Here's chapter 2!

Disclaimer: Anyone recognize the characters from Cardcaptor Sakura in this story? Any of them you recognize, I don't own.

Chapter 2 of 'My Life'
Do YOU know Ikumo Arisu?

"…We're here today, in the Twin Bells shop, a bookstore where it is said Ikumo Arisu will be revealing her true identity today! Her new book, My Life, is flying off the shelves! There aren't any more copies on the shelf anymore!" The news reporter cried, indicating the empty 'New Releases' shelf, which had been stocked with copies of My Life that morning.

"Since Arisu-sempai hasn't shown up yet, we'll go to the weather!" The screen on the television changed to the weatherman.

"I can't tell you how excited I'll be to finally find out who she is! Anyways, today is a beautiful day in April, at a sunny 23ºC (72-73ºF, for those who don't know), and a wonderful day for a walk…" The weatherman continued rambling.

Sasaki Rika, who was currently hunting for her purse so she could go meet her friends, had ended up stepping on the remote while she was pulling out the couch cushions. She was surprised to find out that her one of her favorite authors, Ikumo Arisu, was going to stop writing under a pen name and actually use her real name.

No time for that now, she needed to find her purse. Now where did she put it…?

My Life
By: Ikumo Arisu

Chiharu sighed and stared at the title page, while Sakura began her long-winded explanation of why she was in the bookstore, beginning from the reunion Li-kun had planned, to his secret (or not so secret) messages he'd left on Chiharu and Rika-kun's phone lines, to the row he had with Hiiragizawa-kun, to the pain of contacting Tomoyo-kun, because she was a busy designer, to the fact that Ikumo Arisu was going to reveal herself today, to the request of Li-kun that she go on her own, because he needed to see if he could find Takeshi-kun's house because he'd lied (again) about his phone number, only to discover he was at college, applying for med school, but would come as soon as possible, after he finished the brain surgery that he was performing (a lie, again), to…

Wait a second. What was that? Chiharu turned to Sakura.

"Nani?" Chiharu asked.

"Well, see, Syaoran-kun wanted to…"

"Iie, not that, something you said before," Chiharu said, trying to specify.

"Yamazaki-kun lied?" Inside, Chiharu was making plans to hurt him as Sakura continued.

"Arisu-sempai is revealing herself? Tomoyo was busy? Syaoran-kun left messages?" Wow, Sakura had a good memory.

"No, just one of them," she said. It still hadn't registered in her mind yet. "Could you repeat them?

"Ano… Yamazaki-kun lied, Arisu-san is revealing herself –"

"NANI?" It finally registered in her head, what Sakura had said.

"No.Way." She muttered, trying to ignore the people who were staring.

"No… way…"

Wow, news spreads fast, thought the dark-haired girl as she saw the recently posted sheet of paper on the window of Twin Bells, advertising the fact that Ikumo Arisu was going to reveal her identity, a fact Tomoyo had already discovered, thanks to the news report that had been playing in the café that she'd stopped at on the way.

There were a lot of people in the bookstore, and she could see the news reporter standing in front of the 'New Releases' shelf, interviewing people, asking whether any of them knew who Ikumo Arisu really was. When Tomoyo stepped in the store, the reporter and her cameraman, along with three people carrying lights, microphones, and such, came upon the purple eyed girl, who paled. Tomoyo didn't particularly enjoy news reporters.

"Do you have any idea who Ikumo Arisu is actually?" Tomoyo didn't respond, debating whether or not she should lie to the reporter.

"Iie, I don't," Tomoyo finally said, and turned away, but not before the reporter recognized her.

"You're Daidouji Tomoyo! You're my favorite clothing designer! Your clothes are the most amazing things I've ever seen!" The reporter was starting to get on her nerves, little by little.

"That's nice, now if you'll excuse me –" She was interrupted by the reporter.

"When is your next design coming out?"

"Tomorrow, now I need to be going –" And once again, foiled at her attempt to escape.

"Will your design be flashy, or simple?" Tomoyo decided to respond with a question.

"Are you the paparazzi or the news reporter?"

"The news reporter, why do you think I'm here?"

"Seems to me like you're the paparazzi," Tomoyo stated simply. And with that, she left the confused reporter with her camera crew.

Naoko sighed. Finally, she could read a copy of Ikumo Arisu's (one of her favorite authors, seeing as she had so many) My Life. Tugging a copy off the shelf and heading somewhere to sit, she peered at the cover. A small smile appeared on her face when she saw it. Then, a loud scramble startled her, and she turned toward it to see a news reporter, darting towards…

…her, Yanagizawa Naoko.

"Konnichiwa, I'm a news reporter from Channel 7, Japan News. What is your name?" Naoko blinked at her in surprise.

"…Yanagizawa Naoko desu," she replied, after a moment's silence.

"Nice to meet you! Do you have any idea who Ikumo Arisu actually is?" She received silence from Naoko. Should she lie to the reporter, or tell the truth? And shouldn't the reporter give her own name as well?

Naoko exhaled. "Hai, I do know who she is, demo –" She was interrupted by a barrage of questions.

"Who is she? When will she be here? Why is she writing under a pen name? Where does she get her ideas from?" Well, that was rude.

"I promised her I wouldn't tell who she is, so I'm not going to say anything," Naoko replied to the questions, and abandoned the rude news reporter, the lie she told lingering behind her.

