The dinner past without much incident, Toya slapped Kyo's hand once for trying to turn his own meal, but other than that the boys behaved themselves. Tohru and Meilin chatted like old friends, trying to get the boys into the conversation, but neither cousin was going to do more than grunt so they gave up. More than once Meilin was struck by how caring and nice Tohru was, it was easy to see why both boys liked her so much. But she noticed, that while Kyo always sounded slightly defensive around Tohru,Yuki always sounded like he was giving a lecture. Yuki acted more like a big brother, though she was sure he thought differently. It was a small reassurance, but it did make her feel better about her own feelings toward the boy. At first she thought she'd have to make him face up to the reality that Tohru liked Kyo, which was obvious to her eyes. But during the dinner she realized that she only had to open his eyes to his own feelings of the girl. It took a huge weight off her mind. Not that she was in love with the boy herself, but she couldn't even date him if he thought he loved another girl.

Kyo watched the wheels in Meilin's mind turn. Not literally, but the girl was obviously scheming something. After they paid for dinner and started walking out Tohru turned to Yuki and bit her lip nervously.

"What is it Honda-san?" Yuki asked kindly.

"Well, I don't think Meilin should walk home alone…"

"It's ok Tohru, I can defend myself." Meilin replied proudly, knowing that now Yuki was stuck walking her home anyway.

"But its dark now, and… well… there are weirdo's around here… right Kyo?" she remembered Shigure telling her about the sicko's who prowled along the woods outside the house when she first moved in. Then she blushed remembering how she smacked Kyo with her briefcase that one time thinking he was one of them.

"I'll walk you home anyway." Yuki turned with Meilin when they reached the corner and left Tohru and Kyo to go the other direction. It gave him a slight pang to know that Kyo was taking care of Tohru, which he thought was his job, basically since she started living with them. He got a little nervous whenever he couldn't keep an eye on her.

"She'll be fine Yuki-san. Kyo won't let anything harm her." Meilin smirked. The boy was as clear as glass.

"Excuse me?" he was shocked from his musings.

"Kyo won't let anything harm Tohru, he'd protect her with his life, as you would." Meilin linked her hands behind her back and turned her head to watch him as he tried to fumble for an excuse. "Its cute."

"I just wouldn't want anything to happen to her. She's had more grief in her life than anyone really should."

"She told me about her mother. She sounds like she was a very nice person."

"According to Tohru there is no one better." Yuki nodded, "and from what I've seen of Tohru, its true."

"She also told me her mother used to be in a gang." Meilin laughed when Yuki coughed and didn't comment. "Its ok, it sounds exciting. Kind of like an adventure, like Sakuras cards."

"Now the cards…" Yuki paused, unsure of how to phrase the question.

"You want to know if they're real or if Kyo was just having you on."

"Well…"

"They're real Yuki, completely, one hundred percent real." As they got closer to the house Meilin noticed that Sakura's skates were still leaning against the porch railing. "If you want we can ask Sakura if she wants to give a demo."

"Ahh… I wouldn't want to impose…" Yuki started to back away, realizing that they were nearing her house.

"Don't be silly." Meilin scolded, grabbed his hand and started forward. She paused for a second as his hand closed over hers, they paused and swallowed at the same time their eyes met. She stepped toward him, he stepped toward her… and the street light above them blinked out.

"Maybe…"

"Come on, she'll show off." Meilin dropped his hand but didn't move. He didn't move but let his hand drop to his side.

"I should go."

"No. Stay."

"Ok."


Li decided that the best place for a demonstration was the gardens in the back yard. The space was open and there was less chance of anything being broken by the mischievous cards. Sakura was their master, but that didn't mean they didn't still have a playful side.

"Maybe FLOWER?" Sakura asked Syaoran.

"She doesn't like it at night though."

"Right… ummm… OH! I know!" Sakura laughed and pulled Yuki into the middle of the clearing with her. He looked down at her and put his hands into his pocket.

