Ch. 12: New Flags
Sunday passed by in the blink of an eye; nothing out of the ordinary, with the exception of Kira. After the little incident he had with Flay, his mind felt very foggy and covered, almost as if he would soon lose it forever. He was holding it Monday morning as he prepared himself for school. Even in that state, he had not changed much. He was still the same Kira, quick to anger his sister, and still the same genius in the graphic arts.
The only difference was that he had forgotten something very important to him, something, or someone who could truly make his life worth living. And it was replaced with another someone whom he would have called: something, because it didn't seem to be a someone to him at the start, but rather a something, and now it didn't seem like a something, but a someone in his newfound darkness.
He walked down the stairs to pack and realized Cagalli was still sleeping. He looked at the clock and yawned. It was 5 in the morning! For some reason his head seemed to have either kept him up or woke him up early. He didn't want to go back to bed, so he went to the fridge and took out some milk. Then he took a box of "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" from the top of the fridge and grabbed a bowl from the shelves. He opened a drawer for a spoon and sat down at the table to set his breakfast.
He looked down at the pieces as he poured to milk and to his surprise, he saw Lacus' image in front. Even under the spell, he still retained the memory of who she was. But the vision was harsh on his mind; he dropped the gallon container on the floor, but it was already empty and nothing spilt out. Kira was clenching his head as he felt great pain from within. He grabbed his head, suppressing his screams into grunts. Surprisingly, the pain soon subsided, and he felt no trace of it. He looked around cautiously for anything suspicious, but saw nothing.
He recalled Saturday night before he went home the next day.
"Do you love me Kira?"
Those 5 words lingered in his head. He was sure his answer was yes, and had no doubts about it. Shaking his head, he resumed to eat. "I wonder what happened to me," he thought aloud, "I'm sure that Flay couldn't have done this. She loves me."
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Athrun was driving to school in low spirits. After his little confrontation with Cagalli, he seemed to have lost hope.
"Can you give me some time?"
"How much time Cagalli?" he asked himself. "Days, months, years, decades? It's really concerning me now." He drove the rest of the way in silence.
As he parked, he groaned when he saw a pink Mazda in the parking alley. "Who would've thought Meer would get here early?" he asked, walking to the front doors and using the key. As he passed through many hallways, he finally reached his office only to find a note sitting at his desk. It was also pink with black ink and it was an instant giveaway that Meer dropped by. But I locked my door. How did she get in? He didn't bother to answer himself and just read it:
You better not try to cheat on me Athrun. Sorry I couldn't talk to you in person, but I've been busy lately.
His reaction was well over predictable. First he ripped the note to shreds, and then burned each piece to ashes with a lighter in his pocket. Why the hell won't she leave me alone? He left the office while closing the door behind him, and locking it. "Guess it's time to do a little office improvement. I still have the time." He walked back to his car and drove to the hardware store.
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2 hours soon passed as Cagalli finally woke up. She didn't expect to hear the TV running, but she did, and she ran down to see who it was. When she saw it was Kira, she narrowed her eyes in surprise. "What are you doing down here early?" she asked.
Kira looked at her with a normal expression. "I just couldn't sleep today," he answered. "What about you? You're up a little early."
"I'm just up when I want to be little brother."
Kira sighed. "I'm the older one here Cagalli and you know it. Now just eat something or we'll be late because you were hungry." He chuckle when she stomped into the kitchen and turned back to the TV.
"AAAAARRRGGGHHH!" Kira jumped at the noise to see Cagalli glaring him down. "WHERE'S THE MILK KIRA!?"
Kira gulped. If there was one thing Cagalli could never get over, it was no milk in the morning. And he had finished it on the cereal. "Uh, I'll just go ahead now." He grabbed his bag and sped out the door.
Cagalli was hunting him down as she always did. "GET BACK HERE YOU MILK THIEF!" It did no good for her and Kira eventually got into the school. Both of them were early considering that no students had shown up.
Sliding at the corner of a hall, Kira sprinted down the locker hallway with Cagalli hot on his trail. "Come on Cagalli; it's only milk!"
