The storm continued on late into the night and deep into the waning hours when the souls of the day should be well deep into their sleep. However one soul was still struggling with himself and drove his mind into insomnia. In a poof of purple smoke, a dark figure appeared in Kitty's room, that which was still lit by a single dull light by her desk. Kitty had fallen fast asleep at her desk, face down in her text books, still the studier as always, trying to get every bit of knowledge on everything that she could. "Keety," Kurt whispered lightly while still trying to have his voice higher than the rhythmic patterns of the rain drops tapping the glass to the window of her room. A streak of lightening illuminated the sky off in the distance, showing Kurt an magnificent view of the town in the flash of a second, captivating himself. He alone had saw it, he alone saw it's beauty and witness the awe power that nature can bring. He had almost forgot in the split moment what he had come into the room for, until it struck him again with the passing of the moment. "Keety..." he whispered again.

"Huh?" Kitty jumped, startled to be woken so suddenly, and so unaware of her surroundings. Last she remembered, she was studding for her trigonometry test for the next day and suddenly, poof, it was night and someone was calling to her. "Huh... who... who's there... show yourself...." she was obviously still groggy from being woken up so suddenly.

"Please Keety... it's just me," Kurt tried to calm her, stepping closer to into and into the light to show his intensity. "I didn't realize that you were sleeping, I'm sorry to have bothered you. I'll leave you to your dreams."

"No wait..." Kitty pleaded as Kurt turned to leave. She gave a yawn and a stretch, looking at the alarm clock next to her bed quickly, hazingly seeing the electric red digits reading off the time 3:13am. "I'm up, it's no biggy anymore. You just scared me! You know how much I jumped when you port like that when I don't know it's coming!" She laughed lightly like always, a sleepy slime on her face, although one that was true even this late at night. She looked up a little surprised to still see Kurt fully dressed as he would normally during the day, holographic imager and everything. He looked like a normal teenage boy ready to go out on regular, everyday activities.

"It can vait, you should get your sleep, you have a big test tomorrow," Kurt mentioned, looking to Kitty's trig book that was being doubled as a pillow.

Kitty didn't even bother to protest this time, instead she just couldn't help but ask about Kurt's appearance especially at... she snuck a peek back at the clock, it now reading 3:14. "Do you always sleep like that? I mean like the clothes and the imager and everything? Seems like an odd thing to wear to sleep. I'm sure that imager thingy is a pain to sleep with."

"You don't know the half of it," Kurt growled back, obviously upset to start with, Kitty's words not helping much at all.

Kitty sat up in a startle, not expecting to receive such a harsh response from the normally always upbeat Kurt. "Hey, take it easy Elf, I didn't mean to get you that upset. I was just wondering, I'm sorry if I hit a wrong note or something." She stood up and took another long stretch, keeping the same smile she always seemed to have plastered on her face. "Is there something that I can do for you? Obviously you didn't pop at 3 in the morning to just say hello."

Kurt placed his hand over the electronic device that he kept on his wrist, trying to hide it casually in the night from Kitty's sight. "I.... I just can't sleep..."

"There's more to it than just a little nightmare bothering you Elf, this time I know you're lying."

"It's more of a nightmare than you can ever imagine."

"What's bothering you Kurt? You've seemed so spacey as of late, just like it's not really the Kurt that we all know and love." Love? Ha! Now that was a word that rang the bell of irony in Kurt's head. How could anyone love such a demonic freak like he is. So evil and disgusting he was that even his own mother had toss him away, probably from the fear of being found out to have harbored such a demonic child. 'Just look at me' Kurt began to think to himself, 'I am not even human, I am not for what a human can love, I look to what humans hate and fear.' Sure, all his friends at the institute tried to help, even Xavier and the others, but it still wasn't the same. He knew that they resented him, that they couldn't stand to look in the wonder and the oddity that he was in his true from. They kept him on a friendly basis for the sake of just being friendly, not for the sake of love. They couldn't love him, not Kurt, the one whom shall never be touched by humanity. "Com'on Kurt," Kitty tried again, only receiving silence to her protests, "You know that you can always tell me, I'm always here for you."

"Do you find me human?" was Kurt's quick response, something that Kitty was not expecting at all. This was the same Kurt that always enjoyed acrobating around walls and hanging off of random places with the aid of his tale that he seemed to enjoy so much.

"Of course, why would you ever think of such a question. Of course you are," Kitty was able to spit out quickly, her mind was still not all together with it from her sleep.

"And a freak?"

"Kurt, calling you a freak is the same as calling any of us freaks. You know that we aren't anything of that, you are normal people like the rest of them. Just that we have a little something extra, but that doesn't change anything. Does our brain still think on the same paths as others? Isn't our blood just the same shade of red as that of normal people?" Kitty was fully thought out for something like this. How many times before had she been so upset with the thought of her being called a freak. She wasn't one, she was just like everyone else, honest! So she could walk through walls, but that shouldn't be curse on to her, it should just leave her to be a normal person like everyone else. She hadn't killed anybody, she hadn't robbed any stores, why should she be so looked down upon. If not her, then why not all her friends at the institute, why not Kurt?

