SourPop1004: Wassup ppl! Chapter 16 here, enjoy. I think you'll like it…

The Salsa Dancer

By: Who else?

"Don't worry Miss Parker, this'll just be another dinner party." Fang spoke with his velvety voice.

Jessie sat tied into a beautifully made redwood chair. She quietly sat. There was no trace of a struggle anywhere.

"What exactly do you want with me?" Jessie questioned with a blank face.

"Your fiancé will come for you, thus, she will follow." Fang answered with a smile.

The two were in a large spacious hotel room in New York. The furnishings were exquisite and everything seemed to glitter. The large sliding glass doors behind them revealed an excellent view of New York City and its skyscrapers. Fang sat in front of Jessie and was holding a glass of whiskey. (I honestly don't know what alcohol and evil terrorists have in common…) As he swirled the contents around, the ice clinked. Jessie's sharp eyes darted to the noise and tried to keep cool with her surroundings.

"You have a straight face, yet you are scared." Fang spoke slowly taking a sip of his drink.

"Yes, I believe so. Excellent observation." Jessie replied coolly.

"You know it's strange, under these circumstances, you sound very much like Cereza." Fang's eyes watched the body in front of him with intent concentration.

"You mean Kinomoto." Jessie's voice was even, but inside, an unknown venom seemed to seep from her heart.

"Yes. Indeed. Well, it must be terrible to know that your love is slowly being taken away." He held his cold drink in both hands and savored the feeling of whiskey running down his throat.

"What do you mean?" Jessie's dark eyes narrowed.

"Honestly, I know you're smarter than that. It seems like Cereza's becoming more of a challenge, no? I guess it was always like that for every man she managed to cross paths with. As dangerous a weapon she may be with her agility, skills, and wit, her physical features always did play quite the part. I wouldn't be surprised if your fiancé's already had a go with her." Fang's eyes flickered with amusement. This was turning out to be an interesting conversation.

Jessie tried to look away. Deep inside, she knew the statement was all so true.

"I seemed to have hit your weak spot." Fang put down his glass on the glass coffee table in front of him and got up to walk closer to Jessie. He stood in front of her and looked down at her. He took her chin and lifted it towards him to show her face. "Yes… well love is entirely its own death game." Fang stated before Jessie snapped her head to the side to look away. Fang just laughed and walked out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura was already up the next day. She sat on her bed quietly thinking to herself.

This whole thing's a mess. Fang… to give myself in or not… damn… well this will be the last fight… I'll make sure of it.

Sakura's grim face was a blinding white because the morning sun showered the room with light. The large glass sliding windows in her room her open and the sun was clearly visible. The light white curtains in the guestroom fluttered lightly in the occasional breeze.

Having had enough of being lost in her own endless mind, Sakura jumped off the bed and decided to go downstairs and get some coffee. Since she was playing the rebellious teen role for the moment, how she dressed really didn't matter. Put on anything and everything, and she was ready. Her pink and black hair was tied back in a tiny ponytail. Her numerous ear rings were clearly visible in the light along with the rest of her outfit: a pair of tight low-rise jeans, which showed her midsection, with faded rips and tattered holes, a black leather belt with silver studs, and a tight black shirt with the words 'Rebel' across the chest. (_~)

Sakura went out of her room and went down the stairs. When she got to the kitchen, Syaoran was already in there dressed in a clean crisp suit making coffee. Syaoran turned around to see Sakura leaning against the marble top or the sink. The two were trying to ignore anything that had happened the previous night, no matter how hard it would be.

"Coffee?" Sakura asked in a bored tone.

"Yup. Making it right now." Syaoran put in the coffee grind and turned on the machine. "About today. All we're gonna do is go to headquarters. I need to talk to Yoritomo and discuss plans. You'll be quiet, as it seems that you can't speak English. And if he asks why I'm taking you along when I go to New York, I'll make up something." Syaoran finished turning to the gurgling coffee maker.

"Right. You get to discuss the 'plan' while I just shut up and situate my little rebellious ass in a chair. What a fun day this is going to be." Sakura sarcastically clapped her hands with fake joy.

Syaoran was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Where the hell do you find your clothes anyway?"

Sakura smiled and raised an eyebrow. "A rebel never reveals her fashion secrets for it's rule number two to being a rebel."

"And what would rule one be?" Syaoran smiled.

"Hate everything around you and scowl a lot." Sakura watched Syaoran give a light laugh. Maybe last night wouldn't affect things too much.

