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Chains of Freedom

01 – A New Beginning

"Kira, I love you" she cried out as she rushed to embrace him, there was a slight pause then in an almost begging tone yelled "Please go out with me!" Kira was completely overwhelmed by the sudden event, his heart started racing and thoughts continued to question the situation 'She loves me? She wants to go out with someone like… me? How is this possible?'.

Who wouldn't be infatuated with her? She had the most amazing figure, flowing hair that seemed to glitter in the sunlight, the long silky legs that teased all the males on school grounds. A seductive pair of eyes that seemed to just send you into a trance if you stared at it for too long and luscious red lips that called out to Kira to connect his lips with it.

Earlier, when Kira arrived at school he opened up his locker to find a shocking love letter to him which read: 'Please see me behind the gym during lunch, I'll be waiting'. Even though he knew it couldn't possibly be the girl he has a crush on, he had to see it through, because even if it there was the slightest possible chance that she was indeed the one who wrote this to him then wouldn't it be worth it? Low and behold of all the odds. Of all the girls, the one who wrote it really was the one girl he had hoped it would be.

Kira still couldn't believe his ears; his eyes didn't seem too reliable at the moment either. Beads of sweat trickled down the side of his face as he stood there in utter shock and found every passing second extremely difficult to breathe. Kira was not in the least bit prepared for such an event.

Everything remained quiet for a long time until Kira managed to pull some forth some strength to convey his feelings. "I-I-I….o-o-o-f c-c-c-ourse?" he muttered while stumbling on all of his words until he noticed some rustling amongst the bushes behind her. He looked back at her and her smile had turned into a grin and then transformed into a big smile as she began to laugh uncontrollably.

Shortly after she began to laugh three boys came out of the bushes, "Aww, why couldn't you just hold it in for ten more seconds, we would have had him!" One of them said.

"Hahahaha…" she continued to laugh but started to calm down as she wiped away a small tear in the corner of her eyes "It was just too funny, did you see how he was acting? 'I-I-I……' hahahaha" she said bursting out laughing once again.

"Did he seriously believe you were in love with him?"

"I think he did!"

After coming to the realization that what they said was actually true they too joined in and laughed. Kira clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, this wasn't the first time and definitely not the last time things like this will happen. However, he could do nothing but this, words couldn't leave his lips and he was too weak to fight.

"What's this? Do you want to fight Kira? Or are you just going to make a fist to look pretty?" They taunted.

"No…" Kira said despite his true feelings.

"That's too bad" The one nearest him said before delivering a punch that connected with Kira's face. Kira immediately fell to the floor clenching tightly to his fresh bruise, but that wasn't the end, no much rather it was the beginning. His assaulter jumped on top of the wounded Kira and continued to assault him while the other two boys held down his hands. Kira was bleeding profusely and he was gradually losing consciousness.

"Oi oi oi, he looks pretty beat up I think you should stop hitting him"

The boy finally got off of his chest after having his fill of 'fun' and when he stood tall he looked down on Kira as though his life was nothing and spat on his face.

"You fucking bitch, don't ever touch my girl again, or I'll fucking kill you." After saying his piece he stooped down and wiped the blood from his knuckles on Kira's clothes. "Goddamn trash" he yelled and proceeded to kick Kira in the midsection. "Let's get out of here guys, C'mon Fllay leave this loser to rot in his own pool of blood."

Minutes passed and no one called for help, not a single soul. This wasn't the first time something like this has happened, but this time it was the most serious, Kira began to struggle to get up. He started to cough vigorously and in doing so came out more blood. Kira collapsed to his right side onto a nearby wall and leaned against it as he headed for the nurse's office. Blood smeared across the walls and left an unsightly trail. Just as he thought he couldn't make it any further he had arrived, sliding the door open he rushed towards a nearby bed where he collapsed and quickly drifted off.

Kira woke up a couple hours later and saw the nurse sitting in a far off corner with a hot cup of coffee next to her. The sound of the bed sheets alerted her attention, as she turned towards him.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" she said with a sigh of relief. "What happened?"

"I-I uh…. Fell down" Kira said although he wasn't quite sure why he lied, what part of his body caused him to do that he'll never know, maybe it was fear.

"Fell? Oh my God I stayed here for three extra hours because you were so clumsy that you fell and hurt yourself, my God, hurry up and get out of here I want to go home" her calming voice changed into a hostile one as she hurried Kira out of the door and left the victimized Kira alone in an empty hall. No one visited him, no one came to see if he was alright, not even his parents.

Kira started to walk home while dragging his bag along the floor behind him. His bruises were throbbing and he gently rubbed his cheek for comfort, but to no avail. Kira finally arrived home, unlatched the gate and approached his door. He stood there for several minutes trying to contemplate a story that would somehow seem truthful enough to explain all these markings. He sighed and looked down where he saw a few mail packages, one particular one was addressed to him from a certain university he had hopes of joining. He wasted no time and immediately ripped the package open.

