A/N: College…essays…events…club activities…readings…exams…research paper…many, many things going on…here is my reprieve. Oh and look on my profile for updates on progress and things like that because that's how I'll keep you guys informed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass because this would not have been a fanfic if I did.

Chapter 11

Lelouch stared out into the rolling clouds through the small airplane window, his legs propped comfortably across from him under the lacquered wooden table with a lamp bolted on it. The larger then normal airline TV screen in front of him was turned to some news report that he wasn't paying attention to. The first class seating of this plane was, to describe it in one word, extravagant. Each passenger was practically given their own seats and these seats were walled off from others with a thin wall. It even had a sliding door on the side of the aisle if someone wants complete privacy. Charles and Marianne sat in the middle column where two cubicle seats were place next to each other (with a raise-able wall between the seats), Nunnally and Euphemia likewise. That means Lelouch would've been stuck with Schneizel but he had asked his mother to get him a single seat. So Lelouch sat behind Schneizel, and across the aisle from his seat were Nunnally and Euphemia. Schneizel's personal assistant, Kanon had gone back a few days early.

As Lelouch stared, he couldn't help but dread this trip. Sure he was born in the States but he had spent most of his life in Japan. He thought about seeing his half siblings again and shuddered. Why would his mother think he would enjoy seeing them again? Or that they would miss him? Hasn't it been apparent since childhood that he never got along with them?

A vacation is something to be enjoyed right? Oh well, Lelouch would have to bear with it since Nunnally had wanted to come as well. However, this could've been more enjoyable if Suzaku or even C.C. had come along. He stopped his train of thoughts when C.C. came up as a possible candidate.

'I think I've been spending too much time with her,' Lelouch thought, sighing.

The plane ride felt short because of the dread Lelouch was feeling. The ride was a little over 13 hours long but when the tires made contact with the runway of San Francisco International, Lelouch felt like it was brining him towards his execution. That was over dramatized but those were only words Lelouch could think of to describe the feeling in his stomach.

After they had grabbed their luggage from the baggage claim, they were met by Kanon Maldini. Lelouch looked over at his half brother.

"You know, I think there's a very clear line between personal assistant and personal slave." Lelouch said mockingly.

"Whatever are you talking about Lelouch?" Schneizel asked calmly. "I think it's quite appropriate for our host to come pick us up."

"Host?" Lelouch asked.

"Ah, no one told you?" Euphemia said surprised. "The Maldinis invited us to stay at their villa in the Napa Valley."

"Apparently I wasn't informed then," Lelouch said.

"Cornelia, Clovis, and Odysseus have already arrived," Kanon informed them.

"What about Guinevere?" Charles asked.

"It seems she went off with some friends to Long Beach," Schneizel said.

It always surprised Lelouch how that man remembers the name of his many children, or cared enough to inquire about them. They went out to the front of the airport where Kanon had a gleaming white SUV stretch limo waiting for them. The big burly chauffeur took care of their luggage while Kanon hled the door open for them.

"Kanon, your family seems pretty well off, why do you work Schneizel?" Lelouch asked nonchalantly as the chauffeur climbed into the driver's seat up front and started weaving his way out of the airport. This had bothered him when he was told that Kanon's family has a villa. If they own a villa, they were definitely rich.

"Schneizel is my mentor in return for my services. Having the pleasure of learning how to manage a business from the son of an international businessman is quite an honor." Kanon said modestly.

"And also our families might be future business now." Schneizel informed them. "Lelouch, I heard you're not interested in the family business so I'm not surprised you don't know."

'How tactless…' Lelouch thought. Everyone knows that of course but it's another thing to say it aloud.

"Kanon's family owns a decent sized grape farm here in California; I thought they'd be of great assistance in our new venture into the wine business." Schneizel said. "Don't you agree, Father?"

"Hm, I have yet to inspect the quality of their grapes." Charles said.

"Don't worry; the villa we'll be staying at is where the grapes are grown." Kanon said. "But I assure you, our grapes are of the highest quality."

