Chapter 6

"People don't just disappear. Something happened," Wufei insisted as he and Heero walked into the gundam base.

"You two are back already?" Sally asked as she saw the two boys walk in. She had expected they'd be gone a bit longer.

"Yeah, there was no one there," Heero simply explained as he sat on the couch. "Anyone else back yet?"

"No," answered Une as she walked into the room. "But I just heard from Duo and Quatre. They're headed back now."

"No word from Lily or Nikki?"

"No."

"Lily, talk to me. I need to know what's going on," Nikki complained, but her complaints fell on deaf ears. "Lily, kitte!"

"Shitsurei shimasu," came Lily's response.

"Nani?"

Before Nikki knew what was happening, Lily had pushed her into a small room and locked the door. Then she listened as Lily started to walk away.

"No. She has to be kidding me. LILY!" Nikki got up from the spot where she had fallen on the floor, and started banging on the door. "Lily, get back here and open this door damn it. Mou! You just wait when I get out of here. You are so dead."

Nikki stepped back and kicked the door, then let a scream out through the room. "Mou." She examined the door and cursed herself for not realizing that it was a steal door. "Lily no baka. What is going on with you?" Sighing, she sat down on the floor and fell into a meditative state.

"We're back!" Duo sang out. "Anyone miss us?"

"Any word from Lily yet?" asked Quatre.

"Iye." Heero handed them each a drink and everyone sat down.

"No surprise," exclaimed Quatre. "We did give her the hardest part of the mission. I just hope she isn't giving Nikki such a hard time." The g-boys all looked around at each other and then you could hear groans from each of them.

"Amelia, are you sure about this?" Lily sat across from a young girl who was sixteen just like Lily. They had known each other since they were kids and though they never talked much they were still good friends.

"Lily, when I became the new soldier, I had no idea that…"

"Don't even worry about it," ordered Lily. "It's not…"

"I tried to get away from him but he wouldn't let me go."

Lily looked at her friend and let out a deep sigh. "I'll help you, Amelia. I promise."

Nikki heard a click and her eyes shot open so she could stare at the door with hope filled eyes. Slowly the door opened, revealing Lily with a small smile on her face.

"Lily!" Nikki jumped up from her spot on the floor and she hugged her friend tightly. "I was so worried about you. What happened? Where did you go?"

"I had to talk to an old friend. She gave me a full report of the new OZ base and provided me with some pictures." Lily headed for her gundam and Nikki followed.

"How do you know that you can trust her? How long has it been since you've last seen her?" The two girls climbed into their gundams and then flew off.

"I just can." Lily pushed a button in her gundam and Une's face appeared n the screen.

"Lily!"

"We're headed home."

"You didn't go in?" asked Trowa.

"No. We were going to but Amelia was a big help," explained Lily. She threw a folder on the table and sat down. She munched on some takoyaki while everyone else looked through all the files.

"There's even a map of the entire base. Lily, who is this Amelia person?" Quatre looked over toward Lily, waiting for an answer.

Lily though, didn't acknowledge him at first. Instead she took her time finishing her takoyaki. When she finished, she took a nice long sip from her tea. Finally, she had looked up at Quatre and simply said, "Koji's wife."

"I can't believe it!" Duo was still in shock. "How? How can she trust someone like that? What is wrong with her?"

"He has her reasons." Nikki picked up a cute skirt and showed it to Duo. "What do you think?"

"Hm. Ne, what should I get Lily for Christmas?"

"You don't know? Get thinking. It's only a month away." Nikki put the skirt back and looked up. "Oh. Here comes Lily."

Lily was laughing as her and Heero walked through the mall towards Duo an Nikki. Heero had a small smile on his face as Lily seemed to chatter away. Every once in a while it seemed like Heero would make a comment to something Lily said, causing her to laugh even more.

Nikki shouted out to Lily. "Ne, Lily-chan, onaka ga, suite imasu. Let's go eat." When she saw Lily's nod, Nikki grabbed a hold of Duo's arm and ran to the food court. Lily laughed as she watched her friend, and looped her arm through Heero's.

"Sa, iki masho." They then headed to the food court as well.

The food court was crowded with people, and it was almost impossible to hear anyone. People had to shout to have conversations and that just made the noise even louder. The four gundam pilots decided to just order food and go eat elsewhere.

"Do you believe this?" asked Duo.

"Ugh. I always hated shopping during this season," came Lily's response.

"I'd rather be on another mission right now," Nikki complained.

"You mean you'd rather be locked in another room," Duo joked. Everyone, including Heero, laughed.

"Mou, hidoiyou!"

"So, who has actually started Christmas shopping yet?" Lily asked. When she got a few groans, she couldn't help but laugh. "Daijoubu. I haven't started either, though, I pretty much know what I want to get all of you."

"Oh really?" Nikki almost jumped up, anxious to know what she would get. "What, what is it?"

"Ki-mi-tsu!"

"Mou!"

"Why do you think Lily's in no hurry to rescue Relena?" Quatre sat at the table in the gundam base kitchen. Trowa sat across from him. "I mean, shouldn't she be planning our next mission, instead of going out on a date with Heero?"

"Lily has her reasons. There is so much going on right now. She wants to be able to think things through."

"Hm, I guess that makes sense." Quatre took a sip of some tea and sat thinking. Since he had first met Lily, she had changed so much. Before, Lily's life was based on her missions, but now it just seemed like she wanted nothing to do with them. She was kinder and more fun to hang out with. She made friends easily with almost anyone, and though she wasn't very open to people, she at least tried to be cheerful.

Lily was a very pleasant person and fun to talk to. You could probably bring up almost any subject with her and she wouldn't mind. She wasn't overly active and was extremely responsible. She didn't talk much, and Quatre enjoyed her company.

"Hm, Lily's changed much since we first met her."

Trowa nodded, and before Quatre could say anything more, he got up and left the kitchen. Trowa knew Lily was nice, but it bugged him the way she would always conceal her true feelings. Lily hated when people would worry about her and so she always tried to make herself seem happy and cheerful. Trowa knew when someone was hiding their emotions because he was an expert at it.