Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN CARDCAPTOR SAKURA NOR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS - THEY BELONG PURELY TO CLAMP. I ALSO DO NOT OWN THE SONG 'GYPSY' BY SHAKIRA
BroodingDarkness: The song being used to break up the parts is pretty appropriate which is why I used it. Anyways, thanks for sticking with me!
This one's a bit of a slow starter, but it's setting up for the final chapter and then the epilogue.
Review Replies:
JBubbles: Awww! Don't worry too much about Tomoyo. Yet. And Yue is always kicking but! Thank you so much for reviewing!
SanguisRubeus: Thank you so much! It's all coming together now, so hopefully it'll all be underway soon! Thank you again!
A big Thank you to all of my reviewers as they always make my day!
Warning: Mentions of violence and sexual content.
"Blah blah blah" is speech
"Blah blah blah" is the person talking on the other end of the phone
####### is a time cut, but with the same people usually at the same place
/Blah blah blah/ is thoughts
/*Blah blah blah*/ is a text message
Gypsy Dance
by Brooding Darkness
Part 16
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Alice calling from the Cirque du Crepuscule. I'm just going to make this a quick call so I'll get right to it: You're through to the Final Round! Congratulations!"
"Oh! Err...Thank you!...Thanks." Blinking down at the document he had just been reading, Syaoran wasn't quite sure how to react. On the one hand he was happy and he wanted to show it, but on the other hand, he was at work and although he was tucked away in his office, he wanted to keep up his appearance of being the cold-hearted boss his employees was used to. "That's great! So, what happens now?"
"Well, the Final starts in two days and it'll be televised on the local station on Saturday at 19:30 – which is Prime Time for a show like this. It's brilliant really! We'll start the show with information cards so that the audience can catch up on who you all are and what you all do- Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to babble! You need to be here for 12:00 prompt so that we can take you through everything that needs to be done, do you understand?" She babbled happily.
"12:00 exactly, so that the show can go live at 19:30 on Saturday. Got it. Anything else?"
"Just bring your own costumes and make sure that you remember three of your previously shown routines and have three more at the ready. Anything else will be shown and told to you once you get to the studio. We'll email you the rest of the details and Gook Luck!"
"Thank you."
Click!
"Hmmm." Leaning back in his chair, Syaoran chewed on the inside of his cheek. He hadn't really focused on the Live-On-TV aspect of the competition so far – in fact it had completely left his mind until the call. He was happy, but still weary. Damn that Hiiragizawa! He was always complicating his life!
*RING RING RING RING*
"Hello?" The CEO sighed into the phone's receiver.
"Maa Maa, Syaoran, you sound exhausted."
"Eriol? What are you, psychic?" Sitting up and leaning onto his desk, the brunette's eyes widened slightly at the person on the other end of the line.
"Why? Were you thinking about me? How sweet," Eriol teased. Scowling, Syaoran could practically see that annoying Cheshire Cat smile. "What were you thinking about me? Was I clothed in your thoughts?"
"Don't be a hentai, Hiiragizawa. And I was thinking just how much of a nuisance you are for putting me into a competition where the Final is a Live Broadcast!"
"You got through to the final? That's wonderful! Let's celebrate!"
"Celebrate? With your case and my status?" Thinking for a moment, Syaoran nodded to himself. "We'll have dinner and a drink at mine if we have to celebrate."
"We don't have to celebrate at all, if you don't want to," the bluenette pointed out, trying not to let his disappointment be heard.
"No, I want to celebrate, we should just keep it out of the public eye right now, though."
"Alright, then. Yours, tonight."
"Tonight."
##################################################
Slamming the brunette against the wall and kicking the door closed behind him, Eriol smashed his lips to Syaoran's enjoying the little moan that the brunette let out. Pressing his hips into the slightly shorter mans, Eriol grabbed the others hips and began steering them through the small hallway and into the living area.
Pulling back slightly to catch his breath, Syaoran smiling lightly. "And here I thought we were on a break," he chuckled before gasping as the bluenette's lips descended to his neck. Arching into the touch, the dancer let his hands roam under the others loosened shirt.
"Damn the break. I want you. Now."
"Okay," Syaoran replied breathlessly. "Bedroom."
Smirking, Eriol dragged the other man as quickly as possible into the brunette's bedroom.
