:hey guys…this chapter will get on with the storyline…the last chapter kind of had you guys running in circles I guess you could say…it didn't really get you anywhere as far as the story goes…but when the idea of Yzak and Dearka getting stuck in quicksand popped into my head…I had to do it…hehe…sorry about that...anyway…here's chapter 5:
:Yzak and Lacus:
Yzak eventually caught up with Lacus and started to walk next to her on their expedition to find water. It was kind of awkward at first, seeing that neither of them were speaking. As a matter of face, Yzak didn't even know if Lacus new he was there. He decided to test his theory and say something to her, but before he could ask her anything, she got to him first causing him to jump.
"So, how's life?" She started.
"Before or after we got lost in a jungle?" He questioned harshly.
"Good point," She answered regretfully.
"So, where's Yamato, I figured he'd be sprinting after you," Yzak commented catching her attention.
"Him and Athrun were probably planning on babysitting the campsite, but in reality I'm sure he figured that with you tagging along with me, I'd be fine," She said hopefully as they made it to where the waterfall was roaring into the stream below.
"Or he didn't run away from Dearka as fast as he possibly could because he's too retarded," Yzak said under his breath.
"What was that Yzak?" Lacus questioned sweetly not knowing what he really said about her significant other.
"I said he was probably just staying there to…uhm…help get the fire started…yeah…the fire." Yzak stuttered for words as he looked in all directions.
"Maybe," Lacus agreed. "Hey look! I think I see steam coming up from in between those two cliffs!" Lacus exclaimed as she pointed to in between where the cliffs left off behind the waterfall.
"Hey, maybe their hot springs," Yzak suggested as he saw where Lacus was pointing.
"Let's go check it out," Lacus stated as her and Yzak ran over to where they saw the steam.
Their assumption was correct, there were two decent sized hot springs there with a rock separating it into two sections.
"Wow, this'll be perfect, this way Milly and Dearka won't kill each other and we can all have some privacy, you know, the girls and the guys can get away from each other," Yzak was the first to speak as Lacus went over to stick the tip of her toes in the water.
"You're right, and the water is perfect. We should go back and let the others know," Lacus called out from the bank of the hot springs.
"We have to find drinking water first. Wait a minute, if there are hot springs here, then there should be regular springs around her somewhere that we can draw some water from," Yzak pointed out as the two of them turned in all directions to see if they could find anything.
At the same time, Yzak and Lacus saw the same thing at the same time. They could both just barely make out what looked like a stream running through the woods that was coming from the general direction of the hot springs, they just weren't connected.
"Wow, maybe our luck only sucks when Dearka's around," Yzak joked, but kind of thought it was true.
The two made their way over to the stream of water as Lacus once again put her toes into the water.
"Well, it's definitely freezing," She said as she pulled her foot quickly from the water upon touching it.
"So, how do we get the water from the stream, back to the campsite?" Yzak popped the question they were both dreading to hear.
"We'll need to find something to put it in, but I have no idea what we could use," Lacus said quietly as she sulked slightly.
"We should've left this to the smarter people," Yzak whined as he plopped himself down on a hollow tree stump almost falling in.
"What smarter people?" Lacus pointed out knowing very well that none of the people that they were with were very good with these kinds of situations.
Sure they were all good at navigating their way through space and such, but none of them ever got lost in a jungle before, well maybe Athrun and Cagalli, but that was when they had some supplies and some brains, now that the war was over, they were all pretty much used to sitting around being lazy-bums.
Lacus's attention was then drawn to where Yzak was sitting, the tree stump to be exact, the hollow tree stump. Yzak eventually caught on to this staring contest and spoke up awkwardly.
"Are you looking at my butt?"
"No, NO! I'm looking gat the tree stump that's under your butt though." Lacus shouted back blushing like mad.
"What do you have in mind?" Yzak spoke up quietly.
"I hope no one else is listening to this conversation because if they are then they are going to see it going in the complete wrong direction." Lacus looked around half expecting Kira to jump out of a bush yelling 'WHERE DID I GO WRONG!'
"Anyway, where were you going with the whole staring at the tree stump thing?" Yzak helped the both of them get back on track.
"I think we might be able to use that to put our water in. If we find some really big leaves and some tree sap we can put a few layers of leaves on the bottom and pour the water into it," Lacus explained as Yzak nodded his head in agreement.
"That's sounds like it just might work, now, let's find some leaves." Yzak started looking on the ground for leaves, but considering that it was the spring, there were no leaves on the ground.
"Oh boy," Yzak said as he realized what had to be done.
He turned around to see Lacus smiling at him devishly.
"What are you thinking?" He asked uneasily.
"I'm thinking that you need to start climbing buddy," Lacus stated as she took a step closer to Yzak causing him to back into a tree.
