Lisbeth stood before the members of the student council, her back held stiff, her face revealing nothing but emptiness, although it was done in an extremely polite way. Kallen could tell she was trained for this kind of thing.
What a tightass. Kallen thought, inwardly snorting, though she didn't really blame her, it was the Britannian way of life and it couldn't be helped. But would it hurt for her to be a bit more like Euphemia? Kallen thought that she was a little too cheerful but Kallen would take cheerful over cold and cynical any day, especially after the year's past events.
"Why don't you sit down?" Rivalz asked eyeing her strangely.
"But that would be anti-productive" Lisbeth cocked her head to one side "If I sat down the whole point of this meeting would be completely gone. We are here to determine whether or not I should join you, if I sat down then I would be considered your equal, in this matter of course, and there would be no point of this vote"
"Jeez, Lizzie, loosen up will you? This isn't the UFN, it's just student council" Gino rolled his eyes and laid back in his chair, sighing.
"Gino." She gave him a cold look "Life is something to be taken seriously, even if it is just student council, besides, I find these matters a little fun, better than all the other shit I had to deal with"
"Better than fish forks and salad?" He smirked and she gave him a look so murderous Kallen's hand flew to the pocket knife concealed in her wallet.
What happened next surprised her so much that her eyes flew wide and her mouth fell open. Lisbeth threw her head back and laughed, actually laughed. Aside from the small chuckle on her first day, nothing even resembling a laugh had come out of her and Kallen never expected it to be anything like this. Her laugh was, in short, enchanting. It filled Kallen up with a happiness she hadn't felt since Lelouch.
"Yes, much better than fish forks and salads" she nodded and grinned at Gino playfully.
"See, that's the Lizzie I know and love. Please stay around" Gino pouted and batted his eyelashes and she rolled her eyes and went back to her polite blankness.
"Back to the matter at hand" Lisbeth said and Kallen heard Gino groan and mumble something beside her.
"Kallen, have you reached a verdict?"
"Uhm...we have"
"I'm anxiously waiting for the result"
"Erm...you can join the council. No one voted against you actually"
"You aren't supposed to tell me that, if you do it will increase the risk of arrogance in the future but thank you very much" she smiled kindly and Kallen smiled back.
"Then I guess it would be okay for me to sit down now?" she smiled warmly and sat down in the empty seat next to Gino. He clapped her on the back and gave her the thumbs up sign, she merely smiled and thanked him.
What Kallen liked about Lisbeth was that there was modesty around her, along with her burdened importance, which set her apart from the rest of the Britannians Kallen had ever knew. It wasn't the way she spoke, no she was quite like Lelouch in that area, overly cocky. And sometimes she was just so…arrogantly cynical that it made Kallen's blood boil. Those blemishes aside (Kallen was quite sure they were just for show anyway) Kallen couldn't help but…pity-yes, pity would be the right word for it-her. Despite everything she had been through Kallen wouldn't call herself unhappy, in fact she was the happiest now since she had been in a long time, and she owed it all to her family and friends. Lisbeth didn't seem to have either, aside from Gino of course.
Kallen pitied most of the royal family, they seemed so lonely all of the time, but Lisbeth especially seemed to cry out loneliness, misery, and pain. Kallen had no idea what to think of her, sometimes she would be so mad at her, and other times she would scold herself for not reaching out to the lonely girl.
Kallen couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the attention Gino was giving her, she knew that they were old friends and that they hadn't seen each other in a while but she was still a little envious, though she could tell that she was not alone. Many of the girls had already started to hate Lisbeth because of her close relationship with Gino Weinberg, although Kallen was somewhat relieved that their obsessive hatred wasn't directed towards her, as it had been ever since she had come back to school.
First with Lelouch and now with Gino, Kallen always managed to capture the hearts (if you could say that Lelouch had a heart that is) of the most wanted men on campus. Unfortunately this meant that she had a difficulty making friends, and not to mention the fact that she had been called a slut more times than she could count. The rest of the boys were, of course, envious of Lelouch and Gino (she was considered a bit of a catch herself) although boys seemed to show their hostility in a different manner.
Despite all of this, Kallen really missed Gino's attempts to seduce her and his frivolous announcements of love.
When the first Friday since Lisbeth's arrival came around Kallen was planning to go visit her mother for the weekend, most people left and visited their families during the weekends as well so naturally Kallen was wondering where Lisbeth was planning on going. When Kallen asked her she merely shrugged off the question, but she knew she was going somewhere because she had seen her packing a bag the other day.
She wondered if she could be going to see Schneizel or Cornelia, they were, after all, her family. But somehow it seemed very unlikely. Whenever Kallen asked Gino about her family, he also would look extremely uncomfortable and change the subject. Didn't she have a mother or a sibling to go to? She knew that a lot of the 98th emperor's wives were still alive, although she knew that Lisbeth's mother had died, but she must have a brother or sister, rarely did an empress produce a single child, most of them had two children.
