A/N: Thank you to may reviewers, especially Caprichoso, Rya Three Saber, and ppirilla (for their more specific reviews). I've kind of fallen in love with this particular pairing, and it seems to work well despite being completely out in left field. I don't like how this chapter as much since I wrote it in a rush, so you'll have to review it and tell me if it's any good or not. :D I'm not a very good judge of my own writing. I hope you like it!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The breeze swayed the hammock gently as Laura (alias X-23) lounged in the sun, drinking a glass of lemonade that Kitty had shown her how to make. It was quite an excellent drink, possessing all the good qualities of lemon juice without the sour taste Laura detested so much. Kitty loved hers strong, but Laura couldn't stand it at all. Watered down a bit, however, it was her new favorite beverage. She checked her new wristwatch. 4:27 PM. Everybody was back from school at this point, and Laura was hoping she would get a few more minutes to herself before...

"Hey, Laura! Want to play some baseball?" Kurt asked.

Laura was slightly pleased that he had taken a personal interest to her. The other students were nice, but they usually ignored her, preferring to talk about their own topics that Laura knew nothing about. Laura rolled around in the hammock as she pondered Kurt's invitation. She did do bad at it last time, but if she practiced it might help her become more... normal. She grinned, uncharacteristically.

"I'll play, but you have to tell me if I do something wrong."

Kurt smiled.

"I don't think you can do anything wrong, Laura. We're just playing catch," he reassured.

"I thought you said we were playing baseball," Laura questioned.

Kurt laughed, much to Laura's exasperation.

"No, no. We're playing WITH a baseball. Baseball usually means with teams on a field, but if you say it casually it can mean to just play catch," the fuzzy mutant explained.

"Oh..." Laura responded lamely. "So how do you play catch?"

"Simple!" Kurt began, grinning widely. "Catch!"

He tossed the ball in the air. Laura watched it for a second before leaping out of the hammock and catching it with one hand. Hurling it forcefully over her shoulder, she threw it perfectly aimed... at Kurt's face.

*BAMF*

Kurt appeared in a puff of black smoke further away in the field, the ball passing harmlessly through a dark, sulfurous cloud where the teleporter's face had been moments before. The ball had lost enough speed by the time it got to his new position that he was able to safely catch it.

"Laura, that throw was really hard!" Kurt chastised. "You could have killed me! Splat!"

Laura hung her head in remorse.

"It was still an amazing throw, though," Kurt consoled. "There's probably some professional pitchers that can't throw that hard. Well, maybe not, but still."

Laura didn't answer.

"Are you ok?" Kurt asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Laura replied, visibly dejected. She paused. "Kurt, would you say that my throw was... normal?" she asked, cautiously.

"Are you kidding? Man, sometimes I think I'd kill to have an arm like that!"

Laura winced at his use of the word "kill", remembering her days at HYDRA. Her second reaction was depression. Now she would never be normal. Everything she did was either too good or too bad. At the brink of tears, she ran off towards the Institute.

"Wait, Laura! I still want to play with you! It's ok!" Kurt called out, worried that he'd crushed her confidence. Geez, how hard is it to crush the confidence of a trained assassin?

Laura slowly walked through the Institute, hoping to avoid notice. Seeing Kitty, Jean, and Bobby in the kitchen, she paused to listen.

"...so out of place. She, like, can't even color-coordinate!" Kitty said loudly, although attempting to be quiet.

"She can't help it," Jean responded. "I mean, growing up in a lab like that. It's got to be tough."

"Yeah, well, you know what they say. Like, adapt or die, or however it goes."

Laura, blinded by tears, silently rushed up the stairs as fast as she could, missing Jean's correction of Kitty.

"I think she's doing rather well," Jean replied. "Remember, you've been living normally for your entire life. She's had just over a week."

"I guess," Kitty responded, slightly ashamed. "But she should still be more fashion conscious."

Unaware of Jean's defense, she headed up to see Wolverine. At least he could sympathize with her. She peeked her head in his room, but he was gone. There was a note on his bed, and Laura picked it up and scanned it.

"Gone to auto parts store, be back later. Tell mini-me not to worry."

Laura growled. "Mini-me"? And he thought she would worry? Nobody said anything like this about any of the other students. He was treating her as if she was a child! Angry, and suddenly hungry, she headed to Wolverine's private mini-fridge. There was nothing but a small sandwich and those weird bottled drinks that he snuck in with the rest of the groceries. Laura picked up the sandwich, and took several bottles out of spite. Back in her room she finished off the sandwich and opened one of the bottles. Taking a sip, she grimaced at first, then stopped. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. Remembering how Wolverine would drink it when he was upset, she tilted it up and chugged the whole bottle. Only her conditioned assassin's stomach kept her from throwing up. She hadn't realized it would be so fizzy! But whether from the sandwich or the placebo effect, she felt better already. So she opened another bottle.

Twenty minutes later, Laura shuffled out of her room, thoroughly tipsy. She would have been scared of the strange sensations, but they were somehow comforting. Wandering aimlessly down the stairs, she headed outside. Seeing Kitty, she hurried by, luckily seeing that the hammock was empty. Climbing in, she closed her eyes, feeling drowsy. Ten minutes later, Kurt tapped her on the shoulder.

"Laura? Are you awake?"

Laura opened her eyes.

"Oh, hello Kurt," she said awkwardly.

"Listen, Laura, I'm sorry about getting upset earlier today. I just was a little stressed out, and my adrenaline was pumping, you know?"

Laura smiled and sat up. Suddenly upright, she was hit by the full effects of the alcohol, and fell out of the hammock, landing on her face. Not even registering pain, she rolled over, giggling. Kurt, surprised at her display of mirth, especially after a humiliating fall, started laughing as well. Sitting down beside her, since she showed no effort of getting up, he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, you'll be just like a normal kid by the time school starts," he reassured.

Laura's first thought was shock. How did he know about her goal? Her second was intense happiness, assisted liberally by the alcohol. Without thinking, she grabbed Kurt around the neck and kissed him right on the lips. Kurt was shocked at first, but deepened the kiss slightly. Pulling away after several seconds, he suddenly became suspicious.

"Laura... have you been drinking?" he asked worriedly, smelling alcohol on her breath.

Laura giggled. "Of course! Otherwise I'd get dehidriated... dehyd... dehydrated and DIE!" she giggled again like a hyper schoolgirl, with a bit of a slur.

Kurt became stern. "What have you been doing?" he asked, almost at a loss for words.

A rustle in the bushes suddenly diverted his attention. He suddenly realized that he'd been watched, probably the whole time.

*BAMF*

He appeared in the bushes, along with several loud protests. He grabbed the spy and marched out of the hiding area to find... Rogue?

"Having a bit of fun, little brother?" she snickered sarcastically, with her southern accent.

"Why were you spying on us?" Kurt demanded.

"I wasn't spying!" Rogue exclaimed in mock horror. "I was just sitting over there, writing my poetry, when suddenly you lovebirds show up and, well, I couldn't pass up my baby brother's first kiss, could I?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. Sure. NOW she was his big sister.

"...I... I'm not a baby," he retorted lamely, sitting back down next to Laura, who was on her back, practically oblivious to the whole situation.

Kurt suddenly thought of something.

"What makes you think it was my first kiss?" he asked, annoyed.

Rogue smiled. "Just a guess. You don't exactly have what I'd call 'killer looks', you know."

Kurt angrily looked around to make sure nobody had overheard them.

"You won't tell anybody, will you?" he asked angrily, with a twinge of humility.

Rogue smiled maliciously.