Ketchum's Twelve

05: The Night Before

A PikaFlash's Studio Fanfiction

Disclaimer: All characters, songs and scenes belong to their respective owners...

An A/U Crossover Type fanfic...

Syaoran unlocked the door to his rented apartment and walked inside. He puts his stuff on the table. He suddenly senses that someone else is in there. He takes out his gun and points it at Sakura, who is calmly sitting in the corner having a drink.

"Hey, Li."

Syaoran kept his gun.

"Sorry to hear about your mom. She could become an amazing..." Sakura paused. "Well, I thought so at least."

"She hated you. I should have picked up on that," said Syaoran. "She hated all thieves."

Sakura smiled. "No wonder you two fought."

"Excuse me?" asked Syaoran.

Sakura stood up from her seat. "Can I have my phone back, please?"

"No." Syaoran walked to his bed and puts his jacket on the bed.

"That was a nice pull, by the way," Sakura complimented.

"Thanks."

"Did you ever get that tingling sensation when you did it?" asked Sakura. "Or is that none of my business. Ok, have you ever considered a career change?"

Syaoran looked at Sakura. "Have you?" asked Syaoran.

"I tried hotels. I'm better at this," said Sakura. "Went by the Ramen shop to try out the food they have here.It's excellent, but it doesn't feel the same without you."

"Who is the Night Fox?" asked Syaoran.

"They did something to the eggs?"

"Why accept his challenge?"

"Because he'll lose," said Sakura, full of confidence.

"How are you going to beat him?"

"We can't."

Syaoran is confused with the answers Sakura is giving. "You're not making any sense, Avalon."

"I don't have to," replied Sakura.

Syaoran looked at the mirror. "The Hong Kong Museum Job you pulled with James. I knew it was you."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why didn't you...Sakura?" asked Syaoran, calling by Sakura's first name instead of her last name.

"Didn't want it to end," said Sakura.

"You assume it would." Syaoran walked to the front door. "You shouldn't be here, Avalon. I have a meeting. Someone stole some rare books and scrolls from a mansion in Konoha."

"Got any leads?" Sakura asks as she walks to the door.

Syaoran looked at Sakura in the face. "The next time I see you, I am arresting you. The same goes for Ketchum and anyone else I recognize."

"Ok." Sakura leaves the apartment. As soon as Syaoran is left alone in the room, he pulls out an old copy of the 1077 used for the Hong Kong Museum case. Syaoran looks at Tsunade's signature and forges the signature onto the new 1077 for this new case...

At the warehouse, Eriol looks at the scaled-model of the museum while having a drink. If this is going to work, little Yugi is going to need all the practice he can get.

"Eriol, you ready? asked Yugi as he entered the warehouse.

"Let's get to it," said Eriol.

Meanwhile at the Konoha Hotel, Syaoran meets up with Konno Kitsune (.aka Uzumaki Naruto).

"Good evening, Mr. Li."

"Mr. Konno."

They sat down on a sofa in the lobby.

"Ok, here's what was stolen," said Naruto. "My first editions DragonBall mangas Volume 1, 2 and 3..."

"Do you have any enemies, Mr. Konno?" asked Syaoran. "Someone who has a grudge against you?"

"Hmmm, there are not many people I can think of. Who would want to harm me personally? I assume they were after my books and scrolls," said Naruto.

Back at the warehouse, Eriol and Yugi walked to the pedestal holding the GS ball and Yugi made the switch with Eriol blocking our view of the GS Ball. Eriol immediately pressed a button on his remote and switched on the hologram of the GS Ball...
At the hotel, Naruto takes out a DVD. "This is a DVD of all of my hidden surveillance cameras of the place. There's too many and I haven't checked it out yet. Maybe the thief got careless enough to get caught on film?"

"I doubt that, considering this level of thief, but I'll check it out."

"Thank you, Mr. Syaoran.

At Syaoran's apartment, Syaoran makes a call to CLAMP HQ. Luckily for him, Tsunade is on holiday, so she won't be back till Wednesday, giving Syaoran no interference to catch Sakura and her gang.

"You got the faxed copy of the 1077? Good. I need 5 Jounins, some metal detectors, extra cameras. I have some photographs. Do you have a pen? I'll give you some names. Kimura Koichi, Male, Japanese, bluish-indigo hair. Metabee, Japanese Medabot, model KBT-11220. Sakura Kinomoto Avalon, Female, Japanese, brunette hair possibly dyed pink..."

The hotel phone rings in Ash's room. Ash gets up and answers it. "Hello?"

Familiar voice (on phone): Good morning, Mr. O'Neil. This is your 5 am wake up call.

"It is?" asked Ash.

Familiar voice (on phone): Yes, sir, I'm afraid. Have a good day, sir.

The caller hangs up. Ash looks at his watch. It's 5 am.

Ash knocks on Sakura's door and she opens it, wearing her pink Pajamas. "Ash? Why are you up?"

"What are you doing?" asked Ash.

"Sleeping," answered Sakura. "Why are you all dressed all of a sudden?"

"Why are you still in PJs? It's 5:30 am, day of. Come on. We gotta go." Ash shows the time on his watch to Sakura.

"Ash, its 11:30, night before," said Sakura, showing the time on her watch.

"Oh? But..." Ash wondered why his wake up call was at 11 pm...Then it hit him. Naruto had broken into his room, changed the time on his watch and made that call. "Oh..."

"Oh? Oh, he's mean. He's just mean-spirited," said Sakura. "Ok, how many espressos you have?"

"5."

"Come on."

Ash walks into the room.

Ash and Sakura were having wine while trying to get Ash back to sleep by watching an English dubbed episode of Yu Yu Hakusho on TV.

"I don't know if he's just confused or he hates my guts" Sakura holds out her wine glass and Ash takes a bottle and pours the wine, missing the glass entirely and having the wine touch the floor because Ash was engrossed on what was happening on TV.

Sakura continued. "I don't know. Maybe I was too forceful. Maybe too concerned for myself. Maybe you're right, he has moved on. You know, I talked to a doctor about my pink hair and the tattoo I have. He said that I could wait for my hair grow back its original color and cut off the pink."

Both Ash and Sakura drank their wine.

"As for the tattoo, judging from where it's located, he advised that I don't remove it."

Ash still has his eyes on the TV. "The guy doing Kuwabara's voice sounds almost like Vegeta in the dub," he said.

End of Chapter 5