Lelouch Lamperouge was very annoyed. He was sitting in the back of his car, his chauffeur driving him to the set of the first script reading for a show he accepted to do only ten minutes ago. All he knew was that he was supposed to play the male lead; that's all. The only reason he took the job was because his manager insisted that it would make his career sky rocket. It wasn't like he needed any more publicity. He had already starred in all of the top three movies in the world, modeled for countless magazines, done over a dozen interviews in a single month, and was named Sexiest Man of the Year. To top it all off, he was only 18.

He sighed, leaning against the leather seats of his over priced car. He didn't know what it was called, just that it was jet black with tinted windows, had silver rims, and cost too much money. It didn't matter to him though, he was rich after all. He closed his eyes, massaging his temples. He really needed to get some time off...

He became slightly confused when he realized that his chauffer (who never listened to music while she drove him places) was listening to some music. Lelouch listened a little, confused. Was the girl on the radio singing in Japanese...?

"Mezamete wa kurikaesu nemui asa wa,
Eri no tai wo kitsuku shime,
Kyoushitsu no doa kuguru to,
Honno sukoshi mune wo hatte arukidaseru,"

He drowned out the rest of the music, suprised. His chauffer was probably the single person that was the most racist towards the Elevens, so the fact that she was listening to an Eleven song confused him. He was about to asked her what she was listening to when he was nearly thrown into the front of the car when it came to a sudden and hard stop. He looked at his chauffer Nina Einstein, asking, "Why did you just stop?"

His chauffer wore the standerd Ashford Academy uniform with an old styled black hat on her head. Her hair was out of those silly pigtails she has them in almost every day, so her hair was just resting on her shoulders. The girl smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Mr. Lamperouge, but we're here."

The boy sighed and nodded. "Thank you, Nina." He got out of the car quickly, thinking that he should probably give the girl a break some time. The only reason she put up with driving him everywhere was because she worshiped his younger sister Euphemia. Once out of the car, he watched as it sped away. He sighed and shook his head, turning to face the building he had been dropped off at.

It wasn't the most impressive building, but it was nice...ish. It looked like a normal apartment building, basically. He raised a curious black brow, looking down at the paper in his hand. "It's the right address..." he muttered to himself before walking in. There was a sign that said, "All People Here For The Reading Of Stories Need To Go To The Main Office." Remembering that Stories was the name of show he had agreed to be on, he began to walk to the Main Office.

When he arrived in the Main Office, he knew that he should have turned down the offer. He could tell that he was the last one there. A ginger girl saw him and gasped. She stood up quickly from her seat and ran up to him, nearly running him down. "Hi!" she greeted him excitedly.

Lelouch blink multiple times. "Umm...hello." The girl must have been about his age. She had a slight tan and big emerald green eyes. Her bright orange hair was long and soft looking. Her smile was big and bright as she looked up at him. She wore a black pencil skirt that led down to mid-thigh. She had on a white dress shirt that fit her body perfectly.

The un-named girl stuck her hand out to him. "I'm Shirley Fenette! I'll be playing the female lead. And you're Lelouch Lamperouge, the male lead!"

Said boy blinked at her. Stalker...? he wondered silently, grabbing hold of her small hand and shaking it. He looked around to see that there were a lot more people in the room. Most of them he didn't know, but he did recognize his best friend, Suzaku Kururugi.

Lelouch walked past the girl and sat in the open seat that was right next to his friend. "Hey, Suzaku. Do you have any idea what this show's supposed to be about?"

Suzaku was the only Japanese man to ever be successful in showbiz in Britannia/Area 11. His father was a manager for singers before he died, so Suzaku knew a lot of people from not only the acting department, but the singing department, too. Normally, though, Suzaku worked behind the scenes for things, so it suprised Lelouch to see him there. He met Suzaku when they were both ten. It was because of Suzaku's father that Lelouch got interested in acting.

His friend shrugged. "No idea. To be honest, I'm not doing anything behind the scenes this time. I'm just acting. It's been a couple of years, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to pull it off."

Lelouch nodded. "Yeah, I've only done movies and photo shoots, so this'll be a challenge for me."

The other boy's green eyes seemed to laugh at him. He ran a hand through his boyish, brown, curly hair. "The world famous Lelouch Lamperouge thinks that it'll be hard for him to act in a T.V. show? You're joking, right?"

The actor shook his head. "No, I'm not, actually. I'm sorry to disappoint you, Kururugi, but I'm very worried."

"At least you bothered to show up. I mean, you're pretty late, but that's only because the director forgot to call you. There's supposed to be another person here that accepted the job weeks ago, so she should be here by now."

"Does anybody know who or where she is?"

Suzaku shook his head. "No, the director kept everybody's identities a secret from each other, so we had to introduce ourselves. We don't even know who the director is, though. Everyone thinks he's getting our missing girl."

