CHAPTER TWELVE
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, sorry for that last note. It was just a joke. I don't give a crap what age you are. Just… oh, forget it! Just read the story. Oh, and in case some of you are confused or just didn't plain listen to me before... this story takes place a year and a half after the 2nd movie. So Sakura and Li are well into their early teens. As for the whole marriage thing? It's kind of a Chinese traditon to arrange a marriage at an early age. Y'know, kind of like how Meiling asserted her engagment to Li back in the old days? Phew. Thank God that never happened, eh? Everyone caught up? 'Cuz I'm not...
Rudolph desperately tried to avoid the bullets Santa was shooting at him but to no avail. The red-nosed reindeer finally fell along the red, slushy ice and gazed up at his former master, who was loading another round into his rifle. Then, with a tear in his eye, Rudolph asked him, "W-why?"
"Why!?" The fat man hacked. "Because I said so!"
And with the pull of the trigger, the reindeer--
OH, HELL NO! WE AIN'T GOING THROUGH THIS SHIT AGAIN! CHANGE STORIES NOW!
Sorry. Gimme a sec…
PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT WHILE THE AUTHOR CHANGES STORIES. IN THE MEANTIME, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO POP IN A CD, OPEN A BAG OF YOUR FAVORITE JUNKFOOD OR ANYTHING THAT MIGHT HELP YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER TO THE FULLEST EXTENT. THANK YOU.
The next morning found Touya and Yukito readying the jet as everyone loaded their belongings onboard. Li spoke one last time with his mother about the matter concerning his future with Sakura.
"You're sure about this?" She asked him.
"Yes." The boy said as he watched Sakura board the WarHawk. "I want to marry her. I love her. I don't care how long I have to wait. As long as it happens one day."
"Then it shall. Pending her father's approval, of course."
"That'll be my next challenge." He gulped. The boy then hugged his mother and kissed her good-bye, eventually boarding the jet with his friends.
Inside the plane, Kero and Spinel hovered around the cockpit and watched the pilots fiddle around with their instruments.
"Hey, what's that button do?" Kero pointed out.
"Don't touch it." Yuki brushed the doll away.
"Okay." The doll paused for a moment then pointed out another object. "How 'bout that? What is that?"
"Kero, do you mind? I'm trying to pilot this thing."
"Am I annoying you?" Spinel asked.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"You're positive."
"Yes."
After an awkward pause, Spinel wanted to make absolutely sure. "Because if I'm annoying you, you can tell me!"
"I know that!" Yuki started to lose his patience.
"I'm annoying you, aren't I?"
"Well, now you are!"
"Will you guys knock it off!?" Touya snapped.
"Yeah, give 'em hell Touya!" Kero cheered.
"You shut up! Go find a teddy bear to hump or something!"
"How dare you!?" Kero growled.
"Yeah, you know he likes bunny rabbits!" Spinel joked.
"Oh, you son of a--!" Kero tackled the cat to the floor and started beating the crap out of him.
Everyone else could hear the ruckus going on inside the cockpit and laughed. After a while, Sakura looked over to Eriol to ask him something.
"Eriol?" She started.
"Yes, Sakura?" The blue-eyed boy looked at her.
"What do you expect the Demon Knights will do once they're all revived?"
"I don't know. We have to find some way of sealing those things away before more people get hurt."
"How did Clow Reed do it?"
"With his magic staff. And I'm afraid, Sakura, yours is long gone."
"There has to be another way."
"I wish there was."
Li shook his head. "How can we beat something that won't stay down?"
¬¬¬¬¬
Hours later, the WarHawk landed on the private airfield, where a large group of fanatics awaited the group. Upon her descent down the ramp, Sakura was immediately swamped with people holding posters, pictures, albums and various other objects, asking for Sakura's autograph.
"Sakura! Sakura!" Several shouted.
"Sign my poster, please! Sakura?" A young girl asked.
Another young girl waved her doll in the air. "Sakura! Sign this! Please, Sakura! Please!"
"Sakura, will you sign my burrito!?" A man dangled a greasy wrapper around.
As the young girl found herself completely surrounded, she decided she had no choice but to appease her adoring fans. She was uncomfortable with all the attention but she didn't want to seem rude.
