Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Destiny nor do I own Disney. They belong to their rightful owners.

Multi-Pairings include: Kira x Lacus, Cagalli x Athrun, Shinn x Stellar, Yzak x Shiho, Dearka x Mirillia. Sai x OC.

Yzak enter stage left!


Chapter Seven – Goldilocks


Still fairly moist from her swim in the river, Shiho stopped, dropped down on the ground and rested by a tree.

Her stomach grumbled for food, which sadly she could not supply it with even if she needed it desperately. She cast her eyes down to her swollen ankles and wrist both of which were angry red in pain, blood clotted at parts, bleeding in gaps and weeping infection in unison.

She had fallen unconscious in the river but the fast currents swept her away farther and faster than the slave traders could ever run. When she came to, she was in the shallow waters of the inside of a meander with only a small boulder blocking her from sweeping further downstream.

Tired and still partially asleep, she dragged herself to her feet and stumbled away from the banks without knowing where she was heading.

She spent the first two hours between taking over a dozen rests and following random woodland creatures in hope that they'll lead her home.

She must have fallen asleep by a tree because when she woke up again the sun was at a different position. She rubbed her eyes even though she knew her hands were dirty with mud and saw a hedgehog shuffling barely a metre from her feet.

Seems like fate has sent her a new tour guide.

Thankfully, the hedgehog was shuffling at a much slower past compared to the hare, bird and even the snake she had been following.

In her mind, she decided that hedgehogs would be her new favourite animals as she stumbled after it, moving from tree to tree and using each to support her frail body.

She hadn't always been this weak. No, the Shiho Hahnenfuss in the recent past had been a soldier, a proud ZAFT soldier. She was not the strongest or fittest soldier but she would not count herself the weakest either. Housenka, they had called her - due to her ability to armourize and shoot beams from all directions like a flower blooming in spring.

Slightly more than a month ago, she had been on the recent skirmish with the EA. The vile EA soldiers had outnumbered them and cheated by surrounding them. They fell one by one even when they surrendered; the naturals had still continued their assault.

She survived but only because she was knocked unconscious and lost at the bottom of a pile of her fellow soldiers – all dead corpses now though.

The rest was a blur, she remembered the scavengers coming, people who sneak onto the empty battlefields and steal what they can. Somebody found her among the bodies and the next thing she knew she was drugged and dumped into a slave trader's cart before she could even fully regain consciousness.

By the time she blinked away her memories, she had nearly walked into a wall and the hedgehog was busy shuffling through a small hole at the bottom.

Shiho stared up at the construction, wondering what such a magnificent and large barrier was doing in the middle of a forest. Her mind didn't care for long though as the scent of flowers waft through the air.

Flowers, she thought, must be a garden.

Without thinking, she got to her hands and knees and started crawling through the small hole after her spiny friend. The hedgehog wasn't anywhere in sight once she was through but she noticed that the grass about her feet was nice and trimmed meaning there's people living here.

Her eyes landed on the tree nearby and all but attacked the branches with hunger once she saw the apples hanging from it.


His hands froze mid-stroke as something snapped into his mind - a presence. Frowning, Yzak dropped his quill. Somebody has entered his domain.

Was it Dearka coming back with those things he ordered him to fetch?

No.

The silly puppet would use the front doors or at least the gates dotted about the estate. Not appearing from a bit of the surrounding walls!

Groaning, he got off the floor and threw a long cloak over his robes.


Shiho was happily chewing on an apple as she idly stumbled down a path she found. Her stomach pains were easing but it'll take more than an apple to give her body enough strength to fight the drugs, which was why the traders like to give her minimal food.

It was a windy path through the orchard and around part of the garden but she was too tired to follow it closely. A castle loomed in front of her and if she was in a more admiring mood, she would have stared at it in wonder or curiosity, but she was tired so she went straight up to the door and pushed herself inside.

A warm fire greeted her and a bowl of porridge. She didn't even stop to think and started on the bowl with manners that would appal all those court ladies back in ZAFT.

The food was barely warm enough so she was soon licking her fingers and eyes drooping. Food and sleep, the perfect combination to drive the slave-drug from her system and since she fulfilled the former, it leaves her only the latter.

Should she sleep at the table?

No. She's intruding. She should go find the owner of this castle and ask to stay the night especially because she didn't want to be kicked out mid-sleep.


Yzak was grumbling and grouchy. He had been pulled away from an important spell that could essentially free him from this curse and made to stalk through the gardens like some bumbling idiot.

A bumbling idiot, that's what the intruder is. Who else would walk like a drunk from tree to tree in such a haphazard manner? He had thought the intruder would be of malicious intent but so far the idiot's trail says otherwise. It was easy enough to follow even without his tracking spell that made the trail glow a bright yellow.

"What the hell is wrong with following the paths?" he muttered as he watched the trail cut right across his lawn and even through a few low bushes. Wisely, he stuck to the path and winced at the state of his strawberry garden.

Yzak followed the path to the kitchen door where he gaped at the muddy footprints, which is decorating his newly polished floor. Sweet Fairy of Clyne! He has a beggar in the house.

He glared at the abandoned and empty porridge bowl before stomping through the house and flooding the entire castle with his senses. The guy was in his territory now and boy was he going to…

The ballroom.

Yzak's heart nearly stopped.


Shiho groaned as somebody banged the door open. She blearily blinked her eyes open before glancing at the stranger that was staring at her with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Dear Fairy of Clyne," the white haired young man manage to whisper in shock before something tidal waved through the air like some shockwave, flooring both of them.

She coughed loudly once the wave passed, feeling much like somebody punched her in the lungs and then clouted her across the head. "What?"

The white hair lad crawled off the floor, his eyes still wide with disbelief. "Y-You…" He glared at the floor and noted the smudges of ink that trailed like a path from the door to where she is lying.

His blue eyes shot up and she felt herself froze on the spot. "You ruined my magic circle!"

"Circle?" she managed to say before reaching up to nurse her sore head. What happened? How did she get here?

She was stumbling down the corridors and went into a glowing room then…

"I fell asleep." Shiho finally said, "I was tired and my body collapsed on me."

If anything the boy's rage grew even more and she stared in wonder as strands of his hair and robes fluttered into the air.

Ten minutes later, she was dragged like a ragdoll by the arm up a musty staircase with her ankles bouncing painfully off the steps. It was a wonder she hadn't collapsed again and also a wonder that the boy didn't break her arm in his grasp.

There was a squeak as he kicked open an old door and she yelped as she was practically thrown forward into the room. Her knees hit the stone floor first and even without looking she knew that she was a pathetic sight right now.

The boy sneered and slammed the door close. She heard a jingling of keys as he locked her in the room but she didn't care. In fact, she merely pulled herself onto the bare wooden bed in the corner and slept like a dog.


END OF CHAPTER SEVEN


And next chapter, we're finally heading back to focus on the Orb side of things (hears all readers groan 'finally' in perfect unison) hehe. Sorry for the delay…

Rocy: Yes, the list continues to grow but will they all meet at the festival? Well the answer to that is 'some'.

CriTicAl: I'm getting the hang on typing your name! (celebrates) Asucaga meets next chapter… one will meet the other but the other will not meet the one…. Does that make any sense?

KiKi Hayashi