DISCLAIMER: I don't own ccs so don't sue me.
a/n: I like this story. I think it has potential to have more chapters, but for now, it's just a one shot thing. It's about Syaoran, told kind of from another girl's point of view. I'll stop talking and let you read now.
Chen Tangliou opened the door and greeted Meiling with her eyes. As her gaze settled on Syaoran and she took in what he was wearing, her heart ached, because she knew. She knew.
Her first year of junior high was at a brand new school. Literally. They had completely remodeled the school and everything in it was new. The people weren't new though. She had been with the same classmates since elementary school, and everyone knew everyone else. Her own group of friends had hardly changed. Her very best friend, the one she told everything to, was Li Meiling. Meiling also confided in her.
Surprises were rare, but when the teacher announced a surprise in the middle of the year, Meiling was the only one who didn't act surprised. In fact, she grined and gave a small, almost imperceptible wave at the surprise, who was a transfer student named Li Syaoran. Half the class immediately fell in love with his dark brown hair and chocolate eyes, but Tangliou didn't.
During lunch, Meiling tugged at her arm and said, "Let's go meet him."
Li Syaoran, who had scowled through the morning, was not eating lunch. He was sitting on a bench solemnly watching a game of soccer. He seemed to be musing.
Tangliou half expected Meiling to be one of Li Syaoran's instant fan club, but instead, she shouted, "LI SYAORAN! What are you doing back?!"
He looked up, startled at the loud disturbance and fixed Meiling with his steady gaze. "Can't you guess? Mama said I had to. She called and told me I had to come home for a while." Then he looked at Tangliou with a type of ferocity only he could achieve. "Who's she?"
"Mind your manners, cousin. This is Tangliou, my friend."
"So that's why you weren't surprised," Tangliou murmured.
Meiling winked at her best friend and sat down next to her cousin. "Are you going to go back?" Syaoran didn't answer. "Oh, stupid question. Did you at least tell then? Tomoyo-chan guessed you know."
"Yes, I told, and yes I knew," was his curt reply. Tangliou noted that when the Meiling and her cousin were together, they would speak in a strange mixture of Japanese and Chinese.
"Maybe I should leave for a minute. I'll wait for you over there," Tangliou said, sensing that whatever Meiling was talking about was a sensitive topic.
When her friend had left, Meiling whispered quietly, "did Sakura-chan answer you?"
Syaoran grinned. "Yeah."
"Yes?"
"Hai," he replied, his grin turning into a smile.
Meiling jumped up and did a little dance. "I'm so happy for the two of you. Really I am." Then sitting down again, she commented, "If I can help speed you're return to Japan, I will. Anything to get Sakura-chan and you together again is worth it." She finished with stars in her eyes.
"Uh...Meiling, you're starting to act like Tomoyo," Syaoran backed up nervously.
Ignoring his comment, she went on, "Am I invited to the wedding?'
Syaoran blushed and vaulted up. "No one says I'm getting married!" and he ran away, leaving a laughing figure behind.
From a distance, Tangliou watched the interchange. She saw Li Syaoran grin, then smile. She saw Meiling dancing, and she saw him blush. She would remember that for a long time. His grin, smile, and blush. Tangliou walked over to where Meiling was doubled over in laughter. "Why'd your cousin run away?" she asked.
Meiling wiped a half formed tear from her eye and straightened up. "I reminded him of someone he respects a lot. I think he might even be scared of her. But really, she's not a scary person, just extremely enthusiastic." She chuckled again. "You'd like to know her."
Tangliou smiled. "Where does she live?"
"In Japan."
"Is that where your cousin was?"
Meiling nodded. "I think if I say too much, he'll get angry, so we'd better stop, or else I'd say more than he wants anyone to know."
