NOTE: Sorry for the delay, but expect it from now on. I'm afraid that now I'm back to school, and don't have time to indulge myself with this type of stuff. But here it is, Chapter Six: Sorrows And Secrets.

Chapter 6: Sorrows And Secrets

"Starfire?" Jean wasn't sure how to react. The young man in black was staring at her, his friend as well, even though she was holding Laura and the bob-haired boy in her energy field. Kurt was on the ground, just now beginning to get up again, and the pink haired girl was up again, blade in hand, eyeing him carefully.

"Starfire?" Raven shouted again, "How . . ."

"Who?" asked Jean, confused, "My name is Jean! Who are you? And why are you trying to hurt my friends?" Floating down to the ground, she walked over to Kurt, helping him to his feet. Raven seemed crestfallen, but Nightwing kept staring, transfixed on Jean's face.

"I'm not hurting them, just keeping them apart," Raven clarified, releasing her hold on Lee and Laura. "Can you two calm down?" she asked the two, who both nodded, but kept a wary eye on each other. Turning her eyes back to Jean, though, she seemed confused.

"You're . . . not Star?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Nightwing turned to her, amazed.

"Of course she is! Look at her!" Incredulously, he tossed his hand in the air, pointing at her. "Where have you been!? How did you . . . I saw you!" he screamed, but not unhappily. Running straight at her, he smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

Shocked, Jean flew backwards quickly, until she was several dozen feet in the air. "I don't know who you're talking about, but it's not me!" she yelled, growing more and more bothered by him.

"What are you talking about!?" he shouted, "I know you!" Looking over his shoulder, he called to his friend. "Raven! Tell her!" Raven, though, shook her head.

"I don't know what's going on, Nightwing, but we have bigger things to deal with," she nodded toward Lee and Laura, who had started to circle each other again, and Sakura, who was still staring at Kurt.

"But . . ." Nightwing said, turning back to Jean. He was cut off, though, when came face-to-face with a large Hawaiian shirt. "When did . . ." he muttered, leaping backward, his staff already in hand.

"Whoa," Kakashi raised his hands, "Calm down. We're here for the same reason you are." He pointed over at Lee and Laura, who now hand Neji standing between them, readying his Divination Whirl. "Sakura, Lee, disengage!" Almost instantly, all three of his teammates were by his side again, all standing passively, except for Sakura, who just stared up at him.

"But . . . they're . . ."

"There are more things in the world than any one person can understand," Kakashi cut her off, "You should understand that just because you've never seen something before doesn't mean that you have to attack it." Turning his eyes to Kurt and Laura, he waved. "I hope you'll forgive them. They've never been this far from home before." Neither of the mutants said anything.

"It's fine," said Jean, apparently on their behalf, "We're used to people thinking we're freaks." While her tone wasn't really accepting of the apology, she made a concerted effort to not be too mad at them.

"Hmph," Laura snorted, looking up at her. Like I'm about to forgive that little bitch, she thought, shifting her eyes to Sakura. I'll show you a monster someday, little girl. Sakura, though, was staring at her own feet.

"Well?" Kakashi muttered, nudging her gently, "Don't you think you should apologize?" Sakura looked up, looking at all the people staring at her, and blushed.

"I . . ." she started, as her eyes came upon Kurt and Laura again, "I'm sorry. I caused all this. Please forgive me." Though not completely satisfied, the students of Xavier each nodded. It was the best they could hope for.

"Then," said Kakashi, patting her on the back, "I think we should go. I wish you all the best in the trials." Waving kindly, he lead his companions into the trees.

"They were . . . strange," Kurt observed, rubbing his stomach, "I didn't think she'd hit me that hard."

"I know," said Laura, "That guy wasn't a pushover either."

"Guys!" Jean called from above, "Can you give me a little help here?" Looking up, they saw her point to Nightwing and Raven.

"You're from Tamaran!" called the boy desperately. Behind him, Raven's eyes were jumping back and forth between him and Jean.

"No! I'm from New York!" Jean shot back, growing almost angry.

"But you were born . . ."

"Hold it!" Kurt called, rushing over to Nightwing. Calmly placing his hands on his shoulders, he shook his head. "She was born in New York, man. I've known her for two years, and the Professor has known her way longer!"

"Nightwing . . ." It was Raven, quietly placing her hand on his back, "I think they're telling the truth. Starfire is . . ."

"But what about Terra!?" Nightwing whirled around, facing down his companion, "Beast Boy said he found her after we thought she was gone! And Slade . . . I mean, he came back as a demon, but he came back!"

"I . . ." She wasn't sure what to say. Beast Boy had seen Terra, but noone knew if it was really her or not. And Slade had definitely come back, but was that a normal thing, or something only Trigon could do?

"See? It has to be her!"

"No!" Jean screamed, both verbally and into everyone's heads, "I know who I am! I'm Jean Grey, I wasn't born in whatever country you're talking about, and I don't know you!" It was clear how freaked out she was, making even Nightwing keep his silence. "Leave me alone!" Flitting between the trees, she flew away quickly, and was soon out of sight.

"Jean!" Laura called after her, jogging in the direction she'd gone. Turning back, she looked at Kurt. "Let's go, furball!" Kurt released his grip on Nightwing, and smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you!" he yelled, porting away in a flurry of blue smoke.

"Wait!" Nightwing called, swiping his hands through the smoke. "I need to ask you . . ."

"They're gone," Raven assured him, "They can't here you."

"But . . . That was Starfire." Giving a low, feral roar, he thrust his hand into the dirt. "I know it." Raven backed away; she couldn't look at him.

"We should go," she tried, "They'll be starting soon."

"Go ahead," he grunted, "I'll catch up."

