Title: Somewhere, Somehow

Author: EviL PunK

Rating: PG-13

Author's Notes: A lot of you guessed right on who the woman was on the previous chapter. It was quite obvious though. Anyway, thanks for the reviews! By the way, I will be spelling Meiling's name as "Meiling". I know "Meilin" is more popular, but I'm more comfortable with Meiling. I hope you don't mind. And this is my Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa treat for you!

Chapter Eighteen

Rants and Plans

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"Syaoran! I missed you!" the woman squealed, looking at Syaoran with her ruby red eyes.

"Meiling! Get off me!" Syaoran stood up and dusted himself. He took the cell phone from the floor and placed it on his ear.

"Hello? Mother? Are you still there?"

"Yes, Xiao Lang, I'm still here. Like my surprise?"

"Well…"

"Good! Now, you'll be living with Meiling from now on, until a certain event happens. You are not to come back to Hong Kong without that event happening. Understood?"

"What event? Mother, what are you talking about?" Syaoran wanted to know

"End of discussion. Goodbye Xiao Lang"

"Bye…" Syaoran muttered gruffly and hanged up.

"Ooh…working out lately?" Meiling asked as she saw her cousin's masculine chest

"Shut up" Syaoran spat as he closed the door and locked it

Meiling is Syaoran's cousin. Meiling and Syaoran are sort of close to one another ever since childhood. Meiling was originally from Hong Kong, along with Syaoran but settled in Japan with her mother while Syaoran moved back to Hong Kong. Syaoran had lost touch with Meiling ever since Amaya stepped into his life. He never replied back to her last letter. Syaoran looked at his cousin and studied her. Meiling changed a lot. From what he remembers, she always had her ebony hair in odangos. Now, she no longer wears her hair like that, instead, she had it down and let it grown down to her waist. Syaoran even noticed that a few strands of her hair were streaked in red.

"Cranky much?"

"I just woke up" Syaoran replied, putting on a shirt, "Why did mother send YOU here?"

Meiling snorted, "I thought you knew. I'm here to help you get Sakura back!"

"I know that! But why you? I thought it was going to be one or all of my sisters"

"Why? You don't want me to help you? Syaoran, I'm hurt!" Meiling mocked, placing a fist over her heart, pretending to be stabbed

"Aw, shut up"

"Jeez, is that all you have to say? Is that the only "comeback" phrase you have right now?" Meiling smiled; she loved teasing him

"Put a cork in it, Meiling!"

"Anyway, c'mon, pack your things, we're moving to my house!"

"Make me…" he muttered gruffly

"I can't believe you made me move to your house when my hotel room was perfect! You know, with that soft bed and silk bed sheets! Unlike yours! Which is so hard, I could suffer from – OW!"

Before Syaoran could continue about his rants, Meiling hit him on the head.

"Oh, shut up! You haven't even seen your room yet! Let alone the house!" Meiling suddenly changed the subject, "Isn't this exciting!? It'll be like old times! You and I playing hide-and-seek!

"Do I need to remind you that we're adults already?" Syaoran told her

"So? I'm a kid at heart; deal with it!"

The vehicle that they were in and riding soon came to a complete stop.

"We're here!" Meiling cheered and hurriedly exited the car

Syaoran and sighed and followed her. Meiling's house was somewhat like Syaoran's, only a bit smaller in size. It had maroon walls, a dark blue roof and there was a white door at the middle and white windows everywhere.

"Nice house. Not bad, dear cousin. Let's check the inside, shall we?"

"What are you, a house critic?" Meiling asked as the door was opened by Meiling's maid.

"Welcome back, Mistress Meiling" the petite maid bowed before her

"Thank you, Midori. This is my cousin, Syaoran. He will be staying with us for a while now. Please inform the others about his arrival and his stay here"

"Right away, Mistress" Midori bowed down again before walking away

Syaoran suddenly burst into laughter. Meiling frowned at him, "What's so funny?"

"I can't imagine you being called Mistress and be the boss around here. Which reminds me, where's Aunt?"

Meiling shrugged, "Out of the country for vacation. She left me in charge of the house"

Syaoran nodded, "Okay, so take me to my room"

"Oh, so now I'm your slave?" Meiling rolled her eyes.

Meiling climbed the stairs with Syaoran trailing behind her. The hallway upstairs was decorated with Chinese paintings and pottery.

