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READ and REVIEW! Hope you enjoy chapter 2! emichii

Chapter Two: The School Day

"Um… Suzaku-kun…?"

Suzaku looked at his precious princess. She was standing in front of him, her hands clutched together tightly, her eyes shyly looking at him under her long eyelashes, her lovely pink hair falling down her back like always.

He could tell she wanted something.

"What is it, Your highness?"

She pouted, crossing her arms across her chest. "No, Suzaku, no! It's Euphie! Call me Euphie!"

"Euphie… sama." Suzaku's face went bright red, and he quickly pulled his gaze away from her and stared off to the side.

"So… I was thinking," the princess said, "that today I would like to go to school,"

"Huh?" He stared at her blankly.

It was early Wednesday morning and Suzaku was standing in the lobby, dressed in his school uniform. Princess Euphemia was standing across from him, wide awake, with a serious expression on her face.

"I want to go school too," Euphie said again.

Suzaku's face paled. "Eu-Euphie-sama, why so suddenly…?" he began, but he knew it was feeble to argue, because once Euphemia had her mind made up, it was impossible to change it.

"It's okay!" Euphie said brightly, a smile now on her face. "I'll be very careful! In fact, I've already got everything all set out! I'll make sure nobody works out who I am!"

She was so enthusiastic, so happy. Suzaku felt every last drop of his willpower disappearing.

"…Princess, I'd really prefer it if you stayed here. It's much safer and…" Suzaku said gently.

"I know I'll be safe with you, Suzaku!" She looked up at him and beamed. "After all, you are my personal Knight and you will always protect me!"

Well. He couldn't argue with that.

Euphemia watched him carefully.
Three… two… one… She chanted in her mind when just as she predicted, Suzaku took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

The weary ever-suffering knight smiled weakly. "Fine." He began to slowly turn away and get ready for one heck of a school day coming up.

Then he turned back and stared seriously at her, green eyes blazing with protectiveness. "But just today, okay?" He said sternly.

"Okay!" She agreed happily.

She watched him wearily packing up his school bag and she smiled. "Besides," she said quietly, "I feel the safest only when I am with you,"

Suzaku didn't hear her.

---

Suzaku sighed wearily to himself. Euphemia had somehow managed to get a hold of the girls' Ashford Academy uniform, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. She wore glasses and had pulled her long pink hair into pigtails, and she was also wearing a hat. Her socks didn't match. One was long and striped and the other one was bright red and baggy.

Suzaku shook his head. Maybe somehow the mismatch made her look… even cuter?

Suzaku blushed and shook himself hard. No! It's not allowed! Can't… be thinking… of Euphemia-sama like that!!

"Suzaku-kuuuun!!" Euphie was suddenly calling out, running over towards him, her smile bright on her face, and one hand holding onto her hat. "Hurry up! Hurry up! We're going to be late for class!"

Suzaku was smiling as he welcomed the presence of his beloved princess coming towards him, but that smile quickly froze in horror as he saw the crowd of male students following behind her.

"Wait! Wait, Eu-Euphie! Would you like me to carry your books for you?"

"Oh! Um, are you free this afternoon? Wanna go… out somewhere?"

"Euphie! What's your next class? Want me to walk you there, since you're new and all that?"

Quickening his pace, he pulled Euphie away from the crowd and quickly led her to the student council with him, his face red, and not answering to Euphie's questions about where they were going.

---

"This is Euphie," Suzaku said quickly, so that he didn't accidentally call her '-sama' or '-hime'. "And this is the Ashford Academy Student Council."

The student council looked up to see the pink-haired girl standing beside the knight. Rivalz blushed in the presence of the pretty girl, and Lelouch narrowed his eyes, as though maybe he could recognize who it was.

Suzaku threw the princess a wary look and the princess simply smiled right back at him, completely innocent.

Suzaku picked up a pile of papers from the desk and left the student council room to make photocopies, feeling worried about leaving Euphemia alone with the others.

