Quick Note: I do not own Gundam Seed or any of the original characters. The only person I own is Kaya Misumi. For those of you that wanted a description, I added some things to the first chapter, including her description, so you can go back and read that first, it may help with the visual. Thanks for the positive reviews and the helpful tips.
Chapter Two: Tactics
Kira stopped at an intersection in the hallway, pressing his back to the wall and listening intently.
Fraga and Lieutenant Badgiruel were having an argument that was beyond heated. Their yelling at each other echoed all the way down the halls and off the walls behind them.
"I don't understand why you can't leave him alone for a while!" Fraga's voice. It sounded much more different to Kira than usual because Fraga was angry . . . Kira had never heard Fraga so angry before. "He's only a kid!"
Then, the Lieutenant's voice. "What choice do we have? That boy is a very talented coordinator, and it's impossible to just let him alone when he's out there fighting! If we don't keep him in check, things will go wrong."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to try and make sure he's okay right after every battle! Kira needs time to deal with what's he seen and how he feels!" Fraga responded.
Kira's stomach lurched. They're talking about me.
"Do not raise your voice to me, Fraga." The Lieutenant's voice was a cold warning. "I understand that Kira has seen a lot these past few months. But we can't afford to let him have too much time alone. At this moment, Zaft is planning something else, and if Kira withdraws into himself now, it's over. He's one of the best mobile suit pilots on this ship, and if we lose him . . . " She trailed off, lowering her voice slightly. Both Fraga and the Lieutenant seemed to be calming down.
At first, Mwu la Fraga said nothing, and there was a dead silence between them. Then, he spoke.
"I know the consequences, Lieutenant!" the pilot said, looking her straight in the eye. "But Kira's been dealing with a lot more than he should be lately. He's got a few of the girls on the Archangel worried for him. Cagalli Yula Attha seems to know when something's wrong, but when she spoke to him earlier, he didn't say anything. Then there's that newer coordinator, Kaya Misumi. She's just found out about everything that's going on, and it's really getting to her. On top of all that- there's Miss Allster."
Kira saw the Lieutenant's eyes widen.
"Fllay Allster?" she questioned, biting her lip in thought. "I had no idea . . . what's going on between them?"
Fraga's gaze softened. "That's my point. You don't have any idea about much that's happened with him lately. You don't see him that often. Kira's been in arguments with Miss Allster before, but this time she's found out that the relationship isn't quite what she'd like it to be."
The Lieutenant sighed and turned away, walking down the hall. "You go too easy on him." She didn't say another word, and the pilot watched her walk down the hall.
Kira turned and put his head to the wall, one fist right beside it.
Fraga must have heard, because a slightly surprised look came over his face and he appeared beside Kira in less than a minute.
"How long were you listening?" he asked quietly, his eyes searching Kira.
"Too long," Kira responded weakly, closing his eyes. "The Lieutenant was right, if I deal with all of this for too much longer, there won't be anything left of me."
Fraga put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, then decided he should say something.
"You won't."
Kira looked at him, turning his head, and his gaze softened. "What?"
Fraga smiled. "You've got too much to fight for, Kira. You can't waste everything you've learned on one principle of war. You have to apply it to different parts, especially when it comes to the fighting."
He took his hand off Kira's shoulder and turned, walking away. "Keep up a good spirit, at least the ones you love still exist."
Kira stared after him, saying nothing. He felt like screaming, but refused to let himself.
What good spirit is there to have when you're fighting a war against your childhood best friend? If Coordinators and Naturals don't get along soon, things will only get worse between the two sides. That's a result nobody can afford.
Slowly, Kira began to walk down the hall, not knowing where he was going or really caring. Suddenly, the only thing that mattered was ending the war before someone got hurt . . . or worse.
More talk interrupted his thoughts, another bout of yelling. Fllay's voice. He stopped again, listening, and facing the feud. Kira's eyes widened as they took in the scene before him.
Fllay was holding Kaya in a death grip, pressing her to the wall. Kaya looked like she was ready to pass out, and Kira could tell she was in a lot of pain from the way she shivered.
