Significant Other
Chapter Four - What a Woman likes
Cagalli gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. Lacus looked at her, eyes wide, then back at the school.
"Cagalli, do you know Yzak?" Cagalli slowly nodded.
"He's a friend of my brothers."
"Oh no." Lacus whispered, flopping on the near bench.
"Where's my brother?" She asked suddenly and to no one in particular. All sorts of distressful thoughts swam in her mind and she suddenly dove into the crowd, leaving Lacus calling for her.
Concern, fear, worry and dread hit him and he had to shake his head several times to remind himself that he was in fact outside and unharmed. But Yzak was hurt and, from what he heard, it was bad…very bad. He still had a hard time believing this. It didn't seem real that Yzak could be hurt. He was always so fearless, confident and strong with a consistent cold uncaring attitude. His cold attitude was what really separated him from everyone else. It made you feel like you could really rely on him and trust him. He gave off a feeling that if things got difficult or challenging, he would just simply plow his way through it coming out on the other end pissed. It was a strength he admired and envied…but now…someone grabbed him from behind and he gasped, nearly crumbling again.
"Thank god you're okay." He let out a long breath when he recognized Cagalli's voice.
"Cagalli?" he breathed. "Don't startle me like that." She came around to look at him and her eyes narrowed.
"You're pale." She grabbed his hands and blinked, suddenly concerned. "You're shaking."
"Cagalli! Cagalli where are you! Oh my, it's cold out! Cagalli!" Kira blinked as he heard his sister's name being called. He didn't recognize the voice, so he was curious.
"That's Lacus." Cagalli said for his benefit.
"Is she a friend?" His sister nodded before taking a deep breath and shouting.
"Lacus, I'm here!"
"Where?"
"Here!"
"I can't find you!"
"I'm right here!" He heard a light giggle.
"This is fun!" Cagalli snorted just as a pink haired girl around Cagalli's age broke from the crowd. She had bright sapphire eyes that immediately caught his attention and, as she looked in his direction he blushed, looking away. He'd never seen her before in the halls and he hadn't heard Cagalli mention her before so he concluded that she had to be new. He glanced at her again and spotted her sharing a brief word with Cagalli before extending her hand towards him. She had such a nice smile and her voice was so warm and easy to listen to.
"Hello Kira. Cagalli has told me so much about you."
"S-she has?" He gave a nervous look at his sister. Lacus nodded at him, her hand still extended. He accepted it.
"It's nice to meet you." He managed to say. "Are you new here?" She blinked before nodding.
"Yes. I moved here with my father last weekend…" Her smile disappeared as she heard the sirens approaching. "Though this doesn't seem like a very good beginning." He agreed, his mind wandering back to Yzak. Lacus suddenly held out her hand, looking at the sky.
"It's starting to rain." Sure enough, he felt the raindrops begin to fall.
Athrun descended down the stairs, Dearka and Nicol closely behind him. Yzak really had been shot. But the paramedics were optimistic, saying that if they got him to the hospital quick enough he'd pull through. He didn't know if it was the truth or not but it had been nice to hear. Suddenly someone collided into him and he nearly fell backwards.
"Athrun." He looked down at Cagalli as she stared at him. "Is he going to be okay?"
"He should be. Their main concern was the amount of blood he lost." He looked passed Cagalli as he heard a rather loud and rough cough. Kira's lengthy exposure to the cold seemed to have truly drained him. In fact, if the pink haired girl hadn't grabbed him, giving him someone to lean onto he would've toppled over. Also, it had begun raining. This wasn't the weather to be out in no matter how healthy or sick you were.
"You're brother seems-"
"Yeah. He needs to get home soon." Athrun pulled out his keys.
"I'll drive you two home on the way to the hospital." Cagalli nodded.
"Thank you."
School had been canceled for the rest of the day and until they heard something they weren't to return. He dimly wondered how many days they'd be out of school for, hoping it wouldn't be too long. He was behind as it was, and if the teachers had to stuff more work into fewer days he'd be in trouble. Kira glanced at the girl sitting across from him. Lacus had phoned her father using his cell but unfortunately for her, her father couldn't get out of work. Cagalli had promptly offered Lacus a place to stay until her father could pick her up and Lacus had been, to say the least, delighted.
He opened the door to the house and Lacus peered over his shoulder looking inside.
"I like all the beautiful flowers you have in the front yard. Pity it's autumn and the flowers won't be around much longer. The tree is very nice. Does it get flowers?"
"Yeah." He said slowly. Her eyes lit up.
"I'd like to see it in spring sometime." She smiled at him which made him blush and avert his gaze elsewhere. She entered, looking around. Cagalli had said her farewell to Athrun and glared at him displeased that he hadn't yet entered the house.
"You're not a doorman. Get your ass-" he nodded, entering the house, disposing of his jacket, and taking off his shoes. Cagalli entered and the first thing she did was quickly ask them if they wanted anything to eat. He immediately shivered and Lacus politely turned down her offer. Cagalli shrugged, heading towards the kitchen and he turned, heading towards the living room. Lacus looked both ways before deciding to follow him.
"Good move." He whispered and Lacus looked at him.
"Huh?"
"She can't cook. She can't even make tea." He heard a bang in the kitchen and he winced, grinning.
"I heard that Kira!" Lacus blinked, looking back at where Cagalli had left.
"She has remarkable hearing."
He turned on the television and flopped on a couch, Lacus accompanying him. Flicking through the channels he wasn't surprised that nothing was on.
"This is a really cozy place. You and Cagalli must be really comfortable here." He glanced at Lacus and nodded.
"Yeah."
"How long have you been here?"
