Chapter Twelve: Milly's Terror Contest

Lelouch didn't have a clue as to what to do. He had been awake for hours, nervous to even move. Sure, Suzaku was asleep, but what happened if he woke up as soon as Lelouch moved? The Britannian boy truly hated this. He had felt like he was finally shutting down his emotions. And now, Suzaku had fallen asleep as soon as Lelouch had put his arm around the Japanese boy. What the hell?

Had Suzaku curled up with him the night in Britannia too? Lelouch just figured it was his own fault, somehow he had wrapped himself around the Japanese boy without waking him. But now… This was just confusing him so much. Suzaku had always clearly been against hardly touching a guy. He would hardly hold Lelouch's hand longer than a few seconds to help him up a cliff or lead him somewhere. Clearly, something had changed because now Suzaku was curled up in his arms.

He wanted to get up, he actually wanted to get away. This was just too confusing and frustrating and painful. But he found his body didn't agree with his mind, for he stayed right there by Suzaku and eventually dozed off into a fitful sleep.

He woke up continuously throughout the night, tense and nervous. He thought he'd be thrilled that Suzaku would even want to be touching him, but it actually terrified him. Not the touching, but what would happen after. Suzaku wouldn't want to be near him after this. Lelouch just knew it. Even if, by some slim chance, Suzaku wanted to try anything, Lelouch doubted he'd stick around for more than a few months... why was he even thinking about this? Any of these ideas were unlikely to happen. What was it Milly always said anyways? Enjoy the little things for the short time they're here? It was something like that… With a soft sigh, Lelouch curled up with Suzaku once more and tried to sleep.

Lelouch was still up at a very unhappy hour of five-thirty AM. Him and Suzaku were still intertwined. He'd enjoy this a lot more if there weren't three other people to possibly witness this. With a grumble, Lelouch got up slowly, barely disturbing Suzaku and the air mattress, and stumbled tiredly to the bathroom. On his way out of the room, he noticed Rolo and Gino cuddled up on the couch. He thought about them while he got his shower ready. How did those two figure out they wanted each other? How did Rolo even decide he wanted to be with men instead of women? As far as Lelouch had known, Rolo hadn't really seemed interested in anyone either.

He climbed into the shower and just stood in a scalding hot stream of water for quite some time. He couldn't help, but laugh humorlessly. He's deductive abilities could be used on much better things, but instead he's wasting it on a stupid, childish crush. He just wanted to forget about this! He wanted to move on and focus on helping Nunnally get better, think about joining Milly's resistance group…

A knock on the bathroom door interrupted his train of thought. "Who's there?"

"I'm coming in, Lelouch." It was Milly?

"You can't just barge in!" Lelouch snapped, glaring towards the door. But it was too late, she opened the door and came right into the steamy bathroom. She sat down on the closed toilet lid. Lelouch peeked his head around the shower curtain and noticed the look on Milly's face. "What's wrong?" he asked, momentarily forgetting how annoyed he was with Milly.

Milly sighed and said sadly, "Kallen doesn't want to speak to me. Pento told her exactly what happened… She's furious I didn't talk with her about it at all."

"Did you apologize?" Lelouch started scrubbing at his scalp.

"Of course I did! But she wouldn't hear a word I had to say. She eventually just left last night. I'm so mad at her right now."

"She has the right to be upset. You don't really… You did betray her trust."

"I'm trying to expand Area 11's resistance group. What's wrong with that?"

"She's technically leading at the moment. You should have talked to her about your idea first."

"Lelouch, you're supposed to be on my side," Milly whined. "That's why I came to talk to you! And to yell at you for not inviting me over to the sleepover last night."

Lelouch rinsed out his hair before answering her, "It was a spur of the moment."

"Still, it would have been nice if you'd invited me," she mumbled.

"Do you want me to have another sleepover tonight, just for you?"

He had been joking, but he didn't realize Milly would agree until she was. "Oh, thank you Lulu!" she squealed, throwing open the shower curtain and hugging Lelouch.

"Milly! Seriously?! You need to learn some boundaries!" he yelled, trying to shove the blonde girl off him.

