Boy In The Scroll

Chapter 5:

"Nunnally," came Suzaku's voice.

"Hi, Suzaku," Nunnally said in a sweet voice and Lelouch turned back to the now open door that revealed the teenage Eleven who was apparently the vice president of the student council. Suzaku was a few shades darker than Lelouch and his hair was darker than Nunnally's brown. The eleven glanced at Lelouch with his emerald eyes before taking a position behind Nunnally's wheelchair as if to roll her in.

Lelouch was instantly hostile. Who the hell was this boy being so familiar with his sister?! If Suzaku dared do anything to Nunnally, he would be a dead man in the next minute!

"Oh, who's this?" Suzaku asked. He tilted his head to the side as if he were just then realizing that Lelouch was blocking the door to the student council room.

"Ah sorry," Lelouch said as he raised a hand for a firm shake. None of his hostile thoughts were present in his voice. "I'm Oliver William," Lelouch said the first name that came to mind. "And you are?"

"Suzaku Kururugi." So he has a last name! Perfect. If need be, Lelouch would do some research on the boy to ensure that Nunnally was safe from his filthy hands. Though if his memory was correct the last prime minister of Japan was also a Kururugi, Genbu Kururugi if he was correct.

"It's nice to meet you Suzaku." Lelouch ended the firm handshake, almost grateful that he was only a spirit. It felt like he just shook the iron hand of a Knightmare!

"Suzaku," Milly called and popped her head out the door. "Who are you talking to?" she asked as her eyes fell on Lelouch. At first she had a look of someone looking for the latest gossip, but upon seeing the bandages there was a quick flash of pity before it disappeared. "Hi, I'm Milly Ashford. What brings you here?"

"Sight seeing," Lelouch answered. "I came from the homeland and arrived at Area Eleven a few days ago. I heard about Ashford Academy from a family friend and decided to visit the campus… I hope it's no trouble."

"Trouble? Of course not!" Milly shouted with her usual high voice. "Would you like a tour around the campus?"

Lelouch smiled at the girl, "no, don't trouble yourself. I was just about to leave anyway."

"Aw," Milly frowned, as if sad her offer got declined. "How about area Eleven then? The rest of the student council and I could show you around. You said you just got here a few days ago, and by the sound of it you're by yourself. It's always better to be with someone."

"I don't want to be a bother…" said Lelouch.

"You aren't a bother. In fact it's the student council's motto to personally give anyone a tour!" Milly declared.

Just then the other three student council members peaked around Milly to look at Lelouch. "Since when has that been our motto?" the blue haired boy asked.

"Oh shush you!" Milly growled while playfully shoving the boy away.

"That sounds like a great idea Madam President!" the orange haired girl said. "I'm Shirley by the way, that's Rivalz."

"Yo."

"And this is Nina."

"N-nice to m-meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," Lelouch gave a slight nod to all three. "I'm Oliver."

As soon as the name slipped his mouth, Lelouch found himself being shoved toward the gates of Ashford Academy and into the streets of the Britannian city. Arms linked between Milly and Shirley, Lelouch had no choice but to follow both girls as they gave him a tour of the city. Rivalz walked ahead the three of them, with his arms crossed behind his head as he chatted up a storm about nothing in particular while Nina silently walked besides Milly. To Lelouch's chagrin Suzaku had made up some excuse of getting Nunnally to her room, and that's how Lelouch got stuck with three complete strangers.

As the day passed by Lelouch learned quite a lot about this little group. Nina, although shy, was rather smart. If given the chance she could talk just as much as Rivalz, though she did stutter over her words from time to time as if afraid that someone would shout at her for speaking her mind. On the other hand Rivalz could talk to anyone about practically anything, it was also very obvious that he had a thing for Milly. Out of all of them Shirley was probably the only one who tried to slowly get to know Lelouch. She asked him questions from time to time, and would often go out of her way to involve him in the rest of the student council's conversations. Lelouch was very thankful for her, if not for Shirley, he would probably feel out of place among the others.

The five of them walked a good distance. Traveling from mall to mall and one tourist attraction to another. They only shuttle twice, everything else was done on foot. By the time sunset rolled around, Lelouch and Rivalz where both piled down with bags and box's that the girls had bought. Even the shy Nina asked Lelouch to carry several of her bags.

"And that ends our tour of the city," Milly stated once they got back to the gates of Ashford Academy. "If you ever want to hang out again or have nothing better to do, you know where to find us."

"I'll be sure to swing by later," Lelouch said as he set the bags down. "Well, I best be off now."

As soon as he was out of view from the student council, Lelouch immediately stripped himself from his outer layers and shot into the air. Dear scroll, his legs were killing him! It felt like his muscles had been stretched between two monster trucks going the opposite way, before being thrown into the sun, and returning only for the cycle to repeat itself. During the entire tour, Lelouch found himself in a battle of willpower against pain. Every molecule of his being screamed at him to simply float and not force himself to 'float walk,' but being the sensible man that he was Lelouch forced himself to keep up the act of a totally normal seventeen year old. Granted a burnt seventeen year old, but still normal.

Lelouch sighed in content as he felt the scorching pain slowly diminish into a cooling burn. Leaning into a comfortable position that would have looked as if he were sitting on a throne with a leg rest, Lelouch mentally searched and pulled at the familiar binds of the scroll. Another sigh escaped him as he was finally able to relax. The tug of the scroll doing all the work for him.

