For You
Disclaimer: Kinda pointless to keep posting this, so…I WILL NEVER OWN GUNDAM SEED. SOMEONE ELSE DOES, AND I'M VERY JEALOUS. All right, that applies to all chapters from now till the end of the story.
SORRY THIS IS SOO LATE! I GOT GROUNDED FIRST, AND THEN I GOT CAUGHT UP IN SCHOOL STUFF! I SWEAR EIGHTH GRADE IS MURDER ON THE BRAIN, AND MY TIME ON THE COMPUTER! SORRY!
I'm glad you liked chapter 8; personally I was a bit nervous, thinking you'd all think it wasn't as good as other chapters. Kageharu Kaco, I'm sorry! It totally blew out of my mind that her name was Lenore, thanks for pointing that out. I'm such a ditz! I just went back an edited that little mistake, heheh. amanda, thank you for pointing all that out. I do like to point out the obvious…I guess I just go overboard, huh? And I know my sentence structure isn't very good, I never really have anytime to actually fix it up. My English teacher just reads what we write, points out one or two spelling or grammar areas, and otherwise says "Great job! I'm glad you wrote this piece and your dogs didn't get at them!" So no help there. I guess I'm going to a backwater school…lol. I'll try to improve. And Shadow Chaser, I can't make all my characters' backgrounds screwy; it would make screwy backgrounds last season, lol. Oh, demonz8000, interesting idea… (Rubs hands in a scheming way) Finally, Little Krissi, I do appreciate your review, I guess my story is full of that slashing angst everyone likes writing about. I'm not at all affected negatively by your review, but I am curious, is it wrong to want to hide your pain and scars? Some people hide things like that because when they hide it from others; they can make themselves believe that nothing is wrong, even if it is. It makes them forget their pain if only for a while so they can have at least one moment to forget all the bad things, and try to be happy.
Oh crap, I was rambling with this Author's Note…Oh well, most people just skip to the story anyway, lol. Oh, and I'm putting in some more Miriallia than any of you probably want, but that's just too bad.
Chapter 9 Saturday
Sunlight dripped through the dark curtains in the room, sending small beams of light towards the bed. Lavender eyes opened slowly, and blinked once before falling into focus. Turning from his stomach onto his side, Kira took in a deep breath before yawning. He stared at the wall for a few moments, wondering if he could fall asleep again.
After the first few minutes of silence and wall staring, Kira groaned to himself and sat up. But he cringed when he tried to get out of bed. He took a moment to breathe deeply and stifle the pain, before he slowly lifted his shirt. When he could see his stomach, he felt his breath catch in his chest. Dark bruises littered his front.
The brunette lifted his shirt from his body and looked down at his chest and winced. Along his chest were bruises, both dark and red. One looked a darkish red, and when he lifted his hand to gingerly run his finger tips over it, he hissed in pain. 'Probably a broken rib,' he thought to himself.
Kira mustered up his strength and got up out of bed, trying not to irritate his injuries. Sending a quick glance over at the clock, he saw it was only half past eight. It was Saturday, so Cagalli was probably sleeping in, and Muruta worked all day on the weekends. He knew he wasn't really fully awake, so he walked towards his bathroom. His mind was set on a nice hot shower to soothe his aching body.
Miriallia hurriedly pulled her clothes out of her dresser, trying desperately not to make any noise to wake her sister who slept soundly in her bed. The cat was watching Mir with bored eyes as the auburn haired teen pulled on an orange t-shirt over her white bra. She then pulled on a pair of faded jeans and sat on her bed to get her socks on. Before she left the room though, she grabbed a pair of white fingerless gloves and slipped them on before leaving her room.
The girl hurried through the house till she came to the front door. Ray was probably in the shower, so he'd be leaving for work soon, but she was running late for her ride. Slipping on her sneakers, the teen rushed to the door and slipped out quietly, trying not to slam the door.
Looking towards the street, she felt herself sigh in relief. A black car sat on the road in front of her house and a boy in his late teens was leaning against the passenger side door. When he saw her, he smirked and nodded in her direction. Mir narrowed her eyes as she hurried down the driveway towards the boy.
She was standing in front of him in a matter of moments and looked him over with a critical eye. His wavy, shoulder length brown hair was pulled into a low ponytail and strands of chestnut fell over his forehead. She could remember when he kept his hair short back in elementary school. His eyes were a light blue and stood out from his slightly tanned face. His clothes consisted of a black t-shirt with the Japanese kanji for fire over the front in spidery calligraphy and baggy black pants with chains dangling from his belt and pockets. On his feet were worn, black sneakers.
"Am I that good looking all you can do is stare at my flawlessness?" the boy joked, chuckling at the girl's visual inspection.
"You wish Tolle." Mir replied.
The boy smirked and waved his hand, "Whatever you say princess." he answered back.
The girl scowled and got in the car while Tolle walked around the front to the driver's side. He got in the car and started the ignition before driving off down the road and making a left turn.
The two were silent for a while, until Tolle spoke up, "So, how's Miss Scholarship Winner doing at her new school?"
Mir kept her gaze out the window, "All right." she stated with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She really hated these rides to work on her Saturdays.
"Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed! Here I am acting like I care and crap and you just answer me with 'All right?" the brown haired boy asked, the hint of a grin at the corners of his mouth.
"Well, there's not much to say except that most of the students are rich, arrogant, disgusting, spoiled brats. Well, except my friends Kira and Lacus." Mir added.
Tolle nodded and made another turn, "Anyone you particularly want to draw and quarter before sticking their heads on a pike? I know it's impossible for you not to hate at least somebody." he pointed out with a smirk.
Mir groaned, her mind instantly thinking to Zala and his goons. But her memory lingered for awhile on the blonde haired boy who'd been staring up her skirt while she was cleaning windows. "Three." she stated in a slightly edgy voice.
Tolle smirked, "Do I wanna know the details?" he asked jokingly.
A glare from the auburn haired girl as he made an abrupt stop at a red light caused him to chuckle.
"They're these rich boys who have nothing better to do than to make their fun off of tormenting others, especially Kira. In fact, they even get physically violent and Kira doesn't say a thing. And recently one of them, Athrun Zala, has taken a liking to harassing Kira's little sister who's still in middle school! In fact, she even tried to fight him a few days ago, and I let myself into the brawl and got this black eye from Zala's punch. Of course she was able to punch that bastard pretty good, for being fourteen," The aqua eyed girl mused to herself.
Tolle rolled his eyes, "You haven't changed much I guess. I was sure getting that scholarship would go to your head." he added. A few minutes of silence passed, and Miriallia removed her gaze from the window to look out the windshield at the road ahead of them. "How's Katie doing?" Tolle asked with a bit of hesitance in his voice.
The question made the girl freeze for a moment, and her eyes drifted back towards the window. "She's all right," she mumbled.
"Has she been to a doctor recently?" Tolle asked, his voice having lost the playfulness and now filled with concern and seriousness.
"Yeah, just after school on Monday." Mir answered quietly.
Tolle sent a quick glance towards the girl; he still had to watch the road. "What did the doctor say?" he asked curiously.
"He said it was too early to tell if the medication was working. But she seems a little bit better. I think, but she's really tired lately, and she's coughing more now," the girl explained, her voice slowly growing smaller.
