When Athrun made his way to the bridge, he heard the message. "Enemy ship approaching."

"Is it the ArchAngel?" Rau Le asked.

"No, sir. But it is one of the Earth Forces' ships. Shall we make ready to attack?" Rau Le looked up and noticed Athrun. A smile spread across his face.

"Nice to see you, Athrun." Athrun glared at him and remained silent.

"Prepare to attack?" The man asked again with a bit more force.

"No." Rau Le replied. "Merely fire several warning shots at them. Do not attack and strike them. The plan is to lure out the ArchAngel. If the ArchAngel gets word that one of their fleet is in danger and needs backup, they will come here. Once the ArchAngel is here, then we attack."

"Yes sir." The man replied. Once again, Rau Le turned his attention to Athrun. He walked towards him.

"Do not be so stubborn, Athrun. I had to tell your little friend the truth. She had to know sooner or later." Athrun said nothing and he continued to glare at him. Rau Le suddenly sighed in disgust. "Just go to your mobile suit, Zala Athrun. Prepare to fight your little friend again." He then turned and left Athrun there.

Back on the ArchAngel; after the warning shots had been fired at the Earth Forces ship...

There was a voice over on the ArchAngel. "All mobile suit operators, report to your suits immediately! Repeat, all mobile suit operators to your suits immediately! We are going to save one of our fleet and there inevitably will be another battle with the ZAFT forces! All mobile suit operators to your stations immediately!"

Kira made his way to the his Strike Gundam mobile suit and accidentally ran into Flay on the way. "I'm sorry!" He apologized. "Are you alright, Flay?"

"I'm fine." She said. She then stood up and looked up at Kira. "You're going to fight again?" Kira lowered his eyes.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Good luck." She said. Kira looked at her, surprised. He then smiled.

"Thanks." He then passed Flay and continued to his mobile suit. Flay looked behind her and watched Kira go. She felt her heart clench.

"Be safe." She said quietly. She then turned and made her way in the opposite direction.

After Kira had gotten into his mobile suit, Lt. Mu La Flaga made a connection to him. "Good luck, kid. All our hopes are riding on you now." Kira smiled.

"Sure thing."

"And remember, I'll be there to back you up."

"Thanks." The mobile suits then launched. Their coordinates were not too far away from the ship in distress and so the mobile suits went ahead to aid the ship while the ArchAngel followed.

Athrun got himself into the Aegis and got everything set for launch. Although his mind was supposed to be on the battle at hand, he could not forget the words that were spoken by Hikaru. He was afraid that she hated him now. She certainly did seem quite mad and distressed about everything. And she had more than a right to be. Who would want to be held hostage? Especially for the man one grew up loving? Athrun sighed heavily. He knew that the fighting was pointless. He also knew that he never wanted to fight against Kira. But while they were on opposing sides, what choice did they really have?

"Mobile suit Aegis! Mobile suits Aegis, are you clear to launch?" Came the voice over from the bridge in his ear. It brought Athrun drastically out of his thoughts. The voice seemed quite irritated, as though they had said it more than once without a proper response.

"Sorry." Athrun apologized. "Yes. Zala Athrun here in the mobile suit Aegis. I'm clear to launch."

"Prepare for launch." Was the next command. The commands were run through the computer mainframe and Athrun was struck back as he felt the surge of speed as the mobile suit was being launched out of the ZAFT ship. Athrun kept his mind on Kira and facing him again. What was he going to say? Could he really not mention anything about Hikaru? He knew that Hikaru and Kira were in love; they had been since they were little kids. But Rau Le had condemned him to mention anything to Kira about Hikaru. He wanted to keep the information as his "ace in the hole". Athrun knew he could not go against Rau Le's orders. But he also wanted to keep Hikaru safe and happy. Being with Kira would be the easiest way of doing that.

Athrun then spotted Kira ahead and his heart skipped a beat. Narrowing his eyes, he sighed heavily and tried to think of Kira as an enemy and not as a friend. "I will do as I am ordered." He said. "I will defeat you, Yamato Kira."

