"Out of the way, please! Look out below!"

Euphemia had changed into clothes that a commoner might wear, a simple white blouse and pale yellow bodice, with a flowing light orange skirt, pastel colors that she thought complemented her pink hair quite nicely. She had also tied bedsheets together to make a rope by which she might slip out a window, only to discover after securing one end to something heavy that she had come up short and would need to drop the rest of the way onto the street below. It was higher than she would like, but she didn't see another option if she was to slip away from her guards without getting caught. It was only after she had let go that she noticed there was someone underneath her, prompting her to shout out a warning.

To her surprise, the stranger caught her in his arms, breaking her fall. Looking up, she saw that the stranger was a young Japanese man with brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing a Britannian student uniform, which meant that he must be an Honorary Britannian, and moreover, his uniform seemed to be of particularly high quality, suggesting a prestigious school. That in turn meant that he likely had a powerful benefactor. She might be sheltered, but even she knew that Honorary Britannians were discriminated against, in spite of theoretically having most of the same rights as ordinary Britannian citizens. She oddly felt like he should be familiar to her, but she couldn't place him.

"Are you all right?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were down here before I had leaped," she apologized.

"Don't worry… I wasn't expecting a girl to come falling out of the sky and into my arms either."

That was rather sweet of him, though he didn't seem to realize just how charming that had sounded.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked, still oblivious.

"Yes, there is something wrong," she said after a moment. "The truth is, bad guys are chasing me, so considering the circumstances, would you help me please?"

For a moment she wondered why she was lying like that to someone she had just met, especially one who was so unexpectedly kind to her. Obviously, she would have had to lie to anyone she met out in the Settlement, as she couldn't just say, "I'm Princess Euphemia and I've run away" without defeating the entire point of her mission. But to say that "bad guys" were chasing her was a lie so ridiculous that no person her age could be seriously expected to believe it. Even though it was true that her guards would be looking for her before long, she couldn't really think of them as "bad guys". They were just doing their jobs.

To her surprise, he didn't question the lie, and instead helped her to her feet, telling her that he would be glad to help.

She could tell that he knew, though.

"Um, we haven't introduced ourselves yet," she said after a while of strolling through the Tokyo Concession. "You probably know that I haven't been entirely honest with you," she said, looking down. "My name is -"

"Euphemia li Britannia," he finished for her, though he kept his voice low, so that only she could hear him. "And there aren't any 'bad guys' chasing you, are there?"

"How did you know that?" She had been planning to admit the lie about being chased, but even then she had been going to introduce herself as just "Euphy." She hadn't even made her full public debut yet, so there wasn't any reasonable way for an ordinary Honorary Britannian in Area 11 to know who she was. Then again, as his uniform indicated, her guide clearly wasn't an ordinary Honorary Britannian.

"I work in a special research division that reports to Prince Schneizel," he told her. "He told us that you might try to wander off, and asked me to keep an eye on you from afar. That's why I was near the Government Bureau. Though I didn't expect that you would leap right into my arms."

Euphemia frowned. The magic of the moment seemed to vanish in an instant. "So… you'll be taking me back to the Bureau?"

"Not unless you want me to," he said with a shrug and an easy smile. "Prince Schneizel only said to keep an eye on you. He didn't say to drag you anywhere against your will. Besides, if I accompany you, not only will I be able to fulfill my orders, but you'll be able to find your way around and travel across the Settlement without having to worry about your own guards trying to restrict where you can go."

Euphemia couldn't help but smile a bit in turn. Their encounter might not have been a coincidence like she first thought it was, but her tail and now guide sounded like he actually wanted to be here with her, and not just because he was following his orders.

"Then I would be glad to have you accompany me for a while longer," she replied. If he was sent by her older half brother, the Second Prince, she couldn't really countermand the orders the Honorary Britannian had been given; as second in line to the throne and the Prime Minister, Schneizel clearly outranked her as royalty. But she had the feeling that he would have left anyway if she had asked him to.

"As you wish, Milady," her guide said, bowing slightly.

"By the way, you still haven't introduced yourself," Euphemia said. "And you can call me Euphy."

"My apologies," he said. "My name is Suzaku Kururugi. But it feels strange for me to address a princess so informally. I couldn't."

Kururugi. That name was familiar to her. "The son of Japan's last Prime Minister, Genbu Kururugi?" she asked.

A pained look crossed Suzaku's face for a moment. "Yes," he replied, composing himself once again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a painful memory."

"It's fine," he reassured her. "Now where would you like to go?"

They continued to meander around the Tokyo Concession, and Euphemia found that she was enjoying herself and Suzaku's company considerably. The Concession, with its malls, restaurants, and entertainment venues was much like any Britannian city back in the homeland, and as such, she felt at home there.

But that was exactly the sort of complacency that she had sought to escape from.

"Suzaku, could you take me to one last place before I return to the Government Bureau?" she asked softly.

"Of course, Milady. Where to?"

"Take me to the Shinjuku Ghetto on the outskirts of the Settlement."

Suzaku seemed taken aback, but he nodded.

"Stay close," he told her. "The Japanese in the ghettos don't like to see Britannians coming there, but I'll keep you safe no matter what happens."

xXx

The bleak expanse of run-down buildings that made up the Shinjuku Ghetto was dismaying for Euphemia to see up close. Technically, they were still on its outskirts, a narrow strip of mostly abandoned land between the Settlement and the dilapidated ward of Shinjuku proper, but Euphemia had never been near one of the Ghettos before, and certainly would not have been allowed here if Cornelia had her way.

