"The reason I have called you here today is of extreme importance," Nokoru Imonoyama raised a finger to show its paramount significance as his blue eyes twinkled.

"Extreme importance?" Akira Ijyuin repeated questioningly. "Is it a new case?" He kindly placed a cup of hot tea in front of the Chairman of the Imonoyama Food Industry. Nokoru nodded in thanks to Akira.

"It's not just the case," Suoh Takamura bluntly told Akira as he accepted a cup of tea as well. "It's always the damsel in distress that comes with the case." Akira nodded in understanding. Back in their elementary school days, these three friends had started a detective agency because of Nokoru's zealous cause to help women in their time of need. Even now, Nokoru's passion had not wavered.

"No, no, no," Nokoru protested. "It is different this time! I took the last case as a favor to a dear friend of mine, but last night she notified me that she will not need our services anymore. We do not have to continue our search."

"Should I shred the information we found?" Akira offered.

The Chairman held up a hand to wait. "However, Syaoran Li came to me this morning for a case." Suoh raised eyebrows at this. Nokoru wanted to accept a case from an important businessman like Syaoran Li? It was unheard of. "Mr. Li also wants a thorough investigation of the subject from our last case, although for different reasons."

"You want to give the information we found from our last case to Li-san?" Akira asked. His face frowned as his chin rested in his hand. "Wouldn't that be a bit unorthodox?"

"I am not saying we should share data," Nokoru said seriously. "But I would like to accept this case, and we may have to use data from our last case to help us in this one. I wanted to be sure if both of you would be okay with this."

"You're saying you want to take Li-san's case because of the subject," Suoh interpreted. "You find it interesting because two different clients want to know about the subject." Nokoru nodded. "You just don't want the information on Meiling Li to be misconstrued without the complete truth."

"Yes!" Nokoru grinned; glad his friend understood his intentions completely. "So we're clear now?" Akira nodded and Suoh gave his own consent. "Then we shall continue our investigation!"

Belatedly, Suoh realized that once again, the case was about a damsel in distress.

Meanwhile, said subject Meiling Li flipped on the lights of Destiny Room. Knowing that she had very little time in a place she was not supposed have been in she darted towards the table with the box of tapes near the screen. Then she hesitated.

In her hand the Head Manager held a security tape from the night of Destiny's Annual Party. It happened to be the tape of a camera that pointed towards the ship's upper deck and contained a scene that would explain Syaoran Li's "disappearance" around 9:40. It also happened to be the tape that Meiling had stolen that same night during cleanup and watched several times within the confines of her own apartment. Meiling stared at the little black tape one last time, and then stuck in the box with the other security tapes, hoping no one would notice the difference.

Meiling then headed towards the boxes of the matchmakers' notebooks and stuck the notebook of Kiyokazu Fujimoto inside as well. Rushing out of the room, Meiling turned off the lights and the room sealed shut behind her as she left.

Much, much later, as Tomoyo was preparing to pack away the notebooks and tapes after finishing inputting the data into the program, she discovered something strange. In the notebook of student matchmaker Kobato Hanato, under the picture of the ai ai gasa were the names Syaoran Li and Sakura Kinomoto.

That must have been where it all started.

Destiny at Work

Hitsuzen Eight

The Distressed Damsel

I, Nokoru Imonoyama, was inspired by the case of the lady at Tokyo Tower, as well as the missing disck. In these dark times, there are damsels in distress everywhere, and it seems there should be a more efficient way for them to acquire our aid.

I believe I have found the answer. In order to properly serve women everywhere, I have decided to form a detective agency within the Clamp School Junior Division Class Board! Our detective agency will devote itself, day and night, to solving the problems of distressed damsels! The three of us will devote all of our time to fighting for females! –Nokoru Imonoyama, from Clamp School Detectives

Author's Note: Cardcaptor Sakura and its characters rightfully belong to CLAMP. The following characters that appeared/mentioned in Hitsuzen Eight also belong to CLAMP:

Clamp School Detectives- Nokoru Imonoyama, Akira Ijyuin, and Suoh Takamura

Kobato- Kiyokazu Fujimoto and Kobato Hanato

Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- Souseki

X/1999- Hien and Souhi
Kaho Mizuki woke up in bed alone that morning. "Eriol?" she had to call out, just to make sure. When there was no answer she had to close her eyes to remind herself that she was in Japan to celebrate her fiancé's birthday. But the woman could not help but let a dispirited sigh.

Kaho found Spinel first in the kitchens after getting dressed. Looking up from the paper she was reading, Spinel greeted her with a polite, "Good morning."

"Where's Eriol?" Kaho asked as she got ingredients out of the refrigerator. "Did he eat breakfast already?"

"He's next door," Spinel spoke mindlessly as she took a sip of her coffee. "He is inviting Syaoran and Fanren Li for a tour around Tokyo."

Kaho paused in her movements. It's his birthday, she reminded herself. With another inward sigh she put back all the things she took out.

"You're not going to eat?" Spinel asked as Kaho was leaving.

Kaho gave the bodyguard a strained smile. "I don't feel like eating."

"By the way, is that a new perfume you're wearing?"

"Why?"

Spinel was surprised at the women's defensiveness. Even looking at Kaho now, the whole woman's stance screamed vulnerability. "No reason," she said. "It just smells nice."

The door opened and Eriol entered saying, "Well, Fanren has a date today but Syaoran will be joining us. Ah, good morning Kaho." And Spinel watched silently as the couple exchanged greetings and kisses on the cheek. Kaho was stiff, Spinel noticed. The older woman's movements seemed aloof and not altogether there, but the woman still gave a small smile as she wished him a happy birthday.

