Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciate anyone who did that, and your thoughts really mean a lot to me. I hope you guys will enjoy the continuation of Of Queens and Emperors!

Chapter 2

"Who is that walking with Akeno-sempai?"

"I heard that they were on a date yesterday."

"Do you think he'd date Yuuto-sempai?"

Lelouch gulped as he heard whispering from all directions as he entered the gates of Kuoh Academy at Akeno's side. He noticed several girls staring at him with lecherous eyes and found no solace in the male population of Kuoh, which was practically nil. Instead, he found himself either being glared at by jealous students, both male and female, or being ogled, mostly by the female population.

He looked to Akeno for help, only to find that she was happily staring off into space, humming a little song and absent mindedly swinging her bag back and forth like a pendulum. Lelouch sighed, not really understanding why her personality seemed to switch back and forth. He knew that she had a serious side, he had seen it when she was with Rias, but at the same time, she also seemed to act rather carefree most of the time.

"Do you have something to say?" She asked suddenly, noticing that he was staring at her. At this, Lelouch's face instantly turned pink in embarrassment.

"No, not at all." He replied quickly, turning his head so that he would be facing forward and made a show of inspecting his new attire. He was wearing the standard uniform, which consisted of a white dress shirt underneath a black blazer, both of which he had buttoned up completely, complimented by black pants and a pair of brown dress shoes. His scrawny frame was partially hidden by the rather wide shoulders on his blazer, and his black hair was exactly in sync with the uniform.

Kuoh Academy itself was a fine school in terms of its appearance. The school itself was made up of several large buildings, all in the old Victorian style, and was recently remodeled, so that it looked like it a modern school at the same time. From what Akeno had told him, it was once an all girls academy, and had only recently become co-ed, which explained the low male population of the school.

Seeing Lelouch's attempt to hide his blush, Akeno giggled and was about to say something when a certain red haired devil ran up to her side.

"Akeno!" Rias greeted, slowing down her pace to match Akeno's relaxed one.

Akeno smiled and nodded back, "Good morning Rias."

"Hello Lelouch, do you remember more?" Rias asked, whispering the last part so that no one else could hear.

Lelouch sighed, "Sorry, nothing."

Rias waved it off, "It's fine. Oh, do you know where your classroom is? Why don't you just follow me and Akeno. We are all in the same class, after all."

"All right, then I'll stay with you guys." Lelouch replied gratefully, having been spared from asking some of the hostile faces around him for help in finding his classroom.

"So, Lelouch, do you like it so far?" Rias asked as they continued on their way, entering the school building, which was filled with students gossiping or going to their homerooms.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose so, although I can't really compare it to anything else."

He suddenly remembered that Rias' father was part of the administration of the school and that he should have made a better effort to compliment the school, but it was too late now.

"All right, take your seats, everyone!" Their homeroom teacher, an older man with slowly graying black hair, called out as the bell rang for the second time.

"Lelouch, meet Sona Sitri. She is our student council president." Rias introduced as she walked toward her seat.

"Hello, I'm Lelouch." He greeted, shaking the hand of a bespeckled girl with short black hair.

Rias and Akeno took their usual seats in the front of the room, where they sat near Sona. Lelouch motioned to follow them, but he was stopped by the teacher who cleared his throat, getting the attention of the class.

"We have a new student today. Why don't you introduce yourself?" The man asked, stepping away to let Lelouch speak.

As the class began settling down, Lelouch began to feel uncomfortable as dozens of pairs of eyes all began focusing on him.

"I'm Lelouch." He said, not knowing what else to say, given that he still had not recovered his memories.

Expecting him to say more, the man coughed once awkwardly before motioning to a seat in between Akeno and Sona at the front of the classroom. He inwardly smiled at this, as it meant that he would be getting the chance to sit between two rather attractive women. As for Akeno, he had already observed her up close, and knew that she was beautiful, but Sona was not half bad, even when compared to someone like Rias.

Lelouch took his seat and suddenly, he felt like his head was splitting in half. Trying not to draw too much attention, he placed his arm into his mouth and placed his head on the desk, biting down hard to avoid screaming out as the pain continued.

