Chapter 4 - A Well-Deserved Rest

Unmei : Meeting due this chapter. Heh, I know I said that it was just after Lacus was taken off the Archangel, but...well...In Chapter 5 I found that I included the battle when the Archangel was heading towards Earth, when Yzak destroyed that civilian pod. So uh...yea...They went to Earth but...nothing happened...yea...that sucks...oh well -seems defeated- Enjoy...-sad voice-

Yuri Dark Angel : Can't wait? Here ya go. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, seeing as when I wrote it I had no idea what I was doing...Ah! Can anybody tell me what happened on Friday, February 18 2004's ep. Of Gundam SEED? I missed it! I had a really bad headache and felt sick so I went and laid in bed before developing a fever, I think I already had one, and then I fell asleep-distressed-whacked upside the head- Ok, I'm fine now...enjoy the...chapter -falls down from head injury-

Anime/Manga Fanatic : Yep, Kaleido Star is great. I own vol 1-6 which is actually the whole thing I think but there is a preview on the last ep. So I'm going to see if there's more! Anyways, I have an insane friend who is...well, insane. 3 of my friends are great at drawing anime stuff and one of them is really really into Inuyasha. But I shouldn't talk to much about them, it'd take up to much space. Enjoy this chapter okay?


Kira stopped outside the deck and swallowed a large lump in his throat. He was worried that the captain might not allow them to go. He swallowed again and opened the door. He walked on deck. It was early, early morning so not everyone was in. Only 3 people were here. Mu La Flaga, Captain Murrue Ramius, and Natarle Badgiruel. La Flaga turned to look when Kira entered.

"Hey! Good Morning kid! Why are you up so early?" He smiled. Captain and Lieutenant Badgiruel turned to look at him.

"Well, Good morning Ensign Yamato. Is there a reason you are up this early? Your fellow officers are still asleep." Captain Ramius asked.

"Well...um...I uh..." To say Kira was nervous would be an understatement. "I was wondering if...here." He held out the papers he had printed out with shaking hands. The captain took them and Kira put his arms at his side quite fast. She looked them over.

"What's this Kira? If I'm not mistaken, you wanna go on vacation!" Mu La Flaga burst out, he had read over the Captains shoulder.

"Wha? Oh! No...I just thought that...well...we could use a break...and I...um..." He stuttered.

"Granted." The captain said suddenly. All three of the others looked at her.

"M-Ma'am?" Kira asked, stunned.

"I agree. We could use a rest. I'll announce it. Because we would not reach it today, we will be arriving there tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. exactly. Lieutenant Badgiruel!"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Announce that today at noon we are heading for Cupriferous, to arrive at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kira smiled so wide that his face looked strangely disordered.


Athrun was working today, always carrying a phone with him, but working. If he was going to meet Kira tomorrow, he would have to work two day's worth of work into one. He was also constantly checking his watch and then his phone, hoping that Kira didn't call.

So far luck seemed to be on his side. Kira hadn't called. Another possibility was that Kira got so excited he called during the day and blew both of them out of the water. But Kira seemed to have gotten a yes for an answer and then been able to control it.

The day passed by extremely slow and after what seemed like forever it was time to go, and Athrun would be leaving port for Cupriferous. He walked home and picked up his luggage before heading off for the port. Lacus was there to see him away.

"Good-bye Athrun! See you soon! I wish I could come with you, but I have a concert tomorrow and it will keep me busy all day. But I hope you have fun! Say hello to Mr. Yamato for me!" She called after him.

"How'd you..." He started, but decided on the fact that it was nearly impossible for her to have overheard the conversation.


So both Kira and Athrun were on their ways to Cupriferous. In less than 24 hours they would be having lunch at the Neutral Base Cafe. They both fell asleep smiling.


Kira woke to the first light...ok, to what would be the first light of day through a window if he had a window for light to filter through. Athrun slept peacefully until the ship stopped and arrived in Cupriferous. Kira jumped up and did his usual routine. He didn't seem to be feeling any of the joy he had felt yesterday. But he kept checking the clock. 8:00 a.m., 9: 05 a.m. 9: 56 a.m. 9:59 a.m.

"Attention crew of the Archangel! We are pulling into the docks at the colony of Cupriferous. Please be ready, we will be staying here for a few days. You must return to the ship by midnight every night, otherwise, enjoy yourselves!" Came Captain Ramius's voice at exactly 10:00 a.m. Kira nearly ran towards the door and stood there waiting.

