Amaya rubbed her arm nervously as she approached Nicolette. A bead of sweat tricked down from her forehead as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Amy?" Nicolette suddenly turned towards her and put a hand on her hip. "What is it?"

Amaya swallowed. "Nicolette, I am truly sorry for how I have been acting... You didn't deserve any of it-"

Nicolette held up her hand. "Honey, please. It's in the past." She placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "I should apologize too. I shouldn't have been so forceful on you and expect results. Sometimes I have issues controlling my impulses, i-if that makes any sense.." She looked down and rubbed the back of her neck, ashamed.

"No, please, it's okay." Amaya hugged her. "I'm glad I got to know you, though. I was terrified to meet new people, and with Ebony and Eddy acting so distant with me, it just felt nice to have a new friend." She smiled and looked up at her. "You're really sweet, Nicolette. I know you're going to be a wonderful ninja."

Nicolette laughed. "That sounds kind of silly, to be honest with you." She crossed her arms and grinned. "Damn, I can't believe we're going to be ninja, like our parents. Crazy shit."

Amaya nodded. "It's insane, but I'm also a little excited. It's almost like a story in a book come true; I'll finally be able to go on an adventure of my own."

Nicolette giggled and ruffled Amy's hair. "My little bookworm." She stepped back and nodded towards the door "Go ahead and see if you can wrangle up the others. I'll meet you soon."

Amaya hugged Nicolette once more and left the room, leaving Nicolette by herself. She hugged her body, the wide grin on her face suddenly sinking into a soft smile. She sniffled for a moment before feeling the tears well up in her eyes. Dammit, not now, please not now...

Nicolette bit her lip and wiped her eyes, feeling her stomach sink. She didn't want to admit to Amy that her heart had shattered into a million pieces. She didn't want to admit to her that she had serious attachment issues and often found it extremely hard to move on after heartache. She couldn't... she couldn't burden any more people with her problems.

And how would she tell Ebony and Edward, both obviously in love with her, that her heart still belonged to Amy? Would she have to force someone else to feel this pain? Someone would be unhappy, and it was already taking its toll on her. How she wished she could just take a long nap and ignore everything, especially training to become a ninja, something she never wanted to do in the first place.

After a few minutes, the others began to call out to her. Nicolette dried her tears and put on a brave face, hiding the pain behind her smile. Someday, she would have to face her fears, but for now, she had to be the glue that held everyone together. It was what she did best, after all.