hey guys! here's chapter fourteen! yAy! i'm sorry if this has to be short, but i promise more on chapter fifteen... this only includes tons of revelations so please read... thanks for those who reviewed! i couldn't thank you enough! so here it is, please read and review!

disclaimer: i do not own gundam seed nor gundam seed destiny

Athrun returned the notebook to a disgruntled Cagalli casually, like he read nothing at all. Cagalli bought the act and thought that the missing journal entry might be lost elsewhere. Athrun left and Cagalli returned to her studies. As she was flipping through the pages just to make sure that she left that sheet of paper somewhere else, she flipped at the very last page, the one where Athrun wrote his own point of view about the topic.

Cagalli,

I didn't mean to invade your privacy but I just read that scribble of yours accidentally. Please, I beg for your forgiveness…! I just want to clear up things for you. You're UNIQUE, KIND and BEAUTIFUL. You should know that and you should never compare yourself to others… especially Mia Campbell! (I'm not being inconsiderate of her! Since you always scold me when I criticize Lacus' look-alike…)

Cagalli paused while reading and her eye twitched violently. "He read it! Damn! He did read that stupid entry!" she yelled at the top of her lungs before resuming.

Cagalli, I can't imagine how numb you are… hey, I'm being sarcastic. But seriously, you mean to say that after all those times, you think that I am just thinking of you as a friend? I wouldn't do those if it meant nothing or I'm just playing around.

Sorry, I'm not really good at these kind of things, you know… being mushy and stuff… it's just not my thing so, sorry. Forgive my handwriting as well. I sure hope by now you'd switch that thought to something else… if not, read paragraph two again.

P.S. I hate Mia Campbell, you know that. I even hate the mushroom soup named after her…

ATHRUN

"This… isn't right… this… is not real! This isn't real!" Cagalli yelled once again. She's flattered alright, getting the shivers down her spine and all. But still, she can't believe that a sweet gesture like that could ever come from Athrun.

Meanwhile, as the blonde was pondering on her "Athruniasis syndrome" as she would always call it, her twin brother was having so much fun than what she's having.

Kira brought Lacus to a meadow near the city beach. The air was fresh as the green grass and the colored flowers danced with the breeze. It was indeed a good over-looking sight way up a wide cliff up the beach. Lacus walked slightly closer to the edge to take a look down the beach.

"Oh! How cute!" she exclaimed at the sight of little children playing and running around down there.

Kira smiled. "You like it? This is my favorite place in the world… so peaceful high above the waters…" Kira said, inhaling the fresh air.

"Yes… I love it. It's like a sanctuary far from the real world." Lacus said and sat down the grass, fixing her skirt delicately. "Thank you Kira, for bringing me here." She said and looked up to him then smiled.

Kira sat down beside her. "I thought that I'd rather give you a sweet memory rather than just another usual gift you can get from others." He said with a hint of sentiment in his voice.

Lacus blushed again. Kira was looking out at the horizon as his hair gets ruffled by the wind. "I certainly won't forget this Kira… it's the best birthday present I can think of…" she said to him. "And I really appreciate you giving it to me in advance." She said and placed her warm hand on top of his.

It was Kira's turn to blush and Lacus just pretended not to notice it as well. Kira smiled. "Glad you liked it." he said as Lacus diverted her stare at the blue sky.

"Have you ever dreamed of being able to reach up to those skies?" she asked fondly.

Kira was astounded. "Well… I wished to become a pilot someday… but I don't know that would be worth wishing for." Kira said. Lacus glanced at him with an inquiring look.

"I don't know… maybe someday I'll go there… and I do hope you'd come with me…" he said and smiled at the pink-haired girl beside him.

Lacus hit his arm lightly in a playful manner and giggled. "Of all people, why me?" she said, playing innocent.

"Just because… you know why… don't play dumb!" Kira teased her and tickled her side.

After quite some laughs, Lacus gave up. "Fine! I give up!" she said and Kira stopped tickling her.

