The Demon and the Red Moon

Spinzaku Kururugi Rule 1. You do not talk about Spinzaku Kururugi.

Spinzaku Kururugi Rule 2. YOU DO NOT TALK about Spinzaku Kururugi.

Wait, did I just talk about "Spin-Oh god help me pl

Ahem, as the former author was about to say, Code Geass is owned by sunrise and this is a non-profit fanfiction. Please support the official release.

A note on Language: I assume most of the characters are always speaking English in Code Geass for two reasons. A: I heard it in the Eng Dub originally. B: It wouldn't make sense for Britannia to encourage its students to speak in the Language of the defeated Japan. I know there is Kanji on the board at school. It's stupid and not thought out. A conquering Empire like Britannia seldom uses the languages of the defeated. Minor deviation to that rule by the Romans, who conguered a latin people and stole their language, and late the Greek Rulers of Egypt assumed many of their customs, but I think the language of Egypt at the time was Greek anyway. Rome was the biggest country in the History of the World. We all wind up speaking Latin-based languages. Kinda makes more sense for a Britannian Colony to speak Britannian. Historians confirm?

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Suzaku poured his water bottle on his face, wincing as the cool liquid seeped through his flight suit. It failed to clean the caked on sweat from his face or body. But the mere cold of the water was enough to refresh.

Somewhat.

Suzaku frowned and thought back to seeing the green-haired girl. And then Suzaku had hallucinated. When he'd told Cecile of the dream, she'd told him it must have been some kind of nerve gas. Suzaku had been told it was the only possibility. And he'd agreed, but the vision itself gnawed him.

His father's face returned to the back of his mind.

"Suzaku," came a familiarly sweet voice. Suzaku looked to its origin to see Euphemia in her sub-viceroy's uniform.

"My Lady," he said in realization, bowing.

"Stop that," she groaned. Suzaku stood up again, and looked back at her face. Her eyes were downcast, her mouth a grim line. "You've been helping find the...remains?" Suzaku frowned and looked back at the many Knightmares clearing the dried up mud.

"I felt compelled," Suzaku explained.

"I don't understand how it happened," Euphemia admitted sorrowfully.

"Lelouch doesn't care one whit how he hurts people. All that matters are his 'results,'" Suzaku growled, curling a hand into a fist.

"What?" Euphemia asked, confusion ringing her voice. Suzaku looked back at her, raising his eyebrows. "What did you say?"

"Zero doesn't care about who he hurts," Suzaku repeated. Euphemia frowned, looking away. Her brow furrowed in deep thought and she turned away walking back down the mountain. She felt a wet 'squish' as she stepped and looked down. She winced as her boot had sunk a few inches into a still-liquid puddle.

'Look at me,' she admonished herself, ashamed. 'I'm worried about getting dirty and so many people died. I'm a stupid useless girl.' Suzaku accidentally saying 'Lelouch' couldn't have been a coincidence. A flash of orange hair drew Euphie's attention.

"Shirley?" Euphemia asked aloud. She walked quickly to where Shirley was following a dark-skinned woman. "Shirley?" she repeated louder. Shirley turned and recognized her.

"Euphie?" Shirley asked, eyes wide. Her mouth opened in surprise as she remembered. "Princess Euphemia!" She curtsied, looking down.

"Stop," Euphie hissed, slowly, "that, Shirley. I'm a friend. But why are you here?"

"We asked her to identify someone," the dark-skinned Knight said. Shirley stood straight. "Would you like to accompany us, Princess Euphemia?"

"Yes, I'll accompany you," Euphie replied, placing a comforting hand on Shirley's shoulder. The pair followed the Knight over to a large tent with a few cots. Shirley's breath began to quicken as they approached a body covered in a blanket.

"I'm here with you," Euphemia assured softly in Shirley's hear, putting her arms around her friend.

Villeta removed the sheet.

0.0.0

Lelouch frowned inside his helmet. He could hear the original rebel cell speaking in the rear of the limo, but he wasn't listening. Not even to Kallen. Instead he closed his eyes and sank into his inner mind.

"Shirley asked us to go a concert," Lelouch Lamperouge began, setting a photo of Shirley on the large chess board.

"Why?" Zero asked from behind his helmet. His voice wasn't synthesized in Lelouch's mind. The helmeted head looked back at Lelouch vi Britannia.

"She knows we're publicly involved with Kallen, right?" vi Britannia asked the other two. Zero looked back at his student mask.

'We're not publicly involved!" a specter of Kallen shouted emphatically. With a wave from Zero's hand she disappeared.

