Not As Planned

Not As Planned
By Eline

Suzaku/Luluko. Gender-bender. Request for Suzaku x pregnant!Zero. Suzaku returning to Ashford 6 months after the events of R1 and discovering that something has gone seriously awry with his plans . . . Plus Suzaku-hating uber-protective Uncle Rolo attempting to cock-block Suzaku. Great prompt, so I wrote it.

Spoilers for R2!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Setting down Arthur’s cat carrier, Kururugi Suzaku viewed the sprawling grounds of Ashford Academy from his temporary dormitory. It was as though he had never left it.

But it had changed. Everything had changed. All because of her.

She was here, living with one of the Emperor’s covert agents, under the surveillance of Baroness Viletta Nu.

Luluko vi Britannia, former Princess of the Empire, was supposed to be under the Emperor’s Geass, unaware of her bloody past as the terrorist leader Zero. But Zero had suddenly re-emerged in the affair with the Chinese Federation. It should not have been possible, but Suzaku could not deny that this Zero was as brilliantly ruthless as the previous one. And that could only mean that Luluko had somehow regained her memories.

Shaking off the feeling of nostalgia brought on by the familiar surroundings, Suzaku went to meet with Viletta Nu. There would be little time for reminiscing now.

In the underground surveillance centre, Viletta Nu had the files and records ready for his inspection.

“Luluko stopped attending school last month,” Viletta said in response to his query.

From his seat opposite her main console, Suzaku leaned forwards. “That’s suspicious. Did you discover why?”

Viletta shifted uncomfortably. “It’s probably better that you hear it now than from the rumour mill. We’ve known for almost four months now that Luluko is pregnant. She absented herself when her condition became too obvious . . .”

Suzaku was struck dumb with shock. Viletta mistook his silence as a signal to continue. “Despite the care that the Ashfords took, the rumour of her pregnancy leaked out somehow. It’s become the talk of the campus.”

Recovering his ability to speak, Suzaku remembered his true purpose in returning to Ashford. “And has L--she has been here all the time?”

“Rolo is with her almost twenty-four seven.” Viletta looked up from her keypad. “We have records of all her movements.”

“But that means . . .”

“She may not be the new Zero after all.” Viletta voiced the conclusion that he could not.

“Nevertheless, I have a duty to investigate her.” Suzaku stood up and turned to leave. “I will need copies of your surveillance records.”

“Consider it done.”

Suzaku left quickly before he could give himself away. But he could feel Viletta’s eyes on his back, wondering . . .

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Luluko Lamperouge, supposed invalid and student, sat down heavily as her erstwhile younger brother and spy delivered the unexpected news to her in her private study. “Suzaku’s back?”

“I heard it from Viletta,” Rolo confirmed.

“He probably suspects . . .” Luluko bit her lip in agitation. He should not have had reason to suspect her. They had been so careful in planning their ruse . . .

Seven months into her pregnancy, it was impossible to hide her condition, much less masquerade as Zero in his trademark outfit. C.C. had been acting as her proxy in the past month via a tiny, mostly untraceable transmitter that they had wheedled off Rakshata. They had to keep changing satellite channels, but it had been worth it. The Black Knights’ communications network had made it easier to maintain the charade and Luluko was glad that she had thought to put in place certain communication channels long before they were actually required.

Still . . . Suzaku. Of all the people she counted as close acquaintances, he knew her--both sides of her--best.

It had been terrible to find out about her pregnancy twice. The first time when she was already three months into her term and the second, more awful revelation when C.C. had restored her memories a month back.

Luluko Lamperouge had only known that her brief secretive affair with Kururugi Suzaku had resulted in her unexpected pregnancy. She had been despondent over the perceived abandonment, unable to contact her former lover for the past few months.

Luluko vi Britannia, also known as Zero, knew all that and more. Her anger had been magnified a hundredfold by Suzaku’s betrayal. He had participated in the rape of her memories. Called her a jealous, lying, manipulative bitch for Euphie’s murder.

Luluko would admit to being a lying, manipulative bitch, but she had given up on Suzaku for her sister Euphemia. Suzaku’s beliefs and her own did not match--they were never meant to be . . .

She had to fight back a wave of sadness that threatened to overwhelm her--Euphemia had been a cost she had not been prepared to pay until it had been demanded of her . . .

Damned hormones . . .

“Should we get rid of him?” Rolo was asking as Luluko came back to the present. “I could use my Geass on him and no--”

“Rolo! Let it be,” Luluko said sharply.