Several minutes passed after Hikaru heard the battle start. She laid motionless in the bed that she was put in. She stared into nothingness and she never moved. All Hikaru could think about was what Athrun had said. Was he really fighting against Kira? Her Kira? The Kira she had grown up with?

Hikaru suddenly sat up and got out of the bed, making her way to the window. She did not want to believe it. She had known Kira and Athrun since they were all little kids and she did not want them fighting. Why were they on opposing sides? Why were they even apart of the stupid war? It all made no sense. Why was it happening?

"Kira..." She whispered as she moved her hand to the window and touched it. She wanted to see Kira again; she wanted to see him so badly that it was tearing her apart inside. She loved Kira.

With Kira and Athrun...

Aegis attacked the Strike Gundam but Kira evaded the onslaught. He did not get hit. "Damn you, Kira!" Athrun yelled, cursing him. "Why won't you just forfeit already?!"
"BECAUSE I CAN'T!" He yelled back. " I have friends and people I love that I need to protect! I can't let you or anyone else get in the way of me protecting them and keeping them safe!" Something within what Kira said had an effect on Athrun. He suddenly stopped attacking.

"Hikaru." He said plainly, barely registering the fact that he had said it aloud. Kira stopped instantaneously and froze. His eyes opened wide in shock.

"Hi-- Hikaru?" He said back. Athrun was not aware that the communication between himself and Kira was still on. "Tell me!" Kira demanded, snapping Athrun out of his thoughts. "Tell me where she is! Do you know?!" The fighting between the two old friends certainly had stopped. Kira was only intent on getting information on Hikaru out of Athrun. "TELL ME!"

"I..." Athrun did not know what to do. There was a great chance that the people aboard the ZAFT ship were listening in. "I... I can't..." This made Kira angry. He struck against the Aegis hard, thwarting the ZAFT mobile suit away from him. Kira's eyes were slits and he was very frustrated and aggitated.

"Tell me about Hikaru! Why would you mention her name all of a sudden? Where the hell is she, Athrun?!" Athrun refused to respond and thus the fight between them began again. But Kira was not anymore fighting just to protect the lives of the people on board the ArchAngel; he was fighting to get information out of Athrun as well.

On board ZAFT...

There was a light 'woosh' sound as the door to Hikaru's room opened. "Haro? Haro! Haro-Haro!" Hikaru looked back. Her eyes seemed unfocused and she had a look on her face that showed she did not care. She was too depressed and stressed to care about anything anymore. "Haro?" It was a small pink toy. When it spotted Hikaru, its eyes flashed. "Haro!" It rolled over to her.

There was a giggle at the door. Clyne Lacus was standing there. She was looking at her Haro and was smiling. Hikaru looked at her diconcertantly. She could have cared less. "Oh, hello." Lacus smiled, pushing herself lightly into the room. She landed two feet in front of Hikaru and picked Haro up in her hands, holding it. "I'm Lacus. Who are you?" Hikaru looked at her one last time before staying silent and turned back to the window. She never said a word. Lacus felt a little awkward. "Oh," She said quietly. "Well... it's nice to meet you." Still nothing. She tried once again. "I heard you earlier. You are a friend of Athrun and Kira too? I met Kira a little while ago. He's really a nice--"

"Shut up."

"Huh?" Lacus was taken aback. She had never been told to shut up before; especially not in such a cold and icy manner.

"Shut up." Hikaru said again then turned once again to Lacus and faced her. Her eyes were narrowed. "I don't care! Just shut up and leave me alone!" Lacus froze in amazement and shock. She did not know what to do. "I don't care that you met my Kira! What does it matter?! He and Athrun are out there fighting right now and..." Tears fell from her eyes and her head bowed. She silenced herself then.

