Sakura, Knight of the Clow
Chapter 25
Sakura Kinomoto frowned as her superior in the museum gazed at her from his office with a oddly confused expression, as if he wasn't sure to be angry with her or afraid of her. Sakura found herself wanting to ask him what was going on several times that day, but couldn't quite get up the nerve.
Thankfully, she had her loyal assistant to distract her. "Yes ma'am," Yue Susanoo said as he held the artifact gently in sterile gloves, "ready to go."
Sakura activated the air brush and used it to carefully blow dust out of the grooves of the round cylinder. "Please turn it slowly," she ordered as she worked slowly over the face of the artifact, her expression focused and intent.
"This is a new technique?" Yue wondered softly.
"A variation of a old one," Sakura admitted as she worked, "just updated a bit with more modern equipment."
Yue turned it slowly as he watched Sakura cleaning away years of dust and revealing symbols that were eerily familiar to him. 'More of Clow Reed's work?' he blinked, 'Is Sakura making a hobby of collecting his items?'
"There we go," Sakura murmured as she set the airbrush down and put the stone on top of a sterile sheet, "now we just have to confirm if it's an original or a copy."
"Copy?" Yue blinked.
"It looks like a Clow Reed design," Sakura conceded thoughtfully, "but I've found out he was a relatively well known figure in his time." She stood up after bending down to look at a inscription, "other magicians sometimes tried to take advantage by claiming they had powerful Clow made items."
"I see," Yue conceded, not having seen that possibility before.
Sakura pushed her hair back, "First, I'll need to translate the inscription. If that checks out we'll carbon date it to confirm it's from Reed's era."
Yue nodded slightly, "It sounds complicated."
"Then we still have to decide if it's actually made by Reed or not," Sakura noted as they cleaned up the work area in preparation for working on another artifact.
Yue had to ask, "What makes the final determination?"
"Honestly?" Sakura looked at Yue wryly, "My gut feelings along with lots of consulting in the archeological community."
"You're serious?" Yue's lips twitched with a smile.
"Afraid so," Sakura admitted, "there's a lot of documented facts in archeology, but a lot of it's just informed opinion too." Before she could continue the phone rang, making both of them jump a bit.
"I'll get it," Yue said as he briskly picked up the phone, "Dr, Kinomoto's office, how can I help you?" He paused as he recognized the voice and began to smile, "Why yes, she's in, I'll put you right through." With that Yue passed her the phone as he said with a impish wink, "It's that cute reporter."
"Thanks," Sakura blushed as she took it from him. "Hello?" she asked.
Tomoyo Daidouji's voice was warm as she asked, "How was your day?"
"Not bad," Sakura admitted, thinking of her superior's rather odd behavior over the last day. "Ah, you wouldn't have done something to upset my boss?"
"Well..." Tomoyo trailed off, "kinda."
Sakura had to smile, "Kinda?"
"It's a complicated story," Tomoyo quickly added, "besides, we have a bigger problem."
"Clow card?" Sakura dropped her voice.
"Looks like it," Tomoyo answered, "got a phone tip on weird stuff going on downtown, Yukito and I are going to check it out."
"Where?" Sakura asked, grabbing a piece of paper as Tomoyo specified a district and street, "I'll meet you there."
"You need to go?" Yue asked as Sakura hung up the phone.
"Yes, sorry," Sakura said briskly. "You can close up?"
Yue saluted, "Yes, ma'am."
Sakura shook her head with a smile, "Don't start that, Yue. See you later!"
As Sakura left Yue looked around cautiously then peered thoughtfully at the cylinder, then spoke a certain word. The lettering on the artifact flared blue a moment then guttered out, leaving it unremarkable stone once more.
"Yep," Yue noted, "fake."
Meanwhile, Sakura ducked into the nearest open alley, quickly searching for any passerby. Satisfied the coast was clear Sakura drew a card from her vest and cried, "Fly card, grant me wings! Fly!"
At almost exactly the same time a car whipped around the corner dangerously, wheels squealing in the afternoon sun. "Slow down," Yukito yelped, the sandy blonde haired young man clutching the dashboard.
"We aren't going THAT fast," Tomoyo answered as she wrenched them up on the sidewalk to evade a stopped car.
"Toya, if I don't make it," Yukito murmured, squeezing his eyes closed, "I love you."
