If you spot any mistakes, grammatical or otherwise, please let me know in the comments. Now, on with Chapter 1.

Max was a Taxi driver. A Quality Taximan - his girlfriend said so.

His current passenger was quietly dripping water onto the backseat and had been lurking there ever since he picked them up at the airport. They gave him directions to 'Sakamaki Manor' just before they collapsed onto the seat, rain streaming off their enormous waterproof. And that was the last time they spoke, in over an hour of travel. Every now and then, he would be able to hear a rustle or a snuffle, but nothing more noisy than that.

It was all very mysterious... and extremely annoying.

If they didn't tell him anything about themselves, he wouldn't been able to start a conversation. He would have nothing to make their journey exciting, or memorable; he would be a disgrace in the eyes of cabbies everywhere. Even worse, he would be suggesting that Betty's opinion of him was wrong - that he wasn't a Quality Taximan. He could talk about the weather, or the towns and villages they were passing through, but that wasn't what Quality Taximen did. They did not stoop to such common conversation starters - plus, he didn't think the young man* sitting in the back would actually like being chatted to. He would probably find Max very irritating, like most people did when he started chatting. Apart from Betty - he could chat with Betty for hours.

Then, it hit him: Football! Everyone watches football. So he commented, in Japanese, "Man. United haven't been doing so well recently; Losing that last game 0-2 dropped them 3 places on the table. There's nothing they can do to pull back up the league this late in season, wouldn't you say?" When no reply came from the back seat, he glanced back in the mirror. The passenger had not turned his head, so he repeated his comment in English, slowly. The man turned towards him but still did not reply. He tried talking about Rugby but still no response, in either English or Japanese. Max dropped the one-sided conversation for now. He would come up with the perfect conversation starter as he drove along. It would be easy! He was a Quality Taximan, and they could do anything.

*Well, he was pretty sure they were male. Their voice had seemed quite low, but he had only heard it once - not to mention the noise! The raindrops, the traffic, and worst of all, the enormous racket created when the planes took off.

He was planning a conversation around their shared favourite sweets, when he realised something. He had never seen his passenger's face. At the airport, it had been concealed by their coat's hood or the curtain of rain. Up until now, they had been looking out the window, their face turned completely away. That would change right now.

He sneaked several looks at their face through the mirror. The sodden hood of their coat had been pulled back, and a woollen hat covered most of the young man's black hair. Bizarrely, he was still wearing sunglasses even though they had both been in the car for over an hour and a half already. They might just be to block out light so he could sleep, but there wasn't much point today - little sunlight could get through the heavy clouds. From what could be seen around the shades, their face was a goldeny-honey colour. It was too dark to be a tan at this time of year, Max thought. His last few glances revealed a pointed nose and chin, coupled with soft, slightly chubby cheeks.

Max thought about all the places that the traveller could have come from. Maybe the traveller was tanned - from a week in Africa! Or a weekend in India. Max changed his mind when he remembered the huge rucksack in the boot. It was much more likely they had been walking the Great Wall of China or hiking through a far-off jungle. A tropical paradise sounded lovely right now, Max thought as he listened to the rain pound on the roof of his taxi. Max wasn't really thinking when he wondered where the boy had been before Japan. He was too busy planning his perfect holiday to notice he that last thought out loud. Imagine his surprise when the traveller actually replied!

"I've been interrailing 'round Europe for the past 3 months," they said in accented English. The young man would have turned away again, if Max hadn't quickly asked him why he was now in Japan.

"I thought that it might be nice to have a look around, while I'm still travelling. Your culture is so different to what I'm used to." Happy that his passenger was opening up, Max asked him why they weren't driving to a Hotel.

"I'm staying with family friends for a while, before I move on to Tokyo." He stopped talking for a while, then added "I'm going to be going to school with some of them." Max thought the young man looked a bit old for school, and said so.

"I'm actually 17, nearly 18. I dropped out from school at 16." Max asked why. "To teach myself. To see the world." The passenger shifted around in his seat, looking quite uncomfortable. Max wisely changed the subject; he asked what the traveller was teaching himself now.

"I thought Japanese would be handy to know, seen as I'm going to be in the country for quite a while. I picked up a few workbooks in Frankfurt, and worked through them while I was on the train. I was on the train an awful lot; I'd finished them by the time I was flying out. So I got some Japanese audiobooks at the airport, to listen to on the flight here." Max noticed his earbuds for the first time. That could explain why he didn't respond the first time Max spoke to him.

The traveller continued, "Could I try some Japanese on you, to see if I'm saying it right?" Max nodded and listened as the passenger introduced himself as Sam du Gévaudan, from Paris. Max supposed it was reasonably good, considering how long 'Sam' had been learning Japanese for. He was reasonably easy to understand, but spoke slowly and paused often. He also had no idea how gender worked in Japanese. Then something occurred to him; Max curiously asked,

"How did you know how to give directions to," he glanced at the notes he had made, "Sakamaki Manor, if you've only been learning Japanese for a few weeks?" Sam grinned and just said "Google Translate." Thus started a glorious exploration of how to cheat in language classes.

Both Max and Sam were still laughing when they pulled up outside the iron gates. Max peered out through the steamed-up windows; the gothic mansion was very intimidating in the low light. They had outdriven the rain for now, but he could already see the scowling clouds catching up.

Swinging the taxi door closed behind him, Max went round the back of the car to fetch Sam's luggage. Sam waved him off, insisting that he could do it himself. Max wasn't so certain - the backpack was as huge as he remembered. It was so tall and so wide, it could be seen behind Sam even when he was facing Max head-on.

Feeling rather concerned, Max gave the boy his card - he didn't live far away. They had actually driven through his town on the way here, stopping so that Sam could get some supplies from the store; and so that Max could get his lunch from Betty. The only reason Max was at the airport, so far away from home, was because he had just dropped another passenger off. The woman had been very willing to chat; they'd talked for ages, and she'd promised to hire him on the journey back. As gravel crunched from Sam's footsteps, Max compared the two very different passengers. He was surprised to find he preferred Sam's quieter nature - by speaking less often, Sam's conversations felt more worthwhile. But he still preferred chatting with Betty over everything else.

Noticing the approaching storm, Max quickly got back in the taxi and started driving. He watched the thin, raincoat-smothered figure slowly make it's way up the gravel drive. The rain suddenly started again, soaking Sam as it crashed down from the heavens.

Max hoped that Sam would enjoy his time in Japan.

It will get more interesting, I promise. Just wait for the next chapter (which will be up soon), or have look at the teaser below. Review or comments would be nice, so I know what people think of the story, and how I write it. I would also be very grateful if you could point out any mistakes you find.

From sometime in the near future...

Sam ... wasn't what he expected. Ayato didn't know why he had thought this. It wasn't because Sam was different; he was so used to his messed-up brothers that minor personality issues (like attacking people when they tried to steal your stuff) didn't phase him anymore. Rather, he had the strangest certainty that their guest wasn't who they were supposed to be. That they should be someone else entirely. He hadn't a clue why he felt this way - he'd never meet the guy before in his life! But Ayato would get to the bottom of this. He was sure that no-one else would be able to.