a/n: same 'verse as trust, and trust returned, but can be read as a stand alone. Mostly it's just nice to see how Kallen and Suzaku's friendship has progressed, if you've read the first.

It was originally a cgkinkmemeii fill, but subject-matter wise it wasn't precisely what the OP was expecting. Hence my not stating it was a fill in the summary. I've linked to the prompt in my profile if anyone wants a shot at it. The prompt, for the interested:

I'd like to see a fic in which Suzaku-as-Zero does something, whatever the author wants, that really impresses Kallen. Just a scene of Zerozaku being all cool and impressive, and Kallen genuinely admiring it.

Kallen swears lightly as she dashes through the corridors. Around her, people decorated in garish shades of red, yellow, green, and more side-step out of her way. It's weird, the moments that make her miss Lelouch. He would have made everything so much easier.

Kallen rounds a corner, and narrowly misses running into the sharp end of a rifle. "Hey, watch it."

Zero – Suzaku – doesn't apologise, but he does upend the rifle so that it's at parade rest. "With me," he says, and walks away.

Kallen shrugs and follows, because it's not like she has a better plan. "Shouldn't we be moving a little faster?"

"No. This pace is fine."

They come across an open stairwell. Below, there's a flash of blonde hair. "There! He's going after Nunnally!" Kallen snaps, and starts down the stairs, unholstering her own weapon –

– and then she stops, because the blonde has gone down, writhing, in a spectacular spray of red. She turns to see Suzaku getting up from a kneel, rifle lowering to his side. "That should be the end of it."

Kallen rolls his eyes at him as she walks down the stairs. "And Nunnally says you're not a show-off."

A tone goes off overhead. "Team Orange has been eliminated," calls Milly's voice over the loudspeaker. "I repeat, Team Orange has been eliminated. Sir Gottwald, please lower your paint gun, and – oh, my God, Gino, if you don't stop that I'm sending you the carpet dry-cleaning bill."

Kallen crouches down near Gino's head, mindful of the paint-angel. "Did you tell Gottwald you were going after Nunnally?"

Gino pales a little under the paint. "Uhm."

Another tone goes off. "Oh – looks like that was the last team! We'll tally up the points...let's see. Last three teams standing by number of kills, from least to most: Empress Nunnally and Ms Alstreim, Team Pink, 86 kills!"

Gino beams up at her as Milly lists off two unfamiliar names. "See! Anya was with her anyway, Nunnally'd have been totally safe from me."

" – from class 3F, on 173 kills! And in first place, Ms Kouzuki and Zero, Team Red – "

"The intent though," Kallen says, raising an eyebrow.

" – a whopping 304 kills! Give 'em a hand!"

Gino groans underneath the sounds of cheers and applause reverberating through the corridors. "No fair, I thought we were going easy on the civilians!"

"What." Kallen says flatly. She does a mental tally in her head and turns to Suzaku dumbfounded. "How the hell did you manage 180 kills?

"176," Suzaku says. "They kept trying to corner me." He sounds vaguely harrassed.

"They're students," Kallen says in disbelief. "And not students like you and me were students, actual students. I've seen the background checks!"

" – and that's all, folks! Students, please remember to return your weapons to your form room if you haven't already done so. Friendly reminder that you all have signed contracts wavering all rights to communicate anything you may have seen over the course of the day. Members of Empress Nunnally's party, please report to the Club House."

"Milly told me it'd be beneath Zero's dignity to run," Suzaku says. He doesn't sound like he's lying, but that blasted mask distorts everything. "I think she wanted to give the students a handicap."

"And on that note, one final parting magic spell: PEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCE !"

Beside them, Gino has peeled himself off the floor. "We've got our marching orders," he says, grinning. "To the Club House!"

"To the Club House," Kallen echoes in agreement, Suzaku a moment behind.

–

Milly grabs her as she walks in. "Best. Birthday. Ever," she declares. She pulls Kallen into a hug, heedless of the paint stains. "Oh, and well done to you two," she adds over Kallen's shoulder.

Suzaku thanks her politely, and heads to the corner that Any and Nunnally have claimed for themselves. Milly sighs after him a little, but Kallen just shrugs. He's getting better.

