Carne Vale

CARNE VALE CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR (NC-17)sclasclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, I hear splashing in my bathroom and the tub seems to be in use...is Dodo on the move again? InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink deserve all praise and adulation for putting up with my numerous correction emails this past week as well as archiving their brains out for happy little writers like yours truly. :) Readers/Reviewers: Um, I didn't know they made kitty-cammo. The Killer Kitties (tm) have set up a defcon system and have big, shiny red phone. This can't be good.




"Where're you off to?" Jean looked up from her math homework to see Kitty rifling through her purse.
"I need to borrow your eyeliner. Temple in an hour..."
"And the Rabbi needs makeup?" Amara asked dryly, shoving her English text to one side.
"No, I want to look nice. It's the Fast of Esther and we're reading the Megillah1 tonight. Where's yeyeleyeliner? Mine was sacrificed to the animal rights gods when I found out it had bug parts in it."2
"Eeeeeeew." Jean took her purse from Kitty and found her eyeliner at the bottom under a year's supply of gum wrappers and pennies she was sure she would actually use one day. "This okay?"
Kitty took the black pencil and stared at the tiny row of gold letters. "I can't make out the ingredients...Amara, can you read this?"
The Nova Roman took it and looked at it briefly. "Yeah...I think you're okay. It says 'Cruelty Free'." She handed the makeup over and frowned. "You couldn't read that? It's tiny, but it wasn't that hard to see..."
"I'm just tired," Kitty said with a roll of her eyes. "And you probably have some freakish good eyesight or something."
"Ask Jubes," Jean said, also frowning. She had noticed Kitty squinting at her science lab work earlier that day but thought nothing of it. Now with Amara's statement, Jean was mildly concerned. "Hey, Jubilee, come in here a sec!"
".wha.whaddup?" Jubilee slid into the kitchen on sock feet, catching herself on the edge of the counter and swinging around to face her friends. "I'm in a good mood so don't harsh my buzz!"
"Read this," Kitty said, sounding amused.
Jubilee took the eyeliner and glanced at it, barely even pausing before she handed it back. "Onyx Black-Cruelty Free." She quirked a brow. "Is this a test?"
Kitty huffed in irritation and took the pencil back. "No. I'm running late. Here, Jean...I don't have time!" She tossed the eyeliner to her friend and was out the door before the other girls could say anything. It crossed her mind to ask one of them to at least ride with her, her driving skills not exactly the best in Bayville. _No, this is going to be the once chance I have to be alone for the next week or two, until I get done helping Doctor Reyes with her research. I don't mind that she's staying an extra week, it's just super embarrassing that I did what I did and that Rogue thinks I'm being brainwashed or something into thinking the lady isn't Mystique... _ Kitty sighed and braked to a halt at a red light. She looked over and noticed she was across from the Roman Catholic Church and, if she leaned back just a little, she could see the Institute's station wagon and knew Kurt was still in Confession. _Is it really so bad that we kissed? I mean, I know he promised not to do even that, but I almost ate on a fast and and I'm not beating myself up over it.... _ Kitty sighed and accelerated as the light turned green, reaching the synagogue before long and joining the flow of people into the temple, letting her mind wander to the evening's reading.

Kurt was a little surprised to find Kitty gone when he got home. "Where'd she go?" he asked Scott, only gnawing his lip slightly.
"Jean said something about Kitty going to temple...why? Looking for her for a reason?" he smirked knowingly.
"Nein, prt. rt. I just wanted to know." _And see her and smell her and memorize her so I could sleep and God, I sound obsessed. I wonder if I need therapy... _
Scott sighed and glanced up from his game of Risk with Jamie and St John. "You need a hobby, man. Get your mind off of sex for the rest of Lent. Something nice and dull so that you're too bored to think of anything exciting."
"That's impossible, first of all, and second, I have a hobby. I try and keep up with my acrobatics when I get the chance." Kurt sniffed haughtily and sat on the edge of the couch, watching the game for a few minutes.
St John rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but how often have you used that rig the Professor had Logan set up for you since you and Kitty got together?"
"I'll bet you could count on all your fingers and toes and have some left over," Jamie said with growing authority, feeling a levf cof comfort among the older males that had not felt in previous months.
