Knowing Opposites

Kurt looked more specific at the way she favored her left side. He could smell her scent mixed the scent of his friends were on her clothes. He thought for a moment, she must have gotten hurt while trying to do something to hurt them. The thought made him forget to apologize to her and shoved her to the wall where the ivy was growing. He gripped her by the collar and the force of the impact made her hiss in pain. His teeth bared themselves at her and his blank eyes glowed golden.

"Vhat did you do to mein friends", demanded the Outsider to the female of the room.

Doc rushed to the two and pulled them apart. He told Kurt to sit down on the leaf while he examined the damage on her ribs. Chrys turned away from Kurt, making it look more like shunning than a turning and lifted her shirt up slightly. "Just a few bruises on your ribs and… three long cuts on your upper arm", calculated Doc, he told her that it wasn't serious and that it would heal by morning. He wrapped the wound on her arm with a healing leaf.

Kurt looked at the two with an open mind for a moment. Why would a doctor from a town that believes in mythical creatures help a human mutant that resembled a napaeae? Why would she feel so comfortable with him touching her like that? Dr. Jones looked at the two hoping they wouldn't kill each other when he got back. After the doctor left the hut for his home, the two in the hut were left by themselves glaring at each other from across the ways.

Silence blanketed the room again and the poison ivy plant grew inside a few more inches, Kurt seemed to notice. It seemed that this person was able to control plants, the scene earlier helped with that hypothesis, but it seemed that her emotions grew certain plants. She's practiced how to control her powers but still had a temper on her. Well, at least to Outsiders, anyway. Kurt had so many questions for her but one still hung in his mind. "Vhat did you do to mein friends", he asked for the last before a sigh escaped her lips.

"What makes you think I did anything to them", she countered right back at him. "How do you know that your friends didn't hurt me and did anything to them?" Chrys's words pierced through Kurt's head with bullet speed. Logan was with them and he tended to get rather violent at times. Kurt looked away from her, at least looking ashamed for his behavior.

Chrys nodded to him in a that's-what-I-thought manner before inspecting the blue furred Outsider.

His hands were deformed in three digits, two fingers and a thumb, on each hand and dog-like ankles and feet. His ears were pointed at the tips. His eyes were his best feature in her opinion. Though he had no pupils, the golden color was captivating and warm with a glance. His spaded tail swished side to side rather like a cat. His fur was a dark, velvet blue. When she cared for his wounds, she noted that his pelt was incredibly soft and smooth. His fangs gave a kind of comfort that she had always known by living with them for so long. The hair on the top of his head was darker than his fur. Two locks of hair framed his face just right.

Suddenly Kurt sighed, "Look, I'm sorry for accusing you of hurting mein friends." His voice was truly sincere as though he really was sorry meant it, as it seemed to the nymph of the forest. "And look ve are going to be living viz each ozer for some time. So ve should get to know each ozer." Kurt looked at the cloaked figure in front of him and put his arm forward in hand shake. "Truce", Chrys looked at the deformed hand strangely.

She had seen hugs, chest bumps, knuckle touches, and high fives but never this. Chrys cocked her head to the side leaned in towards the offending appendage and, despite herself, she sniffed around it like it was a new item. She had never smelt anything like him before; he smelt vanilla and spice mixing together in a mixing pot. She pulled away, no matter how much she wanted to keep the scent, and asked, "What are you doing?" It was Kurt's turn to cock his head to the side.

"It's called a hand shake. You act like you've never seen vone before", he commented, putting his arm to his side. Chrys scratched the top of her hood; to him it looked like she was somewhat nervous.

"So", was the only word that came out of her mouth, then she saw smirk growing on her guest's face.

"You don't know vhat a hand shake is, do you", he asked mockingly. She repeated herself to him and crossed her arms over her waist. Kurt's smirk lessened to a smile while waging his tail and took her left hand in his right one, holding it for a moment. "See", he then moved his hand up and down, "zis is a hand shake. So do ve have a truce?" Under her hood she nodded to him, looking at their gripping hands. "Vell, ve should formally introduce ourselves to each anozer." He finally let go of her hand. "Mien name is Kurt Vagner and I'm sixteen years old. I'm from Bayville, but I vas raised in Germany. Vhat's your name?"

Chrys looked to the side to avoid whatever gaze he held her in. "You'll laugh", she assumed as she played with the seams of the cape that surrounded her frame. "All Outsiders would laugh at my name the first time they'd hear it."

