Chapter 2: Out With The Old
The next morning, the ninja woke up, ready to clear out all the left behind furniture and boxes left in Nya's old room, preparing for Aunt Himari's stay. Zane immediately took charge.
"I believe the easiest way to go about this, would be to dismantle, carry out the bed and dresser, then take the boxes out to the hallway and let Nya go through them to make sure there's not anything she wants before we throw it all away."
Nya looked around the room and sighed. "It's kinda sad, I loved this room and now it's not gonna be mine anymore."
"You moved out a year ago," Cole reminded her.
"I know, but I feel like there's a part of me that still does live here and now what's left of me is just getting tossed out." Nya paused, seemingly deep in thought. The rest of the group stood around awkwardly, not sure what to say or do. Suddenly, she snapped out of her revelry. "Sorry, that was weird." She picked up a box from the floor. "Let's get this stuff out of here." She headed out the bedroom door, but Jay stopped her.
"You cannot be lifting heavy boxes right now." He tried to take the box from her hands but she resisted.
"Jay, it's fine," she said and walked past him. "I'm not just gonna sit around and do nothing every single day of my life." She picked up another box and carried it out of the room. "And so far I'm working harder than you and you're not the one who's pregnant so I would start helping if I were you."
"Ooooooh" Lloyd chuckled. "She got you there, dude."
Jay rolled his eyes and smiled amusingly, but as he began carrying boxes out of the room, he couldn't keep his eyes from glancing over at her to make sure she was okay.
Kai clapped his hands together. "Okay, Cole do you wanna help me lift this mattress out of here?"
Cole laughed. "Why don't you have Zane help you with that while I single-handedly carry out the entire dresser?" He picked up one end of the dresser and dragged it out the door and down the hallway with ease.
"We get it you're strong!" Kai called out after him. Then he turned to Zane. "Help me with the mattress?" He asked with a sigh.
Zane nodded and the two lifted the mattress off the bed, turned it sideways, and carried out the door into the next room.
"Why can't you just switch the bedding out?" Lloyd asked.
"Misako requested a new mattress to better fit the comfort level of our guest," Zane answered. "She is at the store purchasing on right now.'
Lloyd sat on the edge of the naked bedframe. "All this fuss for some lady we don't even know. What if she's mean?"
"I doubt she will be mean Lloyd," PIXAL told him. "Your mother seems to think very highly of her."
"I don't know," Lloyd said. "It's just weird that she never said anything about her until now."
Cole entered the room from carrying out the nightstand. "Hey green machine, are you gonna help the rest of us or are you just gonna sit around and complain all day?"
Lloyd sighed, stood up and walked over to Nya's closet, and opened the doors. Nya had left behind some clothes in case she was ever stuck at the monastery for a few days. " Hey, Nya do you want these clothes?" He called out.
Nya looked up from the books she was going through. "No, it's not like any of them fit anyway." There was a bit of sadness in her voice.
"Even for after you have the baby?" Lloyd asked.
"Just get rid of them, it's fine."
Lloyd shrugged. "Okay." He began tossing the clothes in a trash bag. Nya tried to appear busy looking through an old journal, so the others wouldn't see the look of lamentation on her face.
Just then, Misako entered the room, shopping bags in hand. "It's looking good in here! Here are some pictures and small plants for when you're ready to decorate and the new mattress and bedding are in the back of my car for whoever wants to grab them for me."
"I can do it." Jay and Nya offered at the same time.
"Oh no Nya," Misako objected. "You don't have to do that. Lloyd, why don't you go out with Jay and help him bring the new mattress in?"
Lloyd was having his fun going through the closet, but he reluctantly agreed.
Nya watched with a bit of annoyance as she watched the boys leave the room to go get the mattress. She knew Misako meant weel, but she sometimes felt like everyone was treating her way too delicately. She still was capable of doing things on her own and being a valued member of the team. Right?
Soon the new mattress was in, the dresser and nightstand were cleaned and placed back where they go, the simple decorations were put up and the room was ready.
"Finally we're done," Lloyd said, relieved, you guys wanna go play video games?"
The boys and PIXAL whooped and hollered down to the game room, but Nya stayed behind and looked at the result of their work. It looked nice, it did. But she still felt a sense of loss, seeing her teenage bedroom become this spare chamber for a strange old woman. It felt...weird.
Jay interrupted her pining by placing his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he whispered. Nya nodded, desperately trying not to let the tears she felt well up in her eyes spill to her cheeks.
Jay turned her to face him. "Are you sure?"
"I said I was fine and I am," Nya suddenly turned away and headed down the hall towards the game room. "Come on, I wanna get the good controller."
Jay watched her walk away, surprised at her small outburst. He didn't mean to make her upset. He closed the now guest room door and followed her to the game room.