Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Code: Geass or Naruto.
It had been noisy at the airport when Lelouch and the Black Knights had returned to Japan. That was the curse of being famous but when it came to Zero, the Bringer of Miracles that curse was ten times as worse since people had crowded around the airport to watch as Zero returned, all them cheering and welcoming him back. He swiftly moved to the limo that had been prepared for him and sat in the back while ignoring the people crowding around his vehicle.
"Government Bureau." He ordered the driver who nodded and drove off in the direction of the bureau.
As the limo drove down the street Lelouch mentally recalled everything that had happened and how it all fit into his plan.
'With the Chinese Federation now on my side the time is close that I can openly move against the Britannia. Once the Geass Order is exterminated I can begin working on directly moving against the homeland.' Lelouch thought, the image of the Emperor flashing in his mind. 'I can move directly against that man and Nunnally will be safe here in Japan, far from the fighting. The Knights of the Round will be easy to handle and with Britannia's economy now suffering they will have to direct their forces inward to better protect the homeland.'
And that plan came in the form of the creation of a new superpower that would challenge Britannia: the United Federation of Nations.
With the Chinese Federation now allied with Japan it gave Lelouch and his forces the chance to claim as much territory as possible, including the chance to negotiate with the European Union. It would only take a few weeks for Xingke to eliminate the remnants of the High Eunuchs' loyalists. There were still many independent powers that for the most remained neutral in the wars but with Zero, the Champion for Justice sweeping across the lands it was only for a matter of time before they flocked to his cause.
Zero would be the face of a united front.
An alliance of nations against Britannia.
'Prime Minister Kaguya is the perfect candidate for negotiating with the E.U. I would have asked Euphie to do it but with her searching for the Geass Order I will have to rely on Kyoto. I can send Todoh and the Four Holy Swords to speak with the delegates for use of the weapons factories in Germany. Rakshata has spoken with the leaders in India and in exchange for independence from the Chinese Federation they'll agree to start openly producing Knightmares and weapons for us.' Lelouch mentally checked all the points of his plan. 'While that is being taken care of I will send Ohgi to speak with the leaders in Russia. Any treaties will be personally signed by me to show our commitment to what we are offering. If and when the neutral and independent nations all agree I can move onto the next step of officially declaring all nations under a single banner. There will only be two sides left on this world: Britannia and the United Federation of Nations.'
Lelouch's eyes narrowed. 'Schneizal and the Emperor will be feeling the pressure soon and will make a desperate move to stop what I have planned. And when that happens I will be ready.'
But of course for now he would have to wait.
He had just arrived back in Japan and was anxious to get back home and see how Nunnally was doing. She had become quite the athlete ever since she gained back her legs. Lelouch could barely see her move from one spot to another in the blink of an eye. In fact except for when she went to sleep it seemed she just couldn't stop moving.
It was both great and troubling.
His plan was to reach the Government Bureau, change out of his Zero disguise and return to Ashford Academy to check on Nunnally. It would have been easier if Naruto had left a clone disguised as Lelouch behind but Lelouch decided to rely on Sayoko since she had known his little sister longer than Naruto had.
The last thing he needed was Nunnally wondering when her brother had started eating an insane amount of Ramen.
Now to see what had been going on since he had been away.
"Shirley and I were…" Lelouch trailed off, unable to finish the sentence as he listened to Sayoko finish her report.
"Yes." Sayoko answered calmly. "You and Shirley were dating. I was afraid she might discover you were away acted as I thought you would."
Lelouch only had two words to say. "Bad call."
Naruto's Shadow Clone on the other hand was laughing his ass off. "This is rich! I can't believe no one figured it out! Sayoko, you were acting way too nice."
"Don't be too mean, Naruto. Aside from that, she did a good job." Cera's Shadow Clone pointed out. "I'd expect nothing less from someone working for the Ashford Family. And it's very impressive considering she was originally charged with looking after Nunnally."
"Yeah. I guess Milly's love for fun really spreads out." Naruto's Shadow Clone snickered.
"Master Lelouch, I have your schedule for tomorrow." Sayoko held up a pager.
"Tomorrow?" Lelouch questioned.
