Author's note: This is something that can only be explained as 'unbelievable' and that thing is the amount of reviews and the interest so many people shown towards this story, and for that I say thanks, even though I probably have over a million times by now. After I finish writing the two or three part piece of this story, I will gradually move onto some more action, unless you like it this way. If that's the case than just let me know.

All his memories had gone down with the house itself. There were so many that he lost to the hellfire caused by Athrun and his comrades, but it wasn't entirely their fault. Of course Kira was weary of placing the blame on people besides himself, but when Patrick Zala came into mind, there was nothing stopping him.

That man had easily torn apart the very friendship Athrun and himself had formed so strongly, so woven together that it was harder to break apart than the most solid piece of rock. Yet a single man with a different view of the world and a different way of thinking burnt it to the ground and forcing one another to hate what had been such a peaceful, blissful, unmistakable friendship.

Did he hate Athrun?

Kira had never thought of that before. But it was absolute nonsense to hate someone like Athrun that it made his heart cry in pain. His mind had never even touched the subject that maybe things change, as do people. He knew that, but when Athrun lay on the floor during their brief encounter, he was still the same person he had always been.

His influences had changed, that's all.

Athrun had always looked up to his father, even though you couldn't call him the 'best parent'. So it had came as no surprise to Kira that his friend from so long ago was now working for him, and in the Mafia no less. But he would just have to accept his choice in life and there was nothing else for him to do.

His heart felt otherwise.

Would he ever be able to see Athrun as the 'enemy'? Could he shoot him if it came down to it? Was Athrun just as troubled by all of this as he was? Would they ever come to terms and possibly reform the same friendship they had lost over six years ago?

"Athrun..."

Kira sat in a wooden chair, uncomfortable and hard. He took a half-hearted sip of his coffee, steam rising in almost invisible waves across his face. Sunlight coming from the pearly white curtains to his left kissed his skin as he thought to himself inside a small kitchen.

After fleeing with Cagalli and his father, Kira was warmly invited into his friend's home, that of Tolle Koenig. They were aloud to wander freely and stay as long as it was necessary. The great Don of Orb was overwhelmed by their offer and felt guilty for accepting such a huge show of gratitude to his family. It eventually worked and this is where they now resided.

Kira glanced out the curtain covered windows, wrapping himself in past's memories. He finished off the last of his coffee, set the cup down onto a white, woven table cloth. The brown haired mobster closed his eyes and let those same memories take him away, being good or bad held no such worry in his own peaceful state.

Birdie.

That's what Kira finally decided to call the small, green feathered creature. It was the only thing that it ever said, no matter how hard the small boy tried to get him to say 'Birdie want a cracker,' 'what's up,' or even 'Birdie's going to kill you while you sleep' (he only tried that when the bird wouldn't say anything else and was thankful that his feathered friend never repeated those words).

Every time he looked at the bird, he wondered what it felt like to be stuck in a cage for your whole life. One day he decided to stop that from happening and let the bird loose. He closed every door, window, and vent off so it wouldn't fly away.

But wasn't he just imprisoning it again?

Kira walked up to the golden barred cage, extending his hand with his index finger outstretched the farthest. He already had the entrapment open and crossed his fingers in his mind that Birdie would not fly away, never to be seen again.

When two small feet gently landed on his finger, Kira jumped slightly. In turn the bird became startled by his sudden movement and lifted off, flying around the room. Kira began to worry, but his emotions were replaced with surprise when Birdie landed in front of a portrait.

Birdie pointed it's beak to a picture of Athrun, who had his tongue sticking out, glaring at the person taking the picture, which had been Kira. The brown haired kid picked up the picture, grasping it by the wooden frame. He watched as Birdie cocked it's head to the side and pecked at Athrun when Kira lowered the picture back to it's original place.

"Yes, that's Athrun."

Birdie flew off and landed on Kira's shoulder. Kira raised his hand towards the bird and waited patiently for it to hop on his finger again. When his feathered friend did as he wished, Kira placed the bird back into the golden barred cage, silently closing the little door behind it.

"Why did this have to happen to us?"

Three years after that, Birdie had passed away, leaving Kira with nothing more than an empty cage to stare blankly at. That had gone down in the fire along with everything else that held some sort of importance to him.

Kira lifted his head, that had slipped into the curve of his arm while he was in a world of the past. He cleared his eyes and sat up, walking over to the kitchen sink and placed his empty coffee cup into it. Thinking to himself again, Kira left the small room and went back to his makeshift room supplied by Tolle, then closed the door behind him.

The meeting was extremely boring and irrelevant to Athrun and his state of mind. Of course he had been scolded for not dressing properly and was almost humiliated in front of Crueset by his father, but it wouldn't have mattered if he did, he didn't care at all.

Now as Athrun walked slowly down the hallway of their 'meeting house', he wished that he hadn't gone on that mission for Yzak's sake and stayed home instead. He stepped in front of a wooden door, one that hid a room where lockers lined the walls filled with their weapons and special clothing.

Athrun didn't remember walking into that room, but he was now standing before his own locker, still wearing the same red and white outfit that he had worn on the night Kira's house burnt down. As he turned to open his locker, Athrun felt a pair of gloved hands grab the collar of his shirt to spin him around.

Yzak's face displayed a combination of both anger and hatred as he glared savagely at Athrun. He became angered further when Athrun showed no response to his actions.

"What the hell were you up to that night?"

Athrun tilted his head to the side, ignoring Yzak's question. His eyes still held that deep thinking look mixed with a strong sadness.

"Answer me!"

"Ya, Athrun. We almost had him and you ruined any chance of that," Dearka stated from his seated position in a couch to the left of them.

"Can't we settle this some other way?" Nicol looked at Yzak and Athrun.

The silver haired mobster pushed back on Athrun, letting him go but also throwing his weakened body into the lockers behind him. Yzak walked out of the room in a fit of rage. Dearka sat up and followed his friend.

"What's wrong Athrun?" Nicol asked.

"I just need to be alone," was his only reply.

Nicol looked at Athrun with a worried expression before leaving, despite what he thought at the time. He slowly left the room, checking behind him to see if Athrun was alright, then exited the room without any protest.

Athrun finally straightened his head out, looked forward without much expression, and left the room himself. He went directly towards his own room, but was distracted when several armed men ran past, guns drawn.

"Hurry," one of them said, "we've got to stop those Orb scum before they totally destroy the place!"

"Rodger that!" Another replied.

Athrun decided to follow them instead, suddenly interested in what was going on. He trailed after the group of men, always making sure that he wasn't spotted. When he came to the outside world, the sudden change in light hurt his eyes.

Meanwhile, back at Tolle's house, Kira heard the commotion coming from outside and ran to grab his gun- one of the only things that survived the fire for it was in his pocket when the massive house fell victim to the deadly flames. He met up with Tolle and his parents. He noticed that his own family members were missing, then remembered that they went out somewhere.

Kira told Tolle to watch over the house. He took the safety off his gun, turned around to make sure that Tolle and his parents stayed where they were, nodded his head and took off towards the sound of gunfire and explosions that suddenly irrupted in the distance.