"I thought he's a coordinator? How come he's not recovering yet?" Sister Marlene, 40, a nun, a servant of God said in a very anxious tone making the sign of the cross several times afterwards.
"Tell me what happened before he got sick." the town physician queried the nun, adjusting his round spectacles with his forefinger then taking a seat next to Kira's bed.
"Tell the doctor everything ma'am." Sister Marlene motioned to a woman in her early twenties wearing a mane of brown hair and the woman complied at her request.
"I am Murrue Ramius sir. I am Kira's governess. More of a sister to him though." she introduced then went on.
"Kira, I could say, is a perfectly healthy boy. He never did get sick. Well, except for a bout with flu when he was five. Nine days ago, Kira and I were out in the garden. He was picking lilies for me when he suddenly collapsed." said she in the same anxious tone as Sister Marlene's.
They all valued Kira at the orphanage. The boy is a very adorable kid. Loving and kind to his fellow orphans. They felt it was a grave thing that Kira got sick. Rarely did a coordinator get sick after all. His bout with influenza when he was five didn't even last for 72 hours.
"Did you notice anything unusual when you were in the garden? Signs of weakening perhaps? His breathing is at a steady pace and so is his heartbeat. But his body temperature is very high. He would have died if he were a Natural." the doctor stated after closing Kira's left eyelid after examining it with his penlight.
"I noticed nothing. He was all smiles and energetic. He just went out." replied the woman who was now by Kira's side wiping areas of his uncovered skin with a damp towel, in high hopes that Kira's fever will subside.
"In that case, I suggest that you take the boy to the city hospital. In Makati Medical Center. When you get there, find Dr. Ulen Hibiki. He's a specialist on coordinators. I fear that my skills have little help to this kid. Keep the boy hydrated at all times and the room well-ventilated. Make sure to check his temperature-if you can-every hour. A coordinator's physiology is very complex." remarked the blond doctor as he, for the second time, adjusted his spectacles.
"Is our Kira in a bad condition sir?" asked Sister Marlene who tightened the grip of the crucifix on her rosary.
"I'm afraid so Sis. But let's all have faith in God shall we?" the doctor suggested. He didn't fail to calm the spirits of the people around him. Smiling, he stood up and for the last time, adjusted his spectacles with his forefingers, and prepared to leave.
Ms. Ramius led the way for him.
"Mag-ingat po kayo. Pagpalain nawa kayo ng Poong Maykapal." she spoke. Take care. May the Lord God bless you.
The man smiled at him in return and replied "Pagpalain nawa kayo at ang aking pasyente ng Poong Maykapal. Mag-ingat din po kayo." May you and my patient be blessed by the Lord. Take care too.
"Salamat." Thank you.
"Salamat." Thank you.
Kira loaded an aluminum arrow on his recurve bow, given to him by Ms. Ramius as a parting gift, and aimed it on the little red circle dangling from a tree several meters away from him. It was actually an apple tied on a string. Kira couldn't afford the targets commonly used by professional archers. A haystack that he uses is unavailable too for it was in the orphanage's stable in the Philippines which was only a few thousand miles away from him so he opted for a cheaper substitute.
He steadied his aim in midair and concentrated on his target. A soft gust passed by, making the apple on the string sway leaving every calculation for the proper angle Kira made, useless. The apple became a moving target instead but served as a challenge for Kira. His aim followed each movement of the target. On the right pulse, he released the Kevlar string. After a wink, the apple was impaled by the arrow. Triumphant, Kira pulled a smile on his face and lowered his bow.
"WOW! You didn't tell me you're an archer!" Athrun shouted surprising Kira in the process. He was ostensibly watching Kira from a bench not ten meters away but the other boy didn't seem to notice his arrival at all.
"You didn't ask..." came the brunette's reply as he dashed towards the tree to retrieve his arrow.
"I had no idea." the blue-haired boy answered back still in awe by Kira's skill. Another fact added to his Kira encyclopedia.
"Sorry. I didn't hear you. I picked my arrow from the tree. Arrows are expensive. And besides, I only have one!" the brunette declared, chortling at the scant supply of arrows.
"Yzak will be very glad to meet you. He's an archer too. A good one." revealed Athrun.
Kira felt a mental slap when he heard the name "Yzak" but his face hid the scornful expression with a smile.
"Interesting. So…who is this Yzak anyway? Tell me something about him." Kira asked trying to know more about the person who humiliated him in front of other people on the very first day of classes.
"He's my classmate since preparatory."
