Author's Note: Sorry my update is slightly late. I got caught up playing Batman: Arkham Origins.
Anyhow, a random guest reviewer asked if Lelouch will be snapping arms and breaking necks. The answer is no.
Aikido is classed as a defensive marital art. Its philosophical aim is to defend oneself whilst simultaneously keeping the opponent reasonably healthy, thanks in no small part to the creator's religious views and Aikido's origins in Jujutsu.
So, while it might be fun, no broken limbs or vertebrae in this story I'm afraid.
DP11 pointed out how Marianne is not mother of the year in Canon. I agree she was a less than stellar behind the scenes in canon, but in my story (as you will find out in chapter 17-18, I think?) she actually had something resembling a conscience, so her 'public face' is a bit more believable in my story.
Anyhow, ONWARDS TO THE FIC!
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Code Geass. On with the Fic!
"Kallen"-Speech
'Lelouch'-Thought/mental communication
"{Die}"-Geass Command
"Halt!"-Loudspeaker
"Roger."-Radio/Walkie-Talkie
Chapter 6: Kallen and the Student Council.
With Lelouch, Student Council Clubhouse, 08:00am.
Lelouch stood in the centre of the Clubhouse with his eyes closed. He was dressed in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a baggy white t-shirt and had his arms at his side, relaxed but prepared.
In a blur of motion, Lelouch travelled through a kata, or martial arts form, ending in a shōmen'uchi (Front-of-the-head Strike) against his imaginary foe. For the next ten minutes, he ran through multiple kata, ending with attacks ranging from the basic mune-tsuki (Chest-Thrust) to a fairly advanced tachitori (Sword-taking) manoeuvre.
As he ran through them, Lelouch allowed his mind to wander free and consider all that happened yesterday.
He had commanded a ragtag group of Japanese Terrorists to victory against his elder brother and then had his accomplice, a 700 year old immortal woman no less, execute his brother, but not until after extracting all useful information from him with a mysterious power said immortal had given him.
He had then come back and told Sayoko everything, his accomplice had bestowed yet another mysterious ability upon his ninja-slash-maid and, to top the day off, he had slept with his new accomplice.
'What next? Mutants? Aliens? A Supervillian, perhaps?' Lelouch thought sarcastically as he ended his practice and walked off to have breakfast with Nunnally.
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Timeskip-2 hour's later-Student Council Office
"Wake up, Lelouch!"
The cry was accompanied by a thwack across his head with a rolled up sheaf of papers.
"Your hand stopped moving, so I know you were asleep!" Came a swift admonishment after he raised his head.
Lelouch gave an exaggerated wince and mock-glared at the culprit. Millicent Ashford, or just plain 'Milly' as she preferred to be known, was widely known as one of the top ten beauties on campus. Her shoulder length blond hair framed an elegantly sculpted face, her legs were slender and toned and her three sizes were a much sought after secret by the male population of Ashford.
What most people didn't know was that beneath her elegance and beauty was a troublemaker of massive proportions. Milly was full of mischief, ranging from mild molestation of physically well endowed girls, to announcing a campus-wide festival for the most inane reasons, for example announcing that the dress code one day was swimsuits, in celebration of Shirley joining the Swimming Club.
The Student Council were currently rebalancing the budget for the umpteenth time after the fiasco of the Absolute Silence Party the previous month had taken a fair chunk of the budget from this month.
Rivalz let out a chuckle.
"Serves you right for ditching me yesterday." the blue haired schoolboy said with a smirk.
Lelouch let out a yawn that was only slightly feigned.
"Well, I'm sorry that my getting kidnapped by terrorists inconvenienced you, Rivalz." Lelouch drawled out sarcastically.
All at once, all work in the office ceased and four pairs of eyes locked onto Lelouch.
Nina Einstein, a shy, plain girl with her hair in braids looked horrified at the idea of being kidnapped by Elevens.
Shirley Fenette, the girl with a not-so-secret crush on him, looked two parts horrified, one part worried. Her burnished gold eyes were alive with fear for Lelouch.
Milly and Rivalz were taken aback by Lelouch's sudden comment and Milly looked somewhat concerned as well.
