Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or anything relating to it, only my OCs are mine.

SHADOW'S RECOVERY

His name is Kai Fujitaka, also called Shadow. He's a Japanese mutant with shadow powers of varying things he could do with them. Create 'shadow weapons', travel though the shadows and also the ability to become a 'living shadow' are among them. Although at the moment he was in a bed resting in the infirmary of the Xavier Institute.

He had nearly killed himself to get here. He thought back as usual to that last day at his village, his home. Everything was gone now, well, almost everything. He didn't know where his father was, his twin brother, his two best friends. His home was burned to the ground and then there was Sakura. A day didn't go by that he didn't think of her just laying there lifeless on the ground.

During that attack he had lost much in his life and had nearly been killed, the poison in the wound he had got had nearly killed him. His body had taken a lot with the poison also, he was close to death when a few of the students here had luckily found him just before he collapsed. He had been healed by a blue haired mutant girl, well at least she had taken the poison out of his system but his body was still weak from the damage the toxin had done to his body.

It had been a few days and he was feeling a bit better, normal things didn't tire him out anymore and he could walk around now without getting winded. He notice Mr. McCoy the large blue furry man enter, he was smiling so he figured it was good news. "Well I think you're ready to leave."

He was happy to get out of this room and got out of the bed as quickly as he could. "Thank you, I appreciate all that you have done, but…I would like to leave this room."

Hank only nodded and smiled. "Oh believe me I know a few other students that feel the same way. I can show you to where you will be roomed with, at least until the expansion to the mansion is complete."

"Again thank you." Kai bowed a bit or at least as far as he could go comfortably and let the large man show him around. So far he was enjoying his stay here as best he could given the circumstances. Everyone seemed nice at least and he had been taken around the place in a wheelchair. At least now he was walking. McCoy led him to a room and told him this was where he would be staying.

He opened the door and saw a large room with two beds. He looked over one that had new linen on it and guessed that was his, especially since the other one already seemed to be have been slept in. He looked around the room and saw a few pictures. He saw the other blue furry one, named Kurt in many of them and figured it was his room. He saw one of Kurt with the goth one with the white and brown hair that was his sister, believe it or not. There was also one of a few others, him as a little boy and two people who had to be his parents, and one more of him and a dark skinned girl he remembered as Amanda.

There was a strange sound and the smell of brimstone, and he felt a presence in the room and quickly turned around to see Kurt there. "Hey roomie." Kurt said in a happy tone, and his usual broad smile on his face. "Hope you don't mind rooming vith ze fuzzy man for a bit."

"I don't mind at all." Kai said moving over to the bed and sitting down, he may feel better but he was still tired a lot of the time. "So how long are we going to be roommates?"

"Until ze construction stops, and zhey only just started." Kurt said sitting on his own bed. Although things were hectic around this place as it was. With the construction things were even more so, although Xavier had specifically told them to give the construction workers a wide birth. Some of them obviously didn't want to be here.

"Hey glad to see you up." This new voice came from the red shade-wearing leader of the X-Men, Scott holding some clothing in his arms. The dark haired Canadian Vincent followed him close behind with a bundle in his arms. "I got some spare clothing for you, when you feel up to it we can go out and get you some more for just yourself."

"Thank you." Kai told him, these people asked nothing of his and already he owed them. First for rescuing him from Trask and now being taken in like this. He hoped to one day repay them all for everything. He took the clothing and placed them in a drawer.

"If you need anything then you can come to me or the adults but I'm sure Kurt here can help out too." Scott told him and ruffled up the younger boy's hair.

"Hey man not ze hair." Kurt said although he was grinning and smoothed it out with his hands.

Vince just chuckled at the sight and then gave Kai the bundle. "I figure you would want all this, I've been keeping all the stuff safe that you can in with."

Kai took it and unwrapped it, there was his ninja clothing and gear. There was also his Katana and the few things even a red ribbon. Kai looked sadly at the ribbon, he had taken it from Sakura when she had died so he would have at least something of hers.

He slowly sat down on the bed holding the ribbon in his hand just staring at it. Even though they had only been dating a short time, but she had been a part of his life ever since he had been a young boy. It still hurt and he knew it would hurt for sometime. The other three boys saw the look on his face and each gave another a look each one wasn't sure if he would want privacy or not.

