- Housenka (Balsam)-
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that belonged to any of the Gundam series.
Author's note:
Pairings: mainly on Yzak x Shiho.
There's a little spoiler, some grammar mistakes and stuffs… Hope you guys won't mind.
Thank You So Much for the reviews. I'll work harder to write better chapters in the near future to come…
You guys can also read my first fan fiction on Yzak and Shiho. It's called Forever With You.
- Chapter 7: Open House -
"These stuffs belonged to my parents?" Shiho asked, as she taking out a family photo taken when she was still a baby. "Yes, they are. And this, my dear, is meant for you." Ezalia announced, taking a chop-stick like hair accessory from the box. "Your mother was given this hair pin/stick by her mum on her wedding day. And this was meant to be given to you when you get married, however…" "My mother didn't live long enough to see me get married." Shiho added on, taking the 'chop-stick' in her hands and touched it fondly. Ezalia didn't know what to say to make Shiho feel better, all she could do was to give a comforting pat on the shoulder of her best friend's daughter.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Standing at the door was Alfred with a kimono in his arms. "Mr Alfred, is that you?" Shiho asked, standing up and headed towards him. "Yes it's me, Miss Hahnenfuss." "Please Mr Alfred, don't address me so formally. Shiho will do." Shiho said, bowing in respect to her senior. "I will gladly oblige if you would kindly address me by my name." The butler mentioned. "But you're my senior." Shiho argued. "Please, Shiho… You'll never win when it comes to arguing about the way of addressing with Alfred. I did try but failed…" Yzak cut in with Alfred smiling triumphantly. "Well then, if you say so…"
"What is it, Alfred?" Ezalia asked. "I believed you've missed out these, Madam." Alfred noted, passing Ezalia the kimono. "Oh yes. How could I forget about this. Come here, Shiho. Let's see if this fits." "What is this? A kimono?" Shiho asked while Ezalia placed the kimono upon Shiho's back and measured. "Yes, it's your mother's kimono. She wore it when the two of us went for the festival during our high school days. Not bad, this kimono seems to fit you." "Festival? What festival is it?" Shiho asked, as Ezalia placed the kimono on her shoulder, pushing her into the bedroom's toilet. "The Blossom Festival. The festival that celebrates the blossoming of various flowers especially the cherry blossom here in PLANTS. Since the cherry blossom is the main attraction, Japanese ladies will wear their kimono to brighten the festive mood even more. Now, try on the kimono. If there's any problems just call out. It's cleaned by the way." Ezalia instructed, helping Shiho to close the toilet doors.
Yzak observed that Alfred exited the room and head downstairs to the living room. "Why are you still doing here, Yzak? You're supposed to be out of the room by now." Ezalia glared with her arms folded across her chest. "Out of the room? Why? It's not as if Shiho is coming out the rest room nude." The young Joule argued. "Well, she will be semi nude if she doesn't know how to tie the obi or the sash of the kimono. Or it's that you want to see her nude?" Ezalia shot back, eyeing at her son suspiciously. "I may be a guy at the prime of my youth but I'm not as perverted as you thought to be. Fine! I'll be out of the room this minute." Yzak snapped, stomping out of the room, closing the door as well.
Minutes later, Shiho stepped out of the toilet tugging and pulling her kimono. "What's wrong, Shiho? Too tight?" Ezalia questioned, stepping forward to take a look. "I did everything correctly but it feels uncomfortable." "Hmm, everything seems to be in place. It seems to fit snuggly but it isn't that tightly. Well, it seems that you'll have to get used to it. I guess." Ezalia concluded. "It seems that way… Mrs Joule?" "Yes? What is it my dear?"
"Thank you for everything you've done for me, Madam. I know a word of thank you wouldn't be enough to repay all these years of kindness and concern that you have showered upon me but I just want to let you know that I'm very grateful to you." Shiho said, looking at the woman who had did so much for her. "I accept your gratitude, Shiho. I hoped you'll understand that I've tried my best to give you everything a child has ever need such as a education, proper care and guidance, a warm and caring home. Though there's a thing called motherly love, which I can never be able to give to you. But I hoped that the care and concern showered upon you was of some help during the past years of your parents' absence." Ezalia noted, giving the young lady a warm yet firm hug. "I understand, Mrs Joule. I understand all of it and I'm grateful to you including Mr Alfred for that." Shiho replied with a sincere smile on her face.
- Next day -
"Shiho! Wait up!!!" A voice rang across the corridor. Before Shiho gets to recognize whose voice was that, she was spun around wildly. As Shiho regained her composure, her classmate from the military practical class with striking blue eyes was standing in front of her. "Serene? Are you the one who called me?" "Yes, needless to say that I was the one who whirled you around too. Don't you know that there's an extra curriculum activity (ECA) open house today? And you are supposed to attend because you need to the points that you've accumulated from the ECA to help you in the end of the year exam which is important for your graduation."
"Serene, I know that there's an ECA open house today, Miriallia and Lacus did reminded me. But I'm not going." Shiho replied, looking at her friend who is trying to catching her breath. "Why not? Please don't tell me because you already have a position reserved for you in ZAFT and so, you can don't attend the open house and don't join any ECA. Because this college don't give a damn whether you've a position reserved in any of the military forces unlike other schools." Serene, blurted out with speed near a machine gun. "Ok, so I've to go to the open house and joined an ECA no matter what… Right?" "Yes, honey. And it's right now." Serene nodded, grabbing Shiho's hand and led her to the multi-purpose hall where the open house it's held.
