Lawli: Two announcements!

Firstly: The amazing and wonderful xxxCodeTsubasa has drawn TCoC's first-ever fanart, and I must feature it here because I love it to bits! Follow the link to see it yourself (and leave her faves and comments!). It's of Suzako, and its very cute! ^-^ Thanks so much, Tsubasa, you're awesome! -hugs and loves and showers you with presents- 8D

http: / tsubasaholic . deviantart . com /art/ Suzako-109975459 (remove the spaces!)

Secondly: Some of you have mentioned wanting to see Lelouch in a dress in this story. So, I have currently have a poll in my profile of whether or not 'Luluko' should make an appearance! Please let me know your opinion by voting!

THANKS TO... Miraploy, loki lee, Nodurne, -w- easy enough, Thoughtless7, L Lexuran, Suzanne, Princess of Oblivion, Suffocated Entity, mochiusagi, Candelabra, RangerInBlack, loveableneko, Ritsuka189, icarus923, LucifernSatan, fantasies4eva, DarkBombayAngel, Crispy Rice, TZ-Ish-My-Name, shatteredtomorrow., XenoKosMos, Mercy, mikanchan94, defianceobjectivity99, Serena the Hikari of Love, Chubby-King-Chocobo, and o0Checkmate0o... FOR REVIEWING!

The Charlatans of Circumstance
-Chapter Six-

"So how did it go?"

Suzaku glared weakly at Kaguya, who smiled at him with curiosity he knew better than to take as innocent. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he answered her question with one of his own. Entering his room to find Kaguya still awake only added to his negative feelings about the evening.

Kaguya sat up, resting back against the headboard. "All I do all day is sleep. I'm not tired. And you're avoiding my question. How did it go?"

Exhaling loudly, Suzaku moved to the changing screen on the opposite end of the room. There was no point arguing with Kaguya; Suzaku knew this better than anyone. The girl was spoiled rotten, and perhaps that was Suzaku's own fault since he had the biggest hand in raising her and couldn't help meeting her every whim.

"It went..." Suzaku's voice trailed off as he tried to find a word that best described Lelouch and Suzako's first official encounter. He found the hidden zipper of the gold dress and pulled it down. "Decently," he finally decided after stepping out of the frock and throwing it over the top of the screen.

"Decently?" Suzaku couldn't see her, but he knew Kaguya was making a face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

On a chair behind the changing screen, Suzaku found a plain white nightdress. He stared at it dubiously, wondering if he really had to wear women's clothing to bed on top of everything else.

It was too late to complain now; Suzaku didn't have any of his own clothing with him (thanks in part to Kallen, who under C.C.'s orders had confiscated his bags shortly after his arrival).

"I don't know... I think I did fine," Suzaku admitted. The only folly he could recall was picking up the wrong fork at the start of their dinner. "Though I'm still not sure how to act with him. Lelouch, he's so..."

Kaguya interrupted him. "Is he handsome?"

Behind the screen, Suzaku blushed, wondering what it would mean if he answered that truthfully. Suzaku had no problem admitting to himself if he found someone – female or male – attractive; beauty, in his opinion, could be found in anyone, regardless of their gender... But Kaguya would tease him mercilessly for it, if she became aware of his true thoughts of Lelouch's appearance.

Because, if Suzaku was to be completely honest... Lelouch was a very striking individual. One might even go as far as to say perfect – what, with his willowy, graceful build, immaculate hair, and piercing eyes.

Never in his life had Suzaku found himself attracted to another man... but, appearances alone, Lelouch embodied the very word attractive, and Suzaku would be flat-out lying if he even tried to utter otherwise.

To buy himself some time, Suzaku proceeded to change into his nightdress. While extremely comfortable, it was shorter than to his liking, reaching just above his knees in length. Nervously he tugged at the hem, displeased to find that the material didn't give even the slightest.

