Mutatis Mutandis

Chapter two finally arrives! I’m slow, I know, life sucks and all that.

Thank you for all the reviews! I had no idea this would be liked at all, I figured I was a nutcase. Which I am. But to answer a couple of specific questions - it'll be male/male for the most part, since the main pairing is NaruSasu, so I'm glad I can help. :D Sasuke's ability will come up next chapter, while Naruto does have Kyuubi in addition to his clones - though it'll be a little while till those details come out!

I feel like I should apologise to the hardcore X-Men fans. Please go easy on me, I'm no expert! That said, if I've made a ridiculous mistake PLEASE GOD point it out. XD

By the way, ‘Mutatis Mutandis’ (for those who don’t already know) is the motto for the Institute, and means (sorta) “with those things having been changed which need to be changed.” Is there a more graceful way of putting that? ‘Cause ugh. But that’s the general meaning. :)

I'm still setting the scene, apparently, so I'm fairly pdihsfdvd about this chapter. But. Unbeta’d, as usual.

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The hallway outside of Xavier’s office was empty, and if Naruto hadn’t been as tightly wound as he was he may have been tempted to test for an echo. Maybe later, he thought as he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. He wasn’t sure who was supposed to be meeting him, but he’d been waiting for ten minutes by this point and it wasn’t helping his nerves. He shifted his weight and leant against the wall, absently nudging his backpack with a foot.

Travel light – that had always been the key. Ever since his…enforced departure from the orphanage when his abilities had manifested, he had never managed to settle down for longer than a few months at a time. Like most mutants he had gone underground and fled to the city, losing himself in one London hideout after another. It had never been a pleasant existence as he had always been on the run – from everyone, it seemed; the police, the vigilantes, the hyped-up adolescents on a power trip. He was entirely too sick of it since it had never been in him to run, but the Professor’s teachings had reached him even in the darkest, dankest corners of the sprawling city.

Do not fight them. They hurt you because they are afraid, and they are afraid because they do not understand. They will, but we must teach them.

He heard the murmurs of disbelief and cynicism all around him, but he had accepted the words. They gave him hope. He believed, because he had to believe.

So he had pulled together all the resources available to him, and he had come to the Institute. This had led to him being here now, casting furtive glances down the hallway every thirty seconds. He wanted to make absolutely certain that he saw anyone that was coming a mile off, to give him time to prepare.

Which was why he was completely and utterly caught off guard when a head popped out of the wall three inches to the right of his own.

With an undignified yell he flung himself across the hallway, plastering himself against the opposite wall and staring, wide-eyed, at the disembodied head.

Which was grinning at him.

“Y-you just,” he stammered. “From t-there. Wall. Wall. Big, solid wall. I was leaning on it!” He watched, aghast, as a body calmly followed the head.

It was a woman – though probably not much older than him – dressed simply in black pants and a blue shirt. She looked distinctly amused. “Gets them every time,” she said, with a rather smug smile.

Naruto swallowed, and tried to slow his heartbeat through sheer force of will. “Not funny.”

“Not to you. But seriously, shouldn’t you be used to this sort of thing by now? Haven’t you seen any other mutants?”

“No. I mean yes,” he said, watching warily as the woman stepped closer. “Just not in walls.”

She laughed softly. “You should probably get used to it, you know. You’ll see stranger things around here.” Smiling, she extended a hand. “I’m Kitty, by the way. Kitty Pryde. Glad to meet your acquaintance, and all that.”

Naruto found himself coming to the belated realisation that she was right. This wasn’t a normal high school, no matter what the knot of nerves in his stomach was telling him. It wasn’t a mutant shelter in London either, where they wrapped themselves in rags and huddled together for warmth. Here, there was no shame and no need to hide his abilities, no need to shy away from others. After years of living on the automatic defense, this was going to take some getting used to. But – well, why not start straight away?

Naruto straightened and took her hand. “Naruto Uzumaki. Er…same to you.”

Stepping back, Kitty gestured down the corridor. “Well, now that I’ve made you shriek like a little girl, we can be on our way. Heaps to see.”

Naruto paused in picking up his backpack. “Oh, so you’re giving me the tour, th-wait! Who shrieked like a little girl? I did not-“

But Kitty was already halfway down the corridor cackling a cackle, Naruto thought, that dripped pure evil.

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Forty-five minutes later, Naruto was ready to maim puppies. This was sad, he thought, because he rather liked puppies.

It wasn’t because he was tired – he had always had the stamina of a horse, and he was proud of it. It wasn’t that he was bored – the Institute was undeniably incredible, even if he couldn’t figure out why the hell it included a hedge maze (utter childish glee at finding it aside). It wasn’t even Kitty – she was a perfectly amiable girl when she wasn’t trying her best to make him piss his pants.

He was lost. He would never admit it, but every turn they took and every classroom Kitty pointed out just sent him deeper on his spiral of confusion and it was incredibly, painfully frustrating. How was he supposed to find his way without a guide?

“And here,” Kitty said, oblivious to his inner panic, “is the main public gym. Wanna see?” Without waiting for a response, she pushed open the double doors.

