An: This is a really long chapter with a lot of action. Hope you're all up for it.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Evan asked for the fifth time. "I mean, a carnival is fun and all but, well, taking her too?"

Li seemed to be ignoring him completely, but Kurt kept glaring at him. Why did he have to be so rude? All right, so Li was not exactly socially acceptable, but she had spent all of her life trapped alone with crazy scientists! That was not her fault, and Kurt was certain as long as he stuck close to her nothing exciting would happen.

"Are you-"

"If you ask one more time, Evan, I'm gonna plaster your face against the car window!" Rogue snapped. Somehow, it had been her rotten luck to end up sitting next to Evan. She shot glares at him repeatedly.

"Yeah, lighten up Evan. It's the carnival! People are always acting weird there!" Kitty pointed out. She was excited, and there would be no holding her back once they got to the good rides.

"You do have the tickets, right Jean?"

"For the last time, yes!" Jean snapped at Scott. Right now they were in that not happy place. Scott had said something at breakfast, and Jean told him to mind his own business. Whatever it was, Kurt had not heard. It seemed like he was the only one.

Li seemed uninterested in the whole affair. In fact, Kurt had yet to tease even the tiniest smile out of her. Especially since her "sister" had shown up and called Kurt something that made Li turn very pale. At first Kurt had thought she was scared, but after a while, he had decided that may be Li's way of blushing. She did not have red blood cells, after all.

It had been a sunny day, and Kurt was outside playing around on the grass. He admitted privately that he had been showing off for Li, who was watching him in the shade of one the big trees. The attack was very abrupt, but somehow Li had gotten in front of him before the girl who Li referred to as her sister could hit him.

Whatever it was they had said, Kurt did not know, because almost the entire conversation was in a foreign language. The last part, that completely confused him, involved Li's "sister" turning to look at him.

"Take good care of my baby sister, or else." She had added some threatening fist shaking, and then turned and left. Li told him simply that Taimi, her sister, was very protective of her. The reason she had come was because she had thought the X-Men had captured Li, and were holding her hostage.

"She is merely enthusiastic. . . and clumsy." Kurt had realized then that Taimi was the same girl who had tried to stop them when they were leaving. No wonder Li called her clumsy. Glancing out the window of the car, Kurt was startled to see they were already in the parking lot outside of the carnival.

"All right," Scott said, as he parked the car. "Here's the rules: No powers, and we stick together. So try to pick out rides that are close together."

"All right!" came the chorus from the children, except for Li, who didn't seem to be paying much attention. Kurt caught her hand and squeezed it. She looked at him curiously, as usual, but he hauled her out of the mini-van.

"Well, what do you guys want to do first?"

"Hurl-A-Whirl!" Kitty squealed. Everyone stared at her.

"Right away?" Evan asked. "Man, you have to plan these things. Baby stuff first, then the monster rides."

"Then where do you think we should go first?" Kitty demanded.

"Well, the Love Tunnel is about as baby as it gets," Evan admitted.

"You're kidding, right?" Jean asked, but the other kids thought it would be a hoot. Li did not seemed excited, but she went along with the others.

"Riding the love tunnel, Kitty?" The group turned to see Lance standing with an older teen- someone Kurt recognized as Gambit. He was one of Magneto's acolytes.

"What's it to you Lance?" Kitty demanded. Lance held up his hand in a sign of truce.

"I was only askin' 'cause it looks like you're gonna get stuck with Spyke, there." Kitty made a face.

"I'm riding by myself."

"Cher shouldn't ride alone in the love tunnel," the older teen said with a Cajun accent. Rogue looked surprised.

"Yeah, that makes you look pathetic," Lance agreed.

"What, are you saying you'd go with me?" Kitty asked, before she could process what she was saying.

"Sure," Lance said, as if she had actually asked him. Kurt grinned at the look on Kitty's face. She had walked right into that one.

"Fine, but keep your hands to yourself." Kitty stalked up to the old man who ran the ride, and she and Lance got into a swan boat together. Jean grudgingly agreed to go with Scott, and Evan went by himself. When Rogue sighed, the other teen addressed her.

"Remy don't think such a beautiful femme should ride alone in the love tunnel." Rogue looked surprised, and she even blushed.

"You don't want to ride with me," she mumbled.

"Sure do, cher," Remy said, offering her his arm. Li tilted her head very slightly to one side, and remarked,

"I think he likes you Rogue." Kurt had to laugh, but he smothered it when Rogue shot him a glare.

"All right, I guess I can ride with you," Rogue said with a sigh. As the couple prepared to get into their swan, Kurt asked Li,

"Will you ride with me?"

"Certainly," she replied, and the old man got another swan for them.

Kurt climbed into the boat. Li took her seat next to Kurt in the swan, and the old man started the ride. As they entered the tunnel, Li started. Surprised, and a little concerned, Kurt asked,

"What is it?"

"I don't like the dark," Li answered in a quieter voice than usual.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Kurt apologized.

"It is all right. You did not know," Li told him, but her voice was a bit shaky. He placed his hand over hers.

"Do not worry, mein Engel. I will not let you be harmed."

"Thank you," Li said, giving him a weak smile. She fought against the tide of memories, and focused on the things inside the tunnel. A mostly naked boy appeared, pointing a bow and arrow at their path.

"What is that?" Li asked Kurt.

"That is a cupid. He shoots arrows at people, and makes them fall in love." Kurt was grateful for the darkness that hid his blush.

"Why would he-" Li stopped midsentence and seemed to catch something out of the air. Before Kurt could ask, Li slipped out of the boat and hissed,

"Get into the water, quick." Kurt stared at her, his mind filled with images of what they could do in the water. Dousing hismelf by teleporting directly into the cold water, he filed away those images for later.

