I'll be honest and say I've got absolutely no excuses for this incredibly lateness except for my laziness T.T I'm very, very, very sorry for this super long delay. I just couldn't get the juice flowing for this chapter, guess because 1. it's summer, it's soo hot here (er, I guess the temperate has nothing to do with this...), 2. my laziness got the best of me. That is why I'll be the happiest author if you guys still have an interest in this story and keep reading, favoriting, alerting, reviewing, etc. Yup, that would definitely make my day and make me smile for probably the whole day :D

And now, very special thanks to my reviewers: Sakurahanaalice, LasNoches92girl, Ledilettant, Devi, Kaida-chan, FF inc, PlatinaBirds, ChainedHs2rt. You don't know how much your reviews meant to me :D and thank you those who favorited and alerted. You guys are awesome!

FF inc: Actually, it is not my mother's tongue, yet it is at the same time.

LasNoches92girl: Don't worry, Nunnally will make an appearance in here. Though I can't let her have a whole chapter with Lelouch like Suzaku :( but she will definitely be in this story. I can't leave someone who is very important to Lelouch out lol.

Now on with the chapter. Hm, I think this one is the longest one in the story so far... But anyway, hope you guys enjoy this as well! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.

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The cherry blossoms are so beautiful this year, thought the girl as she stared up at the thousand-year-old tree. The cool autumn's wind gently passed by, sending her long hair swaying behind her back. A small smile crept up her face as she remembered six years ago she had come to this place with that person.

It's been that long? She mentally asked herself, puzzled.

She hadn't had the time to come here as often as she had back then. Work had caught up with her, along with other daily chores. And now that she had someone else in her life, things sure didn't slow down for a bit.

Her eyes stayed glued to the tree as the memories of the past came flushing back in her mind. That person was cruel. They took her here and then left her right after. If it weren't for the sudden leave of that person, she would have had a better, happy life now.

Then she suddenly shook her head. No, she had to remember what that person taught her; that's all she had left of them.

Past is past, nothing can be changed or undone, so rather than spending your time on worrying about it, learn from your mistakes and live happily. It seemed like the words were printed deeply into her mind, and whenever she came to this place, she could recite it right off the top of her head.

Too busy drowning in her own thoughts, she didn't realize a person come running towards her.

"C.C.!"

She slowly turned around and met with a handsome-looking young man, who was panting slightly as he finally reached her.

"Lelouch," she greeted with a rare smile.

The raven-haired boy stood, straightening himself up, and asked, "Have you waited long, C.C.?" He sounded apologetically.

"No, I decided to be here early," she answered as her gaze went back up to the tree again.

Lelouch just realized that there was one common thing between them: both of them never liked to give out much details. He couldn't help chuckling at that.

C.C. didn't budge.

Frowning, noticing her strange, too quiet demeanor – usually she would ask and tease him to no end about his sudden burst of laughter, like she did the first time they met – Lelouch took a step closer to her and said. "Hey, are you OK?"

C.C. didn't answer him right away, and for a moment he thought she wasn't going to answer at all, but she did at last. "I was just wondering, it's almost like an Act of Providence that you picked this place as our first day-out."

His frown and stiffness relaxed a bit and he looked up at the sight she was staring at. "Well, this park is one of the most beautiful places in the town. Besides," he said, pointing towards the skyscraper located not so far away from their spot. "I wanted to take you to that French restaurant."

C.C. finally looked down and followed his long finger's pointing to the fancy-looking place. A delicate green eyebrow arched slightly. "A five-star restaurant?"

"Yes," Lelouch answered proudly.

"How contradicting," she replied, sighing. "You said the second day we met that you're not the same as the other aristocrats. Yet you wanted to go in there, one of the most well-known, expensive places in town?"

Lelouch looked taken aback immediately, and started stammering like a fish on a dry land. Finally, he managed to regain his previous composure, clear his throat and answered her calmly. "It is not I who has the desire to go to such place. It is for you."

C.C. just looked on stonily. "You know I would never prefer this," she said flatly.

"I thought a change once in a while will be good," he replied. "I know you haven't been to places like this before, so I thought I may take you out to it on our first dat- I mean day-out!" He quickly corrected himself. A color of light pink quickly dusted his bony cheeks, and of course none of these went unnoticed by C.C., but she decided to let it slide. For now.

She turned towards the restaurant again and sly smile crept up her face. "But didn't you say I could make my choice as to where we should go?"

"Of course you can," he said softly. "So what do you have in mind?"

She turned back to him in a swift motion and smirked knowingly. "Pizza Hut."

"Pizza Hut!" He shouted, then remembering where he was, he quickly lowered his voice. "Pizza Hut? Why? Didn't you have enough pizzas for the past few years you work there? You know eating pizza everyday isn't good for your health, it'll make you fat – not that you're fat now, but still it-"

"My choice, Lelouch," she reminded him sweetly, cutting off his babblings.

The raven-haired teen sighed a sigh of defeat, then he said resignedly. "Fine, Pizza Hut it is."

The smirk never faltered from C.C.'s face as she took off. "We have to walk for a while though. I don't think there's a Pizza restaurant around here."

"I don't get it," Lelouch said as he caught up with her and was walking beside her. "If you had other option in your mind, why did you agree to go to this park in the first place?"

C.C. shrugged nonchalantly, "I didn't know you would want to take me to that French restaurant."

"I remember very clearly that I mentioned I'd take you to eat today," he frowned, confused. "And you know that restaurant is the only eating-place located near here. The others are far, though they manage to be in walking-distance."

C.C. didn't answer. She quickly picked up her pace, but her elbow was caught by Lelouch's firm hand, and she was jerked back slightly. Their gazes locked.

"You ignored me once before, C.C., I can deal with that. But two times in a row? That's unbearable," he commented. His hold on her was firm; he wasn't letting her go anytime soon.

He was looking at her, and she was glad that he couldn't see her facial expressions, due to her long bangs that were covering the upper half of her face. She thought she couldn't even talk anymore. It felt like there was a lump making its way up to her throat and stopping all the words that wanted to come out. C.C. had never felt something so overwhelmingly powerful like this before; it was almost like she had no control over her body. She wanted to open her mouth, to explain to the boy next to her, to tell him everything, but her own mind just screamed a solid 'no'.

She felt dizzy, her head was spinning around and around, and she staggered. For a moment, C.C. thought her head was twisted upward on its own, for all she could see was the wide, blue sky. She was falling, and she knew it would hurt to fall backward like that. Nevertheless, before she knew it, she was hanging mid-air, and a voice was calling to her. Distant but clear and desperate "C.C.! C.C.!"

Slowly opening her golden eyes, the first thing she saw was a worried face looking down at her. He looked panicked as the voice kept increasing its volume, "C.C.? C.C.!"

"Lelouch?" She whispered. Her voice was strangely weak.

"C.C., what's the matter? Are you feeling sick?" He asked.

She looked about her, and realized that both of them had ended up on the ground. No, to be quite precise, Lelouch was sitting on his knees, holding her shoulders, and since her legs totally gave out seconds ago, she was sitting up on the ground now, with only Lelouch's arms as strong support. After a stretched moment, she looked up at him again, "What…happened?" She asked wearily.

"You passed out all of a sudden. If I hadn't caught you in time, we're in serious trouble," he replied, worry still evident in his tone. "Listen, if you don't feel good, how about I take you home?"

"No," C.C. said as she tried to break free from him and stood up. Though the dizziness wasn't gone entirely, it managed to cease a bit. "I'm fine. Can we proceed to the Pizza place?"

Lelouch stared up at her with bewilderment, gaping. "C.C.!" He exclaimed. "You just passed out, for crying out loud! How can you still think about going to Pizza Hut?"

As Lelouch was going on about her obsession for pizza, C.C. slowly dusted off her skirt and looked towards the entrance to the park with a spark in her eyes. "Are you even listening to me?" Lelouch asked after awhile, cutting all her thoughts.

She turned to him – he already stood up and was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking somewhat annoyed – and smiled slightly. "I'm flattered by your concern. But there's no need for you to be so worried about me. I've lived and taken care of myself for as long as I can remember," she reminded him softly.

"Right….take care of yourself," Lelouch muttered under his breath, lest she will hear. He could only imagine what would happen if she were to walk home alone one night and suddenly passed out for no particular reason – like she did just now. And in her darkened valley, without any trusting persons besides her….. Lelouch quickly shook his head, not daring to think about it anymore.

"If you don't move from that spot, I'm going to leave you," an amused voice sounded from a distance.

Lelouch looked up and was startled to find the girl he was just conversing with was already near the entrance to the park. "Oi! Wait up, C.C.!" He called out, picking up his pace to catch up with her.

As he almost reached his destination, a group of kids who looked under ten years old ran up to him. They seemed to forget about everything else around them as they laughed and chased each other. Lelouch paid them no mind as he continued on, but one boy accidentally bumped into him and fell backwards on his butt. The other kids stopped and looked to see how the raven-haired teen reacted.

Everyone knew it's not a bizarre thing to bump into other people, especially in the crowded places like this park. But in the case concerning the aristocrat, it might turn into a problem.

The boy's friends' eyes widened as they moved back and forth between Lelouch and their poor buddy, wondering if the raven-haired aristocrat was going to explode on him.

Lelouch stared down at the boy, half of him wanted a make a fuss about the kid bumping into his newly ironed-clothes, half of him just wanted to let it go, for it was just an accident. This strange, newly-discovered feeling confused him. Back then, once he'd decided something, he'd do it, and apparently he'd never give it a second thought or even hesitate. So to be like this now, it's quite a puzzle, and it took him a moment to realize that he's supposed to say something, if he didn't wish to look like an idiot just standing there.

To surprise even himself, he said, "Are you all right?" as he reached out one of his hands to help the boy up.

And to his greater surprise, the boy took it immediately as if he fully expected this and thought it was totally normal for an aristocrat to act like this. Lelouch was still bewildered by both of their actions that he didn't realize other people around were now stopping and watching them with interest.

Finally it was the boy who broke his trance. "You are Lelouch Lamperouge, aren't you?" He said in his chirpy, innocent tone.

Lelouch nodded. "Yes."

"I've heard about you a lot!" The boy said with too much enthusiasm. His eyes widened with excitement as he went on. "You are the best of all! You got everything a man wants: rich, money, status, basically everything! And to be the best of the best, you're a master of chess!"

Lelouch could only stare at the boy with full surprise, temporarily was at loss for words. Honestly, in his entire existence, he'd never encountered this kind of situation before. Sure, he had a lot of fangirls, but those only surrounded him because of his looks and influences. This boy, nevertheless, looked up to him, admired him because of his brilliant mind and potential for chess. This was different.

He still stared at the boy, unable to say anything at the moment. The young boy didn't seem to care or even notice his silence. He went on in his chirpy tone. "Mister Lamperouge, I've always wanted to be like you. You're like my role model It's rare to find a noble man to develop an interest in logic games like that. You've beaten every opponent that dared stand against you. Every game you played, it always ended under five minutes and totally in epic. That's why I've wanted to become like you, to be a master in chess, to be able to use my brain to solve things instead of using violence. You're my hero, Mister Lamperouge!"

Lelouch let the boy do the talking; he made no interruptions. He listened the whole time, taking every word the innocent boy said deep into the corridor of memories in his mind. The whole time, he closed his purple eyes and let the meanings of the words sink into his heart.

"I.." the boy said, seeming to finally realize the aristocrat making no attempts to respond, and starting to sound nervous. "I-I'm glad I met you here Mister Lamperouge. I've seen you in papers before, but never got the chance to actually meet you in person. So if I'm troubling you, please forgive me!" The boy finished quickly as he bowed his head low, eyes shut, waiting for the explosion.

It never came.

Instead, Lelouch bent down on one of his knees and put his hand on top of the boy's head, ruffling his hair gently. "Thank you boy. I really appreciate what you said to me, I really do," he said in his soft voice, smiling gently.

The young boy looked up to stare into Lelouch's purple orbs as if he couldn't believe his ears and wanted to detect some lies in them, but found none. He quickly nodded, a grin made its way onto his childish face. "Thank you!"

"No," Lelouch contradicted him, shaking his head slightly. "I should be the one thanking you. You've made me realize something."

The boy cocked his head to one side. "What is it?"

"I can't tell you," Lelouch laughed dryly. "Because I'm not even sure myself."

"So let's do our best then! We will both reach our goals in the future. I'll become like you, trying to be a Chess Master. And you will do whatever you're set doing."

Lelouch nodded, returning his grin. "Aah. I'll be looking forward to having you as an opponent."

The young boy's grin widened double-times, and it seemed like he's going to give his role model a big hug had it not been for the callings of his friends. "Hiro! Let's go! Our parents are waiting!"

The young boy named Hiro nodded towards his friends, then turned to Lelouch and bowed at once. "Thank you so much! I really am glad to have met you today."

"Aah. Take care Hiro, and pursue your dream," Lelouch said, ruffling the boy's black hair one last time.

Hiro nodded again with a grin still on his face, and took off after his friends.

Lelouch was too busy staring after him that he didn't realize C.C. was approaching. "Oh? That went well."

"Huh? What did?" He asked, startled to find that there's actually someone accompanying him.

C.C. chuckled as she let her own golden eyes follow the young boy until he was out of sight. "Well, I thought you would explode on him."

"Why would you think that?" Lelouch asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Considering your kind, it's one of the things that couldn't be helped."

"So you see I'm different now?"

"A little bit."

"A little bit? I've proven myse-"

C.C. let out a laugh, cutting Lelouch off immediately. An amused, cheery laugh in his opinion – to hear her laugh like this was quite rare. "Come on, you'll have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself. Now can we proceed to Pizza Hut? I really am starving." She said, smirking.

"You and pizza," Lelouch muttered, but he couldn't keep the amusement out of his tone quite well, for he saw her smirking knowingly again out of the corners of his eyes.

The park was so quiet now. Most people had already vacated it to go home after the clock chimed 5 o'clock late in the evening. The only ones who were still present there was a couple of couples, who loved the relaxing silence that they hardly found in such a busy town, so the majority of them picked their favorite spots and just lied there, enjoying the refreshing air with each other. Of course, Lelouch and C.C. were of no exception.

Lelouch suggested they go near the riverbank, that way they could feel the evening breeze coming from it, and he guaranteed it's best spot in the whole park, speaking from experience. C.C., however, had a different idea, she wanted to go back to the tree where they had met earlier and sat under it. At first Lelouch didn't want to; he said there's nothing appealing over there, but since C.C. was being so persistent, he had to go along, only on one condition.

"You know," C.C. commented as she looked down at the teen with one high-raised eyebrow. "This is the first time I ever let a boy lie on my lap like this."

A satisfied smirk crossed Lelouch's handsome face. "Then it is an honor for me." Then he added. "Besides, that's what you get for wanting to sit here."

"So cunning," retorted C.C. "You have to admit this spot has the most shades."

"But the riverbank has breezes."

As if on cue, a gust of wind gentle blew past the sakura tree, and carrying so many white and pink sakura petals with it in the process. C.C. quickly averted her eyes up to stare at the tree, as Lelouch closed his eye-lids to enjoy the cool, windy moment to its fullest; the smile never faltered from his face.

"It's been so long…."

Lelouch's eyes snapped open immediately and he looked up at the green-haired girl whose lap was supporting his head. He recognized the tone; it was back then on night they first met, when he escorted her home, and complimented her beautiful-built house. That's when she answered him, in that gentle tone, though it had a mixture of sadness in it. It just seemed like all the slyness had gone out of her at that moment, and she looked so fragile, so weak, as if she needed protection, some warmth at least.

Before Lelouch realized what he's doing, one of his hands that were lying on his tummy brought up to touch hers, which was resting on his soft locks. "C.C…" was all he managed to say. He knew she wasn't telling him something, but he didn't want to be considered as a pushy person. Therefore, he'd press the matter, but at the same time, gaining her absolute trust as well. "What's wrong? You seem distant again, C.C." He said softly.

The gentle wind didn't stop its blowing yet.

"Don't you realize the world is empty sometimes Lelouch? And that what you wish would never become true, no matter how you look at it?"

"It depends on what you wish. We're not Gods, thus we can make the impossible become possible."

"What about mere happiness?"

"C.C…"

"I've wished that for a long time now, but it never seems to come true any time soon," C.C. said, letting out a sad chuckle.

"By any chance, does that happiness have anything to do with the aristocrats?" Lelouch said, deciding now was the best time to ask about whatever it was that she's not telling him.

C.C. just looked down stonily at him like he'd gone out of his mind.

"Well, it's that," he explained, shifting uncomfortably in his spot. "You don't seem to like the aristocrat much, so I assume if you were one, you could be happy." And if that's the case, I can totally make it happen.

"Hm, how thoughtful of you. But no, it's much more like the opposite. Being an aristocrat is the last thing on my mind," she answered, and her tone was so cold and razor-sharp that it made Lelouch wonder if it were a mistake bringing up this subject.

But before he could change the topic, C.C. continued, tauntingly. "However, it was a wonder that you didn't refer to aristocrats as 'my kind'".

Lelouch made a dignity's huff. "I hope that said something."

"I wonder what it is," C.C. said in her faux sweet voice.

"That I'm different now. More different than the other typical aristocrats, at least."

C.C. smiled softly, and involuntarily, she let her slender fingers dance in his raven, beautiful locks. Her gentle touch sent immediate relaxing sensation to Lelouch – a feeling he hadn't experienced before with any other girls – so he allowed his eye-lids to close and enjoyed it with a small smile crossed his face. You've proven yourself much, Lelouch… but I can't quite trust you just yet, C.C. thought sadly, but she decided not to voice those. Instead, she said. "Tell me this Lelouch. Why would you to such lengths to please a girl, a common girl like me?"

"Because you are special. A one of a kind." Lelouch answered smoothly as if he'd been prepared for a long time for this question of hers. Just because he wasn't surprised by it didn't mean that she wasn't by his answer either.

"Lelouch, you…."

"I don't know why," he continued, appearing not to have heard her. "But you are very intriguing. Unlike all the girls I've met, you didn't prove to be boring and plain just after the first meeting. That's why I wanted to keep getting to know you. And the fact that you have this deep hatred for aristocrats." He gave a chuckle and went on. "Normally I should be pretty upset, but somehow I can't do that with you. Hm, come to think of it. Maybe you did cast a spell on me." He finished, looking up at her with loving violet orbs.

"Are you implying that I'm a witch for doing so?" Now it was her turn to chuckle.

He nodded, laughing.

"If I'm a witch, then what are you?" C.C. asked. "It should be on the same demonic level."

Lelouch closed his eyes. "I'll be a warlock."

"How charming."

"Well that's the only reasonable answer right? Besides if you weren't a witch to begin with, then how can I tolerate your stubbornness, your huge, unreasonable obsession for pizza, your slyness, your coldness, and many more?" He said challengingly.

C.C. let out small laugh. "I guess it makes sense then."

"Exactly," he replied triumphantly.

There was a pause as both of the young teens were looking straight ahead at a family who sat under another sakura tree, just across from them. They seemed to be very happy and enjoying the whole refreshing atmosphere of the park at this hour; the wife's sitting with her head against her husband's shoulder as her hand was intertwined with his. Their little girl ran up to them and jumped into her mom's lap, wrapping her small arms around the older woman's neck. A cheery smile never faltered from her face.

C.C. felt like an incredibly sharp knife was stabbed through her heart. She flinched slightly.

"What's wrong C.C.?" Lelouch asked.

Instead of answering his question, C.C. said, "You know, Lelouch. Everything that you've just said, it was quite touching and smooth. So I've been wondering if you had said the same thing to your first love."

"Jealous?"

"Not at all. A girl can get curious."

"Well, you see…" Lelouch started. Wait. What? First love? Where did she get that?

"Where did you get that 'first love' from?" Lelouch asked, puzzled.

C.C. gave a chuckle. "You mean you forgot? Remember when we met the second time in front of Pizza Hut, and I asked if you got some experiences with girls before, and you said yes."

"That doesn't mean I had a first love." Lelouch gasped.

"It sounded like it." C.C. said amusedly.

"You know better."

The green-haired girl couldn't help chuckling. Really, his actions sometimes seemed very childish, especially when it came to love and feelings and stuff. Wait, love…

"Are you telling me," C.C. continued. She could barely keep her amusement and slyness down any longer. "That you're still a virgin Lelouch?"

"C.C.!" He yelled with full surprise. His face had now officially obtained a deep shade of red, and he was trying desperately to change the subject. But it was no help at all; all of his thoughts were, at the moment, entangled like a big jungle of trees. And all he could offer was utter speechlessness.

"So it's a 'yes'." C.C. remarked amusedly. A smile crept up her face as she saw how embarrassed he'd become at the mention of this. It was quite rare and entertaining seeing him like this, actually.

"Drop it, C.C." He mumbled, trying his best to avoid eye-contact with her.

"I'm flattered, actually," C.C. said. Her voice suddenly had returned to its rare gentleness. "That the first love of an aristocrat is a common girl."

"Is that supposed to be sarcastic?"

"Not at all."

"Really C.C.?" Lelouch asked as if he needed to recheck what he'd heard.

C.C. nodded slowly.

"I'm glad," he said at last, feeling relieved more than ever. He'd feared that she'd reject him, since it was in her nature to despise the higher classes.

C.C. let a smile cross her face again as she gently played with his soft, raven locks. Maybe her heart was becoming warmer after all.

"So," Lelouch began, clearing his throat. "This is our, er, first date right?"

"First date," C.C. repeated, her fingers never stopped their little dance. "I thought you said this was just our first day-out."

"Yeah. But after all of this, you would think…" He trailed off. This was really getting too embarrassing. And of course, C.C. was not helping the matter at all.

C.C. smirked knowingly. She decided that it's time she put an end to her little amusement, as well as her little 'torture' on this poor boy.

"Ahh. It's our first date, Lelouch." She said.

Lelouch breathed in a sigh of relief, and nodded. He slowly closed his eyes and let a genuinely happy smile creep up his face.

"By the way C.C.," he said. "I love the way you dress today."

Now it was her turn to blush a light shade of red. She wasn't wearing anything incredibly attractive or expensive or exclusive that would immediately catch the eye of an aristocrat. Today, she just put on a white sleeveless shirt, a red skirt with dark purple stripes, white high-knee socks, and eden black shoes. For her long, silky green hair, C.C. decided that a light red head band would suffice. And that was all.

"I see," C.C. said as she never ceased stroking his soft, raven hair.

The wind had picked up its gentle blow again.

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A/N: I didn't want to reveal the gender of the mysterious person in this chapter yet, because I wanted it to be a surprise for you guys. So at this moment, we should call that person that person lol. But do any of you want to give it a guess as to who it might be? :)

Personally, I think this chapter is quite cute since it contains some lovey-dovey scenes between Lelouch and C.C., that's why so far, this is my favorite work lol. Alrighty then, I hope you guys enjoyed this, and thainks for reading!