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Suzaku was born in Japan 10 years before the invasion from the Holy Empire of Britannia. He was the oldest son of the last Prime Minister of Japan, Kururugi Genbu. As a child, he was very proud of being Japanese and very outspoken about it. His pride is one of the reasons he did not get along with Lelouch when the Britannian prince and his younger sister, Nunnally, showed up in Japan as part of some diplomatic measures. Suzaku thought that Lelouch looked down on him because he was Japanese, which made him really angry. It took him awhile to warm up to Lelouch but once he felt like he wasn’t being judged by the prince, the two, along with Nunnally, became very close friends.
The trio’s fun came to an end when Britannia began its invasion of Japan. Suzaku hated seeing his beloved Japan and its people at war. There was so much blood and violence. He felt that if his father stepped down, then peace would be assured. His father, on the other hand, had a different idea. He was unwilling to give into Britannia’s demands. Suzaku argued and pleaded but nothing seemed to get through to him. So, Suzaku murdered his father in hopes that it would bring an end to the war. The murder was covered up so it looked like the prime minister succumbed to the might of Britannia and committed suicide. His actions did bring about the end of the war, but things did not work out the way that Suzaku had prayed for.
Japan became known as Area Eleven and the Japanese were now known as Elevens. The areas where Britannian citizens settled in quickly prospered. The areas that the Elevens occupied were impoverished and left in ruins. Suzaku had taken his father’s life and his people suffered. He decided that instead of trying to fight against the Britannians, he would try and change the system from the inside. When Suzaku joined the army, his family disowned him. Many of the Japanese saw him as a traitor and were disgusted by him. Many of the Britannians saw him as a lowly dog that didn’t belong in their ranks. Suzaku did not let the isolation and criticism stop him. He went through the training program and eventually became both an honorary citizen and solider of Britannia.
His military career almost came to an end early on when he ran into his childhood friend, Lelouch. Lelouch was accidentally caught up in a terrorist act. A terrorist group captured a truck that contained what was believed to be poison and there was a mysterious woman on board as well. The commander thought that Lelouch had seen too much so he ordered Suzaku to shoot him. His refusal did not go over well with the commander and Suzaku was shot. Fortunately for Suzaku, he was saved by a pocket watch his father had given him. It stopped the bullet from hitting his heart, but the impact still caused him to pass out. The mysterious woman passed on a power to Lelouch, known as a Geass. The Geass allowed him to control the minds of others by looking directly into their eyes and delivering an order. Thinking that Suzaku had died, Lelouch had all of the soldiers kill themselves and escaped. Eventually back up arrived and Suzaku was taken to a recovery station.
While Suzaku recovered from his injuries, he received a visit from a brilliant scientist and earl, known as Lloyd Asplund. He offered Suzaku the chance to pilot a new experimental Knightmare (a giant mech) called the Lancelot. Suzaku agreed to try it out and to everyone’s surprise, he quickly mastered the system. He became the official pilot for the Lancelot. Around this time, Lelouch decided to use his own new found power to advance his plans. Like Suzaku, Lelouch wanted there to be change in the world. Unlike Suzaku, he wanted to do it from outside the system. Lelouch gave up his right to the throne after his mother was murdered in front of his sister, which caused his sister to become both crippled and blind. One of the first steps Lelouch took was murdering the viceroy of Area 11, his brother Clovis. Even though Suzaku was not there at the time, he was brought in for questioning. The officials suspected that because he father was the former Prime Minister and he himself was Japanese, Suzaku was ‘clearly’ responsible for the murder of Clovis.
Suzaku tried to argue that he wasn’t even there but he was ignored. He resolved to accept whatever fate the court system decided for him. He truly believed that justice would come to light and even if it didn’t, he was willing to die. He would rather die honorably than put up a big fight and give the Britannians more reasons to hate the Elevens. When he was being transferred to the court, Lelouch showed up in his Zero costume and declared to the world that he was both Zero and the murder of Clovis. Lelouch rescued Suzaku and brought him back a random place in the ghetto. He told Suzaku that he should join him and together they could change the world. Suzaku thanked him for saving him but he said he wasn’t going to join him, and that he couldn’t work with someone who used dishonorable tactics like killing Clovis in order to gain peace. Plus, if Suzaku did not turn himself in, it would become very difficult for the other honorary Britannians in the military.
