Author's Note: This is based on a short story I wrote in the 9th grade, and I decided it would work here too. Tell me what you think, and just to let you know, it switches between people. A line means the other person, (X~X) means it's just skipping forward but the same person.

Love From Beyond the Grave

"Doctor, She's not going to make it!" A flustered nurse bounced above me. It was like I wasn't even there, just floating there on the surgery table. My eyes fluttered to the man digging around in my chest, another nurse wiping his brow then yelling for the flustered nurse to shut her yap. I couldn't speak and tell the woman I was fine, not to be so upset, but my mouth never moved. The stare I had bore into the doctor, wishing him the best, wanting his best. He was supposed to be the best surgeon, so shouldn't he be able to save me. It was just a small stab mark, and my stomach only panged a bit, so nothing could be too torn… could it?

A dark shadow began to loom over me, and I felt myself sit up. Only, when I looked down at the table, there I was, a gas mask on my face and eyes closed. Furrowing my brows, I looked to the doctor still concentrating on the bodies stomach that was open. My eyes then took in completely what my body looked like. I was pale, almost transparent as my body was completely bare except for the towels to cover the skin around my stomach. There was a giant hole on my stomach with the doctors hands inside my belly, looking like he was stitching up something. I looked to my stomach compared to the bodies stomach, and there was only a stab wound that was red compared to my pale body. Then the doctor flung out his left hand for a suction utensil and it went right through me. Like I was some kind of ghost.

"Child… come on, you don't want to see this." My eyes looked up to a man walking into the doorway. He wore a cloak over himself and held a large leather bound book in his right hand. I blinked at him, but he put out a sleeve that showed a hand reaching out to me. I smiled and slid off the table, taking his hand and following him to the door. Only, I stopped dead when there was a loud sound ringing off the walls of the room.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

"Doctor! SHE'S FLAT LINING!"

I gasped as the man pulled me from the group and into a small black shadow. Before I knew it I was standing in a rather disgusting looking waiting room. The carpets were deep, old, crimson red and the walls were white with paintings that didn't seem connected at all. A woman clicking her teeth and sucking on a purple sucker sat behind a large white desk at the far end with two doors on each side of her. One was brilliant white with pearl colored wire over the tinted glass. The other was a deep black door with marble like wire over the tinted glass. I looked for the man who brought me to this room, but he was gone, as was any door behind me.

"Funny, you don't know how you got here, you just remember waking up." I turned my head to a girl sitting on the couch, holding her stomach and looking to the paintings across from her.

"Where are we?" I asked, walking over to her sitting on the long couch. However, when I moved, I found myself back into my Kazekage outfit. I stopped moving and looked to myself, inspecting. I looked far paler than I had, and my skin had small red dots on all my finger tips, and my stomach felt like it was buzzing. To top it off, I couldn't hear the comforting of the Shukaku's voice, it was quiet and empty in my mind.

"As far as I can guess…. Limbo." She spoke, letting out a sigh. I furrowed my brows at her, walking completely over to her, taking a seat next to her. "It's weird, knowing that you're dead… but not completely dead. You're just mostly dead, as if by some kind of miracle you might come back." She added before looking to me. That's when I saw what her hands were covering, she was holding a stab wound on her stomach.

I couldn't help but stare at it for a moment then look to her. Her skin was pale like mine, almost transparent, her lips were slightly puffed and red. Her eyes were slightly red, from the tears I saw just trickling from her eyes, but the color of her eyes was almost glowing icy blue. She wore a light blue sundress with a white bow across her hips, where the skirt flared out, and she wore white flats, her long brown hair held back by a white bow head band. She looked so innocent, to be in a place like this.

"I'm Yuri, by the way." She mumbled, wiping her eyes with the backs of her wrist.

"Gaara…" I stated. Then she perked up from her lap and looked to me. Her eyes wide as she looked over me then to my face, almost in a panic.

"No… No, Kazekage-san, you can't be dead!" She blurted out. I eyed her, confused. How did she know me? There were many people in my village, and even though I didn't know them all by name, I knew what they looked like and she didn't wear anything a Suna person would. Only then, I saw there on her thigh, once she had turned was a Suna Head-band tied around her thigh. She was one of my ninja's?

"You… you're a ninja for Suna?" I asked. She nodded and hung her head a bit, looking to her feet.

"I was called out to help the search party for you, while at a family picnic. My team was ambushed by a man in a black cloak with red clouds, he took everyone out with a blow, when I got there. I was running behind just incase of an ambush. He caught me by surprise and stabbed me before disappearing…" She explained with a sigh. "I was hoping to see them here, but the lady behind the desk told me, people without a chance of going back to life are ushered directly into their door."

I looked up to the woman scribbling hard down a list.

"So…we could survive and come back to life?" I asked, looking to the girl beside me.

