Be My Knight

Be My Knight
A Code Geass fan fiction story
Written by Archangel
Edited by Comixgal

Chapter 6 – Date, Interrupted

{Author’s Note: This chapter is dedicated to AnimeFreak859. The music suggestion for this chapter is “Million Miles Away” by The Offspring. Further notes at the end. Enjoy, and please provide feedback! RATE and/or REVIEW, please!}


The place Suzaku had in mind for dinner turned out to be a decidedly modest little restaurant with the legend “Tanaka Family Sushi” over the door. Judging by the traffic in and out, it was rather popular within their age range.

Euphie looked up at Suzaku a bit apprehensively when he pointed it out. “Sushi? Are you serious?”

Suzaku smiled and nodded. “This little joint is better than any five-star sushi restaurant in Area 11. It’s been here over fifty years.”

“But… raw fish…” Euphie wrinkled her nose.

The comment caught Suzaku off-guard. He blinked a few times. “You can get other toppings, you know. But I personally guarantee that it’s safe to get fish here.”

Now Euphie was confused as well. “Toppings? I thought sushi was raw fish.”

“Oh!” Suzaku chuckled a little bit. “Oh no, honey. Sushi is vinegared rice topped with meat, fish, veggies, or whatever else you like. It’s quite good. In Tokyo it tends to have a bit of a salty tang as well.”

Euphie’s face relaxed. “Alright then. But I’ve never had it before.”

Suzaku grinned as they passed through the front door. “Think of it as a chance to learn more about Eleven culture.” He held up two fingers to the hostess, then pointed at an empty booth in the far corner of the small establishment.

“You want to sit by the kitchen door?” the young woman asked in surprise.

“Yes please,” Suzaku replied with a polite smile. He felt Euphie gazing up at him curiously and squeezed her hand reassuringly. This seemed to satisfy her and she began to look around.

Most of the furnishings were made of wood with leather padding. A multitude of nicks, scrapes, and cuts underneath a great deal of polish testified to their decades of service. The owners clearly took pains to keep the place clean and in good repair. The walls were covered with items donated by customers and staff, an eclectic mix of Japanese and Britannian mementos. This turned what would otherwise be shabbiness into a comfortable broken-in feeling. In a word, Tanaka’s was cozy.

Euphie listened with half an ear as Suzaku explained a few of the different types of sushi. She was interested, but right now she just wanted to enjoy her alone time with him. Euphie had a sneaking suspicion that it was the last they’d get for a while. When Suzaku asked her what she wanted she suggested that he order something for them to share.

Service was swift, and the two teens divided their time equally between eating, chatting, and making eyes at each other. Euphie was surprised to discover that the raw fish she so dreaded was actually quite good, as was all the other food. Suzaku tried to teach her how to eat with chopsticks, with little success. Euphie’s repeated failures to pick up more than a few grains of rice at a time became a running joke as the meal went on. Eventually she gave up and asked the waitress for a fork.

By the time the food was gone, Euphemia was happier than she’d been in years. At times like this the desire to run away with Suzaku, get married, and live quietly in some obscure place for the rest of their lives was nearly overwhelming.

Suzaku also enjoyed himself immensely, but he wasn’t able to relax like Euphie was. His eyes swept the small restaurant at regular intervals, looking for anything the least bit suspicious. In the few months since becoming Euphie’s bodyguard his vigilance had yielded precisely nothing. That just made Suzaku look harder.

He needn’t have bothered. The three teenagers who came through the front doors as they finished dessert lit up every one of Suzaku’s instincts at once.

These two boys and their female companion carried themselves differently from all the other kids they’d seen on The Strip that day. They were looking for something specific. They were nervous. Each had a subtle bulge at the waist or in a sleeve. They quickly spotted Suzaku and Euphie and began walking their way.

Suzaku’s reaction was dictated equally by instinct and training. He stood up, unbuttoning his jacket as he moved to put himself between Euphie and the trio. They hadn’t done anything—yet. Therefore he made no hostile moves—yet.

