When Darkness Turns to Light

Capture

Both encounters with Kimimarou, in life and tool, were bittersweet. On the one hand, he had saved her. The amount of corruption she could have undergone with prolonged exposure to the snake's sinister ways indeed could have been worse than the seal on her body . . . on the other hand, that corruption could have been temporary; the seal was permanent. And in tool, she was both saved and potentially killed.

There was an illness she felt inside the gem. Its ailments had not been inflicted on her, but mingling her chakra with his created some kind of connection, temporary as it may be. He had this handicap, his heartwas steeped in darkness, he followed Orochimaru so blindly-enough that she knew he would be a willing vessel-yet she ended up with the broken heart?

Continuing to stare at him, Hikari sat up and held the gem in the fingers of her other hand. She unhooked it from her bracelet, eyes flinty. Her finger curled around the stone and her mouth closed in a straight, grim line. Silently, she closed her eyes, brushed her lips against the gem, and opened her eyes again.". . . ." Then, she chucked him across the breadth, let him skip like a rock across the river. He slipped over the edge and disappeared into the brush.

She heard a grunt coming from that direction.

It was both alarm and a glimmer of hope that made her jump up and speak Riku's name. Quickly she realized his return was not the case when men with dark hair, copper skin, and either with spears or bows and arrows climbed out of obscurity. They spoke to one another in a language she could not understand and approached her with bows drawn.

She was about to draw her tantos, but hesitated when she thought about what Riku said before they argued: "There's a woman named Maleficent. She's helping me find a way to help Kairi. But for that, I need to find someone. This world-Chesapeake Forests-has a tribe of Indians, and she's the Chief's daughter, Pocahontas. She also has a heart of pure light."

It had to be the tribe he spoke of. So she hoped. The way he had worded it suggested there was solely one tribe, but it did not necessarily refute the possibility of other Native American inhabitants. Either way, her chances of finding Pocahontas-and of running into Riku-were greater if she joined these men.

Releasing the handles of her weapons, she took a gamble and raised her arms in surrender. She scanned their suspicious gazes, keeping hers neutral. Since they had shown themselves instead of attacking her from the shadows, killing her without discretion, she deduced their intention was to capture her.

Their language differed from English, but she spoke it anyway, thinking there was the slight chance they would understand at least some of her words. She kept her voice light and even. "Uh, hi . . . I'm not here to hurt anyone. My friends and I-we're trying to stop the Heartless, but I got separated from them-lost. My name is Hikari."

The Native Americans looked at one another, but their brows remained taut with distrust. A few of them came up behind her with some rope they used to bind her wrists together behind her. One of them spoke to her in his native tongue, but the meaning of his words was lost on her. While one held her from behind, a pair walked with her at her flanks with their spears pointed at her neck. The rest walked around them, leading the way to-she assumed-their camp.

[{X♥X}]

Flashes of copper skin and long, coal black hair passed the trees as a slender young woman ran through the woods. She was clad in a flattering strapless dress that draped down to her thigh and there was an orange armlet-like tattoo adorning her left bicep. Disturbed by each stride, a turquoise necklace with a white pendant bounced about her collarbone.

Her bare feet pushed from the muddy shore onto a tree root resting above the surface of the water. Leafy tendrils appeared to part the way for her, leading her to a stump before the trunk of a tree set in the dead center of the lake. Her sepia eyes were frantic.