Almost as soon as Suzaku had disappeared out the door, the disastrous student council exploded into action.

"Euphie!!" cried the energetic Milly Ashford, who was just as equally engaging and overbearing with perfect strangers as well as with the other members of the student council. The blonde president practically pushed Rivalz out of his seat so that she could sit next to Euphie.

Rivalz stumbled out of the chair, but didn't seem to really mind being pushed away by her, blushing slightly as he ran a hand absently through his hair.

"So you're just here for today, right?" Milly asked, and not giving Euphie a chance to respond, grabbed the girls' hands in hers and said, "Then there's a lot you'll have to do in one day!"

"Milly…" Shirley began, shooting Euphie an apologetic look.

"Huh? Oh!" Milly abruptly let go of Euphie and jumped to her feet. "I forgot to introduce everyone! Gosh, that Suzaku! The first thing on his mind is always work, work, work; doesn't even introduce his girlfriend to everyone!"

"Girlfriend??" Shirley, Rivalz, Lelouch, Kallen and Nina burst out.

"Um, wait, but-" Euphemia tried to explain, but Milly's loud voice overrode hers. "Anyway, so, I'm Milly Ashford! And this is Shirley, Lelouch, Rivalz, Kallen and Nina."

Lelouch… thought Euphie to herself. But Lelouch didn't seem to be acting as though he knew her. Oh well… I guess he doesn't want anyone to know who he really is.

"So, when did you and Suzaku-kun get together?" Shirley asked, pulling out a chair across from Euphie and sitting down. She smiled. "Who would've known? Suzaku's a bit of a dimwit! We didn't know he had it in him to get himself a girlfriend!"

Euphemia coughed and adjusted her glasses. "No, actually we're-"

She was interrupted by the sound of paws padding carefreely across the table. It was Arthur.

"Oh!" Euphemia was thoroughly distracted. "Who's this?"

"This," grinned Rivalz, picking up the cat, "is Arthur."

Just then, Suzaku came in the doorway, arms full of photocopies and papers. Seeing his favourite scratching post, Arthur came bounding out of Rivalz's arms and tearing across the floor towards the doorway.

"Oh crap! Arthur!" Rivalz chased after the cat.

"Hm?" asked an unsuspecting Suzaku. The cat took a huge leap and flew at Suzaku, knocking the poor boy backwards onto the floor, sending the sheets flying everywhere.

"Ow! Ow, Arthur, please stop!" Suzaku gritted his teeth as the cat raised a claw to scratch him again on the face.

Kallen quietly knelt down and started gathering the photocopies of the floor. Lelouch went over and helped. Rivalz grabbed the cat and tried to pull Arthur away from Suzaku, who was holding his arms in front of his face, and getting them scratched by the cat.

"Whoaa!!" Arthur pushed off Rivalz's arms and landed on Suzaku's face, pushing the boy down against the floor again. Arthur turned around and sent the student council what seemed to be a victorious smirk and went pouncing out the door.

"Damn!! Get that cat!" Rivalz shouted, tearing out the door.

Shirley got up and ran out after him, shouting out for Arthur. "Ah, I forgot!" She came back and called into the council room, "Can someone get me the cat treats? We should try bribing him back in!"

"Ah! Um… um… I'll get them!" Nina stammered, getting up and clumsily tripping over and knocking the chair over.

Milly suddenly turned away, pulling out a microphone from seemingly nowhere and fiddling with some switches on it.

"Man," muttered Suzaku as he picked himself up off the floor, "that cat really hates me!"

"Hates you?" The blonde president turned around and sent a bright smile in his direction. "Arthur adores you! That's how he shows his affection!"

"Hmph," Lelouch snickered to himself as he also straightened up, slightly crumpled papers in his hands.

"Suzaku! Are you all right?"

"Hm?" Suzaku looked at his beloved princess, now getting up from her chair, her lovely pink hair in its pigtails, and her glasses not hiding the care in her pretty violet eyes. Suzaku let out a laugh. Euphie stared in wonder.