Stepping through, Naruto forgot his problems instantly. He sucked in an awed breath as his gaze swept over the huge room. The far wall was one large window, displaying a backdrop of forest. To the far left were a number of standard exercise machines along with a wide space of open floorboards, bordered by a mirrored wall. The rest of the room, however, consisted of a thick padded floor and what could only be described as a massive playground that had been built by a schizophrenic child and then tortured into the haphazard obstacle course from hell. Recognisable gymnastic equipment was dotted through endless nets, pits, climbing walls and ramps. From the roof hung a vast number of ropes and chains, crisscrossing and occasionally connecting to the structure below.

Belatedly, Naruto realised that someone was flinging themselves around up there.

“Everyone’s in classes at the moment,” Kitty said, smiling at his expression. “It’s usually a lot more crowded than this.”

Naruto continued to stare, eyes fixed on the figure above them. They appeared to be defying the laws of gravity, twisting in impossible directions and then catching themselves at the last moment.

Kitty blinked at him, then followed his gaze. She broke into a wide grin and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Kurt! Oi, Kurt!”

Naruto glanced at her in surprise, before turning his gaze back toward the roof in time to see the figure start towards them. The descent was dramatic and fast, and as they hit the last bar he had just enough time to think blue before they were flying towards him.

Or, as he realised only after he had yelped and brought up his arms to defend himself, Kitty.

He watched, stunned, as she traded punches with the newcomer, apparently having managed to dodge the first fist. They were fast, tireless and fairly evenly matched – Kitty’s form was fluid and graceful, but the newcomer was stronger and more agile. Naruto had never seen anything more awesome in his life. There didn’t seem to be an end in sight…until there was a loud bamf of rushing air and suddenly the blue guy was behind Kitty, and using his tail to trip her up.

Tail. Right.

“Not fair!” Kitty whined from the floor. “No powers in sparring!”

The blue man laughed, and offered her a hand – three fingers! – to help her up. “I believe it is rather unfair for me without them,” he said, and Naruto noted the heavy German accent. “Not all of us have been graced with the same martial arts knowledge as yourself, unfortunately.”

Kitty stuck out her tongue, but allowed herself to be pulled up. Then, as if suddenly remembering Naruto’s presence, she turned to him. “Oh! Naruto, this is Kurt. Kurt, this is Naruto, the newest addition to our lovely home.”

Kurt turned to him, smiling, and extended a hand.

Naruto however was still in shock, eyes wide. “T-that…you…I mean, you’re…”

The air around them suddenly dropped a few degrees and Kitty tensed, biting her lip. Kurt’s hand was still extended, but his eyes were wary and defensive. A moment ticked by.

And then, suddenly, Naruto leapt forward and wrapped both of his hands around that of the blue man.

“That was fucking brilliant!” Naruto was grinning, eyes bright. “You teleported! And what you were doing up in the ropes!” He turned his gaze to Kitty, while keeping a tight grip on the hand he was offered. “And the fighting! Can you teach me? Please!”

The tension left the air with an almost audible whoosh. Kitty was smiling. “I guess we could do that.”

“When? Now? Please!”

The other two laughed. “Not yet,” Kitty said. “I have to show you your room, first.”

“Soon?”

“Soon. Now, come on. Are you finished in here, Kurt?”

“I was only entertaining myself, really, as there is not a great deal to do at the moment. Have you seen Logan around at all?”

“Not recently,” Kitty replied. “But you know him.”

The two of them continued to chat as they left the room, Naruto trailing behind. Kurt pulled the doors closed behind them before rejoining the others, a smile still on his face. Naruto was quiet, turning everything over in his mind and mulling through the possibilities. “Teleporting,” he mumbled to himself. “God, the pranks I could pull off with that…”

Kurt’s gaze snapped around to Naruto. “You…like to make mischief?”

“What?” Kitty exclaimed. “No, no, not another one, you can’t –“

The grin Naruto gave him was wide enough to break his face in half. “Hell yes.”

“Kurt, he’s new, don’t get him in trouble yet –“

Kurt smiled in return, yellow eyes twinkling. “Oh, I think I shall like you.”

Kitty buried her face in her hands.

Oh yes, it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

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I tossed up with introductions – nicknames or real names? But I figure they’d mostly use real ones around the Institute, so there you go. If you’re not all that familiar with X-Men, it might help to know that Kitty Pryde is Shadowcat, while Kurt Wagner is Nightcrawler. As for Kitty – I couldn’t stop myself. It had to be her. She was possessed by a freaking ninja demon, people, come on. And Kurt’s playful side isn’t brought up nearly enough for my liking. XD

Why am I so unbelievably fond of the idea of an English Naruto? I seriously have no clue. He just turned up like that.

The gym – not canon, that I know of. But I figure the young ‘uns would have had some sort of non-dangerous equivalent of the Danger Room. The Undanger Room? XD

Is this the beginning of an Institute fight club? Time will tell. 8D

Next chapter – meet the other canon kids! ie., Other Naruto characters. :D