The cat had landed in the sink. He stood there, staring at the intruder in his house. She kept talking.

And... apparently, all cats talked. His brow furrowed. "That is... incredibly difficult to believe." He realised he was clutching his curtains. The tall mutant released them, and straightened out, looking at her suspiciously.

"I mean... she's just taking a while to warm up to me, is all. And I... am almost certain you are a mutant. It makes sense. The two tails, the strange behavior. Who are you, and why are you here?"

He tensed up a bit. He'd gone from surprised, to ready to defend himself fairly quickly... If she were some villain, he would have to defeat her. He examined the room at a glance. She was in between him and the door. Did she have any unknown offensive abilities? Likely, if she were willing to get this close.

What villain was she? He didn't recognize the appearance. Maybe a new one?

"Is it? In a world with so many uncertainties? People can fly and burst spontaneously into flames, and yet talking cats is the line in the sand?"

She smiled and all it managed to do was make the little white points of her canines show.

"I can assure you, regardless of whether I carry an X-gene or not, I am a cat. This body is my body. Are you always this jumpy? I am no threat to you in any fashion."

Maybe he was feeling caged in? She hopped back down onto the sink, and then to the floor, and sauntered back out of his bathroom into his kitchen, where she plopped her butt back onto his counter and waited.

"As for why I am here, I already explained. You offered me food. I am here for food. Do you have anything worthy of offering to a demon?"

Milli, who had devoured her food already, was staring at her from the floor with wide-eyed and dilated pupils. Hiyori chittered at her, and surprisingly the kitten responded with her own unique chittering noises.

The black cat stuck her nose in the air haughtily. "She dislikes that you treat her like a baby, and she thinks you are weak. She hopes her training regiment will someday toughen you up. Poor human."

He furrowed his brow at her statements, shaking his head at the retort. "Yes, actually. All of that is grounded in science. We know why and how it happens. It's not like magic is real or anything, so, you must be a mutant." 

She showed her teeth in a sort of smile that cemented the idea in his head that she was no normal cat. As he listened more to her voice, he realised something... She sounded more like his classmates than she did his teachers. She sounded young. 

He sighed, and hung his head, looking up to her as she called him jumpy. "Okay, so you have the form of a cat. That's... Well, that's gotta come with some interesting challenges." He cautiously stepped out from behind the shower, sitting on the edge of the tub and looking eye to eye with her. 

"Okay, I get that you aren't a threat, but you have to understand something about consent, here. Imagine I approached you, and told you I needed help, that I was lost, and hungry, and I had no way to communicate that to anyone but you. So you took me in, and it turned out I wasn't lost or hungry, and I could communicate to anyone just fine. At that point, you would have let me in under false pretenses, and any consent you would have given me would be invalidated." It was complicated, yes, but he'd taken workshops on things like consent in order to help him best help people in these complex situations within the city. He was well equipped to have that conversation.

His eyebrow raised at the telling of his cat's thoughts. "Uhm.... But all I have been able to do is feed her and try to avoid getting scratched without hurting her. Also, I am undeniably quite strong." This was getting off topic, they had more important things to get to.

"Listen...I don't think you are a demon. I think you are a young woman who happens to look like a cat. Before I go any further, I want to start over, and do this the right way. My name is Xavier. You are?"

His expression warmed into a bit of a smile as he held out his hand. 

"So what science is it that explains the ability to raise people from the dead? Mythical powers? There are many aspects of mutations that fall outside the realm of what science can currently explain."

She tilted her head at him while she listened, ears focused, and swiveled in his direction, but... didn't understand a word of what he had said, really.

"I... do not understand. I never asked you for anything. You assumed I was stuck, lost, and in need of a meal, and invited me here of your own free will. You did not ask if I could talk and I did not feel that I should grace you with the knowledge that I can talk at first. Would the burden of consent not fall on your shoulders for inviting a strange cat into your home without first verifying whom or what you were invited in? I figured you knew exactly what you were doing when you pegged me as a mutant outside."

Whatever he was trying to teach her was going over her head. His assuredness about his own strength caught her attention. Mutations were fascinating and beautiful in varying ways. "Oh? How strong?"

Hiyori blinked at the boy and her eyes drifted down to his offered hand. He was... very kind. If she was able to blush, she would have. Instead her hair stood on end and she whispered puffed out with her nerves.

She plopped a paw gently onto his hand.

"Ishida Hiyori, Hajimemashite." This was not exactly how she had expected this encounter to go. Then again Americans were not very well versed in Japanese demonology, so... what did she expect?

