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Chapter 3: Within the Dark Forest
'Huh...it's soft?' Suzaku thought, mind hazy from the fall. He expected the ground to be much harder. Something was tickling Suzaku's nose, and it was starting to itch. He moved his hand to his nose, expecting to flick off an insect, but instead he felt…hair? And it was so silky and smooth.
He opened his eyes, not knowing what to expect. And he was right not to expect anything, because he would never have expected that the hair would actually belong to another person.
'Oi, are you okay?' Suzaku asked, probing the person's shoulder.
"Gt-ff" it was a man's voice.
"Sorry?" Suzaku asked softly, leaning in closer. The man turned his head slightly.
"I said get off, you're heavy!" he said, in a gruff and angry tone.
Confused, it was then that Suzaku realised that he was actually lying on top of the other man.
"Oh man I'm sorry!" Suzaku said, immediately sitting up and climbing off of the man's back. He sat on his knees next to the man.
The man slowly came up and sat on his own knees, leaning his head against his one hand. It seemed as if the man had a massive migraine, or he was just dizzy.
"Hey are you ok?" Suzaku asked trying to take the man's hand, but in a swift motion the man swatted Suzaku's hand away.
For the first time, the man looked at Suzaku, hair falling into place next to his face. The man glared at Suzaku, but even if it was scary, Suzaku couldn't look away from those beautiful purple eyes.
"This is your entire fault!" the man snapped at Suzaku, the sound of the voice surprising Suzaku more than the fact that the man was blaming him for something. It was so smooth and clear and
"Wait, what?" Suzaku asked, confused.
"If you hadn't started that ridiculous fight which took all my concentration and energy, I would've sensed the intruder who took Nunnally, and I could have saved her! But because of you Nunnally's…she's…" the young man trembled slightly.
"Oh…that…" Suzaku gave a nervous laugh; he didn't know what to say. 'He's kind of right, but…he talks as if he was the one fighting, but then that means…' Suzaku did a double take on the man's eyes. 'It's the same shade of purple as the Dragon's!' Suzaku realized, flabbergasted.
"Could it be that you're...?" Suzaku wanted to ask, but was once again interrupted.
"Everything must have been according your plan, right? You come in and distract me while your comrades capture my sister? For what? Power? Money?"
"What? No!" Suzaku said, raising his voice. "I only came here because I wanted to marry the princess, I had nothing to do with that thing that stole her, I promise!"
The man only stood in response and started to walk away from Suzaku. With no light from the moon that night, the forest was dark, and Suzaku could only see the outline of the man's body.
"You're going to go and save her, right? Let me help you!" Suzaku insisted.
"What?!" the man said, spinning around and facing Suzaku "You think I'd team up with the one who caused me to lose my sister in the first place?"
It was then that Suzaku realized that the man had no clothes on (considering that he was still a dragon minutes ago) and that he was standing in all his glory in his birthday suit in front of Suzaku. Suzaku blushed furiously and looked away from the man in front of him.
"What?" the purple-eyed man asked.
"Noit'snothing Ididn'tseeanything I swear Ididn'tlook!" Suzaku blurted out all in one long incomprehensible sentence.
"What, I can't understand you, speak properly!" the man ordered.
Suzaku gulped and peeked at the man before looking away again.
"You…you're n-n-n-naked" Suzaku stuttered softly, blushing more.
"Ha?" he asked, before looking at himself, realizing for the first time that he was not a dragon anymore and, in fact, naked.
Lelouch blushed slightly before turning away, a slight blush creeping up his face as well.
"I-It's nothing you haven't ever seen before" the rather thin man said, ever so coy.
'What an adorable reaction!' Suzaku thought with sparkly eyes. He took that as his cue to be a man. Suzaku stood up and walked up to the man, offering him his coat.
The man merely glanced at the coat before looking away with an 'Hmpf!' arms crossed.
"Oh come on, just take it, you'll be cold otherwise." Suzaku tried to reason, but the man's attention was already somewhere else.
He seemed to be looking at something in front of him, but there was nothing.
