Kira's Change of Heart
By: Scarlett Skylar (Formerly Blood Scarlet Dark)
Chapter 2: the sun rises with a new light
Kira followed the docking instructions that appeared on his screen from the Gamow. Taking a deep breath, and remembering Athrun's words he exited the cockpit slowly. When he looked down, he saw a sea of red, white and green uniforms and he also saw Miss Lacus in the very front; her pink hair stood out like a sore thumb.
He gently floated down, and before anyone could react Miss Lacus ran forward and hugged him. He caught her a bit startled at her excited greeting. "Thank you, for coming with us back here." She said, loud enough so that everyone could hear her. "You should never have been asked to pilot for people that treat you like that." She finished, releasing him. "Thank you." Was all Kira could think to say in his startled state, as he removed his helmet.
There were many gasps when the surrounding people saw just how young this pilot was.
"He's just a kid." One person whispered, startlment and amazment on his face.
"So are most of the reds though." A woman nearby reminded him.
"True." He said, looking at Kira very curiously.
Kira turned and looked to the pilots, it was true that they were all his and Athrun's age. Except the man in the white mask, who stepped forward. That's the man in charge, Kira thought calmly.
"Mr. Yamato, it's nice to finally meet you, even under the rather odd circumstances, but from what I could hear of your earlier conversation with Athrun and Lacus, you need to go to the infirmary right now; even if it is just to check you over. My name is LeCruset, I'm the Commander." Kira just nodded, and was escorted to the infirmary; where his flight suit, jacket, and undershirt were removed. He was left in a pair of white, military issue pants. He had removed his shoes when he sat down on the bed.
"That's a pretty nasty injury you have there." The doctor said, examining the wound, so close to Kira's heart. "What happened?" Miss Lacus and the pilots had come to the infirmary too. They all looked shocked to see the injury, and it was rather obvious how recent it was. Kira didn't answer, so Miss Lacus did.
"Mr. Yamato was injured while guarding me from that insane earth forces girl you all saw earlier." They all seemed shocked. "Well, we owe you then Mr. Yamato, for saving Miss Lacus' life." The commander said.
Kira frowned, "Please, call me Kira, and no; you owe me nothing."
"Why do you say that?"
"No one deserves to be attacked simply because of who they are." Kira said gently.
"But no one deserved to be treated as you were either Kira." Miss Lacus said gently.
Kira shrugged, but said nothing to her comment. It was truth, and she knew that, so he didn't bother to argue with her about the specifics of why he did it. The Commander excused himself, and Kira was left with the doctor, nurse, Lacus, Athrun and the other three pilots, who he still didn't know. There was an awkward silence, before Miss Lacus shattered it as she sat on the edge of Kira's bed and turned to Athrun with a neutral expression.
"Athrun, maybe introducing Kira to your teammates would make him more comfortable here." She suggested gently; and that appeared to snap him out of his daze. "Of course. Kira, this is Dearka Elsman, pilot of the Buster. Nicol Amarfi, pilot of the Blitz, and Yzak Joule pilot of the Duel." Kira just smiled, and shook hands with each one of them. "It's nice to meet you all," Kira said shyly, "you're all amazing pilots." He finished; still slightly surprised by their youth.
A thoughtful look passed over Kira's face, and he turned to Nicol. "Do you mind if I ask you something?" Nicol was more surprised than the other pilots, "Uh… of course." He said; the surprise was evident in his voice. "How did you get past the umbrella at Artemis?" They all stared at Kira; no one had expected that question. "I'm just curious." Kira added quickly. "The blitz was equipped with a special feature. That allows it to become undetectable." Nicol said, giving a good explanation; but not too many details. "Okay. Thank you. I was just curious. I didn't think any of the suits had that kind of technology in them." "No problem, Kira." Nicol said kindly. They were all surprised by Kira, he was not what they had expected. Same old Kira. Athrun thought fondly.
There was a long silence, and Miss Lacus left; saying a quick goodbye and hugging Kira again. Much to his surprise. The nurses seemed uncomfortable, "Uhm… Mr. Yamato?" Kira turned and looked at her, "Would you please step on the scale?" She seemed worried about his reaction. Kira wasn't surprised; he was an unknown factor here for the most part, so he just smiled and did as she asked. She gasped when she saw the results, and rushed out of the room with a quick "excuse me". Kira layed down with a sigh, and before anyone could ask what just had happened two doctors rushed in with the nurse that had just left, looking concerned.
"Mr. Yamato, would you please step back on the scale?"
"Sure," Kira said with a sigh, "But it'll say the same thing." The doctor looked confused, "There's nothing wrong with your scales." Kira said as an explanation, as he stepped back on the scale. Athrun managed to see it said 95lbs from where he was standing. That would mean his BMI would be a 15… he's at LEAST 20 pounds underweight.
"You are aware that you're severely underweight?" The doctor asked after Kira had sat back down on the bed, Kira didn't say anything, just continued looking at the doctor. "You're 5" 5'?" "Yes."
The doctor frowned, "You have a BMI of 15.8. Anything under 16.4 is considered severely underweight." "You had no business flying a mobile suit." Commander LeCruset said, he was standing at the door, he had walked back in a few minutes before.