He returned to his court hearing, and because they had no solid evidence on him, he was released. On his way out of the building, he literally had a woman fall into his arms. At first he thought the woman who called herself Euphy was a normal Britannian girl. The two spent the entire day together, and even though he had almost lost his life and been put through hell, Suzaku found himself laughing. Euphy made a strange request; she asked to be taken to the Shinjuku ghetto, where several lives had been lost. Suzaku agreed to take her there, and the two observed all of the various mementos to honor the fallen, which included markers, flowers, and pictures. Suzaku opened up to her and shared his view of the world. While he wasn’t sure how he would change the world, he was determined to some how make it a better place. Their trip was interrupted when there was an explosion nearby.
Lloyd Asplund showed up in a truck and told Suzaku he needed to get out of there. Euphy is told that she needed to go too and Suzaku volunteered to head over to where the explosions were. Suzaku was informed that the same man who would have sentenced him to death during his trial was being attacked by several soldiers because they thought he was a traitor. It didn’t matter to Suzaku that the man, Jeremiah, had tried to kill him. All of the soldiers were Britannians, and they should be fighting together, not against each other. So, he went to where the battle took place and interfered. Near the end of the battle, Euphy suddenly showed up and stood in front of all of the battling Knightmares. She revealed that she was Princess Euphemia li Britannia, the sub-viceroy of Area 11. Suzaku was shocked and when the battle was over, quickly apologized for not recognizing her earlier.
Euphy told him not to apologize and that she wanted to work with him, so that no one had to suffer the kind of pain she had suffered when she lost her brother and he lost his father. Later, Suzaku enrolled in Ashford Academy, the same Academy that Lelouch was in. At first, he was avoided and bullied. Many of the students viewed him as an Eleven despite his honorary Britannian status and thought he might be a terrorist because of his association with Prince Clovis’ death. No one wanted to be around him and some of the students took to vandalizing his property. This was nothing new for Suzaku and undeterred, he continued to attend his classes. One thing that made being in the school much more tolerable, was being with Nunnally and Lelouch again.
Thanks to a energetic cat and Lelouch, the rest of the school eventually came to accept him. A cat who was later named Arthur (and Suzaku adopted), wandered into Lelouch’s room and got the Zero helmet stuck on his head. Arthur wandered out of the room and walked around the school. Lelouch was in the middle of having tea when he spotted Arthur with the helmet. He freaked out and took off after Arthur. Unfortunately for him, when the student council president found out, she ordered a manhunt after the cat. Arthur ran around for awhile and eventually stopped at the roof. Lelouch almost fell when they both went out onto the roof, but Suzaku saved him. The entire student body watched down below and wondered what was going on with the two of them. Eventually, Suzaku captured Arthur (who had managed to shake the helmet off his head) and he brought him to the crowd. Someone asked him if Lelouch and he knew each other. Suzaku was about to say no, when Lelouch appeared (he had told Suzaku to go ahead of him, so he could secretly retrieve the helmet) and said the two of them were friends. If that wasn‘t enough of a shock for the student body, Lelouch then asked the president if Suzaku could be a member of the student council. The president paused, then she agreed to it, stating that Lelouch was the vice president so she couldn‘t say no. Afterwards, the rest of the student body warmed up to him, and he created many fond memories at Ashford.
As time passed, Euphy told Suzaku that she wanted him to become her knight. Many Britannians had a problem with this, since Suzaku was only an honorary Britannian. Still, Euphy was a princess and she was allowed to pick her Knight. Suzaku accepted and became her Knight. When he became a Knight, he was also promoted to Major. On one of his first missions after becoming a Knight, he was put in a seemingly no-win situation. While Suzaku had become a Knight, Lelouch had already become the leader of a terrorist organization known as the Black Knights. Suzaku had fought with the Black Knights before and found he had to fight them once more. Euphy was being escorted to a meeting place when the Black Knights showed up.
Their true intention was to capture Suzaku, though Suzaku believed that Euphy was the target. During the conflict, Suzaku managed to capture Lelouch when he was disguised as Zero. Suzaku was ordered to keep Zero hostage; the area they were in would be bombed, and Zero would die. This meant that Suzaku would die as well. Suzaku was willing to accept this fate but Lelouch Geassed him and told him he had to live. From that point on, whenever Suzaku’s life was in danger, the Geass would kick in, and make him do whatever he had to do to survive.
