhat.”

“I can touch her hair, if that’s what you mean.” Rogue smiled briefly. “Kitty has suddenly switched over to those really expensive shampoos to make her hair real soft and shining and everything. Smells good too.”

“Bit of luck there then,” said Irene. “I know about the importance of smell and touch, believe you me. But, I have to say, there’s nothing like being blind to really appreciate the gift of sight.”

Irene calmly emptied her cup as Rogue’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mea…”

Then realisation dawned.

Rogue started blushing. And then started blushing even more out of embarrassment over being embarrassed.

“Oh,” she said.

Irene calmly placed her cup on the table. “I think it’s time for you to go unpack your things, don’t you agree?”

Rogue lay on her old bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was black. Irene apparently hadn’t felt the need to repaint it in another colour. She also hadn’t felt the need to tidy up Rogue’s old closet, so when Rogue had opened it a few minutes ago, several articles of clothing, along with a couple of magazines and two books had fallen out.

She was thinking. She used to do that a lot. She’d simply lay on her bed and stare at the ceiling without seeing it and then just sent her mind out to wander.

Things were definitely simpler back then. She never had to worry about remembering other people’s memories for one thing.

She really wanted to touch Kitty. And not just her hair. She wanted to touch her everywhere. With everything.

Rogue sighed. Most all her thoughts revolved around that recently. She felt she had a pretty good thing going and she didn’t want to ruin it because of physical frustrations.

Still…

Those lips did look very kissable, didn’t they? Very… soft, probably. They looked like they belonged to someone who would always kiss very gently and tenderly. Except, maybe, during some special circumstances, where she could no doubt be hungry and ravishing.

While Rogue’s mind wandered into directions she no longer had any control over, her hand wandered downwards and into her jeans.

After maybe fifteen minutes, Rogue groaned softly. Breathing heavily, she opened her eyes and saw the ceiling.

It couldn’t go on like this. No matter where she was, be it here or back at the mansion or even at school, if she was left alone for just a few minutes she’d start to think. About Kitty. Always about Kitty. And then she’d mentally work herself up and start masturbating. It had gotten so bad that when she touched herself a “mere” three times during a single day she felt that she had shown a lot of restraint.

No, she had to find some other release. Preferably before she gave up caring and really did kiss Kitty into a coma.

Rogue focused hard on the ceiling. It was interesting in a dull sort of way. She noticed all kinds of barely perceptible bumps and dents.

You only miss something when it’s already gone, don’t you?

Irene was blind, so she treasured the moments when she could “see” the future happening. Even when the future looked a little bleak.

Rogue, on the other hand, saw stuff all the time so she never really noticed anything.

An idea struck her. Normally, she’d never consider it, but she was aware that her mind wasn’t thinking entirely straight right now.

Maybe it was time to repay her eyes. Maybe she should start to actually see.

Maybe she could borrow her mom’s camera.

Kitty stared gloomily in the distance as she munched on her cereals. She hadn’t really enjoyed her vacation. Her parents were on some business trip to Europe, so obviously she couldn’t go and visit them, making her the only kid that had stayed in the mansion. Even Kurt had went to visit his parents in Germany. And while Storm and the Professor were pretty cool in their own way, they weren’t exactly a lot of fun to be around all the time. Still, the holiday was almost over so Rogue’d be back the day after tomorrow. And the rest of the gang too, of course.

Storm entered the dining room. She was carrying a couple of letters.

“So, you’re awake I see,” she said.

“Yep,” said Kitty. “Anything for me?”

“Yes,” said Storm, much to Kitty’s surprise. She handed the girl a large white envelope.

“Who’s it from?” Kitty asked.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t say.”

“Well… thanks anyway.”

“My pleasure.”

Storm turned around and walked away. When she reached the doorway, she hesitated.

“Kitty…”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to… go do something? Shopping, perhaps?”

“We did that yesterday.”

“Something else then.”

Kitty sighed. “Look, I appreciate the gesture, really I do. But you should really stop feeling guilty. It’s not your fault my parents had to go away.”

Storm nodded. “I shall try,” she said and then left.

Kitty put down her spoon and opened the envelope. There was a small letter inside. And another envelope, this one red and sealed with candle wax. The letter was in Rogue’s handwriting. It said “Miss you” on one side and “Promise” on the other.

Frowning, Kitty opened the second envelope. There were photographs inside. Kitty pulled one out and very quickly put it back in.

She looked around suspiciously. Then, making sure she looked very calm and composed, she stood up from the table and very slowly headed back to her room. Once she was there, she took great care in locking the door and checked several times to make sure it was really locked. She then walked over to her closet and looked inside to check on how much clean underwear she had left.

She flopped down on her bed, opened the red envelope again and took out the first picture. She looked at it for some time, holding it in only one hand the whole time. As her mind started drifting towards greener pastures, she remembered thinking that maybe going shopping wasn’t such a bad idea, provided she made very sure that Storm was not accompanying her.