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Description
Chapter One
It was the sun on her cheek that woke her that day. It was uncomfortable; half of her face warm in the light, half of it chilled by the dark. She stirred, trying to move out of the light, determined not to be roused.
And then something came flying through the air. She cried out in shock, and it took her a moment to realize that whatever it was hadn't been meant to hurt her, but rouse her. Indeed, a pillow could do little damage. She opened her eyes and hunted out the source of the attack. She glared at her roommate, her violet eye glinting demonically while the deep brown one sucked the other girl in, paralyzing her.
"What?" Neko hissed, rolling slowly into a sitting position and ruffling the wandering strands of her silky brown hair.
"Time to wake up!" Cassandra cried, her leafy green eyes curving with her bright smile. In an instant, she was on her feet, pulling on Neko, trying to wake her up, "Breakfast will be over if we don't hurry!"
Neko groaned, throwing Cassie off and rolling back under the covers.
"Not hungry," She muttered.
Something jumped on the end of her bed and started bouncing.
"C'mon, Neko-chan!" Cassie cried, her leaps carrying her ever closer to the drop at the end, "You're a bad lia-!"
Her voice dropped in a squeal as her foot slipped and she plummeted off the edge of Neko's four-poster. She landed with a heavy thud, crying out in pain. Neko blinked twice into her pillow, then rolled calmly out of the bed and crossed the room to the neatly folded pile of clothes which was her uniform. She didn't even glance at Cassie.
She dressed easily, each movement graceful, pointedly ignoring Cassandra as she bounded; unhurt by her fall; around Neko. Silently, Neko smoothed down the pleats of her skirt, and then reached out and caught Cassie's arm, jerking her to a halt. Wordlessly, she began to unbutton the front of Cassie's carelessly donned jacket. Cassie squealed in protest, trying to jerk out of Neko's hands, but Neko held fast.
"You missed a button." Neko mumbled, her mind still too fogged to be chatty, "Decorum is important for the student council."
"C'mon, Neko-chan!" Cassie cried, leaping away before Neko could redo the top two buttons, "I'm hungry!"
Neko sighed, slowly shaking her head as she picked up her school bag and walked towards the door. It was open well before she reached it, and Cassie was already half way down the hall by the time she closed it behind her.
"Hurry up, Neko-chan!" She cried, stopping at the top of the stairs to wave eagerly before dashing down them. Neko sighed, shaking her head as her roommate's squeal told her that Cassie had, as usual, tumbled down the last few steps.
"Does she ever get tired?" Neko barely twitched at the voice behind her. She had known he was there, waiting for her to speak to him. He always was. He had to learn; Neko didn't start conversations.
"Never." Neko mumbled, leaning briefly against the wall to steady the spinning in her head. Katsu showed no concern. She was always like this in the morning.
"I'm sorry." He said simply, brushing past her and moving on down the stairs. She watched him go, reluctant to move away from the support of the wall. His movements were easy, flowing, unhindered by friction or gravity. The movements of a competent fighter; the captain of the Sword Fighting Club.
All around her, other students were pouring out of their dorms. She shoved off of the wall, heading towards the stairs as noise rose all around her. She reached the bottom just in time for the rest of the school to start flooding down them, her long legs carrying her easily out the front doors and into the blinding sun.
The emerald lawns were already bustling with students, all heading towards the dining hall. She hesitated for a moment as hunger rumbled in her stomach, and then turned away from the circular metal building and moved off towards the little cottage in the garden; the headquarters for the student council.
She opened the door, ignoring her hunger as she stepped into the morning shadows and closed it behind her. Within, she could see only vague silhouettes. A table, long enough to seat six people. Six chairs in various disorderly positions; lying on their backs, thrown up on the table, shoved into the wall. She sighed, shaking her head, wondering what the others had been doing last night in her absence. She could only begin to guess. Wordlessly, she moved over the armchair in the furthest corner, grabbing her book from its designated spot on the bookshelf as she passed. She folded back into the chair, laid her head against the wall behind her, and closed her eyes.
In a matter of seconds, she was asleep.

Someone tripping over one of the fallen chairs woke her to the blinding light. The sun had risen now, almost all the way. She could tell by its brightness. Neko grimaced; she had missed club activities, not that she had any to attend. She was just glad it was Saturday; no classes before lunch. Which meant that the one who had just stumbled into the cottage was a member of the student council, coming to clean up before their noon tea. Neko didn't stir, the book held loosely in the hand that hung off the side of her chair, hoping that whomever it was would have the sense to leave her lying there, and she could go back to sleep.