Suddenly, the sky got quite dark and it showed signs of a coming rain. Lacus and Kira quickly stood up and ran toward a nearby tree as the rain started to fall.

"Kira! We're getting wet!" Lacus said, already feeling cold since she did not have a jacket.

Good thing Kira was a gentleman enough to remove his jacket and offer it to her. "Let's go, we better take a cab!" he said and pulled her by the hand, protecting her as he let himself get soaked in rainwater.

A cab stopped and they scrambled in. Lacus requested the driver to switch the air-conditioning off since Kira was the one getting cold now.

"Thanks… don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He said although he's shivering in the cold.

Meanwhile, Nicol can't take it anymore. He wanted to know what's happening with Natalie and so he went straight to her house, unaware of what he will be seeing there.

He parked his car a block away from the house and decided it's best to spy on something when you're pretending not to be spying at all. He walked down the street, in front of Natalie's house and pretended to be a mere passerby. The guards didn't even notice him. He wished to see a glimpse of Natalie but instead of seeing her there, he saw someone that sent his blood boiling.

"Azrael Multa?" he said, his mouth agape. "What the hell is he doing here?" he muttered to himself.

He continued to walk but hid behind a big oak tree nearby. He saw Azrael go out of the place with a bunch of people and even shook hands with a man. The moment the people got in the car and drove away, Nicol was feeling a bit dizzy but nevertheless, walked on by.

"What's happening? Why are there Blue Cosmos men inside their house?" a ton of questions sweep around his brain. "And what about Natalie? Is she safe?" he asked himself with concern.

Meanwhile, Miriallia cannot concentrate on her studying. She just received a very cute gift from Dearka. It was a small stuffed teddy bear that has a heart for a nose. Indeed, it was very sweet of Dearka to even bother to buy her something that she didn't even ask for.

Due to the cuteness of the teddy bear and Miriallia's fondness of it, she hugged it tight.

Suddenly, it sounded something more of a voice from someone. Alarmed, Miriallia looked around then looked down at the toy. "Where did that voice come from?" she asked herself and absentmindedly hugged the bear again.

"I LOVE YOU" the voice echoed again.

Gasping, Miriallia looked at the bear in horror but composed herself to make out the sentence again.

"I LOVE YOU" the teddy bear said whenever she hugged it.

Miriallia's eyes widened and patched the things up. "If this teddy bear says 'the three magic words' whenever it is hugged… and if this teddy bear came from Dearka…" she whispered to herself.

The conclusion is obvious and she can't believe it. "Oh my god!" she yelled in surprise. Blood was rushing to her cheeks and she felt it heat up with happiness.

Meanwhile, Shiho was watching the video Yzak gave her with Ryojin. Their parents were so proud of Shiho for finally reaching out to her brother. In the middle of the movie, Ryojin asked something that almost made Shiho fall down the couch.

"You like Yzak-san don't you?" he suddenly blurted out.

Shiho was thunderstruck. "R-Ryojin! What got into you?" she said, horrified.

Ryojin rolled his eyes. "You can't fool me sis… you said you'd beat up every guy who gets close to you…" he pressed in.

"That was way back in my freshman year…" Shiho said and turned her attention back at the movie.

"Will you quit playing dumb?" Ryojin said exasperatedly. "And don't worry, I won't tell mom!" he said excitedly.

At this moment, Shiho felt like blasting his little head off but on second thought, Ryojin is right. She is playing dumb for she likes Yzak more than she claims she does and too bad her little brother was the one who figured that out.

"Whatever you say…" Shiho said and ignored her brothers side comments about Yzak this and Yzak that.

Meanwhile, Yzak was thinking about the same thing as he studied his lessons in history. Before he hated girls so much like allergies every time he eats crabmeat. But that was long before he met Shiho. For him, she was different. Boyish in a way but has a strong personality. He could recall his mother scolding him for being such a dumbass ignoring the girls who worshipped the path he walked on.

"Thinking about these stuff makes me hungry." He said and placed the book on his study table and walked out of the room to get himself his dinner.

