Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED.
A/N – It's been a while since the last chapter… almost 2 months now… somewhere around there. Well… most of the month was spent thinking on how to end it properly. I kept have mental conflicts with myself. Lack of imagination (goes cries in a corner holding her imaginary Athrun and Cagalli plushies). Anywayz, I changed the plan for the last chapter. It was supposed to start off where the last chapter did but… not anymore.
Short Moments
December 30 C.E. 73
Cagalli had spent her day locked up in her office desperately doing all her paperwork. Recently, Kisaka had banned her from coffee completely. When she objected with the argument that she needed the caffeine to keep herself awake, he countered by buying a huge amount of tea leaves saying that it had more than enough caffeine in it to keep her awake and that it was healthier then coffee.
Cagalli felt her eyelids become unbearably heavy as she sipped at her steaming hot tea. Frowning, she gulped down the whole cup hoping the burning sensation as the tea went down her throat would help wake her up. Slamming the tea cup back down, she let out a yawn. Rubbing at her eyes, she began to mutter to herself, "Stupid Kisaka… be healthy my ass… No coffee. Tea is weak as hell. How am I supposed to stay awake to do all this stuff?"
She then began to pinch herself as hard as she could to test whether that method worked better or not. Unfortunately, it didn't. She poured the rest of the tea into her cup and gulped it down in one go. She was about to mutter her complaint about the no-coffee diet again, but her attention turned to the light, sharp knocks on the door. "Come in," she said.
The door opened to reveal Kisaka holding a new pitcher of tea. Walking into the room, he poured the steaming liquid into Cagalli's cup. Picking it up, Cagalli gulped it down again. The hot tea burned her throat as it made its way down. "I don't believe that it's good for you if you keep doing that," suggested Kisaka.
"Do you have any better ideas on how to keep me awake?" Cagalli made a grab for the pitcher of tea, which Kisaka quickly pulled away from her.
"Tea is made to be sipped and drunken slowly, not gulped down instantly," he replied. "With the amount of tea you drink a day, I'm surprised that it's not having any affect on you. You would think that it would be just as good as coffee."
Cagalli yawned again. "Nothing is as good as coffee. By the way, you just reminded me of something. For the past two years I never noticed but… why don't I have a washroom in this room? Drinking so much tea is making me go to the washroom almost every half an hour! Do you know how much time I waste by going to the washroom?"
Looking strangely at the blonde princess, Kisaka simply replied, "I will see to that matter. But for now, how are you feeling?"
Cagalli yawned again feeling incredibly tired. "What do you m-mean by…" Cagalli's eyes closed as her body completely shut down. There on her chair, she slept.
"Are you really sure that it was ok to drug her like that?"
"Of course it's ok! If we don't take action, those two will never get together again!"
"But still…"
"Don't worry, Milly. She doesn't know that we drugged her. She'll probably just think she fell asleep on her own."
"If you say so Kira…"
December 31 C.E. 73
Athrun stood in front of the full length mirror, examining himself. Adorned in a black suit, he thought of ways to escape his current predicament. From the corner of his eye, he could see Dearka, Yzak, and Kira all watching him closely making escape impossible. The three of them were forcing him to attend Cagalli's New Year's party that night. Through countless amounts of protests, he found himself being tied and dragged to Kira's place where he was ruthlessly told to get cleaned up, and to put on the suit. With a sigh, Athrun adjusted his tie a bit before finally turning around to the three boys. A visible frown was on his face as he asked, "What are guys planning?"
"Nothing," replied Kira.
"Then shouldn't you guys get ready as well?"
Kira looked meekly at Dearka's direction, who replied, "Don't be silly Athrun. We're already ready for the party."
Athrun looked sharply at the three boys, and then looked down at the clothing he wore. "Then why am I the only one wearing a suit?"
Yzak smirked evilly. Walking towards Athrun he said, "You ask too many questions. Be a good boy and just go to the party. It's time to go." Shoving Athrun ahead of him, he waited for Kira and Dearka to grab Athrun's arms. The two boys pulled the blue haired Coordinator to the car despite his feeble complaints.
"Just a few more ribbons."
"Are you really sure this is alright? When she finds out, she's going to kill us!"
"That's alright! Don't worry about it so much. Don't you agree, Haro?"
"Haro haro!"
"But I still think we shouldn't take such… drastic measures! Do you even know what we're implying for the two to do here?"
"Who do you think I am, Miriallia? Of course I do!"
"Well, in you go, Athrun." Yzak pushed the young Coordinator into the room. Kira and Dearka stood outside the door along with Yzak, grinning like maniacs. "Hope you enjoy yourself with your present. Don't stay up too long," Yzak said.
