Do You Like Her?
Chapter One: A Collection of a Love Story
Dreamer-of-the-Seed:
This is my first go at a fanfiction and as you will find it is not a complete story. It's just a fragment, a collection of ideas that are more of a preview. I am having this slight obsession with a certain character, Yzak Joule. So I have decided to entertain my daydreaming by writing a short love story between him and an OC. If the reviews of this story are positive then I may write and post a more completed version. I suppose one could think of it as a trailer to a movie. If you would like to see more of this story then please review and tell me what you think. Anything goes, make suggestions, tell me what you liked, didn't like but please be mature and respectful. If you didn't like any of it then you can very well say that but be nice about it. (Oh yeah, uh I do not own Gundam Seed/Destiny by the way. Just my own characters).
Summary:
Yzak thinks back to when he heard the horrible news, to when he first met her, to when he fell in love with her.
'Do you like her?'
That had been the question posed to him so many months ago and he still wasn't sure of his answer. Yzak remembered the day quite clearly, it was a week or so after his mother revealed to him that she had signed away his life. Or to put more nicely she had arranged for him to be married to a girl whose father was supposedly some prominent figure in the council. He was even more surprised when he discovered that it wasn't the council of the PLANTS. The girl was from ORB, a first generation coordinator, her parents were naturals. This union between a ZAFT commander, son of Ezalia Joule, councilmember, and Richard Othello's daughter, her father a member of the council in ORB was sure to tie the bonds between the two nations even more. Seeing that arrange marriages were a natural occurrence in the PLANTS one would think Yzak predicted that this might happen.
Whoever that was thought wrong.
"What the hell is wrong with her?! I don't want to be married to some complete stranger! I don't want to even get married at all damn't! It's a waste of time! And even if I did I can find my own damn wife!" Yzak hollered, fists clenched, teeth bared, pacing...stomping back and forth.
"You'll wear the carpet if you do that..." Dearka commented, he was sitting comfortably on the couch, arms crossed and he had a look of boredom. Anyone else would have fled long ago but he was used to the young commander's temper by now.
"Does it look like I give a damn about some god damn bloody carpet?" Yzak snapped. With a huff Yzak collapsed on the couch beside his friend and raked a hand through his silver hair.
"Look we both know you're mother, if it comes out that you two can't stand each other I really don't think she'd make you go through with it," Dearka reasoned, "she would want you to be happy. Which is why it's not official yet, you have to at least meet the girl Yzak."
Yzak glanced at Dearka, "No you're wrong Dearka, that may have been the case before but...the council heard news of it, thought it was a great idea, and now my mother can't back down. It may not be official right now but I'm expecting there to be an announcement about this within the next week," Yzak sighed and slumped back on the couch, he wished he could sink into the leather cushions and disappear.
Dearka eyes widened at this comment and place his hand on Yzak's shoulder. "Sorry Yzak..." he trailed off. "But you know it may not be as bad as you think; I mean you haven't even met her. Yzak you may actually like her, it is a possibility," he said with a half smile. "And on the plus she could be a total babe, so what's wrong with that?"
The silver haired commander gaped at his friend in disbelief. How long had they been together? On the same team, on the same battle ship, fighting in the same battles? You would think that Dearka would know that his hot headed friend wasn't the kind to look at swim suit magazines like him. Yzak had already found girls to be overly annoying, the worst were the so-called 'hot' ones. However he wasn't blind and he was still a teenage boy of nineteen. Yzak knew that it had to be more than just looks to attract him, to catch his eye, there had to be something else...something that he didn't know what to call.
"You're an idiot Dearka ..." Yzak grumbled and stood up from the couch.
Dearka opened his mouth to comment when a shrill ring interrupted. Yzak moved to the door a pushed a button on the wall beside it. "Yes?" he asked his tone impatient.
"Yzak dear, it's your mother, I have someone I would like you to meet," a woman's voice answered.
