Hello again to all my friends. I don't own X-men, but regardless the original characters that I'll be using in here do belong to me.

To firewhisperer: You're not suppose to get it... yet. But you will, soon. ^-^ Thanks for Reviewing.

Chapter 3

Naomi followed Aurora silently though the ground level of the school, she would look back and talk to both herself and her uncle occasionally. Naomi would only nod occasionally, the other times her black eyes continued to roam every crevice and opening they walked past.

Storm stopped halfway down a hallway and walked into a room they hadn't gone into but the light was on. Naomi looked in as well. It was a kitchen. Sitting at the island bar was a boy with red hair, multiple ear piercings and a spoon hanging out of his mouth. In his left hand was a quart of Neapolitan ice cream, down the tanned arm she could see there were black tattoos formed from strange looking letters. He was in a white tank top and pajama pants covered in what she thought were dogs. His feet were bare. Storm cleared her throat. He looked up from the paper laying on the table.

He pulled the spoon from his mouth. "What's up Storm?"

"Rune, you should be in bed."

He shrugged noncommittally, "Couldn't sleep, and it's not like there are classes tomorrow." He took out another scoop of ice cream, the spoon contained white and brown with a slight amount of pink. "There isn't much ice cream left."

Storm shook her head, "I was starting to wonder why there was less every morning." She looked over her shoulder at Naomi, "Are you hungry?" Rune leaned to the side on his stool to look at her, she nodded slowly and tried to withdraw into her hood as far as she could. "Alright, Rune, you help her get something to eat and I'll forget you were out of bed after hours, this once." She walked back to Beast's side, "We're going to talk about Naomi's accommodations."

Naomi looked almost panicked at her uncle. He smiled, "We'll be just down the hall, promise." The two adults vanished from sight. Naomi kept staring at the doorway until Rune cleared his throat. She slowly turned back to him.

Rune was standing next to the fridge, returning the ice cream to the freezer but keeping the spoon in hand, "What are you hungry for?" He opened the fridge, "Looks like we have some spaghetti and meatballs from a few nights ago; Terrence made it so I wouldn't trust the sauce that goes with it. Some pizza, and... hmm, wonder how long that's been in here." He pulled out a Ziploc bag with something that looked suspiciously fuzzy. He shrugged, opened a cupboard and tossed it into the garbage. He looked up at her and locked eyes, "And there's cereal, lots of cereal."

Naomi quickly broke eye contact, "Cereal's fine." She went back to looking at the room. There were lights dangling over the island Rune had been sitting at, and a table took up the remainder of the room. "How many people go to this school?"

Rune shrugged again and got out a bowl and another spoon, his he put in his mouth again. He took it out again once he'd put the other dishes on the island, "Right now there's only seven or eight of us here, but that's cause it's winter break. The older students go on vacations, and some of the lucky kids actually go see their parents." He opened a full length cupboard revealing a small mountain of cereal boxes, "How do you know Beast?"

Naomi blinked and looked back toward him, "You mean Uncle Hank? He's my... father's brother."

"So you're Naomi McCoy then." He turned back to her, "Beast doesn't come around very often anymore, Storm gets the occasional phone call. Suppose he's busy with his government job and everything I guess." She'd come a little closer and was looking at the selection. She'd never seen so many kinds of cereal. "Aren't you a little warm in that coat?"

She held the coat tighter onto herself, she shook her head, "I'm fine."

Rune sighed, "Your mutation has a physical appearance," it was a statement. "You know, this is a school for mutants, I may not look like one, but I'm not like anyone else out there. We have a student here who oozes orange slime when he's agitated. Storm has a nephew who's covered in spikes and bony plates. You're not going to be judged on appearances." He reached pushed a few of the boxes to the side, "I'm not a psychic, so what do you want?"

Naomi reached into the almost closet like space and pulled out a red box, the front had a rabbit and in green the word Trix. She walked silently over to the island and sat down. After a moment she slowly pulled the coat off and let it hang off the back of the chair. She stared at the empty bowl for a moment waiting for a reaction, any reaction.

Milk joined the other items required for cereal. She looked up at him, "I've seen worse." He smirked, "Nice to meet you Naomi, welcome to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

"I have a feeling you're not telling me the whole story Hank." Storm stated, they were seated across from each other with a coffee table separating them. "What's going on?"

He leaned forward and pressed his hands together. "She hasn't had the best upbringing Aurora. My brother isn't very accepting of mutants. I'm only allowed to visit once a month, and that is quite an awkward encounter." He leaned his head against his splayed fingers. "Most of her life, I believe she's lived in a dark room, because of her powers. I've never seen what she can do, but my brother was convinced that keeping her in the dark made them weaker. Naomi is someone that must be handled delicately, please Aurora I know she'll be safe here."

Storm smiled, "Of course she can stay, the Professor would never turn away a mutant in need, and I keep to that belief." She watched some of the tension leave her old friend. "I take it her parents don't know she's gone."

"She ran away." Beast sighed and gave a small, soft smile. "I'm sure she'll tell them when she feels comfortable enough."

"Why didn't she shake my hand?"

Hank wondered how to explain the mistreatment of his niece without making his brother seem as bad as he'd begun to think of him. "Well, that would also be because of my brother."

Man I'm on a role. Another chapter. Don't forget to leave me a review. I'll give you a shout out at the beginning of the next chapter!