Wow so again, it's been ages since my last update. I have a brief vacation, and then I have exams, so my life's going to get hectic soon. I'm hoping to make another update to my other story within a week, but for now I present Chapter two of Matchmeddling:

Profile Additions

Athrun sat in front of his desk, drumming his fingers on the mouse pad while looking over the recently compiled profile.

Name: Cagalli Yula Athha

Age: 24 (which she had been very reluctant to put)

Interests: Movies, food, trying new things. Active sports and outdoor activities.

Words to describe self: Cheerful, active, friendly...

He frowned a bit. Though it was good, it didn't seem to fully reflect the qualities that he was beginning to see in her. He tacked on a quick "modest" to her description, and hoped it would suffice. In any case, it was no big deal. He'd personally be handling her case anyways, so even if the profile wasn't enough, he could make up for it.

Now all that was left was the photo. Opening the manila folder to his left, she flipped through the collection of photos he now had. Though many of them were highly amusing, only one seemed like it was a "profile" type of picture. The one that she had posed for.

He smiled, finally able to complete the profile. Now the fun could start.

"So he was?..." Lacus prompted her friend to answer. In truth, sending Cagalli to Athrun wasn't just to have fun in seeing Cagalli date. It was also to see how Athrun worked. What was it about him, or the way his business worked that made him so successful?

"Helpful, I guess." Cagalli shrugged. Even if Lacus had been probing her for the past half hour, she wasn't really sure what to say. The process seemed efficient. Easy. She didn't really do much, except answer a few questions. Now, later today she'd be going in to look at a list of people. It was like buying a house or something... Just not going to cost her a heap of money.

Kira returned to the conversation, sitting down on the sofa and eating an apple. "Cagalli.. Are you sure you want to do this? It seems kind of... weird."

"How so?" She asked, raising a curious eyebrow. Ever since Kira had found out, he'd been in severe disbelief and denial, that Cagalli was capable of dating, or even making an effort to.

"I don't know. I mean, I think that there's more to it than you're letting on. You say it's because Aunt Samantha kept telling you about how you should be having children soon... while granted, was pretty annoying... but I mean, I don't think that's enough reason to be going through all this." He shrugged. Lacus elbowed him lightly for mentioning "Aunt Samantha", noting the scowl that appear on Cagalli's face.

"Look, I have more reasons like that." Cagalli defended herself. She already felt pretty silly doing this... Having her brother rub it in wasn't helping.

"Like what? And none of the reason better start with terms or relation. Uncle Jack, Aunt Clara, Cousin Pat, etc... don't count as additional reasons."

Another sharp glare from Cagalli, and elbow nudge from Lacus.

"I have my reasons." Cagalli insisted, standing up and grabbing her bag off the coffee table. "Thanks for lunch Lacus. I'll see you guys later."

Cagalli proceeded down the street in a huff, for no reason she was particularly aware of. However, she was pretty sure it had something to do with the lack of faith her dear brother seemed to possess in her. What made him think that he was so special, just because he already had a steady relationship? Even more so, so what if she was doing this solely for revenge?...

Sort of...

Kind of...

Okay so maybe she had another reason. Maybe not. What difference did it make? She was doing this, mainly to spite her relatives.

More or less...

Quickly entering the now-familiar building, she brushed past the front desk as quickly as possible, to avoid confrontation with the unfathomably friendly receptionist, she headed straight for the stairs. People were supposed to hate other people when they work as secretaries, or in customer service, because of all the stupid people that they have to put up with. How on earth was that woman still so cheerful?

Was that what guys go for? Undying cheerfulness?

"Well I wouldn't say that's something to go for, but it's probably a plus." A voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her stop abruptly and turn around.

"I- Wha- How do you-" The words coming out of Cagalli's mouth stumbled almost as much as her step, as she tried to stagger in the general direction of the apparent psychic's office.

"You were talking out loud." Athrun shrugged, gently taking hold of her arm and leading her into his office. "Come, come. We have a lot to do today."

Numbly, Cagalli nodded in agreement, wondering if she was as obviously embarrassed as she felt. It was that unbearable burning sensation that burned your ears and cheeks, and you could only pray that blood wasn't rushing there, and that you couldn't see it.

