Author's Note:Thanks for all your reviews in Chapter 1, they were really helpful :D I'm a Kira/Lacus fan as well, but I think this pairing has the potential to actually work out. Sorry for the super long delay in updating this story, getting the character interaction right was tough so I spent a lot of time fixing things up. Also, I was busy with real life... Anyways, I hope you enjoy this second chapter. Reviews are welcome whether you liked it :) or didn't like it :( I can always use some help to improve my writing skills and some compliments on what I did well. I'll keep this short so you can get reading. Enjoy! -Saikou

Chapter 2

Stellar was cold. The moment she stepped outside into the night, the fowl wind blasted against the side of her face. As if her night couldn't get any worse, it seemed like the sky was against her as well. She thought about what she should do now. But being focused on her loneliness, she couldn't think of anything. Home was an option, but returning home after her breakup felt like she just wasted her entire day. She wanted to get away from the place where she was now. Taking a step, she found herself walking down the street and blending herself with the night crowd. All the while, tears streamed down her face which she didn't bother to wipe. Even though she didn't want it to happen, her thoughts were entirely concentrated on Shinn at the moment.

That was until she bumped into someone, causing her to look up. That person calmly turned around and through watery eyes, she noticed he had dark brown hair. He looked vaguely familiar but couldn't quite figure out who it was.

"Stellar?"

Not hearing a reply from her, said person continued, "Stellar it's me, Kira."

Poor Stellar, whose eyes were so teary that she couldn't even see who it was. She gently wiped away her tears before looking back up and finding gentle, lavender eyes. It took a few seconds, but realization eventually dawned on her, causing her to chirp his name, "Kira!"

He was dressed in a grey, dark overcoat along with a blue scarf snugly tied around his neck. Near the bottom of his overcoat, one could make out a pair of black jeans that casually flared out in a boot-cut fashion. The shoes were a combination of a black, blue, and white design.

Kira took notice of her sad expression, causing his eyes to shift worriedly momentarily. He knew that he didn't know her too well even though they had met along with everyone else after the Second Bloody Valentine War, but he felt compelled to ask her.

"Stellar is something the matter?" He wasn't close to her, not like Shinn anyhow. But in any case, those were the only words he truly felt like saying to her right now.

With tears coming back, Stellar hugged Kira suddenly and buried her face in his chest, not wanting him to see her like that.

"Stellar...Stellar can't..."

"There there, don't worry," said Kira as he tried to calm her down by stroking her hair.

"Stellar can't take it anymore, Shinn doesn't like Stellar anymore, Stellar doesn't know anymore..." she said as she continued to cry. She said some other things too, but Kira couldn't hear it because she kept talking in a softer and quieter voice as if she didn't even know he was there anymore.

Kira didn't really know what to do right now. Wow it must be pretty bad, he thought. He could feel the pressure as people started staring at him and Stellar. Then he remembered how Lacus would take care of the orphans back at the orphanage. She would hug them in her arms while singing one of her songs. When they finished crying, she would offer them to a treat to help them feel better. Kira knew that he could do the second part easily, but how could he do the first part if he couldn't sing? But he also remembered that Lacus would sometimes say comforting words to the children instead of singing. Taking his other free hand while the other continued to stroke her hair, he pulled her closer to him and rested his chin on her head.

"Stellar, I'm not sure what's troubling you, but I promise to be on your side no matter what." Seeing her calm down a bit, Kira knew he was doing the right thing. He continued, "I'm here for you right now, so please don't be afraid. You can tell me anything really." He continued to stroke her hair as he thought of what else he could say. "There's nothing to be worried about. We're your friends. All of us are. Even if we're not always around, we care for each other because we're friends." It seemed to be working because Stellar's sobs were getting lighter and lighter by the second.

Somehow, Kira knew that Stellar just needed time. So for the next few minutes, no words were said as he continued to embrace her.

When Kira saw that she was done crying, he gently pushed her away so that he could take in her expression. Even though she was staring back at him a sad face, at least she had stopped crying. But something wasn't right.

"Stellar?"

No reaction.

"Stellar?

Still no reaction.

Stellar! STELLAR!" Kira shouted while grasping her shoulders to try and shake her back to the present.

Seeing life return to her eyes, Kira gave an inward sigh. "Are you okay?" he asked, to which Stellar just nodded.

Satisfied with her response, he let go of her. "Here, take this," said Kira as he searched his pockets for a pack of tissues and handed it to Stellar. After Stellar finished wiping her face, Kira asked, "I'm feeling some ice cream right now, want to come with me?" Stellar didn't know what he meant by "feeling", but she wanted to go with him, so she just nodded.

