Lost Memories/Amnesia Girl Chapter 19

A Day in Banadiya

For once…this chapter has an actual name :)

"Amarante this is great information. Continue analyzing. Oh and by the way… you customized your BuCUE correct?" Waltfeld asked her. Amarante wanted to let out a groan. She hated analyzing; it was as boring as watching paint dry.

"Only a little…It's a little faster," Amarante replied. Waltfeld was glad that she had stopped crying and sobbing. Aisha had told him that she cried herself to sleep constantly. Even though they weren't in love, Amarante believe that he didn't have to die. Maylam had been dead for almost a week and Amarante was beginning to cope. Today she was going out into the city to enjoy a little relaxation and a date with her boyfriend.

"A little…It's actually pretty fast. It's only a little slower than the LaGOWE," he chuckled thumping Amarante on the nose. He continued walking down the hall with her before spotting Kirkwood at the door. He looked a little bored but he didn't seem to mind waiting for Amarante.

"Hello commander, Amarante," Kirkwood said getting ready to stand at attention. They were dressed in normal clothes so it was taboo to do such a thing. Waltfeld was about to open his mouth but he was surprised to hear Amarante's voice.

"Don't do that," Amarante scolded. Waltfeld stared at her for a few seconds before laughing. She was becoming so much like him and they were becoming so close. Behind closed doors Andy commonly praised her achievements and began to really consider adopting her as his daughter. Some how he had to get it past her father…and through Aisha. She still wasn't too keen on the idea but Andy was swaying her to his side.

"Isn't Amarante cute when she acts like me?" the benevolent commander asked. He placed the girl in a head lock before scuffing up her hair. She groaned and tried to get away from Waltfeld. Waltfeld only tightened his grip on her neck she let out a frustrated sigh knowing that he had messed up her hair that she spent 20 minutes on. Since this was her first date she wanted to look good and presentable to her first boyfriend.

"Commander!" Amarante cried out. He chuckled continuing to hold her under his arm. Kirkwood tried to hold in his laugh but it came out anyways. Waltfeld smiled knowing that Kirkwood had a heart that he was also willing to show him.

"I didn't know you played Guitar. Well I better let you two go. Have her back before 6pm okay?" Waltfeld demanded thrusting the girl into Kirkwood's arms.

"Yes sir. We'll be off," Kirkwood replied wrapping her arm around her shoulder escorting her out of the doorway. Aisha hurried down the hall, past Andy and through the door. Waltfeld was surprised to see Aisha pushed past him. Amarante and Kirkwood were at the bottom of the steps by the time she placed her hands at her mouth.

"DON'T FORGET WHAT I TOLD YOU ABOUT SEX!" Aisha called out to her. Amarante turned bright red trying to back away from her boyfriend. Since his arms were around her she couldn't get away. Aisha always enjoyed annoying her about that. Whenever she went anywhere with ANY boy and Aisha wasn't going with them, she'd remind her about sex.

"I won't," Amarante mumbled causing her Kirkwood to chuckle. They exited the base by jeep going to a secluded area to hide the Z.A.F.T. weapons on them. After that they walked into the bustling town as if nothing had ever happened. They were to enjoy the day and to stay in the general vicinity of their commander. Even though he said that no one would ever know if they wandered off. First Kirkwood played her a little song on his guitar it made her blush and be bashful. Amarante never knew that Kirkwood could play the guitar and that he could sing. Many of the people walking by smiled at the young girl being serenaded by Kirkwood.

"What do you to do next?" Kirkwood asked.

"Hmmm…A little shopping," Amarante replied innocently. He nodded taking her hand in his. The city was hot and bustling like normal and there were always interesting things to do. The food and the shopping was always the best. Also no one questioned their origins and if so, Amarante just told them that her cousin was a war photographer and Kirkwood was his assistant. Playfully, Amarante swung their arms back and forth. She loved him very much and the arm swinging made him smile.

