Hey everyone, here's part fourteen of Roses and Clouds. This one's a little longer than the usual, but I didn't want to split it up since all the scenes in this part pretty much go together. :) Hope everyone enjoys. :)
Four-year-old Aya, humming to herself, watched as water spilled from her watering can onto the flower in front of her.
While the water spilled out, she paused in her humming and said aloud, "Is the water good? Is it cold enough?" She titled her head, focusing intently on the plant before her. She remained like this for a couple of moments before a pout fell over her face and she then turned her head in the other direction, "Mama, I can't hear anything!"
Her mother who stood a few feet away from her, watering other flowers, paused in her actions and turned towards her daughter with a smile. "The flower says thank you for the water and the temperature is just right."
At her mother's words, Aya's eyes brightened and she turned back towards the flower in front of her with a smile. "You're welcome. Would you like some more?" Again, Aya focused intently on the flower before her, straining her ears to hear the voice of the flower. Again, like before, a couple of moments passed, yet she still heard nothing. Puffing out her cheeks in frustration, she said to the plant, "Why? Why can't I hear you?"
"The flower says that it has had enough for now," said Aya's mother who now stood by Aya's side.
Aya turned her gaze onto her mother. "Mama why can't I hear them yet? Is there something wrong with me?"
Aya's mother kneeled down in front of her. "Of course there's nothing wrong with you sweetie."
"Then why can't I hear the flowers? You and Midori can."
Her mother gently brushed a piece of hair out of Aya's face and then her hand came to rest on her daughter's left shoulder. "Your Papa can't hear them either and he is still a wonderful person that you and I love."
"I do love Papa, but I want to be like you Mama. I want to hear them too."
"You are like me sweetie." Her mother's left hand slipped from Aya's shoulder to her arm where her fingers nimbly and gently began to trace the pattern of green vines.
Aya looked at her own arm for a moment before her eyes drifted to her mother's left arm. Her mother's left arm was similar to Aya's, green vines trailing from her shoulder all the way down her arm, however, there was a difference. Aya reached out a finger and gently touched the petal of a red rose. The rose wasn't just a flat image on her mother's skin, but was an actual red rose that bloomed on her arm. Some of the vines also poked above her skin, but some were still just flat images. "But my flowers haven't bloomed yet." Aya's gaze shifted to her green vines that were all still just flat images on her arm. "They will, it just isn't the right time yet," her mother replied.
Aya puffed up her cheeks. It wasn't fair. She wanted to hear the flowers too and she wanted her fathers to bloom, like her mother's. Her eyes lingered on the other two roses also blooming on her mother's arm. "I don't want to wait," she grumbled.
Her mother chuckled. "Patience sweetie, patience."
Aya opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by an unfamiliar voice. "Oh! Excuse me! This is Seino-sensei's house, right?"
At the voice, Aya and her mother both turned around to come face to face with an older woman and a young boy who looked a little older than Aya. Aya's eyes widened as she noticed that the boy was holding a bloody towel up to his right eyebrow. The boy noticing Aya's gaze gave her a wide smile, despite his apparent injury.
"Ah, yes, this is the right place. Come on in," Aya's mother picking up on the situation, quickly ushered the boy and his mother inside.
As Aya watched the boy and his mother enter their house, she noted that his hair was a deep scarlet red-not that different from her mother's roses.
Thump.
Aya frowned as she heard a faint banging noise.
Thump. Thump.
The noise was gradually getting louder and picking up in tempo.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Aya looked around. Where is that coming from?
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The noise began to take over and soon everything else faded away in nothingness.
Aya's eyes fluttered open, a low groan coming from her lips. She just had to have a dream about that. She could still clearly see the red of Shoutaro's hair and how they reminded her of her mother's roses. With the thought of her mother, Aya felt a raw sadness welling up inside her. Clutching the covers close to her, she closed her eyes and recalled the details of her mother's smiling face from her dream. A sad smile crossed her lips; even though it had been almost five years since her mother's death, she still missed her a lot.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Aya was distracted from her thoughts by the same banging sound that had permeated her dream. She looked up, her eyes scanning her room, her gaze eventually landing on her one window. With wide eyes, Aya watched as a little white bird with rapidly beating wings, kept tapping its long beak against her window.
Is that a hummingbird? What is it doing?
Aya quickly pulled herself out of bed and hurried over to the window. As she came closer to the window, she could tell that it was indeed a hummingbird; she had seen them before, but she had never seen an all white one before, usually they were bright and multicolored.
Aya tapped her finger against the glass of her window, trying to get its attention. "Hey, stop that," she said aloud. However, the bird just kept on tapping its beak against her window.
