'…and high'
Meilin couldn't stop laughing at Eric's expression that evening.
"Come on. It's not that bad, is it?"
He shot her a cynical look before exaggeratedly limping across the street.
"You threw me into two other guys. After crippling me and crawling on top of me, that is. Tell me there was another way, please."
"There wasn't. We were seriously outnumbered and outmaneouvered. Using you was the only way I could think of to get us out." She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Besides, don't you feel better that you helped? I couldn't have done it without you."
"Well…" Eric replayed the scene in his head, and paused for a moment at the scene when he pulled the guy off her back. "Hey, I did help, didn't I?"
"You did."
"Hey, you're right! And I totally kicked some ass too! That guy with the wrist will think twice next time." He perked up considerably and grinned. "Of course, I was nothing compared to the all-mighty Queen of Kickass. You were amazing. Unstoppable. Perfect in every way."
He took her hand and pressed his lips to it, bowing in a courtly manner. She blushed and pulled her hand away.
"Don't be silly, Eric. I was only doing what I had to do."
He knew that that fight must have been at least a little scary for her, but she was shrugging off his praise again. It seemed she was uncomfortable receiving compliments for her fighting ability.
He came to a stop at the railing by the water and shot her an inquisitive look.
"What?"
"That first night, when we met. Why didn't you say anything when I was talking to you? You let me go on for quite a while."
"Oh." She looked out over the harbor. "You took me by surprise. I was… deep in my thoughts, dwelling on something else. I was so surprised that someone was talking to me that I didn't respond." Her mouth turned up into a little smile. "And then after a while it just became funny to hear you talk."
"So glad that I could entertain you," Eric muttered, and leaned back to get a better look at her face in the dusky light. "Surprised that someone was talking to you, huh? What, does that not happen often?"
It seemed a little hard to believe, considering the way she looked. Something in her eyes looked uncomfortable now, and she shrugged.
"You're not used to people paying attention to you, are you?"
Her eyes flew open with surprise and she took a step back.
"What?"
"Ha! I knew it! That's why you're so surprised whenever I compliment you. That's why you were shocked that somebody was even talking to you that night. And that's why you're so into Jing Kun. Am I right?"
Meilin had to remember to close her mouth as he spoke, and at that last part she spluttered a little.
"What?"
"Please. Don't play innocent with me. I've seen enough Bond movies to know what was going on." Eric fished out his pack of cigarettes and lit one up. "You were having spar-sex with him."
Now Meilin was totally lost. How had the conversation ever gotten to this point?
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Now he's somebody that's definitely paying attention to you. And you are loving it." He exhaled a cloud of smoke into the muggy evening, looking a little frustrated. Meilin just threw up her hands and started walking.
"Baka."
"Hey!" Eric automatically rejoindered, before his mind caught up. "What does that mean? I know that can't be something good." He groped for his tattered phrasebook and started leafing through it, trying to read and walk at the same time. Meilin had to hide a smile.
"You're not going to find it in a Chinese phrasebook."
"Well now, come on, tell me what it means! Please?"
"No. You deserved it."
"It was only the truth."
"You don't know what you're talking about! There was nothing going on back there!"
"Says you…"
"Baka!"
*****
Li and Kero had been trading glares in the kitchen for a full ten minutes before Sakura finally arrived.
"Your stupid animal bit me on the ear!" he griped, before Kero could get in first.
"He wasn't paying any attention to me, and needed a good dose of reality besides. Your pathetic boyfriend was so busy chasing illusions he wasn't even watching where he was going!"
"I'm telling you, I saw her there!"
"Sure you did," Kero sniffed. "Sure you did."
Sakura looked up for the first time. "You saw Meilin?"
Li shuffled his feet a little. "Well, for just a second in Bird Street, I thought I did. Then she disappeared, but she looked so real…" His voice trailed off as he looked at her face more closely. "Have you been crying?"
