Partially Awake
Chapter 8: Drastic

Notes: Apologies for taking so long to post this chapter. I started college just a few weeks after Christmas so it's been keeping me somewhat distracted from writing. Here's a slightly longer chapter that I hope will make up for the wait. )

"Maybe we should do something completely different."

Yzak groaned, sensing that Shiho was trying to propose yet another idea. He shifted his bag to his other shoulder and wondered if he should try ignoring her. Then he came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be any use, if she had an idea it would benefit both of them if he would listen to it. After all, it wasn't like they had anything in mind.

"What?" he asked.

Shiho shrugged.

"I don't know… dress in drag? Start proclaiming our love for old socks and yellow plastic ducks?"

Yzak wanted to hit himself with something hard. There was no chance of doing that though, any moment his mother would arrive to pick them up. After all the craziness that defined the past week, Yzak definitely did not feel like giving his mother the impression that he was a masochist after already being labeled as a two-timer.

"Or maybe not," Shiho went on. She was sitting on the steps outside her apartment building, with a bag placed on the step behind her that acted as support for her back. "Well, perhaps we don't need to do that much. There's still time left and at least my parents won't be coming right away. Leaves more time to deal with your mom when she's by herself and more impressionable."

Yzak laughed dryly.

"My mother impressionable?" he said. "You do know that we're engaged because my mother is anything but impressionable and doesn't change her mind easily?"

Resting her head against her drawn up knees, Shiho sighed and gave Yzak a tired look.

"So what do you suggest, we stay engaged and get married in four days?"

Before Yzak could answer that, he spotted a black limousine turning around the corner and heading towards them. Standing up a little straighter, he gestured lightly towards the car so that she would notice as well. Once she did, she jumped up on her feet and brushed the dirt off her clothes quickly. The limousine pulled up on their side of the street and both Ezaria and Kevin came out at the same time.

"Ah, I hope you haven't been waiting too long, there was a bit of a traffic jam," Ezaria apologized.

Yzak and Shiho said little as they were showered with light kisses on their cheeks and did not even have the time to react to Kevin snatching their bags out of their hands. Without as much as a greeting or a word he carried their luggage to the back of the car.

Ezaria suddenly clapped her hands together and giggled, resembling a young schoolgirl despite her age. Her giddiness caused Yzak to feel alarmed, he had seen this kind of behavior before and it was only when Ezaria was extremely happy about something. It usually ended with Yzak vowing to run away and live in an abandoned colony like a hermit and never wanting to face society again.

"Before we leave, I have a surprise for you," Ezaria said secretively.

Yzak swallowed. He could see that Shiho was monitoring his behavior and was most likely puzzled by it. At the moment he did not care, his mind kept flashing back to an incident in eight grade. Coming to the school dance as the only guy in a light green jacket was not exactly fun when everyone else wore black or white, especially when the reason for wearing green was because Ezaria thought that it brought out the blue in his eyes.

"What kind of surprise?" Shiho wondered.

"Oh, it wouldn't be a surprise now if I told you right away," Ezaria laughed. "Come along now, there's not that much time before the shuttle leaves."

Yzak moved towards the car but to his surprise Ezaria took Shiho's hand and lead her into the car first. She then entered herself and started to chat with Shiho, paying no attention to Yzak. Yzak got in shortly afterwards, mildly surprised by his mother's lace of attention towards him. The door was shut by Kevin when he was barely inside and Yzak felt his heart leap seeing as if Kevin had closed it a second earlier then he would have risked losing a foot and a few fingers. The latter went back to the driver's seat and started the car without saying anything and inwardly Yzak wondered if Kevin's lack of words and consideration for people other than Ezaria was because of severe paranoia or just a natural animosity that he had been born with.

"Oh, it's going to be fabulous!" Ezaria exclaimed as Kevin started the car. "You two are going to be so happy to see it!"