"You were…kidnapped?" Milly asked softly.
"Well, more like 'accidentally taken along'." Lelouch amended, "I take it Rivalz has given you chapter and verse on how I fell into the truck and got carried off by it yesterday?"
A series of bobbing heads showed the answer was yes.
"Well, that truck was owned by Japanese terrorists. I think I heard VTOL's chasing the truck at one point." Lelouch said, his mind racing for a cover story that would hold up even if Kallen heard it, "I hid behind a bulky device of some sort for about three-quarters of an hour, when the truck crashed in the Shinjuku Ghetto."
The rest of the Student Council drew in a breath as he named the biggest Ghetto in Tokyo. No Britannian willingly set foot in those places unless they were either a soldier or insane.
"After the crash, I was stunned for a while and can't really remember much. Eventually, I staggered out of the truck and made to leave the Ghetto." Lelouch's voice turned grim at this, "Then I saw something I hoped to never see again."
"What did you see?" Shirley asked, rather subdued.
"A slaughter." Lelouch said grimly, his voice conveying distaste and disgust at every inflection, "Britannian troops were massacring the inhabitants of Shinjuku like dogs. Men, woman, children, the elderly….all were gunned down without mercy."
"T-That's impossible!" Nina protested shrilly, "They must have had weapons, or have co-operated with the terrorists or-or something!"
Lelouch felt like slapping the girl for that. Her Xenophobia was quite well known, not only for non-Britannians but for anyone she didn't already know. It made times like this awkward and uncomfortable.
"Nina, would a six year old girl constitute a threat? To anyone? Or an old woman in a wheelchair? No, I thought not." Lelouch asked Nina, who was unable to speak back without sounding ridiculous.
Lelouch shook his head and continued.
"Anyway, after dodging Britannian patrols, I finally managed to escape the Ghetto, only to be picked up by a patrol. They asked me a couple of questions, then asked me to come in for questions today sometime, so I'll need to take the afternoon off, Milly." Lelouch finished his story and looked at Milly.
The Ashford Heiress shook herself and nodded at him.
"I'll tell grandfather -the Dean, I mean- during lunch." she promised.
"Thank you, Milly." Lelouch said, gently smiling at her. He had known Milly since he had been a young boy and had been a victim of her pranks and antics both in Pendragon and in Ashford, so he took great satisfaction in seeing his childhood friend light up like a tomato.
"S-Sure, no problem." Milly managed to get out, her face still a glowing red. Lelouch noted that Nina was throwing him a rather jealous look his way. So that's the way it is then?
Lelouch stood up and nonchalantly handed Milly a completed revised budget for the next month. He had been writing as he spoke and had completed balancing the budget so every club could complete their scheduled activities without a hitch -barely.
"I have to let Sayoko know about this afternoon so she can plan accordingly. Later." Lelouch said as he walked out, leaving the Student Council staring at where he had been.
"Umm….Prez?" Shirley spoke up, still rather subdued, "What did Lulu mean when he said he had seen a massacre before?"
Milly sighed and flicked some of her long hair away from her face.
"Lelouch and Nuna were here in Area Eleven during the invasion, when this place was still Japan." She told the orangette, making Shirley, Rivalz and Nina gape at her.
"S-So when t-the Vice-P-President said he had seen a m-massacre…." Nina trailed off, horror filling her voice.
Milly nodded grimly, an unusually serious expression on her face. "Yes. Lelouch witnessed a massacre of Japanese civilians by Britannian forces before. Not only that, he had to carry Nuna over the bodies. He told me that it was the hardest thing he has ever had to do."
"Oh, Lulu…." Shirley whispered, her face pale and eyes bright with unshed tears for what her crush had been forced to watch.
It took the bell to get the stunned Council members moving after that.
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With Kallen, Ten minutes later….
'I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this…!' was what Kallen Kōzuki, otherwise known to the damn Britannians around her as Kallen Stadtfelt, was chanting in her head like a mantra as she sat in her classroom, in her 'sick girl' persona.
Intellectually, she knew that acting meek, sickly and docile -the exact opposite of her actual persona- was a smart move to make, as all of her so-called friends could testify that she had never harmed so much as a fly, let alone a Britannian soldier, if they were ever even asked at all.
