A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! Hope you liked the AxK goodness in the last chappie! Enjoy this one as well!

Chapter Eleven: Resolution . . . ?

By the time we decide to crawl out of bed later that day, it's already quarter after two, but we've been awake since one thirty, hehehe . . . I slink down the hall, feeling very pleased with myself, to take a shower, Kira following shortly after. We're both sort of . . . Sticky after this morning's events. I'm sure Dearka didn't have this much fun with Yzak, if he got him back to his house at all.

I'm still feeling quite smug when I go downstairs a few minutes later, glancing around suspiciously for any sign of my dad while I squeeze the water out of my hair. I go into the kitchen to find my mom on the phone and I watch, puzzled, before Kira is at my side and we both sit down on the high stools at the counter.

"They just woke up, and they look quite guilty to me. Don't worry, I will."

She hangs up and turns to us, glaring, "you're awfully lucky your father had to go in for work today or you two would be in so much trouble! Do you know how long I had to listen to you scream each other's names this morning!" she yells. Kira stares at the tile floor, blushing, and I fiddle with the hem of my shirt nervously.

"Two and a half hours! Your father slept through the whole thing! If you're planning on doing it again, make sure it's at the Yamato's house!"

Two and a half hours? I'm impressed. I've never done that sort of thing for so long before, I don't think. I smile proudly and say, "of course we're gonna do it again. We haven't gone all the way yet."

"Then what was all that noise about?" she asks.

"Just a little licking," I reply, glancing at Kira.

"Anyway, Dearka and Yzak stopped by earlier and wanted me to give this to you," she hands me Cagalli's video camera across the counter. Dearka and Yzak, huh?

"Did you watch it?" Kira asks hesitantly.

"Yes, more of what went on this morning," she says, her arms folded, but she can't help but smile.

"I'm glad you're together," she says.

"Me too," I say, wrapping my arm around Kira's waist and pulling him close to me.

"We'll be right back to eat, gotta watch this," I say.

We go to sit on the first landing of the staircase that goes up to my wing and I start from the beginning of the disk, Kira peering over my shoulder.

"Let's see what we got . . . This must be old, a video of me stretching before a game," I say. I'm about to fast forward through it when Kira snatches the camera away, winking at me. I watch over his shoulder now as he turns the camera around to get different angles of me.

"See right there? You're staring at my ass," I say, pointing at the screen.

"So? I like those tight pants on you, Athy," he says, grinning.

"Same to you," I whisper, tucking my hand into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Oh, new video! This must be Lacus' sleep over," he comments.

I gotta thank Lacus some time for having that in the first place, because if not, I never would've spent the night at his house, and none of this ever would have happened. Lacus is probably Cupid in disguise, with her stupid pink hair.

We both watch, intrigued, as Cagalli, Lacus, and a few other girls begin to play Truth or Dare (how juvenile).

"Cagalli, truth, dare, or double dare?" one of the girls asks.

"Double dare! What'd ya think?" Cagalli yells in response. The others, excludng Cagalli and Lacus, conference for a moment before turning back to her.

"We double dare you to make out with Lacus!" they exclaim. We stare at each other in shock before looking back at the screen.

"Hey, I have a boyfriend, that kinda crosses the line . . ."

"She's backing out? No way in hell! This is blackmail material!" I yell.

"Oh, c'mon, Cagalli, it's not a big deal, just do it!" one of the other girls says. Cagalli turns to Lacus, who holds up her hands defensively.

"Don't do it! Please, Kira will be so mad at me!" she yelps.

"What do I have to do and for how long?" Cagalli sighs.

"Use your tongue for two minutes!"

"Oh gods, no!" I shout.

"I'm fast forwarding, don't worry!" Kira says, stabbing at the button.

"Talk about blackmail, huh? We could sell copies to some perverted guys at our school. I'm sure they'd get off to it," I say, returning my gaze to the screen hesitantly.

