It's been SO long…I don't know if anyone cares to read this anymore…^-^ Unfortunately, like I said in Chapter One, this story has nothing to do with Miyazaki-san's Spirited Away. I hope it's still a good story anyway. Oh and THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!! You people are too nice to me!!

Also…I'm so sorry about Phoenix Rising!! *cowers under desk* If you don't know what I'm talking about, then check my profile. But don't kill me afterwards, ne? ^^0

Disclaimer: I own nothing but please don't take my ideas.

Spirited Away

Chapter Two: A Host of Ghosts

Click.

"Hello?"

"Sakura-chan!!" A voice squealed into the phone on the other side of the line. Sakura had the fleeting impression of a small plump pig with a long lavender wig on.

"Is that you? How are you? What's it like in Hong Kong? It is nice there? Is it too cold for you? Do you need any extra clothes? What's the house like? Is it too dusty? Have you met anyone yet? Do you need me to-"

The fifteen-year-old girl moved the phone away from her ear, sweat dropping as her friend went on asking a long slew of questions in her soft, melodious voice. That would be Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura's best friend since the days they learned to count and a very accomplished singer. She was, in fact, first soprano in the local chorus group back in Tomoeda although she had a strange hobby of making clothes for Sakura. Tomoyo was convinced that Sakura "couldn't be in her full kawaii-ness without a kawaii outfit!". Sakura sighed as she neared the phone to her ear again.

"Are the people nice there? Have you gone to the school yet? Do they have uniforms? Because if they don't then I can send you a few outfits because after you-"

"No, no. Tomoyo-chan," Sakura interrupted, an embarrassed smile in her voice, "I'm fine here.

"Oh," Tomoyo replied with a hint of disappointment. Sakura could just imagine the look that her friend would be giving her right now. It seemed to say, Sakura-chan could look SO much more kawaii…if only she'd wear my outfits…

"Eh-uh-B-But I have so many drab outfits!! What'll I do?!" Sakura finally cried into the phone. She mentally hit herself.

"GREAT!!!" Tomoyo squealed into the phone, "You know, I tried out this really new design on a top that I made for you. It's pink and it has frills on the sleeves-oh, by the way, what is the house like?"

For once, Sakura was glad to answer, "It is so absolutely gorgeous, Tomoyo-chan!! I wish you could see it!"

"Well…why don't you give me a verbal tour?" Tomoyo suggested, "I'm sure you can describe it well enough."

"Okay!" Sakura chirped, "Since I'm in my new room, I'll just start here."

"Go for it, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo exclaimed.

And she began. She talked about her broad soft canopy bed draped in sheer sheets of satin and rich strips of green silk. Above it, a small but exquisite crystal chandelier hung from the patterned dome ceiling in the shape of a crystallized teardrop. Beyond the light source of the room, blooming peony flowers stretched as far as she could see in luscious fields of snowy white petals. Next to her bedside table, stood a tall, gilded dresser that almost seemed to act like a guardian in its hugeness. Alongside that, stood a full-length mirror that was fitted with a frame detailed with legendary fairies that Sakura could name by heart with all her knowledge of Chinese folklore. Across the room was a wardrobe that stretched the entire length of the opposite wall. It was, of course, fitted with gold edges and the handles were even embedded with real emeralds.

"Good job, Miss Tour Guide. You are now entitled to a five-minute break. Then you shall commence once again," Tomoyo announced authoritatively.

Sakura laughed and fell back on to her bed. The embroidered blanket felt very soft underneath the lightweight of her slim body and she closed her eyes, snoring loudly at an attempt to feign sleep. Sakura was surprised to find that the linen smelled of some incense and the musty but pleasant scent of autumn. She opened her eyes, admiring the curling blossoms above her through the canopy of the bed.

Sakura didn't know why she had chosen this room. Her favorite color, after all, was pink and there was a room next to her brother's that was gauzed with peach and light blushing colors everywhere. But for some reason, this room made her feel safe and cozy and had rooted her to the spot.

Speaking of other rooms, the girl jumped off the bed and excitedly ran to her brother's room, then her father's room, and even the bathroom, telling so much detail that Tomoyo had to laugh.