"Oh, but I can't! You're just the best," she said in her best fan girl voice.

Before he could respond, the bathroom door opened yet again. Lelouch froze and his eyes widened as he met Gino's eye. He tried shoving Milly off of him to close the curtain, but she just hugged him tighter and said, "Wanna join us, Gino?" with a challenging look on her face.

A smirk crept on his face and he took a step closer towards the shower. "Are you challenging me, Milly?"

"She's not challenging you!" Lelouch said, sounding panicked. He knew that look on Gino's face. He was going right for Milly's "challenge". It was too late. The blonde Britannian man charged right into the shower too and crushed Milly closer to a poor naked Lelouch. The ex-Britannian prince stumbled back, dragging Milly and Gino right into the stream of water. Neither of them took notice, they only laughed more. "Get off!" He wanted to shout, but he didn't want to disturb Nunnally or Rolo still, so he could only speak loudly. He couldn't shake either of the Britannians off of him and quite frankly he wanted to not be naked any longer.

It seemed like luck was far, far from Lelouch. The door to the bathroom hadn't been closed, so of course Lelouch's voice traveled. And someone else just had to come to the ruckus. As luck loved to joke, it sent Suzaku. Lelouch couldn't help, but stop and stare at Suzaku. His face flushed and he tried covering himself as much as possible. Gino made it about ten times worse. "Hey! You can join us too, Suzaku!" He let go of Milly and Lelouch long enough to pull Suzaku right into the shower and trap the Japanese boy right up against Lelouch.

Milly couldn't help, but giggle and lean into the Gino's ear. "Thanks for playing along with my plan," she whispered to him.

He just smirked, then said loudly, "Okay, we'll leave you be Lelouch." He pulled Milly out of the bathroom as fast as possible.

It was just Suzaku and Lelouch, both slightly dumbfounded and stunned. They both just stared at each other under the stream of water. Lelouch flushed and suddenly pulled the curtain around himself. "Uh, Suzaku… I'm-"

Suzaku was still staring at Lelouch when he said, "It was Milly and Gino. There's no reason to apologize. She's really quite a witch, isn't she?"

Lelouch chuckled nervously. "Yeah, she gets weird like this quite a bit.

Suzaku finally seemed to come to his senses, for he suddenly turned around and stepped out from the shower. "It-it's okay for me to dry off fast isn't it?" he stammered, his back to Lelouch. The Britannian couldn't help, but stare at Suzaku's behind. He pajama pants were soaked and sticking to his muscular legs and showing off a very nice view-

He realized he still hadn't answered and quickly said, "Oh, yeah that's more than fine… can you hand me a towel too? I'd rather get dressed before Milly throws another sneak attack." He turned off the shower.

"Oh, yeah sure." Suzaku opened up the small closet door and pulled out two plush blue towels. He handed one to Lelouch and then threw one over his head.

Lelouch started drying himself off, glancing at Suzaku around the curtain. The poor Japanese boy almost looked scarred. "Are you okay, Suzaku?"

Suzaku jumped and glanced at the shower. "Uh, yeah I'm fine."

"You've just been acting so strange lately. It's worrying me."

Suzaku chuckled, finally seeming a little more normal. "I'm perfectly fine. I'm just feeling out of it lately."

"I'm always here to talk to. You know that."

"Of course. We're best friends. I'll always go to you when I have a problem."

Lelouch had to smile at that. He's right. He's my best friend. I'll go to him for almost everything. There isn't a reason to try ruining that. He wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out of the shower. "I'm really glad we found each other again."

Suzaku smiled at Lelouch. "Me too… Well, I'm going to go grab some clothes and then hop into the shower myself." Before Lelouch could say anything, the Japanese boy disappeared from the bathroom. Lelouch shook his head, still smiling, and started brushing out his raven hair. Then he left the bathroom to get on his school uniform.

Just as he was closing his bedroom door, it was blocked. Before he could check to see what it was, he was pushed back from the door. He tripped over his towel and fell to the floor. "Oh, sorry Lelouch," Milly giggled, pulling Lelouch to his feet. He quickly wrapped the towel around his waist again and glared at her.

