Chapter 2

Lacus was lying in her bed unconscious since the last accident. She's been lying there for the past three days and there is no sign of her waking up from her coma. Kira stood aside watching her as his heart continues to hurt seeing his best friend lying there unconscious.

He turned around walking away from the window of Lacus's ward feeling the sense of regrets within himself…he just found out that Lacus's father went overseas for business and will not be back anytime soon, at least for the next eight months.

There was nobody visiting her either and the fact of this hurts Kira even more. How have she been living for the past few years after he left without a word.

He felt a little better as he saw a blonde approaching the door of Lacus's ward from the side. He stood aside trying to avoid gaze so as not to arouse suspicion. Lacus do have a friend after all. Kira stood a little further away from the viewing window using his index finger to push his specs to look more profession.

Something felt a little weird to him though, it seems as though the way he cared for Lacus is different from what he felt in the past. He is taking care of her hospitality costs and needs for the time being, her family is not around and he felt that she needed care to be given to her. He wondered how she actually got into the accident though; she didn't seem like the careless type.

In the past, she'd always been watching out for the road carefully and wouldn't let Kira jay walk whenever he wants to. The fact of this did worry him a little.

He peeped into the window once again to see the blonde attending to Lacus, putting the covers over Lacus's shoulders, perhaps making sure she'll not get a cold from the low temperatures in the hospital. He somehow felt that he could trust this woman, but why did she come only now and not three days ago? Kira was thinking deeper and deeper into his thoughts when Fllay appeared right before him.

He sighed, knowing what he had to face the next moment. She just never gets the idea does she?

"Kira! Let's go out for lunch shall we?" She smiled at Kira while hooking onto his arm trying to pull him away. It's weird for her though, ever since this new patient came in, Kira's been outside her ward every now and then, when he doesn't have more work to do.

She peeped into the room giving a glare at the pink haired woman lying in the bed. She did look beautiful after all, beautiful long pink locks and fair skin. She's afraid that Kira might've fallen in love with the stranger like girl for the looks of hers.

'It can't be…I've known Kira longer than she does. She will never get Kira. Besides, I'm a thousand times prettier than she is and if I don't get him, no one will.' Fllay smirked to herself turning back towards Kira to see him yet again looking into the ward, what's worse is when he kept staring at the seemingly lifeless girl with the looks in his eyes that seemed to spell a lot more that Kira sees her as a lot more than just a normal friend.

Fllay growled in an inaudible tone as she pulled Kira along to see Kira resist to her actions for the third time these three days. Ever since that new girl came in, he's been doing this, in the past, Kira would just oblige to her and go out for lunch with her, but now because of this new patient, he's been spending a lot more time on her than Fllay herself.

"Fllay, go along for lunch yourself, I'm not hungry." Kira told her for the last time seriously, pulling his arm away from her grasp. Seeing the state that Lacus is in now, he just couldn't eat. Making matters worse, he just couldn't find the courage to go into the ward to tend to Lacus manually and always had to get the hospital's nurses to take extra care for her.

He didn't want rumors to spread around now, figuring that it might not do Lacus any good with Fllay around.

These peculiar movements shocked the nurses though, but they just obliged. Most of the nurses were taking really good care for her except for Fllay - probably the reason why Kira reprimanded her two days ago for disturbing Lacus when he found Fllay meddling with some of the machineries around the bed.

Fllay is now getting pissed off as she walked away quietly. She never used to give in so easily, but she had something else that she felt like she needed to attend to.

Kira sighed at the retreating figure as he saw the blonde woman from the inside packing up her belongings at the same time leaving behind the things she's brought for Lacus. Kira saw her walking out of the door as he approached her unconsciously.

"Erm…" He voiced out as the woman turned around facing him directly. "Yes?" She asked. Kira could see that she wasn't a very feminine woman from the tone of her voice and the way she was dressed.

"Are you Lacus's friend?" He asked sheepishly looking towards the ground scratching the back of his head. The amber eyed woman stared at him in a weird manner before she caught his question.