Suddenly, a pair of arms engulfed her. She acted without thinking, bringing her book up sharply and smacking her attacker on the side of the head. He stumbled back, gasping in pain. But not before she got a good sense of the person's aura. Bright, glittering with energy, carefree.
"What do you want, Tristen?" She asked darkly, slowly opening her multi-colored eyes to glare at him. Then she blinked. He sat on the floor in front of her, rubbing the side of his head with one hand. In the other, he held out a muffin.
"You weren't there at breakfast." He explained, smiling. Neko blinked again. His smile was as idiotic as ever. Silently, she reached out and took the muffin and began to nibble at it.
Outside, she could feel more than hear students moving around, heading once more towards the dining hall; this time for lunch. Their auras carried varying degrees of happiness; none of them seemed at all upset. All of them were remembering what had happened during club that day. Most were laughing; Rachel, the student council president, came up in their thoughts and conversations. She frowned, wondering what the woman had gotten them all into this time.
Carefully, ignoring Tristen as she nibbled at the muffin, she began to tuck away the sixth sense; her Geass; which had been exploring the world in her sleep without her permission. It was annoying, to always know everything that was going on around you. And it was inconvenient; difficult to hide; when she started answering people's thoughts instead of their spoken questions, or talking about a thing in their past that they hadn't told her.
Just before her power was safely boxed into the back of her mind; just as the last of the muffin disappeared into her mouth; the door opened and the rest of the student council came pouring in.
"Morning, Neko-chan!" Cassandra cried, bounding over to her and pulling her out of her armchair, only to knock her down again with a fierce hug. Neko took the assault calmly, accustomed by now to her overenthusiastic roommate, awake enough not to be too violent. However, she did rap the girl's head gently with her knuckles.
"It's too hot to be cuddling, Cassie." She muttered. The girl giggled, leaping back off to embrace Tristen. She didn't seem to notice that he was sprawled across the floor with a red mark on his forehead.
"You're in your usual good humor this morning, Neko." Rachel observed, stepping over to give Neko a light hug before practically dancing out of the way of her elbow.
"You could really hurt someone doing that." Someone else whispered.
Neko turned, catching the eye of a small, soft-voiced boy. Ootori Haru. He flinched as her glare found him.
A hand clapped down on her shoulder. She turned, meeting Katsu's flinty gaze as evenly as anyone could.
"Don't scare them so early, Neko." He murmured, his hand sliding away as he went to take his seat at the table. Neko sighed, shaking back a few strands of her long, unruly hair. She turned back to Haru. A tiny smile cracked the stoic mask for which she was so well known.
"Sorry, Haru." She murmured, reaching out and patting his tousled blonde hair, "Just woke up."
He grinned brightly, "No problem!"
The sound of wood on wood shattered Neko's narrowed awareness. She turned sharply to see Rachel pounding her gavel on the scarred corner of the table.
"This session is called to order!" She shouted, her teeth almost blinding. Even with her Geass tucked away, Neko could feel the air prickling with infective excitement. A small smile on her face, she moved to take her seat at Rachel's side, glancing across the table at Katsu. He, too, smiled.
"What's on the table today, Prez?" Tristen chuckled as he sat down next to Katsu.
Rachel looked at Neko, who lifted the folder which had been set at her place and began shifting through the papers within.
"The horseback riding club wants a bigger budget." She murmured, just barely loud enough for the others to hear, "They can't afford any more horses, but there aren't enough to support the students who've joined."
"They're all rich!" Tristen cried, throwing his hands in the air, "Why don't they pay for it themselves?!"
The paperclip from Neko's folder hit him sharply between the eyes, and he tumbled back out of the chair. The others dissolved into laughter. Neko turned back, burying herself in the papers, trying not to laugh herself. Still, she could feel her lips twitching, tugged up at the corners by the irresistible vibes in the room. It was almost sad to know that she, with her Geass, was the only one who could really appreciate each individual's energy.
It took almost ten minutes for everyone to heave themselves back onto their chairs. By that time, Neko had read all the way through her sheaf of papers.
No wonder we never get anything done. She thought, shaking her head as Rachel; still laughing; pounded her gavel again.
"Back to business!" She cried, grabbing her side to try to stop the giggles. A couple seconds later, she became suddenly serious, "But Tristen's right. We can't just keep giving them money. So… any suggestions?"
"Tell them to go to hell?" Tristen suggested lightly. This time, it was Katsu who threw the paperclip.
"They could sell some of their tack." Haru suggested nervously, "I mean, they already have way too much."
