Neko-chan
Meiling and Nakuru were on a Girls Day Out, shopping and complaining about boys, with a bit of chocolate. The basic staples of life.
" . . . and then he told me to go away! I mean, I've only been nice to him, and he hates me!" Meiling was complaining.
"I know! Touya's the same. He's always pushing me aside and ignoring me." sympathized Nakuru.
The girls were momentarily distracted from their conversation by a small furry creature. Nakuru knelt down, but Meiling just scowled.
"Hi, kitty!"squealed Nakuru. She turned to Meiling."Aw, c'mon Mei. I know you don't like cats, but it's just a little kitten! At least pet it." As if to prove it's cuteness, the kitten rubbed up against Meiling's legs and mewed plaintively. She sighed.
"Fine, fine. I'll pet you." she leaned down and stroked the young cat. It started purring. "Oh, you're cute!" Meiling said softly.
"See? I told you!" said Nakuru triumphantly.
Unseen by either of the girls, the cat's eyes changed suddenly from soft green to bright red. It whipped its head around and bit Meiling's hand hard enough to draw blood.
Nakuru grabbed the cat and shook it a tiny bit. "Bad kitty! Don't do tha - Ooh, your eyes are red!" she said, looking closer. "They're really wei- OW!" The once-innocent looking kitten had bitten her on the nose. Nakuru dropped it and let it scamper off into an alleyway.
"See?!," said Meiling, sucking on her bleeding finger, "This is why I hate cats!"
Nakuru was about to answer, but her scalp, nose and the base of her spine started to itch terribly. "What the heck?!" Something was growing . . . and she suddenly wanted some sushi very much . . .
o-o-o-o-o-o
In downtown Tomoeda, a couple was walking.
"Syaoran, why did you have to be so mean? She didn't do anything." Sakura complained, pulling on her boyfriend's hand. He scowled.
"She was going to," he retorted, "You don't know Meiling like I do."
"If you think she's so bad, then I don't want to 'know Meiling like you do'!" She dropped Syaoran's hand and crossed her arms. "I think you should apologize to her." She glared at him.
"But Sakura - " he was cut off by a gleeful, familiar voice calling his name. He turned around, and groaned. It was Meiling, but there was something . . . odd about her. More than usual.
"See? There she is now. You can apologize to her." said Sakura, undeterred , even as Meiling jumped on her boyfriend and started nuzzling him while . . . was that purring? "Hey, did Tomoyo give you that costume? It looks good!" Sakura said, pointing at the cat ears, tail and whiskers Meiling had recently acquired.
Meiling turned and noticed Sakura. She hissed venomously and clutched Syaoran tighter. He was having trouble getting oxygen, but both girls were ignoring him. Sakura had just had a brainwave, and Meiling was still glaring.
"I know why she's always around when I'm with you!," exclaimed Sakura, clapping her hands in delight. "She's jealous. You used to be her best friend, but now you spend all your time with me."
Meiling had released her death grip on Syaoran a bit, allowing him to breathe. He rolled his eyes at Sakura. Why wasn't she jealous? "Well, duh -" he began.
"You should spend some time together and catch up. I'll go to Tomoyo's, so you can be alone. Bye-bye!" Sakura waved and started walking away.
"Sakura, don't leave me alone with this crazy cat-person-thing . . ."Syaoran eyed Meiling. It was almost too convincing a costume, even for Daidouji . . .
But his girlfriend just smiled innocently over her shoulder at him. "I'm sure you'll have lots of fun!" she called.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Across the street, at one of Touya's various part-time jobs (it's a café this time), Yukito Tsukishiro watched the scene absently out a window.
"Here's your lunch, Yuki," panted Touya, lugging a large tray over to where his best friend sat. He was still staring out the window when Touya gratefully dropped the heavy tray onto the table with a bang. Yuki looked around and beamed at Touya and his second lunch.
"Hmm? Oh, thanks! I was just watching your sister and her boyfriend. They look like they're arguing." he remarked innocently.
"What?!" exclaimed Touya, turning to glare furiously out the window. He was just in time to see Meiling enter the scene and Sakura walk off, smiling (but Touya was sure she was faking it). "If that brat has done anything, I'll-"
"I don't think it was Li's fault," Yuki cut across his friend, "It looks to me like Meiling came and interrupted. She and Li are friends, you know." Their conversation was cut short by the tinkling of the bell over the door. Touya turned around and plastered an almost-smile on his face.
