Man, I'm dead tired and what's worse? Final exams (I prefer to call them The Execution Days) are coming on 8th!Geez, I love school, but I hate exams! Especially accounting which is so confusing (Hey, they rhymes!Haha...)! Oops, got carried away again, didn't I? Well, before I forget, this is a sequel to "Take A Break Princess" and also a birthday fic.
I know it's late, but HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO KIRA AND CAGALLI! The best twin couple on both Earth and PLANT, hurraay!
Nah, disclaimer: What? Me as the owner of GS/D? Nyahh... Get yourself to the real world!
"I hope she won't kill me," a blue-haired guy whispered, he was half sighing, half smiling.
"Athrun!" a girl yelled from the background.
"I'm coming!" he quickly finished his work and went to her desk. "Here, but you must go to sleep after this," the guy handed a cup filled with hot coffee to the girl who was also known as Representative Athha. She glared at him and muttered something about replacing a certain bodyguard named Zala with another less noisy bodyguard while sipping her coffee. Athrun watched her drank the black liquid and was not able to stop his mind from thinking of her reaction if she know his plan.
Remind me to call Kira and Lacus so somebody will take care of my remains… he sweat-dropped at the though.
The Next Day
Cagalli opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. She didn't understand why she felt that something was strange with her room…until she realized where she was. Lacus and Kira's orphanage. "What the…?" Cagalli sat on her bed all of a sudden, sending her head a slight headache. She groaned and rubbed her temple. Why am I here? What happened? Where's Ath…
"ATHRUUUUN!" she yelled as loud as she could do (A/N: Athrun, wherever he was, suddenly shivered). The blonde jumped out of her bed and rushed to the kitchen where she found Lacus who was preparing the breakfast.
"Ohayou, Cagalli-chan," Lacus greeted her cheerfully, she didn't look bothered by Cagalli's furious glare.
"Cagalli-neechan! Cagalli-neechan! Let's play!" some of the children ran out of nowhere and surrounded the hot headed princess. Two little boys jumped and clutched her leg while three other little offspring climbed her body. The others pulled her red t-shirt in order to get her attention.
"Not now, kids. We'll play later," she pulled the kids from every part of her body and managed to escape behind Lacus who only need one smile to get them out of the kitchen.
"They really miss you a lot, you know," Lacus giggled as Cagalli peeped from behind her.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry but I was very busy… wait!" Cagalli frowned. "I am the one who is owed an apologize. Where's that Zala? He was the one who did this, right?" she asked Lacus. Lacus stirred the soup in the pot and added some salt.
"Why, Athrun? Yes, he was the one who did this," Lacus finished her cooking, she looked as if she didn't care with Cagalli evil aura which now had filled the whole kitchen. "Can you help me, please?" the pink princess asked.
Cagalli began to curse Athrun but still she helped Lacus with the soup. The children cheered happily when they saw their food finally coming. Everyone wanted to sit near Cagalli and caused a little chaos but they became calmer when Kira entered the room.
"Kira-niichan!" one little girl jumped to him, luckily the coordinator could catch her.
"Now everyone get in their seat and we will have our breakfast. After this we'll go to the beach," the brunette announced. The kids quickly sat and ate their breakfast, not wanting to waste anymore time to go to the beach.
"Hey ya, lil' brother," Cagalli grinned evilly. Kira sweat-dropped and took a few step backward.
"Morning, Cagalli," he gulped.
"I'm sure that you know where your blue headed best buddy is? I would like to have a little chat with him," Cagalli went nearer, her evil grin became wider.
"Err, umh, well… I don't know, but may be I can try to call him. But first, you must finish your breakfast," Kira gave a little smile.
"Don't treat me like a child," his hard-headed sister pouted. "This week really is busy one. I have many meetings and work to be done, therefore I won't and can't stay here. I got a country to be ruled!" she exclaimed in annoyance. She was ready to grab something and throw it to Kira, but he opened his mouth faster.
