storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2009-01-05 02:55 pm
storypaint) wrote2009-01-05 02:55 pm
Arranged (Meiling/Syaoran)
Title: Arranged
Length: 553 words
Prompt: A happy Meiling/Syaoran fic for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
claire_chan
Pairing: Meiling/Syaoran; minor Eriol/Sakura
Other: n/a
Excerpt: And he woke up, five years and eight days after marrying Meiling, and he realized that he loved her, that he needed her, much in the way that she'd needed him all these years.
They'd been married for five years when Syaoran realized he was in love.
In most Western countries, Syaoran knew, people fell in love and then they got married, instead of the other way around, as many people did in China. Arranged marriages were some of the longest-lasting, happiest marriages in the world. There were statistics. Still, some romantic part of Syaoran had wanted to marry in love.
And he had been in love, and it was wonderful. It was better than wonderful. But in the end, it hadn't been the right thing. Japan hadn't been his place and he'd slipped away from Sakura, further and further.
His heart was in China. His family and his life were in China. He still thought in Chinese, dreamed about Hong Kong, and loved its familiar streets.
"You aren't here with me," she said, the week before he left. "You're not here."
That was probably why she married Eriol, after he'd gone, the wedding invitation in the mail only six months after he'd settled back into life. The card was in Japanese and in English and he stared at it for several long minutes before he could decipher it.
He didn't go, but he sent a card and a gift, wishing them luck. He supposed that Eriol didn't have his heart in England, after all. It was with that sweet Japanese girl. The thought bothered him more than he thought it would.
Two years later he was sending his own invitation across the waters. Meiling had chosen pine-green and silver as their colors, and the card was embossed sweetly in Chinese (Syaoran had considered enclosing a translation, but he figured that Eriol knew some Chinese through Clow, and he was right). They hadn't come to his wedding, Sakura being eight months pregnant, but he'd married Meiling on the shores of Hong Kong-- not out of love for his cousin, but out of love for his family and their wishes.
And it wasn't as though he didn't love her at all. She was devoted to him, and perhaps he didn't feel that strongly, but he still cared for her. She was his family. She was his wife.
There were twin girls after three years, Syaoran's little princesses. They looked like their mother, and they had no lack of care and attention. He loved them more deeply than he'd thought it possible to love anyone at all.
And he woke up, five years and eight days after marrying Meiling, and he realized that he loved her, that he needed her, much in the way that she'd needed him all these years. And maybe he had made some strange choices, to an outsider, and maybe things could have turned out quite differently, but he was happy. He loved his wife.
He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead and she didn't stir. One of the twins had been nursing a nasty cold all week and Meiling hadn't been sleeping well. He wouldn't wake her.
He dressed and strode out onto the balcony, looking out on a city already bustling and alive, feeling the promise in the air and the roots of his world. He smiled.
And Li Syaoran lived happily for the rest of his life.
Length: 553 words
Prompt: A happy Meiling/Syaoran fic for
claire_chanPairing: Meiling/Syaoran; minor Eriol/Sakura
Other: n/a
Excerpt: And he woke up, five years and eight days after marrying Meiling, and he realized that he loved her, that he needed her, much in the way that she'd needed him all these years.
They'd been married for five years when Syaoran realized he was in love.
In most Western countries, Syaoran knew, people fell in love and then they got married, instead of the other way around, as many people did in China. Arranged marriages were some of the longest-lasting, happiest marriages in the world. There were statistics. Still, some romantic part of Syaoran had wanted to marry in love.
And he had been in love, and it was wonderful. It was better than wonderful. But in the end, it hadn't been the right thing. Japan hadn't been his place and he'd slipped away from Sakura, further and further.
His heart was in China. His family and his life were in China. He still thought in Chinese, dreamed about Hong Kong, and loved its familiar streets.
"You aren't here with me," she said, the week before he left. "You're not here."
That was probably why she married Eriol, after he'd gone, the wedding invitation in the mail only six months after he'd settled back into life. The card was in Japanese and in English and he stared at it for several long minutes before he could decipher it.
He didn't go, but he sent a card and a gift, wishing them luck. He supposed that Eriol didn't have his heart in England, after all. It was with that sweet Japanese girl. The thought bothered him more than he thought it would.
Two years later he was sending his own invitation across the waters. Meiling had chosen pine-green and silver as their colors, and the card was embossed sweetly in Chinese (Syaoran had considered enclosing a translation, but he figured that Eriol knew some Chinese through Clow, and he was right). They hadn't come to his wedding, Sakura being eight months pregnant, but he'd married Meiling on the shores of Hong Kong-- not out of love for his cousin, but out of love for his family and their wishes.
And it wasn't as though he didn't love her at all. She was devoted to him, and perhaps he didn't feel that strongly, but he still cared for her. She was his family. She was his wife.
There were twin girls after three years, Syaoran's little princesses. They looked like their mother, and they had no lack of care and attention. He loved them more deeply than he'd thought it possible to love anyone at all.
And he woke up, five years and eight days after marrying Meiling, and he realized that he loved her, that he needed her, much in the way that she'd needed him all these years. And maybe he had made some strange choices, to an outsider, and maybe things could have turned out quite differently, but he was happy. He loved his wife.
He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead and she didn't stir. One of the twins had been nursing a nasty cold all week and Meiling hadn't been sleeping well. He wouldn't wake her.
He dressed and strode out onto the balcony, looking out on a city already bustling and alive, feeling the promise in the air and the roots of his world. He smiled.
And Li Syaoran lived happily for the rest of his life.
no subject
I totally fail. Even if it breaks my OTP, I can't help but be okay as long as they are both as happy as you have written. Very, very sweet fic.
~^__^~
no subject