On One Way and Another

chapter twenty-one: Clues and Reasons

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

For the next three days, school was cancelled due to investigations conducted by ZAFT. The weather was even contributing to the gloomy feel of those days by pouring rain showers that annoyed an already irritated Cagalli.

The blond was sitting by her window, typing on her laptop. She was searching every website that may concern the whereabouts of Natalie and of Blue Cosmos and even hacked quite a number of systems now but with no luck. She looked outside the drenched glass of her window and sighed heavily. She checked her cellphone that was left unattended for the rest of the morning.

She found three messages.

Wer u at? Any news bout Nat? –Miriallia

I was bailed out of the damned hospital. Any good news? –Yzak

My father's investigating the case. I need to talk to you lot desperately. Meet me later at exactly 4pm at the coffee shop. –Nicol

Cagalli replied to each message, answering "Yea I'm at home, no news about Nat." for Miriallia and "Gud 4 u. I've got no news now." For Yzak. After re-reading Nicol's message, she rushed out of her room and called out for Kira.

"I'm in the bathroom!" came his response as Cagalli yelled from outside his room.

"Whatever… I'm coming in!" she replied and went in. She heard the rustle of water from inside Kira's bathroom and decided to sit patiently on his messed-up bed.

After five minutes or so, Kira finally went out with a towel wrapped around his waist and drying his hair with another one.

"What brings you here dear sister?" he asked as he walked over to his closet and searched for a pair of jeans and a shirt.

"Did Nicol contact you a while ago? I just read his message." She said, fumbling with Kira's cellphone.

"Yup… I just deleted it… got my inbox full with all Yzak's ranting about killing the guy who shot him…" Kira answered and started putting on his clothes as Cagalli faced the other way.

"So… we're going later?" Cagalli asked. "It's already 3:30." She informed her brother.

"Of course we will… that's why I took a bath!" Kira said. "Now if you don't mind, you should start getting dressed now, it's a long walk to the coffee shop." He reminded his sister.

"Oh… right." Cagalli said and bolted out the door.

IN ZAFT

"Comm. Amarfi…" Leon, one of ZAFT's red coats ran toward Nicol's father. "I've got news for you about the missing girl."

"What is it?" Comm. Amarfi answered, eager to hear about it.

"It is confirmed she is held captive by Blue Cosmos. The bastards are said to have been spying on the recognition held at the school, preparing to take action once something bad happened." Leon said quickly and worriedly.

Nicol's father nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"The whereabouts are yet to be traced but according to some sources, it is located in a country in Earth, Japan as I heard. It's an Asian continent. It still doesn't make sense why the girl was kidnapped instead of her father or her mother. But our men are working on it sir." Leon finished and hoped that his information is useful.

"Thank you very much, Leon. You may go." Comm. Amarfi said and as Leon saluted and walked away, he pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and called his son right away.

The conversation took about less than ten minutes because of Nicol's constant outbursts, cursing or questions and of his father's reprimanding of his curses. After the short conversation, they hung up.

Fllay twisted and turned on her bed, not knowing whether to tell the truth or just keep it inside. She figured that even if she did tell the truth, it won't do much help about the current situation and might only be the cause of her death, imagining Cagalli and the others pounding her. But her conscience getting the best of her, she decided to phone Miriallia Haww.

"Miriallia?" she asked once the phone was answered.

"Speaking… who's this?" came a cheery reply.

Fllay still can't bring herself to tell the truth and so, being much of a coward as she already is, she hung up the phone.

Miriallia stared blankly at her phone after the caller hung up on her. It left her bewildered for a while but shrugged it off and hurried outside her room.

Athrun, Kira, Cagalli, Shiho, Lacus and Yzak sat silently in a round table in a cozy café. It was still raining hard and everyone had their jackets on. The place was dimly lit and was meant for anyone who wishes relaxation. Yzak appeared to be sleepy because of the atmosphere but still, no one bothered to speak.

"What's taking them so long…" Lacus muttered. "It's four-twenty."

"I don't like this place… it's too… quiet. It's making the hairs on my arms stand." Kira said and motioned for the waiter. "I'm getting myself something to drink."

The waiter got his order. "Espresso please." Kira said and looked at his friends. "How about you guys?" he asked.

"Iced mocha latte." Shiho said.

"Hot chocolate." Lacus replied.

"Hot green tea please." Athrun said.

"Same as his." Yzak said.

"I'd like a brownie plate." Cagalli said and everyone gave a soft chuckle.

"What?" she asked with a scowl.