~*~*~'Cause I'm a Gypsy~*~*~
The next day passed quickly for Syaoran, as he finished as much paperwork as possible and arranged with an exhausted Tomoyo – who he is definitely sending on a fully paid vacation when the show is finally done – to make Gypsy a mask from him to wear while he dances on live TV. And the day after that, Syaoran spent half the day in his studio practicing his routines for the show the next day and the second half of the day in his office sorting through the documents for the upcoming weekend.
"Package~!" Meiling sing-songed as she dumped the small parcel unceremoniously onto his desk and on top on the current set of sales reports for the German Branch.
"Thank you," he smiled back. Syaoran had noticed a definite improvement over the past few days in his cousin's behaviour. He didn't know if it was personal or work related – possibly she had 'treated' herself to yet another pair of shoes – but he wasn't about to pry if she was actually going to be nice to him for a change.
"I'm always nice," the red eyed woman huffed, leaning casually against his desk.
"How did you-? Nevermind. Was there a sending card?"
"It was written all over your face, and yes, there was. Tomoyo sent it. What is it?"
"None of your business. Don't you have work to be getting on with?" He asked, raising one eyebrow in amusement.
"Humph! Fine!" Winking, she slid easily off of his desk and back out the door, leaving it slight ajar. /The nosey thing./
Carefully tearing away the paper covered item, a beautiful mask made of silk and lace fell onto his desk. The mask curved around the eyes in a vixen-like manner and the brunette knew that the outer curves of the mask would match the look when worn. Two black silk ribbons fell on each side of the mask, with a delicate black lace over a pearl white silken undercover. The simplistic beauty of the piece left him breathless for a few moments.
How Tomoyo had been able to make this along with everything else she had to do in a day alone... Maybe he had asked a little too much... Or she had already had it in storage for him somewhere and she had dug it out just for this weekend – which was the most likely scenario.
Picking up the phone with a smile, Syaoran knew exactly what outfit he was going to wear the next day.
#################################################
The studio was busy, and Syaoran was grateful that he had thought ahead and wore a plain black mask as there were bound to be one or two people here who might have recognised him. He was given his own changing area – it would be hard pressed to be called a room, since it was more like a cordoned off area with a load of thick curtains separating each dancer's area from the next – and was directed to the main stage after leaving his several changes of clothes hung up on a rail.
Stepping onto the large stage, Syaoran noticed that several of the other dancers were being spoken to by various stage hands. It only took him a moment to spot Maki and he immediately made his way over to her with a soft smile on his face.
"Nervous?" he asked.
"Oh! Yes. Aren't you?" She smiled back, wringing her hands.
"Yes. But I'm more nervous that I'm going to fall flat on my face during a live performance."
"Oh, no! Please don't put those sorts of ideas into my head!" the dark haired woman panicked.
"Sorry! I meant me! You're going to be just fine, Maki. I mean you always are," he consoled her, holding his hands out in what he hoped was a calming effect.
#################################################
"Thank you, sorry, thank you," Eriol murmered as he made his way to his seat in the audience. It was a great view really, and Eriol couldn't help wondering if Syaoran would dance like he did in the club before he had been fired. Smirking to himself at the thought, he sent a last minute text message to his boyfriend eternally grateful that they were no longer on a break.
#################################################
*Buzzzz Buzzzz Buzzzz*
Clicking a button on his mobile, Syaoran smiled happily as he read the borderline filthy message. It was at once irritating and relieving to know that Eriol was in the audience watching. And he half-hoped that the bluenette would recall his first outfit.
"Alright, ready yourselves, people! We're going live soon and you need to finish your stretches if you haven't already done them. We're hoping for no injuries tonight! Thank you!" Called out one of the technicians.
Shoving his phone into one of his bags, Syaoran adjusted his white and black lace mask before stepping out with the rest of the dancers.
"Woah! You look amazing!" Maki blushed.
"So do you," he smiled back, blushing slightly himself at the compliment.
~*~*~Are you coming with me?~*~*~
Migraine in full on mode, Tomoyo wondered just why she had chosen this profession. Yes, she had always enjoyed making clothes and she was good at it. But everyone knew that making your hobby your work would only result in making you hate the hobby in the end. So why had she chosen her hobby as her job?
Only Hell truly knew.
"Ow." Rubbing her temples, the amethyst eyed woman squinted her way to a bottle of water on her textile desk. Textiles. How she had begun to loathe them with a fiery passion since she had started this seasons fashion line.
Stumbling in her seat slightly, she grasped onto the edge of the desk with both hands, world spinning with a great speed. Trying to steady herself, she held her head in one hand while her other stayed clutching to the benches edge.
