Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Chapter 5: Feeling appreciated doesn't always feel good.

A/N: Does anyone want to see what Maika and Natsume looks like? I'm not sure if I want to draw him…TELL ME!

x.x.x.x.

"HE WHAT?!"

"S-sir, he left! W-w-we didn't know where he was going!" Luna cowered to her chairman.

"HOW COULD HE JUST LEAVE? WHERE DID HE GO?" Durandel yelled to Luna, Rey, Athrun, and Natsume.

"Sir, we are looking for him at the moment. He will be found soon." Natsume said sounding bored.

"You better keep your word Natsume." Durandel stomped off.

"What's his problem, geez." Natsume mumbled.

"He is merely worried about where Shinn has gone. I'm sure he is just wandering around." Athrun said looking at Natsume.

"Sure, if you say so." Natsume walked off leaving Athrun with Luna and Rey.

Athrun sighed, "Where are you Shinn?"

x.x.x.x.

Cagalli smiled at the sight in front of her. Akihiko was sitting on Shinn's lap and Shinn was telling stories.

"So what do you think?" Kira asked.

"He could stay here with you and Lacus. Akihiko seems to like him." Cagalli told her brother.

"But, when the time comes, we will all return to the battlefield." Kira replied, making Cagalli sigh.

"And on that battlefield, tension will rise even more, considering who we are up against." Cagalli said.

"To stop the new war, that is our goal." Kira stuck out his hand and Cagalli shook it.

"I'll keep your word on that." Cagalli replied.

"Mommy! Uncle Shinn is a good story teller!" Akihiko yelled from where he was.

Cagalli smiled and walked towards the two boys, "He is? Not better then mommy right?"

"My stories so kick your stories butt." Shinn stuck out his tongue.

"I'll let you believe that for now Asuka. One day, we will have to see." Cagalli smirked.

"Mommy! Look at the TV!" Akihiko said pointing to the TV.

'The representative of Orb's house has been burned down, Luckily Ms .Athha was not at her home. The fire killed everyone inside, except for one bodyguard. There are currently no suspects, but they are some suggestions that it was Plants and ZAFT. The total dead is 47.'

Kira, Lacus, Shinn, and Cagalli's eyes widened.

"This can't be…There's no way!" Cagalli yelled.

"I have to go back!" Cagalli ran to the door, but Kira blocked her way.

"If you are going back, I'm going with you!" Kira looked down to her.

"Fine, we need to hurry back there!" Cagalli ran past her brother near tears.

Kira quickly ran inside to a room, grabbing what looked like a gun. He hid it in his jacket to not scare the children. He walked to Akihiko, placed his hand on the toddler's head and said, "Stay here with Aunt Lacus and Uncle Shinn, okay? Uncle Kira and mommy will be back."

Akihiko smiled and said,"Okay! Make sure to protect mommy!"

Kira smiled to the boy and walked towards Lacus. He hugged her and whispered, "We'll be back, I promise." Then he kissed her cheek then ran out the door.

Lacus sighed and she turned to Shinn.

"Would you ever imagine that this is how people cause havoc and chaos? This is what is called revenge…" Lacus said with sad eyes.

x.x.x.x.

Kira drove as fast as he could to reach Orb. He glanced at Cagalli and saw that she was tearing up.

"Cagalli, don't worry. Everything will be fine." It sounded like he was trying to convince him more than her. (Did that make any sense?)

She gave a sad smile, "I don't think you're right this time Kira. Things are going to happen and people won't make it out alive…I can't promise anything."

Kira looked at his sister and saw the serious expression on her face. He sighed knowing she was willing to risk her life.

"Cagalli…you can't be that reckless. You have responsibilities now, if we…if we lose you, then Orb will be in chaos. You know that."

"Kira, I can't just stay on Earth letting you do all the fighting! I have my responsibilities, and one of them is protecting everything I care for! I care about Orb, that's why I'm willing to fight for it. You can't keep me locked in an office! I'm fighting, no matter what you say."

"So, what about if we fight with gundams? Then what will you do? Your piloting skills aren't good enough and Strike Rouge can't be used! Now what?" Kira raised his voice, almost yelling at his sister.

"I know I wasn't all that good four years ago, but I have gotten better! And I know that Strike Rouge can't be used, but…at Orb, we have five secret gundams waiting to be used. One of them…was especially designed for me. I CAN STILL FIGHT!" Cagalli glared at her brother.

Kira merely kept his eyes on the road and whispered, "I don't want to lose you. You are the only relative I have besides Akihiko, and I don't want him to lose his mother…"

Cagalli nodded and didn't reply. Akihiko…he knows his mother's responsibilities. So he should understand that sometimes, people have to die. It brings forth new beginnings to everyone.

"You won't lose me." She whispered, though the brunette didn't hear it.

x.x.x.x.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"Rey, it's necessary. I know you don't want to, but it's the only way to find Shinn." Captain Talia told him.

Athrun had to hide a smile as he watched Rey talking with Talia. Athrun, Rey, Luna, and Natsume were going into Orb, (looking like normal civilians) and were going to search for Shinn. Rey disliked the idea of wearing anything but his ZAFT uniform. Athrun found him very funny, which was very…different.

Athrun felt fine with what he was wearing. He was wearing dark jeans, with a green shirt and a black jacket. Rey was wearing dark jeans (-- A/N: I had to resist the urge to make Rey wear dark skinny jeans…) a black and white polo. Natsume was wearing black skinny jeans, a black turtle neck, and he had a ring earring on his left ear.

