Sakura, Knight of the Clow
Chapter 49
"So you had to be a sixteen year old virgin to become a devil hunter?" Misaki Mei asked their ONLY licensed monster hunter.
"Uh huh," Yohko Mano, Devil Hunter Yohko, agreed. The younger woman was dressed in a chinese style dress with a modified skirt for easy movement, along with armored bracers and knives in her belt.
"You don't hacve to STAY a virgin, do you?" Yuna asked.
"Thank god no," Yohko said. She pouted, "I haven't managed it yet though."
"Not it," Yuna joked.
"Ditto," Misaki added.
"I don't go that way anyway," Yohko waved that off. She pouted, "How long are we going to wait here?"
The police had called them in on a monster sighting. However, the local unit wanted a shot at the target, first, so they were waiting.
"I'm sure our unit will handle it," the local police commander noted.
Yuna grunted skeptically just as a radio crackled to life.
"We're extracting now! Wounded incoming!"
"Shit," the officer cursed.
"Medics" Misaki yelled as the cops emerged from the access tunnel. There was a LOT of blood, but thankfully no dead.
"What was it?" Yuna asked one of the uninjured cops.
"Some kind of rock thing," the cop groaned, "swords were useless, and guns just bounced bullets everywhere. Two of our injuries were friendly fire."
"You were told no guns," Misaki noted with a sigh.
"Sorry, using them is sort of a reflex," the man sighed.
"We mapped the tunnels, at least where we scouted," the other officer passed over a tablet.
"Thank you," Yuna said then looked at Yohko, "you're up, I think."
"Right," Yohko sighed, putting metal hand guards on each hand, "let's go."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"There's another monster hunter?" Sakura blinked as she saw the paper.
Yohko Mano, Devil Hunter Yohko, was on the front page, giving a 'V for Victory' pose beside the remains of a rock monster. There was a statement from the new agency running monster hunting in Japan too.
Tomoyo and her were sitting in a cafe not far from the museum, getting lunch together.
"So.. she fights them with her bare hands?" Sakura blinked.
"She's apparently superhumanbly strong," Tomoyo noted. "And used armored gauntlets, against that thing," she added.
"Still!: Sakura shook her head.
"They also are asking you to meet with them," Tomoyo pointed out.
Sakura sighed, nodding. "We'll need to come up with a better mask," she mused.
"You're GOING?" Tomoyo asked, frowning.
"Of course!" Sakura smiled, "They need my help, and people could die."
Tomoyo nodded, conceding that. "I don't trust them, though," she pointed out.
"Agreed," Sakura nodded, "but..." She shrugged, indicating that even if she did agree, she still felt she should go.
"Mei-lin?" Tomoyo asked.
"No, just me," Sakura shook her head, "no reason to take chances."
"And Yukito and I will come along when you go meet them, as reporters covering the story," Tomoyo said firmly.
"But they'll know we're connected," Sakura protested.
"They already think we're connected," Tomoyo pointed out reasonably. She added, "I already have other reporters speculating on how we know each other, not to mention lawyers from the government calling."
"Are you okay?" Sakura wondered softly.
"My boss knows that reporters don't give up our sources, and she backs me up," Tomoyo said with a shrug.
Neither one mentioned how powerful Tomoyo's mother was, too. As one of the richest women in Japan, and having corporate interests across the country, the government was not going to mess with her or anyone connected to her.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Sakura declared.
Tomoyo just sighed at that.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Clow Reed was settling into his captivity. They had unchained him from the wall, moved him into a cell, and now she kept trying to win him over. WHY though?
"Do you know how BORING being immortal is? I suspect mistress decided she'd rather have the company," Spinel Sun noted, the panther relaxing outside the cell.
"Point," Clow conceded as he added, "I got so bored I let myself die, and reincarnated."
"Thar's cheating," Enchantress chided, the cool beauty returning to the chamber.
Clow tensed. She was a mercurial sort, and in her irritation might zap him again.
"He's been good, Mistress," Spinel Sun reported.
Enchantress shrugged, "Good enough. I bring food." She held up take out bags from a popular chain restaurant.
"Hmm, chicken," Clow grinned.
"I can't cook, as you well know," Enchantress admitted.
Clow nodded, as he had mostly been the cook when they had been together.
Enchantress served up the food as she asked him, "You used the cards you made to see the future, as I recall?"
Clow ate some chicken, "Yes. Why?"
"How soon do you think the disaster you predicted is coming," Enchantress asked reluctantly.
"I don't know," Clow admitted.
There was a beat of silence, then Spinel Sun blurted, "You don't KNOW?!"
"How can you not know?" Enchantress added.
Clow sighed, "Seeing the future is uncertain, as you well know. I have a vague sense of it coming, but other than that..."
Enchantress sighed, slumping a bit as she ate. "I've been sensing SOMETHING happening," she admitted, "I think it's connected."
"All I know is that the recovery of all the Cards is connected," Clow admitted.
"So if I just stop the woman from finding them...?" Enchantress wondered.
:It delays things, but something worse happens," Clow shrugged.
"Lovely," Enchantress sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sakura Kinomoto was nervous, but that was as usual really. While she was mostly used to the whole 'monster hunting' thing, not to mention capturing the Clow Cards, other things still made her quite anxious.
"Thank you for the ride," Sakura told the taxi driver as the masked, cloaked young woman got out at the office building.
"Have a nice day, miss," the driver waved.
Yukito followed, carrying his camera, along with Tomoyo with her microphone and other gear.
"I feel very weird about this," Sakura muttered.
"At the request of the government," Tomoyo did a voice over, "the mysterious KNIGHT has agreed to meet with officials!"
A young man was sitting at the reception desk as they strode in, and he looked about as befuddled as Sakura felt. "Afternoon," she smiled at the boy as she said, "I'm here to speak with the monster fighting Agency?"
He blinked at her a few times, "Do you have an appointment?"
Both Yukito and Tomoyo fought back a laugh.
Gently Sakura asked, "Could you call them? I'm pretty sure they want to see me."
"Right," he picked up the phone, "ma'am? Yes. Uhm, there's a mask, costumed woman here, with a news crew..."
Just minutes later the albino woman Sakura had talked to earlier this month burst out of a stairway, followed by her assistant and the new monster hunter.
"YOU," Yohko blurted, even as Sakura recognized her.
"Hello again," Sakura sighed.
"You KNOW her?" Yukito hissed.
"Long story," Sakura sighed, "we worked a case together..."
To be continued...