Lelouch of the Empire

Lelouch's Decision

Disclaimer – I do not Code Geass. Code Geass is owned by Ichirō Ōkouchi, Sunrise Inc. and CLAMP

Warnings – Strong language, violence and lots of OCs (hopefully not Mary Sues)

Summery – AU/What if scenario. After Britannia's invasion of Japan instead of going into hiding with Nunnally, Lelouch decides to return to Pendragon. However, he reluctantly decides to leave Nunnally with the Kururugi Family; determined that the Emperor won't use her as a means of controlling him as well as to ensure that she's away from the proverbial battleground that is the Royal Court. The Kururugi Family, with help from Lelouch get in touch with the Ashford Family, Marianne's political allies before she was assassinated and join forces in order to keep Nunnally safe. As Lelouch returns to Pendragon; determined to uncover the truth about his mother's assassination and bring down the Emperor as well as bring down Britannia from within, he spends the years under Cornelia's care. However, as Lelouch forges his path, gaining allies and enemies alike, he eventually comes upon some of the Emperor's most guarded secrets; secrets that could have serious repercussions worldwide if exposed and could very well lead him to an early grave; especially since his uncle is determined to see him dead. However, upon returning to "Area Eleven", Lelouch soon discovers the mysterious C.C. who gives him the power of Geass and who has ties to the Emperor's secrets. However, this all pales in comparison to an even greater conspiracy that has been going on since Japan's Sengoku jidai period. Can Lelouch manage to keep the Royal Family from discovering Nunnally's continued existence while playing his part as the Emperor's "loyal" soldier as well as uncover the truth behind everything and also can Suzaku's mother, Byakko and Milly Ashford shelter Nunnally; not just from the Royal Family, but from their own respective families who have ulterior motives in regards to Nunnally?

Hilltop near Kururugi Shrine, Japan, 12th September 2010 a.t.b.

Ten-year-old Lelouch vi Britannia stood, glaring down at a group of Britannian soldiers in a nearby village that lay in ruins as they herded the village's inhabitants up against the wall of a huge warehouse building that happened to be on the outskirts of the village and in the shadow of the hilltop in which the child prince stood. Luckily for Lelouch though, he was too far away for the soldiers to notice him. He was under no illusions of what would happen to him if they did notice him and neither was he under any illusions of what fate would befall the unlucky people that they were herding. Sure, he was a Prince of Britannia, but he knew that probably meant little to the soldiers and in fact, he would not be surprised if they had orders to shoot him on sight.

"You are dead," the voice of his father, the Emperor echoed in the young prince's mind as he continued to glare down at the scene in front of him and felt his hands ball into tightly clenched fists..

Lelouch had not forgotten those words; the words that the Emperor had spoken when, after his mother's assassination he had become impatient over his father's lack of action and had gone to demand an explanation. However, much to his surprise, his father had callously and uncaringly dismissed him and when Lelouch had let his anger get the best of him; he let the Emperor know exactly what he felt about him.

"You are dead," the Emperor's voice repeated, "You were always dead to me; dead from the moment you were born. Who gave you the fine clothes you wear, a comfortable home, the food you eat and your very life? All those things I have given you; in short, you are nothing to me because you never existed; yet you dare speak of foolishness to me? Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan as prince and princess. You will serve well as bargaining tools."

That had been the Emperor's response to his outburst; to send them here to Japan, which he had gone ahead and invaded anyway. That must have been his plan the entire time, Lelouch had figured. He and his sister had been sent to a country that their father had already decided to invade. He should have known that that would have been the case. His father had told him that he was dead to him and had decided to make that statement a reality; in short, he and Nunnally had both been sent to Japan to die and no doubt the cover story would paint them as victims… martyrs used to justify the Emperor's invasion and it sickened him to no end. No doubt the Emperor had already declared them dead before the invasion force had even set foot on Japanese soil and looking back, Lelouch realised that in sending him and Nunnally to Japan, the Emperor had also lulled the Japanese into a false sense of security as many believed that Britannia would not attack as long as the prince and princess remained captive.

"Yeah right," the young prince scoffed as he felt his rage well up, burning like a ferocious fire within his heart, still glaring at the soldiers as if trying to make them literally drop dead through sheer willpower alone.

That was not the case. Britannia had gone ahead and invaded six months after he and Nunnally had first set foot in Japan and the Emperor had made no attempt whatsoever to rescue them. In fact they had not even been given them fair warning of the invasion force before hand. He remembered he and Suzaku had been playing in the area surrounding the Kururugi Shrine and then they both noticed Britannia's invasion force off in the distance at Mount Fuji.

The war in Japan had been over Sakuradite, a rare mineral of unknown composition that had first been discovered near Stonehenge on Britannia's original homeland during the middle ages. However, later, the adventurer, Marco Polo had journeyed to Japan and had discovered large deposits of the mineral. The mineral was called Sakuradite because of its pink colour being the same shade of pink as Japanese cherry blossoms as well as the fact that the majority of the world's Sakuradite was in Japan. In fact, Japan produced seventy percent of the world's Sakuradite. Sakuradite had superconductive properties that had enabled massive advancements in technology; including military hardware. In fact nowadays, technology was becoming more and more dependent on Sakuradite.

Unfortunately for the world's main three superpowers, the Holy Britannian Empire, the Chinese Federation and the European Union or EU, Japan was an independent country and as the world's main producer and exporter of Sakuradite, they used their position as a means of exploiting consumer nations and increasing their own revenue. In short, Japan had become the main balancer of power in the world as it manipulated Sakuradite supplies to each of the three superpowers. Lelouch had come to know this after being sent to Japan. Since he had come to Japan, he had decided to find out what the whole dispute was about and had researched extensively into Sakuradite and he had to admit that it was an interesting setup. If one superpower managed to gain control of Japan then it would have such a great advantage that the other two would have no choice but to attack with their own invasion forces in fear of being eliminated from the world's stage and it was believed that none of the three superpowers wanted a three-way war over Japan.

