Author's Note: One thing that I noticed about my fic is that it seems to be a bit unkind to Meiling, and I happen to like Meiling. True she was a bit annoying at first, but that's because she really loved Syaoran, she loved him so much that she actually let him go later in the series. And because it's too late for me to change the previous chapters, I'm going to make up for it here. But don't worry there's still some SS action/romance/drama/humor.

So just to clear things up, I'm not bashing Meiling, thank you. And well I'm going to start fixing the characterization a bit. It's time to get this fic serious- in terms of my style.

Lexicon:

Itai- Ouch

Baka- idiot, stupid and could mean worse than both of them combined.

Ojou-sama- literally means princess, but can be used as young mistress

Legend: "speech" 'thought' "dog bark/talking" 'dog thinking'

Chapter 6: Promises

True to this morning's weather report, the cloudy day was going to end up with strong rain. And the rain did pour; the people at the park had rushed immediately the run back home or look for shelter to wait the rain out. Others just went on with their daily routine, with an umbrella or a raincoat to protect them from the weather.

A strong gust of wind came blowing against a lone figure in the garden; the figure had a sword in his hand, practicing his strikes against the wind. The cold wind bit at his skin, and the droplets of rain fell on his skin heavily as if slapping his skin. But he didn't mind it, his mind was only on one thing and that was to finish his training. The rain proved perfect for sword training, his objective was to be as swift as the wind and to test this he needed to be able to cut as many droplets as he can before they touch the ground.

This training require precision, accuracy and great concentration. His movements were precise, his attack was accurate and his mind was focused at the task at hand. If he loses his concentration then his practice would be ruined.

The blade was currently resting on his finger as he prepared to attack, he was going to strike at the next gush of the wind, and he needed to remain focused if he wanted to get it right. His eyes closed he listened for his next cue, he needed to wait until it was right- and how will he know when to attack, when a leaf from the tree above him should fall. And he needed to slice as many droplets as he can before the leaf falls on the ground making sure that he wouldn't slice the leaf in the process.

'Here it comes!' and just as he was about to attack the droplets a green leaf fell right in front of him, and all of a sudden he stopped his attack, 'Green? Like her eyes…'

As it seemed he shouldn't have stopped mid-way of his attack, because he was currently standing on one foot, his weight leaning forward as he was about to advance. And before it was too late, his line of vision was filled with brown, green and soon black.

Okay so maybe his mind wasn't so focused after all.

"ITAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Surprisingly falling on mud could hurt, especially if there are stones underneath the ground.

Since his training was going nowhere at the moment, and the mud had weighted him down the Chinese decided it was best to just clear his mind, think things through, meditate as to why he kept thinking about Sakura and as to why he did what he did earlier. Dropping the sword on the ground, he walked towards the nearest tree so that he could meditate in its warm shade.

'Baka!' he scolded himself, as he placed his palms over his face wiping the mud off him at the same time, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Meiling is going to kill you when she gets back!"

"You got that right!"

Syaoran froze in his position, not wanting to remove his palms off his face or else he'll have to face his angry fiancée. He knew what he did was wrong, but right now he was confused with so many things that he didn't want to deal with anyone about it yet. He didn't want to explain himself, because he wasn't sure if he could explain anything at all when he didn't understand what happened!

Meiling waited for a response, she was furious! She was humiliated in front of the entire class thanks to her fiancé's little stunt! And now she was furious because Syaoran refused to talk to her about it, when she wanted to talk and she was getting soaked in the rain!

"Okay," she managed to grit out, trying her best to control her temper so as not to throttle the boy. "I know that you don't like the fact that we're betrothed but could you have at least spared me some dignity! It's already hard enough that I can't have your love, but its worst that I can't even have your respect!"

"Meiling, please let me explain!" Syaoran cried standing up to face his cousin, only to be surprised with the sight that greeted him. He had never seen Meiling that way before, she was soaking wet, her clothes clung to her like skin, her hair was plastered on her face and everywhere they could reach. She had mud stains all over her face and clothes, her breathing was haggard obviously from running- or maybe from her crying.