They rode in silence the rest of the drive, Tolle sending chaste glances towards the girl while she kept her eyes trained on the window, not what was flying by outside, keeping her thoughts to herself. In a matter of ten or so minutes, they pulled into the large parking lot of the Masaki Mall. Tolle parked in the employee's section and he and Mir stepped out of the car before walking side by side towards the employee's entrance.
"Well, here goes a Saturday…" Tolle sighed gently, Mir scowling at his remark as she unlocked the entrance door with her cardkey.
The two stepped inside the mall, the door closing and automatically locking behind them.
Kira stepped out of the bathroom, his hair still wet and his shoulders and the back of his neck dripping water down his back. A simple white towel was wrapped around his hips and he held another towel in his hands. Stopping in front of his dresser, the brunette brought up the towel and quickly towel dried his hair. When he pulled the towel away, he caught his reflection in the small mirror that sat atop the dresser.
His short brown locks were sticking up in odd angles from the towel. Kira gently ran a hand her brother's body had caught her eyes quickly. "Through his hair, feeling the cool dampness of it. It was an odd sensation on his warm palm, but it felt nice.
Opening the drawers, he pulled out his clothes and let the towel drop to the floor before he quickly pulled on clothes over his lower half. As he was pulling on his shirt, he heard his bedroom door open and small padding of feet slowly stepping into the room. Pulling the light gray long sleeved shirt over his bruised and beaten chest, he turned his head to see his little sister standing in the doorway with a tray in her hands.
"Morning Kira," she greeted brightly, albeit a little uncertain with a hint of concern in her eyes. The new bruises on I tried making breakfast for you," she added, walking towards his bed and setting the tray on the black sheets.
Kira smiled warmly, and as he turned, his right hand moved over to his left hand and pulled the sleeve down a bit further till it nearly reached his knuckles. He didn't want any chances of her seeing the gradually healing cut on his left wrist. "Really? And you didn't make the oven explode?" he asked with a grin tugging on his lips.
Cagalli blushed in embarrassment, recalling a distant memory. When they were younger, and still living with the Amalfi family, Kira, Nicol and she had been baking cookies, and somehow she'd messed with the oven and the machine nearly exploded. Of course, the cookies were the only casualties, besides her dignity and small skills in cooking.
"I didn't use the oven, I used the stove," she retorted, narrowing her eyes slightly in playful anger.
Kira held up his hands defensively, "Ok, ok, don't have a heart attack will ya?" he asked as he walked towards her. Cagalli couldn't help the smile that crept up to her lips.
Looking down at the small breakfast his sister had obviously spent some time on so it didn't turn into ash, Kira smiled. She'd actually managed to make scrambled eggs and pancakes even. The older teen looked down at his sister who was awaiting his approval with hopeful eyes.
"Just try it! It's not like I poisoned it!" she stated, watching her brother sit down on his bed and pick up the fork she'd placed on the tray by the plate.
Kira warily stabbed the fork through the eggs, and lifted the utensil to his mouth. He eyed it for a moment, 'Looks can be deceiving…' he thought to himself before risking everything and placing the eggs in his mouth. Just to put his sister through nervous torture, he chewed thoughtfully and waited before swallowing.
He flashed the blonde girl a smile of approval before adding, "I think you just might be on to something here! You may have finally discovered the art of cooking!" he exclaimed.
Cagalli grinned in relieved pride.
"Now, next step is learning whether or not you can do the laundry from now on…" Kira stated with a joking light in his eyes. The blonde girl glared and he chuckled before taking another bite of eggs.
Miriallia sighed as she wrapped the dark blue smock over her clothes. She had to open up the Pharmacy and then work the register till ten. Then she had to rush off to her next job on the other side of the building. Her Saturdays were always so hectic.
The only other person at the Pharmacy that early was Mr. Robertson, but he was the manager and had to be there that early. He was currently looking through a ledger of products and walking down the small aisles, checking the merchandise. The man grunted to acknowledge her as she began to turn on the register. The auburn haired teen was used to his personality, and found she rather liked it that he was so unsocial than he being as perky and giddy as a seven year old girl. She had one too many of those.
Mr. Robertson walked into the back room and left Miriallia in the front of the store. The girl leaned her elbows against the counter, tapping her foot silently against the floor tiles. Today was going to be another hectic, yet still boring Saturday.
Athrun grumbled when he heard the sound of a phone ringing. Sleepily, he raised his arm from under the silken sheets to grope around on the nightstand till he found the phone. "Hello?" he asked groggily.
"Yo." the other voice answered back.
The bluenette groaned and rolled over on his back. Glancing at the clock in the phone, he saw it read 7:33 AM. "Dearka, what the fuck do you want at this goddamned hour of the morning?" the boy demanded in an annoyed voice. It wasn't like Dearka to be up this early. And he wasn't usually this irritable in the mornings, but he'd had a fitful sleep. So he blamed his nightmares that he was too stubborn to admit he was reduced to a crying child when he experienced them.
"Jeez, someone woke up in the wrong girl's bed this morning!" The blonde boy joked, unfazed by his friend's attitude.
"What do you want Elthman?" The blue haired boy demanded again, sitting up in bed this time.
"I just wanted to ask if you were going to the party tonight. And if you wanted to hit the mall in an hour or so with me and Yzak." The tanned skinned boy explained.
Athrun groaned, Dearka really knew how to sound like a girl. "Yea, I'll be at the party. And no, I'd rather save myself the embarrassment of being seen at the mall with you." the boy replied back before rudely pressing the off button and hanging up on his friend.
The boy groaned sleepily as he slipped out of his parent's bed. He carefully folded the sheets and it looked as though no one had ever touched the bed. Athrun then made his way out of the room, and began heading towards his own room. It was true he didn't want to go to the mall, but that was because he had to go to the General Store and buy paint. Lots and lots of white paint.
As he walked into his room, Lenore jumped off his bed and rushed up to her master, her nose rubbing against his hand in a loving way. "Morning," he mumbled, the smallest hint of a grin on his lips. The dog whined in a happy tone and sat down as the boy walked towards his dresser. He pulled out a clean pair of boxers and a clean, white undershirt. He slipped off the clothes he was wearing, and then slipped on the new clothes. Afterward, he walked towards his closet and grabbed a collared navy shirt and a pair of dark blue, tight fitting jeans.
When he was done dressing, he decided to head down for breakfast. Lenore followed after him quickly and couldn't help nearly tripping him as they walked down the stairs.
Mir was very bored standing behind the counter. She was thankful for the stool Mr. Robertson had brought out for her after the first few minutes. She was wondering if he knew it would be a slow day that day. 'Well even if he didn't, it's always slow here…' the girl thought to herself.
It was true. When the mall had opened, only old folk had come in at first, and then once it hit eight thirty, adults, parents mainly, started coming in to get their shopping out of the way before the teenagers swam in and set bad examples for their impressionable, bratty kids. And during her time in the Pharmacy, she'd only filled prescriptions for an old man and two old women who were talking about how the youth these days was nothing like the kids back when.
Miriallia sighed out loud and watched as people walked by. A little boy being pulled by the hand by his mother glanced over at her and stuck his tongue out. The teenager returned the gesture immaturely.
She was brought back to her senses when she heard a voice calling her. "Miss? Excuse me, young lady?" Miriallia looked in front of her in surprise as though a penguin just dumped a bucket of ice down her pants.