Yzak stiffened but without pause he opened the door. Ezalia Joule, his mother stepped into the room, it was surprising how the two looked so much alike, both blue eyes and silver hair. Behind her was a petite girl, young, she appeared to be only seventeen or eighteen with short chestnut brown hair cut just below her jaw line. Her eyes were a soft hazel and she was pale, her skin almost porcelain. She wore a tasteful yellow summer dress, around her waist was a white satin ribbon tied off in a bow to the side. Short white button-up cashmere sweater covered her shoulders.
"Good morning, mother..." Yzak murmured his gaze lingering on the girl, she met his stare with a curious expression, she blushed and both looked away.
Dearka stood up and nodded to her respectfully, "Mrs. Joule," he greeted.
"Now Yzak why do you have the blinds shut?" Ezalia sighed calmly brushing off the two, "It's a beautiful day," she said and strode over to the window. She flipped a switch on the wall and the blinds began to lift up on their own. The sun invaded the room and the country of ORB sat peacefully outside the window.
"Well now that we can see, Yzak this is Rin Othello," Ezalia announced wasting no time at all. "And Rin I believe you already know, but this is my son Yzak," she said and smiled fondly at her son.
Rin stepped closer and curtsied, the way she had been taught, and held out her hand. "It's...uh very nice to meet you," she said quietly stumbling on her words just a bit. It wasn't hard to tell that she was nervous. Who wouldn't be? She was after all just a girl meeting a strange man that she was supposed to be engaged too.
Yzak took her hand and shook it, it surprised her how warm his hand was. Yzak couldn't help but notice her small hand in his. In fact she herself was small; he was at least a head and a half taller than Rin. She just reached his shoulders; she had to look up to meet his gaze.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Yzak spoke keeping his tone polite. Only Dearka knew that it was a struggle for the commander to keep his temper in check.
Their hands disconnected and there was a silence that could only be called one word: awkward.
Ezalia cleared her throat and Dearka was the first to make a move, he took Rin's hand, bent down and kissed it. "And I'm Dearka Elthman, he's a bit out of sorts right now, and I'm sure you are as well. But I'm sure everything will work out," he said. He released her hand and winked.
Rin blushed, "Oh uh...yes thank you I mean," Rin stuttered.
Ezalia laughed and Dearka spotted fire in the ice blue eyes of his commander. He was going to get an earful for this, may as well have fun while he could.
"I have to leave now, but again it was nice to meet you," he said and walked to the door. "Oh and Yzak you're one lucky bastard," he finished with a smirk. The door closed behind him and he chuckled to himself. He was glad that he was such good friends with Yzak otherwise the man's mother would have scolded him for his potty mouth. But she knew him too well. Now where would be a good place for him to hideout for a few days? He needed to wade out the storm before it killed him.
Back in the room Ezalia was still suppressing the last of her laughter. She felt sorry for her son, Dearka knew exactly how, where, and when to push the poor boy's buttons. However; Dearka also when not to push them. "I'm going to leave you two to get acquainted, I have some errands to run and a meeting later," she told them, Yzak was still steaming and the red had just begun to fade from Rin's cheeks. She walked over to her son and kissed his cheek, "Don't be harsh with her Yzak, she's just as uncomfortable with the situation as you are," Ezalia whispered.
"But mother...!" Yzak began to protest but trailed off and grumbled the rest.
The council woman nodded to Rin before exiting the room, leaving the two alone.
Silence.
Only the quiet tick, tock of the clock, the sound of cars whizzing by, and the birds perched on the tree just outside the window. There may have also been a cricket, cricketing somewhere...
Yzak crossed his arms and leaned against the couch and studied the girl across from him. Her eyes seemed glued to her shoes, as she didn't look up at him once. Don't tell me she's crying...Yzak thought and rolled his eyes. That's last thing he needed...girls were annoying...crying girls drove him up the wall and into a ditch.
