A/N: whoa…8 reviews…The most I've gotten…You guys can't imagine how astounded I was when I saw this…

Answers to reviews:

Kageharu Kaco – Yep, fastest review indeed…And I'm updating weeks later… Sorry ah…

Meghan – Lolz, I found that SMS somewhere in the internet…Pretty sweet yah? Mmm, I think Lacus is meant to be with Kira…So yeah, then Athrun with Cagalli… 

daisukiasu'n'caga – Haha, from where I come from, guys aren't even allowed to go to even the same floor as the girls in the boarding school…So yeah, he isn't going to be rooming with her…Nice idea though :P

Cari-Akira – From what I know, it's the government who issues the allowance haha:) Cause then in the future the scholars would be reciprocating the improvement back for the country anyway…But that's what I think…And to make things a bit clearer, it's just that Cagalli arrived the same time as guys. Don't worry, there are more girls making their appearances later ;)

Thanks also to seiha, Shadow-Naka, Cagalli-01, and Midnight Fallacy for reviewing!

Title: Wherever You Will Go

Author: moony.rj

Genre: Angst/ Romance

Rating: PG-13, to be sure

Warnings: fluff, angst, utter randomness

Chapter 4 –

"Are you okay…?" A soft but steady voice stopped Cagalli from her quiet sobbing. Wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, the blond teen turned to be faced with inquisitive albeit worried blue eyes and stunning purple hair. Her right hand was on the small of Cagalli's back, and the other holding a tissue. She apparently just arrived, judging from her still in her jacket, jeans, and boots, duffel bag still slung over her shoulder.

"Mmm, yeah, sorry for that. I must have made such a terrible first impression." Cagalli replied, a smile somehow forced on her lips. She took the tissue from the other girl's manicured hands as both of them stood up.

The other girl smiled back. "No worries, you must be homesick right? Don't be embarrassed. I just arrived now, so I can't feel it, just yet. I'll be bawling worse than you before you know it" she said with a wink.

With her companion's cheery attitude, Cagalli immediately felt that she could warm up to the girl. "I guess we should be roommates, right? We haven't introduced ourselves...I'm Cagalli Yula Attha, from Orb. You?" she said, offering her right hand to the blue eyed girl while wearing a genuine smile this time around.

"Lunamaria Hawke, from the PLANTs. Luna for short. Pleased to meet you," the girl said as she shook the blonde's hand.

"I'll help you unpack yeah? I'm almost done with my stuff anyway."

"Oh, no, you must be so exhausted by now. I can do it on my own."

"Not really, and it would help me to get my mind off some things now."

"If you say so…I'm calling dibs on the bed over there."

"Hai hai…"

-

And thus a new friendship was formed.

-

The two settled themselves at the dining hall of the boarding house hours later, a layer of sweat lingering on their forehead, exhausted by their cleaning and unpacking. Both of them were waiting for the food to be served, as apparently the caterers have not finished preparing the food.

Long and rectangular mahogany coloured tables, enough to seat about six to eight people, were lined in a parallel fashion around the whole square-ish room. The seats were connected to the tables, like benches. There were about a hundred of those tables in the dining hall. Large windows were generously placed on the walls, which were painted a hue of light caramel brown. Various vending machines were situated sparingly. Suddenly realizing the how large the room really was, Cagalli wondered how many people were going to live in the boarding school, for they did not see much of other people yet. In fact, she and Luna seemed to be the only inhabitants of the 5th floor, where their room was. Their other roommate did not arrive yet.

Dusk was nearing, as the telltale blue sky gradually grew darker every minute. After ten minutes of their waiting, Luna's forehead connected with the table surface, and soft snores could be heard. Cagalli sighed while shaking her head sideways at her new roommate's gesture, a small grin gracing her features.

While the purple haired female dressed and talked enough to portray that she was as mature as a teenager could possibly be, her antics were hopelessly childish. People do need to let their inner child out, I guess, she thought. During the tedious process of unpacking, Lunamaria managed to make it at least enjoyable by cracking jokes some time or another, and by making blunt remarks with the items in the room.

"The window's too small. How am I supposed to escape at night when I transform into a vampire!" Luna once exclaimed. Cagalli allowed herself to giggle, despite her depressed state. Even though her comment was undeniably lame, the way the blue eyed teen said it exasperatedly and seriously made it too funny not to laugh.

Cagalli checked her watch. 6:27pm. They were still too early, as she remembered that Mwu did say dinner started at 6:30pm. These people were apparently followed their time exactly. Shaking her head in disbelief, the blonde was about to lay her head down like Lunamaria in quest for the heavenly state of peace called sleep, but a prod on her shoulder denied her to do so.

