Wow! I'm so sorry this took so long! I got blindsided by life, an then my computer crashed, I lost all my files (this story included) and I haven't found the Microsoft Office disks yet, so I am on my laptop typing this and hoping it doesn't overheat on me.
But anyway, without further ado, I present you with the long-awaited Chapter four!
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. I just wish I did.
Chapter 4: Plans
"Lelouch," Kallen said sternly, trapping the boy just after C.C., Rolo, and Ohgi had left the planning room. "You've been acting weird for a week! When are you going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I don't know what you mean, Kallen," Lelouch replied calmly, removing his mask now that Ohgi—the only one still in the dark about Lelouch's true identity—had left the room. He looked at his former classmate and grinned softly. "I wasn't aware that my personal life was any of your business."
"Seeing as how I can make your life here a living hell by telling everyone that at school, you take orders from a dumb blonde with a sick passion for torturing you, I think it would be in your best interests to tell me what's going on."
For once, Lelouch had no real comeback prepared for this. "Kallen," he began.
"Just tell me, Lelouch! You're supposed to be able to trust me. You trust Suzaku, even though he turned you in to that bastard of an emperor!"
"Suzaku and I have a lot of history, Kallen. I knew him before he came to Ashford. I knew him before I fell into the truck that got all of us into this rebellion in the first place. My sister and I met him when we first came to Japan, before it was even Area Eleven."
Kallen gaped for a moment at this new information. Since when did Lelouch actually talk about his past? "What about C.C.? Is she even human? Yet the two of you seem pretty chummy with one another."
"C.C. and I are accomplices, nothing more. We have a deal worked out between us that will hopefully one day get us both what we desire. But frankly, I don't trust her as far as I could throw her, and… well, you've seen my in gym class."
"When did you ever go to gym?"
"Exactly my point. What most people called 'gym', I called 'reading period on the roof.'"
"But what about Rolo? He was sent to kill you, and now he's one of your advisers? Why do you trust him?"
"As I have told him before, he may not be my brother by blood, but he and I have spent real time together. I have to trust him partly because the Lelouch Lamperouge that has no memory of Zero trusts him. I also have to trust that, at any moment, he could tell the Britannians that that version of Lelouch no longer exists. The fact that he has not done that yet proves that the faith I have in him is justified."
"Then why don't you trust me? After all we've been through! After all I've done for you! I'm keeping your identity a secret! I wore a damned bunny costume for you!"
"And your efforts are greatly appreciated, Kallen. But I don't see why I should trust you when you don't trust me. Maybe I am hiding something from you, and maybe I am not. The fact that you suspect me of keeping something from you is proof enough that you don't find me true to my word.
"Should a pilot not trust the commander giving her orders? The man keeping her and her comrades alive? The person giving her hope that some day everything—the doubt, the fighting, even the death of her beloved brother—will not be in vain? Have faith in me, Kallen.
"Don't think for a second that, if I am keeping secrets, I am only doing so to single you out. Perhaps this secret I am keeping would somehow affect your abilities as a pilot? In that case, I could not, for the sake of all we have worked for, let you in on such information."
"You never change, do you, Lelouch? You're always trying to cover your own ass. If it pisses me off this much, I can't imagine what it must be like to be Suzaku! You're only keeping a few important things from me, but you're lying to him outright by claiming to have no idea about any of this!"
"Telling him the truth could very well end my life, Kallen. And if I die, then the Black Knights, our rebellion, and everything we hope to accomplish for the Japanese people will fall with me."
"Then why are you even with him?" Kallen's hands were balled into fists, wanting nothing more than to end this argument with one of those fists blackening one of those penetrating violet orbs.
"Because I love him, obviously, and love is more important than my life. But it is not more important than the lives of those depending on me."
"He'd better be a god in bed for you to take a risk like this, Lelouch."
"Do you really want me to comment on Suzaku's performance, Kallen?" Lelouch allowed the tiniest bit of mischief to sparkle in his eyes.
"Ew!" Kallen squealed, covering her ears quickly. "Stop being such a fag, Lelouch!"
Lelouch's eyes fell flat before becoming filled with rage. "I can't help what I am, Kallen Stadfeldt, any more than you being half-Britannian."
