- The First Morning -

"Hurry up, Athrun!" Kira Yamato called, standing in front of his best friend's dormitory room. "If we leave any later, you're going to be swamped!"

"Okay, okay!" Athrun Zala yelled from behind the door. "It's not my fault that you wanted me to test your new game! I stayed up really late because of you!"

"I gave you the game yesterday morning! You can't blame me for your lack of self control," Kira chided, trying to keep the smile out of his voice, "but I'm glad that you like the game."

The door opened to reveal a glaring Athrun. "If we run into any one of the fan clubs today," he warned, "it will be entirely your fault."

"Oh, the Love-Love-Athrun club, or one of the other factions?" Kira grinned. "And here I was thinking that you were looking forward to meeting with them after the whole stalking incident last week."

"Right, the last thing I need is to be reminded of that bunch of crazy women," Athrun replied as they left the dormitory.

"Look on the bright side, Student Council President Zala," Kira smiled, patting his friend on the back. "You are the envy of the entire male student population."

"That's not very comforting, Kira."

Kira gave him a knowing wink. "Some of them are very cute, Athrun..."

Athrun returned with a sarcastic grin. "Want to take them off of me?"

"No thanks," Kira laughed, "I've already offloaded some of your problems."

Kira's laughter was infectious; Athrun could not help but smile. The Lovely Couple and Glittery-Glittery-Kira clubs were two fallouts from the play that their class performed for the school festival. Athrun couldn't remember what the play was about, but he remembered that it involved a standard fantasy setting with a prince and princess. By popular vote, Athrun was cast as the prince. This posed a problem, because not a single girl in the class was willing to let another girl play the part of the princess. The problem was solved by casting Kira as the princess, but it introduced another problem: Kira definitely was not a girl. That particular problem was solved with a finely tailored costume, a week of coaxing, and a very reluctant Kira.

The play had been a resounding success, drawing as great an audience as pop idol and fellow classmate Lacus Clyne's concert, but it had the consequence of attracting some attention away from the "fawning over Athrun" lifestyle and towards the "getting Kira to wear another dress" lifestyle. Athrun guiltily thought of the event as a blessing, but Kira willingly accepted the consequences without a second thought. He even modelled for the Glittery-Glittery-Kira club in exchange for a few months of peace and quiet.

"It's not too bad," Kira had pointed out. "It means that the clubs will be too busy fighting each other to bother you."

Athrun had thought the same, and it had been mostly true up until last week. Either the clubs had joined forces, or the Love-Love-Athrun club had won the war for stalking rights. Either case was bad news as far as he was concerned.

"Oh, I meant to ask you," Kira broke Athrun from his dark reverie. "Why are you living in the dormitory this year? Did any of the clubs stake out your mansion or something?"

"Nah," Athrun replied, pushing thoughts of fan clubs out of his mind. "I just wanted to get out of that stuffy place and live with my friends."

"Glad to hear that the heir to the ZAFT Corporation is willing to hang out with the common folk."

Kira and Athrun turned to meet Dearka Elsman, the source of the snide remark.

"You're hardly common, Dearka," Athrun shot back. "In fact, I'd call you bloody unique."

"I'm hurt, really," Dearka acted as if he had been stabbed. "Oh, my heart weeps for all humanity."

"Where's Yzak?" Kira asked. "Aren't you two usually together?"

"It's not like we're joined at the hip, like you two," Dearka retorted. "If I didn't know you guys any better, I'd think that the Lovely Couple club was on to something. The school idol would be so disappointed if it were true."

"Why would Lacus Clyne be disappointed?" Kira asked. "You're not making any sense."

Dearka and Athrun exchanged a glance. Kira was kind, intelligent, empathetic, idealistic, selfless, and emotional, but he was incredibly dense when it came to the opposite sex. Anyone who watched Lacus whenever she passed Kira by in the hallway would notice the faint blush on her face as they greeted each other. On Valentine's Day, Kira was the only recipient of her homemade chocolate; everyone else in the school had received friendship or duty chocolates. Kira didn't notice the signs, but his friends did, and it took an amazing amount of self control not to lock the two in a room and throw away the key.

"Don't listen to Dearka, Kira," Athrun replied hastily, "he's just being stupid."

Lacus' father, the president of Clyne Heavy Industries, was a friend of the Zala family. Athrun had met Lacus several times when her family came to visit, and he had a crush on her for a brief period of time. When he realised that she had a crush on his best friend, he decided that he would get them together. It was the least he could do for a friend who always supported him.

To his surprise, Lacus herself asked him not to interfere. "I don't want anyone to force Kira into a relationship with me," she had told him. "What we have right now is enough for me. When he notices me and is ready to start a relationship of his own free will, I will be waiting for him."