"You're always hungry." Shiho said and giggled.

Cagalli smiled sheepishly. "Yes I am… and besides… I can always take a sip from your drinks. It'll save my money." She said.

"Just try…" Athrun said and stuck his tongue out at her.

Suddenly, a drenched Dearka came rushing in and dried his feet on the mat just on the doorstep and took the seat beside Lacus.

"Am I late?" he asked, settling himself.

"No… we're still waiting for Milly and Nicol." Athrun answered, passing Dearka a cup of tea.

Just as Dearka was going to take a sip, Milly arrived along with Nicol. They sat on either side of Yzak and Milly didn't realize she bumped Yzak's injured side of his arm.

"Ow…" Yzak said, biting his lower lip, trying his best not to howl in pain.

Miriallia gasped. "Ohmigosh! Yzak! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I was just trying to sit and I didn't know that-"

"I-it's okay… I'm alive…" Yzak said, trying to restrain himself from blowing his top and getting mad.

"So what's the big news Nicol?" Kira asked, diverting everyone's attention to Nicol.

Nicol sighed heavily. "I've got a bunch of news to tell you and I don't think it really helps us get over this present situation. But my father told me they've got more clues coming in." he began as everybody listened attentively.

It took him about less than thirty minutes to explain everything in detail for it is always unavoidable for a series of questions to come up. Nicol had to explain every single detail to his friends, not missing one.

"But you know… this will not be happening unless… someone spilled." Cagalli said in a low voice.

"What do you mean by that?" Miriallia asked.

"See… Nat's father will never have shown up that morning if he knew that this will be happening. For sure, he as well, did not expect a thing like this to take place. So clearly, Blue Cosmos didn't really plan a thing like kidnapping Natalie and bombarding the whole place. But, knowing how quick those filthy retards act, they have people guarding the place just in case ZAFT gets hold of Nat's father." Cagalli said very quickly, explaining to everyone her theory.

All of them blinked and tried to take in everything Cagalli said.

"Go on…" Nicol said.

"So. Neither side, I'm talking about ZAFT and the retards…" Cagalli began.

"The retards are those Blue Cosmos guys, am I right?" Dearka asked.

"Right Dearka…" Cagalli snapped and went on. "As I was saying, neither side was really expecting something like this to happen. ZAFT didn't know that there was a Blue Cosmos leader seated with the audience for if they did know, they would have attacked before the ceremony starts knowing there are a bunch of politicians around! Get the picture? Logically, someone must have told ZAFT about having Natalie's father around and thus, alerting the Blue Cosmos guys roaming around the place in disguise." The blond said and paused for a while to breathe.

"Did you guys get what I just said?" Cagalli inquired since a minute have passed and no one reacted.

"Cagalli… I have to say… you are one heck of a genius." Yzak said, wide-eyed.

"Uh-huh… I've been sittin' around, thinking about it the whole night and it never crossed my mind…" Lacus joined in. "How come you observed all that?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing. I honestly don't know why!" Cagalli shrugged. "It's just that… it's really simple. It's just a case of cause and effect. Nothing much but finding out the reason behind all this!" she explained.

"And now… what we have to do is find out who spilled!" Miriallia said out loud.

"Unless… someone other than us knew about it in a way we didn't think about…" Athrun said, adding a clue.

"You're right. But… who the hell would care? Obviously they'd be too afraid to even say a thing unless… that person has a motive to do something really, really mean." Shiho added.

"If we're thinking about all these, we better start investigating. I'll be going to the crime scene to check out clues… I heard no one ever cleaned it up yet…" Kira said, standing up.

"I'll be going with you." Dearka said and followed Kira as he walked outside the door.

"I'll go with the guys, I brought my camera… we can take images of anything we could be seeing there." Miriallia said and excused herself and ran after the two boys.

After quite a while, all of them went on their way to see what they can do about the current situation

Since Athrun had direct contact to ZAFT files and stuff as influenced by his father's position in the military, he decided to take a peek on the current investigation along with Yzak and Lacus. Shiho and Cagalli along with Nicol went to the Ishigami residence to check on Natalie's mother and nanny and agreed that they shall go to the prison cell of her father just to see how everything was.

In a deserted location in Okinawa, Japan…

"Azrael…" Morton, his right hand man sighed. "You know perfectly well that we should not claim this young girl's life." He said.

Azrael rolled his eyes and drummed his bony fingers irritably on his desk. "And what do you want us to do with her? Keep her or return her to PLANT!" he snapped, his eyebrows furrowing.