"Geez," Kallen said, backing away from Lelouch's angry glare while trying to hide her own fury at the use of her father's surname. "Don't get those tight pants of your in a bunch, Lelouch."
"Then perhaps you should stop trying to delve into my private affairs. I am weaving a complex and delicate web, Kallen. And if one nosy thread continues to cling to the spider, it may be cut from the pattern completely." The ex-prince stood up, replacing the face-concealing mask that completed his symbolic image, and left the room—and its other occupant—behind.
Kallen stared after him for a moment. She contemplated his analogy of the spider web, and thought it very fitting. The willowy, cloaked-and-masked figure that was now leaving headquarters was like a black widow. Majestic, beautiful, dark and seductive. But getting too close could be disastrous. She almost felt bad for the Knight of Seven for the second time that day. Wasn't the black widow supposed to devour the male after mating?
She glanced around at the corridors of the Black Knights' hiding place. Were these people, her associates, all really fibers in a web? Or were they the flies, waiting helplessly for Lelouch to use them, drain them, and throw their bodies away?
She bit her lip as she thought of the planning meeting they'd just held. Lately, according to their scouts, the Britannian Army has been building forces in the Kyoto area, possibly to try to cut off the Black Knights' supplies, or possibly just as a strategic move to get closer to a new Sakuradite deposit found just outside the ancient city. Either way, all of them had agreed that action had to be taken. Zero has said there was a great probability that they could fall into a trap, since it was common knowledge that the Black Knights had ties to the Six Houses of Kyoto. He had also said that, if there was a trap, it would most likely involve the Knights of the Round that were currently in Japan.
Perfect, Kallen had thought to herself. If I can't get Lelouch to talk now, maybe he or Suzaku will let something slip when I'm holding the Knight of Seven's life in the Guren's claw.
With that thought in mind once again, Kallen smirked, heading to the Knightmare hangar to personally shine up that wicked claw for maximum effect.
"What do I care if you're dating Lelouch, Suzaku?" Kallen muttered to herself. "Once this battle starts, I'll make sure your traitorous blood covers the field! It'll make a very dramatic end, don't you think, Zero?"
~*~
"Suzakuuu…" The overly cheery voice was coming from above the Japanese boy's left shoulder. The Knight of Seven sighed as a long arm draped itself over both his shoulders, the pale hand resting about halfway down Suzaku's right arm, which at the time was holding a rather vicious-looking katana.
"Yes, Gino?" Suzaku relaxed his original surprised posture.
"Why are you dressed as a temple priestess?" Gino sized up Suzaku quickly, taking note of his traditional white-and-navy clothing.
"I always dress this way when I train, Gino. And this isn't a priestess' outfit, it's called a hakama."
"Too bad," Gino heaved an exaggerated sigh, disentangling his arm and turning away from the shorter boy, clearly bored. "You'd have made one sexy priestess… Oh! And the emperor is on the vid screen. You have orders." He grinned as he sang the last three words. "I'd change before you meet him, though. Don't want His Majesty thinking that you're loyal to the Elevens, do you?" The Knight of Three smiled widely as he left the room, though Suzaku knew the peace would be short-lived.
He changed out of his training clothes as quickly as possible, folding the fabrics carefully and making sure his military uniform was done up properly. He traded out his katana for the longsword he had been given during his second Knighting ceremony, being sure the scabbard was securely fastened to his hip.
He glanced at himself in a mirror as he made his way to the council room where he knew Emperor Charles zi Britannia would be waiting with his orders. He didn't think he worried about his appearance more than the other knights did when meeting the emperor, but then again, they only met him as a ruler. Suzaku, on the other hand, met him as both a leader and the father of his boyfriend. And this would be the first time that ruler and knight would speak since Suzaku and Lelouch had learned the news the week before.
He gulped, trying to steady his nerves before he pushed open the council room door. Once he was sure he had a grip on himself, he opened the door, saluted and bowed like a good little lackey, and closed the door behind him.
