The world-class plane was definitely something that would catch the attention of the Britannian forces, but it was nothing compared to the theft of four fighter jets from an airbase at the hands of the RED team. The plane had been commandeered by Cornelia's Knight Gilbert G.P. Guilford while it was refueling at an airport and for good reason: without a plane, there was no chance of Lady Marianne or her children escaping the homeland without another assassination attempt being made on any of them. At the moment, Marianne vi Britannia was in the plane along with her son Lelouch and daughter Nunnally in addition to newly-named Knights Jeremiah Gottwald, Kewell Soresi, and Villetta Nu. Also accompanying them was Euphemia as Cornelia knew better than to leave her at the mercy of whoever was behind the assassination attempts and the Medic was there simply because his Medi Gun might have to be used.
At the moment, it would be forty-five minutes until the plane had touched down in Japan at 17:35. Cornelia had sent advanced notice to Japanese Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi about the plane's arrival and that it would be escorted by four fighter jets. Lelouch had a lot to think about since not one but two assassination attempts had been made on not only his mother's life, but also Nunnally. In his head, he knew that Cornelia would have nothing to gain from authorizing the attempts and while Schneizel was crafty, he was a master at saying and or doing one thing while meaning an unrelated thing. It was a necessary skill for him to get through politics, but it also made the Second Prince very unpredictable.
That meant only one of two things in Lelouch's mind: His father, the Emperor, was behind it or at least supporting the real culprit, or the Nobles were getting restless considering that a Spec-Ops team had attacked the Aries Villa. The latter was a ludicrous idea that was almost immediately discarded, but the former was also equally unlikely. By the time his thoughts left the issue of who was targeting his mother and by extension his sister, the plane had already touched ground in Japan. The welcoming committee wasn't rude, but at the same time it was rather bland, even though everyone was speaking in English. It wasn't until later, specifically at dinnertime, that Lelouch was deep in thought once again.
It was clear that Prime Minister Kururugi had anticipated anyone asking for spoons before the meal began, so ten spoons had been prepared and set next to a pair of wooden sticks where the Britannians would sit at the table. It was difficult for Marianne to sit on the floor due to her injuries, which were all on her legs. Lelouch speculated that his mother's kneecaps had been shot by whoever tried to kill her, but he wisely decided that now would not be a good time to bring it up. The REDS had obviously declined to have dinner with everyone in the Kururugi Residence as they explained that they had eaten while on the way.
"There's this food that Heavy eats called the Sandvich. He eats those and ribs, but he consumes nothing else beside water. I might try the food when I get the opportunity tomorrow, but for now me and the other seven RED team members will eat with the Heavy. I apologize if it comes off as being rude, but Heavy is incredibly stubborn. His stubbornness is comparable to a wild bear." Soldier explained to the Prime Minister.
When dinner began, a young girl dressed in a small kimono had joined everyone at the table, which was low enough that chairs were not necessary. She eyed everyone nervously until her eyes saw Lelouch's and then her face turned red as she hid behind Genbu, who sat next to her. Lelouch decided not to even bother asking what was up with her and ate in silence. Surprisingly, he enjoyed the food but while he was halfway done, he heard the door slide open and a voice said, "Forgive me for being late, Prime Minister. The dojo was left filthy and I had Suzaku help clean up while I disciplined the idiots that were responsible."
"No worries, Tohdoh. Allow me to introduce our guests. We are currently being graced with the presence of Empress Marianne vi Britannia and her son and daughter Lelouch and Nunnally respectively. The Second and Third Princesses, Cornelia and Euphemia Li Britannia, are also here along with Knights Jeremiah Gottwald, Villetta Nu, Kewell Soresi, and Gilbert G.P. Guilford. My guests, Kyoshiro Tohdoh, Lt. Col. of the Japanese military and Suzaku's personal instructor." Genbu said with a light laugh.
Tohdoh sat down as did a boy with brown hair. Lelouch guessed that the boy must have been Suzaku and finished his meal in silence, aware that the young boy was glaring at him. Of course, he had also been told by Prime Minister Kururugi that the young girl was named Kaguya Sumeragi. Apparently she was Suzaku's cousin and had come with him to see the Britannian Empress and her children. As for Suzaku, it turned out that he was Genbu's only son.
Over the next month, a schedule had been set: Lelouch and Cornelia would undergo physical training with Suzaku and Tohdoh at the dojo in the early part of the morning while Empress Marianne, Euphemia and Nunnally were allowed to sleep in. In Marianne's case it was also to ensure that her wounded legs healed properly over the course of ten days and Euphemia was too young to join her older siblings in their physical training. After training, a tutor called Sayoko Shinozaki would arrive and educate them according to Britannian standards along with teaching them Japanese. The four siblings and Britannian Empress had the afternoons to themselves.
On the first day of that month, before heading out to the physical training, Lelouch had been woken up by Lady Marianne and managed to persuade him to go through with it even though she knew that her son was not used to exercising. She had reasoned with him that if he wasn't physically strong, he wouldn't be able to protect Nunnally if another assassination attempt was made on his mother and his sister just happened to be in the line of fire as well during said attempt. Kyoshiro Tohdoh waited with Suzaku and Cornelia outside of the room where Empress Marianne and her children slept and saw Lelouch exit along with Jeremiah. "Good, you're here. I had heard from Empress Marianne last night that you are not very good at using your muscles." Tohdoh said to Lelouch.
