Disclaimers: Winged Guardian: *sighs wearily* Card Captor Sakura isn't mine and never will be.

Note:

"..." stands for speech

[...] stands for thoughts

{...} stands for author's comments

'...' stands for the chapter's title



Cold-blooded Assassin

By Winged Guardian


Chapter Four: 'Suspicions Arise'


Syaoran POV

He had started to regret his words.

He couldn't see why what he said upset 'Tsukishiro'.

Well, 'Tsukishiro' seemed cool and unaffected on the outside, but he wasn't fooled by
his demeanor of iciness.

Somehow, he could sense his sorrow and grief buried deep inside him.

And he could tell by the way he kept pushing him away, keeping him away at a
distance.

The warmth in the room of their friendly rivalry and enmity had dissipated.

Instead, the atmosphere was cold, chilly as the air was charged with hostility and
opposition.

'Tsukishiro' had withdrawn into himself and nothing he said could draw him out.

Everything he said was greeted by a cold stare and a frosty and curt answer.

He was starting to get tired and annoyed with all this.

Syaoran almost laughed out as the irony of the situation hit him.
He was usually the one repelling people while the others tried to draw him out.
However, the tables had turned and now, he was the one being kept at a distance.


Now, he finally understood how the others had felt when he did that.


Normal POV

Syaoran raked his fingers through his tousled chestnut hair, a gesture of exasperation.

Sakura almost smiled at the boyish gesture. Almost.

Frustrated, he slammed his hands on the table and put his face dangerously close to
Sakura's.

Sakura didn't even flinch. She just stared back at him coolly, her face an impassive
blank.

"For God's sake! Stop acting like that," Syaoran said, his amber eyes flashing
dangerously.

Something in the depths of those deep dark green eyes flickered and she met his stare
defiantly, defensively.

"Like what?" Sakura challenged, her voice low and deadly.

Sakura's eyes were cold hard gems of green as she glared up at the man who was
head and shoulders taller than she was.

There was a tense silence between the two as the atmosphere became charged with
electricity, none willing to give in to the other.

"Well, well," a voice interrupted their glaring contest, "I take back what I've said my cute
little descendent. There is indeed someone in this world that glares just like you do."

Both spun around immediately, Sakura gripping the hilt of a knife in her pocket which
was filled with various.........interesting objects, such as a vial of lock-melting acid, a spy
camera so small that it is invisible to the naked eye, an earpiece, etc.

They were met with a sight that made Sakura's jaw drop and Syaoran sigh with
exasperation after realizing who exactly it was.

A man in his mid-twenties was smirking creepily at them. That wasn't very strange,
although his azure-eyed smile was sending chills down her spine, but what had shocked
Sakura so was that he had seemingly entered through the window, judging by the open
window, billowing curtains, and the leaves on his stylish clothes.

The navy-haired man gave her a kind, careless and relaxed smile, as if granting her
permission to look at him all she wanted.

Sakura blinked.

Smirking, Syaoran slid a finger under her jaw and shut it for her. Unceremoniously.

Sakura came to her senses and reverted back to glaring at her, in terms of work at the
company, superior.

Syaoran, however, merely smiled blandly at her.

Turning to the stranger who had observed this exchange with a great deal of uncanny
interest, Syaoran's manner changed entirely.

"Eriol!! What on earth are you doing here?!! And why can't you enter my office the
normal way?!?!?" demanded Syaoran, agitated as he emphasized on the word 'normal'.

Eriol just smiled calmly at him, replying seemingly without a single care in the world,
or maybe being related somewhat to Syaoran would have that effect on one's sanity,
"That is the normal way for me."

Seeing that Syaoran was about to blow up, and the Eriol guy was doing nothing to
soothe him, Sakura decided to step in and intervened before disaster struck, despite the
amusement of seeing Syaoran so enraged.

"I don't believe we met. Yukito Tsukishiro." said Sakura, offering a hand to him.

He gripped her hand firmly, still smiling eerily, "Eriol. Eriol Hiiragizawa."

When he grasped her hand, Sakura's emerald eyes widened as a strange sensation rushed
through her, awakening something buried deep inside.

Then, Eriol let go of her hand, and as suddenly as it had started, it was over.

Dazed, staring at the mysterious indigo-haired man who was much more than what he
seemed, Sakura never noticed a photograph falling out of her pocket, onto the floor.

A frown appeared on Syaoran's face as he studied the stunned expression on his
assistant's face and when he saw the photograph descend towards the floor, he bent down
and picked it up.

