Devourer of Sins

DEVOURER OF SINS CHAPTER FOURTEEN (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, Joaquin and Billy apologize for convincing your brood it'd be funny to wrap Ted in tape. They'll be punished accordingly...hee hee hee... InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink are spectacular and wonderful for archiving. :) Readers/Reviewers: It's happened! I'm turning into a wereduck! Where are the Killer Kitties (tm) when you need them?



"Just clear your mind, Kitty," the Professor said soothingly. "Let me in..."
"I'm just a little freaked out, you know...it's like there's someone else in my head..." she laughed nervously. "It wasn't my voice..."
"Well, I'll see what I can find...just relax." He smiled kindly at her and felt her tension slowly melt, the mental image he got from her something he hoped never to see in person. _Everyone has their mental "happy place." Hers just happens to involve Kurt and nudity...Okay, Charles...move on. _ He probed deeper, peeling away layers of recent memory, things from that day that were first and foremost in her mind-putting the pudding back in the fridge and belatedly realizing she did not seal it completely, tripping over Bobby's roller blades in the front hall, Beast checking her stitches-before he touched in Mexico. The images assailed him rapid-fire, Kitty's fear nearly tangible. He saw the dead child, cut open and exposed to the jungle, the glowing flowers, Kurt's face above as Kitty was in the pit she had first fallen into..._ *Why don't you see the face of those who captured you? * _
There was a lengthy pause as Kitty formulated her response, rifling through her memories to confirm what she was about to tell him. _*I don't really remember them. I know voices and I can tell you what they even smell like, but their faces...not so much. Jean says she saw them for who they were. I'll be willing to bet she could identify them... * _
_*There may come a time for that, * _ the Professor thought, _* but for now, I'm more concerned with why you think someone is in your head.* _ She sighed inwardly at his comment, but Kitty turned her thoughts back over to his searching. She frowned as she felt the psychic pull of the Professolvinlving deeper into her mind, seeking things she was not sure she wanted to remember. The Professor frowned deeply as he skimmed scenes of verbal abuse by her parents, Lance's foray into insanity at the end of their relationship, her inner fears and self-doubts. He could feel her tense mentally as he prodded at some of these memories, so he pulled back and once morered red into her memories of Mexico. Finally, he sighed and broke contact. "Thank you, Kitty. I know how...violating...this can feel."
"No, I trust you. And you _did _ ask first, and I, like, said it was okay..." she sighed. "Well, anything?"
"Kitty, your memories are, as you know, a little fuzzy about Mexico, but I can't see where you have any sort of..." he searched for the words.
"I'm not nuts?" she said, with faint hope.
"Not as such," he smiled. "I did not 'see' anything that would indicate a split personality or a dissociative state, but that's not to say you're not having some sort of problem. Would you like to talk about it, Kitty?"
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and stared at her toes. "Um, no offense, Professor, but I'd feel kind of weird talking about this sort of thing with a guy..."
"What sort of thing?" he asked with hidden interest.
Kitty bit her lip, thinking about her sudden turn for the aggressive earlier with Kurt. She had a vague recollection of Lance, looking shocked, but she honestlyld nld not remember just what had happened. "It's just...some of this has to do with...you know, girly stuff."
"Pardon?"
"Well, not girly per se, but...Professor, I can't talk to you about sex!" Kitty finally cried.
It was his turn to shift uncomfortably. Carefully straightening his shirtsleeves, he said, "Ah. I see. Well, maybe Storm then....or even Jean..."
"Yeah...one of them!" she sighed with relief, glad he was not going to push her for information.
"There is one question, though," he said as she rose stiffly. "Why the new look?"
"I....I don't know...I just lik like doing something different this morning. I guess I'll go back to normal since everyone is looking at me like I grew another head!" she said with false brightness. She honestly did not know why she deviated so far from her normal appearance that morning, only that it felt _right _ . Amara had looked with suspicion when she asked to borrow the Nova Roman's lipstick, but Kitty wrote it off. Now, she wondered just how people usually saw her.
The Professor frowned slightly. "Don't be upset, Kitty. I was just wondering. It's not a bad thing to change on any level..."
_That's what you think. _ "Sure, Professor." She smiled without the expression reaching her eyes. "I'm gonna go see if Storm needs help baking the cookies for tomorrow."
"I'm sure she'll appreciate the help," he said dubiously. "Maybe you can help her measure the ingredients."
