My Little Wolf
By SibylSofiana
A/N: Sorry about the posting delay, we've been a little busy lately. (Ever painted a house before? Well, it's not as easy as just slathering the paint on!)
Greetings to Kyaa Kitty, pinketernity, maixwolfblossom, and hello again to AmericanGirl1114 Kawaii Syaoran, and Star Silver Fox! Thanks for the reviews, June6! We really appreciate it!
Chapter Five
Xiao Lang Gets Engaged
If his sisters were a pain in the ass, there was another girl Xiao Lang's age that gave him a different kind of trouble.
~o~o~o~o~
Mei Ling was Aunt Mai's daughter with Cousin Deng. Li Deng's family had just come back to Hongkong after five years in the mainland, where Mei Ling was born.
Li Deng was indifferent to a girl child, while Peng Mai was overly critical of her child's looks and non-magic status. However, she largely ignored the girl and left her with her nannies, who gave her everything she wanted just so she would stop crying.
Mei Ling would have grown up spoiled and bad-tempered if it weren't for her female Li cousins.
She was having a tantrum in the hallway one day when the sisters were passing by.
"Now, now, we can't have that pretty face all red like that, tsk, tsk," Li Chin was shaking her head and looking down at her.
"No, indeed. Come here, sweetie," crooned Yun-tsai as she crouched beside the little girl. "Here, have a cookie."
Mei Ling quit crying long enough to look at the cookie suspiciously. Yun- tsai laughed.
"It's delicious, Meimei. Even finicky Xiao-xiao likes it."
The girl finally overcame her suspicion and took a bite. She finally smiled and chattered to Yun-tsai, looking at her with big bright eyes.
"She has beautiful eyes - like red jewels..." said Shing-shing dreamily. "You think one day, she'll be engaged to Xiao Lang?"
"You've been reading too many romance novels." Fan haughtily looked Mei Ling over. The little girl, somehow knowing she was being inspected, bristled and stood up, ready to do battle, cookie in hand.
At the comical sight, Fan finally laughed.
"She reminds me of Xiao-xiao," she said grinning. "Come, squirt. Wanna climb a tree?"
~o~o~o~o~
Months and then a couple of years passed by. Yelan watched her daughters play with their little cousin. She pitied the poor girl - Peng Mai didn't even acknowledge her child's existence, as if it were the child's fault to be born non-magic and a girl.
Her eyes were drawn to another part of the courtyard, where her son was training with Wei. She could see the look of concentration on his face, and his determination to be the best.
Yelan sighed. She supposed she was pushing her son too hard. At his age, he should be running around and playing with his sisters and his cousin. But he was The Li. The Elders were watching and waiting for any sign of weakness.
She was tired of always being strong. She missed Li Yun.
"Ah, gods...am I doing the right thing?" she asked nobody in particular. As if to answer her, a slight breeze came by, caressing her cheek and blowing through her hair.
She suddenly had an idea. Mei Ling was just about Xiao Lang's age. She would take in the child for training. Fan was starting high school soon and Xiao Lang would need a sparring partner. Heaven knows Peng Mai or Cousin Deng wouldn't mind. The girl would provide Xiao Lang good company as well. They would help each other.
Smiling, she asked a passing maid to summon Wei to the Sun Room.
~o~o~o~o~
Xiao Lang was whistling on his way to the training courtyard.
There were few truly joyous days in the life of a seven-year old boy surrounded by females. Today was one of them. Fan was off to high school, and couldn't continue her martial arts training full time. Now he wouldn't have to run and fetch and get beaten up. He was The Li, for heaven's sake! He shouldn't be taking such abuse from his own sister.
Free at last!
But as he made his way to the courtyard, he saw a small figure talking to Wei. With a sinking feeling, he approached and made the necessary obeisance to his teacher.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Wei-san."
"Ah, Syaoran-sama. Meiling-sama will be joining us from now on."
He lost one sparring partner, but gained another.
Life was so unfair.
He gave her a sour look. He had never spoken to her before, because she was always with his sisters doing girly stuff, the bunch of them looking all perky and giggly that it gave him goosebumps everytime he saw them together; he usually tried to avoid them like the plague. She was dressed in red, and her hair was in pigtails. As he looked at her, she smiled shyly. Red-faced, he avoided looking at her. Another girl.
