DISCLAIMER: This plot is all my imagination, however some of the characters are not mine. Those characters belong to CLAMP and I am just borrowing them, ok? So don't sue me!!! I don't gots no money...
A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews and your patience. I passed all of my mock exams!!! But I won't bore you with my post exam excitement, and I'll get straight down to THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THIS ARC!!!!!!! I'm so proud (tear tear) I would like to inform you all that I will be taking an EXTREMELY short vacation from this story for the moment. After mock exams comes real exams don't ya know it, so in order for me to not fail in life, I will be concentrating on those exams (which end in June). But don't worry, I'll be sure to keep writing (just not posting) and by the end of my exams I'll probably have two chapters waiting for you guys. I'm so nice I know. I've already started plotting out the second arc which seems to be getting very complicated. (And I've only been planning it.) The kinks will be smoothed out as soon as I can think of something that would make sense (rather than everyone randomly dying because a giant meteor crashed into the earth). Anyways, I guess that's enough ranting!
Onwards!!
"Hello everyone," Eriol greeted as he entered the large room. Three pairs of eyes raised to look at the newcomer.
"Uncle Eriol!" A young girl yelled and ran up to the man, reaching up to indicate she wanted him to lift her up.
"Hello Mei-Mei!" He replied referring to the child by the nickname he had given her. He lifted her light body and spun her around to end up facing a grown woman that hadn't even looked up from the computer screen when he entered. He stared at her a while as he put the girl back on the ground and she ran back to her chair and her previous interest of the colouring book on the table.
"What, Hiiragizawa?" The woman now turned to look at him, her mouth pressed into a thin line, annoyed at his staring.
"Still upset my dear?" The blue-eyed man walked over to a free chair and sat down as her eyes followed him.
"Why wouldn't I be?" The girl with raven hair glared at him as though he was insane for thinking she would not be angry with him.
The spectacles he was wearing glinted as he leaned back in the chair and replied calmly, "Come now Meiling, I did get her here didn't I?"
The young woman scoffed and turned back to what she was doing, "That may be so, but you didn't comply with the direct instructions you were given."
"You and your plans," he responded waving his hand nonchalantly, "You can't really expect me to follow a plan where Syaoran gets to have all the fun while I just sit there."
Meiling could barely control her frustration at the man, "Technically, you didn't 'just sit there'. And Syaoran 'has all the fun', as you say, because he follows instructions!" She practically yelled the statement at him, her hands moving faster across the keyboard in front of her.
"Hmm... you may have a point there." Eriol smirked.
Meiling stopped her rapid typing. Hiiragizawa was impossible! She stood up abruptly and stalked over to the chair he was seated at, "Listen, you!" She poked his chest roughly for emphasis, "You jeopardized all of us with your haphazardness!" All eyes were now on the scene that was unfolding. They knew this was a normal occurrence between the two...acquaintances, but it was always fun to watch.
Eriol merely blinked at her sudden motion, "I was only having some fun, there was no need to worry."
That was it. Meiling had lost her cool. She lunged at the man in the chair, grabbing for his neck and wrestling him onto the floor while shouting incoherently. Syaoran, who had been observing the conversation struggling to not laugh, quickly rushed forward, clutched Meiling's shirt collar and dragged her up still struggling. Eriol slowly got up grinning and rubbing his neck where she had previously attached herself.
"Stop your bickering you two, Sakura's flight will be landing soon and we still need to get everyone in place." Syaoran said, guiding Meiling back to the chair she had occupied. He stood in front of the room and cleared his throat gaining the attention of the three other adults present. "Now, is group C in place?" He asked looking at Toushi, Meiling's husband and one of the coordinators of their scheme. The man nodded and Syaoran then turned to Meiling saying, "You know what to do right?" Meiling grumbled a yes and he turned his attention to Eriol, "Group A?" Eriol nodded adding an affirmative. "Good, now I'll just have to keep an eye on Group B and things should run smoothly. I'll see you all later." He said goodbye and walked toward the doorway. "Come along Mei, I'll take you to school," Syaoran said once more before leaving with the little girl.
As the plane landed, Sakura poked Tomoyo awake, the girl had fallen asleep as soon as the plane took off. Tomoyo's eyes opened groggily and upon hearing that the plane was now on the ground she stood up in the aisle, stretched a little and took her hand bag down from the overhead compartment. She checked her watch which was set to Hong Kong time and saw that it was now ten o'clock. 'Wow, this plane is very prompt,' she thought idly as she and Sakura followed the line of people out of the plane and into the airport.
