AU – Ah, the high drama of office politics, headhunting, cutthroat competition, work hazards, the "grapevine". And oh yes—elusive romance if you can still find the time after all the team building activities!

Disclaimer: CCS and TRC are not mine. It all belongs to CLAMP.

General Notes: There's no magic but I will try to incorporate all of the Cards into the story. I took some liberties with the characters' names (i.e. Fujitaka and Touya's last names, etc.), but they're still "recognizable". None of the characters are related. Hope you don't get too bored with this intro chapter—please bear with me. The corporate logo is the sun/moon circle of Sakura when she seals the Cards

Chapter 1. The Company – A Backgrounder for New Hires

(Insert company logo here)

Catchline: Technology is Magic

(START OF WELCOME E-MAIL)

A welcome e-mail from Human Resources

(Insert your name here)

Welcome to Reed Industries Incorporated! We are glad to welcome you to our organization and look forward to growing your career with you. As enumerated in your employment contract, here is list of the company benefits:

employee stock options

company housing options (including subsidy)

competitive medical, dental, optical benefits

educational subsidy for employee and up to 6 dependents

30 days paid vacation (yearly) or full cash conversion if unused

generous performance/periodic bonuses/incentives

access to web-based training courses (product-specific or for personal improvement)

superior retirement plan

extensive life and disability coverage

use of superior company facilities/amenities

automatic enrollment to the prestigious Libra – the Corporate Credit Card

open invitation to all company-sponsored events and cultural activities

Attached are: Enrollment forms for: health benefits, bank account, the Corporate Credit Card, Company Housing, 401 Sheet (for the Employee Directory), Asset Management form (for your company-issued mobile phone, laptop and other peripherals)

As an employee, you can make use of these perks effective immediately. For a calendar of cultural events and other activities, please click here.

Please proceed to Wei Tan-Gan (5/F Sun Wing) for the issuance of your Access Badge

Our History: From its very humble beginnings in a small basement in Tomoeda, the company started out as a project by Aiden Reed and Gong Li—who later married and became the grandparents of our current CEO. In year XXXX, with a loan from a pawnshop and lots of hard work and dedication, Aiden and Gong Reed were able to pioneer the "Cutting-Edge Revolution".

(insert archive photos of the old manufacturing plant, of Aiden and Gong Reed here)

We develop, manufacture and market our own products. It is an end-to-end innovation that sets us apart from our competitors. Our focus had always been to improve the quality of our customer's military (defensive) and industrial products. With new directives from our CEO, we are now entering the highly-competitive consumer goods market.

Our Products: The Windy and the Dash(revolutionized high-speed air, space, water and land travel), the Illusion, the Shadow, the Loop and the Maze(radical stealth ware for military use); the Void (dramatic and harmless solution to toxic and biological waste disposal)—which won for the company a Nobel Technology Prize; the Shield (most sought-after defense system); the Mirror, advanced imaging technology, the Cloud/Storm, the breakthrough solution to global warming and reclaiming our deserts. For a complete portfolio of our products and for the gallery, please click here.

Our Culture:

(Insert headshot pictures of various employees here)

We have an open-door policy though you are encouraged to direct your concerns to your direct superior. We are an equal opportunity employer and we do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind.

We are consistently in the Top 5 rank of "Employer of Choice" in ANY industry. We were also recognized as one of the most "Mother-Friendly" companies for we believe that women are entitled to both career and personal growth. We adhere to quality work and life balance.

Being a multi-cultural organization, we refer to our fellow colleagues on a first-name basis, regardless of rank. This practice is strongly encouraged by our CEO. You are encouraged to express your views in our "Let's Hear It" page in our intranet. Our main forms of communication are through e-mail, instant chat and mobile phones.

Since most of our products are protected with stringent intellectual copyright laws and government patents, it is strongly recommended that you do not divulge confidential company information to persons outside the company. As a company, we thank you in advance for helping to safeguard the company's intellectual property. Should you receive any inquiries/encounter incidents relating to this, please click here.