Yzak gulped as Lacus closed in on him.
"This is gonna be one helluva long search for water," Yzak complained as he turned and started to climb the tree.
:Dearka and Milly:
"So, what are we looking for again?" Dearka sounded for the 5th time.
"For the last time Dearka, FOOD!" Milly was basically losing all shapes and forms of patience, even though she didn't have much of it to begin with.
"Well I don't see what the hell we're gonna find in the middle of a jungle," Dearka really wasn't helping the situation.
"Well we have to do something, or else none of us are gonna survive," Milly stated calmly.
"I'm sure we'll find something," Dearka said switching modes from annoying to reasonable; in fact, he did it so fast it's scary.
"You have to be the most bi-polar person I have ever met, except you go from annoying to helpful instead of, well here's a metaphor, instead of pulling an Yzak," Milly explained the ups and downs of Yzak Joule in a more subtle manner, but while she was doing this, Dearka, of course, wasn't paying attention, and started walking towards a tunnel with light at the end.
"Hey, Dearka, where are you going?" Milly questioned as she followed Dearka.
"There's a light over there," Dearka pointed into the direction that he was looking in.
"Hey, you're right," Milly said finally seeing what Dearka was talking about.
"I was wondering when I'd see the tunnel with a bright light at the end," Dearka said as he was almost mesmerized by the light.
"Dearka,"
"Ouch," Dearka cried out and broke his stare to examine his arm where Miriallia just smacked him.
"Let's go find out if we found a way of this mess," Milly cried back to him as she ran towards the tunnel.
"Hey, Milly wait up!" Dearka ran after her as they both approached the tunnel.
It turns out that it wasn't much of a tunnel, it was only 5 feet long, and what was on the other side of it, wasn't a way out, but about a 300 foot drop off with trees spouting out everywhere pretty much covering their view.
"Holy shit, this is one sick drop off," Dearka said seemingly finding his voice.
"These trees are HUGE," Milly gawked at the oversized trees as they both stood on the edge.
The trees were only a little bit taller than the ledge they were standing on, but they were still humungous.
"Look, they have fruit in them, weird looking fruit, but hey, it's still food," Dearka pointed to a strange looking fruit that looked kind of like a cross of an apple and a strawberry.
"Nice job Dearka, now how do we get to the fruit?" Milly asked while looking around for a tree branch she could jump on or something.
"We swing form these vines," Dearka said while grabbing hold of a vine hanging from one of the trees.
"Age before beauty." Milly announced nominating Dearka to do the honors first.
"You suck," Dearka retorted but then jumped off the ledge with his vine.
"WOOHOOHOO!"
"Dearka you asshole, wait until I get over there you jerk!" Milly yelled out as Dearka landed on one of the oversized tree branches.
"Come on now, it's your turn," Dearka called over to Milly from his branch.
"Is it sturdy?" she called back nervously.
Dearka gave the vine a nice tug to show Milly that it was ok.
"If it can hold me than it can hold me," Dearka pep talked her so that she would make it over without trial.
"Alright, but if I die, I'm suing you," Milly called out before Dearka swung the vine back to her so that she could grab a hold of it.
Milly kicked off of the ledge that she was standing on and felt herself fall a few feet and then from there on out she felt like she was flying. With a scream she felt herself land on something solid, and when she opened her eyes she realized that it was a tree branch next to Dearka's tree.
"Wow, that was fun," Milly commented as she looked around while letting go of her branch.
"Hey, I can reach some fruit from here," Dearka called out as he stood on his tiptoes and picked one of the strange looking fruits form the branch above him.
"Yeah, but where are we gonna put all of them once we pick them?" Milly asked while searching around.
"Uhm, that's a good one Milly, think you could come up with an answer too?" Dearka questioned as he too looked around hopelessly trying to find an answer to Milly's pressing question.
"Wait, I got it!" Milly suddenly chimed causing Dearka to almost lose his footing.
"What is it Milly, now that you have my attention," Dearka called over to her somewhat annoyed at the fact the he almost got knocked out of a 200 foot tall tree. But the fact that it was Milly that almost knocked him out of a 200 foot tall tree made it all the more while.
"We can weave the vines together to make a basket," was Milly's reply as Dearka lit up at the idea.
"That might actually work, let's do it," Dearka agreed as he grabbed a vine and examined it closely, Milly almost thought he was onto something.
"So, how do we do this again?" Dearka asked as Milly sighed heavily form the other tree.
"You have to get the vine off of the tree branch first, and then we'll worry about the more complicated part later." Milly answered while pulling on her vine very roughly.