Her friend's last comment made Tangliou's imagination run wild. She imagined Li Syaoran to be some kind of villain, running from the law, or a dashing hero who was searching for his lady-love. He scowled through every day in class. He clearly did not want to be where he was. The only person he was friendly with in the school was Meiling. But since she and Meiling were always together, Tangliou also got to know Li Syaoran.
Tangliou rarely had seen Meiling's parents. She had only been to her house once and knew that her family was wealthy. On this second occasion for visiting, she also had another unexpected surprise.
She had gone to Meiling's house for a school project, but being best friends, they hadn't really worked on the project. When the phone rang, Meiling raced to pick it up, expecting it to be a boy from school who liked her. "Wei? Ahhh! Sakura-chan!" she called into the phone. Meiling was slightly disappointed, but she hadn't spoken to Sakura in such a long time, that she didn't feel it.
After a few minutes of talking in Japanese, Meiling put the phone down and went into another room. Syaoran followed her in and took the phone into the other room. "Tell Takashi to stop feeding Sakura lies!" Meiling yelled after him.
"Syaoran lives here with you?" Tangliou asked.
"Kind of....I actually only live here some of the time. Sometimes, I'll go live with my parents, sometimes I'll live here."
Tangliou shook her head. "You have a complicated family."
"But that's what makes us so endearing, no?" both girls giggled and tried to concentrate on their project.
"Eh, Meiling," Syaoran's voice sounded out. "If you want to talk to either Tomoyo or Sakura, you'd better get on the line before my sisters find out who's calling."
Meiling rolled her eyes. "Coming!" To her guest, she said, "his sisters, you might meet them, but they absolutely love Sakura." Syaoran was shoved into the room to "play host," as Meiling put it.
Syaoran looked at Tangliou and Tangliou looked at Syaoran. "Erm...hi," Syaoran muttered. "I don't have much practice playing host, so um...I suppose I'm supposed to get to know my guest?" he held out his hand.
Tangliou shook it. He had a firm grip. For the first time, she noticed how his eyes seemed to draw people in, holding them captive. "I suppose," she agreed and grinned. Syaoran grinned back. She saw how his smile broke down people's defenses and made them willing to follow him to the ends of the earth. "So, why were you in Japan? or am I not allowed to ask that question?"
Syaoran nodded. "You're allowed to. There wasn't really a reason though. I was just sort of there." Of course there was a reason, but Syaoran wasn't allowed to reveal the secret to anyone.
"Meiling was there too?"
"For a few years. I think it was only two. Then she came back, her parents made her."
"Did you live on your own?"
"Kind of," Syaoran wondered what he was allowed to be telling Meiling's friend.
"I could never live on my own, at least, not now."
"It really wasn't that hard, you just had to have a lot of self-control. You know, to make yourself to chores and homework."
Tangliou nodded. They were silent. "This is some conversation we're having huh?" she commented after a few minutes of silence.
Syaoran laughed and agreed. "You know," she said, watching him laugh, "you're a completely different person when you're at home than at school."
He stopped and looked slightly guilty, then thoughtful. "I am a differnt person at school. I expect certain things to happen at school, but they don't. I keep expecting my friends from Japan to pop up and try and lie to me, or drag me into a video tape or try and feed me something, you know? But I'm in Hong Kong and they're in Japan..."
"I see.....you should try making friends here."
Syaoran laughed almost bitterly. "How I made friends in Japan was not exactally normal."
"Well, let's be friends then, you and me," Tangliou suggested.
He pretended to consider. "Sounds like a plan."
"Well, I'm glad to see you've finally made a friend, Syaoran," Meiling commented, standing in the doorway.
The summer came and went, and Tangliou, Meiling, and Syaoran were once again together in the same class. Again, nothing had changed, except maybe the Li Syaoran adorers gained more members as the incoming seventh graders fell in love. Once again, Syaoran scowled through every class, but he smiled talking to Meiling or Tangliou.