"I am new to this country, and this neighborhood. Things are very... different where I am from." FOr example, people, the braves ones at least who didn't want to be cursed for many generations, often invited her in for a small offering of a meal every now and then. Usually fish and rice. Whatever that stuff had been on the plate he offered was not something she was familiar with.

"Not knowing the how things happen isn't the same as not having an explanation for why they are happening. Anything supernatural in this world can be linked to mutant activity." He spoke plainly, still eyeing her tentatively.

"Not telling the truth when given the opportunity is the same as deceiving, though. It's a lie of omission. It's like dressing rich to go pick up girls in a rented sports car to take them back to a high class apartment you are watching for a friend. People will assume you are someone you are not, but that doesn't make it right, right? I mean... I was about to take a shower. I would have undressed in front of you. I've been out fighting crime all day."

He paused as his direct and level announcement that he was strong caught her attention. "I can confidently fight a room full of people with no fear for my own safety." Once more, it came off as a genuine statement, it had no air of boasting about it.

Oh, she was Japanese, then... Okay, he knew a few things about that... Names were backwards, right? So her surname was Ishida, her individual name, Hiyori? Or had she switched them knowing she was talking to an american? As he shook her little paw, he opted for clarity. "What would you like me to call you, miss?"

He smiled encouragingly, and nodded as she explained a bit of culture shock to him. "New York is a lot for someone who didn't come from over seas. Do you live nearby? If you need a friend who can help show you around, I can make time for you."

Oh, Kami yes she would have definitely been blushing if she were physically able. In place of it, her ears flattened back against her head and she pointedly looked away.

"Ah... I think I see your point, now. I apologize for deceiving you and causing unrest." She bowed her head a bit, tail flicking about in agitation. American culture, on top of human culture in general was something she was still getting used too.

When she straightened back up she seemed to be over her transgression already. "You are one of the infamous X-men, then? Fighting villains in the city and whatnot?" That was exciting! She had been itching to run into a legitimate hero since she had gotten to the city, if only to badger them with questions.

"Please call me Hiyori, if you will. May I call you Xavier-kun?"

The topic moved right along and she pointed toward his ceiling with her tails. "My sister and I recently moved in here. We live a few floors up." She offered a wee feline smile again.

"We transferred to your esteemed school for mutants from our regular academy in Japan. Our parents wanted to expand our views of the world." If only to try to break her sisters spirit and have them both come crawling home.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me in getting more familiar with the area. My sister and I were surprised to find out how.. um... lacking your public transportation is. Is it common for perverts to gather in large numbers on busses here? My sister had quite a bit of fun dealing with a few of them, bit it was quite worrying."

There, that apparently got the meaning across. Was he so out of touch of japanese culture that he didn't recognise that things like this were normal over there? It wasn't like he had a lot to go off of, but he had to let her know such things wouldn't fly here.

His eyes widened, and his hands went up to chest level with palms out, "Oh, no, I'm just a trainee of the X-Men, so I'm technically not a full member yet. I do patrol when I can, though." He was still wearing his trainee pin on him, actually. He wasn't supposed to refer to himself as a full member, yet, so he was quick to correct people.

"Awesome, nice to meet you Hiyori, and welcome to New York! It's aways great to meet a new neighbor! Let me know if there is anything, anything at all I can help with! It's an older building, so it could use some work from time to time. I'm a bit faster than Sal at fixing stuff!"

He smiled and nodded as she went on. "I'm here without my parents, too. Again, let me know if I can help with anything. The city is full of great people, but it can be dangerous, too." As if to prove his point, she brought up some of the dangers she and her sister had encountered.

"Uhm... well, it's not typical, but that sort of stuff can happen. That's why I patrol, to help people in those sort of situations, and get those responsible in jail where they belong... Anyway, you were hungry? I can whip something up if you want!" He motioned toward the kitchen, and started walking that way...

"What do you want? I was gonna make some steaks, and invite my neighbor over, but I keep a lot of fresh food around."

Her energy changed in an instant. "You are a student also? That is amazing! What are the classes like? What are the training sessions like? I love being prepared for things and if I am going to be attempting this same program any information you can give me would be very helpful!" If he was already in the training course, that meant he was probably quite a bit further ahead than her. Also, they gave out pins? How cute! Maybe she could pin one onto her bow somehow.

"Might I go on one of these patrols with you at some point?"

The topic shifted back to food and she followed him with her eyes before following him with her feet.

"I am always hungry."She stated simply, keeping up with him and trying her hardest not to stare with something akin to hero-worship.

"Part of the nature of my mutation, I assume. Cats tend to eat often throughout the day, and thus so must I."