The events that occurred less than twenty four hours ago are played back to us in the camera's Night Shot mode. The focus zooms in on us just when I ask him to be my boyfriend, then the real blackmail starts. The kisses, the muffled cries, the words exchanged all come in clearly, the fact that I'm watching what we did making me feel very odd.

"After you transfer this to your laptop, you're destroying it!" Kira says.

"What laptop? I'm still getting the bugs out of it," I say bitterly.

"I think it's over." He's about to press the "stop" button, but another video starts up. At first it looks like a mistake, because it's focused on the wall of Cagalli's room, but she can be heard grumbling in the background about something having ADHD.

"Wait, ADHD?" I shout.

Cagalli's face appears on the screen and she says, "by the time you see this, Athrun-chan and Kira-chan, your little love token will have been destroyed already by yours truly. Just thought you might wanna say good-bye to this."

There, in a small cage on her bookshelf, sits Birdee, beating it's wings against the bars desperately. We're both speechless for several minutes.

"She wouldn't . . ." I mutter, my eyes wide with shock.

"She . . . Killed Birdee?" Kira whimpers. He looks up at me, his eyes twinkling with tears.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just a bluff," I say reassuringly.

"Just in case, though, let's go to your house." He nods in agreement, wiping his tears and I run up to my room, grabbing my car keys and throwing the camera on the bed.

Even though he's not crying as we drive to his house, I can see him fighting back the sobs, biting down hard on his bottom lip. He runs ahead of me into the house, up the stairs, and before I'm even in the hallway, I hear te thud of him falling to his knees and sniffling. I stand in the doorway for a moment, taking in the destruction that lays all over the floor, then sit beside him.

"Athrun! She, she, she . . ." he holds up a single green and yellow wing for me to see before breaking down into sobbing on my shoulder. That's when the horrible realization hits me: the blueprint is gone. That was one of the ones she scribbled on.

I wish I could tell him that I can fix it, but I made it so long ago that I can't remember how I did it. All I remember is slaving over it for weeks, and how happy he was when I gave it to him.

"Kira, this has to stop. She can't get away with this anymore," I say.

I get to my feet and go down the hall to her room with the parts to the robot in my hands. I slam my foot against the door, not caring how much it hurts, and she opens it, giving me a bitchy smile when she sees my expression.

"You found my present, I see," she says, her voice toxic.

"How could you? Do you have any idea how much this meant to him? He's your own brother! If you can do something like this and have no guilt, you're heartless1" I yell.

"Do you know how much you meant to me? I loved you, I really did, but you fall for my brother! Brother, as in he's a guy! You have no idea how much it hurts to have your heart broken!" she screams.

"Because of you, I might! You threaten us and stalk us and destroy our property! If this goes on, he'll break up with me because he's worried about my well-being! How did you end up so cold when Kira is so sweet?"

"Sweet? Sweet? He steals my boyfriend out from under my nose and he's sweet?"

"It's not like he goes around bragging about it! All he ever did was smile about it! He keeps trying to hid what's really going on with you and your parents because he doesn't want me to worry!

"That just goes to show what cowards you both are!"

"If you had just let us be I would like you a lot more, but you had to keep prodding! The more you do the more I'm going to hate you, Cagalli! I hate you for all of this and I regret ever dating you at all!" She stutters for a moment then backs away from me slowly, as if everything I said is news to her.

"But Athrun, don't you remember all those things we did? You said you loved me so many times! I spent a whole day in bed with you once!"

I fall silent, looking away, not wanting to remember, but I do anyway. Her parents were out of town, Kira had gone on a date with Lacus, so I took advantage of the situation.

"That was cheap sex, Cagalli! It never meant anything! If I had really loved you I wouldn't have rushed into it!" I finally manage to retort.

"You said you liked it then! That's all we did!"