What "it" was she did not say but for the rest of the car ride Ezaria pretty much said the same things over and over again, only using slightly different words each time. Yzak only listened half heartedly and instead kept track of where they were going. They had left the blocks usually occupied by ZAFT officers or employees of the Supreme Council and were heading into a slightly upper class area. There were no small houses here, all the buildings were tall, newly built skyscrapers. Yzak had preferred to stay in his old apartment even when he was promoted by he knew that many of those in high positions lived in this neighborhood.

Another piece of the puzzle fell onto its place when Kevin parked the limousine in front a tall white building.

"Ah, here we are!" Ezaria chirped. "Let's go!"

She practically leaped out of the car and skipped all the way to the entrance. Shiho looked at Yzak who just shrugged, having no idea what Ezaria had in mind. They both got out of the car and hesitantly walked over to the entrance. A security guard was standing there, holding up the door for Ezaria.

Life as a security guard at an apartment building had to be boring, it was all about standing there and looking intimidating and stiff. No one would actually attempt to break into an expensive building using the front door. To think of it Kevin would fit perfectly if Ezaria ever fired him.

Speaking of the devil, Kevin was already two steps behind him and Yzak quickened his pace in order to put more distance between them.

"Top floor," Ezaria said as they all squeezed into the elevator.

The ride up felt awfully slow. Yzak and Shiho were exchanging worried looks behind Ezaria's back. The latter was humming cheerfully in a way that fitted a psychotic sociopath more than an enthusiastic mother. When the elevator finally reached the top floor, the doors opened the reveal a short corridor with large windows that let the sunlight in. The corridor only led to one door. The door was large, grand and expensive with a small, metal plate sign. Yzak squinted his eyes, trying to see the name on the sign but the sign was blank.

"Here we are at last," Ezaria said in a sing song voice. "Now, who wants to do the honor?"

Ezaria turned around and took something out of her pockets. Yzak's strangest but first thought was that it was a gun but he found himself sighing in relief when she pulled out a set of keys. Ezaria waved them in front of him.

"Go ahead, Yzak," Shiho urged, taking a step backwards as if intending to use him as a shield in case there was something dangerous behind the door. Yzak took the keys and glared at Shiho once Ezaria had turned away. He walked past his mother and towards the enormous door at the end of the corridor.

His heart pounding a little faster, Yzak scolded himself for feeling nervous about as simply thing as opening a door. It was a door, nothing else. There was absolutely not going to be a monster behind it waiting to eat him or something like that. This was something his mother had cooked up so there was no reason to be afraid. Had it been Dearka, Yzak would have felt completely right in believing that there was a monster behind the door.

Taking a deep breath, Yzak pushed the key into the lock, turned it and opened the door.

For once things were less awful than Yzak expected. Behind the door was no monster or anything dreadful. It was an apartment with large open rooms and wide windows. The ceiling and the walls had been painted white, contrasting greatly with the black and red furniture.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Ezaria said as she entered the apartment. "I had it done in just a week since the wedding isn't that far away. They finished it just yesterday!"

Yzak walked further into the apartment, glancing at the expensive paintings and photographs hanging on the wall. The living room was large enough to fit in Yzak's entire apartment. Two red couches were placed in the middle of it and in front of a fireplace. Even from where Yzak stood he could look out the windows and see that he had a perfect panorama view of half the city. Between the living room and the kitchen, a round staircase led up to a loft.

"Call it my wedding present," Ezaria went on. "I figured that after you two get married you can't stay in those ZAFT sponsored apartments anymore. The master bedroom is up those stairs and there are two more bedrooms down here. You two can decide on what to do with the two empty rooms once you get settled. Make it a guestroom, an office, a nursery… well, whatever you'd like."

Yzak nodded absent mindedly. Ezaria walked over to him and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Well, what do you think?"

Yzak shrugged.

"It's good, thank you, mother."

Still standing behind Yzak was Shiho. Although she kept a straight face, there was something in her eyes that revealed that this was absolutely not good.