'Dear Mr. Yamato,

We are pleased to invite you to the University of Orb and are proud to offer you a scholarship of $5000. We are excited to have you as part of our student body and hope to see you there in the upcoming years'

Kira couldn't believe it, it made everything else today seem trivial. He rushed inside without even a story in mind and yelled "Mom! I got in! I actually got in!"

"Shut up already… I'm trying to watch some T.V."

"But Dad, I got in! I can go to university!"

"Oh no you're not!" He said sitting upright on the sofa "You're going to help me run the business right after school"

"But Dad!"

"No buts, I ain't paying for your schooling anymore, you're going to run the family business and that's the end of that!" he snarled "Get that idea of university out of your head"

In that single moment everything fell apart, today was undoubtedly the worse day Kira has ever had to endure. His dream died. The girl he had a crush on set him up for a practical joke that at one point made him question if he might see the light of day tomorrow. He was overcome with a sudden sense of depression, but then his stomach growled and thus guided him to the kitchen as he tried to scavenge some food before dinner. His mother stood there preparing dinner, she must have heard the conversation and yet she didn't say anything.

"Mom, can you please talk to Dad? I have to go to this university, it's my dream, they're the best school that offers my program can you pleeeeease talk to him?" he pleaded.

"Dear, your father has made up his mind, you know I can't change it."

"… More like you're scared of him" Kira knew that his father in the past use to constantly hit his mother especially when he was drunk which was basically every other day. The beatings have not been as frequent as it use to be, but it still did happen every now and then. In truth Kira never blamed his mother, he understood how it is like to be ruled by fear, the feeling that overwhelms you and eliminates all your logic.

"Kira! How can you say something like that!" she gasped "You know your father loves us"

"Yeah… whatever"

"Kira apologize this minute or don't expect dinner"

"Yeah, no dinner, my lifelong dream of having dinner tonight is shattered what ever will I do?" he shouted sarcastically before rushing to his room in the basement slamming the door behind him. He threw the letter onto his desk and flipped on his lamp and just stared at his acceptance letter reading it over and over. The thought of working in his father's restaurant forever was not exactly on the top of his list on things to do and so he made a resolution.

'I don't need them… I'll earn enough money this summer to support myself'

He wiped off the tears that started to form in the corner of his eye and started to surf on the internet in hopes of finding a job that appealed to him more. He sent in his resumes to a few places hoping for the best, but since he had no prior experience things didn't look that good, but for now it was the best he could do.

The next day Kira awoke earlier than usual and quickly whipped something up to eat, his stomach was not growling but roaring now, it was demanding food, and Kira intended to satisfy it. After finishing his meal he left for school, two hours early, he didn't want to see his parents and most definitely not the same conclusion.

Two weeks later, school was finally done. The years of bullying had finally ended all the pain and suffering he had to endure had paid off but there was still the issue of funding. Even though he had applied to several companies not one of them returned a call.

All of the grads were celebrating with their friends but no one approached Kira to sign in his yearbook and Kira was always ignored when he asked a few who he thought were sort of friends. It just showed Kira that the world is a cruel being; there are many people who will be anything you want them to be so long as they can get what they want and as soon as they have it they will toss you out like garbage. From this point on Kira vowed to himself that he was going to change, he was going to be a new man when he steps into university, he was going to demand respect and everything will be different.

When Kira arrived home he checked his messages and found there was one for him from a company he had sent his resume in. He immediately recorded the number and phoned them back where they scheduled an interview for later that week.

On the day of the interview everything went smoothly and he somehow managed to land the job even with his nervous responses. He would start the following Monday and his job was just basic web programming and a stress tester to make sure everything worked the way it was designed to. However even calculating the money he would make with the job and the scholarship he was still a few thousand short, he had no choice but to find a second job. Kira once again dove into the many wanted ads and applied to any that appealed to him.

Kira was dressed semi-casually for his first day of work. He wore a white dress shirt with black dress pants, he stared himself in the mirror patting down the creases that formed in middle of his shirt, turning a bit to the left then to the right observing his clothes until he was satisfied. However no matter how hard he tried his hair refused to stay down, it would always just pop back up.

When Kira walked into work he was so nervous that he could barely tell the receptionist that he was starting today. After communication between them was created she courteously lead him to his desk. The work load was not too difficult and even though he started off knowing nothing he was able to quickly grasp the concept and become an essential part of the team, everyone admired his will to succeed and his ambitions.

In his free time Kira would browse websites and entered several chat rooms where he seemed that he was able to connect with others better. Without knowing it he had formed a strong bond of friendship with one of the people in the chat room called AegisX303. They seemed to share a lot in common and he also seemed genuinely concerned with his problems, it was the first real friend he ever had. They quickly decided to trade e-mails and added each other to messenger.

For the two months of summer vacation he spent an average of fourteen hours working each day. The load was stressful and hard at times but he managed to pull through each time there was nothing stopping him from reaching his goal.

