HELLO! I'M SORRY I HAVE'T POSTED FOR LONG TIME BUT ISH HIGH AND MUST POST AND HAD THIS FOR AWHLE AND WILL TRY AND GET SOMETHING ELSE UP AFTERWARD WHREN I FINISH SOMETHING HAHAHAHAHAHA-Read.


Chapter 15-Camping Trip

"Man, if I didn't love my piano so much, I would love to do this for the rest of my life!" Nicol said, laidback, as they began to hike through the dense foilage that surrounded their little town. "In my opinion, if someone is resolved to do something, like, they should just go and do it, yeah?"

"Whatever." Dearka grinned, sighing. It had been quite a while since any of them had gotten a good, long stretch outside. Thus far, all of them were enjoying their camping trip. Athrun had brought a ton of marshmallows inside his pack, and Kira had been thinking of stuff to do while they were out in the wild. "It feels good to be outside, though..."

Well, I guess Athrun didn't bring a ton of marshmallows, but it must be enough to last us for a weekend...Dearka thought. Though, knowing me, I guess that it might be a problem 'cause I eat a lot...

"Hey, wanna start up a bonfire afterward?" Kira asked, a massive grin spread over his face. He surveyed the area around them, then added, "I think there's enough dry wood, and we brought some matches!"

"Isn't this a protected zone?" Nicol asked. "I mean, I thought I heard some government head guy talking about not being allowed to burn anything here..."

"It'll only be small. A compromise, yeah?" Kira replied. "Like, we won't be able to have a big bonfire, so we can't burn too much wood, but we can still have a little fire..."

"To roast Yzak in, eh?" Dearka laughed, causing the silver-haired boy to start from what seemed to be a contemplative mood. Suddenly, he pointed to his bag, and whispered "I snuck in a rifle from my house. I was told to shoot Yzak with it."

All the other boys chuckled lightly at the remark, except for Yzak, who'd been fairly quiet throughout their whole trip. Dearka turned around to take a look at his friend, who was staying at the back, wisely keeping away from Shiho, who, at the front, seemed to be in a destructive mood, stomping away at the worn path.

Slowing his pace to allow Yzak to catch up to him Dearka tried to engage his friend in some light conversation. "So, are you excited about the camp out?" Dearka said lightheartedly. "Kira's thinking of making a massive bonfire!" Normally, Yzak loved to burn things. Such as burning Dearka's hair after school when they were little kids. But now...

He's like...all spaced out and everything, and he won't talk. Usually he yells a lot, but right now he's just...too, I dunno...quiet!

"What's on your mind, Yzak?" Dearka asked, trying to discern why his friend was so withdrawn. A simple grunt, which indicated that his friend didn't want to talk, was his only reply. Sighing, Dearka offered his own little piece of advice. "Just enjoy yourself, man. Don't go ripping everyone new ones or something..."

"Hey, Dearka?" Yzak suddenly called out to him, as Dearka began to pick up his pace again, in an attempt to catch up with Kira and Athrun, who were already up at the front. "What do you think of that Shiho girl?"

"Hmm..." was all Dearka could say. All he could think of, however, was bursting out laughing, and saying how alike Shiho and Yzak were in the way they behaved. "She acts a lot like you..."

His comment made Yzak turn, first, rather, pale, followed by a sickly shade of green, and then flushed, and Yzak's breathing began to speed up. He looked at Dearka in an almost pleading way, while the blonde boy was too stunned to do anything, other than watch his friend, who seemed to be having trouble breathing.

"Hyper...ventihilating..." Yzak said, rasping slightly. Finally, after settling himself down, Yzak murmured to Dearka, "Okay. Not good..." And then Yzak just turned back into the silent shell of himself he'd been for the past few hours.

Afterwards, they reached the site where Nicol had planned to set up the camp. Dearka and Athrun went off to find some wood for the fire that they intended to build later tonight, while Shiho went to get some water. This left time for Yzak and Nicol to talk to each other, one-on-one.

"Why the heck is she here?" Yzak hissed at Nicol, who nonchalantly smiled at Yzak's outrage. He'd been expecting it for awhile, ever since Shiho had punched him in the face.

"Well, she needs to be exposed to our culture more, and the landscape, so I figured that this was the perfect time to introduce her to our aspects of life." Nicol laughed, then added, "She is, after all, going to be studying here for awhile..."

"Ohh, no..." was Yzak's dread-filled reply.

"Yes, as I was saying she'll be here for awhile..." Nicol got out these words, before Yzak's fist decked him square in the face. Yzak walked away, leaving a stunned Nicol, to just mutter, "Shouldn't have said it, shouldn't have said it..."

Later that night, all of the campers huddled around the bonfire. Kira had lied about the size; it had grown to become a large, blazing ball of warmth that was radiating heat to all of them as they sat around the fire. Athrun had brought a pack of cards, and now, he Kira, Dearka, and Nicol, all sat in a circle, playing poker.

"Raise 50c." Nicol murmured.

"Raise you 20c." Dearka said cooly, grinning. Yzak peeked at Dearka's hand, and realised that Dearka was bluffing. If his bluff didn't work...

