Heat, Stress, Burns, and Cuts Ch. 03

'Vitur, We are looping, correct?' I asked, making sure our location was still hidden.

'Since you were below six thousand feet, sir.' He said proudly.

'Good work bud. Thanks.'

The whole way through the city, Mae and the guards were catching up. Tokyo was a whole different animal than the US or Europe. It was so populated, People walked down sideways bumping into other people, it was incredible. Hiro Takida, Mae's father, was kind enough to let us stay at his residence for our stay. His apartment was in Kasumigaseki, a more politically populated part of Tokyo. We arrived there soon enough and as we walked it, I counted roughly twenty two guards in the lobby, and ten more on Hiro's floor. Vitur had taught me how to properly introduce myself to Hiro in a traditional Japanese way. The tradition is to greet a superior by bowing, even though Hiro is technically an equal, for me, his age superior age grants him respect.

We made our way into the huge apartment, and Mae immediately went to hug her father. I had Sam and Megan stay behind me as we waited for Mae's hug to end. She soon stepped back and spoke in Japanese, she said our names and ages. Wait, how did I know she said that? Ah, I guess fast learning thing also applies to languages. Hiro Takida turned to us.

His appearance with a bit puzzling. He was extremely fit, an extremely straight back. He was slightly shorter than myself at about 6'0" and around 220lbs. However his face was aged, and wrinkly with thinning Grey hair a top his head. he had the body of an athlete but was at least in his seventies. I quickly bowed to him.

"Hello, Mr. Takida, it is great to meet you." I said in perfect Japanese. I guess I picked up a lot from Mae's conversation on the way over here.

"You know the common tongue very well, Mr.Vanderbuilt." He said smiling brightly.

"Somebody once told me I was a fast learner..." I said returning the smile, letting him draw his own conclusions.

"Ah, People tell me the same." He replied, he turned his attention to Samantha and Megan, "Do you mind terribly if I stole away Danny for a while?" He asked, switching to English.

"Not at all," They replied in unison, still in awe of my fluent Japanese and the breath-taking view in front of them. His apartment overlooks all of Tokyo, seeing all of the city with the large mountains as the backdrop, it was almost hypnotizing.

"Shall we?" Hiro said, switching back to Japanese. He extended his hand and pointed towards his office.

"Let's" I finished. We made our way into his office. It was a traditional office, wood floors and walls, he had two Kendo sticks hanging behind him. We sat down and began to talk. "You practice Kenjutsu?" I asked. He seemed impressed that I knew what it was called.

"Why I do in fact. Why? Does it interest you? I have found that I must keep learning new things in order to stay sane. When you can learn things in only one day, there is only so many things for one to learn. I knew some of my ancestors who had the power to learn quickly could no longer harness there abilities if not challenged. A couple words of wisdom to you Daniel, never stop challenging yourself."

"I will most certainty keep busy." I said. "I was actually going to look for a master here, in both Kenjustu and Iaijutsu. Would you be willing to teach me?" I asked, rather surprised at how cool this guy was.

"Sure! I have meetings through some of the day but I have no doubt you and I can carve out some time, as neither of us sleep..." He trailed.

"Very true. Tell you what, as thanks for both letting us stay here and teaching me this art, how about I cook you and yours dinner. From what I hear, I am very talented." I said cracking a small smile.

"It is funny you say that, I herd the same thing. I know it will be great!" He said, smiling. "Now, we will talk more later, go be with your girlfriend and check out your accommodations, I believe that there are some perks there you will very much appreciate."

"Excellent! I looked forward to seeing them. Thank you." I said bowing again.

"Daniel," He started "I appreciate the bow, but it is not needed for you and I. A simple nod will suffice." He finished. I nodded and headed towards my room. I really should call it my wing of the house. I had a full living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms in my living space. Also, a sound proof room with a grand piano! Fuck yeah! The Takida's know how to treat their guests. I went into our bedroom and saw Megan unpacking, I went over to her and slithered my arm around her waist and pulled her close to me.

"This place is... amazing" I whispered into her ear.

"I know, it is so beautiful. A girl could get used to this new life, Danny. Traveling the world like college students, but just with a bit more, style. And by style, I mean money." She said laughing. She then took me in for a deep kiss. We both got unpacked and I went to go and get Samantha, who was in the next room. I think it is important to spend some time with her one on one.

