Rock Bottom:

Seeds Sown Under the Earth's Crust

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Seed, All Names, places and characters relating to Gundam Seed belong to Sunrise, All original names, places and characters belong to me.

Author's Notes: This chapter actually took longer than expected. I really did plan on making it a longer chapter and planned it all out for once but then I decided to keep writing small chapters so the original plan is going to be spread out over the course of the next four chapters or so.

Phase 03 – Schoolyard Blitz

The next morning, the sky was covered by a netting of grey cloud sheets. The time was six twenty eight and Kira's alarm clock was due to go off in two minutes time. Kira lay awake, resting on his side in his bed. His eyes were open and staring at the illuminated red LED digits telling the time on his digital alarm clock but not taking in the information they offered to share.

In his mind, he was miles away, trapped in thought. He couldn't keep himself from wondering what had happened to that man that owned the house Kira lived in, he simply couldn't bring himself to call that man 'father', just as that man refused to call him 'son.'

Kira's memory wandered back to the evening before, when he returned home to find the house empty and unlocked. Did the man leave for work or something? He hadn't said anything to Kira, not that he had been worried or anything like that, in fact he had actually wished for such a thing. Had his wish come true, was that possible?

Well, either way, it had been a pleasant evening nonetheless. Kira had managed to feed himself, shower and complete his homework by ten PM for once. He did everything for himself, possibly a daunting task for some but not for Kira; he was used to it after all. It was quite common practice in this house for Kira to do all the cooking and cleaning, all of the chores deemed as 'woman's work' by the master of intimidation.

Kira had secretly come up with names like that to refer to the owner of the household. That was how he referred to the man in his head although it should not be confused by anyone raiding the sanctity of his mind, he was not afraid of that man, not anymore, not for a long time, not since he was a scared little child.

The loud high-pitched distracting buzzing sound of the alarm clock on Kira's bed-side table put an abrupt end to any more thought. The long walk to school took up the better part of an hour, even longer if he took what people in the media often referred to as the 'scenic route.'

Simply put, this meant that he had roughly about half an hour to get ready. He always set his alarm so that he had exactly enough time to get ready. It may not be the most efficient way to do things but he usually arrived on time.

Kira slipped out from the sheets and blankets and neatly straitened them up, ready for that night. He walked to the other side of his room by his closet. Hanging from the handles of the closed door of his closet, were the various items of clothing that made up his school uniform.

Within a few minutes, Kira had dressed in his uniform and had arrived in the kitchen. In the corner of the kitchen was a microwave with a built in clock. Glancing at it, Kira saw that he still had time for a quick breakfast. He opened up a nearby bread bag and dropped a slice of bread into the toaster. While that was cooking, he took a small water bottle from the fridge and placed it on the table. Also on the table, he noticed a fruit bowl containing several shiny red apples.

He took an apple and the water bottle, walked over to his schoolbag and carefully placed them inside the bag, in a side pocket, giving them a compartment all of their own. While he was there, he checked over the contents of the bag to make sure the homework he had completed the night before was still there. After hearing the toast pop up, Kira walked back into the kitchen and poured himself something to drink before beginning consumption of the basic meal.


Kira slowly walked strait ahead taking small absentminded steps toward the school. Despite taking the scenic route and walking at a slow pace, Kira noticed that he still had some time before his classes actually began. With both hands stuffed inside his pockets, he slowly made his way toward the classroom. He thought that even if it wasn't time to go in, maybe the teacher was in and if so, the door would be unlocked. Even if it wasn't, there would certainly be a place to sit in the shade and wait for the rest of the class to show up one by one. With a little luck, they would leave him be and give him the gift of peace after so much harassment.

The last two years had been hell and Kira couldn't wait to get away but for now, he had no idea what life, the big unfair bitch named destiny, held in store for him. He told himself that education was a ticket out of this town. He planned to move far away and start again, just as soon as he got some money and for that to happen, he needed to stay at school unlike the ever increasingly-countless numbers of teenage dropouts mooching off the country's already-unstable economy.

"Well well, looks like he's already here" said a cruel voice. Kira was just a few steps away from the classroom. If he stopped where he was, he'd be in clear sight of anyone walking by. He turned around to see who was behind him and his spirit sank upon his recognition of the voice's origin.