"That's a good idea." Rachel mused, setting her chin in her hand and balancing on her elbow. Her lips pushed out in a pout, and Neko couldn't help but laugh. Rachel's blue eyes flicked to her, "Do you have any ideas?" She asked, gaze narrowing. Neko's laugh had been barely more than a puff of air, and still Rachel had taken offence. Neko shook her head in exasperation, crossing her arms on the table.
"A fundraiser?" She suggested mildly, twirling a tack across the table. Rachel cocked her head, considering. The silence stretched on, everyone watching Rachel.
When no one spoke for almost a full minute, Neko sighed and pushed her chair back from the table. She moved back to her chair, picking up the book she had hit Tristen with and sitting with a pointed huff.
"I think it's a good idea!" Cassie cried instantly. Neko put the book down again, returning to the table.
"Right," Rachel murmured, picking her pencil out of her long red hair and jabbing the lead into the paper, checking the point off of their very long agenda. She grimaced, flipping through three pages of the list, "Is there anything someone would like to bring to the table, before we use all our time up on this?" She asked, tossing the clipboard away. It landed with a dusty thud on Neko's armchair.
Katsu chuckled, turning to meet Neko's eye. They both nodded. They were thinking the same thing.
This is why we never get anything done.
The meeting went downhill from there; from suggestions for a student council field trip, to laughing on the floor, to Tristen making a pointed remark about how Neko looked in her skirt, to Neko hitting him over the head with Rachel's gavel. And then, everyone was laughing, throwing crumpled paper at each other, tackling one another and trying to tickle their victims.
Yes, Neko thought, laughing as Cassandra tried to clamber onto her back and pull her off of Tristen, this is why we never get anything done. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
By the time the bell rang, they were all flushed and more than a little disheveled. Neko's silky brown hair, which tended to separate itself into gravity-defying strands as it was, seemed to writhe about her head. Always, it floated downwards to frame her waist. But it seemed to take its own strange, twisting path getting there.
They quickly gathered their things, heading in a crowd for the door. Tristen tugged lightly on a flyaway strand of her hair. She slapped him in the back of the head, smirking as he staggered away, across the field after Cassandra and Haru. Neko watched them head for the mathematics building before turning towards the history building, only to find that Katsu and Rachel had waited for her.
"Hey, Neko-chan!" Rachel cried as Neko joined them. The trio started off towards their classes, "I was wondering if you'd like to join us tomorrow!"
"What are you doing?" Neko asked, glancing uneasily at Katsu. He shrugged. Clearly, he didn't know any more than she did. It made Neko even more nervous. Rachel could come up with some pretty far-fetched ideas.
"I'd just thought we'd go check out that new mall on the east end." Rachel waved her hand through the air carelessly. Neko and Katsu both sighed in relief.
"I'd love to go." Neko confirmed, if only to make sure that Rachel didn't change plans.
"Great!" Rachel cried, skipping in place before turning and heading away towards her building, "Meet me at the subway at ten!"
And then she took off, running. Neko watched her go, suppressing her laughter as she and Katsu headed on towards their class.
It took Neko a minute to realize that something was wrong. Katsu wasn't normally a very talkative person, but he generally said something when it was only the two of them. Now he walked in pensive silence, his anxious aura prickling up and down Neko's spine as she opened her Geass, trying to read his thoughts. All she could pick up was… not there. Please, not there. Why do they always choose the worst places…
"Something wrong, Katsu?" Neko asked, her strange eyes narrowing. She had no idea what his thoughts were about, and she certainly couldn't ask him. He was a defensive person; he might murder her in her sleep, if he found out she could read his mind.
"I just… don't think you should go." He muttered, avoiding her eyes, "Either of you."
Neko blinked in surprise, "Why?"
"Because… there've been rumors. Something's going to happen in the tunnels… sometime. And… I can't be there tomorrow." Finally, he looked up at her, the impermeable depths of his black eyes drawing her in, "I don't want you girls there alone."
For a moment, Neko was almost sucked up by his obvious concern. And then she gave a short, startled laugh, and shook her head.
"Come on, Katsu!" She snorted, tucking her book more securely under her arm, "It's been five years since the revolution ended! You make it sound like we're going to be attacked by the Black Knights!"
He looked away, flushing. She patted him lightly on the back.
"Don't worry," She murmured, "I'll take my rod. And I won't let her out of my sight for a second."
He gave her a grateful glance, and she smiled. This was his vulnerable side; the part of him that only she would ever see. The side that worried about others first, never about himself.
"Just… make sure you get out of there before five, alright?" He muttered.
She frowned at him, wondering what could possibly worry him so much. But when he looked up at her, questioning, she nodded her agreement. It shouldn't be a problem to set his worries at ease; she wasn't too fond of shopping, anyways.

