Assassin Angel

A/N: Author's note at the bottom so it's easier to choose whether or not to listen to me.

Disclaimer: From here on in, let it be known that I own nothing. If this status should miraculously change, you all shall be the first to know.

School Day

Monday morning proved no different than Sunday for Lacus, and each day she had woken at four, completed a regimen of basic exercises such as pushups and crunches, showered, dressed, and made her way downstairs for a quick breakfast. Only today she was dressed in her school uniform, blazer included and buttoned as well. She'd sewn in a thin strap of light material on the inside for holding a small weapon, but had not equipped herself yet.

The school would have metal detectors at all gates and entrances, so Lacus had had to carefully and strategically figure which school supplies could become vanilla disguises for weapons. She knew a math compass was her best bet, but she'd also hidden a few blades as pencil sharpeners, and one pen really did have a blade on the inside rather than ink. Her scissors were all easily dismantled, and both pairs were placed innocently in a pencil case. Though she felt uncomfortable with the situation, the young woman was certain she'd be fine. Besides, Athrun had messaged her just last night and had told her he was able to slip in a few agents as staff at the school, though he warned her that she wouldn't recognize any of them. Her one comfort was that at a single call or text from her cell phone would bring the nearest agent running.

But, she turned her mind away from business matters and turned it instead upon her meager breakfast of a bagel with strawberry jam spread and jasmine tea. Via had made it clear yesterday that Lacus had free range of whatever she pleased within the kitchen, but the blue eyed girl had never had much of a huge appetite and couldn't bring herself to abuse the privilege out of spite. Taking a sip from her tea and a bite of the bagel, the trained killer looked out the wide kitchen windows at the scenery. The kitchen had a beautiful view of the lake, and given the early time, Lacus found herself appreciating the calming landscape.

It was around that time that a quickly becoming familiar sound reached her ears, and that was the jingling of collar tags and trimmed canine claws on hardwood as it drew nearer. Looking up towards the doorway, Lacus watched as the white German Shepherd entered the kitchen, shortly followed by her young master. Kira looked like he'd just slept twenty minutes on a stone floor for how rested he looked. His hair stuck up at all angles, his pajama shirt was creased and wrinkled, and his pants looked as though the waistband had turned too far to the side. He'd looked much like this Saturday morning as well. Lacus assumed she had allowed a quizzical look to slip past because Kira forced back a yawn while smiling embarrassingly.

"Wow, you're up…and ready…pretty early," he said, just a bit of awkwardness filling the air between them. At least, that's what it felt like to him, because Lacus seemed to hardly bothered by the interaction.

"It's a habit," she said quickly, turning back to her breakfast. She had considered going over the feed from Kira's room last night, and the night before, but just as her last assumption, she decided that she didn't want to intrude on his privacy when she didn't have to. There were sensors and other cameras elsewhere that could alert her to any danger towards her charge, she didn't need to watch him every night as he slept. Besides, she thought with a sniff, 'He's an eighteen year old boy, what are the most logical options as to why he'd look so disheveled?'

Much to Lacus' discomfort, Angel trotted right over towards her and rested her furry head on the girl's thigh. Kira glanced over from where he was riffling through the pantry for cereal, and he chuckled. "She's taken a shine to you," he said carefully, his tone assuring the girl that he could pull the dog away if she wanted him too.

"I-I see…" was all she replied back as she eyed the dog warily. Her discomfort was being kicked by her common sense, seeing as how no creature with doe eyes like this canine's could be a feral beast…but the memory of dog fangs in her flesh still rang strong. Angel suddenly perked up when Kira whistled quietly, and leapt towards the boy, tail wagging expectantly as she sat at his feet while he stood by the counter. Lacus turned to see that he was giving her the same breakfast of wet dog food as yesterday. Before the boy poured himself some cereal, he watched his pet eat for a moment and ruffled the soft white fur atop her head.

Chewing a mouthful of bagel, Lacus observed him through masked eyes.

Lacus wasn't surprised to see that Kira had a personal driver who took him to and from school. She was even less surprised to recognize the model of the car. Athrun had one just like it for when he had to leave the Roost himself to go meet an important client personally. When Athrun left his post, it was always a very serious affair, and it seemed to finally be meeting Lacus' understanding of just how important her job here really was.

"Lacus, are you all right? Forget something?" Kira asked curiously.