His mother was already waiting for him to join her. "Have you reviewed enough for your exams?" she asked him quietly.

Yzak stifled a nod as he chewed his food.

Meanwhile in the Zala Manor, Athrun was thinking if he made the right decision answering Cagalli's journal without explaining why. He paced around his room, contemplating on how he feels. Kira has already approved of him and there's nothing more for him to ask for.

"I better crash this chemistry test if I wanna impress her…" he said to himself jokingly, thinking about Cagalli as he strived to make the best out of his chemistry subject.

"Athrun dear, you want to come down for dinner?" his mother said from outside the door.

"Yeah mom, I'm coming!" he called out and gave up on reading for a while.

As for Dearka, he was struggling to win the battle with Diana. His older sister wanted to know what he gave Miriallia but Dearka just couldn't find the guts to tell his older sister that he gave Miriallia a talking teddy bear. Eventually, he had no choice but to tell her.

"SAY WHAT!" she snapped. "A teddy bear? Come on Dearka! That is so yesterday! If you're a man then tell it to her right off!" she said, ridiculing Dearka's move.

"Hey! As if it's that easy! What do you know in courtship anyway?" Dearka shot back and glared with anger.

Diana burst out laughing like crazy. "I'm just kidding Dearka! Can't you take a joke?" she said and laughed out loud.

Dearka scowled and turned his back on his sister. Diana inched closer to him and tickled his side. "It was a joke!" she said and tickled Dearka till he can't hardly breathe due to laughing.

"So you think I made a good move?" he asked Diana hopefully.

"Yup… you really have evolved to a more sensible being!" she said mockingly with a smirk that reminded Dearka of how Yzak would ridicule him if he finds out about the teddy bear.

"I'm just kidding Dearka… but honestly, it wasn't a bad move at all." She said and smiled warmly. "Just remember, once you start there's no turning back." She said seriously.

Dearka didn't quite understand what she said and raised an eyebrow at Diana. "Uh… mind translating that huh, Ms. I-Am-A-Philosopher?" he said sarcastically.

Diana rolled her eyes. "Figure it out, dimwit!" she said and laughed out loud again that irritated Dearka more than ever.

Sunday went by in a flash and before they knew it, Monday was already there and it meant that they have to go through their midterm exams. The classroom was pretty silent that morning for everybody was busy with their last minute reviews.

Cagalli can barely open her mouth the moment Athrun came in and so in Miriallia's case, she cannot even look at Dearka. Both girls are feeling shy and both guys are being bugged by that behavior. As for Kira and Lacus, they are just the same, talking and laughing. Yzak and Shiho were pretty normal too, since they don't really talk that much. Yzak sat beside Nicol as Shiho talked with Cagalli and Miriallia about Natalie and if she will be taking her exams.

Nicol was utterly silent and Yzak cannot stand silent people who usually were noisy. "Natalie" Yzak suddenly said and his cold blue eyes met Nicol's brown ones.

Nicol have been dying to tell them about what he saw in Natalie's house but didn't seem to have the courage to do so. He just pretended to be depressed by not having Natalie at school and Yzak bought the act although the silver-haired coordinator still had his suspicions that Nicol's hiding something.

Mia came in with a different mood for the day. She was quiet and she looked down and sat on her seat quietly. Miriallia noticed it and pointed it out to Cagalli and Shiho.

"Take a look… what's with her?" Miriallia whispered to the two girls.

Cagalli blinked and shrugged. "I don't know… she's probably tired of all that studying." The blonde girl said.

Miriallia looked at Shiho. "Well… maybe she had another fight with Fllay, don't you think?" Shiho said before diverting her eyes back to her book.

Miriallia tilted her head on the side and was really intrigued with how Mia was acting but she just left the issue to rest. The school bell rang and Lacus walked over to the three girls with a very sad look on her face.

"I guess we won't be seeing Natalie today…" she said in a low voice.

Cagalli smiled bitterly and hugged Lacus. "Let's just hope she's alright…" Cagalli said consolingly.

