Dear diary,
Goldie died today. But Athrun was there and he helped me find another Goldie. I'm really scared that Cagalli will find out and hate me and send me away. I don't want that. I was really mean and nasty to the annoying girl in school today. But she was still really nice to me. Without her, I and Athrun would never have gotten another Goldie in time. Lucky for us, she was at the pet store buying bird food for Mr. Pink. She brought us to her daddy's office. He was really nice too and gave us one of his fishes. I think I'll be nicer to her tomorrow.
Kira
oOo
Chapter 7
I had arrived in school slightly later today. I wasn't late as class had not started, but majority of my classmates were already there. Lacus was seated at her usual place together with Kuzzey and Sai. There was empty seat beside her. It was my seat.
I made my way there and cleared my throat when they didn't see me approaching. Lacus turned and her usual bright smile was plastered onto her face. How could she smile all the time? Didn't her mouth get tired? I also wondered how she managed to talk non-stop. I came to a conclusion that girls were weird. They were aliens from Mars except that they're not green with those antennas on their heads.
"Hello Kira!" she said cheerfully.
"...morning," I mumbled out as I reminded myself to be nicer to her. I thought her smile couldn't get any bigger, but it did when I finally acknowledged her for the first time.
When I sat down, she leaned over to me and whispered, "Cagalli didn't find out, did she?"
"No she didn't. If she did, I wouldn't be here now, would I?"
"Why wouldn't you be here?" she asked confused and I added another thing to my list of things about girls. Girls were stupid.
"Because she would have sent me away," I replied slightly irritated.
"But why would she send you away in the first place?"
Haumea, how I hated to be nice. I wish I could go back into ignoring her. She really was pushing my buttons. "Cagalli would have hated me if she found out about Goldie. She would also have sent me away," I finally said, hoping Lacus would stop asking anymore questions. I could only be nice until so much.
"Cagalli's too nice. She won't hate you for it. And she would definitely not send you away. She loves you."
I was grateful when Ms Gladys had cut short our conversation as Art lesson started. However, my mind kept on wondering to what Lacus had said.
'She loves you.'
Did Cagalli really love me? I thought back to the times she said 'I love you' to me. Actually, I couldn't remember any time that Cagalli had said that. Sure, she hugged me and gave me a few kisses, but she never said she loved me. My frown got even wider. Maybe Lacus was wrong. I didn't know if Cagalli loved me.
"Hey Kuzzey!" Jona came over to our table and interrupted me from my thoughts. "Do you want to use my colour pencils?" Jona asked as he waved some of the pencils in front of Kuzzey. The rest of Jona's friends were snickering away and I looked suspiciously at Jona. He must had something up his sleeves. He normally wasn't this nice.
"Wow, can I Jona? Will you let me?" Kuzzey said rather excitedly.
Jona grinned wickedly, "Why, of course Kuzzey. But on one condition."
"What is it?" Kuzzey looked warily at Jona.
"Be my slave for a week." At this, the rest of Jona's friends laughed even louder.
"Don't do it Kuzzey," Lacus said worried.
"Yea, it's not worth it!" Sai added.
"Oh keep quite you four-eyed freak. You're just jealous I didn't ask you!"
I couldn't help but feel angry at Jona. He was really mean. I stood up so suddenly that I got everyone's attention. Reaching for my bag, I took out my own set of colour pencils.
"It's alright Kuzzey. You don't need to borrow from Jona. I'll lend you mine." The look of shock and disbelief on the faces of Jona and his friends made me surprisingly happy.
"W-Where did you get those?" Jona stammered, his mouth opening and closing like what Goldie did back home.
"My sister bought it for me," I said proudly. Cagalli was really the best sister I could ever hope for.
"Wow, Kira! I didn't know you have those!" Sai said. "Can I borrow from you too?"
"Sure, go ahead. You too Lacus," I said which made her really happy.
"Thank you, Kira!" she smiled at me.
Jona gave us a sour face as he stormed back to his table.
"Alright class. Don't forget that this Saturday is the fundraiser. We've already sent the letters to your parents and guardians. Be sure to come," Ms Gladys finally said before she dismissed us for recess.
