Chapter 7
After spending a somewhat peaceful night together with his lovely girlfriend.
Athrun was now taking another trip around the ship, he and Cagalli had been forced to stay on for such a long time.
And even true he seemed to be in a good mood this morning, he still had a deep thoughtful look on his face, and it was quite obvious for those few people that past him, that the blue hair teenager had a lot of things on his mind, at the moment.
But as he was making his way down yet another hall on the ship.
He suddenly heard a few gun shoots not that far away from him, which immediately got him to stop in his tracks, and now he just stood there for a second or two, trying to figure out what was happening now.
But once he heard two more shoots, he realized that he was most likely getting quite close to the ships shooting range.
So after letting out a small breath, he again continued down the halls, ignoring the next few shots he heard.
It did however not take him long to find the place, where the gun shots was coming from, where he saw both Rey and Shinn practicing hard with their firearms.
And it didn't take much time for him to noticed, that each of them seemed quite good with the weapons, but it quickly became obvious that Shinn using just a bit more time to aim then Rey did.
But his thoughts about their shooting abilities was soon interrupted, when a familiar female voice began talking right behind him.
"Hey Athrun, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" Luna asked a bit curious.
Normally the only people down here in the morning hours was Shinn, Rey and herself, and at a few rare occasions Nicol too, who apparently wasn't there at the moment, but that didn't really surprise her a lot.
"I'm not really doing anything down here, I was just talking a small walk around the ship, when I end up here" Athrun explained, while smiling a bit at the red hair girl, before he continued watching Shinn and Rey practicing with their guns.
Seeing that he wasn't in the mood to talk right now, Luna walked past him and got over beside Shinn, where she immediately aimed her own weapon at the target in front of her.
And it was only a few minor seconds later, before she fired a single shot, that flew far past what she was had originally been aiming the gun at.
Once that happened, the red hair girl couldn't help but let out a few minor angry curses, as she once again took aim and fired a shot, not having any more luck this time, then the first.
"Damn, why is this so hard?" She quietly asked herself, again firing the deadly black weapon at the human like target, this time hitting the right shoulder, which made a small yet happy smile ran over her lips.
But it didn't take long before it was replace by a deep frown instead.
Why the hell was Shinn and Rey so much better at this then she was, all three of them had gone through pretty much the same training.
Yet here she was not hitting anything important, while they always hit the more vital parts on their targets.
And just the sight of how well they where actually using their guns, was more then enough to make her a little angry, she just didn't get why there was such a big different in their shooting abilities.
So she decided to watch them a bit, to try and figure out what she was doing wrong.
But she just couldn't grasp, what she was doing so different then those two.
And when Shinn fired a shot straight in to the forehead of his target, then turned and gave her a small teasing smile while lifting the gun up to his mouth pretending to blow the smoke away.
She immediately got a determined expression on her face, there was no way she was going to take this small challenge sitting down.
And with that in mind she quickly turned and took aim at her targets forehead, even true she was concentrating quite hard at the moment the bullet still missed what she had been aiming at.
Which was enough to make her let out a small angry growl sound, that clearly showed the three boys, that she was in a very bad mood right now.
But just as she was about to fire of yet another bullet from the gun, somebody there gave her some advice.
"Try and relax a bit, you wouldn't hit anything when you tensed up like that!" Athrun said, over from where he was leaning against the door frame, hearing the former Zaft red said that.
Lunamaria hurried took a small glance back at him, where she saw that he was still watching the three of them practice.
So after thinking a bit about his advise, she again turned and aim at the target.
This time however, she made sure to take a few deep breath before she pressed down on the trigger, making a single bullet leave the gun and fly full speed towards the target, where it scratch just the side of the head.
"Yes that's more like it!" The red hair girl cheered loudly, truly happy with the resulted.
She did however not do that for long, before she turned and again looked at Athrun. "Want to try it out?" She asked, while holding the hand gun out to him.
But much to her disappointment, he just shook his head a few times, while telling her that he preferred to just watch them train. Hearing him say that Luna got a small frown on her forehead, as she quickly got over in front of him.
"Ahh come on now, we all saw how well you did in a mobile suit yesterday, and I would like very much to see how well you handle a gun, you might not even realize but you are actually a bit famous on this ship. You where after all the one who defeat the supposedly undefeatable Strike gundam, and you where also the piloted of the ZGMF-X09A Justice, that took down GENESIS at Jachin Due!" Luna said, as she tried to figure out if there was anything she had left out.
But while she was doing that, she did not noticing the far away look the blue hair teen now had on his face.
He seriously didn't like being reminded of how close, he had come to murder his best friend, that time when he had thought, that Kira was going to hurt Nicol.
And one had to be pretty insane to think about GENESIS all that much, it wasn't really those kind of memories one would cherish forever.
It did however not take long before the girl snapped him back out of his thoughts, when she apparently remember something else he had done, at some point in time.
"Ohh and I also heard back at the academy, that you where the one to take out the Earth Forces Forbidden Gundam!" She said a bit proud, that she had found yet another thing he should have done.
Hearing her say that Athrun couldn't help but think about how he had destroyed the Forbidden Gundam.
And it was one more of those things, he really didn't like to think about, that guy had after all been very close to take the girl he loved away from him.
So after just standing there looking at the red hair ZAKU pilot for a few minutes, he slowly reached out and took the gun away from her, then walked over to the place where she had just been.
Once there he pressed down on a button to begin a new round, then he hurried took aim and fired a shoot directly between the eyes of the target, then with out even looking away a seconds fired of one more bullet this time at the forehead, only to follow it up with one more shot, that hit the place where the heart was suppose to be.
After that he placed the gun on the table in front of him and looked back at the girl.
"It's an ok skill to have, but I don't really find it very useful!" Athrun explained, as he began walking over towards the door, determined to get out of there before they could ask him for another demonstration.
But he hadn't really gotten all that far, before Luna again began talking to him.
"I think it's a very useful skill, it's important to know how to use a gun to protect yourself and your friends against the enemy!" Luna said. while reaching out after the gun looking it over for a few seconds, wondering how he could use the same weapon so much better than her, and how she could get just as good with a gun as he was.
But she really didn't get all that much time to think about it, before she noticed that Athrun was looking at her, with a weird expression on his face.
But just before she could say anything about it, he asked her a very strange question.