"I apologize for taking so long, Your Majesty," Suzaku said to the image of Charles on the video screen. It was still difficult for Suzaku to look at the man and not compare him to his children. He felt a small pang of guilt when he realized yet again that Lelouch looked nothing like his father, with the exception of his piercing, violet eyes. Nunnally looked more like the emperor than the pictures of Lady Marianne that he'd seen, but she was enough like her mother that she was pretty rather than harsh and demanding in her looks. Euphy had once had the same quiet beauty as Nunnally, hardly resembling her sister, Cornelia, but somehow managing to look like their shared father. Suzaku had never seen pictures of Euphy's mother, but he could only assume Cornelia looked more like her.
"I understand that I caught you unawares, Lord Kururugi, but I suggest you never allow this to happen again." The emperor's words reminded Suzaku of the one thing he always left out when comparing Charles to his children. Though Lelouch and Cornelia did not look much like their father physically, they all had the same calm, confident tone that said without saying, "obey me or suffer my wrath." And if Lelouch was any indication of what his father's wrath was like, Suzaku made a mental note never to cross him.
"Yes, Your Majesty" Suzaku said, bowing again.
The emperor on the other end of the call—from the background, Charles was sitting comfortably in his throne room—nodded once. Suzaku supposed that this meant both belief in his sincerity and acknowledgment that he'd noticed how Suzaku had finally learned not to stumble over the unfamiliar English words.
"Kururugi, you were raised in the Kyoto area of old Japan, were you not?"
"I was, Your Majesty." Suzaku had long since learned that, though the emperor himself had a tendency toward long-windedness, he did not appreciate the same from his subjects.
"Then I can assume you know the area well? That you would be able to navigate it well, despite the years since you have lived there?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Kyoto is an old city, and it is unlikely to have changed much."
"Good. The army is amassing there to take advantage of the new deposits of Sakuradite. But, as we know, the Black Knights had ties to Kyoto, as well."
Suzaku remained quiet, knowing where this was going and knowing that there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"The army is in need of a guide, Kururugi, They need someone that knows both the area and the language. As the highest-ranking former-Eleven in the Britannian forces, this task is yours."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Suzaku said, silently adding such comments as "You old bastard! You expect me to leave my pregnant boyfriend, your son, to spend a few months running around the city just miles from the home where I killed my own father?"
"You leave tomorrow morning, then, Kururugi. Dismissed."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Suzaku said quickly, saluting just of a fraction of a second before the vid screen blanked out. Once he was alone, his formal posture evaporated. "Shit," he hissed under his breath. "Lelouch is going to kill me."
~*~
"Kyoto?" Lelouch asked, feigning surprise. Damn that man! Sending my boyfriend against the Black Knights! He can't possibly know that I'm Zero again!
"Just for a little while! It's a security issue, really. They shouldn't need me for long."
"Can't you go on… paternity leave or something? There must be something that will stop them from sending you!"
"And what would I tell them, Lulu? 'Sorry, sir, I can't go because my pregnant boyfriend might need me' doesn't sound like it would go over very well with my superiors."
"Well, if you say 'pregnant boyfriend' they might kick you out because you're gay. Or because they think you're crazy."
"Lulu, I like being in the military! If I wasn't, we might never have met!" Again, they both added silently.
"But what if the Black Knights show up? They've been so much worse ever since this new Zero showed up! I hate to think of our children growing up without their Otou-san."
"I can handle Zero, Lelouch. I caught him before, remember?" And besides, he won't kill me. You made damn sure of that.
"But this isn't the same person, Suzaku! The first Zero was executed, wasn't he?"
"So the records say," Suzaku looked at his boyfriend with a meaning he assumed only he understood. "I caught him, but I wasn't allowed to witness his execution myself."
"You risk everything to deliver that terrorist to the emperor, and they don't give you the honor of throwing the switch? That's crap."
"Maybe I didn't want to." Suzaku was staring so intently at Lelouch that he almost felt unnerved, though he knew any reaction would doom him.
"Why not?" he countered, almost daring Suzaku to say "you know why."
"Killing Zero wouldn't have ended this war, as we can already see. Plus, killing him wouldn't have brought back all of the people that died by his hands."
"It would have brought solace to those left behind, though," Lelouch said softly, drawing close to the other boy and stroking his cheek gently. "Especially for the victims' families to see an Eleven bring justice to the man that risked the lives of so many Elevens for the supposed purpose of peace."
"He killed Britannians, too," Suzaku said, unable to hide the pang of hurt in his voice as a young, pink-haired woman crossed his mind.