"Is he your friend?" Kira asked idly while he took a seat on the ground probing his bowstring. 'The Kevlar's worn-out already. It needs replacement. The let-off was great at least.' Kita thought, too busy to pay attention to the person who was talking to him.
"No we absolutely are not." Athrun said. "We barely get along with each other. Our parents are close friends that's why I always get to see him. You know social circles and stuff? It's mostly for publicity purposes. They're getting alarmingly bigger as each year passes." continued he, joking on the subject of his social circles.
The phrase "social circles" did appear to have an effect on Kira.
'Social circles? I'm with the wrong person in terms of social circles. Yzak Jule…I really am with the wrong person.' Kira mentally muttered to himself.
'I am not on the same level with this person.' he added.
'Kira! Gising na!' his mind screamed to snap him out of his reflection. Kira! Wake up!
Reality has struck him again this time, straight on his face.
Kira always keeps it in mind that Athrun is a prominent member of the alta sociedad elite society/society of the elite It hinders him from delving deeper into Athrun's life as a person. Elite people tend to be snubs and mean to people of the lower bracket of society. They really can be annoying or if not, you'll feel awkward in their midst.
Athrun wasn't a snub nor was he mean but he really has a tendency to annoy Kira with his bad jokes. Kira on the other hand, has no right to worry about being out of place in the midst of elites. In the first place, he looks like one. Fairly tall for his age, tanned skin, good posture, wavy chocolate-brown hair. An air of confidence surrounds him just like his friend. And has an equally handsome face. What's more? He's intelligent. Very intelligent. Extremely intelligent. Has an advanced education. And…he's an excellent archer. Above all…no one can compare his amethyst eyes to anything else. Kira seems to have everything what elites of his age have. He just seems to be one.
But Kira is just a human being. He has his share of imperfections too.
Putting every negative thought aside, he decided that he should be a good person to his friend and to the people around him.
"When do I get the opportunity to meet…er…Yzak? Yes, Yzak Joule or Jule or whatever. I heard his name somewhere."
"Maybe on T.V. or in magazines. His mother is a high-ranking politician. His father heads a known multinational pharmaceutical company."
When Kira heard Athrun's statement, he felt the very urge to vomit.
"Kira are you okay? It looks like you're sick. I can bring you to the clinic if you want me to." a worried Athrun offered.
'if you want me to...'
"What? Oh...oh...I just got dizzy or something." Kira made an excuse but he actually was feeling bad. Bad indeed. His violet orbs are now sparkling under the sunlight and the perpetual smile was present on his face. Athrun couldn't help himself from getting bemused at the other guy's appearance. His friend was to him...angelic. The germs of friendship has infected him no doubt and the effects are pleasant, mild, invigorating to name a few.
The taller boy grabbed Kira's hand but what greeted him was the chill that sent shivers down his spine. Kira's temperature was unusually low. Athrun's intended to bring Kira to the city for ice cream but it changed when the coldness of Kira's body was perceived by his sense of touch.
'he grabbed my hand...'
"Do you drink tea?" he asked the youth who was still smiling at him.
"I do. But please not on a weather like this one. It's scorching." was Kira's reply while he was loosening his batik shirt to relieve himself from the heat.
Athrun wondered why Kira felt hot while his perception of his temperature was low and started to suspect that Kira was sick.
"You feel hot? Do you have fever Kira?" he asked raising an eyebrow, then touched Kira's forehead confirm his suspicions.
Voice weak Kira answered a lie. "No. I don't have fever. I think...I'm...going...to..." his voice trailed off as he lost his consciousness dropping his recurve bow whose Kevlar string snapped. Athrun's swift flexes allowed him to catch Kira in time.
Slowly…Oh so slowly…Kira opened his eyes. It seemed like a hundred years have passed since he last opened his eyes. His eyelids were very heavy forcing him to go back to sleep but he willed them to remain open for his retina to produce the images of his surroundings. He turned his head sideways and found Athrun seated on a chair beside his bed fast asleep.
Kira struggled a bit to sit up straight on the bed. Covering him was a woolen blanket colored in warm earthy tones. He noticed too that his batik shirt and jeans have been replaced with light cotton pajamas. Kira wondered if Athrun changed his clothes during his moments of unconsciousness. The bed that he was sitting on was a mahogany four-poster at first glance and the room as easily identified as Victorian era-inspired. Parallel to the bed were fiberglass doors slid open to permit the ingress of the night wind into the room.
The brunette was quite shocked when during his observation; he felt a hand take hold of his neck. With animalistic instincts kicking in, he quickly seized the hand's wrists with his mouth, sinking his teeth deep into the flesh, tightening the grip with his vice-like jaw with every second that passed by.
