The final high school trip came and went. Its events now but a distant memory as the students shifted their focus to the events that would conclude their lives as high school students, graduation. As the event grew closer and closer, the excitement of the students began to intensify. The very thought of them leaving the school that some called home while others called prison was an exciting prospect. Much of the lockers that housed the senior students' belongings had already been cleared out or were in the process of being cleared out.

Many of the students had stopped going to class and took to wandering through the quiet hallways, libraries, and cafeterias. Since exams were over, the only thing awaiting them was graduation; what's the need for class? As they have done countless times throughout their high school years, the trio of Lacus Clyne, Athrun Zala, and Cagalli Yula Athha sought the comfort of the student council room.

"Can you believe that we only have two weeks left before we officially graduate?" Cagalli asked, relaxed in her chair, her gaze locked on the beautiful day that lay just beyond the glass windows.

"The semester is officially over on Thursday; your reign of terror is coming to an end," Athrun replied, smiling at his partner. A smile that prompted the blonde-haired girl to snarl.

I'm going to miss this.

"You're going to October City soon, right?"

Lacus nodded. "Yeah, but I won't be moving until one month before the semester."

"Well then! That's great news!"

The trio continued to chat the day away. Then, like. They started many senior high school students, they too decided not to go to class anymore. Instead, they made the joint decision to stay in the student council for the rest of the school day as they reminisced on all their experiences together, all the negatives and positives of being a high school student. All the last-minute pushes to get assignments and crams for tests and exams, all the school events they had to organize and plan, and all the different personalities they had to deal with over their four years together. They certainly had a lot to talk about. Internally, they wanted to leave their high school life behind, knowing that they didn't have any regrets, no better way to do so than by talking about anything and everything that they all had experienced together.

"Look who decided to show up," Cagalli said, breaking from her conversation with her friends.

There, right on cue, the so-called 'man of the hour' came rolling into the school's parking lot on his motorcycle. Like he had done for several years now, Kira rolled into the same parking spot, at the same time of day, and with nothing on his person except for his black motorcycle jacket and helmet. The three watched on as the boy looked up at them through the same window, gave them a little wave before beginning on this walk to the main building.

"I love how routine all this is now," Cagalli said, watching his brother make his way to the main entrance.

"I'm both surprised but also not surprised that Lacus wasn't able to fix this habit of his," Athrun replied, smiling at the person he had directed the statement to.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's okay, Lacus," Athrun said, patting Lacus on the head. "We know that Kira's personality was too strong."

It wasn't always this way.

[Flashback]

"Come on, Kira, it's lunch hour; stop being a loner and go outside."

"No, I'm oka-"

"Ah, man!" the boy said, shoving Kira to the ground. "We're offering you an escape; stop being such a loser."

"You'd have thought that when they made this "Ultimate Coordinator" that they would have programmed some emotions into you."

The group laughed.

"Like seriously! Why is this scrawny nobody this 'ultimate coordinator'?" the boy kicked Kira in the side. "He doesn't even look the part!". The other students watched on in silence. Many of the students in their middle school had known for a long time that this 'Kira Yamato' figure was a product of Ulen Hibiki's desire to create the 'Ultimate Coordinator,' the perfect human who would have brought eternal peace to a waring and fragile world. A child made to be a weapon, a monster.

Grabbing a fist full of hair, one of the boys forcibly threw Kira's head into the locker beside him before quickly striking him across the face. "Come on!" the boy yelled, getting closer to Kira's face. "Do something!".

"Get the fuck away from him!" Cagalli screamed, shoving the boy to the ground as she began to throw her fists into his face. "How do you like it?!" she yelled once more, her ears glowing a bright red in rage. "How do you like it!?"

"I knew I shouldn't have come to school," Kira thought, sitting up against the locker with his head held low.

"Kira, are you okay?"

A forced smile found its way onto his lips. This was a question he had been accustomed to hearing by now, and he hated it. To him, it was a cheap way of making it seem like you cared, that you felt sympathy for him, but in reality, he knew that was far from the truth.

"What do you think?" he whispered coldly; bringing his gaze up, he locked eyes with the person who had asked the question.

