A/N: Here goes the next chapter. Hope you will like it. Please review for me. I'm horribly depressed waiting for your reviews.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own GS/GSD.
… His emerald eyes, his midnight blue hair, his toothy grins went into her dreams softly.
The next morning, when the birds were singing on the tress, Cagalli woke up. She sat up with difficulty and frowned because her wound griped. She bit her lower lip to prevent the groan escaping from her mouth and held the wound.
"What time is it?" She muttered and looked at the clock on the wall, "What? Already 11:00 a.m? Did I sleep that much?" She was shocked at the time. Her stomach growled loudly asking for support.
"Ah yeah, I haven't eaten anything for the past four days." Cagalli said and tried to stand up. She slowly walked toward the door and opened it, then got out without making a sound. But to her surprise, she bumped into someone and fell back, her bottom landed on the ground painfully. But the worse thing was, her wound on the shoulder. The clash made her wound started to bleed again, and she felt like someone was hitting her wounded shoulder with a hammer.
"Oww…" She groaned in pain holding the wound tightly.
"Oh Cagalli, I'm really sorry. Are you okay?" The one she bumped into was apologizing sincerely. The voice was too familiar. Cagalli held her head up and her eyes widened in surprise:
"Oh, Princess." She gasped.
"Your wound is bleeding!" The pink haired girl covered her mouth with her hand. "Go back to your bed, I'll go and call the doctor right away!" She ordered running out before Cagalli could stop her.
"I wonder what she is doing here." She mumbled and tried to stand up, but she fell back down.
"Are you alright?" Asked a male voice. Then a brown haired boy steeped in. He gently held the blonde up and led her back to bed by his hand.
"Kira, what are you doing here?" Cagalli asked in confusion. Her amber orbs widened as she couldn't make it out why her brother was right outside the room.
"Just rest sis. Well, you stay here, I'll go after the Princess. Geez, why is she always acting as if she's not a real princess?" He muttered under his breath and left.
Five minutes later, they came back with a woman dressing in white. Se came near the bed and sat down:
"Let me take a look." And she slowly removed the bandages on Cagalli's wound. It was bleeding, but not very nastily. She nodded and told the patient:
"Relax; I'm going to heal it." Then she put her hand on Cagalli's shoulder and said some magic words. Her hand was shining brightly and Cagalli's wound slowly healed. But she was still feeling painful. After about ten seconds, the doctor removed her hand and said:
"Well, from now on, it has stopped bleeding. However, you will have to stay in bed for one more week before it completely healed. Don't exercise your shoulder unless you want it to be ripped off again." Then she walked out. Lacus went near Cagalli's bed and smiled:
"That's good Cagalli. You will only have to stay in bed for one more week."
"You think so? I will die of boredom." She pouted. But again, her stomach drew the attention of everyone to her. She bent down blushing and cursed the treacherous stomach.
"Heh heh, sis, looks like you are really hungry. Well, the maids are bringing you lunch." Kira laughed and gave his sister a tic of winking.
"Ah, that's right. You haven't eaten anything for four days." Lacus grinned toothily and went out: "Please bring her lunch in."
Almost immediately three maids brought a hearty meal in. Cagalli drooled as she looked at the food serving for her.
"Please make yourself comfortable. I'm leaving. We will go to the garden to pick some flowers for you. Uhm at about 1:00 pm, Mister Athrun will bring your tonic in. Please stay in bed, okay?" Lacus told the blonde before pulling Kira out.
"What? Zala will bring the tonic for me? But Princess, how about his duty?" Cagalli called after the Pink Princess, her voice was shaking a little. The girl turned back and grinned:
"Yeah, well, I want him to take good care of you, so he will be off until you completely recover. I will be okay, because Mister Kira is doing really well."
Cagalli opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out, because deep inside her heart, she wanted it to be. So she only nodded and ate her meal deliciously while the princess and her brother walked out. After having lunch, her eyelids became laden and soon she closed her eyes and went to sleep peacefully. (My, she was sleeping like a baby literally)
When she was sleeping, someone quietly opened the heavy door and came in. He stared at her and put a tray on the table, then slowly went out, not forgetting to take another glance at the sleeping beauty. When he was out of the room, some girl's voice called his name out loud:
"Hey Zala, what are you doing here?" Came a girl with a really thick cloak and a cowboy hat.
"Miss Hahnenfuss?" He turned around, eyes widening. "I never expect to meet you here. What a coincidence!" He exclaimed. Following the boyish looked girl was a tall boy with silver hair and icy eyes. He was wearing exactly the same as what Athrun was wearing. "Hello Yzak, long time no see."
"Hah, look who we have here. The prideful Red Knight now has become a bodyguard?" Yzak asked sarcastically. A smirk was appearing across his face.
"Look who's talking, aren't you Miss Hahnenfuss's bodyguard, the former Messenger of Duel?" Athrun shot back not being flinch a little bit while the other boy became tongue-tied.
"Oh Zala, you are the bodyguard of Pink Princess?" Asked the girl who was called Hahnenfuss. He nodded asked back:
"So… Are you visiting the Princess?"
"No, I'm just going hunting when my prey suddenly ran here, so I'm following it when I see you." The girl explained. "So… You two know each other? I have never heard Mister Yzak talk about you." She continued with curiosity.
