Disclaimer: Sunrise

WARNING: Some violence & abuse scene ahead. Please read on your own discretion.


Mito, 2012

"I told you not to fight anymore, I hate seeing you hurt," Kira said as he swabbed alcohol with cotton on his sister's knee.

"But I can't stay sti—Ouch, that stings," Cagalli flinched.

"Kira-kun, how nice, you are taking care of your sister," Mrs. Simmons, the infirmary teacher, walked up to them. She was ready to treat Cagalli's wound, but Kira insisted that he was going to do it, since it was his fault that his sister was covered in wounds.

"You looked like you've done this many times, Kira," Mrs. Simmons complimented him, as she watched intently how Kira treated Cagalli.

"Yes, since forever," Kira smiled sadly. "Cagalli always protects me whenever I get bullied, so I want to help her too, because I feel bad for her. She always gets hurt because of me."

"Kira is smart in class, ma'am," Cagalli said. "Those bullies always asked Kira to do their homework, or want to copy Kira's work. He doesn't like that, it's cheating. So whenever they tried to hurt him, I'll save him," Cagalli grinned. "I'm not that smart, but I'm stronger than Kira, so I decided to protect Kira so he can study."

"How can I study if you always get hurt?" Kira asked, putting a bandage on Cagalli's knee.

"You don't have to worry for me, I'm the big sister." She grinned again, patting Kira's head. "Mother always said you are a bright child, so just study and be smart, and I'll protect you. I'm not that good at academics, so I'll stick to what I'm good at, protecting you."

"Well, I understand you are protecting your brother, but you have to pay attention to your grades, too, Cagalli. And you don't have to fight them to protect him, do you?"

"You don't have to worry, Mrs. Simmons, I have Kira. If I don't understand something, he'll help me study. That's why I have to keep Kira saf—Gaaah!" Cagalli screamed as Kira dabbed an alcohol swab on her bleeding cheek.

"Mrs. Simmons is right, Cagalli. I like it better if you can protect me without fighting."

"Okay, okay, stop poking me with that, Kira! You are doing it on purpose!" Cagalli accused him, and she was right, actually. Kira did poke her because he hated her, for always making it light about her getting hurt.

"Kira, do it gently, honey," Mrs. Simmons giggled at the twin's antics. "But it is true, Cagalli. Don't always result in fighting whenever you want to protect what you want to protect. Sometimes, you need to do more than just fighting."

"What do you mean Mrs. Simmons?"

"If your enemy is not someone you can fight, then you have to do something else to protect him, don't you think?"

"I don't know, those who bother Kira always tried to fight me, so I fought back. That's all I do," Cagalli looked up to her infirmary teacher.

"It's too soon for you, I see. But I hope you can understand one day." She walked up and patted Cagalli on the head, as Kira was finishing treating Cagalli's wound.


"You missed this again, Cagalli. The point should be here," Kira told his sister as he checked Cagalli's homework. "And this one here, this is far from correct," Kira scanned Cagalli's work, searching for the error. "You missed the multiplication here. It's 49, not 42." Kira put the notes down on the desk, tapping it with his finger.

"Gaaaah, I hate math!" Cagalli slammed her face to the desk. Kira, who was standing beside his sister's chair, just looked at her half-smiling at seeing Cagalli easily giving up.

"C'mon, it's not that hard. Once you understand, it's actually fun." He encouraged her, patting her on the back.

"Only you can find math to be fun, Kira." Cagalli said, her face still planted on the desk. "I'd rather fight with those bullies again than doing math," she shifted her face a bit, now facing her brother. Her face looked like it was about to cry.

"I'd rather you do the math than fighting those bullies," Kira pouted, poking the bandage on Cagalli's cheek.

"Ow, cut it out, Kira," Cagalli sat up straight, avoiding his finger.

"Cagalli's cheek is so fluffy, I can't seem to stop," Kira grinned, trying to poke her again.

"Wa—what are you—"

Her voice was abruptly cut as they heard a loud breaking sound from downstairs, followed by faint screaming voices.

"Is that mother and father?" Kira asked, his voice quivering a bit. Who else will be downstairs beside their parents?

"I'll go and look," Cagalli got down from her chair and walked to the door.

"Wait, Cagalli—"But Cagalli already went out of her room.

Padding her way down the stairs, she stopped at the bottom, not daring to move forward.

In front of her, she saw her father, slapping her mother's face.

"So what if I'm going out with her!? What are you going to do? Just sit at home and take care of the children, don't pry into my business!"

"Is this what I got? After taking care of our children, of our family? You are cheating on me now?"

Ulen was ready to fly his hand again before he heard someone scream.

"Father stop, don't hurt mother!" Cagalli ran toward her fighting parents. Hugging her mother, Cagalli could hear her father clicking his tongue.