Kurt tapped her shoulder and she automatically turned her head to him, looking at his reassuringly gold eyes. "I von't. I've been called, Demon, Elf, Fuzzy, Fur ball, and the newest of them all, Blue ass." She couldn't help the chuckle that she tried hard to suppress from him. "So I vouldn't be vone to talk of names", he smiled as to bribe her to come out of her shell of comfort. She looked at his eyes and instantly knew that he wouldn't give up on this.

She sighed in defeat, "My name is Chrysanthemum Violet Jones." Kurt's eyes grew large at the last name and opened his mouth to respond but she continued. "Yes, Doc is my father but no, Slutty Sarah is not my mother. He married her six months after I was conceived. My real mother died giving birth to me, she was a great woman as I'm told by Doc. I just turned sixteen a week ago and I've been living in the forest since I was seven."

She turned away from him to play with the trunks that made the hut and looked to the side as to still see him. Suddenly a pedestal of growing branches appeared before the two on the left side of the hut and opened to reveal a charm bracelet. It was made of gold chains and silver flowers, a daisy, a rose, an orchid, a cherry blossom, and, of course, a chrysanthemum. "Did zat belong to her", Kurt asked looking Chrys as she walked to the piece of jewelry then put it on.

"Yeah", the girl misfit answered sadly. "It's a family heirloom, actually. It's originally my great, great, great, great grandmother's, she had the same…", she paused to look down at herself, thinking of a good word for this, "condition as me and my mother." Kurt looked at her sadly, it was then he realized something about her. She was like him, she didn't look human, and she knew what it was like to be an outcast in a world of superstition. For once in Kurt's life since earlier in the days, he no longer felt alone.

"Chrys, vhat do you look like?"

Two Days later

Two days had passed and Kurt was fully recuperated from the venom and was ready to go back with his team that he told her so much about. He was introduced to all the animals of the forest and in return she was told about his life, and vice versa. Kurt got to see the softer side of Chrys that no one else knew but the animals and Doc.

He knew that he would have to leave and that Chrys was still untrusting with other humans and human mutants. He never was shown what she looked like, he saw a glimpse when she turned fast enough, of a single vine in the hood. She still wore the heirloom on her wrist and wore it with pride. Jory had came once but Chrys scared him off easily with a few living branches.

He looked around the place with new eyes, with uniform finally on. The first time he was here Kurt thought that this forest was creepy and dangerous. Now that he looked at it now, it was a paradise. It was dangerous to live in true; there was not a day he had lived with anything being easy. However it was beautiful here no doubt. "Enjoying the night's landscape I see", said a voice from above him.

"Hallo Shatina", Kurt smiled to her, still looking around. Shatina hopped to his shoulder, looking at him with sadness, instead of excitement. "Now, Shatina, don't look at me like zat", he plead, "I have to go."

"We will all miss you", she said, upsettingly. "Chrys especially will miss you." He winced at her words. He had become so close to Chrys, more than anyone he had ever met. He would miss Zuma and his primitive speech. He would miss Amaryllis and her new babies. He would miss Shatina and her helpful personality. He would miss Doc and his joking manner. However, he would still miss Chrys most of all.

"It's time", called Chrys from below them both, on the ground. Kurt teleported his way next to Chrys and looked down at the ground. As they made their way to the X-jet, thoughts roamed through his mind. Why was this so hard? It should have been easy to just leave, right? However, he knew better she had made her mark on him as well as the others. As he thought all of this his tail dragged on the ground, limply.

The jet soon came to sight and Kurt stopped for a moment in front of her. Chrys looked up at him, was something wrong? She felt a grip on her hand and looked down; she saw that it was Kurt's hand squeezing it. "I guess zat zis is goodbye", he said, making her heart squeeze tightly in her chest and nodded to him. He was the first human mutant that she had ever trusted enough to be so open to. It was hard to say goodbye, period, for her. But to say it to him was close to impossible.

"Yeah." It was simple, short but as deadly as a blade to both of them.

"I'll miss you", he said, full of emotion. It was too many to bare so he hugged her tightly, to let himself know it wasn't a dream, that this was all reality.

"Me too."

With that he left her standing there and to the civilization that Kurt knew. Kurt didn't dare look back at her, she needed to move on and so did he. It was just so hard to do. He looked at the team in front of him, Jean was flashing a toothy smile happily at him, Scott grinned under his shades and even Logan half smiled at him in relief. They had already told the professor that the mission was unsuccessful and that they would be home soon but they would be there later than expected.

He spoke to no one as he was greeted but he just sat in his seat. Once everyone was in the jet it lifted up, but not before a large flock of birds rose up from the trees and Shatina appeared in the middle of the room with panic painted on her face. "Kurt, Chrys is in trouble."