The leader studied Suzaku’s face for a moment. His hand disappeared under his bulky sweatshirt.

“Down!” Suzaku barked, his own hand flashing into his open jacket.

Raised from childhood with the possibility of assassination, Suzaku’s yell cued Euphie to duck under the table before she consciously realized there was a problem. She heard five pistol shots in quick succession, the noise deafening inside the small restaurant.

The next thing she knew, Suzaku’s hand closed around her arm. He dragged her out from under the table and lifted her to her feet like she was made of paper. People were screaming, but the sound seemed very far away. Euphie gasped in shock as she saw two bullet holes in Suzaku’s shirt. They were smoking slightly, but there was no sign of blood. She glanced over to see the three Eleven teens in a crumpled pile, each bleeding explosively from a shattered forehead.

Suzaku didn’t give her a chance to react to either sight. His left hand seized her right, his own right hand holding the pistol he’d been wearing under his leather jacket. He ran through the doors into the kitchen, dragging Euphie along for the few seconds it took her to process everything. When it clicked that people were trying to kill them, Euphie began running under her own power, clutching Suzaku’s hand tightly.

They burst out the back door of the restaurant and tore down the alleyway towards the mini-golf place. After a block, they turned and emerged into the street. A larger group of teenagers was running at them from the direction of the restaurant. The lead figure leveled a shotgun at them as he ran. Euphie registered sirens in the distance. The leader flew backwards, blood spraying everywhere as his head exploded. The remaining assassins dodged behind parked cars.

Suzaku and Euphie ran. Euphie felt her lungs burning and her legs turning to jelly, but she didn’t stop. She squeezed Suzaku’s hand harder, trusting him to keep her safe. His presence helped her keep going.

Suddenly they were at their motorbike. Suzaku holstered his pistol as he tossed Euphie her helmet. She shoved it on, not caring about damage to her hair this time. As Euphie swung her leg over the bike, she hurriedly zipped her jacket.

Euphie wrapped her arms tightly around Suzaku. He whipped his helmet on and ignited the engine. Its roar was impossibly loud as they took off.

Wind slapped against Euphie’s arms and legs. She heard a couple high singing sounds pass them. She instinctively knew they were bullets. Suzaku accelerated. They were in the clear, with nothing but the wind screaming by them. Euphie felt Suzaku exhale deeply.

*****

The way Suzaku was dodging around traffic on the highway would have been terrifying if not for his precision and control. Euphie wasn’t worried about an accident. She knew he wouldn’t risk hurting her.

“Where are we going?” she shouted to him over the roar of the wind. “Back to the palace?”

“Too far!” Suzaku shouted back without removing his eyes from the road. “We’re going to Base Five-Nine! Ten minutes away! First thing is to get you somewhere safe!”

“But those were Black Knights!” Euphie yelled in reply. “Is anyplace safe?”

“No way they were Zero’s mob,” Suzaku told her more calmly, though he still had to shout. “He doesn’t do assassinations like that, and their approach was completely amateur. If Zero wanted you dead, he’d send knightmares or a *real* assassin squad.”

Euphemia breathed a little easier. “So who were they?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care right now. My job’s keeping you safe, not intel.”

He felt Euphie hug him harder. “We also have to get your wounds treated,” she told him. “I can’t lose you.”

“What wounds?”

“Those two big holes in your chest!”

“Oh, that. I’m wearing a vest. Only bruises.” Suzaku took one hand off the handlebars and pried the bullet out of one of the holes. He held it up for Euphie to see how it had squashed itself against his bulletproof vest. She made a noise of deep relief and he tossed the lump of metal away, returning his hand to the bike.

*KRACK*

Euphie’s head whipped around to see a man standing up in the moon-roof of a nearby car. He was aiming a rifle at them with cool deliberation.

