Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Dragon ❯ Sakura Walks Alone ( Chapter 29 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lord Archive 
A day friends should've spent together is spent apart.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 11.28.2013 | Pages: 7 | Words: 7.1K | Visits: 325 | Status: Completed
A day friends should've spent together is spent apart.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 11.28.2013 | Pages: 7 | Words: 7.1K | Visits: 325 | Status: Completed
Tomoyo pouted as she aimlessly wandered the streets of Tomoeda. Sakura had gone somewhere with Syaoran and Meiling and had not even informed her as to where they were going let alone invited her. If it had been just Sakura and Syaoran, she could at least accept that as a date, but with Meiling included that certainly would be a distraction to the young couple. A simple phone call to Kurogane could get her information as to where they were, assuming he wasn't stalking her since Sakura was functionally protected being near Meiling.
"Why the long face?"
Tomoyo looked up and blinked at the long haired girl with a boyish face. "Oh, hello, Yuki-chan. I'm afraid I've done something to upset my friends and now I find myself alone."
Yuki leaned in closer. "What could you possibly do to make your friends turn away from you?"
Tomoyo pouted. "It's nothing I'd want to go into. It was bad enough that I also had two weeks of suspension for it."
Yuki appraised the girl. Each time she had seen the older girl, there was a video camera in hand, and this time was no different. "Did you video tape them naked and show it?"
Tomoyo flinched. "Not exactly..."
"Took the video and someone else showed it off," Yuki pressed.
Tomoyo looked away. "Please don't pry."
Yuki grinned. "But you did take naughty videos of them, didn't you, at least for your own personal use?"
Tomoyo was starting to realize how annoying she, herself, could be to others, being able to read their secrets. "Why would you want to know?"
"Maybe you'll answer me this way: Do you prefer girls to guys?" Yuki questioned seriously.
Tomoyo sighed and quietly replied, "Yes."
Yuki pulled a hat out of her bag and with practiced motions, managed to hide her long hair in it as she put it on.
"You're really good at that," Tomoyo mentioned.
"Easiest way to cover my hair when I paint," Yuki returned. She then bowed to the older girl. "Now would milady care to grace me with her presence for this afternoon?"
Tomoyo blinked. "You're asking me out on a date?"
Yuki nodded with a blush.
Tomoyo gazed at her, not really surprised the girl also had lesbian leanings. "You know my troubles started because I could not be honest with myself." She reached out and removed the girl's hat. "I would be honored to go out with Yuki-chan, not 'Yuki-kun.'"
Yuki latched onto her arm. "Where would you like to go?"
"Well, there is an Arts and Media exposition in Odaiba," Tomoyo suggested.
Yuki pouted. "I... um..."
"Don't worry, I've got more than enough to cover both of us," Tomoyo offered.
"But I asked you out," Yuki protested.
Tomoyo poked Yuki's nose. "Even if our relationship gets anywhere, the most I can legally be to you is your sponsor. I will still need to marry a man and produce an heir. This could be our first act as sponsor and personal artist."
Yuki frowned at her. "Now who's not being honest?"
"I am being honest," Tomoyo returned. "I will not hide that I won't being to fully devote myself to one person. I can never fully love a man, nor will I be able to devote all my attention to a beloved girlfriend. I won't lie and tell someone she will be my only love."
"Well, I knew that you'd never love only me," Yuki admitted. "The person you would've fought to be your one and only... loves someone else."
Tomoyo nodded sadly.
"Well, if we're going to go to Odaiba, we'd better leave soon," Yuki told her, preferring to deal with the now, not the what ifs of a long relationship.
"I can get us there in no time and if your mother would have any issues with going to the other side of Tokyo I'll have bodyguards with us." Tomoyo pulled out a phone and dialed for home to have her family's limousine pick them up.
Yuki blinked. Beautiful girl, needs an heir, bodyguards, and requested they pick her up in their limousine? JACK POT! Well, the heir issue would be a bad point, but the whole deal about being her sponsor would not be a joke.
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Card Captor Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 29: Sakura Walks Alone
By: Lord Archive
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.
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The martial arts tournament really wasn't interesting to Sakura. While she was now in the advanced class for Tai Chi, she was hardly a master, and in line with patience needed to act only as much as needed, being a master would take many years of nearly daily practice. As such she was hardly qualified enough to compete in a Tai Chi tournament. She was here because Meiling was competing for her dojo.
"ARGH! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!" Meiling cursed.
"You know the referees were doing their job," Syaoran groused.
"I'm not upset at them, but at myself." Meiling let out a huff. "I know very well this isn't mixed martial arts and yet I still did moves out of forms. The only one I can blame for being disqualified is me."
Syaoran stared at her for a second before shaking his head with a slight smile. "At least you realize that."
"Next time I won't make the same mistake!" Meiling promised.
"Just a whole bunch of new ones," Syaoran muttered quietly under his breath.
Meiling scowled at him and Sakura couldn't help but giggle, both having heard his comment.
"Can we go now?" Sakura wondered.
"The tournament isn't over yet," Meiling pointed out.
Sakura pouted. "I only came to cheer you on, Meiling-chan. Now that you're out I'd like to get some lunch."
"She has a point. I'd rather not pay for over priced food that tastes bad," Syaoran added.
"Of course you'd side with her," Meiling retorted. She then shrugged. "A real lunch does sound better. I'll let Sensei know I'm heading out."
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Rika stood near her junior high in case someone wondered why she was by the schools on a Saturday without classes. From here she could see Terada working with the football coach to round up the excited fifth and sixth graders that made up the team. Unlike the junior high team, they had made it to the regional playoffs. If the team managed to win their evening game, they would not be returning tonight as they would have another match outside of town tomorrow. She oddly hoped they would lose the game so that her beloved would be back tonight and she'd be able to steal some time with him tomorrow.
Rika tried to ignore Hayabusa Shiori's presence at the elementary school. The girl likely had the same hopes she did. She may even try to sneak onto the school bus in a bid to get closer to Yoshiyuki.
"And there she goes," Rika muttered. She pulled out her cellphone and selected her favorite phone number. "You've got unwanted extra luggage with Hayabusa. Talk to you tonight."
Rika smirked as she watched her beloved go onto the bus and escort Hayabusa off it, whatever he said to her left the girl near tears.
The bus soon rumbled off with the players and teachers aboard and Hayabusa left at the curb.
Shiori began to stomp away from the elementary school, pulling out her cellphone she called up her best friend.
Rika hid behind some bushes. If it became clear to Hayabusa exactly why she lost, the girl might try to get revenge by exposing their beloved teacher's less than legal relationship.
"Hey, Yuki, my plans failed. What are you doing?" The girl stopped cold. "What? Yeah right." She then blinked. "Ah, hi... um... Yeah, Yuki would be getting ahead of herself. Take good care of her."
Rika hoped that Yuki was with Tomoyo. She knew interest existed from the Sport's Festival, and it would help the situation if Tomoyo was in a real relationship, not one set up to protect Sakura.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. Terada-sensei may not see me yet, but I'm still growing. He'll come to love me!" Shiori vowed. "Stop laughing!" With a huff, the girl irritably hung up the phone. "Time to do some dancing at the arcade."
Rika watched the girl dejected walk off towards the nearest bus stop. Her own plans would have her taking a similar path. Had she made plans to meet with her friends, she would've been forced to follow Hayabusa. Truthfully, she was tempted to go out anyway, as she did not want to deal with her mother. Being on the same bus as Hayabusa would be more annoying to her.
