SPEEDING BLADE
Little Wings – Hey all. I'm dedicating this chapter to all my reviewers and I hope you enjoy it, this chapter's gonna be longer than the rest!
Disclaimer – Everything belongs to CLAMP except the plot and characters you don't recognize.
~word~ = Sakura's thoughts/conscience sort of. It's a more sarcastic, Syaoran-ish side to her.
Reviewers –
Flora – I will definitely continue this story. Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
LightHope1 – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. You'll just have to find out!
Ayumi-dono – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Sorry if you think I'm copying but I know I'm definetly not, I've never read "Wild Things" but I might take a look. Fluff is coming soon!
BGR – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Rika, Chiharu and Naoko won't play a big part in my story but they'll pop up here and again.
Little wolf blossom – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. I liked the idea of Tomoyo as leader too, she's my favourite character and I haven't seen a gang fic with her as one. It's either Syaoran or Eriol. Yes, Sakura was on the floor coz she kicked.
Marlyn – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Ria – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. I'll tell you when I post the next chappie!
Sakura-Blossom12 – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Crazy – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Lol, I'd go for something stronger too but this is Sakura and I couldn't have the good girl drinking too much!
Loveangelli – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Lot's more S+S stuff coming, especially in the next chapter. Much love to you too!
T=!=F_F – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Demi – Kaijuu – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. They won't kill each other, lol, just a few things thrown, maybe I might chuck a bloody nose or a broken arm in there somewhere...
Hana-Lai – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Sure, I'll tell you when the next chappie's posted!
Cherry Dragon – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. I get told I'm evil a lot, hehe, S+S wont suffer as much as they think thought!
Kawaii Punkstar – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Lol, too much coke, huh?
Hikaru Ayumi – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Kikakai – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Lavenda – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Jay – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Fleur137 – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Deldrem-Wicca – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. Hope you like this chappie!
Wolf Blossom – Thank-you for reading and reviewing. You may be right, you might not, of course, I can't give too much away or it'll spoil the rest of the fic!
Sakura Bloosom-Cilla-85:P – Thank-you for reading and reviewing!
Chapter four: Death Wish
Sakura was dreaming away, in a peaceful sleep when she felt like a pillow had been clamped over her nose. Turned out it was Tomoyo's fingers.
"Hey Sakura, get changed and be downstairs in twenty minutes" she bounced out of the room.
Sakura groaned and got out of bed, took a quick shower, brushed her teeth and got changed before going downstairs for food. Tomoyo, Eriol, Syaoran and Yamazaki were in the kitchen, since Meiling was at school and Nakuru, Touya and Yuki were out of town. She poured coco pops into a bowl and grabbed a spoon.
"You gonna put milk on that?" Yamazaki asked.
"Nup" Sakura answered. "Shut your face, Syaoran" she said when he opened his mouth. He raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't say anything" Syaoran told her.
"You did with your eyes" she snapped.
Eriol shook his head at her accusation and shared a smile with Tomoyo. Sakura picked up a mug with coffee in it and held it up.
"Who's is this?" she asked them.
"Mine" Syaoran answered.
"Not anymore" Sakura downed the rest of the contents.
"I was going to drink that, Caffeine Face" he said.
"There's nothing wrong with my face, thank you very much" she put the mug on the sink. Syaoran snorted. Sakura scowled at him.
"Come on, we'd better crack down on those shooting lessons, Sakura" Tomoyo said.
Sakura slipped on a pair of shoes and followed Tomoyo to the basement. It was cold and had an eerie feeling about it. Targets of people were lined up against the wall. About twenty guns lined the wall behind her.
"Stand at the opposite wall to the targets and grab a gun" Tomoyo instructed. "And when I flick the switch, the targets will start moving. I want you to shoot the red ones only"
Sakura obliged and took the first gun she saw. Tomoyo hit the switch and the targets started to move, some faster than others. Sakura aimed and shot at them. When she was finished, she ended up getting two blue targets, three red targets and five misses altogether.
