I started writing this a good half of a year ago as a here-this-is-for-you-but-I-really-want-to-write-it-anyway gift to my friend Savvy (SavvyLovesYaoi), and I pulled it up again a few weeks ago. From then, it felt like it took another half of a year to finish, but I'm glad I finally did.

CC, Kallen, and Lelouch will probably be fairly OOC, but, hey, I haven't watched the anime since around this time last year. Give me some credit. xD; This could have come out a lot better, I know... Yikes. I don't even have an excuse for the quality of this one, people.

This fic is very PWP-- Hah, gotcha. PWP as in the other meaning of the acronym, "Plot? What plot?" Bahah. The no-pr0nz-involved sort of PWP. The word count is just under 6,000 words (I swear it is. -_- For some reason, ffnet jacked it up and said that it's, like, 6,450 words, but my word document still says 5,925. So just disregard whatever bogus number ffnet gives you), and I'm still not really sure how that happened. It just dragged on. I apologize to those of you with short attention spans, I can completely relate. :) Uh, the title comes from a Switchfoot song ("The Blues"), and I really like the way it sounds, so, yeah. ^^

Mmm, yep. I think that's all. Enjoy.

Kissing The Enemy

Lelouch always seemed like such a glorious, collected and influential god of a man all the time that the chance moments Kallen caught him like this, she was naturally compelled to bask in the irony of it all, if only for a few moments. It was like catching a princess belch or a king pick his nose. Sometimes, it was hard to comprehend that Lelouch was human just like the rest of them, so in these moments when his guard was dropped and his human shed its godly garments, she could almost literally feel her fingers itching to take advantage of it.

His lanky arms were stretched across the monitor room's table, cushioning his head which faced her dead on, turned to the side and rested comfortably, cushioned by his arm. He sat in the chair like he'd just been knocked out, strewn over the entire thing like a lanky puppet whose strings had all been snipped. It was a rather unflattering position that he'd never take were he awake, and though she was on her haunches like a cat ready to pounce on its unknowing prey, she couldn't ignore the tug at her heartstrings at the thought of him falling asleep at his work. The poor bastard must've been completely exhausted to fall so undignified.

Kallen trusted the Knights for the most part—she had no choice but to do so— but were this not the monitor room, to which only herself, Rolo, CC, and, obviously Lelouch had access to, there may have been a problem. There were, unfortunately, more than a handful of Knights who wouldn't hesitate to rip Lelouch's mask off at any such display of weakness. Kallen herself would be among them, too, were it a few weeks earlier—she smiled at the thought— excitedly anxious to uncover Zero's true identity.

There it was again. That pang of childish pride that always resurfaced when she was reminded that she, Kallen Kouzuki, of all people, was one of the choice few who knew Zero's true identity, and—

…And then the feeling that always followed. The crestfallen feeling she always seemed to come along with such realizations—like a child hose brand new toy was taken away from them. It was during this feeling that she came to the familiar realization that her silly pride was the only good thing that came out of knowing Zero's identity. For, despite the pride, it meant she was now more valuable target, and was more responsible for Zero's life. And when it came down to it, pride could not win you a victory, whereas responsibility and being targeted… well, that could certainly kill you.

Hell if anything else could dampen her mood quite so effectively.

Zero's restless stirring was enough to take her mind off of such morbid things, if temporarily. Sometimes she wished she could just talk to him, like— like there was no Zero. Just Kallen Kouzuki and Lelouch Lamperouge— or, or vi Britannia— whatever the hell he was going by these days, she couldn't keep up. Well, he certainly didn't look like Zero right now—the only thing that could make him look any stupider at this point would be if a puddle of drool started forming at the base of his mask.

Ugh. She'd spoken too soon. It was already starting to leak out of the mask. Gross.

Crossing the room, Kallen realized that she'd forgotten why she had come into this room to begin with.

She paused as she reached the table, sweeping her eyes over him once again. Sometimes it was just painfully obvious that he was… A teenager.

Her fingers hovered over the mask, grazing gently the smooth surface of the glaringly shiny mask. I guess it'd be inappropriate to just tug it off…

Ah, but she came up with something more subtle. As she tapped her fingernails over the hard surface, she was sure the loud clink clink clink sound they made would be loud enough to wake him.