As they exited customs, they were swarmed by a huge crowd awaiting their family members or friends. The two girls pushed through the people and came out near the exit of the airport, near the taxis. Sakura tapped Tomoyo's shoulder who looked up from the floor, trying to avoid stepping on anyone. "While we were on the plane I had an idea!" Sakura shouted over the crowds. Tomoyo leaned her ear in closer so she could hear. "I was thinking, isn't it strange that the only stores the thieves targeted were jewellery stores?" Sakura continued.
"Well, jewellery is more expensive than most other things sold normally," Tomoyo reasoned.
Sakura placed a finger to her chin and her eyes glinted, "That may be true but they hardly took any jewellery. If they wanted to, they could have taken everything in the stores and we still wouldn't be able to track them, but they didn't. I think it's another message."
Tomoyo's eyes widened in realization. Sakura was on to something. "That's right! They really like these hidden messages." Tomoyo chuckled a little before continuing, "So what do you think we should do? Check every single jewellery story in Hong Kong? There must be hundreds!"
Sakura smiled, "Yes, I thought of that too. While I was looking through my tourist guides they all advertised Hong Kong's famous street markets. This is just a guess, but I think that somewhere in one of these markets is where the thieves reside."
Tomoyo broke into a smile, "Sakura-chan, you're amazing! Well which market should we tackle first? There must be lots that sell jewellery."
Sakura's face contorted, "I haven't figured that out yet. There are lots of markets and most of them sell some sort of jewellery."
Tomoyo's face didn't falter, "That's okay Sakura-chan! You came up with a big lead! We can go to the hotel and do some research on which markets specialize in selling jewellery and we can start on those tomorrow!" Tomoyo smiled brightly and Sakura couldn't help but return the action. She shuffled around in her handbag and took out the booklet she had on the hotel she and Tomoyo were staying at. She plucked it out of the bag and handed it to Tomoyo who was next to her.
"That's the hotel," she said. Tomoyo examined the booklet and nodded commenting that she couldn't wait to take a dip in the pool. They began walking toward the pavement when suddenly Sakura bumped into someone. She quickly turned around to see a little girl frantically picking up fliers that had spilled in the collision. Tomoyo and Sakura hurriedly bent down to help collect them while Sakura apologized to the girl profusely. The girl looked up and her sharp red eyes caught Sakura's green ones. The little girl merely nodded and slowly stood up, her eyes never straying from Sakura's. Sakura seemed mesmerized by the young girl...she seemed so familiar. After a minute or so the girl's face broke into a soft, timid smile before she turned and walked away into the crowd. Tomoyo leaned over to Sakura and whispered, "That was weird." The other girl merely nodded a little and turned back to continue their walk to the taxi stand. Tomoyo followed behind her, one of the fliers in her hand. "Hey Sakura-chan check this out, it's advertising a jewellery store."
Sakura turned to the flier in Tomoyo's hand, 'How ironic,' she thought and took it to observe it carefully. Her eyes passed over the words and she instantly saw something amiss. She handed it back to Tomoyo, "Read it carefully," she said looking straight into Tomoyo's eyes. Tomoyo glanced at the paper in her hand once more, slowly going through each line and absorbing the information. As she got to the fourth line her eyes bulged. "It says 'Sakura'." she whispered to herself and looked to Sakura.
Sakura nodded and took the flier once more. This was definitely not a coincidence. It was so obvious, did they really think she was that dumb? The flier was written in Chinese, of course, advertising the sale of sakura petal necklaces. However the oddity was that the word 'sakura' was written in Japanese characters while everything else was in Chinese. Sakura's eyes passed over the crowd. She couldn't see the little girl anywhere. She was really getting frustrated with all these disappearing and reappearing acts that kept happening around her. She looked at Tomoyo and after a few silent moments of thought, she said, "Whoever our bandits are really want us to find them." She waved the flier as proof and pointed to the name of the store, "This is where we have to go."
Tomoyo nodded in agreement. She could tell Sakura was really getting annoyed at this case so she suggested they go later that day to get it over with. Sakura agreed and walked off to the taxi stand once again. Tomoyo's eyes softened, although she had only known Sakura for a few days she felt a certain responsibility to her. As if she was in charge of her well-being, sort of like a big sister. Tomoyo smiled a little at the thought and she started after Sakura.
"They're closed?" Tomoyo said confusedly as she and Sakura glanced at the sign on the door. After a short break at the hotel and a quick lunch, the girls had decided to head to the store. On the flier, it said the store opened from ten to six with a break from twelve to one, so they found it strange that at quarter to two the store was closed.