"What do you want with me now, haven't you done enough already?" Kira asked. "Please, I just want to pass and finish school. After graduation, you're never gonna see me again."

"Graduation, that's two years away isn't it?" the other student said with arrogance evident in his voice and showing on his face. This was heightened by the tinted glasses and non-regulation open shirt he wore over his uniform. "Hey, get over here!" he called out to someone and Kira sensed the presence of another.

Through peripheral vision, Kira saw a head of long red hair walk past him. The red-headed girl walked forward until she stood beside the blonde whom had called her over. She turned and faced Kira with an expression similar to the one worn by her blonde friend... or were they more than friends now? Kira usually opted to stay out of the affairs of others so he wouldn't really know.

."Hey Fllay, guess what?"

"What?" the girl with the red hair asked.

"This guy here thinks we should be nice to him for the next two years until graduation and then we'll never see him again. What do you think?"

.

"I think two years is a long time" the girl answered.

"My thoughts exactly" the blonde said. "Sorry, you heard the lady" he joked "I'd love to help ya, seriously, I would but I'd hate for Fllay to miss out on her primary source of pleasure... all work and no play, you know."

"Yeah, sure" Kira said, responding in kind to the sarcasm.

Kira was just about to turn away when he heard someone calling out. "Hey!" the voice called out. It was soon followed by the loud footsteps of someone running on the concrete surface of the Quad. The girl Kira had met the day before came closer and closer into view and soon enough, Kira found himself staring wide eyed into the bright face of a smiling Cagalli. After seeing the look of surprise on Kira's face, Cagalli's smile soon faded. "What is it?" she asked, concerned that something was wrong.

"The red-headed girl simply glared at the new blonde and her abrupt, uninvited intrusion."Who invited you?" she said coldly, hoping to push the blonde away like a leach before she grew too attached.

"Oh yeah, that's real friendly" Cagalli said sarcastically "People who draw pleasure from the inner torment they cause others are usually just looking for another victim to blame their own insecurities on."

"Who asked you anyway?" Fllay said.

"So what are you doing here?" one blonde asked the other, he asked the question with curiosity.

"Oh," Cagalli answered "I'm with him" she said while nodding in Kira's direction.

"So you're a coordinator?" Fllay asked.

"What difference does that make?"

"If it makes no difference, than you can answer the question, am I right?" asked Fllay's blonde friend.

"Actually, I was born naturally, if you must know" Cagalli answered.

"Then why do you choose to hang around with him?" Fllay asked, rudely pointing a finger in Kira's face "or didn't you know" she smirked "He is a coordinator."

"Like I said before, what difference does it make, who cares; I don't. I don't get involved in politics. I judge people by what they say and how they act, rather than by what they can or can't do. Sure, Kira may have been born differently from me and hell, maybe he really is different but guess what, I really don't give a shit because I know that despite all this, he has a far better character than ten of you put together" Cagalli said, looking strait into Fllay's eyes as she talked.

"Those who choose to befriend the coordinators are no better than the coordinators themselves."

"And that attitude of yours is exactly why... never mind"

Fllay simply wrapped here arms around the arm of the blonde standing beside her. "Come on Sai, Let's go somewhere else. The door won't be open for a while yet, right?"

"…Door?" Sai asked absentmindedly.

"The classroom door."

"Oh... yeah, right" Sai said as though he were coming out of a daze. The pair walked away, leaving Kira and Cagalli alone.

"So... why didn't you introduce me to your friends, am I not good enough for them or something?" Cagalli joked to Kira, talking as though she were insulted.

"Those aren't people I consider friends" Kira answered.

"Yeah, well I'm not surprised" Cagalli said "You heard her, right?'Those who choose to befriend coordinators are just as bad as the coordinators themselves.' I always figured Coordinators had it easier with their superior abilities but with people like that seeing you as unnatural... then again, I guess you guys all look down on us as well."

"...I wouldn't know, although I was born a coordinator... I have yet to meet another, All my life, I've known and been surrounded only by naturals."

"Oh, I didn't realize... but what about your parents?"

