I plan on this story to be a 4-6 chapters short-story, updates will be slow, since this is on the sidelines, I'm focusing more on my other FF, this was just an idea I had after readingThe Shard of Flame Ice's story The Coalescence of Cherry and Lavender, it's a great story, and this one is heavily inspired on it, I recommend you all read it.

Please review and tell me what you think about it.

Schneizel el Britannia exhaled in frustration.

The young Prime Minister briskly walked around the palace halls, bringing his hands to his head in desperation.

The reason for his distress? Simple. Tensions between the Britannian empire and the Chinese Federation were running at an all time high. With the newly acquired Japan, border friction was at its limit. War would soon break out, and the confrontation between both superpowers would be disastrous.

So Schneizel did what a good Prime Minister should, he went and informed His Majesty The Emperor of the situation and asked what course of action he should take.

The problem? His Majesty's only response was to instruct him to stop troubling him with mundane matters, and a brisk dismissal after he was informed that he should handle them himself. Schneizel nearly laughed hysterically at that. War was about to break out with the only force powerful enough to inflict serious damage to the Empire, not to mention millions could die.

And what did The Emperor think of that? He called it a mundane matter.

The young Prime Minister carried on through the halls, to anyone, the stone cold face of the prince wouldn't reveal anything of the near nervous breakdown the Prince was suffering. After all, being a good politician meant keeping up appearances, and that was exactly what Schneizel was doing.

He walked briskly out into the gardens of the Villa, a fresh breeze hit his face, almost making him forget about the current situation. He smiled as he saw the familiar faces in the garden, a pinked-haired girl was running behind a brunette, both of them giggling happily. From the corner of his eye he could see the former Knight of Two, and now an Empress of Britannia drinking tea and talking with the young, purple-haired Captain of her guard.

However, what caught his interest was the ten-year old Prince playing chess against his flamboyant older brother, while a young blonde, who he could only assume was the Ashford heir, animatedly cheered for him.

He sat on a nearby chair to observe the conclusion of the game, then turned his eyes from the chess board, opting to watch the young Prince himself instead.

He could see his raven locks falling smoothly on his face, brow furrowing in concentration as he studied the chess board with the utmost care as his hand slowly snaked out onto the board, reaching for a piece. He could glimpse a flash in his eyes that told him that the Prince had decided which piece to move, and precisely where to move it. The young boy's hand, which until that point had moved at a deliberately slow pace, lashed out swiftly, grabbing his queen and taking one of the flamboyant Prince's rooks with it.

"Checkmate."

Indeed it was.

The young Prince averted his eyes from the board, turning to see the recent arrival, while the flamboyant Prince frantically tried to get out of check to no avail.

"Brother, come to play a game of chess?" asked Lelouch with an almost nervous disposition. After all, Schneizel was still undefeated in all of their games.

Schneizel was going to decline, but after a moment, he thought that maybe a game of chess was exactly what he needed to clear his mind and come up with a solution with his problem.

"Are you up to it?", he challenged the young boy.

It seemed he was, as he quickly sat down and started to put his black pieces in their place. Schneizel wordlessly sat down and did the same with the defeated pieces of the one that came before him.

He observed the boy in front of him. He was an exceptional chess player and he had no doubt that one day he would beat him. Someone in royal family, vying for the throne like him could see the potential danger Lelouch would represent in the future. However, where some saw an enemy, he saw an ally. Lelouch was destined for greatness, and it would be wise to have him as a friend, rather than an enemy.

If it seemed like Schneizel had put a lot of thought into this, it's because he had. He intended to make Lelouch his Prime Minister, and make him the most powerful man in the Empire. After him, of course.

He started contemplating his next move. After all, he was still playing chess. Before he could continue, a pink blur tackled Lelouch to the ground.

"Lelouch is going to marry me!" Came Euphie's cry.

"Nu-huh! He's going to marry me!" Came the equally loud response from Nunnally.

"TELL HER YOU ARE GOING TO MARRY ME!" they both screamed at the same time.

The blonde Ashford heir seemed very amused at Lelouch's situation and decided to have some fun at his expense.

"Oh, didn't you tell them, Lulu?" she deviously said, as she brought a hand to her chest and made the most stuck up and ladylike pose she could muster before continued "He is going to marry me."

