Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter 37
"I'm sorry, I don't know how Tomoyo got her various leads on where the Knight was," Yukito lied cheerfully to a TV reporter he was talking to over the phone. "No. No, I assume she just had very good contacts."
Toya watched his boyfriend with amusement. As the one who had photographed the Knight the most, he had been caught up in the surge of publicity. He even had fangirls, which Toya found hilarious for obvious reasons.
"Sorry I can't help you. Bye," Yukito hung up.
"Being newly famous has to suck," Toya teased as they sat together on the couch.
"My fault for having a public phone number," Yukito sighed, "Tomoyo is unlisted, so they're chasing after me." He looked a little nervously at Toya, "You're taking this rather well."
"I sort of knew Sakura was following in Mother's footsteps and fighting monsters," Toya admitted with a sigh. "Would have been nice if she told me, though," he added.
"I think she thought you'd disapprove," Yukito observed mildly.
Toya made a face, "It DID get our Mom killed you know..."
Yukito really had no answer to that.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Ah CHOO!" Sakura sneezed.
The artifact the archeologist was cleaning wobbled dangerously, but her assistant swiftly steadied it. "Miss Kinomoto!" Yue Susanoo scolded.
"Sorry," Sakura said sheepishly. "I don't normally sneeze like that..."
"No harm done at least," Yue noted mildly.
The knife they were examining was supposedly forged in ancient China, yet had qualities from swords forged in Japan. There was a strong opinion that it might be a forgery, which was why they were studying it.
"Fascinating," Sakura murmured as she studied the carvings on the blade.
"Do you think it's real?" Yue had to ask.
"No idea," Sakura told him cheerfully.
"Ugh," Yue grunted, "be serious, ma'am."
Sakura smiled as she elaborated, "The carvings match the types we've seen on similar artifacts in the place and time it's supposed to have come." She frowned thoughtfully, "But the blade has thin layers of metal, like the metal had been flattened and folded over itself. That kind of forging wasn't used in China in that era."
"So someone brought the blade to China from Japan?" Yue guessed.
"It's possible," Sakura agreed. "We're having a sample of the blade dated... if the dates match up, that would be a good indication it's legitimate."
"Or it could be a fake from that era, as you've said," Yue noted.
"Agreed," Sakura sighed. "All right," she said briskly, "we need to photograph the item for our records, then put it back into storage."
"Got it," Yue agreed. They took digital photographs of the knife from multiple angles, trying to get all the inscriptions in focus.
"We'll send the photos around to other experts on Clow Reed artifacts but I expect we'll get a response like," Sakura took on a deliberately academic tone, "It's a fascinating discovery, but I cannot confirm if it's Clow Reed's work without a physical examination and lab testing."
"Which is what you'd say if you got sent these photos, yes?" Yue pointed out.
"Ha. Point," Sakura conceded.
They stowed away the mysterious knife, then prepared to update several displays in the main museum itself. Ironically at least one item on display had been proven NOT to be a Clow Reed artifact, so they were going to need to redo that part of the display.
"Despite being a knock-off," Sakura explained as they changed out the labels, "it's still a historically interesting artifact."
"Plus the museum spent time and effort getting it, and just removing it would be a waste," Yue observed wryly.
"That too," Sakura agreed willingly.
When they were done the glass cases gleamed, each artifact set in their place with proper labelling on their origin and theoretical purpose. With the proper lighting, it looked both beautiful and somewhat mysterious.
"Hey, Miss Kinomoto," the security chief waved as they were leaving, "there's reporters out front." He dropped his voice, "I think they know you're dating that reporter."
"Hoeeee," Sakura made a distressed noise.
"We can always head out the back," Yue suggested mildly.
"Yeah, I guess," Sakura agreed, then her phone rang. "Huh?" she asked as she answered it.
Yue watched as the oddest expressions crossed Sakura's face as she nodded meekly. She also didn't seem to be able to get a word in edgewise. "What?" Yue had to ask once she hung up.
"That was Sonomi Daidouji" Sakura sounded mildly dazed. "She saw the reporters on the news, it's been dealt with."
