Disclaimer: I don't own CCS/CC or the characters from that show and make no money from their use. The song quotes are from various artists, groups, and musicals including: Savage Garden, Garth Brooks, Matchbox 20, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Imbruglia, and Les Miserables. I own none of those said quotes, groups, or songs and make no money from any of them. Also, I use everything without permission.
Rating: PG-13 for domestic violence and language
Author's notes: I don't want to give anything away, but this is a rather different CCS/CC fic. It deals with what happened to everyone after 10 years. Like I said, I don't want to give anything away, but be warned there is domestic violence. BTW- It has S&S and semi-MeiLi in it so you are warned. Please read the other author notes at the end to maybe explain a bit more.
This story is told through the version of the American CC, using those names and those episodes. I haven't seen any of the CCS episodes so any information that clashes with that show is out of ignorance and not done of purpose. Also, I haven't seen the CCS movie so I don't know all the facts with the Li's sisters or Li's mother, so I just went with my own idea.
~*~
A WOUNDED DOVE
By: PB (PhoenixB_82@hotmail.com)
~*~
"And I'll be waiting for you,
here inside my heart."
~*~
Meilin ran up to the trio of twelve year-olds and stepped in front of Li and Sakura. The couple held each other's hands, however when the spotted the raven-haired girl, the young boy pushed his girlfriend a little further behind him...
...as if protecting her.
"What do you want? Haven't you done enough already?" The raven-haired girl closed her eyes at the harsh words, but she knew she deserved them. After what she did yesterday, how could she expect them not to hate her?
It wasn't everyday that someone went up to Sakura Avalon and slapped the girl across the face, but that was *exactly* what Meilin had done. The young girl over-heard Sakura telling Li how much she loved him, cared for him, wanted to be with him, etc. and snapped. She knew that the two had been attracted to each other, but she had yet to hear either of them express their feelings. When she finally did, though, she couldn't take it. All her feelings of love towards Li, turned into anger at Sakura.
Before she knew what she had done, Meilin was already being shoved away by both Li and Madison, who were screaming at her. The raven-haired girl remembered looking at Sakura, who was holding her cheek, and then sprinting away.
Now, twenty-fours hours later she was here.
"I just want to..."
"We don't want to hear it, Meilin." The young Chinese girl turned towards Madison. The once so peaceful and joyous face, held a hidden anger that even Meilin could see. The gray-haired girl was protecting her friend from her. The thought made the young girl dropped her head. She never wanted anyone to hate her, but that was exactly what happened.
"No, please, I wanted to say..."
Again, she was cut off, this time by Li. "We know, we *know*! I'm supposed to be in love with you. We're destined to be together and whatnot. Well guess what, Meilin, I don't think we belong together. I don't like you and don't even want to be near you after the way you treated Sakura."
By now, the young girl wanted nothing more than to break down at the cruel words. Of course, she knew Li didn't love her, how could she not?!? She knew, the first time she saw Li look at Sakura, that he loved and cared for the Clow Mistress. But knowing and accepting were two different things. She knew, but never accepted it...
...until yesterday.
She had spent a lot of time, after running away from the group, thinking about her and Li and his love for Sakura. Over and over, thoughts buzzed through the young girl's head and they all lead to one conclusion: Li loved Sakura; not her.
After the initial shock of it all, Meilin focused on that one thought and finally, through the course of anger, denial, tears and more tears, she decided that she had to apologize and let the young couple know she was sorry and they had her blessing. Yet, even more importantly, she wanted to let them know she would stop being a pain to them and stop harassing Li.
However, by the verbal abuse she was taking now, letting them know what she had decided, was proving more difficult than originally thought.
"Just listen to me for two seconds!" Meilin felt her voice rise at least three decibels, but the group was quiet. She took a deep breath and began the speech she practiced over and over again last night.
"I was a fool to think that you ever loved me, Li. I really was. I know your heart is with Sakura and I..." The young girl looked down at her feet, hoping to hide the tears she felt coming from her eyes. "...I accept that. I accept the fact that your heart belongs to her and not me."
Meilin rubbed her hand over her eyes to dry her tears, but more came to the surface. Nonetheless, she continued:
"I called my mother last night and told her that I was going to be coming home." Tears were now running freely down Meilin's face, but she didn't bother with them. She looked up and meet Li's eyes. "I guess this is goodbye. I had mother buy a ticket and apparently Jakob from the Jin Clan has asked to be my husband. I am going home to be with him and his Clan."
Meilin stepped forward and pulled Li into a hug. At first the boy pulled away from shock, but then he didn't resist and returned the closeness. The raven-haired girl moved away from him.
"Take care of yourself and Sakura. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused."
With that, the young girl turned away from the three young people. The raven-haired girl heard Li whisper a good-bye. But, Meilin didn't bother to turn around, and instead, continued to walk forward.
~*~
TEN YEARS LATER
~*~
"Can you help me, I'm bent?
I'm so scared that I'll never,
get put back together."
~*~
The young woman picked herself off the ground after he left. It had been fairly painless this time; he had been in good spirits. With a quick survey of the room, the raven-haired woman began to replace the furniture that had fallen to the ground. With expertise movements, acquired from experience, she put everything back in its proper place and finally straightened the mirror.
As she did so, Meilin caught sight of herself and noticed how drastically she had changed over the years.
Her once deep and insightful ruby-eyes were now a false bright blue. The contacts had been given as a birthday gift from Jakob almost seven years ago because he always hated the color red.
Her once long and flowing hair, that had become famous for its two-bun style, was now cut just above her shoulder. Jakob never liked long hair and told her to cut it short. She hadn't agreed readily, but he had convinced her.
And that was why her once almost porcelain face now held a jagged scar above her left eyebrow. A painful reminder of how much she had changed.
Yes, she had changed, and not for the better. But the changes weren't her doing; they were anothers. She shivered as she heard him banging around in their bedroom. Luckily, for her, he was only getting ready for bed and, for the remainder of the evening, Meilin would have peace.
With a long, sad sigh the twenty-two year old straightened the mirror and gave herself one last look. What had she become? The once brave, proud, unstoppable young girl was now a frightened, lonely, empty young woman. How on earth had a girl, who once fought magic, been reduced to someone who couldn't even stand up to her own husband?
She knew the answer. It was because she didn't care. She didn't care what happened to her because she lost everything in one day. Why bother to fight for yourself when, even after you fight, you have nothing? It was easier to allow things to happen, because, you can't change the past, so why mess with the future?
"MEILIN!"
The raven-haired woman cringed at her name being yelled through the house, but headed in the direction of the bellowing voice. She couldn't change her situation, so why bother?
~*~
Li stepped off the plane and could already smell the sweet China night air. He was happy to be home; it had been far too long since he had seen this place. He missed his home, he missed his mother, and he missed her.
Ten years was too long to stay angry and out-of-touch with someone. It amazed him to think that he hadn't talked to Meilin, a girl who use to be his best friend, for a decade. It also saddened him. They use to be so close and then, because he had fallen in love with Sakura, they lost touch. She went her way and he went his. His only hope was that she was happy with her life in China because he never regretted a day of his life in Japan.
Li turned around and waited for Sakura to also make her way through the crowd. He smiled to her and she gave a quick wave to let him know she was attempting to make it closer to him. He watched Sakura move through the people and finally make it next to him.
"I thought I was going to be trampled for sure!" Li only laughed and grabbed her hand.
The couple moved towards the bagged pick-up and once they had all their necessary belongings, they headed outside to grab a cab.
Sakura looked out to the city and smiled. "It really is beautiful here."
Li nodded. "You should see it in the morning with the sun rise. There's nothing else like it." The young man looked down at his girlfriend. "Well, *almost* nothing like it."
Sakura looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Always the charmer, aren't you?"
"Of course!"
The young woman chuckled at Li. She was still amazed with the how much he had changed since she first met him. He use to be such a stoic, and rude, eleven year-old, but now, he was an alive and happy twenty-two year-old, who she was lucky enough to be close to.
Since they were twelve, the two of them had been a somewhat couple until they reached fourteen. At that age, they both moved away from each other and went their separate ways in school. They remained acquaintances, yet still held some distance between them. But, everything changed when they turned seventeen. They both happened to find each other one day in high school and all the feelings somehow rushed back; they had been together ever since.
The couple often spoke of marriage, but something seemed to be holding them back from taking that last step. So, Li decided that they should go to China and met with his mother; after that they would either get married or figure something else out. Sakura agreed and was looking forward to seeing Li's parent.
The couple stepped into the cab and relaxed as they headed in the direction of the young man's home. Sakura placed her head on his shoulder and he put an arm around her. Anyone watching the couple would see two people very much in love, and on the outside, that was what they appeared to be. Yet, hidden in one of them, even hidden from themself, was a feeling for another that they kept silent, but that feeling was just waiting for the time to remove itself from the self-made prison.
And when it did, the couple would open their eyes and see things as they really were.
~*~
The cab halted in front of the small home, the couple removed themselves and paid the driver. Li's smile grew as he looked at his old home; everything looked the same as it had a decade ago. Suddenly, the front door was thrown open and the young man could see his mother standing in the way.
"Li!" The older woman began to walk towards her son, and Li moved towards her. He met her and gave his mother a large hug.
"It's wonderful to see you again." The older woman pushed her son away and examined him.
"You need to eat more; you're wasting away." The young man smirked at his mother. "And who is this?"
Li looked where his mother was looking and saw Sakura. The young woman stepped forward. "This is Sakura Avalon from Japan."
"The Card Mistress?"
The young woman blushed. "A long time ago, yes, now I'm just Sakura."
The older woman grabbed one of Sakura's hand. "You mean much to my son; he never stops talking about you. I am glad to finally meet you."
Li's face seemed to turn two shades of red, but he smiled at his mother and Sakura. "Shall we go in?"
The trio moved indoors and finally came to a small table. Li took a seat next to his mother, while Sakura sat across from the Showrons. The young man made a 'hmming' noise and looked around the home. He turned back to his mother.
"Where is Meilin? I was certain she would want to meet us."
Sakura suddenly noticed a sad and worried look cross Li's mother's face, but it quickly left. The strange reaction to the raven-haired woman's name made the young women curious and she made a note to speak to Li about it.
"Meilin is living with Jakob of the Jin Clan. I asked him to tell her, however, I cannot be certain if she received the message or not."
Li shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we can see her tomorrow."
Mrs. Showron sighed deeply, but remained silent. Sakura, however, knew something was wrong.
"What is wrong with Meilin, Mrs. Showron?"
