We ran down the dirty street. It was clustered with venders and patrons, hollering at each other for better bargains. It had never been like this in my reality. Or at least, not that I knew of. It was confusing, to see all this rushing and liveliness out of a place that didn't really exist. I knew what did exist. Naruto. Me. Sumara. Everyone else in the real world existed. This was just a dream.

"Sumara," I hollered.

She was a few feet behind me. I was really, what's it called? Making her dust eat me? No that's not right. The point was, I was way in front of her. She had to jog to catch up to me. "What?" She was irritated. It was obvious she didn't like not knowing what was going on.

"You come from the Village Hidden in the Dreams, correct?"

She nodded. "Yeah what's it to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "This 'reality' is like a dream, right?"

Sumara stopped, forcing me to do so as well. "A little bit, but I don't know what you're getting at. This is a reality."

"How was it created?"

Her forehead scrunched up. "Um, in Meseru's mind."

"Like a dream."

Her eyes lit up with recognition. "Whoa, no way! I am not going to do what you are thinking!"

I put my hands on my hips. "What am I thinking?"

Sumara grabbed my elbow and pulled me to the side of the road. "I am not going to do anything here. It's too big to do anything with."

"What are your abilities when it comes to dreams?"

She sighed. "I'm a Dream Walker. I'm one of the few of my village. I can create and tear down dreams. I can watch your dreams without you knowing and I can get your inner-most secrets. Some may call it spying, I just call it sleeping." She sounded like she had said this a million times before. I guess she had.

"Tear it down," I ordered.

"Excuse me?" Sumara looked pissed.

"You heard me, Sumara. The only way we can beat this is if you tear it down. Destroy the reality."

"Shhhh! He can hear everything."

"Well, at least he knows what's going to happen now," I said with a shrug.

"You don't get it! He's way more powerful than me," she tried to argue. I shook my head. It was pointless.

"What happens if you die in a dream?"

She sighed, almost defeated. "You wake up."

"And if you die here…?"

She socked me in the shoulder. "You go back to reality," Sumara snarled. "Fine, but you seriously owe me." I gave her a quick hug and started to run. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," I called over my shoulder as I rounded the corner.

The truth was, I had only thought up to that point. The convincing Sumara part had taken up a lot of my brain power. I didn't expect her to agree so willingly. Just focus on making a plan, Ruina. This is all for him. With that thought in mind, I pushed forward. Perhaps if I found the epicenter of this place I could find the exit.

The world around me had gone silent. I stopped. It had been so sudden I doubted anyone had not noticed it. I looked around, checking my surroundings. All the people were gone. "Nice work, Sumara," I whispered. She was ahead of me, figuratively speaking. I needed to keep going. I watched as everything behind me gradually began to fade. I had to figure out where the heart of this world was. But how?

A crashing vision hurtled through my mind. Flashes of ancient stone and blood clawed their way through my brain. I fell to my knees and had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming in agony. More images, so fast I could hardly make them out. What felt like hours had only been seconds when the vision finally left me. I knew where I needed to go.

I rushed forward until I was deep into the forest that connected the Hidden Leaf and my village. I could hear the crashing of the giant trees around me, the breaking of the rock beneath my feet. There was so much turmoil in this world; Sumara wasn't helping. I followed the instructions from my vision. When I came upon the absolute center of the forest, I slammed my palm into the large tree there. A high pitched ringing filled the air. I forced myself not to clamp down on my ears. A hole appeared in the ground a few moments later. I glanced down, held my breath, and jumped. My landing was rough but I rolled out of it.

Suddenly, I cried out with pain. I grasped my right arm. It felt like it had been broken in at least two places. Using my endless years of causing myself pain, I pushed through the ache of my arm with a numbness I knew well. I continued down a dark hall, my arm limp at my side. When I slammed into a wall I knew I had made it. I shook my head and pushed with all my might against the wall. It didn't budge. I slammed my palm against the stone and yelled, "By the power of the Messengers I command thee to open!"

The rock began to slide underneath my fingers. I waited until it was far enough up for me to crawl through before I entered. The room was dark except for rainbows that jumped up around the room at random intervals. I felt myself begin to grow weaker. I didn't have much time.

"Ruina, what are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked.

I froze. No, it can't be. It's not possible, is it?

"Ruin, love, what are you doing?" A flash of rainbow and I saw a piece of his face. I bit down on my lip.

"I know it's not really you."

There was silence. Then, "It's me, believe it!"