Meanwhile, Athrun was trying very hard to suppress a grin, on account on how her face resembled a stop sign, and how she was trying to stop it. yet the effect of holding her breath and trying to burying her face in her shirt only made it all the more obvious. Sitting at his desk, he pulled open a drawer and handed her a manila folder, which she promptly tried to use to cover her face.

"So..." Athrun started, trying to see around the documents Cagalli was holding right in front of her face. "Umm I put them in order of who I thought you'd be interested in..."

The paper moved, so he could only assume she nodded. Taking it as a sign of confirmation, he continued.

"The first one's personality is pretty matching, but the age is a little off I think..."

The papers nodded.

"I don't know how important age.. uh... Ms. Athha?... I'm sure you're done blushing by now, and even if you aren't I'd real rather be able to see your face."

Cagalli felt mortified. Truth be told, she wasn't just about done blushing until he had said that. Her eyes widened and she let out some sort of strange startled noise, before ducking her head down so quickly that Athrun jumped a bit. Her forehead made abrupt contact with his desk, before she raised it again and took at deep breath.

Athrun gripped the armrests on his chair tightly. "Are you... okay?"

"Perfectly fine!" She nodded happily.

The man facing her regarded her for a moment, evidently trying to suppress laughter, before letting out an uncontainable chuckle and shaking his head slowly. "Okay then, moving along now... yes or no."

Cagalli looked down at the profile again... This guy looked interesting enough, but he was almost 7 years older than her. And she just wasn't at that age where an age difference of that much was okay. She let out a reluctant sigh and handed the paper back to him. "I... don't think so."

"So then age IS a problem?" He raised an eyebrow.

She bit her lip and nodded. "I don't want to sound superficial, but 7 years is just a tad too much for me."

He nodded understandingly. "That's fine. It's better to tell the truth than end up sifting through a lot of choices that could have been eliminated in the first place. Thanks for being honest." He paused tentatively, watchign her reaction of obvious discomfort and sighed. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm the same."

"You don't like people who are 7 years older either?"

"Uh... I don't like large age gaps, so I suppose so, yes." Athrun shrugged. She seemed to relax a bit at this knowledge. "All right then, um just skip the next few profiles then and we can continue..."

"Huh? Why are we skipping those?" Cagalli asked, flipping through them.

"Oh, well they're all men who are quite a bit older..." Athrun coughed, slightly embarrassed for some reason he wasn't really sure of.

"But I thought you put these in order of who you thought I'd be interested in." She frowned, tossing a few to the side.

"I did... the matching ones just happened to be older. Maybe you just prefer older... err... more mature men."

Cagalli raised an eyebrow. "Really? How strange. I don't think I would have thought of that... What about this guy?"

Athrun leaned over the desk to take a look. "Which one?"

"This one. What do you think?" She passed him the paper. He looked it over.

Sportive. Intelligent. Open to new things. Relatively attractive. Only 2 years older than her. Liked to pace relationships slowly.

"Looks good." Athrun responded. "Want me to arrange a meeting?" He asked, turning towards his computer.

"Uh... Sure. I guess?" She responded in a nervous tone. He glanced at her.

"Something wrong?"

"No! Not at all!" She shook her head furiously. His eyebrows furrowed a bit, before turning back to the screen.

"Oh, will you look at that? His agent's already sent a request for a meeting. Guess he was interested too..." Athrun noted aloud, unconsciously with a trace of disapproval. "So then, everything's set. He's available coming Wednesday night. Is that okay with you?"

Another silent nod.

"Well then, hope you enjoy yourself." The proud agent smiled, pleased that he had been able to work so fast. Cagalli said thank you, and then stood up to go.

Suddenly, she paused at the door. "Hey, this means that I'm going to go on... a date with this guy, right?"

Athrun blinked, then nodded, hand on the door, about to open it for her.

"Uh, what's his name?"

"Jordan."

"And uh... shoot. Do I have to do anything?"

"... Show up?" Athrun seemed confused. This girl seemed completely confused about what on earth she was supposed to do.

Meanwhile, Cagalli really was completely confused about what on earth she was supposed to do. Okay so it had been a while since she'd gone on a date. Agh, what the hell was she doing asking this guy? She could ask Lacus.

Who... was dating her brother. Thus she would inevitably TELL said brother, who would probably blab to the rest of the extended family, who would embarrass whatever pride she had left in her, out of her.

She snapped back to reality at the wave of a hand. Athrun's face appeared, concerned, in front of her. "Everything okay? You zoned out."