"Oh yeah. Sayoko made a lot of promises to other people. Good news is that no one, not even Nunnally thought anything was off. Actually, Nunnally was very happy by the end of the day." Naruto's Shadow Clone looked ready to burst into laughter again.
"I was instructed to maintain his inter-personal relationships." Sayoko replied calmly.
"Can't be helped." Lelouch could only say.
"Still, I think you were kind of careless in a few areas." Cera's Shadow Clone commented. "Not something you'd expect from a ninja."
"I am a secret service agent, a 37th master of the Sonazaki-"
"SAYOKO!" All three looked Lelouch who had gone pale as he looked at the pager. "What's with the schedule?!"
The pager showed a full day of… dating appointments nearly every hour.
"Allowing for three hours of sleep, you have a date scheduled with one hundred and eight girls. Fourteen are waiting for cancellation and they've been on the wait list for six months." Sayoko explained as Naruto's Shadow Clone burst into laughter again.
"Nunnally was very happy to see the schedule. In fact she wanted to inspect each girl herself and see if they were perfect for giving her lots of nieces and nephews in the future." Cera's Shadow Clone threw her two cents in, sitting back on the chair and grinning at the dumbstruck look on Lelouch's face.
This was absolutely too funny to pass up.
"LULU!" A very familiar voice screamed from the girl's shower room, promising nothing but pain for the unfortunate former prince.
A single boat sat out in the middle of the ocean with only one occupant on board. The consciousness resting inside of Mao's body looked down at the water, staring at it mirror reflection for what seemed like hours.
It had come here, seeking the power it needed.
It knew where it was thanks to its brief encounter with C.C. and was able to see what she had done with it.
"Down there…" It whispered.
This dead meat bag form had served its purpose.
The body of Mao collapsed as ooze like substance emerged from its mouth and dripped down into the water. From there it traveled down to the very bottom of the sea, searching for what it had come for and needed.
A pure Code.
The Code that granted the power of Geass and Immortality.
The power needed to slay the Gods.
A power that when combined with it would be unstoppable.
C.C. was one former Code bearer before her Code had been mutated by the newcomer's presence and merged with the new power.
But there was one other.
Though the one known as V.V. had effectively been killed his body was still host to the second Code that would be needed.
The Code would keep the body immortal no matter what state it was in.
Crushed by the pressure of the ocean…
Entombed inside pure concrete…
Left to freeze from the cold temperature of the sea…
And it would be there for it to take.
"Oh is that what Schneizel said?" Emperor Charles zi Britannia asked, staring down the Knight of One who kept himself bowed before the emperor.
"Yes Your Majesty." Waldstein answered. "Do you approve?"
"Do you, the Knight of One, the mightiest knight in the empire ask me?" Charles retorted.
Waldstein stuttered for a second. "Your Majesty, war is merely one method of diplomacy and is far in a way the least efficient one."
Charles chuckled and grinned. "Perhaps you are right. War has historically been favored by idiots."
"Due to the recent events with the Chinese Federation our invasion forces are being pulled back to reinforce our defenses and protect the Pendragon. Knights Dorothea Ernest and Nonette Enneagram will be charged with supervising the defense."
Suzaku Kurugi was silent as he listened to the de-briefing from Sir Waldstein, the Knight of One who was addressing all of the Knights of the Round.
Gino Weinburg, the Knight of Three.
Dorothea Ernest, the Knight of Four.
Anya Alstreim, the Knight of Six.
Nonette Enneagram, the Knight of Nine.
Luciano Bradley, the Knight of Ten.
And Monica Krushevsky, the Knight of Twelve.
"We have received reports that members of the Black Knights have been conduction negotiations with scattered factions in the Chinese Federation so for the moment they are too distracted to launching any attacks against us." Waldstein continued. "We will be taking the opportunity to marshal our forces, using Areas Six and Ten as staging grounds."
"And Zero?" Luciano asked, smirking arrogantly.
"He has apparently returned to the former Area Eleven."
"Why would he return there instead of handling these negotiations himself?" Monica asked.
"Possibly because he believes we'd try and stage an assassination if we ever gained such an opportunity. Or perhaps he returned to his main area of operations to plan his next offensive." Waldstein answered calmly.