I focused all my chakra in the space behind my eyes. "Fly on the wall jutsu," I whispered. I looked around using my jutsu. It enabled me to see from all angles of the room. But I didn't have a chance to fully complete the jutsu. A large hand grasped my neck. I couldn't even gasp. My windpipe constricted, I was beginning to feel my head go numb.

"You disappoint me, Ruina. I expected so much more from you." This time, the voice was not his. It was someone far more powerful.

Meseru laughed with malice as he squeezed the life out of me.

Where had this come from?

"You won't leave, Ruina. Don't you see? You were never meant to leave. There was no possible way for you to defeat these tasks. You were dead either way." I tried to pry his hand off my throat but it was no use. "You see, Ruin, when someone dies they will never come back. Especially a stupid Messenger. You cause wars and famines. You cause death and destruction. If the Messengers cease to exist, then men will no longer lose their lives fighting over your power. You will stay dead and the world can go on without you. No one will even notice you're gone."

But someone will notice. He will notice I'm gone. I know that. I'm so sorry, Naruto. I'm sorry I was going to break your heart for my own selfish reasons. I'm sorry I couldn't make it out of here alive. I want only your forgiveness, my love. I have caused you so much pain and suffering. Naruto, I was going to tell you I didn't love you anymore. I was going to tell you that I didn't remember you. Forgive me for this, my love. Please…

Gone

Her body went limp only a few moments after Meseru had gotten his grip around her puny neck. He dropped her to the ground unceremoniously. "The world is better off."

"You monster!" cried a new voice. A flash of metal met Meseru's forearm. He simply ignored it.

"Sumara, you disappoint me."

"Me? I disappoint you? You've got this all wrong, buddy. How could you do this to her?"

"I have saved countless lives with a single death."

"No, you've gotten rid of your competition."

Meseru stiffened at this remark. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. All you care about is saving your own skin." She tried to strike again but still Meseru was too fast for her.

"You damned her."

"If I had let her go she would have damned us all."

Sumara took a step back, panting. She had used up practically all of her chakra destroying the realm. She only had enough left to do what she had to. Or at least, she hoped she had enough.

If you're out there, please come and help me. You know it's you I'm calling. Please, help me. Help her.

The ground began to quake. Then, it split apart beneath Meseru's feet. Being extremely agile for his age, he simple jumped to the side of it and around.

Luxe emerged, shrouded in light, her hair floating around her.

Luxe spoke, and her voice sounded like thousands of angels. "Meseru, for too long you have controlled the Messengers and their powers. You did not destroy my daughter to help the world. You destroyed her so you may be able to have even more power over the realm of the spirits, and the realm of the humans. I banish you to the Shadowlands, where you will serve an eternity in a torture fit for someone like you." At that, Sumara spat at the ground. "Would you like to go willingly?"

Meseru's face showed nothing but defiance. "What right do you have to banish me? Where is your power your authority?"

"You wish to see my power? Very well," Luxe said, then began to howl into the air in such a ghostly wail that even Sumara was forced to cover he ears.

Thousands of souls burst from the seam in the floor. They tackled Meseru on all sides and pulled him down. "This isn't over, Luxe. Remember that!" he cried.

The souls pulled harder until Meseru simply melted into the floor with the souls behind him. "I know, my brother. I know."

Luxe turned to Sumara's cowering form. "Child, thank you for calling me here."

Sumara bowed. "Your thanks is not necessary. I should be the one thanking you."

The floating figure turned to her pale daughter. "What will become of her?" Sumara asked.

A ghostly tear trailed down Luxe's translucent face. "There is only one way for her to live."

Sumara clung at this. "What is it?"

"I will sacrifice my soul in exchange for hers. She will be freed from damnation."

"But what about you?"

Luxe's face was serene. "I have lived for so long with no purpose. Now, I realize my death was not in vain. It was for this moment that I died. I am here to rescue her. My daughter." She floated closer, pressed her fading hand to Ruin's face and whispered. "Everything I do is for you, my daughter."

Ruin

The moment I opened my eyes, I could feel nothing but the warm glow of love around me. "W-w-where am I?"

I rubbed the back of my head and tried to sit up but a pair of strong hands stopped me. "No, Ruin, lie down. Rest."

I gasped and held firm to the hands. "Naruto?" I whispered.

I blinked my eyes several times and I saw him. My Naruto. He looked the same as when I had died and yet he seemed even more unreal. He was smiling. Tears streamed down his face as he stared down at me. "Yes, love. It's me."

