Right... I am so sorry that this has taken so long to update but with my exams and the fact I'm moving on to the local sixth-form college for two years till I turn eighteen, my time has been eaten up.
Any as I've said in the previous chapters I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura.
I hope you like this chapter!
Syaoran's POV
"Coz baby there ain't no mountain high enough," I hear a voice singing while leaning over a cooker, "ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you.........aahh!" Sakura screams when I grab hold of her waist. She knows that its me, if the fact she turns afterwards and whacks me round the head.
"What was that for?" I ask with a smirk developing on my lips.
"Don't scare me!" She replied forming a very kissable pout.
"What's cooking Doc?" I ask still holding her tiny waist. She was wearing his my shirt and just seeing her, feeling her skin through the cotton was incredibly sexy.
"I thought that I could cook you breakfast, seen as you cooked me dinner..."
"...But we didn't eat the dinner," I said grinning. "Hey, why didn't you call me yesterday?" She looked at me, confused but adorable. "We were going to talk about the case," I supplied.
I could mentally see the cogs turning in her brain as she realised what I was talking about. "I got kind of tied up," she answered with a shrug. "You see my boss yelled at me for being late, thanks to you," she add a glare at me then but I just raised my eyebrows suggestively. "Then he gave me a lecture about even knowing you, which was by the way your fault, seeing as how you had to blab to my colleagues that we knew one another. I just figured I'd talk to you when I got home; which I did," she finished after cutting me off every time I tried to say something.
I stared at her then added; "well we didn't actually talk..." slyly but instinctively stopped speaking when I sensed her raising her delicate hand to hit me again.
"There was another murder," she said, looking directly at me. "There should be some case details in..." she stopped while appearing to look for something. "...erm where did my bag go?"
"Other side of the chair," I replied absentmindedly. "Your coat is next to it."
"Right." She went to retrieve said bag and search through the contents before pulling out a brown formidable looking file, which she then handed to me. Then, while peering over my shoulder as I looked at it, she said,"I need to phone in- say that I'm going to be late. We need to sort this case out and quickly, we're wasting too much time; too many lives have been lost."
"I know what you mean, too much time has been lost," I reply agreeing.
I watch her as she punches a number on her phone and listen to her say, "Trina its Sakura," as she turns away from me. Silence, then Sakura speaks again, "I'm going to be in late, can you cover for me?"
It was then that something penetrated me, a smell kind of like... BURNING
"Sakura the foods burning..." I yell quickly before heading to turn off the stove.
Sakura doesn't seem to mind the potential fire hazard if the fact that she's still speaking into the phone was any indication or the laugh that followed a small pause.
By the time I'm finished dealing with the burning food, Sakura is the one that's now looking intently at me, "Can you call Eriol? Tell him we should meet at say two here."
"Sure..." I said as she headed down the hallway towards the bathroom.
Sakura's POV
"You got them?" Trina said to me the moment I came through the door.
"If you mean the wedding photo's then... yeah right here," I replied patting my bag.
"So... what are you waiting for? Get them out!" I smiled at her insistence and complied with her requests. And before I knew it we were both staring and smiling longingly at the pictures. Yes, I know it was my wedding but I hadn't looked at these in a long time and I mean a long time; I'd forgotten how magical the day was. It truly was a dream wedding; you know the kind most little girls wish about, where you would feel like a Princess- well I did because Syaoran made me one.
"What 'choo looking at?" said a voice, which sounded like Tony's, while tearing a photo out of my hand. "Oh my God Sakura you look amazing, but why are you wearing a wedding dress?" he said confused.
"That's what a bride wears of her special day Tony or had that never registered with you," Trina said before I could get a word in, handing over another photo but this time the groom was included, Tony caught the jist instantly and looked at me shocked. I didn't know what to say so I just smiled sheepishly before banging my head on the desk.