Glancing over at her charge, Lacus almost missed the fact that Kira was trying to be chivalrous and allowing her to get into the car first. A slight flush crossed her face and she shook her head before she ducked in quickly, not liking that her charge was behind her. Kira slid in onto the leather seat beside her and pulled the door closed. Leaning back into the familiar seat, Lacus pulled on the seat-belt as a quick afterthought realizing that Kira was doing so as well. She was far used to riding without one in such a car.

Not that she knew the mechanics of it, again, it wasn't something the assassin felt she needed to be knowing, but she understood the comparisons Athrun had made when he explained his transportation to her. It was much like a steel turtle shell with bulletproof windows. Except, rather than one layer of shell protecting the soft fleshy inside, there were multiple layers that required a specific design and material to not make the car look ridiculously bulky yet still function as a protection vehicle and retain necessary acceleration power.

Athrun also had a saying about seat-belts and the car. 'If this car can't protect me well enough, what's the point of a seat-belt?' Nonetheless, Lacus rode the rest of the way with one hand over the buckle, fingers ready to press the release. Just in case…

Pulling up about a block away from the school, Kira thanked his driver and stepped out, quickly apologizing to Lacus.

"I know you probably expected to be driven all the way up to the school, but I like to walk the last bit of way since it brings less attention than that huge car," he explained nervously. Lacus merely smiled good naturedly.

"Oh, it's fine. I don't mind or anything, I can see why the car would attract stares," she said, falling into step beside the brunet as they started on their way to school. Though she'd near memorized every street and building in this area, the girl couldn't help looking around the street, noting how busy it was just that morning with people rushing to their jobs, and students dressed in the same uniform she and Kira wore heading in the same direction. Lacus guessed that the teenagers who weren't wearing uniforms were going to a public school. She had a conversational question on her lips that fell quickly when she turned to Kira to see him currently removing his own blazer, only to tie it around his waist.

Eyeing the sleeves, Lacus wondered if the creases she'd noticed earlier were permanently folded into the fabric. She said nothing when the boy loosened his tie, either. When Kira realized she was watching him, he grinned sheepishly and shrugged while folding his arms behind his head, his schoolbag hanging off his wrist.

"It gets pretty stifling after awhile," he admitted, earning a soft smile from the girl. "Aren't you worried that you might get too hot in this kind of weather if you wear your blazer like that?" Kira asked curiously.

Lacus shook her head.

"I'm used to it already, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem."

After she'd spoken, Kira smiled, and looked up suddenly, his violet eyes scanning the crowd. Lacus looked up, too, though for a far different reason. Her eyes narrowed and her hands felt tense when she reached for her school bag, fingers itching to lift her special pen from within where she'd placed it close to the top of the bag.

Another boy with curly brown hair was ducking through the crowd till he'd reached them panting and laughing. Lacus stared at him warily but assessed him as a minimal threat at best. Kira clapped the other on the shoulder and turned him to face Lacus.

"Tolle, this is Lacus Clyne, Lacus, this is Tolle Koenig," Kira said rather than an average greeting to his friend. "Lacus is a transfer student who'll be living with my family for the rest of the school year," Kira explained to Tolle who gazed at Lacus with wide eyes.

"Ah…nice t-to meet you, Miss Clyne," Tolle said, his blue eyes in awe of the young woman beside Kira. Lacus smiled back.

"Likewise, Mr. Koenig," she replied back, not offering any words that Tolle may refer to her familiarly.

The three then walked the rest of the way to school, Lacus trying to appear interested and absorbed as Tolle spoke of his weekend and how the Student Council had met up to make plans for the upcoming dance, but the young woman was discreetly examining the bystanders. No one looked particularly hostile, but that was what worried her.

"Hey Kira, I'm having a bit of trouble with my assignments as president, you think you could help me out sometime?" the brunet asked hopefully, clapping his hands together pleadingly. Kira laughed and nodded his head.

"Yeah, it'd be no problem," he admitted.

The trio had reached the school gates then, the three of them calmly handing over their school bags to the security personal and stepping one at a time through the metal detectors. Lacus didn't even bat an eye as she walked through, and accepted her bag back with a smile. It was when they'd reached the steps that Tolle hit his forehead with his palm, groaning.

"Oh man, I totally forgot! I need to go meet up with the art club before class! I'll see you later Kira, and Ms. Clyne," he added quickly, grinning at Lacus sheepishly before darting through the crowd, waving a greeting to every few students.