"I guess so," he finally said, thinking of Lelouch's glossy dark hair and brooding amethyst eyes. "He's pretty handsome."

Kaguya clapped her hands twice to show her excitement. "What's he look like?" she demanded to know next.

Suzaku removed the brown wig, which halfway through dinner started to make his scalp itch like crazy, and sighed contentedly. Realizing only afterward how that sigh might be taken by his cousin, he coughed loudly. "U-um, he's... He has black hair that's a bit longer than mine, and straight. And really nice eyes; they're purple, which is kind of unique. Um... he's about as tall as I am, maybe a little bit taller, but kind of scrawny."

Kaguya sighed dreamily. "I like him already," she said, and Suzaku frowned at the wistful tone of her voice.

"Well he's not all that great," he said quickly, very eager to point out the flaws he'd already taken note of in his pretend fiancé. "He's very arrogant, the type of guy who thinks he's better than everyone! And he's really hard to talk to, and he looks so serious all the time, it's unnerving."

To Suzaku, these all seemed like perfectly legitimate excuses for why his interactions with the other man had been – as he told Kaguya – decent, at best. Kaguya, on the other had, held a different opinion.

"Maybe you just need to try harder?"

Suzaku walked out from behind the curtain, trying to ignore the squeal of laughter from Kaguya once she noticed his choice of eveningwear.

"I think if he saw you in that, he might open up more," she teased.

Face flushing, Suzaku crossed his arms over his chest. "K-Kaguya!" he stammered. "It's nothing like that. I'd never agree to—"

"Alright, alright." Kaguya rolled her eyes. "I was only kidding. Lighten up, will you? This whole thing is making you so irritable."

Suzaku closed his eyes, wishing he could just lighten up. "It's just really hard, Kaguya. And Lelouch isn't making it any easier on me. I'm not even sure what he really expects me to do... how he wants me to act around him."

He motioned with his hand for her to scoot over and Kaguya complied, giving him space to lay down beside her.

"If he's not going to tell you, just figure it out on your own. Act like you're a girl in love."

Suzaku frowned, resting his cheek on the pillow and glancing up at his cousin. "But how do I do that?" he asked, hoping for her to impart some of her female wisdom onto him.

Kaguya stared back at him a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know. I've never been in love. But... it's different for every girl. You can act giggly and playful, or blunt, or shy, or hard-to-get. Find out which one suits Suzako more." Reaching down, she threaded her fingers through Suzaku's tangled brown hair. "I think what you really need to do is forget about Suzaku for a while, and find out what kind of person Suzako is. Once you do that, everything else should come naturally, you know?"

Suzaku understood, vaguely. He needed to stop looking at things from his own perspective, and instead see the situation from Suzako's point of view.

Suzako loved Lelouch – loved him so much that she would travel all the way to another part of the world just to be with him. Suzaku had to embody that devotion; with every move he made as Suzako, he had to show that complete faith and adoration.

...But with Lelouch as approachable as a brick wall, how could he?

The next day, in accordance with his orders (which came in the form of a note on his nightstand, signed by the shrews themselves: C.C., Kallen, Rakshata, and even Kaguya, whom they knew he could deny nothing), Suzaku donned an ankle-length, peach-colored skirt and the white blouse that went with it, as well as his wig and a pair of white open-toe flats.

As he stared at his reflection in the mirror, he made a resolution: he would put his all into this plan. If that meant really acting like a woman, then so be it; he would have the girls teach him everything they knew.

Reaching for a tube of lip gloss on the dresser, he applied it to his mouth, and what was left of his machismo side shriveled up at the sight of the light shimmer it gave his lips. Smiling in determination, he reached for the peach hairpiece and wound it into his wig.

He would pull of acting as Suzako.

Once satisfied with his appearance, he began his search for Kallen. Considering the size of the home above C.C.'s brothel, it didn't take long to find the woman. The first room he walked in to – that being the kitchen – he found her sitting before a bowl of untouched... something, flipping through a newspaper.