The afternoon passed quickly, the classes blowing by like the snapshots of her life that they were. She heard nothing that the teachers said, never raised her hand. She leaned her cheek against the heel of her hand and closed her eyes, sleeping. And yet, she was the school valedictorian. Cassandra called it her gift. Neko didn't bother to think about it.
Still, she was exhausted by the time she returned to her room. She had slept half the day, her mind was still clear, and her body still perfectly active. But she was tired. Bored stiff. Nothing new ever happened in her world; nothing exciting. Blessed with Geass, she still couldn't find a way to make a difference in the world.
Cassandra followed her into the room, leaping up to bounce on her bed. Absentmindedly, Neko's eyes tracked her movement, even as she slumped against the wall and snatched up a magazine. She glanced in disgust at its pages.
Five years had gone by since the death of the Demon King, Lelouch Vi Britannia. Five short years under the rule of Empress Nunnally and the miracle-worker Zero. Five years since Neko's memories had begun. And only three of them had been peaceful.
She knew nothing of war, because the day Lelouch had died had been the day she woke, lying in an alley, already twelve years old, with no memory of who she was or where she had come from. She had named herself "Neko", the Japanese word for cat, the first word she had ever heard anyone speak. And she had wandered onto the commons of Ashford Academy. The principal; Millay; had taken her in. That was where her life began. At the beginning of a time of peace.
But three years ago, someone had started attacking things. It had started with small colonies, secluded islands far from the centers of the Britannian empire. Slowly, contacts were lost. The people disappeared. When search parties were sent out, they found the survivors wandering, shocked, their ability to speak stolen by their terror, across baking wastelands.
The fighting had spread inwards, across the globe. War was raging in Russia, already. War in which no one would allow the public to see who their enemies were. The world was frightened. Riots, panics, all of them had occurred in Japan; so far away from the fighting, and yet so very near. The Black Knights had managed to put the revolts down… but Neko could feel the brewing storm.
Soon, their citizens would be the ones at risk.
She barely glanced at the magazine in her hands, the corner of her violet eye still fixed on Cassandra. The girl had stopped jumping; now she was sitting on the floor, doodling randomly. Neko couldn't help but smile; Cassie would never admit that she couldn't draw. But she couldn't.
"Hey, Neko-chan?" She called, pushing her lip out in a pout. Neko sighed softly, as she knew Cassie would expect, and lay her magazine on the floor next to her. Concealing a gentle smile, she moved to Cassandra's side.
"What is it?" She asked, stroking Cassie's caramel ringlets out of her eyes. The girl tilted her head into Neko's touch.
"What do you think they're fighting?"
Neko didn't have to ask what she meant.
"How could I know?" Neko murmured, picking up one of Cassandra's pencils and swiping it briskly over a piece of blank paper. She drew as she mused, not sure what might be taking form beneath her hand, "They won't show us who the enemy is. All we ever see are the Knightmares."
"Where do you think they got them?" Cassie whispered, setting her chin on the floor and kicking her feet up behind her, "The Knightmares?"
Neko shrugged, "I've never seen the models before. We don't make them that big, or that fast. We don't know how. The enemy is a genius."
Suddenly, Cassie flipped onto her back to stare up into her roommate's multicolored eyes. Neko stopped drawing.
"Do you think it could be the Demon King?"
Neko blinked at the thought, and her dark brows sank slightly. It wasn't possible… and yet, the energy in the air… it was familiar somehow… from a time before her life had begun…
"No." She whispered, but there was little conviction in her voice, "He's dead, Cassie. Zero killed him."
Zero… the man everyone had thought had betrayed them… had used the Black Knights to become the Demon King. When Zero had killed the Demon, people had decided that the real Zero must have been captured, shut away while Lelouch took over and used the name. But what if it was the other way around? What if the Zero they knew, the one still alive, was the imposter…?
She shook her head sharply, breaking the trail of thought. It wasn't possible. Zero had led them well at Empress Nunally's side. He was doing his best with the Black Knights now, trying to stop the force in Russia from spreading. He was brilliant; he had shown that. There was no man brilliant enough to mimic the actions of the true Zero.
Slowly, she glanced down at the picture, and caught her breath in shock. She had drawn him. She knew that without a doubt. She had drawn a perfect picture of the Demon King.
Surely, he couldn't still be alive. Surely, the Zero they knew and loved was the real thing… the hero of Japan would never lie to his people…
But the doubt nagged at the back of her head. The doubt that, if the real Zero were still alive, the enemy wouldn't even have made it this far.