It seemed Vince had to bit the bullet and ask. "You want to talk about it?" he knew it was cliché and lame but it was the only thing he would think of to say. Kai wasn't sure, this was a private and pretty personal to him. Kurt ported over next to him an placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Sometimes it helps to talk about zhings like zhis…plus if we knew about her zhen she vouldn't be remembered by more people."

Kai listened to Kurt's words and felt a ring of truth in them, in the end a person only survived after death as long as they were remembered. He gave a sad smile and began talking to them about Sakura, the first time he saw her, her smile, the way she moved…after sometime he was lost in the memories telling them about a few of the things he tried to do to get her attention.

"Yeah I know how that is." Scott then went into explaining how it had taken him so long to get Jean to not only see him as more then a friend but also to work up the nerve to tell her how he felt. Kurt added in his own two cents about how he had been so nervous about Amanda that it wasn't until she had asked him out when things started out between them. Vince told him how before Rogue he had been interested in one of his closest friends named Mary but he never had the chance to explore that relationship.

Then he noticed the look Kurt was giving him. "Hey man don't get me wrong I love Rogue I'm just saying if I never came here, which I'm glad I did because I met your sister, I most likely would have ended up with her." Kurt was still giving him a look. "Of course not that I wouldn't go with anyone else but Rogue I mean she's the best thing that ever happened to me," Kurt was now crossing his arms still looking at Vincent. "I mean I…you're just messing with me aren't you?"

Kurt broke into a laugh and he had his answer.

"Man Vince I thought you were going to dig your way to China with the hole you were digging yourself into." Scott joked to him earning him a sharp glare from the Canadian boy.

-Amara and Tabitha's Room-

Amara was brushing her long brown hair in the mirror, she was about finished when Tabitha came into their room dancing to the music from her walkman, Amara watched her and wished she could move like Tabitha could. She was always one of the best dancers here and even though Amara knew she wasn't helpless she wasn't as graceful as Tabitha.

Which was kind of an annoyance to her, she was raised as a princess and all the endless hours she had to endure from the royal tutors on making her have perfect balance befitting royalty had been hard yet to Tabitha it came naturally. Okay maybe she was a little envious too.

Tabitha stopped dancing and pulled off the headphones. "Hey Mara, what cha up to?" She flopped herself onto Amara's bed. "Prettying yourself up for a certain Japanese boy?" Tabitha said slyly.

Amara signed and put down the brush. "I can't do that."

"What?" Tabitha couldn't understand why not. At that sleepover they had she had already confessed to crushing on the boy but didn't know why not just go after the boy.

"Tabitha did you hear about how he got here?"

Tabitha thought about it, she hadn't heard it from him Kai himself but from a few of the others. "Yeah, his home was attacked by these nasty ninja guys, everyone scattered and he got hurt and this was the only place he knew where he would be safe and he nearly died if Ray and Alex hadn't accidentally came across him." The blond said in a more serious tone. Tabby knew she had a carefree attitude at times but she knew when to be serious and having being forced from your home, not knowing where your family is and being all alone in the world wasn't something she could make light of.

Amara turned around to face her roommate and best friend. "There were also a few people killed Tabby…There was this one girl named Sakura…his girlfriend."

Tabitha just blinked a few times. "Oh," Was the only thing she could say to that. She just sat there trying to think on that, she thought about how would she feel if Sam had just died and to tell the truth that was a thought that just terrified her. "I guess asking him out is out of the question then."

Amara nodded. "Yeah I think he's cute…but…I don't think he's ready to date plus…all I have is a silly crush nothing like what you and Sam have."

"Hey that started out as a 'silly crush'," Tabitha said to her with a small smile. "But yeah I get what you mean."

Amara nodded. "Yeah…at the moment I think he needs a friend more…so…so I'm just going to be there for him as a friend."

"Well that's nice of you, and I guess the best thing to do." Tabitha flopped onto her back. "Man relationships are much more complicated…I mean at least I'm lucky that I got up the nerve to ask Sam out and stuff…plus there's the whole Gale and Amy thing."

"Are they still avoiding each other?" Amara asked. Ever since Amy had called things off with Gale the two hadn't been in the same room or at least not very often, Gale had been so heartbroken but she seemed to be getting over it, luckily they hadn't been going out that long but the blue haired healer had been crushed when she had come back.

"Yeah…but I think they're just giving each other space ya know?" Tabitha then sat up on the bed. "Hey me and Pam are going to hang out later you want to come with?"

The Nova Roman princess smiled kindly. "Thanks but I think I'll stick around for a bit. You go on and have some fun."