It still didn't stop her from hating every minute of it.
'Ohgi, I will restate how similar to Naoto-nii-sama you are and how damn irritating that little fact can be.' Kallen though sourly.
Ohgi had told her to 'lie low' at Ashford for a while, at least until the whole Shinjuku matter was off the news, which irritated Kallen immensely.
She had tried to argue that the mysterious K-1 had discovered her identity, so it wasn't safe. Ohgi had countered that K-1 had implied that Ashford would be where he would contact her, so she could lie low and await contact from their mysterious saviour.
Her classmates were watching the news on a portable TV, and the contents of the news made Kallen's hatred for Britannians flare up.
The bastard Britannians were claiming that her resistance group had set off the poison gas in Shinjuku, even going so far as to broadcast a picture of dead bodies supposedly killed by the gas.
'Bodies that clearly have bullet-holes in them! Are these Brits completely stupid?!' Kallen seethed to herself as her classmates gawked at the TV screen.
DING-DONG!
A chime came over the speakers of the public address system, making Kallen look up in curiosity.
"This is an announcement from the Student Council. Could Miss Kallen Stadtfelt come to the Student Council Clubhouse, I repeat: Could Miss Kallen Stadtfelt please make her way to the Student Council Clubhouse immediately. And no, Milly, you are not to come running to see what is happening, or next time I won't help you with the budget." The address clicked off after the brief announcement.
Kallen was confused. Why would the Student Council need to speak with her? All of her frequent absences were dismissed with the fake doctor's note she had arranged with Ohgi. And who was Milly?
"Kallen, you'd better go." Suzie, one of her 'friends' told her, "That was Vice-President Lelouch on the speakers. He almost never uses the address system, so it must be serious."
Kallen nodded. "Umm…who is Milly?" she asked in a timid, quiet voice that made her want to throw up.
"Milly Ashford, the Student Council President!" Suzie was surprised at Kallen's lack of knowledge of the school, before remembering that her friend hadn't been in school long enough to get to know who was who, so she decided to fill her friend in.
"Milly Ashford is the Ashford Heiress, so she has a lot of leeway in how she runs the school, but her skill at organisation is….somewhat lacking, so Lelouch Lamperouge, the Vice-President is, for all intents and purposes, the one who runs the Council on a day-to-day basis, so his threat right now to not help balance the budget a very real one."
Kallen sweatdropped at the in-depth briefing her 'friend' gave her, adding another sweatdrop as she processed how oddly the Student Council seemed to operate.
Sighing, she thanked Suzie for her help and made her way to the student Council's Clubhouse.
When she got there she paused for a moment to gape at the 'Clubhouse'.
'Clubhouse my ass, it's a damn mini-palace!' was her first thought at the first sight of the building. It was built like a villa, not a clubhouse!
'Damn extravagant Britannians!' the redhead grumbled mentally as she forced herself to walk at a slow and measured pace towards the main entrance.
As she reached the door, it opened on the inside, revealing a Japanese woman in a maid's outfit.
"Miss Kallen Stadtfelt?" the woman enquired in a soft voice.
"Y-Yes." Kallen replied.
"This way please. Lelouch-sama is waiting." With that, the maid turned and led the way in.
Kallen followed on automatic, but was internally stunned. When the woman in front of her had called this Lelouch character '-sama', she had not detected any resentment or sarcasm in her voice.
'Just who is this Lelouch character anyway?' Kallen thought with narrowed eyes.
She gawked again at the opulent ballroom she was being led through, though she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. An opulent exterior would indicate an opulent interior after all.
The maid led her up the flight of stairs to the second level, where Kallen saw a black-haired boy around her age sitting at a desk on the far side of the room, filling out and signing reports it seemed.
"My Lord, Kallen Stadtfelt is here for your meeting." The maid called to the busy figure.
The boy looked up and regarded first the maid, then Kallen with unusual violet-coloured eyes.
Kallen shivered slightly. Those eyes seemed to look right through her.
"Ah, so she is. Thank you, Sayoko." The boy spoke in a well educated, almost aristocratic way, enunciating each word with care, but not too slowly.
