Don't you just love cliffies? XD
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED.
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August 9, A.W
At around two in the morning, Dearka was woken up by an extremely loud crash coming from the living room. Instantly alert and heightened senses screaming, he scrambled out of bed and bolted out of his room in a blur of disheveled blond hair and bared teeth. Whoever was trying to break into their dorm was grossly mistaken. One, there was really nothing to steal, and two, he was not going to let the culprit leave without his teeth in a bag.
Expecting a fist fight the moment he got to the scene, he was caught by surprise when he flipped open the light switch and his wide-awake lavender eyes beheld what appeared to be a fist trying to pull itself out of the gaping hole right smack in the middle of their door.
A hole which, by all means, certainly did not belong there! Yzak's loud curses were heard from behind it.
At the sight of this, Dearka blurted out the first thing that came into his mind. "What the freaking heck is wrong with you!"
He trudged his way towards the door when he realized the silver-haired Coordinator was having a hard time dislodging his arm from the hole. Unlocking the knob, Dearka yanked the door open and felt satisfaction from seeing Yzak get dragged along with it. Much to his dismay, it seemed like his friend's racket had not simply woken him up, but had indeed woken up half the floor's sleeping occupants, along with them was Kira dressed in what looked like teddy bear pajamas (What's up with that?) and a sleepy Athrun in boxers and a bathrobe. Both, at the sight of Yzak, immediately took the job of crowd control.
By the time Yzak had disengaged himself from the mess he had gotten himself in, Kira and Athrun had gotten rid of the grumbling crowd, Dearka had instantly herded all three guys into their dorm room. All three of them seemed to have decided to stay at a safe distance away from Yzak.
Kira, however, was slightly ticked. "You busted a hole through our dorm room before, and now you did it here, too. What the heck is it with you and holes on doors?"
Oh, yes! Hadn't that been a complete surprise for Dearka the moment he saw Kira's door, what with a crudely hammered piece of wood attempting to cover up a hole that was splintered and made from the inside. Kira said it had been because of Kari. It was not going to be a surprise if this hole was caused by her as well.
"Just leave me alone and mind your own freaking business," Yzak snarled as he made his way through the living room, almost running Athrun through as he went straight to his sleeping quarters, slamming the door behind him so hard that whoever had slept through the first racket he had made earlier was now probably wide awake as well.
For a few seconds, the three Coordinators were silent until Athrun let out a loud yawn.
"That was completely weird," Kira said after.
Athrun shrugged. "I'd have to agree with that. But right now, I'm too sleepy to care."
"Me too. I'm going back to bed." With that, Kira and Athrun filed out of the room silently.
Dearka stared after them in amazement. Since when had those two started speaking again? Shrugging and scratching his head, he headed for the kitchen and pulled out that hammer and a box of nails from the bottom drawer of the sink. Leave it to Yzak to make him work on the mess he made.
It took him about ten noisy minutes to patch the blasted door up. The moment he got things done, he got cleaned up and headed back to his room, although he did not feel like sleeping at all.
On his way to his quarters, he was momentarily distracted when he heard, yet again another loud racket coming from the other side of the door of Yzak's quarters. He had the feeling that this was going to happen. Given that he was already wide awake, he decided that he might as well make the most of it and see what he was up to.
He knocked twice before opening the door and dared himself in poking his head in to see what was going on. He saw what appeared to be the cause of the loud racket; the ladder back chair of his desk stood toppled in the corner and Yzak was lying on his back in the middle of his bed, arms thrown over his eyes.
"You okay in here?" he asked softly, pushing the door open and making his way inside, cautiously making sure he would not have that much of a hard time running back out if Yzak decided that he didn't want any company.
In the years he had known Yzak, he had seen his mood swings and tantrums about the shallowest of things, and majority of the time he had been there to see him in action in releasing all his anger on things. Chairs would fly and locker doors would be damaged in his rage, and so him hiding out in his room and throwing a tantrum there was quite a surprise in itself. He had always thought that lashing out in public had brought his friend some pleasure.
"Go away," Yzak moaned, not even moving from his place.