"Okey dokey artichokey,"
"How did I get paired with this one?" Milly asked out loud as she looked up to the sky for some sign. Maybe a flash of light, a mass gaggle of birds, or possibly a bolt of lighting that would coincidentally hit her and knock her out of the tree she was now standing in next to the dumbest person on earth and put away her misery with her death.
But unfortunately, god wasn't on her side that day and just rewarded her with the happy chirps of birds and the beautiful blue sky before her.
"The one day I need it to be stormy and raining out it's not, what the hell," Milly practically whined as she found an edge from a broken tree branch and began to saw off her vine.
Luck y for her Dearka caught on to her technique and did the same as she did by pulling his vine down and using a sharp edge of his tree to sever it off.
"Wow Dearka, did you start doing that all by yourself?" Milly teased as she pulled her vine in half and started sawing off the next half.
"Two words Milly…Get naked," Dearka replied getting slightly off subject, but only slightly.
"Dearka, what does that have to do with the situation?"
"Nothing, I just always wanted to use that as a comeback, but I never had the balls to do it, but right now, you're out of reach so you can't beat the living piss out of me until- ouch!"
"That's what you think, buddy," Milly retorted happily as she watched the fruit she just threw at Dearka bounce off of his head.
"What is with you and throwing fruits at me, first at your house you throw an apple at me, and now a freaking- a freaking STRAPPLE!"
"A what?" Milly questioned her eye almost visibly twitching.
"A strapple, the stupid things look like apples and strawberries so now they're officially strapples," Dearka explained actually making sense for once.
"That's actually pretty catchy, it's gonna take awhile to explain it to the others, but they'll get it eventually.
"Ok, now let's concentrate on what we're doing here," Dearka ended their little war so that they could get back to the campsite as quickly as possible.
"Well aren't you little Mr. smart ass today," Milly retorted with a laugh while Dearka smiled widely at her.
:Mu, Murrue and Cagalli:
"Do you two realize that we've been walking for a half hour looking for firewood when firewood's really out hunting for us because there's far more wood around here than us?" Mu was the one to break the almost peaceful silence around them.
"Yup," Both of the women replied at the same time in monotone.
"Ok then, next question, when are we going to stop and get some of this firewood?"
"Eventually," Cagalli replied for both her and Murrue.
Mu finally gave up and there was silence again. Then Cagalli spoke up.
"Ugh, this silence is driving me mentally in sane, we need to do something,"
Silence again.
"How about…Simon Says?"
"Simon Say's?" Mu and Murrue questioned the blonde.
"What do we look like we're 5?" Mu asked bizarrely.
"Oh, believe me, no 5 year old has ever played Simon Say's like me before," Cagalli answered devishly.
"Ok, we'll do it, but on one condition-
"No conditions Mu, this is an all out war," Cagalli snapped back cutting him off.
"You didn't let me finish, I was going to say that on the condition that you lose and we win," Mu answered back.
"Not a chance, your done Mu La Flaga," Cagalli said while glaring at Mu.
"You're on, Cagalli Yula Atha," Mu replied with just as much enthusiasm as Cagalli.
Murrue just continued walking trying to figure out what she just got dragged into.
"Ok, I'll start," Cagalli decided.
"Mu, Simon says…go lick a tree,"
"Which one?" Mu answered back confidently.
"I don't care, just pick one, there's only about a million of them around here," Cagalli replied back.
"Alright, but, couldn't you have done a better job than that?" Mu questioned, taunting the young princess.
"Oh, don't worry Mu, I'm just getting warmed up, unless you want me to fire it up with my inner Cagalli?" She question while grinning widely, she almost looked kind of, well, devilish.
Mu just shrugged his shoulders and went over to a tree and licked it. Murrue giggled feverishly at him as he walked back spitting out the bits of bark and dirt that came off on his tongue.
"What are you laughing at, princess? You're next," Mu stated bluntly using one of her pet names he liked to use as well.
Murrue's grin suddenly slid off of her face as Cagalli looked back at her smiling.
"Murrue,"
Murrue shivered at the way Cagalli said her name.
"Simon says…lick Mu,"
"What is with you and people licking things?" Mu question amused.
"I'm taking it easy on you people," Cagalli answered back. "Let's go Murrue, we're waiting.
Murrue looked over at Mu for help, but he just looked back at her with that cocky grin of his as if to say, 'I'm waiting.' She made her way over to him as they all stopped and waited for Murrue to do her thing.
"Where do you want me to lick him?" Murrue asked choking back a laugh at how funny that sounded.
"You really don't want me to make that decision for you," Cagalli answered back.
"Murrue for the love of god don't you even think f letting her make that decision for you.
"Don't worry Mu, you don't have to worry about me letting her decide on that one, I'm smarter than that.
"Good, now let's get this over with," Mu coaxed her as she moved only a breath away from his face.
