Greetings Minna! I have just completed the 19th chapter of Zala Files and boy am I tired. -laughs- I've been working really hard to make this chappie cute, since the ones before the new mysteries are always cute ones. -giggles- Enough from me now though, on to the chapter I'm sure you've all been waiting anxiously for. I apologize for the long delay, it was my grandmas birthday when I started work on this, so ...I got distracted by cake. Lol

Disclaimer: I do not own GS, GSD, or any of the Athrun and Cagalli hotness you are about to witness...it would be nice if I did ne? Lol

-The Zala Files- Chapter 19 : A Knight's Tale -

-December City. March 11th,CE 75. Location: Zala Estate. Time: 1pm -

It was early afternoon the next day after the whole night club incident, that Athrun Zala awoke to both good news and bad news. The bad news was that, within the span of 24 hours, another murder had taken place...and this time it was at the dance studio that Miss Loussier worked at. It seems Madame Badgiruel was found by Stellar, slumped over in her back office with no traceable wounds whatsoever on her body.

Athrun realized that he would have to get to the scene as soon as possible, but he had been entrusted with another "top priority" as well, which brings us to the good news. He was asked by Cagalli's official bodyguard Kisaka, to pick her up from the college today...which he of course, accepted happily. He threw on a pair of khaki cargo pants, a black dress shirt, and placed his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose for an added "cool" effect. If he was going to pick her up, he was going to do it in the most dramatic, romance novel-like way possible, as he was informed by Miriallia that Cagalli was being pestered by some of her girlfriends at school about her love life. Apparently the girls weren't believing Cagalli when she told stories about her and her man's secret liaisons. Cagalli was great at public speeches, but even Athrun knew that when it came down to discussing her personal life...well...let's just say she didn't exaggerate the right parts of it, so Athrun decided it was high time he took care of this whole thing by making a public appearance at the college. He chuckled to himself as he could already picture Cagalli's shocked face upon seeing what he was planning on doing. He knew Kira would freak out and go all into "over protective big brother" mode, so he would make sure his friend never found out about this...which he would leave up to Lacus as she was the best distraction to Kira that he could ever ask for. As the red knight drove down the willow and cherry blossom adorned street to the school, he couldn't help but think to himself: "What happens when that idiot fiancée of hers gets back from that trip of his?"... "Will we be able to keep this up without anyone noticing?" He heaved a heavy sigh and casually ran his fingers through his neck-length navy blue hair: "I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it." He looked at the long driveway he was headed down, aligned with even more cherry blossoms trees than the ones by the side of the road: "Wow...this is a pretty big campus. I hope she's right out front so I don't have to drive all over creation trying to find her."

In the meantime, the golden-haired Princess of Orb was standing right out front at the college's entrance talking with Miriallia, when a few of her classmates showed up at their usual time to bug her about her personal life once again. She heaved a frustrated sigh and hissed: "Look...I thought I told you...I'm engaged okay?!"... "I don't think I need to explain myself any further!"

One of the girls decided to be brave and step up: "We know that, but we don't think you're telling us everything!"... "You're leaving something out!"

Miriallia intervened with one of her patented death glares usually reserved for Dearka: "She told you that's it...so why can't you just believe her?!"... "God...are you guys so desperate and bored that you have to feed off gossip everyday?!"... "This is none of your damn business anyway, so get lost!"

Cagalli's amber eyes widened in shock at her friend's sudden outburst. All the other girls backed up at least 20 feet, afraid that Miriallia would attack them if they said anything else. Cagalli laughed: "Hey...now you're starting to sound like me. You must be hanging around me too much Miri." She glanced at her watch and thought to herself: "Geez...Kisaka sure is late today. He knows how to get here, so I'm sure he can't be lost."

Another of the curious girls turned to Cagalli and asked: "How come your butler always picks you up?"... "What about this guy of yours?"... "You say you have a fiancée...well...how come we haven't seen him yet?"

Cagalli heaved another frustrated sigh: "I thought I just told you...because he...!" Before she could finish getting the sentence out of her mouth, she noticed a black convertible come screeching to a halt right in front of them, a loud guitar solo blaring.

The blue-haired figure slowly and casually took his sunglasses off and brushed his bangs from his eyes. He put the car in park, stepped out of it, and then leaned against the car door with a small smile on his face: "Sorry I'm late my lady...traffic was a nightmare."

All of the girls' eyes widened, including Cagalli; who seemed the most shocked out of them all. The one girl who spoke up earlier stammered with a blush: "A-Athrun Zala?!" The girl next to her replied in a fangirl tone: "Oh ...My... God...!"... "It's ZAFT's prince!"... "He's even more gorgeous in person!" In the meantime, the third girl just stood there with her mouth agape, completely unsure of what to say at all in response.