For a second, he saw the previously blurry image in his mind suddenly become crystal clear for a moment before it reverted to its original state. As this happened, the pain suddenly subsided, and he quietly breathed out a sigh of relief.

His ears were still ringing, and his eyes felt heavy as began listening to the lecture that the teacher had delved into. Inside his head, it registered to him that he already knew everything that he was currently being told. In fact, it seemed that he had a lot of knowledge about various topics, and his mind was immediately filled with volumes upon volumes of knowledge and before long, Lelouch was easily accessing his prior knowledge, as if it had always been there.

At the same time, his mind began telling him that he hated class and that he should get some rest instead.

Slowly but surely, Lelouch could feel the energy draining from his body as he resorted to balancing his head on his open hand, trying desperately to fight the urge before it completely overtook him. Without any resistance now, Lelouch felt his eyes close and his entire world went black.

"Lelouch!"

His eyes snapped open and found himself staring into the green eyes of Rias Gremory, who was standing in front of his desk, an expression of disappointment on her face.

"Ara ara, was Lelouch sleeping during class?" Akeno added, causing him to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Lelouch, how can you expect to regain your memories if you are sleeping during class? You could have missed some important information!" Rias replied incredulously.

"Actually, I did remember something." Lelouch replied, leading to Akeno and Rias simultaneously exchanging expressions of surprise.

"Well? What did you remember?" Rias asked interestedly.

Lelouch closed his eyes and thought hard, "I remember that I have already learned everything in this class, along with much more, and that I hate school."

Rias sighed, "Well, it's not much, but it's a start I guess."

"There is, one more thing." Lelouch added, causing Rias' eyebrows to rise in interest.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. On it, he proceeded to draw an almost bird like shape and handed the piece of paper to Rias.

"It's the symbol from my mind. I don't really know what it means yet."

Rias studied the paper intensely for a moment before handing it to Akeno, who followed suit.

"What do you think it means?" Rias asked, finding the symbol to be vaguely familiar, although she could not exactly recall where she had seen it before. Perhaps she would ask Sirzechs about it later if she found the time.

Akeno shook her head, "It's not anything I can recall seeing in the Underworld. Could it be related to the Fallen Angels?"

Rias nodded, "Perhaps, but we need to keep him under even tighter surveillance since he has begun to regain his memories."

Turning to Lelouch, she smiled, "Say, Lelouch, maybe we should go back to the shop and investigate that store more. It may hold more clues as to who you are."

Lelouch shrugged in response, "Seems like as good an idea as any."

"That's strange, I seem to recall the store being right here, but it's nothing more than a empty building now." Rias said as they stood in front of an empty building. Immediately after school, they had gone to the mall to investigate the shop further, but it was now as if the shop had never even existed in the first place.

Instead of having crimson curtains drawn in the window, a sign that stated "For Sale" hung in its place.

"Excuse me, sir, do you know what happened to the occult themed store that was here yesterday?" Rias asked a random man who happened to pass by.

"Store? I think I heard that the owner just packed up and left without any explanation." The man responded with a confused look on his face.

"Why would they have left so suddenly?" Rias whispered, turning to Lelouch and Akeno.

"Well, it looks like this is a dead end. We'll have to try again tomorrow."

Lelouch nodded, disappointed yet relieved at the same time.

Lelouch touched the knife gently, and surprisingly, he found that he knew how to wield it with extreme accuracy. He grabbed the carrots and immediately began slicing them with extreme speed while Akeno looked on in amusement. He picked up the cutting board and walked it over to the stove, where a pot filled with water was boiling and tipped it, pouring in the carrots.

"Ara ara, was Lelouch a cook before he lost his memory?" She giggled while peeling some potatoes beside him.

"I don't know, but I just picked up the knife and I naturally knew how to use it." Lelouch replied, finding himself engrossed in the cooking for some odd reason.

"Hm, I wonder what other useful skills you have." Akeno mused.

Lelouch smiled, "Well, I suppose if you let me loose, I'd find out if I was any good at housework."

"I hope so. It's really getting hard to take care of this place." Akeno admitted, still keeping her smile on her face, but Lelouch noticed that she seemed somewhat tired.

