Please review, people! I really put on a lotta hard work into this thingy... yah. Please read and review. :)

Chapter 2 – Birthday

Karin's POV

I woke up, feeling giddy and weird. It was my birthday and it seemed so… so… unreal. There was no Lacus bending over me with a cake on hand, or Kei with a big smile on his face wishing me happy birthday like he always does. There was no-one and the reason to that was I was at my little room in the ZAFT head quarters, as I was officially a soldier when I got the Akatsuki and the rank of Crewman.

Crewman Zala. That really sounds weird.

I heard a beep and turned to my phone on the table. There was a message. From Tai.

"Hey, Karin. Just wanna say a happy birthday to my 'little sister' and… yah. Oh yah… come meet me at the canteen at the table right at the corner, nearest to the hangars… yah. I wanna give you something. Be there by 8am, ok? Don't be late!"

I stared at my clock. It was 7.45am. I've got 15 mins only… WHAT? 15MINS ONLY!

Normal POV

Karin rushed into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She then rushed out and put on her horrid green ZAFT uniform. She gagged at herself in the mirror before swearing to get a promotion – quickly, so that she could the nicer red uniform.

She was about to pull on the conservative green pencil skirt but she decided no to. To hell with Commander Asuka when he gives her a freaking lecture on wearing the ZAFT uniform properly. She pulled on a green nearly miniskirt (her old curriculum school one) that was an inch and a half above the knee, combed her blonde hair and rushed out to the breakfast hall.

When she reached the hall, she noticed that it was 8.02am. She was late. She spotted Tai in the corner, staring at his watch and ran up to him.

"Tai!"

"Hey, girl!" Tai jumped up and pulled out a chair for her. Karin sat down, and both of them blushed, looking into each other's eyes.

Tai had his shoulder-length black hair combed nicely, his blue eyes shone when he saw her. He looked nothing like his parents, Yuuna Roma Seylan and Meer Campbell (A/N: Stupid I know but they're cursed to be with each other), let alone act like them. He was a kind hearted person, very unlike his parents, who were money and attention hungry. He reached into the pocket of his trousers and handed something- a box to Karin.

"What's this?" Karin eyed the box with curiosity. It looked expensive. It was quite big, about 15 by 15cm or so.

"Open it," Tai put his hands on the table and rested on them. He smiled as Karin opened the box cautiously, and peered inside. Sitting in a nest of foam was a small glass bear, small and precious- looking. It was a note holder, and in the bear's tiny paws was a small note.

Karin. Tai here and I'd just like to wish you a very happy birthday. Hope you treasure this belt just like the way I treasure you as my best friend… good luck in trying to find out about your truth… maybe today some dude will come up and be willing to tell you the whole of your life story… haha! I wish we can be really close so…

"So what?" Karin eyed the boy. Tai took her hands and looked into her eyes.

"Karin, I really like you… more than a friend to tell you the truth… so I was thinking… maybe you could…" Tai's face resembled a tomato as he looked down onto the table. He shook his head violently and loot was a photo frame with a picture of herself, Izumi and their childhood friend, commander Asuka's eldest daughter, Wendy. It wasend. Then she understood. She pulled his hands and held them in hers.

"You know what? I really like you too. And yes, my dear boyfriend, I would be pleased to be your girlfriend," Karin giggled. "But, if you really love me, you wouldn't let me starve, right?"

Tai stared at Karin, trying to make out her massage. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Oh! Sorry, Karin!" He got up and rushed to one of the numerous stalls. Karin just laughed softly at the sight. She didn't notice her childhood friend, Izumi Joule, the daughter of Chairman Joule (yesss, Yzak is Chairman!).

"Happy birthday, Zala," Izumi put her arms around Karin. Karin jumped in surprise.

Izumi wasn't in military school. She was in curriculum school, and was the top student there. She was pretty, smart, athletic. Every guy sane would want to die for her. She had silver coloured hair, the same colour as her dad's, and her eyes were a special blend of yellow and gold. Sometimes Karin wondered if God had spent extra time creating her. But of course not. Of course Izumi Joule wasn't perfect. Give her a Gundam and she has no idea what to do with it. Dump her in a battlefield in the best Gundam in the world and see her get blown in pieces in a blink of an eye.