"I mean it! Don't ever talk to Kira again! He's mine, and he always will be! Got that? You aren't ever going to take him away from me!" Fllay cried, her face pulled into a frown of anger and concentration.
"But Fllay . . . Kira isn't mine to take . . . " Kaya responded breathlessly, with extreme difficulty.
Without thinking, Kira ran over to them and grabbed Fllay's shoulders, thrusting her off of Kaya and into the wall behind him. He caught Kaya as she sank down to the floor, gasping for breath and coughing.
Fllay stared at him, her expression still angry, but the anger was considerably lighter. "Kira . . . "
Kira glared up at her. "Fllay, what's your problem?" he yelled. "What's wrong with you? Why are you doing this?!"
Fllay's expression turned sad, deeply sad, and her eyes filled up with tears. Bitter tears, not sentimental ones.
"Kira, I . . . I'm sorry," she said slowly, her hands clenching into fists at her side. "But nobody is going to take you away from me! Ever! You're mine, doesn't she understand that? You'll always be mine!"
Kira frowned and stood up, facing Fllay.
"No! Fllay, I don't belong to you!" he yelled back. "I'm not yours to take!"
Fllay's eyes widened and she uttered a cry.
Kira grabbed her shoulders and tightened his grip. "Fllay, I love you, God knows that, but . . . I'm not an object, and I don't belong to anyone! Why don't you understand that yet? I'll never be yours! I'll never be anyone's!"
Mwu la Fraga was still walking down the endless maze of halls when he heard the yelling. A thud that sounded like someone getting shoved against the wall made him stop dead in his tracks and look back down another hall, which seemed to lead to the argument.
As the sound of a scream erupted, a loud, high-pitched one that could only belong to one person, Fraga altered his course and took a right down the hallway, following the sound of more yelling from Kira.
Kira . . .
Fraga increased his speed slightly, taking a left and then a right and continuing. When he finally arrived at the designated corridor, all he could see were bodies. A large group of people, mechanics and coordinators and a few others. Two people appeared to be trying to stop the cause of the fight and weren't succeeding.
As he took another step closer, Fraga saw that the two were Sai and Miriallia, and they were desperately yelling at two other people who he recognized as Kira and Fllay.
"Stop it, Fllay! Kira's right, you can't keep believing that!" Miriallia cried, close to tears.
Sai had a hand on Kaya's shoulder and was kneeling down in front of her, making sure she was okay. Obviously, there were only the mechanics on the outskirts of the crowd, unable to get through.
Fraga pushed through and did not hesitate to stop the fighting, pulling Kira back and up by his uniform. Kira was breathing harder than normal and looked like he might pass out at any moment. Fllay stared up at him, shaking.
"Kira, stop it!" Fraga yelled, lightly slapping him across the face. As if by reflex, Kira shut his eyes and they did not open again. He had passed out, though the cause was unknown. Fraga put him down beside Kaya and moved over to Fllay.
Miriallia shrank back, going to Kira at once.
"Move aside!" a voice called from the back of the people, and a few seconds later Captain Murrue Ramius had forced her way through the crowd. She stopped at the situation and surveyed the situation, then turned to the crowd.
"All right. All of you, get back to your stations!" she yelled, and everyone generally walked away. She then turned to Fraga and the others.
"Miss Allster, what happened?" Captain Murrue asked, glancing over at Kira and nodding for Sai and Miriallia to take Kaya and Kira to the infirmary.
Fllay looked up. "Kira . . . he . . . "
Damn Kira! It's time to get back at him for all of the things he's done, all the times he's hurt me.
"I don't know what was wrong with him. He was screaming at Kaya about something and he kept shaking her. I tried to stop him, and he turned on me." Fllay said, her voice shaking.
That will teach you to hurt me, Kira Yamato!
Fraga stood up and stepped back to the Captain's side. "Kira did that?" he asked, astonished. Fllay grinned inwardly to herself and nodded. "Yes . . . I don't know why he did what he did. He looked so scary there, holding me against the wall."