"Are you sure you're okay? I thought you were with Kari…"
The name itself made Yzak stiffen evidently. Dearka could only bite his lower lip uncertainly. Kari had always had that effect on him. Sometimes, the Buster pilot had the feeling that the guy was honestly smitten, however hard he tried to deny it.
"She didn't show up, okay? Now can you leave me alone?"
Dearka frowned, bravely taking another step forward. "Is everything all right? I mean, is she okay?"
This comment made Yzak suddenly sit up on the bed, eyes wide as if this was the first time it had crossed his mind that something bad might have happened to Kari that's why she didn't show up.
Dearka immediately took back the words, afraid that Yzak might suddenly maul him over. "I mean, of course she's okay! What could possibly happen to her?"
The light-haired Coordinator stared at him blankly for a few minutes before withering completely. "I don't know. I should have picked her up there at her house. Or maybe I should have waited for her at school or something."
"Stop talking that way. I bet she just forgot and – "
"Kari never forgets!" Yzak roared at him, making Dearka jump in place. The tone reminded him how his friend could be so unstable when Kari was not around.
"Right, right Kari never forgets… I didn't mean she forgot about you. Especially on your birth – " Dearka froze in mid sentence when he suddenly remembered something he had left in Yzak's desk for his birthday present, which, at his current mood right now, he did not believe the Duel pilot should be seeing. It was meant as a joke, since Kari was the first ever girl he ever got involved with.
He could see the small box wrapped in glossy yellow paper sitting innocently on the desk exactly where he left it after Yzak had gone off to see Kari. He felt slightly nervous and made a move to snatch it when Yzak saw him and eyed him suspiciously.
"What are you up to?" Yzak snapped. No sooner did his eyes zoom in on Dearka's target. Before he could even react, Yzak was on his feet and the present was swept off from the desk with skilled hands.
Dearka felt cold sweat trickle down the side of his face despite the cold floor beneath his feet. "It was supposed to be my birthday present… and well… "
Yzak narrowed his eyes at him like a wolf. "Then why do you look like you are going to snatch it back when it is a gift for me?"
Dearka swallowed hard. "Oh, ahh… Well… "
"What's in it?"
"Something that you should not see… Now if you would be kind enough to hand it back – "
Yzak ripped the present open.
Dearka felt his insides turn into mush. "I suggest you don't do that…"
Too late. He watched as Yzak's eyes landed on the smaller boxes that fell from the bigger box and in an instant, the light-haired boy's face paled, reddened then turned into an unhealthy shade of blue. There, scattered on his bed, were several boxes of condoms in all assorted flavors, that on normal circumstances would have been quite funny especially since he knew Yzak was easy to embarrass that way.
However, right now, Yzak was not amused.
He picked up one of the strawberry flavored ones and stared at it with a deadly look. "You give me these for my birthday?"
Dearka laughed weakly, wanting to be anywhere but there. "It was supposed to be a joke. Remember your birthday two years ago?"
Wrong move. At the memory of the said event, which circulated upon Dearka's insistence of Yzak going out on a blind date (he did not dare go into details), Yzak let out a loud roar and Dearka yelped as he ran for his life from the room, boxes of flavored condoms flying at him.
Despite all this, he found himself laughing once he was safely in his room. Yzak was so easy to embarrass when it comes to girls. All he needed was to bring them up.
0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0
Miriallia went to school earlier than usual that day and could be found sitting in the farthest table of the school library, sorting out photographs by size. Today was indeed going to be a busy day. Her photography teacher was demanding a lot from their class and Miriallia did not know what to do.
Fingering the first two pictures she had gotten out of the envelope, she sighed. The first one was a picture of a mother wiping the face of her daughter who has spilled chocolate ice cream all over her pink dress. She had taken the picture candidly while she was sitting outside the coffee shop down town yesterday after class.
The second picture was that of two bluebirds pecking on a piece of discarded cookies on the pavement. Miriallia had been so proud of this shot. It had been such a difficult subject and she had only been entirely lucky to have caught this one on camera. So far, it was the most promising of all photographs she had. If it hadn't been for Lacus who had tried to steal it from her yesterday, thus smattering finger prints all over it and creasing one corner of it, she would have submitted this one.