She poked her tongue out and licked his check as quickly as possible and then started walking again with a blush on her cheeks.
"I can't believe I just let a 16 year old talk me into licking my boyfriend," Murrue stated as she continued walking as Mu and Cagalli laughed from behind her.
"Ok, now it's you turn Mu," Cagalli announced as they all started walking as a group again.
"Uh oh," Mu gulped as Cagalli started thinking again.
"Hmm…Simon Say's…Smack Murrue's ass,"
MU and Murrue exchanged a look before Cagalli turned around and walked backwards so that she could watch this one.
"Why did you have to drag me into this one?" Murrue whined to Cagalli as she snickered.
"What, you don't want me to?" Mu teased, but half of him really wanted to.
Murrue could only blush as Mu closed in on her. Mu brought his arm back as if to wind up his arm up to pitch a ball, then in one swift sudden movement, Mu snapped his arm forward and made contact with Murrue 's butt causing a log 'whack' to emit and echo around them.
"OUCH!" Murrue yelped as she covered up her butt with her hands. "Did you have to do it so hard?' Murrue asked while her eyes started to water from the stinging sensation now running up and down her body.
"You know it's kind of weird knowing that I just whipped the former captain of the vessel I was aboard for more than a year right in the ass," Mu replied while rubbing his now tingling hand.
"I'm sure you'll get over it," Murrue said while giving him her famous, 'You're so done' look.
Mu just laughed as they kept walking.
"Ok, next…I think we'll do this one and then one more and then we can get some firewood," Cagalli announced while Mu and Murrue sighed in relief.
"Which means that these last two will be the best," Cagalli stated proudly.
Mu and Murrue then stopped celebrating and started going over the possibilities of what Cagalli could have in mind.
"Murrue…Simon Say's…make out with Mu,"
Murrue looked form Cagalli, then over to Mu, then back to Cagalli, then she turned looked at Mu and closed the space between him and her and kissed him on the lips. She figured that she could just do this as fast as possible and then be done with it. Bu oh, how wrong she was. Once her lips touched is, there was no turning back for poor Murrue, she couldn't help but to let her lips mold with his for just a little while longer. She didn't realize how involved they were really getting until her senses picked up him kissing her back. They were indeed making out.
OK, OK! Simon says stop! That's enough making out for one day thank you very much!" Cagalli sounded from somewhere on the sidelines of their tonsil hockey match.
The trio was so caught up in other things that they didn't realize how dense the jungle was getting. Either that or they didn't care, or at least two out of the three didn't care. Once Cagalli noticed this she stopped to catch Mu and Murrue's attention. But before she could say anything, they all heard a strange noise come from the bushes they were standing next to.
"Wh-what was that?" Cagalli stuttered nervously as the noise sounded again.
"I have no idea," Mu answered back as he held Murrue just a little bit tighter.
"I don't know either, but I don't think I want to stay here long enough to find out, let's get outta here and go find fire wood somewhere else," Cagalli concluded as she started to walk the other way.
"But you didn't say Simon says," Mu replied smartly.
Then the noise again.
"SIMON SAYS RUN LIKE HELL!" Cagalli called out as she started running away in the other direction.
"Hey wait for us!" Mu yelled as he grabbed Murrue by the waist and dragged her along with him.
:Athrun and Kira:
"So, Athrun, how ya' doin'?" Kira asked boredly as they both sat on a log and stared at the ground.
"For the 50th time Kira, I'm peachy, just peachy, even though we're stuck in a FLUPPING JUNGLE WITH ONLY GOD KNOWS HOW MANY BLOOD THIRSTY ANIMALS HUNTING US DOWN AS WE SIT HERE HELPLESSLY AND STARE AT EACH OTHER! Although I still feel like we should be doing something about it, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I'm feelin ya," Kira answered back in monotone as he continued to stare at the ground.
Kira and Athrun both sighed simultaneously.
"Jesus Christ what the hell are we gonna do with ourselves until everyone gets back?' Athrun asked while he looked over to Kira for an answer.
"We could play "let's guess what Athrun's been doing with my sister lately," Kira suggested as he looked over at Athrun who in turn blushed like mad.
"We havn't done anything like that yet, honest!" Athrun defended.
"Hmm," Kira thought about this one for a minute.
"Kira, you can't honestly tell me that you don't believe your best friend!" Athrun was starting to get worried about this one.
"Don't worry, I trust you, it's not my place to control what you both do in your time together, but it is my place to worry sometimes."