Suzaku saw him too. He drew his pistol one-handed and fired into the car’s nearest tire. Euphie thought it would smash into them as the driver lost control, but Suzaku gunned the bike’s engine and they shot past. “Damn! We’re not out of this yet!” Suzaku snarled. “Hang on!”

He twisted the handlebar and the bike blasted forward like a shell from a cannon.

*****

On their drive out from the palace, Euphie had been sure that Suzaku was racing the bike at its top speed to show off. Now she knew that speed hadn’t even been close. The city was literally a blur around them as Suzaku shot along the freeway, somehow managing to dodge traffic. The young princess could do nothing but hang on.

Suzaku’s dire prediction about them not being safe had come true in the form of the posse of other motorcycles that was now dogging them around and through the Tokyo area. None of the bikers or his mount was a match for Suzaku one-on-one, but by ganging up they negated Suzaku’s speed advantage, making him constantly weave and dodge.

Their pursuers began to take potshots with machine pistols as the chase went on through the tangle of rush-hour traffic. Euphie noticed an empty car-carrier ahead of them, completely blocking their path. Suzaku saw it too. He opened his throttle and screamed straight for it as bullets cracked past their heads.

Euphie let out a little shriek of terror as Suzaku popped their front wheel off the pavement and somehow drove straight up to the top deck of the car carrier. Without stopping he swerved left and bounced onto the top of a semi trailer. They roared along the rusted metal surface and straight off its left-front corner.

This time Euphie let out a full-throated scream and closed her eyes, her arms tightening in a death-grip on Suzaku’s waist. They slammed down hard. After a few seconds, Euphie opened her eyes.

Suzaku was driving on the railing of a highway bridge. True, it was flat, but it was barely wider than their bike’s tires! Euphie wanted to shriek, wanted to protest, but didn’t dare break his concentration.

Looking back, she saw what Suzaku was trying to do: block their assailants behind the solid wall of traffic they had just bounced over. It almost worked. One of the assassins tried to duplicate Suzaku’s daring stunt, but the semi was no longer next to the car carrier. A horrified Euphemia watched him become a long red smear on the pavement.

Unfortunately, his demise caused all the drivers behind him to panic-stop. This opened a narrow corridor through the traffic, which the man’s compatriots were quick to exploit. Euphie counted six. Bullets began to sing around the two once more. Suzaku muttered something vicious-sounding and gave the handlebars a mighty jerk. With his raw power, he physically lifted the bike and turned it to the left.

The Essex motorcycle and its two passengers made an eighty-degree turn and rocketed off the side of the bridge. Euphie’s mouth stretched to its limit, but she could make no sound.

*****

The breath was knocked from Euphie’s lungs as they hit the ground—and kept driving! The princess recovered from her shock and looked over her shoulder. Somehow, Suzaku had made a perfect landing on a side road paralleling the river they had been crossing. A road at least a hundred feet beneath the bridge.

Euphie shook her head. She could hardly believe her eyes. They were alive, and escaping into the hinterland. The roads here turned rapidly and branched off of one another without warning. It was a maze, and Suzaku sped them into it at high velocity, taking corners with such suddenness and precision it made Euphie gasp.

Over the next half-hour they made their way in a wide ‘U’ out and back towards Tokyo settlement. As they approached the city once more, Euphie had mostly calmed down. There was no way the assassins could have followed them, and they were only five minutes from the closest military base.

I’m safe, she thought. All thanks to my darling Suzaku! She gave him a loving squeeze as he drove on.

*PING*

A bullet ricocheted off the bike’s cargo box and sent Suzaku into a rapid evasive maneuver. Euphie looked back to see five motorcycles pursuing them. “How?” she yelled to Suzaku.

Sir Suzaku just shook his head and hissed a Japanese word that Euphie didn’t catch.

Suddenly the sixth biker appeared ahead of them, driving forward with his machine pistol raised like a jousting knight. Suzaku whipped out his pistol, and they both fired at the same instant. Euphie shrieked loudly as she heard an explosion.

