Title: Teach Me

Rating: PG-13

Theme: Breaking Boundaries

Pairings/Characters: Kallen and Suzaku

Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers for Season One, Episode 19+

Time Period: Set out of actual season timeline. But for the sake of understanding, this continues from Stray by a span of perhaps a couple of days.

Summary: Confounded Lelouch! Let the other pairings have their day and a half! An after-class conversation couldn't hurt you, right? …well, maybe it could.

Word Count: 2,210

Dedication: To Rain. Thanks for finally catching up. I think that pushed me over the edge, and now… I'm free-falling into a world I never would have entered otherwise. You're constantly doing that for me. –Smiles- What…life would be so hard without you.

Disclaimer: None of this is mine. God…maybe it is.

A/N: See? Best advice I ever received on writing fanfiction came from Spopococ. She told me, 'Write what you feel like writing.' …so I stopped thinking, and started feeling…and now….

. . . . . . .

I work in the confines of human limitations. For only a few spare moments can I break those boundaries, and when I do…the pleasure I get from the rushing, falling consummation has to be skilled. Has to be feral but within the lines of my orders.

I cannot break free.

That is why…I think I keep coming to you.

. . . . . . .

"Please don't forget to hand in your essays on the influence of trade on Britannia's step to becoming a superpower next week! Class is dismissed."

As students rose or some rushed to shove away their books into schoolbags, others stepped eagerly for the door. A few stirred sluggishly, and even fewer actually took their time rising and gathering their belongings. Of these, Kallen was not one today. She left her books and bag upon her desk and got to her feet with carefully composed energy. There was tenseness in her body, and it took all she had to restrain herself from biting her lip anxiously as she had a habit of doing sometimes. These things were hidden nevertheless, and if people noticed her purposeful movements as she stepped across the rows and grabbed for the black sleeve of a student, it was only the intrigue of the curious, not the suspicious.

"Excuse me," she said politely, voice several tones lower than that of every other around her, yet still audible amongst them. It was the voice of the sickly—slower and carefully pronounced, as though it itself was a subtle effort. Her brows furrowed in a concerned, uncertain dip near the center of her eyes, and her gaze seemed clouded. To this familiar visage did the brown haired Honorary Britannian turn bewildered, friendly eyes. "Yes Kallen?" Suzaku answered, not attempting to hide the warm expectation that seemed to fill most of his interactions with his friends. Inwardly, Kallen shrunk away from the voice.

God, Kallen…why did it have to be now?

"Suzaku, can I ask you to meet with me after class today?"

He gazed at her with some surprise, but it was soon washed away by a glance aside, over her head, and she could tell he was thinking. What he was thinking she didn't want to guess, but she couldn't help mulling over anyway. A fight? What were the intentions? A trap? To argue? Too many possibilities, too many uncertainties. She wanted to kick herself. She was overreacting and she knew it. But it was not forever before there was an answer.

…not from Suzaku.

"Suzaku, you're coming to the student council meeting this aftern—oh." The self-assured, languid vocalizations of the idle Lelouch interfered, and paused, cutting across any response Suzaku had been almost ready to give. In that moment, Kallen's eyes shot to the amethyst of Lelouch's, a smouldering resentment tingeing her thoughts. 'Really?' she wanted to ask, exasperated and irritated. But her face pulled back a bit, a blink to tighten the curtains around her emotions. By now, Suzaku had turned to the boy as well, the smile readily settled there as they both received Lelouch's apology. "I'm sorry, Kallen. I didn't mean to intrude," he said, collected as ever. Yeah, right you didn't, she thought sardonically.

"Oh, no," she said aloud. "It's perfectly fine…."

"Uhmm," the black-haired student began again, a smile trailing the edges of his lips too. In comparison to the boy's beside him, his screamed insincerity, she thought dully. "You're coming too, Kallen, right? Milly wants to go over the last details for the school festival and—"

"I'm sorry, Lelouch," Suzaku interrupted him, and both Lelouch and Kallen's eyes traveled to his face and the unwavering confidence there. Kallen's eyes had lingered, only a moment, and she noted smugly the shock that passed longer than expected over Lelouch's face. "I already told the chairman I would have to miss it. Kallen," he turned to the girl standing somewhat disconnected from the other two and as he faced her, it was as though she was drawn in once again. She straightened a bit. "Ah, yes…?" she asked, clasping her hands over the pleats of her skirt.

"I'm sorry, I don't have much time today."

"Oh…," she began, despondently.

"Would you like to walk with me, so we can set up another time?" he offered, reaching automatically for his chair and pushing it in under his desk.

"Ah!" What was it with playing such a pathetic girl that made you have to respond with surprise every…other…second! "Yes, thank you!" she gushed breathlessly and turned to move towards her desk, but was abruptly stopped as Lelouch's eyes once more met hers. His face was bleached of all emotion, just the bare minimum of faintly quirked brows and a faded smile that was faux as his wolf's pelt was real underneath. And what was it with that know-it-all smile of his!

Since when did you become so damn coercive? "Lelouch, please apologize to the chairman for me?"

"Hmm," he professed insightfully, raising a hand to cover his mouth and chin and looking over her as though he could evaluate her excuse through her very appearance. "The chairman is not going to be happy about this. But!" he sighed effusively, "I suppose I have no choice but to report you, Kallen."

"Wh-what?" she gasped, eyes widening. You son-of-a…

"Joking, joking!" the boy laughed, stepping aside and going for the door as she watched him, incredulousness sending sparks across her tongue from holding back a retort. "Don't fall sick, though Kallen," he pressed as he walked out of the room. "We could use you more often on the council." And then he was gone, along with most of the other students. Only Suzaku remained, and he was too the last one smiling. "Thank you, Lelouch," he called after him, shaking the girl at his side from her thoughts. Turning to her desk, Kallen walked over to it stiffly and gathered her things together sloppily at best.

