Chapter 2

Heero was out with his friends, having been dragged out by Duo of course. Rolling his eyes he reached for his drink and gulped it down. As the music in the background slowly faded away, only was it then that he'd heard his cell phone going off. Excusing himself from his friends, he made his way outside and quickly picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Heero?"

"Mizuno?" He blinked upon hearing the woman's voice. "Why are you calling me? If you're looking for Trowa why not just call his phone?" Heero didn't mean to sound rude. It's just how he was.

"No… I'm calling for you. It's about Sakura."

Heero was silent for quite some time. He had just seen Sakura a couple of hours ago about to head out with her friends Jennifer and Michaela. "What about her? Isn't she still with you?"

He heard her sigh on the other end of the phone. Slowly a knot started to form in the pit of his stomach. Fear inched its way up, but he didn't want to make assumptions. He knew she was alright. She had to be alright. This was Sakura they were talking about. She knew very well how to take care of herself. It felt like ages before the woman finally spoke.

"Heero… there was… something happened. Sakura's in the hospital right now. Can you please come here?"

Heero stared out the window, angry that he had not been there to help his fiancée. She now lay in the hospital, unable to wake up. Heero wanted to be there for her, but seeing her weakened him. It hurt, and Heero Yuy didn't feel pain. He shook his head and rolled to the other side of his bed so that way he wasn't facing the window. Instead now he stared at a picture of him and Sakura. It was one that she had forced him to take with her. Reaching out, he grabbed the picture then slammed it down so it no longer faced him.

"You better come back to me Sakura."

xxx

Sakura sat on the stairs staring up at the ceiling, wishing there had been tiles for her to count. She was very bored now and just wanted something to do. Lily wasn't a very talkative person, and it was bringing her down. She had supposedly fallen into a coma up on Earth, and had somehow managed to find her way here, to Lily's gate where she would guide souls to where they should be, or wanted to be. Lily had told the woman that she didn't belong here, and so neither could understand why she was here. Though Sakura thought it took Lily by surprise that death did not bother the woman. But then again, Sakura took many people by surprise.

Sighing heavily, she turned her gaze up towards the woman, her chin planted in the palm of her hands. Lily was in the middle of talking to another spirit that had made its way to the gate. Sakura listened as the shorter woman listed off the three choices that one spirit had. She then watched as that spirit made it to the other side of the room and plopped himself down on the ground. She had been here not even for an hour, and the woman was being driven to madness with depression. Rolling her eyes she pushed herself up and turned to face Lily.

"I'm dead."

Lily blinked and turned to face the woman. "No. Not yet dear."

Sakura rose an eyebrow at the woman. "How old are you?"

Lily blinked yet again and gave the woman a confused look. "I… I don't know anymore. When you've lived as long as I have, time doesn't matter anymore."

Sakura's eyes widened as she fell into shock. "Wow. You must be really old."

Lily nodded. "I've never really thought about it but yes… I guess so."

Sakura hated when the woman spoke, but it was so much better than sitting in silence. When she spoke, her voice was cold and monotone, like she hadn't had any fun in years. In many ways this woman reminded her of Heero.

There was a sudden tingle of loneliness as she continued to sit there. Maybe that was why she didn't like it when Lily spoke. It brought back memories of when she was alive. Wait… what was she saying? She was still alive… on Earth. But how was she supposed to get back? Frustrated, she let out a long sigh. This caught the smaller woman's attention.

"You can go back you know… to see how things are going."

Sakura stared up at the woman, and suddenly her eyes narrowed. "You tell me this now? I've been sitting her for an hour now, bored out of my mind!" She rolled her eyes as she stood up and stretched. "Thanks for the information Ms. Gatekeeper."

Lily only shook her head, ignoring the woman's attitude. "I never said that you had to stay here."

"Sure. So which way is the exit?"

Lily stared at her for a long moment and finally responded with, "The way you came."

Sakura stood there. She stood for quite a while, staring at Lily, not once tearing her eyes from her. The shorter woman only stared back, the man in the corner watching them. It seemed like they were having a staring contest and if one broke away, the other would kill them. Finally Sakura moved, tearing her eyes away from Lily, whose gaze stayed glued to her.

"Mou! You're so difficult. You are just like him! I swear!"

Lily only blinked, still staring at her. She did not understand the woman, nor did she really care to. She wanted to either send this woman back, or send her off to Heaven as soon as possible. Lily did not get to know people, and she most certainly did not let them get to know her. Her job was to stay here and guard the gate, not to make friends, and it seemed like that's what this woman wanted.

Sakura was intrigued yet annoyed by the gatekeeper. "Aren't you going to ask who I mean?"

"No," was her simple answer.

"Don't you care?"

"No."

"Do you do anything besides guard this gate?"

"Why should I?"

Again, Sakura stared, thoughts running through her head. This woman was weird, and it just seemed like she had no life and yet at the same time she had a very long life. Putting on a huge smile, she ran up the stairs and grabbed the violet eyed woman's hand. "Come with me. Come back onto Earth with me."

Lily immediately pulled away from the woman, her eyes narrowing as she stared at her. It was probably the first time since Sakura had arrived that she'd seen the girl show any type of expression besides confusion. "Come on. It can't be that bad to go to Earth."

"My place is here, in front of my gate. If I am not here then who will guide the souls when they arrive?"

"They can wait a few minutes. Come on! Live a little."

Again, Lily's eyes narrowed. "Live? You say to live yet look around you! Dead! I'm dead! He's dead! You're a wandering spirit who is going to die! So live? How am I supposed to live?"

Sakura was taken by surprise by Lily's sudden outburst, but then a smile slowly crept up. "So you do care."

Lily stepped back. "What?" Never, in all the time she had been here had she ever shown so much emotion. She wondered what had just gotten into her. Was it this woman? She was so confused. First, this undead spirit walks into her territory and now this unexpected guest starts pulling emotions from her that she never knew she had. Lily regained herself and sighed. "I will guide you back to Earth and show you where your body rests. Afterwards I will return here and you can wander back and forth freely."

It wasn't what Sakura was looking for, but she wasn't going to push the matter any further. As she was slowly starting to realize, the Lily person was going to be a delicate matter. Slowly she would work her way into getting the gatekeeper to open up more. Slowly.