"What do y-" Athrun was cut off as Yzak slammed the door shut. He turned the door knob only to find that it was locked. Next, he tried to kick the door down but ended up hurting his own foot in the process. The door was apparently reinforced with something making it impossible to break down.
Athrun walked into the middle of the room as he took a good look around. What bothered him was that the room had nothing in it except a bed and a few large boxes.
He slowly made his way to the window and looked down below. Jumping out was impossible since he was up on the fourth floor. Frowning, he walked back to the center of the room. From the corner of his eye, one box caught his attention. It was the largest box, and it was shaking slightly as if something inside was moving. Athrun crawled towards the box and examined it closely. He began to peel off the tape slowly. When he finally opened the box, what he saw nearly gave him a heart attack. Inside the box was a rainbow of colours wrapped around a certain blonde princess by the name of Cagalli Yula Athha.
After a few seconds, Athrun snapped out of his shock and pulled Cagalli out of the box. Quickly, he undid the pieces of cloth which covered her eyes and bounded her arms and legs. Lastly, he pulled off the piece of tape that covered her mouth.
"Ow!" she said. "Couldn't you do that a bit more carefully?"
"S-sorry… it was just the shock of seeing you inside a box like that…" Athrun looked at Cagalli closely. He blushed slightly at the sight. Multiple colours of ribbons were wrapped around her body making her seem rather bright and happy. But she was anything but happy at the moment. The look on her face gave that fact away very plainly.
Cagalli watched Athrun as he continued to examine her. His eyes on her was starting to make her feel uncomfortable so she said, "Do you have to stare at me so much?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean too…" Athrun hung his head down so that Cagalli was no longer able to see his face.
A dead silence filled the air. The two sat about a few meters across from each other, each lost in their own thoughts. The blonde princess was soon irritated after a few minutes of silence that she decided to take all the ribbons off of herself. She began first with the ribbons that were tied around her legs, seeing as they were the easiest ones to take off.
"Well, those two have gotta hook up again. I absolutely guarantee that this plan of mine will work!"
"It better, or else I'm going to beat the crap out of you Dearka. When all this is over, maybe I can finally have some peace and quiet."
"Is that why you agreed to help? Because you wanted to have some 'peace and quiet'?"
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?"
"Athrun's your friend! Of course there's a problem there!"
"Even if my 'friend' is having problems in love life, doesn't mean that my life needs to be completely destroyed as well. I don't mind helping a bit, but there is a limit to how much I'm willing to help. Next time you guys annoy me like that, I'll shoot you."
"Ouch, you're cold Yzak."
Athrun snuck a quick peek over at Cagalli. Seeing her fiddle and curse at the same ribbon for the past little while brought a sad smile to his face. Turning his head back up, he asked, "Would you like some help?"
Cagalli continued her struggle with the ribbon, apparently not even hearing what Athrun had just said. He smiled as he remembered a time when something similar had happened before.
Athrun – Flashback
Kira had recently won a prize from a raffle, but in order for him to claim it, he had to solve a few puzzles. He had brought the puzzles over to Cagalli's mansion, begging Athrun and Cagalli for their help. He needed to solve the twenty-five puzzles by the next morning, or else he would not receive the mystery prize.
So, the three of them sat around the dining table trying to solve the puzzles. Both Athrun and Kira worked quietly on the puzzles, determined to solve them all. Cagalli, on the other hand, was cursing at the puzzle she had been working on.
The pile of twenty-five was split into three, Athrun and Kira with eight each, and Cagalli with nine. When Athrun and Kira both finished their own piles, they looked over at Cagalli to discover that she was still on the first one. The other eight puzzles lay neglected on the table.
"Cagalli, do you need any help?" Athrun asked. The blonde princess did not hear a single a word, and continued cursing at the puzzle angrily. Exchanging exasperated looks, Athrun and Kira took four puzzles each and began to work at it.
When they finished, Cagalli was still working on the puzzle. Athrun looked over worriedly at the time and then at Cagalli. Standing up, he plucked the puzzle from the blonde girl's hand and solved it easily.
"Why'd you do that for?" she screamed.
"It's getting late Cagalli. You should go to bed, you need a good nights sleep," Athrun replied.
She looked down at the table to see that the other twenty-four puzzles were already completed. "What happened to my pile? Did you guys do my pile?" Glaring angrily and Athrun and Kira, she continued, "Well?"
"Sorry, Cagalli. It's just that you were taking such a long time so…" Kira trailed off and became fascinated with the designs on the white ceiling.
"But now I'll never have the satisfaction of doing it by myself!" she retorted.
