Riku and Mai


The night was late, no longer young.  The sound of running feet filled the forest. There was no other sound other than yells and dogs snapping their jaws wildly. The young girl tried to run but she was half naked with only a sheet to cover her. The sheet made her trip and fall. Running became harder; she couldn’t run for much longer, the sound of dogs grew greater and also closer. Her breath was leaving her with every step. She fell again; she couldn’t fight or run any more. All that training, all that works, wasted. She was going to die in that wood; she was going to die under that moon.

Her vision was going, although all around her it was black, her vision was showing more darkness than there was. Her sight was leaving her very slowly. She looked at the path that she had fallen on, the pursuers were close behind. Their dogs were off their leashes and they were blood thirsty. Their barks echoed and their owners yelled random commands. She closed her eyes as the dogs came into view.  One dog a German shepherd larger than the others charged in for the attack. He pounced in and his jaws were snapping and wet with spit.

The young girl snapped her eyes open to the dog’s loud bark. The young girl watched as it came closer in its jump. But then it fell to its side. The dog landed behind a tree. The tree fell on the dog and the other dogs continued to attack, they bark, growled and ran faster and faster. But they soon fell to the same fate as the larger dog. Branches fell on the dogs and they cried out of pain. Then she saw it. She saw him! Silver hair, blue eyes and light skin, this was the person who saved her. Or at least she thought so.

She closed her eyes and as the darkness came her hearing told her a tall of horrific battle. She heard the sound of the men falling through trees and landing, crushing their bones together. After a long silence she could hear the steps of her hero.

“Are you alright?” he asked. “Can you hear me?”

She couldn’t respond she was too tired, too weak. But her hand reached up to touch his soft face. “It’s okay; I’ll take you somewhere safe, just hold…” She couldn’t hear any more. For sure she thought she had passed. But that voice stayed with her. She rested in the darkness with that voice always with her. It must have been years, thousands of years, she felt like she was in darkness for forever.

Until one day the familiar feeling of warmth touched her face. Light!  She had forgotten what it felt like; darkness was her friend for so long.  But the light was more loyal; it lost her now it had come back. How loyal!  She opened her eyes and light poured in. She closed her eyes quickly and reopened them. At the sight of the light that was over her she took a deep breath. Then she jumped up, she held her arm it was in pain.

“You’re awake,” his blue eyes met her red ones. He held a tray in his hand. It had fruits on it. “Would you like to eat?”

She was sitting up; she glared at him from the corner of her eye. She didn’t speak.

“I am not shocked; I know that look, the look of a warrior, you must be strong,” he said. He placed the tray down on the bed. She glared at him; the looked gave the appearance of hate. “If looks can kill,” he said softly. “Eat up, you’ll need it.” He sat on the bed. His silver hair was long and a little pass his shoulders. His skin looked so soft.

“I… I…” she tried to speak.

“Don’t waste your time, tell me your name later,” he smiled, “I’m Riku, you can call me that from now on,” he sat up from the bed and left. At that moment she realized how tall he was. Soon he was gone beyond the door.

The hour went by quickly and Riku came back. He didn’t go to the bed he went to the window with his cell in hand. He flipped open and dialed a number. “Hey, it’s me… no, I can’t come… I have something to do… yeah, so go without me, tell the others I said hi,” Riku hung up the phone without even saying a casual good bye. He turned to the girl. “Are you still hungry?”

“No,” she said, hostility was on her sleeves.

“No need to be harsh, that warrior act won’t work on me,” he said. He didn’t smile, grin or nothing. He didn’t seem to have emotion at that point. “Will you tell me your name now?”

She glared at him. She didn’t really like this Riku, something about him she didn’t like or trust. She lifted her chin slightly. “I am Mai.”

“Mai… really? Odd…”

“What’s wrong with it?” she frowned. Her long brown hair fell done her shoulders of light brown skin.

“Nothing. Your name is…” he paused. He looked out the open window and heard a scream once more. “I’ll be back!” he jumped out the window and landed two stories down. Mai tried to go to the window but she couldn’t move, her legs were so sore she couldn’t move them. She heard some screams and then silence. Then a couple of claps. Mai waited and waited the minutes seemed like hours. Riku reentered the room closing the door behind him.

“What happened?”

“It’s not for you to know.”

Mai stared at Riku, his blue eyes turned away from her’s.  Riku stopped to examine her, she was strong, he could sense that, but something about her was weak, something about her was in sharp pain, she was hurting. What was hurting her?

“I want to leave,” she said after length.

“If you can, go,” Riku said.

“You… I want to leave now! Let me go!”

“I’m not holding you here so go, I don’t feel like watching you anyway,” Riku stared out the window.

“Fine!” Mai tried to move and her legs red and sore kept her from doing so.

“I don’t think you noticed that your legs are not well, you’re too ill to just go,” Riku said.

Mai glared at him.

“I told you, that doesn’t work.”

###

This went on for weeks before Mai was able to move around the house. But she felt attached to the apartment and never left. Neither did Riku, he spent his time around the kitchen and he spent hours in the shower. Every time he came out wet his hair was still the same, as if he never let the water touch it. Riku always came out with his boxer’s of blue on. Mai learned that he was a lover of blue. Mai’s favorite color was gold and black. Mai didn’t eat with Riku, because she still didn’t trust him.

Riku washed the dishes alone, he didn’t complain.

Mai stood from the coach and went around the wall to the kitchen. She went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of tea. As she pulled it from the fridge she fell back, Riku caught her and the bottle. Mai stared into his eyes and realized that he wasn’t the cruel being she thought he was. That moment Mai saw pain in his eyes, and also strength. He too was strong. Then Mai realized that he was the one that saved her all that time ago.

“Um… thank you,” Mai stood, and grabbed the bottle. She tried not to look inside his eyes any more. She saw something that made her feel weak. Too weak. Mai won fights all the time but now, she felt so weak, he felt as though she couldn’t pick up a sword or even a fist. She pushed by him and went to the counter behind Riku.

“Are you okay?” Riku asked. His voice was soft and it touched her.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” Mai said not looking at him.
Riku had a grin crawl up on his face. He went back to washing dishes. Mai held her breath; she couldn’t wait to leave the kitchen.

Once out of the kitchen she took in all the sweet air she could. Then she heard a small chuckle. “Why do you fear me?”

Mai tried to be calm.

“I don’t trust you, and where’s my weapon?! Where’s my sword?!” she yelled, she lost control of herself. She paused, what weapon? She didn’t have one, she couldn’t remember anything pass the attack, she knew she won many battles, she knew she was strong, but something didn’t make sense. How could she remember all of this but forget where she came from and her weapon she just yelled about? Mai held her head for a moment.

“Your weapon?” Riku asked. “When I found you, you had nothing but a sheet wrapped around you.”