"Don't worry Kira, I take good care of her, I would never let anything happen to her, partially because she's your sister and the other half because I love her, you really have nothing to worry about,"
"Yeah, I know your right, but I can't help it sometimes, it's almost like an instinct. Even when I fist saw her at Morgenrate when I shoved her into one of the escape shuttles, I couldn't shake this feeling that I had the was telling me something bad was gonna happen to her," Kira explained.
"It's probably one of those freaky twin deals," Athrun smiled.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Kira agreed.
"So, what do you think about Milly and Dearka?" Athrun stated abruptly changing the subject.
"I think they're gonna get together by the end of this little adventure," Kira predicted while Athrun nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, not to mention how they're alone in the woods doing hell knows what right now," Athrun almost cringed at the thought of it all, but then his better half took over and told him that Dearka would probably be doing the cringing the way Milly beats him every day.
"Too bad Milly's probably beating him to a pulp right about now for singing that creepy song," Kira shivered at the memory.
"You must've read my mind," Athrun laughed as Kira eventually joined in after shaking of the remnants of Dearka's song.
"That reminds me, what about Mu and Murrue?" Athrun brought up the subject of a new couple after getting bored with the other one.
"They're a pretty tight knit couple, they'll be married by the end of the year," Kira smiled at the thought.
"Isn't it weird though?" Athrun though out loud.
"Yeah, try having them as your former superior officers, it's even weirder knowing that The commander and the captain, my practically older brother and sister, together, it's strange when you think about it, but then you look at them as a couple, and you're really not so confused anymore,"
"That must be different, you don't see that everyday, and they say those war relationships never last, well I guess they proved that theory wrong. They been through some tough times, really tough times, but look at them now, they're even stronger than before," Athrun contemplated as Kira cooked up another good topic.
It's really too bad Athrun beat him to it.
"So, how's life with my ex-fiancé?" Athrun grinned devishly at Kira who tried to hide the splash of crimson on his cheeks.
"Pretty good I guess, actually, things have been getting along pretty well with us,"
"Glad to hear it," Athrun said instead of teasing him.
He really did think they made a great couple, and he's glad that they found each other, they're a perfect match, both of them are shy and yet assertive when needed, and they're both gentle and kind hearted.
Athrun and Kira were about to go on with their conversation when a rustling in the bushes interrupted them.
"What the- Athrun began but before he could finish, 3 figures popped out of the bushes.
"Mu," Athrun sighed relieved.
"What, I didn't scare you did I?" Mu asked amused.
"…NO!"
"Whatever you say," Mu teased.
"I wasn't, honest!"
Mu just walked the other way with Murrue and plopped himself down on a log, his damaged leg from his little encounter with Yzak's newest buddy was really starting to take its toll on him. He let out a grunt of pain as his leg shot a few jolts of pain clean up to his brain when he sat down.
"You okay?" Murrue questioned at his sudden cry of pain.
"Fine, it's just this leg of mine isn't doing as well as it should be,"
"Maybe we should look at it again?" Murrue suggested.
Mu almost agreed, but then the sudden memory of what happened the last time he let her have a look at it came zipping back into his mind setting off alarms in his head.
"No thanks, I think I'll just wait until Lacus or Miriallia come back, and have one of them look at it" Mu concluded while smiling innocently at her.
She had a visibly hurt yet amused face on, and he knew she was laughing her pretty little ass off at him inside.
"So what do we do now?" Cagalli asked while approaching Athrun and her brother.
"Wait here for Lacus, Yzak, Dearka, and Milly to return," Athrun replied back casually as he moved over to let Cagalli squeeze herself in between him and Kira.
"I wonder what they're all up to." Kira wondered aloud as he looked up at the warm spring sky.
"I don't know, but I do know that I can't sit here any longer, I'm going to go for a walk, anyone want to come along?" Athrun asked but only got shaking heads in return, except for one.
"I'll go with you, Athrun," Cagalli spoke up as she sat up and Athrun grabbed her hand to help her over the pile of firewood she left there after her little hunt with Mu and Murrue. Of coarse she was the idiot that got stuck carrying it all.
As the duo walked away and out of sight, Mu and Murrue both got up to go sit next to Kira. Mu put an arm around his shoulder sand gave him a nuugie ruffling his already disheveled head of hair.
"Thanks a lot Mu, like it's not already screwed over enough," Kira replied sarcastically as he ran a hand over his hair to try and help flatten it out.
"Hey, no problem kid," Mu answered back with a big toothy grin behind it.
"So how have you been?" Murrue started changing the subject.
"I guess I've been alright, and you?" Kira replied back naturally.
"I've been pretty good myself,"
They both realized a change in Kira. Ever since Mendel, he's been a different person, stronger, more independent. Not hat it was a bad change, it was just…different. Mu of course, knew what was going on, but Murrue wasn't as clear on things, Mu hadn't exactly given her a full detailed story because he respected Kira's privacy and figured he would tell her sooner or later.
