The sweet scent of Cherry Blossoms
By Julia Macgregor
Everything hinged on one thing; we had to beat out the enemy. Who was my enemy?
"Clearance…in three…two…one!" a voice said.
I look around me…who is; my friend…me?
"Check status…All green!"
A rush of air was dancing around my mind.
"You are good to go…happy hunting!"
And then,
I was thrown out of a port incase a large metal robot from a larger spaceship. What was I greeted with was something I never dreamed possible. There were other ships in the middle of deep space. Robots, large mecha beings were shooting at each other. I did not know what could happen next. It was all so puzzling as I tried to figure quickly on how to get my mecha operationally.
"KIRA!" a voice screamed in my helmet.
There was a two way radio link in my helmet. I was stunned into the battle as I groped for words. "Yea!" I managed to struggle the words out of my mouth. My eyes jolted around, scanning for any sort of help in this wayward battle. I had been trained a million times in combat with these huge monsters of outer space. They were called gundams. "I'm trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next!" I cried out of fear, trying to push buttons and flip switches. Simulation was not like this.
"Come on, baka!" Mu la hissed in my ears. His gundam was not standing. Instead it moved so gracefully, like a dancer that I was shocked.
What was I thinking as I entered into the world of war. Yet, I did have time to think as I hit the fire button. A dazzling shower of light engulfed the area with a split second. I tried to breathe as my heart leapt into the back of my mouth. The salty taste of fear burned my mouth. It hurt for a just a second.
"Good job..." a voice said over my intercom. Who was there with me? I wondered.
"Kira...please be careful!" another voice hummed gently in my mind. Was that my mom talking to me? Everything was pressing down so hard it made my mind hurt again.
I let out a breath of pain. I hoped that was going into this war blindly. I was so near to another Gundam; I could see who was inside the cockpit. Wait….I was a dreaming this. I was still back in the simulator. I had no time to be blinking back my eyes to see if I was dreaming or not.
"Stop daydreaming…" another voice howled in my ears. I was totally frightened at the person's voice. So, it was much so that opened fired at everything, I felt my body shake. Between the gun-fire and the explosions, I wondered if I was going to get out there alive.
"There is one over the left…" a voice crackled over my intercom.
I looked down on my screen, it was a ZAFT Gundam. I had to act fast with my fire. Going around like a fool, just blowing things up for the sake of blowing things up was not my style. I had my chance to get rid of the ZAFT Gundam and everything had been riding up to this day. This was it…my first splash. I heard my breath, counting the seconds in my confused mind. The senses pressed themselves into light and speed.
The noise of a machine gun firing off came from somewhere. Was it me who was shooting? I had to stop and think.
"KIRA!" a voice cried out in fear. It was something I did not forgot before I blacked out. I must have been jolted around so much that I banged my head with my helmet still on my head.
Then, I can remember nothing but a black void. Where was I, was dead...asleep. I wanted to move, to open my eyes to look around and see what happened to my Gundam. No such luck for me.
For a long time was darkness. I was blanketed and blindfolded into a world of black. I wondered as best I could if I was dead. Then, I felt a small sharp pain the back of my head. It meant was not dead. Was I blind from a possible hard blow to the head? It could happen during the fighting. I could hear a tiny beeping noise coming from a distance. I had to focus on that beeping noise.
Where was I at?
"Kira?'" a soft female voice asked in my ear.
"What?" I screamed in my mind. Yet, the rest of me was floating in a sea of warmth. I could feel warmth on some parts of my body. Now, I'm convicted. I am going nuts.
"Kira…please wake up for me!" the voice asked. It sounded like water coolly dripping from somewhere in the distance.
I forced my eyes to open. There I was lying in a bed. At first I was still dazed at the situation. My eyes were blurry and not willing to open. Why was my mind still not up to speed? I must have really got myself banged up and good. I had to really push myself to check out everything. I was not going to back down like a child. I had to grow up and fast. It was like my training. There were days I wanted to give up. Yet, something inside of me was telling me to not to give in that easily.
"Are you going to sleep here all day?" a wonderful looking girl's face peeked over to my face.
"Uh?" I managed to gasp.
"It's me...Lacus!" the girl said with a cheery smile. Her angelical presence calmed me. She held out a hand to take my. "You should be a little bit more careful!"
"L…l…lacus?" I shrived from the cold. It was cold in the room. Nothing cloud keep me warm. There was pain in my breathing. I must have broken a few bones in my body. What did really happen to me? I could not ask off the top of my head the events after I had blacked out for my whole body was incased in wires and tubes. The medicine that was used to ease my pain was doing a great job on my head.
"Yes," she smiled. Leaning forward to get a good look at me, Lacus noticed something about my one hand. She noticed a large mitt of sort wrapped apron my hand. She murmured something about it being broken. She said slowly in order for me to still understand her, "Does your hand hurt?"
