Gundam Seed Destiny Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Identification Number O04172 ❯ Part 1, Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

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Identification number O04172

 

Part one, chapter two

 

“Who's that girl?” asked an Orb pilot trainee.

 

“Her?” Another trainee gestured to her and received a nod, “She's the only natural to make it past the test to be an Orb pilot.”

 

“A natural?” asked the first, “I've got nothing against naturals, but I think those in the military should stay on the ship, cook, clean, or something. Leave the front line fighting to us coordinators.”

 

“I agree. She'll probably just get in the way once we're in battle, but she can only get in the way once.” He chuckled.

 

“Maybe we should try and talk her out of it.”

 

“I heard she barely passed the simulations,” said a third soon to be pilot.

 

“No surprises, we're talking about a natural,” replied the second trainee.

 

`Don't they realize I can hear everything they're saying?' thought Cagali on the other side of the briefing room. Today was the first day of training, and all the soldiers who passed the test simulations that morning were to gather for an introduction in five minutes.

 

“Hey, Cagali, I heard you passed,” said Kira, smiling as usual, as he made his way over to her. “Good job.”

 

“Yeah, barely,” she said bitterly, “I heard you got highest overall, good job.”

 

Her brother looked at her sternly and put his hands on her shoulders. “Don't let those guys bother you,” he said softly, “I saw the scores and support group over there skimmed it closer than you.”

 

Cagali sighed pessimistically, “But in training I'm sure to fall behind... stop that.”

 

At the word `but' Kira made a long annoying noise to drown out what she was saying. “We're in this together- don't you forget it. You're at least half as smart as me so you'll be fine.”

 

“You're just as egotistic as those other guys,” she glared at him, and then looked away with a sigh.

 

“Come on, Cagali,” said Kira and shook her. She merely stared at him. He continued shaking her.

 

“Stop it; you're making my head feel weird.”

 

Kira let out an un-Kira-like laugh. “Making your head feel weird?” he asked and shook her again, “Come on, Cagali, wake up. It's one in the afternoon, my lunch break ends at 2:30, and you have to come with me to get those papers.”

 

“Kira, what are you talking about?”

 

“Who's Kira?” asked Kira.

 

Cagali opened her eyes, noticing how comfortable she was on the couch. Her owner was leering over her. She sat up.

 

“Oh, Mr. Zala, I'm sorry,” she apologized.

 

“Who's Kira?” he asked.

 

“Uh...” Cagali thought fast. She figured it was best to leave out details. “My friend,” she said. The truth, but not the whole truth...

 

“Were you and her close?”

 

Cagali was about to correct him, but decided to let him go with it, and laugh at the idea of a female Kira later. “Yeah,” she said.

 

“Hmm... Well, now that you're finally awake, I picked up some clothes and stuff for you to wear from a friend of mine. Here,” the coordinator handed her a plastic sack and headed into the kitchen. “Get changed, take a shower, whatever, we need to leave in fifteen minutes.”

 

“Where's your bathroom?” she asked.

 

Mr. Zala pointed his hand down his hall and opened his refrigerator. After a short shower and change of clothes, Cagali felt more awake. Come to think of it, she should. She had slept fifteen hours solid and would have probably kept sleeping if she hadn't been woken. Mr. Zala gave her something to eat and they headed out.

 

“What are going you to do about those papers?” Cagali asked her owner as he drove, “Do they just print off new ones or what?”

 

“Naw, that's not the case. The first sheet is like the recite, tells the conditions at which you were sold, all previous owners, they have that one on file so I don't need it. The second sheet they don't keep on file, but I need it to complete a transaction. It's physical information; the government has it expire every two years. Then you have to go get new papers, the naturals get a physical, and the government makes sure the naturals are still healthy. What?” he asked, noticing the grimace on Cagali's face, “You upset you didn't cause any damage?”

 

“No. I hate physicals.”

 

Her owner laughed.

 

“What's the third sheet?” she asked.

 

“Dangerous history; people like to know if the natural they're buying is an ex-EA, tried to escape from their previous owner, etc.”

 

“So, do you have to pay to get new papers?”

 

“Of course, it's called taxes.”

 

“So technically, it's a public service, right?”

