[AN: First AN of the second book! Whoot! Here we go again! Firstly, working on a cover, sorry it doesn't have one yet! Secondly, I wanted to let anyone know upfront that this book will be shorter. Mostly due to how the story has to progress for the next book; I really didn't want the second genre of this story to be hurt/angst or whatever they call that here lol, so it goes a little fast to avoid moping and sorrow. I hope you'll thank me and not hate me for that. So tired... . but there's still more work today! And I'm still half a week away from being half done with fourteen hour days! . I'm doing more reading than writing at the moment, but I still have a couple chapters up my sleeve, so don't worry, as of now, every thing's still planned to stay the same. So, anyway! On with the story! I hope you enjoy it, please feel free to comment, vote, message or just read!]
It was late July, and Kerri sat in the grass against the wall of the Xavier School for gifted youngsters/ Institute for higher learning, looking up at the stars, reflecting on her life, and how wonderful it had become since she had come here; she didn't have anyone tormenting her and calling her ugly names, telling her she was worthless and was going to end up as a crack whore, she wasn't being bullied by everyone because she was a mutant, and the only time she was hit or kicked was in training.
It was past curfew, and everyone but her, Logan, and the night hall monitor were in bed. She had special permission to be out of her room, of course, due to her insomnia and restlessness.
Xavier had thought it better to let her wander so she didn't go nuts and tear her room up, or anything.
She heard footsteps coming toward her along the wall, and Gambit, who was the monitor for the night, crouched next to her. "What you up to, little chere?" He asked.
"Not much, just enjoying the stars," she told him. "Do you know what time it is?"
"'Bout two-thirty, why, you and Nightcrawler got a date or somethin' you wan' me to leave for?" He teased.
"No, what would be the point of that, we can't go anywhere, or do anything," Kerri said, not realizing until after she'd said it what exactly they could do if they met up at night, although Kurt was such a gentleman that they probably wouldn't end up doing that anyway.
"Oh chere, you're so innocent. S'a good thing he not really a devil, or he eat you alive." With that, he stood and left.
Kerri's thoughts turned to Kurt, who may look devilish on the outside, but anyone who knew him knew he was the gentlest, kindest, sweetest person in the world.
'Two-thirty,' she thought. 'Only a few hours until I was born. Then I'll be eighteen.'
She hadn't told anyone that it was her birthday, and she didn't think that they could look into her files in the office.
She smiled, thinking of when she'd come to the school. She'd only given them a first name, quoting the Pirates of the Caribbean; telling them they could call her Smith when pressed for a last name, so she wasn't going to be surprised when no one knew that she was going to be eighteen when they woke up.
It wasn't that she didn't want to tell people, just that no one had celebrated her birthday since her dad had died when she was nine; her mother had remarried so quickly that the bed had hardly gotten cold, and she suspected that her step-father didn't like kids, since she was still an only child, and he'd treated her like garbage. After that, there were her friends at school, but her birthday was in the middle of summer, so they didn't celebrate it, and in fact, had thought she just never invited them to her parties.
On her last birthday she had been living on the streets, having turned herself into a cat using her mutant powers, after being found out as a mutant.
It wasn't a great birthday; it had been a long time since she'd had anything to eat, and the garbage cans she usually went through had been empty for at least two weeks or more, so she finally had climbed the fire escape ladder and gone to the window of the old lady who sometimes tried to get her to come closer to pet her.
Kerri had stayed away, worried that it was a trap, that she was going to be caged and sent to the pound, which had almost happened before, or that she'd be hit and kicked by the woman's son and grandchildren, like they did to any stray animal they saw as the went to her apartment to visit. But the old woman was alone, and readily pulled out a can of cat food for her, opening it and putting it on the sill, trying to get her to come closer.
She'd tried to stay away for a long time, but to her starving mind the food smelled delicious, and she'd eaten it as the woman had stroked her back, despite feeling broken and below human.
'Good times,' she thought sarcastically, and stood up to go to bed.
She should probably try to get some sleep before the sun rose and Kitty woke her up to help her pack for college.
Kurt stood outside of the Drama room, about to go in and learn about teaching.
He was excited for his new job; he loved drama, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone finding out about his strange appearance and calling the police on him, and, best of all, he got to stay here, with Kerri.
His mouth slid easily into a smile as he thought about her.
He loved her so much, and she loved him back just as much, it almost felt like it was too good to be true that he'd found a woman that loved him, despite his frightening appearance. Even if he still covered it with his image inducer most of the time.