"What's going on?"

"Trust me, you'll love this." Meilin yelled from the side of the clearing, where Syaoran joined her. Casually he placed his arm over her shoulder and gave her a slight squeeze. Since he and Sakura had started dating he'd gotten much better at the casual show of affection. It was something that Meilin appreciated coming from him, who was so hard to gauge in his emotions. He was having fun showing off to Yuki, and he wanted to let Meilin know it. So she smiled and rested her arm around his narrow hips in a kind of half hug. Yuki noticed the by play as Sakura tucked her hand into a large pocket and pulled out a pink backed card. He frowned slightly as Meilin squeezed Li back. He fleetingly wished he could do that… he blinked at the thought, but before he could fully analyze it he realized that Sakura was muttering under her breath and holding the card ahead of her with the thin side toward her face. As she muttered he shivered, the air around them grew cold and a faint blue glow stretched along the ground. If he had magic in his blood beyond the curse he would have seen a bright magic circle on the ground that stretched from the girls feet and out in a perfect circle with symbols and incantations of protection etched along the sides.

"GLOW card and SONG card!" She flipped the cards and separated them so that Yuki could see the figures painted on the faces of the cards. "Work together to create a waltz!"

"OHH!" Meilin sighed as the GLOW card stretched from the card and created little people dancing in midair to the music that the SONG card piped out from seemingly nowhere. It was a simple spell that Li had Sakura perfect while she was fine tuning her control. It was peaceful and created quite a show, one that Yuki could admire as a couple of dancers passed around him, the tiny male whirling the girl around while her dress created a circle of light around them as they twirled. Syaoran squeezed Meilin gently, then released her to hold his hand out to Sakura.

"May I have this dance?"

"ILLUSION!" Sakura didn't need all the prep work anymore to have her cards know what she wanted. She'd just used that to impress Yuki. So knowing that Li was being fun, she decided to make a showing of it. She used the ILLUSION card to make a flowing dress over her jeans and let Li swing her into a waltz. While they reenacted the dance they performed during a play a few years before, Meilin walked over to join Yuki as he watched the GLOW cards dancers.

"This is amazing." Yuki whispered, as if afraid a larger voice would scare away the music.

"Yes, it is, Sakura's gotten much better at controlling her wards." Meilin looked over and sighed as she caught Li looking down at Sakura with a soft passion that she envied greatly. Yuki followed her gaze.

"They look perfect together."

"They were meant for each other." Meilin shook her head and looked down, "I never really had a chance."

"You and Li…?" Yuki glanced over Meilin and took her arm, carefully keeping their bodies apart he swung her in a graceful circle and lead her into a dance. Though Tomoyo had told him about the promise Li had made Meilin, he still wanted to hear it from her.

"When we were kids I made him promise that if he didn't find anyone else he liked better than me, then we would get married." Meilin smiled up at him, "he found Sakura, so I bowed out. I didn't like it at first, but look at them… they were made for each other."

Yuki nodded, he'd noticed that since the first time he met them. The way he talked about her, the way she smiled at him. It made him desperately jealous, so he always found himself stiffly formal around them. He hated being envious of anybody, he always felt it to be such an ugly emotion. If he'd wanted to be honest to himself he would admit that he felt like that every time he found Kyo and Tohru alone somewhere.

"Kyo said that they were researching the curse when they came to the Sohma compound."

"They want to help." Meilin admitted. "they don't know if its possible yet."

The music slowly faded, along with the glowing figures. Sakura stood in the middle of the clearing again, her jeans present instead of the dress, and she tucked three cards away after thanking them. "We're going inside, Yuki, you're welcome to join us for a movie or something."

"Please, come." Meilin tugged his hand. Again, like he had under the dark streetlamp, Yuki felt an electricity at her contact, like a sharp spark. He thought it over for all of two seconds.

"What movie?"