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In this chapter Niji may seem a bit off, but he honestly feels as he says, and just doesn't like to admit it. He pretty emotional when he thinks about just how much he doesn't know and is prone to anger when he feels justified. He isn't quite as pure and forgiving as everyone who is on the side of good usually is in Kingdom Hearts.

-YARN

P.S. Edited (slightly)

As it turned out, traversing through the jungle wasn't to be done by walking on solid ground but by surfing across branches. And yes, that meant literally sliding through the branches with enough speed that if we crashed we could fall and break a neck if we crashed with no cushioning. Despite that very real danger, it was fun for it's speed and a rush from just how quickly the world was slipping by us as we slid through the foliage. I was able to keep up relatively well with Sora after a few stumbles and nearly falling off once or twice. But we both compared to Tarzan as a normal person on a swing set compared to a professional gymnast. At one point, we had to leap from branch to branch to go around a break in the trees that we wouldn't be able to cross in a leap, but that didn't hinder Tarzan in any way. The man launched himself towards the gap - so wide we though the would crash to the jungle floor - but instead his hand snapped out to reach a number of low-hanging vines and with a wild yell, he used his momentum to swing all the way across the gap in the trees that we had to shift around.

After a while we all got out of the forest to land in a camp where there was a large yellow tent pitched and a bunch of tables stacked with notes and books next to what seemed to be a small stove with a pot on top. In the farther corners of the camp were stacks of boxes that seemed to be full of provisions for a trip. However a lot of the items that were scattered around the site were not quite up to date, something which surprised me. Tarzan quickly made his way to the tent flap and sauntered in. Both of us shared a look and followed him in seeing a brown-haired woman in a dull white tank top and faded brown skirt fiddling with what seemed to be a projector.

"Jane." Tarzan said simply.

She turned, a bright smile tilting her lips as she saw Tarzan, "Tarzan!"

I relaxed slightly as at least one person spoke the same language.

"Ah, who are they?" Jane said as she peered at us curiously.

"Um, hi." Sora began, "I'm -"

"Oh, so you speak english!" She interrupted, looking a bit more than somewhat relieved at that, "So your obviously not related to Tarzan."

I blinked but pushed that aside to think on later, "That's right, we aren't. I'm Niji and this is my friend Sora."

"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you, you can call me Jane." Jane replied with a smile, "Are you here to study the gorillas?"

Before we could respond to that, a rather disdainful voice replied, "Highly doubtful."

We turned to see a tall man with neat albeit thin hair, a pencil thin mustache, yellow jacket with packets, tan pants, a red cloth stuffed around his neck into his jacket, a brown bandolier, a machete strapped to his waist, and a rifle held in his hands. If his face and tone was anything to go by, he was either immensely prideful or stuck-up. However the two people behind him were a much more pleasant surprise.

Donald and Goofy were following the man and both of them brightened upon seeing us.

"Niji, Sora!" Goofy greeted enthusiastically.

"Donald, Goofy!" Sora cheered and clasped hands with Donald before they both seemed to realize they were in a heated argument just a little while ago. They both turned away from each other with a huff in almost mirrored poses and expressions.

I looked between the two of them and let out a sigh at what I knew was going to be a issue that had to be settled before we left; the longer it lingered, the more the teamwork of our group would suffer. I locked eyes with Goofy who tilted his head at Sora. I shrugged and nodded before I tilted my head at Donald.

"A circus of clowns." The man scoffed as he walked out of the tent, "Not much use in hunting gorillas."

At that, Jane frowned and scolded, "Mister Clayton, we are studying them, not hunting them! This is research!"

Clayton didn't seem to hear her - or he didn't care enough to acknowledge her - and stalked off.

She shook her head with a sigh and turned to us, smiling again, "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."

I smiled, "Thank you. We really appreciate it."

"Well, anyway..." Sora and Donald said in unison, "I'm staying."

Sora turned to give the duck a surprised - and just the slightest bit hopeful - look, "Huh?"

Goofy stepped forward, holding something in his cupped hands, "Guys, we found something. Look at this."

He held up an orange cube with other bits of whatever the cube was made of sticking out of it.

"What is that?" Sora inquired.

"It's a gummi block." Goofy replied, "It the stuff our ship is made out of."

"So that means..." I began.

"The king could be here." Donald finished, he spared a glare to Sora and even a slight glance at me, "So we got to work together. For now."

I fought the urge to scowl at the duck, why the hell was he glaring at me. He had promised to help and even so I wasn't even the one who had crashed the ship!

"Fine." Sora grumbled, "I'll let you tag along. For now."

After a brief explanation as to Tarzan's linguistic barriers - which was because of his life in the jungle mainly consisting of being raised by gorillas and therefore never learning how to speak any english - Jane suggested that we look for slides that she could feed to the film projector and see if Tarzan could use them to point us in a direction that would help us find if our friends were here. I quickly seized the moment and advised Goofy - with a meaningful look - to go with Sora to check half the camp while Donald and I searched the other half for the slides. We headed out into the camp and began to walk to opposite sides to look for the cards.