"I'm Cagalli, and yes, I'm Lacus's friend." She replied smiling. This lady seemed friendly enough to approach as she was about to walk away before she voiced out another question curiously. "You're a doctor here right? I didn't know that the hospital provided service of the doctor being so nice to the patient's personal affairs." She said trying to hide her laugh, especially so when she saw Kira's face turn bright red.

"Erm…yea….AH NO!! I'm Kira Yamato, a childhood friend of Lacus." He replied, still embarrassed at the previous question as he couldn't help but notice the blonde girl eyeing at him suspiciously making him feel uncomfortable from head to toe.

"Kira….OH!! Lacus's Best friend??" Cagalli asked and this question stunned Kira. Kira stared and blinked for a couple of moments trying to catch the sudden remark made by her minutes ago before realizing that his blur look on the face starts to light up.

"Does Lacus talk about me?" Kira asked expectantly only to see Cagalli nodding her head a couple of times. "But she has another best friend though."

Kira's face dropped in disappointment for Lacus to have another friend that he felt, has replaced him. But who'd he had to blame though? He chose to leave Lacus in the past and this is just his desserts. He never believed he'd get too affected about the position he holds in Lacus's eyes.

"He's now her boyfriend. He's called Desmond." Cagalli pointed out this point, but didn't seem to catch Kira's expression changing all of the sudden.

"I see…" He replied in a low voice. 'What's wrong with me? Why am I so upset about Lacus having a boyfriend? Perhaps I'm just afraid to be forgotten by my closest friend?? Yeah, that must be it.' Kira reassured himself within his heart, yet something just kept hitting him hard, 'If she had a boyfriend, why is he no where in sight these few days?' He found himself asking again.

"May I know where her boyfriend is then?" Kira asked expectantly hoping for Cagalli to give him an answer, disappointed to see her shrugging her shoulders. "I don't even know much about him; but I've always been hearing bad rumors about him often which is why my impression of him is not all that good."

Kira looked at her with a confused face, before he could ask Cagalli another question, he was broken off again. "Err…I've got to go now, I'll see you tomorrow then." Cagalli looked at her watch, running away towards the direction of the lift lobby.

Kira turned around walking back towards the door, yet again staring at Lacus. "Bad rumors?" He asked himself. This time, another person approached him, didn't seem like someone he'd dread seeing though, as the person patted his shoulder. "Hey, Kira!"

"Oh it's you, Athrun." He replied in a low tone like he was not surprised at the sudden touch.

Athrun looked towards the window Kira's been looking through for days before staring at Kira's face again. His mind understood the situation now as he laughed to himself. It seems to him like Kira didn't know his own feelings yet but it's a little clear to him now even though he couldn't be a hundred percent positive his intuition is accurate. He decided to test Kira.

"Kira…You've been staring here for the past few days, yet I've not seen you going in at all." Athrun started.

Kira stared at him wondering what he was going at. "Who is she to you anyway? You seem to care for her a lot and that makes Shinn a lot busier than he already is when he has to take extra care of this special girl for you upon your request." The Athrun asked.

"Athrun, I've known her ever since I was in kindergarden; she's my best friend." Kira replied not wanting to elaborate more since he heard what Cagalli said earlier.

Athrun looked at Kira twitching his eyebrow curiously. "Doesn't seem like you treat her as merely a friend though; Kira." He teased Kira. Kira gave Athrun a fake angry look. "Say that again and you're dead, buddy." He laughed.

Athrun shrugged, "Kira, search for your feelings yourself. Sometimes; people standing by the side sees the bigger picture." He patted Kira's shoulder. "I have an appointment, so I'll be going. Catch up with ya later." Kira stared at Athrun as the midnight blue haired guy walked away with both hands in his white coat's pocket.