Li's mother looked up to the auburn-haired woman. "Please call me Fion, and you, might I add, are an observant young lady, however there is nothing wrong with Meilin."
The old women smiled, but she felt awful. She had just lied to her son and his young friend. Something was terribly wrong with the little Rae woman, but it was not her place to speak of it. If her son cared for the raven-haired woman then he would find out by himself, and he would deal with it how he wanted to.
No, she was not to get involved; it was not her fight.
The three talked for close to another hour, before Li and Sakura said their good-nights and headed into the small bedroom Li had grown-up in.
Within fifteen minutes of leaving the table, the couple was in the room and attempting to fall asleep.
~*~
"If I couldn't sleep, could you sleep?
Could you paint me better off?"
~*~
Meilin rolled to the furthest point away from her husband that the small bed would allow. She pulled the covers around her neck to keep out the chill that their small house allowed in. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep.
For the first time in almost ten years, a face came to her mind. One she tried so desperately to forget, yet so desperately tried to remember in the horrid times. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. She hadn't pictured that brown-haired, amber-eyed face for so long and, yet, she just saw him as clear as day.
Meilin felt a single tear roll down her face as memories began to flood her senses. She thought of all the times her and Li laughed, and fool-around, and just stayed with each other. She felt a sob rise up in her throat and quickly rolled out of bed, as to not wake Jakob.
For the last ten years, since her marriage to Jakob, she made herself removed Li from all her thoughts and memories. Dwelling on the past would only make things worse, and yet, here she was thinking of him like she had seen him only yesterday.
The young woman grabbed a glass from her kitchen and took a long sip of water.
"What are you doing out of bed? Did I say you could get up?"
Meilin gasped as she saw Jakob standing in the doorway. "I...I didn't mean..."
"Shut up!" The raven-haired woman did so. Her husband moved closer and grabbed Meilin's upper arm. He began to drag her back to their bedroom and finally, once inside, threw her on the bed with violent force.
"Now, get in bed and *stay* in bed." To emphasize his point, Jakob bent over and slapped his wife on the cheek. Meilin didn't even feel the slap, however, because they were all too common now.
Her husband went over and turned off the light, while his wife moved into the bed. She turned away from his as he also got into bed. Within moments, she could hear his snoring.
Meilin closed her eyes and concentrated on the images of Li that swarmed her dreams while she tried to fall asleep.
~*~
The raven-haired woman awoke to the sun shining in her eyes. She sighed and rolled out of her side of the bed. She knew that, thankfully, her husband was off at work and wouldn't be home till later that evening. Meilin quickly showered and grabbed her soft Chinese dress; the simple dress of pink and yellow was her most prized possession. She bought it by saving money from groceries and her husband didn't even know of it. He would be angry with her if he knew, thus the reason she only wore it on certain days.
Meilin made her way out to the kitchen and saw the grocery list Jakob had compiled for her. She sighed again as she read over the note telling her what she had to do for the day. A list of cleaning and chores was always left for her and she always completed them for fear of what would happen if she didn't.
The raven-haired woman grabbed her small purse and the money left for her and then headed into town. She enjoyed shopping days because it allowed her to get out of the house. The only downside was when she ran into someone she knew or had known. Making up reasons and excuses for her appearance and lack of socialism was a bother, but she did it with a smile and shrugged off any concern.
The young woman walked down the street and found the small vendors that held all the food she would need. Meilin began to browse slowly, soaking in everything around her. She walked to a cart and began to look at the fruits when she had strangest feeling of deja-vu. The young woman lifted her head and looked around the street, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. With a shrug she turned back to the fruit in front of her.
~*~
"And when my smile gets old and faded,
wait around I'll smile again."
~*~
Li sighed as he made his way down the busy streets of Hong Kong. His mother had sent him out to pick-up a few groceries for dinner and he decided to get it done in the morning so that he and Sakura could sight-see later. He ad just made his way back from a small fruit cart when he caught a glimpse of a woman with her black-hair up into two buns; he knew that style anywhere.
"Meilin!"
The young man rushed up to the woman but backed down when he saw her turn around. Li found himself looking into the face of a very angry older woman. The young man smiled and bowed and then quickly turned and walked the other way. He made it a few feet before he ran into another a woman, who wasn't watching where she was going either. The two crashed and Li saw the woman drop her small bag of fruit.
"I'm so sorry!" The young man offered a hand to the woman and she gladly took it.
"It's all right, I wasn't watching where I was going either." The woman looked up to Li and her smile faded.
The young man looked at her curiously and analyzed her features. There was something almost familiar about this woman, but he couldn't place her. The bright blue eyes and short hair just didn't seem completely correct.
"I...um...I better...be um..." Meilin attempted to make a coherent statement, but found words not forming successfully. She knew she had to get away from this man, who she instantly recognized as Li. She didn't want to deal with him right now and didn't want him to see her. She was ashamed of who she was and never wanted to let this young man know what she had become.
"Are you all right? You seem familiar." Li continued to stare at the young woman, who appeared to be growing more and more nervous by the second.
"I'm fine, Li." Meilin took a sharp intake of breath and threw her hand over her mouth. Li was now staring at her intently and, as much as she wanted to remove her eyes from his, she found she couldn't. The two stared at each other long and hard. One trying to keep their identity hidden and the other trying to figure out where he knew this stranger from.
"How do you know my name?"
Meilin shrugged. "Li's a very common name here. Just slipped." The young woman prayed Li would let the name-thing go, but he didn't.
"I know you from somewhere, don't I?"
The raven-haired woman shrugged again. "Do you shop here often?" As much as she tried to be causal, it wasn't working and Meilin could feel her hands shaking. She needed to get away from him now.
Li watched as the young woman began to nervously twirled one of her short strands of hair around her finger. She bit her lip and began to tap her foot. As if these strange movements had sparked a fire, the young man saw who was standing in front of him.
"Oh my god, Meilin?!?" The young woman cringed as she heard her name. "Oh my god..." Li repeated.
The young man looked over his one-time best friend again. She had changed...terribly. He saw her once beautifully long and prided hair was chopped short. Her ruby-eyes that once held so much depth and wonderment were now shallow, empty blue eyes. But the biggest change, Li saw, was her whole demeanor. The young girl he once knew would have thrown herself on him when she recognized him. Yet, *this* young lady attempted to hide her identity and she spoke in a soft, scared voice that shook with each word.
Something was very wrong with her and Li already knew it.
"I...I...um..." Meilin bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "So...um...why are you here?"
It broke Li's heart to her this young woman speak with such fear in her voice. All the confidence she once had was long gone.
"I'm visiting my family. How have you been?"
Meilin swallowed hard. The only person she could ever tell anything to was Li and she wanted nothing more than to spill all the horrible facts of her marriage and what it did to her. But she couldn't. Something was holding her back and she couldn't get anything past her lips.
"I have to go."
The young woman turned away and began to weave her way through the crowds. Li attempted to follow, but found it useless. Meilin was smaller and more agile and was quickly hidden from his sight. The young man stood for a long time in the middle of the crowds trying to put the pieces together and trying to figure out what on earth had just happened.
Finally, he moved out of the groups and headed in the direction of his home. He needed to speak with his mother and find out everything she knew of Meilin and what had happened to her.
~*~
The young woman, once out of people's way, began to sob and run in the direction of her home. She ran to her house and finally tore open the door and fell to her couch; Meilin cried into the cushions. She cried over what she lost when she left Japan. She cried because she felt trapped and she hated it. She hated Jakob and hated herself even more for staying with him. And now, because of seeing Li, she felt anger that she hadn't felt for years begin to rise inside her. She hated him for some reason, because as stupid as it sounded, she blamed him for everything that had happened to her. At the same time though, she blamed herself.
She wanted to get out of her life and her home, yet, for some reason, she couldn't leave. Today she could have told Li all about Jakob and he would have taken her home, but she couldn't.
She was ashamed that she ever let a man control her as her husband did. Meilin didn't want anyone, especially Li, to know what she had become. She knew that everyone would think she was a weak, pathetic person if they knew where she was stuck and she couldn't deal with that.
Meilin finally gained control of her sobbing and looking around her house. She still had cleaning to do and had lost precious time with Li. Going to her feet, the young women began her hours of chores.
~*~
Li walked into his house and was pleasantly surprise to see his mother and Sakura enjoying tea while speaking at the table. The young women looked up at Li and smiled.
"How was shopping?" She looked at him and noticed he was empty-handed. "What happened?"
The young man moved to the table and sat next to Sakura. He grabbed her hand and then faced his mother. "I saw Meilin today."
Fion frowned. "Then you saw what happened?"
"Yes. But *what* did happened?"
Li's mother sighed and took a sip of her tea. "I really have no right to tell you this." She looked at her son and then at Sakura. "And because it is not my right; I cannot."
The young man moved to his feet. "Mother, how can you do that? She's different and something's terrible wrong."
Sakura, who had remained silent, now gently pulled the young man back into his seat. "Li, if she won't tell us, there *is* a reason for it."
Fion smiled at Sakura. "Thank you."
Li, however, did not smile. "You didn't see her, and if you did you'd feel the same way I do. There is something not right about any of this. What I saw today was *not* Meilin."
Mrs. Showron sighed again. "I cannot tell you anything because, even I, do not know all that has happened. However, I will give you her and Jakob's address. Perhaps if you and Sakura went to her, you could get Meilin to open up." Fion wrote down and address and handed it to Li. "Please see if you can't help."
The young man grabbed the piece of paper and Sakura's hand. He looked at his mother and nodded at her directions.
The two young people headed out of the home towards the address given.
~*~
"When's it gonna end?
When we gonna live?
Something's got to happen now
or something's got to give."
~*~
Li held Sakura's hand tightly as they walked through the streets of China. The young women kept giving her boyfriend odd glances as he marched forward. Finally, she planted her feet making Li stop.
"What is it?"
Sakura sighed. "Why are you in such a rush to get to Meilin?" Her voice held no annoyance, just curiosity.
Li looked at Sakura and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "There's something wrong with her and I know she needs help." He moved forward again. "You'll see what I mean when we get there."
The couple walked a bit longer before they came to a stop in front of a small home. The house was petite and very well taken care of. A lush green garden covered a small area and in the corner sat a beautiful willow tree. The house itself was a lovely light yellow with blue trimmings. Sakura and Li shared a look before going to the front door.
Li knocked and within seconds a man answered the door. "Yes?"
The young man swallowed and threw out his hand. "I'm Li Showron and I believe you're Jakob."
Jakob smiled. "Li? Meilin's old friend?" The young man nodded. "Well, what a wonderful surprise! Please come in."