Maybe she was visiting Nunally, that would make sense, she acted as if she knew Lelouch whenever Kallen mentioned him, and she remembered Gino saying something about him being her favorite brother. Would she be allowed to visit her though? She had disappeared so suddenly that most people thought she was dead, they would probably think she was some imposter.
So when the day finally came around Kallen and Lisbeth found themselves walking alongside each other, they were both headed for the ghettos whereas the majority of the school was heading towards the wealthier parts of Tokyo.
Kallen glanced at Lisbeth out of the corner of her eye, she had a duffel slung over her shoulder and she walked with a hardened expression. She seemed to know where she was going, or at least had somewhere to go.
"Lisbeth?"
"…" she waited for Kallen to continue.
"I was just wondering if you'd like to stay at my house or something. I only live with my mother so I've got plenty of room."
"I don't need your pity." she replied so coldly that Kallen stopped walking in surprise, staring at the back of her head.
Kallen caught up with her and they resumed walking in silence, they went their separate ways soon, Lisbeth heading for some unknown destination and Kallen walking towards the residential area. This was another one of those times where Kallen found herself thinking about strangling her. Although Kallen herself probably would have given the same answer, had she been in her position.
It wasn't until she got home and flopped down on the bed that she realized Lisbeth was headed for the base of the Black Knights.
The next day, when Kallen was washing the dishes after breakfast, her mother walked in, looking slightly flustered, and announced that there was someone at the door for her. Thinking it was probably Gino, again, she rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance, drying her hands and preparing her lungs for a good work out.
She stopped when she saw who it was, her mouth splitting into a wide grin. She rushed towards him and threw her arms around him as he pulled her into a tight embrace.
"Ohgi!" she yelled, delighted, now understanding why her mother had seemed so flustered "What are you doing here?"
"Well I'm actually here to give you an invitation." Kallen stepped aside and let him pass, directing him over to the living room.
"How're Villetta and the baby?" Kallen asked as they sat across from each other.
"Oh they're good, Villetta says he looks more like me than her" That's a relief. Kallen thought. "But I can't really tell, you know how I am with that kind of stuff" Kallen grinned and nodded, struggling to laugh at the expression he had once held when an old lady asked him whether he had his grandfather's hands or not.
"So, when do we get to see him?" her mother asked as she bustled into the room and set a tray onto the table and began pouring the tea.
"Well, that's sort of why I'm here. Zero has organized a meeting with a select few, Kallen included, where he wants to introduce his personal Knight before the public announcement the day after tomorrow." Personal Knight? "Viletta will be attending the ceremony the day after tomorrow and after that we will have a small gathering where me and Viletta will introduce our new son" He was practically beaming by the time he took his first sip of tea.
"So Kallen needs to come tomorrow to the first meeting and then you, Ms. Kouzuki, can follow her the next day"
"Of course, of course." Her mother sounded distracted.
"Mother, what's wrong?" Kallen looked concerned.
"Oh nothing, I'm just trying to figure out what we should wear." Her mother smiled at her and Kallen sighed.
"I deeply apologize for not telling you sooner but-"
"Oh nonsense. You're the Prime Minister. You're obviously extremely busy" her mother batted her hands around before sipping her tea and losing herself in thought.
"Ohgi, do you know who his personal bodyguard is?" Kallen asked, feeling a sort of jealousy stirring inside of her.
When Lelouch had been Zero she had always been given special attention, she had always been special, but now she was just Kallen Kouzuki. Not Ace of the Black Knights, just Kallen Kouzuki. And this new tidbit of information hurt her deeply, she had always considered herself to be Zero's personal knight. Although he probably wanted someone who would be with him 24/7, something Kallen was incapable of doing due to her ambition to finish school. But hadn't Suzaku been Euphemia's knight, despite the fact that he was in school as well? It was all so frustrating, but she had to put her personal feelings aside and think about what was best for the Black Knights, and what was best for Zero.
"No. There's a rumor that's it's a woman though, but that's probably just Tamaki trying to be funny." When Kallen didn't say anything Ohgi continued "Yes well, I think I'd best be off now, I have some last minute stops to make" he set down his cup of tea and stood up, thanking them both for their hospitality and allowed himself to be escorted by Kallen out the door, her mother stayed behind to clean up.
"Look, I know you're a little upset about this, you and Zero were pretty close" he coughed and shifted uncomfortably, remembering just how close the two of them were "But you're in school now, and he obviously doesn't expect you to just drop everything in the middle of class and come rushing to his aid. This is an entirely new person we're dealing with, you have to understand that" Ohgi spoke in a hushed tone, not wanting to worry her mother obviously.
"I'm fine Ohgi, really, I can't wait to see who he's chosen" she said, her tone bitter, her face smiling.
Ohgi smiled and kissed her on the forehead softly, before waving and closing the door behind him. Kallen sighed and ran up to her room to pack, trying her absolute best to keep a clear head and not let her jealousy grab a hold of her.