However, Lelouch had to admit that because of this, Japan had become rather smug over its position as the world's power balancer and let it go to their heads. They had become so confident that the state of affairs meant that they were untouchable and that they believed they could manipulate the Sakuradite supplies as they saw fit without fear of repercussions. Unfortunately, after Britannia had conquered Indochina, which was now Area Ten, the EU and the Chinese Federation had both become rather wary and unnerved over Britannian's recent expansion and blockaded Britannian ports in order to apply economy pressure and force Britannia into negotiations and Japan decided to follow suit, confident that Britannia would not retaliate lest it wanted to risk a world war and this became known as the Oriental Incident. Unfortunately, what Japan failed to anticipate was that Britannia had come up with a solution to keep the EU and Chinese Federation from responding to the Britannian-led invasion. Basically the Britannians had decided to keep them at bay through bribery. Basically they had decided to give the other two superpowers equal shares of Sakuradite. Lelouch had to admit that it was ingenious. No doubt Britannia would produce more Sakuradite overall since the Japanese would no longer have any say in the matter and with the other two superpowers getting equal shares of Sakuradite, Britannia would not have to fear them attacking or maybe even joining forces since despite Britannia's rhetoric and delusional beliefs that it was superior to all others, even it knew that the chances of winning against both the EU and Chinese Federation allied together were next to non-existent. In a way, Lelouch figured, Japan had had it coming for being so smug in the first place. Thinking it over, he had come to realise that Japan's plan on exploiting the three superpowers would not have lasted forever. He knew that the EU or the Chinese Federation would have eventually thought up of the same plan if Britannia had not thought of it first. So now, Japan had surrendered and had been renamed Area Eleven and its people renamed Elevens.

The war had only lasted a month; thanks in part to Britannia introducing the humanoid autonomous armoured knight otherwise known as the Knightmare Frame. The Knightmares had made short work of the Japanese line of defence and Genbu Kururugi, Japan's Prime Minister; after the military had been defeated had called on every man, woman and child to take up arms and repel the Britannian invaders in a last-ditch do-or-die resistance movement. However, officially it was said that he had committed seppuku in order to stop an all-out war with Britannia. It seemed that he had had second thoughts or realised what a huge mistake that would be. Lelouch; despite just being ten was smarter than most people. He knew that had Genbu's do-or-die resistance had gone ahead, then Britannia would not have been able to have conquered Japan fast enough in order to implement their plan to bribe the other two superpowers. No doubt the EU and Chinese Federation would have capitalised on the growing humanitarian crisis and sent an invasion force under the guise of providing the Japanese with aid while planning on taking Japan for themselves and the much-feared three-way world war would have undoubtedly become a reality with the Japanese being caught in the crossfire. Anyway, after Genbu's death, the government had been sent into disarray and eventually surrendered and now Lelouch was looking at the aftermath.

Armed with a video camera, he aimed it at the soldiers who had now finished herding the newly-crowned "Elevens" up against the wall and all soldiers stood lined up beside one another facing the people they had herded before raising their guns and opened fire, killing the people they had been herding.

"Barbaric heathens," Lelouch cursed in anger as he witnessed the barbaric act.

The video camera he had in his right hand was his. His mother had purchased it and given it to him as a birthday present for his ninth birthday and he had taken it to Japan with him in order to document his stay there and hopefully show the footage to Cornelia and Euphemia when he returned... that was, before Britannia had decided to invade and for the past month or so, he had been using the camera to film the atrocities committed by the Britannian military against the Japanese. He remembered how he, Suzaku and Nunnally had navigated through corpse-filled landscapes of people gunned down by the Britannians and Lelouch had been horrified to notice that the soldiers had been totally indiscriminate when it came to civilians. Men, woman and children had all lain dead around him and every so often the three of them would come across soldiers carrying out such massacres without a hint of compassion or remorse. He was thankful however, that the majority of soldiers just killed any Japanese they came across outright and were done with it. What he had hated was when some of the soldiers decided to have a spot of "fun" with their helpless victims and went about slowly torturing them to death in ways too gruesome to describe. If the victim happened to be a woman, then they were sometimes raped before they were killed. Those images had been burned into Lelouch's mind and he occasionally had nightmares in which those soldiers had been after him on orders from the Emperor. For once he had been rather thankful that Nunnally was blind and had been unable to see what was going on, though he had also felt rather envious of her at the same time, wishing that he was in her position so he would not have to see those grotesque acts and he had been rather shocked when Suzaku had pointed out that he had been glaring at Nunnally.

Thankfully, those groups were in a minority. Despite the fact that all Britannian soldiers had been indiscriminate in killing any Japanese they happened to come across, the majority did not mess around and just killed their victims rather quickly and with this in mind, Lelouch found that he would rather face down one of those soldiers who just killed and was done with it rather than one of those psychopaths that got a thrill out of torturing their victims to death.

Thankfully, he had every incident documented on his video camera. He had been rather lucky not to have been discovered otherwise he knew that he would have become just another victim. It did not matter to the soldiers that he was Britannian; of that he was certain. He knew that they would have killed him just to silence him. He had seen too much and had video evidence to boot and he knew that trying to use his authority as a prince would do no good. At worse they would not believe him and at best, they would believe him, but just kill him anyway as he was sure that the Emperor had already declared him dead and so, it would not matter if he was a prince or not.

In any case, thanks to the Emperor sending him here and abandoning him, Lelouch had been given insight into what it was like being on the receiving end of Britannia's wrath. He saw things from the point of view of those Britannia oppressed and he was understandably disgusted by it. These people had done nothing to Britannia, so what right had Britannia to just come along and just kill them for no other reason other than the fact that they were not Britannian? That was not their fault. Nobody had the ability to choose where and how they were born. He certainly had not chosen to be born a Britannian Prince neither had he chosen to have been born to that wretched man that he had the unfortunate pleasure of calling his father and yet, the Britannian soldiers had gone about indiscriminately killing the Japanese as if their very existence had been a crime. The Japanese were beaten and they had surrendered. There was no reason for those soldiers to continue to massacre them and yet, they had gone ahead and done so anyway. Lelouch continued to watch as the soldiers then had the audacity to walk up to the corpses of those they had just killed and then search them for anything they felt may be of value before they decided to disperse. However, one soldier stopped, turned to look down at the line of corpses and then spat down on the body nearest him before giving it a rather violent kick in the stomach and then went on his way.