Li and Sakura entered and Jakob offered them a seat. Sakura looked at the slightly older man; he appeared nice enough. He was a bit taller than Li and looked to be about thirty. He had gray eyes with light brown hair, however there was something wrong with him. For some reason Sakura felt uncomfortable around him and almost fearful of him.
"So, who is this lovely lady?" Li looked at Sakura and smiled.
"This is my girlfriend, Sakura Avalon." Jakob extended a hand and Sakura offered hers.
The man smiled at the couple and both felt the need to twiddle their hands. Finally, Jakob spoke:
"Well, let me get Meilin." He let off a small chuckle. "She's probably cooking dinner. I swear I tell her to take a break and she just doesn't want to."
Jakob left the couple and went to find his wife. He found the raven-hair woman in the kitchen washing dishes. Jakob went behind her and placed his hand over her mouth; he leaned in and whispered in her ear.
"Your Li's here and I am not happy. Believe me, I. Am. Not. Happy." Meilin shuddered as she fully understood that threat. "Now, come out here and be bright and cheerful." He let go of her and she removed the apron she was wearing.
The raven-haired woman went next to Jakob and moved out of the kitchen with a fake smile on her face. As soon as she saw Li, Meilin wanted to run the other way, especially when she saw Sakura with him. But, she knew, Jakob would practically kill her if she acted funny.
Meilin placed her hands in front of her and allowed Jakob to place his arms over her shoulder with out shuddering.
"And here's the little busy-body. I told them that you really work too hard."
The raven-haired women smiled. "Oh, I just keep myself busy."
Li and Sakura exchanged another glance and the young women squeezed the young man's hand tighter. She now understood what Li meant; something was wrong with Meilin.
Both couples talked for nearly an hour over the old times and what they had been up to. The whole time, Jakob and Meilin acted like any other loving couple and never let on about their secret. Li and Sakura, however, could sense something was terribly wrong, yet they couldn't exactly place their finger on what really the problem was.
Finally, Li and Sakura noticed the time and began to get ready to leave.
"It was wonderful to meet you Jakob and I hope to see you again." The two men shook hands.
"Like-wise, and any friend of Meilin, is a friend of mine." Sakura smiled at him, but said nothing.
The couple left the home and headed to theirs. Once the door was shut, the raven-haired woman stepped back from her husband.
"Why did you talk to him?" Jakob moved closer to Meilin. "I *told* you not to have anything to do with anyone, but for some reason you decide *not* to listen." Her husband moved menacingly closer. "I'm going to have to get that through you thick head." Jakob still moved on Meilin and the young woman continue to back away until she ran into a wall and was trapped.
Trapped and with no way to escape her nightmare.
~*~
"I believe you don't know what you've got
until you say goodbye."
~*~
Li and Sakura made their entire way home in silence. The young women now knew why Li was so concerned over Meilin. There was something terribly wrong and the young woman had a strong feeling it had something to do with Jakob. The couple reached Li's home and went straight to their bedroom.
Li flopped down on the bed while Sakura got ready in the bathroom. He couldn't get Meilin out of his head for some bizarre reason. Since, he had seen her in the marketplace, the raven-haired women was a constant picture in his mind. At first, he figured he was just concerned with her well-being, but now...he wasn't sure *why* he kept thinking of her.
Sakura exited the bathroom and sat down next to Li. She placed her hands on his shoulder. "You're worried about her, aren't you?"
The young man leaned slightly back against her body. "You saw her, she's not the same, and I can't figure out why."
The young woman placed her chin on Li's shoulder. "I think that it may be something with Jakob."
He looked at Sakura. "What do you mean?"
She shrugged. "There's just something *wrong* about him. I can't place it exactly, but there's something about him that I don't like. He seemed nice enough, sure, but he just creeps me out."
Li nodded. "Perhaps." He fell back on the bed and Sakura fell next to him. The couple moved closer and soon, even though he never changed, Li fell asleep with Sakura.
The young woman, though, did not find rest that easily. She looked at Li and smiled down at him. She cared for him like she had never cared for anyone else, but she could feel herself moving away from him. The love she felt for him was slowly fading and she now knew why she had been so resistant about marriage.
Somehow, she had always known that her and Li would never be together forever. There's was always something holding her back and now, after seeing how Li was acting over Meilin, she knew what that something was.
That something was the fact that Li still cared deeply for Meilin.
~*~
"I'm all out of faith,
this is how I feel.
I'm cold and I'm ashamed,
bound and broken on the floor."
~*~
Meilin heard Jakob leave the house and finally made her way out of the bed. She gritted her teeth as pain pulsed through out her body. With slow movements, the young woman made her way into the bathroom, she started the water and undressed herself to get ready for her warm bath.
She looked at the full length mirror behind the door and examined the injuries. Meilin groaned as she looked her battered body over.
Covering her back were black and blue blotches, which made their way to her shoulders. Her neck had deep, dark finger prints, that, luckily, could be hidden by a high necked shirt. Her face was left, remarkably, untouched save for a dark bruise on her cheek.
Meilin slowly lowered herself into the bath and sighed contentedly as the warm water soothed her bruises. Closing her eyes, the young women let herself go.
~*~
The young man bided Sakura and his mother a farewell as he headed back towards Meilin's house. Sakura sighed as she watched him leave and felt Fion place a hand on her shoulder.
"Let us talk."
The two women headed indoors while Li walked further away.
The young man finally came to the small home and knocked on the door. He waited and waited until the door finally opened a crack. He saw a small pair of blue eyes looking at him for a silent minute before the door opened further.
"Li." Meilin moved out of the door's way and placed her head down. "Please come in."
The young man moved past the raven-haired women and entered the small home. He stood in the middle of the house and watched as Meilin nervously avoided his eyes and kept her head down with a hand placed on her cheek.
"Would you like anything to drink or eat?"
Li shook his head. "No, thank you. Why don't we have a seat?" Meilin sighed and moved to her couch while Li took a chair.
The young woman bit her lip. "Why are you here?"
The young man watched Meilin carefully. "I just wanted to see you. I haven't seen you in well over ten years. So, how are things with Jakob?"
The raven-haired woman cringed slightly and unconsciously rubbed her cheek. Li looked at her strangely, but left it alone.
"Things are fine." Her voice was barely above a whisper and the young man knew things were anything, *but* fine.
"No, they aren't, Meilin." The young woman looked at Li in surprise, forgetting about the bruise on her face. The young man gasped in shock and leaned closer to the young women. "What happened?"
Meilin knew what he was talking about, but tried to cover up. "What are you talking about?"
"That." Li pointed to the bruise on her cheek.
The raven-haired woman shrugged. "Jakob runs a martial arts class and we fight at night just to keep in shape. It so happens that I failed to block a blow." The lie came out easier than Meilin suspected.
The young man raised an eyebrow at her, but remained silent. Suddenly, she rose to her feet and moved towards the door.
"You should go."
Li moved to his feet and headed towards the door. "I just want to talk with you."
Tears made their way to Meilin's eyes and she felt one run down her cheek. "I don't want to talk you with, though. Go, please."
The young man stopped in front of the raven-haired women and looked at her closely. "What's wrong?" The young man grabbed one of Meilin's shoulders to make her look at him.
The young woman's head jerked up and Li could see a deep rooted fear in her eyes. He quickly pulled his hand off of her and Meilin took a step back while staring at him with wide eyes. As if a light bulb had gone off in the man's head, he saw what was wrong with Meilin.
"Oh my god, he does this to you." Li stepped back from Meilin surveying her.
The young woman dropped her eyes to the floor. "Get out." Her voice cracked as she felt defeat creeping up.
"I'm not leaving till you tell me what's happening."
All the fear that the young women had felt for the last ten years faded away and was replaced by that anger. That anger she felt last night; that anger she hadn't felt towards anyone in the longest time crept up inside her and she could feel it pulsing in her body. Meilin jerked her head and looked at Li straight in the eyes.
"*You* want to know what's happened? Fine! What happened was I was forced to move back home because I gave up on you and gave you to Sakura. I was forced to marry a man I hate because of my mother since I left you in Japan." The young girl moved closer to Li. "While you live with Sakura, I live in hell. Yes, he hits me. Are you happy now that you know?!? Does it make you feel better? Proud, perhaps? What, Li? Tell me how that makes you feel!?!
"I don't stop him because I don't care. I. Don't. Care! What is there in my life worth caring for? I lost everything I ever had when I moved here. I hate it here, I him him, I hate myself, but I hate *you* the most." Out of all the things Meilin could have said, Li was completely unprepared for this.
"Why do you hate me?"
The young women laughed cynically. "Why? WHY?!? I have been living in this hell because of you. Because of YOU, Li! You pushed me away and forced me to move here." Meilin was now standing right in front of Li. "This is your fault!" She threw out with her right hand and made contact with Li's chest. The physical blow to the young man made the young woman feel almost in power and control. She continued to strike his chest while tears streamed down her face.
Finally, in mid-strike, Meilin stopped. She looked up at Li's face and threw a hand over her mouth. She looked at Li in both shame and fear before turning around and running to her room. The young man stood, trying to make sense of all that had just happened. Finally, he moved in the direction of Meilin's room.
He looked into the small bedroom and saw the young woman sitting on a bed. He moved in and stood next to her.
"I'm *so* sorry, Li. I didn't mean any of that. I...I'm sorry."
The young man sat next to his friend and placed his arm gently over her shoulder. She cringed at first, but then fell into the embrace.
"It's okay. Really. I'm sorry for everything that has happened, but I promise things will get better."
Meilin looked at Li and sighed. "No, they won't. They never have and never will." The young woman rose up from the bed. "Don't bother, anyways. You're happy with Sakura and that's all that matters. I moved here for your happiness and I'm glad to see it was the right move."
The young woman ran her hand through her hair and sighed. She opened her mouth to speak when the sound of a car door opening caught her attention. "He's home, you have to leave, now!" Meilin began to push Li in the direction of the window. "Go."
The young man stepped out the window and looked back at the young women. "I'll help you."
Meilin shook her head. "Don't bother." With that she slammed the window shut just as she heard Jakob open the front door and yell for her.
~*~
"And I'm glad I didn't know,
the way it all would end,
the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance.
I could of missed the pain,
but, I would have missed the dance."
~*~
Li slowly entered the home and walked into the kitchen. With a sad and worried sigh, he took a seat at the table. The young man saw Sakura place a drink in front of him. He looked at her. "Thank you."
The young woman smiled and resumed helping with the food. The two women finished the meal and took a seat with Li at the table. A plate of food was placed in front of each of them and they began to eat their meal in silence.