"As far as I understand, us sitting here means someone's trying to save our life." Just then a ghostly form came floating through the wall and went straight to the white door, opening it and blinding the two of us on the couch.

I sat next to the Kazekage, feeling as if hours had gone by. However, Gaara had gotten up to ask the lady how long we'd been here. She rolled her eyes and pointed up. There above them were two clocks. One said living and one said dead. On the dead clock it had been an hour, maybe more, on the living it hadn't even been a minute. Gaara sat down and hung his head back against the headboard of the couch.

"Other than the whole, I'm dead thing, are you okay?" I whispered to him. I pulled my legs in Indian style and placed my hands in my lap, eyeing him. He looked to me with a sigh and sat up, turning to me.

"I'm just thinking, had I done something different, would I still be alive for the village… would your team still be alive, would many of my ninja's be alive?" He stated, crossing his arms over his chest. I looked down to my lap with a puzzled look.

"I don't think you could have, Kazekage-san-" He cut me off.

"Gaara, please" He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing it. I bit my bottom lip but nodded.

"…Um, Gaara, I don't think any of this was avoidable." I spoke, smiling at him wearily. "Look, lets talk about something other than this. Giving yourself a headache isn't the answer., what about 20 questions?" I tilted my head to him.

"Fine." He whispered. "Favorite color?" He asked, looking to me, his head back against the couch.

"I have two, but they're easy. Blue and Red." I smiled, then pursed my lips for a moment but gasping, "Oh, I know, if you had to choose, what super cool talent would you have instead of sand?" I asked.

He eyed me for a moment before looking to his hands and furrowed his brows. I grinned as he sat there pondering it before looking up to me.

"I would enjoy some water talent. Maybe then we'd get some rain in the village." He snorted, letting out a sigh. I couldn't hold it in, I broke out into a laugh, and held my stomach as I laughed.

"I would love a nice rain storm here and there, maybe then I could grow more than desert vegetables in my garden." I laughed. I could actually see the ghost of a smile on his lips as he chuckled slightly, looking up to the ceiling then rolling his head back to me.

"My turn." He chuckled, Sitting up completely and leaning his left arm against the couch. "If you hadn't become a ninja, what would you be?"

I nibbled on my lip a bit, sucking on it while I thought.

"That's hard, All I've ever wanted to be was a ninja, but when I was little I wanted to be a princess, or like something like that… Does that count?" I asked, cocking a brow at him.

"I'll take that as an answer." He rolled his eyes before nodding at me to ask my question. I crossed my arms and looked to the ceiling.

"How about, what is your favorite food in the village?… Please, don't say Kamichi's, I'll cry if you say Kamichi's." I laughed, looking at him. He snorted.

"No. Kamichi's just barely passed the health inspection, I'm actually waiting for them to go out of business… No, If I had to choose my favorite, it's be that café around the corner from the Council building with the giant teat cup on top with a tree coming out of it." He explained.

"OH! Miss Haruhi's Café! Um… I think it's called the Tea Tree Cup? But I love their deserts! I could live just on those!" I blurted out, rubbing my stomach, "Great, now I want one of her turnovers…" I pouted with a sigh. He snorted and rolled his eyes but looked to the ceiling then looked to me with a questioning look.

"Did you vote for me for Kazekage?" He asked, quirking a brow. I eyed him before groaning and rolling my eyes.

"Yes." He seemed taken aback by it.

"Really?"

"Hey! It's my turn to ask the question, how about, Do you have a bias against Ninja teams? Because Temari, and Kankuro's teams get better missions then the rest of us." I blurted out, leaning towards him with a cocked brow.

"Of course I am." He stated without missing a beat, "But, then again, I also give Temari the more dangerous ones because Kankuro's team isn't the brightest." He explained before blinking and pointing a finger at me, "You can't tell anyone I said that."

I've never had as long of a conversation as I did with Yuri. The 20 question limit was strung out the window when she asked me if I'd ever kissed anyone, or if I'd ever done something the council would frown upon. So I asked her if she'd ever done something I'd frown upon, and if she'd ever gone against ninja law and kissed someone on her team. She confessed she had kissed one of her team mates, but it was a dare and he and she vowed never to speak of it again, to take it to their grave. Which, technically she had.

It was weird, being dead, the time seemed to just not matter in the least. Everything seemed perfect, my eyes didn't hurt, my headache never actually came, and her stab wound didn't hurt when she laughed at all. And she laughed a lot, whenever I made a joke or said something silly, she laughed and it was becoming contagious. My stomach actually felt like it should hurt from laughing so much but it didn't.

However, we had been here forever, and it only seemed to be 2 minutes for the living.

"Feeling sleepy?" I asked, eyeing her.

"Is that your question?" She laughed, leaning against the couch.