Description
Chapter One
It was the sun on her cheek that woke her that day. It was uncomfortable; half of her face warm in the light, half of it chilled by the dark. She stirred, trying to move out of the light, determined not to be roused.
And then something came flying through the air. She cried out in shock, and it took her a moment to realize that whatever it was hadn't been meant to hurt her, but rouse her. Indeed, a pillow could do little damage. She opened her eyes and hunted out the source of the attack. She glared at her roommate, her violet eye glinting demonically while the deep brown one sucked the other girl in, paralyzing her.
"What?" Neko hissed, rolling slowly into a sitting position and ruffling the wandering strands of her silky brown hair.
"Time to wake up!" Cassandra cried, her leafy green eyes curving with her bright smile. In an instant, she was on her feet, pulling on Neko, trying to wake her up, "Breakfast will be over if we don't hurry!"
Neko groaned, throwing Cassie off and rolling back under the covers.
"Not hungry," She muttered.
Something jumped on the end of her bed and started bouncing.
"C'mon, Neko-chan!" Cassie cried, her leaps carrying her ever closer to the drop at the end, "You're a bad lia-!"
Her voice dropped in a squeal as her foot slipped and she plummeted off the edge of Neko's four-poster. She landed with a heavy thud, crying out in pain. Neko blinked twice into her pillow, then rolled calmly out of the bed and crossed the room to the neatly folded pile of clothes which was her uniform. She didn't even glance at Cassie.
She dressed easily, each movement graceful, pointedly ignoring Cassandra as she bounded; unhurt by her fall; around Neko. Silently, Neko smoothed down the pleats of her skirt, and then reached out and caught Cassie's arm, jerking her to a halt. Wordlessly, she began to unbutton the front of Cassie's carelessly donned jacket. Cassie squealed in protest, trying to jerk out of Neko's hands, but Neko held fast.
"You missed a button." Neko mumbled, her mind still too fogged to be chatty, "Decorum is important for the student council."
"C'mon, Neko-chan!" Cassie cried, leaping away before Neko could redo the top two buttons, "I'm hungry!"
Neko sighed, slowly shaking her head as she picked up her school bag and walked towards the door. It was open well before she reached it, and Cassie was already half way down the hall by the time she closed it behind her.
"Hurry up, Neko-chan!" She cried, stopping at the top of the stairs to wave eagerly before dashing down them. Neko sighed, shaking her head as her roommate's squeal told her that Cassie had, as usual, tumbled down the last few steps.
"Does she ever get tired?" Neko barely twitched at the voice behind her. She had known he was there, waiting for her to speak to him. He always was. He had to learn; Neko didn't start conversations.
"Never." Neko mumbled, leaning briefly against the wall to steady the spinning in her head. Katsu showed no concern. She was always like this in the morning.
"I'm sorry." He said simply, brushing past her and moving on down the stairs. She watched him go, reluctant to move away from the support of the wall. His movements were easy, flowing, unhindered by friction or gravity. The movements of a competent fighter; the captain of the Sword Fighting Club.
All around her, other students were pouring out of their dorms. She shoved off of the wall, heading towards the stairs as noise rose all around her. She reached the bottom just in time for the rest of the school to start flooding down them, her long legs carrying her easily out the front doors and into the blinding sun.
The emerald lawns were already bustling with students, all heading towards the dining hall. She hesitated for a moment as hunger rumbled in her stomach, and then turned away from the circular metal building and moved off towards the little cottage in the garden; the headquarters for the student council.
She opened the door, ignoring her hunger as she stepped into the morning shadows and closed it behind her. Within, she could see only vague silhouettes. A table, long enough to seat six people. Six chairs in various disorderly positions; lying on their backs, thrown up on the table, shoved into the wall. She sighed, shaking her head, wondering what the others had been doing last night in her absence. She could only begin to guess. Wordlessly, she moved over the armchair in the furthest corner, grabbing her book from its designated spot on the bookshelf as she passed. She folded back into the chair, laid her head against the wall behind her, and closed her eyes.
In a matter of seconds, she was asleep.

Someone tripping over one of the fallen chairs woke her to the blinding light. The sun had risen now, almost all the way. She could tell by its brightness. Neko grimaced; she had missed club activities, not that she had any to attend. She was just glad it was Saturday; no classes before lunch. Which meant that the one who had just stumbled into the cottage was a member of the student council, coming to clean up before their noon tea. Neko didn't stir, the book held loosely in the hand that hung off the side of her chair, hoping that whomever it was would have the sense to leave her lying there, and she could go back to sleep.