"Not bad for a beginner, but you can't shoot the blue targets coz they're us. You don't want to kill your own men so try a bit harder to aim for the red. C'mere, I got something for you" Tomoyo said.
Sakura sat down next to her while Tomoyo rummaged through her bag.
"Now, we all know you like cherry blossoms because you have them all over your stuff. Anyway, here. Hope you like it" she handed Sakura a gun.
"Wow" she breathed.
It had her name engraved on the side with some cherry blossom engravings all over it. The gun was cool and light, easy to hold. Sakura never thought she'd even hold a gun, let alone own one.
~Hey, cool. I'm bad!~
"Nice, huh? You'll be getting lots of crap this week. Anyway, we'd better get a move on again" Tomoyo said.
Sakura practiced harder each time, and got a lot better. Her own gun seemed to inspire her.
"Okay, one more round and we'd better head back" said Tomoyo, glancing at the clock. It read 9:30pm.
Sakura concentrated as Tomoyo flicked the switch again and the targets sprang into motion once more. She aimed and fired quickly. The bullet hit the target in the head. Sakura finished her round rather fast, like she was meant to. When they counted, Sakura finished off by hitting seven red targets and no blue ones.
"That was really good! I can't believe how fast you're coming on," Tomoyo said.
"Thanks. I'm so tired" Sakura yawned.
They both went upstairs and bid each other a good night. Sakura changed into her pajamas and turned off the lights before drifting into sleep.
+ / $ \ + / $ \ + / $ \ + / $ \ +
Sakura woke up feeling the sunlight on her face. She groaned. Her training, which normally would've been twenty-five days was now crammed into five. Sakura, feeling quite grumpy, chucked the covers off her lean body and stumbled out of bed and went into her walk-in wardrobe. She selected a tight collared v-neck denim mini-dress that had capsleeves and pleated skirt with whit lace underneath and pink trimming. Sakura zipped up the dress and put a pair of knee-high white heeled boots on her feet. Her pigtails sported two pink bows. Pink sunglasses and clear lipgloss topped the outfit perfectly. Sakura stomped out to the kitchen, accidentally stepping on Syaoran's bare foot with her heel. He winced. {LW/N – ouch!}
"Get up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?" Syaoran asked coolly, rubbing his foot.
"Don't talk to me!" Sakura retorted.
"Good morning, Sakura, Yamazaki just took Meiling and Tomoyo to school. We can start your training when you're ready," Eriol said kindly.
"Let's go," she said, still in a bad mood.
Eriol and Syaoran exchanged glances. Syaoran mouthed 'Good Luck' before silently laughing. Eriol just shoved his middle finger up at him, before following a grumpy Sakura to his car. She got in the driver seat while Eriol settled into the passenger side. Sakura reversed onto the road and started to drive.
"Where to?" she asked coldly.
"'Fast Wheels', it's a car place" he answered timidly.
Just then, a car came out of nowhere and cut Sakura off. Bad move. She swerved and banged her hands on the steering wheel.
"OUTTA MY FUCKIN WAY!" Sakura screamed. "JESUS CHRIST, GET US ALL KILLED!"
Eriol just kinda shrunk into his seat. "Uh, Sakura? It's just there" he said softy.
She stared at him through her pink shades. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We can just go back" he reassured her quickly.
"Fan-fuckin-tastic" Sakura said icily. {LW/N – Not happy, is she?} She made a U-turn, causing a lot of cars to stop or turn, honking their horns at her.
"Oh, piss off!" she yelled.
Eriol sat tight until they were safely in the parking lot. He got out of the car.
"So why are we here?" Sakura snapped.
"To get you a car" he said grimly.
"Really? Cool!" she said happily. {There's the Sakura we all love!}
"Yeah, pick any one you want" Eriol smiled, now that she was a lot happier.
"Oohh, what about this one?" she said, pointing to a red clubsport.
"Not fast enough, sorry Sakura" he told her.
"Awww. Oh. My. God. I want that one!" Sakura ran her hand along a pink Porsche. "Please, Eriol?"
"Sure. We just need to find the guy who sells it" Eriol shrugged.