"If you barge in on me one more time, I swear I'll make you pay."
Milly giggled. "Uh huh, sure. Don't bother dressing up in your uniform. Pick something out that's the least important to you whether or not it'll be salvageable. School is cancelled today."

"Why…?"

"It's the first ever Christmas Terror Contest! Not like scary costumes or anything. It'll be… like war," she said with a wide smile. "Sayoko said she'd have breakfast ready soon. She's helping with Nunna right now." Then Milly was gone. Lelouch stared at his door for a moment, then shook his head, and started going through his closet. He picked a plain black t-shirt and some old jeans and folded up his pajamas for tonight.

He could hear the shower when he walked to the kitchen. He could hear Gino, Milly, and Rolo talking in the living room and glanced in. Gino and Rolo were sitting on the couch together with Gino's arm around Rolo's shoulder. They really did look happy together. That's what mattered, so long as they were happy. So he turned and went towards the kitchen. It would be nice to make everyone breakfast this morning. He opened up his recipe book and started on his favorite waffle recipe. It was a yeast waffle recipe that was rich and very delicious. So long as he started it now, the batter would have plenty of time to rise before Milly's contest.

The contest was extremely concerning. It didn't seem like there would be any costumes or anything, so that was a positive note, but it was called a terror contest. Milly had to have something terrible planned. He doubted it would end well for him especially. It felt like she targeted him specifically for most of the contests or festivals. It was utterly frustrating.

Lelouch heard someone walking into the kitchen and turned around. It was just Rolo, who smiled at his brother. "What are you making for breakfast, big brother?"

"Oh, just some waffles. I thought it would be a nice treat," he said, glancing at his mix. All he had left was to mix in the yeast/water mixture and then let it sit. He quickly did that, asking Rolo, "When would you have told me you and Gino were a thing?"

Rolo blinked. "What brought this on?"

"I've just been thinking about this… and a few other things. I mean, I had no clue until we saw you kissing. So… when would you have told?"

"… I'm not sure. It's still kind of new to me too. I wanted to slowly start bringing things up and seeing how you felt about everything. I've just now been feeling like this could last a long time."

"… just tell me whenever something happens. I hate not being part of your life."

"I will," Rolo said with a smile. "You should come join Milly and Gino. She's telling us about her festival today."

"I'd rather not know what it is. Or participate. The fact she calls it a terror contest is just worse."

"It really won't be that bad. Come on." Rolo tugged on Lelouch's arm and lead the raven haired boy to the living room.

Gino smirked at Lelouch as soon as he walked into the living room. "How was your shower, Lelouch?"

"Oh, it was just fun," he said with a glare. "It was even better when Milly ran me down in my bedroom."

Before Gino could remark, Milly jumped in, "What are you making for breakfast?" just as Lelouch sat down next to her on the couch.

"Just some waffles," he replied, leaning back against the couch. Rolo took a spot by Gino again. Lelouch noticed the blond Britannian curl his hand around Rolo's almost right away.

It took Lelouch a moment to realize Milly was asking him a question. He turned his attention to Milly and asked "What was that?"

Milly giggled. "You're so strange. I was asking what kind of waffles."

"They're the yeast rising ones."

"Oh, those are the best-!"

Lelouch interrupted, "So what all is planned for the festival today?"

Milly started going on about that, talking about groups and weapons and quite terrifying things. This "war contest" didn't seem all too appealing. "I've even started planning out the different groups. I'm not sure how we'll pick a lord or lady, but I'm sure I can figure it out at some point," she mused.

"Aren't these festivals supposed to be Christmas themed?"

Milly shrugged. "I'm in a war kind of mood right now. Besides, this is only going on while the Christmas trees are getting set up." Then she suddenly smiled and said, "Morning Suzaku! Are you ready for war today?"

Instantly, Lelouch looked over at Suzaku. The Japanese boy smiled at them all and asked, "War?"

