Thank you to Jessyxo, Shika93, and Hermonine for the reviews and comments; it's really appreciated. :) And now here's part ten, enjoy everyone! :)

…Grrrr…

At the sound of her stomach rumbling, Aya looked up from her book. It seemed like it was time for lunch. Aya placed her bookmark inside to hold her place and then shut it. She grabbed her knapsack and dug out the lunch Midori had gave her.

…Grrrrr…

Aya paused. This time that was not her stomach. She cast a glance at her cloud gazing companion.

…Grrrrr…

Sure enough it was his stomach. Aya held out the bento towards him. "Want some?"

"I'm fine," Shikamaru replied still staring up at the clouds.

…Grrrrr…

Aya's lips turned up into a smile. His stomach said otherwise. "You sure? There's enough for both of us."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to reply, but his stomach cut him off by letting out another growl that was louder than the previous ones.

Shikamaru sighed, finally averting his gaze from the clouds to look at Aya. "I guess I'll have some then."

Aya placed the bento between them. She held out a pair of chopsticks to Shikamaru. "Here."

"Thanks," he mumbled, taking the chopsticks.

As they began to eat, Aya felt that she should say something, but she didn't know what to talk about.

Mew!

Aya's thoughts were interrupted at what sounded like a cat meowing. She turned around to find that a black cat stood about five feet away watching her and Shikamaru. Or more precisely it seemed to be eyeing their food.

"Looks like someone else wants some lunch too," Shikamaru said.

"Seems like it." Aya picked up an octo-sasuage and held it out on her palm. "Here kitty."

However the cat just stared at Aya and did not move at all. Aya frowned. Warily she took a step forward, then another, and another. When she was a couple of feet from the cat, it let out a hiss at her and backed away.

Aya stopped. She sighed. She was afraid that would happen. For some reason, cats never seemed to like her too much. She placed the octo-sasuage on the ground and then went back to sit over near Shikamaru.

"Hmm," Shikamaru murmured to himself, staring at the cat.

Aya looked at him. "What?"

"That cat. I think it's Sasuke's."

Aya's eyes widened. "Sasuke Uchicha?" He never really seemed like an animal person to her.

"Yeah," Shikamaru paused, staring at it some more, "But it's a lot bigger than I last saw it. Pregnant by the looks of it. Also," this time he turned to look at Aya, "I remember it being friendly."

Aya felt her cheeks heat up. She could barely meet Shikamaru's eyes. "Um, that's my fault. For some reason cats have never really liked me."

"Oh," replied Shikamaru, returning his attention to the bento in front of him.

Aya watched as the cat didn't approach the octo-sasuage, but, instead, with its eyes glued warily to Aya, it began to slowly head over to where they were. The cat walked right pass Aya, eyeing her the entire time, and instead, made its way up to Shikamaru. It crawled right into his lap and finally turned its gaze away from Aya and fixed its eyes on him and mewed.

Shikamaru eyed the cat. "Why are you bothering me? Aya offered you food, but you rejected it."

It just continued to look at him with pleading eyes and mewed.

"You can give it some food. It's all right," said Aya.

"Troublesome cat," grumbled Shikamaru as he picked up an octo-sasuage and held it out to the cat. The cat immediately took it out of his hand and devoured it. It then looked up at him again expectantly and mewed again. Shikamaru grabbed some more food for it from the bento and held it out to the cat. It eagerly ate what was offered and proceeded to demand more food.

Shikamaru sighed and addressed Aya. "You know, right now I wished that cats didn't like me either."

Shikamaru's comment made Aya feel better and she felt herself smile. As the three of them continued to eat lunch, Aya wondered why it was that he always seemed to say just what she needed to hear.

Aya once again found herself at the end of the third book of favorite series which of course ended on a horrid cliffhanger.

Well at least it's finally coming out next week, so I won't have to wait long.

With that thought, Aya closed the book. She stretched, taking in the surroundings of her world once again. Her eyes landed on Shikamaru. It looked like he had dozed off. On his stomach laid the cat who had settled on that spot after lunch. Aya's attention switched to the sky. The sun was starting to set.

I should head home; it'll be dinner time soon.

Aya placed her book back into her knapsack and flung it back onto her back. Aya looked over at Shikamaru.

Should I wake him and tell him I'm leaving or just let him sleep?