"Welcome to Café - " he couldn't continue, because the person who had come in the door decided to hug him around the neck and hold tight.
"Touya!" cried Nakuru, rubbing her head against his jaw.
"Akizuki, ("Nakuru!" she cried in return) Get. Off. Me." She purred and clamped tighter. Wait, purred? Now that Touya thought about it, what were those ears doing on her head? Akizuki was always a little strange, but cosplay?
"Hey Touya, I'm done my lunch." Touya, distracted from his limpet for a moment, looked in astonishment at Yuki, who had cleaned his tray. "I have to go. Have fun!"
"You're done already? You can't leave! Don't leave me alone with this abomination!"
Yuki turned back, his usual smile on his face. "I'm sorry," he said (while looking anything but sorry), "but the baseball team needs an extra person, and I promised I'd help out. Bye!" He opened the door, then stepped aside to let someone else enter first. "Oh, hi Li! We were just talking about you. Hi Meiling. I have to go. See you!" he called to the world in general.
Syaoran turned and walked further into the café, a look of confusion on his face. It was replaced with his trademark scowl upon seeing his girlfriend's overly protective brother.
"What are you doing here?" demanded the brother, hurriedly trying to disentangle Nakuru.
"So sorry, am I interrupting something private?," asked Syaoran sarcastically. "And I thought you had a thing for Yuki."
"I - you - we," spluttered Touya, turning red. "Where'd you hear that anyway?"
"Sakura. She's more observant than you think." Syaoran, pushing Meiling away for a second, sat down. She came bounding back and latched on again.
"Ah, yes. About her," said Touya, back on track, "Unless my world is suddenly much brighter, you're still dating my sister, right? So what're you doing with that little tramp hanging off you?"
"It's not like I want her to!" exclaimed Syaoran. "Sakura got the idea that Meiling was feeling lonely so she left me with her! How'd you get stuck with Nakuru?"
"Yuki abandoned me." Touya grumbled, sitting down across from Syaoran.
"Aw, is big, mean Nakuru too much for wittle To-ya?"
"And what about Meiling? The head of the Li clan doesn't look too fierce with a kitty girl hanging off him."
"Hey! What about your kitty girl? It probably has something to do with Daidouji. Apparently she's going beyond Sakura now."
"Well, the so-called 'limits' to Nakuru's weirdness have certainly been stretched. C'mon, take this stuff off. You're making me look weird." Touya grabbed one of Nakuru's cat ears and Syaoran grabbed Meiling's tail. They pulled.
The boys were immediately rewarded with earsplitting yowls and scratches across the face. The girls jumped backwards and glared.
It only took them a few seconds to realize what they had done, and they slunk back to their 'boyfriends' to lick the wounds and generally smother Touya and Syaoran with 'apologies'.
"Hey!," complained Syaoran, "What happened to you guys? Did my stupid relative do something to you?" Meiling tipped her head to one side inquiringly, then went back to licking Syaoran's hair. He tried to shake her off, to no avail.
Touya was having similar troubles. "Nakuru, back off!" The cat-girl just purred.
"Ahem." said a voice behind them. Touya whirled around. It was his boss. "You might be finished your shift, Kinomoto, but I will not allow this kind of conduct from employees."
Touya jumped and bowed low, dislodging Nakuru. "I'm very sorry sir. It's not what it looks like. I - "
"Just leave." said the manager coldly, as Nakuru attached herself to him again.
"Yes sir." Touya hung his head and herded a smirking Syaoran out the door, complete with their 'kitty cats'.
"How do we get rid of them?," asked Syaoran, as they sank down onto a bench in the nearby park.
"Like I know. I don't have any more magic. I gave it all to Yuki. Not like he cares . . ." Touya added softly to himself.
"Well, I can't tell either. My magic's not even as strong as your sister's is now." he sighed deeply. I guess we do have to go to my creepy relative. I'll never live it down . . ."
o-o-o-o-o-o
They had arrived at Eriol's mansion five minutes ago, but Syaoran had made no move to ring the old-fashioned bell.
