A/N: Hello, hello. I'm pleased to announce that I have plans for the future of this story, but in the meantime, I need ideas and suggestions for what Lelouch and Suzaku get up to before then. How many ideas and suggestions I receive will more than likely dictate how long it takes me to update, so please send me them, either by review or PM.

AU in which Suzaku and Lelouch get to second base. (Though they have technically slept together already.)

Also, AU in which Charles is a massive Prick. (Though that's already cannon.)

I don't own Code Geass.

And yeah, this chapter is significantly longer than the others.

~0~0~0~

Lelouch clenched his hands into fists, trying to contain the anger he felt at the old man he called father. "But if you keep your policies the way they are, people will keep rebelling, and they will never accept your rule," he said, his voice even and controlled.

The emperor, Charles Zi Britannia, scoffed at the words and waved his hand in dismissal. "Did you call me here just to lecture me on those Numbers? I have better things than to just sit here and argue with you, Lelouch."

"Running your empire effectively should be the most important thing you have to do. What if someone comes along and finally-"

"Enough!" his father roared. "I don't have time for your trivial nonsense. Go back to your studies and leave my sight. I'm not going to be bothered by a teenager who thinks he knows better than me. What experience do you have with running an empire?"

Snorting, Lelouch stood his ground in the throne room, halfway across the threshold of the door and where his father sat. "A good leader should take what people tell him into consideration, but obviously no one taught you that. And no, I won't go back to my studies because all those books do is glorify Britannia, an empire that takes over and oppresses those who aren't exactly like its own citizens."

Charles growled, annoyed at being questioned. "Leave my sight or so help me. You are nothing but a spoiled brat who's getting a big head out of nothing. You aren't even an adult yet, you unruly sniveling child. Your points are mundane and unimportant," he spat with the grace of a king

"That's redundant! If you want to add more meaning, say something new and don't keep repeating the old! That's the problem with Britannia." The teen could start to feel the skin break beneath his fingernails. His rage for the past several years was threatening to spill over, and it was a struggle to keep it at bay. "It's a static country that preaches social darwinism and is unable to move forward to the future. You kill people without a second thought for no gain other than to rule by fear! Do those deaths mean anything to you? All those lives wasted on your pathetic - are those mundane and trivial?"

"All people die. That's the cycle of life, and if you haven't realised that by now, then you've learnt nothing from your years of being alive. And what do you know of life anyway? You've never been alive at all! All you have is from me, you leech. Without me, you'd be dead, a useless child who couldn't survive a day on your own, let alone make a life for himself. Who are you to question me? No one! You are nothing, Lelouch; you were dead from the moment you were born. A lifeless corpse has no right to challenge the emperor of the greatest country to ever exist."

Lelouch raised his fist up to his chest, then leashed it out to the side as if punching the air. A single drop of blood spattered against the crimson rug. "I don't need you to live! I'll make my own life, and I won't do it depending on you. And if I am dead, then that is a fault of your actions and poor parenting. How can I live when I've never known life in the first place? Leeches feed off of people intentionally, and if I'm a parasite, then it isn't by choice! I will never accept a man like you as my father, let alone a man!"

"Enough of this tomfoolery already." Charles Zi Britannia rose to his feet, looking down on his blood and raising a hand towards him. It was not a hand to save, however; it was a hand to condemn. "If you think you can live without me, then prove it! As per consequence of your words, I send you to trial in Area Eleven. If you can survive, then prove it! Maybe then, I'll accept you as my son."

~0~0~0~

"Hey, Lelouch?"

The prince tensed, startled out of his daydream, but relaxed when he looked up to see the smiling face of Suzaku, who was standing in front of his seat on the train, which was stopped and letting people off. This was their station; they arrived at the Tokyo Settlement. "Yes, I understand," he said as he rose to his feet as well to follow the Japanese boy out of the car.

Perhaps his tone was too formal, for Suzaku's smile dropped a bit, but that couldn't be helped on such short notice. "So, Lelouch," he said the Brit's name carefully as though testing whether or not they were friends, "is there anything you want to see in Tokyo? I can show you around since I have a few days off. Only if you want to, of course."

Lelouch softened his face to look more approachable and less like he wanted to kill someone. "If you want to, some fresh air could probably do me some good. Just don't spend any money on me, okay? At this rate, I won't be able to pay you back for everything you're doing." His father's words cut into him again. "I mean, you don't have to do anything for me. I don't want to cause you any trouble."