"What is that?" Suzaku asked with wrinkle of his nose as he pointed to Kallen's sorry excuse for a breakfast.

She glared at him from over the paper. "It's supposed to be oatmeal," she replied at length. Suzaku didn't bother to conceal his laughter as he took a seat opposite of her. She regarded him coolly. "You know, if you want something from me, this isn't the best way to get it, Suzako-chan."

Suzaku's laughter quieted down, his eyebrows (still sore from the torture of being tweezed the day before) raising in silent inquiry. "What makes you think I want something from you?"

Kallen made a show of rolling her eyes and folding up the newspaper. "Please don't talk like that; you sound just like your precious fiancé."

Kallen's apparent dislike for Lelouch was something both amusing and curious to Suzaku. While Kallen claimed to find Lelouch pompous and annoying, Suzaku didn't quite buy into her story. He didn't know the history between the two, but he doubted Kallen would help Lelouch with this ridiculous scheme of his if she didn't at least like the man.

"Sorry," he apologized, reaching over the table and grabbing the rim of the bowl of oatmeal, pulling it towards himself. Cautiously, he picked up the spoon and tasted the lumpy substance, and Kallen's azure eyes widened in both surprise and disgust at the fact that he was eating from her plate – and with her spoon. "It's not that bad," he complimented.

"I never said it was. You jumped to that conclusion on your own." She paused to glare at him. "What, did you think I can't cook just because I'm not a housewife?"

Suzaku held up his hands defensively. "No, that's not what I meant at all!"

Kallen kept going, his words lost on her. "I bet you can't do any better, missy!" she accused.

To appease her, Suzaku agreed. "Probably not." Pushing the bowl back in Kallen's direction, he sighed. "Anyways... this isn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

Smirking, Kallen leaned forward. "So you did need something from me after all." Sheepishly, Suzaku smiled at her. "What is it, then?"

Suzaku pursed his lips, eyes lowering to the tabletop. "I..." Now that the time had come to ask for the favor, he found himself drawing a blank. What did he need from her, again? Wait, no, it wasn't anything he needed at all; Suzako wanted a favor from Kallen.

Switching over to the voice designated as Suzako's, he made his request.

"I need you to teach me how to flirt."

"Your first lesson shall be in Touch."

Suzaku sat on the couch, legs crossed at the ankle. In front of him, wearing a serious expression befitting of a teacher, stood Kallen.

"Touch is very important," she was explaining, "as it can allude to a multitude of different things – if you're feeling needy, longing for attention, or if you just want your space."

Suzaku about fainted when she proceeded to sit extremely close to him and slide her hand up his thigh. "K-Kallen!" he gasped, voice jumping to Suzako's octave naturally in his surprise.

Kallen sighed in exasperation. "Don't be so edgy; you're the one who asked me for help! Now shut up, I'm trying to teach you something important."

"I doubt feeling him up will ever be necessary!" Suzaku cried. When he'd asked for instructions on flirting, he hadn't had anything physical in mind.

"Lelouch and Suzako are an engaged couple, and have probably been intimate with each other plenty of times," Kallen informed him. "You have to stop getting so embarrassed over little things like this."

Suzaku scowled. "It's not like we'll have to be that intimate in public!"

Raising an eyebrow, Kallen grinned, amused. "Do you have any idea who you're trying to fool here?" she asked. "Lelouch's mother is a woman who won't be satisfied unless she sees the two of you behaving, at the very least, affectionately. She'll want the two of you to be publicly intimate."

Suzaku felt as though his heart had dropped into his stomach, and was now being eaten away by deadly acids.

Dressing like a woman... he could live with. The clothing was not as uncomfortable as he first imagined it would be.

Acting like a woman in love... he could try, no matter how hard it would be to convince people he was truly in love with a virtual stranger.

But being physically intimate with him?