Groggily turning around with irritated, half lidded eyes, Cagalli met face to face with no other than the silver haired Yzak Joule. Dearka was standing somewhere behind him, engrossed with yet another shojou manga. Shinn, however, was no where to be found. Both boys changed out of their traveling attire, and into a pair of black slacks and grey t-shirt for Yzak, a sleeveless jersey and bermudas for Dearka.

The girls also changed into something more casual, into loose fitting shirts and knee length shorts of Cagalli, as Luna's shorts merely reached to her mid-thigh. The girl's wardrobe mainly consisted of revealing clothes anyway, Cagalli noticed while she helped the girl to move in. Miniskirts, tube tops, mostly lacy things…our protagonist was in contact with the flimsy material that she thought she would never wear in her whole life for the whole afternoon.

"What?" Cagalli said in a not-so-nice manner, as she shot the blue eyed boy a glare.

"Food's here." he replied, tilting his head towards the meal serving counter. "Unless you want to hibernate here and rot in the process. Those people are here as well." he said, referring to Mwu and Murrue, who just came in, and were carrying some things that looked like documents.

"Mmm right" Cagalli retorted, too tired to think of a witty remark. "Where's that other boy though, Shinn? Don't tell me you two left him alone. The guy seemed lonely as it was"

"I see that someone sure is concerned," Yzak said while smiling deviously. "A developing crush? Or perhaps, dare I say it, love?" he cooed. Dearka snickered to that, while still being engaged in reading his comic.

"Oh please, don't be such a dim-witted moron. Not that you haven't been one since we met." Cagalli sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Just don't make someone so out of place. I know that both of you are practically joined at the hip, but don't leave people out just because of that, you self-centered egotist jerks." she said matter of factly.

Yzak's grin dissolved upon hearing her lecture. "Okay princess, we tried to talk to the angsty kid, but he would only give us a blank stare, and then continue angsting. The only coherent things we've heard from him today were "flood", "die", and "shaddup". The rest were just murmurs. He's hiding somewhere in his room, still holding that pink gay-ish cellphone like his life depended on it. Sheesh."

"You're not roommates?"

"Nope, me and Dearka here are though. Two more empty beds in our room. Black haired boy is lucky enough to be in a two-bedded room. I pity whoever gets to be with him."

"We all have different numbers of roommates?"

"Apparently, yes. Now, if you excuse us, we're going to grab something to eat now. We're starving. C'mon Dearka, quit staring at porn and get back to reality."

Dearka, who had a dreamy grin embedded on his face seconds ago, stood at attention and wiped a trail of drool by the side of his mouth. "This isn't porn!"

"Yeah right…"

The duo made their way to the meal counter where trays and trays containing a various assortment of food was displayed. The aroma made its way to Cagalli, who got hungrier by the second. Turning around to wake Luna up, she was surprised to see her sitting up, elbow propped, hand supporting her face, interest in her eyes. Apparently, she had listened to the whole exchange between the silver haired teen and herself.

"Lover's quarrel?" she inquired, raising her eyebrow.

Giving Luna a blunt stare, Cagalli replied, "Why do you people seem to enjoy teasing me a lot?" A hint of joking was in her tone though.

"It seems to irritate you a lot." Was the curt reply, followed by small chuckles.

"Sadists."

-

A picture, old and neglected, lay on the floor.

It's edges were somewhat worn in age.

The images in the photograph itself yellowed in the passage time

Quality, however, was what mattered, truly.

Memories captured in that split second, reserved forever.

-

Athrun was going through his photo album; he just had nothing else to kill time. Seated in his mahogany study table, he was reclined in his large armchair. Pictures of Cagalli flooded the book. Emotions of different calibers filled Athrun. He regretted deeply to not have confessed his feelings before Cagalli applied for the scholarship. It might have ended differently.

He might have had a happy ending. He would actually have had Cagalli in his arms, softly caressing her, murmuring sweet nothings in her ear while she would playfully push him away by what she'd hear. They would go out together – on dates. He would be able to see her smile. And not just for anyone or anything, but genuinely for him.

Realizing this, Athrun could not help but bang his head repeatedly on the desk top, while murmuring incoherent vulgarities to himself.

His hand phone, thrown somewhere on his bed, was blinking, indicating that he had a new text message sent to him.

-

TBC?

-

A/N

Gaah. Tired. Please read and review. It makes me happier.:P I've got important examinations coming, so I really won't have time to update. Maybe after the exams end, then I'll be able to update a whole lot faster.

Okay, toodles!

Moony.rj