"Ok..." he told himself. "Keep cool. Gotta make it look casual. Keep...natural" He laughed once. His friends ran up behind him.

"Hey Kira! When we get off, wanna go someplace?" Sai asked.

"Uh...well...I actually had something planned already." Kira said.

"Ok, then we'll come with you." Flay told him.

"No!...I'd rather go alone. Sorry..." the doors opened so they could leave. Thankful, Kira waved and ran off. "Bye!" His friends were stunned and it took them a few minutes to notice what just happened.

"He just blew us off!" They all yelled.

Athrun's ship had docked at Cupriferous at 8:00 a.m. so now he sat at the cafe. Athrun hadn't expected Kira to arrive that early, but now it was 10:00 a.m. and he was getting bored. Athrun looked around again and then back into his cup of tea. His table was outside. He sighed. What's taking him so long? I guess I'll wait till noon. Maybe they found out and took away his phone, I won't wait all day, just till noon. He resolved.

Athrun soon heard a lot of talking and a frequented "Kira" being said. He lifted his head and saw Sai, Flay, Miriallia, Kuzzey, and Tolle coming towards him. Tolle and Miriallia were arm in arm. Sai and Flay were also arm in arm. (yes, I made this without Kira and Flay being a pair). He was interested. They seemed to know Kira. So he listened in on their conversation while they walked past.

"- I mean, why would he not want to come along with his friends huh?" said the one with orange/red hair.

"Sai, just because Kira's our friend doesn't mean he has to spend all his time with us." said Kuzzey.

"Yea, but where else would he rather be? I mean, we were planning on going to that little carnival they have up. It's supposed to be fun." Tolle said.

"Yea, Kira never has any fun. At least we can get off and go talk about something funny and such. But Kira's almost always working." Said a dark pink/maroon haired Flay. Miriallia spoke next.

"I feel sorry for him. He always seems so sad, but somehow he can always cheer us up. Especially when there's ZAFT forces around." she said this softer than the others.

"Those ZAFT people are really starting to bug me. I mean do they even know that Kira's a Coordinator? And that Aegis Gundam!" Athrun was surprised that he had come up in the conversation. Tolle was the one speaking. "He attacks Kira like it's nothing. Though he doesn't get much leeway huh? Kira is up to the challenge!"

"I agree with Tolle." Miriallia was speaking. "I don't like that Aegis guy. He just seems so mean, like he doesn't care about anyone but himself." Athrun's eyes were wide and his pupils were small.

I don't seem to care? They kept walking, debating on the war and talking some more about Kira and the Aegis. He remembered what they said about Kira.

"He always seems so sad, but somehow can always cheer us up...Kira's almost always working...Kira is up to the challenge." It was replayed in his mind a few times.

"I guess he needed a break. More than just for a meeting with me." He took a sip of his tea, found it cold, and spit it back up.

A few minutes later, the chair across from him was pulled out and someone sat down. Athrun kept looking into his cold tea cup. The other person just sat there. After awhile they spoke.

"What? Are you not even gonna say hi to a friend?" Came Kira's voice from across the table. Athrun looked up, as if unbelieving, and stared at Kira.

"Kira..." he breathed, he still couldn't fully believe Kira was actually here and that no one had followed him. Regaining himself he spoke. "It's great to see you again, off the battlefield of course. But are you sure that you're the only one here?" Athrun glanced around.

"Ya, everyone else is off enjoying themselves. Captain Ramius was more than happy to let everyone come here. She agreed almost without any hesitation, and she didn't ask why." Kira seemed pleased. Athrun smiled.

They spoke of the battles and Athrun managed to get Kira to describe what happened out of battle too. Which included a lot of time working on the Strike, meals, walking around while in a daze, and a little bit of crying that Kira had let slip. Kira quickly changed the subject and asked about how Athrun had been and Athrun told him of his life and Lacus. Kira was glad to hear Lacus was doing fine, he was surprised at how many Haros there were though. They both laughed after Athrun explained what had happened when he came over once.

"It's been a long time since we've had any fun together, huh?" Athrun said when he'd finished laughing. "Your friends walked past here. Though they didn't even notice me." He said.

"My - Friends? What about them?" Kira asked.

"They were talking about how strange it was, that you didn't want to spend time with them. And how you are always working, never having any fun." Athrun smiled again, but then frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"They were talking about me too. About how I don't seem to care about anyone other than myself in battle. But they bet you could beat me. I'm sure they're right too." He smirked.