Carefully dumping the rest of the pictures on the table and thumbing through them, she could not help but smile at the sight of the picture of Dearka she had taken when they were by the lake. It was the day Fallon had chained herself to him.
Miriallia frowned. The memory still made her skin crawl.
Moving on, she sifted through several other pictures and giggled softly at several pictures of Cagalli and Lacus in their dorm room. With the princess of Orb's hair looked like a bird's nest and Lacus' face covered by some green mud pack, she could not help but scold herself for even considering of bringing those to school.
She was about to move on when she felt someone flick her ear from behind, making her gasp. She immediately sighed in relief when Yalin dropped down on the seat next to her, once again impressing his perfect smile that remarkably did not annoy her anymore.
"Good morning. You're up early," he greeted. When Miriallia saw his gray eyes searching the photos, she immediately grabbed the pictures of Lacus and Cagalli and slipped them inside her envelope swiftly. "Ah, Sir Santos giving you a hard time in your class, isn't he?" He picked up one of the photos that she had left on the table and whistled. "These are good. Are you thinking of making a career out of this?"
Miriallia blinked. "Hardly. I'm just trying to get by."
"Well, you're doing a pretty good job at it." He replaced the picture back in the pile where he got it and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the smooth surface of the table then resting his chin on his hands.
Miriallia stared at the boy for a brief second then started to gather her photos in a neat stack while waiting for him to talk. Yalin loved to talk. She was starting to wonder why he was so quiet at the moment. Or is it because they were in the library?
For the last three days, Yalin had been catching up on her in the halls to say hello, and just yesterday, when she shopped for some extra stuff they needed back in the dorm, he would always keep her company while pretending to work. Of course, Yalin was wise enough to stay away when Dearka or any of the other boys were around her, not because he was afraid of them, but because Yalin knew that even if he did try to make friends with any of them, he would be lucky to walk away without a bleeding lip. He however, did not seem to hold it against them. For someone who had been in cahoots with a gang not too long ago, he sure was understanding.
But his silence right now was quite unnerving. Yalin was always talking to her about something that he thought was funny, but right now, he was merely sitting there and doing nothing.
Miriallia finally could not take it. She looked over to him and asked, "Are you all right?"
Yalin blinked a few times before finally looking over to her. "Me? Why of course I'm all right. I was just…" he hesitated a bit, and Miriallia waited for him to continue. He didn't and she poked his shoulder gently.
"You were just…?"
With this, Yalin made a small miserable noise at the back of his throat and rested his forehead on the table, hiding his face. After a while, he raised his face to look at her and a smile was plastered on his lips once more. "It's nothing. I was just thinking about a lot of things."
Miriallia doubted it, but decided that this was not her business and so she smiled back at him and said, "Well, I'd better go. Maybe I can get some random shots in the soccer field before first bell."
"Ah, good idea. I'll walk you there."
And so gathering everything into her envelope again, Miriallia was accompanied by Yalin on the way to the soccer field. Quite lost in thought and still worrying about what she was going to present later in class, she was caught off guard by a small blur bulleting out of the corridor and zooming straight for Yalin, tackling the unsuspecting boy off his feet with a loud 'gaahh!' escaping from his mouth.
Miriallia gasped. "Fallon! No!"
She did not even mind dropping her envelope and spilling all its contents onto the floor as she ran to where the two had skidded to a halt on the glossy floor. Scared out of her wits, wondering if Fallon was going to be violent on the poor boy, she was quite surprised and pleased at the same time to see that Fallon was, in fact not being violent at all. If anything, aside from the embarrassing position she was in, her legs straddling Yalin's torso in an indecent position that made Miriallia grateful there weren't any people present, the girl was silent and blushing as she stared down at her victim.
Miriallia covered her mouth to stop herself from bursting into giggles. Fallon had thought that Yalin was Dearka since he was walking with her!
Yalin opened his eyes groggily and looked around. "What hit me?"
Fallon's eyes lingered on Yalin's face for a brief moment, opened her mouth as if to say something, closed it again, then without much hesitation, she scrambled up on her feet, her face reddening even more.