Athrun took me home again. Cagalli was really busy at work. The door was unlocked and I saw Meyrin shuffling around the house. Two luggages were in the middle of the hallway. I thought happily at the possibility that she might be leaving. I didn't think she liked me very much.
"Oh great! You're home, Cagalli!" Meyrin said as she was rummaging through her bag in the living room. Her back was turned to us; she didn't see that Cagalli was not here. "It's another one of those last minute trips again. I'll be back next week!" Meyrin finally turned around to face us. Her face really reminded me of a ripened tomato when she saw Athrun. It was really red. "A-Athrun!" she stammered. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, hello. Cagalli's busy at work. I took Kira home from school. You're Cagalli's friend, aren't you?"
Meyrin just stood there speechless.
"Your face is red," I pointed it out to her. I didn't think she knew. If any, her face got even redder.
"I-I... Mfft! I'm gonna be late for my flight!" Meyrin squealed out rather hastily. "Oh look! My cab is here!" Just as Meyrin was grabbing her bags, Athrun stepped in and offered to carry her things.
"N-No! It's really alright! I-I can manage!" Meyrin said as she snatched her things from Athrun. There was a bewildered look on Athrun as we watched Meyrin trip over her feet and tumble out of the house. There was a cab waiting for her outside. "Bye Athrun! Bye Kira!" she practically yelled before she jumped inside the yellow vehicle.
"Did I do something wrong?" Athrun asked confused.
"No," I told him. "She's just weird." Walking over, I closed the front door and proceeded upstairs.
I lay curling up on the side of the bed in Cagalli's room. I had already washed up and done my homework. I was just waiting for Athrun to call me down to dinner.
I wondered if Cagalli would take me to the Fundraiser on Saturday. I remembered her telling Shiho and Meyrin that she was going to be very busy these days. It was Fashion Week or something. She probably would not have time for me, I thought sadly.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Kira? You in there? Dinner's ready," I heard Athrun's voice.
I walked down to the kitchen with Athrun and sat down on one of the high stools. Athrun had cooked meat loaf and pees. Just as we were about to dig in, I heard the front door open.
"Cagalli's home!" I said to Athrun as I jumped off the stool and ran to the entrance to greet Cagalli.
"Hey Kira!" she said as she patted my head.
"Athrun cooked meat loaf tonight," I told her as she placed her bags on the table at the hallway. "We're just about to start eating. Will you come and join us?"
"Yea," she said as she went through her things. "In just a minute. Why don't you two start eating first? I'll join both of you later."
"It's alright," Athrun suddenly appeared and said as he winked at me. "We can wait a little longer."
"Yea! We'll wait!" I gave a smile to Athrun.
Cagalli paused for a moment. There was a frown on her face before she sighed. "Oh alright. I guess work can wait. Come on, let's eat. I'm starving anyway. Thanks again Athrun."
"It's my pleasure," Athrun replied.
We all sat down and ate together. The meat loaf was delicious. I was eating so fast that Cagalli had to tell me to slow down. I left the peas behind though. I didn't really like them. I poked them with my fork.
"Kira, eat your peas," Cagalli said. "They're good for you."
I looked down at the green bauble-like vegetable on my plate. They looked disgusting but I forced myself to eat them anyway. I didn't want to make Cagalli mad.
It was getting late and after Athrun left, Cagalli ushered me to bed. I climbed up onto her bed. I didn't like sleeping alone on mine. So Cagalli had let me sleep with her on hers.
As Cagalli tucked me in, I finally got the courage to ask her about the Fundraiser. I knew she was busy and that it would be really selfish of me, but a part of me still hoped that she could make some time.
"Cagalli?" I asked slowly.
"Yes, Kira?" she said patiently as she pulled the covers over me.
"The school has a fundraiser on Saturday. I was wondering if you're free. It's really ok if you're not because I know you are…" I couldn't stop myself from rambling.
She sat down beside me at the edge of the bed and she reached over to brush away some stray hair from my face.
"Yea, I heard about it. In fact, I told Athrun I'll help out," she smiled at me.
"So we're going on Saturday?" I asked to be sure.
"Yes, so go to sleep now. You still have school tomorrow morning."
I slept happily that night. I was really glad we were going.
We were all dismissed early on Friday so that we could get ready for the Fundraiser the next day. I was really excited for the fair; I had never been to one before. I heard that it was going to be like a carnival with lots of games, rides and food.