"So just who are your enemies exactly?" He asked, while slowly turning away from her and walked out of the shooting ranges, before she even had to time to come up with a reply, to what he had just asked her.
And it was only when Shinn said, that the enemy would always be the opponents standing in front of them, that she snapped back out of her confused state.
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It was about a half hour later, when Cagalli and Athrun enter the Minerva's bridge, where Talia immediately turned and looked back at them.
"Good morning you two, I hope that both of you slept well, even with everything we went through yesterday!" The woman said.
As she gave both teenagers a kind smile, but it was only Cagalli that return it, while Athrun walked over to the window, and just stood there for a bit, looking out at the clear blue ocean.
Seeing that the boy wasn't in the mood to talk, Talia again looked over at the girl.
"We are not really that far away from Orb now, so I would like for you to stay up here when we get there, in case they want some kind of proof, that you are on this ship" the woman said, as she also took a small glance out at the beautiful view.
It really was an amazing sight, and she kinda wish that she had more time, to really enjoy take it all in.
But they did not have the time for something like that, this was not a vacation.
Each and every crew member on the ship had a job to do, especially with all the thing they had been through with Junius Seven, it was important that all of them gave it everything they had in them.
"Ok captain, but do you have any idea about how far away we are?" The blond girl asked, sounding just a bit eager, she was really looking forward to see, Lacus, Kira and Mayu again, it had after all been some time now since she last had the opportunity to visit them.
But even true that was actually what she really want to do when they got to Orb, she highly doubt she would get very much time for something like that, with that fool to Yuna and his father breathing down her neck.
Looking at the young woman for a second or two, Talia was just about to give her a reply, when she noticed the somewhat far away expression she had on her face.
Which made her wonder slightly what she was thinking about.
It was obviously very important for the blond girl, and it was quite clear that it had at least something to do with the young Zala, the girl just couldn't stop herself from taking a few glances over at him.
Not that he noticed, he was far to busy watching the view from the bridge.
"We should be there in about a half hour, if all goes well!" Talia said making both of them turn and look over at her. And just one small glance at each of their faces, was more then enough to tell her that she had obviously interrupted both of them in their thoughts.
But there wasn't really anything she could do about that, and just as she was about to say something else to them.
One of the other people up there, beat her to it and began talking in a loud tone.
"Captain we got three Murasames, coming towards us with great speed, and somebody is trying to get in contact with us, I'm putting them through right now!" Bart said, as he turned and looked over at Cagalli waiting for the young woman, to tell the Orb mobile suits that they where not a threat.
And it wasn't much later before the blond girl was talking loudly with the Orb forces, that had been send out there to greet them, and it didn't really take all that much time, before the grey Zaft space ship was permitted to enter the country.
Which meant that the ship continued on it's present course, this time at a much slower speed.
But even with that it only took about ten minutes before they could all see land, and to many of the crews surprise this was an even more lovely sight then seeing the bright blue ocean.
"You really do have a beautiful country miss Cagalli!" Talia said in a loud tone with a small smile on her face, as she took a small glance over at the blond woman that at this moment, standing over beside her boyfriend.
Both of them clearly enjoying the sight before them.
Hearing the captain of the ship said that, Cagalli slowly turned and looked back at the brown hair woman, where she immediately gave her a small yet grateful smile.
"Thank you captain Gladys, that nice of you to say!" the blond girl said, as she again turned and took a look back out of the window, where her smile declined just a bit, she really was happy to be home again.
But there was just a few things here she really didn't look forward to see, and she already knew that once the Minerva had docked, Yuna would be there waiting for her, she just didn't felt like dealing with him right now.
And it really didn't help her hatred towards the purple haired man, that every time he and Athrun would come face to face, Yuna would do everything, to rube in that the two of them where engaged.
And just thinking about some of the things, he had done in the pasted.
Was more then enough for her to want to strangle the annoying bastard, and she had very little doubt in her mind, that it wouldn't be long now, before she once again would experienced those feelings.
The only thing that did cheer her up a bit right now, was the thought about Yuna falling in to the harbor and drowning by accident.
But she seriously doubt, something like that would ever happen, she just wasn't so fortunate.
But she could at least hope it would even if he didn't drown, it would still be funny as hell, and just the idea of seeing him in the water yelling for somebody to get him out of there, was all the blond girl need to get a small wicked grin on her face.
That the boy next to her noticed almost immediately, and after knowing the blond girl for such a long time, he of course knew what the grin meant, she was thinking something mischievous about somebody.
But if it was who he thought it was, he really didn't mind it, but a small part of him was actually little interested, in hearing if he was right about who it was.
"What exactly are you thinking about Cagalli?" He whispered to her in a small tone, being very careful that all the other people up there, couldn't hear what he was saying.
Hearing him asked, that Cagalli hurried looked away from the window, and over at the boy beside her.
"It's nothing really, I was just hoping that something fun would happen once we get of the Minerva" she told him with a innocent smile on her face, as she once again began daydreaming, about how entertain it would be, to see the screaming Yuna down in the water.
Seeing her do that, immediately made it clear for Athrun, that whatever she was hoping would happen to the purple hair Seiran, it was most likely very mean and painful.
And if it had been anybody else, he would have told her, that she really shouldn't be thinking such things.
But he really didn't do much to hide, that he too was feeling a great deal of dislike, towards the youngest Seiran.
He had even caught himself a few times, wanting to deck the purple hair man, especially when he was flirting with Cagalli directly in front of him, something he had done more then once.
And in all honesty, the only reason he hadn't gone through with it, was because he seriously didn't feel like being throw in jail for assaulting the whining bastard, even true Dearka had offered to help him, if he should need it.
The two of them however, didn't get much time to stay in their own thoughts, when the guy that was steering the Minerva began talking. "Ma'am! We are entering the port now!" He said in a loud tone, not taking his eyes away from what he was doing.
He seriously thought, that the Minerva had more then enough things, that need to be fixed, without him scratching the hall, while they where docking.
Smiling a bit at the Talia nodded a few times in understanding. "Good do make sure that everybody that is not on duty, knows that they can use the time while we are here to get some rest!" The woman said.
Just before she stood up from her seat, and walked over to the ship's two guests, where she looked at them for a few seconds, before she asked them if they where ready to disembark.
And once she saw both of them nod yes to her question.
She turned and looked over at Arthur, where she told him that she would like for him to go with her of the ship, which was more then enough to make him almost fly up from the chair, where he immediately salute her.