Lelouch reacted almost immediately, stirring jerkily in an obviously groggy fashion. After a moment he stretched his arms into the air, straightening out his spine with a satisfying crack!, and then lowering his hand again to wipe the rather endearing drool off of the bottom of his mask. The way his head swayed slightly from side to side suggested that Zero was more than just a little tired.

Finally, his mask turned on her, the sharpness of the motion somewhat causing her to be taken aback. She expected him, once he registered pink hair and bemused eyes, to jump in shock and embarrassment, but his body language was quite contradictory to her expectations.

Instead of struggling to regain any scrap of dignity he could possibly salvage, when he recognized her, he tilted his head sharply in a way that all too clearly expressed "I woke up for this?"

Kallen blinked, more than a little insulted by his girlish reaction. Her hands snapped to her hips in the classic wrathful woman's body language for "Excuse me?" She planted her hands on the table and leaned over to get close to him.

"Who do you think you are, Lelouch? You can't just ignore me like that!"

A few heartbeats passed. As usual, Kallen started feeling pretty damn stupid for having wasted so much time and sympathy on him, yet again.

"Lelouch? Lelouuuuuch?" she cooed. "Are you even listening?"

No response whatsoever.

Huffing, Kallen again responded like a woman scorned: she stormed towards the door with a good mind to slam it, intentionally emitting, of course, the loudest noise she could possibly manage. She, by all means, would have, too, were it not for the twelve-digit code and finger print scan that were required in order to open the door.

It was in the middle of entering the first five digits that a sleepy, airy voice interrupted the rather tense silence. The second the first word made a collision with her consciousness, she felt her shoulders slump and a heavy breath sink out of her body in acknowledgement of unprecedented defeat.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to run around screaming Zero's real name like that?"

Shoulders tight and head held as high as she could manage, Kallen turned slowly in the direction of the pompous but sophisticated voice.

For being a woman in a man's clothing, CC sure pulled it off rather nicely.

Well, if anything, that justified things. Zero may be fighting a losing battle, but, winning or losing, he always maintained more class than— well, than CC tended to exhibit.

Kallen couldn't help but notice how well she fitted into his attire. Watching as she flipped her long green locks over her shoulders, letting it fall onto her back, Kallen had only to wonder how they managed to make her look so flat-chested, just like a man.

"Well, Kouzuki?"

Apparently it was too late to pretend like she hadn't heard CC's sharp-tongued accusation. Kallen pivoted abruptly, pink hair slapping herself in the face in the speed of the twist.

CC's innocent expression was one of confusion and pure oblivity. In a few seconds, she'd probably be asking how she'd gotten here.

"What," CC pressed, "Cat got your tongue? A few seconds ago, I'd personally have testified just exactly the opposite."

Kallen could hear herself stammering rather awkwardly, but she couldn't seem to shut herself up. There was something about CC that made her lose all ability to string together any construction of sense-making phrases at all, CC's overall superiority and air of expectance weighing down on her, and making her want so badly to say so many different things all at once (witty, sharp, secure things that would rival CC's standard lingo) that, instead of logical, proud words, all that came out all the time was an ugly, jumbled mess of weakness.

CC's eyes narrowed slyly at the shade of Kallen's cheeks—a deeper red than her hair. In this case, she didn't even have to bother to making Kallen look like an idiot by her words. Kallen did a fine job of doing it herself by use of her lack thereof.

"CC, don't you have anything better to do with your time than to play dress-up?" Kallen near-shouted, having just short of reached her snapping point.

CC's eyes flicked over Kallen's body one last time (thoseeyesmadeherfeelsodamnnaked), and then she turned away from her, arms stretching high above her head.

"Days just drag on around here." With a small, pitiful sigh, she turned back to face Kallen. "If I have to play with the Knights' minds a little to reap all the entertainment I can, then I just can't help it, can I?" With a darkly gloved hand, CC drew a finger across her chin, wiping the tiny sliver of saliva from existence slowly. For some reason, the saliva had a whole new feel when dripping from CC's lips.

Damnit. CC had caught her staring at her lips. Embarrassing— Kallen raised her eyes up sharply.

"Where's Lelouch?"