 

“Yeah”

 

“Alright then, I don't feel bad. I'm not wasting your money.”

 

“What about wasting my time?”

 

“Time you could have spent cleaning the kitchen.”

 

“Who taught you to be a smart aleck?”

 

“I'm not being smart alecky, I'm being honest,” replied Cagali.

 

“Whatever you say,” Mr. Zala shrugged, “we're almost there.”

 

“It's not far from your house,”

 

“Nothing's more than a fifteen minute drive; this is a space colony after all.”

 

“On Earth you can drive for hours and still be in the middle or nowhere... And here you don't even have rivers or mountains... Which colony is this?”

 

“This one's Aprillius 4.”

 

“Do any of the colonies have stuff like on Earth?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Like canyons, desserts, forests”

 

“No, the colonies are just made practical to live on.”

 

“That's kind of... depressing.”

 

“It doesn't have to be beautiful to be home,” said the coordinator. “That's the place,” he said, pointing.

 

The Natural Registration Center was one of the small businesses aligned in a shopping center. Once inside, Cagali noticed no one else but the employees were there. The woman sitting at the front desk had her nose in what appeared to be a cheap romance novel.

 

“Excuse me,” said her owner.

 

She promptly put down the book. “May I help you?” she asked.

 

“Yes, I need to get my ownership papers remade,” he said.

 

“I need to see your photo ID and her left arm, please,” said the woman.

 

He dug in his pocket and pulled out an ID, and gestured for Cagali to show her arm.

 

“O04172, you shouldn't need a new health form for a while,” she told him. “If I'm not mistaken that group just got in yesterday.”

 

“Yes, but the papers got lost on purpose,” explained Mr. Zala.

 

“You should sell a trouble maker, get her out of your hair” said the woman. She returned the ID and handed him a physical sheet to be filled out.

 

`They always talk about me when I'm there as if I can't hear or understand them,' thought Cagali.

 

“You'll need to get this redone. Just get the doctor through that door, he'll take a look at your natural and fill out the form,” said the woman. “I'll print out the rest of the papers.”

 

“Alright,” said her owner. He gestured for Cagali to follow him.

 

`That door' was pushed open to reveal the standard medical checkup room, and the doctor slouched back in his chair reading a magazine with a scantly clad celebrity on the cover. This did nothing to help Cagali's dislike of physicals. The doctor- who actually looked a year or so younger than herself- put the thing away before Mr. Zala noticed it.

 

“May I help you?” he asked.

 

Her owner merely showed him the form. The doctor took it, and looked at Cagali, then back to him.

 

“O04172... Your slave shouldn't need a new form for another two years. Is she sick?”

 

“No, that's not the case,” he said. “I lost the papers.”

 

“I see,” he nodded. “You're pretty quick to come get new ones. If I'm not mistaken, her group got in yesterday.”

 

“I'm planning to sell her.”

 

“This soon? That's surprising,” said the doctor. “Disobedient or what?” he looked at Cagali.

 

“Actually, a friend of mine took the initiative to go buy her for me.”

 

“Well, if she's healthy, you'll certainly get a good price for her.”

 

Cagali felt her blood begin to broil. How could they say such things, in front of her none the less? These coordinators were all self absorbed menaces to society, but they had to be so smart, strong...

 

“I'm sure most of the auctioneers would take a natural like her,” added the doctor, knocking Cagali out of her thoughts.

 

Mr. Zala shook his head at the suggestion. “No, I'll just put an ad on the Aprillius 4 homepage.”

 

“You could make more money through an auction.”

 

“Not worth the trouble.”

 

“Whatever you say” The doctor picked up a clip board and pen turning to Cagali. “Do you know how old you are?” he asked.

 

The slave looked at him sourly and nodded. “Yeah...”

 

“When were you born?”

 

“May 18, 53.”

 

“Seventeen,” he wrote down. “Can I get you to take off your shoes and stand over here?” he pointed to a height chart on the wall.

 

She did as she was told.

 

“156 cm,” he said, writing that down.