"He seems busy," Lacus noted, looking up to Kira. It was a little peevish for her that he was just tall enough that she'd have to look up at him slightly.

"Well, it's a pretty busy job," Kira replied with a grin. Lacus nodded and was quiet for a moment.

"Do you miss it?"

"H-huh?"

She looked at him. "Do you miss being Student Council President?"

"Oh…" he said, stopping his footsteps for a moment to absently scratch his cheek. He grinned gently and turned to her before saying, "I miss spending more time with everyone, but I don't really miss the job…"

Pursing her lips but trying to keep a docile expression, Lacus said nothing. She couldn't help feeling that he'd lied.

Kira was quick about bringing Lacus to the office and her locker, though Lacus declined the offer of a quick tour. She pulled the map from the folder she'd gotten from the office and smiled. "I already know where everything is," she said, and Kira took it as a joke. It was thinking of a good reaction to finding that their schedules were exactly alike that stumped Lacus for a moment, but Kira shrugged it off, saying it was lucky for her.

"Now there'll be at least one person you know in each class," he assured her kindly, and Lacus tried to stay positive as she stared at the paper class schedule. Kira was in advanced classes…a lot of them…What made her just a bit nervous was seeing a Calculus AP class. When Lacus tested out of her final high school years, she'd only had to meet the minimum requirements, and they hadn't even included Pre-Calculus…The girl didn't feel like analyzing the rest of the younger boy's classes, and tried to appear positive.

Whoever Athrun had instructed to take care of the educational aspect of Lacus' mission was not aware of the assassin's disinterest in academics, and must have made sure her records claimed she'd met the prerequisites for these classes…The young woman didn't want to think about sitting in those classes and trying to appear as though she knew what she was hearing. Really though, the bulky graphing calculator she'd found in her school supplies should have given her some hint as to what to expect.

The first class Kira brought her to was an advanced language class, so at least she'd have something she understood. Athrun and she had had a particular knack for picking them up, whether or not it was something programmed into their genes, and after Athrun created Roost, he'd encouraged Lacus to do some more studying. She was fluent in a handful of languages, and could get by well enough in a few more others, and she doubted that a simple high school, preparatory academy or not would have anything beyond her own skill level.

It was Kira who introduced Lacus to the teacher, and the woman seemed to already understand the transfer situation and didn't require much explanation. She smiled at Lacus and told her she'd make a portfolio of what they'd learned already for her. Nodding, Lacus followed Kira to his seat, and set her things down on the desk beside his when he said there was no assigned seating. She knew it wouldn't be the same for the rest or at least most of their other classes, but she'd cross those bridges when she came to them. Right now, she wanted to figure a discreet way for slipping her pen into the area of her blazer she'd made for it.

Before she could go about retrieving it from her bag, Lacus felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and she looked over to see Kira looking at her brightly. There were two boys standing near Kira that Lacus had passed off as minimal threats when she'd first seen them walking towards the desks, but now she saw that they were acquaintances of her charge. Looking them over again quickly, she saw that the blonde one wore amber-tinted glasses and held himself in an outwardly confident way, but she could tell from his kind but guarded expression he was insecure. The other boy with longish black hair didn't bother at all with guarding himself, and Lacus gave him a wide smile, watching when the visibly shy boy flinched and colored.

"Lacus, these are my friends Sai Argyle, and Kuzzey Buskirk," Kira said, pointing to the blonde and shy one respectively. "They're both members of the Student Council as well. Guys, this is Lacus Clyne, she's a transfer student who'll be staying with my family for awhile," Kira also explained for his friends. Lacus eyed the brunet with a grin.

"Kira, is that what you're going to say each time you introduce me to someone?" the girl asked, watching amusedly when Kira flushed slightly from embarrassment and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck.

He'd done that several times on Sunday while he and his family spent time getting to know Lacus and vice versa through a "family picnic day" as Via had named it. Lacus could conclude for certain now that it was a reaction to nervousness or embarrassment, not much unlike his thoughtful reaction when he scratched his cheek or rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"So Lacus, where did you transfer from?" Sai asked curiously, but he didn't get an answer before the bell rang and the teacher called for their attention.