"Understood captain, you just lead the way!" He said loudly, while she smiled a bit at him, before she slowly turned around and left the bridge, with the three others following closely behind her.
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At the same time outside the ship, Yuna and his father was busy talking about just how fortunate they was, by having such an impressive ship like the Minerva drop in to their laps like this.
"Hmm I really do wonder, if there is anyway we can use this to our advantage, it's not every day that's Zaft's news space ship just comes by like this" Unato said, as he took a glance away from the Minerva and over at his son that was standing beside him.
"No matter what father, I'm sure we can find something the ship can be used for, but lets not discourse this here with so many people around, right now I think we should concentrate on biding Cagalli welcome home!" Yuna said, with a small grin on his face.
Which made his father nod a few times in agreement.
Just as the two of them step over to where, the people that was on board the ship, would most likely exit from.
And while the two of them where doing that a few other people was also busy talking about the Minerva, but this conversation was much more light hearted, then the one the two Seiran's had just been having about the space ship.
"I don't know if it's just me Murdoch, but isn't this ship a little bigger then the one Athrun and Cagalli left in?" Dearka Elsman asked in a joking tone from where he was standing beside the mechanic.
Hearing the boy asked that Murdoch quickly took a small glance over at the boy, before he lifted up both of his arms, now looking like he was trying to measure the entire space ship with his hands.
And after doing that for a few seconds he again looked back at the former Buster pilot. "I think so, but I'm not really sure, maybe all of us is just working to hard!" The man said, using the same kind of tone as the boy.
Which made Dearka laugh a bit. "Hmm if that's the case, then shouldn't we consider asking for a few days of?" The boy asked, with that big grin on his face, as he again looked over at the Minerva, wondering slightly what kind of armament the grey space ship had, and how many mobile suits it could carry, it wasn't every day that he got to see a ship like this.
He did however not get much time to think about, what the ship could do, before Murdoch interrupted his thoughts.
"I do like the idea of getting a few days off, but I think miss Bernes would get angry if the two of us ran away now!" The man said, as he took a small glance over at Murrue, that was already busy rolling her eyes at the two of them.
"Will the two of you please stop joking around, it wouldn't be long now before we have to get to work, and from what I can see there is a lot of things we need to look over on that ship" Murrue said, while looking a few times between them.
Seriously hoping they where done with their joking around, at least for the time being, but if she knew the two of them right, they where far from done with the jokes.
It was just about that time that the door to the ship was opened. And they could now all see Cagalli and Athrun walking slowly out of the ship, follow by two crew members of the ship, that was most likely the people in command.
"Each of them seems to be all right, other then they do look a bit unhappy about something, not really surprising" Murrue said in a small tone, making sure that it was only Dearka and Murdoch that could hear what she had just said.
And both of them nodded in agreement, it didn't take much of a genius to figure out why, both of them where in a bad mood.
And the small frown, that was on both of their faces, did get a little bigger when Yuna stepped forward and began talking in a loud annoying voice, that most people there could hear.
"Cagalli! Cagalli! It's so good to see you back here, all of us was so worried about you!" The purple haired man said, as he tried to put his arm around her.
Seeing him reaching out for her like that, the blond girl quickly stepped back, just badly avoiding getting hugged by the man.
"It's good to see you too Yuna!" She said in a tone that made it clear for everybody that really knew her, that she lying through her teeth right now, that she didn't mean a word of what she had just said.
And one single look at the stance she was in, was enough to tell most people that she ready to jump away from him, should he try and hug her one more time.
But he didn't do that, he just stood there watching her, with a deep frown on his forehead, he really hate it that she couldn't just do what the heck, they told her to do.
If she did that, it would be so much easier to control this country.
But every single time he tried to get close to the blond bitch, she always would find some irritating way to slip by him, and that was just one of those things he seriously despised about her.
He did however have and idea about why she was always avoiding him like the plague.
He really didn't have to look very far, before he found the main reason why, she didn't want to accept him as her fiancée, it was that damn blue haired Coordinator that was standing just a bit behind Cagalli.
"It's good to see you too Alex, as always you did a very fine job protecting my fiancée!" The purple hair man said, glaring a bit hatefully at the young man.
Seeing the angry look the youngest Seiran was giving him, Athrun gave him the same kind of look back. "Why thank you Mr Seiran that's nice to hear, I do after all love looking after Cagalli, it really is a delight" he said, not once showing any signs, that he was going to break down, over the look Yuna was giving him.
It wasn't like this was the first time, a person had looked at him like that.
And even true he knew that Yuna was trying to frightened him, Athrun wasn't scared at all, truth be told he was actually tempted to roll his eyes at the Seiran. But he knew that would be a bad idea, he really didn't want to get in trouble for disrespecting the moron.
"I do however think that Cagalli could use some rest, after our little trip!" Athrun said, as he finally moved his eyes away from the Seiran and over at the girl he loved, where he gave her a small yet caring smile, that she immediately returned.
Noticing how the two of them where looking at each other, the frown on Yuna's forehead got a little bigger, he really hated that damn brat, and he seriously hoped that someday, he would rod in hell.
But after standing there looking at them a bit longer, Yuna took a single stepped forward, taking fully advantage of Cagalli having her attention turned completely towards the blue haired boy.
Once close enough to her he slowly lifted up his hand and placed it on her shoulder, where he gave it a gentle squeeze.
"I understand what you are saying Alex, but there is a few things we need to talk with her about, she can rest up once we are done!" Yuna said, as he began leading Cagalli away from the former Zaft pilot and the Minerva.
But they didn't get very far before Cagalli hurried pulled away from the Yuna, and looked back at Athrun.
"I will see you later Alex!" she called back to him in a very sweet tone, before she walked of in the same direction, the youngest Seiran had been trying to lead her in.
Seeing her go like that, Yuna couldn't help but glare one last time back at Athrun, before he and his father quickly went after the blond girl, none of them looking all that happy, actually each of them looked quite pissed of at the moment.
"Isn't there someway we could get rid of that damn boy?" Yuna asked in a whispered over to his father, that slowly shook his head.
"Not right now Yuna, maybe someday in the future, we could arrange some kind of accident" Unato said, while giving his son a small murderous smile, he too had of course noticed just how close, Lord Uzumi's spoiled little daughter was to the blue hair brat.
