Shimai no Keikaku Chapter Three: And the Rain Came Down
AN: Whoo. This chapter took a lot less time then the second one did—and it's all because of you folks! Give yourself a pat on the back and a muffin or two. You deserve it, my friends.
shameless plug
Miss Qui Chen is the most spifferific gal and she is constantly inflating my ego and making me feel loved, as well as poking me with a pointy stick to get this thing written. I'm so grateful to her that mere words cannot express my thanks. Instead, I'm gonna order y'all to go read her stories because they are FANTABULOUS. I kid you not. Her characterization of everyone is top notch, and her imagery and descriptions are far superior then my woeful attempts at being flowery by far. So go read them now. NOW, I SAY! D'ARRR.
/shameless plug
One last note here: everything occurs roughly at the same time that everything else does in this story. Translation: When it's twelve in Hong Kong, it's also about twelve in Tomoeda too. So while Mei Ling is out plotting and whatnot Sakura is sitting in school being bored. Make sense? If you're confused drop me a line and I'll do my best to clear it up for you. I don't bite. Promise.
Disclaimer: CCS is not mine. You would not want it to be mine, for I would abuse Syaoran a heckuva lot more then I do in this story.
***
Mei Ling walked into her room and closed the door behind her carefully; sighing to herself quietly, she went over to her bed and laid down on it. Although it was barely a quarter past noon, the Chinese girl was suddenly feeling inexplicably tired. Perhaps it was the added stress of the day, or the fact that she had just committed her first illegal act, or maybe it was because she had stayed up till three in the morning watching Mulan, but whatever the reason, Mei Ling soon found herself deeply asleep.
***
"Awww…" Naoko pouted, looking out the window dejectedly. "I wanted to eat outside…stupid rain."
"It wasn't very likely in the first place, Naoko." Chiharu pointed out, rummaging through her bag and finally pulling out her lunch. "It's been raining since school started."
"At this rate cheerleading practice is going to be canceled." I said, slightly disappointed. I had been looking forward to practice; we were supposed to learn a new combination.
"Cheer up, Sakura!" Tomoyo told me with a smile. "I'm sure things will be okay."
"I suppose so…." I replied, looking at her suspiciously, which only increased the width of her grin. Tomoyo was up to something…and I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to know.
"Tomoyo! Sakura!" Rika called, already halfway down the hallway with Naoko and Chiharu. "Hurry up! Naoko's hungry and she says if you're not down here in three seconds she's going to eat me."
"Ah! Coming!" I cried, and ran down to meet them, Tomoyo following me beaming as if everything in the world was finally going the way she wanted it to.
***
Tomoyo Daidouji was feeling exceptionally cheerful. Today had been a very good day; not only did she have an opportunity to film her dearest Sakura once more, but also to film the conclusion to the romance she had been pushing along quietly for the past four years.
(Not that she could really blame Li, or her beloved Sakura either; it had taken the silly girl four years to confess to Yuki, so it had to be expected that she would take four years the next time around. As for Li…well, he was Li. He had never been too good at expressing feelings in the first place. She had been very pleased when he had told Sakura he was in love with her, although she had to take points away for the immediate fleeing he had done afterwards.)
She had been somewhat taken aback that morning when her cell phone had begun to vibrate in the middle of class; the only person who ever called on it was usually her mother, and then only at times of emergency. Seeing as how she wasn't exactly supposed to have a phone in school, she had excused herself quietly and quickly made her way to the girl's restroom.
And she was even more surprised to find that it was not her mother calling, but none other then Mei Ling Li, with a proposition to offer that was so insanely off-kilter that Tomoyo had instantly fallen in love with it. Vaguely trying to remember when she had given the Chinese girl her cell phone number, Tomoyo had quickly agreed to the hair brained scheme and skipped back to class, alarming her darling Sakura as well as Mr. Terada with her rapid recovery.
