Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own any CCS… They belong to the great group of CLAMP whom I really envy. But the plot is ENTIRELY mine! My idea… Actually, it was slightly based from a book but I twisted it so it's still mine!

Sai-chan: This is for you!

PROLOGUE

A young man with deep blue eyes and bluish-black hair stood by the cathedral window of a room, holding a paper in his hand. He glanced again at the paper as a light breeze blew over him, ruffling his hair. His expression was deep, almost unreadable, but there was a thoughtful glint in his eyes. He rolled the paper like a scroll then folded his arms across his chest.

"What shall we do now, Eriol?" an auburn-haired girl asked him slowly, eyeing him intently. "Now, that Madam Daidouji is gone—"

"We have to fulfill the wishes Madam Daidouji stated in her last will," the young man named Eriol replied calmly, his eyes looking beyond the horizon, his thoughtful expression never fading.

"You mean, look for her missing heir?" this time, a chocolate-haired man questioned him. He looked impatient as he waited for the response, hoping it would be something he expected. "We are businessmen, not seekers. We deal with paperwork, not search for missing people. You, as the current CEO, must look after the company for now. There would be chaos soon."

Eriol rubbed his temples. It really was a pain, all this mess in the corporation. "I know. And that's why I need you to find the heir, Syaoran," he said in the same calm voice he uses every time his patience runs short. "We can't hire investigators since we swore to secrecy in this until we find her."

"Until we find her?" Li asked irritably, his amber eyes narrowing. "And why me?"

"Because," Eriol replied as if the word itself would explain everything already to his impatient friend. "Besides, we all know that you're good in convincing people. Isn't that why you're the Vice President in Marketing? C'mon, Li, you know you're the man for this job."

"So you're just going to stay here and leave me with all the hunting?" Syaoran growled, folding his arms across his chest, not bothering if his business suit was getting wrinkled. "You must be out of your mind."

"Then bring Nakuru with you," the other countered casually, leveling Syaoran's glare with his own. "And at any rate, I'm the CEO. As of now, I have to handle the necessary things. It should still be business as usual for the corporation, even without the President."

Syaoran stared at the auburn-haired young lady who looked like Christmas had come early. There was certainly no way he'd get himself roped into some weird excursion by Hiiragizawa Eriol again. "You must be kidding, Hiiragizawa!"

"You do know that when it comes to business matters, I never joke around. Besides, Nakuru is quite useful when it comes to public relations. She might be of use to you."

The amber-eyed Vice President scowled at him wordlessly, clearly against this little plan of his.

"All right then…" Eriol must've noticed the dark aura surrounding his Marketing Head as the young man continued shooting death glares at him. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"I say we find that girl together!"

"All right, now it's my turn." He pushed his spectacles on his nose, his aura turning impersonal. It was the expression and bearing he uses when facing a herd of no-nonsense stockholders. "I say we find this girl, explain to her the details, bring her back here and train her to be a President of a corporation."

The brown-haired man raised an eyebrow at him. "Hmm… Straight to the point as usual."

"In my job, Li, I have to be straight to the point. It's one of the qualifications."

Syaoran still didn't look convinced at all. Eriol didn't seem to have mentioned where they should be placed in that plan of his. "And where do I go in this grand plan of yours then?"

"You'll be the one to go out and find the girl while I'll be the one to train her," Eriol answered matter-of-factly. "Equal distribution of work. A done deal, don't you think?"

"Equal distribution of work? Right! It's not like you're going to be the one who'll have trouble finding her!"

"Yes, but I'm going to be the one who'll have the trouble fitting her in our world. Isn't that a bit more complicated than what you're going to do?" Eriol paused for a moment as if wanting to challenge him. "But of course, I could always do the looking and you could always do the teaching. Still fair enough for me."

Syaoran paused, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. "But what if she refuses to come with me?"

Eriol narrowed his eyes at him. His no-nonsense aura had just gone up a notch, meaning this was no laughing matter, "Make sure she doesn't refuse then," he said sternly. They can't afford to be brushed off by some girl. "Do everything you can. Find her then convince her. If she still wouldn't agree…"

"I'll kidnap her?"

The CEO said nothing in response to that comment. "We'll have to make drastic measures then."