"Fine!" Raven whispered. Walking away slowly and without a word, she brushed her fingers against her lips, where they'd touched his not twenty-four hours ago. "Liar . . ."

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The bus finally stopped, and as the dust settled, the door opened. This is a mistake, he thought as he rose to his feet. Cautiously, almost reluctantly, he moved toward the front of the vehicle.

"Hey, buddy, move it!" said someone behind him. It was a very short man, with long, but upright, hair, a red t-shirt, and white slacks. "You hear me? Let's go!" Behind him, a much taller, and much more oddly dressed man, placed his hand on the shorter one's shoulder.

"Calm down Krillin," he said, looking up. "Don't mind him, he's just a bit edgy because his wife made him come to this. I'm Yamcha. You're . . ."

"Cyborg," said Victor, smiling, "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah, yeah," Krillin said, motioning toward the door, "But can you get off already?" Looking up at Yamcha, he raised an eyebrow. "I'm still not sure why we had to take the bus anyway . . . We're in a town full of superheroes, after all."

"But we weren't when we got on, were we?" Yamcha answered, grinning, "And what are you complaining about anyway? It's like an hour of straight flying to get here from East City. You'd be squawking then, too."

"Whatever," Krillin muttered, stepping outside behind Cyborg.

"So you two are here for the Justice League, too?" Victor asked.

"Yeah," Yamcha answered, "Well . . ." He pointed down at Krillin, laughing. "His wife made him come." Cyborg chuckled, patting Krillin on the back.

"It's okay, man. Every married man knows that feeling." Krillin, despite himself, actually began to smile as he looked up.

"I know. But I wanted to come anyway, I haven't been in a good match since the last World Martial Arts Tournament." Hopping into the air, and (much to Victor's surprise) staying there, he beckoned for Yamcha to join him. "We'll see you down at the beach!" he called, as they dashed off through the sky.

"Man . . ." Victor muttered, not for the first time, "My job would be so much easier if I could fly."

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"Is everyone alright?" asked Lee, as he brushed off the dirt and dried blood from his pants. One by one, each of the ninjas nodded.

"Who were those people?" asked Sakura, still slightly stunned by the entire incident. "The one guy was blue, and that girl . . ."

"Yes," Lee interrupted, "They were certainly strange, but we can beat them!" Smiling wide at her, he gave her a thumbs up.

"No," Kakashi muttered, already flipping through his book, "We can't beat them. Or rather, we won't. Remember, Lee, they're here for the same reasons you are. They're not out to hurt anyone."

"But Kakashi-sensei! They attacked Sakura!" To prove his point, he pointed to the young woman's torn shirt.

"Because she accosted them," responded the jounin, glaring at his young charges. "We are all here for the same thing. The Justice League has requested all of us to be here, them included. Now whatever misunderstanding caused that little fiasco, I don't what it to happen again!" One by one, each of the team members nodded. Sakura and Lee, each sullen-faced, took a short bow toward their leader. Kakashi, resigning himself to the fact that he was, indeed, with children, merely waved it off.

"It's alright. We'll just make a point of apologizing later. Right now we need to focus on the mission." His eyes focusing on each of them, so intensely that noone could ever mistake his seriousness, he began so speak very quietly. "Lee, I want you and Neji to sweep around to the eastern end of the meeting grounds, and make sure you note anyone we already know. I don't want any surprises like old 'friends' popping up." The boys nodded, each grinning. The mission was really getting interesting now. "Sakura and I will do the same for the western area. We'll meet up whenever we get the chance." Reaching into his shirt, he removed a small packet from an unseen pocket, and proceeded to open it, and showing the few photographs inside to his companions. "These are definitely something you should look for."

Each photograph was of a symbol. The first, a red circle outlined by steel, with a metallic X in the middle, was marked 'X-men.' A second was comprised of four squiggly lines, each moving downward. None of the ninja could mistake the symbol of the Country of the Mist. Yet another was one none of them had ever seen, a T, stylistically drawn to look like an arrow. It had "Themyscira" scribed just underneath. A small, black square, donned with golden trim, sat alone in the center of the last photo. There was no subtitle.

"What are they?" asked Lee, studying them carefully. Kakashi sighed.

"They're the insignia's of the four most important groups here. The X-men, the Mist shinobi, and the Themysciran Amazons aren't necessarily hostile, but we need to keep our eyes open for anyone who would work against this sort of globally unifying effort. Our mission here is strictly observation, but if we need to, we have standing orders to protect the peace that the Justice League represents." All three younger members shot up at this, and nodded slowly.

"But who does the last symbol represent?" It was Lee again, Kakashi noted. He was as good as usual; goofy, but he could keep his mind on the mission.

"We're not sure. Konoha has sent other missions Outside, and each time, we encountered people with this sign." Again, Lee was nodding, holding the photo of the square.

"That's right," he muttered, "I didn't think much of it; I didn't know much about their fashion and figured it might just be something they wore. But I definitely remember seeing this on several people during my stay." Shaking his head, he punched the ground. "I should have noticed that . . ."

"Don't worry about it, Lee," Sakura reassured him. "Noone would have."

"Agreed," said Kakashi, "as it stands, though, make sure you note if you see any of these. We've already made contact with one of the groups."

"We did? When?" Sakura asked, confused.

"A few minutes ago," Neji burst in, "If you'd payed more attention, and hadn't gotten so flustered by that girl, you'd have noticed the X on the blue guys belt." Sakura blushed violently, but kept silent.

"Neji," Kakashi interrupted, "Move out. We don't have much time to sit and talk. Just remember: Observation unless you absolutely need to fight." The second Jounin nodded, and disappeared in a flash, followed quickly by Lee. Finally alone, Kakashi turned to Sakura. "Let's go."