Lacus sat quietly in her seat, pulling a notebook out and her pencil case, choosing that moment to slip the pen with its hidden blade inside her blazer. Glancing from the corner of her eye, she concluded no one noticed or thought much of it, and flipped her notebook open just as Kira leaned over and tapped her elbow. She didn't quite flinch, but Lacus noticed that each time Kira had initiated such contact; she'd had very minimal negative response. It was a good thing that she wasn't bothered since it would make attuning herself to him easier.

"We started Russian not too long ago, if you want to see my notes, just let me know," he said quietly with that same friendly smile. She nodded and smiled back, but didn't ask for them as she turned to stare up at the teacher who was writing something on the board. Lacus had learned Russian when she was seventeen, she was sure she'd remember it well enough to get through this easily.

For the rest of the morning classes, Lacus had not been so lucky as the language class, and she guessed it would only be getting worse. Kira had introduced her to a few more students, but Lacus guessed they weren't all regular friends since he didn't offer much but their names or club statuses. She noticed that he colored slightly each time he mentioned her being a transfer student, but she just smiled. As she had suspected, in the other classes, she'd not been so lucky to be seated beside Kira, and in the Calculus class she sat a few columns away. By the time lunch was rolling around, Lacus knew not to expect anything getting better, but she didn't quite expect the next friend Kira introduced her to.

The school was a building in a wide square shape with an open center for the quad, dotted with tall trees, a large circular fountain, and picnic tables where students could eat or do homework. There was a medium sized, one story building that branched from the northern half of the school into the quad, and this was where the cafeteria and culinary classes were located. The quad held access to all sides of the school, and it made for easier navigation than running in circles and up and down flights of stairs in the two story school building, and also served as a meeting place for students.

Kira was leading Lacus towards the center fountain; Kuzzey on Kira's other side, he having met them outside of their last classroom. Glancing over, Lacus could recognize Sai and Tolle sitting on the fountain edge waiting, but there was also a red haired girl sitting beside Sai and participating in the conversation. When Tolle glanced up and saw them approaching, he jumped up and waved towards them, making the other two look up as well. Kira grinned and returned the gesture.

Reaching the fountain, Lacus smiled to Tolle who greeted her by offering his hand hesitantly, and then dropping it awkwardly when Lacus glanced at his hand warily. The brunet didn't make much of it, and Lacus didn't find it important since no one else noticed. Her pale gaze fell on the red head then, and saw that the girl was staring at her with a narrowed gray gaze, a not very pleasant expression pulling at the corners of her visage. The girl was still sitting, and she slowly rose when she realized Kira was looking at her, her expression towards him not much different than the look she gave Lacus, but far more benign.

"Fllay, this is Lacus Clyne, she's a," Kira began to say, but was quickly interrupted.

"Transfer student, I already know," she said quickly, glancing towards Sai and Tolle. Kira made a quiet 'oh' and looked a bit caught off guard at that moment, words failing him. Lacus' gentle gaze had flown from him to Fllay, agitation pecking in her chest. The red haired girl crossed her arms beneath her breasts and gave Lacus a quick once over, narrowing her eyes when her gaze fell back upon Lacus'.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Fllay," Lacus began, offering her hand when she guessed that the other girl wasn't about to initiate a greeting, but the red head scoffed and glared.

"Don't refer to me like that, we're barely acquaintances," she snapped, uncaring of the surprised and shocked looks from the other boys. "Clyne…isn't that the same name of the chairman who headed those peace talks and was murdered for it?" Fllay asked suddenly, making Tolle drop his jaw.

"He-hey," he began to say, but then he seemed to remember something, and he looked over towards Lacus as well. "I thought that name sounded familiar…" the brunet murmured, furrowing his brow thoughtfully.

"Weren't he and his family killed in that house fire?" Kuzzey spoke up.

"But it was arson…Don't you remember that internet scandal a few years ago? That guy that admitted to it and was killed in that video?" Sai added.

"Do you think the arsonist was part of Blue Cosmos?" Tolle asked.

Kira sent a hurried glance over towards Lacus, a look of worry on his face. When they'd been having the "picnic" the other day, his mother had asked Lacus about her name. She'd looked rather uncomfortable and explained that it was an unfortunate coincidence she often dealt with. She mentioned being asked about it all the time at her old school, and Kira had wondered if the violent things associated with the late Clyne family bothered her more than she let on. Not taking a chance, he quickly threw himself into the conversation.

"Hey guys, is this really the time or place to talk about that stuff?" Kira asked, smiling a little nervously. It was almost painfully obvious he wanted to change the subject and Lacus noticed the Fllay girl send a sharp look towards the brunet.

