Shogi
-Sometimes, a board is all they needed to communicate.
It had begun as a joke of sorts, as subtle and calculative as the two boys who played it. No one else in the family (with the possible exception of Lady Marianne, because she always seemed to know what happened in her villa) knew of it, and even if they had, they'd simply have chalked it to the two royals' eccentricity.
If they had known, Clovis would have pouted and wrinkled his nose, trying to hide his curiosity and demanding to be included, even if he could not win; Euphie would have watched their games for hours, happy simply because her brothers were happy; Nunally would have smiled indulgently at them all and leave it at that, and Cornelia… well, Cornelia would have teased her elder brother endlessly, trying to trick him into admit that yes, he cared about the frustrating tyke that was the older vi Britannia.
(This would be rather hypocritical of her, since she would rather attend a tea party with the courtiers than admit her affection for the violet-eyed boy herself).
Truth be told, the relationship between the Second and the Eleventh Prince was a strange one, that puzzled everyone but for the handful who truly knew them. They were nearly a decade apart, and to the curious outsider they could not be more different. The Second Prince, Schneizel el Britannia, was a handsome Aryan loved by the Court and the military alike, a raising force in the political game and already regarded by many as the favorite to occupy his father's throne as the 99th Emperor. The Eleventh Prince, Lelouch vi Britannia, was a dark haired boy who had inherited the cool beauty of his mother, but as son of a commoner was often subjected to the scorn of his peers; he was unfailingly polite in public, yet seemed to keep everyone at a distance and had no interest in his heritage.
Upon his seventeenth birthday, Schneizel began travelling the world. He accompanied the ambassadors and the generals on their trips, watching and learning; by then it was not a secret that the First Prince was weak and unsuited to rule, and as such he was given much more leeway than it should have been allowed.
It was after much teasing and maybe a bit of unacknowledged home-sickness than during a trip to Turkey the young Prince decided to surprise the handful of siblings he cared about, the five that somehow always managed to rope him into a celebration whenever he came back to the Empire.
Cornelia received a little charm, a round stone painted in blue and white tones with a small hole on top that allowed it to hang from a leather strap-she scoffed and grumbled, claiming that she did not believe in her country's superstitions, much less in foreign ones. (Yet a few months later, the Turkish eye was still attached to the key-ring of her experimental Knightmare).
Then came Clovis' turn, and soon he was the owner of a tiny box of expensive blue pigments, ranging from ultramarine to azurite that would be depleted in a little over two months.
Euphie and Nunally spun delightedly with their new matching dresses, and disappeared upstairs for a few minutes before reappearing with them and joyfully hugging their brother.
Finally, he took a heavy looking wooden box, and for the first time allowed a smirk to appear on his face, waving it over his head and making something rattle inside. His tone came as close to mischievous as his personality allowed, as he taunted the dark-haired boy who eyed him with something similar to distrust.
"This is a popular strategy game in the country. I believe it will be a nice change of pace from our usual matches, don't you think?"
Behind them, Marianne was shaking her head fondly, though the veiled insult seemed to have escaped the notice of the other Britanias; not surprising, seeing as Lelouch rarely lost in chess to anyone but Schneizel at this point, and even so he was the only one who could at least hold his ground against the Second Prince.
"How is it called?" Lelouch immediately rose to the challenge, his eyes already shinning with the calculating gleam that sometimes made Schneizel shudder in anticipation.
"Tavla."
"What are the rules?"
"Red and black. Whoever moves all of the checkers to the other side first, wins."
During their brief discussion they had taken over a corner of the table and barely five minutes later they were completely oblivious to anything else, immersed in the new game.
The other royal children watched this happening with various degrees of amusement, until it became apparent that both the host and the reason for the party were too caught up in their match to remember anything else, throwing the dice back and forth and moving the pieces creating a soft clack-clack on the wood. Cornelia snorted.