"No," I pouted. I scrunched my face while looking to the couch. I needed a good question, and we had been asking a lot of good questions. I looked to her smiling at me, her arms crossed across her chest. "If we had actually met while we were alive, would you have liked me this much?" I asked, eyeing her. She tilted her head, her smile becoming a small, genuine smile and she closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

"I guess you're going to find out anyway, but Gaara, ever since you came back from the Chunnin exams, you changed from what you were and, well, I like you as my Kazekage, and you're a great person, but had we been alive… you would never talk to me. I'm just a Chunnin, and you're Kazekage." She spoke, opening her eyes with a smile. "But, I should also let you know, that you're the hottest Kazekage this village has ever seen. I'm surprised you've never been kissed, especially since you become a nicer person." She laughed, sitting up.

"my turn?" But I didn't let her ask a question, my hand grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to me. It took less than a millisecond to place a kiss on her lips, my hands holding her shoulders. I waited for her to react for a moment, then decided this was a horrible idea. I was about to let her go and apologize for my actions when her hands snapped to my uniform and pulled me back against her. Her lips moved against mine as she crumpled my uniform in her hands. My brain stopped as she switched her legs to be on her knees, just so she could be closer to me. Her right hand found itself in my hair as mine rested on her lower back, the other slipping into her hair and tangling in the long, brown silk.

I wanted more, it felt like I didn't even need air, only the kiss began to lighten, like her lips were disappearing. I opened my eyes, pulling away as I saw her whole body begin to look transparent. Her eyes widen as we realized was going on.

"Please, I'm not ready to leave!" She cried to the lady behind the desk. She snorted, clicking her tongue against her teeth.

"Stop being so whiny, you're going back to the living…" Both of us stopped in mid thought as the man in the black cloak came walking through the wall we had came in and put her hand out to her. She eyed his hand then to me. I gripped her right hand hard before pushing her towards the man in the black cloak. She walked towards him and took his hand but turned to me.

"Gaara… I'll be waiting for you, and maybe we can get a turn over." She smiled weakly, I could see her eyes watery as the man and her walked back through the wall and left me in the room all by myself. I looked to my hands then to the clock. It had been exactly 5 minutes in the human world. If either one of us was to survive, it would have to be done by now.

I sighed, waiting for myself to turn into a ghost and file through the doors, but I stayed.

I sat in silence, waiting and watching the clock. The woman kept scribbling as a body floated through here and there. There was one person who came in, he was a civilian from another country with a knife to the chest. He explained her didn't expect to survive in the waiting room for much longer. He had been fighting a burglar who stabbed him and ran after his son chased him out with a sword. Then within minutes of being there, he was taken by the white door. The human world went from 5 minutes, to 10, to 20. It felt like days had gone by, silently just staggering.

"Gaara?" I lifted my head to the wall once more, only to see Chiyo slowly fading into the room. I blinked, eyeing the old woman.

"Chiyo, what are you doing?" I asked, standing up. Only my features began to fade out into a ghost. Great, I was finally dying.

"Gaara… I'm saving your life." Then the man in black came walking back in and put his hand out to me.

"Come on Child, it's time to go back."

X~X

"Gaara, you need to see a doctor, you were just dead for more than 20 minutes! You're weak!" Temari yelled after me, but I rushed from the examination room to the nurse at the front.

"Is there a woman named Yuri here?" I spoke.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama, she's in room 205, but you should go see-" That's all I needed to hear. I turned and walked rushed up the stairs towards the hall she was supposed to be in. When I woke, I couldn't remember where I had been, or what had happened, I just remember her. I remember information about her, and I remember her voice. It was fuzzy, like a dream, but for some reason I knew what she tasted like.

I rounded a corner, turning into a room to see a the girl from my memory sitting in a bed, reading a book. She wore a loose tank-top and shorts and her long brown hair was down, framing her body. She looked up from the book, blinking those icy blue eyes at me. Then she smiled and tilted her head at me.

"Hello Kazekage-san, what brings you here?" She asked.

"I told you, call me Gaara." I blurted out, before reeling back. What just happened. I've never said that, but then again, I felt like I had.

"Oh, sorry Gaara, I forgot…" Then she blinked and looked at me confused. "Um… Gaara, why do I know your favorite ice-cream is Cherry, and why do I want to go to Tea Tree Cup for a turn over?" She asked, closing her book.

"I don't know… but…" I shut the door behind me and walked to her bed, looking down at her. "I like it." Her eyes looked up at me with confusion before smiling at me with a small laugh.
"This is going to sound silly, but I think we've kissed before…" She trailed off, looking lost at me. I couldn't stop myself, I sat beside her on the bed and the words spilled out.

"That's the only firm memory I have." I whispered. Only I went to apologize and leave, I didn't mean to be so blunt and open with someone I didn't actually know. Just what I had dreamed. But without warning, her lips came crashing on mine, and it no longer mattered. My arms pulled her close, savoring her kiss only for her to jerk away.

"Oww… sorry, stab wound."