Yes, he knew he would have to act somewhat affectionately – perhaps hold Lelouch's hand, or embrace him. And he agreed to flirt with him verbally. But this was entirely different... these people expected far more from him than Suzaku bargained for. That meant kissing, touching in ways that were borderline inappropriate outside of the bedroom.

Face reddening, Suzaku buried his face in his hands.

What had he done to deserve this?

"It's really not so bad," Kaguya assured him, running a brush through Suzako's wig to get rid of any tangles that may have formed throughout an entire day of use. "He could be ugly."

Suzaku looked at her, stunned by her one-track mind. "Is that all you think about?"

Kaguya smiled sweetly, setting the brush down on the dresser and returning the wig to its resting place atop a false head. "You have to admit it relieves you though, yes?"

He did not dignify her with an answer – partially because she was right, and he just didn't feel like acknowledging that. Instead, he reclined in the bed, staring up at the ceiling listlessly and losing himself in thought. It wasn't like him to be self-pitying, but at the moment he couldn't help it. Only when Kaguya started coughing fiercely across the room did he snap out of it and remember his purpose for agreeing to Lelouch's plan in the first place.

Kaguya...

Quickly Suzaku got out of bed and approached her, resting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her against him. She coughed against his chest, a hand in front of her mouth, though she tried to speak around it to tell him to let go.

"It's-it's fine... just a c-cough."

Suzaku led her over to the bed wordlessly and laid her down in the center of the mattress. After promising to return with a glass of water, he left for the kitchen.

The previous evening, Lelouch had pointedly ignored the subject of Suzaku's payment. At the time, Suzaku had been willing to let it drop, but next time he wouldn't. If Lelouch didn't intend to actually pay him, Suzaku would not hesitate to leave. He didn't need to be there, wasting his time and wounding his ego by parading around in women's clothing. So if the whole 'payment' thing turned out to be nothing more than a ruse to get him to agree to this ridiculous farce...

"—refuse."

Lelouch's voice, unmistakably. Had he just arrived?

Suzaku approached the closed door that led to the kitchen, pressing his ear against the polished wood to listen in on whatever conversation was being held on the opposite side.

"You can't," was the reply from who Suzaku recognized as C.C. "This was your idea."

"I know that!"

He didn't even know the man well, but Suzaku could picture Lelouch scowling in frustration, a hand fisted in his silky black hair; a soft laugh escaped him.

"I don't see what the big deal is." C.C. sounded bored, as though they'd had this discussion several times already.

"You know very well what the big deal is!"

There was a loud yawn, presumably from C.C.

"I expected more from you, Lelouch. You like to talk, but in the end you're nothing more than a virgin with a big mouth."

Suzaku's eyes widened at her bluntness. Now he knew exactly what they were talking about... and he couldn't help but feel relieved that Lelouch was just as hesitant as him about acting intimately. That didn't bode well for their plan, however, though Suzaku –

"Oof!"

The kitchen tile stung against his left cheek. Suzaku glanced up from where his face was planted on the floor to see C.C. standing with her hand on the doorknob, looking amused as ever.

"Good evening, Suzako," she greeted.

Flushing in embarrassment, Suzaku scrambled to his feet, hastily tugging down his nightdress to ensure it covered all of him. "G-good evening, C.C.," he greeted as Suzako, nodding to her and then to his 'fiancé' who sat at the table, in almost the exact pose Suzaku had envisioned; "Lelouch."

Giving a smirk as her only form of response, C.C. left the kitchen.

Lelouch's hand fell from his hair, though his posture did not relax in the slightest. He regarded Suzaku with an unreadable look in his violet eyes as the brunette slowly made his way toward the table. Suzaku fidgeted under the intense gaze, immediately at a loss for what to do. He knew what he should do – ask Lelouch straight away about the money, so he knew whether or not to even bother with this guise anymore. But the words wouldn't come to him, and the longer Lelouch stared the more uncomfortable Suzaku became.