"A little over a year." He answered.
"And you like it here?" He turned his head looking at her and she smiled warmly, though he swore he saw a little blush appear on her cheeks.
"Yeah. We couldn't be happier…well, we could but we're content with how things are now."
"I heard from Cagalli that you broke your arm last year."
"Yeah. Kave broke it. I think he was just having a bad day." Cagalli entered with a bowl of chips.
"I'm still curious as to why he despises you so much." Kira nodded.
"I'm curious about that to." A sudden clap of thunder made Lacus yelp, grabbing him. He blushed, looking at her and she laughed, releasing him.
"I'm not a big fan of thunder."
"Really?" Cagalli asked, looking at both of them eyes narrowing slightly. "It's the lightning that kills you."
Cagalli snapped her fingers in front of her brother's face and smiled when he didn't react.
"He's finally fallen asleep." She whispered to Lacus who nodded.
"I can't blame him. It's been a very long morning. It must have been hard to hear that his friend was hurt." Cagalli gave a light punch to Lacus's shoulder.
"Staring at him like that. Geez if he wasn't so dense he would've picked up on it." Lacus blushed, wringing her hands.
"I-I didn't mean to."
"So what is it about him?" Cagalli asked, taking a seat next to Lacus, who stiffened. "His eyes? Everyone loves his eyes. I don't see anything spectacular about them. Sure, they're pretty and hold that rare warmth you usually don't see but is that really enough?"
"Well, they are captivating." Lacus admitted. Cagalli's eyes were twinkling and it scared her.
"Nah. It's his smile. He has such a nice smile." Lacus tried to edge away truly feeling uncomfortable as to where this conversation was heading but Cagalli wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"You know. Though I hated Flay she was always going on about how nice he smelt. Is that such an important factor?" Lacus nervously laughed, looking around.
"Shouldn't you know?" Cagalli seemed thoughtful for a moment.
"Well if Athrun smelt bad it would knock off some points."
"Well I guess it's a factor then. Umm, Cagalli where's-" Her friend however interrupted her.
"Is it his toned body? Sure he's lost some weight, but it's still impressive."
"Should you really be talking about your brother this way?"
"He's my brother. I can talk about him however I want."
"I see." Lacus said standing. "Where's the bathroom?" Cagalli snapped her fingers.
"It's his butt." Lacus face was really red now.
"I guess I can go look for it on my own."
"His butt?" Cagalli asked, surprised. "Well shouldn't you be looking a bit further down?"
"No, the bathroom!" Lacus shrieked, running away and Cagalli snickered.
Lacus splashed water on her face. She didn't know if Cagalli easily picked up on things like this or if she was just being obvious. Either way Cagalli, now knew of her sudden crush on her brother and had been dead accurate when she listed all the things she found attractive about him. Splashing more water on her face to try and get her head around the day, she groaned. When she had first spotted Kira she hadn't been able to breathe. He had looked so handsome and the way his hand had felt in hers. Argh! She would never be able to look at him again because of today's conversation.
She stared at her brother, her smile fading slightly as she saw him hunched over, shivering. Resting her hand on his forehead her smile completely faded when she felt an intense heat. Standing, she went to the closet, grabbing a couple blankets. She spotted Lacus exiting the bathroom and quickly got her attention.
"Can you go to the kitchen and fill a pot with cold water?"
"Huh?"
"Kira's fever returned. You can find one in the far bottom shelf next to the sink. Preferably use the one with the tan colour." Lacus nodded, leaving. She returned to Kira's side, dropping the blankets to the ground and quickly rushing to the bathroom. Grabbing the thermometer, a cloth, and pills she also took the phone from the charger and returned to the living room just as Lacus was bringing the pot of cold water inside. Putting everything on the table she sighed, removing the pillows from the couch.
"Lacus can you grab his legs? He should be lying down." Lacus nodded and did as she was told Cagalli helping the process by lifting her brother slightly by the armpits. Grabbing a blanket she laid it overtop of him just as his eyes cracked open.
"Cagalli?"
"Hey. You've got a fever again, brother."
"Again?" He whispered, sounding slightly childish. "Are you sure?"
"Well, I haven't taken your temperature yet but seems like it." Kira seemed suddenly depressed.
"I'm tired of being stuck in bed. Of being sick and having no energy."
"You've been getting better in the last 24 hours or so." Cagalli reminded him.
"But now I have a fever again."
"At least you're not throwing up." Kira gave her a tired smiled.
"That's true."
Cagalli sat on the floor, her back leaning against the couch her brother was laid out on. Lacus was sitting right next to her, flipping through the channels.
"His fever seems to be going down." Lacus observed, glancing over her shoulder.
"He'll be fine. It was barely even high enough to be considered a fever." Cagalli said, picking up the thermometer and putting it back in its case.
"What's wrong with him anyway?" Cagalli took the remote from her when she failed to continue to look for something to watch.
"It's some weird respiratory thing. The doctors said it's very rare and not contagious. Something to do with the bronchial tubes." She glanced at her. "Why?"
"Is it serious?"
"Meh." She shrugged.
"Can he die?" Cagalli smiled at her.
"It seems he's gotten through the worst of it…He's not going to die."
"But could he have died?"
"Yeah. But people can die from all sorts of pathetic things. Don't get alarmed over nothing." Lacus nodded.
"Thank you for telling me." Cagalli shook her head.
"No. Thank you for asking."
That means you care.
Okay, the reason why Kira didn't rush into the school to see Yzak was because he was barely strong enough to get out of the school let alone go back inside. I'm sorry I didn't explain it in the chapter. Anyway! They have now met! Please R&R.
