Disclaimer: None of the characters, stories or movies mentioned belong to me. I do not own CCS; The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura; Kaitou St. Tail; You've Got Mail; The House of the Flying Daggers; Gakuen Babysitters; Sleepless in Seattle; Orange; Rurouni Kenshin; and Gattaca. I wish I did though.
Enjoy :)
A few days before March 25
Tanaka household
Tanaka Miho looked at her physics' homework for the umpteenth time. She really didn't want to ask her brother for help but she really couldn't understand what the instructions were. She got up and went to her brother's room without knocking. Her book fell when she saw him and the disaster he had in his room.
"Onii-chan," Miho said staring at her brother, "what are you doing?"
"Miho-hime!" he said a little bit startled. He looked down at his computer screen and then back at Miho. "I'm thinking what I will be doing for my dear Mei-chan's birthday."
She raised an eyebrow and had to hold the urge to laugh at him. "How does looking at a hair tutorial have to do with that?"
"It's not about the hair tutorial as it is about the hairdryer," he said defensively. Although he believed that both he and Meilin had wonderful hair he couldn't help but wonder if the new hairdryer, with all its new features, could make his hair even more amazing. He shuddered thinking that maybe he was getting a little too vain. Maybe Chang Eron was rubbing off on him. Maybe he could convince Meilin to let him dry her hair.
Miho guffawed and said, "'Nii-chan, I'm not sure if the tutorial is for your own vain self or if you only really think of Meilin-senpai's hair. There are other things to get her you know. You better make her birthday the best one of them all."
Kai waved his hand dismissively, "Of course; only the best. Anyway, I think I have everything planned for her birthday. It will be amazing."
Miho giggled. "Of course, if my birthday last year is any indication of that. Though it may be a little too on the extra side. I don't think Meilin-senpai wants something too over-the-top."
"She will love it. Miho, wait till you see what I have planned for your birthday this year."
She sweatdropped.
March 25
Li apartment
After getting all the necessary hours for her beauty sleep, Meilin woke up and before she could even process what was going on, she saw a figure in her room.
"What the –" she grabbed her nightstand lamp and was about to throw it when none other than Mizuki Kai hugged her.
"Happy birthday my Mei-chan!" he said while she pushed him away and brought the blankets closer to her body. He had to be kidding her.
And although she had to admit she was used to this, Meilin still said, "You creep! Why were you in my room when I was sleeping?!"
He just blinked like that he had no idea what she was implying. "I wanted to be the first one to congratulate you."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "And you couldn't wait or have called? Like a normal human being."
He smiled wolfishly and plopped down to her bed. She groaned. She was slightly unsure on why she liked the fact that he had come to wish her a happy birthday but at the same thing berated herself for feeling that way. She gave Kai an overall look and crossed her arms when she saw that he was empty handed.
Meilin raised her hands to his face and Kai looked at her in surprise. What was she going to do? Thinking she might kiss his forehead like she had during his birthday, he was slightly disappointed when she grabbed his sunglasses. Then she looked into his periwinkle eyes and said, "Kai."
He smiled, trying to get his glasses back but failing. "What is it Meilin?"
She put them on and crossed her arms. "Where's my gift?"
"What do you mean?" he blinked but smiled nonetheless, grabbing a loose strand of hair in his fingers.
She frowned and pulled her strand back. "You give me drama about not having a gift for your birthday, which I did, but you either don't have one or you do have one and are simply making me upset because you enjoy it. You shouldn't be annoying me on my birthday. Remember that you already started off the wrong foot."
"You make me seem worse than what I am, but yes, I do have your gift." He got up and walked towards the door.
She clapped her hands together and prayed to herself, Please let it not be another microchipped bracelet.
"But you have to get ready for us to have fun."
She sighed. He really was going to have his way. Well, she could have hers too.
Li apartment living room
"Kai, what are you doing here?" Li Syaoran asked as he finished wrapping his gift for Meilin.