"No," the Japanese snorted, "it's no trouble at all. If I'm to be honest, I'd like the company. I'm kind of-"

He stopped midsentence, but Lelouch could easily fill in the rest. I'm kind of a traitor to my people and trash to the Britannians, so I don't really have any friends. How horrid, the prince thought. But maybe that meant that Lelouch didn't have to feel guilty about staying with the other. If Suzaku benefitted, then it wasn't a parasitic relationship. "In need of a friend, I understand." The Brit smiled as they walked through the station, relieved with his reasoning.

"Actually, there is something you could do to repay me." That drew a curious hum from Lelouch, who pretended not to know the answer. "You could cook for me. You said that you cook for yourself because you don't like food that other people make, so it works for both of us. I don't have much time to cook, plus I'm no good at it either way."

"I can agree to that as long as I use my own money to buy the stuff that I need." Lelouch took longer strides than he normally would in order to keep up with Suzaku's brisk steps and the flow of the crowd. As they walked, he noticed some dark glares thrown towards his companion, more than likely contempt for his style of dress. The prince cleared his throat. "Do you always wear yukatas?" he asked, somewhat casually.

The Japanese boy shrugged, seeming unbothered by how his clothing stood out in a station full of Britannians, but Lelouch could see the far-off look in his eye that betrayed his real feelings. "Only when I can, like holidays. I also wear them to train. Actually, if I had stayed in a motel last night, I would have changed out of it before coming back, but I guess that can't be helped." That brought the black-haired teen's eyes to the small bag that Suzaku carried, which went mostly unnoticed during the time they spent together. It wasn't anything special, just a plain sack that was slung over his shoulder.

It also reminded Lelouch of what their sleeping arrangements had been the night before, which brought a faint but noticeable blush to the Brit's cheeks. He had fallen asleep in odd places before, but that one took the cake. Instead of commenting, he inquired, "How far is it to your apartment?"

"Ten minutes walking distance from here, given you can manage that." Suzaku laughed a bit at his joke on how obviously unathletic the other was. "Anyway, Lelouch, tell me about yourself. I feel like you've been asking a lot about me, but all I know is that you miss your sister and like to cook."

Lelouch was careful to keep his face pleasant while inwardly raising his guard. If he slipped up and said something wrong, his cover would be blown, and that would bring unappealing outcomes. "What do you want to know?"

The Japanese boy took a moment to think. "What's your family like?"

"Well, my father's a prick, my sister is crippled, my mom is wonderful, and then there's me." There were also all his half-siblings - from Odysseus to Euphemia and everyone in between - but Lelouch would leave them out of the equation. Just one name known to the public would expose him.

"Crippled?" Suzaku repeated with a frown and a concerned look. He opened his mouth to continue, but his companion beat him to the punch.

"There was no accident, no, except for when she was born. My mother had trouble in labor, and the doctor screwed up and ever since she's been paralyzed from the waist down." His voice held a certain vindictive note; he never liked that doctor. "My mom and I take care of her since she can't walk. I suppose that it's nothing she misses since she's never known use of her legs, but I had a long talk with the doctor." Nunally and he were unknown to the public as they had yet to come of age, so that little bit of information was harmless. Later on, Suzaku would look back and realise that he was host to Lelouch Vi Britannia, but that was, hopefully, long in the future. The prince will have returned home by then, and all contact would have been lost between the two boys.

Presently, though, Suzaku nodded. "For some reason, I can imagine you doing that. And then you, what do you mean by 'and then there's me'? As far as I can tell, you're a nice guy."

They exited the station, out of the flow of the crowd and into daylight. Lelouch squinted a bit until his eyes got used to the bright rays of sunshine raining down on them. "I'm a rebellious teenager, my father is uptight. Common storyline there," he responded flippantly after a few moments of relative silence. The streets were less crowded that the station, and he could tell that they were near the edge of the Settlement and the Ghetto.

"Ah." Suzaku went quiet again. His companion got the feeling that he too had an ill relationship with his own father. "A-anyway, where do you live?"

"The Homeland." It was vague enough but still undeniably true.

"I've never heard the name Lamperouge."

"I'm not an aristocrat."

"Still though."

"What has you so convinced that I am?"

The Japanese boy shrugged, reflective. "The extent to which your father went to punish you. And maybe your pickiness with food. I'm probably just reading too far into things."

"Probably."

Neither of them spoke. Lelouch followed Suzaku's lead as they made their way down the street. A few minutes passed, and eventually they approached a decently sustained building that was teetering on the border of the two city sections. The Japanese opened the door to let the Brit go in first before walking to an elevator and calling it. "Nice building," Lelouch commented.

"For the Ghetto," Suzaku added.

