Partner or Lover Chapter 14: The Past, The Present, and The Rules

Kizna let her eyes close shut, but as she did so, she muttered, "I have a keen feeling that someone's watching us… I don't know from where, or who, but I have a feeling…"

"Then let them," Zero whispered back as his lips trailed down her neck. Kizna snuggled closer to Zero and enjoyed the feeling of his lips on her neck, lips, cheek… She wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips into a fiery kiss.

Ikhny's eyes widened when she saw Zero kissing Kizna. She gulped and turned away. When she turned around, she saw Hiead still staring out the window. Shaking her head, and thinking, 'Boy's will be boys…' she grabbed the back of Hiead's shirt and yanked him away from the window. "You shouldn't stare like that," she whispered. Hiead rolled his eyes.

Grinning, he kissed her once more before walking back to the couch and settling on it. When Ikhny took a seat beside him a few minutes later, Hiead turned towards her and out of the blue, he asked, "Why did you decide to become a repairer?"

"Wha- wh…" Ikhny stuttered, wide- eyed, before she composed herself and asked once again, "What?"

"Why did you become a repairer?" Hiead asked once again, an amused look dancing over his face.

"Uh," Ikhny started. She did not know what to say with such short notice. "Well, mainly because I needed to get off my colony." Hiead threw a questioning look her way. "The victim were getting ready to attack my colony next, but luckily the Ingrids were there and saved my people." Ikhny's eyes filled up with a sort of hazy mist as her mind was taken back into the past. She was quiet for a few minutes, both of them sitting in the thickening silence, waiting for each other to say something. Then all of a sudden, Ikhny's voice turned stoic, as if she was giving a weather report.

"You want to know why I'm not as aggressive as the other repairers?" Ikhny asked out of the blue, as she turned to Hiead.

Hiead looked into her mist filled eyes and could see a hint of pain and suffering in those brown orbs. Hiead was a bit hesitant, but decided to hear it all. Swallowing, Hiead wrapped an arm around Ikhny's waist and nodded. Something squeezed at his heart when he saw the saddened expression on her face.

The brown haired girl started her explanation in a meek voice with a far off look in her eyes once again. "My father…" she started and then immediately stopped. Hiead frowned in wonder.

"Can I trust you Hiead?" Ikhny whispered, more to herself than to the boy sitting next to her, but nonetheless, it was loud enough for Hiead to hear.

Pulling her close, Hiead whispered yes into her ear. When she did not start again, Hiead then said, "I know I haven't been the best partner a repairer could have. I've been letting my personal problems get in the way of… everything. I'm sorry. But you can trust me now. I promise you I will change… I… I am changing."

Ikhny looked down at the floor, watching as her feet shifted position slightly. Hiead's curiosity was starting to pick at him so he finally asked, "Why don't you try starting from the beginning?" Ikhny nodded once.

She had a downcast look in her eyes as she started again. Taking a deep breath, she started to explain. "My father married my mother about five years before I was born. Apparently my father still was not ready to have kids when I was born and I could always see he had a look of disdain and hesitancy on his face whenever he looked at me. As if I really was not his child… and I had a feeling that he did not want to accept me as his child.

"On our colony, my father," she said this with a slight emphasis, as if she was trying to spit out the word, "taught the boys martial arts and got them ready to become pilots in a way I guess. A few years later, I overheard my father talking to mother about wanting a boy, another child. I was excited, to say the least. When they came back with a child in their arms almost a year later, my father had a disappointed look on his face; I could immediately guess that it was not what he expected.

"It was a girl, a sister.

"Of course, everything would have been better if he had a son, but because he had two girls, he never talked to us much. He had an excuse that he did not know how to talk to girls… was never good at it. That was a bunch of bull shit," Ikhny exclaimed, her eyes narrowing in slight anger.

Hiead raised his eyebrows in surprise, never hearing Ikhny curse like that. She continued.