Miriallia hurried to Yalin's side and, understanding that being a Natural, he would not be able to recover as quickly as Dearka could after getting tormented by Fallon, helped him to sit up. "Are you – "
"I'm so sorry!" Fallon suddenly blurted out as she bowed deeply, attempting to hide her face in her short blond hair. "I thought you were… "
"Dearka?" Yalin continued, rubbing his back and shooing Miriallia away when she tried to help him to his feet, saying he can do it. It took him a lot of effort to do so, but he managed after a while. "Man, I'm starting to wonder how Dearka can survive two minutes with you. Strong girl you are, I tell you."
Miriallia did not dare explain to him the reason behind her strength, but shook her head disapprovingly at the girl. "You could have hurt someone by the way you are acting. It's dangerous just running people through." She narrowed her eyes at the girl. "And why are you out of the orphanage again?"
Fallon looked as if she was having a hard time thinking of a good enough excuse as the why she was roaming around without any company, but didn't find any. She scowled at Miriallia angrily. "It's none of your business. And Dearka will not be pleased to know you're hanging out with some other guy!" With that, she stuck out her tongue and bolted into a dead run down the corridor where she came, and disappeared down the hall, footsteps thundering after her.
Miriallia shook her head again, this time in frustration. "She's really a difficult girl…"
Yalin tried to stretch his strained back muscles and winced. "I can tell… Anyway, I think that was a threat she just gave you."
"It doesn't matter. She was being a pain. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah. I'm all right. I should go though, in case she does tell your boyfriend I have to endure another row with your friends as well. See you around, Mir." With that, Yalin waved at her and proceeded down the opposite direction where Fallon had disappeared into, limping a bit as he tried to rub his back again. He vanished around the corridor which led unmistakably to the infirmary.
"See you," Mir called after him and proceeded to collect her scattered pictures on the floor. After a while did it occur to her that she still needed a subject. Groaning, she started for the soccer field.
0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0
In their elective class, which Kira did not feel like attending, the Freedom pilot met up with Cagalli, who appeared to be ditching her elective too.
"How are you feeling today?" Kira asked his sister as they made their way out into the soccer field for some fresh air. After that annoying Health education class where they were required to watch a movie about something Kira had fallen asleep in the middle of, the outdoors was definitely a good change of environment.
Cagalli shrugged as they found a good patch of grass that overlooked the crowded soccer field where a number of people were playing around and slacking off, obviously cutting off on their electives as well. "All right. How about you?"
Kira scratched his head of hair and smiled. "Much better." He suddenly felt quite self-conscious when he saw his twin looking at him weird. "What?"
"Get a hair cut."
Kira squirmed in his seat and looked away from her. He did not feel like getting his hair cut anytime soon. Especially now that it was getting cold and he hated it when his ears got too cold. Desperate to change the subject, he plucked a blade of grass and poked Cagalli's ear with it. She jumped and let out a strangled gasp, then socked him painfully on the arm.
"Stop that!"
Kira laughed and threw away the blade of grass. "Sorry. I couldn't help it. By the way, did you know Yzak punched a hole into his and Dearka's dorm room door?"
Cagalli's face twisted in an ugly frown. "Again?"
"No, no. The first door he punched was mine. This is a different door."
"It's a good thing the dorm doesn't charge you for repairs."
"Yeah. Lucky." Kira poked Cagalli's arm. "What you doing after class today?"
This caught Cagalli off guard. She blinked her amber eyes and shrugged again. "Nothing much. Just finish off some homework and all that. Why?"
Kira leaned on his hand and looked out into the soccer field, watched some of the students fool around with a soccer ball, then looked over to his sister with a smile. It has been a while since he had been alone with Cagalli this long without getting her agitated about anything. He could never forget that day when he found out that Cagalli was his sister, more so, his twin. Did anything ever change between them after? It seemed like nothing did. Perhaps that was the reason why he had been so drawn to her from the moment they met. "Wanna eat out for dinner later?"
Cagalli blinked again, then narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you after?"
Kira snorted. "Is it too much to ask to hang out with my only sister?"
She was not buying it. "Okay, you didn't break anything that is supposedly mine, did you?"
"I wouldn't be here if I did. I'd be hiding somewhere you won't be able to find me."
"Then why are you asking me to dinner?"
