I'm SSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY FOR THE WAIT! I HAVE SOOOOOO MANY EXAMS but mehmehbaaa this is not an excuse slap myself. Well, here is the very long CHAPTER 5!

Chapter 5

Athrun walked to his first class of the day. Checking his timetable, he found that it was music. He grinned. He loved music. It was his only chance to chill, be himself, express himself in a way that he could never have spoken of. Music. God's gift to the speaking impaired.

Athrun was a piano player, taught by his friend, Nicol Amalfi's father. Nicol was a great piano player, and usually stuck around with Athrun during breaks, but he was currently on holiday in Hawaii. He had sent Athrun, Yzak, Dearka and Kira postcards of his trip, saying how much he was enjoying himself, and wising that they were there with him. Still, everyone back at school missed him a lot. Everyone appreciated his quiet, gentle personality, and the mature look he had that most teenagers couldn't have possessed at 16.

Athrun made his way to the music room, leisurely taking his time. He noticed, for the first time, a group of girls tailing him stealthily as he made his way through the halls. Ignoring them he continued to walk toward the music room. He had nearly got there, when he saw Cagalli looking around confused. He shook his head mockingly, chuckling amusedly to himself. He'd thought that after 4 years at the school she'd have at least learned the layout of the school.

"Having trouble? You do look lost…Mind after 4 years at the school, you should at least know your way around…God…" Athrun grinned, voicing his thoughts. Then he looked at her with fake concern written on his face. "Where are you trying to go to?"

"OF COURSE I KNOW MY WAY AROUND THE SCHOOL, I'M TRYING TO GET TO A ROOM I'VER NEVER BEEN TO BEFORE AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION I'M TRYING TO GET TO H6!" Cagalli screamed at the top of her lungs at Athrun. He stepped back a pace, covering his ears. People were giving him sour looks, and he could hear the same muttering and accusations being whispered among the crowds of students. He staggered forward a bit, to suddenly feel Cagalli clap him on the shoulder. Not in a hard way, that him and his friends usually did, but softly, firmly, yet comforting at the same time. He looked up, into the hazel-brown eyes…

Cagalli looked down into Athrun's dark green eyes. She could feel the shock at how violently she'd reacted to his playfulness. Could feel him, sad, shocked. She felt guilty at yelling at him. She hadn't meant to offend him, and realised that he hadn't had that much contact with girls like her, otherwise he'd have been used to these kinds of reactions.

"Hey, sorry about that. I kinda over-reacted," she said, turning her face away. She hadn't meant to hurt him. The outbursts of Cagalli Yula Attha were a common thing, and most of the time they were playful snippets of anger. But when she'd yelled at him, she'd made it look as thought he'd really offended her. "I didn't mean to do that. I guess everyone thinks that you made me mad or something. I guess that won't be good for you…"

Athrun looked troubled. When he looked up, his eyes were slightly misty, as though he was thinking of some far off event that had recently occurred. He looked at her hard, as thought he was trying to focus properly on her. The green eyes, the windows to his soul began to fill with tears. One of them formed a drop as it dropped down onto the floor. She peered through into his soul, and in it saw a sad, gentle longing for something that he'd been missing his whole life.

"You're…You're just like my mother." He murmured. "All emotional and everything…She'd be a little angry at me, but she'd always make a big deal out of it, just to see if she could make the rest of the family smile…and now she'd gone…" He turned away, the tears glistening in his eyes. Her hand resting on his shoulder trembled. Wanting to comfort him, it began to move of its own accord, moving toward his hand. She gripped it, trying to comfort him. The next thing she knew she was staring into his eyes. Again. Except this time, they were close together. Really close together.

"Hey, cheer up…She might not be here, but at least you're still here…I mean, at least you know that you make a difference to other people's lives. Like…like Kira! He talks about you all the time, you know?" Cagalli looked at Athrun, at his downcast state. Every time she'd seen him he seemed so calm and happy…Was she the first person to have ever seen him like this? "Umm…What do you have now?"

"Huh? Oh…I've got music now. With Mr. Buchanan…" Cagalli started surprised. She'd never expected to be going to the same class as him. She'd recently transferred from a Business Management class to the Music class.

But to think that him and me would be in the same class…Wow…

"Uhh…I'm in your class, you know…" She said. "H6, remember?" It was Athrun's turn to be surprised. He looked at her with a start, then he smiled. She wondered what was going through his head. All he ever seemed to have was a smile, and he never showed how he really felt.

"C'mon, I'll take you there." Athrun said with a smile. He rapped her on the head softly, before beginning to walk to his class. Annoyed she ran up to him and pinched him playfully. Together they walked to the Music class.

