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!
Thanks to Tella and Kuroi Black Nightingale for their reviews. Kuroi Black Nightingale actually gave me an idea on what to include in the first scene.
This chapter contains some adult language and innuendo.
Disclaimer: CCS and TRC are not mine. It all belongs to CLAMP.
General Notes: There is no magic. Character's ages: Sakura is the youngest at 22. Rika is 25. Syaoran is 27. Naoko, Mei Ling, Yamazaki, Chiharu, etc. are about the same age as Syaoran. Eriol and Tomoyo are both in their early 30's. Clow R. and Fujitaka- are in their 40's.
Chapter 2. The daily corporate grind
- Monday, Corporate Headquarters
One of the not-so-glamorous 'chores' of Fujitaka Avalon as Chief Operating Officer is to settle disputes between senior executives, but he prefers to call it "baby-sitting" or "refereeing". Syaoran had just returned from a regional conference in Europe and had received a report from his trustee deputy Mei Ling about the Internal Audit report where Touya trounced Syaoran. Syaoran is never intimidated by anyone, especially by Touya. So of course Syaoran confronted Touya first thing in the morning. The two men had always had some misunderstanding or other about almost everything. It was almost sort of a "company tradition".
Fujitaka knew both very well, and in fact they were like sons to him. He herded them inside his vast sound-proof (thankfully) office where the two younger men were glaring at each other. If looks could kill, they would have to hire two new Senior Executives soon. The COO then sat placidly behind his enormous desk. If there's one thing he learned after about Syaoran and Touya, it was to just allow them to release their steam.
Syaoran's mouth was set in a thin line: "Those damn violations you listed were just expense reports that were submitted ONE DAY after the cut-off date. Your report made it sound like I'm embezzling company funds or something, Amamiya."
Touya also spoke in a raised voice. "A violation is a violation Li, no matter from which angle you look at it. No matter how small it is. And I did mention it in my report, so what got under your skirt?"
Syaoran frowned. "You mentioned it all right! In FINE PRINT! And it was very nice of you to highlight the number of offenses and my department in everything else! Do you just really want to feel needed?"
Touya's brows "Tut, tut, and I was only trying to feed your need for attention gakki."
"At least I'm not a power tripping, coercive bully like you!"
"Why you arrogant…" Touya said and he and Syaoran stood up.
"Gentlemen. This is quite enough. I thought we all agreed that this will be settled in a professional manner?" Fujitaka said very sternly. This tone usually worked with the two young men. The COO took over the discussion and within 30 minutes, the two younger men appeared to have settled their differences. Temporarily at least.
Round 2,587 of the Touya vs. Syaoran Saga was the hot topic of the employees that day over Instant Chat. By the end of the day, all employees were aware of what happened—not the exact details, but close enough. That's the grapevine for you.
(For a complete transcript of the previous 2,586 other episodes of the Touya vs. Syaoran Saga, please click here.)
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
-Tuesday, Site C – Research and Development-
It is affectionately called "Sleeping Beauty's Cottage" by the employees—like a "private joke", except that the entire company knows about it. And it's all thanks to Ruby's article in the "Current Reed" (the company newsletter). It took some time before Eriol went back to speaking terms with Ruby after that article came out. He had even blocked her user name from his Instant Chat list.
(Note: If you want to see a very sour expression on Eriol's usually placid face, mention "fairy tale" or "sleeping beauty" or "briar rose" or "aurora" or "flora" or "Grimm brothers".)
"Sleeping Beauty's Cottage" or the Research Facility is located at Seijuu (Site C). It was a rather imposing building. At first glance—you wouldn't think that you are looking at a research facility. It rather looks like an oversized resort or summer house surrounded by a vast parking space, sports facilities for the employees and a large Japanese-themed garden with a pagoda and a man-made lake teeming with colorful fish.
This is the domain of Eriol and his (mostly male) team of "brainiacs". (Clow and Fujitaka actually started out in the R&D department.) R&D is where ideas and plans are conceptualized, incubated and improved until they become viable products. Security is the very tight in this facility—Reed Industries fiercely protects its intellectual property. There are several checkpoints within and security badges are replaced at random times.
It was linked by a guarded private road to the Manufacturing facility (Site B), the realm of Tomoyo. The two facilities were separated by about 40 hectares of woods also owned by Reed Industries. Within these wide hectares was a posh country club called "Captor Creek"—it was where guests and other VIP's of the company were billeted. Employees have free access to it. There is a championship golf course in Captor Creek frequented by the executives, especially Clow Reed.
Now back to the anecdote. What is instantly striking about the building is the overpowering abundance of flowers in, over and around it. Yes, flowers! How did it happen? It started when Eriol was developing a new product that they called the "Flower". He did an experiment and put too much of the stuff in the already fertile soil around the facility and voila! Sleeping Beauty's Cottage.