"What about pale skin? what about ears on the side of your head? What about eyes of a normal color, of a normal shape?"

Kitty smiled again looking to her friend in hopes of cheering him up. After all the times she had been down and he was there to rescue her with a joke, or bring her into laughter, it was the least she could do. "There's nothing wrong with how you are. The fuzz and the ears are kinda cute," she giggled lightly, "besides, the eyes are kind of like those of a cat's."

"Cat...." Kurt mumbled in disgust to himself, "Not human...." He sighed heavily again and closed his eyes for a moment. In a moment's notice he was gone in a flash of purple smoke.

"Oh Kurt!" Kitty tried to reach him, but it was too late, he was already gone and out of her speaking reach. With a sigh of her own, she sat back down on her desk chair and rested her head on her hand that lay itself on the desk. "I didn't mean it like that.... I didn't..." Stupid Kurt, what did he know? Waking her up at 3 in the morning and then miswording her all the time like that? But something was really bothering him. This wasn't like him at all... perhaps come the morning everything would have past and he'll be alright. Yeah, that's it. He'll wake up in the morning and port right next to her again and scare the daylights from her when she wasn't expecting it. She would scold him, and he would just run off holding his side from laughter, even though she herself would be laughing inside too. Kitty knew everything was going to be alright.

From outside, a cloud of purple smoke mixed with the droplets of the rain from atop a tall tree inside the Xavier complex. The cold rain continued to pour down, mixing with the warm drops that fell from what looked to be a cat's eyes....

*****

The following morning brought a spectacle of sight to the world. A beautifully clear sky that followed the clouds from the heavy rain. Moisture from the weather still left all the trees and grass with a coding of water. It almost seemed like a morning out of a movie, so perfect it was with the morning birds chirping away, gathering morning worms that were still exposed from the ground because of the water that was blocking their tunnels.

Kitty had gotten very little sleep since her encounter with Kurt the night before, but seemed awake and alright when she made her way downstairs to try and get some quick breakfast before hurrying out to school. Scott and Evan were already at the table with cereal bowls in front of them, although neither of them seemed awake enough to even realize what they were doing. She made her way into the kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal for herself, then joining her two sleepy companions. As she sat down, another set of footsteps was heard coming down the stairs and in walked Kurt, he seemed to not have any sleep what-so-ever, looking and walking sluggish. Kitty gave him a glance of interest to make sure that everything was alright. Kurt just responded with a childish grin, stumbling to a chair and plopping his head onto the table top. "Vhy does zhe morning have to come so soon?" Kitty gave off a slight laugh, glad to see that her friend was back in his normal high spirits like always. She always knew he'd be like this, it was just a bad night for him yesterday, that's all. We all have those days, but they aren't anything worth life threatening.

"Probably because you're up so late, not getting to sleep with all that junk food that you wolf down," Scott joked bringing a smile to his face too. He was much relieved also at the smile on Kurt's face. Being the leader of the group and the oldest, he always had a spot of worry for everyone that he looks after and for everyone that looks up to him. "Com'on, any ways it's time to go. Class starts in a few minutes any ways."

The four of them scurried around the house in a bustle to try and prepare themselves for the classes that wait ahead. Quickly they were joined by the other two members of their group, Jean and Rogue, and were off on their way to school and classes, just like any other normal teenager would do. Although there was always the challenge of having to hide their mutant abilities, it was a nice feeling to be with and interact with others who looked to them and respected them as normal humans. The only members at the school whom knew that they were mutants were other mutants themselves, both sides observing a truce to not spill each other secrets for if one side was found out, the other was simply sling mud back in the other direction as well.

Jean, Kitty, and Scott hurried together to their class which happened to be trigonometry which they all were put in together. Aware of the test coming, Kitty tried to thing of everything that she went over last night, but it was of no use. Everytime she tried to run a formula through her head, her thoughts just went back to Kurt and the pain that she could see in his eyes. But why was this bothering her so much? He was fine wasn't he? He looked it this morning, back to his good old self, joking and smiling, laughing and pranking. She should just let it pass from her head, now back to trigonometry... but he had looked so horribly last night. There was something more than just a bad day bothering him, and why did he get so upset? She hadn't said anything upsetting to him, just told him the truth. What was she thinking? She had a big test upcoming that she had to be ready for! Tom's Old Aunt Sat On Her Cat And Hollered... T=O/A; S=O/H; C=A/H; but those were the same bright and caring eyes he always had.

The clock began to tick by as the tests were passed out to which Kitty attacked with vigor like always, but things just didn't click! ARGH! 'Stupid Kurt, making me think about how he was feeling and not letting me concentrate on math.' The clock continued to tick and Kitty continued to struggle, writing out all the formulas, having to erase, redo, and re-erase many problems over and over until finally getting them done. In a final moment of relief she slapped her pencil down on the desk after answering the final question, just in perfect timing with the bell that went off, signaling the end of the period.

