Chapter 2 - The Boy With Silver Hair

I know this isn't how they get into ZAFT, don't sue me.

Disclaimer : I wont write this again, so listen. I do NOT own Gundam SEED. I do own all rights to Tsuyosa though.

-

Athrun saluted and left the testing room. He walked down the hallway and past a few people as he left. One was Yzak's mother from the council. A few wore hats, some wore sunglasses that they had neglected to take off after coming inside. One or two people were wearing both a hat and sunglasses. All in all, Athrun passed about 15 people on his way, it wasn't unusual, this place was huge! He finally got to the exit and gave them his papers.

"Welcome to ZAFT, Athrun Zala." the desk lady said without looking up or looking slightly interested in Patrick Zala's son. Athrun took his leave and decided to go home and rest, jet lag? Or maybe homesickness, made him want to sit down and not move.

A kid wearing sunglasses and a hat, with no hair falling out, walked past Athrun on his way out. They turned to the desk lady as Athrun closed the door.

"Excuse me. I need to go to room...47 B?" they asked.

The desk woman wrote the directions (left, right, etc.) on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"Thank you." Tsuyosa bowed before leaving.

-

"Welcome to the force Miss Matsuro. Your test scores were more than adequate. We look forward to hearing of your accomplishments." he said, stamping the file he got from the middle guy and handing it back to her.

The 3 officers all saluted, as did Tsuyosa, and then dismissed her.

Turning the corner, she saw someone ascending the stairs to her right. She quickly put her hat back on over her hair, which was in a bun, but left her bangs out to hang beside her face.

Tsuyosa paused. The person climbing was a boy no older than she was. He had silver hair...silver hair? That was weird. She moved so that, when he got to the top, she could see his eyes. His eyes were a shimmering blue, but seemed to have no feeling behind them. Tsuyosa raised her hand a bit and opened her mouth to speak, to maybe say Hello, when he opened a door on the second floor and shut it behind him.

"Who was that?" she asked. Tsuyosa turned and finished her walk to the entrance room.

"Here's my file." she handed it over.

"Welcome to ZAFT, Tsuyosa Matsuro." she said in a bored tone, filing it away. Tsuyosa just stood there and it took a minute before the desk lady mentioned it. "Excuse me, do you need something?"

"Yes. Do you know anyone with silver hair. He's about my age, and it's cut about so short-" she showed with her hands. The lady nodded.

"Yes, we have a file for him. But that is confidential. Council members and they're families have their information kept in a separate filing cabinet."

"Oh...I see...Thanks anyway. Bye."she turned to leave. When the lady spoke, she paused.

"Joule." it was a single word. A last name. Tsuyosa smiled.

"Thank You, have a nice day." she smiled, waved, and left. The lady smiled and waved back.

"That's the first person to ever actually 'talk' to me...geeze I need a new job." she muttered before going back to work.

-

Tsuyosa entered her new house, one nearer to the 'base.' She had set everything up before going to her test. She threw the hat down on the bed and set the sunglasses on her dresser. She took off her jacket and looked at the pictures of her mother, father, and cat. Not to mention Athrun. She took out a sketch pad and an artist pencil. She smiled remembering when Athrun gave it to her as a birthday gift.

"You're a really good artist, Tsuyosa. You should work at it. I bet you could become a famous painter someday."

She remembered when he reached the top of the stairs. The moment when she saw his whole face. The pencil began moving over the paper, an outline for a face. The lines for his hair, all the shine marks were there, as well as shadowing. She drew the mouth, in a frown and his nose, small. The thing that she took time on was the eyes. She prided herself on her well drawn eyes.

Tsuyosa drew the outline in every detail she could remember. Next, she drew the shape of his pupils and drew every line exact to how they were in his eyes, from what she could see from the 1st floor. After she finished, Tsuyosa looked it over. There was only one thing wrong...the eyes showed emotion, and she could've sworn there was none there when she first saw him...

She sighed and set it aside. She opened the door to her beside table's cabinet and then slipped the sketch inside along with sketches of other things. Like...Athrun, her mom, her dad, Miki, her new cat, the sun set, a bird in flight, etc.

Speaking of cat, her new mechanical cat hopped onto her bed and sat in her lap. She pet him slowly as he purred.

"Miki...I don't know..."she said softly. She'd named the mechanical cat after her old one, cause Miki worked for girls and guys. "Who was that guy?"

"Problem...I don't know!" he said in his high voice. She smiled down at him.

"I think you could do with a few updates." she smirked and Miki backed up. "Come on, come here." she grabbed the wriggling cat and turned him off.

5 minutes later, Miki has been turned back on.

"So, how do you feel?" she asked.

"Mik -bleep- kay-kay -screech-" Miki tried. She frowned.

"Ok, here we go..." she tinkered for another 20 minutes, then sat the cat down. "Now, let's try again...Miki, how do you feel?"

"Feel great! Thank You Tsuyosa!" he cried in his still high voice.

"Perfect. Your vocabulary has been updated and you can carry on a somewhat normal conversation now." She nearly laughed. "I can't make another you, but I can update Athrun's version." Miki meowed and sat on her lap.

-

Ring Ring

"Hello?" Athrun asked as he hung up his uniform.

"Hey Athrun, it's me, Tsuyosa."

"Hey Tsuyosa! What's up?" he asked, finishing up and sitting on his bed.

"Oh, nothing much. Mom's still getting over the shock of losing dad..."

Athrun hadn't expected her to bring up the dead. He didn't speak. She broke the silence.

