A/N: It's a new story and I'm hoping that this one will sound smarter than my other unfinished stories. I'm going to be posting the first two chapters and see what you guys think. So uhm… read and I hope you guys like it. Don't forget to leave a review!

Summary/Preview: I can't believe it. He caught the poisoned needle between his two fingers. DAMN. "Why try to kill me? We're not that different after all." Ha! We're worlds apart you cocky bastard! "You're a spy, I'm a thief. The only difference is that the man's got your back when you go on your shenanigans." I wanted to shoot that bastard's hand – the hand that foiled my plan, the hand that prevented his death. The only problem is, it was already groping my bare thigh. Sakura Kinomoto is a spy, but most people think she's an accountant. Syaoran Li is a thief, but most people think he's a socialite who lives at an upscale penthouse. It's the usual cat and mouse game, the common goose chase – but not everything is as it seems because something evil is always cooking beneath the surface.

Gray Areas

by purplenopink

Enjoy…!

Chapter One: Sakura Kinomoto, accountant

I've always thought that my parents weren't that honest with me, but I shrugged it off. Aren't everyone's parents like that too? They have their little secrets – secrets that would ruin their children's heroic image of them when discovered. It occurred to me when I was thirteen that indeed, my parents really weren't honest with me. They were different from other parents – they were spies. Before I was thirteen I happily went in front of class on the first day of school and introduced myself and talked about my family. My family with the supermodel mother, traveling archaeology professor, ivy league college brother and little old me, innocent Sakura. But boy, was I wrong. It turns out I have two spies for parents, one for the Interpol and one for the CIA. My brother? He's a scientist for a prominent military defense weapons organization. All that was revealed to me on a road trip going to God knows where. My parents said it was a surprise. Well, finding out that my life was a lie was surprise enough for me.

I remember it like it was yesterday. My whole family was travelling from our home in Beverly Hills looking like an innocent family travelling between states. Something was different though. We weren't taking the usual highways but the road still looked like huge highways even though the blinking dot on the GPS showed that we were traveling on dirt roads. Also, considering that our route was a bit questionable, my mother wasn't fiddling with a map, it's like the route was engraved in her brain. Later on, I would find out that really, it was. Another unusual thing was that there were a lot of checkpoints. I was thinking it was okay and that the policemen wouldn't notice that we were a family of sleuths, that they would just think that we were a family with a Japanese dad, an American mother and two half-Japanese, half-American kids.

After five hours of travelling on the stopover-less route, we arrived – guess where? – in the middle of nowhere. At least I thought it was nowhere. My whole family had this look on their face, like they were expecting something to happen. Suddenly our car started moving, but my father wasn't moving the steering wheel or stepping on the gas pedal. We were moving down, like we were on an elevator going underground. And nothing I did could describe the tremendous amount of awe that I felt – nothing but my huge gaping mouth with the jaw feeling like it would extend to the floor if it were possible. What was in there was not normal. My father calmly drove off the ramp and into the "parking lot" filled with cars ranging from Lamborghinis to dirty old pick-up trucks. My brother dragged me out from the other side of the backseat of our Mercedes-Benz. They led me to a huge vault like door and my dad, mom and brother pressed their fingers onto something. "Plus one" said my brother. "Acknowledged, commencing registration" said the voice seeming coming from nowhere.

My brother led me up to the spot where they pressed their finger. I reckoned I was supposed to put my finger on it but I was afraid. What was happening? I'm in the middle of nowhere with my family who's been lying to me for the past thirteen years. Now, they're trying to get me inside whatever's behind this super questionable vault-like door. "Commence registration, please" said the voice in a more demanding tone. I pressed my forefinger onto the blank glass. I thought it was going to flash a light, registering my fingerprint or something. Isn't that what it usually does, like in spy movies?

It didn't do that. "Ouch!" I said. It was the first word I said after my parents told me the truth about our family. The glass pricked my finger. "Blood sample analyzed and registered. Name please," it said. I looked at my brother and he gave me the look that said, "get on with it". "Sakura Kinomoto." "Age?" "Thirteen" "Gender?" "Female" "Name of family members and relationship" "Errr… Fujitaka Kinomoto, my father…Nadeshiko Kinomoto, my mother…Touya Kinomoto, my brother" "Information registered and voice recognition configured. You may enter."

