Author's Note: Thank you reviewers!! (MoonlitxAngel, Erinfrats101, thepinkmartini, and Tokyo) i really appreciate it!! ^-^

ONTO THE CHAPTER!!!

Chapter 16: Sickness

Lelouch wasn't at school Monday, and only Kallen knew why. She felt guilty for taking him to the supposedly frozen pond even though she didn't know the ice wasn't thick enough. Suzaku had tried to cheer her up, but she gave him the cold shoulder.

It was now lunch time and all the student council members were sitting in a small semi-circle under a tree in the school yard. Except for Nina who couldn't stand the cold and went inside to eat in a corner or something.

'I wonder why we're sitting outside on such a cold day,' Suzaku thought.

"Kallen, Lulu wasn't in class today, do you know where he is?" Shirley asked curiously as she bit into an apple.

Kallen glanced at her looking annoyed and upset that the question had come up. "Um...." she didn't know what to say. She didn't know if Lelouch would want her to tell them the truth or what, so she shrugged.

"Kallen, you look so glum, cheer up!" Milly chimed giving her an unexpected shove which caused her to fall over. Kallen sat up and gave her a fierce glare.

"Milly knock it off." she muttered picking up her sandwich and taking a bite. 'Kalllen seems so upset today. I should cheer her up,' Milly thought happily as she stood and took her lunch to sit by Kallen.

"What do you want?" Kallen asked looking up at the uninvited blond.

"I just wanted to sit by you is that a crime?" Milly responded with a mischievous smile.

"No," she grumbled in reply before continuing to eat her lunch.

"Isn't it a great day?" Milly asked looking upa t the sky. The sun may have been shining, but it was still pretty cold outside.

"Actually, no. I'm freezing right now, and I don't understand why you made us eat outside," Suzaku grumbled now having an answer for his earlier thought.

"Why are you so upset, Kallen?" Milly asked ignoring Suzaku's mumbling. "Didn't your date go well last night?" Shirley didn't look exactly pleased with the idea of bringing up Kallen's date with Lelouch, but she didn't object to the conversation. In fact, she seemed to want to know what had happened more than anyone else. Suzaku sat silently, waiting for her to answer while Rivalz chomped noisily on his potato chips.

"Well... we-" Kallen started, but she was interrupted when Rivalz stuck another chip in his mouth.

-Chomp!-

"We went ice-" she tried again, but was interrupted once more.

Chomp!

"We went ice skating and -"

Chomp, chomp , crunch, crunch, crunch. Everyone looked at Rizvalz.

"What?!" he asked.

"SHUT UP!!!" they shouted.

"Sorry, sorry."

"Anyway, we went ice skating and he-"

Chomp! Every one settled their fiercest glare on Rivalz once again.

"What?! They're good. They're Lays," he stated proudly holding up the bag to show them the label.

"Can I have some?" Milly asked sweetly.

"Sure," he handed her the bag and she balled it up and threw it into a near-by bush.

"My Lays!" Rivalz cried out running after the bag of crumbled hips.

"Hurry up and finish before he comes back!" Shirley urged.

"We went ice skating on that frozen lake on the other side of the campus and the ice broke. Lelouch fell through; he was freezing cold and shivering uncontrollably by the time i got him back to the clubhouse, I'm not sure how he is, so I'm going to see him after school," Kallen stated looking down at the snow. 'Jeez it is really cold today,' she thought.

"Milly, it's really cold, can't we go inside?" Shirley asked. It seemed Kallen and Suzaku weren't the only ones that were cold.

Milly sighed. "Fine," she said gathering up her lunch and standing up. "We'll eat in the student council room."

"What about Rivalz?" Suzaku asked standing up, lunch in hand.

"Just leave him, he'll come in sooner or later," Milly said heading towards the entrance. Suzaku shrugged and fell into step with everyone else.

Everyone except Milly let out a sigh of relief when they entered the building. Rivalz had been too busy digging through bushes looking for his chips to notice his friends leaving.

Once in the council room every sat down. Milly and Suzaku on either side of Kallen, and Shirley next to rest of their lunch was silent for the most part. At least until Rivalz came into the room with his bag of chips.

"I found them!" he stated triumphantly before taking a seat next to Suzaku and starting to eat again. His obnoxiously loud chomps were the only sound in the room, until Milly stood up and said, "You know what Rivlalz if you don't stop that I'm gonna beat your-" bing-bong the bell sounded , interrupting Milly, and signaling the student to get to class. Milly gave Rivalz a final glare and exited the room.

By the end of the the day Kallen was frantic to see Lelouch. 'What if he has hypothermia and he's on his deathbed right now?!! Or worse he already died and Nunnaly is left with Rolo?! It'd be all my fault.' she panicked as she knocked on the door to the club house. The door was opened by Sayoko who greeted her and opened the door wider for her to enter. The door was closed behind her and Kallen proceeded up the stairs and into Lelouch's room. She approached his bed slowly and looked at him, observing his condition. Lelouch's usually pale complexion was almost white, but his face was flushed and he had a high fever. His eyes were half lidded as i f he were tired or almost asleep.

"Lelouch..?" Kallen asked tentatively.

"Kallen?" he said looking up at her. "You can come closer, I don't bite you know."

"How have you been?" Kallen sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Great, I even went out for a run today," he said sarcastically giving her a look that said 'how do I look like I'm doing?'

