Grey Angel

When people are living in a dream, they have absolute power over everything. However, this does nothing on reality which is what they must face. So is logic after all. Men dream to fly on their own without machines, with wings of their own, but that is not possible. We just were not gifted like the birds…or the angels...

Ch 1: The Grey Jacket

"KIRA YAMATO! ENOUGH WITH YOU SLEEP ROUTINE!" Everyone shrank at Natarle's voice as Kira suddenly sprung from the dead. He looked from side to side before meeting his teacher's deathly gaze and shrinking himself.

"I-I'm sorry ma'am; I just-"

"And drawing again too!" Natarle had snatched up Kira's sketchbook, glaring at him. "What is wrong with you Yamato!? Do you even care about class? You're always late, you get low marks, you don't do a thing but dream and draw!"

The boy, Kira was now strung in fear. "Of course I care, I just-"

"Can't help it," Natarle finished, "I've heard this more than enough times from you. That's another black mark on your record." And she walked away with the sketchbook in hand. Kira didn't even bother to fight for it; he knew she wouldn't give it back until the end of the period. He looked down at his empty notebook and sighed while the lecture went on.

Kira was just another student of Lake High School who, as was stated by his teachers, was lacking in grades and effort. He didn't care much for his work, but he still put forth effort to keep up with expectations in failure. He did love to draw and had created many pictures; few won school recognition, but he didn't care as long as he liked them and if others liked them.

The sunny window caught his attention and he took a small look before returning to his notes. Every few notes however he got caught up in doodling on the paper. They were all clock towers and moons, his favorites. When he finally caught himself, he realized he had fallen far behind and scrambled to finish the notes. When Natarle erased it all he sighed again and slumped. He was pathetic, always more interested in art and dreaming rather than studies. He looked at some of his friends sitting close by; actually there was only one, Flay Allster.

She was very studious and one of Kira's childhood friends. She was kind to him compared to many other students who ignored him or provoked him. She also wasn't like most of the girls when it came to fashion. She normally had decently sized skirts and a normal tee-shirt for clothes, and her shoes were kiddy-looking slippers. She had them today and they consisted of a reddish-pink shirt, a black skirt, and red slippers.

Flay was the only one Kira could really trust in school; she was always willing to help him with notes and studies even when she knew it would never work out.

But Flay was too busy with other work to look at him and he just gave up. When Natarle gave him his assignment he started writing, but slowly. He didn't have any spirit behind his effort and always ended up in a slump. His ears longed for the familiar ringing of the bell meaning class was over. He was broken when he saw 23 minutes left in the period and went back to work.

The class was silent while doing work and the clock was ticking away slowly. Kira wasn't the only one who wanted to leave; everyone was waiting for the spring break that started just after the weekend in 2 days. Of course for someone like Kira, that desire can be multiplied many times compared to others in the school because of how much he hates it.

Finally it came and the school day finished. Natarle reluctantly handed back Kira's sketchbook as he was heading out and he simply said, "Thank you." When he took his stroll down to his locker, he looked across the hall to see what he called, "the distance part of his life". When he didn't see it, he sighed and went through his combination before someone tapped him on the back. He opened the locker while whirling around to find Flay standing in front of him.

"Here, the rest of the notes you missed," she said handing him a notebook.

Kira smiled. "Thanks a lot. Look, I'm really sorry about-"

"Kira stop it," she interrupted, "I've heard it all the time and I'm getting tired of it. We're friends, so don't worry about it."

"I know, I know, but I can tell this is annoying you."

Flay slightly nodded in shame. "Yeah, but I'll be fine. I've been helping you for the past 2 years you know, and I'm still watching your back. Everything will be fine." Then she glanced at the sketchbook. "So, what is it this time?" she asked, pointing. Kira looked for a minute before handing it over and Flay's eyes bulged when she saw.

It was a man in a grey jacket with a good number of pockets out and in, jumping from the top of a pole atop a tower. His hair was neat and pressed and his arms were waving with the wind. A notable part was that his back bore shining white wings and he was blocking the shining moon behind him. The sky was partly cloudy, and the whole thing was colored black and white with colored pencils.

Flay was speechless. It took her minutes of gawking before she finally broke out of it. "How long did this take you?"

Kira only smiled. "About 4 hours. 2 in art class, 1 at home, and the last hour in other classes." Then he gazed at his masterpiece and sighed. "If only I could do something like that. I've always wanted wings of my own."

Flay smiled and sighed as well. "I still remember what we said back then. We promised to fly to the sky someday, alone, without planes or anything."

