A/N: I know I most probably have no right to complain, given how late the last update was, but the trend of readers putting AmeSoul to story alert and/or fave story without bothering to tell me why they did has superseded the number of reviews (for this chapter) altogether, and I do admit I'm a review-whore. I won't not update or anything…but happy writers give rise to happy readers, in my case (if you catch my hint…?)
Special thanks to: TheLadyPendragon, Nusku, Liz Yeriod, MithLuin, iceley11
Chapter 4: Into the fire
"What?" the superintendent of Foreign Affairs Division of Security Bureau of the National Police Agency (1) of Japan barked at his mobile phone.
Mistaking the exclamation of shock as a request to repeat the report (there was so much background noises at the other end of the line after all. The young police inspector admired his boss for the hard work he put for the visiting royalties of Britannia), he was replied, "Sir, we have found someone who closely resembles the late Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia at Tokyo Station, 917 a.m. today. He is being detained in Tokyo Metropolitan Police Office right now."
The superintendent could feel the beginning of a pounding headache forming behind his eyeballs. Damn the low, low headcount after the devastating war which allowed stupid, stupid people be his subordinates and cut down NPA's former hierarchical structure severely. He was seriously busy with final stages of preparing the execution of plans regarding Japan's third Independence Day celebrations. Damn that superintendent of Public Safety for skiving off work today!
He took a deep, deep breath.
"ARE YOU STUPID OR WHAT?" the scream made the young police officer's ear ring painfully. The subordinate stretched his arm and held the receiver of the phone as far away from his abused organ as possible. "DETAINED JUST BECAUSE HE RESEMBLES THE LATE DEMON EMPEROR? WHAT DO YOU WANT NPA TO BE KNOWN AS?"
Perhaps, it was inevitable that Princess Cornelia li Britannia happened to be in the vicinity of the stressed civil servant, foreseeing the safety of one of the venues for her half-sister's public appearances (Schneizel, Guilford and the rest were in charge of other places, while Zero and Toudou prepared for a meeting with a mysterious, important person the two were so tight-lipped about). The word 'Maou' stood out amidst a string of loud, quickly-spoken Japanese, latching on her hearing.
The superintendent sighed, his steam lost. "Get his id number and release him," he finally ordered.
"…He has no id," the subordinate remarked reluctantly. "He claims that his name is Sakurazuka Kamui, but there is no such person in our national registry, and all citizens were supposed to have registered themselves within one year of the start of the interim government. He doesn't seem to have a foreign passport either. I thought he may be an illegal immigrant… "
Well. It was good to know his subordinate wasn't as idiotic as he'd dreaded. "Get as much information from him as you can. I'll get there soon." The superintendent put down the phone as soon as he heard, "Yes, Sir!" from the other end and sighed again.
"Everything all right, mister?" Cornelia attempted to know more of the situation.
The middle-aged Japanese man froze and stuttered his reply nervously. "O-o of C-co-course, Your Highness!" He gave a very deep bow. "N-no-nothing is out of place!"
"That's good to hear," the Regent of Britannia's 100th Empress tried to use a coaxing tone, which didn't come as easily to her. She was used to dishing out directive commands – perhaps too used to – but Nunnally's gentle leadership really made her see that she would get further with persuasions and praises. They were required more, especially in times of peace. It's about winning through relationships forged, not brute force. "I heard you mention something about…the late 99th Emperor…could you share with me what happened?"
Augh, crap. Now the royalties of Britannia would know how inane and impulsive NPA could be and refuse to entrust their safety in its hands. "No-nothing much, Your Highness," the superintendent hated how words stumbled out of his mouth. He needed to be confident for this. "My subordinate found a young man who does not possess any form of foreign and/or Japanese identification. He happens to resemble the late Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia," something in the princess' expression changed when the name of her half brother was spoken. The superintendent was ill at ease with the darkness that flitted through those lavender irises. "He's currently being questioned at Tokyo Metropolitan Police Office at Marunouchi." (2)
Cornelia didn't expect the answer to the puzzle she'd encountered a few nights ago to come across her very quickly. This could be nothing and everything. She just had to see. "Thank you," she smiled at the Japanese.
Kamui tucked his folded legs beneath himself, his arms curling around his knees as he huddled at the corner of the small cubicle he was detained in, his head bowed to hide from the uncomfortable glances the policemen and women beyond the bars at the basement office threw him, followed by murmurs of 'Really looks like the Demon Emperor,' and 'Cold-blooded murderer'.