Suzaku survived the attack and after a few more incidents, Euphy decided that she wanted to try and put an end to the conflict once and for all. So she suggested creating a Specially Administrated Zone (SAZ) where the Elevens could live peacefully and have equal status with the Britannians, who were also welcomed to live there. Suzaku was delighted at the prospect and went to the ceremony with Euphy. By now Suzaku not only believed in Euphy, but was also in love with her. Like most people, he expected the ceremony to be a joyous occasion, but it quickly turned into a tragedy. Lelouch accidentally used his Geass on Euphy, telling her to kill anyone who was Japanese. She began to shoot everyone and ordered her soldiers to kill the Japanese. Suzaku tried to find her and when he finally did, it was too late. Lelouch, as Zero, had shot Euphy, and she was critically wounded. Suzaku quickly picked her up and brought her to a medical center, but it was too late. When he asked her why she did what she did, she was confused. He lied to her and told her that the SAZ had been a success, which caused her to die with a smile on her face.
After Euphy’s death, Suzaku changed. The first thing he did was start tracking down Zero and destroying anyone who got in his way. When he finally caught up to Zero and unmasked him, revealing Lelouch, Suzaku was completely consumed by rage. He screamed at Lelouch and told him that he should have never existed. Suzaku said that Lelouch betrayed him and didn’t deserve to save Nunnally. The two held each other at gun point but Suzaku managed to disarm Lelouch with a spin-kick. Rather than kill him, he took Lelouch as hostage. Even though he was furious with Lelouch, now more than ever, he wanted to make Euphy’s dreams come true. He turned Lelouch in, which allowed him to become the Knight of Seven. The Emperor, Charles zi Britannian, also had a Geass. He used it on Lelouch to erase his memories, and Suzaku helped him. Lelouch yelled in outrage, but Suzaku was unmoved.
For a long time, Suzaku did not care about anything other than carrying out his plans. He never smiled anymore and kept himself at a distance from his fellow Knights. When he discovered that Zero and the Black Knights were back, he swore that he would kill Zero himself. A special agency had been formed to keep an eye on Lelouch while his memories were erased. One of its agents named Rolo pretended to be Lelouch’s brother so he could keep an eye on him, and all memories of Nunnally were erased in everyone who remained at the school, primarily the Student Council. They hoped that one day Lelouch would lure C.C. out, who was the person who had first given Lelouch his powers. When Zero reappeared, everyone was suspicious that it was Lelouch again, and that he had regained his powers and memories. Suzaku reenrolled in Ashford Academy to find out the truth. Eventually Lelouch and Suzaku talked one-on-one and Suzaku tried to trick Lelouch into revealing that his memories were returned. He told Lelouch that he planned to become the Knight of One, which would allow him to control Area 11 and make it a protectorate. He gave Lelouch the phone to talk to the new viceroy, who turned out to be Nunnally. Suzaku figured his sister's voice would get a reaction out of Lelouch, but his plan was ruined when Rolo showed up.
Suzaku still refused to believe that Lelouch was Zero, but he had other tasks that he needed to focus on. The Black Knights were becoming more powerful and other nations began to break free from Britannia. After a botched arranged marriage between the Empress of China and First Prince of Britannia, China was no longer an ally of Britannia. China had been ruled by a group of eunuchs who had hoped to use the marriage as a means of gaining power within Britannia. When the marriage was interrupted on live television, the people of China discovered that the Eunuchs had not only been using the empress, but using her for their own good and not the good of the people. As a result, riots broke out all across China. The only good thing that had come from the battle for Britannia, was that the Ace of the Black Knights, Kallen, had been captured.
Recently, a girl by the name of Shirley, who was friends with Kallen, Lelouch, and Suzaku, died. It was called a suicide but Suzaku did not believe that was the case. He suspected that Lelouch played a role in her death. In his mind, the best way to find out if Lelouch had indeed been involved was to check in with the special agency that had been keeping Lelouch under watch. Once he arrived, it did not take him long to discover that the agency was under the influence of a Geass, which meant that Lelouch’s memories had been restored. He grew frustrated, but then he thought about Kallen. Surely she would know something. So, he visited Kallen in her captive chambers and demanded that she tell him everything she knows. When she refused, Suzaku took out a vial that was filled with refrain. Refrain was a drug that altered people’s minds and made it much easier to get the truth out of them. Suzaku was about to inject her with the drug but before he plunged the needle into her, he had a flashback to Lelouch controlling people with his Geass. He realized if he used the drug on Kallen, he was no better than Lelouch was. So he stopped himself and left her alone. When he went to apologize the next day, she beat him up, and waited for him to order her execution. Instead, he told her he deserved it and left her alone.