Just then, Sonomi walked through the crowd and shooed them all away. "Okay, that's it! Go home! Go! C'mon!" She clapped her hands to scare them away. "Let's go! Go away! Hapaya! Hapaya! Go! Now!"
"Ms. Daidouji, I thought this was a private airfield." A worn out Sakura said.
"Oh, I know. But one of my men thought he could make a quick profit by having you sign things upon your arrival."
"Oh."
"Don't worry. I sacked him."
"You didn't have to."
"Good. I didn't."
"Sakura!" Fujitaka appeared from behind several of the gatherers.
The young girl rushed over to her father and hugged him tightly. "Dad…" She said happily.
"Sakura, there's somebody I'd like you to meet."
Christopher Lorca stepped from behind Fujitaka and shook the young girl's hand. "Sakura Kinomoto. A pleasure to meet you at last. Your father can't stop talking about you."
"Nice to meet you, sir."
"And you as well. So I hear you're going to appear at the Kibou Festival this weekend."
"Y-yes…" Sakura had almost forgotten about it.
"Would you like to meet my employer?"
¬¬¬¬¬
Inside the Kanaye office building, Sakura, Li, Eriol and Tomoyo walked around the halls as Hiroshi Kanaye personally gave them a tour.
"You see, Sakura, we are the leading company in military and domestic technology. My father started the company when I was a young boy and I have continued his legacy for several years now." The businessman said.
"Then why do you need me to help boost sales?" Sakura thought aloud.
"Oh, it isn't just that. Our investors fear we've lost our touch with the public domain and so we're reaching out to a whole new level by having you appear as the guest of honor." He said with a wink in his eye.
"Guest of honor?" Li asked.
"Not to worry, Mr. Syaoran. You and the rest of the team will be given your due credit."
"Team?" Tomoyo said with that starry look in her eye. "He called us a team!"
Hiroshi thought for a moment. "Well I'd say you are. You've got those winged creatures following you around, don't you? And with Mr. Hiiragizawa and Li's cousin Meiling, I'd say you're an unstoppable team at best."
"How did you know Meiling and I were cousins?" Li asked the man.
"News travels fast." The 40 year old pointed out to a nearby news rack with Meiling and Li's faces on the cover of a newspaper.
"Mr. Kanaye?" Sakura said shyly.
"Yes, Sakura?"
"What kind of projects have you been working on?"
"Well…" The man led them into a testing lab, where several scientists in white coats worked on various projects. "In our medical department, we have come up with something quite extraordinary."
Li noticed one of the files sitting on a desk and read the label aloud. "Project Genesis? What's that?"
Kanaye headed for a table and picked up small vial of blue liquid. He slowly approached the group and gently raised the vial in front of them. "Almost ten years of research have gone into making this one vial. And if things go right with our investors, it'll be ready for mass development."
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"This, my dear Sakura, happens to be the key to everlasting life. Or at least we hope."
Eriol raised his eyebrow, somewhat doubting the man's statement. "Everlasting life?"
"Imagine facing death right in the eye and telling him to piss off. That's what this is. Instant rebirth. We're calling it the Genesis Elixir."
"The Genesis Elixir…" Tomoyo suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. "I don't think I like the sound of that."
"And why not, my dear? Put simply, it creates life from lifelessness."
"And what if it's used on something that's already alive?" Sakura asked the man straight up.
Kanaye was stumped, seeing as he'd never thought about it. "I… I don't know. But that's why we have test trials."
"Well, I hope you're successful."
"So do I."
Just then, one of the security guards from the building rushed over to Kanaye. "Sir! Sir!"
"Yes, what is it?"
"The train station in downtown Tomoeda is under attack! I think some people have been reported as injured."
"Tragic. Why tell me?"
"Because, sir. It's one of our trains."
"Oh, dear God." The scientist then turned his attention to Sakura and her friends. "I hate to ask you this…"
"You don't have to." Sakura said with a grin. "We're already on it."
"We are?" Li joked.
"Oh yeah." Sakura flipped through her cards then returned them to her bag. "All right, guys. Let's go clean up the city."