"Me? I'm fine!" He let out jovially. "This is pretty normal actually! I'm used to getting beaten up much worse than this in the army and stuff!"

"Suzaku…" Euphie stared at him, a bit surprised, still reaching out as if to grab his arm and tend to it.

Suzaku turned away from her, politely apologizing to Kallen about making her pick up the papers.

"Tch," Kallen rolled her eyes, while no-one else apart from Suzaku could see.

Suzaku laughed again, taking the papers off her and going to stand beside Lelouch at the desk to straighten them out.

Euphie stood there, and watched her knight with wide surprised eyes.

"Okaaayyyy!!" The president's loud voice shouted out beside her. "This is your student council president, Milly Ashford speaking!!" She said into the microphone, and Euphie could hear her voice coming out from the speakers in the hallway.

"Just to let you all know, there's a cat running loose on campus!! We'd like your assistance in getting it back please! In fact, whoever catches the cat and brings it back will…" Milly turned away from the mike and surveyed the council, searching for an innocent victim.

"…score a date with…"

She noticed Lelouch sitting quietly in his seat and her eyes lowered slightly, an almost non-existent flicker of pain across her face. Suddenly, her eyes widened as though a brand-new idea had just occurred to her.

"…our incredibly handsome and famous Brittanian Knight Suzaku Kururugi!!" she shouted out into the microphone.

"Wait…-Whaaatt?" The slightly slow brunette raised his head and stared incredously at the energetic blonde.

"You heard me, Suzaku-kuuuun," smiled Milly, switching the mike off and putting it down.

"Milly, you can't do that!" Suzaku cried pleadingly, "I… I have responsibilities! I have no time to go on a date!! I don't want to-"

"Sorry, Suzaku, no can do!" Milly shook her head.

The slightly-bored looking Lelouch lifted his head and saw Euphemia, staring silently at the floor, her eyes hidden behind her glasses.

"You don't get it, Milly, I have to-" Suzaku tried to explain, thinking: I have to look after Euphemia-sama! And besides, it's not like I'd wanna go on a date with anyone other than- well-

Suzaku's face went pink. Then he quickly shut his eyes and shook himself out of it. No!! Remember, that's not allowed! Can't think of Euphemia-sama like that! Besides, even if she wasn't a princess, she'd never…

Suzaku-kun… Euphemia was staring down at the floor with a strange intensity in her eyes, and her fingers clenched tightly into fists.

Outside in the courtyard, she could hear the energetic footsteps racing around the campus, and the cries of excited girls.

"Wait…" Suzaku was frowning, as though he'd only just thought of something. "Before…" his face turned red, "Did you call me… incredibly handsome??"

"Of course, Suzaku-kun!" Milly said cheerfully, reaching out to pat him on the back. "Even with the cat scratches on your face."

"ARTHUR!!! ARTHUR!!" came the echoing cries down the hallway, followed by heaps of thundering footsteps.

Euphie took a deep breath and ran out of the student council room.

"Eh??" Suzaku turned. "Euphie?"

Oh damn! Euphemia-sama! He was alarmed. He couldn't let her run off alone in campus!

"Oh!" Milly was also surprised.

"Waaaaiiitt! Euphie!!" Suzaku ran after her and towards the doorway, only to run smack-bam into Nina, who was just returning from bringing Shirley some cat treats. Nina bumped into Suzaku and then tripped past him, accidentally knocking into Lelouch's chair, which went shooting forward and sent Lelouch shooting forward as well and out of his chair straight into Kallen, knocking her over backwards onto the floor and falling on top of her.

"Sorry, Nina," apologized Suzaku and went tearing out the doorway and into the hallway, screaming for his princess.

"…Lelouch…" Kallen said angrily through gritted teeth.

Lelouch's expression was the same as usual, as he looked down at Kallen, who was sprawled out on the floor under him.