Syaoran studied the photo intently. It was a picture of a girl in her sixteenths. Her head
was bent down, auburn locks falling gracefully across her face. Her eyes were closed and
long dark lashes rested on her cheeks as a serene smile graced her face. She was clad in a
simple white dress with a silver ribbon that showed her slender waistline, shimmering in
the moonlight. Her face was bathed gently in the pale white glow of the moonlight and
her hands were clasped together, as if in prayer. And she looked like an angel.

Syaoran felt a strange and foreign emotion stir deep within him and he had a sudden
impulse to see the girl open her eyes so that he could see their color.

Suddenly, an all too familiar voice broke his train of thoughts. "I came because I
thought you may need some help," pausing there, Eriol turned to direct a mysterious
smile at Sakura.

Sakura hid her discomfort by narrowing her stunning green orbs at him; but Eriol's
smile just grew wider and she had the uncanny feeling that this was no ordinary guy and
he knew a lot more than he let on.

To Sakura's slight relief and great annoyance, he just continued what he was saying, "but
now I see that you require no help."

She preferred outright confrontations to waiting as her unease grew with the passing
days as nothing was done.

Sometimes, she wondered how she had managed to survive so long.

Eriol's smirk grew wider as he saw identical irritated expressions on both Syaoran and
'Tsukishiro''s faces.

Raking a hand through his already messy chestnut hair, Syaoran stated impatiently,
"Stop talking in riddles Eriol. Just get straight to the point. You know how I hate it when
you talk like that. I never understand a single word you're saying!"

Eriol simply grinned charmingly and strode towards the window as his long tailored
jacket billowed out behind him.

When he passed Syaoran, he whispered without stopping or even casting a glance at
him, "Be careful. You may have met your match in 'Tsukishiro'. Things are never
what they seem on the surface."

And with that, Eriol jumped out of the window gracefully in a rustle of cloth.

Syaoran sighed inaudibly. He knew that Tsukishiro wasn't someone to be taken lightly
all right.

Sakura stared after him, muttering something that sounded like, "Weird person..."

Hearing that, Syaoran's scowl broke into a grin and he said, "Yeah, and I have known
him for years and my opinion of him has yet to change. I doubt it ever will."

Smirking, Sakura said sweetly, "I guess being around you has this kind of effect on
people."

Syaoran was nodding agreeably with his thoughts far away when the meaning of her
words hit him and his head snapped up to deliver a death-glare to her.

"What did you say, Tsukishiro?" he asked, voice menacingly low.

Sakura grinned at him with no sign of repent, that is, until she saw the photograph in his
hand.

She froze and all color drained from her face.

Seeing the expression on her face as she stared at the item, Syaoran had to force back a
cruel smirk and he lifted the photo and asked casually, leaning against a pale green wall,
"Oh, this?"

Pure horror was reflected on her face and she seemed to be nailed to the spot, in a state of
shock.

"Oh, I just saw this photograph lying around here," said Syaoran, gesturing carelessly at
a part of the marble floor as he enjoyed the feeling of the power he held over Tsukishiro.
Oh, was revenge sweet...

"I was pretty sure I didn't bring this out..." she muttered incomprehensibly. Her brain
seemed to be swimming through mud.

"Are you saying your prayers, Tsukishiro?" he drawled, no longer able to hide his
growing smirk.

[What?!?!?!] Sakura broke out of her trance and glared murderously at him [The nerve
of that guy!!! Just because he's the head of the Li Corporation doesn't mean that I
have to stand such crap from him!! I'm the 0711 and I'm not going to just stand
there and let people push me around!
]

And with that, a malicious smile began to tug at the corners of her mouth.

She was going to make Syaoran wish that he had never crossed her path ever.

[Eat your words, Syaoran Li!]




*^*^*^*^*
Syaoran's POV


Leaning against the connecting door to Tsukishiro's office which he had made
absolutely sure that it was locked firmly, Syaoran heaved a sigh of relief.

Yes, he had given Tsukishiro an office for himself, since he was his personal assistant
after all.

A smile slowly crept onto his face, unnoticed.

He walked to his desk and settled himself down comfortably.

He thanked the gods and heavens that he had finally found a personal assistant that was
NOT an infatuated female who would croon over his 'cute' looks and flirt with him at
every chance.

He was getting desperate after hundreds of interviews with women who would look at
him with those flirty/dreamy/shy/eager/you-know-you-want-me eyes and the sickening
saccharine smiles.

