Chapter 4 New Friend Found
A/N Ok, the chapter title already pretty much gives away what's going to happen in this chappie, haha. And no Athrun has not forgotten about his little mission.But anyway, you'll see two new characters in this chappie, one's an OC and the other is Miriallia Haww. The OC is Kyo Yamajika, and those of you who have read my other fanfics, "Teen Life" or "A Second Generation", will know who she is and whether she's a co-ordinator or a natural. But in case some of you don't know, here are the character biographies.
Cagalli Yula Athha: 16 years/Natural
Athrun Zala/Alex Dino: 17 years/Co-ordinator
Kira Yamato: 16 years/Co-ordinator
Miriallia Haww: 16 years/Natural
Kyo Yamajika: 16 years/Co-ordinator
There you go, their ages and human breeds, by the way, in this fanfic, to those who have read the above two fanfics mentioned, Kyo is NOT Athrun's sister. Enjoy this chapter!
The morning rays of the sun shone brightly through Cagalli's bedroom window, and although the window glass was tinted, it still let in quite a bit of sunlight. The warm rays were reflected by the dresser top mirror onto Athrun's face, giving his alabaster skin a slight bronze glow.
Athrun's face scrunched up slightly, as he rolled over on his mattress, keeping his face out of the discomfort of the sun shining on his face. His emerald orbs fluttered open, like those of a baby's, eager to see what the morning had brought about, and what was awaiting him during the day.
The blue-haired co-ordinator sat up on his mattress, stretched a little before scanning the territory he was grounded to for any sign of a certain blonde princess, Cagalli Yula Athha. However, he didn't seem to sense her presence, and all he felt was a certain emptiness in his stomach.
Getting to his feet, Athrun looked around the room and spotted a note on Cagalli's neatly made bed. Stretching one last time, he took the note, his eyes scanning its words from left to right till he reached the end of it.
"Oh well tummy, you'll have to wait a while. Cagalli's out for an important meeting right now," Athrun thought to himself, patting his empty stomach lightly.
Out of the blue, there was a loud knock on the door, and immediately, Athrun dived into the bathroom, and slid the door shut. An auburn-haired girl poked her head in, scanning the room before stepping in and making way for another girl, this time for a girl with back-length orangey-red hair, which was cut in steps.
"I swore she told me he'd be in here," said the auburn-haired girl, Miriallia Haww. She worked as Uzumi Nara Athha's secretary, and was usually kept busy most of the time, unless the Lion of Orb was out on a business trip and had the entire duration of the time he was gone, free.
"She told me he same thing. But what d'you know, not a soul in sight. Maybe he's hiding. I mean Cagalli has been telling us that she's been having to hide him for the past few days." reassured the girl with red hair, Kyo Yamajika.
Kyo worked as a handmaiden at the Athha mansion most of the time, but when duty called, she was assigned to difficult roles like a bodyguard or a spy, rather spunky, eh?
"Come out... err... what's his name again?" questioend Miriallia, looking over at her partner, who was shaking her head bluntly.
"My my, you're really forgetful. It's Alex," stated Kyo, stepping further into the room, and making sure the room door was closed properly. She balanced the tray properly on her right hand, making sure none of the soup or the loaf of bread would spill or roll off the tray.
"Come out Alex, Alex, Alex, wherever you are." cooed Miriallia, searching under the bed, and in Cagalli's cupboard, until she reached the foot of the bathroom, it's door closed shut.
"Oh, stop it, Mirre. You sound like you're looking for a lost pet like a hamster or a guinea pig, which he certainly is not." snapped Kyo sternly, placing the tray of food on Cagalli's dresser and walking up to Miriallia.
"Maybe he's in here, I mean, it's the only place I haven't looked." said Miriallia, her hands reaching for the handle of the bathroom door, which was just inches from her hand.
Meanwhile, Athrun stood in the shower cubicle of the bathroom, wondering if he should just go out and show himself to them since Cagalli had sent them, but what if they were just acting? Either way he'd still be found, they were just at the door of the bathroom!
The bathroom door slid open, revealing a pair of girl standing at the doorway, staring at Athrun, none of them speaking a word. It was at least a good 15 seconds before Kyo broke the awkward silence.
"Oh well, we found him. Now let's get down to business or Cagalli will scream at us," said Kyo, disappearing out of sight from the bathroom doorway, leaving Miriallia to gently coax Athrun out of the bathroom.
"Relax, we're not going to eat you alive, now come over." said Kyo coolly, smiling an even-toothed smile at Athrun, who still looked kind of hesitant, about coming out from the doorway of the toilet.