"Oh! I updated Miki's vocabulary!"

"Updated? How so?" he asked.

"Athrun? Hi Athrun! Miss you!" came Miki's voice over the phone.

"I miss you too...Miki..." Athrun was stunned. A mechanical cat that could carry on normal conversation...he'd never thought one of his robots would be able to. "You're amazing Tsuyosa."

"Thanks Athrun." said Tsuyosa, who was now back on the phone. "But I bet you have lots of more important things to do than talk to me. Maybe I should let you go?"

"No, what could I possibly need to do?" he asked, smiling.

"Unpack?" she asked. Athrun's smile faded, she was right. Tsuyosa laughed. "I'll talk to you later."

"I'll call you tonight okay?" Athrun suggested, Tsuyosa answered very fast.

"No! Um...I'll call you. How's...7?" she asked. Athrun nodded.

"Alright. Bye." they both hung up. Tsuyosa thanked whoever was watching them that Athrun wasn't the brightest lightbulb. Athrun shrugged off the fact of how quickly she answered and finished unpacking his things.

-

Tsuyosa and Athrun worked in menial jobs for ZAFT for awhile. They never got stuck together, and Tsuyosa didn't see Yzak anywhere. She had forgotten all about the last name until one mission. She was assigned to a ship for a few days. It was a mail ship, how boring. Her job was to help deliver messages to warships in the battlefield. Oh how she would rather be the one fighting than on the sidelines!

She boarded the ship after delivering the mail. She set her bag down and went for a drink. As she entered, Tsuyosa overheard the conversation of the two men in the room.

"Really? Do you think so?" the one with brown hair that she had learned was called Brian, asked. A guy named Leo answered.

"Yea. I heard that Mrs. Joule wasn't gonna stand for it anymore. She decided to help Patrick Zala remove Clyne from the top seat." he explained. She froze in filling her cup.

Joule? She wondered. That's...that boy's last name...

"Do you think the other council members will go along with them?" Brian asked.

"Oh yea. Everyone on that council is a war hawk except Clyne, they'll want further action to be taken. You can count on it. Clyne is outta there." Leo assured him, standing up and throwing away what was left of his lunch. Brian followed him out.

"Joule?" she drank her water and followed them out, but at a safe distance.

"-to do?" Brian asked.

"I don't know. She might have them give Yzak a higher post..." Leo guessed.

"You mean that snot nosed brat of a son she has?" Brian asked, man he asks a lot of questions.

"Shh! Don't let anyone here you. She's on the council, don't talk badly about her son." Leo warned.

"Alright, alright." Brian defended, holding up his hands in self-defense. "I wont talk bad about the kid." he and Leo then spilt up. Tsuyosa stopped walking.

"So, his name is Yzak Joule..." she headed for her room.

Tsuyosa opened her bag and pulled out a thick case full of pictures she'd drawn. She pulled out the one of Yzak and wrote at the bottom, 'Yzak Joule.' She then signed it with her trademark curly 'Tsuyosa' and placed it back in her case. She then checked the clock '12:30 a.m.'

Wow, it took longer than I thought to deliver that mail...how far is it to the PLANT? Maybe...one or...two...days?

She fell asleep. Tsuyosa lay on top of her covers, her bag open beside her

-

"Hey! Matsuro! Wake up!" came a voice. Tsuyosa blinked and sat up. The person whacked her door again. "Get out here! We're docked!"

"Oh!" she jumped up and changed out of her nightclothes. "Well don't break my door or I wont be able to leave!" she called, buttoning up her jacket and putting her hat on. Still, no one knew she was a girl. She donned her sunglasses and opened the door.

"Finally! You sleep like a rock." Leo commented. "Oh yea, your next orders came in." he handed her an envelope and then walked off. She broke the seal and read the letter inside. Only three words were written inside.

"Take A Break." she recited. Tsuyosa crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash on her way out. She'd take a break. Heck, she'd 've done so even if they hadn't ordered her to!

Tsuyosa disembarked with her bag slung over her back, it was small. She blinked behind her sunglasses at the person ordering around the docking crew. It was Yzak! She walked close to him on purpose on her way out.

"Make sure that's handled carefully, it's ammunition" he ordered. A guy in a green outfit nodded and walked off. Yzak glared around the room.

He's bored... Tsuyosa thought as she saw his eyes. He blinked and looked back at her. His eyes are very beautiful...

"What are you staring at?" he yelled. She blinked and took a step back.

"Sorry sir. I didn't mean to stare. I guess I...hope to be able to give orders someday too." she said unconvincingly. Yzak glared.

"Just get out of here. You're annoying me." he said half-heartedly, waving her off as he went back to work. He then blinked and turned back around. "Do you work for ZAFT?"

"Yes, I do." she answered truthfully. She flipped open her jacket to show him that, on the inside, was her name tag. Not much was there except her last name and her rank; her age, height, and weight too, but nothing on her first name or gender.

"Then get going! I'm sure you have orders." he brushed her off. Tsuyosa glared, but he couldn't tell due to the sunglasses. How dare he brush her off? But what could she do anyway? Oh well, she'd get him back for it later.

"Good-Bye then, Yzak Joule." she emphasized his name as she walked off. Yzak turned around. He was wearing a hat too, which hid most his hair, and no one was obeying him just because he was his mother's son. "We'll see each other again I suppose." she called back lazily.

"Who was that guy?" Yzak asked himself as a man came up with a clipboard.

-

Abrupt end. And, Yzak thinks she's a boy. -smile-