"I'm sorry, how may I help you?" she asked with that fake joyfulness in her voice most store employees developed at an early stage in their career.
The man in front of her looked to be in his late fifties. His clothes looked like they came from the 1920s, and his glasses were so thick she wondered just how bad his eyesight really was. He was staring at her as though he'd never seen a teenage girl before, but then his hand pushed something on the counter towards her. When Mir glanced down, she felt a hot blush come up to her ears.
She automatically reached out and took the small box and scanned it. The price rang up on the register screen, and the man held out his credit card. Mir scanned that to and placed the box in a small, white plastic bag before handing the items to the man. He was staring at her chest, and Mir didn't like the look in his eyes, it reminded her too much of Tolle's look whenever he read one of his "dirty" magazines. "Thank you young lady," the man said with a nod before walking out of the pharmacy.
As soon as he left, Miriallia felt herself exhale in relief and slight mental horror. The old man had just purchased a box of condoms and had been looking at her that whole time she rang them up with a look similar to what she thought to be lust. 'Ugh…I don't even want to think about what he's doing anytime soon,' she stated to herself in a disgusted tone.
No one else really came in after that, just people coming in, looking around, and then leaving. After a few minutes passed, Mir looked up at the large wall clock on the other side of the Pharmacy. The clock read five to ten. 'If Cass doesn't get here in time, I'm gonna be late…' The girl thought to herself worriedly.
As the next two minutes slowly ticked by, Mir kept glancing towards the Pharmacy entrance, hoping that someone would arrive. It was only one minute to ten when a girl with bouncy black hair and bright blue eyes strolled slowly into the Pharmacy. After her first two steps, Miriallia had already ripped the smock off. "Cass, you're late!" she hissed angrily as she ran into the back room and hung up her smock. Mr. Robertson looked up from his clipboard to watch the teen as she hung up the smock.
"Bye Mir." he muttered before returning to his ledgers.
The girl ran out the door and raced out of the Pharmacy, pausing just long enough to glare at Cass before exiting the nearly empty store. As soon as she was out, she began walking at a brisk pace—well, running—towards the other end of the mall. 'Another Saturday started by running through a mall,' she grumbled to herself, reaching the entrance to an upper-class looking clothing store.
Walking in through the entrance, Mir was immediately met by a tall woman wearing a tan silk suit. Her face was stern, but she didn't look angry—yet. "Miriallia, you were almost late again." she began, before turning to lead the girl further into the store.
"Sorry, Ma'am," the girl apologized. "I was held up at the Pharmacy—"
"There are no excuses! Rhea's employees are never late, or close to it." the woman interrupted with an icy tone.
Miriallia sighed as the two walked into the back room of Rhea's. The woman glared at Miriallia's clothing before sighing and silently walking away. Mir contemplated giving the woman "the finger" while her back was turned, but thought better of it. She walked towards the small locker area and opened the one with her name taped to the door. Opening it, she pulled out the red vest with the Rhea's Employee insignia on the right pocket. Above it was the small, plastic nametag with her name printed in bold, black writing. She pulled on the vest over her orange t-shirt and hurried out of the back room to start her hour-and-a-half shift.
That was the only thing about job hopping at the Masaki Mall. You didn't have to work a full four hours to be paid for you shift. In fact, the pay was the only reason she actually stuck with the jobs she had. Miriallia didn't really have a choice in the matter of what job she had, as long as it paid well, and was legal.
Unfortunately for her, Rhea's was pretty much the most popular, successful, and expensive clothing store around, especially since Rhea's stores were only located in areas with plenty of wealthy families with spoiled kids. Mir could complain about the fact she listened to girls—and guys—whine in dressing rooms saying they were smaller or bigger than they really were, but she couldn't complain about the pay. And since she usually knew what the spoiled brats wanted just by looking at them, she was a successful salesperson, and she earned a very generous commission for every sale she made.
As soon as the auburn haired girl walked out of the back room, she saw a group of girls walk into the store. They looked to be giggling idiots. But all Miriallia could see them as while she was beginning work was cash ready for picking. Putting on her fake smile, she walked towards them with every intention of showing them the showiest, most expensive clothing in the store. It wasn't wrong to try and make a profit from the advantages of your job and manipulate stupid girls into buying expensive clothing, now was it?
Dearka drove his red corvette into the Masaki Mall parking lot. He glanced around till he found an acceptable parking spot. After parking and locking his car, the tan skinned boy began walking the short distance towards the large, concrete and glass building that could be known in general as the pinnacle of socialization: the mall.
Upon entering through the front entrance, he began walking towards the center of the mall where a large wishing fountain was placed. He'd agreed to meet Yzak there almost an hour ago, and knowing Yzak, the silver haired boy was probably waiting for him in annoyance.
Sure enough, as soon as he got into the center of the mall, he could see his friend sitting on a bench with an agitated expression on his face. The blonde took his time walking over to his friend, a smirk playing on his face. "Yo!" he called out in greeting as he lifted his hand in the air. Yzak turned to glare over at him, and he stood immediately.
"You're late." he stated, ticked off as usual.
"Oh, really? I think you're just early." Dearka countered smugly.
Rolling his eyes, Yzak grumbled and began walking off towards the escalators. "C'mon!" he called over his shoulder. "We should go to Rhea's and get something to wear for the party tonight." he added, mentally kicking himself for sounding like a girl.
Dearka chuckled and fell into step beside his friend. "Whatever. I might as well pick something out as well. Got nothing better to do till eight anyway." he added as the two boys stepped onto the escalator stairs.
Cagalli sat in her bedroom, going over her math homework. Kira was doing the laundry, and they hadn't seen Muruta at all. He was probably at work, most likely. As she finished the last math problem, the phone began ringing. The blonde girl would have gotten up to answer it, but after the second ring, it stopped. She was wondering if Kira got it, till he called from the family room, "Cagalli, Stellar's on the phone!"
"Thanks, I got it!" she called back as she reached for the cordless phone on the edge of her desk. "Hello?" she asked.
"Hey Cags!" her bubbly, blonde friend greeted on the other end of the phone. "Are you doing anything right now?" she asked curiously.
"No, just finishing up my math homework. Why?" the amber eyed girl asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch or something. Neo's got to go to work and I don't really want to be by myself right now. So what do you say?" Stellar asked hopefully.
"I'll ask Kira, but I'm pretty sure it's ok by him. One sec, ok?" Cagalli replied before getting up and walking towards her doorway. "Hey Kira, is it ok if Stellar and I go out to lunch?" she called down the hall.
She heard her brother answer back, "That's fine, as long as you're home by five at the latest!"
"Thanks!" she called back, before putting the phone back up to her ear, "He says it's fine. Where do you want to meet?" Cagalli asked.
"How about we meet up at the park by the school?" the other girl suggested happily.
"Sounds great, see you there." Cagalli replied before hanging up.
Kira glanced up from a shirt he was folding to watch his little sister walk past the family room. "Bye Cagalli, remember to bring your cell phone," he added, sounding like a parent.
"Don't worry I have it. Bye, see you later," she added before walking out the front doors.
Kira looked after her through the windows till she was out of sight before sighing and folding the shirt to place in a pile of folded clothes.