I barely heard a voice say, "keep them coming." And soon at least ten officers were looking at the old photographs adoringly and sighing when a new one was handed to them. Every time somebody new joined this group they always said something along the lines of 'I never knew you were married,' or 'Li- Syaoran girl, how the hell did you catch him?'
To be honest it never occurred to me until much later, after I'd demanded the pictures back and locked them in my locker, after I'd left to meet Syaoran and Eriol that word would get around everybody in that building and it wasn't all positive feedback.
"I don't see a link!" Eriol said throwing up his arms in frustration, for what seemed like the hundredth time, after meeting at the appointed time.
"Do any of us?" I said softly.
"This is getting us no where!" Syaoran said. "Lets look at the places of death again."
"We have an ice rink, a kind of weird and may I add creepy wood, the beach..." I said counting off the site areas on my fingers. "...the ever spiritual Shrine, a tarot card reading stand thingy and ... erm... an extreme sports building."
"... Wait, I think I'm forming a thought... yep that make sense..." Eriol started.
"WHAT!!!" Both Syaoran and I screamed at him.
"Pass us your cards Sakura," he requests, to which I comply. He searches through the deck and takes a card out. 'Ice' the title read.
As he place the card on the table, Eriol states, "Ice rink." He shuffles through the deck once again and places the wood card on the table.
"Wood," I hear Syaoran mutter.
"Now the beach location could either be sand or water, the shrine and the tarot cards could both give a wide variety of things like: dream, past... they both represent things that aren't visible to the naked eye; that you would look beyond the natural world."
"What about the extreme sports building?" I ask. "Wait... no... the body was found near the parachute gear... Jump!" I say piecing it together.
"But what does this mean?" Syaoran asks.
"OK, so Eriol, do you know if there are any rituals that would? Oh I don't know, gain anything by killing somebody on these elements?" I say before turning to him. That's when I notice how worn, how old he looks, shattered with his head in his hands. We're all struggling, and I can tell none of us know what's going on in the world around us; the world which has just thrown Syaoran back into my life, as well as magic.
My phone ringing sliced through the silence, which had engulfed the room. Before I picked up the phone I knew that I would be called out for something... typical just when were beginning to get somewhere.
"That was creepy," Trina said.
"These whole damn murders are creepy," I replied.
"Yeah but I meant that the whole time we were there I felt like somebody was watching me," Trina said quietly.
"I know what you mean," I agreed. "But when you think about it, there's always at least one person looking at you when your out in public and I for one always feel that, you just have to kind of... I dunno, zone it out?" I mumble offhandedly.
"Gee, that makes me feel better."
"It wasn't supposed to, I think she was stating a fact," Mr Kami, the officer in charge said. "One I agree with."
"Hey sir," both Trina and me said obediently.
"How was the garden centre," he asked.
"Same as all the others," I muttered. I'd already figured which card it linked to, Flower. The body was arranged in a bed of them and then as if to mock me I noted many cherry blossom petals around the body even though there were no trees with that blossom anywhere near in that particular area.
"Nothing? No witnesses, no evidence?" We shook our heads, "shit, this is getting ridiculous."
"SIR!!!" somebody shouted. The voice was Ryu's and Tony closely followed him.
"What Hedo,"
"We just got reports a town about three hours drive away. They've had similar murder's going on over there for the past few months but suddenly they just... stopped."
"How similar?" Trina asked.
"Very similar, just different locations," Tony replied.
"What's the town called?" Mr Kami asked.
"Tomeoda,"
"What!!!" I practically scream.
"Kinomoto," Kami cautioned me.
"That's my home town, it can't be," I whispered. My face must have paled and I must of looked ill, as everybody was looking on concerned.
Unfortunately for me Dana Hedo, Ryu's sister thought it was the best time to make an appearance.
"So Kinomoto, where are these pictures everybody's swooning over?"
"What pictures?" I replied still trying to deal with this blow.
"Why your wedding photo's of course," she said sweetly, to sweetly that it could be classed as sickly. And that's when my eyes widened and the big warning bells went of in my head. "You know, the photo's every officer is talking about."