"How can you take care of this very country if you can't take a good care of yourself, my dear sister?" the brunette pilot suddenly changed to his overprotective brother mode. "And I'm sure that I didn't mishear from Athrun that you got sick at the end of last month. And your sickness was caused by lack of eating and sleeping. What did I tell you about it, Cagalli? Didn't I—"
"Kids, let's go to the beach!" Cagalli cut his words and quickly led the children to escape from Kira's lecture. The children shouted a loud 'hooray!' and followed their leader.
Kira sighed at her childish behaviour, making Lacus giggled lightly.
"Sometimes, just sometimes, I don't think Uzumi-sama's decision to leave this country to her is a mistake. She's too young, too stubborn…"
"And too responsible," Lacus gave him a soft smile. "She can take care of herself, Kira. We do need to convince her to take a break sometimes, but she's a grown up. Cagalli knows what's the best for her."
"Well, may be I'd better be worried about Athrun. I can't imagine what Cagalli will do to him if she knows he was the one who sent her here," the boy rubbed the back of his head anxiously.
"Ara," Lacus covered her mouth with one hand. "She's already known."
A loud thud echoed as the brunette fainted.
At Night
Cagalli dropped herself on the couch. Those kids were really something, playing all day and didn't get tired at all. She wished her stamina was as strong as them, she wouldn't need to take any rest then. Kira sat beside her, he still refused to tell her where Athrun was. Lacus was having a chat with Reverend Marchio and the kids were... What? Playing, of course. Cagalli enjoyed the noise which came from all over around her, it made her felt alive.
"Hoaahm…" she yawned and pulled a hand to cover her mouth.
"Seems that you're tired, Cagalli," Kira turned his head toward her.
"I guess so…"
"Minna-san, who want to sleep with our beloved princess?" Lacus clapped her hands to attract the children's attention.
"Lacus!" Cagalli groaned.
"I do! I do! I do!" the children screamed happily and began to pull Cagalli's hands, dragging her to their room.
The room, to Cagalli's surprise, was big enough for all of them. The beds were pushed to one side, making one very big bed for them. Cagalli climbed on to the bed and positioned herself right in the middle of it.
"Come here, kids. Let me hug all of you, I know you missed me and I missed all of you too," she said as she spread her arms, welcoming the kids into her warm embrace.
"No," a girl named Wakana shook her head. "Athrun-niichan said that we must be the ones who hug you. Hug makes people feel good and he wants to make sure that you feel good so he asked us to hug you when you come."
"It's not Athrun, you baka!" another boy whose name was Yuta scowled. "His name's Alex!"
"It's Athrun!"
"Alex!"
"Athrun!"
"Alex!"
"Athrun!"
Cagalli could feel a smile went across her lips. That Athrun she thought. He's so nice... May be I'll drop off some numbers in my Zala's suffering list.
"Well, then let's ask Cagalli-neechan!" Yuta dared.
"Cagalli-neechan," Wakana tugged her sleeve. "His real name is Athrun, right?"
"Well, some people know him as Athrun Zala, some other recognize him as Alex Dino. But no matter how many times he changed his name, he's just the same man," Cagalli smiled to herself. And will always be…
"Tell us a bedtime story," the other children begged. Cagalli thought for a while, searching for any story to tell. She had told them every story that she knew and the kids were easily got bored. Now what should she tell?
"I'm sure you all know the story of pink princess?" Cagalli asked the kids.
"Not that again!" the kids protested. "Kira-niichan tells it all the time!"
Cagalli burst into laughter when she saw their angelic face pouted.
"No, no, I'll tell you a different tale. It's about a knight," she began her story. The children listened carefully to her, a new tale was not a thing they would like to miss.
"He was known… as the Red Knight."
A Few Days Later
"Cagalli, phone call," Lacus called her friend who was running all around the place, she was playing tag with the children.
"From?" she asked as she jumped over the dining table. The princess was having much fun and she didn't want to be disturbed.
"Athrun."
The word quickly took Cagalli's attention, she ran even faster and snatched the phone from Lacus. Lacus brought the children outside to meet Kira, some cursing and yelling was definitely not a good thing to be heard by their virgin ears.