Taking the space shuttle was probably one of the most relaxing things one could do. The seats were large and comfortable and since everyone had to have their own there was never anyone trying to squeeze into a full shuttle. But actually being in space was what Yzak liked most. The pitch black with small stars spread everywhere. It all depending on which route the shuttle took but sometimes it was possible to see the clear, blue oceans of Earth.

Everyone was being completely quiet for once. There was something about looking at space that made people just stare and not want to talk anymore. Ezaria and Kevin were sitting two rows in front of Yzak and he felt oddly grateful that there was a bit of distance between him and them. Shiho was sitting next to him, staring out the window. Yzak looked at her and without peering and looking at her directly he tried to figure out what she was thinking. She had not said much since they had met up with his mother earlier that morning. In fact, she had hardly said anything at all.

"You okay?" he whispered, leaning closer to her as she did.

Shiho jumped in her seat, slightly startled. Their eyes met in the reflection of the glass and Yzak could see how she put on a faint smile before turning her head towards him.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

Yzak struggled with coming up with a valid and truthful answer for that question.

"Have you been to Martius Two before?" he asked instead.

Luckily for him Shiho went along with his question rather than dwell on his previous one.

"Just Martius One," she answered. "What's it like there?"

"The same as Martius One, only smaller and less stressful. My mother chose to build her mansion there because it's close to both Martius and Aprilius One but she had an apartment there as well when she was in the council."

"Ah… I see."

With the conversation coming to an end, Shiho went back to looking out the window. Martius Two soon came into view. Only moments later the silence in the shuttle was interrupted by the announcement from the pilot. People gathered their things and after a smooth landing they rushed to get off the shuttle. Yzak unbuckled his belt and offered his hand to Shiho as she stood up.

She had a look of surprise when she saw it but took his hand and allowed him to help her up.

By the time they had exited the shuttle Ezaria and Kevin were already outside waiting for them on the platform. Kevin was looking more rigid than ever, constantly looking around as he was expecting someone to run out of the crowd and pull out a gun. Yzak sighed and walked over to his mother, who as usual was never bothered by this.

"It's good to be home again!" Ezaria exclaimed happily.

Yzak raised his eyebrow a little. His mother used to spend more time at Aprilius One and her apartment there than anywhere else. Before that they had mostly lived in Martius One, which was where Yzak had lived his first twelve years. It was only after her sentence of house arrest that she had spent more than a week at the mansion in Martius Two. Of course, the fact that it was a mansion that could house over forty people at once could have something to do why she was so eager to come back.

A limousine pulled up next to the platform, similar to the one they had left behind in Aprilius One. Kevin opened the car door before the driver had the time to jump out and exchanged a few words before he turned to Ezaria and nodded. Assuming that it was okay to get into the car, Yzak opened the door to the back seat and held it open for Ezaria and Shiho to get in. Both ladies got into the car and Yzak was about to get in as well when he felt a heavy and large hand grasp his shoulder. A chill running down Yzak's spine, he slowly turned his head and saw Kevin towering over him.

"This is my job, Mr Jule," he informed possessively.

Yzak swallowed and nodded quickly before jumping into the car.

It was a thirty minute car ride to the mansion and the moment Yzak saw them approaching the grounds he felt tremendous relief. Kevin was staring suspiciously again and Yzak promised to himself that as soon as this whole ordeal was over he would speak to his mother. Perhaps Ezaria would convince Kevin that her son was not a security risk.

Hardly a second after the car stopped in front of the main house the car door was pulled open by a man in a dark suit and sunglasses. Men in similar clothes swarmed around the car, carrying out the luggage and helping Ezaria and Shiho out. Yzak stuck his hands in his pockets nervously upon realizing that those men were the security guards stationed around the grounds. As if one Kevin was not enough, here was another hundred.