"And that's exactly why I can't stand the thought of ever being with you! It was all physical! What I feel for Kira is both emotional and physical. Sure, you're a hot blonde and you have a rack, but that's all I wanted you for! You can't call it love if all you like is the person's appearance!" I shout, my blood seething with rage.

"You think I don't know that? It's both for me, too, Athrun! I love your personality and your body!"

"You're just saying this now to try and get me back, but it's not going to work. Nothing will work. If it was my choice, I would never see you again, but things aren't going to go that way, are they? You can scream and cry and swear all you want, but it's not going to make me love you and it's not going to help me fix Birdee."

I slam the door to her room behind me and storm down the hall, back into Kira's room, where he sits on the bed and looks up at me timidly; he heard everything.

"Get your stuff. You're staying with me for the weekend," I snap. He nods and starts putting items into his backpack and I carefully place the pieces to the bird on his desk, then go down to the kitchen to find something to carry them in.

"I heard all that yelling," Mrs. Yamato says, looking up form her book.

"Oh, you did . . . If you want me to explain, I can, but right now I need a bag, preferably something nice," I say. She doesn't ask what it's for, just goes into the guest bedroom and returns with a purple drawstring bag that's th perfect size to put the parts in.

"Thanks a lot. Kira is coming to my house because he need so be away from–"

"I know, I was actually going to suggest it myself. Your mother told me about what you two were doing this morning."

"Two and a half hours," I say proudly.

"Just don't get hurt or anything, okay?" she says tiredly.

"No problem," I say with a smile.

When I return to his room, his belongings are all packed and he's busy hanging up clothes, his crutches lying on the floor.

"She gave everything back," he says, glancing at me.

"I noticed." I fidget uncomfortably before handing the bag to him.

"For . . . Birdee," I say, gesturing towards the desk.

"Thanks," he says, his voice trembling as he gathers the pieces in the velvet bag.

I can't bear the expression on his face when he looms up at me, sorrow in his eyes but a smile plastered on his lips. I'm willing to stay up for two months straight to repair it if he'll truly smile at me again.

I spend the rest of the afternoon and most of the early evening in my room with Kira. He loiters around nervously while I try to decipher what I can of Birdee's blueprint. How I created something so complex at such a young age really is amazing. Guess my teachers were right when they said I was brilliant. Less now than I used to be, when my mind was pure and unpoisoned . . .

"Do you need anything, Athrun?" he asks quietly.

"Not at the moment, but thank you," I answer, my eyes never leaving the paper.

"How do you think it's going?" he asks hopefully.

"Better than I thought. I made all-new wings, which was fairly easy, and a new tail," I reply.

"How much longer do you think it'll take?"

I sigh heavily and spin around in the swivelling chair, "I'm not really sure. Depending on the state of the animatronics chip, it could take anywhere from the rest of the night to a month."

"I'm sorry you have to slave over it like this. I never thought that if I left it home she'd kill it," he whispers.

"Don't worry about it, Kira. I needed to get back to work on my robots anyway. Nothing better to do, at least not school-related," I roll my eyes as I spin around again. He tries to smile but his bottom lip is trembling too much to curve upwards.

"Kira, it's okay, I'll fix it, I promise. There's no need to cry," I say, taking his hands in mine.

He falls to his knees and rests his head in my lap, crying softly against my thigh. I stroke his head, trying to calm him, but this just causes him to nuzzle against my leg even more. He knows I'm sensitive to his position, clips of this morning running through my head, but I focus on getting him to stop crying. I gently pull him up into my lap and he winds his arms around my neck, his lips brushing my skin.

He takes a deep breath, then looks up at me, "thank you, Athrun," he whispers, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"For what?" I ask.

"Always being here for me. I know you hate it when I cry, but one of us has to," he says.

"If everything was perfect, then we'd never have to cry, would we?" I ask, half to myself.

"No, but nothing is perfect. We have to cope with how things are," he says. I nod sadly, the same things crossing both of our minds: if things were perfect, Flay, Cagalli, and our fathers would accept us and not hate us because we're together. But perfection is unreasonable.

