Enlistment

A/N: So I have no idea where this came from. Fem!Kira. AU world. Kira and Athrun both live together on the PLANTs. Kira's parents are still in Orb. They are both 19 years old.

January 15, CE 73

"Kira! Wait! Let me explain!" Athrun called as he ran down the stairs, frantically chasing after his best friend and lover. He saw her turn the corner, and cursed to himself.

Kira continued running down the hall, at full tilt, flat out refusing to stop and talk to him

"Just give me some space, Athrun. I'm not sure how to deal with this right now…"the words echoed in his head, and spurred him to chase Kira even harder. I will not lose her over something like this!

Athrun barreled around the corner, crashing into Kira who had finally come to a halt, panting and out of breath. The force of the impact sent them both to the floor, Athrun landing on top of Kira, but managing to brace himself so his full weight did not land on top of her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking down at her. Instead of answering she just glared at him, and tried to shove him off. He grabbed ahold of her wrists and shoved them back down to the floor.

"Kira! Please just listen!" he said, nearing desperation. He knew she was going to be mad before he even did it. But I didn't think she'd be angry enough to walk out on me!

"No! If you can just go and join fucking ZAFT without even talking to me, then we have NOTHING left to talk about Athrun Zala!"

"Kira! I'm sorry, I really am sorry. I didn't want to upset you like this, but I knew if I told you what I wanted to do first, then you would have fought with me every second of the way about it! This is something that I truly want to do! Don't you understand that, Kira? I love you, but this is something I needed to do." Athrun said all of this rushed, and without taking a single breath; looking into her eyes the entire time.

"Athrun…" she whispered, before closing her eyes and letting her head fall back against the hard tile floor.

"Athrun." she said again, "Why are you so determined to do this? You were doing great things for ZAFT by helping with the mechanical problems, the designs, the engineering! Why did you feel the need to join the active soldiers, where you may be sent to the front line?"

"Kira. I love working as an engineer, but at the same time… I just… it's not been enough. I know that I'm asking you to deal with a lot, but please, believe me that this is what I need to do."

Kira sighed and closed her eyes, a tear slipping out the corner. "Get off me." she whispered, and Athrun did, knowing that she was hurt by his actions; not physically but emotionally. He felt terrible for putting her through this kind of upset and pain; and he knew it would only be worse when he had to leave for basic, and his deployments.

She sat up and just watched him for a moment before he offered her his hand, and she took it allowing him to pull her back to her feet.

They stood there in an awkward silence for a moment before Kira bent down and picked up her lanyard of the floor. It must have fallen out of her pocket when we fell. Athrun thought briefly before his eyes trailed down her wrist to see that she wrapped it around her wrist this time as she was standing. The bright red of the stitching on the Zodiac Alliance symbol stood out so vividly against her pale skin it reminded him, again, of why he decided to join in the more active part of the military.

Kira was standing once again and Athrun noticed the tear tracks on her face, and he lifted his hand with the thought to brush them away for her; but instead she stepped back from him and did it herself, smearing her makeup in the process before stepping around him and heading back into the direction of their shared apartment.

I really fucked this up, he thought to himself as he watched her walk away from him, he stayed there for a minute just watching her before he followed her; just wondering the whole time how he could fix the mess he had created.

When he had reached the apartment the door was standing open, and he could hear Kira talking; he hesitated outside the door, and he waited until he head footsteps coming towards the door before he stepped inside.

He saw Alexander Hayden heading towards him, a neutral expression on his face. "Athrun, dude, I am so sorry!" he whispered, trying to keep his voice down so not to upset Kira further, "If I had known she didn't already know, I would've kept my mouth shut." he looked very upset over the fact that he was the one that had spilled the beans to Kira about Athrun's enlistment.

"It's alright Alex," Athrun said with a sigh, "It's my fault; if I had had the guts to tell her then she wouldn't have had to hear it from you. I know it was an accident." he said.

Alex nodded, "Still, I'm sorry. I'll talk to you later?" he said, "Yeah. I know we were planning on having a quiet weekend at home, but now…" he trailed off, glancing in the direction of the apartment, and Alex winced at the implication, he felt horrible for what he had accidently done.

"I'll see you Monday, then?" Alex asked, "Yeah. I'll be in the research department most of the day I think." Athrun told him and Alex nodded and waved to Kira before he left.

Athrun watched as Alex walked down the hall before he re entered his apartment, and went into the kitchen to see Kira clearing the table and putting the dishes in the sink, with a little more force than he had expected.

He silently walked up behind her and took the dishes out of her hands and placed them in the sink gently, before running some hot water and started washing them. He sensed that Kira was standing behind him just watching for a minute before she went back to the table, he could hear her start to put away the leftovers.

Before long the kitchen was back in normal order, and he heard Kira leave the room, and the television start in the next room. He glanced over the kitchen counter and saw that Kira was sitting on the couch in the living room, with her laptop resting on her legs, typing away quickly.

Athrun sighed and turned back to finish the dishes, which only took a minute or so before they were all done. After he had finished he walked into the living room, and plucked the laptop off Kira's legs before setting it down on the table, and he sat down on the far side of the couch before lifting Kira onto his lap; and hugged her.

"Kira… please, I really am sorry."

"I know you are." she whispered, as she looked at him.

"Will you forgive me?" Athrun asked her quietly, running his hand up and down her back gently.

"You know I do, Athrun. I love you, and I'm not going to let this get in the way of that. I just hate that you didn't talk to me first."

There was a long, quiet pause. "When will you leave for boot camp?"

"Not until the end of April."

"Was that by request?"

"Yes. I told them when the wedding was and they asked if April was alright."

"The wedding is not that far off."

Athrun nodded, knowing it was only a month and a half away, "Have you got all your last minute things done?" he asked her.

"Hm. Mostly, Lacus and Skylar are coming over on Thursday to help me make sure everything is finalized."

"Good. Have you spoken to your mom?"

"Yup. They're all ready; they'll be flying in a week early, on the 20th."

"Good. Mom's gotten all the hotels figured out for the guests that have to fly in." Kira nodded.

She shifted and rested her head on his chest. Athrun tangled his fingers in her hair and tilted her head up, planting a slow and loving kiss on her. The kiss deepened and intensified. Before long Athrun lifted Kira and stood, making his way to their shared room. The argument from before all but forgotten.

The End.

Word Count: 1,487