This is dedicated and written for my good friend Lady Lily Anne, a sort of late Christmas , Early Valentines, and on Time New Years gift to a woman who does her best to keep up with a rather spastic man who has the attention span of a cat on speed. This is for you Lils, I'll update as I can ^_~

Suzaku's first week at Ashford Academy had been an exercise in patience, that was at the very least for certain. Sure Lloyd and Cecile made life bearable by giving him an outlet with the Lancelot trial tests, but he couldn't help feeling uncomfortable that blowing up his own countrymen's Knightmare's had become a bit therapeutic. Still though, Lloyd's philosophy of 'Can't find peace in your life trying to live up to your ideals? Try breaking expensive stuff in the name of science instead!' kept his mind off his failures as a human being.

"Hey Eleven, catch!" Suzaku had barely managed to turn around when a sopping wet t-shirt clipped his chin and hit the wall behind him. The fluid it was soaked in reeked of bleach, and a quick glance at the article in question revealed it was likely one of his own, now thoroughly ruined, uniforms.

Sighing he wiped the near burning chemicals from his face with a handkerchief as he glanced to his would be assailants. Every fiber of his honor and pride demanded he return this insult with bloody violence yet he held firm in keeping that line of thought under control. He'd made his decision, he would change the system within, getting into schoolyard brawls wouldn't help his cause in the slightest.

He gritted his teeth and tried not to glare at the bullies when all of the sudden the grinning trio of idiots froze in honest fright. Suzaku, thanks in part to over exposure and a natural inclination to finding the chill welcoming didn't react; but the bullies and the dozens of bystanders looked like they were collectively ready to evacuate their bowels and run as far as physically possible as a tall young woman walked into the room.

Her amethyst gaze flickered across the crowd in a moment then locked onto Suzaku, her previously relaxed posture went rigid and you could practically feel her rage crystallize a few seconds later after what she saw was processed. Glancing at the now trembling trio of punks the raven haired beauty sauntered towards them, her smooth legs and swaying hips alluringly terrifying as she stopped before them.

"What are you idiots doing to my friend?"

The entire collective took in a shocked breath as Leloucia Lamperouge, the Ice Queen, the idol of Ashford Academy, openly admitted that this filthy Eleven was her friend. Her burning violet gaze never left them and, much to Suzaku's disgust, one of them even pissed himself.

Glancing to his first real friend in surprise he had to admit she did cut an intimidating figure even in that ridiculously short skirt that was part of the academy uniform code. He had the strangest feeling that was more Milly's doing than her Grandfather's honestly, that woman was incorrigible after all.

"We, uh, we were...umm..." this bit of prose was from the one who had urinated in his trousers, a master spokesman at work here folks.

"He-he is a filthy Eleven, we're just doing our part to put him in his place, under his Majesty's guideline!" Suzaku winced, ah hell, wrong thing to say to Lulu.

"Oh?" She said this with a demure smile, so none of the trio of bullies nore the crowd in general expected one of her long lean legs to swing out into a powerful spin kick sending the speaker head first into the wall. That...was going to leave a mark, on both the boy and the wall, said humanoid projectile was soon joined by his friends and Suzaku couldn't help marveling at one specific thing while everyone else goggled at the open display of violence.

How did his best friend pull off high kicks in that skirt without flashing everyone her knickers? Not that he minded, no one should objectify Leloucia like that, still, damn.

Meeting Suzaku's gaze she broke her icy mask a moment to give him a saucy smirk and a wink, "Practice Suzu, practice." Right, how could he forget that she'd always been able to read his facial expressions as if they were displaying his very thoughts.

There was a reason he never won against her in strategy games after all. Thankfully he had her at poker, OCD types such as herself really didn't cope well with the randomness that game could entail.

Cocking her head to the side while audibly cracking her neck in the process the Princess in Exile smiled to the surrounding crowd of stunned students, "Shouldn't you all be getting to class?" As if a spell had just been snapped the collective soon scampered away, even her recent bully victims, and as the last one went around the corner she met Suzaku's gaze evenly.

"Really? You're like...Japanese Batman and you let those little shits push you around like this?"

Suzaku sighed as he looked down at the chemically ruined shirt on the ground while shaking his head slowly, "I'll never be Batman, and oddly enough that hurts a bit admitting it. Anyway, what am I supposed to do Lulu? I'm...I'm trying to change things from within the Empire and violence just...hell, it will hinder my overall plan if I defended myself. Better to just take the pain for now, right?"

Leloucia pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head in exasperation, "You're dumb, you're being dumb, stop being dumb, because you're not supposed to be this bloody dumb." Rather than being offended Suzaku was honestly amused at the normally composed Royal who looked like she was resisting the urge to strangle him to death.

Dropping her hands to her sides she just stared into his jade eyes for a moment before sighing, "Suzaku, I care about you more than most people in my life. You were my first friend, the first child my age who could stymie my little manipulations. You were Nunnally's and hell...my own personal white knight during the invasion, you were that important to the both of us. Suzaku, that being said, while I respect you and your resolve, you're a bloody idiot."

Grabbing his arm she began dragging him to one of the communal washrooms and he remained silent as she pushed him against the wall and grabbed a wad of paper towels from the dispenser. Turning on one of the sinks faucets she soaked the towels down and wringed them out lightly before she began gently rubbing them along his chin.

