A/N: This was inspired by a combination of obsession and boredom, when I was in a hotel room in Japan, with my gay ex-boyfriend, reading (looking at?) a Code Geass art book, while eating a yakisoba roll. Quite the combination of odd factors, that was.
Lilac
"Hey, Nunnally…" Rivalz began, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. Shirley looked up from her work, which she wasn't paying any attention to, anyway. Milly also stopped dozing in favour of watching.
"Yes, Rivalz?" Nunnally answered, her voice sweet and polite as usual. It was at this point that Suzaku and Kallen began to pay attention, bored from the slow day.
"I was just wondering, what colour are your eyes?"
Suddenly, the room was silent. Not like before—that lazy silence of teenagers with nothing to do. This silence was loaded. Lelouch peered over the top of the book he'd been pretending to read, careful to make it seem like he hadn't even noticed Rivalz and Nunnally having a conversation.
Nunnally hesitated, unsure of herself. "I—…I'm not…entirely certain," she said, sadness creeping into her voice. Of course, it had been years since the last time Nunnally had looked in a mirror. Years since the last time she had opened her eyes.
Not for the first time, Lelouch wondered what it was like for her, being blind. Was the last image she ever saw imprinted in her mind, constantly being viewed by unseeing eyes? It wasn't a pretty picture: their mother lying murdered, dying, on the stairs of her own house, a tiny Nunnally in her arms.
After an awkward silence, Shirley spoke up. "Lelouch, do you… um… remember what colour Nunnally's eyes were—…are?" she asked bravely, fiddling with the bottom of her skirt nervously.
Lelouch sighed inwardly, brought the book down from his face, and looked at Nunnally. Somehow, he knew this day would come.
"Her eyes…" he began, the memories coming back to him clearly. "Her eyes are beautiful." Euphemia had complimented them once, as they ran around the garden, all those years ago.
All eyes were fixed on Lelouch, everybody curious.
"They hide nothing, revealing all her benevolence."
Nunnally had, of course, returned the compliment, even going so far as to say Euphemia's dress was the prettiest she'd ever seen. Lelouch had tried to ignore all this girly talk but had found himself entranced, noticing for the first time how brilliant her eyes were, as he'd never looked at them in the sunlight before.
"And they shine…even brighter than the stars," Lelouch said lightly, feeling almost dazed as he concentrated on the memory of her face from years ago, inches from his, still illuminated by the surrounding light. He'd tripped and fallen onto his back in the grass and she'd leaned over him, checking to see if he was okay.
"They're a lighter colour than mine." He remembered how he'd hit his arm as he fell, and the slow trickle of blood from the wound. Nunnally had panicked, calling all the guards and medics she could, and being scolded by their mother for it later. Lelouch, as fine as ever, had comforted her and forgiven her overreaction.
"And when she cried, it was like the colour itself was being drained from them; she just cares so much…" Lelouch trailed off, lost in the memories. He almost reached out a hand to wipe away Nunnally's tears, the tears from so long ago, but it was only a memory.
That day meant so much to him, to both of them. It was the day they appreciated each other. The day they learned of caring. The day Lelouch saw, for the first time, the gorgeous depths of Nunnally's eyes.
"So…what colour are they?" Rivalz asked again in a hushed voice. Lelouch brought himself back from the past and fixed his eyes upon Rivalz, aware that his own eyes weren't kind or gentle like Nunnally's. They were cold and filled with lies.
"Lilac."
Nunnally smiled, and the memory of that day came back to her, too. The day she first noticed how stunningly violet Lelouch's eyes were.