A/N: Keeping characters in character is always my flaw...I realized that Lelouch was sort of OOC last time, so I tried my best to keep all of them, well in character. But it's kind of hard since ideas are just like flowing out lol. So please don't get mad or anything if there are some OOCness in this one....and since it's my flaw, I really couldn't tell whether they are or not....yes it's sad I know...so if there are some please tell me! I want to get better at this.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Code Geass and its awesome characters, but unfortunately I don't and never will.

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"Hey, wait up!" Lelouch called out as he tried to catch up with the green-haired girl walking with lightning's speed in front of him.

Not only was it hard to try to run after someone whose strength was greater than his own, it was even harder try not to step in some puddles and dirty his newly-ironed clothes when the last rays of the sun were nowhere to be seen. But he wasn't about to give up, not even when his heart was threatening to stop at any minute, his lungs wanting to explode if he were to keep up the little exercise.

He quickly did a calculation in his mind on the strides and the strength left before his body gave in to a halt completely. The distance between them didn't seem so grand, and so far the cashier—C.C. didn't break into the run yet, so if he just stretched his long legs a little bit further, he would make it. Four long strides at least, he thought, trying to reassure his aching body. I should really consider working out after this….

Just as he'd expected, with four long quick movements, he managed to grab the girl's elbow in one hand and forced her to stop.

C.C. gasped at the contact. Up until now, she was quite lost in her own world that she forgot entirely that there was someone else walking behind her. She wasn't the type to get distracted so easily, unless there was a Cheese-kun collection before her or a whole box of pizza luring her in, that's the only time C.C. voluntarily let herself be sidetracked.

So the only reason that she didn't pay any attention to her surroundings today was simply because hell had just broken loose. That's the worst thing that could have happened to anyone.

Too lost in her thoughts that she couldn't hear or even see anything. However, it's reasonable that she could walk so steadily while she was in Lalala Land was because this street was all too familiar to her. Even if she were to be blind-folded, she could still be able to find her home with just a blink of an eye.

So when Lelouch interfered in with his grasp, he completely pulled her out of her dizzy trance and put her back into the reality.

Disregard of the girl's fragile frame, he spun her around forcefully to face him. And with a frustrated voice, he said. "Were you even listening to me?"

She only stared back at him with bored eyes. It took a while for her to get her cool composure back. "Why should I?" She asked challenging, trying to shake herself off him to no avail. His absolutely strong pride really compensated for his weak-looking, skinny body.

She knew he would never let her go without an answer.

"I believe I'm the one asking the questions here." He demanded.

"I will answer it if you answer my question first," she glared at him with annoyance.

"The 'why should I?' one?" One black eyebrow was raised slighly on his handsome face.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "That would just be a waste of time now wouldn't it? No, mine is that why are you still following me? After I told you to get lost for three times in a row!" She could feel she was losing her cool rapidly with each seconds passing by, but she was too tired to care.

To her most surprise, his grasp on her arm suddenly loosened and he finally let go. Then he just stared at her for a full minute, none of them bothered saying a word to save the silence.

Just when C.C. believed he'd given up and was going to walk away, he spoke up. "I know you're really mad at me now, to the point wanting to kill me-"

"Congratulations, you just read my mind," she interrupted with amusement as she leaned on the wall next to her right for support; she felt so dizzy all of a sudden. But she wouldn't let it show on her face or by her demeanors.

Lelouch fully expected this, he couldn't blame her though. He just got the poor girl fired for crying out loud, and as ignorant as he could be sometimes, he just couldn't let this pass. Why, he had no idea. Yet.

"OK look," he tried again as one hand was brought up to rake through his hair. One of the charming tactics from him to get all the girls melting right on the spot. But C.C. was different; she looked on stonily as he continued. "I…I didn't mean for it to happen like that. I mean, you have a fault in this too. If you were nicer, none of this would have happened."

If glaring could kill, C.C. was doing an awesome job, for Lelouch flinched a little under her hard gaze and had to look away. "My fault huh?" she commented with full anger now. "Your kind, the aristocratic ones, have no idea how real life works. All you ever do the whole day is lounging in the house, having people serve you meals, having silly, useless tea parties in the afternoons. Seriously, have you ever been outside your own fantastic fairy tales for once and actually observed the world?" She gave a small huff before finishing her speech "I can tell you one thing though, none of you would be able to last a day in the reality."

The raven-haired boy knew better than to interrupt a girl when she was irritated. More importantly, she was proving to be more intriguing than even before; among all the girls that he'd met, so far she was the only one not getting enchanted by his naturally-born charms, and definitely not afraid of voicing her own opinions on the classes that were way higher than her own. He smirked at that.

To be frank, C.C. was expecting him to explode right then and there, just like in the restaurant, but honestly she couldn't care less. She felt too tired and her head was throbbing horribly. She just wanted to get rid of him and get to bed as quickly as she could. So his smile totally caught her off guard.

"What's so funny?" She asked, her golden eyes narrowing.

He bent his head down a bit and laughed some more.

"You're more insane than I thought," she snorted before turning around in her house's direction.

