Authors Note: Hey folks. I'm sorry if you still feel the story is going slowly but I think you'll understand a little better what I'm doing by Chapter 5. Till then, patience is a virtue! Don't forget, you can check up on this fics status (as well as that of my other fics) via my journal that is linked through my user profile. That's where I'll keep everyone posted on what's up! I'll also be posting reviewer replies there whenever I post a chapter because I can no longer do it here. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I'm thinking I may change the rating of this fic to M because I just read about someone's story getting deleted for having to many curse words and I don't know how many is too many. There are definitely some curse words to come. Would any of my readers be upset if I changed the rating? Enjoy Chapter 3!
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura. It belongs to Clamp. I am simply using their characters for entertainment purposes only. À la folie... pas du tout was written by Laetitia Colombani and Caroline Thivel and directed by Laetitia Colombani. The plot belongs to them. Thank you.
15, August 2005 : Chapter 03, A Dream Trip
"When I was a little girl I live with my father in his little art studio. I always wanted a pet but every time I would ask my father would say the same thing- 'We can'tMeiling. It's fur will get in my paintings.' So, one day I had finally had enough and decided to make myself a kitty." Meiling said matter of factly. Naoko giggled at the story she was being told. Meiling tucked the young girl into her bed and continued on with her story.
"I collected cloth and buttons from anywhere I could to create my little kitty. I even used grains of rice to make its claws." Meiling formed a claw with her index finger to emphasize her point and watched as Naoko listened intently waiting for more. "His name was Suppi and whenever I was sad I would pet him and feel better. Everyone else saw it as a young girl's piece of art or a toy but to me he was my pet kitty." Meiling gave Naoko a kiss on the forehead and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face before leaving the room and slipping under the sheets next to Tomoyo.
Meiling lay awake next to her slumbering friend. Her head was congested with to many thoughts. She looked at a coat rack in the bedroom and was taken aback when she gave it a second glance and it had suddenly turned into Syaoran's wife, Sakura. She stood there in her nightgown, rubbing her pregnant belly and looking back at Meiling with a small smile touching her lips. Meiling glared at what she saw and rolled over onto her stomach, smooshing her face into the pillow to block out what taunted her.
About two hours after the sun had reared it's ugly head, Tomoyo finally got out of bed. She really wasn't such a morning person and 7 AM was not a fun time of day. However, she had to work an earlier shift at the cafe. Tomoyo walked into the kitchen were she found Naoko sitting at the kitchen table reading the book of ghost stories she had bought for her with the money she took from Twin Bells.
"You aren't scared of those things?" Tomoyo laughed remembering when she had been Naoko's age. "Have you seen Meiling?" When Tomoyo had woken up Meiling was nowhere to be found.
"She went somewhere on your moped." Naoko replied in a monotone voice, not taking her eyes from the book. "She said she'd give it back later at work." She continued as Tomoyo sat down with a bowl of cereal.
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Tomoyo rushed about the small cafe doing double duty. Meiling was two hours late and she was ready to scream if the manager, Takashi Yamazaki, yelled at her one more time about her friend's tardiness. She figured Meiling was off doing work for her portfolio to impress the board and have something nice for the upcoming art exhibition. Unfortunately that was no excuse for their manager who was truly in a fowl mood that day due to his girlfriend's boss being a jerk to her and upsetting her. Tomoyo was cleaning a table when she looked out the window to see Meiling pull up on her moped. Her moped with a newly crushed front.
"Oh my God." she said dropping her rag and running out to see what had happened. "Meiling! My-my moped!"
"I'm sorry..." she replied looking down at her shoes that had suddenly become very interesting. "Someone ran into me... I promise you I'll pay to have it fixed.." she continued quietly. It was then that Tomoyo noticed Meiling's elbow was bleeding pretty profusely.
"Oh no, let's get you inside. Does it hurt?" she asked pointing to the injured elbow. Unfortunately before they could make it inside, their Takashi stepped out. With an exasperated groan he looked at the duo and then at Meiling's arm.
