Part 17
Previously-
"Haven't I told you? There are some rules that must be observed! You know you're only bringing yourself to ruin by not listening to me, don't you?"
The girl stood silently, a sullen expression on her face.
"Just remember, be careful."
The girl scowled. "Yes, I know. I won't screw up anymore. I promise."
"But… It's hard, isn't it?" Cagalli said quietly. She was sitting on a chair by the bed where Athrun lay recuperating after he had escaped from ZAFT and deflected back to ORB.
"Cagalli…" He started as he stared up at her, but then she turned to him and smiled, a thoughtful and resigned smile.
"Even though we all want the same thing when we speak, why doesn't it turn out that way?"
A dream. It was just a dream – a stray memory that floated into her sleep and replayed with startling realism. Cagalli opened her eyes, sitting straight up in bed, and then immediately closed them again. Bright light shone in through the open window, warming her body and –
Wait a minute, open window? Didn't I close it the night before?
Cagalli tensed and whirled around immediately, and then she breathed a sigh of relief as when she saw Ryo sitting on a wooden chair beside her bed.
"Is anything the matter?" Ryo asked, noting the princess' short moment of nervousness.
Cagalli shook her head. "I… The window, I thought someone had gotten in since it was open."
"I'm sorry for alarming you. I thought it would be nice to get some fresh air into the room." Ryo said, frowning slightly.
"No, no, I'm quite alright." Cagalli, sounding a little irritated, perhaps more at herself than at her bodyguard. Sheesh. I'm getting paranoid… Why did I freak out at a little thing like that?
Cagalli sighed. She had spent the past two days cooped up in her room, trying to avoid seeing Athrun – or at least, being alone with him. It had been a grand total of 3 days since that fateful encounter with him where he had kissed her, and she desperately didn't want a repeat of it.
The day before, she had gone up to her room after breakfast and told Meyrin that she was going to take a nap. She only emerged during lunch, and subsequently, dinner. Athrun looked as if he had something to say to her, but she had firmly avoided making eye contact with him.
Yesterday, she had done the same thing, and quite frankly, she was ashamed with the way she was behaving. She had never been a coward. No, she was always one to look the matter in the eye and try to resolve it as well as she could as quickly as possible. This was probably why some of her decisions weren't the best they could be – she was always too rash, too spontaneous.
Ryo gave a little cough, and Cagalli focused her attention on him.
"Erm… Your Highness, forgive me for being bold, but I can't help but notice that you've been spending an awful lot of time in your room lately. Are you feeling all right?"
Cagalli forced a smile. "Sure! I'm fine! I've just been a… little tired lately. Nothing to worry about."
Ryo frowned. "Are you sure? You look like there's something really bothering you. Is it the whole deal about the attacks?"
Cagalli shook her head.
"Is it… Is it Mr. Zala?"
Cagalli's eyes widened as she took note of how Ryo had said Athrun's name. Though his voice was perfectly controlled, she could detect the faintest tremor of resentment, and it was clear that Ryo did not like Athrun at all.
Cagalli did not answer, and Ryo interpreted her silence correctly. He shook his head and clenched his fists.
"Always Mr. Zala." He muttered under his breath.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
Ryo shook his head once more and then smiled warmly at her.
"No… It's nothing. Don't worry, Your Highness, I can see that Mr. Zala does care for you. He's risked his life for you again and again. He wouldn't do it if he feel for you."
"I… I don't want to talk about it." Cagalli said, smiling wanly. "Come on, I need to get changed and then get down for breakfast. I'm starving."
After lunch Cagalli decided that she had had enough. She was the leader of Orb after all, and there was no reason for her to stay in her room and be bored to death just to avoid a man. She flung the door of her room open, and marched out to collide into a very surprised looking Athrun Zala.
Cagalli's hand was on the doorknob, and she had half a mind to retreat into her room again, but she decided against it. Instead, she squared her shoulders and walked right past him.
"Ca- Cagalli!" He called out once he had had time to recover from the impact when she knocked into him.
"Yes?" Cagalli replied, not turning around.
"Where are you going?"
"Out. To take a walk."
He walked up next to her and then smiled. "I'll go with you."
"Is that necessary?"
"Absolutely. Both Reyn and Ryo are busy, so I'll have to escort you."
Cagalli scowled. "Fine, go ahead."
The two of them walked out of the house, Cagalli skulking and looking a bit annoyed, while Athrun had a little smile of triumph on his face. Neither of them noticed a girl watching from a distance, and neither of them noticed the dark clouds hanging ominously in the sky.
"Are you sure you still want to do this?"
"Yes. I am."
"But-"
"Today's the fourth day, just three more and years and years of waiting for the princess to die will be over. Three days till my revenge, do you think I'll give this up?"
"Reconsider! There's the girl, don't you-"
"Quiet!" The man's voice was filled with agony and anger, and he slammed his hand on the table.
"You like her, don't you? You'll be ruining everything by doing this."
"No. I won't. I have a plan."
"The girl will suffer. The comb-"
"What about it? What about her? Why will she suffer, huh?"
"I- You- Just mark my words. You will regret it if you carry out your plan."
