Title: Not Yet

Summary: Lelouch's 'death' was only the beginning. He's not dead yet, and he and C.C. want to keep it that way. Nunnaly has trouble coping with being the Empress, and Suzaku is torn between helping her and blaming himself for even wanting to be happy.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: D: T&B is over. You should still watch it, but it's complete. For now! A sequel is coming eventually! Also owned by Sunrise is Code Geass.

Authour's Note: Hey. whassup? Life's been hectic on this end, but guilt has triggered an update! It's shorter than I wanted, but I don't care enough today. I finished it and it came out a full 1k longer than it would have been if I'd posted it immediately. Please excuse misspellings and word misuse. I haven't got a BETA yet, and I don't care enough to check this chapter myself right now.

Lelouch didn't avoid C.C. anymore after that night. There had been a few days after their first kiss he had tried to, but he gave up quickly. He didn't try to make sense of what was going on in C.C.'s mind, he just went with it.

Which wasn't to say he hadn't analyzed and overanalyzed what had happened again and again, but he had decided to just go with it. Besides that, he had been dealing with some more… interesting problems… at work. He had been discovered by a large group of men that were intent on trying to get him out on a date. Their favorite place to hit on him was at the makeup desk that he worked at.

He had recently gotten C.C.'s help to get his purple contacts replaced with blue ones, and now that he had blue eyes every guy and girl in the store tried to hit on him. He knew he had the bishounen good looks going for him already, but somehow changing his eye colour had suddenly brought suitors out of the woodworks.

He was trying to politely fight off a large buff blonde man who liked him a lot, when his phone alarm started going off. He pulled it out, desperate to escape, and cursed when he realized what it was for. According to the alarm, he had thirty minutes to get to the Viceroy's Palace where Viletta was holding her wedding. He turned on his charm, and smiled up at the man.

"Hey big boy. I have to get to a wedding, so I can do someone's makeup. I'll catch you later." And, before the man could respond he slipped away, yelling at one of his coworkers over his shoulder that he was going to be late for a job he had. Julie had already known about the wedding, so she just smiled, yelled an okay after him, and asked the disappointed blonde man if there was anything she could help him with. Lelouch only hoped his act was convincing. He really didn't know how to act gay besides the limited bit he saw on television… So he was basically trying to be a walking stereotype.

Lelouch ran, hardly noticing that physical exercise was beginning to come easier to him. He barely made it onto the monorail before the doors closed, and he sat heavily on a bench. The monorail wasn't crowded at that time of day, so he sat catching his breath while he got closer to the palace. It wasn't until he was nearly there that it crossed his mind that he might see Nunnaly there. He clenched his hand convulsively, and got off at the next stop to purchase some fingerless gloves. He was getting too wrapped up in himself for his own good. It was going to be dangerous to him if he didn't start getting his act together, especially so close to the palace.

He got to the preparations for the wedding on time, but only because he ran from the instant he had gotten the gloves until he had gotten back to the station. He had only ended up losing five minutes, but had to ensure that Nunnaly wouldn't be able to properly feel his hands.

Lelouch had not really had to ask for directions except for where the preparations were, but he did anyway. He didn't want to risk anyone noticing that he knew the halls of the palace a little too well. Viletta welcomed him with a relieved smile on her face.

"I'm glad you were able to make it, Trenton." She said with a huge smile. Since his cover had been blown on his old name he had taken a new fake name. Lelouch scoffed, and gave her a hard look.

"Hun, do you think I could ever miss your wedding?" he asked, his hand on his hip. Then he broke out into a huge smile and hugged her before she could take his joke the wrong way.

He had gotten a lot of practice at his act. He had to, to avoid recognition. He was very wary of whether or not Nunnaly would be there though, and he was scared she would recognize him simply by his voice. In fact, he knew she would.

He was nearly overjoyed when he discovered that Nunnaly wasn't going to be at the wedding. Well, not overjoyed as much as he was relieved. He would have liked to see his sister and Suzaku, but he was already risking too much by being as close to Viletta as he was.

Viletta was dressed in a traditional kimono, and Lelouch happily did her makeup and chatted away with her in his most effeminately gay voice possible, making sure to almost overplay his gayness. He had to really sell it to make it through the day. He had just finished putting the finishing touches on her face when Milly walked into the dressing room in full Festival mode just for the wedding.

Lelouch stepped back, pretending not to notice the girl had entered, and handed Viletta a mirror.

"Oh!" she gasped as she looked. "It's even better than it was at the store!"

Lelouch laughed. "Hun, I practiced a LOT to get that right, so it better be better!" Then he turned to Milly with a smile. "And who might this lovely lady be?" he said happily. Obviously he wasn't supposed to be able to recognize her… unless… Then he pause, and let his eyes get wide. Milly only smiled.

"You! You're that darling reporter!" he said, and spread his arms wide for a hug which she graciously accepted. After that, he held her shoulders at arm's length and looked her up and down before saying "I want to do YOUR wedding makeup too!"

Milly laughed. "Thanks, but I'm not planning on getting married any time soon." She glanced at him and then back to Viletta before she froze, and turned her eyes back to him. He pretended not to notice, but in reality he was holding his breath. He had just began to walk towards the door (with a certain sway in his hips) to get ready for the Brittanian part of the wedding when he hear her call to him. He turned, and smiled a hug smile, seeing the hesitation on Milly's face.

"Never mind…" she trailed off. "You just reminded me of… an old friend." She trailed off lamely.

"He must have been a hottie!" Lelouch said happily before going back to what he was doing.

