When Darkness Turns to Light

Retail Therapy

Recap: Hikari, Sora, and company's adventure most recently brought them to Halloween Town, where Hikari encountered her past: Orochimaru, the man who had taught her most jutsu she knew, left her for dead, and whom she had loved like a father. Orochimaru revealed to Hikari the reason why the Akatsuki wanted to capture her: she is a Princess of Heart, one of nine maidens with a heart of pure light. Determined to end the influence of her former master, Hikari tries to defeat him with the power of the curse mark, only to find that its taint sickened her to the point of incapacity. Embarrassed and betrayed by her body, she breaks down and leaves the encounter with a wounded shoulder.

Sasuke also came to Halloween Town, shortly followed by Krystal and Sai. Sasuke sought Orochimaru for a way to gain power and Krystal attempted to sway him by confessing her feelings for him, but he spurned her advances and left her behind for a second time, breaking her heart.

Both kunoichi were brought back to Traverse Town to recover, but Hikari's injury left her virtually defenseless. At her request, the Keybearer and the rest of the gang would continue the mission without her temporarily.

Chapter Forty-eight: Retail Therapy

"John? Micheal?" A lone blonde teenage girl walked the beach of Skull Rock, hands cupped around her mouth in an attempt to amplify her voice. "Wendy?"

Her voice echoed back at her, bouncing off the walls of caves and tunnels as she entered the maw of the skull. Her bright blue, pupil-less eyes scanned the interior, taking in the nooks, crannies, and small islands towards the center of the cave.

As if there were no change in terrain, she smoothly transitioned from land to the surface of the water, concentrating chakra from the bottom of her feet through the soles of worn black leather combat boots, until she came to one of the islands in the dead center.

She put her fists on her hips and puffed her cheeks. "Where did those brats go?"

From this vantage point, she found additional nooks, and the color red caught her eye in a far corner. It slowly spread through the water, coming from the body of a dark-haired young man barely hanging onto the shore.

The girl gasped and ran across the water's surface in the man's direction. She stopped on land in front of him and immediately pulled him out of the water, laying him on his back. "Hey! Are you awake?" She lightly slapped his cheek and noticed some movement in his eyes, but they were unfocused. She hovered over him and turned her ear towards him, if only to feel his breath on her cheek.

"You're breathing! That's good." She untied the blood-stained orange obi holding together his plunging cerulean kimono and took note of his wounds. She sensed chakra energy within him, so she placed her hands on the most serious of his wounds and concentrated.

Her hands glowed with green chakra and mingled with the energy inside her patient, aiding and speeding up the body's natural ability to heal. The bleeding ceased and the skin slowly stitched closed.

[{X♥X}]

I almost hadn't made it out alive. My body was bruised and battered, and it was only by some miracle that I didn't have any breaks-that I felt, anyway. It was hard to concentrate enough to distinguish where those various pains originated.

My chakra was expended. I know it wasn't by my own power that I managed to survive the battle. If I hadn't asked for help from the beast inside me, that man in the black coat with red clouds would've completely had his way with me. I'd probably have died before that girl found me.

The man slowly opened his amber-colored eyes; the first sight he met was the spiky ceiling of some cave, saturated with shadows that flickered as they were threatened by unsteady light.