JC: It's chapter 6 people! I thank you again for the wonderful reviews. I've also started writing a story in Gakuen Alice. Don't worry; I will never leave this story hanging. It's not my style. Besides, this series is my favorite!

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or any of its characters. All rights belong to Sunrise.

Entwined Hearts

Phase 06: A Bet and a Kiss

Kira's face turned pale and his fists trembled. He was beginning to sweat and his heart pumped way too fast. It was happening again—just like the time back at Josh-A.

"You and Lacus should be engaged…" Siegel finally finished explaining. He turned to his daughter, who gave him a contented smile, before he looked at Kira to see his reaction. He was vaguely surprised to see the brunette clutching onto the handles tightly. "Did I excite you too much?"

If it was possible, Kira wanted to pass out or to be hit by a Gundam.

Athrun kinda felt sorry for Kira. This is a big problem. What should you do, Kira?

This can't be happening. It just can't! Kira screamed in his mind, mentally slapping himself and wishing it was all a dream.

How could the world be so cruel to him? He never did anything wrong. He was a good leader, a good brother, and a good friend. But why was fate doing this to him? It was so unfair. He wanted to scream and tell the world that his life was going down the drain at the very moment. However, he had to present properly before the leader of Scandinavia. He couldn't be rude, could he?

"Representative…errs… should I say Kira?" Siegel Clyne said, his lips curving into a smile. "Aren't you the lucky one? My daughter here is one of a kind, I must say." He laughed heartily, as he placed a hand on the pink girl's shoulder.

Lucky one? More like unlucky one… Kira sighed silently. He briefly turned to his blue-haired friend. "Athrun, I never thought…" he whispered.

Athrun gave him a concerned look. "It was unexpected, I guess," he said. "Anyway, you have to tell them that you're already engaged to Fllay Alster."

"You're right," the brunette replied sadly.

"Lacus, why don't you and Kira get to know each other?" Siegel asked his daughter.

"I would be glad to Oto-sama," Lacus replied in her ever gentle smile.

"Um… Excuse me," Kira started, hoping he wouldn't screw up his explanation. "I have something important to say." His face turned a little serious.

"What is it, Representative?" Lacus asked, tilting her head a bit to the side. She looked cuter that way.

"Lacus, you should start calling him by his name. You are engaged to him," Siegel told her, and Lacus just nodded.

"About the engagement," Kira continued, clearly possessing a hint of hesitation. "I'm sorry. I cannot be engaged to your daughter." He lowered his head a little.

"What?! Why?" Siegel was flabbergasted. No guy would be in the right mind to turn down such a tempting offer. His daughter was one of the finest girls in the country and yet, the infamous Prince of ORB turned her down. Something wasn't right. "May I know the reason, Representative?" He became formal with him again.

Lacus grimaced. She could see there was something wrong with Kira. She could feel it.

"I don't wish to go against my mother's promise," Kira said, clasping his hands together on his lap," but I'm already engaged to Fllay Alster."

Siegel gasped in surprise. "You mean the FLLAY ALSTER? Isn't she the daughter of Vice-Foreign Minister George Alster?"

Kira nodded in reply. He knew how much Siegel Clyne cherished the promise he made with his mother, but he couldn't afford to get into another arrangement. He already has a priority with Fllay and he planned to keep it that way. He was expecting some kind of retort or argument from the wise leader.

However, Siegel Clyne didn't not agrue, instead he laughed out loud but in a gentlemanly manner.

"What?" Kira raised an eyebrow, thinking if there was anything amusing about his explanation.

Athrun was getting some bad vibes again.

"That George," Siegel said in the midst of his laughter. "He beat me to you, huh?"

"I beg your pardon, sir?" Kira was getting confused at his actions.

"Kira, George and I were good friends with your parents. We all knew about the promises and we expected this to happen."

"Huh?"

"Listen carefully, Kira." Siegel composed himself and looked at Kira half-seriously. "George and I made a bet to see which of our daughters would win your heart."

"A bet?" Kira muttered, looking a bit annoyed. What was he, some kind of price in a gambling arena?

"Kira, both of us want you for our daughters. Let's see who will win your heart? Is it my lovely daughter Lacus?" Siegel held both Lacus' shoulders this time. "Or will it be the feisty young Fllay Alster?"

"This is…I don't know anymore…" Kira threw Athrun a pleading look. He wanted to get out and ran away from the country.

Athrun sighed deeply, giving him an apologetic look. He couldn't do anything to stop the leaders' decision.

ORB Central Park

It was exactly 3 PM.

Rusty was sitting on the bench by the fountain while tinkering with his cellular phone. Actually, he was playing a game and he seemed to be beating the level quite fast. He was clad in a sleeveless green shirt overlapped with a dark-green vest, and orange pants with a black belt around. He wore a dark green wrist band on the right and a silver bracelet on his left wrist. He looked extremely hot that the girls passing by couldn't help but stare at him. But he paid no attention to the gawking girls and continued to mess with his game.

A few seconds later, a blonde girl arrived at the park and approached Rusty. She stood before him and faked a cough to catch his attention.

"And I thought you would be late since most girls come late," said Rusty. He put away his phone and laid eyes on the girl. "Hey there, princess…" He smiled.

