For 30_kisses theme at LJ

Title: Waves
Theme: #29. 波音 (the sound of waves), #22. 揺り籠 (cradle)
Wordcount: 857
Summary: She looked down at the mesmerizing blue waves. This wasn't her first time on the ocean, but she still wondered what was down there in its depths.

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Murrue Ramius stretched as she walked towards the railing on the deck of the Archangel. The wind thread its fingers through her hair as she sighed and leaned on the railing.

The sun and fresh air felt so good compared to the stuffy bridge. Now that they've finally made it to the Red Sea, they had a brief moment of peace, and she decided to let the crew take turns to come outside for some fresh air.

She was glad for the moment of peace they had. But then frowned slightly; they were going through ZAFT territory, the hardest part was still ahead.

She shook her head to get rid of the gloomy thoughts. She'll deal with problems when they come, no use worrying about it now. Instead, she looked down at the mesmerizing blue waves. This wasn't her first time on the ocean, but she still wondered what was down there in its depths.

Sea monsters? she thought back to the stories she heard in her youth, and laughed a little as she shook her mind free of the silly thought.

"What are you laughing at, Cap'n?" she heard a voice behind her and realised she wasn't alone. She turned around and saw Mwu La Flaga walking towards her, waving.

A little embarrassed, she turned back to the ocean. "Sea monsters," she replied.

"Sea monsters?" the blond commander leaned on the railing beside her, and looked at her curiously.

"Yeah, just wondering if there are any down there," she gestured towards the murky depths with one hand.

He laughed. "Perhaps. Why, are you scared of them?"

"Nah," she shook her head, "I think I'd be more scared of space monsters."

She wasn't scared of space. But sometimes its lonely vacuum made her feel uneasy, its endlessness made her feel so small and insignificant. She looked at the endless expanse of water ahead of her, well, the ocean made her feel small and insignificant as well, but she felt none of that uneasiness. The lulling waves felt so comforting, like a cradle, as the Archangel sailed ahead to unknown territory.

"Space monsters eh.." he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for a moment, "Depends on your definition of 'monsters', but I think humans are the real space monsters," he muttered, almost to himself.

Then, as if realising this conversation would go somewhere too philosophical, he gave her a winning smile and told her, "Don't worry, I'll fend them off for you."

She returned his gaze and almost rolled her eyes. That had sounded so.. cliche. Yet she couldn't help but smile for some reason.

Ever since they landed on Earth, Commander La Flaga started spending a lot more time with her. Aside from their meetings to discuss battle plans and such, she found him following her around from time to time. She didn't mind, he was always interesting to be around and made for good company. And she found herself even starting to confide in him.

And, she did kind of think he was good-looking. Presently, she found herself thinking how blue his eyes were.

Neither of them said anything for the moment. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts again, probably something about humans being space monsters. The sound of waves and the occasional seagull cry filled the silence.

She looked away and cleared her throat, as she realised she must've been staring.

"So, did you finish installing the new Sonar device?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

He gave her a thumbs-up. "All ready to go. The kid did a wonderful job modifying to the equipment to work with ours." He shook his head in wonder. "He's amazing, I don't know if it's because he's a Coordinator or if it's just him."

Murrue smiled weakly. She felt bad for asking Kira to do so much, especially since she saw how his psyche was changing and how much he was affected by all of this. But they really didn't have much of a choice. She found herself wondering if Kira blamed her for knocking him into the Strike that day.

As if he had heard her thoughts, he patted her shoulder. "I think it's a great idea to give the crew some time off and a chance to get some fresh air."

She smiled and nodded. He was trying to make her feel better, though she was sure he felt the same thing she did. She smiled, glad that she didn't have to do this alone.

He inhaled the salty air deeply and sighed. "Well, I better go back to the hanger now--" she felt a hint of disappointment at that "--before Murdoch finds out that I sneaked away." She rolled her eyes, it was just like him to do that.

He turned toward her, and for a moment, she thought he was going to steal a kiss. Instead, he gave her shoulder a final pat, another winning smile, and left without another word.

She watched as he disappeared into the ship, before turning back to the hypnotic waves, thinking of how its colour reminded her of his eyes.

Dunno, something random. The first stages of their relationship, rather cute. Was originally gonna do this as theme #29, but then #22 fit as well, so what the heck, I threw it in XD