"Mr. Zala…Late. Not your usual standard, young man." Mr. Buchanan was a middle-aged, clean-shaven man who had a relaxed and wise attitude about him. He taught Music and Maths. His dark brown hair was streaked white in places, and he cast a joking eye at Athrun, while the expression on his face asked why he'd been late.

"Sorry sir. I was just helping Cagalli get to our class." Athrun stepped to the side, to reveal the beautiful girl walking behind him, looking lost as she followed Athrun to her class. She bowed her head, muttering an apology as she walked into the class about how late she'd been, and promised to never to do it again.

Athrun watched as Cagalli walked to the back of the room, and sat next to Lacus, who also played piano with Athrun. This was the one area that he was better than Lacus in. Athrun had learned music for less time than Lacus, but he was by far the better piano player. Deciding to worry about girls another time, he sat next to Kira and Dearka. Kira was the best guitar player in the school, and Dearka a percussionist for the school bands. Yzak was the only one who didn't take music. He couldn't play and instrument, instead preferring to study woodwork and materials design and crafting. At least, he said, it gave him something to vent his anger on when he had a hammer with him. And Yzak was an angry person.

"Well…" Mr. Buchanan announced. "Today you will be receiving your new music assessment. I'm hoping that you'll all enjoy it. It's a mini-concert that you all are supposed to put together and play for us. OK? Here's the assignment sheet." Mr. Buchanan handed out a small A4 sheet of paper, which detailed the requirements of the assignment. "Oh, and you'll be working in groups of…hmm…about…5-6 people, OK?"

Athrun looked around. Him, Kira and Dearka would definitely go together, but who would be the other two or three people in their group? He'd noticed the purple-haired boy from the other day, but he didn't really want to go with him. From what he could see, he was a rather unsavoury character. He scanned the room again, noticing some other people standing by themselves.

Maybe-

"Hey Athrun! Could we go with you and Kira? We don't have any one to go with…" Lacus asked quietly. While Lacus was a piano player, she was also a great singer, and Athrun knew that they could maximise that to get the best possible marks they could achieve for the assessment.

Hang on, she said "we". Who's the other-

Athrun started from his daydreaming. His eyes refocussed, as he looked around quickly. And found that someone else was staring into his eyes. Hazel-brown eyes clashed with dark green ones. Athrun looked closer, unable establish exactly whom he was seeing. And then he finally was able to see n full clarity.

"Cagalli? You're-You wanna do the assignment with us?" Athrun stammered, a bit surprised.

"Well, Lacus is the only person that I know in the class, besides Kira and you, so I'm going where she's going." Cagalli flashed a smile at him then sat down beside Lacus and him.

"So, bro, what are we gonna be doing for this concert thingo…?" Cagalli asked. Athrun pondered for a second as to who she was referring to. She'd never mentioned anything about a brother…

Especially a brother in the same-a twin brother?

"You really shouldn't go around telling everyone that I'm around your brother," Kira said, flushing, "It's really embarrassing for me…" Kira smiled, embarrassed, and Cagalli, upon hearing those words began to giggle. Athrun's mind reeled. Kira was Cagalli's brother? He was stunned. He looked at Dearka with a "what the hell" look on his face. Dearka just smiled back, as though this news old news to him.

What the-? How screwed up is this? I'm totally confused…

Athrun looked between Kira and Cagalli, for the first time noticing the similarities in their features. The same sharp face, same slight, dainty features on both of them, and the same spiky hair, the only difference being its colour. But the two people themselves were totally different. Kira was quiet, gentle and friendly. He was always calm but sometimes emotional. But Cagalli was always flustered easily, loud, and sometimes menacing or angry. And she never showed her true emotions. Two totally different people. One set of twins.

"Uhh…What the…" Athrun asked out loud. Kira looked at him apologetically. Cagalli just looked at the two of them, confused. "Since when were the two of you brother and sister…"

"You never knew?" Cagalli asked, surprised. She turned to Kira, glaring at him. Kira began to blush, turning redder, redder, until his head looked like an overgrown tomato. And Cagalli was still glaring at him. Dearka and Lacus were chuckling quietly to themselves.

"How come you never told your friend, Kira? That is soooo not nice…" Cagalli said, her hands resting on her hips.

"I dunno…You know that mom don't like to talk much about you and dad, and she'll only talk about it when you all are over…And she hates me talking about it to anyone besides Dad and you…" Kira said, turning his face away.

"Thank you. I just needed an explanation, that's all." Cagalli turned to Athrun, looking sorry for what Kira'd done. "Our parents divorced when we were very young. Maybe when we were both only 2 or 3 years old. Before you'd gotten to know Kira. We only started to go to the same high school, and by that time, we never talked at school because we belong to different social circles. We talked when we had family gatherings though. Our mother re-married, but our father hasn't. I live with dad, Kira lives with a step-dad and mom."

