Hope is a Light in the Darkness

Chapter 3: a new foe, and a new friend By: Baka-Chibi-Puffs

Nazomi caught up with Sora.

"Hey Sora..." she asked

"Hm?" he replied, looking off into the distance.

"Um...this 'savior of the world' thing...wh-when do I-I need to start?" Sora smiled. He knew that this was Nazomi's way of saying she'd help.

"What made you change your mind?" he asked

"Well," Nazomi began "I was thinking about what you said, about how my world could be lost in the darkness, and I decided that I would do my best to save my world. Then I realized how selfish that sounded. I was going to help my worlds for the sake of my friends and the people here, but then I realized that what I was feeling could relate to people on other worlds, too. I realized that I don't have room to be self centered or scared, that I needed to help who I can, while I can. And if this is how it's got to happen, so be it." Sora gave Nazomi a quizzical glance.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Not on your life." Nazomi replied, "but I figure if I'm willing to stick my neck out there for people I don't even know a little fear is no big deal, right?"

"Right" Sora chuckled. They continued on in a comfortable silence until Sora broke the silence by saying"Hey Nazomi, where are we going?"

Nazomi shrugged and said, "I thought you knew." Sora spun around and grabbed her by her shoulders.

"Do you mean we're LOST!!!"Sora asked with a rising panic in his voice.

Nazomi snickered. "Ooh! The big bad Keyblade master is scared of losing his way?" Sora shot her a warning glare and Nazomi sobered up.

"Don't stress. We're just about 3 miles from my house..."

"THREE MILES!" Sora roared.

"Chill out!" Nazomi sighed, "If we cut across this little tree area we'll be there in 20 minutes." Sora shook his head. 'This girl is going to drive me batty.' He thought. Suddenly Nazomi felt like she was being followed (its not Sora, you dense person!). Nazomi stopped in mid-step. Suddenly she was laying flat on the floor with an unknown person sitting on her legs. It was a boy with silver hair as long as hers, a yellow shirt, blue pants, and big blue shoes that reminded her of Sora's gigantic yellow shoes. What surprised Nazomi the most was not his strange clothes or eccentric entrance, but the familiar feeling she felt about him. The same feeling she felt around Sora. 'Did I know them before?' she wondered.

"Nazomi!" Sora yelled, "Are you alright?"

"Um..." Nazomi replied. Lately it seemed as if she could never get her thoughts to form coherent sentences. "I-I guess I'm okay...but," before Nazomi could finish her sentence Sora had shoved, or tried to shove, the boy off of her. The boy (she had nick-named him silver) just laughed, pushed Sora over, and gotten up. He then offered her a hand up and she took it. Again she was hit with a tide of memory.

"Nazomi!" memory Sora said once again "are you alright?" "She's fine!" said a younger version of Silver "just give her some room to breath! Stop hovering, Sora!"

"That's getting annoying..." Nazomi muttered as she shook off the flow of memories that had clouded her mind.
"Nazomi, are you alright?" Sora asked, looking worried.
"She's fine!" Silver sighed, "Just give her some time to breath!"
"Whoa, De ja vu." She muttered as she looked at the pair. "I, I didn't quite catch your name." She prodded. Her aim was to find out as much about this boy as she could. The boy smirked.
"That's because I didn't tell you my name."
"His name is Riku." Sora sighed. "He's a friend of mine—"
"Or so you say," Riku countered "but I don't really want to go into this now. What is your name?" he asked, addressing the last part to Nazomi. She blinked, stared and finally said.
"Uh..."
"Interesting name, isn't it?" he laughed.
"M-my name is N-Nazomi." Just then another figure leapt from the tree, pouncing on Riku.
"I got her!" the strange girl exclaimed. "Look! Look! Lookie!" she looked around frantically. "Riku? Riku?"
"Get OFF!!" he yelled, his patience wearing thin. Startled, she looked down.
"Oh, hi Riku!!" she greeted happily.
"Hey Nanashi." He grumbled. Sora stood there looking bewildered and Nazomi just looked lost. Her first impression of the girl was that she was perky, too perky.
Riku's POV

I sighed, looking up at the girl who had pinned me down to the ground. She was his age with black hair and eyes and a semi-pale face. Her clothing consisted of a Heartless uniform, boots, and various other buckles and belts that he could never accurately describe. She had a heartless tattoo on her back that stuck out in any situation. Sighing again, I wondered for the millionth; but not last, time just how I had gotten stuck with this lunatic. Its really not her fault, I though to myself, its just that stupid heart I gave her. Most girls ask for flowers or candy, but she, oh she had to ask for a heart. So I went to some Spira place and I found some hyper blonde girl. At that time Nanashi began to get a little weird. On top of that, she had started referring to the hearts former owner as 'Rikku-chan'. Chuckling, I remembered the first day she had revealed the girls name to me. I thought she had finally gone insane, but then she had explained the differences and he had just laughed at their stupidity.
While Riku was lost in thought, Nanashi had begun playing with his hair and braiding it into sections. Nazomi gave Sora a look that asked 'is she crazy?' he just shrugged. It seemed that Riku had finally come out of his daydream only to realize that Nanashi was reeking havoc on his precious hair. Riku gently grabbed her wrists and said
"Nanashi, why are you messing with my hair?"
She shrugged, "its just so pretty..." Riku tenderly lifted her up and as she let out a single strangled 'eep!' he dropped her ungracefully to the ground. Then he got up and began unbraiding his now girlish hair.
"Care to explain?" Nazomi questioned Riku.
"Not really." He replied off handedly. It was then that Nazomi realized an important fact.
"Hey Nanashi..."
"Yea?"
"Where's you shadow?"
Nanashi shrugged. "Hopefully still on Destiny Islands." Nazomi inhaled sharply. That place, why did it sound so familiar? The warm sun beating down upon her face as two nervous looking young boys stood over her.
"Nazomi!" the memory Sora called "are you alright?"
Nazomi laughed. "You...you sound like an, an anxious old lady!" With that she and memory Riku busted out laughing. Memory Sora blushed slightly and chuckled nervously. Nazomi gazed at her friends as the memory faded.
Nazomi opened her eyes to see a nervous looking Sora hovering over her.
"What happened?" she asked, holding her head.
"You blacked out, and collapsed and well...how do I explain this..."
"You created a pensive." Nanashi stated, using her serious side
"A pencil?" Sora asked quizzically.
"Not a pencil, baka, a pensive! It's a ball of energy that is used to project thoughts or memories. She was seemingly unconscious when this happened. That means that the memories projected were hidden by a spell. Something said released a memory. Nazomi, has this ever happened before?" Nazomi told them about the two other times and under what circumstances they occurred. When she told them what she saw Riku and Sora exchanged glances. 'Could she be...nah." Riku thought uncertainly. Curious, Nanashi put a hand to Nazomi's shield and one to her temple. Soon a picture was projected on the shield, her memories were then projected for everyone to see. Riku gasped. "I remember you!" "Yes!" Sora exclaimed "Your—"Before Sora could finish his sentence Riku had pushed Nanashi out of the way. A huge shadowy figure had emerged from the ground. "My shadow..." Nanashi gasped. "That's you shadow??" Nazomi squawked "Watch out!" Riku cautioned. A huge black hand was swinging down, and it was headed straight for Nazomi!

Gomen for any errors and such, i uploaded in haste. I've been kinda depressed latley, so I haven't been writing. Please forgive me and review!!! -sigh- pensive/pasts might seem confusing, but hopefully It'll become clear soon...

CHEESE TO THE CAKE,YO!

PS: review goal for story--100 (almost half way there! )