He wondered how long Lacus was willing to wait. Would I be able to do the same? It's difficult, Athrun reflected, not to push my deserving friends together.

"Anyway, looking forward to seeing the new first years?" Dearka asked. "If even a tenth of them are hot girls, it'll be the best year ever!"

"That's a pretty high ratio to shoot for," Kira commented.

"I'd warn you against hitting on the new students, being part of the Student Council and all," Athrun smirked, "but there's no way that any sane girl would want to go out with you."

"Hey," Dearka protested, "those are fighting words! We'll see about that!"

"Oh, speaking of new students..." Kira pulled out his cell phone and typed with blinding speed on the key pad. "I have to send an e-mail to my protégé. He's attending our school as a first year student."

"Your protégé?" Dearka furrowed his brow. "Oh right, your criminal pastime."

"Hacking's only a criminal pastime if you're doing it for--"

"Spare me the lecture," Dearka made shooing motions with his hand. "I know you only do it to challenge yourself and to expose and arrest criminals, you paragon of justice you, but how can you be so sure that your student thinks the same way?"

"I'm sure he does," Kira replied. "It's hard to explain, but I know that we have the same ideals."

----------

"You're too slow, Meyrin! I'm leaving without you!"

"Ah, wait up, big sis!"

Meyrin Hawke glanced once more at her new school uniform before she ran outside and after her impatient sister. If there was anything she had forgotten to bring, it would be Lunamaria's fault, Meyrin decided.

"Honestly," Lunamaria began, "you spend too much time worrying about your appearance. I know it's your first day at a new school, but it's not that big a deal."

"I just want to give a good impression," Meyrin replied, tugging nervously on the ribbon of her uniform.

"If you really want to give a good impression, just bump into a boy and 'accidentally' flash your panties at him," Lunamaria winked.

"Not that kind of impression!" Meyrin glared at her sister, scandalized.

"Just kidding!" Lunamaria laughed. "Honestly, just because Heliopolis Academy is famous for educating the social elite doesn't mean that normal people can't make friends there. A rich snob hating you shouldn't stop you from shoving your way into any of the social circles."

Lunamaria was a year older than her, but that single year was enough to give the elder sister an easygoing and extroverted personality. That personality connected Lunamaria to friends with enough influence to recommend her acceptance into Heliopolis. Recommendations were the only way to avoid taking the school's near impossible entrance exams. Meyrin, who was accepted after months of tutoring at several cram schools, looked up to her sister with respect and mild jealousy.

She was thankful that she had the greater technical ability, however, to make up for her lesser athletic ability and lack of outgoing personality. Meyrin earned a reputation in her previous school as an excellent computer consultant. The money she earned through technical support during the school term meant that she never had to deal with the summer part-time jobs her sister complained about; Meyrin spent her summer breaks happily chatting with friends she made online. Although she cherished the time she spent on the Internet, she wished that she could meet her friends in person.

If I had even a fraction of my sister's personality, Meyrin thought, it'd be a lot easier to make friends.

A real-life friendship was in fact the reason why she braved the entrance exam. Her parents believed that she was attending Heliopolis Academy to follow after her sister, but what Meyrin wanted was to meet an elusive online friend. The particular chat room that her friend frequented was so outdated that it lacked video and audio support, and the cryptic clues provided in their private conversations forced Meyrin to deduce his gender and the school he attended. She couldn't blame him for being secretive, however. Her friend was, after all, a notorious hacker.

BPK, the alias that she knew him by, commanded respect and incited terror in IT departments and hacker communities throughout the world. He could bankrupt corporations. He could influence the world trade markets. He could topple governments. He could do many things, but what he often did was thwart malicious hackers and expose any company's shady dealings. His strong sense of justice was what Meyrin admired most about him.

She first learned of him when she was learning about the trade. Meyrin's fascination with hardware and software led her into the underground community where breaching an impenetrable fortress was an intellectual challenge, and it was in this community where she became a competent hacker. When she wasn't frequenting chat rooms, she was busy leaving silly little messages on high security machines while erasing every trace of her existence. She refused to collect any sensitive information or modify records for personal gain, because she believed that the ideal hacker was after the battle rather than the benefits. BPK was her mentor, and it was this philosophy that he shared with her.

Wondering if BPK left her any messages, Meyrin pulled out her cell phone to check her e-mail.

"You know, Meyrin, just once I'd like to see you without a connection to the Internet," Lunamaria complained. "You'll never attract a hot guy this way!"