I hadn't had a lot of time to really think on how I wanted to talk to Donald about why Sora and I were so frustrated. So I spent a minute of the time I was searching to think on what to say and make Donald at least try to see our problems. I settled on honesty and truths that all in all I didn't think I was personally ready to think about without breaking down. When I judged Goofy and Sora to be sufficiently far enough so that we wouldn't be over heard I turned to Donald who was looking through some boxes and studiously attempting to ignore everything else.

"Donald." I said, quelling the apprehensiveness I was feeling at the duck's attitude, "Can we talk a bit?"

He paused, and replied without looking up from his task, "What?"

I sighed, feeling my temper already begin to smolder again, "Donald, I meant face-to-face."

He sighed in resigned annoyance but turned to face me, "We have to find the King, he might need our help right now."

I nodded, at least we could get to the crux of the matter without having to force someone to admit it first.

"I know. Donald, Sora and I know exactly how much you want to find him, but Donald, don't you know we are just as desperate to find our friends too? You, Goofy, and the king have been friends for a long time, but so is Riku, Kairi, and all of our friends on the island." I paused and scrunched my eyes shut as I brought up the possibility that was something I didn't want to face because honestly it was too chilling to me, "I don't even know what happened to my parents, and that frustrates and terrifies me. Honestly Donald, I'm not sure what I will do if I find out that they didn't make it..."

God, what would I do if I never saw them again? I didn't even get to say goodbye to either of them before my entire world was gone. My eyes stung and I pressed a hand to my eyes to compose myself and keep the frustrated and grief down and stop tears in my eyes from welling over and falling.

Part of me wished I hadn't followed Sora.

That I simply stayed and let myself be lost to oblivion.

I pried open my eyes after a moment to look at the sorcerer, who was looking for all the world like he hadn't expected me to despair over what was going on.

And I hated crying in public because I always felt like I wasn't strong enough to grieve in silence when I did.

Donald didn't reply but I could see he was now feeling a bit guilty, he softly said "He's our best friend..."

"I know." I managed to choke out as I managed to push down my despair at the idea of my parents being lost, "Just like you would for your king, for my family and friends... I am willing to go anywhere - do anything - to just find any of them. Sora's quite literally my only friend left from the islands, and I know the chances to find anyone else are slim to none, but I just can't give up. I can't just keep going like this without knowing. Sora's just as desperate maybe even more-so than me, but he hasn't lost hope and won't let that possibility even occur to him."

Donald looked at Sora who seemed to be talking with Goofy while they were looking at a card, before weakly protesting, "He shouldn't have tried to land without knowing anything."

I sighed, "Can you blame him for want to at least check the world out? Can you blame me if I had done the same? We want to look everywhere we can, and you should too just in case. Sora and I... We promised to help you. I don't intend to go back on that, and I don't even need to tell you about Sora. His promises are absolute. But you said you'd help us too, right? If you were in our position, how would you have felt if we ignored your opinions? Besides, you said it yourself, the king might be here. You can't just dismiss things because of assumptions, I was always told that just makes an ass out of you and me."

I tried to end it on a joke to lighten the atmosphere but Donald still looked not quite so apologetic as much as he was contemplative and regretful.

That was more than enough for me to get the ball rolling.

My shoulders slumped in exhaustion - by god I just wasn't good at dwelling on the sadder topics and having to talk about them - but I gripped his shoulder, "Just think it over, okay? I don't want us to be angry and get mad with each other, we are all after the same thing, right?"

I squeezed his shoulder lightly and turned to earnestly begin looking for the cards myself.

We gathered the cards and I took the opportunity to study Sora, who was looking a bit melancholic as he glanced at Donald, who was looking much the same. We checked through all the cards, but stopped when we got to a castle that Sora shifted slightly at.

"Are you alright Sora?" Goofy inquired at the rather peculiar expression on Sora face.

"What? Oh, um I'm fine." He replied hurriedly, "It's just... that looks so familiar but I have never been to a place that wasn't on my island..."

I stared the image for a second but shrugged, "I don't know anything about it."

We ran through all the slides but Tarzan didn't give much of a reaction to any of them.

"Well, Tarzan?" Jane asked the man.

"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora inquired, a hint of desperation in his tone.

Tarzan turned to Sora and after a long moment, shook his head.

I saw Sora look a bit more than unhappy at , "Hey, I thought-"

"That just leaves one place." Clayton's voice came from behind us startling us and making us whirl to face him, "Young man, we've been in this jungle for a long time now, but we've yet to see your friends. I'd wager that they're with the gorillas. However, Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

I immediately shifted uneasily when I saw the gleam in his eyes, this guy just rubbed me the wrong way from his first interaction. Even if he didn't just radiate a certain sense of superiority and pridefulness, the way he acted and how he scoffed at Donald and Goofy, ignored Jane's scolding, and insulted us was more than enough to make me want to keep this guy as far away from me as possible.