CC's shoulders dropped sharply in an expression of disappointment. "Why?"

"I need to talk to him," Kallen replied instinctually.

"Well, what is it? I'd be glad to pass on the word when I see him."

"No—" Kallen shifted nervously. "I'd like to talk to him." She sounded like a broken record.

CC fixed her with a look—it was somewhere between annoyed and amused—and then picked up Zero's mask off of the table beside her, looking at it as if it was a sophisticated and complex puzzle.

"Kouzuki," her name on CC's tongue sounded strange, drawled out and bothered, "Don't waste your time. Don't falter yourself to thinking that there's anything between you and Zero that isn't between you, Zero, and me."

Kallen blinked, feeling her lips drop into a confused frown. "You—?" Her unfinished question cracked mid-word, coming out sounding a bit like a ten year old's upset plea. She cleared her throat, but CC didn't let her continue.

"He tells me more than you could dream, Kouzuki."

Her words were a drawl, a snide, cruel taunt that seemed to imply so much more than it literally meant. And though they said one thing, what they meant was "You'll never be half of what I am in his eyes."

As always, Kallen's eyes dropped sharply down to her feet, whose toes were pointed inwards like a high school girl about to get a scolding. She could feel it again, the heat of a blush spreading over her cheeks. Her stupid inclination to blush had always been like an invitation for people to take advantage of her. It said, "Hey, look at me! I'm so weak that you're already getting to me." People always jumped at opportunities like that, and CC was no different.

"Oh," CC was saying as Kallen looked up, "But don't take it personally. It's all the Knights he passes information about, not just you."

A corner of Kallen's mouth twitched but she struggled not to scowl. She knew that CC wasn't trying to reassure her in the least—quite the contrary, actually. With her underhanded "assurance," she wasp purposefully demeaning Kallen, implying that she was absolutely no different than any give run-of-the mill Knight. Implying that, like the rest of the Knights, Kallen was nothing but a pawn.

What was pathetic, though, was that Kallen knew for solid fact that this wasn't true, and she also knew that CC knew for solid fact that it wasn't true. Maybe Kallen wasn't quite as influential as CC, but she wasn't as inconsequential as your average Knight. After all, it was she who was there when Lelouch became Zero, questioned him little and executed his orders— she who worked to keep his secret from the world at all costs— she who was one of, maybe, five people in the world who knew Zero's true identity! Only a fool would claim that she was unimportant. And obviously Zero trusted her enough to give her access to the control room—he ranked her equal to CC and Rolo.

Kallen knew all these things for fact, yes, but somehow CC had convinced her that she was meaningless. It was something about those eyes. Kallen had a theory that since CC was so assured of herself that all of the assurance brimmed over and convinced everyone else that she was always right. CC could've told Kallen that the world was triangular and Kallen would've been dashing off to alert the media in seconds flat.

Sometimes Kallen found herself wondering why, with all those persuasion skills, CC still worked under Zero.

Meanwhile back in the control room, Kallen's mind was overloading with emotion. She was flustered, uncomfortable, upset, and filled with longing to be anywhere but there. But, short of her flailing her arms above her head and running out as quickly as she could (which she really didn't think would help her case here with CC), that wasn't going to happen all that soon. It was slowly becoming more and more clear that if she wanted to recover her sanity, she'd have to fight CC off of her back.

"CC, why are you being so difficult? I just want to see Zero."

"When do you not want to see him?" CC shot back, quick on the draw as always, making Kallen look ever more stupid for her thirty second lapses before speaking.

"What are you implying?" Kallen shook her head sharply, and cut CC off before she could explain; she really did not want to hear the answer to that question. "Why are you being so impossible all of a sudden— or more than usual, at least?" Kallen was kind of starting to think that CC was really just primarily being grumpy because Kallen had interrupted her nap.

CC ignored Kallen's not-so-underhanded sleight. In comparison to her words, after all, they were as subtle as name-calling on the playground.

"Because I know your game, Kouzuki. I know your little routine. You're always so interested in Zero— Zero's affairs, where Zero is, what he's in the middle of— more than any average Knight." On the word 'average,' CC tipped her head toward Kallen, a sly smile on her lips. She was saying, "Hey, Kallen, you may be average compared to the rest of the Knights when it comes to importance, but you're definitely above the rest when it comes to being a professional slut"— which was how CC was making her sound.