Kallen found herself starting to blush at being under his unblinking gaze for such an extended period of time. She hurriedly sat down at the seat opposite Lelouch.
Abruptly, he looked towards the maid -Sayoko- and addressed her.
"Sayoko, can you bring up some sencha (Green Tea) and a few Wagashi (Traditional Japanese Confectionaries) for Miss Stadtfelt and me?"
"Certainly, My Lord. Would Anmitsu (Jelly cubes with fruit) and Mochi (Japanese Rice Cake) suffice?"
"They will do fine." Lelouch replied, and then turned to Kallen, "Miss Stadtfelt? Will either of those cause you any problems?"
"N-No. I'll be fine." she replied somewhat nervously. Why was he offering her sencha and wagashi? He was Britannian, wasn't he?
Lelouch nodded to Sayoko, who promptly vanished so quickly Kallen had to blink. One second she was there, the next she was gone.
"Sayoko is fond of that little disappear/reappear trick, she refuses to tell me how she does it." Lelouch told her, a fond smile on his face.
"A woman must have some secrets, My Lord." Sayoko's voice came from behind Kallen and gave the redhead quite a shock.
As Sayoko served them both tea and wagashi, Lelouch spoke.
"I lived in Area Eleven while it was still Japan and became quite fond of sencha and wagashi during my stay. I'm afraid it's an eating habit I haven't managed to break." The last part was said with a mild chuckle before being silenced by him sipping his tea.
Kallen, in turn, sipped her tea, humming slightly in pleasure at the taste that proclaimed it to be high quality sencha. As she did, she carefully examined the person sitting opposite her.
His hair was ebon black and his eyes were a startling shade of violet. His face could be called either androgynous or feminine. His build was sturdy and his posture was impeccable.
"Now Miss Stadtfelt, let's get down to business, shall we?" Lelouch asked after having another sip of his tea.
Kallen nodded and put her tea down as well.
"What is it you wished to discuss with me?" she asked timorously.
Lelouch stared into her eyes before he spoke.
"{You will answer my questions.}"
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Lelouch's Perspective
As he activated his Geass, Lelouch reflected on how bad a mask this girl was wearing. It was like trying to disguise a Doberman as a Poodle, really.
How she hadn't been outed before now was amazing. Still, it was time to make certain he had made a wise decision in choosing to join up with her group.
Kallen had fallen into the Geass trance and had straightened up. She affirmed his order in the strong, independent voice he remembered from Shinjuku.
"Of course."
"Are you the pilot of the red Glasgow from Shinjuku?"
"Yes."
"Why terrorism?"
"Because I'm Japanese, although technically I'm half-Britannian."
Lelouch's eyebrow rose slightly. Half-blood Britannians were not exactly uncommon, but they were very rarely acknowledged or made Heirs to families, especially ones in prominent positions such as the Stadtfelt Family.
"You must have a Japanese name then. What is it?"
"Kōzuki."
"I see…..Moving on then…"
Over the next ten minutes he quizzed her about her brother, the members of the resistance cell and her skills with a Knightmare.
When he finished his questions, Lelouch deactivated his Geass.
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In a room not too far away, Sayoko removed a disk from the security system. It held the footage of Lelouch Geassing Kallen in the ballroom, taken by one the hidden cameras seeded throughout the building.
Sayoko hesitated. She had been ordered to destroy the disk by Lelouch, but something made her hesitate.
'Lelouch-sama is correct that this footage can't be seen by anyone. However…I think I must keep a hold of this rather than destroy it. Better safe than sorry.' Sayoko reasoned, putting the disk into a case and slipping it into a pocket in her apron.
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Kallen's Perspective
"Miss Stadtfelt?"
Kallen snapped out of a daze and looked at Lelouch.
"H-Huh?" was her intelligent reply.
"You've been staring into space for a while. Your tea has gone cold." Lelouch pointed to her cup, which had been piping hot and was now cold.
Kallen blushed in embarrassment at wasting such high quality tea and stammered out an apology.
Lelouch waved a hand dismissively. "It's alright. Listening to changes in school regulations while you were off sick would send anyone to sleep, myself included, so it's no problem. I'll just give you a printout."