"A couple of years later, when I was around the age of seven or eight, and my sister was four or five, my father tried to get another baby, this time wanting it to be a boy. When he found out that it would be a girl again, he started to get annoyed. My parents had a huge argument following that day, when they found out it was a girl, and my father walked out on us.

"Of course he came back every couple of days, but I could see he was living with someone else, and when he did come back, it was only to see if we were still alive and well… you know, so it wouldn't weigh too heavily on his conscience. Damn him," Ikhny whispered the last part under her breath.

She felt Hiead's hand run up and down her back in a reassuring manner, and she leaned back into his touch. Leaning slightly against him and the couch, she continued her history. "When he came back, I could always smell something foul on his breath, of course I did not know what it was then, but he would always come back drunk; probably trying to pick up some tramp at a bar or something and try to get a son out of her… When he came back drunk like that, all of his real feelings spewed forth.

"Apparently, he hated us for not being boys. He hated me for being born when he was not financially or mentally ready. He hated my mother for not carrying a boy for him… but of course it was not our faults, but he wanted to believe that it was, to make it easier on him. He would hit us, scream at us, and kick us…

"My mother could defend herself, but with another baby on the way, she had to protect herself first over us… and of course, my father went for the easier targets; us. We had no protection what so ever when he got violent, and it sort of became a habit of mine to shrink away from people who have tendencies that resemble my father's… yelling and trying to degrade me," a silent tear rolled down Ikhny's cheek as she was reliving all of her past memories.

Hiead did not know what to say. "I-…. Ikhny, I didn't know…" He was shocked beyond words. Ikhny could feel that he was blaming himself for all of his past actions and she placed a reassuring hand on top of his hand, which was resting on top of his leg.

"Don't worry about it. You did not know," Ikhny murmured, the blank look still in her eyes. "Because of all the emotional turmoil my mother was put through, she ended up loosing the baby. Of course, it was only then that my father came back and tried to talk my mother back into letting him live with her again, but she refused and kicked him out of the house." Hiead could hear a tiny hint of smug satisfaction in her voice.

"By the time I was around ten years old, my father was still very abusive, but mother had no clue about it since it was only when she was not home, that he made any advances towards my sister and I. It was then that the victim attacked our colony.

"Many of the men and boys got into primitive space pods, trying to fend off the threat the victim posed on our colony, but it was no use. They just came and came, one after another. The technology on our colony was greatly advanced, but it was not enough to stop the victim that were coming our way. Lucky for us, the Ingrids were on their way and came just in time.

"Unfortunately, the victim were able to do serious damage to the colony, killing many of our people, even my father, whom I did not have much sorrow for.

"My mother however was devastated after that attack. With the help of my sister and I, she was able to get her life back in order in a couple of months, but she would never be the same after that. Both my sister and I had no sympathy for what happened to my father, but the pain he caused both of us was still fresh in my mind.

"When I finally opened my eyes and looked around the colony at the destruction caused by the victim, I knew I had to do something. It was then that I made up my mind to become a repairer." Ikhny sighed and turned away from Hiead.

"When I first saw you Hiead, you reminded me so much of my father, with your attitude, that all the memories of him flooded back to me and it left me feeling helpless again. But I know it's not your fault. It was partially mine-"

Hiead grasped her firmly around the waist and turned her head so that she was looking him straight in the eye. "Ikhny," he started, cutting off the brown haired girl. "None of it was your fault. It was all my fault; the way I treated you and everyone else… except for Enna, he deserved it," Hiead muttered under his breath. Ikhny lightly hit him on his arm. "Never say that it is your fault, because it is not. I am to blame completely because I know that I was a total jackass, dolt, idiot, whatever you want to call me, and I plan on changing," he said firmly as he kissed her soundly on the lips to enforce his point.

A couple of hours had passed by the time Ikhny was done with her history lesson, but of course for the reader's sake, I've only given an abridged version of their conversation.

Meanwhile, Zero and Kizna were catching up on some quality time that they had missed over the past few weeks.