Aya let out a sigh; it looked like she only had one option left. She unlocked her window and pushed the lower plane of glass up. With the window up and the lack of a screen, the hummingbird whizzed its way into the room.
It's wings humming, it flew around Aya's head a couple of times before hovering in front of her at eye level. It's beady eyes peered at her with curiosity.
"What? What do you want?" Aya of course wasn't expecting a response, so she was caught off guard when the bird let out a twitter and then began moving around again. Aya watched warily as it hovered around her un-bandaged left arm.
"I'm not a flower, you know," Aya warned.
In response, the bird landed on her left shoulder. Aya stood still, waiting for the bird to get off her shoulder, however, it did not move. Getting an idea, Aya slowly began to move back towards her still open window. When she was in front of the window, Aya turned her gaze towards the bird. "How about you go back outside? You don't belong in here."
The bird let out a chirp, but otherwise did not move. Aya sighed. Why is this bird being so weird? This was the first time that Aya ever had a wild bird willingly land on her shoulder. Unlike cats, birds had never gone out of their way to avoid her; they just treated her as they treated the rest of the human population. Well, if it wasn't going to move, she would just have to help it.
With that thought, Aya slowly reached towards the bird. However, before she could touch it, it flew off of her shoulder and across to the opposite side of the room.
Aya bit back a grumble of frustration. "Why won't you go outside?"
The hummingbird just stared back at her from across the room where it was perched on her desk chair.
"Aya, breakfast is ready!" Midori's voice penetrated Aya's closed bedroom door.
Aya cast one more look at the bird, she would just leave the window open and with luck maybe the bird would decide to leave.
With that decision made, Aya walked over to her bedroom door and proceeded to open it. However, no sooner had she opened it then the hummingbird made its move and flew right through the open door.
Aya stared for a moment at the bird zipping into the other room. She sighed; it looked like it was going to be a long morning.
"Aya, you have company," Midori declared, now standing in the doorway of Aya's bedroom. Aya looked up from the book that she had been reading most of the morning and afternoon.
"Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji are here to visit you," her sister said.
"What's wrong?" Aya asked, noting that something was off in Midori's tone.
"Well, someone else is here too," Midori continued reluctantly.
At her words, Aya felt a bad feeling start to well up in her stomach. "Who?"
"Shoutaro," Midori said in a measured voice.
"Oh," Aya said trying to keep her tone neutral, but obviously failing as her voice very clearly was a note too high. Midori told Aya yesterday that Shoutaro came to their house looking for her yesterday, but Midori told him that she was on a mission. Apparently, a few minutes after he had arrived, Akane and Hiro came looking for Aya; Akane had wanted to invite her to lunch at Fairy Tail Café. Since Shoutaro had happened to be there and he was new in town, Akane ended up inviting him to go with her and Hiro.
Midori mustering up a smile said, "How about I treat them to some strawberry jam cookies and tea while you get ready?"
Aya, her gaze no longer on Midori, but on her un-bandaged arm replied, "Sure."
"I'll be sure to save you some cookies," Midori replied.
"Okay, thanks," Aya murmured, her thoughts scattered in two different directions. Half of her thoughts were on Shoutaro being at her house along with Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. The other half were on bandaging up her arm, fixing her hair, and changing out of her pajamas.
Aya vaguely registered Midori's departure and the closing of her bedroom door and just continued to sit in her bed as though in a trance.
"Chiiiirp!" The hummingbird, which had still refused to leave their apartment, flew in front of Aya's face.
Aya eyed the bird. "You really should go back outside. That's where all the flowers are. I'm sure their nectar is a lot better than that sugar water." Aya inclined her head towards her desk where a red glass bowl was filled with the hummingbird's sustenance.
In response, the bird simply flew around Aya's head, while chirping continuously. Aya's eyes narrowed at the bird. "Midori totally spoiled you by letting you into her flower room."
The bird ignored Aya's words and continued to chirp and fly around her head. "Yeah, yeah. I'm moving," she told the bird. Aya pushed herself off the bed with a sigh; while she really wasn't looking forward to facing Shoutaro, she had no choice but to do so.
The only thing to do is to face it and just get through it as quickly and as painlessly as possible. As Aya told herself this, she also knew that it was easier said than done; in reality, she really would have liked to do nothing more than snuggle back under the covers of her bed with her book and forget all about the rest of the world, unfortunately though, that wasn't reality.
Having finally finished getting ready, Aya left her bedroom with the hummingbird perched on her left shoulder.
She entered the living room where everyone sat on cushions around the coffee table, talking and snacking on Midori's cookies. Well, it seemed like Midori and Ino were doing the share of the talking with Shoutaro chiming in every so often. Chouji was more interested in the cookies and Shikamaru had a look of disinterest on his face.