 

~~~

 

“She's in perfect shape, Mr. Zala. Strong senses, fairly strong, no bugs in her system, everything's normal. Just sign under my signature and you're good to go.”

 

“Alright,” he signed, thanked the doctor and gestured for Cagali to follow him out of the room, then up to the front desk.

 

“Excuse me,” he said to the receptionist. “Do you have the rest of the papers?”

 

“Yes, but it seems there's an update that I missed a when I first printed it out,” she said, giving Cagali an accusing glance.

 

A piece of paper rolled out from her printer. She took the physical form and put it in order with the rest, tapping them on the table so that the papers fell in place. She placed them on the desk and reached in her drawer for a stamp and red ink pad.

 

~~~

 

“EDWT?! Mr. Zala, I'm not one to buy a slave with a mark like that stamped on her papers. You did not mention this in your ad or when I talked to you over the phone. I'm sorry; you'll have to sell her to someone else.”

 

It had been four days since the receptionist had stamped EDWT on the front page of the ownership papers; Extremely Dangerous When Threatened. This had been the seventh person to respond to the ad, and the seventh person to turn it down upon learning of the mark on her papers.

 

The man that was still her owner sighed as the man headed out the door. “It was going well until he saw the papers.”

 

“Mr. Zala, are you mad at me?” Cagali asked her wishing-he-wasn't owner as he looked at the front door as the man left.

 

“Am I mad? Yes, at you, no. With the exception of taking out the auctioneer five days ago and shoving the original papers down the sink, you've done nothing but make yourself useful around here. My ad expires tomorrow, and I doubt anyone else who calls would be interested once they find out you're labeled EDWT.” Her owner sighed again. “I'm just so frustrated.” Cagali had noticed over the past few days no matter how frustrated and angry her owner was, he was very particular about how he showed it, remaining very calm and sighing excessively.

 

“I'm surprised you haven't mentioned Dearka yet.”

 

he had tried to return her to Dearka. Dearka had refused, the other had insisted. So Dearka called in a lawyer but with the original documents shoved down the sink, her owner could not prove that his comrade had forged his signature.

 

“Throttled him yesterday, all he had to say was `Lighten up Athrun, EDWT can be removed after five years,” he said, a little bit of his anger snapping in his voice.

 

“If I could do something for you I would. Would it be better if I just left or something?”

 

“No, don't get any ideas like that Cagali. You `just leave' and the police will pick you up a few days later as a loose natural and I get fined P.C. 100 for not managing you and P.C. 300 for not reporting you missing.”

 

“Never mind then.”

 

The coordinator sighed again. “I'm going to take down the ad,” he stated.

 

“Why?”

 

“Get some of my money back. Trying to sell you now is pointless,” he stated. “I guess I just don't want change. Things have been a lot different since Dearka left you here.” He headed into the next room, sitting down in front of the computer, and pulling up the Aprillius 4 homepage.

 

“So I'll be staying?” asked the natural.

 

“Yeah,” he said.

 

Cagali watched him for a minute as he pulled up the screen to log into his ad watch. She glanced down at the keyboard as he typed in his password. There was a chance whatever his password was; it applied to more than one thing. He typed it quickly. It was eleven characters, one was a space. Once in, Athrun clicked on `cancel ad.'

 

“Mr. Zala, now that I'm going to be here for at least five years, is there anything you want me to do around here?” she asked him.

 

“You can start out by stop calling me `Mr. Zala,'” said her owner. “It bothers me coming from someone my age.”

 

“What should I call you?” asked Cagali, a bit surprised.

 

He turned around in his chair to face her. “Try Athrun”

 

“Your first name?”

 

“Yes”

 

“Oh, alright,” she said a little surprised. She hadn't been expecting her owner to be that lacks.

 

“You have no previous owners, you're from Earth, right?” asked Athrun.

 

“Yes,” she said.

 

“Where did you live?” he asked.

 

“Greenland,” she replied.

 

“Greenland?!”

 

“Yup” Greenland really was a nice town in the mountains, just far enough away from Onogoro to get to it but stay out of the hustle and bustle. The weather was nice as well, warm and pleasant, perfect for farming.

 

“I didn't know they picked up slaves from that area.”

 

“I wasn't home when they picked me up,” she said. A reasonable lie, things like that had happened before.

 

“I see. If you're from the North Pole, I suppose you don't know much about PLANT then, do you?”