"Here's your room" Meiling said, opening a door

Syaoran stepped inside and looked around. There was four-poster bed, a cabinet and another door that led to the bathroom. It was similar to Syaoran's bedroom. There was also another door that led to the balcony, and the room smelled like incense.

"What do you think Mr. I'm-Such-A-Picky-House-Critic?"

"This will do"

Two servants soon came up with Syaoran's luggage and placed them inside the room.

"Thank you, Midori and um…"

"Annette, sir" the other woman answered with a French accent

"Ah, French?"

"Yes, sir"

"Lovely"

Annette slightly blushed and Meiling noticed this and stepped in between them

"Please excuse my cousin, Annette. He's a lady killer" Meiling glared at him as Syaoran winked at her, "You may go now"

Both maids bowed down and left.

"Do I need to remind you that you're engaged?"

"Jeez, it was just a little joke. You know, to annoy you" Syaoran grinned at her, "Wait, how did you know I was engaged?"

"Well, stop it!" Meiling said, hitting him on his arm, "And I have my sources" she grinned

"By the way, don't you have a butler to open the door and carry the luggage?"

"He's on a day-off, he'll be back later this evening"

Syaoran nodded

"Am I invited to your wedding?" Meiling asked

"Of course you are" Syaoran smirked, "Apparently, you're just a guest"

"Damn…but anyway, that's good enough!" Meiling exclaimed, "I need to buy a dress soon. What's the color scheme?"

"Err…we really haven't talked about it yet"

"Who's the bride again?"

"Amaya Tsugishiro"

"High school sweetheart?" Meiling raised an eyebrow at him

"High school bitch, that's what she is" Syaoran growled, "If you must know, she cheated on me"

"Ouch…she really must be a bitch"

"Trust me, she is. And she's here in Japan, right now"

"Syaoran, do me a favor and ask her about the wedding. Wait, when is it anyway?"

Syaoran shrugged, "In a few weeks time, two to three weeks from now I think"

"Go ask her!" Meiling yelled

"Alright, alright, I will!" Syaoran said, walking towards the telephone beside his bed

Meiling smiled, "While you're at it, I'm going out to find me a dress. Inform me right away about the color scheme!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes, "Whatever"

"Tomoyo, where are you? I thought we were supposed to go to the mall?"

"Oh, Sakura, I'm so sorry! A customer called in for an appointment today! I'm so sorry! Can we reschedule?"

"It's alright, Tomoyo. Can we go tomorrow? If you're not busy, that is"

"Oh, that depends on my schedule, Sakura. I'm so sorry! But I promise you, once my schedule isn't busy, I'll treat you out!"

"Oh, alright Tomoyo. It's okay. Have a nice day" Sakura smiled before hanging up.

Sakura sighed and looked around her house, looking for something to do. She went inside the kitchen hoping there would be some chocolate. Chocolate always made her feel better. When she opened the refrigerator, there wasn't any; no chocolate candies, no chocolate milk, no nothing. She opened the freezer; there wasn't any chocolate ice cream left, only peppermint. Sakura sighed and finally decided to go to the mall by herself. Maybe shopping and getting chocolate ice cream at the mall would be fun.

Sakura got dressed and took Touya's car to the mall, leaving a note about her departure by the kitchen wall just in case Touya arrived home before her. As soon as she arrived at the mall and parked the car, she immediately went to the ice cream stand and bought chocolate ice cream in a cup. A lot of people recognized her but she didn't mind, she just kept on walking and eating. When she finished, she went to the third floor and went inside a jewelry store. Sakura browsed through the clear glass, admiring each intricate design of a jewel.

"Is there anything I can help you on, ma'am?" a female store clerk asked, smiling at her

"Oh, no thank you. Just browsing"

"Alright, ma'am"

After a minute or two of browsing, Sakura found a gorgeous necklace. It had a small pink jeweled teardrop and it hung on a thin silver chain. It was so beautiful, Sakura wanted to buy it! She looked closer until she saw the price. Damn expensive.

"See something you like, ma'am?" the store clerk asked

Sakura didn't respond. The store clerk noticed she was staring at the necklace.

"Ah, this is quite popular among our customers but no really seemed to buy it. The jewel is from Europe, and I'm sorry to say that this has already been reserved"

Sakura looked up, "Really?"

"It has been reserved by um…" she opened a notebook and searched through it until she finally saw who made the reservation, "by a Ms. Amaya Tsugishiro. She says it's for her wedding coming in a few weeks time"

Sakura's heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach.