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"Hopefully, I'll being _doing_ my date." Yuki smirked while she was on her cellphone. "I'm out with Daidouji Tomoyo, you know the girl with the video camera at the Sport's Festival."
Tomoyo reached over and grabbed the phone. "Hello. Yuki-chan is getting a bit ahead of herself. I'm not one who would even kiss on the first date." She then giggled at Shiori's stunned reply. "Yes, I'll certainly take good care of her. Bye." She handed the phone back.
"I'll give you all the juicy details later." Yuki chirped then started to laugh at her friend's vow and had the phone disconnected on her. "She still thinks she has a shot at her beloved. Too bad your friend beat her to him. So where should we go first?"
Tomoyo gazed over the program they had been given after she paid their admission fee. "Well there's the main exhibition room which would have all the displays. There's also a few conference rooms set up as well."
Yuki leaned in to read the program, not minding at all that her face slightly pressed against the older girl's chest. "Movie landscape painting in an hour sounds good."
Tomoyo nodded as it would appeal to both of their interests.
"I'M BEING SELFISH?!"
The loud outburst caught the attention of the two girls. Tomoyo sadly shook her head, recognizing her two classmates.
"Do you honestly think I want to be at your nerd convention?" Misora continued her loud rant.
"You didn't have to come with me," Gotoh shot back.
"Oh, and I get to sit home all day like some good little housewife?" Misora retorted bitterly.
"Why not?" Gotoh returned sarcastically. "I'm here to see about getting into a job quickly for you."
"Job?" Misora spat. "There's no jobs here! Just a bunch of people with expensive hobbies. There's no way you'll be able to support a family doing this sort of shit."
Tomoyo clasped her hand on Yuki's shoulder, worried the younger girl may want to jump into the argument.
"Oh, and I'm sure going to college will be a great way to support you long before I have a real job. Here, at least, talent not education is more important," Gotoh hissed.
"Why should I believe you care about me if what you want to do is a money hole of a job? You'd need my dowry just to start this bullshit!" Misora yelled at him.
"What the hell got up your ass?" Gotoh complained. "I don't know why I even put up with you at times."
Misora slapped him. "Then don't bother with me then. Go do whatever you fucking want." She turned away and stomped off.
Gotoh stood there for a moment before letting out an incoherent shout of frustration before following the girl out of the convention hall.
"What's their problem?" Yuki wondered.
Tomoyo sighed. "They're not ready for the relationship they have. They love each other deeply, but don't want the responsibilities that come with an adult relationship."
"Ah. And with him looking at career possibilities, she got worried about their future," Yuki surmised. "Well, let's look at the exhibition hall for a bit before going to the landscape panel."
Tomoyo nodded. "Sounds good."
The two bodyguards looked at each other, and one commented, "They should look into being psychologists."
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"Want to go here?" Syaoran questioned, motioning to a restaurant.
Sakura gazed at it and almost immediately agreed. A shiver ran down her spine as her magic latched onto to a small life force, which made her aware of four more. She shook her head feverishly. "Not here!"
Meiling looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Don't they serve some of your favorite foods?"
Sakura pulled them away and in a quiet voice whispered. "There are rats nesting in their ceiling."
Syaoran blinked. "How long have you been able to sense such things?"
"Ever since I tracked down all those video tapes I've become even more... aware. I can even detect insects without trying when I'm alone or tell if a girl is pregnant," Sakura admitted.
Meiling whistled. "That's some ability. And someone is pregnant?"
Sakura pouted. "Well, yeah... but I can't say anything as she may not even know. She hasn't said anything at least."
"Guess we'll go somewhere else." Syaoran then began to guide Sakura away.
"Hold on a moment." Meiling rushed into the restaurant.
"What is she doing?" Sakura wondered.
"EEK! A RAT!" Meiling's voice screeched.
"Warning them in the worse way possible." Syaoran shook his head. "It would've been better for you to use The Illusion to point out where they were to an employee."
Sakura shrugged. "May as well. Illusion, show them the way."
In seconds, Meiling wasn't the only person running out of the restaurant. She trotted over to the young couple. "Guess there was one out."
"Actually that was me," Sakura admitted.
"You used magic in public?" Meiling questioned.
"Yueh has been teaching me how to do minor things without drawing attention for years," Sakura retorted.
"It's certainly a good skill to have," Syaoran agreed.
Meiling pointed down the street. "Now let's hope there's nothing wrong with that place."
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Shinji was loaded down with boxes of different trading card games as he entered one of his favorite stores. Not only did the place sell various games, they had tables set up to play them on. He ignored the guys he had usually played with after school as they were embroiled in some role-playing game and went straight to the counter.
"What can I do for you?" the young, scrawny shop owner glanced at the young teen, eyeing the card boxes warily.
"I want to trade these in for store credit," Shinji announced. "Each box is a different Collectible Card Game."
The owner opened the first box and frowned. "This one isn't worth much at all."
"I've got some of the rarest cards from that game in there," Shinji retorted.
"Which no one wants. Better to hold on to it to see if nostalgia value does anything for it in ten or twenty years. Right now the most expensive card doesn't sell at five hundred yen." The owner went to the next box. "This one is better. I can at least offer you something for it. Give me some time to come up with an idea of how much this is all worth. What are you hoping to get?"
"Rule books for various role-playing games. I'll even take ones that suck just to see what they did wrong," Shinji replied.
The owner nodded as he started fishing out a few cards from the box.
"Never understood why anyone would sell their entire collection. Most guys end up coming back to play in a few years," one of the gamers commented loudly.
"With Asaba, I'd give it six months," one of his former gaming buddies joked.
"Ha ha," Shinji deadpanned. "I have a real goal for what I'm doing. This isn't some project that I'll drop in a month for something else."
"And what would that be?" Tsuda questioned with a scowl.
"I'm going to prove myself to Naoko-chan, that I won't just keep jumping from one thing to the next. I will make an RPG based off of Bloody Sword Detective that works!" Shinji declared.
One of the guys laughed. "You sound like the thug Blackwolf murdered."
Shinji folded his arms and said nothing.
Tsuda smirked. "That's because he was the inspiration for him. His ex either knows Konagi, or as the author's notes suggests, she IS Konagi."
"Don't go blabbing that around!" Shinji barked.
"Because it sets you in a bad light?" Tsuda accused.
"If I prove myself to Naoko-chan, she might give me a second chance," Shinji hissed.
"So you don't want competition," Tsuda noted.
"Of course not. She was right. I haven't been good enough for her. I will make myself worthy. Just don't want someone else to beat me to it," Shinji explained.
"And just how will you play test your games?" Tsuda shot at him.
"You may not want to play my games any more, but this is a gaming store and I should be able to get some players here," Shinji retorted.
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"Miss not having Daidouji around?" Meiling questioned.
Sakura jumped, her eyes moving off the empty seat at their table. "Yeah, I mean... no. Um..."
Syaoran began to grit his teeth.
Meiling pointed her chopsticks at her cousin. "Stow the jealousy. The most Daidouji might do is share Kinomoto with you. She can't have Daidouji's children, can she?"
Sakura shook her head fiercely. "There were times I might've tried to be with her, but now that I've had time to think about things... Well... Being with Tomoyo-chan would be like being with Oniichan. I love her as a sister."
"See, nothing to worry about," Meiling insisted.
"If anyone could possibly take Sakura from me, it's Daidouji," Syaoran muttered darkly.
Sakura pouted. "I'm not going to lie and say the issue is Tomoyo-chan is a girl. If you were a girl, I'd still love you the way I do." She then glanced at Meiling. "I know saying she's my cousin doesn't exactly help, but my feelings for Tomoyo-chan are like your feelings for Meiling-chan."