Five seconds later her vision went black and with a dull thud, her unconscious body fell to the studio floor.
~*~*~I might steal your clothes and wear them if they fit me~*~*~
Groaning inwardly, Yamazaki couldn't believe that he had landed this job. A simple joke and a bad story involving both his and his editor's wife had somehow managed to land him the fashion column. So, here he was, at his wife and her friends catwalk show. The famous London Fashion Show which involved both Dark Angel Fashions and Clow Reed among a number of other fashion companies and designers which were famous all over and around the globe.
Sat next to him the papers freelance photographer, Akizuki Nakuru, was trying hard to hold in her squeals of joy at the outfits and styles currently waltzing down the London Fashion Show's catwalk. She was rocking lightly to the music and taking pictures here and there.
How she had won prizes for her photography work or even how she managed to get such fantastic photos were beyond his knowing, but Yamazaki was grateful that she knew about the gowns and suits walking the stage.
Watching a particularly beautiful brunette woman walk down the catwalk dressed in a sleek green dress, matching stilettos and a hat made of lily's, Yamazaki beamed up at his wife wondering if he could get her in private later on in that particular gown.
Yes, he was one of Syaoran's completely hentai friends. And looking at the lovely vision his wife was currently making, he wasn't going to amend that any time soon.
It took him a few moments after Chiharu had left the catwalk that he realised Sakura had stepped onto it. She was very prettily dressed in a delicate blue ensemble and he smiled up at her in support as this was her first big gig of assorts since she had been outed.
Winking back at him, Sakura smiled brightly at the audience every bit the confidence she had become famous for.
~*~*~Never made agreements~*~*~
Seething through his nose, Yue tried not to grit his teeth as he watched the numbers in the elevator change from Floor 5 to Floor 6. The last straw had been broken for him.
He had received a silent call from who-knows-who and where, along with several badly written letters which had been shoved through his letterbox. Those he had dealt with just fine, the call didn't bother him. He was one of the coldest and most emotionally unavailable people in the known world, but when a sobbing Li Meiling had shown up on his doorstep with a box holding a dead kitten, a line had been crossed.
*DING!*
"Finally," Yue muttered darkly as the doors opened and he stepped out of the small space. Making his way down the hall the silverette passed a number of doors before coming up to the one he had only just recently visited.
Knocking twice sharply, Yue waited as he heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the door before the distinct clicking of a lock being pulled back.
"Oh, you," Cleon sneered.
"Yes. Me. Let's talk," Yue stated, voice full of ice.
~*~*~Just like a gypsy~*~*~
"Ms. Daidouji? Ms. Daidouji? Are you in here?" Laura asked, letting her armful of folded cloth and rolls of sugar-paper fall to the desk nearest to her. "Ms. Daidouji? I have the rest of the materials you asked for."
Scowling in confusion, Laura sighed through her nose with her hands on her hips for a few moments before making her way to the connecting storeroom. Passing one of the back working benches something strange caught her eye. Stopping and taking one step back, her eyes widened as she noticed a set of black-pumped shoes attached to a pair of smooth pale legs.
"Oh my God!"
Rushing over to the unconscious body of her boss, Laura barely took in the pale complexion, ruffled clothes and bleeding nose as she dialled 999 for an ambulance.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God! Please wake up! Please wake up-Hi! Yes! My boss is unconscious on the studio floor..."
~*~*~I won't back down 'cause life's already bit me~*~*~
Wringing his hands in nervousness, Syaoran let Gypsy take over. Almost instantly the brunette stopped shifting his weight and his nerves became steel. This is what Gypsy lived for. This is why Gypsy existed. For the spotlight. For this moment in time.
Letting everything else except his delight and excitement go, he felt much better about watching Maki perform on the stage. She was doing wonderfully, moving gracefully along the stage as though the music was a part of her – much as he had always felt when he took to the stage. Glancing beyond the stage from his little place behind the full, thick red curtains Gypsy searched out his boyfriend.
Grinning when his eyes fell on Eriol, he sighed happily at where they had finally ended up. They were no longer on a break. No Ross and Rachael for them. Hooray!
The grin quickly left his face as he watched Eriol quickly stand up and make his way up to the doors marked 'EXIT', putting his phone to one ear. Brow furrowed in worry, the bluenette glanced back at the stage while speaking quietly into the mobile. Reading Eriol's lips the best he could, Syaoran just about managed to catch the words 'Tomoyo', 'hospital' and 'don't know'.