Captain Murrue put a hand on Fllay's shoulder.
"All right," she said briskly. "You should go and get some rest, Fllay. I'll speak to Kira about his actions when he awakes."
Fllay nodded, saluting, and walked off to her room, a smile crossing her face as soon as she was out of sight of the pilot and captain.
"Kira," she whispered triumphantly, "You're so weak."
Kira groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw as his vision cleared were four people standing over him.
"Kira, you're awake," Miriallia said anxiously, fidgeting with her hair. "What happened?"
Kira propped himself up on one elbow and shook his head, rubbing it with his right hand.
"Kira."
He looked up. "Captain Ramius."
She smiled at him, a serious smile, and sat down. "Kira, is it true that you hurt Fllay and Kaya?"
Kira's eyes widened. "What? No, I would never do that!"
Sai shook his head. "It seemed that way when we got there."
Kira turned a shocked gaze to him, steadying himself as he sat up slowly. "What . . . ? Why, what happened? What did I do?" He was becoming frantic, and Fraga pushed him back down gently.
"Hey, easy," he said to Kira, his gaze glancing at the captain. "You took a pretty hard hit there without even flinching. You seemed to be in another world."
Kira's gaze remained on Sai. "What did I do? Tell me."
Sai motioned to Miriallia and they left without another word. Kira heard the door shut behind them, and he leaned back.
"It must have been pretty bad, then," he said, closing his eyes.
"Well, Fllay told us that you had Kaya pinned against the wall. She said that when she tried to break you away, you rounded on her and hurt her."
Kira opened his eyes. "I wouldn't do something like that, really! I would never hurt anyone . . . not on purpose."
There was silence. Then Fraga tapped the captain on the shoulder.
"We should leave him alone for a while," he said. Captain Murrue nodded and stood up, walking out.
"Don't strain yourself, Kira. We may need you later."
More silence. Kira closed his eyes and fell again into a light sleep. Other people's sayings invaded the peace.
"You didn't make any move to try and stop them . . . it's because you're a coordinator, too!"
"That was some battle you fought."
"Nobody is going to take you away from me! Ever!"
"Don't strain yourself, Kira. We may need you later."
Kira opened his eyes. The last words of the captain echoed in his mind.
"We may need you later."
"Later . . . " he breathed, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "They may need me later."
It was then that a thought crossed Kira's mind, one that made him feel sick.
It's all I am to them. I've been fighting blindly for the past few years. I'm not a fellow coordinator here . . . I'm just a fighter. A soldier. A killing machine.
Kira closed his eyes as sweat beaded his brow.
A killing machine? No, I can't be that. I've never killed anyone yet.
He kept his mouth closed, afraid that the words of battle would escape from him if he opened it.
Have I?
(Zaft)
Yzak punched the door of his locker hard again, causing a dent to appear. He hit again, and the dent grew wider.
He swung back again and got ready to pull forward with another punch, but a strong hand kept him from doing so. When Yzak looked back, he saw that the hand belonged to Athrun.
Athrun's face was serious. There was definitely something on his mind.
"Yzak, stop it. What's going on with you lately?" he said briskly, his green eyes focused on Yzak's face.
Yzak frowned. "You want to know what's going on?" He yanked Athrun's hand off his wrist and shoved him backwards, walking away from the locker towards the door. However, he stopped just short of the door and his anger became evident in his voice.
"What's wrong, you ask. This is what's wrong! I get attacked, something that's not even a crucial part of the Duel blows up, and I'm fine. But there's that stupid nagging voice. You know, the one that says, 'Quickly, Yzak! Return to the ship!' The voice that belongs to Athrun Zala! Then, there's that bitch who gave me this scar. What's his name- Kira Yamato! For God's sake, why can't we destroy him?! He's only getting in our way. If we really wanted to, we could have killed him a long time ago. What the hell is holding us back?"
Without another word, Yzak walked out of the room, the door shutting behind him.
