Songfic by: Madam Flutterby
DISCLAIMER :: although
many of us wish, we all know that neither you nor i own CCS. lucky CLAMP…
therefore- do not sue me cuz i only have 5 cents… HOWEVER- i do own one
character and you'll know which one she is cuz when you run across her you'll
jus be thinking "who the hell is that?" (unless you've read the first chapter
of He Said He Loved Me… then you should be a little familiar with her)
awright… on with the show…
============================
The last bell at Seijou High School rang,
signaling the end of most afternoon activities. Sakura met up with Meiling as
they headed over to the bus stop with their friend Fei.
"So, you headin' over to
Le Chat Noir later on?" Sakura asked Meiling as they got onto the bus home.
"Yeah, it's open mic
tonight, right?" Meiling delicately nibbled on a Pocky and offered one to
Sakura.
"Uh-huh. Why? Are you
going to perform?" Fei got onto the bus and sat next to them.
"Nah. Just wondering, cuz
there's a song I just figured out on the guitar for Tomoyo and she wanted to
sing it while I played." Meiling had been playing the guitar for awhile and had
gotten quite good at it. Luckily, she had matured quite a lot since she and the
rest were little and didn't flaunt it.
"You told everyone else
right? Cuz I'm just gonna die if no one shows up tonight." Fei was getting
quite nervous.
"Don't worry, Fei! Opening
night will be a hit! I promise you! Syaoran, Yamazaki and Eriol got to everyone
on the soccer, basketball and tennis team. Tomoyo-chan got the choir,
Rikka-chan told the home ec club, Naoko-chan the writing club, and Chiharu-chan
and I told the cheerleading squad. Besides, the only way anyone could not
want to come is if they've got a cold and couldn't smell your baked goods from
a mile away," Sakura assured her. And it was true- Fei had actually been kicked
out of the home ec club because her baking was too good. It wasn't stated
officially, but when the other girls started to get uncomfortable around Fei,
she got the message and left. Her parting wasn't on rocky terms, however, and
happily helped out other girls (and sometimes guys) with their cooking, baking,
and whatnot. When Rikka couldn't convince her to come back, she helped Fei
start Le Chat Noir.
"Well, quit your worrying,
Fei otherwise I'll get nervous! Anyway, here's my stop so I'll catch up
with you guys in a couple hours. Ja!" Meiling got off the bus and into
Syaoran's apartment as Sakura and Fei waved.
============================
As she ran up the stairs, she thought about the
song she'd just told Sakura and Fei about and started regretting that she had
told them about it. Especially considering which song it was.
"Oh well, no use in
stopping it now. Just hope that Tomoyo didn't suddenly get laryngitis and lose
her voice." Meiling thought to herself. She headed for the bathroom and ran a
hot bubble bath. She stripped out of her school girl uniform and stepped into
the bath to unwind.
Ding-Dong
"Wei-san, can you get
that?" Meiling closed her eyes and imagined the music in her head.
Ding-Dong
"Damnit… on all the
afternoons to go grocery shopping." Meiling stood up and put on her bathrobe
and walked to the door and opened it.
"Sorry, forgot my keys."
Syaoran walked in with his soccer uniform still on. He took off his shoes and
combed his fingers through his hair in a way that would just make you stare
with your mouth open like an idiot.
"No prob. You told the
guys about tonight, right?" Meiling interrogated in an attempt to cover up her
awe, though she already knew the answer.
"Uh-huh. Half those guys
would marry her just for her cooking." Syaoran headed for his room.
"Plus- she's not so bad
looking!" Yamazaki popped out of nowhere.
"Oy- I'm telling
Chiharu-chan." Meiling glared. Syaoran walked back out of his room in a pair of
jeans and a green (surprise, surprise) shirt.
"Just kidding! Ha ha ha ha
ha ha!" Yamazaki scooted to the side and sat on the couch, "Li-kun, I forgot to
give something to you." Yamazaki bent down and pulled something out of his bag,
"From Kinomoto." Yamazaki threw the package and Meiling caught it.