He soon cheered up. Mei Ling wouldn't beat him, she was only starting training while he had already two years headstart. Regaining his good spirits, he whistled as he warmed up
~o~o~o~o~
Despite getting his butt kicked by Mei Ling a couple of times, he got along well with her. She did chatter a lot, just like his sisters, but he did listen to her, even if it got on his nerves most of the time. He'd just nod and say, "Ahm."
He'd seen how his Aunt Mai treated her daughter, and he unconsciously made an effort to be nice to Mei Ling. He wasn't close to his own mother, but deep down he knew Li Yelan loved him and his sisters, so he was lucky.
One day, Wei and Xiao Lang met a tear-streaked Meiling in the summerhouse.
"What's wrong, Meiling?" asked Xiao Lang, concerned.
"A-auntie Yelan gave me a little bird in a c-cage, " she hiccuped. "I-I wanted to touch it, so I opened the door of the cage and it flew - aw- wway..." the last came in a wail.
Xiao Lang, after a brief hesitation, quickly made up his mind.
"Wait here, Mei Ling. I'll get it back!" turning away and running towards the gardens. It had already begun to rain, and Wei had already shouted after him, but Xiao Lang didn't hear.
Wei was waiting with Mei Ling when Xiao Lang finally showed up all soaking wet.
"Syaoran-sama, you'll get sick," chided Wei, but Xiao Lang ignored him and held out something in his cupped hands to Mei Ling.
It was her little bird, nestled in his hands. Xiao Lang had brought it back.
Mei Ling hadn't thought that Xiao Lang would be this nice to her - she was quite overwhelmed.
When she didn't take the bird from his hands, Xiao Lang was perplexed.
"Here, Mei Ling, I found it in the garden..."
Mei Ling couldn't stand it any longer, and so she ran into his arms and bawled while Wei sheltered the two of them with his umbrella.
~o~o~o~o~
It was a bad case of hero-worship and love.
Ever since Xiao Lang had retrieved the bird for her, Mei Ling had eyes for no one else but Xiao Lang. Anything Xiao Lang did, she did too, and she followed him like a sick puppy.
"Stop following me, Mei Ling!" Xiao Lang would finally say in exasperation, but she didn't leave him alone and continually trailed after him.
One day he was reading his Japanese lessons outside. As usual, Mei Ling was with him on the opposite end of the table. However, she was obviously struggling with a decision, but Xiao Lang ignored her as he concentrated on his Kanji.
After grappling a particularly tricky sentence construction, Xiao Lang suddenly looked up and was startled to see Mei Ling pointing at him.
"I will be your fiancee!" she finally declared.
Xiao Lang thought she was joking. He sincerely hoped she was. But her ruby red eyes were dead serious.
"Wha-- Mei Ling...!"
"You don't like anybody else, do you?"
"N-no, but..."
"I will be your fiancee unless you find somebody else. Agree!" Her expression was determined, her fierce ruby eyes boring into his own brown ones.
An image of a strange girl with short hair flitted across his mind. Xiao Lang simply dismissed it and finally shrugged at Mei Ling.
"Whatever."
~o~o~o~o~
So, at the age of nine Li Xiao Lang found himself engaged to Li Mei Ling.
When the sisters heard the news, there was a general outcry.
"WHAT?!?" This from Fan, who was in the process of looking for her stick. "Stop bamming me, Shing-shing."
"I'm not!" replied Shing-shing. "Mei Ling is engaged to Xiao Lang. Great Aunt told me so."
"Everybody's in uproar. Except Mother, of course. Great Aunt Zhang was practically outraged at Mei Ling's audacity. She accused Aunt Mai of engineering the whole thing," recounted Yun-tsai, who shook her head. "But the other Elders think it's a good match."
"What does Mother say to all of this?" demanded Fan, who was secretly more than fond and protective of her little brother.
"It was curious. She just said 'All in due time'" Chin replied thoughtfully. "As long as most of the Elders have no objection, it's as good as done unless he himself breaks the engagement."
"Aren't they too young?" asked Shing-shing.
"Well, he is The Li. Sooner or later the Elders would have picked out somebody for him, so he's probably better off with Mei Ling," Yun-tsai said softly.
"He probably did it for Mei Ling. He's as protective of her as we are, even if he denies it," Fan surprisingly said after a while.
"Xiao Lang has a good heart. I'm just afraid that when he finally finds the girl he loves, and breaks off the engagement, Mei Ling will be heartbroken," said Chin, while the rest of the girls agreed silently.