"Not your type of guy, maybe," Meyrin sighed as she scrolled through her message list. She liked to look at gorgeous men, but she valued intelligence over attractiveness if she had to talk with them.

Lunamaria turned away in exasperation and missed Meyrin's smile. There was a brief message from BPK, welcoming her to Heliopolis and challenging her to discover his identity. As the sisters walked in silence, Meyrin wondered what sort of favours she could ask of BPK when she won the bet.

----------

"So, do you have any idea what your underclassman looks like?" Athrun asked.

Kira shook his head. "Not a clue," he replied.

"What about a name?" Athrun pressed.

"That's part of the challenge. One of us has to guess the identity of the other one before the other does. Winner gets to request three big favours from the loser."

Dearka snorted. "Are you sure that this guy isn't yanking your chain about coming here? What if he's a plant to catch you in the act and arrest you for your evil hacking ways?"

Kira chuckled. "I guess I'll have to ask you guys to bail me out, then."

"I think that you're taking this a bit too lightly," Athrun frowned.

"Everything will be fine, Athrun. Don't worry about it."

"Kira...!" Athrun started.

"Leave it alone, Athrun," Dearka interrupted. "You can't blame the guy for wanting to live on the edge a bit. Besides, what if his underclassman is a real beauty? 'Oh Kira-sempai, I've always--'"

Whatever Dearka's impersonation of an imaginary girl intended to say to her upperclassman was disrupted by a well placed jab to both sides of the ribcage. Dearka collapsed, clutching his sides.

"You bastards," he gasped. "Can't a guy have some fun around here?"

"Yes, but your right to have fun doesn't interfere with our right to retaliate," Athrun smirked.

"Always the good friends, I see," a bemused voice called out.

The trio looked up to see Miriallia Haw walking towards them in the fabrics of their esteemed school. Dearka lowered his gaze to avoid eye contact, embarrassed that she had witnessed the exchange.

"Not that I don't think Dearka deserves it," Miriallia began, "but why the acts of violence?"

"It's Dearka," Athrun grinned. "Do we even need an explanation?"

"That's cold," Dearka whined.

"Get over it," Miriallia giggled.

"Anyway, the point of all this," Dearka pointed a thumb at his brunette companion, "is because Kira has an understudy this year!"

"Ooh, give me the details!" Miriallia looked ready to pounce.

"That's the thing," Dearka sniggered. "Kira doesn't have a name or a sex!"

They stared at the rambunctious blonde as they parsed and gave context to the sentence. Miriallia was the first to break the silence. "What are you going to do, Kira, if she's a cute girl?" she asked.

"That's what I said!" Dearka yelled.

"Why is everyone suddenly interested in this?" Kira sighed.

"Because Lacus may finally have some competition," Miriallia teased.

"Huh?"

"Never you mind," Miriallia sighed. "Honestly, sometimes I can't figure out what she sees in you," she muttered.

----------

"Okay, there are some important people you need to know," Lunamaria lectured as the campus came into sight. "They're considered the pillars of Heliopolis Academy."

"Do I really need to hear this?" Meyrin asked, trying to keep all of the information her sister was dumping on her mentally organized.

"If you don't want to be ostracised."

"Why didn't you tell me all of this last week, big sis?"

"Didn't have time," she replied, giving the impression that it was the only possible explanation. "Anyway, avoid Flay Allster at all costs. She's a second year, like me. Beautiful, popular, and vain. Her father's on the board of directors of the Atlantic Federation Conglomerate. If you manage to get on her bad side, she and her clique will bully you until you drop out. Make friends with her, and you'll spend a lot of time kissing up to her. She's somewhat civil to her friends, though, I'll give her that much."

"What does she look like?"

"Long hair, same colour as ours. Blue eyes. Actually, she's coming out of the limo over there."

Meyrin followed her sister's finger to watch Flay step out of the black vehicle, a haughty expression adorning her somewhat striking face. The younger Hawke sister shuddered and shrunk back, preferring to avoid the confrontational atmosphere.

"Why is she a pillar of the school?" she asked.

"It's all about the social structure here, I'm afraid. If your family's rich and powerful, you become the centre of the universe."

Meyrin wondered what BPK thought of that. "Who else do I need to watch out for?"

"Oh, the others are okay. One of them's Lacus Clyne."

The younger sister stopped to stare at her older sister. "Lacus Clyne? THE Lacus Clyne? She goes to this school? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I thought you knew. I mean, you went to her concert at the cultural festival."

"It wasn't a sponsored event?"

"Please. Anyone's who anyone goes to this school. Yeah, she's the idol of our school, and an idol outside of school. So are a lot of the girls at our school. Big deal."