"Flower" made the few ornamental plants grow so abundantly that the facility had to hire an additional number of gardeners to manage the climbing roses that always winds its branches around the chimneys. There were flowers everywhere--near and around the lake, the garden, the tennis and basketball courts, the swimming pool, the perimeter fence and even twisted around the light posts in the parking area. Eriol tried to find a solution but the only way was to either use the Void (which Clow and Fujitaka prohibited) or to trim the flowers daily.
Eriol almost hit the roof when the Tomoeda Floral Society requested if they can name a new species of blue rose after him. He didn't attend reply to them but they still named it after him anyway. The special blue roses grew around the outdoor tennis court and it's called "Hiirigizawa Blue". (Note: Syaoran Li's mother Yelan is one of the officers of the Tomoeda Floral Society—hint, hint.)
It took a long time for the issue to die down. Yuuko "consoled" Eriol by showing him the savings the company made because of all the free flowers. Kaho offered to include it in the list of company benefits. Wei even offered a Flower of the Month subscription to employees and used the free supply of fresh flowers to decorate the rooms of the Corporate Office. The employees referred to it as the "flower perk", employees who are getting married may for free flowers or whenever they feel like it. No Reed executive received any Christmas present from Eriol that year.
(For a complete list of the flowers available, please click here.)
Anyway on the business-side, "Flower" was a successful money-maker for Reed Industries and is especially useful in combination with "Storm" and "Cloud". Large patches of desert in the Middle East now have plant life thanks to "Flower".
XOXOXOXOXOX
Ruby Akizuki was starting to get irritated with the photographer. She was currently in the R&D Site supervising the photo shoot for the upcoming Employee Manual. Portions of the Research building are currently being used as the backdrop of pictures for the new employee manual that they will be publishing. Certain parts of the building cannot be photographed and had to be cordoned off.
They handpicked "models" from the employees and the photographer, a muscular, blond bloke was being so catty. He and Ruby were standing side-by-side inside a makeshift tent examining the pictures they took the previous day. It was their second day on the site and the photographer was still not satisfied with the pictures they have taken, especially the solo shots of the employees.
"Nothing here for your cover Ruby. We should have just hired real models, you know." Kerr said as he threw a bunch of pictures on the table. He wolfed down a bowl of pudding. He needed to have pudding whenever he took pictures—it's in his contract.
"Not so loud, Kerr. People may hear you." Ruby looked around her and cautioned him in low tones.
"Well give me something to work with. You said you wanted everything to be beautiful and perfect, didn't you? I can't help it if the models you picked would need all the good lighting they could get! Unless you just want to show the building." Kerr could be so mean.
She was starting to lose her cool "Well…we cannot go back again tomorrow—we still have to do the Manufacturing plant." If Kerr was not an expert in his craft, she would have axed him long ago. His pictures were perfection.
Ruby frowned. Eriol had reminded her that the pictorial could no longer be accommodated tomorrow and the deadline for the printing of the employee manuals was so close. They were also going to use the pictures in the new employee manual and for the company presentation to the Sultan of Omarate which added to the pressure.
Kerr seemed to have spaced out. He was now looking with an appraising eye at another set of employee pictures that they took yesterday. "Do you know who this is—the one who's holding the mug? We took this yesterday."
Ruby leaned towards him. She saw a slender, bespectacled young woman holding a mug walking towards the camera. She was smiling and talking with a colleague on their way to the employees' dining area. Apparently, the young woman and her friend were not the focus of the camera and just happened to pass by at the time pictures were being taken at that location. "That's Sakura, the R&D Supervisor."
"Oh a typical unpopped cherry if you ask me—though I'm not surprised. Look at her spinsterclothes. Not like you of course—you're an experienced voyager, but it's been a while, huh Ruby? A long, long while." Kerr said with a mischievous smirk.
Ruby sighed. "Where is this leading Kerr?" Kerr had that uncanny habit of knowing the sexual experience or lack thereof of a person with one look.
"Can I use her?" Kerr asked, not batting an eyelash. "Don't give me that look, silly, I meant to use her as a model. Everybody knows I'm gay."
XOXOXOXOXO
Sakura walked to the area where the pictorial was being held and waved at Ruby who was standing near the tent with a man. "Hi Ruby!"
Ruby looked tense but still smiled. She looked at the bespectacled young woman wearing baggy trousers. "Hey Sakura! This is Kerr Berros—photographer extraordinaire. We need your help on something."
"What can I do?" Sakura asked a bit puzzled.
Kerr had been looking at Sakura very intently since he saw her walking towards them. He walked around her—frankly appraising her like a thoroughbred about to be sold. "Well sweetheart, you shouldn't hide your light under a bushel--we need you to take off you're your clothes and uh…those glasses too."
