Demon Rising

Chapter 2: Arrival

Chapter 2:Arrival



What met Vaugn’s eyes really impressed him.

He was standing in a giant airport terminal. Every 50 feet, sat a large circular bench with squishy cushions on them, and in the middle of each of the benches were actual ponds, with live fish in them. The floor was a highly polished dark-grey granite. It was so polished that Vaugn could see the ceiling in the reflection. The ceiling was every bit as impressive. The roof was made of metal curdors and glass windows. The gurdors were bent so that the full affect was to imitate waves in the ocean, and the windows were placed in between the gurdors, and at the peek and valley of each wave, the glass was some how bent to fit perfectly and take the curve of the wave.

Vaugn, realising he was holding up traffic behind him, started to walk through the terminal.

Everywhere else in the terminal were stores where people were ordering food, or buying drinks, magazines, and even movies; Computers where people were ordering taxis, hotel rooms, checking bus scheduals, and anything else they needed to do to start enjoying the city that was Tokyo.

Looking around and not seeing Mr. Miasoto, he made his way over to one of the circular benchs and sat down. There he took off his MP3 player headphones so he could normally normally. He was just watching the fish slowly swim around when a mans voice spoke behind him.

"Vaugn Ashton?"

Vaugn turned around and saw a family standing before him.

The speaker was a balding man with heavy rimmed glasses, and a square jawline. Standing around him was a tall girl with a long ponytail that was draped in front of her shoulder and who was wearing a very kind, warming and welcoming smile. Beside her was a slightly shorter girl with a shorter ponytail, and who looked almost exactly like the taller girl, but with blue eyes. Standing on the other side of the man was a girl who looked more like the man then the other 2. Her hair was in a very alaborate style, and she had very vivid green eyes.

Every single one of the family members were smiling at him. Vaugn had a pretty good idea of who they were, but he just wanted to make sure first.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo of his dad and Mr. Miasoto. He held the photo up so that the real Mr. Miasoto, and the younger one in the picture were beside eachother. 3 times he looked from the picture to Mr. Miasoto.

Finally, convinced that this was the real Hiroshe Miasoto, he folded the picture up again, put it back in his pocket and stood up.

He couldn’t help noticing that he was about 6 inches taller then Mr. Miasoto. He looked at the girls smiling at him, and then to Mr. Miasoto, and fixed his own smile onto his mouth.

"You must be Hiroshe Miasoto?", Vaugn asked, already knowing the answer.

"I am indeed Hiroshe Miasoto.", Hiroshe replied, still smiling.

"It’s so good to meet you sir. My dad has spoken quite fondly of you.", Vaugn replied, holding out his hand.

But he withdrew it and curled it into a fist about half a second later. And, sticking up his pointer finger and wagging it a few times, he said to Mr. Miasoto, "Right, this is Japan after all.", and with that, he gave Hirsohe Miasoto a curtious bow.

When he straightend, he saw that Mr. Miasoto looked a little surpirsed at this, but was still smiling. Mr. Miasoto returned the bow, and when he straightened, stuck his hand out which Vaugn shook enthusiastically.

"You know Vaugn, you didn’t have to bow.", said Mr. Miasoto still smiling and shaking Vaugns hand.

"I know I didn’t sir, but I always wanted to do that.", Vaugn replied also smiling.

"You’re so much like your father Vaugn. He too did greet me like that the first time we properly met.", continued Mr. Miasoto.

"So daddy, are we to understand that Vaugn knows all of us by now, or are you going to keep that a secret until we get home?", asked the girl with the short ponytail and blue eyes.

"Oh how silly of me. Vaugn, these are my 3 daughters.", said Mr. Miasoto.

"I think he gets that much daddy.", the girl with blue eyes replied, crossing her arms and giving her father a slightly impatient look.

"First Vaugn, I’d like you to meet my eldest daughter, Coonai. She’s 20 years old.", said Mr. Miasoto gesturing to his daughter with the ponytail draped infront of her shoulder and acting as if he hadn’t heard what his other daughter had said.