Sakura, though, took a deep breath and put her fork down. She looked over at the young man. "I'm going back to Japan."
Li coughed on his drink and looked at Sakura. "Now?"
The young woman nodded. "I have my ticket already and I'm leaving very soon."
The young man placed his fork down and looked at Sakura. "Why?" The simple question made the young woman sigh.
"I've realized, since coming here, that you harbor feelings for Meilin. I can't say if these feelings are of love, friendship, or simple protectiveness, but whatever they are for they're still there and strong. I've talked with your mother and this is what I've decided." Sakura took Li's hand. "I still care for you deeply, but even you can't tell me that you want to marry me. There's something missing and we both know it.
"That's the real reason why we came here. You had some kind of pull making you come here and I think we both know what that pull was. Somehow you needed to be by or with Meilin. I respect that, and I want you to be with her. Maybe," she rose to her feet and grabbed the small suitcase, Li just now noticed, "you will one day come home and we will be together, but right now the best thing is for you to be with her and me to go home."
Li rose to his feet and Sakura moved closer to him. "I care deeply for you and won't forget you. You have been one of the best things to happen to me and I am eternally grateful for all you have given me." She lean in a placed a soft kiss to the young man's lips. "Please take care of yourself and her."
Sakura moved away from Li and she hugged his mother and thanked her. Sakura moved out of the small house and went into the cab that was waiting for her. The young man went to the kitchen window and watched as the young women left his home. He turned back towards his mother who gave him a small smile.
"She came down here already knowing. She and I talked, while you were out, about things and she felt, in her heart, this was the right thing to do. She has given you a chance to start again and save another. Take her gift and handle it with care. She has given up much for you and do not take that in vain." His mother turned away from her son and headed to her bedroom.
Li stood for a long moment in the kitchen trying to figure out what had just happened. He suddenly began to smile and felt his heart beat faster. Sakura gave him a chance of a lifetime and he would do what she asked him to.
He would help Meilin.
~*~
"Once there was a darkness,
a deep and endless night.
You gave me everything you had,
oh, you gave me light."
~*~
The young women sat nervously across from her husband as they ate dinner. She thanked some supernatural force that he hadn't seen Li in their home, because if he had...she shuddered to think of what could have happened to her or even Li. Meilin reached out for her glass of water, but her thoughts were grabbing her attention, so she failed to hold the glass upright. In slow motion, or so it seemed to the young women, the glass fell from her grasp and spattered on the table. She gasped in shock, and surprise, as the liquid seeped into the table. The table, which happened to be a prized possession of Jakob.
Meilin jumped to her feet, and before her husband could even get to his feet, she had a towel and was wiping up the mess. The raven-haired women felt her hands tremble as Jakob moved away from the table and slowly made his way next to her. Meilin closed her eyes, fully knowing and dreading what was to come.
Her husband reached out with his hand and grabbed a handful of the young woman's hair. He jerked her head backwards so she was looking him in the eyes.
"You stupid, stupid bitch. Damn it! You are the most worthless piece of trash I have ever known!" Her husband released Meilin's hair and the raven-haired women stood straight. Her husband grabbed her upper arm in a vice-like grip.
"Please don't..."
Surprise crossed Jakob's features. Never once, in the ten years they had been together, had Meilin ever said anything in the way of 'stop' or 'don't' whenever Jakob hit her. She never begged or fought back, but just went with it. Now, the older man, could feel fury building in him; how dare this piece of trash even ask for sympathy?
"Don't you ever say anything back to me again. Am I clear?!?" A slap emphasized the screaming question and Meilin simply nodded.
Jakob began to drag his wife into the living room and, once inside, he turned to her. Without a word, he shoved Meilin backwards; hard enough that she hit the ground with a painful smash. The raven-haired woman let a soft cry escape her throat due to the impact on her already abused body, but otherwise, remained completely silent.
Her husband bent over and grabbed the young women around her neck. Meilin allowed herself to relax as much as possible so that she didn't begin to choke. Jakob moved his face so it was mere centimeter in front of the young women's.
"You have done nothing but piss me off this week. You have been an all around pain in my ass for the past couple days. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Meilin remained silent.
"Nothing? Fine." The hitting started and the young women tried her best to keep quiet and not upset her husband more.
Jakob finally threw Meilin to the ground and the women stayed in her painful heap. She heard Jakob begin to leave and then allowed the tears to come. She hated him, she hated this, she hated herself...she hated everything about her life and hated the fact that she didn't try to get out. Why did she stay? Why didn't she run away and leave all the pain and suffering behind her?
She stayed and took the abuse, because somewhere in the depth of her mind, she felt this was the only thing she could hold on to. She was able to keep Jakob with her, unlike Li. She could take the abuse because, in her mind, it caused less damage than the thought of living by Li with Sakura or even living by herself with thoughts of Li with Sakura. She stayed because she had to because she had no one else that cared for her.
~Li said he'd help~
Meilin laughed silently at her own thought. She knew Li was just trying to make her think he would help her. There was no reason for him to try and save Meilin and she knew he was just being kind before he left.
No, she knew this was her life and would be her life for the next ten years and then next ten...
...until she died.
The raven-haired woman heard a knock at the front door and jerked her head up. Who would be visiting at this time of night? A hand flew to her mouth as she thought of the only person who knew she was here and would stop buy.
Li.
Meilin jumped quickly to her feet, forgetting about the pain in her body, and moved to an area where she could see the door.
"Is Meilin here?"
The young women strained to listen to the men's conversation.
"She's actually sleeping right now. Perhaps you could come back tomorrow."
"Um, no, I don't think I can. I need to speak with her right now."
Meilin could almost see Li pushing his way in past Jakob.
"I said she was sleeping." The raven-haired woman heard Jakob's voice raise in volume and prayed that Li would leave before things got out of control.
"And I said, I want to talk to her, now."
Meilin gasped as she found herself face to face with Li. She hadn't even heard him move in her direction.
"I thought she was sleeping." Li turned to Jakob.
The husband gritted his teeth and stared menacingly at Meilin. "So, did I."
The young woman dropped her head, but picked it up when she felt Li's hand in her hand. She looked at him questionably.
"Come home."
Meilin opened her mouth to either protest or agree, even she wasn't certain, when she saw Jakob move next to her and grab her away from Li.
"She's fine here. Aren't you, Meilin?"
The young women lifted her eyes to meet Li's and then dropped her gaze. In barely a whisper she answered Jakob, "Yes."
Jakob smiled toward Li. "There now, why don't you just leave?"
The young man stood his place. "I know what you do to her and I'm not leaving until she comes with me. It can be easy or hard; you decide."
Her husband's hold on her arm tighten drastically and Meilin could almost feel the bruising.
"What do I do to her?"
Li moved a step closer to Jakob. "You hit her, you abuse her and I'm not leaving without her."
In a flash, Meilin found herself thrown to the ground and looked up to see Jakob jump at Li. The young man was unprepared for the sudden attack and found himself trapped with the older man atop of him. Before Li had a chance to retaliate at all, the man threw his hands over Li's throat and already the younger man could see his vision fading.
The young woman watched for a long minute as the one she use to love, was slowly being strangled, and then something snapped. Meilin rolled to her feet and stood next to Jakob; she could feel anger boiling inside of her and, as it reached it peak, she kicked out with her foot. She wasn't going to let him hurt her anymore, she wasn't going to let him hurt anyone anymore, and by god, she wasn't going to let this man harm Li.
Meilin's foot made contact with Jakob's side and forced him off of Li. The young man rolled to his stomach and began to suck in as much air as possible, while the raven-haired woman stepped closer to her husband.
Jakob moved to his feet and stood to face Meilin. "You little bitch. You'll pay for that."
The older man charged at the young women, but years of training when she was younger, paid off and expertly she moved out of Jakob's way. While he moved past her, Meilin struck out with her foot and tripped Jakob. He caught his balance before falling and turned to the raven-haired women once again.
This time, though, the Meilin let off a small cry and charged at Jakob. She let loose a fury of attacks with her hands and feet, all the while, tears rolled down her face and Li could make out her mumbling 'I hate you' repeatedly.
Finally, Jakob fell to the ground, after tripping over a coffee table, and Meilin stood over him. She stared down at him with hurt, pain, anger and agony in her eyes. Before she could either hit him or kick him again, she felt Li grab her hand. She turned to him and without a word fell against him. Her knees gave way and the young man slowly lowered her to the floor.
Jakob rolled to his bottom and sat for a minute trying to sort out what had just happened. He went to stand up, but found Li standing in front of him. "Me and her trained together and I *won't* stop before I kill you. Sit down."
The older man stared at Li a moment before seeing the fire in his eyes and sitting down. The younger man turned back to Meilin and gently stroked her hair.
"It's all over now, everything is going to be just fine." Meilin raised her eyes to Li's and gave him the first smile he had seen from her.
"Thank you." The young man smiled down at her and she leaned against his chest.
~*~
"You're here,
that's all I need to know.
And you will keep me safe,
and you will keep my close.
And rain will make the flowers grow."
~*~
Li and Meilin waited for the police to come to get Jakob. The raven-haired woman told the police she would testify against him and was left with the impression, from the police, that he would be placed in jail for a good amount of time with her statement.
Finally, everyone left and the two Chinese adults were alone. Meilin took her hand out of Li's grasp and headed in the direction of her house, but stopped when the young man re-grabbed her hand.
"Come with me."
Meilin cocked her head at Li. "Where? Surely, Sakura's waiting for you and I don't want to be in the way."
The brown-haired man stepped closer and put his arm around Meilin's waist. "Sakura's gone home to Japan so that we could sort somethings out. She was the one who told me to help you." The young woman sighed at that statement; Sakura was still the sweet caring person she had been when they were younger.
Meilin turned away from her old house that held so many painful memories and looked at Li.
"Let's go home."
The Chinese couple headed towards Li's home and towards a better future.
~*~
A/N: I now the ending is left...well...un-ended O_o, but I wanted it that way. I wanted it so that people can figure out what happened to everyone in their own way. If the story is received well enough, perhaps I'll write the sequel, but if not...well then I leave it up to all of you. Also, like I said I know it's a kind of strange story and maybe people are wondering why Meilin would allow this to happen to her. Well, the way I look at it, she fights with and for Li and without him why would she continue to fight? Chances are she wouldn't and would just allow things to happen to her regardless of what those things were.
Also, I know that her emotions and anger seem to change direction a lot, but I've found that many of those who are abused find it hard to blame someone and, mostly, in the end, blame themselves. Since Meilin was such a strong personality in CCS/CC I figured she would constantly have her emotions betray the fact that she blamed herself for everything.