To his horror, Suzaku found himself blushing. "What is it?" he finally found the voice to say, when nearly two full minutes passed and Lelouch refused to avert his gaze.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Lelouch's lips, and he gestured to Suzaku. "I'm just surprised by your state of dress. Have you no pride as a man?" There was a teasing edge to his voice that spurred a tremor of resentment in Suzaku.

Again Suzaku tugged down the nightdress, hating it even more than he did previously. Stupid C.C., forcing him to wear this ridiculous thing to bed. Realizing his anger was misdirected, Suzaku shook his head. This was all Lelouch's fault. If the man would just grow a spine and tell his mother he didn't want to get married, they wouldn't be in this awkward situation; he wouldn't have to wear women's clothing all hours of the day (and night).

Eyes narrowing, he just about shouted at the other man to shut up.

But then an idea came to him, driven by C.C.'s words and the unique lessons he'd received from Kallen earlier in the day. Immediately he switched tactics, lowering his eyelids in a way Kallen told him looked sexy, and languidly approaching Lelouch's chair.

"I know it must embarass you," he said, now speaking in a huskier version of Suzako's voice as he loomed closer to his pretend fiancé. "Being a virgin, you must not be used to seeing so much skin."

A hot blush spread across Lelouch's face – whether caused by the taunt or the fact that Suzaku now stood incredibly close to him, Suzaku couldn't be sure.

Suzaku continued, unable to stop now that he'd elicited such a reaction. "But don't be so shy. You wanted me, after all... Lelouch." He bent his head to whisper the other's name in his ear, and was pleased by the way Lelouch jumped and pushed his chair several feet back.

"What do you want?" he snapped, trying to compose himself.

Suzaku smirked triumphantly, viewing this as a victory against his pretend fiancé. "I just came down to get some water for Kaguya," he replied honestly, backing away from Lelouch and moving instead to the kitchen cabinets, where after a short search he found a glass. "But since you're here..." He paused in front of the sink, filling the glass with water from the tap. "I want to talk to you about payment."

"Payment." Lelouch chuckled mockingly. "You sound like one of C.C.'s girls."

Scowling at the insult, Suzaku turned to glare at him. "The only reason I agreed to do this was because I was promised the money. Now I want to know, do you have any intention of paying me?"

Lelouch consider him warily, but didn't say anything – which Suzaku took as an answer in and of itself. The brunette's fingers clenched around the glass of water, turning white at the knuckles from the force. Without a word, he turned on his heel and stalked in the direction of the kitchen's exit, fully intent of packing up and leaving right then and there. His cheeks burned in anger as he thought about the time he'd squandered – the time he could have spent actually working, earning money for Kaguya's medicine – learning ridiculous thing like dinner etiquette and flirting.

"Suzako."

Suzaku halted at the door, surprised to hear Lelouch speak, much less address him by that name. He turned to face the black-haired man, but his angry expression faltered once he saw the pleasant smile on Lelouch's face. It looked out of place, when directed at him, and Suzaku didn't know what to make of it.

"I'm a man of my word."

Suzaku blinked twice.

Did that mean...?

The question must have been apparent from his expression, for Lelouch gave a small nod of the head. Suzaku couldn't hold back the smile that spread across his face. He stood at the door, still shocked and overjoyed by the news, and didn't know what to say to Lelouch now.

"Thanks," he finally managed, and it sounded lame even to his own ears. "I really appreciate it."

Lelouch merely shrugged his shoulders and changed the subject. "I'll be here to pick you up tomorrow afternoon. Make sure you're ready to go."

Suzaku nodded quickly. "I will be, don't worry. Um..." he hesitated a moment, not sure if he should say anything else, before remembering the glass of water in his hand and his cousin who waited for him. "Goodnight, Lelouch."

"Goodnight."

Lawli: I think I made Suzaku a touch OOC in that last scene. Apologies! ^^

Next chapter: Suzako meets the family.