"Perhaps she asked her other friends and they were all busy?"

"Likely," Zero concurred with Lamperouge.

"And if we go to the concert it could complicate matters far beyond our ability to control." The pair looked back at vi Britannia, Zero's expression unreadable.

"Then we agree, no concert?" Zero put forward.

"So, who's Clan-Chief of Kyoto?" vi Britannia asked Zero.

"I can think of six possibilities," Zero replied.

"Five," vi Britannia corrected.

"Kururugi could have survived," Zero countered.

"A knife wound delivered from a small person? Most likely inflicted into the abdomen. Help didn't arrive within the hour. He's almost certainly dead."

"Next possibility?" Zero continued, crossing his arms.

"Kirihara."

"He owns the Sakuradite Mining in Japan. For Britannia."

Lelouch was shaken from his thoughts as the car stopped moving,.

Kallen stepped from the car, looking around the massive room. Kallen could've driven her Guren through the massive room with plenty of room. She saw the giant window and walked over, seeing the silhouette of a mountain. Her jaw dropped as she recognized the mountain.

"That's Mt. Fuji!" Tsugiyama declared, stunned.

"That's impossible!" Tamaki argued loudly.

"If that's true, that means we could all be executed," Ohgi realized aloud. "If the Britannians found us up here..."

"It's outrageous," came an elderly voice. "Mt. Fuji, once revered for its clear waters has been corrupted." Kallen spun to see an old man sitting behind a screen, hiding his face. She glared into Zero's back. Seemed to be a lot of face hiding going on.

"I apologize for concealing my identity," the old man said as if reading Kallen's irritation. "But Zero your face is covered as well. Unfortunately, I cannot allow this. To trust you, I must know your face."

'Wait,' Kallen suddenly realized. 'Zero is a Britannian Prince. And if they discover that, they might kill him and all of us.' Lelouch. Kallen stepped forward.

"Wait! Zero has given us power and victory! That should be enough!"

"Silence!" the old man answered.

'Thank you, Kallen,' Lelouch thought to himself, smiling inside his mask.

Kallen winced as four Knightmares and armed guards filed in from the darkened corners. Kallen realized they were surrounded.

'I know you have a plan,' she thought at Lelouch. 'Don't let us get killed.'

"You, the one named Ohgi, you will remove Zero's mask," the elder declared. Ohgi frowned, determined and walked up to Zero.

"Ohgi," Kallen pleaded softly.

"Sorry," Ohgi replied, not looking at her. "We need a reason to trust Zero." He lifted the helmet off of Zero's head. Kallen's heart seized up. Then lept to her throat when emerald hair cascaded from beneath the black helm.

"WHAT?!" Kallen screamed, confused.

"C? But where's Zero?" Ohgi asked loudly, just as confused.

"You're not Zero?" the sitting man asked, sighing.

"Correct, Taizo Kirihara," C replied. The armed guards recoiled, raising their smgs. Kallen stepped back, looking around for Lelouch. Had he left them to die? Then chaos erupted. The left-most Knightmare raised its rifle to the head of its partner and unloaded, blowing the head off. Moving away it fired both Slash Harkens into its neighbors and then circled directly to face Kirihara, lowering to one knee and leveling its rifle straight at him.

"Taizo Kirihara," Zero declared, exiting the Knightmare's cockpit.

"He can still fire with that remote!" One of the guards shouted. Kallen could see the small radio device in Zero's hand.

"Also known as Taizo the Traitor. When Britannia invaded you used your positon to gain a monopoly on Sakuradite Mining and began to work for them. Secretly you began to fund the resistance as part of the Kyoto Clan. A Double agent." Lelouch gave a bemused snort. "Adorable."

"All who know of Master Kirihara must die!" one of the Guards shouted.

"Stop!" the old man ordered. His voice sounded like he recognized Zero.

"Do you recognize me?"

"Perhaps. Your voice has a certain something that I've not heard in years. But to truly know..." Kirihara trailed off, his face still covered by the screen.

"Very well, I'll show you," Zero conceded, still amused.

'He's just going to use his Geass on him,' Kallen realized, frowning. 'Dammit, how are we going to work together if he won't trust anyone.' Bear witness to my power instead of my face and all that. 'This is why I hate Brit-' Kallen's thoughts were stopped by the click of the helmet retracting. Zero stepped closer and knelt before Kirihara.

Lelouch removed his helmet and set it on the floor beside his knee. Then he offered his right hand to Kirihara.