"Why ask the obvious?" Kai yawned and wrapped an arm around Syaoran's shoulders. "Syaoran, make me breakfast."
Syaoran scowled. "Go get your own." Then he saw Meilin and wished her a happy birthday. He handed his gift, and she squealed and hug him. "Syaoran, thank you!"
She opened it and gasped. "It's the new hairdryer that I wanted! My hair will dry faster now."
Kai looked at Syaoran and mouthed, How could you?
Syaoran shrugged and before Kai could say anything Meilin said, "Let's have breakfast."
Once breakfast was over, Kai calmed down and thought about the rest of his plan.
"Meilin, I don't mind if you spend the whole day in pjs because you look wonderful not matter what you wear, but your first gift is in my apartment," Kai said glancing at her.
With a deadpan expression she looked at him. She was about to say something snappy, but she titled her head and said, "Okay." Maybe if she went to his apartment she could set her plan in motion. She didn't know if she should shudder over the fact that her sneakiness had grown ever since knowing Kai. It did come useful in times of need though.
She changed and followed him to his apartment. Once in, he motioned for her to get comfortable while he arranged his huge flat screen tv. While he was distracted she looked around. And then she found it.
Bingo
"Aha! I got it!" Kai exclaimed. He grabbed her arm and they both plopped down. The movie started playing and Meilin looked confused.
"We're watching a movie?" she asked.
"Not just any movie," he said excited. "It's the one you wanted to watch."
"Which one?"
"The crazy one – the one about the thief and the police guy who exchange letters but go to the same school. They don't know each other's true identity but they are part of the school babysitters' club. It's the one you kept saying you wanted to watch."
She blinked. "Oh, that one? I already saw it with Sakura, Tomoyo, and Miho."
His jawed opened. "What?"
Meilin nodded and clasped her hands. "It was so cute and romantic with a tinge of bittersweetness. I'm so happy the couple had a happy ending." She wiped the tears off her face.
"But, but, but," he stammered. "We were supposed to watch it together." He didn't want to let her know how hard it was to find that movie online.
"Says who?"
He hung his head. Part one of his plan had failed.
Feeling slightly guilty, Meilin patted his shoulder, she would have gone for his hair but it was too spiky, and said, "We could watch the other one. I'm really excited for that one."
He raised his head. "Which one?"
"The one I showed you the trailer for the other day. The one about the widower and his son who participate in a radio talk show and this woman hears his story, after receiving a letter from herself ten years into the future. She has to save him, but the man thinks he's not worthy of love because of his reputation as a killer years ago. And the man wants things to be different for his son, who has a dream of becoming an astronaut but can't because he's not genetically engineered."
He perked up, went to his computer and said, "I'll find it."
She put her arms around his and said, "No. Let's go out and watch it in the movie theater."
He was about to protest when she gave him a look. Kai gave her a motorcycle helmet and said, "Let's go."
After the movie
"Kai, I'm hungry."
"Great because I – "
"Everyone is meeting up at La Seine. Let's not be late."
He mentally crossed out part two of his plan. What he didn't know was that before going to watch the movie, Meilin had texted all her friends.
Maybe part three of his plan would work out.
Later that day
Kai couldn't believe it; sure, he always wanted people to believe that he was an impromptu and nonlinear person, but Kai was anything but that. He calculated every move, every word, every little thing. Yes, for many things he was simpleminded, but he didn't want people to believe that, which is why he came up with an elaborate plan for Meilin's birthday. What confused him was that he found it hard to believe that everything that he had planned for Meilin's birthday was going the opposite of how he wanted it to go.
He had planned for them to watch the movie that she had mentioned one day, something about a love story that seemed to blend Kaitou St. Tail, The House of the Flying Daggers, and You've got Mail meets Gakuen Babysitters. He wasn't sure how it all blended together, or what kind of movie it was, but she had seemed really excited to watch it. He had already downloaded the movie to watch it in his huge flat screen tv. He then had thought of taking her to the restaurant they had eaten for the first time, just the two of them, and have had her favorite artist sing "Happy Birthday" to her. And that would have been followed by him presenting Meilin with first class airplane tickets to France and then another set of tickets to a cruise. After that he would give her a brand new hairdryer, a new hair ornament and a new bracelet.