Bumping over the median they raced across a thankfully bare road then up into a parking lot, weaving through parked cars as they took a short cut. "Get your eyes open," Tomoyo ordered, "and check the map!"
"Right," Yukito made himself dig the map out of the glove box and check their location versus the landmarks. "We're close," he concluded.
From a nearly clear sky thunder boomed, then lightning flashed downward to strike a car not too far away. "You think?" Tomoyo yelped as she brought them to a skidding stop just short of the sudden rain that poured down from a clump of clouds.
Without thinking about it Yukito whipped his camera out, zooming in on the dark bundle of clouds and seeing a boyish figure in armor slipping in and out of the clouds. "I see someone." he murmured, snapping off shots.
"It's got to be a Clow Card," Tomoyo breathed out even as she realized that the boy had seen them.
Before it could get too close Sakura swept down from the blue sky, confronting the mini-storm while floating in mid-air, her battle staff in hand. The boy gestured and lightning lanced out but Sakura was ready, whipping a card out and crying, "Shield!"
True to it's nature the Shield card stopped the bolt, but the impact itself was enough to throw Sakura backwards. Without thinking about it Tomoyo popped her door open and raced out, hurrying to catch Sakura before the stunned woman could hit the ground. "Oof," she grunted as they both collapsed to the ground, apparently all right.
"Tomoyo," Sakura smiled weakly, "thank you,"
Tomoyto reached out and caressed her cheek, "I'm glad you're all right."
Sakura smiled at her, then her eyes widened as she looked up in the sky. Grabbing Tomoyo she rolled them away as another lightning bolt crashed down at them, blasting at the cement where they had been sitting. Sakura pulled free and stood, her body quivering with anger, "You tried to hurt Tomoyo! I cannot forgive you!"
"Wow," Yukito blinked as he watched from the relative safety of the car, "I've never seen Sakura that angry."
Drawing a card out from her vest Sakura activated it, "Windy! Become the chain of punishment! Windy!"
The Windy manifested, looking like a beautiful kimono clad woman with long hair, but there was something different about her this time. She seemed to have picked up on Sakura's anger, her own eyes narrowed and grim as she raced off. Soaring up towards the storm she swept in quickly, dodging bolts of lightning to encircle her foe. The other card tried to fight but she was too strong, subduing him and dragging him down to earth.
"Storm Card!" Sakura cried as she held her staff at the ready, "Return to your power confined! Storm!" With a weak cry the Storm was drawn into the square shape of the card, light shimmering and sparks flying until the energy faded and the card dropped peacefully into Sakura's extended hand.
Windy hovered there in midair studying Sakura, then looking over at Tomoyo, her expression thoughtful. She reached out a ghostly hand and placed it on Tomoyo's head, then nodded once sharply. With that she swirled back into her own card form in Sakura's hand.
"Get in the car!" Yukito yelled as the storm effects in the sky began to fade, "we're in broad daylight here! We don't want anyone getting a chance to see us!"
"Right," Tomoyo shook off the odd sensation Windy's touch had left and grabbed Sakura as they hurried over to the car. Nearly tossing Sakura into the back seat Tomoyo then hurried to jump in the driver's side, starting the motor and taking off. "Are you all right?" Tomoyo asked Sakura worriedly, driving at a carefully controlled rate.
"I'm fine," Sakura said as she added, "And I should be asking you that! You didn't hurt yourself catching me?"
"I'm okay," Tomoyo smiled at her comfortingly.
"You're driving a lot more sedately than normal," Yukito noted, sounding surprised.
Tomoyo smiled slightly as she explained, "Running away fast gets official attention. Driving away slowly lets you blend in a bit."
To be continued...
Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter Twenty-six
Sakura Kinomoto nodded at Yukito as the red-brown haired woman said to him briskly, "I'm going to follow Tomoyo up to her apartment. She's really sore from catching me earlier, and might need some help."
"I'm fine," Tomoyo Daidouji said firmly as she got out from the car then visibly winced in pain as she stretched sore muscles. While she had thought she was fine during the fight, it seemed the excitement of the moment had been covering up the injury.
Sakura caught her as she nearly fell, holding her gently in her arms. "You are not fine," she said gently, "you're battered and bruised. Let me take care of you for once, all right?"