Athrun chuckled to himself. Of course this was an expected reaction as he had not been in the public eye since these recent murders started occurring.

Miriallia waved and smiled at the red knight who came to his lady's rescue: "Hey Athrun!"... "What's up?!"

Athrun smiled and waved back: "Hey Miri!"... "Not much, I was just asked to pick up Lady Cagalli from school today...Kisaka had some business he had to take care of, so he sent me in his place." He flashed one of his most sexiest of smiles in Cagalli's direction: "Are you ready to go my lady?"

Cagalli, still in a slight state of shock; managed to mutter: " Y-Yes...I'm ready." Suddenly, an idea came to her and she decided to go with it. She glanced at Miriallia, who nodded and winked her silent approval of it. Cagalli took a few steps forward and then stumbled, nearly falling to the ground until a pair of slim, yet strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind, steadying her, and a voice whispered hotly in her ear: "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

Cagalli smirked, clutched her ankle, and whispered back: "No...I'm doing this on purpose." She then exclaimed aloud as she winced in pain: "Owww!"... "My ankle!"... "I think I twisted it!"

Athrun, going along with the sneaky Cagalli's plan; knelt down and gently touched her bare ankle: "Yeah...and you have a bruise too." Without warning, he carefully lifted her ankle up and placed a soft kiss on it, causing a shiver to run down the goddess of victory's spine. Then, before she could even open her mouth to argue, he had lifted her up in his arms, his emerald orbs gazing straight into hers: "Let's get you home so you can rest that ankle."

The one girl who couldn't speak before finally managed to exclaim: "Yula-san...I thought you said you were engaged?"

Cagalli flashed them a devilish smile as she responded: "I am." She glanced at Athrun, who nodded and smirked mischievously: "Well...I guess this means I may now kiss the bride." With that, he placed a long, lingering kiss upon her honey-colored lips and then smirked again, this time playfully: "Okay...time for the honeymoon!" He carefully placed a red faced and squealing Cagalli in the passenger seat of his car, and then he hopped into the driver's seat, putting his sunglasses back on and letting them rest on the bridge of his nose. He waved to Miriallia and the other girls with a warm, polite smile: "See you later Miri!"... "and...it was nice to meet you ladies." With that, they were off down the road, Athrun chuckling as he drove.

Cagalli eyed Athrun curiously: "What's so funny?"

Athrun smirked wickedly: "Those girls are gonna think that I'm the one engaged to you now you know?"

Cagalli laughed lightly in response and smiled: "Ehhh...so what. Let them think whatever the hell they want. Besides...there's nothing wrong with them thinking that. I just got a kick outta them drooling all over you the whole time you hot stud you."

Athrun chuckled: "Yeah...that was kinda funny...but also a little disturbing."

Cagalli leaned back in her seat and put her feet up on the dashboard: "So...you haven't told me yet...besides Kisaka asking you, what's the reason you picked me up today?"... "I mean, it's not everyday that the great "Prince of ZAFT" shows up at your school in person to pick you up."

Athrun smiled warmly at her: "Well...I wanted to spend some time with you before we head over to that dance studio that Stellar works at."

Cagalli nodded: "Oh yes...I heard about that in the paper today. One of the senior teachers was found dead in the back office. Poor Stellar, she must be really scared."... "I gather Auel knows of this too then?"

Athrun nodded: "Indeed he does, he was the one who passed the news on to me...and actually, he should be at the scene right now. I hope he and Shinn don't get into a fight before I get there."

Cagalli nodded in agreement and then raised a golden eyebrow curiously: "Do I detect another case around the corner for the two of us to solve?"

Athrun nodded, a small smile on his face: "I figured I'd take you to lunch first, then we can head right over there if that's okay."

Cagalli nodded and replied coolly: "That's fine with me...so..." She placed a naughty hand on Athrun's leg as he drove: "...let's step on it and take this baby for a fast ride!"

Athrun blushed slightly at the feel of her hand on his leg, chuckled, nodded, and then brought that naughty hand up to his lips and kissed it : "Your wish is my command...my lady."

Okies everyone...chappie 19 is all finished! -smiles- I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Lol The next chapter will introduce a whole new mystery and will have LunaMaria asking herself many questions about what happened between her and Auel. Lol Anyways..please...please review and I'll never be this late with an update ever again. Lol...Athrun, Cagalli, and this busy little author would greatly appreciate all the wonderful reviews and comments we can get. -lol- Till next chapter then...see ya everyone! -waves and smiles-