"I never knew his ear was pierced…when did this happen…" Athrun thought staring at the teen.

Luna was wearing jean shorts, a white tank top, and red jacket.

"Are we ready to go?" Natsume said, once again sounding bored.

"Yeah, let's hurry up and find him." Rey said as they started walking.

"Hey, Athrun. What's that?" Luna asked pointing to his necklace.

Athrun looked down and grasped the necklace that Cagalli gave to him four years ago. He still had it, because, well…he didn't know.

"This is something someone important gave to me, during the first war." He admitted.

"Someone important? Like, a girlfriend!" Luna asked grinning at the older boy.

"Something like that…" Athrun looked away.

"She must have been in love with you then, for giving you that Haumea necklace, I heard they were very rare ad only found in Orb." Luna told him.

"Is that so…" Athrun held the necklace in front of him. The color of it always reminded him of Cagalli's personality. It was fiery, just like her.

"Hey Luna, stop the chit chat. We are going to drive to Orb." Rey called.

"Let's go!" Luna said running to Rey.

x.x.x.x.

Cagalli looked towards her mansion, which was burned down and destroyed. Debris was covered everything in front of her. She held back tears because there were cameras everywhere, she couldn't let them see her cry. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned and saw Kira smiling a sad smile.

"Do you think there is anything left?" Cagalli asked her brother.

"I doubt it. But I hope we can find all the dead bodies." Cagalli cringed at that.

"Kira…Maika was in the mansion…" Cagalli whispered.

Kira turned to his sister and saw that a tear ran down her cheek.

"MAIKA!" Cagalli screamed, as if waiting for the man to respond.

"Hey, shut up." Cagalli turned around and saw Maika, standing in front of her, clutching his left arm with his right hand. He had cuts all over himself, and his clothes were covered in blood.

"Maika!" Cagalli ran towards the man and hugged him.

Maika almost fell back as the girl collided with him, but none the less he smiled.

"What happened here?" Kira asked Maika.

"What do you think? Three people broke into the mansion, killed almost everybody, and then burned the house down. I was not in the mansion, but I was in the underground base." Maika explained.

"Underground base?" Kira asked tilting his head.

"You haven't told him?" Maika asked Cagalli.

"I'll explain everything later. Let's just get you to the hospital." Cagalli told Maika.

Cagalli and Kira helped Maika into an ambulance, and then they followed it. Kira was driving as fast as he could.

"Cagalli, what did Maika mean by "underground base"?" Kira asked his sister, stilling driving.

Cagalli sighed, "Underneath Orb, there is a secret facility that we use to store our five gundams. They are the Redemption, the Destiny, the Yousha, the Junketsu, and the Toukon. We have been making them for the past four years in the case of an emergency. Maika was going to be piloting the Toukon if was needed to. So he must have been checking on the gundams." Cagalli stated.

"Yousha that means forgiveness, Junketsu means innocence, and Toukon means fighting spirit. Very nice name choices. Which one would you be piloting?" Kira asked.

"The Redemption." Cagalli replied.

"That's just a tiny bit ironic, if you ask me." Kira smiled.

"Shut up and keep driving."

x.x.x.x.

Maika was admitted into the hospital safely and was currently sleeping in one room. Cagalli was talking with officials of Orb about what to do about the deceased and what they could do to help the families.

"Kira, I think we should get back to Lacus." Cagalli said after talking with the officials.

"Yeah, I was just about to say that." Kira replied.

"We'll see you soon Maika." Cagalli patted his head and walked off with Kira.

x.x.x.x.

"Athrun, I believe he is NOT in Orb." Rey said frustrated.

"What makes you say that?" Athrun replied.

"We have been searching for SIX hours. SIX! We would have found him by now!"

"Shut up Rey." Natsume said glaring at the blond.

"UGH. What…EVER!" Rey said sounding like a total drama queen.

'This is an update on the burning of the Attha Mansion. The total dead is now 56, all employees and workers in the mansion are dead besides one bodyguard by the name of Maika Hikari. He is in the hospital in stable condition. We will have more information at our night broadcast. Thank you.'

They all turned to the TV in a display window when they heard the news. Athrun frowned when he heard that Cagalli's bodyguard survived. He never did like Maika.

"Maika Hikari? Hey, Natsume, isn't your last name Hikari too?" Luna asked.

"Yes, what of it?" Natsume glared at her.

"Nothing, it's just that I've seen Maika once, and you two look like you could be related. Funny right?" Luna smiled, not knowing that she struck one of Natsume's nerves.

He said nothing, but glared at her with more intensity.

"Let's just get back to base, I really don't feel like looking for this traitor." Athrun sighed.

x.x.x.x.

"Mommy!"

"Yes Aki?"

"Will you be going to war soon?"

Cagalli stopped reading her reports and looked down at her son. She has never talked about war with her son, so why must it come up now?

"I don't know Akihiko, why do you ask?" Cagalli asked her son.

"Because I believe that daddy, where ever he is, is going to be in the war too! Then you can find him and tell him to come back!" Akihiko smiled, not knowing that Cagalli was SURE to meet Athrun in war. She stood up, bent down to Akihiko's level, smiled, then embraced him in a tight hug.

"I wish I can Aki, I really do."

"I know you can mommy..."

x.x.x.x.

UGHH, I suck at writing stories.
IM SORRY FOR THE DELAY!
i just started high school last month, and its killing me. ahah.
ill try updating on the weekends now,!
REVIEWS, 3

peace out ;D