"Do you think I could get her autograph?" Meyrin asked. She was a huge fan of Lacus' music.

"Sure, she's easy to approach and is kind to everyone."

"Wow, I can't wait to meet her!" Meyrin said excitedly. Had she known about the presence of the songstress, she would have packed her favourite CD for signing.

"Humph, I don't see what the big fuss is about," Lunamaria frowned, "just because she's pretty and has a nice voice."

"You sound jealous, big sis. Did Lacus steal your boyfriend or something?"

"No!" Lunamaria nearly yelled. "Just because there's a rumour that she's engaged to Athrun and hangs around him at school doesn't mean--"

"Hangs around Athrun? Athrun Zala goes here, too?" Meyrin was shocked. "The junior tennis champion of Jachin Due?"

"The very same," Lunamaria stated proudly. "He's the president of the Student Council and captain of the tennis club and is a really great guy! He's good at everything!"

Meyrin was impressed at the number of celebrities attending Heliopolis. She greatly admired Athrun, but thought of him as unattainable because of his popularity and social status. It was obvious, at least to her, that Lunamaria was heads over heels for him.

"Anyway, unless you don't want to make any girl friends, you shouldn't approach Athrun," Lunamaria warned.

"Why not?" Meyrin asked. She wasn't in love with him, but it didn't stop her from wanting to make friends with him, or at least get his autograph.

"You'll become enemies with almost every girl in the school, and get on the Love-Love-Athrun hit list."

"Love-Love-Athrun?"

"His main fan club. They're very rabid. If they don't get you, the Lovely Couple club will, or one of the many Athrun-centric fan clubs."

"Many fan clubs?" Meyrin sputtered incredulously. Don't these girls have anything better to do with their time? she wondered.

"Well, the Lovely Couple is all about getting Athrun and Kira in the sack together."

"Kira?"

"Kira Yamato, Athrun's best friend. Really cute, but kind of shy around girls. There's a fan club for him too, but they're not as violent. They just want to get him to dress in drag."

"Wait, 'him'? Kira-sempai's a boy?"

"Yeah, strange that his parents gave him a girl's name," Lunamaria shrugged. "He's got the highest grades in school, but no family wealth or fame means that he has no place in the social arrangement."

"Our family isn't rich either," Meyrin pointed out. "Doesn't being Athrun-sempai's best friend count for anything?"

"Only as an obstacle to getting closer with Athrun. If Kira was dating someone and out of the way... Don't get me wrong, Kira's not bad at all, it's just that Athrun's so much better," Lunamaria murmured dreamily.

Meyrin worked down her mental checklist. "You mentioned getting this Kira-sempai and Athrun-sempai together, right? Does Athrun-sempai swing--"

"Don't even finish that thought!" Lunamaria glared. "No, it's all because of the play you saw last year at our cultural festival. Remember it?"

Meyrin nodded hesitantly. She didn't want to tell her sister that her memories revolved around Lacus Clyne's concert.

"Athrun was the prince, remember?"

She couldn't, but close analysis of a vague memory confirmed Lunamaria's statement. So that was Athrun, she thought.

"Remember what the princess looked like?"

Another memory surfaced. "Yes, she was very beautiful in that dress, whoever she was." Meyrin suddenly realised where the conversation was going. "Wait, are you saying that--"

"Kira was the princess," Lunamaria laughed. "Very beautiful, indeed!"

----------

Kira sneezed. His friends looked at him with concern.

"You okay, Kira?" Miriallia asked.

"Yeah, it must be the air or something."

"Well, if you're sure..."

"I'm fine, really," Kira smiled, "but thanks for asking."

"Oh look, we're here," Dearka sighed as they stepped onto the school grounds. "If there isn't even one looker this year, I'll shave my head!"

Athrun grinned evilly. "Duly noted. We'll hold you to that, mister Elsman."

Dearka waved off Athrun's imaginary scissors. "It's just a figure of speech, man! Don't take me so seriously!"

"I think the problem," Miriallia smiled, "is that we can never take you seriously. It's not our fault that we're trying!"

Athrun and Kira nodded in agreement. Dearka threw up his hands in exasperation as they entered the school building and headed towards the shoe lockers. After replacing their outdoor shoes with their indoor pair, Miriallia and Dearka waved goodbye to the others.

"This is where we go our merry ways," Dearka said. "You guys are in 3-A this year, right? Visit us in 3-E at lunch break or something!"

"Sure," Athrun replied. "We'll eat on the roof or something!"

"Later, guys!" Kira called after them. After they left, he turned to his best friend. "So," he said conversationally, "how does it feel to have avoided the fan club rush today?"