It was even stranger that their cab driver hadn't been able to find the place even though it was in an area that was bare of any sort of building other than a telephone booth a few metres away, which in itself was quite strange. The girls looked around, their driver had long since abandoned them muttering incoherently about things appearing out of no where. Sakura knew the feeling. If she didn't know better she would have believed that this 'building' was a temporary structure merely built here for her arrival. But she did know better and the idea that someone would be so determined to get her alone somewhere that they would build an entire building just to accommodate that purpose was unfathomable. She nearly laughed at the thought.
Sakura was pulled from her thoughts by Tomoyo, "Why don't we just break in?"
Sakura's eyes widened. She never thought Tomoyo was capable of even suggesting something like that and was at a loss for words. "B-but isn't that...illegal?" she stammered.
"Come on Sakura-chan, you can't tell me you've never done anything illegal." Tomoyo chided and chuckled a little at the other girl's facial expression.
"Well, I can't say that I have. I usually had permission from the government to break in somewhere since it was usually for one of my cases." Sakura admitted bashfully.
"Sakura-chan, we're friends right?" Tomoyo asked and waited for the girl to nod before continuing,"Right, then would I ever do anything that wasn't for your own good?" Tomoyo looked at Sakura earnestly. Sakura thought there was a second meaning behind her words but she was cut short from thinking about it when Tomoyo said with a big grin on her face, "Plus, there's a first time for everything! This is for a case, we can explain everything after." She then began to walk around the building observing the possible points of entry. Sakura stood rooted. She was knowingly going to break the law and to catch thieves. She couldn't help but smile a little at the irony. "Sakura-chan!! I found something!" Tomoyo yelled from the side of the building. Sakura walked toward her and she noticed Tomoyo sliding one of the windows open to allow them to enter. As Tomoyo successfully climbed through the square-shaped hole, she beckoned Sakura in as well, who followed quite reluctantly.
Sakura grabbed onto the top of the window sill and lifted her self up so that her legs could fit through the hole, now she was sitting on the sill and merely ducked her head and slid into the store. She grabbed her heart which was pumping nonstop with the thrill of doing something criminal. If she wasn't so fearful of going to jail she would consider a career as a thief just for the rush. Or at least that's what she told herself she would do. She moved to walk forward when she bumped into Tomoyo.
"Sakura-chan can you feel that?" Tomoyo questioned.
Sakura's heart slowed down and she finally noticed what Tomoyo was talking about, the hairs on her arms and neck were standing on end while the roots of her hair felt strange. She wasn't cold, the room was strangely hotter than outside. And she wasn't scared so why were the hairs standing on end. The two girls slowly walked around the room trying to figure out the source of the strange phenomena when suddenly something caught Sakura's eye, there were several miniature metal cylinders jutting out of the base of the wall on all of the walls. She slowly walked toward them and as she edged closer the hairs stood even taller. She jumped and for that split second, the hairs relaxed but as soon as her feet neared the ground they resumed their previous action.
"Tomoyo, I think it's some sort of magnetic or electric field we're standing in..." She commented slowly.
"That's new..." Tomoyo replied walking toward her. "Do any of your guidebooks advertise this?" she asked as she reached Sakura's side.
"Nope..." Sakura couldn't help but wonder what was the point of installing something like this. Maybe to attract the metal in the jewellery if they were stolen? But Sakura wore a metallic necklace and Tomoyo had on some jewellery as well, but those weren't being attracted to the floor. Maybe it was used as a security system...but how could that work? She voiced this to Tomoyo who gasped.
"That's true! Sakura-chan, I think you may be right; with the right technology people can read interruptions in a magnetic or electrical field. If someone was watching the behaviour of these fields while we were walking around they would definitely be able to tell that someone was here." Tomoyo spewed out. Her tone was anxious.
Sakura's eyes widened as the information sunk in. They were going to be caught. She panicked, her breath came out in short raspy gasps. She turned to Tomoyo and was on the verge of tears, she didn't want to be known for a felony. Tomoyo grasped her shoulders, "Sakura-chan! Control yourself. Listen, I think I can hear sirens."
Sakura quieted down a little before starting back even worse after confirming Tomoyo's suspicions. Tomoyo had to shake Sakura to calm her down. "Sakura-chan, I have an idea," she looked toward the front door as she heard the screeching of tires. "I'll stay here and take care of these guys, ok? You go on ahead through the back room and catch those criminals."
Sakura's eyes lingered to the door then back to Tomoyo, "But I can't just let you..." she was silenced by Tomoyo's stare.
