Thank you Rumig-kun and Nilie-chan for beta-ing this. I swear, they are too adorable for words!

Shocked, surprised, aghast and terribly upset that I've written 25 chapters and NOT A SINGLE BIT of Euphie-chan in this fic. (Yes, I like Euphie, please don't kill me -cowers-)

I apologise in advance for the slight crackness.

Chapter 26 – Slice of Princess

"Do I know you?" C.C. asked, frowning and a little upset that she was being dragged away from a giant Cheese-kun passing out Pizza Hut leaflets.

The girl on her arm kept steering her away from the shopping strip, glancing suspiciously over her shoulder a few times, then dragged her into an alleyway where she peeked around the corner like she was making sure she wasn't being followed.

C.C wondered if she was some sort of victim of theft, so she peeked down at her outfit. Jeans, shirt, bag, jacket, hat, glasses wig... no, she was dressed normally today. If anything, C.C. was more surprised that this thief hadn't dragged Milly, her shopping partner, into an alleyway instead – the Ashford heiress was clad from head to toe in designer clothing. It even C.C. wonder if she was trying to become a spokeswoman for companies.

Out in the sunny shopping strip, Milly had finally realised Cheese-san's disappearance and started hunting around for her pizza-loving friend. Five minutes later, after she had asked (cough-ordered-cough) Shirley, Nina and Rivalz, who had both also been dragged into this shopping trip in order to help carry the bags, to search the nearby area, they gave up.

One would have thought that as friends, they would have been more worried about Cheese-san and considerate of her sudden disappearance. How could they be so heartless as to not worry about their cute friend's safety?

But the truth was that, No, they weren't heartless, they were but simply confident that Cheese-san was more than capable to take care of herself. In fact, they knew Cheese-san could fend for herself very well since she was the only one who had survived the clothing discount sale utterly unharmed and with everything she had wanted while everyone else was left suffering from sprained ankles, chipped manicures and injured pride because they had lost the war of obtaining that cute pink purse they all desired.

Milly pointed at the next boutique to raid and they marched off, determined to win those adorable kitten heels displayed at the window. Rivalz was ordered to stay behind because Cheese-san was sure to reappear for the Giant Cheese-kun sooner or later. The boy hadn't protested, especially because he did not want to go into that bright pink girly shop in which he predicted he wouldn't survive a second.

Back to C.C.'s side of things, the witch stared curiously at her pink haired captor.

"Do I know you?" she asked again and Pink-san turned back from corner peeking to regard her with a blush.

"I'm sorry, I was being followed." Pink-san explained.

C.C. leant against a wall and crossed her arms, "And?"

The girl fiddled with the hem of her shirt then smiled so sweetly and brightly that even C.C., immortal witch extraordinaire, was momentarily stunned. "I'm sorry, I just thought that if I was with somebody they wouldn't notice me since they'd assume I was alone."

C.C. nodded and made to leave but the girl grabbed desperately at her arm. "Please! Don't leave yet! At least until they've gone!"

The witch tilted her head. "Why are you being followed?"

"I'm not supposed to be out of the.... out of my house unaccompanied."

C.C. nodded again, she could understand that feeling as even today, she had snuck out without Lelouch's knowledge.

Pink-san twirled a lock of her pink hair in a finger, "I only wanted to do a little bit of shopping. Shopping online or through catalogues is simply... just not quite the same."

Another thing C.C. could agree with. Pizza, for a fact, was best eaten fresh from the oven, Lelouch just coudn't seem to understand that the five to ten minutes it required to deliver a pizza meant a pizza five minutes less delicious.

"I am a girl after all..." Pink-san sighed.

"It's only shopping, right?"

"Sorry?"

C.C.'s eyes peered at her, "It is only for shopping, isn't it?"

"Yes... why?"

"My acquaintances and I are shopping, you are free to join us if it's a disguise and cover you need."

"Really?" The girl beamed and C.C. blinked at the sudden brightness of the surrounding area. This girl was just far too trusting.

"Sure." C.C. shrugged.

"Thank you!"

"But first..." C.C. pulled Pink-san's hat off and plopped her own onto the girl's head then switched her glasses for Pink-san's sunglasses.

C.C. eyed the girl's clothes then threw her jacket at her before moving to braid her pink hair into two long ropes. "Take off your skirt."

"What?" the girl stuttered, "here?"

C.C. dug through her shopping bags until she found a pair of jeans that should fit the girl. "Put this on underneath your skirt then take the skirt off." She ordered. The art of disguise was an art C.C. perfected in; at least that is what the witch liked to think.

