CHAPTER EIGHT

Deep within the city, within the towering building that is Kanaye Industries, businessman and scientist Hiroshi Kanaye walked along the smooth floors of his hallways. His associates followed closely, giving him their daily reports.

"Sir, I have to be honest with you." One of them said. "I don't think we can afford to throw the Kibou Festival this year. I mean, I haven't seen a drop in sales like this in all my years."

"And how many years would that be?" The man asked. "Listen, son. I've been in the business since I was a boy. I've seen sales patterns like this before. We'll make it."

"Of course, sir. But you see, the odds of us breaking even from it are--"

"Don't ever tell me the odds, Tochigi." The man interrupted. "The Kibou Festival has been a time-honored tradition since my father ran the company and I will continue to uphold that tradition even if it sets me back a few million."

"Y-yes, sir."

For a man pushing 40, Hiroshi was in great shape. Tall, fairly built and always clean shaven. It was no wonder everyone felt comfortable working for a man like him.

"Has the meeting started?" He asked the woman at the desk.

"No, sir. They're waiting for you." She responded.

"Thank you."

The man entered a large boardroom, where a table seated with a dozen directors awaited him. Hiroshi greeted the men and took a seat at the head of the table.

"Good evening, gentlemen." He said with a charming smile. "Now I know sales this term have been declining. Profits are down to an all-time low and the government has made some cuts in our funding. However, I don't think this should slow down our production any bit. Progress is being made, I assure you."

"In what fields?" An older man asked.

"The weapons department has developed a series of flight suits that enable them to attack and fly with the same speed of any jet fighter."

"What about the science department?" Asked another board director. "What progress is being made there?"

Kanaye chuckled. "Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Hiroshi." Said yet another director. "Tell me you're not going through with the Kibou Festival."

The man nodded. "Oh, I am. And hopefully our guest of honor will help boost sales."

"And is our guest of honor going or are you just making this up?"

"She's going, all right." Lorca said from the back of the room. The Spaniard waved at Kanaye and took a seat at the end of the table. "Her father told me himself."

"Christopher Lorca." The director shook his head.

"Hello, Kagawa." He grinned then turned his attention to Kanaye. "You can count on Card Captor Sakura appearing at the festival this weekend, Hiroshi."

"Good man, Lorca. I knew you still had it in you." Kanaye gratefully said.

"Yes, well a charming smile like mine can take ages to wear off."

"Of course." The scientist then got out of his seat and headed for the door. "Gentlemen, the meeting is over. I'll see you all next week."

After all of the directors left the room, Lorca made sure he was the last one then headed for Kanaye's office.

"Hell of a time to throw a festival, don't you think?" Lorca asked.

Kanaye nodded as he went through some of his papers. "Yes, I know. But hopefully things will work out as planned. We can't have any glitches."

"I understand completely."

¬¬¬¬¬

Sakura and Kero headed down the stairs and into the living room as Fujitaka shook his head from disbelief. Sakura grabbed her coat and slipped on her bag then turned to her father.

"I'll see you in a few days." She told him.

"You just be careful out there, Sakura. You don't know what could happen." Her father said.

"Oh, I think I've got an idea of what I'm dealing with." She then hugged her father and kissed him on the cheek as Touya waited for her at the door.

"You take care of your sister, Touya." Fujitaka told his son.

"Hey!" He started. "Who's gonna take care of me? She's the one with the powers!"

"Come on!" Kero called out to Sakura. "We're wasting valuable snacking time!"

Moments later, Touya started his car and drove off with Sakura and her sun guardian in the passenger seat. Fujitaka waved goodbye to them and sighed.

"Be careful." He said under his breath.

¬¬¬¬¬

After a thirty minute drive, Sakura and her brother arrived at Sonomi Diadouji's privately owned airfield. Sakura and Kero looked out the window and noticed all the jets parked out on the lot.

"Wow." Sakura said. "Are we going on one of those?"

Touya grinned. "Sort of."

After parking in the air hangar, Touya got out of his car and met with Yukito, who was hanging around a nearby vending machine.

"Hey! I told you not to snack when we got here!" Touya scolded.

"I couldn't help it, man!" Yuki said with a mouthful of fudge in his mouth.

"Where did you get fudge!?" Kero demanded to know.

Sakura walked around the corner of the building, where Tomoyo, Nakuru, Eriol and Spinel were waiting.

"Well?" Sakura asked. "Does anybody know why we're here? I mean besides renting a plane?"

"Yuki was too stubborn to tell us." Nakuru said. "He said it was a surprise."

"Did Touya tell you anything?" Asked Eriol.

Sakura shook her head. "Nothing."

"And with good reason!" Sonomi said as she came down a flight of stairs with a few of her bodyguards close behind. "Touya and Yukito told me of the situation and I was more than happy to help."

"Help? You, mom? How?" Tomoyo was confused. She then remembered where they were. "Oh, right. The airfield. So, which plane are we taking?"

"Well none of these, I should hope." Sonomi chuckled. "If you'll follow me, please."

Sonomi led the group down the hangar, where a staircase heading below ground level awaited them.

