Disclaimer: Code Geass – with its characters, settings, and all other borrowed elements here – is the sole property of its creators. In other words, yeah, it's not mine, and I'm not making money out of this. Enjoy the fic; author's note at the very end.

Trial and Error

. : 1 : .

Luciano Bradley had been irritated, at first.

Well, maybe not. Surprise, perhaps, came before that - and it was an emotion shared by all the other Knights of the Rounds when Bismarck, the Knight of One, had gathered them all and introduced them to their newest colleague. Those hardened green eyes had a bit of a slant to them, and at that moment everything Bismarck was saying - this man had captured Zero, this man piloted the Special Envoy's Lancelot, this man was Knight of Honor to Princess Euphemia - turned into an unintelligible buzz in his brain. And all that remained was the fact that this boy (he could not possibly be over seventeen), this Eleven, this monkey, was a Knight of the Rounds.

"My name is Suzaku Kururugi. I look forward to working with you all."

He didn't know what it was about those words that eventually set off his irritation - it might have been the slight accent, or the polite but curt tone he'd used, or the way his head bowed ever so slightly (later he would ask around and find out nobody else noticed it, but he did, oh he was so sure he did) as though in another reality, another time, he would have bowed at the waist to convey respect to his new comrades the Japanese way. The Eleven way.

Luciano bared his teeth at that moment, and perhaps everyone thought it was a smile. ("Recorded," came Anya's monotone after a flash in his direction that had hurt his eyes.) It wasn't.

The final straw came when Bismarck made it official: "His Majesty has hereby bestowed upon Lord Kururugi the title Knight of Seven. Lord Weinberg, if you could show him to his quarters and around the base; the rest of you, carry on as you were."

The boy hadn't even flinched when Gino, boisterous as always, had him in a veritable choke-hold of a hug and proceeded to drag him out of the common room. But at that very moment, the Knight of Ten had seen red; this boy, this Eleven, this monkey was Knight of Seven. Seven. And while on paper the Knights of Three to Twelve were considered equals, the numbers were still somewhat telling.

He'd tried to gauge Monica's reaction by glancing at her, but all he saw was a slight giggle as she regarded the new Knight of the Rounds from afar.

The day Suzaku Kururugi was formally inducted into the Knights of the Rounds, Luciano Bradley single-handedly wiped out an entire resistance force in Area 9. They had numbered several hundred; there were no survivors.

When Kallen Kouzuki, the ace of the Black Knights had been captured, he hadn't thought much of it. When he'd learned she had personally been handed over by the Chinese Federation to the Knight of Seven, it had piqued his interest, but only slightly.

When he'd learned that Suzaku himself was delivering the prisoner's food everyday, like clockwork, a wonderful plan began hatching in his head.

You see, he had long ago decided that he did not like Suzaku Kururugi; he did not like the rank he held, he did not like his relatively small build - far too lithe for a Britannian who would exude similar strength. He did not like the way he sometimes stumbled over long, complex Britannian words and everyone around him just let it pass.

He did not like how the scientists in the Special Envoy doted on him. He did not like how, whenever a new piece of cutting-edge Knightmare technology was developed, they would always always always test it on the Lancelot first; only after several months would his Knightmare, or Tristan or Mordred or any of the others, get a taste of it. Secretly, though, every time it happened, he would feel a bit elated at the thought that one of the devices might possibly malfunction, and Suzaku would die in a tragic accident in the name of military science. But it never did; that boy, that Eleven, that monkey always came back in one piece, and the Special Envoy would praise his performance as though he were Godsend, and that damn Eleven would downplay them humbly and claim, "this success would not have been possible without your efforts, so I thank you all."

He wanted to retch every single time.

He did not like the way Monica giggled and downright flirted in the boy's presence, the way the Knights of Three and Six seemed to cling to him as though they were best friends, the way Bismarck would congratulate him with a too-hearty slap on the back after each mission accomplished (the first time he had done it; the boy had been knocked off his feet; nowadays, it was just a stumble.) He did not like his tousled brown hair, the way his uniform was always pressed neatly and in pristine condition, the way he always wore that silly blue pin over his left breast pocket, above his heart.

He did not like Suzaku Kururugi, and for all those little reasons he decided one day that the only way to remedy this was if Suzaku Kururugi were to die.

He'd tried it himself, so many times on the battlefield. During large battles, after all, with hundreds of Knightmares in the air it was sometimes hard to keep track of which was which, and friendly fire was not unheard-of. Of course, his Knightmare's tracking and communications systems were top-of-the-line and marked FRIEND and FOE clearly in different colors on his screen, but he was willing to milk the excuse for all it was worth anyway; as Knight of Ten, practically all he had to do was say "oops" and he'd get off with a slap on the wrist, no questions asked.