“But Nee-san, he’s the one--”

“We gain nothing by killing him now.” Luluko clenched her fists and willed herself to be calm. She had worked so hard to subvert Rolo, Viletta and the entire surveillance team at Ashford! And Suzaku had to come back at this time! “We must pretend nothing has changed.”

“But--”

“Except for this,” Luluko said, placing a hand on her enlarged abdomen. “We can still confuse him . . . You just have to play along, Rolo.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Viletta was right. The rumour mill at Ashford had been working overtime. In the course of one morning, Suzaku had already heard several versions of Luluko’s story and approximately a hundred theories about who the father was.

Oh, and he was significantly more popular now.

People who had barely known him when he was just Kururugi Suzaku, pet Eleven of the late Princess Euphemia, approached him now, in awe of his status as a member of the Knight of Rounds. He had been invited to a dozen parties already, several private gatherings as well as the fireworks festival that night but they were as inconsequential as the sea of gossip floating around him.

Luluko’s actual friends were silent on the subject. Milly Ashford would have been one of the first to find out, but she was not forthcoming about the topic even when she greeted Suzaku enthusiastically in the Student Council Room. When Suzaku asked about Luluko, Milly had only said that she was recovering from some vague aliment of an unspecified nature.

Frustrated by the lack of actual answers, Suzaku escaped from the crowd and made his way to the residence where Luluko and Rolo Lamperouge lived, ostensibly to pay a courtesy call to his childhood friend.

They had been a little too good at hiding their affair. Suzaku had been Euphemia’s Knight and it was no secret that she had a fondness for him. That fact alone had probably saved his name from being bandied around as one of the potential fathers.

The boy that answered the bell, according to Viletta’s files, was Rolo Lamperouge. Planted as a spy for the surveillance team, he was supposed to be Luluko’s younger brother.

“Nee-san’s not seeing anyone right now,” Rolo said frostily.

Suzaku stared back in mild surprise. “Rolo, have you forgotten--”

Lowering his voice but not changing his demeanor one bit, Rolo gestured to the back of the house. “Second floor, east wing.” Then he shut the door in Suzaku’s face.

That kid gave him the creeps, Suzaku thought as he stealthily made his way to the back of the building. Scaling the trellis to the second floor and finding the right room was easy enough--he had done it many times before. It was seeing her that stopped Suzaku dead in his tracks.

Even after everything that had happened, Suzaku felt momentarily robbed of breath when he laid his eyes on her after six months. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever known.

Seated alone on the window seat of her study, Luluko was looking out at the garden below, her aristocrat profile outlined in the sunlight like a perfectly poised alabaster statue. Her wealth of silky hair had been left unbound, hanging loosely in ebony waves down her back and curling gently to frame her slender neck. The loose gown she wore could not conceal the telltale swell of her belly and Suzaku felt his heart clench. She looked so fragile now . . .

Then he remembered that her beauty hid an evil, calculating mind that had orchestrated the slaughter of thousands of people. Suzaku hardened his heart and knocked politely on the doorframe.

Startled, Luluko turned towards the doorway. “I said I didn’t want any breakfa--Suzaku!”

Violet eyes widened first in shock and then surprise as she struggled to regain her composure. “How--how did you get in here?”

“The same way I always did,” Suzaku said, searching her face for any indication--any indication at all--that she had regained her memories. “I’m sorry, Luluko, but I had to come when I heard that--heard that you were . . .”

“Pregnant? Have you seen enough?” Luluko asked bitterly. “You can show yourself out the same way you came in. The same way you always did.”

“I didn’t know . . .” Suzaku lowered his gaze apologetically. She could just be a very good actress . . . Hell, he knew she was a very good actress. “But you never told me . . .”

“You left! You left for some secret military business and I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t reach you!” Luluko cried. “Not for the lack of trying! Did you ever think about calling back? I only found out when I missed my period for the third month in a row!”

That was . . . entirely true, Suzaku realised belatedly as he reeled back from her outburst. He would not have been contactable by civilians at all.

All those nights together . . . and they had not used any protection. They had been just like the clueless kids in the sex ed videos at school. And like in the sex ed video, they had wound up in the same predicament. Suzaku felt just like those kids--only ten times worse because his girlfriend was Zero, terrorist leader and instigator of the Black Rebellion. And Euphie’s murderer. Who may or may not be free of the Emperor’s Geass--

“And besides . . . We said it was over, didn’t we?”

Luluko was crying--sobbing with great heaving gasps. Suzaku automatically dashed to her side and reached out to comfort her. Murderer or not, terrorist or not, she was still pregnant . . . with his child. There, he had admitted it to himself. He was partly responsible for this mess.

