The Flawless Plan
By Louann1
Summary: An amateur detective manages to catch the legendary 'thief', named Flawless, accidentally but instead of marching her straight off to jail, he ends up becoming a part of her next big heist. She says it'll be her last but can he trust her to retire or will he deliberately cause her plan to fail in order to keep his job?
Phase 1: The Idea
It is only on rare occasions when everyone watches the news, regardless of age of routine. That particular night, everyone watched the live coverage of Tomoeda Natural History Museum because that night, spectacular things were guaranteed to happen. Everyone had heard that a rare mineral rock was going to be stolen from the museum but the main reason why people were watching was because of the person stealing it.
The police called it a crime spree like no other. There were no links, just a random series of incidents, conducted perfectly, so much so that the person carrying out them was given the name 'Flawless' by the press. Although there were no relations between the cases the police were sure that it was the same person. Why? Because there were no witnesses for every single case. Not even a blur caught by CCTV cameras.
There was no doubt that the police were having trouble trying to catch Flawless, especially since they had no idea who they were dealing with. This time however, the police were given a chance to prepare themselves for Flawless' next strike and they were taking extra precautions.
" Alright men, a reliable source has tipped us off about this scoundrel's next move. This is the best chance we've been given to put this jerk behind bars so I don't want anything to go wrong," the group of police officers were warned by their superior.
Detective Chief Inspector Poi was in charge of this case. A high profile case like Flawless put a lot of pressure on the bossy, lazy, ageing officers and the added pressure from the Detective Superintendent breathing down his neck cause him to breathe down the necks of the ranks below him. Poi was the kind of person who you would expect to be of high ranking but have no idea how he got there due to the fact that he always looks like he had just pigged out on a doughnut five minutes ago.
" Syaoran!" Poi regularly called the amateur detective in a loud boorish manner.
" Uh, yes sir!" came the unprepared reply.
Detective Inspector Syaoran Li was new to the department. He had just been transferred, especially for the Flawless case, to make up for the loss of officers that couldn't be bothered to get up at midnight. Syaoran hadn't become accustomed to Poi's wonderful way of approaching cases, or leadership for the matter, so when he was asked to do something he would usually question it – much to the annoyance of the other officers.
Syaoran, the youngest of all the officers there and the only one to be addressed by his first name, was tall and smart-looking, especially in his uniform that he prides in keeping immaculate. However, the abrupt phone call in late at night meant that he was unable to dress appropriately for the occasion, but he was handsome anyway.
" I like your pyjamas. You should wear them more regularly to work," Syaoran groaned as the other officers attempted to hide their laughs poorly. " Back to business. This reliable source has confirmed that Flawless will make a swipe for the rock at exactly midnight. Now, we'll be ready for him or her or them. You can put your hand down Syaoran, our source wasn't able to tell us who Flawless exactly is and before you ask, this source is the most reliable source we have. So, everyone get back to your posts! Every area is to be guarded, no one enters of leaves the premises without my say so. Every possible outcome has been expected. We get a power cut? There's a backup. There's a secret entrance? It's covered. Tonight is the night that Flawless goes down."
Syaoran's job was mainly following Poi on the patrols and making sure that he got whatever he wanted, which was mainly glazed doughnuts and cups of tea. The strange thing was, Syaoran couldn't really complain, after all, he was officially a part of a possible legendary team. Being the stuff of legends was something that appealed to Syaoran very much so, even if he would only be called the legendary tea maker.
The loud rings of the museum's clock tower rang clear in the air and as the last clang faded, Syaoran could see Poi tensing up more and more as the following minutes were filled with a menacing silence. As the old cliché goes, the atmosphere was so thick you could've used it for gravy.
Syaoran, Poi and a few other police officers were in the main entrance room of the museum. It was an extremely large space with a huge, white, marble staircase at the far end, that went up for a few metres before splitting into two stairs in opposite directions at the landing. In each of the three doorways on either side of the room were pairs of officers guarding them but the most eye catching thing, was the enormous skeleton of a tyrannosaurus that almost filled the whole span of the entrance room. Syaoran stared at the toothy dinosaur with unease, to him, even dead dinosaurs looked scary.
