I've been attacked by the plot bunnies and this idea wouldn't leave me alone last night. Even had nightmares about it. Honestly! It was horrible, especially when I was trying to concentrate on finals.

Summary: So basically Lelouch has been sealed into a scroll at the age of ten after challenging his father and seeking an audience when his mother died. Seven years later the Japanese rebels find the scroll and unseals Lelouch, but he still has a connection to the scroll that keeps him bound to it and whoever owns it. Lelouch's goal? Find his sister and escape the Japanese man that's in possession of his scroll.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass! Duh! if I did, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I? And this disclaimer is for all future chapters, so I don't need to repeat it.

The Boy In The Scroll

Chapter 1: Get Rich Quick Plan


'His name was Tamaki Shinichiro and he was about to be rich!' Tamaki inwardly cheered in an announcer's voice. A grin spread across his face as he finally got the chest to open. He spun a paper clip between his fingers cooly, but it was ruined when the thin wire fell from his grasp. His grin flickered into a frown but soon came back full force. 'He was Tamaki! Everything he did was awesome in it's own right!' he mentally crowed.

"He was currently in the basement of one of Britannia's air lockers. The castle was dark and in extreme need of being cleaned, but he could care less, for Tamaki-"

"Oi! Tamaki, we're running out of time. Stop talking to yourself!" The voice was undoubtedly Naoto's.

"Yeah, yeah," Tamaki growled, quickly stuffing whatever he could into the bag he brought with him. So much for his get rich quick scheme. He'd been expecting there to be gold with the way Naoto had explained things to him. "There's nothing in here," Tamaki grumbled as he slammed the chest shut and sauntered on his way out of the locker.

All he managed to grab was a few guns and a sensor or two. Sure he could probably sell the lot of it and make a small fortune, but he'd been aiming for the gold! Not to mention he was Japanese. If the dirty Britts found out he had guns or something as advanced as a sensor, they would have his head on a platter before he could say, "Japanese Rule!"

"Alright!" Tamaki announced in the radio loudly, not seeming to care that he was undercover in enemy territory. "I'm in position for pick up!"

"Sssshhhh! Quit shouting," Naoto hissed and the radio went silent. A few seconds later a dark green pickup truck drove up. "Hurry up. We only have two minutes before the guards round the corner."

"Cool your jets," Tamaki snapped back, but quickly jumped in the truck. He hadn't even closed the door before Naoto slammed on the gas and the truck sped forward. Ugh, Tamaki was going to be sick. He hated Naoto's driving! The car jerked to the right and Naoto sped over a speed bump. Yep, he was definitely going to be sick. Tamaki didn't know how long he was in that cursed carnival ride, but by the time he got out, his legs were wobbly with each step he took. Anyone would trust Naoto with their lives, but when it came to his driving he was the last on anyones list. Who gave their leader the keys to the truck anyway!? Keys to any moving vehicle was a complete 'NO' when it came to Naoto! The only reason why he jumped in the car with no hesitation was because he expected Kallen to be there. At least with her in the truck, Naoto would have been a little more careful with how he drove.

Someone coughed to the side and Tamaki slowly turned to face the person, not trusting himself to move to quickly just yet. He didn't want to meet todays lunch for the second time that day. "Perhaps," started Ohgi, "maybe I should drive," he said to Naoto.

"You would have been too slow," Naoto stated seriously. It had been a long time since he had smiled. The only person who could get a smile out of him was his sister, and even then it seemed strained. "Now let's see the goods," he turned to Tamaki as he led the way into their small base… if it could even be called a base.

Their base had no furniture and the ground was dirt, literally. The base was literally just a steel box turned over to protect them from mother natures elements, and bombings if need be. Off to the corner was small blinking lights that were supposed to warn them if Knightmares neared. Yep, this base was an old relic of what the Japanese had used during the war, but it obviously wasn't enough.

"Ah, you got a sensor," Naoto said, sounding happy but didn't smile. He rotated the object in his hands before moving the other that was similar to the first. "We should set this up near camp," he stated.

'Camp' was the place everyone in the resistance slept. The place was roach infested, but what could you do? Home was home.

"I'll set them around the premises," Ohgi volunteered. The sensors were quickly deposited into his care. "What about the gu-" he cut off when he noticed a red streak across Tamaki's arm. "You're injured! You should have said something sooner! What if it gets infected?" Oghi jumped up, the sensor's now forgotten about and ran to a small first aid kit.

As the second in command scurried to get bandages Tamaki slowly looked down at his bloodied arm. He dimly remembered getting it when he sneaked into the Brit's air locker. From there everything had been a blur for a while until he got to the chest. Odd. He couldn't remember anything from the time he snuck in to the time he opened the chest. Everything in the middle was a fuzzy blur.

Tamaki shook himself from his thoughts as Ohgi knelt next to him.

"Really, you need to take better care of yourself," Oghi scolded. The blood was quickly wiped away, then disinfected was applied and finally a strip of cloth was wrapped around his arm and pinned near his elbow. "It probably need's stitches," Oghi sighed as he assessed his work. It seemed Oghi was holding back on saying that his arm was probably infected.

"It's fine," Tamaki stated and yanked his arm away. "I'll meet you guys back at camp."