"Sakura-chan! I'm not asking you to write a book on it, you know!"

"But everything is so wonderful, I have to tell you all about it!" And she descended the stairs, heading for the kitchen. Her pattering steps echoed greatly in the Main Hall and for a moment, Sakura shivered as if she felt that she was being watched. But after surveying her surroundings for a good five minutes, she could find no evidence and quickly shook off the feeling. But just as she set her yellow, slippered foot down on the old dusty tiles, a loud noise suddenly sounded from upstairs.

THUMP.

Even Tomoyo heard it.

"Sakura-chan…what's that?"

Sakura stopped, trying to hear it again, but it didn't happen. "I-I don't know," she replied shakily after a moment, "Otou-san and Onii-chan went to town to buy some groceries. I'm the only one here…"

"Or, you should be the only one here," Tomoyo pointed out.

"Do you think…that it's a…g-ghost?" Sakura's knuckles became white, clutched around the phone, as she uttered the last word. She had always been terrified at the idea of ghosts since childhood when Touya had relentlessly told her stories about all the ghosts that he saw. Now a more mature Sakura knew that those stories were false. But a nagging fear came to existence inside her of translucent beings that were actually splitting images of dead people.

"Sa-"

Tomoyo's words were suddenly cut off as the line went dead.

"Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura whispered, her face paling," Tomoyo-chan?"

Thump. Thump.

Sakura froze stiff. Get a grip! She chided within herself, Just go check what it is! There can't be ghosts in such a famous house. You're scaring yourself; it's probably just a branch hitting the roof.

Remembering the large willow tree she had glimpsed from the front of the house, she felt a slight bit better, and placed the useless phone on the kitchen table. Nevertheless, her hand trembled mercilessly.

After a few moments of sitting and quaking as if she had a seizure, Sakura sprung up and spoke in a falsely cheerful tone, as if soothing herself, "Okay, I can't just sit here scared out of my wits of nothing. I'm going to go check what it is."

But despite her courageous intentions, she cowered and tiptoed her way into the Main Hall. It looked to be the same hall she had just passed through but she felt that something was different. Sakura was becoming so uneasy that she wished with all her heart at the crazy notion of having some kind of weapon.

She was overcome with gratefulness when she saw her cheerleading bag at the foot of her stairs and ran to it, nervously unzipping the familiar pink zipper. Rummaging through her uniform and her shoes, she grabbed her cheerleading baton, clutching it tightly in her hands as she stood up. The multi-colored tasseled ends gleaming lazily in the light streaming through the large stained glass windows.

Suddenly, it happened again.

Thump…thump.

Sakura had to stifle a scream with a gulp as she forced her shaking legs to ascend the stairs. Her slippers patted lightly up the dark, antique wood. At the top of the stairs, she heard it once more.

Thump…THUMP!

The young girl squeezed her eyes shut and it took all her will power not to run away. Stop being such a coward! With that little bit of encouraging, she opened them again, and continued her way upwards. At the three-way fork above the archway, she glanced nervously around her.

Thump…

It was coming from the hallway to her room.

Sakura gritted her teeth and quietly crept down the plush carpeted floor like a cat, making almost no sound at all. She stopped outside the first room and slowly turned the doorknob. With a loud creak, the door swung open and she stuck her baton out in front of her like a sword. At the same moment, a shower of dust rained down on her.

Sakura coughed and tried to wave off the dust with her baton. It cleared away and she saw that the room only served as a storage room for holding huge stacks of boxes that was covered in cobwebs.

Sakura began to turn away and to wait for the "thump" to come again. As she did so the light from the hallway glinted off something back in the storage room. Struck by curiosity, Sakura walked across the room to the glowing object, an eerie creak emitting from every floorboard she stepped on. She bent down and used her fingers to wipe off the dust from the object. She looked closer and squinted to see it better and possible identify it when…

THUMP thump thump thump…

Sakura jerked back and her heart rate seemed to have increased by at least a thousand times. It sounded like something had fallen and then rolled around above her. But then, that was impossible. Sure, there was a third floor but it didn't extend over the middle hallway.