"So Kira, what exactly, did happen on the colony?" Murrue questioned gently knowing that it was a fragile topic.
Kira sighed, he knows she deserves to know about it, she was after all, like a mother to him, more like a sister than anything though; she was there for him whenever he needed her, and right now, he needed her. He let out a raspy sigh and began his story.
:Lacus and Yzak:
"Hey Yzak, how are ya' doing' up there?" Lacus called up to Yzak who was currently in a pretty decent sized tree ripping off the oversized leaves and letting them drop at the trunk of the tree where Lacus stood patiently watching a pile of leaves accumulate at the bottom of the tree.
"I think I'm stuck," He replied back annoyed while smacking the tree branch that snagged him with his free hand.
"Oh boy," Lacus sighed while putting her face in her palm.
"Well, I don't know what to do, looks like your stuck," Lacus announced amused.
"You have got to be kidding me, and I thought you were the sane one!"
Yzak flailed his arms with his statement causing the tree branch that was stuck to his sleeve to whip him in the face. He then jerked the branch forward and then let it go causing it to hit him in the face all over again. He then kicked at the branch causing him to lean back and unfortunately for him right out of the tree. He fell to the ground with an "AHH OOMPH SHIT!" kind of deal. Yes, it really sucked to be Yzak Joule today.
"Wow, either your luck just doesn't work, or god really really hates you today," Lacus spoke up as Yzak picked up his head and blew a leave out of his face.
"Thanks for that evaluation Lacus," Yzak spit out as he slowly picked himself up off the ground muttering something along the lines of "I'm gonna feel that one in the morning…if I make it till then,"
Lacus just laughed at him as she walked over to his pile of leaves.
"Well I'm sure that his should be enough," She spoke as she looked over his pile, it was about a foot high, so it should be plenty of leave to hold in a little bit of water, ok make that a lot but still, they would manage.
Lacus picked up a leaf and walked over to examine the tree
Lacus picked up a leaf and walked over to examine the tree Yzak had just fallen out of to find a stream of sap, unfortunately, there was none on that particular tree.
"There's no sap," Lacus almost whined.
Just before Yzak could speak, he heard what sounded kind of like a pecking noise.
"Hey Lacus, did you hear that?" Yzak asked, but Lacus was already walking past him to the tree that was sitting behind him.
Then they both heard the sound again.
"It's a wood pecker!" Lacus announced happily.
"Yeah, so?" Yzak didn't know where she was going with this.
"Yzak, didn't you learn anything when you were in school?"
"…No,"
"Woodpeckers peck around their nest so that the sap comes out, that way tree snakes and other predators can't get them," Lacus explained her freshman experience back in high school as best as she could.
"And?" Yzak was apparently still lost.
"We need the sap!" Lacus finally lost all of her patience with Yzak.
"…Oh, oh, oh, okay…I got it now, I got it," Yzak's light bulb finally went off. "What re you looking at me like that for? Oh no, there is no way in hell I'm climbing another one of these damn things, not a chance,"
………………………………….5 minutes later……………………………………..
"I can not believe you got me to climb one of these trees again," Yzak moaned as he rubbed the leaf in his hand against the pooling sap.
"Stop whining, you're almost done, there're only a few more leaves down here," Lacus called up to Yzak.
In the 5 minutes that Yzak wa in the tree, he'd managed to burn through the pile of leaves that now sit spread out across the forest floor next to Lacus covered in the sticky brown goo.
"Last one," Lacus announced as she handed the leaf to Yzak.
Yzak was just about to cover the leaf with the sap when he heard a loud chirping noise coming at him from the front. It didn't take him long to realize that it was the wood pecker coming back. Yzak went to quickly smear the leaf in the sap and be on his way, but the wood pecker was too fast. It came at him and paned on a branch next to him. It hopped around in all its glory and chirped warnings at him. When Yzak didn't move, the wood pecker then decided to make its move. It jumped at Yzak and tried to peck him right in the head. Yzak leaned forward and stuck his hand and the leaf in the sap, causing the leaf to get stuck to his hand. Yzak then jumped backward…right out of the tree. He, for the second time in 10 minutes, fell to the ground loudly.
"Well, at least the wood pecker left you alone," Lacus tried to make the situation better but it wasn't helping.
"Hey, Lacus?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up,"
:Dearka and Milly:
The duo had managed to make two decent sized makeshift baskets filled with really weird fruits, but they would have to do. They were all starving so they didn't care what the hell they ate, as long as it was food and it tasted good.
"So, Mr. Brightside, how do we get back over to there?" Milly asked as she pointed to the ledge that they had both formally swung from about an hour before.