"Oh, lucky her then…well, thank you anyway." Sakura said, before leaving the store

"Thank you for coming and come back soon!"

Like I'm ever coming back…

"Ms. Li, Ms. Daidouji is on her way" Tomoyo's assistant informed Meiling, who was waiting for Tomoyo

Meiling nodded, "Alright"

Minutes later, Tomoyo came rushing inside her office.

"I'm so sorry for being late!"

"It's alright, Daidouji-san" Meiling said, smiling at her

"Alright, so how may I help you Ms…?"

Before Meiling could respond, her cell phone rang.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, just let me take this call"

"No problem" Tomoyo smiled

Meiling got up from her chair and walked towards the door. While Tomoyo waited, she thought about Sakura and suddenly felt guilty for rescheduling their outing to the mall.

"Well, what's the color scheme?" Meiling asked Syaoran on the other end

"She says its lavender and pink, but she's not yet sure if it's going to be lavender and pink OR the traditional red"

"WHAT!? Syaoran! Ask her again! I'm already here at Daidouji Designs, ready to…argh! Ask her again!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine. Women…" he muttered, "Wait! Did you say Dai–"

Before Syaoran could finish his sentence, Meiling hanged up on him and went back to Tomoyo and sat down across her.

"Sorry for that, you see, it's my cousin's wedding and his bride still hasn't made a decision on the color scheme," Meiling sighed, "He should really get out of that wedding and go back to Sakura," Meiling looked up and saw Tomoyo staring at her with eyes wide and her jaw dropped open, "Oh, I'm so sorry! Anyway, let's back to work, shall we? I'm Li Meiling, by the way"

Meiling noticed that Tomoyo wasn't responding to her.

"Daidouji-san?"

"Did you say Syaoran and that he is your cousin and he's getting married and that you're Li Meiling?" Tomoyo asked all in one breath, she blinked and suddenly realized what she said and clamped a hand over her mouth, "I'm so sorry, I got carried away."

Meiling stared at her, smiled and nodded, "Yes, Li Syaoran is my cousin and he's getting married to some woman named, Ayame – Anama – Maya, whatever her name is, I forgot and I don't give a damn, and yes, I'm Li Meiling" Meiling chuckled, "I take it you know my cousin?"

"Well, he's just an acquaintance; he's the best friend of my best friend and model, Sakura Kinomoto" Tomoyo smiled, "I really want them to be together"

Meiling's eyes widened and had a grin on her face, "Daidouji-san,"

"Please, call me Tomoyo"

"Tomoyo," Meiling corrected herself, "Looks like we have something in common and a plan going on"

Tomoyo smiled and nodded, "I think we do"

"Get Sakura and Syaoran together!" both said in unison

Author's Notes: Meiling and Tomoyo working together now, eh? I wonder where everything leads to now…

Cherrysinger: Looks like we have something in common lol, I also have a perverted mind. Thanks for the review!

Rema: Syaoran lied to her because he's afraid she's going to get hurt. And Syaoran never told Sakura that he had an arranged marriage with Amaya; he left it out when he told Sakura in chapter nine. Being the stubborn ass he is, he didn't tell the truth before Sakura left. Then in comes Amaya who tells her everything. It hurts when you find out the truth from somebody else (actually, it wasn't the REAL truth, since she never told Sakura that she, Amaya, cheated on Syaoran). So, both Syaoran and Amaya are lying to Sakura. I hope that clears it up. You can read chapter nine again. Thanks for the review!

Tamer Shadow: Yeah, the party sounded fun. Miss you too! And the rest of my friends, of course! Thanks for the review!

And thanks to the following as well: CrAzY-SiLLy-Me, Tinaptran, MiniSparky (update soon!), DyeMui, aoi, Kat-illilude, X-Sprinter, twilight-star1, Sieg1308, Illusion Dragon, dream-eater-is-hungry, Sakuralover, Ngoc1231, sayurixstrife, LiLAznDevil, chikichiki, ori-chan, Viky, maixwolfblossom, mangaluvajk, La SaLLe – 6Re3n ArCh3r 15, UlTiMaTe KaI LuVa, wandgirl, Amanda Kazuki, evenstar-archer, DESTINY'Sheart, KaWaII JaPaN GrL, and Riona Leonheartilly! Thank you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well!