Lelouch felt his anger rise and he was half tempted to rush down and bash the soldier's head in. He felt his free hand, which he had already clenched into a fist tighten and he continued to glare at the soldier contemptuously. However, only the knowledge that the soldier was bigger and more skilled than him kept him from following through. He knew that to do so would be suicide and yet, all it did was serve to make him even more infuriated. He was infuriated at the act that those soldiers had committed; he was infuriated that they continued to demoralise an already beaten people and most of all, he was infuriated at his own powerlessness in stopping it. All this pain and suffering was going on round about him and he was powerless to stop it.

Looking at the village, the young prince saw that several buildings had been levelled while others had fallen into a state of disrepair. Several buildings had caught fire and the fires had been left to burn completely unabated. No one had attempted to put those fires out, but then again, even Lelouch could agree that there was no point in putting them out. It was not like the village would be rebuilt and Lelouch surprisingly found the fires rather welcoming as he watched their flames dance around in the air ferociously for those fires seemed to represent the rage that burned in his heart. Like those flames, Lelouch's rage burned furiously as he desired nothing but absolute vengeance for what had become of him and Nunnally as well as vengeance for the fate that had befallen the Japanese.

Anyway, footsteps caused him to turn round and saw a boy round his own age with messy brown hair and green eyes, wearing a pair of black shoes, grey jeans with a tear over the right legging in the knee area and a greyish green t-shirt with a blue outlining. Accompanying him was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties with long dark brown hair and aquamarine greenish blue eyes. She wore a yellow traditional Japanese style kimono patterned with pink flowers with four petals each, a white eri collar and a red obi sash over her abdomen. She also wore white tabi socks and a pair of white zori sandals.

"So this is where you've run off to," the woman said in a rather stern, yet worried tone as she gave Lelouch a scolding look, "Don't run off like that, I know I'm not your mother and forgive me if you feel that I'm trying to be, but since coming here to Japan, you've essentially become our responsibility and despite all that's happened, I still feel that it's my duty to take care of you."

Had it been anyone else, Lelouch would have frowned. The Kururugi Family's responsibility, yeah right. He still remembered upon his arrival at the Kururugi Shrine that he had met with Genbu Kururugi, Taizō Kirihara, Suzaku and Kaguya Sumeragi, Suzaku's cousin and Genbu's niece and from what Lelouch could tell, Genbu Kururugi had been anything but welcoming. From the look of Genbu's body language, it had become clear to Lelouch that he did not want them there and was only going along with it due to a sense of obligation. He remembered how he had pointed off in the direction of where Lelouch and Nunnally were supposed to be staying and had immediately left without showing them the way, though Lelouch had managed to find their living accommodation, which turned out to be a rickety old tool-shed that was falling into a state of disrepair. It most definitely was not welcoming and not the sort of thing that one would be expecting royalty to live in. Nonetheless, instead of complaining, Lelouch had made do, though he remembered lying to Nunnally about the "house", saying how it was wonderful and splendid until Suzaku had come along and demanded to know why Lelouch had been lying and they had both ended up in a fight in which Nunnally begged Suzaku to stop after Suzaku had gained the upper hand and Lelouch remembered how Nunnally even offered herself in Lelouch's place. However, upon noticing Nunnally's condition, Suzaku had backed off and stormed off telling Lelouch that he could continue to lie about the so-called house. For the next few days, Lelouch and Suzaku had gotten into fights, though they tried their best to avoid one another. However, Suzaku and Lelouch had started to become friends after Nunnally had gone missing and after confronting Suzaku, Lelouch had gone off and Suzaku had decided to help look for her as well and stumbled upon her after falling into a hole and in an attempt to get them out, Suzaku had accidentally caused the room to flood, but he had saved Nunnally by placing her atop a box and held onto the box, while staying in the water to make sure that it did not tip over. After that and Suzaku had been bedridden with hypothermia for a few days, upon coming round, Suzaku had apologised and they became friends.

The only reason Lelouch did not frown at this woman was because of all the people he had met since coming to Japan aside from Taizō Kirihara, this woman was perhaps the only person who had shown him and Nunnally genuine compassion. She had even broken up a few of Lelouch and Suzaku's fights and had demanded that Suzaku apologise and needless to say, that had surprised Lelouch. He had never thought that any of the Japanese would take his side let alone this woman. It had been a massive shock to say the least and even Suzaku found himself in shock, though he had begrudgingly apologised to Lelouch, though Lelouch knew he had never meant it, but accepted it anyway just to get the Japanese boy to leave him alone.

"Gomen, Byakko-sama," Lelouch apologised, phrasing his apology in Japanese with a respectable bow.

The woman, Byakko looked down at the dead people that the Britannian soldiers had murdered and frowned and then noticed Lelouch's video camera.

"You were filming more of Britannia's atrocities again, weren't you?" she said in a rather angry tone and from the look on her face, it was clear that she was not pleased and looked a bit fearful.

"Do you realise how risky that is?" she went on, bearing down on Lelouch, "Supposing you had been caught? Don't think for a second that your status as a prince will save you. I'm not stupid. I know that the Emperor abandoned you and your sister here. I wouldn't be surprised if he had issued a Kill on Sight order for the pair of you."

"Once again, gomen, Byakko-sama, but I'm planning on showing my big sister, Cornelia this when I go back," Lelouch said as he met Byakko's stern glare.

"Go back," the boy, Suzaku said in completely shock, "So, does that mean you're going through with this?"

"Yes," Lelouch said with a nod and a determined look on his face, "Remember what we discussed earlier?"

"Okay, I understand, but still, you could have been killed," Byakko said, still fretting over the fact that Lelouch had been filming Britannian soldiers.

"Okā-sama," Suzaku said as he turned to face the woman who he had just identified as his mother.

"Don't change the subject, Suzaku-kun!" Byakko said sternly as she turned briefly to stare at her son before looking back at Lelouch, "I'm very disappointed in you, Lelouch."