"We'll see about that…" Charles said.

"I will vouch for them also," Schneizel said.

So this was a business trip in disguise. Lelouch is not exactly surprised at this bit of information but felt that this trip was even more useless. The villa wasn't that far away, an hour or so drive at most. When they arrived, the door was opened for them by a butler who had apparently been waiting for them. Lelouch winced at the intense California summer heat. In Japan it was a wet heat with its humidity but here, it was just hot.

The chauffeur was already unloading their luggage and bringing it in through a side door so Lelouch and his family walked to the path to front door, following the butler. Lelouch could see the vineyards in the distance as they got closer to the villa. They were greeted at the opened front doors by a brown haired middle aged man and a blond middle aged woman, whom Lelouch assumed its Kanon's parents.

"Ah Mr. Lamperouge, it's nice to finally meet you in person." The middle aged man said.

"Mrs. Lamperouge, come in and have some tea." The middle aged woman said.

'And there goes the formality…' Lelouch thought. 'I hate this…'

Lelouch decided to just ignore their pointless small talk as they he followed them inside. All this formality was exactly why he hated his family life. He stayed silent until he was allowed to run off, listening to bits of their conversation. Something about wine…daughter…grapes…marriage…business…you name it. He didn't even hear the question Mr. Maldini asked. So he gave a very generic response that works well with almost anything.

"Sounds lovely," Lelouch said feigning interest.

"Great!" Kanon's father said. "Karin, come out and meet our guests."

From the stairs, a girl with Kanon's hair color and sapphire eyes walked down. Her hair seemed to be curled at the ends, similar to Euphemia's while the top puffed out, similar to Milly's. She was wearing a light purple strapless dress. She came up and stood next to her father.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Karin Maldini." The girl said.

Lelouch became a little confused for a moment at the sudden appearance of the girl because he was spacing out, but grasping the situation, he returned his face back its stoic expression.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lamperouge, why don't we talk outside in the patio, the view is beautiful there." Kanon's father said gesturing towards the back of the villa. "We'll leave the youngsters alone for now."

The adults, including Schneizel and Kanon left the four teenagers in the foyer of the large house. As soon they were out of sight, Karin, turned to the three Lamperouge teens, "You three must be, Euphemia, Nunnally, and Lelouch," nodding to each in turn and putting extra emphasis on Lelouch's name.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Karin," Nunnally said extending a hand towards the Maldini girl.

"Oh no, the pleasures all mine," Karin said, taking her hand and shaking it. Her eyes were still on Lelouch though.

"Do you know where my sister Cornelia is?" Euphie asked eagerly.

"Ah, they should be returning from their trip to town soon. Your siblings." Karin said. "Why don't you go to the garage area to wait for her?"

"Alright!" Euphie said excitedly. "Come on Nunnally."

The two girls went off through a door to the side of the foyer. Lelouch was just about to follow them when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked down to see the Karin girl restraining him. He shot her glare but that didn't seem to faze her.

"Why don't I give you a personal tour of the villa?" Karin asked, still holding on Lelouch's arm.

"Maybe later," Lelouch said coldly and tried to go to where Euphie and Nunnally would be, but he was stopped once again.

"No, I'd be a bad host if I don't show you around," Karin said sweetly, but still sounded mature.

"I don't mind," Lelouch said, again displaying no emotion. And again, he was pulled back just as he was to leave.

"No, I insist. Daddy would be quite upset when he finds out that I haven't given you a proper tour of the house." Karin said.

Lelouch didn't say anything this time, and instead just tried to leave again. But the girl was still holding him back. "Will you please let go?" he snapped at her. To hell with mannerisms.

"I'll let go if you agree to the tour," Karin said sweetly.

"Fine…" Lelouch said exasperatedly.