"I won't be coming home for a while," Ullen said and he just walked out of the house, leaving his family behind.

Staring at where her father had been, Cagalli was feeling confused. What had happened? Cheating? What does that mean? Why is his father not going to come home? Why did he hit her mother and was angry with her?

Her mother….

"Mother!" She turned to her mother. "Are you alright? Your face—we needed to put ice on it…" She grabbed a handful of her mother's clothes, tugging on it.

Suddenly, Via was on her knees, her shoulders were slumped.

"Mother…" Cagalli was now on the same level with her mother's face. She put her hands on her shoulders. From behind, Cagalli could faintly hear the tip-tap sounds of someone's feet approaching.

"…Why…?"

"Huh…?"

"I gave birth to you, why is it not enough for him to stay!?" Via suddenly screamed, her hand suddenly rose up.

That was the first time Cagalli got hit by her mother.

"Cagalli!"

Shocked, Cagalli couldn't comprehend what had happened. She had had fights with bullies, even stronger than her. But her mother's slap hurt her even more, more than anything. She spaced out, couldn't think of anything but the slap, until her brother frantically called to her.

"Mother, why did you hit Cagalli?" Kira asked; his voice full of fear. Slowly, he tried to help Cagalli sit.

"Because she is useless!" she screamed, "You too! Both of you!" Via could no longer see the children in front of her. "I thought Ullen would never see any other woman if I give him a child! Now I gave him two children but what did I get? He's still a cheating bastard! You are not doing anything for me; I don't need both of you!"

And her hand started beating her son.

Cagalli was suddenly awake. "Kira!" she got up and covered him with her body.

"Cagalli-nee…" Kira called out in a whisper, tears started brimming in his eyes.

Above them, Via was screaming hysterically, her hands seemed to endlessly striking her children.

From below, Kira could feel his sister's body was tense, trying to protect him. When the slap was particularly hard, she would grip him tighter, bracing for the pain.

"Mother, please stop!" Kira screamed in anguish.

And she stopped.

Cagalli didn't move an inch. She was afraid if she moved, the beating would start again.

But it didn't. Instead, they could hear her mother slumped down, and started sobbing.

That was the start of the disaster.


Tokyo, June, 2020

"Thank you for helping me, Kira." Lacus said from beside him.

"Nah, don't mention it. I'm free anyway,"Kira answered, staring straight ahead.

Lacus just smiled sadly. These past few days, Kira had been looking down, like something was on his mind. Athrun said it was about Fllay, but Kira didn't tell him anything else. And she didn't want to assume anything before hearing the real story. Of course, that was if Kira was willing to tell his story at all.

Now, here they were, walking toward the supply room in the first floor of their school building. They were going to practice a new song for the M-contest, a national scale chorus contest, so the teacher wanted to make copies of the song. Lacus was the one that the teacher had spotted, so she was the one her teacher asked to. And just her luck, the copy paper ran out when she was about to copy the score. She was about to ask Nicol, from 2nd grade, to accompany her to the supply room and bring the copy paper, and some folders for the scores. But a teacher asked him for another thing. She had given up and decided to go to the supply room twice since she couldn't bring them all in one go, when she met Kira on the way, and he offered her a hand.

"When is the chorus club's next event?"

"It's around the first week of August. We'll be performing at the Metropolitan Theatre for an opening of a concert, and we have district-preliminary for M-contest around the end of that month."

"Ah, the Inter-high is around August first week as well. I'm afraid I can't see you perform," Kira said, disappointed.

"It can't be helped then," Lacus said, though inside she was disappointed as well. She had been hoping to see Kira right after the performance; she got a solo part that night, and had wished for Kira to see it.

"Will Athrun come?"

"Ah, I haven't told him the date yet."

"Why? Ask him later then," Kira said. Lacus could only nod. It seemed like Kira still thinks that Athrun and her are together. She sighed. Even if she told him the truth, it wouldn't mean anything since Kira was still with Fllay.

"What is it, Lacus? You look kinda dejected."

"No, it's nothing," she smiled, a little bit forced. If only you knew, she thought bitterly. "Kira too, you looked kinda sad lately. Do you have any problems? Is it about your study, or the judo club? They are holding a summer training camp soon right?" she asked him instead, trying to steer him away from the matter of Athrun and her.

And she was right, Kira's mind was distracted. But he was wearing that sad face again, with Lacus' question. Immediately, she felt stupid for asking.

"I'm sorry, what have I said, goodness! Please forget it Kira. It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

Lacus' words made Kira think that she knew something. "Did you hear anything from Athrun?"

"Umm… only that you and.., Fllay… had some problem…"

"I see," he replied shortly.

