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!