Kindred Spirits

By: nyke

Chapter Three: Reveled

Jean was currently explaining the school to Ryoko, leaving out a few more unusual details, of course. She had sensed the tension between her and Wolverine and had tagged along.

Ryoko, for the most part, understood. She had noticed that this woman wasn't telling her everything about this place, but decided to let it go. She could probably find it out from that little girl with the white streak in her hair, the one that was so fascinated by Ryo-Ohki. She had not been openly threatened, except for that small seen at the clearing, and she felt none coming from these people. She just might stay here until Ryo-Ohki regenerated.

Wolverine was pissed. He couldn't believe that this total stranger had showed up and everyone had just welcomed her with open arms and suspicion free minds. Hell they didn't even know her name. And don't think he missed the way she didn't walk, but rather floated a few inches off the ground. If Jean had noticed, she hadn't reacted. Something about this woman didn't click. The pieces just didn't fit and the fact that Xavier had told them that he couldn't read her thoughts made him even more wary. There was something strange about this new girl, and Wolverine intended to find out.

Jean had noticed Ryoko's unconscious display of her powers, but knowing how many mutants would rather remain anonymous, she said nothing. She would come around in her own time. Until then, the only thing she was focused on was keeping her and Wolverine from killing each other.

They eventually arrived at Xavier's door. Once Scott and Rogue arrived with Ryo-Ohki in tow had arrived there, the questions began. Xavier asked the first one.

"So, what is you're name?"

Oh, what the hell? It's not as if they could identify me. Ryoko thought.

"Ryoko," she said.

"Why are you here?" Scott asked next.

"Ryo-Ohki crashed," she stated simply.

"And what is this creature, exactly?" Jean asked.

"She's a cabbit. Half cat, half rabbit with the ability to become a space ship."

"Are you a mutant?" Rogue asked innocently. This confused Ryoko a little, but a quick mental explanation from Ryo-Ohki cleared it up.

"Not exactly," she said. Rogue looked tempted to ask something else, but with one look from Scott, she was silent.

"And where are you from?" Scott asked. Ryoko just shrugged. Xavier, seeing no answer forth coming, decided to try a different approach.

"Well, Ryoko, why don't you just answer one thing."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Why are you running?"

Ryoko was taken aback by the question, but recovered quickly.

"Who says I'm running from anything?" she asked with a glare.

Xavier dropped it. She was running. He could sense that much. But he had promised not to read her mind, and he would respect her privacy.

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Things went well for them over the next few days. Ryo-Ohki had filled her in on some things she had overheard about mutants and although she didn't totally understand, she realized that they had classified her as one of them, so she just went with it. It was easier than trying to explain what she actually was.

Ryo-Ohki was healing fine and would be ready to go in about two more weeks. Everything was great. Except for that one guy. Wolverine. He had been suspicious of her since she arrived. She had been careful around him (so far the only power they knew she had was flying and she was trying to hide the others as another way to avoid an explanation), and he seemed to be relaxing his guard a little more each day. Ryoko was relieved at this. She had a good thing going here and didn't want him to mess it up for her. She would stay here until Ryo-Ohki healed and go home.

Wait. What home? Tenchi's house wasn't her home anymore. She couldn't go back, couldn't face Ayeka's scorn or Tenchi's pity or Washu's pathetic attempts at being her mother. No. That place will never be her home again. But where would she go? She could always go back to pirating, but suddenly, that didn't seem too appealing anymore either.

Ryoko glanced at the clock on the opposite wall. It was 1:00 Monday night. The teenagers had left the room a few hours ago and now the TV was off and all was silent. She sighed to herself and teleported to the room that Jean had let her sleep in. It didn't occur to her until she arrived there that she had habitually used her powers, but she decided that it didn't matter. No one shared this room with her and it wasn't like anyone was awake at this hour.

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Wolverine sat partially in shock at what he had seen. Then he smiled. If this girl had hidden this ability from them, who knew what else she could do. This was exactly what he had been waiting for.