Syaoran huffed and looked away. "I guess."
Meiling glared at him. "Just when did you stop thinking of us as being engaged?"
Syaoran did not give her an answer.
"Can we talk about something else?" Sakura pleaded.
"There's no point in trying to sweep this under a rug and forget about it," Meiling insisted. "As you just said, Daidouji is your cousin. You're not going to ignore her forever. Syaoran needs to shelve his jealousy or family gatherings are going to be awkward."
Sakura pouted. "I know... I'm not going to do to Tomoyo-chan what Great-grandfather and Auntie Sonomi did to my mother."
Syaoran's frown deepened. "I'm not asking you to cut Daidouji out of your life completely. Just don't think you should be friends with her."
"There's a difference?" Meiling shot at him. "You know I like you. That if you climb into my bed, the only thing to hit the floor would be our clothes. Yet you've never have done that, and I know you never will. It's the same with Kinomoto and Daidouji. Just because Daidouji would love for Kinomoto to do such a thing, it's not going to happen."
"And you think all words in the world will convince me not to worry about DAIDOUJI getting her way?" Syaoran insisted.
Meiling opened her mouth yet nothing came out for a moment. "You've got a point."
Sakura set her hand on Syaoran's. "You are my number one and I want nothing more than be the mother of your children. Tomoyo-chan will never be able to take that from you."
Meiling smirked. "And if Daidouji does somehow convince her to 'share,' they could 'share' you as well."
Syaoran blinked. "Huh?"
"You could be the only guy in a threesome," Meiling spelled out.
"Hoe?! No way!" Sakura shook her head fiercely. "Syaoran-kun is for me alone!"
Meiling let out a laugh. "Now who is being jealous?"
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Naoko wished she had gone shopping with the others. She had spent far too much time in the stores and bought too much. With the others around she would not have been able to look over nearly as many books. Exiting the bus, she still had two blocks to walk to get to her home.
"Excuse me, but do you need a hand with that?" a well dressed man offered.
Naoko frowned. "I'm not interested in guys at the moment."
"Considering your last author's notes, I'm less surprised by that than your age, Konagi Noa, or would you prefer Yanagisawa Naoko?"
Naoko stared at him, dropping her bags. "Ah... excuse me?"
The man held out a business card. "My employer wishes to animate Bloody Sword Detective and so far you've been hardly receptive. There are a number of options our company has for you."
Naoko took the offered card. The animation company Takegami work for was not the same one that offered her over a billion yen nor was it a top tier company, but they were hardly the worst. "And why would you believe I'm Konagi Noa?"
"The unrestricted use of Konagi's banking card, and the notes regarding your relationship with Asaba Shinji from using his role-playing character, being his lover and subsequently dumping him after a schoolmate 'borrowed' his bed," the man rattled off. "The anagram of your name was clever with switching No A for Na O and dropping parts of your family name, however it's obvious when one looks closely at it. Truth be told, we would've figured you out sooner had we not thought Bloody Sword Detective was written by one of your teachers."
Naoko folded her arms. "Tell me, did you hire Shiro-Kuro Investigation Services for this?"
"Would it matter who we hired to find you? We've had people searching for you for over a month," Takegami replied.
Chances were that Kurogane knew her secret months ago, at best he did little more than confirm who she was than being solely responsibly for 'finding' her. Worst part was the truth of her discovery was largely because of her own sloppiness. Spending money freely and talking about herself did leave too many clues. Naoko looked at the man evenly. "Assuming you're right about me, you do realize you're talking to a junior high school girl about a job and whose school is very restrictive on giving out worker permits. I would not be able to enter such discussion until the next school year." She picked up her bags and walked off.
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Chiharu shifted uncomfortably at a small table. In an odd way this apartment felt more like home than the house she lived in. Though she supposed that shouldn't be to surprising with this being her mother's home now and many of the things that had decorated her house in the past were on display here.
Yukiko gazed at her daughter as she returned with some tea, setting a cup in front of the girl. "Are your friends busy today?"
Chiharu pouted. "Don't know."
"Why not?" Yukiko wondered. "You know your days of freedom are numbered. Once you have your baby, going out with friends will cease to be an option."
Chiharu looked away. Not living with her mother and Sakura's quick actions kept her from telling her mother anything about Tomoyo's video. "You know how I said we were repeating history with our secrets?" She let out a sigh. "Tomoyo loves Sakura, and when that secret got out... it, well... came out in a very bad way."
Yukiko frowned deeply. "How badly?"
"I know you barely got to know Tomoyo." Chiharu gritted her teeth. "But she likes to video tape EVERYthing."
Yukiko was confused for a moment but realization dawned on her. "Oh, my..."
"The videos have been destroyed..." Chiharu trailed off.
"But she was not the only one to view them," Yukiko guessed.
Chiharu nodded.
Yukiko gazed out her apartment window. "Definitely not the best way to learn that a friend is a little different."
"How did you find out about Tomoyo's mother being a lesbian?" Chiharu wondered.
"Sonomi-chan was pretty bad with that particular secret. It was probably when Nadeshiko-chan broke her leg skiing that we realized that Sonomi-chan's feelings went beyond even sisterly love. Her devotion was too much, and far to eager to want to sponge bathe Nadeshiko-chan," Yukiko related.
"Tomoyo was so good at reading us, figuring out our secrets and yet she never let us know about hers. We had no clue about what she was hiding. We thought that besides being rich, she had to be the boring one, without any real secrets. Well, besides the question of who her father is," Chiharu complained.
"So, even if you have a problem with Tomoyo, why aren't you with your other friends?" Yukiko questioned.
"I keep getting asked that, but the truth is besides Rika-chan, they haven't exactly approached me either," Chiharu retorted.
Yukiko nodded. "Not surprising. Naoko-chan was cheated on and Sakura-chan would've been the most affected by Tomoyo-chan's tapes."
Chiharu blinked. "You know about Naoko-chan?"
"Took Rika-chan's mother out maternity shopping last Sunday with Naoko-chan's mother," Yukiko explained.
Chiharu pouted deeply.
"Don't worry. I didn't tell Yuuka her daughter is dating a teacher," Yukiko assured her.
"Wha?!" Chiharu gasped.
"'Repeated history,'" Yukiko reminded. "This time you're the forever lover, Tomoyo-chan the lesbian, Sakura-chan is with the foreign boy, and now Naoko-chan was cheated on. That leaves Rika-chan as the teacher's 'special' pet."
Chiharu remained silent, without meaning too, she was now the one to betray a secret.
"As I said, Yuuka won't hear about it from me unless I'm given a reason tell her. I've seen real love between teacher and student and I'm not about to be a hypocrite and interfere just because the age gap is likely a little wider," Yukiko assured her.
"Mom... I'm the only one she directly told. Everyone else had to figure it out," Chiharu said sadly.
Yukiko poked her daughter's nose. "But you didn't tell me. I figured it out."
"Don't think that'll make a difference," Chiharu insisted.
"I promise I won't even bring it up to Rika-chan," Yukiko vowed. "You say nothing, and no one has to know. You realize I am taking a risk. That if Rika-chan ends up victimized and her mother finds out a I knew about the relationship, your feelings towards Tomoyo-chan would pale to how Yuuka would feel about my betrayal."
Chiharu shook her head. "I doubt that."
"Try to imagine someone hurting your baby," Yukiko returned.
Chiharu once again failed to offer any real reply. The whole idea of being pregnant and starting a family still didn't feel real to her. Like those tests had lied to her.
