Chapter 3: PROTON chaos part 1
Authors Comment:
Thank you again so much for the reviews! I know that last chapter was a little confusing, but I had to do it that way on purpose. ^^; Anyway, here is another chapter.
" spoken " / ' thought ' / ---places or situations --- /
--- Tomoyo's House or should I say mansion ---
" Wow, Tomoyo! This is the guest room? " Sakura asked as her eyes explored the huge bedroom. It looked amazing: on the middle lay a queen size bed, with covers that were wine-red. Beside the bed was a small, table with a bouquet of red roses all held in a crystal vase. To the right of that table was a window with violet, satin curtains. The floor was coated with a carpet that matched. There was a private bathroom on the other side of the bed.
Tomoyo just smiled at the astonished Sakura. " Feel free to do anything you want, at anytime. I've sent people to buy you some clothes "
And indeed she was right. On the left side of the door from where they were standing was a wooden-red wardrobe. Sakura opened it to find different types of clothes, all neatly hanged. She noticed that the colors and types were her favorites. She closed the door and smiled at Tomoyo.
" You shouldn't have... " she started saying.
" Oh but I did, and because you really need them " Tomoyo interrupted.
" Thank you for everything " Sakura thanked Tomoyo with a hug.
" You are welcome, now get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. Oh and before I go, you should know that you have a lot of guts "
" What do you mean? " Sakura asked.
" I mean that no one has yelled to Li and gotten away with it " Tomoyo said closing the doors.
' What did she mean? ' Sakura stared at the room again and stopped worrying about what Tomoyo had just said. ' Oh well, maybe its not going to be so bad after all ' she thought as she took out her brand new nightgown. She headed for her bathroom, changed, brushed her teeth and combed her hair with the new tooth brush and comb that were waiting to be used. She finished and tucked herself in the bed. Her head resting against the soft pillow. She looked at the ceiling and started wondering about what her father and brother would be doing at that time. ' Duh, they must be sleeping ' she concluded looking at her wristwatch, and before she knew it, she was already asleep.
---- time passes by----
Sakura suddenly woke up as she heard a sound. She sat in her bed and waited. Another one. It seemed like it came from outside. Sakura stood up and went toward the window. She looked and found nobody. She decided to go and check it out. She grabbed and put on a pair of slippers, and checked her watch. 6:00 am. ' Well that is convenient for someone to be out there at this time of hour ' she sarcastically thought going down the huge stairs.
Trying not to loose herself in Tomoyo's house she finally found a door that led to a garden from where the guest room's window faced. She slowly opened it, not wanting to wake up anyone, and went outside.
---- in the garden ----
It was a pretty cold morning as she stepped outside the porch. The sun was on its verge of going out, covering all of the huge garden in an orange color. The trees were starting to give shade, the birds ready to sing, the animals ready to wake up. Sakura made her way through the garden exploring every type of flowers and trees. She had never seen such beauty.
She continued making her way until she reached what looked like a forest, since many trees were joined together. Her wound on her ankle was almost healed, so she took her slippers off while going in, and started dancing stylishly along the grass with her bare feet, never wanting to stop...when she heard the same sound that woke her up. She could now listen to it better. It looked like it came from slashes of a sword. She peeked behind a tree to find the boy named Syaoran Li.
He was gracefully doing weird steps and at the same time working with the sword trying to cut the thin air. His eyes were closed, and sweat was dripping down his forehead, making his unruly, brown bangs wet. Yet through what Sakura concluded what he was doing as 'training' he looked so calm and so full of serenity. Sakura wondered if he was the same rude boy she had met. She blushed when she noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. His upper body as well as his arms were muscled in a way that they showed themselves, but they didn't make him look bulky at all. His body was moist, probably from all the sweating.
After a minute he stopped, carefully placing the sword back on it's sheath. Sakura's eyes widened as he opened his eyes and turned in her direction. ' He knows I'm here?! ' she asked herself as she quickly hid behind the tree. She closed her eyes and held her breath praying that he wouldn't come her way. She waited and waited. No sound of him approaching her through the grass. ' Great! He must have thought it was only his imagination ' she smiled at her thought opening her eyes again. Amber met emerald that instant.
" Gah! " Sakura yelped as she realized that she was face to face with Syaoran.
" What are you doing here? " he asked with his coldness back.
Sakura glued herself to the tree. She couldn't stand being close to him. " I-I couldn't er...sleep... " Sakura lied. " what are you doing here? " she asked gaining courage.
" Training " he answered.
