A/n: This is the reposted second chapter of Strictly Professional. I had to retype this chapter because of certain reasons. Sorry to the people who have read the previous chapter two before. This version is better, and it would be greatly appreciated if you read it again, or else you would no longer understand the other chapters that will come soon. This chapter has many differences from the old one, so I hope you guys read it and like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura
Strictly Professional
Chapter II:
Matched
It was terribly alarming, literally. The ringing sound of the alarm clock shattered the grace of the morning. It was a Saturday, and it was prohibited to have alarm clocks ring extremely loud at seven o'clock in the morning on tranquil and exquisite days, such as this Saturday. At least, to Sakura that was the law.
The sun shone brightly through the wide and clear windows of her room, the heavy curtains pulled back. The vanilla yellow walls added to the brightness of the stunningly huge space. Centered was a queen-sized bed, and under the thick comforters a creature shifted to the right, then the left, then back to the right. Groggily, an arm exited the fine cloth of the thick piece of cloth. The arm started patting its surroundings, yet it was unsuccessful and decided to retreat back inside the silky, warm, comforter. A muffled groan came from the bed, followed by a line that involved the words stupid, clocks, ruin, and day.
Kinomoto, Sakura was, is, and never will be the morning person. She hated waking up in the morning, period. She enjoyed sleeping in, and over-sleeping. It was her life during her day offs. She slept until two-thirty in the afternoon and nobody would care. She would simply rest in her own, little haven. She wouldn't care. She wouldn't, doesn't, and will not care as long as she got her extensive sleeping hours.
The fact that it was a Saturday and that she did not have to go to work bothered Sakura. She didn't remember setting her alarm clock. In fact, she didn't remember misplacing her alarm clock, and leaving it anywhere else except the side table. If there was one thing she remembered, it was to check the clock if it was unset every weekend, unless it was needed to be set of course. She never forgot to place it steadily on her right bedside table, where it has rested for the last three years, when she had moved first to her condominium.
So, who would be so evil and preposterous to set an alarm clock at this time of the morning? Who would be so cunningly bright to move the alarm clock at a location that was out of reach? Who would have the wickedness of torturing someone by waking them up in the morning, for no good reason?
Of course, who else would it be but the one and only person with a spare key? It was the person with the evil, twisted, yet crafty brain. It was the person who knew her well, and has mastered cruelty against a young professional model. It was the morning person, who liked to make agonizing plans for the day. By plans, she meant blind dates.
The glass-breaking noise of the alarm clock continued to ring, louder, and louder.
Yes, that person was none other than, "Tomoyo Daidouji! This time you're really going to get it!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
Tomoyo giggled at her best friend's furious, zombie-like figure. Her hair was a mess and her back hunched. Typical Sakura, she just never gets used to my way of helping. She chucked again, flipping the perfectly shaped pancake.
"Tomoyo-chan, you know I love you as my bestfriend," Sakura yawned. "But you can't keep on torturing me like this." She said, lazily sitting down at the counter chairs.
Tomoyo twisted the knob of the stove until it hit the 'off' sign. She placed the last pancake on a plate. Four pancakes perfectly piled right on top of each other. Tomoyo opened the cupboard and grabbed a glass. She pulled open the refrigerator door and grabbed the carton of chocolate milk, pouring it inside the glass.
"It's just seven twelve in the morning, and I'm already up." She said with another yawn. "Besides-"
Sakura was cut off as Tomoyo placed the plate of freshly cooked pancakes in front of her, the syrup poured with a unique pattern, and a slice of gradually melting butter placed at the center of the freshly cooked breakfast. It was followed by the glass of chocolate milk. Her nose twitched, as she opened one eye sleepily. Sakura slowly dragged her arms off the kitchen counters and slowly lifted them up to stretch. Sakura rubbed her eyes and blinked at the sight in front of her. She stared up at Tomoyo and pouted. Tomoyo smiled at her, and held up the fork right in front of her face. Sakura pouted even more, making the famous puppy dog eyes.
"What do we say?" Tomoyo asked as if talking to a child, slowly moving the fork closer to Sakura.