"It's Milly's festival today," Lelouch told him. "Apparently, if she decides it doesn't need to be Christmas themed, then it's perfectly fine."

Suzaku chuckled, walking over and sitting next to Lelouch. Instantly, the Britannian boy could tell how nice Suzaku smelt. It made him flush slightly and look away towards Milly. That is, until he met her eye and noticed the smirk on her face. He got to his feet and said, "I'm going to make some bacon to go with the waffles." He hurried out of the room before anyone could say a thing. He got two pounds of bacon out of the freezer while he cursed Milly softly. He hated that blond Britannian girl. Her and Gino. They had to do with the fact Suzaku ended up in the bathroom. Did they always have to butt into other people's business?

By the time he had the bacon cooking, the waffles were ready to get made. Lelouch leaned down to get the waffle maker out of the cabinet. "Hey, do you want some help?" He bumped his head and cursed.

He poked his head around the door and told Suzaku, "You're supposed to be our guest. Besides, you've helped enough plenty."

"Nonsense. Besides, bacon isn't much work." Lelouch wanted to tell Suzaku to go back to the living room, but he decided just to leave it be. Things were going to have to start going back to normal. So he started setting up the waffle maker.

"Do you think Milly's festival will be as athletic as it sounds?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku chuckled. "For you, it's going to be a nightmare. For us regular people, it'll be just normal."

"No, for athletic nuts like you it'll be okay. Us average people, me included, won't enjoy this."

Suzaku rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous sometimes. The festival doesn't seem too difficult either. If we're on a team together, I'll be able to pick up most of your slack."

"I'm not going to slack. I'll be just as helpful on our team," Lelouch retorted. He was slightly surprised by his own outburst, but the look on Suzaku's face made him happy he'd said it. Suzaku actually looked impressed. "How's the bacon coming along?"

"Oh, crap!" The Japanese boy turned back to the darkening bacon, cursing under his breath. Lelouch walked over to Suzaku's side and smirked.

"I don't think anyone is going to enjoy crispy bacon," he commented, glancing at Suzaku for his reaction. The Japanese boy glared at him.

"I'm trying to be helpful. You don't have to be so rude about it."

"It's not like I asked you for the help."

Suzaku shoved him playfully. "You're not funny, Lulu." Suzaku knew exactly how much Lelouch detested being called that.

Lelouch glared at the Japanese boy, just as Suzaku predicted he would. "Yeah, like you're hi-larious, Susu." Suzaku rolled his eyes.

"That nickname hasn't bothered me since grade school." In reply, Lelouch scooped up some waffle mix and attempted to launch it at Suzaku. Unfortunately, he expected this and easily caught Lelouch's wrist before any of the mix left the ladle. "Let go, Lulu."

He stuck out his tongue, but slowly let go of the ladle. Suzaku took the ladle and set it back in the bowl of waffle mix. "You better get back to the bacon before you burn both sides," Lelouch said with a slight smirk. Cursing, Suzaku turned back to the bacon once again, muttering under his breath. The Britannian turned around and started getting the batter ready to pour. The waffle maker was just about ready.

He poured the mix in and closed the lid. The first four waffles would be ready in two minutes. He turned back around and quietly observed Suzaku. The Japanese boy was too busy pulling off all the bacon to notice Lelouch looking at him. For a moment, he wondered what would have been different if he'd never started liking Suzkau more than a friend. Would he have actually found someone to be interested in? Would he be happier right now? Before he could continue his thought, the waffle maker beeped. He turned and started removing each of the waffles. Then he put on more batter. He continued this process for some time, tuning out what was going on with the rest of the household. He needed to start cooking more often, it had been too long since he really got to enjoy this.

Once the batter was all cooked into warm, delicious smelling waffles, Lelouch brought them out to the kitchen table. He noted the syrup, butter, bacon, and even some fruit had been brought to the table already. Had Suzaku done that? On cue, the Japanese boy appeared, carrying out some dishes as well. Lelouch couldn't help, but laugh. "I told you not to help so much, Suzaku," Lelouch told him as he took the plates.

