"Suzaku, relax," Gino stated calmly. "He's okay."

I sighed. It had almost been seven hours since I watched Lelouch's dying form rushed to the E.R. And for almost seven hours, I had been sitting in the same seat, staring at my calloused hands. With Gino there, I could relax a little. "Why did he pass out like that? He was fine for a while, walking and everything."

"He must have gone into shock," Gino replied with a shrug. "The body does weird stuff like that." Then taking a seat next to me, he leaned back in the chair and folded his hands behind his head. "I will have to say this, though: I've never seen a wound like that before."

My eyebrow arched. "How so? They were only bullet wounds."

He took out a black filmy sheet holding it up to the light. My eyes narrowed as I studied the x-ray, but I still couldn't make out the forms. "Gino, I don't understand," I said slowly.

"See these two white spots?" he asked, pointing to the fuzzier areas. "These are the bullet entry wounds." Then he pulled out another sheet, holding it by the first. "That white mass is the final wound; essentially, what happened is that the bullets collided, making a gaping wound in the shoulder blade and muscle. You could say it was like a mini-explosion. The entire scenario is almost impossible to recreate, with the bullets actually hitting each other and yet coming from two guns... how the hell did you manage that?"

I lowered my head and rubbed at my tired eyes. "The Geass he put on me causes the physically impossible to happen… Honestly, I'm not surprised that happened."

We both went silent as Gino stuffed the x-rays back in the envelope folder and leaned back in his chair again. I looked down to my hands once more, watching as I twirled my thumbs; even after doing this for nearly seven hours, I couldn't find anything else better to do.

"Is he… angry with me?"

The Knight of Nine raised his brow as he looked down on me. "Eh? I dunno, why'd ya ask?"

"Because… I shot him…"

"You didn't mean it."

"… what if I did?"

"Because he killed your princess?"

"Yes…"

(~)

"Hey, howya feeling?" I asked as I lightly tapped my knuckles against the door.

Lelouch turned his head towards me, a small grin forming on his face. "Could be better… I think the drugs are getting to me, though."

I chuckled, taking a seat in the chair by the hospital bed. "I wouldn't be complaining, if I were you," I replied. Then I folded my hands together. "I don't know why all this happened… somehow I didn't see you coming."

He closed his eyes, sighing deeply. "Honestly, I can't tell you why, either. My memory's kind of fuzzy," he muttered. "The last thing I remember was running down the hall and hearing an explosion. After that…" his voice trailed, his words slurring slightly.

I reached over to rough up his hair, ignoring the stinging pain in my shoulder from the knife wound. "Don't try talking much," I said with a weak smile.

"I'm slurring my words, aren't I?"

"Yeah."

"Hmmm… figures… My head feels like it's floating…"

"Get some sleep," I said as I stood, wincing at the stinging sensation in my leg. "Until you sleep off the drugs, you won't be up and walking any time soon."

Before I could place my hand on the door knob to leave, I paused when I heard him ask, "Are you mad at me?"

Was I? How could I be mad at him? Everything that happened this past week wasn't his fault… In reality… it was all mine…

"How could I be mad at you? I'm the one at fault," I replied.

A curious expression furrowed his brow and wrinkled his nose. "Huh? How are you at fault? I was the one who got in the way. If I wasn't there, you wouldn't have been stabbed, and that girl would have left us alone. Neither of us would have been in harm's way."

I sighed, running my fingers through my thick brown hair as I thought. "No… it's my fault. If I never brought you here… if I never questioned you and your identity, the Black Knights would have never come here…"

If I let you be, then I would have never had reason to doubt myself… or you…

"Suzaku… don't take on the entire load; share it with me," he said softly, casting his eyes to the ground. "Just… don't be alone in this."

My eyes widened. What was he talking about? He… he couldn't be Zero, not talking like that… and yet, he was. "Man, those drugs are working wonders on you…"

A sparkle of mischievousness came to Lelouch's eyes. "Shut up, I was trying to say something deep and comforting. Are you trying to say that I'm high or something?"

I smirked in return. "Maybe I am."

(~)

That night, I woke in a cold sweat to find my covers kicked off and bundled at the foot of my bed. Sitting up and massaging my forehead, I let out an exhausted sigh. Then, with a disgruntled moan, I clambered out of my bed and into the bathroom, squinting my eyes after turning on the lights.

"God…"

I splashed cold water on my face, forcing myself to wake up. Glazed green eyes stared back at me as I studied myself in the mirror. Then I saw the bloodied bandage around my left shoulder, where the knife had plummeted in only half a day before. It took me a minute or so to notice the searing pain that spread through the entire left side of my torso.

"You… how did you open up?"

Massaging the pain away, I rummaged through my medicine cabinet, looking for some kind of pain killer. There was none. "Damn…"

After pulling on a white wife beater and adjusting my red plaid boxers around my hips, I stumbled like a drunk down the halls toward Lelouch's room, thinking he'd have some medication. "Tch… he'd better damn well have some medicine, or else something's wrong with him…"

No response came to the door when I knocked, so I figured he was asleep. I cautiously opened the door and peered in to see him there, with tired eyes closed and faint breaths escaping his parted lips. I gently brushed aside his bangs to uncover the small scar on his forehead from where the stitches once were.

"Hmm… Gino must have taken them out… they needed more time," I mumbled to myself. Then I looked over to the bedside table, smiling to myself at the sight of a medicine bottle. "Pain killers…"

After removing the bloodied bandages from my shoulder and downing two pills, I leaned back in the window sill, drawing my knees to my chest and gazing out at the night sky. Wondering. Debating silently with myself. Had I really woken up because of the pain in my shoulder?

Or was it because I still doubted my decisions, my thoughts…

My choices…

I raised my gaze once more to the stars, a grin forming when I caught sight of a small orb or bluish light: the star Euphemia had pointed out for me.

"Neh, Suzaku-kun, do you see that star?"

I looked up to the sky, my eyes following to where Euphemia pointed. "Yeah, I see it."

"I want that to be our star," she said, a light blush coming to her pale cheeks.

The star was the brightest one of them all, and yet it was also the smallest, shining down on us a pale blue glow. "Why that one, Euphie?" I asked, turning back to her.

She chuckled sweetly as she propped herself up on her elbows, looking down at me while I lay motionless in the grass, my hands folded behind my head. "Because even though it's the smallest, it gives the brightest of light. It's like it's shining down a ray of hope for Japan," she replied.

I closed my eyes, thinking over her words. "But our national symbol was the sun," I said, "a great orb of power and authority." When I opened my eyes again, Euphemia's gaze had fallen to the ground, her periwinkle eyes shining brightly. "Japan is no longer the sun, now," she answered carefully, "but sometimes the sun is not all-powerful… sometimes we need to look to the stars for hope… for a future…

… for redemption…"

"Suzaku?"

I shook my head of those memories and wiped away the tears that began to stream down my face. "Oh, you're awake?" I asked, turning to my friend.

Lelouch nodded slowly, his eyes half open from sleep. "How long have you been sitting there?"

I could only shrug before turning back towards the sky. "Dunno… maybe forever," I muttered. "I needed some time to think, and I don't have a good view of the stars from my window."

"Liar; with the sky all around us, how can you not see it?" Lelouch asked with a chuckle.

I sighed, lowering my head away from the window to look back to my friend. "You're right… I came here to be redeemed."