II

Hiro was abruptly awoken from a dream that would, in light of everything but the most recent of conversations, have seemed utterly bizarre, by the smell of a vile paste on a leaf thrust under his nose. His eyes fluttered open into an instant grimace, changing to a look of surprise as Rei unceremoniously shoved the leaf into his mouth.
The taste was as bad as the aroma, but Rei's command to "Chew" was too forceful to ignore. With surprising rapidity, warmth spread to the entirety of his body, and he felt mobility returning to his cramped and weary limbs. "Wow.. that stuff really works; can't say that it's a party for the senses, but I must admit it gets the job done." Hiro smiled through a taste-induced shudder, a smile returned by Rei, who sat at a polite distance turning the logs on the makeshift campfire. "Yes. Water, Leiraoula root and a few drops of Quiverallian vinegar on a Guar leaf is far from the most palatable substance to stomach, but the potion is quite the healer." Rei resisted the temptation to laugh at the remaining grimace on Hiro's face. "On the subject of water, please.. In the name of the Goddess give me some water. With the taste of that potion I feel as if I've been eating ashes!" Rei passed him the bottle from his pack, resuming her prodding of the fire. After almost draining the canteen of its contents Hiro passed it back to her. "So… what was that favour you wanted?" Rei looked at him, opening her mouth to speak.
Without warning her eyes narrowed. "Damn I thought that we would have had more time than this!" Her breath was a low frustrated growl. Hiro looked at her questioningly. "Your village friends saw me take Kira over when we were fighting the plant. Needless to say, I expect they think I am some sort of sorcerer. I shall never fathom why you humanoid species are always so paranoid when it comes to things you cannot comprehend. I was hoping that we would have enough time for you to peacefully return to the village with Kira and explain; that was the favour, but..." Her voice trailed off into a quietly repeated "Damn".

Hiro stood up alongside her, able to steady himself now. "I'll go talk to them now" he offered. "They'll listen to me" Rei shook her head. "No. We'll both go. I have a plan.. of sorts.. But Kira will need your protection if they don't believe me. Ok? " Hiro nodded grimly. The first stone was hurled at them before they even cleared the cave, one overzealous villager setting off the others. A high-pitched shout pierced the angry yells of the would-be stoners, and they stopped. It was Kimiko, who having seen Hiro ordered a cease-fire, at least temporarily. Rei walked calmly towards her, intent on explaining, but was cut off before her first word by a violent slap from Kimiko. Rei resisted the instinctive impulse to defend herself. "How dare you!" Shouted Kimiko. "How Dare You! Not only do you try to kill us, but then you abduct my son… And to think I let you into my home.. a Witch.. in my house! Begone evil-doer!" Angry jeers accompanied her every word. Hiro could see more stones being readied. "Enough!" Everybody froze, looking at him, including Rei. "Enough.. Listen mother.. Listen all of you!" He turned to look at each of them in turn. "This girl.. this.. this 'Witch' as you name her, saved my life." Sarcastic jeers were silenced with a glare. "Yes, she may have 'kidnapped' me, and yes she may have been there when the plant attacked us, and yes she does have extraordinary powers, But.. consider this. How many of you do you think would be here now to condemn her, had she not been there? How many of you would be grieving now? I know you would have cause for tears mother. And so I say, if this woman is guilty of anything, it is only of being afraid to reveal herself, because of just this sort of barbaric superstition! If any of you wish to harm her, then you will have to go through me first!" There were quiet murmurs of agreement amongst many of the villagers, until one shouted out "She has bewitched him. Listen to him sing her praises, he's under her spell. She truly is a witch. Stone her!" Against even Kimiko's protests, Hiro was seized and held fast by several men as the others advanced on Rei. I hoped it wouldn't come to this. But Kira must survive.. Whatever the cost. As the first, and then progressively more stones were flung at her, Rei began to glow purple. A barrier of darkness enveloped her like a bubble, and the stones merely bounced off. Violet eyes shining, swirls of energy began to form in her palms. Instinctively the villagers shrank back, though they still surrounded her. But the energy, and the barrier dissipated into purple smoke. No.. Not now! There was a brief, and blindingly bright flash of light, and Rei was gone. In her place was Kira, who fell to the ground, unconscious. The villagers continued, stirred into an angry, unseeing mob. To them Kira was a witch, whatever form she decided to take. "Stone Kira.. Stone the witch! KILL HER! KILL HER!"
The pummelling of the rocks had awoken her and now, not knowing what to do, or why she was suddenly hated, all Kira could do was curl into a ball on the ground. "Stop… please stop.. Why are you doing this?.. Hiro please.. I need you.. Where are you? HIRO?!" Hiro heard her cries of pain, heard her calling for him, and something animal inside him snapped. His left elbow connected brutally with one of the men's faces, and as he spun around Hiro brought his other fist into a second captor's jaw in an uppercut, sending him reeling to the ground. He head-butted a third man that had been holding him, and ran to Kira's aid. He stood between Kira and the villagers, arms spread wide, and the hail of rocks stopped. "Look at her! Look what you've done to her..!" Kira could be heard sobbing quietly behind him. She was literally shaking in fear and barely dared to raise her head enough to look at the villagers around her. Even when she finally did, she didn't have the courage to look them in the eye. Kira's body was covered in mud and blood and bruises, and her face was streaked where tears had cleaned the dirt away. Hiro glanced over his shoulder at her, and the hard edge to his face softened in compassion. He turned to face them once more. "Look at her!.. She's no witch. She's nothing but a frightened girl who was trying to protect you all.. and this is how you thank her?!" Hiro's voice lowered from its angered crescendo to a quieter note, but the cold rage remained. "You should all be disgusted with yourselves. Some of you have even known her since she was a child! How could you turn on her like this?!" Kimiko walked up to him, tears running down her own cheeks. "Y..You're right.. you're right Hiro.. how could we be ruled by terror like this? Kira… Kira I'm so sorry." Kimiko's apology sounded pathetically inadequate even to her own ears. There were floods of other, similar shared sentiments from the other villagers as Hiro helped a bruised Kira to her feet.

Without warning Kira let go of Hiro and ran. Several villagers made a move to follow her, but Hiro shook his head. "I'll go, she wont want to talk to anyone, perhaps not even me.." Hiro glared once more at the villagers, adding a coldly spoken "Well, I hope you're proud of yourselves, you almost killed an guiltless woman!" before running after her.