"Really, Mr. Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide -" Jane began.

"Then take us there. Take us to the gorillas. Go-rill-as." Clayton cut her off, leaning towards Tarzan.

Tarzan stared at us for a long moment, and nodded.

Jane looked a bit worried, "Tarzan...are you sure?"

"Tarzan go see Kerchak." Tarzan replied.

"Kerchak?" Jane replied, confused.

"He must be the leader. Perfect!" Clayton said, almost gleefully, "I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

I stared at him and decided to cut in as I saw his wide smile.

"Actually, that won't be necessary." I said, giving him a narrow-eyed look that wasn't quite a glare, "We can handle ourselves just fine without you and we already have an escort I much prefer over you, to be frank."

He turned and glared at me, "And who would that be, child?"

I internally bristled at him calling me a child, but smirked at him, "We have Tarzan, and frankly Clayton? I'd rather have him lead us there than you. He knows the way, and the safest possible route, besides he can actually communicate with them. Those three things already trump anything you could possibly do for us in regards to the gorillas."

Clayton had been less than pleased at my assertion that we didn't need him, but rather than get in a shouting match, he simply stalked off in a huff, claiming, "I'll find them before you every could!"

Sora looked at me oddly as we followed Tarzan's lead, "Did you really need to say all that to him? It's not like you to act like that towards someone for no reason."

I shook my head, "Honestly? No. But I did have a reason, even if it wasn't clear. I don't know if you got a good look at the guy, but just from what I see? He's obsessed with the gorillas, and frankly I don't think it's for making friends. Besides that everything else I said were all very valid points. Tarzan is a better guide, and we all have a way of handling danger."

Sora seemed to mull over that, "I know... but we need all the help we can get."

"Sora." I sighed, "I want to find everyone. Don't doubt that, but I think there is definitely some help we could go without. Clayton is that sort of help, if we want the gorillas to lend a hand, I don't think having him there will make it easier in any capacity."

We left it at that as Tarzan scampered quickly up a tree and motion for us to follow. We climbed after him as best we could, trying not to fall off. When we got high enough up, he grabbed a vine and slowly swung across them, letting us follow him by running along the branches. When we finally made it to a part of the forest, we saw Tarzan land on a branch in front of a massive black gorilla and smaller brown one. The large one looked strong enough to uproot a tree and swing it like a baseball bat.

Tarzan conversed with them for a moment, gesturing towards himself and us as Kerchak listened.

There was silence before Kerchak turned and looked off. He gave us a final glance and lumbered off into the forest, uncaring of Tarzan trying to ask him something.

We watched the conversation when Goofy spoke up, "He seemed kinda distracted..."

"Wait a minute..." I mumbled, "Sora... Isn't that the tree house?"

I looked through the foliage as best as I could and saw in the far distance, the tree house, which was where Kerchak had lumbered off to. Tarzan seemed to notice and began to leap forward, dashing through the trees almost too fast to follow.

"Come on!" Sora hollered and we began to follow as best we could.

We arrived in the tree house just in time to see a horrible scene, a small ape was spinning a globe that was left in the tree house.

Clayton was kneeling, aiming his gun in what we knew would be an undoubtedly fatal shot.

Donald however didn't hesitate and rushed right next to the hunter before letting out an enraged squawk that startled the hunter in time for him to miss and hit the ground. The small ape dashed up only to hide behind the intimidating form of Kerchak. We all stared in despair as the large ape scowled with his teeth before lumbering off. Tarzan made to appeal to him, but was ignored once again.

"Clayton... you utter idiot!" I howled at the hunter.

It was a frustrated and disheartened group that half-led, half-marched the grumbling and sulky hunter back to the camp. After explaining the situation to Jane, I got a reminder as to why I feared my mom more than the heartless when she was in one of her... moods.

Jane was furious, to the point that is she had magic, she would probably be hurling fire at the idiot hunter (I wasn't going to call Clayton by anything from here on in).

"How could you do such a thing?!" She demanded, her voice raised in unmistakable fury.

"Now, Miss Porter," He tried to say, gesturing with his hands, "I wasn't aiming at the gorilla! There was a.. ah! There was a snake! And I was simply attempting to save the poor gorilla from being bitten!"

"Liar!" Sora accused, "There was no snake at all!"

We all glared at him.

"Do you think we are idiots?" I growled, "Only an idiot such as yourself would believe you!"

He scowled at me, "Silence, you impudent-"

Jane had already had enough of Clayton and shouted with a tone that brooked no room for argument, "You are not to go near the gorillas ever again Mister Clayton!"

Clayton knew when a argument was lost and decided that he should beat a hasty retreat under the united front we presented against him.

That didn't stop him from flashing us all scowls as he left.

I sighed and rubbed a tired hand through my hair, "Well? Now what do we do?"

We all thought on what we could do when a loud gunshot rang through the air. We exchanged panicked looks before dashing outside only to pull up short at the sight that greeted us.

"Heartless!" Donald yelled.