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Sakura was ready for bed, but could still be up for a while so long as she didn't disturb her father. She didn't need to be ready for her date with Syaoran tomorrow until two o'clock. Mostly as he was liable to sleep in until noon. Truth be told she had too much on her mind to fall asleep yet. Meiling was right that the issues with Tomoyo weren't going to go away. She would have to face her cousin at some point.
Sakura began to pace around the room.
"Did I just turn off my game for nothing?" Kero-chan groused.
"Huh?" Sakura blinked. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to bed just yet."
"You're not thinking about going all the way with that brat, are you?" Kero-chan spat out.
"Syaoran-kun is not a brat and I wasn't thinking about THAT!" Sakura retorted, and then put her hand over her mouth. She may not be ready to sleep, but her father was.
"Then what's the problem this time?" Kero-chan wondered.
Sakura pouted. "Tomoyo-chan."
"Ah." Kero-chan shook its head. "Still haven't figured out what to say to her, huh?"
Sakura nodded slightly. "I still don't know if I should slap her or beg for forgiveness."
Kero-chan stared at her. "Excuse me?"
Sakura let out a deep sigh. "You know Tomoyo-chan told me that she loves me, but I had always thought of us to be like sisters. I had no idea how much I've been hurting her. I've been so close to her while my eyes had looked to Yukito-san first and then Syaoran-kun, but never towards her."
"I guess, but there's still no excuse for making that video tape. I could understand her saving such scenes, but to splice them together to make that fantasy soft-core tape like she did was too much," Kero-chan replied.
"I guess..." Sakura gazed at the drawer she had hid the video her cards had remade, and noticed it was slightly opened. She quickly opened it to make sure the tape was still there, but found it in a different position that she had left it. "Kero-chan, did you watch it?!"
The small guardian flinched. "Ah... yeah. I was just trying to understand why Tomoyo-chan did it. It's not like I haven't seen Tomoyo-chan and you naked before. I've seen more than what that taped showed considering you've touched yourself while thinking about that brat while I was still in the room."
"Kero-chan?!" Sakura hissed with a deep red face. But she had to admit that it wasn't a big deal for the small guardian to have seen the tape, especially as it shouldn't contain any naked images besides herself. She then blinked. "Wait. Tomoyo-chan is on the tape?"
Kero-chan looked at her. "Didn't the police show it to you already?"
"Not all of it," Sakura admitted.
"Ah." Kero-chan nodded. "They probably only showed you the worst of it. Maybe you should watch it."
"Hoeee?!" Sakura squeaked. "Why should I?"
"Because you might be able to understand Tomoyo-chan more if you do. It's really a beautiful piece of work, even if it's for... well... personal enjoyment," Kero-chan encouraged.
Sakura picked up the video tape. Maybe it could help her understand why. Besides if she did decide to give it to Syaoran it would be a good idea to know exactly what was on the tape. "Fine." Reluctantly she put the tape into her VCR and played it.
The music was not unlike what Tomoyo had used in the videos of her magical adventures. The scenes started off relatively tame with her at least wearing underclothes. These were merely innocent moments that had been accidentally caught on tape.
Sakura glanced at her small guardian. "Why are you watching this again?"
"I may not be a guy or a girl, but I can still enjoy seeing a beautiful person," Kero-chan defended. "I seriously doubt Tomoyo-chan would be touching herself yet."
Sakura pouted. "Maybe, maybe not."
"She would be affirming why she loves you. Here you are at your most innocent, most pure," Kero-chan explained.
Sakura gave a shallow nod. "It gets worse from here, doesn't it?"
"Well, you know it gets more... explicit," Kero-chan reminded.
Sakura let out a sigh as now the video showed her topless, and how little she had cared about being so exposed despite having Tomoyo right there with her. She then frowned. "Weren't you there?"
"Yup," Kero-chan answered. "The only voice on the tape is yours. Tomoyo-chan edited all other voices out as best she could."
Sakura didn't have to guess why. It would be... distracting to hear the other voices, especially her own, while she....
It was almost twenty minutes into the tape that she first appeared naked. The angle and distance did not give a clear view. This scene was again a moment innocently caught. The scenes were obviously not in chronological order, rather they were arranged from most clothed to least. And while the many images of her at ten and eleven did not seem to be intentionally recorded on Tomoyo's part, the times it showed her at twelve and, as the current scene clearly showed her to be, thirteen with hair the camera's placement and being left on was not a mistake.
Sakura frowned deeply as the scene change started with the camera focus on... The young teenager blinked. "Tomoyo-chan definitely didn't mean to record THAT."
"Surprised she left a close up of her own naughty bits in this." Kero-chan shrugged. "Thought she'd at least cut it about here when you're putting on your swimsuit."
"It's already the shortest scene in this," Sakura pointed out. "Besides I don't think she'd be paying much attention by this point."
"Ah... yeah." Kero-chan looked away from the video. "This is liable what the police showed you."
Sakura nodded with a blush. When she first saw this particular scene of her leaning away from the camera, clearly showing things Syaoran had yet to properly see, she had thought this had been intentionally set up, but this scene happened when she was ten. She had unintentionally given a full moon straight to the camera's lens.
The tape, even edited down as it was in removing every naked girl besides Sakura and Tomoyo finally came to an end almost an hour after it had started.
"So?" Kero-chan coaxed.
"Tomoyo-chan really needs to learn to turn off her camera," Sakura complained.
"That definitely goes without saying," Kero-chan tried to joke.
Sakura let out a long sigh. "But the one thing I noticed was Tomoyo-chan never intentionally set up these scenes. There isn't one of me putting on one of the costumes she made for me. She should've been able to set up the camera much better knowing when and where I'd be changing clothes, making sure I'd have to be naked to put it on properly. They're all of me changing out of school clothes, putting on swimsuits, or even dragging Tomoyo-chan with me to share a bath."
"Yeah, well, you didn't know better then." Kero-chan shrugged.
"I'm still partly responsible for the tape. There were times I pranced around her naked while she was clearly recording." Sakura moved to gaze out the window. "And since she couldn't be with me the way she wants, why wouldn't she want the next best thing?"
"So... you understand why she did it?" Kero-chan questioned.
Sakura glanced at him and nodded. "I kind of wish I had a tape like this of Syaoran-kun while he was in Hong Kong."
"Pervert!" Kero-chan accused before letting out a laugh.
------------------------
Author's Notes:
Coming Next:
Chapter 30 - Sakura and the School Rebellion
The school has to enforce the rules, but the students do not agree with the punishment.
OMAKE! OMAKE!
In the past few months Ichigo's collection of cards slowly grew larger. In that time Rukia had become less of a rival and more of an ally. Especially with the cards that were annoyingly hard to catch. Even though he swore he threw the punch at the same time as Rukia, the half of the Twin card he was facing dodged like his life depended on it.
"This isn't working!" Rukia complained.
"You're telling me?!" Ichigo shot back.
Both halves of The Twins card tumbled in sync down the street away from them.
Ichigo's eyes widened seeing someone appear in the path of the card. "Chad! Look out!"
Chad merely looked toward Ichigo, glanced down at the two strange looking kids. "Card?"
"Yes!" Ichigo replied quickly.
The Twins grinned devilishly as they started to think of a plan. They then looked shocked as the big teenager grabbed both of them by the head.
Chad had a few bad incidents with Ichigo's cards and knew dealing with them was a pain in the ass for all involved. Best to deal with them quickly. He pulled them apart from each other only to crashed their heads together. He then repeated the motion several times. The cards were pretty tough, after all.