While they all flocked around Ezaria, which she seemed to appreciate a lot, Yzak turned around and grabbed Shiho's arm. Without an explanation he pulled her away from the crowd and into the house. Nearly stumbling through the doorstep because of the slight resistance from Shiho's side, it took Yzak a good ten minutes to find a place that where there were no security guards or maids. Either it was the return of the mistress of the house or the upcoming wedding but the house seemed to be full of people. Finally Yzak opened a door, went inside with Shiho and closed the door after himself. It was only after he turned on the lights that he discovered that it was a small closet used to store the cleaning appliances used by the maids but at the moment he did not care.

"There's something very wrong with that man," Yzak muttered as he leaned against the wall.

"I think there's something very wrong about you," Shiho retorted. "Why did you pull me in here?"

Yzak glared at her.

"I'm talking about Kevin! He follows my mother around like a fricking… I don't know what! And he looks at me strangely!"

Shiho crossed her arms.

"I see… so there's something strange because he's looking at you and because he follows your mother around. The fact that it's what he's paid to do has nothing to do with it."

"There's something very wrong about him!" Yzak nearly shrieked. "I just know it!"

"Relax, okay? We got bigger things to worry about than you not liking your mother's bodyguard!"

She sighed and moved towards the door but the moment she touched the handle Yzak immediately flew up and stopped her by putting his hand over his.

"Where do you think you're going!" Yzak snapped.

"Considering what happened that time your mother came by my apartment, I really don't think it would look good if she found the two of us together in a closet."

Yzak's face paled and he was out of there in the blink of an eye. Sighing to herself, Shiho followed him out. Once she had closed the door behind her, she took a look at her surroundings for the first time. Even though they were standing in just an ordinary corridor, it was still lavishly decorated. Thin, white curtains lined the windows and various paintings with gold frames hung at the walls. At every second window sill stood a simple, yet somehow expensive looking, vase with fresh summer flowers.

"So… this is where your mother lives…" Shiho started, eyes searching for Yzak.

She found him standing by one of the windows, half leaning against the wall. His eyes were slightly narrowed, as if he was staring intensely at something out the window.

"Yeah," he murmured absent mindedly.

"This house is huge."

"Uh huh."

"Do you come here often?"

"Uh huh."

Shiho sighed again and stuck her hands in her pockets as she walked towards Yzak. He stood there as he had before, not even noticing that she had moved next to him. Shiho slapped his shoulder lightly.

"You're not listening to me, what's with you?"

Before Yzak had the chance to answer or even react, Shiho turned her head and looked out the window. Standing there, she had a perfect view of the driveway, where Ezaria and Kevin were still standing and talking to the other bodyguards. Resisting a third sigh in less than five minutes, Shiho just turned away from the window and snuck her arm around Yzak's, dragging him with her as she walked away.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Yzak shrieked, struggling to get back to the window.

"You are going to give me a tour," Shiho answered calmly, continuing to pull Yzak with her as she went down the stairs.

"You give yourself a freaking tour," Yzak muttered angrily. "Why the hell do you want one anyway?"

"I don't, it's just that giving a tour is the polite thing to do when one arrives at your house for the first time." Shiho smiled and stopped right in the middle of the stairs as she turned to face Yzak. "Frankly, you're just being overly paranoid about the whole thing. Paranoid, border lining the point of being a little boy who is jealous of anyone his mommy talks to. So, you are going to tell me what a lovely garden and park this house has and most importantly you are going to leave your mother and Kevin alone."

Yzak stared at her with a half open mouth, clearly shocked at what she had said. Shiho's only response was to smile wider and in time Yzak's shocked expression was replaced by one of anger. He took her by her hand, making sure to grip it very hard, and trotted down the stairs without a word. Despite feeling a twinge of pain in her hand, Shiho still smiled.

"See, I knew you could be a good boy."

"Shut up," Yzak muttered, stepping onto the ground floor and leading Shiho through what seemed like a labyrinth of corridors.

After a while they reached a set of glass doors and as Yzak pushed them open they were back outside again, only this time on the other side of the house. Before them was a large outdoor patio with various chairs and tables spread all over. As they stepped outside, Shiho could see a swimming pool to their left and to her right was a small fountain surrounded by flowers. But the patio was hardly eye-catching compared to the view.

