Surreal

Chapter Two

"Gaara-kun! Wait for me!" I shouted out upon seeing the maroon, silky locks.

He turned around and waited patiently for me to catch up. By the time I arrived, I was panting slightly.

"Hey!" I beamed.

Leaf High and Sand High were very close from the other. Students from both schools always intersect with each other on their way home. Although the schools and students had a kind of rivalry between each other, the students remained very good friends. A good example for this friendship would have to be Gaara and me.

Gaara always accompany me to home. Thus, that explains the current predicament.

He looked at me weirdly, "Not that I am annoyed or anything, but...why exactly are you so happy? You seem different."

"What do you mean? I'm always like that!"

"No. Your smile is always fake. Now it's natural, as if you're truly happy," he pointed out.

Now that's another thing about Gaara; he knows me better than anyone else. By just looking at me, he could tell my mood exactly. Just by a mere glance.

I sighed, "You know me too much..."

He smirked at me smugly.

"Look, I promise I'll say everything in our next appointment with Shizune, Okay?"

His smirk vanished, "Fair enough."

We continued walking in peace, silence consuming us. Until a certain someone decided to end it, "OI! Sabaku!"

As we turned around, I saw a messy, blond blob running towards us. He came to a halt just in front of us, barely stopping himself from colliding with Gaara.

His beautiful, dark shade of blue eyes stared at him, "Are you going to come this Sunday to the park? We're going to practice a little soccer and all! It's gonna be lots of fun, 'ttebayo!"

Uzumaki Naruto. The most popular kid at our school. You'd think it would be Ino or Karin but Naruto proved that he had more friends than any of them two. And a living proof of that is the very person approaching us right now, just behind him.

With his black hair (with a navy shade to it), ebony eyes, tall, confident demeanor, and cool, nonchalant persona, he had successfully won the hearts of every girl in our school and in Gaara's school. Even I had a crush on him when I was younger. To be more specific, before the accident.

Tall, dark, and mysterious; Uchiha Sasuke is the fantasy of every teenage girl.

"Yeah. But I'll bring along someone with me," Gaara glanced at me shortly.

"Sure, as you like. I bring Hinata with me sometimes," Naruto puffed his chest in pride, "But just out of curiosity, who are you going to bring?"

Hyuuga Hinata. A sweet, little, delicate girl. She is graceful and very friendly. She is well known for her remarkable, pearl-like irises and silky soft, dark navy, long hair. She is also known as Naruto's girlfriend and the only girl who does not have a thing for Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sakura," Gaara answered.

Naruto looked confused, "Who?"

As I have said before, in my school I was named the Freak. But that's only for the common students. For the popular students, that's an entirely different story. I am unknown, anonymous to them. Invisible would be a very good word to describe myself.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and before Gaara could utter anything, which I know would have been a vicious remark because of the unintended insult directed towards me, he said, "Dobe. She is standing right in front of you."

So maybe I was wrong after all; maybe I wasn't invisible.

"Oh didn't see you there! Heh sorry! Are you from Sand High?"

Forget what I just said.

"Uh...no. I'm from Leaf!" I squeaked out. Turning to Gaara, I took hold of his hand and tugged on it, "C'mon! Mom must be worried," and I dragged Gaara away.

"Dinner is ready!" Mom yelled out.

Skipping towards the stairs happily, I slid down the railing. When I arrived at the kitchen, I sat down on the table along with Daisuke, eagerly waiting for dinner. Upon my sudden arrival, Daisuke stared at me weirdly.

"What?" I snapped, momentarily forgetting my respect for elders.

I know I am not giving the man his credit and all, but I just can't. He will never, never ever ever, be like my dad.

He was a blond for starters. He's very muscular, slim, and a little funny at times. He was handsome, very (but I would rather die than admitting that out loud). I think the reason my mom likes him so much was his apple green eyes. I guess she has a thing for green irises. But those emerald green eyes are nothing like my father's. While my dad's were filled with sweetness, kindness and caring, Daisuke's were a little cold and bitter with a mischievous glint to them. They will never be the same.

"Sakura! Don't be rude!" my mom yelled out, her dirty blonde bangs falling on her blue eyes.

Well he is the one that went all staring weirdly and all. Isn't staring rude?

"Sorry..." I mumbled, looking down.

"It's okay but...it's just I never saw you eat with us before."

Shrugging slightly, I dug into the food in front of me, "Mom?" I called for her attention, "I won't be here this Sunday, is it okay with you?"

She choked on her food and Daisuke hurried to give her a cup of water. She gulped the whole cup down, "Sure dear. Where are you going?"

"Gaara will go practice with a couple of his friends and invited me to come along."