When he had been thrown inside, Kamui had grabbed the bars and pleaded with the police officers, his amethyst eyes bright. "It's a case of mistaken identity! Please release me!" Then he was asked to procure an identity card, and Kamui could only take a sharp breath. His plans had thoroughly backfired. His only way out of this place might be S.S., but then she would know that he'd tried to escape from her and eliminate him immediately.
He had to get out of here. By hook or by crook.
The middle-aged worker who had initiated the ruckus at Tokyo Station was being held next to him, livid, accusatory stare dripping with concentrated, putrid loathing glaring holes on Kamui's side. "How can you live with yourself?" He spat at him and hissed, "With all the blood on your hands!"
Kamui flinched. Stressed out with his captivity (he'd tried asking to go to the toilet but he couldn't unlock the handcuff and he didn't manage to memorise enough floor plans to conclude the entirety of the blueprint of the building and devise his route), Kamui retorted, irate, "I've never killed anyone in my whole life. (What Kamui doesn't remember didn't happen in his mind). I know I'm probably half-Britannian or something, but just because Area 11 is under Britannia's reign doesn't mean-"
The anger in the man's dark irises blazed, malice multiplied tenfold as he gritted his teeth, and Kamui blanched. Somehow, the younger male had said something wrong. He hurried to apologize. "I-"
His voice was drowned by the tinkling of keys. Kamui turned around, relieved at what the sound implied, but his smile froze at the even uglier expression on the face of the kind police inspector who'd gently put him into the cell, and the open abhorrence on the faces of the subordinates who followed him into the cell, cornering the detainee even further.
"Figures that Japan's still Area 11 to you, isn't it?" The civil servant snarled at the thin boy and pulled him by his long hair. Kamui opened his mouth to speak, defend himself – He didn't know that Area 11 has re-attained her rightful name – only to have a large calloused palm backhanding him on the face. His tormentor's lips curled to a smirk. "We'll have so much fun during your interrogation."
Any self-respecting member of Kyoto Aristocracies (and even scorned ones like Suzaku) knew about the Sakurazukamori: Japan's own bogeyman, the shadow assassin who abused onmyōdō (3) to abolish those who threatened Japan. The blood feud between the clan his cousin Kaguya belonged to, the Sumeragi, and the Sakurazukamori originated quite possibly in the Heian era. Kaguya and Suzaku had been forced to sit in lengthy lessons about the history of their abundant, often related (Aristocracies always marry one another. Suzaku and Kaguya were betrothed, too) Clan Heads but Kaguya had been good at playing hide-and-seek, pulling Suzaku along with her when she was feeling merciful. Even when he couldn't flee, Suzaku was always thinking about kendo practices with Toudou-sensei when the history teacher prattled on. Consequently, Suzaku didn't remember much about those long-dead figures.
Well. That was not very true. There was one Sumeragi Clan Head Suzaku remembered almost clearly. The thirteenth Toushu, Sumeragi Subaru, who had created such havoc when he fraternised with the enemy (that was the word the teacher used, quoted verbatim) and became the fourteenth Sakurazukamori. Kaguya's face had flushed red then, indignant at such shamelessness. What crossed Suzaku's mind at that time were hardly appropriate, though; he thought Kaguya should be grateful of Subaru-san's betrayal (again, the teacher's word) because it enabled Sumeragi Takahashi, Kaguya's father, to be the fourteenth Sumeragi Toushu, and Suzaku just realised how little he actually knew of the Sakurazukamori. How did Subaru-san actually become one? Did he marry into the Sakurazuka clan? How could an outsider be a Sakurazuka Toushu? Little and naive as he was, Suzaku voiced some of his questions, and got thoroughly scolded.
Anyways, back to Suzaku's impressions of the Sakurazukamori. Raised in a shrine, Suzaku accepted that supernatural powers do exist even way, way before he got tangled in the nasty business that was Geass. Kaguya has no magical prowess, but her late father did, and Suzaku had had the chance of witnessing an exorcism, once. He believed the priestesses in the shrine when they told him that the Sakurazukamori would murder badly behaved children. Consequently, even over a decade later, after he'd supposedly become the strongest man in Britannia, Suzaku wasn't surprised that he was actually scared to meet the star antagonist of his bedtime stories.
"Zero-sama," a female junior civil servant of the Diet greeted him from outside the door to his hotel room. "I'm here to escort you to the meeting."
"In a minute," Suzaku pulled up the turtleneck of his costume and put on the helmet. He threw one last look at the full bodice mirror near the closet before exiting the only place – however temporal – he could be himself in his home country.
Zero followed her to the limousine outside the lobby of the hotel, by which they travelled in silence to the renovated Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tocho, at Shinjuku-ku (4). Everyone seemed to freeze when Zero walked past the receptionists, eyes watching the caped figure of the world's saviour – not him, not him, that was Lelouch – as his escort led him to the lift.
