A/N: Another chapter for you guys. I'm sorry it took me so long to get out! I won't give anything away, but the dinner joke does come into play here. I hope it's never been played on any of you...and hopefully none of you will use it on anyone else, ne? Haha, well.

Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own Gundam SEED.

Now then, I give you the chapter. Reviews are welcomed and greatly appreciated, as always. Special thanks to that one reviewer that's stuck with me every chapter so far! Apologies to anyone I miss; there aren't many.

August 1

So, the new kid showed up last night. I didn't show any emotion on the outside, but on the inside, I was thanking every god that ever watched out for me.

His name is Nicol Amarfi. He's got light green hair and very nice amber eyes. He seems a little bit shy, and I still don't know much about him (then again, he doesn't know much about me, either). For some reason, his name sounds familiar to me, very familiar. I wonder if it has anything to do with the...the war. Even so, we seem to be getting along all right. I don't know what he's in for, either, but I'll find out. I swear.

He hasn't met everyone yet, and I'm a little worried about that. Yzak and Dearka are...well, let's just say they aren't exactly the best guys to hang around. Yzak's pushy and standoffish, and Dearka likes to play practical jokes a lot. Although I can get along much better with Dearka than I can with Yzak...after all, Dearka seems to at least hold some bit of compassion in his heart, and at least he cares when something goes wrong. Put simply, Yzak's cold-hearted. Nicol's hardly like either of them, and I wonder if they'll ever get along at all. I suppose with a bit of work they could, but Yzak would have to learn how to be at least a little bit nicer (which certainly couldn't hurt the rest of us) and Dearka would have to find room in his heart for more than just Yzak (if I haven't told you yet, they're rather close in a dysfunctional sort of way).

Athrun still hasn't come yet, or called, or written. I'm trying my hardest not to get wired up about this Friday...two days from now. I haven't told Nicol about that, either...he'll find out soon enough. I hope Athrun stops by, I miss him a lot.

Well...we'll see.

Kira glanced up as he heard rustling across the room. Blinking, he looked over at the other bed, in time to see his new roommate roll over to face the wall with a mumble. Does he talk in his sleep?, he wondered for a moment.

No–he was sitting up now, rubbing his eyes as the covers fell down to his waist. After a minute, he blinked and looked over at Kira sleepily, mumbling, "G'morning..."

Nope, Kira reaffirmed. As Nicol busied himself with getting out of bed, Kira made sure he wasn't looking and then turned back a page in his journal, writing quickly:

August 1: Nicol Amarfi does not talk in his sleep.

"Hey!"

Kira jumped and shut his book quickly, hiding it under the mattress just as fast and then straightening up with a smile. "Er..y-yes?"

"You know, it's 6:40. We should probably go so we don't miss breakfast and medicine," Nicol told him, turning to pull on a cotton shirt and some jeans. He looked odd in jeans, for some reason, but Kira couldn't place why.

Still, he didn't seem to have noticed the notebook. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Kira stood up and made his way over to his amber-eyed friend, following him out the door.

"Kira! Nicol! Kiiiiiiraaaaaaaa!" came a familiar squeal from down the hallway. Since Kira had stopped, Nicol stopped, too, and gave him a puzzled look.

"We have to wait for Miriallia," Kira explained, and Nicol's lips formed a silent, "oh."

When Miriallia finally came bounding up, both boys greeted her warmly. Today she wore a light green short-sleeved t-shirt and white cargo pants. Her hair was up in a traditional ponytail. She beamed brightly at them, all sunshine.

"Hi, Kira! Hi, Nicol!" she greeted cheerfully.

Nicol gave her a smile, and Kira replied, "Good morning, Mir. Nice color choices."

Miriallia beamed at him again. "Aren't they? I was reorganizing my closet. Oh, come on, we'll be late for breakfast." She grabbed Kira's hand and, before he could protest, dragged him along in the direction of the mess hall, laughing.

Surprised, Nicol stood still for a moment before realizing the others were leaving him, and then he hurried after them at a run, calling, "Guys, wait up!"

The day passed for the most part uneventfully, if one didn't count the cultural session that Kira and the others had that day. They were supposed to be sketching something that described the emotion they had felt most during the week, but Miriallia decided to reorganize the pens according to color, and when the orderly tried to get her to stop, the pens exploded all over him and colored his stark-white uniform. Finally, Fraga had given up and dismissed them all early, explaining that they would try again next week–with pencils, mind you, and dulled points, of course. When he had walked out of the room after the others, looking terribly dismayed and with blue and pink dripping from the ends of his hair, several of the orderlies had just started laughing.