Her eyes were red and swollen, hot tears that refused to stop kept streaming down her eyes mixing with the droplets of the cold rain that fell on her face. Her pain was evident in her face, and somehow it hurt him knowing that he had caused it. He may not have loved Meiling as his fiancée but he loved her like a sister.

"Then go, explain yourself! Tell me why you had a sudden urge to kiss the Card Mistress in front of her ENTIRE class! A class which by the way has your fiancée in it who happened to be humiliated by your impulsive act! Please! I'm dying to hear the explanation!"

"I didn't mean for it to happen!" he cried out, well he really didn't mean for it to happen, all he thought of at that time was that if he kissed Sakura, then all the girls in the class would ravage her. Well that was what he told himself after he kissed her; the truth was he just felt like kissing her. But in the end, he still didn't mean for anything to happen- so in the end he was telling her the truth!

"Then what? What did you mean to happen by kissing her? What did you hope to gain?"

"Nothing!"

"Then why? Why did you kiss her?" she asked her voice desperate, she was afraid of the answer, but she hated not knowing more. So she asked, and she hoped for an honest answer, and she knew that Syaoran would never lie to her. But then again, she used to know that Syaoran would never intentionally hurt her, but he did…so maybe he might lie to her as well.

"What does it matter it was only a kiss on the cheek, it's not like I kissed her on the lips, the kiss meant nothing!" Syaoran replied, hoping to change the subject, he didn't want to answer her question. Because he didn't know what to say and so he only looked away.

"Xiao Lang!"

The sound of his Chinese name was enough to bring his attention back to Mei Ling, it had been so long since he's heard his name. And the way she said it, the way she spat it- it was like a heavy curse to her mouth, a name that left a bitter taste to her lips and to his ears.

"Look at me and answer my question! Why did you kiss her?"

"I don't know! I don't know so stop asking me because I don't know either! Alright? Are you happy now? I answered your question!" Needless to say, Meiling was taken aback by the fact that Syaoran raised his voice at her; he had never done that before, at least not seriously. "I don't know why I kissed her." He continued more softly this time.

"But it doesn't matter…" he whispered trying to break the tension between them.

"Yes it does!" she shouted, her face angry with fury, how could it not matter? She was humiliated in front of her class; ever since she got there she had proudly announced that she was Syaoran's fiancée! Sure she the announcement had seemed uncalled for, but she wanted to make sure that no other girl would dare look at him or hope for a relationship. With that announcement came the notion that Syaoran loved her, but now people were probably laughing behind her back.

"You tricked me! You ruined me! Because of what you did people are probably thinking that you cheated on me and that I allowed it to happen! You kissed her right in front of me! Couldn't you have saved us from the shame? If you love her you should've just told me so we'll end this stupid engagement so I can stop hoping that I'll still have a chance in your heart!"

"Meiling, please listen to me, I-"

"No you listen to me! You're engaged to me! And I know that you don't like it but please act like it! You're not like other guys, all your actions don't just reflect on you but on me as well! You ruined both our names and even Kinomoto's!"

At the mention of her name, Syaoran's eyes had widened and his body stiffened. Was Meiling just defending Sakura?

"Yes as crazy as it sounds, and as much as I dislike Kinomoto I still respect her! But what you did- because of you people think that she's your fling! People are beginning to think badly of you, me and her! It's always like this when there's a third party! It's not just about you Syaoran, so before you do anything stupid I suggest you think about the people you'll be bringing down with you!"

And still Syaoran had said nothing; he only stood there with his head bowed as Meiling attacked him with words. Her every word felt like a whip in his heart, and he took it, because he deserved it. Her breathing was hard and labored, she was feeling so many emotions right now, and she felt angry, confused, humiliated, hurt and betrayed.

"All I ever wanted was to have your heart, is that so hard to give?"