"We, grab the vine with one hand like so," Dearka gestured as he grabbed onto one of the vines. "And hold the basket with the other hand like this," Dearka wrapped his whole arm around the vines that held his fruit.
"Woah, wait, you're not going anywhere without me this time," Milly announced as she grabbed onto a vine and tucked her basket underneath her arm just as Dearka did.
"Ok, now we can go," Milly told Dearka as she readied herself to swing.
Both her and Dearka stood on the edge of their tree branch and leaned forward a little bit.
"Ok, on the count of 3 Milly, 1-2-3!" Both Dearka and Miriallia jumped at the same time swinging swiftly towards their destination.
Everything was ok until they both realized that they were too high up and weren't level with the opening to the tunnel that led back into the forest.
"OH MAN!" Milly cried out as they both neared the wall.
They got closer, and closer, and a little bit closer until, WHAM! The two of them smashed clean into the wall and slowly let go of their vines as they slid down to the ground, their fruit rolling around pooling underneath them. They both landed with a thud as they lay there for awhile.
"Ouch, that had to have been the worst idea I have ever had my entire 16 years of life," Dearka was the first to speak up from his not so cozy spot on the ground.
"You got that right, I can't believe I actually thought that would work," Milly agreed with Dearka as they both slid up off the ground.
Milly tried to push herself into a sitting position. But a shooting pain in her wrist prevented her form doing so. Dearka noticed her struggle and quickly pulled himself to his feet and helped Milly up.
"What's wrong?" He questioned worriedly.
"My wrist, I did something to it," Milly explained he she got her balance.
"Let me see," Dearka reached out to grasp her arm when she pulled back abruptly.
"No, it hurts,"
"Mir, let me see your wrist,"
"No,"
"Yes,"
"No,"
"MILLY!"
"It's all your fault anyway!"
"My fault! How is this my fault?"
"You're the smart one that made us swing gracefully into a cave wall!"
"Hey, you're the one that hurt your wrist, I had no problems with the crash into the wall."
Milly finally gave in as Dearka looked her wrist over.
"Does this hurt?"
"OUCH!"
"I think you might have sprained it, you can still move it, just hurts right?"
"Yeah,"
Dearka looked around, and then let go of Milly's arm, and then found the whole that the tree branch had snagged him before by the quicksand and ripped it off. He grabbed Milly's wrist again and wrapped the cloth tightly around her wrist.
"There, good as new, almost," Dearka stated proudly, and then realized how close he was to Milly.
They were almost nose to nose, but neither of them were moving. Without even blinking Dearka spoke.
"So, are you ok now?"
"Yeah, I'll manage," Milly answered back, exhaling lightly causing her breathe to tease Dearka's face, causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise.
"We should really be getting back," Dearka had no idea why he of all people just ruined that moment.
"Yeah," Milly answered back as she slowly inched away form Dearka.
The two both kneeled down, picked up their fruit, and were on their way.
:Athrun and Cagalli:
"So, Cagalli, how have been?" Athrun broke the silence between the two as he reached over cautiously and grabbed Cagalli's hand and started to swing both of their arms back and forth.
"I'll ignore the whole us getting lost in the woods thing an answer that. I'm peachy, how are you?"
"I'll also avoid the whole us lost in a forest situation. I'm pretty good as well,"
"Well that's good, I'm glad to hear it," Cagalli answered back, letting Athrun have his way with her arm.
"So, I wonder how Milly and Dearka are doing?" Athrun wondered aloud as they continued to walk further into the woods.
"Heh, Milly probably abandoned Dearka after being driven verbally insane and left him in the woods to die," Cagalli almost laughed at the thought.
"You have quiet the vivid imagination Ms. Atha," Athrun concluded after hearing Cagalli's version of a good idea, starting to wonder if that's what she would do to him.
"Thank you Mr. Zala, it sounds like quiet the plan," Cagalli decided to play his little game.
"Really, now why would you do something like that?
"Gee, I don't know, maybe because a man by the name Athrun Zala is currently clinging to me, and would be worth getting rid of,"
"I'm hurt," Athrun pretended to pout.
"I'm sure you are Romeo, you just keep complaining and maybe Yzak's bear will come to sooth your soul," Cagalli laughed out loud as Athrun came to a halt and turned to face her.
She stopped laughing immediately upon seeing his dead serious no jokes face.
"But really Cagalli, I'm glad I'm here with you right now, and I just wanted to tell you how much I care,"
"A-Athrun?"
"Cagalli, I love you,"
Before Cagalli could protest any further, he pressed his lips to hers cutting off her words. Cagalli just stood there and did the only thing that she could, kissed him back.
:Mu, Murrue, and Kira:
Kira had just finished up his story that he was telling Murrue. Mu had moved over to the log next to them, not being able to withstand the memories that his story brought back. Kira and Murrue however, hadn't moved and inch. Murrue looked sadly into Kira's heartbroken eyes as he shifted uncomfortably. Murrue didn't know what to say, so she wrapped her arms around him allowing him to rest his head on her shoulders.
"It's alright now Kira, you don't have to say anymore," Murrue soothed as she rubbed the back of his head.
Kira felt the tears that he had been holding back for so ling start to burn streams down his face. He let them come freely, warmly excepting them as they came. He cried into Murrue's arms, not regretting a single tear. Murrue felt him crying, she could feel his tears dripping onto her bare neck and run down along her chest. She looked over to Mu, as looking for an answer as to what to do, but he currently had his face buried in his hands, the story Kira told had an impact on him as well, so she just stayed silent.
Things stayed deathly quiet for only about 5 more minutes until Kira perked up and Mu picked up his head to look over to Murrue and Kira. The silence, however, was broken when they heard footsteps followed by a loud thump from behind them. They all turned around to see none other then Lacus and Yzak.
With a little bit of trial, ok a lot, the duo had managed to get Yzak off of the ground, to make the wood pecker screw off, the leaves stuck to the bottom of the tree trunk, as well as themselves, and the water put into the tree trunk.
"What happened to you guys?" Mu asked the question all three of them were itching to ask.
"Don't ask," Lacus sighed heavily as she plopped down onto the tree trunk, nearly knocking herself into the water.
Everyone turned to Yzak.
"We met a wood pecker ok? So just lay off," The hot headed teen spat as he plopped himself onto the ground.
None of the others dared to ask, so they just let it go figuring that they would hear from it sometime down the line.
"Well, there is a good half to the story," Lacus announced.
Everyone's questioning glance urged her to continue.
"We found a hot spring," She said as excitedly as someone who was lost in the woods with Yzak for 2 hours could possibly be.
Everyone stood up at one, "You did!"
"Yes,"
"Well then let's do it!" Mu pumped a fist in the air as they all made to start walking in the direction that Yzak and Lacus came from.
"You're not planning on leaving without us are you?" A familiar voice came from where they were just about to head.
"No, of course not little sis," Kira teased the blonde ball of anger.
"Hey, I'm older!" She whined.
Everyone laughed at the two siblings as they duked it out with twigs form the ground.
"What hot springs?" Came another voice came from beside them all.
"The ones that we were planning on not telling you about," Yzak said sarcastically.
"Well some ones had a bad day lost in the woods now hasn't he?" Dearka grinned widely at his long time friend and ally.
"Humor me," Yzak replied back turning to push the group forward.
Dearka and Milly set down their baskets full of fruit and moved towards the group.
"Hey, Milly, what happened to your wrist?" Lacus asked as they began walking.
"Dearka had an idea," Milly glared over at Dearka.
"Well that must've ended bad," Yzak laughed, but he was serious.
"Shut up, at least I have a girlfriend…that isn't 7 feet tall and full of fur,"
"HEY!"
The group continued to walk towards the hot springs, looking forward to relax a little. They laughed and joked all the way there, oblivious to the eyes that were watching them from the bushes behind.
:And that's where I stop for now! I hope you all enjoyed the update! I'm sorry it took so long.
MU REMEMBERED! MU REMEMBERED! MU FRIGGEN REMEMBERED! Omg you all do NOT know how happy I am about this You'd have to be a hard core Mu X Murrue fan to understand this! I cant believe it! Ok…:regains composure:twitches: so I hoped that I got on with storyline in this chapter with they eyes in the bushed and such…hehehe…cliffy's are my specialty…even though I hate the with a passion…so here are my shout outs… you guys know the drill…any spelling errors or life threatening mistakes…just let me know…xD see you guys later!
Kari480: here's your DxM fluff! Enjoy xD
shinycry: I'm glad that everything is ok now…and I put some AxC fluff in there just for you! I hope you enjoy and continue to read this fic! And if ever you need anything or want to request something…feel free ;)
Rakusu Klein: ehehe…nope…no Lacus and Yzak for you…lol…maybe I will throw some fluff on just for you…but I will warn you that of course…the Kira and Lacus pairing will continue to reign dominant! I hope you enjoyed this chapter:3
And to the rest of you that reviewed…thank you and please continue to do so…I also encourage suggestions and ideas…so if you have any…run them by me and I'll make them work…because I am one for making the impossible possible xD
Mu: "Hey, that's my line!"
lith: "Shut up!" :hits Mu with tree branch:
Mu: "Hey those are my waffles," :passes out:
Murrue: "Oh boy,"
lith: "I'm feelin' ya' there,"
lith and Murrue:walk off whistling:
