Between Us
Chapter 1: 99th Empress Lelouch vi Britannia
"… Now onto the matter regarding the next emperor. Charles zi Britannia has decided his strongest heir to inherit the throne in his place should be pass. Our new emperor is…
"The ninety-ninth Empress Lelouch vi Britannia!"
Shock coursed throughout the depths of her violet eyes. They were swirling with anger along with confusion. She told him not to. She mentally cursed her father over and over while being on autopilot to the outside world.
To the outside world, Lelouch just smiled and accepted the throne with the ceremony taking place. They had put out a new outfit for her that consisted of blue slacks with a white undershirt and a matching blue jacket adorned with yellow rope decorations hanging from her right shoulder to the left opening. To the public, it was reminiscent of the late empress Marianne vi Britannia, who had passed away eight years ago.
Lelouch looked to the public that stared waiting for her to say her speech, clearing her throat, she spoke with a strong voice, not too loud nor too soft.
"Although this is a time for mourning, I promise to fulfill the former emperor's wishes and see the powerful country of Britannia to still prosper and more! All people are not created equal! As my father has said. Whomsoever harms this country will also not receive mercy from me.
"All hail Britannia!" Lelouch finished.
"All hail Lelouch! All hail Lelouch! All hail Lelouch! All hail Lelouch…" The court chanted in the main room. Lelouch stood there with a smirk on her face before finally leaving to the side to attend her party.
Now she had to greet all the allies and nobles of Britannia. It was something she did not want to deal with at the moment.
-X-
Suzaku hated parties. Luckily Sayoko was there with him. Now he just had no idea where the annoying immortal witch went to. She always disappeared when he needed her the most. He knew that she was from Britannia and probably knew who all the nobles were so he would not make a fool of himself. He did not exactly know their names.
"Suzaku!" He heard Euphie calling him. A flash of pink and white latched onto him giving him a big hug. Cornelia followed behind her sighing in disappointment, Suzaku believes.
"Hello, Princess Euphemia, Princess Cornelia." He greeted them with a proper bow when Euhpie gave him a chance. He did not want to be on very bad terms with the legendary Witch of Britannia.
"Prime Minister Kururugi," Cornelia greeted back with a nod of her head.
"C'mon Suzaku, lets meet father's little secret!" Euphie stated grabbing his hand and took off with him trailing behind. "Remember its Euphie!" she added. Sayoko and Cornelia followed at a slower, but hastened pace.
"Lelouch!" Euphie called out to the dark haired girl with her back facing them. Violet eyes trained on them with a bit of a surprise before it was fully concealed. When they approached her she spoke.
"Yes Euphie, you have my permission to marry him," Lelouch said.
Blue-violet and green eyes blinked at her in confusion. Lelouch did not know what was wrong. She was sure that is what Euphie wanted brining a man over. The pink-haired girl laughed. Suzaku kept himself from laughing. He did not want to embarrass himself in front of the new empress.
"No silly sister!" Euphie said. "I wanted to introduce you to my friend! This is Suzaku Kururugi, Prime Minister of Japan." She said.
Suzaku gave a formal bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you Empress."
A hand touched his shoulder making him look up. He met the endless violet pools.
"There is no need for formality Prime Minister Kururugi. If Euphie finds you a friend then you must be a good person unlike these…" Lelouch trailed off not finishing. "You may call me Lelouch. Empress only among business meetings and court." She then held her hand out in front of him.
Suzaku stood up to grasp her hand. "Then you may call me Suzaku, your highness."
As soon as their hands touched, images flashed before Suzaku's eyes. He could see them, flashes of memories that were and were not his own. There was no way this was happening to them. They were synchronizing. Suzaku only went through this with C.C. Perhaps there was a reason the new empress was the 'emperor's secret', as said by Euphie. Could she be like C.C. a code bearer? He thought to himself before they were broken apart by Lelouch who abruptly took her hand away.
Suzaku glanced at Lelouch as he was out of his trance. He thought he saw a flash of a red bird insignia in her eyes, but it quickly faded as he blinked. Maybe it was his imagination. To him it felt like a while but to the outside world it only took a few seconds unnoticed to the naked eye.
"Why don't you stay for a few days Minister Kururugi? That is if you do not have other pressing matters to attend. I'm sure Euphie will appreciate it," Lelouch said after regaining her composure, smiling.
Suzaku smiled back. "Of course, your highness. If you do not mind," he said. Lelouch gave a curt nod.
"I'm sorry to cut our meeting short but I feel tired after all this happenings. I have to retire to be ready for the morning. I'm sure Euphie can direct you and your two guests to some of our guest bedrooms in the Aries Villa. Cornelia, tell Schneizel that he could take over for me for the rest of the evening." Lelouch stated before hastily heading towards the exits. She knew Cornelia would tell him without having to confirm it.
Suzaku stared after her retreating figure. Perhaps she saw it too…
Euphie tugged on Cornelia's sleeve, their eyes communicating.
-X-
Suzaku looked at the main hall of the Aries Villa. It was very extravagant. He could not pinpoint where had seen this room before. It looked very familiar, he could not put his finger on it.
"Welcome to Aries Villa, Suzaku. This is where we all sleep, well just me, Lelouch, Cornelia, and Nunnally and Rolo her bodyguard. Come, we should meet them. I think they are having dinner on the terrace." Euphie then dragged him up the stairs and into another hall that he assumes will lead them to the terrace somehow.
Cornelia just watched them go, knowing that Suzaku would take care of Euphie even if he was Japanese. She walked towards the entrance from when they came.
"Captain Jeremiah Gottwald," she greeted the sea green haired man who stood at the entrance. "I want this place covered no mistakes." Cornelia stated.
"Yes, your highness." Jeremiah said giving a curt bow before going to inform his subordinates and see if any of them are slacking. He will not let what happened before happen again.
Cornelia then walked up the separate set of stairs that led to another hall along with half of the rooms. She reached the end of the hall in front of the set of decorated double doors. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. There was no answer but she thought she heard two voices. One she recognized as her little sister's the other she did not.
"Come in," Lelouch called from the room.
Cornelia turned the knob and peeked inside also trying to spot the other person. There was only Lelouch who was already in her nightgown. Maybe her ears were hearing things. She will not dwell on it. Closing the door behind her, she walked towards the four poster bed.
"Are you feeling alright Lelouch?" Cornelia asked while she sat next to her on the side of the bed. Lelouch just gave her a smile.
"I'm fine Cornelia. I was just very tired that was all. How was the party?" Lelouch asked her.
"Just like any other party, Lelouch. Schneizel ended it earlier than expected. Maybe he didn't want to spend any more time on it either."
Lelouch let out a chuckle. Cornelia sighed.
"How do you feel about this?" Cornelia asked her. Lelouch knew what she was talking about.
"I don't know. I just can't believe father put this on me," Lelouch confessed. Cornelia pulled her into a hug, something she had not done in a while since putting the rebels down in area eighteen. She had only just come back from that mission for their father's funeral.
Cornelia just sat there and held her as her eighteen year old sister let out her grievances on her situation. Cornelia promised herself that she would take care of her younger sisters no matter what. She then heard evened out breathing, noting that Lelouch had fallen asleep. The Witch of Britannia gently laid her down and tucked her in. She let a smile before exiting the room quietly.
Two pairs of eyes watched in the shadows.
-X-
Suzaku could not fathom how his stay was for the first couple days within the Aries Villa. Alas, he has not seen much of the current empress for she was busy with public matters and meetings that needed to be taken care of. Although, he liked Lelouch's little sister Nunnally. Rolo, her bodyguard, he was kind of iffy about. To Suzaku, the bodyguard did not look like much but seemed to be the same age as Nunnally. Perhaps that was the reason why. He was also glad that Cornelia had lightened up on him. He was grateful for that.
On to other matters, he still had to talk to the empress about some things, especially what happened between them at the party. He had to find out if she was a code bearer. C.C. had told him that he should watch out for other code bearers like her. It reminded him that he needed to look for the elusive C.C. Even Sayoko could not find her. He knew she was lurking nearby and had a feeling that she was in the Aries Villa herself. He should start looking for her. Looking down the hall, he gulped in worry for he might get lost.
-X-
Lelouch glanced out at the view. It was her day off and she decided to just sit and not worry about anything else except one problem. The problem was staying in her guest bedroom. Suzaku Kururugi was a mystery to her. Something was very different about him. She knew she had to be careful. It was the reason she let him stay for a week should he not have pressing matters to deal with.
"Good afternoon, your highness." Speak of the devil.
Lelouch turned and smiled, gesturing Suzaku to come and sit in the other chair. She took a sip of her tea, calming her nerves and going over in her head on how to tread carefully with her questions.
"So, Suzaku, how did you become the Prime Minister of Japan at this age?" Lelouch asked. It was a legitimate question. She had always wondered how did someone at her age manage to do it.
"My infallible luck," Suzaku stated. Lelouch chuckled, which made him chuckle along with her. "No, actually I wanted to follow in my late father's footsteps. He was a prime minister before he passed away."
"Yes, I heard about that. I'm sorry," she responded.
"No need, it has already happened that past stays the past." Suzaku did omit some parts pertaining to his father's death, but he did not care. Most times he just turned a blind eye to it. Not thinking more on it, he wanted to find out who Lelouch really was. She was only described by Euphie, but there could be other things especially what happened a few days ago. Plus, why did the ninety-eighth emperor keep the new empress out of sight from the public and the allies? There must be a very good reason.
"Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Lelouch asked with her calculating gaze.
Suzaku saw a glimpse of why Charles chose her to succeed him. She was charming, spoke well, manipulative in her favor. Her gaze was cool and calculating although discrete. He was sure nothing went past her notice. Plus she resembled her father much more than any of the many half-siblings she had.
"If you don't mind me imposing, why were you only appearing just now?" Suzaku asked seriously. There was no point of a curious question in his voice. He knew that to appeal to her was to sound like he was serious.
"My father. I don't know why. He was the one who decided it and said I had to stay here until he wanted me and my sister out in the open," Lelouch just answered casually. She just omitted some parts, but they were not for Suzaku's ears, as much as he was growing on her. She liked him. She saw what Euphie saw in him.
"I see. I guess we'll never know." Suzaku just responded and they got into more talking about childhood memories, some they omitted.
Lelouch liked him more as they talked. He felt like a very good friend. She was soon surprised as she was pulled from her seat and something was over her, as if protecting her. A shot rang out right where she was sitting. Her eyes were closed in surprise, noting that if she opened them she was going to be embarrassed.
Taking a chance, she opened her eyes, surprise flitted across her face as she stared into emerald green eyes.
TBC--------------------
BLK Angel of Destruction: Here's the second chapter! I'm trying to get the story underway. Anyways I know the chapter might be kind of boring, but its going to get even better… I'll make it that way. Thanks for your reviews!
Review! C+C accepted! No Flames!