"Uh... This might seem like a strange question, but what should I wear?"

Okay now he was REALLY confused. Did he look like someone who was into fashion? He shrugged.

"Wear... Well I supposed most people would tell you to make an effort to look really nice and go all out for a great first impression. But I'm into that whole wear-what-you-want thing. Forget first impressions, just let the first impression of yourself, be yourself. No point in making them think you're one person, then having them realize otherwise later on."

Cagalli nodded along. "Okay, makes sense. Uh... thanks?"

He nodded encouragingly. "You'll be fine. Good luck."

Lacus and Kira sat patiently on Cagalli couch, waiting for her to return. Though they felt like giddy teenagers, or heaven forbid, over eager parents waiting for their daughter to return...

Finally they heard the sound of footsteps approach. Quickly ducking so that they wouldn't be visible, they waited until they heard the door open, before running forward.

Kira first grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did he try anything weird? He didn't try anything weird did he?"

Cagalli blinked. Suddenly, a slight blush rose to her cheeks and she looked away. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Night guys."

Slowly she slipped out of her brother's grip, and rushed off to her bedroom. Lacus and Kira exchanged confused looks, before Kira's eyes widened.

"HE DID TRY SOMETHING!"

Lacus sighed. "No, I don't think so. I think she might just be..."

"Overreacting." Athrun shook his head slowly. "Calm down a moment, and tell me what happened."

Cagalli blushed furiously. "He... Well he... the profile said that he liked to PACE relationships!"

"And yet he?..."

A bright red face turned away. "That's private!"

"You're definitely hiding something here. And I can't help you unless you tell me what happened!" Athrun sighed patiently, gesturing for her to sit down.

Cagalli continued pacing stubbornly. Finally Athrun stood up to her and forced her into the seat. Her eyes widened and she glared at him sharply.

"He..."

"He...?"

"He tried to hug me!"

Athrun blinked. Cagalli's face held an expression of utter incredulity, as if the words she had just uttered were sure to shock whoever caught the faintest trace of it. Athrun continued to stare, and blink.

"So?..."

"So he tried to hug me! That's not good!" She protested vehemently.

"Did he try to hug you a lot or something?" Athrun was completely bewildered. So the man tried to hug her... There wasn't anything wrong with that… Was there?

Cagalli frowned. Hug her a lot? "No... If he had tried that I'm pretty sure that he'd be in dire need of a dentist and a very good chiropractor..."

He smiled, then began to chuckle. She studied him curiously. He tried looking around the room, at something really boring to quell the laughter inside him, all to no avail. His sounds of amusement grew increasingly louder, until it overwhelmingly engulfed the entire room. Cagalli sat in confusion, uncertain about what to do. Did this guy just lose it in the period of five minutes? Should she... leave the room?

Meanwhile, Athrun was still trying to catch his breath, already slumped to the floor and still convulsing with laughter. Oh lord...

Naturally everyone person has an end to their patience. Cagalli just happened to reach it a bit earlier than others. Growing impatient, she snatched up a file folder and whacked his left shoulder with it until he stopped. Finally, he looked up at her, his hand on his shoulder, rubbing it slightly.

"He hugged you?" Athrun asked, still grinning like crazy.

"Well no, he tried to. I mean, I guess we did, but very awkwardly so." Cagalli explained.

"Mm I see... So you've either never gone out on a date before, or just dated a lot of guys from the 18th century... do you really think that hugging's not allowed?"

Silence...

"Isn't it?"

"It's... a HUG."

"So?"

"It's just a friendly gesture... What would make you think that it's-"

"Well I don't know! I just... I feel uncomfortable doing that! It's like.. it's a sign of affection and I don't know if I really feel that way yet after just one date, and so I'd feel like I'm maybe leading him on or something if I did that and I wasn't really... I'm just babbling now huh?"

Athrun was leaning against his desk and smiling at her sympathetically. "Kind of. I think I see where you're going... You don't want to lead on people. But a hug can mean anything... I mean, what do you think of him?"

"Jordan?... He's a pretty cool guy."

"So then what's wrong with hugging him?"

"... Is this a rhetorical question or-" She started, not really sure if that was a serious question.

"I'm REALLY asking you this." He insisted.

"I... I don't know! It just didn't seem right! Did you hear my babbling just a minute ago?" She responded in a panicked tone. She fell to the floor and stared at the ceiling in resignation. "I really have no idea."