A car salesman, around twenty-five, in a white shirt and black trousers walked by a little way up. Sakura spotted the man first and called him over to them.
"Hey! Over here!" she shouted, standing on her tiptoes and waving.
He smiled and walked over. "Hey, Hiiragazawa, what can I do for you? Is this your new girl? I thought you and Tomoyo would last"
"No, I'm still with Tomoyo, I don't think we'll be breaking up any time soon, Seitoshu. I'm getting the Porsche for Sakura, she's a new blade" Eriol grinned.
"Ahh, ok. What about Xiao Lang and this Sakura then? He hasn't been with anyone since Tomoyo. No, his last was Aika, wasn't it? That was two years ago" Seitoshu said.
"Tomoyo and Meiling were talking about that to Yamazaki and I. Wolf and Sakura snipe at each other at every op though" Eriol replied. "The girls still won't give up on the idea"
"Oh, ok. Wanna get the car shit over and done with?" he asked.
"Yeah" Eriol answered.
The three of them went inside where Eriol swiped his credit card and put the whole car on it there and then. Sakura widened her eyes, thinking about how much it would cost.
"What do you want your number plate to be?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh, cheer01" she said, taking of her sunglasses and propping them on her head. Seitoshu looked at her funny.
"You sure you're in the gang?" Seitoshu narrowed his eyes.
~What a spastic. No, sunshine, I'm not. Eriol just said I was and he's buying me a friggin car. But no, I'm not in Speeding Blade~
"I'd show you my tattoo but I'm wearing a dress" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I'm Seitoshu, I'm twenty-four and I am also a member of Speeding Blade" he answered.
"Sakura, seventeen year old cheerleader, currently attending Reedington High" she replied.
When all the car stuff had been sorted out, Sakura opened the door to her very own brand new Porsche for the first time and loved it. Eriol threw her threw key.
"Sakura, from here I want you to go first left, third right, second right, then second left. Meet me there, you can't miss it" he said before hopping into his own car.
~Can't miss what? It'd be great if you could tell me what I can't miss, then maybe I wouldn't miss it~
She whipped her shades back on and sat in her expensive fast car. Sakura started up the engine and drove to Eriol's requested place. He was already there when she arrived. It was basically a dirt pile with little bumps, huge bumps, s-bends and sharp turns etc. He grinned.
"I've set up a course of this shit and we have eleven hours to get you through it in less than twenty seconds" Eriol said.
"Okay" Sakura nodded as he explained where to start.
She started the course, swerving and dodging. Suddenly, Eriol's car stopped abruptly, cutting her off. There was no time to stop, so she turned a sharp left and slowed down to a stop. Sakura got out of her car and tried extremely hard to keep her cool.
"Are there any more plots to get me killed that I should know about?" she asked pleasantly.
"Part of your training, it could happen at any time. Get back in your car" he said.
Sakura just glared at Eriol before getting back into her car like she was meant to and started the course again. 52 seconds. She still had ten and a half hours to cut off 32 of them. She worked and worked at it, until finally getting it down to 18 seconds! Sakura jumped out of her car and cartwheeled.
"I got it, I got it!" she squealed.
"Yeah" Eriol laughed.
"Thank-you, Eriol" Sakura smiled. "What did the others get on theirs?"
"Well, I got 14.05 seconds, Tomoyo and Syaoran 14.2, Meiling got 15.6 and Yamazaki 15.8" he said.
"Oh, okay..aren't you..afraid that anyone in the gang will get hurt or killed? Especially Tomoyo?" she asked.
Eriol frowned in thought for a second. "No. You haven't seen them in action yet, and they're good, people have been killed though. There are about 35 members of Speeding Blade all around the country, it's good to have back-up people don't know about. Come on, we'd better go, it's nearly eleven o'clock"
^_^ #=#=#=#=#=# ^_^
Sakura bounded down to breakfast that morning a lot happier than yesterday. Tomoyo, Eriol and Syaoran were all there making their morning coffees.