Kurt sighed. "Ja, you're right...Kitty takes up so much of my time, not that I mind! I love spending time with her and can't think of a better way to spend my days and evenings..."
Scott grunted as St John wiped out his army in Eurasia. "This phase won't last for long. No matter how much you love her, you're going to go nuts if you don't have your own life away from the relationship."
"I don't want to be away from our relationship!"
"He means," St John sighed, "have outside interests! Something you can do apart from her and the Kurt-Kitty continuum."
"Yeah," Jamie added, "so that way you don't resent her later and fuck everything up!" At the trio of incredulous looks he found aimed in his direction, he shrugged and said, "What? I read Rahne's _Cosmo _ once. Twice." Ducking his head, he mutter, "Three times."
Kurt cleared his throat and hid a smile. "You guys probably have a point..."
Scott nodded. "Wouldn't hurt Kitty to get a hobby, too."
St John snickered. "I heard she has a nice, new blue one..."
Kurt growled and dug his fingers into the couch cushions to keep from flying at the teenager. "Who told you that?"
St John, with wide eyes, said, "Jubilee told Remy who told Lance who told Todd who told Rogue and she said she knew because she was there so Todd told Bobby and then went to argue with Rogue about whether or not she needed one of those things and Bobby told me."
Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line as he fought to control the string of curses and invectives he wanted to hurl at the gossipy nature of the Institute, taking several deep breaths before saying, "First of all, Kitty didn't want one, the girls made her get it and I can say with great certainty that she isn't the only girlfriend in this place with a battery operated boyfriend!" At this St John snorted and busied himself arranging his game pieces to hide his grin. "Second," Kurt railed, rising to his feet and pacing ferociously, "I would appreciate it if the details of my girlfriend's...sex life...with or without me are not public knowledge!"
Scott made a "calm down" motion with his hands. "Hey, cool it! We have no idea what you two get up to together, well, not the details, anyway. And we just know that Kitty got a sex toy because Jubilee isn't exactly subtle. Hell, she told everyone she got one, too, so it's nothing personal."
Kurt took a deep breath and threw his head back to glare at the ceiling. "If anyone needs me," he snapped, "I'll be in the gy the the rig."
After he bamf'd away, Jamie let out a long, low whistle. "Man, he has *got * to get laid..."

Kitty threw the keys to the Jeep down with a savage growl. "Damn it! I can see just fine!" she shouted to the empty kitchen.
Logan leaned through the doorway to the rec room and raised a brow. "Problem, Half-Pint?"
Kitty blushed furiously, embarrassed at being caught in a fit of pique. "Jean and the girls just got me riled up about not being able to make out some writing before I left for temple and it messed with my head!"
"What do you mean?" he asked, coming fully into the room. He could smell frustration and anxiety coming off her in waves, mingling with..."Kitty, why do you smell like exhaust?" It was faint, but obvious, as if she had been standing on the side of the road while many cars passed.
Kitty groaned softly. "I kinda dinged the Jeep."
"Kinda _what? _" He strode over to her and took her by the shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm just embarrassed and mad and have a headache! I swear, I'm sure I wouldn't have hit that guy if they hadn't made me all paranoid about seeing well!"
Logan closed his eyes, reigning in his temper, and said, "How bad is it?"
"Not too bad...just a dent. And some scratched paint. And the headlight is broken. And the turn signal."
"Anything else?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Kitty dug a piece of paper out of her pocket. "This is the guy's information. I gave him mine... " Logauckeucked the paper from between her fingers and sighed. Kitty hastened to add, "Evhe _he _ said it wasn't my fault! He had to slam on his brakes because some chipmunk or rat or something ran out in front of the car and I just sort of...winged him."
"I'm not amused...I'm not angry. Much. But I'm not amused."
Kitty toed the ground and said in a small voice, "I'm really screwing up a lot lately, huh?"
"Maybe it's just a phase," he said under his breath. "Some sort of mutant problem with spatial awareness..." Louder, he added, "Go to bed or something. I'll see what the damage is on the Jeep and take it to get an estimate tomorrow."
"Oh, did I tell you? I'm not going to school tomorrow...Purim. I'm going to morning services..."