She waited for him to say something, anything that will help ease her pain. Or at least let her know that she had somehow talked some sense into him. But nothing came. Once she was finished, she remained standing there, facing him.

His silence was even more painful, and it was too much for her to bear, so without a word she left. Meiling ran into the mansion, and into her only sanctuary-her room and in the comforting arms of her only friends- her pillows, blanket and bed. There she was safe, there she can pour out her feelings and no one would hurt her, there she had a friend.

While Meiling was crying on her bed, Syaoran was left standing in their garden; the rain if possible had gotten heavier. The drops had felt like it was punishing him for making a girl cry. Meiling was right, he wasn't thinking- in fact for the past few days he had been acting weird and his actions had brought upon an unpleasant outcome.

"Li-kun?"

The voice had somewhat woken him from his pondering, but somehow he had wished that she wasn't going to show up. But it couldn't be helped, because their mansion was on the way to her house.

Slowly he turned to face the person who had been the cause of his confusion and his irrationality. She was standing there, a pink umbrella over her and with a smile on her face.

"You might get sick if you keep standing out in the rain like that." From her statement Syaoran had suspected that she had probably just arrived and was unaware of the fight that had occurred earlier.

The Card Mistress walked inside the garden hoping to share her umbrella with Syaoran, she had hoped to see Syaoran to talk with him. Ever since before she wanted to befriend Syaoran, and when he had kissed her earlier she thought that maybe Syaoran was opening up to her. 'Maybe being his pet was not so bad after all…he's finely warming up to me.'

But she was wrong, because when Syaoran had seen her he was filled with a different emotion. Maybe if she had shown up before Meiling he would have been a bit welcoming, but she showed up after his fight with his cousin, she showed up at the wrong time. When she had walked in the gate, he felt his walls build up, his anger mounting.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the moment Sakura got in front of him, an umbrella now on top of him to protect him from the rain.

His voice was cold and sharp, and it completely took Sakura off-guard.

"I-I just wanted to-" she stammered, the way Syaoran had looked at her made her blood run cold. He wasn't like this to her before! Sure he used to be insulting, and distant, but he never looked at her with such anger before. 'What happened to the other Li-kun that was so sweet to me a while ago? I thought we could finally be friends!'

"Wanted to what?" he cut her off, grabbing her by the wrist, squeezing.

"Li-kun you're hurting me!"

"This is all your fault! Ever since you fell into that stupid spring and became a wolf that things started turning weird for me!" Syaoran cried as Sakura tried to get out of his grip, she knew that it would later leave a bruise.

"What are you talking about? What did I do?"

"Don't play dumb! You know what you did! Get out of here! Get of my life! I don't ever want to see you again!" he shouted as he pushed her. But instead of Sakura hitting the ground, a red cub fell into the mud instead. A cub that looked sadly at him, her sad green eyes were looking at him and then at her surroundings, she was frightened and confused-probably wondering what she did to deserve her master's anger.

"Hana!" he cried out, the only thing that had a soft spot in his heart was looking up at him sadly. He never meant to push Hana away, but Hana came along with Sakura because no matter how much he didn't like it- the two of them were still one. Just Syaoran was about to pat the cub to comfort the frightened cub, she had backed away from his hand and started to bark angrily at him.

"Don't touch me! I'll bite you! Don't come any closer! I hate you!" She cried, and though Syaoran didn't understand what she had said, he knew what she meant. She was scared of him for pushing her and shouting at her, she was confused because of her two minds: her instinct as a puppy to stay with her master and as Sakura who was hurt and pushed away.

But her will was still stronger than her instincts, after all she still is human, so she ran into the mansion leaving Syaoran once again.

He never meant to shout at Sakura, he hadn't meant to pour his anger towards her- an anger that should have been for him! He wasn't thinking, and because of that, because he acted on impulse and was irrational he had hurt his cousin, his only friend-Hana, and confused Sakura. Now he was tangled in a web of confusion he had spun and he didn't know how to get out.