Naoto and Oghi watched as their friend stomped away. They both knew why Tamaki was so down, but none of them cared to voice it. It was the same thing all the time. Tamaki was tired of being the henchmen.

"I'll have a talk with him later," Naoto sighed, knowing the ex-teacher would have taken the responsibility upon himself if Naoto didn't say anything first.

Ohgi nodded, "and looks like you got an excuse too. He forgot his bag." Oghi chuckled, knowing his leader hated approaching other people if there wasn't a good excuse for it.

"You aren't going to let me out of this one, are you?" Naoto sighed.

"Nope," Ohgi agreed. Pulling the bag toward himself, Ohgi was surprised to find that something weighed the bag down. He frowned slightly. It wasn't like Tamaki to keep something from them. Ohgi pulled the item out.

A scroll?

The box it was in had intricate carvings in it and was pure white, save for the gold runes that ran across it… and a blood spot that wasn't supposed to be there. The ends of the scroll's rods stuck out on either end of the box. Strangely both ends were pointed and sharp enough to be used as a weapon. Ohgi raised an eye-brow, he hadn't even opened the box yet and he could already tell this scroll was like none he had ever seen before.

Naoto shrugged and leaned in closer to the box. "Well…?"

Ohgi needed no more prompting than that and quickly slid the scroll out. On closer inspection the gold rods seemed to indeed be gold. However it seemed to him that whatever was written or painted on the scroll had lost value. Somehow a drop of Tamaki's blood had ended up on the parchment.

Unraveling the scroll, both men nearly gasped at the beautiful painting. There was no mistaking one of Britannia's gardens, however there was also no mistaking the fact that it was painted by a Japanese. The focus point was obviously a majestic Neko spirit that neither men recognized. However if their Japanese culture was anything to go by, this cat obviously wasn't an evil spirit since it's eyes weren't red… or at least one eye was light blue while the other had been splattered by Tamaki's blood. The cat had a white underbelly while it's back and tail was a striped ebony. It's upper face was also ebony, giving it the look that it had a mask on.

"Wait till Tamaki hears that he just ruined a painting that is most likely worth a fortune," Ohgi joked as he began raveling the scroll back up and placed it in the box.

XXX

Lelouch yawned and stretched his arms over his head as he floated above the two Japanese men. They couldn't see him at all, and up until a couple hours ago he hadn't been able to see them either. Or anything for that fact.

Oh no, Lelouch had never been blind, but he had been sealed within a scroll. The scroll was a completely white void of nothingness. The only thing that existed in the thing was Lelouch's wondering spirit. Or at least he thought he was a spirit, he wasn't quite sure if he was dead or alive. But going by common sense and a bit of Japanese religion, a living person couldn't be sealed into anything, only the spirit. So he must be dead… or something similar to a spirit. Lelouch groaned at the mystery that even he couldn't solve. Not knowing what the heck he was, was bit troubling to the seventeen year old.

For the last seven years Lelouch had no connection to the outside world. His mind was trapped within the scroll, and as such his ability to sense things outside of his prison was limited. The only thing the scroll allowed him to sense was when it was being moved around.

Usually such occurrences were an irritation to the teen. He absolutely hated being jerked around when people moved the scroll. And what was worse, was that such events were always a surprise so Lelouch could never prepare himself for the next sudden movement.

However when that Tamaki man had moved the scroll it had been different. Today he had seen the light of the moon for the first time in seven years. He got to hear the voices of men and was even aware that each bump and jolt he felt was caused by the truck they were in, then later Ohgi and Naoto when they found him- er, the scroll.

"Here," Ohgi said as he tossed the scroll to Naoto.

Lelouch was instantly jolted from his perch above Ohgi, to Naoto. He frowned slightly, couldn't these men be more careful with the scroll? He didn't enjoy being moved around against his will.

"Make sure to give that to Tamaki. Maybe you could convince him to hang it somewhere in his room. The place needs a bit more color," Ohgi continued.

"Sure," Naoto agreed, tossing the scroll up in the air before catching it and stuffing it into a bag.

Ugh, this was worse than the trip overseas! Lelouch could feel an oncoming headache from motion sickness. "I think I'm going to be sick," Lelouch grumbled to himself.

"I'll catch you later," Naoto nodded. "Be back to camp before the sunrises."

Ohgi nodded, showing that he heard but didn't really care as he shooed Naoto away. Most likely wanting to get his best friends on talking terms.

Naoto rolled his eyes as he walked out of base and hefted his bag onto his shoulder. Lelouch groaned at the sudden movement and mentally prepared himself for the long walk back to camp… wherever that was…

*Step**Step**Step*

Oh dear, Lelouch was definitely going to need a spirits equivalent of Tylenol after this. The older man might have been moving slowly as he was only walking, but it was enough to make Lelouch sick. To him it felt as if the man had decided to drive up a rocky mountain without the right wheels. It was so bum-py!

Lelouch was so concentrated on not falling asleep from the headache, that he didn't even notice when they arrived at camp.

"What a torn up place," Lelouch muttered to himself as he looked up at the dark looking building.


A/N: Did anyone see that foreshadowing that I added in this chapter? Heheheh, I finally pulled it off! Whoopee!