Lelouch nodded. "So, who is everybody?"

Suzaku pointed to a girl that was sitting alone in a corner. She had short hot pink hair that was styled with spikes at the end. She had on a strapless blood red summer dress that went down to her knees. It seemed to be made out of silk. Her eyes were the same color as the mid-day sky. She was slightly pale, but she was tall and slender. "That's Kallen Stadtfled," he said, "She's our age and and she's done a lot of T.V. shows. Her last name's a stage name, though. Her real last name is Kozuki. She's famous for playing fighters and rebels. She says it's because she's one in real life and people that are close to her agree."

He pointed to a short boy that looked 15. His eyes looked like a mix between pink and purple. He had hair like Suzaku's, only not nearly as dark and not as curly. He wore the male uniform for students that go to Ashford Academy, so he most likely knew Nina. "That's Rolo Halliburton. He's done commercials and a couple of mini series, but that's about it."

Next, was a girl with slightly curly blonde hair. Her big eyes were the color of ice. She was tall and was very well developed. She had white apple bottom jeans and a snow white shirt on. Her white heels looked like they were at least four or five inches tall. "And that's Milly Ashford. She's a model for Victoria's Secret and just about every clothing catalog you can think of. She's already starred in three of her own T.V. shows and she has her own clothing, perfume, nail polish, and make up line. She's your female equivalent in the modeling world."

Lelouch nodded. "It's a pretty small cast..." he muttered to himself.

"Well, it's only the main characters that are here, today."

"So, the girl that's missing is one of the leads?"

"Yeah. It's been over half an hour and she still isn't here."

As if on cue, a girl walked into the room. She had long green hair that flowed just past her hips. Her bangs covered her forehead, but not her eyes. Her eyes were big and the color of honey. She had ivory colored skin. She wore a black mini skirt and a matching tanktop. Her shoes were average flipflops. Despite her average teenage girl look, she had an aura of mystery surrounding her and her beauty was tat of a goddess. She had a stack of papers in her hands. Lelouch had no idea who she was.

Following close behind her was a man with very light blue hair. He had big eyes that matched his hair and glasses. He was tall and had a goofy grin on his face. "Hello, everybody! I'm so glad that everyone is here! I'm the director, Lloyd Asplund! Now, we're all going to introduce ourselves. We'll say our names, area of profession, something special about yourself, and then we'll say what roll we're playing." He pointed at Kallen. "You'll start!"

Kallen nodded and stood up. "My name is Kallen Kozuki, but my stage name is Kallen Stadtfeld. You can call me by either name. I work as an actress. I do all of my own stunts and I play the roll of Alice Love, one of the main antagonists, and one of the male lead's love interests."

Next was Rolo. "My name is Rolo Halliburton. I'm a talento and I never do live shows. I play Jack Ewing, the male lead's little brother."

Then, it was Milly's turn. "Hi, I'm Milly Ashford. I work as model most of the time, but I'll do T.V. shows from time to time. My father is the head master of Ashford Academy, home of those training to be stars. I play the female lead's older and doting sister, Megan James."

Next, was Shirley. "I'm Shirley Fenette! I work as an actress. I'm a former student from Ashford and I play Lucy James, Megan's little sister, the female lead, one of the main protagonists, and the male lead's main love interest."

Suzaku's turn. "I'm Suzaku Kururugi. I work mostly behind the scenes of concerts and movies, but I've done some acting, so this isn't too new for me. I'm highly skilled in seven types of tai kyon dou and I play Micheal Syra, the male lead's best friend."

Lelouch sighed and took his turn. "My name is Lelouch Lamperouge. I'm an actor and I've been one since I was ten. I play Luke Ewing, the male lead, one of the main protagonists and Lucy's main love interest."

The mysteriousl girl with the green hair leaned against a wall. "My name is C.C., but most of you know me as Lady Cee, the singer. This is the first time I've ever done real acting. I play Ravyn Love, Alice's older sister, one of Luke's love interests, and the main antagonist."

Everyone stared at the singer. She was the only one there that had never done a single bit of acting in her life. So, how'd she get such an important part? No one voiced this, but everyone knew that everyone felt it. C.C. ignored it, but you could tell that she noticed by the small smirk on her face.

The tension was clearly making it uncomfortable in the room, so Lloyd coughed. "So, let's begin shall we? Everyone, take a seat if you aren't sitting."

The only one standing other than him was C.C., so she took the empty seat beside Lelouch. He caught a breif whiff of roses as she flipped her hair over her shoulders and tied it up in a high pony tail. "What's this show about, anyways?" she said, looking at Lloyd.

The directer smiled. "Our show is called Stories. It's called this because that's what this show basically is. Each episode is a new story and as the series goes on, people's lives begin to intertwine. Each and everyone one of you will have an episode based on your character and your character alone. Considering each show has an arc, those episodes will be the beginning arc. So, we'll have a six episode beginning arc.

