Her Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun (Eriol/Meiling) *repost*

[storypaint]

Comm: 15pairings
Words: 1547
Title: Her Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun
Pairing: Eriol/Meiling primarily; Syaoran/Sakura, Meiling/Syaoran, past Eriol/Kaho
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. This fanfic 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.
Rating: G

Excerpt: She didn't want his flowers, she said, or his arms to carry her books, or a companion to walk home with when Syaoran walked with Sakura (even though she really did).

He courted her with genteel desperation, despite protests from her protective cousin and protests of her own. She didn't want his flowers, she said, or his arms to carry her books, or a companion to walk home with when Syaoran walked with Sakura (even though she really did). But she was stubborn, Li Meiling was, and she didn't realize what she was losing until Hiiragizawa Eriol decided to remove his irritating presence from Tomoeda--indeed, from Japan itself. He was always indulgent of the women he loved.

How could refined Eriol fall in love with that spitfire? many students asked themselves (mostly the ones who had fallen in love with Eriol themselves and were jealous of all the attention she received from him, which she haughtily ignored). It was simple to him; she was beautiful, she was loving, and she was an independent spirit, unlike the guardians he had created. She was independent, like Kaho was, and he had loved Kaho until the day she took her independence and broke them apart.

Still, Eriol knew when he was not wanted, and left rather than face another month, year, decade with the fiery one angry at him for tricking Syaoran into Sakura's arms and effectively out of their engagement.

It only took two days until she realized what she had done.

She missed his stupid smile and the way he held the door for her and the poems he placed in her locker every Friday. She'd thought it was stupid, all those English sonnets with love hyperbole that she couldn't read, but then she thought about it again and ran her fingers across the strange characters. She asked Syaoran to read one to her.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head...

Oh, how angry that one had made her, even with Syaoran stumbling to translate into Chinese the words of an ancient poet who was hard enough to understand for English-speakers. Until, of course, he reached the end.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Syaoran blushed and asked to borrow the sonnet. She waved a hand, knowing he wanted to read it to Sakura after a bit of practice. It would roll off his tongue uneasily in any case; he'd never been comfortable with love, that was how she snatched him in the first place. She didn't need to keep the page, though it was the blue of his eyes and held his steady, small handwriting and the quiet scent of him. The words had burned themselves into her heart and it made her both uncomfortable and happy at the same time.

It was to no one's surprise when Meiling announced that over spring break she was going to visit England.

*

It was, however, a surprise to Eriol when she showed up on his doorstep one rainy March morning, lacking an umbrella and shivering for it.

"Li-san, I--" He blinked a couple times, not even knowing what to say, and settled for, "Come inside."

She sat down on his couch in the cavernous and dark living room. The only light came from the fire, the only warmth from the blanket he had summoned to her from somewhere. Noting the music notes motif and recalling that he played piano, she figured it was probably his. He sat down beside her and was quiet, except for a couple of minutes when his curious guardians were hovering in the doorway and he asked them to put on the tea with an extra cup. Then he waited for her to talk.

When she didn't, he tried.

"Erm, interesting weather?" he offered. Her lips curled ferally.

"Delightful, just like it would be at home in November. This country is depressing."

He nodded and tried again. "So, erm... enjoying your break?"

"This is break. Right here in your living room with a gallon of misty rain in my hair." She sniffled and flipped her pigtails. Water shone on them and he smelled oranges. A heavenly scent... Meiling's scent. He pushed the thought away. He didn't know why she was here, but there was a reason, and it wasn't because she returned his feelings, or that there was any possibility of that. He wouldn't press again.

"You don't know much about girls, do you, wise magician?" she said, staring into the fire. The "wise" dripped with sarcasm and he couldn't help but feel a little hurt.

"I guess not," he allowed.

"I came here all the way from Japan and all you ask me about is the weather? What about the fact that I took a lot of trouble to come here to see you?"