"Not as well as that guy, though," Gino says, nodding after Suzaku. Suzaku's kneeling in front of Nunnally's chair, seemingly comfortable enough in present company to hold hands with her affectionately, but not comfortable enough to remove his mask.

"Hush, you did brilliantly," Milly says, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Better than us at least," Rivalz grumbles as he sidles up with Nina.

Kallen eyes the patches of pink where they hadn't quite managed to scrape the worst of the paint off. "What happened to you two?"

"Took a wrong turn," Nina explains. "Ran into those two," she tilts her head in Anya's and Nunnally's direction, "and, well."

"I'm sorry Nina," Rivalz says despondently. "I'll manage to protect you one day, I promise."

Nina laughs and shakes her head. "It's fine, Rivalz. I had a lovely time talking to Nunnally and Anya."

"Is that what you lot were doing?" Kallen asks. She hadn't run into either Rivalz or Nina at all over the course of the morning.

"Sorry, I'm going to duck out," Gino interjects apologetically.

"Yeah, we kinda just sat at the end of a corridor – the one on the third floor? With the dead end – and watched as Anya took out anyone who walked around the corner." Kallen watches Gino edging towards the stairs as Rivalz answers, careful to avoid Gottwald's line of sight. "Anya shoots like a boss."

"I'm being a terrible host," Milly says. "Kallen, can I get you a drink? There's pizza if you're hungry."

Kallen notices that she's the only one in the room without a glass in her hand. "No, I can help myself," she says, spotting the food and drinks table.

"Great! In that case, I might just grab something for Gino – wouldn't want him starving," Milly says. She kisses them all on the cheek, and walks away.

"Why is Weinberg avoiding Sir Gottwald?" Nina asks as Rivalz flushes a pale pink.

"Let me go get a drink. I'll tell you in a minute," Kallen promises.

–

Milly passes Kallen sometime later, and presses a serving plate loaded with pizza and drinks into her hands. "Do you think you could take this upstairs for me?"

"Gino?" Kallen asks, taking the plate.

Milly shakes her head. "Zer – Suzaku," she says, stumbling over the name. "I saw him go upstairs a while ago, and he hasn't been down since. I'd go myself, but," she gestures at the party.

Kallen scans the room for Nunnally. She's still in her corner, chatting animatedly with Sayoko. Nunnally doesn't appear worried. "I told him if he started sulking on your birthday, I'd kick him up the head."

Milly laughs. "Throw champagne in his face," she advises, eyes bright. "Trust me, it hurts more."

–

Kallen catches the last murmurs of a conversation as she walks up onto the Club House rooftop.

"Kallen!" Gino waves at her, smiling brightly. It looks a little forced. He approaches and snags a bottle of something Kallen recognises vaguely as a horrendous alcohol-soft drink mixture that Tamaki had once tried to push upon her. Ougi had yelled a lot that day. "Is it safe to go downstairs yet?"

"I think Gottwald and Nu are in the kitchen," Kallen says.

"Cheers," Gino says, winking.

Kallen takes a look around once Gino has left. Suzaku is standing underneath the shade of a pseudo-Greecian column, rose vines entwined around it. The Zero mask is sitting innocuously on a bench beside it. Kallen dumps her tray on the bench and collapses on the pavement, the warmth of the sun in the pavers against her back.

"That thing was definitely not there when I left Ashford," Kallen says. She doesn't pry about the conversation. Doubtless Gino will tell her anyway, and Suzaku clams up if she presses too hard. "Must have been one of the juniors' work – there was this one girl who had a thing for European architecture."

Suzaku doesn't reply immediately. "I thought Prime Minister Ougi had the legal drinking age reverted to twenty-one," he says eventually.

Kallen closes her eyes, and lets the light in through the thin skin of her eyelids. "Just pretend we're in a make-shift Britannian embassy or something," she says. "There's soft drink on that tray as well."

"Did you put this together for me?"

"Milly."

A corner of the light streaming through her eyelids turns to shadow. She opens her eyes briefly to see Suzaku pick up a piece of pizza. She lets her eyes slide shut again. When she hears the tell-tale shutters of the Zero mask being put on, she says, "a hundred and seventy-four kills...that was kinda awesome."

"Thank you," Suzaku says. It might be just the sun, but the words leave her feeling a little warmer. She listens as he walks away.

Kallen lingers to enjoy the sun a little while longer.