Unveiled Truths
A/N: *is attempting to hum along to Hao no Theme (Hao's Theme, from Shaman King)* Eventually I'll get the hang of it… T_T I suck… *turns to Eye of the Tiger and happily sings along* I love Kazaa…
DISCLAIMER: I own only those whom I own.
Chapter 3: Arrival in Tokyo
Canton Airport - January 4
"Are we all sure we've got everything?" Lien asked at the entrance to security screening. "Remember that we're not coming back."
Everybody flinched, including Lien. But she quickly recomposed herself. "David, Malik, you've both got the children ready for the trip?"
"Where—where—where's Mama?" 4-year-old Zekediah, David's third and youngest son, yawned.
Biting his lower lip, David answered quietly, "Mama's not coming with us, Zeke."
"I don' want Mama to stay in Nakoemi!" Zeke wailed. "I want Mama to come with us!"
As David futilely tried to explain that Matrina didn't want to be a part of their family anymore, Rei slipped off towards one of the large windows directing attention to the pouring rain outside.
The weather outside matched the general atmosphere of the Kon family right now.
Their official exile had been humiliating: in public for the entire village to see.
"As you full well know, choosing the path of toxic flooding in an attempt to destroy what has already been ordained by powers higher than us is a serious violation of the codes in this village. Ira Kon, I have overlooked far too many other transgressions on your family's part over the past fifteen years. I cannot overlook this one. If you do not revoke your decision immediately, it will result in your clan's exile from Nakoemi, home of the tribe of the White Tigers."
"We will not revoke, Chief Ailon. I hold my son's life higher than any code ever placed."
"Very well, Ira Kon. You have chosen your family's path. Because your wife is not of this tribe, she must depart with you and your sons and grandchildren, however the wives of your sons are to be given the choice of release from your clan and return to the homes of their fathers."
"I understand, Chief Ailon."
"Matrina Eryns-Kon, you are being given the choice of exile with the clan of your husband, or accepted divorce and return to the home of your father, Richard Eryns. Which will you choose?"
"I choose life within the home of my father, Chief Ailon."
"Matrina Eryns, you are released from the exile of the clan of Kon." When this was pronounced, Matrina left without looking behind and joined her family amongst the crowds.
"Sisley Kweilin-Kon, you are being given the choice of exile with the clan of your husband, or accepted divorce and return to the home of your father, Darren Kweilin. Which will you choose?"
"I choose life within the home of my father, Chief Ailon."
"Sisley Kweilin, you are released from the exile of the clan of Kon." Sisley also left without a backwards glance.
Chief Ailon stopped for a moment as he came to Abia. "Abia Ailon-Kon, you are being given the choice of exile with the clan of your husband, or accepted divorce and return to the home of your father, Absalom Ailon. Which will you choose?"
The tension and silence was nerve-wracking, before Abia finally responded, without a hint of emotion, "I will remain with the clan of my husband, Chief Ailon."
The shock was evident throughout the village, even to Matrina and Sisley. The chief's only granddaughter, his oldest grandchild, was willing to be exiled from her grandfather, her parents and her younger brother: all for this family who had been the disgrace of the village for as long as anybody could remember, ever since Ira had married an outsider.
"Then no longer will you be known as a daughter of this tribe."
Rei had to admire Abia's courage. Being the granddaughter of the tribe's head, she had always been protected before she married Chad, and even after that, Chad had pampered her.
"Rei," Abia said softly, letting her brothers-in-law try to calm down their children.
Rei didn't respond, just looked out the window. He did a double take as he thought he saw a glimpse of Li and Mariah.
His suspicions proved to be correct when Li and Mariah both came in the airport, looking around frantically. When they caught sight of the Kons not far off, Mariah dashed at Rei and started bawling her eyes out, gripping him tightly around the neck. Li was apparently without words, but not wanting his only sister to leave without knowing that he didn't like what his grandfather had done.
"I don't want you to go, Rei!" Mariah wailed.
"Mariah, I have to go," Rei reminded her gently.
"But back to Japan?" Mariah persisted tearfully. "You couldn't go to Canton, where I can see you more often?"
"Honestly, Mariah, you're turning into such a girl," Rei told her teasingly.
"Whaddaya talking about," Mariah said half-heartedly, sniffling. "I've always been a girl. I just don't want you to go so far away."
"The doctors said it's better at Tokyo Civic than at Canton General."
"But it's so far away!"
"Mariah, we'd better go." Li said quietly. As explanation, he said, "Nobody knows we came here. We hitched a ride with Regan Shanfu, but he's leaving in five minutes, with or without us."
"Bye, Rei," Mariah sniffled. Li didn't even bother saying anything but the two took off at top speed. And never looked back.
Suddenly mature beyond his years, with a pounding headache and sore throat, Rei silently followed his family through the screening area and onto the plane.
Mariah and Li watched the plane take off from the back of Regan's truck.