Yes, it was Princess Cagalli Yula Athha. She came as promised. She was dressed in a plain light-green fitted blouse, white Capri pants, and white sneakers. As usual, her looks were hidden under sunglasses and a white cap. "I'm not like most girls, you know," she snorted, placing a hand on her hip. "And don't call me princess. It's so annoying. I don't feel like a princess at all."

Rusty let out a snicker. "You're really different from the girls I know," he said.

"Yeah, whatever…" She rolled her eyes away. "So, what are we waiting for, a bus? I thought we were going to hang out." She was never the one with patience.

"All right." Rusty stood up and fixed his vest. "I parked my car in front of the park. Let's go there."

"Wait a minute," Cagalli said, crossing her arms. "Before anything, where are you planning to take me?"

"To the beach," he simply answered, walking pass her. He slid one hand into his pocket before turning his head back to her. "I have something good to show you, CA-GA-LLI."

A smile crept to her face. "It's always better to call me by name and not by some title." She went beside him and tugged on his vest. "Come on, let's go!" She started walking, dragging the poor Rusty along.

For a princess, she sure is pushy. Rusty giggled at the thought. Well, despite his position, he just let the blonde drag him all the way to his car.

ORB Military HQ

"KIRA-SAMA DID WHAT??!!!" Jean screamed over the video phone where her big brother's image was shown.

"Jean, settle down. You're overreacting," Athrun told his little sister.

"B-but… How can this be? Nii-san, Kira can't be engaged to two girls!" Jean had just gotten word from Athrun about the whole engagement and bet thing done by Siegel Clyne and George Alster. She didn't know whether to be mad at the two leaders or to be happy that Kira gets two beautiful ladies. Oh wait, she should feel sorry for the Representative! "Nii-san, where's Kira-sama right now?"

"He's in the guest room," Athrun replied, heaving sigh. "He said he wanted to be alone for a while. I can't blame him."

"Nii-san, how will Kira-sama explain this to his sister?" She suddenly pictured the blonde princess blowing like a volcano in front of the brunette.

"I don't know. He better be prepared."

"But I wonder," Jean muttered, resting her chin on her hand.

"What?"

"Which girl will Kira-sama choose? Lacus Clyne is a great singer and a sweet-loving girl, while Fllay Alster is feisty yet hot." Jean pondered about the two girls for a moment. "You know, I would choose Fllay-san for him. Fllay-san can definitely balance out Kira-sama's personality." She gave out a smug.

Athrun raised an eyebrow at her, thinking how absurd his sister can be at times. "Why do you look excited about this, Jean? Shouldn't you be against this engagement thing?" he grumbled.

"Hey, I'm just voicing out my own opinions!"

"It's not actually helping the situation."

Jean slammed her fist on the desk and glared at Athrun. "Nii-san, how about you?! I'm sure you can decide between the two of them! Come on, who do you think is better for Kira-sama?!" She was shouting way too loud.

Athrun covered his ear. "Pipe down, Jean! You don't have to shout. I can hear you loud and clear." He placed his hands down and looked at Jean's image on the screen. "I can't answer that, you know. It's up to Kira to decide."

"Tch… Nii-san, it's not so hard to choose."

"Whatever, Jean… I'm signing off now."

"Wait, Nii-san!" Before she could continue, Athrun had hung up and the screen went blank. "Nii-san, darn you!" She clenched her fists in irritation.

Beach

They were now strolling at the beach, by the seashore, as they admire the picturesque view over the horizon. Birds flew high up in the skies and the clouds were white and puffy. The sun wasn't too hot and the breeze was so refreshing. It was definitely a perfect day.

A perfect day indeed, Rusty silently thought, as he stole another glance at the blonde beside him. Upon their arrival at the beach, Rusty kept talking about his childhood memories to her. He was really amazed on how she listened to every single word that came out of his mouth. He was glad that she was a good listener. All along, he thought his stories were lame and boring. But seeing Cagalli so interested made him think otherwise.

"You played a prank on the teacher just to avoid getting a quiz?" Cagalli said.

"That's because I didn't study the night before. I had no other choice. I didn't want to get a low grade either, you know." Rusty explained nervously. He noticed how annoyed Cagalli looked after he told her about his poor teacher back in elementary. "Sorry for being a mischievous little brat before…"

"What are you saying?" Cagalli said, crossing her arms behind her back. "I think that was a great prank." She smirked.

Rusty's face lighted up. "Oh, really?"

"I used to play pranks myself. Hmm…maybe I'm still doing some right now…" She winked an eye at Rusty and smiled.

At that moment, he blushed in 10 shades of red. "Uh… Is that so?" He let out a chuckle as he scratched the back of his head. His heart was pumping way too fast for him to calm down.

"Anyway, why did you bring me here?" she asked, as she sat down on the soft sand.

"Like I said, I have something good to show you," he replied and sat down beside her.

She shrugged. "And what is that?" The moment she turned her head at him, Rusty leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. "Ahmm…?" Her amber orbs grew wide as marbles, as she felt his hot lips against hers. Rusty was kissing her, kissing her passionately that it almost felt so tempting.

To be continued…

JC: Should I run and hide now from the AsuCaga fans? Gulp… I guess so… WAH! Please forgive me! I'm really sorry! I just thought it would spark up the plot that's all. Oh, don't get mad at me. I'm just a humble writer with weird ideas coming out of my head. Rest assured, I'm still an addict AsuCaga fan. Rusty is just an extra party, believe me. Kira is also facing a situation too and it's a rather big one. I'm gonna update soon. Please review and no flaming.