Part 15
Previously-
Athrun smiled and surprisingly blushed too, as he pulled Cagalli to her feet.
For Ryo, it was confusion, and then suddenly there came a comprehension and a very quick wave of fury that passed through his face, contorting his features. In an instant, it was gone, and his face was blank once more.
The party of 5 sat in the communications room that evening, which consisted of a whole lot of fancy equipment and two screens. On one screen were Kira and Lacus, and on the other, there was the Reyn's second in command, the deputy chief inspector. Kira was looking a trifle nervous, while Lacus was looked happy to see all of them. The deputy looked troubled, and riffled through a few papers as he frowned.
"Chief inspector, I'm afraid that investigation has found some rather startling breakthroughs." The deputy began, "The first assassin, Gerald Naras, is distantly related to Jona Roma Saran. In fact, as you probably have already noticed, his assumed name spelt backwards gives you 'Saran'. He was… faintly obsessed with Saran, and we believe that his motive in participating in this operation is because of… err… the Princess' actions against Saran during the last war."
Cagalli's eyebrows shot right up. "Faintly obsessed? How 'faintly' are we talking about?"
"Let just put it this way – when we visited his apartment today, we discovered some things hidden away beneath the floorboards under his bed that we hadn't previously. In there, there was a collection of every newspaper article Saran appeared in, a photocopy of his birth and death certificates, a whole photo album full of his photos, bits of his diary, and even some of Saran's handkerchiefs, a pair of his shoes, and some hairs and nail clippings." The deputy rattled, looking a bit disgusted at the last few items on the list.
"Wow… That… IS… disturbing." Cagalli commented. "So this guy was… erm… a big fan of Jona, huh?"
"Indeed. Aside from that, he attended Orb University with the second assassin, Aaron Dayes. They were apparently in the same course, and were relatively friendly with each other."
"Please, don't tell me Dayes is a Saran fan too."
"No, no, his motives were… thankfully different. I believe that his motivation was the fact that his entire family was killed during the first war. He wanted revenge against the royal family, I would expect."
"Ah." Cagalli replied, and for a moment, she thought of Shinn Asuka, whose family was also killed in the war. How many more people were there who hated them because of the decisions that her family made?
"What's disturbing is how… he managed to get into the palace, and even that job as a waiter during the ZAFT's annual ball." The deputy continued. "I understand that all employment in the palace is screened personally by Kisaka, however, I couldn't find any of Dayes' interview or job application records. It was as if he was just given the employment pass and turned up for work one day."
"Which means…" Athrun said suddenly, his eyes lighting up.
"There is a mole." The deputy finished grimly.
This newfound fact caused most of them to gape in shock, even Kira and Lacus who were listening in. Athrun's posture grew noticeably more rigid, and he put his arm around Cagalli's shoulder. Cagalli, who would have shrugged it off if she weren't so deep in thought, was frowning and looking a bit bewildered.
After a few moments, the deputy gave a small cough and all eyes were raised to his screen again.
"Yes, so… That's the end of my report." The deputy said rather awkwardly.
"Moving on – Mr. Yamoto and Miss Clyne, is there anything you two would like to report?" Reyn asked. Immediately, Cagalli's eyes shot to their screen, and when she saw the expression on Kira's face, an anxious expression immediately appeared on her face.
"What happened?" She demanded.
"Well… uh…" Kira looked at Lacus for support, and she smiled at him encouragingly. He gulped, smiled back weakly, and then continued with his eyes downcast. "Erm. Hahaha. It's rather interesting really."
"Really?" Cagalli said, her voice sounding dangerously pleasant. "Do tell, brother dearest."
"Hahahaha… I…er… sort of got the schedules mixed up a bit."
"A bit?"
"Yes, erm. I know I was supposed to meet the Asian ambassador for lunch yesterday, and I found a list of things of what to do and what not to do, but I er… didn't think I would need it that much."
"Kira…"
"I'm sorry, Cagalli! I didn't know he was lactose intolerant, or I would never have offered him that slice of chocolate cake! I-…" Kira's voice died away as he caught the look on Cagalli's face. "Ca- Cagalli? Are you- are you alright?"
