Woot! I am back! Sorry for all of you Spyke and Morlocks lovers, but given Shippo's life, I'd think both would get on his nerves with the 'suffering more than thou' attitudes they have. I own nothing, please enjoy.

English/Regular

Thoughts/Emphasis

Japanese

The next morning, breakfast was a very loud affair. Everyone was happy that Evan was back, since he was the youngest of the X-Men, and hung out easily with the New Mutants. Of course, Ororo was on Cloud 9, having her nephew back, and she couldn't wait to call Vivian that her son had come back to the Institute. Charles was pleased to have one of his X-Men back, and he smiled benevolently from his seat at the head of the table. Logan, despite wearing his signature scowl, was clearly (in Shippo's eyes, at least) pleased because everyone else was pleased.

It was all enough to make Shippo gag. Evan's attitude had an underlying arrogance that was really starting to piss him off. Shippo couldn't comprehend why the kid had chosen to live in the sewers with a bunch of mutants too proud and cowardly to ask for help. Shippo hadn't slept on a futon until he was 7, and that was because he had never had one to even share as a child, and he had never known when he would get food next, because while he was quite sturdy, even as a child, that did not mean he had never longed for a nice thick blanket on cold winter nights, or to have as much food as he wanted. Evan could have returned to the Mansion, to live with people who cared for him and would not judge him based on his appearance, and would support him through his changes.

Didn't the Professor offer them places to live here at the Institute? Why the Hell did they turn him down? Why would they force themselves to suffer more? Ugh, humans, mutants, either way I cannot, for the life of me, understand them. Shippo shook his head slightly. That kid better lose the attitude, or else he's gonna get some heavy-duty pranking.

"So, Bone-boy, why'd you come back?" Shippo asked, genuinely curious.

Evan scowled at him (again). "Some humans got a little too close to where some other Morlocks were scavenging. The Morlocks got jumpy and attacked them. Those humans didn't even do anything." Evan scowled some more (his face was gonna freeze that way if he kept doing that). "They were just some dumpster divers, they didn't even pay attention to the 'Locks. I had a fight with Callisto over what happened and left."

Well, that just earned the brat some brownie points in Shippo's eyes. At least he didn't hang around after those guys got too anti-human. After all, someday, those humans, their children, or their children's children, will become mutants. Evan knows that mutants are still, basically, human, so it's wrong to discriminate like that. Now, if only the rest of the world would figure that out.

"What happened to the humans?" Ororo asked, worried.

Evan shrugged somewhat. "Dunno, they ran when I got between the 'Locks and them."

Okay, the kid's decent enough, but he's still a little jerk. "Well, at least you came back before Saturday!" Shippo said with a cheery smile.

"Why, what happens Saturday?" Spyke watched the human who had recently taken up residence in the Mansion with some skepticism.

"My first lesson." Shippo smiled his patented "Sesshomaru Smile," guaranteed to scare the living hell out of all that see it. Directions: half-close your eyes, make sure your eyes show no emotion, and allow a very small, close-mouthed smile to work it's way onto your face. Voila, the "Sesshomaru Smile." And judging by the paling, shuddering, goosebumps, recoiling, and down-cast eyes, it was working. Awesome!

Later that day, when all the students were in school, save for Evan, who was in his room with his aunt and his parents, who had driven there immediately after hearing their son was back. Logan was off...doing something, Hank was organizing some lesson plans for homeschooling Evan, who refused to return to Bayville High (personally, Shippo couldn't blame him for that, apparently Evan had caught more flack from the high-school students than the rest), Souta was reading in his bedroom since he had not yet been registered to attend Bayville High, and Charles had sequestered himself inside Cerebro. Leaving Shippo to answer the phones.

At exactly 1:15, the phone rang. Shippo snatched it off the reciever, answering, "Hello, Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, this is Shippo speaking."

"Uh, my-my name is Jubilee, I used to be a student at the Institute." Came a girl's nervous voice. "I decided to come back to the Institute, and was wondering if someone could come to the bus stop to pick me up?"

Shippo blinked. Well, that's semi-random. "Sure thing, I'll be there in a bit, keep an out for a red-headed Japanese guy." Jubilee accepted that before hanging up.

Fortunately, Shippo had been given the go-ahead when he arrived to use any of the vehicles if needed, so he decided to take the X-Van. Why is everything here a play on X? I mean, seriously? X-VAN?!

As he approached, Shippo mused on the influx of students that the Institute had received over the past few days. It's probably going to get worse. Former students keep trickling back, as well as old acquaintances to the X-Men. Soon, Xavier will be needing to expand the Mansion.