At least it didn't in the map.

Sakura stood up and walked back out of the storage room, closing the door behind her. She was shaking so hard that the doorknob rattled at her touch.

She needed to go back to her room. As fast as she could.

That sounded insane but her conscious told her that it would protect her. She always had a strange feeling that she was protected there. Nearly sprinting, Sakura pounded her way down the hall to her room. For a moment, she thought that maybe all the thumping was caused by the loud beating of her heart booming away in her ears. But then how could it sound like it was coming from above her?

Sakura finally reached her sanctuary and slipped through the door, closing the double doors behind her and sliding down to the ground, panting as if she had run a marathon instead of the mere length of a hallway.

This is stupid, Sakura thought after a moment of silence passed. I'm running from nothing.

That was when she noticed that her wardrobe was glowing.

Sakura's emerald eyes widened in fear, amazement, and shock all at the same time. She stood up stiffly, using the doorknob as a support and tried in vain to even her breathing.

The wardrobe grew brighter.

Summoning what remained of her courage, Sakura stepped forward and reached for the jeweled handles of the wardrobe. The light seemed to radiate warmth and she immediately began to feel calm. Her fingers had almost touched the golden clasps when the doors burst open and Sakura realized that it was not the wardrobe that was glowing, but the hidden door inside. It was a full minute before she realized that she had stopped breathing.

Almost as if in a trance, she reached for the silver handle and turned it. The door would not open. It seemed that it was not locked but rather stuck. Sakura tugged with more strength but it did not budge. Finally, she heaved with all her might and it popped open and banged against the wardrobe wall.

As Sakura peered around the door, she was suddenly flooded with voices in her head, as if she had heard them in a dream. Her head throbbed with pain and she fell to the ground clutching it and wincing. All the voices seemed jumbled together but one mellow voice stood out against the rest.

"Sakura! You'll meet me there, right? You'll…"

The light abruptly shut off, and at the same time, the voices trailed away. Sakura stayed there, not quite sure where she was for a moment, before standing up. She took a ragged breath and looked at the door inside the closet. Before she could stop it, the door slowly whined open and a small voice in her head, which she later recognized as her own, tried to convince her that it led to the bathroom.

But it didn't.

Behind the door, was absolutely nothing. It was a solid, blank wall. Sakura blinked a few times before closing the door and collapsing with half of her on the dusty wardrobe floor and half of her on the plush carpeted floor.

What was happening?

Lifting her head, Sakura caught a glimpse of a long black string of something as it whisked passed her eyes. She whipped her head around her surroundings rapidly, but saw nothing. Everything was silent save for the violent thudding of her heart. Then, out of impulse, Sakura looked into the wardrobe and her heart stopped its rampages and froze in her throat.

There, standing there, was a girl. But, she wasn't quite a girl. Her body seemed to be sheer, the bare wood of the wardrobe showing through her slim waist. Sakura realized that the black "string" she had witnessed earlier must have been her semi-transparent hair, which hung down at her elbows from two buns out of which streamers of ebony strands fell. Sakura could recognize this girl anywhere.

This was Li Meiling, cousin of the Li family. It was just that she had died about 200 years ago.

Meiling grinned crookedly as her reddish eyes sparkled and held her hands out as if in defense. When she spoke, her voice was hollow, yet rich, soft, yet loud, simultaneously.

"Uh...ni hao? I come in peace."

Not knowing what else to say, Sakura responded with a strained whisper that came out as a croak, "Ni hao."

Suddenly, Meiling switched to the language that Sakura knew only too well. Her voice became sharper, "Your accent is off. It's obvious that you're Japanese."

Sakura felt faint.

Meiling sighed, irritated, and put her hands on her hips. It was then that Sakura noticed that she was wearing what looked like in the insufficient light a white and red silk qi pao. The dress was sleeveless and probably would have fallen to the ground if her feet didn't hover a few inches off of it.

"Well, come on," she appeared to be waiting for Sakura.

"C-come on where?" Sakura asked brokenly.

"To the library, before Syaoran comes," Meiling replied.

