Dear diary,

Meyrin is staying with us for a few days. She said that it was raining inside her house. Cagalli later explained that her roof was only leaking. She has no where else to go until they fix it. And she brought so many things with her. It looked as if she had taken her whole house along. I really like the colour pencils Cagalli bought for me. I think I'll bring it to school tomorrow.

Kira

oOo

Chapter 6

"Hey Kira! Hi Cagalli!" It was that annoying girl again. She seemed to keep on appearing out of nowhere.

Cagalli stopped to search for her and I couldn't help but to dislike the girl even more.

"See you later Cagalli," I grumbled out before dashing into the school building. There was no way I was going to wait for the girl. I hoped she would stop bugging me.

I took my usual seat and waited for class to start. I was early and many of the students had not arrived yet.

"Good morning Kira!" Lacus said brightly as she sat down beside me.

I decided to ignore her. Maybe she would stop talking to me if I was unresponsive.

"I saw you and Cagalli just now. I called but you didn't hear me."

I heard you. I just chose to ignore you.

"You ran in so fast, I couldn't catch up."

That was the point.

"And Cagalli told me to pass this to you. She said that she even made some for me. That was really nice of her..."

I quickly snatched the brown paper bag and looked inside to see two sandwiches. I couldn't believe Cagalli made her a sandwich!

It was a good thing class finally started. It was the only thing that stopped her incessant chatter. I couldn't wait for school to end. The sooner I got away from her, the better.

I finally got rid of her during recess. I quickly gobbled down my plate of pork chops and ran out to the field. She came out looking for me minutes later.

"Hey Kira! You eat really fast. Most of us were not even done yet. You should really wait for us..."

"Go away," I cut her off.

She looked startled at first. And then she approached closer to me.

"Are you alright Kira?" she asked as she reached a hand towards me.

"I said leave me alone!" I shouted at her as I tried to brush off her hand. But I ended up shoving her to the ground instead. We stared at each other for a moment before I took off to the other direction.

I knew what I did was wrong and I honestly regretted it. But Lacus stopped following me afterwards. She didn't even talk to me anymore.

School was finally over and I waited outside the school building for Cagalli to pick me up. She had not arrived yet. I sat down on the steps and took out the sandwich she prepared. I didn't give Lacus her share.

"Hey Kira!" I turned around to see Athrun coming out from the front door. "Cagalli's not able to make it. She asked me to take you home."

Athrun was a really cool guy and I liked him a lot. He cooked really good food too. I trusted him enough and I climbed into the car with him.

We arrived home and he told me to wash up while he prepared dinner. I didn't bother telling him that Meyrin was staying with us.

I walked to the living room and grabbed fish food from one of the drawers. I poured some into Goldie's bowl.

Goldie wasn't eating. She just seemed to be floating on the surface of her bowl. She was acting really odd.

I tried to carry the bowl to Athrun. It was too heavy and I couldn't even lift it up. I ended up dragging him to the living room instead.

"Something's wrong with Goldie!" I told him.

He inspected Goldie closely for a while before looking back at me with a frown on his face.

"Sorry Kira, but Goldie's dead."

"But she can't be dead!" I protested with eyes wide. "Are you sure? Goldie is Cagalli's precious pet! Goldie cannot die!"

Athrun's eyes seemed to soften. "I'm sure Cagalli will understand," he said.

"B-But... But..." Tears started welling up in my eyes. Athrun did not understand. Goldie meant everything to Cagalli. It was a present from her father and I killed it. Cagalli was going to hate me. She would send me back to the orphanage and abandon me. "No you don't understand! Cagalli will be so mad!"

"I'm sure Cagalli won't be mad at you. It's not your fault-"

"Yes it's my fault and she's going to hate me!"

"You're her brother and Cagalli loves you. She will never-"

"You don't understand! We've got to do something!" I begged Athrun as tears uncontrollably streamed down my cheeks.

"Ok, I have an idea," Athrun said as he took a piece of tissue and dried my tears. "We can get another Goldie."

I looked at him for a moment and let his idea sink into my head.

"That's right. And Cagalli won't find out," I said.

"Well, we don't have to tell her if you don't want to."

I didn't want to lie to Cagalli but I knew she would be madder at me and hate me more if she knew I let Goldie die. I mean, it was probably my fault that Goldie was dead.

"I don't want to," I finally said.

"Alright then. Let's go now. If we hurry we can come back before she does. She just messaged me. She'll be home even later."

oOo

There were so many animals in the pet store. Athrun had gone straight to the shopkeeper to ask if he sold any goldfish.