"That is not what I meant. She is Ishigami's daughter. Ishigami is a fine man and he has done a lot for Blue Cosmos. Let us spare his daughter. After all, she's not worth a thing! Just a plain coordinator." Morton reasoned, feeling a certain tinge of sympathy for the girl.

"Just a plain coordinator… oh yes… just like her good for nothing father!" Azrael bellowed and stood up, throwing a small vase across the room, hitting the wall and shattering into pieces.

Morton seemed to have held his breath for a split-second and wasn't able to speak. Azrael's eyes narrowed into slits and he eyed Morton with anger and loathing.

"You listen to me Morton and you better listen well. I am the boss around here, get it? Everything will be done exactly my way." He said in a creepy voice but Morton didn't show any sign of fear. "And I know that you know what I do to subordinates who oppose me." He crooned nastily.

"You kill them mercilessly." Morton replied, straightening his tie and heaving a sigh. After a second's worth of silence, he stepped out of Azrael's office.

Once left alone, Azrael pondered on what to do with Natalie Ishigami. He sat back down, trying to regain his concentration as he drummed his fingers on his desk once again. He thought of killing her but then realized that he still do not have sufficient reason to do so. Keeping her is not even worth a dime for he doesn't know what this girl can do or if she is able to do something worthwhile.

He got up from his chair and walked out of his office and into the laboratory to see what has happened to his captive.

He saw the young girl, looking frail and almost lifeless. She's transferred to a room inside the lab that appeared more like a hospital room wherein dextrose was attached to her arm. She looked at Azrael with eyes pleading for mercy but then again showed a great amount of anger and intense hunger for revenge.

"You're lucky Natalie Ishigami… I'm going to keep you alive for another couple of days just to make sure you can be useful… and then I'll find a way to get to you nasty little friends… and then finally… I'm going to eliminate all coordinators in my wake…" he said with a sinister smile, advancing his face to Natalie's. "And that includes you of course… you'll be dying sooner." He said as Natalie grew more and more hateful of him with every breath he takes.

"And the fun part is… before I let you die… you'll be seeing all of them dying… right… before… your… very… eyes…" he said and laughed evilly.

Natalie's eyes twitched and her coordinator reflexes came in handy. Her weakness was quickly replaced with energy, perhaps motivated by the anger she feels at that precise moment and in a blink of an eye, she pounded Azrael's face with her clenched fist and he screamed in pain.

"I will make sure you'll die… Multa Azrael… and you'll be dying in my hands! Mark my words… I swear I'll kill you!" she bellowed with anger and attempted to get off from the bed and kill Azrael head on but was strained back since she was tied down with a leather strap on her legs.

Azrael scrambled onto his feet and looked at Natalie with horror and disgust. "I will make you pay… you will pay." He warned and stormed out of the room.

The guards and the doctors in the lab were horrified to see Azrael in such a malevolent fashion. The paranoid leader jumped to the nearest man to him and punched the man hard on the face.

"Damn it, what have you been # feeding into that bitch's head! She just punched me!" Azrael bellowed and looked down angrily at the man he just punched. "I want you all to strain her, especially her filthy hands so that she will never be able to make any movements at all!" he bellowed and walked out of the laboratory, breaking anything he gets his hands on along the way.

Things were pretty tense inside the ZAFT Military Headquarters, a bunch of meetings were being held and obviously, the news about the kidnapping and the Blue Cosmos attack automatically circulated around the place and surely everyone knows. It took a while for Athrun, Lacus and Yzak to locate their folks and as bad as their luck is, they have to wait until after two full hours for the High Council's meeting to be adjourned.

And so, the three of them walked to the cafeteria and just waited and waited with heavy hearts and dismayed moods. They sat in a small table in the isolated area of the cafeteria so that they won't be a bother to the soldiers who have better things to do than sitting very far from the food counter.

Yzak got himself a bag of chips just so he can have something to nibble on while trying not to get pissed off by this very boring activity of theirs.

"Yzak… do you mind if I get some?" Lacus asked politely, pertaining to the tasty cheese curls the other coordinator has been munching on.

"Help yourself…" Yzak replied and blinked when he saw that Lacus grabbed a handful and shoved it to her mouth like a very hungry little schoolgirl.

Athrun exchanged a surprised look with Yzak as he himself grabbed a small piece and ate it. "Uh… Lacus? Are you okay?" the blue-haired coordinator asked worriedly.

"Yeah… you seem to be… different." Yzak said, eyeing the girl adjacent to him suspiciously.

