Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter 22
"Blood tests came back?" Misaki Mei asked, the attractive albino sitting in her new office.
"The blood matches samples found at other monster attacks," Yuna Scarborough reported, "but is otherwise not in our system."
"Shit," Misaki swore quietly.
Yuna shrugged, "We knew it was a gamble."
"Just for once it'd be nice if things were easy," Misaki grumbled.
There was a brisk knock on the office door, and Misaki straightened up, trying to look dignified.
"Come in," Yuna called.
"Misaki," Sochiro, the official she had worked with before getting THIS job, nodded respectfully. He LOOKED like your typical office worker, and actually was. He was also chucken about the supernatural, amusingly...
"Sochiro, what do you want?" Misaki sighed.
"We've been researching OTHER monster hunters in Japan... I have good news and bad news," Sochiro said.
"Hit me," Misaki sighed.
"There's actually been several family lineages of monster hunters, but it appears they've been tarfeted and mostly killed off," Sochiro explained.
"Seriously?" Yuna blinked.
"Well, makes sense. We know some of the monsters are smart," Misaki said. She had talking to and argued with some spirits, after all.
"So the bad news is they're all gone?" Yuna asked.
"There ARE a few left, and I contacted one, but..." Sochiro trailed off.
"What?" Misaki asked.
"Hi everybody!" Yohko Mano, the legenday Devil Hunter, burst in on cue.
"WHAT," Yuna and Misaki blurted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Rawwwr!" the goblin roared as the creattures boiled up out of the sewer.
"SHIELD!" Sakura yelled as she used a card to craft a barrier and delay the things.
"Ooof!" Tomoyo grunted as she clobbered one, splattering brains on the pavement.
"oh, ick!" a cop yelped.
"Nightsticks!" the lead cop yelled. "Club them down and support the lady!"
The gpblins weren't THAT tough, but there were a LOT of them. And they smelled horrifically awful, too.
"I'm gonna puke," one cop muttered.
"This is awful," Sakura agreed, striking out with her sword.
The gross, smelly wave of monsters eventually ebbed, finally leaving the group in a battlefield strewn with blood and gore.
"Anyone hurt?" Tomoyo checked. "You do NOT want any of these things fluids in a wound. You'll get VERY sick."
"Right, right," several cops splashed medical alcohol into their wounds.
"Miss ... Knight?" the lead cop addressed Sakura. "You know there's a arrest warrent on you?" he asked.
"What," Sakura blinked.
"I'm not going to do it, you saved us after all," the cop continued, "but you should get out of here before my commander arrives."
"Thank you," Sakura used FLY and took off.
"There's a arrest warrent?" Tomoyo demancded.
"Well, we're supposed to bring her in for questioning," the officer conceded.
Tomoyo nodded, "Can I get the official order? I intend to cover this..."
"Uh, right," the officer agreed a bit warily.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"POLICE CHARGE HEROIC KNIGHT" was on the front page next morning.
Sonomi Daidouji read the headline with amusement and pride of her darling daughter. "Yes, Mr Mayor, I saw the headline," she agreed.
"Can you get your daughter to back off a bit?"the interm Mayor asked, filling in for the one who ran out with city funds.
"Why?" Sobomi asked, "She got you dead to rights."
"We just want to bring in the Knight to ask some questions," the Mayor growled.
"By force," Sonomi noted. "Instead of, I don't know, publically asking them to come in? Put a request in the paper."
The Mayor sighed.
"I'm aware it's coming from the feds," Sonomi added, "but it's still stupid." She changed the subject, "I called about the armor for city staff situation."
"You want us to pay to equip utility staff with your gear?" the Mayor said dubiously.
"They are the ones most likely to run into monsters, at this point," Sonomi pointed out.
The Mayor grunted.
"AND it would look bad if it got out I offered the armor, and you turned it down," Sonomi added mildly.
"Are you BLACKMAILING us?"
"Blackmail is such an ugly word," Sonomi noted mildly.
The Mayor sighed.
"Yes?" Sonomi drawled.
"I'll put it towards city council," the Mayor said. "I can't ram it through on my own."
"Thank you for your time," Sonomi said cheerfully as the man hung up.
Chie Harada, Sonomi's secretary, took notes. "Should we put that down as a confirmed, ma'am?" she asked.
"Get me the numbers of a few other City Councilors," Sonomi mused, "I want as many votes as we can secured."
"Understood. I can get the fundraisers to call in too," Chie offered.
Sonomi donated a lot of money to election campaigns, for various officials on a local and federal level. While she did not expect them to do things for her in return, most politicians knew they owed her and would repay it.
"No," Sonomi decided, "hold off on that for now."
"Right," Chie nodded.
Sonomi sat back, "We have a bigger problem anyway." She sighed, "Kaho and I have decided on the wedding date..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Congradulations, Miss Kaho!" the newsroom chorused.
Kaho rolled her eyes, "It's in two months. Leave me alone..."
Mei Lin, her secretary, looked amused.
"You KNOW we need to cover it," Tomoyo noted mildly. Briskly she added, "And more than a note in the back pages."
Kaho just scowled.
"Anyway...," Tomoyo continued, "we got a break in the city works kickbacks story. But it's not ready to run."
Kaho frowned, "Why?"
"Because I don't think we have everyone, yet," Tomoyo admitted.
In addition to her \Knight' stories, Tomoyo had been investigating rumored city contracts being awarded to companies in exchange for kickbacks to ploticians. It had started under the previous, corrupt, Mayor, but seemed to be continuing with members of the current city council.
"Seriously?" Kaho asked.
Yuki Lee, who worked the crime beat and was working with Tomoyo on this, nodded. She pointed to the pages on Kaho's desk as she said, "We've followed several parties to meetings, but there's more going on. I feel it in my gut."
Kaho nodded, "Do you think the cops know?"
"No," Yuki said.
"Maybe," Tomoyo corrected. "I think there might be undercover cops in the mix," she admitted, "the dude posing as the sanitation rep is too slick."
"Or he's so crooked he's turned out that way," Yuki offered, the two clearly having argued over this before.
"Possible," Tomoyo shrugged.
"All right, we'll hold off for now," Kaho said, "but we can't wait TOO long."
"Right," both women chorused.
To be continued...
Notes: I have NOT forgotten poor Clow. He'll be in next chapter. I also need to decide how Sakura will run into the new villain.
YES, that's Devil Hunter Yohko. Need to decide what other anime monster hunters are still around... I do plan to avoid Phantom Quest Corp, tho.