Always Faithful

Chapter 11: Behind Blue Eyes

After another day in Tokyo, where the crew spent their time experiencing a Japanese Tea Ceremony, and taking a bus out of the city to see Mount Fuji, they hopped on an express train to the city of Takayama.

Takayama was best known for being an older, smaller city that was located within the mountains. Similar to a few other Japanese cities, Takayama has preserved itself in time as a historic town keeping many buildings, structures and traditions as they were hundreds of years ago.

Bragnae was most excited about seeing traditional Japan, and after all of the stories she'd heard about how wonderful Takayama was, she knew she was in for a real treat. After two and half hours on the train, they arrived in the city, and made their way to their next hotel. Maxwell handled their accommodations once again, and they followed him upstairs to their shared suite.

Their suite was lined in light wooden floors and walls with accents of dark wood mingled in. There was a large space with two couches, and a table with six chairs. The table sat low to the floor, and the chairs themselves were mere floor pillows with a structured wooden back that sat on the floor. The windows, with paper shades, offered an abundance of natural light into the room in addition to a few other lamps and lights.

"Hmmph. I guess we're in traditional Japan, now," Liam submitted.

Bragnae walked over to the table, and pulled a chair out to sit down. A huge grin appeared on her face as she looked around her. Everything she loved about Japan was seeing the traditional side of the country, and sitting on the floor to eat was one thing she adored about the culture. She looked back at Drake still smiling.

"You happy, Bragnae?" Drake asked.

"Very," she replied as she danced happily in her seat. "We all have to have dinner here tonight."

"We're going to the market in a bit. Maybe we can grab some local food to cook up ourselves," Maxwell suggested.

"Yes! Let's do that," Hana responded enthusiastically.

Madeleine raised an eyebrow with a slight look of disgust at the table. "We have to sit on the floor?" She sighed, and walked to the other side of the common area and found a door. "Look! There's a balcony."

Everyone followed Madeleine outside to see the view. It was cold – much colder than Tokyo was – and the sky was overcast. There were many small buildings as far as the eye could see. Maxwell had booked them a hotel in the heart of the historic district. Even though the building itself was dated back to the 1600's, the rooms had been refurbished to reflect a more modern, yet still traditional set up.

"Okay, I'm going back inside. It's way too cold out here for how I'm dressed," Madeleine announced as she marched back inside.

"Yep, it's cold," Liam agreed.

The rest of them filed back inside, and looked to Maxwell to proceed with his travel guide instruction.

"So, what are the room assignments this time?" Drake asked.

"From what I saw online, all of the rooms have a single queen bed in them," Maxwell began. "Each pair does have their own bathrooms again, but I heard they were tiny. So, just pick a room, and that will be yours."

Bragnae practically leaped from her position and skipped over to the nearest bedroom. She looked inside to see a beautifully made queen bed sitting on the floor. It had a plum colored duvet, and a black and pink runner at the foot of the bed that had cherry blossoms on it. Her mouth gaped open in excitement.

"Drake! Come here!" She called to him. "You have to see this bed! Oh my God!"

Bragnae continued to explore their small bedroom as Drake stepped in placing their bags on a nearby chair. "Wow. No bed frame?"