"Cagalli's speaking," she panted. She could hear Athrun's chuckle from the other side of the phone.
"What's up, Princess? Have you been chasing a mobile suit?" he asked. Well, someone like Cagalli definitely would do if there were any particular reason.
She didn't reply, she was still trying to control her breathing.
"How's your holiday?" he asked again.
"Holiday?" she gritted her teeth.
Athrun was digging his own grave, absolutely.
"Yes, your holiday. What else would you call a few days without working?" his sound was as calm as usual. If only Cagalli could see his sweating feature…
Our feisty but truly is beautiful princess inhaled a great amount of air, readied to scream at the top of her lungs.
"HOLIDAY YOUR ASS, ZALA!"
An appointment with the doctor to check his ears was approximately needed.
"Kira and Lacus handled everything too well! They won't let me use the phone, no watching or listening to the news, sleep and eat at the right time… they even use the children to prevent me from escaping!" she scowled with a loud voice. How could she escape if a bunch of children followed her all the time?
"How's Orb? Athrun, I really need to get back to my mansion. You do know that I got a lot of important meeting, not to mention those filthy bastards who are trying to break the peace! Three days of resting is just too much! I must get back to work!" she insisted on going back to take care of her country. She was scared anything bad might happen and she was not there to set things straight.
"But you enjoyed it, right?"
"Huh?"
"Did you enjoy the break?"
"Well, yes… wait a sec, that's not the point!" Cagalli clenched her fist, her feelings was mixed between upset and amused. "Zala, if you don't pick me up right now, you'll be regret for the rest of your lifetime, I swear! Do you hear me? I swear—"
"I'll see you tomorrow," he cut her off. "So you can go back to work at Monday."
"Athrun, wait!"
"Bye, Princess," he hung up the line.
"Aaargh!" Cagalli slammed the phone and cursed uncontrollably at Athrun. She went out of the house and searched for everyone. There was nobody around the house, so she went to the beach. There the blonde found her pink haired friend.
"Where's Kira?" she asked Lacus who was sitting on the sand.
"I don't know. He said he wanted to show the children something behind the big rock over there," just as the pink princess finished her sentence, the kids ran towards them with Kira behind them. Cagalli thought she saw a devious smile on her brother's face, but his innocent look made her erased that thought. What was that? She raised an eyebrow, but the kids disturbed her… again.
"Play! Play! Let's play pirate and princess!" the kids pleaded.
"Okay, okay, who'll be the pirate?" Kira tried to control the children.
"Me! Me! Me!" everyone raised their hand.
"And who will be the princess?"
"Cagalli-neechan!" they screamed in unison.
Cagalli blushed. "No way! If I were to join the play, I want to be a pirate too," she refused while shaking her head stubbornly. She really hated the title 'princess'.
"Awww!" they all whined and started to attack the fiery blonde with puppy-eyes expression.
"No, no, no, no…" Cagali shook her head, trying to shoo those angelic image from her mind. These were worse than the hard expression of the other representatives.
"Cagalli-neechan, please…" they pleaded and came closer to her, she backed away but the kids were faster.
"Please…."
"Aaargh! Okay, I give up!" she let out a whimper. Kira and lacus laughed quietly. It was funny to see the blonde in front of them who could easily get the rid of her politic rivals was not able to refuse some child's play.
Cagalli let herself being blindfolded with Lacus' handkerchief. Oh, and the kids tied her hands too. The children dragged her to a place she didn't know, but she was sure enough that Lacus and Kira were following from behind. After a few meters, they stopped. More like someone stopped them.
"Pirates! I see that you have a precious hostage… hand her to me and I shall let you live!" said a very familiar voice. Cagalli tried to recognize the voice, but all the noise around gave her a great commotion.
"Seize him!" Yuta who played the role as the pirate captain demanded.
The next thing that Cagalli heard was some clanging sound mixed with screams and laughter.
"Aaah, Captain, he's too great!"
