Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter 19
Clow Reed awoke in chains, bound to a wall. The air smelled unpleasant, and he surmised he was underground still.
"Release!" Clow attempted a spell.
The chains didn't budge, and he could feel an oppressive weight in the restraints. Clearly there were powerful counter spells to hold him there.
"Hey, boss? You up?" a voice asked.
Clow realized that one of the local talking rats was nearby. "Ah, yes," he peered down at it and guessed, "Yojimbo?"
"You remembered!" the rat Yojimbo noted, pleased.
"I don't suppose you could go get help?" Clow asked.
Yojimbo looked at him with a exasperated look as he asked, "How many folks are going to listen to a talking rat?"
Clow paused then conceded, "Point."
"That lady's scary, too," Yojimbo added, "I ain't crossing her."
"Did you see what happened to me?" Clow asked.
"After you tired yourself out with magic, she blasted you from behind," Yojimbo told him. "Then her goons dragged you here."
"Goons?" Clow asked.
"Cat and Bird looking types," Yojimbo said. He stiffened, "Gotta go."
Clow Reed sighed, slumping in his chains.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Yuki Lee was a reporter, and a collegue of Tomoyo's. Unlike Tomoyo she was almost exclusively a crime reporter, and had won awards for that.
(She was also faintly annoyed that she had been scooped on certain stories once or twice by Tomoyo. Mind you, the stories had all been ones that crossed over with local politics, but it still annoyed her a little.)
Today, she was at the Museum, looking into the robbery story.
"May I see your ID?" the security dude checked it, "Okay, please follow me."
"Were you on shift when the robbery happened?" Yuki asked.
"No. And the staffer who was is on leave," the guard noted.
'Interesting,' Yuki wrote the person's name down, planning to look them up later. It might be good to interview them.
"Good morning," the attractive if androgynous Director smiled.
"Director Akizuki? Nice to meet you. I'm Yuki Lee," she introduced herself.
"Please, just call me Nauru," they smiled charmingly.
"Nauru," Yuki nodded, "thank you for agreeing to see me."
Nauru shrugged as they calmly explained, "The robbery was going to be news, it's best to just get it over with."
Yuki nodded sympathetically. "Could you walk me through it?" she asked.
"About a week ago," Nauru said, "a number of Chinese artifacts were stolen overnight. Our security system was evaded somehow, and the police are investigating."
"And there's no video or any traces of the robber?" Yuki asked.
"You'd need to consult with the police on that," Nauru cautioned, "but apparently so. They are, of course, still investigating."
"Will the museum take a loss if they're not recovered?" Yuki asked.
"We are heavily insured, as far as that goes," Nauru said, "so financially we'll be fine. Of course, there is the historical importance of the items."
They discussed other details, and Yuki took lots of notes. "Thank you for your time," she said. "Could I also speak with staffers?"
"Certainly. I believe Prof. Kinomoto is in," Nauru said, leading her out.
Sakura Kinomoto was really, really cute. Yuki could almost instantly see how Tomoyo had fallen for her...
"Professor, it's a pleasure," Yuki shook her hand.
"Please, just call me Sakura," she chuckled, 'when I hear 'Professor' I think folks are talking to my daddy."
"I understand Professor Kinomoto the elder is retired?" Yuki asked pleasantly.
"Mostly. He consults on stuff a lot," Sakura admitted warmly. "Where did you want to start?" she asked curiously.
"Could I see the department that got hit?" Yuki asked.
"Certainly," Sakura agreed. As they walked through one section into another she said, "This whole area is our Clow Reed collection. The items taken relate to his rival."
"Now, supposedly Clow was a mage, right?" Yuki asked. "You don't actually believe something like that?"
Sakura hesitated, "I try to approach it as something the people in his era believed."
Yuki nodded, "Well, after the monster attacks and the Knight and all, our perspective kind of got expanded a bit."
"Exactly," Sakura nodded.
"So, I noticed the displays are all 'the rival' and 'the sorceress.' No name?" Yuki asked as they looked over the items.
"There are several sources on her name, several of which contradict each other," Sakura pointed to a poster that explained that, "until we get something that, in my opinion, verifies it..."
Yuki nodded slowly, "I guess that makes sense."
"The staff, robe and sword are, of course, replicas of the stolen items," Sakura pointed to the display, "they're highly accurate, based off digital records."
"You always take such exacting records?" Yuki asked.
"It's part of our check in process," Sakura explained, "as well as every step in restorations."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"It felt like that reporter didn't trust us," Yue noted as they were readying to close.
"Of course she didn't," Sakura shrugged, "she probably thinks it's an inside job."
"What?" Yue blinked.
"Well, it's the simplest explaination for what happened," Sakura said.
"Oh," Yue said faintly. They finished putting away a (fake) Clow Reed artifact, then headed to the enterance.
"Evening, Prof," the security man nodded to her. He added wryly, "Yue, your friend is waiting for you."
"Have a nice night," Sakura said cheerfully as she watched Yue once again get met by his roommate Caroline.
"Hi Miss Sakira," Caroline waved.
"Have a nice one," Sakura waved back as she climbed into her company car.
(Sakura's personal car had been destroyed in monster hunting, and she hadn't been able to afford to replace it. Her insurance company was being stubborn about paying out, apparently not buying her story that it had been stolen and torched.
Tomoyo had offered to use her mother Sonomi's money to buy her a new car. So far Sakura was resisting the idea... despite their being lovers, she didn't like being that much in their debt.)
Leaving work, Sakura took a slow-ish route through town. She could sort of sense monsters, if she was nearby. It wasn't totally reliable, but she had found them several times this way.
Using her phone Sakura checked the police band via a radio ap, and thankfully there were no alerts. She turned the car back towards Tomoyo's apartment, even as she made a note to check her old place tomorrow.
'How long has it been, I wonder?' Sakura thought wryly.
Sakura drove into the secure parkade, then collected her stuff before going up to their place. She unlocked the door, put her stuff in the office she and Tomoyo shared, then checked her messages.
"I'm going to be a little late," Tomoyo's voice said, "City Council meeting, relating to one of the corruption stories I wrote. I kind of have to be there. Have dinner, I'll see you later."
"Oh poo," Sakura sighed, though she wouldn't blame Tomoyo. Both women were career driven, after all.
Sakura checked the fridge and noted they had a lot of leftovers from last time they had takeout. She felt a tiny twinge of guilt, but still decided to take out two boxes, reheat them then go sit on the living room couch eating.
"Let's see what's on TV," Sakura muttered.
News, News, Infomertial, US Reality TV, News, Pretty Cure episode...
"Oooh, I haven't seen that one," Sakura noted, and settled in to watch.
To be continued...
Notes: Poor Clow is still tied up. Also following up on the robbery bit.