Chapter 1: Wait, what?
At nine years old, Cagalli was free-spirited. When puberty hit, she was a rebel teenager. Then, at the age of sixteen, her father died. The world she knew was far worse than what she expected. People tried to take advantage of her, they lied and cheated, all to get what the Lion of Orb had left her.
Her uncle, Homura Attha, protected her. Acting as the substitute, until she was ready to take over the Chief Representative position, he sent her away to finish her studies. He made sure she could experience the life of a normal teenage girl.
Indeed, her last two years of high school was pretty much normal, until graduation day when she found out she has a Coordinator twin brother (who was pretty much the Valedictorian of the batch, and one of her friends), and that she was adopted into the Attha family (with her real parents being close friends with Uzumi and Homura).
Cagalli went back to her rebellious stage, she disobeyed Homura and disappeared for three months. Not really disappeared disappeared, but stayed in Kira's apartment for the whole time. With the stress of his niece's actions, Homura was hospitalized. Kira gave a long lecture to Cagalli, and when she finally realized her childish actions, she took care of Homura until he got better—promising that she'll finish college like a normal young adult (per her late father's wishes), and soon take over her responsibilities.
"Guys, this is Cagalli, our new member." Miriallia motioned to the figure beside her.
Blonde hair, amber eyes, sun-kissed skin… a girl. The astronomy guys gasped. A girl! They hovered around Cagalli and Miriallia, making ridiculous comments that mostly annoyed Mirallia.
"My name is Cagalli Yula. You can call me Cagalli. Nice to meet you all." She nervously greeted, bowing in process to show respect to the upperclassmen.
"The class! The elegance! This is what women lack these days!" "Milly! I'm surprised to see you have this kind of friend!"
"I'll try to ignore that sexist remark of yours, Sen-pai," Miriallia smiled dangerously at her orange-haired upperclassman. "But why are you two being more annoying than usual?"
The men backed away from the girls. They knew Miriallia's wrath was something not to be messed with.
Mirallia led Cagalli away from the two idiots, towards the meeting table, "Sorry about them. They're just fooling around. Can't really count on them. I'm practically the one in-charge." She nervously laughed. "I'm so glad you joined our club."
Cagalli forced out a nervous laugh. "It's fine. Not sure if I could be of use though."
"Alright! Let's get to the welcome party!" One announced. "Orga! Hurry and make dinner reservations!"
Cagalli listened in, occasionally replying with a small laugh, or a nod to show attentiveness in conversations. At first, she didn't know if it was a mistake for her to join the Astronomy Club, especially with their initial strong impression, but with the carefree atmosphere, getting to know them was easy.
The club was made up of six members: Tolle Koenig, the president; Sai Argyle, the vice president; Miriallia Haw, the treasurer; Orga Sabnak, the secretary; and Shani Andras and Clotho Buer, regular members. Apparently, Tolle and Sai were away for a semester study-abroad, so only the seniors and Miriallia had been running the club.
"So, what made you join our club this late?" Orga asked.
"Yeah, kinda sad that we won't get to spend time with 'ya, since we'll be gone in three months." Clotho draped an arm around Cagalli's shoulders.
"I went in for the winter quarter acceptance, instead of having the full gap year. You know, traveling and taking care of stuff."
"Ugh. Tell me about it. I should've done that." Milly pinched Clotho's arm, forcing him to pull away from Cagalli. "That three-month summer break after high school wasn't enough. It didn't prepare me well for my first sem."
"Anyway, aren't you guys graduating after spring sem?" Cagalli asked, and the two nodded. "Why are you leaving the club early?"
"It's our thesis quarter, so I'll mostly be playing Great WSXXX, Orga doing his internship, and Shani doing god knows what. So we'll pretty much be out of campus the whole time. It'll be a waste of energy to drive here just for the club."
"So Cags, from here on out, you're my heir apparent for the secretary position." Orga patted her shoulder.
"Do you see what I had to deal with for first six months of my college life?!"
"Oh don't be such a drama queen Milly. We're the best upperclassmen you'll ever have."
Cagalli laughed with the group. Maybe the Astronomy Club wasn't so bad after all.
