Chapter 3 Neighbourhood Complaints
A/N Sorry if I took some time to update. Really busy lately, band practice and afternoon tutorials. But I hope you'll like this chappie as well. This chapter is actually where the problems start surfacing, enjoy!
"Nevermind, maybe I'll do the cooking today," said Miriallia stunned, and taking the dressed chicken from Ika, who looked a little puzzled at the current scenario.
"Maybe we should simplify our ways, speechwise, and maybe tell her to 'cook' the chicken, and 'close' the curtains?" whispered Cagalli into Athrun's ear.
All of a sudden, Aaron burst out laughing, and pointing at the chicken. Cagalli observed her son's reaction for a moment before realising that the clothes used to 'dress' the chicken were Aaron's!
"Umm Ika, maybe I should explain the instructions one more time," said Cagalli nervously, passing her son over to his father. " Close the curtains when the sun comes in, cook breakfast, lunch and dinner. Use the featherduster, and clean the furniture and take another set of towels, and replace the old ones."
"Oh I see, sorry, my english isn't very good, very sorry ma'am." replied Ika, bowing to Cagalli once more.
"Ika, you don't need to bow to us," said Kyo kindly, smiling down at the maid from Brunei. "Just follow the new set of instructions Cagalli has just given you, and everything will work out just as planned."
Miriallia was marinating the chicken with marmalade as Ika watched with interest, eager to learn from her auburn-haired young woman.
The others moved out of the stuffy kitchen, and settled themselves in the living room, waiting for Miriallia and Ika to finish preparing dinner.
"You're keeping the maid?" asked Yzak, looking at Athrun and Cagalli, who nodded briefly in reply.
"What? But she's totally stupid!" said Dearka, making sure he wasn't too loud, which seemed for the first time that he seemed to be considerate about others.
"She's not stupid, Dearka. Her understanding of english is just low. Besides, she'll pick up and learn from us then, and she just came! You're not going to fire her on her first day!" contradicted Cagalli, kissing her son tenderly on the cheek, as the baby boy nestled in his father's arms.
Ezann meanwhile, was playing with Yzak's spiky hair, which didn't seem to have grown much since Kyo last cut it, one and a half years back.
"Yeah, haven't you heard of chances, Dearka? Ika seems nice anyway, I'm sure the kids will get along well with her." said Kira knowingly, taking little Akira from Lacus and cradling him in his arms.
"Where did you put baby?" asked Lacus, looking at Dearka, who pointed up the stairway, which meant his daughter was sleeping up in the room, in her cot.
"Oh yes, you don't have to call her "baby" anymore, we decided on the name "Andrea" for her." came Miriallia's voice, as she walked out of the kitchen. "The chickens's in the oven baking, dinner should be ready in about half an hour. Ika's making a local delicacy from Brunei, I think it's some sort of vegetable salad."
Dearka licked his lips at the thought, "Sounds scrumptious to me," he said.
"I thought you hated salads," said Yzak, turning to his tanned skinned friend.
"Yeah, I was talking about the chicken," retorted Dearka bluntly, running a hand through his wavy blonde hair.
"Ugh, next time will you specify what you're talking about?" asked Miriallia bluntly, brushing a fleck of dust off her blouse.
"Dinner is ready, ma'am," said Ika politely, walking up to Miriallia and grinning toothily.
Athrun placed Aaron in the playpen just around the cornerand placed a stuffed toy into his hand, and immediately the blue-haired baby half co-ordinator engrossed himself with it.
Ezann gave a loud screech in protest when Kyo placed her inside the playpen as well. The young co-ordinator looked extremely pissed, as she sat in the playpen, watching her mother and father walk off.
"Ezann's definitely got Yzak's personality," said Lacus smiling at the platinum blonde, who just pursed his lips and returned his attention to his plate of food.
"What a brilliant combination, he's got his mother's good looks but her father's character," said Dearka laughing, but his laughter stopped when Miriallia whacked him hard on the back of his head.
Yzak was staring protectively at Dearka, while Kyo looked stunned at the blonde guy's remark. Miriallia seemed to be the one whose temper was about to blow.
"I was going to add on that my wife was prettier if she hadn't whacked me!" exclaimed dearka, massaging his head and wincing.
Athrun, Kira, Lacus and Cagalli just laughed while Dearka was busy reassuring Miriallia, that she was the only one he had room for in his heart.
Akira was held in one of Kira's arms, as his father ate with the other. The baby co-ordinato who had just turned a month old a week ago, looked like an exact clone of his father, except for the fact that he had Lacus's skin colour.
