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Now on with the story!

Reprieve of the Damned

Chapter 4

The streets of the small town were crowded; the citizens were pursuing their usual business, not caring about the person that walked besides them. It was a normal sight in modern settlements, there were just too many people there to know them all, or care for; so the people tend to just ignore each other.

One of the individuals that were walking down these crowded streets was very well aware of these circumstances, and he was overjoyed by it. In such a big crowd there were many people that could recognize him, but they either didn't care to ask him about it, or they wrote it of as coincidence. This fact lightened Lelouch's mood considerably. The only problem was that if someone who knew his face good enough to be totally sure that he had to be Lelouch, than they wouldn't let him go that easily. And when they found him he wasn't expecting to get much kindness from them, he was their supposed to be dead point of hatred, it would only cause problems if it became known that he was still alive, all the victims of his evil doing would scream bloody murder.

Lelouch walked on, obvious to the confused looks that were thrown at him, but to his luck nobody did more than just look at him. His destination was drawing nearer, so he doubted that anything would happen no. He was in a town that lay in the outskirts of Japan after all; there wouldn't be anyone here that he knew personally at some point.

He stopped in front of the bar, it wasn't open at the moment; it was still early and drinking at such a time was considered inappropriate. The barkeeper told him that he could always come in through the back entrance if he needed something. His behaviour raised Lelouch's suspicion, but he was sure that he would master everything the barkeeper would throw at him.

His body was just about to move when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you…Lelouch?"

His eyes widened, just for a moment before he controlled his emotions and put on a friendly expression on his face. He still felt the hand that was lying on his shoulder, running wouldn't be possible and the fact that he would just raise more suspicion by running wasn't helping him at all. He slowly turned around, prepared to use all means to guard his identity.

Before him stood a girl that seemed to be around his age, she had short black hair and purple eyes. She was a little bit shorter than Lelouch. Her body was slim and she had a body that many would describe as beautiful. Her dress was a white school uniform with red and blue streaks in it. On her face was a cocky smirk and her whole body radiated confidence.

"I am sorry, but you must have mistaken me for someone else." He was polite, but his voice had an underlying tone of authority. He didn't want to start an argument in the middle of the street.

"There is no way that I would mistake you with my idol. You are Lelouch Vi Britannia, and don't try to convince me otherwise."

His face changed into an annoyed expression, this girl was persistent. He had to convince her that he wasn't Lelouch, but the first thing he would need to take of was the location, talking with the girl about his identity in a street filled with people would be insane.

He decided that he would take her with him to the bar; the barkeeper told him that he could come when he was in trouble.

"I am not going to talk about this here, you can come with me into the bar, or you can just go home and forget all this nonsense you are talking about me."

"Are you afraid that the people here will overhear us? Got something to hide?"

"No, but don't you think it's more comfortable than standing here?"

He had to be polite and reasonable, he wasn't all that convinced that he could fool her; if he analyzed her expression and body posture right than she isn't someone who gives up that easily.

"Ok, but you pay for the drinks." She had a big smile on her face, it seemed like she considered this some kind of date. He would show her how wrong she was.

She latched onto his arm and began dragging him into the alley that led to back entrance of the bar. All the way she was squeezing his arm and wearing that big smile of hers. Lelouch wasn't very amused by this. He always hated all that romantic stuff that the girls liked so much. He was more far more reserved with such things.

When they finally arrived Lelouch knocked on the door that led into the bar. After some time the door was opened by the barkeeper himself. His face changed warped into a smile immediately after he saw Lelouch. He was just about to say something when he noticed that he wasn't alone, his face somehow became a bit more sober.

"Welcome, Mr Lamperouge… and company. I believe I asked you to come alone?"

"There were some..circumstances… that led to this rather awkward situation. This girl was very persistent on finding out my identity. So I brought her here with me to talk in private."

"Great…now she knows this bar to associate me with you."

The little revelation was nothing that Lelouch wasn't already aware of; he would tell the girl a lie that would hopefully satisfy her curiosity, but the first thing he had to do was to determine her goals. Maybe he could sue her to keep silent about their little secret.