Meanwhile, forty-seven nations in the world came together and formed the United Federation of Nations (UFN). Combined together, the UFN was almost the size of Britannia. The Black Knights became the UFNs official army and prepared to serve them in their first major resolution: liberate Japan from Britannia. The excitement generated from the resolution was shortly lived. The forming of the UFN had been broadcasted to the world and suddenly, the broadcast was interrupted. For over a month, no one had heard anything from the Emperor. Now, his face was on the screen and he mocked the UFN, Black Knights, and Zero. Inwardly, Lelouch panicked. The two had fought and Lelouch thought he had killed his father. With the knowledge that Lelouch was once again Zero, the Emperor could use that information and Nunnally to control Lelouch. Who could he turn to at a time like this? There was one person who already knew who Zero was and had been a close friend to both Nunnally and him in the past, even if things were different now.
Lelouch, no longer pretending to have lost his memories, called Suzaku and asked him to help protect Nunnally from the Emperor. Suzaku said he would do it, but first Lelouch had to meet him at alone at the old Kururugi shrine. Upon arrival, it did not take long for the two to begin to argue. Suzaku knocked Lelouch down onto the ground and demanded answers from him. The death of Shirley still weighed heavily on his mind and he suspected that Lelouch was the one who murdered Shirley. Lelouch took responsibility for everything. As Lelouch spoke, Suzaku watched the look in his eye. He was shocked when he saw that Lelouch had the same expression he had when he thought about his father’s death and he finally understood some of Lelouch’s reasoning. The reunion was interrupted when Britannian forces showed up and took Lelouch away. It looked like Suzaku had set him up, when in reality he had no idea that anyone else was around.
In the past the two had had dramatic meetings, but nothing compared to what happened when Lelouch and Suzaku next met on the battlefield. Suzaku’s Lancelot had been equipped with a F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead, which was on par with the likes of atomic and nuclear bombs. Before the battle officially began, Suzaku contacted Lelouch and warned him that he had a weapon was capable of causing damages superior of 40 million . It was his hope that Lelouch would surrender and he wouldn’t have to risk using the F.L.E.I.J.A warhead. Those hopes were quickly dashed when Lelouch responded “Like I will believe anything you have to say”, and commanded one of his Black Knights to attack.
If Suzaku had used the warhead early in the battle it was possible that he could have wiped out Zero once and for all. The creator of the warhead contacted him and yelled at him to use it. Suzaku refused to fire it, he wanted to take Zero down without using such a dangerous weapon. Unfortunately, he ended up firing it later on in the battle. Kallen was rescued and her Knightmare had been given upgrades, while she had been captured (her Knightmare had been captured by Britannia and they upgraded it because they wanted to use it later on). Kallen and Suzaku engaged in battle. Within minutes, it became obvious that Suzaku’s Knightmare was now outmatched by Kallen’s. A powerful blast of energy was sent at Suzaku and he thought that he could not accepted it. As the blast approached him, he thought about how his death would be atonement. He was prepared to die, but the Geass Lelouch placed on him would not allow it. His previous thoughts of dying were erased when the Geass activated and instead, he wanted to live. The only option he had to survive was to launch the warhead.
In less than a couple of minutes, the entire Tokyo Settlement was eradicated by the warhead. Millions of people lost their lives and it was initially believed that Nunnally had died in the blast. A tragedy of that magnitude was almost impossible to comprehend. For so long, Suzaku had been fighting to save the lives of others. To end the war through just and legit means. Everything he had done up until that point seemed both meaningless and wrong. What good had it done? Over 10 million people would never smile, laugh, or live again. Something deep inside of him snapped and he began to laugh. While he had his break down, the Black Knights discovered some shocking secrets. Prince Schneizel, Lelouch’s older brother, gave the Black Knights information that proved that not only was Zero a Britannian, but that he had a special power that allowed him to create all of his so called miracles. As a result, the Black Knights turned against Lelouch and wanted to kill him. The only reason Lelouch escaped was because he was saved by Rolo, who ended up dying in the process.