Lelouch chuckled, grateful for the Kururugi matriarch's casualness in addressing him and whether Byakko knew it or not, she was the only one that Lelouch would allow to reprimand him and not have her face repercussions. Since he and Nunnally had come to live at the Kururugi Shrine, Byakko had checked up on them regularly. The first time he had met Byakko was not long after his first encounter with Suzaku when she had come looking for them, clearly not too pleased that her husband had pretty much dumped them in the old disused tool-shed. She had even decided to go and complain to Genbu over their rather poor accommodation, but Lelouch had politely told her that it was okay. She had tried to have the servants attend to their every need, but Lelouch had politely refused that as well, insisting on doing everything himself. At first, Lelouch had been rather distrustful of her, but over time, especially after she gave her own son a row for starting a fight with Lelouch, Lelouch had slowly come to trust her, though the building of their relationship had only served to add to the animosity that Suzaku had felt for him and Lelouch remembered Suzaku had even accused him of trying to steal his mother from him. However, that was not the case, though Lelouch had to admit that he had grown to like the Kururugi matriarch and had even started to consider her as a second mother and was grateful to her. She was not afraid to scold or reprimand him because he was a prince and was allowed to address him casually unlike her husband and his cronies. Byakko had become a person that Lelouch could feel rather at ease around and could open up to. She knew of Lelouch's hatred for Britannia and what the Emperor had done to him. When he had told her, Byakko immediately had caught onto the fact that Japan was going to be invaded months before the actual invasion had occurred.

"I fail to see what's so funny," the Kururugi matriarch said as she folded her arms.

"Gomen once again, Byakko-sama," Lelouch stated before his expression became rather serious, "Anyway, as I've already stated, yes I'm going back to Pendragon. However, like we discussed, I'll be going back alone."

"I see," Byakko said with a rather sad sigh, "However, I don't understand why you feel that you have to go back. From what you've told me about the Emperor; that man sounds like an absolute monster. Why would you go back to someone like him?"

"And what about Nunnally?" Suzaku put in, adding his two-cents, "Lelouch, she's your sister and yet, you're abandoning her."

"You think I want to!" Lelouch snapped, causing the two Kururugis to jump in surprise, "Believe me, I don't want to do this either. I first considered taking Nunnally and then go into hiding."

"Then why not?" Byakko asked curiously, giving the young prince a questioning look, "That would be a preferable option and I confess, I pretty much agree with Suzaku, it seems that you're abandoning your sister."

"Believe me, I've given this much thought," Lelouch said as he levelled his pseudo-mother and her son a seriously stern look letting them know that he was serious, "If we both go into hiding, then if one of us is discovered then the chances are the both of us will be discovered and I'll be damned if I let that man get his disgusting hands on Nunnally. He'll no doubt use her as a means of manipulating me. If I go back alone, I may be able to convince him that Nunnally was killed in the invasion. That way, I'll be able to plot his downfall without fear of him discovering Nunnally."

"I see, so you plan to play the part of his loyal lapdog while waiting for an opportunity to stab him in the back?" Byakko said with a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"Unfortunately, yes," Lelouch said, his tone just as bitter as Byakko's was, "That's why I want you to take care of Nunnally for me."

From the bitterness in the young prince's tone, it was clear to them both that it was something that he absolutely detested. Becoming the Emperor's "loyal" servant was something that he did not want to do and in truth, he would rather run himself through with a rusty sword blade. He knew that he would be sacrificing an awful lot of his pride and dignity and that also he would undoubtedly end up becoming an accessory to Britannia's many war crimes if he went through with it.

"You're still abandoning her," Suzaku pointed out, interrupting his thoughts.

"For her own safety," Lelouch countered, shooting his friend a glare, "Believe me, I don't want to do this, I would very much love just to up and go and live somewhere with my sister in happiness. However, unfortunately for us, the circumstances of reality will not allow that to happen. As a prince and princess our reality is restricted by all sorts of things. We'd be living in fear of being discovered or worse, assassinated."

"But if you go back and leave Nunnally with us, then what you just said will only apply to her," Suzaku pointed out once again, "You may be safe, but she'll be the one who'll be living in fear."

"I once again have to agree with Suzaku-kun here," Byakko spoke up, "I understand what you're saying, but with your plan… one can interpret it as a plan to save yourself while sacrificing your sister in the process and I know how much Nunna-chan loves you. You're the world to her and yet, you make it sound like you're abandoning her to save yourself."

If it had been anyone else that said that, Lelouch would have undoubtedly flown off the handle. How dare anyone accuse him of wanting to abandon his sister. He loved Nunnally dearly and like Byakko had said, he was her world. She was his world as well. He just could not imagine life without his sister. It was essentially his worst nightmare, losing Nunnally. She was the thing that kept him going and she meant absolutely everything to him. He would rather die than let any harm befall her. He would take any shot intended for her any day of the week. He would do whatever it took to shield her from harm and protect her, which is what he was doing right now, though he had to admit that Byakko and Suzaku both had a point.

"Nunnally's against this anyway," Suzaku said simply, "If you remember, she did not take too kindly to you telling her."

"I'm aware," Lelouch grumbled with a groan, "However, this is for her own good. If I return without Nunnally, everyone will no doubt believe her to have perished. After all, Britannia's rhetoric firmly states that the strong survive and the weak perish and Nunnally's paralysed from the waist down as well as blind. If I can focus everyone's attention on me, then hopefully Nunnally can have a happy life. Believe me, nobody would care for what befell her. In Britannia's eyes, she's weak and therefore doesn't matter."

"I see, I think I understand what you're getting at," Byakko said with a nod, though from the look on her face, she clearly was not totally convinced, "However, I must point out that you plan has serious flaws. For example, people may see her out in the streets and recognise her."

"I highly doubt that," Lelouch said confidently, "You see, neither Nunnally nor I have made our public debuts and so, I doubt anyone in Britannia will know what she looks like and even if someone from the nobility were to recognise her, I doubt they'd tell anyone. After all, my mother was a commoner by birth and the majority of the nobility held her in contempt and their contempt extended to Nunnally and myself, so I highly doubt the nobles would want her back."

"Yes, I suppose there is that," Byakko admitted with a nod, "But don't forget that there are several Japanese who know who she is. They may recognise her and try to use her as a means of trying to regain Japan and though I'm aware they'd probably only end up earning posthumous medals from the Emperor after they kill her, the Japanese don't know that. They don't know your past. They don't know that you and Nunna-chan are disgraced and I don't particularly trust the other members of my family to protect her either."