The other girl pushed Sakura through the back door into the hallway and closed it before she had a chance to protest. "It's your case! You go solve it," she said loud enough for Sakura to hear through the door. Sakura moved to open the door but heard the shouts of men in the other room. Her hand froze on the doorknob as she listened for a while. There was silence when she assumed Tomoyo was trying to explain and then a rush of voices again. She was tempted to go help Tomoyo but she knew that she couldn't. She might possibly make Tomoyo's story unbelievable if she walked out in the middle. So with a solemn heart, as though she had left a friend to die, she slowly turned to face the hallway and walked through the swinging doors on the other side of the room into the back room.
The room was long and wide, and obviously used for storage. There were boxes upon boxes of jewels stacked neatly in rows along the length of the room. Sakura walked around looking for any sign of a living thing but came up empty handed. She stood still, with her hand on her chin, why would they lead her to a building and not be in it? Maybe, she thought, there was another clue somewhere in here. She walked back to where she had entered and tackled the first stack of boxes, opening and searching through each one in hopes of finding something. She must have spent at least ten minutes searching until she finally gave up. She had gotten through three of the seven rows of boxes, she didn't have time for this, Tomoyo might not be able to hold off the police for much longer. Maybe they had read the flier wrong, maybe they weren't supposed to come to the jewellery store but rather, there was another hidden message somewhere in it. With that thought, Sakura pulled the flier out of her pocket and started trying to decipher it.
Sakura sighed after reading it for the third time. There was absolutely nothing that she could see. But, she couldn't just give up now that Tomoyo had practically risked her record for this. Sakura closed her eyes, took a deep breath and prepared herself to start looking again. As she opened her eyes, she noticed an odd painting on the wall to the right of her. She walked closer to observe it, it seemed to be the only thing of any vibrant colour in the room, strange she hadn't noticed it before, yet it seemed so familiar to her. She was mesmerized by the intricacy of it. One knew it was a painting and yet there seemed to be indentations like a sculpture. Sakura gently ran her finger across the painting and became even more entranced as she felt the ridges from the paint. Her finger sunk and rose as the plains of the painting changed.
However, she was snapped out of her reverie when she heard shouting coming from outside. She swore silently and glanced back at the flier in her hand, "...Sakura petal necklaces and lockets on sale..." she read. How strange, none of the boxes she had searched had any lockets in them. She decided to analyze it quickly one more time. The Sakura petals symbolized her. The store is where she was supposed to come, so what's with the locket? The shouting was getting louder. Sakura panicked...locket, locket, locket! What did they want? "...and lockets..." Was she supposed to come with a locket? Maybe that meant Tomoyo, but there was no way Tomoyo was going to be able to come here and help even if she hadn't been arrested yet.
Well, literally, she had come with a locket, she thought and absently reached at her neck for it. Were they talking about that? But there was no special meaning behind it, it was merely a gift from her father years ago. As she heard footsteps coming toward the door, she figured she might as well give it a shot. She took off the locket from around her neck and opened it. Now what? Her eyes landed on the family photo inside. It was one of the few pictures with all four of her family members in it. She had always loved the second picture inside too, it was abstract...just like... She glanced back at the picture on the wall. She mentally slapped herself. How very obvious. She closed back the locket and placed it against the painting in the largest of the many indentations and the locket seemed to fit snuggly. She heard a creaking sound behind her and when she turned there was a hole where there had once been the floor. She grabbed the locket and kneeled down beside the hole, noticing it opened to a slide. She sat on the edge, lowered herself onto the smooth metal and felt herself slip down the cool silver substance.
She landed neatly on the ground with her face flushed and hair messy from the wind that had been blowing in her face. She smiled giddily, she hadn't been on a slide for a very long time. She looked around the large room and noticed the same painting on the wall in front of her. She quickly placed the locket in the same depression and she heard the creaking noise echoing from where she had just came from. It would be a little weird if someone were to walk in and see a large hole in the floor, she thought. She replaced her locket around her neck and walked through the only doorway in the room. It was a one way trip from now because she was sure she wouldn't be able to climb back up the steep, smooth slope.
"Come now, calm down, this is not what it looks like," Tomoyo tried to explain. At least a dozen pistols were aimed at her as she lifted her arms slowly in the air. The men in front of her whispered to each other and she frantically tried to think of an excuse. "My uh...brother, works here and he told me to come visit him today but the store was locked...and...I thought he was just playing a prank on me! Yeah because he usually does that at home, lock me out of my room and force me to climb in through the window so that's what I did here too...because...I thought it was..a joke.." She trailed off as the policemen just continued to stare. One of the men in front, presumably the leader, whispered something and the rest of the troop slowly lowered their weapon.