"I'm sorry Sir. But this is a very rare breed," he said pointing to the clear plastic Goldie's body was in. "Even a pet store that specialises in fish would not have that breed. You would need to pre-order it."

Oh no. What did he mean? We couldn't get another Goldie?

"Is there any other way? We need one really urgently. Money will not be an issue."

"I'm sorry Sir. Even if we order now and have one flown in, it'll take at least a day."

Athrun and I looked back at each other. This was hopeless. There was no way Cagalli would miss an empty fish bowl.

"My daddy has a few of those fishes in his office," we suddenly heard a girl say.

Now where did she come from? Why did she always appear out of nowhere?

"Hey Kira. Is that Goldie? What happened?" she asked genuinely concerned.

"Goldie died," I half sobbed. "And we need to replace her before Cagalli comes back. But they don't sell her here."

Lacus reached for Goldie's bag and examined it.

"We have these in my daddy's office," Lacus told us.

"Are you sure they're of the same breed?" Athrun asked.

"I'm positive. This is an Imperial Goldfish. Am I right Sir?" she asked the shopkeeper.

oOo

Dear diary,

I'm actually scribbling this now in the middle of our boring sharing session. Meyrin moved in with us yesterday and we spent the whole night chatting that I had no time to write. Fashion Week is starting! I'm just so excited! It could mean the highlight of my career or the end of it. If things go well, which it will, I'll be promoted to deputy executive! Needless to say, which it won't of course, I'll probably have to tender my resignation if things don't go according to plan. You see, I'm the one in charge Fashion Week. As you know, it's the major event! Even more so than the Olympics! Oops, got to stop writing. It's my turn to talk soon.

Yours truly,

Cagalli

oOo

I just rang up Athrun. I couldn't fetch Kira home today. Some crisis had suddenly emerged. Apparently, one of the fashion magazines had not RSVPed and we were in the midst of planning the seating arrangements.

Athrun, I stressed yet again, was a life saver.

I was about to leave my office when Shiho burst through my doors. She looked really ridiculous wearing a bright yellow raincoat indoors. It wasn't even raining outdoors! I contemplated recommending my therapist to her. She probably needed one.

"We're going to war Cagalli!" Shiho announced with conviction.

"We?" Oops. Did I miss something here?

"Yes. We! It's either you're with me, or against me! So pick a side!"

"W-Wait, hold on a second," I said confused. "Rewind, go back to the start. I'm seriously missing something here."

Shiho wasted no time and plopped herself down on the seat across mine.

"He's the most arrogant bastard! That idiot with a pea sized brain! He has a temperament of a menopausal old woman! I'll be damned in I have to marry him..."

And a whole string of profanities followed afterwards. I never knew Shiho's vocabulary to be so colourful and extensive. Not once had she repeated a single word in the half hour she had been cursing the poor fellow.

At least I knew what she was going on about now. Apparently, she had finally met her betrothed during lunch. And let's just say they didn't hit off very well. She was now declaring war on him and I had to side with her. It didn't even made sense to me. But that was my best friend to you. Sometimes she didn't even make sense.

Another half an hour later and Shiho had finally cooled down. I settled a glass of water in front of her and she gulped it down in one shot.

"Come on Cagalli," she said standing up. "I need to unwind a little. Let's go pick Meyrin and the little buddy up."

"Actually, I think we can leave Kira home for a little while." Shiho had a look on her face, prompting me to continue. "I'll just ask Athrun to watch him a little longer," I said sheepishly. I knew it was wrong to take advantage of Athrun but I was sure a little longer couldn't hurt.

oOo

"What?" Meyrin exclaimed. "He's at your place now?" I merely mentioned Athrun taking care of Kira for a while and Meyrin became wild. "Erm... Why don't you girls go in first. I've suddenly remembered that I've got something very important to do-"

"Oh no you don't!" Shiho had cut off Meyrin. "You're not bailing on us now!" she said before dragging Meyrin into the club.

The party still had not started because it was still very early. But Club Duel was open regardless especially for those who just wanted to get a drink.

Shiho still wore her ridiculous yellow raincoat inside. If I had not been friends with the owner or the bouncers, she would not have even been admitted in.

"Oh for goodness sake Shiho! What's the point in you wearing that?" Meyrin said.

"The point is so that I will not be recognised! He apparently comes here very often!" Shiho hissed back.

"Well, I'm not sure if that's working out very well. You seemed to be drawing a lot more attention here," I pointed out.

