Author's Note: Blarg. Lazy and burnt out from writing this chapter. No clever jokes about flames and the chest. Maybe one about the unibrow of doom. Umm…nope. Sorry. And not much Rachel, either, because I ran out of stuff for her and Bobby to do on their midnight meetings of naked-ness.

Chapter Five

It was early. Very, very early. Cassandra couldn't remember ever being up this early. Unless maybe it was a case where she had stayed up all night and had gone to bed around this time. But she had never woken up this early. And only the fact that she was going to spend time with Logan that had made her wake up. She liked him, for some odd reason, and she was in someway hoping that maybe if she spent enough time around him, he'd figure out what her powers were. And then learn what she had been trying to tell him yesterday. She kind of doubted it, though. Cassandra had been hanging out with her friends for a long time, and none of them had figured it out yet. She was beginning to wonder if the part of her power that made her unable to tell anyone about it also made it so no one else could figure it out.

She passed by her friend's rooms as she headed to the Danger Room and looked jealously at their closed doors. Stupid other people, getting to sleep in. Next time she had a Danger Room session with Logan, Cassandra was going insist on a decent hour. Like noon. Yeah, that was a more sane time of the day.

It was a few minutes past nine when she arrived, so Logan was already waiting for her in front of the Danger Room.

"You're late." He growled.

"You're lucky I'm awake." Cassandra retorted. "I can't believe you actually get up this early."

"I don't need much sleep." Logan said.

"Me, neither. Doesn't mean I don't want it." Cassandra paused for a moment. "Well, sometimes I don't want it. But then my friends make me sleep anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You talk a lot, kid."

"Yup." Cassandra agreed. "Well, you're not contributing anything to the conversation. I have to talk enough for the both of us. And I'm not a kid."

He shook his head. "Come on. We're going to the gym."

"Gym?" Cassandra asked. "What happened to the Danger Room?"

"This is your first lesson. I'm not going to try and teach you how to defend yourself with things attacking us." Logan said, walking away.

Cassandra pouted, then hurried to catch up with him. "No fair. Anorra got to go in the Danger Room."

"You said you didn't know anything, so I'm starting from the beginning." Logan said.

She considered that. "Well, Sam does martial arts. And Anorra does dance. Oh, and Zephyr does dance, too! And she and Sam do gymnastics. So I've gone to a couple of lessons with them. Does that count?"

"I don't know." He said, opening the door to the gym. "We'll find out."

The floor of the gym was covered with black mats. Mirrors lined the walls of the giant room, and a good part of the far right side was filled with various weight lifting equipment. There were some gymnastic materials on the far left, but the rest of the room was wide open.

"All right. We're going to work on defense." Logan said.

"I want to learn how to fight." Cassandra said.

Logan shrugged. "My main concern is making it so you don't die. We're learning defense."

And so they learned defense. Because there really was no arguing with Logan. Besides, he was right, anyway. Not that Cassandra would admit that aloud, though.

Logan spent nearly an hour teaching her how to fend off someone attacking her from in front of her. When she thought they were done, Cassandra started up a conversation again. She was in the middle of saying something to him when he lunged at her, trying to knock her off her feet with a low, sweeping kick. She let out a small "eep" and promptly forgot just about everything he taught her. Logan kicked her feet out from under her and she went crashing to the ground. As she was falling, though, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down with her. He landed on top of her, his body pressed against hers.

Cassandra's wide violet eyes met his own hazel ones, and then calmed slightly. For a very long moment, the two of them stayed like that, Logan on top of her with her hand clutching his shirt and their eyes locked together. Cassandra suddenly found herself unable to breathe properly, and she wasn't entirely sure it was just because of the weight on her lungs.

Logan was just as frozen as she was, although he didn't have the sudden shortness of breath. He did, however, have a brief moment of clarity, like he was realizing something. It was fleeting, though, and gone before he could figure out what exactly it was or even if it had really happened. They might have stayed like that, too, if Logan hadn't smelled Anorra coming into the room. He stood up quickly, brushing himself off, then offered a hand to help Cassandra up.