Best of all, Tomoyo only had to pick Mei Ling and Li up at the airport, drive them to her house and then drive the duo to Sakura's house as soon as Li had woken up to complete her part of the arrangement. The rest of it—the illegal, plane stowing part as well as the drugging—was left to Mei Ling and Li's four older sisters. Which really was a pity, Tomoyo thought, for it would have surely made many interesting filming opportunities. Ah, well. There would be many, many things to tape soon enough. Tomoyo smiled, a smile that would have sent Sakura fleeing in terror had she seen it and waltzed down the hallway to lunch.
Today had been a very good day indeed.
***
Mei Ling was rudely awoken at 2:30 by Fah Ren dumping a glass of water on her head.
"Good morning, merry sunshine!" She chirruped, and Mei Ling buried her head in her pillow and groaned.
"It's not morning." She mumbled. Fah Ren ignored her, and proceeded to steal her cousin's pillow and chuck it out the bedroom window. "Heeeeey…"
"Come on, get up!"
"What'cha do that for?" Mei Ling protested sleepily. "That was my pillow…and you threw it out that…square hole thingy..."
"That's a window, dear." The older girl informed her condescendingly. "Now get up."
"Whyyyy…"
"Because we have to pack for Xiao and get him, you, and the luggage to the airport before his plane takes off." Fah Ren explained tolerantly, poking her cousin in the head. "Besides, you have to get your things together too."
"Mmhggm." Mei Ling was obviously not paying attention.
"Meeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiii Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggg…." Fah Ren moaned. "You've gotta get up! Xiao's plane leaves in an hour and a half, so we don't exactly have enough time for you to—"
"What?!" Suddenly wide-awake, the young Chinese girl grabbed her cousin by the shoulders and shook her violently for no apparent reason that Fah Ren could comprehend. "What do you mean his plane leaves in an hour and a half?!"
Fah Ren tried to say something, but it came out as 'glrk.'
"ANSWER ME!" She shrieked, shaking her even more forcefully. "YOU'D BETTER NOT BE SERIOUS ABOUT—"
"I am serious!" Fah Ren wailed pathetically, finally managing to get something out, "You can even look on the ticket if you want—" Mei Ling dropped her abruptly onto the floor, losing all interest in abusing her cousin. "Owwww…that hurt."
"Why didn't you tell me that it was leaving today?!?" She screeched. "I'm not packed! I haven't showered since yesterday! And what in the seven hells am I supposed to tell my mother? I can't just get up and leave and old time I want to!" Well, losing all interest in physically abusing her, anyway.
"You never asked us when the plane left." Fah Ren pointed out from her position on the floor. "Besides, you can just tell Auntie Chao that…um…you have to go shopping."
"Who knows how long I'm gonna be gone; it could take me anywhere from three days to three years to get Xiao and Sakura together! What do you want me to do, tell her I got lost on the way back from the mall!?!"
"You're panicking, Mei Ling."
"I AM NOT PANICKING!"
"You do realize that this is not helping the situation in any way, shape or form." Her relative responded easily enough, considering the fact that she felt mildly deaf in the ear closest to Mei Ling. "If you want to pull this off, you'd better get going right now; if you want to take a shower I'll get everybody else to get the charm ready for Xiao."
"Fine." Mei Ling scowled, obviously not completely satisfied with this answer. "Wait. Charm? What charm? Do I even want to know about this charm thingy?" She asked suddenly, feeling the edges of her calm being eaten away by a massive panic attack.
"Oh, it's nothing bad," she reassured her. "Just the charm to get him off the plane."
"Okay." Mei Ling placated herself once again, only to instantly be swamped by another wave of apprehension. "Hold on…how am I gonna get him off the plane with this thing if I don't have any magic?"
"We went over this already, Mei Ling…you don't need magic to activate it. Just the proper incantation."
"Riiight. I remember that."
"Uh-huh. Just go get yourself ready."
"I do remember—hey! LISTEN TO ME!"
***
It was still raining.
