Chapter 5
Sakura was mesmerised by the scenes of England popping onto the wall. Tomoyo had connected her laptop to the projector in her mini-cinema and was cycling through photos from her trip. She had been busy with her camera, there were thousands of the photos and each one showed a land so utterly foreign and different to the one Sakura knew. Elena looked wistful as the images of castle ruins, old cottages and long stretches of lush green countryside slid past.
At last the slideshow finished and Sakura blinked as if he wakening from a trance and turned to Tomoyo, her eyes wide and seeming to glow in the dark of the small film room.
"It's such a beautiful place!" She exclaimed in delight and Tomoyo clapped her hands together and nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh yes! It's much better to see it in person though; I don't think I've quite caught the true atmosphere here." She looked a little disappointed but then her face brightened again. "Julius said that he still has a manor house there and we could use it as a holiday home sometime." She beamed at Sakura's awestruck expression.
"We could go to England?" She asked in wonder and Tomoyo bobbed her head.
"Yes, Julius was hoping you and Shaoran-kun would come with us when we went before Christmas." Sakura practically screamed with delight.
An insistent knocking stopped them in mid-conversation.
"Come in." Tomoyo called and a maid opened the door a little so as to poke her head around the corner.
"You have visitors, two boys." Tomoyo asked the maid to show them in and looked to Sakura.
"It must be Himura-san and Shaoran-kun. Julius is working." She said; but despite her surety it was Julius and Himura who entered the room. Elena and Tomoyo hugged their respective boyfriends before they sat down, the maid bringing more tea and cake for the new arrivals.
"You said you'd be working today." Tomoyo said to Julius. She wasn't angry nor accusing, more curious as was her nature. The girl probably lacked the ability to be angry. Julius paused in mid sip of his tea before putting the cup and saucer down on the table in front of him, sighing and glancing at Himura who nodded his assent.
"Himura-san and I decided to rid ourselves of our stalkers. I didn't want to tell you until we'd done it so you wouldn't worry." He smiled at the attempt at chivalry and Tomoyo returned the smile, accepting his silently communicated apology.
"They were demons, as I thought. I suspect they knew I'd appeared here and had hoped to find an easy picking so we set a little ambush for them. They won't come after any of us again; besides I've sent a message to the Guardians and they're moving against the last remnants of the enemy from the war so all shall be well." He had hoped to ease Sakura's worry for she looked concerned and he knew without being told that she was still haunted by the battle he had had to get her involved in, despite her kind nature.
However, the girl didn't seem to be listening but was continuously reaching into her bag, pulling out her mobile phone, flicking it open before sighing, closing it and putting it back into her bag. Each time she repeated this action her concern became more and more apparent.
"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked gently after it became unbearable to watch the innocent girl's anxiety grow further without clarification. Sakura was in the middle of checking her phone again and she looked up, startled. She forced a smile and consciously made herself close the phone and put it back in her bag.
"Shaoran said he'd call me after his match was over which should have been more than two hours ago now."
"I wouldn't worry too much; he can take care of himself quite well so I'm positive nothing's happened." Elena assured Sakura as did Tomoyo, trying to cheer the girl up.
Himura saw Julius' brow creased momentarily in a frown, his eyes flashing as his mind began to work on the mystery and produce answers to it. At last Julius glanced back at Himura, both looking out of the corners of their eyes. They made a silent agreement and stood up together, gathering the used cups onto the tea trays.
"We'll just take this to the kitchens." Julius said, picking up one tray. Himura was holding the door open with his foot and held the other tray in his hands.
"I have to repay your hospitality in some way." Himura embellished the excuse and the two boys left, the door swinging slowly shut behind them. Along in the room the girls continued to comfort Sakura who sensed no ulterior meaning to the boys' exit but Elena and Tomoyo shared a knowing glance.
"Let's hear your theory then." Himura placed the tray down on the kitchen counter as he spoke, opening the industrial size dish washer and placing the crockery inside. He picked up the unlaiden tray and carried it to where several of them were stacked. He quickly wiped the tray down with a wet sponge then dried it with a dishcloth before sliding it on to the top of the pile.
"Do you know about those rescued children in China?" Julius asked, placing the cups and saucers from his tray into the dishwasher. Himura turned around to face the boy and leant against a counter with his arms crossed.
"I read something about it in the newspaper this morning. 2,008 children rescued from trafficking, right?" Julius nodded his head and gestured for Himura to continue with the details. "As I recall a few of the traffickers were caught and several other people were apprehended upon suspicion of being traffickers." Julius held a hand up, showing that Himura had said what was necessary as he closed the dishwasher door and carried his tray over to the sink.
"That's right. I heard from some security force friends in England and here, in Japan, that there's been a rise in trafficking since that crackdown." Julius found the sponge and dipped it in the soapy water in the sink and began to wipe the tray down.
"So you're saying that the traffickers concentrated elsewhere now that China's being more efficient than the other countries?" Himura read between the lines.