"What is your brother's name?" the leader shouted.
Tomoyo's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to take this lie too far but the man was expecting an answer. Tomoyo smiled a little and said, "Well I was about to go in the back to find him, you can question us both afterward." She was an expert at dodging questions. She began to turn around so she could go in the door through which she had pushed Sakura but she was stopped by the shouts of every single law enforcer behind her.
"Wait just a second there miss," the leader said, "why don't we just take a look see and find him for you?" The man stared her straight in her eyes. From her position in front of the door she could hear shuffling from the other side. She couldn't let them in there with Sakura still inside. She had to think quick, they were walking toward her.
"Uh, hold on! Um, you can't go in." She said to them.
"Why not?"
Her mind was rushing with ideas. Why couldn't they go in? There was a bomb? No that would cause even more trouble. Should she faint? No, that wouldn't stop them. Ah ha! "Because you see, my brother, he's...mentally disabled and you might scare him. The owners of this store are friends of the family so they graciously let him work here despite his disability." She related her entire 'family' history and the relationship with this store owner and by the end of her lengthy explanation, some of the policemen were in tears, but not the leader. Darn.
"That's all well and good, but we received reports of a break in here and I don't intend to lose my job by not thoroughly investigating." The man took off his shades and started to walk toward the door. Tomoyo rushed to his side spurting out reasons to try to convince him not to enter the room but he kept walking.
As he was about to open the door, she shouted, "No! Sakura..." However, they both noticed the room was empty. "..petals are fragile! The Sakura petals are fragile and you can't just barge in there, you might have knocked the boxes down..." She quickly covered her outburst, inwardly relieved that Sakura had found the way.
Sakura vaguely heard the voices of the policemen as she made her way down the winding hallway from the room she was in previously. She couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of seeing where she came out at the end of this underground tunnel, and yet she was also scared. Who knew what could be at the end? What she was really wondering about was her locket. She had been wearing it since she could remember, only thinking it was a mere memento but here it opened secret passageways? She was greatly intrigued by it all despite the constant fear of the truth that nagged at her as well, knowing that the whole story would be revealed eventually.
She walked along, noting that the ground was slightly tilted downward meaning that she was going further underground. Sakura also noted that this tunnel was used often considering that there were lanterns hoisted on the walls on either side of her. Soon enough, she reached a small room. The floor was tiled here unlike in the tunnel where it was concrete. The room was dark. The only light source was the lamp hanging above a staircase in the centre of the room. Apart from that, the room was completely empty. The staircase led up and Sakura, starting to get a little claustrophobic, didn't hesitate before ascending them.
She had climbed four flights of stairs and she was beginning to feel a little winded. She silently cursed herself for being out of shape. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have two deserts at lunch. She paused a little, and looked around. The stairs were winding around a hollow square tower. She looked down over the edge of the stairs and saw the flight she had finished climbing, She turned upward and groaned at the site. There seemed to be no end! She saw stairs fading into darkness. She let out an exasperated sigh. She wasn't going to get anyway by complaining, so she continued along the seemingly never-ending staircase.
By the time she had reached the eighth flight of stairs she was really beginning to get tired. She trudged slowly up the next few stairs, trying to convince her body that it was only a little longer she had to climb. She stopped, she suddenly felt as though she was being watched. Sakura looked around her again, seeing nothing but the metal bars of the railing and the stairs she hadn't yet climbed. She heard a slight scratch of something against metal and turned to the sound. it was over the railing. Her feet moved forward toward it of their own accord and as she peered over the edge, she found herself staring into ruby red eyes. There was a girl of about her age hanging onto the rails of the flight of stairs below her. The eyes, she recalled, looked just like the young girl's whom she had bumped into that morning.
The other girl, swung herself over the edge of the staircase and now stood in front of Sakura, who had backed away from the railing. "Hello there," The girl said, "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid your path ends here." The girl stood about two or three inches above Sakura and her long raven hair had been pulled back into a bun. Sakura vaguely recognized the girl's voice but she couldn't pinpoint from where. The ruby-eyed girl, did and cartwheel and a flip and found herself on higher ground blocking Sakura's path further up the never-ending stairs. "Are you ready?" The girl asked and positioned herself in a fighting stance.
"Ready for what exactly?" Sakura asked timidly as she backed away from the other girl.
"Ready to fight of course. You're not getting past me without a fight." The girl replied. "Now, assume your stance and let's get going, I'm not getting any younger." she complained impatiently.
