Deathly Games

Author's Note:

Title: Deathly Games

Author: Kanata Saionji.

Genre: Mystery/Romance/Family/Thriller

Story Line: Shaoran Li, the most famous as well as the youngest Private Eye is assigned the job of protecting the would-be heiress to a vast fortune—Sakura Kinamoto. A sense of foredoom befalls our young detective as he undertakes a deathly vacation to the Hill house of maiden home of Sakura's mother, which is surrounded by something more than the beautiful climate and nature.

Disclaimer: The Author does not own the characters. Everything is the sole property of whomsoever it was created by. However the story, in the general version, belongs to the Author.

Author's words: Enjoy the story to its extreme and please, the readers can make any sort of comment. Anonymous reviews are welcomed.

Story…

Episode 3

The Amamiya Family

A metallic blue Spark pulled outside a handsome looking and a massive hill side mansion. The entire hill was covered by snow and not even a small flower could be seen in the entire vicinity. The whole hill gave a depressed look but the mansion looked warm and comfortable. But looks aren't everything. In his three years of being a detective, whether Shaoran learnt anything or not, he sure learned one thing: don't judge a book by its cover. He got out of his car and looked up at the mansion. Inspite of its grandeur and luxury, Shaoran would never dream of living here alone. It just looked so lonely, he thought.

Just as he was taking every aspect of the mansion into account with his sharp chocolate brown eyes, Sakura stepped out of the car. A small smile caressed her beautiful face and she stepped beside Shaoran and gazing up at the mansion said, 'did you know that this mansion was once owned by a kung-fu master?'

'A kung-fu master?' asked Shaoran amazed.

'Yeah… just like you, a Chinese… I don't quite remember his name but he died living here all alone for nearly fifty years… he had set up many traps and stuff for his training…' she explained now turning to Shaoran, 'it took grandpa nearly a whole year to renovate it and even after all these years, he still doesn't know everything about it…'

Shaoran stood in silence, 'kung-fu master…? Traps?'

'Shall we go in?' asked Sakura bringing Shaoran back to earth.

'Yeah, sure…' replied Shaoran slowly. They got their bas out of the car and they made their way to the mansion. Sakura extended her right fist to knock on the simple wooden doors when they swung open. Shaoran took a step forward at once and the door completely opened to reveal a smiling teenager in his late teens with a shot of dark raven-black hair and azure blue eyes, warm and sharp behind wire-rimmed specs. He was smiling at Sakura as he opened the door fully and he said, 'Welcome back, Sakura…'

'Eriol!' shouted Sakura and gave him a short hug and said, 'it's awesome to see you again…'

Eriol smiled and looking at Shaoran asked, 'so, who's your friend?'

'Um… Um… he's Shaoran…' started Sakura but Shaoran finished by saying, 'Shaoran Chan… nice to meet you… I'm Sakura's friend…' he extended his right hand.

'Eriol Hiragiizawa,' said Eriol taking Shaoran's hand and muttered, 'Sakura's cousin…'

'Has all the others arrived yet?' asked Sakura interrupting the two.

'Yeah… they are all at the music room…' said Eriol, 'Tomoyo is making a performance right now…'

'How come you're not accompanying her?' asked Sakura smiling.

'I had a feeling I had to stand by the door…' he said returning her smile.

'Shall we go in?' asked Sakura.

'Yeah,' said Eriol making way, 'why don't you go to your room, Sakura?'

'What about Shaoran?' asked Sakura, 'where is he going to stay?'

'There is a spare room, right beside yours… to the right,' said Eriol, 'I'll go inform grandpa that you're here…'

With that he left the two with a small bow to Shaoran. After a few minutes, Sakura pounced on Shaoran, 'why did you that for?' she screeched.

'Do what?' asked Shaoran tugging a finger into his ear and bending a little back.

'Give him a false name….' said Sakura pointing at the floor previously where Eriol had stood, minutes ago.

Shaoran sighed and said, 'do you want me to tell your entire family that I've come here to investigate? That would've been an awesome intro: Hi I'm Shaoran Li and I'm here to find a murderer who is one amongst you….'

'Not funny Li!' said Sakura fuming.

'Let's go to the room now, shall we?' asked Shaoran pulling his traveling bag more over his shoulder.