"IT IS MILK! NOW GET OVER HERE!" She was unwilling to give up and only forced Kira to keep running.
Finally Kira turned. He knew this was to only chance he had. Cagalli came at him fast and leaped at him like a tiger, but he merely stepped out of the way and his sister fell flat on the tile floor, face-first. "Had enough now little sis?" he teased seriously. When he received no answer, he sighed. "You'd better get back home and get ready; school starts in-"
He looked at his watch. "-10 minutes." And he walked to the front doors for some fresh air. He walked across the schoolyard for some time and slumped behind a wall. He looked to see Cagalli finally heading home and the buses rolling in. People piled out of the sliding doors for what seemed like ages and still Kira didn't see the one he wanted to see. He caught sight of red hair once, but it wasn't who he had hoped for. Finally the buses were finished unloading and left the scene, leave Kira very disappointed.
He walked back to the main door before hearing something from behind and turning. A small black car was stopping in the driveway and a man dressed as a butler stepped out. He opened the door behind and out came the same red-head he had hoped to see. When she saw him, she gave him a smile, which was very lustful on her part. Kira didn't care and only returned the smile as she waved back at her butler who drove off. Red heat coated his face when he saw her clothing: a slightly tight indigo dress with red short-sleeve top and her silky legs that travel all the way down into her black, childish slippers.
Flay walked up to her new slave and embraced his left arm tightly. "So Kira, how are you?"
As nice as he usually was, Kira didn't like spoiling a girl's mood, and he still felt pretty ill from earlier. "F-fine. Nothing's wrong."
It works like a charm, she thought. He's all mine. "That's good. Well, shouldn't we get to class?"
Kira looked down at his watch. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's go." He loosened her grip and they walked hand-in-hand through the doors.
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Cagalli stomped in angrily and slammed herself into her chair, still furious with Kira. He took all the milk! How am I supposed to have breakfast without milk!? I swear he's dead when we get home.
Shinn on the other hand, was sitting in his desk, staring at a picture album that he had brought from home. In virtually every picture was him and another lavender-haired girl. Even after the bell rang he continued to observe only his book while everyone else took their seat. Meer was just sitting at her desk the whole time, glaring at a certain blonde she was beginning to despise. She stood up at the bell and immediately picked up some chalk for the board.
I'm going to get that Athha, she thought. "Alright then, hope you enjoyed your weekend, because now you're back in here, and it's study time. Now-"
"Excuse me Ms. Campbell?"
The whole class, except for Shinn, looked out of the door to see Neo standing in the doorway. "Well, you seem to have a student who lost her way here."
"What does that mean? I have a full house here."
"Then she must be new. Right here."
The word "new" even caught Shinn's attention as he looked out the doorway. What he saw surprised him enough to drop his book on the desk. It was a girl with blonde hair dressed in a normal pair of jeans and a red shirt, along with 2 cute looking pinkish-white shoes. She was looking at Meer, holding a note up to her which the teacher took and read over.
"I see, she said with a sneer, well, welcome. You can go Neo."
The janitor looked up at her and departed. Meer then urged the girl into the classroom. "Alright class, I would like to introduce a new student." She looked down at the girl who merely looked at the floor before looking up.
"My name is Stellar Louisser. Hi."
Shinn was amazed at how cute she was when shy. He almost drowned in thought of her until he saw the dropped album on the desk and shook his head violently.
"Is something the matter Asuka?" Meer was staring at Shinn who jumped in shock at being caught.
"N-no Ms. Campbell. Nothing." She was still staring as he sighed and relaxed into his chair. He heard someone giggle and glared at the source: Cagalli.
Meer grunted. "Well, the only seat left is the one behind him Ms. Louisser. Make yourself comfortable."
Stellar nodded and took her seat behind Shinn. She was partially impressed by his figure, but it didn't stimulate her as Shinn might have wanted. After all, he had just taken his eyes off his most precious girl to look at a complete, female stranger.