"So it's really rather obvious what you're aiming at, showing up in the corner of Zero's eyes and looking useful. Why, you're the perfect shoulder to cry on, aren't you!" Kallen swallowed hard, trying to expel the reluctant lump in her throat, and eyeing CC through narrowed eyes as the green haired beauty took a somehow virulent step towards her.

"And you and Lelouch go way back, don't you?" CC was slowly closing the space below the two of them, but to Kallen, the impending doom seemed to be drawing closer and closer at maddeningly fast speeds. "It's not every Knight that had the honor of going to school with their leader. Isn't that so?" Another step. "But, of course, before he was Zero, you didn't look twice in his direction, did you?" Another step. CC was so close that Kallen could feel her cold, crisp breath on her cheek.

"You didn't notice those blue eyes, or the shaggy, dark hair, did you? Didn't notice until you discovered what was underneath those looks." At 'looks,' CC nudged Kallen with her shoulder like they were just two teenage girls discussing the latest school hottie.

"So what is it that you're after, Kouzuki?" With a delicate hand, steady as always, CC raised Zero's mask which she'd been holding at her side, letting it hover at the height of her shoulders, hiding her face from view. (For a second, with Zero's entire attire on, Kallen thought she was standing before her leader again.) "Is it the mask—" she dropped it and locked eyes with Kallen straight on. "Or what's behind it?"

"CC, you're being ridiculous." Kallen snapped, trying not to let on how frustrated she was. It was like the trick to outsmarting bullies back in third grade—they go away eventually if they can't break you. "Zero is my master and I answer directly to him, and there's nothing more to it." Kallen wanted to say so much more, but she had to keep her cool. "So stop trying to make it out differently."

"Ohh," C hummed sympathetically. "Don't sell yourself short, Kouzuki. With these irresistible techniques, he'll fall into your arms in no time."

With a mild jerk, Kallen realized that the ice cold sensation she felt on her face was the feeling of CC's freezing fingers worming their way into a dispassionate caress with feigned affection. When she spoke again, her voice was low and seductive.

"After all, who could resist?"

Kallen flinched away, CC's cool touch feeling just a bit too comfortably suggestive to her. If anything, she was confused, unaware whether she liked the touch or not. CC seemed to pick up on all of this; she was having apparent difficulty keeping the expression of satisfaction off of her face.

"CC, stop," Kallen snapped sharply, growing rather irate of CC's immature tactics. "Whatever you're trying to imply here is completely ridiculous. I don't even know why I'm putting up with it."

"Well, obviously it's not so ridiculous." CC crossed her arms over her chest, the subtly flirtatious glint in her eye completely replaced with a distant annoyance. "Seeing as you haven't left yet." With a tiny flick of her head, CC gestured towards the door. And Kallen had to admit that she had a point: there was nothing keeping her from walking out of the room right now.

So why was she still in here?

It flashed through Kallen's mind whether it would make any sense to ask CC again where she could find Zero.

But in a moment's notice, the cold fingers were scaling her skin again, this time the thin, nimble fingers brushing up her arm and resting on her shoulder. "So while you're here, why don't you just relax?"

The feeling of CC's flesh on hers was suddenly sickening. Kallen felt like she was at a complete loss for any control whatsoever for the situation. The whole thing was in the palm of CC's cold, demanding hands.

She was suddenly aware that it wasn't Kallen's face that CC was looking at anymore. It was some area a little under a foot below her eyes, but CC's own catlike eyes were dazed and expressionless, as if staring right through Kallen. But if she didn't know any better, Kallen would have sworn that CC was studying her... her...

Kallen swallowed, her stomach churning uneasily. She squirmed under CC's hand.

And then, just as sharply as they'd dropped, CC's eyes snapped up to Kallen's face again. "You wouldn't be acting like this if I were Zero, would you?"

Kallen blinked. What a strange thing to say. Though she could see her angle through the majority of CC's words, Kallen didn't quite know what she was getting at with this monologue.