Schneizel decided to join the fun, much to Lelouch's dismay, "You know that might just happen. Since your family is close to the Empress, they might just try to marry you two off. That way they can increase their family's…" suddenly an idea popped into his mind, a plan that just might prevent war and make future relations with the Chinese Federation easier, "Social status." he finished, almost whispering the words.

He eyed the bickering children that had gone on a frenzy due to Schneizel's contribution to the argument, but more importantly, he eyed Lelouch, he was the key to all of this.

He excused himself and walked towards a more secluded part of the garden where he could think freely, the chess game now forgotten. He slowly walked to the pond on the other side of the garden, which, considering the size of the garden, was pretty far off. He sat on one of the big rocks that were besides the pond, putting his hand beneath his chin in thought. There were small sloshing sounds emanating from the pond, probably fish, still, it didn't disrupt his thinking.

He was aware of the current Chinese government, there was a young Empress, about eight years old. However, the power lay in the hands of the high eunuchs, self-centered politicians that only cared for power. In fact, this situation had made dealings with the Chinese Federation easier, since the eunuchs proved highly susceptible to the charms of power and wealth, both of which Britannia had plenty.

Nevertheless, he couldn't just simply marry Lelouch to Tianzi, even though the eunuchs would gladly accept in exchange for lands and titles, the rest of China would resist and probably stage a coup d'état, and increase the already rising tensions tenfold.

What he could do was send Lelouch to form a friendship with the young Empress. It would decrease the current tension, and the future leaders of the country would be well acquainted and civil with each other, once the eunuchs were taken out of the picture, of course.

The only thing he was missing was The Emperor's consent.

'To hell with him. After all, he did say "take care of these mundane matters yourself"'

He grinned wildly as he found the answer to his predicament. The young Prime Minister enthusiastically walked back to meet the still bickering children, calling out in a jovial tone as he stopped Lelouch "Hey, Lelouch, how would you like to meet a new friend?"

The only response he got was a confused look from everyone in the garden.

"What?" asked a clearly upset Lelouch.

"What you heard." replied Schneizel as he walked around the couch where Lelouch was sitting/ He reached the table where a pot with tea was steaming and poured himself some, inhaling deeply.

"This is very important, war could break out at any moment." he slowly walked to the chair opposite to Lelouch's and sat down, taking a careful sip from the cup and continuing.

"I need you to do this."

"But why me? You could send Clovis, I think he would like that, or what about Euphy or any of the royal family?" he drank his tea in one gulp, a clear sign of his uneasiness as he pushed himself forward and asked one last question "What about them?"

Schneizel sighed loudly. He knew that Lelouch was smart enough to figure out the reasons why he was sending him instead of someone else. That he didn't want to see them because he wanted to stay with Nunnally was another matter.

He leaned forward as well "Clovis? Really? I thought you were smarter than that. Besides, he is too old for this, and we both know Euphy and Nunnally are too young." he saw the young boy stiffen as the thought of Nunnally going away ran through his mind "And what can I tell you about the rest of the royal family? Odysseus is useless, Carine thrives on pain, and Guinevere is called 'Britannia's Marie Antoinette'. Would you send them?" he questioned with an inquisitive look.

Lelouch was about to respond, but stopped as he saw his brother's reasoning. He wasn't stupid by any stretch of the imagination, and he knew he was the only viable candidate for this project. The young Prince held his head in thought.

Schneizel knew what was troubling his younger brother. He leaned back into the chair and took a careful sip of his tea and put Lelouch worries to rest "Of course, you'll be able to come and visit Nunnally every once in awhile."

This made the visibly stiff boy relax "How long is the program?"

"You will go for one or two years at the most." he calmly responded.

The young boy slowly nodded, accepting defeat and leaning back into the chair.

"When will I be leaving?"

"Tomorrow. Your mother already knows, I recommend you tell Nunnally and Euphie to tell them goodbye."

The boy nodded yet again and sighed "I understand."

Jiang Lihua, the Chinese Tianzi, fidgeted nervously with her fingers. She averted her eyes from the main palace doors, refusing to look at them. The eunuchs told her that she was going to meet a very important friend, and that she had to treat him well, that she had to be careful not to mess it up.