“Luluko, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t contact you,” he said, genuinely remorseful. He had been too caught up with his new position as a member of the Knight of Rounds. He had never imagined that his actions would turn out to be so utterly thoughtless and selfish. He was, Suzaku realised with increasing dismay, turning into his own father.

“Nee-san, I thought I’d bring up some--” Rolo appeared at the door carrying a tray, which he dropped when he saw Suzaku.

Suzaku and Luluko instinctively sprang apart, a holdover from the time when they had been pretending to be nothing more than friends.

“What are you doing here?” Rolo demanded. “Haven’t you done enough already? You’ve upset Nee-san again!”

“Rolo--” Luluko started forwards, but Rolo was having none of it.

“Get out or I’ll do it myself!”

Rolo was either a very good actor or he really was going to try to throw Suzaku out by himself. In the middle of being physically shoved out of the room, Suzaku felt Rolo shove a small folded piece of paper in his hand. He only had a chance to view its contents when he had been shown the door.

10pm tonight. She will be alone.

Clutching the note in his clenched fist, Suzaku left the residence, his heart and mind in turmoil.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Back in the study, Luluko took a longer than expected time to get herself under control. Most of that outburst had been real, fueled by the months of frustration and anger that she could not openly show. Carrying this secret had been harder than maintaining her guise as Zero and Luluko Lamperouge. Not even Zero, worker of miracles, had predicted this. This unforeseen development, this poor child conceived of an ill-timed union between two mortal adversaries.

Poor child indeed. Luluko herself was not even sure about the baby’s fate. The one thing she was certain of was that it would not be abandoned or thrown aside. Not like herself and Nunally . . .

But in the end, perhaps it would be better for the child if it was adopted by some ordinary family who just wanted a child to raise. Safe in ignorance, never having to bear the heavy and potentially deadly weight of its dual heritage . . . On one hand, it was the illegitimate child of an Imperial Princess and the only son of Japan’s last Prime Minister. On the other, it was the offspring of Japan’s supposed savior and its greatest traitor.

The secret lovechild of unremarkable Britannian student Luluko Lamperouge and the Knight of Seven was just another scandal that neither of them could afford.

Luluko hugged her abdomen protectively. Poor, poor child . . . She had another month or so to decide. In the meantime, she had to stay ahead of Suzaku in this perilous game.

“That was good acting, Rolo,” Luluko said despite the fact that she knew Rolo had been this close to knifing Suzaku. “The tray was a nice touch.”

“I should get you another one,” Rolo said, surveying the mess. “Nee-san doesn’t eat enough.”

“I can eat later,” Luluko said. Rolo was a little too protective of her, but it was exactly the kind of feelings she had cultivated in him. He had his uses after all. “Did you give him the note?”

“I did . . . Are you sure you want to do this? Chances are, he will use it as an opportunity to test you.”

“He can try,” Luluko said, the only sign of her mood being the death-grip she had on her sodden handkerchief. “He can try . . .”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

At ten o’clock that night, Suzaku stood in the shadows of the Lamperouge residence, experiencing a strong sense of déjà vu. The rest of the school had turned out in force for the fireworks festival. Except for the lone figure on the second floor.

As Rolo’s note had promised, she was alone. Luluko was watching the fireworks over Ashford Academy from the balcony of her room.

Someday, he would be far too old and creaky to attempt this, but while it lasted, Suzaku climbed up to the second floor again. This time, he had come prepared with the new Governor’s number on speed-dial on his mobile phone. It was now or never . . . despite his own brain screaming at him that it was a terrible thing to do to a pregnant woman. A pregnant woman who was carrying his child . . .

It had occurred to Suzaku that he might not be the father of the child . . . a possibility that had been irrevocably squashed when Viletta--with a strangely unreadable look in her eyes--had handed him the results of the paternity test that they had secretly carried out when Luluko had gone for her medical check-up. They had tested genetic samples from all and any males Luluko could have come into contact with at the estimated time of conception--Suzaku included.

But even without the test results, Suzaku had subconsciously known.

It made it harder for him to slip in her bedroom--like he used to do when they were together and before everything had gone so terribly wrong--for the sole purpose of confronting her over her potential double life. But he entered anyway and made his way to her balcony.

Clad in a thin white nightshift and robe, the former princess was leaning against the balustrade, watching the explosions of colour overhead.

“Luluko.”

“Su-suzaku!” She turned at his approach, the bright magnesium flare of the fireworks highlighting the surprised expression on her face. “Why--I mean, what are you doing here?”

“I need to finish our conversation from this morning,” he said. “After all, I am involved.”