"They were both naturals... at least my mother was. I never even saw a picture of my father. Now I live with the man that adopted me."

"Where's your mother, or is she...?"

"She was involved in a fatal car accident... apparently, a car full of drunken teens was driving over the speed limit and they crossed over the center line. It was a head-on collision. My mother's car was quite old and lacked many of today's safety features. Both drivers were killed but the teenage passengers of the other car survived with minor injuries."

"Kira... I'm sorry"

"It's all right."

Cagalli looked over her shoulder in the direction the other two people that had walked away, Sai and Fllay. "What about those two people that were talking to you, who are they?"

"No one... people just seem to dislike me in general."

"Because they refuse to accept you" Cagalli commented.

"Yeah... the whole situation worsened about two years ago, the year of my fourteenth birthday."

"Why?"

"I am one of the last coordinators to be brought into this world legally, before the technology was illegalized by international law. Two years ago, word got out about secret experiments resulting in the product of coordinators."

"I never heard about that."

"It was just a rumor... although a lot of people began believing in it and began hating coordinators again."

"They're so close-minded and intolerant... I hate people like that."

"I'm actually kind of surprised that you're talking to me."

"Why, is that really so surprising?"

"No one else has ever really taken this much time to talk to me..."

Cagalli looked at him sideways. "It's only been a few minutes."

"It only takes seconds for an egging."

"Right... well, don't worry, everything's gonna get better."

"Is it?"

"Trust me... if it doesn't, I don't know, we'll think of something."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, let's make it a bet, it'll be fun... but not for money, we can think of something better. Have a think about it." Cagalli walked over to the nearest brick wall and sat on the bench-like seat and rested with her back against the rough uneven wall. "Sit down, I want to rest for a while" she said to Kira, who did as was suggested. "So did you see the news last night?"

"No."

"...There was some kind of attack."

Kira turned to look at the blonde girl sitting beside him and noticed her eyes were narrow, perhaps from anger. "Where?" he asked her.

"I don't know exactly... but I think it was nearby, they say it was the work of some terrorist, they didn't even give an explination. People lost their lives in the explosion, families lost their homes and children lost their parents. It took out every neighborhood in a six mile radius of the epicenter. What must that person have been thinking, how could they do that... I hate people like that, they spread terror and pain to the whole world and for what?"

"I don't know" was all Kira could say. The next few minutes passed in silence which was soon broken by footsteps. Both of the two teens looked to see the approaching person and realized it was one of the school's teachers.

"And just what are you two slackers up to?" Kira and Cagalli looked toward each other, then returned their glances to the teacher "Well?" she asked again when neither of the two students answered her.

"We're not slackers... we are just-" Kira tried to explain before realizing it was a mistake.

"Don't you answer back at me!" the teacher fumed.

"I... I wasn't, we are just waiting for the morning classes to begin" Kira tried to explain but the teacher wasn't listening.

"And may I ask why the two of you are not in the assembly hall? Just what do you think gives you the right to skip this morning's full school assembly?"

"Wait" Cagalli said to the teacher in an attempt to defend both herself and Kira. "We didn't know there was an assembly."

"Yeah, sure, I wonder then, why did the rest of the school manage to get to the hall on time? ...Well, maybe you are telling me the truth, after all the two of you don't really appear to be exceptionally bright" the teacher said, adding an insult to the end of the opinionated observation "Then you'd better hurry up and get to the school hall before you miss the entire assembly."

"Right" Kira agreed. He stood to his feet and walked away from the building into the direction of the assembly hall. Cagalli followed directly behind him.

"And you two had better actually go!" the teacher called out after them. She was sick of these spoiled bratty teenagers and their 'I don't need an education' attitudes. It had occurred to her many times that she may have chosen the wrong career path but it was too late now, she was too old to change now.

Kira and Cagalli walked side-by-side toward the hall. Kira stuffed his hands in his pockets in an act of boredom. They walked past several identical brick buildings in the seemingly abandoned school. A gentle breeze picked up only to make the whole scene seem that much more like a ghost town but in all honest opinion, Kira liked it, it was so peaceful. "Don't you just hate the way this school is run?" Cagalli asked him.