I was really surprised when Cagalli was the one who picked me up from school. I thought that it was going to be Athrun considering that Cagalli had been really busy at work.
oOo
Dear diary,
I have never been so busy in my entire life! Fashion week starts on Monday and before that is Kira's Fundraiser on Saturday. I already promised Athrun that I would come! Actually I said that I would help out, which is worse! My schedule is even more packed than a can of sardines! I'm practically running on caffeine now. And I have to say goodbye to Sunday too considering that the grand opening of Fashion week is the day after. There are still lots of preparations to be done! Now I just have to figure out where I can dump Kira on Sunday…
Yours truly,
Cagalli
oOo
I managed to get half a day off work today. After putting in double hours the day before and afterwards tripling it on Sunday, I managed to rearrange my schedule such that I would have the rest of the day and tomorrow free for Kira.
I arrived at Lunar Prep just in time as all the little munchkins swarmed out of the building. The school had dismissed the students earlier so that everyone could prepare for the Fair tomorrow.
"Kira!" I called him as soon I had spotted him. Over there at the front door was my brother with his unruly brown hair. A girl with bright pink hair was tugging behind him.
"Cagalli!" There was a bright smile plastered on his face as he left his friend behind again and ran towards me. "How come you're here? Don't you have work?"
"I took a half day off. We're going to bake cookies today for tomorrow."
"Hi Cagalli!" Kira's friend finally caught up to us.
"Hi Lacus, how are you?"
"I'm great! I'm really excited for the fair tomorrow. Kira said you're coming too, right?"
"Yea, we are. So I'll see you tomorrow ok?"
"Alright! See you tomorrow! Bye Cagalli! Bye Kira!"
Sweet Haumea. That girl – Lacus – just seemed to be bouncing off energy. She's totally different from Kira here.
We stopped by at the groceries before heading home. I needed to buy the ingredients to bake the cookies.
"What kind of cookies would you like Kira?" I asked him as I scrolled down the recipe I had gotten online.
"Chocolate chip cookies?" he supplied.
"Yea, ok. That sounds good." I pushed the trolley down the aisle and got a few packets of chocolate chips. I was thinking of baking the cookies from scratch. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard.
"Can we get more ice cream? We're running low on supplies," Kira suddenly said.
I nearly burst out laughing. I was rubbing off too much on the kid. He had developed an unhealthy obsession on ice cream just like I did.
Just before we made our way to the cashier, I grabbed some pre-mixed cookie batter just for safe measure.
When we reached home, I popped in some TV dinners into the microwave. I had totally forgotten about lunch. I laid the ingredients on the kitchen counter as Kira polished off his meal.
Ok, the recipe said one cup of butter. I looked at the glassware displayed on the racks. I took a coffee cup and tried to stuff the butter inside. The recipe used an awful lot of butter. I was about to start measuring the sugar when the house phone rang.
"Kira, could you answer the phone please?"
He did as he was told. I was reading the recipe again when I noticed that Kira had not come back to the kitchen. He was taking quite some time. I was about to check on him when he walked in from the front door with Athrun in tow.
"Hey," I said surprised. What was Athrun doing here? "What's going on?"
"Hey. Kira called me over," Athrun replied.
I looked down at Kira for an explanation.
"Shiho called. She told me to call Athrun," Kira said as he handed me the wireless phone. "She's still on the line."
"Shiho?" I pressed the received onto my ear.
"Oh Cagalli thank goodness I called! What were you thinking? Baking? Seriously? You could have set the house on fire! Thank goodness Kira told me what you're doing."
I wanted to roll my eyes. "Shiho, you don't give me enough credit. Seriously?"
"Is Athrun there yet? Has Kira gotten him?" she interrupted.
"Yes he's here."
"Oh good then I'll hang up now. Bye!"
"Hey," but before I could get another word in, Shiho had disconnected the line.
"Sorry about this Athrun. Kira didn't mean to come over and disturb you."
"No it's really alright. I see that you're baking?"
"Yea, Miss Gladys called me and asked if I cook bake some batches of cookies."
"Oh, would mind if I give you a hand?"
"Sure, I don't mind. It's my first time baking actually," I admitted almost embarrassedly.