"Dealt with? She didn't kill them, did she?" Yue had to ask.
The security guard checked the outside camera, then snorted with amusement. "I think it's fine," he showed them the video. A group of attractive women in suits and shades was corralling the reporters. Forcefully in some cases.
"Oh my..." Sakura groaned.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I think that qualifies as using your bodyguards for evil rather than good," Kaho noted mildly after Sonomi hung up.
"People harassing my future daughter-in-law get whatever they deserve," Sonomi said firmly. The two were relaxing on her couch, after a long days work.
"When do you think Tomoyo will pop the question?" Kaho asked mildly. Both women were aware of the younger women's relationship, of course. Both through casual encounters and because Sonomi was covertly spying on them.
"My daughter is professionally brave but personally cowardly," Sonomi sighed. "So no, I have no idea," she said.
The two older women had had the 'do we want to make this official' discussion themselves, of course. Both basically agreed that a formal commitment ceremony or the like would complicate both their lives. People would question Kaho's independance as a reporter, while others might think Sonomi was leaking news to her lover. For the time being, at least, both weren't interested in marriage.
Kaho sipped her mocha and sighed happily. "We're going to be dealing with the fallout of the monsters being made public for awhile," she observed.
"Tell me about it," Sonomi sighed, "the Japanese government is already starting several projects to deal with them."
"Big guns?" Kaho guessed.
"And other exotic weapons," Sonomi agreed.
Kaho made a mental note to tell Tomoyo to dig into this a bit. The Japanese public would not likely be happy about heavy weapons deployed in country.
"Oh, did you see the latest group protesting?" Sonomi demanded, looking amused.
"Oh?" Kaho asked. The environmental wackos had come out in force, arguing that the monsters should be 'protected' somehow. Even though they were apparently killing people.
"Monster Musume fans," Sonomi laughed.
Kaho burst out laughing. "You're kidding me," she said.
"Nope. They think they can get monster waifus, I guess," Sonomi laughed.
"People are crazy," Kaho shook her head ruefully.
Before Kaho could add anything, Sonomi's phone rang. "Yes?" Sonomi answered.
"MOTHER," a annoyed voice growled.
"Hello, Tomoyo dear," Sonomi answered, smiling wryly.
"Why did you send out your body guards to rescue Sakura?" Tomoyo asked. She paused, "I could have done it."
"I'm terribly sorry for spoiling your rescuing of Sakura," Sonomi said mildly.
Kaho was fighting back a case of giggles as she listened in.
"Did Sakura make it home okay?" Sonomi asked politely.
"Yes she did," Tomoyo sighed. She puffed out a breath, "Thank you for helping her, I guess. I wasn't expecting reporters to go after her too."
"You're keeping her at your apartment?" Sonomi asked.
"Seems like a plan, until the heat dies down," Tomoyo admitted.
"And I'm SURE you'll give Sakura lots of love and care while she's there," Sonomi teased.
"MOTHER," Tomoto growled then hung up on her.
Kaho laughed again, warmly. "Now that you've started getting along again, you enjoy teasing her huh?" she noted.
"I think Tomoyo takes things a bit too seriously," Sonomi admitted.
"Speaking of seriously," Kaho shifted over to sit beside her, "I'm feeling seriously neglected..."
"Let's fix that then," Sonomi smiled as she kissed her lingeringly.
To be Continued...
Notes: Yes I'll get back to Clow Reed and monster hunting next episode. I just figured we needed at least one more chapter on the general reaction of 'Monsters are REAL?! WTF.' Heh.
Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter 38
Clow Reed was NOT a happy magician.
Things were not proceeding as Clow had expected. Before his first 'death' he had used the clow cards to divine the future, and had set certain plans in motion to preserve humanity.
(Save the world was an overly grand description of his plans, and also inaccurate. The 'world' didn't need saving. It would happily chug along even if all humanity was wiped out by monster kind. Humans, however, needed saving quite badly.)
But the spirits of the Clow Cards were still mostly sleeping, the monsters in general were appearing much sooner than he had predicted and his own abilities were vastly weakened. After some experimenting he had realized the 'slimes' he had called were weak because HE was weaker. By a lot. It was entirely possible certain weaker monsters might even kill him, now.
