He stared at her as she walked into the conference room. Confident, dignified and elegant, she was the perfect woman that any man wanted. She took a seat opposite him two seats down, just beside Gino. The idiotic blonde immediately started up an animated conversation with her, only to be rejected with a snap and a curt reply. He smiled, she was so strong while Gino was just Prince Charming.
She was no princess, she was a fighter, a spy, a merciless assassin at the disposal of the Britannia's secret service association.
But she was just so different from the others.
"Right, let's get down to this."
Head Schenizel sat down at the head of the table with his assistant Kanon standing to attention beside him. Vice-head Cornelia sat down beside him and fiddled with her pen, her knight Guilford beside her. He directed his lazy glance to his head, who was scrolling down lots of files in his hand-held laptop.
"The Levans are planning an attack, we need to dispose of them so that the inaugration of President Charles goes swiftly." Heads nodded in unison around the table, but she just stared at Schenizel with a blank expression on her face. That was so like her, taking everything without comment, without question.
"However, we don't have enough information..."
A hushed silence fell around the table as everyone swivelled around to look at her. Her long red tresses moved slightly as she shifted her position, her expression still neutral as ever.
"Agent Stadfeld, is it alright if you can get all the information that we need in 2 days?"
"What problem is there?"
Her voice was quiet, bored as though that task was nothing more but a elementary school test for her. She rested her head on her right hand, the other twirling a pen between long, slender fingers.
"I'll take that as a yes then."
She made no sign of objecting, but her eyes fixated on a spot on the table, a signature sign that she was thinking hard.
"Agent Lamperouge."
"Yes, sir?"
"Please get the information from Agent Stadfeld when she completes her assignment. I trust you to arrange everything so that she can get ready for her next mission."
"Yes, sir."
The meeting broke up and she left without even looking back. He smiled at her retreating back, thinking how beautiful she looked.
Despite being stained with lies and blood.
"Agent Kallen Stadfeld, Code Name, Q-1."
The robotic voice announced her entrance as it took her palm reading. He didn't bother to look up as she swept into the room, her hair rustling out behind her. She took a seat in front of him, crossing those well toned legs gracefully. He slowly swept his gaze up and took in her still appearance.
She looked like a statue, so beautiful and unreal.
Her long red hair was braided back into a French braid and she was dressed in a skin-tight two-piece uniform. It enhanced her feminine features, the long legs covered in black stockings, exposing only an inch of flesh where the cloth covered up to her thighs. Her shorts though unbelivingly short, didn't make her look look like a gangster. Instead, it made her look like a professional, like the female agents that James Bond would have in his movies. She wore ankle-length boots with low heels. Gadgets hung at her waist as well as weapons. Her sleeves were joined to black gloves that matched her entire uniform. He couldn't believe how breathtaking she looked, the feeling in his heart was clawing at him, telling him that his love was unrequited. Why would she, a merciless killer take an interest in him?
"Have you had enough of looking at me?"
Her voice, that flat monotone which most guys deemed boring, was like music to him. He drifted his gaze lazily to her face, which was expressionless. She was not like his fiancee that his mother had arranged for him to marry, the loud, annoying orange-haired girl that clung to his arm whining about the little time that he spent with her. She was the complete opposite, probably that was why he found her so appealing.
"The fact that you are just sitting here and not bothering to give me the information just indicates it, doesn't it?" A little pink spread across her emotionless face, but she bowed her head to hide it, her clipped fringe swinging across her face. She stripped off her gloves before reaching for a chip in the belt at her waist.
"Here. Please alert me when you have finished constructing all the data, so that I can get ready for my next mission."
That was said in an indifferent voice. He smirked as he took the chip, but his hand didn't leave hers. She stared curiously at him and attempted to tug away, but he used his free hand to grab her wrist and pull her towards him so that they were a mere millimeters from each other. She stared up at him incredulously.
"What do you want? For a man who is going to be married in two months' time, your behaviour is pretty bad."
"Really?"
His breath carressed his face but she still didn't falter, not even once. All the girls that he once dated would blush furiously and start rambling or stuttering about some other thing. However, she did nothing of the sort, merely looking at him calmly, even meeting his gaze straight on. She was so different, he mused, before claiming her lips in a searing kiss.