"Well, I want to talk to her a bit, after that we can get to business."

The barkeeper only nodded, he wasn't satisfied with this situation at all. Why did he bring the girl to his bar?! He dealt with information and money all his life and he knew that it was dangerous to let more people than needed to know about his little business.

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Lelouch led the girl to one of the corners in the bar where they sat down to solve their little predicament.

"What's your name?"

Lelouch voice was calm and he again wore his mask of friendliness. The girl seemed to be startled for a moment, there were many questions that she was expecting from him, but she didn't consider that he would simply ask her name first.

"Umm… I am Miya."

"Well, Miya, why do you think that I am Lelouch in the first place? You can't really believe that I have to be your so called idol just by looking at my face."

"Of course I can! I have many photos of him in my room and you look exactly like him!"

Lelouch could only shake his head; this girl's reasoning was something that he couldn't solve with logic. The only way that he could make her believe he wasn't Lelouch was using his Geass, but he swore to don't use it anymore. Now that he didn't use it anymore he realized how damn useful it was.

"What would you want from someone like Lelouch anyway? He was a Demon after all."

"I don't think he was a Demon, he was someone who tried to unite the world and stop all the wars, he was a bit ruthless, but I think that he did it for the greater good. And regarding your question what I would do with him…hehe…I would try to date him of course!"

Lelouch felt like he could slap his head onto the table, hard. He just happened to run into a crazy fan-girl that had a major crush at him. Maybe he could use these facts to his benefit.

"Ok, I think I can trust you, I am indeed Lelouch Vi Britannia, but as you can surely imagine I don't want anyone to know of this. If you can keep your mouth shut about this I will go a date with you, ok?"

The girl just nodded like she was in a dream like state. Under closer inspection Lelouch was sure that he could stars in her eyes. He had to work out the lies for his leaving later, but he sure that she wouldn't disobey him for the moment. If he played his cards right he would come out of this predicament harmless.

"I am leaving town at the end of the week, so I can only date you once. I have really important business to attend to, so I don't have much time. We will meet here at 6 o'clock tomorrow, ok Miya?"

Again she just nodded, he was sure that his plan would work. When she would talk about her date with him her friends would write it off as badly lied or a joke. Nobody would believe it when a girl with a crush on him would talk about her meeting with said crush.

He stood up and led her to the exit, he wanted to get rid of her for tomorrow; he had to attend another important meeting with the barkeeper after all.

"Until tomorrow, Miya, and don't tell anyone about it."

"Bye, Lulu, don't worry I wont tell anyone, I swear!"

He watched her retreating form until she vanished in the crowd. A sigh escaped his lips, woman were such troublesome individuals. He was called genius, but he still couldn't understand how a woman's mind worked. And what is up with all the female's calling him "Lulu"? He totally hated that name, it always sounded like he was a stuffed animal or a little kid.

I am Lelouch Vi Britannia, god damn it! Treat me with respect and don't give me funny names!

While his mind was raging he still had a neutral expression on his face. After a few minutes he was done with his little rant and he started to make his way to the barkeeper's room. He was sure that tomorrow would be a terrible day for him…

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The room the barkeeper had prepared was a small room; it had enough space for a little table and two chairs. The barkeeper was already seated when Lelouch entered the room. On the table stood a teapot and two cups, one of the cups was already in used from the barkeeper.

"Did you get rid of her?" The barkeeper was annoyed; he didn't like Lelouch's little adventure at all.

"I am sorry, but there was no way I could have gotten away from her without talking with her in private. Now that the liability is out of the way, I would like to discuss the reason why you called me here."

"Straight to the point, I like people like you. The reason why I called you here is simple, I got curious about your real identity, so I asked a few of my friends if they knew a noble family called Lamperouge…"

The barkeeper made a small pause in his explanation to observe Lelouch; he was an expert at observing people. But despite his skill in reading people he wasn't able to even see a glimpse of panic in Lelouch's face.