He especially couldn't stand the bold ones. It was bad enough that in every corner there
would be girls giggling and throwing his those glances; but to have women actually going
up to him and trying to make their moves on him was simply too much!

[I mean, I have the patience of a saint; but there is a limit, and I'm seriously tired of all
this!] he had thought, frustrated [Good looks are no reason for women to throw
themselves at me! I have enough of this! I don't care anymore – I'm getting a male for
my assistant!]

And so, he had gotten his secretary to reject every application from a female before
hurrying out before Annie (his secretary) could start to try to get him interested in going
out on a date with her.

He had winced at the memory of Annie shrieking hysterically after he left the room that
her hair was mussed and she didn't put on much makeup.

So what if there were rumors that he was gay!? To hell with that! As long as he could
escape from all those persistent women, he didn't give a damn what people thought or
said about him! Syaoran's tawny eyes blazed rebelliously.

At least his sisters were not here in Japan to pester him about 'marriage and nieces and
nephews'.



And then Yukito Tsukishiro had come.


True, Tsukishiro might be a little peculiar, especially about the turban, and he was
closed up and would not answer anything remotely personal, at least not truthfully or
directly............the corners of his mouth lifted as he recalled the answers he received
when he had asked him about his family members earlier on during the interview.

Despite that, Tsukishiro seemed a willing worker with possible undiscovered talents and
it was exceedingly entertaining to irk him.

His smile turned evil.

Then, he winced, recalling the price he had to pay for 'playing with fire'.

In the end, he had to subdue his assistant who could possibly be a hazard to his safety by
shoving him into the adjoining office and locking the door after slamming it in his face.

Despite himself, he felt a grin blossom on his face at that particular memory.

His grin, if possible, grew even wider, when he recalled the incident around half an hour
ago when a windblown Tsukishiro had raced into his office from the main door -he
couldn't possibly lock the main door as well- and rushed to the window to look at the
many floors down.

The Li Corporation building was actually a skyscraper after all.

Syaoran couldn't repress a grin at the bewildered expression on Tsukishiro's face as he
had tried unsuccessfully to figure out how his annoying -ahem- friend had managed to
leap out of the window so casually and why there weren't the sound of sirens of an
ambulance coming to fetch the insane man to the hospital.

The poor Tsukishiro still had not figured out how there could be leaves on Eriol's jacket
when there wasn't a single tree in sight.

Then, he had glared at the grinning Syaoran before stalking out of his office with his
head up high.

Life had suddenly grown so much more interesting; a sinful grin appeared on Syaoran's
face.

Anyway, Tsukishiro was a blessing after all those women. And when he had turned out
to have the ideal qualifications for the job, it was a dream come true.

It was almost too good to be true. Wait, Tsukishiro was perfect for the position, too
perfect in fact.

His ocher eyes narrowed as the beginnings of suspicions buried deep within began to
arise.

Whipping around in his wheeled armchair, Syaoran began to type furiously on the
keyboard as his eyes were trained on the screen of his laptop.

His brow was furrowed in concentration as he began the impossible search in the
government profiles for information on Yukito Tsukishiro.

He sagged back in his chair when his search proved futile.

True, he did find a matching file on him, but the file was flawless. It matched all that
Tsukishiro had written in the application form.

He sighed. He didn't expect Tsukishiro to be so careless as to forget to alter the
information.

He was mildly impressed though. He hadn't expected that Tsukishiro would be able to
hack into the government files, let alone change the details.

Syaoran smirked.

Finally, a challenge for him.

He resolved to solve the mystery that was 'Yukito Tsukishiro'.

And when Syaoran Li set his mind to do something, nothing was impossible.

Watch your back, 'Yukito Tsukishiro'.












=====================================================================================

Winged Guardian: There you go, a decent update after all that waiting. *grins*

Winged Guardian: Actually, I was going to write more when I decided that it was going
to be for the next chapter. *dodges tomatoes*

Winged Guardian: What a waste of perfectly fine tomatoes too! *shakes head
disapprovingly*

People: *armed with much sharper objects than tomatoes*

Winged Guardian: *takes a look at the people assembled in front and comments
casually* You know, in order to be a good general, you need to know
when to attack and also when to retreat; and now, I shall take my
leave. *flies away in a flurry of light golden feathers*



Anyway,

Please review and hope you enjoyed reading my fanfic!!!



~ Winged Guardian ~
Heart_given_Wings@hotmail.com