The Girl in the Window

Chapter Two

He couldn't bare to watch any longer. The door had been closed, the window drawn as well. He should have stepped forward when he seen the other man turn up the walkway towards the window, but he had been frozen where he stood. Sighing, Kira turned and blended with the crowd. He didn't quite understand why he had been coming here for the past two weeks, waiting to catch a glimpse of her. Every night it was the same, though sometimes he watched from the shadows. He knew her. Belinda.

/flashback/

His life was good. It couldn't get much better than it currently was. His studies on Heliopolis had yeilded him far more than he had expected. Often, he thought of his friend, Athrun and wished that he was there with him, though the new friends he had made, had made up for the void in his heart that Athrun had left exposed. It had been several years since he last saw the blue haired boy and Kira oftened dreamed of what Athrun was doing. Some day they would meet again, it was inevitable. Sighing, he grabbed his laptop and the paper bag that had once been filled with his lunch, ready to get back to work and study. However, as he tossed the remnants of his lunch into a waste recepticle, he noticed a lone dark haired girl sitting beneath a cherry tree some hundred feet from him. She was reading a book, devoid of the world around her. She appeared to be older than he was, he couldn't quite tell just how much; possibly a few years at most. Why he stood there and watched her, he wasn't exactly sure and if asked there would be no answer that would make sense of it. Knowing that he needed to return, he felt himself frozen to linger there and observe.

/end flashback/

That had been the beginning of his obessesion with Belinda. Like a puppy he had followed her, learned her routines and eventually everything that he could about her. It could have been taken as stalking, but in his mind it was nothing more than getting to know someone without ever speaking to them. He was content to watch her from afar and let her be the sole star of his fantasies. In them, she had replaced Athrun, though there would always be the taboo that the other boy would bring. She was so unlike Flay, yet far more beautiful and it made him wonder just how it became known that Flay was the most popular of his classmates, when Belinda was the mystery he wanted to solve. He had finally made the decision to talk to Belinda, to let courage lead the shy boy towards the person he wanted the most, when his life changed forever. Needless to say, he wouldn't see Belinda again for quite some time; he thought forever.

However, fate had a way of leading him into unknown territories. Amsterdam was no different. A two-day stay had turned into two weeks and as far as he was concearned he could be here a month longer if that was what it would take. That first day when he seen her, by chance, he had followed her to the Red Light District, which was better known as the window district. A place where prostitutes displayed their wares in the lit windows of the seedy darkworld. He had wondered why she was going here, as he followed her deeper into the throes of neon lights and sex central. To his horror, he watched her step away from the sea of tourists and make her way towards one of the apartments and enter inside. Some minutes later, he felt the bile rise in his throat, realizing that the woman that had taken the other's place, was in fact Belinda. Could it be true that -his- Belinda was a prostitute? Confused and hurt, he returned to his hotel. This could have been the new beginning that he had searched for, but now it was nothing but a mockery of everything else that he had lost. It was better when he thought of her as dead, than to see her as she was now. He had planned to leave the next day and never look back, though here he was still standing and watching her.. two weeks later.

The anger had left. Now, he only wanted to know why she was doing this. He had watched her and it was apparent that she wasn't happy, the sadness she wore like a death mask. He wanted to be her savior, the one that rescued her from herself. Sighing, he sat down upon a bench, watching the shadows behind the curtains.. knowing what was going on inside, but to his surprise, the man that had stepped in some minutes before suddenly left as quickly as he had arrived. Though Kira could see the frustration that dented the lines of his face and the eagerness to leave. Something had happen.

Rising quickly to his feet, he didn't have time to think about what he was doing. He didn't even realize it, when he was pushing the door open..