 

“Not really,” she lied, hoping he'd tell her something useful.

 

“In that case I should make some laws regarding naturals clear to you. Since you're going to be here for quite a while, confining you inside the house would be unreasonable.”

 

“Am I allowed to leave the house now?” she asked hopefully.

 

“You can leave with permission, as long as you understand the laws.”

 

“Alright”

 

“First of all, if you leave, your ID number has to be showing.”

 

“So that people know I'm a natural, right?”

 

“Partially, you can actually tell someone's a natural just by looking at them. You don't need to see an ID number.”

 

“How is that?” asked Cagali.

 

“A guy has blue eyes, dark skin, and red hair. Is he a coordinator or a natural?”

 

“A coordinator”

 

“How about someone with green skin, blue hair, and purple eyes?”

 

“Not human”

 

Athrun laughed. “You're probably right. Let's say blonde hair, pale skin, and hazel eyes.”

 

“A natural”

 

“There ya go.”

 

Cagali mentally slapped herself in the head, realizing he'd just described her. “Well then, what's the point of showing the ID number?”

 

“You do something stupid or someone's not sure you've got permission to be there, they put your ID number into a hotline and it calls me. It's basically a quick way to identify a slave and solve a problem without calling the police.”

 

“Oh, I see” said the natural. `The government sure keeps tabs on all the slaves here.'

 

“Next, you don't leave without permission.” Cagali shrugged, that wasn't unexpected. “You don't get any fire arms or weapons. You get caught with something like that; you get dropped off at ZAFT headquarters for questioning. You don't want that,” Athrun added.

 

“There goes my terrorist attack,” said the slave sarcastically.

 

“Exactly,” said Athrun, “Let's see... I don't have all the natural regulations memorized, as you can tell. Hmm... Curfew- I can't believe I forgot that. Naturals found out between 9 pm and 5 am will be arrested.”

 

“Anything else?” asked Cagali.

 

“I'm sure there is, but I can't remember right now. Other than that, you ask me for permission and I'll tell you what you can or can't do. Alright?”

 

She nodded her head. “So can I leave?”

 

“Now?”

 

“Yes”

 

“No”

******

 

It had been two days since Athrun had determined he couldn't sell Cagali and a week since she had arrived on PLANT. Although the slave had still to leave the house, she was pleased to note that his place looked significantly cleaner, in Athrun's words, `I didn't realize the carpet was that color.' Almost all of his things were unpacked and placed, with the exception a knick knack or two she was unsure what to do with, like a large collection of army men and some half-made robotic animals.

 

Athrun had helped her put together a rather old bed in an empty room, one which he said he inherited alongside the piano. It just wasn't in the same shape. In any case, she was no longer sleeping on the couch. For that she was grateful.

 

As far as it looked to her, her owner was pretty clueless as to whatever went on around his house. He was rarely ever there, and as far as she was concerned he shouldn't have bought it if he was never at home. The ZAFT pilot left in the mornings at 5:30 and generally didn't come back till late in the evening, nine or ten, although twice he had come back for his lunch break, the first time to take her to the NRC and the second to talk to a possible buyer.

 

On the other hand this meant he had no idea that she'd figured out his password on his computer and had been sifting through his files. Even so, he was to blame setting the password to something as obvious as his name. Unfortunately, she hadn't found anything, and Kira had taught her how to “find stuff” on computers. Basically she had come to the following conclusions: A. the coordinators had their secrets extremely well blocked or B. it wasn't there. If this wasn't her job, she would have given up a while ago. As of now she sat in front of the monitor, still searching, her best results being an un-detailed online journal.

 

Bored out of her mind, Cagali typed in a web address intending on sending Kira a nonsense e-mail that would confirm she was alive. It was too dangerous to send any other information over the computer, ZAFT and multiple hackers were known to read people's mail for information. A few hasty clicks later, her free e-mail account popped up on the screen.

 

Said a sea cucumber to a dancing starfish, “I like your shoes.” But the starfish replied, “Lights are best with proper shading.”

 

It was a joke Kira had made up when they were little, when their parents refused to explain a joke to them. She couldn't remember what it was, but she did remember she and Kira were befuddled to the point of frustration. Finally her brother concluded there was no point and they should start telling jokes with no point too cause everyone thought the other joke was funny. She was sending this to him because he'd know it was her. If it was intercepted, let ZAFT sit around trying to figure it out.