Suddenly, a pair of arms engulfed her. She acted without thinking, bringing her book up sharply and smacking her attacker on the side of the head. He stumbled back, gasping in pain. But not before she got a good sense of the person's aura. Bright, glittering with energy, carefree.
"What do you want, Tristen?" She asked darkly, slowly opening her multi-colored eyes to glare at him. Then she blinked. He sat on the floor in front of her, rubbing the side of his head with one hand. In the other, he held out a muffin.
"You weren't there at breakfast." He explained, smiling. Neko blinked again. His smile was as idiotic as ever. Silently, she reached out and took the muffin and began to nibble at it.
Outside, she could feel more than hear students moving around, heading once more towards the dining hall; this time for lunch. Their auras carried varying degrees of happiness; none of them seemed at all upset. All of them were remembering what had happened during club that day. Most were laughing; Rachel, the student council president, came up in their thoughts and conversations. She frowned, wondering what the woman had gotten them all into this time.
Carefully, ignoring Tristen as she nibbled at the muffin, she began to tuck away the sixth sense; her Geass; which had been exploring the world in her sleep without her permission. It was annoying, to always know everything that was going on around you. And it was inconvenient; difficult to hide; when she started answering people's thoughts instead of their spoken questions, or talking about a thing in their past that they hadn't told her.
Just before her power was safely boxed into the back of her mind; just as the last of the muffin disappeared into her mouth; the door opened and the rest of the student council came pouring in.
"Morning, Neko-chan!" Cassandra cried, bounding over to her and pulling her out of her armchair, only to knock her down again with a fierce hug. Neko took the assault calmly, accustomed by now to her overenthusiastic roommate, awake enough not to be too violent. However, she did rap the girl's head gently with her knuckles.
"It's too hot to be cuddling, Cassie." She muttered. The girl giggled, leaping back off to embrace Tristen. She didn't seem to notice that he was sprawled across the floor with a red mark on his forehead.
"You're in your usual good humor this morning, Neko." Rachel observed, stepping over to give Neko a light hug before practically dancing out of the way of her elbow.
"You could really hurt someone doing that." Someone else whispered.
Neko turned, catching the eye of a small, soft-voiced boy. Ootori Haru. He flinched as her glare found him.
A hand clapped down on her shoulder. She turned, meeting Katsu's flinty gaze as evenly as anyone could.
"Don't scare them so early, Neko." He murmured, his hand sliding away as he went to take his seat at the table. Neko sighed, shaking back a few strands of her long, unruly hair. She turned back to Haru. A tiny smile cracked the stoic mask for which she was so well known.
"Sorry, Haru." She murmured, reaching out and patting his tousled blonde hair, "Just woke up."
He grinned brightly, "No problem!"
The sound of wood on wood shattered Neko's narrowed awareness. She turned sharply to see Rachel pounding her gavel on the scarred corner of the table.
"This session is called to order!" She shouted, her teeth almost blinding. Even with her Geass tucked away, Neko could feel the air prickling with infective excitement. A small smile on her face, she moved to take her seat at Rachel's side, glancing across the table at Katsu. He, too, smiled.
"What's on the table today, Prez?" Tristen chuckled as he sat down next to Katsu.
Rachel looked at Neko, who lifted the folder which had been set at her place and began shifting through the papers within.
"The horseback riding club wants a bigger budget." She murmured, just barely loud enough for the others to hear, "They can't afford any more horses, but there aren't enough to support the students who've joined."
"They're all rich!" Tristen cried, throwing his hands in the air, "Why don't they pay for it themselves?!"
The paperclip from Neko's folder hit him sharply between the eyes, and he tumbled back out of the chair. The others dissolved into laughter. Neko turned back, burying herself in the papers, trying not to laugh herself. Still, she could feel her lips twitching, tugged up at the corners by the irresistible vibes in the room. It was almost sad to know that she, with her Geass, was the only one who could really appreciate each individual's energy.
It took almost ten minutes for everyone to heave themselves back onto their chairs. By that time, Neko had read all the way through her sheaf of papers.
No wonder we never get anything done. She thought, shaking her head as Rachel; still laughing; pounded her gavel again.
"Back to business!" She cried, grabbing her side to try to stop the giggles. A couple seconds later, she became suddenly serious, "But Tristen's right. We can't just keep giving them money. So… any suggestions?"
"Tell them to go to hell?" Tristen suggested lightly. This time, it was Katsu who threw the paperclip.
"They could sell some of their tack." Haru suggested nervously, "I mean, they already have way too much."