Shinn took one look back to see that the girl was looking up front. Then she looked down at him and he turned. What's going on here, he thought. This girl's really giving me goose bumps right now, but I have Luna. Then again, I probably won't see her again, so...oh what's wrong with me? His face was reddening as he thought and he lost concentration. He had even forgotten to take out his homework and Meer walked up to him.
"Asuka, your homework?" Shinn shook his head in his thoughts and she took it as he didn't have it. As she walked back up, Stellar turned on Shinn.
"Might I ask why you're staring at me?"
Shinn gasped and turned away, embarrassed. "S-s-sorry. S-so sorry about that." His excuse followed up with nervous laughter which was amusing to Stellar as she giggled and turned the other way.
He's kind of funny. I guess it won't be that bad to sit by him. She took one more glance back at the red Shinn before looking forward again.
Cagalli stared at Shinn, then at Stellar, and giggled again to herself.
Meer then walked to the board to resume her work. "Alright then, now that we're all back, you better start working on that lab we went over last week. Instructions are already at the tables, and you are to work in pairs. After all, we don't want any accidents."
She grinned as she turned back to the board. The class began moving into their pairs. Stellar was ignored by most of the kids; some asked her, but she said no. She wanted Shinn to ask her; she already had a funny impression of him.
Cagalli came up to her. "What are you doing alone here? Want to work with me?"
Stellar only shook her head and looked in Shinn's direction. Cagalli caught her vision and laughed. "You want to work with him?"
As she expected, the new girl nodded and turned slightly red. Cagalli sighed. "Trust me, he's not one to work with. I have more than enough problems-"
Shinn snuck up behind her and tapped her shoulder. As she turned, he gave her a semi-scary look. "What were you just saying about me?"
"How would you know if I was talking about you? I never mentioned you, so back off!"
"Anyone can tell you were talking about me; you only talk about me like that in here!"
Just as Cagalli was about to answer back, Stellar spoke up. "Um, you?" She pointed at Shinn.
He looked at her, still angry. "Yeah? What do you want?"
Stellar stepped back. "Uh, well…will you-"
"What is going on here?"
Meer was standing behind the group and pointing at the other students. "They're already starting on their work and I still see you 3 socializing. I'll be seeing all 3 of you for detention before school tomorrow-"
"Why don't you butt out?" Cagalli interrupted. "This has nothing to do with you anyway. Stellar was just ready to work and Shinn just had to blow a vein!"
The rude tone only made Meer glare at her now most hated student. "And you shouldn't be talking back to your teachers in the school! Another detention for you and you'll be working alone for this lab! All of you will see me tomorrow morning and you will be coming the next morning after that! Now all of you get to work!"
And she stomped off, leaving Cagalli furious and Stellar, rather happy. Shinn was a little nervous when he realized he would be working with the new girl, but he didn't complain.
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The rest of the day went by normally, except for the fact that by 7th period Lacus was no longer teaching English. She was replaced by Natarle, who seemed to be very much rash in the class.
Kira sat and listened to her lectures without as much enthusiasm as he use to have. Occasionally he would sneak in a look at Flay and she would give him a smile if she caught him. He felt changed. Something about him said that Flay seemed different from how she was before; of course the spell erased all the worthless and dangerous moments to Flay, so he had no idea what.
"Aren't you getting bored Kira?"
Dearka had turned around. Apparently he wasn't too thrilled with the new teacher's style, but he didn't have Natarle for any other class. He watched Kira just drop his head on his open palm.
"Yeah, I'd say so. Ms. Clyne was much better."
"Oh right; do you know what happened to her?"
Kira stopped to think. "No, I have no clue at all."
Dearka's eyes widened. "Seriously? But I thought-" he couldn't continue.
Kira watched him carefully. "What is it?"
Dearka only sighed. "Never mind. It must be in my head." He turned around, but caught Kira glimpsing at Flay again. What's up with him, he thought. I heard that Kira dumped Flay. Rumor also has it that Ms. Clyne has something to do with Kira. Could it just be all in my head? He recalled the first day of how Kira reacted to Lacus and Flay and disagreed. Something's going on; I can tell. Well, nothing much I can do about it. What I need to focus on is Mir.