“But we agreed to break it off,” Luluko said, her perfect features hardening into a cold, aloof mask. “I only meant to tell you as a courtesy.”

“But why did you keep the baby? You could have--”

Her indifferent facade cracked right there and then. “It didn’t do anything to deserve that! The child is innocent. It shouldn’t have to pay for o--my mistakes.”

Our mistakes. The child should not have to pay for their mistakes. She was right about that.

“Then what are you going to do--with it?” Suzaku winced inwardly, knowing that he could have put that better. And it was such a strange term for the baby . . .

Luluko had not determined the baby’s sex. Suzaku could have ordered Viletta to have a karyotype test done on the genetic sample . . . but what would that accomplish in the long run?

Perhaps they both realised that that would be best for the child--XX or XY, girl or boy . . . They could distance themselves if they did not know if it would a girl with bright green eyes and inky black hair. Or a boy with unruly curls and intelligent violet eyes--

Yes, they would call the child it.

“I--I really don’t know.” A lull in the fireworks hid her expression from view. “I suppose . . . I could put it up for adoption.”

Now was his chance. He could suggest asking his very important acquaintance, the new Governor of Area 11, for help in finding a discreet Britannian family to foster the child. But Suzaku hesitated. It might have been due to his private reservations on the issue. It might have been that hopelessly sad look on Luluko’s face as the fireworks started up again.

He reached into his pocket for his mobile-phone. “I know so--”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Suzaku froze in mid-sentence and Luluko looked over his shoulder to find Rolo emerging from her bedroom. His Geass, unlike hers, did not need direct eye contact to work.

“Rolo, what in the world are you doing?” Luluko hissed.

“Stopping him! Nee-san, he’s going to try something--”

“I’ll take care of this!” Luluko frantically waved Rolo away. She had five more seconds before Suzaku unfroze. “Leave us alone! I mean completely alone!”

Obviously unhappy about the situation, Rolo backed away from the balcony and out of the room. And just in time too.

“--meone who might be able to help . . . find foster parents for the baby,” Suzaku said. “They’ll be discreet about it.”

“Maybe that would be the best.” Luluko turned away abruptly. “You should go--my reputation has about had it, but yours--”

“Screw that,” Suzaku said. In an instant, he was by her side and gently turning her to face him.

“It’s the damned hormones,” Luluko said, blinking away the tears. The tendency to tear up every time she thought about the baby came in useful sometimes. Despite herself, she was hyperaware of Suzaku’s hands through the thin robe, the warmth emanating from his body . . .

“You don’t need to go through this alone,” Suzaku said, gently wiping the tear tracks away. “We’ll think of something else . . .”

And when he leaned down to kiss her, she was unprepared for the tenderness that disarmed her completely. Any other thought processes were derailed as Luluko responded to the kiss that left them both slightly breathless and flushed.

“Suzaku . . .” She leaned against him, weak at the knees and desperately trying to clear her head. This was exactly what had got them into this mess in the first place!

But all Luluko could think about was the feeling of his arms around her, cradling her close. She clutched at the fabric of his uniform, tilting her head up for another kiss.

She had been a virgin when they had first consummated their rather complicated relationship. Suzaku had been the only man she had been with and she was still relatively inexperienced.

Not inexperienced enough to ignore the throb of desire that pulsed through her in response to Suzaku’s kisses. She might blame her overactive hormones for this later, but right there and then, Luluko was drowning in the sensation of Suzaku’s lips on her skin. Her carefully-laid plans, her ploy to allay his suspicions--all of them forgotten in the heat of the moment.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

He should not have kissed her. Suzaku knew this even as he bent to press his lips against hers.

But at least Suzaku could admit to himself that whatever her motives, Luluko would never hurt the baby. He knew her well enough to surmise that most of her tears were not faked. She really did not want to give the child up, even though wild horses could not drag the truth from her.

That was Luluko all the way--contrary as hell and stubborn enough to give the Devil a headache.

He had a mission, did he not? But the damned mission could wait, he thought hazily as he kissed Luluko until she was breathless and trembling in his arms.

“Suzaku . . .” Her voice made his name sound like a prayer. Irony of ironies . . .

He really should not have kissed her, Suzaku thought ruefully as her gathered her up and carried her back into her bedroom.

Settling Luluko gently on her bed, Suzaku could finally admit to himself that he missed her, wanted her in a way that was different from how he viewed Euphie.

Euphemia . . . had been untouchable. A goddess that he could not aspire to. So different from Luluko, who looked up at him with questioning eyes as she lay couched in the ebony halo of her long hair. So strange that the more ethereal-looking princess had been his dark Eve, the earthly temptation that he could not resist.