But somehow Meilin had already seen the movie. And she had somehow managed to convince him to go to the movies and watch another one that seemed even more confusing that the first one because it blended Sleepless in Seattle, Orange, Rurouni Kenshin, and Gattaca. Despite Kai not knowing how the movie managed to blend all the things together, he found himself with tears in his eyes – not that he would admit it – and telling himself that he would buy the movie once it came out. They ate together at La Seine with their friends, who had shown up out of the blue, and conveniently the singer had cancelled on him. He thought he could prevail but somehow, he had lost the airplane tickets and Meilin had mentioned in a conversation that she was not very fond of cruises. He could have sworn that one, she did like cruises, and two, that by some magical force, Meilin had known about everything he was planning on doing. Oh, and the hairdryer he had ordered had already been given to Meilin by Syaoran, and Sakura and Tomoyo had gotten Meilin a beautiful hair ornament. Even Miho seemed to have conspired against him by getting Meilin a charm bracelet, which Meilin seemed to like better than the one he had given her.
Kai simply couldn't believe it.
Meilin was thoroughly enjoying herself but then she saw Kai's depressed face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is going like the plan," he mumbled as he played with his food. It had carrots and he wasn't fond of them.
She chuckled and placed her hand underneath her chin. "What's not going like the plan? What plan?"
"The one I had for your birthday," he replied scowling. Meilin just laughed. "Kai, it's not a big deal. I love how my birthday is going."
"But it was supposed to be the super special. And after everything you'd be super happy and –"
"Kai, listen to me. My birthday has been special and it's not a competition. I really appreciate everything."
When he didn't respond she nudged him and motioned him towards a corner.
"Kai, look at me." She placed her hands on his cheeks. "I'm really happy. I know how much time you spent into making this a special birthday. And I thank you for that and I know that this wasn't what you planned but it really made me happy. Things don't have to be so over-the-top. Just being with the people I love is enough for me. Just being with you was enough." Kai looked into her eyes and felt himself get embarrassed.
He asked, "Do you really mean it?" She felt her heart get warm when she saw his eyes become the bluest she had ever seen, and his face have this gentle look that she may have seen only once or twice.
She nodded and smirked. "Say, where's my gift?"
He sighed heavily and was about to explain everything when he saw her laugh. Out of nowhere Meilin held the tickets that Kai had lost. His mouth opened and he kept glancing from tickets to Meilin's face. He pouted. She laughed.
"How?" he asked incredulously.
With her finger she motioned him closer. "Come here." She then whispered in his ear, "I never reveal my secrets."
He didn't need to know that while he had been busy in his apartment, she had looked into his computer and seen everything that he had planned for her birthday. She had been dating him and she wasn't a quick learner for nothing, she had picked up on some things. And it wasn't like he had it saved in a special document encoded with twenty passwords; rather, he just had it on a sticky note which was on top of his computer. And the tickets were right next to the note.
They both laughed. And then, without him expecting it, Meilin brought his face to hers and kissed him on the lips. When they parted she said, "Consider that as your 'thank you' gift for trying."
He winked, "I guess now I will have to be on my good behavior at all times if I can have you giving me gifts like this."
"Oh, shut up."
"I love you too."
She got the gift she really had wanted from him. It sure was a lot of fun to see him have an array of expressions, but she simply enjoyed his company and the knowledge that he had tried to go all out on her birthday. And best of all, that he loved her.
_
Bubulona: Happy belated birthday Meilin. Like the fanfic I wrote about Kai's bday, I had most of this one completed for Meilin's bday. But stuff happened and it got delayed. I had a lot of fun writing these :)