"Hoe?" Sakura was torn between slapping the tall, muscular and blond man who was MUCH larger than her and running away.
"That did not come out right, Kerr." Ruby noticed the rising color in Sakura's cheeks. "What he means Sakura is that we need to take your picture for the cover of our new employee manual and our website. We brought the clothes, make-up; fix your hair, the works. Pretty please?"
XOXOXOXOXO
Sakura had many firsts during that photo shoot with Kerr Berros. First, she never took off her glasses in public. She felt naked without her glasses. Second, she was never comfortable in wearing "tight" trousers. It's not that she's fat—she's curvy but she does not have excess weight. It's just that her fashion sense mirrors that of her aunts—her much older, spinster aunts.
It took her some time to relax in front of the camera. Together with the other employee "models", she had to change to several different outfits (mostly collared tees) embroidered with the company logo for the shoot. All the clothes have been specially selected by a committee led by Tomoyo—who has an impeccable eye on fashion. He took indoor and outdoor shots of Sakura. It was obvious that Kerr was focusing the shots on her and this made her all the more nervous.
Towards sunset and after downing 4 more bowls of pudding, the demanding Kerr was finally satisfied and was more cheerful at the end of the day and stealthily handed his calling card to Sakura. "Sweetheart, if you'd ever consider a career shift…call me. And PLEASE get rid of those glasses and I really do hope you get your cherry popped soon. It closes up when you don't use it. Toodles Sweetness!" He winked at her and slipped away before Ruby noticed.
Sakura was confused with the 'cryptic' message. She may be a highly intelligent career woman, but for everything else she's quite dense. 'Err.. but I prefer lime soda, not cherry pops…he's so weird.'
Ruby thanked her for her help and promised to give her copies of her pictures. "You can check our website in a few days because I'll be updating the pictures."
Sakura nodded but felt apprehensive too. She hoped her pictures would turn out OK. Who knew posing for pictures was so draining? That Kerr guy definitely gave her the creeps, she shuddered.
She took her bag from her desk and walked to her boss' large office. There was a real wood-burning fireplace inside where Eriol would usually sit in his high-backed red armchair when he needs to think or de-stress or both. He was leaning over his laptop with a focused look on his face.
"Hi Eriol, we just finished with the photo shoot. I saw your Instant Chat you wanted to see me?"
Eriol turned to face her. "Yes, I wanted to discuss something with you. I think the project your working on is doing excellent. Please take a seat. She nodded and took a seat across him.
"I was at your aunts' truffle shop the other day and they asked if I can permit you to go on a 3-day vacation starting tomorrow?"
Sakura's eyes widened and she knew immediately what he was referring to. "Oh, they told you about that didn't they?"
"Of course they did and I agree with them—you should go. You haven't taken a break since you started working here." Eriol said.
"I was the one who did not want to take a vacation, there was always something that needs to be done, especially now. I don't think I can leave the project at this stage."
"I think we can spare you for a few days Sakura. I must insist that you go on vacation. You deserve it."
Sakura considered for a moment. Her aunts very luckily had won a free all-expenses-paid trip for 3 to an exclusive seaside resort and had invited her to join them but she hasn't gone around to telling Eriol about it before this. "But I'll be gone starting tomorrow up to Friday, are you sure I should go?"
Eriol sighed. "My goodness Sakura, you're the only person I've ever met who doesn't want to take a vacation. Should I feel threatened? You're not after my post now, are you?" He pretended to look apprehensive.
She chuckled. "Don't be silly. It's just that…"
He covered his ears, looking childish. "I'm not listening…but come to think of it, I'd like to ask you for a favor." He leaned forward a little.
"As long as it doesn't involve me having to listen to your Ancient Chinese intonation."
Eriol just smiled his 'I'm-planning-something-and-you-don't-know-what-it-is' smile of his. "Would you please join us for golf at the Creek this Saturday? I told Clow that you have a mean swing and that you could give him a run for his money."
Sakura blushed. "You shouldn't have told him that. I'm not that good."
"And besides, we need to discuss the excellent marketing plans that you outlined for Erase with Fujitaka You know how much I suck at that stuff--so you really must be there."
"Of course! Thanks for letting me take a vacation my bossy boss!" Sakura playfully patted him on the shoulder and left.
"Hey! I have feelings you know!" Eriol shouted after her.
She drove directly to downtown Tomoeda where her aunts owned a popular sweet shop called "Truffle-licious". She used to help out in the shop when she was still in school. The tempting scent of freshly-made chocolate truffles and sweets permeated the entire place.
"Ah the prodigal niece returns!" Her Aunt Keiko said in mock seriousness.
"Stop pestering her Kei, you know she's too busy working with that gorgeous Eriol guy now to even visit the shop." Aunt Aiko pretended to wipe away tears.