"Don't worry about him, Mariah." Li said quietly. "Whatever happens, happens."
"He's too young to die, Li." Mariah answered.
"There's nothing more we can do." Li responded, eyes closed and mingling with rain was surreptitious tears. "They've chosen their life's path. And we'll both speak no more of this."
Serov Airport - January 4
"I don't believe I'm actually doing this," Anastassia muttered. She set the baby carrier carrying the sleeping two-month-old Chloe down on the floor by her feet as they waited for the boarding call. "Netanya, darling, come back here. Mikael, catch her!" she cried as Netanya took off down the hallway. Mikael dashed after the spirited two-year-old and swept her up into his arms, bringing her back to the waiting area, where Kai appeared to be fine for the moment, occupying Hollie and Tamra, and where Anastassia was mentally preparing herself for the return to her childhood home.
In the air – Canton to Tokyo flight
"Unca Rei?" Malik's oldest son, Evan, who was 4, asked, climbing over his grandparents' legs to reach Rei in the window seat. "Unca Rei, can I look out the window? Daddy tol' me no, 'cause Curran's sleepin'. Unca Rei?"
"Hmm?" Rei asked, coming back from his own world. "Oh, sure, Evan." Laughing delightedly, Evan clambered up onto Rei's lap and looked eagerly out the window at the approaching Japan. "Unca Rei, what's there?"
"That's Japan," Rei said, pointing out the country to the small boy.
"There's a lot of water between Canton an' Tokyo." Evan commented. "An' I can' swim yet."
"That's all right, Evan, you're not supposed to swim there any way." Rei told him.
"Oh."
Pre-boarding, Serov Airport
"Are you sure?" Mikael asked incredulously. "I mean, I am absolutely positive those seats were all in one row."
"No, sir," the desk clerk said patiently. "There is a group of three in the middle, and four singulars."
"Well, isn't this nice," Mikael grumbled. "Sir, you understand my dilemma. If it was only one singular, I wouldn't worry. My stepson is perfectly capable of being on his own for a flight. It's my daughters that I'm worried about."
"What rows are your singulars in?" a older gentleman asked from a few people back, most of whom were looking a bit peeved.
"Rows 5, 10, 15, 20."
"I have a seat in row 10 that I can give you, and I'll take a singular."
"Thank you, sir." Anastassia said gratefully, grabbing Netanya before she ran off again. The gentleman handed them his row 10 pass and took the row 5 pass.
Another traveler, this one a middle-aged woman with her teenage son in tow, took pity on them. "Aaron, you wouldn't mind sitting alone, would you?" she asked her son, who shook his head. "Well, we have one row 20 seat we can exchange with you." Once again, Anastassia accepted gratefully, and gave the woman the row 15 pass.
"I got a connection to make, up there!" One irked businessman called angrily. "Can we move it along, please?"
"Shut up!" Kai snapped back at him. Then, he turned back to his stepfather and mother.
"Kai, you take Hollie and go to row 20." Mikael said.
"No, Daddy, I wanna stay with you." Hollie protested.
"All right. Kai, take Tamra."
"Daddy, I wanna stay with you!" Tamra whined.
"Fine. I'll take Hollie and Tamra and head to row 1. Kai, you take Netanya."
"No! Stay with Mama!" Netanya wailed.
"Netanya, Chloe has to stay with Mama," Mikael started, before Netanya turned on the tears. "Netanya, stop that."
"I can take Chloe, if you want," Kai offered quietly. "Then Netanya can go sit with Mother and Hollie and Tamra can stay with you."
"Kai, are you sure?" Anastassia, asking, looking as though she would take him up on that offer. She was ready to be rid of her youngest for a while, even if only for a couple of hours. Besides, Chloe seemed to prefer Kai over her and Mikael, any way.
"Sure." Kai shrugged. "She's probably going to sleep the whole way any way, right?"
"She should." Anastassia answered, gladly handing off the carrier, infant seat and bag to Kai, who rolled his eyes.
"Hurry it up, up there! I've got—"
"Yeah, yeah, we know you have a connection!" Mikael called back angrily. "All right, let's go." He told them. Kai went first, since he had the seat farthest back. Hollie and Tamra followed happily behind their father, and Anastassia and Netanya brought up the rear.
Once at the entrance to the plane, Kai got Chloe out of the carrier, letting the stewardess store it in the front, and set up the infant seat quickly in the middle seat, strapped in his baby sister securely (who had, indeed, slept through this whole fiasco) and took the aisle seat. The teenager whose mother had given them her seat joined them a couple of minutes later.
Tokyo Airport
"Guys, don't lose Nevada in this mob!" Malik cried as he made a grab for his 2-year-old daughter as they got off the plane, still balancing his 9-month-old son Curran in one arm. Rei caught his singular niece by the arm just before she tumbled down onto the ground. "Thanks, Rei."
