Chapter 2 – Conversations

"Hey Lacus, this is Kira's house right here," Athrun said as the Yamatos' residence came into view.

Lacus smiled and turned to face Kira. "Mr. Yamato? Would you mind terribly if we went inside? I need to use the bathroom."

"No." Kira said, leading the way as he walked the short distance to the front door and opened it for her.

"Thank you, Mr. Yamato," she said politely.

"Kira," he said softly.

"Hmmm?"

"Just call me Kira. Mr. Yamato's too long," he said quietly.

"Okay then. Thank you, Kira."

"You're welcome," he said with a small grin.

As Kira was showing Lacus where the bathroom was, Athrun walked over to the living room and caught a glimpse of a familiar blond-haired girl coming down the stairs. "Hey Cagalli." Athrun greeted.

She looked up at him in surprise. "What are you doing here?

"I wanted to surprise my best-friend on the last weekend before school starts," he said blithely.

She shot him a look of such extreme skepticism that he couldn't help but let out a sigh. "C'mon, Cagalli, don't you trust me?"

"I trust you well enough, but you really don't lie too well, Athrun." she retorted.

"Oh alright. Kira and I met an old friend of mine from grade school."

"Oh? And where's my dear brother now?"

Athrun pointed to his right as Kira walked back into the room. "Why are you here?" she asked.

Kira raised a brow at her. "I live here, remember?"

She scowled at him. "Why you…"

"Oh, hello." Lacus said, walking back into the room and stopping just beside Kira.

Cagalli gave her brother a questioning look. "Oh, right. Cagalli, this is Lacus. Lacus, this is my sister, Cagalli."

"Hey. Nice to meet you," she said.

"Same to you." Lacus answered.

"So you're new here?" she asked.

"Yes."

Cagalli tipped her head to the side as she looked at Lacus, then started pacing about, thinking.

Kira saw the look on his sister's face and immediately sought to get Lacus away from her influence. "Uh, Lacus?"

"Yes, Kira?"

"Would you, um, like to go get some ice cream with me and Athrun?"

"Certainly. But…what about miss Cagalli?"

"She's, uh, got other things to do. Right, Athrun?" Kira said, silently asking his friend to agree with him.

Athrun glanced at Cagalli, realized she was likely planning something and quickly nodded his head in agreement while slowly walking towards the door. "Um, yeah, Cagalli's got a lot to do. Let's go, shall we?"

The boys led their new friend to the door while Cagalli had her back to them, opened the door and slipped through it, and then they ran like their lives depended on it, dragging a very confused Lacus along with them.

When they finally stopped to catch their breath, Lacus asked them why they were in such a hurry.

"Well, you see, um….Cagalli has a, um, a reputation for violence, and we wouldn't want to be anywhere near the house when she realizes we're gone." Athrun said.

Kira nodded in agreement.

"But why would she become violent with you?" Lacus asked.

"Well, uh, you're new here and Cagalli probably decided to, um, take you under her wing, show you the ropes or something…and, uh, we wouldn't want another Cagalli around. One's way too much already." Athrun answered.

"That's very nice of her…" Lacus started.

Kira shook his head at her. "You wouldn't want to become like Cagalli." he stated, waving his index finger back and forth in front of Lacus' face. "Not that I don't love her or anything, it's just…well, she can be a bit much sometimes."

"Yeah." Athrun said, his expression as solemn as a church boy's.

"But I think Cagalli is a wonderful person." Lacus said.

Kira and Athrun looked at each other then burst out laughing.

"You just don't know Cagalli well enough," Athrun burst out between peals of laughter.

"But I am a wonderful person," a familiar voice said from just behind him.

Lacus smiled. "Oh, hello Ms. Cagalli."

"Just Cagalli would be fine, Lacus. After all, there's no need to be formal with your soon-to-be best-friend, is there?" she declared, smiling sweetly at the now retreating boys.

"H-how'd you get here so fast, Cagalli?" Kira asked nervously.

"H-how much did you hear?" Athrun asked at the same time.

Cagalli's expression changed from sugary cuteness to outright murderous rage in a matter of seconds. "I can't believe you two! How dare you…! And Athrun, you're supposed to be on my side! What kind of best-friend are you!" she yelled shrilly, taking off after the two boys who had run to opposite sides of the lawn.

Lacus smiled softly as she sat down and watched her new friends run around the lawn. "I think I'm going to like living here…if it's always like this, it'll never be boring. Besides, I've known Athrun since we were kids, and Kira and Cagalli seem to be very nice people…especially Kira. He's…different, somehow, and the fact that he's cute doesn't hurt either…Oops, I'm getting a little carried away here…" Just then, she heard a very familiar male voice, interrupting her train of thought.