Breath catching in his throat, Gypsy was gone in half a moment and Syaoran was back in charge. Syaoran turned on his heel and rushed to his little changing area grabbing his mobile and checking his texts. He had received only one since the last time he had checked it and it was from Eriol.
/*Tomoyo's in hospital. I'm heading there right now.*/
Grabbing his bag, leaving his costumes on the rack, he dashed back to his place behind the curtain and saw that Eriol had already left. He watched Maki for a few seconds longer, then turned and made his way out of the building.
Three minutes later, he was in the car-park running for the ever familiar black Ford Mondeo. Climbing inside the passenger seat, he threw his bag onto the backseat.
"Go!" He ordered.
Pulling away from the car-park, Eriol barely managed to keep himself at the speed limit. "It's okay. She's gonna be okay."
"I knew... I knew something was wrong! I've known something was wrong and I didn't do anything about it!" Syaoran cried.
"We both did. I didn't do anything, either. Sakura didn't do anything. We all knew that she'd been under a lot of pressure lately, and that she hadn't been getting enough sleep. Yet none of us did any about it."
"We should've."
"I know."
Grasping the brunettes hand for a few seconds, Eriol tried to send as much comfort as he could afford through their hands before putting it back onto the wheel.
~*~*~ And I won't cry, I'm too young to die ~*~*~
"Well? What do you want?" Cleon sniped at the silverette.
"Stay away from Meiling."
"Is that it?" The blonde raised one eyebrow in a bored motion. "Because I haven't gone near her since you were last here – uninvited at that."
"If you send her anything else, letters, boxes, silent calls, nasty calls, calls of any kind, letters of any kind, gifts of any kind – I will hunt you down and no matter where you run or hide I will find you and you will wish you had never met me."
"Oooo! I think that's the most you've probably spoken in your entire lifetime, right?" the blonde sneered, his mouth upturning in a snarl1.
"Fortunately you haven't featured and won't be featuring in more than ten minutes of my life. Ten minutes which I won't even remember twenty minutes from now," Yue glared back.
"You know, I don't know you and before last week I didn't even know that you existed. Yet somehow you've barged into my home twice, threatened me and then dismissed me in the same sentence. If anyone's being insulted here, it's me."
"If you hadn't noticed, yet – I don't care. I don't care about anything or anyone beyond my twin and his happiness. But a line has been crossed with Ms. Li and I'm going to make sure that it never happens again."
"So, you care about your twin, his happiness and Ms. Li? If I didn't know better – and honestly, I don't – I'd say that you were in love with her," Cleon smirked, chewing in his bottom lip in what the blonde hoped was knowingly.
"Like you said. You don't know me. At all."
"Well, either way."
Stepping forward, Cleon raised his fist and punched Yue straight in the face.
~*~*~If you're gonna quit me~*~*~
"Sakura! Quick! There's a phone call for you from the hospital."
"What? Why?" Zipping up the lavender skirt for her next outfit, the green eyed model grabbed the cordless phone being handed to her instantly pressing it to her ear. "Yes?"
Back in the audience, Yamazaki was trying his hardest to ignore Nakuru and take some actual notes on the exhibition – although fashion wasn't his forte, he did know how to pick out the smart models from the dumb ones, and it was the only thing keeping him awake besides the woman next to him.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Kinomoto missed her turn," Nakuru commented, fine brow furrowed.
"What? She did?" Sitting straight up, Yamazaki peered at the men and women crossing the catwalk, making a count of those leaving as well and coming. She had missed her turn. "I wonder..."
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"Backstage. Don't worry! My wife's back there so I can get access," he replied, standing up and forcing his way to the back benches before rushing to the V.I.P area. Flashing a 'spouse badge', as he liked to call it, he barely caught Chiharu and Sakura before they made to leave through the back exit.
"What's happening?" Yamazaki asked in a rush.
"Tomoyo's collapsed, she's at the hospital," Chiharu replied, obviously taking control as Sakura looked like she was about to burst into tears.
"Let's take my car. I'll drive you."
~*~*~'Cause I'm a Gypsy~*~*~
Notes:
1Imagine Joffrey from 'Game of Thrones'. Gotta love the actor, he's fantastic at it and it's gonna follow him around for the rest of his career.
BroodingDarkness: So, things have finally reached a crescendo, and now I'm hoping that the last chapter and the epilogue will step up to all my expectations of this fic. Anyways, thank you for reading and I hope you review. Flames are just as welcome as praise! Thanks!