"Hey Samantha," I knocked on the door and came in to see her sitting on the bed playing a game on her phone. "Wanna go out and do some grocery shopping? I am dying to go and get a drink, too." I said..

"Um... Sure! Let me get dressed. Is anyone else going with us?" Samantha replied.

"No, just you and I. We haven't talked much since I got back." I smiled and left her to get dressed. I went and informed Megan as to where we were going and when we will be back. She was worried, worried about the assassins and my safety. To put her mind at ease, I took a few guards with us. This was for her peace of mind and for Sam's benefit. I was confident that with the training I have had that I could fend of a would-be-assassin. It defiantly wouldn't be easy, but it wouldn't be impossible. I pulled on some jeans and a tee shirt, the proceeded to wait twenty minutes till Sam was ready. I took Hiro's words to heart about staying challenged. In my downtime I played chess with Vitur, or I worked on complex algebraic geometry, just to challenge myself. Just as Samantha entered I had an idea.

'Vitur, drop me into a dream, gimme five minutes within a second of real time.' I said, instantly, I was back in Boston, in the study.

'What's so important?' Vitur asked.

'This.' I said, writing down a diagram 'If my ring can change its color, and shape, to a certain degree. Could I make an Rohdum-alloy that can change its form? So I could wear it as a necklace and convert it into a sword?' Vitur, a computer, was stunned by the idea.

'I...' He paused and looked back to my diagram 'I think that might work. We would need to do more research, we would also need to find another metal that would work as some sort of catalyst to the Rohdum to cause the physical change.'

'Good, we'll look into it more tonight. This could be really good!' I said happily. Just like that, there life resumed and Samantha kept walking towards me.

"Ready to go bro?" She asked, two guards right behind her.

I extended my hand "Lead the way." We emerged on the street and headed towards a close grocery store to pick up some food. I had a list written down, so I took the opportunity to have same and one guard go and get some stuff, and the other guard and I went to get the rest. They got some weird stuff in Japan, but also some very good looking things! I am very happy to be cooking for Hiro and with my knifes of all knifes!

After we all met at a designated location and paid for our stuff, we bowed out and made a b-line for the nearest bar. I wanted a drink and a nice chat! We arrived to the bar and ordered a few beers for all of us, guards included. No Sake for them though! We started to talk as our beers were being poured.

"So sis, now that you have enough money to live the rest of your days have your plans changed?" I asked.

"Yeah, actually had been doing a lot of thinking about that. I still want to work, but I don't know in what field. I have always loved traveling, but I want a purpose, you know?" She finished.

"Defiantly," I paused to sip my beer, "I feel like that a lot nowadays. But I think that with time you will find something. What are your hobbies?" I asked.

"Well, I haven't told many people this before, but I like to invent things. Like electronics and computers... Is that something I could do?" She asked.

"Fuck yeah!" I shouted "In fact, I think that if you invented something people need than that could be a very good business. Tell you what, I will give you money towards this. We will go in half and half to get you a workshop that you can create what you want in. Then, when you have your product, I will put forward more capital. What do you say?" I asked. The answer was apparent by the large and enveloping hug she gave me.

"Where will my base of operations be located?" She asked.

"If you could choose one place to live where would it be?" I questioned.

"Budapest! I would love to move to Budapest. Would you come and visit me? I feel like now that we just came together, in multiple ways I don't want to loose that connection we formed." She confessed. It seemed like she thinks I would forget about her.

"Of course I will come and see you!" I brought her in for a hug. "How about this. You stay in Japan with us, and then one of our next stops will be Budapest. We can stay there for a week and help you get settled. Then we can also find a work-space for you. Okay?"

"That will be so cool!" She shouted with joy.

We finished our beer and took a shot of Sake for good measure. We headed back to the apartment. Upon walking into my room I saw Megan on the bed. I jumped onto the bed next to her and she snuggled up next to me. As I slowly stroked her hair, I told her about Samantha's plan, she loved the idea and fully embraces it. We started to talk about Aldrich, the assassins, everything. Throughout the whole time, she just said that it would figure itself out. She grounds me, gods, I've said it, and I'll say it again:

I love that women.