Rogue walked into the Danger Room control deck, watching Kitty with her heels up on the panel in front of her, fidgeting with one of the computer boards. Her tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth in concentration as she soldered two of the electrodes back into their original places. That now done she let out a sigh, and Rogue found her opening.

"Kitty," she asked quietly, "Is there anyway I could talk to you for a second?"

Shadowcat spun in her chair, looking venomously into the eyes of the woman standing behind her. "I told everybody, it'll be at least two more hours till I can get the Danger Room up and working again."

"Actually," Rogue said into Kitty's cold stare. "I just wanted to talk, the Professah said he noticed that the two of us weren't getting along real well, and maybe it'd help if we had a chat."

Kitty's mouth formed a silent "Oh" as she turned back to her work on the control panels. "So talk." Kitty spat over her shoulder.

Rogue sat down in the seat next to Kitty and looked over at what she was doing, not wanting to ruin her concentration. However, she saw that all Shadowcat seemed to be doing was fidgeting with different controls and watching the scenes inside the Danger Room change. "So," Rogue began hesitantly. "Where are you from?"

Kitty tried hard not to blow off the weak opening. "Illinois." She answered flatly.

"Really?" Rogue tried to sound interested. "Nevah been there. What's it like?"

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Boring."

"I see." Rogue said. "I'm from Mississippi."

"Never would've guessed with that accent." Kitty mumbled.

Rogue ignored the comment and continued. "It's beautiful there. I grew up right along the Mississippi River. That is until Mystique found me. I lived with my father, right near the river cliffs."

At cliffs, Kitty looked up interested. "There are cliffs in Mississippi." She asked innocently.

"Oh yah, they don't border most of the river, but they did in my area. It was a poor area." She said with a sigh. "Most people who live along the Mississip are boaters, freighters, warehousemen. None of that in my area, cuz there was nowhere to land a boat."

"I see." Kitty said, trying to pretend as if the jungle scene before her was more interesting than what Rogue was telling her. "So your parents were poor?"

"Yah." Rogue said, hanging her head. "Momma died when I was born, I was an only child cuz of it. Daddy, well he blamed me fer it all." Rogue looked up into what she thought were sympathetic eyes.

"My mother died." Kitty whispered.

Rogue just smiled the smile of understood-shared pain back at Kitty. "Daddy drank a lot." Rogue continued. "Then when he found out I was a mutant." The pain and the story just poured out of her as Kitty sat there staring at her in shock. This woman had been through so much in her short life that it was no wonder she had turned out the way she had. In fact some of the things Rogue revealed about Mystique's treatment had made Kitty almost sick with disgust. It ended with a lot of shared tears and a mutual understanding.

* * * * *

"That's it girl!" Logan yelled to her, watching her hand to hand combat lesson against Storm. "Don't let her get the upper hand, keep her on her guard." He laughed as Rogue went to land a kick and Storm flew out of the way, leaving the other woman sprawled on her ass in the mud.

"Dammit!" She yelled as she punched her fists into the ground. "Thought I had her."

Logan walked over to her and offered her a hand off the ground. "Don't worry about Ororo, she's always got a trick up her sleeve. Comes from living on the streets."

"Ah see." Rogue commented absently rubbing her sore bottom. "Seems she'd want ta give me some pointers instead of just flyin' off like that."

Wolverine just looked at her and shook his head. "Look kid, it ain't exactly a big secret around here. Ro don't like you!" Rogue was taken aback by his bluntness, and was about to respond when he held up his hand for her to be quiet. "Don't take it too personal. Some of us realize you're only fault is that you're just as screwed up as the rest of us." Rogue just looked at him confused, and was seriously considering ignoring this whole conversation. "Just give her some time to get used to you." Logan answered Rogue's unspoken question.

She shook her head at him and looked down at the dirt she was scuffing up with her boots. "It's been months Logan. I don't think she's gonna get used to me." She stated as she walked back towards the mansion.