SsSsSsSsS

"Ojou-sama? Please open the door." A worried Wei called out as he coaxed the crying girl out of her room to eat some dinner. He was worried that she might get sick, she had gone inside soaking wet and now she said that she didn't want to eat anything for dinner. Not to mention that Syaoran was still not coming back inside.

"Ojou-sama…" he knocked again, as he pressed his ear to the door to listen to her reply.

"I said I'm not hungry! Just leave me alone! I want to be alone!"

With a sigh the old butler nodded and left. He really was getting too old for these things. His two young charges were having problems, and he couldn't help the two of them, the only thing he can do is hope that somehow they'll be able to find a way to solve it, and soon.

After some time she had calmed down considerably, her pillow cases needed changing though…

The young girl was currently sitting on her bed with a picture frame in her hand; the picture was an old photo of her with Syaoran. In the picture she her arms wrapped around an annoyed Syaoran who was pushing her away at the same time.

"I really thought I had a chance, that you would let me in…but I guess, I'm just really not good enough…" she whispered as she traced Syaoran's outline with her finger, but stopped when a tear drop fell on the glass cover.

"W-why am I still crying for you? It should've stopped by now, I'm supposed to be feeling better already!" she cried convincing herself that she was already okay, but with every comforting word she tried to offer herself she only ended up hurting herself more. Every time she tried to encourage herself, only the opposite would happen- and she'd end up crying more than she had last time.

She hated it! She hated the feeling of being so weak! She was wrong to think that just because Syaoran had agreed to marry her it doesn't mean that he wouldn't ever fall in love with anyone else. He never promised her his heart. And she never had control over it, and she hated it.

Now she had lost him completely! He had fallen for the Card Mistress! The thought felt like her heart were being torn into long thin shreds slowly. "Does a heartbreak really have to hurt this much! I can't take this anymore! Stop!"

She pleaded with her heart, as she pressed the frame onto her heart hoping to ease the pain. Somehow her heartbreak, was causing physical pain, she could feel her chest tightening! "Please stop, stop hurting! You have to be strong Meiling! You need to stop crying! Stop…"

Just as she was about to enter another bout of crying, she was stopped when she heard a scratching sound on her door. "Meiling-chan?"

Slowly she opened the door, only to find Syaoran's pet. Her eyes narrowed at the cub, "What are you doing here? I don't want to see you; you're my other competition to Syaraon's heart."

Hurt by her accusations, Hana could only lick Meiling's toes, trying her best to apologize. She really wanted to be with someone right now, but her master didn't want her and Wei had seemed trouble, and Meiling was her only choice. "Stop bothering me, why don't you go to Syaoran instead, he loves you more than he could ever love me!"

"No way!" she barked out, then letting out a growl at the thought of her master. Meiling could only giggle at the puppy's reaction, carefully she picked up the cub and carried her into her room.

"I guess your mad at Syaoran too, huh? Oh well, you've come to the right place. Ara! Look at you, you're all wet!"

Once inside she places the cub on her bed then left to get some towels to dry the cub with. She had returned quickly and immediately initiated the task at hand, welcoming the distraction. Since she was busying herself with something, she was somehow able to forget her problems and Syaoran temporarily.

After a few minutes of constant rubbing, and fidgeting on Hana's part, Hana was completely dry and because she was towel dried her fur was standing on all ends that she looked like a red afro! Meiling laughed at the sight, and had immediately looked for her camera, to take a picture of the poor wolf cub.

Needless to say Hana was not a very cooperative model, she had jumped off the bed and had done her best to hide from Meiling and her camera. She had planned to hide behind the study desk, but thanks to her hair she couldn't fit!

"Aha! Gotcha! Okay now, Hana, smile!"

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Wah! Stop! The flash is hurting my eyes! No more pictures!"

"Okay, okay, no more pictures…Gee Hana I didn't know you were so shy…" she giggled as she helped the cub out of the desk and carried the cute animal with her on the bed as she grabbed a brush from her vanity table.