"Right, dumb question," she looked down, finding sudden interest in her hands.

Lelouch rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Kallen said looking him in the eye.

"For what?"

"For this. If I hadn't taken you to that pond then you wouldn't have fallen in and you'd be up and running-er walking, right now."

"Ha ha very funny. You think this is your fault? It's not. I should have been more weary as to how thick the ice really was, so don't worry about it." There was a small pause before Lelouch said, " Kallen, aren't you cold? It's freezing in here," Lelouch pulled his mound of blankets up over his now shivering form.

"Actually it's really hot in here," Kallen pointed out.

"Really? It must be the fever then. Could you pass me that blanket there?" Lelouch said pointing to a blue blanket behind her.

"Sure," Kalen replied snatching up he covers and putting it over his mound of blankets.

"Kallen?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you leave, I'm feeling tired." Lelouch laid his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes. In a few minutes his soft breathing was the only sound that filled the room.

"Sleep well, Lelouch." Kallen kissed him on the forehead and proceeded towards the doorway.

***

"Is Lelouch okay?" Nunnaly asked worriedly once Kallen was down stairs.

"He said he was cold, but isn't it really warm in here?" Kallen said.

"Yes, we turned up the heat so Lelouch could be more comfortable," Nunnaly said.

"I hope he feels better. I'll be back to check on him tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure, you can come by whenever you want. The only person that ever frequently visits is Miss C.C," Nunnall said sadly. "Suzaku doesn't come as often as he used to, but Miss C.C's here almost everyday."

"Who's C.C?" Kallen asked skeptically.

"She's Lelouch's close friend, she said that Lelouch pledged his future to her, or something about marriage. I forgot." Nunnaly smiled innocently.

Kallen turned red with anger. 'Who exactly is this C.C?' Kallen asked herself as she made her way back to her dorm. 'I think I've heard it before, but i cant match the name with the place.'

***

Once in her dorm, Kallen flopped onto her bed and pondered over this other girl. 'If Lelouch had pledged his future or whatever to this
C.C character, then why did he go on a date with me last night?' She laid on her bed thinking until she heard a knocking at the door.

"Yes?" she said opening the door a bit and peering out. "Suzaku what are you doing here?"

"Well... you seemed stressed and upset during school.. so I decided to come check on you," he said. Kallen opened the door as wide as it owuld go and said, "Come in."

"How was Lelouch feeling?" Suzaku asked sitting across from Kallen on her couch. Despite everything he was genuinely concerned for his friend.

"He was... It wasn't good, he was freezing and it was about 80 degrees in there and he had a high fever, not to mention his skin was paler that usual. He fell asleep after a while, though. He had like ten blankets covering him up."

"I didn't know you could get any paler than him," Suzaku said.

"Well apparently you can 'cause he did. I can only hope he gets better, and I can't help feeling it's my fault, though," Kallen said guiltily. she toyed with her hands nervously.

"We can check up on him after school tomorrow," Suzaku suggested.

"Sure, that'd be great." Kallen replied with a smile.

***

The next day after school Kallen and Suzaku met at the front of the academy and went to the club house to check up on Lelouch like they had said the day before. When they got there, the door was opened by Sayoko and they were greeted enthusiastically by Nunnaly.

Lelouch was in the same condition as the day before,but he didn't seem as fatigued, though he did have frequent chills.

Fifteen minutes into their visit Milly and the rest of the student council arrived with various teas and soups. Mill tried to feed Lelouch, but he wouldn't let her, which caused her to fake pout. Rivalz had brought along Arthur for some reason, and Arthur bit Suzaku's hand and wouldn't let go, and when he had finally freed his hand it flew backwards and spilled the soup all over the floor and Lelouch's top blanket.

"Sorry!" Suzaku said before deciding it was time for him and everyone else to leave, so that he could have some quiet time. As soon as everyone had filed out of his bedroom, and Sayoko had cleaned up the soup, C.C emerged from the closet swiping at imaginary dust. She then sat on the edge of Lelouch's bed and looked at him. Just stared at him for a good five minutes until she got a reaction.

"What?!! What do you want?! Why the crap are you staring at me?!" Lelouch said raising his voice to just below a yell. C.C smiled at Lelouch smugly, she knew it got on his nerves when people looked at him for long. Why? Perhaps it was a pet peeve, but whatever the reason C.C knew it would annoy him under almost any circumstances, and did it only to get under his skin.

"I was just thinking that you have a very... interesting group of friends," She stated offhandedly in her usual monotone voice.

"That's great. Now get lost witch, I need to get some sleep," Lelouch mumbled laying his head down on his pillow.

***

Half an hour later, when C.C was sure that Lelouch was sleeping she took all her Cheese-kun collectibles and stuffed animals and surrounded him with them while putting her favorite Cheese-kun plushie under his arm. She then took a picture and got lots of copies. Why? Because she needed more pizza and the only way to persuade him to get more was to have something over him, to bend him to your will. It was also suitable black mail, and what else was a witch to do when she's bored? She'd definitely show this to his eccentric (for lack of a better word) friends.

Author's note: I hope you liked the chapter! i think this one flowed a lot more easily but i got stuck at what i wanted Kallen to do when she visited Lelouch the first time. i don't like the ending either, but i'm almost out of ideas so please give me a suggestion. If you 'd like Euphy out of the story I'll do so if the majority doesn't want her any more. Please review!! ^-^