"Bastards had to use cleaning chemicals didn't they? Don't worry about your uniforms I've got it covered," Suzaku began raising a hand to protest but she slapped it away in disdain. "Ahahaha, none of that mister. You protected my little sister and myself from roving gangs of raiders and rapists in a warzone, the least I can do is take care of your laundry. Now hold still, before I 'accidentally' poke you in the bloody eye."

Weathering her muttered explanatives regarding his intelligence and sexual preferences Suzaku ended up staring at the irritated royal in exile for a time before shaking his head slowly as a bemused smiled curled up his lips.

"How have I gotten through the past seven years without you Lulu?" She froze a moment as her cheeks pinked and the tips of her ears burned, but it was quick to pass as she smacked his arm in disdain.

"Luck and stubbornness, now come on you git we've got physics class in five minutes, lets go."

Tossing the soiled towels in the trash bin the pair left the room and not ten seconds later a grinning Shirley and blushing Nina left the toilet stalls both sharing one thought.

"We have to tell Milly!" They chorused, not knowing what they were truly about to unleash on the world in general.

Millicent Ashford was, for all intents and purposes, Queen of her own little domain. Sure sure she couldn't go too far but the simple fact of the matter was she was young, sexy, and precocious, so most of her antics were lightly waved to the side as the young being young. Honestly, this almost offended her, she was seriously a pervert, she liked sex, she liked exposing others to their sexiness, and she had absolutely zero qualms in enjoying the process despite the embarrassment it would likely entail.

That being said, Leloucia Lamperouge, or rather Leloucia vi Britannia was her best friend. Bar none, her home girl to the end, and trying to manipulate her felt...weird...odd, unwarranted. Yet on the other hand she and Suzaku were so obviously in love with each other yet in complete denial of it that being around the pair was almost painful.

Seriously, they were mutually attracted to each other, were both sexy as hell, and would make adorable babies at some point, what the hell was the hang up here? Aside from the obvious fact she would be made Godmother of said adorable babies Milly had rather extensive reasons to hook the two oblivious idiots up, the primary amongst them being they needed each other.

Lulu was not in a healthy place, she was brimming with violence, as was shown earlier that day, and Suzaku was suffering from some severe survivors guilt. The only reason neither had boiled over into something truly suicidal was their own stubbornness preventing a fall from grace. That, and Nunnally, the little broken bird was a catalyst for restraint for both of them and oh my god...that was perfect! If she could get Nunnally on board for this neither of them would even flinch!

"Fuck yeah, I'm awesome!" Milly stated cheerfully after nearly ten minutes of dead silence, which caused Shirley to exchange a glance with an equally dubious Nina.

"This isn't going to end well is it?"

Nina blushed as she shrugged lightly, "If what I think is about to happen is going to happen...I honestly think it is kind of hot..."

Shirley stared at her a moment, thought of Suzu and Lulu alone, sans clothing, then blushed deeply as well, "Yeah...ok..."

Nunnally sipped her tea silently as she contemplated what Milly had told her, and my, wasn't this a bit of a bomb dropped in her lap? Nunnally was not some wilted rose that didn't comprehend how people were supposed to act around each other. In fact being blind and crippled she was more observant of human interaction than most simply due to the fact that she had to live through them vicariously.

So being presented with the obvious she could only nod as Milly explained her plans, and in the end Nunnally agreed.

"I need little nieces and nephews to spoil...do what you must Milly...do what you must..."

Glaring at her phone one Princess in Exile was barely keeping her rage in check.

"A ball?! Milly seriously?! It's the middle of summer! There is no reason to be having a ball right now!" Leloucia's cry was shrugged off by an indifferent blonde as she turned back to her computer.

"Not my problem, get a date and we'll talk, I have to balance this budget since someone told me to go fuck myself when I left it on her desk."

Leloucia scowled at that as she began pacing, "You literally tried to a write off a two thousand pound sterling debt with "I thought it was a camel" as your excuse. I don't even know what that means! So seriously, you have no right to get shirty with me over it! And regardless of what you thought it was how did you not realize it wasn't a camel?! Seriously it isn't like they look like anything else! Aside from Llamas I suppose... but that's beside the point!"

"Meh, whatever. Suzaku's downstairs go bother him instead." Huffing Leloucia decided to do just that, hanging up on a now grinning Milly she quickly approached her brunette friend. Taking in a deep breath she leaned against the wall and shot a glance to the object of her affections who in turn smirked at her lightly.

"Milly get you caught in her web of lies?" Leloucia snorted at that while rolling her eyes.

"She tried, and failed. This is me ignoring her antics...not surrendering to them...seriously"

Suzaku nodded and remained silent for a time before speaking up again, "Oh course... So... She's making this ball a reality you know? There's no escaping it...so...I was wondering...will you let me escort you to it?"

She blanched at that as her cheeks and ears heated up, sputtering Leloucia coughed into her hand as she met Suzaku's earnest gaze, "Are...er...are you asking me out on a date?"

Suzaku fidgeted a bit then nodded, "Yes...I am." Leloucia inwardly squirmed before she finally decided to simply wrap her emotions up and drown them like an annoying rodent. She could do this damnit!

"Ok..."

In a bunker underneath a school, Millicent Ashford broke out into cackling laughter.

"Dance puppets...dance!"

This was rather fun actually...I plan on adding to it so I hope you all enjoyed!