"Well I guess you aren't so bad after all…" she whispered as she plopped the camera on the bed, and proceeded to tame Hana's wild fur.

Hana had sat still, enjoying Meiling's pampering, she had to admit though she enjoyed Syaoran's playfulness she enjoyed the fact the Meiling was babying her. 'A girl can get used to this.'

"There, good as new." She announced, as she finished putting a big yellow ribbon around Hana's neck. Hana in turn, jumped off Meiling's lap and headed directly at the mirror to admire herself. "Well aren't you the vain one?"

Obviously pleased with what she saw, she turned to thank her mistress only to find that she was now looking at a frame. And whatever it was that was on the frame, it had seemed to make her mistress sad. Carefully, Hana approached and placed a paw on Meiling's foot.

"Huh? Oh sorry…" she answered, carrying the cub into her arms once again to give her a better view of what she was looking at.

"That's us." She stated pointing at them, immediately Hana had growled at the scowling picture of Syaoran, but Meiling had reprimanded him. "Don't be like that, he may seem annoying and mean sometimes, but he's really a wonderful person."

"Hey Hana, do you want to know how I fell in love with Syaoran?"

"Sure!"

"It was simple really…

"I was never really close to Syaoran, for me he was always too scary and too serious, so I never had anything to do with him. Well except for the fact that he's my cousin and that we took martial arts lessons together, but even then we never really talked.

Then when we were ten, our parents told us that we were betrothed! I was so mad at them for forcing me to marry a scary man like him that I locked myself in my room and cried!"

At this Meiling laughed at the memory, ruffling Hana's fur, she continued with her story. "That night, Syaoran went to my room to talk. He sat right outside the door and he said to me…"

Flashback

"Do you hate me that much?" a young Xiao Lang asked as he sat in front of his new fiancée's bedroom, his back facing the door. "Do you hate me that much that the thought of marrying me would make you cry?"

"Yes! I want to marry someone who's not scary and mean…someone who's kind and brave! I want to marry someone I love, someone who can take care of me, feed me, protects me, and always makes me happy!" Meiling answered facing the door.

Xiao Lang did not answer, at this Meiling dropped her head…she was trapped in this horrible marriage and she was helpless! How could she love someone like him, how could she ever be happy with him?!

"I'll be kind…" Meiling's head shot up at hearing his words, "I won't be mean to you, no matter how you annoy me, and I won't ever hurt you. I'll take care of you, I'll feed you, I'll protect you and I'll make you happy. I'll give you everything you want, I'll do my best to keep your smile. But you must do something for me in return…"

"And what's that?"

"Stay…stay by my side always."

"W-why?" she asked her voice cracked from crying too long.

"Because I've never had someone- I never had any friends, and you're probably the only person who'll be my friend in all of this, after all we are now in the same boat. I want you to be my friend…you don't have to love me, all you have to do is stay with me always, and I'll do my best to make you happy. Let's make this marriage work out, somehow…"

End of Flashback

"Syaoran said that?"

Giggling, she took the cub and placed her over her chest as she lay down on the bed. "He asked me to stay by his side- that was all he ever asked of me. And as he did his best to fulfill his promise to keep me happy, I ended up falling in love with him. So I stayed by his side always, like he had asked me to, I did it not because I agreed to, but because I was in love with him and that was all I ever wanted to do- to just stay by his side forever.

But I made one mistake…I forgot to ask him to love me. All I ever said was what would make me fall in love with someone and I never mentioned that he should love me…so he doesn't love me…he takes care of me, feeds me, protects me and always tries to make me happy but he cannot love me…"

Fresh warm tears one again started pouring down the side of Meiling's head, somehow her eyes were now familiar with the burning feeling of the salty water that came out of her eyes.

Seeing her mistress cry, Hana immediately started licking Meiling's cheek, "Please don't cry…it's going to be okay, so please stop crying…"

"I'm okay, Hana…it was my fault anyway…I guess I didn't ask him to love me because I thought that you can only do those things if you love that person…I guess I should've been more specific with him."