Athrun stared at the dents in Yzak's locker, dropping his hand by his side with a sigh. Dearka crossed over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about Yzak, he'll get over it. He's just mad because we didn't get a chance to take down the Strike," Dearka said, as Athrun turned around.
Athrun nodded and closed Yzak's locker, which had swung open unceremoniously from the beating. "Yeah, you're probably right."
Nichol smiled and walked over. "I hope we can win the war soon. I want to go back home and learn how to become a proper pianist." He stared out the window at the stars in space. "Wherever home is."
Athrun and Dearka's eyes widened at the mention of a place other than on the ship or in space. There was silence for a long time as they all fantasied a place with green grass and trees and laughing children. Then Athrun spoke up, his voice strong.
"Come on, you two. Captain Klueze wanted to speak with us about something, and he told me he wanted us to be prompt."
They walked out of the room and the door shut behind them. The only trace that anyone had ever been in the room was the locker of Yzak Jule, dented beyond repair.
The door to the infirmary opened, and the sound of footsteps echoed off the white walls.
Kira did not move from his position facing the wall. He frowned at the sound of Fllay's voice.
"Kira," she said tartly, her arms crossed as she stopped in front of the bed he lay on.
Kira still did not move.
Fllay gave a sigh that was part anger, part exasperation and tapped her foot, staring at his back.
"Kira, what's your problem?" she asked coldly. "Answer me!"
Kira sat up and turned to her, the frown still on his face. She took a step backwards, but her glare did not diminish. If anything, it became stronger.
"You lied, Fllay." The tone of voice was simple, maybe even sad. Fllay seemed taken aback by this, her expression faded.
"What?" she asked incredulously.
"Fllay. Why did you lie about what happened earlier? Why did you tell them that I was trying to hurt Kaya? Why did you tell them that I was yelling at her? You know I wasn't," Kira said, meeting her gaze.
Fllay said nothing, tearing her gaze away from Kira's with a grunt.
It was then that realization struck Kira, and he narrowed his eyes.
"I know what it is. You're still mad at me for earlier. When I embraced Kaya." He stood up and turned her face to his. "That's it, isn't it! You decided to get back at me for that, even after I told you there was nothing between her and I."
Fllay gritted her teeth and put a hand on Kira's wrist, gripping it tightly and throwing it off of her. Stronger than anyone but Kira would have ever expected.
"That wasn't it, Mr. Yamato," she replied coldly, using the words of someone Kira knew to be special to Athrun. His eyes widened. "You told me that you didn't love me. Before today, you were leading me along like a dog on a chain." Fllay softened her gaze and stared at the floor, refusing to let herself cry. "Why did you lie to me, Kira? Why didn't you just tell me before that you loved someone else?"
Kira let out a deep sigh of resentment. "Fllay," he said firmly, "That's just it. I don't love anyone else. I may like them, but I've never had a love. The only thing between Kaya and I is friendship. A long one. I'll see you around."
Kira left the infirmary with Fllay staring after him, biting her lip so she wouldn't scream after him.
So, that's what it's been all along. Just a friendship, right? You're wrong, Kira Yamato. We have more than just a friendship here, and you refuse to accept that fact. Somehow, someway, I'm going to make you mine. Forever.
Okay, everyone. You can officially start reviewing again. . . sorry it took me so long to get Chapter Two back up, I've been putting it off until the weekend because I have more time then. Not to mention the fact that you're all extremely persistent people and I got thoroughly annoyed with your reviews for a few days because they all said the same thing in different words, and I needed to get over that. However, my friend's review seemed to catch the reviews in a basket, and I'm thankful for that.
One more thing, everyone. Since you're all probably going to start reviewing again (I hope. . . please??), PLEASE don't flame me for Tisarugi's review. I appreciated it because I didn't get any more reviews saying the same thing they've said for a while. -sigh- Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Also, when I put "Klueze" in the Zaft situation, I'm not sure if that's correct or not. I'd like to know, thanks. I'm glad you read my story, though. So thanks for that too. I'll try to have Chapter Three up soon.Later, everyone.