Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or its characters. Sunrise and CLAMP do. So there! =)

Rating: M for language, violence, and sexual content.

"For it was not into my ear that you whispered but into my heart. It was not my lips that you kissed, but my soul." - Judy Garland

******

He was fast, ungodly fast. She had never seen 'Zero' move like that the entire time she had worked under him. The entire time she had been his captain, the entire time she had been his Q-1. His queen. And as she stood there, the world in slow motion, but the figure known as 'Zero' continued to move at a normal pace, she knew that it was in fact not Zero. Not 'her' Zero. It was a replacement, one that Lelouch had ordered.

Lelouch Vi Britannia stood at the top of his mounted parade car, reaching into his white robes for a weapon to ward off the approaching threat to his rule. Or to at least make a dramatic scene that he was in fact attempting to 'save his life'. Kallen Kouzuki was no fool, she knew his game, finally, when it was too late, she knew what he had been up to the entire time.

'Zero' leaped over Nunnally without even so much as stopping to give her a passing glance. His target was at the top of the way, Lelouch Vi Britannia was his goal. Upon reaching the emperor, he swatted away Lelouch's attempt to shoot him, his lazy attempt. Lelouch had obviously not wanted to win the battle of weapons. He stood before 'Zero' with a smile of satisfaction; of anxiety…he seemed almost…calm.

Kallen screamed, her lungs wrenching together tightly in her chest as she watched 'Zero' draw back his sword, the sun making the blade glint brightly, almost bragging of what it was about to do, what life it was about to steal. Finally, she was able to break through.

"LELOUCH NO!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, tears falling down her strained face as she fought with her bonds. It was no use; she would not be released until someone physically unlocked her metal captors. And it was done, 'Zero's' blade pierced straight through Lelouch's mid-section, the royal grimacing in excrutiating pain as he doubled over his substitute.

A split second. A fleeting glance from two purple eyes was her reward. They were peaceful, but passionate. They seemed to be fixated only upon her for one brief second. It was the look she had been waiting for after she had kissed him in the hallway of Ashford Academy. The shimmering pools of violet that seemed tender and loving and regretful…they were all for her. Not for C.C. Not for Shirley. Not for Kaguya. Just for her, Kallen Kouzuki. And when she thought back on it, they had always been for her.

************

"Kallen, when this is all over, will you go back to Ashford Academy with me?"

Their close proximity was intoxicating. His purple eyes seemed to seal her within their depths and own her. She swallowed, "Lelouch…" She sputtered, pushing upwards to gain a few inches between their faces. How she had ended up falling on top of him had to have been by the act of the gods.

"Where is my Tabasco sauce?"

The two 'friends' jerked their eyes upwards to spot C.C. sitting lethargically in a chair, eyeing a piece of pizza. Yet again C.C. had ruined a moment between Lelouch and Kallen. She always had a tendency to do that, even if she hadn't meant to. The girl was so straight forward that the idea of ruining an intimate moment was far from her.

Kallen had pushed herself up and off of Lelouch in such a hurry that she had not stayed behind to catch the look of anger that Lelouch harbored towards C2. The strange girl remained blissfully unaware.

There had always been a tension between Lelouch and Kallen. Ever since he had asked her about Shinjuku Ghetto. Shirley had picked up on it, the deceased girl had always felt a sense of hostility towards the black knight. But she had always reassured Shirley that she wasn't after Lelouch, that she could have him, but had she been being honest with herself? Would she have let Shirley have him?

And when Lelouch had attempted to shoot up with refrain and asked her to comfort him, when he had attempted to kiss her then…she had blamed it on his depression, that he was being ridiculous and just feeding off of his anger and sorrow. But had he been really? The look he had given her when she had slapped him had told her other wise, even though she had chosen to ignore it.

And even when he had fought so hard to get her back as Zero, she couldn't help but wonder if Lelouch couldn't imagine his life without her as well. Of course Zero needed his ace, but did Lelouch need her? And the bunny suit…had she caught his eyes wandering and lingering on her exposed flesh with a little more need than jus that of sexual desire? She could not be sure, but all that she knew was that whenever she was around him it was unbearably horrible and wonderful at the same time.

