The white haired young man returned to the museum, dropping down to the roof of the building on wings of silver-white. Robes that had once been tattered were pristine, now, and his eyes had lost the wild look they had once had. "Ho, Yue," the voice rumbled as the great cat stepped from the shadows. "Keroberos," Yue nodded regally to the golden lion as he reported, "the Fight card has been defeated, just as we expected." "Don't start celebrating yet," Keroberos cautioned him gruffly, "there are still many more cards for her to catch, not to mention...." "Understood," Yue nodded, "but at least we are finally regaining our strength of old, with each card that she captures and returns to the book." "I just wish that she could find them quicker," Keroberos rumbled deep in his throat, "I think she relies on as much luck as skill." "What are you suggesting?" Yue recognized that tone of voice. Keroberos shrugged, "Just that she might need a guide of some sort...." "We can't," Yue shook his head, "our Master would not be pleased in our interfering so blatantly in the Knight's path." "Oh, I don't know," Keroberos sounded amused as he said, "I remember the Master himself bending the rules on occasion." "Point," Yue nodded. He looked over at the lion thoughtfully a moment, "So what, exactly, were you planning?" Keroberos just smiled a toothy grin. The morning sun gave Tomoyo a headache as she rushed into the newspaper offices, carrying the computer disks containing her story and Yukito's photos. "Hey Tomoyo," Rika looked cheerful as the brown haired girl walked by, "the boss wants to see you." "Thanks," Tomoyo nodded as the black haired woman detoured towards the office. Yukito looked over at her, his blonde hair falling into those gentle eyes. "You want me along?" he asked her curiously. "I don't think it's Knight related," Tomoyo smiled slightly as she admitted, "I think another story I wrote just went off." "Well, good luck," Yukito waved before taking the photo disk and heading off to upload the latest set of Knight images. Tomoyo slowed as she neared the office, feeling a flash of irritation as she met the secretary's twinkling eyes. Mei-Lin smiled, her black hair in twin ponytails as she efficiently dealt with a caller. Putting the phone down she said, "Looks like the Chief is annoyed with you." "I'm not surprised," Tomoyo answered dryly, "considering I helped break a negative story about one of our best advertisers." Privately she added, 'Not to mention my mother's company.' "Go on in," Mei-Lin said before adding with a sympathetic smile, "and you'd better be wearing your flack jacket." "Thanks," Tomoyo had to smile back as she went inside. Kaho Mitsuki looked up as Tomoyo came in, her eyes flashing angrily as the brown haired woman tossed yesterday's paper down on the desk. "Care to explain?" she demanded. The headline read, "Fraud at highest levels of Daidouji Manufacturing' and just below it in large text was, 'Top executives implicated!' The paragraphs below spelled out what Tomoyo and several other investigative reporters had pieced together, along with police statements and other information. "I thought it was pretty clear, actually," Tomoyo answered mildly. "I have just spent the whole morning having my ear chewed off," Kaho scowled, "not to mention getting complaints from several of our other advertisers." "If my mother has been one of the ones chewing," Tomoyo said harshly, "then maybe she should be spending more time cleaning her own house." Kaho smiled wryly, "Actually, she was one of the few that wasn't." Tomoyo gave a little smile, "I didn't think so." Seriously she said, "I am not going to edit my stories to keep our advertisers happy, ma'am. I'd sooner quit." "And I wouldn't ask you to," Kaho replied. She slapped her hand down on the paper again loudly, startling the younger woman as she growled out, "But next time warn me when you're doing something this big!" "Yes, ma'am," Tomoyo said sheepishly. Kaho sat back with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose as if she had a headache. "Anything new on the Knight story?" she asked. "More footage of her in action," Tomoyo answered promptly, "but I'm sorry to say we don't have anything else on her." With a thoughtful look Kaho commented, "Why do I get the feeling you know more about this than you're telling?" "Have to protect my sources, ma'am," Tomoyo answered crisply. 'I wonder what she'd say if I told her my source is the Knight herself?' she thought. "All right," Kaho conceded. She looked at Tomoyo a few moments longer, almost as if she wanted to say something else, then simply said, "You'd better get back to work." Kaho waited a few moments then picked up her phone, dialing a familiar number. "Hello?" Sonomi Daidouji asked crisply. "It's Kaho," she answered, "I just got done talking to your wayward daughter." "I don't know if I should be proud or furious over what she's done," Sonomi sounded frustrated. "Why didn't she come to me with the information," she growled, "instead of going to the papers with it?" "She is a reporter," Kaho answered mildly. "You know something?" Sonomi asked, picking up something in Kaho's tone of voice. "Just that she didn't seem terribly happy with you when we were talking," Kaho related. She paused a moment, "Is there more to this estrangement between you two than you've told me?" Sonomi sounded pained, "There is a great deal of bad blood between us, more than I can go into in a few minutes." She sighed, "We can talk about it when you come over tonight." "I'm coming over?" Kaho asked with a slight smile. "I hope you will," Sonomi said warmly, "I'm planning to have my cook make us something then I'm going to give her and the maid staff the night off." "Planning something interesting?" Kaho felt herself beginning to smile. "Oh yes," Sonomi purred. "Then how can I say no?" Kaho laughed. More seriously she continued, "And maybe we can talk about you and Tomoyo a bit, too." "I'll try," Sonomi agreed. They talked a little while longer then disconnected, each returning to their work. Kaho studied the paper a moment, her thoughts turning to one of her best reporters. "Tomoyo knows more about the Knight than she's telling,' she mused, 'but what?' The first possibility that came to mind was that Tomoyo was the Knight herself, and it wasn't one that Kaho dismissed out of hand. Writing about your own escapades wasn't that hard, and she knew Yukito was good enough of a friend to help her pull it off.... "Nah," Kaho chuckled to herself as she picked up another call.
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