Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass.
First Waltz
First step…
--
It was her fifth summer when they were given dancing lessons and she remembered how she had watched them with envy.
"Why can't I learn dancing with oniisama and Euphie-oneesama, too?" she asked her mother then.
Marianne smiled and reached down to brush away a strayed lock of her loosened hair. "You are not quite old enough to take those lessons yet," she said. "But you will learn them in time and, of course, Lelouch will help you practice like he does with Euphemia now."
"But I will try really hard!" she tried not to cry. Cornelia-oneesama had told her once that it's unladylike to cry so often over little things. "I promise I will try really, really hard. I'm going to practice every day. I'm going to become good at it. So, please… Please let me take lessons with oniisama, too!"
"But Nunnally…" Marianne was surprised. She realized that when it came to Lelouch, her daughter sometimes saw her half-sister as a sort of rival. It was only the other day that the poor boy was…
"Nunnally!"
Both mother and daughter turned to the direction of that sharp cry. From the other end of the garden, Lelouch was running as fast as he could to reach them.
"Oniisama!" Nunnally jumped down from her chair and ran to meet him.
Lelouch caught her at the bottom of the stairs. She meant to greet him but--
"Where have you been!" he gasped out in between ragged breaths, shaking hands grasping her shoulders.
"Eh?" said Nunnally, panting slightly.
"You were supposed to be practicing reading with Miss Alandale this morning! But you weren't in the room and nobody knew where you were! If it's not because Euphie came in to take lesson and told me that you came here with mother then we would never know and I would--! Nunnally, why did you--"
"That's enough."
Lelouch blinked at the back of a gloved hand before his eyes. He looked up and saw his mother's smiling down at him wryly.
"Lelouch, I know you are worried about Nunnally," said Marianne gently. "But dear, you are scaring her."
The hand lifted and what he saw made him regret what he did at once.
"Nunnally…" he whispered. "Nunnally, I'm sorry."
Covering her mouth with both hands to suppress the sound from coming out, Nunnally was looking at him through tears she could not hold back. She tried. She really did. She tried very, very hard not to cry but the tears… they wouldn't listen and they wouldn't stop…
"Oniisama…" her sobbing voice was muffled by her hands. "I'm s-sorry…"
And so, Empress Marianne vi Britannia spent the next half an hour comforting and calming her two crying royal children.
--
"Dancing?" said Lelouch incredulously after wiping his face dry with one white handkerchief. "But you could have asked mother when she came back tonight."
Nunnally hid behind the second white handkerchief Marianne used to wipe her tears with.
"Why do you want to learn dancing so much?" pressed on Lelouch, puzzled. "You will get taught eventually anyway and," he frowns disapprovingly, "it doesn't justify you skipping lesson and sneaking into mother's carriage either."
Taking pity on her shrinking daughter, Marianne decided to step in for a little. "But what a strict brother you are, Lelouch," she said, laughing lightly. "And, in coming here, aren't you skipping lesson yourself? Who will help Euphemia practice now that you are all the way here?"
"But that--!" a speaking look from his smiling mother and he closed his mouth shut in sullen silence.
Marianne took the crumpled handkerchief from Nunnally's tight grasp and patted the girl's head affectionately. "Nunnally, why don't you answer Lelouch's question? Why is it that you want to learn dancing so much?"
Glancing up at her mother, peering uncertainly at her brother, Nunnally buried her face in the Empress's shoulder.
"Now, now…" chuckled Marianne. "Didn't you say before that you wanted to be a proper lady? A lady answers every question honestly and with dignity. Hiding your face and not answering is not very ladylike now, is it? Besides--"
"I'm not angry," said Lelouch quietly. "I was just…worried. It's only just the other day when you were…when you were almost…" he bit his mouth. "I don't want anything to happen to you, Nunnally. If I did anything to make you angry, I'm sorry--"
"It's not your fault!"
Lelouch looked up. Nunnally had turned to look at him and tears were streaking down her little face.
"It's not your f-fault," she said again.
Sliding down the blue velvet of her mother's skirt, Nunnally timidly approached her brother.
Lelouch watched her, not daring to move in fear that she would run from him.
"I-I…" she reached out and caught his sleeve with one small hand. "I wanted – I want to have dancing lessons because…because I want to be able to dance with you. Like Euphie-oneesama does…"
"Like Euphie…?" murmured Lelouch, seeming even more puzzled than before.
Nunnally's face scrunched up and, not able to hold it in anymore, blurted out tearfully. "I want to dance the first waltz with you!"
Lelouch stared at her.
"I s-saw… since I saw mother dancing waltz for the first time I thought that – I thought that I wanted to dance my first waltz with you. But you and E-Euphie-oneesama are taking lessons together and practicing together and – and I…" she trailed off in broken sobs.
With a natural reflex that came with being an older brother, Lelouch pulled out his handkerchief and used it to wipe her tears away.
"I-I'm sorry…" she sobbed and buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry for…for causing t-troubles…"
"She came all the way here to make a request," said Marianne from across the table, calmly pouring out hot tea into a cup. "For her own dancing lessons. She told me it was a request that she had to make no matter what."
Lelouch looked at his mother, then at his sister. He put his arms around her and patted her back comfortingly.
"And did you know, Nunnally," said Marianne, slow and deliberate. "That Lelouch hates dancing very much?"
It took a moment but Nunnally's crying did quiet down. Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she turned to look at her smiling mother, then at her scowling brother, and back at her mother again.
"It's true," admitted Lelouch, albeit grudgingly. "I hate it."
"And he's pretty bad at it, too," added his mother sweetly. "It's only because he has been practicing very hard that he has become so much better at it that he's able to help Euphemia practice recently. He should be receiving these lessons later but he also asked to be taught earlier also. Do you know why?"
"Because I want to be able to dance the first waltz with Nunnally properly," said Lelouch stiffly.
Nunnally turned to her brother and blinked wide lavender-blue eyes at him.
Lelouch wanted to look away but, finding himself couldn't do so, resigned himself to telling the truth and wiping her face with his own damp handkerchief.
"You saw mother on that day and you were so excited. So, I thought that since you would be taking your lessons next year, I wanted at least be familiar with it. And because you said, too, that you wanted to dance your first waltz with me…" he looked away, frowning in annoyance at his own embarrassment. "…it just wouldn't do if I didn't know how to dance properly, so I asked mother to arrange for some dancing lessons."
Nunnally stared at him. "You took lessons… you learned dancing…for m-me?" she breathed.
He turned to look at her, his frown deepening. "Who else would I do it for if not you?"
She answered reflexively, "Euphie-oneesama."
Lelouch glared at her warningly.
"So… So, you are not going to dance the first waltz with Euphie-oneesama?" she asked.
His reply was definite. "No, I'm not."
She let out a breath and he wondered briefly why she should be holding her breath at all.
"I… You will wait for me till I can dance it properly? You will help me practice? I will try hard! I will study really hard! I'm going to be very good at it," she promised.
At this, he smiled. It's just like her to say that.
"I know you will," Lelouch tucked a strayed lock of hair behind her ear. "But yes, I will wait for you and I will help you practice."
"My first waltz… you are-- will you--" she gulped, then, with painfully hopeful eyes, looked straight into his and asked. "Will you...dance the first waltz with me, oniisama?"
He smiled. "I'm not going to dance the first waltz with anyone else but you, Nunnally, I promise."
Lavender-blue eyes became the brightest stars and a sweetest smile was bestowed on him.
Nunnally hugged her brother tight. "I love you, oniisama."
--
It was her sixth summer, but she couldn't feel her legs anymore.