"Let's leave those logic nuts to themselves and eat Euphie's cake before we die of boredom." She said blandly. Soon, the other three followed, Clovis more reluctantly than the girls as he tried to spy on his brothers even as he kept an ear on his sisters' conversation. The matches continued well into the evening, until the Fifth Empress ushered her son to see the li Britannia off and the blond excused himself, a bit sheepishly thanks to the woman's glare.
Without them ever agreeing on it, it became a tradition of sorts that Schneizel would introduce Lelouch to any strategy game he could get his hands on during the business travels that became rather frequent in the following months.
While chess was still the boys' favorite, their hobby was challenging in new and unexpected ways. Neither was used to the different set of rules and moves, and the gap between their skills lessened during these challenges. And even if neither would admit it, it felt like their own small act of rebellion. After all, it was frowned upon to accept and enjoy any customs of those 'weaker' than the Holy Britannian Empire, and if their little competition were to be discovered, it would surely scandalize the upper echelon of the Court. They wouldn't be punished, but their father would be far from pleased. It was thrilling, and there was always an excitement that had nothing to do with the match on course when they occupied a room of the villa, closing the door after them.
After Schneizel and Odysseus visited the Chinese Federation, the blond came back with Go stones. A trip to the European Union was followed by evenings of Stratego and multiple variables of checkers.
This continued for almost two years.
And then Marianne was killed.
When the Second Prince visited Aeries villa a week later, it had not yet been abandoned, but was already wasting away. Most of the staff had already been fired or relocated, but it was the small details that created that depressing sight for those who had visited often; the lack of flowers near the windows, the absence of shadows moving about the many rooms of the mansion. The garden was trampled near the front doors, where the security had, far too late, tried to find the assassin.
The blond found Lelouch in his mother's studio, his eyes as dull and lifeless as the villa, scanning the reports that had been abandoned and forgotten after the incident. Schneizel made a note to get someone to revise them later, as they could be important. But that could be done later. He cleared his throat, and the boy in front of him looked up warily.
"Let's play a game."
"You want to play chess now?" For the first time since the incident, his younger brother's voice cracked, with just a touch of hysteria betraying the fear he surely felt. Schneizel said nothing. Instead he carefully set the documents aside and he placed a wooden box in their place, finding a chair nearby before sitting in front of the remaining vi Britania. With a flourish he opened it, revealing the foreign pentagonal pieces with those indecipherable yet elegant symbols on top.
"This is a popular strategy game in the country." He needn't say which country he was talking about this time. This was a conversation they had repeated enough times; it was safe, familiar. In that moment of uncertainty, it was the only means the elder had left to express what he wanted to say. Slowly, feeling his hands tremble a little, the Prince only in name sat too, accepting the offer.
"How is it called?" There was no need to put his gratitude into words, just as his brother had not openly worded his regret.
"Shogi."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Once again Suzaku had stormed off in the middle of a match with Todoh like he tended to do whenever he was on the verge of losing, and from his post in the shadows, Lelouch saw the general sigh and follow his retreat before moving to collect the pieces on board. After seeing this event repeat itself without fail almost daily, Lelouch finally managed to the courage to walk forward and examine the board.
"Bishop to 7-5"
The general's hand froze over the board, and slowly he sat back, studying the britannian exile. The ex-prince risked one more glance to the stern figure before with a bit of trepidation he decided to take the lack of answer as encouragement. He sat in Suzaku's abandoned post, completing the move he had just called.
Todoh counterattacked.
Lelouch managed to survive three more minutes before being forced to admit checkmate.
And the Japanese man reset the pieces.
Thanks for reading!
If you have any kind of comment or any prompts you'd like to see, preferably of the royal children, don't hesitate to tell me and I'll do my best to include them! This fic is marked as 'In Progress' but I'm not sure when or if I'll update... In any case, updates will be very sporadic. ^^;
P.S.: If there are any readers of 'It's All Fun and Games' here, the next chapter will come along shortly... I've just hit a rather nasty writer's block, but I already have about half of it done. Sorry...