A/N: Happy New Year!
I intended to post this sooner, but my sister bring the modem with her to Bali, in a trip with my mother, while I'm being left behind here with my father...
And I have exams next week.
Oh, well. Enjoy this chap!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED/Destiny
Chapter 6
Cagalli knew that Athrun wouldn't want to talk to her again. And with all the students here knowing about her, what was her reason to be at the cafeteria? She didn't want to walk into the cafeteria and caused a sudden silence there, or sit there with people staring at her, whispering about her, or seeing Meer's smugness and hovering all over Athrun to emphasis her possession of him.
And off course, the thought of Athrun hating her now was making it worse; no, it was the worst of all.
There was no point in being at the place where no one wants you, where you don't belong. Cagalli wanted to ask her father if she could stop this, going at school. It was all over.
Cagalli walked and walked away from all those people, from her fate, and she was at the back of the school, where there was the forest. She knew that place so well, she could just walked through it and find her way to her house.
But for now, she just wanted to slump down and cried it all out, and so she did.
Cagalli cried for her life, for what she was, for this power or whatever it was, for what she wanted and shouldn't want, and for Athrun.
And for the last one, Cagalli felt a sharp pierce through her heart; it reminded her that Athrun wouldn't be by her side again, protecting her from people who still doubt her, especially Meer and her snide comments. Now he was with them, doubting her, and with Meer. It was agonizing; he was the only one who kept her strong, more than Meyrin and her encouraging words that she would be all right. With his reassuring smile alone, Athrun could make Cagalli felt more alive than usual.
She lost it all now.
She cried alone for a while, surrounding by the silence of the forest, the silence of loneliness.
"Ah, there you are."
Cagalli snapped her head and looked up. There was one person she expected the least.
"Hiding from everyone?" Mr. La Flaga asked as he sat down in the grass and scooted closer. Cagalli wiped her cheeks and nodded, then back on wiping the trace of her tears.
"Calm yourself down first and I'll tell you a story," he continued and patted her head, and grinned at her. For the first time since the accident in the Chem lab, she felt welcomed, again. Cagalli drew a deep breath and tried to calm herself with another breath. After she felt ready enough, she looked up to see Mr. Flaga looking at her.
"So, I heard that you smashed a door into pieces last week from my niece."
Cagalli tilted her head, "Do you mean Meer?"
"Yeah. Her aunt, Murrue, is my wife. Practically I'm a Hibiki's."
"Hibiki?" Cagalli asked again, puzzled.
"You don't know that Meer Campbell and Kira Hibiki are cousins?"
"Oh," Cagalli nodded. She remembered Athrun said that once. Her thought suddenly filled with the longing for him. So this teacher was related to Kira and Meer.
"Now, can you tell me how exactly you crushed the door?" Mwu asked again, with a serious expression this time.
"Meer locked me in the storage room," Cagalli paused as she saw a creased between her teacher's brows. He nodded to Cagalli, signifying her to continue. "She refused to open the door even though I had banged the door and asked her. She asked me to…" Cagalli wasn't sure if she had to tell that to her teacher.
"You can tell me everything, Kiddo," Mwu smiled to assure her.
Cagalli felt like crying, feeling that someone finally willing to try to understand her. Cagalli was wondering what had changed his point of view of her, but he was staring at her intently, expecting her to continue, so she did, "She wanted me to stay away from Athrun."
"Ah, figures. Continue," Mwu said, nodding his head. Off course he knew that his niece had her attention all for Athrun, and was so excited when her mother arranged her future with Athrun.
"She was pushing me and I got mad, and then…" Cagalli hesitated, but Mwu encouraged her by patting her shoulder, "Go on."
"I felt something burst out from inside me and I just let it out. When I realized it, the door was scattered in pieces and it hurt Meer. I'm sorry…" Cagalli disliked her, for sure. But she still felt remorse for hurting people, especially with her unknown power. Besides, Mr. La Flaga was her uncle.
"Was that the first time?"
"No. It happened first when I was ten; it was exactly the same. I was angry, banging the door, and suddenly the door was already broken," Cagalli answered, remembering the first accident. It was always a door. Cagalli wondered idly if she could break other things like…, metal maybe?
"Your father didn't give you something?" Mr. La Flaga suddenly asked. Cagalli was surprised. How did he know?