"T-Thank you…" Kallen got out as she wracked her brains, trying to remember any of the rules he had been talking about and came up blank.
'I can't believe I zoned out that badly!' She scolded herself mentally as she accepted the printout from Lelouch.
"Now, that was one of three reasons I called you here." Lelouch continued after she put the printout away, "The second reason is this."
From a drawer, Lelouch pulled a package and handed it to her. It was about 7 inches long and maybe 4 inches wide and wrapped in brown paper. In the centre, Kallen's name was prominently visible.
"This was delivered to the Student Council earlier this morning." Lelouch explained, "I have run a chemical sniffer over it, and there is no trace of any drugs or explosive compounds inside it, so I am free to pass it on to you."
"Why do you have a chemical sniffer in a school?" Kallen asked, sweatdropping at the idea of an Academy having such a thing.
"The students of Ashford are the scions of rich and powerful families, so any and all packages are checked for any potential threats to them." Lelouch explained to Kallen, who slowly nodded.
Kallen shook her head to bring herself back to reality and pocketed the package.
Lelouch's face became serious.
"I will have to ask that whoever sent you that package not do so again, as one of the new rules is that no personal mail is to be sent to school."
"Of course." Kallen agreed, "I'll….inform the person who sent me this of the new rule directly."
"Excellent." Lelouch said with a small smile, "Now, the last thing I need to discuss with you is regarding a long standing school rule."
"Oh?" Kallen tilted her head to the side slightly, having a sneaking suspicion about which rule he could be talking about.
"The rule in question requires all students to join a club during their time here and, according to the records; you haven't joined one at all." Lelouch told her as he flicked through some sheaves of paper, casually sorting them into different piles as he spoke.
"I…that is, I can't join a club because-" Kallen started to trot out her 'sick girl' excuse, but was interrupted by Lelouch.
"-Because your body is weak and sickly, yes?" Lelouch said with a small smirk as he saw her start is surprise, "Yes, I am aware of your infirmity and happily, I have been able to come up with a compromise of sorts."
"Compromise?" Kallen regarded Lelouch with mild suspicion and wariness.
"Indeed. My compromise is you joining the Student Council." Lelouch said in a perfectly deadpan voice.
"HUH?!" Kallen gaped at him in astonishment. Lelouch shrugged.
"I will be frank with you, Miss Stadtfelt; I am in desperate need of help on the Student Council." Lelouch told her frankly, "Milly uses the budget up on nonsensical ideas, the Secretary spends most of his time trying to get a date with Milly and out of the two regular members, one is so timid and xenophobic that talking to her is…problematic…at best and the other member is actually fairly good with paperwork, but is a favourite target of Milly's teasing, so is stymied in doing her work thanks to that."
"So you're basically the only one actually accomplishing anything worthwhile in the Council then." Kallen summed it up for him.
"Harsh, but accurate." Lelouch nodded at her, "You, Miss Stadtfelt, despite having spent the majority of last year off sick, your GPA is a perfect 4.0. In addition, Milly will be forced to hold off on teasing you too much because of your fragile health. And your obligation to join a club will be fulfilled."
Kallen considered the idea. It would satisfy that irritating little rule that she had been dodging for the last year or so. On the other hand, she didn't know nearly enough about how the Student Council operated, so she decided to ask a few questions first.
"What kind of activities do the Student Council do?" She asked.
"Well, in the main, we organise school-wide events, set the budgets for the various clubs and act as a deterrent to Milly's wild ideas- or at least we try to anyway." Lelouch told her, a wry look appearing on his face when he spoke of trying to stop Milly's mad ideas.
Kallen sweatdropped at this confirmation of Suzie's small briefing of the Student Council President then shook her head and continued on.
"When you say school-wide events, do you mean like the Culture Festival?" she asked for confirmation.
"And the Crossdresser's Ball, and The Absolute Silence Party AND Swimsuit Day." Lelouch recited with a deadpan look on his face.
Kallen sweatdropped again. "What the heck?"
"I did say Milly has some wild ideas, didn't I?" Lelouch replied with a shrug.
"I see….are there any perks to being in the Student Council?" she asked, although she doubted there would be. It was just a Student Council after all.