"I see…" she said gloomily. "Thank you, Suzaku."

They were about to turn to leave, when they heard a commotion not far away.

"Please!" a voice was begging in rough Britannian. "I'll pay you back, I sw-"

"You've been given plenty of chances, Eleven."

"Ugh!"

"The boss told us to rough you up a bit this time," a thuggish voice said in clear Britannian.

"It's the only thing you Elevens seem to understand," an equally thuggish voice said.

Euphemia couldn't just turn her back when someone was being brutalized and she had the power to stop it, and it appeared that Suzaku felt the same way. However, when she tried to run forward, he held out an arm.

"Stay behind me, Milady."

Approaching, they saw a cowering, middle-aged Japanese man, and two large, thugs, their heads shaved bald, dressed in expensive black suits and wearing sunglasses towering over the man.

"I hear you have a daughter. A pretty thing at that, for an Eleven. I'm sure the Black King would be more than willing forgive your debt if you were to sell her to him."

"I can't! She's all- Ow!" There was a sickening crack as one of the thugs viciously kicked him in the face, clearly breaking the man's nose.

"Think before you talk back, Eleven. She'll report to work by tomorrow if the two of you know what's good for you."

"Whatever gives you the right to assault that man?" Euphemia called out.

"What's this?" one of the thugs asked, turning around. "A Britannian student? Out here in the ghettos with an Eleven?"

"Get lost, missy," the other thug said, cracking his knuckles. "This doesn't concern you, or your filthy Eleven boyfriend."

"I am Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of Britannia," she announced, enunciating clearly. "I order you to stop brutalizing that man!"

The two thugs stared at her for a moment, and then they began to laugh.

"This one says she's a princess. That's a good one!"

"Where would a Princess be without her Knight?"

"Maybe that's why she has this Eleven with her," the other chortled. "They were out of good ones for her to pick!"

"But Elevens can't become Knights, can they?"

The two thugs advanced.

"Let's teach her how this world really works."

Suzaku leapt into action without hesitation, delivering… a spinning kick? It seemed impossible for anyone to move like that, but she saw it before her eyes, Suzaku turning 720 degrees in the air in less than a second, striking both thugs with great force, decking them instantly.

"Are they-" Euphemia asked nervously.

"They're just out cold," he reassured her.

Nodding, she hurried over to the battered Japanese man.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

To her surprise, the man all but spat in her face.

"Princess or not, we don't need charity from you, Britannian! Do you know what you've done? They'll be back, and the Black King will kill me, unless I make it up to him and pay double! You've ruined me, and my daughter!"

Getting up slowly, the man scurried off into the ghettos, clutching his ruined nose, without another word.

xXx

"I heard what you did, Euphemia," her sister said later that night, greeting her as she disembarked from her transport outside of the Government Bureau. Cornelia was garbed in a dark magenta viceroyal uniform, and draped in a floor-length white cloak with a high collar. Both sisters had the same blue-violet eyes, but Cornelia's hair was violet in contrast to Euphemia's pink. Not one prone to vanity, the only makeup on Cornelia's face was a bit of lipstick that matched her hair, but she was still considered beautiful, yet unapproachable by many would-be suitors. "You shouldn't be so reckless."

"I know, sister, forgive me. But-"

"You will address me as Viceroy here," Cornelia said, cutting her off, "Sub-Viceroy Euphemia. Since we're sisters, we need to follow a stricter protocol."

"Yes, I understand," Euphemia replied. She was sure that she would have the chance to speak later to her sister, the Viceroy, in private about what she had seen.

Cornelia seemed satisfied by this, and turned to one of the assembled functionaries. "Now, give me your report."

"Yes, Milady," the man said, saluting, "the first order of business is a welcoming party we've arranged for Your Highness."

Cornelia raised her pistol, long-barreled with a blade attached to the underside, and cocked the gun, pointing it at the functionary, who at once fell silent. It looked ceremonial, but Euphemia knew it was a deadly weapon, and let out a small gasp at how casually her sister leveled it at another human being.

"Sloppy… senile… corrupt…" Cornelia sneered, her displeasure and utter contempt clear. "Where are the Black Knights?" She demanded. "I want the enemies of the Empire caught! Find the Black Knights! Don't you dare show yourself in my sight until they are apprehended!"

"Right away, Your Highness!" The functionary shouted, making a quick retreat.

"Now then…" the new Viceroy continued. "I want to hear your own account of what happened today, Sub-Viceroy Euphemia. Then I need to hold some interviews… there's a traitor here in the Government Bureau, I'm sure of it. There's no way the Black Knights could have gotten close enough to kill Clovis without inside help."

"Do you have any suspects?" Euphemia asked cautiously.

"Indeed, Sub-Viceroy. I've already identified a list of likely suspects. And the prime suspect…is none other than our brother's grieving would-be fiancé, Countess Breisgau…"

A/N:

Two updates in one day! Yeah! Though this only a short interlude.

Unlike canon, Euphemia doesn't have cause to recognize Suzaku in this timeline, as he was not involved in a highly-publicized trial. This, along with changes in Suzaku's backstory (evidenced by his earlier presence at Ashford Academy than in canon) leads to an inversion of the situation. While some of the dialogue is the same as in canon, particularly when Suzaku catches Euphy, and later Cornelia's first exchange with Euphy and the functionary, this in turn leads to a number of other subtle divergences in her interactions with them, which may have long-reaching implications...

Also, SPINZAKU! No one familiar with Code Geass honestly thought we weren't going to see him some point, did they?