Kiara sighed in relief as Lelouch began striding towards the door that led to the roof. As he passed down the stiars she slipped from her hiding place behind him and gave Raina a thumbs up sign behind his back.
"Good to see you're back to being you," she commented dryly as they continued down the steps. "We were a bit worried there for a minute." Well it had been a little more than a minute but she wasn't about to tell him that.
"I'm fine now tell me what happened," he said, back in comand. It was good to see him slip back into being Zero so easily.
"The Black Knights are being attacked," she said bluntly. "Britannian forces have them pinned and if we don't move it there won't be much for us to rescue."

It didn't take Raina too long to invent an excuse to leave the student council again. She couldn't even remember what she'd said - it may have involved zombies.
Running, she caught up with Lelouch and Kiara. "What do we do, Lulu?"
Lelouch put on his thinking face. "Given their current location... I have a plan. Don't worry, I will get everyone out of there alive."
"Great! Let's go!"
"Don't worry, I can do this alone."
"Huh?"

"Are you sure about that?" Kiara asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Lelouch's only answer was a smirk that held all the confidence of a future tyrant. "You know what, forget I asked," she muttered.
"Don't worry," Lelouch stated confidently. "I know what I'm doing."
Kiara decided not to comment and instead looked at Raina and rolled her eyes in al 'I can't believe him sometimes' sort of way.
"!Alright," she sighed. "Just don't do anything too stupid."
Lelouch decided not to dignify that with a response and instead started towards the school gates.

"Well that was rude," Raina huffed. "He didn't even tell us his plan." She sat down on the stone school steps. Not that she'd expected much different. Lelouch preferred to keep things to himself. She just hoped that this mysterious plan of his was a good one.

"We'll find out when we find out," Kiara replied dismissively. Really what else could they expect from their esteemed leader?
"Come on," she said, turning back toward Lelouch and Rolo's appartment. "We should get in before I'm seen. There'll probably be a news broadcast so we'll find out soon enough." Whatever Lelouch did it would end up on the news. He always did have a flare for the dramatic after all.

"Well since Lulu has decided to keep us in the dark, I suggest we punish him. Sleepover time at his place!" Raina stood up.
"Did you just say...?"
It was Rolo. Raina draped her arm around his shoulders again and mussed his hair. "You don't mind do you, Rolo-chan?"

"N-no..."Rolo was clearly uncomfortable and out of his depth but Kiara just smirked at him.
"I believe you're right," she replied to her friend. "Come on." Kiara looped her right arm around Rolo so that they were on either side of the young assassin before heading towards the appartment he shared with Lelouch. "Don't worry Rolo. We won't cause too much trouble for you and Lelouch."

"Speak for yourself, Ki-chan." Raina flopped onto the sofa and put her feet up. "I plan to cause as much trouble for Lulu as possible."
Rolo sighed. "I hope Brother's ok..."

"He'll be fine, Rolo," Kiara replied flippantly. She reached for the remote and turned on teh TV, flicking through the channels until she found one covering the events they were interested in.
"Look," she said, pointing to the screen. "There's the knights over teh ocean and.....are those giant bubbles?" What in teh name of.....Lelouch ahd clearly done something but what? Well he certainly works fast, she'd give him that much.

The TV cut out then. Raina knew that they didn't like to broadcast it when the Britannians were losing - it looked bad for the government.
"Hmm, I wonder how he got all those bubbles in there... that's a lot of bubble bath he'd need!" she mused. "Oh well, it seems to have worked. Lulu saves the day again!"
"But there are still the aerial units," said Rolo. "The Knights of Round... and also Brother promised me that..." He stopped, and looked away. Raina sighed and mussed his hair again.

Kiara frowned as she saw something approaching in the distance. She couldn't be sure but.....
"What the hell is he doing?" she asked, staring at the figure of Zero as it appeared but before she could hear what was about to be said the broadcast was cut short.
"Damn Britannians," she cursed, glaring at the televission. "He better explain what happened when he gets back here," Kiara growled, turning off the TV before she ended up throwing the remote at it. She glared at nothing in particular, Rolo backing away from her slightly but she ignored him. Instead she summoned a small fireball, red and purple, and began tossing it from hand to hand, glaring at it all the while. She needed to do something with her hands and since somehow grasping the news broadcaster's neck wasn't an option this would have to do.

*I thought they didn't broadcast it when Lelouch announced it - first Lulu had to negotiate with the Britannuans to come to an agreement about it etc. That's why I said the TV cut out*

((Ah I fergot about that part. I'll change my last post))

"Don't worry, Ki-chan! Lulu always has a plan, you know how he obsesses over thinking 20 steps ahead, like in chess." Raina had tried playing chess with Lelouch once. It hadn't gone very well for her.
"Let's just go to bed, and we can interrogate him in the morning."

"Hmm..." Kiara made the little fireball dissappear before she did something irrational with it...like throw it at the televission...and nodded her head in agreement. "I supose that's all we can do for the moment," she agreed. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Big brother knows what he's doing," Rolo put in but Kiara didn't really pay attention to the little assassin. He was Lelouch's pawn and nothing more. Although he was a very dangerous one and a little unstable if she was honest but as long as Lelouch kept him on a tight leesh she'd let him stick around but if he got out of line.....
"Goodnight then," she said, stretching slightly as she headed towards the room she'd taken up residence in.

"I'm using Lulu's bed," said Raina to Rolo, yawning. "If you're still up when he gets in, let him know. Or on second thoughts, don't. More fun that way."
Lelouch's room was freakishly unnervingly clean, as usual, but she could cope with that. At leats for one night, anyway.
"Night, Rolo, Ki-chan," she called as she fell into the bed and fell asleep.

Kiara ended up laying awake for a while but eventually turned over and managed to get a few hours sleep before she was woken the next morning by the sun peaking through the window. She glared at it before getting up, changing into fresh clothes and exiting the room. It was still pretty early so she doubted anyone else would be up. As she emerged into the main room her eyebrow rose as she saw Lelouch asleep on the couch. He almost looked like a kid the way he was curled in on himself while he slept. It was actually quite.....dare she say it?.....cute. She smirked to herself and quickly took a picture with her phone to show Raina later.
Just as she slipped the phone back into her pocket Lelouch began to stir. Good, she hadn't been caught.
"Why're you sleeping on the couch?" she asked, sitting down beside Lelouch as he rubbed at his eyes to wake himself up more fully.
"Raina," he answered and that was all Kiara needed to know. She smirked internally. She wished she could've seen the expression on Lelouch's face when he found his bed already occupied.

Hearing Lelouch's and Kiara's voices, Raina woke herself fully up from the waking-up daze she'd been in before, and jumped out of bed, into the main room. Sitting cross-legged on the floor by the couch, she looked Lelouch dead in the eye. "Last night. Explain, now."
"I could be the one saying that to you," Lelouch sighed and sat up. "What do you want to know?"

"We want to know what the hell happened when the broadcast was cut off yesterday," Kiara replied bluntly. "What did you say to stop them destroying everyone?"
"I promised the full co-operation of the Black Knights in Nunnally's Special Administrative Zone," Lelouch replied calmly, almost too calmly.
"You did what?" Kiara growled, flames beginning to flicker around the tips of her fingers. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at Lelouch. "And why exactly would you do that?" She couldn't believe this, not after last time. What in the hell was Lelouch thinking? Were his feelings for Nunnally clouding his judgement? It seemed plausible but...he seemed so calm, so collected, like teh old Lelouch. Taking a calming breath she cooled the flames burning around her fingers, getting rid of them before she did something she'd regret later.

"You mean the Black Knights are... over?" Raina could not believe that he'd give up so easily. Sure, Nunnally was his sister, but...
"No, I have a plan," said Lelouch. "I still have to have a meeting with the government of Area 11 and the Knights of Round to sort things out, but I plan to negotiate some terms."
"What sort of terms?"
"I will promise our co-operation so long as they overlook me, Zero, and allow me to be exiled."
"...Right."

"There's got to be more than that," Kiara growled. There was no way Lelouch was going to abandom them, not now. After what he'd gone through, his mother and Nunnally, having his memory wiped, fighting against his best friend...he wouldn't just give up and run away!
"Oh, there is," Lelouch smirked that smirk of his, the one where you just knew he was up to no good, well no good for Britannia at any rate. "You'll find out when I explain it to the others though."
"And why can't we know now?" Kiara glared.
"Because taht will ruin the surprise," Lelouch returned easily.
"Drama queen." Kiara let out a sigh of annoyance. "Then again you wouldn't be you if you weren't, would you?" She turned to Raina and raised an eyebrow. "Any plans for today since we clearly won't get anything out of him yet."

"There is one more thing," said Lelouch. "After we put this plan into action, we will be leaving the country for a while. In order to avoid raising suspicion with Suzaku, I'm having Sayoko take my place."
"I can see a few flaws with that plan, Lulu," said Raina. "She doesn't have your pretty eyes, for a start."
"I'm having a mask made. Also she will have a device to change her voice into a copy of mine. Should I make similar arrangements for you?"
"Ooh, that's a good idea! Only who's gonna stand in for me?"
"I'll find another member of the intelligence agency who's the right height. Since they're all under the control of my geass we should have no problems."

"Should being the opperative word," Kiara remarked dryly. "re you sure this plan of yours is going to work?"
"Positive," Lelouch replied confidently.
"Then I supose we'll just have to trust your judgement," Kiara sighed. "Should me and Raina head to the hide out to wait for you with the others?"
"That would be a good idea," Lelouch replied. "The sooner the plan is put into motion the better. We still have a little while before the new Special Administrative Zone opens and I intend to have everything finalised by then.2
"Good. Come on Rai, let's get ready to head over there. We can find Kallen. That and I have something to show you." She smirked at her best friend. She couldn't wait to show her the picture of Lelouch she'd taken earlier.

"OK, sure! We could take the Tenshi out for a spin too, get to know how it works better," Raina was looking forward to going back to the hideout submarine. She didn't get to go there often enough any more. "I'll just go tell the student council that I'm going to my dad's for a while."
Her friends were disappointed to see her go. Milly asked how long she'd be away, and Raina shrugged. "I don't know. I think dad wants to try more of the father-daughter bonding thing, and it's hard to tell how long before he'll give up. He mentioned a trip to the mainland too."
"Bring us souvenirs!" said Rivalz.
"I'll think about it." After giving each of them a hug, she went down to the back gates to meet with Kiara.

Kiara was wearing her yuki cross disguise again but she wouldn't have it on for long. As soon as they got to the base she'd change into her pilot suit and be ready to take a turn in the Tenshi like Raina suggested. They did need a better handle on the thing if they wanted to be any use against the knights of the round. Sure they'd faced them already but that was a relatively quick fight and they weren't trying to kill any of them, just buy Lelouch enough time to get Nunnally and that hadn't exactly gone to plan.
"Let's go," she said, smirking at Raina. "Oh, but before we do..." she pulled out her phone, opened it and showed Raina the picture of Lelouch sleeping. "Blackmail?"