Sakura looked around. There was absolutely no way she could avoid fighting the woman in front of her. Although she had been trained, Sakura hated physical conflict and always chose to resolve matters verbally. But it seemed as though this girl wasn't giving her a choice and it was during times like this that Sakura was thankful not only to the JTPS but also her brother for teaching her to defend herself.
Sakura lowered herself into a back stance, with one arm in front of her and the other over her head, to combat the other girl's horse stance. They stood like that facing each other for a while, each girl sizing up their opponent trying to locate the other's weak points. After five minutes, the raven-haired girl made the first move. She nimbly jumped from her stance, in Sakura's direction, readying her arms to attack. As she got within reach, she extended one of her arms with force hoping to land the blow on Sakura, however, Sakura had already rolled to the side to avoid getting hit. Sakura then took her chance and unleashed a relentless shower of punches and kicks on the other girl, but to Sakura's dismay, the girl was trained well and blocked most of Sakura's attacks, though she did get injured from a particularly nasty blow to her shoulder. Sakura jumped back to catch her breath, she really needed to get back in shape, the other girl however didn't spare her a minute and returned the favor two-fold. Sakura, quick on her feet, managed to move out of the way for the majority of the girl's attacks but as she stooped to avoid the double punch, she was caught off-guard with a leg sweep, knocking her off balance and sprawling her on the floor. The ruby-eyed girl knelt over her with her palm flat and horizontal against Sakura's throat as if to strike her.
"Hm, looks like I win." The girl said remaining in her position, "Care to try again?"
Sakura stared at her incredulously. Her breathing was already raspy and hard, did that girl really expect her to be able to spar a second time?
Noting Sakura's expression, the other girl chuckled, "Didn't think so," she checked her watch, "I have to get my daughter from school anyway. Good fight, let's take a rain check on that second spar, with a little practice, I'm sure you won't be so rusty." The girl stood up and offered a hand to Sakura which she gladly accepted. "Well, later then." The girl back flipped over the edge of the railing and as Sakura peered over to see which direction the girl exited, the square tower was empty. She blinked, that girl seemed sure that they would fight again. If so, then maybe she should practice more. Sakura turned her attention back to the never-ending staircase and continued to climb.
After four more flights of stairs Sakura came across a strange and ornate door. It was lavishly decorated with moulds and paint and even had tassels hanging around the edges. The strange thing was that the door was off to the side and the staircase continued on just like before. She was stumped. Should she go through the door or continue on the path she had been traveling on previously? The door could be a trap, but at the same time the staircase didn't seem to have an end. Choices, choices. Sakura weighed the pros and cons. If it was a trap, then she could just exit back through the door, right? But if this door really was the exit and she passed it straight and continued on the seemingly perpetual stairs then she would be stuck and tired and most likely die if there weren't any other doors.
Well, the answer was obvious then. She would enter the door. Her reasoning and tiredness motivated her to make her choice. So she walked toward the door and reached for the handle, pushing it open and peeking in before she actually stepped foot into the room.
The room was large and mostly empty. The tiled floor formed the shape of a circle surrounded by brick walls painted a deep blue. In front, a little to the right of her, stood a large rectangular table with five chairs positioned behind it, while to the left hung a large screen. How strange. It seemed like a meeting room of sorts. Sakura walked a little toward the furniture however as she got closer she started feeling the same sensation as when she was in the store. She looked to the walls and confirmed her suspicion, there were more metal cylinder jutting out of the wall. So, it was a trap, then.
As this thought ran through her mind the feeling stopped. She looked back to the walls and saw that the cylinders had been retracted. Did someone know she was there? She panicked. So much for sneaking around looking for clues. It seemed as though instead of her looking, she was the one being watched. Sakura decided she would leave before anyone came, but as she attempted to turn back to the door, she realized her feet were stuck. She couldn't move anywhere. What the? Hadn't she just been moving?
There was the sound of a door sliding open and Sakura looked to her left to see Syaoran walking in the room.
"Aha! So it was you!! I knew it, you were just so smug all the time. Now if I could just move, I would walk over there and arrest you for robbery!" Sakura yelled at the newcomer. However at the end of her accusation, Another door opened to her right and in walked Eriol. "It was both of you! Of course, there were two thieves after all. I didn't want to believe it but it had to be the two of you. No matter, Tomoyo will have a second pair of handcuffs for Eriol." Sakura was pleased with herself, she had solved the mystery and caught both thieves. If only she could get to them. How were they moving anyway?