He opened the door and walked in, seeing Professor LeBeau sitting slouched at his desk at the front of the class. The room was a quarter of a circle, round at the back because of the storage rooms, moving down in steps large enough to sit the desks there, until the front, where the desk was off to the side of the almost oval shaped flat area, leaving the rest of the space open to act and run around in, with an office behind a door on the wall.
"Hallo, Professor LeBeau," his German accent lilted as he took in the Cajun's tired face.
"Good mornin', it just Gambit now, remember, you're not a student anymore."
"Oh, ja," Kurt laughed. "You look tired, Gambit, is anyzhing wrong?"
"No," he said in his Cajun drawl. "Jus' had night monitor duty, you know de feeling soon enough, oh, and I saw your girlfriend, she was asking about de time, you not goin' down dere and teachin' her 'bout de birds and de bees, now, are you, mon ami?"
Kurt blushed. "Nein! Das ist nicht, I'm not doing zhat, Professor!" {No, it's not (cut off from saying it's not like that)}
"It Gambit, remember, and we just required to ask, aldough Gambit wouldn't blame you if you was," he told him.
"And this, and this, oh, and this... I'm not going to have room for all of this stuff!" Kitty exclaimed as she tried to stuff her clothes into her suitcase.
"Here, let me help," Kerri said, straightening and condensing the fabric so it would fit.
"I'm giving a bunch of this stuff to you," Kitty said as she made a huge pile on one side of her bed.
"Kitty," Kerri laughed as she worked, "there's no way most of this stuff would fit me, I'm taller and bigger than you."
"Jeez, rub it in, Kerri, I know I'm short, I realize that every time I stand next to Piotr," Kitty joked.
Kerri smiled, she was going to miss this. She'd only come here less than a year ago, and she hadn't talked to anyone but teachers the first couple of months, but Kitty had been determined to befriend her, and she had.
"Ok, that's it," Kitty said as she zipped her suitcase and pulled another one out. She opened it and Kerri saw that it already had clothes in it.
"Wow, Kitty, I didn't know you wore stuff like this," she said as she pulled out one of Piotr's shirts.
"Yes, I do, to bed," Kitty answered suggestively, and Kerri laughed. "Don't you ever wear Kurt's shirt to bed?" She asked.
"Um, we haven't gone that far," Kerri blushed as she stuffed another shirt into the suitcase.
"You don't have to do it to get one of his shirts, just ask for one and wear it," Kitty laughed at her.
Kerri didn't answer, just blushed and packed.
Kurt found Kerri in the library a while later and sat next to her at the table in the back corner.
"Hallo, liebling," he said, as he took her hand in his.
"Hi, Kurt, how is your day so far?" She asked.
"Ok, besser, now zhat I have found you."
She blushed, then thought of Kitty's comment about asking him for a shirt to sleep in, and blushed harder.
"Oh, zhat I knew vhat you vere zhinking," he said as he watched her face turn red.
"No-nothing, just something Kitty said," she denied.
"Ja, she does zhat sometimes," Kurt commented. "Do you vant to come outside vizh me?"
"Ok, but only if you'll hold my hand," Kerri said, as though he wouldn't anyway.
"Of course, liebling."
They walked outside and wandered around the grounds, enjoying the slight breeze and the shade from the trees.
"Vhat is zhat?" Kurt pointed to something in the distance. "See es? Right zhere."
Kerri looked, but didn't see anything. "I don't see it, what are you talking about?"
"It's right zhere, ve had besser go check es out," Kurt said, and they started walking toward it.
"I still don't see anything," Kerri said.
"It's right zhere, ve are almost zhere," Kurt told her, still walking and pulling her behind him by her hand.
"I still don't- oh," Kerri stopped, seeing a blanket spread out on the ground with a wicker basket on it. "What's this?" She turned around to see that he had turned off his image inducer and that his true, literally, blue self was showing, fuzzy, tailed, yellow eyed and all.
Kurt pulled her down and took out a tupperware, revealing a container of strawberries and grapes.
"I don't remember buying those," Kerri said, looking at the delicious fruit.
"Ja, zhat's because I bought zhem," he told her, holding the container to her with his three fingered hand.
She looked at it and bit her lip, then took a strawberry and licked it before biting it and closing her eyes in delight at the flavor. "Mmmmmm..."
Kurt watched her, then took a piece of fruit for himself. They ate all of the fruit and drank the lemonade that he pulled out of the basket as well.