When it came time for dinner, everyone filed into the mess hall as usual and got trays full of food, finding their usual seating spots with their usual people.

Nicol was the last to join the table with Kira, Miriallia, Sai, and Tolle. He took his seat and started in on his chicken quietly, enjoying it. Throughout most of dinner he remained silent, only listening to the conversation between his friends and putting in a quiet comment whenever Miriallia prompted him to say something. He didn't mind speaking, but the conversation wasn't exactly one he would normally have gotten into.

Sai seemed to understand this, and he gently nudged Kira's shoulder. Blinking at him, Kira followed Sai's slight gesture toward Nicol and also understood. He led Miriallia into a different conversation.

"Ah, you know, Mir...next time you try organizing the pens, make sure nobody's close..." Kira took a bite of his green beans, chewing thoughtfully.

Mir giggled. "Oh Kira! They were out of order, I had to do it! It's not my fault Mr. Mwu got in the way!"

Sai raised an eyebrow.

"Um, but you aren't supposed to shake the pens to get them to work..." Tolle put in hesitantly. "I mean, you can just scribble on paper or something, after all...why were you shaking them in the first place?"

"I was not shaking them," Miriallia corrected, huffing. "I was dancing."

"Oh, and aren't you just the most special thing ever," a new voice purred from behind her. Miriallia flinched a little as long, pale arms draped over her shoulders and chest.

"U-um...hello, Yzak," Miriallia said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in his hold.

Kira frowned, tense, and set down his fork. "Hey lay off, Yzak," he said seriously, eyeing the older boy and his companion next to him. "You too, Dearka, go away."

The blond boy raised his hands in protest, smiling. "Oh, oh, relax. I'm not doing anything."

Yzak pulled away and flipped his silver hair from his eyes, regarding them all coolly. His blue eyes narrowed when he spotted Nicol, a faint smile curling his lips. "Oh?" He walked over behind the boy, leaning down to study him almost curiously. "So, is this the new kid I've heard so much about, huh?"

Nicol kept his eyes on his plate and tried to keep the hand holding his fork steady as well. The voice of the person beside him sounded terribly familiar, and so did the names of the silver and blond haired boys. Nicol swallowed hard.

"Pretty," Yzak murmured to himself, and Nicol couldn't stop from shivering. This person seemed very cold and unfeeling...

Yzak leave him alone, Sai scratched on a piece of paper, which he shoved at the blue-eyed boy. Yzak read it and looked up with disgust at the mute boy, but the warning in Sai's eyes was not at all distorted by his glasses. The others were frowning as well.

"Maybe they're right, Yzak," Dearka said, shoving his hands in his pockets and shrugging. "You know what would happen if we caused trouble."

Yzak's smirk turned into a sneer. "Tch. A week with orderly Dionma, the head of our section. Yeah, I know." He was silent for a long moment, studying the back of the head of the green-haired boy. "Say, kid."

"Mm..." Nicol paused uncertainly in his chewing, blinking and lowering his fork.

Yzak leaned close, smirking again. "Do you know what they put in those beans and rice?" He paused a moment to let the question settle in, then whispered lowly in Nicol's ear: "Cockroaches."

Nicol choked and started coughing, eyes wide as he hunched over the table. Sai stood and came around the table to hand him his glass of water, and Tolle whacked him on the back a few times. Dearka was frowning at the act, and Yzak was laughing so hard he had to lean on the table.

"Dearka did you see that? The expression on his face...it was so funny!" Yzak dissolved back into laughter, and some of the kids from other tables glanced over and began whispering. The whole cafeteria became quieter.

"I'm absolutely giddy," Dearka muttered, turning away. "Come on, Yzak, let's go."

Nicol finally got a hold on himself and slumped against the table, staring at Kira. "He...he's not serious, is he?" he panted.

Kira shook his head, glaring at Yzak. "No. He's not," he replied sternly.

"Oh..." Nicol breathed in relief, pushing his tray away and resting his head on one arm. "That was creepy...I think I'm going to be sick." Sai rubbed his shoulder sympathetically, shooting a glare at Yzak and Dearka.