As soon as she was out the door, Cagalli took off at a sprint. Her light green t-shirt swayed a bit from the wind, and her baggy, tan shorts hit her knees at every step. Across her shoulder was a small tan bag. Some people glanced over at her as she ran by, but she didn't care. She was only a few blocks away from the park where she'd be meeting her best friend.
Coming upon the park, Cagalli immediately picked out Stellar, standing by a few kids. As Cagalli got closer, she could hear Stellar was scolding the small group of kids while holding one little boy close to her side. He appeared to be in tears. "Now, are you all going to play nicely?" the blonde teen asked, her magenta eyes stern. The little kids nodded, and the little boy sniffled. "Okay, now go back to playing your game. And you, try not to play roughly, then you won't get hurt like this," the teen added, turning to the little boy and pointing to his scraped knee.
"Ok," he said quietly before wiping his nose with his hand and running off to join his friends.
Cagalli smiled as she walked up to her friend. "So Stellar, still playing Keeper of the Peace?" the amber eyed girl asked jokingly.
"Oh, hey Cags. I was just helping out some kids is all." she explained with a laugh. "Well, I'm glad to see you're on time! C'mon, let's go to the Sanders Café!" she exclaimed excitedly before grabbing Cagalli's hand and dragging her off into the direction of the shopping district close by. 'What have I gotten myself into?' Cagalli thought to herself as Stellar added something about visiting some of the stores after lunch.
Miriallia watched the group of girl's leave the store with shopping bags under their arms. She had reason to be so smug, a good one too. Each girl had just spent between two hundred to three hundred dollars each on some expensive, sluttish clothing. And besides her generous pay per hour, she just made a fifteen percent commission for each piece of clothing the girls bought.
The auburn haired girl smirked to herself before deciding to be a good Samaritan and walked over to the dressing rooms. Taking some clothes from the rack by the dressing room, she began walking around, putting the clothes back to where they belonged. When she only had two shirts left, she began walking towards the section they belonged in. But on her way, she noticed two boys walk into the store.
Her eyes went wide, and she felt anger swell in her stomach. 'No, it can't be them…it's not them!' she shouted to herself. Placing both shirt hangars with a random rack, she spun around and quickly began walking towards the back of the store. If she was forced to talk to them, a fight would surely break out and she'd get fired. Unfortunately, her manager was walking through the store at that moment, and noticed the two boys walk in. Glancing around, she saw all her other salespeople were busy…all except Miriallia who seemed to be walking away. "Miriallia!" she hissed.
The teen looked up when she heard her name called by her manager. "Yes?" she asked curiously. The woman walked over to her and grabbed her arm roughly.
"Miriallia, we have two customers who may need assistance! Why aren't you tending to them?" she asked angrily.
Mir swallowed the lump of anger in her throat. "Well, uh, I have to, uh…" she stuttered, sounding and feeling stupid.
"Well get going and do your job! What do I pay you for?" she finished before pushing Miriallia into the aisle way.
Before the auburn haired teen had a chance to glare, she felt someone bump into her. She fell straight to the floor gracelessly, and saw stars for a moment when her head hit the red tile floor. "Itai…"(Ow) she mumbled to herself, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head.
"Oh sorry, didn't see you there—Oh. It's you." a voice from above her stated as though she was pond scum.
Looking up to see who had just bumped her, her aqua gaze met with violet. The auburn haired teen got up from the floor quickly and brushed her shirt off as though she'd gotten dust on it. Ignoring the boy's comment seemed to be the smart thing to do at the moment. "What are you doing here? Little bitch," the boy added the last part under his breath just loud enough for the girl to hear.
"I work here." Miriallia answered, not even bothering to point to her vest. "Now, can I help you at all?" she asked with difficulty, trying not to punch the guy in the face.
Dearka was about to insult her again, but he got another idea. Smirking, he spoke up. "Actually, yes. We do need your help…" he began, much to Miriallia's horror.
Cagalli stirred the milk in with her coffee as Stellar sipped her iced tea. The two had been talking about school, and how they were glad it was Saturday. The usual things friends talked about. And then Stellar brought up the topic of the coming Friday. "So, Cagalli?" the girl began with a large smile on her face.
The other blonde girl looked up at her friend, "Hm?"
Stellar grinned. "Isn't your birthday this Friday?" Stellar exclaimed happily.
Cagalli had a blank look on her face, but then she brought up a fake smile, "Uh, yea it is." was all she said.
Stellar noticed her friend's smile wasn't real, but didn't say anything. "So, what do want to get this year? Any idea what Kira will give you?" Stellar asked, hoping her friend would answer with as much excitement as she felt.
Cagalli looked down into her coffee, as though hoping it would tell her what to say. She didn't really know what she'd get from anyone, and she really didn't care. Her birthday had lost its meaning and popularity after she'd turned eleven. Mainly because she'd gotten the worst gift possible on her birthday. Her and Kira had been sent to live with Azrael Muruta, and the door had opened to Kira's Hell. She hated her birthday, and she hated thinking about it.
And even though Kira knew that, he still went to the trouble of giving her something and treating her like royalty all day, just like he did everyday . Her gifts had always been things that had reminded them of their parents. For her twelfth birthday, Kira had given her a small, silver-chain necklace that their mother had given Kira for his own birthday. When she turned thirteen, Kira had given her a small gold ring that their father had given their mother on their fifth anniversary. On her fourteenth birthday, he'd given her an old, carved picture frame with small roses carved out of wood in the corners. There hadn't been a picture, or if there had, Kira had taken it out. On the back in beautiful writing, the words: Through life, We Found Love. Through Love We Found Each Other: were carved into the wood. All her gifts had been love, in solid forms. And they came from her parents and brother.
Without realizing it, a small tear had begun to drift down her cheek. She broke out of her trance and rubbed the tear away when Stellar asked her if she was all right. "Yea, I'm fine. I think something got in my eye…" Cagalli explained. Just then, their waitress brought their lunch to them and refilled Stellar's glass of iced tea. Using the food as an excuse, Cagalli began shoveling it into her mouth so she wouldn't have to talk. Stellar watched her worriedly, and slowly began eating her food. She known something was up with Cagalli all week, but she didn't know exactly what. It made her heart ache that she didn't know exactly what her best friend was thinking. It made her feel guilty and feel that she wasn't a good enough friend.
Cagalli stopped eating and looked over at her friend who seemed a bit sad. "Hey, Stellar, are you okay?" Cagalli asked worriedly. 'Is she upset because of me?' the girl wondered to herself sadly.
Stellar looked up and smiled a real, reassuring smile. "Yea, don't worry bout it. Now hurry up and eat! There are a bunch of stores I saw that I really wanted to look in!" she exclaimed with her usual brightness.
Cagalli grinned in relief, but groaned inwardly at the shopping idea. "Stellar, you really know how to ruin my Saturday…" she mumbled jokingly.
'Work really knows how to ruin my Saturdays…' Miriallia thought to herself as she waited out side the men's dressing rooms. Dearka had asked her to stand by and tell him what she thought of the clothes he picked out. Of course both knew he was only doing this to get Miriallia's mandatory answer of "Oh my, that looks stunning on you!" and crappy compliments like that. Yzak had grown bored of the first two trials of Dearka's torture, and decided to go and browse the clothes by himself. Miriallia was thankful he didn't partake in the humiliating torture Dearka was putting her through.
