Everyone just sat there in shock, besides Kira, Akira, and Artemis, having already been privy to that particular tidbit of info. The pair just stared at one another and for the longest time, no one said a word. The tension and apprehension was as tangible as the table in the middle of the room. And more annoying than a fly buzzing in your ear.

"Uh…hi Murrue," said Mu, cautiously breaking the ice. The effect was instantaneous. Cagalli and Lacus rolled their eyes while the men just shook their heads, not wanting to get in the middle of what was shaping up to be the biggest lovers quarrel they had ever seen. Akira shrugged helplessly and Artemis covered her face with a hand. Murrue's face hardened and she glared at him. Little Mu didn't understand what was going on, of course, so he simply smiled between his parents. Kira was still sitting in his chair, his head leaning against his left fist while he tapped the table impatiently with his other index finger. He suddenly slammed down his hand, causing everyone to jump and look at him.

"This is pointless. Murrue, before you start to rip into him, I would suggest that you take this conversation to the next room. The soundproof one. You know the way Mu. I do not like to be in the middle of a lover's quarrel, especially not between people far older and wiser than me." The older man nodded, before he opened the door and steeped aside to let Murrue, who held little Mu in her arms, out first. She glared at him some more when she passed. He followed after giving small grin to Kira. Akira sighed while Artemis let out the breath she was holding.

"That went better than I thought it would," he commented. Kira and Artemis nodded.

"Much better. But I think that was only because little Mu was here. If he wasn't, I have a good feeling that she would have kicked his ass from one end of the ship to the other. And done so happily as well! Oh! Oops. Sorry Lacus," mumbled Art, just remembering her sister was still in the room. The singer shook her head and smiled.

"Don't worry about it Artemis. I'm sure things have changed a bit for you in these years."

"And he is alive…HOW?" shouted Cagalli, staring between the three who knew what was going on. Personally, she was surprised that no one else had the sense enough to ask.

"The same way Orga, Shani, and Clotho are alive. Apparently, no one hit their cockpits when they were fighting, which inevitably saved them, just like it had with me when Athrun blew up the Strike. Space junkies picked them up after the fights, where they survived until I found them. Orga, Shani, and Clotho were relatively easy to find. I just had to trace the medicine they used to ease the pain of their medication to make them fake Coordinators."

"So that's why they were so good!" shouted Dearka. Everyone leveled their annoyed gazes at him and Yzak slapped him upside the head for his sudden epiphany.

"Sometimes, it's best if you just shut up," said the white haired man irritably, crossing his arms. Dearka opened his mouth to say something else but winced under the glares of the males and resigned himself to instead rubbing his throbbing head.

"Indeed, better to let people think you're stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," added Athrun. The silence stretched after this, shifting between uncomfortable and tolerable. Since no one was barraging him with questions, Kira decided to get back to the business of running his ship.

"So, where are we now?" he asked Artemis. She brought out her PDA from one of her many pockets, the stylus flying over the screen.

"About five to six hours away from our destination." He nodded.

"Good, tell Sai to speed it up just a notch. The reflector system is on right?"

"I don't know but I'll go check."

"Where are we going?" asked Lacus, staring at the two of them.

"You'll find out when we get there. Akira, would you mind terribly if we didn't practice today?" The boy shook his head before a smile crossed with a smirk settled on his face and a mischievous glint found his eyes.

"No, not really. It'll give me time to-"

"YOU ARE NOT TOUCHING THE LIBERTY! DO YOU HEAR ME! JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE THE PILOT DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET TO TOUCH IT!" roared Artemis, pointing her finger in his face. The scene was quite funny, since even though Art was older than him, she was barely eye level. Lacus and Kira sighed in unison. That girl just got WAY too worked up when it came to anything mechanical. Especially if she had been the one to build it.

"He's a pilot?" asked Cagalli and Kira gave a weary noise. This was definitely an argument he'd much rather avoid. With everyone.