The further outside they walked, the more Shiho could see a large view over wide green fields and the glittering lake in the distance. From where they stood they had an almost complete view of all of the grounds that belonged to the manor. The patio and the house itself was built on top of a small hill and down below was an even larger garden filled with flowers, exotic trees, fountains and in the middle of it all, a gazebo.

"Wow," Shiho breathed, finding it difficult to take it all in.

Despite her own upbringing and her parents' wealth, she had never seen anything so grand as Ezaria's manor and its grounds.

"Yeah, well there you have it," Yzak muttered, letting go of her hand. "Are we done now?"

"No way we're heading back inside now," Shiho said, still taken by the view. "Can we get down to the garden from here?"

"Why would you want to go there?" Yzak frowned.

"Because I want to… and because I want to make sure you won't run to the nearest window to spy on your mother."

Not knowing whether to yell at her or just roll his eyes, Yzak oddly settled for his third choice which was to lead her down a set of stairs leading from the patio to the grounds below. The two of them walked quietly into the garden, Shiho admiring it and Yzak dragging his feet as he followed her.

"It looks amazing," Shiho whispered after some time.

"It's just a bunch of plants and statues," Yzak retorted.

Shiho gave him an annoyed look, but returned quickly to her admiration of the garden. They walked around in silence, stopping occasionally when Shiho wanted to look at something closer. After a while they arrived at the center of the garden and stepped into the gazebo.

"Stopping for rest already?" Yzak sneered as he watched Shiho sit down on a bench.

"I figured it was for your sake…" Shiho replied. "Being a cranky old man with grey hair and all."

Yzak made a mental note to demote Shiho for that comment.

"It's silver," he muttered with repressed anger and sat down next to her.

"Same thing, different name."

"Like you and soon-to-be-fired-from-ZAFT?"

"Haha, very funny."

"Ah, there you are!"

Both Yzak and Shiho turned their heads at the exact same time and saw Ezaria coming towards them from the main house, still with Kevin by her side. Yzak's eyes narrowed and he felt his body tense as if something dangerous was approaching him. Through those thick sunglasses, he knew that Kevin was staring at him and he retaliated with a glare.

Then, suddenly he felt the warmth of Shiho's hand on his. The scowl on his face disappeared and he turned to look at her instead.

Shiho neither looked at him nor said anything. She just sat there until Ezaria came into the garden, by then she rose to greet her and left Yzak sitting on the bench.

"I've been looking all over for you," Ezaria said, although in reality she probably meant that she had dispatched servants here and there to look for them. "Dinner will be served soon, I bet you two are absolutely famished. Let's go back to the house."

The last sentence being a decision not to be question, she turned around and started to walk back the same way she had come from. Shiho looked at Yzak over her shoulder, made a quick gesture for him to get up and then followed.

Yzak watched her go. There was a slight tingling sensation on his hand where she had put hers. Dismissing it all, he got up and left the gazebo.

"I've spoken to the caterer, he'll be here tomorrow making a sample menu and we'll just go over everything and make sure everything is set. At two o'clock we'll have another fitting for the dress and then…"

Yzak slowly stirred his soup with the spoon, the sound of his mother's voice fading away to be replaced with an odd fascination with the soup. Spinach soup. It had been his favorite soup when he was little, for some reason. Nowadays he liked to blame it on the belief that his taste buds had not been completely developed back then.

"The florist will be here the day after tomorrow…"

More wedding talk.

Yzak looked up and watched his mother. She had gone on and on about the wedding ever since they had gotten back to the house, speaking of arrangements that Yzak had never heard of and things that needed to be done. Ezaria had told Shiho to sit next to her so that they could discuss everything thoroughly but as far as Yzak could tell Shiho was hardly listening either. The only reason why Ezaria did not notice it was because Shiho was good at nodding occasionally at the exact right time.

