Title: After The Sunrise

Author: Jusrecht

Genre: Drama/Romance/Action/Adventure

Pairings: Main: Kira/Athrun, Cagalli?; Others: Dearka/Yzak

Disclaimer: Not mine

Warning (for this chapter): Male/male pairings, major AU-ness to Gundam SEED Destiny series

Notes: Thanks to i love athrun, JC Maxwell-Yuy (love your nickname XD), and Elfin for reviewing the first chapter. Hope you'll enjoy this one too.

To JC Maxwell-Yuy: I agree with your opinion of Cagalli. If there is one more guy like Athrun, everything will be solved, but yeah... you don't find a guy like that at every corner XD By the way, I'm interested with your idea to let Shinn have a crush to Athrun first. May I use that? I'm not sure how I'll be able to write it but if I can, I will.

Stage Two: His Thoughts

The constant drone of engines occasionally mingling with faint sounds of footsteps and even fainter murmurs greeted him as he stepped down from his shuttle. Kira Yamato stifled a yawn and glanced around with slightly hazy eyes, noting the usual bustles in the port as well as its obvious lack of human staffs. Machines and technology had made up for it once, since the Coordinators' superiority in skills was the balancer to their fairly smaller number compared to the Naturals. But now, he realized that the shortage of workers PLANT suffered was bordering to a critical point where machines and technology could no longer substitute.

A man, neatly dressed in ZAFT's green military attire approached him hastily. He made a salute once they were face to face and asked in a low flat voice, "Lieutenant Yamato, Sir?"

"Torii!"

The officer blinked at a yellow-green mechanical bird fluttering down to perch on the former pilot of Freedom's head. Aware of the importance of one's reputation, Kira quickly shoved the bird down to his shoulder and returned the salute. "Yes."

His escort nodded curtly. "Please follow me, Sir."

With Torii on his shoulder, Kira did as told, quietly following the man down a row of many other shuttles, some of them private and expensive-looking while others heavily armed. Something in the way the ZAFT officer acted – brisk yet alert – reminded him to a letter he had received exactly a week ago from the chairman of the High Council of PLANT. It was short, formal, requesting for his presence to a meeting which about to take place tomorrow with an emphasized point of secrecy.

Not that it was a hard thing to do. While his name along with his reputation was eminent throughout the galaxy, there were few in PLANT who actually knew his face. Moreover, Dullindal had advised him not to wear his red uniform, and currently sporting the green one, the notorious Kira Yamato blended pretty well among other regular ZAFT soldiers.

Quickly they made their way through a long corridor and entered a bright vast hall crowded with men and women in PLANT Council outfit, some of them had the gravest face Kira had ever seen. Among them was Eileen Canavar, who shot him a solemn look but said nothing, merely tightening her lips into a thin grim line. At this point he felt his temple starting to furrow; they had never been particularly close, but she was the only member of the High Council – beside Lacus – that had ever genuinely smiled at him.

Perhaps he had done something irreversible and now had to be removed entirely from the military. Or they began to think that his deed of killing many ZAFT soldiers two years ago was in fact unforgivable.

That still did not explain the heavy tension he felt there though.

His escort was guiding him out of the hall and down another corridor, on which side there was a row of sliding doors. A moment later he halted in front one of them and quickly inserted a string of numbers to unlock it. Inside was a small waiting room and a familiar voice floated in the air as soon as they stepped into the room.

"Good to see you again, Kira."

The brown-haired guy looked up in surprise. "Lacus! How... I thought you were still at Earth for that visit! When did you return to PLANT?"

"Just yesterday," she smiled warmly, not the least bit different from the last time they had met even though the dark High Council uniform she wore somewhat gave her an impression of a cold calculating wisdom. After all, she had always been mature in her own innocent way, a plus point which had convinced Dullindal to eventually acknowledge her as a member of his board.

Leaping down from the couch and beginning to jump around the room was her constant companion, welcoming him with more lively 'haro!'s and 'genki!'s which Torii stared at with a degree of interest. Kira caught the bouncing pink ball before it could invade and ruffle his hair – these small handcrafts of Athrun seemed to find their owner's head an enjoyable spot to sit on – his eyes were still set questioningly on Lacus who had walked past him to his still waiting escort.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Cholde," she said to the officer graciously. "Just before there was a message from Commander Jule saying that he required for your assistance now at the fourth hangar. I believe it is quite urgent."

