KIRA

My body felt strange, disconnected. I couldn't feel anything, not even the pain. Total emptiness felt surreal and I finally opened my eyes to the darkening sky. Stretching, I felt something velvety slide off me. Turning my attention away from the sky, I glanced at the cloth that had slid off of me and taking it in my hand I finally noticed lacus sleeping on athrun's other side. My heart clenched and I held the scarf tighter. She looked so fragile, so vulnerable, like a kitten exposed to the wilderness that even I could not despise her. I tried in vain to find that hatred that had filled me just hours ago. She had folded in on herself and her usually glowing skin with perfectly done nails and a flawless hairdo were now things of the past. The lacus clyne who now lay before me looked nothing like the princess she had been, bereft of all the designer wear and expensive accessories which had been replaced with a plain black dress, choke marks and numerous scars made my heart condemn me for hating her. It seemed like such a silly thing to do, it was after all my fault; I had failed to save his life…..with a sigh I got up and placed her scarf over her with surprising gentleness, not really wanting her to wake up. I sat beside Athrun again, leaning on the tombstone, and my mind returned to the times that had been…..

FLASH BACK

"Athrun!" Kira yelled as he banged his best friend's door open. He found him lying sprawled across the bed with one of his superior smirks.

"you cant always expect me to sleep in late…no one gets the privilege of pouring cold water on my face twice in the same week" Athrun said.

Kira glared at him momentarily before his expression instantly changed to a sweet smile. 'Uh oh! Now I'm dead meat' Athrun thought as he watched Kira drop his books on Athrun's bed and head for the bathroom. "ummm kira? Weren't you worried about being late?" Athrun ventured, quickly scrambling out of bed. Kira was back instantaneously with his hands full of water! "What's the rush?" he asked, the smile never leaving his face "weren't you saying something about cold water?". Athrun made a mad rush for the door as Kira splashed the water across the room. It missed him by inches and Athrun managed to get himself to the safety of the kitchen. Kira wouldn't dare splash water around the room with his parents eating breakfast.

"Athrun!" his mother admonished him, "how many times do I have to ask you not to run inside the house?"

"Exactly, you were running in the wrong direction, we ought to be headed that way" Kira said, coming to a halt at the kitchen doorway and pointing to the front door. With a sigh Athrun made his way from behind his mothers chair and followed a smug looking Kira out of the kitchen. He watched with resignation as Kira leaned casually against the wall and indicated for Athrun to grab his books from the couch and open the door. He rolled his eyes and headed for his books and tried to escape out the door when he came face to face with Kira holding a half filled glass of ice cold water.

"You forgot your cold water" Kira said sweetly and the next second, Athrun was dripping wet. His navy blue bangs that fell across his forehead stuck there like they had been plastered , while his face and the front of his uniform made him look like he had just stepped out of the shower. He glared at Kira and muttered under his breath "you WILL pay for this, I assure you that much" Kira simply laughed and headed out with a fuming Athrun following him. After around 3 to 4 minutes of comfortable silence Kira began "it's nice to go back to school after bunking the first 2 weeks of it, don't you think?"

"No I don't and you wouldn't either, not if you had to show up dripping wet. Idiot!" Athrun replied. "oh just let it go, you started it anyway" was Kira's casual response.

"I did not start anything!"

"Did to!"

"Did not"

"Did to"

"Did not!"

Suddenly both of them received a hard knock on their head which made them exclaim in unison "OUCH! What the he-?"

"Jeez, to think I missed the two of you!" cagalli said as she and some of her friends caught up with them.

"Didn't ask you to" Kira muttered.

"Exactly" Athrun agreed.

Cagalli snorted, "fine girls, lets not bother letting either of them know what the had missed the past two weeks, specially not the announcement of the dates for the most important event of the year" she said. They both glared at her. she could be so uh never mind.

"fine fine, we are sorry, it was really sweet of you to miss us" Athrun muttered

"and of course we need you to fill us in on what happened the past 2 weeks!" kira added

She smiled her best victory smile. "well, we do have all day….so tell me how was your extended vacation?" she asked

"good, when is the match?" Athrun asked

"whats with you being soaked like this?" she asked as her friends giggled. Athrun muttered something unintelligible as kira replied "I decided to make him stop day dreaming, now when is the match?"

They had reached the school by then, when she finally informed "we have the first hour free on Tuesdays, so you both are in luck, I'll fill you in at the cafeteria…come on, hurry up!" she said. Rolling their eyes, they began leading the way when cagalli grabbed both their arms and pulled them back. "where do you think you are going?" she asked

"to the cafeteria, where else? They replied

"hold on for a minute, we hafta wait for Lacus too….."

"lacus?" Athrun asked

"new girl?" was kira's question

"yup! Lacus clyne! Her father is the richest man in the state and she is OMG amazing! Just wait till you see her…every guy in the campus has already been floored" cagalli replied.

"uh huh?" was Athrun's non-committal response and kira merely shrugged.

"We'll see you at the cafeteria" Athrun said and both boys walked away, leaving cagalli and her gang of girls hovering near the entrance of the main block.