Spinel returned to her coffee and paper. It was not her problem, she resolutely decided. Eriol was her charge and Spinel refused to let herself get intimately involved. She knew the consequences of that from her last charge.

But that didn't help the guilty, nagging feeling to go away.

"Hic! Hic!" Big, fat tears streaked down the little girl's face as the hiccups continued at uneven intervals. Gulping the last bit of water down she looked at the kind oneesan tearfully as she went "Hic!"

"Drinking water didn't work?" Sakura Kinomoto rubbed the little girl's back with a gentle smile. "It's okay, Akane. There's no need to cry. Jeh je (older sister) will make those hiccups disappear. See," Sakura dropped her voice dramatically as she pulled out a souvenir coin stamped with the words of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum and matching insignia. "Jeh je (older sister) is a magician. I can make this coin disappear."

Sakura held the coin in her fist and told the little girl to say the magic words. Akane-chan giggled, complying happily. Together they both gasped as Sakura opened her hand again with no coin inside. "But look!" Sakura reached behind the girl's ear and the coin magically appeared. Akane-chan opened her mouth in surprise. "And I made your hiccups disappear as well," Sakura pointed out.

The little girl smiled brightly. "Mm goi, jeh je (thank you, older sister)!"

"How about you keep this magic coin, Akane. And go ask your teacher for a partner so you can go to the bathroom and clean up, okay?" The little girl nodded happily and sped off. Sakura stood up from her squatting position to smile fondly.

"I remember Uncle Clow teaching you that trick," a voice said behind her.

Sakura turned around to smile even more brightly. "Eriol-san! Happy Birthday!"

"Since it's my day off, I thought I could see your exhibit today," Eriol told her. "But you seem a little busy…"

Sakura gestured to the group of children in the museum's front lobby. "It's a group from Hong Kong," she informed him. "And since I'm the best Cantonese speaker here, I volunteered myself to be their guide."

"You don't mind if we tag along, do you? I brought a friend who's very interested in history. We won't be any trouble, I promise."

"Sure, go ahead," Sakura nodded as she did a double take. "We?"

The rest of Eriol's missing party caught up with him. Sakura greeted Spinel with a small hello and enthusiastically hugged her former math teacher.

"Syaoran," Eriol said, "you do remember Sakura Kinomoto from the party, don't you?"

Their eyes met and Sakura bowed her head in hello. A ghost of smile appeared on Syaoran's face. "Yeah, I do."

Tomoyo Daidouji bent down to pick up the notebook on the floor. She stared at the front page it had been opened to, and then called out to Yue who was carrying the box of notebooks away. "Wait. Leave those by the door."

Program DESTINY continued to hum in the background as Yue followed orders. He waited patiently as Tomoyo frowned at the notebook. The two had just finished inputting the party's information into the program and let the computer finish the rest of the work. There was nothing more to be done but pack away the notebooks and tapes and wait until the program printed out the results.

Tomoyo looked at the cover of the notebook that clearly said Kobato Hanato. Although she met the young girl a few times, Tomoyo knew her to be a klutzy girl with a pure and kind heart. Even though the matchmaking business would have a difficult road for Kobato, she was still determined to see it through. Kobato had the instincts of a good matchmaker, and if she developed them further she could become a very talented one. Eriol, who had been away in London and never had the chance to meet Kobato, must have dismissed Kobato's notes as a joke.

Tomoyo once again looked at the one page Kobato-chan had written on. It was the familiar ai ai gasa, or the love-love umbrella that Tomoyo faintly remembered seeing back in her elementary school days. It was a line with a triangle on top that symbolized an umbrella on a rainy day. The names beneath represented the couple that would have shared the umbrella to avoid getting wet. After all, the umbrella provided very little protection and two people beneath an umbrella would have to get close. It was romantic.

Tomoyo believed Kobato-chan would not have put Syaoran and Sakura's names beneath the ai ai gasa as a joke.

Making her decision, Tomoyo dismissed her assistant. "You may go, Yue-san. I will be working on something in this room. Thank you for your help." He nodded and bowed politely before leaving.

Tomoyo headed to the notebooks. If the ai ai gasa was not a joke, then Kobato-chan must have some reason for putting Syaoran and Sakura together. Kobato-chan's partner was Kiyokazu-kun, the lists told her. As expected, Kiyokazu-kun kept very organized and neat notes of the party. Most of his notes consisted of his client, Souseki Shara, although Kiyokazu-kun also kept notes on Syaoran Li.

Then, there it was. 9:37 pm, the upper deck. Syaoran Li with Sakura Kinomoto was written in neat writing. Kiyokazu-kun wrote out the entire dialogue between the two. "This explains where Syaoran-kun disappeared," Tomoyo said to herself. At the party, Syaoran was supposed to give Eriol and Tomoyo a list of girls he liked, but he did not show up at the appointed time at 9:30. Tomoyo asked the security room to find Syaoran, but Hien-san replied that they were unable to. It wasn't until around 10:30, when the party was wrapping up that Souhi-san said Syaoran was returning from the bathroom.

Meiling.

Tomoyo then unpacked the box of security tapes to find the tape of the upper deck. Pulling the tape out, Tomoyo frowned, as she did not remember watching the tape.

The female president fast-forwarded the tape to 9:37 pm and sat back to watch.

Thank You to SnowCharms for your reviews! Keep them coming!

SnowCharms: Yes, CLAMP are not only the creators of Tokyo Babylon, but also the creators of X/1999. Subaru and Seishiro are the main characters of TB and make an appearance in X/1999 (and TRC as well). Both are extremely good stories by CLAMP, although CLAMP hasn't finished X/1999 yet. I suggest you check them out!

And yes, I'm a supporter of Eriol and Tomoyo, but we'll just have to see where the story goes, don't we?

Don't forget to review!