" I had no business in a mobile suit in the first place, regardless of my weight. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter." Kira said with a sigh. The doctor frowned, "Do you realize what kind of stress you've been putting your body under?!"
Kira just looked at him, "Of course I do. You think I was in an easy position as it was? I had enough problems before this all started." Kira snapped, this doctor was irritating him.
The door opened, Miss Lacus had returned. "You don't eat properly, and that doesn't help anything." She said, concerned. "So I brought you this." She had a tray from the cafeteria. Kira started to protest but Athrun silenced him. "Kira. You're going to kill yourself at this rate. Just shut up and eat something!"
Kira looked at Athrun, startled at the sharp outburst. He hadn't said a word but neither had the other pilots. Miss Lacus handed Kira the tray and he ate, mostly picked at it, but he did eat eventually. The doctors and nurses had left after checking his other vitals; and the pilots finally sat down. Lacus had sat herself at the foot of Kira's bed again.
"You know, staring at me won't make me eat any faster." Kira finally said, looking at Athrun. "I know, my thought was it'll annoy you enough you'll eat it all so you can throw the tray at my head." Kira looked at Athrun and burst out laughing. "Yes, well. I hadn't really considered that."
"So, Kira. How did you manage to end up so far underweight?" Dearka had finally spoke up.
"Eh. I'm gonna blame it on stress,"
"The lack of sleep, has something to do with it to." Miss Lacus said. "You never went to sleep the whole time I was on that ship. That's not healthy."
Kira smiled sadly, "Yes, it's unhealthy, but sometimes you have to do things you don't want to."
"Like fight your best friend?" Miss Lacus said gently.
"Among other things." Kira took it in stride, and looked thoughtful.
"You've been through a lot." Yzak said wisely. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Everyone stared at Yzak like he was insane. "No. I think I'm good." Kira said, giving Yzak a strange look. He didn't know him, but he could still tell this was out of character for him. Yzak just nodded. "So, it's obvious you know the crazy bastard with the blue hair over there, how?"
Kira smiled, glancing at Athrun. "We went to the same Lunar Prep school."
"I'm guessing it's safe to assume you two were close there?" Nicol asked gently.
Athrun smiled, and chuckled. "That's an understatement! We were never out of each other's sight; at least until I moved…"
"Yeah. Joined at the hip, a lot would say. People swore we'd be hell if we ever joined the military." Kira said with a smile. "I don't think anyone ever thought we'd end up on opposite sides of a conflict though."
"Ya… they never really thought either of us would ever join the military; but it seems they were wrong in that as well."
Kira smiled. "People thought a lot of things, our parents included."
"You mean how everyone swore we'd end up together?" Athrun asked.
"Yes!" Kira said laughing.
"Wait! You're parents thought you two would get together?"
"Our mom's did…" Kira said.
"My dad was in on it too." Athrun said.
"WHAT?! Why was I not told of this?" Kira looked offended.
Athrun held his hands up in defense, "I didn't know until after we moved. It was… a very interesting conversation."
"I can imagine." Kira said with a thoughtful look, trying to hold back his snickering.
"You two would be a very cute couple." Miss Lacus said chiming in. Kira and Athrun both turned and just stared at her.
"What? It's the truth."
"It was … unexpected, to say the least." Kira said when he found his voice again. Athrun still hadn't found his, he looked like a gaping fish.
There was an awkward silence. Kira glanced at Athrun and noticed a slight blush. Athrun was looking at the floor.
Eventually Nicol, Yzak and Dearka excused themselves to go get something to eat. Miss Lacus and Commander LeCruset left shortly after that.
"So…" Kira trailed off looking at Athrun, trying to break the awkward silence. Athrun glanced up, apparently the floor was very interesting.
"Are we going back to the PLANTs?" Kira asked curiously.
"Yes. You'll have to go and speak to the defense council." Athrun said, with a frown.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just worried. I don't know what's going to happen. You were fighting against your will from what Miss Lacus said; so you won't be charged with treason or anything like that. I just don't know what they WILL do. Especially since you turned on that Earth Forces pilot to help protect Miss Lacus and myself… It's just a strange situation."
"Yeah. We'll just have to wait and see…"
"How can you be so calm?!" Kira looked surprised at Athrun's outburst. Athrun was usually the cool headed and rational one.
"What else can I do Athrun? I'm stuck here, and I can't do anything. Worrying about it would only drive me crazy, and make the trip that much worse!" Kira paused; studying his friend. "You're usually so calm, and collected, you're really worried about this aren't you?" he finished gently.
"Of course I am! The first time I've seen you in years was in the Strike! Then, when I actually get to see you I get to hear from Miss Lacus about how you almost got killed because people are stupid and biased!"
Athrun had stood up in his rant, trying to make Kira understand his point. Kira just frowned at him, and pulled him down on the bed; next to him. Athrun started to protest and tried to get up but Kira wouldn't let him. "Shut up. Sit down and relax." Was all Kira said. Athrun eventually did settle down, and he wrapped his arms around Kira. He was just glad his best friend was alive and well, for the most part. Athrun had been terrified Kira would have been killed in an accident, but now he knew he was safe. He could rest a little easier, he could start breathing again.
End chapter 2!
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