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: I always think out my characters very carefully. Makes them more fleshy. The teacher is a random OC, he'll be around more though so I'll have to flesh him out more later. Keep reading to find out about her power and all the wonderful training sessions she gets. ^-^ As always, thanks for the review.

Chapter 12

Nightcrawler. Naomi went to the front door and stood waiting. She hoped he wasn't a bug. There was what sounded like a plastic bag imploding and a ploom of black smoke. Naomi waved a hand to try and disperse it and saw the blue skinned man standing before her.

"Are you Naomi?" He had a thick accent, and looked the girl over a few times, "My name is Kurt Wagner. I was told to find a Naomi to help her learn her powers."

"Yeah, I'm Naomi." She wrapped her arms tighter around her middle. Her own eyes roaming the marks on his skin, the three digits on his hands, then back to his yellow eyes. "You're a teleporter, how are you suppose to help me learn my power?"

"Quite simple really." Storm came across them in the door way and smiled at Kurt, "Hello Kurt, its been a while." She gave the blue figure a hug then turned to Naomi, "You moved from a shadow in the kitchen to one in your bedroom, We're in hopes that Kurt can show you how to control where you are going and when you move."

"A shadow walker then?" Kurt said, "is that all she does?"

"I'm not sure what else I do." Naomi stated. "I can vaguely remember shadow puppets coming to life." She looked at Storm, "I'll try it if it helps."

"Then get a warmer coat on, we're going into the forest to practice." Kurt stated, "Less likely to be seen, and more area to work with."

Naomi nodded and ran up the stairs.

She hadn't liked having to let Nightcrawler hold onto her when he teleported them. Her heart was pounding when they arrived in a snow dusted clearing surrounded by thick trees. "Where are we exactly?"

"Not far from the school." Kurt replied, he scratched the back of his head with a finger, "I haven't done much teaching in my life so we'll begin slowly. We're both learning in that way."

Naomi nodded, "So, where are you from?"

"I was born in Germany." He said simply.

"I see, so that's the accent." She stamped her feet, "So what should I do first, Teacher?"

Nightcrawler tapped his chin, "Well teleportation, as well as any other power takes much concentration to control." He paced a bit before coming back to face his pupil. "Show me how you use shadows to move first, then we will figure out how to continue."

She looked around, "Alright." She looked at her own shadow, it contracted from behind her to pooled around her feet again. She took a breath, felt the skin along her sides crackle and the shadow swallowed her up as she sank down. Kurt stood in the clearing alone for a moment. From the corner of his eye he noticed a movement in the trees. Naomi came out from the shade, picking pine needles out of her hair and dusting off her backside. She sighed, "I didn't come out where I planned..."

"Where did you want?" Nightcrawler asked curiously.

"Behind you, your shadow."

"Well you came up behind me somewhere," He said then smiled, "More concentration, yes, I think it would help you." The sound happened again and the smoke appeared where the blue skinned mutant had been then again when he appeared at her side. "I must know exactly where I wish to be, or I could come out inside of something, or too high or low." He slowly and gently put a finger against her forehead, "You must do the same, or you will emerge from your shadow somewhere wrong."

"Like up a tree." She inserted.

"Yes, try again?"

Naomi gave a determined smile and nodded.

When they returned to the school Naomi's forearms as well as stomach were almost entirely blackened from her opening skin. Kurt had been concerned if they continued for longer it could become permanent or some other damage would begin. Naomi was exhausted, but had one final class to attend. She went up to her room and changed into a long sleeved shirt to cover as much of it as possible.

Storm had said that along with normal studies and power training she needed to pick some sort of extra curricular activity. Something that could express herself without the use of powers. Naomi looked around her room just before leaving. She paused and looked at her shadow on the wall then with her hands made a butterfly shadow. She felt her palms crackle then put down her hands again. The butterfly's wings fluttered for a moment before flying across the wall of her room and landing on the shadow of a bed post. Naomi smiled and closed the door, the insect remained moments longer then evaporated like smoke on the wall.

There were many things she had always wanted to try, and now that she was free of her prison home she was planning to try as many as possible. Beginning with this dance class. The room was a small gym, there were about ten other girls in the room, all of them stretching in various ways. Naomi blinked watching them all. Ivy was standing next to a mirror, one leg on a beam beside it and stretching toward her toes. Naomi bit her lip, not sure she would be able to do this.

A girl bumped into her, "Oops, sorry." She smiled then looked Naomi over, "Oh, you're the new girl, right? I'm Kitty." She held out a hand to her, and took her hand. "Don't worry about looking bad. Not many of us have danced before anyway."

It wasn't very comforting, "I'm Naomi."

Yeah, she's going to try ballet, so sue me.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading my fic. My updates may slow down for a while, work has begun to eat away at my free time aka. writing time. But, don't worry, even if it doesn't get updated, I'm still working on it, still writing when I can! Until next time, leave a review!