A/N: Umm... Sorry, the AsuCaga moment is not here...

So, please enjoy this short father-daughter moment! Oh, and thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED/Destiny

Chapter 13

July 29th 2010

Cagalli had just finished the last illustration for her work. It was still in line art, but as soon as she went back to her apartment, she would finish it.

As she finished her last illustration, she gazed through the window in front of her desk, to a swing at a tree her father had made for her when she was still a little girl.

Her room was still like when she left her father to live on her own. As she walked to her old room, her closet was still at the corner, in front of it was her desk, when she used to do her homework or drawing or play with her computer, next to it was her bed. The color was a shade of green.

Now her computer was at her apartment, she used it for her job.

Cagalli had walked out of the house, and now she was standing before the swing. It was a bit dirty, for not being used for a long time.

"I forgot to clean it. I didn't know you want use it when you come here."

Uzumi was behind her, looking old but healthy, calm and wise.

"Just remembering old memories," Cagalli said. "It's all right." She dusted the seat and sat there. She swayed the swing with her feet, testing if it was still safe. They could reach the ground now. When she was little, she had to use a box so she could sit there. But her father was always there for her, so she rarely used the box. Now the box was nowhere to be seen, nor Cagalli know where it was now.

"Do you remember you always wait until weekend so I can help you get to the swing, and you didn't have to used the box," Uzumi said as he slowly walked behind the swing. He held the ropes and swayed her.

Cagalli chuckled. "I was thinking where the box is right now." She sighed, and stared at her father. "I missed you, father."

"I missed you too, my princess." He bent down and kissed Cagalli's forehead.

Cagalli still didn't understand why Athrun had told her to see her father. If she related it to Athrun's ability, and his desperate tone, it meant that her father would… die…

And that wasn't the only reason why she was thinking about it lately.

"I'm glad you came home yesterday."

"If you wanted me here you should have called me."

"I wanted to, but…," he shook his head, "Still it's nice to have you here, by your own will."

They were quiet for a minute. And then Uzumi started to retell all their memories, when her mother passed away, when Cagalli was crying because a guy followed her everywhere at school since he loved her, when Uzumi had to tell Cagalli when her body started to change into a woman's body. When Cagalli decided that she was old enough to go on her own after she graduated…

"Father… Why are you telling me these all?" Cagalli asked.

"Why? I can't recount our memories?" Uzumi asked, trying to sound hurt.

"You can, but… when you were remembering all these memories… it sounds like…"

"Like someone who is going to die…" Uzumi said calmly.

Cagalli's head snapped. It was getting weirder. Her father had been acting strangely. Since she came there, Cagalli always caught her father staring at somewhere afar, like he was thinking about something so deeply. He barely eat, when Cagalli made him chicken soup for dinner, he only ate some and didn't finish it. She was told that her father had been seeing his lawyer lately to manage his house after he died. He had been talking about death a few times. It made her afraid.

"I don't like it when you talk about that," Cagalli frowned.

"Someday, my princess I would have to leave you here. And we shall meet in the next existence."

"But I want you here with me…" Cagalli's throat was chocked.

"Tell me, my princess, have you found someone you think is good for you, someone who can take care of you?"

"You mean… a boy?" Cagalli asked.

"Not a boy, Cagalli. A man, you know? If you are in love with someone…"

And Cagalli suddenly thought about Athrun; her cheeks brightened. She imagined Athrun as her boyfriend, taking her to dinner, sharing many things with him, kissing him… She felt her cheeks heated up. It was all right to think about him like this, right? Cagalli already knew that she likes him, attracted by him, enough to feel that way with him. He wouldn't know though…

"I see." Uzumi chuckled as he saw Cagalli's red face.

"It's not like that…" Cagalli mumbled, still embarrassed.

"What's it? Is there a problem?"

Cagalli wanted to tell it all to her father. He knew she can trust him. He knew how to keep a secret, but Cagalli didn't want to betray Athrun's trust for her.

"Father…?"

"Yes, Princess?"

She had decided. "I know… a guy… who had the ability to… see when people die."

"Is this guy your boyfriend?"

"No, not my boyfriend. He's a friend… I shouldn't tell you about this but…"

"Do you like him?"