Mr. La Flaga came in and asked the class to return to their proper seats. He looked a bit disgruntled as he announced that a different seating arrangement will be used while taking the examinations. Mr. La Flaga turned to writing the exam schedule on the blackboard. Nicol glanced from three rows behind him where a vacant seat was propped up beside Athrun. It was supposed to be Natalie's seat but she's not around this day.

Nicol was a bit bothered by what he saw there. "Could it be that she was taken as hostage by those Blue Cosmos guys? Or am I just overreacting and maybe there's a reason behind all of these?" thoughts breezed around Nicol's head and he cannot concentrate on his last minute reviews.

Shiho was sitting beside him and noticed that he seems to be anxious about something. "You alright Nicol?" she asked with concern.

Nicol took a few seconds to snap back to consciousness. "Y-yeah I'm alright Shiho… I'm okay." He quickly replied.

Shiho looked puzzled but she let him vent-out for a while and returned to her reading. All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door.

"Uh-uhm… I'm sorry I'm late sir." A familiar voice said and all the heads turned to look at who she is.

"Natalie!" Cagalli shrieked the moment she recognized her and ran off to the door and hugged her tight. "What happened to you?" she asked worriedly.

Natalie giggled. "I'm fine Cagalli!" she said and laughed a bit.

The other three girls joined in hugging Natalie as well and even the other people in the class missed Natalie. Mr. La Flaga was happy that she was back and didn't even oppose to them hugging Natalie excitedly for some time.

"Welcome back Nat!" Dearka said and exchanged a friendly hug with Natalie. "Thanks Dearka!" she said.

"Where have you been off to, eh?" Yzak asked since he wasn't really good at hugging and all but he was surprised when Natalie hugged him briefly. "I'm back Yzak…" she said and the others just laughed.

Kira and Athrun hugged Natalie at the same time and the girl almost got squashed. Everybody laughed at them. "K-K-Kira… A-Athrun… I c-c-can't breathe!" she said and the two boys let go of her.

Lacus was in tears for she was always the one who worries the most about everything. She hugged Natalie like it was a year that they haven't seen each other. "I missed you!" Lacus sobbed. Natalie chuckled. "Missed you too!" she said and returned the hug.

Shiho did the same and so did Miriallia and surprisingly, Mia did so too. Of all people, the one who seemed so hesitant in giving Natalie a welcome-back hug was Nicol. The things he saw back there overcame his excitement and all he managed to do was look at her.

Yzak was perplexed by the way Nicol had been acting and nudged him to wake him up from whatever's going on inside his mind.

"Hi" he said, not looking at her.

Natalie felt like something was definitely not in place and she was wondering what may be going on with Nicol. Feeling hurt by his actions, she didn't return the greeting and instead, turned to Mr. La Flaga who gave her a pat on the head and told her that she will be sitting beside Athrun for the exams.

Everyone was puzzled why Natalie and Nicol were keeping their distance but they decided that they should not meddle with things that do not concern them.

While taking the exams, the students racked their brains for answers. Chemistry was pretty unnerving and only Cagalli seemed to be having a breeze at it. Another hour for history went by with them draining their energies at stressful examinations. 2 hours were allotted on taking trigonometry and a self-confessed Dearka said he was definitely going to fail the subject.

The bell rang after they all finished with their exams. As everyone was filing out of the classroom, Nicol gathered up his courage to ask Natalie about the real score from behind her disappearance.

"Nat… I want to tell you something." He said seriously.

Lacus, Cagalli, Miriallia, Shiho, Kira, Athrun, Dearka and Yzak all stopped talking at once and so did Natalie and her smile instantly vanished. She knew Nicol had to know something if he were to act like this and she was ready for any twist of circumstance.

Everyone listened intently as Nicol told his story about seeing the people from Blue Cosmos in the Ishigami residence. The girls gasped and the boys were utterly shocked.

"Nicol… are you accusing Natalie of something?" Lacus suddenly blurted out, taken aback of Nicol's tone of speech.

