Note: the cover image, along with the two series that this story was based on, belong to their respective owners.
"Oh!" Arno whispered into Lelouch's ear excitedly, "is this love at first sight!?"
Shit, Lelouch thought, was it that obvious? Play it off, play it off!
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lelouch replied smoothly, acting as indifferent as possible. However, his cheeks managed to betray him as they turned slightly pink.
"Really?" Arno questioned, obviously not buying it for a second. "So you staring wide eyed at the hot redhead was just my imagination, right?"
Damn hormones, Lelouch inwardly groaned. He knew he shouldn't have been looking at the girl… But for god's sake she was drop dead gorgeous. Still, Lelouch wasn't one to reveal his hand so easily. Especially to Arno. But for the time being he would have to admit defeat. He had been caught, and Arno was one of only two people (Connor being the second) who could see through him like glass. It made Lelouch furious really. The two were always in competition, be it chess or otherwise. Unfortunately for the teen, Arno was a clever bastard and always seemed one step ahead of the young prince. It made for good competition though, so it wasn't completely bad.
"We can talk about this later," Lelouch said, hoping that if he just ignored Arno's prying it wouldn't reach Suzaku and Connor. He could take one of them, but if the two hard asses of the group caught wind of it then there would be hell to pay.
"Fine, fine." Arno conceded. He would have plenty of chances to hassle him about his little crush later, especially since this was a recruitment operation.
The plan was simple, come to a revolutionary group's time of need. Once they managed to save them (and show off a bit) they would offer them a chance to join the brotherhood. Easy and effective… hopefully. They hadn't had the chance to test out their little strategy yet on account of being busy with training Lelouch and Suzaku while they hid at Ashford academy for the last five years. So here they were, in Shinjuku ghetto on the night of a covert Britannian operation against a small resistance group that managed to be deemed enough of a thorn in Clovis' side to be eliminated with extreme prejudice.
At the moment, Arno and Lelouch had positioned themselves in the rafters holding up the ceiling of a small abandoned storage building that the rebels used as their base of operations. Meanwhile Connor and Suzaku were following the Brit strike team as they made their way through the ghetto. Everything was going fine so far, the only problem being the reluctance of the strike team to, well, strike. The group had been waiting for the better part of an hour to make their grand debut and couldn't do anything but wait.
Actually, that wasn't quite right. Lelouch and Arno couldn't do anything. Connor and Suzaku had been thinning the strike team's numbers throughout the hour. So what did Arno and Lelouch do? They sat around and watched the resistance cell go about their day to day operations, which of course lead to Lelouch getting caught watching the redhead. And since Lelouch obviously wasn't going to touch the subject with a ten foot pole, Arno had nothing else to do but watch as Lelouch made small glances at the girl every time Arno pretended to look elsewhere.
He had been the boy's mentor and father figure for over five years. Even if he had the best poker face on the planet, Arno knew Lelouch like the back of his hand. The kid was crazy about the girl. It may have been subtle to anyone else, but when it came to Arno? It was like watching a love sick puppy yelping at the end of its chain. It was certainly a nice change of pace though. Usually, all the boy seemed to care for was his training. He was hell bent on making Britannia pay so it was a nice breath of fresh air to see him thinking about something else. Not to mention, if Arno had anything to do with it? Lelouch was going to get VERY well acquainted with the little miss. Oh yes, there were many cooperative missions together in their future.
Sadly, Arno's devious plots for getting the couple together were cut woefully short when the small earpiece that each of the assassins were wearing let off a short burst of noise. That was their cue.
"Showtime lover boy," Arno whispered.
"Ha fucking ha," Lelouch muttered back as the two rose into a squatting position on the steel beam.
"What's the status of the strike team?" Arno asked Connor through the small communicator, returning to his professional attitude.
"They've set charges on all of the exits," Connor replied quickly, "eight troopers to a door, their surrounded."
"So four doors, eight to a door," Arno counted over the communicator, "that's thirty two out of fifty. I'm guessing the other eighteen are… taken care of?"
"Backup is taking a bit of a dirt nap." Connor said, making Arno grin as he moved to the exit on the north side wall. The building's walls each faced north, east, south, and west respectively. The group had already expected for the strike to split up to take one door each which meant that they were honestly just playing into their hands. Arno took North, Lelouch south, Connor east, and Suzaku west. As Arno situated himself on a support beam up above the northern door, he looked back to see Lelouch mirroring his position at the southern wall.
"How long till the charges blow?" Lelouch asked, pulling out two silenced automated pistols.
"One moment," Connor said before the other three assassins heard the quiet pops of silenced weaponry being fired, and several bodies hitting the floor. "One minute. Suzaku, is west clear?"