"Well? Do it, already!" complained Touya, ducking an over-zealous nuzzle from Nakuru.
"She lives here. Why doesn't she do it?" Syaoran said, pointing at Nakuru.
"Oh, yeah, 'cause she's real sane right now. You're related to him, sort of. Hurry up!"
"You're about as related to him as I am!" Syaoran muttered, but leaned forward to ring the bell anyway.
They didn't have to wait long for Eriol to come to the door. "Hello. I was wondering when you'd decide to come in."
"You were spying again?!" Syaoran asked.
"Well, to be fair, I knew of your predicament already. Tomoyo came over with - "
"Is Syaoran finally here?"Eriol was interrupted by Sakura poking her head around the door. "Hi! Have you made up with Meiling yet?"
"I haven't had the chance." Syaoran growled. His girlfriend looked quizzically at him. Syaoran sensed Touya's aura growing bigger (very ominous, considering he'd given up his magic), and turned to look at him, almost fearfully. Sakura noticed her brother.
"Touya!,"she exclaimed, "I didn't see you there. Oh, hi Nakuru! Touya, are you friends with her now?" Sakura asked, excited.
"Uh, I -" Touya noticed Nakuru's position. His hatred for his sister's boy-toy had distracted him enough to forget about her. She had wrapped both legs around his waist, and was nuzzling his neck. Touya promptly shoved her off him, yet again. Eriol the silent observer smiled a small smile.
"Come in, come in. We've been standing here far too long." he said, opening the door wider to reveal a large front hall, complete with a wide marble staircase and several large expensive-looking vases. There was an air of peacefulness throughout the house . . .
Which was broken - along with some vases - a few seconds later.
Yue and Spinel, clutching a book each, sped through the hall, looking for a quick exit Their way was blocked by the group still around the front door. Yue quickly turned into a slightly bewildered Yukito, while Spinel dived for Eriol's pocket. Moments later Kero flew in, holding various sweets in his hands. To complete the bizarre picture, Tomoyo hurried in, camcorder in hand as usual. After all the cards had been captured, she had begun to look for more subjects than Sakura to film. Kero was the only willing applicant.
"Yue!," Kero complained to his brother's changed form, "that's cheating! Ah, well. Now, where's Suppi?" Looking around for his other 'playmate', he finally noticed the group that was still gathered around the front door. "Hey guys! What're you doing here? Is there a costume party? Tomoyo, come quick!" Kero was pointing at Nakuru and Meiling's strange appearance.
"No party. They're just being extra weird, plushie." Syaoran said, jerking his thumb at the cat-girls, who had gotten over their surprise at the scene in front of them remarkably fast. They were continuing to smother Touya and Syaoran to the best of their ability. "Me and the stupid brother are trying to get rid of them."
While whacking Syaoran over the head for the insult, Touya asked "Why are you all here?"
Sakura, chatty and hyper as always, answered for them. "Well, when I left Syaoran with Meiling, I called Kero to tell him I couldn't make cakes for him at home. I said I'd make them at Tomoyo's, so I told him to meet me there. When we did get there, though, Aunt Sonomi told me she was 'at that boy's house, again' and I knew she meant Eriol," Sakura smiled at the couple, who were holding hands, and now blushing, "but on the way there we met Yuki. He said the baseball game had been cancelled. I invited him to Eriol's house, and here we are. But Kero," she turned to her sun guardian, "you said you'd play nice with Yue and Suppi." Sakura had a rare frown on her face.
Kero actually looked slightly guilty. "Well, I kinda did . . ." There was a derisive snort from Eriol's pocket. "Suppi!" he cried delightedly, and swooped down to continue Spinel's torture. Kero was stopped short by Sakura's grip on his tail. She held him firmly and just looked at him. "But," the condemned guardian beast tried feebly, "they were being boring, just reading."
Yukito's eyes changed colour, and in a voice deeper than his own, he said sarcastically, "Perhaps, Keroberos, reading would not be so boring to you if you learned how . . ."
"Hey, I can read!" Kero cried indignantly, but Yuki had changed back. The conversation was ended by a muffled growl from Syaoran.
"Ah, yes. Your predicament." said Eriol, turning to witness Touya and Syaoran's continuing struggles. "Hmm. I don't recognize this enchantment - "
"What! You can't help us? Now what are - " Syaoran was interrupted by a still calm voice.