"Yzak," Dearka muttered in exasperation, rolling his eyes. "Come on, I said."

"What's going on here?" Two orderlies walked up to the table, looking stern. One of them was Fraga. The other was a man of equal height who looked to be around the same age, with long brown hair tied back and brown eyes.

"Sir Dionma," Dearka murmured respectfully, turning. "Yzak..."

"Yzak Jule." Yzak stopped laughing and looked up at the brown-eyed orderly from beneath his silver hair.

"...Sir Dionma," he muttered quietly, not bothering to disguise his disgust for the man.

Jan Dionma looked down at the defiant silver-haired boy, his face a blank mask that hid every emotion. His voice, however, held tired resignation and quiet authority at the same time. It was to be expected, as he was the moderator for the part of the ward that Yzak's room was in. Dearka's room was in the same ward as Kira's, Nicol's, and Sai's, being that he shared Sai's room, and yet the orderly for Yzak somehow managed to end up watching over him as well, being that the two were so often together.

"Yzak, I do believe your lunch period is over. If I'm not mistaken, you have a psych evaluation next, and you're not off to a good start. I would suggest you go and prepare yourself."

Yzak straightened, scoffing, and turned, crossing his arms and scowling deeply as he started away. "Tch. Whatever. Dearka, come on. We have better things to do with our time than waste it around these idiots."

Dearka blinked, startled, and then frowned, jogging after the fast-paced boy. As they left the lunch room with Dionma accompanying them in equally fast strides, the blond called to Yzak, "Ah–hey! Don't you think that's a little harsh, I mean..."

The doors swung shut after them and the sound of chatter continued to fill the room as kids cleared away the remnants of their lunches, having resumed their conversations when the orderlies showed up. Unnoticed observation was okay; listening in with an orderly's presence was not.

Tolle and Miriallia stood and began clearing the trays, stacking them in two piles and then taking them away to throw them in the garbage. Nicol still hadn't moved; Sai and Kira were now on either side of him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Come on, Nicol, what's up? Yzak couldn't have scared you that badly..." Kira tried hesitantly, sharing a glance with Sai.

From behind them, Fraga cleared his throat, and both boys jumped and turned to look at him curiously. He stepped forward with a sigh.

"I'll take care of it, boys. Run along to your extracurricular activities; perhaps Nicol will join you shortly."

Kira and Sai glanced at each other again and then nodded to the orderly, quietly taking their leave. Fraga watched them go and then went to the green-haired boy, setting a hand on his shoulder and bending down to look into his amber eyes. "Hey, kid," he sighed, "Lunch is over, come on. You have to go to your activities or back to your room." He blinked when Nicol abruptly stood and stepped away from the table, and he rose to his feet to look at the boy expectantly. "Which will it be?"

Again to Fraga's surprise, Nicol sniffed slightly and rubbed his eyes with a sleeve. He'd been crying...?

"I understand," the amber-eyed boy said quietly, starting away. "I'm going to go back to my room, I guess."

Fraga paused. Something about the boy...He followed him to the doors, catching him just outside the cafeteria with a hand on his shoulder. "Nicol." The single word held his question.

Nicol stopped almost automatically, then slowly turned to face him. He smiled slightly. "It's nothing, I'm all right. I just...miss home, that's all. Home, and...and my piano." He bit his lip and looked down at the floor slightly. "I can't play it now, like I could before. Like I could...before..."

Suddenly he shook his head and turned, walking away quickly, and Fraga let him go, staring after the boy. He realized now what was so strange about the boy, so nostalgic, and it made something inside of him shudder and curl up into a little ball. His eyes widened in disbelief. He'd overheard Kira and his friend Athrun talking once, and it was the same thing...

Mwu la Fraga closed his eyes, chuckling to himself. "Heh. Does Kira...even realize it? Does he even know who his roommate is...?"

The famous young pianist...the one he was said to have killed.

A/N: Aaah, but what a sneaky ending. It's not really a cliffhanger, but it's still just as bad, I suppose, ne? Hehe...but, Yzak and Dearka have finally come into the picture! Oh, and what an awful joke that was for Yzak to play...I originally had it written down on a piece of paper, but since I've lost that paper I had to improvise and so it's probably not as funny as I said it would be. Of course, something like that really shouldn't be funny at all, but...eh, you get the picture. Review, and I'll really try to get the next chapter up sooner than this one was–no promises, though...