Chapter Eight: Gentle Understanding

"No, Lelouch, you should stay down," Suzaku urged as he pressed his hand against Lelouch's shoulder, pressing the boy down.

Lelouch rolled his eyes, weakly leaning back so he could rest on the ground again. "I need to go to the bathroom Suzaku. Can you let me up?"

"Here, let me help," Suzaku answered.

Lelouch shook off his hand. "I can do it myself."

"You just woke up a few hours ago."

"I know. I feel nasty, I need to go to the bathroom and I'd like to take a bath. And I'd prefer to do it privately."

"You're still too weak to. Besides, Kallen's been scoping around…"

"Kallen is here?"

"Yes, and you won't be able to fend her off so you need me to be there if she finds you."

Lelouch grumbled under his breath. "Fine, Suzaku, let's go to the bathroom first, then I'm going to take as good of a bath as I can here."

Suzaku grinned. "All right then, your Highness," Suzaku replied mockingly.

Lelouch didn't answer, but sat up, giving Suzaku weird looks when the chocolate-brown haired boy wasn't looking. What was wrong with him? He hadn't treated Lelouch like this since they first found each other after the fight in the Shinjuku Ghetto. The death of Euphy should have killed him on the inside completely, but now he was suddenly acting like this was just some camping trip. What was he up to? Was he going to leave Lelouch in the water when he was bathing and let him drowned? Lelouch already knew he was too weak to try to rescue himself.

Suzaku picked up Lelouch carefully, adjusting him in his arms so Lelouch could rest his head against Suzaku's shoulder. His eyes closed for a moment, and he found himself burying his face into his shoulder. Suzaku said something softly, but Lelouch didn't hear it. "Suzaku, why are you being nice to me?" Lelouch asked after a moment, lifting his head up to look at Suzaku.

Suzaku glanced down at Lelouch. "You've been trying to save Japan. It's all you were doing. But I realized something; we have the same goals. We should help each other instead of fighting." Suzaku smiled at Lelouch. "Besides, we've always been best friends until recently. Why let a little terrorism and Britannian pull us apart now?"

Lelouch nodded, understanding what Suzaku was saying. "All right," he said slowly, falling silent. Suzaku did as well. As soon as the two were further into the forest around them, Suzaku helped Lelouch to the ground, Lelouch leaning against a tree for support.

"So, do you need to go a number 1 or 2?" Suzaku inquired.

"Both," Lelouch mumbled.

"Can you stand up on your own?"

"Let me try." Suzaku carefully placed Lelouch's feet on the ground and helped the boy straighten up. He walked one wobbly step, but after his second and his third, his steps were getting stronger. Lelouch looked at Suzaku. "I'll call if I need help." Suzaku nodded, saying, "Let me dig a hole first." After he had, Suzaku stepped away, giving Lelouch some privacy. He left for about a minute to wash the sand off of his hands.

About five minutes later, Lelouch called Suzaku back. Suzaku had to help him walk and was sure that Lelouch wasn't going to get a bath, but Lelouch was persistent. "You do realize, I'll basically be taking a bath with you," Suzaku insisted as he helped Lelouch sit on the rocks surrounding the waterfall.

Lelouch nodded. "I need to take a bath," he urged, trying to pull his shirt off, but he was too weak to do it himself.

Suzaku helped tug it off and asked, "Do you need help with your pants too?"

By the embarrassed look he saw on Lelouch's face, he assumed so. "Here," Suzaku said, helping him stand, "Lean against me." Lelouch did as said. Suzaku was quick to unzip his pants and pulled them off and was quick about his boxers too. Just so Lelouch wouldn't be too embarrassed, Suzaku gently lowered Lelouch into the water. Quickly, Suzaku removed his clothes as well and sat beside the boy. Suzaku adjusted both himself and Lelouch until Suzaku was behind Lelouch and could easily wash the boy. He started out by cupping water in his hands and gently dumping the water over Lelouch's head or body.

It wasn't long before Lelouch had his eyes closed. Suzaku was carefully scrubbing Lelouch, careful not to be too rough, but to get all of the grime off. It was no longer an awkward situation. Well, that was the case, until Suzaku found himself observing Lelouch in a way he had only to girls before. Every time he did so, Suzaku would shake his head and try to concentrate on the task before him. It didn't help at all that Lelouch was naked or the fact that he found himself getting aroused for some reason. It MUST be because he hadn't been around a naked person in a long time. He was sure of it.

"All right, do you feel better?" Suzaku asked hoarsely. He cleared his throat and asked Lelouch again.

Lelouch nodded. "Thanks… for helping me."

"Yeah, it's not a problem."

Lelouch leaned his head back against Suzaku's shoulder and asked, "Do you want to just put our clothes on wet or do you want to dry off on the rocks?"

Suzaku hesitated, thinking over the suggestion. Wet clothes could be uncomfortable… "Let's just air dry. It's not like we have better things to do," Suzaku suggested. Lelouch nodded his agreement and Suzaku helped him up.

Lelouch had to lean against Suzaku for support. Suzaku found he didn't mind too much. It was such a warm day though and before long, Lelouch was asleep. Suzaku couldn't sleep; he was too busy peeking over at Lelouch. He cursed himself every time, especially when his gaze lowered until he was glancing just below his waist…

He shook his head and gently shook Lelouch awake. It was time to have him rest back in the cave.

~Author's Note~

I hate that it's taking forever to put up these chapters! It's not even that long of chapters either! Well, I hope this was good. I was afraid Suzaku was getting a little OOC, so tell me if he is. Thank you for reading!

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