(A.N.) This is definitely one of the worst things I've ever written. Sorry.

I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.

How to weave love

It was another beautiful day she had to spend embroidering or learning how to use the loom. Gosh, she hated that so much. If there was the most boring job in the world, it was surely making clothes.

"Misumi!" The panda girl's father shouted after her, when she was leaving their house, angered by her mother's advices. Of course, she was doing everything wrong: the stitch was irregular, the knots too small or too big. She had had enough of that. "Come back here at once! You're not allowed to leave home until you've finished your work!"

His wife sighed, standing in the door beside her husband, looking as their daughter was walking away into the village. "You shouldn't force her to that." She suggested carefully, knowing that he was being as much enraged as the girl. "It looks like she really doesn't like it as much as we do-"

He turned sharply and made his way into the house. "Nonsense! Children have always taken over their parents' profession."

"Huh, really?" She wondered aloud surprised. "As far as I remember, your father was a carpenter, yet you didn't want to become one."

"Those were different days!" He explained awkwardly. "This is not the same situation!"

"This is exactly the same situation..." She said, smiling secretly and embracing him from behind.

It was getting dark early, as always in the mountain village. The anger didn't leave her, as she was walking down some path in the village. She didn't even know where she was going now, talking and complaining to herself aloud. "'Not allowed?' Humph! Since when am I their slave to play with those stupid needles, wefts and warps?!"

"Is there a problem?" Some calm voice spoke somewhere nearby. Misumi stopped startled and when she looked around, she saw that she had approached the rice terraces on the edge of the village and some panda dressed in a simple workwear and a rice hat was leaning against the fence there. She thought that it was a male, but when the panda lifted her face, Misumi saw that it was a girl a bit older than her, a girl with beautiful green eyes and a smile charming more than she was probably aware. She blushed, for she didn't know why her heart had started beating faster, although she wasn't scared.

"I hate the loom." Misumi explained with a stupid smile on her face and she suddenly felt like an idiot. She realised that she was dressed in the finest clothes in the village and she could change her colourful dresses every two hours, and she still was complaining, while that girl was dressed in... not exactly rags, but she could surely look more neat.. and feminine.

The green-eyed girl didn't say anything, she just eyed her dress and sent her a strange, but a somehow meaningful smile.

"Sorry." She said, thinking that the older girl didn't know what she was talking about. "I'm Misumi and I'm..."

"I know who you are." She said suddenly, what made Misumi feel even more stupid. Of course, everyone in the village knew her and her family. "We all wear the clothes sewn by your parents." She said, noticing that the younger girl was feeling uneasy. "My name's Li Mei. So... you don't like your work?"

"It just seems to be interesting, but the truth's that it's very boring." Misumi explained quickly, knowing that Li Mei would start some lecture about how hard she had to work at the terraces and she wasn't such a complaining princess.

"So I assume that you know what you want to do in your life?.." Li asked.

She sighed. "Not at all... But I won't believe that you like wading in the water like a stork all day long."

That remark made Li laugh a little. "I'm taking a day off tomorrow. May I help you somehow with your work? Maybe it's not so boring as it seems."

"You want to waste your free time to help me?.. Why?"

"Because I don't like wading in the water like a stork all day long." Li answered, sending her the same meaningful smile as before.

The next day, Li came to Misumi early in the morning and she was amazed how well the house was furnished, although the building didn't look so big from outside. Although Misumi's parents liked Japanese minimalistic style, there were also a few decorations here and there, which vivid colors fitted together perfectly. It was visible that the family could have everything they wanted, what wasn't very surprising. They provided the village with the best clothes, so they were surely very busy pandas. Busy and rich. They sew, wove and embroidered. Actually, they could make any clothing the pandas needed. Li felt so poor when she entered the house, but later, when she was sitting in the workshop with Misumi, she felt a bit better. There were only the tools they needed, tons of colorful threads, blank fabrics, needles, scissors, dyes, the fitting room, and of course, the hated loom.

Misumi's parents were surprised that their daughter wanted to try sewing again and she even had brought there a friend. Not that they thought Li was some thief. Thievery would be a rather difficult profession in the village protected by Master Heng and his students. Misumi's mother convinced her dad to leave the girls alone for a few hours and let them work in their own way. They left them the whole workshop, giving them only one task. So, the girls got some green fabric and they had to turn it into a well-looking dress. The parents didn't give them any other advices, counting on their daughter's knowledge and experience, however funny it sounded. Besides, the task wasn't so difficult, considering that they didn't have to weave the fabric from the beginning.

It had been two hours since the girls started and their laugh was coming from the workshop from time to time. "What are they doing there?" Misumi's father asked his wife when they were sitting in the kitchen after breakfast. "They should be finishing now."

"It's probably called 'having fun'." She replied, smiling widely, for his nervousness was almost making her laugh too.