Anorra backed away slowly, not saying anything and most likely hoping no one had noticed her. Cassandra didn't seem to, since she accepted Logan's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"You did good, Cassandra." Logan said, his voice slightly gruff. "But you need to work on keeping what you learn when you need it."

"I know, I know." Cassandra said, blushing slightly. "I'll try. And it'll help, you teaching me."

Logan looked at her. "You want to make this a regular thing, then?"

Cassandra nodded. "If you don't mind. I need the training, and it's not like I'm opposed to spending time with you."

He raised an eyebrow at her while he considered, then finally shrugged. "You do need the training. We'll meet again tomorrow night sometime. I'll come get you."

Her eyes lit up, and before she realized what she was doing her arms were around him and she was hugging him. Surprised, Logan gave her a sort of awkward pat on the back until she let go.

"Sorry." Cassandra said. "Um, little too excited there."

Logan shrugged. "It happens. Just try not to do it again." He wasn't going to admit to the fact that he didn't exactly mind. Not even to himself, not yet. "I'll see you tomorrow, Cassandra."

He was halfway out of the door when Cassandra noticed something and called, "What happened to kid?"

Logan paused at the door, glancing back at her. "You ain't one." He vanished, then, closing the door behind him.

Samantha sat on her bed, her legs dangling over the end. She was kicking them back and forth absently as she contemplated whether or not it would be worth it to try and go back to sleep. A bird had tumbled into her window that morning around 7:30, his wing limp and his thoughts panicked. She had calmed him down and splinted the wing, and he was now resting peacefully in a shoebox lined with a soft cotton towel. It was just past eight now and breakfast wasn't until ten on weekends, so if she tried she could probably get another hour or hour and a half of sleep.

Finally she gave up on the idea and slid off of her bed, moving over to her closet to grab some closed. After she was dressed, she checked on the bird one last time before heading out of her room. She wandered up and down the hallway a bit, half hoping she would run into someone. She then turned and headed past the women's showers, the stairs, and the men's showers. Another right turn brought her into the right wing of her floor, a place she had yet to explore. It looked pretty much the same as the left wing, unfortunately, giving her nothing new to do. The only difference was that there were three rooms on each side of the hall here instead of four. Which meant the rooms here were probably a bit bigger. Must be why the actual X-men were here, while the more junior members of the X-men and the X-men in-training got the left wing.

Samantha giggled suddenly as it occurred to her that the abbreviation of X-men in-training was XIT. She'd have to remember to inform her friends that they were zits later.

A door opened, then, making her jump slightly. Kurt walked out of his room, closing the door behind him. He was dressed nicely, in a pair of black slacks and a dark blue button-up, long-sleeved shirt.

"Morning, Kurt." Samantha greeted, giving him a smile.

He turned to face her, then smiled in return, although his was a little shy. "Guten Morgen. Up early today?"

Samantha nodded. "It wasn't exactly planned. There was a bird with a broken wing who was kind of panicked. It's hard to sleep when someone's crying in your head." She grinned a bit.

"You speak with birds?" Kurt asked.

"Yup. Birds, and most other animals, too." She said.

"It must be wonderful to hold conversations with animals." Kurt said. "I have always wondered what they might say, had they the chance."

Samantha smiled. "It is wonderful. And you can come with me to talk to them sometime, if you want. I mean, I can translate."

"I think I would like that." He said with a smile, then thought of something. "The bird, is he all right?"

"He's fine." Samantha replied, oddly pleased that Kurt had asked about him. "He's all bandaged up and resting."

Kurt nodded. "Good. Well, I would love to speak with you more, but I'm afraid I have to leave you. I'm on my way to mass."

Samantha tilted her head. "You're going to church? Can I, um, come with you?"

Kurt's eyes lit up. "You are Catholic?"

"Not really." Samantha admitted. "But my parents are, and I used to love going to church with them."

"Ahh." Kurt said. "Yes, of course. You are welcome to come with me any time. I would enjoy the company."

Samantha grinned, then glanced down at her jeans and tee-shirt. "Do I have time to change real quick?"

Kurt considered, then nodded. "I can take a short cut. I will meet you at the bottom of the stairs."