"It's been a long time, old friend," Lelouch greeted, smiling. Kirihara recovered quickly, his eyes reflecting his mirth.

"A long time indeed, my young friend," he greeted, taking Zero's hand.

Lelouch thought fondly back to when Kirihara visited, playing Shogi with Lelouch in the Prime Minister's house. Kirirhara taught Lelouch the japanese chess, and later politics and the gambles of war. Lelouch had taught Kirihara chess and told him of Britannian custom. Despite his friendship with Suzaku, in Kirirhara Lelouch had found a like mind, one who thought more like himself. And Kirihara knew who Lelouch truly was. One of a few people in the whole of Japan.

"I understand why you hid behind a mask," Kirihara admitted in realization. "Her eyes haven't opened." Kirihara eyed behind the Knightmare to Lelouch's merry band.

"No. She remains as blind and naive as ever," Lelouch added.

"Now after eight years, the flower finally blooms," Kirihara commented cryptically. He gave a delighted laugh. "Ohgi! This man is a true mortal enemy of Britannia! His face must remain secret for vital reasons! In exchange you will receive our support and supplies."

"Whu," was all Ohgi could manage. "What the hell did he show Kirihara?" Kallen blinked at the whispered question. Lelouch had truly shown his face?

"Doumo arigatou gozaimasu," Lelouch said softly in flawless Japanese.

"Dou itashimasite," Kirihara replied in his mother tongue. Lelouch raised the remote and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"You bluffed?" Kirihara asked, incredulous?

"Of course I did," Lelouch replied, taking his helmet back up. "I just borrowed your own Knightmare, you think I had enough time to wire something like that up? I'm a genius, not an expert." Kirihara laughed again. Lelouch was about to set his helmet back on his head.

"Wait," Kirihara began. "This path you are embarking on. Is this the path of blood?" Lelouch smirked.

"Whatever is necessary," He assured, lowering his mask back over his face.

0.0.0

"You were just showing off," Kallen hissed as she stalked forward in the rain.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch demanded, not understanding. He'd taken the liberty to walk Kallen home. Or had been dragged that way by Kallen in a furious demand to speak to him privately.

"The remote, the bluff," she listed, angrily. She spun on him and glared into his eyes. "The japanese." Lelouch frowned.

"I used his original language as a sign of respect," Lelouch insisted.

"And why couldn't you just show us your face?" Kallen challenged. Lelouch winced, hesitating. "Nevermind, don't even try. I know the answer." Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "You don't trust us. I found out who you were and you didn't change that, but you don't trust my friends. You don't trust people that I have to trust to survive. That's like saying you don't trust me. And if you don't trust me how can we be in a relationship."

Lelouch's eyes surged open, pain showing through.

"Kallen," Lelouch started, wounded. He stepped closer, bringing his umbrella to cover her head. Kallen stepped back in response, not letting him close the distance.

"No," she told him. "If you can't trust us, then I don't want to be with you." Lelouch felt something break. He looked down, brow furrowing.

'Why did that hurt?' Lelouch vi Britannia asked inside him.

'Push it aside,' Zero ordered, in response.

'I can't,' Lelouch replied, confused. Kallen walked away, not looking back.

"Kallen!" He called after, looking up. She didn't stop.

"Kallen!" he began to walk after her. But she was quickly disappearing in the downpour. Lelouch had to break into a jog. He reached a cross walk and looked around. She was nowhere to be seen.

"Kallen!" he screamed, calling.

"Lelouch?" came Shirley's voice. Lelouch spun to see Shirley standing in the rain, her eyes echoing his own wounded state.

"Shirley?" He checked his watch, remembering. "Sorry," he said, looking up. "I had a lot on my schedule." He walked over and saw small stains on her cheeks. "I...Are you alright? Because we should probably get you indoo-"

"Why did Zero kill my father?" Shirley asked, her voice breaking. Lelouch recoiled, struck for the second time. "My father wasn't a bad man. He cared for me, and he never hurt anyone. So why? Why did Zero bury my father alive?"

'Her father must have been at Narita,' Zero explained.

'We buried Shirley's father alive,' Lelouch realized in horror.

Old news, what of it?

Lelouch blinked at the memory. Father. He'd been heartless and cruel. Lelouch had never considered himself to be like his father.

Shirley had exploded into him, hugging him tight, crying into his chest.

The chess board inside his mind cracked. Zero and Lelouch vi Britannia were silent.

And then Shirley was kissing him, drawing comfort from him.