"Right. Well, here's some coffee." Syaroan poured some steaming coffee into a ceramic mug and handed it to Sakura as he soon poured some coffee into his own mug.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been months since she had entered the CIA building, but she still knew every corner, every staircase, every guard stationed at each point. She had to memorize every little detail about the building when she was there earlier to steal some files.

As Sakura and Syaoran went though the front entrance, Syaoran greeted the two women up at the front desk. The two women smiled their best smile but did a double take when they saw Sakura. Ignoring every single person in the room, she and Syaoran made their way to the elevators.

Syaoran pressed the up arrow and waited. When the metal doors slid open, they saw Tano inside holding an armful of folders. He smiled and greeted them.

"Hey. Perfect timing. I'm just heading down to base." Tano stated.

"Need some help?" Syaoran offered as he got in first and took some of the files that were on the verge of spilling onto the floor.

"Thanks." Tano answered. His eyes fell on Sakura as he just noticed her stepping into the elevator. "Is she allowed to come down with us?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She won't do anything so nothing to worry." Syaoran tried to reason.

"I know Syaoran, but Yoritomo might not agree. So why don't you take these folders and go down to base. I'll take Fei up to your room or something since Yoritomo isn't really interested in talking to me at this moment." Tano suggested.

Syaoran gave Sakura a look before she agreed. "All right. Here, I'll take those." Syaoran took the rest of the folders into his arms and watched Syaoran and Tano step off the elevator. "I'll talk to you later." Syaoran answered towards Sakura in Chinese. Sakura nodded and the metal doors slid shut.

While Syaoran went down to base, Sakura followed Tano to the elevator next to the one they were just on. The two got in and were soon on their way to Syaoran's office.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting in his own room, Josh idly looked around his room. Expensive furniture, expensive mini bar, expensive curtains, pretty much expensive everything. He cringed at the thought. He was living the expensive life with its benefits and its costs. These days, his mind was occupied by only one thought. The upcoming dinner party, where he would see her again.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tano had left about fifteen minutes earlier. Sakura sat sprawled on a large leather couch in Syaoran's office staring out the large window with the view of the city. She looked up at the ceiling and let out a breath of boredom.

Boring! Very, very, very boring! There has to be something to do around here…

Sakura's thoughts wandered around aimlessly everywhere until she came across something that would put an end to her boring time in the office.

Syaoran said he'd talk to me later. Never said I couldn't leave this damn office.

A smirk graced her lips as she jumped up from her seat and left the freakishly clean office.

Outside the office, people were casually talking and working in their own cubicles. She wandered around looking for something interesting to do. She passed the mailroom, and some empty meeting rooms until she reached the copy room.

Ooh…

Sakura slipped into the empty room and looked around at all the copy machines. She rubbed her hands together and gave a malicious smile. She slid towards a machine and turned it on.

Hmm… shall we take some beautiful pictures?

Sakura stuck in her hand under the flap and pressed 'Start'. The blinding strip of light ran across the glass and a black and white picture of her hand popped from the side.

