Perfectly Normal

Perfectly Normal Chapter
Thirty Nine

Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I think I fixed the email, lol.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Did it show up?style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and
Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  J ProPhile: *swat *style='mso-spacerun:yes'>   Morgan: *test stalk * Readers/Reviewers:
Thank you for reading and reviewing as you can! The Killer Kitties love you for
it ;)

            “Kurt,”
Kitty sighed loudly.  “You’re seeing
things. We’ve been all over the house and nothing unusual… And w:st="on">Logan would have noticed Shi’ar on the
grounds.  The man doesn’t miss things
like that!” She sank down to sit on the edge of the back patio, pressing her
fingertips to her temples in a vain attempt at staving off the coming
headache.  “Just sit.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Please?”

            Kurt, face
set in lines of annoyance and anger, paced a moment more before dropping
unceremoniously next to Kitty.  She did
not need to see his true form to know his tail was twitching, itching to lash
back and forth in heightened emotion.  “I’m
not hallucinating, Katzchen.  I know what
I saw!”

            “A shadow,”
she cut him off.  “You saw a shadow cast
on the wall.  It could have been a lot of
things, Kurt. Someone—not a Shi’ar—walking between the house and the shrubs
outside, a weird throw of light from the trees, the curtains…” she paused,
laying a tentative hand on his knee and squeezing gently.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Maybe you’re tired.”

            “Maybe,” he
allowed, still frowning, “but this was a bird…a giant…bird…”

            “The Shi’ar
aren’t birds,” she pointed out dryly, stretching her legs before her and
sighing.  “I need to go back to school
tomorrow, if possible… I’ve missed so many days…” she trailed off, her voice
soft and slightly shaken, as if relaying bad news.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

            “Kitty,”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Kurt paused, trying to decide how best to
phrase his thoughts and settling for ‘gently.’ 
“You’ve missed too many days to finish the semester, ja?” When she
nodded, he pressed on, still tentative but not wishing to back down.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Maybe… you did that on purpose? I mean, a
lot of the things you came back for could have been handled…”

            “…without
me,” she finished, sighing again and hiccoughing a bit as she tried not to
cry.  “I’ve just screwed myself out of
this prestigious program and now I have to…to…”

            “Go to the
state university in Bayville like a normal person?” he shrugged, only half
teasing. “You’ll graduate in two years and never look back.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Inside, he was doing a jig of relief that she
did not snap at him or become offended by his suggestion as to her absence from
school.  “I’m sure Pete will understand
your leaving…”

            “Pete,” she
groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead. 
“I had a date with him tonight! I forgot all about it!”

            Kurt was
torn: he wanted to crow his pleasure over her missing a date with another man
but on the other hand… “Date?”

            Kitty
nodded, feeling guilty and cautious at once. 
“He asked me to go to some art show with him in town.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  His friend’s got an opening going on tonight
and he thought I’d like to see her works.” 
She sighed, rubbing her fingers across her eyes lightly, dashing away frustration.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “I feel awful about missing it, especially when
he went out of his way to get me a ticket!”

            Kurt
frowned so deeply his fangs drew blood from his lower lip.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Liebes, I…”

            “Hey!” Remy
seemed to burst out of the darkness before them, the early spring night still
holding onto winter’s timing.  “Y’all
seen Jubilee anywhere?”  He paused,
slightly out of breath.  “Or Rogue?style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I been lookin’ for ‘em for ‘bout two hour now…”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

            “Uh, no,”
Kitty replied, standing quickly and leaving Kurt on the concrete patio
surface.  “What’s up?”

            “Rien,”
Remy smiled.  “Not one damned thing…”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He sketched a half bow at Kitty, saluted Kurt
lazily, and loped into the house, whistling under his breath.

            “I thought
he was in New Orleans,”
Kurt mused, willfully pretending that he did not want to pursue his
conversation with Kitty any further.  style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Good…Pete lost out on a date with mein
Liebes… maybe he’ll get the hint…

            “I thought he
was in Tonawanda…”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Kitty murmured, staring at the backdoor
thoughtfully.  “Curiouser and curiouser…”style='mso-footnote-id:ftn1' href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="">class=MsoFootnoteReference>class=MsoFootnoteReference>[1]style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She glanced sideways at Kurt and offered a
wan half-smile.  “Look, it was probably
nothing you saw.  The human brain always
tries to find familiar shapes and patterns in things it sees.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It’s like a self defense mechanism.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The unknown addles us, in theory, so our
minds try to make things familiar and recognizeable.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  That way, the shape that LOOKS like a lion on
the savannah makes us run even if it’s just a plant in the shadows.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  We look silly one day, live to tell the tale
the next.”class=MsoFootnoteReference>class=MsoFootnoteReference>[2]

            Kurt rolled
his eyes heavenward, taking a step towards her as she turned to head back into
the house.  He could smell the
vanilla-strawberry familiarity of her, the teasing tart-sweetness of her skin,
the barest hint of sweat overlaying the soap and perfume oil she used daily,
imbuing her flesh with the scent Kurt could pick out of a thousand others with
a single breath.  “It was not a
lion.  Or a shrub.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Or a tree,” he added as they gained the back
door and his reptile brain began to uncoil, sending tendrils of want and need
through his body, despite his forebrain shouting at him to behave, to be
serious and mindful. 

            “Whatever
it was, it wasn’t…Shit.” 

            “Was?” Kurt
ran into her as she stopped dead still just inside the back door.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The hall was dark, no light reaching out to
them from the front of the house, but a shape was obvious in the shadows.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “I told you,” he muttered, trying to pull
Kitty back and get between her and the figure looming.

            The Shi’ar
stepped forward, their features still hidden by the lack of light.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Where is Xavier?”