Kallen had left him. He was alone. But he was alone with Shirley.

And he was drawing comfort from Shirley in turn.

His arms went around her, dropping his umbrella.

0,0,0

Villeta stopped in front of the Asheford Academy, looking through the rain-covered windows at the school. Shirley hadn't been careful with her pictures, and Villeta had seen the boy's face. It had seemed too familiar to Villeta Nu. And she had long ago learned to trust her instincts, even if she didn't know what they thought.

She stepped from the car and drew her think coat about herself carefully. If Princess Euphemia went here, she'd have to be careful. Princess Cornelia was a lot more dangerous an opponent than Villeta needed. Now that Jeremiah was gone.

'So what,' Villeta told herself. 'Quel and Gottwald got themselves killed like idiots. If I have to leap through fire to get ahead, I can at least be smart about it.' Then again Villeta felt like the whole school was a minefield waiting to be tripped.

"Ah ah ah," came a strange voice. Villeta looked toward the voice and saw a strange man in a white coat approaching. "I know what you're thinking. Big Bad Zero has to be caught. But it's not enough to just catch a wolf, you have to prove he's dangerous, right?" Villeta took a step back.

'This guys a few rounds short of-'

"Few rounds short of a pistol?" the man finished for her, making Villeta's eyes widen. "Can't say I've heard that one before, but I do appreciate originality. Especially considering my own."

"My name's Mao," the white-haired weirdo replied, answering Villeta's question before she could even speak it. "And I think we can help each other. Shirley wasn't very excited to work with me, but you and I are more similar."

'What does this guy-'

"What I want is very simple," he interrupted, answering her prematurely again. "She hasn't really got a name, but she's working with your new favorite prey. What do you say the three of us get him together?"

0.0.0

"Shirley! Where the hell have you been?" Milly demanded, oozing worry. She paused when Lelouch followed Shirley inside.

"She needs to get warm," Lelouch ordered, back to being Lelouch Lamperouge. He headed upstairs, trying not to think. For him practically an impossibility.

Once he'd entered his bedroom he dropped the mask. Enraged he found himself punching the door after he'd closed it. He shattered a few dozen glasses by smashing them off his dresser. Slammed the butt of his hand on his dresser. He saw his black case beneath his bed.

"You're the evil!" He told it. He picked the case up and unlatched it, dumping it on the floor. Gripping the helmet, he hefted it and three it at the wall. The plastic and metal mask hit the wall and shattered with a loud crack and fell to the floor in two equal pieces. Lelouch felt weak and dropped to the floor on his knees. Around him lay the scattered purple and black of Zero.

'I'm you, you idiot,' Zero told him. 'You knew it would happen. The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed.

'Recognize those words? They're your own.'

'I hate you,' Lelouch told him.

'Hate me? I kept you alive. Remember? Remember when we drug ourselves through the dirt when you only found enough food for Nunnally? When Milly found us, half-dead and crying? You thought you did it because Nunnally would die? I gave you the strength to continue.'

'You killed Shirley's father. You killed hundreds of innocent people.'

'You did, too. And Kallen helped. So what does that make us?'

'I'm a demon,' Lelouch realized, guilt washing over him like a swell.

'The Demon, and the Red Moon who helped him,' Zero replied. 'You know a better world won't just appear without pain and suffering. You have to destroy the old world first. Who better than a Demon?' Lelouch opened his eyes and saw something. A tiny pink bow, partially obscured by the overlapped folds of his costume. He moved them away to see Kallen's pink underwear.

She was gone, and now it was too late. The pain in him began again. He'd made a mistake. He hadn't trusted the people he'd fought alongside. He'd left Ohgi to die, to save his own skin. He hadn't trusted his comrades. He'd given them chores for his army.

The one person he had let in had left him. He'd see her again but only as his pawn. She'd left Lelouch. He carefully picked up her panties and felt the texture. He felt wrong to even touch them now, but he didn't want to let the garment go, because then he would have truly let Kallen go.

And he couldn't face Shirley again. Not after he'd...

"Lelouch," came C's voice from behind him. "What-"

"Kallen told me she didn't want to be with me as Lelouch," he explained, not looking at her. "Because I didn't trust them. And I found that Zero killed Shirley's father by burying him alive."

0.0.0

Answering Reviews: Honestly a lot of thoughts on how Mao would turn out but nobody thought the way that I was about the Characters involved. So very interesting there.

Zer0: Dude, late-night writing and surfing 4chan do not mix.

Ryder77: Yeah it was way early.