Tangliou noted the jealousies of her fellow females that was directed at her; Meiling was the cousin, she was ok, but Tangliou was someone in a position to potentially gain Li Syaoran's heart. The jealousies gave Tangliou a strange sense of satisfaction and slight arrogance she had never felt before.
When Syaoran came up to her and asked her a question, Tangliou saw the jealous glared other girls sent her way. Focusing her attention on Syaoran, her heart gave a queer little flutter. Meiling, oblivious to the general sentiment, simply laughed when Tangliou brought it up. "You're imagining things," she said.
"I swear I'm not. It's true!" she would insist, but Meiling would simply laugh.
"Syaoran's heart is like a heavily fortified castle. Very few people have defeated the sentries, scaled the walls, captured the king, and still be fond of him. Precious few people," she would add. "All those girls wouldn't have a chance."
Tangliou sometimes caught herself wondering, "do I have a chance?" And she slowly realized, that she too, had fallen in love with Li Syaoran.
"Ignorance is bliss," she had once heard someone say in English class. Apparently, it was a very common English saying. Now, Tangliou wished she had stayed ignorant. Her new knowledge tainted her thoughts and actions; she was more self-concious than ever, but she tried to hide it.
Syaoran came to class one day, towards the end of the year with a smile plastered on his face. Tangliou noted how much more good looking he was smiling. During the break between classes, Syaoran handed Meiling a package. "A video?" Meiling asked.
He nodded. "I doubt yours is the same as mine. In all likelihood, Tomoyo probably personalized both of them."
In the last year, Tangliou had gotten to know some of Meiling and Syaoran's Japanese friends by reputation. Tomoyo loved to make videos and take pictures, especially of Sakura. Tomoyo also liked to make costumes, especially for "photo shoots" of Sakura. Takashi liked to tell stories, lies most of them, and Sakura usually believed all of them. Chiharu, his girlfriend, was the only one who could make him stop lying. Rika, was the gentle one, and Eriol was the "evil" one, but Tangliou suspected that the "evil" was a joke. From the pictures of Sakura she had seen, she knew that Sakura was very beautiful and could model professionally if she wanted to. She also infered that Sakura was very gullible.
Tangliou sometimes wondered if Syaoran ever told his other friends about his life in Hong Kong. Expecially if he ever told them about her, but she knew better than to ask.
Once again, another summer came and went. Towards the end of their last year in Junior High, Syaoran seemed extremely happy about something. Whenever Tangliou asked about it though, he always smiled goofily and said, "If everything works out, you'll find out soon," he said automatically each time. Even Meiling didn't know what was going on.
"I have a guess though," she said one day.
"What?" Tangliou asked quickly.
"I can't tell," Meiling shook her head.
"Why not?"
"I really shouldn't."
Those were the memories running through Tangliou's mind as she walked off the bus and on to the Li's driveway. She had gotten a call from Syaoran. "Stop by sometime today. There's something we want to tell you," he said quickly.
"We?" Tangliou questioned.
"Meiling and I," he amended.
So in the afternoon, Tangliou rode the bus and hiked up the hill to the Li mansion.
She rang the doorbell and a servant answered and led her to a closed room. Tangliou opened the door and greeted Meiling with her eyes. As her gaze settled on Syaoran and she took in what he was wearing, her heart ached, because she knew. She knew.
Meiling was grinning from ear to ear and sat, she seemed content with what ever was happening. Syaoran was wearing a navy blue-black suit with embriodery on the sleeve. It was clearly a uniform, but not one for their school. Syaoran was leaving. "You're wearing a uniform," she noted lamely.
"I know. I just got it today," he said.
"He's going back to Japan in two days," Meiling burst out.
Syaoran cocked his head at his cousin. "The least you could do then is let me say good bye by myself, Meiling," he said pointedly.
Meiling giggled and left.
"Japan?" Tangliou repeated.
"Yes."
She wasn't sure what to say. Should she wish him a good flight? A good rest of his life? What? Suddenly, a question popped out of her mouth, unbidden. "What's in Japan that you can't have here?"
