Do I still need to write a disclaimer? LOL
DISCLAIMER: Nii-blueberryfreak doesn't own GS and GSD. All she owns are three e-mail accounts, two of them are used for Instant Messaging purposes (oh well, 'chatting') and one of them is totally a secret!! Hahaha :D
VERY VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO: oh well, there's no one else other than JESUS CHRIST! Thank you Lord!
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO: SamuraiGirl7, thank you for helping me with this chapter despite your busy days…
SPECIAL THANKS TO: All of my readers and reviewers. Can't live without you guyz!
SPECIAL APOLOGIES: I've been very busy recently, but I promise I won't abandon this fic. I may be updating slowly but trust me, I won't abandon this fic :D
Chapter 25: Muri Desukedo…
Two hours before the wedding ceremony started.
Cagalli smiled at her surroundings. Lacus' bride's maids were chatting with each other, not really fussing over the fact that she was the Orb's Princess. Well, they did asking for her autograph at first but they didn't disturb her much. They asked her a lot of things since they didn't know how it felt to become a princess at such a young age. She had to answer them politely of course but she had to admit that she didn't feel disturbed answering them many times.
She walked out of the dressing room with a small smile on her face while she carefully lifted up part of her dress so she wouldn't step on it while she was walking out of the dressing room. She met Lacus on her way out and she had to admit that she couldn't help gasping whenever she saw her. Lacus was totally stunning in her attire. She waved to her and when Lacus waved back in return, she kept walking out of the room to get the stale air out of her lungs. Besides she wanted to see what was happening outside but she had to be careful not to gather any attention from it.
She had finally made her way to the wedding ceremony's place. Lacus sure had chosen the perfect place for their wedding. The venue itself wasn't too huge, but rather it was perfect for an average wedding party. There was a garden and in there was a greenhouse at the end of the pathway. The greenhouse wasn't an ordinary one because whenever you took a look at what's inside it, it was a place for people to hold their wedding ceremony. There was an altar inside it, surrounded with a lot of colourful flowers and trees that made a beautiful decoration. She had taken a look at it and she had to admit that Lacus' preference was very good.
However she wasn't about to go to the greenhouse; she wanted to go to the toilet instead. She walked swiftly while hoping for her safety in the whole upcoming event. There were a few things she was scared of; she feared that she might trip during the ceremony and if it did happen, she would probably have plastic surgery to change her looks so people wouldn't recognize her face. Second, she feared that Athrun might go on his publicly-displayed-affections-mode, perhaps she should make a deal with Athrun before the wedding started so he wouldn't go on his publicly-displayed-affections-mode and she could get through the whole event safely without arousing anyone's suspicion about her love life. The third factor was the one she feared the most; she might meet the person who wrote her the blackmail letter that she had received hours before.
If that where to be the case, she was thankful for being a tomboy who's quite good on hand-to-hand combat skills, though they were minimal compared to a coordinator. She was a natural for Pete's sake. She had brought her guns with her in case something bad happened and she wanted to be able to defend herself without gathering any attention.
She kept walking towards the toilet and when she had reached it, she glanced at herself in the mirror and sighed. She glanced at her surroundings to make sure that no one was inside and then went to the cubicle in the very corner of it. She closed the door carefully to make sure that nobody would be able to break in, closed the water closet lid and then she sat on it while she let out another sigh. She could not load her guns in the dressing room since she wasn't sure if she would be able to do it without gathering attention.
She carefully lifted her dress revealing her bare legs and surprisingly she had taken her weapons with her. She had tied her gun to her thigh using a leg holster. (a/n: The one Lara Croft wears in Tomb Raider series. Oh well I dunno what it is :p) and she had brought the ammunition also hidden beneath her dress. She smiled satisfactorily when she took them out and then she loaded her guns with it while making sure that her they were properly functionally. She brought two handguns (each of them has different type of ammunition) and one stun gun (she thought she might need it since ammunition does not last forever). She loaded them carefully and when she had finished doing it, she tied them back to her thighs, stood up and then left the cubicle. The moment she got out from the cubicle, she saw her reflection on the mirror. She smirked to herself; mostly because she was pleased with her own preparations. Finally, she had to check her appearance. She adjusted her dress carefully so people wouldn't know that she was actually carrying guns at that time and she took a look at her face carefully; hoping that people wouldn't commented on her lipstick colour. She never liked wearing lipstick no matter what colour it was. She thought that she looked ridiculous in it, however she still wore it on rare occasions when she had to, like or dislike.
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A nervous brunette was walking to and fro nervously. His wedding would be starting in two hours, but he had started feeling nervous. The reason he felt nervous was not caused from his wedding with Lacus, well he was nervous about that too, but it was not the main reason. One day, Lacus told him that she wanted Haro and Torii to carry their wedding ring. Kira agreed with her suggestion since those mini-robots were so precious to both of them and he was willing to tamper with their AI so they would carry their responsibility perfectly. Knowing his ability in creating operating systems for GUNDAMs, modifying their AI was just a piece of cake for him so he did it in only 20minutes and then he put them inside his dressing room while doing the final check on them.
Athrun ,who was busy fixing his attire and making sure that he looked good for that special night was wondering why Kira had been walking pointlessly like that. The first time Athrun saw Kira walking back and forth, he thought Kira needed help in modifying the AI but he slowly comprehend that Kira's walking to and fro might be caused by his pre-wedding-stress.
"Kira? What's wrong?"
"Huh?" he looked a bit startled at his best friend's sudden inquiry, however he got rid of his surprise in no time, and then replied, "Nothing in particular, Athrun."
"Don't tell me that you're nervous or something like that." Knowing that Kira had been in that kind of stance for more than thirty minutes, he frowned at him, and then continued, "I know that most guys would be nervous before their wedding but I didn't expect you to behave like…" and then he examined his best friend from top to bottom, "…this"
Kira was wearing a black tuxedo, but the way he wore it was improper, and Athrun was dare to call it scruffy.
"Don't look at me like that, Athrun" Kira replied irritatingly at his best man, "Or else I'll ruin your wedding too-"
"My wedding is still long way away, I don't even have a fiancée-"
"Old man" Kira smirked, and walked to the mirror to fix his attire.
"I'm older than you, Kira." Athrun walked to Kira's side, and then push him to the other side so Kira couldn't look into the mirror; he did it on purpose, though, he wanted to do some mocking on Kira.
Athrun gazed at his reflection on the mirror. He was wearing a black suit too to match Kira's, but the design was a bit different. He was the best man, though, not the groom. He stared at his reflection and examined his appearance, while he corrected his attire, he said, "Mind that you have to respect someone who's older than you..."
"You sure sounded like our Moral Education teacher during our time at Heliopolis Elementary School" Kira pushed Athrun to the other side so he could look at the mirror without Athrun disturbing him and fixed his attire. Being pushed by Kira, Athrun set a frown on his face, while Kira continued speaking, "Yeah, you sure sounded like Mr. Parker." Kira imitated them by saying the phrases in a mocking tone, "Hey you! Behave well! Don't forget that he's older than you and you have to respect him! Gosh! It was always annoying when he said that, as annoying as you..."
Kira's words were forcefully cut off by Athrun pushing him to the other side, again. However, it was harder than before, because Kira went a bit far from the mirror. Even before Kira's wedding, they were being childish. There was only one mirror in their changing room, and the mirror was quite slim so only one person could stand in front of it.
"You're not even engaged yet!", Kira mocked Athrun, "I'm younger than you yet I'm a step ahead..."
"For your information, Kira-" Athrun fixed his tie not looking at Kira and pretended that nothing had happened, "-I am not single anymore."
"Oh?" Kira set a determined look on his face, and then he pushed Athrun to the other side forcefully yet playfully, "So you're with my sister now, Athrun? My, how could I ever forget that? Perhaps you were having a good sleep with her last night-"
"No" Athrun pushed Kira again, this time he looked rather annoyed, and his face went a bit red when Kira teased him about something that had happened the night before, "I didn't do anything to her last night."
"Womanizer" Kira pushed him again to the other side. He was about to fix his attire again, but Athrun gave him no chance to do so, and quickly pushed him in reply.
"Cry-baby" Athrun replied calmly.
"Womanizer" Kira pushed Athrun again.