Lelouch had to admit that that much was true. None of the other members of the Kururugi Family had really approved of his and Nunnally's presence. In fact, he knew that they would not be all that pleased with his plan. They were undoubtedly hoping to be rid of the Britannian prince and princess as soon as possible and he knew that some of them were crazy enough to resort to murder to get the job done. However, Lelouch had absolute faith in Byakko and her ability to rein them in and besides, he had already had a plan in place to appease the Kururugi Family.

"I'm well aware of that, which is why, when I leave, I want you to get in touch with a Ruben K. Ashford of the Ashford Family," the young prince said as he reached into his left trouser pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over to Byakko, who took it, "I trust that you can read the Roman alphabet."

Byakko nodded as she looked at the piece of paper in her hand and saw that it had the Ashford Family's contact details.

"As you know, the Ashford Family were once a noble family who allied with my mother and whose Ashford Foundation helped in the development of Knightmare Frames," Lelouch explained as Byakko just stared at the contact details, "When you contact them, just tell them that Lelouch vi Britannia needs a favour and let them speak to Nunnally. They'll recognise her voice."

"Okay," the Kururugi matriarch said with a sigh, "But I still say that your plan is seriously flawed."

Suzaku opened his mouth to speak, agreeing with his mother, but stopped when he saw the look in the young prince's eyes. Suzaku knew that that when it came to Nunnally, Lelouch was very defensive and protective of his sister. He knew that Nunnally meant the world to Lelouch and that Lelouch would not do anything to harm her in any way and he always went out of his way to ensure that no one harmed Nunnally. Despite not being physically fit, when it came to Nunnally, Lelouch was quite prepared to stand his ground and take a beating if it meant defending Nunnally. He remembered one such incident a few weeks back when a group of boys were threating to hurt Nunnally and Lelouch had come to her defence and needless to say, Lelouch had quickly been overpowered and beaten to a pulp, but that did not matter to him. Despite fighting a losing battle, Lelouch simply refused to back down and continued to try and mount an offence, even scoring a few lucky shots. However, that had not stopped the boys and it was only through Suzaku's intervention that they had finally retreated, though Lelouch had not been too happy about it and insisted that he had not needed his help, though Suzaku knew that that was just Lelouch's wounded ego talking. Nonetheless, it had shown the young Japanese boy that Lelouch was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure his sister's safety, even if it meant earning a beating or two. Lelouch was willing to stand up and take Nunnally's pain head on. He would bare that burden and looking into his friend's eyes, Suzaku saw that this was just another example of the lengths he was willing to go to defend his sister. He could see and already knew that this was not something that the young prince had decided out of the blue and that Lelouch had put an awful lot of thought into it and he could also tell that his friend did not like it any more than he or his mother did. He knew that Lelouch would probably jump at the first opportunity he had at going about it a different way. Lelouch did not want to go back. He would have preferred to go into hiding with his sister and just disappear into society. He was only doing this because he obviously saw no other possible way that he could protect Nunnally.

"No plan's full proof," Lelouch spoke up with a sigh, agreeing with the Kururugi matriarch's statement and bringing Suzaku out of his thoughts, "I'm aware that there is the possibility that something I failed to take into account may come forward and jeopardise the whole plan. However, that's a risk we'll just have to take. This is the best plan I can think of to keep Nunnally safe. However, I understand that you have connections, don't you, Byakko-sama?"

"With my family, yes," Byakko said with a nod and a firm expression on her face as she realised what Lelouch meant, "It's funny that you sure mention the Ashford Family because I happen to have a niece who is under their employ. Her name's Shinozaki Sayoko or Sayoko Shinozaki, since I know that you Britannians prefer having your given names come before your family names. However, here in Japan and other Eastern Asian regions, family names come before our given names."

"Excellent," Lelouch said with a rather triumphant smile, causing both Suzaku and his mother to shiver as there was something about the young prince's smile that unnerved them, but then Lelouch's expression became serious once again, "Okay, the arrangements have been made. I've already arranged for Cornelia to come and pick me up."

Not far away, unbeknownst to the three of them, a woman stood, watching them from behind a tree and had heard everything that had been said. However, upon seeing that the conversation was over, she turned and started to walk away with a rather stoic and seemingly uncaring look on her face. She had long waist-length light green hair and yellowish orange eyes and looked to be in her mid to late teens. However, despite this, anyone who happened to notice her would immediately have been able to realise that there was something about her that did not seem right. Sure, she looked harmless and there was definitely nothing about her physically that indicated that there was anything out of the ordinary about her, but, even so, she seemed to give off this rather mysterious and unnerving aura that seemed so out-of-place that it made people want to keep their distance. Not that the woman actually cared. In fact, she rather preferred it that way. She found that dealing with people asking unwanted questions was just too must hassle and did her best to avoid people as much as possible unless of course, the person was of particular interest to her.

"How very interesting," she mused to herself as the edges of her lips suddenly curled upwards to form a smile, but it was by no means a kind, gentle, friendly or warming smile, "I never anticipated that you'd go through with something like that. You're truly proofing to be such an interesting person, Lelouch."

However, she did not stop and just continued to walk on ahead, not really knowing or caring where she ended up.

At the Kururugi Shrine, Nunnally vi Britannia sat in her wheelchair with Suzaku's cousin, Kaguya Sumeragi standing beside her off to her right. However, Nunnally had a rather depressed look on her face. Her brother, Lelouch, whom she thought the world of had informed her of his intentions to go back to Pendragon, Britannia's capital city alone and how she was to stay with the Kururugi Family indefinitely. At first, she had thought that he had been joking, but soon realised just how serious he had been and needless to say, it had rather upset her. Lelouch had said that it was for her own protection, but that did not make her feel better. She loved her brother more than anyone else in the world and she wanted to be with him by his side always. She just could not image a life of being separated from her brother. Lelouch had always been there for her in the past, standing up for her and protecting her. He was her world and she just could not bear to be parted from him. She just could not believe that Lelouch would go ahead and do something like this. He had just told her of his plans out of the blue without asking for her input or her opinion and it upset her something awful. This was inconceivable; unthinkable and seemed so unreal. It felt as if her brother was abandoning her.

"There, there, Nunna-chan," Kaguya said as she placed a comforting hand on Nunnally's shoulder, "I'm sure it won't be all bad."

"But, I want to stay with Big Brother," Nunnally said, clearly upset, "I just don't understand."