And so with these heavy thoughts, she ran to her room, tossing her jacket onto a chair, falling down onto her bed face first. Why did this have to be so hard, why did it have to be so confusing, so hurtful, so….needed. 'Don't cry, you're Kallen Kouzuki, dammit.'

A knock came to her door. 'Holy shit what if that's Tamaki or Ougi or any of the other black knights? They'll hold this against me forever! Sober up, Kouzuki. Play hard, like you always do. Put that mask of ruthlessness that you always wear on.' The mask she wore was so similar to Zero's that it was deafening, but only she knew of the person underneath. And she would remain concealed; she couldn't afford to let her out, could she? Surely she would be disappointed by the reactions if she were to reveal the true Kallen.

A knock again.

"I'm coming, damn!" She snarled, wiping at her eyes furiously, checking her appearance in the mirror. She grabbed her jacket and threw it on, along with her hat and visor to protect her weeping eyes from the curious gazes of her comrades. She took in a deep breath as she opened the door to find that her comrades were absent, instead she found Zero standing before her.

"Z-Zero…what can I do for you, sir?"

He stepped in, shutting the door behind him, immediately dislodging his helmet, sitting it on her desk, "There's no one around, they're all updating their knightmare frames. I wanted to talk to you. Why are you in full uniform?"

She cleared her throat, her voice catching, "I er…I wanted to be ready for any appearance we may have to make as the black knights. It seems like I'm always the last one in line up, I really need to stop being so tardy."

"Take off your hat and visor."

"But-"

"Now."

"Lelou-"

"That's an order, Q-1."

She mumbled under her breath as she grudgingly raised her hands, setting her hat down next to his helmet, her visor following suit, revealing red eyes and a tear stained face. Lelouch said nothing as he looked at her. She stood there proud, her back perfectly straight, her chin stuck out indignantly, "There."

He continued to stare at her, his eyes sympathetic and shimmering. She felt her face blush as she tensed even further upon suffering through the silence, "What's the deal, Lelouch? Stop staring."

"You were crying."

'Oh my god is he seriously going to make me suffer through this?' "Well…don't think anything of it. It's just a lot of stuff on my mind is all. It had nothing to do with C2 or anything like that."

"I never said anything about C2."

Kallen felt her face tint pink again, "Well…er…well I'm just letting you know that it has nothing to do with her at all. I was just thinking about my brother and mom and our friends and….all of that stuff. Nothing like that."

"Of course not," Lelouch purred, his typical bored expression on his face, "Why did you come here, Lelouch?" Kallen hissed, her hands fisting at her side.

"I came to apologize on behalf on C2. She does not mean to be so intrusive."

"So what are you her messenger now? I don't need to hear an apology from C2, it's not like anything was going on."

He nodded, his face busy with thought, "Well it seems like she is always interrupting us whenever we are talking."

"Always is an understatement, it's almost like it's in her nature. I've kinda come to terms with it though. But tell C.C. not to worry about it, it's not a big deal," Kallen said, throwing him a false smile.

Lelouch glanced at the door, checking to see if the lock had changed from red to green. Crimson glowed from the doorway. It was locked, "She can't interrupt us here."

Kallen froze, her blue eyes wandering up to find his amethyst orbs fixated on her, "True…what do you need to talk about?"

"No Kallen, tell me what you need."

She frowned, "I live only to serve Zero and to free Japan. I do not need anything."

"So the Q-1 of the black knights does not have problems that she wishes to discuss with someone in confidence?"

Lelouch walked over to her bed and sat down, his eyes never breaking their contact with her. He placed his hands on either side of him, supporting his weight on his palms as he waited for her to commence her secret divulging.

She hesitated, "Sure but I…"

"Q-1, I command you, as Zero, commander of the Black Knights, to vent all of your frustrations to me."

"Q-1…but what about Kallen Kouzuki?" She whispered, her face becoming deathly serious in a matter of a split second, "what about Lelouch?"