"All right, what do you think of this one?" he asked, walking out of the dressing room.
Miriallia looked up with a forced smile, and Dearka knew she was forcing it for her job. He was wearing a light, pale blue dress shirt with a collar. The auburn haired employee glared at him for a few moments, and thought she heard a tiny voice in the back of her head saying, "Not to bad, for a bastard of course." She doused the voice in pure horror and using the fakest voice she could muster, she answered, "That looks really good on you." she strangled out with false praise. Dearka seemed to enjoy torturing the unfortunate girl, and decided to extend his range of humiliation.
"Really? I thought so too. Since we have such similar tastes, why don't you go find something you'd think would look good on me. I have somewhere to go tonight, and I don't want to look too unreachable. Find something, a bit more casual for me? Thanks, you're a doll."
Miriallia felt ready to explode in anger. 'Just what could be so much fun about torturing me like this? I'd rather punch his sorry face and then dunk his head in the fountain!' she thought to herself. But instead of listening to her wants, she listened to her employee guidelines: Always serve the customer as though they were a King, the customer is always right, if the customer is wrong, refer to the previous guideline, and finally, no bashing a customer's face in and submerging their head in the wishing fountain. Okay, so she made that last one up—for her it's still a smart rule.
Grumbling to herself silently, Miriallia trudged off towards the men's section to grab a random shirt and any pair of pants she saw first. But as she passed into the men's section, a certain shirt caught her eye. Looking over, she saw a dark navy collared shirt. It was a bit dressy, but also casual. She didn't know why, but her hand reached out with certainty to grab the hangar the shirt hung from. Glancing behind her, she couldn't find any pants that would compliment the shirt. So instead of just grabbing something random, she browsed through the racks of pants till she found the right ones. Pulling a pair of light tan pants from a shelf, she checked the size to make sure it was the right one. She'd figured out Dearka's size from taking clothes back to the racks when he was done trying them on.
Taking the clothes back to the changing rooms, she handed them over to the boy who stood waiting. He didn't even look down at the clothes before taking them with him into the changing room. But when he glanced down at them, he was a bit surprised. The clothes actually looked nice. Not too dressy, not too casual. He'd really expected Miriallia to just grab random clothes out of spite, or boredom.
When Dearka walked out of the dressing room, Miriallia glanced over at him, preparing herself to say an automatic compliment she didn't mean at all. But seeing the boy dressed in the outfit she'd picked out, it almost made her breath hitch in her throat. Almost.
Dearka had also been surprised when he glanced in the mirror. The clothes matched him perfectly. 'And to think she picked them out…' he thought to himself. "So, what do you think?" he asked, trying to act as though he didn't care about the clothes he was wearing.
Miriallia snapped out of her staring and replied with an almost sincere "The clothes really match you," she said before she realized it.
Dearka could tell that she'd meant it, at least a little, that time. And Miriallia knew what she just said went against everything she'd been shouting at herself the whole time. Thankfully for her, Dearka was nearly as surprised as she was, and decided to give the girl, or maybe himself, a break. "You know, I think I'll buy these. I do have other things to do today than to spend here trying on clothes." he stated.
Miriallia couldn't have been happier.
Ringing up his purchase, she handed him the Rhea's bag with the shirt and pants tucked safely inside. Dearka then acted as though he hadn't spoken to her at all and left. The girl sighed as she leaned against the counter. Her eyes drifted lazily over to the clock on the wall, and they widened. She'd been working an extra fifteen minutes after her shift was over! 'Damn Dearka…' she mumbled to herself as she ripped the vest from her shoulders and hurried to the back room of the clothing store. Now she was fifteen—wait, make those sixteen— minutes late to her next job.
Nearly sprinting out of the store, Miriallia made her way towards the stairs. She did not have time for the slow escalator. Hopefully, her manager wouldn't be too angry with her being so late?
Athrun carried his bag of groceries in one arm, and a bag containing two buckets of paint in the other. He was in a sour mood, especially after having not been able to find what he was looking for quickly, and because he'd been stuck behind an old broad who had to count her exact change twice before paying the cashier, only to say she didn't want something she'd just purchased. Then she had to count the exact change all over again. As the boy walked through the shopping district, he passed a few clothing stores on his way to the parking lot.
He didn't notice the two girls exit one of the stores and begin walking in his direction till he'd bumped into one of them. His bag of paint fell from his arm, and he heard a box drop to the ground and the sound of a familiar voice cursing. Glaring at the blonde girl he'd just bumped into, he felt his eyes widen a bit in surprise.
Cagalli groaned in the dressing room. "Stellar, I'm not coming out in this thing!" she shouted through the door. She heard her friend giggle from the other side.
"Oh come on Cagalli, just let me see it on you!" she begged.
The amber eyed girl growled and unwillingly reached out to open the door to the dressing room. Stellar's eyes widened in amazement and Cagalli felt self-conscious. "What? Does it really look that bad? I told you I can't wear these things!" the girl shouted a bit loudly.
Stellar smiled, "It doesn't look bad on you at all! It looks great! See for yourself!" she giggled, pointing to the full length mirror besides the dressing rooms.
Cagalli glanced over and felt her cheeks redden. The dress she was wearing was a thin shoulder-strap, emerald green dress with a white ruffle on the hem which only came to just barely above her knees. It was worse than her school skirt. The thin material seemed to hug her body too tightly, she thought, and her almost non-existent breasts were outlined and seemed bigger. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she turned to glare at her best friend. "Can I take it off now?" she asked.
Stellar smirked, "Only if you plan on buying it. It looks great on you!" she exclaimed.
Cagalli huffed and furrowed her brow. "No way. I'm not wasting my money on something stupid like this!" she added. What she wasn't telling her friend was that the dress, when she wasn't looking at it, actually felt a bit comfortable. Of course, she wasn't a dress person, so she really never thought she looked acceptable in dresses.
The other blonde girl chuckled. "Oh all right. You can take it off. I'll put it back for you, how about that?" she asked, a glint in her eyes that seemed questionable.
The idea of taking the dress off pleased Cagalli, and she jumped back into the dressing room. Opening the door just a crack to hand the dress and hangar to Stellar, Cagalli then shut it and threw her comfortable clothes back on. As she exited the small room, the girl looked around to find her friend, and noticed she was at the register. Walking over, Cagalli felt her jaw drop as the cashier rang up two dresses, and placed them in small, white boxes, and handed them to Stellar after Stellar paid the woman. Turning, she smiled at Cagalli, "What?" she asked innocently as she began to walk towards the door.
"What? What are you doing with that dress? I thought you said you were putting it back!" Cagalli shouted.
Stellar smirked, "I lied."
"Well what are you doing buying it then?"
Stellar stopped and thrust the box containing the green dress to her friend. "Think of it as an early birthday present. And because you're getting it from your best friend in the whole wide world, you have to keep it! And at least wear it twice in public." Stellar explained smugly.
Cagalli glared at her, but accepted the box. Stellar did kind of have a point. It was a present from her best friend, she couldn't just return it or shred it or something. "You know I hate you right now, right?" she asked, glaring at the box in her hands.
Stellar sighed with a content smile on her face, "It'll pass."