"Then, please excuse me, Representative Clyne," the officer saluted and left at once.

Kira raised an eyebrow at her. "Commander Jule?"

"Ah yes, Yzak is here too," she took his arm and led him to sit down on the settees. "The High Council will hold an annual conference on Monday, which demands the presence of at least three quarter of its members and several ZAFT officers for the military details. He is one of them of course."

"And I'm invited?" Kira asked in apparent disbelief. Their need of Yzak's presence – considering that the former pilot of Duel was now one of the highest – he could understand well, but as for his, he was merely a lieutenant, a fairly new soldier whose service in ZAFT had been no more than a year at most, and for some reasons, the chairman of PLANT High Council had bothered to invite him personally and secretively. From any point of view it was very curious.

But Lacus shook her head. "I don't think it is the reason of your summoning. Chairman Dullindal clearly emphasizes that your presence in PLANT should be kept a secret, which is a contradiction if he needs you to speak in front of the Council. So far he has only told me that he needs to have a secret meeting with some, including you."

"I hope it's nothing serious," he murmured thoughtfully while on his lap Haro had started protesting. His eyes met hers, and they both knew that his hope was not possible, not if the point of confidentiality in this matter was anything to go by. Inwardly Kira heaved a long sigh; despite their struggles, hard work, and all two years ago, the war still managed to keep its flames burning as if unperturbed. It distressed him to witness with his own eyes – since he was assigned at the very front line – the onset of another war brewing while the vileness of the last had not yet to wither from its victims' memory. Apparently there were still many from both sides that had not grown tired of war yet.

Kira had the chance to slip away, many in fact, that one had to wonder why he still bothered to stay if he could just leave. When Athrun had said that he was going to ORB, Kira could have chosen to follow his own free, warless path, only he did not. When Eileen Canavar had requested him to make use of his supreme virtuosity to save the life of many Coordinators, he could have declined and retreated to some place remote and unapproachable, only he did not, and thus his career in ZAFT began. He had once been given those choices, but he had left them untaken.

Because peace was still faraway.

Suddenly Lacus put her hand on his and he looked up at her comforting smile. "Do not worry yourself too much, Kira. We will try our best not to let anything worse happen."

He felt himself smiling back at her. She had a way with people that fascinated not only most of Coordinators but also Naturals, which was exactly why Chairman Dullindal had assigned her in many affairs related with the Naturals. For the same reason, she also became a hazardous presence to those who did not wish for peace.

"I heard about the incident in Washington," his voice deepened in concern. "I'm glad you're alright. Was it Blue Cosmos?"

For the first time the smile faded from her face. "Most likely yes since I was on Earth, but there is no definite proof yet. It could be Betelgeuse."

Suddenly Kira shuddered at her reference to the particular organization. Similar to the Blue Cosmos but occupying the opposite end of the rope, Betelgeuse was a group of extreme Coordinators who inherited the ideal of the late Chairman Zala and immensely despised Naturals. Among them were the finest scientists and technicians of PLANT, a fact which made the matter worse. It was also the prime reason why Former Chairwoman Canavar had asked him to help PLANT in various lines of works. However, Kira doubted he would have agreed if an incident schemed by Betelgeuse and almost taking Athrun and Cagalli's life a week prior the request had not happened.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you," Lacus' voice pulled his attention back to her. "Chairman Dullindal has also invited Cagalli-san and her personal assistant, Alex Dino to join the meeting."

The false name made him chuckle – sure, Athrun with his disguise, and there he was wishing the other guy could have come with a better name. So far, it was the best news he had came across with today since he had not seen his boyfriend or his sister for a couple of months save through videophones.

But it was before the realization hit him.

"They were invited for this meeting too?" His grin had completely vanished by now as he stared hard at Lacus. The latter was about to answer when there was a soft buzz coming from the door as it slid open, a red-haired man Kira recognized once working under Captain Andorew Waldfeld standing behind it, giving them a formal salute.

"Excuse me, Lacus-sama. Representative Hawke is looking for you to examine the Washington incident, he was currently waiting in the main hall. I will escort Lieutenant Yamato to his room."

"Please do so," she inclined her head before turning to her former lover. "I need to go, Kira. Please stay in your room to avoid being seen by anyone who possibly recognizes you. I will drop by later."