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Wei, I said I'm not hungry…" Meiling called out as she hurriedly wiped the trails of tears that marked her face once again.

"I'm not Wei." Syaoran's strong deep voice resonated through the room, at the sound of his voice Meiling had immediately got off the bed and approached the door. "There's something I need to show you."

Hearing footsteps leading away from her door, Meiling immediately opened to door to find that Syaoran had already started walking as if he was sure that Meiling would really follow him. And he was right, because Meiling followed him and Hana followed Meiling.

The walk was long and silent, but Meiling had kept a strong look, she kept her posture straight as if nothing had happened. Syaoran was no different as well.

'They're both pretty calm…'

Syaoran led her to a dark room, but when he had turned on the light it was later revealed to be a small library in the mansion. Without a word he entered the room, pulled out a book and faced Meiling.

"Do you still remember my promise?"

Meiling only looked up in response to his question, not realizing that she had looked down to escape having to look at him. From her reaction Syaoran could surmise that she still did remember their promise. Warily Syaoran handed her the brown book, "I never really was able to keep it, was I?"

"I promised to take care of you, feed you, protect you- I was able to do all those, but I wasn't able to make you happy…because you were always hurting, you were always sad because I couldn't love you…"

"Syaoran…" she protested but she was only silenced by a finger on her lips.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, taking her hands into his once their hands were joined, Syaoran pulled onto Meiling's hands and on the book to reveal a key in the middle of the book. "But I'm going to change that. Meiling, I want to take care of you, protect you, to be the one who makes you happy- so I'm giving you this key. It's the key to my heart, and only you can open it."

With shaky fingers Meiling took the key into her hands, and pressed it against her chest as tears once again came running down her face which Syaoran immediately wiped away. "Please, I don't ever want to see you cry again…I want to make you happy."

"I don't want this…don't give me your heart out of pity. Forget that stupid promise! I stayed with you not because of that promise- I stayed with you because I love you! I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to just because we made some stupid promise! Don't give me the key to your heart if it already belongs to Kinomoto!"

"It doesn't belong to her! I never loved her and I never will! Kinomoto means nothing to me!"

At hearing those words both Meiling and Hana were taken aback. Hana wanted to cry right then and there, she wanted to leave, she wanted to turn back into her human form run to Tomoyo's arms and cry, but she couldn't. Somehow a part of her told her to stay, to keep on listening.

"The kiss never meant anything to me, besides Kinomoto is in love with her Moon Guardian, she never wanted to have the key to my heart. She's not important…"

'Stop! Please stop talking!'

"I'm giving you this key not because of that promise- but because you asked for it. And I wanted to give it to you. You know I'm not good at this, I've never let anyone into my heart and I don't exactly know how to love, but I promise you this Meiling, for you I'll learn how to love."

"So you're going to love me just because I asked you to love me, not because you feel like loving me."

"A heart can be taught how to love, just as how it can be taught how to hate."

"Yes, you can teach a heart to love, but you cannot teach it to love me the way I want to be loved back because it isn't willing." At this Meiling placed the palm that had the key on Syaoran's chest, where his heart laid beating. Red eyes met brown, "If I can't have all of it, I don't want part of it. You may not be in love with Kinomoto, but who's to say that somewhere along the line you won't meet someone who'll you really end up loving? So you better give me all your heart, so you won't ever fall in love with anyone else."

Cupping her face into his callous palms, Syaoran pulled her gently so her head was resting right above his heart. "Can you hear that? From now on I'm dedicating myself to you; my heart now beats for you, and only you."

At a loss for words, for the first time that night Meiling could only wrap her arms around Syaoran. She didn't know how to feel, she was supposed to be happy now that Syaoran had promised to love her, right? But how come she kept feeling so bad, as if that love was never meant for her? Was she doing anything wrong? 'It wasn't my choice to force him to love me, it was his. Syaoran wanted to love me.'