The two girls exited the store and began walking towards another that Stellar wanted to check out. Unfortunately for Cagalli, it was a shoe store. They'd probably be there forever. But as they were walking, they didn't notice the boy in front of them till Cagalli bumped into him, dropping her box and falling to land on her backside.
"Ow…" she mumbled rubbing her backside shamelessly. The boy glared and looked about to shout out an insult or something, till he realized who was on the ground before him. The girl looked up, ready to apologize and take the blame politely, till amber met emerald. "You!" she spat with hate in her voice.
Athrun glared down at the blonde teen with mixed feelings. Annoyance for being bumped into, anger because it was Cagalli, a dark yet twisted feeling of lust because it was Cagalli, and a bit smug for knocking her down to sit at his feet. "Watch where you're going you little bitch," Athrun retorted with a smirk on his lips.
Cagalli growled and shot up to her feet. "You bastard!" she shouted before pulling her hand back and attempting to slap the boy across the face.
Only Athrun used his free hand to grab her wrist, and he bent it back a bit to cause a shot of pain to run through Cagalli's arm. Pulling her a bit closer to him, he leaned down till their gazes were level. "You know, you should respect your superiors little girl." he stated, his hand not loosening his grip on the girl's wrist.
Instead of focusing her attention on her aching wrist, Cagalli kept her glare level with Athrun's smirking eyes and growled for him to let her go. He noticed the anger in her voice, and only tightened his grip, causing the girl to wince slightly. "Now why would I do that? You're much like a tiger. If I cage you, you're not much of a threat. But if I decided to let you go, you just might try and slash my chest apart." he whispered in a husky tone, using a strange metaphor.
"Let her go you pervert!" Stellar shouted before kicking the boy in the shin.
Athrun was surprised at the other girl's interference, and had let go of the blonde's wrist. Cagalli instantly pulled back away from him, and kept a steady glare. "I thought I told you not to touch me!" she more threatened than asked.
Athrun smirked and glanced down at the white box that had fallen half open, revealing the dress inside. "Cute dress. Plan on wearing it soon?" he mocked with a sadistic grin.
Cagalli bent down to pick up the box and gripped it tightly to her chest, as though protecting the innocent piece of clothing from the boy's harmful eyes. "Stay away from me." she demanded before walking over to Stellar, grabbing her wrist, and then began dragging her away. Stellar turned back long enough to glare and give the blue haired boy she'd never even seen before then "the finger".
Athrun glared after the girls and bent down to retrieve his bag of paint. He was a bit relieved to see the cans hadn't blasted open. Replacing the bag in his arm, he decided to take the long way to the parking lot.
Miriallia stormed into the back room of the Fable Café panting. Looking up, her gaze met with light blue. Tolle stood before her, wearing a white collared shirt with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, and a pair of black pants. He also wore a white apron over his clothes. His smirk made Miriallia wonder just what was going on in his perverted head. "You know Mir, you panting like that reminds me of my dream last night after we did something very, very naughty." he joked, enjoying the look of horror on the girl's face.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," she mumbled between pants. Even though she'd taken the stairs, she was still twenty minutes late to her job.
"Well, I think I'll let you off easy this time for being late, but next time, you're gonna have to give me a lap dance." the boy stated with a grin.
Miriallia shuddered at the "bad image" taking place in her mind because of what Tolle said, and felt another shudder knowing that he was serious. "As much as I hate to say it to you, Tolle, thanks." she grumbled before walking towards the row of lockers at the other end of the room. Reaching her locker, she opened the door and pulled out a white collared shirt, and was reaching for the pair of black pants when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.
Turning around, Mir looked warily at Tolle before widening her eyes in shock. "Now Mir, I said I'd let you off easy, not "Mir you're of the hook". So as punishment, you have to wear the skirt." he said with a smirk plastered on his face.
Miriallia paled, "B-but Tolle! That thing's not even as long as the other ones!" she shouted in anger and surprise.
The boy chuckled, "I know. That's why it's punishment. Now get your uniform on and be out there in thirty seconds. We're understaffed today." he added with a grin before slinking his way back into the café.
Miriallia stared at the short black skirt in her hands and groaned.
Dearka and Yzak walked slowly through the mall. They were planning on heading to the café right after stopping off at the music store to check and see if there were any new albums out. Dearka was still thinking about the auburn haired salesgirl as Yzak led him towards a café. glancing up, Dearka furrowed his brows in confusion. "Café Fable? Why are we here?" he asked his blue eyed friend.
Yzak sighed, "Or usual café looked too crowded for my liking. Besides, this place seems fine."
Dearka shrugged to himself and followed Yzak into the café. The two boys found a table by the wall and sat down. Yzak skimmed over the menu and Dearka just glanced down at it. As they waited for a waiter to come by, Dearka glanced over to another table at the other end of the room. There were three boys sitting there and the waitress was taking their orders. What caught Dearka's eye was how short and tight looking the skirt looked on her. Quickly glancing at the other waitresses, he noticed their skirts were a few inches lower than the one the other girl was wearing. It was actually kind of odd, Dearka was a bit confused.
As the girl walked by their table to get to the kitchen when the tan skinned boy got a chance to look at the girl's slightly pale legs. He turned slightly to watch her walk away, but never once looking up to see her face. "Dearka, stop drooling like a dog." Yzak stated in a bored tone as he read through the menu.
Turning back to sit in his seat correctly, Dearka placed his elbow on the table and dropped his chin in his hand. They only had to wait a few moments before a waitress walked over, her eyes trained on her notepad and not even bothering to glance up at the boys sitting at the table. "Are you ready to order?" she asked automatically, tapping her pen against the pad of paper.
Yzak didn't look up at her, and said lazily, "I'll have a vanilla espresso."
The waitress wrote that down quickly, and Dearka looked over at her and his eyes widened a bit in surprise.
A smirk crawled onto his lips and he said, "You know, we have to stop meeting like this."
The waitress looked up and felt her heart skip a beat from distress. "W-why are you here?" she demanded, her aqua eyes flaring.
Dearka chuckled, "Getting coffee stupid. I'll have just coffee. Black if you don't mind." he added with false sweetness.
Miriallia bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from mouthing off. If it wasn't bad enough that she had to endure torture from this guy at Rhea's, but now she had to serve him as though she were lower than a slug? 'What did I do to deserve this?' she whined to herself. "Will that be all sir?" she asked with a crackling voice.
"That's all, now run along little girl." Dearka added that last part with a little gesture of his hand, causing Miriallia's ears to turn red from anger. 'It's kinda cute when she does that…' he thought to himself as she walked away, only to swat the thought from his head.
"Dearka, what is it with you and that girl?" Yzak asked with no interest at all.
The other boy sighed and shrugged, "I dunno, it's fun being able to torment her like this though and she's not allowed to do anything about it. A few times I could have sworn she was gonna lose it and punch my face in." he added with a chuckle.
Yzak rolled his eyes at his friend's oddly sadistic, yet tame teasing. He too had expected the girl to go ballistic and start a fight with them on sight. Dearka had to be right about her holding back because of her jobs.
Miriallia waited for the two boys' orders to be ready with little patience. 'If that bastard says anything more, I swear I'm going to do something…' she swore to herself with mild amusement. If she could have it her way, she'd have strangled them when she first saw them that morning. But alas, she couldn't duke it out with customers in the workplace. Of course, she could always get back at them at school, but she'd probably have lost the flare-of-the-moment by then.
