Author's Note: Alrighties. First of all, sorry for taking so long to publish chapter 2! Things have been pretty hectic with school and all. Also, I got major writer's block. No worries, I do plan to finish the story but expect updates to come slowly. Anyhow, this is the best I can dish out for now. Again, reviews are loved.


C.C. repositioned herself on the bed and hugged her ragged Cheese-kun plush closer to her chest. Of course, she had absolutely no intention of sharpening the girl's pencil, but she saw no harm in humoring her. After all, there was still an eternity to waste away.

She gave an indifferent shrug accompanied by a lazy shift of her eyes. "Me? Sharpen your pencil? Who do you take me for?"

Saris ran her fingers over the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table, her prized possession from her favorite eatery, Pizza Hut. "Well, I take you for a friend," she replied simply.

C.C. remained steely-eyed and made no attempt to stand. "Friend, ally, comrade, enemy; it makes no difference in the end."

A moment of silence filled the air before Saris gave an indignant huff and stood up, taking long strides over to the small, black sharpener on the bookshelf. She roughly shoved her pencil into it, and with a frown plastered on her face, waited for the mechanical whirring to stop.

By the time she turned around, C.C. had made her way from the bed to the table at which she had been working. Her hand was set on one of the pages that were filled predominantly with pictures.

"You're wrong, you know. It does make a difference," Saris called out. With her pencil clamped between her teeth, she moved past C.C. and pushed the book away from her reach. "I bet if I could use my Geass on-"

Her sentence was suddenly cut off by C.C. who took the book back to the bed. She leaned against the side and returned to her original page, seemingly ignoring her charge. In the corner, there was a picture of a young boy with black hair donned in regal clothing. Next to him was an even younger girl, clinging to his arm and sitting behind them was what seemed to be their mother. The caption alongside it read, "Lelouch vi Britannia at age 7 with his sister, Nunnally vi Britannia, and birth mother, Marianne vi Britannia."

She flipped to the next page and encountered a small picture of Lelouch as the 99th Emperor just a few days before Zero had "freed the world of his tyranny", as the book had put it. Suddenly, she ripped the page out.

"Hey! I have to pay for that!" Saris cried out, scrambling from her chair to take the book out of C.C.'s hands. C.C. snapped the book shut and dropped it on the floor in front of Saris. It landed with a thud and nearly on the girl's feet. "What-"

"I'm going out." C.C. flung her stuffed Pizza Hut mascot aside and made for the door even before Saris had a chance to pick up her book.

"W-wait! Are you angry with me or something?"

"Should I be?" she questioned coolly, pulling on a thin, white jacket. For a moment, she paused as she was dressing and looked to Saris. C.C. fancied she saw the red glint of the Geass flash beneath the girl's contacts.

Saris gently placed her textbook on her desk and emitted a sigh. "Fine. We're still bound by our contract, so I guess it doesn't matter then."

She grabbed her pencil and proceeded to write down some two-bit answer to the reading check. "I will be ordering Pizza Hut if that is of any interest."

By the time she said that, though, C.C. had already left.