Never Thought of Love
By: E.W. Dowell
Author's Note: I know the next part of Ever After is going to take me a while,
so I decided to do a quick fic. I also did this because I thought it would be
fun and interesting to write. I hope you enjoy it.
Helpful notes:
*** = Character change (Either Tomoyo or Meiling)
~~~ = Scene change but same character.
The characters in this story are based of the ones from the manga and anime
series, Card Captor Sakura created by CLAMP.
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I quickly ran down the hall of my house and toward Shoran. "Shoran! Welcome
home!", He looked at me exhaustedly. I grabbed onto his right arm.
"Guess what Shoran? Guess!" I smiled with much delight clinging to my
old love's arm.
"What Meiling?" He asked non-enthusiastically.
"We're going back to Japan!" I exclaimed.
He jumped out of my hold. "Eh?"
***
I sat in front of my computer smiling, my long hair draped
over the chair. Meiling-chan and Li-kun were going to come back for part of the
summer break. They had gone back to China planning to spend all four months
there, but Meiling-chan and I have been writing each other to plan for them to
come back so Sakura-chan could confess her feelings for Li-kun. Meiling-chan had
just confirmed that they were coming back.
~~~
Sakura-chan and I had planned to go visit Eriol-kun to only
find out that his house had been bull dozed and a new theme park was there. We
then ran into Li-kun and Meiling-chan and went to a close by park to socialize.
Sakura-chan and Meiling-chan were both sitting on swings
talking and Li-kun and I were standing under a tree in the shade. Li-kun looked
exhausted and was just standing there leaning against the chair with his eyes
closed while I stood watching Sakura-chan and Meiling-chan talk. It was then
when it hit me. While I was watching Sakura-chan, I realized I no longer loved
her. Well, I did love her, but it wasn't the same. She was now just a best
friend, I loved her in that way and always would, but I no longer loved her in
any other way. How did I realize it? I stared at her a bit longer. Sure she was
cute, no one could deny that, and she was extremely sweet. But I no longer felt
all fluttery while looking at her. That was the difference.
I looked over at Meiling-chan and felt butterflies in my
stomach. That was the difference, I had fallen in love with Meiling-chan.
***
I sat on a swing next to Sakura-chan and slightly swayed back
and forth. It felt so nice to be back in Japan. I could now be with the one I
loved. I can't believe it took me so long to realize it though. I glanced over
at Tomoyo-chan who was staring at Sakura-chan and I looked away. I suppose she
still loves Sakura-chan though. I was distracted from my thoughts when
Sakura-chan started speaking to me. "When did you come back?"
"We just arrived," I replied.
"If you told me, we would have picked you up."
"Surprised?" I asked with a slight laugh. I looked
over at Tomoyo-chan and smiled. She smiled back.
"Yes," Sakura-chan answered. "Very
surprised."
"It's successful," I said without thinking.
"Eh?" Sakura-chan looked very confused.
I shook my head. "You're in a play right?"
"Yes. Will you be here the next week?" She asked.
I nodded. "Yep."
Sakura-chan smiled. "Yes! Together again!"
I leaned over close to Sakura-chan. It was time to play
matchmaker. "What I told you in the letter before is true."
"What?"
"My engagement to Shoran is over," I continued.
"I heard he loves someone else. I heard that he told her he loved her but
she had not answered yet. I wish Shoran good luck," I concluded. I saw
Sakura-chan blush. Score!
***
Seeing the blush on Sakura-chan's face, I assumed that Meiling-chan
had been successful. I turned around to look at Li-kun. "Is it summer
holiday over in Hong Kong?" I asked him. He opened his eyes and looked at
me.
"Yeah. Meiling wanted to return suddenly."
I smiled. "Well, it is ceremony time."
He looked at me questioningly. "You
contact her by e-mail right?"
"Yes."
"Did you invite her to return?" He asked
suspiciously.
"Is that a problem?" When he didn¹t answer I
decided on a different approach. "Did you not want to see
Sakura-chan?"