Suzaku flinched since Waldstein was right. Lelouch had the main advantage in this war he started and he could launch an invasion straight into Britannia's heart if he wanted to. Suzaku briefly wondered why he hadn't yet and concluded because Lelouch was still building up his forces for that. Lelouch was patient and cunning and he liked to plan ahead, ensure every plan, ever detail was absolutely perfect and could not be countered.
He looked at the world map and briefly tried to imagine what he would do if he was Lelouch.
Send a massive invasion force?
Too easy to detect.
More like he would attempt to sneak a force into the Homeland and attack from the inside, stage chaos in the surrounding Areas and force Britannia's economy to collapse even faster. That was why security was being upped and all sea ports were on high alert.
"We can confirm that General Todoh, the Four Holy Swords and Minister Ohgi are the ones conducting the negotiations." Waldstein continued.
Bradley grinned. "General Todoh and the Four Holy Swords… Perhaps we should move to kill them before they unite all of China."
"The Emperor has ordered us to continue pushing the E.U. back. He's making plans for dealing with Zero." Waldstein replied.
Suzuku perked up but remained silent.
"Dealing with Zero?" Monica asked.
"Though Zero has sent some of his important officers to help the Chinese Federation it has come to our attention that former Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia have not returned to Japan with Zero." Walstein continued. "We believe they may be on a secret mission by Zero to start a civil unrest in the Empire."
Suzaku was listening closely now. If Euphie was not in Japan with Zero anymore there was a chance he could find her and show her Lelouch's plans were only madness.
"Oh. Are we hunting traitors now?" Bradley asked eagerly.
"The Emperor wants the former Princesses found and brought to him so he can decide their punishment." Waldstein stated.
"Nelly is not going to be easy to catch. She knows the Empire's security inside and out. She did after all managed security for the Pendragon." Nonnette pointed out, lounging on her chair.
"That is why you will be supervising the security, Nonnette." Waldstein replied. "Cornelia was your protégé."
Nonnette smirked. "Say no more, Wally!"
The rest of the Knights and Suzaku could only stare as Waldstein brushed off Nonnette's nickname for him. In the short time he had known her Suzaku had discovered that Nonnette had been Princess Cornelia's mentor and Milly's idol since she was different from the rest of the Britannian military.
Extremely different.
'I am starting to see where Milly got her penchant for crazy ideas. Though I think that most of it was genetic.' Suzaku could only think.
"H-hold on there!" Bartley stammered, the portly general's eyes horrified at what he'd just heard from one of his surviving assistants. "Should that theory be accurate, then we're the worst criminals in all of history!"
"L-Let's get out of her General!" An assistant pleaded, as the group nodded their heads empathetically towards him.
"But… We'd be abandoning our Nation…" Bartley stammered, torn between his loyalty to his empire, and his horror at what had been discovered before flinching as the jagged point of a firearm was jabbed into his back.
"Freeze." A cold, voice ordered, Bartley tensing up as his assistants backed away from him in shock. "Why are you here, Bartley?"
"Kn-Knight Guilford?" the General asked, feeling a surge of hope. "T-thank Heaven you've come! Please, save us! We were ordered to be here, by the emperor!"
"The Emperor?" Guilford repeated.
"The world is spiraling down the path to destruction." Bartley continued as Guilford released him, gesturing for the former knight to follow him down another dark set of stairs.
'The Emperor… So Zero is not the only one aware of Geass.' Guilford thought grimly.
"And that confirms your schedule for today." Sayoko said, having gone through the schedule. "Since you have no classes pending I was able to fill all your twenty four hours. At 0700 you will enjoy a homemade box lunch, at 0900 you'll visit the art gallery, at 1030 shopping and at 12 noon a trip the aquarium and from there travel aboard the Arashikage, please go underwater until you are four hundred kilometers from the shore. You'll change clothes inside the cockpit and proceed to the Chinese Federation where you will conclude a trade treaty with Shang Hi in 1500. You will be allotted forty seven minutes to complete your business there then you'll return here to see a late move at 2100. At midnight-02 you will see a live show and then-"
"He's late!" Shirley growled under her breath, waiting her date with Lelouch.