"It’s very nice to finally meet you Vaugn." Coonai said, bowing to Vaugn.

"Nice to meet you too Coonai",replied Vaugn, returning the bow.

Now turning to the girl who had spoken earlier, the one with blue eyes, Mr. Miasoto said, "This is my middle child, Uni, she’s 18."

"Nice to meet you Uni.", Vaugn said, bowing to her

"Back at you.", she replied, returning the bow.

"And now, this is the baby of the…", Mr. Miasoto began, but was suddenly interupted by his last daughter.

"Don’t call me the ‘Baby of the Family’ dad.", the girl said angrily to her father, then turning to Vaugn said, "I’m Asuke. I’m 16 Vaugn. We’ll be in the same year at school when it starts again this fall. Nice to meet you.", Asuke finished, holding out her hand for Vaugn.

"Um…nice to meet you too.", replied Vaugn, a little taken back by her forwardness, and shaking her hand.

"Well now that the introductions are out of the way, how about you go and get the van, girls? Vaugn and I will collect his bags and meet you out front how about?", Mr. Miasoto asked to his daughters.

"That sounds good father. Come on Uni and Asuke. If we hurry we can get a good spot close to the doors. It’ll help save father and Vaugn the walk.", said Coonai happily.

"Okay sounds good to me. I call dibs on driving.", said Asuke even more happily

"Oh boy. Here we go again.", said Uni, with a slight sigh.

"Hey Uni, I’ve been practising remember? My driving is much better.", retorted Asuke

"Yeah, yeah. Let’s go before it get’s to dark out from you telling us how good it is.", said Uni, waving an impatient hand

And with that, the 3 girls set off towards the closest exit, Asuke and Uni arguing about Asuke’s driving, Vaugn and Hiroshe watching them until they were out of sight.

"Well Vaugn, let’s go and get your bags. The line up from your flight should have thinned a little by now.", Mr. Miasoto said turning to Vaugn.

"Good idea Mr. Miasoto.", Vaugn agreed, and with that, they made their way to the luggage return carasel and waited until they were closes enough to get Vaugns bags.

"So Mr. Miasoto, tell me. Since I’ll be living with you and your daughters for the next however long, I’d like to know what your daughters are like. You know, so we can make it as easy to get along as possible.", Vaugn said to Mr. Miasoto as they stood in the queuo to get his bags.

"Good idea Vaugn.", replied Hiroshe, "Well, Coonai should be simple to figure out. She’s a monk and angel rolled into one. She’s always kind, and she always smiles. She never yells or raises her voice, and is always in a good mood. Ever since she was a baby she’s been like that. She never really cried then and she’s always been one that anyone can get along with ever since. You don’t need to worry about not getting along with Coonai.", Hiroshe went on, and there was a distinctive note of pride in his voice.

"Alright. Awesome. So I’ll beable to get along with Coonai no sweat.", responded Vaugn, and the was a slight note of reliefe in it, that Mr. Miasoto caught, and smiled at.

Mr. Miasoto continued, describing his second daughter now, "Now Uni, she’s a different case. She is easy enough to get along with, but she’s a very honest and open person. She’ll tell you about anything and everything, and won’t hold back. And there’s not a whole lot of things on this planet that she won’t say."

"Honesty is a virtue.", said Vaugn as he moved closer to the luggage carasel.

"True enough Vaugn, true enough. Though honesty is the wrong hands is a dangerous weapon.", and at that, he and Vaugn both chuckled

"And as for Asuke, she’s a completely different story. Strongly independant, strong willed, and terribly stubborn. She’s a nice girl when you get to know her, but even then, when she makes up her mind, she’s very hard to persuade.", finished Mr. Miasoto.

"There’s another thing we have in common then Mr. Miasoto. That and our age ofcourse.",replied Vaugn with a slight grin

"Indeed you do, if what your father tells me is true.", replied Mr. Miasoto, also grinning.

