Disclaimer: I don't own GS/GSD or their characters. R&R please.

Chapter 8

He was moving out of bed, she could sense this even when she was half in a slumber, and she cracked open her eyes, trying to clear the blur in front of her.Athun's hair was a little mussed, she personally thought it looked adorable, but she was too tired to comment. She rolled over, she had a habit of changing her sleeping poses every time during the night, and there was once when she had kicked Athrun off and he had pulled her down while trying to grasp onto something to break his fall. They had ended up sleeping on the floor that night because he was too tired to make her get off him. And the next morning, they had been sore all over, their necks, their backs, their arms, their shoulders, but it hadn't mattered at all.

Funny then, how he never minded being cramped in a cockpit for long hours, moving only his arms and occasionally, his legs. It seemed obvious to everyone that he was a good pilot, but then she knew he was just needed to, possibly an instinct in itself. He manouevered very well, and it was apparent that he was a crack-shot with a pistol, unlike her, she was better with rifles and long-range types, and the way he fought made her think of a cat, feline, graceful, fluid in its movements. But he was awkward in his ways, fairly so, and his first proposal and the offering of the silver band with its ruby made her insides burn with embarrassment and their, no other word for it there, unprofessionalism.

She giggled a bit now at the memory of their clumsiness, and Athrun, preparing to move out of the room, noticed the sound and whipped around.

Athrun paused slightly, he realised that she had woken, and he asked softly, his voice a little hoarse from the lack of use and the usual morning kink, "I woke you didn't I? Sorry about it, go back to sleep."

"No," Cagalli protested dumbly, sitting up very suddenly and hitting her head on the headboard, and she yelped and winced in pain as he hurried back to the bed and pulled her head forward to see if she was injured, "I need to get up with you too!"

He didn't hear her, he was too busy checking her head and shuffling her hair this and that way, meticulously examining it and rubbing it this way and that way to check if she had sustained any injuries, silently fussing over her until she growled in irrataion and forcefully grabbed him by his tie, hauling him in the way she would have reeled in a fish attached to a line. Astonished and fankly, caught unaware, Athrun fell in a terrible heap, and he would have exclaimed something if she hadn't shut him up by throwing the covers over both of them and hugging him very tightly, murmuring something he couldn't hear. And she nuzzled plaintively against him, inhaling his dinstincitve, tender scent, somehow addicted to the masculine comfort she obtained as he chuckled a bit and encased her in a tight but infinitely tender embrace. She laughed for no reason as they huddled in their warmth amidst the thick quilts, and she noticed he looked a bit pleased, almost smug.

They remained like that for a while until Athrun spoke again. And his voice was a little gruff and unsure, but she didn't care what he thought of her at that point in time.

"You're being a child," he informed her smilingly, and Cagalli promptly let go of him and glowered, and he thought that she suddenly didn't look so child-like anymore, not as simple and as naive. She was a woman already, of course that was obvious, she was twenty-three in the making. But it wasn't so much the physical age, she had allowed herself to be binded to Athrun, and that had moulded her like a pice of clay in more ways than one. There were times when she dreamt that she was like a moth, its wings spun from fire and passion and consumed by its own very heat. And he had fuelled that hadn't he? But Athrun, he had taught her perspectives of looking at life she would have never been able to see without him, but then, so had she. And so he gazed down at her once more and recaptured her in his arms a few seconds later, and subsequently, they lay there comfortably for a few more minutes until Athrun knew he could procrastinate and indulge no longer.

He parted Cagalli's small hands from his neck and moved slowly and reluctantly from under the covers, tyring not to feel anguish at the loss of the previous warmth and pleasure, but he fetched his things, almost regretfully, turned at the doorway, and ordered her gently, "Get some sleep, you have a while more to rest."

She looked at him, not saying anything, but she half-nodded and ducked under the covers, blindly pulling the blankets over her head until she looked like a covered corpse. But not before he managed to cease her descent under by seizing the quilts when they reached her chin, and he kissed her, a possesive, fiery one, and she didn't respond, she just looked at him blankly and disappeared underneath. So Athrun shrugged, thinking that she was tired or something to that effect, and then he smiled wryly to himself and went on his way.

But Athrun could have never known why she had woken early, the same time as him and been exceptionally affectionate. He might have suspected that it was her way of saying, "I'm sorry," but it wasn't fair or natural to suspect what Cagalli was going to do that day.

