Mother Nature's Flower

Chapter 27

Aiko had not fallen back asleep after closing her eyes, but she did not get up. Partly because she didn't want to wake Shino up, and partly because she was warm and comfy. She had been awake for an hour and a half and no one had woken up yet.

Shino hadn't moved around much so she was still in the same position as she was when she woke up. It wasn't even five minutes later before Shino started moving. His chest moved up with a deep breath at the same time his arm tightened around her for a moment. His eyes then opened and looked around the still dark room. Then he looked down at the girl in his arm.

Her large green eyes stared into his black eyes that were visible because he still lacked his glasses. She gave him a smile and a whispered "good morning". The corner of his mouth moved up slightly and he whispered back a curt "morning" in a voice rougher than normal.

He leaned over and gave a quick kiss to her forehead before getting up. He did that every once in a while when he woke her up. He normally just did it after she had a bad dream, so this was very spontaneous.

Once up, he put reached for the night table and grabbed his glasses. Figuring he was about to put them on, she scrambled to get to the other side and grab his arm.

"Could you leave them off a little longer? Just until the sun comes up more," Aiko asked pleadingly.

Shino was still for a minute, before sighing. Aiko took that as a yes and released his arm with a large smile. Shino put his glasses back on the table and sat on the side of the bed. Aiko crawled over on his right side and sat next to him. Her feet were barely brushing the floor and Shino's were at a 90-degree angle.

Her feet were swinging back and forth as she asked, "Do you want to get something to eat? I don't know when someone else will wake up and I'm kind of hungry."

Shino looked back at her, "Yeah, Kurenai-sensei mentioned a shopping center. It most likely has a food shop there as well."

Aiko nodded before sliding off the bed and grabbing her bag of clothes by what was supposed to be her bed. She noticed that Naruto was on hers and that no one was in their proper room. She smiled as she watched her cousin snore eagle-spread on the bed with the blankets tangled around him.

She quietly tip-toed and to the bathroom and changed into day clothes. She put on a pair of flowing, grey shorts that went to her mid-thigh, thick-strapped, white tank top with a light-weight grey jacket over it, and a pair of white sandals. Once done, she brushed her teeth and her hair. Deciding not to do anything with her hair, she left it done.

Exiting the bathroom, she saw that no one else was awake yet. Shino was leaning against the wall outside the door with his usual clothes in hand. Hearing the door open, he pushed back from the wall and turned towards her.

Aiko smiled, "It's all yours."

Shino nodded and walked to the bathroom. As he was changing, Aiko made the bed. Just when she put the now-fluffed pillow back by the headboard, Shino exited from the bathroom. HIs pajamas now in hand, he put them in his bag and walked over to Aiko.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked in a rough voice, still thick from sleep.

Aiko nodded enthusiastically with a "Yup!"

Shino and Aiko quietly exited the room and walked down to the lobby. No one was at the front desk, which made Aiko sighed in relief. She didn't want to run into the boy from before.

They walked outside and started to walk to the shopping center. On the way there they started to talk quietly. They had started with Aiko talking about how much fun she had so far. But then it progressed to her abilities to nature to bugs. For bugs, it started off with some beetles that were prevalent in the area, then it progressed to Shino's kikaichu.

This was a topic that interested both of them. Shino didn't like to talk excessively, but he did like to talk to Aiko. And if he could talk about something that he was passionate about to her, even better.

As they were talking, they didn't notice some people looking at them as they walked. But from their point of view, it seemed almost odd. They see a short girl and a tall young man walking side by side, talking quietly, deep in conversation.

They walked for a few more minutes before they reached the shopping area. When they got there, they cut off their conversation. Aiko looked around and noticed how many people there already was at the shopping center. She shifted closer to Shino's side and grabbed the material of his coat on his back. Shino looked down at Aiko before wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

Aiko looked up at Shino before looked back down and squeezing closer into his side. As they walked, Aiko gradually started to look back up and look around some. She saw many vendors and cool things that her head was constantly turning left and right. They walked a little more before Shino turned right into a restaurant.

Aiko noticed that the restaurant was very nice and had a clean decorum. It was very clean and the atmosphere was very amicable. They were only standing at the door for about a minute before someone led them to a booth.

They were put in a secluded corner and asked if they could wait a moment until their waitress came to give them menus and take their order. Shino nodded to the hostess, getting a nod in return, before getting one in return.

It was another thirty seconds before another lady came over to their table, two menus in hand. She set them in the middle before asking what they would like to drink.

Aiko just wanted a Sprite, not really liking any other soda besides that (I am the exact same way), and Shino just got a water. She nodded as she wrote it down on her notepad then walked away.

As she left Aiko looked over to Shino, who was already looking at his menu. Well, she assumed he was it was open in front of him and his head was slightly tilted down.

Aiko looked down to her own menu, eyes traveling over some foods that she had never heard of, and some that she heard her cousin talking about. She kept looking before she saw something called, "Katsudon."

It looked very good, with a deep-fried pork cutlet on top of the bowl. Her mouth started to water as she read the description and looked at the picture. It was a deep-fried pork cutlet over rice, eggs, and vegetables.

I hope she comes back soon, Aiko thought as she saw her dealing with another table.