The cookies turned out great! Of course, it was Athrun doing most of the work with me and Kira pitching in here and there.
"Mmm it's yummy!" Kira exclaimed as he took a bite. "Here Cagalli, try it!" He fed me his cookie. I took a bite. It was crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. In short, it was delicious. "Try it Athrun!" Kira fed Athrun with the same cookie. Athrun didn't seem to mind.
"Mmm it's good isn't it?" Athrun smiled.
You know, I could really get used to this, Athrun coming over and all. I smiled back.
Suddenly, I had a mischievous idea.
I looked at Athrun and he looked at me with an eye brow raised, as if asking me what I was planning.
I lined my fingers with some flour and looked at my brother who was sitting on the kitchen counter.
"Hey Kira, you've got some flour over here," I laughed as I poked his nose, leaving a flour print on it. "And here… and here…" I said as I poked him all over the face.
Athrun was laughing along with me.
"Hey!" Kira protested, finally catching on to what I was doing.
"Here Cagalli, you've got some too," Athrun said as he used the left over cookie batter and drew a line on my face.
"Hey!" I laughed along with him as I tried to grab hold of some batter. I was going take my revenge. But Athrun was too fast. He grabbed the mixing bowl before I could get my hands on it.
Using the batter stuck onto my face, I wiped it back on Athrun's face.
"Kira! Help me! Get the bowl!"
Kira was in fits of laughter as he jumped off the counter and ran to hug cling onto Athrun's leg.
"Hey Kira, you're supposed to go after Cagalli! She was the one who left the flour on your face!"
"No! Get him Kira!" I said in between laughing. "Tickle him!" I declared. Kira and I swarmed around Athrun and started wiggling our fingers.
"Oh please, no more," Athrun said as he kept on laughing. The mixing bowl had been dropped a long time ago as Athrun tried to defend himself.
"Do you yield?" I asked him.
His eyes locked onto mine and with a grin, he said, "Never!"
"Then continue the tickling Kira!"
I didn't know how the tables were turned but all of a sudden I was on the receiving end of the tickles.
"H-Hey!" Tears were already forming at my eyes for laughing too hard.
"Do you yield Cagalli?"
"Noooo- Ok alright! I yield!" I surrendered. I couldn't take anymore tickling. I was in hysterics. I dropped onto the kitchen tiles clutching my stomach from laughing too hard. Kira and Athrun joined me on the ground.
"That was fun," Kira said.
"What? The baking or the tickling?"
"Both!" Kira said and we all just continued laughing.
Kira and I got a lift from Athrun to school the following day for the Fundraiser.
Lunar Prep was bustling with people and decorations. There was loud music and banners and balloons were tied all over the place. Carnival rides and game tents were set up all around. There was even a petting zoo in the middle.
The three of made our way to Kira's class stall to deliver the cookies.
"Thank you so much Cagalli," Miss Gladys said as we passed her the packed cookies. "I can take over from here. You can take Kira and move around."
"So where would you like to go?" I asked Kira. He was very excited to be here. The boy was mesmerized by everything around him.
"Why don't we start with face painting?" Athrun suggested. It was one of the nearest booths.
"I want an airplane and a fire truck," Kira told the face painter.
"Come on, I'll paint your face Cagalli," Athrun said as he sat down on the opposite side of the table facing me.
"What? Is this part of your revenge for yesterday?"
"Perhaps," he smiled at me. "Come on." He took one of the brushes.
"Fine, but only if I get to paint your face too."
"That sounds reasonable. Ok. Come here," he said as he leaned towards me. "What would you like me to paint?"
"A lion," I told him as I tucked my hair behind my ears and brought my cheek towards him.
"A lion it is…"
After a few moments, I took a mirror and stared at my reflection.
"What is that?"
"A lion as what you requested," Athrun chuckled. "Doesn't it look like one?"
It looked more like Kira with whiskers.
"No," I said flatly.
"Ouch, you wound me Cagalli."
"My turn!" I announced as I swept the brush of his fingers. "What would you like?"
"You're not going to paint something hideous on purpose, are you?"
"That depends on my mood seconds from now. So what would you like?"
"Hmm that's tough, I'm not sure. Give me a minute to think about it," there was a playful smirk on his face.
