category: Gundam SEED
disclaimer: I don't own it.
FOURTEEN.
Kira liked to go stormcatching.
Moving to the PLANTs took a toll on him, because although he'd attended school on the moon and in Heliopolis previously, Earth was his home. The artificial conditions of space didn't suit him, because the sunlight was different and the soil wasn't quite as damp and the weather was always perfect. He missed dry sand and the feel of the air before rain and the cool winds over the sea.
At first, it was only one time. Kira noticed that there was a large gale forecasted for western Eurasia and was suddenly in the mood to visit Earth. When he came back, his smile was brighter and his steps sharper and his eyes had a new light in them.
After that, it happened regularly. Kira began to follow Earth's weather patterns obsessively, and at the slightest sign of a major storm he would take off, pressing a kiss to Lacus's cheek and grabbing only his wallet on the way out.
"It's all right," Lacus appeased their concerned friends. "Everyone has their escape; this is Kira's."
He traveled all across the globe chasing storms, in Berlin one month and Tokyo the next. Once he convinced a Russian weather helicopter operator to take him up for an aerial view and the familiar sensation of hovering above the layer of clouds, isolated in the atmosphere, hit him solidly with a wave of nostalgia.
Usually he would simply find himself a cliff or a secluded beach where he would stand and feel the welcoming spray of water across his face. He would walk along the edge of the ocean, observe the grey of the waters and the blinking red lights of distant buoys. Above all, he enjoyed the feeling of being completely alone, a miniscule part in the ever-moving wheels of nature and the world. Kira was not a spiritual man, but he couldn't resist the temptation of basking in the presence of something bigger than just himself.
Three years after he first started stormcatching, Kira left for a particularly large hurricane that was sweeping through the North American side of the Atlantic Federation. He packed a suitcase, which was unusual in itself, and Lacus worried the entire time he was preparing.
"You'll come back, won't you Kira?" Years ago the prospect of Kira leaving and not returning would have seemed preposterous. But he was different now: flightier, more variable. He'd been drifting slowly, wandering out to the end of the strings tying them together before springing back like a coil, as if nothing had changed while he roamed and she waited.
He smiled faintly at her, and Lacus had the wrenching suspicion that he didn't see her at all, that his gaze moved clear through her. "Of course."
notes: Because we all know that one day, Kira is going to really snap. I pictured it as him leaving to chase a hurricane and just disappearing, for years or something. As always, hope you all enjoyed this! I usually really enjoy myself while writing, and I want the sentiment to transfer over to you, the readers.
NEXT PHASE: Arnold Neumann didn't ask questions, not even when the wars never truly died away, not even when the Archangel launched again and they were back to square one.