----

Zero was just starting to get used to the feeling of Kizna's lips on his, only to find that she had pulled away. He pouted for a split second, but then grinned as he felt Kizna trail her lips down his neck, over to the side of his ear. She nipped playfully at his ear, making him tilt his head to the side involuntarily. Zero could feel Kizna smiling against his ear.

She moved down around his ear, back to his neck, nipping and kissing his skin until she reached his collarbone. Zero could feel Kizna's soft ear rub against his face. He closed his eyes and moved his head slightly so that he could run his lips over her soft, furry ears.

All of a sudden, Zero let out a small laugh as Kizna's ear brushed up against his neck, sending chills down his spine, as well as making him laugh out loud. Kizna frowned and lifted her head, giving him a weird look.

"What?" she asked him.

"Hehe, nothing. It's just that your ear was tickling me…" Now that Zero was hearing himself saying it, he didn't find it quite so funny.

Kizna blinked for a second, then gave a smile and nuzzled him again. Frowning, she lifted her head again and looked around, her ears perked up, trying to pick up any invisible sounds. Zero followed her gaze, but didn't see anything, so he asked, "What is it?"

"I don't feel to comfortable here, in the open… It's not you, I just have a very weird feeling that someone's watching us… and…" Kizna sighed as she trailed off. She climbed off of Zero and sat down on the grass-covered ground.

Zero sat up beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. You want to get out of here?"

Kizna nodded. Both teenagers got up and walked out of the recreation room.

----

Erts ran down the hallways looking for a certain someone. His eyes quickly moved from one corner to the other, in a futile attempt to catch whomever he was trying to catch. Sighing, Erts slowed down to a walk and dragged his feet behind him while he looked frantically around him. 'I need to find them! Where the hell could they have disappeared to so fast?'

Erts grabbed his left arm as he walked, his arm slightly bruised because of the fight that took place the previous day.

The golden haired boy walked through a couple of hallways until he finally spotted a pair of ears down the far end of a nearby hallway. 'Ah ha! I found them.'

Kizna's ears twitched in anticipation as they heard footsteps approaching their way. "Zero…" Kizna murmured as she turned around.

"Hey Erts!" Zero greeted, slapping Erts on the arm. Erts grimaced and clenched his teeth in pain.

"Zero," he growled out as his right hand instinctively went to cradle his bruised left arm, which was now painfully stinging.

"Oh… sorry," Zero replied sheepishly, trying to gain back his position on Erts' good side.

Erts forgave and forgot in a few seconds and finally remembered what he wanted them for in the first place. "I was looking for you two. I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but because of the victim, I didn't get a chance, and it was a mess after we came back inside, so if you have time, I would like to speak to you two now."

Kizna and Zero nodded in acknowledgement and Kizna said, "Lead the way!" as she grabbed Zero's hand and dragged him behind her as she skipped down the hallway.

The three teens entered the gym room and found a secluded part, where no one would notice them immediately, in a far corner of the room, and took a seat on the floor. The room was, of course, empty because of the many casualties from the day before.

Once they got settled, Erts started.

"Ok you two. Teela wanted me to discuss this with you, seeing that Rioroute might not take this seriously, Gareas has a… grudge, if you must call it, against Zero, Teela is not exactly a very gregarious person, and Yuu would be to serious. So I ended up with this job…" Erts said with a sigh.

The other two companions just blinked in response. Looking at the two unresponsive faces he was getting, Erts said, "Right."

"Well, the thing is, you two know that a candidate having a relationship other than a platonic relationship with his repairer is looked down upon in G.O.A. right?" he got two nods so he continued.

"And for you two to be together, you're sneaking around the place?" Erts asked, lifting an eyebrow. Both teens blushed, but nodded anyhow.

"Well, apparently, the people at the top know that you two are an item, if you so desire to call yourselves that. They are just watching your progress-"

Erts was rudely cut off as Kizna yelled, "They're SPYING on US???"