But the boy had proven extremely difficult to kill. He'd managed, at best, several near-misses - some by mere inches. Suzaku never retaliated, though...at least, not physically, as each of his 'misfires' would always be followed by an eerily calm, "Lord Bradley, the enemy is that way," on the channel all the Knights of the Rounds shared. And in those moments, caught between his begrudging acceptance of the boy's natural talent and the shame brought about from the polite snickers over the open channel (Gino Weinberg would always laugh out loud and long, politeness be damned), the hatred he held for that boy, that Eleven, that monkey slowly and dangerously began to grow.

So Luciano Bradley decided to be more creative. He once cajoled an Eleven into assassinating the Knight of Seven - "Suzaku Kururugi, traitor to Japan." That had backfired rather embarrassingly. (Interestingly, he found out afterward that the signature at the bottom of the luckless Eleven's execution sentence was that of one Anya Earlstreim; when he'd casually asked the Knight of Six about it over luncheon the next day, the only response he got from the girl - "I think Suzaku is a masochist" - hadn't been remotely helpful.)

It was at this point that Luciano Bradley decided to be more direct. Of course, killing Suzaku in broad daylight in front of witnesses would be quite the scandal - he doubted he could get away with an "oops" and a slap on the wrist in that case. So he also decided, at this point, that he needed to set up a chance to find Suzaku alone.

(Also at this point, he was beginning to become well aware that his initial, mild irritation had evolved into downright obsession; he did not care.)

It involved months of patient observations, but whenever Suzaku was in his private quarters the door was bolted shut; otherwise, he was always in the company of other people - Gino and Anya, Lloyd and Cecile, the students at Ashford Academy, sometimes Guilford and the Glaston Knights, sometimes summoned by Prince Schneizel or even the Emperor himself. It frustrated him how ridiculously difficult it was to corner a mere boy, a mere Eleven, a mere monkey and do away with him, but the closest he ever got was a fleeting moment alone in the hallway, only to be disturbed by either the raucous Knight of Three or that mad scientist's blue-haired assistant.

So, to sum up: he hated Suzaku Kururugi with a vehemence that knew no borders. How it had gotten to this point, he wasn't quite sure himself, and could hardly point to a single over-arching reason - the closest would be "that damn Number is Knight of Seven!" He wanted Suzaku Kururugi dead. Subtletly did not work, indirect methods did not work. He wasn't quite so obsessed with him to consider risking his career by killing him in the open, so he had plotted and schemed, in vain, to corner the Knight of Seven and kill him without witnesses. All his efforts were fruitless.

Until now.

Luciano Bradley, Knight of Ten and the self-proclaimed Vampire of Britannia, fingered the butterfly knife concealed within the sleeve of his uniform. His heart pounded, almost audibly, but not out of anxiety. He knew this feeling all too well - the rush that came before a kill. He had felt it countless times on the battlefield, but never had he been this excited. Perhaps, the fact that this kill had taken him several months to plot and execute had a hand in that; he could hardly keep himself from laughing in sheer glee, so he settled for a wide grin on his face.

"You seem pleased today, Lord Bradley."

"I am very pleased," he said honestly, regarding the object of his obsession out of the corner of his eye. Suzaku Kururugi, he who had dared take a number higher than his, was walking impassively beside him, carrying a metal tray of food in his gloved hands. So intently had he been watching the boy that he almost forgot to expound: "The thought of meeting the Ace of the Black Knights face-to-face excites me. Thank you for allowing me to accompany you today."

It was a lie, of course. The only thing he knew of Kallen Kouzuki was that she was an excellent Knightmare pilot, but when all your colleagues are Knights of the Rounds of the Holy Britannian Empire, "excellent Knightmare pilots" become a dime a dozen. But this woman had become integral to his plan; Kouzuki had been deemed dangerous enough to be worthy of solitary confinement, and her cell was at the far end of the lowest level underground.

He surveyed his surroundings impassively as they neared her cell; the nearest guard was stationed at the foot of the stairs at the other end of the hallway, so at this point he was quite certain they were out of earshot. It wasn't as though this place needed additional guards anyway; the heavy metal door was shut by six different locks - a mix of deadbolts, combination locks and electronics - from the outside.

Luciano had an airtight plan: he would kill Suzaku in Kouzuki's cell, and if worse came to worst he would blame her entirely for it ("I swear, I had no idea how she got out of her binds or came upon that knife. It all happened too fast!") and call her names and, as sincerely as he could, mourn the loss of his comrade.

Of course, she would protest her innocence all the way, but the testimony of an Eleven terrorist held little weight against that of the Knight of Ten.