"Cheese? Nuts?" a friendly talking rat asked, coming up to where Clow was sitting on a bench in the mostly deserted park.
"Sure," Clow nodded his head. He had bought a bag of nuts from a street kiosk earlier, and passed them over willingly.
"Thanks!" the rat cheerfully took the food. "Well, like you asked our chief, we've been scouting for ya," the rat noted, then reported on all the monsters lurking around town.
If Clow was one to get pale, he would have. The amount of monsters in this region was frightening, and in his opinion completely unnatural. 'Is it the cards drawing them here?' he wondered. 'Or something else?'
"Well, just keep paying us with nuts, and we'll keep looking," the rat added into the uncomfortable silence.
"Yes, thank you. Good work!" Clow said briskly.
The rat scampered off, disappearing into the shrubbery around the wreckage of the tower. Even after Clow blew the tower up, there was still plenty of magic around. The rats seemed to like it.
'Strange world...' Clow thought then walked off.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
There were more police out in the city. In the aftermath of the 'slime' attack two weeks ago, the government was starting to move on the 'monster crisis' as the media was calling it. Sadly the cops weren't any better armed or prepared than usual, which was NOT comforting.
"I notice they're mostly sticking close to the city center," Yukito noted as they drove the unmarked van along the city streets.
Tomoyo was riding shotgun, frowning as she worked on a tablet. "It's MOSTLY a public relations thing," she observed.
"Really?" Sakura asked, riding in the back. She was trying to stay out of sight, just in case the cops or military were keeping an eye out for her.
"Makes sense," Mei Lin agreed. She added, "They haven't really had enough time to get new procedures in place."
"I sort of hope they don't run into monsters, considering how badly guns seem to do," Sakura frowned cutely.
'SHE'S SO CUTE,' Tomoyo thought, looking in the mirror and seeing her expression.
Yukito fought back the urge to chuckle. "Let's check the police band," he noted, activating the second hand unit. He and Tomoyo used it to run to police incidents, looking for stories. At least, when Tomoyo wasn't working on a corruption scoop and such.
"All quiet," Mei Lin observed unnecessarily. Curiously she asked Tomoyo, "Are you looking into that dodgy government agency?"
"The 'Living Environment Division', yeah," Tomoyo brightened. "The funding alone for the agency is byzantine... nothing illegal, I think, but the public would NOT be pleased. I'm looking forward to splashing it on the front page," she noted.
"Are they actually supernaturally gifted?" Sakura asked curiously.
"I think so," Mei Lin noted. "I helped with the research... they DO seem to actually deal with ghosts, at least."
"I'd like you to meet the medium, too," Tomoyo added to Sakura. "Assuming we can do it and keep your secret. " She smiled as she continued, "I know you haven't really had anyone to talk about this sort of thing with."
Sakura smiled back, "That WOULD be nice."
Before either could continue, the police band radio crackled to life. The officer rattled off a code, then, "Whatever this thing is, I am NOT messing with it..."
"Yukito, let's go," Tomoyo ordered briskly.
"They don't pay me enough for this," Yukito muttered but they drove off through the twilight lit streets of Tokyo.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Jiro Yamada watched nervously as the lizard/snake thing awkwardly pulled itself along the pavement on stubby scaled limbs.
Now, Jiro had gotten the briefing on 'monsters.' He knew, officially, that they existed and you might run into them. They had even run through what you should do if you encountered one: basically keep the public away while staying safe yourself. But a briefing really didn't prepare you for the 'what the fuck' factor of seeing one of these things in person.
"What should we do, senpai?" Hitomi asked, the junior cop looking at the critter in disbelief then gazing worriedly at Jiro.
Jiro really wanted to say 'How should I know?' but he was a superior. "Keep the civilians back," he suggested, "we need to be sure these things are a threat."
One of the monsters hissed loudly, making him jerk in alarm.
Before anything else could happen, a girl in a swirling, hooded cloak arrived. "It's the Knight!" Hitomi nearly squealed.
"Eh..?" Sakura blinked.