"That seems like a safe assumption to make. However, that's not all. There's been a rise but the severity has increased greatly." Julius paused as he let soapy water drain off the edge of the tray before he began to wipe it dry with the dishcloth Himura handed him. "You know of the normal manner in which traffickers find their victims?" He asked.
"They tend to pick up orphans, homeless children. Mostly young people off the streets where people are less likely to notice that they're gone." Himura nodded, he had been to a presentation by Amnesty International once and they had spoken about trafficking, amongst other things.
"Well, that's changed." Julius slid the now clean tray onto the pile before turning to look at Himura. "They're using armed men to kidnap school children. Whole batches of them. Educated, well off children are in high demand in the trafficking business so some groups have decided to become a little more violent in their methods."
"You're suggesting that Shaoran was taken by them?" Himura asked sceptically. Although an icy chill was running up his spine his mind saw no proof to support what Julius was saying.
"I don't know. We can't tell for sure right now. I suggest we call one or two parents of members from the school football team, ask if they're free to talk." Himura nodded
"I have an address book for our year group in my bag; it has landline telephone numbers in it." The two boys left the kitchen and returned to Tomoyo's ensuite living room.
"Sakura-chan is going to stay here for the night. Her father knows so it's all sorted out; but I think she'd feel a deal better if someone else stayed as well." Tomoyo spoke to the group of three while Sakura was on the phone downstairs to her father.
"I'll stay; it'll be a girl's night." Elena volunteered with a grin and so it was settled. The two boys said their farewells and then left the grounds.
At the gate Julius and Himura stopped for a moment, both of them thinking.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Himura finally said into the silence.
"I'm going to head home, there's some business I have to get done. Here, let me give you my number," Julius scribbled down his mobile phone number on a scrap of paper in his pocket and handed it to Himura, "If you go to Shaoran-kun's house then call me with news. If he's not there I'll start asking around." The two boys shook hands, turned and walked away.
"Those two are up to something." Elena murmured to Tomoyo as they watched the two boys from an upstairs window.
"But what are they doing?" Tomoyo asked. Elena threw her hands up in the air.
"Beats me. I'll ask Himie about it tomorrow. If it's important he'll probably text me about it later." She turned and walked back down the corridor to Tomoyo's expansive set of private rooms. Sakura was walking down from upstairs, now dressed in pyjamas that Tomoyo's bodyguards had picked up from her house.
"Let's watch a film." Elena suggested when Tomoyo walked in.
"That's a good idea." Tomoyo agreed.
"What film?" Sakura asked, slightly nervous.
"A horror film!" Elena grinned, knowing of Sakura's fear of anything remotely scary.
"Hoeeee, no no! Something else!" Sakura cried and Elena laughed.
"I was kidding. Tomoyo, are the DVDs still in the film room?" She asked but Tomoyo shook her head.
"We upgraded it to Blu-Ray a few weeks ago. The discs are in there but the DVDs are all downstairs in the library."
"Blu-ray, huh? Even better!" Elena exclaimed with an impressed whistle and wandered into the film room. She came out fairly quickly with a disc case in her hands, holding it up for them to see the cover. The other two girls agreed with her choice and they pulled bean bags into the film room to lie on as they watched the film with large cases of popcorn.
Towards the end of the film Elena's phone beeped three times.
"Ah, I guess Himie's texted me. Be back in a mo." Elena danced back into the main room and snatched her phone up from where it was charging and quickly unlocked the keypad and opened the new text message. She read it and frowned.
Shaoran's not at home, his manservant is worried that he hasn't returned and it seems like his phone is turned off. Julius and I are going to check around town, I'll text you later. Oh; and don't tell Sakura just yet, she'll be shattered. Xx
Elena locked the keypad and took a deep breath before bounding back into the film room with a fake smile plastered on her face. She jumped onto her bean bag and began to watch the film again.
"Was it Himura-san then?" Tomoyo asked. Elena nodded her head.
"Yeah, he was just saying good night." Elena said. Sakura saddened a little, Shaoran hadn't called or texted her yet. Elena caught the look and rolled over onto Sakura and began to tickle her.
"Don't look so sad you muppet! He's probably just exhausted from that footie match." Elena exclaimed as Sakura giggled and twisted to escape the torture. Elena glanced up once at Tomoyo and silently communicated the real gist of Himura's message and Tomoyo nodded her head to show she had understood but kept her face neutral, the girl was very good at that.
The film finally ended and the girls went to bed on account of having school the next day.
Himura watched as two trucks pulled out of the school entrance and drove away up the street. They didn't have lights on and their engines were almost silent. He frowned and rolled over the wall he had been hiding behind before dashing across the road to look inside the school. The lights were on and there was nothing out of the ordinary.
He glanced back up the street to see the dark shadows of the trucks vanish as they turned a corner. Making a decision Himura pulled out his phone and dialled Julius' number.
"Call your contacts, we need some information on traffickers in Japan."