" And does Tomoyo know? "
" Yeah... " he answered as he moved back, feeling that Sakura was tensed up.
The sun was almost out. Syaoran went out of the trees and sat in the grass with a blushing Sakura following him. She sat farther away from him with both of her legs bent to one side, already wearing her slippers again. Nothing but silence between them.
" How do you do it? " she finally asked.
" What? " Syaoran asked, his eyes closed again.
" See without looking " Sakura said as she remembered how he had told her where to shoot the time he'd given her the gun and were running away from the men.
" I just do. Its part of my training. I feel the aura of a person " he answered.
Sakura tilted her head to the side not understanding a thing. She closed her eyes inhaling the cold air, and when she opened them... he was already gone. ' He is way too mysterious ' she thought as she watched daylight pour through the garden.
She went inside and waited until Tomoyo woke up and told her what had happened. This only made Tomoyo giggle because she had forgotten to tell Sakura that Syaoran always came early in the mornings to train.
--- Hangout ---
After eating breakfast, taking a shower, and changing into their clothes: Tomoyo drove Sakura to the club that they had gone before.
" Found anything yet? " Sakura heard Eriol ask as they entered the room.
" Nope " Daisuke answered as he typed in a laptop.
" Hey guys! " Tomoyo greeted everyone, receiving a smile back.
" What are you doing? " Sakura asked curious as Daisuke typed and sighed.
" Trying to hack into another computer " he answered typing and sighing again. " looks like they have a very complex password "
" Let me see... " Sakura said looking at the screen. She saw that there was a logo of a scientific laboratory called PROTON. And there was a question: how fast can we research?
" We are trying to see if their recent discovery is a vesper " Meilin said as she rested her head on the couch, obviously bored to death.
" How about trying this..." Sakura said as she typed a word and pressed enter.
" Way to go! " Daisuke said as they finally entered the site.
" What did you do? " Eriol asked surprised.
" Well, it asks how fast they research and I thought it was an anagram. You see, if you move the n in PROTON to the middle, then you form PRONTO which in spanish language means soon " she answered. 'Thank god I got some extra classes of spanish language ' she thought happily.
" There it is! " Tomoyo said pointing to an article. Daisuke clicked on it. Soon everyone was leaning behind him except Syaoran.
Recent discoveries have found that a weird, unidentified object appeared at a normal house. It was brought here, to the PROTON laboratory, for careful examination. And after long hours of studying we haven't got a clue of what that thing really is. I have a theory that this could be a piece of a puzzle. We will run tests tomorrow...
" Sounds a lot like it " Eriol said looking at Syaoran.
Syaoran nodded. " Alright then, lets go. Before they do anything to it "
--- Outside ---
The six went out and Sakura noticed only three motorbikes. One in which Eriol and Tomoyo headed to, another one in which Meilin and Daisuke climbed on, and the last one which Syaoran grabbed. Sakura realized what was happening.
" NO! No way I'm getting in a bike with HIM! " she said folding her arms and staying still, making everyone sweat-drop.
Seeing that nobody moved from their positions, and feeling beaten Sakura sighed. She went to Syaoran and climbed behind him.
Syaoran smirked while handing her the helmet, " don't worry I won't bite "
' Darn it, why do I have a feeling that you will... ' she thought as she wrapped her arms around his waist, closed her eyes, and held them together with all her might as they started going away.
--- PROTON laboratory ---
They all arrived at the lab outside at night. Sakura still gripping her arms around Syaoran's waist with her eyes closed.
" You can let go now " she heard him say.
" You like holding into him, don't you? " Meilin asked smirking as Sakura opened her eyes and realized that they already had stopped. She blushed and climbed off instantly.
" Well, according to the map that I found, we should enter from the left side, since the security changes guarding positions exactly in one minute. Just follow me, I memorized the whole thing " Daisuke said.
" What about the cameras? " Syaoran asked.
" Already replaced them with fake shots so it looks like everything is normal" Daisuke grinned.
" Genius Freak " Eriol said making everyone except Syaoran laugh.
" I suggest you stay close to Li, if you don't want to get shot " Tomoyo whispered making Sakura blush.
So they all made their way through the bushes until the gate. Daisuke looked at his watch and started climbing. Everyone following him: first Meilin, then Tomoyo, next Eriol, then Sakura and finally Syaoran. They reached the other side and continued running toward the building. Daisuke stopped making everybody hide behind the wall. A guard appeared and got knocked out. They all entered inside.
