Yay! The reviews!
Lomiothiel-YzaknNicol fangirl- Who says he's ever going to find out? Lol...And yea, Athrun does seem a bit cheap at this point, but there's a reason why he did that. (hopefully it's a good one...lol)
Sakura Kuonji- Yes, it is pretty funny that they got presents for everyone except each other...of all things to forget...lol
Angel of Dreams- Yea, it is pretty funny that they forgot, and it's amusing to watch them get frustrated and nervous about finding the right gift! XD
Lilangel4u, witchesgirl, SeraphimEclipse, King Arthur6687, Kichi-chan, Anin, and Miss Akira- Yes, we all want to know what the presents are! Lol...hopefully I don't mess up your expectations...
Oh, and thanks also to mal, Miriallia Elthman, and DreamAnimeKitten (I think that's everyone...)
Thank you everyone!
Ch. 10: Presents and Surprises
"It's Christmas!" Cagalli shouted as she ran back and forth across the hall.
"Doesn't she ever run out of energy?" Dearka remarked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"I doubt it." Kira remarked, poking his head out of the door. "I don't know how Athrun keeps up with it."
"I heard that you two." Athrun walked out of his room and approached them with a smirk.
"Hey everyone, hurry up! I want to see presents!" Cagalli yelled.
"All right, all right!" Due to Cagalli's urging, everyone dressed quickly and headed towards the parlor.
"What about Arabella?" Lacus asked.
"Oh, that's right." Cagalli suddenly had a mischievous smile on her face. "Yzak, could you go get her?"
"Why do I have to..." Unfortunately, by the time Yzak managed to say those words, everyone else had already crossed a couple halls and were entering the parlor. "Fine then." Yzak huffed and went on his way. Everyone else had to try hard to keep a straight face.
"Me first!" Cagalli shouted as she passed out her gifts to everyone except Athrun.
"I wonder what it is." Dearka commented as he shook the small package.
"Just open it!"
"All right, all right, goodness...how do you deal with her temper Zala?" Dearka smirked, angering Cagalli more.
Everyone opened the package at the same time. "Socks?" They sweat-dropped.
"Um...Cagalli has a bit of an eccentric taste." Athrun explained in a low voice as he tried to dodge Cagalli's evil glares.
"They're nice...thank you Cagalli." The girls managed to say. Unlike them, the guys stayed silent, because they knew that whatever came out of their mouths would probably result in a smack on the head.
"Now my present." Lacus smiled as she handed her presents to everyone except Kira. Everyone opened the packages and found a pair of gloves in different colors. "I got the idea when I went ice skating with Kira." Lacus explained. "There were these children that were making a snowman, and they were freezing their fingers. And since it's still winter, I thought you might like these."
"Thank you!" Everyone said in unison as they tried the gloves on.
"These fit nicely." Miriallia commented. "Okay, now it's my presents." She handed out a box to everyone except Dearka. They all found neatly folded scarves, each in the respective receivers' colors. "I got the idea when I saw Dearka choking because of them." Miriallia laughed. "Like Lacus said, it's still a bit cold, so I thought these would warm everyone up." Everyone thanked her.
"These are so soft." Arabella commented as she wrapped her periwinkle one around her neck. "Okay, time to give out mine." She handed each of them, except Yzak, a package. "I honestly didn't know what do get everyone, so hopefully this would be okay."
"Cool, hats!" Cagalli remarked as she tried hers on.
"This would be perfect for hiding when Cagalli makes a fool out of herself in public." Dearka joked.
"Why you! I had enough comments from you for one morning!" She stood up, shaking her fist.
"Come on Cagalli, let's go back to your room." Athrun whispered into her ear. "I have something to give you."
"Um...alright." She blushed. "I have something for you too." Ignoring the smirks from everyone else, they exited the room together.
"Kira, could you come with me, I need to give you something too." Lacus shyly asked.
"I got you a present just like you asked." Miriallia told Dearka. "Let's go and get it."
Soon, the only occupants in the parlor were Yzak and Arabella. "Um...I'll just go back." Yzak stammered, trying to hide his nervousness. Before Arabella could respond, Yzak ran out of the parlor. "What's wrong with me?" He mentally smacked himself. "All I had to do was give her the present and leave." He sighed. "Well, I guess I have to use the indirect approach then."
"So, Athrun, what were you going to give me?" Cagalli asked, curious.
"And what were you going to give me?" Athrun asked, smiling, as he slowly closed the door.
"Well...hey, you mentioned a gift first!" Cagalli protested.
"Okay, okay, you win." Athrun smiled as he took a small object out of his pocket.