"What, what do you mean?"

"You know, the faculty, the administration, all of it. It's all so disorganized." Kira nodded in agreement. "I mean, how were we supposed to know about any kind of assembly today? Did you hear anything about it?"

"No" Kira answered her honestly.

"You see, that's exactly what I mean. How everyone else found out about it is a complete mystery to me." Kira thought about the truth in what Cagalli was telling him and found he could only side with her point of view in mutual agreement.

He had never really thought about it but now she mentioned it, this school really did have some major problems. It was the only local high school in the entire city, yet its roll of students managed to keep under the five hundred mark. There was no way in hell that could be a good sign.

They reached the hall to find the main entrance closed. "Hey, how late are we?" Cagalli asked.

"I... I don't know" Kira answered. Cagalli reached out for the door but just as she did so, it suddenly opened and in the new opening stood another teacher, this one male. He was tall, slim and had short, tidy hair. He met the pair with an icy gaze. "Why hello there" he said, talking like an intimidating count opening the front door to his big cold castle-like home. "I must say, it is indeed very nice of you to join us at last, Mister Yamato." This unfortunately happened to be Kira's home teacher. "I see you have acquired yourself a guest whom shares your apparent interest in tardiness and truancy. As I say, it is an honor for you to finally bless us with your presence, very marvelous indeed... you're late!" he added coldly.

"God... what a wanker" Cagalli muttered under her breath, causing Kira to smirk slightly at the humorous comment at his most loathed teacher's expense.

"Excuse me, hmm, what was that?" the teacher asked. Cagalli knew perfectly well that the teacher had heard her but she knew better than to repeat what she had just said. She fought back the urge to call him a deaf-eared twit (along with several other verbal abuses) and instead assured him that she was merely talking to herself. "Very well then, the two of you had better go in quietly and find yourselves a seat somewhere in the back of the hall before you miss all of the important announcements."

The teacher allowed the two students to walk past him and go through the miniature lobby-like room and sneak into the Hall, hopefully unnoticed by the principle and teachers on the stage giving out their announcements for the barely interested student body to hear, then dismiss as unimportant gibberish.

They walked sideways, keeping their backs up against the back wall and walking silently like an assassin in an old ninja movie until they found two empty seats together in the back row. From way back there, Kira found it was hard to see and hear what the teachers on the stage were saying but at least the seats were empty, that at least was something. The two quickly sat in the seats, surrounded by strangers, the usual group of slackers, moochers and future homeless hobos that frequently took it upon themselves to take up all the seats in the rows farthest from the front and provide the educators with an ample supply distractions and annoyances.

"Who was that guy, do you know?" Cagalli asked Kira.

"He's a teacher."

"Oh, shit... you're not unlucky enough to be in any of his classes, are you?"

"Yeah, he takes my home class as well as teaching Math."

"Oh, man... I feel sorry for you..."

"You know... you really shouldn't have said that to him" Kira said, referring to the insult Cagalli had casually and semi-audibly tossed in the teacher's direction.

"What...? Oh, right... that. Forget about it, but it's true, right? You agree with me don't you?"

Kira only smiled.

"So, is he married, do you know?"

"Divorced... I think."

"Heh" Cagalli laughed "I'm not surprised, I mean who could stand to live with him? So what's his story, anyway? I mean, did he..." but Cagalli stopped in mid-sentence, distracted by what was going on in the front of the hall, up on the stage. The principle was obviously addressing the entire school. Sitting in the back row made paying attention a little difficult to say the least but something was clear, the principle was definitely troubled by some unknown predicament.

"...and I'm sure you all realize what that means, but anyway... I am very aware about what happened concerning the terrorist attack that appeared on the news last night. I know that many of you have been talking about it but rest assured, it does not dramatically affect you however, there may be some slight changes because of this. You no doubt realize that there were of course some survivors from the attack. Sure, the explosion resulted in many deaths, but there were also many survivors who are now homeless. These refugees are looking for homes, for places to stay and it seems our local council has decided to accept them here. So, if you have room at home for some stranger to move in and mooch off your parents, come by the office and give us your name. Also, there were quite a large number of survivors between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. These people will from now on be attending classes with all of you. Don't ask me when, it won't be today and it won't be tomorrow. The date hasn't been set but I can tell you that it will be soon.

