I had been in a deep sleep for a very long time. I dreamed that I had been rescued by ninjas and taken to a save haven, away from the misery that I suffered from. There was no one to hurt me in this world. There was nothing but pure happiness and it was a lovely feeling. I had friends and family to call my own, although they all resembled characters from "Naruto". Everyone loved me and I loved them back. The dreams I saw in my sleep, however, was far from the reality that I had to deal with at home. It provided me a sense of safety and security, even though, it was just an escape from that horrid place that I called home.
I don't want to wake up.
The beautiful images of a new life slipped away from me as I began to wake up and return to reality. Ugh, I didn't want to go back to that ugly place. My vision was rather foggy. In my foggy vision, I could make out the vague image of a blonde haired woman in a green robe. I blinked several more times to clear my vision and she was met with a serious-looking Tsunade. Tsunade? I thought I was still dreaming. There was no way that I could be in the "Naruto" world. The Hokage's brown eyes softened after seeing the confusion on my face, but I knew that there were many questions that were to be answered, including how I even got into the Hidden Village of the Leaf in the first place. That question was bound to come up and the truth was the only answer I would give.
"Looks like somebody beat the hell out of you." She said. "Do you care to share that?"
"My parents." I replied sleepily. "It's even worse when they're drunk."
Naruto grunted in anger, prompting the fifth Hokage to shush him so she could listen to my story. The Hokage clearly understood his anger, though. She was all too familiar with the young shinobi's past and so was I, though I wasn't about to admit it out loud. I was almost tempted to chuckle at this situation because, here I was, talking with fictional characters. I had been doing that last night as sketched said characters before falling asleep. Come to think of it, I remembered that I had locked myself into my room and falling asleep on my sketchbook. Perhaps my strange habits had translated into this wonderful dream. I decided that I would embrace this dream.
"Is this a dream?" I muttered.
"This is no dream." The Hokage replied.
I blushed. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. I sighed. Insanity must have been kicking in. I shook my head. I knew that the Hokage was quite curious as to why I was acting this way and especially after the comment I made about this situation being a dream. I suppose that should have been a clue that this wasn't a dream, but my denial had gotten the best of me. It must have been written all over my face (I'm a very transparent person, apparently) because she reassured me that where I was at was no dream. Everything around me was very real, but I needed to take things slowly.
"You must have been beaten pretty good." Naruto said.
"Quiet, brat." Tsunade growled.
I giggled. Even if this wasn't a dream, which I still doubted, I would make the best of the situation and enjoy whatever happiness might come my way. Tsunade continued her interrogation, which I answered as truthfully as I could without sounding crazy. She finally conceded, after finding no deception on my part, and told me that I could stay. I would have to find my own apartment, of course, and get a job. That was when she recruited Naruto to help me.
"After all," she said. "You were the one who brought her here."
Naruto pouted, which I thought was cute, before he said that he would help me once I got out of the hospital. Tsunade had apparently found that I had a damaged kidney (no doubt from one of my beatings) and, possibly, a damaged heart (also from one of my daily beatings). Those two things would keep me in the hospital for a while longer while she made sure that I wouldn't have any serious problems in the future. I couldn't help, though, but wish that I really did have serious injuries. If I did, I would die in my sleep and my parents wouldn't have to deal with me in the future. Naruto must have known about what I was thinking because he said:
"A good person, like you, shouldn't wish for death." He growled. "It's not worth it."
He was right, of course. If I had chosen to take my life, now, then my parents would win. It would confirm that they had power over me and I refused to give them the satisfaction of knowing that. I looked up at Naruto, with a new energy that I hadn't felt in years, and gave him a big, genuine smile. It was a real smile and it felt good to smile again. He returned my smile with his big, goofy grin. How I loved that big grin of his. It was so infectious and contagious. How can one not smile when he was around? Naruto spent most of the day with me, talking about life in the Leaf Village and about the people he knew. It was awesome to hear about fictional characters from another character's point of view. It was refreshing and seeing Sakura hitting Naruto over the head was pretty awesome, too, not to mention freaking hilarious. I never thought I could laugh so much. After all, my life before awakening to this one had been devoid of life, love and happiness. There was no laughter. There had been only grief, misery, strife, violence and hatred. I believed that I would have drowned myself in alcohol, instead of anime, had I continued to live with my parents. I believed that this dream would offer the possibility of a better reality. I hoped that was true.
