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 slip away from me as I begin to wake up and return to reality. Ugh, I really don't want to go back to that ugly place. My vision is still rather foggy. In my foggy vision, I can make out the vague image of a blonde haired woman, with an impressive bust, in a green robe. I blink several more times to clear my vision and I'm met with a serious-looking Tsunade. Tsunade? I must still be dreaming. There is no way that I could be in the "Naruto" world. There's no logic. The Hokage's brown eyes softened (surprisingly) after seeing the confusion on my face, but I know that there are many questions that are to be answered, including how I even got into the Hidden Village of the Leaf in the first place. That question is definitely bound to come up and the truth is the only answer I can give...provided that I don't change the course of this universe.

"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 grunts in anger, prompting the fifth Hokage to shush him so she could listen to my story. The Hokage clearly understands his anger, though. She was all too familiar with the young shinobi's past and so am I, though I am not about to admit it out loud. For all I know, I can easily land myself in the torture and interrogation department and I don't feel like going through that crap. I'm almost tempted to chuckle at this situation because, here I am, talking with fictional characters...in my world, that is. I had been doing just that last night as sketched said characters before falling asleep and waking up here. Come to think of it, I remember that I had locked myself into my room and falling asleep on my sketchbook afterwards. Perhaps my strange habits have translated into this wonderful dream. I decide that I would embrace this dream and make it last for as long as possible. It's not very often that I can enjoy sleep without being rudely awakened by my parents.

"Is this a dream?" I muttered.

"This is no dream." The Hokage replies bluntly.

I blush. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. I sighed. Insanity must be kicking in right about now. I shake my head. I know that the Hokage is quite curious as to why I a 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 isn't a dream, but my denial had gotten the best of me. It always gets the best of me when I'm protecting myself. It must have been written all over my face (I'm a very transparent person, apparently) because she reassures me that where I was at was no dream. Everything around me is very real, but I need to take things slowly.

"You must have been beaten pretty good." Naruto says.

"Quiet, brat." Tsunade growls.

I giggle. Even if this isn't a dream, which I still doubt, I am definitely going to make the best out of the situation and enjoy whatever happiness might come my way during my stay. Tsunade continues her interrogation, which I answer as truthfully as I can without sounding crazy. She finally concedes, after finding no deception on my part, and tells me that I can stay here in the Leaf Village. I will have to find my own apartment, of course, and get a job among the civilian workers. That's when she recruits Naruto to help me out.

"After all," she says. "You were the one who brought her here.

Naruto pouts, which I thought is rather cute, before he says that he was willing to help me out once I got out of the hospital. During an examination, Tsunade had apparently found 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 had, I would be able to die in my sleep and my parents wouldn't have to deal with me in the future. Naruto must have sensed my thoughts (or at least, my mood) because he says to me:

"A good person, like you, shouldn't wish for death." He growled. "It's not worth it."/p

He is definitely right, of course. If I choose to take my life now, then my parents would win. They would have the satisfaction of being able to break me. It would confirm that they had power over me and I refuse to give them the satisfaction of knowing that. I look up at Naruto, with a new energy that I haven't really felt in years, and give him a big, genuine smile. The smile on my face is a real smile and it feels 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/p