"Hey Cagalli. I see you didn't bring the little pipsqueak here," I saw Yzak approaching. "And who is this weird friend of yours?" I suddenly had a dreaded feeling. And I wondered why.

"Hey! Watch who you're calling-" Shiho did not complete her sentence.

"YOU!" Yzak and Shiho suddenly shouted together. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"I happened to be a regular here!" Shiho said first with her chin held high.

"And I own this place!" Yzak shot back.

Oh goodness. Somehow I had a feeling that everything was going to go down hill from here.

"What?" Shiho took only a second to recover from her surprise. "Why you over conceited jerk!"

"Bloody woman! You're mental!"

"Who are you calling mental? You old man! You should go back to the retirement home where you belong!" Shiho slammed her fist on the table.

"What? Who's the one wearing a retarded raincoat when it's not even raining?"

"What I choose to wear is none of your business! Does it matter to you?"

"Of course it does! I can't be seen around with you!"

"Oh please! It's not as if we're going to marry! And we won't! Because I won't agree to it! Are you mad? You think I would want to marry you?"

"Well neither would I!" Yzak shot back. It's scary how it looked as if my two friends were going to strangle each other. And I finally got what was going on. I looked at Meyrin and she seemed to have gotten the picture too. What did you know? What a really small world.

"Fine!" Shiho yelled.

"Fine!" Yzak retorted.

"Goodbye!"

"Farewell!"

"Good riddance!" Shiho had the last say before grabbing our hands and dragging us out of the club.

What an eventful evening! And if not but a rather embarrassing one too.

I drove Shiho home and much to Meyrin's reluctance, forced her to stay the night with Shiho. Shiho was still fuming and I realised that she could cause some major damage if left alone to her own devices. Someone had to watch her for the time being until she cooled down.

Athrun and Kira were midway in eating their dinner. They were eating rather late. They must had waited for me until their hunger got the better of them. Kira ran into my arms the moment I entered the house.

"Cagalli!" he exclaimed.

"Hey buddy. Sorry I couldn't pick you up today," I said as I saw Athrun approaching us from the dining room.

"Hey!" Athrun said as he leaned casually against the wall.

Wow. He looked really gorgeous- Wait, hold on there a second. Cagalli! Where were your thoughts flying off too?

"We saved some dinner for you too!" Kira said. "Athrun made really good spinach lasagna."

I looked at Athrun and I felt my cheeks grew slightly warmer. Phew. It seemed to be pretty hot in this house. No. It must be the alcohol taking its effect. Wait. What was I saying? I didn't even drink since I knew I was going to drive home.

It was also a very good thing that Shiho and Meyrin didn't come back home with me. I mean, how was I going to explain to Athrun that I ditched Kira to go out drinking? Not that I drank anything or that I would blatantly lie to him. I would just keep quiet and let him think that I was busy at work. Yea. That sounded right.

"I hoped you don't mind but I used your kitchen," Athrun broke me out of my thoughts.

"Yes! What? Oh no! I mean no!" I stammered over my words. "I mean, how could I mind? You should come over here and use it more often," I stopped myself before I could embarrass myself even further. There was an amused smile on Athrun's face. Hmm and I thought I saw a bit of red too. It must have been the lighting.

I cleared my throat and corrected myself. "I didn't really mean it like that," I said.

"Don't worry, I understand," Athrun replied. "Come on let's eat. The food's still warm."

After doing the dishes, which Athrun insisted on helping me with, I got Kira to go up and brush his teeth while I walked Athrun to the front door.

"Thank you Athrun. Really. I owe you big time."

"It's really alright Cagalli. We're neighbours. The neighbours around here always help out all the time."

"Yea well then I'm really glad I moved here. It's really different from the city."

"Oh, how so?"

"Well for one, you don't get get such good neighbours," I smiled at him. He smiled back at me. "Listen, I really can't let this go without repaying you. Isn't there anything I can do?"

"You really are not going to let this go, are you?" he chuckled

"Not a chance," I laughed.

"Well, if only you insist," he added.

"I insist," I replied.

"Well, the school's going to have a fund raiser. Parents and in your case, sisters, are always welcome to help out."

"Sure, when is it?"

"It's over the weekend."

"I'll be there."

To be continued.

oOo

A/N: It's short compared to the others and I'm not sure if it's up to mark but I really wanted to get this out before I delay it another month or so again. For those of you who were wondering if I had gone MIA, well, here's your answer. I'm really really really sorry. Is anyone still waiting for this story?