Sakura looked around and noticed Touya and Yuki were missing. "Wait, what about Touya and Yuki? Shouldn't they--"

Sonomi interrupted the young girl. "Don't worry about that right now, Sakura. Just follow me down these steps."

As everyone complied with Sonomi's request, they found themselves approaching a door that read: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Sonomi took out a card from her pocket and slid it through the door's computerized slot. A green light beeped and soon allowed everyone to enter an underground hangar, dark and cool.

"I can't see anything…" Tomoyo said as she grabbed hold of Eriol's arm.

"Let go of my arm, Spinel." Eriol said.

"That's not me!" The winged cat griped. "And would you please stop touching my butt, Nakuru!?"

"Oh, that's your butt!?" Kero was surprised. "Oh, nasty!"

Seconds later, all of the lights in the hangar switched on and everyone could see who was touching who. Upon seeing Tomoyo grabbing hold of his arm, Eriol blushed and chuckled nervously.

"Oh, Tomoyo." He sighed with relief. "It's only you…"

Tomoyo blushed and immediately let go. "I'm sorry. I didn't see who it was. Forgive me."

"No, no. It's perfectly all right."

"Why were you touching my ass?" Spinel shoved Kero.

"Hey, man!" Kero shoved Spinel back. "I was reaching for that candy bar in Nakuru's purse!"

"That's not a candy bar, Kero." Nakuru said, almost blushing.

"Are you sure? It looks like one. It even has a fun little string to pull it out of the wrapper."

"Trust me."

As everyone griped with each other, Sakura stepped forward and looked up at something she didn't expect to see.

"Oh… my… God." She said with awe. "You guys, look!"

Everyone stopped in place and looked up to see what Sakura was so amazed at. They all dropped their jaw and were taken by surprise at the enormous high-tech fighter jet parked inside the hangar. Its sleek, silver chrome design and tinted windows practically brought tears to Sonomi's eyes as she glanced at everyone's facial expressions.

"What do you think?" The woman asked with a giggle.

"Mom? Is that… ours?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yes. I give you the WarHawk. Consider it the team's means of transportation for those hard-to-get-to places."

"Ms. Daidouji, it's amazing." Sakura told her. "It's so… big."

Sonomi nodded. "Yes. It's got bucket seating for up to 10 passengers, two pilot seats, a cargo bay that could hold a tank and weapons systems all throughout the mainframe."

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Tomoyo interrupted. "Weapons systems!?"

"Mm-hmm. We got the idea from one of our toy designs."

"We? Who's we?"

"My investors, of course. They supplied me with all the parts and labor while I came up with the designs and handled all the paperwork."

Tomoyo was confused by all of this. She backed away and started to hyperventilate, prompting Sakura to come to her aide.

"Tomoyo, are you okay?" She asked her friend.

Tomoyo nodded as she breathed heavily. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just… Mom! What were you thinking?"

Sonomi gave her daughter a questionable look. "We want to help. What's wrong with that?"

"Mom, you've supplied us with a flying death machine. I mean, you own a toy company not a munitions cabinet! It's like you're preparing for a war or something!"

"In case you've forgotten, Tomoyo, we've already been at war. And I could have lost you and Sakura and everyone else who matters to this cause. If I'm going to have you risking your life out there with your friends, I might as well do something to help even the odds."

Tomoyo nodded as she started to tear up. She then hugged her mother and smiled. "You're right, mother. I'm sorry."

Sonomi held her daughter close and smiled as well. "It's all right, Tomoyo. There should never be any hidden feelings kept between us."

"Hey, I hate to interrupt this tender moment!" Kero blurted out. "But, uhh… who exactly are we getting to fly this thing?"

Sonomi grinned. "Don't worry, Kero. I have two perfectly good pilots who have been on standby this whole time."

"Really? Well, where are they!?"

"We're right here, doofus!" A familiar voice called out to the doll.

Everyone turned around and was surprised to see Touya and Yukito entering the hangar wearing matching blue uniforms complete with nametags.

"You!?" Sakura nearly fainted. She then came to a realization. "Oh, it all makes sense now. That explains all those late-night trips you've been making."

"That's right. After Sonomi arranged for us to get our piloting licenses three months ago, we spent several nights of training out here." Touya said as he zipped up the top of his suit. "You guys ready?"

Kero then flew around Yukito, examining the uniform. "I'm sorry but for a minute I thought you could already fly!"

"Yue flies!" Yuki snapped. "So if he can do it, then why can't I?"

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Nakuru jumped with joy. "Our own special jet and two handsome pilots ripe for the picking!" She leaped on Touya's back and laughed.

"Get off me, wench!" He cried.

Sakura giggled as she looked up at the plane. "All right, then. Let's do this."

Inside the jet Sakura and Tomoyo strapped themselves on the left side of the plane while Nakuru and Eriol sat on the right. Kero and Spinel hovered above the two pilots as they readied the engines.

"Thrusters are operational and engines are sounding pretty good to me, Touya." Yuki said as he flipped a few switches.

"Roger that." Touya said as he adjusted his steering handle. "And we are now clear for takeoff."

The jet's back thrusters unleashed a powerful blaze that immediately sent the plane flying. As it zoomed off into the night sky, Sonomi and her bodyguards waved goodbye.

"Good luck to you all."