Kira was feeling slightly nervous. He was sure Dearka knew something that he should know, but he didn't want to push the matter. He took the pendant into his fingers and caressed it with care, just as he would with Flay. Everything seemed to fade out as he stared into the mixed-colored swirls; they seemed to sooth him and relax him as well as remind him of Flay.
"Yamato! What are you doing spacing out like that?"
Kira jumped back into reality and dropped the pendant that dangled helplessly around his neck. Natarle was glaring at him angrily which frightened him.
"I-I'm sorry ma'am. I just don't feel to well."
Natarle raised her eyebrow. "Then why not say something sooner?"
Kira breathed before answering. "I just thought it wasn't much of a problem. I guess I was wrong. I should be fine now."
"I'm not taking chances. Get down to the nurse; I tell them you're coming."
Kira nodded and got up slowly. He cast one look at Flay, but didn't smile. She did though.
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Lacus was walking all over the place so aimlessly. She didn't know what to do and just wandered to find something. Nothing seemed to spring up. She thought of seeing Kira in school sometime, but thought better. Who knows what would happen if she set foot in that building again?
She was feeling very lonely though; without Kira around anymore, she felt a little depressed because of the lack of his company. She had really been enjoying it so much, especially the night she saw Kira at his house. She presented a tiny smile as she remembered that stroll. All she really wanted was to be in Kira's arms again, even over her new idea, or rather, Kira's idea of her becoming a pop idol. Even with that thought, she was looking forward to it; she loved to sing after all, just as much as she loved Kira.
I wonder how he's doing now, she thought. Maybe I'll call him after school is over. Things are quite busy for me now, and I'm sure they will be for him too.
She passed by the school, onto the mall. She walked through the crowds slowly and carelessly; she didn't bother about anything. Neither did she stop until she saw something that sparked her: it was a glass, black cat with a golden tie around the neck and piercing blue eyes. Halloween was coming soonest of the holidays and she really liked it. So she picked it up and walked over to the cashier while fumbling in her purse for money.
"Say, aren't you the teacher at Orion?" Lacus looked up to see the cashier talking to her. "Shouldn't you be at the school?"
The memory of the school put a frown on her face. "I was fired ma'am, so no," she replied with a sad tone as she gave the cat to the women.
She in turn scanned it and looked back at Lacus. "Why is that?"
"I'm-well, that's my own business. I'd rather not talk about it."
"Alright then." She put the cat in the bag. "$4.32 please." She watched her customer fumble for the money; it seemed as if Lacus were too poor to even find a cent in her purse.
Lacus brought out the money and left quickly. She was walking fast towards home when she heard the school bell ring and turned in excitement as she started running. Kira!
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As algebra came to an end, Cagalli packed her things without even a moment's hesitation. She stepped out of the classroom rather quickly.
The blue-haired teacher didn't even bother to follow her; he knew she needed time, but Meyrin rushed after her.
"Wait, Cagalli! Can't you just wait a moment?" It was too little too late; the blonde-haired girl was out of earshot. Meyrin only puffed up her cheeks in irritation. "I swear, that girl…hmph!" She walked back to her desk to pack.
Athrun laughed quietly to himself, finding the act amusing. Even in a depression he found some happiness. When he saw Meyrin leave, he began to store away his things as well and walked out into the hallway. Coincidently, he bumped into his favorite student's brother. "Sorry, about that."
"Don't worry about it," Kira replied. "I'm just looking for someone."
"A girlfriend maybe? She was fired wasn't she?"
Kira gave him a clueless glance. "How can you fire a student?" he asked.
The response was shocking for Athurn. "Uh, never mind; I must be thinking of someone else." What happened? I thought-oh wait, Lacus likes him! Maybe he doesn't know. Sorry Lacus, but looks like you're losing the race. "Anyway, just watch yourself next time."
Kira nodded. "Yeah, sure Mr. Zala. I'll make sure of that."
