Yours Truly
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS or its characters, only the story.
A single red rose laid on top of her desk. The small white card beside the crimson flower read: To my innocent angel, never let anyone bring you down. Yours Truly
Line Breaks – scene change
Hyphens – time change
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Chapter One: Flashback
She was not going to be late; she was not going to be late. Kinomoto Sakura was going to be late.
Her auburn hair whipped across her face as she frantically scrambled around her room packing her messenger bag.
Life was so cruel. Not only does she have to wake up at seven a.m., she would now also have to suffer the morning traffic five days a week. Oh how she missed her old job as a waitress at this small but cozy, midnight café.
Too bad it had to shut down due to financial problems.
Thus, it had left her jobless and almost homeless. Almost. But she will be if she didn't pay her rent by the end of the week. Thank kami that she receives her pay-check every week instead of every other week like her old job.
At least this was better than doing several odd jobs for the past few weeks just to keep on top of things. Since when did living day to day get so hard?
Now where did she put her keys? Why do these things always happen to her? First her alarm clock didn't ring, or so she thought, then her keys disappeared. Note to self: buy a new alarm clock.
Spying the silver piece of metal on the coffee table, she grabbed it and made a mad dash to the door. After spending half of a precious minute unsuccessfully locking the door, she skipped the elevator and went down the fire stairs two at a time.
Once she got to the ground floor and out the lobby doors, she finally remembered the taste of morning traffic.
What a horror. This was definitely not her day.
Between stumbling into people on the street and close calls of almost falling flat on her face, her mind wandered back to the event two weeks ago that landed her the job as secretary for the infamous CEO and president of Li Industries Technology.
--Flashback: Two weeks ago
The sound of the doorbell echoed through the apartment, startling a drowsy Sakura from her hard earned bubble bath.
From the outside, the person standing there could hear splashes followed by a 'thump' then a soft 'hoe'.
"Just a moment!" She called out.
Clutching the towel tightly to her chest, Sakura unlocked the door and attentively opened it.
There stood a petite woman at 5'4" with soft amethyst doe eyes and lips turn upwards mysteriously. She was casually dressed in a baby blue tube top that hugged the flare of her hips and cargo pants in a shade Sakura would call hazelnut. Her violet-grey hair fell in loose waves to her mid-back that showed flashes of the dangling star earrings adorning her ears.
"Konnichiwa Sakura, I heard you were looking for a job so I brought you a preposition."
She visibly relaxed and flashed her best friend a grateful smile.
"Make yourself at home; I'm going to go throw something on."
Returning to her bathroom, she pulled out the bath plug and watched sorrowfully as the lukewarm liquid swirled down into the drain.
So much for relaxing.
The towel that once surrounded her flew out the door with supreme accuracy and into the over-flowing laundry basket across the hall.
Hmm. Must wash the laundry soon.
She quickly pulled on a pink tank top and a pair of white caprice before making her way to the beige couch in her miniature living room.
The room itself was a plain sight. Besides the couch that took up half the area, the only other objects occupying it were a coffee table, and a television that sat in the corner. Occasionally black framed pictures clashed with the hospital white walls.
"Thank you for coming over," she let out a sigh, "it's been a struggle keeping up with the rent."
She waved a hand toward a stack paper, which consists of 'friendly' reminders, on the table.
Tomoyo let out a melodic giggle, "Well, you know how I help Eriol at the office on my spare time?"
Of course she knew. The two were high school and university sweethearts; they still love each other very, very much, at the top of their classes. When they graduated, Eriol took position as the partner and vice president of the CEO in Li Industries Technology while Tomoyo followed her heart and started her own clothing line, Moonlight Blossoms.
After a year, Moonlight Blossoms was booming. Tomoyo's once small shop expanded and had hit the 'must visit' shops in Japan's tour guides.
With this success, Tomoyo was able to hire more workers and have a bit more spare time for herself. During this spare time, she would help Eriol organize files and answer phones, sort of like his part-time secretary.
"Wait, don't tell me," Sakura pondered. "Eriol is looking for a full time secretary."
"Close," a mischievous grin danced across her friend's lips. "I heard the 'big cheese' of Li Industries Technology is looking for another secretary. The sixth one for the past month to be exact. I thought you might be interested so I asked Eriol to put you down on the interview list."
Sakura went absolutely still, unable to comprehend the amount of information being thrown at her in a short amount of time. "You're joking me."
"Now why would I do such a dreadful thing like that?" Tomoyo questioned.
As everything began to piece together in her head, her breath hitched and moisture began forming at the tips of her eyes.
Throwing herself across the couch she tackled the violet-haired beauty, letting out a cry of gratefulness. "Arigato Tomoyo! You're the best!"
"No problem. I have the perfect outfit in mind! You're going to look so kawaii-"
A week later, Sakura was stared up at a tall building with her emerald eyes. Correction, a very tall building.
'Is this the right place?'
She had clearly missed the huge sign perched on the roof that screamed in big, bold letters, 'Li Industries Technology'.
This was it. Sakura took a deep breath and glanced at reflection in the mirrored windows before striding through the automatic glass doors.
He let out a sigh and impatiently ran his hand through the messy, chestnut locks perched on his head. 'One more, then I'm out of here.'