At that moment, the cat's eyes opened, it yawned, and then slowly raised itself onto all fours, and proceeded to walk off of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru's eyes flicked open and he sat up with a groan, his hand rubbing his stomach. "Troublesome cat and its sharp claws," he mumbled.

Aya smiled. "I'm gonna head home now."

Shikamaru turned his attention to her. "Okay. See you later then."

"Later," Aya returned. Shikamaru gave a nod and then with a yawn laid back down and returned his attention to the sky.

Aya gave the pony tailed brunette one last glance. She had come to her secret place this morning to just get away from everyone and to just enjoy some solitude. But instead, she had arrived to find her secret place occupied by another. However, despite this, Aya found that she didn't mind that her secret place was not really just hers anymore. Maybe it would have bothered her if it was anyone else, but because it was Shikamaru, she found herself not caring and actually enjoying his company. She actually found that she was a little reluctant to leave; she wanted to stay longer.

Aya's left arm prickled, causing her to shift her attention to it. She frowned at it; rubbing it with her right hand. It was restless. Usually she uncovered it when she spent time here, but because Shikamaru was here she didn't.

Even though she felt more comfortable around Shikamaru than she did around many others, she still did not feel comfortable enough revealing it.

Aya shook her head. No. She wouldn't risk it. Never.

With those thoughts, Aya left her secret place that wasn't just hers anymore and left behind the boy who now shared in that secret place.

Aya entered their apartment, the door closing behind her with a soft bang. She walked into the kitchen to find that Midori wasn't there preparing dinner like she usually was at that time of the day. Aya wondered if Midori was in that room or if she had happened to leave the apartment. Aya made her way over to the door of the room where Midori spent most of her time. As she was about to knock on the door, it suddenly opened revealing her sister. "Aya, welcome home," Midori greeted her with a smile, "How did your day go?"

"It was good. I gave Shikamaru his jacket back and gave his family the muffins," Aya responded, not quite looking at Midori. She couldn't help but to peer at the assortment of flowers and plants that covered the entire room. The plants invaded every space of the room; they even grew up the walls and spread over the ceiling. It was like they wanted to devour the room. Her eye fixated on a cluster of blood red flowers. As she stared at the red flowers, a memory began to resurface in her mind, a memory that she wanted to forget. However, as much as she had wanted to forget it, it was still there, bidding it's time to resurface, a time like now.

Aya was no longer in the apartment, but instead, stood in another room. In this room, she stared down at a patch of vines covered with red roses. Aya stood frozen to the spot, her eyes wide, trying to believe the sight that was playing out in front of her. The roses that she had adored and cherished so much before were now devouring one of the people that she loved and cherished the most. Why? Why was this happening? Unable to come up with an answer, her small frame began to shake, tears started to well up in her eyes, and a sob broke from her body as she sank down to the ground.

"Aya honey don't cry," the muffled and labored voice caused the young girl to snap her gaze up to where the head of her mother lay buried under the red flowers.

"Mama!" At the sound of her mother's voice, Aya began to tear at the roses that covered her mother's face. However, as much as the girl tugged the vines, she couldn't break them, instead, their thorns dug into her fingers, causing more tears and sobs to come from her. She paused in her futile efforts and cried out, "Why? Why are the flowers eating you?"

"Don't blame the flowers honey," her mother's voice stopped before continuing again, "it's not their fault."

Aya shook her head. "No! It's their fault! They're hurting you! They're not supposed to hurt you!" Aya then resumed her attack on the flowers.

"They're not hurting me; they're helping me."

Aya stopped again at her mother's words. Helping her? How were they helping her? Aya shook her head; she just didn't understand. "No, they're not Mama. They're hurting you," Aya managed to choke out. Aya turned her head as she felt her mother's hand stroke her cheek. Her eyes widened as she noticed that the hand was not covered with vines anymore. Aya grasped the hand and flinched when she felt how cold it was. "Mama? Why's your hand so cold?"

She rubbed it between her hands trying to warm it up. She stopped as she noticed the vines starting to creep back over it. "NO! Go away!" She tugged at the vine with both hands, but was unable to stop it from gradually reclaiming her mother's right hand. "I hate them!"

Aya turned her attention to her own left arm as she felt fingers brush over it. The fingertips of her mother were tracing the swirling pattern of the image of one of the green vines with closed buds that went from Aya's shoulder to the palm of her hand.

