I know, I know, I said I'll update every week but I realize that's impossible. I still have a bunch of newly assigned projects. It seems teachers like to pile everything up at the end of the year. So I'm going back to updating every two weeks. I can't wait for summer when I have everyday to write ^.^ ~BlueNovaBunny

BNB: Yay, one of my famous fill in chapter! XD

Ken: -_-'

Phoenix: @.@ why is that man so mean?!?

BNB & Ken: Shush!

BNB: You're supposed to shut her up!

 Ken: What! And sacrifice my beautiful body to…that!!!

BNB: Hmph. Oh yea, we have a special guess today. Presenting…

Ken: Just bring out the cutie :P

BNB: Li Syoaran!!

Teenage Fans: LI! Li! Li!

BNB: @.@ I thought we killed all of them

Ken: They must be immortal. Li will be forever loved!

Li: Um, hello. Why are there so many…girls? Why are crazy girls always chasing after me!?! *runs in circles away from girls*

BNB: *stashes Li in closet with Toya & Yuki* On with this troublesome chapter!

Phoenix: BNB would like to thank Rosie and Hikari Mizu for reviewing her story. Can't wait for 20 review mark!

Disclaimer: Even though Cardcaptor Sakura is owned by Clamp, BNB still dreams of owning it and Inuyahsa!

Chapter 10: A Dragon's Kyouchuu

Her breath came in short gasp as she felt her heart pound. Her muscles tensed as she felt another pound of the fist against her bare back. The intense pain drew a cry from her lips. She greeted her teeth and got back up. Her hands clenched tightly on the pair Sais.

A smirk graced Shan's lips. So the Dragon Lady would not give up? It just meant more fun. He gave an appreciative glance at her bare back. His sword had accidentally sliced the greater portion of cloth around her back. He tensed as he saw the look in her eyes. She was also so dangerous when she was royally pissed.

She raised her head so her flowing dark hair would cover her shoulder blades. She knew the pervert was purposely cutting pieces of her clothes to see more of her body. For once, she was glad her aunt was not watching the battle this time. It would humiliate her already worthless hide.

Her left Sai glowed red as she charged at Shan's right. He effortlessly dodged it and placed another bow on her, this time at her gut. She crumbled on the floor coughing blood.

"Humph, do you really dream the leader of the Li clan would accept a weakly like you?" He lifted her by the collar, "You're worthless, and Xiao-Lang would never accept you for a bride." He threw her on the floor. "It would've been better to marry me, Meilin."

Meilin glared at Shan, "I rather marry the village idiot than you." She drew back as she saw the deadly intention shine in his eyes.

"I think you would rather be dead Meilin." He got up and started to walk, but paused, "By the way, congratulations on your upcoming marriage, if you do marry Xiao-Lang." Shan's footsteps crunched the dead leaves as he left.  Meilin screeched in frustration as she didn't even land a damning blow on him during the fight. Her fist slammed into the wall as she took out her anger on it.

"Meilin!" Meilin sighed as she heard the voice of Feimei reprimand her. Sometimes she wished Xiao-Lang's sisters would just leave her alone. They were always nagging her about her manners when her engagement was announced.

"Feimei, has Xiao-Lang arrived yet?"  Feimei held her lengthy brunette hair and started twirling it around her finger.

"No, I'm sorry Meilin. I know you would like to spend some more time with him, but you know how he is."

"Yeah…" Meilin gathered up her weapons and walked slowly away. Feimei gave a sad, pitying smile at Meilin. She knew Meilin had only wanted to marry Xiao-Lang for her to get noticed. It was just Meilin didn't realized that, so she mistaken it for love. The family elders were always treating Meilin like muck because she wasn't a strong sorceress.

Meilin ignored the look she knew Feimei was giving her. 'So they also thought she wasn't good enough for Xiao-Lang.' She was never good enough for anything. She remembered when she was little…

"Meilin, get it right! You thrust with your right and slash with your- just give me the damn weapon!" She flinched away from her sensei. She could never get the moves down right, and the teacher was always yelling at her.

She felt a stinging cold wet sensation on her cheeks. Great, I'm crying now. He's just going to yell at me again.

"Oh, so you're crying. Well, if you're going to cry, why don't you play with your dollies then? Get out of my sight!" Meilin stood her ground. Why can't I stop my tears? Oh, I'm just so stupid. Stupid me. Stupid tears! A red light emitted from her being.

She hated this. Everyone laughed at her for fighting like a boy. They told her she wouldn't last a minute fighting. Everyone was against her. Well she would show them! Red glowed from her hands, and she didn't realize this. Before she knew it, her sensei was lying on the ground unconscious.

"Ahhh! Murderer!"

"What?" Meilin finally saw what the servants saw; her sensei was lying on the ground. He wasn't dead, but Meilin thought she was. She ran from the scene, running away from the voices and screams.

The cold air whipped at her bangs. She huddled behind the bushes, shivering in the cold. It was getting dark, but she was so afraid to go home. She whimpered as she heard voices getting closer. Her father was probably angry at her. She had to run now. Meilin sprinted from the bushes, but the servants had caught her.

Fang-Sho Li stood before the fireplace. He momentarily stared at the flames before turning his eyes to the servant. The servant drew back as his master concentrated his full attention upon him. "We've found your daughter in the gardens your Lordship. Do you want to see her now?"

"Yes," the servant turned, "and tell her I'm very, very disappointed in her." The servant nodded.

The servant patted Meilin's shivering shoulder. He knew his Lordship was intentionally scaring his only daughter. "The Master wants you now, and he says that he's very disappointed in you." Meilin shook even harder, but lifted her head and walked through the door.