Sakura rolled her eyes, trust her aunts to match her with every male they happen to come across. "Eriol is my boss and he's not interested in me and even if he was interested, it would be SOOO creepy. And speaking of creepy, he also told me that you talked to him about the trip that you won.—you didn't have to be so sneaky you know."
"Us? Sneaky? Huh?" The two older women feigned shock as their niece walked inside the counter.
Sakura put her hands on her hips. "Well, I guess you're both stuck with the 'prodigal niece' for 3 days Eriol let me go on vacation. You probably bribed him with truffles. Lots!" She dipped her hand on a bowl of peanut-coated truffles.
"And how is that other guy in your office—Hiro something or was it Ichiro?" Keiko inquired.
"For the last time my dear aunts—Ichiro is just a colleague and he finds Sudoku more interesting than human beings." Sakura made a mental note: 'Never mention any colleagues' names to my aunts.'
Aiko cooed her niece. "Sakura-chan, you can hardly blame us—we just don't want you to end up like us, you know, spinsters. And you're such a sweet girl, you'd make a good wife to somebody someday, we are sure!"
Sakura shrugged, she hasn't given the issue much thought. "There is no guy in the entire world who could possibly want me."
"How would you know Sakura-chan, you just haven't met them all."
She ignored them and wiped her chocolate-coated fingers on a wet tissue. "By the way what does it mean if you have your cherry popped?"
Her aunts looked at each other. Luckily new customers walked in the door and all three of them attended to the queue.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
- Tuesday evening Syaoran's bachelor pad
Syaoran had planned every day of his working life like clockwork. He wouldn't have been where he was now if he wasn't so precise, systematic and hardworking. After work he intended to see his friend Kam-Choon, the one he recommended for the vacant position of Senior Manager for Consumer Goods and "prep" his friend for his interview.
His mother had other plans. She "ambushed" him in the lobby and "requested" him to "join his old, rheumatic, menopausal mother for dinner". She was really vain and had never used those adjectives to describe herself before. She also said it so convincingly that he could not refuse. So off he went and drove with his mother to the Li mansion.
They were walking towards the Dining Room when his mother stopped abruptly and faced him. "Oh Syaoran dear, I've invited a few guests over."
Syaoran paused. This was like déjà vu. His mother would invite a number of 20-something single women to their mansion whenever she managed to persuade him to visit. Talk about coincidence! His mother was dead-set on seeing him marry "during her lifetime" and was not above "playing dirty" to get what she wants, even setting up matchmaking parties for him.
Beauty and brains was strong in the family after all. Yelan Li was a Miss Universe titlist. Her 4 daughters followed the tradition by each winning an international beauty title. But the women his mother was keen on introducing to him at almost every family gathering annoyed him very much. They were mostly shallow, materialistic and self-centered.
"Mother, I will not be dragged into something like this again. You know how much I hate this." Syaoran turned and headed towards the door.
"Oh no Syaoran darling, you haven't even met them yet! They're so different than the girls from last time! I insist that you stay—you barely ever visit." Yelan was trying hard not to sound frantic. She followed her son up to the front door.
"How different are they Mother? Are they contestants for Miss Asteroid this time? Last time they were from some Miss Planet thing." Syaoran pressed a key on his cell phone.
"No they're from Miss Asia-Tourism. They're really nice girls… and I won't have you insult my…"
"Mother, please stop organizing quasi-pageants every time I set foot in the house. Just in case you haven't noticed I'm your son, I'm NOT a pageant judge." He did not wait to hear his mother's reply and ran to where his car was parked.
Yelan almost lost her inborn Miss Universe poise. "Well, I never. After carrying you for 9 long months in my womb, this is what I get. I'll cut you off from the will Syaoran Li!"
The diatribe did not reach her son's ears as he drove away FAST. Oblivious to the fact that his mother had just "disowned" him. (although Yelan doesn't actually mean it).
A frustrated Yelan Li walked in a huff to her private veranda and shut the door. She pressed a speed dial button on her cell phone with a perfectly manicured finger. She was immediately connected to a 5-way conference call with her 4 daughters. "Girls, it didn't work again…I'm seriously running out of ideas! I don't want him to die an fornicating old bachelor, why he's almost 30! It would be a disgrace to the family! If he has children at a late age---just imagine! My grandchildren from him will see me with www-wrinkles! Can you imagine, he even told me to stop organizing pageants for him whenever he comes over? I think we should try something new next time. How about…." (For a complete list of Yelan Li's matchmaking scenarios for her son, please click here.)
TO BE CONTINUED….
Up next:
Sakura's grand vacation—someone will try to "pirate" her
The mini-golf tournament of Clow, Fujitaka, Eriol, Sakura and Syaoran at Captor's Creek
A major company scandal
The confrontation of Clow, Madoushi and Fei Wong