"So, Akeno, why do you live here? Don't your parents care about that?" Lelouch asked, causing Akeno to suddenly drop the potato and the peeler in her hands, both of them crashing into the sink.

Lelouch looked over at the sound to see Akeno bent over the sink, gripping the edge of the counter tightly. Her eyes were hard and he could tell that she was breathing harder. Immediately regretting what he had just said, Lelouch picked up his knife and stared deeply at Akeno.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have prodded like that." Lelouch apologized, returning to his cutting.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have expected you to know." Akeno replied, trying to put a smile back on her face but failing. She reached over to pick up the salt canister, meaning to season the stew they were currently making.

However, just before she poured it into the pot, she found the canister snatched out of her hands by Lelouch.

"We can't just pour that in haphazardly! We have to measure it out!" He scolded, pulling out some measuring spoons. Just as he began carefully measuring the salt, he heard laughing.

"Ara ara, Lelouch is just like a housewife." At Akeno's words, Lelouch instantly was conscious of the pink apron he had borrowed and felt the bandana he had wrapped around his head to keep his hair out of the way while he was cooking. She was right, he really did look like a housewife, and his seriousness in the kitchen only served to heighten the illusion.

Looking away from the spoons, he saw Akeno with a smile back on her face, laughing uncontrollably. At that sight, Lelouch was instantly comforted and a smile came to him as well.

Akeno held onto her sides as her laughing subsided and Lelouch ushered her out of the kitchen.

"Lelouch, what are you doing?" She asked as he walked her to the room they used for dining, which was as bare as every other room in the house, with a large wooden table being the only furniture in the room.

"You said it yourself, you take care of this place all by yourself. You deserve a break." Lelouch said, turning to return to the kitchen.

"I really should go back and help you." Akeno sighed, standing up to follow him, but Lelouch turned around and forcibly sat her down at the table.

"Don't push yourself Akeno. I know that I struck a chord earlier, and I'm sorry. I want to make it up to you, so just let me do this." Lelouch pleaded.

"It's fine, Lelouch, don't worry about what you said earlier." Akeno reassured, waving off his apology. Now feeling much more upbeat at her words, Lelouch was about to leave the room when he heard Akeno speak up once more.

"Thank you."

With a huge smile on his face, Lelouch closed the door behind him.

As Lelouch looked out the window during a lecture about Calculus, which he already knew anyways, he couldn't help but think about the incident that had happened last night.

After they had finally been able to calm themselves down, he had decided to finish the rest of the cooking by himself since Akeno really needed a break. As he had learned more about his cooking skills, he had also seen another flash of the symbol from before in his mind. By now he had deduced that it meant that he was recovering a part of his memory every time that symbol flashed across his mind, but he had no idea why that happened.

He could vaguely remember bringing out food that he had cooked for someone else, but he couldn't remember who he had cooked for except that it was someone that he had known well, and that they had praised him for it.

Akeno had done the same thing after he served her later, but he didn't get the same feeling that he remembered getting in the memory. He didn't get flustered like he had when Akeno complimented him, nor did it make his heart swell like Akeno's praise had.

Speaking of which, why had he reacted like that to Akeno? After all, he didn't know her nearly as well as he knew whoever he had cooked for in the past. There was just something about seeing the hard look in her eyes disappear as she gratefully accepted some of his cooking that had made him feel oddly proud.

He shook his head. There wasn't any time to be thinking of some girl. He had to focus on trying to understand who he was exactly.

Suddenly, the bell rang and all around him, students began packing up their bags and saying goodbye as they left. Lelouch was about to follow suit when he noticed that Sona had packed up her bag, but seemed to be waiting for something.

"Hey Sona, are you waiting for someone?" Lelouch questioned, leading her to nod.

"Yes, I am. Lelouch, I would like to invite you to come with me to Student Council. I want to talk to you." Sona said as Lelouch looked to Rias, who stepped forward.

"Lelouch, I agreed that you should go with Sona. We'll actually be busy with some club activities, so we'll meet up after school." Rias said before leaving the room with Akeno in tow.