"Where's Yamazaki? He's meant to be teaching me strategy and reflex today" she said.
"Well, lets just say that Meiling couldn't wait until her birthday" Tomoyo snorted.
"Huh?" Sakura tilted her head to the side.
"She and Yamazaki had sex. Are you always this dense?" Syaoran said.
"Nope, I was just bringing the conversation down to your level" Sakura snapped, covering for her own density.
Yamazaki and Meiling were coming downstairs, laughing and kissing. Everyone exchanged glances, turning away or biting their lips so hard they'd burst just to keep from laughing. Syaoran calmed down first and did the honors of the first tease.
"Someone had fun last night" Syaoran said, sipping his coffee. Meiling and Yamazaki looked at them.
"Oh, Yamazaki! Oh, oh!" Tomoyo moaned mockingly and leaned against Eriol.
"Oh, Meiling!" Eriol said, playing along to Tomoyo's game and nuzzling her neck.
"Shut up you pack of cunts. Sakura, you ready?" Yamazaki narrowed his eyes.
"Yup!" Sakura followed him to a room, leaving Meiling to be teased and mocked.
"Okay, we'll start with strategy, I'll write some stuff on the whiteboard" he said, grabbing a marker.
Sakura got out a sparkly gold nail polish from her pocket and started to apply it to her already long pink nails. She carefully stroked the tiny brush over them, hoping Yamazaki wouldn't turn around. Too late.
"Sakura!" Yamazaki exclaimed.
"What?" she looked up.
"This is training, not a freakin manocare or whatever" he said.
"It's manicure, and I only have three more nails to go!" she whined.
Yamazaki rolled his eyes as if saying 'I don't CARE' and took the nail polish. "What do you do if someone holds you at gunpoint?"
~Care factor? Zero~
"Take out your gun and shoot 'em in the ass" Sakura said after a minute, blowing her nails.
"No, press the initials of the person you want to help you. For instance, if it's Eriol, you press 2 3. If you want Meiling, it'll be 5 4. Syaoran's is 6 4 and so on" he said.
Sakura frowned. "But my cell phone book is all used up, there's no more room for numbers"
"That's why you get a new one" Yamazaki gave her a pink nokia 3100. "It has the numbers of everyone in this house, to reach them, just press their initials"
"Whoa. How much stuff am I getting this week?" Sakura asked, examining the phone.
"The essentials. Anyway, back to being held at gunpoint. You either call for back-up or use this" he took out a small dart looking thing. "It's an instant tranquilizer. As soon as the tip of the point touches his skin, he'll be out cold. But only for ten minutes so you have to either kill him or work fast"
"Alright then. How many of those do I get?" she questioned.
"When you need more, you'll get more. We've loaded them into the heels of all your pairs of shoes. If you need to activate one, just tap your heel twice on the ground" Yamazaki answered.
"Sounds cool" Sakura said.
"Yeah. Hey, did you know that these were invented in the sixteenth century out of iguana blood and small wooden needles?" he hold her.
"For real? Wow" Sakura said, amazed.
"Nah, just fucking around with you" Yamazaki replied.
"Oh" she looked around the room.
"So now lets go through a few more strategies" he turned to face her. "Lesson one. How to identify a member of blood game. The girls will have a tattoo on their wrists and the guys on their upper arm. It's a puzzle piece with a drop of blood on it"
"Okay" Sakura nodded.
"I just want to test your reflexes" Yamazaki, with no warning at all, threw a punch at Sakura's nose.
"Hey!" she yelled, ducking.
He just grinned and kicked at her side, which Sakura jumped back just in time. When she was sure he'd finished, Sakura backed away, looking at him if he'd just grown toes on his earlobes.
~Geez, I have a death wish. I was nearly pancaked by both Syaoran AND Eriol, just about had my head cut off at 'Ecstasy' and now I'm being beaten to a pulp by Yamazaki. What's a girl to do?~
"Sakura, it was a test. Sit down, we haven't finished" he coaxed. She obliged. "You have great reflexes, so we don't need to work on those"
"Thank god" Sakura muttered.
