The DreamGranters

By BlackFeatherz29

Chapter 2

Seeing as the first chapter didn't have that much insight into the story itself... and beause people probably didn't get much out of it because it's more like a prologue than anything else, I shall upload the second chapter. Don't expect updates very soon after this; I write about a hundred to two hundred words every day during AP Computer Science just because I have access to a computer, but I never have time to work on it at home.

Also, though Kami-sama himself does not appear on this chapter, please try not to object toward my personification of him. He's a little like my perception of God mixed with other primitive religions', since I'm Christian and I'm sick to death of people portraying God as some sort of menacing monster trying to drive everyone to annihilation. I want to make him seem like an all powerful being with a sense of humor who interferes in mysterious yet benificial ways.

Thusly... the second chapter. This is Naruto, though he has yet to introduce himself (he still hopes for some memory of his name... poor guy), and Sasuke and the crew will come along. I believe after Kami-sama, there will be Sasuke, then Haku and Neji. I have big plans for Ino and Tenten.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters; I only own this story idea.


It felt like part of her heart that had been long torn away was now been reunited again. It was a warm, rushing emotion that she hadn't felt in the longest time.

It was with greatest reluctance that she became aware of where she was again. Holding onto the boy's hand, it was like tapping into a vast reserve of warm, never-ending bliss. It would be wonderful if she could just stay there forever, but the glow dimmed silently, and she saw it couldn't be.

A slow sort of awareness dawned on her, and Sakura now felt the things around her.

She felt the drizzling rain on her shoulders and hair, the hot asphalt jabbing cruelly into the soles of her bare feet, the sweat evaporating off her bare neck and shoulders. She blinked a few times, staring into that face that seemed painfully familiar, yet she couldn't remember ever seeing it before.

Opening her mouth, she found it was difficult to think of anything to say. There was a deafening silence lingering around her; she could hear her own heart pounding in her chest, and her vocal cords creaking when she tried to speak.

"It's okay; it takes a while to get used to your astral body," the boy told her before she could force out a sound.

Sakura swallowed hard, and then tried again. "Am…. Am I dead?"

The boy gave her a strange look, but then laughed heartily in reply. "I didn't expect you to say that. Nobody who I've ever met has ever said that on their first try!"

Then, his face grew serious once again. "Sakura-chan… I guess you knew it all along, ne? You're dead."

Sakura didn't really know what to say to this. Thank god? That didn't seem very appropriate.

"I thought so…" she began, suddenly slightly nervous. "I always thought I was walking to death, anyway. And when I saw you, I thought… well…"

He grinned at her, blue eyes twinkling. "You remembered me, right? I told you I would come for you."

Sakura nodded, for the first time taking in her emaciated body lying motionless on the asphalt. The body's green eyes were open and glassy, the mouth open in surprise. The back of the head was shattered, blood still trickling from the ruptured skull and the side of the rib cage completely caved in. A dog barked in the distance; nobody came to find the pitiful sight splattered on the street.

Sakura turned away, nauseated. The flies were already streaking for another meal, and crows could be heard cackling on the power lines.

"I want to go somewhere else," she said, wanting more than anything to get away from that filthy thing. It wasn't her, that road kill on the street. It was disgusting, the stink of death that roiled like oily smoke away from the rotting body.

The boy gave her a sympathetic look and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sure thing, Sakura-chan. Wherever you want to go."

Sakura's thoughts immediately flew to her old beloved high school. It was the only place where she had really been comfortable, despite the teasing that she had endured. "I wish I could see my school one more time…"

The boy grinned. "No problem. Let's go, then!"

His hand grasped something, and she realized with a small start that it was as if the reality had just been suddenly drawn back as if it was just a curtain. He gave it a twist, and the world dissolved into a whirlwind of reality and black.

And a split second after the world disappeared, it reappeared to reveal the familiar sight of her high school. The rain only drizzled slightly now in the urban night, the blooming sakura petals on the trees hanging limply from the branches and lying dirtied on the ground.

Just standing and staring at the dark, abandoned building, Sakura found she didn't feel the level of comfort that she had expected. The school looked alien, unrecognizable, forbidding.

The rain began to patter down more strongly now, drenching them now. Sakura turned away from the school building, feeling strangely alone in the world.

It was if the kind old man who had always took care of her before had suddenly passed away. The world looked dark now, as if there was a thick layer of smog over everything. She glanced at the skin on her hands, startled at how alive and radiant her skin looked in comparison with the muddy blushes of the crumpled sakura petals.

"Is this what it's like being dead?" she wondered aloud, her voice ringing hauntingly against the concrete walls. The world felt so foreign and colorless; was life really all spent in this place?

Beside her, the boy nodded silently, looking concerned. "It is," he replied, voice solemn. "But though it may not look like much, life is precious."

Sakura smiled wryly. "I never really wanted to live more, anyway. I'm actually glad I'm not part of it all anymore."

The boy gave her a long, sad look. "Maybe life had no meaning for you, but it means everything for me," he stated without hesitation.

Sakura shrugged, suddenly feeling very old and tired.

A long silence passed in which the only sounds here were the distant horns of cars and the quiet pattering of the rain.

Then the boy posed a strange question. "Do you have anything you want to do before you go?"

She looked at him, confused. "Go where?"

"To your judgment, of course."

Sakura was startled. Judgment? As in the Bible and other mythology?

"Judgment?" she asked, suddenly nervous. "Am I going to Hell or something?"

The boy shook his head mutely, mixed happiness and sadness in his blue eyes. "No," he said quietly. "The reason that I came to meet your personally was to bring you to the same place I go to. We belong to Purgatory."

It only took Sakura a few seconds to come up with a dictionary definition. "You mean the place souls go when they don't go to Heaven or Hell?"

The boy nodded, though his face still looked sad. "Yeah, that's it. Kami-sama has already judged you the moment you died, and he decreed that your life was too short to properly judge you, among other things. You are to go with me to Purgatory."

Sakura nodded slowly, trying to process most of what he was saying. Purgatory sounded like… another life. The thought of living yet another tiresome life filled with responsibilities and betrayals filled her a sense of forboding. But still, Purgatory had to be better than Hell, and she doubted that she had lived saintly enough to go to Heaven.

"I don't have anywhere else to go," she said quietly. "Take me there, please. If you're there… then maybe I might be able to stand it."

The boy gave her an enormous smile that made her heart ache with familiarity. "Your wish is my command, Sakura-chan."

He grabbed a piece of the fabric of reality, then beckoned her forward. She went without hesitation, remembering abruptly in stunning detail the boy's joyful face in a long-forgotten dream.

He had been dressed in a threadbare orange gi, blond hair dirtied and haggard, yet despite the numerous bruises and cuts he sported on his rough tanned skin, his smile was enough to make it shine like the sun itself.

Before the curtain covered her, she heard his voice whisper, almost too quietly to hear, "And if you're there, Haruka-chan, then I might begin to forgive myself…"


It was ironic, really. His heartstrings pulled painfully whenever he looked at her. Sakura, the girl who was the splitting image of seamstress's daughter Haruka. The girl who was Haruka.

In a way, he was relieved that he had met her again. But then, he immediately felt a surge of guilt for the lonely desire that plagued him. He was so selfish, but still…


Cliffie. Dun-dun-DUN. Man, am I evil. But I want them reviews badly. Thus... review.

Next chapter: meeting with Kami-sama, introduction of Purgatory, and seeing Sasuke for the first time... in a five hundred years.