"Hey, Athrun!!" He called out. Kira took off the white coat he's wearing, taking away the stethoscope around his neck, walking towards him. "I'll be taking the rest of the day off to take care of her, so please help me put this back to my room and help me tell the reception."

Athrun nodded and with that, Kira walked back towards the room, only to see Lacus fidgeting around in her bed.

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With Lacus

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(In her dreams)

Lacus was walking down the park breathing the fresh air around as she enjoyed the soft breeze blown against her face. Lacus spread out her arms, inhaling the fresh air as she continued walking down the path, it was a great day though, until she witnessed something else.

She saw a couple of figure sitting by the bench kissing as she couldn't help but notice the striking familiarity of the guy. "Desmond?" She mumbled with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

She rubbed her eyes a couple of times blinking in disbelief, not believing what she just saw. Desmond didn't seem to be looking at her though, he seemed more interested in the girl before her. She had red hair and gray eyes, wearing something that looked like the outfit of a nurse.

Lacus felt her warm tears trickling down her cheeks as she squat down on the spot crying to herself, burying her face in between her knees while her hands hugged her knees close to her chest. She stayed at that position crying to herself for awhile more till someone placed a hand onto her shoulder.

She turned around in shock at the sudden touch to see a pair of amethyst eyes staring into her cerulean ones. The person had the calmest violet orbs and messy brown locks with tanned skin. She looked up at him with teary eyes as he shot her the pitiful yet loving look, like she'd feel secure being with him.

"Kira??" She whispered, not believing what she just saw. Isn't Kira supposed to be overseas for his studies? Has he returned to Orb? She asked herself many questions on the spot, yet her mind is still in a whirl of all the sequence of events. For a moment, she's crying because of the girl that's with Desmond and the next moment, she's seeing Kira right before her.

Kira kneeled down to her level as he spread out both arms pulling her into a tight embrace, using one of his hand to pat her head gently. "Lacus, I'll protect you…" He whispered.

(Back to present)

Lacus woke up from her long slumber as her cerulean orbs slowly gained proper vision from the initial blurish sight. She couldn't help but try to fix the parts and pieces of her dream she just had together. It felt weird but real and those pieces of it seemed to have more things happening in the middle linking them together, but she didn't know what it was due to the messy events in it.

Lacus blinked a couple of times staring at the ceiling before she realized where she was as she struggled to get up, but her wounds that were still not properly healed hurt her a lot as she struggled for awhile more.

The pain was hurting her intensely and sharply as she squealed helplessly, letting a tear fall from her face down her cheeks. What scared her even more is when there is no one by her. The fact of this saddened her greatly as she clutched onto her blanket still trying her best to sit upright.

Kira saw this from outside as he dropped all hesitation immediately, rushing into the room to hold Lacus in place, making her lie down still on the bed, checking at her stitches making sure that it wasn't opened up once again.

Lacus stared at Kira blankly, not recognizing who he is. "Who are you?" She asked. Kira felt his heart drop from her question as he placed a hand on her cheeks only to see her relaxing from his warm touch. Lacus held her hand up using her fingers to caress the hand on her face.

She did feel a little better with someone by her side. Kira looked better to see her at least feeling more comfortable and not as afraid as before. Lacus looked at Kira blinking a few times more before the look of acknowledgement flashed onto her face. "Kira??" She asked.

Kira's face lit up a lot to see that she finally recognized him. Lacus stared at him, not believing what she just saw. Kira's overseas isn't he?

"Yes, I'm Kira here, Lacus, don't worry, I'm with you." He smiled, moving his hand away to brush away the pink fringes on her fore head that's covering her eyes so that he could get a better look at her face this time.

Lacus couldn't believe how much Kira's changed over the years; he's grown to be more muscular and definitely has an attractive appearance. Lacus flashed a natural smile at Kira only for him to melt at the simple sign of gesture; it's so pure, so beautiful and so cute.

"What are you doing here, Kira?" Lacus asked, feeling curious.