Syaoran was ordered to pace the room and he did so, taking in the finer details of the architecture. Small mosaic tiles were neatly arranged in an intricate pattern on the floor, the windows were all stain glass and even at night their brilliant colours shone. After a long hour of silence, DCI Poi had his second outburst of the evening. His frustrated scream cut through the tense quiet that had accumulated and surprised everyone in the vicinity but Syaoran had to have been the one surprised the most.
" Syaoran! Get me food!"
Flustered, the young detective had missed the wallet that was thrown at him by his senior and so had to begin picking up the scattered coins that had dispersed. After hastily collecting the money, he quickly made his way to the vending machines. Syaoran cursed under his breath, he should have been expecting to be called for food collecting, the past few days had taught him that. While everyone else was out making plans and getting information, Syaoran could always be found at the nearest vending machine getting snacks.
Syaoran stuck his hand in the return coin slot, checking for any change that could have been left but instead of extra money he found something else. There was something cold, small and round inside and just as he was about to take it out, he heard a scream from above. His eyes shot up and he could only stand there in amazement as a person fell from the ceiling. Shocked by the sudden turn of events, Syaoran couldn't bring himself to say anything as the person landed in his arms and casually greeted him with a smile.
" Um... hello."
At that moment, Syaoran realised that he was carrying a woman and a fairly pretty one at that. He laughed nervously before cautiously placing her down. She quickly stuck her hand in the vending machine's change slot and dashed off. Syaoran, being 'real quick' on the uptake, tripped while attempting to follow the unknown woman who, from what he could comprehend, was Flawless. After all, she was wearing black, she had no identification, she had been hiding and right at that moment, she was running away.
Syaoran groaned, this was just getting better and better, he picked himself up from the ground and was surprised to find that the woman was still there, and that she had offered him her hand. He took it, and as gracefully as he could, he stood up and asked,
" Who are you?"
" You first."
" Alright," Syaoran sighed and gave her his name, against his better judgement. " I'm Syaoran Li. And you?"
" Sakura Kinomoto. Are you going to hand me into the police?"
" Depends. Is that rock in your hand stolen?" Syaoran could hear his heart thumping louder and louder. He didn't want to alarm her so he simply began conversation, hoping to stall her until Poi noticed that he wasn't back with the snacks and he would get some sort of back up in case she was a felon.
" Is it stealing if someone just happened to leave it there for me?" she took a few steps back, preparing for what was she thought was inevitable. " You know? I don't even understand why everyone is making such a big deal about a rock. It's not like it's valuable. It's just a bit of limestone."
" Then why break in if it's really invaluable?" Syaoran rose an eyebrow.
Syaoran was in deep thought, if she was a criminal (the criminal in question being Flawless), she wasn't like any other criminal that he had met. She wasn't sneering or evil looking in any way at all. She was simply ordinary looking, with shortish auburn hair and green eyes that had a little twinkle.
" I didn't break in. Today, I visited the museum because I was meeting my friend who said that he would give me this piece of limestone as a little souvenir from Cornwall," she showed him the rock in her hands, at a safe distance. " He said that he would leave it inside the vending machine in case we couldn't find each other. I was feeling a little light headed so I went to find a quiet place to rest and when I woke up the museum had closed. There are police everywhere so if I casually strolled out of this place I am bound to be arrested so I hid until they went patrolling and I was just about to leave when you caught me. So can I leave?"
" I suppose so. That rock doesn't really look valuable," Syaoran's heart slowed down to normal pace. He wasn't really fond of questioning but this time wasn't so bad, since she hadn't done anything wrong. " I'll escort you off the premises."
" Thank you," she politely replied and slipped the rock in her pocket and zipped it before obediently following Syaoran to the main gates.
Once there, Syaoran bid the lady farewell and went back to the vending machine to continue on his orders but when he got there something wasn't quite right but there was nothing that he could do.
