He hunched. It was the first thing Meilin noticed. He was taller than she was, but he did not carry himself well at all. So as he helped her bring her bags to the door an idea formed to find out just how tall he was. She smiled, and "stumbled" a bit. He dropped her bags and shot out his hands to grasp her shoulders, even as he angled his body away.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Meilin patted his hands and looked up, "I'm so clumsy!" he was at least a head taller than she was. And Meilin knew she was tall for a girl.

Tomoyo smiled from behind her camera, and gave Meilin a silent applause.

"No problem." Yuki took the bags up to the door and set them down. On his way back down the path he stopped and looked down at Meilin. "Just be more careful in the future." He looked like he was about to say more when a mop of bark brown hair turned the corner into the walkway.

"Syaoran!" Meilin ran down the sidewalk and jumped into Li's waiting arms. He'd finally learned that wherever they were, Meilin was going to pounce, so he might as well be braced and waiting. She wrapped her long limbs around his waist and neck and savored the familiar feeling of safety. She grinned at Sakura over Li's shoulder and hugged him tighter. Sakura chuckled, steady in the relationship Li had with his ex-fiance, and in the friendship the two girls shared. Li let her hold on to him for a full thirty seconds before he realized he couldn't breath. He tapped her on the shoulder and choked out a protest.

"Oh! Sorry Syaoran." Meilin jumped off and brushed the wrinkles from his t-shirt. Li let the faint blushes fade from his cheeks before he bent over and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Welcome home Meilin." he held out his hand behind him to catch Sakura's, and draped a long limb over Meilin's shoulder to maneuver her toward the door.

"Thanks. I can't believe my mother let me come without Wei though, but he said I was old enough for a trip without an aging chaperone. I think he was getting tired of me bugging him."

"Ah, Meilin, you never bug, you are the soul of compromise and discretion." Li joked. Meilin looked at him oddly as he unlocked the door and let her inside first.

"Japan must be good for you." She muttered, "Your cracking jokes, and smiles at the same time!"

"Yes, Meilin, I'm training him to make use of his sense of humor. It is working well, when it works." Sakura joked with Meilin, Li just stood and let them rag on him. He was just happy to have the two girls he depended on the most with him at the same time. For some reason it now felt that he was surrounded by family.


Tomoyo watched through the view finder as Meilin lept onto Syaoran, but then swiveled the lense back toward Yuki. His face was set in an impressive stone line. But his eyes were incredibly sad. As the others started joking she walked to Yuki and turned off the camera.

"You know, when they were little Meilin and Syaoran-kun made a promise that if they didn't find anyone they loved more than each other, then they would get married. When Li found Sakura, Meilin didn't take it well at first, but she understood that Sakura and Li belonged together."

"They are very lucky." Yuki muttered, "To have a friend like Meilin."

"I didn't take it as well." Tomoyo admitted with a small smile. "I love Sakura very much, and I was resentful when Li showed up and took her away from me." Yuki looked down at the dark haired girl and blinked.

"How did you get over it?" he surprised himself by asking.

"I took a deep look inside myself and realized that more than anything, I wanted Sakura to be happy. And if Li is the one she is meant for, who truly makes her happy, then I can step aside and let them be happy together." Sakura looked out the door and gestured for them to join the others. Tomoyo acknowledged with a nod.

"That is very wise Tomoyo-chan." Yuki looked up at the sky. The clouds were fluffy in a light blue sky, it was a beautiful day.

"It works…" she took a deep breath and took hold of Yuki's hand, "Sometimes it still hurts though… Come in for tea, Meilin may not be able to bake a cake to save her life, but she makes an awesome pot of tea."