'Or maybe it's just that I can't see it?' Suzaku wondered, looking between the man and where the man was looking.
"How do you know who I am? And who are you?" the young man asked, eyes narrowing at the woman levitating in front of him. She had long green hair and was bathed in a fluorescent light.
"I am C.C, a servant to your sister, my liege" the one revealed to be C.C. answered plainly, slightly bowing before the young man.
"Nunnally? What do you know about my sister? Can you tell me who captured her?!" he inquired frantically.
"Indeed, I have come to inform you that it was the royal dragon clan zi Brittania who, by using your fight with the mortal as a cover, captured your sister."
"Then this idiot helped them after all?!" the man asked, angrily pointing at Suzaku.
"What?" Suzaku asked, confused.
"No, my liege. This young man was ignorant of zi Brittania's plot. In fact, you will need this mortal's help to get to the dragon clan's capital if you wish to save your sister" C.C. said, showing towards Suzaku, who was still frantically trying to see what the other young man was seeing.
"What? I refuse to let that good-for-nothing help me, he has been nothing but the source of my woes!" the young man argued.
"Oi, would you stop talking about me like I'm not here?!" Suzaku said, getting slightly irritated.
"That will not do my liege. With your sister, the source of your power, so far out of range, refusing that man's help is not a luxury you can afford. As you are now, without your dragon powers, you are too weak to save your sister on your own. You need this young man's help."
C.C. left no further ground for argument, and the young man glared at Suzaku in response.
"I must return to your sister now, it's only a matter of time before they find me as well." C.C. gave a bow and started to leave, before turning back one last time. "By the way, I think this will help" C.C. said, and she conjured up some medieval garments for him to wear.
The dark-haired man looked up at the mysterious woman in surprise, who only winked at him, and spared one final glance at Suzaku, before disappearing.
"Is she a witch?" the young man wondered.
Suzaku was still looking around to see anything which looked out of place, but in the midst of the forest they were in, it was only the occasional blinking of yellow-coloured eyes and moving shadows that caught his attention.
"Oi…" Suzaku wanted to address the young man, but saw that he had disappeared.
"Oi, where are you?" Suzaku called, frustrated that he didn't have name to go by. He noticed that whoever Purple Eyes were speaking to, he (or she) knew his name, something Suzaku himself did not even know. He decided that the first thing he was going to do when he found Purple Eyes was ask him for his name.
"Where are you?" Suzaku called again.
"Oh be quiet, you're making a ruckus" the young man said, appearing behind Suzaku. Suzaku jumped in surprise.
"You have to stop randomly appearing behind people like that!" Suzaku turned and reprimanded the young man, slightly disappointed when he saw that he now had some travel gear on.
The young man looked at his fated companion, and the cloak he was still offering to him. He sighed once and took it from Suzaku's hands. Taking the action as a sign that the young man had accepted his help, Suzaku became very happy.
"Hey…" Suzaku called out, and the young man looked at him over his shoulder. "I know we got off to a bit of a bad start, but as you are right now, you are not my enemy. So, since we're going to be travelling companions from now on, don't you think we should start with a clean slate and introduce ourselves again?" He reasoned, laughing sheepishly.
"It can't be helped. I am Lelouch, Lelouch Lamperouge" the young man said, draping the cloak over his shoulders as it fluttered in the night wind, almost dancing to the sound of the young man's name. "And what makes you think we're travelling together now?"
The question brought the mesmerized Suzaku back to his senses.
"Well, it's because you accepted my offer for the cloak, so I assumed you've forgiven me" Suzaku laughed. "Oh and just so it's fair, I'll introduce myself again. I am Suzaku Kururugi"
It was only for a split second, but Suzaku didn't miss the faint smile which flashed across the man, now known as Lelouch's, face.
"We leave at dawn." Lelouch said, before he and Suzaku walked off into the shadows beyond the trees.
A/N: The last of the short chapters. Thank you for reading and for all those who have shared their thoughts with me, please continue to do so in your reviews! If there's any mistakes left it's probably because I missed it or really don't know how to fix it, so if you see any, please help me! Reviews makes me happy!