Hello dearest readers! I know I've been MIA for a long time, and I apologize for that. If only I could scan my fanfiction notebook onto my laptop and it will be word processed for me… Alas, that tech doesn't exist yet. Since it's summer, I hope to update much more often. Perhaps once every two weeks? Maybe… On with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed/Destiny, nor any of the other characters that appear from other animes. So far, only the plot is mine :)
"Urgh. JOULE!" Shiho yells at the top of her lungs in the middle of the crowded hall, since there were a ton of devil horns and tails that fell out of her locker when Shiho opened her locker first thing on this fine morning. Oh wait, can't forget to mention the suspicious-looking red goo oozing out of her locker too.
"Yes, Hahnenfuss? I heard you calling my name." Yzak walks up to Shiho, hands in his pockets and a smirk in place.
"Did you do this?" Shiho asks, pointing to the sticky red mess her locker has become. By now, a crowd has gathered to see how this 'battle' between Shiho Hahnenfuss and Yzak Joule will end. It's already been dubbed 'the Battle of the Main Hallway.'
"Now, what makes you think I would do that?" Yzak feigns innocence. Shiho growls and Yzak is sure he has won. Until Shiho shoves a bunch of red-stained books and notebooks into his arms. And it just so happened he was wearing white…
"Go clean up the mess you made, Joule." Shiho hisses before walking away.
"Tch, who do you think I am, your maid?!" Yzak retorts to Shiho's retreating figure.
"Nope! But you made a mess, now you get to clean it~" Shiho sing-songs as she turned around to tell him that then walks away.
"Now what am I supposed to do with this?" Yzak looks down at the red mess on his shirt and in his arms.
"Here, clean this." He hands the books to a freshman in the crowd then goes to find Shiho.
"Hey Hahnenfuss!" Yzak calls out with a grin once his target is in sight.
"What?" She narrows her eyes at him. He doesn't answer, and just takes tof his shirt to reveal a well-toned but pale body then hands his shirt to Shiho.
"You made a mess, now you get to clean it." Yzak smirks, repeating her words from earlier. He then walks away, leaving a gaping Shiho as well as turning heads as he walks down the hallway without a shirt on.
It's these kinds of little pranks that make up Yzak and Shiho's enemy-friend...acquaintance ship. Every day or every few days, one would prank the other, nothing ever too serious, but often enough, leaving the school wondering just what is going on between those two.
"Hey guys." Nicol pipes up as the five of them, Yzak, Dearka, Heine, Athrun, and Nicol, walk down the hallways to get to the cafeteria. "Do you want to eat with Kira's group today?" He asks, walking backwards in front of his four companions.
"Sure. I haven't hung out with them in a while." Athrun agrees.
"Ooh, Miriallia hang out with them! I've been wanting to try something new on her…" Dearka plots, which pretty much means that he agrees.
"I have no problem going someplace different." Heine states. Yzak only grunts in agreement.
"Cool! Thanks guys!" Nicol exclaims happily, like the enthusiastic genius sophmore he is.
"Hello everyone!" Nicol greets once he reaches his destination.
Everyone greets them, goes back to their original activity, then looks up again as they do a double take.
"Oh hello! What brings you all here today?" Lacus asks with a smile.
"Well, Nicol here," Heine comes up behind Nicol and claps him on the shoulders. "Wanted a change of environment, and quite frankly, so did the rest of us, so we came over here to hang out with you guys." Nicol feels his face flush after Heine's explanation.
"Oh. Okay." Kira responds, motioning for people to shuffle around to make more space. Athrun is next to Kira and Cagalli, Nicol ends up next to Meyrin, Dearka plops himself down in between Miriallia and Shinn, much to their discontent, and Heine finds a space in front of Dearka. Yzak stands around awkwardly, as the only free seat is next to Shiho, and he DOESN'T want to die.
"I don't bite, contrary to what people think of me." Shiho pies up, not looking up from her math homework. She must've sensed his awkwardness, not that it's hard. The awkwardness is radiating off of him. Yzak then takes a seat next to Shiho, which if he didn't would have caused him to look like a loner. Which he didn't.
"I'm surprised Yzak and Shiho aren't at each other's throats yet." Lacus comments to Kira, who's making fun of Athrun and Cagalli.
"Hmm… Who knows? Maybe they don't hate each other as much as we thought." Kira replies in the midst of his teasing.
"Hmm… Maybe…" Lacus spares them one last glance before joining in on teasing Athrun and Cagalli.
"So, what are you working on?" Yzak asks Shiho.
"AP Calculus AB homework." She responds.