The building still had the lights on, meaning that there were still a few scientists working, so they had to be extra careful. Daisuke reached an elevator and they all got into it. He typed a code in the machine and then finally the number eleven. They waited as they started going up.
When they reached the floor, they went through a maze of doors and finally reached a weird, control room. It had a glass that revealed another white room and below the glass were various computers. They peeked through the glass and saw the vesper in a table. Daisuke sat in one of the chairs with a computer and typed a password which made the door open.
" Bingo! " he said.
" I'll go! " Meilin decided as she went through the door.
They all watched as she skillfully made her way through without being touched by the lasers and grab the vesper. She returned and just as she reached the door, and got surprised by a laser beam that set the alarm beeping through the whole building like crazy.
" DAMN IT! " Syaoran growled.
" Lets make a run for it! " Daisuke yelled as she helped Meilin with the vesper, putting it in a bag he had brought.
They all started running back, in the same order still following Daisuke. Syaoran and Eriol took out their guns, while Daisuke handed Meilin the bag and took out his. They continued making their way to the elevator to find that it was closed.
" Don't worry, I know where the stairs are! Just keep following me, and watch out in the sixth floor. In about 5 minutes all the floors up till there will be flooded by the police. There are four different stairs between each of the floors, we will take the hardest and the least that they will expect us to take. But in the second floor there is only one stairway..." Daisuke said turning to his right.
" I hope you know what you are doing! " Meilin shouted.
They went right, left, left, right, left until they found the first stairs. They went down them until they reached the ninth floor. Daisuke then lead them through a door. Left, left, right, left, right. They reached other stairs and went down. This time they were in the seventh floor.
They continued following Daisuke until they finally reached the sixth floor. They started hearing gunshots and shouting from the police.
" Now we will have to split " Daisuke ordered. They all nodded as Daisuke took out from the bag Meilin was carrying, three different papers. "Here! Take one! They are the instructions to where you will find the different combinations of stairs, until we meet again in the second floor. It will probably take the same time, sooo... good luck! " he said as he went with Meilin west.
" Okay then, lets go Tomoyo " Eriol said as they both grabbed each other's hand and headed east.
' Why do I get stuck with him?! ' Sakura wondered bitterly as Syaoran gave her the paper.
" You will lead, and I will follow and kill everyone. In the stairs I will go first, ok? " he ordered.
" Yes sir! " she thought aloud. Syaoran just glared. 'Oops' she thought as she felt it.
They started running to the north section. Left, right, left, left, left. They reached the stairs and went down.
" Duck! " he shouted as a bullet passed both of them. He shot back and grabbed Sakura's hand, pulling her down with him even faster.
Sakura continued reading the paper, while at the same time dodging bullets, and tolerating Syaoran's orders. Left, left, right, right, right. They reached the next stairway that led them two floors down. This time it was a very complicated turn. They both stopped and hid behind a giant statue as they saw that they had to make it through a mob of police officers.
" Now what do we do? " Sakura asked whispering to Syaoran.
Sakura yelped as Syaoran suddenly grabbed her in a tight embrace making her eyes widen and her face to flush red.
" Just stay close to me and hold on tight " he whispered back, his breath warming her cold face. He stood up with Sakura clinging to him, her legs wrapped around his waist, and started running toward the crowd.
" ARE YOU CRAZY?! " she screamed as he started heading faster and faster.
" JUST SHUT UP, OK? " he ordered her. She dug her head in his chest and closed her eyes.
Syaoran made his way through the mob so fast, that they didn't realize it, knocking down some, killing and shooting others... He arrived at the stairs and reached the second floor. It was empty. Sakura loosened her grip when she felt him stop. He gently dropped her down as they both slowly made their way through the hall.
" What does it say? " Syaoran asked.
" It says to turn right and to wait for the others to come " she answered checking the paper.
" Ok. Then let me go first " he said taking the lead.
Sakura stayed still for a while realizing what had just happened. ' I have just hugged Li, the person I hate the most, the person who...'
" Come on! " Syaoran ordered breaking her thoughts.
She snapped out of it and continued running, following him. They turned right. ' Almost there!' she happily thought, but suddenly screamed.
Syaoran turned around to find Sakura gone. " Where the hell is she?! " he said turning back. The window on the side was broken and he saw a helicopter moving nearby. ' They know where here ' Syaoran thought as he followed the glass shards on the floor.
------to be continued -----
----- Authors comment ----
He he he... Cliffhanger... What happened to Sakura? Will Syaoran be able to find her? What about the rest of the guys? Stay tuned for my next chapter... See you next time... ^^