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Chapter Six:
Lelouch did not appreciate the cliffhanger. No. Not at the very least.
He also did not appreciate the current situation he found himself trapped in.
Nor was he willing to appreciate or accept the weight of this warm, accosting, green-ribbon arm trapping him in place on top of the throne-dais. Lelouch tried to jerk away experimentally from it but Lady Shirley's feminine — and astonishingly vice-like grip — wrapped to him proved stronger than he.
It was an absolute nightmare to be put on display in front of these people. The masked, gluttonous faces of his courtly subjects... they, bluebloods, who knew nothing of sacrifices… they, who stared at him like he was an exorbitant prize that was salvaged or a rare oddity to perform tricks for their amusement…
With this old burning of anger tightening in the base of his throat, Lelouch's eyes scanned the sea of masks.
His eyes discovered a tight-lipped Suzaku as he stumbled backwards into the rapt crowd.
As the Japanese boy began to duck out from the ballroom, Lelouch felt himself finally wretch free. His baffled fiancée swayed on her feet from the violent action and shouted, "Where are you going, my Prince?" — he only heard her faintly as Lelouch leaped down the dais to part the murmuring gathering staring after his running form.
The cold, rain-scented air of the evening engulfed his sense of smell — eyes stinging in the wind.
He could barely make out the fluttering, loosened white scarf Suzaku wore around his neck.
"SUZ-!" Lelouch's sentence broke off with a gasp as he lurched forward on the castle's stairs outside. The object that had almost caused his doom glittered brightly with a splatter of raindrops. Lelouch held his draping, black cape over his head with one arm for shelter, reaching down for it.
A... transparent slipper...?
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His bare, tanned feet dangled from the edge of the sturdy, striped-bark branch he stretched out on.
Dazedly, Suzaku stared at the open, shattered face of the rhodium pocketwatch clutched in his right hand. For the life of him, he could not remember how it had broken, and it frustrated him greatly. He only knew that it was an item that his Father treasured. And now it passed to be Suzaku's treasure.
His step-family was out for the day; they had since ignored his existence since returning from the ball come early morning and for that, Suzaku was thankful. He himself had gotten back a little after midnight; the spell on his clothes had worn off (the ugly wool material of his everyday wear chaffing his skin; he was missing a cardboard-feel shoe and decided to do away with the one he had still in the yard), and Anya had not commented at his sullen mood but gave him a uncomfortably long stare upon their separation and a light pat on the back before disappearing with the giant, white mecha.
Was he that obvious?
Suzaku felt a grimace crease his mouth as his thoughts sunk back to the ball.
He had been a fool. Lelouch had other matters on his mind. Not the fate of Japan's. Had the engagement been planned beforehand? The young, red-haired woman on Lelouch's arm had been a beauty. Lelouch deserved that much as the valiant and prideful prince of this fairytale…
Would she savor the shape and appley taste of Lelouch's timid, flushing lips? As Suzaku had…?
Something in the boy's stomach twisted painfully and he pushed the memory away.
He instead glanced back to the pocketwatch cradled to his palm, curled underneath his calloused fingers.
The spider-web glass cracklings in watch-face gleamed under the afternoon sunlight—
(his chest hurt he couldn't catch his breath)—
Suzaku let out a choked, intense cry at his surroundings. It startled the birds from their nests in the maple tree's branches above, sending them twittering and airborne. The item in Suzaku's left hand — flashing through the air, green and gold and copper brocade — sailed into the lake waters, a good foot away.
He knew... somehow... nothing would change.
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She met with him alone out by the West garden's gazebo. Their parents were in the foyer. She knew it was against her parent's rules to be wandering unescorted. But…
Euphemia colored to rival her famously long curls as he bowed to kiss her knuckles, one-by-one.
"S-Sir Waldstein?"
Kanon smiled honey-sweet, fakely at her modesty.
"My delightful fiancée, is it improper to greet you in such a way? Do you fear to be seen with prying and shameless eyes with this lowly man?"
She pressed her hand to the tops of her bosom, under the low cut of her white-and-lavender dress (what a pleasant, high bosom it was... he thought) and smiled back amiably at his powder-blue eyes. "Oh, never, my good sir! Please do not think of yourself that way, ever. I am thrilled to see you on this day!" Euphemia said, leaning to him and tilting her right cheek for him to kiss.
Kanon, however, had another route in mind. She squeaked loudly, her face flaming red in shock and fear when his face pushed against the moldings of her breasts. "Ah, what an attractive scent you have…" His heavy breath moistened her exposed, white skin. She felt the tip of something wet crease the seam of her breasts. "When we are to be married you must wear this oil more often…"
"You are aware that you are under surveillance, are you not?" a voice interrupted.
The princess's heart jolted in relief and humiliation as her younger brother and the guards behind him gazed purposefully at the couple from the outside entrance of the gazebo. Kanon chuckled, straightening up and brushing his strands of turkish-rose hair from his eyes, swinging his varnished walking cane in a cheerful circle as he surveyed the assembly.
"You are being summoned by your guardian," said Lelouch, motioning to the guards to come closer. "They will accompany you to the Bailey."