Kerri ate the last strawberry, laying on her back and looking at the sky upside down. "These are good, I might be tempted to buy some next weekend, of course, they'll never make it to the fridge," she joked, wondering how long it had been since she'd eaten strawberries.
"Zhere's somezhing else," Kurt told her, and she rolled over and half sat up on her side to look at him. He pulled out a large tupperware box and took off the lid. Inside was a small cake. "Happy birzhday, Kerri," he told her.
Kerri's eyebrows went up. "How did you know it was my birthday?" She asked, surprised that anyone knew.
"It says so on your drivers license, liebling, did you not vant anyvone to know?" He laughed.
"Well, I didn't tell anyone, and I haven't showed anyone my id. How did you see it?" She asked suspiciously.
"It took some doing, aber I did, vizh Kitty's help, of course," he told her.
"Great, so Kitty knows it's my birthday too?" She asked. "That means everyone probably knows by now."
"Nein, I vanted you all to myself," Kurt told her, laying by her side and putting a hand on her cheek. "I vanted to be zhe first vone to vish you happy birzhday."
"Well, thank you, Kurt." She leaned forward and kissed him softly.
"You are velcome, liebling," he told her, going back for another kiss, but she stopped him by speaking.
"You know, you call me liebling all the time, but I only ever call you by your name, maybe I should call you something else."
"Aber, I like es vhen you say my name, especially vhen I'm kissing you und you can't keep it in," he said, his tail flicking back and forth in pleasure at the memory.
Kerri blushed and looked away, pulling back slightly. "Jeez, I didn't realize I did that."
Kurt's tail wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back to him. "Don't be shy, liebling, it's nice vhen I hear es..." Now it was his turn to blush, and they were silent for a moment.
"Putting that aside," she said. "I was thinking of something else to call you, and I came up with something..."
"Ja? Und vas ist es?" He asked. {yeah? and what is that?}
"Well, like... Herzlieb..." A smile spread over her blushing face as she looked back at him from the blanket under them.
"Herzlieb, zhat's vas du denkt about me?" He asked in happy surprise. {what you think}
"Ja," she told him, still blushing a little. "Hezlieb." {loving heart or beloved heart}
Instead of replying, Kurt pulled her close and kissed her. They rolled a little so that they weren't quite so uncomfortable, ending with Kerri on her back and Kurt beside her, leaning over her a little.
Kerri's hands went to his face and held him there for a moment before her hand moved to go around his shoulder and hold him close. Kurt's hand went around her and slid up her back, his fingers brushing and rubbing the spot near her spine where her wings would come out.
She arched against him and her breath poured out. "Kurt," she gasped.
"See, zhere it is," he said, his tail flicking back and forth, his passion darkened eyes close to hers. She blushed hard and pushed his hand down toward her hip, embarrassed that she'd made that sound, but Kurt's lips turned up in a devilish smile, and his fingers drifted to the place her tail constantly grew from, massaging the tender spot.
"Ngnn..." Kerri's eyes half closed and her body arched to him as incoherent sounds came from her mouth.
She blushed harder when he stopped rubbing. "How in the- what the-" She was so confused and embarrassed at her reaction. "Let's see how you like it, hn?" She rolled and ended up straddling one of his legs, leaning down to kiss him as she found his tail. She found the spot she was looking for and rubbed in what she hoped was a sensuous way, continuing to kiss him deeply at the same time, and was rewarded with a groan he uttered against her lips.
She suddenly felt something as hard as concrete jabbing into her hip and pulled back. "What is that?" She murmured and started turning to look, her hand going to investigate.
Kurt's tail caught her hand and his hands pulled her back around to him, his legs managing to get away from her as he sat up, trying to hide the physical manifestation of his desires. "I- uh, I don't zhink you should do zhat, liebling..." He told her, his face almost glowing purple.
"Do what?" Kerri asked, blushing as she realized what had happened, but acting innocent. "What was I going to touch? I thought for sure that we must have rolled onto a tree branch."
"Ein zweig," he muttered. "Liebling, you are going to be zhe deazh of me, zhough by humor or embarrassment, I'm not sure." {a branch}
"What are you talking about? You're the one who started it, saying that you like hearing me moan..." Kerri blushed lightly as she laid at his side.