"What?" Sakura dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve and tried to blink the tears away. "No, not really, I -"
"Yes you have." He was on his feet in an instant, wiping away her tears and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "I'm so sorry, Sakura, I've been selfish. Here I was fretting and worrying myself to death, and I completely forgot about you. She's your friend too."
Sakura gave him a very rare, and therefore wrenching, look of misery.
"Not good enough," she whispered. "I wasn't that good a friend to her."
"What? What did you say?" Li frowned quizzically, and Sakura shook her head. She could never explain what she had witnessed that afternoon, those horribles scenes she'd forced herself to watch. How could they have all been so blind?
"Nothing." She disengaged herself from his arms and backed away. "I have to go call my brother and check in; he'll be worried."
"But -"
"Why don't you get some dinner started, or something?" She flashed him an insincere smile. "I haven't eaten all day."
As predicted, that immediately got Kero going.
"Wai!" he cheered. "I want lo mein! Lo mein! Lo mein! Lo -"
"Fine," Li snapped. "I get it. Lo mein it is. Just to shut you up." He blew his bangs out of his eyes in frustration and sent another worried glance at the doorway, but Sakura was already gone. What had she meant by that?
*****
Eric reached out and snagged a dress off its rack as they walked past the street vendor.
"Hey, how about this?"
"For your sister?"
"No, for you."
"Eric, I told you no. I don't need it, I don't want it, and I can't even be wearing something like that." She indicated the long sleeveless sundress he held with a disdainful wave of her hand. "Impossible to move in it."
"Insubstantial argument," Eric countered. "Come on, we've never been attacked twice in one day yet. You've punched the clock, you're good to go. Wear a damn dress for once. It won't kill you. It's red, even. Your favorite color."
She looked a little taken aback.
"How did you know red was my favorite color?"
"I didn't." He winked. "But now I do." He pressed the dress in her hands and reached for some spare change in his pocket.
"Eric! I said no!"
"Don't argue with me, missy."
"But -"
"Shh."
"I -"
"Shh." He grinned as he placed a finger over her lips. "I got a whole bag of 'shhs' here, and I'm not afraid to use 'em."
Predictably, she just looked puzzled.
"What?"
"Never mind. Jeez, my Hollywood humor is so wasted on you. It's like pearls before swine."
"Hey!"
"And, oh look, the money has changed hands." He backed away from the vendor with a triumphant grin. "You wouldn't desicrate the holy transaction of capital and goods, would you?"
Meilin opened her mouth with an argumentative look in her eyes, then glanced from his capering glee to the pleased expression of the saleswoman. She was cornered, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Eric raised his fists above his head in victory.
"He shoots, he scores!" Feeling good, feeling pleased, he took a light skip forward and jumped into the air, pantomiming a slam dunk. "And the net swishes!"
Meilin crossed her arms and gave him a wry look.
"You are unlike anyone I've ever known."
"Believe me when I tell you," he assured her. "That I can say the exact same thing for you."
Both fell quiet, staring into one another's eyes. Then a passerby bumped into Eric's arm and he was forced to break the eye contact. When he looked up again, her eyes were averted. The moment was gone, again.
"Um, I'm starting to get hungry again. Let's find a room and get cleaned up, then we can catch dinner. Cool?"
"Cool?"
"I mean, okay?"
"Oh." She offered him a tentative smile. Was it his imagination, or did she look a bit disconcerted? Was he finally starting to break through? "Yes, that would be nice."
"Great. Let's go." He held out his hand in a noncomittal way, but she ignored it and brushed past him to walk ahead. He made the tiniest of groans in the back of his throat and let his hand drop before following her. Okay, so there was still a while to go. But a guy had to start somewhere.