"So?" He asked again when Cagalli didn't reply.
"Ah… He… made a seal for me. But I think it was useless…," Cagalli touched her chest.
It felt weird because she was sure that Mr. Flaga knew about her family. "You know about my father?" Cagalli asked.
Mwu stared at the forest, like he didn't really want to answer that. But then he just said, "Yeah… Maybe…"
When Cagalli was about to ask what he knew about her father, Cagalli heard someone called her name.
"Cagalli?"
She turned and saw the person she wanted to see the most. But she was too shocked to answer. Why was he here? Did he search for her until he got here? Did he worry about her? Did he want to see her?
She heard movement and saw Mr. La Flaga stood up. "Okay. That was it for this time. I'll talk to you again later. And Cagalli, try not to be angry until my lesson tomorrow. Hi, Athrun. Bye, Athrun," Mr. La Flaga walked away from the two youngsters and left them there.
After a moment of silence, Cagalli asked him, "What are you doing here?" she whispered. Cagalli's heart was beating rapidly. Please make him stay, Cagalli chanted. She didn't know how much she missed him since that day. She wanted to talk to him again, but was afraid that he would be like the rest of this school, recoiling from her.
"What was that?"
"Huh?"
"I didn't know you were… that close… to Mr. La Fllaga," Athrun muttered, but Cagalli heard.
"No. I thought he was just like… Kira and the others… the first time I met him. And it was the first time we had a nice conversation." Cagalli thought again the first time she met him, just as unfriendly as Kira. "You are here…" Cagalli finally said as she looked up to see him, reminding him what she had asked earlier.
"I decided… that I don't really care… It's… I didn't know you had it in you to fight Meer and told her to stay away from—"
"I didn't say that," Cagalli said, annoyed and confused. It was the opposite.
"Meer said you kind of confront her and tell her to stay away from me… and her wrist… You didn't hit her with the Erlenmeyer flask, right?"
"No. I thought she hurt herself accidentally, but now I think she did that on purpose," Cagalli replied, now more furious than before, all her confusion gone.
"I guessed that," Athrun mumbled, irritated that he had been fooled. He should have known that Meer had been planning it all along, ever since she acted nice to Cagalli.
"And… about the door? Did you… really smash it?" Athrun asked again.
I should have known… Cagalli thought. There was no getting away in this. Athrun would run away, terrified of what she could do, because she might harm him sometime, somehow.
"I did that…" Cagalli said, looking down. She waited for Athrun to run and leave her.
"I think there are so many things I don't know about you…" Athrun chuckled. Cagalli looked up to see him walked toward her and took her hand. She felt that tingles again, and she realized that she had missed that.
"You… Are you all right with it? I can hurt you, you know?" Cagalli asked him to make sure he got what she said.
"But do you want to?" He asked her back. Cagalli immediately shook her head, "I would never…"
Athrun smiled. "That's what I thought."
"But, really…." How could he be so sure? How could he be so calm with her having some strange power that could hurt anybody, and still want to be her friend, and wanting to know her more?
"I'll show you sometime," Athrun said, knowing that if he wanted to know her completely, he would have to show her who he actually was. Athrun didn't think that they were much different; in fact they seemed alike.
"What do you think if we go out after school? I want to make up for my rudeness of ignoring you, if you don't mind?" Athrun asked her, eager to know more about Cagalli.
"Where?" Cagalli asked. She internally clamped her mouth, thinking that she was just accepting his offer by asking. I should have thought about it first, she scolded herself. But then, she wouldn't turn his offer down, she thought. Cagalli missed him too much.
"Where do you want to go? I just want to talk with you, to know you more," Athrun said, giving her the choice to decide.
One place flashed on Cagalli's mind, and she suddenly blurted it out, "The park," and again, she scolded herself mentally. Why would he want go there? The place was a holding a bad memory.
"The place where we first met…," Athrun mumbled, smiling.
That's true, Cagalli thought. And that was a good thing.
"After school?" Athrun asked again, confirming. Cagalli could only nod, still couldn't believe that this was happening. She got her Athrun back!
Her Athrun?
Cagalli shook her head, confused that she could think of such thing, and that it brought some strange feeling to her, like contentment. He looked at Athrun and saw him holding his hand out, waiting for her to reach it. He was smiling.
"Lunch time is almost over. Let's go to class," Athrun said, pulling her with him and walked to their next class.