But there really wasn't anything they could do about the boy at this moment in time, but truth be told Unato wouldn't really mind, it if something bad was to happen to that kid.
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Looking after Cagalli until she was completely out of his sight, Athrun let out a small breath, as he slowly turned around and walked of in the opposite direction.
Not even noticing that Talia and Arthur looking after him for a few seconds, until the deputy captain turned his eyes over towards the woman beside him, where he saw that she was still looking after the former Zaft pilot.
"It looks like they forget all about us captain!" He said in a loud tone, a bit concerned about what was going to happen now.
He still didn't think it was the best idea, to let Orb fix up the Minerva, in his eyes a task like that was better left to some of Zaft's own mechanics, not a bunch of complete strangers.
And even true he had already mentioned that to the captain a few times, she had just told him that everything would be all right, and that he should not worry about it so much.
Hearing her second in commands words, Talia finally looked away from the direction Athrun had disappeared in, and back over at the man beside her.
"Yeah I guess all of them where to busy to give us much thought" she said while taking a look around the harbor, where she quickly noticed a woman about her own age and two men coming directly towards them.
Once they where standing in front of them, the brown hair woman smiled a bit, as she slowly lifted her hand for Talia to shake.
"Hello and welcome to Orb! My name if Maria Bernes, and I been put in charge of the repairs, and everything else that needs to be done on your ship" Murrue said in a kind tone.
Just as Talia reached out and took the other woman's hand, shaking it a few times.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Talia Gladys and I'm the captain of the Minerva, and this is my second in command......!" That was all she got out, when she suddenly noticed, just where Arthur was looking at the other woman.
Feeling a small frown ran over her forehead, Talia wonder a few short seconds why the heck all men had to be like that.
And not wanting to insult the woman, that was going to help them out so much, Talia quickly reached up with her other hand and grabbed on to Arthur's arm, where she immediately gave it a very hard squeeze, that obviously hurt quite a bit.
Which he showed by trying to pull his arm away and by biting his low lips in an attempt not to yell out in pain, happy that he wasn't looking at the woman's breasts any longer.
Talia slowly eased up on the grib and let his arm drop, still promising herself that once they got back on board the Minerva, she was going to have a nice little chat with him about this.
She really didn't want her ships honour getting ruined, because her deputy captain couldn't keep his eyes to himself.
And after being completely sure, that he wouldn't just began looking at the other woman like that again. Talia slowly turned both of her eyes over towards both of the men that was standing right behind Maria.
"And who are these two gentleman?" She asked, while taking a glance back at the other female there, waiting to hear what part the two men, was going to have in putting her ship back together.
Hearing the captain's question Murrue turned and took a look back at the two people behind her.
"Ohh sorry about that, I forget to introduce them, the right one is Kojiro Murdoch, he is one of our very best mechanic, and I have no doubt that it wouldn't take him much time to fix up your ship" Murrue said, while thinking back to how much Murdoch had done in the last war, both with repairing the Archangel's mobile suits and the ship itself.
She did however not think about that for long before she turned and looked over at Dearka. "And this is Dearka Haw, he is quite good at working both with mobile suits and other things!" Murrue explained, making extra sure to use the fake last name the former Zaft piloted, had asked her to use, just as the Minerva was entering the harbor.
And even true both she and Murdoch, had been a bit surprised by his request to be called by Miriallia's last name.
He had just smiled a bit at them and told them that it made most sense to him, and that he really didn't want the ships crew to know who he really was, he was after all branded as a traitor in the last war.
And even true he wasn't ashamed about what he did back then, he just didn't want an entire Zaft ship, to be whispering about him behind his back, while he was busy helping them out.
Truly happy to know that her ship was in capable hands, Talia nodded a single time with a thoughtful expression, as she turned around and took a look back at the Minerva.
"So how much time do you think it would take, before she is fully repaired again miss Maria?" She asked, not once taking her eyes away from the space ship, that made it clear for all that was watching her, that she was a bit concerned about how much time this would take.
She did however not get a reply from Maria, which made her wonder a bit if she had heard the question.
But just as she was about to ask about it one more time.
That Murdoch fellow stepped over beside her, where he slowly let his eyes ran over the ship, obviously trying to draw a picture of everything that need to be looked over on the ship.
And finally after a few long minutes, he looked over at the captain of the vessel.
"It's kinda hard to tell, the ship really does seems to have gone through some very tough times, it's actually quite impressive that there isn't anything else that needs a little work!" Murdoch said, clearly still trying to come up with an reply to her question, as he walked all the way over to the ship, to take a close look at some of the damages on it's hulls.
Once there he didn't say anything, he just stood for a few very long minutes in his own thoughts, but finally he slowly turned his attention away from the ship and back at Talia.
"Most likely about a week or so, all those damages you guys took from flying through the atmosphere, has really given her quite the beating, and it will certainly take
sometime to straighten everything out again, but after that she should be as good as new!" The man promised in a loud tone, and with a big grin on his face.
Which made it clear for both Murrue and Dearka, that he was already looking forward, to get to work on the grey space ship.
Hearing the man tell her all of that Talia nodded slowly in understanding, as she thought about how the Minerva used to look, in her eyes it would surely take a very long time to get the ship back to it's original state.
And this man had just promised her, that they would be done in about a week, which made her wonder slightly if the man was exaggerate a bit.
But that was when Talia noticed the exciting look on his face. It was obvious that he was just about to run of at any minute now, to get whatever tools he would need to repair the ship.
Seeing that, she couldn't help but smile a bit, it was always nice to meet people, that was actually happy about getting to work.
"Well truth be told, I really don't think you can fix her up in just a week, but I guess you just have to prove me wrong" Talia said, once again looking back at the Minerva.
Hearing those words leave the woman's mouth, Murdoch got an even large grin on his face, he seriously did like a nice little challenge.
And with that in mind, he quickly turned around and walk over to Dearka.
Where he immediately grabbed on to the boy's collar, pulling him along as he was walking over, to everything they where going to need in this little project, telling the boy that now they finally gotten something fun to do.
"You call this fun?! I really don't think anybody else, would find it fun, not to getting any sleep for an entire week!" Dearka grumbled loudly, truly not happy that the captain of the Minerva, just had to get Murdoch this excited over working on her ship.
And just thinking about it Dearka knew without a doubt, that he would be working over time the next few days, something he really didn't like, mostly because it cut the time he was going to spend with Miriallia down.
Seeing them leave like that and hearing the boy's loud complaining, Talia turned and looked back at Maria.
"Hmm maybe I shouldn't have dared him like that, the boy doesn't really sound all that happy about it" the captain said, taking one more look back after the two mechanics, that was already busy collecting, just about every single thing they would need to fix up the Minerva's hull.
But it didn't take long before Murrue put her concerns to rest.
"You don't have to worry about him, he just doesn't like to work to much, but he will get the job done especially when he remembers, that his girlfriend have to work the next few days, and wouldn't be home for sometime!" Murrue explained in a very loud tone, that she knew for certain that the former Buster pilot could hear, from where he was standing now.
But the only thing that made it clear that he heard everything she had just said, was because he immediately stopped his yelling and complaining, and began getting the rest of the tools, not saying anything else.
But it was still clear for the two women, that he still wasn't looking forward to work on the Minerva for such a long time, and even as Arthur said something about that.
Murrue just smiled a bit at him, and told him that she was certain that the boy would be all right, it wasn't like Murdoch could do all of this work in just one go.
And even if Dearka was forced to work a bit longer then usual, it wasn't really something that would hurt the boy, she was actually quite sure that someday in the future, Dearka would be able to get some rest again.
After that the brown hair woman slowly turned and walked of, telling the two leaders of the grey space ship that she too need to get to work, and that she couldn't just stand around talking the whole day.
"I will see the two of you later!" She call back to them, just before she disappeared in to a room that was located at the end of the harbor.
Leaving Talia and Arthur all by them self, so now they just stood there for a few very long minutes, thinking about everything they had just witness.
But finally Arthur turned, and looked over at Talia. "They seemed quite trustworthy, I do think we will be find, when it's those guys that is looking after the Minerva" Arthur said in a somewhat thoughtful tone.
That made the captain of the grey space ship nod slowly in agreement, as she stood there trying to figure out what else, that need to be looked over on the ship.
But as for now, she was happy to know, that the messed up hull would be fixed.
The way they looked right now, wasn't really all that great, so it truly would be nice when the ship was back to it's usual state, she did however not get long to think about that.
Before she heard the boy from before, yelling something that sound very much like they didn't need that dumb thing now, it couldn't be used for anything before they where done with the hull.
But the man just told him, that they didn't have to get it later then.
Which of course made the boy say something back, about it being impossible to repair the entire hull, in just one day.
And even true Talia expected the man to agree with the boy on that.
He just yelled out something about they would take that tool with them no matter what, and that this was the end of the discussion, it was then she saw them coming directly towards her, each of them with a smile on their faces.
It was obvious that both of them where actually having fun, picking on each other like this.
Seeing that, Talia turned her attention away from them, and over at Arthur that was standing just beside her, hoping that he was ready to get back on board the ship, there was after all a few minor things she needed to discourse with him.
Especially about the way he had been gawking at that Maria person.
But he didn't even noticed that she was looking at him, he was far to busy watching the two mechanics, that was now arguing loudly about where exactly on the Minerva they should start with the repairs.
And even true they actually where quite fun to listen to.
Talia didn't really have all that much patience, with her second in command right now, which meant that she didn't want to stand around out there, until he was done watching those two joke around.
So after waiting a few short seconds, in the hope that he would notice that she wanted to talk with him, Talia slowly lifted her hand and clear her throat loudly.
Which finally got Arthur to look over at her. "Well now that we meet the people that is in charge of repairing the ship. I think we should get back on board again, there is few things that needs to be done on the inside of the ship. And I would feel much more at ease, if we leave that to some of our own mechanics, but I would like for Yolant, Vino and a few others to give a helping hand out here!" She said. just before she turned around on one foot and began walking towards the entrance to the ship, with Arthur following closely behind her.
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Meanwhile not that far away from where the Minerva was located.
Athrun Zala was sitting in his car looking up at the sky, thinking hard about what he was suppose to do now, he did consider going home.
But he knew that there was nobody there at the moment other then Myrna and a few others of the house staff.
And he really didn't feel like talking with any of them right now, seeing as he was still in a bad mood, both over what that terrorist had said about his father, and the way Yuna kept flirting with Cagalli.
But on the other hand he couldn't really spend the rest of his life out there.
He had already been there a half hour now, and he could see some of guards over by the door, looking at him from time to time, clearly wondering what he was doing.
So after sitting there for a few more minutes, he decided to go visit Kira and Lacus, as far as he knew both of them should be home by now, and he could seriously use a little time, together with some of the people he truly cared about.
So with that decision made, he reached out and loudly started the car, then drove of in a fast speed, that would surely have given him a ticket if he was caught.
But he really didn't care all that much about that right now, he want to see his two friends as quickly as possible, and maybe have a good long talk with them, both of them, really did have the ability, to make most people feel better when they where down.
It took him about twenty minutes before he got out of the city, and was now heading even fast to where he knew the married couple lived together, with a few other crew members, from the Archangel and the Eternal.
But he seriously doubt that anybody else would be there. He did after all see both Dearka and miss Murrue, back when the Minerva had enter the port, so it would be sometime, before they got back to the house.
And he really didn't think Miriallia would be there, she was after all a journalist and with all the things that had happened with Junius Seven, she was properly already out, taking pictures of all the destruction, the minor pieces of the colony had caused.
So it would most likely take sometime, before he would see her again, which meant that the only once there right now, was Kira, Lacus and Mayu if she wasn't still at school or over playing with the other children at reverend Malchio's place.
There was a small part of him, that was seriously hoping she was out. It was somewhat depressing the things he want to talk about, and he really didn't wanted her to hear any of it.
She had already suffered more then enough in the last war, both with losing her entire family, and not being able to remember even a single thing about them.
Seeing as she had amnesia, when she woke up after La Flaga had rescued her, so they never did find out where exactly she came from, and even true they had done all they could to help her out, she still hadn't been able to recover her memories.
But not everything was totally bad.
She had only been staying at that house for a few months, before miss Murrue had decided to adopted the girl, which of course meant that now her last name was Ramius, something she was very quick to adopt to.
And it was also about those times, she had began calling him big brother Athrun, something that had taken a little while to get use to.
He had however not been driving for long, before he saw the person that was on his mind, walking by the side of the road, with a red school bag thrown over her left shoulder.
And even true he really didn't want her there, when he was talking with Kira and Lacus. It wasn't really nice to just zoom past her, like he didn't see her.
So once he was close enough to her, he slowly brought his black can to a hold and called out to her.
"Hey Mayu! Are you on your way home?!" He asked in a loud tone, while wondering slightly why she was walking all the way back home. Normally when she had to get home from school, miss Murrue or Andrew Waltfeld would pick her up.
And if they didn't have the time for that, she would usually take the bus, so in his eyes it was really, really strange finding her walking around out here on her own.
Hearing that familiar voice right behind her.
Mayu immediately turned around and looked back at the person, that had just spoken to her, and once she saw who she thought it was, a big smile came over her lips, as she quickly walked over to the car.
"Hey Athrun, it's good to see you back down here, where is big sis Cagalli?" She asked, truly hoping that it wouldn't be long before she had a chance to talk with the blond girl.
"She had an important meeting to attend to" Athrun explained, thinking a bit about what she, and the rest of the Orb politicians, was discoursing at this very moment.
But he did however not get much time to really think about it.
Before Mayu once again began speaking to him, this time asking if Cagalli would show up later. But she didn't really get a reply from him, he just sat there with a far away look on his face, that made it quite clear for the girl, that he wasn't really listening to her.
Which immediately made a small vein ran over her forehead. "Hey wake up Athrun, you can sleep once you get OLD!" The brown hair girl yelled out, in such a loud, that it properly could be heard a few for miles away.
Not that Mayu cared much about that, she just want Athrun to pay attention to her, when she was talking to him.
And once she was sure, that he wouldn't disappear in to his own thoughts again, she repeated the question one more time, while looking straight in to her second big brother figure's green eyes, this time truly hoping, that he would tell her, just what she want to hear.
But much to her big disappointment, he just told her that he didn't know if Cagalli had any time, for something like that in the near future.
But when he saw how unhappy his answer made her, he quickly decided to chance the subject to something else.
"So what in the world are you strolling around out here for Mayu? I thought you always took the bus when you need to get home" Athrun asked, now with a slightly curious expression on his face.
Seeing that and hearing the question Mayu got a somewhat angry frown on her forehead, just before she gave him a reply. "Yeah I usually do that, but apparently the bus driver's house was destroyed by a few pieces of Junius Seven, so there wasn't anybody there to drive the damn thing. And I really didn't feel like waiting around there for a next few hours, until they found a replacement driver" the girl said thinking about how much trouble, she had been through ever since she had first stepped out of the school building.
Which was more then enough to make her a bit angry, she seriously didn't care all that much about going there in the first place, she just found the whole thing so amazingly tiresome and boring.
And it didn't really help, that she had spend almost two whole hours getting home, there where just so many more exciting things, she could have used that time on.
She did however not sulk like that for long, before she again began talking to Athrun.
"I did try and calling home a few times, to ask somebody to come and get me. But there wasn't anybody there that answered the phone, so I decided that I might as well walk home, instead of wasting any more time!" The girl said loudly.
As Athrun nodded a few times in understanding, and asked her if she want a lifted back to her house, seeing as he was going there anyway.
And just hearing him ask that immediately made a big smile ran over Mayu's lips, as she quickly throw her red school bag, down on the back seat of the car, then got in right beside Athrun, where she hurried leaned back, and rest her head on the black leather seat.
But even as she sat there, with her eyes closed she still wasn't done talking with the person beside her.
"It really was great that you showed up when you did Athrun, my feet is just killing me after walking around so much, I seriously think I'm going to stay home from school tomorrow!" The girl said in a very tired voice, just as Athrun reached out and started the car again.
Which meant that it didn't take much time, before the two of them where once again heading hastly for their destination, both of them seriously hoping that it wouldn't take to long to get there.
They did however only had to take one brief look around, to realize that traffic wasn't really going to be a big problem right now, seeing as Athrun's black sports car was the only one on the road at the moment.
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At the same time near Athrun and Mayu's location, a brown hair boy and a pink hair girl, was slowly walking hand in hand back towards their house, both of them where pretty quiet.
Seeing as they each had a lot on their minds right now, it was only when a certain green robot bird, land on the boy's shoulder that Lacus finally ended the deep silence.
"This really was a nice little walk Kira, maybe next we should go for a swim, it is after all quite hot out here, and you still haven't seen me in that green new swimsuit I bought a couple of days ago" Lacus said, a bit disappointed, that she hadn't really been able to show Kira, that nice little suit yet.
They had been talked about, going out for a midnight dip last night.
But the whole Junius Seven incident had really put a damper on that idea. Seeing as they had been force to take shelter instead, to not get hit by any of the debris from the colony.
Not that the two of them had given it much thought back then, they had been more worried about what was going on outside of their little shelter, luckily as far as both of them knew, all of the people in their lives was all right.
Even true Lacus had been a little concerned this morning, when Miriallia had told them all, that her job required that she had to leave for some time, to cover up the story, about some of the things that had happened down here.
And even true Lacus already knew that Miriallia was just doing her job, she just couldn't help but feel a tiny bit uneasy, seeing one of her best friends leave for such long period of time, just a few hours after the earth was saved from properly the biggest disaster that would ever occur.
And truth be told, she wasn't the only one, who was worried about her friend's safety.
Lacus had already talked more then a few times, with Miriallia's mother today. Who had told her just how much her daughter's work concerned her at the moment, and how much she wished her little girl, would find something else to do.
But even as all of those thoughts where running through Lacus' mind, the person that was walking just next to her, began talking in a somewhat calm tone.
"If you really want to go swimming that badly we can do it tonight, when everybody else is asleep" Kira suggest, while thinking about how Lacus would look, in that swimsuit she was talking about.
For some reason, she seemed very determined, that it should just be the two of them, and that it should be in the middle of the night.
Not that Kira had the slightest against spending some alone time with her, but it really made him curious about, what her new swimsuit looked like.
Truly happy to hear him say those words. Lacus looked over at him with a big smile on her face, she slowly dropped his hand, and grabbed on to his arm instead, holding it tightly, as the two of them continued heading slowly back towards the big house, they could see in the distance.
"That sounds great Kira, I look forward to it then!" She said in a cheerful voice, while thinking about how nice it would be, with just the two of them playing around in the water together, without anybody around to disturb them.
Seeing as most of the residents of the big house, was either at work or of some place else, which neither of them knew where was, and even true both of them where quite concerned about what was going on, all over the world right now.
They just couldn't help but enjoy, the peacefulness that had been there, since the two of them got out of their bed this morning.
The whole house had pretty much been deserted.
And that had truly been a very nice chance, normally when they got out of bed, there was always a lot of noise around the house, which wasn't really strange with five other people living there too.
Luckily they never got woken up by any of the loud noise, the other residents of the house made, seeing as their entire room had been made completely soundproof for obvious reasons.
And they had both heard, miss Murrue and Mr Waltfeld discoursing doing the same thing, to the room of the other happy couple, of the household.
Apparently keeping things nice and quiet at night, wasn't really something Dearka and Miriallia liked doing either.
Unfortunately the peace was soon brought to a hold, when they suddenly heard a car approaching the place with great speed.
And they only had to turn away from the ocean view, to see Athrun's black car pulling up beside their house. And even from this distance both of them, could clearly see both Athrun and Mayu stepping out of the car.
And it didn't even take a minute, before Mayu noticed them standing down on the beach.
"HEY YOU TWO!" She yelled out in a loud tone.
Which actually scared away some of the birds, that was sitting in the few trees near the house. Not that she gave that much of her attention, she was already rushing with full speed towards them, not bothering to wait even a second for Athrun to follow her.
Which meant that it did not take her long, before she was standing directly in front of them, with a deep frown on her forehead.
"Where in God's name have the two of you been!? Why didn't you answer the phone when I called before!?" She asked, sounding very much like, she was actually ready to interrogate them for answers.
But that didn't really scared the married couple all that much, and neither did the angry glare she was sending both of them.
It wasn't like this was the first time in those two years, they had been living together with the brown hair girl, that she was mad at them for something. And each of them pretty much knew, that it wouldn't be long, before she was in a good mood again.
And if she didn't cheer up after complaining loudly for a few minutes, there was a few tricks that would surely help, like playing video games with her for a few hours, or see some kind of horror movie.
Not that Kira and Lacus liked that very much, it was just so far away from what they would usually see. Both of them truly did preferred something that wasn't nearly as spooky as the movies Mayu liked to watch.
The only one who actually liked seeing those scary movies along with her, was Dearka, and he wasn't there right now, so they just had to settle this with a few video games.
Unfortunately for the two of them, they really didn't get all that much time to figure out, how they where suppose to cheer the angry brown hair girl up again, before she took a very deep breath, and yelled out yet another thing she want answers to.
"Tell me, what in the world the two of you been doing all of this time?!" She said, while glaring a few times between them, making sure that they knew that they better give her some kind of reply, before she really start getting mad.
But that was when Lacus took a single step away from Kira, and moved over in front of the hot-tempered girl, where she stood a few seconds looking straight in to Mayu's two angry eyes, then she slowly moved in and pulled the smaller girl in a gentle hug.
"I'm very sorry that we didn't answer the phone when you called us, and I'm sure Kira is sorry too, but we where out taking a nice little walk on beach, so we forget our mobile phones back at the house" Lacus explained in a soft tone.
Just before she backed away from the girl, she had been seeing as her little sister for almost two years now. Where she again looked in to her eyes, that surely didn't held as much anger in them, as before.
"Ok but you better do something very nice to make it up to me, if it wasn't because Athrun show up when he did, I would still be out there walking by the road all by myself!" The girl said, clearly still a bit angry at the two of them.
Hearing her say that, Kira stepped over beside her and smiled a bit.
"Then why don't we go inside, Lacus did bake a nice chocolate cake today, can't a piece of that not help a bit on your mood!" The boy said, hoping that this little offer, would be enough to get the girl to stop glaring at Lacus and him,
Unfortunately he didn't really have much luck with that, as she slowly turned her eyes away from his wife and over at him, where she continued looking at him for a very long time, still with a deep angry vein on her forehead.
But finally after a few minutes, she opened her mouth again. "Ok you got a deal big brother Kira, but I want the biggest piece!" She told them in a loud tone, already thinking about just how delicious and tasty Lacus' cake was.
And that thought alone, was more then enough to make the smaller girl lick her lips a single time. It didn't matter much how many times Lacus baked, it would always tasted so incredibly good.
Which was actually something, Mayu was a tiny bit jealous of.
Every time she tried to make a cake, it would always end in a minor disaster, and with the entire kitchen looking like something from a nightmare, while her cake would taste either of salt or something else completely uneatable.
There was even a time, where it had end up tasting like soap, seeing as she somehow succeed in putting haft of the washing-up liquid down in to the pastry.
Needless to say both Dearka and Mr Waltfeld had been feeling pretty bad for the rest of the day, and had been using a lot of time trying to get rid of the soap taste, by washing out their mouths more then a few times.
While the rest of the household, had actually found the whole thing quite entertain, especially Miriallia had been having the time of her life, teasing her boyfriend after his little taste of Mayu's cake.
It was just about that time, Athrun got over next to them. "Well that really does sounds great, truth be told I could really use a piece of cake myself, I haven't gotten anything to eat the entire today, with everything that has been going on" the blue hair boy said, just as his stomach made a big growling sound, that made it obvious just how hungry he really was.
Hearing that, both the married couple and Mayu couldn't help but let out a few light chuckles, it was very, very unusual for Athrun to show up there hungry.
Seeing as he seriously didn't like imposing too much on other people, even those he knew that cared about him.
Which had actually resolute in that both the former captain of the Archangel, and the coffee addicted former Zaft commander, had told him more then a few times, that they had nothing against feeding him, when he came all the way out there visiting them.
"Well if the two of you are that eager after getting a piece of my chocolate cake, why don't we all hurry and get back to the house, it's actually begin to get a bit chilly out here" Lacus said, while shaking just a little bit, because of the cold wind, that was now blowing softly over the beach.
It wasn't like she was freezing a whole lot, but she would still like to get inside, and warm up.
But even as she was thinking about that, she couldn't help feel a slightly bit disappointed, that the wind was getting strong and strong, the more time they spend there.
If she was already cold now, while the sun was still up high, it was very doubtful that she and Kira could go out swimming tonight, without being afraid to catch a cold.
And even true the idea, had sounded very interesting in both of their ears, they truly didn't want to end up getting sick over it.
She did however not get the time to come up with something else they could do, before Kira moved over next her and where he gently placed his right arm around her waist, then slowly leaned in and whispered something to her in a soft tone.
"We can always find something else to do tonight Lacus" he said, trying to cheer her up a bit, after that he quickly gave her left cheek a small light peck, before he once again backed away, still holding on to her waist.
It was just about that time he noticed, that both Athrun and Mayu was just standing there watching, apparently waiting for Lacus and him, to finish up down there.
And when the brown hair girl saw that they where done with their little chat, she began talking in a very demanding tone, that she most likely had picked up from Cagalli at some point in time.
"Ok now that the two of you are done looking so cute, can we get going? There is a chocolate cake in that house with my name on it!" The girl said in a loud tone.
Just as she ran of full speed towards the house, with the three teens following far behind her, all of them wondering slightly if she could really eat the whole thing, before they could even reach the house.
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It was about an hour later inside, Lacus and Mayu was now busy playing video games against each other, while the two boys was watching them, it was quite clear that both of the girls, want to win the fighting game they where playing right now.
But it quickly became obvious, who of the girls was going to win the battle, that was going on between the two characters on the tv screen.
Mayu did after all have much more experience in playing this game then Lacus had.
But that didn't mean the pink hair girl was giving up without fighting back. She was actually handling herself very well in the game, seeing as she from time to time played it against Kira and some of the other people in the household.
But there was no doubt, that Mayu was the house champion in this game, with Miriallia following closely behind her.
But as the two girls continued playing the game, Kira couldn't help but notice the far away expression on Athrun's his face, and when he saw him narrow his eyes just a bit, Kira knew that whatever he was thinking about it had to be very serious.
So after observing him a bit longer, he reached out and place his hand on his best friend's shoulder, immediately getting all of Athrun's attention over on him.
"I could really use a little air, do you want to come too?" Kira asked, while he slowly stood up from the couch and began walking towards the balcony door, that was located at the end of the living room.
And it didn't take long before, he got the door opened and disappeared outside.
Seeing that the blue hair man let out a deep sigh, before he too got back up on his feet and slowly followed Kira out of the door.
Once out there, both of them stood there for a few minutes, looking at the descending sun that was now slowly disappearing in the distance. It did however not take all that much time, before Kira turned and looked over at his friend.
"What's wrong Athrun, it's been a long time since I have last seen you look so depressed?" The brown haired boy asked, as he again looked out towards the setting sun.
Hearing Kira asked that, Athrun took a small glance away from the view, and looked over at the person beside him. "I don't know Kira, the whole thing with Junius Seven really bothers me a lot, the whole thing just seemed so unreal, like something taken directly from your worst nightmare. I still have a tough time, believing that those guys was truly serious, about dropping the colony on earth" he said in a quiet tone, just as the words from the last terrorists ran through his head one more time.
Which was more then enough to make him tighten the grip he already had on the railing.
He truly didn't understand why something like this had to happened, now that both the Naturals and Coordinators, had finally started living together with each other in peace, why did those bastard have to disrupted that.
"Damn those guys, why the heck did they have to do something like that?" He quietly asked himself, as he tried his best to come up with an answer to his own question.
But even true Athrun hadn't meant for Kira to hear those words he still did. "What actually happened up there Athrun? I know that you where fighting them, but there is something about all of this, that you are not telling!" Kira said, while narrowing both of his eyes a bit, as he stood there looking at his best friend, with an expression that made it clear, that he want to know everything that happened, while Junius Seven was heading towards earth.
Seeing the look on Kira's face, the blue hair teen let out a small breath, as he looked up at the sky, thinking about how it hadn't been that long since, he had actually been fighting for his life up there.
But after just standing there for a few minutes, he again looked over at Kira, where he immediately began telling him everything that had happened, even what the terrorist had said to him, while they where fighting each other.
And while it might be a long story, it didn't really take much time, for Athrun to tell Kira everything.
"I see, that will explain why you look so sad, but you do know that your father had really nothing to do with what happened up there, it wasn't like he order those guys to move the colony Athrun" Kira said, obviously trying to cheer his friend up.
Hearing those words, Athrun slowly turned and once again looked back at best friend, where he couldn't help but smile a bit, over Kira's attempt to get him in a better mood.
But it truly didn't chance all that much, no matter what, those guys had still been people that had supported his father's ideas, of killing every last person down here.
Even those who had nothing to do with what happened to Junius Seven in the first place, and even true Athrun had truly been crush over losing his mother like that.
He did not want to his father to make innocent people experience that kind of pain, that had actually been one of the many reason why, he had chosen to fight against him, in the last war.
He did however not think about that for long, before he again looked out at the evening sun, that by now had almost disappeared completely, in the horizon.
"I know that it's not his fault Kira, but those guys really did believe that they where doing the right thing no matter how terrible it really was, and even true the disaster was prevent, there are still going to be some kind of consistency after all of this, and it kinda makes me want to do something before anything else can happen!" The blue hair man said, as he again looked over at Kira.
"So what exactly are you planing to do Athrun?" Kira asked, sounding just a bit curious, as he stood there watching his best friend, that by now was obviously quite far away, in his own thoughts.
But finally after a few long minutes, he seemed to make up his mind about something, as he took yet again another glance out over the horizon.
"I have actually been thinking about that, ever since me and Cagalli got home. And I have decided that I'm going back to the Plants, to have a talk with Chairman Durandal. He seems to be a very wise and reasonable man, and I'm certain that he might be able, to find away to make sure that this situation, doesn't get any further out of hand!" Athrun said, while thinking about what he knew, about the new Chairman of the Plants.
Hearing that, Kira nodded a few times in understanding, as the two of them stood there for a very long time, just looking out at the view, each of them obviously far away in their own thoughts, about everything they had just discoursed.
But neither of them really got all that much time to think, before they heard voices from inside the house, which made it clear, that miss Murrue, Dearka and Mr Waltfeld where all back home.
"Hm I better get out of here, and back home, before Cagalli starts getting worried about me" Athrun said, in a quiet tone, as the two friends turned around, and once again enter the house.
None of them knowing that this conversation, was going to be the last one, they would have for a very, very long time.
To be continued.
Some of you guys might be wondering why Lacus and Kira ain't living with reverend Malchio like they did in the original series. But I just don't like the idea of two hormone fill married teenagers living in a house full of children.
I'm sure you guys can understand that!