Cherry: Gah! Something happened in chapter five, and I wasn't quite ready for it. . Oh well... I guess the unexpected can lead to great things. Lol. Someone asked me what opium was and here is a definition: a bitter, yellowish-brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug prepared from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine. I will put some more information up at the end of the chapter for those of you who would like to know more. Oh yes! And thank you to the reviewer who corrected Meiling's name. It turns out that I didn't realize my computer was changing it. Apparently "Meling" was in my dictionary, but not "Meiling." Thanks again for telling me!

Disclaimer: Own Card Captor Sakura, I do not.

Chapter 6: Getting To Know You

The next morning Sakura was up well before the sun, though it was only because she couldn't sleep.

She was in the kitchen making a pot of coffee when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"Kinomoto, it's Li," the voice replied.

Sakura was taken aback slightly; it was 3:45 in the morning. "Hi... is there something wrong?" She also remembered never having given Syaoran her home phone number.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just at headquarters right now. The results on the blood work from the lab came back," Syaoran explained.

"What did Ms. Yanagisawa find?" Sakura asked.

"It was opium, we were right. And the dart was carefully aimed right in the center of the heart. After the opium was injected into the heart, he would have died moments later. He was dead long before the truck crashed into him," Syaoran said.

Sakura was quiet for a moment. "This distributor must be planning something big..."

"Yeah, well, I've already spoken to Mr. Kinomaka about this, he told us to visit the deceased's work place to see if we can find anything there," Syaoran continued.

"Alright, I'll meet you at headquarters in an hour," she replied.

"...he also said that we need to get to know each other. He said trust was going to be the only thing that gets us through this," Syaoran finished.

Sakura was silent. "It's just like Kinomaka to do this..." she thought.

"I'll see you in an hour. Bye," Syaoran said and hung up the phone.

Sakura set her phone down after turning it off. "Trust, huh?" she said softly.

The buzzer on the coffee maker went off and Sakura poured it into a traveling mug and set out for the bus station.

Syaoran leaned back in his chair, thinking deeply. He was not ready to tell her his true motives for taking this job transfer, he wasn't sure she could handle his truth. After all, the only people who know this was revenge were his mother and Meling. But he was going to get a few of her secrets out in the open.

The bus was cramped and smelly, and Sakura held back a gag. The bus was always horrible, and the smell was hard to get off your body. Luckily, Sakura came prepared for it; she carried her perfume bottle around with her.

The nearest stop to the FBI headquarters was two blocks away. Any unauthorized vehicles were prohibited and that law was firmly acted upon.

Today was casual day at work and Sakura was ever so grateful that she could wear comfortable clothes. She had on a pair of white sneakers and a pair of blue jeans that hugged her legs and hips in just the right places. With this, she wore a two layer, turtleneck, long-sleeve shirt, the top shirt being pink, and the bottom shirt that hung out slightly below the pink one, was white. Over that she had on a forest green pea coat.

The days were getting colder and shorter; fall was coming.

After scanning her badge and having her hands scanned as well, she entered the building and walked to the elevator.

She pressed the button labeled six and leaned against the wall. Her shoulder didn't feel any better than it had the other day, and it seemed that the bruise was spreading down her arm and across her collar bone.

She stepped out of the elevator just as the clock struck five o'clock; the bus had been running late. She finished the rest of her coffee as she walked towards her desk, and Syaoran.

He was leaned back in the chair, his chin against his chest and his eyes closed. She set her coffee mug on her desk and pulled her chair out to sit down.

A mumble came from Syaoran's mouth and Sakura looked up from the papers on her desk. Another mumble came and Sakura was sure he had said "Daddy."

"L-..." she started, but remembered how he told her to call him by his first name. "Syaoran, wake up."

He twitched slightly.

"Syaoran!" she said just loud enough to wake him.

His eyes blinked open and he looked around. "What happened?"

"You were asleep and mumbling," Sakura replied, picking up the paper in front of her with the lab results on it.

"Oh boy..." Syaoran though. "I hope I didn't say anything she could understand..."

Another agent walked by and handed something to Sakura. She read over the paper.