She hesitated a little but then questioned her thoughts, "But are you okay with it? There will be a lot of boys there..." she trailed off.

"I trust Gaara and his friends. As long as I'm with Gaara, nothing would happen. I promise," I assured her.

To be honest, I was nervous and scared at first but then realized that these were Gaara's friends and he would never be friends with such bad thugs. Besides, Gaara is overprotective of me; he won't let an ant touch me.

We sat in silence, waiting for Shizune to finish her paperwork so we could begin our session.

"Are you sure it's okay? I wasn't really thinking when I said that...All I wanted was for them to know that you're there because they just acted like you weren't-"

"For the last time Gaara; it's totally okay, don't worry," I sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

The thing is that ever since the accident, I've been nervous around boys (or any stranger for that matter). I became very aware of my surroundings and always unsure around the men population.

But, fortunately, it's not that fatal. I mean, I can handle being around boys but I always get a little nervous. Actually, it's nothing too weird for girls my age.

However, now that I know that Gaara would be with me and those guys are all too familiar with him; it's no big deal.

I smiled warmly at Gaara as a reassurance, "Look, you'll be with me. Nothing wrong would ever happen when you're around."

He finally sighed, relaxing his once tense posture while giving me a tiny, barely even there smile, "You're right."

"Okay you guys, sorry to cut off your lovey-dovey chit-chats but I'm finally ready now," Shizune joked, closing the door after she entered. "Sakura, you said there was something really important, I believe?"

I nodded softly, muttering a quite "yeah..."

She ran a hand through her short, raven locks, taking a seat across us.

"Um...so you guys remember the light thingy, ne? Well then after I got carried away by it, a body appeared," I paused. "Coincidently, that body is my dad's and he...was alive."

Shizune stared at me and for a second there I thought that I sprouted another eye or something but then she shook her head and scribbled something on a paper.

"So he dies, a light appears out of his chest, and then he lives?" I nodded, answering her question. Gaara is really silent, more than he normally is.

"Please continue."

"I'll show you."

He opened the door with a red, heart shaped key. Another blinding light soaked through the now opened door.

I shielded my eyes, trying so hard to make out what was around us. Finally, when my eyes adjusted to the overly dramatic lights, I could make out our environment-

Green.

Green and yellow and pink and blue and red and orange.

Iridescent, colorful, spectrum. Those words described the whole place. There were trees of every color and every single shade anyone can think of. Flowers, as colorful as the trees, decorated the soft grass with their sweet aroma. A cerulean, glistening lake was flowing in front of us, carrying numerous fish. And further away, you can see mountains with snowy peaks, and waterfalls cascading in an exhilarating show. The sun is warm and surrounded by specks of white clouds drawn perfectly on the ever-blue canvas. Animals, birds, insects; everything! There is everything here!

All around me, everywhere I look, I find another beauty. But they seemed to all face one gigantic, extremely gigantic, Sakura tree. Under that tree sat an eerily familiar-looking green swing. I know I've seen it before, but I just can't figure out where...

"I see you've taking a liking to this place," my dad broke the silence. "But that's to be expected of course," he smiled kindly, his eyes sparkling.

I'm a bit distracted at first by the beauty of everything here, especially by the beauty of my dad's smile, but then focus on the thing at hand, "Dad, what's going on? Where are we?"

He chuckles softly.

"Honey!" I turned towards the direction of the new intruder. I was really surprised when I saw azure eyes and yellow hair.

"Mom?!" I gasp out.

But she runs into my dad's arms, kissing him softly on the chin. Tears gather at the corners of my eyes as I see the scene unfolding.

And I remember when he would come home, and then mom would greet him with a passionate kiss that would be interrupted rather quickly because of a petite, pink-haired girl that craved for some attention. Then, the two couples would laugh it all off and talk about their day happily.

We were happy, just like mom and dad seem now. And that makes me realize, with a painful bang in my chest, that this is not true. That, apparently, I am still in a dream.

It has to be a dream. It's...it's too surreal.

"Sakura!" my head quickly snaps to my dad, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Wait...is he fading? His arms are fading away and mom-

-mom was nowhere to be seen!

"Sakura! Look at me! I know this all might seem like a dream, but you can make it a reality! You can control this all! This is your mind and this is what you want. These are your wishes and here you can make them come true! You just have to believe."

So I try. I try to believe that this is real. That mom was here, along with dad. And they were happy. Very happy.

I had to believe.

Little by little, dad's arms reappear again. And suddenly, mom appears out of nowhere too.

However, this time, she is not alone.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait... Well I'm not so sure about this chapter. It's nothing like the first two (honestly I don't even know how I wrote the first two like that). Anyway, enjoy the chapter and don't forget to leave a review.