"Why are we-" Li placed a hand over his mouth.

"Just follow me," she whispered. She slid through the water soundlessly, making Kurt reflect that she certainly was well trained. As she approached the swan ahead of them (the one that held Gambit and Rogue) she asked,

"Can you swim?" A very startled Gambit looked down at her.

"Where did you come from, cher?"

"A madwoman's plot to create the perfect human. Can you swim?"

"Sure can, cher. But Remy thinks Rogue is losin' interest." Li pushed herself up enough to inspect Rogue's slumped figure.

"Put her into the water, and I will swim her to the walk. Quickly."

"What is going on Li?" Kurt asked, becoming more concerned by the minute. Li gave him a dangerously penetrating look.

"Tranquilizer darts. We are being targeted by someone." She caught Rogue and swam to the walk. His common sense finally catching up with him, Kurt teleported himself to the walk, and help Li to lift Rogue from the water. Gambit swam over very quickly, and hauled himself up. Li then froze the water.

The ride ground to a halt, but Li was already running down the walk, to check on the other X-men on the ride. Miraculously, only Rogue had been caught by the darts. It appeared that Kitty had shoved Lance into the water, which protected them both, and since Jean and Scott were fighting, they were not in the correct positions to be caught. Evan, by riding alone, also got away.

"I suggest we go back out the entrance, rather than take the exit." Scott nodded at Li's calm suggestion.

"Right. Let's move." But Li aburptly tackled, him and shouted,

"Down!" Then there was gunfire. Everyone hit the floor as swiftly as possible.

"Are they shooting at us?" Evan demanded. Almost everyone gave him exasperated looks.

"Get crawling!" Scott ordered, before anyone could make any smart remarks. The entrance seemed miles away, with the group crawling on their bellies. Though Li most likely could have outdistanced all of them easily, she stayed at the back, watching over everyone. Finally she muttered,

"This is ridiculous." She stood and pointed her hands at the gunmen. Kurt had caught glimpses of their silhouettes, and he did not recognize them.

Li flinched once, but, as the ice shot out to encapsulate the gunmen, everyone was too busy scrambling up to their feet to process the fact. They ran for the exit, Kurt staying with Li. She pushed the men into the wall, and left them there, suspended off the ground, and covered in ice.

Kurt caught her hand, but Li pointed to the entrance, meaning that he should only take them that far. Agreeing with her mentally, he took them to the entrance. They scrambled out behind the other X-Men, and Gambit and Lance.

"I'm outta here," Lance informed the group. He motioned for Gambit to follow.

"Remy just wanna be sure cher is okay," Gambit insisted.

"All right people, let's get out of here before the cops show up," Scott ordered.

"Hey, we were the ones being shot at," Evan protested. Scott gave him a glare and gestured towards the cars. Gambit stayed with Rogue, and Kurt could not be detached from Li.

It was not until the kids were unloading themselves from the van that anyone realized Li had been injured. Jean saw that her seat was very wet. Immediately, she told Kurt to take Li to the infirmary.

"It is only bullet wounds," Li told Jean.

"You were shot?!"

"Twice, yes." Before Jean could explode, Kurt took Li's hand in his, and teleported them to the infirmary. It gave him a chance to look her over himself. Li gave him her curious her expression.

"Why did you not say you were hurt, mein Engel?"

"I am not hurt. I am injured, but I am not in pain," Li attempted, but her explanation only confused Kurt more. Gently, he inspected her arms, searching for the wound.

"That is not where I am wounded," Li told him, and pulled up her shirt to expose her chest. Kurt stared at her naked chest for a moment, and then he clapped a hand over his eyes.

"Putyourshirtdown!Putyourshirtdown!Putyourshirtdown!"

"Why?" he heard Li ask. As he fumbled for some way to explain, someone came in.

*Please don't let it be Scott,* Kurt prayed. It seemed there was something in God's ear, because the next thing Kurt heard was,

"What the Hell are you two doing?!"

"I was showing Kurt my injuries," Kurt heard Li say.

"What was he going to do? Kiss them and make them better?!"

"Why would he do that?" Li asked curiously. Tired of only listening, Kurt slowly lowered his hand from his eyes. Luckily, Li now had her shirt down again. Jean chose this moment to walk in.

"All right, let's take care of those wounds," she said, putting on a pair of latex gloves. "Off with the shirt please."

Scott dragged Kurt out of the infirmary at that point. Li watched them go. She looked to Jean, and asked in a confused tone,

"Why did they leave?"

"Because, you were taking your shirt off."

"Why does that matter?" Li asked, removing her shirt.

"You would be naked." Jean hoped that might settle the question, but she did not count on the fact that Li was a very curious person.

"I do not understand. We are naked beneath our clothing, are we not?"

"Well, yes. . . But it isn't socially acceptable to be naked, except in certain situations."

"When is that?" Li asked. Jean was carefully inspecting the two wounds, and took her time to respond. After bandaging the injuries, Jean directed Li to put her shirt back on.

"I guess no one ever explained this to you, so I'll have to do it. Do you know about sex yet?"

"I understand the process of human copulation, yes." Jean took a moment process what Li meant while the cyborg-girl took a seat beside her on the infirmary bed.

"Oh. All right, bear with me, then. The only people you should have sex with are people you really trust, and want to. Because part of having sex is being naked, people are only naked when they are alone, or with someone when having sex. So, you shouldn't just be naked in front of anyone."

"Because this is not socially acceptable?"

"Yes. Do you think you can do that?" Jean congratulated herself on not blushing even once. "I know this is very new to you."

"I can understand it. Humans are very strange creatures," Li noted. Laughing, Jean agreed,

"Yes, yes we are."