The following morning, the police left the museum just as the visitors were let in. The operation wasn't successful, there was nothing, no break in, nothing stolen. Poi was very grouchy that morning and snapped at Syaoran at every available opportunity. One by one, the police officers marched out of the museum with Syaoran at the end. To his surprise, there was a familiar face waiting for him at the main gate. Sakura was there, smiles and all, and he left the line in order to talk to her about the particular item she had in her hands.
" My wallet! Where did you find it?" Syaoran took it from her and checked all his cash and cards.
" I didn't exactly find it," she replied before asking in a low inconspicuous voice. " Can we go somewhere more private to talk?"
Syaoran wasn't quite sure what she had meant by 'private' so he simply took her to his apartment. After a brief moment of forgetting where he put his key, Syaoran welcomed Sakura into his home. It was small and cosy, clean and organised and Sakura could tell that Syaoran was a little bit proud to show her.
" Syaoran. Is it okay if I call you Syaoran?" Sakura sat on a wooden chair that matched the wooden table.
" Sure. Can I get you something to drink? Water or juice?" Syaoran was currently, changing into something more appropriate, i.e. something that wasn't green striped pyjamas.
" No thank you, I'm fine," Sakura sat there a little worried about how Syaoran was going to take what she was going to say next. " Syaoran? You have to promise that you won't repeat anything that I'm about to say."
" Alright, I promise," Syaoran was unsure about where this was going. " What's going on?"
" I need you."
" Eh?" Syaoran froze with his eyes wide open.
" The thing is, I need you for something... somewhat illegal," Sakura twiddled her fingers.
" Do I want to hear the rest of this conversation?"
" Maybe, I have a proposition for you. Have you heard of Flawless?"
" You mean the that criminal who no one's captured, yet alone seen? The one who manages to get every target with precision?"
" Flattery will get you nowhere," Sakura blushed ever so slightly.
" You're Flawless?" Syaoran was a stunned. Could this pretty girl be an expert thief?
" The one and the same. Your wallet? I stole it in order to see you again. I'd like to recruit you for my next heist, I'll personally train you and you'll get a share of what we get. I can trust you and I think that you're perfect," Sakura was as cool as a frozen cucumber straight from the freezer.
" I don't know. It's one thing to know a criminal, it's another to be one," Syaoran was uneasy about all of this.
" Syaoran, you'll have a little acting to do and in exchange, you get a few riches. Please? I need you, I need someone I can trust, this is my last grift ever and I want it to be perfect."
" What do you mean by 'this is my last'?"
" I mean that this is the last thing I'll ever do. After, I'm retiring. End of. I was thinking about going on a permanent holiday. The world will never hear of Flawless ever again. So, whaddaya say? Wanna be the stuff of legend?"
" I'll have to think about this. It's not that I'm not flattered, I am, it's just..." Syaoran looked uncomfortable and Sakura could see that she wasn't going to get an answer immediately.
" I understand. Here's my number," she handed him a card before heading for the door. " I'll need answer by 6 o'clock this afternoon, though."
" Okay," Syaoran gulped. This was big. " I'll show you out."
" Don't worry, I can find my way. You think about it."
With that, Sakura left the apartment in silence with Syaoran holding the card in his hands, shaking. What had he gotten into? He had just been offered by Tomoeda's most wanted to join her little gang and steal something which would make them infamous but in a good way since the public were for some reason on Flawless' side. This wasn't a problem, just an opportunity for a solution.
Many hours had passed since Syaoran had met with Flawless and he had made a decision, with her card in one hand and his phone in the other, he began to dial the number ever so carefully. With every number, his phone emitted a little beep that caused him to tremble. The phone pressed against his ear, every ring shuddered through his body and then, a voice on the other end greeted him.
" Syaoran?"
" I'll do it," Syaoran was as nervous as hell but he tried his best to not sound cowardly.
" That's great! I'll come by tomorrow morning to pick you up. Is 10:30 okay?" Sakura sounded glad that he had accepted her offer.
" That's fine. Bye," Syaoran's nerve wouldn't hold any longer, he ended the call before dialling another number.
" Syaoran?"
" I've accepted."
" Good. Now come back to work, I need some doughnuts!"
" Yes sir."