Tabitha gave her a curious looked but just shrugged. "Okay then, have fun."

-Later-

Kai was sitting in the living room watching the television, one of the things he liked about being in the states was American TV and movies. He was also glad Xavier had told him he was in the process of making sure he could stay legally in this country since he did kind of sneak in through the airport. Although he really didn't remember much, he had been running a high fever and was a bit out of it.

He found one of the movie channels it turned out to be one of the Star Wars movies, a classic in most parts of the world, it was the first one and was enjoying the tale.

"Mind if I join you?" He looked over to the pretty tan skinned girl with long brown hair, he remembered her as Amara.

"Please." He said politely and gestured to the spot next to him on the couch.

She smiled and sat down and saw the movie playing. "I love this film, I remember seeing it the first time I came to this country a couple of years ago. It was one of the first movies I saw."

"You're not from this country?" Kai asked her a little surprised, she sounded like English was her primary language unlike him who still had a bit of a Japanese accent at times only having learned English only four years ago.

Amara shook her head. "No I'm from a land in South America called Nova Roma, In fact my mother is the Queen there and my father a Senator."

"Wait if your mother is…You are a princess?" He had heard them call her that a few times but thought in was in jest.

Amara blush a bit. "Well…yes but I prefer not to be treated as one here…you have no idea how lonely being royalty is and I have a lot of friends here and I like being one of them."

Kai wasn't sure what to say for a minute. "I guess this place brings mutants from all over the world."

"Yeah pretty much, I mean there's Roberto from Brazil, Alex comes form Hawaii, Gale, Vince and Logan are from Canada, uh…Rahne is from…it's either Ireland or Scotland I can never remember which one of those is which…oh wait it's Scotland I remember now, Ororo is from Africa and…well you get the idea."

"I do it is nice to know that there is a place were all are welcome." They went back to watching the movie and they talked more comparing things like what they liked about this country and what they missed from back home. Kai hoped they had a few good Japanese restaurants around here and Amara missed the giant banquets that happened at the palace. Those had been grant events and she loved seeing all the dancing and events.

He had to admit it sounded like an interesting place, a country from another time almost like his own village in a way. They were a bit behind the times and they still worshiped the old Roman gods there and told him she got teased a bit here for the next few days when that got out. But everyone had just accepted it after that and a few were even interested in that a few times.

"Well I'm a Buddhist so I don't think you have that to worry about from me, plus I get the feeling I might be the only one here." He told her and she seemed happy with that. The continued watching the movie and he had to admit he felt relaxed in her presence. After the movie they got a snack and traded more stories, he told her of his visits to Tokyo and she told him of the festivals they had.

He liked spending time with this girl and was glad he had made such a good friend in her. They were later joined with a few of the others and soon Kai felt a bit better. But he was feeling tired again and excused himself as he walked back to his room and the stairs going up didn't help matters either.

Not to mention it wasn't until he reached the top that he remembered they had an elevator for the students and for Xavier and would have slapped himself on the forehead if he had the energy. He just sighed and went to the room he shared…after about five minutes of looking for it. He couldn't remember where it was and had to back track a few times to find it.

When Kai found his way back to the room he now shared with Kurt he was glad to have found it since he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand. He flopped down onto his new bed and on the nightstand next to the bed he saw Sakura's ribbon there. He would have to find something to keep it in. He took it and tried to see if her scent was still on it but it had been too long and her perfume now faded from it.

So he just felt it, running his fingers over the fabric memorizing the texture. He never felt so empty in his life. He had everything going for him and then had it all taken from him. Now he had to build his life up again.

He sighed and put the ribbon back on the nightstand and placing his hands on his stomach looked up at the ceiling. He remembered hearing a saying about the road to recovery being a long one, he didn't know just how long until this moment. He knew that others here most likely had their own pain, he could see it sometimes in the eyes just as he saw it in his own in the mirror.

He took a big deep breath and then exhaled. It would be a long road for him he knew that, it wouldn't be a whole year until he had the chance to see his friends and family again. He would wait and heal in that time but until he saw his father, brother and friends again he knew he wouldn't be completely healed.

But he also knew that he wasn't alone for this, he had the others here as to help him and he was grateful for it, he knew that he would need them all in the future.

I also want to tell you all I just made my own C2 group called Astonishing X-Men Evolution, so check it out and if you want me to add a story or if I can look through and see if there's anything there I can use please tell me.