"You're famous, remember?" another masked woman noted. "Roll with it."
One of the lizard monsters hissed, clearly displeased at being ignored. "Ladies," Jiro nodded politely. "I'd ask you to stay back, but apparently you know what you're doing."
Even more annoying, a unmarked van pulled up and two reporters spilled out, filming the scene. Hitomi moved to block them, "Please stay back..."
"Trust me, we know what we're doing," the woman grinned at her.
'Oh hell that's the reporter who broke the monster stories,' Jiro realized.
"You know, they actually just look like alligators," the Knight noted.
"Or crocodiles," the other masked woman offered.
Jiro blinked. Yeah, actually... they did look like the critters he'd seen in a nature show, once. "But if they are Gators, what are they doing in Tokyo?" he had to ask.
"Point," the Knight admitted.
"Zoo escape?" Hitomi offered.
"For DOZENS of them?" Jiro sighed.
Before anyone could say anything more, the creatures suddenly stopped. Then, they reared up on their back legs, balancing on their tails.
"What." the other masked woman blinked.
Then their eyes glowed with a ominous red light. Without even thinking about it, Jiro hit the floor as he yelled, "DUCK!"
Firey beams of light lasked out from their eyes...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Apparently, they're Egyptian," one of Sakura's collegues from the museum told a TV news report. "They are the basis of several myths..."
The TV host cut the academic speculation off, "But how did they get HERE?"
"No idea!" he admitted cheerfully. "It shouldn't have been possible."
The host nodded gravely. Turning to face the camera he continued, "As a reminder, the police are asking the public to report any monster sightings to the non-emergency line. Only use 'emergency' if you feel in actual danger."
In her apartment Kaho snorted. "Like THAT would work," she noted.
She logged on to her newspaper's site, noting with satisfaction that an early draft of Tomoyo's story on the monster attack was there. Including, of course, photos by Yukito.
Kaho was tempted to call Tomoyo to make sure she was okay (the photos made it look like they were WAY too close to the action) but decided to let her rest. She was reasonably confident they'd call her if someone got hurt.
"Kaho! Come to bed," Sonomi called from the bedroom.
Kaho quickly shut the computer down and got up. Anything else could wait until tomorrow...
To be continued...
Notes: Shorter chapter. Sorry. I also need to do more research on possible monsters...
OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE! OMAKE!
A spotlight suddenly lit up a darkened stage.
"Now hear this!" Tomoyo declared, wearing a bathing suit.
"WHY a bathing suit?" Sakura muttered. She was also in a bathing suit, with very little coverage.
Tomoyo just ignored that, "The Author has decided this fanfic is too long, and has combined three short chapters into one bigger chapter."
Sakura looked thoughtful, "Won't that confuse things...?"
"Hopefully the longer chapters will make reading easier!" Tomoyo finished.
"That's it?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"That's it," Tomoyo agreed, "Now I'm carrying you back to our love nest."
Sakura yelped in surprise as Tomoyo threw her over her shoulder and strode off...
To be continued!
Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter 39 (New)
"SHIELD!" Sakura yelled, the card erecting a magic barrier before the wave of snake-tentacles could reach her.
"Oh poo," the Medusa-like monster pouted as she drew her snakes back. "Just let me bite you! You'll go to sleep and feel wonderful," she added encouragingly.
"And die," Sakura added dryly.
"Well, yes," the green skinned woman conceded.
Several people were laying on the floor of the basement, all dead. Apparently her venom preserved the bodies... and a few had signs they had been chewed on. The Medusa was human shaped, with a face and head, but a body that was composed of snakes. She could command them to be her 'body' or to attack in waves.
"I'd really like to give you a chance to just... well, leave," Sakura admitted as she took a battle stance, "but you killed people."
"Not 'people'," the Medusa growled, "just meat."
'Uh huh,' Sakura sighed.
Another wave of snakes attacked, but this time Sakura charged. Her sword cleaved the wave before it could reach her.
"Yeowww!" Medusa hissed in pain, reeling backward.
Seizing the moment Sakura swiftly closed the distance between them, then cut the Medusa's head right in two.