"That's… nice." He says awkwardly.
"Come on." She suddenly gets up. "Follow me. Bring your stuff too. We have English next anyways."
"What's this about?" Yzak inquires as he follows a briskly walking Shiho down the hallway.
"You'll see." Came her curt reply. Yzak is already walking down the hall, might as well follow through.
"Now we know there's something seriously up." Dearka comments after Yzak and Shiho have vacated the table. "Yzak would never willingly go somewhere when he doesn't know where he's going. Believe me, I know. I tried many many times."
"Maybe they're secretly lovers!" Cagalli exclaims gleefully. Kira and Shinn both shudder violently.
"Don't EVER bring that up again. I'd like to think of my cousin as clean, thank you." Kira informs Cagalli.
"Tch, since when could Shiho get anybody?" Shinn glares at some random point in the cafeteria.
"Well, she got you, didn't she?" Heine claps Shinn on the back. As the other cook up more conspiracy theories, Shinn stares at the doors Shiho left through not too long ago. 'Why him, Shiho? Why not me?' Shinn thinks.
Shiho leads Yzak onto the 5th floor and through a door he's never noticed before. Inside, it's really bright. At further inspection, it turns out to be a sunroom looking over the whole campus. Shiho plops down into a corner, her back to the wall but she's looking outside, at her classmates, the scenery, who knows. Yzak sure doesn't.
"So. Why'd you bring me up here?" Yzal asks suddenly.
"Hmm?" She responds, turning away from the window to look at Yzak. "Honestly, I don't know. But come, sit." She pats the spot next to her. Not quite knowing what else to do, Yzak takes a seat next to her and looks outside. It's nothing special, really, just a bunch of people milling around. So instead of looking outside, Yzak studies Shiho. He's actually been intrigued by her ever since she stood up to him two weeks ago. Hmm… Her skin actually kind of glows in the sunlight. And her hair is actually really nice too… Yzak snaps out of his daydream when Shiho literally snaps in front of him with her fingers.
"Ack! What are you doing?" Yzak snaps. (A/N: Too many snaps… No pun intended, of course.)
"We need to get to cass." Shiho informs him emotionlessly. This causes Yzak to wonder why there's a sudden change in her personality. But he puts it in the middle of his mind to figure out later. RIght now, they need to get to class.
"Hello, Yzak." Ezria Joule, Yzak's mother, greets as she walks into her son's room sometime around six in the evening.
"How may I assist you, mother?" Yzak replies formally, since he'll get chewed out if he wasn't.
"You realize you are turning eighteen in a matter of months." Ezria states.
"Yes, I am aware of that. What of it?" He turns, staring right at his mother. Most would shy away from the stare of Yzak Joule. but being his mother and having the same stare, Ezria stares right back at him.
"You do realize that this means that you have to get married soon to establish more connections for the family." Yzak nods.
"Yes, I am aware of that. I take it you are arranging one for me?" Yzak inquires.
"As a matter of fact, I do. Have you heard of a Flay Alster?" Ezria informs Yzak. He has heard of her. The daughter of the Foreign Vice Minister, she has been spoiled all her life. This This has turned her into a spoiled brat, but he has no choice. These are all all marriages of convenience. The ones getting married have no say in their partners.
"Of course, mother." Yzak agrees and Ezria leaves the room.
"Ne, Cagalli," Athrun calls out to Cagalli from his spot on her bed.
"Yeah?" She replies nonchalantly.
"Want to catch a movie on Friday?" He asks.
"Why?" Cagalli wonders aloud while trying to figure out her Trigonometry problem. "Argh! Stupid problem…" She groans.
"Hmm… Let me see." Athrun moves from his spot on Cagalli's bed, which was very comfortable, by the way, and heads over to Cagalli's desk. He positions himself behind her so he can peer over her shoulder at the infuriating, at least to Cagalli, Trig problem. It was just their luck that Kira walks by and sees them like that. Kira being, well, Kira, assumes his best friend is making a pass at his sister and overreacts.
"AHHHH! ATHRUN! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THAT TO MY SWEET INNOCENT BABY TWIN SISTER!" Kira yells, charging, and knocks Athrun to the ground. With the offender on the ground, Kira rushes over to Cagalli and tries to make sure she's okay.
"KIRA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Cagalli finally yells after a few minutes of Kira fussing over her for no apparent reason.
"But… But… But… Athrun was about to violate you!" Kira defends himself.
"In what way?" Cagalli inquires. Kira is about to answer, but Athrun beats him to it.
"Relax, Kira. I was just going to help her with her Trig homework. I wasn't trying to make a pass at her or violate her. You know I would never do that." Athrun explains. Kira calms down somewhat, then explodes. Again.