"Maybe she'll even let me bake a batch!" she said, bouncing from the room.
"Or not..." he sighed.

"A little to the left...the left! The LEFT!!!!"
Jean scowled. "You mean your left, Scott?"
"Er...yeah. ...The other left." Scott flushed slightly as Jean moved the tree, both hovering several feet above the ground, finally coming to rest neatly centered in the foyer.
Jean drifted over to him, not having touched the ground when the tree did. "Fearless Leader doesn't know directions," she teased, letting Scott pull her down by her hips until her feet touched the marble floor.
"Fearless Leader missed his girlfriend," he said, nuzzling her neck. "A lot."
"So I gather..." Jean blushed as she felt Scott's arousal, both mentally and physically. "We still need to decorate the tree..."
"It can wait." He nibbled her earlobe and she bit her lower lip to keep from making a noise of pleasure.
"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve..." she said, pulling away slightly. "And don't you have to work at the pantry tomorrow?"
"Yeah, for a few hours...damn it." Scott disentangled himself from Jean and ran his hands through his hair. "I'd better go get the ornaments," he sighed.
Jean felt a little disappointed with herself. _Always having to be logical...I'm a teenager, damn it. I'm supposed to give into my urges every once in a while... _ "Scott," she called, padding after him on sock-clad feet.
He turned at the foot of the stairs and raised his eyebrow at her slightly flushed face. "Yeah?" Her only response was to press a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth, making him start in mild surprise before he returned the gesture, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her head to deepen the embrace. Jean stretched on her toes to press herself fully against him, arching towards his comforting warmth,etineting thoughts of Mexico and her fragile memories subsumed beneath one single, burning desire-_How can we get up to one of our rooms without breaking the kiss? _ Scott solved the problem by pulling away and looking past her. "What is it, Jamie?"
"How'd you know I was here?" he said, sounding mildly amused but mostly embarrassed. He stood in the doorway to the rec room, red as a beet and staring at a spot on the floor somewhere between himself and the recently-kissing couple.
"You snuffled," Scott sighed, moving entirely away from Jean and pretending to examine a branch on the massive fir tree now gracing the hall.
"Oh...sorry. I was just, uh, looking for Lance. We were gonna go shopping for some gifts..." Jamie shrugged. "Never mind..."
Jean spoke up. "You? And Lance?" She shook her head and grinned, "What do you have on him that he agreed to drive you around?"
Jamie looked up finally, an offended statement on his face. "He's the one who asked if I wanted to go, for your information. Is it so hard to believe that maybe he likes my company?" Jamie huffed.
Jean sighed. "That's not what I mean, Jamie. It's just that Lance usually doesn't seek out anyone's company aside from Amara or Kitty. Kurt by proxy since he and Kitty seem to be joined at the hip..." Jamie still looked mutinous and Scott was still focused on a random branch, fighting back a grin. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you."
Jamie frowned slightly and finally shrugged again. " 'Sokay...I'm just touchy today." Rahne had scrapped the plans they had to go to a movie in town after her duties at the food pantry were over and she had not told him why. It irritated him more than he would have liked to admit, but he did not mention it aloud for fear of sounding possessive.
Jean raised one auburn brow. "Want to talk?"
"Nope," the younger mutant said quickly. "I'll just go look for Lance myself. If you see him, tell him I'm looking for him, okay?"
Jean nodded ascent and watched the slight youth head back ugh ugh the rec room. "Thanks for the help, Superchicken."1
"Anyone ever tell you that you're cute when you're annoyed?" he grinned, abandoning the tree to take her in his arms again. She scowled up at him and he sighed. "I'm kidding, Jean. You're really hideously ugly when you're annoyed. Better?"
"Much. Just see if that's gonna get you laid, though..." She smacked him lightly on the arm and wriggled free. "Sorry, babe. Mood's ruined. Catch me later, right?" She kissed him once more, darting her tongue out to sample his lower lip, before turning and heading up the stairs. _Follow me, damn it... _
Scott banged his head gently against the newel post at the foot of the stairs and growled low in his throat. _ Follow her, damn it... _ "Jean!" he called, taking the stairs two at a time and narrowly missing a descending Kurt and Kitty.
"God speed, John Glenn2!" Kurt called after Scott, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Kitty giggled. She had cleaned her face of the makeup, not bothering to put her usual, more demure style on and going barefaced instead. Her hair was again in her usual ponytail, but she was still wearing all black and her nails were an impossibly deep shade of crimson. "They're cute. He's always falling all over himself for her."