Speaking of Lelouch he was sneaking through the bushes knowing that out of all the girls he'd be in big trouble with Shirley. "Sorry, Shirely. I promise I'll explain all this to you."
"I am sure that will go over well." Cera's Shadow Clone said, standing against a tree with Naruto's shadow clone. "I am so looking forward to hearing it."
"Damn it. You know this would be easier if you just made a clone that looked like me." Lelouch grumbled, sneaking past them.
"If we did everything for you you'd never get anything done." Naruto's Shadow Clone before spotting more girls. "Looks like you got a second batch!"
"Damn it!" Lelouch exclaimed, sweating heavily. "Give me a break already."
"Man…" Naruto's Shadow Clone mumbled as Lelouch took off again. "If they were this determined in the Britannian Army we'd actually have trouble."
Nunnally could only giggle as the vision from Naruto's clones was shared with her. "Poor brother, I know he's too frail for a schedule like this but I really want to be an auntie."
And she swore that Lelouch would give her nieces and nephews whether he liked it or not.
SLAP!
Lelouch fell to the ground, his cheek stinging from the slap he had received. "Damn… Who hit me? I said I wasn't running away."
He looked up and paled a bit when he saw who it was. "Shirley…"
Shirley was smiling calmly down at him, despite the slap she had given him. "So what lucky girl do you have a date with this time?"
It didn't help his case since he was being surrounded by most of the girls on campus, all of them watching the massacre that was about to happen. "Uh…"
"You not only gamble but you run around with other girls too? Ugh, you're pathetic!" Shirley exclaimed.
"Wait a minute." Lelouch got back up and held up a scarf. "It's just… I forgot. Here, this is for not explaining about it."
Shirley took it but she didn't look one but happy. "Oh? Is it an apology? You think you can fix what you did by giving me some silly thing?!"
"You got it all wrong. I just wanted to apologize." Lelouch meekly defended.
Both Naruto and Cera had amused grins while Rivalz simply rubbed his head, knowing what his buddy was in for.
"An apology?!" Shirley shouted.
'This is not good. I'm clearly doing something wrong and don't know how to make it right.' Lelouch thought. 'If only C.C. and Naruto would help me.'
"Attention everyone!" A light shined on the student council building behind them and everyone looked up to see Milly standing on the balcony, wearing a blue and white dress and pink hat on her head while holding a blue one. "I have decided my graduation event and I'm going to christen it 'Cupid Day'!"
"Prez, are you really planning on graduating soon? Why not just wait for the rest for the rest of us?" Rivalz asked, dismayed that Milly was graduating.
"On the appointed day I'll have every student in school wearing one of these hats." Milly gestured to the hat she was wearing and held up the blue one. "The boys will get this color, then if you steal the hat of your target and put it on…"
"Then what?" Cera asked.
"By order of the Student Council President, that's me, those two will be proclaimed boyfriend and girlfriend!" Milly said grandly.
The entire audience gasped in shock.
"Holy crap…" Naruto snickered. "Why couldn't Milly be born in my world?"
"Are you going to kill me?" Guilford demanded, glaring at his feet, refusing to look at the so-called leader of the Geass Order. "Or are you going to control me with your Geass? Like you did to Princess Cornelia and Euphemia?"
The leader was none other than Castor Rui Britannia, one of the Emperor's children and heirs to the throne, which was among the top of list of strange things he had seen. After V.V. and his twin brother Pollux Rui Britannia were killed at the end of the Black Rebellion a year ago Caster had been left to take control of the Geass Order that had suffered heavily with the deaths of the previous director and the loss two of their Geass users. Castor was the most qualified to take control of the Geass Order since the Emperor was too busy to deal with it. The Geass Order had been forced to remain hidden and refrain from sending any of their remaining operatives on missions for the time being.
In the meantime Guilford had found General Bartley inside the research facility of the Geass Order who had told him about the Emperor and the so called former director of the facility, someone named V.V, planning to slay the Gods or whatever nonsense he actually meant. At first he hadn't considered much of the man's words since he looked obviously unbalanced and had been ever since Prince Clovis was assassinated over a year ago. Needless to say, he had been so surprised he had not noticed there more people in the room until he found himself restrained and thrown into a cell.