"We'll start off with our male lead, Luke Ewing and his little brother. You two are the only one's that have to share an episode because the first episode is an hour and a half long. Luke's been responsible for his little brother all his life. His father was a horrible man that left the family when the boys were 7 and 10. For years, Luke has had a deep rooted hatred of his father. So, his episode is about his past and him tracking down his father. When he finds him again, they get into a fight. Luke, who had taken a pistol with him, shoots and kills his father. All of the other stuff will be explained as the series goes on. So, one of his main problems in this series is the fact that he killed his own father and that he's on the brink of insanity. Now, Jack isn't a very big part of the series until the very end, so his part will mostly be his past.

"Next, we'll show our female lead, Lucy James. Now, she's been living in her older sister's shadow ever since she was born. Her father was killed when she was young, so she was raised by her older sister and her mother whenever she was home. Her story starts off when she finds out that her boyfriend, the only person she's ever trusted other than her sister and mother, was cheating on her. The worst part? The other woman was her mother. Now, Lucy is broken beyond repair in her mind. Her mind finds a way to find a flaw in every little thing she does. So, she starts to go into extremes in order to make herself perfect and to move on from her boyfriend; that will be her battle.

"After Lucy is Megan James. For Megan, life is a game. It's sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, basically. She lives on the edge and parties every single night. On nights when her mom's not going to be home, she throws a party. But, she never forgets to include her sister. The only time Megan truly feels like herself is when she's with Lucy. But, when we first see Megan, it's the morning after a party. Later on in the episode, it turns out that she's with child. This shatters everything in her life. So, she needs to stop living on the edge for the sake of her unborn child. This causes massive amounts of stress in her life, so when her little sister comes crying to her about what happened with her boyfriend, Megan kills him for a release. Her problem is that she's trying her best to keep her life in control. Later on in the series, we find out who the father of her child is.

"This brings us to Micheal Syra. Now, Micheal is an only child and was always given what he wanted, but that made him unhappy. His parents both want him to be perfect and it's a lot of pressure. So, he decides he wants to rebel by sneaking out and going to Megan's party. Now, this ends up being something he'll regret deeply. As time goes on in the series, he'll have killed his own father, lost his mother to a losing battle with cancer, and he'll have become a father himself. His main battle in this series is just getting through life.

"Next, we have Alice Love. For about three years she was in an abusive relationship. Her episode is centered around her trying to get out of the relationship. The boyfriend, like Lucy's, is a minor character, so he'll only be around for that episode. In the middle of the episode, he gets much more violent than normal. So, in self defense, Alice fights back for the first time. When she feels the rush from fighting back, she loses control and beats him nearly to death. Now, Alice begins to fall in love with the feeling of having control over another person's life, so she begins to thrive on it. She joins a gang, becoming the leader within the first five minutes. Soon, she gains a split personality that thrives on nothing but blood and death. Alice's main fight is the one to keep her real self from being swallowed whole by her split personality.

"Lastly, we have Ravyn Love. Her story is the most complex and the one with the saddest end to it. In order to raise her sister because her parents were murdered when they Alice and her were kids, she gets a job as a prostitute. She gets a lot of money from it, so she doesn't mind any of it. She lives down the street from Luke, so when he starts to go crazy, she's always there to calm him down. But, as time progresses, she gets caught up in everyone else's lives. She begins to lose sight of who she truly is. No one knows about what she does outside of school. As her job begins to get out of hand, she starts to act more and more like she does at work around other people. You see, at some point she and Luke become friends with benefits. When Lucy steps into the picture, Ravyn starts to lose it. She soon becomes a cutter and she starts to lose her mind. Her battle is one with not only her own life, but with her sanity."

Milly whistled. "Damn, Mr. Asplund. That's really...crazy. I'm guessing this doesn't have much of a happy ending?"

The directer shook his head. "For most of you, no. Only three people get something like a happy ending. That's it."

Kallen looked at him. "If you don't mind me asking, how does everyone's story end up tying together?"

He smirked. "That's the fun part. You guys don't know until you shoot the episodes. You'll get a script for your first episode here, and then, you'll get scripts of the next episode. That's basically how it'll go. Basically, when happens to you is a mystery to everyone, including yourselves."

C.C. leaned back in her chair. "This sounds like it'll be fun. How long do you plan to make this last?"

"As long as it can go. We have no set number of episodes or seasons, so we get to play with it until the end."

Everyone looked at each other. "So," he continued, "all of you need to get along because you may end up working with each other much more than often than you expected."

Lelouch drowned out the sounds of everybody's questions and answers then, feeling no need to be in touch with the conversations anymore. This show wasn't going to be easy. Not because his role was hard, though. No, it was because he has to forge relationships in this show that won't work on set unless they get worked on off set. According to Lloyd, he was going to have to forge a relationship with Shirley, Kallen, and C.C.

He looked over at C.C. to see that she seemed lost in thought. She was looking at a wall, as if she were in a trance. Her eyes were glazed over and her expression was blank. He blinked, knowing that look. That's the look actors normally get when they're trying to figure out how to act out a part. When she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, he turned his head away quickly. He heard a small chuckle come from her and sighed as his script was given to him.

He only had one week to get his role perfected and to learn more about his costars. This project just might be the one to end his career...

A/N: Whoo! This is the first chapter of "Showbiz"! Now, I'm going to propose a contest. ^^ Here it is:
I will write down four quotes. Each one will come from a different Code Geass Sound Episode. The rewards will be shown after the quotes.
1. Suzaku: Lelouch, hurry up! Our wedding's about to start!
2. *in a car* Tamaki: So, you must've seen Zero's face in bed with no mask. But, maybe, he keeps a little mask on, you know, when you're doing it together.
C.C.: You.
Tamaki: Yeah, what?
C.C.: *opens Tamaki's car door*
Tamaki: Hey, don't open the door, it's dangerous! What if I fell out?
C.C.: Heeeeeeeeh! *kicks Tamaki out of car*
Kallen: Tamaki! *doesn't stop car*
3. *in Lelouch's room* Nunnally: Why don't we all go into the living room? I can ask Sayoko to make us some nice, hot tea.
Lelouch: Eh...no, that's okay. The truth is we're-
C.C.: Having an intimate discussion.
Nunnally: Intimate...
Lelouch: *whispers to C.C.* What are you saying?
C.C: *whispers back* Do you want your maid to see me in these clothes? You're the one who wanted to avoid that.
Lelouch: *whispers back* Right, but don't say we're having an intimate discussion.
C.C.: *whispers back* But, we are.
Lelouch: *whispers back* We're having a discussion. You don't have to add the word intimate.
C.C.: *whispers back* You think too much.
Nunnally: Umm...Lelouch?
Lelouch: Oh, sorry, Nunnally, I'm kind of busy in here, right now. So-
Nunnally: Oh, no. That's alright. I'm sorry if I interrupted you. I'm going back to my room, C.C. You can take all the time you want, okay?
Lelouch: Nunnally, wait, that's not-
C.C.: Thank you, Nunnally. Next time, you can show me how to do more origami.
Nunnally: Sure! I'll look forward to it! *leaves*
C.C.: Looks like she has the wrong idea about us.
4. *in Lelouch's room* Suzaku: Now, you're seventeen, so of course...
Lelouch: What?
Suzaku: You have a girlfriend, now, don't you? See, there's a long hair over here. It's not Nunnally's or Shirley's, is it?
Lelouch: What? D-don't be absurd! Th-that doesn't mean it's from a girl!
Suzaku: It's okay, you don't have to hide it. Of course, I won't tell Nunnally about it, either. Hey, we're both seventeen, now. Things like this are perfectly natural.
Lelouch: *thinks: Things like this...things like this? Like what?*
Suzaku: What's she like? I'm curious.
Lelouch: Oh...how do I describe her? Well, she's not easy to figure out.
Suzaku: So, she's kind of mysterious?
Lelouch: I guess you could say that.
Suzaku: Is she cute?
Lelouch: NO!
Now, you have to tell me which sound episode each quote came from. These are the rewards:
0/4: You get a cookie just for trying.
1/4: Cookie and you get an honorable mention.
2/4: Cookie, honorable mention, and you'll get your stories (or something else of your choice) promoted on here.
3/4: Cookie, honorable mention, promotion, and you can request anything to be put in here, EXCEPT LEMONS! Sorry, I know I'll read stories that contain them if the plot's good enough, but I won't write them.
4/4: Cookie, honorable mention, promotion, request, and I'll inbox you with the first chapter of Geass Jail before it's even published (I don't plan on publishing it until after chapter two, three, or four of this)!
HINT: None of these are from the same sound episode.
EPISODE WORD BOX: THE END OF SUMMER HAPPINESS; TICKET OF DREAMS; THE FINAL INVITATION; A WOMAN'S BATTLE; ORANGE PEEL; THE GIRL IN THE STRAIGHTJACKET; THE BLACK KING; THE NIGHT BEFORE THE SHOWDOWN; THE THIRD REASON.
As you can tell, there are five extras. MWAHAHAHAHA! Good luck!
Plus, I will publish a one-shot I thought up some day soon. It doesn't have much romance, though. Why? Because it's a fic about the Code Geass girls having a sleep over. ^^ It'll mostly be humor or drama or something of the likes. =P I hope you guys liked this first chapter, even if it is kind of poopy. *nervous laugh/sweat drop* It was basically meant to be an overview of what everyone would have to do and such.
PLEASE, REVIEW!