7
"Whoa, hold on, she was your best friend?"  Ryo asked unbelieving.
 Rowen kept his eyes downcast.  He couldn’t look up; the tears welling up in his eyes would give his sorrow away.  He was barely keeping them in as it is, and he hadn’t even gotten to her capture.
 "Yes, the only friend I had, and when she disappeared, I had no friends.  I had no friends until you guys.  And after I became a Ronin Warrior, and this whole deal started, with the Dynasty and all, I forgot about her almost completely."  His voice wavered a bit, but he managed to keep it under control.
 "She disappeared?  How?  What happened to her?"  Ryo asked, obviously still interested.
 Rowen closed his eyes for a minute, remembering his flashback nightmare.  Then he opened his eyes, and continued his story.

8

"Cora!  Let’s go!  Come on!"  Rowen called to her from the foot of the stair well of the Tantura home.
 "Hold on Indigo Boy, I’m getting something, I’ll be down in a sec!"  She called from her room.  Indigo Boy was Cora’s nickname for her blue-haired friend.  Ever since they turned thirteen, they hyper factor in her personality surfaced more often.  She was happy almost all of the time, joking and teasing, but in a loving way.
 Rowen looked impatiently at his watch.  What was taking that girl so long?  Just then, he heard Cora come thundering down the stairs, her quiver of arrows hung out from her backpack which was slung on her back along with her bow on one arm.
 "Shall we?"  She asked.
 "Yes, let’s get going."  Rowen answered.
 "Okay, so, we leave here, hike in the woods until we find the field, and then we go back to your house when it gets dark, right?"  Cora asked him to reaffirm their plans.
 "Right," he confirmed, "lets go."
 They headed out the door and began their expedition.