It took some time, but Suzaku eventually regained his wits about him. The Tokyo Settlement taught him that he had been foolish. His previous tactics to achieve peace had not been successful, if he did not make any changes it was possible that another disaster could occur. It was time for him to accept that the ends justify the means. With his new frame of mind, Suzaku spoke with Prince Schneizel. He demanded to be made the Knight of One since he was the one who launched the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead, which was considered to be a great honor for Britannia. The only way that Suzaku could become the Knight of One, was if the Emperor made him the Knight of One. Schneizel told him that if he became the Emperor, he would make Suzaku the Knight of One. Removing the Emperor did not bother Suzaku. The Emperor had been gone for over a month and considered everything that had happened with the Black Knights to be trivial. He believed that the Emperor could have also saved Euphy but he chose to let her die. With all of that information in mind, Suzaku asked for permission to assassinate the Emperor and it was granted. As soon as he was given permission, he took off to Kamine Island, to chase down the Emperor.
While at the island, Suzaku came across Lelouch once again. The two were trapped inside of a place called the World of C. They were not the only ones there. C.C., the Emperor, and Lelouch’s mother who had used a Geass to survive by possessing a person, were all there as well. The Emperor revealed that he planned to create a world where there would be no lies and he claimed that it was the gentle world that both Nunnally and Euphy would want. Suzaku turned to Lelouch and asked him what his motive was for gaining control of the world. At first Lelouch said it was for Nunnally, Suzaku told him to stop using that as an excuse. Lelouch then said he had fought for all of the things that he wanted to protect.
At that moment, more than ever, Suzaku understood why Lelouch had taken on the role of Zero. He agreed with Lelouch, that the world needed lies in order to be able to exist and that to force what someone thought was good onto others, was no different than evil itself. While Lelouch accused his mother and father of not stopping the war between Britannia and Japan, so they could follow through with their plan, Suzaku thought about how neither Shirley nor Euphy mentioned that Lelouch was Zero when they both knew he was. If they didn’t say anything about his identity, then he concluded that at the very least, neither of them would have wanted the world Lelouch’s parents wanted to create. Lelouch told his parents that he would not allow their world to manifest. He used his Geass to connect with the will of the people in the world, and it allowed him to overpower and defeat his parents. C.C. asked the two of them what they planned to do now.
Suzaku had a big decision to make. Lelouch had killed Euphy, but he really understood why Lelouch had taken the path of Zero. Like Lelouch, Suzaku wanted to protect those who he cared about. He had already lost so many people he did not want to lose anyone else. He was tired of not only losing people he cared about, but other people losing people they cared about. Now that he believed that the ends justified the means, he was willing to go along with Lelouch’s methods. Any doubts he had about Lelouch’s methods diminished when he learned that Schneizel planned to use the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead to kill up to one billion people, in order to maintain peace. In his mind, nothing was so horrible that he couldn’t do it in order to stop Schneizel.
Suzaku became the Knight of Zero and helped Lelouch take over the world. At one point during their conquest, the two spoke with Nunnally. She declared the two of them her enemies and it shook Lelouch. Suzaku was the one who pushed Lelouch forward. Too much had already been sacrificed for the two of them to get this far. They couldn’t stop simply because Nunnally was no longer on their side. All of the sacrifices would have been in vain. They could not allow any one person to control a power like the F.L.E.I.J.A warhead. So, the two continued to fight against the Britannian forces.
Lelouch decided it was time to put a plan he had secretly formulated awhile back, into action. Suzaku and Lelouch talked the night before they executed the plan and Lelouch told Suzaku that wishes were like Geass. The world’s wish for him was to save it from the struggle it was in. So Suzaku would follow the wish like he would follow a Geass. The next day there was a public parade and many of the Black Knights were being held hostage for execution. The parade was interrupted when Zero, who was previously thought dead, appeared. Suzaku now wore the Zero outfit and charged forward. He leaped up onto the platform and stabbed Lelouch. Lelouch told Suzaku that taking on the role of Zero would be his punishment. As Suzaku listened to Lelouch, tears filled his eyes.
A glimpse of the future was shown. The world has become a more peaceful place where diplomacy was greatly valued. Suzaku was shown wheeling Nunnally, who recently recovered her eyesight through her own will power, wearing his Zero outfit.