"THEN WHY DID YOU ASK YOUFOR HELP AND NOT ME?! WE'RE ON THE SAME SMARTNESS LEVEL AND I'M HER BROTHER! SHE SHOULD'VE ASKED ME!" Kira whines loudly.
"Umm… Kira, he was in the room already…" Cagalli informs him.
"Wha- MURGH-NYEH-ha?!" Kira sputters indistinguishably.
"Just leave it, Kira." Lacus comes up and kisses Kira on the cheek, effectively calming him down.
"Okay." Kira grumbles, then leaves the room.
"So, Athrun, about this infuriating Trig problem?" Cagalli goes back to her desk and takes a seat.
"Ahh, yes." Athrun gets up from the floor and walks over to Cagalli again. When their hands touch as Athrun reaches for the pencil. Athrun being Athrun blushes, but Cagalli being oblivious as usual, she doesn't notice it.
"Now you see this? You just do this… Plug in this into your calculator… write down this… measure this… Multiply this out… And tada!" He shows her on the calculator. "And you get your answer." He finishes his explanation.
"Oh! I get it now!" Cagalli exclaims. "You know what?" Athrun waits for her to finish her thought. "Let's go see that movie on Friday." She smiles at him and he smiles back.
Nicol walks through the night alone. On the sidewalk, of course. What? You thought he lives in some really out of the way cabin? No, he's actually just taking a walk.
"Hmm… What if I change the key to A minor? Would it sound right then?" Nicol wonders aloud, trying to figure out ways to fix his composition. Sometime during his walk, he changed his course and found himself standing in front of a music store.
"Hello! How may I help you?" A perky salesgirl pipes up as he walks in.
"I'm just browsing for now." He states absent-mindedly. Then Nicol snaps back into reality. "Meyrin?" He asks.
"Oh hello Nicol! How are you doing?" Meyrin asks politely.
"I'm doing fine, thank you. I take it you work here?" Nicol responds.
"Yup!" Meyrin answers. "I heard you liked to play piano. Could you play something for me?" She asks shyly.
"Of course." Nicol walks over to a piano and starts to play his composition.
"That was very beautiful, Nicol." Meyrin comments.
"Thank you. I wrote it myself. But I feel as if the key does not sound quite right." Nicol smiles as he answers.
"Why don't you try f minor?" Meyrin suggests sweetly.
"You mean like this?" Nicol plays a few notes on the piano in the suggested key. "Huh. It does sound better. Thank you, Meyrin."
The pair just play with the pianos and music for a while. They played a few duets, which Meyrin couldn't keep up with, a few songs where Nicol played the piano while Meyrin sang, and a lot of Nicol playing the piano while Meyrin enjoyed the music. The two enjoyed each other's company very much.
"AHH!" Shiho screams as few days later. No one can hear her, though, because she's in her little sanctuary. Someone has destroyed it. There was spray paint everywhere, the window was broken, and the flooring was torn up.
"Why? Why would someone do this?!" She cries out loud and runs out of the room with tears running down her face. As she runs down the stairs, she crashes into someone.
"Woah, easy there." A pair of arms steady her and Shiho finds herself looking at a pair of emerald green eyes.
"Sorry for crashing into you." Shiho responds meekly, looking down at the floor, well aware of the person's arms still around her.
"It's alright. Shiho Hahnenfuss, am I correct?" The person asks.
"Yes, and you are?" Shiho asks, still not looking up.
"Ichijou Masaki." He responds, and Shiho finally looks up and blushes. (A/N: I am well aware that the way I wrote Shiho's name is not the same as the way I wrote Masaki's. BTW, I did, in fact, borrow Ichijou Masaki from Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.)
"Oh, hello, Masaki-senpai. Apologies for inconveniencing you and taking up some of your time. I'll take my leave now." Shiho bows slightly then scurries away, blush extremely evident on her face, but not before Masaki catches her by the arm.
"Wait! I know we only just met, but would you like to go out sometime?" Masaki asks impulsively. Shiho nods and he lets go.
"Wait!" He yells down the stairway again. "How will I find you?!"
"You'll find a way!" Came Shiho's response. Masaki smiles and makes his way up the stairs while Shiho steeled herself to confront the person who destroyed her sanctuary.
Phew, that took a long time to type. I actually don't really like typing. It's a bit tedious. Woah, 2,439 words not including the author's note above :) I have already started to write the next chapter, and I hope to get it posted in a week or two! Thanks for reading! Reviews, favorites, and follows are always appreciated. :)