"I did not say I couldn't help. I merely said that I didn't recognize the enchantment. It may be in one of Clow Reed's books."
"Well, go find out." ordered Touya irritably, swiping at Nakuru ineffectively. Eriol looked at him.
"Clow Reed gathered hundreds of books during his lifetime. I cannot simply 'go find out'. I will need help. Actually, it's a good thing the house is so full today. If you will all follow me to the library . . ."
"Aw, more reading?" complained Kero.
"Keroberos, I'd like you and Spinel to keep Nakuru and Meiling in a separate room. We don't want them to interrupt us." Eriol smiled at the now happy Kero. Spinel was less pleased.
"But Master, I could be very helpful! I can read, unlike Kero." he shot a glare at the oblivious lion. Eriol turned a deaf ear to his protests.
"It won't be that bad. I'll make sure that Kero doesn't have any sweets. AND, it'll be a chance for you two to get to know each other better!" exclaimed Sakura. Syaoran snorted.
"Don't believe her, plushie." He was still a little sore about his girlfriend 'abandoning' him at his time of need.
"Hoe?" said a bewildered Sakura, looking at Syaoran. He blushed.
"Nothing, Sakura." he muttered. Eriol smiled his suspicious smile, and led the way upstairs to his humongous library.
o-o-o-o-o-o
An hour later, the group was deep in the research. Syaoran had read the same sentence in "Worldewide Spels and Ritoalles" three times, and he still didn't understand a bit. He put the heavy book down and rubbed at his eyes. Sakura looked up, a worried expression on her face.
"Are you okay, Syaoran? We can stop for a bit . . ." He looked up at his girlfriend, then looked away and mumbled something. "What?" asked Sakura, putting her hand on his fist.
"I said I'm fine!" he growled, pulling his hand away. He picked up his book and started reading again. Sakura looked hurt and confused, before she noticed Touya looking suspiciously at them. He looked ready to jump in and 'protect' (a.k.a. beat Syaoran senseless) his little sister the minute he thought he had enough reason. She didn't want to start another fight, so Sakura quickly went back to her book.
Touya glared for a while, until Yuki put his hand on his shoulder, effectively breaking the 'protective brother' stare. "Touya, come on. We need to find a solution to your problem. Syaoran hasn't actually done anything." Touya looked down and muttered something incomprehensible. He picked up a book, trying to hide behind it.
Eriol smiled at the scene in front of him. "Is it working?" whispered Tomoyo. He nodded slightly, and they both went back to reading.
In a locked room just down the hall, Kero's joy at not having to read had disappeared with the sweets. Suppi, his other source of entertainment, was still there, but he had gotten Eriol to put a spell on him that stopped Kero from getting near him. And cat-girls yowling continuously was no fun.
"Supiiiiii!" called Kero, for the umpteenth time. "I'm booooored!"
"So find something to do," said Spinel wearily, "other than annoying me." Meiling chose this moment to decide that the door she had been scratching was no longer interesting. She lunged at Kero, her new claws unsheathed. The yellow sun guardian, still pouting at Spinel, didn't notice her until she had a good grip on his tail.
Kero yelled, and started flapping his wings to try to get away. Meiling was much too strong for him, and reeled him in with ease. When she had him securely in her hands, she started washing him. Nakuru - having tried the same on Spinel, but stopped by the same spell that stopped Kero - came over to help Meiling and purr in a motherly way. The two cat-girls had obviously decided that the lion-like plushie was their kitten.
"Suppi! Help!" cried Kero. Spinel smiled and tried to stifle a giggle.
"It means they like you!" he said. Kero snarled, but was silenced by some rough 'cleaning' of his face.
o-o-o-o-o-o
One more hour later, the humans were still researching. Sakura kept trying to catch Syaoran's eye, but he was ignoring her. On the other couch, Touya was trying to stop blushing because of his close proximity to his crush. Tomoyo and Eriol were pretty much the only ones focused on finding an answer.
"Hey!," exclaimed Tomoyo suddenly, "Could this help? 'Were-cats may look cute, cuddly - and even sexy - while transformed, but beware. They are viciously protective of their 'mate', or whoever they see as 'their mate' . . .' yadda, yadda, yadda, '. . . If bitten by a were-cat, the victim will turn into a half-cat - who share the same traits as a were-cats, but look more human. The only way to reverse the change is if their 'mate' kisses someone, other than them, in a romantic way. The cure works better if the half-cat can see this occur.'"