"Actually, there are a few advantages." Lelouch told her, "Thanks to Milly, we have a level of access that even the faculty doesn't have. There is almost nowhere on campus that we cannot go."
"Wow." Kallen was actually impressed by that.
'That kind of access would be useful in sneaking out, if I had to.' She thought to herself.
"I know, right? My personal favourite though, has to be the tunnels." Lelouch confided to her. Noticing her confused look, Lelouch expanded on the subject.
"When the Academy was taken over by the Ashford Family, the Britannian Tokyo Settlement was still being built, so the Academy was used as a kind of nexus station for workers using the underground tunnels. After the Settlement was completed, the tunnels were forgotten about. Using them, you can reach any area of the Tokyo Settlement, except the Area 11 Administration Building and the military bases." Lelouch explained.
Kallen was stunned. If she had access to the tunnels, she could get to almost anywhere in the Settlement easily. A bit of paperwork was nothing compared to being able to do that.
Mind made up, Kallen looked at Lelouch and nodded. "I'll join the Council. By the sounds of it, you need all the help you can get."
Lelouch gave her a grateful grin. "Excellent! Your inauguration party is scheduled for tomorrow after school. There I'll introduce you to the rest of the team. Sound OK?"
"Umm…sure." Kallen was taken aback by the swiftness of her inauguration. Then, a nasty thought occurred to her.
"Would this happen to be the President's whim, by any chance?" Kallen asked suspiciously.
Lelouch shrugged unabashedly at her. "She saw you in the corridors today and decided you were going to be a part of the Student Council. I decided to actually entice you into joining, rather than suffer the full weight of being persuaded by Milly."
"Fair enough." Kallen allowed, begrudgingly.
"Well now, I have a meeting to attend in town, so we must part ways for now, Miss Stadtfelt." Lelouch said, sounding somewhat regretful.
He stood up and walked around the desk. Kallen stood up as well and was about to walk off, when a thought occurred to her.
"Umm….Vice-President?" she called after him.
Lelouch stopped and turned around.
"Just Lelouch, please." he said with a smile.
"OK, you call me Kallen then." she replied. She hated being reminded of her Britannian lineage.
"Fair enough. Now, did you want something?" Lelouch asked.
"About this package that got delivered…who delivered it?" Kallen asked, withdrawing the package in question from her blazer pocket.
Lelouch frowned in thought. "I honestly couldn't say. Just a delivery man I think. Why?"
"Just…curious." Kallen mumbled, disappointed that there was no lead on K-1.
"Well then, I bid you good day. Sayoko will show you the way out." Lelouch nodded cordially at her, then walked off.
Kallen followed Sayoko after she did what Lelouch had termed her 'disappear/reappear trick' and was bowed out the door.
As she walked, Kallen reflected on the last half hour. She had met the Student Council Vice-President and had been convinced to join the Council, before being informed the President would have coerced her to join the next day anyway.
She had also been delivered a mysterious package by an unknown individual. Kallen removed the package from her pocket and gave it a once over. There was no sender address, courier ID number or stamp on it, so she presumed whoever had sent it had had it delivered by hand.
Curiosity overcoming her, she tore off the wrapping to reveal a second layer. More writing was on the same side her name had been written on.
"Q-1-
Don't open any more of this package.
Unwrap the rest and be alone by 9 O'clock tonight.
-K-1"
Kallen flushed at being read so easily by K-1 yet again. She knew she wasn't that easy to read, so how did someone who had never met her manage to do so with apparent ease?
Kallen re-pocketed the package and walked back to class. Hopefully, K-1 would have some answers for her tonight.
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With Lelouch
From a window on the second floor of the Clubhouse, Lelouch watched Kallen walk off with a small grin on his face. She had acted exactly as he had anticipated.
"Sayoko, did you take care of the security footage?" He asked, not needing to turn around to know his maid has silently entered the room.
"Hai, Lelouch-sama." Sayoko replied. She walked over to stand next to him and watched the shrinking vision of Kallen Stadtfelt/Kōzuki walking towards the main building of Ashford Academy.
