JC: Rey and Cagalli are just my cousin's dream couple. I know it's weird pairing them up. I'm sorry about that. I'm also adding Stellar here as well and she'll be paired up with Shinn, of course. Shinn and Stellar pairing is also the best for me. Well, let's go on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't have any rights to the characters. I don't own them and I can never own them.

Love Fulfilled

Phase 08: Mixed Emotions

"What did you say? The princess is engaged?!" Kai yelled at Miriallia in a very loud voice. "That can't be! When did that happen? I don't want to believe it! You've gotta be joking, right?!"

Miriallia narrowed her eyes at the blue-eyed coordinator. "I'm serious." She would never joke around about important matters.

Kai scratched his head in frustration. "NO WAY!" he uttered. "Wait a sec… To whom is she engaged? Is it some rich guy? Is it someone I know?

"Rey Za Burrel," Miriallia replied with a frustrated sigh. Honestly, Kai was getting on her nerves, and she was doing her best to stay composed.

"What?!" Kai cried, slapping his own temple. "I don't stand a chance against that guy."

"Don't give up just yet," Miriallia told him.

"Huh?" Kai murmured, surprised by her words. "What are you trying to say?"

"Cagalli doesn't love him, so Kira will try to convince the chairman to cancel the engagement," she explained. "You can't be happy if you marry someone you don't even love, right?"

Kai smiled, held Miriallia's hands, and shook them rapidly. "Is that so? Why didn't you tell me in the first place? I believe Representative Yamato can do it."

"Um... yeah... Whatever..." Miriallia rolled her eyes away from Kai, thinking absurdly of his childish behavior.

Shopping Mall

Jean had the day off from military work and she was now currently in the mall, shopping for new clothes. "This looks nice," she said as she admired the dress in her hand. "I better try this on." She went to change in the dressing room.

When she put on the dress, she glanced herself in the mirror. "Wow!" giggled Jean, "this dress is great. I'm going to buy this." She changed back to her clothes and stepped out of the dressing room. As she went to pay at the counter, she spotted two familiar faces. "Nii-san? Princess Cagalli?" Jean murmured as she approached them.

Cagalli and Athrun turned their heads at Jean. They were both surprised, especially Athrun, to see the younger Zala. "What are you doing here?" Athrun asked.

"Shopping, of course," Jean replied. "Isn't that obvious, Nii-san?"

"You're actually shopping?" Athrun remarked, sarcasm present in his voice. "I thought you hated it."

"Well, people change, you know!" She glared at him. "Nii-san, how can you be so irritating every time?"

"Look who's talking..." Athrun plainly said, looking bored.

"What?!" Jean wailed, outraged by her brother's attitude. But she immediately calmed down when she saw Cagalli smiling at her. "It's nice to see you again."

"Same as usual, Jean... You two really can't get along."

"Well, we get along sometimes..." Jean told her as she fiddled with her fingers.

"That's good to hear. It's really nice to have a sibling," Cagalli said as she turned to Athrun, "right?"

He blushed at the sight of her face. "Um...yeah... I think…" he answered.

Rey's Room

"Shinn, you can have the day off," Rey told Shinn.

"You serious?" Shinn asked as he felt his lips curved into a smile.

Rey nodded his head.

"All right!" exclaimed Shinn. He turned to Rey and shook his hand. "Thanks, Rey."

"Just be back before 18:00," Rey added.

"Don't worry..." Shinn assured him and he immediately left the room.

Rey stood from his seat and went to the balcony. He stared up at the sky and imagined a certain blonde girl he admired so much. "Cagalli, I hope you love me too," he said particularly to no one. "And I hope you can forgive me after I kill him." He gritted his teeth as he thought of his mission. He was about to hit the wall when he heard a loud knock coming from the door. He approached it and opened it.

"Yo, how are you doing?!" a blonde haired guy with purple eyes greeted Rey.

"Dearka, what do you want?" Rey questioned, raising an elegant brow.

Dearka Elthman was also one of his bodyguards and good friends. Although he has a great sense of humor, he rarely makes Rey laugh. He went in without Rey's permission and hopped on Rey's bed. He glanced around the room and mumbled one soft, "Wow!"

"I'll ask you again," Rey said, looking pissed, "what do you want?"

