Phew! I've been writing like crazy trying to make my own time schedule. I was originally going to use what I had written already for chapter 9, but it felt like something was missing, like not enough time had passed yet so I quickly wrote this up. I had originally been planning to post this no later than the middle of October, but since I had to create a whole new chapter from scratch it took a little longer. Okay, a lot longer. Sorry for the delay, and a giant thank you to those who reviewed! You're what keeps me writing! Okay, enough talk. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

"You know, I can't even remember the last time we were out shopping. Can you believe that?" Chidori asked as she sat comfortably on a pillow in the living room.

"I know! The only time I've been shopping was to get more groceries. Ooh! Speaking of which, I got more twinkies!" Suzumi exclaimed excitedly jumping up off of her pillow and jogging to the kitchen.

The three women of the house, excluding Mrs. Q. who was off doing something else, were all sprawled over the living room floor engaging in some good-natured girl talk. Different snacks: popcorn, pretzels, candy, you name it; all laid in decorative bowls and assorted containers surrounding them. It had been months since they had all just taken the time to have some fun.

"Ooh! Good! Hey, Suzumi can you bring back some tea too?" Chidori called to her.

"Who do you think I am? That American, Martha Stewart? I'm not making tea... but I will bring some soda. We've already got twinkies..." Suzumi said raising the box of goodies in the air and waving it around in front of the others. "...and candy. This is no health food fest!"

A big smile broke out on Aya's face as she caught the box of twinkies that Suzumi had just thrown across the room. She opened the box and passed Chidori a package before grabbing one for herself and opening it. She took a bite before finally asking the question that had been on her mind all day.

"Chidori, what on earth happened to you hair?"

Chidori's face transformed from a smile into a bleak and cold stare. Her eyes were hidden behind furrowed eyebrows. She only spoke two words, "Dread locks."

Aya at first sat calmly nodding her head slowly as she fully examined the extent of what Chidori's hair had gone through. Slowly, but surely her lips formed a tight pucker as she tried hard not to laugh. She bit down on them and blinked her eyes a few times, but it was no use. She burst into laughter falling over onto the hard wood floor.

"This is far from funny! Do you not see what Mrs. Q. did to my hair? It's in dread locks! DREAD LOCKS!"

Suzumi who had once again gone back to the kitchen to pick up three cans of soda was heard guffawing. The trip would have taken her less than fifteen seconds, but she wanted to get it all out before returning with their drinks. Aya however kept laughing, so Suzumi just walked out and handed Chidori her soda before collapsing down upon her pillow in laughter.

"It's not funny! You don't know what it's like living with Mrs. Q.! Every night is like a sleep over. She won't let me go to sleep unless we play at least two rounds of Truth or Dare! I can now safely give everyone the advice to never choose dare!"

"Let me guess, she dared you to put dread locks in your hair?" Aya asked glad for the opportunity to laugh. It had been so long since she laughed like this. Lately there hadn't been much that she found funny, but this was just too much.

"No," Chidori stated frankly. "That was just of her own free will. I woke up with this!" She grabbed a portion of her hair yanking it forward annoyed. "She dared me to run around the house naked!"

Suzumi who had somewhat calmed down and was in mid sip of her drink, barely managed to save anything from spilling and began to laugh again. "And you did it? How could you be so stupid?"

Chidori leaned over until her face was mere inches from Suzumi's and glared at her. "Do NOT underestimate the power of Mrs. Q. There were no other options. She stripped me naked forced me out of the room and locked the door! She can be really, really mean!"

"And vindictive, sly and cunning," Aya said remembering past events as she nibbled on her twinkie.

"Hey, everyone what are you doing?" Yuuhi began as he entered the living room. When he saw the junk food he got distracted. "Ooh! Twinkies!" He grabbed one of the wrapped goodies and began to sit down with the other girls before he saw Aya.

"Um, I guess you could join us, but only if you don't mock my hair!" Chidori stated before checking it over with the others.

"Oh, umm..." he mumbled ignoring most of Chidori's comment. He began to stand back up while staring at Aya. She was lying on her pillow on the floor on her stomach while gently kicking her feet forwards and backwards. Her hair was in a loose pony tail and parts of it covered her face where it dangled down in the front.

"I was just going to uh, make myself some lunch," Yuuhi finished quickly. He then turned and practically ran back into the kitchen.

The three girls looked at each other with looks of confusion. "He's acting a bit weird, huh?" Chidori said breaking the confused silence.

"Only since Tooya got here," Suzumi pointed out.

"It was true," Aya thought becoming quiet. Yuuhi seemed to almost be avoiding her ever since Tooya had moved in with them. Her smile and laughter from before faded. "I wish that it didn't have to be like this. I've still gotta take a chance with Tooya. I've gotta find out if there's anything still here. It's the right thing to do... right?"

Tooya sat outside on an old stone bench enjoying the beautiful weather. He sat facing the row of trees that surrounded the backyard, watching the branches as they swayed with the gentle breeze. It was calming and peaceful and definitely relaxing. Living at the Aogiri house definitely was not any of the above. Some time alone to think was all he needed at the moment. His brain scanned over all of the details he'd learned and remembered over the past few weeks.

It's a bad spot to stop I know. This is NOT all that I intended on writing. I just couldn't seem to get past this last part. So instead of making everyone wait until I had it perfect, I'm just posting it as is. I may update this chapter later on, but for now I just need to continue on with the story. I promise the next chapter is really good. Thank you for reading!