"Always wear flared or wide-leg pants to you can strap a gun to your ankle, or wear a skirt and put it in a coat that Meiling picked up for you yesterday. It's a long black one with secret compartments and pockets" Yamazaki said.
"Mmm-hmm" Sakura said nonchalantly, she was now eyeing the sparkly nail polish Yamazaki and taken from her and put on his desk.
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"Ahh-oof!" Sakura yelped. She had just fallen on her butt due to the heels she was wearing..
Meiling shook her head and helped her friend back to her feet. "We always wear boots or heels. You have to lean to fight in them"
"I can't even run in them" Sakura sweatdropped.
"Listen Priss, the key is to run on tiptoes or the balls of your feet. If you run normally, the weight on the heel is unbalanced, causing you to fall on your ass" Meiling explained.
Sakura tried. "It works"
"Of course it does. Now kick me" she ordered.
Sakura kicked at Meiling's hip, but she caught Sakura's ankle, grabbed and twisted it, making her flip and land on the carpet. Sakura got back up slowly, rubbing her shoulder.
~I think the death wish idea is pretty accurate *sweatdrop*~
"See that? Now I wan't you to do that to me" Meiling said.
The raven-haired girl had a lot more force and experience in her kick so Sakura had trouble catching her foot, then kind of yanked it and feebly twisted it. Meiling smiled and took her foot back from Sakura's grip.
"I have to admit, I didn't think you'd catch my ankle. Now, don't yank my foot, just grab it firmly then bring it around in a small circle as well as twisting it" she said. Sakura nodded and tried again. This time, she managed to get Meiling on the floor. Just.
"Definetly better. Now I want you to push me, but discreetly put your foot behind my heel, so I fall, which gives you immediate advantage" Meiling got ready.
Sakura pushed her hard, then quickly put her foot behind Meiling's and Meiling fell, although amazed at how well Sakura could do it. She gave her a questioning look.
"I used to do it to Touya" Sakura answered, shrugging.
"Cool. I'll tell you the weak spots. For guys it's the nose, throat, stomach, groin and shins. For the girls, aim for the nose, jaw, stomach, shins and we know getting hit in the boobs kills so throwing a punch or kick in that direction wouldn't go astray either" Meiling said. Sakura giggled.
"Hey, Meiling?" she asked.
"Mmm?" she answered.
"Do you think I'll find a gang type of thing I'll excel at? I mean, you have fighting, Yamazaki's got a sharp mind for strategy and great reflexes, Tomoyo's the best shooter I've ever seen, Eriol's great at racing and driving and I've heard Syaoran's skill with swords and blades is excellent. What will my strong point be?"
"..Well, you could do great at, um..er..you'll find something, Priss" Meiling assured her. "Now punch my jaw"
Sakura raised her fists and took a swing at the height of Meiling's neck. She dodged it easily.
"You need to control it, not just throw your fist at my face, ok?" she said.
@=1=@=1=@=1=@ -
Sakura finished her coco pops, put the empty bowl in the dishwasher and proceeded to Syaoran's bedroom, where he asked her to meet him. She knocked twice and stepped back. He opened the door and she went inside the huge room.
"Hi!" Sakura greeted him cheerfully.
"Hey" he replied. "Unfortunately, I have something for you"
Syaoran carefully placed a dagger into Sakura's hand. It had a pale pink handle and like her gun, it had her name and some cherry blossoms etched into the side of the blade. The blade itself was sharp and polished, making Sakura slightly scared of it.
"Thank-you" she whispered.
"Press the button on the handle to put the blade into the handle and do the same to take it out. We'll do swords when you're ready" Syaoran said, grabbing his own dagger. "First sustain the stance, copy me.
Sakura did as she was told.
"I want you to attempt to hold the knife at my throat, like Matsuka did to you" he said.
Sakura got ready. For a second, they just stared at each other. Then Sakura jeered to the right, but performing a handspring to her left and swiftly brought her blade to Syaoran's neck. She only got to his ear before he grabbed her wrist and swung her small form around so her back was pressed against Syaoran's broad chest and well-toned stomach, with his knife to her throat. Sakura gave a strangled gasp to the thought that she'd been so close to completing the task.
