A Light in the Darkness

Chapter 1: Black and Red

Darkness.

Thick and dense like fog, it enveloped and swallowed me whole. I wasn't sure as to when I passed out, but I knew I certainly was not awake.

Did I hit my head or something?

As I stood in the strange void of nothingness I had found myself in, I tried to remember what got me there in the first place. With as much concentration as I could muster in my state, I began pushing the gears of my brain to turn and help me recall what was going on. Pictures slowly became clearer, running in sequence like a movie as I saw my captors, laying still on the damp earth as dark pools began to ooze from under their motionless bodies. A large, blue man with gills in a black cloak with red clouds holding a shaggy looking blade with blood dripping from it slowly. A beautiful, tall man with long black hair that framed his handsome features came around from behind the larger, blue fish-looking man, wearing the same cloak. He had piercing red eyes, swirling with what looked like a black shuriken.

Shit… did that actually happen?

Upon seeing those eyes, I froze. I knew I had to think of something and to get somewhere safe. But my feet refused to obey my orders to move and I remained immobile. "Why are we doing this again Itachi? There can't be anything significant about this scrawny little pipsqueak," the blue fish-man said, looking quizzically at his partner beside him.

The gorgeous man with the red eyes simply sighed, "Pain-sama wants her and has tasked us with retrieving her. That is why we are here, Kisame." his partner sounded tired in his response.

Hold on…I'm sorry, who?

Oh hell no. I wasn't going anywhere with these two nutjobs. I was beginning to realize that if they keep talking, it might be just enough to give me a window to run. I started scanning the surrounding treescape for an exit route away from these creeps. If it weren't for the chakra suppressing injection my previous captors had administered, I could have made it far away from these two characters without a hitch—alas I was shit out of luck.

"Yeah, no shit, but I mean look at her… she looks pathetic, what could she possibly have that Pain-sama could want?" the blue man retorted in annoyance. Although his condescendence made anger boil within me, I was currently powerless, making me seem pretty pathetic indeed. I would let them think that for now, it was good that they didn't know the full capacity of my abilities.

I knew why their leader wanted to capture me. I had been genetically gifted with all five chakra natures—which was apparently an anomaly. I had heard of other shinobi like the infamous Orochimaru and the third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, could wield all of the chakra natures, but didn't acquire them through solely genetics like I had; they had to train relentlessly for years upon years to fully utilize them. I had an interesting way of being able to add chakra to molecules and compounds to subsequently manipulate them. I could apply this to cells and organic tissue as well—but I had only used it in medical ninjutsu, as cells had many components that were hard to isolate.

It was these factors in tandem with not needing to weave signs for jutsu was what made me a very desirable attribute. And it was because of this that had lead to me being hunted for much of my life. To the waring shinobi world, I was, in essence, a weapon of mass destruction. The regal looking man sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose, he looked to his partner, "That's enough. We are not here to ask questions." He turned to me, staring at me with an intimidating intensity that seemed to leave me struggling to find my breath and had my heart pounding.

What is THIS feeling? Stockholm syndrome much?

Maybe I had been a hostage for too long, but there was a certain part of his chakra that comforted me, almost beckoning for me to go with him.

You need to stop sidetracking, Sora.

I knew better and I was running out of time to escape. Red eyes penetrating my very soul, he began to approach and close the distance between us. "Please, I do not want to harm you so do not be troublesome," now only a few meters away, "things will not go in your favor if you do not come with us quietly." He stopped in front of me, towering over my small form.

Despite my internal dialogue screaming at me, I was completely frozen in place and oddly found myself taking a moment to observe his incredibly handsome facial features. He had a small, angled nose and high cheekbones with soft lines trailing from his inner eye halfway down that small nose. His eyes were no longer red and black, but a dark coal color that carried a hint of softness in them. He spoke more softly and with sincerity, "Please just come with us. I swear no harm will befall you."

STOP STARING AND RUN, DUMBASS!

My internal dialogue was right. With the suppressive injection beginning to wear off, I was able to force chakra down to my feet and legs, pushing off the ground as hard as I could and launching myself towards a large branch of a nearby tree. As soon as my feet contacted the hard wood of the first branch, I pushed off even harder onto another as I tried desperately to put some space between myself and my pursuers. I could hear them just behind me, "God-damnit, Itachi, why didn't you just grab her? She was right in front of you!" the fish-man apparently named Kisame shouted at him from a more distant branch.

"I was trying to avoid conflict, which I know is a hard concept for you to comprehend." His deep velvet voice sounded only a couple of branches back.

Kisame let out a groan, "Ugh…whatever let's just find the brat as quickly as possible—you know how impatient Pain-sama can be."

I knew that I was headed in the direction that I had just come from with my other captors, as I had begun to recognize some of the surrounding shrubbery and landscape. I remembered seeing a small cavern hidden behind a large boulder that had a patch of bright green moss over the top of it.

That's it!

Peering back behind me as I took another large leap from a tree branch, I didn't see the two men following me, internally sighing in relief that they weren't directly on my tail. I desperately began looking around me, searching hard for the cavern and then suddenly caught a glimpse of bright green out of the corner of my eye; looking over, there was the large boulder with moss over its top was just up ahead.

Get there, suppress your chakra like hell and you'll be fine.

Taking one more cautious glance over my shoulder, I descended to the small opening in the rock behind the boulder. Scrambling onto the damp grass, I shimmied my way into the small cavern and began to suppress my chakra. As I tried to catch my breath, sweat drenched my hair and body and stung my eyes as it dripped down my brow. After just a couple of minutes, there was a rugged voice, my heart sinking into my stomach realizing how it came from just outside of the cavern. "Itachi, you were right, she went over this way!" he hollered loudly. I heard one set of footsteps approaching, then two as my heartrate began to spike.

Shit… now what?

I began to feel around me for other hiding place or potential exit, when my hand found another opening behind me—it felt like a small tunnel. I knew I could at least try and squeeze my way a little deeper so the two men would not be able to see me. As quietly and slowly as possible, I shifted myself to fit legs first through the narrow opening that lead towards my escape. With a loud crack, my foot smacked the back of the small entry I was shimmying through.

Oh. Fuck.

My ears filled with the familiar sound of rock splitting, readying itself to collapse.

OH FUCK! You really did it this time genius!

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pressure on my wrist as I was yanked out, seeing streaks of red and black as the world faded into a dark void.