"Why didn't you think of doing that?" Rukia shot at Ichigo.
Ichigo didn't bother to give her a response. With the cards hurting and still held in Chad's strong grasp, it was now or never to capture The Twins.
* Ichigo and Kon are from Bleach and belongs to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump, all rights reserved.
"Why the long face?"
Tomoyo looked up and blinked at the long haired girl with a boyish face. "Oh, hello, Yuki-chan. I'm afraid I've done something to upset my friends and now I find myself alone."
Yuki leaned in closer. "What could you possibly do to make your friends turn away from you?"
Tomoyo pouted. "It's nothing I'd want to go into. It was bad enough that I also had two weeks of suspension for it."
Yuki appraised the girl. Each time she had seen the older girl, there was a video camera in hand, and this time was no different. "Did you video tape them naked and show it?"
Tomoyo flinched. "Not exactly..."
"Took the video and someone else showed it off," Yuki pressed.
Tomoyo looked away. "Please don't pry."
Yuki grinned. "But you did take naughty videos of them, didn't you, at least for your own personal use?"
Tomoyo was starting to realize how annoying she, herself, could be to others, being able to read their secrets. "Why would you want to know?"
"Maybe you'll answer me this way: Do you prefer girls to guys?" Yuki questioned seriously.
Tomoyo sighed and quietly replied, "Yes."
Yuki pulled a hat out of her bag and with practiced motions, managed to hide her long hair in it as she put it on.
"You're really good at that," Tomoyo mentioned.
"Easiest way to cover my hair when I paint," Yuki returned. She then bowed to the older girl. "Now would milady care to grace me with her presence for this afternoon?"
Tomoyo blinked. "You're asking me out on a date?"
Yuki nodded with a blush.
Tomoyo gazed at her, not really surprised the girl also had lesbian leanings. "You know my troubles started because I could not be honest with myself." She reached out and removed the girl's hat. "I would be honored to go out with Yuki-chan, not 'Yuki-kun.'"
Yuki latched onto her arm. "Where would you like to go?"
"Well, there is an Arts and Media exposition in Odaiba," Tomoyo suggested.
Yuki pouted. "I... um..."
"Don't worry, I've got more than enough to cover both of us," Tomoyo offered.
"But I asked you out," Yuki protested.
Tomoyo poked Yuki's nose. "Even if our relationship gets anywhere, the most I can legally be to you is your sponsor. I will still need to marry a man and produce an heir. This could be our first act as sponsor and personal artist."
Yuki frowned at her. "Now who's not being honest?"
"I am being honest," Tomoyo returned. "I will not hide that I won't being to fully devote myself to one person. I can never fully love a man, nor will I be able to devote all my attention to a beloved girlfriend. I won't lie and tell someone she will be my only love."
"Well, I knew that you'd never love only me," Yuki admitted. "The person you would've fought to be your one and only... loves someone else."
Tomoyo nodded sadly.
"Well, if we're going to go to Odaiba, we'd better leave soon," Yuki told her, preferring to deal with the now, not the what ifs of a long relationship.
"I can get us there in no time and if your mother would have any issues with going to the other side of Tokyo I'll have bodyguards with us." Tomoyo pulled out a phone and dialed for home to have her family's limousine pick them up.
Yuki blinked. Beautiful girl, needs an heir, bodyguards, and requested they pick her up in their limousine? JACK POT! Well, the heir issue would be a bad point, but the whole deal about being her sponsor would not be a joke.
------------------------
Card Captor Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 29: Sakura Walks Alone
By: Lord Archive
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.
------------------------
The martial arts tournament really wasn't interesting to Sakura. While she was now in the advanced class for Tai Chi, she was hardly a master, and in line with patience needed to act only as much as needed, being a master would take many years of nearly daily practice. As such she was hardly qualified enough to compete in a Tai Chi tournament. She was here because Meiling was competing for her dojo.
"ARGH! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!" Meiling cursed.
"You know the referees were doing their job," Syaoran groused.
"I'm not upset at them, but at myself." Meiling let out a huff. "I know very well this isn't mixed martial arts and yet I still did moves out of forms. The only one I can blame for being disqualified is me."
Syaoran stared at her for a second before shaking his head with a slight smile. "At least you realize that."
"Next time I won't make the same mistake!" Meiling promised.
"Just a whole bunch of new ones," Syaoran muttered quietly under his breath.
Meiling scowled at him and Sakura couldn't help but giggle, both having heard his comment.
"Can we go now?" Sakura wondered.
"The tournament isn't over yet," Meiling pointed out.
Sakura pouted. "I only came to cheer you on, Meiling-chan. Now that you're out I'd like to get some lunch."
"She has a point. I'd rather not pay for over priced food that tastes bad," Syaoran added.
"Of course you'd side with her," Meiling retorted. She then shrugged. "A real lunch does sound better. I'll let Sensei know I'm heading out."
------------------------
Rika stood near her junior high in case someone wondered why she was by the schools on a Saturday without classes. From here she could see Terada working with the football coach to round up the excited fifth and sixth graders that made up the team. Unlike the junior high team, they had made it to the regional playoffs. If the team managed to win their evening game, they would not be returning tonight as they would have another match outside of town tomorrow. She oddly hoped they would lose the game so that her beloved would be back tonight and she'd be able to steal some time with him tomorrow.
Rika tried to ignore Hayabusa Shiori's presence at the elementary school. The girl likely had the same hopes she did. She may even try to sneak onto the school bus in a bid to get closer to Yoshiyuki.
"And there she goes," Rika muttered. She pulled out her cellphone and selected her favorite phone number. "You've got unwanted extra luggage with Hayabusa. Talk to you tonight."
Rika smirked as she watched her beloved go onto the bus and escort Hayabusa off it, whatever he said to her left the girl near tears.
The bus soon rumbled off with the players and teachers aboard and Hayabusa left at the curb.
Shiori began to stomp away from the elementary school, pulling out her cellphone she called up her best friend.
Rika hid behind some bushes. If it became clear to Hayabusa exactly why she lost, the girl might try to get revenge by exposing their beloved teacher's less than legal relationship.
"Hey, Yuki, my plans failed. What are you doing?" The girl stopped cold. "What? Yeah right." She then blinked. "Ah, hi... um... Yeah, Yuki would be getting ahead of herself. Take good care of her."
Rika hoped that Yuki was with Tomoyo. She knew interest existed from the Sport's Festival, and it would help the situation if Tomoyo was in a real relationship, not one set up to protect Sakura.
"Yeah, don't worry about me. Terada-sensei may not see me yet, but I'm still growing. He'll come to love me!" Shiori vowed. "Stop laughing!" With a huff, the girl irritably hung up the phone. "Time to do some dancing at the arcade."
Rika watched the girl dejected walk off towards the nearest bus stop. Her own plans would have her taking a similar path. Had she made plans to meet with her friends, she would've been forced to follow Hayabusa. Truthfully, she was tempted to go out anyway, as she did not want to deal with her mother. Being on the same bus as Hayabusa would be more annoying to her.
------------------------
"Hopefully, I'll being _doing_ my date." Yuki smirked while she was on her cellphone. "I'm out with Daidouji Tomoyo, you know the girl with the video camera at the Sport's Festival."
Tomoyo reached over and grabbed the phone. "Hello. Yuki-chan is getting a bit ahead of herself. I'm not one who would even kiss on the first date." She then giggled at Shiori's stunned reply. "Yes, I'll certainly take good care of her. Bye." She handed the phone back.