"Mind if I join you?" Kira asked, walking over to her from behind a tree.

"Not at all," she replied.

He sat down beside her and closed his eyes.

"Where are Cagalli and Athrun?" she asked.

He opened one eye and pointed to the other side of the lawn where Cagalli was running after a now laughing Athrun as he turned a corner and out of sight.

She laughed. "Is it always like this here?"

He grinned at her. "Pretty much."

"You have a great life, Kira."

"Yeah, I guess. Cagalli's a handful, but life would probably be boring if she wasn't."

She nodded. "I like Cagalli."

He nodded slightly. "I think she likes you too." "Almost as much as I do…which is weird because I just met you…"

"That's good to hear."

They were quiet for a minute, but then Kira spoke. "I'd really like to get to know you more, Lacus."

She glanced at him, saw that he was also looking at her and blushed. "I…um…" "I'm making way too much out of this…I've got to pull myself together here…this is so not like me…" she thought. "I'd like to get to know everyone better too." she answered finally.

Kira opened his mouth to say something in return, but then he saw the others coming and quickly closed it.

"Hey guys." Athrun greeted, smiling.

"I wonder what Kira was about to say…" Lacus thought. "Hello, Athrun. Where's Cagalli?"

"Right here," she replied. "So, what'd we miss? Anything interesting?"

Silence.

"Uh, guys?" Cagalli looked over at her brother who gave her a small smile in return. She then turned to Lacus who said, a little too quickly, "Nothing much; we were just talking."

This, of course, made her even more curious. She moved closer to Lacus and studied her face intently. "Um…Cagalli? Is there dirt on my face?"

Kira laughed softly.

Cagalli glared at her brother. "What's so funny!"

He immediately backed off. "Nothing."

After a moment, Cagalli stopped studying Lacus' face and sat down beside her instead. Athrun followed suit, sitting down across from Kira.

"Hey Lacus, how'd you meet these two knuckleheads anyway?" Cagalli asked.

So Lacus told her the whole story, making Cagalli shake her head in disappointment at her brother's clumsiness. "Sometimes I wonder why, of all the people in the world, I had to get a brother as clumsy as you."

"But I was running backwards!" Kira said defensively.

"You were? Why?" Cagalli asked.

"Because he was laughing at me and he wanted to see the look on my face…" Athrun stated.

"Why…?"

"Athrun ran into a tree." Kira announced with a grin. Everyone laughed, save for Athrun who could only smile sheepishly.

When their laughter subsided, Cagalli asked Lacus what she was doing on the street when she ran into the boys.

"I was taking a walk," she replied. A hint of sadness came into her eyes as she said this, and it was gone in less than a second, but Kira, who had been watching her closely noticed. He wisely kept it to himself and decided to ask her about it later as his sister continued to pepper their new friend with questions until they were eventually called to dinner where both Athrun and Lacus were treated to Mrs. Yamato's excellent cooking.

"The food's great, mom." Cagalli said.

"Yeah." Kira chimed in.

"Thank you for treating me to this excellent dinner, Mrs. Yamato," both Lacus and Athrun said politely.

"You're welcome, dears." Mrs. Yamato replied with a smile.

Mr. Yamato laughed then. "These two have excellent manners." he said, smiling at their children's friends. Then he turned to Kira and Cagalli and continued in a joking tone, "Unlike these two."

"I don't have bad manners…" Kira muttered.

"Dad!" Cagalli protested.

Mr. Yamato grinned. "Do I hear guilt, Cagalli?"

At that, everyone started to laugh, and Cagalli's face turned a deep shade of pink. "I'll get you guys for this someday."

After dinner…

DEN

Lacus and Cagalli sat down in front of the fireplace and talked. They talked about everything…everything except boys. That is, until Cagalli opened the topic. "Hey Lacus, what do you think about those two?"

"I think they're very…nice," she replied.

Cagalli looked at her friend. "Do you like anyone in particular?"

"I like both of them very much."

"No! I mean do you like anyone?"

Lacus looked at Cagalli. "What do you mean?"

Cagalli sighed. Lacus was so naïve… "I mean do you like anyone in a, uh, special way."

"I'm not exactly sure…I just met you and Kira."

"What about Athrun? You've been friends for awhile…"

"Yes. He's a very good friend."

Her friend smiled. "Yeah. He is a great friend…but sometimes I wish he wouldn't be such a straitlaced gentleman all the time, y'know? I'd really like to see him goof around more."