"You really think he meant to kill Princess Euphemia, Suzaku? I thought he only asked to speak with her, and then she…"
"It was intentional! You weren't there, Lelouch. You didn't have to see her… To watch her do that, to watch her die!" Suzaku stared deeply into Lelouch's violet eyes, challenging the Zero he knew was in there (though he did not know how deeply he was buried), challenging Euphy's murderer. He felt Lelouch's hand on his cheek again, and he wanted to slap it away, half expecting it to be stained with her blood. He wanted to grab the prince's wrist and force Zero out, to put an end to the pain he felt for Euphy's death.
"Suzaku…" Lelouch said softly, his thin fingers wiping the single stray tear from Suzaku's face. The Japanese boy blinked hard, trying to get rid of any other stragglers. Gazing again into Lelouch's eyes showed Suzaku that strange confusion that rarely showed itself in the normally level-headed boy. What was shining through now was pain, remorse, and sympathy. Pain for Suzaku's pain? Remorse for a life cut so tragically short? Sympathy for a knight forced to watch his princess slaughter his people? Or was this the pain for losing a sister, the remorse of killing her, and the sympathy for their mutual attachment to the girl?
"Suzaku?" Lelouch asked, squirming slightly as he snapped the knight out of his thoughts.
"Yes, Lelouch?"|
"Just… promise to come back. No matter what, come back to me."
Suzaku smiled through his self-pity, bowing sarcastically to the Britannian. "Yes, My Lord," he said in perfect English.
"Ugh," Lelouch said, turning a bit green. "You're going to make me vomit."
"Sorry!" Suzaku kissed Lelouch's forehead and helped him to the bathroom.
"Not you!" Lelouch snapped, falling to his knees in front of the toilet. "Your kids!"
"Lelouch, how can you be having morning sickness at dinnertime?"
"Because apparently your children don't like their Otou-san treating me like I'm somehow better than he is," Lelouch replied after a moment of retching with nothing to show for it.
After another few minutes of nausea, Lelouch finally felt well enough to stand and accompany Suzaku back to the dining room. The two sat next to one another as Rolo brought out the food he'd made, taking a plate for himself and vanishing into his bedroom.
"Why do you keep calling me 'Otou-san', Lulu?" Suzaku asked finally.
"Because that's what you are! That's the Japanese word for 'father', right?"
"Well, yes, but—"
"You're their father, aren't you, so why can't you be their Otou-san?"
"Then we're raising our kids to speak Japanese? Wouldn't they be better off being raised like Britannians?"
"Can't we do both? Besides, their taking your surname, so they should address you with the proper respect!"
"Who says they're taking my name? Lamperouge is a perfectly good surname!"
"Suzaku, they're going to have at least one Japanese name each, and a surname is much easier to change than a given name." Lelouch tried to think of an example that wouldn't involve his own change from "vi Britannia" to "Lamperouge." "Besides, I'd like to have a Japanese surname someday…"
Suzaku stopped dead for a second, caught completely off-guard by Lelouch's suggestion of marriage. "But why can't they just call me 'Father' or 'Dad'?"
Lelouch smirked and kissed Suzaku's forehead, much like someone would do when talking to a confused child. "We don't want to confuse them, do we? Calling us both 'Father'!"
"I was thinking they'd call you 'Mother', Lulu." Suzaku nearly laughed at the look Lelouch gave him. He probably would have, had he not known how dangerous that was.
"Do I look female, Suzaku?"
"Well, no… But you're the pregnant one. It makes sense that the one that carries them for nine months is their 'mother.'"
"I wouldn't be pregnant if it weren't for you!"
"You wouldn't be pregnant if you weren't the one that said 'why do we need a condom? We're both male and neither of us has any diseases.' Or if you weren't such a damned adorable little uke."
Lelouch would later claim that the only reason they proved how willing an uke he really was that night was because he didn't want to spend what could have been their last hours together mad at Suzaku.
But, as they both knew, there was no way Suzaku would die on the battlefield.
Whew! Sorry again that took so long! I started typing this a week ago, but once again life took over and ate my free time. But it's done now! Isn't that great? Hopefully chapter 5 won't take me as long to write. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!!