I scowled out the window absentmindedly, half listening to Mr. Terada as my hand automatically copied down his charts on the board. It was almost three o'clock and the rain kept pouring steadily down, and it didn't show any signs of stopping in the near future…which meant that cheerleading practice was canceled for sure.
Crap.
I turned back to the front of the classroom, pointedly ignoring the pitter-pattering of the drops as they hit the window. Maybe if I pretended it wasn't happening it would go away, and then I wouldn't get soaking wet on the way home. And maybe when I get home, I thought wryly, Syaoran will be standing there with a big ol' bouquet of flowers and a kiss for me too. Right, Sakura. You keep on dreaming. I sighed, trying not to become immersed in my miserable thoughts. Hey, think positive; at least it's not a thunderstorm.
BOOMrumblerumblerumble…
Aww man…I glared at nothing in particular, the storm that had been brewing the whole day finally starting its miserable little tirade. I resisted the urge to yell at it, reminding myself that it was just a bunch of clouds, and therefore couldn't understand me anyway.
***
Mei Ling felt like kicking something.
It was 3:02, she was packed, showered, she had managed to throw some clothes in a suitcase for Xiao, and her cousins were still working on the stupid charm.
"Are you done now?" She asked gazing at the wall in a somewhat dazed stupor. All five of the girls were gathered in She Fa's bedroom, along with Xiao (he had been shoved hastily underneath the bed) and the luggage. Mei Ling was currently lounging on a couch, staring at the wall across from her and periodically asking if they were done yet.
"No." Fah Ren said patiently, never taking her eyes off the pendant in front of her. "Hey, cuz—Tomoyo did agree to help us, right? We never really asked…"
"Yeah. She's gonna pick us up at the airport at eight…shit."
"What's your problem?" Fuu Tie questioned, furrowing her brow as she did something tricky with her hands.
The girl groaned. "I told her the plane was gonna arrive at eight o'clock tomorrow night."
"Now why on earth would you do a silly thing like that?" Fei Mei sounded distinctly amused. Mei Ling wanted to smack her across the face, but managed to quell the urge because she had the nasty feeling if she disturbed the spellwork that Fei Mei was doing she would probably be turned into a rabbit.
"I thought the plane was leaving at six, thanks to some very helpful misinformation from you idiots." She retorted irritably. "Now I have to go call her again and tell her the right time. And day."
"It arrives at six." She Fa informed her cousin, picking up the pendant—a large green stone in the shape of a crescent moon—and hung it on a metal chain.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." She blinked once, and then looked at her cousin in askance. "You're done?"
"Yeah." The older girl carefully deposited the necklace in Mei Ling's hands. "Here you go. Make sure you don't use it 'til you're off the plan, mmkay?"
"I just have one question."
"And what's that?" She Fa asked.
"How do I make it work?"
***
"Tomoyo!" Sakura called, shoving her shoes into her locker hastily as thunder rumbled overhead, "Wait for me!" [AN: For the sake of this story I'm assuming that Sakura's school is let out at three. Mmkay? Mmkay! Go team!]
"All right." The dark-haired girl agreed, stopping and waiting patiently for her friend by the door. "Do you need a ride home?" She asked, casting a glance out the glass windowpane at the rainy mess.
"That would be great." Sakura said fervently, hitching her backpack up on her shoulders. "I was hoping it wouldn't starting storming really bad until I was back home, but I guess my luck ran out. Oh! I forgot. Dad's working late tonight and Touya isn't going to be home until seven, so I was kinda hoping I could stay over at your house until about six thirty or so…"
"That should be-" Tomoyo frowned in mid-sentence, cutting herself off. Reaching into her backpack she pulled out a cell phone—which was vibrating like mad—flipped it open and held it up to her ear. "Hello?" Curious, Sakura hovered near her friend and mouthed 'Who is it?' to which Tomoyo simply smiled and made a shushing noise. She pointed to the door, making it clear that she wanted Sakura to stay there and wandered over next to the rows of lockers to gain some privacy.