Indeed… very beautiful…

~~~~~~~~~~~

When Syaoran got to his office after an hour to check up on Sakura, she was no where to be seen. Syaoran held in a groan and swiftly left the office. Halfway down the hall with a scowl on his face, he ran into Sakura. She had a stack of papers in her arm, a lollipop in her mouth, and her jean pockets were stuffed. Syaoran hissed and dragged her into his office and shut the glass door.

"Where were you? And what's all this?" Syaoran glared at Sakura who just smiled and skipped to sit down in the leather chair.

"Well…I wah jush…" Sakura put down her stack of papers on her lap and pulled out the candy from her mouth. She remembered she was supposed to speak Chinese and mentally kicked herself. "Well, I was really bored, so I went around looking for something to do. I took pictures of myself. I think I really mastered the art of copy-machining. And this lollipop, it's really good by the way, I took it from this guy's desk. He wasn't there so whatever. And as for my full pockets…" Sakura emptied her pockets. "Did you know that the stock room has really nice post-it notes? They have like every freaking color. Your office needed more color anyway. It's too… color coordinated." Sakura spoke in Chinese and popped the candy back in her mouth.

Syaoran leaned over and took the stack of papers. Every time he flipped through the pages, another part of Sakura's body part would appear. Near the second half of the stack, there were pictures of Sakura making funny faces with her head pressed onto the glass panel in the copy machine. He gave her a look before pushing the subject entirely out the door.

"Anyway, while you were… whatever you call it, I was down at base talking with Yoritomo. So far, all they have is the list of men invited and the knowledge of the party. The only problem is they don't know where. I couldn't exactly tell them since I have no backup story to support my theory. Any suggestions?" Syaoran stated in the same tongue.

"Hmm… I don't know. I could just turn myself in and they can take info from me." (They're speaking Chinese. You know that.)

"I know. That is a possibility but they might not even believe you." Syaoran took a seat across form Sakura and fell into deep thought.

"Yeah… I guess they would do that…" Sakura thought out loud as she stuck the candy back in her mouth.

Syaoran glanced over at Sakura who was eating her candy and groaned. "Will you take that thing out of your mouth? It's distracting!" He sounded irritated.

"Jeez… no need to get grumpy." Sakura took the sucker out and threw it into the nearest trashcan. "Anyway, I don't know how else we can approach this. We could just go to NY and just do the job ourselves. We've been playing games without the CIA for the past week or so. We can do it for a bit longer."

Syaoran slowly nodded. "I know we can, it's just what am I gonna tell Yoritomo. I'm out of stories. And I'm sure Fang's got the place heavily guarded. We might need back up."

"I know, but having too many men might just mess up the equation. Let's think simple." Sakura answered.

"I guess we could take Eriol with us and Touya."

Sakura paused when she heard Eriol's name. Was this the time to tell Syaoran about the little issue? She figured now was better then later when Eriol ends up double-crossing them. She decided she would but her gut feeling picked up something else as well. Why hadn't Syaoran suggested Tomoyo go with them? Brushing the thought aside, she pursued her main thought about Eriol.

"Err… Syaoran. How well can you trust Eriol?" Sakura asked looking at him.

Syaoran looked up at her with quizzical eyes. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is… Eriol's not exactly on my 'Most Trustworthy' list." Sakura began. "He's been lying to us. Tomoyo first came to me with a suspicion that Eriol was helping us for another motive. When he said that Nade was in Washington, he was lying. She's in Moscow. Why is she in Moscow? I don't know." Sakura tried to look for any signs of betrayal on Syaoran's face. There was silence.

"She's in Moscow because I sent her there." Syaoran concluded with a sigh. Sakura looked at him with her eyebrows raised. "I didn't want to say anything to you cause well… I don't know. Never got the chance to. Anyway, she's there cause she had a Russian contact that had a deal with Fang. You might have heard of him, but I sent her anyway just to dig up some info. You're probably wondering why since we know basically everything of Fang's plans. Well, she's offering him double whatever Fang's gonna give him from the profit he makes from the black market share in exchange for some document files from Fang and his deals…" Syaoran was going to continue but Sakura was catching on and cut in.

"And Andamian Drashka (It's read draw-sh-ka) wouldn't squeal cause he has more to gain than lose. Smart. And with those files on the proposition Fang handed out to international dealers, we can have definite proof to sentence Fang to jail." Sakura finished. "Again, very smart. But the one thing I would like to know is why Eriol lied about where Nade was." Sakura questioned.

"Because… he didn't want Tomoyo to find out where Nade really was." Syaoran answered.

"What? Why?" Sakura was confused.

