Chapter 4: Entangled
Yuki and Izuna were happily playing by the swing when a woman at her late twenties called for the little girl. "Yuki!" The woman's voice sounded gentle but tired. Izuna, not knowing the woman, inspected the stranger's features. She had beautiful red hair flowing up to her shoulders and a very slim body. Yuki noticed Izuna's suspecting looks and just laughed softly. She then told him, "Don't worry Izu-kun! That's my mother. Fllay Yamato. Okaa-san, this is Izu-kun!" Izuna let out an "Ah" and stared at his crush's mother for a few seconds. That's when he realized that Yuki's mom looked familiar. He knew he saw her somewhere but he couldn't remember. He tried to search his memory of where he might have possibly seen the woman but then he found nothing. Fllay smiled at him and then asked, "Thanks for taking care of Yuki, Izu-chan, but we have to go home soon. It's getting late. How about you? Where are your parents?"
Izuna answered, "Ah! I forgot! Kira-nii and Lacus-nee are waiting for me!"
Hearing the names Kira and Lacus together, Fllay unconsciously formed a wrinkle at her forehead.
"Kira-nii... Lacus-nee...?" she thought. Wanting to satisfy her curiosity, she continued asking, "Where are they? Do you want me to accompany you to where they are?" Izuna nodded and told her, "They are just waiting for me and my friends on a bench somewhere near here! And sure! I want to introduce you because you both have the same last name as my onii-chan!"
With this, Fllay's heart started beating faster. "The last name as your onii-chan?"
"Yes! My onii-chan's name is Kira... Kira Yamato, you see!" Izuna said with a wide smile.
Fllay didn't know what to feel. She might just see her child's father soon. Before Fllay could even say something to the young boy, Izuna grabbed hold of Yuki's hand and ran away from her.
"Wa... wait!" Fllay wasn't ready for the encounter. Her head was full of questions... of what ifs. She wanted to calm herself down. She's thinking that maybe it was a different Kira. But then she countered that with the question, "What about Lacus?" Maybe it was a different Lacus. But Lacus was a unique name. "What if it was the real deal? What if it's the Kira Yamato I loved?"
Fllay's memories started playing back in her mind – the first kiss they had on the Archangel and the sex they had when Archangel landed on Earth. She was scared to see Kira again. Moreover, she was afraid to see him with Lacus. She didn't know what to do... but then she decided that she wanted to set things right this time. "This time," she thought, "I'll tell him everything." With that, she followed the children... ready for anything that might happen when they meet.
Lacus and Kira finally finished dressing themselves up. They just spent an extra twenty minutes to the allotted two hours they gave to the children. "They might be just waiting for us now... and they might be angry at us, you know!" Lacus told Kira. Kira just smiled and held her hand, "Let's just buy ice cream for everybody." And so before going back to the bench where they're supposed to meet them, Lacus and Kira dropped by a convenience store and bought the children ice cream.
A minute passed after Fllay had successfully followed Izuna and Yuki. They're now standing near a bench with other children. "Yu-chan, Yamato-san, these are my friends," Izuna gladly introduced his orphanage friends. Though Fllay showed a smile, she's feeling more nervous than ever. Izuna talked more and Yuki laughed. The other children also spoke. Everything was so lively, but Fllay was feeling mixed emotions then. She waited for five minutes... then ten minutes... then fifteen minutes... then eighteen minutes...
"Maybe, this is God's way of telling that I'm not ready to meet him yet..." Fllay thought.
Izuna and the others were also growing impatient. "Hmph! That Kira-nii! Where could he be?"
"I'm sleepy..." Yuki yawned. Fllay saw this and decided that it's time to leave.
"Izu-chan, will you be alright waiting here? As much as I want to wait with you, I'm afraid it's gotten so late..." Fllay told the young boy.
"Oh, yes! That would be fine. I'm just curious as to why Kira-nii and Lacus-nee aren't here..."
"So yeah, bye bye! Take care, Izu-chan..."
Fllay reached for her child's small hand, ready to leave, when she suddenly grabbed a pen and paper from her bag. She scribbled something and handed it to Izuna.
"Will you be kind enough to give this to your onii-chan when he arrives?" she smiled.
Izuna received it and waved goodbye to her. "Bye, bye, nee-san!"
Fllay hesitantly looked at the bench for one last time, turned her back and started walking.
Just when Fllay started walking, she heard a couple laughing. She squeezed her child's hand unconsciously and finally mustered the courage to look back.
And then she saw two familiar faces. And the world stopped.