He nodded with a 'thanks' and they exited the room, Haro going with its owner and Tori returning to rest on his shoulder. Wasting no time, Da Costa led him outside the building to a parking lot packed with many vehicles, and advanced to one of them. He took his place behind the steering wheel while Kira slipped into the passenger's seat.

"We book you a room at Dione Hotel, Sir," Da Costa said once they joined the fairly scarce traffic. "Hope it suits your taste."

"I'm sure it's fine. And please call me Kira," the younger boy smiled.

"Old habits die hard, Sir – no, I mean... yeah, you know the military stuff," he grinned at his passenger. "Can't get away from it, even though Lacus-sama says quite the same thing to us."

A buzz from the radio interrupted his words. The red-haired guy pressed a button on the device and a cool monotonous female voice reverberated in the vehicle. "A message to Second Lieutenant Da Costa from Representative Canavar. The party from New Heliopolis will arrive at 1700 hour today. Second Lieutenant Da Costa is to welcome and subsequently escort the party to PLANT Council Building, where Representative Canavar will personally meet the party. The list of every member in the New Heliopolis party will be sent to your phone, number 2467-037991. Please reconfirm the message."

After Da Costa repeated the message and the buzz died down, Kira looked at him sympathetically and commented, "Quite busy, aren't you?"

"Can't be helped, Kira-san," he shrugged helplessly. "Many ZAFT soldiers still can't forget what happened in Boaz and nearly half of them resign from the military to forget about war. Or those who want vendetta choose to join Betelgeuse in due course," his voice suddenly turned grave. "That organization is getting bigger from time to time and so is Blue Cosmos. I wonder when these will be over at last."

Kira did not try to reply. It was a difficult question, one he had asked himself only too often and still found no answer. Both Naturals and Coordinators had suffered a great number of casualties from the previous war, bearing, hiding a deep scar in their hearts. He knew that it was not easy to forgive, not when one had been hurt too much, and unfortunately there were too many of them in both sides. While the neutron jammers had been renewed with a system which would not tolerate any canceller – at least with the current technology – men still kept discovering new ways to delight the goddess of war.

It probably was not his place to say, but humans sure were stupid to allow them to be the slave of their own ambition. More frighteningly, he began to think that Raww Le Klueze had said the right thing about mankind. Not that he wished to terminate them all though.

Hopefully not.

"Don't you want to get out of the car, Kira-san?" Da Costa's query pulled him out of his reverie and he looked up, startled, at the grinning redhead who was already standing on his feet. "Lacus-sama says that sometimes you are too serious for your own good. I don't think it's exaggerated, looking at how immersed you were in your thought just now."

Kira smiled apologetically and followed the older guy into the grand modern-looking hotel. The lobby had its floor glossy under his shoes, pristine and very spacious, typical of most of hotels he had ever visited. Guests were coming and leaving the lobby, and he stood quite unobtrusively behind Da Costa who was speaking with a middle-aged receptionist, observing them all from the corner of his eyes. One or two guests were wearing the Council uniform, acting all important-like as if trying to impress their surrounding. He almost winced at the sight – quite unbecoming for a person who should be representing his people's will. Whatever the grave matter Chairman Dullindal needed to discuss, he was obviously keeping it a secret enough.

When they were ascending to the fifth floor– as what the receptionist had informed them – Da Costa said in a low voice, "I have arranged your reservation to be under the name of Klaus Yulim, as Lacus-sama has instructed. And she also asked me to remind you not to wear ZAFT uniform even in the room, save for when you are going to meet the Chairman tomorrow."

Kira nodded, accepting them without any second thought. A minute later he had stood inside his room, a gold-nuanced, simply but elegantly furnished room with direct scenery to the heart of metropolis. Da Costa gave him the card key and bid him goodbye with a grin. "Have a good rest, Yulim-san."

Right. Klaus Yulim. At least it sounded better than Alex Dino. He smiled back, saying 'thank you' and closed the door, not forgetting to put the lock on. The large white-covered bed in the center of the room was a pretty sight for him – he had but a little sleep the night before to get things done before going to PLANT. Slumping to said bed, he let out a long contented sigh, stretching his stiff muscles in process. A little evening nap would do him good.