Kaguya honestly did not know what to say. Despite being the same age as Nunnally, Kaguya was pretty smart and after listening to Lelouch, she had to say that she had some understanding as to why Lelouch was doing what he was doing. He honestly believed that he was protecting his sister, but Kaguya could see the flaws in his plan. Aside from the risks of someone recognising her, Kaguya knew that aside from her aunt, no one in the Kururugi Family had particularly liked the two Britannian Royals that much and she remembered whenever she had snuck into secret meetings between members of the Kururugi Family that some of them had even suggesting killing Lelouch and Nunnally since it had already become clear that negotiations with Britannia were going to fail. However, her aunt had been vehemently against it and stood in opposition and not even the reminder that she was only part of the Kururugi Family through her marriage to Genbu and that she was not biologically related to the Kururugi Family had been enough to dissuade her. In response, she had just threatened to inform her own family, the Shinozaki Family and start a family blood feud if they persisted. Needless to say, that had caused things to settle down since none of the Kururugi Family wanted to risk an all-out war with a family of ninja since they knew that they would lose. However, despite that, it did not change the fact that Lelouch and Nunnally were not really all that popular with the Kururugi Family.

In fact, she remembered that at first, she had jumped on the anti-Britannian Royalty bandwagon when she first struck up a conversation with Nunnally and when Nunnally asked if she was the princess of Japan, Kaguya, for some reason or other had taken offence and it was only Suzaku's intervention along with him starting another argument with Lelouch when he believed that they were both tormenting his sister that prevented an argument between the two girls. Kaguya had always taken pride in her family and she felt that as a Sumeragi; one of the richest families in all Japan as well as one of the heads of the Kyōto Nanaka or the Seven Houses of Kyōto, consisting of seven of the most prestigious families in all of Japan and who ran Japan from behind the scenes, she could get away with anything. Anyway, Kaguya had taken pride in her name. However, encountering Nunnally, whom was royalty and therefore higher in rank, Kaguya had at first felt contempt for the other girl, made worse by Nunnally's condition. Kaguya had initially believed that Nunnally thought that because she was blind and a paraplegic that she expected everyone else to bow down and carter to her every whim and that no one would judge her because she was crippled and blind. Even after Suzaku and Lelouch had become friends, Kaguya's animosity towards Nunnally continued, especially since Suzaku refused to let her play with him, even at the behest of Taizō Kirihara and instead insisted that she studied and since both she and Suzaku had been arranged to get married when they were older and considering the fact that Suzaku had played with Nunnally, the Japanese girl figured that jealousy had also played a part in her resentment towards the Britannian Princess. She remembered that one time she had gotten so frustrated with Suzaku's constant refusals, she had run off into a nearby forest, which accorded to legend was said to be inhabited by a demon and she then came across Lelouch, though she had mistaken him for the demon in the legend and tried to use her name as a means of intimidating him, but Lelouch had just regarded her with hateful scorn and deciding to play along with her belief that he was a demon, he had told her that she could leave as he had no interest in her, though she admitted to Lelouch, still believing that he was a demon that she did not want to return since she felt that no one let her do what she wanted only for Lelouch to insult her for her lack of ability and told her that no one would want her because of it and that she had no merit whatsoever, which had caused her to flee and return to the shrine where she apologised to Suzaku and Suzaku agreed to let her play with him in future.

However, her animosity towards Nunnally did not dissipate; that is until three boys had confronted her and threatened to mug her, but Nunnally came along and without Kaguya asking her to; Nunnally had taken it upon herself to offer herself in Kaguya's place, claiming that she was blind and crippled and therefore an easier target for them. That had shocked and stunned the young Sumeragi heiress. She just could not understand why Nunnally would stick her neck out for her since whenever they had spoken in the past, they had often hurled insults at one another. She figured that Nunnally was out to prove her wrong. The second time they had spoken, Kaguya had told Nunnally exactly how she felt about her and why she had felt the way she did and it had brought the young Britannian Princess to tears, which was another reason why Kaguya had been surprised. Why would someone stick their neck out for someone whom they knew hated them? That time Kaguya had hurt Nunnally's feelings, Lelouch had chased her off, but the important thing was that Nunnally knew that Kaguya hated her and yet, she still decided to help her. Perhaps it had been a bid to prove her wrong. Kaguya remembered telling herself that; that it was Nunnally's way of getting back at her and sticking it to her. However, before the three boys could hurt Nunnally, her brother had turned up and had ended up receiving a beating from the three boys, though he had refused to back down and even scored a few lucky shots and Kaguya remembered hearing Nunnally screaming at them to stop and like before, she offered to take her brother's place as their punching bag. Luckily, Suzaku had come and chased the boys away and afterwards, after Kaguya had told Suzaku what happened, her cousin had admitted that Nunnally had done the same thing when he and Lelouch first met and had gotten into a fight. That had really touched her, though she still did not know why Nunnally had stood up for her. She could understand why she had done it for Lelouch. He was her brother, after all and just like he did not like anything bad happening to her; she did not like anything bad happening to him. However, Kaguya had declared her hatred for her and yet, she had gone and stood up for her anyway. Afterwards, she had confronted Nunnally about it and Nunnally had said that she really did not care how she felt about her. She had helped her because it had been the right thing to do and that how they felt about each other did not really matter to her. It was then that Kaguya had seriously started to re-evaluate her beliefs about the Britannian Princess, though she had to admit that at first, she had wanted to keep hating her and she kept telling herself that Nunnally had been lying and that she was really just trying to prove her wrong and stick it to her. However, she did admit that if the situation had been reversed and Nunnally was the one in trouble, she would have helped her out as well, though she would have used the excuse that she did not want to deal with her brother or perhaps the same excuse as Nunnally; that it was the right thing to do. However, if it had been Nunnally's intention to prove her wrong about her then it damn sure as hell worked because Kaguya had found her hatred giving way and after that, both girls had become fast friends once they had gotten to know another.

