Power of the Kings: Round Two

Epilogue: Little Mountain Home

"Home sweet home," I sigh, climbing out of the Blossom I've parked below the little mountain house that is now in my name. A traditional Japanese style home far up in the mountains like I've always wanted.

It was a few days after Zero assassinated Emperor Lelouch, and I was help Ohgi go over the millions of papers that were archived when the Japanese people lost everything. In fact, we're still working our way through those papers, but I looked for anything to do with the Kururugi name first. It was there that I found the deed for this house, and Ohgi said that it is legally mine as the only Kururugi left. He said I didn't have to take it if I didn't want it, but he would hold onto it for as long as I wanted. I decided to claim the house as mine, and I have visited it once with Ohgi to check it out. It was actually fairly clean with decent furniture, so we didn't spend much time there.

"The Kururugi Home," I sigh, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, and heading up to the front door. The wild sunflowers are not in bloom, but I plan to have other flowers while the sunflowers are out of season.

My entire life has been working to get back to the sunflower patch that was taken away from me. If I could do that, then I knew Japan had been returned to her people. I might not be in the exact sunflower patch that I have been longing for, but I feel like this is even better. A new place for a completely new me.

"Honey, I'm home!" I jokingly call out as I step in through the front. It has been many years since I've done many Japanese customs, yet they have never left me. I easily slip my shoes of, picking them up and putting them off to the side. Then I pull my slippers out of my backpack, setting them down to slip my feet in. In the next second, I am walking to the kitchen to have the bento lunch Kallen helped me make.

There's someone standing at the stove of my kitchen that makes my breath catch in my throat. His jet-black hair, tall stature, simple outfit, and confidence while he stirs whatever soup is in the pot make me know he's truly the one that I thought was gone forever. I wondered why C.C. insisted on taking away his body, but I didn't think that it would lead to this.

"Welcome home, my blossom," Lelouch says, looking over his shoulder with a smile on his lips. "I've been waiting for you to come back. You look lovely."

I feel my mouth open, but there's nothing I could possibly say that conveys everything that I am feeling. The fact that Lelouch is alive, smiling, and cooking in my kitchen makes me feel everything and nothing all at the same time. Even if he was never mean or despicable to me, he had turned into that horrible person for everyone else. He made me feel trapped, but I can't stay away from him. Our pinkies are linked by the red string of fate, and there's a reason I can't hate him.

"Lelouch," I place my backpack on the kitchen table, walking up to him. "Does this mean?"

"I'm not sure, but I do know that I want to be with you no matter what," he leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead. "We came to clean it up before the first time you came with Ohgi. Now, we've just been living in it and waiting for you."

I chuckle, wrapping my arms around his torso and settling into his side. "Where is C.C. now anyways?"

"She's been gone a couple days. She is the one who can go to a nearby town to get us any supplies that we need. I was hoping that you would arrive about the time that I finished lunch."

"I can't believe that I am holding onto you right now," I sigh. "You've just been living here? How did you even know this place was mine?"

"C.C. kept an eye on you for a little while after my assassination," he places his arm around me, going back to stirring the soup. "She wanted to make sure that you were okay and found this out one of those days."