"You know I'm not Medusa, you can look me in the eye," Yzak grumbled.
Rin jumped when he spoke and hesitantly met his gaze, "Sorry," she mumbled.
They stared at each other for a long moment, "Um Mr. Joule, are we going to stay here all day?" she asked.
Mr. Joule...?
Yzak blinked in surprise, "You can just call me Yzak," he said, "do you have somewhere you need to be?" he asked. He was hoping she would say yes and he could hunt down a certain someone...
"No...It's just that my father wants me to spend the whole day with you...I was just thinking that maybe we could go into town, maybe have a coffee. There's a cafe here that's supposed to be really good," she explained.
All day?!
He wanted to throw something, smash the window, or throttle the chair. He breathed in deeply...1, 2, 3, 4, 5...He thought to himself trying to keep himself calm. 'Don't be harsh with her Yzak...'
"Well I understand if you have other things to do...but it kind of makes sense to spend the day together. Since we're well you know...engaged," she said the last part quietly, highly above a whisper.
6, 7, 8, 9....
Yzak let out the breath he had been holding and glared at her. Rin immediately diverted her gaze, his mouth opened to begin his tirade of shouts and curses and his fists were clenched.
'Don't be harsh with her Yzak; she's just as uncomfortable with the situation as you are.'
He couldn't help but let out a very annoyed sigh. "Yeah fine, where's this stupid cafe?" he grumbled.
Rin glanced up at him and to his surprise, she smiled. "It's not very far, we can probably walk from here, I'll show you," she said and grabbed his arm timidly.
He stiffened but kept his mouth shut and allowed her to take the lead.
Indeed the walk to the cafe wasn't very long and Yzak soon discovered that the only reason it was so close to the hotel was because it was very touristy. When they stepped inside they were bombarded with smells of all kinds, people chattering in different languages, there were even some ORB soldiers one their breaks. The cafe was packed and there was a line right to the door. Yzak could feel a headache growing in the back of his skull when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to meet hazel eyes staring back at him.
"What?"
"Well um, do you want to go someplace else, since it's so busy here?" she wondered.
"Yes, I'm already getting a headache," he grumbled.
The two left the crowded cafe in a hurry. They walked for a bit when Yzak began to lead Rin in another direction.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To the garage, we'll drive into town and find a place to have coffee," he explained.
"Oh," she said and followed him obediently.
The large hotel garage was full of different cars, some newer models some older. Yzak racked his brain trying to remember where the car he had rented for the week was parked. Finally he spotted it; the car was a dark blue mustang convertible. He found the keys in his pocket and pressed the button, there was a quiet beeping, indicating the doors had just been unlocked.
"Oh wow, cool!" Rin suddenly exclaimed. "This is yours?" she asked in somewhat awe.
Yzak raised a slender eyebrow, "No I'm just renting it, but I have a newer model in the PLANTS," he told her.
"Oh...still my father would never let me even rent a car like this," she said.
"Why?" he asked as he opened the door and got in.
Rin got in after him and buckled her seatbelt, Yzak did the same, "Too dangerous," she said.
Yzak snorted a laugh, "are you serious?" he asked.
Rin nodded.
The keys were placed into the ignition and with a sweet roar the engine came to life. The car hummed wonderfully. Yzak backed out of the parking spot, turned around and headed out of the garage.
They had only been driving a little while before Rin piped up, "Hey Yzak?"
"Yeah?"
"Could I possibly...kind of maybe..." she began.
"Spit it out girl," he huffed.
"Can I try driving later?"
They had reached another small restaurant in one of the quieter neighbourhoods of the city. The building was defiantly old but it had a charming appeal and it was small, almost homey. The two stepped inside; there were a few customers mingling about, the smell of bacon and pancakes wafted to their noses from the kitchen.
"Mmm...Smells good," Rin commented and glanced at Yzak.
"Yeah, sure..." he mumbled.