 

Suddenly she heard the noise of a key opening the door. Cagali jumped out of the chair and quickly turned off the monitor. Athrun was back early. Really extremely early, she might add, it was four thirty in the after noon. She moved into the kitchen, as to not be caught around his computer.

 

“I'm back,” said Athrun. A second later she heard the door shut and he made his way into the kitchen for something to drink.

 

“You're back early,” said Cagali.

 

“We're on clear, so all the reds got let off.”

 

“Clear?”

 

“That means all EA forces are currently far enough away from PLANT it'd take their fastest ship 24 hours to get into firing range.”

 

“That seems a bit cocky.”

 

“We got in a bit of a scurry with the fleet yesterday, and they were outmatched. Now we have a different team following them. Those stupid naturals will either retreat to the moon, or die trying.” Cagali showed no visible response to the negative comment. “But I finally get a little bit of time off. It's nice being in my house for once.”

 

“Can't you work from home, over the internet, or something?”

 

Athrun raised his eyebrows. “I'm a mobile suite pilot. I'm lucky to be stationed in homeland defense, day shift.”

 

“Oh, duh,” she said to herself. What a stupid question. Most people in the military, herself included, were sent away from home at this time.

 

“Besides,” added Athrun, “Even if I wasn't a mobile suit pilot, I'd still be in ZAFT, and ZAFT personnel can't just work from home. They're dealing with battles. Those who could possibly work from home are working with ZAFT secrets and those are dealt with at headquarters only. It'd be insane to have that information accessible from the internet, even with security measures.”

 

“Really,” said Cagali, pretending to not be interested.

 

There was a moment where neither of them said anything. “I should take you to get some clothes,” said Athrun after a minute, “then I can return what I borrowed.” The natural shrugged. “Come on,” said her owner, “Put on some shoes and we'll go.”

 

“Uh, sure” said Cagali. She made her way out of the kitchen to find the pair of sandals she had been lent.

 

Then they left the house. Athrun walked to his car, and thought for a second. “Let's take the bus,” he said.

 

“Why the bus?” asked Cagali.

 

“Naturals aren't allowed to drive, with the exception of garbage collectors, and that's closely monitored. But you can take the bus. I'll show you the routes.”

 

“Alright,” she agreed, and thought, `garbage collectors.'

 

He pocketed his keys and started walking down the street. “It's about a fifteen minute walk to the bus stop, but we have time,” he said. “If I show you the bus routes, I can send you on errands while I'm at work.”

 

“Great! I actually get to leave the house!”

 

“Happy to be running errands...” Athrun said to himself, “You naturals are pretty simple minded.” Cagali was a few steps behind him, so he didn't see her scowl. She widened her stride and caught up to him. He seemed to walk a bit faster than a normal person.

 

“Where in all does the bus go?” asked Cagali.

 

“Let's see... I haven't taken it since I got a car last month. You can get practically anywhere on this side of PLANT. I'll just get you a map of the bus route. I'll pull it off Aprillius local when we get back.”

 

The walk to the bus wasn't as long as expected, and besides the occasional racist comment, the spy found that she enjoyed getting to talk to her owner. Maybe it was just that she hadn't talked to anyone much at all for days. Arriving at the bus stop, they sat down on the bench.

 

She took in a deep breath of air. It was clean, much cleaner than you'd find on Earth in a city. Everything here was so carefully monitored.

 

“By the way,” said Athrun, “When we're in public address me formally.”

 

“Like call you `Mr. Zala?'” she asked. “I thought you didn't like that.”

 

“I don't,” he said, “But this is PLANT, and if I have you addressing me by my first name in public... Well, people tend to get an idea that you're... er... having a relationship.”

 

“So here a slave addressing the owner by their first name means they're having sex?”

 

“Cagali, can you be a little less blunt?” he asked.

 

“Sorry,” she replied.

 

“When ever you go out, be sure to watch your attitude. Most coordinators would be angry if the heard you talking casually to another coordinator, even worse if you speak like that to them directly. Just don't speak unless you have to, alright?”