He cleared his throat, "And I'm asking you, as Lelouch Vi Britannia, your friend, to tell me what's on your mind, Kallen."

Kallen felt her icy exterior begin to melt as she nodded, "Fine then. I'm tired of always having to share things with C2. I'm tired of her always snooping around and trying to pry into my mind. I'm always afraid that you'll geass me into leaving because you're afraid that I can't handle the pressure. I hate the way Tamaki always is talking. Yap, yap, yap, that's all he ever does! Someone please buy him a porno mag and just get it over with!"

At this Lelouch's serene face cracked into a boyish grin, "Continue."

"I miss my brother. I miss my mom. I worry about her every day. What if something happens to me, what will she do? And what about my brother, am I making him proud? And what about our friends back at Ashford? What if something bad happens to them? Milly still has my ipod, by the way!" She wailed, slumping against the wall, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.

"And what would you like for me to do?"

She chewed on her lower lip for a moment before she stomped her feet, planting them into the carpet like she was about to attack him, "Comfort me!"

Déjà vu flooded his mind as he looked at her, his familiar words pouring from her lips like a wine, intoxicating him.

Without a word, he got to his feet, closing the distance between them in one step, his slender hands wrapping themselves around her shoulders. She sucked in a jagged breath, her eyes slowly working up to his purple ones, losing themselves in their depths.

He brushed a strand of her reddish pink hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering at her cheeks. "Lelouch?" She whispered, her face uncertain. He remained silent, his face nearing hers. He placed a kiss to her mouth lightly at first, and then more demanding, sucking the air she had kept hidden in her lungs straight from her chest.

Immediately her aggressive demeanor faded, her body slumping against his chest as she kissed him back, his lips soft but demanding against hers. His hands fell from her cheeks to fall to her hips, pulling her snug against his lower half. She felt a gasp sneak from her mouth, his tongue invading her open cavity.

Her own tongue fought back with the fierceness that she possessed while in battle, wanting to overpower his domination, but it was to no avail. At this Lelouch was the superior. She recoiled ever so slightly, giving him the command. One of his hands reached up and unbuttoned her jacket, pushing it from her small frame easily, exposing the cute little yellow shirt she had been clad in only a few minutes earlier. Then he pushed away the suspenders, letting them hang limply at her side. He made short work of her yellow blouse, letting it fall to the ground with her jacket. She stood there in her black lace bra, breaking her hungry kiss with Lelouch to fidget ever so slightly.

"Don't be embarrassed," He whispered, pulling her back to him, his mouth covering hers again. He pushed down her skirt, helping her step out of it. He ended the kiss this time to glance down at the black lace panties that were the mate to the bra she wore. She heard him growl, his eyes turning hungry as he pushed down her thigh high hose, removing her shoes and hose in one fell swoop, his mouth and tongue flicking along the soft flesh of her long legs. Her fingers laced themselves into his long black hair, mewls of delight escaping her mouth. Everything about their actions was screaming destiny, fate. And she couldn't get enough. He returned back to full height, shedding himself of his cape and collar, next his gloves and shoes followed.

Kallen cleared her throat as she lifted her hands, unbuttoning his Zero uniform. He waited patiently, his eyes always locked on her face, nothing more. It was as if he were trying to read her, trying to become one with her brain waves, one with her soul, and one with her.

She pushed the shirt off to reveal a completely formed chest and stomach. She had expected him to be thin but not defined, he wasn't the most physically inept person there was, but he definitely surprised her. Without giving her time to continue further, his hands wrapped around her, pulling her flush against him again. She let out a cry of surprise and need upon feeling his arousal against her own dampening lower half. His fingers unhinged her bra in one movement, pulling the garment away quickly, letting free her pale and perfectly formed breasts.

Again he growled, his mouth nibbling on her ear, then her neck, lower still until he found her exposed breasts, sucking a nipple into his mouth. He licked it, sucked it, nibbled it, tweaked it, and loved it.