"But...," Tomoyo started, feeling her heart race as Sakura held her close. Tomoyo breathed deep as she took in Sakura's sweet scent, a mix of soap, museum dust and the outdoors and shivered a little.
"She's right, Tomoyo," Yukito told her gently as his sandy brown hair fell into his eyes. "I'll borrow your car to get home and bring it back tomorrow morning."
Tomoyo wanted to argue, but in all honesty she really did hurt all over. Besides, it felt nice to lean on Sakura like this... The black haired reporter nodded reluctantly as she said, "All right, I give in. But Yukito, my car had better not have any new marks on it when you bring it back!"
"I'll treat it like a baby," Yukito promised her as he put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb, the tail lights soon disappearing into the distance.
"He'd better or I'll...," Tomoyo grumbled under her breath as they walked over to the building, Tomoyo leaning on Sakura's arm.
"It was on the tenth floor, right?" Sakura recalled as she helped Tomoyo over to the pin pad.
Tomoyo typed with calm capability as she nodded, "You remembered." She smiled, "I'm glad."
Together they pushed the door open and walked to the elevator, the call button summoning the finely carpeted cube for them. Gently Sakura helped her inside then the two young women rose, the soft music flowing around them both. The numbers lit up one by one as they climbed, standing close together on the thick carpet.
"You'll have to get your key out," Sakura noted as they reached the right floor, taking their time walking from the elevator to Tomoyo's large Apartment.
"Right," Tomoyo agreed, envying Sakura her quick recovery as she pulled out her keys with a slight wince of pain. She had suspected the other woman gained a kind of healing ability as she gathered the Clow Cards, but there was no way to know for sure.
Sakura shouldered the door open, then looked around. "Do you want the living room couch," she wondered, "or should I take you to your bedroom?"
Tomoyo mentally assessed her aches and pains then sighed. "Bedroom, I think," she admitted reluctantly, "I just want to lay down and get some muscle rub applied."
"Then let's go," Sakura agreed, only pausing to get Tomoyo to tell her which hall lead to it. In a surprising burst of strength Sakura picked Tomoyo up, cradling her in her arms.
"Hey!" Tomoyo yelped, surprised.
"Hush," Sakura gently carried her into the bedroom, taking in the details absentmindedly. A desk over in the corner had a modern laptop set up, with papers strewn around the surface. Some were held down by pens and pencils, a stack weighed down with the cordless phone. Some clothes were draped over a chair while several fancy costumes waited in garment bags to be used. "More costumes for me?" Sakura wondered.
Tomoyo blushed as she was set down on the large bed. "A few I've finished," she agreed, "I have a sewing room where I'm working on more."
"I look forward to seeing them," Sakura blushed faintly. She briskly walked towareds the bathroom door as she called, "Roll over on your belly."
"Eh?!" Tomoyo yelped, looking over at Sakura in surprise as she opened up the medicine cabinet and rooted around inside for a moment.
Sakura emerged carrying a jar as she said reasonably, "You strained you muscles catching me, the least I can do is spread this over your back."
Tomoyo struggled to sit up as she said, "No, you really don't need to..."
"I can see ho much that hurts," Sakura said firmly, "let me help." Setting the jar down she briskly added, "Do you want to undress or should I just push the clothes aside?"
Tomoyo reluctantly rolled over on her belly as she said weakly, "Just pushing up the shirt is fine."
"Okay," Sakura said cheerfully as she sat down on the side of the bed, setting the jar down on a table nearby. "Let's see...," she murmured as she untucked Tomoyo's shirt from her dress pnts, pusing it up to reveal creamy white skin.
Tomoyo shivered as she felt her skin being exposed, then sighed softly at Sakura's touch. 'This is torture,' she thought, wishing she felt better so she could enjoy Sakura's touch more. 'Not that this isn't bad,' she admitted as the other woman began to smooth the cream over her back.
"Let me know if this hurts," Sakura murmured as she started as the small of her back, rubbing in the cream in a circular motion.
"It's fine," Tomoyo bit back a moan as she felt Sakura's fingers brush across her bottom.
"Sorry, my hand slipped," Sakura said cheerfully as she leaned over to massage the muscles in Tomoyo's back.
'I have such a dirty mind,' Tomoyo mentally laughed as she imagined what she would do in Sakura's place. It didn't help that Sakura had such a delicate touch, her fingers and hands making Tomoyo coo almost unwillingly.