"Well then let's eat!" she said excitedly. The sign at the door read, 'Seat Yourself' and so Rin pulled Yzak over to a window booth.
--------
Do you like her?
The question had been posed to him so long ago and he still didn't have an answer. Yzak leaned back on the leather couch. He was still in ORB but it was months since their first meeting. He eventually had to purchase an apartment because he visited her so often now. He knew that it wasn't just his mother's requests that made his trips so frequent. He slowly lifted himself off the couch and walked toward the fancy, shiny, new kitchen. Lovely smells lingered around the whole apartment and his curiosity got the best of him.
When he entered her back was to him, she wore and light blue summer dress and a yellow apron overtop. There was a pot on the stove that was steaming, and various ingredients on the counter. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that on the island in the middle of the kitchen was covered with various sushi dishes.
"Are there people coming over?" he wondered.
She didn't turn around, "No, this is for us," she stated.
"Us? There must be like 10 dishes here and you're still cooking!" he gaped.
"Well you said that sushi was your favourite right?"
"Yes but I'm only one man," he grumbled.
She laughed, "But you just got back from a mission out by the PLANTS right? Dearka told me about it. You were in a skirmish with some radicals and then you took a shuttle here right after the whole thing was over. You're probably starving," she said.
As if on cue an audible stomach growled, Rin laughed, "See?"
Yzak blushed and gazed at her and then glanced at the food. His expression turned soft.
"You don't have to eat it all, I'll pack the rest for your lunch tomorrow," she suggested. Rin suddenly looked up at the top cupboard and frowned. Why were the utensils she needed most always so high up...oh right this was Yzak's apartment, she reminded herself...stupid tall person.
She hoisted herself up onto the counter and reached for the cupboard.
"What are you doing?" she heard from behind, she didn't need to look, she knew Yzak too well and his expressions were becoming predictable by now.
"I need to get the large bowl for the salad and because some tall person put it on the top shelf I have to climb your kitchen like a tree," she huffed. She opened the cupboard and spotted the bowl. She slowly began to remove it careful not to let anything else in the cupboard fall.
"Watch it..." Yzak warned but it was too late.
The bowl slipped and the weight of it put Rin off balance she wobbled and then slipped right off the counter bringing the bowl down with her. She was expecting to feel a painful throbbing around the butt area however instead something softer than the kitchen tile floor broke her fall. The bowl clattered and smashed, it being glass, pieces flew everywhere. The knife that had been on the counter also clattered to the ground. She looked around in surprise only to discover she was sitting rather comfortably on Yzak's lap. His reflexes were what saved her and she couldn't help but stare at him in awe.
"Yzak I..."
"What the hell is wrong with you? You could've killed yourself!" he shouted.
"You're blowing this way out of proportion Yzak, but than-" he cut her off again.
"No I'm not," he snarled and before she could protest he lifted her up and carried her down the hall. They reached the bathroom and he set her on the counter.
"What are you doing Yzak? I'm fine," Rin insisted and attempted to get off the counter.
Yzak blocked her, "No you're not, look at this," he snapped, he held up her hand and much to her surprise there was a large piece of glass stuck in the palm of her hand. Blood seeped out from the cut and traveled all the way down her arm to her elbow. Seeing her own injury she became suddenly aware of the hot tingling pain in her hand.
"Oh..." was all Rin could say.
"Yes 'oh'," Yzak sneered, he then proceeded to retrieve the first aid kit from the bathroom cupboard. He dabbed at the bloody hand with some gauze, he paused and look at her. "This is going to hurt," he warned.
Her eyes widened as he pinched the piece of glass between his fingers. "Yzak don't," she begged, "please don't."
"Sorry," was all he said before he yanked the glass and it pulled free from her hand. Rin gasped and clutched at his uniform.
"That hurt!" she cried and her eyes began to water.
Yzak didn't respond and dabbed the wounded hand with disinfectant, she flinched and attempted to pull away but his hold on her was too strong.