He was drifting to a deep slumber when his videophone suddenly beeped. His eyes flung open instantly – a habit he had developed to sudden urgent calls during the war – and he quickly reached for the small device inside his uniform. There was a short message from Lacus, notifying him that she would drop by at 8 and perhaps they could have a dinner together afterwards. At the end of the message she wrote a sequence of numbers – Da Costa's phone number, she said – in case he would need something later.

Kira couldn't help but to smile at the small icon of Haro ending the message. Often he would still wonder why he could not love her the way lovers did. It was more of an admiration to a compassionate yet strong-willed girl who had been his pillar of strength when he must brace himself to face Athrun. Then, it had been her too who had pointed out that he – quite obviously – was falling in love with his best friend. She told him that she had love for peace greater than for anything – or anyone – else, and it would have been unfair, she had stated, that he was there with her while someone else was loving him much more, but also without the faintest idea of his own feeling.

His sister, he remembered, had dubbed them 'the thickest idiots in the whole universe who are stupid enough to not realize they have been loving each other for twelve years until someone finally takes a pity and smacks their faces with the truth'. Kira hardly minded though, for it meant Cagalli only had the smallest of objections to the fact that her brother practically stole her boyfriend from her. Even though his happiness had reached its peak when Athrun had declared that he loved him too, he could not help but to feel slightly guilty at her.

But yeah, Athrun loved him too. It was hard not too feel blissful at the fact.

He stared at his videophone and shifted his position to lay supine. He certainly could do with a call. After a few moments of waiting, Athrun's face appeared on the screen, a pure surprise on his visage.

"Kira!"

"Hey Athrun," he grinned to the blue-haired guy as Torii suddenly flew down from the top of the drawer where it had been perching and once again tried to claim a spot on his head. The surprise had not yet to dissipate from Athrun's face when a blond-haired girl appeared at his side, a bright smile on her face.

"Kira! Finally you call after god-knows how long!" Cagalli casually flung an arm around her personal assistant who was visibly rubbing his ears, telling her to calm down a bit. She stuck her tongue at Athrun as her grin turned mischievous, a feigned disappointment ringing in her voice. "You're giving Athrun a call but not your sister? I'm feeling quite neglected you know."

"I called you last week," Kira pointed out.

"Yeah, and I bet you call him every night," she remarked mockingly, and then suddenly disappeared from the screen. Her voice, however, still could be heard chiming in the background. "Don't worry, I'm not going to eavesdrop. Come on, Kisaka! Let's get out and leave these lovebirds alone to have their private discussion."

A door was slammed and the two guys stared each other.

"I've told her to behave," Athrun muttered with a sigh, yet his green eyes were gleaming in amusement. "You won't believe what she almost said to Chairman Dullindal this morning. Luckily Colonel Kisaka had a good timing to trip on the cable and terminate the connection, so she was left cursing and hissing to a blank screen."

Kira chuckled and pulled a pillow to prop his chin, an action which made Tori complaint a little 'torii!' and hop down to his side. "Seems you get your hands full there."

"She is your sister, in case you forget," the longhaired boy replied sourly. There was a moment of silence as Kira maintained a devoted stare at his best friend. He was trying to hide a grin when an uncomfortable look appeared on Athrun's face. "What?"

Tilting his head to a side and letting Torii to give his cheek a little peck, he asked playfully, "Do you miss me?"

"I think you've damaged your brain, Kira," Athrun answered with a serious voice, his forefinger tapping his chin thoughtfully. At the sight, Kira began to have more than a little difficulty in suppressing his grin. His friend's emerald eyes diverted their focus to Torii and he said conversationally to the mechanical bird, "I had proven to be just fine, happy even, without seeing his face for three years. Right, Tori?"

The older guy mocked a desperate sigh. "I pity whoever your boyfriend is, Athrun Zala."

"What a coincidence. I pity him too." Athrun tried to maintain his solemn look, but his last word cracked and both guys burst into a stream of laughter. Then he looked at him, in his luminous eyes a glow Kira had loved since their first encounter twelve years ago, and his voice falling for a gentler, quieter tone, almost a whisper. "I miss you."

Something warm fluttered inside his stomach as Kira smiled, feeling that he could never love anyone else as much as his best friend.

"Not more than I do."

To Be Continued

Ramblings: Okay... it was just about the mushiest ending I've ever written for a chapter runs and hidesBetelgeuse is the name of one of the brightest stars in the constellation of Orion. I was just looking for a cool name when I came across to that one. Anyway, please review?