This chapter probably sounds a little choppy because it's taken directly from the roleplay... It's hard for me to melt our writing styles together like this... but oh well. At least she fixed my typos.

x.x.x

The Disloyal Order of Sunflowers

you're no cinderella.

Lelouch's head whipped up in seconds at the sound of the other's voice. "Suzaku?" he breathed out, so quietly that even Nanaly might not have heard it. Just one look, seeing those messy chestnut curls and bright green eyes, and he was certain. His heart-rate picked up, but he ignored it, narrowing his eyes angrily. After all, the brunette had supposedly sold his gift.

"I see. And you say the Lancelot is more powerful than any other Knightmare?"

"Correct!" Lloyd practically sang, clapping his hands together with childish excitement. "I promise you, it will completely eviscerate your enemies. Or your money back! Well, your father funded it, so he'll get it back, but you know."

While Schneizel exchanged a strange look with Cornelia, Suzaku straightened out and lifted his head, his auburn bangs falling back over his eyes and catching on his lashes. He met Lelouch's penetrating violet gaze and couldn't help but offer him a small, nervous smile. The Prince scowled and averted his eyes, trying to pretend that he hadn't been looking at the brunette, that he hadn't uttered his name... but, as if a magnet was pulling him, his line of vision slowly drew back to Suzaku's eyes. Lelouch couldn't help but look him over, interested in how well he'd grown. And then he noticed the tiny gold a purple charm against his throat.

Forgetting his anger and his plots for revenge for Schneizel, Lelouch smiled back, knowing now that he hadn't been forgotten. And before he could stop himself, he was mouthing out "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," Suzaku mouthed back, grinning with relief. All these years he'd been worried about what would happen if he ever met Lelouch again... if the Prince would forget him. Thankfully, he seemed to have left a lasting impression.

Lelouch's smile grew, and it was starting to become extremely difficult to pretend that he didn't know the other. Much to his annoyance, Cornelia seemed to catch on.

"Schneizel, can you tell Lelouch to stop flirting? It's kind of rude."

Lelouch's smile twitched and turned malicious. "Flirting?" he countered quickly, narrowing his eyes at the woman. "I'm doing nothing of the sort."

Suzaku bit his lip and tried not to snicker, instead fixing his gaze to the floor. It had been ages, and Lelouch had changed so much but... just being in his presence felt so damn familiar that the brunette just wanted to laugh.

Lelouch noticed Suzaku's amusement and turned what people might call pink, considering the fact he never wanted to be associated with that color ever again, especially after the whole... dress up fiasco with his sisters. Ugh. He turned to the window with a huff and Nanaly smiled knowingly, feeling her brother's pulse quicken through her own fingertips.

Meanwhile, Lelouch was internally trying to convince himself that everything was okay. Suzaku had finally shown up and had grown into this beautiful, strong man who had a body that the gods would envy and a smile that made every gem and every stone and every diamond in the palace look pale in comparison. Who wouldn't flirt a little?

After reviewing his previous thoughts, Lelouch went pale as a sheet before returning to his previous blush. Oh my god, I can't believe I just used all those words... in the same sentence.

And while Lelouch faced his mental dilemma, Schneizel, realizing that the Knight's identity had been revealed to Lelouch, stood up with a horridly fake smile on his face. "The meeting is over, is it not?" he said slowly, stressing every word as he glared coldly at Suzaku and tried to ignore Cornelia's mutterings about Kanon. "Should you not be on your way to train and whatnot?"

"Oh, no, we're good," Lloyd assured with a wave of his hand. "Whole day's open."

Suzaku bit back a triumphant smirk, half directed towards Schneizel and half towards the color now clouding Lelouch's cheeks. "As I said, I am at you service," he replied coolly, keeping his voice and gaze steady.

"Then my command is to go and train so that you aren't a disgrace to Lloyd's praise," the blonde Prince snapped back, just as coolly. "It would just be embarrassing, would it not?"

Lelouch's breath caught slightly in his throat as those words were spoken. He might never see Suzaku again and this meeting was ending before they could even have a real word together. And with Schneizel around, that was next to impossible.

"But, Your Highness, I have just completed training before coming here. You would not want your new guard more tired out that usual, would you? How will I protect the Royal Family?" Suzaku cocked his head, the smile on his face almost smug. He had to kick it down a notch to keep himself from being so obvious.

"Then maybe you should be resting and not in my audience chamber, don't you think?" Schneizel said, looking even more arrogant. "Since, after all, you are so tired. Go home, get some rest." It sounded almost nice. Almost, but not quite.