Kira laughed, threw his arms around Cagalli's neck and ruffled her hair, making her scream. "I just want to spend some time with my little sister."
Cagalli squirmed under his arm, screaming, "I'm older than you are!"
"Right, right. Now have dinner with me later. If you are nice enough, I might even pay."
This made Cagalli laugh despite her current position and her immaculately wonderful hair getting even more tousled. "Fine, fine. Dinner it is. Come to think of it, we haven't spent much time together to talk about… stuff… " her expression went blank for a few moments, and Kira let her go. She sat up straight then smiled sadly at him. "Stuff about you and me…"
Kira straightened as well, slightly distraught at what his sister said. It just had to go back to that certain day when she found out that she wasn't an only child, right before her father died. They didn't have time to talk about it before. There was no time to talk about such things. They were too busy staying alive then, up in space. But what Kira did not like much about these conversations, was that it depressed the heck out of him. He inched closer to Cagalli and patted her on the back. "You and me will always be you and me, Cagalli. Nothing changes. However we became what we are now matters little." He pulled her to him and once again messed up her hair. "Don't worry about it too much."
Cagalli was silent for a little while before sighing and leaning against her brother. "Do you think… do you think you could have had blond hair and amber eyes like me?"
Kira paused for a second, then nodded. "It's possible. Or the other way around." He touched his hair with his free hand. "I wonder what I would look like with blond hair?"
"It won't suit you. You are too pale…" Cagalli said absentmindedly.
Kira frowned and roughly gave her nuggie, making Cagalli squeal once more.
"All right, break it up," came a voice from behind them. Kira and Cagalli both looked up and smiled when they saw Lacus and Athrun approaching, the Justice pilot lugging around what appeared to be a portable keyboard. Both of them apparently had just gotten out of music class and are now outside to skip their electives too.
"Lacus, hi," Kira said as his girlfriend wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "I wasn't expecting you to be going AWOL on classes."
"It's such a nice day out, I can't help it," the songstess said and sat on the grass next to him, throwing her long pink ponytail over her shoulder and arranging her skirt.
Kira turned away when he saw Athrun bending down to plant a kiss on his sister's lips. Now in all honesty, everything between him and Athrun were pretty much going back to normal, but that was because both he and his best friend decided not to talk about it. This was one of the easiest ways they get over whatever kind of misunderstanding they have; denial. Both seemed to have that certain agreement that talking about it would mess things up even more, and Kira was quite glad that at least Athrun shared the same sentiments that he has.
Perhaps that was why they were best friends in the first place.
The four of them spent the next five minutes silently enjoying the cool breeze while watching the action on the soccer field. After a while, Miriallia and Dearka emerged from the library building.
Athrun was the one who saw them first and he waved to catch their attention.
"Wow, how long has it been since we've been together like this?" was Dearka's first comment the moment they reached them. He then turned to Cagalli. "Hey, C. What happened to your hair?"
Cagalli gritted her teeth. "Hey, D. What happened to your face?"
"Ha-ha… Good one," the Buster pilot muttered as he helped Miriallia sit down and then settled next to her.
"What a perfect day to skip classes," Milly said after giving Lacus and Cagalli a hug. "It's weird. For the first time after a long time, we finally caught up with each other."
With this, Kira could only laugh. Now all they needed was Yzak.
Kira frowned and looked over his shoulder.
Where is Yzak anyways?
0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0
Yzak had spent the whole morning sitting on the stairs, waiting for Kari to drop by her locker, but it seemed like the girl did not have any plans on showing up today. Which drove Yzak completely crazy. Kari stood him up for some reason he didn't know. So many thoughts were swimming in his head, and none of them were making him feel any better.
He was about to stand up from where he was sitting, when a shadow fell over him, making him look up. He did not like what he saw.
Sparkling teeth greeted him, making bile rise up his throat. "You again. What do you want?" Honestly, it was as if this guy was everywhere lately.
Yalin cocked his pretty head to the right but did not say anything. Instead, he handed him a thin flat parcel wrapped in what he recognized as shock proof material.
"What?" he asked.
"This came by the Guidance office for you earlier today, and Mrs. Takano wanted me to give this to you. It's from the PLANTs," said Yalin.