'Hmpf!' exclaimed Sakura and turned her face away from him and they both walked along one of the corridors and disappeared through one of the doors leading to another corridor. Unknown to them, they were just eavesdropped by someone who was standing on the stairs to the hall. That someone crept back upstairs muttering in a cold voice, 'Investigate? Let's see about that…'

...

Shaoran's room was made exactly the way Shaoran would like. It was covered by auburn paint and not wallpapers and the bed and the table by its side were lined perfectly right by the window which was overlooking the entrance to the house. Shaoran was rummaging through his bag and pulled out one of his formal clothes—a white T-Shirt and a sleeveless black overcoat to pull over it and black pants. He was getting into his overcoat when his cell phone, which he had placed on the bed-side table, rang. He picked it up and muttered into it, 'Shaoran here…'

After a few minutes he muttered into it, 'Glad you called Kyle… I'm in kind of a spot… can you get me some info… any info… on "Hiragiizawa"?'

'Hiragiizawa?' echoed the confused voice of "Kyle", 'what do you want that for?'

'I took up a new case and info on him is very essential…' said Shaoran with his cell between his ear and shoulder as he sat down on the bed to tie his shoes lace.

'I'll se what I can do…' replied Kyle after a minute's pause and asked,' what's his first name again?'

'Eriol…' said Shaoran standing up straight, 'Eriol Hiragiizawa'

'I'll see to it… give me half an hour and I'll try to hook you up with some info…' said Kyle and hung up.

Shaoran slipped his cell into his pant pockets and giving his room another scan left it and he was just closing the door behind him when Sakura emerged out of her room. She was wearing an outfit exactly identical to Shaoran's. She was wearing a black sleeveless over coat over a white shirt and a black pant. Sakura's eyes widened at the combination and the similarity.

'What a coincidence…' whispered Sakura smiling. Shaoran was too preoccupied by her smile to return it. After a few seconds he smiled weekly and gestured to leave to the dining hall as it was time for dinner and his first chance to meet all the members of the family.

They were walking along the corridor when Shaoran shot the question, 'your father said that there was a possibility that you'd get engaged to one of your cousins on your birthday… so, who is this cousin?'

Sakura heated up a little which was evident from the small tinges of crimson that crept onto her cheeks. She stuttered the answer which Shaoran seem to have known before she even took the time to reply. She stammered, 'Eri—Eriol…'

'I should've known…' whispered Shaoran thoughtfully ignoring the slight wrench of sadness that seemed to have crept into his heart without his permission.

'Why do you say that?' asked Sakura but just then, they arrived at the dining hall and a girl with long black hair rushed towards them and hugged Sakura tight.

'Tomoyo…' exclaimed Sakura, 'what happened?'

'I missed you so much Sakura,' muttered "Tomoyo" letting Sakura go. Her cheeks were red and her azure eyes were filled with warmth and happiness.

The two looked at each other for a few minutes and then Tomoyo turned to Shaoran and asked, 'I'm sorry but who's your friend Sakura?'

'I'm Shaoran Chan,' said Shaoran smiling and extended a hand which she took thoughtfully and he added, 'a friend of hers…'

Tomoyo let go of her hand saying, 'I'm Tomoyo Daidouji… but if you don't mind me asking, from where are you a friend of Sakura's?'

'Well… Um…' stuttered Sakura at first, 'he is…'

'I'm one of Mr. Kinomoto's students…' said Shaoran easily.

'But Sakura never told me about you before,' said Tomoyo thoughtfully turning to Sakura.

Sakura started something but was cut across by Shaoran who said, 'I joined Mr. Kinomoto's research group just a few weeks ago…'

'Research group?' asked Tomoyo.

'The recent one researching on a particular stone which is supposed to be veiled from others temporarily,' said Shaoran smiling.

Even Sakura looked convinced.

'Speaking of stones, did you know that the largest stone in the world is in Antarctica?' popped a guy of their age with dark spiky hair and closed eyes. He was holding up his index finger. His sudden intrusion made the three realize the presence of others in the dining room. Shaoran turned to all of them in general and bowed.

'My name is Shaoran Chan,' said Shaoran looking up, 'nice to meet you'.