Like now, in her bed as Suzaku undid the robe and gown. He willed himself to go slowly so as not to alarm her as he unveiled her body, selfishly giving into desire. It might have been an effect of her pregnancy or his overactive imagination, but her pale skin was almost luminescent in the dimly-lit room.

Familiar yet unfamiliar. Luluko was still as slender and long-limbed as he remembered. Suzaku reached out to touch that softly glowing skin, tracing her fine collarbone and her small, high breasts. He only hesitated at the rounded swell of her abdomen. It was . . . odd.

“Suzaku . . .”

He looked up at her and was simultaneously aroused and humbled by the fire in her eyes. She took his hand and laid it on her belly. Suzaku almost jumped out of his skin at the contact. Under his hand and under her skin, something had moved.

The baby had moved. Not a stranger at all but the fruit of what they had shared together. Ah.

She had kept it because it was his child.

Suzaku almost laughed aloud at the absurdity of it all. In any other universe, this was not a mistake. In any other circumstances, it would have been their child. In a different world, there would have been no Zero, no Knight of Seven, no bloody revolution and no unbridgeable gulf between them.

You’re going to be born into the wrong world . . . And you can blame that on your parents.

He buried his face in her midnight hair, breathing in the essence of her and letting the soft balm of her hands on his back sooth him.

Their kisses were less hurried and more drawn out as they took their time to relearn each other. He caressed her body, now fascinated by her belly. The milk-white skin stretched taut over the firmness underneath--it was almost erotic. Leaving her mouth temporarily, he carefully parted her legs. She was already quickening, her clitoris dark pink and moist with her desire.

“Suzaku!” she moaned as he worshiped her with his tongue, feeling her sensitive nub quiver in response to his ministrations. Suzaku doubled his efforts, kissing her other lips as passionately as he had just minutes before.

He had to look up again after Luluko’s insistent tugging on his hair distracted him from finishing his task.

“I want you inside me,” she whispered, flushed pink and obviously very close.

“But the baby--” Suzaku said, even as he felt his own erection straining at his pants. “Is it safe to do that?” If his memory served him correctly, Luluko’s pregnancy was going just fine according to the medical report.

“The gynecologist said . . . I could still have sex,” Luluko mumbled, red-faced. “I didn’t ask her--she just volunteered it--”

In the end, they found a way. Suzaku got his trousers off and lifted Luluko to straddle him. He eased into her, inch by torturous inch, despite her protestations that she was not made of glass.

“Is this okay?” Suzaku asked as he began to rock her gently on his lap.

“Y-yes . . . faster,” Luluko urged. She could be very demanding when she got in the mood, Suzaku remembered fondly as they both increased the speed of their movements.

“Luluko,” he groaned as her inner muscles tightened around him as she ground down. He moved his hips upwards to meet her, feeling her shiver as their mutual desire turned even more urgent.

“Ahhh . . Suzaku! I’m--uuunnhhh!” Luluko flung her head back, back arched and nipples proudly erect in the throes of her climax. Her inner walls clamped around him with almost unbearable pressure as she shuddered her way to completion.

Suzaku almost forgot to breathe at the unforgettable sight of her above him as he came with enough force to cause a momentary blackout.

Really, really shouldn’t have kissed her . . .

Coming back to reality with her full weight still on him, Suzaku tangled his hands in the soft cloak of her hair that now shrouded them both, sated and momentarily free of the concerns that had plagued him earlier on. For the time being, he was at peace. A brief second of respite from the turmoil around them both.

“Ummnn . . .” Luluko buried her face sleepily in the crook of his neck. She looked as though she could barely keep her eyes open.

“You should go to sleep now,” he said, carefully shifting her back onto the bed.

“Stay,” she murmured, clutching at his arm.

“If I stay, your brother will kill me in the morning.” They had never slept in the same bed before for fear of discovery.

“Rolo doesn’t get up until seven . . . You can stay ‘til six-thirty . . .”

He gave in, settling beside her and tucking the duvet around them. Luluko snuggled under his chin with a sigh of satisfaction when he drew her close. After all, it might be his last chance--their last chance at pretending everything was all right.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Writer apologises sincerely for the purple-ness of the prose towards the end.

Blah-end-notes:

- Not As Planned refers to a) the pregnancy, b) Suzaku’s grand plan meeting up with a major roadblock, c) Luluko’s original plans going haywire, d) Suzaku and Luluko’s respective stratagems flying out of the window because of their UST attempting to resolve itself.

- It Probably Gets Worse.

- Because the fic may continue.