Kallen's face was red and anger marks appearing on her forehead. Her fists were trembling. "I'm going to kill you, Lelouch," she said angrily.

Lelouch smirked down at her. "I thought Kallen Stadtfield wouldn't dare use such threatening language."

Kallen was speechless.

---

The school campus was in uproar. Girls were running all over the place, shouting and giggling. It made Suzaku feel kind of uncomfortable. Did they all… really want to date him? People were climbing trees, setting out pieces of food along the pavement, re-acting out cat food commercials, crawling around and making cat noises…

He spotted a boy who was also seriously running around and looking for Arthur.

Suzaku's face paled.

"SUZAKUUU-KUN!!" Someone was shouting out at him. He could recognize that voice anywhere.

"Euphemia-sama!" He called back. Luckily, nobody heard him say her full name as they were all too busy searching for the cat.

"Suzaku-kun!!" She was running towards him, her glasses askew, and her pink hair in their pigtails streaming out behind her. She was carrying something in her arms, and as she got closer, Suzaku could see the grey fur.

"I found him!" She told him, delightedly. "I found Arthur!!"

"…you… Your Highness…" he stammered out, shocked.

"Yeah!" She beamed at him, running up to him, Arthur cradled in her arms. She stood there, so close, right in front of him, the tips of their shoes touching. Her smile was beautiful, Euphie with her silly outfit, her mismatched socks, her glasses, her pigtails…

"Heeyyy! Suzaku!!" Milly was running down the path towards him as well, followed by the rest of the student council.

Suzaku could tell that the school day was pretty much over. And he looked at his sweet princess in front of him and he smiled honestly, happily at her, which made her stare at him in wonder.

"H-here!" Euphie stammered out, which she did not normally do, but seeing Suzaku smile like that shocked her. She held the cat out, and Arthur leapt across into Suzaku's arms, but instead of staying there, the cat clawed Suzaku across the shoulder and jumped out again.

Arthur tore down the path and sent the student council racing after him again. Seeing the cat running across the campus made the other students shout out and race after it, and the campus was an uproar again.

"Oh…" Euphemia sighed, her shoulders dropping. "He got away again."

Suzaku smiled and chuckled lightly. "It's okay."

Euphie raised her head and looked at her knight.

He held out his hand to her in his gentlemanly fashion. "The school day's over. Let's go home, Euphemia-sama."

---

They sat together on the train ride back, Euphemia still in her disguise so that nobody knew who she was.

"Well… was it worth it?" Suzaku asked quietly. "Did you have fun?"

Euphemia was silent for a moment. "Mmhmm… yeah." she looked up at him for a moment, "I had fun today 'cause it was at Suzaku's school! And with Suzaku's friends!" She smiled.

Suzaku looked away for a moment, his voice suddenly hoarse. "Uhuh…"

He was suddenly aware of her hand on his arm. He looked at her, surprised.

"I noticed that when you're at school with your friends- with the student council, you smile and laugh so much more! And… it's a really… happy and honest smile! And… I thought it was really amazing!" She looked down at her feet, shyly. She looked up again and at him, her violet eyes meeting his green ones. "That's… what I liked most about school today."

He stared wide-eyed at her. And then, he lowered his head and chuckled, lightly, a little embarrassed. "Yes… maybe, but… what made me smile the hardest today was seeing you, Euphemia-sama, running towards me with Arthur!"

Euphemia blinked and then smiled secretly to herself, feeling her face go slightly pink.

They sat in companionable silence for a while, just watching the scenery rush past the windows.

And then, Suzaku blurted out, "You know what I've been thinking about your disguise all day?"

"What?"

"…You look like a cosplayer." he said, his face flushing.

"…cosplayer?" repeated Euphie thoughtfully.

Her eyes seemed to twinkle and her mouth curved upwards in a mischievous grin.

Suzaku felt his spirit deteriorate. He knew he shouldn't have mentioned it.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the waiting so long for this update! ^_^ I hope you liked it! Please review!!