His faded purple eyes stared deep into Lacus' eyes. "You, of all people, should know that," pulling himself from the floor, Kira, the brunette shrugged of the immediate pain and began to slowly walk away from the ongoing smackdown Cagalli was laying on his abusers. "Please," Kira whispered, not wanting to lock eyes with Lacus again, "Just leave me alone."

[End Flashback]

Leaning against the doorframe of the room, the brunette smiled at everyone. "Hey," Kira said, rolling up a piece of paper in his right hand.

"Welcome, Mister Yamato. How nice of you to join us," said his sister, who motioned him to sit.

The boy raised his hand in protest. "Thank you, but I have to get going."

"Then why did you come to school?"

He lifted the roll he had clenched in his hand. "I came for this"

"What's that?" Athrun asked intrigued

"It's my diploma."

The three friends looked at him, confused. "What do you mean, 'it's your diploma'? Graduation is not for another two weeks."

The boy lowered his head and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "For you, yes, but for me, not so much." He stood there silently for a few seconds before a forced smile rose onto his face. "It's because I graduate today."

"What do you mean?"

Kira pulled himself away from the doorframe, turned around and began to walk away slowly. "My enlistment date is the day of graduation," he replied, waving goodbye to them.

#####

It was now late in the twilight hours of the day. The words that fell from Kira's lips early in the day wreaked havoc on the already fragile Lacus Clyne. For much of the day, it was all Lacus could think about. It didn't matter where Lacus was. The question on her mind was, "Why?". Standing outside of Kira's Condo complex, Lacus's eyes stared up at the towering building. Her vibrant blue eyes were darting between the scattered lights that shone brightly on the face of the building. "He must be asleep," the girl thought to herself, noticing that Kira's light was not on.

Walking up to the building entrance, the pink-haired girl pulled a set of keys from her pouch and tapped the keyfob on the door sensor. Lacus waited for a second or two before pushing the door open "I never know when I'm able to push open the door," she mumbled as she made her way to one of the elevators.

Pulling her phone out, Lacus swiped on the screen a couple of times, "Let me text Kira."

I'm here.

"There," Lacus said, hitting send, "I doubt he'll see it, though."

#####

As the elevator slowly rose through the floor, a yawn escaped Lacus' lips as she watched the numbers on the indicator slowly rise. With each passing number, more and more questions began to fill her mind. Up until just a few months ago, Kira had always been open with her about everything. However, something changed within Kira where he started to keep and more to himself, and he became more and more distant—not knowing why, burned Lacus' soul. It also didn't help that whenever Kira had told her something, it was usually a week or two before it happened, or in some cases a day or two after. The pink-haired girl was sure that if she didn't press Kira on certain topics, he would have been okay with not telling her a thing. It seemed like Kira was trying to force himself out of Lacus' life, and that was something she didn't like one bit.

They've known each other since they were four and five years of age. They've spent all this time together, growing up. Going through ups and downs and being each other's support. The mere thought of Kira trying to force his way out of Lacus' life felt like she was on the verge of losing a large part of her own. That moral compass that she and many others had relied on for so many years. Standing there in the elevator in complete silence, overtaken by many negative thoughts that flowed into her mind, Lacus couldn't help but cry. "Why?" she thought to herself, desperately wiping away tears that flowed from her faded blue eyes.

"I shouldn't cry,'' the girl muttered to herself. "That's for later." Reaching into her bag, Lacus pulled out a handkerchief and started dabbing underneath her eyes as she tried her best to mitigate any smudging of the makeup she had on. "I wanted to look pretty." Lacus spent the next few minutes looking at herself through her phone camera, doing any touch-ups that were needed. Within no time, Lacus had reached the 15th floor and quickly left the elevator.

"It's getting late," the pink-haired girl said to herself, covering her mouth with her hand as she yawned. Unfortunately, today was not the best day for Lacus. Having already experienced a rollercoaster of emotions, Lacus didn't know what she was feeling. Yes, she was tired, but she was also frustrated and confused. As she got closer and closer to Kira's house, the tiredness she once felt was quickly replaced with frustration.

"I'm going to hit him when I see him," she thought to herself.

Finally reaching Kira's house, Lacus was about to tap her keyfob on the sensor when the door swung open; behind it was Kira, who stared at Lacus in surprise.

"Uh. Hey?" the boy said, scratching his head.

Lacus's eyes scanned the boy. "Where are you going?"

