A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews I received and thanks also to everyone who continue to read this story! I swear I should call this story "Days of the Week" instead since I keep starting with the day. But it works..sort of. I just do it to show the passing of time, I guess (or because I don't know how else to start XD)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, CLAMP does. I just happen to be a crazed fan of this series and decided to write a story using their characters.
Onwards with the story!!
Monday; the day when people of all ages return to their respective work places after a rejuvenating weekend. Of course, Sakura was an exception for two reasons. Firstly, She had already returned to work on Saturday, and secondly her weekend was far from relaxing. After her unexpected visitor Saturday night had turned into an unwanted guest, Sakura couldn't even blink without Syaoran interrupting her. On Sunday, she had been fervently searching through the citizen database for the suspects when Syaoran called asking about groceries and furniture and other random topics. She had finally lost it when he asked what colour paint she thought would look good in the living room. However, the worst part was that her boss had noticed her frustration with the case.
So, here she was, at work again, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, without much luck. She let out another exasperated groan as her head fell into her palms propped up on the desk by her elbows. Why couldn't she see the missing piece? She had no leads or clues, not even a straw to grasp at. She looked again toward the open folder on her desk with even more pictures scattered on her desk. There had been another robbery the night before. It had been exactly like the others. Perfect in every way, not leaving any evidence of a robbery except for the missing item. Sakura closed her eyes for the umpteenth time trying to analyse the situation when suddenly she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." She said and turned toward the now opening door.
Mr. Namikawa stood in the doorframe, one leather-clad foot in the room, cleared his throat and said, "Kinomoto, I need to see you in my office for a moment if you don't mind."
Sakura nodded dumbly and stood up to follow him. This is strange, she thought. Namikawa hardly ever stepped out of his office, and never did he do so in order to ask someone to see him in said office. Sakura straightened her shoulders as she stepped in the office and sat at one of the chairs he motioned to. He looked up at her from his own seat after a few moments and spoke in an almost gentle voice. "I see you've been having problems with this case Sakura." he said.
Sakura's eyes widened at his reference to her by her first name and hesitantly responded, "Uh..n-no Sir, not at all. It's just taking me a little while to um...get back into my routine."
He stared at her for a while and then replied, "Well, that may be the case but this assignment is very important and it can't wait much longer."
"Of course sir, I understand that and whatever worries you may have about me solving this case should be cast away-"
"Exactly my thoughts. That's why I've decided to assign a partner to work with you, you know, to cast away my worries." He revealed.
Sakura's mouth dropped. Shock was a far cry from describing the emotion she was experiencing at the moment. She never worked with a partner. Well, she hadn't for a very long time that is. Ever since her last partner quit, her boss had been resigned to let her work alone, but now he was sure this case was frustrating her and that she needed help if it was ever going to be solved quickly.
"Don't worry, Kinomoto," he continued, "This one's nice, or at least from her file she seems nice. I can't remember ever seeing her before now but she's been here for more than two years and she's more than qualified to work alongside you. She'll be here in a moment so you'll get a chance to meet her."
Sakura's expression had changed from shock to impassive blankness. She waited silently with her boss for this lady to come. The silence was soon broken by a soft knock at the door. The plank of wood opened slowly to reveal a young lady of about Sakura's age with long raven coloured hair and violet eyes who Sakura instantly recognised as the girl from the restaurant, movie theatre and ice cream parlour.
She looked to the two in the room and smiled brightly with a twinkle in her eye before she burst out, "Oh how kawaii!! Kinomoto Sakura, right? I'm Daidouji Tomoyo and I'm going to be your new partner!! Can I call you Sakura-chan? You're just so adorable! This is going to be such fun! We can have sleepovers and go out together while solving the case of course!! We'll be best friends and..." The girl rushed over to Sakura and started pinching her cheeks and pulling at her hair.
Sakura's eyes widened at the girl's antics and looked cautiously over to her boss whose expression might have been hilarious if she wasn't in the situation she was currently. She slowly backed out of Tomoyo's grasp, when said person turned her attention to the colour of the curtains and how good Sakura would look in this colour, and moved toward Namikawa. "Uh...are you sure she's qualified for this job?"
His eyes followed Tomoyo's rapid movements and slowly replied. "Now, I'm not too sure..."
"So, what's first? Can we get something to eat? I'm just starving, how about you?" Tomoyo asked as she and Sakura walked back from Namikawa's office.
"Well, sir said that the case is top priority so I suggest that we get back to trying to solve it." Sakura replied and made a note to herself that she would have to get accustomed to Tomoyo's hyper behaviour.
"Aw! But if we starve, who will solve the case then? And even if we don't die, we'll be really hungry and wouldn't concentrate on what we're supposed to do. Plus you're so skinny, you can use a little food in you." Tomoyo said matter-of-factly.
Sakura sighed in defeat and gave in to her new partner's whims. "Fine, let's get something to eat. What do you want?"
"Hm... How about I make you something? Where do you live?" Tomoyo responded.
"Just a couple of blocks away in Sunstar Gardens, why?"
"Oh great! I'll make lunch there! My house is so far away from here that it'll just take too long and you might get even skinnier!" Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's handed and ran out of the building toward the general area of Sakura's house, dragging the aforementioned house-owner behind her.
'This girl is strange' Sakura thought as she was being yanked down the street, 'She doesn't seem to be the type of person cut out for this kind of business. But then again, before, I guess I never really was either.' Her thoughts were cut short when she slammed into a body. "Ack! Tomoyo, why didn't you tell me you stopped?"