"Lelouch," she whispered, her thighs moving against one another to stimulate her rising her arousal. His fingers hooked both sides of her panties, shoving them down forcefully. Their movements became more demanding, more rushed as she worked with his pants, unbuttoning and unzipping, pushing them down to reveal a pair of black boxer briefs. She smiled at the erection he sported.

Without so much as a warning, he grabbed her, pushing her into the bed, causing her to fall onto her back with a slight cry of alarm.

"What if someone needs either of us?" She asked him as he pinned her underneath him, his mouth busy against her stomach, his breath tickling her.

"They won't."

She watched him lick two fingers before spreading her legs. Again her face grew red as he looked at her aroused sex. 'Beautiful.' He thought to himself, playing inside her folds for a moment, listening to the panting she emitted. Then he pushed his fingers inside her tight opening, watching as her back arched off the bed ever so slightly, her hands grabbing at his hair.

He moved his fingers inside her, scooping and swirling, exploring and invading. And then he added a third finger, watching the blood of her newly broken in sex roll out and cover his fingers. His heart raced ever so slightly. He reached out and grabbed a shirt that was laying close by and wiped his fingers off, her womanhood as well.

Just as he expected, she was a virgin. "Did I hurt you?"

The tears in her eyes finally subsided as the pain did as well. She shook her head, "No, please don't stop, Lelouch."

He couldn't help but feel a smile work its way onto his face, a need to be one with her beginning to overwhelm the royal, "Of course not, Kallen."

His hands rubbed the insides of her thighs a little roughly, warming up her lower region as he placed a kiss on the inside of each thigh, earning a moan of delight from the pink haired fighter underneath him. He watched as her toes curled and straightened under his touch. And then came the ultimatum: rough like she fought or gentle like she deserved, like he wanted. Like he hoped that she wanted?

Lelouch wandered back up her body, placing burning kisses on her pale skin until his mouth found hers again, open and panting, eager for him to reclaim them. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders as he pushed her into the middle of the bed, shedding his torso of his boxer briefs.

And then they stopped, both staring at one another, panting and breathing in the sight of one another, both lost in a world of lust and need, of hope and passion, of pleasure and…Kallen knew what she felt. Pure, unrated, unhinged, truly magical love.

He continued to hover over her, waiting for permission. Like he needed it. She fixed her legs on either side of him, moving herself so that he could easily slip inside, her eyes burning with her need as she held his gaze, all the while chewing on her lower lip.

She was breath-taking. Lelouch felt his heart rip and tear at his rib cage as he pushed her thighs open a little further, pressing his tip against her sex lightly before pushing in slowly, more and more until finally he was completely enveloped by her walls.

Kallen cried out with unforeseen pain as she let her insides welcome the visitor, her teeth finding his shoulder. He winced under her teeth pinching his skin, but quickly welcomed the fire it ignited into his soul.

His Q-1 wrapped her legs around him, hooking her ankles together to keep their bodies snug together as he began to rock in and out, in and out, more and more, deeper and stronger. It was euphoric, their eyes growing hazy and starry as they kissed one another, explored one another, owned one another, became one another.

And they continued their dance for the longest time before Kallen's insides began to protest of her need to release, Lelouch's as well. Her hips moved with his, grinding into his thrusts, always keeping their bodies tight with one another, "Lelouch…" She whimpered, "Please…"

And he wanted to whisper the same thing, his own need to release overpowering him. His movements began to jerk and increase in pace, earning high pitched moans from his prize underneath him, her eyes closing in pleasure, "Lelouch…Lelouch," She whispered, continuing to moan his name as her insides tensed, preparing their release.

"Come with me," He whispered in her ear. She nodded, kissing his mouth hard, her tongue wrestling with his.

And they both held on, neither wanting their deed to be finished, but both wanting that pleasure of absolute bliss. And after a few moments more, Lelouch pinned her down hard beneath him, shoving himself inside with a fury, his release intensifying as she let go as well, her insides wrapping around him and pounding him, begging for more.