He stuttered. "She's still thinking." He looked over
at her. "It's not essential that she answers me."
***
Sakura-chan looked back at me. "Meiling-chan, where will
you stay?"
I smiled happily. "With Tomoyo-chan."
"Oh, I see. Will you be my guest tonight? I'll prepare a
great dinner for you." She asked.
"No thanks." I replied casually. "Tomoyo-chan
and I need to go." I looked over at Tomoyo-chan and winked.
"Yes," Tomoyo-chan agreed.
I looked back over at Sakura-chan. "Sorry."
Sakura-chan shook her head. "No it is my fault."
"But please invite Shoran," I added quickly. Both
Shoran and Sakura-chan jumped up in surprise.
"Eh?"
***
Meiling-chan waved goodbye to Li-kun. "See you tonight at
Tomoyo-chan¹s home." She then took my hand. "Lets go," she said
to me softly. Meiling-chan and I walked down to the bus stop after having
dropped of Sakura-chan and Li-kun at Sakura-chan¹s house. We were holding
hands, something for some reason I could not stop thinking about. The feeling
was nice; it reminded me of how I felt often when I held hands with Sakura-chan
before.
"You care a lot about others," I told her breaking
to comfortable silence.
Meiling-chan smiled gripping my hand tighter. "They are
to stupid."
I giggled. "It would be wonderful if Sakura-chan could
answer Li-kun about his feelings."
Meiling looked off into the distance ahead of us. "I
agree."
***
Once getting to Tomoyo-chan's house,
we went straight to her room. I noticed a couple of things different about it
from the last time I had visited. First of all, I did no see any costumes that
she made or sketches of Sakura-chan. Does this mean she no longer loved her? No,
Sakura-chan just had no reason to wear any of the beautiful clothing Tomoyo-chan
use to make for her. She was no longer catching Clow Cards or changing them into
Sakura Cards. I sighed and thought of how much I would have liked to be the one
to have met Tomoyo-chan instead of Sakura-chan meeting her. If I could have been
the one to have given her an eraser and have been her best friend and had been
chosen to be the cardcaptor and have worn all of Tomoyo-chan's beautiful
outfits.
But that was all past. It was Sakura-chan that got all of
those wonderful gifts; becoming the cardcaptor, Tomoyo-chan's best friend and
even Tomoyo-chan's love.
I knew I had to tell Tomoyo-chan my true feelings, even if
they were not to be reciprocated. I could not live knowing that I might have had
a chance and never took it. But first I just had to know if she still loved
Sakura-chan.
"Um, Tomoyo-chan?" I asked her as I sat down on her
bed.
"Yes Meiling-chan?" She sat down on the bed next to
me and looked into my eyes. Her beautiful purple eyes bore into mine as if
looking through me for what I was going to say. That is what gave me the courage
to speak up, her look. I knew that even if she didn't love me back, of all
people, she would understand my feelings. But again, I just had to ask her about
Sakura-chan first, just to make sure.
"Do you still love Sakura-chan?" I said quickly.
She smiled. "I do,” she replied. It hit me at once like
a slap in the face. I was expecting that answer, but I guess I was really hoping
so much that she would say “no” that it still hurt a lot.
“Oh,” was all I could manage to see.
Tomoyo-chan took my hands and tilted my face up so that I was
looking at her again and not at the floor. “I love her as a best friend. I
just realized earlier today that I no longer love her, but someone else.”
“Who?” I asked.
“You,” she replied very quietly then she stood up and
walked over to her window. “But I suppose you still love Li-kun,” she
continued. “You are a very caring person helping him and Sakura-chan when you
still love him.”
I walked up behind her and turned her around so that she would
be looking at me. Before I knew what I was doing, I bent down and kissed her. It
was the softest and most loving kiss I could imagine. Finally it stopped leaving
Tomoyo-chan looking very surprised. “I love you too, Tomoyo.”
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