"To prove your princesses' innocence, you abandoned your duties." Castor noted with a kind face. "You gave up everything! That's inspiring! How loyal of a knight to do so much for his princess. I can really understand your reasons."
"Director Castor…"A masked assistant spoke up. "We just received a message from one of our agents. C.C. is coming this way."
"C.C.?" Guilford repeated, sitting up straighter. "Who?"
"What a mess…" Castor sighed, shaking his head. "But now I will have the chance to avenge my brother."
He never forgot the last moment in which he and his brother shared their thoughts and he looked into the eyes of his brother's killers.
"Wait!" Guilford called out as Castor left the room. "What is going on?"
"Do not worry. I am about to avenge your princess." Castor said, not bothering to stop as he left, leaving Cornelia's knight alone.
" This is Milly Ashford, speaking for the last time as Student Council President! My graduation event, Cupid Day, is about to begin, and before you start, make sure you're at least two meters away from your target !" Milly announced to the entire school. "By now you should all be familiar with the rules! If you capture your target's hat and put it on, then you have to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I won't question how you obtain the hats, feel free to work in teams or use whatever tools you can get your hands on."
Lelouch was in class, wearing a blue hat with all the girls wearing pink hats and all of them staring at him with determination.
Shirely was the most determined of them all. 'I have to be the one, no matter what flaws you have, Lulu.'
" And finally, any club that brings me the hat of Lelouch Lamperouge gets their budget increased Ten-fold !"
"SAY WHAT?!" Lelouch's eyes widened in horror.
Milly cackled deviously. 'Let's see the great Zero get out of this one.'
"I love this girl!" Naruto cackled, seeing and hearing everything through his Shadow Clone. "She's got to be related to me somehow!"
"Milly Ashford, a paragon of the Ashford bloodline considering the Ashfords never settled for anything halfway." Cera remarked in amusement.
'Milly's making her move.' Nunnally grinned, sharing the vision of Naruto's Shadow Clones and was fighting the urge to burst into laughter considering what was about to happen. 'So, it can either be Milly who gets the hat and becomes brother's girlfriend or more likely big brother becoming her slave or maybe Shirley will finally catch him. On the one hand Milly has known big brother for a long time but on the other hand Shirley is just too cute and determined for me not to like. Oh, so many girls to give me nieces and nephews and I have no idea which one. It could even be Sayoko if she was ordered to but I am not that cruel. I only told Sayoko to ignore my brother's order to switch with him.'
If her brother was a demon then Nunnally was a little devil disguised as a sweet little girl that could get anyone to do what she wanted.
And she secretly loved watching her brother squirm.
"HE'S MINE!"
"HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
"LELOUCH!" The hoard of girls shouted as they chased after him.
"YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Lelouch was literally dripping a trail of sweat as he struggled to get away from the many girls chasing after him.
He had ordered Sayoko to switch with her in the library but for some reason she wasn't at the elevator like he expected so he had to hide.
'This is not good. Sayoko should have been there. What could possibly have called her away?' Lelouch wondered. 'She could easily make a clone if she was called away and the only persons who could that would be Milly or Nunnally.'
He was positive Milly didn't need Sayoko for anything involving this little Cupid's Day thing so it was possible Nunnally called Sayoko away.
'Nunnally's not sick or anything like that. She would have told me.' Lelouch thought. 'Still, she might have asked Sayoko for something at the last minute and Sayoko didn't have the time to send a Shadow Clone.'
Lelouch could only hope that Sayoko would be able to switch with him soon.
"Are you sure about this, Lady Nunnally?" Sayoko asked Nunnally's Shadow Clone as they watched from the underground bunker.
"My brother is too used to being in control. He needs a few surprises in his life." Nunnally's clone answered with a smile.
Lelouch ducked through the library, having to use his Geass on a girl that had stolen his hat to get it back without the girl putting it on or even remembering she got it in the first place.
'If Sayoko can't switch with me I'll have to hide until the event is over. I can just hide in the elevator until it's over. I can wait in the bunker for Sayoko to come and switch with me.' Lelouch thought, slipping towards the elevator. 'It'll look suspicious but if I must I'll use my Geass.'