It was Shikamaru that seemed to notice Aya first; at her approach he gave her a nod of acknowledgement. She gave him a small smile. His gaze then landed to the hummingbird on her shoulder and he gave her a questioning look. She simply shrugged her shoulders in response. He gave a shake of his head at her response and mouthed "troublesome girl". Aya couldn't help the smile that snuck its way onto her lips.
Just then the hummingbird chose that time to chirp and fly off of Aya's shoulder and towards a vase of bright flowers that was on the coffee table, thus effectively breaking the moment between Aya and Shikamaru. All heads in the room had now swiveled towards Aya.
"Aya! Is your ankle feeling better?" Ino spoke first.
Aya, feeling unnerved by a certain brown eyed, red haired boy's gaze, forced a smile and replied, "Um, yeah, it's a lot better than yesterday."
"Glad to hear it," Ino smiled, "Oh, those flowers are from my family's flower shop. I hope you like them." Ino's gaze then fell onto the hummingbird. "Hey, what's up with the hummingbird? Is it a pet?"
Aya took a seat beside Midori and across from Shikamaru. Ino sat at the opposite end of the table from Aya with Shoutaro sitting across from Ino and Chouji sitting to the blond's right. "Uh, not really. It just kinda of flew into my room this morning and now it won't leave," Aya replied.
"Hmm, strange," Ino replied, scrutinizing the hummingbird, "It's a rare color too. You don't often see all white ones."
"Yeah. Thanks for the flowers by the way," Aya returned, doing her best to ignore gazing in Shoutaro's direction.
"No problem," Ino replied with a grin.
"Oh!" Midori let out a gasp.
All eyes swiveled towards her, even Shoutaro's which Aya was grateful for.
"What's wrong?" Ino questioned.
"I just remembered that I have some errands I need to run." Midori cast a worried gaze at Aya. "Will you be alright without me?" Aya knew that she was worried about leaving her alone with Shoutaro.
While a part of Aya didn't want Midori to leave, she also knew that she couldn't hide behind her forever. "We'll be fine, don't worry." Aya mustered a smile.
Midori still looked worried, but nodded. "Alright, I'll be back in a little while then."
Midori left with everyone calling out goodbyes, while Aya ignored the desire to look at Shoutaro who was now in full view since Midori was no longer sitting in front of him. Aya directed her attention downwards at the table, hoping to find something else to preoccupy herself with.
Aya's gaze landed on a strawberry cake, one of her favorites.
Hmmmm…Did Midori make that too? She didn't say anything about making strawberry cake.
Aya assuming that Midori had made the cake, picked up the knife, so she could cut herself a piece.
"Your friend over there brought that." Shikamaru's voice shocked Aya causing her hand with the knife to freeze in midair.
As though tuned into Shikamaru and Aya's conversation the mentioned boy said, "Oh, Kari made that cake Aya. She's gotten really good at making them." Aya vaugely registered the nervous edge to his voice, but what really registered with her was that Kari had made the cake.
Kari…The name whispered itself through Aya's mind, causing ripples like a pebble thrown into a lake. At first, the name caused shock to run through Aya's mind. Then the shock was overtaken by sadness mixed with regret along with a picture of a young girl with waist length powder blue hair arranged into a single braid and smoky blue eyes that were framed by midnight blue rimmed glasses.
Aya felt her hand holding the knife begin to shake and quickly brought the knife down onto the table.
Get a hold of yourself Aya. Don't you dare break down-not in front of them.
Aya was conscious of everyone's gaze, but of two in particular: Shoutaro's and a particular pony tailed brunette's. She could feel Shoutaro's intense gaze burning into her and she desperately wanted to hide from it. While Shikamaru's gaze wasn't as intense and was edged with his usual laziness, Aya was still very much aware of it and while she much rather meet Shikamaru's gaze, she knew that at the moment she needed to meet Shoutaro's and respond to him accordingly.
Taking a deep breath and telling herself that everything was going to be fine, Aya forced a smile and responded, "I'll have to try it then." She then turned her attention towards the cake and seeing as how her hand was still slightly trembling, focused on cutting the cake without cutting herself.
Aya felt slightly relieved when Ino decided to chime in, taking some of the attention off of Aya, "That cake is really good. I'll need to compare notes sometime with this Kari."
"Yeah, you should. I could introduce you guys sometime. We just arrived in town a couple of days ago, so we don't know many people here," Shoutaro agreed.
"What brings you guys to Konoha anyways?" This time the question came from Shikamaru which caused Aya to cast a glance in his direction in surprise. She didn't think he would be interested in that.