Well, it's not a lot of money, but still...it's still money! I wouldn't want to lose anything!

"Raise you all 50c..." Athrun called, but before Kira could make his bet-

"All in." Dearka said simply, withdrawing twent dollars worth of cash. Grinning, he laid it into the pot, and watched the other boys warily.

"I fold..." Nicol sighed defeatedly. Kira and Athrun followed dejectedly, revealing their hands one by one. They weren't extremely good hands, but it was easy to see that all of their cards could easily have beaten Dearka's.

"Thanks!" Dearka grinned, scooped the cash up, and pocketed it, while revealing his inferior card-hand. He smiled as he laid back and watched the other boys groan at their losses.

"Hey, wanna play charades?"

And then they were back at it; playin around and goofing off. Yzak suddenly felt very tired. He wasn't exactly the fittest person ever, and he still couldn't understand where all the boys' energy came from.

Yzak was about to crawl over (yes-crawl over, he's that tired) to his tent, when he heard a muffled sobbing from the surrounding foilage. Tiredly dragging himself to his feet, he limped over.

"Why...why didn't he..."

It was that girl, Shiho. She was on her knees, shoulders heaving, the tear drops falling from her sharp face onto the dusty earth, drenching it with salty water.

"Why didn't...he even look...?" Shiho was mumbling to herself as she tried to stand up again.

"Shiho..." Yzak mumbled. And again, Yzak did the wrong thing; Shiho paused in a reminisces, then stiffened as she realised who was talking. Abruptly, she tackled him to the floor

"You! Why?" Shiho uttered in a guttural tone. "Why didn't you-"

She was cut short as they rolled around for a few seconds, and then, somehow, they rolled off a cliff that had been right next to them, that Yzak had forgotten about. It also happened that if he didn't do anything, Shiho would most likely plummet into the floor, face-first.

Yzak twisted in the precious few seconds he had in mid-air, trying to push Shiho onto him, while he prepared himself for the fall on his back. He had, over time, learnt how to break his fall, and he had a feeling that if he landed this right, he could save both of their-

CRACK! Yzak saw stars as Shiho unleashed a massive right punch to his jaw. Somehow, even in his half-conscious state, he managed to break his fall. Beside him, Shiho landed, rather heavily, on her knees.

"Damn you, bitch! Why did you go and do that?" Yzak hollered at Shiho, who was still on her knees.

"It...hurts..." Shiho murmured. A teardrop fell from her eyes. "Hurts..." She repeated her statement, then, abruptly, she fell face forward.

"Oi! Bitch! Stand up!" Yzak was beginning to feel like he couldn't tolerate Shiho's whining anymore. First smashing him in the face, and now she was complaining about stuff like...

"Crap..." Yzak breathed, noticing Shiho's bloodied and bruised knees. His first insinct was to quickly rush over and carry Shiho somewhere, but Yzak banished the idea with the thought. Heroes usually are the ones in trouble.

"Please, can you help me?" Shiho gasped in pain, trying to push herself up with just her hands, but finding herself unable to. "I can't move..."

Warily, Yzak approached her, and slipped his arms around her limp body. He contemplated pulling away, and readied himself for some kind of shouting or reprimand for touching her. Instead, she murmured something to him, but unfortunately for him he didn't hear it.

"What did you say?" he inquired, half not-wanting to find out.

"Thank you." Shiho repeated. Yzak grunted, trying to remain unmoved, and gently propper Shiho up against a wall of dirt. They were sheltered by the cover of trees, but other than that, if it rained, as he'd thought it might, then there might not be so much shelter after all. A fog was rolling in; by his estimations, they wouldn't be rescued until at least tomorrow morning...

"Kira? Athrun? Dearka?" Yzak called out into the fog. He didn't expect to hear an answer, but one came to him anyway.

"Yzak? Yzak, is that you?" The sound of Kira's voice, quite calm and controlled was soothing on Yzak's nerves. Kira seemed to be coming closer and closer, however, to the edge of the ditch...

"Kira, wait! Don't come too near to me!" Yzak called again. "There's a ditch right here, and Shiho and I fell in. Shiho's busted her knees, but I'm fine..."

Kira groaned, frustrated, and then added, "We heard a scream and I came to check it out. I don't think there's anything I can do to help, though..."

"Just wait 'till the morning Kira, we can't do anything right now." Yzak called again. "Call the emergency services and sit tight. I think I'll be able to pull through...though Shiho..."

"Just take care of her, okay?"

"Yeah..." Yzak gritted his teeth as he reminisced on some rather painful memories. "Sure..."

Yzak scanned the surrounding area, but couldn't find any kind of additional shelter for him and Shiho to use. Sighing, he walked back over to Shiho and sat down, muttering about "today being a bad day" in between cursing and grunting.

"Well, looks like I'm stuck with you now." Yzak said, attempting to appear rational. What was he feeling? Oh yes. That was the word. Bloody annoyed.

Actually, that's two words.

Shut up...

YES I AM HYPO! ENJOY THE ITALICS! ALL MY LOZ FANS I WILL TRY AND WRITE SOMETHIGN SOON! OH, DAMN WRITING COMP. AND WRITER'S BLOCK!