"Glurk..." the Medusa started, then just collapsed, the snakes going limp. Sakura watched it warily a moment, then the creature began to melt.
"Whew," Sakura puffed out a sigh.
She slipped out of the basement, then headed up the stairs to the street. Her armored cloak folded away, and she looked relatively normal as she reached street level. She looked around warily, then pulled out a burn-phone.
(In this case, the 'burn phone' was a phone bought at a convenience store, usually cheap, and loaded with store-bought minutes rather than a phone company plan. After use, you would then throw out the phone. Not cheap, overall, but basically untracable.)
"Police? There are bodies in the basement at..." and Sakura read off the address. Before any questions could be asked, she hung up.
She waited until she heard police sirens, then quietly moved off. 'Don't run.' she reminded herself, 'running attracts attention.' But as she left, she was unaware that eyes were on her.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Yue and Kereberos were both feeling frustrated as they shadowed Sakura as she hunted the city's monsters.
"WHY isn't she chasing down more Clow Cards?" Yur demanded, the angel-like figure waving his arms angrily.
Kereberos, the giant winged lion, gave him a look. "The monsters ARE killing people," he pointed out dryly.
Yue scowled back, "Because the Cards are loose! If they had the Cards contained, there'd be less monsters."
"We don't KNOW that," Kereberos countered. "The monsters were turning up in her mother and grandmother's time," he said reasonably.
"Hmph," Yue growled.
They were having no luck finding Clow Reed too. They were certain he was out and about, but could find no trace of him. It was hugely frustrating.
"Mommy, look!" a little boy pointed, "A angel!"
'Damn magically sensitive kid,' Yue thought, improving their cloaking magic a bit. Both winked out of sight.
"Come on," Kereberos sighed. He added, "I'm hungry. And you need to check back in with Sakura at work."
"Agreed," Yue nodded as they both moved off.
"Buy me lunch?" Kereberos teased as the cat shifted, morphing to human form.
"Oh, very well," Yue sighed as he also took on human form. "We need to get you a job... our food bill is insane."
"Meanie," Caroline pouted. "We CAN magic up money, you know," she reminded him.
"That would be unethical," Yue said stiffly.
Caroline really wondered about him, soetimes. There was a TV screen in the window they passed and she pointed, "Hey, isn't that Tomoyo?"
Tomoyo was being followed by TV reporters, looking annoyed. Yue chuckled, "I can read lips. She's saying 'No comment' along with swearing alot."
Caroline snickered softly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
As a reporter shoved a mic in her face, Tomoyo was tempted to move up and knee him in the nuts. Or taster him. But she firmly restrained herself.
"Gentlemen, Ladies, I am NOT the story here," Tomoyo said to them with great patience, "I'm just the reporter."
"How did you meet the knight!" one guy yelled.
"No comment," Tomoyo decided to stop reasoning with them and force through.
Now, Tomoyo was a small-ish, attractive and polite woman. But she had also had a fair bit of martial arts training and self defence classes. So the reporters hemming her in suddenly found themselves elbowed in sensitive spots, kicked in the shins and otherwise forced aside.
"NO COMMENT," Tomoyo growled as she stomped on a camera man's instep, then forced through into the Times building.
Several sheepish security guys were geared up, looking like they were about to rush out to the rescue. "Sorry, we were...," one started.
"It's fine," Tomoyo waved it off, "just... be a BIT quicker next time?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"I see our new security is as effective as expected," Rika noted, the archavist carrying a bundle of documents.
"Short of meeting me out there and clubbing everyone...," Tomoyo shrugged.
"Point," Rika agreed.
"TOMOYO! Get your ass in here!" Kaho yelled from her office.
"Coming," Tomoyo hurried to the chief's office.
Kaho looked tired, as usual. She worked long hours, though recently she had been working from home with her lover, Sonomi. She tapped the printout of Tomoyo's newest story as she asked, "Are you SURE of this?"
"I've talked with Medical Examiners, morgue staff and paramedics, all agree that the government is downplaying monster fatalities," Tomoyo said grimly.
"By over half," Kaho noted.
"I think it's worse than that, but... I'm being conservative," Tomoyo admitted.