There were smooth swishing sounds that sounded like locks unlocking and then the door slowly opened revealing something so common it was ironic that it was ever behind a huge finger-pricking door. It was a huge, well lit, department store. Well that was what it looked like, not what it really was, which I later found out was a one stop shop for…spy stuff. A few people greeted my mom and dad and they cheerfully greeted them. They seemed so comfortable, like they were home. "Now, Sakura, this is the Shop," said my mother. She motioned to the huge fancy looking department store. I looked around the place. Marble floors and lighting that gave everything a light orange or gold tone. It looked like the department stores I was used to visiting while on my mother's frequent shopping binges. Every sales clerk looked like they weren't just there because the company hired them to. They looked like they knew a lot of things, things about what they're selling and … everything else.

My mother led me to a stall my father and brother were at. It was selling some expensive looking watches. The saleslady was showing my brother a shiny black watch. "This one's state of the art sir," said the saleslady. She mentioned the usual watch stuff then she suddenly had a serious face on. It was very…un-saleslady like. "Now, for the more serious applications of this gadget," she said. "It has a communication function that is compatible to most intercom units manufactured after the 80's," she ran her finger over something I never noticed before. It was a tiny oval on the side of the watch that had a wire mesh – the intercom device. My brother nodded approvingly, but seemed to be expecting something more. The lady passed her finger over another portion of the watch but nothing happened, only a tiny hole opened up. "This watch also has a capacity of 20 needles, well obviously this is a watch store, you can buy needles by the accessories department and your choice of poison at the apothecary," said the saleslady with a smile. Poison? Did I hear right? Did she just say poison? Good lord. The watch has a capacity for 20 poison needles which can be used to…k-kill?

After a few more seconds of inner panic I noticed that my whole family was looking at me. "Huh?" I said. They can't expect me to understand every look they give me. I'm a thirteen year old put smack dab in the middle of the outside of her comfort zone! My brother gave a very annoyed sigh. "So you want it?" he said referring to the shiny black watch. "Errrr…" Do I want it? DO I WANT IT? The killer watch? DO I WANT IT? I probably had the panicked look on my face because my mom put her hand on my shoulder and calmed me down. I sighed. I was probably signed into this life forever. It's like how some people have a family of doctors, lawyers, restaurant owners and what not… I have a family of spies. The only difference is that they're given all throughout high school to get that into their heads, where as I am only given a five hour road trip. And with that realization in mind, I said, "Do you have it in pink?"

Now that is the story of how I, Sakura Kinomoto, came to realize that the future was already laid out for me. After my first visit to the Shop, my parents didn't waste any more time. They put me in a top-secret spy training facility disguised as a snooty boarding school for girls in the state of New York. There I learned the basics of being a spy. I had to learn about fifteen languages, advanced math, encryption methods and all that and of course, ways on how to kill someone with just about anything and never getting noticed. All that in four years, after which I enrolled in university for accounting and right after graduation, I was in the CIA, secretly of course, everyone else knew I was an accountant.

So now, my first year in the CIA is coming to an end. In my first year I've been assigned a lot of… paperwork. Well obviously I have to go through a specialized training program, which I did exceptionally well in of course, considering my genes. Right now though, is the first time I've been given one of the exciting missions. The kind of mission I've been training for since I was thirteen. I've been assigned an extraction mission. There were a lot of things blacked out in the file they gave me. It was only natural, I'm not that high level clearance yet but the file clearly laid out my mission for me.

Francesca Lippi is also a CIA agent. She'd been the one assigned to get the item from the person who mistakenly bought the item from the black market thinking it was just a simple piece of really expensive jewelry. Francesca's my senior in the training facility in New York. She graduated about two years before I did. Her cover is to say the least, different from mine. She's supposed to be a New York City socialite who kind of also dabbles in the black market. She could personally transport it to headquarters if it wasn't for her black market famous cover. A lot of missions relied on her cover. That's where I come in. This Friday, she'll be hosting a sort of auction in the Terrace Room at the Plaza. There, I will be posing as a very rich businessman's accountant and I will pay the highest price for the item but of course, we both know she's giving it to me for free. The item is called the Rose of Antoinette. It's an insanely huge pink diamond put on an ornate 24-carat gold ring. I am to get that to Langley within 18 hours. After that, unless I suddenly get promoted to some sort of director, I will never know what happened to that ring. . All I'm supposed to know is that it isn't a simple piece of jewelry. Anything else in the file that would have discussed the function of the item was blacked out.

For a spy who's trained to uncover secrets, I'm okay with not knowing. Given my job, not knowing is actually a good thing. Sometimes, secrets are better kept by the people with the conscience that can handle them.

A/N: That was the first chapter! Please let me know what you think. Don't forget to leave a review! ~purplenopink