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 Kinomoto. A sense of foredoom befalls our young detective as he undertakes a deathly vacation to the Hill house of the Amamiyas—Nadeshiko Kinomoto's maiden home, which is surrounded by something more than the beautiful climate and nature. How can a young detective stand against the greatest Automobile Empire of the Amamiya family…?

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…

Last time on Deathly Games:

'Um… my lawyer… Ivo Pallazi…' said Eriol, 'was found dead in the rivers…'

'What!' gasped a few, pulling their hands to their lips.

'I have to go there at once,' muttered Eriol, getting to his feet.

'Nobody can go out, now…' said Ruby.

'Why not?' demanded Eriol at once.

'Because the roads are blocked… nobody can go any further than the start of the roads to the hill… in short, we're stuck here till the storm cools down…'

Everybody gasped at the pronouncement with the exception of a fair few individuals.

Episode 8

'Oh my god…' gasped Chiharu, 'we are stuck?'

'It's just for a few days...' assured Ruby, 'the storm will cool down soon enough…'

'But I have to go back to London, now!' exclaimed Eriol and started pacing around the room, deep in thought.

'Why…?' asked Ruby, frowning, 'we just returned this morning…'

'Ruby…' said Eriol serenely, looking into her auburn orbs, 'Ivo… Ivo was found dead…'

'What…?' gasped Ruby getting to her feet, 'what are you saying…?'

Everybody exchanged awkward glances for Ruby was after all Pallazi's mistress. They looked at Eriol just in time to hear him saying, 'they found him in the rivers… he was brutally injured… I'm…'

'You!' exclaimed Ruby, grasping Eriol's front, 'you killed him!'

Everybody looked at the two with wide eyes. Almost everyone got to their feet except the two at the head. Well, certainly none expected this. They saw that tears were falling down Ruby's cheeks and her eyes were furiously glaring at Eriol, hatred evident in them.

'Ru-Ruby…?' gasped Eriol, dumb-struck, 'what are you saying…?'

'He was a cheat,' said Ruby, gripping Eriol's shirt ever so tight, her perfectly manicured nails piercing through the sweatshirt, 'yes… he was a thief… he almost made you bankrupt… but you take revenge by killing him?!?!?!?'

Eriol's eyes widened.

'What kind of a monster are you…?' she wailed.

Finally, Shaoran and Yamazaki had enough courage to get to their feet and pull Ruby off of Eriol. She didn't let go of him. He kept trying to shout at him. The two guys finally pulled her off of him and Chiharu and Naoko took her from there to her room, her accusations directed towards the bespectacled raven-haired echoing around the mansion.

'Eriol…?' Sakura called, who was also on her feet.

Eriol looked around from one face to another. None there held an expression that said that they trust him. He pursed his lips and left the kitchen. Sakura made an involuntary movement but didn't pursue. Tomoyo's eyes were a little cloudy and Yamazaki and Rika just shrugged with nothing to say. The two adults at the head stared at heir plates with a thoughtful look in their eyes.

But Shaoran had more things in his mind to ponder over. He was just wondering how on Earth he was going to make any progress in the case with being stuck in the mansion and all.

CRACK!

The sound of breaking glass was heard and before anybody could go, Shaoran had rushed towards the source of the sound and entered into Eriol's room. He stopped at the threshold. Everybody else had followed and the girls gasped.

'Eriol!' exclaimed Tomoyo and Sakura and rushed to the bleeding raven-haired at once, who was sitting at the edge of his bed. Broken pieces of glass were at the floor beside the wall along with the frame of his spectacles. Shaoran could almost see Eriol breaking his specs in his fist and throwing the pieces towards the wall in anger.

~Deathly Games~

'This is not good…' acknowledged Sakura, as she sat down at the chair beside her dressing table in her room. She looked at the brunet sitting at the edge of her bed, who was staring transfixed at the snow-storm that was putting up a rage outside the window. There was something odd in those auburn orbs of his that she couldn't quite read.

'Shaoran…?' she called impatiently.

He finally snapped and looked at her as though he just noticed her there. He shook his head lightly and sighed, and commented, 'wow… this is getting dirtier than I imagined it to be…'

'What do you mean…?' asked Sakura frowning.