"I'll give you all the juicy details later." Yuki chirped then started to laugh at her friend's vow and had the phone disconnected on her. "She still thinks she has a shot at her beloved. Too bad your friend beat her to him. So where should we go first?"
Tomoyo gazed over the program they had been given after she paid their admission fee. "Well there's the main exhibition room which would have all the displays. There's also a few conference rooms set up as well."
Yuki leaned in to read the program, not minding at all that her face slightly pressed against the older girl's chest. "Movie landscape painting in an hour sounds good."
Tomoyo nodded as it would appeal to both of their interests.
"I'M BEING SELFISH?!"
The loud outburst caught the attention of the two girls. Tomoyo sadly shook her head, recognizing her two classmates.
"Do you honestly think I want to be at your nerd convention?" Misora continued her loud rant.
"You didn't have to come with me," Gotoh shot back.
"Oh, and I get to sit home all day like some good little housewife?" Misora retorted bitterly.
"Why not?" Gotoh returned sarcastically. "I'm here to see about getting into a job quickly for you."
"Job?" Misora spat. "There's no jobs here! Just a bunch of people with expensive hobbies. There's no way you'll be able to support a family doing this sort of shit."
Tomoyo clasped her hand on Yuki's shoulder, worried the younger girl may want to jump into the argument.
"Oh, and I'm sure going to college will be a great way to support you long before I have a real job. Here, at least, talent not education is more important," Gotoh hissed.
"Why should I believe you care about me if what you want to do is a money hole of a job? You'd need my dowry just to start this bullshit!" Misora yelled at him.
"What the hell got up your ass?" Gotoh complained. "I don't know why I even put up with you at times."
Misora slapped him. "Then don't bother with me then. Go do whatever you fucking want." She turned away and stomped off.
Gotoh stood there for a moment before letting out an incoherent shout of frustration before following the girl out of the convention hall.
"What's their problem?" Yuki wondered.
Tomoyo sighed. "They're not ready for the relationship they have. They love each other deeply, but don't want the responsibilities that come with an adult relationship."
"Ah. And with him looking at career possibilities, she got worried about their future," Yuki surmised. "Well, let's look at the exhibition hall for a bit before going to the landscape panel."
Tomoyo nodded. "Sounds good."
The two bodyguards looked at each other, and one commented, "They should look into being psychologists."
------------------------
"Want to go here?" Syaoran questioned, motioning to a restaurant.
Sakura gazed at it and almost immediately agreed. A shiver ran down her spine as her magic latched onto to a small life force, which made her aware of four more. She shook her head feverishly. "Not here!"
Meiling looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Don't they serve some of your favorite foods?"
Sakura pulled them away and in a quiet voice whispered. "There are rats nesting in their ceiling."
Syaoran blinked. "How long have you been able to sense such things?"
"Ever since I tracked down all those video tapes I've become even more... aware. I can even detect insects without trying when I'm alone or tell if a girl is pregnant," Sakura admitted.
Meiling whistled. "That's some ability. And someone is pregnant?"
Sakura pouted. "Well, yeah... but I can't say anything as she may not even know. She hasn't said anything at least."
"Guess we'll go somewhere else." Syaoran then began to guide Sakura away.
"Hold on a moment." Meiling rushed into the restaurant.
"What is she doing?" Sakura wondered.
"EEK! A RAT!" Meiling's voice screeched.
"Warning them in the worse way possible." Syaoran shook his head. "It would've been better for you to use The Illusion to point out where they were to an employee."
Sakura shrugged. "May as well. Illusion, show them the way."
In seconds, Meiling wasn't the only person running out of the restaurant. She trotted over to the young couple. "Guess there was one out."
"Actually that was me," Sakura admitted.
"You used magic in public?" Meiling questioned.
"Yueh has been teaching me how to do minor things without drawing attention for years," Sakura retorted.
"It's certainly a good skill to have," Syaoran agreed.
Meiling pointed down the street. "Now let's hope there's nothing wrong with that place."
------------------------
Shinji was loaded down with boxes of different trading card games as he entered one of his favorite stores. Not only did the place sell various games, they had tables set up to play them on. He ignored the guys he had usually played with after school as they were embroiled in some role-playing game and went straight to the counter.
"What can I do for you?" the young, scrawny shop owner glanced at the young teen, eyeing the card boxes warily.
"I want to trade these in for store credit," Shinji announced. "Each box is a different Collectible Card Game."
The owner opened the first box and frowned. "This one isn't worth much at all."
"I've got some of the rarest cards from that game in there," Shinji retorted.
"Which no one wants. Better to hold on to it to see if nostalgia value does anything for it in ten or twenty years. Right now the most expensive card doesn't sell at five hundred yen." The owner went to the next box. "This one is better. I can at least offer you something for it. Give me some time to come up with an idea of how much this is all worth. What are you hoping to get?"
"Rule books for various role-playing games. I'll even take ones that suck just to see what they did wrong," Shinji replied.
The owner nodded as he started fishing out a few cards from the box.
"Never understood why anyone would sell their entire collection. Most guys end up coming back to play in a few years," one of the gamers commented loudly.
"With Asaba, I'd give it six months," one of his former gaming buddies joked.
"Ha ha," Shinji deadpanned. "I have a real goal for what I'm doing. This isn't some project that I'll drop in a month for something else."
"And what would that be?" Tsuda questioned with a scowl.
"I'm going to prove myself to Naoko-chan, that I won't just keep jumping from one thing to the next. I will make an RPG based off of Bloody Sword Detective that works!" Shinji declared.
One of the guys laughed. "You sound like the thug Blackwolf murdered."
Shinji folded his arms and said nothing.
Tsuda smirked. "That's because he was the inspiration for him. His ex either knows Konagi, or as the author's notes suggests, she IS Konagi."
"Don't go blabbing that around!" Shinji barked.
"Because it sets you in a bad light?" Tsuda accused.
"If I prove myself to Naoko-chan, she might give me a second chance," Shinji hissed.
"So you don't want competition," Tsuda noted.
"Of course not. She was right. I haven't been good enough for her. I will make myself worthy. Just don't want someone else to beat me to it," Shinji explained.
"And just how will you play test your games?" Tsuda shot at him.
"You may not want to play my games any more, but this is a gaming store and I should be able to get some players here," Shinji retorted.
------------------------
"Miss not having Daidouji around?" Meiling questioned.
Sakura jumped, her eyes moving off the empty seat at their table. "Yeah, I mean... no. Um..."
Syaoran began to grit his teeth.
Meiling pointed her chopsticks at her cousin. "Stow the jealousy. The most Daidouji might do is share Kinomoto with you. She can't have Daidouji's children, can she?"
Sakura shook her head fiercely. "There were times I might've tried to be with her, but now that I've had time to think about things... Well... Being with Tomoyo-chan would be like being with Oniichan. I love her as a sister."
"See, nothing to worry about," Meiling insisted.
"If anyone could possibly take Sakura from me, it's Daidouji," Syaoran muttered darkly.
Sakura pouted. "I'm not going to lie and say the issue is Tomoyo-chan is a girl. If you were a girl, I'd still love you the way I do." She then glanced at Meiling. "I know saying she's my cousin doesn't exactly help, but my feelings for Tomoyo-chan are like your feelings for Meiling-chan."
Syaoran huffed and looked away. "I guess."
Meiling glared at him. "Just when did you stop thinking of us as being engaged?"
Syaoran did not give her an answer.
"Can we talk about something else?" Sakura pleaded.