"That's a good idea." Rachel mused, setting her chin in her hand and balancing on her elbow. Her lips pushed out in a pout, and Neko couldn't help but laugh. Rachel's blue eyes flicked to her, "Do you have any ideas?" She asked, gaze narrowing. Neko's laugh had been barely more than a puff of air, and still Rachel had taken offence. Neko shook her head in exasperation, crossing her arms on the table.
"A fundraiser?" She suggested mildly, twirling a tack across the table. Rachel cocked her head, considering. The silence stretched on, everyone watching Rachel.
When no one spoke for almost a full minute, Neko sighed and pushed her chair back from the table. She moved back to her chair, picking up the book she had hit Tristen with and sitting with a pointed huff.
"I think it's a good idea!" Cassie cried instantly. Neko put the book down again, returning to the table.
"Right," Rachel murmured, picking her pencil out of her long red hair and jabbing the lead into the paper, checking the point off of their very long agenda. She grimaced, flipping through three pages of the list, "Is there anything someone would like to bring to the table, before we use all our time up on this?" She asked, tossing the clipboard away. It landed with a dusty thud on Neko's armchair.
Katsu chuckled, turning to meet Neko's eye. They both nodded. They were thinking the same thing.
This is why we never get anything done.
The meeting went downhill from there; from suggestions for a student council field trip, to laughing on the floor, to Tristen making a pointed remark about how Neko looked in her skirt, to Neko hitting him over the head with Rachel's gavel. And then, everyone was laughing, throwing crumpled paper at each other, tackling one another and trying to tickle their victims.
Yes, Neko thought, laughing as Cassandra tried to clamber onto her back and pull her off of Tristen, this is why we never get anything done. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
By the time the bell rang, they were all flushed and more than a little disheveled. Neko's silky brown hair, which tended to separate itself into gravity-defying strands as it was, seemed to writhe about her head. Always, it floated downwards to frame her waist. But it seemed to take its own strange, twisting path getting there.
They quickly gathered their things, heading in a crowd for the door. Tristen tugged lightly on a flyaway strand of her hair. She slapped him in the back of the head, smirking as he staggered away, across the field after Cassandra and Haru. Neko watched them head for the mathematics building before turning towards the history building, only to find that Katsu and Rachel had waited for her.
"Hey, Neko-chan!" Rachel cried as Neko joined them. The trio started off towards their classes, "I was wondering if you'd like to join us tomorrow!"
"What are you doing?" Neko asked, glancing uneasily at Katsu. He shrugged. Clearly, he didn't know any more than she did. It made Neko even more nervous. Rachel could come up with some pretty far-fetched ideas.
"I'd just thought we'd go check out that new mall on the east end." Rachel waved her hand through the air carelessly. Neko and Katsu both sighed in relief.
"I'd love to go." Neko confirmed, if only to make sure that Rachel didn't change plans.
"Great!" Rachel cried, skipping in place before turning and heading away towards her building, "Meet me at the subway at ten!"
And then she took off, running. Neko watched her go, suppressing her laughter as she and Katsu headed on towards their class.
It took Neko a minute to realize that something was wrong. Katsu wasn't normally a very talkative person, but he generally said something when it was only the two of them. Now he walked in pensive silence, his anxious aura prickling up and down Neko's spine as she opened her Geass, trying to read his thoughts. All she could pick up was… not there. Please, not there. Why do they always choose the worst places…
"Something wrong, Katsu?" Neko asked, her strange eyes narrowing. She had no idea what his thoughts were about, and she certainly couldn't ask him. He was a defensive person; he might murder her in her sleep, if he found out she could read his mind.
"I just… don't think you should go." He muttered, avoiding her eyes, "Either of you."
Neko blinked in surprise, "Why?"
"Because… there've been rumors. Something's going to happen in the tunnels… sometime. And… I can't be there tomorrow." Finally, he looked up at her, the impermeable depths of his black eyes drawing her in, "I don't want you girls there alone."
For a moment, Neko was almost sucked up by his obvious concern. And then she gave a short, startled laugh, and shook her head.
"Come on, Katsu!" She snorted, tucking her book more securely under her arm, "It's been five years since the revolution ended! You make it sound like we're going to be attacked by the Black Knights!"
He looked away, flushing. She patted him lightly on the back.
"Don't worry," She murmured, "I'll take my rod. And I won't let her out of my sight for a second."
He gave her a grateful glance, and she smiled. This was his vulnerable side; the part of him that only she would ever see. The side that worried about others first, never about himself.
"Just… make sure you get out of there before five, alright?" He muttered.
She frowned at him, wondering what could possibly worry him so much. But when he looked up at her, questioning, she nodded her agreement. It shouldn't be a problem to set his worries at ease; she wasn't too fond of shopping, anyways.