That's when I burst into tears. "Shhh…" he whispered as he pulled me into his arms. I pressed my face into his chest. I sobbed uncontrollably as the pain from all the past days was released.

"I c-c-c-can't be-be-"

"Hush, Ruin. Just relax. I'll take you home." Then I was flying. I soon fell asleep in his arms.

When I woke up again, I was snuggled deep in a bed with mismatched sheets. A single window overhead leaked light. I turned my head to see a bedside table with a picture of a much younger Naruto and Sakura, with Kakashi and a boy with black hair. Sasuke? Yes, it did look an awful lot like that one skipping boy from my first task. I smelled a whiff of ramen in the air and saw a carton of milk on the ground next to my bed. It had expired a month ago. Then I knew. I was in Naruto's home.

I pushed myself up on my elbows but found it extremely difficult. That was unusual. It shouldn't have made a difference that I had been dead. I was in a new version of my body because the other had been burned. But everything about my body was the same. Then I glanced down to see what was wrong. Oh my-

"Naruto!" I yelled. I heard a crash in the other room and then he was kneeling next to me in the next instant.

"What? What is it?"

I pulled back my sheets to reveal my bulging stomach. "Care to explain?"

"Scoot over," he ordered. I did so and he slipped into bed beside me. "When you died, the doctors told me something that seemed like such a curse at the time. But now, I know it's a blessing. Ruin, I don't really know how to tell you this but…" he paused. "You're pregnant."

"I-I'm what?"

He pressed his hand to my cheek and whispered. "We're going to have a child of our own."

The tears sprang to my eyes. "Will it-will it-"

"Be a Messenger? If we don't activate his or her powers, he or she will never be a Messenger."

"Naruto, this is so…"

"What?"

I grasped the hand that was pressed to my face. "Next to you, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Over 9 Months Later

"Let me hold her!" Sumara whined.

I cradled the soft bundle of my daughter in my arms in the small apartment. "Be quiet or you'll wake her."

"But Ruin!"

"Shut up!" I yelled/whispered.

"Have you named her yet?" Sumara whispered now, finally complying with my command.

"Naruto is still trying to figure it out." I paused. "He's outside with Gaara right now."

Sumara perked at the sound of her own love's name. "He's here?"

"I thought you knew."

She shrugged. "He's been off on some official Kazekage business for awhile now. But, if he's here…" she paused and rushed over to a reflective piece of glass and began fixing her hair.

I sighed. She was so fussy when it came to Gaara. About a month or two before I had given birth, she and Gaara had come by to visit. Naruto pointed out that Gaara was awfully happy. He even had his arm wrapped around Sumara's waist. To me, there was no comparison to the kind Gaara I had met in my task to the one that was there. In a way, I guess Gaara's life and suffering had made him a better person. Kind of like what Naruto's life helped him do.

"Come on! Let's go see the guys!" Sumara yelled as she rushed out the door.

When I finally made my way out to where they were, the sun was nearly gone. "You brought her with you!" Naruto exclaimed as he jumped to his feet to take the child from me. I smiled in thanks to him and took a seat underneath the large tree we were by.

"Does she have a name?" Gaara asked in his gravelly voice.

"Not yet," Naruto whispered as he stared down in wonder at his tiny daughter.

"A name can do a lot of thing to one's life, Naruto," Gaara replied.

"Hush," Sumara said softly to Gaara. There was pain in his eyes but when he looked at her it vanished.

Naruto passed the child down to Sumara and came walking over to me. "I know what I want to name her."

"What?"

"Luxe, in honor of your mother." He wrapped his arms around me as I let a silent tear fall.

"It's perfect."

You have no idea the amount of bliss simple moments like that can give you. There is something so priceless and innocent about it. There is no way to avoid them nor should you wish to.

Dying was the world really telling me that I had truly been reborn. I was no longer that scared, sad girl who cut herself to get rid of all the anger and terrible visions. The scars would remain there, battle scars from my endless self-torment. A reminder. The life that I have is the one that I want, forever and always. No matter how bad it gets, I will never cause myself pain like that. I will never contemplate the ending of my life. I'm just as important as the rest of the world, and in Naruto's eyes, as well as my daughter's, I am the world.

Naruto had found me, and in turn, I had found myself.

A/N: If you liked this story, go to my profile and read Time to Waste which is a Neji/OC story. PLEASE READ! AND THANK ALL OF YOU SO MUCH FOR READING Finding Ruin.