Your Smile Forgotten
By: Ryocha

A hollow shell would best fit my current state, I figured. I had nothing left in my body but rage, and I knew it. This made it all the more hard to look at people smile. Their carefree nature, the bounce in their step – I forgot how it felt to be free once Euphemia died and Lelouch was pronounced as Zero.

That's why, as I watch a blond head bob its way down the hall towards me, I will never understand Gino.

"Oh! There you are!" He smile almost blinded me; he picked up his pace to a slow jog and once reaching my retreating body, slung an arm around my shoulder as if I had wanted his presence all along.

"I was always here." I deadpanned, hoping to shake him off. I was in no mood to deal with him.

But my words did not sway his determination in the least. "Oh come on!" He chided, "You're always so gloomy! I figured you would want my company; Anya and I are going out right now and we wanted to know if you could come along too!"

That was a lie; Anya was neutral at best when it came to these matters, and didn't really notice my presence unless it concerned being paired together in a mission. Gino seemed oblivious to this undeniable fact, for he kept smiling, waiting for my response.

I sighed. "I really don't—"

"Great! We'll meet you out in front of my quarters in fifteen minutes then!" He slapped my back with a laugh, and practically skipped down the hallway in the direction he had come from. I watched his retreating form with a death glare, wondering why his cheeks had glowed as he had leaned forward to make our foreheads touch.

I turned and continued on. I will never understand the man.

Or for that matter, I will never understand myself, either.

Maybe it was the notion of getting out of the dark, gloomy halls of the Emperor's palace that enticed me to go along with Gino's plans. Maybe his magnetic personality was pulling me into its deathly hold, I will never know for sure.

My shoulders hit the wall with a soft thud, I craned my head up so I could observe the ceiling, and my arms crossed in front of me with a huff. It wasn't worth my time waiting, and Anya wasn't even—

"Yo! You showed up!"

The door to his quarter's closed, and the high-ranking, carefree Knight smiled in my direction as though he was oblivious to the lack of Anya around me. Not that I was expecting she would be here, but I was beginning to detect an underlying motive with his actions.

He sauntered up to me, his mouth drawn in a firm line as he observed me. His eyes went over my attire, and he nodded as if approving my simple outfit.

"You ready to get going?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"But first!" He held out a hand in front of my torso dramatically, "We need to get a smile on that face of yours!"

"I don't—"

"Just one?" He teased with a soft laugh, putting an arm up against the wall and leaned forward. He was making fun of me, no doubt about it, I concluded with a sigh of regret.

I humoured him; I thought of a time when I could have smiled freely without any dark clouds hovering over my head. My lips curled upward, my eyes softened and I could feel my memories slowly coming back to me. Lelouch and I were playing in a field, tumbling over one another as we playfought. Nanaly could be seen sitting on the dock, feeding the ducks and tsking us with a giggle behind her voice.

The next memory came to me; it was of Euphemia and her warm, caring personality. She had taken hold of my hand, and smiled to me as we walked down the aile as I was soon to be crowned her knight. I had never felt so proud to be alive in my life; it had been my first step out of many in changing the Britannian Empire for the good of Area 11.

But now… that was all a façade. A past, which I only humoured myself by going back to in these moments of silence between Gino and I. He was my reminder of what I had been.

As my lips dropped and my eyes hardened oncemore, he leaned forward suddenly and pressed his lips to mine. It wasn't in a rough way; rather it was a smooth, single motion that followed through until my head connected with the wall. His fingers had protected me, for they were nestled in my hair and occupying themselves by playing with the curls. His other hand came to my neck and fixed my head so I couldn't move. It was warm to the touch.

I simply stood there, basking in the emotions he was bringing back with his kiss.

A single tear slid down my cheek.

Feeling the wetness touch his thumb, he pulled back suddenly and observed me with clear blue eyes. His expression was unreadable, as was mine, for we stood there and observed each other's faces, waiting for the other to falter and show some sign of emotion.

I laughed, hollow and barely there; "There's no need for your sympathy." I said softly, wanting only for his hand on my neck to leave. His other hand had dropped to rest on my shoulder, gripping it with concern. Both of those hands were bringing back unwanted emotions.

"Nonsense."

"There is no nonsense with what I am saying."

I made a move to leave, but Gino held me still. "You need to learn how to smile again." He whispered, making the silence of the hallway seem louder than before. "Or else when this world is liberated, you won't be able to smile for your people."

My jaw slackened, so many questions were going through my head at that very moment. "How did you—"

"I can tell by the way you carry yourself," he explained with a chuckle, "You carry yourself as if you are important; A man on a mission would be a fitting description, I suppose."

"You suppose? I also suppose the lie about you and Anya—"

"You wouldn't have come if I hadn't said it." Gino laughed, and winked at me. He leaned back, and I felt the air fill my lungs as his hold on me slackened. "But for now, I'll let you go. Remember what I said, Suzaku."

I shrugged my shoulders, his hands fell to his sides, and I walked away silently. He didn't bother following; he'd got what he wanted. But I still felt his eyes follow the back of my head with a protective look tinging his calm blue irises.

Unknown to him, my lips curled upward. I will never understand Gino Weinberg.

-OWARI

A/N: Gino is a relatively new character and is a bit challenging for me to write, since I haven't seen much of him in R2. (I'm totally behind, I know.) Inspiration for Code Geass fics have been hitting me hard as of recently, and I was originally going to post this tommorow, but I decided to do it today lest I forget. ;) Review and you'll see more fics!