Additionally, I would enjoy no flames because well...who really likes flames? ^_^
Be a nice reader and REVIEW!!!
Rating: PG-13 for domestic violence and language
Author's notes: I don't want to give anything away, but this is a rather different CCS/CC fic. It deals with what happened to everyone after 10 years. Like I said, I don't want to give anything away, but be warned there is domestic violence. BTW- It has S&S and semi-MeiLi in it so you are warned. Please read the other author notes at the end to maybe explain a bit more.
This story is told through the version of the American CC, using those names and those episodes. I haven't seen any of the CCS episodes so any information that clashes with that show is out of ignorance and not done of purpose. Also, I haven't seen the CCS movie so I don't know all the facts with the Li's sisters or Li's mother, so I just went with my own idea.
~*~
A WOUNDED DOVE
By: PB (PhoenixB_82@hotmail.com)
~*~
"And I'll be waiting for you,
here inside my heart."
~*~
Meilin ran up to the trio of twelve year-olds and stepped in front of Li and Sakura. The couple held each other's hands, however when the spotted the raven-haired girl, the young boy pushed his girlfriend a little further behind him...
...as if protecting her.
"What do you want? Haven't you done enough already?" The raven-haired girl closed her eyes at the harsh words, but she knew she deserved them. After what she did yesterday, how could she expect them not to hate her?
It wasn't everyday that someone went up to Sakura Avalon and slapped the girl across the face, but that was *exactly* what Meilin had done. The young girl over-heard Sakura telling Li how much she loved him, cared for him, wanted to be with him, etc. and snapped. She knew that the two had been attracted to each other, but she had yet to hear either of them express their feelings. When she finally did, though, she couldn't take it. All her feelings of love towards Li, turned into anger at Sakura.
Before she knew what she had done, Meilin was already being shoved away by both Li and Madison, who were screaming at her. The raven-haired girl remembered looking at Sakura, who was holding her cheek, and then sprinting away.
Now, twenty-fours hours later she was here.
"I just want to..."
"We don't want to hear it, Meilin." The young Chinese girl turned towards Madison. The once so peaceful and joyous face, held a hidden anger that even Meilin could see. The gray-haired girl was protecting her friend from her. The thought made the young girl dropped her head. She never wanted anyone to hate her, but that was exactly what happened.
"No, please, I wanted to say..."
Again, she was cut off, this time by Li. "We know, we *know*! I'm supposed to be in love with you. We're destined to be together and whatnot. Well guess what, Meilin, I don't think we belong together. I don't like you and don't even want to be near you after the way you treated Sakura."
By now, the young girl wanted nothing more than to break down at the cruel words. Of course, she knew Li didn't love her, how could she not?!? She knew, the first time she saw Li look at Sakura, that he loved and cared for the Clow Mistress. But knowing and accepting were two different things. She knew, but never accepted it...
...until yesterday.
She had spent a lot of time, after running away from the group, thinking about her and Li and his love for Sakura. Over and over, thoughts buzzed through the young girl's head and they all lead to one conclusion: Li loved Sakura; not her.
After the initial shock of it all, Meilin focused on that one thought and finally, through the course of anger, denial, tears and more tears, she decided that she had to apologize and let the young couple know she was sorry and they had her blessing. Yet, even more importantly, she wanted to let them know she would stop being a pain to them and stop harassing Li.
However, by the verbal abuse she was taking now, letting them know what she had decided, was proving more difficult than originally thought.
"Just listen to me for two seconds!" Meilin felt her voice rise at least three decibels, but the group was quiet. She took a deep breath and began the speech she practiced over and over again last night.
"I was a fool to think that you ever loved me, Li. I really was. I know your heart is with Sakura and I..." The young girl looked down at her feet, hoping to hide the tears she felt coming from her eyes. "...I accept that. I accept the fact that your heart belongs to her and not me."
Meilin rubbed her hand over her eyes to dry her tears, but more came to the surface. Nonetheless, she continued:
"I called my mother last night and told her that I was going to be coming home." Tears were now running freely down Meilin's face, but she didn't bother with them. She looked up and meet Li's eyes. "I guess this is goodbye. I had mother buy a ticket and apparently Jakob from the Jin Clan has asked to be my husband. I am going home to be with him and his Clan."
Meilin stepped forward and pulled Li into a hug. At first the boy pulled away from shock, but then he didn't resist and returned the closeness. The raven-haired girl moved away from him.
"Take care of yourself and Sakura. I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused."
With that, the young girl turned away from the three young people. The raven-haired girl heard Li whisper a good-bye. But, Meilin didn't bother to turn around, and instead, continued to walk forward.
~*~
TEN YEARS LATER
~*~
"Can you help me, I'm bent?
I'm so scared that I'll never,
get put back together."
~*~
The young woman picked herself off the ground after he left. It had been fairly painless this time; he had been in good spirits. With a quick survey of the room, the raven-haired woman began to replace the furniture that had fallen to the ground. With expertise movements, acquired from experience, she put everything back in its proper place and finally straightened the mirror.
As she did so, Meilin caught sight of herself and noticed how drastically she had changed over the years.
Her once deep and insightful ruby-eyes were now a false bright blue. The contacts had been given as a birthday gift from Jakob almost seven years ago because he always hated the color red.
Her once long and flowing hair, that had become famous for its two-bun style, was now cut just above her shoulder. Jakob never liked long hair and told her to cut it short. She hadn't agreed readily, but he had convinced her.
And that was why her once almost porcelain face now held a jagged scar above her left eyebrow. A painful reminder of how much she had changed.
Yes, she had changed, and not for the better. But the changes weren't her doing; they were anothers. She shivered as she heard him banging around in their bedroom. Luckily, for her, he was only getting ready for bed and, for the remainder of the evening, Meilin would have peace.
With a long, sad sigh the twenty-two year old straightened the mirror and gave herself one last look. What had she become? The once brave, proud, unstoppable young girl was now a frightened, lonely, empty young woman. How on earth had a girl, who once fought magic, been reduced to someone who couldn't even stand up to her own husband?
She knew the answer. It was because she didn't care. She didn't care what happened to her because she lost everything in one day. Why bother to fight for yourself when, even after you fight, you have nothing? It was easier to allow things to happen, because, you can't change the past, so why mess with the future?
"MEILIN!"
The raven-haired woman cringed at her name being yelled through the house, but headed in the direction of the bellowing voice. She couldn't change her situation, so why bother?
~*~
Li stepped off the plane and could already smell the sweet China night air. He was happy to be home; it had been far too long since he had seen this place. He missed his home, he missed his mother, and he missed her.
Ten years was too long to stay angry and out-of-touch with someone. It amazed him to think that he hadn't talked to Meilin, a girl who use to be his best friend, for a decade. It also saddened him. They use to be so close and then, because he had fallen in love with Sakura, they lost touch. She went her way and he went his. His only hope was that she was happy with her life in China because he never regretted a day of his life in Japan.
Li turned around and waited for Sakura to also make her way through the crowd. He smiled to her and she gave a quick wave to let him know she was attempting to make it closer to him. He watched Sakura move through the people and finally make it next to him.
"I thought I was going to be trampled for sure!" Li only laughed and grabbed her hand.
The couple moved towards the bagged pick-up and once they had all their necessary belongings, they headed outside to grab a cab.
Sakura looked out to the city and smiled. "It really is beautiful here."
Li nodded. "You should see it in the morning with the sun rise. There's nothing else like it." The young man looked down at his girlfriend. "Well, *almost* nothing like it."
Sakura looked at him and rolled her eyes. "Always the charmer, aren't you?"
"Of course!"
The young woman chuckled at Li. She was still amazed with the how much he had changed since she first met him. He use to be such a stoic, and rude, eleven year-old, but now, he was an alive and happy twenty-two year-old, who she was lucky enough to be close to.
Since they were twelve, the two of them had been a somewhat couple until they reached fourteen. At that age, they both moved away from each other and went their separate ways in school. They remained acquaintances, yet still held some distance between them. But, everything changed when they turned seventeen. They both happened to find each other one day in high school and all the feelings somehow rushed back; they had been together ever since.
The couple often spoke of marriage, but something seemed to be holding them back from taking that last step. So, Li decided that they should go to China and met with his mother; after that they would either get married or figure something else out. Sakura agreed and was looking forward to seeing Li's parent.
The couple stepped into the cab and relaxed as they headed in the direction of the young man's home. Sakura placed her head on his shoulder and he put an arm around her. Anyone watching the couple would see two people very much in love, and on the outside, that was what they appeared to be. Yet, hidden in one of them, even hidden from themself, was a feeling for another that they kept silent, but that feeling was just waiting for the time to remove itself from the self-made prison.
And when it did, the couple would open their eyes and see things as they really were.
~*~
The cab halted in front of the small home, the couple removed themselves and paid the driver. Li's smile grew as he looked at his old home; everything looked the same as it had a decade ago. Suddenly, the front door was thrown open and the young man could see his mother standing in the way.
"Li!" The older woman began to walk towards her son, and Li moved towards her. He met her and gave his mother a large hug.
"It's wonderful to see you again." The older woman pushed her son away and examined him.
"You need to eat more; you're wasting away." The young man smirked at his mother. "And who is this?"
Li looked where his mother was looking and saw Sakura. The young woman stepped forward. "This is Sakura Avalon from Japan."
"The Card Mistress?"
The young woman blushed. "A long time ago, yes, now I'm just Sakura."
The older woman grabbed one of Sakura's hand. "You mean much to my son; he never stops talking about you. I am glad to finally meet you."
Li's face seemed to turn two shades of red, but he smiled at his mother and Sakura. "Shall we go in?"
The trio moved indoors and finally came to a small table. Li took a seat next to his mother, while Sakura sat across from the Showrons. The young man made a 'hmming' noise and looked around the home. He turned back to his mother.
"Where is Meilin? I was certain she would want to meet us."
Sakura suddenly noticed a sad and worried look cross Li's mother's face, but it quickly left. The strange reaction to the raven-haired woman's name made the young women curious and she made a note to speak to Li about it.
"Meilin is living with Jakob of the Jin Clan. I asked him to tell her, however, I cannot be certain if she received the message or not."
Li shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we can see her tomorrow."
Mrs. Showron sighed deeply, but remained silent. Sakura, however, knew something was wrong.
"What is wrong with Meilin, Mrs. Showron?"
Li's mother looked up to the auburn-haired woman. "Please call me Fion, and you, might I add, are an observant young lady, however there is nothing wrong with Meilin."