Upstairs, he returned to their room from the men's showers before she was finished, and began rooting around in his backpack for a fresh T-shirt. He was down to the last one; he would have to do laundry tomorrow. He had to smile as he dug through extra shirts, another hairbrush, and other various feminine items. The space in his pack that had originally been reserved for souvenirs was gradually filling up with her things. Somehow, even with him bouncing around from place to place, she'd managed to move in. Girls all over the world must have that ability, he reasoned, as he climbed out onto the fire escape for a quick smoke.
It was a few puffs before he realized he could hear something over the noisy traffic beneath them, but when he strained his ears he thought he caught a snatch of melody.
Was someone singing? He crawled to the very end of the landing and settled himself against the brick wall, exhaling contentedly.
Yes, someone was singing; the bathroom window for the women's showers was only a few feet further on. They weren't any words he recognized, and he surmised that it was some Chinese song. It didn't matter. Sometimes it was nice to just sit back and listen without understanding. She finished one song and then another before turning off the water, and he stubbed his cigarette out on the railing without moving to go back inside. At length she leaned out of the window to look for him.
"There you are. Are you ready for dinner?"
"You even sing like a bird."
The fire escape went absolutely quiet at that, and he wondered if he'd said something wrong.
"Y-you could hear that?"
"Sure could. It was great," he answered cheerfully, then looked more closely at her face. "What? Somebody's told you that before, right?"
It was impossible to read her expression. For a long moment, it looked as though she wanted to smile, but then she gave up and disappeared into the room.
"Hey, wait up!" Quickly he scrambled back to the sill and through the window. She had her hand on the door knob, her freshly washed hair falling like a curtain to conceal her face. "What? What did I say?"
She looked over her shoulder, a haunted look in her eyes.
"You think I have a nice voice?"
"Of course. People must tell you so all the time."
"No," she murmured. "You're the first."
"Oh." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried to keep his gaze neutral. This must be more of that neglect that he was starting to pick up on. Some things were beginning to make a lot of sense, but so much was a mystery. Why would anyone neglect someone as beautiful and talented as she was? Who could possibly ignore someone like her?
His thoughts traveled back to the Bird Street encounter, and he wondered again just whom she'd been hiding from.
"Eric."
"Speaking."
"You're… staring at me. Is there something you were going to say?"
"Uh." He flushed as he realized that he had indeed been staring. "Yeah. But I forgot."
He wanted to ask, wanted to understand what was going on there beneath the surface. But he was afraid probing would only irritate her again. He couldn't afford to lose her, not now.
"But you really can sing. Now let's go to dinner."
And he ushered her out the doorway.
*****
"Sakura?" Halfway out the door, she jumped guiltily and turned at the calm and gentle voice. Yelan glided closer and clasped her hands together in an inquisitive posture. "No luck today?"
"Good evening, Yelan-san. No, there was no sign of her. But we'll keep trying."
She took a step back, her hands behind her, but there was no hiding anything from this woman.
"You did more than search today. Didn't you?"
Grimacing, Sakura nodded. "It was wrong; I know it. But I had to see. I had to know. I don't know why I never wondered before."
"Perhaps you feel, as I do, that there is more going on here than what it seems."
Again Sakura nodded. "I can't explain it; there's no rational evidence that points to it. But I just have this feeling that we're looking at the situation all wrong." She brought out her Cards from behind her back and thumbed them in a resigned way. "I just thought maybe I'd see if they were giving up any hints."
"Without Syaoran?"
Sakura winced a tiny bit. "He's a little fragile as it is. I don't want to get his hopes up. I can't believe how this is tearing at him; he's coming undone."
Yelan gave a slow nod.
"Guilt can be ravaging. Come, let us see what they have to say."
She swept past Sakura before the younger woman had a chance to ask her what she had meant, and led her into the small private garden behind the house. The bright new full moon had cast it in silver, as clear and bright as daylight. A tiny spring breeze rustled the shrubbery, and Yelan dropped to her knees by the flowerbeds. Sakura turned away from the glittering view of downtown and sat across from her.