Yzak stared at the package as if expecting it to explode, then took it gingerly. Flipping it over, he found out it was a package from his mother. Obviously a birthday present. He looked back up and found Yalin staring at him.
"What else do you want?" he snapped.
Yalin was not moved. He seemed to have no sense of danger, because he chose to sit down on the stairs next to Yzak, who in turn moved as far away from him as possible. Yalin didn't seem to notice.
"Listen. I just wanted to ask you… If you did anything to make Mrs. Takano hate you so much…"
The question surprised Yzak, not because he didn't already know this, but because Yalin of all people was asking him of it. He was beginning to think the guy honestly knew more than he was letting on. "I didn't do nothing. And even if I did, it's none of your frigging business."
With this, Yalin gave him quite a perplexed look, then sighed. "Yzak, is there any way you could lower your defenses on me for even just a second?"
"No."
Yalin opened his mouth, then closed it, opened it again as if finally figuring out what to say. "Well, I personally don't care if you hate me or what. But listen. It's about Kari – "
At the mention of the name, Yzak's ears perked up immediately. "Where is she?"
Yalin was instantly uneasy. His grey eyes darted from one corner to another, before finally sighing and standing up. "She's not here in school. Try… try checking her house."
Yzak stood up also, almost dropping the package he was holding. "And how come you know this?"
Yalin once again looked uneasy. "I… overheard Mrs. Takano on the phone with someone and I heard her say Kari being at home and …"
"And what?"
"And that she won't be coming out anytime soon what with all the things she was taking care of…"
Yzak felt all the blood in him rush to his head. She was at home all along… Something must be up… Is she all right? Is she sick? Those damn headaches…!
When he didn't say anything for a while, Yalin took the advantage to speak. "Yzak, are you sure everything is all right between you, Kari and her mother?"
Yzak pinned him a death glare. "I don't care about her mother, or what she thinks," he snarled. And with that, he stalked away, barely hearing Yalin calling after him, saying something about school hours and skipping class.
He didn't care. It was not like Kari not to show up at something so important.
Something had to be up…
0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0
That afternoon, Dearka found himself walking home with Athrun, who was carrying with him his huge portable musical instrument which made him think about Nicol so much. After having spent the rest of the hour lounging about in the soccer field with the gang, everyone set off into their business for tonight. Kira was taking Cagalli out for dinner, Miriallia and Lacus said that it was their turn to shop together for new clothes, and having nothing to do, he decided to hang out with Athrun for the time being.
Besides, he had nothing better to do at the moment.
"How's you playing?"
Athrun smiled. "Getting much better at it."
Dearka nodded. "Mir told me about it. She said you're getting really good."
The comment, as expected, made the Justice pilot blush. For someone who he had known to be tough and quite proud of his achievements, his praise about his playing seemed to be a different story. "I'm having fun with it, that's all I know." And with that, he immediately changed the subject. "I heard the keys Cagalli ordered are coming really soon. You can finally get rid of that unique accessory you are sporting." He pointed at the handcuffs still dangling from Dearka's wrist.
He found this quite humorous. Giving the cuffs a bit of a shake, he then stuffed it back in his pocket. "Just when I was getting used to having them."
They laughed at this and fell silent after a while. The next question that came out of Athrun's mouth made Dearka miss a step.
"Any news from the PLANTs?"
He did in fact get news from the PLANTs. He hadn't told anyone about the email he had gotten from his father, Tad Elthman. Not even Miriallia. But that was simply because he was, as always, in denial about it.
His father was making him come home…
Now in reality, he wanted to see his father. It had been a while since he had seen him, and although he hated admitting it, he missed him dearly. He had been informed of the news of his impending trial, and although things were "looking up", as what his father had said, he was starting to wonder if anything could be "looking up" more than what he already had here. He had tight friends, a loving girlfriend… he was at peace… And he was loving it. But he knew that he couldn't stay. He was only delaying the inevitable.
Turning to Athrun, he asked. "So what are your plans after this?"
The Justice pilot blinked at him, then asked back, "After what?"
Dearka gestured at his surroundings. "After Japan. You know, plans about the future. You are planning about the future, right?"
Athrun laughed. "Of course! Who isn't? But right now I pretty much have everything sorted out."
This made Dearka curious. "Really?"
"Yep. Finish this semester and go with Cagalli to Orb and that's it."
"That's it?"
"Yep. Why?"
Dearka was taken aback. "Nothing… It's just so… uncomplicated…"
"Why shouldn't it be?"
Why shouldn't it be?
Dearka found himself shrugging. "I don't know… For my part, I'm starting to think I need to make better planning about my life than just that."
Athrun looked over to him as he shifted his hold on the organ. "Did you or did you not receive any news about the PLANTs?"
Dearka swallowed hard. He always knew what to ask. "I got an email from my father, asking me to come back up to the PLANTs as soon as possible…"
This brightened the Justice pilot's face. "Ah! That must mean everything is settling down up there. That's wonderful news."
"Yeah," he said weakly, and was caught by surprise at the next thing that came out of his mouth. "But… I don't want to go."
For a short moment, Athrun stared at him with wide blue eyes, almost dropping the organ on the ground. After a while, he sputtered. "You… want to stay? Here?"
"Yes… I mean, no… I mean… I don't know…" He looked straight ahead of them as they resumed their walk. "I mean, is it up for me to decide? I'm still under the Service. My superiors want me back." He kicked a pebble on the floor and watched it roll off in front of them.
Athrun followed suit and kicked at it as well, making the pebble dart forward. "What does Yzak say? Did he get an email from his mother about anything that concerns going back?"
"I don't know. He's not telling me anything. But I know he will not hesitate on going back up to the PLANTs when called. He has a very big responsibility on the PLANTs now. He's going to be part of the Council now. It's what he's always wanted, remember? Success. Accomplishments. This is his chance."
"And what are you planning to do?"
Dearka shrugged. "I don't know. What would you do if you were me?"
Athrun snorted. "Tch! I'd go back, Dearka. If I were you, which I'm not."
Big shock. "You would? But… what about your life here? What about Cagalli?"
Athrun sighed, looked up into the sky and said, "We can't always get what we want and get away with it, Dearka. There are bigger things that have to be prioritized than our wants. Especially when you are in the service." He smirked. "You of all people should know that. You weren't like me then. I was branded a traitor. You helped the Archangel while you were still under the service. And that made all the difference. You did, not only what you thought was right, but what you wanted to do. You wanted to protect that ship even though you didn't fully understand what you'd get out of it. And now you are going to have to face the consequences of your action as a soldier."
Athrun was right. When he decided to help the Archangel then, he had little reason to. It would have been easier to walk away. Heck, he was set free! He could have just gone off and rendezvoused with ZAFT in Carpentaria. But his heart did not give him much of a choice. He wanted to do something simply because he wanted it.
Athrun's next question made even his roots blush. "Come to think of it, I never really did get to ask you… Or maybe I did, but you just gave me some lousy answer… Why did you help the Archangel then?"
Of course, he could not lie. Even if he did, he doubted Athrun would believe him. He gave him a shy smile, then said. "She was in there… I was about to go, but her face kept flashing in my mind's eye. I couldn't walk away. Call me shallow for abandoning my post because of a girl… But I couldn't turn away. I just had to go back for her."
And with this, Athrun nodded, as if understanding him perfectly. "So you are willing to disobey orders again, just because you are afraid of leaving her?"
The truth sounded so shallow when said. He nodded. "Yes."
This made Athrun chuckle richly. "You're a fool."
Dearka smiled weakly. "Thanks." He felt a little better.
0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0
Yzak stared at the front door of Kari's house and remembered having stood here not a few days ago, waiting for her to get dressed to have a small study date in their dorm room. He was having second thoughts about knocking on the door, as it seemed like there wasn't anyone in there. Could Yalin be lying to him?
I'll break his jaw if I find out that he is…
Approaching the door cautiously, tucking the flat package his mom had sent him under his left arm, he proceeded and knocked on the door three times. He waited for a few seconds before knocking again. Still no answer. He tried the doorknob. Locked.
He looked over his shoulder, afraid that someone might see him. When he saw the coast was clear, he gripped the knob tight and felt his muscles in his forearm ripple as he exerted pressure on it while twisting. After a few more seconds, he heard something snap. Old fashioned locks were so inefficient. They were so easy to break.