"I'm your doctor, your surgeon. It's such a coincidence we get to meet at such an event." He said, laughing quietly, still stroking her cheeks, staring at her beautiful crystal clear orbs like he could just get lost in it. This moment seem to mean a lot to him though and this is a type of feeling he's never felt being with anyone before.

Even though Kira wasn't wearing his white coat symbolizing his career, Lacus didn't doubt him. She knew that Kira would never lie to her.

"How long have you been in Orb?" Lacus asked, still surprised that Kira's right before her. If he was back long ago, why didn't he look up for her? Further more, to be a surgeon, he should've already touched down at Orb for a long time. The thought of this disappointed Lacus greatly.

Kira seemed to notice the disappointment in her eyes, "I've been here for the past four months. I was made a surgeon earlier because of my qualifications I think…" Kira smiled at her. He was glad he was a surgeon earlier than predicted though; this gave him the chance to see Lacus again. "I wanted to look for you as soon as I reached here, but many things in the hospital are present for me to handle and that took away the time for that. There are times I wanted to look for you though, but for some reasons, operations are always cropping up whenever I was set out to leave the hospital." Kira said, thinking of Fllay blabbering at him, stopping him time and again from doing what he wanted.

"I see…" Lacus said, before having her thoughts drifted to somewhere else. "Kira…can you bring me out of this place? It feels uncomfortable here." Lacus requested with puppy eyes.

Though Kira found it hard to resist that look of hers, he still had to stand up against that wish of hers, he didn't want her to over work or stress her wound too much before it's fully healed. "No Lacus, be good and stay here. I've taken the rest of my day off…so I will be here accompanying you."

"Why?? What about the patients?" Lacus asked him in curiosity. Kira smiled at her, she's always been so kind hearted, putting others before herself.

"You're my patient too." Kira smiled. "I want to take care of you before your discharge."

Lacus pouted at Kira which made her look cuter than before as Kira let out a small chuckle at her childish behavior. She's always been this innocent and in his eyes, she will be forever. Lacus suddenly dropped her pout as she looked at Kira expectantly again, this time with shiny eyes that seem to glitter like how a kid will do to his mother for a request.

Kira knew she was going at it again. "Bring me out please…" Lacus pleaded again, flashing him a cute smile which amused him to no end. Kira found it a lot harder to refuse her this time, he also found himself understanding how it'll feel to be stuck in here.

"Alright I guess, but we'll be back in a short while alright?" Kira obliged to her request. He felt that as long as he was with her, it should be safe; besides, it's been a long time since the both of them went out and he was kind of looking forward to it too.

Kira carried Lacus bridal style, placing her down onto the wheel chair before grabbing a change while Lacus shifted on her seat to find a comfortable position. Lacus wanted to walk herself though, but understood that this will be a request Kira will never agree with. Lacus blushed when she thought about Kira attending to her as a doctor would to his patient; the handsome yet serious look.

It's been really long and she never thought that Kira would grow to be such an attractive young man with a well-established career. Lacus frowned again thinking about the incident before she was sent here. The incident with Desmond, she felt her heart tugging when she thought about him as she was unsure about how she felt towards her boyfriend now.

Lacus was deep in her thoughts when Kira returned back to the room. She looked up to see him staring at her, making her drop her head, facing towards her lap, blushing in a deep shade of pink.

She have to admit though, Kira looked good. Kira snapped out of his stare, but found it hard to seriously keep his eyes off Lacus. He walked to the back of the wheel chair, pushing her out of her ward towards the lift. "Where'd you like to go?" Kira asked.

Lacus turned behind towards him as she smiled. She had something in mind for a long time, way before she was sent here. "The beach." She replied in short. She's always wanted to go to the beach, but Desmond would always claim that he doesn't have the time to bring her here. The beach always sends calmness to her mind. The beautiful swash and backwash of the waters, complimenting with the light breeze makes the beach a seemingly perfect place to her.