Athrun walked up to her and sat down beside her on the soft carpet, cross-legged. "No idea about what?" He inquired calmly.

"No idea about a lot of things." She sighed. "I have no clue what I'm doing here, or what I'm looking for, or if I'm doing it right. I have no idea where my life is going, or where I see myself 10 years from now. you know, all those questions that show up on chain mail questioners or psychiatric diagnostic questions."

She continued to rant out whatever doubts she had in her mind, and Athrun simply sat there, nodded every now and then. When she had finally talked herself out, he looked away for a bit as a pensive look came across his face.

"I think that... you're not the only one like that. I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of people that feel the same way. Not knowing what you're doing makes you feel disorganized, like you're getting absolutely nowhere. But as long as you make the best of the situation you're in, it can never get too bad, and eventually everyone finds a path and gets to a place they want to be."

Cagalli turned her head in his direction and got up a bit so that she was still lying on the carpet, but propped up against her elbows, facing forward. "You want to know something?" She asked. He shrugged.

"Only if you want to tell."

"Well, I don't know if it'll make much sense. I'm kind of just thinking as I'm going along... But maybe Kira's right."

"Kira?" Athrun raised his eyebrows. Lacus' boyfriend?

Cagalli seemed to note the look on his face. "My brother."

"Oh, I see. I went to grade school with him, but I haven't talked to him in ages. Sorry, we're digressing. What did you want to say?" He said politely.

She smiled. "He said that I shouldn't be doing this just for relatives. And I shouldn't be. But relatives aside, maybe there is some other reason I'm doing this. It's kind of weird, but sometimes I feel like wherever I look, everyone's found their matching soul. i always thought I was different, or original, or whatever. And so maybe finding mine was just going to be harder. But somewhere along the line, I think I got tired of waiting around, as I tend to do." She laughed. "Should I just be more patient, or is it okay for me to be like this?"

"It's okay for you to be however you want to be." Athrun responded plainly, standing up and extending his hand to help her up. Cagalli regarded it for a moment, before taking it and standing up too.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, do whatever you want. That way, what you do, reflects who you are, which means that the person you end up finding will be the right person. Right?" Athrun explained, as if it were the more obvious thing on earth. His blond client blinked at him.

"You're quite the talker. I think I see what your business is so successful."

Her azure-hair agent grinned. "Maybe. In any case, I feel more like a psychiatrist then matchmaking agent now."

Cagalli laughed genuinely for the first time in a long time. "Are you going to charge me extra for this?"

Athrun shrugged sarcastically. "First time's on me."

Cagalli whipped out her cell phone and called Kira on the way home. Waiting for the familiar voice to say hello, she smiled.

So today she had not only arranged another meeting, but felt a lot more comfortable with way she was going about this. And even if it wasn't really for the relatives anymore, who cares?

She was going to do this her way.

Athrun leaned back into his chair, finalizing the meeting between Cagalli and the next person she had picked. She was... an interesting person all right. She had moments of confidence, and moments of doubt. But she always seemed to get right back on track.

Opening up her profile on the computer again, he began to revise it with his new found discoveries about this interesting woman.

Pausing for a moment, he seemed confused. For the first time, in a long time, he was at a loss of words. He just didn't know what words could accurately portray who she was.

Chuckling a bit, he added a single word to the profile, then quickly erased it and reached over for a thesaurus.

The word was: Indescribable.

Well then, I hope nothing seems like it's moving too quickly. I'm trying to show a nice gradual development of feelings. If anyone feels like these guys are going too quickly, please say so!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter:

Garowyn, -boos-, the nilaga lover, RoGuE-WhItE-DrAgOn, Sinnara, wobblytooth, cottongreentea, Swt. Harmony, Living Arrow, Vigorian-Asakura, ANONYMOUS, Cardia, Belle, moi, animemistress419, gseedlover, stuntsheep, MiyuCagalli, Kintora, ovp, asucags, 3fi-pina3, asga, The Angels' Princess, Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan, Rayar, aNgEl-Of-LoVe-AnD-hAtE, JC-Athie, BabuBear, Sunflower Seeds, MissRule, Panda, The Jackle, cloudy mind, Kitty-Kat90013820, xfangirl obsessionx, Star-Moon-Angel, Maryam Khanoom, Princess Ashes.

All your comments and encouragement was much appreciated.