As he pulled up to the sidewalk next to the bus stop, Shippo's eyes were drawn to the disheveled girl sitting on the curb. She was clearly of Chinese descent, with long black hair and tilted eyes. She wore a bright yellow jacket that almost seemed to big for her, as well as dangling earrings shaped like stars. Apart from the fact that she looked like she hadn't had a shower in a few days, or a good meal for that matter, her entire posture screamed misery. Her eyes were shadowed, and her shoulders were tense and hunched as she clung to the straps of her backpack and duffel for dear life. It was also painfully obvious what had happened: she had run away from home.

That must be Jubilee, Shippo thought sadly. He hopped out of the van and approached Jubilee, whose eyes immediately darted up to him. Fear was clear in her eyes. Oh, what happened to you, chibi?

"Hi, my name is Shippo. Are you Jubilee?" Shippo recieved a quick nod. "Well, I'm here to pick you up. Want me to get your bags?"

"Oh, um, sure." Jubilee stuttered, allowing the kitsune to grab her bags before following him to the van. The car was silent for the first few minutes into the trip back. "So, are you a new student?"

Shippo laughed. "Thanks for the compliment, but no. I'm an old friend of Logan's, and I just arrived to teach you guys some self-defense. Oh, and before you ask, no powers here, I'm not a mutant." Shippo explained with a grin.

Jubilee was surprised by that, before mentally shrugging it off. "So, how old are you?"

Shippo had to think for a moment before remembering that the human Shippo Higurashi was 31. In reality, Shippo was about 512, with his birth having taken place sometime in the spring. "31."

Jubilee gaped. That is one hot 31-year-old!

Huh, wonder what's up with her. Shippo mused before shrugging it off. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you ran away."

Jubilee jerked her eyes back to Shippo, surprised. "How'd you guess?"

"Well, for one, you're a bit of a mess, you called only when you got here, not before, and you say you're coming back to live in the Institute, but you only brought along a couple of bags with you. Those good enough reasons?" Shippo asked smiling at Jubilee. "Are you hungry? Do you want me to swing by someplace to get you a bite?"

Shippo knew he had forgotten something before going to get Jubilee. What was it? Oh, yeah, he'd forgotten to mention it to anyone else. Of course, nobody was really angry. Pleasantly surprised? Yes. Concerned for Jubilee's welfare? Yes. Somewhat amused by Shippo's flakiness? Yep. Slightly exasperated? Sure. Angry? Nah.

As Ororo was getting Firework (as Shippo had christened her), the Professor dropped a bombshell on them: he had found X-23. Shippo had heard about the girl, who was, in a way, Logan's daughter. Whenever Shippo wondered why he had become less and less fond of humans as the years passed, he'd consider what had been done to the little girl Logan had told him about, and he remembered.

Apparently the Prof had sensed her in Central Park in the middle of the Big Apple, and he wanted Logan to go and get her. Shippo, curious to see the mini-She-Wolverine, had decided to tag along. It took a few hours of searching with their eyes and noses to finally find her. And she wasn't alone.

The girl shared few physical characteristics with Logan. She looked almost Hispanic, with a deep tan, dark brown hair, and dark green eyes. Her stance and movements were another story. The way she moved to show that she was obviously ready to attack reminded Shippo of the way he'd seen many wolf demons move before. Her expression was overtly suspicious and more than a little hostile.

It was the two that flanked X-23 that really shocked Shippo. They had bright, blue-green eyes, fair skin, red-orange hair, fangs that they bared warningly, claws, fox ears atop their heads, and behind them were fox tails, which lashed dangerously behind them. With one intake of breath, Shippo's suspicions were confirmed: they were Kitsune hanyos.

Hanyos were more of a minority now than they ever had been in the past. In the past, humans had been aware of youkai and the hanyos spawned from ningen-youkai relationships. Now, though, humans were in the dark as to just how many non-humans walked the earth, therefore there were few hanyos alive under the age of 50. These kits, though, couldn't have been more than 15 years old.

The first thing that sprang to mind when seeing their appearances were Len and Rin Kagamine. One was female, obviously, from her slightly more gentle features, and less suspicion than her brother, more curiosity, and had stopped baring her teeth. The male was more suspicious, and looked like he was ready to attack at any moment. They were both clad in baggy black tee-shirts, equally baggy jeans, and high-top sneakers. Their hair reached just past their jawlines, and bangs fell into their eyes. They had been roughing it for a while now.

"What do you want?" X-23 snarled at us, the twin claws Shippo had heard of sliding out of her knuckles.

"We just want to talk." Logan said, speaking with much more kindness in his tone than Shippo was accustomed to hearing from his friend. "Mine and Chuck's offer still stands. You don't have to be living on the streets like this." Logan turned to the twins. "What are your names?"

