I'm in a Vandread kind of mood tonight. I keep wanting to write Nunnally as Dita. It really, really doesn't work. Oh well.

Also, this turned into a relationship episode. Something must have gotten into my soup. Seriously, this is almost as bad as my Soul Eater fanfic.

I hope you enjoy. I really, really do.

Everyone on the submarine is quiet. L2 gently brushes against Kallen. "Are you alright?" he whispers. "

Yeah. You?" Kallen asks.

"I'm fine. We need to be quiet now."

For several tense minutes that seem like hours, this ship is silent. Not a single voice can be heard, no engine noise, nothing.

It's enough to make somebody want to scream. Kallen sure wanted to. She refrained though.

Suddenly, in the distance, the sound of the sub's engine groaning back to life reverberates. Kallen hears sighs as the lights come back on, and she adds hers to the massive rush of air. "What was that?" She asks L2.

"Well, I'm guessing someone was trying to find us, so we deactivated all of our systems to hide more effectively."

"But, doesn't this sub have some sort of stealth system?"

L2 chuckles mirthlessly. "The gefjun field system doesn't disguise our sound signature. Only being quiet and the shape of our hull can reduce the sound going to the sonar dish looking for us."

Kallen leans against the wall. "It's not an experience I want to repeat. That was pretty creepy."

L2 nods. He looks to his left as Nunnally rounds the corner.

"Lel- uh, L2! The captain needs to see you!" she pants.

L2 sighs. "Alright, I'm coming. Nunnally, help Kallen get settled, will you?" He leaves without another word.

Nunnally grabs Kallen's hand. "Let's go!"

"But-"

Nunnally almost drags Kallen to the next door and throws it open.

Kallen stops resisting to take a glance inside. As far as sub accommodations go, it wasn't to shabby. In fact, compared to some of the other places she's had to live, it was pretty nice.

"It's clean, and bigger than a cockpit. It'll be good enough."

Nunnally retains her grip on Kallen's arm. "I have something I want to talk to you about." She says with a determined look.

Kallen take one last look down the hall, but L2 is long gone by now. "Fine." She sighs.

Nunnally closes and locks the door while Kallen pulls the bed down. Once they are both settled down on the mattress, Kallen motions for Nunnally to speak. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Um, I wanted to ask you..." Nunnally suddenly starts mumbling and blushing furiously.

Kallen resists from rolling her eyes. "You need to speak up.""I..." Nunnally looks up. "I want to know how to tell someone you like them!"

Kallen wears a completely blank expression for a second. "D-Do you mean in the like-like sense?"

Nunnally nods vigorously.

"I'm flattered you'd ask me, but-"

Nunnally pouts. "I know that you're doing something with my brother. I'm not stupid, just raised differently."

Kallen blinks. "Thats not- How does that have anything to do with-"

"Lelo- Er, L2 would never make the first move on you. He's clueless. That means you had to have done something."

Kallen's face contorts through several confused emotions, finally settling on anger tinged confusion. In other words, her default expression. "I'm not with Lelouch. He and I are not seeing each other. I mean, he's only eighteen!"

Nunnally crosses her arms. "He's not. He's thirty. He just looks eighteen. And besides, he won't let anyone say his real name, not even me, but he let's you." She smirks.

"That's because I threatened him. It's not like he wanted to let me. And the fact that he looks eighteen just makes it creepy!"

Nunnally pouts. "Aw, and I thought things were finally getting interesting. Either way, I still need to figure out what to say."

Kallen starts opening and closing her mouth, but no sounds come out at first. "You actually have someone you want to confess feeling for?"

"Don't sound so surprised!" Nunnally blushes furiously. "But... Ugh, nevermind. Who is it?"

Nunnally turns around and tries the lock again. "It's... It's Suzaku."

Kallen pinches her eyes closed. "Oh boy."

"I know! It's just, he's always been there for me, for as long as I've known him, and he's finally free to be someone again, and-" Nunnally's voice starts to rise.

"He still talks about Euphie." Kallen says quietly.

Nunnally dips her head. "I know that. I'm... I don't know what to do. That why I asked you, since I know L2 used to have a relationship with Shirley, and I thought you two had gotten together..."

The room grows still. Kallen thinks over the last two days in her head. Or, the last two days her mind had remembered, hospital stay notwithstanding. "Nunnally, I have no idea how anyone would go about doing this. I'm not really good with this kind of thing anyways, but even I can see that this could end very poorly."

Nunnally slumps. "I know. I know! I'm not stupid! I just..."

"Can't get him out of your head, no matter how much you try." Kallen finishes. She reaches around and lays a hand on Nunnally's shoulder. "Well, I can't think of any way but to go somewhere private and ask him how he feels. It's probably the worst possible way, but I can't think of anything else."

Nunnally bites her lip. "Oh. Well, I guess I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Not sure I was a help, but... You're welcome." Kallen sits up and stretches. "So, what is there to do on this ship when there's nothing life threatening going on?"

o-o-o-o

It was less than two hours later when Nunnally made her choice. She was walking through the sub attempting to find Suzaku when-

"Nunnally!"

Nunnally turns just in time to catch Millie's hug. "I've missed you so much! What with all this craziness with bombs and fighting, I need someone to talk to!"

"Oh, Hi. I was just looking for-" Nunnally's eyes track around Millie's form.