Erts frowned and said, "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it spying, but yes, quite a few of the top managers know that you two are together. But, the only problem is that since Azuma is currently in charge of Zero and his training, and you know he does not care for, and does not tolerate any foolishness… especially if something is distracting a candidate's attention away from his main focus, he can assign you, Zero, to a different repairer, and you, Kizna, to another candidate, and can, and might forbid the two of you from seeing each other…" Erts finished off with a "conformation nod."

"What? Can he really do that?" Zero exclaimed, his fists clenched tightly in his lap.

Erts nodded once again.

"So what do we do about it?" Kizna asked.

"Well, just be more careful… I'm not completely sure if Azuma knows about the two of you yet, but if he does, then you two have gotten real lucky, because I have known a couple of candidates whom that has happened to. They have been caught having a relationship with their repairer, and they have gotten distracted in middle of a battle because of their repairer, and Azuma has assigned them to different people." Both Zero's and Kizna's faces wore a mask of dread as Erts kept talking.

"All I'm saying is don't let Azuma get a hold of the knowledge that you two are dating. That's all I'm warning you of. I know it's futile to break you two apart, but just have a little more restraint in the more… public places," Erts finished off with a smile.

"Just a little extra information, I'm pretty sure that all of the Ingrid pilots know you two are dating," the blonde haired boy said, laughing. Kizna groaned.

"Anyways, I just wanted to make you two aware of that… and please let Hiead and Ikhny know about this too," Erts requested as he stood up and stretched his legs. Zero blinked.

"How'd you know about Hiead and Ikhny?"

Erts looked at the brown haired boy and raised one eyebrow.

"Right… never mind…"

Kizna just laughed. She stretched her arms in the air and asked, "Well, who's up for a snack?" Erts gave her a have-you-gone-crazy look and Zero raised his hand. Smiling she stood up and said, "What? Never snuck into the mess hall Erts?"

Erts laughed heartily as he followed Kizna and Zero out of the gym, shaking his head as he went. "Never thought you would be a food stealer Kizna. Excuse my lack of terminology…"

Kizna stopped in her tracks. Turning around, she said, "It's not stealing… it's borrowing… what would G.O.A. do if we died of starvation? We're doing G.O.A. a favor…"

Zero and Erts just blinked and stared at Kizna.

"Uh, Kizna, are you feeling alright?" Zero asked, checking the pink haired girl's forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Yes I'm fine!" Kizna snapped, playfully slapping Zero's hands away from her face.

"You're starting to sound like Zero…" Erts explained.

"Oh…"

"Guess he's rubbing off on you!"

"Actually, that's kind of a scary thought… another Zero on G.O.A.? I don't think they could handle it… no; I'm just getting hungry… I didn't have much to eat…"

"I think you're spending a bit too much time with Zero, Kizna…"

"You may be right on that, Erts."

"HEY! I'M RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!" Zero exclaimed as he stomped off in the direction of the mess hall. Kizna and Erts laughed as they ran to catch up with their fuming friend.

----

From one corner of the recreation room, from the shadows emerged a shady figure. 'Should I tell Azuma of this? … Perhaps I'll wait a little longer before I inform Azuma about this… new development that has occurred in G.O.A. … And it is one of his students… tsk, tsk… You're starting to loose your touch Mr. Hijikata.'

A/N: Ducks the flying tomatoes Ok, I'm sorry for this cliffhanger… if you consider it as one, but I hope you found this chapter entertaining enough. The next chapter will be up on August 13!

Yes I know that it's nottwo weeks, but instead is three. The only reason is that I am updating every two weeks, and on the 6th of August, I will be getting ready for my concert on the 7th, and I really need to focus on that for the next two weeks. So I decided to update the week after that. But after the 7th, I will most defiantly be spending most of my time on the next chapter of this story. Don't worry. Hey! Remember, it's better than waiting for a month for the next chapter! . Please let me know what you thought of this chapter …in the form of a review would be good! ; I don't exactly want calls to my house in the middle of the night… heh...