Sakura crossed her arms and gave out a huff, looking away from Tomoyo. "No."
"Wrong," Tomoyo said after imitating a buzzer sound similar to the mind quizzes. She swiftly moved the fork away from Sakura's attempt of getting it from her hands.
"Come on Tomoyo!" Sakura pleaded as she stretched her arms. "Don't you think I've suffered enough dates for the past… How long now?" She stared at her fingers as she counted them one by one.
"Nine months Sakura," Tomoyo sighed. "But I can't just let you live the rest of your life as a single, lonely person." Tomoyo exaggerated the word single and lonely putting her hand over her chest, and expressed a hurt face.
"I am not lonely!" Sakura argued, "Besides what about you Ms. I'm-so-not-lonely? As far as I remember, you never gave any guy a chance to go out with you. Remember high school, Oh wait, what about college?" Sakura accused her, pointing her finger at her. She leaned her elbow on the counter and rubbed her chin with her fingers. She pretended to think "Oh yeah, remember that guy you tried to set me up with three months ago?" Sakura started, glaring at Tomoyo. "I didn't show up, and you just apparently got stalked. Remember that? God!" Sakura exclaimed, flailing her arms everywhere.
"That's a totally different story. How the hell was I supposed to know he was that creepy? His status was good."
"Well, either you stop setting me up on these status-was-good dates, or you and I get stalked." Sakura said, practically jumping on the counter to steal the fork from Tomoyo's grasp.
"This time, I know it will work." Tomoyo backed up, Sakura almost an inch to reach the fork.
"You've been saying that same, exact line for the last nine months!"
Tomoyo tilted her head to the right and smiled. She pleaded in a charming voice, "Please."
Sakura sighed, why did she let her friend do this to her again? Oh yeah, because I just can't say no to her. Sakura sunk back down on her seat, dropped her head low and gave another sigh. "Fine."
"Yes!" Tomoyo said thrusting her fist up in the air, holding the fork triumphantly. "I knew you couldn't resist."
Sakura's head jerked up, she wasn't going to give up just like that. "But there is one condition."
"Name it."
"If this date doesn't work out," she started. "This will be the last blind date you'll ever set me up on."
Tomoyo stared at her for a number of seconds. She blinked, "Deal."
"Deal."
Tomoyo and Sakura smiled at each other, and shook each other's hand in a professional manner. Good, Sakura thought as she dropped her hand after the shake. Tomoyo offered the fork and Sakura grabbed it with a grin, digging in her favourite breakfast; fresh, hot, pancakes. Why did I only think of that now?
0o0o0o0o0o0
Tomoyo stared at Sakura through the mirror and frowned. Throughout her whole life, they have always known each other as best friends. Maybe it was because they were second cousins, or maybe it was because they just spent too much time together, even when they still had diapers, resided in their cribs, and crawled on their hands and knees, they knew each other. They even went to the same school every time. They have known each other too long.
Through all those twenty-one years, Sakura has grown to be a lovely young lady, successful, independent, hardworking and persistent. Sure, she still carried some of her naivety and childishness, yet that was not a negative thing. People liked that about her, it gave her an innocent glow. However, Sakura also knew how to act sophisticated if she needed to. Due to her beauty, skill, and characteristics, she is now a famous model, more famous than any other model in Japan, or rather, Asia. She was growing together with the company, and she gave the company a good name.
Daidouji Modelling Organization, it is the family owned company handled by the famous Daidouji mother and daughter. Tomoyo's mom, Sonomi, is the CEO and owner of the company. She would be handing down the business to Tomoyo when she reaches twenty-eight, seven years from now. Of course, Tomoyo couldn't be anymore proud than to own a company, but taking steps to be able to familiarize with the whole company is a big deal, she just has to cope with it.
Tomoyo stared back at Sakura at the mirror, it didn't matter, Sakura is there anyway. This made Tomoyo frown even more, and she sighed.
"Tomoyo," Sakura looked at Tomoyo's reflection through the mirror. "Is everything alright?"