Lelouch nodded and stood to follow behind Sona, who led him to a different building of Kuoh Academy.

They walked through several winding hallways of the school, which Lelouch was still rather unfamiliar with. He had only attended Kuoh for a day, and he was still doing his best to try and figure out the layout of the school, having succeeded in memorizing the location of his classroom. After they had left the main building of the school, Sona led him down a small path to a building off to the different part of the school.

Soon, he found himself in front of a smaller building with the same architecture that characterized the main building of the school.

"This is the Student Council building. We don't have a meeting today, so it'll just be the two of us for now." Sona replied, opening the door to reveal a large clubhouse. Lelouch took one step in, and instantly, his knees felt like jelly and he was assaulted by a flash of images in his mind.

Images of a cheerful blond girl, a blushing orange haired girl in a swimsuit, a sickly looking red head, a peppy blue haired boy, a loud brunette boy, and a nervous glasses wearing girl. Beyond that, he could see heart shaped hats, a large pizza, and…a cat costume?

"Are you okay?" He faintly heard, and it registered to him that he was with Sona in the Student Council room.

Slowly, he nodded, getting to his feet as the pain subsided.

Lelouch looked around to see that the architecture resembled that of the rest of the academy, although it was rather dimly lit. Inside lay several couches and tables that were piled with stacks of paper, all except for a lone table situated between two couches that held only one thing, a chessboard.

"Say, do you play chess?" Sona asked, to which Lelouch shrugged his shoulders.

"I can try."

They sat down on opposite sides, with Lelouch being drawn to the black pieces for some unknown reason.

He looked down at the chessboard, deep in thought, before touching a pawn lightly. As he did so, there was the same symbol appearing in his head, and again, he was suddenly struck by pain in his head once again, although it was greatly diminished compared to the last time it had happened.

When the pain had subsided, he looked down at the chessboard once more with new eyes. Immediately, he saw dozens of possible tactics that he could use to secure victory easily. Without hesitation, he moved the pawn in front of the king forward two spaces.

Smiling, Sona countered by moving her own pawn.

Lelouch studied the board before taking his king and moving it forward, causing Sona to raise her eyebrows in interest.

"Why would you move the king right now?"

Lelouch didn't know why, but suddenly, a saying came to the forefront of his mind, "If a king does not lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?"

"Hm." Sona replied, musing over his words. She felt that, as she had heard those words, she had also been learning about Lelouch's true character. This was why she loved chess. People often revealed much about their natures, just through the way that they approached the game. People who were patient with their moves were often times far more calm and controlled in real life, while those who played the game aggressively often were more unrestrained and mercurial in real life. In addition, she was able to learn personal details from the conversations that often sprang up during a game of chess.

Intellect was also sometimes determined, although no one had ever beaten her, so it was hard to really judge one's intelligence from a test such as the one she was giving. She had stated before that she would never marry anyone who could not beat her in chess, as she didn't want to be married to anyone who she would not be able to carry on intelligent conversation with, but she had found that many intelligent people still failed to beat her.

She sighed. She had seriously considered making an exception to her own self imposed rule if she could not find a suitable man within a few years. It seemed that, in general, no one was able to think and formulate a strategy effectively enough to beat her, as much as she had hoped for the day to come.

Maybe this boy would be the one, as unlikely that it seemed that an amnesiac could beat her. But she was sensing something strange emanating from him, not quite Angel or Devil, but still a powerful aura nonetheless. And she was not just imagining it, as Rias had confirmed that she sensed the same thing. Perhaps it was a Sacred Gear, although that didn't really seem likely. She knew what a Sacred Gear felt like, and she just wasn't feeling one from him. Either way, she was interested in reincarnating him as a Devil for her peerage, as she could tell that he had the potential to become a very powerful piece.

"So, Lelouch, Rias told be that you don't seem to recall much about your past." Sona stated. She and Rias were good friends, as well as rivals, and she had told Sona all about the mysterious boy that was now sitting in front of her.

Lelouch nodded in reply, "Yes, it's true."

"So, do you have any idea why your memories are gone?" Sona asked, moving another piece. She planned to prolong the game as much as she could, as she wanted to talk to Lelouch. Obviously though, she was still trying to win, and was going to, only in a longer fashion than she normally would.