"Izumi? What are you doing here?" Karin stared at a pink box that Izumi had pushed into her hands.

"It's a present, girl. It's your birthday, right?" Izumi put her hands on her hips and smiled at Karin. She frowned at the skirt Karin was wearing. It was her old curriculum school skirt, the one she herself was wearing.

"Zala, my dad's gonna rip you into shreds if he sees you like this. If you forgot, I am the daughter of the chairman, you know," Izumi loved being the daughter of the chairman, it always gave her a chance to taunt others, others below her, like Karin, for example. And her habit of calling others by their surname was from her dad. She always thought that her being the chairman's daughter meant that she had a high rank compared to the other people of ZAFT. It was quite true, of course, according to her dad. Basically, her dad had influenced her a lot, due to her mother's death that happened when she was 2 years old. She was raised by her father and a lot of nurses as well as her grandmother.

Karin frowned at what Izumi had given her. It was a photo frame with a picture of herself, Izumi and their childhood friend, commander Asuka's eldest daughter, Wendy. It was a picture taken around 3 years ago, when they got into elementary level.

"Izumi, thanks but do you know that I hate all these stupid memories of my being in curriculum school?" Karin put the photo frame delicately into its original casing.

Izumi grinned. "Just to piss you off, girl. Oh ya. Wendy asked me to pass you this. She asks you to open when you are at home, ok?"

Karin nodded, and accepted the box. "Thanks, Joule," Karin then frowned, staring at Izumi. "Why are you here? I thought you're supposed to be at school?" That comment changed the look on the face of the chairman-to-be.

"Fuck. Gotta go. Bye Zala!" Izumi, influenced by her dad, had a sucker for vulgarities. She picked up her bag and ran off.

Tai came over, carrying two trays. "Was that Izumi?"

"Yup," Karin got up and took a tray from him. "She gave me this." Karin showed Tai the photo Izumi had given earlier.

"That's Wendy Asuka, right?" Tai pointed at the blonde girl standing next to Izumi.

"Yup." Karin took a sip out of her coffee. "She's got her mum's hair and her dad's eyes. A great combination!" She grinned at the picture before attacking the pancakes. (A/N: Wendy's mum is Stellar! Wheeeeeee!)

Tai took a sip of his coffee and gagged. "Whoever who made this must be controlling their sugar levels!" He glared at the cafeteria women, but they didn't seem to notice him at all. Karin giggled, and glanced at her watch.

"Um, Tai. I think we'd better go. It's nearly nine," She bit her lip and stared at her skirt, feeling a little bit scared, for Commander Asuka was damnned strict about the rules. She shook her head to loosen up, and stuffed the last bit of pancake into her mouth. "I'm done. Let's go," She pulled her boyfriend's hand and dragged him out of the canteen.

Karin slumped on her bed the second she reached it. Damnned that training. She cursed Commander Asuka under her breath about not lessening the training load on her birthday. She seized her handphone from the bedside table and checked her messages. There was one from Lacus. It was short, sweet and motherly.

Happy Birthday Karin! Now that you are a year older, you must learn to be a year mature, okay hun? Sorry we can't drag you out of training for your birthday dinner so we decided to postpone it to Saturday. Kira and I will fetch you at the foyer, at 2pm sharp. Be there! Love, Lacus.

Karin knew that the 'we' was just Lacus. Kira hated her guts for looking like her parents. The soft freak. Can't even look at me in the eye. What the fuck? Can't blame me for looking like my parents, right? Weak. Just accept the fact that your best friend and twin are freaking dead. Moron. Karin smiled at her thoughts. She loved cursing her uncle. She tossed her phone on her pillow and started playing a game of Ultimate Maze. Just as she got into the fifth level the doorbell shrilled.

"Damnned whoever that's there. I've never gotten to the fifth level before," Karin saved the game before answering the door.

Still staring at her handphone, she pulled open the door. "Karin Zala here. May I help…?" She looked up at the man. He was wearing black. As in, everything he wore was black. Like Zorro or something. Black shirt, black pants, black jacket, black hat, black mask… Black mask? She raised her eyebrows.

"Erm… who are you?" Karin asked, her eyebrows still raised.