"I'm glad to be away from it all," Kirkwood said with a huff. He could feel the stress melting away with the heat.

"Yeah…Oh and before I forget…Sorry about the way I acted the other day. I just had this sensation that someone I knew was near-by," Amarante said with a bow of her head. Kirkwood looked down at her surprised that she would apologize for such a thing. He knew that she had several up and down days and that was a down day.

"Oh don't worry about it. You know…we've never actually talked about our families," Kirkwood hinted at. Well that was true but Amarante hated to talk about her family. Yet she was curious to learn about Kirkwood's. All she knew was that Kirkwood's mom was a crime writer.

"There's nothing really to talk about for my family. My mother is dead and my twin is in the Earth Forces. My father doesn't like me nor does my sister," Amarante answered. Her voice was harsh and her face expressed no emotion. Looking into her eyes he could see the fueling passion of anger and the wallowing feeling of sadness in them.

"Do you really mean that?" Kirkwood asked. How could she be so angry at her family? What did they ever do to her? She was one of the nicest girls in the world who could hate no one? What went on behind the closed doors in her home?

"Oh what about your family?" Amarante asked with a beaming smile. She wanted to push everything under the rug. She knew that he did want to hear her vent about her horrible family.

"My mom is a writer…she loves writing about crime scenes. My father is a police officer. A match made in heaven as my parents say. They weren't happy when I joined Z.A.F.T. My mom was in tears when I left. Hey…Maybe next time I go home, you can come meet them! They would really love to see you," Kirkwood said cheerfully. Amarante's small widened giving him a nod. She was glad that he took her bait.

"Where do you think Dad is?" Amarante asked curiously. "Dad" was their code name for Waltfeld, but for her Dad was more than just a code name. He was her Daddy and a loving one like that. Unlike her worthless real father who could really careless about her.

"Hm…I'm not sure. Do you want to eat something?" Kirkwood responded. On base sometimes she felt woozy because she didn't eat anything. He was going to make sure she wasn't going to pass out.

"I'm not that hungry yet. Are you really hungry?" Amarante asked cocking her head. Wow, how he could be hungry? He ate about an hour ago.

"Not really," he told her. Well that's good. I don't want him to waste any money, if he thinks I'm hungry, Amarante thought with a sigh of relief. Slowly, he wrapped his arm around her waist causing a shock to run up her spine. She eventually warmed up to the touch as they walked through the streets. Yet they went back to holding hands, like a couple. As they rounded the corner Amarante bumped into a young man near her age. Amarante let out a soft cry beginning her tumble backwards. The groceries in his arms tumbled to the ground. Kirkwood caught Amarante and the young boy stumbled backwards but didn't fall.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Amarante gasped. In an instant she was down on the ground picking up all the spilled food and objects. She was hoping that she didn't break anything but she knew that she ruined the food. How come she couldn't do anything right?

"Watch where you're going!" the girl snapped. Amarante didn't look up at her as the stunned boy came back to reality.

"Oh it's alright," the boy countered going to his knees to help her pick up the fallen objects. The boy had brown hair and purple eyes. He accidentally brushed up against her hand causing him to blush. Amarante just cocked her head but didn't pay attention to it at all.

"No no…I'm sorry. It's my fault," Amarante apologized. Kirkwood picked up the objects that had fallen out of their reach.

"Here," Kirkwood said to the other teen. Amarante was still on the ground with the boy in this odd stare down.

"Oh thanks," the boy replied he took the items from Kirkwood kindly. All four of them looked foreign to the area which was odd. Amarante cocked her head to the side trying to figure this all out.

"Where are you from?" Amarante asked kindly standing up. The boy stood up afterwards looking back at his blonde haired companion.

"Mind your own business!" the girl snapped. Amarante flinched looking at the girl before shrugging it off. She seemed to be a very fiery one but oddly this blonde haired girl seemed slightly familiar.

"Cagalli! We're just a couple people passing through. How about you?" the boy replied. The girl was about to open her mouth to retaliate but closed it curious on what Amarante was going to say.

