Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Qin'Ai ❯ Emotional Thunder ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Qin'Ai Part 3: Emotional Thunder
A Card Captor Sakura Fanfic



Interviews, Parapara, and other dances filled the rest of the evening. The dance drew close, and Meilin and Tomoyo waved goodbye to the other classmates who, like them, had stayed until the very end.
"Closure." Tomoyo held up her camera.
Meilin held up her mic. "And so it ends. A night full of music, laughter, excitement, and romance. A night of hopes and beauty. A night of - " Thunder rolled above them and Meilin glanced up at the threatening sky, full of dark clouds and occasional bursts of lightning. "...Decadence and delight." She tore her eyes off the sky and back to the camera, managing a smile as Tomoyo stopped the tape.
"Cut and print." Tomoyo told her, putting her camera in her purse.
"I think we'd better hurry." Meilin told her as they began walking. "I'll walk you home first, then be on my way. I'll get a lecture from Li, but who cares? I had so much fun tonight, Tomoyo."
"I did as well." Tomoyo replied, her eyes shining.
"We should do this again next dance."
"Another documentary?"
"Actually, I just meant going together. But we could do another documentary, too. How could we make it different, though?"
"Follow one couple."
"Li and Sakura." Meilin chose.
"Decadence and Delight: One Couple's Story." Tomoyo titled.
"I love it." Meilin giggled. Thunder rolled again, and Meilin looked up. "I don't think either of us are going to make it home before the downpour."
"Neither do I." Tomoyo glanced around. "Meilin, look." She pointed to a couple exiting a restaurant.
"So? Why, that's Rika...and Mr Terada..." Meilin watched them walking up the street. "Well, there's her other plans...they're coming this way!" The two looked around wildly for a place to hide. Meilin grabbed Tomoyo's hand. "In here." She pulled her into a store.
They stopped by the nearest rack, glancing over their shoulders to watch Rika and Terada walk by. They paused in front of the store, and Meilin held her breath, but they were looking up - not in. The rain had begun to fall. Terada opened the umbrella he carried. Rika looked on, holding up her hands to show she only carried her purse. Terada held his umbrella over her head, allowing the rain to come down on him. Rika smiled, and stepped close to him, taking his arm. He smiled as he gazed down at her, moving the umbrella over to be above both of them.
Meilin watched them walk on, her eyes shining. "So romantic." Tomoyo's whispered, echoing her own thoughts. She turned to, and noticed the other girl had her camera out and running.
"Tomoyo!" She lectured, placing her hand in front of the lens.
"Oh..." Tomoyo hit stop. "I couldn't resist."
"You never can." Meilin smiled wryly.
"Meilin Li?" A voice queried.
Meilin looked around at the martial arts suplly store around them for the first time, then over at the boy behind the counter. "Why, it's Jibo Shu." She bowed. "Hen jiu bu jian le."
"Likewise." The teenage boy replied. "What are you doing out in this weather?"
Meilin sighed, and guestured to her dress. "I was at a dance."
"Who's your haokan friend?" He queried.
"Tomoyo Daidouji. Tomoyo, meet Jibo Shu...our families are aquainted. I met him years ago in China. When did you come to Japan?" She asked him.
"Years ago." He replied. "My cousin's coming for a visit in a few months."
"Which one?"
"Wei."
"When's he leaving?" Meilin queried.
Jibo laughed. "I don't know."
"Well, in case we don't see eachother again any time soon, it was nice to see you again."
Jibo laughed harder. "You never liked Wei." He remembered.
"We should be going." Tomoyo brought up suddenly, putting her camera away.
"Yes, we should." Meilin looked at the rain falling in sheets against the windows.
"Do you have umbrellas?" Jibo asked.
"Does it look like we have umbrellas?" Meilin countered.
"How about a plastic trash bag? Or two?" He pulled out a box, and a bag out of it. It was the last one in the box. "Or one?" He corrected himself.
"We can make do with one, right Tomoyo?" She took the bag. "Xie-xie."
"Welcome."
Meilin unfolded the bag. "Here, take one end and I'll take the other. Won't completely spare us, but it will be better than nothing. Thanks again, Jibo. Zaijian."
"Bye." Jibo waved as they left the store.



"No, I haven't heard from either of them." Sakura paced her room on her cellphone.
"I don't like the thought of them being out in this weather." Li told her, pacing his own room with his phone.
"Neither do I. But Tomoyo's mother said they insisted on walking home."
"That was before the storm came in." Li mentioned. "They should have changed their minds."
"Well, they didn't." Sakura sat down on her bed. "I'm sure they'll be fine, Li. Maybe they stopped somewhere to avoid the rain..."