"What?!" yelled Syaoran and Touya in unison. "You mean, right in front of Meiling?" asked Syaoran.
"Yes, that would be best. Otherwise, how would she know what went on?" said Eriol calmly.
"And she won't leave me alone until I kiss someone else? In front of her?" Syaoran sank down on the couch beside Sakura, who was looking at him with a weird look on her face.
"What do you mean, 'someone else'?" she asked slowly. He looked up at her, trying to figure out what she meant.
"Well, yeah, I can't kiss her, it wouldn't work. I'd have to kiss someone else . . ." he trailed off as Sakura got a glint in her eye, reminiscent of Touya. Something in the boy's brain clicked (finally). "Ah! I mean, of course you're the someone else! I just meant, um, in front of everybody? I didn't know if you - "
"Well, maybe I don't want to kiss you! Syaoran, you're so dumb sometimes!" She got up and stomped to the door. "I'm going to the kitchen." Syaoran watched her go, wondering where exactly he'd gone wrong. At least Touya hadn't killed him yet . . .
Of course, that was probably because said brother was still dazed from the 'cure'. I'll have to kiss someone. Romantically. So much for the cop-out cheek kiss idea. Well, I could kiss . . . NO! Touya would not use Yuki for something so trivial. It was too sudden. And Yuki'd probably freak out. He sneaked a glance at his best friend. Yuki was looking at him, his trademark smile on his face. Touya blushed. "Jeez, I'm as bad as that brat before he confessed to my sister." he muttered.
"What was that?" asked Yuki.
"Nothing!" said Touya quickly. "I'm going to the kitchen. I'm kinda hungry."
"Eriol!," whispered Tomoyo urgently, "Are you sure this is gonna work? Maybe we shouldn't have . . ."
"Oh no, my dear. It's fine. Everything will work out. You'll see."
o-o-o-o-o-o
Down in the kitchen, Touya opened the fridge. He might as well have something, even if he wasn't really hungry.
He had to tell Yuki about his feelings for him sometime. Yuki may be absent-minded, but he wasn't stupid. He'd figure it out eventually. It'd be better if Touya just told him straight out -
He stopped mid-thought at the sound of muttering and sniffling. It was coming from the pantry. Touya put his ear to the door, listening.
"Stupid Syaoran. Why doesn't he think? Ugh, that's why he took so long to confess too . . ." It was Sakura, his beloved baby sister. What had the brat done? Touya pushed open the door suddenly, making Sakura jump and hurriedly wipe at her eyes. "H-hi Touya! What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I could ask the same of you. I knew you were a monster, but I didn't know you'd taken to hiding in closets." retorted Touya.
"M'not a monster." she protested feebly, getting up.
"So, what'd he do?" asked Touya, leading the way back into the kitchen. Sakura looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Snoop." she accused, sitting down at the table. Touya looked up from making the tea. He wasn't letting her get away."Ugh, fine. I'll tell you, but you're not allowed to beat Syaoran up. I'm dealing with this myself, 'kay?"
"Maybe." he said, but relented when Sakura got up and headed for the door. "Okay, okay. I won't touch the brat. Happy?"
"Good." she took a long drink of her tea.
"So?"
"So what?" He gave his sister a withering look. "Well, it's not really a problem, after all. Syaoran just didn't think. So you don't need to worry. That's all."
"Uh-huh," Touya rested his chin on his hand. "So you were in the pantry, possibly crying - I said possibly," he put up a hand to stop Sakura's protests, "for no reason?"
"Well, I was just, um . . . yes?"
"Sakura, just tell me what happened."
"Stupid brother. Well, you know how Syaoran took me out for lunch?" Touya muttered. "At the restaurant, Meiling came up to us to say hello. And, you know, she's Meiling, AND she and Syaoran hadn't seen each other in a while, so she hugged him. Well, it was more of a glomp, but still, they're cousins! She's allowed to hug him when she's just gotten back from Hong Kong after a couple months!