Her eyes bugged out comically at the mention of steaks. Since landing in such a wretched city the choices of food and groceries had been sadly lacking. She certainly made do with what was on hand, but it was nothing compared to the contents of her family kitchen back home.

"I will eat anything made of meat." She glanced at the plates on the floor and frowned, "... Almost anything. I have been surviving off of the most lackluster shrimp I have ever seen in my life since coming here, and rice, until I can find a market with quality products. My sister and I have yet to find anything even remotely comparable to the food back home and my own cooking has suffered for it."

She watched him intently, and her pupils betrayed her excitement.

Things took a moment to add up in his head as she suddenly grew in excitement. Wait, they were going to be going to an esteem school for mutants? There weren't a lot of those, and they were living here!

"You're going to Xaviers! Awesome! The classes are pretty great, and the teachers? They are mostly X-Men! Training, oh, the training in the danger room is crazy cool! I got cow stampeded and fought a deadly criminal! You want to join the team?! Ohhhh coool!"

They were practically talking at the same time right now, the excitement in the room could blow the roof off. He did pause, however, and hang his head a bit. "As a trainee, I can't take anyone out on patrol with me... But, hey! if you become one, we could patrol together!"

As she reiterated her hunger, he grinned, and rolled his sleeves up. "Alright, then, lets get that taken care of! Steak tiiiiiime!" He stomped off to get cooking, only pausing to text someone, frown a bit, and then get back to cooking.

The steaks were a simple affair, a nice cut, well marbled, cooked medium rare with salt and pepper, finished with herb butter. He'd stir fried some bean sprouts with cabbage and soy and added a veggie stir fry on the side to round out the meal. In the end, he produced three plates, one of which he placed in the fridge, and the other two on the table.

"Okay, all done. Bon-appetit!"

"Yes! I am! The X-men are also teachers? That is fantastic! Normal heroic types never bother with teaching degrees. What is a 'Danger Room'? I DO want to join the team!" There was a mishmash of voices and his excitement was just ramping hers up even more. It was good to get a second opinion from someone on the school and what she would be experiencing too, especially if she were going to be working to keep her sister going to classes and potentially on the team as well.

"I would like that very much, Xavier-kun. My goal is to work out a few more of the kinds with my power through training and to eventually have a title similar to one of your X-men."

Hiyori watched from the counter as he cooked, taking mental notes about things he did that she could incorporate into her own methods. He was a very capable chef from what she had seen, but by the time he had started getting the meat going on the stove it became a bit harder to concentrate.

"So, it is your school again? What did you do to have it named after you? Or, were you named after it?"

Her pupils were ginormous. Rapt attention focused squarely on the meat in the pan. Each pop and sizzle from frying fat sent a spritz of scent into the air and it was entirely consuming. Steak wasn't something she cooked often, especially not a cut such as the one he had. Fish, chicken, and other forms of seafood tended to be what she gravitated too.

She scrabbled like the excited kitty she was off the counter and hurrying over to the table in a second flat. Once in the chair, her furry little head barely poked up over the edge of the table, and she watched wide-eyed as the plate was set before her. If it looked at all like she was barely managing to keep herself from lunging at the steak... it's because she was.

Manners dictated that she at least wait for Xavier to be sat also.

Her paws slapped together adorably, she bowed her chin a little, and- "Itadakimasu!"

With the speed and ferociousness of a feral, starving animal she jerked forward and snagged that steak with her teeth and then immediately peeled away from the table and hid behind his couch to scarf it down as fast as possible.

Milli darted after her, and after a brief moment of silence, Hiyori could be heard growling loudly while chewing on her prize.

There conversation about the school was rapid and spirited; here were two people that actually liked school, talking about a totally insane super school. He would answer all of her questions and chuckle at the thought of the school being his.

"Nope! That's just a coincidence; My first name is Xavier, and the founder's last name was Xavier! No relation!"

He couldn't help but smile at the kitties excitement as he placed the plate before her, and walked over to his seat. His eyes widened as she spoke, and then grabbed the steak, skittering off behind the couch and eating it like... well. like a cat who had been given steak.

His laughter would be heard out in the hallways as he watched Milli chicken out and disappear under his bed once more. There, he enjoyed a nice dinner, occasionally glancing at the wall as if someone were going to walk through it or something. "Uh... How do you like it?"

He spoke in a couchward direction.

She won the battle of wills between her and the much smaller Milly because Milly was a young cat and Hiyori was a big person trapped in a small body. She also wasn't afraid to swat at the small feline trying to get at her meal, either. That helped.

"It's amazing!" Came a slightly muffled but energetic response.

Eventually, she wandered back out licking her whiskers, much fatter than she had gone in. Hiyori hopped up onto the table to sit beside her plate, settled herself, and then started casually batting around a piece of cabbage on the table around her plate.