Tomoyo mostly listened to the person on the other end, occasionally nodding and making noises of agreement. After what seemed an eternity to Sakura, but in reality was actually only a few minutes she snapped the phone shut and walked back over to her friend, a somewhat evil gleam in her eye. "I'm sorry, Sakura." She said, looking very sorry indeed—perhaps she had imagined that evil gleam? "Mother just called and told me about a meeting I have to go to this afternoon, and it's not done until seven thirty, so I guess you coming over is out of the question. I can still give you a ride home, though…"
Sakura sighed. "Thanks, Tomoyo. Maybe I'll come over tomorrow."
Tomoyo smiled in a way that revealed all of her pretty white teeth. "That would be lovely."
***
"Hello?" Tomoyo's voice said, sounding slightly altered and impersonalized.
"Hi. This is Mei Ling. Ummm…about the plane…I was wrong. Syaoran's stupid sisters didn't tell me the right date or time, so it actually leaves at four today and gets to Tomoeda at six." She realized she was babbling when Fah Ren gave her an odd look from the front seat, but plowed on ahead. "So…yeah. That's not a problem, is it?"
"No, no. It's fine." The Japanese girl reassured her, her voice crackling faintly over the phone.
"Oh good." Mei Ling breathed a sigh of relief. "This is the last time I ever rely on my cousins for information without checking it first. Geez."
"You do realize we're sitting in the same car as you are, right?" She Fa said huffily, turning her head slightly to deliver a reproachful glare at Mei Ling. She had been elected as driver by Mei Ling, who quite frankly didn't trust any of her other cousins in behind the wheel; generally, She Fa was the most practical and level headed and she was much more preferable to, say, Fei Mei, who had failed her driver's test thirty-two times.
"Keep your eyes on the road." She responded, waving her hand in a 'shoo shoo' kind of way. "I don't wanna end up in a ditch because you weren't paying attention to where you were going."
"I don't want to hear that kind of cheek from you. Respect your elders, dammit!"
Mei Ling said something that would have gotten her banned from most preschools, sending the other four girls into gales of laughter. She ignored this. "Sorry. There's not a cure for stupidity so usually I just pretend they're not here and mostly it works. I'll call you when the plane arrives, okay? Bye." She hit the 'end' button on the cell phone and shut it—or would have, at least, if the phone hadn't decided to stick, nearly causing Mei Ling to snap it in half.
The foursome once again burst into giggles, causing the car to swerve alarmingly. Mei Ling yelped in surprise, said a few words that one probably wouldn't want to use in front of one's grandmother, and fell forward only to stop jarringly as the seatbelt locked. Blinking rather stupidly at it, she said something else as equally dirty as the first and then pushed herself back into an upright position.
Fuu Tie sniggered. "If stupidity is a disease then it must be spreading…"
Mei Ling threw the phone at her head.
***
"Bye Tomoyo!" I called, waving to my friend from my porch as she pulled away in her limousine, and if I squinted I could see her hand waving back at me through the dark windowpane. Sighing as the car pulled around the bend and disappeared, I unlocked the door and stepped inside, announcing loudly that I was home as I took off my shoes.
"Hey, Sakura!" Kero said cheerfully, zooming in from the kitchen and hovering around my head. "What're ya doin' home so early? I thought you had cheerleadin' practice today."
"Haven't you noticed the rain?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I headed upstairs to my room. "It was canceled."
"Oh." He said intelligently, flying ahead of me and hovering every now and then so I could catch up. "Well, where were ya this mornin' then? I thought you'd been kidnapped or somethin'—nearly scared me half to death wakin' up to see that you were already gone."
"Hahaha. Very funny, Kero. For you information, I woke up early." I informed him with a hint of pride.
Kero abruptly burst into hysterical laughter, falling out of the air to roll around on the ground in front of me clutching his stomach.
This continued for several minutes.