Within the hour the pictures were complete. Oghi had decided on only having pictures taken for the wedding in the Japanese style before the wedding itself, which was completely brittanian.

Lelouch walked around in his best suit, which was a powder blue, for the occasion. He made sure Ohgi was well out of the way before dragging Viletta to get her Brittanian style makeup and wedding dress.

Ohgi had wanted pictured of the two of them in traditional clothing, but he knew Viletta wanted a Brittanian style wedding, so that was the type of ceremony that they were going to have.

The party the previous day had been nice, even if Nunnaly was a little upset that Gino had told her there had been terrorist bombings just to get her to the main hall of the palace. She sighed, and reread the letter she had just gotten. Blinking, she realized she must not have actually read it the first time, because it was an invitation for her to visit one of her family members in Brittania. She sighed, and decided to accept the request. She needed to get back to the mainland to sort some things out anyway.

Slowly, she wheeled her chair backwards and angled it towards the door, wondering what to say to the people that were already there. A knock on the door pulled her out of her reverie and she looked up expectantly. It was early evening, so she knew who it probably was, and didn't bother to answer.

A black masked and cloaked figure opened the door and strode in, keeping his posture straight and tall, and giving nothing away about the man behind the mask. After the door was closed the posture relaxed, and he sighed heavily.

"It's been a long day." Suzaku muttered wearily as he pulled off his mask. Nunnaly smiled at him.

Deciding she had better tell him sooner rather than later, she gathered up her courage. "I'm planning on going back to the mainland for a few weeks. There's a lot that needs straightened out there, and I'm going to need your help."

The weary man nodded as he sat down on a chair in the room. "I figured we'd be going soon. Who else are you bringing?"

Nunnaly thought for a moment before replying. "I think just me and you should be enough. We're not going to be gone very long, and part of the point of going to the mainland is to depend on some of the people there and determine who's trustworthy and who needs fired. I think I can leave that to you, right?" she said teasingly.

Since Suzaku was constantly in a mask he could change his appearance and infiltrate easily, as long as he had some help with changing some of his more notable features. He had recently dyed his hair red just for that purpose, and owned a couple pairs of oddly coloured contacts. She had a little more trouble trying to hide is more Asiatic features, but settled for a pair of glasses and some eye glue that made him look half Brittanian.

He just smiled at her from across the room as they relaxed a bit. As he sat relaxing, something crossed through his mind that hadn't before. Nunnaly was old enough to marry.

Suzaku stopped breathing and began to ferociously beat himself up mentally for even thinking about the possibility. She could do a lot better than, him and he knew it. Heck, he was supposed to be dead. He was sure that Lelouch would have killed him for even thinking of the possibility. Lelouch had only been dead months and Suzaku was already thinking of marrying his sister? ... Not that he'd been thinking that way. He knew though that she had to get married anyway because she was the empress, but for some reason his heart felt like it was being stabbed when he tried to imagine some random man marrying her.

Suzaku sat silently, forgetting about everything around him, and continuing to berate himself when he heard Nunnaly speak again. He looked up, only catching the end of what she had said.

"…getting married?"

Suzaku choked, and noticed the look on Nunnaly's face. It was of intense concentration and Suzaku got locked into her gaze. "Wh-what?" he asked weakly. He hadn't heard the whole thing, so he quickly told himself she was talking about something else.

"Have you heard Villetta Nu and Ohgi Kaname are getting married?" she asked again, her face still intense. Suzaku relaxed.

"No, I hadn't. That's good for them though. I don't know if I've met them, but I've heard a lot about those two. Well, actually, I've met Ohgi. I don't think I've met Viletta though." Inside he was trying to slow down his heart rate.

"I'm old enough to get married now, since I'm a member of the royal family."

Nunnaly had said this so quietly that Suzaku had been sure for a moment that he was hearing things. His breath hitched again, and he continued to look at her.

"Suzaku, I think I want to marry you." She said, this time in a voice loud enough to hear. It was at that moment that Suzaku was sure he was hallucinating.

"Wh-wh… " he blinked spastically, and seemed at a loss for words. He couldn't even for a cogerent response for a moment, and just as he had finally gotten a response together she spoke again.

"If I had know a few months ago that I would want to get married as soon as I was old enough I would have laughed at myself, but now… I think it makes sense. I need an heir. Otherwise it's going to be chaos when the time for succession comes. Not only that, but as Empress I'm required to be married within a year of coronation if I'm old enough, or sooner if I need to. I could have gotten married at 15 even, since I'm Empress now. A year is approaching faster than I'd like to admit. I know that you will never make a bid for the crown, you'll never ask for more power, and I know where your loyalties lie." She continued to stare him in the eye so he knew she had meant every word.

"And… I love you. I may be young, but I know this is a fact."

Suzaku was shocked still. She had taken all of his objections and nicely trounced them, except one.

"I love you too, but… I'm dead. I don't exist anymore. You can't marry a dead person, Nuns. We've only been together for a few months, and…it's not like you can marry Zero." He tried to joke. Her eyes hadn't left his, and they were just as serious. He wasn't sure where this serious and very practical Nunnaly had suddenly appeared from.

"Can't I?"

A/N: Ooooh~! Does anyone know where this is heading? Cyber cookie to the person who guesses right~! Well, actually it's kind of obvious, so I'll say, what's coming beyond the obvious? PLOT! Lots of PLOT! I see this fic ending in another 10 to 15 chapters, before getting pulled into a sequel... if I actually care enough to write a sequel. Or in 20 to 30 chapters if I decide to do something mean. :) No guarantees on anything though.

Posted: 10/08/11 12:15 MST