"Thanks. See you in a few." Samantha told him, then dashed off into her room. She changed into a sleeveless lavender silk blouse and a long black skirt with a slit the came to just above her knees. Her hair was given a quick brush, then she added light purple heels and started out of her room. Thinking better of it, though, she paused to write a quick note to her friends, which she taped on her door.

Morning!

Went to church. Might not be back in time for breakfast.

Sorry!

Love you guys!

Sam

With that, she grabbed her purse and headed downstairs, smiling at Kurt as she stopped next to him.

"Ready." She told him.

"You look nice." Kurt commented as they began walking, then blushed. "I mean, the clothes. They are perfect, for church."

Samantha gave a bit of a grin. "Thanks. Um, you, too. Clothes. And, you just look nice. In general."

His blush darkened. "Danke."

"Bitte shon." She replied.

Kurt looked at her. "You speak German?"

Samantha shook her head. "Not really. Anorra and Cassandra do, though, so I've picked up a few things. I'd love to learn it, though."

"I could teach you." Kurt suggested, then blushed again. "If you wish."

"That'd be great!" She said, sounding excited. Maybe a little too excited, but he didn't seem to notice. "And it makes sense, 'cause, you know, you are the German teacher."

Kurt laughed. "That's true. And a very good point."

They reached the front door and he opened it, holding it for her.

"Thanks." She told him, smiling, then glanced around the front yard. "Um, which way to the garage again?"

Kurt grinned at her. "We don't need a car."

"We don't?" Samantha asked, confused.

"We don't. I have a faster way of getting there." A mischievous glint appeared in his gold eyes. "Do you mind trying something new?"

"Not at all." She replied, grinning back at him. "Just tell me what to do."

Kurt offered his hand to her. "Take my hand."

She took it and he drew her close, slipping his other arm around her shoulders.

"Hold onto me." He told her, then added softly, "Don't be afraid."

"I'm not." Samantha replied, looking into his eyes.

There was a bamfing sound accompanied by a slight sulfuric smell, and Samantha felt a brief moment of disorientation as if her senses were cut off from the rest of the world. Then everything cleared, except for a small cloud of smoke and the lingering sulfur scent. She glanced around them and realized they were now standing in a small alley.

Her gaze moved back to his face. "You can teleport? That's so cool!"

"It does serve its purposes." Kurt agreed.

He took his arm off of her shoulders and she let go of his hand. Sometime before or during their jump, his tail had wound itself around her left thigh, and neither of them noticed it until she took a step forward. Then, he blushed and uncurled it.

"Tut mir leid." Kurt told her. "I didn't realize that had happened."

"I didn't either, so don't worry about it." Samantha said. "Besides, I like the tail, so it's not like I…I'm gonna shut up now before I say anything to make me sound even more like an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." He said, shaking his head. Not for telling him that she actually liked his tail. That surprised him, almost as much as she had when she willingly offered to shake his hand. He had yet to see any indication that his looks offset her.

She smiled at him. "Thanks. I'm not entirely sure that it's true, but I appreciate you saying that. So, um, where's the church?"

"Oh! Yes, we better hurry or we might be late." Kurt said, then fiddled with his watch. He flickered for a moment, then was gone. In his place stood a normal looking human, wearing Kurt's clothing and with tan skin, black hair, and hazel eyes. "Image inducer." Kurt told Samantha when he saw her staring. "It's easier to remain unnoticed this way. It's only a hologram, though, so I must be careful not to bump into anyone."

Samantha tilted her head, then reached out her hand and rested it against his cheek. She could still feel the soft coating of fur that lay over his skin and the scar from one of his tattoos under it. She smiled, then, and pulled her hand away.

"Just checking." Samantha told him. "It's a good disguise, even if it's not you."

"Not me?" Kurt asked, looking confused.

"You look weird without the blue and gold." She replied. "Not bad, just different. Although I like you better the way you really are. So, church?"

Kurt stared at her for a moment before he gave a smile and offered his arm to her. She grinned and slipped her arm through his, then the two of them headed towards the church.

"Oh, wow." Zephyr murmured, her eyes widening.