"…of course, your parents will arrive tomorrow as well…"

How long was this going to go on?

They were only a few days away from the wedding, something had to be done soon. Yzak's mind flashed back to earlier that morning and remembered how it seemed like even Shiho had run out of ideas.

"…oh, by the way…"

He looked up at her again.

She was sitting there, eating and pretending to listen.

What was going on in her head? What was she really thinking of?

"I'm not that conservative but there are a few… things that I would like to keep right. Therefore, I would appreciate that while under my roof, that you two completely restrain yourselves from having sex until after the wedding."

Ezaria wiped the corners of her mouth gently with her napkin. As she put it down, she definitely did not notice how both Yzak and Shiho were sitting completely still as if frozen by time. She did not notice how the color had drained from their faces or how the tension in the room was so thick that it would be a challenge even for a chainsaw. What she did notice, however, was that they had stopped eating.

"Oh, are you done with the appetizers?" she asked but did not expect an answer. "Why didn't you say so, I'll have the maids bring in the main course."

When he checked his email, there was a new message from Dearka waiting there.

Hey Yzak,
How is it going?
My shuttle arrives at Martius Two at 12:45 tomorrow.
/Dearka
PS: Are you and Shiho still sharing beds?

Yzak wrote "Go to hell." as a reply, which was really his own personal way of saying "Okay, I'll be there.".

Once the computer was off, the sound of its fan gone, it felt odd to be alone with the silence. Despite being in what was supposed to be his bedroom, Yzak did not feel quite at home. He had spent little time in the manor the past few years and this bedroom, like the rest of the house, was more of a reflection of his mother's tastes and likes than his.

Not bothering to hide his yawn, Yzak turned off the main lights in the room. It had been a long day and he deserved to get a good night's rest. Slipping underneath the covers was pure bliss but just as Yzak was about to turn off the last lamp there was an abrupt knocking on the door. Letting out a mix of a groan and sigh, Yzak dragged himself out of bed and to the door. As he opened it, he was fully prepared to yell at whoever it was who dared to disturb him.

Had Shiho not slipped through the door so quickly and almost knocked him away on her way in, he just might have been able to do that. She came in without saying anything, still dressed in her normal clothes.

"What are you doing here?" Yzak hissed, closing the door after her. "It's late!"

Shiho did not answer, instead she just crossed her arms and looked around nervously. Despite the interruption, Yzak felt oddly curious about her behavior rather than feeling annoyed.

"What's wrong?"

Shiho's eyes, widened, stopped looking around the room and turned to him directly instead.

"What's wrong?" she repeated, like he had committed some terrible offence by not knowing what she was thinking about. "This whole thing, that's what's wrong!"

"And you're starting to sound like a broken record," Yzak replied, crossing his arms as well. "I already know this."

"Well, apparently we're the only ones who do!" Shiho snapped, raising her voice as she spoke. "Were you not there with me at dinner, listening to your mother going on and on and on about this wedding? The caterer, the florist… everything! And then…"

She buried her face in her hands like she was afraid of even thinking about what Ezaria had said at dinner. Frankly, with the memory of it all coming to mind, so was Yzak.

"Well, she…" he started but could not come up with a good way to finish the sentence. But if he had to be honest, he did not think that there was any explanation in the world that could make things more awkward than they already were.

"This has to stop," Shiho said decisively. "We can't let this go on anymore, I'd rather…"

"Rather what?" Yzak asked. "It's not like any of your plans have worked before. I'll let you know that my face still hurts from being punched!"

"You wouldn't have been if you hadn't forced this thing on me in the first place!" Shiho retorted, bringing her left hand up and showing him the engagement ring, which was still on her finger after all this time. "God, you're so easily manipulated by your mother! Speaking of which, what was with the 'yes, mother', 'thank you, mother' deal this morning! She got us an apartment… to live in!"

"It could have been a lot worse!" Yzak shouted back, feeling the tints of anger upon the mention of his mother.