"Why the confused look, Kouzuki? Don't you agree with me?" CC tipped her head, acting as if was actually intrigued by the notion. "If it was Lelouch pinning you against a wall--" at this, CC shoved Kallen back, closing the half a foot's distance that was between her and the wall. "--In this room, all alone," CC brought her face inches from Kallen's again. "Would you be acting so jumpy?"

For a second, Kallen actually did picture it. Lelouch's own rather sadistic classic smirk painted on his face, inches away from Kallen's face, so close that her whole perception of distance was thrown off-- she had to admit to herself that she'd probably be acting just equally as jumpy in that situation, if not more, but for completely different reasons.

With Lelouch, it'd be more fear of the impending kiss-- but with CC, it was almost as if the yellow eyed beauty had the potential to kiss her and then swallow her whole before a second passed.

And then, in a snap, Kallen's mental image of Lelouch was sliced in two as CC's voice chimed again. "You'd probably be a bit more calm than this, wouldn't you? Let me see if I can help out with that."

Before Kallen had a single clue what was going on, CC's lips had crashed onto hers in a short, surprisingly chaste kiss. It wasn't a peck, but it definitely wasn't anything more than that-- a kiss. But regardless, it was probably one of the most confusing things Kallen had felt before in her entire life. And strangely enough, for all the harsh, heartless things that seemed to escape from them, CC's lips were soft beyond comparison.

"Better?"

In truth, that did make things a tiny bit better. If by "better" you meant "so clouded and dazed you couldn't tell which way was up, but at the same time couldn't remember what the hell had just happened—which was a definite plus," then, sure, things were much better. Kallen was sure that if it wasn't for the hand on her shoulder, she would have tipped right over then and there. Whether it'd be out of disgust or giddiness, though, she wasn't entirely sure.

A tiny smile curled cruelly on CC's lips. "Yes, that's what I thought."

As things slowly started coming back into focus through Kallen's eyes, she registered CC's hand journeying up to her own chest, and undoing the top button on Zero's cloak, the entire high-collared cloak dropping to the floor behind her.

From there, she slid both of her arms out of the sleeves of the shirt, revealing nothing but a skintight undershirt that dipped into a low V at her neck, and covered, essentially, her chest and stomach and nothing else. Kallen felt the lagging blush from the kiss and seeing CC's smooth skin so out in the open as CC pulled up the tight, somehow formfitting pants that was the only part of Zero's attire still on her body. Well, at least she'd kept that on.

"Still worried about Zero, Kouzuki?" CC sighed, feigning disdain. "You're not still so fazed, are you? How cute of you to get so flustered."

Kallen reminded herself to breathe. Much more of this and she'd pass out in a second.

CC's soprano chuckle was the only thing Kallen could hear. "I swear, it's as if you've never seen a woman's body." This time, when CC took a look at Kallen's chest, there was nothing even mildly subtle about it. "It's as if you forget that you have one."

"CC, stop being so immature," Kallen wanted to say. "I don't want to kiss or be kissed by you! I don't want to look at you!" She wanted to shove her away and flee the room, wanted this whole thing to be just a funny story she was telling a friend ten years from now. Or, more appropriately, a memory which she was still trying to forget about ten years from now. She was a well-trained combatant, for Christ's sake! One would think that she'd be able to avoid such a situation if she really wanted to.

Well, maybe that was it, she thought. She knew, rather. Because she did know, for fact, and had known in a quiet part of her mind that she'd been trying to quiet since CC's face had appeared behind the mask. That was it. It wasn't that she couldn't fight CC off in a matter of five seconds.

It was that she didn't want to.

Kallen blinked, returning to the present, if temporarily. She zoned in just in time to see the cruelly snide smirk curling onto CC's lips. As if she'd read her mind, CC nearly whispered a slightly subdued "That's exactly what I thought."

"You're probably with Zero right now, up here," CC flicked Kallen on the nose childishly, "Aren't you?" her voice seemed to drop several octaves. "It's not my lips on yours, it's his." CC leaned over Kallen's shoulder, her breath tickling Kallen's red ears.

"His hands," CC mumbled, and Kallen was vaguely aware of her hands running down her breast, bare hourglass waist, and then hip. "His eyes, his lips—" CC narrowed in on Kallen, but, ready for it this time, she flinched away.

