Kallen stood outside the solid wooden door. A sense of foreboding gathering around her abdomen, telling her that she should not be here, that this was a mistake and she would most definitely be regretting this, she didn't want to go inside and face the consequences for decision. But right now she had to do it, raising her right arm she knocked the door three times She started hoping nobody was here, that something unexpected happened and she could go home right now. After 18 seconds of agonising waiting, the door slowly opened, revealing the prime mister of Japan beyond them.

"It's great you could come Kallen," beamed Ohgi in a cheerful smile. "I really appreciate you coming over to babysit."

"It's no problem at all," the girl responded while returning the smile. "Anything for a close friend"


Yesterday, Kallen nervously called Ohgi on her phone, her hand slightly shaking. The girl was wondering what the leader in her old resistance cell needed to contact her for. Was he somehow spying on her and was going to discipline her for her little slip-up with refrain earlier? Did he need her to pilot the Guren for a mission?

The phone was answered on the third ring.

"Hello," sounded the high-spirited voice of Oghi.

Well he didn't sound man or serious at least.

"Hey," her voice was weary. "I got your message, what do you want to talk about"

"You sound tired Kallen, perhaps you should go to bed a bit earlier tonight. Anyway I wanted to ask you a very special favor for me tomorrow."

The red-haired girl was a bit more relieved that he didn't seem to know about her refrain stunt, it would be impossible for him to know in the first place, but a small bit of paranoia was justified.

"Okay, give me the details, so what is this "special" favor you need"

"You see, I have an important meeting to attend as the prime minister, but due to a sudden change in plans, the whole thing got rescheduled, and me and Viletta have to go tomorrow, the bottom line is we need someone to watch over our child".

"And you picked me?" Kallens voice smoothing out as the conversation continued.

"Yes, we would both feel safest if it was you Kallen, it's just until late tomorrow night"

"Well if you put it in that way, I don't see how I can refuse"

"Thanks a lot, if you could come to my place after school would be okay, see you tomorrow and try to get some rest tonight"

"Right, I'm looking forward to it"

When the call ended the young girl fell back onto bed, resting for a few minutes, she would tell her mother that she would be home later than usual tommorow.


"Come in, come in" Ohgi said eagerly, ushering his guest inside.

Kallen was brought in a brightly light room with lots of bright colors, if was full of comforts and quality furniture with a few padding here and there for baby safety, it gave the nostalgic aura of a happy family home.

"Dear!" the proud father shouted into his house. "Kallen has arrived"

A few seconds later a brittianian women arrived, in her arms, wrapped in the blanket, would be the family's bundle of joy.

"Hello Kallen, thanks for taking the time to help us" Viletta spoke and the directed her attention to the baby. "Say hello to your friend Kallen, dear"

The newest addition to the Kaname family didn't greet their visitor so much as made a few gargling sounds.

"That's so cute," Kallen smiled at the child. "Who's a good little baby, you are, aren't you? Were going to get along and have fun tonight aren't we?"

The baby gave a joyful laugh as it grabbed Kallen's finger.

"My, your so good with children Kallen" the britannian interjected.

The baby continued to be amused with all the attention.

"Looking at you like this, someday I think you'll make a great mother"

"Eh?' Kallen was getting a little flustered.

"It is still probably to early for that," Ohgi said rejoining the conversation. "But Villeta is right about great with children, there is no need to rush of course, were in a time of peace, so enjoy your life however you want."

Kallen looked toward Ohgi, while Villete continued with the conversation.

"It must be so nice to be young, I can remember when I was your age, those were some nice times, by the way do you have someone you like?"

"Someone... I like." Kallen repeated, she didn't like where this chat was going. "Well, I... rather... not talk things like that

"Oh, so I take things are complicated," Ohgi showing an intrest in this. "Don't worry Kallen, if things don't work out, just tell me his name and I'll sort the boy out for you."

The red-haired girl definitely did not like where this conversation was going and tried to change the subject.

"So where do you keep the baby formula? Could you show me a tour please, so I know what to do when I need to do it?

With the chat succesfuly diverted, Kallen received the basic tour, instructions, contact numbers and lots of praise. With all the formal things covered and Ohgi having some free time before they had to leave, they started talking about work such as Ohgi's part time work at his position in the Black Knights.

"Well, there's a lot more paper work than I thought there would be," Ohgi continued. "We also have limited staff so I have to read all the reports myself too, then there is the complaints, you wouldn't believe people, say for an example Tamaki, have done, but I'll cut him some slack at least, just the other day he finished a successful mission, I was pleasantly surprised myself, then again I still haven't read the full report"

The young girl nodded along, not really interested but she was willing to bear it for at least a few minutes until the prime minister had to leave.

It wasn't long until the time of departure, leaving both half-brittanian, half-japanese by themselves. From there things started going downhill, soon the baby was crying and many an attempt failed to remedy it, with pulling faces failed and rocking it around being less than satisfactory, Kallen was content to try and force it some baby formula and hope the baby quiets down on it's own soon after she put it into it's crib.