"That's...that's the same thing..." Cagalli stammered.
"I think we had the same thing in mind." Athrun smiled as he slipped it on her finger. "It's not a proposal just yet, but I thought a promise ring would do for now."
"A matching one." Cagalli smirked as she did the same thing. "It's more fitting this way. Maybe it was a good thing you were spying on me."
"You know it is." He murmured as he gave her a gentle kiss.
"So Kira, why did you bring me to your room?" Lacus asked innocently.
"Well, that's because..." He smirked as he brought out a puffy object from under his bed. "This is where I hid your present."
"Oh, it's so cute!" Lacus squealed as she held the doll in her arms. "It looks so much like Pink-chan!"
"Yea, the first time I saw it I had to blink a couple times to make sure that the real haro wasn't following me." Kira joked. "Well, I can't make haros like that, but at least I could get things that look like them." He smiled.
"This is great!" Lacus thanked him, and then suddenly turned shy. "I...I have something for you too." She handed him a little picture album. Curious, Kira opened it.
"This...this is..." Kira stammered.
Lacus smiled warmly at him. "I asked for pictures from everyone. Miriallia gave me a lot of the ones with the Archangel crew, and Athrun gave me the ones when you two were young...you were cute by the way." She pointed it out, causing Kira to blush. "Cagalli also gave me some, I put some...basically everyone gave something." She suddenly grew serious. "We just wanted you to know that we'll always be here for you. And..." She added, shyly. "I'll always be by your side no matter what."
In one swift motion, Kira had Lacus in his arms. "Thank you so much for everything."
At first, shocked by Kira's sudden actions, Lacus was at a loss of words. But after realizing that this felt so right... "I would like to say the same thing. Thank you for everything Kira."
"So here it is, Dearka." Miriallia said as she handed him the object.
(flashback)
"I'm so glad that someone managed to find us." Miriallia thought as she entered the room. They had been stuck in the icy snowstorm for who-knows how many hours, and the rescue team didn't arrive a second too soon. Throwing off her wet things, she put on new clothes. "Now, what to do with these..." She thought as she looked at the discarded items.
Something caught the corner of her eyes. "Dearka's jacket!" She had been wearing it the whole time, and because it was so cold, she hadn't thought about it before. Picking it up, she examined it closely. It was dripping wet, and torn at some sides. Regardless to say, it was ruined. "How am I going to approach him about this?" Miriallia thought guiltily. But seeing that she had no choice in the matter, she summoned her courage and softly knocked on his door.
"Come in." He replied.
Hesitantly, she walked inside. "Um...Dearka, about your jacket...well, I um...kind of accidentally ruined it."
"It's fine." He replied.
"Well, okay...well, that is, if you're sure..." Feeling a bit awkward, she started walking out.
"I rather have you well than my jacket intact." He said after her.
(end flashback)
"You decided to get me a new one since you ruined my old one." Dearka smiled as he held up the jacket.
"Well, to be honest, that was the only item that I managed to think up." Miriallia confessed.
"Hey, this is pretty nice." Dearka remarked, trying it on.
"I'm glad you like it." Miriallia replied back. "Well then..."
"Hold on." Dearka stopped her. "Well, that is...I got something for you too." He handed her a picture frame.
"Um...this is for..." Miriallia asked, confused.
"It's so that you don't need to keep on posting that picture on the wall." Dearka replied, pointing.
"Oh...thank you." Miriallia replied, feeling awkward. She turned around and proceeded to take the picture off the wall.
"But I hope that one of these days, you'll replace that picture with one of mine."
Miriallia froze. Slowly turning around, she stammered, "Dearka...I..."
He was already gone.
"Yzak? What are you doing here?" Yzak almost jumped at the sound of the voice. He had snuck into Arabella's common room to drop the present and leave. Unfortunately, he got caught in the process.
"I was just..." Yzak stammered, trying to come up with a buyable excuse. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of one.
"Is there something you wanted to tell me?" Arabella asked, curious.
"Well...I...ah what the heck...here you go." He handed her a small box wrapped in blue paper and silver ribbons. Not going to blush, not going to blush, he reminded himself.
Slowly, Arabella unwrapped her gift, causing Yzak to sweat. She gasped at what she saw. "It's so beautiful!" In her hand, she held a star-shaped pendant, with brilliant sapphires encrusted in the middle and on the edges.
"What about the earrings?" He asked nervously, finally finding the courage to say something.
She took out the dangling matching earrings. "These are pretty too!" Then without realizing what she was doing, she leaned forward and gave him a quick hug. When the realization hit her, she blushed madly, and took a few steps back. "Um...well, thank you so much for the present..."
