Sakura: Knight of the Clow!
Chapter 17
Clow Reed floated in mid air, his robes flowing around him. His staff glowed ominously as he cast, "Lightning!"
The Clow Card, glowing a venemous purple, didn't even budge.
Clow Reed made a choking noise. He had known his powers had declined... but THIS much? He landed with a thump, scowling at the thing.
The local talking rats (don't ask) had told him about it, and Clow Reed had gone to look. He also wondered why he hadn't sensed it? Worrying. Anyway, he went into the tunnels, found the card but it was casually shrugging off his magic.
"Fireball!"
"Lightning!"
"Stone crush!"
"Water scythe!"
After nearly an hour, Clow Read was leaning tiredly on his staff. "Why...?" he muttered. The protective aura the card was putting out was stopping him easily.
"Hey, boss?" one of the rats added.
"Yeah?" Clow replied.
"You know there's someone else here in the tunnels with us?" the rated noted.
Before Clow could react, bolts of purple energy exploded out of the darkness. Already exhausted by his magic casting, he had no chance.
The figure looked down at Clow, "It's been too long, Clow Reed."
As Clow felt himself black out he thought, 'Who...?'
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Ok, that was a hell of a story," Kaho waved at the latest front page from Tomoyo. "Government is unhappy though."
"They want to censor the monster stuff?" Tomoyo asked dryly.
"Hmm." Kaho nodded. "Of course, I told them hell no, but they may take more forceful steps."
"That's what lawyers are for," Tomoyo observed.
"Agreed," Kaho said. "Ok, what else are you working on?"
"I just gave you a cover story," Tomoyo protested.
"The news is a hungry beast that must always be fed," Kaho said casually.
"We're following up on the Mayor, but admittedly it's mostly 'He's still gone.' " Tomoyo admitted.
"Can we hand any new crimes on him?" Kaho asked dryly.
"No, we've pretty much covered everything," Tomoyo admitted. She paused,...
"Yeah?" Kaho asked.
"We've been pretty low key on your engagement to Sonomi," Tomoyo said delicately. "I jbow you don't consider it news but...,"
Kaho made a face, "We did post the official announcement."
"On page six, in a short article," Sakura said drolly.
"I know, I know... I'll put the social writer on it," Kaho conceded. She added, "YOU can't cover it. Conflict of interest."
"Too bad. I'd have fun," Tomoyo teased as she got up.
"Those Government Spooks still want to talk to your Knight," Kaho added as a afterthought.
Tomoyo shrugged, "They can go pound sand."
Mei Lin waved as Tomoyo strode off. They... got along, but weren't exactly buddies. "Miss Kaho," she addressed her boss. "Less interview requests for Tomoyo, thankfully."
"She hates doing the media stuff," Kaho agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sakura was vaguely relieved the media had decided bugging her was a bad idea. "Yue!" she waved at her arriving co-worker.
"Miss Kinomoto," Yue smiled politely.
"Hey, Sakura!" Catherine waved cheerly.
"Walking your boyfriend to work?" Sakura teased.
"WE ARE NOT...," Yue sighed.
Sakura just laughed warmly. "We'll see you around lunch, I guess?" she asked Caroline.
"Oh yeah," Caroline agreed, then trotted off.
"Let's get the security check in started," Sakura led him inside briskly.
"There's been a break in," the guard advised.
"WHAT." Sakura yelped. "Why wasn't I called?" she asked.
"Director wants to keep it quiet," he said as he called up.
The last Director had threatened Sakura's job over politics. That was countered, the board eventually found out and fired him. The museum had a new Director but they had come in over the holidays and Sakura hadn't met them yet.
"I'm SO sorry," the gorgeous if androgenous figure said.
"Nauru Akizuki?" Sakura blinked, "Didn't we meet at Sonomi's party?"
"We did," Nauru admitted. "Please follow me, I'll explain what's going on."
"The guard said there was a robbery?" Sakura pressed.
"Yes, though a very odd one. The police are baffled," Nauru admitted as they led led them into a n part of Sakura's usual department.
"The 'Sorceress' desplay... it's empty!" Sakura blinked.
"Sorceress?" Yue asked.
"A legendary rival to Clow Reed, when he was in Hong Kong. Supposedly a fortune teller to rival him," Sakura said.
Naruru added, "Normally the police would talk to you, but our security footage is top notch. One minute the times were there... then they were not."
"Seriously," Yue blinked.
'Magic?' Sakura instantly thought. 'But why...?'
"Anyway, we need to start our next steps," Naruru said briskly.
Sakura instantly focused, "We need to determine what went missing, and also prepare a temporary display," she noted.
"Inventory is in theory automatic but...," Yue noted.
"We'll need to go through each section," Sakura cautioned. "If they could just snatch the robes and objects..."
"Yes ma'am," Yue nodded.
Sakura addressed Naruru, "You probably don't want to hear this, but we probably need to do a full, museum wide inventory too."
"Oh joy," Naruru sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Tomoyo!" Sakura practically collapsed in her lover's arms.
"Rough day?" Tomoyo lead her into her apartment. Sakura had moved in after the whole press reveal of the Knight, and Tomoyo wanted to ask her to make it permanent.
"Inventory. LOTS and LOTS of inventory," Sakura groaned.
"There there," Tomoyo patted her arm. "I ordered take-out."
"Oh thank god," Sakura sighed.
Tomoyo just laughed.
"And how was your day?" Sakura asked as they both settled on the couch.
"Kaho continues to be a task master, but that's as usual," Tomoyo admitted. "I'm working on a story involving unique weapons the Self Defense Force wants to import."
"Upgrades for anti-monster fighting," Sakura guessed. She wickedly added, "Go ask your mother?"
"She probably IS tangled up in this somewhere," Tomoyo sighed. "Though I'll try to hit up my other contacts first..."
"Poor you," Sakura noted.
The security guy buzzed them, noting the take-out was there. "Eat, TV, and... we'll lay down a bit?" Tomoyo suggested.
"If by laying down you mean sex?" Sakura grinned.
"Yup," Tomoyo blushed abit.
To be continued...
Notes: Yeah, decided I needed a villain other than Clow. Still thinking bits through.