So he left and the rest of the day passed faster than he imagined and he thought he would go home and find her waiting for him, dozing with her head lolling at her shoulder, looking peaceful and untroubled.

Approximately four hours after Athrun had left, Cagalli sat at a wooden table, a shoddy thing of poor workmanship, trying not to shiver at the grimness and dull-coloured walls that desperately needed a white-wash or evne two for good measure. Kisaka stood behind her, almost protectively, almsot as if to dare someone to try and harm her. She sighed inwardly, the huge man would break a few bones just to prove his point, and she was grateful for his support, but surely this was-?

"I can't believe you're doing this," the burly, well-built man was grumbling, his eyes closed in dismay. She peered at him and imagined that he must ot want to look at her in case she became the object he wished to strangle like a chicken for dinner's soup.

Frowning, she turned to him and barked, "Stop it! You said you wouldn't pass judgement, you said you'd only follow me and make sure he doesn't try anything funny."

"True," Kisaka replied thougtfully, passing a brown, tanned hand over his forehead which had showed a few wrinkles lately, he was getting on with age, and she saw that his dark hair had streaks of gray here and there, and Cagalli was suddenly remorseful, but she clamped her mouth shut and bit her lips a little. They tasted cold.

"I know I said that," he was continuing blandly, "But wouldn't speaking to Thornier even hours before his release still be considered breaking a promise to Athrun? And you know Athrun wouldn't approve of this. It's obvious enough without me pointing that out, and you aren't a foolish woman, Chairman, you're intelligent even by Coordinator standards in all honesty, of course, provided you don't lose your temper and become a bull in some unlucky china shop, but then again, you don't need someone like me to say something like this."

Curling her fists into balls, Cagalli tilted her head a little and closed her eyes to, trying not to think of Athrun and what he had promised her not to do. She wasn't exactly breaking the promise either, she had Kisaka, didn't she? Of course she was perfectly able to defend herself if Thornier tried anything funny, which was highly unlikely anyway, he had tranquilisers injected almost every four hours, and Kisaka was there to back her up in addition. So she wasn't really doing anythign stupid by requesting that she speak to Jun Thornier hours before his release, the parole granted because of his good behaviour. The reports had said that he was recovering splendidly from manic depression, was it not? So what were the odds of him killing her and Athrun finding out?

A seocnd later, a sound rattled her out of her thoughts and she watched cautiously as a man was led in by officers. His hands weren't bound, but there were two , and she felt smore than a little apprehensive, but he was seated before her in an instant and Thornier was looking at her and smiling. Imagine that! Smiling!

"Nice to meet you," he said politely, and his eyes had the sort of dazed look she knew was achieved only with a few tranquilisers, and she muttured a bit laggedly, "Same."

There was a pregnant pause and they stared at each other, and she noticed that his brown eyes were limpid but weary all at once. Jun Thornier, who knew if he was sane or not? Certainly, he had pleaded to be medically unsound, and half the tests had proven true, but the other half, she didn't know. They had passed him off as a slightly insane person, suffering from the throes of manic depression, and that meant they couldn't execute him even though he had tried to kill Cagalli on national television, didn't it? She hadn't been too bothered about the outcome, in fact, she had been relieved that he wouldn't be killed because he was a victim of war himself, he had lost his mind in some aspect of some kind, she wouldn't try and fault him for that. But now, it was different.

He had been an EA Berlin citizen, in fact, he had struck when she was there, nearly close to two years ago. Then he had been brought into the jail for imprisonment after the death sentence had been wavered on account of his mental instability. And Cagalli might ahve forgotten about him, except that she couldn't, and she felt fear when she looked into his eyes, those fathomless pits of nothing. Getting away from work was difficult, but Kisaka had arranged the swiftest shuttle to bring her here to make the dinstinction between sanity and insanity. It was difficult, but she had to do it, if not for herself, then for Athrun.

She had to be sure Thornier was sound when he was released, sane with the help the drugs provided gave to him. Because if he wasn't and he still bore a strange grudge she was still trying to grasp and understand, then-

Feeling an urgent need to continue what she had set out to do, Cagalli swallowed a little and gulped, then she spoke as evenly as possible, addressing Thornier, "Do you know who I am?"

