Prologue-Part Two

The Bond

An entire week passed by in a similar fashion to the first day. It was the following week after they had first met that they were lying on a hill at recess watching the clouds roll by and rambling aimlessly when Lelouch said, "Hey Suzaku," after a brief pause in the conversation.

Glancing over at Lelouch with curiosity coloring his eyes he answered, "Yeah?" He wondered what was on the other boy's mind.

"Do you think…" began Lelouch before saying, "No, never mind. It's stupid."

Interest piqued further, Suzaku rolled onto his side so that he was facing Lelouch and asked, "What is it Lulu-chan?"

Still staring up into the sky Lelouch answered, "Just forget it. It's stupid."

"Oh come on Lulu-chan," Suzaku insisted, "you know you can ask me anything."

"Just forget it. It's stupid," repeated Lelouch, this time turning his head to look at Suzaku as he did so.

Concern blooming on his face, Suzaku asked, "Has someone been bullying you Lulu-chan?" And without even waiting for his friend to answer he went into full rant mode, proclaiming such things as, "…beat them with soda cans," and other such nonsense, eliciting a giggle from Lelouch which in turn caused Suzaku to pause in his rant and glare down at the smaller boy for not taking his proposed forms of vindication and justice more seriously. He couldn't, however, remain angry at his Lulu-chan while he was giggling so cutely. Pretty soon the two of them were giggling uncontrollably and all seemed right in the world.

"Well," said Lelouch with a cute smile still on his face, "I suppose I'll just say it so some poor, innocent bystanders don't get beaten with soda cans or slapped with a flaming fish."

That caused Suzaku's smile to become a large grin as he waited for Lelouch to say whatever it was he was going to tell him.

"I was wondering…" He began before pausing and deciding he still didn't want to ask Suzaku for fear of rejection and instead asked, "I was wondering why you and your family moved from Detroit. You've never told me, so I've been wondering."

The grin faded from Suzaku's face as Lelouch asked his question and was replaced by a deep frown before he answered. "I'd really rather not talk about it, Lelouch. Just know it's because of my father." As he spoke, he sat up and turned his back to Lelouch, hugging his knees to his chest and glaring at the ground between his feet.

Lelouch's concern grew at Suzaku's angry tone and the fact that he had used his real name rather than his nickname. "I'm sorry," he apologized, sitting up as he did so, "I didn't mean to offend you. Just forget I asked."

Suzaku's frown softened into a small smile and he said, "No, don't worry about it, I shouldn't have snapped at you for asking," still without turning around.

Following the urge of the moment, Lelouch leaned over and gave his friend a reassuring hug, whispering into Suzaku's ear, "I'll be right here next to you when you're ready to talk about it."

After a brief moment of hesitation Suzaku turned around and embraced Lelouch as well, whispering back, "Thanks Lulu-chan."

They remained in their friendly embrace for a while longer, both wishing to preserve the sense of safety and reassurance they felt while tucked away in each other's arms.

All throughout the remaining months of the school year whenever they had a problem they wanted to talk about, they would pass a note to the other, telling them to meet them at the hill during recess. There they would tell each other about the problem, and they would discuss solutions for it. They seldom worked, but they took comfort in each others caring presence.

-------------------------SODA CANS N' FLAMIN' FISH-------------------------

The school year had progressed into the last few weeks before Christmas break. Everyone was excited about the upcoming holiday, and Lelouch and Suzaku were no exception. They were just as excited, if not more so, about the rapidly approaching holiday. Lelouch and Suzaku, although mainly Suzaku, were constantly trading outlandish gift ideas, singing Christmassy songs, and just living life as happily as two best friends possibly could.

It was just three weeks before Christmas break would start that Lelouch's world would begin to flip upside down.

Lelouch walked into class and instantly noticed something was missing. Suzaku wasn't in his customary seat, or anywhere in the classroom for that matter.

Lelouch sat down in his seat thinking that Suzaku must be running late or something and would surely be walking through the door any moment now.

That moment and several others passed, and still Suzaku hadn't walked through the door. Disappointed, Lelouch shook off the worry that was beginning to gnaw at his belly with thoughts like, "He's just feeling under the weather," and, "He'll be back tomorrow."

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday came and went and still Suzaku hadn't come back to school. By the time Friday arrived, Suzaku still wasn't back and wild, often entirely unrealistic, thoughts raced through Lelouch's mind in a desperate attempt to explain Suzaku's continued absence.

"What's wrong," he thought, "nothing all that horrible could have possibly happened, right?" "What if his dad had caught up to them? What happened that's keeping him away from school for an entire week?!"

By the end of the day he was almost in hysterics, and as the weekend went by, all he could think of was one question. Why? Why would Suzaku leave him alone, all by himself, without so much as a phone call to explain?

When he walked into class on Monday he didn't even bother looking for Suzaku, keeping his eyes locked on the floor and shuffling towards his desk.

"Lulu-chan!" called a voice from somewhere in the back of the classroom.

Hardly even daring to hope, Lelouch glanced up towards the voice and saw it was indeed his Suzaku who had spoken, waving to Lelouch as he entered the classroom like he'd never even been gone. Tears welling in his eyes, Lelouch bounded across the room and tackled his best and only friend to the floor. As he lay there, sobbing against Suzaku's chest, it dawned on him that the void he had felt open up in his heart when he thought he had lost Suzaku would, inevitably, come again. He resolved to make the most of every single speck of time he had with Suzaku from then on.

After he had recovered from being tackled to the floor, he was surprised to find Lelouch lying on top of him. Not only was his best friend in the whole wide world lying on top of him, he was sobbing into his shirt like it was some sort of comforting pillow. Running his hands up and down Lelouch's back to calm him down, Suzaku asked, "What's wrong Lulu-chan?"

Suzaku could feel the sobs wracking Lelouch's slender frame as he sobbed in answer, "I thought… I thought I had lost you."

"Lost me? You couldn't lose me even if I had to track you through the Sahara Desert."

Lelouch laugh-sobbed into Suzaku's shirt then looked up and giggled at Suzaku saying, "That was really corny."

Suzaku smiled down at Lelouch and commented, "It got you to stop crying into my shirt though."

Giggling cutely Lelouch buried his face into Suzaku's shirt again and mumbled, "I'm glad you're back, I missed you."

"I only had the flu Lulu-chan. Geez, maybe I should get it more often if I'm going to be greeted like this every time I get back," he said with a large grin on his face as he ran his hand through Lelouch's hair comfortingly.

Lelouch giggled into Suzaku's chest then picked up his head and pecked Suzaku on the lips and whispered, "Welcome back."

End of Prologue – Part Two