Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Angels with Broken Wings Flutter and Flail ❯ A Ten Minute Freedom ( Chapter 1 )

Hello. The only thing I'm hoping for right now is that somebody will read this, and review this, and read this, and review this....sigh...I disclaim the wonderful work of CLAMP, namely Card Captor Sakura.

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It was considered a big event by many and one would wonder what was going on.

There was a makeshift platform in the middle of the street. At the foot of the stage, there was a long table and beyond that...? There was a kerfuffle of shrieking school girls, rollicking boys, and everything of the sort. A mishmash of people stood there, seemingly waiting for something exciting to happen.

The people were shouting different things all at the same time. But they were all chanting the same name over and over and over.

"Angel! Angel! Angel!"

It was deafening.

Around the blockade, a lot of cars were parked and inside one of these cars, a girl was quietly waiting. She had nothing to do. A magazine lay beside her in the car. Unassuming, the girl took the magazine. She began reading.

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Card Captor Sakura: Angels with Broken Wings Flutter and Flail

Chapter 1

A 10-minute Freedom

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Japan's No. 1 Teen Icon

It is a natural law, the law of gravity in particular, that all things that come up must sooner or later come down. Angel had been desperately hoping for that fateful day to come. Sadly, ever since her first baby steps into the world of show business, her career just kept on plummeting up. The ride was too smooth for comfort.

Who is Angel, you ask? Oh, she's just this fifteen-year old girl on every poster in every house of every teenager. You might have been mesmerized by this lavender-haired beauty in nine out of ten commercials promoting the latest soda drinks, toys, hi-tech gadgets, computer models, celphone models, skincare products, you name it. The heavenly trill you hear a lot on the radio, that's her voice. The hyacinthine eyes that swoop down on you, catching your heart and all, from the big screen outside the shopping mall, it could not be anyone else's but Angel's.

But, be warned. Whenever you see giggly school girls with tufts of purple-dyed tresses and fuchsia contact lenses, they are not Angel, but her staunch followers. If any of them hears you slandering Angel's name, you might not live to see the daylight. My only advice is for you to run for your dear life.

Who is the real Angel? Everyone knows that she has portmanteau talents. At the tender age of four, the little angel (excuse the pun), has already been seen singing in school programs. By the stars of Venus, Angel was destined to be discovered by Hal Ishitori, her current talent manager. From the moment Hal set his eyes on Angel, he felt strongly that she would be the one to make a difference in the music AND film industry. After the school program, Hal talked with Angel and the two made a great connection.

Hal endeavored to make Angel's dreams come true. But, every big star had to start small. Hal and Angel's first project was to expose the lovely Angel. Her first VTRs landed her several contracts for different commercials. Everyone saw the potential in this hyacinthine-eyed wonder. Soon, a lot of caliber TV networks have began signing her up for their TV series' line ups. Angel's talent for singing, which was how Hal discovered her, was only later on explored.

And now, Angel has finally come to the peak of her budding career. She is starring in her first, major role film, of which the details shall be announced in the months to come. Please subscribe for next month's issue of 'Jem' magazine...

......

The girl could not help but grimace as she thumbed through the teen-oriented magazine on her lap. Here was a magnified account of Angel, or who they call the newest teen icon.

Really.

She had only been sitting in the black, tinted car for half an hour, waiting like any good girl. Right beside her, was a glossy magazine that seemed really harmless. The girl just shrugged to herself and picked it up. She leafed through the pages, and read a bit of everything, for she was not one to read those types of magazines. Her eyes fell on a page with a picture of a very familiar girl. It was an article about Angel. That seemed harmless too.

Boy was she wrong.

Everything written there was a twisted lie.

How so?

Angel was not like that. She was not endeavoring for those sorts of things. Before, she did. Now, it was different. Angel was tired of being an idol. Only, her early retirement from stardom was very much opposed by many.

How did the girl know this?

Because, she was Angel. And Angel was not her real name. It was Tomoyo Daidouji. Her age was even wrong. She was actually turning 13 this year.

They did not know the real her and nobody would want to know about it.

Why?

Because, who would be interested in a thirteen-year old, megane-wearing bookworm? Yes. Angel had 120/132 vision. So, she had to wear glasses at home and soft contact lenses outside. Her mother insisted that she undergo laser treatment. But, Tomoyo repeatedly and firmly told her mom 'no'.

You know how people always think about what their favorite stars would be doing during their free time? Well, if it were Angel, she would be reading all kinds of books at home. How not fancy right?