"THAT bad?" Kaho asked.
"They just covered up an attack with over ten victims, claiming it was just a gas leak," Tomoyo said flatly.
Kaho nodded thoughtfully. "You do realize that the government will be very unhappy over this?" she pointed out. "And they are already annoyed with you over refusing to reveal who the Knight is." she added.
Tomoyo just shrugged. "Run it," she said.
Kaho smirked, "As expected, you don't back down."
"I'll probably hide out for a few days after the story drops," Tomoyo admitted, "I'm not COMPLETELY stupid."
"Ha," Kaho teased, and Tomoyo scowled at her.
"No new stories on the Knight?" Kaho asked mildly.
Tomoyo made a face, "She headed out on her own, sadly. I made her promise to let me and Yukito know, next time."
Kaho could tell that made her nervous. Understandably. "She did do this before you came along," she pointed out.
"I know," Tomoyo conceded, "she's very capable of taking care of herself."
Changing the subject Kaho noted, "We're also covering the military attempting monster hunting. It's not going well."
"I've been skimming the reports," Tomoyo sighed. "They clearly didn't listen to us. Handguns? Really?" she growled.
Instead of listening to Tomoyo about light arms being useless, several attempts to capture monsters while armed with pistols had been tried. All ended badly. The only good news, so far, was that the teams had been smart enough to pull back once they realized it wasn't working.
"Thank goodness no fatalities," Kaho added.
Tomoyo made a face and tapped the printout of her story, "Actually, there have been. That was covered up too..."
"Shit," Kaho sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: I, at some point, need to do a chapter showing what a complete cluster fuck it is to try to hunt monsters via conventional weapons. Probably ALSO do it as a Aliens spoof. Might even be next chapter.
Chapter 15 : Christmas
"You want to have a Christmas party? Seriously?" Tomoyo asked.
"It IS the season," Sonomi answered mildly.
Tomoyo made a frustrated noise. There were the monster attacks, the Knight being publicly known, the Government hunting the monsters (badly)... with all that going on, why would you think it was a good idea to party?
"We always hold a party, you know," Sonomi sighed, "if we suddenly didn't, people would start asking questions. And frankly, people could use the cheering up."
Tomoyo made a face but nodded. "Corporate and private parties?" she asked.
"Correct, and I'd like you at both," Sonomi said. She hesitated, "Kaho has agreed to attend both events as my girlfriend. I would appreciate your support."
Tomoyo raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise. Sonomi and Kaho had, until now, kept their relationship quiet, as they knew there would be various questions about undue influence and insider information leaking. Apparently they decided to go public anyway.
"How is father taking the news?" Tomoyo had to ask.
Sonomi made a face, "Not well."
"I will, of course, be bringing Sakura with me," Tomoyo added.
"Of course," Sonomi nodded. She added thoughtfully, "Hopefully this ends up less exciting than the last party."
"Heh," Tomoyo smiled wryly.
"Speaking of excitement... I understand the Government is annoyed with you?" Sonomi asked.
"They're angry about my story on the cover up on monster attack fatalities," Tomoyo acknowledged, "they're demanding I reveal my sources."
"Which you're refusing," Sonomi knew.
"Damn right," Tomoyo nodded.
"Do you need legal assistance? My lawyers...," Sonomi started.
"No, the paper's ones should be fine. The politicians are more annoyed that they looked bad," Tomoyo said flatly.
They talked a bit longer, then Tomoyo got ready to leave. "Thank you for coming," Sonomi hugged her awkwardly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Merry Christmas!" Sakura said cheerfully as she presented the gift to her assistant. \
"Uh, thank you?" Yue Susanno looked surprised. "I didn't expect..."
"You're welcome." Sakura smiled warmly, "It's just a small thing, and a treat for your girlfriend Caroline."
Yue looked embarrassed.
With a chuckle Sakura continued, "Come on, let's get everything ready for storage."
This was the last day the museum would be open before the holiday break. They were doing over the Clow Reed section, making sure everything was tidy before the break. They had already finished clearing items for research.
"Did you hear back from Li?" Sakura wondered.