"Stop it!"
He turned on the tap and cleaned the wound thoroughly.
"I hate you!"
He stopped, startled and it was quiet asides for the running tap and Rin's weeping. She surprised herself by her own words and peaked a glance at Yzak. His expression was unreadable. Yzak moved her hand out from under the running water and turned off the tap. He then continued to dry and bandage it.
"There, I'm sorry if I hurt you, but now it won't get infected," he stated and turned to leave.
"I'm sorry," she said and grabbed his arm, "I didn't mean it, I'm sorry, I don't hate you...I..." she trailed off and looked away.
Yzak didn't respond and contemplated if he should just storm out right now but he honestly didn't feel the least bit angry. He felt...he didn't know...his chest was tight and his mouth was dry. Her words had really cut in deep. Her words of hate and her words of remorse.
Her grip tightened on his arm and she began to cry even harder. He glanced back at her remembering that he used to think girls that cried were the most annoying. He felt no irritation toward her then; he had an overwhelming need to comfort her. Anyone would if they saw her like this he reasoned.
"Please don't go," she mumbled through her hiccups and tears.
His chest tightened, Dearka's words floated back to him. Do you like her? Well I think you do, I mean just the way you look at her. It's the same way Kira looks at Lacus, or Athrun at Cagalli, in fact I think it's more than like. Could it be that you're in love with her? He wanted to shoot him when he said that but now suddenly the words didn't sound so frightening.
"Yzak?" she looked up at him now. Her hazel eyes swimming in salt water, tears leaving streaks on her cheeks and an expression like he'd never seen before. She looked beaten, like all those months of his insults, snappy remarks and hard glares had finally beaten her. In the beginning he would've felt triumphant over this, it would be victory but now he didn't want this at all. He didn't want to her to end up like this!
That was it, he wasn't going to allow his temper, or his thoughts, to hold him back anymore. He turned around fully, took one step towards Rin and embraced her.
He was warm, and she felt herself sinking into his chest, fitting perfectly into his arms. She gripped the uniform tightly never wanting to let go. He smelled of a long hard day at work but was partly covered up by faint men's cologne.
Yzak pulled away, she still clenched the jacket of his uniform in her fist. He placed his hand on hers and squeezed it gently. "It's okay, I'm not going anyway," he told her.
Her hand loosened and placed her other hand on the collar. She pulled hard but Yzak didn't resist and he leaned closer. Their faces inches apart, their breath mingled together.
"Promise?" she asked.
"I swear it," Yzak pronounced.
Rin wasn't expecting much else even if they were so close but before she realized it Yzak closed the distance between them. He pressed his lips against hers and her eyes widened. One, two seconds went by and she closed her eyes when she fully realized what was happening. Fresh tears began to creep their way down her cheeks. The kiss deepened and their lips melded together. He pulled away slightly and kissed her cheek. Yzak rested his forehead against hers and wiped away the remaining tears with his thumb. "Now no more crying okay?"
Rin nodded, "okay," she sniffled.
Yzak straightened, Rin appeared to be a bit dazed, "We should eat, I'm starving," he said calmly.
"Sure," she said, a smile now on her face, Yzak watched her for a moment. Rin made to get off the counter but he stopped her again. She looked at him, startled.
He caressed her cheek gently, "I have one more thing to tell you. Now I'm probably only going to say this once so listen..." Yzak paused.
He bent down close to her looking her in the eye.
"I love you," he stated.
She didn't say anything and just looked dumbfounded. Yzak couldn't help but laugh; he turned and headed out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen. It wasn't long before he heard footsteps right behind him and he felt a tug on his uniform. He looked back to see Rin, her face beat red and she hugged him from behind burying her face in his back.
"I love you too," she mumbled.
Well Yzak do you like her?
DOTS:
Well there it is, I hope it was somewhat enjoyable. Please review.