The seven-year old girl was very excited she was going to have a friend, a real friend, but she was also afraid. Afraid that she would mess up like the eunuchs told her.

She heard the palace doors open and quickly closed her eyes in reflex. "Child, open your eyes and greet our guests. Don't offend them, now." told her one of the eunuchs with venom in his voice. She tried to raise her head and open her eyes, but they wouldn't budge, 'I messed everything up, now he won't like me.'

"It's okay, take your time. We don't mind." came the voice of one of the strangers. Now filled with courage, Jiang lifted her head and opened her eyes. She was amazed. In front of her stood the handsomest boy she had ever seen. He was dressed in black, and had the most beautiful pair of eyes. Besides him stood a taller man, dressed in white and with blonde hair.

"Hello, young Empress." the second man said smoothly, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Prime Minister Schneizel, and this is my brother, Prince Lelouch, he is here to be your new friend."

"It's a pleasure" said the boy, he could only be two or three years older than her, she thought frantically as her mind raced.

"I-It's also a ple-pleasure to meet y-you." she said, trying not to stutter and blushing furiously.

'I messed up, I messed up, I messed up' was the only thing running through her head

Unnoticed by the Empress was the elbow bump given to the Prince by his older brother.

"Empress, I think is time we get acquainted." said the violet eyed youth.

She furiously nodded and downcast her head to hide her blush. "A most splendid idea." said one of the eunuchs, the others nodded and prepared to accompany the Empress.

"I think it would be better that they go on their own." Said Schneizel with a menacing gaze directed at them. The eunuchs looked at each other and nodded, "Of course, how foolish of us, it's better that they go alone." said an eunuch, voice dripping with contempt.

Jiang timidly walked near him. He extended his arm to her, she looked at it with confusion, no one had ever offered her an arm before. She cautiously wrapped her arm around his own, blushing furiously while she did.

Once her arm was wrapped around his, he called a man she hadn't even seen, "Jeremiah, please bring my luggage to my room."

"At once, Your Highness."

He turned back at, her making her blush even more, "Where do you want to go?"

"What?" she asked, confused. No one had ever asked her what she wanted to do either. For some reason, it made her all fuzzy and warm inside.

"I asked you where you wanted to go." he said.

She let out an involuntary gasp before quickly stifling it and looking up at him with confusion mixed with hope in her eyes "Really? I mean, are you letting me choose?"

He looked at her, bewilderment written all over his face, "Of course" he replied smoothly.

She looked at her feet, "I like the gardens."

"Then let's go there" he replied.

They walked in silence, only talking when Lelouch asked for directions.

She pointed at an old peach tree as they reached the gardens "That's my favorite spot.". He nodded and started walking towards the tree.

The old peach tree was majestic, it was big, the branches looked like tendrils, seemingly hugging the sky itself, and the pink flowers ruffled with every breeze.

They sat under the peach tree, and Jiang simply couldn't hold it anymore as she started to cry.

"Hey, why are you crying?" asked Lelouch, concern clearly evident in his voice.

"I'm a h-horrible friend, I can't say any-anything without stuttering, I can't ev-even look you in the ey-eye when I'm tal-talking to you, you must pro-probably hate me now." she sobbed, hiding her face.

"Hey, you're not a horrible friend. You've been nothing but polite to me." he leaned near her and started to wipe off her tears, "It's okay to be shy, there's nothing wrong with it." he continued, still wiping off her tears, even as she looked up at him.

She sniffled, "Re-really?".

He brought his other hand forward.

"Pinky promise."

Schneizel smiled as he saw the two royals interacting with each other, Lelouch had instantly charmed the girl, as he expected. And Lelouch seemed to have taken a liking to her too.

They had spent the day together, under the peach tree. The first half of the day had been spent playing chess, or, rather, Lelouch teaching the young princess how to play. Even though the poor girl looked like he was explaining nuclear physics to her, she seemed to be enjoying the mere fact that someone was taking their time to teach her something.

The other half of the day was spent making tea, or, rather, Jiang teaching Lelouch in return how to make tea. It was his turn to look like she was explaining nuclear physics to him, but he seemed determined to figure out the secret of making good tea.

The younglings seemed to be becoming fast friends, and Schneizel smiled again. He had faith in the program.