"A Night on the town?" Kira replied awkwardly, smiling

That isn't like him; he's lying to me.

"Why? Did you not see my text?"

"Sorry"

The girl frowned, frustrated by her partner's response. "Your 'sorry's are losing their value," Lacus whispered.

"Lacus?"

Unable to cope with the wave of emotions that quickly enveloped her consciousness, she lifted her hand up and struck Kira across the face. Lacus was angry. The boy held his hand against his cheek as he looked at the pink-haired girl in shock. Kira watched on as Lacus' facial expression change from one of anger to one of doubt, pain and finally one of shock. "I-" "I'm so-" The brunette quickly swiped away. "Don't touch me," he uttered coldly.

"What are we going to do, Lacus?" stated Kira, who watched on as tears began to flow from Lacus' eyes. Deep down, he wanted to comfort her. Kira tried to brush away the tears that tainted his loved one. However, he also knew that the two of them couldn't continue on like this.

"I… I don't know," the girl replied as she continued to sob uncontrollably.

"I hate it when you lie to me!" Lacus yelled out, locking eyes with the boy.

Kira let out a long-drawn-out sigh. "Come on," the boy said, motioning her inside, "I think it's time we talk." Nodding, Lacus made her way into Kira's home, and the two quietly made their way to one of the couches that sat in the middle of the living room. Sitting down on each side of the couch, Lacus on the side closest to the window, while Kira on the side closest to the door. The boy reached behind him, pulled a blanket up from the floor, and bundled it up against the armrest as they sat there in awkward silence. Lacus sat there with her head down, her eyes locked on her hands as she played with her thumbs while Kira sat with his head propped up against his arm, his eyes locked on the darkened TV in front of him.

"You say we need to talk, but you're not talking to me," whispered Lacus, finally mustering up enough strength to break the deafening silence. Kira slowly turned his head and watched quietly as Lacus began to tremble once more. "She's right." "Lacus." Almost immediately, Lacus lifted her head and locked eyes with the person who had called her name. Kira tapped the space just in front of him, motioning her to come and sit with him, something she immediately did. Pulling herself up from where she sat, Lacus threw herself onto Kira's lap, immediately burying her face into Kira's neck. Then, reaching beside him, the brunette pulled the blanket he had tucked beside him and pulled it over the two of them. The boy felt Lacus' body relax once he pulled her close, making sure to hold her hands with his.

"Why?" she whispered softly

"Why what?"

"Why have you stopped telling me things?"

"There's been a lot on my mind Lacus, you know that," the boy replied, not once pulling his gaze away from the TV in front of him.

"So you actively go out of your way to avoid telling me?"

"Who said I was avoiding telling you?"

It hurts when you keep secrets from me.

"I hate it when you lie to me."

"I know"

"If you know, then why do you still do it?"

"I… I… I don't know."

The two continued to sit in silence in the darkened room. The only sounds to be heard were the sound of their own breathing and the ticking on the clock that hung against the wall. A sigh escaped from Kira's lips. The tension between them was thick to the point where it became unbearable. "Hey," he said

"Mmm?"

"I've been thinking a lot," the boy said quietly as he slowly loosened his grip around the girl.

"Maybe we shou-"

"No," she whispered as she ran her finger across Kira's lips. "Don't ever say those words to me," she said pleadingly, her voice breaking as she uttered the sentence.

"Maybe it's the best for the both of us, Lacus," the boy replied, pulling Lacus closer to his chest.

"No, it's not!" she replied, lightly tapping Kira's chest with her fist as streams of tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I'm already going to lose you. I don't want to lose you forever," Lacus replied as streams of tears began to fall from her eyes.

"What did I do?" she whispered, gently pushing the crown of her head into Kira's chest.

"You did nothing wrong," placing his hand gently underneath Lacus' chin, Kira lifted her head up and stared passionately into her eyes. The boy began to run his thumb against Lacus's reddened cheeks as Kira wiped away the tears. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I hate you."

"I know"


Author's note

Hi there, I am still alive do not worry. My inspiration has been dwindling as of late so it's been hard for me to write. All that being said though, I still have many things I want to do and cover. This is one story I will not be abandoning any time soon. Just hang in there with me and we'll finish this off together.

Until next time!