At the same moment, Athrun felt Kira's teeth sinking deeper. He felt pain too. Responding to the external stimuli applied on his hand, he tried to seize his hand back but Kira's jaw was firmly locked into his wrist. Thinking of ways to prevent his flesh from being torn apart, he screamed loudly; louder than he could have imagined.
Hearing Athrun scream, Kira immediately released the wrist from his jaw's grip, leaving a pattern of punctures on Athrun's pale skin possibly with his incisors. Then his eyes went up to see Athrun holding his bleeding wrist, face in an expression of fright.
"What did I do? Why did you scream?" he asked as if nothing happened.
Athrun couldn't believe that Kira didn't remember what he did even if it took place only a minute ago.
"You bit me! And it hurts!" barked Athrun back trying to look as miserable as possible to gain pity from the other boy.
"I'm so sorry. I had no idea of what I was doing," the brunette apologized.
"You had no idea? You had no idea that you bit a person? Well that's just great," said Athrun sounding a bit sarcastic.
Kira had no time to listen to what Athrun was saying. His main concern was his wrist that was now bleeding profusely. He raised Athrun's sleeve searching for the region where a pressure point was located. When he found it, he gently pressed it with his fingers and the bleeding gradually stopped.
"Where do you keep the first aid kit?" he asked as he placed the bleeding wrist in his mouth.
Athrun thought that Kira was going to bite him again so he tried to pull his hand away but couldn't because Kira's hand was already locked around it. Instead he was surprised when he sensed a pliable tongue come in contact with his arm. Kira was gently licking the blood that was seeping away from the wound. And it felt great as the tongue slithered around the wound licking blood away, cleaning the mess he created.
"Hey! Snap out of it. It tickles," demanded Athrun.
"Is it so? OK." and Kira stopped his ticklish actions which from a normal person's point of view was clearly not hygienic.
"Where do you keep the first aid kit?" Kira asked again this time, flashing his best smile ever.
'Damn! Why does he have to smile like that? He just makes himself look so…so…cute,' Athrun whispered.
"Did you say something? Because I can assure you that I really heard something," Kira suspected.
"Ah…No," denied the other boy, grinning.
"And you are not answering my question. Is there something wrong with my face Athrun?"
"Since you are not familiar with the nooks and corners of "my house" I'll take care of the first aid kit and again, there is nothing wrong with your face and I said nothing a while ago. Stay put here OK?" Athrun said in a commanding tone as he darted towards the bathroom to get the first aid kit.
As soon as Athrun left for the bathroom, Kira got out of the bed and explored the other parts of the room. A grandfather clock occupied a corner of the room. It read 2:45 A.M. indicating that both of them are awake on an unholy hour of the day. Aside from the grandfather clock and the bed, a cabinet also resides beside a huge wardrobe. The room was lightly furnished with just the needs of a typical college student like Athrun.
He then walked out to the balcony where the cotton pajamas offered a little protection from the chilly night air. The house was seated atop a hill where it overlooked the city from a distance of two or three miles based from Kira's approximation.
"Athrun must be a very happy person with all the wealth he has. If I had his money, I'd buy new clothes and books to my fellow orphans back in the Philippines. And I'll make sure Ms. Ramius' wedding will be a bash. And I'll renovate the whole orphanage."
Kira dreamed on and on about giving his fellow orphans a better future. Their future was always his main concern. His emotional attachment to them is a major driving force for him to bear the hardships in life. He'll always be an orphan and nobody can ever change that fact.
He thought that God can change his status but negated the positive effects of miracles. Kira always thought that miracles were reserved for bigger occasions. If he would ask for a miracle, he wouldn't ask God to find his real parents. It would be a total waste of miracles. Everything has its own purpose. The people who left him at the orphanage may have several reasons valid enough to answer his questions if ever they get to meet. Unfortunately, his interests in life lie somewhere else, and finding his real parents is not one of them. He's contented with his present life.
"Here sit down," Kira said as he opened the first aid kit and searched for a bottle of alcohol and a few balls of cotton.
"Why did you bit me Kira? Did I do anything wrong?" Athrun asked. Kira pulled the sleeve of the sweater up so he could examine the wound e had just made. Then, he proceeded in disinfecting the surrounding area of the wound. Dried blood and saliva disappeared. He didn't bother to answer the question hurled at him. He was shy and wanted to change the subject.
Athrun, who wanted clear answers, was not satisfied with the silence Kira replied. The other boy usually replied politely whenever he asked something.