"Don't worry about it, I'd much rather help," Suzaku told him. "The others should be here in just a moment." And they were. Nunnally and Sayoko came in first, the younger Lamperouge exclaiming happily.

"I'm so glad you made this big brother! You haven't in ages. Mhmmm!" Nunnally was already taking her first bite and seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Milly raced into the dining room just as Lelouch and Suzaku were sitting down, Gino at her heels and Rolo close behind. "Out of my way!" Milly shouted at Gino, shoving the blonde away when he tried sitting beside Lelouch. "He's my Lulu!"

"Never! I called sitting next to him for eternity!"

"That can't even happen!" The two started shoving each other back and forth, until Sayoko had to finally step in and give each a good smack on the head. She was granted the permission several times by all of the club members. Gino and Milly just got too out of hand A LOT. "Sayoko," Milly whined, pretending to nurse her head and pouting. "That's so mean!"

"Both of you sit down," Lelouch ordered, pointing a fork at them for good measure. When both Britannians turned to sit down, they were surprised to see Rolo sitting beside the raven-haired Britannian calmly pouring syrup over his pancake.

When he noticed the looks on their faces, Rolo shrugged and said, "It's my spot now." Everyone broke out laughing at that. Milly managed to shove Gino away and sit next to Rolo.

"He's my new favorite," she declared childishly, throwing her arms around the unsuspecting boy and hugging him close. "He's my new toy!"

Gino growled and looked ready to throw himself at her, but Sayoko stepped over and grabbed the blond by his ear. He reluctantly limped around the table and sat down beside Nunnally. "Now, behave Master Gino and eat your food!" she scolded, setting a plate in front of him. Grumbling, Gino started into the waffles.

Breakfast was eventful and full of jokes and laughter. Lelouch noticed just how happy Nunnally seemed with everyone around the house. He honestly couldn't remember her laughing so much in such a small time. This should happen more often, for her sake and… for the fun. He hated to admit it, but having Gino and Milly over really did brighten up the place.

By the time they were wrapping up, Milly was bustling everyone out of Lelouch's house, even wheeling Nunnally along. "Now, I need you to be our captain, Nuna. It's one of the most important jobs cuz you'll need to keep track of how many casualties there are and who was first to last." Milly continued to blabber on for some time, making each member of the group laugh at one point or another. Even Lelouch had to admit it wasn't too bad.

When they arrived at the lunchroom, it was filled with people everywhere. They were all buzzing around, a mix of ratty shirts and worn jeans and plates of breakfast food in hand. Milly wheeled Nunnally over to the large table at the front of the room. Anya, Rivalz, Shirley, and Kallen were already there, munching and talking between each other. Lelouch noted the glare Kallen sent Milly and the fact the redhead ignored Milly when she walked up to Kallen.

Still, Milly kept up her confident composure and tapped on the mic in front of her to grab the school's attention. It only took moments to get everyone to fall silent and then Milly started talking, "Okay, everyone we need eight teams in total! I have a head leader for each team already picked out. Please come up as I call out your name; Cecile Meyer, Gregor Ashton…" Lelouch started tuning it out, uninterested in whoever was picked out. Him and Suzaku both already had a plan for the "teams".

Once everyone was up front and standing, Milly continued, "Now, in a calm fashion, line up and each go to the team of your choosing. And don't stay with your club members!" she yelled as an afterthought. More than several classmates started separating themselves better. Lelouch and Suzaku went to a team next to each other, but not together. When they met eyes, each nodded to the other and Lelouch started accessing his team. While he wasn't very skilled, it shouldn't be too hard to jump on his members fast. He'd just need to stay hidden…

Milly continued to explain the rest of the rules, about the weapons (either sling shots with paint balls, a paintball gun, or a plastic sword with paint balls glued to the blade), when each person was out (once they were hit once), and how to sign in with Nunnally after each hit. "And if no one follows the rest of the rules either, you'll be part of the punishment game," she threatened at the end of her speech. "Now, come get your weapons of choice, a mask, and then everyone go hide. Nuna will make the announcement when to begin!"