"Geez, would you at least
open your eyes when you throw? Syaoran's over there." Meiling pointed to
behind Yamazaki --'
"So what is it?" Yamazaki
asked.
"Cake." Syaoran said
smiling as he opened the package. Meiling took a step back, "U-um… just call me
before you leave, okay?" she didn't wait for an answer and headed straight back
for the bathroom. She stepped back into the bathtub and sighed, "I know I can't
compete, but does he have to make it that obvious?" Meiling was in the
bathroom for another half hour when the water started to get cold. She drained
the water and went to her room while Syaoran and Yamazaki were in the living
room eating cake.
============================
Her eyes fell on a stuffed black cat on her bed and got an idea. She rummaged through her drawer and at last pulled out a pair of scissors, a black headband and a sewing kit.
"Now, this might hurt a little bit." Meiling took the cat by its head and cut off the ears and sewed them onto the headband.
============================ "Hmm…are we trying out to be Cat Woman?" Yamazaki said as he caught sight of Meiling.
"Sugoi! Meiling-chan you're so kawaii!" Sakura said in her usual bubbly voice.
"Ah, Sakura-chan! I thought we were just going to meet there!" Meiling said in surprise. You could say she was a little jealous at the same time since next to Sakura, Meiling just looked like every other girl.
"Well, let's go, we're gonna be late." Syaoran grabbed his keys from the key holder and picked up Meiling's guitar case.
"Ah, ah, ah. No touch." Meiling grabbed (more like stopped the circulation to) Syaoran's wrist and took her guitar. (If Tomoyo were here she would go, "Ohohohohohoho!")
============================ "Fei-chan! This place is bitchin'!" Sakura heard someone say as she approached Fei at the counter, "Wow! The place is packed!"
"I know! Isn't it great? Thank goodness I got Rikka and the others helping me out. CRASH Crap… Tomoyo! There's a spill at table five. Could you clean it up for me?" Fei said to Tomoyo. Tomoyo gave a thumbs up and scurried over. Meiling noticed that when she got to the table, Tomoyo scribbled something on a piece of paper and gave it to the customer, who nodded and went to the counter, "Um, that girl over there told me to come here."
"That's right. You broke a glass so you can either chose to pay for it or sing a random karaoke song." Fei said smiling.
"How much is the glass?" Tomoyo walked by and happily handed a piece of paper to the customer, whose eyes bulged, "I think I'll take the song." The customer accidentally bumped into Meiling ("S-sorry, Li-san") as he sheepishly walked towards the karaoke machine and set it to random (it landed on Bohemian Rhapsody).
"Wow. Harsh policy. Those glasses must have been really expensive for him to chose the song." Syaoran said.
"They're actually quote cheap, but it's funnier this way." Fei smiled.
"Yeah, plus, Fei makes them use the mic with a chip that has only really weird and hard songs on it." Rikka laughed.
"Muu… Fei that's mean," Sakura pouted.
"Hey, if you can't pay the time, don't do the crime." Fei shrugged. Everyone looked at her weird, "Uh… English expression. It means that if you can't fine, don't commit the crime in the first place."
"Ohh…" everyone understood.
"Oh, Tomoyo, did you lose your voice?" Meiling finally asked.
"Yeah, the new choir director tried to force her to sing a note she usually can't nail and killed her voice in the process." Syaoran said, "Didn't you know?"
"No… oh no oh no oh no…!" Meiling sank to the floor.
"It's okay, Meiling. Deep breaths. You can still perform." Sakura said.
"No, no, no! I can't! Y-you really can't tell, but I get stage fright when I'm on stage by myself. Like, really." Meiling started to get extremely distressed.
"It's okay, Meiling, you'll be fine!" Syaoran assured her, "You're a Li, and most of all- you're my cousin. If there was only one person in here who believed that you could do it, it'd be me." Meiling looked at him, surprised.
"Here, Fei will go onstage with you and sing." Sakura said.
"What!? Are you freakin' out of your mind!?" Fei fumed.
"Hey- you're the one making people sing Bohemian Rhapsody when you know their voice range isn't that much and when they're tone deaf. Damn, I was just bout to go deaf myself when that last guy sang." Syaoran said to Fei.