She panicked, attempting to push him back, but he pulled her closer, trapping her between his chest and his , images filled his mind. Her memories, her traumatic past, her broken love life... He broke of the kiss to look at her, watching her reaction. What he saw shocked him. Her usually composed features were flushed and her slightly closed eyes were opened wide. Her right hand clutched at his shirt, the other one in his grasp still shaking. Her cerulean eyes stared forward, wide open, but not seeing. Shock completely dominated her whole body. He sensed it and slowly lowered her down into a chair before releasing her hand to take her head between his palms.
'Calm down, Kallen. Look at me."
She had been shocked when he had pressed his lips to hers, the touch was so like the man that she had formerly loved. The man that she was forced to kill...the same man that she had loved so much. Suddenly, images of him filled her mind. Images of him lying in her arms, blood pouring out from his mouth as he whispered that it was alright to kill him, his voice chanting that he loved her over and over again, telling her that she was the most important person to him in the entire world...
Then, she was brought back to the present by Lelouch's voice and she found herself looking through tear-filled eyes into his ametheyst ones. He held her head between his hands, his gaze calming her down. Slowly her breathing evened and she stared into his eyes. He was looking intently at her, she found herself blushing and she averted her gaze from him to hide it.
"Kallen, tell me what happened.
"No-nothing." She stammered, wishing that he would let go of her.
"Don't lie to me," His plum eyes narrowed, "You aren't okay. I saw." She flinched, but he still held her face firmly between his hands. She stared into his eyes before smiling bitterly.
"So it is true, huh? Agent Lelouch Lamperouge can sense people's memories through touch?"
He ignored her question, looking at her. He said in a quiet voice, "Tell me, Kallen."
She faltered.
"His name...was Suzaku." She whispered in a voice barely louder than her own breathing. "I loved him so dearly, we were childhood sweethearts. He was actually working for Britannia's enemy, the Levans. He loved me so much, he wouldn't let them touch me when they discovered that I was Britannia's secret weapon. We found out about each other when we were fighting that battle back in Shinjiku. But then, he wouldn't kill me, he didn't torture me. Instead, he comforted me when I suffered after that operation that Britannia performed on me. Then, came the mission," Her lips quivered and her body shook again but she continued. "I was forced to assasinate him. Instead of running away from me, he held the gun to his chest, telling me that I would be safe, that the suffering would stop once he died. I couldn't do it, after so many years of being protected by him. The Levans attempted to gun me down, but they only succeeded in destroying my gun. He then smiled at me and said that no matter what, I would always be the most important person to me in the whole world. I made up my mind then. I...killed him with my transformed blade..." Her voice broke down and she buried her face in his chest, crying softly into his shirt.
"Kallen." He whispered softly, pulling her into his embrace, stroking her hair while she cried. Suddenly, she stopped and slowly raised her head to meet his eyes.
"You know what? You remind me so much of him. All your actions, stroking my hair while I cried in your arms, that intent look in your eyes when you insist that I tell you what is wrong and even the way that you kiss me, so filled with passion and love..." She smiled discreetly. "But I know that you will probably never love me, I didn't want to get broken down a second time either, that's why I distanced myself from people."
He smiled at her words. Tilting her head up to meet his, he asked, "What if I tell you that I love you too?"
He stared in horror as she fell to the ground, pieces of shrapnel embedded all over her body. Cornelia was shouting and the medical forces were carrying her on a stretcher to the emergency room. She was covered in blood and she kept coughing up more of the crismon liquid from her lungs. He rushed to her side as they neared the emergency surgery room.
"Le-louch-"
She gasped out his name as the paramedics wheeled her furiously to the swinging doors. The head surgeon, Lloyd was shouting out orders while his assistant Cecile hurriedly set up the operation theatre.
"Ka-llen..."
She was so beautiful even she was injured all over. Instead of looking like a lifeless corpse, she looked more like an angel of the battlefield.
"I'll come back," she whispered as they tore him away from her to wheel her into the operating theatre, "I'll come back... to you...I promise..."