'The car accident…' said Shaoran, his eyes traveling back to the window, 'Pallazi's death… the snow storm stranding us incapable of leaving the mansion… everything is so…'

'So…?' asked Sakura, fearfully.

'So… so challenging…' said Shaoran, a small smile flickered across his façade as he said it, 'it's as though someone is playing with us all… getting us trapped inside some Chinese guy's booby-trapped mansion with a killer among us…'

'What…?' Sakura gasped, getting to her feet, 'what do you mean a killer…? You don't mean Eriol, do you?'

'Maybe… or maybe not…' said Shaoran, thoughtfully, 'there are certain things in this case that are not adding up… but I'm dead sure of one thing… that Hiragizawa is hiding something…'

~deathly games~

Eriol looked down at his bandaged hand. Naoko found him some spare glasses but it wasn't as good as his own for it was a different power glasses. He then shifted his gaze to the snow that was falling strongly against the window. His azure eyes turned a little blurry and at that very moment there was a knock on the door. He rubbed his eyes with his uninjured hand and muttered, 'come on in…'

The door opened and it was Mr. Misaki Amamiya escorted by Tomoyo. Eriol got to his feet at once. He helped the old man to the bed and after securely ensuring that he was comfortably seated, he stood beside Tomoyo and asked his grandfather, 'what is it grandpa?'

'Well… what happened at dinner tonight was very unheard of in the Amamiya family,' he said.

'I'm sorry grandpa,' said Eriol and asked, 'you don't believe her, do you…?'

'I want to believe you son,' said the old man gravely.

'Grandpa I would never do such a callous act,' said Eriol at once. Even as he said it, he knew it would be difficult for anyone to believe him for he seemed to have had the reason for the murder but he did not do it. He will find it hard to prove until he could get out of this mansion and it seemed it might take some time for that to happen.

'I know…' said the old man and added, 'I just wanted to make sure…'

'Yes, grandpa…' said Eriol, his head bent.

'Because a true Amamiya would never do this kind of act,' said the old man pointedly.

Eriol looked at the old man and pursed his lips.

'Is that all grandpa?' asked Eriol finally.

'Very well…' said the old Amamiya and got to his feet. Tomoyo rushed to help him at once. Eriol looked right into the old man's cold eyes and there was some kind of unspoken conversation that took place between them.

'Good night Eriol…' said the old man.

'Good night…' said Tomoyo with a strained smile.

'Good night…'

~deathly games~

Shaoran got to his room and closed the curtains to the window. He sat down on his bed and wondered about all that was happening. For her safety, he had stayed with Sakura till ten and asked her to lock her door and also not to open them during the night. She had accepted, however reluctantly.

He closed his eyes lightly and wondered how such a small case had turned this dirty over-night—especially with that Hiragizawa. There were a lot of mysteries in him that Shaoran began to wonder how he could not be the culprit.

He sighed and was thinking about getting some sleep when his cell-phone rang.

It was Kyle.

'Hello?' answered Shaoran.

'Wow… I finally caught you…' said Kyle, 'there was no signal at all…'

'Yeah… I'm kind of stuck here at the mansion and the storm is way too bad…' explained Shaoran.

'I heard…' said Kyle, 'that's why I wanted to catch you as soon as possible… I got this info about that Hiragizawa that'll make your jaw drop…'

'Don't tell me he killed Pallazi…' said Shaoran lazily as he dropped on his back on the bed.

'Huh…?' ridiculed Kyle, 'I don't know about that… but this is weirder…'

'What…?' asked Shaoran, curiously.

And when Kyle told him whatever that he wanted to tell about Eriol, true to his promise, Shaoran's aw dropped.

'Oh my god!' gasped Shaoran, 'really…?'

'Yeah… unbelievable, huh?' asked Kyle, 'I had to check it a dozen times to make sure…'

'Wow…' said Shaoran under his breath, 'this totally changes the course of the case…'

'I'll call you tomorrow if I get any more valuable information on Pallazi's death…' said Kyle and hung off with a, 'good night… take care…'

After he hung up, Shaoran got to a sitting position on the bed and took out a small notepad from his pant pocket. He clicked his pen and wrote:

Keep an eye on Eriol. H

End Episode 8