Kyo sat cross-legged on the floor followed by Miriallia, and after a while, Athrun.
"Oh yes, before I forget. I'm Kyo Yamajika, pleased to meet you, Alex." Kyo introduced herself, shaking hands formally with Athrun, who smiled and introduced himself in return.
"I'm Miriallia Haww, pleasure." greeted Miriallia jovially, smiling cheerfully at Athrun, who nodded to show he heard her.
"Hey, if you need proof that Cagalli sent us, here it is." said Kyo holding a small card from Cagalli, which read, "I really sent them, I should be back soon. For now, JUST LISTEN TO THEM, DINO!" followed by her signature.
Athrun couldn't help but smile at the card. Ok, she still remembered that he needed to eat after all. He looked at the tray that one of the girls were holding. Suddenly, his sharp co-ordinator hearing picked up footsteps outside the door.
Kyo seemed to have heard it and drew out a handgun, pointing it at the door. Athrun found it odd since the footsteps sounded quite far away, and though they were steadily getting louder, even a natural wouldn't have been able to hear them.
"Who's there!" barked Kyo, gun pointed at the door, ready for it to open any moment.
Sure enough it opened, revealing a young man with brunette hair and lavender eyes. Athrun recognised him as Kira, Cagalli's twin brother, who regularly came in just to poke about his sister's room.
"Hey, chill it, missy! It's only me," said Kira, entering the room, his hands raised in surrender, before turning around midway and closing the door with his right foot.
"Oh ok, it's just you, I thought it would be Kisaka or someone from the Orb management." said Kyo, lowering her weapon and stuffing it back into the pocket of her apron.
"You know seriously, the uniform they make you handmaidens wear is really lame. I mean, a black bandana on the head and a black apron with some white frills on the front?" stated Kira bluntly, sniggering at the outfit Kyo was wearing.
"Hey, you think I WANT to wear this? Since I work here as a handmaiden, and I'm not in the position to change my own job, I'm FORCED to wear this, got it, mister? Besides, the bandana is to keep your hair out of the food you serve, and the apron is so you don't dirty your clothes, and unless you're blind, the apron has pockets, which makes it kind of handy." corrected Kyo curtly, making her dislike of her uniform clear enough for Kira to notice.
"You know Kyo, overall you're a really neat person, it's just that why are you ALWAYS so formal and firm? Why don't you try and relax a bit around friends, like us." suggested Miriallia, trying to break down Kyo's defences and see her true colours.
"Maybe she's just like that," said Athrun, finally finding the courage to actually speak his opinions or say something to someone other than Cagalli. "I've got a friend, who's so aggressive and firm, he never lets his guard down. Even around good friends,"
"Well, that's the first time I've heard you speak, other than when you introduced yourself. So, please speak what you have in mind, don't shut it up within yourself." encouraged Miriallia sweetly.
Without warning, the door latch opened and the door swung open slightly. Everyone held their breath, but let out a sigh of relief when they realised it was just Cagalli.
"Actually, Kyo is a rather sweet girl. She just refuses to let people in, and always puts on a brave front. Wow, it looks like some gathering in here." said Cagalli, looking at the crown sitting on the ground in her bedroom.
"Hey, you told us to come, you know." hissed Kyo bluntly, folding her arms, and straightening out her apron.
"See! You keep using that sarcastic, aggressive, hissing tone! Stop it! You make it sound as if we're not your friends at all! Why don't you just let down your defences and relax a bit, why don't you!" exclaimed Miriallia, throwing up her arms exasperatedly.
Kyo's furrowed eyebrows relaxed and her frozen blue eyes, now gave out a slight warm glow, although she still remained silent about her friend's opinion of her.
"Mirre's right, loosen up, will you? I know you better than anyone else, and if you're behaving this way because you think you're different, because you're a co-ordinator, I'll have you know that Kira is a co-ordinator as well, and so is Alex." remarked Cagalli knowingly, taking off her uniform, so she was just wearing a sleeveless shirt with a pair of shorts.
The Orb Princess sat down beside her blue-haired refugee, "And why are you, Mr. Alex Dino, behaving in such a bashful way today? In addition, you don't usually eat so slowly, so hurry up!"
"Wow Cagalli, you never told us Alex was a co-ordinator. You seem to know everything about him from head to toe. I'm not surprised you even know the colour of his underwear," teased Kira, laughing out aloud at his own statement.
"I certainly do not! And I'm not going to pull open his pants and look down, because I'm not eager to find out!" yelled Cagalli, waving a threatening fist at her brother.
"Kira! Don't make such crude statements, will you?" barked Miriallia harshly, smacking the brunette young man hard on the arm.