"Figures you won't be able to carry trays of food now, damnit Meiling. That's it! I'm hiring a new waitress." He stormed back inside in a huff and Tomoyo followed begging him to reconsider. Meiling stood where she was nursing her elbow. Yue was an intern at a hospital. She'd call him to help her out.
Within half an hour she was back in Rika's house with Yue finishing stitching and bandaging her up.
She needed a sling to rest her elbow but he didn't have one with him. Using some creative thinking he grabbed a longgreen scarf from Meiling's night stand to use as a makeshift sling.
"There we are..." he said as he tied it shut. Meiling gave him a small smile but quickly looked back down. "What's up?" he asked with concern written across his face.
"It's nothing." she said but she continued looking down.
"Does that belong to Syaoran?" he asked pointing to the scarf that now held her arm at ease. She merely nodded in reply. Yue felt increasingly frustrated about his friend's relationship with this married man. He threw his medical supplies back in his bag before speaking again.
"I heard about his wife. A miscarriage at five months... She must be feeling pretty horrible." he said feeling much sympathy for the woman who had lost the baby that was once growing inside her. Meiling didn't pay much attention to him but looked at the strange desert plant before getting up and picking up some brochures from next to it and plopping herself back down next to Yue with a smile.
"Syaoran and I are going to Hong Kong!" she said excitedly. "A dream trip, really. He just suggested it and of course I said yes." she sighed happily. Yue just zipped his bag shut and without looking at her he said what had been eating at his mind.
"Meiling don't believe everything he says." His words caused her face to lose it's grin as she looked down at the brochures and then up into his silver eyes. Her own piercing red eyes looking slightly angered.
"What else can I believe in, Yue?"
"Me." he said looking sincerely into her eyes but when she made no attempt he looked down and picked up his things and stood.
"He can do your next bandages when these are no good." Yue said as he headed for the door. "Tell him I used cleansing gel on your elbow." and with those words he was out the door leaving Meiling alone with her thoughts. She looked back down at the brochures and decided to lay them out across the coffee table so she could better plan their trip.
In the Li household things were not so happy. A bruised and teary eyed Sakura held a key up to Syaoran's face confronting him about what it was for. Why his name was on the tag. Sakura threw the key to the ground in tears before running into their bedroom to gather her clothing, with Syaoran shouting about how he had no idea where the key came from trailing behind him. Sakura threw her clothing into a bag and zipped it up as she walked out the front door of their home and slammed it behind her, leaving Syaoran alone.
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Meiling stood in front of a full length mirror, dressed in a bridal gown. Rika's bridal gown. She was trying it on in anticipation of when she would walk down the aisle to meet Syaoran at the head of the church where they would be wed. Twirling about she stopped at the family photo albums where she looked at all the photos of Yoshiyuki and Rika smiling and laughing on their wedding day and on other happy occasions. She had to tell someone of the wonderful news, so she quickly shed the bridal gown from her slender form and dressed back in her normal clothing.
She ran outside feeling as if she would burst and pedaled her bike as quickly as she could to Tomoyo's apartment.
"It happened!" Meiling said full of glee as Tomoyo opened the door.
"What happened, Meiling?" Tomoyo replied in confusion.
"They fought and she left him!" Meiling's voice kept the same happy tone as she give her friend a tight hug. "Our week in Hong Kong will be so wonderful! I've already got the tickets and everything is set! Would you mind watering Rika's plants for me while we're gone, Tomoyo? We leave in a couple days."
"What's all this?" came a male voice and suddenly a handsome -and very shirtless- man with tousled blue hair and silver rimmed glasses appeared in the doorway beside Tomoyo.
"Uh, Eriol this is Meiling. Meiling, Eriol." Tomoyo introduced quickly feeling a bit embarrassed for Meiling catching her with her new and half dressed boyfriend. Meiling gave each of them a tight hugbefore she ran off to finish planning the wonderful trip to Hong Kong. They both stared wide eyed at her joyous retreating form.
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Meiling stood in the airport alone looking out the window as planes took off, one by one. Her flight was scheduled as on time and everything was going ever so smoothly.
