http://clampfix.fanworks.net/ccd-fix/masks.txt </head><body><pre> Masks Off! A CLAMP Campus fanfiction by Kristin Huntsman "Ijyuin?!" Suoh gasped. "Ijyuin-sama?" Nagisa whispered from his side. The mask of Twenty Mensou torn from his face, Akira Ijyuin's gray eyes met Suoh's gold ones evenly. "Takamura-sempai." "Ijyuin-kun?!" all four members of Duklyon echoed dumbly, staring at the young thief. "You're... Twenty Mensou?" Suoh asked, stunned. * * * Utako loosened her tight grasp on Akira's shirt now that they were safe on the ground. She found she was still trembling a little bit as she looked up at the tall boy she loved. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "Your mask...." His smile reassured her. "It's all right," he told her. "It would have happened sooner or later. Are you okay?" "U- um," she said, nodding. "Thank goodness," he said, his gloved hands capturing hers. His thumb brushed along the side of her right hand. Utako blushed. "I...jyuin?" Takamura-sama sounded like he was still having trouble absorbing it, Utako thought. "I can't believe a nice kid like Ijyuin-kun is Twenty Mensou..." the blue-armored member of Duklyon mused. "And just what's wrong with him being Twenty Mensou?!" Utako demanded, turning to face the gathered crowd of their friends. "Utako-san..." Akira said helplessly from behind her, but she was mad and ignored his cautionary plea. "There's nothing wrong with it!!" she yelled, furious. "What?!" the red-armored Duklyon demanded. "There's a lot wrong with stealing things from people!" His partner restrained him. "Let me go, Takepon!" He struggled like a fish out of water. "It's because my mothers ask me to," Akira said quietly. Duklyon's struggles stopped as Akira looked at the ground in dejection. "I know it's wrong of me... but I can never tell them 'no'." * * * There was silence for a minute and Erii felt her heart softening at the thief's reluctance. She knew a little of that was like, to be caught between love and duty. A spotlight suddenly clicked on, piercing through the darkness. Beneath the branches of an oak tree a shade (with an insignia shaped like the school mascot, of course --;) raised itself... aided by the assistants of the founder of CLAMP Campus Special Guards Duklyon. "Chief!" All four of the members of Duklyon saluted sharply as the uniformed figure of their blond leader was revealed. "At ease," he bade them, hiding an enigmatic smile behind his fan. His sunglassed eyes slowly looked over the scene before him, assessing. "I see," he said. "Duklyon, unmask yourselves." "But Chief!" Kentarou protested. "You told us never to reveal our identities." "Oh, like you've never babbled about it?" Takeshi said with heavy irony in his voice. Erii had to agree with him. Kotobuki simply shrugged, waiting for a consensus to be made. "That's different, Takepon!" "Oh?" Kentarou seemed to be at the point of attacking his best friend when the Chief spoke again. "I am countermanding those original orders. Duklyon, unmask!" Takeshi and Kentarou paused, then slowly removed their helmets. Kotobuki took off his cloak, swirling it dramatically about his shoulders, and was suddenly in street clothing. Erii followed her husband's example (one of the things she really liked about his planet was this technology of Insta-Clothing-Change) and was in her work dress as quickly. "Higashikunimaru-san? Shuukaidou-san?" Ijyuin-kun's voice was astonished. "And Mr. and Mrs. Sukiyabashi?" "I don't believe it," Takamura-kun murmured. * * * Nokoru smiled. It was going according to plan... mostly. Well, just one more unmasking to do, and his friends would all be on the level concerning each other. He nodded at his assistants, who folded up the screen and quickly left. Behind the tree he saw Miyuki and Mako still, peeking out but following his orders otherwise. "Now that everyone's here and secrets are out..." he began, drawing the attention back to himself. "Not all of them," Suoh interrupted. Nokoru looked at him and smiled. <Come on, Suoh. See through the disguise.> "Oh?" he inquired. Suoh crossed the space between them, one side of his mouth curled up in the slightest smile. "Nice sunglasses, Kaichou," he complemented Nokoru as he removed them from Nokoru's face. "A bit impractical for this time of night, however." "KAICHOU?!" Akira demanded. "Imonoyama-kun?!" the members of Duklyon gasped as one. "Imonoyama-sama?" Utako and Nagisa breathed. Nokoru giggled. "'There's a reason they're called Ray-Bans'," he quoted as Suoh returned his shades to him. "And now that all the secrets here are out... we have work to do." "Work?" Kentarou asked, sounding dumbfounded. "Of course. You don't think I'd go to all this bother without it being neccessary, do you?" Nokoru asked, slipping the sunglasses into a breast pocket of his jacket. "Not when I've gone to such great lengths up 'til now to keep everything as it was." "Kaichou... you mean you knew that I was...?" Akira whispered. "Of course!" Nokoru replied, smiling. "Why do you think you got cast as Twenty Mensou for that 'Twenty Mensou versus Duklyon' play back in elementary school, Akira?" "I- I was sort of chalking that up to luck," Akira said weakly. "No such thing," Nokoru countered. "Kaichou, is it my imagination or have you been manipulating things around here?" Suoh asked. "I mastermind everything on this campus, Suoh," he replied unruffled. "It's in my job description. Now, shall we all get on to the business at hand?" "What business?" Kotobuki asked. Nokoru's smile faded. "The End of the World." ******************* Note: this is based on the CLAMP Gakuen Tantei Dan anime, in which all of these characters (including Miyuki!) go to the same campus and know one another. It is also based (1) on my desire to see what would happen if everyone did know the truth, and (2) on a frame in the second closing theme to the show, which has all the Trio's friends in it. </pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>