She had gone to see Xavier about getting some more advanced pilot lessons from Storm before her first class on Wednesday. There was already someone in the office, though, apparently the newest member to their team. He had a bag with him that looked hastily packed, since there was a shirt sleeve hanging out of one end. He was also the most beautiful man Zephyr had ever seen. His eyes were an incredibly deep blue, hidden a bit by some strands of his short blonde hair. But what had made her gasp were the white feathered wings that grew from his back.

"Zephyr," Xavier greeted, causing the winged young man's attention to turn towards her. "This is Warren Worthington. Warren, this is Zephyr. She arrived a few days ago."

"Hey, Warren." Zephyr greeted. "Welcome to the institute."

"Thanks." Warren said, giving a shy smile.

"Zephyr, Warren's going to be living on your floor, in room 314. Would you mind showing him there?" Xavier asked. "Or did you need something?"

"Hmm?" Zephyr asked, then shook her head without taking her eyes off of Warren. "Oh, no. Nothing too important. I can take him up. Now?"

"Yes, I believe our talk is done." Xavier said. "Warren, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"I won't." Warren said. "Thank you, Professor." His voice was filled with so much gratitude that it made Zephyr wonder what had happened to make him come here in such a hurry.

Zephyr led Warren out of the office and headed towards the third floor.

"It's nice to meet you, Warren." Zephyr told him. "Do you know anyone here yet?"

Warren shook his head. "I landed in the middle of a baseball game, but the Professor sensed my arrival and came to get me, so I didn't have a chance to talk to anyone."

"My friends and I just got here, too." Zephyr said. "You can hang out with us, if you want. Or at least eat lunch with us. Then Bobby and Piotr won't be stuck with so many girls."

"I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable." Warren said shyly.

Zephyr frowned. "Why would you make anyone uncomfortable?"

"My wings." Warren replied. "They seem to distract people."

Zephyr smiled. "Don't worry about that. My friend Anorra's completely covered with silver scales, Piotr sometimes has metal skin, and Sam's been known to sprout wings herself. We won't mind."

"Really?" Warren asked. "You were sort of staring before. I thought maybe I was freaking you out."

Zephyr blushed. "Oh, that. Sorry about that. It's just…Okay, really corny, but you kinda look like an Angel. I wasn't freaked out at all. Your wings are gorgeous."

"Angel?" Warren blinked, considering that. He then blushed slightly. "Thank you. You're the first one who's ever told me that."

Zephyr looked surprised. "Well, whoever said different is wrong. You're beautiful."

Warren blushed darker. "If everyone's as nice as you here, I'm going to really enjoy it."

"Oh, don't worry, everyone is." Zephyr said, trying to hide her own blush. "But don't mind if they tease you. They do it a lot, especially to people they like."

Warren nodded. "I'll remember that. Xavier said you lived on the third floor?"

"Yeah, I do." She agreed. "I'll show you my room on the way."

They chatted a bit more until they reached the top of the stairs.

"Okay, the women's bathrooms and showers are on the right side of the stairs, and the men's are on the left." Zephyr told him. "That's really important to remember."

"I figured." Warren told her, grinning. "Something happen?"

"Rogue was giving the new French teacher a tour, but he irritated her so much that she gave up halfway through and, um, never told him which one was which." She said. "So he sort of walked into the women's when I was taking a shower."

He stifled a laugh. "Now I sort of wish you hadn't told me, so I could use that as an excuse."

Zephyr blushed. "Anyway, um, my room's down that hall, third door on the left."

She led him down the other hall, to the last room on the left side. "And this would be your room." She opened the door. "You want me to help you unpack or anything?"

"It probably won't take that long. I, um, didn't get a chance to pack much." Warren said quietly.

"Left in a hurry?" Zephyr asked, then tried to decide whether or not he wanted to talk about it. Finally, she settled for, "Well, I can help unpack, anyway, or wait. It's almost lunchtime, so maybe I could take you down to the dining hall?"

Warren smiled at her. "Okay. If you don't mind."

"….the stupidest note in existence, Sam, really." Cassandra was saying at their lunch table.

They were sitting with Bobby, Rogue, and Piotr, like they had at breakfast, except this time Samantha was with them and Zephyr was absent.

"You could have at least told us who you were going with." Cassandra

Samantha stuck her tongue out at them. "I didn't think you needed to know that information."

