Chapter2

Two days later, early in the morning, Lara arrived in Tokyo and Downey picked her up at the airport. Lara had her hair tied back in her usual pony tail. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a grey shirt. Downey kissed her on the cheek.

"Welcome to Tokyo, Lara, my dear."

Lara looked up at the buildings around her when they drove all the way to the hotel.

"That's not the way I imagined Tokyo. It's not London I guess."

They arrived at a huge, very expensive hotel.

"Only the best for you, Lara. And don't worry, the Museum will pay."

They walked up to the reception and Downey asked for Lara's keys. Her bags were carried up to a suite and Downey accompanied her. They sat down on the couch in her room.

"Do you have any idea how I could get in contact with Mishima?" Lara asked him.

"To tell you the truth, no. I have not the slightest idea. He never does anything himself, except winning martial arts tournaments, everything else he delegates to his sons and employees. For someone unknown to him it's nearly impossible to get in contact with Mishima. You have to find another way."

"What about another tournament? Isn't there one coming up, where I could meet him?"

"Lara, dear, I don't know about that. And besides there is no way you could get into contact with him there, unless you want to enter, that is. But then you would only get into contact with his fists and you want to avoid that, believe me."

"Never mind, I will find a way." Lara said.

"I have to get back to work now. Can you handle it alone from here?"

Lara went to her luggage and took out the case with her guns. She opened it and started cleaning them.

"Certainly. I will call you when I need anything. For today I guess I will go around asking questions. I have to get to know my enemy better."

"You are not going around asking questions with them?" Downey asked confused.

Lara had to laugh at that comment. It sounded like a good idea but people would get suspicious too soon.

"No, No. It shouldn't be that difficult to find out something."

"Ok, I will leave you to it. Dinner, tonight?" Downey offered.

"Why not, then we can speak about what I found out today." They said goodbye to each other and Downey left Lara alone.

****

After she had organised herself, Lara went down to the hall and sat there, reading a newspaper. There was an article about Heihachi Mishima on page 4; apparently his stocks had just gone up again, making him even richer. Lara sat with her back to the reception. There were a couple of business men down here with her. Some were reading newspapers, others where working on their computers. One, who was sitting to her right, looked rather nervous. He was pretending to read a newspaper but in fact he was looking around the whole time, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. Lara ignored him and got back to her newspaper. There was nothing more in there that would help her, but she read through it anyway. Ten minutes later she jumped. Had she been dreaming or had the guy at the reception just said 'Good morning, Mr. Mishima'. She turned. But there was no sign of the guy on the picture. She scanned the people in the hall. Then she realised that the nervous guy that had sat next to her was missing. But she found him standing at the lift. Next to him was a tall man, with black hair, which formed a peak at the back of his head. His back was turned towards Lara. All she could see was that he was wearing an expensive suit. 'So either Heihachi has a very different hairstyle today, or this has to be one of his sons' she thought.

****

Lara spent the next few hours in the hall watching the lifts. She wanted to see that man again. 'Better I know who my enemies are' she said to herself. But there was no sign of either him or the nervous guy. Finally she gave up and went back to her room. She got out a book she had taken from the library before she came to Tokyo. It was about the Stone of Eternity. According to the legend the bearer of the stone could achieve the ultimate power, if he conducted certain rituals at full moon. 'The bearer has to spill some of his blood onto the stone in the light of the full moon. The stone would then accept him as the bearer.' it said. 'Thank god the next full moon is still far away; this gives me some time to react. But I have to come up with a good plan soon.' Lara thought.

****

In the evening Downey picked Lara up and took her to a restaurant. She told him what had happened in the hall. "So this was one of his sons, I guess? But which one was it?" "Since you said they called him Mishima, it must have been Kazuya. Remember, Lee Chaolan has kept his family name. And you can keep them apart quite easily; Chaolan has silver-white hair." "Ok. So that was Kazuya." Lara said with interest in her voice. "Lara, do me a favour, whatever you do, stay away from him. He is dangerous. He has a reputation of being crueller than his father, and that's supposed to mean something." "Interesting. So that is why the guy who sat next to me looked so scared!?" Lara said joking. "I guess so. If you are looking for a way to get to Heihachi through his sons, please pick Lee Chaolan." Downey said more serious. "Thanks for the advice."

It was of course wrong to warn Lara. She preferred to find out things for herself, and if someone told her that something was dangerous, she would of course have a closer look at it. Lara was now very interested in this man. 'After all, how dangerous can he be? Nothing Lara Croft can't handle', she thought. "Oh, before I forget, you asked me if I knew anything about upcoming tournaments." Downey continued. "I found out, there is one going on at the moment. Heihachi has a fight tomorrow night; I got you a ticket for the fights. It was really hard to get, but someone owed me a favour." "Great. Thank you."