Commendations/Awards/Ranking:

Our company is the acclaimed trend-setter and innovator of the Gold Standard in cutting-edge high-technology. We have received several awards and citations from different awards-giving bodies. For a complete list of awards, a history of our industry rankings and gallery, please click here.

Reed Industries Incorporated (insert Logo here)

Technology is Magic

Stock prices: (TD) Tomoeda Dollars 5,546/common share

Annual Revenue: (Previous year) TD 795.Billion

Forbes Gold Circle and Fortune Elite member

Corporate Headquarters: Tomoeda

Manufacturing Facilities: Seijuu (Site B)

Research Facilities: Seijuu (Site C)

Public Website: Organization:

The Executive Board

(insert individual pictures of Executive Board here)

Chief Executive Officer: Clow Reed

Chief Operations Officer: Fujitaka Avalon

Chief Finance Officer: Yuuko Ichihara

Chief Information Officer: Yoshiyuki Terada

Chief Legal Officer: Yue Moon

Chief HR Officer: Kaho Mizuki

Chief Internal Auditor: Touya Amamiya

Chief Public Relations Officer: Ruby Nakuru Akizuki

The Department Heads

(insert individual pictures of Department Heads here, except Vacant, hehehe—no pictures of Supervisors)

Senior Manager, Industrial and Military: Syaoran Li

(- Supervisor: Meiling Rae)

Senior Manager, Consumer Products VACANT

Research and Product Devt.: Eriol Hiirigizawa

( - Supervisor: Sakura Kinimoto)

Manufacturing: Tomoyo Daidouji

Advertising and Promotion: Takeshi Yamazaki

Regulatory Compliance: Chiharu Mihara

Accounting Services and Analysis: Kimihiro Watanuki

Logistics and Sourcing: Naoko Yanagisawa

Customer Support: Rika Sasaki

Site Maintenance and Services: Wei Tan-Gan

If you want more information about the company executives, including their contact information, please click here.

Virtual Tour of Corporate Headquarters:

The 40-story Reed Corporate Building is located on a sprawling 10-hectare property in Eastern Tomoeda and easily towers over the skyline.

For an interactive tour, please click the map.

For any website-related concerns, please contact Ruby Akizuki at ext. 14344 or through Instant Chat

Warmest Regards,

Human Resources

Reed Industries, Inc.

(END OF WELCOME E-MAIL)

Inbox of Clow Reed, CEO

Message 1: (Urgent priority, Confidential, Encrypted)

Hi Clow,

I have processed several applicants for the Kero project. All have very impressive backgrounds in consumer goods operations although I still strongly recommend that we look internally as well. I'm considering that we process the supervisors, and Syaoran has submitted a recommendation—for Mr. Kam Choon Sy. But I believe Mei Ling Rae has submitted her own application without Syaoran's endorsement.

Tell me your thoughts.

Cheers,

Kaho

Message 2: (Normal priority) (Yue really hates Madoushi, huh?)

Clow,

I'm still working on the annoying harassment suits filed against us by Madoushi. I promise you that she will pay for it with every single drop of her ill-earned cash. She paid a number of paparazzi to trail you—better be careful even if I already dealt with it. My sources tell me that the woman wants to pirate our key people. I'll mention it to Kaho. I might also need some help in our copyright violation suits.

But here is an interesting tidbit—Madoushi paid top money to hush down a police report regarding her "private escapades". Apparently she would handcuff her "prep boys" in her estate but the maids called the cops because of the noise. The police found 2 of them outside and 1 with Madoushi in her room.

I am very sorely tempted to use this against her—and I'm only human.

Tell me what you think.

Yue

Message 3: (Low priority)

Clow,

FYI: Here's the course you were looking for: Ancient Chinese Grammar Online Seminar - Nov 15—the link: XXXXXX.