"Oh, gosh, sorry." a young woman in pigtails apologized after bumping into Meiling, inher rush to catch her flight. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"Not a problem." She smiled and continued tolook around for her Syaoran but he was nowhere in sight within the large crowd of people. He was probably just running a bit late. She sat down on one of the terminal benches, feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed. Their dream vacation was so very close.
and yet so far...
Meiling looked around, holding back her tears as the final boarding call was made for their flight to Hong Kong... and Syaoran was still not there.
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Syaoran sat on his couch, stroking Kero's soft head with one hand and supporting his own head over his knees with the other. He eyebrows were furrowed together for he was deep in thought.Suddenly he snapped upgrabbing his jacket and heading out leaving Kero barking for more attention behind him. He jumped in his car and sped off down the road.
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She walked quickly to a payphone since she had left her cell phone at Rika's so nobody could disturb her on her trip. She dialed the number she knew so well briskly and placed the phone against her ear. One... Two... Three rings... No answer.
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Syaoran got out of his car and walked up to the house. He knocked on the door a few times before he began calling her name.
"Sakura!" he knocked again before calling out to her once more.
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Hours passed by and the airport became a rather desolate place. Meiling continued to look around holdingonto a shred of hope that Syaoran was still coming. Finally she picked up her suit case and began to walk towards an exit as itbegan to thunder. Meiling walked all the way home in the rain, not caring that she was soaked to the bone. She stopped on a bridge in deep thought, nearing the edge and looking down into the murky waters below before throwing her suitcase in with all her might and watching as it was carried away with the current. Then she continuedon her way back to her 'home'.
When she finally reached the house she went inside and sat on the couch just staring at the phone, willing it to ring. She brought the scarf that Syaoran had given her to her nose and inhaled it's scent as she sat alone in the dark, completely unaware of the leaves falling from Rika's beloved desert plant. It was dying. All of Rika's plants were dying if not already dead. Her home was a mess, as if a tornado had gone through.
Meiling simply lay on the couch waiting for the phone to ring. And finally it did. She picked it up in a hurry.
"Syaoran?"
"Meiling? It's Rika. How are things at the house?" Rika asked kindly. Meling looked around at the terrible mess.
"Everything's great." she lied.
"You haven't had any leaking problems have you? We had it fixed before we left but-" Meiling hung up the phone and yanked it's cord right out of the wall. And she ran. She ran to Syaoran's home where she saw him through the window, wandering about with Sakura and Keroin tow. Meiling felt her heart shatter into pieces and her breathing became ragged as she stood outside his picket fence, looking in through the window. Her eyes were filled with pain and she ran away as fast as she could. 'How could he do this to me...'
Meiling bolted up the stairs and pulled Rika's wedding dress out of the closet. She threw it down on the bed where she began to destroy it, tearing it apart in her pain. But it wasn't enough... She took out Rika's photo albums and began to tear apart any pictures of she and Yoshiyuki. She scratched out their smiling faces and ripped the pictures to shreds before heading back downstairs to look at her painting. The painting of Syaoran holding her in his arms.
Dipping her largest brush into a container of black pain, she began to slather it across the beautiful piece of art in rough strokes until it was completely covered. Howevernothing she did gave her anyrelief. Finally, she approached the exotic desert plant. Grasping the bell jar, she lifted it and dropped it on the floor where it shattered into many tiny pieces. She stared at the small dying plant for a moment before wrapping her fingers around its base and pulling.Pulling it up out of the dirt, roots and all.
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"Yue, she thinks he's testing her. She thinks he still loves her." Tomoyo confided in Yue as they walked down the hospital hallway, where he was on a break. "She hasn't left the house. She's just been waiting for him day and night!"
"What about him?" Yue questioned looking directly into her amethyst eyes that seemed so troubled.
"She hasn't heard a word from him. Not one word..." was Tomoyo's soft reply. Yue stopped walking and looked at her.
"I gotta go." hebit outbefore bolting down the hall leaving Tomoyo alone. She ran her fingers through her long violet hair and heaved a heavy sigh before turing around to go home.
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