"NO!!!!!! I WANNA GO!!!!" Nevada wailed, struggling against Rei's grip. The teen flushed a bit as other travelers cast askance glances at the family. His head began to throb again.
From a couple of gates down, the Serov-Tokyo flight was disembarking at the same time.
Kai's headache was starting once again as the Shostanovas all disembarked. Chloe had woken up as the plane was landing and fussed for a bit, but was now quiet, but her older sisters had taken up the noise.
Netanya was screaming for no apparent reason, Tamra was whining about being hungry and thirsty and Hollie was complaining that she needed to go to the washroom. However, Netanya wouldn't leave Anastassia alone long enough for her to take Hollie to the washroom, Tamra wouldn't leave Mikael alone about going to a restaurant and Hollie didn't want Kai to take her.
"Wanna switch?" Mikael and Anastassia both asked Kai wistfully.
Kai shook his head serenely.
"Daddy, I hafta go NOW!" Hollie whined.
"Daddy, I'm HUNGRY!"
"Mama!"
Kai rubbed a hand across his face absently. "Why don't you guys go do whatever, I'll head down to the baggage claim area with Chloe and start getting luggage."
"All right." Mikael agreed. "Wait. How are we getting to the mansion?"
"I'll call Leroy." Kai assured him.
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Anastassia asked him. Kai reassured her he was fine and headed off to the baggage claim, balancing Chloe's carrier and infant seat while doing so. A helpful Gold Vest got a large luggage cart for him and Kai set the seat on the main part, the carrier on the cart's seat, and started grabbing luggage as it came around.
Across the room, at the baggage claim for Canton-Tokyo, Chad and Abia appeared to have lost one of their suitcases and Ira and Lien still hadn't spotted any of theirs or Rei's, and the luggage belt had stopped spitting out suitcases. Meanwhile, David and Malik were having a time trying to contain their overly-hyperactive children on their own. Rei had finally taken the squirming Curran to let Malik chase after Evan and Nevada. David was howling at 9-year-old Blaise and 6-year-old Sikander for trying to play Tag on the luggage belt and Zeke was playing Indy 500 on the baggage carts.
Finally Rei's hand whipped out as Zeke went past on a cart, efficiently snagging the tireless 4-year-old, but making the cart careen out of control across the room, where it banged into somebody from Russia's cart and causing the infant in the carrier to scream. Rei yelped and whipped around as Kai turned around angrily.
Kai's POV
Oh, geez, it was one of those kids from that Chinese family across the room. Doesn't look like they have much control over their kids. Of course, considering my sisters' current behaviours, I shouldn't be talking.
Sighing and silently cursing the kid who disturbed Chloe, I took her out of the carrier and rubbed her back.
Back to 3rd person POV
"Rei, you know Russian," David pleaded. "Go apologize for me. Take Zeke with you."
"David, I don't know Russian!" Rei whined. "I can say 'Hello', 'Goodbye', 'Thank you', 'Sorry', and 'Where's the bathroom'! It doesn't count!"
"You
know 'sorry', so go apologize!"
"Fine!" Rei grabbed Zeke
by the hand and dragged him, whining, over to the Russian side, where the teen
whose cart had been banged into was now joined by three more younger girls, who
all looked about as whiny and upset as Rei's nephews and niece, as well as two
harried young adults who had to be his parents, even though they were probably
still between Malik's age and David's age.
"Umm, excuse me?" Rei mumbled, in Japanese, on the off-chance they knew it.
Kai turned around.
There was a stunned silence as Rei and Kai both looked surprised and stared at each other for a moment.
'H—H—hi."
"H—h—hey."
"What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Um, apologizing, I guess." Rei mumbled. "So, um, sorry about Zeke. I don't know what's gotten into him. Zeke, tell him you're sorry," he ordered in Chinese.
"For what?" Zeke demanded boldly.
"Don't make me call David over here!" Rei warned.
Zeke glared at Rei for a moment before mumbling a barely-passable "Gomen."
Rei had left swiftly after that, still dragging Zeke with him, to catch up with his jet-lagged family, and irate father and brother, who still hadn't found their luggage. 'Man, am I glad I'm not due to admit until tomorrow.'
"Kai, who was that?" Anastassia asked.
"An old teammate," Kai answered simply. "Well, I called Leroy. He said he'd be outside the front doors in fifteen minutes. That was about… fifteen minutes ago, so maybe we'd better leave. We have everything."
"Daddy, I'm HUNGRY!" Tamra whined.
"We'll eat soon, Tamra," Mikael said distractedly. He was clearly still upset at the sudden move from his lifetime home of Russia to this country where his wife had so many unhappy memories and where he didn't know any of the native language.
"Good day, Master Kai." Leroy, the driver who had been one of very few employees at the mansion who had not been loyal to Voltaire, greeted.
"Hello, Leroy." Kai greeted.
"Madame Anastassia," Leroy touched his hat respectfully.
"Nice to see you again, Leroy."