OMG! I am so sorry for not updating sooner, my internet completely crashed (and still is crashed; I'm using my dad's laptop instead, with my home computer open so I can view my word document and copy it all onto here (email's not working either). My dad's supposed to fix the computer soon (I hope) but until then I'll work my butt off for you readers to get my chappies up.

Thank yous:

Sword of the soul: In case you forgot…well, you'll see in this chapter anyways.

Anime Writters: Thanks very much for the compliments!

HakuTenshi: Of course they're hot! If anyone disagreed I'd shoot them!

And last but not least, Kayla, I'm glad we sorted everything out in a peaceful way, and I can't wait for your fic to come out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or its characters. I simply own Rin, her mobile suits, and my imagination.

Thanks for your patience everyone!

CHAPTER NINE – FACES

There was no doubting Athrun's timing. It was excellent. And now the three mobile suits could get rid of the three enemies. At first, it was a bit awkward, especially for the Freedom for some reason, to work with Rin and Athrun, but eventually the three of them started pulling off some killer strategies, and thanks to their teamwork, victory seemed to be within reach. That was when the three enemy machines started arguing amongst themselves. To make matters even more confounding, they suddenly retreated, and all of the enemy ships followed suit.

Even though Rin was quite stunned with the retreat, she was still happy nonetheless. "Yes!" she exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. "Mission accomplished!" But she couldn't help but notice the tension radiating from the Freedom and the Justice. Why was that? She sighed, not really caring about the answer anyways. But it was time to land.

As soon as she did, Rin jumped out of the Harmony and ran out. Everyone else was out of their ships, mobile armors, or whatever else they were piloting. Except for Athrun and Kira. They were taking their sweet time. While she waited, she stood next to Dearka.

She grinned. "So, you actually got captured?" she whispered to him in a mocking tone. "Tsk, tsk, Dearka, and I thought you were a good pilot!"

He glared angrily. "I took a hit and my power shut down! And to top that off, they were pointing their missiles at me! What else could I have done?" he snarled.

She laughed. "Heh, heh, I was only kidding. But I can't believe you ended up siding with the Archangel after they'd capture you. It does make me happy, though." Then, on a spurt of inspiration, she knew exactly why. She had seen him staring at that Miriallia girl before she went up to him. "So, what was it? Was someone on the ship so nice to you that you had to help them out? A pretty girl, maybe?"

Dearka's face went beet red. He tried to hide it and exclaimed, "You think they'd be nice to a prisoner? I almost got killed!" Then he clapped a hand to his mouth.

Rin stared at him, not really understanding his point. "But…if you were almost killed by them, why did you change sides?"

He turned away from her. He was silent for a moment, as if he was trying to find the right words. "I saw some…interesting things while I was there."

"Oh, please, do tell!" Rin said in a teasing voice.

The pilot of the Buster was spared of answering when Athrun came out of his mobile suit. He hadn't changed one bit. Same serious expression, same everything. Rin smiled at him, but he didn't seem to notice her. And then she noticed that Kira had descended from his mobile suit as well. He had a mess of brown hair and large purple eyes, and he looked so familiar…where had she seen him before? It seemed like she'd already met him… But every time she tried to think about it, her head would pound painfully. So she just decided to forget about it and stay happy. After all, Athrun was back, they'd driven away the enemies, and she even got to fight alongside Kira again…was there any reason to be upset?

Everyone watched in silence as the boys walked towards each other with serious looks on their faces. Rin looked at Cagalli. She seemed fidgety, as if she was about to cry. "What's up?" she asked her.

Cagalli shook her head. "They're both such…" And with that, she ran towards the boys and hugged them, yelling, "You idiots!" Athrun and Kira smiled at each other.

Rin ran forwards as well, a little bit hyper. She felt like she had a huge sugar rush. Probably because she was getting back to her usual self again. "Yeah, why the tense faces? Honestly!"

Athrun gave her a weird look, but he smiled at her, shaking his head. "Never mind," he said. "But let's get back. Besides," he looked at Kira, "we still need to have that talk I mentioned before."

Rin didn't hear most of their talk because she was with the Harmony, making sure everything was in good order and marking down on a slip of paper what adjustments she'd need the mechanics to make. Then she remembered that she was missing the big talk and ran to catch some of it.

When she got there, Kira was saying something along the lines of, "And you killed Tolle. But you didn't know him. And you didn't want to kill him either, did you?"

Athrun paused, and answered, "No."

Rin looked around. Everyone nearby was listening in, and she was surprised to see Miriallia go stiff, tears forming in her eyes. Dearka was right behind her, watching her. Rin grinned. So I was right. It is a girl. Though I don't know if Miriallia likes him back. He tried to say something to her, but she snapped at him and stormed off. Dearka took a few steps after her and then stopped. Rin went over to him. "You have to be gentle," she whispered with a teasing grin, giving him a nudge. He blushed, glared, and went after her again.

Kira was talking about the war now, and about his plans, and why he was fighting to protect Orb. He had very good reasons. And they were the same reasons that Rin had for siding with the neutral nation. But soon she decided that she didn't want to listen anymore, and she went back to her mobile suits to make adjustments on her own.

As she was leaving the room, she saw Sai standing by the doorway. "Where are you off to, Rin?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I'm just going to make some adjustments." Sai nodded with a smile, but Rin was struck by a sudden thought as she made to leave. "Uh, Sai, what's with Miriallia?"

