A/N: Yes, early I forgot to mention this is a Lance/Kitty fic. And now you know! Hoorah.

Side note: I'm writing this with the episodes as best I can, this one takes place between 'The X-Impulse' and 'Rogue Recruit', uh, on the weekend...yeah, that's right, that's my excuse. I do realize the first chapter was, uh, slow, it's basically a 'carry over' that will lead to more. Explanatory chapters are always slow, live with it. Also, I'm lousy with accents other than Southern, so just pretend Kurt has one, I'll supplement what I can but I seriously don't want to look like a frigging noob and get his wrong.

Ghost

Lance sat on the porch, obviously brooding. Sure, he didn't have any great home life to leave behind but still. This was a change.

Mystique had given them all the speech on what the 'Brotherhood of Mutants' was all about. The base of it was that normal Humans were going to hate them all just because they were different. That they would be hunted for being 'Mutants' and every normal Human in existence was the enemy.

Sounded kind of like brainwash talk to him at first. But the more he thought about it the more it made sense. How many times had he lost control and been stared at like he'd just grown another head when his quakes subsided?

He barely registered the front door opening behind him. Light footsteps stopped just behind his back and someone tapped him on the shoulder.

At first all Lance could do was stare. "Kitty?"

She smiled in that innocent 'look-at-me-I'm-cute' way. "You like?" Her long hair hung in a ponytail as usual, but its now black color glimmered oddly in the light making her as pale as the Ghost she was now named for. She no longer wore a pink sweater over a pale shirt. A sort of black semi-spider web designed over-shirt hung loosely over a red tank top that was artfully designed to dip low, but not low enough. Her jeans were changed out for a darker colored pair with a shimmering black belt.

After a long moments silence her face fell. "You hate it don't you."

"Uh no!" Lance stammered standing up suddenly. "No, it's just a shock."

She toyed with the edge of the loose over-shirt. "I just, you know, thought I should have a change. That redhead girl would recognize me in a second when I show up in school on Monday looking like I always do. This way it'll at least take her awhile." She looked up at him hoping that he could understand her logic.

"Hey, I like it. Looks good on you." Lance said trying not to be so obvious about his attempts to see just how low that neckline would go.

She gave him a slight push. "Hey, like, cut it out." She couldn't help but smirk as she tried not to giggle, despite her new look she was still very valley girl on the inside. She descended the front steps flipping her hair teasingly.

"I was, like, thinking about my new look for quite a while. Thought this would be a good change of pace, you know, cause of, like, my codename and all. Kind of always liked that Goth look, only you know, without the inches of makeup."

A thump on the roof made her look up and shield her eyes from the sun to see better. "What are you doing?"

Lance looked up at the sound as well, but lacking any form of x-ray vision he trounced down the front steps and backed his way towards Kitty trying to see who she was talking to.

Toad waved looking a little sheepish. "Uh, nothing?" He asked climbing down the roof. He reached the edge and did a back flip to the ground landing a few feet from Kitty. "Hey Kitty-cat, nice threads."

She rolled her eyes and turned to walk out to the road. "I'm like, taking a walk."

Toad tilted his head as she took off obviously admiring the view. That is until Lance gave him a smack on the head. "Keep off." He growled.

"Hey man, I don't think I'm the one you should worry about." Toad nodded down the street past Kitty. There on a far corner was a pair of figures the Bayville Native recognized. One was tall with a pair of red sunglasses while the other had blue hair and sort of seemed to shimmer at this distance. He gave Lance a sly look. "Betcha' they're after the Ghost-Girl."

Lance glared as the two turned to follow Kitty a block back from her. She didn't seem to notice and even waved back at Lance and Todd as she disappeared around another corner.

"We'll see about that." The taller Mutant said unable to stop the slight tremors as he stormed after the tailgaters.

* * *

Kitty found her way to the schoolyard with little trouble. They had driven by it on the way to the house. It looked nicer in the daylight though.

She passed a tree and suddenly heard a strange 'bamf' sound on the other side.

"Hi!"

She ducked back away from the boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I startle you? I didn't mean to!" He smiled and waved timidly at her. "My name is Kurt, what's yours?" He didn't offer his hand to shake, and something was off about the way he held his fingers, she liked his accent though.