"My cousin is a war photographer. This is his assistant and my boyfriend," Amarante said with a blushing face. "By the way, my name is Amarante." She felt like she could trust this guy enough that she didn't have to use her alias of Catalina. Maybe not the girl but it was better not to confuse everyone and herself. She held out her hand to shake with him which surprised the boy.

"Ah Kira," the boy replied hesitantly shaking her hand. Amarante held it out to Cagalli but she only gave her a disgusted look. Embarrassed Amarante placed her hand at her side. She tried not to show it by giving a beaming happy smile.

"And you are Cagalli," Amarante said cheerfully. Cagalli didn't say anything as Kirkwood joined the teen circle. Maybe this girl was out to get them Amarante thought stifling a laugh.

"Kirkwood," Amarante's boyfriend replied.

"Why don't I repay you for the wasted food. I really feel bad for what I've done," Amarante said with a sincere face. The boy looked at her confused before shaking his head. He was too kind for that.

"Oh no it's alright. We have enough," Kira replied. He couldn't take some girl's money even if they ran into each other. Who knew who caused the accident but he couldn't blame her.

"Are you sure?" Amarante asked cocking her head. Kira nodded before getting an idea. It would probably be less suspicious to walk around in the group of four then just with Cagalli.

"I'm sure. Do you want to walk around with us?" Kira asked. Shocked at the question Amarante looked to Kirkwood for an answer who shrugged it off in a playful manner.

"Sure," Amarante replied. Kira smiled in return signaling the couple to follow them. Kirkwood took her hand again following behind Kira and Cagalli. He was curious about these two and where they came from, but he didn't want to impose.

"It's a beautiful day today," Kirkwood said relaxing around the two other people they encountered. If Amarante trusted them then he could probably trust them too.

"Yeah, so where is your cousin?" Kira asked curiously. Kirkwood flinched slightly which Cagalli took notice of but it didn't bother her. He brushed his arms slightly as if that caused the flinch.

"Off taking pictures I guess…He told us to go into the city and relax. He likes to take pictures after battles," Amarante lied. Kirkwood tensed slightly catching the eye of Cagalli. I'm not very sure if I can trust them. I think they know more about this war then they're letting on, Cagalli thought.

"After battles?" Kira asked.

"News will always spread," Amarante said with a convincing smile. Kira took the bait but Cagalli looked away with suspicion. Sure news would spread but why were they really there.

"Right," Kira replied. There was an awkward silence and Amarante wanted to break the ice a little more. With a smile much like the Tiger's Amarante began a playful tease.

"So is she your GIRLfriend?" Amarante teased. Kira's face turned slightly pink and Cagalli became aggressive.

"What makes you think that?" Cagalli demanded. Stopping Cagalli got in her face. Amarante was shocked that she would do such a thing. The girl placed a fist in her face to intimidate the girl.

"Well if you two are passing through, I thought that you two had to be dating. Or are you two brother and sister?" Amarante asked playfully. This only angered Cagalli even more. This time Cagalli grabbed Amarante's collar forcing her into a near-by wall.

"Cagalli!" Kira said placing a hand on her shoulder. Protecting this girl was more like baby-sitting right now. Kira gave a sigh wishing that she would stop acting like a spoiled child. She shook it off as Kirkwood pulled her off.

"You shouldn't make stupid assumptions!" Cagalli snapped. She broke out of Kirkwood's hold but didn't go back to physically intimidating Amarante.

"Alright, alright. You have a valid statement. I'm sorry that I made that type of assumption," Amarante conceded to. She placed her hands up in defense causing Cagalli to calm down. Cagalli let out a hmpf and a growl but they went back to walking around as if that didn't happen.

"So why is your cousin here in Banadiya?" Cagalli asked becoming curious herself about these two people. Amarante was surprised at how easily she went back to being normal and calm.