"I thought you were reasonably certain they were fakes?" Yue asked.
"But they're good, interesting fakes," Sakura said cheerfully.
Yue shook his head. Archaeologists were weird...
Sakura's phone rang. "Hello? Oh, Tomoyo!" she smiled.
"I was just visiting your brother and Yukito," Tomoyo said cheerfully, "and I dropped off Yukito's present there too."
"Yukito is still hiding out from the TV news?" Sakura asked.
"He likes being behind the camera, not in front of it," Tomoyo said. "Can I pick you up after work?" she asked.
"Please," Sakura smiled. She hung up then smiled cheerfully, "Well, let's finish up."
The security guards were locking up as they left. "Have a good night," the older man waved.
"You too," Sakura beamed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Clow Reed had not experienced 'Christmas' before, though he understood it from memories in his host body. It wasn't something he cared about much one way or another.
"Merry Christmas!" the talking rat in the park he frequented cheered.
"Merry Christmas," Clow echoed. "Nuts?" he offered from the bag he carried.
"Please!" the rat grabbed some. "We saw a glowing card thing in the tunnels... is it one of your things?"
"That it is," Clow sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The formal party was first. Sonomi invited the boards of the companies she owned, along with some the presidents. It tended to be fairly boring as no one would dare get drunk or risk doing anything to offend the boss.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet my fiance Kaho," Sonomi smiled charmingly.
"Are you INSANE?" one of the execs lost his shit and swiftly descended into a rant about the lesbian menace and how she'd disgrace them all.
"Wow, what year did he come from? The fifties?" Sakura murmured.
When he started getting personally insulting Tomoyo muttered, "That's it."
Tomoyo calmly strode up to the man, grabbed his arm and wrenched it behind him. As he yelped in protest, she marched him to the door. His date swiftly followed, looking profoundly embarrassed by it all.
"Allow me," Mei Lin opened the door.
"Thanks," Tomoyo casually chucked the guy out the door, the woman following. She then shut the door and walked back to Sakura.
Sonomi nodded thanks to both women then turned to face her staff. "Please remember that we have an official anti-discrimination policy. This kind of thing will get you fired with cause," Sonomi said coolly.
There were murmurs at that.
Sonomi raised her glass, "Merry Christmas."
"Well, that was fun," Mei Lin sighed to Sakura and Tomoyo.
"Could be worse," Sakura sighed, "Sonomi can replace that fossil, at least."
"Sorry about that," one executive sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The 'private' party was on the actual Christmas Eve, and was just family and friends.
"Hmm," Tomoyo leaned against Sakura, "I wouldn't have danced with you at the other party."
Sakura dipped her, making Tomoyo laugh. "Too bad," Sakura chuckled, "I would have liked making conservatives heads explode."
"You are evil," Tomoyo teased.
Kaho sniggered softly as she sat in Sonomi's lap. "Just imagine what sort of fit he'd have had seeing this," she purred.
Sonomi chuckled as she mused, "He'd have a coronary."
"I hate you all," Mei Lin muttered.
Nakuru Akizuki, an attractive, somewhat androgynous woman, offered her hand."May I?" she asked warmly.
Mai lin looked a little startled but accepted.
"Wasn't Nakuru a guy?" Kaho asked softly.
"They don't really consider gender a thing," Sonomi explained about the young executive working for her.
"Ah," Kaho nodded.
Meanwhile, Sakura and Tomoyo were slow dancing. "I'm surprised Sonomi and Kaho beat us to the punch," Tomoyo murmured.
"Well, I was sort of expecting you to propose," Sakura said quietly back.
"I sort of figured you would, big monster hunter that you are," Tomoyo suggested.
"You ARE the crusading reporter who carries out her story come hell or high water," Sakura countered.
"So neither one of us moved because we thought it was going to be the other?" Tomoyo chuckled warmly.
Tomoyo laughed, "Pretty much!"
"Then we have some things to talk about, I think," Sakura purred as they both swayed close together.
To be continued...
Notes: Shorter chapter. I 'lost' a first draft of this when my computer up and died. Re-wrote the first two pages from memory, pretty much.