Tomoyo smiled back at Sakura, "Of course, what could be wrong?"
"Well, you looked out of it earlier," Sakura stared worriedly at her.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just that," Tomoyo stopped and thought for a few seconds. "It's just that, I can't believe this is the last blind date I can set you up in." Tomoyo said as she fixed Sakura's short hair.
Sakura's worried face, turned into relief. Her friend sure was weird.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"You have to take the meeting for me," a masculine voice said through the phone. "This is important, the one day I get to propose to her, and I get a meeting. You have to take it!"
"Why me?" asked a curious voice. "Can't you go find someone else? I just got home two days ago."
"No, you're the only one I can think of right now." He said. "Okay, I have to go, I'll be late. You better be there!" The guy on the other line threatened before hanging up in a rush.
"Why do I always get stuck with the work?"
A young man stood up from a black leather couch, pushing up his glasses. He grabbed the remote control and switched off the television. He entered his bathroom with a sigh. Better get ready.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Sakura blankly stared at the traffic lights as it glowed green. She was resting her chin on her palm as she placed her elbow on top of the handle of the car doors. She rolled her eyes as she listened to her friend talk about nonsense, well to her it was nonsense.
"Are you even listening to me?" Tomoyo turned to face Sakura. One of her eyebrows arched.
"Yes, Tomoyo," Sakura replied flatly. "Besides, I have heard this talk so many times that I've memorized it. And just to let you know the traffic lights turned green fifteen seconds ago."
Tomoyo turned her gaze back at the traffic lights. The sound of honking cars echoed in her head. Tomoyo stepped on the gas, infuriated. "Sakura, this is important. This is the last blind date you'll be in ever!"
"Tomoyo, that's the point." Sakura reasoned, lifting her chin from her palm and turning her head to face her friend's face which was focused on the road. "This is the last one, the faster this goes, the better."
Tomoyo turned the steering wheel to the right, entering a parking lot. Right in front of them was a grand structure of an Italian restaurant which was called 'Il castello piccolo.' The restaurant was known for being one of the most sophisticated fine dining restaurants in Tokyo. Their food was amazingly and exotically, delicious. However like all fine dining restaurants, the food was also pricey.
Tomoyo parked her car in front of the luxurious castle-like structure. She sighed and gave Sakura one last glance. Sakura looked stunning, as always. Her hair was held up into a bun with little ringlets dangling loosely from the bun. She wore a red, cowl neck dress which reached just bellow her knees, and black stiletto sandals to go with it. She had fine platinum earrings dangling from each ear and a platinum necklace to match. She slipped her right arm in her coat, followed by her left. She then looked over at Tomoyo with a blank expression.
"Sakura, you know I'm going to be in that restaurant with you, right?" Tomoyo questioned as she stared directly at Sakura's eyes.
"Yes," Sakura replied as she grabbed her purse. "Of course I know. You always are Tomoyo."
"So promise me one thing," Tomoyo stated as she grabbed her purse herself. "That you won't do what you've done to all your other dates."
"Fine."
"I promise that I…" Tomoyo said slowly, gesturing her hand for Sakura to continue.
"I promise that I won't say that I am not interested in the poor victim." Sakura continued as she rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time.
Tomoyo continued with her hand gestures urging Sakura to continue her statement. "And, that I would not smile ever so charmingly at him to make him simply ignore what I said so that I can get away with saying such a rude statement." Sakura continued. Tomoyo continued her hand gesturing, leaning her ear beside Sakura. "Oh damn, and I promise to not say anything that is close to that rude theme."
Tomoyo straightened her back and grinned. "Great! Now we can go out and meet this guy."
How can she continue to torture me like this? Sakura questioned as she opened the passenger door and stepped out the crisp, fallen leaves of the fall season.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"She better be here on time," a man of about twenty-seven years of age roughly kicked the soccer ball towards the man in a blocking stance. He cursed under his breath, as it was once again blocked, by great reflexive skills.
"You're skills are getting really rusty Kinomoto, Touya." the goalie smirked as he kicked the ball back up in the air.
