Note: The cover image, along with the two series that this story was based on, belong to their respective owners.
"So…" Arno began casually as he poured tea for himself and Lelouch, "how are things with Kallen?"
Lelouch sighed painfully at the question. Not twenty minutes after finally returning from classes for the day and he was already being bothered about whether or not he had made a move on Kallen. Why couldn't Suzaku fall for a girl? Lelouch whined to himself.
"They're fine Arno," Lelouch responded in an emotionless monotone, "she did very well today in keeping up with her fake rich girl persona. I believe that she really does have a knack for undercover operations."
Arno, who had proceeded to seat himself in the fancy oak chair across from Lelouch's own, frowned at the answer. You didn't specify, Lelouch thought triumphantly, Lelouch one, Arno zero.
The two lounged in the chairs quietly, taking in the beautiful architecture of the room around them from the pure white carpets to the accompanying cream colored walls with intricate gold painted patterns upon them. Lelouch gazed at the ceiling to find an extravagant chandelier suspended above them by the ceiling that was far higher than any ceiling would ever need to be. Finally, he looked to the furniture which was made entirely from finely crafted oak that had been stained a deep chocolate brown. The entire living space was on par with what anyone would expect from a structure built to house Brittanians of high stature.
"Good," Arno said, breaking the silence and replacing his frown with a mischievous grin, "that means that you two will be perfectly compatible for future missions."
Lelouch's jaw clenched as he forced a polite smile on his face. Alright, one to one.
"Of course," Lelouch chuckled lightly with obvious strain in his voice, "however, that will have to be discussed at a much later date. After all, it's only been three weeks since the induction of the new members."
"Oh yes," Arno agreed cheerfully, "Naturally, but didn't you already build up a fine lineup of small time crime lords for us to target when they're ready?"
Lelouch began to grind his teeth back and forth as he thought back to the list of corrupt businessmen he had selected to take down as beginner's tests for the new assassins. It was indeed a fact that he had prepared such a thing, and what was also fact was that several of these missions would require more than one person to be slotted for the job. Bastard.
"Indeed I did," Lelouch answered as his fake smile slowly turned more furious, "but for now let's focus on something far more pressing shall we?"
Arno smiled happily at the request. He knew he won, how could he not know he had won? "Absolutely your highness," Arno replied in his most proper tone, "why don't we start with the progress of the other recruits? Or more specifically, the progress of one recruit in particular?"
Ohgi groaned as he slumped into the old rusty metal chair that served as his only seat within the old rundown apartment that he currently inhabited. His entire body felt like it was on fire. It was no wonder what it was from though, Master Arno had been running himself and the other less physically fit novices until they collapsed every night for the past three weeks in the "Physical preparation group." He could appreciate the need for stamina and strength on account of what they had all signed up for, but by no means could he appreciate the pain that came with it. What was worse? They still apparently had a week to go until they would be able to rest. When they had found that out Tamaki, who was also in the physical preparation group, nearly cried. Honestly though, Ohgi was right there with him.
As Ohgi whimpered painfully at his current predicament, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. What now? He sighed mentally as he reached for the device and answered it
"Hello?" He answered in a defeated tone.
"Hey Ohgi," came an equally drained reply, "its Naoto."
"Hey man," Ohgi said as he stretched uncomfortably while trying to massage his neck with his free hand, "how's it going?"
He heard his friend scoff on the other end of the phone before a rueful chuckle replaced it a second later. "You have to ask?" Naoto questioned, "If you're going through even a fraction of what I am then you know that the brotherhood doesn't fuck around when it comes to training."
He was right. There was no way in hell that Naoto could possibly be having a better time than anyone in the physical preparation group. From what he had heard from the other advanced novices, the mobility course probably made it feel like you were hit in the head by a steel bat that was swung by a guerrilla that was hopped up on steroids.
"Well," Ohgi yawned as he checked the time, "we still have… Fuck." It was already three thirty. That meant they were going to start the whole process over again in a matter of hours.