"Probably. My dad is never wrong.", Vaugn said

Vaugn and Mr. Miasoto were now at the carasel. It was a revolving metal cone shaped turntable with ridges on it, and over the side opposite them, was a shoot that the luggage slid down. On top of the point of the cone was a screen that said, "Now dispencing:Terminal 18C."

"This will be my flight then.", said Vaugn, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth then were his bags, of all things, the first to come out of the shoot.

"Well, now that’s what I call a lucky break.", said Vaugn as he grabbed a giant red suit case, and a slightly smaller sun-set orange one.

"Want me to carry one Vaugn?", asked Mr. Miasoto as he and Vaugn made their way through the flood of people starting to surround the carasel.

"Okay, thanks Mr. Miasoto.", replied Vaugn and handing his orange suit case to Mr. Miasoto.

No sooner had Vaugn let go, then the suit case had hit the floor, with Mr. Miasoto still holding.

"Oh sorry! I forgot to tell you…I’ve got a lot of my stuff in these 2 bags. Sorry if they’re heavy.", apologised Vaugn, and reaching down, helped lift the suit case back up.

"That’s okay Vaugn.", panted Mr. Miasoto, grabbing the bag handle with both hands and leaning to the opposite side so as to stay balanced, "I needed the excersise anyway."

And with that, he and Vaugn set off again towards the closest exit.

"So, Vaugn,", asked Mr. Miasoto, "Do you think you’re going to like living here?"

"Well…yeah. I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. But I’ll still miss Canada and get home sick at times. I would have prefered it to be a visit on better terms though. You know, Canada not in termoil. But living with a good friend of my dad will be just as good. And hey, the tickets here were free afterall.", Vaugn added with with a thin smile.

Both Vaugn and Mr. Miasoto stepped onto a black pad in front of a sliding, tinted plate glass door that slid silently open. The first blast of of the outside light was blinding. Vaugn had to blink a few times before his eyes were used to it, and when his eyes were adjusted, what he saw was simply amazing.

The area where they had walked out onto, a car parking lot and pick-up area, was bustling with activity. Buses and taxis were parked all along one side of the pick-up area, with passengers embarking and disembarking.

Looking past that, he saw that the car park was built on a stair like plateu, with each row getting lower and lower. Looking past the rainbow of car rooves, he saw the busy Tokyo skyline. In the center, the large 150 story sky scraper . With the sun now setting, each window was a brilliant reddish-orange colour. Vaugn let out a low whistle, that clearly showed he was impressed.

"Beautiful, isn’t it Vaugn. Welcome to Tokyo. Your new home.", said Mr. Miasoto, smiling

"Glad to be here.", Vaugn replied slowly, gazing at the Tokyo skyline, "Glad to be here."

"Hey dad!Vaugn! Over here!", a voice called out.

Both of them pulled their eyes away from the sky line and looked to where the voice had come from.

Standing in front of a white minivan, the right sliding door open, were Coonai, sitting in the front seat; Uni sitting on the floor, her legs hanging out the side of the sliding door, and Asuke leaning on the fender of the van, waving at them both.

"Good job girls!", called out Mr. Miasoto as he and Vaugn made their way to the van.

"Yeah, Asuke did good this time. She even missed the old ladies that were walking in the parking lot.", said Uni slyly and with a rather evil smile

"Oh shut-up Uni. Besides, I didn’t hit old Ms. Ilugi…I almost hit her.", retorted Asuke.

"You say tamatoe, I say tamotoe.", replied Uni cooly

"Enough girls.", cut in Mr. Miasoto, "You can carry on this conversation when Vaugn is more adjusted to us." He continued. "Come on Vaugn, we’ll put your bags in the hatch."

They walked to the back of the van, lifted the hatch, put Vaugns bag in it, and closed the door again.

"Well, if you have everything Vaugn, let’s get going."