Syaoran had been looking out a widow. He turned his head to look at Tangliou. "I left my heart in Japan," he stated simply.
"You...left-" she started to repeat. "Who?"
"You didn't guess?" Syaoran asked incredulously.
No, she thought, I was too busy with my own feelings. Outloud though, she simple said, "No."
"Sakura. Out of all of Japan's cherry blossoms, she is the most beautiful. I left my heart with her," he explained and picked up a teddy bear with wings Tangliou had never noticed.
"How long are you going for?"
"For as long as it takes. I'm going to have to come back someday, but Sakura doesn't know that yet. I'll tell her later. She doesn't even know I'm coming." His excitement took over and he spontaneously hugged Tangliou. "Isn't this wonderful?"
No. No, it's not wonderful, she cried out, but she stilled her heart and put on a mask of giddiness. "This is awesome, Syaoran. I feel like I know them all already. You should bring some of them to visit someday."
"I intend on bringing Sakura home. Permanently." So, he was planning on marrying her eventually.
"All of this excitement though, Syaoran. Are you sure she still loves you?" This was Tangliou's last hope and she was clinging to it with all she had.
Syaoran laughed. "Yes. We call each other a lot and write letters, and Tomoyo videotapes Sakura and Meiling'll record me, and so we still see eachother sometimes too."
So that was it. There was no hope. Unless he fell out of love with Sakura, the next time she saw Syaoran, he would be with Sakura. She, Chen Tangliou, would never be with Li Syaoran. Life wasn't fair. But she couldn't let Syaoran feel bad, so she smothered her feelings and was happy for Li Syaoran.
Meiling had planned to pick her up early the next morning so that they could all go out to breakfast and then send Syaoran off.
Tangliou got home and slumped onto her bed. Her heart was sore and aching, but tears wouldn't come. She lay curled up on her bed and when darkness claimed Hong Kong, she let the tears flow.
The next morning, Meiling and Syaoran knocked on the door. Tangliou knew it was them. "Ma," she called out softly. "Ma, tell them I got sick last night and can't go," she whispered. The tears were gone now, but her heart still yearned. No one could tell she had been crying. No one would ever know.
Her mother simply looked at her. "If you say so, dear," she said and relayed the unfortunate news to the visitors.
Leaving the house, Meiling looked back and saw the blinds on Tangliou's window move. "She's not sick you know, Syaoran," Meiling sighed.
"I know. I knew yesterday that she wouldn't come," he sighed sadly.
"How-"
"She and about half the population of the school liked me in one way or another, or did you not notice."
Meiling looked at her cousin. "I honestly didn't know."
He shook his head and opened the car door for Meiling. Before he got in, he turned around and took a long look at Tangliou's house. "See you around the bend, Tangliou," he yelled out.
The driver started the car. Syaoran's mother turned in her seat to look at her son. "Where's your friend?"
"She's feeling ill," Meiling answered.
"Come to think of it," Syaoran followed. "I'm not feeling very hungry. You can just drop me off at the airport."
Li Yelan nodded and told the driver so.
Syaoran pulled Meiling aside at the airport. "Tell Tangliou I'm sorry that I couldn't return her feelings." Meiling nodded. "I'm going to write, or call, when I get there. Don't tell her that though. I don't want her changing her phone number on me."
Meiling smiled. "I won't as long as you remember that the next time you're here, you'd better have a certain little flower with you."
And as sad as Syaoran was at the loss of a friend, his future looked ten times brighter with Sakura in view. Syaoran smiled and waved to his mother and cousin and pretended Tangliou was there and waved to her. One last time, he looked at his past, and then he turned around into the airport and his future.
Who knew what was waiting on the other side of the hill. After three long years of waiting, only good. Only good.
a/n: well? did you like it? I crave your feedback! So see that blue button? press it and review. :)