"But Syaoran got all upset and embarrassed. Which I understand, I mean, he barely lets me hug him in public, and we only kiss in dark corners and stuff like that." Her brother choked on his tea. Sakura continued on, "So he tells her to go away, except not as politely. Meiling left after that, and I thought she was gonna start crying! When we were walking in the park afterwards, I told him he should've been nicer to Meiling, and he went all sulky. Then Meiling showed up again. She must've been a cat-girl by then, I guess, but I didn't know that, and I left her with Syaoran so they could catch up. Then I went to Tomoyo's and when you guys showed up, he barely talked to me. When we found out about that 'cure', he basically said that he wouldn't want to kiss me. I like to keep that stuff private too, but he's so stiff!" Sakura stopped and took a big drink of her now cold tea.
"So you yelled at him and came down here?" Sakura nodded. "Do you think he knows why you're mad at him?" She shrugged. "Sakura, he probably doesn't. Most guys are pretty stupid when it comes to feelings and things like that. You can't just expect Syaoran to understand if you haven't told him anything." His sister looked up, her head tilted to one side. "What?" asked Touya, embarrassed.
"Are you actually taking Syaoran's side?" said Sakura. He hastily brought his cup to his mouth, though his act was slightly ruined by the fact that it was empty.
Filling his cup from the teapot, Touya muttered, "There's no point in trying to get in between you two anymore. It's better if you're happy, and you're happy with that brat. But if he tries anything, I'll - " he curled his fingers into a fist. Sakura smiled.
"Yes, yes. You'll murder him in a thousand new and creative ways. We know. But as long as we're on the topic of relationships - have you told Yuki yet?" Touya jumped. The conversation wasn't supposed to turn to him. "Well?" Sakura persisted.
"I - um, no, but, uh - how did you know, anyway?" he stuttered, seizing on a thread of conversation that didn't directly involve him.
"I was talking with Yuki - y'know, at the school festival? - and he, uh, mentioned something. It made me think. After a while, it was pretty obvious, to me, at least." Touya looked thoughtful.
"Oh . . . Hey! If you were talking with Yuki about me, did he actually say that he, uh, likes me?" he looked over at Sakura hopefully.
"You'll have to ask him that. That'd be a convenient time to tell him you like him, don't you think?" Sakura smiled at Touya, who frowned slightly. "Oh! And you could kiss him in front of Nakuru then, too! That'd solve two problems at once." Her brother scowled at her. He wished she wasn't such an avid matchmaker. She must have gotten it from their cousin.
"I'm gonna go talk to Syaoran. You want me to send Yuki down to talk to you? Okay, I will. Thanks for listening, Touya." Sakura kissed her brother on the head, and sped off. Touya, who had half-risen to stop her, sank down into his chair. Gah. Sakura had gotten really fast recently.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Meanwhile, up in the library, the boys in question were talking, while the matchmaker couple across the room pretended not to be eavesdropping.
"Syaoran, you need to apologize. I saw how you were trying to ignore Sakura before. She hates it when people ignore her. Sakura would rather you told her straight out what was wrong." said Yukito, now sitting on the couch beside Syaoran.
"But I'm no good at talking about feelings and stuff. Mother taught me that men don't share feelings. I mean, she barely admitted they had feelings." complained Syaoran.
"That doesn't mean she was right. You and Sakura need to talk - " At that moment, she burst in, having run up all the stairs.
"HI! Syaoran, can I talk to you? In private?" she said, eyeing Tomoyo and Eriol, who were suddenly having an interesting conversation between themselves. Yuki smiled at Syaoran in a knowing way. "Oh, and Yuki, Touya wants to talk to you. He's in the kitchen." Sakura smiled innocently.
"Of course. Bye Syaoran, remember what I said." Sakura looked at Syaoran, still a bit nervous, then turned to walk across the hall. Her boyfriend got up hurriedly and followed her.
"See, my dear?' Everything is working out." Eriol kissed Tomoyo lightly on the forehead. She smiled at him.
"I hope so, Eriol." Tomoyo said, looking nervously at the door. He got up and held out his hand to her. Tomoyo looked up. "But they'll get mad if we listen in . . ."
"Not if we do it where they can't catch us. I have a complete surveillance system." Tomoyo's face lit up.