"I should have suspected that you would try to do that." Li Mei rolled her eyes when she was standing on a wooden stool in the middle of the room. Of course, Misumi had to use her as a model and she was having fun, indeed. "Stop laughing and just take the measurements." The older girl said, trying not to grin like an idiot when the younger one was touching her with a sartorial meter, tickling her unintentionally.

When they finished, they could finally sit at the table and started to cut the green fabric. But it was the most pleasant part of their work, though they had to be careful not to cut it too much. After another hour of cutting and talking, Misumi knew more about Li Mei. She was an orphan, with no siblings, her parents had been killed in the genocide when she was two, her grandparents were long dead. Some farmers took her under protection, adoption would be a too big word. They taught her how to work at the terraces and she couldn't imagine that she could actually do something else, although it wasn't her dream job.

Soon, the parts of the dress were sewn together, and it looked 'quite good' what Misumi, after a long while of taking a close look at Li dressed in it, stated.

They determined that the dress needed some decorations. Misumi's mother would never let them take a dress without any ornaments out of the workshop. The girls couldn't decide what colors they should use. Li wanted of course threads in dark shades of green, or golden ones. Misumi had to explain to her gently that such colours were already reserved for the great kung fu masters from the village and copying their look wouldn't be very... appropriate.

So they decided to use red colors. It was a risky choice, but the green color of the dress was fresh and bright. They drew an ornament with little red flowers, and found some instructions how to make a good stitch. They made red lines of decorative stitch over the edges of the fabric and the places where it was sewn together. The lines weren't perfect, but well... now Li at least knew how to do that. They also added some wooden buttons and some other details.

"So, how do you like this job?" Li asked, when they were embroidering the curly ornaments, trying to make them look as in the drawing. "It's not as boring as you said."

The other girl chuckled, sticking the needle through the fabric. "Wait until you try to use the loom. Or the spindle. Dad always kills me with those..." She stopped talking when she saw Li's face sadden and remembered that she was blabbering about her father while her parents were dead. "Sorry.."

"Huh?" The older girl looked at her surprised. "Why? I'm just afraid that we'll have much work at the terraces soon. Rice harvest, you know."
Now Misumi saddened. That day spent sewing a dress with Li was quite pleasant. (Although they wouldn't make enough clothes if they worked so slow every time.)

"Maybe... this work is not so bad..." She admitted thoughtfully.

"'Not so bad'?" Li spoke enthusiastically. "Just think about it. Yesterday you didn't even want to think of threads, now you're holding them without complaining. Yet a moment ago we had just a raw piece of fabric. Now we have a raw dress. We didn't have any decorations. Now, slowly, with every move of the needles we're creating quite a good ornament. It's like making something out of nothing... Isn't it awesome?" She finished her thought and saw that Misumi didn't understand it as well as she did.

"If I had such inspiration every day..."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind." Misumi said quickly when she finished her last part of the floral ornament and she suddenly pulled the dress off of the table and took a look at it. It was finished. "OK. Now, get undressed." She said to Li.

The other girl's eyes widened a bit and she blushed when she felt her blood flow towards her face. "What?.." She asked weakly.

"I need to see how you look in it." Misumi explained casually, though inside she became suspicious why her friend was acting like that. She was a bit... kinky, actually, she was a rather strange person, but Li didn't know about that, so she didn't understand why she was behaving so shyly. "You can't put this on your clothes when it's ready."

"Ooooh." Li Mei started to chuckle relieved when she understood what the grey-eyed girl meant. "Why won't you try it on?" She asked a bit suspiciously.

Misumi eyed her with bored impatience. "I could... but I'm too short."

"Right." Li agreed, almost giggling nervously. She took the dress and went to the fitting room.

She felt strange, undressing in such a strange place, while that girl was waiting to see her. She put the green dress on carefully, as if she could destroy it. There was no mirror behind the curtain, so she didn't know how she looked like. Probably bad; she almost didn't know what it was like to wear a dress. She wore only simple things in which it was comfortable to work. But she couldn't stay there forever.

Misumi looked at her with wide eyes when she saw the female coming out of the fitting room. "What?.." Li asked, unsure why her friend looked so... surprised.

"Nothing, you just look... different." Misumi said, though Li couldn't understand what she actually meant.

"OK," She sighed and waved her hand in a gesture of resignation. "Spare me comments about me looking like a guy in a dress."

Misumi couldn't help but burst into laughter, hearing that remark, what earned her an enraged glare from the other girl. "I won't say anything. Just look yourself." She said, smiling mischievously and pulled the curtain hiding the wall behind her.

There was a big mirror. Li looked startled at the beautiful panda lady dressed in a dress in the color of her eyes who was standing there. Li turned around and looked at the reflection of the red flowers, they had been the most difficult part of the work. The red ornament ran down her back and wrapped her on the left lower part of the dress. She couldn't believe she was looking at herself. "Misumi, you have a huge talent." She finally said, stunned by what she saw in the reflection, and the younger girl giggled.