Lelouch waved a hand in dismissal as the elevator door opened and they stepped in, and the Japanese boy pressed a button for the third floor. There weren't elevators at Aries, so the prince took an interest in the technology, though he knew that it was merely a pully system. The whole time he was studying the elevator, he was also studying Suzaku and the movements he made, but all the same, he tried not to look like he was putting the other under a microscope to do tests on him. A ding demanded his attention, and the doors opened once more.

Suzaku stepped out and began walking down the hall with Lelouch falling in step behind him. The apartment turned out to be a simple one, hardly furnished aside from a couch and table in what appeared to be the living room, which had a kitchen connecting to it and a hallway that branched off, and it was just large enough for one or two people to live comfortably.

Before Lelouch could get a word out, Suzaku had slipped down the hall. With a sigh and thought as to whether or not the silence was a good one, the prince wandered to the kitchen. It wasn't pristine like the ones at his home, but it wasn't dirty either; rather, it was something that he could find himself taking a liking to, though he wouldn't try eating off the floor. As he turned around to retreat back to the living room, he bumped into something - or, more precisely, someone.

"Suzaku..." He was about to make a comment about how the Japanese boy had startled him, but trailed off when the one in question held something out to him, which he grasped gently. "A yukata?" he asked, looking up at the other and raising an eyebrow.

Suzaku had changed into a plain white shirt and loose pants. "I figured we both could use a change of clothes, and you asked if it was comfortable, so I thought I'd let you wear one."

An easy smile adourned his face, and Lelouch was reminded of how his sister looked when offering new things to him. Beyond the smile, though, there was fear of rejection, something that the Brit didn't want to see in his eyes. With that in mind, he nodded. "Well, being in Japan was going to end up being a learning experience anyway, so why not?" While he knew that he wouldn't wear it outside, no one could dictate what they did in private.

"You're strange."

Lelouch frowned. "Why am I strange?"

"Because," Suzaku chuckled, "you say Japan."

However weird it was, the Brit could tell that his companion found solace in that tiny fact. Clearing his throat, Lelouch announced, "I'm going to go put this on."

In return, he earned a snort. "And you know how to?" Lelouch' shoulders slumped, and Suzaku had his answer. He held out his hand to take back the yukata. "Come on, I'll show you."

"Here?"

"Yeah, why?"

The prince unsuccessfully fought a blush. "Well, stripping in a kitchen isn't exactly how I thought my second day in a foreign country would pan out."

Suzaku seemed to find that funny, as he was having a hard time containing his laughter. "Speaking of stripping," he managed to get out, "you'll need a change of underwear too, won't you? I'll go get some for you." He handed the yukata back to Lelouch and took off, small giggles escaping him as he did so.

Huffing, the Brit glared down at the fabric in his hands. In retrospect, he could tell from the start that Suzaku was a very forward person, so it wasn't that he was surprised. No, he wasn't surprised at all; Lelouch didn't discriminate against him for being Japanese, so it would make sense for the boy to want to share even a tiny bit of his culture, something he indubitably had not been able to do in years. It was expected, but that didn't make Lelouch any less flustered at getting undressed in front of a stranger and then needing that stranger to help him redress. Then again, Suzaku could not necessarily be counted as a stranger at that stage. He was startled from his thoughts once again by the other's return.

"If you want to, I'll turn my back so that you can change underwear." The Japanese boy handed Lelouch a pair of boxers and recieved a mumbled 'thank you' in return.

Lelouch still grumbled as Suzaku turned away, then set down the clothes and began to take the ones he was wearing off. Once he did that, he grabbed the clean underwear, slipping it on before coughing to signal that he was done. Suzaku looked back at him with a smile. "Dress me," the prince commanded with the dignity of a nobleman, a contrast to his blushing red face.

With a chuckle, Suzaku picked up the yukata and opened it up. It was a pale purple with white flowers, and while he himself rarely wore it, it suited Lelouch. "Put your arms in the sleeves," he said, and the other obeyed. "Now, you have to lift it up so that it doesn't drag on the floor... Ankles are good..." Lelouch's back was to Suzaku as the Japanese boy guided his movements, the amused tone never leaving his voice. "Then you fold this over here, and then the other side... Okay, hold that..." He bent down to pick up a long, dark purple ribbon before wrapping it around Lelouch's waist twice and tying it at the front. "And now you pull that fabric up over the ribbon, and now you're wearing a yukata," Suzaku finished, looking satisfied with his work.

The Brit turned in circles as he inspected the way the cloth moved around his body. He had to admit that it looked good. "Suzaku."

"Yes?"

"Tell me that I look handsome in this."

Suzaku laughed a bit, then complied. "You look very handsome in that."

Lelouch smiled at him. Perhaps he could stay for a few days.