CC let out a low, sadistic chuckle, her pride somehow not even stunted in the least by the open rejection. "Funny. It's as though you're intentionally replaying the old scene between Zero and I." Kallen wondered who was in which role—wait, CC's making all this up!—though she had a hunch that CC would be more inclined to imply that he'd put her in this situation, It was all beyond he now, though.

"But Zero doesn't give up so easily, either," CC concluded, affirming Kallen's theory as sound. Kallen could still feel the heat of the touch on her chest and waist. She could barely hear CC's words. The next thing she registered was CC's lips on hers, moving enthusiastically but tactfully, and the fact that she was voluntarily… responding.

"Not so shy anymore, hm?" CC chuckled after pulling away, her breath tickling Kallen's cheeks. Kallen much preferred paying attention to that than to the detail that CC's breasts were pressing relentlessly against her own.

"And here I thought, with everything said and done, that there was no way you could possibly get any more pathetic than you were five minutes ago."

And in an instant, Kallen was angry. It normally went like that: At a given point, unavoidably, she'd be reminded of exactly why she hated CC quite so much. But now it was clear.

It was those cruelly satisfied eyes, the malicious smirk— even CC's body, the way she always held herself, one hand on her hip and leaning against something so casually, as if breaking Kallen down to a dust was something so easy and commonplace she didn't even have to bother to support her own weight— her perfect face and defined curves, reminding Kallen that she was all anyone could ever want to be: beautiful, sexy, smart and obviously elite— and that damn smile had a way of pulling everything together and sending it all down into an avalanche of pressure on Kallen that was so harsh and strong that all she could consciously be was angry—a hateful angry, a jealous, raging angry, one that wanted to—

One that wanted to make CC know what it was like to feel how she felt now, how she felt always with that damn smile in her face and those eyes tightly fixed on hers.

Kallen could feel her bottom lip trembling and her breaths growing short and choppy, could see CC's narrowed eyes, and could feel her blood boiling and her hands aching to take action. She would swear that she had done nothing but watch this unfold, and couldn't possibly have held any part in it, as it felt more that she was watching it than participating in it.

CC cocked her head to the side slightly. "That's a different look on you, Kouzuki."

Kallen didn't know how it happened, but somehow in a second her own hands were the ones ensnaring CC, holding her wrists at her eye's level, and somehow Kallen's lips had made contact with hers, and were captivating them hungrily, with a feral relentlessness. It was as if some animal had taken over her body and was having their own with her hands and lips and mind. CC's reaction to Kallen's ambush did not make matters any better—her low chuckle was more provocative than anything she'd said the entire time.

She was disgusted with herself, and yet she couldn't bring herself to stop. The feeling of being in control—the sheer power of it being her lips and her hands calling the shots, her tongue pressed into CC's mouth and finally CC who was taking feeble steps backwards was intoxicating.

CC stumbled, a feeling that Kallen assumed was her knees giving out. It was in that when Kallen realized how much she'd just completely spun the tables around, and, a new surge of supremacy rushing through her veins, Kallen led CC into a backwards step with a forwards one of her own, and then another, and another, until CC's back was pressed against the table she'd been sleeping at less than an hour ago, lips still one and tongues in a one-sided battle for domination.

CC managed to pull away, and the smile on her face this time was far more innocent and far more red. "Careful, Kouzuki," was all she said, quietly. "It'd be wise to remember who you're kissing." In a motion so swift it could have been completely overlooked were Kallen's eyes not completely trained on CC's, she took a sharp, subtle glance at the watch on Kallen's wrist before wrapping her arms around Kallen's neck and, working her fingers into her hair and locking their lips once again. Was Kallen's head not so clouded, she probably would have thought more of it.

With her hands around Kallen's neck, CC was in an easy position to pull the younger girl down as she bent backwards onto the table with her feet still planting back on the floor and pulled Kallen to lean over the table. Missing the feeling of control, Kallen pulled CC's fingers apart around her neck and slammed her wrists on the table, completely pinning her down.

As Kallen kissed harder, more hungrily, more needily, she was vaguely aware of a sliding sound in the back of her head, but she didn't waste any thought on it. At this point, she had so little room for conscious thought that she wasn't putting thought into anything. The sound, which she apparently did not make up in her mind, elicited another chuckle from CC as she pulled her lips away yet again, much to Kallen's displeasure.