"It looks like our deceased's name was Hayate Wakaouji, and he worked at a copy shop down on Spring Valley Road," Sakura said.

"That's about twenty minutes from here," Syaoran said.

"Yeah, but they don't open until ten... we have five hours until we can get there," Sakura explained with a sigh.

There was silence between them, but each knew what the other was thinking. They had to get to know each other, Kinomaka had told them to.

"Do you want to go get some breakfast?" Sakura asked after staring at the paper in front of her, trying to ignore the little voice in her head that told her to ask questions about his past.

"Sounds good to me," Syaoran replied, pushing back in his chair and pulled his black jacket off the back of his chair and pulling it on.

Sakura stood up too, pulling the jacket she has just taken off 10 minutes ago back on. "Any place special you'd like to go?"

"We could drive around until we find something that sounds good," he suggested.

Sakura shrugged. "Sure, that'll work."

After about twenty minutes of driving around looking at all the restaurants, the found a little restaurant to eat at.

"I don't think I've ever been here before," Sakura said as they walked through the door.

"Then it'll be an experience for the both of us," Syaoran said as he sat down at a table.

A waitress walked by and set down two menus. "I'll be back in a few moments to take your orders," she said and walked off to a table where an impatient tourist was calling for more coffee.

Sakura picked up her menu and started skimming it, looking for anything that caught her eye or sounded good. She peeked over the edge of the menu and watch Syaoran's eyes move as he read the menu. "God is he hot," she thought. Startled by her thought she quickly looked back down at the menu. "What am I thinking? I can't fall for my partner…that would be too awkward. Shit…what am I going to do?"

The waitress walked back over, her pad of paper out. "What can I get for you two?" she asked.

Syaoran looked at Sakura before looking back at the waitress. "Could you give us a few more minutes please?"

"Sure thing. Is there anything I can get you to drink though?" she asked.

"I'll take a coffee, black," Syaoran replied.

"And for you?" the waitress asked.

"I'll take water," Sakura replied.

The waitress walked off again to get their drinks.

"Find anything to eat?" Syaoran asked.

"I'm still looking," Sakura replied from behind the menu. "What about you?"

"I think I'm going to get a ham and cheese omelet," he replied.

Sakura nodded, but he couldn't see it, her face was pretty well hidden behind the menu.

The waitress walked back over and set down the drinks. "Are you ready now? Or do you need a few more minutes?"

"I'll take a ham and cheese omelet, hash browns on the side," Syaoran said.

"And for you?" she asked turning to Sakura once again.

"I'll take… French toast with bacon and sausage," Sakura replied.

"Anything else?" the waitress asked.

"That'll do it," Sakura and Syaoran replied at the same time.

The waitress nodded and walked off after taking their menus. "Such a cute couple," she thought.

The silence was deafening. Sakura tried to look everywhere but at Syaoran as she tried to suppress the feelings that were rising. She could not, would not fall in love with him. It would complicate things. She sighed. She desperately needed to talk to Tomoyo.

Syaoran looked up at her when she sighed. Something was definitely going through her head, and he wanted to know what it was.

"Are you ok?" he asked, leaning forward.

"What?" Sakura asked looking up at him. "Oh, yes, I'm fine…just thinking."

"Kinomaka told us to get to know each other. And the only way we're going to do that, is to talk to each other," Syaoran said, his eye boring into hers.

Sakura suppressed a shudder as she felt him searching her soul for answers. "Then we'll start with you," she said suddenly. "Why are you an agent?"

Syaoran's face tightened slightly and his eyes darkened. "I made a promise to someone a long time ago."

Sakura watched his face. "That's not all, I can sense it," she thought, but did not push the question any further.

Syaoran's face relaxed. "My turn to ask a question."

Sakura tried to form every possible question in her mind to prepare an answer. She had secrets, who didn't? But did she really want Syaoran knowing about them all just yet? The answer was easy: no.

"What is wrong with your shoulder?" he asked, his eyes locked on her.

Sakura blanched. This was one question she hadn't expected. Her eyes unfocused as she tried to think of some way to answer him; she had already lied to him about it, could she really do it again, or would she be pushing her luck?

Syaoran watched her closely. He could read her face like a book. She wasn't trying very hard to conceal her emotions.