The room was dangerously silent, and all eyes were on the Princess, who was looked positively livid with fury. Finally, Cagalli exploded.
"YOU, KIRA, ARE ONE DEAD MAN WHEN I GET BACK TO ORB! DO YOU KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THAT MEETING WAS? DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE? I AM GOING TO PERSONALLY MAKE SURE THAT YOUR LIFE BECOMES UNBEARABLE. I AM GOING TO-"
As Cagalli continued with her tirade, the rest of the people in the room tried to restrain her. When it became obvious that there was no way she was going to calm down if Kira was within her sight, they started to drag her out.
"…AND I AM GOING TO LET LOOSE A PACK OF HUNGRY DOGS ON YOU! IF YOU INSIST ON BEING SO COCKY AND NOT REFERRING TO THE LISTS I GAVE YOU AND SCREW UP AGAIN, I SHALL SWIM BACK TO ORB IF I HAVE TO AND STRANGLE YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME, KIRA?" She said before they managed to slam the door shut.
Kira and Lacus were left staring into blank space.
"That went well." Kira said bitterly.
"Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out." Cagalli repeated under her breath, squeezing her eyes shut. I will not worry about Orb, I will not worry about Orb, I will not wo- Oh, who am I kidding?
She had walked out to the beach again, walking barefoot and enjoying the feel of the fine grains of sand on her skin. The sun was high in the sky, and she squinted upward to look at it, shielding her eyes with her hand. It was a hot day, and Cagalli's throat felt a bit raw and dry after ranting.
She was debating whether or not to go back to the house to get a drink of water when all of a sudden, someone had thrust a bottle of water into her line of vision. Cagalli stepped back, feeling momentarily taken aback. Then she looked at the person holding the bottle, and then immediately frowned.
"Oh. It's you."
Athrun raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" He said, somewhat indignantly.
"Erm. Nothing. Er… What brings you here?"
"I thought you might like something to drink. After all that shouting, I mean." He replied as he held out the water to her again.
"Oh. Thanks." Cagalli said as she took it, feeling rather grateful as she gulped down the water.
Athrun waited for her to finish before he started speaking again. "It's a nice day, isn't it?"
"Er. Yeah."
"So… Have you got anything planned for the day?"
"No."
"Is everything alright?"
"Fine."
"I hope you're not too worried over Orb. I'm sure Kira won't make any more mistakes after that… uh… lecture you gave him."
"Yeah."
"Cagalli… You're giving me monosyllabic answers again."
Cagalli turned to look at him awkwardly, and then she shrugged. "I'm not doing it on purpose."
"Do you remember this place?" Athrun asked suddenly. Cagalli fell silent, and it was a while before she managed to answer.
"Of course I do. You know I do."
Athrun smiled sadly, and his voice was bittersweet when he spoke. "What's happened to us?"
"What?"
"You know it too, Cagalli. Even when we first met, even when we didn't even know each other's names – back then; it was so much easier to talk."
"Things change, Athrun." Cagalli said bluntly. "People change, and sometimes, it's not that easy to piece together what's broken."
"But we could always try." Athrun replied, his voice almost pleading. He moved closer to Cagalli, and before she could protest, he had slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug.
"Athrun… what are you doing?" Cagalli stammered as she blushed furiously.
"Cagalli… please… let's just try…"
He released his hold on her waist and cupped her face with his hands instead. Cagalli knew what was coming, and her brain told her to push him away, but somehow, she couldn't move.
And when their lips met, she didn't want to move at all.
Meyrin, Ryo and Reyn were sitting around the dining table. Cagalli had run off somewhere after they had practically dragged her out of the communications room, and Athrun had volunteered to follow to her to make sure nothing harmed her.
Meyrin was looked rather thoughtful as she sat staring at the dining table, head cocked to one side.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Ryo chimed as Meyrin turned to look at him. She smiled, and then waved her hand inconsequentially.
"Oh. It's nothing much. I was just wondering about… what you asked last night. What would make someone kill… and I can't help but feel that… the reasons for wanting Cagalli's death so far are rather… absurd…"
"Absurd?"