"Well, I see some mistakes." Some voice spoke, what surprised the girls. Misumi's mother, who suddenly had appeared in the workshop, said, taking a close look at the green dress. "The stitch is uneven here, here and here." She remarked, indicating a few spots on the dress, when she recognized her daughter's mistakes. Misumi rolled her eyes, but she was proud of her work, anyway. "Some of the parts have been sewn too sloppy, but... the dress looks good." The girls smiled when Misumi's mother continued. "The combination of the colors is rather... daring. I'm sure it was your idea.." She looked at her daughter, not hiding her smile. "Well. It seems that someone has finally convinced Misumi that our profession is not so bad. You're welcome to stay for lunch." She offered Li suddenly.

"Thank you.." Li replied surprised, because she hadn't expected that invitation. "But I should take off the dress first."

"No, no, darling. You should keep it, it suits your eyes."

The girl blushed when she remembered something rather embarrassing. "I'm afraid I cannot afford it. I don't have enough... rice."

Misumi facepalmed while her mother eyed her friend a bit confused. "It's a gift!" She whispered very loudly.

"Thank you, I appreciate it, really, but.. I couldn't go anywhere in it, I work at the terraces all the time.." Li said, plucking at her claws nervously, for she didn't want to act impolitely.

"Hmm.." Misumi's mother started, taking the girls out of the workshop. "We'll talk it over during lunch."

As days were passing, Li Mei and Misumi became closer friends and they tried to meet as often as they could, although the older girl had much work, like the other farmers, while Misumi learned from her parents, and tried not to lose hope that every next meeting with Li wasn't the last one. But they still could find some free time to just walk around, talk about things other than their work, or just loll about somewhere and laugh at nothing particular. And Li could finally wear the dresses she had made with Misumi and look like a girl.

Misumi took great pleasure in spending time with Li, that person made her feel so fresh and great. Everything was so different with her, even work was like having fun. She thought it was just the matter of her weird personality and she was glad that Li hadn't noticed anything, for she had started to feel almost as if she were spending time not with some girl but with her.. boyfriend.. or rather girlfriend. It was so funny. And impossible.

One evening, when sun was still warming the dry ground lazily, they were lying under a weeping willow near the river. "I'm such a forgetter." Misumi started, lying on her back with her head on the other girl's stomach. It was getting late and she had just remembered the most important thing she had to tell her. "My parents said that you had a talent and potential, so if you want, you can work with us... of course if it's not a problem..."

"What?!" Li Mei asked suddenly, sitting up and pushing the younger girl onto the ground unintentionally. "Really?!" She tried to make sure, looking at Misumi with hope.

Misumi lifted herself off the ground, slightly annoyed by the rough treatment. "Yes.."

Li's excited screech deafened her for a moment, but she couldn't be angry with her when she felt her arms embracing her so tightly that she almost couldn't breathe. "I want, of course I want! I'm so happy!" Li Mei assured, but then Misumi felt something more, what surprised her so much that she stopped smiling when her friend kissed her on the cheek in an expression of joy... and then she repeated it.

The green-eyed girl felt Misumi stiffen and she saw that she was looking at her stunned. "Li..." Misumi almost whispered, staring at her in shock.

Li Mei pulled herself away from her younger friend and she suddenly felt that she had gone too far with her excitement. Nice, she was going to lose her job on the first day she had got it. "Sorry." She said seriously, feeling Misumi's strange gaze on her face, though she was trying to look away. "I'm just glad to know that you like my work... I must.. go home now." She finally said and she got up not to make the situation worse.

"Li, wait." She heard behind her back when she was about to walk away, so she stopped for a moment. "Why did you kiss me?" Misumi asked, for she thought that if she didn't ask that question now, she would never find out the truth.

Li chuckled embarrassed and leaned against the tree trunk. "It doesn't matter." She said, smiling a bit sadly. She wanted to explain it, but... for a longer moment... she couldn't find a good answer even for herself. Misumi was still looking at her expectantly, though she wasn't trying to make her feel abashed.

"So...?" She asked to encourage her, leaning against the trunk too.

"It's stupid." Li chuckled again, blushing in the dark. It was very helpful that she couldn't see her now. "I thought... that you.. liked girls too." She confessed, not knowing that Misumi's eyes widened at the same time and her heartbeat quickened, she couldn't believe what Li was saying. She hadn't expected that. She had thought she was the only female in the village, or even in the world with such... strange liking. "You were always at ease with me, and..." Li was explaining, until she heard Misumi's reply.

"I don't like 'girls'.."

Li's smile fell when she heard that quiet, unsure statement in the dark. Why did she even expect to hear something else? "OK.." She whispered. She felt really bad after what had happened... Then she suddenly felt Misumi's hand find hers on the rough tree bark and she looked at the panda surprised.

"I like only one." Misumi finished, looking her in the eyes.