"Kallen?"

She jerked her head to see him waiting, still at his desk, and wanted for a moment to pierce the look on his face. Thanks a lot for letting that get by you, Kururugi. What kind of nice guy are you anyway? But in a moment there was a dullness that entered her face once more, and she dropped her eyes and head. As she walked forward, he fell into the slow pace with her, and she did bite her lip this time, excruciatingly aware of how annoying it was when you had to shorten your own strides to keep in step with someone slower. She hated being forced into the position of that annoyance, but while on school grounds she could do nothing but continue her act, flawlessly as it could be performed.

"Don't worry, Kallen." The voice of Suzaku again broke her thoughts…and her sulking. She lifted her head but did not look at him.

"Thank you, but I'm not worried," she responded, her voice faint.

"Well, Lelouch doesn't mean much harm," he continued, and she glanced sidelong at him, wondering how his voice could always remain so full of sunshine and yet not over-do it. You really don't grow old on someone…at least in some aspects. She was tempted to shrug. "He's just not as good as connecting to people as you would think."

"Oh, really?" she asked, her voice betraying only politeness. Though, there was a subtle intrigue in it. The black haired boy was, undeniably, an enigma in some aspects and all too easy to read in others. Like a book with a rich cover, but half the pages blank and the others bound tight.

"I shouldn't speak for him," Suzaku asserted and led them out of the building. Kallen, once she noted no one in sight, sighed loudly. Suzaku laughed, and the red-haired girl shot him a glance, ready to judge and pounce in retribution at the slightest hint of teasing. "It must be difficult to hold it in." Her gaze softened, her body lost its tenseness. "Wait a little bit longer, please, Kallen," he asked, turning his head to her, the smile understanding. "Then would you tell me what you wanted to say before?"

For the first time that day, the rebellion pilot relaxed. She had noticed, faintly and then with growing recognition, that she had picked up on a new habit over the year. Maybe it was the professionalism she wanted to convey, as a part of Zero's Black Knights. Maybe it was the suspicion that came with a steadily tightening noose of wires more inter-webbed than she had at first perceived. Now, she studied people. She looked for identities. She was searching for threat and deception. Maybe it was the war. Maybe it was almost dying and then going on, killing people.

Maybe it was knowing that her enemy was right in front of her. When she looked at Suzaku, though…it was difficult, because people like him…were not who she had thought she was fighting. People like him…? They were the people she had thought she would be protecting, defending.

Then again…she had never thought Suzaku would not side with them either. Had never expected her personal rival, her equal on the field, her classmate and consequential friend…to be so many opposites that should not have worked. Yet they did. They worked, and she realized it was not the opposites that made him any of these things. It was him that made their coexistence possible. She almost laughed. Instead, she nodded.

After all, how else can I explain myself?

. . . . . . .

It did not take long to be on the outskirts of campus. Once the student body had been left behind to dormitories and various spawn sites of activity, Kallen had dropped the façade and stretched with loud groans. "It's torture itself," she exclaimed to Suzaku, who seemed to find no less pleasure in her company now as he had before. She had by now given up on it. He said he was busy, and she too had no time to idle and interpret. Besides, she tried not to over-think things if she could. So at the moment they turned a corner, high topiary planted throughout the campus for aesthetic relief completely obscuring them from sight, she stopped and turned to him abruptly.

"Suzaku, I want you to train me."

He too halted, bewildered, and she could see the shock that played over his face sunk through his flesh to the gut. No lies, she thought quietly and let herself relax, a huffed breath pushed out of her mouth before she placed a hand on her hip, still holding her schoolbag. The other arm swung up in a beseeching gesture as she explained. "I know how to be a pilot. I can kick your ass plenty there, and no arguing winners now," she warned, leaning forward intently for a moment until Suzaku raised his hands defensively, an awkward, embarrassed smile materializing. "I won't, Kallen," he promised easily, not having intended to from the first, but feeling it better not to mention this now.

"Well," she continued, and this time an ounce of hesitance trickled into her determination. Her shoulders fell slightly and her hands lost their edge. "I don't do so well on the ground. You know," she scrabbled silently for the words. "It's not like I can't handle it, if I knew what I was doing, but…." She trailed off. By now, her eyes had fallen as well and suddenly she turned away from him and stomped towards the hedge before whirling around and stomping back. She moved like this twice more before finally she twisted around and held out her hands to him, open claws begging for….

'It must have killed her pride to do that,' Suzaku noted and stepped forward, gently nodding. "What is it that you want me to help you with, Kallen?"

At last, it was as though a nerve snapped and she dropped her hands and stood taller, favoring one leg still defensively. "Will you teach me how to fight?" And suddenly there was no shame in her face and she stepped closer. "So that I don't have to sit and do nothing, or do everything pathetically and without actually helping anyone." She gestured to him loosely. "You know how to pilot a Knightmare, and you can fight on land, with just your body if you have nothing else. Please," she said quieter, her eyes refusing to leave his dual-shaded green. "Suzaku, help me with this."

For a few long moments, they stood in silence. And it was this time that he noticed the tension between them had evaporated. He had taken away a piece of her massive walls, as certainly as she had taken of his. Recognizing for the first time in how long, he could not guess, the caress of a breeze, she had thrown open the door to him. For a moment, he wondered with a slight and tenuous fear if she would find the means to relish in it.

But it was no surprise then, when he relinquished his gateway to her as well.

"I will, Kallen."

. . . . . . .

There would be a wind.