"If I tell you," she began. "You have to promise not to say anything to anyone else."

"It depends on how serious it is," Syaoran replied.

Sakura looked up at him. "You have to promise me."

Syaoran looked into her eyes and reluctantly nodded.

"Tomoyo and I went for a run the other day. Everything seemed fine to begin with, but when we reached the park, storm clouds formed and it started raining and getting later and later. Tomoeda isn't the best place to be after dark," Sakura started to explain. "We couldn't call for any rides to come pick us up, I had left my cell phone on my dresser and Tomoyo's had gone dead during our run. So we decided just to run as fast as we could back home, but as we were doing so, this group of people started to follow us. We tried to ignore them, but the kept gaining on us and they had baseball bats and everything. We were almost home, so I pushed Tomoyo to go faster, but I tripped…"

Syaoran was staring at her, shock in his eyes. "Why didn't she tell anyone about this?" he thought.

"I slid across the pavement and hit the wall of the sidewalk, dislocating my shoulder," Sakura continued. "I pushed myself up off the ground and ran towards the house. The group that was chasing us was so close, but I made it to the house in time and Tomoyo slammed the door and locked it. Then she put my shoulder back in place," she concluded.

Syaoran just stared at her.

Sakura looked down at her plate. She had to admit; telling someone about what happened had really made her feel better.

The waitress came back and set their plates down. "If you two need anything, just wave me down," she said and walked off.

"Why…why didn't you tell anyone?" Syaoran asked, finding his voice.

"If you had to choose between sitting at your desk all day or actually searching for someone responsible for a couple deaths and countless other indictments, what would you choose?" Sakura asked, raising her head to look at him.

He nodded, understanding where she was coming from. I mean, if he was in her shoes he probably wouldn't have told anyone either.

Sakura sighed with relief as she saw that he understood. "So now that you know…"

"It's your turn to ask me a question," he cut in.

Sakura mentally thanked him for changing the subject. She was quiet for a moment, trying to think of something to ask him. "This may sound a bit childish, but, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

Syaoran shrugged. "I haven't ever really had much spare time. Most of my time was spent training and keeping in shape to be able to get into the FBI."

Sakura nodded. "What is your favorite color?"

"Hey, we agreed earlier that once you asked a question, I got to ask a question," Syaoran replied.

"Damn," Sakura thought. There was not any way she could be prepared for the questions he would ask.

Syaoran seemed to be pondering a proper question to ask. So Sakura stuck her French toast with her fork and pulled a piece off and stuck it in her mouth.

Tomoyo lie in the hospital bed, a few magazines scattered around her. Her hair had been pulled to the sides in two loose pigtails to get it away from her stitches. She couldn't say that it didn't itch, because it did, badly. It took everything she had to not scratch it. She ripped another picture out of the magazine and set it on top of the others. With all this spare time, she had decided that she and Sakura needed to go clothes shopping. Their wardrobes were getting a little boring.

She sighed and looked around. The hospital room was as dreary as ever. And she couldn't help but worry about Sakura. Was she awake? Was she safe? Did she get to work on time? How did she get to work? She glanced at the clock on the wall, it was six thirty. She couldn't wait to see Sakura that evening, even though she had told Sakura that she didn't need to come to visit. Worry just ate away at her. She glanced at the clock again, only five minutes had passed. She sighed again. If she couldn't find something to do soon, she might end up going crazy. She thought about calling Sakura on her cell, but she didn't have her cell, or her wallet…or anything.

"We were trained to fight…" Tomoyo thought. "Why couldn't I sense the person there?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. She looked up and her face lit up.

They had covered the basics. Syaoran's favorite color was green; Sakura's pink. His favorite season was autumn; Sakura's was spring. Syaoran's favorite flower was a peony; Sakura's was a cherry blossom, of course, a little background information was given about why exactly.

Then Sakura thought of something to ask. "What is your family like?"

"My mother is pretty strict. But, she's ok. My four sisters-" he started, but Sakura cut him off.

"You have four sisters?" she asked, dropping the knife she was spinning around on her napkin onto the table.

Syaoran smirked. "Yeah, four older sisters."