"I've told you… now hand me the princess or else," the man demanded casually.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
Cagalli felt the children pushed her and she stumbled on her feet. Luckily, the hero caught her.
"Who are you?" Cagalli asked in frustration.
He didn't answer and guided her to walk.
"Hey!" Yuta said. "Before you go with that princess who was once our hostage, tell us your name!"
"My name?"
"Yea! Yea! Tell us your name!"
"I was known as the Red Knight," he answered.
Now Cagalli recognize that voice. She quickly grabbed her blindfold (A/N: Her hands were not tied at her back) and opened her eyes. Right in front of her, a guy with blue hair and a pair of green eyes stood still.
"Athrun!" she yelled as she tried to hit him. Athrun easily caught her hands and smiled.
"Good evening, Princess," and he kissed her, making the princess to blush.
"Yuck!" the kids showed their disgusts and ran as fast as they could, leaving Cagalli and Athrun all alone. The grown ups couldn't help but to laugh. But when she realized the man in front of her was the one who was responsible for her missing from Orb, she stopped laughing.
"Athrun…" she said in dangerous tone. Correction; very, very, very dangerous tone that it might kill… if words could kill.
"Yes, Princess?" he replied, his usual calm smile was attached on his lips.
"Don't you 'Princess' me!" she burst. "You made me left my errands! You forced me to take a break! You used those friend of your to keep me here! You, you…" she couldn't find the appropriate words, so she just began to try on hitting him again. And again, her boyfriends easily caught her hands.
"Look behind you, Cagalli," he turned her body to the same direction as his.
Cagalli gasped at the view in front of her. They were at the other side of the beach. The place was surrounded by some coconut tree and the ray of sunset made everything incredibly beautiful. It was not too far yet not too close to the water, Cagalli enjoyed hearing the sound of the waves splashing at the shore. A table filled with candle light dinner was just ahead.
"Do you remember what day is today?" Athrun asked as he untied her hands.
Cagalli who had lost all her anger shook her head.
"Just as I thought," the blue-haired chuckled. "It's your birthday," he told her.
"What!" she screamed in surprise, then in horror. "It means it's Kira's birthday too! For heaven's goodness, how can I forget?" she began to panic. Athrun grabbed her arm and smiled.
"Calm down, no need to do that," Athrun escorted her to her seat. "Well, actually today is the seventeenth, eighteenth of May is tomorrow but I want to give you an early birthday present."
He sat on his own seat. "I've arrange a birthday party for the two of you tomorrow, everyone we know will come. Milly, Dearka, Captain Ramius, Murdoch, Andy, Kisaka…"
"Athrun…" She couldn't think of anything except smiling.
"So, did you enjoy your break?" he handed her a bouquet of rose which he took out of nowhere. Cagalli smelled the flowers and grabbed Athrun's hand. He squeezed her hand softly, that smile of him made her felt like melting.
"I enjoyed it, really," she answered honestly. "And I really thank you. But, Athrun…" she let her words unfinished.
"Yes?" he lifted his head and gazed at the woman who he was madly in love with.
"I'm still going to make you pay."
Kira: A birthday fic and I hardly get a part! Oops, where is Solid? (Looking around anxiously)
Athrun: She's havinga severe alergy attack and won't be able to come around in a few days
Kira: Thanks God! (Eyes glittering in glory) No suffering! No running! No dead threats!
Cagalli: Will you shut your mouth? I'm trying to concentrate
Athun: What's up?
Cagalli:I don't understand some words that she wrote...
Lacus: It's easy. Niichan/nii-chan means big brother while neechan/nee-chan means big sister. Minna-san means everyone and ohayou is good morning.
Cagalli: And what is 'Ara' that Lacus said?
Athrun: It's just like 'Oh' or 'Oops', something like that
Kira: You didn't know that? Boy, those are easy! I even know some forbidden language in Japanese!
Cagalli: Like 'yarou'? (kicks Kira's butt so hard that he went out of sight)
(Yarou means jerk, heheh...)