There's a soft knock on the door and Kira whimpers when I get up to unlock it. The door flies open, almost knocking me over, and Dearka and Yzak step into the room, grinning broadly at us. When they see our expressions, though, they look puzzled, then their eyes fall upon the desk.

"Cagalli, I'm guessing?" Yzak asks, closing the door.

"Yeah," I reply.

"We brought over some food, thought you'd be hungry and wouldn't want to go down to the kitchen," Dearka says, setting a bag on the coffee table. It's only now that he mentions eating does my stomach growl quite loudly. I haven't really eaten all day because I've been working, and now I'm starving.

"Thanks, where from?" I ask.

"Dos Amigos Burritos, your favorite," Yzak answers.

"Did you guys get something?" Kira asks.

"Of course! We decided to come over and celebrate our victory, but there's obviously nothing to be happy about now," Dearka says bitterly.

"Not exactly. I can fix Birdee, and Kira and I had a very good time this morning, didn't we?" I ask, winking at Kira suggestively.

"Well so did we!" Dearka says, smirking. A deep red flush steals across Yzak's pale skin, but he doesn't object to Dearka's comment.

"Oh really? I bet it wasn't as good as what we did," I say smugly, sitting down on the couch.

"Maybe we did," Dearka retorts.

"Dearka!" Yzak hisses, glaring at him.

"What? I didn't give any specifics. We can discuss this later! I'm starving!"

The three of us nod in agreement and Yzak and Dearka make themselves comfortable on some floor pillows, sitting closer to one another than I thought they would, and Kira joins me on the couch. Yzak and Kira watch while Dearka and I race each other to see who can eat their food faster, then laugh at us when we both feel sick.

"Serves you right," Yzak says.

"Shut up, or I'm never having you over to my house again!" Dearka yells. Yzak pauses just as he's about to take a bite, scowling sidelong at Dearka and kicking him in the shin.

"So, how far did you get, Dearka?" Kira asks.

"Kira, Kira, Kira, what we did can be described in one word–"

"Nothing," Yzak interrupts.

"I don't know why I put up with you!" Dearka snarls.

"Because you love me and I know exactly what turns you on," Yzak says.

"Same to you," Dearka snaps.

I have to admit that this is quite the strange relationship they have, but I guess you do what feels right. My mind flips back to Yzak and his gun for some reason, and I decide this is probably a good time to ask about that.

"Do you guys remember when we followed Flay?" I ask.

"How could we not? That was an awesome mission, even though we failed!" Dearka exclaims.

"Yzak, that gun . . .Why do you have it?"

"You saw that?" he asks quietly.

"My eyes may not be as good as yours, but I'm not blind," I reply.

"Do you want me to tell them?" Dearka whispers to Yzak, who nods and looks away from us, shame visible in his eyes.

"When we were freshmen and we didn't know you, Yzak and I used to hang around with a risky crowd," Dearka begins.

"Risky isn't the word for it - they were criminals. They accepted us into their group because we could hold our own against them in a fight," Yzak says.

"Some of the kids who were in the group were our age, the oldest one was in his first year of college then, but I can't tell you who they are. We're still linked to them. If we disclose any of the secrets, we could be killed," Dearka says, Yzak clenching his fists in his lap, his eyes narrowed.

"How are you still linked?" I ask carefully. The two look at each other nervously before Yzak pulls his silver hair away from his neck and turns his back to us. Where his neck slopes into his shoulder is a tattoo of Japanese or Chinese letter.

"That's the kanji for 'death'" Kira says quietly.

"Do you have one too?" I ask Dearka.

"Yeah, on my back," he answers.

"Why kanji though?" Kira asks.

"Our leader was half-Japanese, like you are. We were exactly what he was looking for to fill the weak spots. Because we were so skilled, we were always on his good side," Dearka explains.