"I don't know," I said softly and to be honest I didn't and I was actually more worried that the town where I grew up was involved in these murders. "Somebody took them earlier to show somebody but I'm sure they'll turn up soon."
"What wedding photo's?" Ryu asked. "Sakura's not married," he finished confused, I think I might have felt a bit of sympathy for Ryu then seeing how he didn't know, but then the phone rang. I was once again indebted to the machine known as the telephone, the amount of times it's got me out of problems.
"Hello, Kami here..." Mr Kami said into the phone, "uh...oh....um okay, I'll send somebody straight over,"
"Who wants this one?" he said to us, and natural I volunteered.
"It's just suspicious behaviour in an apartment building but... anyway Starlight go with her,"
Trina looked as though she would protest but the glare and the subtle nod to Dana and her brother told her that I needed to get out of here.
When we got t the apartment nobody answered, so we got the landlady to open the door for us.
"Vain much," Trina mumbled the moment we walked through the door and I had to agree with her. Mirrors lined the room living room. "Damn it!"
I turned to see what Trina was looking at, yep a murder usually warrants suspicious behaviour doesn't it. I walked over to get a better look while Trina comforted the Landlady who'd gone hysterical at the sight if the body.
But when I got closer I noticed it wasn't just any murder it was another for our case, the symbol that was burnt into their back was visible. I pulled my phone out and I dialled a number to call in the body. I noticed something in the corner of my eye just beyond a door that I could only guess lead on to the bedroom. I turned my head in that direction and it moved. I jumped and whatever it was took off. I ran after it, through the door and it jumped out the window, I would have followed but then Trina ran through the door. Seeing as we were at least tree floors up I would have to use my magic and if I did Trina would have guess there was more to me than I let on. So I just watched as the perpetrator landed gracefully on the ground and ran down to a car, which he then started and it sped away, well at least it tells me he used magic as I felt it.
A gasp turned me to where Trina was, but it was where she was looking that got my attention.
Pictures. Lots of them all pinned to the wall of the room. Of me; of my life. My eyes were wide taking them in; my breath was stuck in my throat., my stomach felt queasy. I felt numb, I wasn't aware that I had moved right in front of them. There was one of me with my family, me recently leaving work, me getting in my car, me through a window of my apartment, me at the beach with Yuki, me on a date with Ryu, me with Syaoran at that club. There were so many, somebody had been watching me and I didn't even notice. I noticed pictures scattered on the floor, my wedding photos that I'd brought into work that very day. I noticed some clothes on the floor that had gone missing from my locker at work. Now this was sick, crazy! Tears fell down my face as I took it all in, bile began to rise into my throat. I moved and ran as quickly as I could out of the building. I needed air, I needed to breathe. I slumped onto the pavement, hugged my knees and kept my head down crying and stayed there even after Trina came down and put her arm around me trying to comfort me. I can only take so much you know. Lots had happened to me in the past week and it was getting hard to bear, but this topped it all off.
I barely notice the police cars as it turns up, obviously to look at the body, search for evidence and I hardly noticed the looks of curiosity being thrown at Trina and me as we sat on the cold floor.
"Can you get up," Trina said softly, "we should get back to the office." I nod and slowly, with Trina's help got on to my feet. I tuned out on the ride over there so it was a surprise to me when the car stopped.
I followed Trina up to our office, ignoring my co-workers moving about around us. We walked into his office and Trina guided me to a chair. Trina left quickly mumbling something about phoning somebody. I don't know how much time had passed as I sat there, I ignored the questioning stares of Tony and Ryu who for once got that it wasn't the right time to talk to me but after a while I felt a comforting presence. Syaoran. Oh Clow, how I need him right now. I look up and see an officer leading him in and I stand up from the safety of my chair. He immediately pulls me into a possessive hug, dismissing the stares with an intense glare and he whispers into my ear, "Lets get you home my cherry blossom."