Lacus swallowed and sighed, looking sadly at the table and avoiding eye contact with her companions. "I'm worried out of my wits. I don't know what will happen… you guys know how those retards work… what if they're planning to eliminate us once and for all?" she said in a low voice that the other two needed to bend a little to hear her small, sweet voice.

There was a momentary pause and it was clear that the two guys know that Lacus was right. Blue Cosmos have a knack of causing trouble once and an even greater fancy in causing an even greater chaos the second time around.

Athrun pondered on some thoughts he's been housing in his mind for the past days and it appeared clear to him that something was not right. He doesn't even know if he could bring up the topic to his father right then and there for Patrick Zala has a tendency to be impulsive when it comes to these kinds of matters. But still, he has to give it a shot because for sure the council knows more about this than they do.

"What's on your mind, Athrun?" Lacus asked with concern. "You're a bit too quiet." She commented and Yzak looked at him with a 'you-are-so-abnormal' look on his face.

"Huh?" Athrun said with an inquiring look and then realized what he was being asked of. "Oh… nothing… I'm just thinking of what my father could possibly say." He replied and forced a smile.

Lacus was a bit nervous. "You've got a point…" she said.

"Fear all you want guys… no one can stand my dear mother… she almost killed me in the hospital." Yzak said, finishing the remains of his chips.

Athrun chuckled. "Even I fear your mother…" he said.

Lacus giggled. "Aunt Ezaria's pretty nice." She said and looked at the two boys.

Athrun smiled weakly and Yzak's eyes grew wide. "You're an alien Lacus… really…" the silver-haired coordinator said.

Back in the school gymnasium, Kira and Dearka roamed around the place just to check some items that could have been left behind. Miriallia was doing the same as well, concentrating very hard on the spot where Yzak was shot. Since the location was still a crime scene, Yzak's blood was not yet cleaned up. Suddenly, not very far from that spot, she saw something glisten under the light. She walked slowly towards it and found something she didn't find hard to recognize.

"Kira! Dearka! Come see this…" she said loudly, taking a snapshot of it before picking it up using a tong and putting it inside a transparent Ziploc, just like how it was done in TV. Kira told her to do that when she found something so that it can be tested with biometrics.

"What's that?" Kira asked as he and Dearka looked at it very closely.

Miriallia held it up for them to see clearly. "Does this look familiar to you?" she asked them.

"Natalie's necklace!" Dearka exclaimed. "The one Nicol gave her!" he said in surprise.

"Whoa…" Kira said, getting the necklace from Miriallia. "This is still in a good condition… only the lock got broken." He said, seeing it through the transparent plastic.

"Maybe it fell when she got dragged…" Miriallia said sadly. "Do you think this can be scanned for a clue?" she asked eagerly.

"Of course it can be… hopefully her captive touched it and left a mark…" Dearka added and looked at Kira and Miriallia's weary faces.

"We should keep this silent for a while." Kira said and expected his friends to ask why. "We're not sure if we can trust all the guys in ZAFT or in other lab testing affiliates of theirs. We better not take the risk." He said as a matter of factly.

"Then how do we check this out?" Miriallia asked, puzzled.

"Kira… am I thinking what you're thinking?" Dearka asked, as if seeing through Kira's head.

Kira smiled. "I think you pretty much are, Dearka…" he replied and stared at him, waiting for further reactions.

"So when do we do it?" the tanned coordinator asked.

"We'll get to that once the others know." The brunette replied and sighed.

"Wait a sec… just so you two would know, I did not get anything you we're talking about!" Miriallia retorted crossly.

"We'll get this checked by sneaking inside a public lab… so there will be lower chances of getting caught and ending up in jail." Kira explained and smiled. "You get it now Milly?" he asked.

Miriallia smiled and nodded. "Yup… and I must say though I disapprove of that… you've got a bright mind Kira." She commented.

The three of them left quickly and decided to wait for the others get their tasks done for a meeting at the Hibiki residence.

Meanwhile, Cagalli and Shiho were waiting for Nicol as he makes an arrangement to chat up Natalie's father. It took a while before the person in-charge permitted them considering the fact that they are minors. The two girls took the opportunity to sit down and talk about the conversation the three of them had with Rosie and Mrs. Ishigami.

"Natalie is a very kind girl… I'm sure you girls know that… and she hated her father for he had views that are the exact opposite of hers, and he hated his daughter as well for the very same reason." Cagalli recalled Mrs. Ishigami's simple statement.