She executed a perfect bow before kneeling to her father. "You want my presence, Master Li."

"Yes, I had heard about this afternoon's events. And because of you're hasty actions of running away, you have wasted precious time!" Meilin started shaking again. Her father observed this and was satisfied. "The elders had contacted me on this unusual event."

Meilin thought of her up coming doom. The elders controlled all of the Li clan. They judged all and carried out the punishment.

"I didn't kill the sensei, did I?" Fang-Sho laughed at his daughter's idiocy.

"No, the elders want you to train with Xiao-Lang at their place."

"What!" Train with the great Xiao-Lang? He has showed great potential when he was very young. Could she be all that powerful as him? She shook her head in denial. Her father looked at her sternly.

"You know I want a son, but I got you, right?" Meilin nodded. Her father was always telling her worthless she was and how she was the caused of her mother not being able to have children anymore. And how that led to her mother's suicide.

"The only way you can have my forgiveness is doing a natural girl's duty. You will get engaged to Xiao-Lang while you are training with him. If you succeed, I treat you how a father should treat an only daughter, but if you fail, don't even return!" Meilin stared in shock, her father would accept her? Her eyes narrowed in determination, she would succeed. Everyone will see that she was fit to be the wife of the future leader of the Li family.

Fang-Sho smiled at Meilin's eyes. A determination of a dragon lady shone in her eyes. Good, soon Yelan would pay for what she did to him several years ago. "Shan will be traveling with you. He will be your assistant trainer. The elders also noticed a gift in him." Meilin kept her frown to herself. Shan was creepy and would always give her jeering looks. She didn't say anything because for once in her lifetime, her father looked remotely happy.

***

Meilin looked at the gloomy palace ahead. So this is where I'm going to be training. Meilin hugged her bird cage. At least her best friend was with her.

"Li Meilin?"

"Yes."

"Good, we were worried since you arrived late. I'm the personal servant Wei of young Master Li and now you too."

"Really!" A personal servant! She never has such luxury.

"Yes." His old gray eyes gave her hope in her new life.

"Is this who I'll be training with?" Meilin stared at the boy about her age. He was so cute, but his frown marred his features. So this was the boy she admired for his feats. Her spirits dropped as she saw how stubborn he would be.

In her dreams Xiao-Lang was the knight-in-shining-armor who would rescue her form her father's yelling. He was sweet, charming, and would cherish her. She didn't believe he would be so…cold. Getting an engagement would be harder than she thought.

***

Meilin concentrated on her moves to match Xiao-Lang. At least this sensei was better than the one she put into a coma. She was actually pretty good at fighting, but her magic skills were a little lacking.

It seemed her power was somehow blocked by her mind. She had to try her hardest to get well in this area. Li's were direct descendents of the great magician Clow Reed. Only people with great power can be allowed to marry into the clan. She knew Li Yelan was keeping a close eye on her for a potential wife for Xiao-Lang.

"That is enough today, young students. Tomorrow we'll start again." Meilin sighed in relief. She knew she couldn't keep up that certain posture anymore. She head to the garden where she kept her birds. She frowned as she felt small droplets of water fall from the cloudy sky. Asirau would want to be kept out of the rain, but she more likely would want to eat right now. Meilin opened the bird cage.

"No! Come back!" She could feel tears slide down her cheeks. Asirau was her only best friend."

"What is it, Miss Meilin?" Melin flew into Wei's arms.

"Asirau flew out when I was about to feed her." She could fell someone's eyes looking at her. Xiao-Lang. No, he won't like her if he saw her weak. The tears flowed even harder. She could never seem to control them.

"There, there, Miss Meilin. Why don't we go inside and drink some hot tea. Asirau might be even happy to be out of cage a while. Meilin reluctantly followed Wei.

Meilin stared at the empty space of the birdcage. Her best friend…gone forever. She could feel her tears starting up again. She closed her eyes to stop them, but they still slid down her cheek.

"Please don't cry, Meilin." She opened her eyes and saw a blurry Xiao-Lang. She wiped away the tears and saw him hold Asirau in his cupped hand.

"Asirau!" She put the bird in the cage and hugged the cage, then stared at Xiao-Lang. This was the first time he did anything for her or even showed that he noticed her. She hugged him and felt him grow rigid in her arms.

"Thank you, Xiao-Lang!" She saw him give a tough guy attitude. Meaning he pretended what he did was like nothing out of the ordinary.

"Um, Meilin, can you let me go." She blushed as she released him. He breathed in the air he was missing in her hasty hug.

"No more crying, right?" She saw a slight blush before it vanished under his expressionless face. She smiled at him.

"Yeah."

***

Even though he ignored her after that and grew more distant, she still had anticipated the nice Xiao-Lang lived somewhere deep inside of him. That memory gave her hope that she would marry Xiao-Lang. Yelan did declare her to engaged Xiao-Lang a couple years later after the incident. She was confident she could be his wife and no what anyone said, she would succeed. No man or women would get in her way. No one.

Kyouchuu (n) one's mind; one's heart; one's intention

BNB: Yay chapter 10 finally done! The next chapter Sakura runs into a surprise and gets…oh I'm not suppose to tell you. Silly me!

Ken: -_-' Where's Li anyways?

BNB: *sweatdrops* um, gone?

Ken: Didn't you get in trouble for kidnapping Yuki already?

BNB: . *bonks Ken on head* The next chapter is Chapter 11: Journey On The Kyuudou. Enjoy!

Pheonix: ReVIeW!!!