Quite satisfied that he didn't have to punch a hole through it, he pushed open the door and closed it behind him. The Takano residence didn't seem to have changed much since the last time he had been in it, which was when he took a sick Kari home from the amusement park. The living room was as dark as ever, with wicker furniture here and there. It was only then did he realize they didn't have a television in their living room, which seemed quite odd for him in a typical Japanese house.
Cautiously making his way through the living room, he didn't know what to expect to see in there. He had been hoping Kari would open the door for him when he knocked, but he was greatly disappointed. Never in his life did he expect that he would be breaking into his girlfriend's house to find her. That would be a good story to tell the police though, if ever he did get caught for breaking and entering.
Hey officer. Me? Steal? No, no! I was just looking for my girlfriend. She stood me up yesterday and I heard she was here so I broke open the door and forced my way in…
Yzak scowled. Where are you, Kari?
The house, much to the Duel pilot's annoyance, was too quiet for his taste. He could not eve hear the typical wall clock tick-tocking. The house was undeniably eerie. Or maybe it was because he was being a bit paranoid. He supposed that was what happened to you when you enter a house without permission.
Unable to help it anymore, Yzak settled by calling out her name.
"Kari? Are you here?"
No answer. Yzak went straight to her room, as it was the only place he had ever been in that house. Kari's room, like the living room, did not look like it had been moved since his last visit. Except for the clutter on Kari's desk before, which now was obviously missing, nothing had been duly changed that it made the hairs at the back of Yzak's neck stand on end. He wondered if Kari ever slept here.
He decided to move on. Although the house was fairly small, it was neat and organized that he was afraid to move carelessly and move something out of place that will make them realize someone had been prowling in their stuff. That, of course, he soon realized, was too late, because the door was already busted. Several doors along the narrow hall were locked, and he had searched the kitchen for any signs of life but found nothing. But yet he knew that there was someone in the house, or else he would not have bothered to break in. Kari was in here, he knew… She just had to be in here…
At the end of the corridor of locked doors was where he found what he was looking for. An open door… And he could hear shuffling from the inside…
He felt his spine turn into ice as he pressed his back against the wall, stealthily inching towards the doorframe to check what was going on inside the room which seemed to be the only room that looked real, what with the movement in it; everything else looked frozen in time.
As he finally managed to get a good look of who it was, he nearly stumbled at the sight of the familiar strawberry blond hair that he adored so much…
There on the floor, sat Kari, mountains upon mountains of paperwork and important-looking documents scattered around her. Her back was to him and was oblivious of his presence until he stepped into the room silently.
With this, his Kari turned to look at him, and at the sight of those beautiful green eyes, those eyes he was willing to drown in almost every time she looked at him, he gasped. Her cheeks were tear stained, and more tears were leaking down those eyes…
God… those eyes…
Yzak took another step forward, nearly dropping his parcel. "Kari…? What the heck is this?"
Her wonderful eyes never left his as her slender fingers danced over the tons of piles of papers and photos around her until it stopped on one that looked familiar to him… It was the picture he had found lying in her room when he took her home after their amusement park date…
Her pretty mouth opened and the only words that came out, her voice wavering in the most un-Kari-like way, making Yzak shiver…
"Yzak…? Who am I?"
0 -- 0 -- 0 -- 0
Yuugiri: Yes. I am evil. Cliffies are my thang. But it does make you start to think, right? What does Yalin know about Kari? And what was that scene with Fallon about? (Ne Nita?) Is Dearka really going back to PLANT? What could Kira and Cagalli be talking about? And what is it with Kari?
All right, so it is a bit short and I'm not promising anything good for the next few chapters, and with the way things are going, I'm starting to get second thoughts about the YzakKari pairings and their ending. No no, no one will die that's for sure. So don't worry your pretty little heads. XD
Yuugiri is feeling a lot better now. Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter when some of you made me feel a whole lot better. Thank you, thank you. It means a lot to me! One of these days I will have to thank you all individually. You have all been really nice to bad, bad Yuugiri who keeps on leaving cliffies.