"If so, then I will need to become good at doing so. I had a small talk with her and she convinced me to accept you as my instructor, Mr. Tohdoh." Lelouch answered.
"Well then, until I feel that you have good enough control over your muscles, a graduate of my dojo called Obito Nomura will be doing basic exercises with you to toughen you up. Once a week on every Sunday, I will personally test your strength, dedication, and ability to take physical harm and come back for more. Once I feel that you are strong enough, you shall train with Cornelia and Suzaku in the dojo under me. I am strict, but I am kind compared to Obito. He is young and could very well end up on the front lines as he is a sergeant in the military. Also, as yesterday was a Sunday, I will be testing you six days from now."
True to Tohdoh's word, Obito was a harsh teacher. However, when Tohdoh tested Lelouch's muscle power, it was clear that Obito's methods worked and had managed to get Lelouch into shape to an excellent extent. After the test, Tohdoh said, "You have earned the right to train under me. Why now, of all times, have you accepted exercising?"
"If I do not exercise, then I would be weak. If I was weak, I wouldn't be able to protect my sister or any of my friends from an assassination attempt. Is that acceptable as an answer?" Lelouch replied.
"Yes."
It was on the third week that Nunnally joined Lelouch and Cornelia in the dojo. Jeremiah and Kewell both stood guard outside along with Guilford and Villetta since they had their own training sessions later in the day. Later on when the Japanese lessons began, Sayoko proved to be a very patient Japanese teacher and the four knights had started paying attention to them once they had begun. Also in that third week Marianne, Lelouch, Nunnally, Euphemia, and Cornelia had become proficient enough in the Japanese Language that they could hold rudimentary conversations amongst themselves since Sayoko had taken the time to teach the numerous minor points and nuances that ensured that they spoke it well. Somewhat surprisingly, it was Euphemia who was most proficient amongst the expats in Japanese. As a result she easily conversed with Prime Minister Kururugi and her siblings and in the meantime an old man named Taizo Kirihara had joined in at the dinner table. He was initially distrustful of the Britannians, but took exception to the Third Princess and after a week, he was openly conversing with everyone. As an advisor to Genbu, his face was seen frequently. Kaguya managed to overcome her shyness towards the foreigners and especially Lelouch, plus she had proved to be quite bold and friendly.
Her black hair was quite similar to Lelouch's, but while Lelouch kept his hair short, Kaguya had her hair go down to her elbows whenever she stood straight up. She had easily befriended the vi Britannia siblings and li Britannia siblings, so one afternoon Marianne joked that the 'Royal Threesome' of Lelouch, Nunnally and Euphemia had now become a 'Royal Harem' since she had overheard Kaguya make a declaration to marry Lelouch and considering that he knew about how many consorts his father, the Emperor of Britannia had, he knew that a harem usually consisted of three or more women that have legal and or sexual relations to one man. Lelouch had heard from Clovis that reverse harems composed of three or more men that had legal and or sexual relations to one woman were possible, but were very uncommon. The elder of the two vi Britannia siblings knew that he was going to get teased about it from his mother throughout puberty, assuming another assassination attempt didn't happen.
It was three months since the arrival of the expats that Prime Minister Kururugi received an urgent message from the Britannian Empire demanding that he hand over Lelouch, Euphemia, Nunnally, Cornelia, and Marianne. When Kewell looked over how the letter was written, his eyes widened in shock for a few seconds before they focused in anger as he said, "That son of a bitch Luciano Bradley isn't getting any of the people that I have sworn to protect with my life!"
Genbu was confused and asked, "Who is this Luciano Bradley fellow?"
"He. . . he's this psychotic madman with an extremely violent temper. Worse, he is one of the Knights of the Round, which are the twelve most powerful people in the Britannian Empire. Even though that the sender of the letter was the Empire, I can easily see that this letter was Bradley's handwriting! We need to stall for time because according to the letter, if we don't comply with his demands in seventy-two hours Britannia will declare war on this nation and because my own sister Marika is under his command."
Meanwhile, Lelouch had found out that the Ashford family was staying with Kirihara since they had fled the homeland from Britannian Spec-Ops soldiers. The only problem was that Milly's parents had been killed during an attack on the Ashford manor at dawn, leaving her with just her grandfather. They had been staying at another noble's manor during a regular business summit that was held near Pendragon. When they had returned home, they had found the security detail dead along with all of the servants and a few bodies that had betrayed the involvement of the Special Forces.
A/N: And cut! Yeah, something suspicious is going on in Britannia if their Spec-Ops divisions are being deployed to fight against their own people. As for what Marianne is going to be doing, she opposes Ragnarok due to the failed assassination attempt and knows that V.V. was responsible. Since she reckoned that V.V. had broken his vow with Emperor Chuck to never lie, she decided to back out of it and indirectly tell him that he could stick Ragnarok up his. . . wait, it's still on? Well, turn it off, you idiot!