"Yaaah, let's stop mooning!" Fan said after a while. "Mei Ling will be able to take care of herself whether or not she marries Xiao Lang - I taught her myself! Anybody up for annoying Xiao Lang today?" Grinning, the girls all joined her in search of Xiao Lang.
~o~o~o~o~
Xiao Lang didn't realize what an uproar his agreeing to be Mei Ling's fiance had caused. He sincerely loved Mei Ling, but just like another sister. He didn't want to hurt her so he agreed to be engaged to her.
But Xiao Lang didn't tell anybody, especially Mei Ling, about a recurring dream of his. He kept dreaming about a girl with auburn hair wearing strange clothes. He couldn't see her face, just her eyes -- but he felt he knew her.
Somehow, he also knew she had something to do with the Clow Cards.
The Clow Cards. He knew everything there was to know about them and the Guardians. His Father had strongly suspected that the Cards were in Japan, and it was only a matter of time before the Cards became active again. And he planned on getting all of them back into the Clan. He knew he had to be ready.
There was also one dream that disturbed him every now and then. He kept seeing a tall, dark-haired stranger, dressed in blue and black ceremonial robes. But what confused him was that sometimes the stranger changed into a boy. He also couldn't see the stranger's face, but he knew that this was Clow Reed.
One night, after a particularly grueling day (his sisters had been particularly annoying and his Mother had been giving him rigorous magic defense training), he had awoken from a deep slumber to see the stranger standing by his bedside, holding a long staff. This time the stranger spoke to him in a gentle voice, before disappearing.
The time draws near, Little Wolf.
~o~o~o~o~
Two months before his eleventh birthday, Xiao Lang and Mei Ling were having another of their perpetual tussles in the courtyard.
"Say 'Ah!" cajoled Mei Ling, attempting to feed Xiao Lang some noodles she made.
"I don't want any, Mei Ling."
"I made it especially for you, Xiao Lang - see, it even has some shrimp!"
"Mei Ling, I don't -"
"Xiao Lang."
Upon hearing his Mother's voice, Xiao Lang stiffened and stood straight while Mei Ling looked up at her Aunt Yelan, who had come in quietly.
"The Clow Cards are active. It's time to go to Tomoeda."
*end of chapter 5*
By SibylSofiana
A/N: Sorry about the posting delay, we've been a little busy lately. (Ever painted a house before? Well, it's not as easy as just slathering the paint on!)
Greetings to Kyaa Kitty, pinketernity, maixwolfblossom, and hello again to AmericanGirl1114 Kawaii Syaoran, and Star Silver Fox! Thanks for the reviews, June6! We really appreciate it!
Chapter Five
Xiao Lang Gets Engaged
If his sisters were a pain in the ass, there was another girl Xiao Lang's age that gave him a different kind of trouble.
~o~o~o~o~
Mei Ling was Aunt Mai's daughter with Cousin Deng. Li Deng's family had just come back to Hongkong after five years in the mainland, where Mei Ling was born.
Li Deng was indifferent to a girl child, while Peng Mai was overly critical of her child's looks and non-magic status. However, she largely ignored the girl and left her with her nannies, who gave her everything she wanted just so she would stop crying.
Mei Ling would have grown up spoiled and bad-tempered if it weren't for her female Li cousins.
She was having a tantrum in the hallway one day when the sisters were passing by.
"Now, now, we can't have that pretty face all red like that, tsk, tsk," Li Chin was shaking her head and looking down at her.
"No, indeed. Come here, sweetie," crooned Yun-tsai as she crouched beside the little girl. "Here, have a cookie."
Mei Ling quit crying long enough to look at the cookie suspiciously. Yun- tsai laughed.
"It's delicious, Meimei. Even finicky Xiao-xiao likes it."
The girl finally overcame her suspicion and took a bite. She finally smiled and chattered to Yun-tsai, looking at her with big bright eyes.
"She has beautiful eyes - like red jewels..." said Shing-shing dreamily. "You think one day, she'll be engaged to Xiao Lang?"
"You've been reading too many romance novels." Fan haughtily looked Mei Ling over. The little girl, somehow knowing she was being inspected, bristled and stood up, ready to do battle, cookie in hand.
At the comical sight, Fan finally laughed.
"She reminds me of Xiao-xiao," she said grinning. "Come, squirt. Wanna climb a tree?"