She knew that she could hold my hand, the one. It could be broken from the attack on my gundam. She placed a hand on my forearm. She smiled, saying, "Everything will be all right!"
I managed to say, "Everything?"
I wonder as best as I could about everything. I had no clue what the outcome of my wounds was. I had to sit this dance out.
The door opened and a young nurse entered the room. She had her clip board in hand. Her deep blue eyes were friendly as she smiled just as softly as Lacus. She asked, "Are you still sleepy?"
I wondered if I was still fully awake when I watched her come towered my bed. I had thought hard on the right words to say. I was still under the spell of the medicine. I wonder if and when I was awake.
She asked very nicely Lacus to leave. She had to check my vitals and wounds.
Lacus said before standing up, "Now, you just stay put. Let someone else fight for you."
A feeling of going back out there against her wishes bubbled up on my lips, "What…I need…" I tried to sit up. Then, the pain of my wounds slammed so hard, that I could not catch my breath. Lacus had to watch helplessly as I tried to get my breath. The pain was too much for the both of us.
Lacus left the room with her head buzzing. She could see me in pain. It was hard for her to see in this way. I was supposed to be strong for the fight. I was deeply wrong.
Flay looked like she was the one who had just saw me. Lacus had no idea what Flay had seen in the past few days. The fighting was so getting out of hand that it was getting dangerously serious.
"What are you doing here?" Lacus asked her eyes were still wide from the shock.
"I heard about Kira…" Flay said, taking a sallow to keep the acid down from the stomach to the throat. Then, flay asked, "Is Kira all right?"
"I'm not sure just yet," Lacus said, casting her eyes down at the floor. It was so shiny it; hurt her eyes just by looking at it.
"No word from the nurses?" Flay said quietly. Flay's face was drawn sullenly as the news hit hard.
"And what will going on with one pilot down?" another voice asked as another pilot entered the hallway.
It was being drawn to a sat still as each minute ticked away. The world had to stop somehow for a little while. "Well. What are you going to do?" the voice asked as the figure came in to view.
It was an officer of the ZAFT group. He knew me very well. I knew I was not that special. Yet, why was thing being stretched out to be a long drawn event. I knew I was still not fast enough.
"I am just going to take everything one step at a time…" Lacus said as she placed her arms on her lap. She had sat on an empty chair in the hallway.
"And why?" Flay asked. Her eyes were troubled in a greeting way. Things were not always all rosy and sweet.
"We have to!" Lacus sighed with a groan. She felt like she was getting nowhere fast. She wanted to be back to normal. She did not want a war with anyone. She wanted to be a normal teenager. Even when she sang to the thousands who tuned in on line she felt so and utterly alone.
"What are you saying?" Flay asked. She had surprised look on her face.
"This war…this stupid war!" Lacus said as she glared at a poster promoting the Gundam.
"I have looked over his past tests and I have found he was extremely fast on his learning," Flay said with a sigh. Flay knew there was something special to me.
The door was opened for a minute before the nurse entered the hallway. She looked at my friends who were waiting in the hallway. She said, 'Look..." she was staring right at Lacus. "Your friend needs rest right now...he will be in and out this state for a while!"
Lacus appeared to be kicked in the head. Her eyes were growing wide with tears. It was like she was going to lose me for sure. "What?" she gasped. Her lips were quivering hard, fighting back a sob. Her feelings were being mixing in a violently toss up. Then, she felt the rest of the world slip from her hands.
I was still in a half twilight sleep. I had to rethink. How was I going to do that if I was drugged out of my mind for pain? I swam in a grey cloudy fog. It felt like swimming. I was moving my legs and arms. I found out I was getting nowhere fast.
I could hear machine gun fire in the distance. What was going on with that?
Then, I heard a burst of fire coming from over head jet.
"Where am I?" I said out loud to no one. I glanced around to see there was no one with me,
There was nothing I could see. Nothing I could touch. It was like I was about to die in the blackness. I didn't want that to happen. I felt like screaming so loud, I could stave off the end.
Then, I heard footsteps. They grew loud as something large approached me. I looked up at the ion going thing. It nearly lost it when I saw what it was. In a flash of light, I knew what it was. It was a Gundam who was coming towards me. I looked up and began to wave my hands in the air, "HEY...STOP!"
It was like I was frightened at a thing in which I could not control of. I knew what was a Gundam was. Yet, why did I have this fear of a mecha in which I have piloted in one dozens of times. I did have time to contemplate about. I had to get over my fear, fast.
It stopped within a few feet from where I was now standing. For one reason or another, I was now standing up with my feet "Hey, I'm dreaming all of this…is I?" I thought to myself.