All of Kira's hard work had paid off he managed to pay for his tuition. He had saved up more than enough and was also able to purchase a car. It was not anything fancy just a used silver 2001 Camry. But it was Kira's Camry and he felt a certain joy of independence.

However because he was working so hard during the summer he forgot to submit his form for residence so he had to find an off campus lodging. It wasn't too difficult the price was a bit steep by when he browsed the house it was in excellent condition and there were many perks that came with it. One being that it's especially close to school. There were seven rooms in total, from what he was told it was a co-ed home, he at first wasn't sure if he will be able to live together with girls, since he has barely ever spoken to one. Then he remembered his proclamation of transformation and considered it a valuable lesson of life and welcomed the oppourtunity.

The house had four floors, one at ground level another above it and two basement floors. Kira's room was on the upper basement level it was right in front of the stairs leading up and the bathroom. There was another room next to his, three directly above him and two on the lower basement area. There were two fridges, each was divided among the seven tenants.

Much to the protest of his parents Kira said his goodbyes and headed off to a new beginning. The drive took approximately an hour, but the scenery along the way was simply gorgeous. He passed by a huge lake, which was so beautiful that he took a detour. He laid down on the hood of his car staring off into the horizon. He watched as children innocently played along the coast running from one another in the classic game of tag. If it were not for change in lighting Kira would never have known that two hours had seemingly vanished.

Kira continued on his trip until he pulled up to his new home: 167 Plant Avenue fifteen minutes later. He paused outside of the home taking in deep breaths as he just stared at it. 'I'm here, I'm finally here…' Kira got out of his car and started to unpack when a truck stopped just in front of the driveway and a boy came out. He had pitch black hair and his eyes had intense red pupils. Despite his aggressive exterior Kira decided to initiate a conversation.

"Hi, my name is Kira" he said extended his hand.

"Uh… yea whatever, I'm Shinn" he replied completely ignoring Kira's hand

"Nice to meet you"

"Yea uh… look I'm kind of busy let's talk later"

"Yea, I have to unload my things too, anyways I guess I'll see you later"

Their first encounter didn't turn out the way Kira had imagined it to be but there was nothing he could do about it, so he shook it off and continued to unpack. It took a while for Kira to unload everything from his car and into his room. Afterwards he still had to assemble his desk and organize everything. Kira was working on the desk portion when he heard some more footsteps upstairs and figured it was a good time as any to start introductions. He skipped a few steps up the stairs and when he reached the ground floor his haste caused him to bump into a girl. Luckily he caught onto her arm quickly enough and prevented her from falling.

She had long straight pink hair and a very unique hairclip in the top right side of her hair. Her blue eyes were simply enchanting and were hard for Kira to pry his eyes to look elsewhere.

"You can let go of me now" she said making Kira jump after he returned to realized and realized that he had held on to her for too long after being mesmerized by her beauty.

"Ah, uhh, sorry 'bout that I was running and…" Kira said trying to explain the situation

"It's okay, don't worry about it" she said giggling at his innocent behaviour "by the way my name's Lacus Clyne, what's yours?" she said showing him her palm.

Her giggle was so cute that it took a while before Kira was able to respond. "Kira… Kira Yamato, nice to meet you." He said grabbing a hold of her hand and shaking it gently. His heart was beating so fast, his mouth dried up and his hand began to quiver slightly. "Um… do you need help moving your things?"

"If you don't mind" she said a bit timidly.

"Absolutely not" Kira declared. It took about thirty minutes to move everything Things were a bit uneasy between the two because each of them didn't say much. Kira tried at times to start a conversation but each time he opened his mouth all his strength left and he couldn't say anything. Every now and then Kira would steal glimpses of Lacus and then quickly look elsewhere before she could take notice.

"Thanks Kira" she said with a bright smile.

"No problem, well then I guess I'll see ya"

Kira retreated back into his room. His emotions were running rampant he just had to tell someone, and there was only one person that he could tell this too. He rushed the assembly of his desk then hooked up his computer. He logged into messenger almost immediately and was happy to see that his friend Aegis was also online.

StrikeX105: Aegis! Oh my god! Today I met the most beautiful woman on the planet!

AegisX303: Oh really?

StrikeX105: Yea! She's so beautiful, but I made a fool out of myself.

AegisX303: What happened?

StrikeX105: Ah it's nothing too much. It's not a big deal. I know this may be a bit hasty but I think I might have fallen for her.

Well there it is... chapter one of "Chains of Freedom". The idea just jumped at me one day and I just had to jot it down. I just wanted to get right down to the romance of KxL once again, after all they're my favourite pairing. Normally I aim for five to six chapters however this time, I'm trying to get about twenty... a bit ambitious maybe. We'll see. Sorry for the grammatic errors that are probably guaranteed to be present, it was sort of rushed.

I hope you enjoyed chapter one R&R would be great. I appreciate everyone's input and thanks for reading!