Kurt joined her, having successfully calmed down. "I didn't say zhat, aber, it's maybe, not, untrue..." {but}
Kerri smiled and put a hand on his cheek. Her smile fell as she looked into his eyes, though. "You know, we won't be able to do this during school. Scott wouldn't let Kitty and Piotr be together, even though Piotr wasn't a school staff, I hardly think he'd be any cooler about this, especially when he's so bent on being a jerk to me."
"Ja, zhat is true. Vell, about him not being cool vizh zhis, I don't know about zhe out to be a jerk to you," he replied. "But, ve can survive, it vill be a tough year, todsicher, but ve vill make es." {for sure}
"I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't even hold your hand for a whole year, seeing but not touching. It'll be like living in a chocolate factory but being allergic to chocolate," Kerri's eyes were downcast, but Kurt lifted her chin to place a gentile kiss on her lips.
"It vill be ok," he told her again. "It is really only eleven monzhs, und neizher vone of us has to stay silent zhe whole time. And even Kitty and Piotr vent off to kiss sometimes." He smiled and kissed her.
"I guess that's true," she conceded. "I guess it could be ok, even if we have to sneak around for a little bit."
"Happy day after your birthday!" Kitty told Kerri as she handed her four or five bags of clothes from her closet. "I wanted to say something so bad yesterday, but Kurt made me promise. Anyway, did you have a good birthday?"
"For the first time in half my life, yes. And I told you, Kitty, none of your clothes will fit me," she looked at the bags now in her hands.
"Well look through them anyway, you might find something you like, stick the rest in the clothing storage room if you want. I'm going to miss you!" She squealed as she threw her arms around Kerri.
"I'll miss you, too, you're my only friends here, you know," Kerri told her.
"What about Kurt?" Kitty asked as she pulled back.
"He's a teacher now, I can't be seen fraternizing with him. Seen being the operative word there."
Kitty smiled sadly and told her, "I'm not going to pretend it's easy, but it is better than not having him at all."
After they put the bags of clothes in Kerri's room, they went outside and found a group of people there to see Kitty and Piotr off; Kurt was there, of course, and so was Professor Xavier, all of the X-Men, and a couple of the students that hadn't already left the school.
It was made into a happy thing, everyone saying goodbye to Kitty and Piotr, telling them to write, and they'd better come back and visit, threatening to come find them to check up on them if they didn't.
Scott noticed that although Kerri and Kurt weren't all over each other like a teenage couple might be, they were discretely touching hands, even holding them for moments. His eyebrow quirked, thinking that Kerri was going to step all over the rules this year, too. But rules were rules, and teacher- student relationships were not permitted. And he was going to make damn sure the rules were followed.
The last of July and the first few weeks of August went quickly, filled with hidden kisses and secret moments, but finally it was time to get ready for school, and the few students who had gone somewhere else for the summer came back, starting to get settled in for the school year.
Kerri held her new schedule in her hand, excitement flowing through her. Her last class this trimester was going to be library aid, and she was happy that she got to sit in a room full of books, probably reading, for a whole period everyday. She knew it probably made her sound like a nerd. 'But if the shoe fits,' she thought.
She hurried to the library and to the back corner where she'd pulled a table last year because no one ever came back there, and found Kurt already there. She looked around quickly, but didn't see anyone, so she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him quickly and pulling away in case anyone did decide to investigate this far into the library.
"Hallo liebling, vhy are you so excited?" He asked, still holding her hand and feeling the emotion seeping out from her mental boundaries.
"Oh, sorry," she closed her eyes for a moment and reinforced the blocks that stopped her from either feeling everything or leaking emotion, influencing others. "Gute, uh, what is afternoon?" She asked.
"Nachmittag," he answered.
"Nach, mit, tag," she paused, then put it together, "gute nachmittag, herzlieb."
Kurt couldn't stop a smile from forming across his face, and his hand rose to cup her cheek as he leaned forward to kiss her again. "So, vhy are you so happy?"
"Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be a library aid, so I get to hang out with all of the books for a class period," she told him.
"Good for you," Kurt said, his hand squeezing hers.
A few rows away, behind a bookcase, a pair of rose colored sunglasses took in what was happening.
Scott turned, forgetting about the book he'd been looking for.
For the last few weeks he'd been trying to find them at it, but had found nothing. Jean had told him to let it go, that maybe they were obeying the rules. But now he had seen it with his own eyes.
The first day of school was over, finally, and Kurt sat in a chair next to the desk in the main area of the drama room.
"Here, you can file all de papers in dere, den put it away in de office cabinets," Gambit told him and headed out of the door.
Kurt started separating the few papers they'd had the students sign and started putting them in the file folders.