 

“Alright”

 

“That includes to me. It's a different situation. I'd rather not draw attention to myself. It can get nasty.”

 

“I'll do my best to be quiet, Mr. Zala,” she said. `So much for getting to talk to someone,' she thought.

 

A minute or two later Athrun stood up, as the bus stopped in front of them. As they got on, Cagali noticed that there wasn't a driver, but a computer, running the bus. The bus made six stops before they reached their destination, and Athrun explained what was around each of them. Cagali tried to pay attention. She figured that a map would certainly help.

 

She followed her owner off the bus silently, as she had been instructed. “You won't need to come here often,” he said. “But you can buy anything and everything here. It's the discount shopping center; everyone calls it `PLANT-mart.'”

 

“Used stuff,” she muttered to herself.

 

“Both new and old,” said Athrun. “Old is always cheaper.”

 

`Not that it matters,' she thought, `I'm just a slave.'

 

“I prefer to buy my clothes and stuff here,” added her owner “saves money. I have to wear this uniform most of the time anyways.”

 

Cagali found that shopping with Athrun was just as boring as shopping at home with her friends. Fortunately, she wasn't the only one bored. As soon as her owner figured she had enough to wear for a while, he purchased it, spending less than P.C. 75. The clothing she was to wear was nothing more than sweats, jeans and t-shirts. Although he did buy her one dress.

 

She had argued with him about getting it. She hated dresses. Where and why she would wear it, she had asked. She was a natural, why would she go to a formal event? He had reprimanded her for speaking out of turn, and bought it anyways. Perhaps it was the way he glanced at her when she wore it that made her want to leave it more than anything else. After shopping for about thirty minutes, they had quickly assembled anything necessary for her to live at his house and climbed back on the bus.

 

Cagali vaguely listen as the bus driver announced the stops. Athrun had said the bus traveled a circular route around the colony. There would be eighteen stops before they were to get off. The slave was counting them, wishing her time sitting with her owner on this bus to be as short as possible, even though she'd still have to deal with his presence back at the house- his house. He wasn't talking to her, as he had been before, still annoyed that she had had the nerve to argue with him- her owner- over what he should not buy her. He had his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

 

But then something the driver said caught Cagali's attention.

 

“Next stop ZAFT headquarters.”

 

Those who could possibly work from home are working with ZAFT secrets and those are dealt with at headquarters only.

 

The spy felt every hair on her body rise. She sat up, this could be an opportunity. She had to see it. She was here to get information, and if it was dealt with only in ZAFT headquarters, she'd go to ZAFT headquarters. Could she get in now? No... She wasn't prepared. Her owner was here. She would at least get a look, a decent glance at the facility or... Cagali got an idea.

 

“Umm...” she poked Athrun.

 

He opened his eyes and looked to her. “What?”

 

“I need to pee,” she declared. It wasn't a complete lie. After all, he needed to pee too, if you don't, then you die.

 

“Can you hold it till we get back?” he asked.

 

She shook her head no, not breaking eye contact and trying her best to look dead serious.

 

“Alright, we'll get off at the next stop and find a place. Will you be ok?” Cagali hesitantly nodded her head. Athrun was looking out the window as the bus neared the stop, and then he said, “You are going to have to wait till the next stop.”

 

“You said...” she started.

 

“This is ZAFT headquarters, naturals aren't allowed on the premises. I wasn't paying attention to where we were,” he stated.

 

“Athrun, I really need to go.”

 

“Why didn't you tell me earlier?”

 

“I thought I could hold it.”

 

“And now you'll have to.”

 

“Please...”

 

“I could loose my job and get arrested if you get caught.”

 

“Then I won't get caught!”

 

“No.”

 

Cagali made a point to fidget around in her seat for a moment. She wasn't giving up.

 

“How long?” she asked.

 

“Ten minutes,” replied her owner.

 

“Surely I could just...”

 

“No”

 

“But that's too long.”

 

“Have you not gone to the bathroom all day or something?” She nodded. Athrun looked at her for a moment. The bus stopped, and the door opened. “This won't happen again. Come on,” he said, standing up.