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Shinn sat on the steps of the school, waiting for the bus to pick him up. When it finally showed, he walked down the steps. As he made it to the door, he bumped into someone next to him and turned to yell at whoever it was. When he saw the new yellow-haired girl standing beside him, he instantly ate his words before letting them go.
Stellar took a step back as recoil before looking up at Shinn. "Hey. It's you again."
It was getting uncomfortable for Shinn to be talking with another girl, but he still did it. "What? What are you doing here?"
"This is my bus."
Shinn's eyes bulged. "Your bus? But it's mine too."
"Coincidence then?" Stellar asked nervously.
Shinn only sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Well come on then; we can't keep these people waiting." And he got on without another word with Stellar following him. They both ended up sitting by each other near the crowded backside. Shinn was by the window with Stellar by the aisle.
It was quiet for some time between them. Finally Stellar decided to speak; she was bored of silence. "Well, how was the day?"
Surprised by her speaking, Shinn whipped his head around. "Nothing much happened. Why? What about your day?"
"It was fine for the most part, except we still got detentions." She was surprised when Shinn started laughing. "What's so funny?"
Shinn could barely stop laughing. She just had no idea about Meer. "Ms. Campbell is probably the worst teacher on this campus, and she's the detention teacher. It's not that surprising to get a detention for slipping even slightly in school."
"Oh, but what's so funny about getting the detentions?"
"Nothing much, except they're getting more common with every year. You don't know how many times Ms. Campbell threw me in the detention room last year."
Both of them were chit-chatting for awhile on the bus until Stellar had to leave. When she did, Shinn gave her a wave from the window, and had even said "bye" to her. She's funny to talk with, he thought, she could be a really good friend. Now I'm glad we share 3 classes. Stellar was the only thing on his mind on the way home, and he was very content with it.
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Kira was walking the hallways for some time as he thought about what had been happening; the problems in the morning and what Dearka had said. After some time, he finally reached his locker gave it up. Trying his combination multiple times, it didn't seem to work. "Oh come on! Open up already!" He shook the lock then kicked it once or twice, until he realized he wasn't turning the dial correctly. By the time he figured out his mistake, the hallway was empty of students and he was still packing his bag. I guess I'm really losing it today; I couldn't even open my locker. As he zipped the final pocket, he looked down at his pendant again and smiled.
"So, I see you've really taken a liking to it."
Kira jumped as Flay descended down upon him, squeezing him tightly. "What took you so long? I've been waiting outside the whole time."
Kira gulped as he felt Flay's breasts push against him. "I-I'm sorry. M-my locker-"
"Don't worry about it. What matters is that we're along here." She said the last line very deeply which made Kira shiver. "I'm actually glad your locker had a problem."
"F-flay, what are you-" Kira froze as she viciously turned his head and kissed him. He shoved her off and glared at her as if she were nuts. "We're still in the school Flay! Anyone could just walk down the hall and see us!"
As much as Flay didn't care, she decided to give, so they didn't waste time. "Alright then, follow me." She started walking down the hall and Kira hesitantly followed. She reached the stairs and quickly rushed up, hoping to pull the same trick as the other day on him. Not her surprise, it worked; Kira had stopped halfway to close his eyes when he caught a glimpse of the shiny blood red panties she wore. She was getting pretty exited herself, as she was sure Kira wouldn't refuse her this time. "Come on Kira," she teased, fingering him to follow.
Both of them made it up the stairs with Kira trying to get ahead so he wouldn't see what Flay wanted, but Flay always quickened the pace. They were on the 2nd of the 3 floors. Flay led Kira to an empty classroom and shut the door behind them.
Kira was afraid. "What are we doing?" he asked.
All Flay did was smile and point to the bed near the back of the classroom. "Mrs. Kevins brought it during health class for a game. How about we play our own game on it Kira?"
She stepped toward him, and he backed up to the wall where he couldn't get away. She giggled at his expression. "Don't worry Kira; there's nothing wrong." And she kissed him again smoothly.
Kira knew he couldn't stop her this time, but tried to talk as Flay pulled back. "Flay, stop already. We'll be caught in here."