"Uh, Kitty." She said clinging to the tree and keeping it as far between her and the boy as possible while also making sure he stayed in sight.

"I haven't seen you before. Do you live around here?" He asked, he looked sort of Elven to her, his eyes tilted just a little bit too far for any normal person. It was actually kind of cute.

"I'm new." She said circling back farther around the tree as he came closer.

"Ja? So am I! I just arrived a few days ago." He brightened in an almost 'too cute' way. "Are you going to school here too? I will be."

She couldn't help it and giggled, this guy was just too much even for a foreigner. "I guess so."

His face suddenly fell, he almost snarled and disappeared around the tree.

"Huh? Hey Kurt, are you okay?"

"Yeah Fuzzy, you okay?"

She looked up sharply to see Toad leap up and land up near the branches of the tree.

"You, what are you doing here?" Kurt demanded stooping in a position Kitty recognized as not very Human.

"I'm watching out for the new girl freak-boy." He grinned down at Kitty. "C'mon, show Ghost what you really look like." His tongue lashed out striking Kurt's wrist, the inducer immediately fritzed and became useless.

Kitty screamed at the sight making Kurt flinch and look around in terror incase anyone else was around. All he could see was Scott and the Alvers boy moving in at a run, almost like they were racing each other to the scene. He gave Kitty a last look before porting away.

"Oh god, what was THAT?" She asked in near panic.

"Kitty!" She turned to see Lance and some other boy with red sunglasses on.

"Lance, what's going on?" Okay, this was scary, who, what was that other guy?

Scott could still smell the telltale scent of the Nightcrawlers teleport but couldn't see where he'd gone. "Where's Kurt?"

"Up here Scott!" Kurt called from farther up in the branches. He hoped the leaves would hide him well enough.

"What the hell do you want with Kitty?" Lance asked pulling her behind him as he spoke. "I know you were following her so don't deny it."

"We just want to talk to her." Scott said holding his hands up defensively. "We want to talk to you all."

"You 'talked' to me once yo, almost got my neck broke by blue boy up here." Toad said jerking a thumb up at Kurt.

"Hey, you started it frog."

"Enough!" Lance clenched his fist, eyes rolling up in his head. The ground jerked sending the tree at an odd angle.

Toad leapt from the tree while Kurt simply ported to Scott. A cracking sound in the wall of the school nearby sent bricks shaking dangerously. "Mission or no, we have to get out of here!" Kurt said before the two disappeared in a flash of sound and smoke.

Lance practically tore Kitty from the scene. "Toad, who the hell were they?" He practically demanded of the smaller Mutant leaping madly along side them.

"X-men, Summers is the leader boy and the blue guy." He paused. "I dunno what the hell HE is yo."

Kitty phased from Lances grip and slowed her run. "Lance, I think we're far enough, slow down!" She slowed to a walk then stopped trying to catch her breath.

Lance turned and jogged back to her glancing around for further trouble. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. He just scared me is all." She crossed her arms and leaned in on him. "Can we go home now?"

He didn't reply but put and arm around her and lead her back down the street towards the boarding house.

Toad, for his part, stood up and scratched the back of his head taking off after them.

* * *

"I'm sorry, we failed Professor."

"Ja."

"She was just frightened."

Kurt gave a small guilty sound. "Ja."

"It's alright Scott." The Professor steeped his fingers and smiled kindly at his two students. "It was worth a try. Though I'm afraid Kitty will be much more inclined to stay with the Brotherhood at the moment. She's very afraid and has latched onto Lance for support." His wheelchair shifted back a little. "We can't force her to join our side. But we can be patient. You two are excused, though I think Logan wants to see you down below."

He waited until both boys were gone before showing his disappointment. Kitty, or was it Ghost now? She more than likely wouldn't be joining the X-men anytime soon, or at all for that matter.

He sighed and put the file he had of her away in his desk. Well, they couldn't all be wins and there were far more children to reach without chasing after one who positively wouldn't turn. But still, she would have been a great help, and she still had hope.

He let the drawer close and reached for the next file.