Now that he saw it, there were quite a number in the dining room. The head of the table was occupied by a weak old man who was pretty tall even while he was sitting. He had graying hair and moustache attached to a bushy beard and he gave Shaoran a calculating look. Shaoran guessed him to be Sakura's great grandfather. Sitting to his right was a lady with short red-mixed-purple hair. Her eyes were closed as if she was controlling herself from seeing something or someone. Shaoran recognized her at once as the managing director of the leading technology company—The Daidouji Company. It was Sonomi Daidouji, Nadeshiko Kinomoto's cousin. Right opposite her sat a girl in her early twenties. She had long brunette hair and sharp azure eyes. Shaoran had no idea as to who this was nor did he know the girl who sat to the right of her. She also had brunette hair but she looked less than eighteen years of age. She had warm eyes and she smiled at Shaoran. Opposite her sat a girl with short purple hair and intelligent eyes. She looked calm and serene and more matured even for a seventeen year old.

The spiky haired guy who had talked about stones earlier popped in and introduced himself, 'Yamazaki Takashi… nice to meet you Chan!'

Shaoran gave him a weak smile and returned his gaze to the table where the two teenagers bowed to him and introduced themselves, 'Rika Sasaki…' muttered the mature-looking purple haired girl and added, 'it's a pleasure meeting you Mr. Chan…'

The brunette girl piped, 'I'm Chiharu Mihara… Nice to meet you Mr. Chan…'

Shaoran bowed to both and then a voice behind his muttered, 'Naoko Yanagisawa…'

Shaoran turned at once to face another brunette ('how many brunettes can this house actually hold?' thought Shaoran). She was holding a tray that held a roasted chicken and she was smiling at him with warm and energetic eyes which looked at him from behind a round wire-rimmed spectacles.

She placed it neatly at the center of the table and smiling, said to Shaoran, 'I work here… please feel free to ask me anything Mr. Chan'.

Shaoran smiled and at that moment Sonomi Daidouji got to her feet and extending a hand to Shaoran said, 'Sonomi Daidouji…'

Shaoran took her hand reluctantly and said, 'it's a pleasure meeting you Mrs. Daidouji'.

She glared at him and resumed her seat. Shaoran looked at Sakura and she nodded encouragingly so Shaoran extended his hand now to grand old Mr. Masaki Amamiya, Sakura's great grandfather. The old man looked at Shaoran for a moment as though calculating him and then just when Shaoran was about to withdraw, he got hold of him. Shaoran was surprised at the strength that the old man has even in his dying years.

Shaoran smiled and withdrew his hand after a minute when he noticed that one person at the table never bothered to introduce herself to him. Shaoran gave her a calculating look and decided not to push it. So they all decided to sit down for dinner when Sakura exclaimed, 'Shall we eat, now?'

'Of course, honey…' muttered Sonomi with a warm smile.

'Sit down by me Sakura,' whispered the old man.

And many did cheer her on and compiled to her but while he sat down, Shaoran couldn't help but feel that one among this group held a powerful grudge against her and was plotting to kill her while just showing a smile to her on the outside. He hated family grudges. It always gave him the creeps.

'I wish this was you're last meal Kinomoto…'

Through the dinner, a general chat issued and certain questions arose from many at the table and almost all of them were directed at Shaoran and Sakura. Sakura stuttered and stammered as she wasn't used to lying but Shaoran tackled every question with skill and wit. It was almost as if everything that he was saying was true. Even Sakura was impressed. Just as they were trying to answer Tomoyo's question, which happened to be, 'how come both of you are dressed alike? Is it some kind of a dress code?'

But Shaoran was spared the answer, or maybe the first truth he was allowed to tell, by his cell which started to ring. He looked up at the irked look that everyone at trhe table gave him. So he picked up his plate and said, 'thank you for the meal…'

With that he turned on his mobile to hear the familiar voice of his trusted informer, Kyle Hughes. He muttered, 'hold on for just a moment...'

He went into the kitchen, placed his plate into the sink and thanked Naoko for the meal on the way out and rushed to his room. He picked up his mobile again and muttered, 'Shoot…'

'Well… Hiragiizawa… Eriol Hiragiizawa Automobiles is one of the famous ones in England but it's currently facing a problem…' started Kyle but even before Kyle said it Shaoran knew what was coming next and it was confirmed when Kyle said 'a financial problem…'

End Episode 3