"The father and daughter never really had a good relationship…" Shiho said sadly, thinking about what Natalie could have been through all the years she spent with her father. "I'm very sure Nat found it very hard to cope knowing what her father is up to… and dealing with his abusive ways." Shiho said, thumbing through the tips of her long hair.

"And what's worse is her mother almost giving up." Cagalli said and forced a weak smile. "It's a good thing Rosie is very dedicated to her job… their lives are in grave danger… I fear for the worse." The blond girl said in a low and concerned voice.

"Let's just hope nothing more of that cruelty be inflicted to Mrs. Ishigami and Rosie… and let's hope that everything will be alright in the end…" Shiho said, the two of them holding each other's hand, hoping that Nicol would be back with good news.

After three minutes or so, Nicol came running towards them. "He's going to let us in." he said with a sigh of relief.

"Thank god…" Cagalli said and the three of them rushed to the elevator, their destination is to the fifth floor.

The three of them looked utterly nervous in meeting Mr. Ishigami and talking to him about these sorts of things at a much unexpected time. Once there, a guard assisted them and led them to a room wherein they can talk in private with Mr. Ishigami but by being separated by a glass barrier, just like any other facility for criminals.

They waited for quite a while and Mr. Ishigami showed up. He was wearing the prescribed blue uniform for prisoners and he wasn't wearing his usual arrogance and sneer in his face. He looked glum and tired and he appeared to have lost weight since the last time they saw him, even though it wasn't very long ago. They exchanged sad looks and the two girls urged Nicol to feel free to talk to the man.

Once seated, the guard exited through the door from which he came in with Natalie's father. Mr. Ishigami looked at the three of them with uncertainty.

"Sir… we are not here to cause trouble… we just want to ask some questions…" Nicol asked politely, but not smiling.

"What is there left to answer… it's all my fault my daughter's life is at risk… I should be the one being hunted down or being killed… I know it already! You do not have to tell it to my face!" he said, though loudly, he was still as weak and weary from all of it.

Nicol looked at the two girls behind him. Cagalli spoke kindly this time.

"Sir… we are not here to do that. We are here to help. We need all the help we can get to retrieve Natalie." She said softly, tears threatening to stream down her face.

"We do not care if we ourselves could be in danger… your daughter is a dear friend to us and we are hoping as her father, you can give her a place in your heart and help her." Shiho said pleadingly, her eyes begging for Mr. Ishigami's kindness.

Nicol just lowered down his head and kept silent.

Mr. Ishigami was utterly surprised of their statements and there was a momentary silence before he spoke again. "I am the worst father you could imagine… I never showed concern nor love for my family… I've done so many things and I'm paying for it now… I do hope I can be of assistance to you…" he said, this time, Nicol was looking at the man in front of him directly in the eye, awaiting the continuation of what he is saying.

"I was an ally of the blue cosmos since I am a natural… my wife was the coordinator and it was from her where Natalie got her genes. Multa Azrael blackmailed me and brainwashed me… and that was what drove me to go and side with him… and I must say it was the biggest mistake I have ever done in my life." He said, tears falling down from his ebony eyes. "I do not hold much new and useful information but this might help. The only remaining headquarters of the Blue Cosmos is located in Okinawa, Japan… in planet Earth." He said, this time turning serious.

"I am entrusting you this responsibility and I know you can get her back. Go to our house and tell my wife what I told you so she'll permit you to search my library." He said and then turned to Nicol. "You will have to bring down the door, it's always locked." He said and Nicol nodded. "Go and find my olive green briefcase located in the top drawer of the cabinet beside the bookshelf. There you will find all the information you need. That is all I can do to help. I hope you can save my daughter with what I have given you… it will mean so much to me to know she's alive…" he finished and the three of them nodded.

"You can count on us Mr. Ishigami…" Shiho said for certain.

"We will do everything we can… and thank you very much for cooperating with us." Cagalli said firmly, her eyes never leaving Mr. Ishigami.

"Thank you sir… we'll be going now… we shall inform you of any information we get. God bless you." Nicol said just as the guard came in, it was time for them to go.

Mr. Ishigami's gaze followed them as they went out. His heart melted and deep inside, he loved his daughter very much and he was praying very hard that she will be saved.

A/N: yeah... you can kill me now... i know it's pretty crappy and i failed to put in some special moments between the pairings but then... i stand by what i wrote... cause it'll be absurd to put in romantic moments amidst confusion and thorough investigations, right? haha! so sorry for that... don't worry, i'm almost done with chapter 22 and there are moments there... finally you'll know what athrun drew! till then... ja ne!