"At some point, you will have to come to have dinner with my sister and I. I will make you an authentic Japanese meal." She bent to sniff at the beansprouts, nibbled on one lazily, and then straightened back up as she munched around it. Salty! Yum!

"Why do you keep looking at your wall? Is there a bug?" Her head whipped around comically so that she could also stare.

"Oh, it's just a spider. Would you like me to kill it?"

He couldn't help but grin when he heard her approval of his cooking. Honestly? Cooking was something he's spent a lot of time educating himself on, and perfecting, so it was nice to get a compliment, even if he'd fished for it.

The Kitty finished her main course and wandered out, offering him an authentic Japanese meal in recompense. "Ohhh, you cook too? That sounds great!" He couldn't wait! He was mostly done as well, having consumed everything on his plate as he'd been taught to as a child. He blinked a few times when she observed his glances to the wall, and looked to the side sheepishly.

Before he could answer, she pointed out a spider on the wall, and asked if she should kill it. "Oh, huh... Been seeing a lot of them, lately. Hold on." He hopped up, finally remembering to take off his hero themed apron as he walked over to the cupboard.

Seconds later he walked over with a cup and a piece of paper and collected the spider, looking in to it. "Yeah... huh, same type too. Lotsa jumping spiders around here." He shrugged and stepped out quickly to set it loose outside.

Stepping back in patting his hands he smiled. "Okay, so you've had a chance to eat. Anything else I can help with?"

She watched as he moved to get rid of the spider, confused and more than slightly disappointed. But, as the arachnid skittered around on the wall to try and avoid being caught she appeared right at his side, jumping and swatting at it. Alas, it was released before she could murder if most gloriously. Such a waste.

"It pleases me to hear that. Hunting spiders is one of my favorite past times. Especially when they are on ceilings."

The spider, though no-one noticed, reacted with mute panic at hearing that and once it was free on the outside it wasted no time scuttling away into the growing darkness.

Hiyori sat and licked away the last of the meats tasty juices from one paw as Xavier turned and asked her another question. Hm. What more could she ask right now?

"Typically after eating such a lovely meal I would resign myself for a nap... but I suppose there are many more questions I could ask you while I have your ear." Indeed, there were many inane, boring things she could throw at him since she had the time.

"For instance, are the rats truely as big-"

A shrill shrike pierced the air outside his open window and her ears instantly swiveled in the direction it had come from. She went silent as she focused on tracking the sound, listening for any more signs.

"Your city really never sleeps, it would seem?" The black cat poked her head out the window, head turned to the left as she picked up the sounds of a scuffle from an alleyway a block down.

Her small nose flared a few times, and then she turned her large yellow eyes toward the growing hero. "There is blood on the air."

As quick as a shadow, she hopped from the window and started down the steps of the rickey metal fire escape. As soon as was safe she lept fully from the stairs into the open air, and as she fell a body constructed itself around her.

When she landed she was no longer visually a cat. A slim, moderately tall girl stood from the crouch she had landed in and her nose tilted up into the air. The frame was wrapped in loose black pants with no real detail, a loose black sweater, and plain black shoes. The wind oddly didn't seem to ruffle her black hair, styled in a typical girlish bob as was the fashion back home. Sharp claws on her fingers, sharp teeth in her mouth, and whiskers off all things stood out as obvious signs that she was no normal human girl. Two long, black tails curled around her legs, and fluffy black ears sprouted from her mass of midnight hair.

Her eyes were the same color as they had been, as well as her voice. She locked on to the direction the distressed sounds had come from and took off in a dead sprint that way.

He was primed to answer her question with a firm, serious, "They abosultely are." When there was a sudden, loud scream nearby.

It was immediately apparent that these two were kindred spirits. Without thought, they were both heading toward the source of the sound. "That's what they call it." He Said, already dressed for the part, he stepped out the window behind her.

He scaled the fire escape from the outside rather than using the steps, hopping down level to level with practiced ease, like he often hurried down this way. She announced the presence of blood. "Ah, your senses are keen like a cat's as well? Can you guide us to who needs help?"

He paused as a... whole person landed near him. She was... an honest to goodness anime cat girl. His beady eyes blinked a few times, and she started running as she locked on to the scent. He sprinted after her, speaking as he did. "I thought you were always a cat?" He spoke steadily at a dead sprint due to flawless conditioning.

Typically, it was very difficult to keep up with a running cat, but he was didn't seem to have any problem doing it. As they neared where he enhanced senses were leading him, the noise of a struggle was apparent in an alley up ahead.