Touya ran swiftly towards the right of the field where the ball had landed. Once he got the ball in position under his feet, he turned around to face the smirking man behind him. His chocolate brown eyes squinted towards the young man as he once again started to make a dash towards him.
"I'll make you see who's more rusty!" He screamed as he once again aimed for a goal. However, it was then again blocked by a defensive hand which reached up in the air, blocking the black and white soccer ball. Damn, he thought as he kicked the grass in frustration.
"So who was old and rusty again?" The goalie chuckled as he grabbed the soccer ball and headed towards the chocolate-eyed man.
Touya glared at his approaching figure. "Don't push it." He forebodingly growled under his breath.
Touya suddenly grabbed the ball from the goalie's hand and dropped it to run towards the goal. He was a bit taken aback but instantly followed Touya's running figure. He quickly stole the ball once Touya's ball control and defence weakened. The tall individual ran towards the opposite side of the field, his chestnut hair moving with every step he took. He forcefully kicked the soccer towards the unguarded net.
"GOAL!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
Sakura sat in front of a circular table, draped with a lustrous red table cloth with unique imprints of white. She rested her chin against her left palm and drummed her right fingers on the table, waiting impatiently for someone to occupy the seat across from her. They had arrived at the restaurant five minutes before twelve o'clock. Tomoyo scheduled a lunch for her with another one of those pitiful men that will obviously get nothing. Sadly, they still show up, which makes things harder. However, this one seems to be a little bit too late.
It was eight after twelve and there were still no signs of the man. She sighed and found herself staring at the centre garden of the restaurant. It was separated from the rest of the building by a glass wall and in the centre was a fountain with running water. The multicoloured leaves were dancing about with the circular blow of the wind. It was a phenomenal sight. If only she was actually there with…
"I'm sorry I'm-" Sakura stared at the young man she had been waiting for. Well, now that she thought about it, no, it wasn't the man she was waiting for. "Sakura-chan?"
"Eriol?" Sakura asked startled at the sight of her deep, cerulean-eyed friend. Something is definitely wrong.
She watched him take off his coat and hang it on the back of the chair. "What are you doing here?" Sakura stared at the man in front of her bewildered.
"I could ask you the same question," Eriol said, sitting down as he stared back at her.
"It's all Tomoyo's fault." Sakura stated defensively. It was true, it was Tomoyo's fault.
"Daidouji?" Eriol asked. He leaned forward with his eyebrows raised up. "I would most definitely like to hear about this one. How is she?"
"Before that, how was your visit to England?" Sakura asked as she relaxed in front of her friend.
"Great as always, yet it's not the same as before; since this one was for business purposes that your brother wanted me to attend." Eriol answered.
"Oh, I see. Touya always gives everyone the hard work. He just can't handle Kinomoto Banking Corporation by himself, I guess nobody could." Sakura said as her eyes caught Tomoyo's figure walking out of the ladies' room. "Oh look, there's Tomoyo-chan" Sakura pointed out, and Eriol followed her gaze.
"So what are you two doing here?" Eriol asked again leaning against the back of the seat. "And what's this meeting about?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, making Eriol chuckle. "Well you see, this isn't really a meeting." Sakura started. So that's how she sets it up. "Tomoyo has this weird obsession with me and blind dates, and now she just ever so happened to royally screw up, because she accidentally set me up with you."
"Me?" Eriol laughed. "She contacted my friend, who was fussing about proposing to his girlfriend today. He couldn't make the meeting so he asked me to go instead."
Sakura and Eriol laughed, "She definitely screwed up." Sakura said laughing. "Hold on here for a minute, while I call on Ms. Daidouji over there to come and join our little lunch."
Tomoyo Daidouji and Eriol Hiiragizawa were two people that had a weird relationship. Tomoyo claims that she doesn't like Eriol at all, ever since they were in grade school when Eriol had first moved to Japan from England. The reason behind disliking him? Nobody ever get a clear answer to that question. Eriol on the other hand, seemed like he didn't care at all even if Tomoyo didn't like him. Till now, they refer to each other with their last names even after all their years together; yet, it didn't bother the young man, he even stated that, "I don't care, I'm used to it."
