Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Seed.
Chapter OneThe Head Representative of Orb sat in front of a mountainous pile of paperwork, waiting for a approval, all the while muttering away about her lack of organizational skills and trying to sort through the documents in priorital order.
The phone started playing a musical score—was it Mozart? Cagalli Yula Athha had never been too good with the identification of classical music—but hey, who could blame her? It was composed ages before the Cosmic Era.
"Head Representative of Orb Cagalli Yula Athha speaking," she growled into the phone moodily. This had better not be the Council again.
"Miss Yula Athha?" a voice replied uncertainly. "I'm just calling to notify you that Chairwoman Lacus Clyne and your brother Kira's plane will be landing shortly."
Cagalli groaned inwardly. Her meeting with PLANTS' songstress chairwoman was today. How could she have forgotten? "Yes, please arrange the required transportation for them. Thank you."
Replacing the receiver, the petite blonde leaned back and stretched. It would be nice to see her brother and his new fiancée again, especially since doing paperwork at the office day in day out was getting rather dreary.
It had been three years since the second Bloody Valentine War, and the world was recovering, slowly but surely. Of course, there were still some political boundaries and small kinks that posed obstacles, but those could be worked out, given time.
Thinking about Kira and Lacus's engagement, Cagalli felt a pang of despair. Athrun was away on a business trip, and although he and Cagalli had gotten back together, Meyrin had gone with him. The despair only lasted momentarily, for in the past year, Cagalli and Meyrin had began to get along just fine, and the former had enough to deal with, and questioning the latter's motives wasn't exactly on her list.
A knock thumped at the door, a strange reverting pattern.
"Come in," called Cagalli as sweetly as she could possibly muster, annoyed at the interruption.
The door swung open gently on its hinges, and Dearka Elsman entered, led by the same nervous secretary that had called earlier. "So sorry to disturb you," she stammered apologetically, "but Mr. Elsman insisted on seeing you immediately."
"That's fine," Cagalli reassured the woman, who looked like she was about to faint, allowing her to retreat. "So what brings you here?"
Dearka smirked pleasantly. "What, not even a greeting?"
Cagalli tapped her foot impatiently. "I have a meeting in an hour, Elsman, and no time for your games."
"Is that so? Don't you fret your pretty little head about that, the meeting was just a cover up. Lacus and Kira are all in on the plan," he replied cockily, brandishing a bouquet of pink roses and a box tied with a red bow. "Don't shoot the messenger. I'll leave you to them," he added, setting the offerings on her desk atop a sky scooter regulation document, and exiting.
Cagalli turned to inspect the unexpected objects. Strange, there was no note with the flowers. Shrugging, she diverted her attention to the neatly wrapped box, and started to reach for it, but stopped mid-way.
The box was shaking. And thumping. Uncontrollably.
Cagalli stared at the door in alarm. Wasn't Dearka a known prankster? Was it still safe? Well, only one way to find out…
A/N: Ooh, a cliffie...
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