"Quit stalling Zala. If you can't make up your mind, I'll choose for you."
"Alright, ok. I want… a pirate!"
"A pirate?" I asked skeptical.
"Yea. Or is that too hard for you?"
"No no, I can paint a pirate," I told him with my own mischievous grin.
"What's that?" Athrun asked when I was finally done with my master piece.
"What does it look like Zala?"
"I thought we're on first name basis Cagalli? And it looks a lot like a rose."
"Bingo. It is a rose."
"… I thought I asked for a pirate."
"Yea but I decided that I wanted a rose instead."
"Ok, we're done!" Kira said as he took Athrun's and my hand and started dragging us away. "I want to ride the carousel!"
I sat down by the bench made of hay as I watched Kira ride the pony round the little enclosure. Each time he passed by me he would wave at me. I would wave back.
"Here," Athrun said as he passed me a bottle of water. "Better drink up."
"Thanks," I replied as he took a seat beside me. He would wave back to Kira every time the boy passed by. "So how long have you been staying in Orb Planes?"
"We moved two years ago. It's a nice peaceful neighbourhood. The neighbours as you have met are all nice people."
"Yeah, I agree on that. Huh, we? I haven't seen anyone else around your house."
"Yeah, my parents are in the Plants right now. They left just before you moved in. You'll see them soon."
Before I could say anything else to him, Kira's ride had ended and he was running back to us.
"Can we go and play some games at the stalls now?" Kira asked excitedly.
"Yea sure," I replied as I let Kira drag us away again.
We met Lacus at the game stalls. Much to the dismay of Kira, Lacus had whisked him away to play hoop-in-a-bottle.
"Come on," Athrun motioned to me. "You know how to shoot?" He placed some coupons at the game counter.
"Never tried," I replied, picking up one of the rifles. "How does this work?" I asked, my fingers feeling and experimenting on the gun.
"Here," Athrun positioned the gun in my hands. I was so close to him I could practically feel his body heat. I let him guide me. He arranged the rifle on my hand before making me position my feet apart. Standing behind me and covering my hand in his, he continued, "And then, you take aim and fire."
There was a bang sound followed by the slight recoil of the rifle. Of course, this wasn't a real gun (it was just paintball) but the experience felt very real to me.
I looked at the dummy we shot. Our shot marked one of the bullseye regions.
"Wow, it looks like I've discovered one of my hidden talents," I smiled at Athrun.
"Hey do you two want to continue?" the game vendor interrupted. "Hit two more bullseye and you get a prize."
"Want to continue?" Athrun offered.
"Nah, I think I'm done showing off my skills. Why don't you try showing off yours?"
There was that crooked smile on his face again and before I could blink twice, he had easily shot all three bullseye. Talk about talent, that guy was a sniper.
As promised, the vendor had handed us a large stuffed lion.
"There's the lion you wanted earlier," Athrun smiled at me.
It was already quite late by the time we had reached home. Kira had already fallen asleep in the car and Athrun had to carry him up into our room.
"In here?" Athrun asked he entered my room carrying a sleeping Kira in his arms.
"Yeah, he still sleeps with me," I say as I pulled down the covers of the bed so that Athrun could lay the young boy down. I placed the large stuff lion on the bed beside Kira.
Sitting at the edge, I tried gently to take Kira's shoes off his feet. Athrun had helped me with the other shoe before proceeding to cover him with the duvet.
"Thanks," I told him as I walked him out the front door.
"It's no problem," he smiled at me. "I had fun today."
"I had fun too," I smiled back. I had really enjoyed his company.
I looked up to his green eyes. There were sparkling like a pair of emeralds. I felt inevitably drawn to him and I was pretty sure he felt the same way towards me. It was as if there was this invisible force pulling us closer together. Before I knew it, he stepped back.
"Good night, Cagalli."
To be continued.
oOo
A/N: Oh me goodness gracious! Is this fandom dying?! Nooooo! It seems that there are less and less updates and new stories coming up. I really hope we don't die out. Fans out there! Don't die out! I'm so sorry for taking forever to update. After seeing the lack of movement from this Gundum Seed Fandom, I immediately stopped doing my work and resumed writing this chapter. Cheers to AsuCaga forever! Please read and review if you like.