They made their way across the street to the nearby Orb Memorial park (the same park where everyone finally met each other after the Second Bloody Valentine War to lay their flowers). At first Kira went too fast, so he slowed down just enough so that Stellar could fall into step with him. The park was large and popular amongst families and couples who often liked to stroll there at night. The main reason was because there was actually an ice cream truck inside the park. Needless to say, it made great business every night.

As they walked up towards the truck, which luckily there wasn't a long lineup, Kira already knew what he wanted, but he didn't know what Stellar wanted.

"There's green tea, chocolate, strawberry, mango, blueberry, cantaloupe, cherry, grape, green apple, honey, kiwi, lemon, lychee, orange, passion fruit, peach, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, raspberry, red apple, red plum, Taiwan plum, yogurt, watermelon, peach, red bean, coconut, taro, honeydew, almond, original, caramel, mint chocolate, mandarin orange. Which flavour do you want?" asked a somewhat exhausted Kira has he read the menu off the ice cream truck.

He turned to Stellar expecting a reply, but was only met with a confused expression on her innocent-like face. Kira couldn't help but stifle a small laughter at seeing her like that.

"Blue."

"Huh? What was it you wanted?" Kira thought he misheard her while he was trying not to laugh.

"Stellar wants blueberry," she said timidly.

"Alright, by the way it somehow suits you" commented Kira as he mentally noted her choice.

I wonder why she became nervous all of a sudden, Kira thought. But he decided against asking her.

As Kira went up to order, the old man who owned the ice cream truck recognized him since Kira often walked with Lacus here in this park.

"Kira, great to see you here again. Chocolate and Strawberry, I presume?"

Kira chuckled, "Not quite, Chocolate and Blueberry."

This took the old man by shock. "You don't mean..."

"No, of course not, we're still together, so keep it down," hushed Kira. "Besides, I never come with a date in an overcoat. This one's for a friend I haven't met in some time." Couples often had their flavours memorized by the old man. So if the pair of flavours was different, it meant a couple had broken up.

"Are you sureee? She looks quite the looker" teased the old man.

"Yes, now hurry up old man," Kira said, causing the old man to stop his teasing. Two can play at this game, he chuckled inwardly. He knew the old man never liked to be referred as 'old man'.

Meanwhile, Stellar was intently waiting and watching Kira order ice cream. There was something about seeing Kira that made her feel safe and calm. That everything would turn out fine because he was close by. She didn't know what this feeling was, but she liked it and was grateful that he was here right now. As the minutes passed by while she waited and watched, she could feel herself going back to normal again.

Kira finally returned with the two ice cream cones in his hands, and handed one to Stellar.

"Thanks Kira!" said Stellar as she smiled back at him.

"Hey don't mention it, you're my friend." Inwardly, he hoped that the ice cream would help Stellar become happy again.

The two made their way to an empty bench just a short walk away from the ice cream truck and sat down, eating their ice cream in silence as they watched the stars above in the night sky. Kira was the first to break the silence.

"So are you feeling better now?" asked Kira, to which Stellar happily nodded, "Stellar is feeling much better now thanks to Kira."

Kira gave a soft chuckle at that point, causing Stellar to turn to him briefly. So ice cream does work, note to self: thank Lacus afterwards.

"Stellar, have you ever been to this park before?" He thought that might be the reason why she didn't know which flavour to pick at first.

"Yes, Shinn brought Stellar here a few times. But Kira is the first to buy ice cream for Stellar," she added. "Stellar is really grateful."

What a cheap-ass! thought Kira. So that explained why she was so nervous back there. It was the first time that someone offered her ice cream because Shinn would never buy it for her. So he tried to think of something to cheer her up again. "Well if you want more ice cream, you know where to find me," he chuckled. That also caused Stellar to laugh a bit, although for her, she almost dropped her ice cream cone in the process. "Kira makes good jokes," she said with a giggle.

Another thought came to Kira's mind and that was about what happened earlier. What had Shinn done to her that made her tear up like that? What did she mean by "Shinn doesn't like Stellar anymore"? But he knew it was still too soon to ask her since she only just recovered. He decided to store the question at the back of his mind for another time. Now is definitely not the time, he thought to himself. Kira also felt bad at how he had almost succeeded in killing Stellar during the last war, and felt even worse that even after the war, he hadn't made any effort to become a close friend of hers. Have I really gotten that out of touch with reality after the war? Have I overlooked my friends just because I had a lot of power with the Strike Freedom? He had some additional thoughts but was snapped back to the present by a soft tap on his right shoulder. He quickly turned around and realized that it was just Stellar who had already finished her ice cream cone, and had fallen asleep on him. I hope the old man doesn't see this, he thought. Turning his head the other way to the ice cream truck, he saw the old man give him a smile and thumbs up. Sneaky old man... he thought to himself.

He decided to call it a night, and carry Stellar back home. Except there was one problem. He didn't know where she lived.