"None of your business!" snarled the male, who Shippo had mentally dubbed 'Len'.

The female, 'Rin', sighed slightly before anwering. "He's Kazuma, and I'm Kazumi Tachibana." the now identified Kazumi explained.

"Zumi!" Kazuma whined, glowering at his sister.

They look like the Kagamine's, but they act more like the Hiitachin's, from Ouran. Shippo thought, feeling amused. She's the seemingly-submissive, more social, Kaoru, and he's the possessive and beligerent Hikaru.

"So, what's a couple of half-foxes and a mutant doing in a place like this?" Shippo asked bluntly.

The three narrowed their eyes at him. "How do you know that, Ginger?" Kazuma demanded, small blue fireballs appearing in his hands, trying-and in Shippo's opinion failing-to look intimidating.

Ginger? Seriously? That's just sad, how uncreative! Shippo took his adult demon form, the false form he used when Logan was around. The twins looked shocked, which made Shippo wonder if they had ever seen a full blooded kitsune before. "Remember, you two were born from both a human and a kitsune. So don't be so shocked to see a full blooded fox demon."

"Uh, sorry, it's just that we've never actually seen kitsune before, all we had to go on was what mom told us." Kazumi explained sheepishly before gaining a solemn expression and explaining further. "Our mother was a human. When she was a teenager, she met a fox demon named Masa, right here in New York."

Masa? No freaking way!

"When she found out she was pregnant, she told him, and he had seemed really happy about it, he'd said he was going to marry her. But when he left, he never came back." Kazuma finished, scowling. "Guess he was just looking for a good time, 'cause the minute we came into the picture, he pulled a disappearing act that would make Harry Houdini jealous."

"Mom died in a car accident a few months back, not long after the 'Great Reveal'. We weren't going to chance foster-care, so we high-tailed it."

"Not long after that, we met Laura here, when we were 'borrowing' some muggers income."

Stealing from muggers and criminals? It's enough to make me cry in joy of the morals displayed by such young kits, Shippo thought happily.

Laura?" Logan questioned, looking at the silent X-23.

"Well, she needed a name." Kazumi stated matter-of-factly.

"We just kind adopted her after that." Kazuma finished with a shrug.

"How old are you two anyways?" Shippo asked, needing to see if his suspicions were true.

"We'll be 15 in November, we were a month premie." Kazuma replied.

"Which is pretty weird, since we were a perfectly normal, albeit small, healthy size." Kazumi finished seamlessly.

Damn, but at least I know what happened now. "Well, I'm sure the Prof won't mind taking you guys in." Shippo offered. "We're about the only ones in the Institute that know about youkai, so everyone will automatically assume you brats are mutants."

Kazuma looked skeptical of this, but Kazumi looked pleased by the prospect. It was interesting to watch as the two communicated solely through expressions. Kazuma argued, Kazumi argued, Kazuma became receptive, Kazumi coaxed, Kazuma was still antsy, Kazumi held her ground, Kazuma relented, and Kazumi triumphed. All through expression. The secret languages that twins developed were fascinating, and Shippo made a mental note to watch the two, and perhaps study it more in-depth in his 'next life'.

"We'll go, but only if Laura does too." Kazuma said finally. Everyone turned to the so-far silent Laura, who had stayed quiet and vigilant the whole time.

She heaved an annoyed sigh. "Fine."

By the time the small group returned, everyone else had gone to bed, leaving the three newcomers to comandeer the showers, Logan to have some free time to drink beer, and Shippo to look for that picture...

Shippo remembered Masa quite well. Masa had met him his first time at the kitsune school, and the two had been good friends. The other two kits Masa had first been with had gone their own way, given their more 'conservative' views. Masa had been more liberal and open to mingling with humans and fiercer breeds of youkai, such as wolves, or panthers.

Shippo would be the first to tell you that he didn't like kitsunes that much. Their race were tricksters, they were meant to punish the proud and lofty, it gave them purpose. But their proficiency in magic, beyond simply using them for battle, had turned the foxes into the very types of beings they were meant to punish. Foxes had become lazy, fat, and arrogant, too sure in their own magic and cleverness, looking down their noses at humans for their weakness, at fiercer, stronger demons for their 'mindless brutality'. They disgusted Shippo and Masa, so the two had stuck together. Even after what Shippo had done...that nightmarish century...Masa had stayed by Shippo's side.

Shaking himself out of his too depressing thoughts, Shippo found the picture he'd been searching for. The two sat, in their nautral, youthful, forms, both of them at a height that was considered short, at about 5' 3" (Shippo liked shape shifting to his 'adult' height, which was about a foot taller), both deceptively thin, although quite lean underneath baggy t-shirts. They each had an arm around the other's shoulders, and in those hands were cans of beer, and both were grinning like a couple of idiot teens.