"Yes, he's the pilot of the Liberty."

"Liberty?" repeated Athrun. Art nodded happily and opened her mouth but Cagalli kept going.

"But he's only a boy!" she interrupted. Athrun sensed his best male friends' sudden change in attitude and grabbed her gently by the arm.

"Cagalli…" he said in a hushed, warning tone. Kira stood up slowly, glaring coldly at her. She literally flinched at the diamond hardness she saw in his normally happy purple eyes while his face became firm, unmoving. He braced his hands on the edges of the table, his knuckles white. He began speaking, his voice cutting like a knife through the air.

"Akira is my son. If he wants to learn how to pilot a suit, fine. If he wants to bungee off the bow of the ship, fine. If he wants to streak through the hangar bay wearing nothing but a smile, that's fine too. As long as he is happy and if piloting is what makes him happy, then god damn it, I'm not going to stop him and I'll be the one to teach him. Maybe when you and Athrun have children of your own you'll understand me better. The more you try to stop children from doing things, the more they want to do them anyway and I'd rather him pilot the Liberty, by my side, knowing what the fuck he's doing than having him sneak out and randomly pressing buttons like I did. Do NOT step to me on how I raise my son." The room was in silence once more as Kira bored a hole into Cagalli with his eyes, whose face was red in a mix of anger and embarrassment. The tension grew once more, twice as fast. Subconsciously, everyone took a tiny step away from him. He closed his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. His face softened slightly. "I need to go calm down. Artemis, give them all rooms for the time being and come get me in twenty minutes; you know where I'll be." She nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Sure Commander. Bring everything?" Her tone was clip, crisp and very business-like.

"No, just plan 2-ECS. And EUW. Akira, come with me." Although Kira didn't see it, Art had rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Yes sir." Grabbing his helmet, Kira refused to meet the eyes of anyone else as he and his son left the room. He had barely been gone for two seconds when Art rounded on Cagalli.

"If it wasn't for the fact that Lacus is here, I'd beat the shit out of you," she seethed. Lacus scoffed inwardly.

Tch. Don't hold back on my account… she thought. (1) When Cagalli opened her mouth to protest, Art was quick to cut her off.

"I know you haven't seen him in a long time but really! Here is a piece of advice that will serve you well. That will serve you all well. Do not tell him what he should and should not do. Do you realize how long it's BEEN since he last cursed or glared at someone he knew! Or cared about! Good grief! It took me MONTHS to get him out of the state you just put him in!" She would have continued if Lacus hadn't crossed the room at that moment and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"That's enough Art. I think we all understand." She nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Fine…and what the hell is 22-EC…oh! Right. Follow me."

Akira followed his father silently as they stepped onto one of the balconies on the ship. He knew the spot well. It was the outdoor shooting range where he usually trained. Kira grabbed a pair of headphones and pulled out a gun. Akira stood next to him, doing the same. In freaky unison, they snapped their guns up to the targets that had just appeared and began firing.

Aim, shot. Target: chest, head, head, chest. Location: center, top, bottom right, top left… He ran a small commentary in his own head as he shot subconsciously; Kira had decided early on, after he found out that his 'son' was adequate with any weapon, to train him to be the best. At the moment, Akira was one of the best shots in the whole ship. Not counting Kira of course; he had a level all his own.

More targets soon popped up all around them and both males started swinging around, shooting targets and covering each other. Akira would shot a target that would have killed his dad, only to be saved himself. Their run ended soon. It never lasted long when both of them were together. Kira placed his hand on his son's head, fondly roughing up his black hair. Akira grinned up at him.

"You did well, better than usual even," said Kira smiling as well. The boy shrugged.

"I was taught by the best."

"Flattery will get you no where."

"Believe him that it doesn't work. I've been trying for who knows how long," said another voice. Art had arrived. Kira looked at his watch in surprise.

"It's been twenty minutes already?" The young mechanic rolled her eyes.