Zero was very, very surprised when he was presented a button which was previously hidden by the metal plating of the inside of the elevator. "Please enter the first door to your right," the junior civil servant stepped out of the lift and bowed. Zero was staring dumbly at her bent spine when the doors slid close.
'There is a basement level this low?' Zero couldn't shake the thought off his head. Granted he'd never stepped inside Tocho after…he murdered his father, and the building was refurbished, after all, but the fact remained that the button was concealed. Not many people were aware of the level's existence.
The masked figure followed the instruction given almost absently, his brain mulling over the importance of a secret base. His heart very nearly jumped when a green-eyed, long-haired relative of his jumped to his face and said, loudly, "KONNICHIWA!"
"Kaguya!" Suzaku exclaimed reflexively as he stepped back and pressed himself to the door he just went through, congratulating himself for not manhandling her on the instinct of self-preservation. "Lady Kaguya Sumeragi," he quickly covered his blunder.
"Zero-sama," Kaguya had a pout on her lips. For once, she wasn't dressed in kimono whose designs she'd modified. No, the girl – young woman, really – was dressed in a proper traditional kimono, though the colours were still considered gaudy if they were to really follow the conventions. Suzaku raised his eyebrow behind the mask. Kaguya didn't even do this when she represented Japan in numerous international conferences. What was she trying to prove? "I'm sorry if I shocked you. I thought you were Ohgi." She huffed and plopped onto one of the black leather couches situated around the medium-sized room, murmuring, 'he's late'.
"It's all right, Lady Sumeragi," Zero remarked gingerly and sat opposite to her, crossing his fingers together and laying them on his knees as he leaned forward on his elbows to refrain from fidgeting. Being alone with his ex-fiancée made him nervous. He didn't know how much she knew about who the man behind the mask could be. Despite all that bubbly childishness she showed to others, Kaguya was extremely receptive.
"Let me guess," the Sumeragi spoke after a long drawn-moment, the chamber covered by the thick, discomforting cloak of silence. She grinned at Zero when he looked up at her to acknowledge her. "You're wondering why I'm here."
Suzaku didn't know how to respond to that bait. Was Zero supposed to be well-informed of the chains of authority in Japan's new parliament? He did involve himself marginally when Britannia was aiding the interim, enough to know that Kaguya's diplomatic role wasn't related to Defence the slightest bit. Kururugi Suzaku, though, comprehended why the last surviving Sumeragi was here. Was Kaguya trying to test that? In the end, Zero merely gave a soundless nod, and prepared himself for a long narrative.
But Kaguya, too, merely gave the icon a smile.
Cornelia assessed the scene before her with mounting alarm.
"Y-Yo-Your Highness!" The group of police officers who had been huddling around someone – beating that person, no less – inside a cell normally used to containing detainees, rushed to the other side of the bars and arranged themselves to a semblance of order inside that cramped basement office, shaking hands poised against their temples in salutation.
The former second Princess (and current Regent) of Britannia shot those policemen a disdainful, disgusted glare, but refrained from handing out 'punishments'. That wasn't her place. She shifted her attention on the person they'd bullied, instead, and gasped.
It felt as though the magenta-haired woman was thrown back in time. The purple bruises and swollen flesh made his features barely recognisable, but the young man on the floor inside the cell was undeniably so, so similar to her half brother. Cornelia didn't see Lelouch for ages – the eight years he spent in Japan (Area 11, then), proclaimed dead, and the three years after another very public death – but her half brother had always been exquisite, his resemblance to Marianne stronger than to their father, his beauty one-of-a-kind. It was terribly hard to forget the rare shade of his irises, those fine cheekbones, the line of his regal, aquiline nose, and the curve of his chin.
Cornelia blinked profusely, making sure that she wasn't hallucinating, before covering her eyes with a gloved hand and took a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself. Lelouch was always appallingly good at coming back from the dead, wasn't he? But then – she took another glance at the teenager, who was looking at her gratefully as he tried to pick himself up – this…this doppelganger of Lelouch seemed like he was in his late teenage years (the age of the ex-Emperor's death…), instead of twenty two, the age he would be if he were to live on. She shouldn't be hasty in making her conclusions.
"Can you walk?" She asked the detainee a question without looking at him. It was too painful. Her nails dug into her palms.
The gratitude that was on the way out of his injured lips died abruptly. The boy's stare turned distrustful, his stance less relaxed. After a bout of disconcerting quietness, he finally gave a nod, his eyes never leaving her figure, scrutinising, assessing.
He even behaved like Lelouch.