"Don't say that Aya." At her mother's scolding, but gentle tone, Aya's attention again shifted to where her mother's head was. However, instead of meeting vines and red flowers, she met the pastel green gaze of her mother. Her mother's eyes bore into Aya's own. "They are a part of me. A part of you. They make us whole. Never forget that."

"Aya!" The image before Aya's eyes faded away and she found herself staring into Midori's light brown eyes. "Aya? Are you all right?" Aya realized that she could no longer see into her sister's flower and plant room; the closed door blocked the sight from her vision.

Aya mustered up a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, however, a tremble in her voice belied her statement.

Midori of course picked up on this, but she didn't press her sister. She knew of the cause of her sister's sudden spacing out, but she wouldn't press it; it was something that only Aya herself could get over. As much as Midori wanted to help her sister, she knew that there was nothing she could do. She would just be there for Aya.

"Want to help me prepare dinner?" Midori asked, "I was thinking of making sukiyaki."

Aya nodded. "Sure." She hoped that by doing so she would be able to push back the memory of her past and drown out the feelings that had resurfaced.

Midori smiled. "Great. Let's get to it then."

"Yeah," Aya replied, returning her sister's smile.

Aya entered her bedroom and laid down on her bed. A satisfied sigh escaped her lips. She had just taken a shower and now she felt clean and refreshed. As if to agree with her feelings, Aya felt a tingling feeling in her left arm. She held up her currently un-bandaged arm and sure enough saw that the green vines were shifting; Aya knew that if she touched them that she would feel them humming under her fingers, staring at them reminded her of mother's touch. Aya, recalling the memory, began to absently trace the humming green vines with her fingers. She followed the swirling pattern of green starting at her shoulder, every so often the vine led to a closed bud before it led off into more vine. Eventually the vine led to the middle of the palm of her left hand. In the middle of her left palm, a small bump of green stuck out from Aya's skin. Her fingers traced over it.

"They are a part of me. A part of you. They make us whole. Never forget that." Aya's hand abruptly fell away from the green spurt and she dropped her left arm back to her side as her mother's words echoed in her mind.

She buried her head into her pillow as she felt tears prickle at the corner of her eyes. She didn't want the stupid flowers. She didn't want them to be a part of her. She hated them. They were the reason for the way her life was. If it wasn't for them, she would be able to be like everyone else. If it wasn't for them, she would still be with her mother. At this thought, the tears finally spilled over and a sob escaped Aya's chest.

Why? Why did she have to be different? She just wanted to be accepted. At the thought of acceptance, a picture of Shikamaru cropped up in Aya's mind. Her sobs started to calm down as she thought of him. Shikamaru…he had been so kind to her. He had even let her borrow his jacket when her sweatshirt was being washed. He hardly knew her, yet he was kind to her. She liked being around him; being around other people usually stressed her out, yet around him she felt relaxed and peaceful.

But then again he doesn't know…he doesn't know about my left arm or my past. If he knew, he would surely be disgusted.

At this thought, Aya lifted her head from her pillow, a defiant look had taken over her features and her right hand clenched into a fist. She liked being around him, so he couldn't find out. No. She would never let it happen. As she promised herself this, her right leg moved, knocking over a bag that had been placed at the foot of her bed. The bag fell onto its side and a book spilled out of it. Aya looked down at the book curiously. What's that doing in there? The bag contained Aya's sweatshirt and white blouse that had been returned earlier in the day by Adriana when Aya was out. Aya bent down and picked up the book.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the title. What? How is this possible? She blinked thinking she was seeing things, but the same sight met her eyes when she opened them. In front of her was the next book in her favorite series. Aya frowned, the book wasn't supposed to come out until next week. Aya opened the cover of the hard cover and saw that words were written in pen on the inside: Hey I heard that you're a fan, so this is for you. I'm really am sorry about the other night! Anyways, enjoy! ~Adriana

Aya let out a gasp. The book was from Adriana. Did that mean that she was the writer of her favorite series? Aya's cheeks reddened as she recalled how her and Adriana had met. She groaned, why did she have to meet her in that manner?

Aya shook her head and looked down at the book in her hands. Her feelings of embarrassment were quickly overtaken by excitement. Pushing all previous worries from her mind, Aya settled back onto to her bed and began to read.