Earth was a really confusing place, Kara had decided. She had only been sharing a room with her adoptive sister, Alex, for about a week when all of a sudden, the older girl had cried out in her sleep. Kara, still kind of scared of just about everything had just out of bed and been by Alex's side much more quickly than any human was capable of. Angular features were tightened up in pain and as carefully as she possibly could, Kara cradled Alex's hand in her own.
"Are you okay?" Kara whimpered, terrified at the prospect of losing someone that she was beginning to care about.
"Yeah, it's a tattoo. It hurts a lot for a while, then it goes away." Alex explains. "Do you want to look at it with me?" she offers, a slight sheen of sweat on her brow.
She pulled Kara up into the bed with her, trusting that her new alien sister wouldn't ever do anything to hurt her. Kara nodded as Alex tossed off her blankets and drew her knees up to her chest.
"On my ankle, here." Alex said, looking at it with wonder in her eyes.
It was nothing but a simple triangle beside of the bone in that commonplace green ink. Kara had understood about the soulmate thing, there had been a similar tradition on Krypton. She was glad to know that her older sister had one, as some people went for their whole lives without any decorations on their skin. They both sat quietly for a while, just studying the mark. Kara knew that on this planet, a tattooers needle would never be able to pierce her skin.
"What do you think it means?" Kara asks, breaking through a stifling silence.
"I don't know but I can come to a few of my own conclusions." Alex hugs her knees and traces the tattoo with one finger.
"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" Kara asks, voice still trembly.
"Yeah, if you want. I didn't mean to scare you. Don't worry about me though. It didn't hurt as much as I had expected." Alex held up the blankets as the small blonde slid in beside of her.
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Alex ended up with another few small, well placed, and simple tattoos throughout the next few years. Kara had giggled when she caught the wince as Alex had helped her younger sister into her cap and gown.
"As it begins, so it ends." Kara laughed aloud.
"Shut up." Alex says through gritted teeth. "Go...graduate from high school or something, Alien Girl."
"Will do, Dr.Danvers." Kara says with one of her trademarked grins. She sauntered off to find her place in line with her class.
She had never allowed it to show, but it bothered Kara to not have any ink on her skin. She was beginning to believe that her chances of true love had died with Krypton. Most, if not all, of her classmates had something to show. Some even knew who it was that they belonged with. It was expected that in this, as well as in all things, Kara was different. However, that didn't mean that she didn't want for someone to share her life with. She really wished that she could have a partner that could accept her as Kara Zor-El and not just Kara Danvers.
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Eventually, the young blonde alien put it out of her mind. She threw herself into her college studies, ignoring the winces that she occasionally caught from the people around her. Alex stopped asking about it. Kara dedicated herself to finding a way to make a difference without using her powers. She had arrived on Earth to find herself completely without a purpose, now that she was here though, she wanted to do something good. If she was going to be on this planet, taking up space, she wanted to be worthwhile.
Following in Clark Kent's footsteps, Kara went after her journalism degree with a passion. Alex was wary, thinking that someone might see the similarities if Kara went to Metropolis to work for the Daily Planet. Kara pointed out that she was blonde and female and bore no resemblance physically to her cousin but for beautiful blue eyes, and that there were other papers in the world. Why go to Metropolis when National City was out there? CatCo was run by a totally badass and beautiful woman. Cat Grant was kind of Kara's hero.