Lacus was a little confused. "Yo-- your... Kira...?" Upon hearing her words said back to her, Hikaru gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. She looked up at Lacus. Lacus was not annoyed or angry or vengeful. After she got over her momentary shock, she smiled at Hikaru. Hikaru remained silent and immobile. "I see." She said. "I always did think he had someone special to him. He seemed to always have his mind wander off. But he was not always sad. I mean, whenever he thought about the war and fighting, you could tell because he always seemed upset and worried. I always wondered what he thought about when he seemed to be genuinely happy." Lacus' eyes then met Hikaru's. "Now I know. He must mean a lot to you." Hikaru nodded her head slowly and she remained silent. "I think you mean a lot to him as well." Lacus walked up to Hikaru so she was standing directly in front of her. She let Haro go and it floated a little ways away.

"I... I just want to see him." Hikaru said through her tears. Lacus nodded her head solemnly.

"You will."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'll help you." Lacus smiled sweetly. Hikaru could not hide the smile from her own face and she wiped away her tears.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

With Kira/Gundam and Athrun/Aegis...

"Dammit, Athrun! You have to tell me where she is! I have to see her!"

"I told you, Kira. I can't do that!"

"Why the hell not?"

"Because she could be in danger!"

"She could be in danger right now!"

"She's not!"

"How the hell do you know that?!"

"Because she's on the ship, safe!" Athrun yelled. Kira froze. So did Athrun. He raised his hand to his mouth and covered it. "Shit." He muttered.

"She... she's on your ship?"

Athrun sighed heavily. "I can't say anything else." He then made his way to abandon the fight and head back to the ZAFT ship. Kira stopped him.

"If I mean nothing to you then go away!" He yelled. "If our friendship never meant anything, then leave! I do not want to fight you Athrun, but I will to save Hikaru. Even if I end up killing everyone aboard the ArchAngel, I will do anything to protect Hikaru!" Unfortunately for him, both the ZAFT forces ship and the ArchAngel crew were listening in on their conversation. The people aboard the ArchAngel had their breath taken away. They could not believe what they had just heard.

"Yo... you mean, if he had the chance, he would kill all of us and save that girl?" One of the captains asked, astounded. She did not know Kira well personally, but she knew he was a good person and from what she had heard, he was adament on protecting all of them.

Miriallia ((A/N: I'll call her 'Miri'; for a simple reason)) turned to Sai; they were both helping the people on the bridge. Miri looked horrified. "Sai... Kira... he didn't mean it... did he?" She asked. Sai did not say anything. He was frozen. He could not believe what he had just heard either. He was hoping it had all been a horrible mistake, but that hope was in vain. It was obvious everyone else had heard it too. "Sai!"

"I... I don't know, Miri." He replied honestly. "I don't know."

"What did you say?" Athrun asked. Like everyone who had heard him, he could not believe what had just happened. "You said you are willing to let all the people aboard the ArchAngel die as long as Hikaru is safe?"

"YES!" Kira shouted. "I don't care about them if Hikaru is in danger! They mean nothing to me if that happens! I would rather everyone die on Earth than not be able to protect Hikaru when she is in danger!"

"Well you have to give the boy some credit." The main commander on the ArchAngel stated as she smiled. "He is in love."

"How can you be so easy going on him?!" Everyone demanded. "He would rather see us all dead!"

"Right." The commander replied. "He would rather see us all dead than not be able to protect the woman he loves. It is simple. Everyone feels that way."

"But Commander--"

"Enough." She said. "You can not honestly take what he said to be the Gods-honest-truth. He says it because that is how he feels; not how he will act." Her words shut everyone up. "He is a good person and a fine soldier, even if he does not want to be a soldier. He will protect us." Not everyone was fast to agree with the captain, however. Those who still felt uneasy were the ones closest to Kira on that ship: Sai, Miri, Tolle, Kuzzey, and even Flay. They knew Kira very well and he never exaggerated. They truly felt that he would rather kill them than not be able to protect Hikaru. Although they all respected him for feeling that way, they could not deny the uneasy feeling it gave them.

Unfortunately for the ArchAngel and Earth Forces, the ZAFT ship agreed with Kira's closest friends.

"So," Rau Le Creuset smirked. "We have found Kira's weakness. Stupid niave fool. It will be extremely easy to kill off the Earth Forces now."