"There's no point in trying to sweep this under a rug and forget about it," Meiling insisted. "As you just said, Daidouji is your cousin. You're not going to ignore her forever. Syaoran needs to shelve his jealousy or family gatherings are going to be awkward."
Sakura pouted. "I know... I'm not going to do to Tomoyo-chan what Great-grandfather and Auntie Sonomi did to my mother."
Syaoran's frown deepened. "I'm not asking you to cut Daidouji out of your life completely. Just don't think you should be friends with her."
"There's a difference?" Meiling shot at him. "You know I like you. That if you climb into my bed, the only thing to hit the floor would be our clothes. Yet you've never have done that, and I know you never will. It's the same with Kinomoto and Daidouji. Just because Daidouji would love for Kinomoto to do such a thing, it's not going to happen."
"And you think all words in the world will convince me not to worry about DAIDOUJI getting her way?" Syaoran insisted.
Meiling opened her mouth yet nothing came out for a moment. "You've got a point."
Sakura set her hand on Syaoran's. "You are my number one and I want nothing more than be the mother of your children. Tomoyo-chan will never be able to take that from you."
Meiling smirked. "And if Daidouji does somehow convince her to 'share,' they could 'share' you as well."
Syaoran blinked. "Huh?"
"You could be the only guy in a threesome," Meiling spelled out.
"Hoe?! No way!" Sakura shook her head fiercely. "Syaoran-kun is for me alone!"
Meiling let out a laugh. "Now who is being jealous?"
------------------------
Naoko wished she had gone shopping with the others. She had spent far too much time in the stores and bought too much. With the others around she would not have been able to look over nearly as many books. Exiting the bus, she still had two blocks to walk to get to her home.
"Excuse me, but do you need a hand with that?" a well dressed man offered.
Naoko frowned. "I'm not interested in guys at the moment."
"Considering your last author's notes, I'm less surprised by that than your age, Konagi Noa, or would you prefer Yanagisawa Naoko?"
Naoko stared at him, dropping her bags. "Ah... excuse me?"
The man held out a business card. "My employer wishes to animate Bloody Sword Detective and so far you've been hardly receptive. There are a number of options our company has for you."
Naoko took the offered card. The animation company Takegami work for was not the same one that offered her over a billion yen nor was it a top tier company, but they were hardly the worst. "And why would you believe I'm Konagi Noa?"
"The unrestricted use of Konagi's banking card, and the notes regarding your relationship with Asaba Shinji from using his role-playing character, being his lover and subsequently dumping him after a schoolmate 'borrowed' his bed," the man rattled off. "The anagram of your name was clever with switching No A for Na O and dropping parts of your family name, however it's obvious when one looks closely at it. Truth be told, we would've figured you out sooner had we not thought Bloody Sword Detective was written by one of your teachers."
Naoko folded her arms. "Tell me, did you hire Shiro-Kuro Investigation Services for this?"
"Would it matter who we hired to find you? We've had people searching for you for over a month," Takegami replied.
Chances were that Kurogane knew her secret months ago, at best he did little more than confirm who she was than being solely responsibly for 'finding' her. Worst part was the truth of her discovery was largely because of her own sloppiness. Spending money freely and talking about herself did leave too many clues. Naoko looked at the man evenly. "Assuming you're right about me, you do realize you're talking to a junior high school girl about a job and whose school is very restrictive on giving out worker permits. I would not be able to enter such discussion until the next school year." She picked up her bags and walked off.
------------------------
Chiharu shifted uncomfortably at a small table. In an odd way this apartment felt more like home than the house she lived in. Though she supposed that shouldn't be to surprising with this being her mother's home now and many of the things that had decorated her house in the past were on display here.
Yukiko gazed at her daughter as she returned with some tea, setting a cup in front of the girl. "Are your friends busy today?"
Chiharu pouted. "Don't know."
"Why not?" Yukiko wondered. "You know your days of freedom are numbered. Once you have your baby, going out with friends will cease to be an option."
Chiharu looked away. Not living with her mother and Sakura's quick actions kept her from telling her mother anything about Tomoyo's video. "You know how I said we were repeating history with our secrets?" She let out a sigh. "Tomoyo loves Sakura, and when that secret got out... it, well... came out in a very bad way."
Yukiko frowned deeply. "How badly?"
"I know you barely got to know Tomoyo." Chiharu gritted her teeth. "But she likes to video tape EVERYthing."
Yukiko was confused for a moment but realization dawned on her. "Oh, my..."
"The videos have been destroyed..." Chiharu trailed off.
"But she was not the only one to view them," Yukiko guessed.
Chiharu nodded.
Yukiko gazed out her apartment window. "Definitely not the best way to learn that a friend is a little different."
"How did you find out about Tomoyo's mother being a lesbian?" Chiharu wondered.
"Sonomi-chan was pretty bad with that particular secret. It was probably when Nadeshiko-chan broke her leg skiing that we realized that Sonomi-chan's feelings went beyond even sisterly love. Her devotion was too much, and far to eager to want to sponge bathe Nadeshiko-chan," Yukiko related.
"Tomoyo was so good at reading us, figuring out our secrets and yet she never let us know about hers. We had no clue about what she was hiding. We thought that besides being rich, she had to be the boring one, without any real secrets. Well, besides the question of who her father is," Chiharu complained.
"So, even if you have a problem with Tomoyo, why aren't you with your other friends?" Yukiko questioned.
"I keep getting asked that, but the truth is besides Rika-chan, they haven't exactly approached me either," Chiharu retorted.
Yukiko nodded. "Not surprising. Naoko-chan was cheated on and Sakura-chan would've been the most affected by Tomoyo-chan's tapes."
Chiharu blinked. "You know about Naoko-chan?"
"Took Rika-chan's mother out maternity shopping last Sunday with Naoko-chan's mother," Yukiko explained.
Chiharu pouted deeply.
"Don't worry. I didn't tell Yuuka her daughter is dating a teacher," Yukiko assured her.
"Wha?!" Chiharu gasped.
"'Repeated history,'" Yukiko reminded. "This time you're the forever lover, Tomoyo-chan the lesbian, Sakura-chan is with the foreign boy, and now Naoko-chan was cheated on. That leaves Rika-chan as the teacher's 'special' pet."
Chiharu remained silent, without meaning too, she was now the one to betray a secret.
"As I said, Yuuka won't hear about it from me unless I'm given a reason tell her. I've seen real love between teacher and student and I'm not about to be a hypocrite and interfere just because the age gap is likely a little wider," Yukiko assured her.
"Mom... I'm the only one she directly told. Everyone else had to figure it out," Chiharu said sadly.
Yukiko poked her daughter's nose. "But you didn't tell me. I figured it out."
"Don't think that'll make a difference," Chiharu insisted.
"I promise I won't even bring it up to Rika-chan," Yukiko vowed. "You say nothing, and no one has to know. You realize I am taking a risk. That if Rika-chan ends up victimized and her mother finds out a I knew about the relationship, your feelings towards Tomoyo-chan would pale to how Yuuka would feel about my betrayal."
Chiharu shook her head. "I doubt that."
"Try to imagine someone hurting your baby," Yukiko returned.
Chiharu once again failed to offer any real reply. The whole idea of being pregnant and starting a family still didn't feel real to her. Like those tests had lied to her.
------------------------
Sakura was ready for bed, but could still be up for a while so long as she didn't disturb her father. She didn't need to be ready for her date with Syaoran tomorrow until two o'clock. Mostly as he was liable to sleep in until noon. Truth be told she had too much on her mind to fall asleep yet. Meiling was right that the issues with Tomoyo weren't going to go away. She would have to face her cousin at some point.