Everyone started scattering, rushing the tables and stations. Lelouch was quick to grab a gun and as much paint balls as he could get. He bumped into Suzaku at the table of masks. "Meet up at the south wing in fifteen, once our teams are taken care of," Suzaku whispered to him. Lelouch nodded in acknowledge ment, then they both grabbed for the same masks. Unfortunately, they were all Christmas themed, in a bloodbath sort of way. They both chose a rabid reindeer, with blood dripping from their mouths.

Milly jumped in between the two of them, throwing her arms over each of their shoulders. "Ooookay~! Be excited you too. The Student Council has their own special punishment game. Whoever is last standing gets to pick the punishment for each member. Try your hardest. And Lulu, if you can hit me before I get you, you can choose an extra special punisment. Same if you somehow manage to hit me," she teased, quickly snatching up a mask. "See you both out there!" Lelouch watched as she flounced her way between people, to get to Kallen. Milly surprised the redhead by pulling her in and landing a good smooch right on her lips. Before Kallen could react, Milly was already disappearing away through the crowd.

"Suzaku, I have to hit her," Lelouch said, looking at the Japanese boy. "She's mine."

Suzaku nodded in agreement. "I'll make sure of it." Then they were parting their separate ways, slipping on their masks. Lelouch's team was already discussing strategy when he arrived. Easily, he manipulated them to being near enough to the south end of the school and "their" plan. Lelouch had to make sure it would be easy to execute the plan and make it to the south end with as little distance as possible.

Once Lelouch had manipulated the plan to his satisfaction, the group parted out towards their wing of the school. He'd managed to convince them of the south east wing. It had to least amount of distance between the south wing and the least hiding spots for other students. Even better, there was a secret passage. It was perfect for the plan. Hopefully, it would be an easy hit and go.

Within several minutes, the team was swarming the south east wing. There was close to twenty students on the team and filled the hall minimally. Everyone spread out, keeping a distance between each person. Lelouch kept to the back of the group, carefully accessing everyone's movements. This was the easiest part of this entire plan. Each person had the same pattern they followed, each way they looked and moved. It lwas such a pattern. People could be so… easy. Sometimes, it made him so mad…

With a shake of his head, Lelouch banished the thought from mind and poised his gun ready. Then he carefully snuck back further and further until he was just about to the secret passage. At that exact moment, Nunnally's voice came through the speakers. She added a few words of encouragement and then let out a loud "MEOW". Almost instantly, opposite teams started attacking Lelouch's team.

With a smirk, Lelouch fired his first shot, straight at one of his teammates.

#

#

His and Suzaku's plan went almost perfectly. Within fifteen minutes, Lelouch managed to eliminate his entire team without any of them noticing. The enemy team noticed Lelouch taking them down instantly and at first was completely okay with it. Until Lelouch shot up a chunk of them as well. He escaped them before the team got a good shot at him. Unfortunately, Rivalz and Shirley were both down that escape hall. Lelouch, Shirley, and Rivalz had a good shootout for about three minutes. Eventually, Lelouch managed to graze Rivalz enough to count it as a hit. Shirley was a breeze to take down after that. Once they were subdued, Lelouch hurried to the end of the passage and carefully opened the other door.

There were about ten students down this hall as well, but Lelouch easily shot down four of them. As he went to make his shot for the others, Suzaku popped up then. He easily took out the last six. Lelouch raised his free hand and stepped out of the hall. "Ready to go?" Suzaku asked him.

"Yes, let's take them all out," Lelouch agreed. Determined, the two began to run (for about the minute Lelouch could actually do). After that, taking down any students was as easy as pie. They kept close to each other, keeping an eye on the other's back and around both corners for any possible threats. Unfortunately, there hadn't been much sign of Milly…

On her end, she was busy wiping out the entire north wing of the school with about six different students. Nunnally called her about every ten minutes to keep her informed. Her last call was the most curious. "Milly, I've got both Suzaku's and Lelouch's teams back already, but neither of them are here," she informed Milly, a curious tone in her voice. "And we're getting quite an amount back. I… I think the two are working together, because there was no way just one person could do all of this."