In front of him sat a young blond woman rambling off aimlessly about kami knows what. She was wearing a fire engine red swoop neck that looked a size too small and showing enough cleavage that could cause a saint to swear. A tight black miniskirt rode up high on her thighs, flashing him every time she crossed her legs.
Typical.
The men in the office practically swooned as, what was her name again? Oh yeah, Kaori, Izumi Kaori. They practically swooned as she had made her way towards his door. Half of them spurted red from their nose when she 'accidentally' dropped her purse and bent over to retrieve it.
Since when did men lose their dignity?
She certainly lived up to her name though, fragrance. It was so over whelming he could hardly breathe.
Once upon a time he would thrive on these types of women. He still did, but to a minimal amount. He prefers to keep his fantasies in the bedroom and business in the office.
Who Tomoyo referred to as the 'big cheese' was the one and only, Li Syaoran. He had reigned Li Industries Technology for five years, starting at the tender age of 18.
Many had thought he was 'too young' or 'naïve' due to his reckless behavior as a playboy during high school. Some had even tried to take advantage of this situation. What they didn't know was, yes, he had been a playboy, but he was also in the top of his high school graduate class right along side of Eriol and Tomoyo. Determined to show the world he was capable of great things, he dropped his reckless act and took on university along side of the workload for the company's president.
It had paid off.
Just after one month into the switching the chain of command, the company's income flew off the charts. Li Industries Technology was soaring higher than before. By the time one year had passed, they were receiving ten-folds the amount they were before.
Now he proudly sat in his office on the 35th floor, overlooking Tokyo from the birds-eye view.
Starting from 9 o'clock in the morning, Syaoran had sat through at least 43 different interviews. Most of them he had dismissed before they were half way to the chair that sat across from him.
With all the different positions in the building, the job that changed the most frequently was the slot as his secretary.
Eriol had even made a poll to confirm that.
Throughout his late teens as a playboy, he thought he had seen everything.
Oh, how wrong he was. It had been nothing compared to what he experiences when he looks for a new secretary.
From tiny, see through suits to pathetic threats, some had even gone so far as to bribe him. Hell, there had even been proposals. Too many to count for his present taste.
A faint buzzing noise brought his back from his thoughts. What was that? Oh, the blond, how come he forget?
Concluding that Koari had wasted enough of his time, a very long 6 minutes, he held up a hand to shush her.
"Domo Arigato Izumi-san, it was a pleasure meeting you." Not.
He stood and held his hand out for a polite handshake. "We will try to get back to you as soon as we can." Don't count on it though.
"The pleasure's all mine," she practically purred as she received his hand and also rose from her seat, lingering her hand in his a bit longer than necessary.
Sitting back down in his chair, he waved a hand to dismiss her.
Obviously thinking she got the job, Kaori sauntered out the door, but not before blowing him a kiss.
And they say men were sex-fiends.
Maybe one more interview would be a bad idea; he could already feel a migraine starting. All the nonsense directed towards him since the morning came back to bite him in the ass. Okay, new plan – skip the last interview and go straight to lunch. Perfect.
Now to tidy up and then he would be out of here. Scratch that, eat first, clean later.
With enough said, or… thought, he made his way out of his office.
Just as he opened the door, a woman wearing a white hoodie and jeans stumbled into the room, almost knocking him over.
She bowed low as a sign of apology. Trestles of her bangs framed her heart-shaped face while the rest was pulled back into a high, loose ponytail.
"Gomenasai, Li-san." The petite angel said as she straightened herself out.
She speaks!
"Maa ii deshou," he said as she picked up the folder she dropped and flipped it open.
Name: Kinomoto Sakura
Age: 21
Birthday: April 1st
Sex: Female
Education: Graduate of Tomeda College
His eyes quickly scanned the rest of the sheet, then her.
Gorgeous figure? Checked
Full, lush, bee-stung lips? Checked
Slut-suit? Not Checked. Well that's a new one.
His curiosity got the better of him. It washis first plan to have one more interview. Somehow his gut instincts told him this 'Kinomoto Sakura' was going to be different.
Closing the file, he directed them to his desk.
"Kinomoto Sakura," she said as she held out a hand.
"Li Syaoran."
Another day done and over with.
The sound of the television was a soothing change instead of the loud screeches of spoil children as they demanded for a certain toy to be bought.
Don't get her wrong, she loved children. But a person could only stand whining to an extent. Let's hope she gets the job as secretary before she needs a hearing aid from working at Toy's "R" Us.
Her program was interrupted when the sound of chimes from her phone began to jingle.
Startled, she nearly fell off her couch before reaching for the sleek silver cell.
"Hello?"
She was sure her neighbours could hear her as a loud 'YES' erupted from her mouth and bounced through the halls.
--Flashback Ends
When the elevator dinged and the metal doors opened, she toppled out and stared at the clock hanging on the wall.
Yes! She made it! Five minutes early. Time to get ready.
She made her way to the desk outside Li-san's office and plopped herself down into the black leather chair. Heaven.
Bad Sakura. Not the time to relax.
A shadow hovered over her and span her chair around. "You're late."
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A/N – Yes I'm back! For now anyways. Hope you like the revised version of Chapter 1; I'm planning to revise for the rest of the chapters. R&R to tell me if you like the new version!
Special thanks to my Beta: differentxdreamz