Sakura stroked her hand up between Tomoyo's shoulder blades, pausing as her hand caught on the bra strap. "This is in the way," she noted quietly, "do you mind if I undo it?"
"Uh...," Tomoyo flushed, "sure."
With a soft snap Sakura got the straps out of the way, her hands moving in soothing circles across her back. Taking her time she gently worked the aching muscles of Tomoyo's back even as she watched the other woman gradually relax. Finally she sat back, satisfied she had done all she could.
"How does that feel?" Sakura murmured.
"..." Tomoyo shifted a bit, her eyes closed as she lay limply on the bed.
Sakura looked at her in surprise then fought back a giggle. Tomoyo had fallen asleep! She gazed as her sleeping face and felt a deep flash of tenderness, reaching out to push a bit of her dark hair from her face. "You're beautiful," she murmured, for a moment tempted to wake her up. 'No,' Sakura told herself firmly, 'she's probably been working longer hours than I have.'
Sakura got up off the bed, then hesitated. She would need to call a taxi, or possibly flag down a bus, head home and catch a few hours sleep. Or... Making a fast decision Sakura began to strip, carefully folding her clothes till all she wore was her shirt. Carefully she climbed back on the bed and settled on the empty side of the bed, soon falling asleep as well.
To be continued...
Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tomoyo Daidouji lay in bed, the warmth comforting the black haired woman as she cuddled by the firm shape. Muzzy thoughts from the day before tickled her mind as Tomoyo breathed in a familiar scent, her nose in someone's hair.
'A Clow card shot her out of the sky,' Tomoyo remembered as her arms reflexedly tightened, 'I caught Sakura.'
They had dove into the car and hurried away, then made it back to Tomoyo's apartment building. Torn muscles and bruising made it hard to walk so Sakura had helped her up to her apartment then carried Tomoyo to the bed.
'Just like a prince with her princess,' Tomoyo wryly thought to herself, 'too bad I wasn't in any condition to appreciate it.'
Sakura ordered Tomoyo onto her belly then she had returned with a container of muscle relaxant, which Sakura spread liberally over Tomoyo's back. Climbing onto the bed Sakura was very thorough in massaging the sore, aching body of Tomoyo, her hands generating thrills that even her sore muscles couldn't ignore.
'Sakura massaged me,' Tomoyo remembered, 'and I must have fallen asleep.' The question was, how did Tomoyo go from being massaged to waking up with her face in hair?
Nervously Tomoyo opened her eyes, taking in some very familiar red-brown hair that her face was pressing up against. A odd mix of awe and horror filled her as Tomoyo shifted carefully, trying not to wake her companion as she got a good look at the bra and panties clad woman.
'Oh my god,' Tomoyo thought as her eyes widened, taking in the full beauty of Sakura Kinomoto. Sleeping peacefully in her arms Sakura looked like a angel, caught by human arms and held with her willing permission. Her moderately sized breasts looked good enough to eat even in the poorly designed white bra, and her very nicely shaped butt was pushing into Tomoyo's crotch.
"Urglflth," Sakura made a incoherent sound in the back of her throat, the smaller woman snuggling into Tomoyo's arms.
'My one arm is under her,' Tomoyo thought as she tried to figure out how to get out of the bed and leave Sakura in peace. She didn't want to imagine Sakura's reaction to waking in her arms... it might be okay, but she was too scared to try. Carefully she began to ease her arm free, trying not to take too close a look at the nearly naked woman beside her.
"Hmmph," Sakura murmured as Tomoyo eased her arm free from under her. As Tomoyo slipped from the bed Sakura rolled over, laying on her back as her pretty hair fell around her face.
'She's adorable,' Tomoyo had to admit to herself as she gazed down at the sleeping woman. Resisting the urge to photograph her Tomoyo limped away, her back and muscles still somewhat sore from yesterday. After collecting a set of pajamas Tomoyo dressed then walked into the living room and checked her messages.
*Beep* The warmly amused voice of Yukito came on, "Toya called Sakura's home last night and noticed she hadn't been home. You haven't done anything that will annoy big brother?"
Tomoyo growled in the back of her throat as she deleted the message. Her photographer was getting far too much amusement out of the situation. Of course Toya really was the protective older brother type... and Tomoyo did NOT want to imagine his likely reaction to them sleeping together.