~o~o~o~o~
Months and then a couple of years passed by. Yelan watched her daughters play with their little cousin. She pitied the poor girl - Peng Mai didn't even acknowledge her child's existence, as if it were the child's fault to be born non-magic and a girl.
Her eyes were drawn to another part of the courtyard, where her son was training with Wei. She could see the look of concentration on his face, and his determination to be the best.
Yelan sighed. She supposed she was pushing her son too hard. At his age, he should be running around and playing with his sisters and his cousin. But he was The Li. The Elders were watching and waiting for any sign of weakness.
She was tired of always being strong. She missed Li Yun.
"Ah, gods...am I doing the right thing?" she asked nobody in particular. As if to answer her, a slight breeze came by, caressing her cheek and blowing through her hair.
She suddenly had an idea. Mei Ling was just about Xiao Lang's age. She would take in the child for training. Fan was starting high school soon and Xiao Lang would need a sparring partner. Heaven knows Peng Mai or Cousin Deng wouldn't mind. The girl would provide Xiao Lang good company as well. They would help each other.
Smiling, she asked a passing maid to summon Wei to the Sun Room.
~o~o~o~o~
Xiao Lang was whistling on his way to the training courtyard.
There were few truly joyous days in the life of a seven-year old boy surrounded by females. Today was one of them. Fan was off to high school, and couldn't continue her martial arts training full time. Now he wouldn't have to run and fetch and get beaten up. He was The Li, for heaven's sake! He shouldn't be taking such abuse from his own sister.
Free at last!
But as he made his way to the courtyard, he saw a small figure talking to Wei. With a sinking feeling, he approached and made the necessary obeisance to his teacher.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Wei-san."
"Ah, Syaoran-sama. Meiling-sama will be joining us from now on."
He lost one sparring partner, but gained another.
Life was so unfair.
He gave her a sour look. He had never spoken to her before, because she was always with his sisters doing girly stuff, the bunch of them looking all perky and giggly that it gave him goosebumps everytime he saw them together; he usually tried to avoid them like the plague. She was dressed in red, and her hair was in pigtails. As he looked at her, she smiled shyly. Red-faced, he avoided looking at her. Another girl.
He soon cheered up. Mei Ling wouldn't beat him, she was only starting training while he had already two years headstart. Regaining his good spirits, he whistled as he warmed up
~o~o~o~o~
Despite getting his butt kicked by Mei Ling a couple of times, he got along well with her. She did chatter a lot, just like his sisters, but he did listen to her, even if it got on his nerves most of the time. He'd just nod and say, "Ahm."
He'd seen how his Aunt Mai treated her daughter, and he unconsciously made an effort to be nice to Mei Ling. He wasn't close to his own mother, but deep down he knew Li Yelan loved him and his sisters, so he was lucky.
One day, Wei and Xiao Lang met a tear-streaked Meiling in the summerhouse.
"What's wrong, Meiling?" asked Xiao Lang, concerned.
"A-auntie Yelan gave me a little bird in a c-cage, " she hiccuped. "I-I wanted to touch it, so I opened the door of the cage and it flew - aw- wway..." the last came in a wail.
Xiao Lang, after a brief hesitation, quickly made up his mind.
"Wait here, Mei Ling. I'll get it back!" turning away and running towards the gardens. It had already begun to rain, and Wei had already shouted after him, but Xiao Lang didn't hear.
Wei was waiting with Mei Ling when Xiao Lang finally showed up all soaking wet.
"Syaoran-sama, you'll get sick," chided Wei, but Xiao Lang ignored him and held out something in his cupped hands to Mei Ling.
It was her little bird, nestled in his hands. Xiao Lang had brought it back.
Mei Ling hadn't thought that Xiao Lang would be this nice to her - she was quite overwhelmed.
When she didn't take the bird from his hands, Xiao Lang was perplexed.
"Here, Mei Ling, I found it in the garden..."
Mei Ling couldn't stand it any longer, and so she ran into his arms and bawled while Wei sheltered the two of them with his umbrella.
~o~o~o~o~
It was a bad case of hero-worship and love.
Ever since Xiao Lang had retrieved the bird for her, Mei Ling had eyes for no one else but Xiao Lang. Anything Xiao Lang did, she did too, and she followed him like a sick puppy.
"Stop following me, Mei Ling!" Xiao Lang would finally say in exasperation, but she didn't leave him alone and continually trailed after him.