After 26 minutes of continuous crying the spawn of Villetta finally fell asleep. At that moment Kallen found herself in Ohgi's study, which was the most sound proof room in the house. The room was filled with stacks of papers, inspecting them revealed them to be various paperwork for the Black Knights and Ohgi's political job. Ohgi probably did any remaining work at home in this room. With nothing much else to do the Black Knight's best pilot was curious about what her fellow knights were doing lately, locating where some of the Black Knights reports were she picked some up and gave them a look through.

Kyoshiro Todoh seemed to doing quite well, leading his fellow subordinates with a hands-on approach, nothing to big, he also seemed to be doing some political work but it seem minor. Rakshata Chawla was doing various field tests, with the world now open with trading technology, the scientist had invented numerous proto-types and collecting various data. "Zero" was inspiring peace and justice somewhere. Flipping through the pages Kallen, came across a lot of old names, numerous of her old colleagues had resigned from the Black Knights after the Zero Requiem incident. There was nothing really major in the reports, minor problems here and there but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed, then she found something that might be humourous, some of Tamaki's latest reports.

Well it seemed Tamaki was working hard, he seemed to take pride at his successful work patrolling the area by the red light district and he appeared to be very eager to say the least, cases of weird proportions such as some weird "Pizza Incident", yet Kallen suspected that alot of things were omitted. Browsing through the girl came across something that caught her attention, the report on the night she had helped Tamaki with the drug dealers. Throughly reading this she confirmed her name was not mentioned, however she didn't remember the dealers having explosives, being that dangerous or how Tamaki single-handedly defeating them all at once, it stated they had hallucinations from the drugs so there what they had seen couldn't be accountable, a side-note stated that they thought Tamaki was a very attractive girl.

Either way, considering all the evidence found they would probably be held guilty. They were currently being transferred somewhere else for imprisonment. The next part had the most effect on the pilot, apparently their drugs after being confiscated were stored in the local Black Knight headquarters, the same local Black Knight headquarters that was mentioning her Guren Knightmare frame.

At the first thought Kallen payed the information no mind. A few seconds later she felt herself slightly sweating, it was irritating a bit, then her irritation started slowly growing, whith the feeling penting up she tried reassuring herself instead.

'I am not thinking about this' were Kallen's thoughts. 'I told myself that it was just that one time and that's it'

'Besides it's tightly held at the Black Knight Headquarters, I wouldn't even be able to get it if I wanted too, which I don't. No, it doesn't matter that I am highly ranked there and have an all access clearance, surely they wouldn't allow me anywhere near where they kept it, even if they gave me almost free reign there.

'It's illegal and I shouldn't, anyway I don't think it was even worth it, I mean sure I got to hear and see Lelouch again, sure I get to feel his soft touch again, but it wasn't worth it. I don't even care that I think it was worth it. I'm not doing it again.'

'Nope, I'm not listening to the thoughts in my head, all I'm thinking of is blah, blah, blah. I just need to distract myself with something else, I just need to think of something else...something else...something else...I was doing something earlier, what was it again, it was... it was...Oh, that's it, the baby!'

The girl ran to the baby's crib with the speed befitting the captain of the Zero Squadron. She was greeted by the sound of some soft snores and then a sudden smell that you wouldn't find in a flower shop, someone needed a diaper change, you could probably figure which one.


The sky was clear as a faint wind was brushing by, the time was just after midday, Kallen was sitting leisurely on one of the rooftops of Ashford Academy. The babysitting, with all things considered, had been a success, although it had been more stressful than she thought, and she had expected to be very stressful originally in the first place.

The red-haired girl had a restless night arriving at her home, only soon to be reminded she had to attend class next morning. Have been submitting herself to go through several lectures, she had decided to indulge in the time-honored tradition of skipping class.

As she stood gazing at the ground below, she was have an internal battle constantly debating with herself.

'The answer should be so simple, so why is it so hard for me?'

Kallen was once again faced with the dilemma of refrain, something that was appealing yet dreaded, starting with the first topic, the option to acquire more or not.

'I shouldn't even be considering this. let alone twice'

'Okay, I am going to ask myself is it worth it?'

'It was just that one time, I promised myself right?'

'But is it worth it?'

'...'

'...'

'No, it's not'

'But do I want it?'

'Yes, I want it, I know shouldn't, but I do, I would do anything for a chance to be beside him once again'

'So it is worth it then?'

'...'

'...'

'It doesn't even matter anyway, it's tightly secured, with security cameras, scanners and everything, there is no way for me, an ordinary high school girl, to get them, even if I am the Black Knight Ace, it's impossible for me. Yes, the Black Knights security system is flawless, I have complete faith in it. So I would never get them even if I tried.'

'Yup, I will prove to myself that it wouldn't even be possible'

'I am so certain that I might as well go there, so I can just show how futile it is, then I will never have to worry about this again'

With that, the young girl grabbed her bag and rushed out of the academy, oblivious to their passing shouts.