"Ika, maybe you should go and get to know the kids, I'm sure they'll like you. This is Akira, he's one month old. You'll be taking care of Aaron and Ezann for the meantime, they're over there in the playpen." encouraged Lacus kindly, smiling warmly at the maid.
Ika grinned and walked over to the playpen, Ezann and Aaron seemed to be playing and getting along well with one another as they were giggling and laughing away.
Ezann was laughing so much she nearly tipped over if not for Ika, who supported her back gently.
The baby girl's laughter stopped when she realised it wasn't her mother who caught her, but someone else. Aaron and Ezann stared up at the kind face of Ika, who just smiled lovingly down at the two babies, who just continued staring.
Ika extended a hand out to each of the babies, Aaron hesitated before taking hold of the young woman's hand and standing up.
Ezann was rather weary and just backed away, against the extreme end of the playpen. The redheaded baby girl, seemed rebellious and tough, but was shy when it came to strangers.
Ika went off when Cagalli called her over to do the dishes, while the others wanted to go for a little evening stroll.
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"Gosh, this feels good, I knew I'd need some fresh air," said Miriallia inhaling the evening air, which smelled fresh and cool.
The atnosphere was new to Akira and Ezann, as they had never been out of the house before, especially out, in the dark. As for Aaron, Cagalli and Athrun had brought him out dozens of times.
However, as the two quartets of young parents strolled through the park, there were stares and shaking heads coming from all directions.
Cagalli looked up at Athrun, who signaled to her to ignore them. It hadn't been like this before, why were they all staring at them?
Cagalli counted in her head breathing in and out as she heard whispers and sniggers coming from surrounding passersby.
"I don't know why the government even bothers allowing co-ordinators to live here, shouldn't they be back up at... whatever you call that darn hell of a place?" said a man so loudly that it could be heard at least five metres away.
That was it, Cagalli lost her cool and stormed up to the man, ignoring Athrun's constant callings to her to pull back.
"That does it! What's your problem!" barked Cagalli ferociously, glaring at the man, whose facial features weren't clear in the semi-darkness.
"My problem is those co-ordinators! They shouldn't be here! Neither should you, you traitor! Some of you have even reproduced with them, creating an entirely new species of humans!" exclaimed the man heatedly.
"You just shut your mouth, you piece of old lard!" Yzak fought back, his fists curled into tight balls and his jaws clenched.
"Stop it, the war's over! We're all supposed to live in peace and harmony, not start another rage! We co-ordinators didn't evolve from naturals, we're just their kin. So what if we're different? Can't we just live in peace?" asked Lacus nervously, realising the tension around them was rising.
"Just look at this brat, it's a new species! Why won't the government do anything about it?" screeched another man, grabbing Aaron from Cagalli and dangling him in mid-air.
To Athrun's horror, the woman's hands released Aaron, letting him fall downwards! Athrun quickly jumped into action and dived down, catching his son, as he skidded on the ground on his front.
Aaron was crying in shock and fear, from the incident he had just experienced, which seemed like a mini bungee-jump for him.
Athrun handed Aaron over to Cagalli, who quickly clutched him tight to her, patting his back gently, in order to soothe him. The blonde mother could feel her son's tiny body trembling all over in fear, and it only brought her pain to see him in such a pitiful state.
Cagalli held Aaron tightly, kissing him tenderly on the head, trying to calm the blue-haired baby co-ordinator down.
Athrun grabbed the man by the collar and pinned him against a nearby lampost. "Have you got nothing better to do, bastard! My son is only 10 months old, he's just a baby! If you had objections you could've taken it out with me!" bellowed Athrun fiercely, his anger raging inside him.
"How dare you drop a baby! What if something w ere to happen to Aaron? Would you pay for his medical fees? If something fatal happened to him or his brain was damaged, no matter how much money you paid, it would never return him to normal!" hollered Kyo, standing up for her nephew, who was whimpering in the safety of his mother's arms.
Thw two men just bounded off, glancing back twice at the bunch of parents, who seemed outraged at their preposterous behaviour. Ezann looked absolutely stoned, while Aaron was crying again, and nestling even more into Cagalli's arms.
Miriallia held Andrea tight to her, knowing that her daughter would no longer be safe, if the situation was to carry on.
Kyo leant her head against Yzak's shoulder, Ezann gazing up at her parents who looked worried and unsure of what to do.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Miriallia worriedly, looking from Athrun to Lacus.
"I don't know, I really don't know." replied Lacus, watching her son lie stoned in Kira's reassuring arms.
A/N Curse those two men! And thank goodness, Athrun caught Aaron, phew! But what's going to happen now that all this has taken place? Will things return to normal, or will their luck take a violent turn and turn for the worst?