"With our own wings," Kira finished, "I wish it was possible."

"Yeah, I still do too." They looked at each other and frowned. They knew they could never fly. Men were never born with wings.

But when Kira looked down the hallway again, he forgot all about it. His eyes were caught on someone with bright pink hair wearing a white and light blue dress with Flay's kind of slippers, except they were robin egg blue. She was the most popular girl in the school, and also Kira's neighbor, Lacus Clyne.

Despite her popularity, Lacus didn't have a real boyfriend and she was a good student as well. She was much nicer than most girls and was very attractive. Girls see her as a "prom girl" because she always has more than one guy with her during prom. Her kind nature promotes to it, but she didn't mind the company.

Flay caught Kira looking off and sighed when she saw Lacus across the hall. "You know you don't have a chance Kira. I mean she's your next door neighbor and you never talk to her."

Kira wasn't listening and continued to watch her from a distance. He finally stopped when Flay tugged at his ear and gathered his stuff. When he went for the jacket, he realized the zipper had broken and it was completely torn on the sides. The pockets had holes on the inside and the hood was long gone since last year.

"Man, I guess I really need a new jacket." He looked up to find Flay, but she was already gone and his frown grew. The sketchbook was lying by his foot and he went to pick it up when someone else snatched it.

Kira looked up to find a white haired guy holding his book. He was in ripped jeans with a shirt saying: "I'm so good at being bad." That shirt defined Yzak Joule, the school's worst student in every way. He smirked when he saw what was inside.

"Well lookie here, a geek's piece o' crap. You draw this Kira?" When he received no answer from the silent boy he took the paper in hand. "Then if you really don't care…" he started to rip the edge slowly when Kira suddenly lashed out.

"Cut it out already! It's mine!" He grabbed for it, but Yzak was too fast and pulled it away, laughing.

"Only a girl cares about this shit. Get manly you moron; I'll even do it for you." He ripped the paper to shred and kicked Kira in the stomach before dropping all the pieces over him. "There, hope you learned something from that Yamato! Drawings are for little girls and babies! Better grow up one of these days!" And he walked away, but not without a small kick to Kira's head who fell over, broken. Tears fell from his face as he could only piece together the shards left behind.

"Damn that bastard," he said to himself as he completed the moon and the man. When he suddenly felt a shadow over him he shook in anger. "Beat it you son-of-a…oh no."

It wasn't Yzak behind him, but Lacus who was looking at the nearly completed puzzle he was making. "Oh, is that yours?" she asked.

Kira was surprised. Lacus had never talked to him during school before more or less at home. "Well…yeah, it is." He gasped as Lacus knelt down to look and blushed.

Lacus however picked up one of the pieces and frowned. "I saw what happened. This looks really good. How could he do that?" She turned back on Kira. "I'm sorry, are you alright?"

Kira turned away in embarrassment. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. It was only a picture."

"A picture you drew though, right?" Lacus looked at him seriously and he nodded. She sighed and brushed back some of her falling hair. "Can something be done?"

Kira shook his head in disappointment. "I'll just make it again; it's not a problem. I've made lots of drawing before." Seeing Lacus smile made him feel lighter and he slowly got up.

Lacus picked up the pieces and gave them to him. "It's still yours; if you're going to throw it out you can, but that's up to you."

Kira took the pieces and held them to his chest. "Thanks, I guess I should get going." And he waved goodbye to his new friend who smiled and waved back. This is good. I can finally talk to her after all this time. He put on his jacket before remembering that he had to replace it and took it off again.

Instead of going to the buses, he walked to the mall close by, hoping to find a new jacket. He went to the Kohl's entrance and walked around for awhile. He saw jeans, shirts, shoes, anything that fit the definition of fashion. But he couldn't find any jackets wherever he looked. Come on, I know they have them, just where? Finally he found a worker and asked, "Hey, do you know where I could find any jackets?"

She pointed to the other end of the store by the entrance and Kira thanked her before walking off. He found the rack and started to go through lots of the jackets he found. There were a few colors like green, black, white and blue, and they had lots of pockets outside and inside, some even on the sleeves. However, none of them fit what he liked and he put the last one back.

Then something caught his eye, a grey jacket hanging on the wall in front of him. What struck him was that it looked a lot like the one he drew in his ripped sketch. The pockets were in most of the same places, but he lacked one on the sleeve in the picture while this one had two. He slipped it on his back and it fit perfectly. The price tag was dangling from the right sleeve and he peeked at the price before bulging his eyes. $200 dollars!? Are they outta their minds!? He struggled to get out of it before noticing the sale board on the rack holding it. It noted all jackets were 64 percent off and showed a 200 dollar jacket was 72 instead. And he saw another discount on the sale tag cutting the price by 3-quarters more making it 18.