 They walked for almost 2 hours.  It takes a while to get to that archery field from Cora’s house, they found out.  It was a happy 2 hours.  Though they didn’t know it, it would be their last walk in the woods together for a long time.  When they finally reached the little clearing which they had visited many times in the last few years, Cora reached for an arrow from her quiver angling out from her backpack, strung it, aimed, imagined it hitting the target dead center, and let it fly.  The arrow shot forward, and landed in the very center of the bulls-eye.
 "Showing off already are you?"  Rowen joked his friend.
 Cora smiled.  "O come on Rowen, we both know that you are a better shot than I am."
 Rowen smiled back at her and drew one of his own arrows from his own quiver.  Knocking an arrow, he aimed as well, and then let the arrow go.  It landed right next to Cora’s arrow.  Cora pulled her quiver from her bag and slung it on her back.  She set her bag down against the fallen tree.  Then walked up to the target and yanked the arrows out.  She walked back to Rowen, holding the arrows out.
 "Your arrow, sir?" she asked in a mock-formal voice.
 "Why thank you miss." He answered smiling.
 "Don’t get used to it mister, you get your own arrows." She told him, grinning.
 "Yes Cora."
 They practiced their archery for a couple of hours.  Once Rowen disappeared to find an arrow that went off in a terribly wrong direction.  Somehow he ended up at Cora’s left, and when she went to shoot an arrow, Rowen shot an arrow at her arrow and blocked her shot.
 "Hey!  Rowen!"  She protested smiling.
 Rowen’s fit of laughter could be heard from behind the trees.  Cora shot a couple of playful arrows at him to get him to come out of his hiding place.  Rowen retrieved the arrows shot at him and gave them back to Cora.  She whapped him lightly on the shoulder with the arrows, then put one back in her quiver.
 "Indigo Boy."
 Rowen grinned at her, and then continued his archery.  Cora set down her bow and quiver of arrows next to her bag.  Then she took some stuff out of her bag and started putting it together.  Rowen stopped shooting arrows to watch her.
 "What are you doing Cor?"
 "I’m setting up the camera, I want to take a picture of something."
 "Of what?"
 Cora pointed at the woods ahead of her.  There, about 20 feet away was a silvery wolf.  He stood there and looked at Cora, picture perfect.  Not moving a muscle.  Cora finished setting up the camera, and aimed the lens at the wolf.  She took several pictures.  After a while, the wolf decided that it had had enough of the photo shoot, and turned and left.
 "Come on Rowen, give it a rest, we have to get going soon anyway," Cora said, turning to him.
 "All right."  He answered, gathering up his arrows.  After he finished this task, he set down his bow and arrows next to Cora’s.
 "Hey you, come here, I want to get a picture of us together today.  I have the timer on the camera, that way we can both be in the picture at the same time."  Cora suggested.
 "Sure, why not?"
 Cora smiled at Rowen; she checked the clearance of the picture, and then set the timer.  She went and sat down next to Rowen on the fallen tree.  Her golden-blond hair fell about her.  Their arms around each other’s shoulders, the camera took the picture.
 "Okay, lets head back."  Rowen said, gathering his quiver and bow.
 "Yeah, the sun is going to set soon," Cora agreed, taking apart the camera and stand and stuffing it in her backpack.  She also stuffed her arrow quiver in her backpack and hefted it to her back.  She grabbed her bow, and they were on their way back to the Hashiba house.
 When they got there, already they could sense the tension.
 "Something doesn’t feel right…" Cora said suspiciously.
 "Hmm…" Rowen responded.
 They entered the house, putting their stuff down by the front door.
 "Mom?"  Rowen asked the house.
 "In here Rowen," his mother called from the back room.  Her voice didn’t sound as it normally did.  There was an icy edge to it.  Cora followed Rowen to the room.  A confused look was on her face as the entered.  Their parents were across the room from each other, glaring.
 "Come on Cora, we’re going home."  Her mother said.
 "But, mom, we just got back.  I thought we were staying for dinner," Cora protested, confused even further.
 "Cora, we’re leaving, and that’s final.  And we are not ever coming back.  You are no longer allowed to see Rowen any longer," her father added forcefully.
 "What?!  Mom, Dad, what is wrong with you?!  Why are you acting this way?"  Cora demanded.
 "We’re leaving Cora, now!"  Her mother said.
 "No!"  Cora grabbed Rowen’s hand; she would not let go, no matter what.  She was not going to let her parents forbid her to see her only friend.
 "Cora," Rowen squeezed her hand, to let her know that he wasn’t going to let go either.
 "Rowen, you are not allowed to see Cora as well," Rowen’s mother said from the right of the room.
 "What?" Rowen asked, confused.  Why were their parents acting like this?  They were best friends.  This was too strange.
 "Let’s go Cora," her father said, starting toward her to grab her.
 "No!"  Cora cried, and ran out of the room, out of the house, into the twilight.
 "Cora!  Come back!"  Rowen cried as he ran out after her.  Rowen followed Cora into the woods.  He found her against a tree, sobbing.  He walked up to her and put his hands on his shoulders.
 "Oh Rowen, they can’t keep us apart, they just can’t," Cora managed to say through her sobs.
 "Hey, we’re inseparable, and don’t you forget it."
 Cora looked up into her best friends indigo eyes.  She smiled through her tears, wiped her tear-encrusted eyes, and sniffed.
 Rowen smiled back at her and embraced her in a hug.  Cora hugged him back.  Just then, she saw a weird mist arising, with a greenish-blue glow to it.  A moaning sound could be heard as well.  Now Cora was alarmed.  What was happening?  Suddenly, she saw a bulky, armored figure appear, with a spear in one hand.  Cora gasped.
 "R-Rowen…" she whispered fearfully.
 Rowen turned around slowly, and suddenly, fear filled him as he saw more of the clunky warriors appear.  The two stood up, not really expecting to have to fight them, but hoping that they would be able to run from the tin-can warriors.  More came, and soon, they were encircled, trapped, surrounded.  Cora grabbed Rowen’s arm in fear.
 "What are we going to do?" she asked in a frightened whisper.
 Rowen looked around, he saw no way out.  He didn’t know what to do.
 "I don’t know Cora," he answered.
 Suddenly, a warrior flung a chain at them.  Cora pulled Rowen out of the way and the chain hit the tree behind them.  Then there were spears pointed at them.  A dozen warriors surrounded Cora and Rowen.  They stood back to back, not knowing what to do.  The chain came again, wrapping itself around them tightly, biting into their skin.
 "Ah!  Ow!  This hurts!"  Cora gasped from the pain.
 Rowen just glared at the warriors.  Why were they attacking them?
 One of the warriors spoke.  "Did he say the boy as well?"
 Another answered.  "No, just the girl, he has no use for the boy."
 The two were profoundly confused, but Cora knew that you shouldn’t ask, you just might find out.
 The chain was flung off of them, sending Cora and Rowen spinning in different directions.  Cora landed just at the edge of the cliff.  She stood up, dazed, and stepped backward, nearly falling off.  She lost her balance, fell, but managed to grab hold of a root.
 "Rowen!"
 Rowen was flung against a tree.  Hurt, but not badly, he stood up and looked for Cora.  He saw her hanging onto a root at the edge of the cliff for dear life.  Rowen moved to help her, but soldiers blocked his path.  All right, so they wanted to take capture his friend, they weren’t going to without a fight.  He moved toward the soldier, which thrust out his spear at Rowen.  Rowen grabbed the spear and wrenched it from the warriors grasp, and then cut it down with it.  Rowen fought his way to Cora.  Then he flung the spear away and grabbed onto her hand in an attempt to pull her up.
 "Cora, I’ve got you!"  He said to her.
 Then, Rowen felt someone grab him.  The warrior yanked Rowen up from the ground and flung him against the tree again.
 "Uh, okay, now I’m mad."  He said angrily.
 "Help!"  Cora’s voice was heard from the edge of the cliff.
 "No!  You leave her alone!"  Rowen yelled to the soldiers.
 "Help me Rowen!  I’m slipping!"
 "No!  Cora!"  Rowen shoved off a warrior and headed for Cora, once again grabbing her hand.  But again, he was shoved out of the way by an evil soldier.
 "Aaaahhhh!  No!  Please!  Let me go!  Please!"  Cora pleaded, as a warrior yanked her up from the edge of the cliff, but would not let her go.
 "Cora!"  Rowen cried.
 Then the warriors vanished.  As if they were never there.
 "No!  Cora!"  Rowen screamed, as he fell to the ground and cried for his friend, whom he never saw again.