3 months later
A quarter away from Heliopolis University was hell for Kira. Freshmen don't usually get the opportunity to join the study-abroad program—but being the Ultimate Coordinator that he was, he exceeded the expectations of the professors, and was recommended the opportunity to study in PLANT's September University. However, he was enrolled in 300-400 level courses, which pretty much meant he had no life.
Kira took a deep breath of 'Heliopolis' air as soon as the shuttle doors opened. The air of a stress-free life. The passengers dispersed into the shuttle-port, and four lines immediately formed behind the immigration booths.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad to be back here." Kira sobbed out, shifting his bag to his other hand. His friend behind him chuckled.
Like him, his friend was recommended for a quarter study program in PLANTs, though his friend was in Maius University—with their specialty being on Mechanical Engineering and Robotics.
Although the two were in the same shuttle to Heliopolis, the seats they got were away from each other. Neither giving the two the opportunity to chat about their experiences.
"Tell me about it. As soon as my last exam was done, I was out of Maius and in a shuttle to December."
"At least you were able to enjoy your Spring Break, I didn't even get my Spring Break."
The immigration officer motioned for Kira to come up, and Kira made his way to the booth. The usual procedure of a passport check, small questions about his trip outside, and a confirmation stamp of entry to the territory.
"Welcome home." The officer said, a statement meant for citizens of Orb, granting them arrival.
Kira mumbled a quick thanks, and proceeded past the booth to wait for his friend. After his friend went through the same process as him, though greeted by a 'Welcome to Heliopolis', both headed towards the exit, while chatting about their experiences in PLANTs.
With more people coming out of the arrival lobby, the taxis disappear quickly, and the wait times for the last few arrivals would surely take one to two hours wait. They speed-walked towards the taxi stand, beating the family of three, and grabbed the last taxi available. With the doors shut, and their destination set to Heliopolis University, the two friends focused on their own handheld devices.
"Shoot Athrun." Kira scanned through his emails on his phone. "Housing said our move-in day's moved to Sunday."
Athrun groaned, massaging his temple with his free hand.
University housing was an ass, especially to students coming in, in between terms. They had to give up their housing for the other incoming students for the Winter Quarter, and now that they're back for the Spring Quarter, housing's giving them a difficult time.
Beforehand, Athrun made the arrangements, Kira being busy during the break, to get the two in the priority list of housing allocations. After reaching out to connections, mostly favors from Yzak and Dearka to do the footwork, they were allocated in the same housing as their other friends. Now that they were back to move in…
"Let me guess… sick?"
"That's their excuse, but I bet they're still enjoying their spring break."
"Should we crash into Yzak's place?"
"Are they back yet?"
Athrun quickly tapped a message, and waited for Yzak's and Dearka's response, and after a few seconds his phone buzzed.
"Nope, still at campus. I guess we're homeless for three nights."
It was Kira's turn to groan. He ran both his hands to mess up his hair. "Hell no, I came straight here after my last exam, and I need a good night's sleep."
"Let me check hostel availabilities around the area."
"Ugh, my budget's too tight for that."
Kira picked up his phone and scrolled through his contact list, stopping immediately at a name. His mouth formed a sinister smile. Looks like he'll be sleeping like a baby for the next three nights.
"Do you have a sugar mama that we don't know about?"
"Ugh no. She's not. That's nasty." Kira's face contorted into disgust. This wasn't Thrones or Wars. "It's my sister's place."
Athrun almost forgot about Kira's sister—his long lost twin sister. Kira didn't share much information about her (not that he cared to know), except that Kira's been friends with his sister during high school, not knowing that she is his sister.
"Dearka might want to get adopted by your sister's family." Athrun joked. "With his trustfund being frozen and all, he's in need of charity."
They both laughed. Dearka's partying antics, accompanied by multiple attendance warnings, caused his frozen assets. Mooching off of Yzak, sometimes Athrun and Kira, was the only way for him to 'socially' survive.
Kira slid a card in the keycard slot of the elevator and punched the 'PH2' button. The elevator doors closed and within a few seconds, they were in the top most floor. Both staggered a little bit as they walked out, inwardly blaming the speed of the elevator for messing up their equilibrium.
Apart from the lavish building and location, the apartment was quite simple and homey. Shoes scattered at the entrance, white and gray furnishings, sunflowers displayed on vases, pictures pinned on the massive board, and various clutter were on the floor.