I began to feel mildly insulted.
"No, seriously Sakura, where were ya?" He wheezed, pushing himself up into an upright position, his eyes crinkled at the edges and seeming as if he was trying very hard not to go back to rolling around on the floor again.
"I wasn't joking, Kero." I said very stiffly, opening the door to my room and stepping inside. When there was silence instead of the expected cry of disbelief, I turned back to see the Guardian Beast sitting where I had left him in the floor looking as if I had just announced that I was his grandmother and was getting married to my alarm clock.
"Kero?"
Crickets chirruped in the background and a breeze floated through my room, whistling eerily.
"….Keeeeeeeeerooooooooo…."
No response.
Experimentally, I shut the door in his face, waited for five seconds and then opened it again. Nothing had changed; Kero was still sitting in the middle of the hallway like a piece of furniture. Shrugging to myself, I shut the door again and made my way over to my desk, pulled out one of the drawers and took out a few sheets of stationary. I had received a letter from Eriol a couple of days before (it had vividly described an interesting morning he had experienced involving Nakuru, Suppi, three gallons of milk, twenty-four pairs of socks and a teaspoon of sugar) and since there was nothing else to do and I wanted to know how everyone was doing back in merry old England anyway, I pulled out a pencil and set it carefully against the top of the paper.
Dear Eriol,
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG!!"
There was suddenly a very loud shriek from outside my door as Kero realized I had locked it and began to bang his tiny fists against it, howling at me all the while.
"THIS AIN'T FUNNY, SAKURA! LET ME IN!!"
Grinning to myself—served him right for laughing at me—I ignored him and continued my letter, having the distinct feeling that Eriol would be very proud of me.
"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKUUURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
***
Alrighty here, ya. Next chapter is about halfway finished at this point in time, so if I'm not a lazy bitch like I usually am it'll be posted next weekend. Please keep in mind that I am probably lying about this and no bananas will be hurt.
Stargirl-rebels – Thanks, m'dear! I tend to think I'm funny but people don't always agree with me because my sense of humor tends to be a bit off-kilter, so it's nice to know I'm not just amusing myself. The random Shrek quote is from the beginning of the movie, you know, the 'Really?' 'Really really' one. It's somewhere between the middle and the end of the chapter; I can't remember exactly where.
Alpha Draconis – It's possible. You would have to ask them, though. They'd probably agree, but that's not really the point.BlakBluNailPolish45 - ::cackles:: Oh, I've got lots and lots of things planned for that little scene. In fact, its one of the few parts of this that hasn't changed at all during the many plot revisions and when it finally gets posted I hope you'll like it.
Cherri Ookami – You get double brownie points for reviewing both o' my chapters. I'm glad I can keep you entertained :D
Miss Qui Chen – Wah. No brooms. Poe will be a good girl and update the next chapter soon. Seriously though, your reviews always have the side effect of turning me into a great big happy pile of goo that wibbles around my house humming to itself, much to the disgust of my mother. And continuing 'Happily Ever After' was the best way to make me want to write as well, you evil calculating fiend. I loff you so.
sayura – Yes, IDD (my compy) is feeling much better now, although he still refuses to let my LOTR game work. I'll do my best to update faster from now on as well, so no worries. Hakuna Matata, my friend.
SAKURABLOOM – Mei Ling is going to have quite the potty mouth in upcoming chapters, so although it's PG-10 right now it'll become PG-13 later on. I'm just thinking ahead for once :D Although I never actually stated it anywhere (that I can remember, at least) this is an S+S story. I just really like Mei Ling and Syaoran's sisters a lot, so it may seem a bit more focused on them for a while until they get to Japan.
katana-chan – I'm happy to see you like it! Yeah, Syaoran's sisters are complete nutters, but since we're not given a lot of information about them besides the fact that they like cute things, I partially based them off my own sisters. Shhh, don't tell anyone!
That's all for now, folks!
Oh, and llama.