What a tiring day. Eyelids drooping shut, Lelouch soon drifted off into the bliss of sleep.

x-XXX-x

A drop of rain fell on Kallen's face and she shook her head. The sun was already hovering over the horizon. Threatening to send the world into darkness before Kallen could get to shelter. But shelter was the last thing on her mind at the moment. Another drop of rain splashed on her face and Kallen found herself cursing her horrible luck as she ran toward an abandoned building. Part of the roof was missing, leaving only the four cracked walls and a small corner of the roof for shelter. It was better than nothing.

Sighing, Kallen took out her phone. The minute she turned it on, the screen showed a poorly taken picture of a planner. Naoto's planner to be exact. Her brother was always careless with his things, although he scheduled things like a professional he was also quite a messy man. It was one of the things she loved about her brother, but that's not what she was concerned about at the minute.

Enlarging a part of the picture, Kallen squinted her eyes as she tried reading the writing and deciphering the sketched map. It was obvious that her brother had somewhere to go but she just couldn't read the blurry words and directions. She shouldn't have rushed so much while taking the picture.

Either way, Kallen was almost positive that her brother was planning on intercepting one of the Britannia's food shipments. Naoto was almost like the modern version of Robin Hood in that way. Steeling from the rich and giving to the poor. However it was still a dangerous job and recently the Brits had become more cautious.

Kallen slipped her phone back into her pocket and darted back into the freezing rain. She was immediately drenched and her clothes stuck to her skin like a drowned cat, but she payed it no mind as she sprinted down the deserted streets, looking for any signs of her brother.

It wasn't until Kallen finally stopped to catch her breath, that she noticed she was at the harbor. Sneaking around to one of the freights, Kallen unlatched the door and slipped in, grateful for the shelter and warm air.

This particular harbor had been abandoned when Britannia conquered Japan. The Britannian's were cowards. Three things that humans need to survive is air, water and food. Knowing this, the harbor was one of the first things to be attacked. With their water and food resources cut, Japan forces soon became weakened.

Using her phone as a light, Kallen looked around the freight she was in. There were stacks of boxes pushed against two of the walls, leaving a clear path to walk down the middle.

Kallen paused from her search when she heard the sound of a helicopter cutting through the air. With each passing second it got louder and louder until all Kallen could hear was the buzzing roar of the propellers. Curious as to what was going on, Kallen poked her head out of the door.

Her eyes widened at what she saw. What the hell were the Britannian cops doing here?! This harbor might have been abandoned, but it was still on the Japanese' side of the city!

x-XXX-x

"He should have been back by now," Ohgi said worriedly as he paced the room.

"Naoto always runs off. What's so different this time?" Tamaki asked, a scowl played on his face.

Lelouch silently hovered above Tamaki as he watched the conversation unravel. He'd only just got back to camp an hour ago, right when it started pouring. The rain drummed loudly against the roof, and Lelouch found himself with a thoughtful frown on his face. It appeared as if Naoto and Kallen had both disappeared. Judging by the fact that Naoto planned on intercepting a recent shipping from the homelands, Lelouch suspected he was currently at the abandoned harbor.

Due to the recent string of robberies, the Britannian's finally decided to try shipping the goods to another harbor. Being that the last few shipments had been intercepted and a few goods had gone missing, they were now trying to send the shipments to a different part of Japan; the abandoned harbor near the ghetto's. This tidbit of information was top secret and was to be kept away from the ears of the nobles. If any of the rich-blood heard about where the items where being shipped to, there was no doubt that there would be a commotion. Unfortunately for the Britannia authorities, they hadn't expected a ghost to be listening in on their plans.

"If only Naoto actually wrote where he was going in his planner," Ohgi hissed as he flipped through the book before finding a map drawn on the most recent page. Ohgi narrowed his eyes on the map, it didn't have any words or specific markings on it.

Sighing Lelouch said, "it's a map of the harbor."

"The abandoned one?" Tamaki asked quietly and Lelouch nodded. "I think it's a map of the old harbor."

"Not think! It is! I helped Naoto gather information of where the next shipping would go and what it is," Lelouch stated.

"You did what?!" Tamaki screeched as he stood up and whirled on Lelouch. Behind him, Ohgi stared on in shock. Most likely believing that his friend had lost his marbles.

"It was orders," Lelouch said simply said with a shrug.

"But you let him go by himself!" Tamaki roared.

Ohgi stood as well and looked at Tamaki worriedly. "Who are you talking to?"

Tamaki shot a dangerous glare at Lelouch before putting a hand to his ear, and pretending to take out a bluetooth. "An inside source that only Naoto and I know of," Tamaki said with practiced ease.

"We have a spy?" questioned Ohgi.

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"Well… yeah…" Ohgi said uncertainly.

"Well the kid said, Naoto was at the harbor."

"A kid?"

Tamaki scowled, "yeah, a kid! There's a shipping today and Naoto decided to intercept it. Turns out the Brits are shipping their things to the old harbor."

"We have a kid helping with the resistance?" Ohgi asked. Lelouch could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"Yessssss!" Tamaki hissed, getting irritated that he had to repeat himself. "He's seventeen. What's the big deal anyway?"

Ohgi blinked as if coming to a conclusion. "Why isn't he in school?" Ohgi breathed and slumped down into the couch. "Kallen's going to kill me."

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about Naoto right now?" Lelouch interrupted before Tamaki could ask Ohgi what he meant.

"So what do you think we should do about Naoto?" Tamaki asked. He might have been looking at Ohgi but it was obvious that his question was toward both Lelouch and Ohgi.

"We should head to the harbor to make sure he's not in any trouble," Ohgi stated.

"And while we're at it we might as well take the goods with us as well," Lelouch added. "Do you have an extra radio I can borrow? That way I can go my separate way and update you." and Ohgi will be able to hear me…

"Yeah, that sound's good," Tamaki agreed with a nod.

A/N: Sorry for the late update ^^;