"Well Kari was having a rough time back in our hometown. You see, she's from a certain clan and they have these special abilities that can be hard to control and there's no one else like her back in our village, but we actually heard from Aya's sister Midori that others like her live here," he explained all this in a very nonchalant matter, like it wasn't a big deal, but Aya knew that it was much more serious than he was making it sound.
Aya couldn't help from worrying about Kari. She was also caught off guard when she heard that Midori was the one that told them. Then again, Midori did keep in touch with their father and since Kari lived with their father, it did make sense.
She was once again very aware of Shoutaro's gaze and now her stomach felt uneasy thinking about how Kari was having a rough time. Aya tried to distract herself by taking a bite of the strawberry cake. Her eyes widened.
This is really good; it's as good as one of Midori's homemade cakes. Aya felt a smile fall over her lips as she momentarily forgot about her troubles as she ate the slice of cake. As she was eating the cake, she happened to look up, her eyes meeting Shikamaru's. She felt a blush rush to her cheeks.
Was he staring at me?
Before she could say anything, he quickly looked away, directing his gaze back towards the conversation that Shoutaro and Ino were having.
Shaking her head, Aya reluctantly tuned back into Ino and Shoutaro's conversation. "Yeah, Aya, Kari, and I are all childhood friends."
Aya's smile faltered at his words and her heart began to speed up. No, no, no. She really didn't want them talking about her past; she didn't want Shoutaro to bring up her left arm or anything about her mother.
"Mhhm," Ino hummed, "So tell me was she always this quiet?"
At her words, a wide smile spread across Shoutaro's lips. It was a smile that mirrored the one from her memories of young Shoutaro and seeing it again sent an ache through Aya's chest causing her to look away and back down at her slice of cake.
"Only around strangers. Once you get to know her, she opens up," he paused and she felt compelled to sneak a glance at him. However, she wasn't so stealthy, as his eyes locked with her own and he continued his thoughts, his eyes boring into her own. "She opens up like a flower blossoming."
His choice of words caused the color to drain out of Aya's face and a shudder to run through her body. Too close, too close to the truth.
"Aya you feeling okay?" Ino asked, noticing the girl's paleness.
"Actually my ankle's hurting a little more, probably from the way I'm sitting on it," Aya quickly covered.
"Oh, well we should probably get going then, so you can rest," Ino said, getting up.
"Come on you two, time to go," she directed this at Choji and Shikamaru.
"Thanks for the snacks," spoke Choji, "Tell your sister thanks for me too."
"You're welcome and I will," Aya replied with a smile.
While Choji got up, Shikamaru remained sitting, wearing an expression that Aya couldn't quite read.
"Come on Shikamaru, hurry up," Ino repeated.
Shikamaru, however, turned his gaze towards Shoutaro. "You heading out too?" While his tone seemed like his usual nonchalant one, to Aya it seemed almost a little too nonchalant.
Shoutaro pondered Shikamaru's question for a moment, casting a gaze at Aya before responding, "Yeah, I should probably get back to Kari."
Shikamaru nodded. "Sounds like a good idea, especially since she doesn't really know the Aozoras that well yet."
Aya saw Shoutaro's eyes widen slightly at Shikamaru's response. She could tell that he was surprised Shikamaru knew who they were staying with.
Actually I'm curious myself.
Quickly shaking off his surprise, Shoutaro turned back towards Aya, "If you get the chance, come on by to see Kari; I know that she would be glad to see you. Like your friend said we're staying with the Aozoras."
Aya wasn't going to make any promises, especially ones she didn't know if she could keep, so she simply gave a neutral nod.
Accepting her nod, Shoutaro said, "Alright then, see you soon hopefully."
Aya returned his farewell as well as the farewells of her squad. Shoutaro was the first to leave the apartment with Ino following behind him. Aya frowned at the two of them. I hope Ino doesn't ask him any more questions about my childhood.
"Hey Aya." Shikamaru's voice diverted Aya's attention.
She turned towards him.
"Make sure you get some rest." He nodded towards her left ankle.
An authentic smile found its way onto Aya's face. "I will."
"Good because repeats of yesterday would be a pain." While Shikamaru said this in his usual bored tone, Aya knew that he wasn't really upset about yesterday or anything; it was actually quite the opposite. She knew that he was saying it because he actually cared and as such his words caused Aya's smile to brighten.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be troublesome," She replied, her smile on the verge of morphing into a mischievous smirk.
At her reply, Shikamaru's lips quirked, threatening to turn into a smirk of their own. "See you later then," Shikamaru bade Aya.
"Bye," Aya replied.
As Aya watched Shikamaru disappear out the door, she felt little feet settle onto her left shoulder.
"You sure that you don't want to leave too?" Aya directed to the hummingbird.
The hummingbird remained perched and unmoving on Aya's shoulder. Aya sighed, "I'll take that as a no then."