"Go with me," Cornelia reached out to wrap her fingers around his thin wrist, narrowing her eyes at him when he struggled out of her grasp. "You don't have a choice." The royalty spoke in a commanding tone, the sentence 'this is an order!' clear in its wake. She shot the line of policemen a similar look. "I'll take the matter into my hands."
"Yes, Your Highness!" The Princess could hear the statement being chorused as she swept out of the office, her luggage in tow.
"I'm B-O-R-E-D," Lloyd Asplund drawled in a sing-song tune, leaning so far back on his chair he could almost fall backwards, slender fingers toying with a pencil. Ever since an international decree banning the manufacture of Knightmare frames specifically designed for battles was put into effect, the pale-haired scientist lost any interest in life (those used for agriculture and constructions didn't need to be as sophisticated). He'd been dragged by Cecile, who'd accepted Japan's invitation to celebrate her third Independence Day when Nunnally extended it to them. The blue-haired woman was happy to meet many of her past acquaintances, but the antisocial Lloyd could care less. He spent his days in research centres of the reinstated Tokyo University at Hongo, Bunkyo-ku (5), meddling in projects that vaguely amused him. Rakshata wasn't even here to banter against him and colour his dreary life, even a little.
Salvation from his gradual descend to death (by monotony, no less!) came in the name of Cornelia li Britannia. The thirty-year-old regent had barged into a temporal working space the University had loaned him, the visit itself surprising the ivory-haired scientist. When Lloyd laid his eyes on the person the Princess was dragging behind her, palest blue irises rounded in astonishment.
"Well, well, well," Lloyd rose to his feet languidly and circled the carbon copy of his former Emperor. "What do we have here…?" he chuckled gleefully.
The teenager glared at the older male, amethyst irises eying him warily through silky locks of black hair that concealed some of the bruises on his face.
Kamui resented that he'd been passed from one weirdo to another. Just who exactly was he before he lost his memories, and how was he related to these people? His lack of knowledge made it impossible for any attempts at persuasion!
"Lord Asplund," the woman who'd so vehemently pushed Kamui around – a Britannian royalty, he could discern that much from the respectful greetings bystanders gave her and how everyone seemed to recognise her – spoke with a tinge of distaste on her low, authoritative voice, lavender eyes twitching. The tall bespectacled man in a long white coat stopped watching Kamui with his unnerving gaze and shifted his attention to her. "Conduct DNA profiling."
"No can do," Lloyd dismissed the edict flippantly. Kamui's eyes bulged out in disbelief at such rudeness. From the way the royalty didn't order for his head to roll, the man must be a member of Nobility. "The late 99th Emperor's DNA isn't in the database. There's nothing to match his DNA to." Lloyd jabbed his thumb in Kamui's direction.
'Late Emperor,' the teenager heard it again. Was he really a monarch, before he lost his memories? Judging from the various tones of detestation attached to the words, he didn't seem terribly popular. Was he dethroned? Why?
Cornelia frowned, her grip around Kamui tightening. She still refused to meet his eyes. "Then, what do you propose we do?" She nearly snarled at the Baron. "How do we confirm it?"
Lloyd crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Paternity test," his voice hid nothing of what he felt about the ex-second Princess. "Both you and the late Emperor have the same father, right?"
Cornelia narrowed her eyes. She didn't have a lot of time. Guilford would look for her if she weren't back in the hotel for dinner. "Get on with it, then!"
Lloyd Asplund gave a mockery of a bow. "Let's go to the Medical Experimental Research Building," he walked past them, "I'll lead the way."
"Ohgi-kun!" Kaguya jumped to her feet and poked the flustered young Prime Minister on his suit-clad chest. "You're late!" she pouted and gave the other male a childish glare, which looked out of place with her prim kimono. "Villetta!" The politician's wife wasn't spared. "You weren't holding him back, were you…?" the innuendoes were blatant in her grin.
"I'm really sorry!" Ohgi raised both his hands and offered her a conciliatory gesture, while Villetta tried to hide the blush blossoming on her dark skin. "All these preparations of the celebration are going to kill me, I swear-"
"We're extremely sorry for taking time off your busy schedule, Zero-sama," Toudou's voice cut through the informal beginnings of the rendezvous. Ohgi bit his tongue in shock at the interruption and bowed his head in shame. He really should have watched his behaviours. "Please forgive our tardiness," the former General bowed to the caped figure.
Zero was quick to stand and bow back in greeting. "Oh, no, I am not inconvenienced in any way," he replied politely. "Lady Sumeragi is a remarkable host."