In actuality, one of the assassin’s bullets had punctured the bike’s front tire. At their high speed, the tire failed in spectacular fashion and with a similarly spectacular noise. It was all Suzaku could do to keep from capsizing the bike as he stood on the brakes. They were heading straight for a large brick building.

“Kuso!” Suzaku yelled as he slewed the bike into a ninety-degree stop. They were slowing rapidly, but without the front tire he couldn’t put enough braking force on the bike to prevent a lethal impact. Gritting his teeth, Suzaku stood up, twisted at the waist, and grabbed Euphemia under the arms. He flung them both clear of the skidding motorcycle, pulling Euphie to him and turning so he would be on the bottom when they hit.

And hit they did. Suzaku nearly passed out from the agony as his back impacted the pavement and they skidded about twenty feet. Euphie was whimpering in pain atop him as they stopped. Suzaku clawed through his own pain and picked his love up, diving behind a nearby dumpster.

Euphie looked up from where Suzaku laid her on the asphalt. She tried to gasp in horror when she saw the shredded, bloody mess of Suzaku’s back. The attempted gasp sent her into a fit of painful coughing. The little stars whirling around were pretty, though, she thought.

The owner of that shredded back determinedly ignored his pain and drew his pistol, easing one eye around the edge of the dumpster. A female assassin was creeping forward with a submachine gun. One pistol shot and she was on the ground for good, half her heart annihilated by the bullet.

Suzaku slipped over to the other side of the dumpster and saw a male performing a similar maneuver. He raised his pistol to administer a similar response.

*click*

The hammer came down on an empty chamber, and the assassin identified the sound as readily as Suzaku did. He rushed forward, trying to bring his machine pistol to bear before the young knight could respond. To the man’s surprise, Suzaku instantly grabbed his wrist and twisted it viciously, snapping several bones and sending the gun flying over to land beside Euphie.

Gotta help Suzaku, Euphie thought hazily as she tried to sit up.

The assassin tried to punch Suzaku with his undamaged hand. Suzaku caught the man’s arm and used his own strength and his opponent’s momentum to send him hurtling into the nearby brick wall. There was a sickening crack and the assassin collapsed with his head hanging at an unnatural angle.

Two down, three to go, Suzaku thought bleakly. He doubted he would survive, but he thought he could take these clowns out before he collapsed. Must protect Euphie…

A pair of assassins rushed Suzaku from behind. He managed to slap their guns out of their hands with a hurricane kick. While they were recoiling he stepped in and punched upwards into the right opponent’s nose. It broke with a gratifying crunch, and Suzaku drove his nasal bone up into his brain. The man gave a convulsive spasm and fell to the ground, dead.

The second assailant had some fighting skill and his swift punch forced Suzaku to dodge and roll on one of his abused shoulders. Grunting from pain and exertion, Suzaku faced off against his attacker. The man grinned at the blood-stained, trembling knight and moved in for the kill. A flurry of punches, kicks, and even bites later he was supine with a broken leg and a nasty concussion. Suzaku began to look around for the last—

“Baka.”

Suzaku’s scream of pain was the stimulus Euphie needed to fight off her shock and sit up. She looked towards the sound. One of the assassins was behind Suzaku, and an Eleven-style sword was sticking straight through Suzaku’s chest.

Euphie watched as Suzaku made a little shuddering motion and coughed up a spurt of blood. The bad man pulled the sword out, and Suzaku unceremoniously collapsed. The sword flashed in the evening light as it came up to deliver a coup de grace.

No.

Everything slowed down. Euphie felt metal against her hand. The machine pistol! Her fingers closed around it and raised it to point at the assassin. The recoil shook her entire body for the several seconds it took to empty the magazine. The bad man was flung away from her love in a spray of red.