Anyway, Kaguya could understand why Lelouch was doing what he was doing, but she did not agree. She knew that Lelouch knew that the Kururugi Family had not taken too kindly to his and Nunnally's presence in Japan and yet, he was entrusting them with the care of his little sister. Of course, she figured that Lelouch was putting faith in her Aunt Byakko that she would be able to stop the family from acting against Nunnally. However, even Kaguya knew that alone, even Byakko would not be enough to protect Nunnally and that eventually she would probably end up having a rebellion on her hands since she was not a biological Kururugi and she doubted that Byakko's threat of involving her own family and creating a blood feud would hold them off forever. It was no secret that there were elements in the Kururugi Family that had disapproved of Genbu's choice of wife because of her ninja heritage. As far as they were concerned, she was from a family of "dirty dishonourable cutthroats". They did not approve of the ninja lifestyle or the amount of secrecy that it entailed and some had even gone as far as to accuse the Shinozaki Family of bartering Byakko off for some ulterior motive, though they had been very careful not to be too openly hostile for fear of retaliation.

"Big Brother," Nunnally's voice came, bringing the young Japanese girl out of her thoughts, causing her to look ahead of her and she saw Lelouch, her aunt and cousin walking towards them.

"Big Brother," Nunnally repeated, sounding rather upset, "Why are you doing this, don't you like me anymore? Did I do something to upset you? Why are you abandoning me? I don't understand."

Lelouch stopped and winced as he stared at his sister. He knew that this would not be easy and the fact that Nunnally believed that he was abandoning her felt like a massive blow to the chest. He did not like this. He did not want to leave her and would have preferred to take her with him. The fact that Nunnally refused to understand felt like someone had taken a knife and thrust it deep into his heart. He had explained it with her time and again, but Nunnally had just refused to understand, though Lelouch knew that she was in denial. He had known Nunnally would be difficult, but he had not been prepared for the full force of her protests. In fact, he had almost been tempted into abandoning the whole plan altogether and falling back on his original plan for him and Nunnally to go into hiding. He really hated the fact that he had upset his sister and he felt a wave of anguish wash over him, knowing that he would be leaving her and that it was something that she, herself had no say in whatsoever. However, this was for her own safety. If she ended up hating him, so be it, but that did not mean that he had to like it. He knew that if he returned with her, then the Emperor would simply use her as a means of controlling him; not to mention that she would be an easy target for the nobles to pick off. Nunnally just could not survive in the cutthroat world that was the Royal Court and Lelouch knew that he could not protect her every second of the day. He knew that if Nunnally was not assassinated then the Emperor would make her pay for any failures on his part. Lelouch knew that if he were to fail, it would be Nunnally who would pay the price and that was something he would not let happen under any circumstances. The only way the Emperor was going to get his hands on Nunnally was over his dead body

"You know that he's perfectly capable of arranging that," a voice from inside his head told him.

"Shut it," Lelouch grumbled as he suppressed those thoughts into the deepest reaches of his mind.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kaguya asked in a pleading tone, begging him to reconsider, "Nunna-chan is your sister, why must you go off and abandon her like this?"

Of course she knew why, but it was a sign of how desperate she was. Since she and Nunnally had become friends, she found Nunnally was quite the person and enjoyed having her around. With her animosity no longer clouding her judgement, Kaguya really appreciated Nunnally's beautiful smile. Nunnally's smile seemed to lift the air of depression and lighten up the situation. Nunnally could easily put anyone at ease with her smile and Kaguya liked it whenever she smiled. If there was ever a dull moment then all Nunnally would have to do is smile and the boredom and dreariness would simply vanish. However, seeing her depressed had the opposite effect. It made Kaguya herself feel depressed and looking around, she could tell that everyone present shared that sentiment, including Lelouch.

"Nunnally, we talked about this," Lelouch said, totally ignoring Kaguya's statement.

"But I don't understand!" Nunnally said in a loud voice, sounding rather panicked, "I don't want to stay here, I want to go home with you!"

Lelouch grimaced, a bit surprised at how panicked his sister sounded and once again he briefly wondered if perhaps he should just abort the whole thing, but the fear of the Emperor getting hold of Nunnally rejuvenated his resolve and he found himself walking over to his sister and once he was in front of her, he raised his hand and Nunnally, despite being blind raised her own hands and took her brother's hand in hers.

"Nunnally," Lelouch said with an anguished sigh, "Believe me, I don't like this any more than you do. Believe me, I would like for nothing more than to just take you and flee somewhere where we can live in peace. However, as a Prince and Princess of Britannia, we don't have that luxury. There's the possibility that we could be discovered and will be forced back into the lion's den known as the Royal Court. I love you Nunnally, you know that and I can't bear to have anything happen to you. If I could I would just take you and leave, but unfortunately, if we both go back, I don't think you'll be able to survive. If you're not the victim of a noble's assassination, then most definitely, that man will use you as a means of controlling me. If I fail at a task he sets for me, it'll be you who'll pay the price and I shudder to think what he'll do to you. If I go back alone, then I can hopefully divert everyone's attention to me while you can live peacefully without fear of discovery."

Nunnally gasped in shock as she knew that her brother was telling the truth. She had this strange ability that whenever she grabbed onto someone's hand, she could tell if they were lying or not and not only that, she could also read their feelings and know how they truly felt and right now, she felt Lelouch's pain and anguish at what he was doing and she could also detect a hint of self-loathing as she knew that Lelouch loved her dearly and even he disagreed with what he was doing. However, she also felt a resolve; a resolve to see this through and to ensure his sister's safety. Nunnally knew that Lelouch was doing what he was doing in a bid to keep her safe and she knew that he downright hated himself for it and it terrified her. It was terrifying just how much Lelouch worried over her and the lengths he was willing to go to ensure her safety and she suddenly found herself cursing her own weakness. She hated the fact that she was blind and paralysed from the waist down. She had ended up being a burden to her big brother. That was the most upsetting thing of all. She knew that it was because of her condition that Lelouch was willing to go to such lengths and she hated it. It was not fair. If she had not been blind or paralysed, Lelouch would not have to do this. It was her fault. Why did she have to suffer such injuries as well as psychological blindness? If it was not for that, everything would be okay and Lelouch would not have to do this. It was then that she realised that she had been in denial all this time. Since Lelouch had not offered his hand to her before now when he had announced his plan, Nunnally figured that she could delude herself into believing that Lelouch was abandoning her because that would have been easier to handle than him doing it to protect her. This was hurting Lelouch just as much as if was hurting her and she did not like to see her brother in pain. If he was willingly abandoning her, then at least it would not be causing him pain and Nunnally found herself wishing that he was abandoning her; even if it just so that he would not have to suffer. Unfortunately for her, Lelouch knew about her mysterious ability, which was why he had allowed her to take his hand and Nunnally had done so, since she was deluding herself and wanted the truth. However, now that she had the truth, she found herself preferring it if Lelouch had not taken her hand and had left her to believe that he was abandoning her.