"Well. First, there's that whole thing about Jona Saran. Though I don't know him personally, I can surmise from almost everyone that he wasn't the most pleasant of people. He was rather obnoxious and vain, and wow… It's rather shocking to think that someone would kill because he was so obsessed over him. And then there's case number 2, I mean, I can understand that Dayes was probably rather upset over his family's death, but still… Cagalli's family isn't directly to blame for it…"
Reyn laughed lightly as he listened in on their conversation. "You haven't seen anything yet. People kill for the weirdest things sometimes, and that's what makes it so scary… How unexpected murder can be."
For a while, Reyn's eyes seemed to glaze over, and then he shook his head and returned to normal. He excused himself to the bathroom, and then walked out of the dining room abruptly.
Meyrin stared at the chief inspector's empty seat. "Looks like this case has a profound impact on almost everyone."
Ryo smiled dryly. "Of course. By the way Meyrin, do you really think Dayes' motive is… nonsensical?"
"Nonsensical? Well, I don't think it's absurd as that Naras guy, but I think it's a rather… trivial reason nonetheless. I mean, I'm sure that neither the Princess nor her father would have wished for his family to die-"
"But so what? Does that bring back the dead?" Ryo's voice was surprisingly harsh, and looked a bit shocked and ashamed at himself after he said it. "Ach- I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."
"Nah, it's fine." Meyrin replied, looking a bit concerned nonetheless. "Are you ok, though?"
"I'm ok. It's just…" Ryo clenched his fist, voice straining with emotion, "It's just painful to lose your family sometimes… it's a pain that's enough to drive you insane… enough to drive you to do things that you wouldn't do…"
In Cagalli's head, a memory played -
It was the day she had met up with Athrun after he had reenlisted in ZAFT. She had run to him, her heart pounding as she came closer and closer.
"What is the meaning of this, Athrun?" She asked as she put her hands on his shoulder. "This whole time… I've been worried about you this whole time! I couldn't even contact you since things went the way they did, but…"
Athrun remained silent, and Cagalli asked the question that had been on her mind ever since he had disappeared from her side.
"But why?" She asked forlornly.
"Did you actually think that Orb would quietly back down just because you came into the scene back then?" Athrun's words came out harsher than she expected, and she backed away. "That's not what you were supposed to be doing! Before going out onto the battlefield and saying something like that, you never should've allowed Orb to join that alliance!"
"That's…" Cagalli stuttered, trying to find an explanation.
The ring she was wearing caught the shine of the sun, and it glinted brightly. Athrun's sharp eyes jumped to it, and for a moment, he looked as if there was some inner-struggle going on.
Then it was over, and his face was stony once more.
"Got it?" He said brusquely, and then he turned around.
"Ath-Athrun!" She cried out, pleading with him to change his mind one last time.
He stopped, and then looking back at her, he said distinctly, in his voice full of reason and logic, "Even I… have things I can understand but cannot agree with."
He had left her. Left her without so much as a term of endearment, left her without any assurance that he still loved her, that when the time came to make the final choice between principles and love, he would choose her.
It was a warm evening, and the sunset was blazing over the world. But as Athrun walked away, Cagalli felt freezing cold inside.
The memory struck Cagalli's mind, and immediately, she was rushed back to reality. What makes you think he's going to choose you over ZAFT this time? Her mind asked cynically. In the past, he had risked his life for you and even given up his identity for you, but in the end, duty still held a stronger calling.
Why would this time be any different?
She broke away from the kiss abruptly, and wrenched herself out of his arms.
"I'm… I'm sorry, Athrun. But I don't want to be hurt – not by you again."
With that, she ran off, tears rolling down her cheeks as she cursed herself for breaking the promise not to cry about Athrun ever again.
As Athrun looked at her quickly disappearing figure, the look on his face was almost identical to the one Cagalli wore when he turn around and left for ZAFT more than a year ago.
A/N:
Hey guys, I've noted the comments about the necklace... Yup (: I've changed it accordingly, and you can check the previous chapter for the explanation as to why I made the mistake.