"Sorry, I guess you're bothered by talk of murder, right? Since your father's one of the most important men in the PLANTs organization?" the girl asked, her voice icy and bitter. Her equally matching gaze fell on Lacus, whom looked more than a little bothered.

"So, you're a Coordinator, right?" she more demanded than asked, much to the added horror on the others' faces. Lacus felt her expression grow hard and masked.

"Yes, I am."

"Not surprising. You know there are terrorist organizations who kidnap coordinator students all the time and murder them? It's practically common place, they put videos up on the internet and everything," Fllay began to prattle, but Sai quickly reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey! Fllay! That's really rude, Kira's right there, too," he added, but the red haired girl didn't lessen her harsh gaze.

"It's just news, it's not like she's trying to be mean," Lacus said with a neutral look, shifting her pale gaze from the younger girl.

Kira stood beside her, his eyes troubled and an odd expression on his face. Lacus glanced at him and her brows knit for only a moment.

"H-hey, how about we get lunch, huh?" Tolle spoke up, nervously trying to change the subject.

Kira looked up then and smiled slightly, nodding. "Good plan, I'm starved." Turning to Lacus, the violet eyed boy gestured towards one of the buildings.

"Let's go get lunch,"

"All right." She agreed with a nod, and they began walking. Fllay stood her ground with Sai for a moment, staring at Lacus as she and Kira walked past them, their shoulders almost brushing. Lacus glanced over her shoulder at Fllay, and wasn't surprised to see the gray eyed girl leering at her.

"Hey, Lacus," Kira murmured quietly, walking a bit closer to her. "Please don't mind Fllay so much, she's not a bad person, really. She's just…" the boy looked a little troubled and his lips quivered slightly.

"She's?"

"Her father was murdered two years ago by a radical Coordinator Supremacy group. Her father was a leading spokesman for Naturals, so it was a direct attack and hate crime," the dark haired boy explained, looking at his housemate with a sympathetic look. Lacus guessed it was the idea of losing one's father that gave cause to the other's sympathies.

"The Clyne family wasn't a terrorist group," Lacus replied, "Siegel Clyne was trying to bring peace between Naturals and Coordinators, and he had a wife and child. They were all murdered by a terrorist."

Lacus turned a blank face on Kira, slightly curious. "That girl has the freedom to do and say as she pleases because her father is dead? It could be worse, she could be dead." The long haired girl said, looking away. "Then how would she speak?"

Kira gazed at the girl a moment, shock on his face slowly dissolving into some form of compassion and understanding, and he reached over to brush his hand over her arm. She looked at him, and was met with a soft smile.

"It doesn't make her words hurt any less." He whispered.

That night, Lacus sat on her bed in her night clothes, rereading her Calculus textbook to try and grasp the assignment. Though her brain functioned better than a Natural's, it didn't necessarily mean she was so lucky to have the genetic mapping in her brain to understand mathematics any better.

Just down the hall she knew from her monitors and bugs that Kira had long gone to sleep, and she had a mind to give up on the homework and follow his suit. Glaring at the textbook page yet again, she shut it and pushed it off the edge of the bed. Falling back on the comfortable mattress, she leant over towards the nightstand to turn off the lamp, sending the room into darkness.

But the glow of her computer screen gave the room an eerie, blue sheen. Multiple video feeds traded places on the screen, all manner of AI programs scanning the feed to check for irregularities in case Lacus wasn't there to spot them herself. There were Roost members miles away also monitoring the data and aiding Lacus in the background on her mission.

Now if only one of them could have been aiding her in studying Calculus…that would certainly be a show of smarts for the large staff of apparent geniuses Athrun kept cooped up in the Roost with six-figure pay plans and spacious rooms.

A/N: Sorry I fell back on such a hiatus, everyone. I actually hate to admit that this chapter was a lot more fleshed out and near complete when I opened it this morning than I thought I remembered it being a few months ago. I've got a pretty good idea of how it'll flow, now, and I plan to make it much shorter (the story, not chapters, of course, you all know I'm a terrible person about making sure the chapters are meaty) so that it can be more of an easy story to write and read. Of course I wouldn't post something I'm not proud of so quality won't be sacrificed, but I want to make this story a bit more succinct than FYAI, wouldn't that be nice? Haha. Well, we all know you can't trust my word for anything, but try and put a little blind faith in me?