The old women smiled, but she felt awful. She had just lied to her son and his young friend. Something was terribly wrong with the little Rae woman, but it was not her place to speak of it. If her son cared for the raven-haired woman then he would find out by himself, and he would deal with it how he wanted to.
No, she was not to get involved; it was not her fight.
The three talked for close to another hour, before Li and Sakura said their good-nights and headed into the small bedroom Li had grown-up in.
Within fifteen minutes of leaving the table, the couple was in the room and attempting to fall asleep.
~*~
"If I couldn't sleep, could you sleep?
Could you paint me better off?"
~*~
Meilin rolled to the furthest point away from her husband that the small bed would allow. She pulled the covers around her neck to keep out the chill that their small house allowed in. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep.
For the first time in almost ten years, a face came to her mind. One she tried so desperately to forget, yet so desperately tried to remember in the horrid times. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. She hadn't pictured that brown-haired, amber-eyed face for so long and, yet, she just saw him as clear as day.
Meilin felt a single tear roll down her face as memories began to flood her senses. She thought of all the times her and Li laughed, and fool-around, and just stayed with each other. She felt a sob rise up in her throat and quickly rolled out of bed, as to not wake Jakob.
For the last ten years, since her marriage to Jakob, she made herself removed Li from all her thoughts and memories. Dwelling on the past would only make things worse, and yet, here she was thinking of him like she had seen him only yesterday.
The young woman grabbed a glass from her kitchen and took a long sip of water.
"What are you doing out of bed? Did I say you could get up?"
Meilin gasped as she saw Jakob standing in the doorway. "I...I didn't mean..."
"Shut up!" The raven-haired woman did so. Her husband moved closer and grabbed Meilin's upper arm. He began to drag her back to their bedroom and finally, once inside, threw her on the bed with violent force.
"Now, get in bed and *stay* in bed." To emphasize his point, Jakob bent over and slapped his wife on the cheek. Meilin didn't even feel the slap, however, because they were all too common now.
Her husband went over and turned off the light, while his wife moved into the bed. She turned away from his as he also got into bed. Within moments, she could hear his snoring.
Meilin closed her eyes and concentrated on the images of Li that swarmed her dreams while she tried to fall asleep.
~*~
The raven-haired woman awoke to the sun shining in her eyes. She sighed and rolled out of her side of the bed. She knew that, thankfully, her husband was off at work and wouldn't be home till later that evening. Meilin quickly showered and grabbed her soft Chinese dress; the simple dress of pink and yellow was her most prized possession. She bought it by saving money from groceries and her husband didn't even know of it. He would be angry with her if he knew, thus the reason she only wore it on certain days.
Meilin made her way out to the kitchen and saw the grocery list Jakob had compiled for her. She sighed again as she read over the note telling her what she had to do for the day. A list of cleaning and chores was always left for her and she always completed them for fear of what would happen if she didn't.
The raven-haired woman grabbed her small purse and the money left for her and then headed into town. She enjoyed shopping days because it allowed her to get out of the house. The only downside was when she ran into someone she knew or had known. Making up reasons and excuses for her appearance and lack of socialism was a bother, but she did it with a smile and shrugged off any concern.
The young woman walked down the street and found the small vendors that held all the food she would need. Meilin began to browse slowly, soaking in everything around her. She walked to a cart and began to look at the fruits when she had strangest feeling of deja-vu. The young woman lifted her head and looked around the street, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. With a shrug she turned back to the fruit in front of her.
~*~
"And when my smile gets old and faded,
wait around I'll smile again."
~*~
Li sighed as he made his way down the busy streets of Hong Kong. His mother had sent him out to pick-up a few groceries for dinner and he decided to get it done in the morning so that he and Sakura could sight-see later. He ad just made his way back from a small fruit cart when he caught a glimpse of a woman with her black-hair up into two buns; he knew that style anywhere.
"Meilin!"
The young man rushed up to the woman but backed down when he saw her turn around. Li found himself looking into the face of a very angry older woman. The young man smiled and bowed and then quickly turned and walked the other way. He made it a few feet before he ran into another a woman, who wasn't watching where she was going either. The two crashed and Li saw the woman drop her small bag of fruit.
"I'm so sorry!" The young man offered a hand to the woman and she gladly took it.
"It's all right, I wasn't watching where I was going either." The woman looked up to Li and her smile faded.
The young man looked at her curiously and analyzed her features. There was something almost familiar about this woman, but he couldn't place her. The bright blue eyes and short hair just didn't seem completely correct.
"I...um...I better...be um..." Meilin attempted to make a coherent statement, but found words not forming successfully. She knew she had to get away from this man, who she instantly recognized as Li. She didn't want to deal with him right now and didn't want him to see her. She was ashamed of who she was and never wanted to let this young man know what she had become.
"Are you all right? You seem familiar." Li continued to stare at the young woman, who appeared to be growing more and more nervous by the second.
"I'm fine, Li." Meilin took a sharp intake of breath and threw her hand over her mouth. Li was now staring at her intently and, as much as she wanted to remove her eyes from his, she found she couldn't. The two stared at each other long and hard. One trying to keep their identity hidden and the other trying to figure out where he knew this stranger from.
"How do you know my name?"
Meilin shrugged. "Li's a very common name here. Just slipped." The young woman prayed Li would let the name-thing go, but he didn't.
"I know you from somewhere, don't I?"
The raven-haired woman shrugged again. "Do you shop here often?" As much as she tried to be causal, it wasn't working and Meilin could feel her hands shaking. She needed to get away from him now.
Li watched as the young woman began to nervously twirled one of her short strands of hair around her finger. She bit her lip and began to tap her foot. As if these strange movements had sparked a fire, the young man saw who was standing in front of him.
"Oh my god, Meilin?!?" The young woman cringed as she heard her name. "Oh my god..." Li repeated.
The young man looked over his one-time best friend again. She had changed...terribly. He saw her once beautifully long and prided hair was chopped short. Her ruby-eyes that once held so much depth and wonderment were now shallow, empty blue eyes. But the biggest change, Li saw, was her whole demeanor. The young girl he once knew would have thrown herself on him when she recognized him. Yet, *this* young lady attempted to hide her identity and she spoke in a soft, scared voice that shook with each word.
Something was very wrong with her and Li already knew it.
"I...I...um..." Meilin bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "So...um...why are you here?"
It broke Li's heart to her this young woman speak with such fear in her voice. All the confidence she once had was long gone.
"I'm visiting my family. How have you been?"
Meilin swallowed hard. The only person she could ever tell anything to was Li and she wanted nothing more than to spill all the horrible facts of her marriage and what it did to her. But she couldn't. Something was holding her back and she couldn't get anything past her lips.
"I have to go."
The young woman turned away and began to weave her way through the crowds. Li attempted to follow, but found it useless. Meilin was smaller and more agile and was quickly hidden from his sight. The young man stood for a long time in the middle of the crowds trying to put the pieces together and trying to figure out what on earth had just happened.
Finally, he moved out of the groups and headed in the direction of his home. He needed to speak with his mother and find out everything she knew of Meilin and what had happened to her.
~*~
The young woman, once out of people's way, began to sob and run in the direction of her home. She ran to her house and finally tore open the door and fell to her couch; Meilin cried into the cushions. She cried over what she lost when she left Japan. She cried because she felt trapped and she hated it. She hated Jakob and hated herself even more for staying with him. And now, because of seeing Li, she felt anger that she hadn't felt for years begin to rise inside her. She hated him for some reason, because as stupid as it sounded, she blamed him for everything that had happened to her. At the same time though, she blamed herself.
She wanted to get out of her life and her home, yet, for some reason, she couldn't leave. Today she could have told Li all about Jakob and he would have taken her home, but she couldn't.
She was ashamed that she ever let a man control her as her husband did. Meilin didn't want anyone, especially Li, to know what she had become. She knew that everyone would think she was a weak, pathetic person if they knew where she was stuck and she couldn't deal with that.
Meilin finally gained control of her sobbing and looking around her house. She still had cleaning to do and had lost precious time with Li. Going to her feet, the young women began her hours of chores.
~*~
Li walked into his house and was pleasantly surprise to see his mother and Sakura enjoying tea while speaking at the table. The young women looked up at Li and smiled.
"How was shopping?" She looked at him and noticed he was empty-handed. "What happened?"
The young man moved to the table and sat next to Sakura. He grabbed her hand and then faced his mother. "I saw Meilin today."
Fion frowned. "Then you saw what happened?"
"Yes. But *what* did happened?"
Li's mother sighed and took a sip of her tea. "I really have no right to tell you this." She looked at her son and then at Sakura. "And because it is not my right; I cannot."
The young man moved to his feet. "Mother, how can you do that? She's different and something's terrible wrong."
Sakura, who had remained silent, now gently pulled the young man back into his seat. "Li, if she won't tell us, there *is* a reason for it."
Fion smiled at Sakura. "Thank you."
Li, however, did not smile. "You didn't see her, and if you did you'd feel the same way I do. There is something not right about any of this. What I saw today was *not* Meilin."
Mrs. Showron sighed again. "I cannot tell you anything because, even I, do not know all that has happened. However, I will give you her and Jakob's address. Perhaps if you and Sakura went to her, you could get Meilin to open up." Fion wrote down and address and handed it to Li. "Please see if you can't help."
The young man grabbed the piece of paper and Sakura's hand. He looked at his mother and nodded at her directions.
The two young people headed out of the home towards the address given.
~*~
"When's it gonna end?
When we gonna live?
Something's got to happen now
or something's got to give."
~*~
Li held Sakura's hand tightly as they walked through the streets of China. The young women kept giving her boyfriend odd glances as he marched forward. Finally, she planted her feet making Li stop.
"What is it?"
Sakura sighed. "Why are you in such a rush to get to Meilin?" Her voice held no annoyance, just curiosity.
Li looked at Sakura and gave her a small peck on the cheek. "There's something wrong with her and I know she needs help." He moved forward again. "You'll see what I mean when we get there."
The couple walked a bit longer before they came to a stop in front of a small home. The house was petite and very well taken care of. A lush green garden covered a small area and in the corner sat a beautiful willow tree. The house itself was a lovely light yellow with blue trimmings. Sakura and Li shared a look before going to the front door.
Li knocked and within seconds a man answered the door. "Yes?"
The young man swallowed and threw out his hand. "I'm Li Showron and I believe you're Jakob."
Jakob smiled. "Li? Meilin's old friend?" The young man nodded. "Well, what a wonderful surprise! Please come in."
Li and Sakura entered and Jakob offered them a seat. Sakura looked at the slightly older man; he appeared nice enough. He was a bit taller than Li and looked to be about thirty. He had gray eyes with light brown hair, however there was something wrong with him. For some reason Sakura felt uncomfortable around him and almost fearful of him.