"Fine, fine, fine. C'mon Meiling, brush yourself off. Now, what song is it?"
============================ "Alright everyone we got a special treat for you all tonight. The owner is going to sing for you all, accompanied by her friend, Meiling." Rikka announced at the podium, "Meiling's a lil nervous, so let's help her feel welcome, okay?"
Everyone in the café began to clap and guys whistled when Meiling walked onstage.
"We know this song's a little old, but it's one of those that just stick with you. Anyway, here we go." Fei stepped back, still holding the mic and next to Meiling, who started playing the intro.
"Dear, I fear we're facing a problem…" Meiling struggled to catch up, particularly because Fei was two measures ahead and singing too fast, "Fei, slow down a bit!" Meiling hissed but her words fell on deaf ears.
"Ýou love me no longer, I kn-" Meiling stopped playing, "I'm sorry, hang on everyone." And walked offstage, dragging Fei with her, "You- stay here and no moving till I'm done."
"Okay, where was I?" Meiling sat on the stool and positioned the microphone in front of her and started playing.
"Dear, I fear we're facing a problem
you love me no longer, I know
and lately there is nothing
that I can do to make you do.
Mama tells me I shouldn't bother
that I ought to stick to another man
a man that really deserves me
but
I think you do!
"So I cry, and I pray, and I beg
Guys
started asking girls to dance and girls started forcing their boyfriends to
slow dance with them. Meiling suddenly wasn't all that nervous and her voice
got stronger.
"Love me love me
say that you love me
fool me fool me
go on and fool me
love me love me
pretend that you love me
leave me leave me
just
say that you need me
"So I cry and I beg for you to
love me love me
say that you love me
leave me leave me
just say that you need me
I can't care 'bout anything but you...
"Lately I have desperately pondered,
spent my nights awake and I wonder
what I could have done in another way
to make you stay
Reason will not lead to solution
I will end up lost in confusion
I don't care if you really care
as long as you don't go
so I cry and I pray and I beg
Meiling's eyes scanned across the room and they landed on happy couples, couples-to-be and lastly on Syaoran and Sakura. Meiling looked at the expression on Syaoran's face and then on Sakura's and came to the realization that Syaoran only looked like that whenever Sakura was happy. Now that she noticed- Syaoran was smiling.
"love me love me
say that you love me
fool me fool me
go on and fool me
love me love me
pretend that you love me
leave me leave me
just say that you need me
Tired from looking at all the people dance, Meiling looked at the ones who weren't dancing. Especially the guys. Meiling closed her eyes and remembered what Syaoran said to her, "…and most of all- you're my cousin. If there was only one person in here who believed that you could do it, it'd be me."
"Well, if that's what he sees me as, I guess I'll just have to take it like a woman. Now that I think about it… I guess it is pretty nasty if I married my own cousin. But still…" Meiling sighed and looked at how happy Sakura and Syaoran were, "Sakura still doesn't know that… but that's still not an excuse…well, I guess if I can't have him for myself, I'll just have to help someone else get him."
Meiling started on the last verse
when she suddenly became aware of the guy from table five gazing at her. She
winked at him, causing him to blush.
"So I cry and I pray for you to
love me love me
say that you love me
leave me leave me
just say that you need me
Her eyes didn't leave the guy so he would know that the last line was for him.
Now I won't care 'bout anything but you..."
============================:: Notes ::
Okay yeah… I started writing this because Love Fool is one of my favorite songs. I was listening to it while I was reading fanfics and I realized, "Hey, this sounds like something Meiling would sing." And voila. The result is the above. Sorry it wasn't all that good. I tend to sidetrack. Plus I wrote this entire thing in like three hours. If you didn't like Fei, too bad cuz she's shows up in my other fic (He Said He Loved Me) and she's gonna be in another one later on. Lucky for you, her existence ends there.
And yeah, I know screwed with some of their personalities. It was either that or do a crossover and I'm not particularly too fond of those.
:: Moral of the Story ::
when
one door closes, another opens
… but- sometimes we stare at the closed door for so long
that we don't notice the other opening