Dearka scratched his head and stood up. "You gave Shinn a day off, so I was thinking..."

"No!" Rey cut him off. "Your day off is tomorrow."

"Please," Dearka begged. "I'll do anything."

"No, and that's my final answer!" Rey said calmly.

Dearka sighed in defeat. "Oh well, I thought I could meet her today," he mumbled loud enough for Rey to hear.

"Her?" Rey asked with curiosity. "Who's her?"

The bodyguard turned to Rey and plastered one big goofy smile on his face. "She's an ORB Military Soldier. I saw her the other day and I think I've fallen in love with her at first sight. She was so cute!" Dearka said as he blushed. "I finally found my dream girl!"

Rey slapped his forehead. He should have known that playboy Dearka had spotted another girl to be his prey. "Dream girl?" he murmured. "Are you really sure about that?" He began reminding Dearka about his past events with the girls back in PLANT.

"I know I've dated lots of women before, but they were not special to me. I think this girl is more to my liking. Like I said, she's the girl of my dreams!" He clasped his hands and sighed dreamily.

With Dearka acting strangely like that, Rey had another reason not to give him a day off. However, he sensed that Dearka was being serious with a girl for the first time. He grabbed Dearka's shoulder and looked straight at him in the eye. "Okay, you can have the day off."

"She's so beautiful! I want to date her... and..." He paused for a while before he realized what Rey said. "What did you say?! I can have the day off?!" he yelled.

"Just go before I change my mind."

"Thank you so much!" Dearka jumped for joy and hugged Rey so tightly.

"Dearka, I'm dying... Need... air..." Rey struggled to get out from his grasps. His lungs screamed for air as his voice became thin. "I'm dying..." he spoke.

"Ah!" yelled Dearka. "I'm so sorry." He released Rey and scratched the back of his head and apologized for his rude actions. "I got carried away back there." He laughed lightly to ease his nervousness, because Rey was giving him one serious glare. "I better go now." After that, he dashed out of the room like a roadrunner.

"I'm glad he's gone now." Rey sighed in relief. "What should I do for fun today?" he asked himself. "I know... I should visit Cagalli-san again."

Bedroom

Cagalli plopped down on her comfy bed and sighed in exhaustion. "Your sister is one heck of a shopper!" she exclaimed as she sat up from her position and looked at Athrun.

Athrun laughed out lightly as he took a seat, facing Cagalli. "She's always like that. You should see her when she's playing at the arcade..."

"Arcade?"

"She totally rules at games."

"I see... She's really energetic."

Athrun nodded his head in agreement. "Because she's so full of energy, she can be so violent sometimes." He laughed again.

Cagalli paused to stare at him, not knowing that her cheeks were turning red. She was getting nervous all of the sudden and her heart felt like it was going to burst. She took one deep breath and exhaled to calm herself down. It was no use because her heart beat kept getting louder and faster. She held her chest and her hand trembled. What was happening to her? She kept asking herself that. She shook her head, hoping it would relieve her, but still her heart kept going.

Suddenly, she felt a warm hand touched her shoulder. She glanced at the hand for a while before turning to the owner. Her eyes met the emerald-green eyes that belonged to her bodyguard. In an instant, her face turned as red as a tomato. She was so embarrassed that she immediately buried her face in her hands.

"Cagalli?" Athrun murmured, wondering why she was acting weird. "What's the matter?"

"It... It's... no... Nothing... It's nothing." She glanced back at him, but this time her face was back to normal.

"Are you sure?" asked Athrun.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just tired that's all." She lay down in bed and covered herself with the blanket.

Athrun still looked at her with concern in his eyes.

Cagalli reached his hand and held it tenderly. This time Athrun blushed. "I'm going to sleep now," Cagalli told him. "You can go rest as well."

Athrun smiled at her. "Thank you and sweet dreams."

Cagalli smiled back at him and released his hand. She moved an inch to the side of her bed and closed her eyes. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.

Athrun knelt down and placed a quick peck on her temple. "Cagalli, I wish I could tell you how I feel, but I'm afraid..." he muttered softly. He turned and walked to the door. Before leaving the room he took one more look at the sleeping princess. "Maybe someday I would tell her..." After that, he stepped out of the room and slowly closed the door behind him.