"Oh…" Athrun said…"Uhh, I don't really think I wanna know too much more…My head hurts…Let's just start work…" Athrun began to open his book, and took down some notes.

"OK, I'm the manager, Kira you're stage manager, Cagalli is stage crew," Athrun said, assigning roles to each of them. "Dearka is the MC and Lacus is secretary. Oh, and Nicol can play background music. Hows that?" Working was Athrun's way of not thinking about the revelations that he had been enlightened to. Kira was Cagalli's brother; Cagalli was his sister-

GAH! Cagalli is Kira's sister! Now even I'm getting confused!

Athrun exhaled a long breath of air. Then he continued talking. "So, what pieces are we playing?"

"Me and Kira can do a guitar duet, even thought Kira is way better than I am…" Cagalli said with a grin. Kira nodded, showing that he approved.

"OK, you guys work that out yourselves, OK?" Athrun murmured as he recorded what they were doing.

"I'll do a singing piece at the end of it…How does Rie Tanaka's Field of Hope sound?" Lacus asked. "Everyone can participate in it! Dearka can do drums, Athrun can play piano, we've got two guitars, and Nicol for the cello part! It all works out!"

"Whatever…" Athrun murmured, tired. "I'm gonna go and practice my piece…"

Athrun slowly dragged his feet over to the piano, and began to play the song that he'd learnt by himself. It was from a show he'd watched, one that Lacus had given him for his birthday after her trip to Japan. The song was called Giniro from a show called "Air". Athrun had loved the 12 part series, the sad and tragic tale about a girl with wings. Or something along hose lines. All that Athrun remembered was that he'd loved the series, and its beautiful music, which he'd learnt to play.

He touched the first key of the piano, and immediately lost all sense of time, sight, smell; all those illusions disappeared from his life. All that was left was the raw sound and the music. There was the song, the sound, and nothing. He lost himself inside the endless rhythms and abandoned his consciousness, giving himself wholly over to playing the piece.

Cagalli watched him as he played. The passion, the emotion that he conveyed through his music was astounding. She was surprised. Never before had she seen someone ever play so beautifully. She listened, the great symphony of sound orchestrating itself in her mind as different sensation and feelings swept past in a surge of emotion as different memories played in her mind like a cinema documenting her life. Snapping awake from her daydream, she looked down at her guitar, to realise that she'd been playing all this time, brilliantly, without even realising it.

"You're dong great, Cagalli! I can't believe you got the whole solo synchronized with me on your first try!" Kira said with a smile. Cagalli returned his grin, then went back to concentrating on her music. When their practice was over, Cagalli went over to Athrun. He had just finished his song. Slowly eyes opened, moving from their meditative state back to their normal, clear green.

"That was really beautiful, you know," Cagalli whispered in his ear, as she took a seat beside him, "I've never heard anyone play the piano so well…" Athrun looked up, slightly dazed. He'd been so caught up in the music that he was taking a bit of time to come to.

"Thanks, "he said with a smile, "Though there are many people who play better than me…" he looked down at the keys. The polished wood glinted under the fluorescent lighting, giving it a holistic appearance. "Music's become my only way to enjoy myself, express myself. I can convey my emotions and feelings in my music." Athrun smiled, looking at the piano, and yet not looking at it. Looking past it, into some empty spot in the world.

Cagalli looked at Athrun, deep into his eyes, looking again through that window into his soul. It seemed…hollow…empty…Startled, Cagalli looked at Athrun closely. He seemed…weak…

"Hey, Athrun? You OK?" Cagalli asked, looking concerned. Athrun was turning pale.

"Huh? It's nothing, nothing at…" Athrun's voice trailed off. His eyes closed and he began to fall. Cagalli caught him as he fell, holding his head in her lap. Gently she shook him, trying to wake him, grinning at his antic.

"Athrun…Athrun…" Cagalli called softly, trying to wake him up. His eyes didn't open. Worriedly, Cagalli called his name again. "Stop mucking around Athrun…"

Still, he didn't wake. "Athrun? Athrun?" She called his name, but the words fell upon deaf ears.

Kira noticed Athrun, lying down, and Cagalli holding him, trying to wake him.

"'Sup?" Kira asked.

"Something's happened to Athrun…" Cagalli said, worried. "Athrun?" she said to the unconscious form. "Athrun?"

Well you may think this ending was really really bad! I know I did! Oh the horrible things that may happen! Hehehehe...Thank you to everyone who reviewed! D And this chapter is considerably longer than the others...Tell me if you like the changes in writing style...