Turning to Athrun, Cagalli glared arrows at him, making him slouch down on his chair. "If you get the mystery prize, will you stop being so angry and just go to sleep?"
In the morning, Athrun and Kira were ordered by the ORB princess to clean the mansion spotless, everyday, for a month. The thing that angered the short tempered girl was the mystery prize: the satisfaction of solving the puzzles.
End of Flashback
"GET OFF YOU STUPID THING!" Cagalli cursed again at the ribbon and tried to rip it apart, but failed wonderfully. She then grabbed one side of the ribbon and tried to pull it off by force, and ended up tightening it painfully. "Owowowow…" Her eyes began to tear up from the pain.
"Cagalli?" Athrun rushed over to her side and began to pry at the ribbon, removing it after only a few seconds. "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, uh… yeah." Cagalli looked up, only to see the pair of emerald eyes she knew so well, staring down at her filled with worry. Their faces were only centimetres apart, causing Cagalli to blush slightly.
"Do you want some help?" Athrun asked.
"Huh? Help with what?"
"The ribbons." Cagalli looked down at herself, and remembered that she was supposed to be untying the ribbons. She must've forgotten when Athrun rushed over to her when she was in pain. She felt Athrun begin to work on the ribbons that still covered her legs. Watching him, she saw that he untied the ribbons easily, and gently.
When Athrun had finished getting off all the ribbons on her legs, he began to work on the ribbons that wrapped around her body and arms. As he busied himself with the task on hand, Cagalli merely watched and counted all the ribbons that were being removed. None of them spoke a word during that time.
"How much longer till the countdown begins?"
"In about ten minutes or so."
"Alright, I can't wait. By then, those two will definitely be together. And then we can all live happily ever after."
"Hurry up and turn on the TV."
Dearka, Miriallia, Kira, Lacus, and Yzak all sat on the large, comfy couches, their attention were all focused on the TV which displayed people waiting for the start of the new year.
Athrun had finally made it to the final layer of ribbons that covered the ORB princess's body. The ribbons were now right against her body making it seem as if there was anything under it. Then a thought occurred to him. "Cagalli," he began, "are you wearing anything underneath these ribbons?"
Cagalli's eyes went wide with horror when she thought of the answer. She then quickly crawled as far as possible from Athrun, her face turning a violent shade of red. Seeing this, Athrun blushed slightly and promptly turned around. "Sorry," he said.
Cagalli felt a spark of annoyance go through her body. "Why are you apologizing?"
"Sorry. It's just that I didn't know…"
Cagalli got up angrily. "Well I didn't realize either! So then there isn't any reason for you to be apologizing, you idiot!"
Athrun turned back around to face the blonde princess, his eyes wide. Cagalli continued on yelling. "Why must you always apologize for things that you don't need to apologize for? Stop blaming yourself for every little thing that happens."
Turning around so that she now faced the wall, she plopped down heavily onto the ground. Athrun looked over at Cagalli for a bit, confused as to what he should do.
"Just five more minutes until the new year!" yelled Dearka.
Everybody sighed at Dearka's excitement. "But I wonder," started Miriallia, "how are those two doing? Will they really get back together again just by spending time together like that? How do we know that things won't get any worse? What if they end up hating each other somehow?"
Nobody answered. They all just simply looked at one another hoping that someone would provide an answer. Surprisingly, the one who broke the silence was Yzak. "I don't think that things could get any worse. Those two have been together for two years. Although they don't get to spend a lot of time with each other, I'm sure that the both of them cherish the times that they did.
"But let me tell you all that I agreed to this plan of locking them in a room together not because of Dearka's idiotic idea of them having make up sex, but because they just need to spend a little time together to talk things through. Those two simplistic idiots kept avoiding each other which just made things worse between them.
"Besides, even if those two don't hook up again, the worst that can happen is for the two of them to become friends who don't avoid each other all the time. So either way, it's a win-win situation."
Dearka, Miriallia, Lacus, and Kira all stared at Yzak in awe. Then Dearka asked, "Since when did you care about those two so much? And since when were you able to say such mature things like that?"
Yzak screamed back at him angrily, "You're just as idiotically simplistic as them!"
"Cagalli, can I apologize for one more thing?" Athrun looked hopefully over at her although he was only able to see her back.
"No, you're not allowed to apologize for anything."
Athrun sighed. "Please? Just one more thing. I… feel that I have to apologize for it."
Angrily, Cagalli punched the wall. "Fine, whatever. But no more apologizing after this. It's pissing me off."
Athrun crawled towards Cagalli and sat down beside her so that his back faced hers. "I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to protect you… that time. For the past month I've been trying to avoid you as best I could. I felt so disgusted with myself that I just couldn't face you so I tried to stay away from you as much as possible. I knew that I shouldn't have done that. I knew that I should've talked to you and apologized sooner but…"
"Idiot…" Cagalli muttered quietly to herself.