"Until we decided to quit. Things were getting extreme, the police were catching onto what we were doing, so we backed out. He was so pissed off. The rest of the members beat us bloody, because that was the punishment for quitting. That's how I got this," Yzak points to the long red scar that runs diagonally from the bridge of his nose to below his right eye.

Dearka winces, obviously remembering the gruesome events, "but at least we both lived through it with only that scar left. It could've been worse," Dearka says reassuringly, carefully wrapping his arm around Yzak's shoulders.

"Why did we ever join that stupid gang, Dearka, why?" he shouts, tears of pain running down his face.

"We didn't know any better, we wanted to belong somewhere, to be cool. Why do you think any of the other members were there?" Dearka asks.

"Revenge, bloodlust, better reasons than we had. We joined because we had to. You can't refuse to a guy with a rep that bad," Yzak says, resting his head against Dearka's chest.

"This gang . . . It's not the Black Death, is it?" I ask.

Yzak lets a pained cry escape his throat, clutching Dearka's shirt in his fists as he starts to sob bitterly. My eyes widen at this, because I've never seen Yzak cry before, and Kira looks just as shocked. This must've been a really horrible experience if Yzak is crying and Dearka is being gentle towards him. Kira and I watch, my mind racing to think of something to say to break the awkward silence, aside from Yzak's sniffling and Dearka's faint whispering.

"I'm sorry for bringing this up. I should've known this wasn't exactly the right time," I finally manage to say.

"Actually, I feel better now that you guys know. I felt like I was lying to you before," Dearka says.

"I guess I do, too, but if either of you says a word about this to anyone, you're as good as dead!" Yzak snarls.

"Glad to see you're back to normal," Kira laughs.

"If you want us to go back to my room, so you can have your space, we'll leave," I say, feeling uncomfortable.

"No, it's okay. If we're going to talk about this, it shouldn't be here. I'm sorry about failing another mission," Dearka says, getting to his feet with Yzak still clinging to him.

"Don't worry about that. Everything is working out, right, Kira?" I ask, smiling at him.

"In one way or another, yes," he says.

"In that case, you owe us for all the missions we've gone through for you!" Dearka says.

"I was three," I point out.

"Yeah, but still! Three that weren't so easy!" he yells.

"You failed two outta three times," I retort. Yzak pulls on Dearka's arm, and this quickly shuts him up, then I walk them out, Kira watching over the railing.

"Do you really think everything is going to be okay with them?" he asks when I reach the top of the stairs.

"Eventually. I can tell that they still have a few things to sort out though." He nods in agreement and wraps his arms around one of mine, nuzzling against my shoulder.

"I know, I know. They interrupted what we were getting at before," I whisper.

"No, you should be working on Birdee . . ." he says, shaking his head.

"That's not what you really want though," I say.

"What we should be doing and what I want us to be doing are never the same."

"So you feel regret then?" I ask.

"No, never. Just that what I want and what is right to most people are never the same thing."

"And this surprises you?"

"No, I expected it."

"People are stupid and close-minded, Kira, and they'll never see past the fact that we're both boys and accept our relationship," I whisper.

He looks up at me, his eyes shimmering with sadness, "I know, and I hate them for that," he mutters.

"I do, too," I say quietly.

"Athrun!" my dad yells from below us. Oh shit.

"Hurry, go in my room and lock the door!" I whisper to Kira. He nods, disappointment evident on his face, and I turn to see my father at the foot of the stairs, staring up at me.

"Hi dad," I say, waving innocently.

"Your coach just called and he wants to know why you weren't at the game today," he says. That La Flaga again! He has a habit of ruining my fun.

"I was up late doing homework last night, so I slept in really late. I'm sorry, I promise I won't miss another one," I say with a fake smile.

"What about that boy? I never saw him leave," he says, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You must not have heard his sister come pick him up. Yeah, it was around eleven when she came by," I say.