Emerald eyes scanned through the pictures. All faces unknown to him, except for Kira's which were in 30% of the pictures, and Lacus' in two. From the pictures, he deduced that the blonde girl is most likely Kira's sister.
"Ok, so quick tour. The hall to your right leads to the kitchen, dining and laundry. There's one bathroom inside the laundry room. This is the living room, and that door is the coat room. The hall to the left leads to Cagalli's room and the stairs. The second floor has three rooms with their own bathrooms," Kira paused for a moment, "I think one's being used as a storage room, or a study room. But, feel free to pick one that you like, I'll check up on Cagalli, since she's not answering her phone."
With Athrun heading up, Kira dropped his bag in the hall, and knocked twice on Cagalli's door. He called out her name, but only heard a groan in reply. He carefully opened the door and disappeared in the dark room.
A figure was wrapped comfortably under the duvet. Kira sat at the edge of the bed, and lightly nudged the figure. "Cags, Cags."
Cagalli groaned.
"It's me… Kira."
His sister hummed in reply, a signal that she was somewhat awake. "Ki…ra?"
"Yeah," He chuckled, planting a small kiss on her forehead. "I'll be staying here for three nights with a friend, if you don't mind."
"No…worries…welcome…home…"
Kira softly smiled, tucking his sister in, he whispered a quick goodnight. They can talk in the morning.
Cagalli wasn't a morning person, but falling asleep at 7pm, was bound to get her, her much needed 8-hour sleep, plus an extra six hours. So waking up with that much sleep felt like crap, and fatigue overtook her body.
She lazily went to the living room to grab the left-over pizza from last night, but the-said pizza box was missing… Plus the twin tower take-out boxes that were stacked beside it. Her eyes narrowed into slits, trying to remember if she must've sleep-walked through it all, and miraculously cleaned the place…herself?
She scoffed at the impossible. No way in hell. The cleaning lady doesn't come until Saturday, so…
'It's me…Kira.'
Her eyes widened in joy. Kira!
It's been seven months since she'd last seen him, and he pretty much only replied to her text messages with a yes/no for the last three months, even if her messages couldn't be replied to with a binary answer.
Cagalli ran up the stairs, nearly tripping over the loose indoor slipper that slipped off her feet, and barged into the first room.
"Ki…ra!" With her eyes locked-on her target, she jumped and pounced on top of the figure.
The figure let out a 'oompf' and a groan.
"Wake…up!" She laid on top of the figure, distributing her weight on one side of her body, for a deadweight feel.
Under the sheets, the figure said something incomprehensible, while trying to push her off. Cagalli, being Cagalli, rolled from one section to the other, trying to avoid the kicks under the sheet. Before she could move towards the torso, she was shoved away, loosing her balance in the process, harshly landing on the floor with a thud, not before grabbing the sheets with her.
"What was that for?" Cagalli sat up, pushing the bundled sheets away from her.
"What have you been eating?" Kira threw a pillow to Cagalli, hitting her right on the face.
Cagalli flopped down the floor, removing the pillow off her face, and stretched her limbs. "No one cooks for me. I'm dying here Kira. I should've brought Mana with me." She stared at the ceiling, her vision trying to follow the white dots floating around. "Actually, can't you just live here?"
"And what? Make me your personal chef?" Kira got out from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. "No thanks! Tried that last summer, it didn't work out." He called out, closing the door behind him.
A slight knock on the already opened door caught Cagalli's attention. Still comfortable with the floor, she tilted her head to look at the new comer.
The new comer cleared his throat. "Hi, I'm Athrun Zala. A friend of your brother." He offered a hand.
Cagalli just stared. Pale skin, blue hair, emerald eyes, thousand-watt smile. This guy was too smiley and too good-looking to be Kira's friend, unless... Her eyes narrowed into slits. She hoisted herself up.
"Cagalli Yula." She gave a firm handshake. "Kira! If you're cheating on Lacus with this guy, using my place as your getaway, you're dead meat!" She released his hand, and walked out the room.
Athrun stared at the now-empty space the blonde woman was at. He opened his mouth, then closed it, as no words came out. He was taken back, needing a moment to comprehend what had just happened. His jaw dropped.
Did Kira's sister think he was Kira's lover?!
A/N: I know it's weird with quick time jump and all... Sorry if it's a bit OC, I'll revise this chapter eventually.