"I haven't seen this much rain since the last magical storm." Tomoyo opinioned.
"Don't even joke." Meilin told her. "The last thing we need is a magical storm."
Wind blew the rain in their faces. "We're going to be soaked despite the plastic bag." Tomoyo mentioned.
"Sure looks like it." Meilin agreed, watching a golden autumn leaf blow past on the next gust of wind. "Too bad we didn't think of umbrellas."
"The forecast was clear."
The forecast is never right." Meilin sighed. "Since it was clear we really should have realized it would rain..."
"Mr Terada did." Tomoyo pointed out.
"Lucky for him and Rika." Meilin smiled, but the smile was momentary. It faded and she sighed quietly.
"What's wrong?" Tomoyo asked her.
"I was just thinking...how everyone else I know who's in love...every dream of their's seems to come true. They're happy almost all the time. Everyone but us. Our love is full of things we'll never get a chance to say, or things we'll never get a chance to do. Of regrets and sorrow...of knowing we will never be with the ones who are in our hearts. That they'll always be in our hearts but we can never be in theirs, not the way we want to be..."
"Meilin...why do you love Li?" Tomoyo asked quietly.
"What?" Meiln turned to look at the other girl.
"Why do you love Li?" Tomoyo asked in a stronger voice.
Thunder rolled in the silence that followed Tomoyo's repeated question. "I don't know." Meilin admitted. "I guess...because he's brave, and gentle. He never treated me differently, even though I was different - the black sheep of the family. He knew I didn't have magic. He tried to make me face that reality before I wanted to. But he almost never made me feel...unwanted...which is how I usually felt with the rest of our family. Like I didn't measure up...until he came here, and met Sakura." She trailed off for a moment, thinking.
Tomoyo didn't reply, she waited for the other girl to continue. After a long pause, she did. "It wasn't that he stopped caring or tried to make me feel unwanted. Or that Sakura tried to make me feel inadequate...but it was how I felt. Sakura has the two things I've always wanted...Magic and Li..."
"You don't still feel that way, do you?"
"What? Inadequate? Like I don't measure up? Occasionally...not as often anymore, but ocassionally." They walked in silence for several minutes. "Tomoyo, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"Why do you love Sakura?"
Tomoyo paused, drawing Meilin up short. "She's kind...and strong. Gentle, but brave. Thoughtful, beautiful....I've always loved her. Everyday when we were younger, everything she did made me love her. How she smiled, how she tried so hard to do every task she was given...even her tears made me love her more..."
"Did you ever tell her?"
"...No."
"I never told Li...not what's really in my heart. Not what I really meant to say...will we ever find that sort of love again?"
"No." Tomoyo said with conviction, shaking her head. "Mother told me...every love is different. But you can love again, if you're open to it."
"How do you know you're open to it?" Meilin asked. "Sometimes you think you're heart is open when it's closed. And sometimes it turns out to be open when you're sure it's closed." Meilin looked over at Tomoyo as the wind blew, spattering them with more rain. "And sometimes you don't know who's in your heart. Sometimes....Sometimes you close your eyes one night and a new face has replaced the one that's been haunting your dreams..."
"Sometimes..." Tomoyo agreed quietly, not looking up to meet Meilin's gaze. "This is my street...why don't you come in and dry off?"
"Li will be worried. I should hurry home." Meiln replied.
"You could call him from my house." Tomoyo suggested.
"I think I should go." Meilin reached out a hand to touch Tomoyo's face gently.
"Do you?"
"I think it would be for the best..." Meiln replied, but did not move. AFter a moment she leaned forward, her lips brushing Tomoyo's. Once..twice...Tomoyo stepped closer and their lips locked, their arms wrapping around eachother.
Lightning crackled across the sky, followed by a deafening boom of thunder that made Tomoyo and Meilin leap away from eachother - their hearts racing. It had been like a reprimand. THe wind tore the bag from their hands as the rain increased, and the thunder rolled agian - louder.
"I must go." Meilin turned to run up the street.
"Meilin, wait!" Tomoyo called, but her voice was drowned out by thunder...


To Be Continued...

Salmon

Haokan = goodlooking
Hen jiu bu jian le - I haven't seen you in quite awhile.
Xie-xie = Thanks
Zaijian = See you Again