Tomoyo stood, clutching her digital camera, which she'd pulled out of her purse. She was snapping pictures, instead of using the filming feature of her digital camera, because there was too much noise in Twin Bells. That would ruin her video tape because the audio wasn't very good, since it made background sounds louder. Tomoyo had been meaning to get a new camera, but she hadn't had any time yet. Tomoyo figured that the news reporter had all the conversation on her camera, so she'd decided not to videotape, even though she sorely wanted to get the shocked expression of Eriol when he saw her.

Unfortunately, he hadn't spotted her yet, even though he was the reincarnation (well, half) of Clow Reed. She figured he would've sensed her by now, but he hadn't even noticed her. She was pretending to be frustrated for the camera, but inside, she was laughing so hard that she could potentially die of laughter, as she watched Eriol walk around in confusion in a completely frazzled manner.

"He hasn't even noticed me yet!" She muttered. And that's when her eyes narrowed, her field of sight shrinking.

Eriol was wondering at this point how long he'd have to keep this act up until Tomoyo figured out that he was pretending. And that's when he was barreled over by a news reporter and her camera crew, who had spotted Tomoyo.

Tomoyo, upon seeing the camera crew, quickly stuffed her digital camera away, and disappeared into the crowd. Disappointed, the camera crew turned to Eriol.

"Konnichiwa! I'm a special news reporter from Channel 7, Japan News. What's your name?" Eriol, unlike Naoko, gave her an automatic response.

"Hiiragizawa Eriol desu."

"Now that we've gotten past that," She's not even bothering to give her name? Eriol wondered. "Do you have any idea who Ikumo Arisu is?" She continued.

Eriol smiled before deciding to answer. "Iie, I don't. Demo, maybe someone else does?" He suggested, his grin widening. The reporter smiled back, but it was a fake smile. Eriol, who could read minds at will, heard what she thought about his statement – even though he didn't mean to.

Something about that smile of his makes me suspicious…

Sakura and Chiharu were also approached by the reporter, and they both stared at her. Without even bothering to ask names, she fired her question at them.

"Do either of you know Ikumo Arisu?" Sakura and Chiharu blinked as one.

"Ano… iie, I don't," Sakura replied after awhile, after a silent debate.

Chiharu was faster, though, and had already replied with an, "I don't recall anyone who mentioned that they were Ikumo Arisu."

The reporter sighed, and she and the camera crew left, as Chiharu turned began reading.

Chapter 1: Intro

Normally, when anyone tells a story, the opening statement is, "Let's start at the beginning."

Question is, where do you start? When you were first born? How about when you first witnessed anything? Or how about 3 days ago?

Well, I decided to start where I felt my life changed the most, even though that's chapter 2. Here, I need to give some background information, before I do anything else.

I was born to an ordinary mother and father. But there was something that made me different. Enough so that my parents died, trying to protect me, leaving my brother, who at the time was 4, and me, at 3 years old. We were both adopted into the same family when I was 4, and we ended up getting different names.

I went to school in Japan, and transferred at some point, but I don't remember when. My friends kept a lot of secrets, and so did I, because I eventually discovered a lot of things that I didn't want them to know about.

I still talk to my friends, and I see them occasionally, but that's about it. Other than that, I haven't made much effort to see my friends.

I wonder how they'd feel if they found out whom I really was…

The camera crew approached a ton of other people, many of whom had hesitated before saying yes or no.

A group of girls had responded in this manner: "Like, totally! We all, like, know this Ikumo Arisu. She came with us here, but then she like, vanished! It was like, such a shock, wasn't it?" The girl received nods from her friends. "So, like, unfortunately, you'll like, have to look for her, like, yourself."

A rebellious-looking boy had responded with a: "Why don't you and your damn camera crew get away from my personal space? I have no idea, okay?"

A brown-haired man, who looked familiar to the reporter for some reason, glared at her before responding, "I have no idea! I'm trying to find my fiancé here!" When the camera crew left him, she realized that he looked a lot like the famous Li Syaoran, but she dismissed that.

A boy of about 12 said, "Sure, I know her. But I'm not getting her for you."

A mother, trying to keep a handle on her 5 year old son, replied, "Can't you see I'm busy here? I don't know!"

A couple, who were browsing the shelves, both gave her a "No, we don't," in response.

A girl who looked around 10 stared at the reporter, and said with a big smile on her face, "You want me to get Auntie Alice(1)? I don't know where she went. Demo, you know," the girl added, her voice getting confidential, "She writes cool books! Like this one!" She held up a copy of Song of the Butterfly, a chapter book for children that Ikumo Arisu had written.

A woman who looked her early 40's said, "I wish I did, but I don't."

A girl who had boys following her as if they were some kind of fanclub replied, "Of course I know her. I know everyone!" She laughed, and all the boys sighed, little hearts floating around them.

The reporter decided to leave her report at that, a little spooked by all the girl-obsessed boys.

Panting, Rika reached Twin Bells. Grabbing the door handle for support, she turned to see whether or not anyone had followed her. The freaky feeling that she'd had still lingered, as she pulled the door open, seeing that her follower wasn't around.

She was wrong. The person who'd followed her to the store peered out from the nearby alleyway, smiling to himself as he watched her enter.

(1) Arisu is Alice in Japanese.

And that's the end of chapter 2!

For anyone who's reading, I'd like you to guess who lied, and who didn't. In other words, who you think does know her, and who doesn't (please be specific about it, as well). You can even e-mail me at review(underscore)simplecharm(at)hotmail(dot)com with your answer (replace with respective symbols in the e-mail address).

Thanks for reading!