"Well, you looked so contemplative, I didn't want to distract you! Is this your house?" She asked as she looked up at the pink structure.
"Yeah it is, wait, how did you know?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
There was a strange glint in Tomoyo's eyes that Sakura had almost missed before she replied, "It just screams Sakura-chan to me! It's the whole essence of the house that just said 'Sakura-chan lives here' "
Sakura's eyes narrowed a bit but Tomoyo's smiling expression never wavered. Sakura decided to forget about the glint that she saw, if there ever was one, and just lead Tomoyo inside.
As Sakura ushered Tomoyo in and placed her jacket on the table near the door, the first thing that hit her was a wave of odour that smelled as though something was burning. She looked up and saw Tomoyo looking around before her eyes landed on Sakura, "Sakura-shan, are you cooking something already? You're so thoughtful! But it smells more like it's burning." she said innocently.
"Oh no..." Sakura murmured as she ran toward the kitchen. "Syaoran!" she yelled, "Are you cook- trying to cook something?" she corected herself as she burst through the kitchen door to find no one there, but a pot on the stove emitting black smoke. She turned off the stove and doused the pot before returning to the living room to see Tomoyo standing idly still holding her jacket. "Syaoran!" she repeated, "Where are you?"
Tomoyo tilted her head to the side, "Syaoran? Who's that?" As she uttered the last syllable, Syaoran walked through the door with messy, wet hair and his clothing askew. "Oh, Syaoran. You're living with someone Sakura-chan? A man no less." Tomoyo chuckled.
"No it's nothing like that Tomoyo!" Sakura yelled and blushed profusely.
"Don't worry Sakura-chan, I won't tell anybody." Tomoyo whispered back a slight grin still present on her face.
"You called? I was in the shower," an impatient Syaoran said as he tapped his foot on the carpeted floor.
"Oh, yes, were you cooking? Because you nearly burnt down the house." Sakura said sternly, folding her arms across her chest.
"Sorry about that. I don't cook often, so I completely forgot it was on the stove." Syaoran, Sakura noticed, actually looked embarrassed. She grinned, she had finally found his weakness. If she had a video camera, she would have recorded this moment to blackmail him with. But alas, she didn't have one and so was unable to capture it on film but that didn't stop her from embedding it on her memory.
After a short lecture on the importance of not burning down the house, the three persons walked into the kitchen to see what they could salvage from the almost-but-not burnt kitchen. "Oh dear, you're supposed to put the water before the rice, Li." Tomoyo said shaking her head and dumping the pot into the sink.
"I did, but it evaporated before I could put more," he replied stubbornly.
"Well, you two just sit back while I cook up something for us to eat!" Tomoyo clapped her hands excitedly, directed Sakura and Syaoran to two chairs beside the kitchen counter and got started on the food. Tomoyo worked with the precision and expertise of a chef, Sakura noted, and she couldn't help but to remember that this was the girl who had been their waitress at 'Reed's'.
"Hey, Tomoyo, do you have any other jobs?" Sakura asked.
"Nope, I'm just a plain old cryptologist...well I guess that's not so plain," she replied and laughed at her own little joke.
"Oh, I see. Well, do you have a twin then?" Sakura pressed the matter.
"No Sakura-chan," Tomoyo chuckled, "Why do you ask?"
"No reason." Sakura responded. She leaned over to Syaoran and whispered so only he could here, "Doesn't she seem familiar to you? She was the girl from Reed's and the movie theatre and the ice cream shop, wasn't she?"
Syaoran studied Sakura for a while before turning his scrutinizing eyes on Tomoyo. "No I can't say that she looks familiar to me. Maybe she just looks similar. Plus, didn't she say she doesn't have any other jobs? And, she HAS been working in cryptology for more than two years, right? So she couldn't have had any other jobs." He said matter-of-factly.
Sakura nodded reluctantly, she was sure that Tomoyo was the same girl, but Syaoran's thinking was logical, and didn't Namikawa say that Tomoyo had been in the JTPS for more than two years? Wait a second...Namikawa did say that. So how did Syaoran know? She stared at the side of his face, "But I didn't tell you..." she whispered.
Syaoran's head turned when he heard her whisper and he smirked in her direction, returning her stare with equal force. Sakura's mouth opened slightly, 'Those eyes...' she thought, 'They're the same, the same as the other ones...from the videos...' Her eyes widened and she excused herself from the room and ran to the bathroom. "He needs to get out of my house, soon" she whispered to herself, as she tried to convince herself that she was mistaken.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Syaoran smirked to himself, 'Phase two complete.'
There's Chapter 8! I'm impressed that I got it out this fast (a month I think). My inspiration came back. I honestly, hadn't predicted that the story would turn out like this but it still fits with my original draft. For example, Syaoran living with Sakura momentarily, that was a spur of the moment thing. Such is the life of a writer.
Anyways, I think there's only 3 or 4 more chapters for this story, but I'll most likely write a sequel since I plan to end it on a cliff hanger-ish type thing. So, there's going to be a sequel or, I might just continue the story. I guess it doesn't make much sense to just cut off the story and then start another one set only a couple months after this one. Oh well, tell me which one you guys prefer and I'll do that.
Hope you guys liked this chapter and I'll really try to bring out another chapter soon. I apologise for the spelling/grammatical errors and um, yeah, review! You know you want to...
- INVU4URAQT