"First our search for war wasn't really centered and then one of the town's people told us about the Z.A.F.T. base here. So we went to this place," Amarante explained. Out the corner of her eye Amarante saw one of their undercover men signaling them. He was probably angered at the fact that they weren't watching over the commander.

"So that's why you came here," Kira muttered. Hearing the words and seeing his knotted face Amarante began to become suspicious of the boy.

"Oh no…" Amarante began, "Kirkwood…I can't find Martin's lens." She shuffled through her backpack knowing it wasn't there. Kirkwood caught the signal as well sighing as if Amarante did this often. He peeked in the bag trying to find it as well.

"I remember you putting it in there this morning," Kirkwood replied with a groan. She was surprised to see how good of an actor he was.

"I'm sorry friends…It looks like I have to go back to the hotel. I'm such an idiot," Amarante sighed. Kira looked at her worriedly hoping that she would find what she was looking for.

"Oh that's alright," Kira answered kindly. He didn't think anything of it but Cagalli had other thoughts.

"Why isn't the lens with your cousin?" Cagalli asked suspiciously. Amarante was surprised to see her ask the question, but then again nothing should surprise her with that girl.

"When we're separate and out and about he likes going to us for his extra supplies. I'm so sorry, I hope to maybe see you later," Amarante began. "Good bye!" Kirkwood and Amarante raced off to their "hotel." Waiting outside a building, one of the undercover men approached them. He was quite "calm" by their standards.

"Where have you been?" he demanded. Amarante looked from Kirkwood to the undercover soldier before giving a sigh. This would be hard to explain. They would probably get in trouble later for not watching the commander.

"We were given the day off. No pictures today I'm afraid," Amarante replied. The man raised an eye brow before letting out a growl. He crossed his arms getting a nervous looks from the young couple.

"He wanted to give us break from developing the film and all that jazz," Kirkwood said with a nod.

"Remember I wanted a rush job so get back to work," the man snapped. Walking away from him they began to look for Cagalli and Kira. 45 minutes they heard an explosion. Kirkwood held onto Amarante as the shock wave hit them. Glass was flying everywhere and Kirkwood didn't want it to mess up her pretty face. One of the shards hit him in the face causing it to bleed.

"The commander is in that area," Kirkwood muttered alarmed. There was ringing in their ears and Kirkwood's head was pounding. A blue cosmos soldier that overheard Kirkwood aimed his machine gun at his head. There was no time to move holding on to her tightly Kirkwood awaited the final blow to his life. There was so much he wanted to do in life like marrying Amarante. Hearing a round go off he saw his life flash in front of his eyes but…he wasn't dead. Opening his eyes he was surprised to see that Amarante had drawn her hand gun and shot him. Stumbling backwards he wasn't quite dead yet. Pushing the injured Kirkwood off of her Amarante aimed for his head but hesitated to fire. Could she really kill this person up close and personal?

"Let your soul abandon your body and return to space damn coordinator!" The anti-coordinator soldier hollered aiming at Amarante forgetting about Kirkwood and what he had said. Feeling that weird sensation again Amarante moved to the left feeling the bullet grazed her shoulder. Amarante aimed at him again getting ready to fire but was surprised to see a flash from another gun. Their assailant finally slumped over dead. Amarante flinched feeling the blood hit her body. Hesitantly Amarante looked over to see that Kirkwood of all people. Her gentle loving Kirkwood had pulled the trigger.

"You two head back to the base," the man ordered taking out a small machine gun. He had lost track of them in the crowd and was surprised to see the two soldiers speckled in blood and the dead man in front of them. Kirkwood stood up and went to Amarante side to make sure she was alright.

"But!" Amarante whined but Kirkwood only pulled Amarante along. Kirkwood kept his handgun out telling the civilians to get out of the area. He didn't want any unnecessary casualties out there, even if the civilians hated Z.A.F.T. and their soldiers.