Hana could only look away, she was not needed here and she didn't want to see them like that. Seeing them, seeing Meiling in Syaoran's arms made her heart ache- and she had never felt this kind of ache before. All of it was so new to her, why was she hurting? Shouldn't she be happy for Meiling? But why, why was it hurting her so badly that Meiling is so happy with Syaoran?

'Because if Meiling is in his heart, then there's no room for me.' She realized, taking a step back, Hana felt a whimper coming out of her throat but was stopped when she saw Syaoran looking at her directly then immediately looked away as he tightened his embrace around his fiancée.

'Why should I hurt because of that? He's right, I'm not in love with him…I don't love him…'

Her eyes widened as she remembered his painful words echo in her mind, "She's not important."

'I-I'm not important…the kiss meant nothing…he was only playing- it wasn't real!'

Completely new and confused to these feelings Sakura did the only thing that her heart told her to do. RUN!

SsSsSsSsS

That night Syaoran lay on his bed watching his ceiling, he needed to make sure that no one would steal his ceiling while he slept so he opted to skip sleeping and guard his wonderful white heavy ceiling.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't actually watching his ceiling, the real reason why he had stayed awake was because of what had happened earlier that day. So many things had happened- it was a roller coaster of emotions and it felt like his coaster just crashed.

A while ago he had been confused by everything, but when he stayed under the rain after Sakura had left him he had done some thinking. And all those confusions had a logical answer. He really loved meditating.

First he found that he had a certain physical attraction to the Card Mistress, which he blamed on the fact that recently he had been seeing a lot of her and MORE than what he needed to see. Then he had surmised that the kiss was nothing but an act of lust, after all he was still a teenage boy with large amounts of testosterone. But because of this, he lost control, and because he lost control he ended up leaving two girls confused and hurt so he needed to make amends.

He knew that he really didn't have much problem with Kinomoto, after all she was in love with someone else, the only thing he did was confuse her about his feelings towards her. And well made her seem like a third party in front of her class, which he was sure would be easy to fix…

So what he had really focused on was Meiling, the one who got hurt in all of his actions. He knew of Meiling's pain, and he knew that Meiling wouldn't want to be loved out of pity- but that really wasn't the reason why he gave Meiling his heart. It was really because somehow he knew that he was meant to love Meiling, after all she already loved him, so all he had to do was love her back.

The matchmaker even said that they were a perfect match; why else would they betroth her to him if they weren't? So it was bound to happen, it was the inevitable; according to the matchmaker they were destined to love one another. 'But if it's destiny, why does it feel so wrong?'

Sighing he grabs one of his pillows and places it over his head. 'Maybe I just need to get used to the idea…maybe I should put in some effort into loving Meiling?'

"Li-kun?"

The sound of the familiar voice had woken him from his thoughts and was surprised to find that there in his room, stood one Sakura Kinomoto, in her human form and wearing one of his shirts…again.

"H-how did you?"

"I ran the hot bath myself…"

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I've caused you guys too much trouble already…I really don't know why, but somehow every time I transform I find myself drawn to you, as if I want to be with you, to stay with you."

At her words Syaoran stiffened, why would Sakura want to stay with him? "It's not your fault…this is all my fault, what happened to me and Meiling was my fault…I'm sorry, for pulling you into this mess- I'm sorry for- for that…kiss."

"No, please don't be sorry…when you kissed me I liked it…" she answered, slowly walking towards Syaoran's bed. "When you kissed me I felt like it was special, that there was something, some other reason why you kissed me."

The sight was not helping the bed's occupant as well. Sakura was wearing a large white shirt over her body, and as the moon illuminated her, her skin was glowing ethereally and the shirt had served to accentuate her curves.

And as she got nearer, Syaoran could feel his hormones acting up again! 'Crap do something!' Immediately he got off the bed and walked over to one of his drawers. "Well don't think about it much, the kiss meant nothing."

