Disclaimer: Gundam Seed belongs to Bandai, Sunrise, and not to me.

a/n: Well, first off, I'd like to wish y'all a happy new year. Though, yeah, it is kinda late. Well, whatever. I'll just shut up and you can read chapter twelve now.


Chapter 12: We meet again

December 20 CE 77 2: 10 pm

"This is the World lit. Classroom," Shiho said, pointing to the large brown door at the end of the hallway, which was currently closed. "And," she cocked her head to the direction of two white doors, "Those are the bathrooms."

She heard Yzak snort. "Well, duh. It's pretty obvious. There are signs that say 'Male' and 'Female'."

Shiho turned around. "Why are you so intent on pissing me off?" she said with barely concealed anger.

Yzak gave her a mock surprised look. "Am I pissing you off? So sorry, I didn't know."

"This is payback, isn't it?" the brown-haired teen said, realizing the truth. "You're doing this because of that coffee incident."

"Yeah, right," Yzak scoffed.

"That is so childish," Shiho added, a smile on her face. "You, a twenty-two year old, would actually do something like that?"

"I'm not doing anything," Yzak said angrily.

"That's the end of the tour," Shiho said, changing the topic. "You can go now, Joule."

The pale-skinned man rolled hi eyes, as if to say "Whatever", turned his back on her, and left.

"I am so glad that's over," Shiho muttered to herself. She was just about to walk away to the door leading to the outside of the building as well when she heard Yzak's voice.

"Great job, Joule, really great job," she heard him say as he walked down the hallway. She trailed behind him, while being careful not to be noticed.

"You express affection for a girl you like by pissing her off," he continued. "She obviously hates you to the ends of the earth."

Shiho stopped herself from gasping. Did he just say what I think he said?

The grey-haired man broke to a trot and went out the door, still muttering incoherent words. He was fast; Shiho couldn't catch up.

"You express affection for a girl you like by pissing her off."

Was he referring to her? Did he like her?

Nah, it must've been someone else, she thought. Yeah, that's right. It's someone else. Nothing to worry about. I'm still gonna win that bet.

Shiho didn't know just how wrong she was.


2: 15 pm

Dearka was walking down the street. He decided to actually get out of his cousin's apartment to go toMcDonalds. His stomach was craving only one thing: fast food.

He went in line and impatiently waited for his turn. Moments later, he was at the front of the line.

"What will you have, sir?"

Dearka thought that voice was familiar, or maybe I was just his imagination. Besides, he wanted food and he wanted it right away.

"Um, I'll have the quarter pounder, some large fries, and a coke," he said. He finally looked at the woman who was taking his order. "And extra pickles… Miriallia?"

Mirialla Haww was Dearka's girlfriend when they were in high school. But the former had to move to Orb with her family during their sophomore year, which also happened to be the year Yzak moved from Orb to the latter's school. They decided to end their relationship right before Milly left. Both of them weren't exactly keen on having a long-distance thing going on.

The other girl looked surprised as well. "Dearka? So it really is you."

"I never thought…" he trailed off, unable to say more.

"My shift's almost over," she said. "We can talk later. Do you want extra pickles on your burger?"

"Y-Yeah."

A quarter pounder and fries later, Dearka saw Mirialla coming to his table.

"I must be dreaming," he muttered.

"What was that?" she asked, sitting across Dearka.

"Er… nothing," the tan twenty-two year old said nervously. "So, uh, how are you? We haven't seen each other for years."

"I'm okay. How about you?"

"Same here," Dearka replied. He was just about to hold Miriallia's hand but she moved it away.

"What's wrong?" the blond-haired man asked. "Don't you want to get back together?"

The orange-haired girl shook her head. "I-,"

"Miriallia!" a guy with brown, curly hair called. "There you are." He sat next to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Who's that?" he said, when he caught Dearka's eye.

"Oh, that's Dearka Elsman, my friend in high school. Dearka, this is Tanner Johnson, my boyfriend."


December 24 CE 77 9: 02 pm

It was four days later. The Clyne garden was full of people that night. Mostly, the visitors were Siegel Clyne's acquaintances form work, but Cagalli and Athrun were there as well.

"He's not coming, is he?" Cagalli said to Lacus, who raised her eyebrow, wondering who "he" was.

"I was talking about Shawn. He's isn't coming, is he?" Cagalli repeated.

"I guess he's not," the pink-haired woman replied.

Just then, the two girls saw Athrun head towards them, two wine glasses in hand.

"I know you don't drink wine, Lacus," Athrun said. "So I just took two. And I really don't think Frost is coming."

Lacus glanced at the door leading to the mansion, hoping that Shawn would suddenly appear there. She really wanted Athun and him to settle their differences.

Or maybe she wanted something else.


9: 04 pm

Shiho was drinking a cup of hot cocoa. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth the blessed drink brought her.