"Then you shouldn't have said you had randomly decided to go to church." Rachel said.

"Yeah, the only one who goes to church on our floor is Kurt." Bobby agreed. "That was pretty much a give away."

"Which Bobby told us." Anorra said.

"Because Bobby is the best." Rachel agreed.

"You're just saying that because you're midnight naked buddies." Rogue commented.

Samantha beamed at her. "Rogue, you rock."

They had mentioned the midnight naked buddy thing at breakfast and, apparently, Rogue found it utterly entertaining. True, she had been a little jealous at first, but when the topic had changed to Gambit and his lack of knowing where the women's bathroom was, Rogue had found the jealousy fading into amusement.

The conversation divided, then, with Rogue, Samantha, and Cassandra chatting about Gambit, Kurt, and churches, Bobby and Rachel talking about tennis, and Piotr and Anorra discussing a few of the current movies. Anorra was still pretty shy around him, but she was managing to make responses that were at least full sentences.

"Hey! Who's the guy Zephyr's walking in with?" Samantha asked suddenly.

Their eyes turned towards the entrance of the room to see Zephyr coming into the room, talking to a young man with wings.

"I dunno, but he's hot, too." Cassandra said. "What's with all the new hot guys?"

"And why is Zephyr taking them all?" Rogue asked.

"You know, you have a really good point." Rachel agreed.

"There's always Xavier." Cassandra commented with an evil grin.

"I hate you." Samantha told her. "I just have that mental picture in my head."

"You know, you're making me get really bad thoughts by not telling us what that picture is." Rogue told her.

Samantha shook her head. "Not telling. They'll just tease me more. Because they all hate me. Nobody loves me."

Cassandra started laughing. "Nobody loves Eeyore." She quoted.

Apparently, Samantha found that hilarious, because she burst into laughter. She and Cassandra spent about five minutes cracking up hysterically, then Samantha suddenly jumped up. Her body shifted, and in her place stood a small black donkey.

The donkey sat down, casting a forlorn look at them. Nobody loves Eeyore. Samantha repeated in the telepathy she only used when in animal form.

Cassandra began laughing harder, while the rest of them either had amused smiles on their faces or were shaking their heads.

"Yeah, they do this a lot." Zephyr told Warren as they sat down. "Just ignore them."

"I assume the donkey's Sam?" Warren asked.

Zephyr nodded. "The one laughing hysterically is Cassandra, the silver one's Anorra, and that's Rachel, Bobby, Rogue, and Piotr." She introduced. "Guys, this is Warren. He's new."

There were various greetings, except for Cassandra and Samantha, who were still laughing.

"Um, do you all know where Samantha is?" Kurt asked as he approached their table.

"Donkey." Rachel commented, pointing at her.

Cassandra managed to calm herself down, and Samantha stopped filling their heads with laughter.

Oh. Hi, Kurt. Hang on a second, I'll shift back. Samantha said.

Kurt looked her over. "You're a shapeshifter as well?"

Yup. Only into animals, though. I… Her mental voice trailed off as she shifted too far into her human form and could no longer use telepathy. It took longer than turning into a donkey, but eventually she was human again. And wearing only a sports bra and a pair of biker shorts.

Samantha didn't seem to realize this, though, as she asked, "What's up?"

Kurt blushed darkly, his face turning an interesting shade of purple. "Um. I. Um."

"Sam! Put some damn clothes on!" Cassandra hissed.

Samantha's eyes widened. "Oh." She let out a string of curses in Cherokee and looked wildly around as if a solution would suddenly appear out of no where.

Fortunately, it did, as Kurt shrugged out of his coat and draped it over her shoulders. Samantha blushed darker and slipped her arms into the coat, hugging it close to her.

"Thank you." She told him. "Sorry. I can only shift with skintight clothes. Everything else gets trashed."

"It's no problem." Kurt replied. "I just wanted to know if you wanted to meet me tomorrow, for a German lesson?"

"Sure." Samantha agreed. "That'd be great. What time? I'm doing a sort of informal intro riding lesson tomorrow afternoon, but any other time is great."

"Evening, then? After dinner?" Kurt suggested.

She nodded. "Sounds great. I'll see you then. Um…" She bit her lip. "About the coat…."