"Correction, it's been an hour already. I kept resetting the timers on the targets." Kira growled lightly.

"Whatever, did you bring the plans?" She rolled her eyes again and handed him her PDA.

"Is the sky blue? Does the sun shine? Do you love La-" His hand had covered her mouth.

"Don't start that again." He removed his hand and began going through the files while Akira snickered at her. Art glared at the young boy. "Alright, Akira set this up for me would you?" He handed the PDA to his son.

"Sure dad." And he was off. After the door shut behind him, Art produced the other thing Kira wanted.

"I swear, you'll learn to trust me one of these days, I promise you." He merely took it from her.

"Right, thanks Art." She shrugged and left as well, already plotting in her evil little mind. Grinning, she ran off to get Lacus.

Walking over to the entertainment center that was centered in one of the walls, Art's idea, he popped the CD in. Music washed over him seconds later and he leaned on the rail, his back to the door.

His own edited lyrics flowed softly from his lips, cleansing him in a way. Of course, that might also have to do with the fact that it was one of Lacus' songs. But since the music was slightly loud, and he was singing, he didn't notice nor hear when the door opened up once more. Unknown to him, the figure smiled and waited silently as the song went into the second verse.

With a critical musical ear, the girl, for it was a she, could tell that yes, he had decent voice, but it wasn't all the great, from a critical point of view. Otherwise she could sit there and listen to him for hours. She nearly giggled as well at the choice of lyrics, more so how he remixed them to point at himself but she felt that there really was a deeper meaning to what he was saying.

The figure, who was of course Lacus, stepped up and began singing, causing Kira to nearly break his neck when he turned to face her in surprise, his face own burning red.

She finished, smiling at him.

"You're a nice singer Kira. I didn't know you could." She walked over to him, leaning on the rail next to him. He swallowed his embarrassment at being caught and looked at her.

"Yeah well…something about the song called to me…" She started nodding.

"Yes, that's what I thought when I wrote it." He smirked.

"So you mean you wrote that song for me?" Lacus turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. You are my source of inspiration of course," she replied with total honesty. His smirk dropped a bit and he stared at her.

"Lacus," he said slowly and carefully, turning so he could face her properly. "Are you trying to imply…what I think you are?" She raised herself up as well so they were slightly eye-to-eye; she was still shorter than he was.

"Depends what you think I'm implying Kira," she said softly. He gazed into her blue eyes for a moment before he leaned down hesitantly and gently kissed her.

Her lips were as soft and smooth as he had imagined, although his imagination didn't really do her justice. She wrapped her arms around his neck, happily kissing him back as she pressed her body to his. Kira took that as a good sign and placed his hands on her hips, deepening the kiss. How long they kissed, they couldn't have said but they did break apart when the oh too familiar sound of a camera and a flash distracted them. They looked to the door, to see Art blocking the way with the guilty camera in her hand and a wide grin on her face.

"It is about goddamn time! Geez! I was about to think the two of you were going to die virgins!" Lacus colored slightly while Kira was redder than the Justice. He glared at her.

"Give me the camera Art." She waved it carelessly.

"Why? It's such good blackmail material!" She scampered away before Kira could come after her. He sighed, leaning once more into the rail, the sun setting behind them. Lacus just smiled and relaxed against him. He brought up a hand and wrapped it possessively around her waist, pulling her closer.

And that's that. Well, at least I got Kira and Lacus together eh? Oh and about that note, (1) with Lacus' comment? I thought that it was a bit out of character so I'm apologizing but the moment was too much to pass up! And she is right, Art should have beat the shit out of Cagalli for that comment, I would have but I'm also unnecessarily violent so…yeah. This is just a bit of a filler chapter anyway. Oh, and there used to be lyrics here but since is being all special I've finally gotten around to taking them down. The song was called Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon. It really is a good song and the way I edited it, it fitted the wholeKira/Lacus really well. Well, why are you still reading? Review already!