"And here I thought growing up with an older brother was hell…" Sakura replied.

"Anyway, they have got to be the most annoying people on the face of the planet. I can never seem to get away from them. And then there is my cousin, Meiling. She's joined the FBI with me. She should be transferring here in a couple of weeks," Syaoran replied.

There was a small paused.

"What about your father?" Sakura asked.

Immediately she wished she could take the question back. His face darkened and he shifted uncomfortably.

"He…died when I was younger," he replied, slowly.

Sakura felt a pang in her chest. She knew what it was like to lose someone close.

"I understand, my mother died when I was three," Sakura replied softly.

Syaoran looked up at her, gratefulness in his eyes. Sakura smiled back.

"What about your family?" Syaoran asked.

"I haven't seen my family in six years…" she replied, trailing off the end of her sentence.

Syaoran stayed quite, waiting for her to continue.

"I left when I was nineteen. My stepmother was a bitch. She threw a vase at me when I came home with a friend to work on a project," she continued quietly and pointed to the long scar coming down across her eyebrow to the corner of her eye. "I don't think she even noticed when I didn't come home the next day."

"What about you father and brother, weren't they worried?" Syaoran asked.

"My father was in Beijing on a business trip. He's an archeologist. And my brother was at medical school in Hong Kong. I never really had time to talk to them while they were away," Sakura finished.

Syaoran didn't know what to say and he just stared at her.

A question had been bothering Sakura for a while now. But she wasn't sure if she should ask him or not. The topic seemed a little touchy earlier, but then again, Sakura was sometimes the reckless type.

"When you made that promise to become an FBI agent…who was that to?" she asked, looking at him cautiously.

Well, well, well, again, this chapter turned out differently than I had expected. O.o You all are probably thinking the same thing: "How can it go differently than planned when you are writing it?" My stories tend to do that a lot… heh. Anyway, time for information on opium! lol I'm sure many of you might be curious about it so, rather than just emailing the reviewer who asked, I'll put the information up here. Please read and review! Reviews make every writer happy!

Opium is a plant product derived from the sap inside of the opium poppy's seedpod. This poppy grows in dry, warm climates, especially in the mountains stretching from Turkey through Central and South Asia all the way to Laos. It is increasingly being grown in South America, as well.

The sap of the poppy, which is milky and opaque inside of the pod, turns thick and brown-black in color as it seeps out, after the pod has been sliced open by harvesters. This thick sap is then collected in bricks or balls and enters the black market. Opium in this raw form can be smoked or taken orally, but not injected, since it is still full of fungi and bacteria. The opium can be further processed and purified to become a range of drugs, legal and illegal, including morphine, heroin, codeine, and thebaine.

The human brain already has receptors for the opiate drugs; because their chemical structures are quite similar to the endorphins the brain produces itself. Sometimes called "feel-good chemicals," these endorphins are released when we experience pain or stress. They flood the space between neurons (nerve cells), preventing them from flowing back and forth, thus reducing the experience of pain. The opiates work similarly, creating a sort of euphoria.

The effects of smoking opium are almost identical to the effects of using heroin or morphine. They include a relaxed feeling, relief from pain and anxiety, decreased alertness, respiratory depression (slowed breathing), impaired coordination, constricted pupils, nausea, and constipation. These effects can last from three to six hours.

Over a period of prolonged usage, an individual can become dependent on opium. This happens because the brain adapts its circuitry to the continued presence of the drug. The user also develops tolerance, where continuously larger doses are needed to provide the same effects. If the drug use is then stopped, the neurons, which had been inhibited, flow freely again, and a chemical imbalance results. This turns into withdrawal, which can begin 8 to 12 hours after the last use. It starts with tears in the eyes and flu-like symptoms, including nausea, cramps, fever, weakness, depression, and diarrhea. Muscle spasms and feelings of anxiety can then develop. The entire process usually lasts 7 to 10 days.

The possibility of overdosing on opium, or opium products, is always real, and can involve some serious complications, including slow, shallow breathing, clammy skin, a rapid pulse, circulatory collapse, and convulsions. In the worst cases, coma and even death may result from respiratory failure.

Information taken from: Go Ask Alice!