She struggled to shift her feet but they refused to budge. She could merely turn her upper body, which did nothing to intimidate either of the men in the room who were now seated on the second and fourth chairs at the table. "My dear Sakura, please understand that we didn't mean any harm of course." Eriol said to her.
"For the record, no harm was done. There weren't any injuries." Syaoran added after.
"True but what about the jewels! Those belonged to innocent people trying to earn a living." Sakura defended.
"Most of those jewellers were hardly innocent. Besides, all 'stolen' pieces were returned the next day." Syaoran smirked as he revealed this piece of information to the girl.
Returned? Sakura was shocked. "If they were returned then why did the jewellers continue to insist that the jewels were stolen when we questioned them?" She knew the answer before she finished the question. They were paid off of course. That's why they weren't so innocent. She almost felt bad for defending them earlier. "So..the robberies...were all staged? And the videos were edited then?" She had to ask. The footage was too disturbing to believe. Someone couldn't possibly just appear in a store and magically take a jewel.
"So sorry to burst your bubble, but yes the robberies were staged for the most part, however believe what you want about the videos." Eriol spoke kindly to her. As if she were a little child that didn't understand multiplication and he was explaining.
Sakura had stopped struggling, she was trying to process this new information. If this was all true then, what was the point of everything? It certainly wasn't for the money, she figured that out before and it was now confirmed. Then...why..?
Her train of thought was broken when she heard another door open, this time from behind her. It was the same door she had entered from. She swivelled her body to face the entrant only to see Tomoyo peeking her head in from behind the slightly ajar door. "Tomoyo! These are the guys! Your have your handcuffs right? Because I only have one pair. Oh and don't walk along here, it's a trap!" Sakura shouted to her friend whose body was now fully in the room. However, despite her warning, Tomoyo kept walking forward. "No, Tomoyo, I can't move see, if you come closer you'll be stuck too..." but the other girl just kept moving.
"Sakura-chan, remember I said that I wouldn't do anything that wasn't for your own good..." The amethyst eyed girl stared solemnly at Sakura for a few seconds and Sakura's heart burst.
"...You're with them, aren't you..." Sakura whispered, her voice threatening to break with oncoming tears.
The other girl sniffled and nodded her gaze refusing to meet Sakura's eyes. She slowly walked passed Sakura hesitating a little as she neared the girl, but the emerald eyed girl turned away from her 'friend'. Betrayal...just like Adachi, Sakura thought.
As if reading her thoughts, Eriol then spoke up as Tomoyo sat in the fifth seat beside him, "Come now Sakura, my dear, don't be too hard on the girl, it was her job. Surely you must know what it's like to deceive others in the name of your job."
Sakura sent the three seated at the table a death glare, "I don't lie to people I care about," she replied, her voice raspy, she was barely controlling her emotions which was very unlike her.
"Ha!" Syaoran shouted, "What about Eriol and I that day at the ice cream parlour? You weren't completely honest with us then about your job."
"That was different," she whispered just loud enough for them to hear.
"How so?" Syaoran followed up.
Sakura looked up at him, her eyes forming slits. She hated this, she wasn't supposed to get captured. She wasn't supposed to get interrogated. But she knew this was just the beginning, there were after all two more seats that needed to be occupied.
"No answer?" He called tauntingly out to her again. "Not like you to get tongue-tied Sakura. I guess you know there's no difference. You cannot argue that fact!"
"Stop it!" Tomoyo now shouted. "She's not going to respond if that's how you talk to her. She's already unresponsive as it is because we...betrayed her trust."
Syaoran stared unbelievingly at her before reluctantly leaning back in his chair. Eriol spoke this time, "Tomoyo is right, plus we have to introduce the fourth member of this group of ours before we go any further."
At this moment the door to her right, where Syaoran had entered, opened and the girl that she fought before entered the room and quickly took the seat next to Syaoran leaving only the centre seat unoccupied. She should have known of course that this girl would show up here.
"Hey Sakura, I'm Meiling, Syaoran's cousin, I believe we've spoken before our little spar today," the girl spoke as she sat down.
So, who was the last person that was supposed to come? There was one more seat and judging from it's position in the centre of the table, Sakura guessed it was someone important. However, Eriol began speaking indicating that the fifth person wasn't going to arrive soon.
"Well Sakura, I'm sorry to make this situation possibly even harder but we have a proposition for you." the blue-eyed man spoke. Sakura groaned inwardly, she should have known. She did after all say that the room seemed like a meeting room. "We are part of not a terrorist group but merely a group of people wanting to capture a murderer called Kyou Fushin. We need your expertise to aid us as he is very cunning."