"Drastic measures? That's a pretty blunt description on how to convince a young girl," Syaoran commented dryly, not liking this 'drastic measures' plan. This was then the only way to be able to gain trust from this missing girl. "So I'll look for her and I'll try my very best to bring her back here in London." He sighed yet again, hating himself for being this lenient. "Where do I start then?"

The young bespectacled man smiled at him slightly. "You'll start your search, of course, in the Madam's homeland."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Right! Nakuru, pack your bags. We're going to Japan."

Twenty-three-year-old Tomoyo Amamiya ran down the stairs of the Kinomoto house, a brush in one hand, a bag on the other and a white coat hanging on an arm. She looked really harassed, with her hair still messed up and her clothes wrinkled in a few places. She glanced at the watch in the living room for a split second before heading straight towards the kitchen.

"I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" she said, running to the kitchen and taking a toast from the bread basket, placing it between her teeth.

"You're late for what?" Kinomoto Sakura asked her calmly as she sipped her coffee, reading the broadsheet lying neatly on top of the table.

"My lecture, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo replied frantically, running a hairbrush on her long black tresses while eating her toast in a few bites. "It starts in 15 minutes and if I don't get at the University—"

"I'll drive you there," a young man, a bit older than them, said from the doorway, snatching the paper from under his younger sister's nose. Kinomoto Touya, the epitome of a good and caring brother. "I'm on my way to the town proper anyway."

Tomoyo smiled at him gratefully before swallowing her toast and zipping her white boots. "Arigato but I'll be okay, Touya-kun," she said, pulling the coat over her shoulders. She half-skipped, half-run towards an older man by the stove and gave him a kiss on the cheek, taking the small packed lunch from the counter. "Arigato, Uncle Fujitaka!"

The young girl then hurried out the room. "Ja, Sakura-chan, Uncle Fujitaka, Touya-kun!"

"Ja, Tomoyo-chan!"

Sakura listened for a while then heard the closing of the door and a car's engine erupting to life. She then returned to her coffee, trying to snatch back the newspaper from her older brother. "Never thought I'd live the day to see Tomoyo-chan get late for school."

Tomoyo drove to the University in less than fifteen minutes, breaking more traffic rules than any reckless driver set loose. Usually, she would start to bother about laws and how so many people break it everyday, but this time, she didn't care. She was already late, after all. She didn't care about beating red lights, honking cars or squealing, protesting tires.

She couldn't believe she woke up late today. She'd never been late all her life, not even once. It was always Sakura who races with the clock all the time. And now, she was late because of a weird dream. A very weird dream.

The moment she drove into the University parking lot, she quickly bolted inside the building and rushed to her class, dodging several other students coming her way. But when she got to her classroom, she frowned at what she discovered inside. Her classmates were chatting carelessly, as if without a care in the world, and there she was, looking like someone who had confronted several storms and natural disasters.

"Ohayo," she greeted, trying to sound casual. "Yamamoto-sensei isn't here yet?"

"Ohayo, Tomoyo-chan!" Mihara Chiharu smiled at her brightly. "Yamamoto-sensei called in. He said he's sick and couldn't come today for the lecture."

"What!" the ebony-haired girl exclaimed then groaned, slumping on her seat. This was what she got for breaking more than a dozen traffic rules? The girl laughed at her gently and patted her cheek. "Aww, not fair! And I thought he's coming today, that's why I'm such in a hurry to get here."

"That's all right, Tomoyo-chan. Just do it again tomorrow! Besides, at least you weren't late for today."

Tomoyo pouted. "Thanks a lot, Chiharu-chan!"

"Ohayo, Tomoyo-chan! Where's Sakura-chan?"

"Home, Rika-chan. Her classes don't start until later in the afternoon."

"Lucky her then!"

Tomoyo groaned inwardly and buried her head in her arms. "Yeah, lucky her."

"Li, where do you think we'd find her?" Nakuru asked the young man beside him brightly, ignoring the fact that he looked sick.