Kallen arrived her local Black Knight headquarters, she was already familiar with the layout as she had gone several times already. She often had missions occasionally as part of her work in the Black Knights, even her prized knightmare frame, Guren was maintain here as well, the knights were very liberal with Kallen's schedule, since not only was she their best pilot, a savior against the Demon Emperor but they had to consider that she was a young girl that had to enjoy every day school life as well. That said she was welcome to come and go as she pleased though several time she would be called on to test some of Rakasha's newest upgrades to the Guren.

As the red-haired girl passed through the front entrance, she was half-hoping there would be some sudden incident and she would be forced to assist and she wouldn't have time to do anything else, but no luck so far.

Without drawing any suspicions Kallen walked into the more secured facilities, she expected someone to stop her, that someone would sense what she was trying to do and ask her to leave, that they would reprimand her for wearing her school uniform and she would be forced out until she came back with the right attire. instead the passing personal warmly greeted there favorite pilot and went on their way.

'This isn't going according to plan' she thought feeling more nervous with every step. 'Security should not be so lax!'

Next she had to locate the correct rooms, she thought back and remembered that the security camera room was on the 2nd floor in the south side of the building while the temperary storage for confiscated items was on the floor under ground level.

Figuring to go the confiscated items first, she located the nearest route downwards, she could she what she could do with the video later, considering that even if they saw her there she had free access to anywhere within the grounds, even if they found it suspicious they couldn't question a superior ranked officer easily.

'Maybe this isn't as bad as it looks' eyeing the automated door. 'Maybe they changed the password without telling me, maybe there is an error recognising my I.D. Surely someone will ask why I am in the wrong department. Come on, this is one of the headquarters of the legendary Black Knights'

The door however did not seem to want refuse her entrance and graciously opened welcoming her inside.

'Darn it! I really need to suggest better security at the next meeting! I had so much faith in it too'

The personal gathered here were eager to help though Kallen refused their offer giving some elaborate excuse about Tamaki mislabeling a unique knightmare fuel booster and that she would recognize it when she saw it. They unshamefully bought her flimsy story without question, muttering about it being something Tamaki would do.

The black knight pilot searched the directory finding the location of refrain vials. It couldn't be this easy could it? She passed several sections toward her target. Her heart pounding in her chest, turning past a corner she found what she was looking for.

Several cases of refrain were neatly stacked on on shelf, clearly marked, just sitting there, patiently waiting to be picked off the self, she paused for a moment, was she really going to do this? She had come this far, she didn't believe she would make it here in the first place, if was that thought that allowed her to try to get here. With fate insisting like this she could not leave empty handed, waiting for the right opportunity she reached out ready to grab one case, of course this is usually the time something went wrong, that moment that the unexpected happened to deprive you of your prize... Yet nothing happened. Kallen slowly with shaking hands placed one of the cases into her bag, really, was it that simple? Even though she was one one the most highly trusted people in the Black knights you would think something would happen right?

With everything running eerily smoothly, there was one more stop to make, the security camera room, although there was nothing suspicious about one of their own pilots walking around and probably nothing would come of it anyway, it was just to be extra cautious. There was no backing down now, any leftover doubts should have been left over when she had grabbed the refrain. there was only one path now and that led up the stairs. Passing every person was nerve-wrecking, their occasional greetings each gave a small shocking sensation. Moving left, straight and left again, going over the directions in her head, it was not the time to make mistakes now, she wouldn't let pressure stop her, she was a soldier of the Black Knights and therefore trained to handle pressure, nausea and lack of sleep.

Walking toward the camera room, there was one man on duty here, dressed in a black knight uniform as his silhouette sat in front of the monitors, how would should go about this maybe knock the man out? She might be lucky and the man would be asleep like in those cliché tv shows. The man's movement suggested he was awake. What would be the easiest way to get rid of him? Kallen settled for the direct approach, silently walking up to the man, she tapped him on the shoulder, he jumped a little in surprise facing his visitor. Kallen then ordered him to leave the room, falsely informing him about a suspicious person by the south side of the building. Yet again this was so simple, too simple, security here was disappointing. Moving toward the screens she located the video with the refrain storage was kept in, deleting it. It might be curious that some video would disappear but with how lenient the security was here, it would probably passed as a technical error.

The Black Knighs' ace could leave now, all conditions had been cleared. Simple and easy, that was it, no alarms, no traps, no trouble at all. She left the room before the man earlier returned, her pace as a quick strut, avoiding eye contact with everyone she met, she descended using the elevator this time. Kallen couldn't believe this, is this what she wanted, what did she come here for in the first place? That was a distant memory now.

Almost to the entrance now, this is their last chance to stop her, she waited a few seconds extra, maybe something dramatic could happen. Taking steps toward the entrance, was this really it? Fortunately no. By some miracle someone called out the pilot's name.

Kalled was surprised, this was moment she afraid of yet was hoping for. Turning slowly backwards she was greeted by one of the women that worked in reception.

Facing her at eye level, the woman began speaking quickly.

"Hello Captain, I hope your having a nice day, I was ordered to inform you that Rakasha wants you for piloting duty in exactly two weeks time"

Without waiting for an answer the woman turned around and left unaware of the torrent of emotions that she had caused. Kallen herself was stunned for a few seconds, there were no words in that could come from her mouth for the moment, as she slowly walked out the building heading towards her home.