"So, who is this lovely lady?" Li looked at Sakura and smiled.
"This is my girlfriend, Sakura Avalon." Jakob extended a hand and Sakura offered hers.
The man smiled at the couple and both felt the need to twiddle their hands. Finally, Jakob spoke:
"Well, let me get Meilin." He let off a small chuckle. "She's probably cooking dinner. I swear I tell her to take a break and she just doesn't want to."
Jakob left the couple and went to find his wife. He found the raven-hair woman in the kitchen washing dishes. Jakob went behind her and placed his hand over her mouth; he leaned in and whispered in her ear.
"Your Li's here and I am not happy. Believe me, I. Am. Not. Happy." Meilin shuddered as she fully understood that threat. "Now, come out here and be bright and cheerful." He let go of her and she removed the apron she was wearing.
The raven-haired woman went next to Jakob and moved out of the kitchen with a fake smile on her face. As soon as she saw Li, Meilin wanted to run the other way, especially when she saw Sakura with him. But, she knew, Jakob would practically kill her if she acted funny.
Meilin placed her hands in front of her and allowed Jakob to place his arms over her shoulder with out shuddering.
"And here's the little busy-body. I told them that you really work too hard."
The raven-haired women smiled. "Oh, I just keep myself busy."
Li and Sakura exchanged another glance and the young women squeezed the young man's hand tighter. She now understood what Li meant; something was wrong with Meilin.
Both couples talked for nearly an hour over the old times and what they had been up to. The whole time, Jakob and Meilin acted like any other loving couple and never let on about their secret. Li and Sakura, however, could sense something was terribly wrong, yet they couldn't exactly place their finger on what really the problem was.
Finally, Li and Sakura noticed the time and began to get ready to leave.
"It was wonderful to meet you Jakob and I hope to see you again." The two men shook hands.
"Like-wise, and any friend of Meilin, is a friend of mine." Sakura smiled at him, but said nothing.
The couple left the home and headed to theirs. Once the door was shut, the raven-haired woman stepped back from her husband.
"Why did you talk to him?" Jakob moved closer to Meilin. "I *told* you not to have anything to do with anyone, but for some reason you decide *not* to listen." Her husband moved menacingly closer. "I'm going to have to get that through you thick head." Jakob still moved on Meilin and the young woman continue to back away until she ran into a wall and was trapped.
Trapped and with no way to escape her nightmare.
~*~
"I believe you don't know what you've got
until you say goodbye."
~*~
Li and Sakura made their entire way home in silence. The young women now knew why Li was so concerned over Meilin. There was something terribly wrong and the young woman had a strong feeling it had something to do with Jakob. The couple reached Li's home and went straight to their bedroom.
Li flopped down on the bed while Sakura got ready in the bathroom. He couldn't get Meilin out of his head for some bizarre reason. Since, he had seen her in the marketplace, the raven-haired women was a constant picture in his mind. At first, he figured he was just concerned with her well-being, but now...he wasn't sure *why* he kept thinking of her.
Sakura exited the bathroom and sat down next to Li. She placed her hands on his shoulder. "You're worried about her, aren't you?"
The young man leaned slightly back against her body. "You saw her, she's not the same, and I can't figure out why."
The young woman placed her chin on Li's shoulder. "I think that it may be something with Jakob."
He looked at Sakura. "What do you mean?"
She shrugged. "There's just something *wrong* about him. I can't place it exactly, but there's something about him that I don't like. He seemed nice enough, sure, but he just creeps me out."
Li nodded. "Perhaps." He fell back on the bed and Sakura fell next to him. The couple moved closer and soon, even though he never changed, Li fell asleep with Sakura.
The young woman, though, did not find rest that easily. She looked at Li and smiled down at him. She cared for him like she had never cared for anyone else, but she could feel herself moving away from him. The love she felt for him was slowly fading and she now knew why she had been so resistant about marriage.
Somehow, she had always known that her and Li would never be together forever. There's was always something holding her back and now, after seeing how Li was acting over Meilin, she knew what that something was.
That something was the fact that Li still cared deeply for Meilin.
~*~
"I'm all out of faith,
this is how I feel.
I'm cold and I'm ashamed,
bound and broken on the floor."
~*~
Meilin heard Jakob leave the house and finally made her way out of the bed. She gritted her teeth as pain pulsed through out her body. With slow movements, the young woman made her way into the bathroom, she started the water and undressed herself to get ready for her warm bath.
She looked at the full length mirror behind the door and examined the injuries. Meilin groaned as she looked her battered body over.
Covering her back were black and blue blotches, which made their way to her shoulders. Her neck had deep, dark finger prints, that, luckily, could be hidden by a high necked shirt. Her face was left, remarkably, untouched save for a dark bruise on her cheek.
Meilin slowly lowered herself into the bath and sighed contentedly as the warm water soothed her bruises. Closing her eyes, the young women let herself go.
~*~
The young man bided Sakura and his mother a farewell as he headed back towards Meilin's house. Sakura sighed as she watched him leave and felt Fion place a hand on her shoulder.
"Let us talk."
The two women headed indoors while Li walked further away.
The young man finally came to the small home and knocked on the door. He waited and waited until the door finally opened a crack. He saw a small pair of blue eyes looking at him for a silent minute before the door opened further.
"Li." Meilin moved out of the door's way and placed her head down. "Please come in."
The young man moved past the raven-haired women and entered the small home. He stood in the middle of the house and watched as Meilin nervously avoided his eyes and kept her head down with a hand placed on her cheek.
"Would you like anything to drink or eat?"
Li shook his head. "No, thank you. Why don't we have a seat?" Meilin sighed and moved to her couch while Li took a chair.
The young woman bit her lip. "Why are you here?"
The young man watched Meilin carefully. "I just wanted to see you. I haven't seen you in well over ten years. So, how are things with Jakob?"
The raven-haired woman cringed slightly and unconsciously rubbed her cheek. Li looked at her strangely, but left it alone.
"Things are fine." Her voice was barely above a whisper and the young man knew things were anything, *but* fine.
"No, they aren't, Meilin." The young woman looked at Li in surprise, forgetting about the bruise on her face. The young man gasped in shock and leaned closer to the young women. "What happened?"
Meilin knew what he was talking about, but tried to cover up. "What are you talking about?"
"That." Li pointed to the bruise on her cheek.
The raven-haired woman shrugged. "Jakob runs a martial arts class and we fight at night just to keep in shape. It so happens that I failed to block a blow." The lie came out easier than Meilin suspected.
The young man raised an eyebrow at her, but remained silent. Suddenly, she rose to her feet and moved towards the door.
"You should go."
Li moved to his feet and headed towards the door. "I just want to talk with you."
Tears made their way to Meilin's eyes and she felt one run down her cheek. "I don't want to talk you with, though. Go, please."
The young man stopped in front of the raven-haired women and looked at her closely. "What's wrong?" The young man grabbed one of Meilin's shoulders to make her look at him.
The young woman's head jerked up and Li could see a deep rooted fear in her eyes. He quickly pulled his hand off of her and Meilin took a step back while staring at him with wide eyes. As if a light bulb had gone off in the man's head, he saw what was wrong with Meilin.
"Oh my god, he does this to you." Li stepped back from Meilin surveying her.
The young woman dropped her eyes to the floor. "Get out." Her voice cracked as she felt defeat creeping up.
"I'm not leaving till you tell me what's happening."
All the fear that the young women had felt for the last ten years faded away and was replaced by that anger. That anger she felt last night; that anger she hadn't felt towards anyone in the longest time crept up inside her and she could feel it pulsing in her body. Meilin jerked her head and looked at Li straight in the eyes.
"*You* want to know what's happened? Fine! What happened was I was forced to move back home because I gave up on you and gave you to Sakura. I was forced to marry a man I hate because of my mother since I left you in Japan." The young girl moved closer to Li. "While you live with Sakura, I live in hell. Yes, he hits me. Are you happy now that you know?!? Does it make you feel better? Proud, perhaps? What, Li? Tell me how that makes you feel!?!
"I don't stop him because I don't care. I. Don't. Care! What is there in my life worth caring for? I lost everything I ever had when I moved here. I hate it here, I him him, I hate myself, but I hate *you* the most." Out of all the things Meilin could have said, Li was completely unprepared for this.
"Why do you hate me?"
The young women laughed cynically. "Why? WHY?!? I have been living in this hell because of you. Because of YOU, Li! You pushed me away and forced me to move here." Meilin was now standing right in front of Li. "This is your fault!" She threw out with her right hand and made contact with Li's chest. The physical blow to the young man made the young woman feel almost in power and control. She continued to strike his chest while tears streamed down her face.
Finally, in mid-strike, Meilin stopped. She looked up at Li's face and threw a hand over her mouth. She looked at Li in both shame and fear before turning around and running to her room. The young man stood, trying to make sense of all that had just happened. Finally, he moved in the direction of Meilin's room.
He looked into the small bedroom and saw the young woman sitting on a bed. He moved in and stood next to her.
"I'm *so* sorry, Li. I didn't mean any of that. I...I'm sorry."
The young man sat next to his friend and placed his arm gently over her shoulder. She cringed at first, but then fell into the embrace.
"It's okay. Really. I'm sorry for everything that has happened, but I promise things will get better."
Meilin looked at Li and sighed. "No, they won't. They never have and never will." The young woman rose up from the bed. "Don't bother, anyways. You're happy with Sakura and that's all that matters. I moved here for your happiness and I'm glad to see it was the right move."
The young woman ran her hand through her hair and sighed. She opened her mouth to speak when the sound of a car door opening caught her attention. "He's home, you have to leave, now!" Meilin began to push Li in the direction of the window. "Go."
The young man stepped out the window and looked back at the young women. "I'll help you."
Meilin shook her head. "Don't bother." With that she slammed the window shut just as she heard Jakob open the front door and yell for her.
~*~
"And I'm glad I didn't know,
the way it all would end,
the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance.
I could of missed the pain,
but, I would have missed the dance."
~*~
Li slowly entered the home and walked into the kitchen. With a sad and worried sigh, he took a seat at the table. The young man saw Sakura place a drink in front of him. He looked at her. "Thank you."
The young woman smiled and resumed helping with the food. The two women finished the meal and took a seat with Li at the table. A plate of food was placed in front of each of them and they began to eat their meal in silence.
Sakura, though, took a deep breath and put her fork down. She looked over at the young man. "I'm going back to Japan."
Li coughed on his drink and looked at Sakura. "Now?"