He smiled at the low price and put the jacket back on it's hanger before taking it to the register. The guy there ran it across the scanner and started typing on the keyboard before saying, "19.43 please." Kira looked through his wallet and realized he only had a 20 dollar bill inside. He was hoping to get a DVD from the video store, but he decided it would have to wait since he needed a new jacket. Reluctantly he passed it to the man who put it through and returned 57 cents to him with the receipt.

"Thank you," said Kira, "Good day." He walked back to school before he realized that he had left his textbook in his locker. He needed it for math which was his first period of the day and he frantically ran to the main entrance. Tugging at the door he was breathing hard because of the low C he already had in class, and any more problems would guarantee a D.

After about 2 minutes of going back and forth between doors he sighed and gave up. I'll just have to finish it before class then. Flay's not in my math class so asking her won't help. He walked for about a mile before he finally reached his house and unlocked the door. He glanced over at the large house next to his. It was bright white with one garage and a large balcony in front that had pillars holding up an extended roof. It was the Clyne residence that housed Kira's crush, Lacus. He had never been inside before considering Lacus hardly ever saw him. They had just moved in 8 months ago and even in that time they never really saw each other.

He sighed and just walked inside. "I'm home." He saw someone walking down the hall and smiled. "Hey mom."

She on the other hand wasn't looking to good. "Where have you been all day? I got worried when you didn't get home in time."

"I'm sorry, I just went to the mall for a new jacket, see?" He opened his arms to reveal the new outfit, but it did nothing to help.

"I don't care if you were going to the library, call next time you take a detour. Now hurry up and eat." She pointed to the table with the single plate of food and frowned.

Kira put the jacket on the stair railing before settling in the seat and biting out of his now cold heated dinner of chicken and veggies. He didn't complain about it though and ate the whole plateful rather fast. After disposing of the dish in the sink, he took the jacket and his bag upstairs to his room and pulled out his other work he didn't forget.

For the next hour and a half, he was writing away at papers, listening to music, and biting his eraser constantly. He finally finished and set the papers aside before picking up his sketchbook. He thought about drawing his old picture again and started on the outlines.

After starting on the clock face though, he stopped. Nah, I don't really want to do it twice, he thought to himself, putting the book aside. He fell back and stared at the ceiling, bored and tired. Then suddenly Lacus came to mind. He remembered what had happened earlier and smiled. At least I could talk to her then.

Then something struck him. He grabbed his sketchbook again and walked downstairs to the back door. He walked out to the back field behind his house and sat on the grass before he started to draw. It started as an oval like shape with a cross going through and he added other outlines of features on the face of the paper. It was for a person's face, but he didn't even get to start the detail before he saw something moving in the grass. It crumpled on the side and he heard something giggle behind the green blades.

Kira stood up to see the same girl lying in the grass and he seemed surprised. "Hey, what are you doing out here Lacus?"

She seemed surprised as well when she jumped up, but seeing Kira made her relax. "Nothing much, just looking at the stars. I do it sometimes back here."

Kira looked up at the dark sky glittered by shining white dots and then back at Lacus. "Why don't you look through the window?"

"It doesn't feel right to me." She smiled at him and he blushed red. Then when she saw the sketchbook in his hand her smile lightened. "How is it coming?"

Kira looked confused before Lacus pointed at the book. "Oh, this, it's fine for now. I just don't feel like drawing it again for now, so I'm trying something else."

"Oh, can I see?" Lacus held out her hand, but Kira didn't budge.

"I've barely even started; this is just the outline." He smiled back and Lacus withdrew her hand in disappointment. "But hey, I'll show you first once I finish, okay?"

Lacus brightened and nodded and they shared a glance for moments. Her pink hair flowed in the air as she returned her gaze to the stars. Kira did the same and gave a determined face. This will be my best work, I swear it.

Hey guys. I guess you're a little surprised about me starting another story without even finishing others, but hey, I really wanted to start this one. Anyway, this will definitely be different from my others in a few ways. One I'm sure you've seen already, Flay and Lacus. It's not very one-sided this time around, heck, I don't know who it'll be for Kira this time either. Also, other characters will definitely show soon in the story so don't worry about it for now. So enjoy for now; I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, along with US (Undying Semesters). LOS (Lights of Shadow) will have to wait for a little while so sorry to all of you who've been waiting for it. Read and Review please!