"Kallen," she nearly whispered, her voice so quiet and contemplative that Kallen didn't even recognize it. At this point, Kallen didn't know what to expect. All she really knew at this point was that all of CC's talking was making ill use of her lips. Whatever it was going to be, Kallen braced herself, knowing there was very little chance she'd like it.

"What the hell are you doing, Kouzuki?!" CC suddenly shouted, struggling and writhing against Kallen, thrashing like a child being held against her will. "Get off of me!"

Kallen jumped backwards, eyes widening at CC's sudden, unexpected outburst. What was that—? "CC—"

It was in that second that Kallen noticed that there was a darkly clad figure standing in the corner of her eye. Kallen swore that her heart skipped a beat as her head snapped to identify the stranger—and her jaw dropped.

"Zero! I—This isn't—"

Kallen had assumed that, since CC was walking around in Zero's uniform, that Lelouch wasn't on premises; she didn't even know that Zero had more than one uniform and mask. Her heart rate picked up as she realized the extremity of what was happening—what this looked like—how she could possibly explain that—and CC was— and only in her undershirt—

CC sprang up, the feigned look of shock and indignation still painted on her face. "Zero, thank god! This—" CC shook her head, as if what she wanted to call Kallen was too vulgar to be said in his presence. "I have no idea what came over her." CC's unnerving calm was repulsively accurate, because Kallen knew that, were she really put into a situation like that, she'd be testifying to Zero just as collectedly as she was right now.

Kallen's throat had formed a lump the size of a boulder, aching to shout out all of the truths about what had really happened, though she knew they'd never be believed. Lelouch hadn't even opened his mouth, and behind that mask, she couldn't tell just how shocked he was, making her even more anxious. But when he did raise his hand to take his mask off, Kallen wished that he'd leave it on.

Lelouch shook the hair out of his face the second he'd taken the mask off, his narrowed eyes sending a chill down Kallen's spine, and making it so hard to get air into her lungs that her breaths were nothing but choppy, short intakes and exhales. Her cheeks were so hot with that damn unavoidable blush that she'd swear there was a fire somewhere nearby.

"Kouzuki," he said directly, his eyes darting from her to CC and back. He looked flustered himself—but then, Kallen had to remind herself what he'd just walked in on.

"Zero, it was—" Kallen sighed, exasperated, and trying desperately to mask her own embarrassment. She pointed sharply at CC. "It wasn't—It's not what it looked like!"

"Wasn't it?" CC interjected, her voice delicately calm again, but dangerously low. "What then, Kouzuki, I pulled you on top of me?"

"CC," Lelouch said, turning to eye her. CC pouted slightly, and crossed her arms, but closed her mouth.

"Kouzuki," he repeated, turning back to her, but refusing to meet her eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, and Kallen could tell that he was more Lelouch now than Zero at all, frustrated and at a loss for anything to say without yelling. "Please…"

Kallen's bottom lip was trembling again, dammit. How could something that started out so awful get so much worse?! He'd never be able to look at her the same way again. That damn CC… she was out for blood, Kallen swore it. The lump in her throat was somehow bigger now, and she wanted to cry and slap CC across the face at the same time.

When she looked back up at Lelouch, he was putting his mask back on. God, that was not a good sign.

"Please, learn to control yourself."

Without another word, he turned on his heel and, entering the code for the door to open as quickly as she'd ever seen anyone do it before, he exited the room, his stride harsh and direct, even for him.

Kallen's legs gave out, and she found herself on the floor in a second, thousands of thoughts flashing through her head at once. He'd never want to speak to her again. He'd never—She'd never rank. He'd probably demote her just so he didn't have to look at her. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Kallen's vision clouded again with frustration, embarrassment, and anxiety, thoughts and worries pounding on her mind.

The web of confusion and apprehension was parted in two by a pair of lips—a pair of familiar, soft lips that pressed against hers chastely and gently.

"That was fun, Kouzuki," CC said cheerily—as cheerily as it got with her—as she straightened. Kallen looked up at her, the clouds in her vision fading temporarily.

"Let's do it again sometime."

Walking as happily as Kallen had ever seen her before, CC gracefully exited the room.