"She mentioned a NURSERY! That means she expects children… from us! As in you and me having kids together!"

"That's what a mother would expect when her son gets married!"

"Yzak! We're not getting married!"

"I know that!"

Shiho stepped back upon hearing Yzak screaming those words. The conversation had started with her being the one who was upset, yet Yzak could feel his cheeks growing warm and how his heart pounded faster. The beating of his heart was everything that he could hear, because Shiho did not say anything. For a while she stood there with such an infuriating look that matched Yzak's own very well. Then she shook her head and threw up her arms as if admitting defeat.

"Whatever, just forget about it."

Turning away quickly, Shiho ran to the door as quickly as she had come in. Within the blink of an eye the door was open and she was out of sight. Yzak did not know whether to feel relieved that he was finally alone or to feel anger and punch a wall for a reason that he could not identify.

Luckily, he never had to make a choice. Hardly three seconds after Shiho had left, she came back inside again, rushing in and turning around to quickly close the door after her. A slower person would think that she had not been gone, if not for the sudden terrified expression on her face and the heavy breathing like she had just seen something awful.

"What are you doing?" Yzak questioned, closing the distance between them.

When Shiho just pointed at the door with a shaking finger, Yzak rolled his eyes.

"What the hell is it now…" he muttered and opened the door.

He stepped outside and noticed nothing unusual. That was, until he happened to turn to his left and came face to face with the broad, six feet six tall man who was his current object of dislike. Yzak jumped back slightly and nearly fell back into the door, while Kevin did not even need to adjust his sunglasses.

"Is everything alright, Mr Jule?" he asked in the same dull, booming voice.

"What are you doing outside my room!" Yzak questioned aggressively.

"My job is to ensure your mother's safety," Kevin replied stoically.

"You are aware of the fact that my mother's room is on the other side of the house?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you're standing here?"

"Yes, sir."

Yzak opened his mouth to blurt out some sort of witty insult or order but at that moment something occurred to him. The little obscure clues he had were enough for him to realize what was going on. Rather than to start a verbal fight with Kevin, Yzak bit his tongue and stepped back into the room. He slammed the door shut without a word, causing Shiho to jump from where she stood, having hidden herself behind the door to not be seen by Kevin.

The two of them stared at each other for a while, before Yzak broke the silence.

"Did he see you before when you went out?" he asked quietly.

"I didn't see him when I came here," Shiho answered. "He must have come afterwards but I'm pretty sure that I managed to come back inside before he saw me. Why is he standing outside your door?"

Yzak took a deep breath.

"I think my mother told Kevin to stand outside my room to make sure we don't sleep with each other until the wedding."

There was silence. Then only a whisper.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

"I wish."

Shiho ran her hands through her hair.

"No way…"

"It makes sense," Yzak explained. "Kevin doesn't give a crap about me, the only reason why he'd be standing guard outside my door is if my mother told him."

Still looking like she was in complete shock, Shiho walked away from the door and over to Yzak's desk, where she remained standing only because she was able to support herself by placing her hands on her table. Yzak took a few steps to follow her.

"What a bi…" Shiho started but upon using those words she noticed that Yzak was glaring at her rather intensely. She stopped in the middle of the sentence and sighed. "Oh, come on… if I would pick someone to sleep with it would definitely not be you."

For some reason, the world became deep red for a few seconds before returning to normal. Yzak frowned.

"Why not?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes," he said abruptly.

Shiho blinked, slightly taken back by his question and change in demeanor. Deep inside Yzak was surprised as well, but he felt like he had to make her answer that question. He stared directly into her eyes from where he was standing and she stared back like it was some sort of competition.

He wasn't sure how long they stood there, unwilling to be the one to give in. But in the end it was Shiho who looked away and broke off their eye contact. She pretended to casually admire a painting hanging on the wall as she answered him.

"I don't sleep with anyone, so it wouldn't be you or anyone else for that matter. That's why."