Milly smirked and said, "Perfect. I want to take them on myself." When she hung up, her informant came up. "What's the status on all the wings from West to Northeast?" she asked the young girl.

"Everyone's just about cleared," she chirped happily.

"Perfect," Milly muttered. She glanced at what was left of her team. "Sorry change of plans," she announced and quickly shot all of them with her paintball gun.

Lelouch and Suzaku were quick to clear out the south wing and slowly made their way east. Lelouch kept a close eye behind them and to the right side and Suzaku kept an eye ahead and to the left. Suzaku made sure the pace was something Lelouch could easily keep up. Surprisingly, the Britannian boy wasn't faulting nor slowing down. He even encouraged Suzaku to go faster. The Japanese boy noticed the determined look on Lelouch's face. He really did seem like he was acting different.

Then it was time to face Her.

It was easy enough to wipe out the other students. As soon as one rounded the corner, Suzaku took a shot. Lelouch got a few hits down the other halls, but there weren't nearly as many students behind them. Eventually, Suzaku told him, "Just shoot up front right now." There were more students coming up front. Lelouch was just thankful he was a good shot.

By the time they were close to the North side of the school, Milly was already making her way towards the East side. Lelouch caught a glimpse of her in a hall and stopped Suzaku. "She's moving towards the East wing. Let's swing around and catch her from behind," he said quietly.

"Agreed." So, they slipped into the hall Milly had just passed and started to run. Lelouch knew he wouldn't last more than a couple minutes, but he tried to go for as long as he could. He was so focused on running that he failed to notice the blond girl around the corner. Suzaku was pulling him back just as the shot was fired. The paint splattered all over the walls, nearly splattering both boys. Suzaku and Lelouch barely missed the spray and threw themselves behind a corner.

"COME OUT AND GET YOUR PUNISHMENT!" Milly called out. They could easily hear the smile in her tone.

"Put down your weapon, Milly! And we'll show you a little mercy!" Lelouch called, already signaling Suzaku to slip around behind her. Suzaku nodded quietly and started down the hall. For good measure, Lelouch let off a few shots. Milly surprised him by shooting back in return. Lelouch ducked back behind the wall. Milly's shots hit the wall directly across from him. When he peeked around the corner again, he was surprised to see she was still ducked behind. Carefully, he started out into the open, making sure to creep up quietly. By the time she peeked her head around the corner, Lelouch was almost on top of her. Out of instinct, he threw himself at the blond, knocking her straight to the ground. His weapon was lost in the wrestle and they both fought for control of Milly's gun. She let off several shots in an attempt to hit Lelouch, but they all missed widely. Then she was knocking him off and climbing on top of him. They struggled with the gun. Just when Milly seemed to be ready to overpower him, they both heard the cock of the gun.

"Let go of the gun and step away from Lelouch," Suzaku warned dangerously.

With a glare, she reluctantly let go of the weapon and slowly stood up, hands raised. Lelouch picked up both guns and got to his feet. He raised both guns with a smirk on his face and asked, "Are you ready for my punishment game?"

Then a shot was fired.

Suzaku shot, Milly lunged, and Lelouch fell face-first to the ground. Behind Lelouch, Hakan stood, glaring darkly at Lelouch. Milly was down on the ground beside Lelouch, groaning in pain from the shot Suzaku gave her. Suzaku and Hakan both started firing, neither really taking cover. But then the Japanese boy was tripping, Milly's hand wrapped around his ankle, and that gave Hakan the one advantage he needed. Just as Lelouch rolled over onto his back, moaning at the shot, Suzaku fell right on top of him, paint all over one side of his face.

"What the hell, Milly?" Lelouch growled, attempting to sit up, but only successfully hitting heads with Suzaku. Lelouch hadn't realized just how close they were… He could feel himself beginning to flush and tried to look away conspicuously. Then he noticed that Hakan stood there, just smirking his stupid smirk, and his anger flared.