"Ah, actually, we have studied with each other for about five years, but we have never been close friends." Athrun said while Yzak was trying to avoid the girl's inquisitive look. His face became red and hot, the rarest thing on the earth to be seen.
"Oh I see. Then I will be off now. Good luck. Ah, by the way, have you heard about the dancing ball at my mansion? I would be really glad if you come. Here, take this, the details are written inside. Please come with somebody, okay?" The girl said and pulled out a piece of paper with neat writing on it before leaving. Athrun held the paper and stood still looking at the two leaving figure, wondering what occasion it was. Then he opened the paper and saw the details of the ball:
On Friday the 18th of December, the Masquerade will be held at the Hahnenfuss's mansion at 8:00 pm. Every guest will have to wear a mask. The ball will have the dancing competition and some more interesting contests. For youngsters between 15 and 25 only.
He looked at the invitation carefully and sighed then put it into his pocket and walked to the garden. There, he found his best buddy and the Princess running around with laughter. The pink haired girl was picking up some flowers and scattered them all over Kira's head, while the brown haired boy laughed and ran around trying to avoid the petals. Suddenly, the girl slipped and lost her balance, but Kira quickly caught her by the back. They looked at each other blushing when they realized their posture. Then Kira slowly let go of the Princess and bowed his head down.
"Geez, so just as I have expected, they have developed feelings for each other." Athrun sighed mentally after watching the two being together. He turned around and walked back to his room, thinking: "Being a princess must be hard for her. She can never live with her real happiness, and Kira is extremely shy of girls, so maybe I should let them be together."
"Should I go to the masquerade? Let see, next Friday, isn't it? By then, Cagalli should have recovered. I wonder if…" But he shook his head furiously to snap the idea just popped into his head out. He didn't know he just said her first name in his mind unconsciously. After putting the paper on the table, he slowly went to her room through the door between the two rooms to find her bed empty. He blinked and blinked then got scared about the girl. He slammed the door after his back and ran out to look for her.
"Sheesh, where is she? Yesterday, she couldn't even sit up." He thought. Looked like he was caring about the bodyguard more than his Princess. When he arrived at a T-junction, he didn't know where to go when a golden head caught his attention. Someone was standing at the end of the corridor, leaning against the wall and gazing out through the huge palates. There were warm lights all over the white granite corridor making it the most romantic scene. The palace was on the sea-shore, the sun was setting slowly, making the sea looks like it was gold-inlaid and the sky blazing red. His heart was softened in front of the scene. He walked slowly toward the blonde, trying not to make any sounds that can ruin the moment. All of a sudden, the blonde turned back and gave a weak smile:
"It's like we are at the end of the world, right?"
He smiled back and stood next to her. Both of them were hoping the moment would last forever. The sky turned from blazing red to red persimmon, then to light pink and finally light purple. Only the horizon kept it flaming red color, and the sea was turning darker. But the part near the horizon was still silver-inlaid, and they could see some ships' silhouettes returning in the last piece of the sun and pink clouds. Athrun gulped and looked at the girl standing next to him.
"Isn't it worthy?" She asked not looking at him. Her beautiful amber eyes were still following the ships. The lights left were making those amber orbs more and more seductive. Athrun couldn't help looking away from those eyes. After about thirty seconds, she realized something strange and turned to him to catch him staring at her eyes. Immediately, he face turned red crimson, and in the late sunlight, she looked like Aphrodite the Goddess of Love and Beauty. They both stood still looking deep into each other's eyes.
"Cagalli…" Athrun mumbled under his breath, and she blushed deeper when her first name came out from his mouth.
"What is it?" She asked bending down.
"Will you… go to the dance at Miss Hahnenfuss's mansion next Friday with me?" He asked difficultly. In the late lights, she could see his face turning light pink.
"I… I don't know. Does the Princess know this?" She asked back hesitantly. But Athrun just shrugged lightly and said:
"I will ask her tonight. Please think about it."
"Uhm… If she gives us permission, I will go." She answered blushing deeper and deeper. Suddenly, her head felt dizzy and she lost her balance. But Athrun caught her right when she was about to fall down and she fell right on his firm chest.
"Are you okay?" He asked concerned, she just nodded and tried to stand on her own feet. But again, she fell down and again, he caught her just in time.
"Looks like you are tired. I'll bring you back to your room. Please stay in bed and rest, okay?" He suggested looking away.
"No… I… I can walk back myself." She protested stubbornly although she couldn't even stand straight. When Athrun heard so, he looked at the blonde in his arms, and then held her firmly with his right arm. He lifted his left hand up to touch her gentle chin, lifted it up to force her look into his eyes.
"Cagalli, please take care of your health. Remember you have to protect another one, so if you can't take care of yourself, who can you protect then? It's not like I'm ordering you to do that, I'm just begging you to stay in bed and take care of your injury until you completely recover, okay?" He said softly and sincerely, plus his enticing emerald orbs were absorbing her soul out. She became speechless and couldn't get her eyes away from those. Only if you could see her face at that time… Athrun gently picked her up in bridal style and walked back to her room, with her being as meek as a lamb. They didn't know that there were a boy and girl watching them giggling in a room facing the corridor…
To be continued.
A/N: So how's that? Ay, not as thrilling as I wanted it to be. Sheesh, I couldn't control my inspiration, so forgive me. The only thing I can say is in this fiction, there will be some more action scene. Please review and tell me how you feel about it and how you want it to be. Thank you very much.