She'd used the Cards in this way before, though never for a request like this. She felt nervous trying it in front of this wise and experienced woman, but Yelan merely produced her fan and began to wave it in time to a steady chant. The softly murmured rhythm was soothing, and Sakura closed her eyes as she began to shuffle.
First, a thorough mixing. Then the three separate stacks, then another thorough mixing. Finally she began to arrange them in a diamond shape on the grass between them, using only her left hand.
"Cards created by Clow, transformed by myself, answer my query."
They began to glow faintly, reflecting the starlight back at them. Sakura could feel the power shift within them.
"Show us where my friend is. Tell us the whereabouts of Meilin."
After a long moment, with the rustling bushes and Yelan's hum the only sounds audible, the Cards ceased to glow. She leaned forward and flipped over the top.
"Fight," she read aloud. "It's Meilin."
Yelan nodded. Next her fingertips brushed over the three Cards across the middle. These should reveal where she was. Would it work? Almost trembling with anticipation, she turned over the first.
"Change." Hmm. "Power," she said next. "And Light," was the third. Change, Power, and Light. What could that mean? She could see by Yelan's expression that the older woman was no less confused.
"It doesn't exactly sound dangerous," she said hopefully.
"Read the bottom Card," Yelan instructed, and Sakura reached for the Card on the bottom of the stack. This would reveal the desire of whomever had taken Meilin away.
"It's Fly," she reported, a little surprised. "What does it mean?"
Silence was her only reply.
"Change, Power, Light… what does that mean? What does any of it mean?" She was asking rhetorically, and only the breeze answered. "Damn! Another dead end! Nothing is making sense, nothing is adding up." She buried her face in her hands and emitted a muffled groan. "I don't know what else to do."
"Be calm, Sakura. All you can do is hope, and wish for the best. I feel this is far from over."
Yelan rose gracefully to her feet, dropping a small kiss on Sakura's hair before standing. Then, without another word, she turned and left the garden, leaving Sakura alone with her Cards. Almost without thinking about it, the young sorceress reached for her Hope Card and clutched it to her chest.
Hope, and wish for the best. And never, ever give up. It was indeed all she had.
Please hold on, Meilin. Wherever you are.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Eric gulped as he watched Meilin leap lightly on the railing and perform a neat back walkover.
"Must you? You make me so nervous when you do that."
She gave a light laugh.
"Afraid of heights?"
"Not really." Eric leaned over the barrier and surveyed the shopping plaza below them. They were several stories high on the walkway between two malls, and he tried not to think about how easily she could slip and fall. "It's just the painful impact after falling from them that bothers me." She said nothing, but arched backward again and rolled onto her hands. This time she remained upside down, balancing easily with a foot pointing in each direction. "I mean, you're not even scared a little bit? Of hurtling to your death on the concrete at sixty miles an hour and -"
"Eric. I shall lose my concentration."
"Okay, okay. Consider my mouth shut. I won't say anything, not even to point out that you are clearly insane, with no respect for the fragile human body whatsoever."
"You exaggerate."
"I'm not the one upside down with no safety net."
"But I like it," she countered, and finally rolled onto the balls of her feet. It was a beautiful spring day, with a bright blue sky, and Eric couldn't resist a smile. Obviously she was in a good mood too, now that they'd washed their clothes in a laundromat that morning. She tucked a stray lock of black hair behind her ear and cast a rather wistful look over the crowds below them. "I'm comfortable in this position. When I was young, I always wished that I could fly. I love birds."
A tiny smile flitted across her face, then disappeared.
"But I wasn't the one that got the wings." She moved into yet another back walkover, this one a little more abrupt. Eric took a couple steps to keep up, and wondered how much longer they had before someone noticed this display.
"What, and you know someone else that did?"
"Yes," she said matter-of-factly. "A couple, actually."
She performed another one while he digested this curious statement.
"You know, Meilin, you're going to think this is really crazy. Stupid, laughable even. But sometimes I get the feeling that you're not quite telling me everything about yourself."