"Keep it." He said. "You can give it back to me tomorrow."

Samantha smiled. "Thanks again. I really appreciate it."

"Bitte shon." Kurt replied, then headed off.

Samantha turned back to her friends, most of who were snickering at her. Cassandra opened her mouth to say something.

"Shut it, you." Samantha ordered. "Nothing. Because you all suck. And you two are midnight naked buddies. And you saw the French teacher naked. And you were the reason behind that. And you two were on top of each other forever. And you were under Logan. And you….Um, I don't know you well enough to know something embarrassing about you. But I'm sure there's something!" She announced. "And, um…yeah. I'm getting dressed now."

Samantha headed up to her room, knowing she was only spared from teasing for the moment. Sure enough, as soon as conversation picked up at the table again it was very insinuating comments about her before they moved on to teasing people who were actually there.

Anorra was in pain. She had been all day and she had been trying really hard to hide it. Fortunately, it seemed to have worked, but most likely only because the rest of her friends had been so distracted. She wasn't entirely sure she could manage to fool them again tomorrow. Which wasn't actually the issue at hand, though. The main irritation was that she was dead tired, but the pain in her back was making it impossible for her to sleep. Finally at around four in the morning, she had decided to see if taking a hot shower would ease the pain a bit.

Unfortunately, it hadn't really worked. She was on her way back from the shower, still in the same amount of pain as she had been in before, when she ran into Piotr in the hall. Anorra stumbled back a bit and Piotr's arm wrapped around her waist in to steady her. It connected with one of the bruises on her back, though, and she let out a muffled yelp of pain.

Piotr's eyes widened in concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Piotr." Anorra told him. "I'm just really tired."

"Will you let me look? Please?" Piotr asked. He could tell she was hurt. He had been watching her during their meals together, and her movements were not as graceful as they usually were. It made him feel incredibly guilty, since he knew he was responsible for it.

Anorra made a shrugging motion with her shoulders, so he gently turned her around and peered at the part of her back that showed above her towel. It was splotched with metallic purple patches that Piotr assumed were bruises and he winced.

"I'm taking you to the medical facilities." Piotr informed her.

"Don't need to." Anorra murmured.

"You must." Piotr told her, then gently scooped her up into his arms. He was very careful to put as little pressure on her bruises as possible.

She made some vague form of protest as he carried her to the medical area, but unless she wanted to change into dragon form, she was really no match for him.

"Beast, you are awake." Piotr said with relief as he walked into the room and saw Beast reading a book. "Anorra needs your help."

"What happened?" Beast asked, hopping down from the ceiling and setting aside his book.

"She was injured in the Danger Room yesterday." Piotr said, laying her down on the table. "She insisted she did not need medical attention."

"I don't." Anorra said, trying to get up. "I'm fine."

"Yes, I can see that." Beast told her. "Now please hold still." He paused. "Piotr, you may wish to avert your eyes while I look at her back."

Piotr obediently turned away as Beast examined Anorra.

"Have you taken anything for the pain?" Beast asked.

"Some Ibuprofen." Anorra said. "It didn't really help. Although that was a couple of hours ago."

Beast nodded. "I'm going to give you something to help with that, and to help you sleep." He pulled out a syringe and injected it into her arm. "And I will give you a balm for your bruises. Hold on a moment and I'll get it."

He disappeared and Anorra reached over to grab Piotr's hand. Piotr looked at her, being sure to keep his gaze on her face.

"Thank you." She told him. "For staying with me."

"It is not a problem." Piotr replied, then moved aside as Beast came back.

Beast carefully applied the balm to her back, then told her to use it a once a day for the two days. He handed the balm to Piotr, as Anorra was already falling asleep.

"Do you need help taking her back upstairs?" Beast asked.

Piotr shook his head. It was his fault she was hurt, after all. "No, I will take her."

He gathered her into his arms again, taking great care once more. When they reached her room, Piotr pulled down the covers of her bed and gently set her on top of the sheets. Averting his eyes, he took away the towel and settled her comforter over her. After he was certain she was as comfortable as possible, he dragged a chair to her bedside and sat down, ready to do what she had thanked him for and stay with her.