Her moment of satisfaction was rudely interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Shiho's eyes snapped open. She put down the mug on the coffee table, walked to the door, and looked through the peephole.

She couldn't believe who it was. Yzak Joule.

She opened the door, none too gently.

"What do you want?"

"I called Dearka a while ago. Told him I was coming. Where is he?"

Shiho pointed to a brown door. "Your boyfriend's in there."

Yzak's face instantly contorted into that angry expression Shiho was starting to get used to. "He is not my boyfriend. He's a boy-friend. Those are two very different things."

"Sounds the same to me," Shiho answered with a shrug.

"This is payback for what I did a while ago, isn't it?" Yzak said.

"Nope," the brown-haired girl answered. "Sometimes it's just fun annoying people with problems in controlling their temper."

Yzak took a deep breath and counted from one to ten before he spoke. "I'll wait for Dearka here. I don't want to have to go into the pit you call his room."

"Whatever," Shiho said, grabbing her mug and sitting on the sofa. She turned on the TV.

Yzak sat beside her, his anger slowly disappearing. He looked around. This place isn't so bad, he thought. He saw a small Christmas tree in a corner, with some gifts under it. There were Christmas balls on the tree, and there was a star on top, which was lighted by a light bulb inside it.

Yzak took a glance at the girl beside him, who was flipping the channels with the remote, trying to find something good to watch. For a while the switching stopped to some kind of soap opera, where a couple was kissing. But then the channel changed to ESPN.

Shiho decided to stop there. There was a football game on.

She tried not to think about what she just saw in that soap opera. She didn't know why, she just didn't.

"Hey, Shiho," Yzak said. "I was wondering…" He inched his face closer to her cheek. He was just about to whisper "Where's your bathroom?" in her ear, when Shiho turned her head to look at the twenty-two year old. Their lips made contact for the first time.

Yzak slipped an arm around Shiho's waist, wanting her to get closer. The nineteen year-old tried to resist, but she found herself giving in to him as Yzak deepened the kiss.

They both fell on the sofa, and that was when Shiho realized what she was doing. She pushed Yzak away as hard as she could.

Her cheeks were a deep crimson. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she almost shouted.

"It was your fault you had to face me," Yzak retorted. "I was just gonna ask where your bathroom was."

"Oh, so you thought kissing would give you an answer?"

"No! It was just an accident, okay? Besides, you liked it."

"No, I didn't!"

"What is going in here?"

Yzak and Shiho turned to look at Dearka. "Nothing," they both muttered.

"I heard something about kissing," Dearka said, a smirk on his face, which irritated both Yzak and Shiho.

"No you didn't!" Shiho said quickly. "I said 'hissing'."

"Riiight," Dearka answered, unconvinced.

"Yup, that's what she said," Yzak spoke, playing along with Shiho. "Hissing."

"Oh, puh-leeze. Just say you kissed so we can get on with our lives."

"Dream on!" Yzak and Shiho said together.


9: 10 pm

Shawn looked at himself in the large mirror in the hotel room. He couldn't do anything about his hair, which was untidy, as usual. But he was dressed in a nice black tuxedo and a blue necktie. And his shoes were spotlessly clean and shiny.

He was, in one word, perfect.

When the brunette was satisfied with how he looked, he picked up his mobile phone from his bed and went out the door, closing it behind him.

After Shawn made his way to the elevator, and then to the hotel lobby, and then to his car, he got his car key form his pants pocket and started the engine.

From the rearview mirror, he saw that there was a black car following him. He wasn't alarmed, because he knew that that was his bodyguard driving.

But then he noticed that there was another black car following the first one. It was trying to overtake the other car.

Shawn picked up his phone and dialed the number of his bodyguard's phone.

"What is it, sir?"

"Watch out for that black car, Rufus," he warned. "It's tailing us."

"Yes, sir."

Suddenly, another black car suddenly stopped in front of him, blocking Shawn's path. The other one blocked Rufus's car as well.

Shawn got out of his convertible. Rufus and his fellow bodyguards went out as well.

Without warning, men in black went filing out of the two black cars, heading towards the amethyst-eyed young man.

Shawn clenched his fists. Adrenaline was rushing in him. He ran to the nearest henchman and gave him an uppercut. The man fell, unconscious.

Dodge, kick, dodge, punch. Dodge again. He landed a hard kick on another man's stomach.

Most of the henchmen were down, thanks to Shawn's guards.

Suddenly, a gunshot was heard.

Then a scream.

Another gunshot.

And Shawn's vision turned black.


a/n: Another cliffie! Sorry, I just couldn't resist. And I apologize for the crappy fight scenes. Um... sayonara for now!

P. S. : The official pairings in this fic are KiraLacus, AthrunCagalli, YzakShiho, and DearkaMiriallia. But I'm pretty sure you already know that! Well, I'm really out of here.