Yzak, during this whole time, had stayed frozen, in shock. When finally coming back to himself, he turned as red as a tomato. "Well, I'm glad you liked it...um...got to go!" With that, he hurried out of the room, before Arabella could manage another word. He walked back to his room in a daze. What just happened?
"You seem a bit out of it." Yzak turned around to find a slightly smirking Athrun.
"You seem to be slightly off yourself." Yzak retorted back. Athrun merely shrugged and went on his way. Yzak approached his room. "I don't remember leaving the door open." He poked his head inside, and saw a wrapped package on his bed. Curious, he went inside, closing the door after him. He opened the package, and stared at the contents with a weird expression on his face. "Who would send me this?" Then he noticed a note, which had been under the package.
You said you lost yours, so I decided to get you a replacement. Why glass, you ask? Other than the obvious aesthetic value, I thought it would help keep your temper in check. Wouldn't want to have a bleeding hand now, would we? So go and practice so that we can have a rematch. And this time, don't hold back, because I won't either. With that said, Merry Christmas!
Yzak couldn't help but smile at the note. "Merry Christmas to you too, Arabella."
"So I take it that everyone's happy?" Arabella asked as they sat down for lunch. Everyone nodded in agreement, although some more so then others. Miriallia and Dearka seemed to try to avoid looking at each other's eyes, but when they did, they seemed as if they wanted to do the very opposite. Athrun and Cagalli were joking around with each other and laughing, even more so then usual, and even Kira and Lacus seemed to be talking more. Yzak stayed quiet, but his demeanor seemed to have brightened a bit. But of course, not that he would admit that to anyone.
"Well Bella, I'm glad to see that you're happy." Arabella looked up, surprised. "Elise?"
A girl with blond hair and chocolate eyes beamed back at her. "Of course it's me! Who did you think it was?"
Laughing, Arabella went up to her best friend and gave her a hug. "What...what are you doing here? I thought that you wouldn't be able to come and visit until spring."
"Well, I had a change of plans, and grandmother sent me a ticket right away." She explained.
"Grandmother?" Cagalli suddenly interrupted them with a question.
"Oh, sorry." Arabella apologized. "I forgot to introduce. This is Elise, and as to her grandmother, that would be Nora."
"You're related to Nora?"
"Yes, I am." She replied brightly. "Kind of hard to see the resemblance, isn't it...oh, by the way, who are these cuties?" Elise remarked, causing the boys to slightly blush and the girls' eyes to slightly narrow. "Why Bella, you certainly did change. A year ago you would barely talk to boys, and now you're living with four of them." She teased.
"Stop exaggerating." Arabella reproached.
"All right, all right!" Elise laughed out loud. "Just kidding, can't I have a joke?"
"Whatever you say." Arabella replied, with a slight sarcasm.
"So, are you going to introduce them to me, or what?"
"Okay. Well, that's Athrun, Kira, Dearka, and Yzak." Arabella said, pointing at each of them.
"And I'm Cagalli, Athrun's girlfriend." Cagalli emphasized, glaring.
"And I'm Lacus...and well..." Lacus said nervously while looking at Kira.
"I think I get it." Elise replied, smiling. Then her eyes trailed to Miriallia, who had happened to seat next to Dearka due to the seating arrangements. "And I take it that you two..."
"Oh, no..." Miriallia stammered. "That's not the case...by the way, my names Miriallia."
"I see..." Elise gave a knowing smile. "Oh, and don't take what I said before seriously." She said, noticing Cagalli's glare. "It's a habit. Of course, Arabella here says that I'm a bit of a flirt, but then again, what does she know?" Elise laughed, while Arabella rolled her eyes.
"I take it that you made your typical entrance?" Everyone turned around to see a smiling Nora.
"Yes I did grandmother." Elise replied, beaming. "Is there anything you wanted with me?"
"Oh no." Nora replied. "But I wanted to tell Arabella that Ray sent a message." Everyone could have sworn that the smile on Nora's faded a little, but the next second she acted as if nothing changed.
"Well, I suppose I might as well hear it now." Arabella said, not particularly happy, but not particularly sad either. "If you'll excuse me for a moment." With that, she followed Nora out of the dining room.
"Who's Ray?" Cagalli asked once Arabella disappeared.
"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Elise replied, puzzled, as she pulled in another chair to the table. "He's her fiancée."
The end of the chapter...lol...am I being evil by doing this? lol...
Hopefully the gift part turned out okay...
And ugh...uploading not working too well...
Aren't you all wondering what's going to happen next? Lol...well, you're going to have to wait!