Kira looked down, staring into her eyes to see her longing heart. He knew right then, that she had not been to the beach in a long time. It was a long drive though, but worth the while as soon as they reach their destination as Kira could see Lacus awing at the magnificent view of the place. She looked so beautiful right then as Kira felt the urge to just lead over and pull her into his arms.

Kira quickly shook that thought out of him, getting back down to earth. Shaking his head, Kira assured himself that he saw Lacus as nothing more than just a best friend. Getting out from the driver's seat, he pulled out Lacus's wheel chair, carrying her out of the car gently and placing her on the seat before pushing her towards the edge of the breakwaters.

Kira knelt down towards Lacus's level to look at the view. It was a romantic setting for the both of them. Kira found that he would be taking a glance at her every now and then from the corner from his eyes. From time to time, Lacus would just be either closing her eyes, enjoying the sounds of the waves or staring far at the sea. It is going to be dusk right then but Kira didn't care, he couldn't stop enjoying the view of Lacus's pure expression.

Kira hated to break the silence then but he felt the strong urge to ask a question. "Lacus, I have to know this. How did you meet with the accident?" Kira asked.

Lacus's eyes appeared shock for a moment at the sudden topic as she looked at Kira confused for a moment.

"You've always been really careful about crossing the roads and something must've happened to have something like that happening to you." Kira looked at her, answering her as if he could read her mind at the surprisingly random question that seemed to come out of no where.

Lacus's look in her eyes started to change, replacing it with the look of hurt. Kira felt his heart aching badly then, something must've happened, but it feels as though Lacus didn't want to talk about it. Lacus's tears fell from her eyes slowly as she kept her silence going.

Kira knew that it wasn't the right question to ask right then as he slowly pulled her into a warm embrace, feeling her relax into his touch. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just felt like I needed to know, but I wouldn't expect you to answer me immediately if it makes you uncomfortable." Kira whispered as his warm breath on her cheeks slowly brought calmness back to Lacus again.

Kira pulled away from the embrace, staring at Lacus. He slowly picked up his hand, using his thumb to wipe the tear away from her face. He felt that she really should smile more, a crying Lacus hurts his heart, but a smiling one makes it flutter.

Lacus slowly picked herself up from her pathetic state, trying to just ignore that sadness for the time being as she started telling Kira about what happened, from the part where she found Desmond cheating on her till when she met with an accident.

Flashback

"Desmond, are you free tonight, let's go out for a dinner. It's your birthday remember?" Lacus called Desmond, speaking through the phone.

"Err, but Lacus, I am working overtime tonight and I'm afraid I can't make it." Desmond replied her, feeling the disappointment over the phone, but he had another appointment with another girl tonight. "I'm sorry my dear, we'll go out tomorrow k?" He asked again.

Lacus sighed over the phone, but being the sweet and understanding girl she's always been, she had to oblige to this fact. After all, he was working overtime and she had to understand. Lacus is working as a teacher in a school and she had specially taken leave that day to plan for his birthday.

She felt really disappointed as she hung up the phone, staring at the television for hours, with the television programs going on, but her mind drifting somewhere else. She sat there for hours and didn't realize the clock ticking 1pm. She decided to just go out now to get a gift for Desmond.

It's weird though, hours ago when she called Desmond, it was supposed to be office hours, but the background seemed to be a little too noisy to be like he's in the office. She shook it off though, thinking that it might've been the noises made by his colleagues.

Lacus put on her shoes as she grabbed her purse heading out of the door, only to feel giddiness striking her badly the moment she stepped out of her house. But she slowly adjusted to it, locking up her apartment gates. She looked at the clear sky it seemed like a great day to her right then.

Lacus wanted to get a watch for Desmond, something tat he's been eyeing at for a long time. She just couldn't wait for him to see the surprise she's gotten for him. Lacus took a bus to town, walking down on the streets to the watch shop that Desmond has always been stopping by whenever they were there.