"Because, our operation as of this moment was supposed to be completely uninformed to the CIA. When Tomoyo and Eriol were flying to Texas from the beach house, you and I came back here to acquire the disc. But while you were doing your thing, I was trying to do my normal thing and check in with any recent files. Guess what I found? Tomoyo had been touching base with head quarters ever since we started on this little rendezvous. Yoritomo knows so far that Tomoyo's currently tailing a case that could be involved with Fang. Isn't that just dandy? At least she kept things vague enough for Yoritomo to just let her go without question. Our names weren't printed on the info file, but the last time she was in contact with Yoritomo was two days ago. I don't know how she's been in contact. Eriol tried to figure it out by surveillance all around the house, but they picked up nothing."

Sakura was shocked. What a little nasty turn this was all taking. She tried to sort everything out in her mind. Everything she thought was so, was so the opposite.

"What does this mean? She's bad?" Sakura asked with anger.

"No. All I'm saying is you can't tell her everything. I'm afraid it's gonna leak out back here and we have this whole big mess. You said it yourself. Simple. And with her and the whole CIA chasing us around… that's not simple, at all." Syaoran answered quietly.

Sakura couldn't find the words to say. She struggled for a second but recovered. "Fine. Then we're leaving her behind. Call Eriol. I want Tomoyo out of this mission as soon as possible." Sakura's voice was cold and emotionless. Sakura got up and looked down at Syaoran. "We're close to end of this mission. I'm not letting her jeopardize our only chance. I'm going to the bathroom." Sakura stated curtly and walked towards the door to the office. Syaoran just let out a breath of sigh and leaned back into the cushy sofa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The women's restroom was empty. Sakura stared into the large mirror over the marble sink. She slammed her fists down in frustration and closed her eyes.

Damn… too many wild cards. Why didn't Tomoyo tell me? Ugh…

Sakura opened her eyes and looked straight into the mirror and tried to search for something the image staring back could give. But she quickly turned around when she heard the bathroom door swing open and three women walk in. They were chatting away animatedly. Sakura just gave a weak smile and proceeded to wash her hands. She silently ran her hand under the cool water as she perked up an ear to listen if the three women had anything interesting to say.

"…anyway, like I was saying. That whole Jessie kidnap is just so sad! And this whole situation is just so sad too." A lady with short red hair stated as she stood next to Sakura and was applying her lipstick.

"I know! It's so terrible." A woman with long brown hair piped in as she checked her hair in the mirror.

"Well, yeah, but I know one thing that's not so 'terrible'." The last person to speak had long dark hair and a familiar pair of gray eyes. (Refer back to chapter 5. It's that beeeeep that told Sakura off about the lunch sitting thing.) The other two women looked into the mirror with questioning eyes. "Syaoran Li's open for the moment. Yes, he is engaged, but dear old Jessie isn't here."

Sakura didn't have the best feelings for Jessie, but the way this bitch was talking, Sakura couldn't help but feel defensive.

"That's true…He is hot…" The woman with red hair closed her lipstick tube and smiled.

Sakura was done washing her hands by now and was wiping her hands dry with the paper towel. When she threw the scrunched up paper away, she glanced around the room with keen eyes. No cameras, no nothing. It was about time she got her stress out. Sakura was lingering around the sink and pretending o adjust her hair and such. The woman with dark hair looked at Sakura with a glare.

"Stop doing your hair. It's not going to change its hideous color." She smirked when the other two laughed.

Sakura turned around and looked at her with confused eyes.

"Hey, that's Syaoran's cousin or something." The woman with brown hair looked at Sakura's face. "I heard from Tano that Syaoran had his cousin over for a week or something."

"How come she's not talking?" The woman with dark hair asked in a rude tone.

"She's from Hong Kong. She can't speak. That's what I heard." The brunette replied.

"Oh. I see. We better be nice around her. She might be the key to hookin' me up with him." The dark-haired woman laughed.

As if… Sakura thought.

The woman smiled kindly and the three were soon leaving. When the brunette and the redhead were out the door, Sakura tapped the dark-haired woman on the shoulder. She swung around and smiled.

"Hmm…?" She asked.

"If you think Syaoran's gonna go out with a bitch like you, HA! You have a whole nother thing comin'." Sakura stated in perfect English. It was her turn to smirk. The woman was about to shoot back but before she knew it, Sakura's fist came flying through the air and landed perfectly on the woman's left cheek. The lady crumpled to the floor and tears were pooling at the corners of gray eyes. "Pay back." Sakura simply stated and walked out of the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok… that made my day… anyway, about Tomoyo. I still trust her, but not where this mission's concerned.

Sakura walked back to Syaoran's office and pushed open the door and entered. Syaoran wasn't there. Sakura just sighed and flopped down once more onto the couch. She figured he had gone back to base to talk to Yoritomo once more.

Bored already…

Within minutes Sakura jumped back up and paced around the room trying to find something to occupy herself.

I don't think Syaoran would appreciate anymore pictures of me… hmm… this is so BORING! God help me!

She felt like her brain was going to explode from the lack of action. She was a person of movement, speed, anything!