Sai's smile quickly faded. "She wasn't always so downcast," he began. "But Athrun killed Tolle – her boyfriend. He piloted our spare sky grasper. She's still not over it."

Rin gasped in surprise. The second sky grasper…it all came back to her. The big battle with the Strike, and a sky grasper appeared out of nowhere to help…Rin fired, her dodged…but Athrun's attack had made contact…she had been a part of this young man's murder.

"Something wrong?" asked Sai, concerned.

"No," she said quickly, bowing her head. "I-I'm sorry to hear about this. Well, I've got to get to work. See you around." And she turned abruptly and left the room.

A few hours later, Rin was still in the Harmony. She had just finished making small adjustments that only someone with her brains could think of, and was about to doze off when…

"Rin? You're in there, aren't you?"

She sat up with a jolt and took a peak outside the cockpit to see who was there. It was Athrun. She jumped out of her mobile suit. "What's up?" she asked with a smile, happy to speak to him again.

"What's keeping you?" he asked. "Why are you staying cooped up in your mobile suit?" He looked at the machine up and down. "It really is something, though. It's probably in the same class as the Freedom and the Justice. You pilot it really well."

"Thanks," she answered, becoming serious. She could feel her body screaming at her for rest. "But look, I'm making some adjustments right now and I'd rather not be disturbed. Sorry." As he turned to leave, she asked hurriedly, "But…later? Can we talk when I'm done? Maybe over tea or something?" She gave a sheepish smile, and for some reason felt her cheeks heating up.

Athrun smiled as well. "Sure," he said. "I'll hold you up to that. Until then…" He gave a wave and left, leaving Rin alone, and she climbed back into her mobile suit and slept.

A couple of hours later, Rin joined Athrun for a nice cup of tea. They talked about what's happened since they were separated and she discovered that Yzak was alive and well and still with ZAFT. As they laughed over his attitude, Kira entered the room, and she invited him to join them. She smiled. Kira gave a small, unsure smile back.

"Don't worry, you're not interrupting," Rin told him reassuringly. "Besides, I've been hoping to meet you in person."

Kira didn't seem to know what to say. He settled on, "I…uh…never properly introduced myself to you. I'm Kira. Kira Yamato."

She smiled. "I'm Rin." She didn't say her last name because Athrun was in the room, and she still wasn't ready for him to know who she was related to. "I also wanted to thank you in person for saving my neck back on the way to Orb."

Kira smiled back, comforted. "It was nothing. But you saved me, too. You fight really well."

Rin blushed a little. "You and Athrun are much better pilots that I am. You're both amazing." This time, the boys were the ones blushing. But she continued, "You know, I'm probably being pretty nosy, but I was curious about the two of you…you seemed to know each other, and yet you were so tense with each other before…"

The boys exchanged glances, and it was Athrun that spoke: "Well, we did know each other…but a lot of things happened during the war. It's hard to follow the right path, I guess. But you and Kira seemed to find it before me."

Rin grinned. She was in one of her moods again, and it felt good. "I met Reverend Malkio on the PLANTS after the fight with the Strike. He was with Lacus Clyne. But when she had to flee, I returned to Earth with the reverend. He helped me make my decision."

Kira's eyes flew open in surprise. So did Athrun's. Rin stared at them. "What's wrong? Was it something I said? I'm sorry if I offended you or…"

Athrun stuttered, "I – I didn't know you – you saw Lacus."

She laughed, relieved that she'd done nothing wrong. "Oh, is that all? I forgot to tell you that. The pilot of the Strike was with her too…I wonder what happened to him. Ah well, I'll get my shot at him sooner or later, since he's not with Orb so he's still an enemy." She looked at her empty cup of tea, oblivious to Kira and Athrun's stunned expressions. "Would you guys like me to get you some more tea?"

There was a moment of silence. "Sure," they answered in unison. Rin took their cups and left the room, unable to sense that there was something wrong in the atmosphere.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Athrun asked urgently, "She saw you on the PLANTS?"

"Yeah," said Kira in something like awe. "She'd broken her legs, and the first night they were better, she tried to kill me. But her legs were too weak to hold her up, and…she fell."

Athrun was taken aback. "And she doesn't realize who you are? How can that be?"

Kira thought for a bit. "When she fell…" he said suddenly. "I remember now…she hit her head. She must have forgotten about me."

"But she's a coordinator," Athrun protested. "A mild case of amnesia would cure itself in a couple of days. So why hasn't she remembered?"

"I have no idea," Kira answered. "But I feel guilty. Maybe we should just tell her."

Athrun could hear Rin's returning footsteps. "No, we can't tell her. She might try to hurt you again." Kira nodded in understanding, and Rin returned with the tea, a smile on her face.

"Sorry it took a while," she said, serving them. This time she noticed to tension in the air. "Something the matter?"

"Nah," said Athrun with a smile. "Thanks for the tea."

"It's nothing."

And so the three of them drank their tea, talking about the happier aspects of life and also their mobile suits. It was a fun conversation, and when they were through, Rin felt much closer to the both of them. When they parted company, it was with smiles and promises to do this again sometime.

Of course, Rin had no idea of the conversation that had gone on while she was getting more tea, which was a good thing. Besides, she'd made a promise to Nicol to make peace, not violence. Not knowing the truth would only help the situation…assuming that she didn't find out. But things have a funny way of turning for the worse when you least expect it to, so it was only a matter of time.