Heaven's Postman

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they are called memories. And some take us forward, they are called dreams. –Jeremy Irons

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Guide To Becoming Heaven's Postman

Number 2:

No one must catch you opening the red, sacred mailbox. You will be sent back to Heaven and be unassigned to duty. Be cautious.

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Chapter 5 – That Old Familiar Feeling

The next day was like the previous one, and Sakura thought that being an assistant to Heaven's Postman could be sometimes done over and over but could not be something to be tired from. As if doing a job you have passion and love for, she realized. There was heartache and pain. But sometimes there was happiness and joy in the letters she read. One in particular had her eyes bulging out of her skull.

"I can't believe this!" Sakura exclaimed, shrieking and alerting the other costumers in the coffee shop. She thrashed around in her seat in excitement. "This letter is from Yuu! I can't believe it!"

"Who?" Sasuke asked from across her.

Sakura frowned in disappointment at him. "Climate's lead vocal… You know, the famous band named Climate. Their songs play every time you turn on the radio."

He cocked his head to one side. "Cli…mate?"

"You don't know Climate? They're so famous!" She stuck her hand in the thick envelope and her breath caught at what she saw: concert tickets.

Sakura let out another shriek, muffling it this time with her sleeve. Receiving free Climate concert tickets were one of the last things she thought was going to happen. Every time she tried to go out and get tickets herself, they would be always sold out. Others who bought a few too many sold them for triple the original price. "What do I do?" She began stomping her feet under the table.

Sasuke pursed his lips for a while. "Do you… like him?"

"He is so hot!" she exclaimed.

Grimacing as if he smelled something foul, he collected the other letters and stuffed them in his bag rather roughly. "He is?" he muttered.

Sakura narrowed her emerald-coloured eyes and leaned forward toward him, inspecting his expression. "Are you jealous?"

He scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

"You were clearly jealous just then!"

"Hn. Why would I be jealous? It's you we are talking about…"

She ignored his last comment with an eye roll and proceeded to reading the letter quietly in her head, smiling from time to time at his beautiful penmanship. The letter was for Yuu's deceased father. After his mother had died earlier, he had ended up living with his father. After Yuu had debuted, Yuu's father died as well. The man was a civil servant and was against Yuu being a celebrity and had even told his son about his feelings plenty of times. No matter what he said, Yuu stuck to his dream. Because of work, he was unable to stay on his father's side. Ever since, Yuu had thought that his father passed away without acknowledging him or approving of his choice.

Sakura explained Yuu and his father's relationship together to Sasuke who seemed to be only paying half attention. At the end of her summary, Sasuke answered with an "Hn."

"I've already got an idea!" Her face shot with excitement yet again. "I will disguise myself as the last nurse who took care of his father at the hospital."

The postman raised a brow. "Then?"

"Then I'll make a fake scrapbook that his father 'made' about his son and show it to him," she explained. That way she was the only one involved with the plan and she would get to meet her idol. She felt like a child during Christmas morning.

Sakura had asked the man from the Alibi Factory to make a fake scrapbook containing newspaper articles, pictures they found on the internet and personal comments of praise towards Yuu. After she hired a nurse uniform, her plan was ready to be unleashed.

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Sakura made it past the guards by waving concert tickets in their faces. She made it backstage when she claimed that she was a nurse that needed to speak with Yuu immediately. With her nurse uniform and fake ID, the guards bought it and let her through. Climate's manager firmly stated that Sakura had five minutes to speak with Yuu. She almost fainted as his eyes met hers. She carefully presented him the scrapbook.

"My Dad made this?" Yuu asked, flipping through the scrapbook with wonder in his eyes.

Sakura's heart sputtered and did a flip just hearing his voice. "Y-yes."

He smiled and bowed. "Thank you for bringing me this! Believe me; you don't know how thankful I am, nurse."

Sakura blushed and scratched the back of her head nervously. "It's no trouble, really." She chuckled timidly. "Your father bought your albums and passed them around the hospital always telling everyone 'that's my son's!'"

He blinked twice and exhaled with relief and surprise. "Really?"

Sakura searched through her white bag and pulled out a Climate album. It was her own possession, something that stayed in her CD player for a long period of time. "Is it okay if you sign this?" She already had a marker in hand.

She gulped when he took it from her with another dazzling smile. "Anything." Quickly scribbling his signature, Sakura suddenly felt lighter at heart.

"One minute. Get ready for stage!" A man with a clip board announced.

The other members came out form the dressing room and grabbed their instruments. Yuu grabbed his red electric guitar and drank a bottle of water with the others. The others elbowed each other and nodded toward Sakura. She flushed.

"You have to see the concert before you leave, nurse. It's the least I can do," he said to her.

Sakura's eyes grew wide. "Really?"

He nodded. "Absolutely."

"Show time!" the man exclaimed, motioning to the members to proceed to the stage.

Sakura watch from behind the curtains as the fans roared when their idols showed up and performed their first song. The thankful girl smiled and clapped her hands, not remembering the last time she had felt like this in her life. Sakura felt as if she had done all the good deeds in her life in one go.

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"But you know, they all believed it so easily," Sakura said as she walked up the hill, toward the mailbox with Sasuke by her side.

Sasuke was surprised by her sudden statement. "What do you mean?"

"Yuu, Shinchi… They all believed it without any questions asked."

"It's because they want to believe it," he explained. "That way, they know they're going to live comfortably."

In the opposite side of the hill from where Sasuke and Sakura were coming from, a woman and a child skipped up the hill with a letter in hand. Spotting them, the postman halted Sakura with a gesture using his middle and index finger and stopped their tracks in the middle of the field. No one else could catch him opening the mailbox.

"Someone's coming to the mailbox," he said.

"Where?" Sakura craned her neck, searching.

Sasuke pulled her aside. "Just hide!"

The pinkette gave him an expression with bewilderment, like he was the stupidest person she had ever met. "Where are we supposed to hide? We're in the middle of a grassy hill."

He quickly took out a tennis ball from his bag. "Let's pretend we're a couple fooling around."

"What?"

"Let's just pretend, all right?" He rotated the ball between his fingers.

"And where did you suddenly get that ball? Are you Doraemon now?" [Doraemon: anime character who is able to summon any object randomly.]

The woman and her child glanced at them for a second and proceeded to the mailbox. Meanwhile, Sasuke threw the ball as far as he could. Sakura's jaw fell open when she realized the ball flew over her head many meters away to the mailbox's direction. She felt like a dog and Sasuke was her master.

"Are you serious? Do you want to get the ball yourself?" she demanded.

Sasuke clenched his teeth and gestured toward the ball. Sighing, Sakura turned to look around the grass for it. She neared the mailbox, where the woman and child were silently inserting the letter in. A breeze blew at the woman's face, exposing it to Sakura for the first time. It was like everything in Sakura's body froze. She stared after them in wonder as the two walked down the hill, hand-in-hand.

Sasuke jogged his way to her once he noticed she was not budging from her spot. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

"I know her," she whispered, moving only her lips.

"Who?"

Tears stung her eyes painfully. "She's the girlfriend of my deceased ex-boyfriend."

Author's Notes: Once again, another cliff-hanger. I feel evil! In the next chapter, Sakura recalls three months ago before her ex-boyfriend died, his cause of death, why they broke up… and a whole lot of juicy stuff. So keep an eye on it. Review please!