The Brother's Love

Part 3: Lies in the Blood

Lelouch woke in his room, he was breathing hard, he woke and looked over, he was having a hard time breathing. "I told you, you were not feeling well," he heard C.C. holding a rag over his head. "It's a slight fever, you should be fine in a few hours. Just rest," she sighed and looked over at him. "Maybe I should get something for you other than pizza." She was looking around the room at the empty pizza boxes.

"Soup could always be a good alternative," Lelouch suggested as she went into the hall. He lay back down and sighed, he had hoped this was going to pass quickly, he felt an itch on his neck and lightly scratched the wounds. He did not care to know what was going on. He just cared to sleep.

He heard the door open a few minutes later and felt someone was sitting next to him. He was aware of something else, he slowly was forced to sit up. He felt a spoon being brought to his lips, his limbs felt heavy. "Just drink a little of the broth," he heard someone whisper, he opened his eyes just a little to see C.C. holding it. "Don't worry, it's chicken noodle. Apparently, Sayoko said it was your favorite when you're ill."

He nodded slowly as he tried to lift his hands to take the bowl. "Oh for once, let someone be the nurse," he heard C.C. say impatiently as she put a blanket over him. "That's the problem with you, you're not used to someone taking care of you because they want to."

He felt his body slowly relax, he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. "Just sleep."

Violet waited, she stretched a little and looked around for Suzaku, but what met her was not him, it was Lelouch. He had looked a little pale and was sitting down in his desk. There was some strange air about him, though she sat down, she noticed him looking out a window. "Are you okay?"

"Not really…" He smiled a little, he turned his head to see Natsuno walking in. "Are you two going to join Nunnally for lunch again?"

"No, we have to go somewhere later, then again, didn't Suzaku invite you to the test run of some knightmare frame for the air show?" she asked.

Lelouch remembered the voice message and he had planned to go, but he didn't know that Suzaku invited Natsuno and Violet. "I will come as well." He has felt sure something was different, he felt like something was going to happen, then again, he was also not sure he could believe what C.C. had told him.

She had found the markings on his neck. "You were bitten same as Suzaku and Shirley. I never thought the Shiki would come out again." She was sounding surprised.

Lelouch had come to the realization, but it was something he did not know. "Are they dangerous?"

"Shiki need blood to live, though there are two types, ones who can walk in the sun, while there are those who can only walk in darkness. You mentioned two names, Natsuno Yuuki is a shiki who I have seen only once or maybe twice. He died in 1990, he's what the shiki call a werewolf. Natsuno put himself into the service of a shiki a few years ago to protect heir to the Dalton estate." C.C. sounded a little concerned. "Then again, I only know so much as to say, Natsuno doesn't drink blood because he needs to, usually he will do so to control or protect the heir as much as possible. Then again, the heir was stolen from someone. Dalton has the tendency to steal children and raise them, then if he so wants turns them into shiki."

Lelouch could hardly believe a little girl like Violet was something like this, he did not want to believe. Shiki, no vampires, that's the proper term. He could not call them what they wanted. He wanted to tell those two, but when he saw Natsuno holding Violet, something struck him as odd, it was as if the boy was looking at him in sadness.

"I know what you are," he finally spoke. "You hide something else from me too."

"We can't tell you," Natsuno finally spoke. "If we told you, you wouldn't believe us. Come to the Highlight Apartments after the show, come to room 1560. We will tell you the truth."

The show, it was not something that Lelouch wanted to see really, but the truth was it was just a practice in showing what some of the newest Knightmare frames could do. He saw Natsuno and Violet hand in hand watching, though some people from the Britannians were glaring at the two. "How can a pretty girl pick such a thing," a man whispered to a woman.

"She's the heir to the Dalton estate, the boy is her guard, it isn't surprising that he would not allow her to be alone like this," another man walked up, it was military officier. "Count Dalton is always worrying over his daughter, but with his servant Natsuno around, he has no worries."

The show ended, though the only frame Lelouch came to see was the Lancelot which was the last to do the fight demonstration. He was not impressed though that it was Cornelia's own guard, Gilbert who was picked to do this.

"So what did you think?" Suzaku asked.

"It was interesting," Rivalz smiled. "I didn't know a Knightmare Frame could do something like that. Then again, when will the frame be equipped with the flight capabilities?"

"Sadly, that information is classified. I thought it was nice of Sir Gilbert to help with the demonstration."

Sir Gilbert stared at the four guests of Suzaku's, then stopped staring when he saw Natsuno glaring at him. "Um…I see that Count Dalton's daughter is here, it is so….so…nice to see the lovely heir of…the Dalton estate here. I didn't know you went to school with Warrant Officier Kurugi."

Violet turned her head and smiled a little. "Yes, he's quite pleasant and I enjoy being in class with him and also with his friends." She giggled holding onto Natsuno's arm. "Right, Natsuno?"

"I will see you later," Gilbert rushed off.

"He looks terrified." Suzaku stared at Violet. "Why?"

"Natsuno scares everyone," the girl giggled. "He's got these scary eyes at least sometimes, but he never scares me." She held onto him again and then turned their attention to Lelouch again. "We have to go…I have to study for a test. Lelouch, you are supposed to need help with something for the make up class, isn't that right?"

Suzaku watched as the three headed off.

The large Highlight Apartments were something that Lelouch knew only high end people lived. He had only been in it to play a chess match, now he was heading to the fifteenth floor, he walked up to the sixtieth room, and knocked. He suddenly saw something that he had not seen since childhood.

He saw a picture, a picture framed hanging just to the left in the entry, a picture of two little children, a boy and a girl holding hands. He knew this picture, it vanished the day she died, at least that was what he was told. He turned his head and looked around the apartment. There were other pictures, things that were taken from the house the day she vanished from the world.

Lily Anne vi Britannia, my sister, my twin, the one that died, he turned his head saw the door closing, Natsuno silently looked at him, then spoke. "Come with me, you and her have to talk."

Entering a room, Lelouch noticed something strange, sitting on the couch was indeed something strange. Dressed in a black dress, her eyes down and the purple eyes had reddish rings in them. "Hello, my twin," her voice was soft.

"You died!" He gasped and looked at her. "I saw you…you fell from the tree, you…"

"No, I didn't, the role was reversed you see," she turned her head and looked at him. "Count Dalton bit you, making it appear that I fell from the tree instead of you. I suppose that his powers are still a little stronger, I thought that Natsuno's bite would break the curse."

The bite? Lelouch felt something about it, then he saw Natsuno standing behind him. "I suppose my voice wasn't strong enough to break our master's voice, but I suppose we can try it again this time…" Without warning, Lelouch felt the bite, this time something rushed. "Just remember."

A fall, he felt someone catch him, he was almost passed out. "Please…please don't hurt my brother, I will do anything you ask, please, just don't take my precious Lelouch from me. My name is Lily Anne vi Britannia, I'm a princess and I just want my brother to live."

"Then let us make a deal, I give you your brother and you come live in his place with me." The vampire was smiling down at her, he set the little boy down on the grass, he bit him. "Then you will come with me." He brought his hand up.

"Yes, yes, anything please don't hurt my brother," her tears dripped onto Lelouch's face, he remembered just lying there, he stared up at his sister in sadness.

Lelouch could not believe his twin sacrificed her own happiness for his. He saw the memories, her memories, our father forsaken her. She was dead to everyone and they just made me believe I had no twin at all, Lelouch woke, he felt tears in his eyes. He suddenly held her, then noticed her pull away. "Twin?"

"I died last year, Lelouch, I was supposed to say goodbye to you and Nunnally, Count Dalton said it was the only way I could overcome my own tears. Natsuno and I, we have to return to the palace. We are sorry we bit your friends, but it was the only way we could get close enough to talk to you." Her tears were on his shoulder. "We cannot help you, we are just not able to hold that much power."

Count Dalton turned my twin into a vampire! He had left the apartment, he turned around to see Natsuno. "Do not tell Nunnally that this is goodbye," he heard the other turn. "Violet will be sad if you tell her something so sad. All she wanted was to spend time with her twin, to say she was sorry."

"Is it true, you kill your own kind?" Lelouch gazed him.

Natsuno's eyes darkened and red rings appeared. "Only I kill those who don't respect life, who kill without care, who want to destroy and make more. I protect Violet or rather Lily from those who would use her. You can call it love and devotion. But if anyone stops me, I will not hestate to kill them, even if it is members of her own human family. As far as I see it, they deserve their deaths for abandoning her."

"Then I will not need to worry for her," he whispered and looked away. "I was never able to protect her."

Never able to protect her, Lelouch leaned on the door to his room, he did have one thing, one thing that his twin gave him. A picture, a little boy sitting with a twin sister. They held hands, they were laughing, sitting with them was Schniezel and Clovis, Cornelia and Euphemia and all the other siblings of the Britannia royal family. They smiled and looked up as the picture was taken, memories from a long ago time, a time that Lelouch knew that Violet, no Lily had no right to be in anymore.

Twins to the end, he thought and looking outside to the night. "I wonder, who dries her tears when she cries," he whispered to himself.

"Lelouch?" C.C. asked. "Did you see something?"

He brought up a picture. "Just a memory that was buried and now revealed. I am just happy she is safe."

"Let's go home, Natsuno," Violet grabbed his arm. "I want to go home now."

Natsuno smiled nodding. "Yes, my princess."

"Don't call me that, is that anyway for a lover to treat his beloved! You're not my servant!" The girl giggled and pulled him along.

Looking at the sky, he smiled at her, he did not want to ever think that he hated being a werewolf and that the mistress he served was one too. He loved her, he cherished each day with her. From the time she was seven to now that she was a young woman, he could not bear the idea of parting from her. "Do you think those two, Suzaku and Shirley will recover?"

"Yes, they will, remember, we have to drain them each time to the brink of death. Don't you ever pay attention to the legends." Natsuno grabbed her and smiled. "Remember, we are werewolves, we can still do what we did as humans, I just…" He stopped and smiled feeling the wildness in him. "I was so sure you were going to try and turn your twin."

"There would be a chance he would be just be a mere shiki and what good would that do?" Violet smiled and then turned her head. "I think I will change my name back, I'm going to call myself by my real name, Lily from now on. I don't have a reason to hide it."

"I'm Lily Anne Lamprouge!"

"You are still mine," Natsuno held her, and sank his fangs into her neck. "Always and forever, the one who I meant to find." She gasped holding him as she snuggled and then bit his wrist.

Suzaku and Shirley sat in class, they were staring at the board, while Lelouch was looking around the class. All memories of Natsuno and his twin were gone, no one remembered a thing. He smiled a little looking out the window as he remembered the day she left him as a child.

Lily, I love you, my twin, Nunnally and I may never remember altogether who you are, but you gave me this life, whatever it is, he thought and pictured a smiling girl with large dark purple eyes, black hair and holding onto the one she loved the most. "Natsuno, you better take good care of her," he whispered and went back to scheming the overthrow of Britannia.

End?

Might bring Lily back for another story. Don't know about Natsuno, he's hard to write, OCC mostly was what I was going with, but he's still a great character.