"I heard what you said earlier- but after some time I kept wondering how can someone kiss another person and not let it mean anything? Do you know the essence of a kiss Li-kun?"

"Listen there are a lot of kisses in this world, there's one for love, one for lust, and one for nothing- and that was the kiss I gave you. I kissed you so every girl in your class would attack you so I could get even with you; I kissed you in the park because-"

"Liar!" she hissed as she followed him, but as she got closer Syaoran had turned to her and wrapped a jacket around her body.

"Why do you want so much for that kiss to mean something?" he asked as he pulled away from her and returned to sitting on his bed. "What if I told you I kissed you because I found you attractive, will that change anything between us?"

"I had hoped-"

"It won't." The Chinese answered coldly, cutting her answer at the same time refusing to meet her gaze, he had already made his decision, he was going to love Meiling. "I kissed you out of mere lust, nothing more, nothing less. So tell me do you think that's good enough to change anything between us? Will you all of a sudden stop loving Yukito because someone kissed you on the cheek out of lust?

"I'm sorry Kinomoto, but I think that lust is not a good enough basis for us to start a relationship and for me to destroy the one I already have with Meiling."

Sakura could only nod, what Syaoran said made sense. Why did it matter to her so much for that kiss to mean something? She was in love with Yukito, and now Syaoran had Meiling, so what was she still doing there? What was she waiting for?

"I had hoped-" she replied hoping to continue what she was trying to say earlier, but once again she was cut off.

"What were you hoping for, for us to at least be friends? Don't forget I'm angry with you for stealing my position as the Clow Master, because of you my clan thinks I'm too weak to be their leader because I couldn't even defeat a girl like you. If my kiss had confused you, then let me clear things up for you." At this the boy got up from the bed to face the young girl. She was currently clutching onto his jacket, covering herself as if hoping that it could shield her from his glare.

"I promise to leave you alone, so promise me that you stay out of my life as well. Especially when you transform! All of this blasted confusion happened because you were clumsy enough to fall into that cursed spring! So I'm clearing this up once and for all! I want to have nothing do with you! So you stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours- that way you won't ever have to be confused. Got it?"

He was right; it all started because of the stupid spring, and because whenever she transformed she always went to him. Truth be told she really didn't know why whenever she became a cub that she always wanted to be with Li, but it seems that because of that she had caused a big mess for all of them. And Syaoran's plan would help really help lessen the complication. All they needed to do was to stay away from one another.

'I can do that…I can promise him that…'

Subconsciously she found herself tracing her fingers towards the choker that Syaoran had given her- no Hana.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you were going to leave…"

When she didn't answer he turned to look at her and was surprised to find that she had taken the Sword Card and had sliced off the choker off her neck! The sword at the same time slicing her skin, the cut was not so deep but there was still a certain amount of blood that dripped on the shirt and on his bedroom floor.

"Baka! What do you think you're doing?" he scolded, rushing to her side to suppress the bleeding by pressing his handkerchief over the cut. But she didn't answer, all that she did was hand him the bloodied collar.

"Because I thought if I'd stay a little bit longer, I'd see the loving Syaoran that Hana loves so much. But I guess I was wrong…" she answered, her voice choking as she tried her best to swallow to the sobs that threatened to come out. She didn't want Syaoran to see her cry; she didn't want him to know that what he said had affected her greatly. "I promise to never bother you again."

And with that she summoned the Fly Card and left.

She left Syaoran's room; the boy had stayed there on the spot where he had been standing when he was talking to Sakura. On his one hand was Hana's broken collar, and on the other was his white handkerchief with bloodstains all over it.

Author's Note: One of the reasons why I don't hate Meiling is because she was so sacrificial- and because I know what it likes not to get the guy. Not everyone can be like Sakura…even in their own love story…

Hehehe, anyway let's get over my drama shall we? I know it's all drama, but I felt that it was the right thing to happen, don't worry there's still be lots of humor! Anyway I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a nice review and thank you for your continuing support! I love you all! Mwah!

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