7.47 am, Monday

15 year old Shirley Fenette looked up at the clock on the wall and frowned. "Lelouch Lamperouge's late again! And to think Prez Milly said he was being considered for student council. How can that irresponsible boy do these things all the time?!" she complained to no one in particular.

"Well, there's our lazy classmate for you Shirley. But he's not that bad really." Said a certain blue haired boy slipping into the seat beside her.

"Rivalz! Did Milly want you to tell me something?" she smiled. A quick change in atmosphere.

While she and Rivalz were in the same class, they had not spoken to each other much -that is - until two weeks ago. Out of the blue, Milly Ashford (the granddaughter of the school's principal and head of student council) had told the both of them to go to the council room. She then proceeded to lock the doors and announce, with an evil smile, that they were both officially members of the student council. After that, torture and madness…uhm lots of paperwork and eccentricity ensued. Then, President Milly had ordered Rivalz to recruit another unsuspecting victim…er…member of the student body: Nina Einstien. A green haired, glasses wearing, science genius. Now the next 'target' was apparently: Lelouch Lamperouge.

"Yeah," He scratched the back of his head, "Miss Prez said that you'd have to get Lelouch to join."

When she glared, he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, hey. Don't look at me. I'm just passing the message." Shirley sighed as the bell rang and Rivalz scooted back to his seat.

*******

"What am I going to do?!"

Thinking of how to talk to that unfriendly and arrogant person was a problem in itself. Shirley had never understood why Lelouch had so many admirers. Still, 'Madame President' was to be obeyed at all times, and she would have to try her best…

*******

Trying her best though, was proving to be quite a problem, seeing as the object of her attention wasn't even in school in the first place.

"He couldn't have skipped school, could he?" She thought. "Damn, why did Milly have to make ME do this?"

The last bell rang, signaling the end of classes, and Shirley headed towards the student council room. Reaching, she pushed open the door and walked in. The blonde was sitting on the table , leaning back with her hands supporting her weight. She was talking to Nina. The poor girl was blushing furiously, on seeing Shirley, she shot the green eyed girl a pleading look. Taking this as a request for help, Shirley chuckled and said, "Milly, stop teasing her!" Milly looked casually over her shoulder at the door, "Oh hey, Shirley. Have you asked Lelouch yet?"

"Uhm…about that… Do you know wh…where he stays?" It was Shirley's turn to blush. Milly gave a grin that would have made the big bad wolf whimper in fear. 'Finally giving in to your wild desires fo…"

"P…president!" Shirley protested. "He wasn't in school in school today and I just wanted to go over to ask him if he wants to join student council, like you said. THAT'S ALL!!" She glared at Milly, both embarrassed and annoyed. "Hey, where are you going? Okay I'm sorry, I'll stop teasing you." The blonde said laughing, as Shirley was about to walk out.

"So where does he stay?"

"In the Ashford Academy clubhouse with-"

"Eh…why not the dorms?"

Something flashed in Milly's eyes for an instant, then it was replaced by an evil twinkling. She grinned. "Ne…nevermind." Recognizing the look, both Nina and Shirley sweat dropped, and the orange haired girl backed out of the room.

*******

"Why should I be nervous? I'm not doing anything wrong." Shirley thought, furious with herself. She had been standing outside the door to Lelouch's house for the past 10 minutes. It was all thanks to Milly and her dirty thoughts. Shaking her head she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds later the it slid open, and an Eleven in maid's uniform bowed to the Britannian girl.

"Who is it Sayako san?" A soft voice came from inside the room.

"I'm sorry, I seem to have knocked on the wrong door. I was looking for Lelouch. Lelouch Lamperouge." Shirley explained, wondering if Milly had made a mistake.

"No, you've got the right door, however Lelouch sama has gone out. Would you prefer to wait or leave a message?" Shirley hesitated for awhile. "I'll wait." Sayako stepped back to allow Shirley into the house.

There was a dining table in the middle of the room where a girl sat in a wheelchair, facing the door. She was really pretty, with a delicate doll-like face and long, curly, brown hair, but her eyes were closed. And they remained closed even as she addressed Shirley.

"Are you a friend of Lelouch oniisama? I'm Nunnally, his sister. Nice to meet you."

"A friend? Ah…you could say that. It's nice to meet you too, Nunnally, my name is Shirley." She walked to Nunnaly and bent down, holding her hand.

Though the blind girl could not see the smile on her face, she could hear it in her voice.

*******

The two girls sat at the table talking. The awkward moment a few minutes ago, where Shirley had asked Nunnally about her eyes, was quite forgotten.

"Hey Nunnally, have you ever heard the story of The Thousand Paper Cranes?"

" No, I haven't. Could you…"

"That's why I asked." Shirley said, noticing the anticipation on Nunnally's face at the mention of a story. And she began.

*******

"…when she died , her friends continued making the paper cranes, even though she would never be able to make her wish. At last they had folded a thousand cranes, and she was buried with them." Shirley finished.

"…Thank you Shirley san, that was a very touching story…" Nunnally was wiping tears from her eyes. For a while, she seemed to be contemplating something. Then, she said, "If I fold a thousand paper cranes, would a wish of mine be granted too?"

Shirley couldn't help but smile at her innocence. "Perhaps. You could try, I've taught you how to do it while telling the story." Nunnally stroked a wing of the paper bird in her lap, beaming.

Green eyes glanced up at the hands of the clock on the wall, and widened. "Oh da- uhm… Nunnally, I have to go for my swimming club meeting. So……"

"I'll tell brother you came."

"No, no. It's okay. I'll speak to him tomorrow."

She grabbed her bag and rushed out. A loud "Goodbyeee…!" could be heard echoing through the corridor.

*******

"I'm so glad oniisama has made some friends, Sayako san. Shirley seems like a very nice person.''

"I think you are right Nunnally sama." The Japanese maid smiled fondly at the girl.

*******

As Shirley rushed for her meeting, she noticed two Ashford Academy boys kicking an 'Eleven' boy curled into a ball on the ground.

*Kick * "You dirty eleven monkey. *kick* How dare you sneak into our school! None of the Britannians here can be related to the likes of YOU! Liar." *Kick*

Indignant, the orange haired girl was about to stop them when she saw a certain black haired teen walk over. With the same unconcerned and apathetic look he wore normally, Lelouch said a few quiet words to them. And somehow, he made them back off.

As he helped the Japanese up, the faint smile on his face seemed to Shirley, more real and more dazzling than any of those that had made her female friends fall-head-over-heels with him.

From that day on, she knew, that Lelouch Lamperouge was much, much more than he seemed. And it became her wish to be able to see that true Lelouch.

(A/N) I was watching that scene where Milly, Rivalz and Shirley were setting off fireworks on the school roof. (Where Shirley was telling Lelouch about her wish for everyone to set them off together partly coming true, because she only folded one. And he remembered Nunnally telling him she couldn't remember who told her about it. ) -You know what I'm talking about.- suddenly this idea came out, and yeah…

I've never actually read the book the Thousand Paper Cranes, so i apologize if i got the ending wrong.

I do not support the Shirley Lelouch pairing.