"And he found out something very interesting. There is no noble family called Lamperouge, the only record of someone called Lamperouge was a student in Tokyo. The name of the student was Lelouch and he vanished right before Lelouch Vi Britannia appeared. Don't you think that's kind of suspicious?"

"Yes, it sure seems suspicious, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions like that. When Lelouch Vi Britannia appeared Japan was already in a state of war and a great deal of Tokyo was destroyed by Fleia. It is not that unlikely that he died in that explosion." Lelouch kept his cool and responded with a calm voice.

"Well, you have a point, but the fact that Lamperouge and the Emperor looked exactly the same is no coincidence. I have a few friends who work in the Tokyo Registration Bureau and they had quite a bit of interesting facts about Mr. Lamperouge. I am sure that you know all of these facts, Mr Lamperouge, or should I call you "Your Majesty"?"

The barkeeper smirked; there was no way that Lelouch could talk his way out of this. He had facts that allowed no doubt. The person in front of him was the deceased Emperor.

To his surprise Lelouch did something that he didn't expect him to do; he began to laugh, loud and long, like he finally snapped. When he was finished with laughing Lelouch looked directly at the barkeeper, his eyes cold and calculating.

"It seems like I was a bit to naïve to think that giving out my old name wouldn't cause any harm. I won't deny it; I am Lelouch Vi Britannia, as much as I am Lelouch Lamprouge. But I want to make one thing sure, Lelouch Vi Britannia died. I have no intention of fighting or conquering anymore. My hands are already stained with blood; I don't need anymore of it. The only question that remains now is: What do you want from me?

You didn't dig all of these facts up just to brag with them."

Lelouch kept his cold and piercing gaze, and the barkeeper finally understood that he was indeed playing a dangerous game right now. The man in front of him was rumoured to be a true demon, so he would have to be careful while dealing with him. One mistake could cause his death.

"You don't have to look at me that way; I have no intention of harming you or spilling your secret to the world. I only want to use your abilities. You are a true genius when it comes to chess, right?"

Lelouch only nodded, his gaze was softening a bit, but it was still serious. He wouldn't lower his guard in front of this person; if he was skilled enough to blow his cover as easy as that then he wasn't a small fish. Lelouch anticipated that he would deal with a small-time criminal here, but it looked like he was part of something much bigger, maybe this man could be his passport to a large sum of money.

"Well, we will hold a big tournament in a week. There is a really big prize to win, but it is only reserved for people who got an invitation, and it is not really official, do you understand what I mean?"

The barkeeper had a cheesy grin on his face. Lelouch could already see the outcome of this conversation. The barkeeper wanted him to participate and if he should win he wanted his fair share of the money. The deal was dangerous; in such big underground tournaments were organizations that don't know mercy. They would try to win with all means possible, even if it meant to murder the next opponent; it was tournament were everything was allowed. Lelouch was aware of these dangers, but he wasn't called genius for nothing. He would take on all of these amateurs and wipe the floor with them.

"I hope that you have everything prepared?"

"Of course, everything is ready. My organization has already assembled some skilled bodyguards and the invitation is prepared too. I knew that you wouldn't decline a deal like this."

Lelouch was satisfied with the preparations for now; he would work out details later. The only thing he wanted to do know was going back to the Hotel and resting. It was a truly screwed up afternoon. His identity was uncovered two times; he would have to be a lot more careful in the future.

"I will come back in two days; I would like to have information about the location and the other participants until then."

"I will get to it immediately; your success is my success after all."

Lelouch nodded to the barkeeper one last time before he headed to the exit. His whole body felt heavy, he didn't know when the last time was that he felt that exhausted.

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The Hotel was across the bar, but it still felt as if he had walked a mile when Lelouch finally arrived at his room. He opened the door and went inside. He was too exhausted to even remember that he wasn't living alone in the room. His memory was replenished instantly when he saw a green haired women lying on the bed and eating pizza, like she always did.

He was just about to make a comment when she made one herself.

"I already ordered something to eat, what did take you so long anyway?"

"I had very serious business to attend, unlike other people in this room…"

"Are you trying to imply something?"