"Cry-baby" Athrun pushed Kira again, but that time Kira had defended himself so both of them ended up pushing each other.
"Womanizer"
"Cry-baby"
Suddenly, both of them stopped, stepped further to each other, and stared at each other in disgust.
"Look at you." Athrun mocked, "You're twenty, you're going to be married with the songstress of PLANT in two hours time, yet you behaved like a five-year-old-child…"
"The same goes for you." Kira replied with mocking tone in his voice, "You're turning twenty this October, you're currently dating the Chief Representative of Orb, yet you behaved like a four-year-old-child…"
They both looking at each other, and then released a loud laugh.
"Not funny" Kira said between his laughs, "Athrun, this is not funny."
"Don't laugh then." Athrun smiled widely, "Fix your tux, Kira"
When they were five years old, they were still studying at Copernicus. They participated in a drama, and when they were fixing their costumes, the situation was the exact same as now. There was only one mirror for the two of them, so they both ended up pushing each other so they could gaze at themselves at the mirror. Nobody won at that time, because the teacher had stopped them. They recalled about that, and that was the reason they laughed.
"But, surely, Athrun-" Kira started, while he changed his expression suddenly, "-I feel like… Um, how should I describe this…" he paused thinking for a while and he continued, "…well, I feel uneasy at the situation now."
"Huh?" Athrun raised one of his brows in curiosity. "In other words?"
"No other words. I'm feeling uneasy right now."
"Don't tell me that it is caused by your wedding-"
"No, it isn't." Kira interrupted Athrun, and then continued, "My feelings tell me that something isn't right."
Athrun was puzzled at Kira's words and expression. Knowing Kira for years, he really acknowledged that Kira seldom behaved like that, and when he said so, there must be something really wrong.
"But…" Athrun tried to reason. "…what do you mean? This changing room isn't haunted, is it?"
"Athrun, this is Cosmic Era for God's sake, and nobody would believe such a story." Kira shook his head, and then he dragged Athrun out of the changing room, "Come with me. We're going to take the most important accessories for this attire."
"Aren't we going to be late?"
"No, there's still two hours, and something tells me that we'll be able to return here in an hour." Kira kept dragging Athrun while continued, "We have to get something at my residence. It's near, so you don't have to be worried."
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Cagalli walked back to the dressing room with her guns all hidden behind her marvellous dress. She smiled to the bridesmaids when she met them on her way and she kept walking straight on to Lacus' dressing room. The door was closed and she wasn't sure if Lacus was done yet but when she was about to knock it, the door itself had opened slowly because she had pushed it very gently.
"Oh, it's just Cagalli." She could hear Lacus' voice from behind the door even though the opening of the door was still too small for her to see Lacus.
"Lacus, may I come in?" She asked Lacus as she drew herself nearer to the door.
"Sure" Lacus replied with giggles. "I've done changing."
She walked inside the changing room while both of her eyes widened. "Lacus…" She said as she gave Lacus a wide smile, complimenting her "…you sure look good in that dress!"
"Thank you. I chose this dress myself." She smiled as she walked to Cagalli who was closing the door carefully, trying not to make a lot of sound. "So, what brings you here, Cagalli?"
"Uhm…, nothing in particular." She gazed at the whole changing room and then she decided to sit on a chair near the wardrobe. Lacus' pink Haro was bouncing cheerfully around her while saying "Cagalli! Cagalli! Good afternoon!"
'I bet Kira has increased the vocabulary of this Haro', She thought while smiling to the tiny round-shaped robot and then she faced Lacus saying, "Can it reply to what people saying to it?"
"Well, it will reply for greetings such as 'good morning', 'good afternoon', and 'thank you'. Kira upgraded the AI so it has become much smarter than four years ago." She sat in front of the mirror while taking a look at herself, making sure that she looked good enough to show up in front of her guests that night "However it would only obey to my and Kira's commands. You know, voice-recognition device."
"Oh I see." She smiled at the pink Haro as she saw it bouncing back to Lacus' lap. Lacus smiled to it as she caught her Haro right before it landed on her lap and then she faced Cagalli with a small smile on her face.
