A/N: I own neither Naruto, X-men, or Fruit Loops. Reviews always appreciated.

Chapter Four

2:20 AM. Apartment room 21, New York, February 01

"Okay, who is he, and what the hell happened?" Demanded Sakura, looking over the unconscious male.

"Ah, I don't really know who he is..." admitted Naruto. The vein in Sakura's forehead throbbed as she closed her eyes, praying whatever god was up there gave her the patience and compassion to keep her from not slapping the hell out of her friend. Naruto, seeming to catch the annoyance radiating off her, quickly continued.

"This stupid bastard made me go outside, and I was waiting for you to get back when this gang started messing with me. They were gonna kill me! Then this guy came in and kicked all their asses, it was really cool! Uh, anyways, when he was asking me if I was alright, one of them got back up and had a knife!" Sakura's eyes widened.

"He was stabbed?" she rushed to pull off his shirt. "Sasuke, turn him over. Why didn't you tell me he had a knife wound, idiot?" Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Uh, no, um...He disarmed the guy and was fine...then I accidentally tripped him on our way back and he hit his head on the sidewalk." Sakura froze, shoulders stiffening. Sasuke looked over to Naruto, an amused smirk coming to his features. Sakura turned to him, an angry scowl on her face.

"You worried me for that?" she exclaimed, proceeding to box the blonde over the back of the head. "You idiot!" she shouted before storming out of the room. "And wipe that stupid smirk off your face, duck-head!"Both males simply stared at each other, neither one of them quite knowing what to do. Sasuke mouthed 'Period' to the other. Sakura could be quite the drama queen, and was angered quite easily if you knew what buttons to press. Not that any sane person would do that willingly. A groan caught both their attention, looking over the the "guest." He was still asleep. They looked back at each other once again, sighing in unison.

Eventually Sakura reentered and finished her examination of Scott, concluding he had some scrapes on his arm, a couple bruises, and a minor concussion from the fall. The Cyclops, at this point, began to come to, the room spinning around him. The faces of the people around him were blurs, and though someone seemed to be speaking to him, he couldn't make out a word of what they were saying. Sakura, after explaining to him what she was going to do, placed her hands over his chest and allowed her eyelids to slide shut. He drew in a sharp breath at how cold her hands were, even through the fabric of his shirt. They were unbelievably cold, like ice. Had be been able to properly think or move at the time he would've pulled back. Surprisingly, a warmth began to radiate from the freezing hands, clinging to the coldness. The warmth rapidly began to increase in temperature until it felt like his chest had lit aflame. But as soon as she had first touched him his head was engulfed in a strange, eerie calm that lasted even through the burning sensation. All in a matter of seconds the cold and heat neutralized, mixing and forming a pleasant, lukewarm sensation in his chest. It pooled outwards, filling him the way one fills a water balloon.. It poured into his limbs, the pain of his arm and head fading into nothingness. The strangest sensation overtook him, one by one his limbs began to loose feeling to this warmth, as if severed from his nervous system.

Phantom Limb Syndrome is when someone looses a limb and still has the realist sensation that it's there. This was the exact opposite. He knew his arms and legs were still attached to him, but couldn't feel them at all. His skin, too, faded into the warm oblivion until he became nothingness, engulfed only in warmness. Before both Sasuke and Naruto's eyes the flesh of his skin pulled closer to cover the rip and began to weave itself back together. Neither seemed too unbelievably impressed, as it was something they'd both witnessed and felt at one point or another.

2:43 AM. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, New York, February 01

Jean suddenly stopped mid sentence, eyes widening slightly. She leaned forwards, clutching her head. Wolverine stood up, concern tugging at the edges of his features.

"Jean?" The said woman suddenly looked up, eyes somewhat distant.

"Scott's in trouble..." she said.

"What?"

"Scott's in trouble. We need to get the Professor. Now!"

The walls of the Professors office was lined with bookcases. Small books, large books of all different topics. The polished, wooden desk held several stacks of folders, each one containing various amounts of paper between the shiny plastic covers. Two large windows took up the wall behind his desk, curtains of dark color tied limply to the sides. Xavier sat in his chair in the middle of the room, the index and middle fingers of his right hand pressed to his right temple and his eyes closed. Before Jean could tell him of her knowledge, he said,

"Scott is safe. He's injured, but in capable hands." This revelation didn't seem to calm Jean any who asked,

"Can you get a location?"

"Yes, we can go in the morning." Jean looked for the briefest of moments as if she was about to argue, demand that they leave now, maybe. But she kept her mouth shut, nodded, and left the room. Wolverine was left there with the Professor. He gave an awkward nod before turning to leave as well, exhaling and rolling his eyes as he did so. These women were so dramatic.

10:54 AM. Apartment floor 3, New York, February 01

Wolverine, Jean, and the Professor traveled down the hallway stretching across the third floor. The brass numbers grafted onto the doors started at twenty-nine and got lower as you walked. After twenty there was a staircase leading to the next floor that started at thirty and went down the hall to thirty-nine. Logan glanced over his surroundings. It sure wasn't the nicest place he'd seen, but it definitely wasn't the worst. They reached door twenty-one, the two falling slightly lop-sided. The Professor touched his fingers to his temple, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again.