"…Yes." It took Suzaku about ten seconds before he reluctantly confirmed that his targets had been eliminated. Arno would have to talk to him again no doubt, he always had a problem with the way the assassins operated. But for now he was complying. The mission came first.
"Good," Arno whispered before aiming two silenced machine guns at the door below him, "and… action."
Kallen Kozuki had no idea what the hell was going on. One minute, she was hanging out with Ohgi and the others in the hideout, the next minute they were getting surrounded by a Britannian strike team that was, unlike them, armed to the teeth. They were just supposed to be moving stuff around to make room for some new supplies that her brother Naoto was supposed to be getting. Now, she was standing in the middle of the giant warehouse with her hands up. So here she was, listening some self-righteous Britannian nut job run through an endless list of "sins" that they had committed against the Empire.
Luckily, the idiot finally shut up when one of his lackeys whispered something in his ear that seemed to make the idiot tense up. With luck, that meant they fucked up. Maybe Naoto was outside in the Glasgow he was supposed to be getting for them.
"What do you mean we're all that's left?" She heard the jackass whisper angrily. Before the man could answer though, a booming laugh resounded throughout the room. Looking towards the source, she found a man wearing a large royal blue hooded trench coat over a black t-shirt and matching trousers along with a pair of combat boots. Almost all of his face was shrouded however, the only thing in view being the confident grin plastered on his face, and if Kallen had to guess, it was because of whatever he was holding behind his back.
"It seems that you made a small mistake does it not?" The mysterious man asked, obviously not expecting an answer.
"Who the hell are you?" The knuckleheaded leader of the Britannian strike team shouted angrily.
The man's grin only grew wider at the question, he reminded Kallen of a cat that was playing with its food. "Oh, I'm no one of importance," He replied, raising two silenced submachine guns from behind his back. "Well, not to you anyway." Just as the group of soldiers raised their weapons to fire, the man let loose with both fire arms. At the same time, Kallen noticed another hooded figure mirroring the first opened fire at the same time using two automated pistols.
It was actually quite impressive, as the Britannians fired at the first, who bolted to the right firing at the soldiers all the way, the second mimicked him and ran to the left. While the Britannians sprayed inaccurate shots at the two, the combatants sprinted from beam to beam as they riddled the soldiers with bullets.
Then, as if it was the easiest thing in the world, the pair both holstered their weapons and dropped to the ground twenty feet below. By this point, the Britannians had been whittled down to around four completely horrified soldiers. The two mystery men simply smiled from ear to ear and charged at the remaining opponents seemingly bare handed.
The Brits, seeing the reckless move, panicked and fired blindly from the hip, missing spectacularly. As the attackers reached the group, Kallen noticed that they each had a pair of blades protruding from the sleeves of their trench coats. The two moved like liquid between the four men, slicing through their throats, and stabbing them through the heart like it was some form of dance before coming to a stop with their backs to one another. The final combatant's body hadn't even hit the floor, and the two had already returned the blades to the inside of their sleeves. As the final corpse collapsed to the cracked concrete beneath it, the two made a theatrical bow and stayed there for a solid five seconds while the resistance members just stared blankly at the two figures.
"It seems we've left them speechless," The first man said to his partner, "Perhaps we overdid it a smidge."
"Well," the second began, "I believe anyone would be startled at the sight of two hooded figures taking down eighteen armed Britannian soldiers."
The first let out a quick laugh as the two rose to their full height. Now that the two were close up, Kallen noticed that the first one, wearing the deep blue coat, was at least a head taller than his partner who was wearing a black version of the same hooded attire. But she shook off her intrigue with the two quickly. Someone had to look like they knew what they were doing and, while she loved Ohgi and Tamaki like they were brothers, the two of them weren't in any shape to negotiate. She understood that the two had just saved them, but why the hell were they here? She wasn't stupid, there was a reason people did anything. They wanted something, and until Naoto got here? The group wasn't going to be giving them anything.
"Just so you know," She said, being sure to look as in control as she could, "whatever you're here for, you aren't going to get it until our leader gets here."
The two turned to her and watched her from beneath their hoods. She couldn't see anything above their mouths and it bothered her immensely. She couldn't tell what they were thinking, which left her at a massive disadvantage, and made her shift her weight from one foot to the other nervously.
What the hell are they thinking? She thought to herself uneasily.
Holy shit, she's perfect. Arno gushed within his mind. She was probably the smartest one of the group, plus? She was able to take control when no one else did. Lelouch my boy, I have found your wife
"And who would your leader be young miss?" Arno asked, trying to hold it together until he could tell Connor about his little discovery.