"Other people said that too!" Cagalli pouted again.

"Maybe they wouldn't have said that if you don't sound so concern about him. I know you wanted to reach him, but you're afraid, right?"

"I don't know what to do… And I don't know how much I like him."

"People who can see death always know how short this life is, that people can die easily, anywhere anytime. He should know how to cherish this life, how lucky we are that we had been given the chance to live, to see this beautiful world."

"But all I see in him is desperation, sadness… He closed himself from other people."

"Death is not something you want to see every day, I know you understand that. He didn't want anybody to feel his pain, so he closed himself. And I think, he thinks that—like you—he don't tell people. They would think he is crazy or what."

"Lacus told me he trusted me with his secret, and I shouldn't… be like this… to him. He is a good guy, and he won't hurt me. But I hurt him."

"I know it's not easy. But think about it, if only you're on his shoes, what would you want? What would you do?"

Cagalli thought about it. If only she could see people's deaths the way Athrun could… She shivered. How long had Athrun been seeing those horrible nightmares? A few years… ten years?

"What are you afraid of Cagalli?"

"His ability… that he can see people's death…"

"That's not something to be afraid of, if you ask me. You said he was desperate, I know he couldn't save those people whose death had been seen by him. But death is something destined to be. Everyone in this world will surely die. It's a certainty thing among many uncertainties. What's to be afraid of? Beside, world has change, dear. It's not the early 20th century when you force a foreteller to an asylum and give them many cruel therapies. Many people go to a foreteller nowadays."

She remembered again all those times Athrun had hinted to his ability. When he talked about a little girl he had tried to saved, when he talked about the dark paintings— and when Cagalli had mentioned killer Athrun shuddered, when they watched 'Knowing' together, as Athrun bolted up, seeing the professor desperately wanted to help people but failed, just like him. Cagalli knew Athrun had been trying to save some of those people. Just like what his father had said, people's death is a fate. They were supposed to die at the time that had been destined.

"You should apologize to him if you hurt him. And you know he is a good guy. You should support him through this life. Don't let him suffer more in loneliness."

Cagalli remembered the woman with Professor Koestler. He was trying to make her understand about the disaster coming, about how to solve it. She knew Athrun felt the same way as Professor Koestler had when she walked out of his house.

And now she so desperately wanted to see him.

"As for the… liking-him thing… You know we're talking about death, Cagalli. Like I said, life is short. Find out about your feelings soon, if you don't want to have any regret. When the one you love the most is taken away from you you'll realize the truth, and that would be painful, so I hope you wouldn't have to experience that."

Cagalli stared at nowhere while Uzumi swung her a few more times. When the sun was starting to set, Cagalli got up from the swing and hugged her father tightly.

"I love you, father," Cagalli said as she inhaled her father's fatherly scent, trying to etch it into her memory.

"I love you too, my princess, always and forever."

July 30th 2010

Cagalli placed bacons and eggs at the plates she had placed at the table. It was almost seven thirty and her father still hadn't come out yet. He was always a morning person, so Cagalli decided to wake her father.

She walked to Uzumi's room and knocked three times. "Father? Breakfast is ready."

Thirty seconds later, still no answer. Cagalli's heart started to beat faster.

"Father?" She knocked again. Still no answer.

And then, without particular reason, she felt tears pooling on her eyes; her heart beat faster. Cagalli opened the door slowly.

Her father was there, on his bed. He was lying there, eyes closed, his hands fold on top of his stomach, not moving.

Athrun's warning, her father talks…

They knew this would happen.

Cagalli slowly walked to his bed and kneeled beside it, barely aware of a folded paper on the nightstand. She saw his face through her blurry eyes. It was so peaceful.

She lifted her hand and stroked her father's cheek. It was cold.

"I love you, father… Rest in peace…" she whispered through her tears.

My grandfather told me how my great grandfather had died. He knew it three days before it happened. He only sat on his chair and asked for water to my grandfather. When he came back, my great grandfather had died, just looking like an old man sleeping on his chair.

And Uzumi's character is from my grandfather. He is a philosopher, and he teaches me many things. Thank you, grand pere.

And prepare for the... whatever it is on next chapter...

Give me some love!