"Your plan's flawed, you know," Nunnally said with a sigh, "You forget that aside from Miss Byakko and Suzaku, none of the Kururugi Family likes us that much."

"That's right," Kaguya pointed out, "They'll probably just kill Nunna-chan at the first opportunity they get."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, which is why I've instructed Byakko-sama here to get in contact with the Ashford Family," Lelouch replied simply, "Since falling into disgrace and being forced into exile, Ruben's thinking of opening an academy here in Japan and I hear that Byakko-sama has a niece who's under their employ."

"The Ashford Family, does this mean that I'll get to see Milly again?" Nunnally asked hopefully, though she was still having trouble accepting what she had just learned.

"Yeah, you'll see her again," Lelouch replied to his sister with a smile as he remembered Ruben's granddaughter, "When Byakko-sama calls them, I want you to speak to them, Nunnally, you know, as proof that you're genuinely there. I'm hoping that having you away from the main Kururugi home will make the Kururugi Family more tolerable of your presence."

"What makes you think that it'll work?" Suzaku asked curiously, "That's all good and all, but supposing my family aren't appeased. They're not all that easy to convince; ojī-sama especially. He'd probably prefer if she went and stayed with the Ashfords."

"And there's my plan B," Lelouch announced with a triumphant smirk, "If old wrinkle-face can't accept it, then Nunnally will go and stay with the Ashfords. However, I would prefer it if she stayed here. I trust you, Byakko-sama, Suzaku and yes, even you, Kaguya with Nunnally's safety. I trust you three more than the Ashfords. Oh sure, I'm sure I can count on Milly as well, but you see, the Ashfords, since losing their nobility have become rather obsessed with regaining it and I believe that they're planning on bartering Milly off to those with noble titles in order to regain what they lost. However, I'm fearful that if that fails and Nunnally's staying with them, they may try to use her instead. Ruben and Milly… I can trust, however it's Ruben's son and daughter-in-law I don't trust. I know for a fact that Mrs Ashford may have tolerated my mother, but it was clear that she did not like her very much and I would bet my bottom dollar that she also blames my mother for the Ashfords losing their nobility."

"Okay Lelouch, I understand," Nunnally said with a rather defeated sigh as she had finally decided to reside herself to her fate.

Lelouch gave one last anguished sigh as he turned and looked at his sister and gave her a rather warming smile.

"I love you, Nunnally," he said softly, knowing that it would be the last time in a long time he would see his sweet little sister.

It was clear that everyone still had protests, but despite that, they knew that it was pointless to continue to protest. Lelouch had already made up his mind and he could not help but wonder what the future would hold. Remembering the atrocities committed by the Britannian military, Lelouch shuddered as he wondered if he could possibly end up becoming one of them. He knew that in order for his plan to work, he would have to play the part of a loyal Britannian dog, which meant undoubtedly going into battle to help establish the next "Area" that the Emperor decided that he wanted to conquer and establish and earn the hatred of the native people for doing so. Could he possibly end up losing his humanity and end up nothing more than a mindless killing machine that killed even unarmed civilians just because they were not Britannian? Would he end up just as evil and twisted as the Britannian Empire? Those questions and many others buzzed about his mind and he could not help but shudder at the possibility that every single question he had all had the same undesirable answer; one three lettered word that Lelouch hoped would never be uttered and yet, he knew that despite not wanting it to become a reality, the possibility of losing himself in the countless battles and losing sight of his goal terrified him, especially when he remembered the psychopaths he had witnessed taking pleasure in torturing the Japanese to death.

"And just what would Nunnally think of me then?" he thought with a subconscious gulp as he knew the answer already.

Nunnally would undoubtedly hate him for it. She would probably curse him to the deepest reaches of Hell. Already he had visions of years later in which he would meet up with an older Nunnally after he had committed countless atrocities and Nunnally refusing to even look at him as she condemned him and what he had done.

"You're not my brother anymore, I hate you!" he imagined Nunnally saying, "How could you do something so monstrous? Why? You're nothing but a monster; a lowlife, despicable monster, now get out of my sight!"

That scenario was very plausible, Lelouch knew and he knew that he just would not be able to bare it. The knowledge of his beloved sister hating his guts was just something he knew he could never prepare for and neither would he want to accept such a scenario. Nunnally was everything to him and he hated the possibility of losing her. Her being alive and declaring her undying hatred for him absolutely terrified him and yet with this plan, he knew that there was a possibility that he could very well fulfil that prophecy, which was one of the other reasons why he hated his own plan and even now, he hoped that an opportunity for something better would just present itself. As much as he did not want to admit or even accept it, the possibility of Nunnally coming to hate him was a very real prospect no matter how much he wanted to deny it and wish that it was not true and he knew that despite knowing this that if it ever came to pass, all the time in the world would be nowhere near enough time to formulate a game plan on how to deal with it. If it came to pass then he was pretty much screwed. Even just thinking about it caused a growing sense of panic and dread to well up inside him as he desperately hoped against all hope that his worst fear would not come to pass.

Author's Notes – This is my latest fic, a Code Geass AU and a what if scenario. To tell you the truth, I was partially inspired by Allora Gale's Dauntless fic, which I find fascinating. Anyway, I realise that Lelouch's plan has holes in it, but that's a risk he's willing to take to ensure Nunnally's safety and he has trust in Byakko that she'll be able to handle any problems that crop up. I got the information on Lelouch and Suzaku's interactions from Knightmare of Nunnally and though I'm never actually heard them, the sound dramas. As I said before, this story will have many OCs (hopefully they would not overshadow the main characters, though I must confess that I believe that I may have made Byakko into a bit of a Mary Sue) and also will have characters from other Code Geass related media (mainly Nightmare of Nunnally and Akito the Exiled and I would have used Oz of the Reflection, but information about that is so scarce).