storypaint | Breaking the Cycle (Tomoyo/Meiling)

Comm: 30_lyrics (planned claim)
Words: 472
Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakura
Title: Breaking the Cycle
Author: rhap_chan
Theme(s): 1. The same performance, in the same old way; it's the same old story to this Passion Play.
Pairing/Characters: Li Meiling/Daidouji Tomoyo
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. All fanfiction archived here is a derivative of canon material that is not my property. I do not profit from these writings. The opinions and actions expressed in these stories are not necessarily the views and beliefs of the original author or me..
Summary: When Tomoyo and Meiling's relationship, difficult at best, comes to an end, perhaps it is the best thing for them both.

Excerpt: They couldn't even argue properly. Meiling would yell and Tomoyo would defer their anger, and it always ended in angry make-up sex that never really solved anything.

Their relationship was dysfunctional at best. Tomoyo and Meiling were as different as could be. They couldn't even argue properly. Meiling would yell and Tomoyo would defer their anger, and it always ended in angry make-up sex that never really solved anything.

They had fallen together in the aftermath of Syaoran and Sakura's wedding, when nothing felt certain anymore. Meiling wanted to prove to Syaoran that she could be okay without him, and Tomoyo was desperate for change. During the initial blush of courtship, things had seemed workable. The differences in their personalities didn't seem important, nor their different backgrounds, nor the fact that only Tomoyo was actually a lesbian. There was a first blush of hope, and after that was gone, nothing to replace it.

They were strangers living in the same apartment, clothing carefully divided in the closet. They had mixed none of their things together, subconsciously dreading the day when they would have to separate them again.

This argument wasn't a surprise. The whole afternoon Meiling had been grouchy. After a difficult day at work, she had to come home to Tomoyo pretending to be happy at her. Meiling watched the tiny lines at the corner of Tomoyo's eyes, watching them tighten as she talked about her stressful day, knowing that in her head Tomoyo was comparing her to Sakura and she could never measure up, never.

All of this was going through her mind as they picked out a restaurant for the evening. She flirted with the waiter when they were there, watching Tomoyo again from the corner of her eye, knowing how hard she was pushing. With a heady feeling she realized that things were breaking.

It was freeing.

The verbal argument began on the way home, its origin unknown, and it was truly a dance, as Tomoyo tried to pull away and Meiling continued to pull her back. It always ended in the same way, with the same accusations, because they were true accusations, as much as each denied.

In the morning, Meiling got up early from a cold bed (Tomoyo slept curled up in a ball as far away from her as possible), and threw some clothes into a suitcase. She wrote a short note and then walked out into the crisp fall air.

She inhaled the scent of old leaves and last night's rain, and breathed out, letting Tomoyo go.

The side effect was letting Syaoran go too, such an easy thing which had seemed impossible before, and she smiled, and thanked Tomoyo, still sleeping in their bed with bits of the past. Perhaps when she awoke Tomoyo would find Sakura gone from her heart as well, and the pain. Who knew?

Meiling climbed into the car and began to drive. For the first time in her life, she was glad to be single.