Logan ground his teeth. "Then I'll drive you and drop you off...go to bed anyway. I can't promise I'm going to be in a good mood once I get to the garage."
Taking the hint, Kitty yelped and dashed from the kitchen. She nearly ran into Scott in the rec room, dodging him narrowly. "If you're looking for Kurt," he called, "he's in the gym!"
I wasn't before, but I am now... Kitty diverted her course to go to the gym instead of her room, hoping for a sympathetic ear and maybe, if she was lucky, an Elf-hug. She slowed to a walk as she reached the massive gym set up in the first sublevel of the mansion, the tiny windows in the doors telling her nothing about what was going on within. _ Maybe Jubilee's working on the vault again...that'll help keep the chance of something happening to a bare minimum_... Smoothing her hands over her hair and blouse, Kitty plastered a smile on her face and pushed the door to the gym open only to stop in her tracks. Kurt was in the middle of his routine on the trapeze, oddly out of place in a room filled with gymnastics and work out equipment. Kurt's set up of circus equipment was relegated to the far side of the gym, out of the way of everyone else but a perfect location for Kitty's viewing pleasure. From her spot by the door, she could observe without being seen readily, her agog expression safely hidden.
Kurt was not even aware he was being watched, so intent was he on his routine. He threw himself into it passionately, all the tension and frustration of the week and a half since Ash Wednesday pouring out of him as he felt weightless, one with the air as he turned and twisted with an ease very few would ever know. Kitty could only stare as he performed several gravity-defying maneuvers in a row, his shirtless state drawing her attention away from the athleticism of his routine and focusing on his body alone. She could feel a familiar, aching heat pooling in her belly, radiating down her thighs as she watched the play of muscles under his fur, the blue darker where sweat matted it down. His toes curled around the trapeze as he performed a feat that defied explanation and Kitty felt a sigh bubbling forth. His face bore an expression of near-perfect bliss, making her bite her lip to keep silent. Kurt let himself fall, flipping several times to land on his feet before he teleported, appearing grasping the trapeze once more. Kitty realized that she was not witnessing the first or even the third pass at this and Kurt was not likely to stop until his body demanded rest. _God bless his stamina... _ Unwillingly ,she found her fingers straying to her throat and the jumping pulse there, trailing downward towards tingling, aching breasts. Watching Kurt so passionate about something, so at ease and strong and, she added mentally, sweaty... made her think of how he was with her in bed. _I have got to get out of here. Now! _
She reached her room still flushed and wanting. With shaking fingers, she dug a marker out of her desk drawer and grabbed her calendar, yanking it off the wall with a tug. _ Let me see...Ash Wednesday was then and let me count...one, two...it's been twelve days. Twelve days. Forty minus twelve is...Oh, God_ . Kitty started marking off days that had passed with large red X's, flipping the pages until she found Easter. With a huge, red star, sheked ked the day and circled it, adding little stars all around the date. _This won't be so bad...I can see the days going by faster and won't dwell on it so much...But damn, he looked good. _ The throbbing need between her legs drew her attention back to her most immediate situation. _I shouldn't... _ She reached to put the marker back in the drawer when a bright pink bag under her desk caught her eye. Before she knew it, she was staring at her purchase, the calendar forgotten on the floor and the marker drying out on her desk. _I really shouldn't...*really* shouldn't...but why not? _ She padded over to the door and turned the lock. _It's not like I'm going to do this often or anything, right? _
1 *ahem * This is a footnotey chapter... The day before Purim is the thirteenth of Adar, or the Fast of Esther. You are prohibited from wearing leather, having sex, eating and drinking if you want to keep to the fast hard-core. The Megillah is the Book of Esther (and incidentally, the origin of the phrase "the whole megillah") and is read in it's entirety to break the fast the evening of the thirteenth of Adar. It is read again the morning of Purim (the Feast of Esther). Lots of fun, this one. Certain parts you get to use noisemakers and kids dress up...sort of a Jewish Halloween. The holiday will be explained later but if you want to read about it, www.everythingjewish.com has a nice, concise explanation that won't make me write tons of footnotes. ;)
2 That shiny stuff in some makeup and the red coloring in most is made from bug shells. Ew. If you're into that sort of thing, you can find a list of products that don't have but bits on PETA's website or just read the ingredients...