She paused while upright, and pressed her lips togther in an attempt to repress a giggle.
"Really? You think so?"
"I absolutely do."
"Then I guess you will just have to learn patience."
"So you will tell me?"
"I didn't say that."
And with that she bent her knees and leapt into the air with a tight back tuck, landing perfectly on the walkway before him. Now she was really fighting a smile, and the combination of mirth and secrecy in her eyes was too tantalizing to resist. Captivated, Eric leaned in, but a sharp whistle caused them to both look up. A harried-looking policeman had emerged from the entrance to the mall behind them, and he shouted something in Cantonese.
"Whoops, busted," Eric reported cheerfully, and grabbed her hand. "Come on!"
Laughing, the two fled into the second shopping mall and led their pursuer on a merry chase before reaching the ground floor and the outdoor plaza.
A policeman blowing his whistle was nothing special in Hong Kong, but Sakura glanced out the window anyway, just to be looking at something. She just saw him as he puffed his way past the café window, but missed whomever it was that he was chasing.
Looking back down at her hands, she could see the napkin had been reduced to shreds, and guiltily she deposited the remains on her plate. The tension at the table was suffocating.
"What do you mean?" she finally managed.
"I mean, what's going on?" he growled. "I saw Mother come in from the back garden last night, and I saw you come in after that. What were you two doing out there?"
"Nothing, sweetie. Just talking."
"You're a terrible liar, Sakura," he snapped. "You should leave the cover-ups to Tomoyo."
She flushed, and sank back into the booth cushion. Kero said nothing, clearly feeling as awkward as she was. Syaoran just tapped his chopsticks against the edge of his plate and glared at her.
"W-we just didn't want to bother you."
"Bother me? My cousin is out there, god knows what happening to her right now, and you're afraid of bothering me? You're holding something back, Sakura. Spill it."
"Syaoran, what's happening to you? Why are you treating me like this? It's me, Sakura." She reached across the table and covered his hand lightly with hers, but there was no response. His eyes never left her face. "I'm not hiding anything," she continued. Syaoran's hand underneath hers moved slightly, pushing upward.
"You are. Where did you go yesterday that you couldn't take me or Kero?" His fingers were entwining with hers now, squeezing mercilessly as he tightened his hold. Never did he break his gaze.
"I was just looking, Syaoran. Just like you were. Please let go of my hand." She whimpered a little. "You're hurting me."
The ruthlessness of his grip was terrifying, not so much for the pain, but for the sheer force of will she could sense behind it. For the first time in years, her mind flew back to their first meeting, and she saw the determined boy who had physically attacked her in order to get the Cards. Deep down, he was still a fighter who would resort to anything to get what he was after.
Slowly, reluctantly, his expression softened and he released her hand.
"You can deny it all you like, but I know you're keeping something from me. You and Mother both. When you want to let me in on it, tell me. Meanwhile, I'll be out looking for my cousin."
He threw his napkin down on the table and pushed away from the table before storming out of the café.
"What's his problem?" Kero sniffed. "I was about to bite him on the leg, punk kid."
"Don't be angry with him, Kero-chan," Sakura sighed, and rested her chin in her hands as she stared out at the plaza. "He's worried, angry, and frustrated. This is tearing him apart; we've got to find her soon."
"If you ask me, this is worse than hopeless. How do either of you know she's still even in Hong Kong? The kid's spell wouldn't work, right?"
"Well no, but…"
"But what?" Kero squinted up at Sakura's doubtful expression and decided that Li was right: Sakura was keeping something back.
"I asked his mother about that spell," she admitted. "If there wasn't something besides a powerful captor that could deflect it."
He twitched his tail interestedly. "Yeah? And?"
"She said it's magic meant to rescue, not to hunt."
Kero wrinkled his furry brow. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that, just maybe, Syaoran couldn't find her because she doesn't want to be found."
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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters