CHAPTER 6: Separation

Our story continues on the next morning … …

With Athrun and Cagalli

The group of Kouga just reached the entrance of their village.

"All right everyone! Take a break today, so you all do not have to report to the Jounin Headquarters at noon. Have a good rest and report tomorrow instead" Mwu announced and approached Athrun and Cagalli.

"Athrun! So, any news on Kira?"

"Nope, not a word"

"I'm worried" Cagalli looked onto the ground.

"Don't worry Cagalli; Kira's stronger than he looks"

Mwu smiled at her and walked into the village with the others. Cagalli stood rooted to the ground, thinking about her brother. In the end, she snapped out of her thoughts and walked into the village. Athrun watched her as she goes.

"Cagalli!"

"What is it Athrun?"

"I … er … I …."

"You what?"

"I … I … was just wondering if you're free tonight"

Cagalli turned around and saw that he's blushing. She thought for a moment before replying.

"Yeah, I'm free, why do you ask?"

"I would … … er like to have dinner with you tonight"

She stared at Athrun frowning. Athrun started to feel afraid, judging by her looks.

"Ok then"

She replied and walked away. Athrun felt relieved and shouted to her.

"So I'll meet you at the Ramen shop!"

Cagalli waved her left hand, signaling that she heard him as she continued heading for home. Athrun smiled at himself, in his head, reflecting the words "Mission accomplished!"

With Kira and Lacus

Kira woke up and looked out of the cave. The sun was shining very brightly and the water in the lake was crystal clear. Lacus was fast asleep beside him, with her head leaning on his shoulder. He kissed her on the head and slowly stood up, trying his best not to wake her up. He walked out of the cave with his weapon pack, preparing to go and hunt some breakfast when a boy jumped down from behind some trees above the cave and ran towards him from the back with his katana. Kira managed to dodge the attack and drew out two of his kunai.

"I'm here to save Lacus, so hand her over!"

Kira looked at him and then into the cave. The boy saw Lacus in the cave and ran towards it. Kira jumped in front of the cave immediately, feeling unsure if the boy would hurt her. The boy jumped backwards and threw his shurikens. Kira knocked them off with his two kunai and blocked the boy's katana attack. They both engaged into a fight at an amazingly fast speed.

The noise of the fighting awoke Lacus from her sleep. She went out of the cave and saw the two boys fighting each other. Panicking, she ran towards them.

"Kira! Shinn! Stop it!"

Both boys stopped their attacks and looked at her. Lacus ran over to Kira's side.

"Lacus, are you alright!" Shinn asked.

"I'm fine, but please don't attack Kira"

"But why? His tribe attacked and kidnapped you! How could you even afford to side with the enemy?"

"Kira's not the enemy! He has protected me all this time!"

Shinn started to feel confused. As the princess, there is no way Lacus would side with someone from the Kouga tribe.

"Lacus, it's alright" Kira smiled at her.

"Kira …"

"It's also about time you go back to your village"

Lacus looked at Kira, feeling worried.

"Since you're the princess of the Iga tribe, I cannot bring you back to my village, or you'll be executed for sure. And I don't want that to happen"

"But Kira, if I were to go back, what will happen when you go back to your village?"

"I could make up a lie" Kira answered after some thoughts.

Shinn was really lost. The both of them were talking as if they're very close to each other.

"But then … you'll get punished, won't you?"

"As I've said, it's alright. Even if I do get a punishment, it's better than bring you back to my village to be executed. Since he's from your village, he could take you back safely"

"But …"

Lacus looked down, feeling very sad. Shinn looked at her and went forward.

"Sure, don't worry Lacus, I won't tell anyone back in our village about this. I promise"

Shinn hated to see Lacus feeling sad and would do anything he can to cheer her up. Since they both, as well as Stellar, grew up together and were the closest of friends.

"Alright then" Lacus finally agreed "But … will I ever get to see you again, Kira"

"I'm sure we will" He smiled at her.

They embraced each other one last time before Lacus allowed Shinn to take her back to their village. Kira watched them go and went back to the cave to pack his things before heading back to his village.

With Yunna and Stellar

Yunna sat on a huge rock beside a river, watching Stellar as she walked up and down, without keeping her eyes off the thick forest.

She doesn't look like a shinobi to me … someone like her reminds me of a daydreamer

Yunna thought as he continued staring at her.

It's been three days now. I wonder how are those boys doing, and whether if Lacus is safe and sound.

Stellar walked towards the forest and looked up into the sky. She closed her eyes as the wind blows gently onto her face and walked back to Yunna.

"Shinn and the others are returning, Stellar knows"

Yunna was about to reply when the group of ninjas that went after Lacus came back with her.

"Lacus! I'm so glad that you're alright. Are you hurt anywhere?" Yunna asked her as if they're already married.

Lacus looked irritated before she replied "I'm fine"

Yunna went up to the boys.

"So how did you guys managed to save her anyways?"

"We broke up later to spread out our search, sir and Shinn's only the one who did the job, we did not do anything" One of the boys replied. Yunna then looked at Shinn.

"Excellent job, Shinn! And did you kill those despicable Kouga ninjas"

"I sure did! They're all talk" Shinn tried to act tough as he lied.

"Good! We shall hold a party as soon as we get back"

After that, the group headed back to their village.

At the Kouga village

Athrun was nervously searching through his cupboard for something to wear. In his opinion, he must look good in front of the girl of his dreams as he finally got to date her. In the end, he decided to ask his mother for advice, so he changed into a new set of ninja clothes and left his house. He was approaching his mother's office when he heard his mother talking to someone in her office.

"This is totally unacceptable! Letting your guard down on your first Jounin mission!"

"I'm sorry, I'll take any punishment"

Athrun peeked through a slight opening at the door of his mother's office and saw Kira talking to her. He pushed open the door and went in.

"Mum, what's wrong? Why must Kira take a punishment after he had just returned?"

"Athrun, this good friend of yours allow a prisoner to escape and why should I let him go? This isn't his first mission as a shinobi and he knows all the rules of the village"

"But, Kira, he's …"

"It's alright Athrun" Kira interrupted him. "I'll take full responsibility"

"Kira!"

"That's enough from you, Athrun. Kira, you're to clean the village's training hall for two weeks"

"Understood" Kira bowed and left the office.

Athrun waited for his friend to move further away from the office before talking to his mother.

"Mum!"

"That punishment is considered light enough!"

Athrun thought for a moment before answering.

"Alright, I'm sorry for my behavior just now"

Pathway to Iga village

Lacus was walking behind the group with Shinn as they make their way back to their village.

"Thanks for everything Shinn"

Shinn stared at her.

"Whatever for?"

"You lied to Yunna about what actually happened"

"Oh that … It's fine really. I know you really hate him after all"

Stellar joined in their conversation.

"Shinn lied to Yunna? That's so not like Shinn"

"Stellar, I'm doing it as I've no other choice. If I've said the truth, Lacus would be angry at me"

"Why could Lacus feel that way? Stellar don't understand"

"Don't worry Stellar, I'll explain everything to you after we get back to the village"

Lacus smiled at them when Yunna went up to Lacus. Shinn and Stellar went up to catch up with the others as they're not allowed to listen to their conversation, as ordered by Yunna. Yunna placed his hand over her shoulders.

"So, my dear Lacus, let's have dinner together tonight"

"No thank you, Yunna" Lacus tried to speak as politely to him as possible "I've got work to do"

"Can't you leave those work for now? You must have been so tired after what happened and you need to rest"

"Thanks, but I've got to complete them as soon as possible"

Yunna paused for a moment.

"Well, if you insist, I won't force you then. Then I shall meet you for breakfast tomorrow morning"

"Can't he leave me alone for perhaps at least a week?" Lacus thought to herself.

"Erm … sure" She agreed, feeling really annoyed.

At the Kouga village

Kira was crumbing the floor at the village's training hall when Cagalli came running towards him.

"Kira! I can't believe Lenore-sama actually made you do something like this"

Cagalli seems very mad.

"It's alright. I'm at fault anyways"

Athrun was passing by and overheard their conversation.

"Athrun!" Cagalli shouted at him as she saw him approaching.

"Couldn't you persuade your mum or something, rather than letting Kira do such a housewife job!"

"I'm sorry Cagalli, I've tried asking her to give him a lighter punishment, but … I got a earful from her instead"

Athrun looked disappointed and Cagalli tried her best to calm herself now. Athrun thought for a moment, before he became serious.

"Kira, you let her go on purpose, didn't you?"

Kira looked at him, while Cagalli was shocked.

"Don't be crazy Athrun! Kira's not that sort of person!"

"I don't want to believe it too, Cagalli, but if it's true …"

"Stop quarreling!" Kira interrupted them "Athrun's right"

Athrun and Cagalli stared at him, feeling that Kira's changed. He never did anything like this in the past.

"But why?" Athrun asked him. "You knew that we're to bring that pink-haired girl back here. So why did you let her go?"

"It's because I don't want her to come here and die"

"What do you mean?" Cagalli asked.

Kira paused and took a deep breath. "She's the princess of the Iga tribe. If I were to bring her here, nothing but death awaits her"

Athrun and Cagalli looked at him with their mouths wide open.

"She's … she's a princess?" Cagalli wanted to confirm that she didn't hear wrongly.

"Kira, you let her go just because she's a princess?" Athrun asked.

Kira got mad and stood up.

"If you guys think that I've made a wrong decision, then I …"

He paused and looked onto the ground. Before Athrun and Cagalli could say anything, Kira ran out of the training hall.

"What was that suppose to be about?" Cagalli asked Athrun after Kira ran off.

"I think it's more than duty that Kira decided to let her go"

"Huh? I don't get what you're trying to say"

"It's kind of obvious, isn't it? I guess that Kira got some feelings towards that girl"

Cagalli stared at him and walked off, feeling weird for what Athrun said. Athrun looked at her as she walked away and turned his attention to his watch, realizing that it's about time that he meet Cagalli at the restaurant and panicked back home to ransack his cupboard for suitable clothes once again.

Sorry for keeping all readers waiting ... finally here's the editted version of chapter 6 after taking consideration of all reviews. What's more, I've got some bad news, this is the final chapter that I can ever upload until my 'O' Levels ends, which is around mid November. So the upcoming chapters got to wait. Since I cannot post till much later, I'll reveal some info about what's going to happen in the next few chapters, provided that I don't change my mind on what's going to happen next.

Kira and Lacus continued to remain in contact with each other, with the assistance of Athrun, Cagalli, Shinn and Stellar. However, little do they know that war is raging soon ... ...

Reviews are welcome! Feel free to write reviews so I can make this story as interesting as possible for all readers! )