"Hmm, I didn't see a car pull in at all last night, besides yours. Where were you?" he asks.

"Out," I reply.

"Don't pull any of those smart-ass remarks with me! Where were you with that boy!" he yells.

"No where! I went to pick something at the mall and I ran into him there!" I say, glancing over my shoulder at the closed door to my room.

"Then why did he come back here?"

"His leg hurt and his parents and sister weren't in the area to pick him up! Why do you need to know every single thing that I do!" I shout.

"Because I don't think you're telling the truth!"

"What's going on?" my mom asks as she comes into my view.

"Mom, he thinks I'm lying to him!" I answer angrily.

"What are you even discussing?" she says calmly.

"Last night!" my dad snaps. Her eyes widen slightly, then she looks from me, to my dad, and back.

"Athrun, I didn't say a word to him about–"

"About what!" my dad interrupts.

"Where I was last night! Y'know what, dad, I was on a date! With Kira! And I don't care what you think or what you try to do because it'll never stop me from seeing him!" I yell. They're both in silent shock for a moment, then my dad regains his rage.

"You can't see him if I don't let you out of the house!"

"I have to go to school, dad! And I have to see my friends! I'm not so antisocial that I don't want to see them!" I retort.

"What if I send you away to school? Then you'd make new friends and you'd be far away from that boy!"

"Stop calling him that! It makes me sick that you won't even acknowledge his existence just because he's a boy and I love him!" I snarl, glaring at my dad viciously.

"Athrun please, calm down . . ." my mom says.

"No! This has to stop now! Our relationship is never going to get anywhere because Kira's afraid you're going to break us up!"

"Good, it shouldn't be getting anywhere!"

"Too bad, is has! You'd kill me if you knew what we've done so far! I don't fucking care if you know or not! You can watch the video that bitch Cagalli took! Mom, you can tell him all about this morning, because I don't give a damn what you think of me! And y'know why that is? Because I'm moving out!" I scream.

Before my parents can interject, I turn towards my bedroom door, "you hear that, Kira?" I yell. He timidly peeks out, his eyes wide with fear as he steps into the hallway.

"Hi, Mrs. Zala," he mutters, staring at the carpet.

"You weren't doing homework last night, were you?" my dad asks in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Are you fucking kidding me! Of course not! Kira and I were up til three!" I reply.

"Athrun, don't . . ." Kira whispers, tugging at my sleeve.

"Doing what?"

"I don't think you have the right to know that, father," I retort, crossing my arms stubbornly.

"You little bastard . . .Tell me!"

"You won't get anything out of me if you talk to me like that, not that I'm planning on telling you anyway! It's private!" I say.

"Then why does your mother know?" he asks.

"Because she heard it!" I answer. His eyes narrow into dark slits when he realizes what I must be talking about.

"Both of you, out of my house, now!" he yells, his voice echoing off the high ceilings.

"We don't wanna stay here anyway! I'll be moved out by the end of the week!" I snatch Kira's hand and pull him into my room, slamming the door behind me and I begin to tear things off the shelves.

"Athrun . . ." he whispers, falling to his knees beside me.

"What's . . . Kira! Please, don't cry!" I exclaim, wrapping my arm around him.

"B-but Athy, that was so horrible, and I don't want him to find out because then C-cagalli and, and, m-my dad will find out too!" he stammers, curling up in my arms.

"Kira, what if I rent an apartment big enough for both of us?" I ask.

"I can't afford it! Not when my parents have to pay for college! And I'm not letting you pay for me, that's not fair to you! You have to go to school too!" he cries.

"Kira, I can pay for it. If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly short in cash," I whisper.

"That doesn't help the fact that when Cagalli finds out, she's going to tell everyone! What if we get kicked out of school? What then!" he asks, wiping at his teary eyes.

"None of it matters, Kira-chan. If we get kicked out, we'll be together." He looks up at me and I gently press my lips to his, but despite this, I can't ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

TBC . . .