'There must be a reason why he did that. And I'm sure that he's not a cannibal.' Athrun thought while watching Kira stain a cotton ball with povidone iodine. He admires the boy for many reasons. Like what he was doing to him at that juncture; tending his wound in the subtlest way possible.
The first night he and Kira met, he expected the brunette to be a know-nothing-'bout-the-world kind of person. But he was proven to be very wrong about his conclusions. Kira, to him, is a polished gem. A polished gem that he found in a dusty corner of his physics classroom. No one realized the value of that gem except he, and he doesn't want to lose it.
Kira applied an antibacterial liniment on Athrun's wound. The way Kira manages to fit in his life still troubles him though. The taller boy was worried that Kira might be overwhelmed with adjusting to his new surroundings. After all, Kira is a country boy and he knows only a little about how modern life works. Then he asked Kira his previous question again hoping that he would answer him.
No reply. Kira was getting irritated by Athrun's nagging and really wished that Athrun would just give up of asking monotonous questions. He hastened in bandaging the wound. 'Don't worry Athrun, I don't have rabies.' He thought of saying the sentence but refrained from doing so.
Kira finished dressing the wound without saying a thing. Athrun couldn't think of anything to persuade Kira into saying something. He helped Kira return the contents of the first aid back into its box so that he could talk to him freely once more.
He stood up and walked outside into the veranda, pulling down his sleeve to prevent the cold night air from touching his skin. Kira followed his trail and stopped beside him. He saw Athrun's gaze. It was a hundred thousand miles away.
"You're mad at me are you?" Kira finally said. There was a short pause and Kira expected it to lengthen but before he could speak again, Athrun replied:
"I'm not mad. Why would I be mad at you?"
"I know you are mad at me. A little silent treatment can do a great deal of annoyance to a person like you, I know. And you are mad at me. It's your fault anyway not mine." Kira insisted.
"You bit me!" shouted Athrun.
"Nobody holds my nape!" Kira snapped back immediately, tone serious. He seated himself on the veranda's marble railings.
Athrun was taken aback by what Kira revealed.
'Nobody holds my nape,'
'Is his nape made of gold?'
'No it isn't,'
'Then why doesn't he want anybody to touch his nape?'
Kira read Athrun's expression correctly as he was holding an internal debate. But he chose to remain silent and hear a question he expected to arrive.
"Why?"
"Because my nape is sensitive that's why I don't want anybody to touch it. One touches my nape if one tames and owns my heart."
"You're sounding a bit odd Kira. What do you mean by own? Do I have to buy your heart so that I can own it? So that I can hold your neck without having to worry of being bitten?" said Athrun, voice in sarcastic mode.
"Precisely! Next time you'll do that, I'll cut your wrists off." Kira warned threateningly.
Athrun knew that the other boy was just joking but he shifted uncomfortably from where he sat and let out a nervous laugh.
"Haha! I caught you! You're afraid aren't you?" Kira teased jumping out of his seat and continued: "But seriously, you don't hold my neck until you own me," he pointed out again.
"What will I do to own you?"
"I don't know."
"Give me a clue…."
"A clue? I'm clueless about it."
"Please…"
Athrun was a little desperate for his questions to be given proper answers so he jumped out of his seat too and made Kira face him by grabbing his shoulders and vigorously turning the other boy around. His desperation for a clue on how to own Kira's heart proved to be a little effective. For the first time their eyes chanced to be locked with each other. A terrible silence followed as if an angel passed through them. Emerald vigor met amethyst radiance.
Both cannot speak for some unknown reasons. Their eyes dug deeper into each other, soul-searching. Neither one of them wanted to break the eye contact. Not even Athrun who wasn't accustomed to staring into another person's face. He didn't feel awkward nor was he bothered by the thought that he may have offended Kira by what he did. He just wanted to see Kira's face for as long as time and opportunity would allow him to.
The brunette flung his arms around Athrun's shoulders. Athrun wanted the moment to last longer. He didn't know why Kira held on to him that way. It's as if some invisible people wanted to take him away that his arms entwined even tighter around his shoulders pulling his immaculate face closer to his snowy one. Kira leaned onto him pouring all his weight which he received effortlessly.
Kira needed to tell Athrun something but he couldn't decide whether to whisper it into the other boy's ear or say nothing at all. He, at last, decided to rest his head on Athrun's broad shoulder and whispered something inaudible. Athrun, not knowing what to do on those circumstances, wrapped his arms around Kira's waist and leaned his head on the boy's shoulders too.
"What is it Kira? Tell me what I need to know."
"Athrun…"
"Hmm?"
"Athrun…You are a good man. I hope you won't change."
"I won't Kira. I won't."