*Beep* Kaho's voice sounded a mix of amused and annoyed as her editor noted, "I've had two reports of a Clow card sighting but nothing from my star reporter. I'd almost wonder if you were slacking, but I know that would be unbelievable from you. Call me."
Tomoyo made a face and dialed her cellphone. "It's Tomoyo," she smiled wryly as she got Kaho's machine, "I got banged up a bit, or else I'd have filed a story yesterday. I'll type it up this morning and send it in."
Sitting on the couch with her laptop Tomoyo ordered her thoughts then began to type, being careful not to indicate who the 'mysterious cloaked' figure fighting the Clow card was. Skirting the truth while providing a eye witness account was getting harder and harder...
"Tomoyo?" Sakura asked sleepily from the doorway, having put on her shirt from yesterday to provide a degree of dignity.
"Hey," Tomoyo looked up with a smile as she sent the report in to the paper. "Sorry if I woke you," she apologized as she got up with a wince of pain.
"You should be in bed," Sakura scolded as she hurried to Tomoyo's side.
"I'm fine," Tomoyo was still a bit wobbly but managed to stand on her own, "I'm just a bit stiff." She lead the way towards the kitchen as she offered, "Do you want some breakfast?"
At the word breakfast Sakura's stomach grumbled loudly. Sakura blushed faintly as she said, "Yes, please."
Chuckling softly Tomoyo opened the fridge as she noted, "Do you have to call in to work?"
"I probably should," Sakura admitted as she borrowed Tomoyo's phone. She called her boss to let him know she'd be late, then called her assistant. "Yue?" she smiled as she leaned up against the counter, "I'm going to be in late. If you need something to do continue sorting through the latest shipment of artifacts by size and region."
"Will do," the young man answered briskly. Yue continued, "When can we expect you in?"
"Probably before lunch," Sakura admitted. "See you later."
"Considering how cowed your boss is, I bet you could take the whole day off," Tomoyo noted as she reheated some leftovers for breakfast.
Sakura shook her head as she said with a shrug, "It wouldn't feel right, I suppose."
"You're too nice for your own good," Tomoyo admitted with a smile as she added, "I'd skip work in your shoes."
"No you wouldn't," Sakura noted as she bemusedly watched Tomoyo making up the leftovers. 'Doesn't she cook much?' she wondered. Aloud she added, "You like your job too much."
Tomoyo dished up the reheated food as she laughed, "I guess so." She sat down at the counter beside Sakura as she apologetically said, "I'm sorry it's not much. I need to go shopping..."
Sakura ate, her expression a bit surprised at how good it was. "I get like that too," she admitted. "In between work and the cards, I feel like I have no time for anything."
Tomoyo winced slightly. She really hadn't thought about how time intensive Sakura's life was, now. Archeology was a job based on slow study and careful work, hours spent in a lab reassembling fragile pieces of pottery and sculpture. Then there were her evenings spent searching for the cards, often fruitlessly driving about half the night with Tomoyo, Yukito and sometimes Mei Lin.
"I wish there was more I could do," Tomoyo admitted quietly as they ate.
"Hmm," Sakura shook her head, "it's all right."
The devilish part of Tomoyo instantly suggested several ways to help Sakura, not the least of which was for her to move in. 'Hush,' she instructed her imagination firmly. Putting her hand over Sakura's she said, "If you do need any help, please ask."
Sakura smiled back warmly, "I will."
Tomoyo blushed faintly as she looked down shyly. "Thank you for taking care of me last night," she said quietly, "I was so banged up, I don't know if I could have made it back."
"You're welcome," Sakura smiled shyly. She looked away as a blush colored her own cheeks, "Rubbing your back like that was kind of fun."
"Oh?" Tomoyo made herself look up to meet Sakura's eyes.
A teasing smile teased Sakura's lips as she added, "Too bad you fell asleep."
Tomoyo blinked, "Ah..." Before either could continue, the phone rang. "Damn it," Tomoyo cursed softly as she picked it up, "Hello?"
"What's this I hear about you're being hurt?" Sonomi demanded.
"Mother?" Tomoyo blinked. "How did you hear...?"
"I was over at Kaho's," Sonomi admitted. "Well?"
"I'm fine, mother," Tomoyo rolled her eyes while Sakura tried to muffle a giggle.
To be continued...