"I know," Athrun replied. Cagalli flushed embarrassingly as she realized that Athrun heard her. "Do you still hate me?"
"What?" Cagalli turned around, shocked to hear Athrun ask that question. "What do you mean by that, Athrun?"
Athrun turned around so that now he and Cagalli were face to face. "Do you hate me? I failed you that night. I wasn't able to protect you properly. And even before that, I always seemed to be causing you more trouble. We never really did spend much time together when we were supposedly dating."
"But that doesn't mean I hate you!" she yelled. Cagalli's temper was rising to a dangerous level. "And besides, on that night, you did protect me properly you dumb ass. If you didn't burst into the room at that time, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. And since when were you causing me trouble? I'm the one that's always causing you trouble!"
Feeling a bit surprised at Cagalli's sudden outburst, Athrun stood up and took a step away from her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get you so angry."
That was when Cagalli finally snapped. "YAAA!!!" She jumped and tackled Athrun to the ground.
"It's almost time for the countdown!" yelled Dearka. "Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah!" they all screamed.
"Alright then! Let's go!"
10
"C-Cagalli?" Athrun turned his head as far as he could so that he could face Cagalli but he only managed to turn enough so that he could see her blonde hair.
9
Cagalli slid off Athrun's body and lay down on the carpet next to him.
8
Worming her way up, Cagalli now faced Athrun who could only stare back.
7
"You're such an idiot," Cagalli whispered. Her eyes began to tear up as she desperately tried to hold it in. She punched him lightly on the arm.
6
Realizing that she was unable to hold back her tears, she let them come out.
5
Her tears slid down her cheek and wet the carpet under her.
4
On instinct, Athrun lifted his free arm towards Cagalli's face.
3
His hand gently wiped away her tears. "Please don't cry, Cagalli. Please."
2
"It's your fault, you idiot," Cagalli managed to choke out. Holding Athrun's face she pulled him closer towards her. His hand tangled in her hair as he pulled her closer as well
1
And they kiss.
Happy New Year!!!
"Well then, should we let them out?" asked Kira.
The rest of the group nodded, so they then journeyed over to the room where the couple was trapped. They opened the door, and smiled at the sight. Athrun was sitting against the far wall with Cagalli snuggled right against his chest. The two of them held each other tightly, and closely.
"Well, I guess that is a happily ever after sort of ending," said Dearka. "Now I need my own happy end…" He placed his arm around Miriallia's shoulders and grinned at her.
Grabbing his arm off of herself and pinching him violently, she said, "It's not exactly happily ever after just yet. There's still the problem where those two don't spend enough time with each other."
"That's easy. All Athrun needs to do is quit his job and follow the princess around."
The group heard the phone begin to ring. "That must be for me," said Yzak, "my Mother said that she would call."
Dearka gave his silver haired friend a weird look. "Don't you feel embarrassed at all by having your Mom call you on New Years Day?"
Ignoring Dearka's comment, Yzak picked up the phone. "Hello? Oh, yes. Thank you for calling me Mother."
The group listened to the one sided conversation with interest. "A surprise? What kind of surprise?"
Dearka leaned forward hoping that it would be possible for him to hear the other side of the conversation as well.
"The woman in my unit? You mean Shiho Hahnenfu? Yes. I know. WHAT??? WE'RE ENGAGED???" Yzak screamed into the phone receiver.
The group jumped in surprise. Cagalli and Athrun mumbled in annoyance and held onto each other more tightly. After a few minutes of screaming, the conversation ended.
Yzak stomped out of the room, fuming. He kicked at the walls screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Shut the door, it's annoying hearing him scream so much," mumbled Cagalli. "By the way, I think Dearka came up with a good idea, Athrun."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You quit your job, and become my bodyguard. That way, you're going to stick to me like glue. You leave my side, I'll beat you into a pulp."
Athrun laughed lightly and ruffled the blonde girl's hair. "We'll see. It doesn't sound that bad to me."
Dearka, Miriallia, Kira, and Lacus all smiled at each other. Then they walked out of the room, and closed the door.
The End
A/N – I feel absolutely… I don't know… The ending felt rushed to me. Especially the countdown part. But oh well… Anyways, now that this is finished… I can get back to my other stories which I completely neglected… scolds herself
Oh well. I hope everybody has a happy new year. Don't suffer too much, enjoy yourselves!
And, I'd like to say thank you to those that reviewed
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I apologize if I missed anyone. But thank you anyways and I hope that you all have read and enjoyed.