"Yeah," Naoto agreed sadly, "Let's talk about something else shall we?"
"You mean like how your sister is doing infiltration training alongside her mobility training?" Ohgi asked, already knowing that Naoto was about to have a fit on the other end of the phone. Kallen had been receiving a more spaced out and dialed down version of the mobility class so that she could have time to participate in an extra training exercise being taught by a certain brotherhood member nicknamed "Prince Charming." Ohgi thought the boy was good: determined, dedicated, and extremely smart. But Naoto wasn't so quick to agree with him taking a liking to his little sister.
"That little bastard better-" Naoto began in a loud rage. However, the rest went unheard as Ohgi placed the phone on his lap and snickered at the raging man on the other end of the line.
This is great! He thought to himself.
"This is horrible!" Kallen whined to the open air as she made her way to her new dorm room, curtesy of the brotherhood. "Why is everything so freaking awkward when he's around!?"
Every day was the same damn thing: she would meet Lelouch on her way from the dorms to first period and from there it would be an uphill struggle to keep herself from turning as red as a tomato. They were together almost constantly! What made it worse was the whispers that had started to pop up. Everywhere they went someone was muttering something about the "new couple" and it caused nothing but problems.
But of course "prince charming" was completely fine. He never showed any form of reaction to it. The most he would ever say was "let them think what they want. If anything, it makes our disguises more believable." But how was that supposed to help her not be embarrassed? More importantly, what is she supposed to do if someone actually asks her? Does she say yes? Could she say yes? It was a nightmare!
She idly kicked a small pebble that had been on the sidewalk as she went, sending it into the nearby grass. She really shouldn't be worrying about it at the moment though; it was Friday after all, and she would be focusing on her mobility training for the next two days.
She grinned in relief with that thought, she was finally going to get a break from having to play it cool with Lelouch, and could focus on something that wasn't embarrassing.
"I wonder what they're going to teach me next," Kallen mumbled to herself. Recently, she had been going through crowd maneuvering in order to reach targets through groups of people. However, she really couldn't think of anything else she would really need to know for movement. She had already proved to be capable at scaling walls, and moving across rooftops, and the crowd lesson had been a synch after a few tries. Suzaku had said that her physical strength and stamina was almost terrifying, but she was just athletic. She was even more fit than her brother, who upon hearing about her success during one of the many "tests" that Suzaku had set up to see how much she could really take had simply whimpered to himself about her luck.
It really didn't seem that hard though, avoid the tennis balls, and use the shadows to your advantage. It just seemed way too easy for her not to do well. But regardless, tomorrow was going to be way better than the hell that weekdays brought.
Does god just hate me? Kallen mentally groaned. Apparently, she had done well enough in the mobility course that it was decided that she was ready to move on to strategic planning lessons. And who would be the teacher for something that required any kind of tactical, or political know-how? Someone with back hair, purple eyes, and happened to be the last person Kallen wanted to be with at the moment.
"Hello Kallen," Lelouch said with an expression that revealed almost nothing, "Today we will be learning how to prepare our equipment prior to an operation."
She stared blankly at him for a moment before hanging her head in defeat. There was no way around it really; she couldn't do anything if she didn't know how to prepare herself for combat. Besides, Lelouch was a genius. She should actually be ecstatic about being able to learn tactics from him. If only she didn't have to deal with her personal turmoil concerning her feelings about the boy.
"Okay," Kallen sighed in defeat, "where do we start?"
A/N: I realize that the last two chapters have been rather short, but please bear in mind that I have been dealing with a lot recently. My wisdom teeth are gone, but the pain isn't. Plus, I've been trying to keep up with school over the internet which is a real pain. I also didn't really have much else to do in the way of elaboration for this chapter. It's really just me trying to show how things are going with all of the current important characters, as well as fleshing out their relationships a little bit. The next chapter will probably show the novices taking part in their first assassinations, which will hopefully cause those chapters to be much longer. However, that also means that they will take more time to make. Please be patient for them. Thank you all for reading and please… REVIEW!