Kitty joined Scott and Jean out of the math room and down the same hallway where all of them would go off into their different directions to different classes. However they were met by a circle of students that were gathering around, cheering wildly. The three friends decided to take a peek into what was going on out of curiosity, but was shocked to discover what was occurring within the circle. Alone in the ring of people stood Kurt and Josh Kalvarious, upstart punk on the basketball team with his basketball buddies backing him up. Normally people just passed over Josh because it wasn't even worth dealing with him let alone listen to him, but with Kurt caught in the circle of people, he looked as though he didn't have any choice but to deal with the thug infront of him. Josh towered over Kurt, displaying Josh's height that made him who he was on the basketball team, although for all the size he had, he was rather scrawnily built, although still a force to be reckoned with.

"Now runt, you were sayin' somptin' about messin' with me?" Josh spoke with his heavily accent that he acquired from one too many gangster rap albums, even though he lived in the outside suburbs of Bayville.

"I didn't zay anything," Kurt spoke in protest, looking around for a way to get out of the trap circle he was in. He didn't want anything to do with this guy, didn't have any reason either. He had no idea why Josh had reached into his bags of names and pulled out Kurt's to harass for the day.

"Yeah, what ever runt, maybe you should go back to Germany and cry to mommy," Josh taunted Kurt, rubbing his eyes in mockery. He got a laugh out of his basketball buddies who were behind him, egging him on with Kurt's torment.

Scott finally made it and stepped in-between the two, leaving Kitty and Jean to add to the spectators within the circle. "Josh, stop this. You have no business with him."

"Do I now? Well then shades boy, go tell him that if he wants to mock people in his foreign language, then we'll just have to find that puny country and bomb the hell out of it."

Kurt's face turned red with rage, angry at the idiot infront of him, but powerless to do anything about it. He surely couldn't use his powers infront of everyone, and fighting back would only make things worse. "Watch what you are saying Josh," Scott warned.

"You can't watch words," Josh retorted quickly, "but you can certainly watch why I have to play immigration. No stinkin' foreigner is going to be making fun of me in my country!" With that Josh threw a punch, striking it right over Scott's shoulder and landing it square in Kurt's face, right between his eyes and just above his nose. Kurt instantly hit the ground, instinctively covering his face from the pain that was throbbing into it. Josh's buddies laughed behind him as Josh himself looked quite pleased with himself, "Man that guy's hairier than I could ever imagine, and he doesn't even look it." Josh grabbed his knuckles and keeping the show going, kissed them proudly at his knockout. "Nice work girls.... hey... what the heck is this?" He looked in-between two of his fingers that tightly held a small single strand of hair with a fainted color of blue.

Scott could see the trouble and grabbed Kurt's harm, helping him to his feet. "Com'on, it's time we were out of this mess." The pair hurried out of the circle and down the hall, around a corner and quickly into one of the bathrooms, hoping that no one had seen their travel's path. Scott made a quick check of the surroundings, luckily no one was there.

"Kurt... Kurt... what happened?" He tapped his teammate lightly on the head, Kurt still groggy from the shot he just took. "What did you do to provoke that kid like that. You know he's not worth anything!"

"But Szcott, I didn't zay anything!" Kurt spoke through glassy eyes, still struggling to get a hold of himself, "I slipped and told him hello in German when he bumped into me in the halls. It's a habit, I just can't kick my home tongue! He just turned and screamed at me."

Scott sighed, knowing Josh, Kurt was easily telling the truth. The two could hear Josh and his group roaming the halls again, passing right past the bathroom's door. "What the hell was that?" "He must be some kind of freak or something." "Nah, maybe it's just cause he's German." "You can't tell, all those freaks popping up lately." "Nah, a blue-haired freak when he doesn't even look it. Trust me, I know these kinds of people, them freaks ain't human, they're just freaks."

Kurt sighed, rubbing his face, he looked into one of the mirrors, looking back into his own fake eyes that were being produced by the holographic imager. Their words stung. They're hatred for a scapegoat, just for him being German, just for him not being human. Surely they would connect the blue hair and point him out as a freak. Josh and his buddies many be dumb, but they aren't stupid. Scott could hear their voices as well and looked to his friend, seeing the pain it induced. "Kurt, don't listen to them, you're human, we're both human. You aren't any different than they are, just don't worry about it." Scott could tell that he was loosing though, "Kurt, don't do this on me."

Kurt just sighed and continued to look at his face, a blue spot showing where a bruise would be from the punch. A small tear trickled down his face, all the thoughts over the past few days coming to him. Soon it was his whole life, his whole appearance, his faking it with some stupid piece of machinery. "I am not human...." He moaned, another tear trickling down his face. He gave one last pathetic look to Scott before he was gone in a cloud of purple smoke.

***** ***** *****