"Come," C.C. droned when the girl had finished changing her clothes.

"They'll see me!" Pink-san protested, struggling.

"Nonsense," the witch muttered, "If you struggle like this then they'll definitely notice you. Walk naturally."

"But..."

Impatient because she had been dragged away from pizza to help a silly rich girl who was running away from bodyguards, C.C. threw Pink-san a glare (level 3 on Tamaki's fear factor) and the girl quickly obeyed.

To Pink-san's relief the suit-wearing men who were following her walked right past them without blinking an eye.

"Rivalz." C.C. said when they near the boy who was flicking through his Milly photo collection on his phone, "Watch her while I go get pizza."

Rivalz blinked at Pink-san curiously as the witch vanished into the store.

When C.C. emerged with a giant box of pizza and a satisfied grin from all the coupons she had stolen from the cash desk when the waitress hadn't been looking, Rivalz was joined by Nina and both were gazing curiously at the girl who was shuffling shyly from foot to foot.

Digging into her bag, C.C extracted a cup of ice cream and placed it into Nina's hands. The shy girl glanced up confused for a minute then blushed and whispered her thanks.

C.C. sat herself on a bench and started on a slice of pizza. "Sit." She ordered and Pink-san obediantly did as she was told. C.C. shoved a cup of ice cream, similar to the one she had just given Nina, into the girl's hands. "Eat."

Rivalz frowned, "What about me?"

C.C. absently brandished a box of curly fries and the boy looked instantly satisfied.

Pink-chan stared at the ice cream cup in her hands then pouted as she thought of the calories and how they would surely all land to add to her waist.

"Ice cream?!" Milly's voice shrieked when she emerged from the boutique (with no kitten heels in hand) and gave C.C. a wounded look. "You gave Nina ice cream and not me?" Even Shirley, behind her, looked a little hurt.

C.C. shrugged, "I'll help you get your items in the next sale."

Milly and Shirley smiled then the blonde fluttered her eyelashes at Rivalz enough for him to share his fries with her. Shirley was more courteous and politely introduced herself to Pink-san.

C.C. tapped the cup of Pink-san's untouched ice cream with a nail, "Pink-san, eat." She ordered again.

Pink-san blinked at her new name then pouted. "The calories..."

"Oh, don't you worry about the calories," Milly interrupted, "We'll be doing so much shopping today, all you can absorb this moment will be burnt in no time. Trust me, eat something or else you won't win any battles today."

Doubtful, Pink-san started on the cup.

Rivalz started sweating as he followed the girls into the next boutique. Now he understood why Suzaku had made an excuse about having knight duties and why he'd rushed out of the student council room yesterday when Milly had spoken the word 'shopping'.

He should have known something was wrong when even Lelouch had managed to bailed out of it somehow and adamantly refused that Nunnally come with them. The disabled girl would never have lasted long in here. Hell, not even Rivalz thought he would have survived so far had Cheese-san not noticed his agonised expression and stuffed him in an abandoned corner where similar traumatised-looking men had also gathered.

He had clutched the girl's arm desperately, refusing to be left alone in this hellhole, when she'd tried to move away.

There were hands everywhere and nails clawing through the air. One would have thought that since girls cared so much for their appearance, they would have the sense not to approach these risky situations – but apparently, they did venture into the wild if it was for half-price sales.

Pink-san's head appeared at the edge of the crowd. She was fighting to get out and was gasping for air like a she had been kept underwater a few seconds too long.

Rivalz watched as Cheese-san sauntered forward and fished the poor girl out before she was drowned again in the crowd. Pink-san smiled as she fanned herself with a hand, "Thank you..."

"Cheese. Cheddar Cheese." C.C. provided and helped her over to where Rivalz was cowering.

"Thank you, Cheese-san." Pink-san said with a thousand watt smile that made C.C. blink and left Rivalz completely dazed. There was actually somebody (other than his goddess, Milly) in Britannia that could match Nunnally's that was capable of such displays of sweetness?

Well maybe Lelouch could... because even Rivalz had to admit, his friend was pretty to an illegal degree... not that he was interested or anything.

In the meanwhile, similarly, in her head, Cheese-san just assumed the sparkly smiles just ran in the family.

"Cheese-san! You promised me you would get me the stuff I wanted." Milly voice screamed somewhere in the wriggling pile of.... things that were meant to be shopping hungry women. Cheese-san sighed loudly before disappearing into the crowd, deftly dodging elbows, swinging handbags, killer high heels and inch long manicure nails as she did.

