When Darkness Turns to Light

A Tale of Two Hiki's

They were speechless. They could not think of words, let alone speak them.

Discomforted by the silence, she tried to continue. "But Sora-ah. . . ." She hesitated, rememberingJiminy's theory. Would Sora misunderstand as well? She blushed and averted her eyes. "Sora . . . you make me feel like I have a heart. It didn't make sense, but I think it's because you have the Keyblade, so . . . now it kinda does."

The brunette appeared confused. "Keyblade? You're not making much se-"

"Remember what you did for Sai? I think it's kind of the same thing, except for me, you've . . . unlocked some kind of connection. . . . It's the only explanation I have." Shutting her eyes, she lowered her head and slid her palm from her collarbone to the back of her neck. "And I'm . . . I'm sorry that I kept it secret from you, but. . . ."

"Ya were afraid that we wouldn't understand," finished Goofy for her.

She opened her eyes part of the way, but did not look at him. "I had to be cautious. I thought it wasn't important-and it isn't, really. I don't want your hearts . . . I just want mine. I thought I had to lie, so I could go with you guys." Her lip curled weakly. "You guys'd probably think I was a Heartless, or I was working with them-"

"We'd never think that!" Sora interrupted; Donald and Goofy were startled, Hikari was surprised. When she looked up at him, he was adamant; his hand was on his chest. "You've been fighting with us all this time against the Heartless-how could we think you're one of them?

"So you were pretty distant in the beginning-," he looked away for a moment, "-and you didn't seem to care much aboutwhat happened to everyone. You were cold. . . ." His visage was a little red when he faced her again. "But you're our friend now! If someone or something doesn't have a heart, they can't have friends. . . . You can't feel so bad and be all that heartless, Hiki."

"A-hyuck! He's right," Goofy said with a smile. "Yer different from the Heartless fellahs, even if right now you don't have a heart. And even without it, we've seen how light it's gotta be!" He turned to Donald. "Right?"

The duck had his arms crossed and wore a familiar frown; the same he wore when he was annoyed or, at times, simply walking around. He sized her up, looked to be reevaluating her after assimilating this new information. "Aw. . . ." Turning his beakand putting his foot down, he said, "Well I'm not trusting her!"

"Donald!" the other two chorused.

Knowing there had to be at least one holdout-else wise it would have been too good to be true-Hikari was not surprised and closed her mouth humbly. She had been lucky Sora and Goofy so readily accepted her.She and Donald butted heads a lot over the years; for him to be as forgiving would have been a lot to ask.

"Ah, don't worry about him," said Sora in the end. He held his hand toward her. "He'll come around, you'll see."

She stared at his hand hesitantly and then looked up at his face. It was really going to be this easy. No questions asked. All she had to do was take his hand, and all would be forgiven. Before she knew it, she had accepted it and felt something stir within her chest.

They pulled at the same time, awkwardly bringing them together much closer than either one of them anticipated. To stop herself from colliding into him, she brought up her other hand as soon as her derriere left the ground and blocked him; since she had released his hand, both of her hands ended up on his chest, and his arms almost went around her. Tentatively, their eyes met.

Then Hikari felt strange. All of her motor function abruptly seemed to be taken from her control. She had no mastery over her body's movement, but she still felt very present. It was the same feeling as when she would play the role of the blonde wraith in her dreams. Her fingers closed over the cloth of his jacket.