"And you're exactly what I thought you would be," he said amusingly.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere boya. Just go home." She replied, waving him away. Nevertheless, deep down inside, she wondered what he meant by that. Not my business though, she'd remind herself, besides he's not so unlike the other aristocrats, just a jerk.

So she's playing impossible to get? Hm, how interesting, he thought. He didn't leave his spot next to the wall, for he had no wish to follow her home. He knew just where to find her again tomorrow.

But her sudden unbalanced movement got him worried and changed his mind almost immediately. He quickly ran to her and reached out his hands to support her, earning the second gasp of surprise from the green-haired cutie. "Hey watch where you're going." He said gently as his hold on her tightened.

"Why do you even care? Let go of me," she snapped, and quite irritated at herself for finding her voice had lost its toughness and was now so strangely weak. Lelouch didn't miss it either.

"Don't worry, I'm not the creepy stalker that you see on TV. I'll just make sure that you get home safely and I'll promise I will take my leave as soon as your door closes." He smiled down at her. Again, if it were any other girls, they would pass out with an over-dramatic sigh, but this was C.C., so that wasn't going to happen.

She looked up at him incredulously, but nodded anyway. Her merciless aching body could use all the help it could get.

So she allowed him to guide her to her house, which located on the other end of some dark valleys further away from the main street. The valley that they had been walking in was narrow enough, but it seemed that this particular path was triple-times worse. Lelouch frowned as he couldn't seem to find a way to get around all the garbages put in front of the houses, right next to the main doors, and both the smell and the humid air were unbearable. He asked the first thing that was on his mind. "How do you manage to live in a place like this!"

C.C. looked about her and finally back to him. "You get used to it eventually," she shrugged.

"But," he said uncomfortably, wrinkling his nose as the stinky smell hit him in the face. "A girl settling in an unsecured, corrupt place all alone is just a little too much, don't you think?"

She laughed dryly, "Not all of us get to pick where we should live. It all depends on rankings, talents, hard-works and lucks. Besides my house isn't here, it's much further down." She pointed towards the darkened streets.

"Down there?" Lelouch gulped, but he trusted her. He knew she wasn't the type to pull some dirty pranks on him. He didn't know how he could he trust a stranger so much like that; he never did before, but there was something about this girl that just drew him closer to her without her realizing it.

So C.C. with one arm over his neck, Lelouch with one arm around her small waist and the other held her bag for her, they proceeded to walk towards their destination.

"We're here," she whispered as they stopped in front of the house that was a great contrast to the others they had just seen. The raven-haired teen didn't seem to hear her as his gaze froze upon the sight.

Unlike the ghetto-like houses that they had passed, this one was completely different. Instead of having low-roofs and one floor seemingly, it had the opposites: high-roofs and two floors with no garbages in sight. The door had the color of beige; its materials looked new and it looked like it could actually withhold a storm or hard rains. It somehow seems inviting, Lelouch mused as he tilted his head slightly to one side. Even the paintings of the house in general were fresh, quite joyful, in the contrast to the depressing feeling that this neighborhood possessed. He looked about himself and noticed for the first time with full surprise that this part actually was the only part that caught all the rays of the sun in the whole valley.

"Wow," he said with awe. "How could anyone actually believe that the furthest portion from the main street actually is the brightest one of all?"

C.C. gave a light chuckle. "It's not easy to get this house though. I had to work really hard, and at the end with all the savings I finally managed to."

Lelouch quickly turned his head to look at her. For the second time of the same day, he was hit by full surprise again, and those two times were really close to each other.

The girl who always wore the stone expression on her face, with absolute expressionless eyes smiled. It was a happy smile, a satisfied one, the one that made his heart flutter. Then out of nowhere, a knife of guilt stabbed straight to his heart.

All this time, when he was enjoying his life, going out partying all the time, had complete dependence on his parents for money and basically everything. This young girl had worked on her own, lived on her own with no one to depend on to. She'd had a good life until he butted in and ruined it entirely; he made her lose her job, now how was she supposed to survive?

Lelouch felt like his heart might explode if the silence were to keep dragging on.

"You should go," she said, turning her golden orbs to stare at him. "It's getting late. And once the sun sets completely, you won't know what awaits you ahead in this valley."

Just as she reached out to grab her bag, he spoke gently. "C.C. what do you think about coming to work for us? We'll pay you very well." For a split second, he realized with a start that it sounded like he was begging her.

She stopped midway. Her bangs covered her eyes entirely as she looked down so Lelouch couldn't see what kind of expression she was having now.

"No." Was her simple reply as she continued reaching towards her stuff.

He handed her the bag and said nothing, since he already detected a hint of anger in her voice. How stupid, he mentally cursed himself, I just reminded her of the extremely horrible thing I just did.

"Go home," she said coldly as she turned around to walk to her door. But as she put her hand on the doorknob, she stopped as if she were considering something.

Lelouch didn't feel like rushing at all.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice soft all of a sudden. "For walking me home." Then the door opened and closed without a sound behind her.

He could only stare with wavering eyes and remained speechless.

We will see each other again, C.C….