The young woman nodded. "I have my ticket already and I'm leaving very soon."
The young man placed his fork down and looked at Sakura. "Why?" The simple question made the young woman sigh.
"I've realized, since coming here, that you harbor feelings for Meilin. I can't say if these feelings are of love, friendship, or simple protectiveness, but whatever they are for they're still there and strong. I've talked with your mother and this is what I've decided." Sakura took Li's hand. "I still care for you deeply, but even you can't tell me that you want to marry me. There's something missing and we both know it.
"That's the real reason why we came here. You had some kind of pull making you come here and I think we both know what that pull was. Somehow you needed to be by or with Meilin. I respect that, and I want you to be with her. Maybe," she rose to her feet and grabbed the small suitcase, Li just now noticed, "you will one day come home and we will be together, but right now the best thing is for you to be with her and me to go home."
Li rose to his feet and Sakura moved closer to him. "I care deeply for you and won't forget you. You have been one of the best things to happen to me and I am eternally grateful for all you have given me." She lean in a placed a soft kiss to the young man's lips. "Please take care of yourself and her."
Sakura moved away from Li and she hugged his mother and thanked her. Sakura moved out of the small house and went into the cab that was waiting for her. The young man went to the kitchen window and watched as the young women left his home. He turned back towards his mother who gave him a small smile.
"She came down here already knowing. She and I talked, while you were out, about things and she felt, in her heart, this was the right thing to do. She has given you a chance to start again and save another. Take her gift and handle it with care. She has given up much for you and do not take that in vain." His mother turned away from her son and headed to her bedroom.
Li stood for a long moment in the kitchen trying to figure out what had just happened. He suddenly began to smile and felt his heart beat faster. Sakura gave him a chance of a lifetime and he would do what she asked him to.
He would help Meilin.
~*~
"Once there was a darkness,
a deep and endless night.
You gave me everything you had,
oh, you gave me light."
~*~
The young women sat nervously across from her husband as they ate dinner. She thanked some supernatural force that he hadn't seen Li in their home, because if he had...she shuddered to think of what could have happened to her or even Li. Meilin reached out for her glass of water, but her thoughts were grabbing her attention, so she failed to hold the glass upright. In slow motion, or so it seemed to the young women, the glass fell from her grasp and spattered on the table. She gasped in shock, and surprise, as the liquid seeped into the table. The table, which happened to be a prized possession of Jakob.
Meilin jumped to her feet, and before her husband could even get to his feet, she had a towel and was wiping up the mess. The raven-haired women felt her hands tremble as Jakob moved away from the table and slowly made his way next to her. Meilin closed her eyes, fully knowing and dreading what was to come.
Her husband reached out with his hand and grabbed a handful of the young woman's hair. He jerked her head backwards so she was looking him in the eyes.
"You stupid, stupid bitch. Damn it! You are the most worthless piece of trash I have ever known!" Her husband released Meilin's hair and the raven-haired women stood straight. Her husband grabbed her upper arm in a vice-like grip.
"Please don't..."
Surprise crossed Jakob's features. Never once, in the ten years they had been together, had Meilin ever said anything in the way of 'stop' or 'don't' whenever Jakob hit her. She never begged or fought back, but just went with it. Now, the older man, could feel fury building in him; how dare this piece of trash even ask for sympathy?
"Don't you ever say anything back to me again. Am I clear?!?" A slap emphasized the screaming question and Meilin simply nodded.
Jakob began to drag his wife into the living room and, once inside, he turned to her. Without a word, he shoved Meilin backwards; hard enough that she hit the ground with a painful smash. The raven-haired woman let a soft cry escape her throat due to the impact on her already abused body, but otherwise, remained completely silent.
Her husband bent over and grabbed the young women around her neck. Meilin allowed herself to relax as much as possible so that she didn't begin to choke. Jakob moved his face so it was mere centimeter in front of the young women's.
"You have done nothing but piss me off this week. You have been an all around pain in my ass for the past couple days. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Meilin remained silent.
"Nothing? Fine." The hitting started and the young women tried her best to keep quiet and not upset her husband more.
Jakob finally threw Meilin to the ground and the women stayed in her painful heap. She heard Jakob begin to leave and then allowed the tears to come. She hated him, she hated this, she hated herself...she hated everything about her life and hated the fact that she didn't try to get out. Why did she stay? Why didn't she run away and leave all the pain and suffering behind her?
She stayed and took the abuse, because somewhere in the depth of her mind, she felt this was the only thing she could hold on to. She was able to keep Jakob with her, unlike Li. She could take the abuse because, in her mind, it caused less damage than the thought of living by Li with Sakura or even living by herself with thoughts of Li with Sakura. She stayed because she had to because she had no one else that cared for her.
~Li said he'd help~
Meilin laughed silently at her own thought. She knew Li was just trying to make her think he would help her. There was no reason for him to try and save Meilin and she knew he was just being kind before he left.
No, she knew this was her life and would be her life for the next ten years and then next ten...
...until she died.
The raven-haired woman heard a knock at the front door and jerked her head up. Who would be visiting at this time of night? A hand flew to her mouth as she thought of the only person who knew she was here and would stop buy.
Li.
Meilin jumped quickly to her feet, forgetting about the pain in her body, and moved to an area where she could see the door.
"Is Meilin here?"
The young women strained to listen to the men's conversation.
"She's actually sleeping right now. Perhaps you could come back tomorrow."
"Um, no, I don't think I can. I need to speak with her right now."
Meilin could almost see Li pushing his way in past Jakob.
"I said she was sleeping." The raven-haired woman heard Jakob's voice raise in volume and prayed that Li would leave before things got out of control.
"And I said, I want to talk to her, now."
Meilin gasped as she found herself face to face with Li. She hadn't even heard him move in her direction.
"I thought she was sleeping." Li turned to Jakob.
The husband gritted his teeth and stared menacingly at Meilin. "So, did I."
The young woman dropped her head, but picked it up when she felt Li's hand in her hand. She looked at him questionably.
"Come home."
Meilin opened her mouth to either protest or agree, even she wasn't certain, when she saw Jakob move next to her and grab her away from Li.
"She's fine here. Aren't you, Meilin?"
The young women lifted her eyes to meet Li's and then dropped her gaze. In barely a whisper she answered Jakob, "Yes."
Jakob smiled toward Li. "There now, why don't you just leave?"
The young man stood his place. "I know what you do to her and I'm not leaving until she comes with me. It can be easy or hard; you decide."
Her husband's hold on her arm tighten drastically and Meilin could almost feel the bruising.
"What do I do to her?"
Li moved a step closer to Jakob. "You hit her, you abuse her and I'm not leaving without her."
In a flash, Meilin found herself thrown to the ground and looked up to see Jakob jump at Li. The young man was unprepared for the sudden attack and found himself trapped with the older man atop of him. Before Li had a chance to retaliate at all, the man threw his hands over Li's throat and already the younger man could see his vision fading.
The young woman watched for a long minute as the one she use to love, was slowly being strangled, and then something snapped. Meilin rolled to her feet and stood next to Jakob; she could feel anger boiling inside of her and, as it reached it peak, she kicked out with her foot. She wasn't going to let him hurt her anymore, she wasn't going to let him hurt anyone anymore, and by god, she wasn't going to let this man harm Li.
Meilin's foot made contact with Jakob's side and forced him off of Li. The young man rolled to his stomach and began to suck in as much air as possible, while the raven-haired woman stepped closer to her husband.
Jakob moved to his feet and stood to face Meilin. "You little bitch. You'll pay for that."
The older man charged at the young women, but years of training when she was younger, paid off and expertly she moved out of Jakob's way. While he moved past her, Meilin struck out with her foot and tripped Jakob. He caught his balance before falling and turned to the raven-haired women once again.
This time, though, the Meilin let off a small cry and charged at Jakob. She let loose a fury of attacks with her hands and feet, all the while, tears rolled down her face and Li could make out her mumbling 'I hate you' repeatedly.
Finally, Jakob fell to the ground, after tripping over a coffee table, and Meilin stood over him. She stared down at him with hurt, pain, anger and agony in her eyes. Before she could either hit him or kick him again, she felt Li grab her hand. She turned to him and without a word fell against him. Her knees gave way and the young man slowly lowered her to the floor.
Jakob rolled to his bottom and sat for a minute trying to sort out what had just happened. He went to stand up, but found Li standing in front of him. "Me and her trained together and I *won't* stop before I kill you. Sit down."
The older man stared at Li a moment before seeing the fire in his eyes and sitting down. The younger man turned back to Meilin and gently stroked her hair.
"It's all over now, everything is going to be just fine." Meilin raised her eyes to Li's and gave him the first smile he had seen from her.
"Thank you." The young man smiled down at her and she leaned against his chest.
~*~
"You're here,
that's all I need to know.
And you will keep me safe,
and you will keep my close.
And rain will make the flowers grow."
~*~
Li and Meilin waited for the police to come to get Jakob. The raven-haired woman told the police she would testify against him and was left with the impression, from the police, that he would be placed in jail for a good amount of time with her statement.
Finally, everyone left and the two Chinese adults were alone. Meilin took her hand out of Li's grasp and headed in the direction of her house, but stopped when the young man re-grabbed her hand.
"Come with me."
Meilin cocked her head at Li. "Where? Surely, Sakura's waiting for you and I don't want to be in the way."
The brown-haired man stepped closer and put his arm around Meilin's waist. "Sakura's gone home to Japan so that we could sort somethings out. She was the one who told me to help you." The young woman sighed at that statement; Sakura was still the sweet caring person she had been when they were younger.
Meilin turned away from her old house that held so many painful memories and looked at Li.
"Let's go home."
The Chinese couple headed towards Li's home and towards a better future.
~*~
A/N: I now the ending is left...well...un-ended O_o, but I wanted it that way. I wanted it so that people can figure out what happened to everyone in their own way. If the story is received well enough, perhaps I'll write the sequel, but if not...well then I leave it up to all of you. Also, like I said I know it's a kind of strange story and maybe people are wondering why Meilin would allow this to happen to her. Well, the way I look at it, she fights with and for Li and without him why would she continue to fight? Chances are she wouldn't and would just allow things to happen to her regardless of what those things were.
Also, I know that her emotions and anger seem to change direction a lot, but I've found that many of those who are abused find it hard to blame someone and, mostly, in the end, blame themselves. Since Meilin was such a strong personality in CCS/CC I figured she would constantly have her emotions betray the fact that she blamed herself for everything.
Additionally, I would enjoy no flames because well...who really likes flames? ^_^
Be a nice reader and REVIEW!!!