"Is something wrong, Cagalli?" She asked Cagalli while looking directly at her eyes. She had noticed that Cagalli had been acting strange for a few hours now. She could tell it by looking at her expression and gestures; Lacus was very good when it comes to reading someone's body language.
"Hmm… Nothing" Cagalli waved her head as she answered Lacus' enquiry but the moment she saw Lacus' eyes directly, she knew that she could avoid Lacus no longer and she had to tell her the truth why she was acting strange starting from the afternoon. Finally, Cagalli let a heavy sigh out and then said to Lacus, "Okay. I know I can't lie to you yet I tried to lie to you, silly me."
Hearing Cagalli answered in such a manner, Lacus couldn't help herself not to let a few giggles out from her and then replied Cagalli, saying, "Oh well, of course you can't lie to me but you can always tell me that you're keeping it as a secret to yourself."
"Well, I'm not planning to do that, Lacus." Cagalli smiled to Lacus while thinking about how she could easily understand people's feelings, "Actually I do want to tell somebody about this but I don't want to involve anybody into my problems so I decided to keep it to myself."
"Did you tell Athrun?" Lacus asked her back with curiosity in her face.
"Nope" She shook her head as she saw Lacus' Haro slipped out from her hand and then it started to bounce pointlessly while rolling in the air.
"Well, did you remember the time when you visited my house two days ago?" Lacus asked Cagalli with a gentle smile on her face.
"Yes of course."
"Well, when you told me about your Orb being convinced to join the Earth Alliance, he seemed rather disappointed… You know, he thought that you shouldn't keep everything to yourself, Cagalli." She paused for a while and then continued, "Based on my evaluation, I know from his eyes that he wanted you to fully trust him."
Cagalli set a small, sad smile on her face while she let a sigh out from herself saying, "I know, Lacus." She stood from where she had been sitting minutes ago and then she walked to the direction of the window while staring at what's happening behind it. The window was facing the other side of the venue; the place where the catering's employees was gathering to prepare tonight's dishes. There were many people there and surely, there was more stuff besides the main kitchen.
"Athrun had told me that hundreds of times." Cagalli said as she leaned towards the window with a regretful look on her face. "But there are a lot of reasons why I still keep everything to myself. It's not that I don't trust him or that he's unreliable, in fact I trust him very much but there's some point when I'm unable to trust anyone…"
"I think you have a good reason for doing it."
"Can you guess it?" Cagalli gave Lacus a meaningful look while she was thinking about how sharp Lacus was when it comes to guessing people's feelings, "I bet you can give me the right answer, Lacus."
"Let's see…" She paused for a while to arrange herself the most appropriate order of words and then she answered, "…Well, I'll keep this short. Basically it's not easy to open yourself up to someone when you've closed it once, is it?"
Hearing Lacus' answer, Cagalli raised a brow to express her feelings.
"I mean, you've closed your heart ever since two years ago and when he's back into your life, it's not that easy to open it up again, is it?" Lacus explained it to Cagalli so she could catch the meaning of her words.
"You're right." Cagalli answered, as she turned to Lacus with a small smile on her face, "Definitely right."
"But it's not entirely his fault." Lacus continued, "You have to learn to open up again, Cagalli."
"Thanks" Cagalli replied with a wider smile than before, "I'm trying to." and then she caught Lacus' Haro which was heading towards her.
"Hey Lacus, is it just my feeling or this Haro suddenly become friendly with me?" she asked Lacus while the Haro was spinning on her palm.
"No, Kira has tampered with its AI so it can be friendly with you now." Lacus chuckled as she saw her Haro dancing on Cagalli's palm. Lacus' Haro which was named 'Pink-chan' used to be unfriendly with Cagalli but when Kira started to tamper with it, its AI gradually improved and now Pink-chan could speak a lot of words, not just pointless ramblings like it did years ago.
"Oh, I see." Cagalli replied as she watched Pink-chan floating back to Lacus.
"Come here, Pink-chan." Lacus said as it floated steadily to her direction, "So Cagalli, are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah, a bit." She smiled a little.
"You're not nervous, are you?" Lacus joked as she captured Pink-chan, "I'm the one who is getting married here, not you."
