Petals Fall Part 3: Li Meilin
Petals Fall
Part 3: Li Meilin
Notes: The rating changed to PG because
of one swear word. Aunt Kyaa, Meilin's friend Shihua, and her
mother were all people I invented for the purpose of this fic.
~
Why? Why did Syaoran suddenly go for
that girl Sakura? Why did she have to love him back? (OK, I
understand that, he is cute and all....) I just don't
understand...how my heart suddenly was broken. I loved Syaoran
and he loved another. And she wasn't even in the clan! What kind
of injustices could be wrought? I had to run away from it all,
even my own family...I felt so ashamed....
OK. Maybe I should explain. Last spring,
when the petal blossoms were blooming in Japan (and when Syaoran
and I were still living in there), Syaoran went with Sakura and
told her that he was in love with her. I had no idea he did...OK,
maybe I was jealous every time he looked deep into her
eyes and all...and she loved him back. I'll never forget the day
afterwards.
~
"Ummm...Meilin...I have to tell you
something," he said. My eyes were hopeful (I didn't know he
had told Sakura the day before). Would it be what I had always
been dreaming of...my fantasy, of him loving me?
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry, Meilin...but I love
someone else...." His eyes were away from mine, turned
towards the side. He was ashamed? But this was not the Syaoran I
knew and loved, able to admit his mistakes.... "I'm sorry if
I broke your heart, but my own belongs with another...."
It hit me, a painful realization that
broke me. I should have expected it. "Kinomoto
Sakura...." I breathed. I knew it. She had been after him as
much as I had. And she got it first because he was there.
"How could you have fallen in love with someone out of the
clan? She isn't even Chinese! Do you think the clan would agree
to this? We were supposed to be the heirs together, you know
that! As soon as we were legal in China, we were supposed to be
arranged!" The tears were about the fall. I willed them
otherwise, but they wouldn't stop...they fell, the pain in my
eyes visible through the shining tears.
"I know, Meilin, but my heart goes
against society! It's the way I feel! Don't you want me
to be happy?! I'm happy with Sakura-chan!" He was
nearly hysterical, shouting at me. But he was right...I wanted
him to be happy, above anything. Yet, pride and tradition stopped
me. I could never forgive a traitor to the clan...even if it was
Xiaolang, my bethrothed.
"Li Xiaolang...." I whispered
his real name in our accent, the way it should be.
"I can't forgive you. I'm sorry, I could never forgive a
traitor to the clan."
"Well then. Be that way...the clan
forgives a striving heart. Like our aunt Kyaa." I remembered
that. Our aunt Kyaa had fallen in love with an American man...the
clan forgave her and let him into the clan. They had even married
the two in our traditional ways. However, I was amongst the
people who were against that action.
"I never supported that
action," I replied tartly in Chinese.
"Well, then you're a
traitor to the clan, Li Meiling," he replied in the same
tongue. I gulped. He was right again...damn.
"Xiaolang, why must you always be
right?" I asked. Our whole conversation had now been put in
our native speech.
"Isn't that what you fell in love
with me for?" I remembered the time when I had told Naoko to
ask Xiaolang about dragons because "he knew
everything".
"Yes but...now you don't love me.
Stop torturing me."
"I love you, Meiling, but not in the same way I love
Sakura. You are family. Of course I love you. More than the blood
relatives of the family, since we are so close and
bethrothed...but still, not the same way as Sakura." He
sighed. "You remember when she captured the Twin Card? We
can practically read each other's thoughts. We worked very hard
to do those motions together...we must have been thinking of the
same kata. And our timing has always been the same for that
particular one ever since...well, you remember." He was
right. Back in China, I had once struggled with that particular
one during a practice. Xiaolang had retaught it to me, and soon
enough we could perform it together in perfect timing--not to
mention the same one. "Why did you perform that particular
one?"
"Because it reminds me of you. I knew you would do the
same. I guess I understand, but I still cannot forgive."
"You just don't give in, do you, Meiling?" He
sighed. "Be that way then. I'll write to the clan patriarch.
We'll see if they can forgive me."
~
He did. A few weeks afterwards, I checked the mail and found
their reply...they forgave, all right, just like Syaoran thought
they would. I was enraged. How did Sakura win? How did it happen?
They had annulled our betrothement too...and that blew
it. I couldn't stay with the clan after this. I sent a quick
letter that I wished to disown myself from the clan and ran off
to the nearest poorhouse with my little bit of savings and the
jewelry I had inherited. I sold the jewelry and pooled it with my
savings...just enough. I could boat to Hong Kong and stay at my
old friend's house. And I did.
My friend Shihua's mother was extraordinarily kind to me. She
knew of a person who would keep me safe and away from the clan
near the Lunan Stone Forests, a beautiful monument they would
never dream of looking into. [2] I could work as a tour
guide there to pay my stay. They sent me off.
Life as a tour guide is hard, but I love seeing the flowers.
They grow in the harshness of these stone towers, and they are so
beautiful...pink and orange and sky blue. Their petals are
falling now. I bet the sakura petals are falling in Japan as
well. As the petals fall, my memories of Xiaolang grow...yet, at
the same time, I am finally free.
Xiaolang may be looking for me right now, maybe not. I don't
know. Life goes on...as the petals fall.
~
[1]: Kata in Japan (I know them as "porma" from the
Filipino martial art of escrima) are set motions, known as forms.
You memorize kata in training of martial arts, and usually you
have to be able to perform a certain amount of katas in order to
advance belt. In certain situations (the Twin Card could be one)
a kata can be used in a real life situation. If someone would
give me the Chinese word, I'd be grateful. ~Kawa
[2]: The Lunan Stone Forests are really beautiful. it is a
range of natural stone towers that are incredulously beautiful
and have many hideaways and caverns. Since it is easy to get lost
in there, and Meilin loves the comforts of civilization and
tradition, I don't think the clan would have looked there for
her. ~Kawa
~
TBC
~
R&R!!! Please! ^o^ Coming soon--part 4: Daijoubi Tomoyo