"It was a pleasant surprise," he said, and smiled, thought he scooted back from her on the couch when she lifted a hand as if to slap him.

She swore in Chinese and then said, "Hiiragizawa, you need to act like a real person. Like a normal person, I mean. This Victorian gentleman crap--no one does it anymore."

"I do," Eriol said calmly, wishing she had called him by his first name.

"The modern woman does not want a gentleman to lead her around by her dainty little hand," Meiling said, frowning into the fire. "I mean, with all this British politeness, how do I even know that I am anything to you? You treated Sakura the same way."

"I teased Sakura for an express purpose. You know this," he said. "And what woman in this hard day and age doesn't want a knight to rescue her, the damsel in distress?"

She leaned in close to him and whispered, "I always wanted to be the knight."

"I admire your spirit," Eriol said with a genuine smile. "Would you like to rescue me, sir knight?" He made a funny face and clasped his hands together as if he were in distress. Despite herself, Meiling giggled. Then she pulled the blanket back around her shoulders and looked into the fire again.

"I want to be the knight," she said. "Because when I was the promised damsel... I lost my promise, you know?"

The look she gave him was full of old pain and he was surprised that she had let herself be so vulnerable. As if realizing it, she turned away again. As she stared persistently into the fireplace, he admired her eyes. They were almost the same amber color as Syaoran's--but his eyes were molten amber, slow to change, and hers were firey, were golden amber aflame, a great contrast to Eriol's deep blues that one could drown in.

"I know," Eriol said gently. Feeling daring, he placed his hand on her back in comfort. She let it stay.

"I don't want someone to be with me when they don't want to," she said, "and I don't want someone to make me an object of devotion. I'm not an object! I'm a woman. Sometimes I wonder if you see that."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she went on.

"I'm a woman, and that means that I want to be the knight sometimes and the damsel sometimes. I want to be able to be myself with my man, and to be loved even through my temper fits and whiny spells. That is the modern woman. You seem to be stuck in the 1800s. I don't want to be a kept woman, do you understand?!"

He leaned over and said, "I wouldn't dream of keeping you from doing anything you want to do."

She looked at him for a long time and when he thought she was steeling herself to walk away she grabbed his collar, jerked him near to her, and kissed him, long and warm and desperate. "Good," she purred, and kissed him again.

*

One of the guardian creatures in the next room watching the couple quietly put his paw over the other one's mouth in warning. When he let go, cautioning his sibling to be quiet, said sibling giggled.

"Who knew Eriol-sama had it in him to be a kept man?" s/he said. Spinel stared at Ruby with horror in his eyes.

"Eriol, a kept man?" he said, disbelieving. "Not even for Li Meiling, no way."

"Mm-hmm," Ruby Moon said, taking another glance into the next room. S/he pointed at the couple on the couch.

"Look who's on top!"

Spinel looked and then looked away, embarrassed for his master. "Another strong-willed woman," he said. "Just like Kaho-san. I don't know why he picks the controlling ones."

"What puppetmaster does not sometimes wonder what it is like to be his puppet?" Ruby said. And it was such an insightful thing for the moon guardian to say that Spinel nodded and said nothing more. He peeked around the corner again and wrinkled his nose at the sight of the teenagers lip-locking on the couch. Then he sighed, resigned. That would probably be happening a lot more now... But what could one do. He just had to love Eriol, even if he found it funny to be a damsel in distress.

Comments

[claire-chan.livejournal.com]

It's interesting seeing all these Eriol/Meiling fics from you lately. Hmm.

I'm reading all the new stuff and enjoying it, I'm just also sleepy and lacking interesting things to say.

[pleonasm]

I don't know how I missed posting these fics... because they're all older. I wrote this one last July or August. I think that I originally was planning an Eriol/Meiling claim in there somewhere, but it fell by the wayside. ^^

I'm glad you're reading! Even if you aren't commenting, it gives me a warm feeling inside. ^___^