Shippo smiled faintly, remembering how they had conjured up some disturbingly realistic I.D's to get into that bar. Those had been a wild few months, spent enjoying the sights of New York, and going on a rampage of debauchery. And then Masa had met a nice girl, the daughter of Japanese immigrants. Shippo had never met the girl, but damned if Masa never shut up about her. Masa had been just as much a man-slut as Shippo, so the fact the the guy was talking about love was pretty serious. Masa never said her name, because he was well aware of what other demons would do to her, and the less known, the safer she was.

Shippo remembered when, just as their vacation was ending, Masa had shown up, looking like he was on Cloud 9. Apparently his girlfriend was now pregnant, and he was going to ask her parents to marry her, and how he wanted Shippo to be the godfather (she had only been 17, which made Shippo have to quash down how much of a pedo-bear that made Masa). They had been in a small, youkai only bar, and a few of the 'conservatives' had gotten pissed when they heard that Masa had sired hanyos. That had led to a fight with pretty much every demon in the bar versus the two of them. Someone had gotten lucky and torn Masa's heart out. The other youkai had not realized just who they had majorly pissed of. They regretted it when they realized who Shippo was. Masa's killer, some rat-demon ($#&*ing rats), had died by Shippo's hand, and the other demons had left, alive, but with considerably less flesh than they had entered with. Bastards.

Shippo had searched for, but never found Masa's lover, or their children. Shippo could vaguely remember being shot that last night in New York, and he wondered if he had been close to finding Masa's girlfriend. He doubted it though, he had been drinking his sorrows away.

Shippo waved a hand over the picture, removing his own demonic features, but leaving Masa's. He'd show the kids tomorrow. It wouldn't do to leave his friends children believing they had been sired by a deadbeat.

The next morning, the entirety of the female population of the the Xavier Institute squealed over the twins, who reveled in the attention. Laura was relieved that the attention was diverted from her. When the twins told their backstory of the deadbeat dad, he decided it was time to interrupt.

"I'm afraid you guys only got part of the story right." Shippo held up a hand before the kids could object. "I knew your dad. And he didn't walk out on you guys and your mom, he was killed." Shippo pulled the picture out and passed it to the kits. "Me and him were old buddies, we went to a certain school together. We came to New York almost 16 years ago for a vacation, he ended up meeting your mom, and you guys were born a few months later."

"How'd he die?" Kazumi asked staring intently at the the photo of the two 'young' men.

"You don't want to know." Shippo replied curtly.

"What happened to the guy who killed him?" Kazuma asked, eyes narrowed at Shippo.

Shippo allowed a dangerous, twisted grin to cross his features before answering. "Use your imagination."

His chilling tone and cryptic answer reminded everyone of Logan's warnings of just how dangerous a person Shippo was.

The rest of the week passed more or less normally, with Shippo easily gaining custody of the twins, after explaining that he had known more than enough about how their talents would work, based off of his knowledge of Masa's talents (at least, that was the official version). Meeting the lawyer getting that taken care of had been interesting, to say the least.

When a man with dark gray/black hair and a black suit entered the Institute, he was met with curious stares. He only raised his eyebrows at the kids before shippo entered the room with a warm smile.

"Ginta, how's it goin'?" Shippo asked grinning at Ginta in a way that made the incognito demon wary.

"Okay, Ship, tell me what you've gotten yourself into this time. You aren't my only client, after all."

"No, but I'm your favorite client!" Shippo replied, grinning like a cheshire cat before dragging the exasperated male into the kitchen, from which Sam and Tabitha were ejected.

When they emerged, Ginta looked pale and like he really needed a drink. "Gods, you are going to be responsible for teenagers." Ginta groaned. "This is just-just- ugh, I'm leaving."

"What's your problem?"

"It's just...I REMEMBER ALL THE KIDS YOU CAME INTO CONTACT WITH, AND I REMEMBER HOW THEY TURNED OUT."

"What are you talking about? I've been hanging around Souta for years, and he's okay, right Souta?"

Souta looked up from the manga he'd been reading with the twins over his shoulder, and stared at Shippo unblinkingly. He stared at Shippo for almost a minute before returning to the book.

Ginta stared at Shippo, his expression deadpan, before shaking his head. "I rest my case. Sayonara."

The rest of the week was normal.

And then Saturday came.

Hah! Left you with a cliffie! Sorry if this seems scattered, but I just really wanted to put this chapter up before December. I hope you enjoyed enough to review! P.S Reviews are my crack.