Milly appeared like a ghost beside Rivalz and examined a chipped nail she had obtained from fighting for a bottle of perfume. She pulled out a compact and quickly started fixing her hair and make-up.

"Is it always this busy?" Pink-chan asked, still trying to catch her breath.

"Oh no, there's a massive sale on all the shops today so it's extra crowded." Milly explained, she rolled wondrously blue eyeballs to almond corners and regarded Pink-san carefully. "You looked overwhelmed. You must not shop here much."

Pink-chan intertwined her fingers and blushed. "No. Indeed, I don't."

"It's all about technique, my dear." Milly reached over and motherly straightened Pink-san's cap. "I like to charge right in. It's more fun, I think. Nina is really smart though she's really shy but if she wanted something, she would calculate the price differences, timings, probability and all that fancy stuff then swoop in to get it from a calculated angle. Some of the shoppers still dig that innocent stuff so her demure and shy nature works for her sometimes.

"Shirley is in the swim team so naturally she's more athletic than us and can hold her breath longer when she dives into crowds. Kallen, a friend of ours who couldn't come today, is the sickly type. Like Nina, she like to use the innocent tactic and if that fails," Milly pulled a smile, "she goes to the edge of the crowd and coughs violently a few times. You would be amazed at the amount of shoppers who would dodge to one side thinking it's something contagious."

"What about Cheese-san? Is she good at this?" Pink-chan asked curiously.

"Good?" Milly laughed, "She's genius at this! I've never seen a girl who can go in and out of a crowd like this and emerge as unruffled as she does before. Oh dear… my nails are totally wrecked! This will not do!"

Cheese-san. appeared ten minutes later with a dozen bags with only a few hairs out of place and creases on her clothes to show she had ever been in the crowd. She even turned back, stuck her hand into a gap between two rich ladies to pull out a forgotten Shirley.

"Thanks," the redhead gasped, "Oh… I forgot Nina… I'll be back." Shirley explained then took a deep breath and did an Olympian dive into the crowd again.

Cheese-san. held the bags in front of Milly's face. "Your things."

Milly squealed and hugged her in delight before gushing over the items in the bags. Cheese-san rolled her eyes and announced that she was going to Pizza Hut again. Rivalz quickly accompanied her – anything to get out of obsessed shoppers central.

Euphie waved her goodbyes to her new found shopping friends and turned to make her way home.

"Princess!"

"Suzaku?" the girl questioned as he stepped out of a car.

"Everybody was looking for you," The knight said, worriedly trying to make sure she was unhurt.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Milly called me, she told me Cheese-san found you."

So the Ashford heiress had recognised her and knew she was the princess all along.

"She told me you were safe, though," Suzaku continued as he helped her with some of her heavier bags, "I wanted to come collect you right away but she insisted I let you enjoy your day out."

"And you listened to her?" Euphie asked.

Suzaku gave her a crooked smile, "Trust me, Milly might be a tad crazy sometimes, especially with Cheese-san around but you can trust her and Shirley. Cheese-san is strange but she's reliable and collected as long as she gets regular doses of pizza. Besides… Milly promised me a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card for her next event if I did not come and collect you until you were ready to leave."

"Get out of jail free…cards?"

Suzaku laughed and helped her into the car, "I'll tell you about them as we take you home."

"I've told you many times before, you should really stop avoiding gym class and work on getting some real muscles, Lelouch," C.C. commented as he struggled to pull her up and through his window.

Lelouch glared at her and contemplated letting go of her hand just so she would plummet to her death… Then he thought better of it, the chances of surviving that fall were relatively high.

When she could do so, C.C. pulled herself up the rest of the way. Lelouch turned to count the bags about his feet. "How much did you spend today?"

She fished around one bag and produced a teddy bear. "Not much." She shoved the bear into his chest along with chocolates. "The bear is for Nunnally and the chocolates are for Sayoko."

"And me?"

"I forgot."

"Witch."

END OF CHAPTER 26

No, us girls don't shop like this in real-life! Pity though, it would be a lot more fun if we did.... I'll be a combo of a Milly charging, Nina angled-approach and Kallen's coughing type....sorry, I'm babbling. Sorry. I'll stay quiet now.

No updates next week. Sorry.

Crissaegrim_07: Play? Hmmm (strokes chin) in sequel? Or maybe... one-shot... I'm tempted...

Twilight: Kareoke with Ashford? Nya....so many tempting ideas.... maybe in sequel. I cannot promise anything though.

KiKi Hayashi