"My brother, Naoto." She replied. Her acting needed work, but at least she was managing. Unfortunately, the brother thing was going to be a bit of an obstacle, but Arno could be resourceful when he needed to be.
"Of course," Arno said, smiling politely… and unnerving the girl because the hood made any smile look like it was predatory. Just leave the two be for now, with luck they'll hit it off. "Prince charming, why don't you two negotiate while I talk with the others?" Arno asked as he wrapped Lelouch in a one armed hug and leaned in to whisper a quick "don't fuck up" before turning and making a hasty retreat to the eastern exit.
"Bastard," Lelouch muttered under his breath, "I should have known he'd do this
"Connor!" Arno called out with his communicator still on, "you'll never guess who Lelouch just met!"
No matter how much Lelouch wanted to hunt down Arno and strangle him alive at the moment, he was now the main negotiator between the brotherhood and the resistance cell. So that would have to be dealt with later. Turning off the communicator, he addressed the girl.
"My apologies miss…" Lelouch prompted, trying to act as polite as possible.
"Kallen," she said quickly.
"Lelouch, charmed." He replied, bowing formally to the girl. "So am I to assume that you are the one that I will be talking to in your brother's stead?"
She stared at him for a moment, obviously still wary of him. In all honesty, he shouldn't be surprised. They had appeared from nowhere and saved their lives. No matter how great it was, anyone with common sense would know that the brotherhood would be expecting something in return.
Now that he was up close, he could see that she was wearing a red sleeveless turtleneck, along with some form of leather vest and brown short shorts, along with hiking boots, and light brown sleeves that were attached to her arms separately. For whatever reason though, she appeared to be of Britannian decent. The blue eyes, red hair, and pale skin gave it away. But for the life of him he couldn't understand why someone with Britannian in them would fight for a Japanese resistance group. But not only did Kallen fight for one, her brother, who was most likely also Britannian, lead the group. He was fighting Britannia because his father had pushed him past the point of return, but what were these two's reasons?
"Yes," she responded finally, breaking Lelouch from his train of thought. "I won't make any deals until my brother gets here, especially when don't even know what you're planning, but I don't intend on just sitting here staring each other down for what could be hours."
"I appreciate it," Lelouch said, being sure not to do anything that could offend any of the rebels. After Kallen nodded in acknowledgement of Lelouch's acceptance of her invitation, she quickly turned on her heal and began to head towards the northern exit with Lelouch only three paces behind. She made a few quiet orders to some of the other members as she went, obviously trying to get the group moving again. She was doing surprisingly well, considering the majority of the group appeared to be upwards of five years older than her. They continued out of the old building, exiting into the alley between the old abandoned warehouse and the neighboring building. Lelouch could smell the rot and decay of the ghetto all around him, along with the ruined concrete and stone buildings around them and frowned.
It had been five years since his induction into the brotherhood. Five years of watching his father torture the innocents that the brotherhood was sworn to protect. Every day that he was trained, he had watched everything that the Assassins were sworn to fight for be destroyed before their very eyes. But from tonight on, that wouldn't be the case anymore. This was the beginning of the end for his father's tyranny.
Kallen lead Lelouch to an old rusted door that went into the next building, and opened it quickly to usher him inside. As she flipped on the lights, he found himself in an old office that had been turned into a makeshift war room. The rotting wooden desk in the center of the old ratty carpeted floor had been cleared off for a map of The Shinjuku ghetto before the invasion, and there was a large assortment of beaten and ragged chairs circling it. But what caught Lelouch's attention was the walls. They were decaying, much like the rest of the room, but the pictures that had been tacked onto the wall were all kept in pristine condition. Each one was framed and as clean as they could possibly be. From what Lelouch could guess they were probably-
"Deceased members." Kallen said. Apparently she could tell what he had been thinking. She strolled over to a shredded leather computer chair and immediately collapsed into it, making the old metal swivel in it groan in protest. She stared at him with her eyebrows knit together, as if deep in thought for a while as Lelouch remained by the far wall where the monument to the dead had been resurrected. "Are you just going to stand there the whole time, or are you going to sit?" She asked.
"My apologies," Lelouch chuckled, realizing what the girl had been pondering. He walked to the table and placed himself in the seat opposite Kallen. "So where would you like me to begin?"
She thought about it for a moment before she simply sagged her shoulders and let out a tired sigh. "Start with who you are."
Well, Lelouch thought to himself, already not liking where this conversation could lead if he lied, she won't like the answer to that one.
He activated the communicator in his ear to allow the others to hear, assuming that his best bet was to follow their advice.