Cagalli walked along the shore, slippers in her hand, enjoying the sensation of the cool waves lapping at her feet. Athrun followed close behind, and Cagalli was doing the best she could to pretend that he wasn't there.
In fact, she was pretending so hard that she tripped and fell into the water.
As she struggled to sit up, she could hear Athrun chuckling away. She frowned and then glared at him. Athrun smiled and held up his hand to her. She ignored it and stood up on her own.
"What's so funny?" She muttered, her cheeks flaming, as Athrun continued grinning.
"I was… just thinking of how you felt into the water too the first time we met."
"Hey! That wasn't my fault! You tied me up!" Cagalli said indignantly.
"So I did." Athrun grinned.
The two of them stood like that for a while in silence, when suddenly there came a crack of thunder and lightning illuminated the sky, and then it started to rain.
"Oh. GREAT. As if I'm not wet enough already!" Cagalli groaned as she looked up into the murky sky.
"Come on, let's find shelter. It's going to pour really soon." Athrun said, as he started walking towards a cave in the distance. A cave which, Cagalli thought with a sinking heart, looked dreadfully familiar.
"Can't we go back to the house?" Cagalli asked.
"Well… The house is kind of far. What's wrong with that cave?"
"Uh… Nothing. Nothing at all."
The girl looked as the blond-haired princess and the blue-haired coordinator made their way to the cave. She had been observing them for quite some time now. Now she stood still behind the tree where she hid, peeking out and ignoring the big fat raindrops that splashed on her body. Cradling the gun in her arms, she licked her lips and made up her mind. She would kill the princess and make him proud.
She waited until they entered the cave before creeping up to the entrance…
Both of them sat on the dirt floor of the cave, looking at the rainfall and hearing the pitter-patter of raindrops as they hit the ground.
"Cagalli…" Athrun said, "I… I have something to ask you. Why are you avoiding me?"
Cagalli's heart nearly froze up when she heard those words. At first she considered laughing and telling him that she was not avoiding him and he was just imagining things, but she decided against it in the end.
"I… Are you sure you want to know?" She asked instead.
Athrun hesitated before replying. "Is this about… my transfer to PLANTs? Cagalli, you don't even know if I've agreed to the offer yet!"
"But you want it, don't you? That's what you've wanted for so long, and now it's finally come true. Can you give up this offer without looking back and regretting?"
Athrun fell silent, and then he nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because…"
Athrun's voice trailed off, and he looked towards the opening of the cave in suspicion. Cagalli stared at him, looking slightly confused.
"Do you… Do you hear something?" Athrun asked quietly.
"Erm. No?" Cagalli replied nervously. Athrun narrowed his eyes at the entrance of the cave, and then inched towards Cagalli.
"Athrun, are you sure it wasn't-"
Just then, the sharp sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the cave.
Meyrin suddenly looked up from the book that she had been reading, and then stood up abruptly. There was a worried look on her face, and she was biting her lower lip.
Reyn and Ryo stopped their discussion as they saw Meyrin look anxiously out of the window.
"Miss Hawke, is anything the matter?" Reyn asked as Meyrin began pacing around the room.
"I just – Erm, well, have any of you seen Athrun?"
"I think I saw him leaving with the princess for a walk." Ryo replied.
"Erm… Ok…"
"Whatever is the matter, Miss Hawke?" Reyn said perplexedly as Meyin started to clench and unclench her hands.
"The thing is – I mean, I don't really have any solid proof or evidence or – I just – I mean, I think Athrun's in trouble."
"My goodness, Athrun, what did you think you were doing by taking that bullet for me?" Cagalli asked through gritted teeth as she watched Meyrin bandage his arm.
"My duty? I did promise to protect you. And besides, I was only hit in the arm."
"That's because the person had lousy aim. What if Meyrin hadn't come looking for us? We'd probably have a hard time getting back to the house with your arm in that condition."
"It's just my arm, not my leg."
"But... But..."
"Speaking of which, did any of you manage to catch a glimpse of the person who shot at the princess?" Reyn jutted in.
Cagalli shrugged. Athrun, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.
"I managed to get a look at the person – a girl, I think. Rather petite, long hair. It was too dark to make out most of her features though."
"Ah. Well. Alright then." Reyn replied, sighing as he stirred his coffee.
"What the hell were you thinking?" The man said through gritted teeth. "You could have been discovered, or even worse, killed!"
"I was just trying to kill the princess." She replied sullenly. "It's not my fault that the guy had to jump up and shield her."
"I thought you promised me that there would be no more mistakes."
"This wasn't my fault!"
The man glared at the girl in fury, and then he raised his hand and slapped her hard across the face. The girl gasped in shock, and then her hand flew to her face, where his hand had left a red imprint.
"You... I hate you!" She shrieked, and then ran off.
The man sighed, and then he shook his head sadly.
"I'm sorry, Anne, but what am I to do? What am I to do?"
With that, Chief-inspector Reyn walked back to the house, looking about 10 years older than he should have been.
A/N:
HELLLLO ONE AND ALL. I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SO LONG! GROVELS
Haha. It'll all be ending soon anyway! Just 2 or 3 more chapters and then Memory will be complete. (: Hang in there, folks.
-Nacei