"I didn't forget to lock the door you know," she replied, but frowned as Kira shook his head.
"What if somebody hears us from the outside? What would we do then?"
Flay thought for a moment. "Fine, why not go to my house then?"
"It can't be for long though Flay," Kira informed her. "I have homework to do, and I don't want to fail." As he thought, Flay gave him a childish pout, but it didn't seem to work well because he just lead Flay back down the stairs without a problem.
His actions were starting to worry Flay, as thought something was going wrong with the pendant. I guess it doesn't change his personality, she thought to herself, that's going to be a problem for me. But as soon as she stepped outside the school, she almost ate her words. Standing by the steps up to the school was a pink-haired girl with a glass cat decoration in her arms. As soon as she saw the shock in her eyes, she grinned.
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Lacus sat on the steps with patience, but was concerned that she might have missed Kira. Feeling a little nervous, she squeezed her grip on the cat without thinking, and realized later before relaxing. It's as if the kitty is a guide for me, she thought, if I break it, I'd be getting too upset. Oh, just how much longer though? I hope Kira is still here.
She looked at her watch and realized she was being stupid. It was at least 20 minutes after release and there was no way Kira would stay that long. She frowned and got up to leave before hearing footsteps coming from behind. She turned and smiled when she saw Kira stepping out and was about to run up to meet him. Then she saw it. The only thing she had hoped would never happen. Flay was holding Kira hand-in-hand and was just about to kiss him which he brushed off.
Her hands started trembling with the cat still in them as she attempted to move, but couldn't. When Kira saw her, she felt her heart break and shatter as he didn't display the same sympathetic smile he always did. Instead, he was just looking at her like she was not as much as she thought she was to him. It was harsh on her, and she involuntarily dropped the cat she bought. Like her heart, it too shattered against the marble stone steps. She was terrified; Kira had left her.
The only boy at the scene gasped as he heard the artwork break. He pulled away from Flay and rushed down to his now unknown lover. "Ms. Clyne, are you okay?"
Ms. Clyne. Those words rang in her head as she fretfully descended her glance upon her lover, who was attempting to clean the mess. "K-kira, why?"
Kira looked up. "Huh? Why what?" He was completely confused with what was going on.
But Lacus and Flay were not. While Lacus was experiencing the breakdown of her life, Flay was only grinning, and containing her pleasure of what had just happened.
And when Lacus saw the pedant around Kira's neck, she knew dreadfully she was right. She had, had enough. Slowly stepping back and finally breaking into a run, she cried ever so shamefully of what happened.
Kira stood up, confused. What was that about? When he felt Flay come up behind him, he forgot about Lacus and turned back to her. "Well, I guess we should be going then."
"Oh yes, we should," Flay agreed, as she once again took Kira's arm and walked down the steps with him. Now she's completely out of the way. Kira's all mine.
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The door slammed open and then shut as the pink-haired princess ran all the way up to her room, crying her heart out. She plunged into the covers and coated her head with the pillow; tears soaking themselves inside over and over. She constantly screamed in denial, unable to contain her emotion.
Why Kira? Why!? She was constantly screaming that same phrase over and over in her head; she couldn't believe it. Kira had just given her up for a girl he said she didn't want. Without resorting to sense and logic, she just cried and kept on saying it wasn't true.
However, it was true, on the outside at most. Nothing could change that. Nothing but a miracle.
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I'm sure all of you readers out there are very furious with me right now, but know this. It was so damn hard to write this; I wanted to postpone the bad news to Lacus later, but I couldn't find space in other chapters I had planned. Anyway, I've just introduced Stellar; I still haven't seen enough of SEED Destiny to know her personality that well, so this is how it will go for this story. Athrun and Cagalli will be ignored for a little while, maybe about 2-3 chapters, just to give you fair warning, or I could be lying. By the by, I know you all hate Kira and Flay, but for those people who like lemons, I want you to tell me if you want to see a lemon of the 2 of them on media miner. Well, have a good day, and with school still going, I still won't be able to update often. So please bear with me.