Miriallia happened to pass by and saw Athrun leaving Cagalli's room. "Hey there, Athrun!" she greeted the blue-haired coordinator as she waved her hand at him.

"Have you come to visit Cagalli?" Athrun asked as he approached her.

Miriallia nodded her head. "She's in her room, right?"

"Yeah, but she's sleeping."

She sighed in disappointment. "That's too bad... Oh well, I should go visit Kira instead. I'll see you later, Athrun." She turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Athrun called as he grabbed Miriallia's arm. "Can we talk?"

"What is it?" she said, turning back at Athrun.

Athrun's heart felt uneasy again. He released Miriallia's arm and leaned his back against the wall. He took one deep breath before he started talking to her. "I want to tell Cagalli that I love her, but how?" His cheeks flushed up in an instant when he said that.

Miriallia laughed at his expression, because he looked so funny to her.

Athrun raised an eyebrow and demanded for an answer.

She apologized to him for laughing like that, because she couldn't help it. It was really her first time to see Athrun blushing.

"Miriallia, I'm being serious here." Athrun narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, okay..." Miriallia immediately changed her expression into a more solemn one. "If you love Cagalli, then tell her. Nobody is stopping you, Athrun."

"But I'm afraid of her answer. What if she rejects me? I don't think she'll treat me as a friend after that."

"You'll just have to accept it."

"Miriallia, you're not helping!"

"There's no need to raise your voice, Athrun, because I'm standing right next to you."

"I... I'm sorry about that."

"I know you're pretty tense right now and I understand that." She looked straight in his eyes. "Athrun, you can't hide your feelings forever. You have to let it out. Just tell her that you love her."

"Is it really all right for me to confess?"

"If you're thinking Cagalli is in love with Rey, then you're seriously wrong. She's also not in love with some guy out there."

"I know that!" Athrun wailed. "She has no interest in guys and that's my problem."

"Athrun..." Miriallia's eyes grew soft.

"I love Cagalli so much." He was really serious about his feelings for the princess.

Rey was walking towards Cagalli's room but stopped when he saw Athrun and Miriallia talking. He quickly hid himself from their sight and decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I love Cagalli so much." Rey heard Athrun saying, which really surprised him. "That bodyguard is in love with Cagalli-san?" he murmured. "I can't believe this." He gritted his teeth as he glared down at the floor.

"I'll stay quiet for now, but someday I'll tell her if the time is right," Athrun told Miriallia, as she smiled at him.

"Don't worry about her answer, ok?" she reminded, as Athrun nodded his head. Then the two of them walked away.

When they were gone, Rey stepped out and went to Cagalli's door. He stared at it for a moment while thinking of what Athrun said earlier. "I'm not going to let Zala have her. I swear on it."

He knocked on the door and waited for Cagalli to answer it. But after waiting for two minutes, nobody came to open the door. "Cagalli-san must be sleeping. I'll talk to her later."

Just then, Rey heard a familiar voice calling out his name. He glanced at the person, who happened to be Kira Yamato. "Representative, I've come to visit your sister, but it seems that she's unavailable right now."

"Cagalli's sleeping, right?" Kira said as he approached the blonde.

"That seems to be the case."

Kira's face turned serious as he remembered his promise to Cagalli. He was going to tell Rey to cut off the engagement. However, the Chairman appeared behind him, ruining his perfect chance.

"Oh, it's you chairman..." Kira smiled awkwardly.

"Representative, we have a meeting," the chairman told him. "Why are you still here?" He then noticed Rey standing beside Kira, and his eyes immediately narrowed.

Kira glanced at Rey for a moment before turning back to the chairman. "Actually, I just went to get something from room."

The chairman looked back at Kira. "I see, then we better hurry or we're going to be late."

"I agree," replied Kira and started walking away.

"Rey, you will perform your mission soon." Gil lowered his voice, so Kira would not hear.

"I know. You... don't have to remind me..."

"Just make sure you do it or else." Gil then reminded him of the consequences if he fails the mission.

To be continued...

JC: I'm full of ideas and inspiration, and I don't know why! Ha-ha! Excuse me for being insane!! What are Rey and Gil talking about? What will Rey do? Things are going to get more serious from this point, everyone. Find out in the next chapter! Please Review and no flaming!