"You think that's cute?" Kurt asked, mock-horrified. "Does chivalry count for nothing?"
"You'll always be first in my books, babe," Kitty snickered, poking Kurt in the side. "Unless Joaquin Phoenix shows up in the next ten minutes and professes his undying love for me, that is."
"I can wait," Kurt grinneeanieaning against the banister to whistle expectantly, checking his watch and then looking at the front door. "A whole ten minutes, huh?"
"Dork," Kitty said, kissing his chin and trotting the rest of the way down the stairs. "Storm won't let me bake so I'm bored...what do you want to do?"
"Eat!" he said, catching up to her in the kitchen. Silently thankful that Storm had put the kibosh on the baking, Kurt rummaged through the cabinets to find a box of granola bars he knew was hidden somewhere on the top shelf.
"I swear, if I ate like you, I'd be like those people you see on the talk shows where they have to be cut out of their own hous Kit Kitty made a face as Kurt emerged from his search, mouth full of chewy goodness and the rest of the box tucked under one arm. He smiled broadly at her, careful not to spray her with masticated snack bits, and proceeded to the fridge, seeking the left over pizza from the previous night's dinner.
When he came up for air, he had a piece of cheese pizza clutched in one hand, the box of granola bars under one arm, and a bottle of juice under the other. "If you ate like me, I wouldn't pick on you for dieting so much!" he said. Kitty snickered, making his smile broaden. "You're in a good mood now."
"The Professor said I seemed fine. I'm thinking I was just super tired or something..." Kitty shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable at her slight deception. "So are you going to Midnight Mass?"
"Jawohl!" he said around a mouthful of crust. "Will you come with me?"
Kitty shrugged. "Maybe..." _He has gone with me to synagogue a few times, and he hangs out with me during Sabbath when I do my thing _ ... "I guess so..." Kurt could only smile in response, his mouth full of snacks.
"Hey, guys," Jamie said with a dark tinge to his voice as he entered through the mudroom. "What's up?"
"Nothing new here," Kitty said, earning a look of dourom KurtKurt. "Why so glum?"
"Just looking for Rahne. Have you seen her?"
Kurt shook his head mid-chew but Kitty's posture changed. She sat up straighter, placing her hands before her on the scrubbed pine table. Tilting her chin in a manner Jamie had seen Amara do when she was feeling regal, Kitty said loftily, "Yes, I have seen her...she went into town to go shopping."
"What?" Jamie frowned. "She told me she couldn't go into town today..."
"Maybe," Kitty said, her voice throatier than usual, making Kurt stop mid-chew and stare at her in surprise, "she meant she couldn't go with _you _ . She and Todd went into town early and she said not to expect them back any time soon."
"Todd?" Jamie fairly yelled. "She went...Todd?" Rogue had been grousing all morning about Todd and Rahne being closeer ter they returned from D.C., but Jamie had not thought anything of it, especially in light of what Rahne had promised him just that morning, making him turn red as Scott's glasses when he thought of the evening to come.
"They seemed aly..ly...close," Kitty purred. Kurt chugged his bottle of juice, trying to clear his throat to speak before Kitty could go on. "Oops..." she said suddenly, her fingers fluttering over her lips in a coy gesture. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that!" Jamie merely made a squeak of anger and stomped past them towards the stairs.
"Katzchen," Kurt said, shocked. "What the Hell was that?" He had never seen or expected Kitty to behave maliciously and her discussion with Jamie had made his head spin.
"Not now, Kurt," she said, mildly irritated. "I have to check on something..." Nearly as quickly as Jamie, Kitty departed, her footsteps padding up the marble stairs to disappear overhead. The box was waiting for her, nestled in her large jewelry box left to her by a distant relation she had never met, it's ornate rosewood exterior clashing with her light pine colored dresser. She picked up the box reverently, holding her breath as she brought it near her face. _Yes, I can still feel it...it's still complete, you're still whole...you're redeeming yourself... _

1 Am I the only one who remembers that ancient cartoon? I have the theme song somewhere...sad, really. It's on the same CDR as the theme to Underdog and Speed Racer and most of the School House Rock songs... I know, I'm a loser. Phttttttttttt.
2 I've been watching space stuff on PBS. He was one of the early astronauts and a famous saying attributed to one of his first missions was "God speed," said by Mission Control in Houston (yee haw for the nearest big town ) as he launched.