And for anyone's satisfaction, her personal satisfaction perhaps, Tomoyo scribbled the first paragraph in the article.

The car door swung open and a pink-tinged face popped into Tomoyo's view.

"Hal!" Tomoyo jumped. It not only happened once, but many times. Halberton Ishitori, Angel's homosexual, half-American half-Japanese talent manager, always wore heavy make-up. It created a horrifying effect for Tomoyo, every time she was alone in the car and Hal suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Girl, why do you flinch as if I'm a ghost who's come to swallow you up?" Hal sighed dramatically and rearranged the shawl around his neck. The talent manager had a bizarre taste for clothes.

"Scoot over, Angel," Hal told Tomoyo with a wave of his nail-polished fingers. He slid into the car.

"Oh dear!" Hal cried shrilly, snatching up the magazine lying there in horror. "You've been writing on my magazines again!" His voice needed a lot of getting used to - a deep baritone going up and up in high pitches.

Tomoyo did not know whether to laugh at the way his voice went like that or at the silly expression on his pinkish face.

"Sorry, Hal," was all Tomoyo could say, as she was mustering up every ounce of energy to stop herself from laughing in Hal's face.

Hal pouted and crossed his arms, looking very childish.

"Hal, I said I'm sorry."

The gay looked the opposite way. He played with strands of his waist-length, silver-dyed hair.

"Hal! Look at me, will you?"

Now, Hal had his eyelids shut.

There was one last resort. Tomoyo had no other means for reconciliation, except that. Her talent manager had been nagging her about it these past few days.

"Okay. I'll pose for that photo-shoot you wanted me to go to." This, was her final peace offering.

"YES!" Hal threw up his hands in sheer joy, only to forget that he was inside a car and merrymaking was limited. The car bounced for a while.

"Yeesh. I just made him happy again," Tomoyo said to herself.

Tomoyo cleared her throat, cutting off Hal's blissful moment. "Shall we get down to business?" Tomoyo said.

Hal nodded. "Angel, I've already talked to the stage crew. You're set to go in ten minutes."

"Okay."

"Now, don't be late, you understand?"

Tomoyo blinked, confused. "What do you mean? Why? Aren't you staying here with me?"

"I'm going ahead because I have to attend to some things. Now, we made a deal, that, in exchange for not having bodyguards today, you promised me you're going to meet your co-stars in that movie project. We're doing that after this promotion of your new album."

"Uh right." Tomoyo felt giddily strange for some reason. This was the first time she would ever be alone, without Hal by her side, without her female bodyguards watching her back. Tomoyo had TEN minutes of freedom. It might be a mere ten minutes to any other person, but to Angel, ten minutes was ethereal.

"Remember, ten minutes! I want you up on that stage in ten minutes!" Hal reminded Tomoyo once more before he got out of the car and closed the door.

The teen idol, as soon as she saw that Hal was gone, started concocting an idea in her mind.

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Sakura Kinomoto was riding her roller-skates and it was just her luck that she could not pass through as quickly as usual. The middle-school girl, who was taking her usual route home, was stopped by a crowd of enthusiastic people gathered around a makeshift stage. Sakura felt curious, and so skated her way to the outermost part of the ring of people.

"OOFH..."

Sakura was not looking properly and knocked down a girl who was crossing her path. She immediately stooped over the sprawled figure.

"I'm sorry," apologized Sakura, pulling the girl up to her feet.

"It's alright," said the girl with a warm smile. Then, she made a face as she noticed that her dress was dirtied a bit.

"Here, take this." Sakura held out a lace handkerchief to the girl.

The girl considered it for a while and finally accepted the hankie, mumbling, "thank you."

While she was cleaning her dress, Sakura scrutinized the person. She was surprised to see that she was a perfect lookalike of the teen idol, Angel. For all she knew, this girl could be the real thing.

"Whoa, look at that tumult. Angel's really very popular, isn't she?" The girl jerked a thumb at the growing cluster. She was still holding the handkerchief in her other hand.

"So, Angel is going to appear here today?" Sakura asked.

"Yup. It's a promotion for a new CD, 'Harlequin Carnival'."

"Harlequin Carnival? Isn't that the name of a festivity here in Tomoeda?"

"I heard that it's Angel's favorite holiday."

"Really? You know so much about Angel and you look so much like her....I think you can pass off as her double."

The girl's eyes widened.

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**to be continued**

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So, how was it? Can you guys guess who Halberton Ishitori is like? I just made up the Harlequin Carnival. Please review.

And oh yeah, these are my other fics: Reunion (I used to write it under the penname kurikurei) and Passage.