~What is it? Kill Sakura week? Whoever gets the closest to murdering her wins! Yamazaki: 1, Eriol:1, Meiling: 1, Matsuka: 1, and here's Syaoran in the lead with two attempts to taking my life! I am so convinced of that death wish~
"Nearly there. Too bad that little ra-ra girl got the tables turned on her, huh?" Syaoran's husky voice whispered in her ear. Sakura would never, ever admit it, but she like the mysterious sound of his voice.
"Let-me-go" she said clearly and slowly, but with an edge to say she meant it. He did so. "You think you're so great, don't you? Being able to do this and that and growing up in the shithole side of town so you're just soooo gangster"
Syaoran stared at her for a moment. He motioned for her to come with him. Syaoran led her to the garage and hopped into his car. Sakura sat in the passenger seat. He backed out and drove in silence.
"Where are we going?" Sakura demanded.
"So you can see the 'shithole' side of town. Sakura, you have no idea. I'm not full of myself like you think I am. I wish, more than anything, that I could've had a better childhoold. You've just got no idea" Syaoran said coldly.
They were soon in a dark suburb, where rickety houses were only just standing, no lawns, crappy cars, gangs fighting with each other, other gangs making deals, kids graffiting on walls, sounds of screams and gunshots, sobs and yells. Sakura was on the verge of tears, thinking about how the man next to her was raised and how everday was a battle for his life when he lived there. She immediately regretted what she'd said to him.
"Syaoran..I-I'm so sorry, I didn't m-mean-" Sakura started.
"Forget it. I mean, you've made me carry your shopping, stole my coffee, stepped on my bare foot with boots and forced me to drive you to school" Syaoran said.
"Hello?! You hit me with your car, called me endless names, held a knife to my throat and it was Meiling who made you drive us to school" Sakura snapped.
"C'mon, let's go home" he said, starting back to the mansion.
When they were back in Syaoran's room, Sakura finally managed to get him on the floor by pushing him, grabbing his ankles kicking and every other tecnique she knew. Sakura sat on his stomach and put her knife to his neck. She lowered her head closer to his.
"Not so cocky now, huh?" Sakura said sweetly.
"Well done" Syaoran paised calmly.
She took a tiny glance at his lips before looking back into his fierce amber eyes, the blade still at his throat. Syaoran stole a quick peek down her top.
"Perv" Sakura teased. He blushed.
Suddenly, Tomoyo burst into the room. "Syaoran, I need to borrow your-oh!"
Sakura quickly swung her leg over Syaoran's body and stood up. He did the same.
"Am I interrupting something?" Tomoyo grinned hintingly.
"Yes, our training session. Piss off, Tomoyo" Syaoran sighed.
"Training? Wonder what you're training for? Apparently not the gang" she giggled.
"Fuck off!" Syaoran slammed the door. "Let's just-"
"Pretend it never happened?" Sakura sighed.
"No, let's just not worry about it. Nothing's changed between you and me, except I've seen half your tits" he finished.
Sakura went pink. "It's late, and I'm hungry"
They went downstairs to find four snickering faces.
"Nothing happened! We were just training!" Sakura said indignantly.
"I'm sure you were" Yamazaki said.
"We were just training. Nothing more to it" Syaoran repeated Sakura's words.
"New training tecnique, Syaoran?" Eriol smirked.
Sakura threw up her hands and took an apple from the fruit basket and bit right into it. Syaoran got a beer from the fridge.
"Please, Eriol, like I'd screw her" he replied.
"Oh! The whole male population at Reedington would kill to do me" Sakura snarled, throwing her apple at Syaoran, hitting him squarely on the forehead before turning on her heel up to her room.
"It's true" Meiling shrugged.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Little Wings – Finally, I've posted this chapter! Sorry for the wait! Oh, three questions –
How old do you think I am? What do you think Sakura's 'gang talent' should be? What is a beta?