The two had just landed from a 10-hour plane flight from London, England, using Madam Daidouji's favorite luxury jet plane, to Narita, Japan just as their boss and slave-driver had instructed. Syaoran still felt woozy though from all the time differences not to mention the dizzying effect when inside the airplane. He never liked flying. Nakuru, on the other hand, seemed to be immune to any dizzy spells whatsoever.

"I don't know," Syaoran replied, shrugging, as they stepped out of the airport, spotting an older man carrying a card with their names written on it. Just as Eriol had said and planned. "But Hiiragizawa looks like he knows."

A limousine was waiting for them to bring them wherever Eriol had instructed. How the hell he knew where this girl is was really something Syaoran couldn't comprehend. Rolling his eyes, he opened his laptop to find another email from Eriol.

Li, you'll find everything you need to know about her in the attachment included. Bring her back as soon as possible and email me when there's progress. I'll catch you later. Hiiragizawa.

That idiot, always thinking he knows everything, Syaoran thought as he downloaded the attachment then deleted the email. After a while, he opened the file attached and read it carefully.

Nakuru leaned sideward at him, peering at the file. "What does it say?"

"I don't get it… She was adopted by her mother's cousin?" he said slowly, rereading the file. "She's currently living in Tomoeda with her uncle's family and studies at the Tomoeda University… Oh, she has a degree in Business Management and… is taking up Fine arts? … Hmm… Maybe we should go visit the family first…" He browsed down and saw a scan of a picture of a girl with long black hair and smiling lilac eyes.

"She's cute, don't you think?" Nakuru commented brightly, dragging the pointer further down the page. Another picture came into view. It was a different girl with short auburn hair, emerald eyes and a very cheerful smile. "She's cute too!"

Syaoran stared at it for a minute before rolling his eyes and closing the file. "Who cares anyway? Our job here is to find Madam's missing daughter and we can't—"

Nakuru grinned mischievously at him. "You like her, don't you?"

The young man blushed slightly and cleared his throat. Of all the things Nakuru could say… "Of course I don't. She must just be someone close to her. A cousin or something." He pulled out his cell and started dialing Eriol's number. "Hiiragizawa? Are you there?"

"Li. Finally. I had been waiting for your call since ages. Are you in Japan already?"

Syaoran rolled his eyes. Sometimes, he couldn't understand if Hiiragizawa is really smart, considering the fact he couldn't see the most obvious things. "Obviously. Anyway, it's four here in the afternoon. What hotel did you call for our reservations?"

"Four?" There was a long pause and Syaoran could almost see Eriol thinking deeply, his forehead creased. "Right! You're just in time! I want you guys to go right now to Tomoeda University!"

"Right now?" Syaoran echoed, sounding very, very annoyed. What the hell was this sudden change of plans now?

Eriol seemed to have not noticed his complaining voice. "That's where she studies and it's nearly her dismissal. I'm sure you could catch her." Syaoran made another noise that sounded like a strangled protest. "No, Li, you have to talk to her right now."

"But I need sleep! I still have jetlag and—"

"No, Li."

"Can't we talk tomorrow? Or maybe I should just send Nakuru instead—"

"No, Li."

"You're such a slave driver, Hiiragizawa."

"Whatever."

"What's the difference between today and tomorrow anyway? It's not like she'd suddenly leave the country or something, you know!"

"The sooner you find her, the sooner you can get home. Don't you want that?"

"I should get a raise or a bonus for this!"

"You don't need a raise or a bonus. Just go ahead with the plan, Li."

"What plan? This isn't part of the plan! The plan was supposed to start tomorrow!"

"Do your best, all right?"

"What's the hotel name again?"

"LI!"

Syaoran sighed in defeat at Mr. Stubborn-as-a-Mule Hiiragizawa Eriol. "All right, all right! Whatever. Just stop nagging already. You're worse than my own mother!" Eriol slammed the phone and he winced, glaring at his own phone. He then tossed the gadget back in his bag, grumbling under his breath. "That idiot! What does he think I am! A robot!"

Nakuru, who had been listening to the rather loud conversation, smiled widely. "Right then! We're off to Tomoeda University!"

Reviews, reviews, reviews… No flames please. I know it's crappy, but it's my first fic so please be kind.

A/N: Eriol-kun and Syaoran-kun are like 25 in this fic. It'll be all explained in the future, don't worry.