"I bet you're enjoying this, lover boy," the young man sneered. Lelouch growled and grabbed the closest gun to him. He started firing at Hakan without thinking, managed his way out from under a stunned Suzaku, and continued shooting at him until he was out of ammo. Then he threw himself at Hakan. Unfortunately, he didn't have an advantage this time and was easily knocked to the ground. Hakan didn't stop there; he got on top of Lelouch and punched him good in the face. Lelouch managed to block the second hit and struck at Hakan, smacking him decently in the face. That just seemed to aggravate the Britannian more. He grabbed at Lelouch's throat and lifted his head up, once and twice, before Suzaku and Milly ripped Hakan off of Lelouch. It didn't matter that his head throbbed slightly, Lelouch just wanted to kill him. He did manage to shock Milly and Suzaku when he attacked Hakan again. This time, he wasn't able to defend himself from the black eye Lelouch would give him.

Unfortunately, Suzaku shoved Lelouch to the ground before he could land a second hit and the Japanese boy got on top of him to stop any more attacks. Lelouch growled at him, actually attempted to shove him off, but Suzaku wouldn't have it. He restrained Lelouch's arms above his head and settled his weight on top of the ex-Britannian prince. "Just stop it, Lelouch," he finally snapped, when Lelouch continued to struggle underneath him.

"I won't hit him. Just get off!" Lelouch growled in return, reluctantly giving up struggle. Hesitantly, Suzaku did just that and offered a hand to Lelouch. He took it, glaring at Hakan over Suzaku's shoulder. Lelouch took a step towards Hakan and punched him one last time in the face. While his hand throbbed in pain, Lelouch was glad for that final smack. Then he was stalking off away from all three of them.

Milly shoved Hakan against the wall, shocking Suzaku by her physical attack. She moved up to him, whispering something in his ear angrily. When she finally stepped back, he straightened up and took a step away from her, his face blank. She shoved his shoulders one last time and told him, "Think about your next move closely. Otherwise you'll be gone."

He nodded jerkily and hurried off in the opposite direction that Lelouch took. Milly growled and punched the wall in front of her. "I'm fucking sick of all this. This festival is supposed to be fun. No, instead it's all fucking complicated and annoying," she muttered, mostly to herself.

Reluctantly, Suzaku asked Milly, "Are you okay?"

She looked at him, a frustrated expression on her face. "No, I'm not okay. Everything is messy and complicated and I'm absolutely sick and tired of this. Lelouch is fucking miserable, Hakan is doing everything in his power to make Lelouch angry, and you're just… URGH! These plans weren't supposed to be so messy, it's supposed to be nice and clean and simple. I never should have started that damn gambling game…"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Suzaku said, wondering if he was just going to make it worse.

"It would be better if I could just get to the true goal of this festival. I did throw it for Lelouch. I'd hoped that he'd finally be able to be happy…"

"What do you mean by finally happy?"

Milly glared at him. "You really are totally clueless at times. If you can't figure it out by now, there's no point in telling you. You're a lost cause."

Now Suzaku was frowning. "I'm not a lost cause. It's been obvious Lelouch and you have something you've been talking about for some time that I'm utterly unaware of."

"It's fucking obvious to anyone with half a mind who knows Lelouch. Except poor Shirley, cuz she's hopelessly in love with him."

"Does this have to do with that girl he likes?" Milly snorted, rolling her eyes. Frustrated, Suzaku asked, "What the hell is so funny about that? He avoids the question and you just laugh at it-"

"Yeah, I'm fucking laugh at it. I don't understand how you couldn't have seen this by now!"

"What haven't I seen?!" he said, voice rising. "Just fucking tell me!" Suzaku rarely raised his voice, but he couldn't help himself at this point.

Still, that didn't seem to shock Milly at all, for she snapped angrily, "It's not a fucking girl he's in love with! It's you!"

~A/N~

And I'm finally back from the dead! It's an absolute miracle. School has been absolutely hectic and another musing called my attention temporarily. And I just didn't know what to do with this chapter. It's full of cliches and bickering and fighting and it's a mess in creating. But I feel like this fits well in with the characters. Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter!

XmX