Author's Notes: So, this story is more or less what happens when you mix 'Gina binge-watches Code Geass' with 'Gina plays way too much Yandere Simulator'.

I was really torn with the direction I wanted the story to go; I wanted to do something cute and fluffy but I also loved the idea of Lelouch as a yandere, especially considering his Geass ability. I decided to do a little of both; yandere in the beginning and switching to something fluffier during the chapters set during R2.

I want to preface this by saying that this is not a 'love at first sight' story; this is an 'infatuation at first sight eventually leading to a very unhealthy and rather lustful obsession before finally settling into love' story. Lelouch is going to be reasonably OOC for this story but I'll do my best to stay true to his core character.

Suzaku sighed as he made his way to the Student Council clubhouse. It was challenging enough balancing his military duties with his studies, but now he had Zero and his network of terrorists to contend with. Suzaku understood Zero's desire to change Britannia; he was working toward the same thing himself. However, attempting to do so through senseless violence and pointless killing was only going to breed more of the same.

'How ironic,' he thought. 'Attempting to end the cycle of hatred and violence by becoming a soldier.'

Suzaku was pulled from his thoughts by the nearby sound of a guitar. He couldn't recognise the song but the tune was a rather melancholy one and he was consumed with a desire to hear more of it. He glanced around but wasn't able to see anyone playing. When he listened closer, he noticed that the sound was coming from behind a rather large tree on the campus, not far from the clubhouse.

He approached the tree quietly and, upon rounding it, he found the source of the music. A female student sat beneath the tree, her auburn hair tied back into a messy ponytail and her eyes closed as she strummed on the guitar. Upon closer inspection, Suzaku realized that he recognised this girl; she sat next to him in class, but he didn't know her name. She rarely spoke outside of answering questions in class and she always left immediately after dismissal, so he had been under the impression that she was antisocial. The sad song she was playing begged something more,though, and now he was beginning to suspect that there was a lot more to her than that.

The girl finished her song with a soft sigh before carefully packing her guitar back into its case. Her head jerked suddenly in Suzaku's direction as though she had just realized he was standing there. She let out an undignified squeak of surprise and he had just enough to register the look of panic in her light grey eyes before she quickly gathered up her guitar and made a hasty exit.

"No, wait!" Suzaku called out. "You don't have to run...off..." It was too late; the girl was already a fair distance away from him. He considered chasing after her but concluded that it would only succeed in making her more nervous.

'I'll see her in class tomorrow anyway,' he thought as he turned and walked into the clubhouse. 'I'll talk to her then.'

Sure enough, when Suzaku arrived in class the next morning, he caught sight of a familiar messy ponytail in the seat next to his. When he sat down next to the girl, he noticed that her eyes were closed yet again and a pair of dark green headphones rested over her ears. Common sense would normally dictate that trying to start a conversation with someone wearing headphones wasn't a good idea, but Suzaku was far too curious to let this opportunity slip by. Besides, once class started, he wasn't sure when he'd get another chance.

"Hey," he greeted as he gently tapped the girl's shoulder.

The girl's eyes flew open and she glanced around for a moment before her eyes finally landed on him. "Hey..."

"Listen, I'm really sorry if I startled you yesterday," Suzaku apologized.

The girl sighed as she moved her headphones so that they rested around her neck. "Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have just run off like that. I wasn't expecting to have an audience while I played, so seeing you standing there threw me a bit." She paused for a moment. "How long had you been standing there?"

"A little while," Suzaku replied. "I was on my way to the Student Council room when I heard you and I couldn't stop myself."

"Wonderful," the girl groaned as she rested her head on her arms.

"If it helps at all, I really liked your song," Suzaku offered.

The girl quirked an eyebrow. "You did?"

Suzaku nodded. "Yeah. What song were you playing, anyway? I hadn't heard it before."

"Oh, it was just...something I came up with on the fly," the girl replied shyly as she glanced away from him.

"You wrote it on the spot? How were you able to come up with something so quickly? And how were you able to play it so well with your eyes closed?" Suzaku asked.

The girl shrugged. "I just play what I feel. You don't have to see to be able to feel, right? Besides, it's easier for me to play when I don't put a lot of thought into it."

Suzaku was about to reply when the bell rang to signal the start of class. "I guess we'll have to finish this talk later. I'm Suzaku, by the way."

The girl nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me. My name's Harley. It's nice to meet you."

"So Suzaku," Lelouch began as the two cleaned up the kitchen after dinner with Nunnally. "That girl you were talking to today..."

"Harley?" Suzaku asked. "What about her?"

"I was just curious about how you managed to hold a conversation with her," Lelouch replied. "I've been in class with her since I started here and I've never seen her speak to anybody for an extended period of time like that. She always seemed a bit standoffish to me."

"Well, I stumbled across her playing her guitar a little ways from the clubhouse yesterday and I went closer to listen to it. When she noticed I was standing there, she freaked out and ran off before I could say anything to her. I wanted to tell her that I liked hearing her play and apologize for startling her and we just started talking from there," Suzaku explained. "I had the same initial impression of her too, but after talking to her today, I think she's a pretty cool person. I have to admit that I like the way she thinks."

"Wait, you said she was playing near the clubhouse?" Nunnally asked. "I wonder if it was her all this time..."

"Nunnally?" Lelouch asked.

"Sometimes, in the evenings, I can hear someone playing music not too far from here," Nunnally replied. "It's usually a guitar, but sometimes they play the violin. I've never heard anyone singing, but the music they play is always full of some sort of emotion."

Suzaku nodded. "That certainly sounds like Harley. I didn't get around to asking her if she plays any other instruments, but it wouldn't surprise me if she can."

Nunnally smiled before turning her head toward the window. "I think she might be out there now, actually."

"Can you hear her playing, Nunnally?" Suzaku asked.

Nunnally nodded. "I can. Her song sounds happy today. I'm glad; its been pretty sad the past couple of weeks." She paused before turning to Suzaku. "Do you think it would upset Harley if we out to talk to her? I'd like to finally meet her. And if she's as nice as you say she is..."

"I can't see any harm in it," Suzaku agreed. "But we should go now before we miss her."

The trio found Harley underneath the same tree she had been the day before, her eyes closed once again as she played. Nunnally was right; the song she was playing this time was much happier and far more energetic than before.

"Hey, Harley," Suzaku said quietly as he tapped the girl on the shoulder again.

Harley started slightly as her head jerked up toward Suzaku, but her eyes didn't hold the panicked look they had during their previous encounter. "What's up, Suzaku? Did you come to hear me play again?"

"You caught me," Suzaku laughed. "But at least I didn't scare you this time."

"I was not scared!" Harley protested. "It's not my fault you move like a ninja." She blinked when she finally caught sight of Lelouch and Nunnally. "Hi, there."

"Oh, right!" Suzaku exclaimed. "Harley, these are some old friends of mine, Lelouch and Nunnally."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Harley," Nunnally said. "I've been listening to you play for a long time now, but I've never had the chance to talk to you until now. I really like your music."

A surprised look crossed Harley's face for a moment, only to be replaced with a genuine smile a second later. "Thank you, Nunnally. It's nice to meet you both as well. Even though..." She trailed off for a moment before turning her gaze to Lelouch. "You're in class with me too, aren't you?"

Lelouch nodded. "I am. We've been in the same classes since middle school."

Harley blinked again. "Have we really?"

'She can't be serious,' Lelouch thought. "You never noticed?"

Harley shook her head. "Sorry, but I haven't. Middle school was kind of a blur for me; I was going through some pretty heavy stuff back then. And now...I guess I've been so focused on music that I haven't really left myself any room to focus on people."

Lelouch quirked an eyebrow. He was tempted to ask what Harley had been going through back in middle school, but Nunnally had steered the conversation back to Harley's music. He had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to Harley than she was letting on; there was an air of restraint around her as she spoke to them, as though she was holding something back. He liked to think that he was reasonably adept at reading people, but he wasn't able to glean much from her beyond the fact that she was hiding something.

Lelouch realized something else as he continued to study the girl: Harley was actually remarkably pretty. Until now, he hadn't had much of a chance to get a decent look at her face; despite being in class with her for years, he didn't even know what color her eyes were until today. Looking at her now, though, he realized that those grey orbs of hers were actually rather stunning and her sweet little smile was nothing short of charming. He could have studied her face for the rest of the evening but her voice shook him from his thoughts and brought him back to Earth.

"Umm... Lelouch? Is everything okay?" Harley asked, an apprehensive look clouding her eyes.

"Huh? O-Oh, um, yes. Everything's fine," he stammered, his cheeks flushing just slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"You've been staring at me for the past five minutes," Harley deadpanned.

Lelouch let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry about that. I was just thinking that maybe, if you didn't already have plans, you could have lunch with us tomorrow."

Suzaku was caught off guard by Lelouch's suggestion. It wasn't like him to make an attempt to bring someone else into the group. Sure, he'd gone out on a limb for Suzaku, but they had been friends for ages. What were the odds Lelouch would do the same for a girl he had just officially met?

Harley blinked. "Are you sure?"

Lelouch nodded. He wasn't entirely sure why he'd just made the offer out of the blue like that, but he wanted to see Harley again. He was surprised at his own actions but it was too late to back out now. "Yeah. I bet the rest of the Council would really like to meet you."

Harley was silent for a long while and Lelouch was beginning to worry that she was going to decline.

"Please, Harley," Nunnally begged. "I think it would be nice to see you again."

Well...I guess there's no harm in it," Harley agreed. "Okay, I'll join you all tomorrow."

Lelouch was barely able to stop himself from breathing a sigh of relief. He wasn't entirely sure what drew him to this girl; all he knew was that he had an incredibly strong urge to stay near her.

'You're one intriguing girl, Harley,' Lelouch thought as the four parted ways that evening. 'I plan on seeing much, much more of you in the future.'

Ending Notes: I really hope this didn't turn out too terribly awkward. I've never really written anything quite like this before. I'm a firm believer in building an attraction between two characters as opposed to having it start all at once, but I'm trying to branch out a little.

I also know that Harley is an extremely awkward protagonist and she doesn't really show much personality in this chapter; this is entirely intentional and I plan on expanding on her reason for acting the way she does in the next chapter. Her true personality won't shine through until around chapter three, though glimpses of it will be seen in the next chapter. I hope you will bear with me; again, I'm trying something a little different.

Thank you so much for reading and please let me know what you think! Feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated! Geekinthepink, out!