"Kira, if you have any problem, you can always talk to us, you know. If there is something you don't understand about Fllay, you can ask me. It might be difficult to understand about girls on your own, so in case you want another girl's opinion, just come to me anytime." Lacus was smiling at him, but she was intertwining her fingers so tightly, as she said all that. Only because she didn't want to see Kira suffer, she offered him advice to face Fllay.

"Thank you, Lacus," he said. "But I think it's okay, I'll try to handle it myself. Thanks for the offer anyway."

"Is that so? I'll always be here though, just in case you need anything," she forced a smile again. Denied, again. Her insides started to crumble. Would Kira never be able to see her as other than a friend? Should she give up?

Arriving at the supply room, Kira opened the slide door, while Lacus stood a little bit behind him, looking down. She could hear Kira stepping inside the room; and just followed him like that.

That's why she didn't see him stopped, and bumped right into his back.

"Kira?" She asked him, a little bit flustered for smashing her face on Kira's back. But he didn't say anything. Lacus moved a bit, trying to see what was distracting Kira.

"Kira? Why are you here?" Lacus suddenly heard a somehow-familiar voice.

"Fllay…?" Lacus whispered, surprised. Not because she was there, more for who was with her, and… their stance.

"And you yourself… What are you doing? With him," Kira asked in a cold, detached voice. Lacus shivered, she never heard Kira being this icy to anyone.

"It has nothing to do with you," she said, not meeting Kira's eyes.

"Since when?" Kira asked again.

"What? You were so absorbed with your practice and didn't mind me at all, now you suddenly act like you care? Don't start with me," she dissed all high and mighty just like her usual self.

"Didn't I tell you before? Cheating is the only thing I can't forgive," Lacus noticed that Kira was so tense, his palms were fisted, his shoulders somehow shaky.

"This is all your fault!" she shouted. "Kira, you always put your practice above me. You never even spare a moment for me!"

"I was always with you whenever I had time."

"But you are more into practicing, even more now for the inter-high tournament. Can you even promise me your time after this? You don't mind it at all even if I'm not with you, aren't you? So you shouldn't be mad at me if I'm with another guy, right?" She said, looking down on him. "And now, you are with that girl? Aren't you the one who is cheating, Kira?"

"Fllay, you said you broke up with Kira already," the guy behind her said, confused.

"I do, Sai. I'm not his girlfriend anymore, right Kira?" she smiled disdainfully, turning her face at Kira again.

Lacus couldn't say anything. She was angry at Fllay for playing with Kira like that, like his feelings didn't matter at all. She desperately wanted to defend Kira and call her names, but this wasn't her business. This was between Kira and Fllay; she couldn't just up and interfere with them.

But the more she heard, she couldn't help when Fllay didn't even give Kira choices and just decided things she liked. She was about to interfere—who cares if it wasn't her business or not—when Kira suddenly responded, "Yeah, let's end this here then."

Lacus was surprised, "Huh?"

Fllay, for a brief second, was surprised too. She didn't expect Kira to agree with her so easily. But then, she masked it quickly. "See? You didn't care about me, after all, accepting it so easily."

"Aren't you the one who said that we are done already? Even before you could say it to my face?"

"Grr, you are so noisy! I don't care about you anymore!" Fllay huffed. "Sai, let's get out of here, seems like we have an intruder." Her voice changed into a low, sultry voice—though it was more like a whiny voice, a voice she usually use whenever she wanted something from someone.

"Yeah, if you guys want to fool around, do it somewhere else outside the school ground," Kira sneered. Then he turned to Lacus, "Sorry you have to see that. Where were the paper and the folders, again?"

Startled, Lacus stammered as she replied to him, "Ah! Umm… If I'm not mistaken… the paper is on that shelf…" Lacus pointed. Kira walked toward where Lacus showed him, ignoring the couple who were still standing there. Lacus looked at Fllay and Sai awkwardly, but decided to follow Kira and ignored them, just like him. "The folders are on the shelf beside that, I think. We need about 20." She explained to Kira as he checked the said shelf. They could hear Fllay mutter something along 'How annoying' and stomped out of the supply room, followed by her companion. Then they heard the sliding door slammed shut. Kira didn't even glance back to see Fllay left the room.

"Is it okay like this, Kira?" Lacus asked in a low voice.

"It's okay," he replied. "I was actually thinking about taking a break with her. Just didn't expect it would be a real break up instead."

"Oh, I didn't know…I'm sorry it came to this," Was all she could say.

Kira was just standing in front of the shelf, and Lacus thought he was still upset about what had happened earlier.

Kira was free of Fllay, she thought. Then is it alright if I do this? A friend is allowed to comfort her friend, right?

Slowly, she put her hand on his shoulder, and swiped it gently, in a soothing manner.