Lacus grinned. "Athrun's always been like that. I guess it's because his father wants him to be that way."

"Yeah…I do feel sorry for him sometimes…"

"Don't worry about it. Athrun's bound to change…I think…as soon as he finds the right reason to.

"Yeah…but even if he doesn't change, I'd still think he's a great guy."

"Well, there is that." Lacus said, a wide smile on her face. "Athrun is Athrun no matter what, right?"

"Yeah. And we all like him that way." Cagalli replied, smiling back.

"But wait, we were talking about who you liked!"

"Aw, Cagalli…"

Cagalli decided to let it go. "Okay, I won't be nosy; but if you ever do, tell me, alright?"

Lacus nodded, relieved. She knew what Cagalli was getting at, but she was still unsure of her feelings, and although she was quite fond of Kira, she didn't want to say anything until she was sure.

Cagalli and Lacus were quickly becoming good friends, but as the clock in the living room chimed the hour of twelve, Mrs. Yamato poked her head into the room and announced that it was time for them to go to bed. She turned to Lacus. "It might be best if you stayed here for the night since it's so dark out."

Lacus nodded. "Yes, but I should call home. May I use your telephone?"

"Certainly. Cagalli can show you where it is. I'll go see how the boys are doing."

LIVING ROOM

The boys were watching a basketball game on t.v. when Mrs. Yamato entered the room. "Boys, it's getting late. You might want to think about calling it a night."

"Sure, this game's pretty much over anyway." Kira said.

"Yeah. Um, Mrs. Yamato, where's Lacus?" Athrun asked.

"She's in the study making a phone call. Cagalli's with her."

"What's she making a phone call for?" Kira asked curiously.

"She called home to tell them she'll be sleeping here for the night," his mother replied.

"Oh."

She turned her attention to Athrun then. "You should be going too, dear. It's quite late." A/N: (Athrun's house is across from Kira's here)

He nodded. "I'll go say goodnight to the girls."

Cagalli met him in the living room and said goodnight, with Athrun bidding her goodnight and asking her to say the same to the others for him.

"I'll do that. Be careful, alright?"

He smiled. "I will. See you tomorrow."

She nodded. "See ya."

Later that night, Kira woke from a shallow sleep and got up, intending to go downstairs and get a drink of water, but as he stepped out from his room, he saw Lacus slip out from his sister's room and walk to a nearby window. After debating over whether or not to go to her, he started walking towards her.

Lacus' POV

I watched the night sky with sad eyes. Father was away again. These days it felt like he was never around… "I know he loves me and wants me to be happy, but I'd rather have him here than in some distant country..." I sighed. "If only Mother were still alive, Father wouldn't be hiding behind his work all the time…"

I turned away from the window and found myself staring into a pair of very familiar amethyst eyes. "Kira…"

Kira's POV

I couldn't say anything. She really was very beautiful…and very sad. Her eyes were filled with such heartbreaking pain that I couldn't help but want to relieve her of it.

"Kira…" I heard her say my name and smiled. She also had a very nice voice. "You're up late," I said.

"I couldn't sleep," she replied.

I looked at her. I had only just met this girl, and yet I felt like I could tell her anything… "Well, looks like we're in the same boat, then…what do you want to do?"

She looked at me. "I don't know…I'd hate to deprive you of your sleep…"

"It's okay. I won't be able to sleep any more tonight anyway…so, what do you want to do?"

"You decide."

I thought about it for a bit, and then I took her hand and led her up the winding staircase which led to the attic. We could go up to the roof from there.

Roof

I climbed up to the roof ahead of Lacus before reaching down, taking hold of her hand and helping her up. As soon as we were settled, she smiled at me. "Do you come up here often, Kira?"

I nodded, smiling a little. "It's peaceful here, isn't it?"

She nodded. "It's almost like having the whole world to yourself…but then that would be lonely, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah…"

I could hear that same sadness in her voice that I'd seen in her eyes before, and though I wanted to ask her about it, I decided to wait until I'd known her for more than just a day…so we sat there, watching the stars, talking…I felt like this was the closest to heaven I had ever gotten. Lacus was a great person, and I knew I wanted to get to know her better…but at the same time, I felt like I already did.

Normal POV

"Lacus…"

"Yes?"

"Have you ever felt like you wanted to reach up and rearrange those stars?"

Lacus smiled at the thought. "Yes…it would be more than enough to be able to just reach them, though."

Kira smiled back. "Yeah…that would be great, too…"

a/n: ok…that's it for chapter 2…RnR…please? Thanks.