The afternoon passed quickly, the classes blowing by like the snapshots of her life that they were. She heard nothing that the teachers said, never raised her hand. She leaned her cheek against the heel of her hand and closed her eyes, sleeping. And yet, she was the school valedictorian. Cassandra called it her gift. Neko didn't bother to think about it.
Still, she was exhausted by the time she returned to her room. She had slept half the day, her mind was still clear, and her body still perfectly active. But she was tired. Bored stiff. Nothing new ever happened in her world; nothing exciting. Blessed with Geass, she still couldn't find a way to make a difference in the world.
Cassandra followed her into the room, leaping up to bounce on her bed. Absentmindedly, Neko's eyes tracked her movement, even as she slumped against the wall and snatched up a magazine. She glanced in disgust at its pages.
Five years had gone by since the death of the Demon King, Lelouch Vi Britannia. Five short years under the rule of Empress Nunnally and the miracle-worker Zero. Five years since Neko's memories had begun. And only three of them had been peaceful.
She knew nothing of war, because the day Lelouch had died had been the day she woke, lying in an alley, already twelve years old, with no memory of who she was or where she had come from. She had named herself "Neko", the Japanese word for cat, the first word she had ever heard anyone speak. And she had wandered onto the commons of Ashford Academy. The principal; Millay; had taken her in. That was where her life began. At the beginning of a time of peace.
But three years ago, someone had started attacking things. It had started with small colonies, secluded islands far from the centers of the Britannian empire. Slowly, contacts were lost. The people disappeared. When search parties were sent out, they found the survivors wandering, shocked, their ability to speak stolen by their terror, across baking wastelands.
The fighting had spread inwards, across the globe. War was raging in Russia, already. War in which no one would allow the public to see who their enemies were. The world was frightened. Riots, panics, all of them had occurred in Japan; so far away from the fighting, and yet so very near. The Black Knights had managed to put the revolts down… but Neko could feel the brewing storm.
Soon, their citizens would be the ones at risk.
She barely glanced at the magazine in her hands, the corner of her violet eye still fixed on Cassandra. The girl had stopped jumping; now she was sitting on the floor, doodling randomly. Neko couldn't help but smile; Cassie would never admit that she couldn't draw. But she couldn't.
"Hey, Neko-chan?" She called, pushing her lip out in a pout. Neko sighed softly, as she knew Cassie would expect, and lay her magazine on the floor next to her. Concealing a gentle smile, she moved to Cassandra's side.
"What is it?" She asked, stroking Cassie's caramel ringlets out of her eyes. The girl tilted her head into Neko's touch.
"What do you think they're fighting?"
Neko didn't have to ask what she meant.
"How could I know?" Neko murmured, picking up one of Cassandra's pencils and swiping it briskly over a piece of blank paper. She drew as she mused, not sure what might be taking form beneath her hand, "They won't show us who the enemy is. All we ever see are the Knightmares."
"Where do you think they got them?" Cassie whispered, setting her chin on the floor and kicking her feet up behind her, "The Knightmares?"
Neko shrugged, "I've never seen the models before. We don't make them that big, or that fast. We don't know how. The enemy is a genius."
Suddenly, Cassie flipped onto her back to stare up into her roommate's multicolored eyes. Neko stopped drawing.
"Do you think it could be the Demon King?"
Neko blinked at the thought, and her dark brows sank slightly. It wasn't possible… and yet, the energy in the air… it was familiar somehow… from a time before her life had begun…
"No." She whispered, but there was little conviction in her voice, "He's dead, Cassie. Zero killed him."
Zero… the man everyone had thought had betrayed them… had used the Black Knights to become the Demon King. When Zero had killed the Demon, people had decided that the real Zero must have been captured, shut away while Lelouch took over and used the name. But what if it was the other way around? What if the Zero they knew, the one still alive, was the imposter…?
She shook her head sharply, breaking the trail of thought. It wasn't possible. Zero had led them well at Empress Nunally's side. He was doing his best with the Black Knights now, trying to stop the force in Russia from spreading. He was brilliant; he had shown that. There was no man brilliant enough to mimic the actions of the true Zero.
Slowly, she glanced down at the picture, and caught her breath in shock. She had drawn him. She knew that without a doubt. She had drawn a perfect picture of the Demon King.
Surely, he couldn't still be alive. Surely, the Zero they knew and loved was the real thing… the hero of Japan would never lie to his people…
But the doubt nagged at the back of her head. The doubt that, if the real Zero were still alive, the enemy wouldn't even have made it this far.