He could always stare at the watch on the display cabinet and she knew that he wanted it very much. Lacus stepped into the stall, purchasing it despite the steep price as she exited the shop with a light heart and continued with her shopping, only suddenly to notice a familiar figure at a corner with a girl. She could see that the girl was putting on the very same watch she got for Desmond a minute ago on the wrist of the guy.

The alley was a little dark though as she could hear the light chuckle of the guy and couldn't help but feel happy for them. She couldn't get a clear look at the face of the guy because of the blockage of sunlight reaching that spot. The guy slowly lowered his head to the girl's level as his face was slowly brought to light, bending down to capture her lips.

It really was familiar and recognizing the face smashed Lacus's heart into pieces as she dropped the costly gift that was meant for the special someone she couldn't wait to give to. "Des…Desmond?" She unknowingly called out as she felt her eyes gaining moisture.

Desmond slowly parted his lips from the girl, turning towards her direction, shocked to see Lacus right in front of him. He quickly pushed the stunned girl in his arms away, running towards Lacus's direction.

"So this is the overtime you were talking about? If you were not interested in this relationship, you could just tell me straight!" Lacus cried.

"Lacus, hear me out!!" Desmond pleaded.

Lacus shouted back, refusing to listen to any more made up stories as she slowly recapped the past about the rumors of her boyfriend having multiples of girlfriends. She seriously felt like she had made the wrong choice of trusting him with all her heart in the first place.

Lacus placed her hands covering her mouth, trying hard not to vomit this time. She couldn't make up why she's been feeling this way a lot recently. It's as if her body is slowly weakening. Lacus turned around to run off from Desmond, covering her ears, shutting her eyes as her tears fell freely, ignoring the attempts made by Desmond to stop her from leaving.

She didn't bother to look where she was running towards as she could hear Desmond calling out to her. "Lacus!! Look out!"

End of Flashback

"That was where my mind went blank and the next moment, I felt the collision hitting me hard and the next thing I knew, I was blacked out." Lacus said, lowering her head, only to have her fringe covering her face.

Kira could feel the sadness in Lacus's tone as he silently cursed himself for not looking her up earlier, if not all these could've been known to him earlier and she could've avoided this unforeseen accident. However, one part of him is happy for Lacus to feel disappointment in her boyfriend. He knew he shouldn't feel this way and that it is selfish to celebrate over someone's hurt, but he couldn't hide his feelings to himself.

Kira slowly reached his hand up, placing it over Lacus's. He could feel Lacus's tears dripping onto it but he didn't mind at all. Kira slowly reached his head up, using his other hand to brush her fringes away; he slowly placed a feather light kiss upon her forehead.

"Don't worry, Lacus. I know you'll be fine. Let's just go back to the hospital now. It's getting late." He said, only to receive a small nod from Lacus as a reply. Kira slowly placed Lacus on the passenger seat as he was all set to return to the hospital. He took another look at Lacus before starting the engine, driving off.

Reaching the hospital, he realized that it is already 8pm. He turned towards Lacus only to find her sleeping in the seat. "I guess I'll stay back in the hospital tonight to take care of her to make sure she's fine when she comes to." He sighed, using his hand, caressing her soft cheek gently.

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A/N: This is another chapter of Love's Test. Thanks to reviewers for the amount of reviews I got. I have to make a few clarifications though, in this fic, Cagalli and Kira are not siblings. Kira wears specs at times during his work time in case readers are wondering why there was a part on Kira wearing specs at the beginning of the chapter. Whatever's Fllay is planning to do will be up on the next chapter. I decided to make this an all KxL chapter so I hoped u like it. I know that I've neglected the blood test in this chapter but for just a slight peek at the next one, Lacus's blood test couldn't be carried out due to certain reasons; so the results will be out in a little later. I'd also like to thank reviewers who reviewed for my other new fic, so please R&R. (:

P.S to readers...I've been in a bad mood recently. Family getting along problems, friendship problems and Relationship problems...I seriously cant smile very often and i hope readers can once again make me feel appreciated. Thanks...