"Yes, he's definitely in here." Wolverine glanced at the other two before leaning reaching out his hand to rap on it several times. For a few moments there was no answer, or even any sign that anyone was home. But, soon enough a young girl looking as if she could be no older than her late teens answered. She was clearly Asian, or at least of Asian descent. Her eyes were a shocking jade, completely contrasting her ethnicity, and her hair was a shade of soft bubblegum pink. No roots were visible, and even her eyebrows were of the same color, an appearance that could easily be written off by a bottle of hair dye and interesting contacts. Despite her wild hair color, she was quite pretty. Beneath her proud forehead and striking eyes were set above a straight nose and a pair of full, pink lips. Her jaw was smooth, leading onto a slender neck and a pair of rounded shoulders. Every feature looked as if it had been hand-carved into a slab of flesh. She was one of those young girls that made people on the street double-take, inspired the artist to pick up his brush, and the pianist to compose a masterpiece. She wore a red tank top, a white circle printed on it with another one inside of it (A target, perhaps?) and a pair of loose jeans that hugged her at the waist, but fell easily afterwards, not particularly clinging to any of her curves.

"Hello, my dear, my name is Charles Xavier, I'm sometimes called Professor. This is Wolverine and Dr. Jean Grey." The Professor introduced them in turn. "I believe you have a friend of mine inside there, his name is Scott Summers." The female looked confused for a moment before her expression brightened in realization.

"Oh, you mean the guy pulled in last night. Yeah, come on in." She turned and left inside the room. The three glanced around at each other before following, Jean pushing Xavier in, followed by Logan. The living room was tangled with a mess of blankets, the couch sticking above them. Lying upon this piece of furniture was Scott, who'd yet to wake up. Jean automatically rushed to his side.

"Scott!" she exclaimed, crouching beside the couch.

"He should be waking up soon," said the pinkette standing not to far away. "I'm Sakura, by the way. Sakura Haruno."

Sakura. Cherry blossom. Fitting. Thought Wolverine, glancing over to where Scott was. The one who'd called herself Sakura continued.

"And this is Sasuke. Sasuke, This is Professor, Dr. Jean Grey, and, uh, Wolverine." The male to whom she referred looked a bit older than her and was also Asian, probably Japanese. His hair was black, short and choppy in the back, almost to the point of spikes, and falling slightly longer in the front. His eyes were dark and bottomless, boring into anything he looked at. Though he looked, too, very young he wore more mature clothing than the female. A crisp, white collared shirt and dark pants. Maybe he had been ready to leave for work? His mouth was neutral of any expression as he repeated their names, glancing to each of them in turn. His tone was dark and rich but held a slight texture.

"Professor. Wolverine. Dr. Jean Grey." On the third he held his gaze slightly longer saying, "Not cool enough for a nickname?" Sakura shot a glare his way, which he returned with an entirely blank look, void of any expression. The comment seemed to fly right over Jeans head, for she asked,

"What happened to him?" There weren't any injuries she could see.

"Apparently he got in a fight helping out our friend. He's healed up nicely, though." It was that moment that the mass of blankets strewn across the floor began to move. Out popped the head of another Japanese boy. His hair was an unruly mess of blonde, sticking out at odd angles around his head. The color in combination with his light blue eyes contradicted his ethnicity as much as the girls' did. Three whisker-like scars streaked both sides of his face, giving him an almost cat-like appearance. He yawned, sitting up. Blinking several times, he recognized the many people who'd invaded their apartment room and stood, letting the blankets fall to the floor. He wore an orange T-shirt and a pair of white boxers.

"Hey...who're they?" he asked, glancing at the other two.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded. The blonde rolled his eyes.

"What? They're fine!" After a firm look he continued. "...with me telling them that my name is Naruto Uzumaki and they're welcome here..." there was a slight pause before he blurted out a misplaced "believe it" and left the room. By this time Scott had started to wake up, his mind in a groggy haze that quickly subsided.

"Jean?" he asked, squinting beneath his visor.

"Scott!" she threw her arms around him in an embrace. The Professor moved over to the young woman, saying,

"Thank you very much for your hospitality. I was wondering if I could speak to all of you three?" Logan stood back, arms folded across his chest, watching the events play out one after another with an expression of disinterest, flickering only slightly at Jean's response to Scott's awakening. By this time Naruto reentered, having pulled on a a pair of jeans.

"Talk to us about what, old man?" this earned another jab to the ribs by Sakura. The Professor chuckled before continuing.

"I run a school here in New York, a sort of a secret school, you might say." Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of a secret. He loved secrets! It almost made the whole school part sound bearable!

"It's a school for people like us. All of us. A school for mutants." A silence filled the room, tension thickening rapidly between them. "Yes, I know what you are. But you are not alone, There are so many more like you, like us. If you come with us we will provide food, shelter, and schooling in a place that won't treat you different just because you're mutants." The silence continued, the three neither knowing what to think or even sure if they heard him right. Sakura turned her head slightly, the first to speak, directed at her two comrades.

"Dou omou?" [1] she asked.

"'Wakarunai wa." [2] Sasuke replied, his intense stare never leaving the Professor.

"We're going to need a while to think about it," Sakura finally said after several moments. The Professor nodded in understanding.

"Of course."

Not long later the four of them departed, leaving the same way they came. Sakura closed the door, staring at it a minute before turning to face the other two. They stood, staring back at her.

"Well?" she ventured to ask.

"It all sounds...weird," said Naruto. "Ughh, I can't think on an empty stomach." With that he padded into the kitchen.

"Sasuke?" A moment of pause.

"I don't know. It all sounds pretty suspicious if you ask me."

"Can you not believe that someone might just be being nice for the sake of it?"

"No." With that he turned and left for the kitchen as well. She sighed, shaking her head, almost feeling sorry for those two. Naruto had begun munching on a cereal called Fruity Rings, an off brand of Fruit Loops. He looked up as Sasuke entered before returning his attentions to the cereal he was cramming into his mouth. Sasuke walked easily past him, grabbing a coffee mug off the counter and filling it with the steaming brew from the coffee pot. He leaned against the counter, take a drink of the dark liquid. The two were their for a while, having breakfast in silence. Despite all the events the day (even though it wasn't even noon), they didn't speak. They didn't need to.

[1]: What do you think?

[2]: I don't know.