The man smiled at her. "That doesn't matter. All that matters is what I've got to show you," He walked casually into her room, as though it was his own.

"Hey! No-one invited you in!" Karin stood in front of him, her arms thrown out to her sides. She felt kind of angry at the fact that the man had been so rude, just walking in into other people's houses just like that.

The man still kept on smiling at her. "Just like your mother, aren't you?" Karin blinked and put down her hands.

"My mother?" She asked. "What do you know about her!"

The man turned around, obviously wanting to leave.

"Hey! You're not going anywhere until you tell me what the heck you know about my mother!" She ran up in front of the man and put her arms out again, to stop him from going off.

"I thought you wanted me to leave?" The man still smiled at her, as she glared at him. "Well, anyway I've got no intention of leaving either until I get this off my chest," The man reached out into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a box, about slightly bigger than a piece of A5 sized paper. He then handed it to Karin. "Your parents left you this."

Karin took the box and examined it from every angle. She saw a small lock, those combination ones. But it wasn't a numerical lock. This certain lock had alphabets instead. "How do I open it?" She looked up at the man with a look of total confusion.

"I don't know the password. Only you do. Before your mother died she told me to give this to you if she ever died… which she did. She told me that she would tell you the password, so only you would know,"

Mum told me a password?

Flashback

"Mummy, please take me with you!" A five-year-old Karin pulled at Cagalli's jeans, crying.

"I can't, Karin. I'm so sorry," Cagalli picked up her daughter and hugged her, as Athrun went up to her. Karin, seeing her father, reached out her arms to him.

"Daddy I wanna go with you and mummy!" Cagalli passed her to Athrun as she took a little boy from Lacus' arms, who was crying and pulling Lacus' hair.

"Sorry, Karrie, but mummy and daddy has got something really important to do at The Big Building. So we'll leave you with aunty Lacus and uncle Kira, okay?" Athrun gave his daughter a big hug. The last hug he was ever going to give her.

Karin wiped her teas with her sleeve and stepped back to Lacus. Cagalli tapped Athrun's shoulder as the little boy she was carrying pulled her hair and cried louder. "We have to bring Leon along, there's no choice! If we leave him with Lacus then…"

"Fine. But Karin…?" Athrun's gaze turned to his five-year-old.

"Karin will be fine with Lacus and Kira. After all it's only for a few hours,"

Karin looked up at her parents. It's not fair! Why are they bringing Leon along? Why not me? What's wrong with me? Is it because I'm a natural and he's a coordinator they prefer him to me? Her tears fell once more. Cagalli saw this and shoved Leon into Athrun's arms and went to her little daughter.

"Karin, I love you, okay? And daddy too. But aunty Lacus can't take care of both of you as well as her own children and the orphans. So Leon has to come with us. But tomorrow, I promise that we'll ride the ferris wheel at the funfair, okay?" Cagalli bent down and hugged her eldest child.

Karin wiped her tears with the back of her hand and smiled at Cagalli as she took out a pendant from her neck. "I wanna tell you a little secret, okay, Karrie?" She slipped the pendant around Karin's neck as the girl beamed at the present. "Do you know why you don't have a middle name Leon does?"

Because you love Leon more than you love me. Karin thought. But she was wrong. "It's because, Karin, it's a secret middle name!" Karin's eyes widened. She loved secrets.

"Just between you and me, Karin, our little secret, our own little password. Your secret middle name is the same as mine!"

Karin's eyes widened even more. "Yula! That's your middle name!"

"And yours too. Remember that and don't tell anyone at all," Cagalli gave Karin a hug and a kiss and went off to the Orb head quarters (The Big Building) with Athrun and Leon in their Land Rover.

That was the last time Karin ever saw them. Ever.

End flashback.

Karin picked up the box and turned the combination lock. Y…U…L…A.

It opened in her lap ever so easily.

What do you think? If it sucks, tell me. It will make me better and improve the story!

Oh yah, to: Bad, who said:

dude, gundam at 13?
ya right

uhm well... its the future, right? Well, come to think of it, it does sound pretty young to own a Gundam but if Cagalli can be an Orb Representative at the age of 18 then why not a Gundam at 13? It's just a matter of how you see it, dude. :)