Author's Notes: I just wrote this off the top of my head. It was inspired by my anger at some of the petty reasons people on the forum choose to dislike Cagalli. I chose to convey the reasons I like Cagalli through Athrun's perspective. So please, read and review.

FLAME

A war is known for the loss of loved ones. But you never expect to discover one in the process.

Then again, Cagalli was never known for abiding by all the rules. In fact, it seems as though she took pleasure in breaking them.

Her beliefs can only be classified as being " idealistic", and they may not be the most effective way of thinking in order to restore Orb to its former glory. But the passion and sincerity so inherent in everything she does, in the way she thinks she has to save the entire world, is worthy of so much admiration.

Cagalli has so much fire inside of her. It blazed throughout the war, feeding her courage and determination to stay alive. And she did survive it. She was bruised, scraped disillusioned, and confronted with a life-shattering truth. And yet she had the strength to withstand it all.

I love her for her courage and her unshakable will to live.

Even though the war is over, and peace has been restored ( however tenously), her fire has not been extinguished. It is present in the way she boldly opposes a room full of men who consider her incompetent for her job. Also in the way she's ready to figth entire nations in order to uphold her father's name.

She may not be the most savvy at politics, and she may not have the most diplomatic manner, but she possess one trait few politicians could hope to have: she feels. She feels for the people of Orb, and the horrors they had to endure during the course of the last war. She feels for the families who waited anxiously for word from a loved one, only to never receive it. She feels for a young boy who questions whether he is worthy of life, when he has been forced to take so many.

I love her for her compassion.

And she doesn't just feel. She wants to change the world so no one has to ever hurt again. Behind all her ideals, all her motives, that is at the core. She wants the suffering and pain associated with war erased from everyone's heart. That is the reason why she puts on that uniform day after day. She wants the world to be a happier place.

I never expected to fall for someone like Cagalli. I was content to marry and live my life with Lacus.

Buth then she showed me that I should never settle for just being " content." She taught me that I should try to be happy.

I love her for her faith in me.

I once called her a strange person. And now, even though she still sometimes makes my eyebrows raise, I know she's not.

She's beautiful.

I feel her stir beside me, then awake. The bed is barely wide enought to accommodate two, and the stark darkness of the room gives the illusion that we are the only passengers aboard this ship. She's had a hard day, and came to me for the comfort she knows I can give.

Words are superfluous; neither of us needs them to know how much we care about the other. I can feel her eyes on me, so I turn my head to gaze down at the figure that I now know intimately. Her golden eyes are the sole light in the room, and they are enough for my whole being to feel imbued with light.

I see in her eyes the fire that she has had to learn to control: a fire that has flared, dimmed, but never, ever, wavered.

And I love her most for that.