"Hit me if you want Cagalli, but are you sure you don't have a crush on Alex? I dare you to say that you don't like him one bit." said Kyo, giggling away madly like a 5 year old girl who just received a nice dolly from her parents.
"I will not admit such personal feelings to anyone," replied Cagalli firmly, folding her arms and looking away from everyone else.
"She'll probably say something like this. 'I don't like him at all, I LOVE HIM!'" squealed Kira, making his voice as high-pitched and girly as can be.
Athrun flinched slightly at Kira's statement, and nearly choked on his soup, although his actions went unnoticed by the others, who were gathered around him.
"I would not say that, you jerk!" roared Cagalli, lunging forward at her younger brunette brother, and wrestling him on the floor. However, Cagalli's conscience was questioning her. The blonde girl knew very well that she did seem to have developed a crush on her little blue-haired refugee, but she couldn't possibly be falling in love, could she?
"Hey, break it up! But you know what, all this noise and this little gathering has given me a notion. When was the last time we had a slumber party?" asked Kyo thoughtfully, biting her lip and thinking hard.
"Slumber party? Hello? Have you gone loony-cuckoo? When and where can we make that little party of yours come to reality?" questioned Kira, raising a disapproving eyebrow at the red headed girl, who looked insulted.
"If you think it's such a bad idea, then don't come if we throw a slumber party! You'll just be missing out on the beer, and the stupid games we could play, and all the teasing you could do." mocked Kyo, folding her arms and looking at Kira teasingly.
"Ah... I didn't say it was a bad idea, I just said it's nearly impossible to throw one!" replied Kira, defending himself against Kyo's statements.
"It's settled then, tonight, my room. It's the safest place, I can't risk bringing Alex all over just to get to the party venue." said Cagalli, turning to Athrun and smiling toothily at him. "I know the words 'slumber party' sound kind of girly, but it's really just a party that goes on throughout the night. It's really fun, you'll enjoy yourself."
"Yeah, only because you'll be here to please and tease him," muttered Kira under his breath, hoping his sister wouldn't have heard him, or he knew his head would go rolling.
"And I just heard that Lord Uzumi's going away on a business trip, which means most of the Orb management will be too busy sorting things out to patrol the corridors." said Miriallia excitedly, shooting Athrun a warm and welcoming smile.
"But Kisaka will be guarding my room door. Oh nevermind, I'll just tell him that I'm throwing a party for you guys for no right reason. But I'm thinking of dedicating it to Alex, since he is a newcomer here, and also a new friend. The party will just be called, 'New Friend Found'. Sounds lame, but who cares!" exclaimed Cagalli, laughing out aloud.
"That's so sweet, oh goodness look at the time! I'd better get going, you too Kyo, someone might find out that one of the handmaidens are missing." said Miriallia, darting toward the door with the red head and waving goodbye, before checking if the coast was clear and exitting the room.
"I've got better things to do than sit here and chit-chat, tata!" said Kira, getting to his feet, stretching and leaving the room, taking his own sweet time.
Realising it was a good time to ask, and since the thought was bugging him, he took a deep breath and voiced out his question.
"Don't scream at me for asking you this but, you don't like me, do you?" asked Athrun, mustering all his courage just to voice out one heartfelt question.
Cagalli blushed deeply, "You're not asking me this because you want to tell me off, if I tell you the truth, right?"
Athrun shook his head, before staring back down at his plate. If she did like him, all the more she would trust him, making it easier for him to slip away as one of the murder suspects, but what was really bugging him was that, he was starting to develop feelings for her as well.
"Ok fine, it's going to be hard for me to say this, but yes, I do like you, Alex. However, I don't know if I should stop myself here, or go deeper since, my feelings may only be one-sided. And I want to know your answer as well." said Cagalli, looking away from him, and feeling a slight tinge of worry tug at her heartstrings.
Athrun felt sad for not just Cagalli, but himself as well. The reason he was at Orb, was because he was supposed to kill her in the end. But now that the both of them seemed to be planting themselves deeper into each other's lives, it would be heartbreaking to let go.
Knowing he could hide his feelings for the blonde girl no longer, he grabbed her forearm gently, pulled her a little closer and planted a soft, swift but meaningful kiss on her cheek. "You've got your answer," he said softly, before getting up and walking off to the bathroom.
A/N I know, this chapter is probably the longest chapter I've written in all of my other fanfics, including this one. But don't hope for other chapters to be like this, it's only long because I had to squeeze the introductions of Kyo and Miriallia, and their conversation after that with this last part. Anyway, I hope you liked it, pls review! Sorry for spelling and gramatical errors!