"And you went out of your way to oversee this? You are too kind, your Grace." Kanon bowed his head, smiling widely as he walked over to the entrance. Lelouch flinched back a little when the thin, noble man not-so-shyly patted Lelouch's hip with his hand. "You… and your dear sister."
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"Where are you going?"
"To report this to Cornelia." Lelouch saw the panic in her lavender eyes and shook his head. It had only been a couple minutes since the Waldstein heir had returned inside the Britannian Royal Castle. "You cannot expect me to ignore the truth that he sought to sully your reputation in front of my eyes."
When Euphemia's hands began to twist together, he came forward to hold them tightly.
"I will not watch you be made a victim, Euphy," Lelouch whispered, his hooded eyes darkening.
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Cornelia turned out to be in another part of the grounds — the Place of Arms, where the rest of the Royal Knights (Knightmares, the people whispered) were training for combat — but Lelouch discovered this later. He accidentally walked into the range of a conversation between his parents and the Waldsteins.
"…And where exactly is your manor located?"
Lelouch stopped mid-stride, hearing his Father's voice through the stained glass windowpane between the Bailey and the foyer.
"The countryside. The fresh air does my sons well." The man who answered sounded like he had lungs tarred by cigar smoke. Lelouch's insides cringed at the sound.
"Oh, how quaint," his Mother laughed airily, bell-like. "I prefer the countryside myself."
"So, there are not many neighboring manors around your property, Charles?"
"We—"
"Do you have any Eleven servants?" came a new voice from the room; a cruel, growl of a voice Lelouch thought he heard once before.
"A few of them are, yes…" Lelouch's father said, trailing off and politely confused.
"Savage beasts, aren't they, your Majesty? We keep one as a servant at our manor. He's a troublemaker," the voice growled, pleased. "He killed his own Father in cold blood, as if it was nothing—!" There came a smack of varnished wood against bone and the voice cut off, whining angrily at the contact.
"My youngest forgets to mention that the child had no home, and as the merciful Master of my household, I could not leave him to starve in the streets. We had considered sending him off to the army if we did not desire the extra set of hands… Even if he is somewhat bothersome and of dirty blood… he became proficient in housekeeping and in cooking in a matter of a year or so. I would sometimes like to think of the ill boy as a stepson." An gruff, forced emotional sniff.
Lelouch's mother made an understandable hmmm.
"A reasonable decision to make considering the circumstances… now, can you tell us more about your countryside manor?"
The Britannian price pushed himself away from the stained glass window slowly, numbly.
It couldn't...
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Suzaku murmured to the spotted mare that whinnied softly to him, "Easy girl." She still struggled against her reins.
He tied them to a knob near the stable door, petting her neck consolingly. She was easily frightened by other loud noises, such as the other horses when in a gallop. His stepfather wanted to sell her off as fast as he could, until then, she was forced to remain in the stables.
Though being nearly trampled to death by her fits, Suzaku understood her grumpy nature. He hated being trapped as well.
The galloping returned but Suzaku knew it was not the horses he was in charge of. They were in a different field from this one on the grounds.
The mare reared her head back, screaming.
He raced out of the single stable to meet the trespasser face-to-face in the sunset field, breathing hard. In the process, he lost his straw hat from his short, curled brown hair. The small rider (now that he got a good look) was on a black stallion, was covered up by a long, dark cloak and hood, and jumped from the saddle to hug him around the waist before he could react properly to the intrusion of his personal space. He never had an trespasser hug him first before attacking.
"OH, it is you, my dearest cousin! I KNEW I would find you!"
The rider pulled off her whipping cloak, a swirl of jet-black ponytail piled elegantly and plaited to the back of her head, and her eyes…
(her eyes they were his eyes the color of the forests and the mountains they would play in)
"Taizo and Tohdoh said you wouldn't remember me, but they don't know what they are talking about!"
She paused, examining him, her infectious smile rising. "Oh, you do remember me, don't you? I know it's been a long time since we've seen each other. Your father was my mother's older brother after all. Do you remember the Kyoto Shrine? Oh, you have to remember that at least, Suzaku!"
"I…don't…-" He thrust his hands out, to push her away, a migraine thudding behind his eyes and temples. "I… don't know what you are saying. You are mistaken."
(her eyes they)
Her emerald-colored eyes glimmered with unshed tears, hurt, shocked. "Suzaku…you…?"
(his head flared)
"Ka…don't…cry—"
His throat closed up. And the world went black.
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TBC…
Squeezed this out during the downtime between the start of finals week. CLICHE BLACKOUT END OF CHAPTER. XDD This is a parody(ish...well, most of the time) after all! Of course I have to have at least one! Kanon is such a little pervy leech... hitting on both of them... yuuuuuck. The point IS to make the stepbrothers less likable, I guess. I hit the month mark. YAAAAYYYY. Super happy. And I hope everyone enjoyed the new chapter. Everyone who has read and reviewed so far has been wonderful in being honest. I loves you all. Questions and comments are still always welcome from anyone. Things are going places. I are eloquent. XDD And a sad excuse of an English Writing major. Ignore me. Anyway, on a completely different note... I am moving from the dorms to my Mom's apartment. So. Yeah. We'll see how that turns out. I've never lived in an apartment before... I might have been an infant when we did... but yeah. We shall see. I don't know about this living with my Mom thing. D: But... again, we shall see.