She came with his name, and he with hers, his mouth open over hers as she continued to scream her pleasure into his lips, her hands clawing angrily at his back as she came.

And then they lay there, kissing one another over and over, their eyes dancing with emotions that they could not say. And for the time being, it was alright just to know that now they were one with each other. A whole person with two halves. "I love you," She whispered, almost to where she couldn't even hear it. She never knew if he had heard it or not, but she was sure that he knew. He had always known.

************

And now, as she stood there completely helpless, his eyes holding hers as 'Zero' withdrew the blade from his stomach, flinging his blood across the purple and yellow floor, she knew.

"Lelouch," She called loudly as he toppled down the rise of the platform, his arms outstretched, the folds of his tunic flowing behind him until he came to rest at the foot of the float, Nunnally hovering over him, touching his hand lightly. And then she froze, images of what he had done flooding her vision and then she sobbed, grasping his hand for dear life, screaming of her love for her innocent brother, her savior brother, the man who had sacrificed himself, his identity, his goals, his life for the people of the world. To bring peace to everyone that deserved it. To bring peace to himself.

"Yes…I destroy worlds," he muttered, his dulling eyes once again finding a weeping Kallen, struggling with her bonds yet again, wishing for nothing more than to hold him in her arms as he left this life. And his memories of their times and that intimate moment together flooding his mind. Regret of not being able to tell her exactly how he felt after that crucial kiss simply maddening, his soul ripping in two. He could not have let her know how much she meant to him, how much he needed her, how much he wanted to have her with him where ever he went, but she could not follow him in premature death. He would not allow it. He loved her too much to ever make her suffer this, even though the pain of losing him was more than evident as she slumped over her bonds, her eyes always locked with his. 'You can't come with me this time, Kallen.' And then yet again, as he looked at her, peace over took him, knowing that she would be able to enjoy a world with no pain, no hate, and no war.

"And create them…" 'I wish I could have told you…what you meant to me, Kallen Kouzuki, my Q-1, my queen. You were my air, my driving force aside from Nunnally. Kallen Kouzuki, from the moment I laid eyes on you…you had me. You completely stole every ounce of me.'

Nunnally's eyes welled up as she listened to her brothers thoughts, her hand ever present on his hand, breaking her gaze with him to glance at Kallen, the center of his attention.

'I love you.'

"…anew." And he was silent, his last breath of life breathed and exhaled, his head falling to the side. And with that, his body grew limp, the breeze gently blowing his hair.

"This isn't fair," Nunnally whispered as his mind silenced as well, her beloved brother and protector stolen from her. And then she glanced back at Kallen as she held Lelouch's hand to her face. "It isn't fair," she repeated, her heart aching for the love that had never had a chance to fly. And the pain that Lelouch felt. She knew that Kallen felt it to, the pain of 'what if?' Perhaps more so.

"Brother I love you!" She cried again, screaming in agony as everyone cheered for his death. Their oppressor finally dead. If only they had known that behind his mask of Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia hid the heart of a Samaritan, the love for his queen, and the need to provide a better tomorrow for his beloved sister. Of all the masks that he had worn, he had worn this mask the best, even Nunnally had doubted him. But now that she had been able to witness his face unveiled, she realized, he had been the most beautiful person that ever had graced the world with his presence.

Kallen fell to the ground as she was released from her bonds, immediately running to the float, past all of her ex-comrades, past all of the cheers of joy over Lelouch's death, straight for Nunnally and her love. She leaped up, glaring at 'Zero', knowing all too well the movements that he had displayed were those of her bitter rival. But Lelouch had chosen him to be the mask of justice, and she would follow him, for Lelouch, so that his death would not be in vain.

She bent down next to Lelouch, her eyes meeting with Nunnally's for a moment, their untold sympathies exchanged with one another before Kallen looked at Lelouch. She smiled slightly, choking back a heart wrenching sob as she touched his hair and then his face, bending down and placing a kiss on his closed eyes. She knew for certain that what she had seen had been real. That on his deathbed Lelouch had given her far more than just a smile.