Sakura began to pace around the room.
"Did I just turn off my game for nothing?" Kero-chan groused.
"Huh?" Sakura blinked. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to bed just yet."
"You're not thinking about going all the way with that brat, are you?" Kero-chan spat out.
"Syaoran-kun is not a brat and I wasn't thinking about THAT!" Sakura retorted, and then put her hand over her mouth. She may not be ready to sleep, but her father was.
"Then what's the problem this time?" Kero-chan wondered.
Sakura pouted. "Tomoyo-chan."
"Ah." Kero-chan shook its head. "Still haven't figured out what to say to her, huh?"
Sakura nodded slightly. "I still don't know if I should slap her or beg for forgiveness."
Kero-chan stared at her. "Excuse me?"
Sakura let out a deep sigh. "You know Tomoyo-chan told me that she loves me, but I had always thought of us to be like sisters. I had no idea how much I've been hurting her. I've been so close to her while my eyes had looked to Yukito-san first and then Syaoran-kun, but never towards her."
"I guess, but there's still no excuse for making that video tape. I could understand her saving such scenes, but to splice them together to make that fantasy soft-core tape like she did was too much," Kero-chan replied.
"I guess..." Sakura gazed at the drawer she had hid the video her cards had remade, and noticed it was slightly opened. She quickly opened it to make sure the tape was still there, but found it in a different position that she had left it. "Kero-chan, did you watch it?!"
The small guardian flinched. "Ah... yeah. I was just trying to understand why Tomoyo-chan did it. It's not like I haven't seen Tomoyo-chan and you naked before. I've seen more than what that taped showed considering you've touched yourself while thinking about that brat while I was still in the room."
"Kero-chan?!" Sakura hissed with a deep red face. But she had to admit that it wasn't a big deal for the small guardian to have seen the tape, especially as it shouldn't contain any naked images besides herself. She then blinked. "Wait. Tomoyo-chan is on the tape?"
Kero-chan looked at her. "Didn't the police show it to you already?"
"Not all of it," Sakura admitted.
"Ah." Kero-chan nodded. "They probably only showed you the worst of it. Maybe you should watch it."
"Hoeee?!" Sakura squeaked. "Why should I?"
"Because you might be able to understand Tomoyo-chan more if you do. It's really a beautiful piece of work, even if it's for... well... personal enjoyment," Kero-chan encouraged.
Sakura picked up the video tape. Maybe it could help her understand why. Besides if she did decide to give it to Syaoran it would be a good idea to know exactly what was on the tape. "Fine." Reluctantly she put the tape into her VCR and played it.
The music was not unlike what Tomoyo had used in the videos of her magical adventures. The scenes started off relatively tame with her at least wearing underclothes. These were merely innocent moments that had been accidentally caught on tape.
Sakura glanced at her small guardian. "Why are you watching this again?"
"I may not be a guy or a girl, but I can still enjoy seeing a beautiful person," Kero-chan defended. "I seriously doubt Tomoyo-chan would be touching herself yet."
Sakura pouted. "Maybe, maybe not."
"She would be affirming why she loves you. Here you are at your most innocent, most pure," Kero-chan explained.
Sakura gave a shallow nod. "It gets worse from here, doesn't it?"
"Well, you know it gets more... explicit," Kero-chan reminded.
Sakura let out a sigh as now the video showed her topless, and how little she had cared about being so exposed despite having Tomoyo right there with her. She then frowned. "Weren't you there?"
"Yup," Kero-chan answered. "The only voice on the tape is yours. Tomoyo-chan edited all other voices out as best she could."
Sakura didn't have to guess why. It would be... distracting to hear the other voices, especially her own, while she....
It was almost twenty minutes into the tape that she first appeared naked. The angle and distance did not give a clear view. This scene was again a moment innocently caught. The scenes were obviously not in chronological order, rather they were arranged from most clothed to least. And while the many images of her at ten and eleven did not seem to be intentionally recorded on Tomoyo's part, the times it showed her at twelve and, as the current scene clearly showed her to be, thirteen with hair the camera's placement and being left on was not a mistake.
Sakura frowned deeply as the scene change started with the camera focus on... The young teenager blinked. "Tomoyo-chan definitely didn't mean to record THAT."
"Surprised she left a close up of her own naughty bits in this." Kero-chan shrugged. "Thought she'd at least cut it about here when you're putting on your swimsuit."
"It's already the shortest scene in this," Sakura pointed out. "Besides I don't think she'd be paying much attention by this point."
"Ah... yeah." Kero-chan looked away from the video. "This is liable what the police showed you."
Sakura nodded with a blush. When she first saw this particular scene of her leaning away from the camera, clearly showing things Syaoran had yet to properly see, she had thought this had been intentionally set up, but this scene happened when she was ten. She had unintentionally given a full moon straight to the camera's lens.
The tape, even edited down as it was in removing every naked girl besides Sakura and Tomoyo finally came to an end almost an hour after it had started.
"So?" Kero-chan coaxed.
"Tomoyo-chan really needs to learn to turn off her camera," Sakura complained.
"That definitely goes without saying," Kero-chan tried to joke.
Sakura let out a long sigh. "But the one thing I noticed was Tomoyo-chan never intentionally set up these scenes. There isn't one of me putting on one of the costumes she made for me. She should've been able to set up the camera much better knowing when and where I'd be changing clothes, making sure I'd have to be naked to put it on properly. They're all of me changing out of school clothes, putting on swimsuits, or even dragging Tomoyo-chan with me to share a bath."
"Yeah, well, you didn't know better then." Kero-chan shrugged.
"I'm still partly responsible for the tape. There were times I pranced around her naked while she was clearly recording." Sakura moved to gaze out the window. "And since she couldn't be with me the way she wants, why wouldn't she want the next best thing?"
"So... you understand why she did it?" Kero-chan questioned.
Sakura glanced at him and nodded. "I kind of wish I had a tape like this of Syaoran-kun while he was in Hong Kong."
"Pervert!" Kero-chan accused before letting out a laugh.
------------------------
Author's Notes:
Coming Next:
Chapter 30 - Sakura and the School Rebellion
The school has to enforce the rules, but the students do not agree with the punishment.
OMAKE! OMAKE!
In the past few months Ichigo's collection of cards slowly grew larger. In that time Rukia had become less of a rival and more of an ally. Especially with the cards that were annoyingly hard to catch. Even though he swore he threw the punch at the same time as Rukia, the half of the Twin card he was facing dodged like his life depended on it.
"This isn't working!" Rukia complained.
"You're telling me?!" Ichigo shot back.
Both halves of The Twins card tumbled in sync down the street away from them.
Ichigo's eyes widened seeing someone appear in the path of the card. "Chad! Look out!"
Chad merely looked toward Ichigo, glanced down at the two strange looking kids. "Card?"
"Yes!" Ichigo replied quickly.
The Twins grinned devilishly as they started to think of a plan. They then looked shocked as the big teenager grabbed both of them by the head.
Chad had a few bad incidents with Ichigo's cards and knew dealing with them was a pain in the ass for all involved. Best to deal with them quickly. He pulled them apart from each other only to crashed their heads together. He then repeated the motion several times. The cards were pretty tough, after all.
"Why didn't you think of doing that?" Rukia shot at Ichigo.
Ichigo didn't bother to give her a response. With the cards hurting and still held in Chad's strong grasp, it was now or never to capture The Twins.
* Ichigo and Kon are from Bleach and belongs to Tite Kubo and Shounen Jump, all rights reserved.