When Darkness Turns to Light

Flirting With Darkness

Recappy from the Last Chappy: "Wait, Hiki, don't open that-!"

But it was too late. Hikari pressed the button next to the door and it slid open. She turned her head to regard the brunette, but quickly had to grab onto the vertical metal bar beneath the button when the Gummi lurched backwards as Monstro took a deep breath. Almost as soon as it inhaled, it sneezed.

The Highwind was hurled through space, destination unknown, Sora holding onto the back of his seat, Donald and Goofy strapped inside theirs, Red XIII up against the wall of the cockpit, and Hikari's body hanging half outside the door.

Chapter Thirty-one: Flirting With Darkness

The cliff overlooking a wide, calm river appeared tall enough that by standing at the edge on their tippy toes and reaching just high enough, one could touch the sky. Water poured over the edge on either side of the promontory but did not roar so as to keep peace. When standing on the cliff, one could watch the river that stretched out toward the horizon and was lined by tall forestry.

Yet while the cliff seemed nearly to reach the heavens, it was a very different, very sordid religious act being practiced a little bit before the waterfall, where some dark grey rocks rested.

A man whose skin at the moment was black as ink with white lines in the same pattern as a skeleton was on top of a red symbol drawn in the form of a triangle within a circle. The color of his skin faded to a fair tone, but his body remained still, positioned like he had been gently lain to rest. This was in contradiction with his saucer-wide purple eyes, blood trailing from his open mouth, and an iron spear piercing his chest. His silver, medium-length hair was slicked back.

Limply hanging from a rock wall with her hands tied above her was a woman whose long blonde hair blocked all of her face. Her short-sleeved black and purple blouse as well as black pants had similar cloud-like designs on them (more prevalent on her thigh) and a chain of white beads wound around her purple fingerless glove-clad left hand. Bandages around her arms and legs did not appear to have association with wounds present on her body and were under the standard shuriken holster strapped to her right thigh. Her body twitched.

Another man sat on a small boulder near the first, his intense gaze giving the appearance of impatience. They were uniquely colored-green irises, no pupils, and red sclera. The rest of his face was rendered invisible by a white hood and black mask. He had dark skin and eyebrows; the forehead protector he wore had a scratch through the village symbol. The ring on his dark green-polished finger had the kanji for "North."

Both men were dressed in the standard Akatsuki attire though the one laying on the ground had his unzipped partway down his ribs and a pendant identical to the symbol on which he lied. The hitaiate around his neck-bearing a scratch too right through the middle-was from the Hot Springs village. A triple-bladed scythe was also by his side.

The second man was regarding the woman on the wall before he spoke. "It's been thirty minutes already." He turned his head to his partner; the irritation was plain in his voice. "Aren't you done yet, Hidan?"

The first man lifted his head and glared. "Will you shut up, Kakuzu? You're interrupting the ritual!" He pulled out the spear and groaned. "Ow. . . ."

"You perform that vulgar prayer each and every time. Can't you abbreviate it even a little? Let's get going!"

Hidan sat up and snapped. "I find it tedious, but a commandment is a commandment; it must be obeyed! And how dare you suggest I abbreviate it? Blasphemous non-believer!"

Kakuzu ignored the comment. "Once we pass the Two-tail on to Zetsu, we still have one assignment left in this world. . . . It's like finding a needle in a haystack. The Keyhole is next. Maybe gold, too. Rumor has it, this land is full of it."