"All I have are theories, and there's no telling if any of them are right." Lelouch replied dejectedly.

"Well, don't be disappointed, I'm sure you'll find something out." Sona remarked, "If not, you can always just stay at Kuoh. I promise that we'll treat you well if you do. In fact, I'd be willing to find a spot on you on Student Council."

Lelouch smiled, "Well thank you, but I plan on finding out who I really am. I don't think that I can go through life, just some nameless face. I need to know who I am, and why my memory is gone."

"What if you don't like the answers that you get? What will you do then?" Sona asked, interested in Lelouch's response. From his initial expression, it was clear that he had never really thought about it, and that the thought was racing through his mind at the current moment. After a short delay, it seemed that he had the answer.

"Then I'll have to live with the consequences." Lelouch said, standing up from his seat after making one final move.

"Where are you going?" Sona asked, standing up as well, hoping to keep him from leaving, as she still wanted to discuss more with him.

"I'm sorry, but I really should get going. Akeno-sama is probably waiting for me, and I have to get started on making dinner. Thank you for the talk." Lelouch said, walking away and opening the door.

"By the way, checkmate." Lelouch said with a smile before closing the door and leaving.

In shock, Sona looked down at the chessboard to see that it was, in fact, checkmate. He had played her aggressively, and she had merely been countering him and biding her time. But now that she thought back to the game, he had only really been feinting the entire time, looking for small openings and exploiting them to great use. He had outdueled her at her own game.

"How did he do that?" She whispered to herself in amazement. There was no way that just anybody could have done what he had just pulled off, there was just no way that he was lucky. No, while on the surface, it seemed like he was just an amateur, he was clearly an experienced player with an exceptional mix of patience and aggressiveness that was unheard of in most players at their age.

"Who exactly is this man?" She whispered to herself in awe as she picked up the black king and fingered it softly.

Lelouch and Akeno lay side by side inside of her futon, still having neglected getting another for Lelouch to sleep in by himself. Over the past two days, they had gotten progressively more comfortable with each other. Well, it was more like Lelouch got over his fears of sleeping so closely with Akeno, but it was progress.

Lelouch had his head up, facing the ceiling, unable to shake Sona's words from before. It had been several hours since he left the Student Council room, but her words were still haunting him.

What if the answers he got were not what he wanted to hear? He had never considered that possibility before, but it was all very possible. Would Akeno and Rias reject him?

"Akeno-sama, are you awake?" Lelouch asked, not expecting a reply.

"Of course I am, what's on your mind?" Akeno replied happily from her side of the sheets.

Lelouch took a deep breath as he considered whether he really wanted to ask her or not, "Tell me, what would you do if you found out that I was a terrible person or something? Would you still be friends with me?"

Without hesitation, Akeno responded, "Of course. Our pasts do not make us who we are today. Even if I learned something terrible about you, you've still been a friend to me, and I wouldn't forget that."

Lelouch smiled as he heard that. It was reassuring to know that Akeno would not hate him for his past, if it really was something bad. Besides, there was no way to know that he had done something wrong before, so he shouldn't be worrying about it just yet.

All that mattered right now was that he had a friend, and he was grateful for it.

I want to take this time to address a question that came up in a few reviews. I'm not sure about the status of a harem yet. I really do like writing stories that feature less characters better because it really gives me more room to work on characterization and I can develop each character more, as opposed to writing in a few lines to make sure each character gets their due in a harem story, so I am currently on the fence about it right now. I actually do think that the idea that Moneymaka suggested to me about a love triangle was an excellent one.

As of right now, I will not write this story as a harem one, but I think that a love triangle between Lelouch, Akeno and someone else could sprout. I am currently thinking that Sona could be a possibility as I don't think she gets enough love in the fanfics on this site, and that her intelligence and tactical mind might appeal to Lelouch. However, I want to let my readers help me decide on who the last person is, so please leave your suggestions in either the form of a review or a PM! I really love hearing the thoughts from you guys, as they can only serve to make my writing stronger, so please don't be afraid to review!