"You mean - cameras?" she jumped up and hugged him. "Lead the way, my charming prince!"
o-o-o-o-o-o
Half an hour later, Eriol decided that everyone had talked enough. Enhancing his voice magically, it echoed throughout the mansion. "Everyone please come to the music room where I have locked the cat-girls."
A few minutes later, everybody was ready. "Now I don't think anything will happen, but please stand back anyway." Eriol turned the key in the lock, and pushed it open slowly. Nothing happened. No flying cat-girls, no yowls of anger at having been confined. Instead, there were purring sounds, and what sounded like muffled cursing. It came from the pile of fur and girls in the middle of the floor. Spinel was floating above them, doubled over in laughter.
"Is that . . . Kero?" asked Sakura, pointing at the pile. Spinel nodded weakly.
"And . . . Nakuru and . . . hee hee . . . Meiling." he panted, collapsing on Eriol's head in mirth. Eriol allowed himself a small smile before getting to the matter at hand.
"We need to separate them. They'll have to be paying full attention if we want this to work properly." he stated calmly. He and Syaoran grabbed Meiling while Touya and Yuki grabbed Nakuru. They pulled them off the small sun guardian. Kero flew straight up, breathing heavily.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he gasped, while Spinel laughed harder. Kero glared. "Hey! You could've helped me, y'know!"
Spinel stopped laughing to retort, "But it was too much fun watching you suffer. I think you'd find it amusing if I was - " Their argument was cut short by yells from Touya and Syaoran as the cat-girls realized who was holding them prisoner. They now continued their treatment of their 'mates'. But this time, Yukito and Sakura actually reacted.
"Meiling, please get off Syaoran. You're choking him." pleaded Sakura, holding Meiling's arm. She hissed at Sakura and clung tighter. Syaoran had grown tired of this routine. After several attempts, he managed to push Meiling off him with Sakura's help. With two people holding her, they managed to keep her restrained.
"Meiling, stop. I only like you as a cousin and a friend. I love Sakura." She wasn't listening. The cat-girl struggled to get her arms un-pinned so she could hug Syaoran. Sakura squeezed in between them.
"She's not going to listen. We'll have to ,um, use the 'cure'."
"Y'mean, kiss?" asked Syaoran.
"Yes, sherlock." replied Sakura in a small voice.
Syaoran leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Better hurry before your brother notices." She nodded, and turned her head. Their lips met gently. It lasted only for a few seconds, but it felt like longer.
A pained yowl from Meiling stopped them. She fell to her knees, covering her real ears. Her cat ears had disappeared, along with her whiskers and claws. The tail was slowly receding. She rubbed her eyes. "Huh?"
Sakura knelt down beside her, concerned. "We didn't hurt you, did we?" Meiling looked at her weirdly.
"What? Of course not. What happened?"
Across the room, Touya had successfully fought off Nakuru with Yuki's help. He held one arm, while Yuki held the other. "She doesn't seem to be in a listening mood." commented Yuki.
"Is she ever?" muttered Touya.
"I meant, you'll have to explain after the cure starts to work."
"Oh. Right." Touya blushed.
"Well? Are you gonna kiss me? Again?" Yuki teased. It was interesting to see how much he could make Touya blush.
"I don't want to use you like that." protested Touya.
"What if I don't care?" said Yuki, as he leaned in.
"Oh. Well, then, I - " he was cut off by Yuki's lips against his.
Nakuru gave a yowl quite like Meiling's, and all her cat qualities started to disappear. She too was left rubbing her eyes, confused. "How did I get in Eriol's library? I thought I was downtown . . ." Yuki leaned down.
"Are you okay? Someone placed a spell on you, Nakuru. You turned into a cat. Don't worry, we turned you back. Meiling too."
"Awww! I was a cat, and I can't remember any of it? That sucks!"
Eriol and Tomoyo surveyed the scene. Sakura and Syaoran were holding hands, trying to explain things to a confused Meiling, while Touya and Yuki had their arms around each other's waists, laughing.
"It did work out, Eriol. That were-cat of yours was a great idea!" Tomoyo squealed. Maybe a little too loudly. Everyone turned to stare at Eriol, who at least had the decency to look a little nervous.
"WHAT!!!!"
The End
Author's Note: Dedicated to my sister, who told me to write a story about Nakuru, Meiling and a cat.