 

“Thank you!” said Cagali brightly, picking up the bag from the shopping trip and following Athrun off the bus. She didn't have much practice at lying. She had nothing to lie about before, and Kira had told her that when she did lie, it was easy to tell. But this guy... He was clueless! Perfectly clueless, it was exactly what she needed.

 

At the same time, he looked incredibly ticked off. `He must hate me,' thought Cagali. `I'm making him do something that could loose him his job.' She felt a little bit guilty. `It doesn't matter what he thinks,' said a voice inside her. `As long as he's not suspicious'

 

A moment later Athrun pulled Cagali into the lobby of the headquarters. It was empty. “Just leave the bag here, no one's going to take it,” he said gesturing to the space around them.

 

She dropped the bag. Athrun pulled out his wallet, finding a card that he scanned to open a door. The door opened and he grabbed Cagali's wrist, pulling her in behind him. She barely had a chance to look at the rooms around her, and what she saw served her no good. A second later Athrun stopped and pointed to a door.

 

She stared at the door for a moment before her thoughts came to words. “That's the men's bathroom.”

 

“I know. You have to walk through the break room to get to the women's, and that would definitely get me thrown in jail. You can use this bathroom.”

 

“What if someone's in there?” she asked.

 

Athrun pushed open the door and looked. “No one,” he said, and then turned to her. “Go on. You're the one who has to pee.” The look he wore was pretty scary, and Cagali decided that it was best to drop her hopes of exploring ZAFT facilities, at least for today.

 

Suddenly feeling a bit awkward in the situation, she merely entered the restroom. She decided she would just play out her lie, and try again later. Then Athrun stepped in the bathroom after her.

 

She looked at him for a moment. “I'm not a pervert, I'm just here incase someone else comes in. Hurry up so we can leave,” he said blandly. The spy made her way into one of the stalls, shutting it. Cagali reminded herself that this was her idea, and decided to go ahead and use the toilet, although she was turning increasingly red.

 

Only seconds later she heard the door open and close. `Maybe he is decent,' thought Cagali.

 

“Oh, Athrun,” she heard another male voice. “I didn't expect to see you here.”

 

“Ah, same to you,” Athrun replied. “I thought you needed to practice for your concert or something.”

 

“Not really, I've played harder pieces, but I got home and realized I'd left my music up here,” the tone was cheerful. “You should come to the concert; we've got a good line up to play.”

 

“The tickets are rather expensive,” replied Athrun. “P.C. 9 a person?”

 

“You paid P.C. 19.3 for a ticket to a rock concert.”

 

“That was two years ago when I was still living with my parents,” he replied.

 

“You've never even heard us perform. You should come, bring your natural- you shouldn't keep her locked up in your house, even if you don't want her.” Cagali heard a bag being placed on the floor, and the other guy made his way to one of the urinals.

 

“I'm not going to,” her owner said. “I've just got enough to do as it is to think about a slave.”

 

“I didn't say you didn't. I just said you should take her to the concert. I bet I could get the tickets cheap for you, after all, there are perks to being in the symphony.”

 

“You're just persistent, hm?” said Athrun.

 

The other chuckled. “Actually, its Tati's first time performing in the symphony. I know she'll do great, but she's nervous. Maybe it'd be better for her if someone she knew was there. ”

 

“Maybe, you know I still don't think having her participate in performances is a good idea.”

 

“Too late to tell me now”

 

“I know.”

 

“Well, the concert is tomorrow, if you decide you would like to come...”

 

“I'll be sure to tell you to get me some tickets,” Athrun finished. A moment later, the other flushed the urinal and picked up his bag. “I'll see you tomorrow, Nicol,” said Athrun.

 

“Yeah, later”

 

A moment later, Cagali stepped out of the stall, and Athrun chuckled. “You really get some color in your face when you're embarrassed,” he noted. She turned an even darker shade of red.

 

“That guy seems different,” she said, to herself.

 

“He is,” replied her owner. “Well, I think we should get out of here, lest someone else comes along.” The stepped out into the hall, the ZAFT soldier looking right and left, stealthily led her out of the building.

 

“Cagali,” he asked, as they got on the bus again, “Would you like to go the concert tomorrow?”

 

She was surprised. “I can go? I mean- a natural can go?”

 

“Yeah, so?”

 

She smiled, “I'd love to.”