"Kirkwood…Remember the people we ran into?" Amarante muttered as they walked through the halls of the commander's mansion. They were back in uniform waiting for their commander to be finished with his guests. Only Kirkwood had a bandage around his head and Amarante around her arm. Yet hers was hidden by her uniform.

"Yeah, Kira and the girl…Ahhhh, Cagalli," Kirkwood answered.

"I think they're involved with that ship," Amarante whispered. Amarante always said weird things like this, yet it still surprised him. How could Amarante say something like that? They were just two people passing by…but then again Amarante and himself weren't traveling with her "cousin" Martin taking pictures of war.

"What makes you think that?" Kirkwood asked. Amarante was about to answer but was interrupted by a call.

"Cubby," Aisha called out. She was holding the door open for their guests. Amarante was a little curious who they were but she didn't want to seem like a snoop.

"Yes?" Amarante asked rushing to the door. She stopped midway seeing who the guests were, Kira and Cagalli. Amarante gulped as they also froze. Aisha noticed the four kids wondering what had gone on in the city.

"Amarante take young Cagalli to a bedroom so she can change back into her clothes," Aisha ordered. She decided that it wasn't best to interrogate Amarante for the information now. She'd interrogate her later.

"Ahhhh…Yes Ma'am," Amarante gulped. "T-This way." Kira walked with them and Kirkwood joined them soon after. It was an eerie silence as Amarante opened the door for Cagalli before entering it. Kira wanted to ask what happened to Kirkwood's head but there were several things that were rushing through his head.

"I knew you two were suspicious," Cagalli growled. Taking her to the ground. Cagalli was about to punch the girl in the face but the way that woman named Aisha referred to her stopped her. If the two ladies were close, then they couldn't get off this base alive.

"It wasn't like we were spying…Everyone needs a break right?" Amarante replied from beneath her. Cagalli punched the floor next to Amarante's head. Her arm was tense and shaking…she was just about to trust this girl. She punched the ground in front of her head again causing Amarante to get the vibe to stay on the ground until she was done dressing.

"I would never imagine that a girl like you was a soldier for the Desert Tiger," Cagalli snapped above a whisper. She got off her traitorous new friend taking off the new dress that she had received. Amarante didn't listen to her gut feeling to stay on the ground as she slowly began to stand up.

"Let's forget that this ever happened. Your clothes are on the bed. I'll be outside," Amarante said leaving. She closed the door with a sigh. The boys outside stood awkwardly as Amarante looked at Kira. She looked down ashamed before perking up when Kira began to talk.

"We don't have to fight each other," he said. She smiled at his kind word, but this was war.

"You're a coordinator…aren't you," Kirkwood asked quietly. It wasn't in an accusing tone but the two Z.A.F.T. soldiers didn't want to know his answer. Yet in a way they already knew.

"Y-Yes," Kira forced out. Their minds were racing making it hard to accept any information coming through. The door clicked and the Blonde slowly opened the door. Cagalli stayed in the doorway as Amarante began to speak.

"Kira…We don't have to be enemies," Amarante gulped. "But…I know you'll stay with the Earth Forces. I won't ask the reasons why. I know a few people in the Earth Forces." The silence was suffocating as Cagalli came out.

"Let's go," she ordered to Kira. She didn't want to think about these doting lapdogs of the Tiger.

"You're good people…I hope we don't have to fight each other…but I will fight with valor to protect the people I care about," Amarante called out as they walked away from them. Kira looked down in dismay as they walked away from two kind people. He knew that they would eventually face each other in battle. At least the girl.

Today in the polls (as of January 25, 2010)…

Nicol x Amarante: 4 votes

DaCosta x Amarante: 3 Votes

Waltfeld x Amarante: 2 Votes

Aisha x Amarante: 2 Votes

Waltfeld x Aisha: 2 Votes

Kirkwood x Amarante: 1 Vote

Maylam x Amarante: 0 Votes

Mu x Amarante: 0 Votes

Remember to go to my profile and vote!

Hope to see you soon!