"I'm sorry, we couldn't save her..."
Ignoring Surgeon Lloyd's stammered apologies, he swept into the room, rushing to her side. She was covered in bandages and was lying on the bed. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. Even without looking at the monitor that showed her condition, he knew deep in his heart that she wouldn't make it. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he looked at her lying on the bed.
She had been sent to infilirate the Levan's headquarters, going there in a Levan disguise. When the Levans had fallen into the trap set by her, she had tore off her disguise and fled, just like what the head had ordered her too. However, she was not fast enough this time and the bomb hit her directly in the back, injuring her so quickly. The Levans hated her bitterly, enough to focus their intention on killing her and forget about the attacking Britannians. Victory was theirs, but their secret weapon, the superhuman that they had created to become the perfect assassin was severely injured in the process.
"Le-louch?"
Her eyelids fluttered open as she registered his face. He grasped her hand, careful of the IV drips and the bandages, and looked into the dying face of the only girl that he had ever truly loved.
"Kallen..."
"I'm sorry..."
Those two word confirmed his fears. Throughout the very end, he had believed that she would survive, like she promised him. Having her admit that all was lost was the end...
"Kallen, please..."
"I'm sorry, Lelouch. I guess I'll be going first then," she breathed. He shook his head fiercely at her and said,"You won't, I am going to make that surgeon heal you, don't you fret."
"Lelouch," she took a deep breath and winced slightly at the effort of it before grasping his hand tightly and looking at him directly in the eyes.
"I really won't-"
"You promised me, you remember?" He screamed at her, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You promised that you would come back to me no matter what, that was what we promised that day! Also, just before you went into the operating theatre, you also promised that you would come back to me! Bu-but why? Why won't you think more positively?"
Looking at him with eyes that were both tired and calm, she reached out to carress his face. "I know my own body better than anyone else, Lelouch. I know I am really not going to make it..." Taking another breath, she looked up at him again.
"I guess I broke my part of the bargain then..." Her words were silenced with a passionate kiss from him, who wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. As they kissed, he could feel her heart failing against his chest.
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be," he whispered, "I know you aren't lying..."
"You're ready to let me go?"
It was a hard decision, but he had made up his mind. "I will never stand in the way of my love's decisions."
She smiled, but he could see that sadness underneath. She kept her hand on his cheek, allowing him to support her.
"You know, men like you are really rare..."
As her heart failed once and for all, his tears started again as he held his loved one to him, crying to lament her loss.
No one could ever heal the hole in his heart. No one, he vowed, would take her place.
The old man lay on his deathbed. His raven hair was now streaked with white and his once smooth skin was wrinkled and calloused. He heard his own heart failing and he thought of what had happened that 50 years ago. Although he could not remember all the details, but he remembered her, the only girl that he had ever loved. He had cancelled off his arranged marriage and lived alone since Britannia's victory over the Levans. His mind, through all these 50 years, was still on her. He remembered her bright cerulean eyes, her long fiery hair, her soft passionate lips and every touch of her body against his. He still remembered the time where he had pressed her tightly to him and felt her heart fail. He knew that he would only gladly die in her company, as she had did in his.
Pulling his failing body up, he dragged himself to the door and over the small hill at the back of his house. There, in a field, stood a lone graveplate. On it was only engraved a simple epitaph.
"Love needs no reasons, for love is what makes men vulnerable to others."
He smiled as he carressed the graveplate like it was her face. There was no picture, but he could imagine her smiling at him. He fell down at the foot of the plate and smiled a true smile for the first time since she had left him. He could feel her soft hands lifting him up and carressing his face like she used to. He looked up at her and he swore he saw her smiling at him, still as beautiful as she was 50 years before. He knew that his end was near and he pressed his hand to his heart to feel it fail and as his heart pumped its last, he felt her hand on his.
She was his godness. No one could ever replace her. But now, the hole in his heart would heal, as he would see her at last. As he looked up to the stars, he saw her smiling at him and he felt himself being pulled into her arms. It might all have been a hallucination, but it didn't matter.
"I'm coming now, Kallen."