The door opened and Scott came in, leaning against the desk nonchalantly. "Hey, Kurt. How was your first day?" He asked.
"Not so bad, zhough it is strange to be at zhe desk instead of across from it," he answered.
"Good, good." Scott was quiet for a moment. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about, Kurt."
"Ja?" He asked, gathering more papers into folders.
"I know that last year you had, a sort of relationship with another student, Kerri Smith." He paused so long that Kurt looked up at him to see if he was going to continue. "I just wanted to check on that, because as I'm sure you know, it's against the rules for a student and a teacher to date. Even if they were already dating before one of them became a teacher. It could result in termination for the teacher and expulsion for the student, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that."
Kurt looked up at the X-Men's leader, understanding the threat. He looked like he was waiting for an answer, as well, and Kurt tried to think of something to tell him.
It didn't sit right with him to lie, and even if he did, everything after that would be a lie, piling on top of each other until they toppled over and buried them. "Ja, ve did have a relationship last year, und I do know about zhe rules," was all he said, but it seemed like enough for Scott, who nodded and walked toward the door.
As the door closed behind Scott, Kurt's heart pounded. He hadn't lied to him, but he felt like he was treading a dangerous road.
Maybe Kerri was right that he was keeping a tight eye on her. But then, why had he come to him, talking about rules and making sure they were followed? That just sounded like the Scott he knew.
One thing was for sure, though, he knew that Scott was watching them.
Maybe it would be better if they really were apart this year, no secret meetings in the library to steal a kiss, no sneaking to his high wire to practice and end up making out on the tree branch, trying not to bite her and fall out of the tree at the same time. At least that way they wouldn't get into trouble and get kicked out.
He couldn't think of any other job he could do except circus performer, and it wouldn't be right to get her expelled, then she wouldn't graduate, and what would she do after that?
Kurt sighed and put his head in his hands. He had to tell her, and find a way so Scott wasn't involved so she wasn't angry at him, since she already had a problem with the way he was. And how was he going to tell her without breaking her heart? She wasn't one to open easily, it had taken him almost all of last year to get her to open up, and he'd had Kitty and Piotr's help, which he wouldn't have this year.
Kerri stood in the woods, below the tree with Kurt's high wire in it, waiting for him to get there. She heard a twig snap, and spun to see what it was, her body reacting, waiting to see if she needed to attack or flee. But it was Kurt, walking towards her. "Kurt, why are you walking?" She asked, wondering why he hadn't teleported.
"I," he sighed, looking at the ground. "I needed some time to zhink."
"Oh?" Kerri felt her stomach clench in nervousness at his tone.
"Ja. Kerri, I zhink, zhat maybe- maybe ve should be separate."
"What?" Kerri asked, slightly confused at the sentence.
Kurt's eyes closed, and he felt like his heart was being squeezed in a vice.
He didn't want to say it at all, let alone over and over. "I zhink ve should break up."
Kerri stepped back, her breath was stolen from her chest, and she felt like she'd been punched. "W-what?"
"Kerri, please don't make me say es again," Kurt almost begged, a slightly pitiful tone edging his voice.
"You- you want to break up with me? I mean-" Kerri's eyes stung with tears and her throat felt like it was swelling.
"Nein, I don't, but it vould be besser, just so ve don't get into trouble-" {no, better}
Kerri cut him off, "We haven't gotten into trouble, we can make it, remember? You said we could make it, we just have to be cautious about it."
"Ja, aber," he tried to think of a way to leave Scott out of it. "Just to be safe, maybe..."
Kerri was staring at him, but her vision was blurred by tears. "Safe nothing," she said, " you just want to break up." She could feel her defences coming back, and she pulled them around her like a warm blanket.
"Just for zhe year, so you don't get expelled-" Kurt tried to explain, but she wasn't interested.
"If you wanted to break up with me, or you wanted to break my heart, you could do it without pretending it's to protect me," Kerri said angrily. She shifted to her "battle form," glad that she was wearing flip flops so her feet didn't ruin them as the fronts of them expanded into large taloned toes, her long tail whipped out through the hole in her pants, but the back of her shirt exploded out into shreds as her falcon's wings burst out.
She leapt into the sky, flying away from him, tears streaming down her face.
Kurt stood there for a moment before teleporting to his room. He looked around, seeing a few things neatly stacked on his desk, he angrily swept his tail forward knocking them violently to the floor before he climbed under the blankets on his bed and hid.
