"My past is my shadow, it follows me everywhere I go." – Curtis Jackson
Riska tossed and turned in bed, sweat beaded at her forehead as her eyes moved quickly under her eyelids. Her dreams were filled with a smoke covered burning plain of trees, buildings, and a river of blood. The sky was blood red and the heavy feeling of dread breathed on her neck. Riska's heart pounded, all her senses told her danger, but she wasn't sure if it was for her or someone else. As her breathed she could see the mist it caused, it was cold despite the burning fires around her.
Looking down she saw that she was clad in her ancient armor that was chipped and torn from a battle that she didn't remember fighting. Snapping her head back up to look at the burning fields she could feel someone's eyes on her. All she saw where mounds in the close distance that were eerily human shaped. Who were the dead warriors around her? She could see their armor and she knew that she knew them but who were they?
"Who's there?" She called out as she heard a branch snap, not from the fire burning it but from the weight of a foot. Her hands gripped a samurai sword that wasn't there before and she didn't remember picking up. Its ancient blade was nicked and soaked in rust colored blood. She recognized the fabric and charms that hung from the hilt but couldn't recall who owned the sword though it was at the tip of her tongue.
"Riska." A voice called in the distance.
Riska jumped raising the sword to a defensive position; she could hear her heart pound in her ears as she looked around.
"Riska." The voice called again, it was familiar. "Riska."
She turned around trying to find the source of who was speaking, they sounded as if they were everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Her long black hair flipped over her shoulder as she moved allowing her to feel a cool breeze hit the back of her neck.
Riska pivoted quickly to turn back around feeling a presence close to her. As soon as she turned around she screamed as a familiar face was nearly nose to nose with her. The man had long black hair, blood shot eyes, and a long deep scar traced across his face from his ear, across his mouth, and down to his chin on the opposite side.
"Riska." He said in a gravely voice; she watched black tar-like liquid drip from his mouth as he spoke, staining his chin.
Riska screamed again.
Riska sat up in bed panting, her hands shook and her heart pound against her chest cavity. She took a moment to get her bearings, reminded herself that it was just a dream, she was safe. At least that's what she told herself. It was a dream that had been reoccurring for week now, waking her up in the middle of the night.
Looking next to her in bed she saw that Rowen was still fast asleep, he hadn't heard her wake up this time. It was wonder how he had heard her in the past with how deep he slept.
Across the room the soft glow of a kodama orb hovering on top of the dresser offered the only light in the room beside the street lights outside. The kodama had been following her and the other Ronins around since defeating Zetsumei, however only she and Rowen could see it. They weren't sure where it came from but it was peaceful and offered a strangely comforting presence for all Ronins. However, right now not even the kodama could calm the images that were etched in Riska's mind.
With a deep breathe Riska slid carefully out of the bed her and Rowen shared. The blue-haired boy didn't even budge from his position of sleeping on his stomach. She made sure that the blanket still covered him to keep him warm then she reached on the floor and picked up the blue sweatshirt lying nearby and slipped it on.
The kodama seemed to be watching her as she slipped on her slippers then left the room. It didn't follow her, as if it knew that she wanted to be alone.
The one-bedroom apartment she shared with Rowen was quiet other than the soft tick of the clock next to their television. Padding across the apartment Riska went to the front door and exchanged her slippers for her shoes. Looking behind her at the empty apartment she sighed then left it.
In the morning Rowen woke up to feeling that Riska's side of the bed was cold. Cracking his eye open he saw the kodama, which he called "Kage-chan" or "Little Shadow" despite Riska's protests, hovering in the spot she normally slept.
Rowen blinked a few takes to erase the haze of sleep from his eyes. "Good morning, Kage-chan, where did Riska go?"
The kodama didn't answer, it couldn't of course, but it began to slowly float away from the bed and towards the door. Rowen knew what that meant, and he moved to get out of bed.
A few minutes later Rowen stepped out onto the roof top of his and Riska's apartment building. The early morning sun shined down onto the small outdoor garden planted along the rooftop. Even from the door he could spot Riska sitting at her usual spot towards the back corner.
As he approached Riska from behind he saw that she was staring off into the distance in a sort of daze, rather than meditation. "Have that bad dream again?" Rowen asked.
She looked up at him from where she sat seiza on a small pillow. "Yes." She whispered then sighed, "I'm sorry."
Rowen made a face and lowered himself down to sit beside her a little more informally. "Don't apologize. It's not your fault that you had another nightmare."
"It's the same dream, Rowen." Riska sighed, "over and over again, and I believe that it's trying to tell me something."
Rowen reached out and held one of the hands that Riska had clenched in her lap. "Riska, it was just a dream." He promised her.
Riska sighed again and looked down at their hands holding one another.
When she felt Rowen placed a finger under her chin to ask her to look at him she did. He was leaning towards her, "even if it is a message, I swear to you that I will be here at your side."
Riska smiled softly feeling her heart warm at his sentiment, "I know, Rowen-kun."
Rowen smiled and leaned in for them to kiss softly on the lips.
"C'mon, the guys will be waiting for us." Rowen told her then got up and started to head back into their apartment building.
Riska looked out over the skyline of Tokyo one more time before getting up and slowly following him.