Athrun placed an arm around Kira's shoulder for a friendly, personal chat. "Great," he replied, "but I want to know more about this new first year of yours. I figured that you didn't want to talk about her with Dearka and Miriallia around, so spill it now."

"You too, Athrun? I have no idea if she's a girl or not, honestly!"

Green eyes studied lavender ones. "Okay, okay. I believe you. So what are you going to do when you find her?"

"Friends, of course. She seemed like she could use one at a new school." Kira then smacked his hand against his forehead and groaned. "Now you're making me think of her as a girl, Athrun!"

"What's wrong with that, pray tell?"

"Everything, if she's a boy."

"And nothing, if she's a girl."

"Can we drop this, please?"

Athrun smirked. "Only if you agree to join the tennis club."

Kira grimaced. "I'm against. I'm not as good as you."

"Not as good...?" Athrun was incredulous. "Kira, you're my practice partner! How could you not be as good? If we played doubles, we'd..."

"I just don't know if I can deal with that kind of popularity."

"What kind of popularity?"

"You know..." Kira waved his hands as if they could form an explanation out of the air. "Interviews, crowds of fans, love letters, that kind of thing. I always admire the way that you handle them. I don't think I could ever do that."

"Who cares about those things? Ignore them if you want. If you just be yourself, everything will be fine."

"I'm not worried about... just... well..."

Kira's personality was precisely the problem, Athrun realised. In middle school, Kira had received a love letter from a girl he didn't like, but he couldn't bring himself to reject her because of the sincerity he had felt behind the letter. Even after Athrun had pointed out that it was unfair to the girl if Kira did not give her an honest answer and had coached him on how to reject her kindly, Kira had felt depressed for days because he had hurt her feelings.

He's too kind for his own good, Athrun thought. If he stopped being empathetic and started being selfish once in a while, I wouldn't have doubts about him being human.

"Will you at least consider it?" he asked.

"I'll do it, if you really want me to," Kira sincerely replied.

Athrun sighed. "I really want you to, no, I need you to, but only if you want to do it. Maybe if you were seeing someone, you wouldn't have a problem joining the tennis club," he joked.

Kira burst out laughing. "Did you have someone in mind?" he asked after his laughter subsided.

Lacus Clyne, he thought. Out loud, he said, "I don't know... There are plenty of cute girls at this school, why don't you just take your pick?"

"You know I can't do something like that."

"How about your kouhai, if she's a girl?" he persisted. "Or how about that cutie over there?"

Kira glanced in the general direction where Athrun was discretely pointing. Some distance behind the second year student Flay Allster, two girls were entering the building together. Their hair colours matched, but their hair styles and skirts did not.

"You want me to go out with, er, Lunamaria Hawke?" he asked, referring to the girl with the short hair and the extremely short skirt. "Isn't she one of the girls you said that you wouldn't mind going out with because she's actually civil, and more importantly, sane?"

"I meant the girl walking next to her," Athrun replied, indicating the shorter girl with the ponytails and the relatively conservative skirt. "But either one will do."

"Oh." Kira half-turned and studied the pair with his peripheral vision. "Um, Meyrin Hawke, her sister. One of the students in class 1-A this year."

"Do you know her?" Athrun asked, surprised.

"No. You asked me two weeks ago to help you organise the files of all 342 newly registered students, remember? There were photos and everything."

Athrun considered this. "Was Dearka's ratio too low, do you think?" he asked.

"Hmm... Taking into consideration his tastes, I'd say it was surprisingly accurate."

"So that's a yes, then?"

Kira shrugged indifferently, but his eyes remained on the first year student. He had gone over the student profiles to guess the identity of his kouhai, not to gauge their relative attractiveness. Admittedly, it had been difficult to study them objectively, but telling that to Dearka would have been as ludicrous as swimming while bleeding in a shark tank. Meyrin Hawke was one of the names on his list of students to watch, that much he could admit.

Athrun studied his friend's expression carefully. The last thing he wanted was for Kira to pursue a serious relationship with anyone other than Lacus, but he needed Kira to be at least open to the idea of a relationship, even if it meant introducing him to other women. Athrun could only hope that Kira would not take these women seriously, and that his best friend's vision of the perfect girl matched his own.

Please, Kira, he begged silently, please don't take what I said to heart.

Faeylle: For the longest time, I've had this idea for a story involving my favourite Gundam SEED characters kicking around in my head. I find it quite therapeutic to transfer that story from pure thought into words, and it also gives me an excuse to avoid school work. Anyway, this is my first work, so I appreciate any comments and constructive criticism you can offer. Hopefully I can finish the next chapter before academia claims all of my writing time.