Surprised, Kira turned his head, and saw Lacus' concerned face.

"I'm really okay," Kira said half-smiling.

"But you don't look okay," Lacus accused him.

Staring at her for a while, Kira suddenly got down, sitting with his legs crossed.

"Lacus…"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind hearing my story?"

Without replying, Lacus already followed him, swiping her summer-uniform skirt and tucking it behind her knees, and sat on the floor beside him.

For a while, none of them said anything. Kira was thinking where he should start. Lacus was waiting patiently for Kira to open up.

"You know I'm an adopted child, right?"

"I do," she nodded slowly. Both she and Athrun knew this fact. But they didn't know anything about Kira's family or life before being adopted. Kira's face was so dejected when Athrun mentioned it before once, so they never approached that subject again.

"My father—real father—cheated on my mother when I was 10," Kira said, for the first time after he was freed from that house, he was talking about his father and the fact of his family. "My mother lost her mind because of it, they fought every day. That was the reason I was put up in the foster care facility. Both of them just couldn't take care of me again after that." Pausing a bit, Kira looked up, staring at the ceiling, but his mind was somewhere else. "I grew up hating what my father did. If only he didn't cheat, our family wouldn't have fallen apart. That's why I told Fllay back before, that I could try to tolerate anything she did, except for cheating. Maybe she actually remembers it, and did that on purpose, knowing I hate a cheater the most."

Gripping the hem of her skirt, Lacus desperately stared at Kira's face. She had thought that maybe Kira had simply lost his parents and been adopted. For him to have such a background story, and for Fllay to hit him right where Kira would be hurt the most, made her angry. Why did Kira have to go through that kind of past? Why did he have to be treated like this by Fllay, and be hurt twice because of the same reason— cheating?

"I had never understood what was going on through my mother's head after learning the truth about father; how she could change so drastically back then." He paused, "Today, I felt like I tasted a glimpse of what she had felt before. After the day she discovered my father cheating, she went violent." He heard Lacus gasped. "That too, came to my mind. I wanted to hit the guy so badly, and shake the ever living out of Fllay, wanting to ask what the heck came to her mind. But no," Kira shook his head. "I can't become like her, I must not… That was what came to my mind." Taking a ragged breath he continued, "For a while, I was afraid… That I've become what my mother had been…" Kira looked down, hiding his face, ashamed of what he had been thinking. That he was that close to becoming like the one person he now hates with everything he got.

Suddenly, he felt two soft arms circling his shoulders.

"You are not that kind of person," Lacus whispered, her voice was low, a little bit shaky, but there was a determination in there. She was nervous, afraid what she was doing was too much to comfort him, and by the idea of being this close to him, but she couldn't just see him suffer alone. "You didn't do anything in the end, right? That means you are in full control of yourself, Kira. You are different from your mother."

Kira was surprised. He had never been this close with Lacus, and didn't think that Lacus would suddenly hold him like this, since she was always so reserved in front of anyone.

Even so, the warmth he felt right now reminded him of that long lost touch of his sister, the one who was always on his mind, but never told anyone.

It's okay, I'll always protect you, Kira.

I'll definitely find you, one way or another.

The only real-family he had left in this world.

A lone tear escaped from his eye.

"Cagalli-nee…" he whispered so softly that even Lacus, with her face right beside him, couldn't pick it up clearly.

"Kira…?" She pulled away, thinking that he was calling for someone but couldn't comprehend what he was saying. But she could see the wet trace of tears on his cheek. Her right hand reached out to wipe it. But as her baby blue eyes met his deep amethyst orbs, she suddenly felt self-conscious, and pulled her hand to herself, and her cheeks heated up a bit. Hugging him was different since she didn't have to see his eyes. That way, it felt like he wouldn't see what was on her mind, that her feeling was safe from him. "I'm sorry…" she was looking away from him, embarrassed.

Kira couldn't say anything for a while. He wiped his face, making sure to hide the evidence of himself crying. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he said, "No, thank you for hearing my story."

"Anytime…" she replied, still looking down.

There were a few things he wanted to ask Lacus, but for now, maybe it had to wait. "C'mon, we've been here for a while, your music teacher must be waiting, we better hurry."

"Yeah…" Lacus replied, half relieved that the awkward moment was over, half disappointed because she felt like they were back like before, Kira was treating her like a friend again.

But for now, she would leave it as that, and just like what she had been telling herself, she would wait for the right time.


This one is longer than usual, and with just a little bit of drama. What do you think?

Maybe you can see the pattern here, the chapters alternate between Cagalli and Kira, so next we will see Cagalli again, and Athrun too-yaay.

I kinda want to let out what is on my mind with this story, still backed up with a some research, but not too deep, so forgive me if this one is kinda sloppy.

See you next chapter~

Cheers~