"I see."

Yzak watched her stand there nervously and wait for him to say something else. But being to busy pondering on the meaning of her answer, he did not even notice it. A good five minutes passed in silence and then Shiho looked towards the door.

"I should go back to my room now."

"You have noticed that Kevin takes his job seriously, right? Do you really think he's going to leave this entire corridor unguarded even for a second?"

Shiho opened her mouth but in the end she did not say anything. For a while she just stood there, looking like she was thinking deeply about what to do. Then she started to pace back and forth. Yzak could not help but to feel slightly amused. It was not like pacing would help her get back to her room without being noticed.

"What are we going to do…" she murmured, more to herself than to Yzak.

"You'll just have to stay here then."

Shiho's eyes widened.

"Wh…what?"

Yzak shrugged. "You'll just have to stay here tonight. If you go out now then my mother's going to find out and you can expect a much worse speech in the morning over breakfast." He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down. "It's not like we'd do anything."

"Right."

"Right."

There was nothing else to do, the hallway was being watched by Kevin and his men and despite her ZAFT training Yzak doubted that Shiho could get through without being noticed. He lay down on the bed, hands casually tucked underneath the pillow as he looked up at the ceiling. It did not take long until his eyes drifted to Shiho, who was still standing by the bed and looking at it hesitantly.

"So... you're going to play golf with dad tomorrow?" she murmured with flushed cheeks, making it incredibly obvious that she was trying to change the subject.

"Yeah."

She responded with a small nod, then carefully lifted the covers and slid in between them. Yzak scooted to make room for her but despite that they were lying just a few inches apart. There was simply very little place for him to scoot. Shiho reached out her arm and turned off the one remaining lamp, leaving the room entirely dark. Yzak closed his eyes and almost shuddered at the thought of feeling the warmth of her body if she was just a little closer.

"Yzak, have you done it before...?"

He opened his eyes wide and swallowed, not expecting such a question. It was so sudden, even for her. His first instinct was to simply brush her off with a quick answer, but then again she had been rather open to him before. The nice but small part of him told him that he should at least return the favor.

"I have... a few times. Just one girl though. We were stationed on the same ship for a while. I hated everything about her, but she was beautiful. Couldn't stand her at all except for in bed... guess it was a love hate thing, or a lust hate thing. Anyway, she got transferred so it ended pretty quickly."

Shiho was quiet for a while. When she finally spoke, it was with a less than happy tone.

"That was a lovely story but I was actually asking if you had played golf before."

If one could pick out the most stupid moment of one's life, Yzak was pretty sure that he would pick this one.

"Oh."

Shiho shifted her position, lying on her side with her back facing him. Yzak nearly winced when he saw this, even he knew when he had said absolutely the wrong thing. For a moment he thought that it would have been better if she just snapped or yelled at him but all he was left with now was watching the faint silhouette of her back in the darkness. He wanted to say something but all words were stuck in a disarray in his mind.

Through the mattress he felt her shift slightly again, this time moving as far away from him as she could. She moved no more than a few inches but judging from the space between them Yzak knew that she was lying right next to the edge. At first he did not react at all, but as moments passed something build up inside of him and the distance between them seemed too great, too much.

Before he knew it, he had slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him.

Lying so close with her back pressed against his chest and his arm still around her, Yzak closed his eyes and in his mind asked himself what the hell he was doing. He could feel how tense her body had suddenly become and heard that for a few seconds she had stopped breathing. She was clearly uncomfortable and he knew that he should let go of her but for some reason his body refused to cooperate. It felt good… somehow, lying next to her and keeping her close.

"You'll wake me if you fall off the bed in the middle of the night," he muttered, trying to explain things to her and himself.

Shiho didn't say anything but after a while Yzak felt how she slowly relaxed until the point where she was starting to fall asleep. Yzak closed his eyes and half buried his face in her hair.

Just before he fell asleep, it occurred to him how nice and warm it felt to lie next to her.