Karin let go of Lelouch's arm but remained uncomfortably close. She first took him to the living room where four large sofas were around several glass coffee tables. The sofas faced and surrounded the wall where a large 56" plasma TV was installed. On either side of the TV were two large tower speakers and underneath it, was a glass cabinet with various types of players. Next to the cabinet was a shelf with Various DVDs, Blu-Ray, and even VHS movies. She pointed excitedly to glass display case full of gold ornaments and dragged Lelouch over to look at them in detail.

After the living room, they went into the dining room where a long oval lacquered cherry wood table was placed, with matching chairs. From there, they stepped into the large kitchen with its large oven and stove, two microwaves, a large refrigerator, marble counters, and beautifully crafted oak cabinets.

The two went back into the living room to go to downstairs living area. Along with the large living room, dining room, and kitchen, the first floor also included four bedrooms, one of them a master bedroom. Two large bathrooms were also in the living area.

Karin then dragged Lelouch upstairs where it's comprised of six bedrooms, one of a master bedroom as well. Apparently, Lelouch's parents will sleep in the upstairs master bedroom. Two more large bathrooms were also upstairs, each with three sinks. Lelouch had not paid attention until now but as he went over the number of rooms in his head, he realized there wouldn't be enough rooms.

"There aren't enough rooms for all of us," Lelouch said, saying something for the first since the tour started.

"Oh yeah, I'll be sleeping with you in your room." She said casually.

"WHAT!?" Lelouch yelled in surprise.

"Just kidding," Karin laughed. "Your brothers Odysseus and Clovis agreed to share a room and your little sisters would have to share a room too. I'm sure they won't mind, they seem so nice."

"I see…" Lelouch said recovering from his shock.

"We've never had this much guests before so it's a tight fit." Karin said apologetically.

"It's fine," Lelouch said.

"Let's go check out the wine cellar," Karin said pulling Lelouch back downstairs.

They came back to the first floor stopped at a plain wooden door. She punched in a code on the keypad and door clicked. She pulled the door open and turned to Lelouch. "My dad's crazy about his wine." She explained.

They walked down the stairs to a large basement with shelves and shelves of wine. On one side, Lelouch could see three giant barrels with what can only be wine as well. "So your family's already in the wine business." Lelouch said.

"Yes, but it's not very big." Karin said.

"Still impressive," Lelouch said, and then just realized something. "Your Japanese is also pretty good." He hadn't really paid attention, maybe it's because he's lived around the Japanese all his life but this American girl had been speaking to him in Japanese the whole time.

"I've been studying," she said smiled. "I am in AP Japanese right now in high school."

"That's very good," Lelouch said.

"Thanks, well let's join the others." Karin said wrapping her arms around Lelouch's arm again. "I think your siblings are back by now."

They headed back upstairs and she closed the door to the wine cellar. They headed around back, toward a sliding glass door leading to a sun-baked patio. Lelouch could see Odysseus, Clovis, and Cornelia had indeed returned and Euphemia and Nunnally were with them as they listened to the adults' conversations. She opened the sliding glass door with hand and led him outside.

His oldest half brother, Odysseus was the first to notice them. "Ah Lelouch, I've missed you all these years little brother." He said, giving Lelouch a tight hug.

'Get your hands off me…' Lelouch thought. Out of all his brothers, Odysseus would be the buffoon. His words were sincere but he trusts people too easily and he's too indecisive.

"I see and you and Karin are already getting along," Odysseus said noticing that Karin was still holding Lelouch's arm. "That's good, since she is your fiancée now." Odysseus said smiling.

It took a moment for Lelouch to register what Odysseus had just said but when he did, "SHE'S MY WHAT!?"

A/N: in a previous chapter, I said Kanon's hair was light brown, but as I look at a picture of him now it doesn't look light brown. In fact, I can't tell what color it's supposed to be so for the sake of consistency, it will stay light brown. As for the description of the first class cabin, I googled a picture and found it and it's just what I think it is…I think there are many different kinds.

Karin Maldini is my OC. I totally wanted to have her try to seduce Lelouch while they were in his room or wine cellar, but I refrained.