The two sat in a very, very, very uncomfortable silence. Honestly, she didn't know what to say. The entire story seemed ridiculous. Sure, the guy managed to off like eighteen guys with the help of his "mentor," but come on! Seriously? The Martyr prince isn't actually dead, but is in fact in an organization dedicated to killing his own father? Really? And he was just staring at her like he hadn't said the most ridiculous thing she had heard in a year.
Okay, he had the royal purple eyes, and he definitely looked like an older version of the Lelouch Vi Britannia from all the propaganda posters that were made about how he was "killed in cold blood," but why would he even want his father dead? "So why exactly are you doing this again?" she asked, putting her thoughts into words.
He simply stared at her, his face an emotionless mask as he began to formulate a response. "Because he has committed sins that even I cannot overlook,' he began, "not only did he take Japan by force, but he attempted to kill me and my sister to give Britannia a motive to attack. The man doesn't care for the people, foreign or otherwise, and he doesn't care for his children."
She watched as Lelouch's hands clenched on the desk, it was the only indication that he was as angry as his words suggested. But even if she believed what he said, why would he even tell her in the first place? What would compel him to even consider telling anyone this kind of information? It could obviously be a tactic to get her to trust him, but if that were the case then why did he add the fact that he was royalty? If anything, it would make him even less trustworthy.
Eventually, her curious side got the better of her yet again. "Why would you even tell me this?" She questioned, leaning forward in her chair and placing her elbows on the table.
He merely sighed, much like Kallen herself had at the beginning of the conversation, and fixed his gaze directly on her eyes. "Because in the brotherhood, you must have trust," Lelouch said with determination in his voice, "if you can't have trust in your brothers and sisters then you cannot call yourself theirs. So because we are here to offer your group a chance to become a part of that brotherhood, I must have your complete trust, sister."
Naoto really didn't know what to make of the situation that he had come home to. There were three hooded figures, one in dark blue, one in white, and one in dark yellow directly outside of his resistance cell's hideout. Normally that wouldn't cause him pause, what caused that was what they were doing. They were carrying the bodies of around fifty Britannian soldiers out in front of the warehouse.
He had been busy getting an old Glasgow from another resistance cell that owed him a favor, and was driving back to the warehouse with an old trailer while the others made room for it. So how the hell did a bunch of Britannians get thrown into the mix? More importantly, why were his men staring at the hooded figures like they were ticking time bombs?
Hopping out of the truck, he started marching up to the three anomalies to ask them a question, only to hear one of the most unusual conversations he had ever listened to.
"Tell her that her eyes are like the ocean," the one in blue said, seemingly to the open air, "girls love that."
"No," said the one in white, "tell her that you would move heaven and earth for her."
"Look," said the one in yellow, "whatever you do…"
The three stopped everything they were doing and turned to look at one another before saying in unison, "don't fuck it up."
Naoto stopped in front of the trio and stared at them for a moment, trying to decide if he really wanted to try and talk to people who were talking to an invisible friend. But, since the rest of his friends were still staying at least thirty feet away from them at all times, he decided that he really didn't have a choice. "Who are you people?"
The three immediately turned to him, and Naoto immediately regretted his decision.
"Are you Naoto?" Asked the one in blue.
Lelouch was on the verge of tearing the communicator straight out of his ear. His colleagues had been helpful for all of ten minutes. Past that their advice had been on how to woo Kallen. He was regretting his choice to let Arno live after he had gone to find Connor and Suzaku. The news that he had shown interest in the girl had apparently become the only thing the group was capable of talking about. Especially when he used the stupid "I must have your complete trust sister," line. Even when he heard that they had found Naoto, they had managed to bring up his feelings on his little sister dating someone.
Even now, he could hear the uncomfortable conversation between the four of them while he attempted to hold a serious conversation with Kallen about what being a part of the brotherhood would entail. She had blushed at the little trust thing and all, but flirting was not what he was here for. He could flirt when his father was dead.
"So you're saying that she has a thing for smart guys?" Arno asked Naoto, obviously trying to undermine his attempts at keeping a blush from his face.
Just as Lelouch was about to yank out the communicator, the door opened to reveal a tall man with hair much like Kallen's "Yeah I guess…" He said uncomfortably as he entered the room, "why do you guys care anyway?" he asked as he turned around to find Lelouch sitting across from Kallen at the table.
"Oh," Arno said innocently, "no reason in particular."
Lelouch was definitely killing Arno when they got home.
A/N: so what do you guys think? It's my first time really going in depth with the whole romance thing. My other story didn't get far enough to really have any in it. I'll probably get around to writing some more material for it, but for the moment I'm having way too much fun with this story. Tell me what you think, if I need to add or remove anything, and please… REVIEW!