"I'm sure they can wait. We don't have anything to do here until we get to port anyways. So, how are things? We never got a good change to talk one on one before."

"Um, I've been very busy. They're teaching me to fly a Knightmare so I can keep up with them. Really, I don't like it. I'm kinda good at it, but still."

Millie shrugs, her almost permanent smile still affixed to her face. "Tell them you don't want to then. I'm sure your brother will back off if you ask him too."

Nunnally hangs her head. "But then I won't be able to help."

Millie snorts. "You can always work in the sub. Can you believe they tried to get me to do some maintenance? I accepted, of course, but it's the sheer audacity of it!" Millie almost manages an indignant expression.

Nunnally smiles. "I guess. I might just get in the way though."

"Nonsense! You've always been very helpful!" Millie says. "Remember in the club? Sometime I think that you were my most reliable councilwoman."

"I wasn't actually on the council, you know.""

Might as well have been for all anyone cared." Millie sits back in her chair. "So, who were you looking for?"

"Um, Suzaku." Nunnaly runs her hands together nervously.

Millie raises an eyebrow suspiciously. "Going to tell him your feelings?"

Nunnally's head whips up as she gasps. "How did you know?"

Millie smirks. "Everyone knows. Seriously, every Black Assassin is oblivious to this sort of stuff. Is it a job requirement?" She teases Nunnally with a poke on the nose.

"N-no. I think it's just that we're all still a bit screwed up because of our past history together." Nunnally mutters. Then she starts. "That's it! We're all still acting like everything should be the same!"

Millie places her hand over her mouth! Hiding a smile. Nunnally jumps up from her seat. "Thanks, Millie!"

Millie nods.

Once Nunnally leaves the room, Millie goes back to what she had come here to achieve. She knocks on the door of communications.

A rough looking man steps out of the room. "Yeah?"

"I need to use the sub's broadcast system." She flutters her eyelashes at him.

Ineffectively, it seems.

"Sorry, but L2's orders-"

"He told me to use this to broadcast this message..."

"You'll still need to get permission."

"Fine." Millie schools her face into a ticked off facade. "I'll just get L2 up here." She turns on her heel and gets a whole step away before the guard grumbles.

"It's not worth it. I'm getting a new job once we dock." His angry grunts barely register as Millie triumphantly enters the signal room.

"Let's see, if I were a PA system, where would I hide?"

o-o-o-o

L2 exits the meeting room. Even after a lifetime of being immersed in them, politics still seemed as boring as watching paint dry on growing grass. Maybe it was because he was always in politics that he feels this way.

Eh. Either way.

Suddenly the speakers crackle to life. L2 curses under his breath. This couldn't be good news.

"Good evening everyone! Seeing as spirits have been down due to recent events, I have had an idea."

L2 looks at the closest speaker with horror. "Is that... Millie's voice?"

Rivalz walks up behind him. "Yeah, that's prez alright. Wonder what's up this time?"

"So, since I managed to get a hold of the broadcasting system, I'm deciding the rules of this little game."

L2 and Rivalz look at each other. "Uh-oh."

"First and only rule! Any girl is allowed to approach any boy and express her feels to them without fear of repercussions. Boys are allowed to hide, but not leave the ship. Oh, and in an emergency, everything comes to an immediate stop."

L2's growing look of unease is mirrored by Rivalz.

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Rivalz asks glumly.

"I don't know. Millie didn't say, is suicide out of the question?"

"I don't know." Rivalz frowns. "Wait, aren't you immort-"

Millie's voice crackle through the speakers again. "And nobody is allowed to take the easy way out!" She cries out way to mirthfully for the content of her words.

"Great." L2 mumbles. "If anyone needs me, tell them I'm in the Knightmare compartment." He turns and starts to walk.

"Uh, the Knightmare compartment is that way." Rivalz points his thumb over his shoulder, the opposite direction of L2's movement.

L2 turns around. "Obviously. I don't want you to tell them where I really am." He smirks.

o-o-o-o

Kallen decides to ignore that particular announcement. It seems the president of the student council is still in charge of dating services.

"And I'm in here, not participating, like any sensible person would."

She sits up from her bed and flicks on the light. She pulls out a photo of her mother, still back at home. Why does it seem so far away? In a Knightmare, traveling around the globe doesn't take so long...Suddenly, her door hisses open. She quickly stuffs the picture into a drawer and glares at the intruder. "Hey! Get out!"

The figure freezes. "Kallen?"

"L2? What are you doing in here?"

"Buh... This is my room! I told you you're one over!" L2 smacks himself. "I told Nunnally to set you up in E-8, right?"

"Um, you told her to set me up in my room. I don't remember you saying anything about E-8 to her."

"Great. I'll... I'm going to..." L2 let's his head thunk into the bulkhead. "I'll be next door for tonight. Go ahead and get some sleep." He turns away from the room.

"Wait." Kallen raises her hand as if to pull him back.

He looks over his shoulder. "Hmm?"

Kallen's cheeks flare up. "You can stay here if you want." She shifts over so there's enough space for him beside her on the bed.

L2 smacks his face with his hand. "Great. One little illegal announcement, and the whole ship goes crazy." He looks up. "Fine, but only because it would be a pain to transfer my stuff over."

Kallen just smiles as her mind, suddenly a lot less tumultuous, quickly succumbs to sleep.