Suzaku slumped internally in defeat, resisting the urge to squirm childishly on the spot. His eyes flicked to Lelouch, meeting his eyes for the briefest of moments before looking away again. Just that was enough to send pleasant warmth washing through his body. He sighed and bowed once more, glaring at the polished floor. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

Lelouch turned to gaze at his brother, violet eyes cold as ice and raging with anger. I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you, I'mgoingtokillyou-

Schneizel would get his in the end. After all, he had no power over him, and this was all a charade, since everyone knew Lelouch had been chosen for the throne (and a certain somebody, whose name will not be mentioned but is still blatantly obvious, was not happy about it).

"Farewell, and take care," Schneizel said quietly, chuckling almost sadistically. He beckoned the captain of the guards over and whispered something in his ear, leaving everyone else to their own devices.

Well. This wasn't fair. Suzaku bit his lip, throwing an equally-distressed Lelouch a desperate look before he reluctantly followed orders and left the audience chamber as casually as he possibly could with Lloyd.

As soon as the final gate closed and they were outside the palace walls, the guard who had escorted them inside stepped before the pair.

"Knight Kururugi Suzaku, you have been banned from the castle from this point on, on the threat of death. Have a good day." The guard saluted and headed back to his post.

For the record, Suzaku was having an awful day.

"...What did you do?" Lloyd asked with a snicker, arching a set of fine brows at the brunette.

Suzaku was silent for a moment, trying to swallow back the sudden animalistic urge to pummel something(one). Don't get mad, don't get mad, don't get-oh, fuck it-"How the hell should I know?" he scoffed, glaring green venom at the gates.

"He might just want to use you in battle," Lloyd reminded, wagging a finger at him. "Anyway, did this have anything to do with the youngest Prince? He is going to become King after all, even if the reason is ultimately because he reminds his father of his favorite wife."

Suzaku sighed heavily and shrugged, slowly dragging a hand through his auburn curls. "Well, see, Lelouch and I met before... Did you hear about how he escaped when he was eight years old?"

"And became friends with a kid from the city, of-oh watch out." Lloyd chuckled as a paper airplane made out of fine sky-blue stationary sailed overhead and hit Suzaku in the shoulder. The brunette caught it before it hit the ground, a grin working its way over his features as he unfolded the plane.

And the note read, in well-disciplined calligraphy:

"Don't worry about my brother. We will meet again, and soon. I can promise you this, no matter what it takes. Wait for me, and never forget me."

Suzaku laughed softly, not even noticing that Lloyd was reading over his shoulder. "If I haven't forgotten you in ten years, what makes you-"

"Ooooh, a love letter? And with no name? I do wonder who it could be from."

"Maybe. It's a secret," Suzaku played along, swatting Lloyd away and feeling a great deal lighter.

In the tower window from which the paper airplane had started its journey, Lelouch smiled and returned to his bedroom to plan his eighteenth birthday. He would have to choose a wife, because a King needed an heir, a future ruler... but Schneizel did say he could invite anyone...

x.x.x

Several days later, along with all the usual junk mail and bills, a single high-quality parchment envelope arrived at Suzaku's modest home.

...And by modest, we really mean that apartment building in the Shinjuku Ghetto. Right over there. No. To your left. Yeah, that one. See? It's not so bad.

Suzaku flipped through a couple of medical bills with a sad frown and was about to just chuck the whole pile on the kitchen table and forget about it for a few hours when his fingers brushed the thickest envelope. He recognized the penmanship on the back and his eyes lit up as he pulled it open.

Inside was an official invitation to a three-day ball, for the coronation and matrimony for Lelouch vi Britannia (Suzaku ignored the matrimony bit). Only members of the Royal Family could get in without an invitation, and this little piece of paper would solve all of Suzaku's problems, no matter what bans Schneizel decided to throw in. The letter was completely formal and official, except for the little line in the bottom corner, which said, "See you soon, Suzaku" in hurried script (okay, even Lelouch could write neatly while in a hurry, what was up with that?). Packed with the letter was a gem-encrusted gold coin that would serve as the actual invite. There was no reason in particular that it was so fancy-shmancy except for the fact that it probably showed off expensive tastes and was damn near impossible to counterfeit.

Suzaku grinned like a lovestruck teen and then promptly smacked himself for acting so girly. It was just Lelouch. Just his childhood friend. Just someone who maybe wouldn't mind getting fucked into his own thro-

OKAY WRONG TRAIN OF THOUGHT!

Either way, it didn't really matter. After all, the very next day, and order was issued for Suzaku to lead a patrol in the mountains on the borders, where they were supposedly expecting a rebellion attack. No intelligence about it had been heard by anyone else in the army, and the order happened to fall right on all three days of Lelouch's birthday, along with one day before.

And it was a mandatory order, signed by Prince Schneizel.

Suzaku had no choice but to go. On the very first day out, he cursed the Prince to hell and back, trying not to chew Lancelot's control system out of frustration. Not only was he going to end up missing Lelouch's birthday... but it was fucking boring as hell. Lancelot was made for combat, not for standing around pointlessly and waiting around for lord knows what or who. It was very, very time consuming. Suzaku was convinced at one point that he could feel the hair on his head grow.

The night before he had to leave again for the border, an extremely loud (and annoying) knock sounded from his front door. After being blatantly ignored, the knock grew louder.

The brunette promptly fell off his bed in a flailing tangle of arms, legs and sheets, nearly crushing his poor cat into the floor. The feline hissed angrily, darting out of the bedroom before it was killed in some bed-master-related accident.

Suzaku huffed at the ceiling from the floor, flinching when the knocking grew insistent, and pulled his legs free from his sheets, retying the strings on his pajama pants.

"I'm coming, fuck!" (As one can tell, Suzaku isn't always all sunshine and daisies.) He grumbled and ambled through the dark, tripping only a handful of times before his hand met the door handle. The tumblers rumbled loudly and the door was yanked open, flooding the inside of Suzaku's dark apartment with light.

"...Uhm."

In the doorway stood a tall girl clad in some strange white outfit, with golden eyes and a black witch's hat sitting atop her iron-straight green hair (though Suzaku wasn't aware of it, the hat was really a joke). "I am here to solve all of your woes with magic," she said in a completely impassive tone. "I even brought a magic wand, see? ...Wait, where is it." She dug through her large white sleeves, finally producing a springy rod with a star on top.

Suzaku was hardly aware that he was staring at her with his jaw hanging open. There were three possibilities to this situation. One, he went crazy. Two, he was dreaming. Or three, a drunk had stumbled upon his apartment building.

...She certainly didn't look drunk, but her spiel on magic made Suzaku skeptic. "Excuse me?"

"Royal Magician, C.C., at your service," the girl said with a mocking bow. "... Sort of. I really only do magic for the people that I like. You better be glad that I was such good friends with Marianne, and so her son is one of my top priorities."

"Marianne? Son? You know Lelouch?" Suzaku asked somewhat dumbly, his hand dropping from the doorknob and falling slack at his side.

C.C. rolled her eyes, brushing past Suzaku without even asking for permission first and sat herself on top of the kitchen table, crossing her legs and narrowing her eyes. "Of course. He's been looking forward to your visit, and I believe that if you don't go, he will never recover. And Marianne wouldn't like that. So I'm going to fix it."

After a long silent moment of internal arguing, Suzaku shut the door and flicked on the lights. With a click, the room was instantly bathed in a soft white glow and the brunette had to rub his eyes. C.C. wasn't bothered and flicked the rim of her hat up so she could see better. "It's not like I was planning on not going. I've been ordered for patrol. Tomorrow. And the next two days after that."

"Yes, and if you show up tomorrow at the castle, Schneizel will most likely have you shot on the spot." C.C. chuckled sardonically, seeming almost pleased with the idea. "So, we have two big problems here. We need to make it look like you're working, and at the same time, you can't be seen at the party. And I can fix both." She held up her hand before Suzaku could even open his mouth to speak. "Lloyd already knows of this, so don't worry about anyone noticing."

"So... you're going to take my place in Lancelot?" the brunette asked, pulling out a chair on the opposite side of the table and slumping down in it. "But what about me being recognized if I do go?"

Instead of responding, C.C. looked through her pockets again. After a bit of cursing and zipper pulling, she held out a simple silver ring for the teen. "As long as you wear this, no one will know who you are unless you tell them your name."

Suzaku looked a little skeptical, but he plucked it out of her fingers anyway. "Okay, fine. But how do I know I can trust you?"

C.C. huffed, arching her delicate brows. "What's to trust? That I won't act like an idiot in Lancelot? That the ring won't work? Well, boy, I know one way to prove that I'm powerful. Tell me, what are you going to wear tomorrow?"

Suzaku opened his mouth to retort to the 'idiot' bit but stopped short. "...I don't... know?"

"Really?" C.C. drawled, smiling almost eerily. Her green eyes slowly slid down to Suzaku's chest. "Because what you're wearing now should be fine, I think."

Suzaku blinked once and then looked down, quite promptly toppling out of his chair with a yelp and a follow-up groan when his head smacked against the floor. "...What are you, my fairy godmother?" The material stretched across his body was a deep navy blue, with a high collar, a white chest and gold trim that ran all the way down two a pair of black boots. Considering that this very same uniform had been worn hundreds of years prior by the last Knight of Zero, it was definitely the real deal.

"Gloves are on the table. And I'm not going to repeat myself," C.C. said with an exasperated sigh. "I already told you. Do you believe in my power now? And are you going to the stupid party or not, because if you won't, then Lelouch is probably going to kill you. I'm being kind, okay? I don't do this often."

"I can tell," Suzaku mumbled, slowly picking himself up and gingerly rubbing the back of his head.

C.C. smirked somewhat proudly and uncrossed her legs, jumping off the table. "Anyway, there's a dry cleaner bag if you need it in your closet. Oh, yes, and before I forget, a few things about that ring... First of all, if you take it off, the spell will break. If you put it back on, the spell will return, but anyone who has seen you during that time will be disillusioned. And... it only lasts until about three in the morning. It's better than midnight and you're no Cinderella."

"So I have to be out of there before three?" Suzaku asked, twirling the silver band between his fingers and watching it shine in the dull light. "I can live with that, I suppose." He lifted his head, offering a somewhat shy smile to the green-haired girl. "Thank you."

"It's not like that's all the time you get," C.C. reminded with a wag of her finger. "I'm sort of having fun, so I'll take care of the second day, and the masquerade as well. And after the magic runs out, you can just sell the ring. It's of no value to me. Use the money..." She smiled, golden eyes flicking up to the table. "...for the bills. Lelouch would be mad if I didn't help even with that a little."

Suzaku frowned and glanced down at the table where the white envelopes sat waiting for him in a neat little stack (of doom). "He knows?"

"No, not yet he doesn't. But I do believe that if he knew, he would be mad. I know I like to invade peoples' privacy, but I'm not that bad." I'll tell him at some point, you watch.

"...It's fine. I've got it handled."

C.C. rolled her eyes and leaned over, flicking the brunette in the forehead and ignoring his angered exclamation. "Yeah, but a little help won't hurt. Just take it, or you'll wake up one day and everything will be paid for. I'm sure you're too proud to take it, but it will happen one way or another. Then again, Schneizel told Lelouch you sold that." She cocked a brow, tapping at the amethyst charm she had placed at Suzaku's throat.

"Why would I?" Suzaku nearly snapped, bristling in irritation at the mention of the blonde. "I may not have a lot of money but even then I wouldn't throw something like this away. It's worth more than money."

C.C. smiled and leaned closer, her hair falling like a green curtain around Suzaku's head. "I'm just saying, a lot of people with different senses of justice would have sold it and lived well for a long time. I was there, y'know. Watching you two. I was kind of pissed at Schneizel, too."

The brunette sighed, bringing a hand to his throat. "It's not like I'm unhappy or anything (for the most part). Why sell something like this for something meaningless?"

"Greed," C.C. explained, finally straightening out and crossing her arms over her chest. "Not all people are like you. But the ring is something worthless, so you're better off selling it than holding on to it."

"...Alright, fine," Suzaku relented, his usual cocky grin working its way back over his features. "And wait, what do you mean, you were 'there watching us'?"

"In the tree. Right before you accidentally whacked Lelouch over the head with a sunflower." She shrugged, casually examining her nails. "Marianne was worried, so I was making sure he was in good hands."

Suzaku arched an eyebrow, finding it interesting that C.C. had technically allowed Lelouch to stay outside of the castle walls... until Schneizel found him, of course. "...Okay." He bit his lip, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, I'm not trying to sound rude, but... it's like two in the morning and I'm really tired..."

"Of course." C.C. gave the brunette another mock bow and then headed to the door, fixing her hat as she went. "Just remember to wear the ring and leave before three and everything should be fine. Take care, and don't break his fragile little heart." The door slammed shut before Suzaku could ask and she vanished only seconds later.

The brunette smiled to himself and walked back to the bedroom, dropping the ring into the drawer beside his bed. His cat, who had been sitting there the whole time watching the newcomer with unblinking green orbs, eyed the ring hungrily as it fell.

"...No, Arthur, you can not eat it," Suzaku scolded, narrowing his eyes at the cat. "Because if you do, I swear I-" Crunch. "Ow, fuck!"

x.x.x

Chapter two is done! : DD

I swear I'm more talkative than this, I'm just so tired right now... been playing 358/2 days nonstooooooooop.

Review please if you enjoyed it? :D