Today, at Gym, Cagalli sat at the bleachers again, watching people playing basket again. When Mr. La Flaga asked the students to make teams, no one wanted to include Cagalli in their team, so she couldn't play. Cagalli was silent, trying to accept her fate. At least Athrun was still on her side, and hopefully Mr. La Flaga.
When the lesson end, Cagalli went to the changing room and changed. There, the students avoided her again. As soon as she entered the changing room, the conversation was stopped, the room was silent. Cagalli was silent too; she changed her clothes without glancing at those people. Athrun wouldn't leave you, she chanted it inside her head, her assuring words that she was not alone here, that someone was caring for her.
The other students hurried to their next class as they finished changing, leaving Cagalli alone. Again, she repeated her mantra, and walked out from the room.
And she almost fainted when she saw Mr. La Flaga and Kira standing before the changing room, waiting for her. Mr. La Flaga pushed her back and locked the door, with Kira trailing behind him.
"What are you doing? This is woman's changing room!" Cagalli shouted, struggling from Mr. La Flaga's grip. And when he finally loosed his grip on her, Cagalli shouted again, "What was that for!" she moved her gaze to Kira, "And why is he here?"
"He's the only one I know who can help us, help you," Mr. La Flaga answered. He reached his pocket and pulled out a necklace, and gave it to Cagalli.
"What's this?" Cagalli said, looking at the pendant on the necklace. The pendant was in dragon head shape, and the color was blue. It reminded her of the gem pendant she had seen on that silver haired guy.
"A necklace, it's obvious. Put it on, kiddo," Mr. La Flaga said, and Kira looked at him, bewildered.
Cagalli was confused, but did what she was asked to do. "You give this to me?"
"For now, let's just say that I'm lending it to you. Now, Kira," he looked at the brunette, his face changed into serious expression. "You said you would do what you have to do as a Guardian."
Cagalli looked at them, puzzled. A Guardian? What was that? Then her eyes met Kira's. He didn't look at her with those doubting, intimidating eyes. Instead, he looked confused, undecided.
He stood a few feet away from Cagalli and looked at her. He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Cagalli heard him muttering something, and soon a formation was formed underneath them (remember cardcaptor sakura?), shining blue light from it. Cagalli felt something like energy in blue spectrum surrounding them,and energy burst out from her body and gathered at one place, the pendant on the necklace.
A moment later, it was over. And Cagalli could feel something was different with her. She touched the necklace and was approached by Mr. La Flaga.
"How do you feel now?" he asked Cagalli.
"I feel different," Cagalli paused, "I feel… protected?" Cagalli said in asking tone, not really sure of what she was feeling. It was like she had so many things trying to come out from her and she was finally able to lock them all inside her.
"That way you power won't be out of control again," Mwu said. And then he looked at Kira, who was still looking at Cagalli with bewildered look. "So… what do you think now, Kira?"
Kira didn't answer instantly. Instead, he stepped back, "I… need time… to think…"
"Okay, kiddo. I hope you can figure it out soon," Mwu said, as his cousin walked out of the room.
"What was that? Why was he willing to… help me? Kira never likes me," Cagalli asked, bewildered.
"I told him something and he agreed to help me, you… us," Mwu laughed, "I don't know if he still hates you, I don't even know if he hated you before this."
"But he acted like I'm not supposed to be here and… if I'm not mistaken, you did too…" Cagalli reminded her teacher.
"I was a bit… taken aback by your presence. And the more I watch you, I think you are not going to harm us, so I believe you, and talk to you."
Cagalli thought about what he had just said and before she could ask why he knew so much about this supernatural thing in her, Mwu said, "I won't tell now, I'll wait for Kira to figure out about his feelings for you. No, it's not like that," Mwu laughed loudly as he saw Cagalli gaped at him. "It's just that he had been given news he didn't expect at all, and need some time to process. So, until you both ready, I won't tell you. You better prepare before I tell you the news, Cagalli. Oh, and keep that necklace, you'll have to keep it in one peace, not even a scratch."
Cagalli nodded, and breathing in, feeling secured, free, and content at the same time. How much a necklace could give her!
Cagalli was startled as she heard her teacher called her, "Come here, I'll write a note for your teacher to excuse your late."
Didnt really edit this chap, sorry if there were errors here.
Tell me what you think!