When the orders were ready, she placed them on a tray and began carrying them back to the table. When there, she gave each boy their order and picked the tray back up and held it to her chest. "Need anything else?" she asked rudely, trying to be as mean as she could within the workplace.
Dearka was about to say something, but Yzak glared and told Miriallia 'No'. As she turned around to walk towards another table, a teen at the table across from Dearka and Yzak's smirked and stuck his foot out in the way of the waitress. Without realizing it was there, Mir tripped right over it, falling flat on her face. The boy began laughing and the others at the table joined in.
When Mir fell to the floor, because her skirt had been too short in the first place, it had hitched up, exposing her under garments to anyone behind her. She blushed a deep red in embarrassment and anger as she sat up, pulling her skirt hem back down. A waiter by a table nearby chuckled and called over to her, "You know Mir, we do have brooms to clean the floor."
The girl sent a glare at the waiter and stood abruptly. She glanced over at the boy that had tripped her and gave him one of her looks that said, "If I could, I'd kill you right now". The boy stopped laughing momentarily and Miriallia walked towards a table as though nothing had happened. The café that had quieted down when she feel buzzed back up and began resuming their conversations.
Dearka watched Miriallia take the order of an elderly couple and storm back to the counter to get the orders ready. "That was amusing." Dearka mused to himself as Yzak silently sipped his espresso. The tan skinned boy then turned to his coffee and took a long sip, breaking away quickly to gasp, "Hot!" Across the café, Mir smirked a little victory smirk.
Athrun walked back into his house, and a feeling of emptiness washed over him. He forgot about the incident with Cagalli in the shopping district, and only thoughts of emptiness, and lonely nights filled him. He wondered slightly if he possibly had a split personality. One side of him was the arrogant, cruel bully at school, and the other was his lonely, empty shell he felt at home, when he was alone. Lenore trotted into the front hall to greet the teen with a small bark as he slipped off his shoes.
Flashing a small smile, Athrun walked into the kitchen and placed the bag of groceries on the center counter. He then shifted the bag of paint in his arms and walked towards the kitchen stairway that led to the second floor. As he walked up the stairs, Lenore followed him silently, sensing his empty feeling.
When they reached the top floor, Athrun made a turn, and Lenore followed until they came to a closed door. With his free hand, Athrun reached forward and opened the door. Lenore jumped into the room and Athrun followed her, not bothering to close the door. Walking into the room he'd been painting in the previous afternoon, he set the bag of paint on the floor, and walked over to one of the small stands he kept tubes of paint on. He picked up a small, digital camera from under a large tube of white and turned the small device on.
Looking around the room, he took a few pictures: pictures of each painted wall. The teen made sure to get every little painting he'd done in the camera pictures. After all, he would never see those same pictures again. Setting the camera back where he found it, he then walked toward the bag of paint. Kneeling down, he opened the first can of white paint. Then, picking it up in both hands, he walked over to one wall, the wall with all the windows painted on it, and pulling his arms back, he then made as though to toss the can at the wall. But he never let go, allowing the force to pull the paint from the can and splatter over the wall.
The thick white liquid splattered against the wall like white blood. Athrun then repeated the process till the whole wall was coated with fresh white paint and the can was only half full. Turning then to the wall with the crystal cavern painted on it, he tossed the paint onto the wall till it too was covered and the can was empty.
Setting down the empty can, he then went to retrieve the second can. With this, he threw white paint at the wall where he'd painted Lenore just yesterday. The white paint soon coated that wall, and he then turned to the last wall. With slightly tired arms, he threw the rest of the paint onto the painting of the park fountain, and after closing the door, he wanted the paint race down the hard wood surface till it dripped onto the carpet of drop cloth that covered the floor of the room.
He reopened the door, and walked out with a silent Lenore on his heels. Walking back to his bedroom after closing the door, he sat down on his bed. Lenore hopped up onto the soft mattress and curled up beside Athrun, sensing her master's emotions. Glancing over at the digital clock on his nightstand, Athrun saw it was already seven thirty. The party started at eight thirty, but he wouldn't get there till nine anyway. He had to be fashionably late to build up the suspense of his arrival. Deciding to take a long shower, he stood, pulling off his shirt and tossing it on the ground on his way towards his bathroom. 'Fashionably late to a plain old party? Just to make myself seem more important than I am? Mother, I'm becoming more like Father everyday, aren't I?' he asked his Mother silently, with bitterness towards himself. His father had been the one thing he knew his mother hoped he'd never become. But with how Athrun acted now, he was following in his father's footsteps perfectly. 'Damn.' he added to himself before turning the shower on 'Hot'.
Miriallia sighed heavily as she finished wiping the table. She spent the rest of her after noon at the Fable Café, and she had no choice in the matter anyway since Tolle had to work at another store a few hours after the café. He was her only ride to and from work, so she had to keep herself busy till he was done with his last job.
"Hey Miriallia, you can just go now, I think we have enough people here for the rest of the night. Go on and get ready to leave," the assistant manager said kindly. He was the one who 'd made the joke about the broom earlier that day. He may be a jerk sometimes, but he could be nice when he wanted to.
"Thanks, Ryo." the girl mumbled tiredly before trudging into the back room and going to her locker to grab her clothes to change back into.
Walking out of the back room, Miriallia couldn't help but sigh in relief as she felt her jeans grip to her legs. No more painfully humiliating skirt. "Bye!" she said with a smile as she left the café.
Checking the large clock above the fountain in the center of the mall, Miriallia saw it was ten to eight. 'Tolle should be done working, he's probably waiting for me,' she thought to herself as she made her way to the main entrance to the mall. Tolle usually waited for her there, or vice versa.
Making her way out of the entrance, Miriallia immediately picked out the black car her friend drove, and walked over to it. But once closer, she noticed Tolle was leaning against his car with three of his friends. When one looked over and saw her, they pointed her out to Tolle who glanced over at her with a smirk on his face. "Hey Milly! Come on over here!" he shouted, that smirk still stuck on his face suspiciously.
Walking over warily, Mir could tell something was going to happen, and she wasn't going to like it. Once next to Tolle, she narrowed her eyes and growled out, "All right Koenig, what is going on in that empty head of yours?"
Tolle's friends snickered at the girl's comment, and Tolle shrugged. "Aw, c'mon Milly, why do you always think I'm up to something?" he asked playfully.
The girl snorted, "Tolle, I've known you since third grade, and I know very well when you're up to something." she replied.
The brunette grinned, breaking the smirk. "All right, you caught me," he began as his friends chuckled lightly.
Miriallia gave him an annoyed, questioning look.
"I got bored during work, so I came up with a fun idea for today," he began. "If you want me to drive you back home, you're going to have to…" Tolle leaned in further and whispered the last part to the girl quietly.
Miriallia's face turned redder than a tomato and she nearly jumped back from her 'friend'. "Hell no! You fucking pervert! I'd rather walk home!" she declared angrily before storming off. 'How could he think up something like that? Ugh—I don't want to know. Damn him, now I'll be late getting home to watch Katie…' she thought to herself as she walked down the sidewalk towards the exit of the Masaki Mall parking lot.