"Well I'm not nervous, Lacus." She smiled weakly, trying to express her mixed up emotions, "It's just… well actually I have a feeling that something isn't going on the way they should be now."
"Hmm? Mind telling me what is it all about?"
"Oh, actually… This is something that doesn't concern you and I don't want to drag you into serious problems so…" Cagalli shook her head weakly with a faint smile on her face, "…uhm… I sort of mind it."
"So that's the reason why you've been hiding your guns behind your dress, right?" Lacus quickly figured about what Cagalli had been concerning of since she entered Lacus' dressing room.
Startled with Lacus' guessing, Cagalli quickly replied with surprise on her voice, "How did you figure that?" She knew Lacus' ability in reading people's body language and expression; actually that was the reason why she was loved by the whole PLANT and Orb citizen. However, she never expected her to be able to know what she was hiding at that time.
"Because I saw you carrying a small briefcase that has Orb's military emblem on it." Lacus calmly answered Cagalli's enquiry, "Besides, I've realized from the way you walk that you're carrying something behind your dress."
"Hell yeah you're right Lacus." She replied in frustration, so frustrated that she spoke rashly, quite ignoring the fact that she was a Princess.
"Well actually your intuition is right, Cagalli." Lacus stood from her chair and then releasing her Haro that she had been holding in her hands for the last few minutes. "Right, Pink-chan?"
The pink-round-shaped robot did a nod-look-like action while it flew away from Lacus' hands.
"Cagalli, have I told you about my special plan in my wedding?"
"No, you haven't." She shook her head with bewildered looks on her face. "What is that?"
"I'm going to use Torii and Pink-chan to carry our wedding rings." Lacus smiled meaningfully as she stepped closer to Cagalli, "Kira has modified their AI so I'm sure they'll be able to do it."
"Really? Well, I personally think that your plan is kinda cute but…"
"Kira is doing the final maintenance on Torii and Pink-chan at the moment." Lacus said while eyeing her so intensely that it made Cagalli wonder what was going on at the moment.
"Wait a sec." Cagalli suddenly spoke with curiosity in her eye, "So that means…"
"…you're right", Lacus' eyes, which usually were warm and loving, now turned colder and colder as the time elapsed, "It's not my Pink-chan. That's why it's very friendly to you."
"So if it's not Pink-chan…" Cagalli tried to think while she examined the Pink Haro, "…something is wrong here…"
"Indeed, Cagalli." Lacus smiled satisfactory and then she continued, "Cagalli?"
"Yes?"
"Please shoot it"
"What?"
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"Kira, you told me to come with you just to take these-" Athrun paused for a while, and then continued, "-guns?"
"Don't complain." Kira answered as he pulled his drawer to get some ammunition from it, "My intuition told me to do so."
"Then tell your feelings to be realistic." Athrun gazed confusedly at his friend's attitude, "You're beginning to be paranoid like Cagalli…"
"I'm not paranoid…" Kira replied quickly as he was still busy taking care of his gun and ammunition, but then he realized something, "…wait a minute. Can you repeat what have you said before?"
"I said, you're beginning to be paranoid like Cagalli-"
"Is something up with her?" Kira asked while he unconsciously dropped some stuffs on the ground, and then he quickly collected them.
"I think so, she has pointed her gun at me twice, and she easily startled…"
"Then something must be really wrong", Kira returned to his drawer, and then he opened the other drawer. Inside it was a few handguns, and more ammunition.
"I think people are right when they say that twins have some connections with each other." He smiled satisfyingly and then threw a gun at Athrun, which he perfectly caught with both of his hands.
"Take that, Athrun."
"Huh?" Athrun was dazed by Kira's sudden action, but he decided to take the gun and keep it with him, "Fine, I'll take this."
"Hide it under your suit. I'll take one too." Kira slipped a handgun behind his suit, and then he took a glimpse at his watch, and he said, "Come on. We have to be fast otherwise we will be late."
Author's Note: Hehe. Things are going to heat up! Oh come on guys, read and review! I would really appreciate your reviews, critics are welcome but not flames… Oh well I have to check whether I have fire extinguishers or not… LOL
Muri desukedo: It's impossible but…
See you and thank you very much!
God bless you