Luciano Bradley was so pleased with himself, and with his imminent success, that he barely noticed the other Knight had been speaking at all.

"...rather difficult one. Sometimes she yells obscenities at you, but if you just ignore her..."

He watched keenly as Suzaku's adam's apple bobbed up and down as he spoke. He imagined slitting that throat and absently wondered if Suzaku would bleed red.

"Kallen, it's time to - "

The door had barely shut behind them when he lunged. Using his advantage in size and the element of surprise, he was able to tackle the smaller Knight to the floor. The bound Eleven in the far corner of the room let out a shriek as the tray clattered to the floor, spilling water and gruel; an apple rolled clumsily along, coming to a stop just inches from her face as she watched what transpired with sheer horror.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time!" he declared loudly, grinning maniacally; his heart now thundered in his ears. Suzaku struggled valiantly beneath him, but he was smaller, he was pinned to the floor, and looked confused; he did not seem to have made sense of the situation quite yet.

"Lord Bradley, what - ?"

Ah, that was it, then. He still thought they were comrades, and could not imagine why he was being attacked by a fellow Knight of the Rounds. Luciano laughed out loud at the thought; the Knight of Betrayal himself, confused and perhaps not realizing what he was about to do.

The irony was priceless.

"I do have to hand it to you, Suzaku." He drew out the last word, his victim's name, in a violent hiss. "You truly made this oh-so-difficult for me. But it ends today. Do you know why, hmmm?" He leaned in close, relishing the emotions he saw - confusion, panic, and...was that the slightest hint of fear? - in those vivid green eyes. "Because I win. I always do."

Because you can't be Knight of Seven, he wanted to add. Because you shouldn't even be a Knight at all. Because you're a Number, but you act as if you can be one of us, as if you always were. Because they all seem to like you, because they fawn over you, because they give you all the breaks in the world and it's not fair because you're just a boy, you're just an Eleven, a monkey, who got lucky and it's time to end this.

"I have a question for you, Suzaku Kururugi," he drawled, brandishing the knife in three quick strokes. He heard the prisoner scream as he pressed the blade of the knife against the boy's jugular. "What is the thing you hold most dear?" When he didn't reply, he pressed the knife down harder, as far as he dared without breaking the skin just yet. "Is it your life?"

He didn't know if he was seeing things, but the moment the words left his lips he could have sworn he saw the edges of those green irises glow a faint red.

And then, just as quickly, those eyes that had just been so vivid lost their brightness; the apprehension melted from the boy's form and he merely met his captor's gaze with a blank, dulled eyes.

"No," he said. "Not really."

The Vampire of Britannia had been waiting for him to affirm and plead for his life, so it was understandable that he drew back in surprise at the dead monotone of a reply. And it was understandable that he did not see the kick that knocked the knife out of his hand.

The weapon bounced across the floor just as he felt the knee colliding with his gut. The world went white for the briefest of moments, but when things settled to normal he was on his hands and knees, gasping for air, and Suzaku Kururugi was on his feet several meters away, picking up the butterfly knife and pocketing it carefully.

He dared to look. Their eyes met for a brief moment, as the Knight of Seven took the time to brush some of the dust off his uniform.

"Kallen," he called out, though his gaze did not leave the Knight of Ten. "I apologize for that. I will send for someone to bring you another tray of food immediately." There was no anger in that gaze; only deadened pools of green that bore into him, as though seeing right through him. "If you'll excuse me."

And with that, he turned and left without another word, without so much as a backward glance.

Luciano Bradley was no longer irritated. He was still resentful, and still hated the other boy with a passion...but now it was eclipsed by something else, for the simple reason that how much Suzaku Kururugi irked him was nowhere near how much he intrigued him.

Author's Notes:

I just recently got into this fandom, and yes I'm aware this pairing is not very popular (it's definitely not canon!) and that's understandable, I suppose. It honestly wouldn't be my first choice for a pairing to ship. And, well, there wasn't much Luciano/Suzaku interaction in the series, if I recall correctly, which doesn't leave me much to work with. At the same time, though, it's these very reasons that make this idea intriguing for me, so I decided to try my hand at it.

A word of caution, though: this is most definitely not going to be a romance fic, and yet while the rating is T for now, I assure you all at this point that it will definitely hit M before very long (and that in itself should be telling.)

I haven't written fanfiction in a long time. It has literally been years (while I do have some incomplete works up, in other fandoms, they are years old and would really suck, I admit), so any and all feedback will be accepted and thoroughly appreciated. If the characters (all...two of them) were OOC, or if I got some of the terms wrong, or if there are blatant typos, or whatever, let me know; please leave a review!