"Of course not, I mean what's wrong with lying on the bed in your underwear and eating pizza all day?"

Yes, Lelouch was royally pissed at the moment. Was it too much of a dream to come home after a hard day of work and receive some kind words, or at least a bit of appreciation for his hard work. He had enough of this crap for today; he sat himself on the chair in front of the table and began to wallow in self-pity.

Despite her teasing of Lelouch C.C. greatly cared for the Young man in front of her. If he was that depressed after their usual argument, then he must have had a really hard day. So she decided to do him some good, with giving him something that was most precious to her.

"You can have a bit of my pizza if you want."

Her voice was gentle and there was no ill will in it, but Lelouch decided to decline her offer in a rather unfriendly way, at least from C.C. point of view.

"How can you eat something like that all day? We had pizza for dinner three days straight! I can't believe how you can eat something like that all day."

Nobody could tell her that she didn't try to be nice towards him. She really wanted to be nice, but after he insulted her pizza there was no chance in hell that she would do anything even remotely nice to him today.

"Fine, if you don't want anything then I will eat it alone. You can go and get your own food."

"I would, if I wouldn't feel like I ran a Marathon today. I just want to stay here and o nothing for the rest of my life…."

He dropped his head on the table and did…nothing. His whole body felt heavy and his mind was exhausted from all the mind games he had to play today. There was so much running trough his head at the moment. If the barkeeper was able to uncover his identity, who could get these information too? All they had to know was that he called himself Lamperouge yesterday at the basement and they could eventually find out the truth. His mind was in turmoil right now, so much that he didn't notice the approaching form of C.C.

C.C. was watching the brooding from of Lelouch and she decided that she would forget their little pizza argument for now; she didn't want him to be brooding all day, so she decided to be nice to him, for now.

Lelouch still knew nothing of the plans that C.C. formed in her mind. He was still calculating all the problems that he maybe had caused yesterday in the basement. Even when he thought in a very optimistic way he would always come to the same conclusion, he had a big bunch of problems coming at him.

He nearly jumped out of his chair when he felt a pair of soft hands on his shoulders. He tried to look around but the hands were holding him firm in position.

"Don't expect me to do this everyday, so I would advise you to just relax and enjoy this. I was told on several occasions that I am very good at this."

"And what exactly is this skill you are so good at??"

"Massage of course, and now shut up and relax."

Lelouch was about to respond again but a rather painful pinch on his shoulder made the message clear: He was supposed to shut up and relax.

He was a bit surprised that C.C. was supposed to be good at massage, but when she started he could feel the magical work of her fingers in his shoulders. Comfortable warmth started to spread throughout his whole body and he began to feel really relaxed. With his new relaxing body he started to feel really sleepy too, so sleepy that he slowly began to fall asleep.

C.C. was massaging Lelouch's Shoulders like it was a everyday occurrence. When one was immortal then they had much time to learn something like this. At least she could feel how Lelouch reacted to her massage. He was silent and obedient right now, a sight that she didn't see very often. If she would tell him that right now he would surely be angry again, but C.C. had her special massage hold on him to keep him in check.

"You know, Lelouch; I like it much more when you are as submissive as you are now."

She waited for an answer, but it didn't come. When she was about to ask him why he didn't answer she noticed something. There was the feint sound of snoring, and the source of it was right before her.

C.C. felt kind of cheated, she was doing him that great favour and what did he do to thank her? He just fell asleep and he didn't even thank her for it. Despite being a little bit aggravated at the moment she decided to just let him sleep. She would get her revenge tomorrow.

She let go of his shoulders and put his head gently on the table. When she could see his peaceful expression she just couldn't help herself but to get a pillow and lay it under his head.

She came to the conclusion that he could be very cute when wasn't talking.

With that thought she went to bed, alone this time, but she was still happy, because she could tease Lelouch tomorrow about falling asleep while she massaged him.

And with that said she turned off the light and let sleep claim her.

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Well I hope you like it :D

Regarding some questions in some reviews if Kallen would meet Lelouch in this story…well it would spoil the story too much if I would tell you :P

R&R

-Slayer