Five of them settled on the settees around the wooden table which was the centre of the recently furnished meeting room, and waited. Villetta engaged Toudou in small talks about Nagisa, before Kaguya joined the conversation and lightened the atmosphere. Ohgi's dark eyes darted towards the clock on the wall frequently, though.
Seconds ticked away. Eventually, Kaguya paused in her chatter and grumbled. "The Sakurazukamori is very late."
Villetta turned to her husband. "When was the appointment again?" she asked worriedly.
"10 a.m." Ohgi didn't need to re-look at the clock to confirm that the shorter arm was pointing at the number 11. "Are you sure that she agreed to come, Toudou-san?"
The older male gave a firm nod.
Kaguya snorted. "You can't expect a Sakurazukamori to honour his promises. He's the embodiment of death, luring unsuspecting innocents and seducing enemies into his folds." Something close to abhorrence flashed across those bright green eyes, the eyes whose colour Suzaku once shared (before too many deaths, too many losses dull them). Suzaku noted that she was still angry about her Toushu's betrayal…
"Well, well," a low drawl seemingly originated from thin air, "I never know that the fifteenth Sumeragi Toushu is severely prejudiced and likes to badmouth others. How disgraceful. You said that I have been late. I'd like to correct that."
All of a sudden, a figure materialised on one of the couches which appeared to be previously vacant, thin legs tucked under the hem of a dark grey knee-length skirt with a formal cut, petite, curvy form swathed in a similarly coloured professional business suit. Long wavy dark brown strands were tied to a low ponytail, curled ends resting on one shoulder. The upper half of her oval face was concealed by huge designer sunglasses.
"Saishou kara koko ni iru yo (I've been here the whole time)," those red, red lips curled silkily. "Zutto (Always)."
Kamui continued struggling against the bindings of the chair he'd been so forcefully strapped to against his will, as the glow of the screen of the computer cast a glare on the lenses of the ivory-haired scientist's spectacles. His eyes were unreadable behind those reflective, deceptive surfaces.
"Lord Asplund?" Cornelia rolled down the sleeve of her shirt, covering the arm Lloyd had drawn her blood from, and inquired the other Britannian. "…How is the result?" she berated herself for that split second of hesitance.
The scientist slipped his hand into his pocket wordlessly, retrieving a small object Kamui couldn't see clearly due to the blinding light above him. The laboratory was large, dominated by steel grey and white and littered with large, complex machines which surely contained state-of-the-art technology.
"It's inconclusive," Lloyd reported, his voice giving away nothing of his feelings, as he turned to one of the machines, inserting the object – it was a card, Kamui realised belatedly, a micro-SD or something of the sort – and punching coloured buttons. The contraption whirred to life with loud, intimidating noises. "The analyser cannot identify strands of DNA that don't belong to a human," he dropped the bomb calmly.
TBC
A/N: I wonder if my style had changed. As I was writing the whole scene, I realise I tended to put more details that I used to. I admit I'm slightly influenced by akk's family matters – a truly wonderful, recommendable ff if you also ship X/1999! It's difficult for me because Code Geass' universe is clearly not the one used by X/1999, but I try to merge them together.
1. Again, thank wiki and www. npa. go. jp / English / kokusai / POJ2009full. pdf(remove spaces)
2. Marunouchi: a commercial district of Tokyo located in Chiyoda-ku between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace. Chiyoda-ku is one of the 23 special wards in central Tokyo. Many government institutions, such as the Diet, Prime Minister's residence, Supreme Court, as well as fifteen embassies are located in Chiyoda.
3. Onmyōdō is a traditional Japanese esoteric cosmology, a mixture of natural science and occultism. It is based on the Chinese philosophies of Wu Xing and Yin and yang.
4. Tochō (都庁) houses the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which presides over not only the 23 wards, but also the cities, towns and villages that make up Tokyo as a whole. Located in Shinjuku, it held the title of the tallest building (by roof height) in Tokyo, at 243 meters (799 feet), from 1991 to late 2006.
5. Bunkyo-ku, Chiyoda-ku and Shinjuku-ku are neighbors, arranged next to one another like three leaves around the stem of a clover, with Chiyoda-ku as the cultural heart and soul of Tokyo, the Imperial Palace as a focal point.
Reply to Liz Yeriod: I'm sorry that Lelouch's helpless a lot in this chapter. I can't write a smart Lelouch coz I'm not smart myself, I can't think of that complicated a tactic, and considering how severely limited Kamui's knowledge is, it's possible that he's reluctant to act. Kamui's also unaware of his own intelligence. The more one is aware of one's intelligence, the more compelled he feels to use it, don't you think? I really hope I haven't disappointed you. Thank you so much for reviewing!