The others at the table remained silent and merely looked at her. She examined them, Eriol and Meiling look interested in what answer she was going to give whereas Tomoyo looked as though she was desperate for Sakura to join them and Syaoran simply looked bored. Sakura scowled. Why put her through all of this if they only wanted her help? "Why me?" She asked.
"Well, you have also been affected by his murders and his accomplice I'm sure. You've heard of Adachi Shimura I presume?" Meiling spoke with an easy confidence and her words struck Sakura to her core. Adachi? He was involved with this? Why hadn't this shown up on her research on him recently?
As if reading her mind Syaoran then said, "He's been covering his tracks very well."
Tomoyo then added, "And that's why we need your help Sakura."
Silence filled the room once again. Sakura was lost in thought. It was finally a chance to catch Adachi...get revenge on him for her father. But no, these people, they could just be playing with her. For some reason though, it didn't seem that way. The hopeless look on Tomoyo's face moved her to agree to work with them, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else they weren't revealing to her.
"If I agree, then what happen? How would the investigation take place?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo's eyes lit up, she was thrilled that Sakura was actually considering their offer and she knew the others at the table were happy too.
"Well," Meiling started, "If you agree, then we will introduce you to the mastermind behind this operation, and we will lead you to the investigating room."
Eriol then added, "We'll give you a tour as well of the whole headquarters and we'll have to show you to where you'll be staying since it'll be inconvenient for you to return to Japan."
Sakura knew she was right to pack everything of even little value to her. Now she was even glad that she paid that fee for her overweight luggage. This was probably the most information they would tell her without her actually agreeing to join them, she spoke to them again, "What happens if I don't agree?" She had to ask. She needed to explore her options.
Syaoran's smirk disappeared and was replaced by a grim expression, "Sadly, we cannot allow you to walk out of here knowing all this information. We can't have someone revealing our location or the members of this organization. It may jeopardise us you see."
"So...you'll kill me, is that it?" Sakura inquired. Her voice steadier than she felt.
"That, and we'll have to do something about that organization you work for, we can't have this case documented for someone else to investigate. The JTPS will be destroyed," Syaoran answered.
She could handle them killing only her, but that meant innocent people would be killed because of her. She couldn't allow that to happen. She also couldn't allow Adachi to continue his murder spree. Actually, they could also be of use to her. She could use their database to help her search for her brother. Her mind was made up. "Okay...I'll join you. But only under one condition; I'm free to use any of your research facilities."
The four seated at the table looked at one another and after a brief discussion agreed to her demand. Sakura felt a sudden weightlessness and realised she had been released from her trap. She shook out her legs and began to walk toward the other four when she heard another door open from behind the table. She saw the outline of a figure but the person was cast in shadow.
"Allow me to introduce our boss, Sakura," Eriol spoke, "You may know him I'm sure, Mr. Toshihiro Namikawa..."
Namikawa?! The shadowed figure walked toward the table and Sakura immediately recognised him as her boss as well...How was this possible?
"Hello Sakura." the newcomer addressed her.
Sakura stood shocked. Was everyone involved a double agent? "H-hi Sir.." She stuttered.
"We know this may be a bit of a shock for you but we needed you to choose without my influencing you." He explained.
"So...you knew everything, from the beginning? That everything was staged?" Sakura couldn't believe it. This man...he was like a second father to her. If anything, he was a very good actor.
"I'm sorry Sakura, but we wanted to see if you could handle being part of the team. We knew if you could figure out this case, then you were able. The others all went though the same thing of course. We need your trust if we're to work together, so, will you trust us?"
She nodded. Everything was still sinking in. Was that why they chose her? Namikawa had seen her potential and suggested her to the group? That was flattering yet the feeling of betrayal still remained, she wasn't sure if she could trust these people but she knew she would have to if she wanted to find Adachi and with any luck, her brother. "Yes, of course. If this organization is led by you, I'm sure it's trustworthy."
To be continued...
Done!!!! I hope it's worth the wait, and you enjoyed it. Was it an unexpected ending? I hope it was, I'd hate if it was predictable. But, as long as you liked it I guess. Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors, I tried my best to pick them out while I was re-reading.
Anyway, like I said above, I'm taking a vacation from this story until...June I think. Hopefully, for your sake and probably my safety, I'll have two chapters of the next arc already written and two chapters of one of my new stories written as well. So, you have a lot to look forward to by then, if things go as planned. Don't miss me too much! Til next arc.
- INVU4URAQT