One day he was reading his Japanese lessons outside. As usual, Mei Ling was with him on the opposite end of the table. However, she was obviously struggling with a decision, but Xiao Lang ignored her as he concentrated on his Kanji.
After grappling a particularly tricky sentence construction, Xiao Lang suddenly looked up and was startled to see Mei Ling pointing at him.
"I will be your fiancee!" she finally declared.
Xiao Lang thought she was joking. He sincerely hoped she was. But her ruby red eyes were dead serious.
"Wha-- Mei Ling...!"
"You don't like anybody else, do you?"
"N-no, but..."
"I will be your fiancee unless you find somebody else. Agree!" Her expression was determined, her fierce ruby eyes boring into his own brown ones.
An image of a strange girl with short hair flitted across his mind. Xiao Lang simply dismissed it and finally shrugged at Mei Ling.
"Whatever."
~o~o~o~o~
So, at the age of nine Li Xiao Lang found himself engaged to Li Mei Ling.
When the sisters heard the news, there was a general outcry.
"WHAT?!?" This from Fan, who was in the process of looking for her stick. "Stop bamming me, Shing-shing."
"I'm not!" replied Shing-shing. "Mei Ling is engaged to Xiao Lang. Great Aunt told me so."
"Everybody's in uproar. Except Mother, of course. Great Aunt Zhang was practically outraged at Mei Ling's audacity. She accused Aunt Mai of engineering the whole thing," recounted Yun-tsai, who shook her head. "But the other Elders think it's a good match."
"What does Mother say to all of this?" demanded Fan, who was secretly more than fond and protective of her little brother.
"It was curious. She just said 'All in due time'" Chin replied thoughtfully. "As long as most of the Elders have no objection, it's as good as done unless he himself breaks the engagement."
"Aren't they too young?" asked Shing-shing.
"Well, he is The Li. Sooner or later the Elders would have picked out somebody for him, so he's probably better off with Mei Ling," Yun-tsai said softly.
"He probably did it for Mei Ling. He's as protective of her as we are, even if he denies it," Fan surprisingly said after a while.
"Xiao Lang has a good heart. I'm just afraid that when he finally finds the girl he loves, and breaks off the engagement, Mei Ling will be heartbroken," said Chin, while the rest of the girls agreed silently.
"Yaaah, let's stop mooning!" Fan said after a while. "Mei Ling will be able to take care of herself whether or not she marries Xiao Lang - I taught her myself! Anybody up for annoying Xiao Lang today?" Grinning, the girls all joined her in search of Xiao Lang.
~o~o~o~o~
Xiao Lang didn't realize what an uproar his agreeing to be Mei Ling's fiance had caused. He sincerely loved Mei Ling, but just like another sister. He didn't want to hurt her so he agreed to be engaged to her.
But Xiao Lang didn't tell anybody, especially Mei Ling, about a recurring dream of his. He kept dreaming about a girl with auburn hair wearing strange clothes. He couldn't see her face, just her eyes -- but he felt he knew her.
Somehow, he also knew she had something to do with the Clow Cards.
The Clow Cards. He knew everything there was to know about them and the Guardians. His Father had strongly suspected that the Cards were in Japan, and it was only a matter of time before the Cards became active again. And he planned on getting all of them back into the Clan. He knew he had to be ready.
There was also one dream that disturbed him every now and then. He kept seeing a tall, dark-haired stranger, dressed in blue and black ceremonial robes. But what confused him was that sometimes the stranger changed into a boy. He also couldn't see the stranger's face, but he knew that this was Clow Reed.
One night, after a particularly grueling day (his sisters had been particularly annoying and his Mother had been giving him rigorous magic defense training), he had awoken from a deep slumber to see the stranger standing by his bedside, holding a long staff. This time the stranger spoke to him in a gentle voice, before disappearing.
The time draws near, Little Wolf.
~o~o~o~o~
Two months before his eleventh birthday, Xiao Lang and Mei Ling were having another of their perpetual tussles in the courtyard.
"Say 'Ah!" cajoled Mei Ling, attempting to feed Xiao Lang some noodles she made.
"I don't want any, Mei Ling."
"I made it especially for you, Xiao Lang - see, it even has some shrimp!"
"Mei Ling, I don't -"
"Xiao Lang."
Upon hearing his Mother's voice, Xiao Lang stiffened and stood straight while Mei Ling looked up at her Aunt Yelan, who had come in quietly.
"The Clow Cards are active. It's time to go to Tomoeda."
*end of chapter 5*