As Euphie levered herself to her feet, time returned to normal. She looked over at the man she had—killed! He looked like a heap of laundry, great wet holes ripped through his body and blood everywhere. Euphemia dropped the gun and just managed to get her helmet off before she doubled over and vomited.

A low croaking sound came from the side. Suzaku! Euphie ran to her fallen knight, removing his motorcycle helmet and stroking his cheek. He felt deathly cold and was shaking in her arms. Blood continued to pour out of the hole in his chest.

“Oh no. No, no!” Euphie tore off her jacket and tried to staunch the flow of blood. “Suzaku! Suzaku!” she shrieked desperately.

His glassy eyes turned to her, then slowly drifted closed.

“No! Look at me! Don’t go to sleep!” No response. Euphie slapped his cheek. His eyes reopened and focused on her face. She looked directly down into those beautiful green eyes. “Suzaku, don’t you *dare* leave me. Not now,” Euphemia whispered. “I can’t lose you.”

Suzaku’s mouth curled in a ghastly approximation of a smile.

I need to get help! Euphie thought frantically. She cast her eyes about and spied a phone on the pavement a little ways away. One of the creeps must have dropped it. She grabbed it, dialing 999 one-handed.

She told the operator Suzaku’s condition in as steady a voice as she could manage. His next question brought her up short, though: “Where are you?”

“I… I’m…”

“Willow… Port…” Suzaku gasped, each word bringing a spray of red froth with it.

“Willow and Port streets?” Euphie asked him. He gave her that deaths-head smile again. “Yes, Willow and Port,” she told the operator, salty droplets streaming down her cheeks. “For God’s sake, hurry!”

“Three minutes.”

“Faster!” She hung up.

Euphie knelt next to Suzaku once more, keeping pressure on his chest wound and talking to him to keep him awake. She didn’t really know what she was saying. She talked about him, about her, about them, about her hopes for a future with him. Euphie couldn’t tell if Suzaku understood her, but his eyes remained open and focused on her tear-streaked face.

When they finally heard the wail of sirens coming towards them, Euphie gave Suzaku a watery smile and leaned down to kiss him. She tasted the bitter, coppery flavor of blood on his lips.

“My hero,” Euphie whispered into Suzaku’s ear as a strobe of red light bathed the scene.


{More Author’s Note: First and foremost, I apologize to any bikers in the house. I have never even ridden a motorcycle, let alone driven one. I’m not attempting to be realistic with this chapter, just to tell a fun story. Remember that Code Geass is very over-the-top with stuff like this.

The Essex motorcycle was inspired in equal parts by the Cyclone system of 'Robotech' and EVA's awesomesauce antics in 'Metal Gear Solid 3.' The chase scene is, in small part, an homage to MGS3 and ‘The Matrix Reloaded.’ But I mostly thought it would be cool!

The bit about sushi was garnered from Wikipedia, so take it for what it’s worth. I was rather surprised to learn the distinction between sushi and sashimi. I do try to learn at least a little bit about things before I incorporate them into a story.

A hurricane kick involves kicking upwards in a crescent motion, then letting the momentum carry you around about 300 degrees so you can perform a second, higher kick with your other leg. Done properly and quickly enough, I believe it would be ideal for disarming a pair of gunmen at close range. However, to pre-empt flames, I will state that my Kempo Karate training (I made green belt) is over a decade behind me. I will also state that since Suzaku can do a Matrix-style wall kick—as seen in episode 1.16—I think his martial arts prowess is not in doubt.

Yes, you can kill somebody by punching their nasal bone into their frontal lobe. You just have to have the right angle and be strong enough. Do not try it.

999 is the British equivalent of 911.

Deepest thanks to my wonderful alpha readers: AnimeFreak859, Blubutterfly, Deanithiro, and JG!

Is Euphie safe now? Will Suzaku survive? Will I get the nap I so richly deserve right now? You’ll find out in the next thrilling chapter of Be My Knight!}