"Sure I do," he answered immediately, almost happily, the grin on hsi face was bright, idiotic even, "I watch television in here you know. You're the Supreme Commander of ORB, of course I know that! You can't expect me not to!"

"Right," Cagalli repeated helplessly, "And would you like to introduce yourself?"

"No need," he murmured, his eyes fixated on her neck, and she felt the fine hairs at the back standing on their ends, "You know who I am and therefore came to see me before I was released. I'm not an idiot."

"I never said that," she interrupted hurriedly, "I suppose I came here to tak to you because I wanted to make sure you were fine and could adjust well-,"

"So I wouldn't try to kill you again?" Thornier asked gleefully, and she saw, with terror rising like a wave in her, that his eyes held an inhumanly terrible glint, but a second later, it was gone, and she wondered if she was seeing things. It wasn't possible anyway, she told herself hurriedly, trying to calm the frenzied beating and the erratice pulse, he had tranquilisers, he wouldn't be crazy and a lunatic and attempt to kill her and everything.

"Look here," she said forcefully, more forcefully than she had meant to sound, "I came here to find out why you disapprove of Coordinators co-habitating with Naturals."

" Of course," Thornier replied gently, almost talking to a child he was affectionate towards, "My parents were Naturals living in a Coordinator dominated area and they got killed. My relatives had the same fate, and then the neighbours, of course three times of the same experiment with the same results proves that we shouldn't put rabbits and wolves together."

"But that was in the past!" she protested loudly, forgetting that she had meant to be controlled and cool and all that, "I mean, look at the world now! It's fine isn't it? Why should you hate me because I believe in what is true? The results speak for themselves!"

He snickered at her, and looked like he was going to say something, but his eyes were limpid again as he murmured, "I don't hate you. I only hate everything that encourages Coordinator-natural relations. They aren't meant to work."

"Stop it," she demanded angrily, her temper flaring and something quite ugly on her face, "That means you don't approve of the world as it is now, that is equivalent to being against everything I stand for. And you say relations like that aren't meant to work? I know what you're talking about, you- You leave us, no you leave him alone!"

And the next thing she felt was Kisaka grabbing her hand and pulling her out, the legs scrapping indignatnyl agains the cold floor as she was led out, half-forcefully by him. But as she was hauled off, she remembered screaming her throat hoarse, like she was the mad one, like she had no more sense, like she was the one who ought to have been nursed with tranquilisers instead of the lunatic who sat elegantly before her, smiling tranquilly. Five hours later, a good shaking from Kisaka, and two steaming cups of tea later, Cagalli sat in her office back in ORB, her head in her hands.

She considered calling Athrun and checking to see if her was alright, but then if she did, he'd know she had gone and spoken to Thornier. He wouldn't forgive her, that she was sure of.

Exhausted suddenly, Cagalli ran her hands through her hair, and she was so rough in her actions, she felt silky golden threads being yanked loose and entwined around her fingers. A glimmer of silver teased her, and she took the ring off slowly, feeling the band of metal lose its hold on her finger. Then she trembled violently and she leant back in her chair, recalling the way Jun Thornier had looked. His eyes were so wise and so cold. He wasn't irrational now, he was rational and she suspected that he wanted something. Was he even mad now? Was he sane? Was he trying to pull the wool over her eyes and harm all of them now?

But she'd protect Athrun,didn't she declare that she would in the first war, even when she had been a fool at sixteen?

And now she was twenty-three and still a fool for him.

Before she had been dragged out and Thornier brought back to his cell to be prepared to leave the place, her tormented screams had filled the air.

She had screamed, "Leave him and I alone! Leave him and I alone! Leave him-"

And silence had subsequently replaced the screams once she was brought away from Jun Thornier. Tears were welling in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks, and she put her empty styrofoam cup on the trya Kisaka had left there and brushed them away, impatientl;y and angrily. She had better things to do then cry and despair. Cagalli Yula Atha wasn't a princess in a tower, she told herself angrily, biting her lips again, she just wasn't.

Flipping open her cellphone, she jammed her fingers on the buttons and with shaking fingrs held the device, wiaithg for the operator to put her through. A minute later, Cagalli's insturctions were whizzing through the lines, and her bodyguards were nowhere in sight. All but two, had departed for the ZAFT base.Their priority was no longer her, it was Athrun Zala.