Only the elevator doors didn't open.
"Wha… The elevator's not working!" Lelouch had to struggle to keep himself from shouting in frustration.
" Master? "
Lelouch quickly answered his ear device. "Sayoko? What's wrong?"
" I am sorry. The elevator seems to be inoperable and Lady Nunnally has requested my presence. I cannot leave her side to switch with you or make a clone but Master Naruto and Lady C.C.'s Shadow Clones are still in the bunker and will provide you with quick escape routes."
"Yeah, don't sweat it, Lelouch! We'll get out of this mess!"
On one hand he wished he could order Sayoko to take over in the bunker but he didn't want to leave Nunnally alone if she needed something and it would suspicious.
So with great reluctant he complied. "Very well."
Nunnally snickered, seeing her brother take off again. She had disabled the elevator so Lelouch would not be able to make down here.
'And people call me an angel without single mean bone.'
"Where's Lelouch?"
"Where'd he go?"
"Nobody's caught him yet!"
" All students, if Vice-President Lelouch is spotted commence a simultaneous assault! "
Shirley could only sigh as she walked around the school grounds, seeing everyone were in a complete frenzy now. "Boy, the prez is in full scale play. Still… what's going on? I thought Lulu was completely helpless and no one's caught him yet."
"Hey look! It's Shirely!"
"We have to catch Lelouch!"
"Prez, if Lelouch is what you want then I, Rivalz will get you what you want!" Rivalz cried as he drove across the school grounds on his bike. "My best friend in the world!"
Shirley stepped into the library. "This is the spot where Lulu started acting strange."
Lelouch was hiding down below. "So far, so good."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Narut's clone asked Cera's who nodded.
They both preformed hand signs and placed their hands on the ground. A second later the entire school started to shake.
"What the-GAH?!" Shirely cried as stumbled back and fell down the stairs, colliding with Lelouch.
Both hit the ground, groaning as their hats landed in front of them.
Lelouch opened his eyes, seeing Shirley on the floor next to him. "Shirely?"
"Lulu?" Shirley opened her eyes.
Both glanced at each other before looking away, both feeling too awkward to speak for a few moments.
"Say, Lulu?" Shirlet suddenly spoke.
"Hm?"
"Why did you kiss me before?"
Lelouch stuttered, trying to find an appropriate answer since it was Sayoko, not him that kissed. "Well… Um… It's because I… Like you."
Shirley scoffed. "That's a lie. I know you aren't serious."
"Wrong!" Lelouch suddenly barked, surprising Shirley. "I mean… Just…" Lelouch looked back down at the floor. "A good question."
Shirley giggled. "So you want to do more than kiss?"
Lelouch stiffened, looking back at her.
"It's okay, even if you're not serious." Shirley said, smiling at the floor.
"You shouldn't say things like that." Lelouch scolded.
But Shirley kept smiling. "Welcome back, Lulu."
Lelouch could only stare in surprise and confusion at Shirley.
"You haven't been yourself lately, you know?" Shirely continued, simply smiling. "It's okay, I forgive you. In return, close your eyes for me."
"Uh?"
"Hurry up."
"O-kay." Lelouch closed his eyes, deciding it was the least he could do for her given everything that happened.
Shirley placed her hands on his cheeks for a second, then pulled on them, making him open his eyes in surprise at her smiling face. "You thought I was going to give you a smooch!"
Lelouch could only stutter again. "Well you know… I thought it was a possibility."
"You dirty little boy." Shirley said, smiling as she took her hat off.
"It's just…"
"Even so." Shirley took Lelouch's hat off and placed her hat on his head. "Even so, I want to try making you fall in love with me for real, someday."
Lelouch could only stare at Shirley in stunned silence.
"I told you, I said love is power." Shirley said, now wearing Lelouch's hat.
Naruto and Cera watched Shirley's graduation through the eyes of their shadow clones, both smiling.
"Well, I can actually say I am going to miss Milly. She really made things fun." Naruto closed his eyes while smiling.
"At the very least her plan seemingly worked." Cera leaned back in her pilot seat. "This ought to keep Lulu busy for a bit."
And now onto the matter of the Geass Order.