Even though Eriol never admitted it, it was obvious that he fancied the dark-purple haired goddess. It had started in high school, when the signs of him liking her were evident. Tomoyo and Sakura were fourteen, while Eriol was fifteen. He is a year older than them but it never stopped him from being around the two ladies. He was always around that it started to irk Tomoyo. "Sure, we're friends, but does he have to be everywhere?" Tomoyo questioned Sakura once. She even claimed that he was stealing girl time. It's been seven years since their first years in high school, and they have grown in their own ways; yet the relationships between them were still the same.
Behind all the opposing feelings of liking and disliking Sakura saw through both of them. She knew they liked each other, it was just shown in different ways. Eriol was opened to it, while Tomoyo blocked him out. Sakura always thought that she was only scared of what would happen, and until now they still, obviously like each other. Tomoyo even refused every guy that asked her out. She claimed that it was for no apparent reason, yet Sakura knew better. It was because of their mysterious friend, Eriol.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"WHAT?" Tomoyo questioned out loud, making people turn their heads at her. She glanced over at Sakura's table only to find Eriol charismatically smiling at her.
"Yup, go see for yourself." Sakura said with a broad smile, as she dragged her best friend over
"No, Sakura!" Tomoyo pleaded. "Let's just leave."
"No Tomoyo," Sakura said in an extremely cheery voice. "You're going there with me. You set this up anyway."
Tomoyo tried to get her arm free from Sakura's grasp but failed miserably. She refused to move but was yanked by Sakura's arm. Sakura walked towards their table, dragging Tomoyo behind her.
"Daidouji-san." Eriol greeted formally, standing up. He grabbed her right hand and planted a soft kiss on it; making Tomoyo's pale face turn a slight, almost non-visible shade of red. She yanked her hand away from him once he looked back up at her.
"Hiiragizawa, what are you doing here?" Tomoyo asked, coldly glaring at him.
Eriol chose to ignore the glare and simply smiled back at her. "You called for me, didn't you?" He answered teasingly as he pulled a chair for her to sit in.
"No I did not." Tomoyo said with a huff, as she sat down on the chair.
"Well, Tomoyo-chan, like I said your plan of calling whoever guy that was didn't work." Sakura started. "It is because he's about to get engaged today, and Eriol-kun, just happened to know him and are closed friends with him so…"
"I was asked a favour, which is to go to this meeting." Eriol chuckled, at Tomoyo's shocked expression.
"He was getting…" Tomoyo said as her words faded away in to the distance.
"Yes, Daidouji-san. Engaged." Tomoyo looked at him, and sighed.
Okay, maybe Sakura was right. I should stop doing this. Tomoyo looked at her watch which read twelve-forty-six.
"So what, are we waiting for? I'm starving." Sakura clasped her hands together, while calling for the waiter.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"So when's your sister going to be here?" The chestnut haired individual questioned as he dribbled with the soccer ball.
"She's supposed to be here in a few minutes," Touya said looking around the field, leaning on his car's trunk. "But then again, she's always late."
"Yeah, childish and irresponsible too," He mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" The goalie questioned, as the ball landed on the ground.
"Never mind."
0o0o0o0o0o0
"It's not my fault that you have to be so annoying all the time." Tomoyo argued as she crossed her arms. He is still the same as ever, she thought as she glared at him.
"You're right; it's my fault that I'm annoying," Eriol started. "It's my fault that all I can ever do is to annoy someone as graceful and gorgeous as you, despite all my other tries of non-annoying conversations."
Sakura watched as their exchange of words, a grin creeping up her face. Now it was her time to play matchmaker.
"Haha. Very funny." Tomoyo said as she smiled sarcastically. "I can't believe that you think that highly of yourself. 'All my other tries of non-annoying conversations,'" Tomoyo mimicked Eriol's words. "It's more like you never try,because if you just don't want to annoy me then you wouldn't be near me at all. Wait, never mind that. Of course you never try. You're brain is too incapable of even knowing the meaning of the three-letter, word try, so you wouldn't know what the hell it means." Tomoyo said with a smirk.