~~~~~~~~~~

Syaoran sat in a chair that was one of many. In the meeting room, Yoritomo was standing up at the head of the long conference table talking.

"As we have discussed earlier, we have a acquired the list of men invited to the party that will be the dealing point in Fang's black market plans. The only problem is 'where'? We could go with hunches, but we have no solid foundation in which we could even just stand on. A small group has tried to track down a few of the guests, but to no success, they have kept their tracks clean. But we do have one agent out on trail of something that could lead us to the answer. That information is still vague but we will inform you if any new advances occur." There were murmurs around the table. "The need for us to find the location of this party is vital in stopping whatever plans Fang has in store and the extraction of one of our agents."

Syaoran sat there with a frown. She was contemplating whether to reveal what he knew or not. He decided to speak before he made up his mind. He would just have to see where it would lead. Syaoran cleared his throat and everyone who was bustling turned to look at him. He stood up to speak.

"If you were to not question my sources, I know where the party's taking place." The room soon filled with grunts and chatter before dying out again. "If you promise me to question me after this mission has been completed, I will tell you." Syaoran spoke.

There was silence around the table.

"Tell us. Where?" Yoritomo asked.

"Before I do, you have to agree to my terms." Syaoran replied in a clear firm tone.

Yoritomo looked a bit skeptical. "And what would they be?"

"No questioning whatsoever in anything I decide. I want to lead the infiltration. And a favor."

"Those are quite demanding terms. What would this 'favor' be?" Yoritomo crossed his arms and stared at Syaoran.

"That I will request later. But for now, agree and I'll be more than happy to comply with my information. You know, I do want this mission completed as well as the extraction." Syaroan's face was serious.

Yoritomo thought for a second then agreed. "Fine. Where?"

"New York." Syaoran stated plainly. "I'm assuming that we start gathering a small team." Syaroan commented as he watched Yoritomo try to refrain from questioning.

"With those terms, I believe mine should be made as well. Here is mine. If you're wrong in anyway, it's your job Agent Li." Yoritomo's voice was cold and sharp. Syaoran simply nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura stared at the computer screen. When she heard someone enter the room, she looked up from her game of solitaire on Syaoran's computer. Syaoran walked in with a placid face.

"Let's go home. We'll be leaving for New York soon." Syaoran shortly stated and left the office. Sakura got out of Syaoran's desk chair and tried to catch up with him.

SourPop1004: Hola! I won't say much except a few things. Actually, I have lots of things to cover with y'all. So please read this:

This chapter was quite a bore but you did get some questions answered. So, don't be too disappointed (if you are) that there was no action in this chapter. I would say a bit of humor here and there, but the chapter obviously ended on a more serious note.

I don't usually say anything about the next chapter specifically, but I think I owe you guys something for making this and the last chapter kinda…mono. Well anyway, next chapter, you might not catch some major butt-kicking action but I think you'll fairly enjoy it. They will be going to New York next chapter. (I need to assemble a crew for Syaoran.) Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, as the story draws to its near end, things will solve out as we go, so don't worry about the stuff that's still in the air hanging. Umm… as for the 'fairly enjoyable' next chapter, there will be humor. I find myself trying to lighten up the chapters a bit cause it already sucks enough they have to face off a terrorist and all. So yeah…

Nextly, the S+S. That is like the top thing in everyone's priority. (Almost.) Anyway, I have indeed picked a chapter where the S+S will be finalized and the tension will be released. But I'm not gonna tell you which chapter. For all you people know, it may be the last chapter or the next, or the middle. So, happy guessings. ^ ^ (I'm mean, I know.)

The next important couple issue. T+E. Umm… I have a general idea how they'll turn out at the end so not to worry. And aren't you guys glad I explained about Eriol and Nade this chapter? Hehe…

Oh, that brings me to the next point. I already told you Touya's kind of a 'floater'. Just there for now and stuff. Anyway, about Nade. She will be appearing again in the ending chapters, so don't forget about her.

The Jessie + Syaoran issue. It will be solved. So don't freak out you peoples. =)

The Josh issue. (There's seems to be a lot of issues in my story. Haha…) As for him, I have no clue how to do this. I want to think of something unexpected and stuff. I want to outdo myself, if possible. So, he'll be there mourning and confused for now. Just until I figure out what to do anyway.

Hmm…I know there' s more stuff to discuss. Oh well, that's it for now. Wait! The most important info of all: The story's gonna end at chapter 20. BUT there's a high chance that the story will go on OVER 20 chapters. It's not a set thing when this story will end but I'm aiming towards 20. Anyway, after this chapter, you guys might have to wait a bit longer for an update cause chapter 17 and above are all much longer than my usual amount. So, sorry you might have to wait, but you'll have more to read. Thanks for sticking with TSD this far and remember to review. Love y'all.


Ja ne.