"Well...they uh...they don't know you. See, they only know you as the pilot of Aegis. Now, if they'd met you away from battle then they wouldn't think of you as..."Kira stopped and smirked as if he had some devious plan in store. Athrun wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Uh..." he swallowed. "Kira. What are you planning?"

"Come on!" Kira grabbed Athrun's wrist and pulled him out of the cafe.

They ran and then Kira realized something and stopped. "Um...Athrun?"

"What?" Athrun asked while catching his breath.

"You wouldn't happen to know where they went would you?"

Athrun looked around and pointed towards the carnival. Kira thanked him, grabbed his wrist again, and pulled him towards the carnival.

Miriallia and Tolle were on a small, yet fast, coaster. Sai and Flay hadn't gone on it because Flay didn't like it. Kuzzey had gone on the ride, but every time they spotted him he looked about to barf. Sai laughed.

"Hey guys." Came Kira's voice from behind them. They turned to see Kira and some boy with blue-ish black hair that seemed out of breath and nervous at the same time.

"Hi Kira. Uh...who's that?" Sai asked, pointing towards Athrun.

"Oh, this is Athrun. He's a friend of mine. Athrun, this is Sai and Flay. Where are the others?" Sai pointed behind him at the coaster and Kira nodded. Sai and Flay greeted Athrun nicely, Flay looked a bit suspicious though. Soon the coaster was over and the others came up.

"Kira! Glad you decided to join us." Miriallia greeted. "Who's this?" She asked when she spotted Athrun, who no longer looked out of breath.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Athrun Za-" Kira elbowed him without his friends noticing so that Athrun wouldn't say his last name. "Ow...I'm Athrun Z." He corrected.

"Well, nice to meet you Athrun Za Ow I'm Athrun Z." Tolle joked. Miriallia didn't like his joke and stomped on Tolle's foot. "Ow! Hey! It was just a joke."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Athrun. So Kira" she said, shaking Athrun's hand so hard Athrun nearly fell over. "Is this who you would rather spend time with then us?" Athrun did fall over. "Oops, sorry Athrun."

"I'm fine..." He mumbled, getting up.

"No no you guys, you got the wrong idea. It's just...I haven't seen Athrun in a long time, ya know." Kira explained, waving his arms around in front of him.

"Don't worry about it Kira." Kuzzey interrupted. "I also think I know why you haven't seen him in while." Kira and Athrun looked nervous. "He's a coordinator too, right?" Kira breathed a sigh of relief and Athrun nodded slightly.

"That's right. I came here today for a break."

"AH HA!" Flay burst. Everyone jumped. "That's why Kira wanted to come here! I knew there was some reason that workaholic Kira Yamato wanted a vacation!" She said in a snappy tone as if a judge sentencing a criminal to the death sentence. Her expression turned gentle again and looked about to hug Athrun. "Thanks a lot! Kira needed a break. We all did. Now we get 1 or 2 days with no work!" She then turned and clung back onto Sai's arm.

Again Kira breathed with relief. This was harder than he thought. "How...How about we go enjoy the carnival..." he breathed out as if tired. No one seemed to notice this except Athrun, who fully understood the reason. Keeping the secret that he was the pilot of Aegis was going to be hard.

They went everywhere in the carnival and rode each ride twice. They went to the arcade in the carnival and Kira beat them at all the fighting games, Athrun joined in and everyone insisted that Kira and him not play to many games against one another. When they were battling each other in this one game, it took almost 30 minutes till they blew each other up at the same time. The game read 'DRAW! Please enter more tokens.'

Kira and Athrun laughed. It wasn't often they had this much fun. But soon they were dragged out of the arcade. "Hey, what's the matter?" Kira asked when Tolle let go of the collar to his shirt, which is how he'd been pulled out of the arcade.

"Nothing's wrong. We're just tired of losing to you guys." Tolle said, making a shrug-like motion.

"I'm hungry, let's get something to eat." Flay said suddenly.

"Sure, why not." Athrun put his hands in his pockets. Because this was a neutral place, he was wearing jeans and a long sleeved, blue and black shirt. Kira and the others were wearing the clothes that they wore when they were back on Heliopolis. Flay, Tolle, Sai, Miriallia, and Kuzzey were a bit surprised at this, Athrun hadn't said much to them the whole time.

"Well ok then, let's go." Kira waved a hand towards the exit and they headed towards the nearest food place.