" The principal paced the edges of the stage before concluding the speech. "That is all; you may now go to your second period classes." With that, the principle climbed down the steps descending from the stage and exited the hall from one of the side-exits.

What soon followed was similar to a stampede of elephants as all students tried to get through the exits all at the same time. Once the majority of them had cleared out, Kira stood to his feet and calmly walked towards the nearest exit. Outside, there was loud murmuring as the students talked amongst themselves about who the new 'refugee students' would be. (What would they be like?) Kira found himself wondering the same sort of questions inside his own head. He was soon distracted by a familiar voice that he had heard a lot of that morning. He turned around and saw Cagalli running to catch up with him. "Kira, where do you want to meet for morning break and lunch?"

"Meet?"

"Yeah, I thought you might wanna meet somewhere?"

"Don't you usually have friends that you hang out with?" Kira asked, felling slightly uncomfortable in using the term 'hang out.'

"Well, no. Not really... I mean sure, sometimes I spend the break time with some of the people in some of my classes, but I don't know if they really consider me friends."

"Why not?" asked Kira

"Well to be honest, they're kind of close minded and keep asking me where I go and who I keep 'ditching them' for."

"Where do you go?"

"Well, actually... you sure you wanna know?"

"Yeah" Kira nodded.

"My stepmom has a stall in the local market" Cagalli said "and I usually go there to help her out... but today she said she doesn't need me until about four this afternoon… So do ya wanna meet by that tree in the quad? You know the one I mean, right?"

"Uh, yeah" Kira answered after some thought.

"Yeah, to what?" asked Cagalli, she wondered whether Kira was answering yes that he would meet her, or simply saying yes that he knew where she wanted to meet.

"Okay, I'll see you then" Cagalli said before walking off in a different direction, most probably in the direction of her next class. Kira just stood there, watching the girl walk away from him. He couldn't stop the thoughts racing in his mind like karts speeding around a racing track. All his life he had been told that he would be hated by everyone because he was a coordinator, almost as if it were his own fault but now, all because of one open minded person... had he done the seemingly impossible, had he actually made a friend?

He watched her leave as step by step, she slowly moved out of sight and taking with her, the peace of mind she had brought him. Kira felt the peaceful happiness leave him, only to be replaced by the menacing feeling of being watched. He turned around and sure enough, standing there behind him was his home teacher. "It's second period" he said menacingly.

"Yes" Kira replied "I know."

"Then you'd better hurry up and get your dumb ass up in my classroom, go on" the teacher ordered. Kira could do nothing; he followed his teacher's instruction and headed for the direction of the man's classroom. He just felt sad that Cagalli shared none of his own classes. Then again, he wasn't even sure if she was in the same year-level as he was... he would have to ask her when he saw her next. Either way, he knew he couldn't think about that now.

He hurried along to the third floor of the H block, where he would sit for the better part of the next hour solving numerical equation after equation... how fun, he thought to himself sarcastically. The questions were not that hard... merely boring but still, Mathematics was a compulsory subject. He hurried off to the H block building before he was marked as 'late.' The last thing Kira wanted to do was give his teachers more reason to look at him negatively. They already disliked him enough as it was, unlucky for him... humorous for his classmates.

Kira soon arrived in front of the correct building and quickly ascended flights of stairs leading to the third floor. Hopefully, with the students' minds distracted by the news of refugees, the pending class would be a somewhat easy one. He took a deep breath, blew it out through his mouth and began to climb the stairs to the classrooms above.


As you may or may not have figured out, some of that came out of real life (the beginning with the preparing for school thing, for example, the uniform hung over the door, making the toast and the apple+water lunch combo.) Well, it wasn't as long as I would have hoped, but at least it was up before Christmas. I'd like to promise that the next one will be up by New Year, if so, it will be quite a short chapter but don't be disappointed if it takes longer. I've planned it out, but the plot is 'full of holes' so to speak. There isn't really much there to go on unless I merge it with the chapter after that

Signed:

Morbid333