"I wish you would allow me to accompany you on your excursion, My Lord." Sayoko remarked yet again. She had been trying to convince him to allow her to go with him ever since he had told her his plans for the day before breakfast.
Lelouch just turned his head to look at her and shook his head once. Sayoko sighed and lowered her head in acquiescence.
"While I'm out Sayoko, could you take the Sutherland I captured and take it to Theta Base?" Lelouch asked, once he was sure his maid had finally given up the idea of following him on his mission today.
Sayoko looked startled. Theta Base was Lelouch's hidden trump card he had spent the vast majority of his gambling money on building, enlarging and improving it. He had never allowed her to enter it. Her startled eyes met his calm violet orbs and he nodded slightly at her.
"You have sworn yourself to me, Sayoko. Therefore you are entitled to know my secrets, starting with Theta Base." Lelouch told her with a small smile.
Overwhelmed with pride at the trust her Goshujin-sama was putting in her, Sayoko bowed low, Japanese-style.
"As you command, Goshujin-sama." She replied, her voice not revealing the pride and joy she was feeling at his trust in her..
"While you are there, put the Sutherland in the AutoPainter, set it for Sutherlands, then run paint scheme BK-C-01." He told her as he shrugged on his rust-coloured windbreaker, "Once that is done, return via the first elevator."
"What about me, Lelouch?" C.C.'s voice called from his bedroom.
"You, C.C., are to order some new clothes. I take it you want Sayoko to dispose of the prisoner's suit while she's at Theta Base?" Lelouch called back with a small grin.
"Yes please. If I have to look at the damn thing again, I swear I will hurt someone." C.C.'s voice held a mild amount of loathing for the solitary reminder of her imprisonment.
"Very well. A credit card is in my top drawer and a clothing catalogue is on the sideboard in the living room. Get as much as you like, but just don't break my balance, ok?" Lelouch told the immortal.
"Do you mind if I order some takeaway while I'm at it since Sayoko is going to be out most of the day?"
Lelouch shrugged, then realised C.C. couldn't see him.
"Of course. But please, don't answer the door naked." Lelouch added that last part hastily.
"Awww. Don't tell me you're getting possessive already?" C.C.'s voice was lightly teasing, but held a hint of genuine curiosity.
Lelouch chuckled slightly.
"Last I checked we ARE lovers, so is it a bad thing to not want other men to see your body?" This prompted Sayoko to flush slightly.
There was a small pause from his bedroom before C.C. spoke again, her voice stilted slightly.
"You know, if it were not for the fact you have to go out soon, I'd drag you in here and jump you for saying such a thing. As it is, I'll leave that until tonight."
"Nice to know." Lelouch commented as he grabbed a bag that contained the soldier uniform he wore yesterday.
"Be careful, my Lord." Sayoko told her Master, "It will be difficult for you to accomplish all that you want to today."
Lelouch and Sayoko began walking towards the main doors to the Clubhouse.
"Thank you for your concern, Sayoko, but I think I will be fine." Lelouch told her firmly, "All tasks at hand have all the initial groundwork already laid out. All I need to do is successfully build on them."
"As you say, my Lord." Lelouch winced slightly. Whenever Sayoko said that, she was practically screaming disapproval of what he was about to do.
"Look, just….trust me on this, ok?" Lelouch said, stopping and looking Sayoko in the eyes. Sayoko blushed a bit as she could see the determination in Lelouch's eyes and she could even sense the confidence he had in his plan, whatever it was.
"Be sure to arrive in time for dinner tonight, my Lord. Lady Nunnally will be disappointed if you miss two successive dinners in a row. She enjoys spending time with you alone." Sayoko said, finally truly giving up attempting to accompany Lelouch.
"I will, Sayoko. Take care now." With that, Lelouch exited the building and setting out for his destination: The base of operations of the Pureblood Faction.
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Next Chapter: The Knight of Orange.
Author's Note: And that's all I wrote. Now, some of you must be thinking 'Is Theta Base just another name for the old Ashford Knightmare Factory?'
I can tell you NO, it isn't. Want to know more, stick around and find out in chapter 8.
Now, regarding my poll, I have decided to make it more interesting by randomly deleting one of the choices after I update my story. Which one? Check and find out….
Next update: 16th of November.