"This place is packed! How on earth do you want me to sign up an ECA?" Shiho asked in confusion, pointing at the crowd. "Well, Shiho darling… Majority of the crowd is of first year students who had just joined the college this year. The minority is of people similar to your case, which joined the college this year but it's as their last year of college life. Now I'm going to show you around before you signed up for one." Before Shiho even gets the chance to reply, Serene had already pulled Shiho with her into the crowd.
"Now, let's start with the sports. For sports related ECAs, usually or should I say majority is made up of students from the military class. Why? Because most military class student are of better physical stamina and fitness compared to those from the social class. There are social class student in there as well but they had to do quite a lot of physical training to catch up with the military class. Just for your info, among all the sports ECAs, the water polo association is the best as they brought back the most honor and medals and had never lost a single match." Serene announced bringing Shiho to the water polo booth.
"Wow, the players must be good. Aren't they?" Shiho asked. "You bet they are. Oh yes! Yzak and Dearka are both the top shots in the team. Yzak is the striker while Dearka is the goalkeeper. You should see those two is action, you will get a shock of a lifetime." "Why?" "Because those two are sharks in the pool. Pretty aggressive just to score and win the game. Especially Yzak, opponents never like to block his way when he scores the goal… even though they have to." "I don't get… why being so afraid of those two? They are human after all." Shiho shrugged. "You're wrong, Shiho. Like I say, both are like sharks when the match starts. Dearka isn't that bad but his best friend, Yzak is the scariest. Since Yzak is the striker, he will need to send the goal into the net. That's not the catch, what the problem is that he's so forceful when he send the ball in to score that it broke the opponent goalkeeper's nose! The poor guy has to be out of the game for at least 2 months!" Serene exclaimed, shaking Shiho hard. "Ouch, that got to hurt… Big time…"
"Hey there, Shiho! Are you joining the water polo?" A voice sounded behind Shiho which made her almost jump in fright. "What's up, Dearka? Trying to get Shiho to be teammate?" Serene joked, poking Dearka with her elbow. "What about you? Since you're with her at this moment." Dearka shot back with a smirk. "I'm her guide for this ECA open house. At the same time, helping her to choose an ECA. Besides, what makes you think that she's going to join the team when you guys are so violent out there in matches!" Serene snapped, narrowing her eyes into slits.
Just then, Dearka was pushed aside in a joking manner by an awesome hunk whom Shiho assumed that he was part of the water polo team. "Hello Shiho. I'm James." That hunk practically made Shiho's jaw dropped open, even though it wasn't that obvious. He had a broad shoulder obviously due to the ECA he's in and he was pretty tan too. Overall, he got the looks of those hunks who surf and ride the waves along the Hawaii beach. "Nice to meet you, James. How do you know my name?" Shiho flashed her most gorgeous smile.
"Because James will be joining ZAFT in the Navy contingent once he graduate." Yzak cut in with a weird yet straight expression on his face. "Really? Are you applying for the position or a position has already been reserved for you in the Navy contingent of ZAFT?" Shiho asked with interest flashing in her lavender eyes, totally ignoring Yzak's presence. "Similar to your case, Shiho. A position waiting for me. The job is about some hush-hush project and missions. Dangerous yet thrilling to me." Except for Shiho, everyone present was well aware that James was flirting with Shiho. "Time out, people! Shiho… if you continue with your conversation, we'll never finish walking through the whole open house and you can forget about joining an ECA." Serene snapped, dragging Shiho away from the booth.
"By the way, do you have any ECA options on your mind?" Serene asked, taking Shiho to different ECA booths. "Certainly, I do… Firstly, I did like to join the dance club, second will be pastry club and lastly, the archery club." Shiho replied, heading towards the dance club's booth. "Good choices, Shiho I'm from the dance club including Flora and Sandy. But let me inform you first, Shiho… The dance club and the cheerleading club don't get along well." Serene noted. "Why? Is it because the leaders are war, influencing the rest?" Shiho suggested. "That's not the case. The instructor and choreographer of the cheerleading and dance club are the same so whenever each perform, there's similarity in the moves. In the end, both accused one another of copying steps. That's how both clubs are always breathing down each other's neck. Which is also why the dance club hope to find a talented dancer to join the club and at the same time, being able to come up with excellent dance moves so as to get rid of the instructor." "I see. I don't know whether I can get past the audition tomorrow… I guess I'll just have to go out there and try my best when tomorrow arrives." Shiho shrugged.
"Oh yes!!! Hey Shiho, do notice about Yzak's expression back there?" Serene questioned her friend. "No, I didn't. Why? But please don't tell me that he's good looking, because I know that way long ago." "I wasn't going to say that. I mean everyone knows that he's hot especially when he's angry and stuff. Back to the topic, I noticed that Yzak was looking kind of jealous when James was flirting with you." "He's jealous? What for? And for your info, James wasn't flirting with me back there." Shiho pointed out. "You've got to be kidding, Shiho. Even a blind person would know that James has his eyes on you and was flirting with you like nobody's business just now." Serene said excitedly while Shiho just shook her head in disbelief.
"I think he likes you, Shiho" Serene guessed aloud, with a grin over her face.
-End of Chapter 7-
Author's note: I'm sorry for the long wait because I wasn't around at home to type out the story due to some school camp. Hope you guys understand. If this chapter is rather rubbish or out of point, please forgive me. I had a major writer's block, even the title sounds rather nonsense. My apologies once again. Please remember to review so I can improve on my writing and story. Thank you.
Thank you for the support and review! I love you all!
Till the next chapter/time!