Dearka steered his corvette carefully out of the parking lot after nearly getting rammed by another car. Yzak had left just a little more than a half hour ago to go get ready for the party later. Dearka had wanted to go to a DVD store to see if the movie he was looking for was available there yet. Both had agreed to meet at the party around ten to nine or so.
As he was about to pull out of the parking lot completely, he noticed a girl walking on the sidewalk out of the parking lot. The short auburn haired was a dead giveaway for him, and Dearka smirked as he drove up beside the walking teen. Miriallia didn't seem to notice the car pulling up beside her and kept walking till the sound of a window going down broke her out of her thoughts.
"Need a lift?" a familiar voice asked.
Miriallia glanced over and saw the dark red corvette being driven by none other than Dearka Elthman, her most annoying annoyance all day. "What?" she asked, a bit confused.
Dearka smirked, having anticipated this kind of reaction. "I said, 'Need a lift?'" he repeated.
Miriallia narrowed her eyes and growled, "No I don't," and then began walking away. Dearka followed her a few feet before he asked, "Don't tell me you walk to an from work? Obviously it's over fifteen miles since the school's sixteen miles away." he added, knowing she had to live within four miles of their school district to go to that school and not another, closer, one.
"Not usually, but I like the exercise." she replied back with sarcasm dripping from her words.
"Well then get in. I'll drive you home." Dearka replied back.
Miriallia glared at him and made to start walking away again, till Dearka added, "If you don't let me give you a ride home, I tell your manager at Rhea's that you weren't a very polite salesgirl."
The girl froze and turned her head to glare at the blonde boy with shock, anger, hatred, and horror etched on her face. 'I can't lose that job,' she worried silently to herself. "You wouldn't." she stammered slightly on her words out of worry.
The smirked, knowing he had her on his hook. Now all he had to do was reel her in. "Yes I would. With a little 'persuasion' I'm sure she'll gladly fire you. Now either risk getting fired, or get in the car." he answered, already the victorious smirk on his lips. He watched in amusement as the girl hesitantly walked over and reached out slowly to open the passenger side door.
As she slipped inside the car, Miriallia felt like kicking herself, really hard, in the stomach. She was letting that bastard order her around even after work. The said bastard only grinned as she closed the car door and buckled her seatbelt silently. Pressing on the ignition, he then sped off onto the road.
"So, where do you live?" Dearka asked after a few minutes of driving down the highway ten to fifteen miles above the speed limit.
'Stalker,' Miriallia mused to herself in her head before answering, "Once we're in Red Shoals I'll give you the directions."
Dearka nodded and watched the road, glancing over at the girl sitting beside him every few seconds. Mir was fidgeting with the wrist band of her white gloves, running her fingers over the surface and then plucking at the soft, white material. The boy noticed it, and wondered again why exactly he'd offered to give her a ride. She was the girl who'd nearly kicked the shit out of him if she'd wanted to had Athrun not been her main target. She was pretty much his automatic enemy since she decided to be friends with Azrael Kira, yet here she was, in his car, probably wanting to be anywhere but there in the expensive leather seat.
"So," he began, bored of the silence in the car as they drove. "Just out of curiosity, why was it I met you twice today at two very different places?" he asked, trying to start up a conversation out of boredom.
"I work all day every Saturday at three different stores in the Mall." she informed him blandly. She too seemed bored of the silence.
"Why?" the boy asked curiously. Surely since she went to Kurenai Sakura High School, her parents had to be wealthy enough not to force her to work three jobs a day every Saturday?
"Because unlike you and nearly all the other rich brats at school, I need to work to get cash." she answered a bit stiffly.
"Uh-huh…so what exactly do you need money for that your parents won't get you?" he asked.
The girl smirked darkly before giving a small chuckle. "Anything, everything." she stated, much to the confusion of the boy beside her. "Besides, my business isn't any of yours to know."
Dearka stopped at a red light and glanced over at her quickly. "Well I'm making it my business." he retorted, pressing the ignition when the light turned red.
"Well I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't." she growled out.
"Too bad. Now tell me." he demanded smugly.
Miriallia rolled her eyes, and took a moment to think about her answer and whether she'd tell this boy whom she hated what she hadn't even been able to tell her new friends. 'If I tell him, he might feel sorry for me and leave me alone. Worth a try at least.' she reasoned to herself. "Mainly my little sister's medication. She's not very healthy and needs medication to keep her body stable, all right?" she asked, hoping that would discourage anymore conversation from Dearka.
The boy was silent for a moment, but then asked, "You have a sister?"
"Yeah, she's looks a lot like me, except her hair is longer." Miriallia answered, feeling more relaxed talking about Katie.
Both were silent for a few minutes till Dearka drove onto a large road that looked to run into a large community. Miriallia waited a few moments till they came to the first stop sign, and then said, "Make a right here, and turn right again onto Cane street."
Dearka followed her directions, and once he was on Cane street, Miriallia gave him another set of directions and then another. The boy was too occupied in following the directions, he didn't notice that he was slowly making his way into the downtown area of Red Shoals.
When the girl said, "Stop here," did he actually look around and realize exactly where he was.
He looked over at the girl in confusion as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got ready to open the door. "Wait, this is where you live?" he questioned.
Mir scowled and said, "Yeah." before opening the car door and stepping out onto the old sidewalk in front of an old looking, one story house with a poorly tended front yard.
He watched in curiosity as she walked up the old, cracking driveway and towards a worn looking front door. She had to tug on the door knob before it opened, and Dearka noticed she didn't look back once to see what his expression was. Slowly, Dearka put the small, poorly mismatched pieces of the jigsaw puzzle he did have together.
A concerned look crossed his face as he watched the front windows, seeing someone moving behind old white curtains. Slowly, he turned his attention back to driving and began backtracking his way out of the slums and back on the road to his perfect mansion in the perfect, nicer, richer, better part of Red Shoals.
Okay…1) I'm really sorry this is sooo late! It's not all my fault, I got grounded, this took a long time to type, and I've been swamped with school work. Ever since eighth grade started I've been swarmed by work! 2) I hope you're satisfied with this chapter, it's 15 pages long and 12,005 words long. Obviously I'm now tired, and may not be able to update for awhile since this is so long and you all may feel up to giving me another break. But I do want to try and update this by the end of this week. Of course, school plays a big part in that. We'll see though, won't we?
By the way, since there was very little Kira in this chapter, and absolutely NO Lacus, next chapter will be centering around my favorite characters! Oh yum, I just love it when ideas storm my head!
Also, a small footnote: I've been contemplating and taking small breaks to start typing a few one-shots for a new pairing of mine that no one else has created something for. I plan on making a few one-shots for K+ T and M, they'll be my first yuri creations, and the first LacusxMiriallia fics on the site! Hoo-ha for me! If you want to be nice, or if you want to read a yuri fic, I'm posting two of my little one-shots along with this, So after reading this and you want to read my K+ LxM story, go on ahead and read the fluffiness. Or if you want to be a little bolder, go ahead and read my M LxM story if you want to read about Lacus and Miriallia dancing erotically with each other. personally, I'm not too proud of either of them, though I do like the middle and after parts of Dirty Dancing…anyhoo, read em if you want, no grudges will be held against you. I'm just excited over my new pairing who I pretty much just made up.
Sorry for dragging the Author's Note out so long! Hope you enjoyed chapter 9, please review!
Sam
