Author's Note - Hmm...what can I rant about? Oh, I know! How about the fact that I use John WAY more than Pyro! hehe. And all you people that are reading and not reviewing - I'm watching you. JK! (hugs)

Chapter Four - Uneasy Morning

Surprisingly enough, Rika did manage to fall asleep when she returned to her room. Of course, as she was used to waking up early, she opened her eyes once more to find that only three hours had passed, making it slightly after seven in the morning.

Remembering that Storm would be talking to the others, she found the nearest bathroom and took a very hot shower. She emerged from the bathrooms, then stood for a moment, wondering what to do. She could go wait for the others to get out of Storm's office, or she could eat. But she didn't know if Kitty and the others had eaten anything. Second guessing the latter idea, she decided to go down into the kitchen.

It wasn't until she arrived in the huge, empty room that she realized how early it really was, and remembered that it was Saturday. What kid got up before eight on a Saturday unless they had to?

Silently laughing at herself, she found a toaster, and in a few minutes was sitting alone at one of the tables and spreading peanut butter on a slice of toast.

Hearing someone talking, she looked up in time to see none other than John round the corner. As he had obviously been muttering to himself about one thing or another, she raised an eyebrow in question and amusement

"You again?" John stated, again making the statement sound very sarcastic.

"Not many people get up this early, unless they don't want to be caught in the morning rush to eat." Rika replied slyly, taking a bite of the toast as John crossed the room to open the fridge.

He paused, a hand hovering over the handle.

"Then why are you here?" He finally snapped back.

"New student."

She received a sort of exasperated snort in reply, which almost made her choke on the toast she was eating. To her surprise, John sat across from her, regarding her with not-too-friendly eyes. She assumed he just wanted to get a better look at her.

"What's your problem, anyways?" Rika asked, acting as if she had no idea who he was. It was partial truth.

As he watched her, she watched him, so they were basically glaring at each other for a minute.

Rika recognized him now, from one of the many clips she had seen on the TVs of houses that she had passed while traveling. Now that she thought about it, he actually had stood out among the other Brotherhood, as he was younger, and yet still high-ranking.

"Bad day." John finallyreplied, taking a drink of the Mountain Dew he had took from the fridge.

"It's not even eight in the morning. Did you fall out of bed?"

He glared at her, probably trying to figure out where she was going with the conversation.

Rika smiled sweetly. If he had been apart of The Brotherhood then she felt a right to bother him at the moment, and therefore saw no reason to stop her taunting. She was still trying to figure out why Storm let him back in the building. She must have been missing some piece to this. However, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Bobby's voice drifting in their direction. She was about to mention this to John, but he was already walking out the way he had came in.

As John disappeared around the corner, Bobby rounded on the opposite end of the room, clearly annoyed. Behind him, Rogue looked slightly uncomfortable as she followed her boyfriend.

"I can't believe that Storm didn't turn him in! After everything that he did to us!" Bobby fumed, kicking a chair out of his way as he made his way to the fridge.

"She did say that..." Rogue started, but her eyes fell on Rika.

Hearing her stop mid-sentence, Bobby turned around.

"Morning." Rika greeted, trying to make her voice sound cheerful.

"Hi, Rika." Rogue replied, smiling as she sat across from her, exactly where John had been a minute before. "Sleep well?"

Bobby seemed to have decided to ignore their conversation.

"Ya. I woke up several times, but all in all." Rika said, eyeing Bobby curiously. She was going into her usual probing mode; find out as much as possible without giving anything away when it came to what she already knew.

"What's wrong?" Here she looked back at Rogue, since she didn't expect Bobby to answer.

"What's wrong..." Bobby stated, sitting next to Rogue and looking directly at Rika, surprising her. "What's wrong is that we now have a member of The Brotherhood living at this school...again." Bobby finished, his voice calming a little, Rika assumed for her sake.

"I'm pretty sure that The Brotherhood is no londer in existance. And I know." She replied simply, taking the last bite of her piece of toast.

This, obviously, was the last thing that Bobby and Rogue expected to hear. Rogue sat stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Bobby, who was totally and very obviously aghast at this new information.

"You...what?" He said, shaking his head.

"Sorry." Rika offered, feeling that she had gone too far. "When I woke up last night, Logan was bringing John in. Storm caught me, so they know."

"John." Rogue repeated.

Rika shifted in her seat. She didn't know John's codename, but using his real name in front of a couple of ex-friends might not have been the best idea. She was making a lot of mistakes already, and it was early. Maybe she should have not jumped into this.

"Pyro." Bobby corrected, catching Rika's paused as a weakness. "It's okay. We were never friends, just classmates."

By the look that Rogue shot him, Bobby was lying.

"I think we need to talk." She prompted, glaring at Bobby until he nodded. She turned to Rika. "We're all just a little shocked. You wouldn't understand. We'll see you later."

With that, they were gone, Rogue whispering to Bobby as she led him by the hand out of the room. Rika didn't move for several seconds. Rogue's last sentence had startled her.

She would have to be careful for the rest of the day, and most likely the next, too. Until the shock of John...Pyro's, arrival wore off, she would have to not be so pushy with things.

Because the truth was, in this situation with John's return, she didn't understand.

The sound of more voices coming down the nearby stairs shook Rika from her thoughts, and the girl rose to leave the opposite way. She needed to think. In a different way than the others, John's arrival affected her, too.

Because there was sure to be fights over this.

Pokemon Fan - Alas...I cannot explain his returning fully right now. Even when I do, some people might not like it.

Multiturtle - Yes, John is Pyro, and you might want to drill that into your brain for upcoming chapters.

Crystalwish - Fog and Fire! Thank you for pointing that out.

It should have read "...she hadn't been anywhere near San Francisco..."