Natalie shook her head. "You would all definitely hate me when I tell you." She said for an introduction and went on with telling them the whole story, including that she was the daughter of Theodore Ishigami and what she had to undergo just to protect her friends.

"And if you won't trust me enough Nicol, here." She said and rolled up her sleeve and it revealed bruises and cuts.

"Oh dear… Natalie…" Miriallia said in horror and reached out for Natalie's arm.

"I am selfish… even my mother suffered because I wanted to stick up for you instead of following my father. I can't blame you if you want to hate me and scorn me forever; you are free to do that." Natalie said with certainty and at the same time, bravery.

"No Nat, we would never do that! We owe you our lives!" Cagalli said in contrast to what Natalie had expected her to say.

"And if it weren't for you we should all be in the hands of those people by now." Shiho said, trembling.

"And you definitely aren't selfish." Kira said consolingly.

Nicol looked down, feeling terrible. For a while there, seeing Natalie being able to go to school and looking perfectly normal, he thought that maybe she had something to do with Blue Cosmos. He felt like he was such a jerk to even have suspicions about Natalie. He should have trusted her and now he wanted to run and hide in shame.

"I-I'm sorry… I just thought…" Nicol stammered. "In fact I was worried! I thought that you might be taken hostage or something!" he said.

"Nicol, cool it…" Dearka said, trying to make Nicol sit down and calm down.

"I understand you perfectly well Nicol. You don't have to explain." Natalie said, moving closer to him. "It's my fault, if only I told you guys earlier then maybe we wouldn't have problems like this." Natalie said, putting the blame on her again.

"Stop blaming yourself Nat… you did it because it was what you think is right." Athrun said reassuringly.

"He's right, at least it's all clear now, nothing to worry about." Lacus added.

Natalie felt like her burden was lifted up from her and moved into tears. "Thanks, for not turning your backs on me." She said and smiled even if her cheeks were shined with tears.

"Guys, we better leave them to talk." Shiho said, pertaining to Natalie and Nicol.

The others realized that too and followed Shiho out of the classroom door. Natalie thanked them again and said not to wait for her in case the conversation takes longer than expected. And so, the nine of them went out to the grassy soccer field of the school as Cagalli practiced with a few kicks while the others sat under the shade of a tree.

"It's a good thing the weather's fine today…" Lacus commented, taking in the fresh air.

"Hey captain! Get over here!" Miriallia called out to Cagalli who kicked the ball magnificently to the goal.

"I score!" she said and jumped happily before running off to her friends.

After a few moments of silence and some talks of relief about Natalie, the conversation leads to their curiosity about what could be going on with Natalie and Nicol from inside the classroom about a few floors up in the east wing of their school.

Meanwhile, Nicol apologized to Natalie for his behavior and how he suspected her of something. Natalie just smiled in return for this.

"I'm so sorry Nat… please… I didn't mean to… I… I don't wanna lose you! I-" Nicol was saying and he was about to say the 'three magic words' but Natalie cut him off.

"I forgive you Nicol." She said and stood up from her chair. "And please, don't say that you feel something for me, I don't want you getting hurt because of that." She said and walked toward the door.

"You understand, don't you?" she said and smiled like the way she had always did whenever Nicol's around.

Nicol felt his world crush him to pieces. "Don't you love me Natalie?" he suddenly said, standing up.

Natalie smiled. "You should not be asking me that. You should know by now." She said and went out of the door.

Nicol did not understand a word of it but nevertheless, he felt glad that Natalie accepted his apology and so he followed her out of the school building and off to find the others.

Unknown to them, someone had been eavesdropping in their conversations the whole time. Seeing Nicol catch up with Natalie, the red-haired girl giggled cruelly.

"Now I know how to ruin you…" she said with a twitching smile. "You'll be out of this school in no time…" she said.

Suddenly, a small group of girls called her name.

"Fllay! Are you coming?" they asked.

"I'll follow girls…" she said and turned her back and walked away. "Let the games begin…" she muttered to herself.

awwww... i should have made this longer... well anyway, i'll include more pairing moments in chapter fifteen! please read and review! thanks! ja ne!