"Ouch, that hurt." Eriol stated, placing his right hand on top of his chest, pretending to look hurt. "You're right; I am too incapable of knowing what words mean. After all I did call you graceful and gorgeous didn't I? I guess, that was a misuse of my vocabulary too."
"Excuse me?"
"Do you want me to repeat it slowly?" Eriol said with a smirk. "I think your head is slower than mine, since you can't even understand words that come out of people's mouths in average speed." Eriol said with a growing smirk. "I s-a-i-d t-h-a-t, y-o-u-'-r-e r-i-"
Eriol was stopped by Sakura's words. "Okay guys, you have to stop. We have to pay the bill now."
"Okay then, let me pay for it since Ms. Daidouji's brain is too slow to calculate how much money she has to take out from her wallet. Even though all she has to do is take her credit card out." Eriol smiled widely as he grabbed his wallet from his pocket, taking out a gold card.
Tomoyo glared at Eriol as the waiter left to swipe the card. Sakura watched with a sigh, nothing's changed.
"What time is it?" Sakura asked Tomoyo to stop her from glaring at Eriol.
"Two thirty-three." Tomoyo flatly stated.
Two thirty-three, Sakura thought as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Crap! I have to meet Touya!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
Sakura stepped out of Tomoyo's silver car, dusting her coat off. Tomoyo followed soon after. A dark blue sports car, parked beside Tomoyo's car and Eriol stepped out of the car.
"Konnichiwa Touya-kun." Tomoyo greeted with a smile. Eriol stood beside her and greeted him as well.
"Hiiragizawa? What are you doing here?" Touya questioned arching his eyebrow. "I see you finally got together with Tomoyo."
"We're not together!" Tomoyo glared at Touya.
"I was just dragged along." He responded casually with a shrug, pointing his thumb over at Sakura.
"Still not together," Touya mumbled shaking his head as he approached Sakura, staring down at her. He ruffled her perfectly styled hair, like one would to a pet dog. He patted her head and smirked. ""Kaiju, you're late again."
"I am not late!" Sakura argued. "It's only two-"
"Fifty-two," Touya cut in.
"So maybe I'm seven minutes late, but it's better than being an hour late." Sakura said, placing her hands on her hips. "And will you please stop messing with my hair; you know how long it took Tomoyo to fix that?"
"No it's okay Sakura," Tomoyo stated, taking her video camera out of her purse. "I think it's adorable." Tomoyo said, holding up her camcorder with a proud smile.
"Tomoyo-chan, Stop filming everything!" Sakura protested. "What's so important about today anyway?"
"Nothing, but since all of you are here, I'd like to introduce a friend," Touya said, as he pointed to a chestnut haired man at the distance.
"That's Hong Kong's most wanted bachelor," he said as the person approached a sleek, black sports car. "A friend of mine I'd want you all to meet."
The person approached the group and they all so him clearly. He was tall and had chestnut coloured hair, his eyes were brilliant ambers. He stopped right beside Touya, and introduced himself. "Li, Syaoran, a pleasure to meet all of you."
Tomoyo's hand holding the camcorder dropped a few inches to witness what was really happening. Sakura's jaw dropped as she stared up at the familiar guy who stood by her brother's side.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again Ms. Kinomoto, Ms. Daidouji." Syaoran smiled. Touya looked over at Syaoran and the two ladies confusedly.
"You!" Sakura and Tomoyo screamed in unison once they had recovered from their shock.
Why him?
0o0o0o0o0o0
A/n: Yes, this is the end of the second chapter of Strictly Professional, don't worry I am working on chapter three and I will try and get it posted this week if I have the time. I have my major projects dumped on me, since school is about to end.
The next chapters will be coming up most likely this summer. Yes, I do have the chapters summarized and I have the ending summarized for this story as well therefore; this fanfiction will be continued, updated, and will be completed at some point. Patience is virtue dearest readers.
Now one more thing that I would like to ask for is a review! xD