"What library? Who's Syaoran?" Sakura felt like her legs were made of pudding (A/N: Har har...very lame, I know).

"There's no time to explain, Kinomoto-san," she opened the door and before Sakura could say anything, disappeared through the wall.

"Wha-how-..." Sakura couldn't string together a whole sentence in the state she was in. Li Meiling knew here name and now she wanted her to step through a wall as if it weren't there. This was entirely too weird.

But as Sakura stood there, she realized that she hadn't actually touched the wall. She had stared at it, but didn't examine it too closely. Maybe this was some kind of illusion...? Sakura took a deep breath and climbed back into the wardrobe. She pulled open the door, and like a diver preparing to take a leap, stepped back, and jumped.

Sakura banged headfirst into the wall and ricocheted backwards, getting the wind knocked out of her as she landed on the floor.

"Itai..." she winced, imagining the bump that would form there tomorrow.

She heard a giggle and realized that Meiling had reappeared, or rather her head had reappeared through the wall. Her ruby lips were stretched into an amused smile.

"You have to concentrate on your magic! Now hurry before Syaoran comes!" Her head disappeared once again and Sakura was left more baffled than ever.

Magic? What magic?

She stood up and considered running through the door down the stairs and out of the mansion, never to look back, but something held her back. Sakura stared hard at the blank wall.

Okay...I have magic...um...help me get through the wall!!

Careful not to ram into the wall and possibly earn herself a concussion, Sakura walked towards it and reached out carefully, only to touch the cool surface of what looked to be an ordinary wall. But it was no ordinary wall, a ghost had walked into it. But then again…couldn't ghosts walk through everything?

Still, maybe it wasn't telepathic magic that Meiling was referring to.

Then what was she talking about? The only magic Sakura every recalled was the kinds she saw on television; pulling a rabbit out of a hat and such. Sakura walked up to the wall once more. Perhaps, Meiling wanted Ali Baba style magic. Sakura held out her arms in front of her and closed her eyes.

"Abracadabra! Open sesame!"

She opened her eyes and tentatively tested out the solidity of the wall and sighed as she felt it's rough dustiness again.

Sakura became frustrated, "Alakazam!! Shakka Lakka!! Zulu Lulu!!!"

Suddenly, she felt a strong force behind her push her forward and the wall seemed to swish around her like gas. When she felt solid ground beneath her feet once more, she cracked one green eye open and found herself at the bottom of a narrow staircase. Curiosity washing away her fear, she walked up the steps rather fast and found herself in what looked like a small library. The bookcases reached to the ceiling and looked old with age but there seemed not to be one speck of dust on them. Thick books with yellowed and torn pages filled the shelves and littered the floor. Sakura stepped around the cases and found herself in front of what was probably a large oil painting. Unlike the rest of the library, the whole painting was covered with an almost opaque layer of gray dust and had cobwebs hanging over every corner.

Sakura reached out a hand to wipe away the dirt when Meiling suddenly popped up in front of her.

"Took you long enough! So, you finally found your magic," She chuckled at the memory of Sakura's first attempt to get through the wall and looked up at her. But then, her eyes focused on something...or rather, someone behind her and her eyes widened.

"Uh oh…"

"What is it?" Sakura turned around and found herself standing face to face with another phantom. This one, however, was a boy and he glared at her intensely with his amber eyes while his arms were crossed across his chest, covering the circular design on his green qi pao.

It was the boy from her dream.

That was the last straw for Sakura. Before she could identify the most mysterious and most popular Li family member to this day, she crumpled as she fainted, unconscious before she even hit the floor.

FINALLY DONE. That was a seriously long chapter...anyway, I'm trying to write as fast as I can.

Oh by the way, here are some translations. ^^ Sorry, I forgot to include this in the last chapter.

qi pao – a traditional Chinese outfit. Just imagine what Syaoran wears in the anime/manga when he's battling and stuff…a qi pao isn't quite as fancy and the sleeves aren't so big.

kawaii – cute, lovely

ni hao – hello

-san – Miss, Mrs., Mr.

Jaa!

DreamerDust