Sakura: Knight of the Clow

Chapter 14 (New)

"SHIELD!" Sakura yelled, the card erecting a magic barrier before the wave of snake-tentacles could reach her.

"Oh poo," the Medusa-like monster pouted as she drew her snakes back. "Just let me bite you! You'll go to sleep and feel wonderful," she added encouragingly.

"And die," Sakura added dryly.

"Well, yes," the green skinned woman conceded.

Several people were laying on the floor of the basement, all dead. Apparently her venom preserved the bodies... and a few had signs they had been chewed on. The Medusa was human shaped, with a face and head, but a body that was composed of snakes. She could command them to be her 'body' or to attack in waves.

"I'd really like to give you a chance to just... well, leave," Sakura admitted as she took a battle stance, "but you killed people."

"Not 'people'," the Medusa growled, "just meat."

'Uh huh,' Sakura sighed.

Another wave of snakes attacked, but this time Sakura charged. Her sword cleaved the wave before it could reach her.

"Yeowww!" Medusa hissed in pain, reeling backward.

Seizing the moment Sakura swiftly closed the distance between them, then cut the Medusa's head right in two.

"Glurk..." the Medusa started, then just collapsed, the snakes going limp. Sakura watched it warily a moment, then the creature began to melt.

"Whew," Sakura puffed out a sigh.

She slipped out of the basement, then headed up the stairs to the street. Her armored cloak folded away, and she looked relatively normal as she reached street level. She looked around warily, then pulled out a burn-phone.

(In this case, the 'burn phone' was a phone bought at a convenience store, usually cheap, and loaded with store-bought minutes rather than a phone company plan. After use, you would then throw out the phone. Not cheap, overall, but basically untracable.)

"Police? There are bodies in the basement at..." and Sakura read off the address. Before any questions could be asked, she hung up.

She waited until she heard police sirens, then quietly moved off. 'Don't run.' she reminded herself, 'running attracts attention.' But as she left, she was unaware that eyes were on her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Yue and Kereberos were both feeling frustrated as they shadowed Sakura as she hunted the city's monsters.

"WHY isn't she chasing down more Clow Cards?" Yur demanded, the angel-like figure waving his arms angrily.

Kereberos, the giant winged lion, gave him a look. "The monsters ARE killing people," he pointed out dryly.

Yue scowled back, "Because the Cards are loose! If they had the Cards contained, there'd be less monsters."

"We don't KNOW that," Kereberos countered. "The monsters were turning up in her mother and grandmother's time," he said reasonably.

"Hmph," Yue growled.

They were having no luck finding Clow Reed too. They were certain he was out and about, but could find no trace of him. It was hugely frustrating.

"Mommy, look!" a little boy pointed, "A angel!"

'Damn magically sensitive kid,' Yue thought, improving their cloaking magic a bit. Both winked out of sight.

"Come on," Kereberos sighed. He added, "I'm hungry. And you need to check back in with Sakura at work."

"Agreed," Yue nodded as they both moved off.

"Buy me lunch?" Kereberos teased as the cat shifted, morphing to human form.

"Oh, very well," Yue sighed as he also took on human form. "We need to get you a job... our food bill is insane."

"Meanie," Caroline pouted. "We CAN magic up money, you know," she reminded him.

"That would be unethical," Yue said stiffly.

Caroline really wondered about him, soetimes. There was a TV screen in the window they passed and she pointed, "Hey, isn't that Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo was being followed by TV reporters, looking annoyed. Yue chuckled, "I can read lips. She's saying 'No comment' along with swearing alot."

Caroline snickered softly.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As a reporter shoved a mic in her face, Tomoyo was tempted to move up and knee him in the nuts. Or taster him. But she firmly restrained herself.

"Gentlemen, Ladies, I am NOT the story here," Tomoyo said to them with great patience, "I'm just the reporter."

"How did you meet the knight!" one guy yelled.

"No comment," Tomoyo decided to stop reasoning with them and force through.

Now, Tomoyo was a small-ish, attractive and polite woman. But she had also had a fair bit of martial arts training and self defence classes. So the reporters hemming her in suddenly found themselves elbowed in sensitive spots, kicked in the shins and otherwise forced aside.

"NO COMMENT," Tomoyo growled as she stomped on a camera man's instep, then forced through into the Times building.

Several sheepish security guys were geared up, looking like they were about to rush out to the rescue. "Sorry, we were...," one started.

"It's fine," Tomoyo waved it off, "just... be a BIT quicker next time?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"I see our new security is as effective as expected," Rika noted, the archavist carrying a bundle of documents.

"Short of meeting me out there and clubbing everyone...," Tomoyo shrugged.

"Point," Rika agreed.

"TOMOYO! Get your ass in here!" Kaho yelled from her office.

"Coming," Tomoyo hurried to the chief's office.

Kaho looked tired, as usual. She worked long hours, though recently she had been working from home with her lover, Sonomi. She tapped the printout of Tomoyo's newest story as she asked, "Are you SURE of this?"

"I've talked with Medical Examiners, morgue staff and paramedics, all agree that the government is downplaying monster fatalities," Tomoyo said grimly.

"By over half," Kaho noted.

"I think it's worse than that, but... I'm being conservative," Tomoyo admitted.

"THAT bad?" Kaho asked.

"They just covered up an attack with over ten victims, claiming it was just a gas leak," Tomoyo said flatly.

Kaho nodded thoughtfully. "You do realize that the government will be very unhappy over this?" she pointed out. "And they are already annoyed with you over refusing to reveal who the Knight is." she added.

Tomoyo just shrugged. "Run it," she said.

Kaho smirked, "As expected, you don't back down."

"I'll probably hide out for a few days after the story drops," Tomoyo admitted, "I'm not COMPLETELY stupid."

"Ha," Kaho teased, and Tomoyo scowled at her.

"No new stories on the Knight?" Kaho asked mildly.

Tomoyo made a face, "She headed out on her own, sadly. I made her promise to let me and Yukito know, next time."

Kaho could tell that made her nervous. Understandably. "She did do this before you came along," she pointed out.

"I know," Tomoyo conceded, "she's very capable of taking care of herself."

Changing the subject Kaho noted, "We're also covering the military attempting monster hunting. It's not going well."

"I've been skimming the reports," Tomoyo sighed. "They clearly didn't listen to us. Handguns? Really?" she growled.

Instead of listening to Tomoyo about light arms being useless, several attempts to capture monsters while armed with pistols had been tried. All ended badly. The only good news, so far, was that the teams had been smart enough to pull back once they realized it wasn't working.

"Thank goodness no fatalities," Kaho added.

Tomoyo made a face and tapped the printout of her story, "Actually, there have been. That was covered up too..."

"Shit," Kaho sighed.

To be continued...

Notes: I, at some point, need to do a chapter showing what a complete cluster fuck it is to try to hunt monsters via conventional weapons. Probably ALSO do it as a Aliens spoof. Might even be next chapter.