It has an exciting bonus segment on the "Dynamics of Archaic and Obsolete Languages"!

I admit I'm getting a little rusty on the language and would appreciate it if we can practice speaking Ancient Japanese during golf this weekend. But then Fujitaka will be there and he will be talking about ancient gravesites non-stop! Honestly I don't know how you can talk to him for hours about ancient desiccated corpses (he calls them mummies—and he thinks I'm weird!).

Oh well, to solve the problem—I'll bring along my supervisor Sakura Kinimoto—she has a very mean golf swing---quite a challenge for you in fact! And before you get any ideas, the reason for this "set-up" is not romantic. Consider her as my "recommendation" for your vacant post. She will be a big loss to my group and she still has no idea yet that I'm recommending her so I had to get her resumè by stealth—(don't ask me how!). She is a very good researcher but I believe her strengths lie in Operations.

Ja,

Eriol

Message 4: (Normal priority)

Clow,

I second Kaho's recommendation that we also look for applicants internally.

We can probably discuss the outcome of the Regional Operations meeting I just concluded this weekend during golf. Hope you and Eriol won't be speaking some insane mumbo-jumbo about extinct languages while we're teeing off—it's really disconcerting and a bit rude.

BTW, the Archaeological Society of Peru is requesting for our sponsorship on their new dig of the cave graves. Will discuss with you tom.

Ja,

'Taka (Fujitaka)

Message 5: (High priority, copy Fujitaka Avalon, Yuuko Fujima, Yoshiyuki Terrada, Yue Moon, Kaho Mizuki, Ruby Nakuru Akizuki)

All,

Syaoran tops my quarterly list of Internal Quality Compliance Audit, and Eriol is catching up. Here is a detailed file of his and his staff's violations. I prepared Pareto and SPC charts to better show the nature of the non-compliances and other data. I hope this would be helpful for your analysis.

(Insert Pareto and SPC charts here)

Here is a summary of the department heads and the inventory of findings:

Syaoran Li 31 (consistent top-notcher)

Eriol Hiirigizawa 27

Takeshi Yamazaki 20

Chiharu Mihara 1

Rika Sasaki 2 (third party disconnect)

Wei Tan-Gan 1 (on dispute)

Naoko Yanagisawa 2 (down from 5 previously)

Watanuki 1 (down from 10 previously)

I'd like to commend Tomoyo Daidouji's group for having a perfect record, as always.

I will monitor the required Root Cause Analysis for these findings.

Looking forward to discussing the results with you.

Touya

Message 6: (Normal priority)

Hello there Clow!

I would like to appeal your decision on NOT allowing the ladies to wear "more mature" clothing in the office. It is really up to a woman on how she chooses to express her femininity.

In my humble opinion, many women still exude class and poise even if they wear mini-skirts and sheer plunging tops. Hope you understand where I'm coming from.

Yours, (insert 3 smiley faces here)

Ruby

Message 7: (Low priority, Confidential, Encrypted)

Sweet,

Appreciate your thoughtful message. BTW, I've identified more potential savings opportunities if we choose to restructure some departments that are generating cash strains—a.k.a. Eriol. Will discuss the details with you once I get back—I used Windy 2 (AN: corporate jet) to my conference in Cairo.

Until then,

Yuuko

Message 8: (Urgent priority)

Clow,

Our computer hardware upgrade is up for your approval. I have decided to deploy Little 12 for our offices and Little 10-Beta a denser memory pack for our Manufacturing and Research facilities.

Based on our investigation, we found that Fei Wong and his group have been trying to hack our research archives for our Feather files. One of our programmers infiltrated their system with the Fight. It should erase their entire database in a few hours and that should teach them a lesson.

Sorry but I cannot make it to the golf meet this weekend. Could not find a baby-sitter for my twin girls.

Ja,

Yoshi

TO BE CONTINUED…..

Note: Hope you did not get information overload on this chapter. I'll continue whichever of my two stories has more reviews.