InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Buffy the Youkai Slayer ❯ If This is Tuesday, It Must Be Tokyo ( Chapter 2 )

2. If This is Tuesday, It Must Be Tokyo

I'm not going to check my voicemail until tomorrow, thought Buffy, as she staggered off the airplane at Narita Airport. I should have known better than to give anyone from the newly-revived Watcher's Council my number. What part of "I'm on vacation" don't they understand?

In the six months since she had embarked on her post-Sunnydale around-the-world tour, the Council had interpreted for emergencies only as an invitation to have her look in on each newly-activated Slayer in the countries she'd been backpacking through.

Still, Buffy was relishing her first taste of freedom as a regular girl. Or, if not exactly regular (because her Slayer powers had not disappeared when Willow's spell raised each of the surviving Potential Slayers to full Slayer status) at least not the Only Slayer.

It had been a real drag, sometimes, not being able to take a vacation because an apocalypse might happen anytime, anywhere.

Now, Sunnydale lay in ruins behind her, the First Evil had been defeated--for now--and, best of all, her little sister Dawn was staying with Dad in LA.

Buffy was finally free. And she was definitely not going to look at her voicemail until she'd at least done a little sightseeing in Tokyo. After spending the summer touring Europe, she had continued eastward on an around-the-world ticket. She'd spend two weeks in Japan, and then Australia was next...sun, beach, and surf. And hot guys who sounded like Russell Crowe.

But maybe Will had called her...and wasn't Xander supposed to be meeting up with her in Sydney?

She reached the line for Customs and passport control, and lowered her backpack to the floor. It was going to be a long wait--another 747 had deplaned just ahead of her flight, and the large hall was packed with jet-lagged travelers.

She began to reach for the small zippered pocket in her backpack that held her phone, but caught herself just in time. No. If there's a message, it'll just be from some dork on the Watcher's Council. And I want to do some shopping, first...

Instead of her phone, she pulled out her Lonely Planet guide to Japan, and began flipping through the pages. She paused at the Useful Phrases section...."Osaka hoteru made onegaishimasu." she murmured to herself. Please take me to the Hotel Osaka.

No mystical chants, demon invocations, or even slang Sumerian. Just plain old Japanese, useful for taxis and buses and other forms of transportation. It was nice to be a just a regular old tourist. Smiling to herself, Buffy continued scanning the guide's pages, while keeping one eye on the people in line ahead of her.

* * *

Buffy's good mood lasted until she emerged from the Customs area into the Arrivals Hall. She spotted him right away--jeez, were all Watchers required to wear tweed? It was like some bizarre dress code!--but it was too late. She'd been seen.

He actually began to run in her direction. Not a good sign. Oh, jeez. Godzilla must be attacking, or something.

"Miss Summers!" He was Japanese, and, like most of the Watchers these days, he was young--maybe three or four years older than her. The Council had been recruiting heavily at the universities in an attempt to replace the members lost in last year's bombing at their London HQ.

"Miss Summers." He came to a halt in front of her, panting a little from his dash across the airport concourse. He stuck out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Buffy sighed, and dropped her backpack to the gleaming linoleum. She didn't want to be rude--he really was sort of cute in a geeky, graduate-student kind of way.

"Hi," she said, summoning a smile. God, she wanted a shower in the worst way after all those hours on the plane! "You're a Watcher, I presume?"

"Koji Minamide, at your service." She shook his hand and he gave her an abbreviated bow over their joined hands.

"Buffy Summers--but you already knew that."

He unbent enough to give her a smile. Yeah, definitely a cutie. And tall, too.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt your holiday, but we have a bit of an emergency. Please come this way--I have a car waiting." He made a move to pick up her backpack, but she hooked the strap, and swung it back over her shoulder.

"It's pretty heavy," she explained. "So, what's the emergency? Giant radioactive monster destroying downtown?"

He laughed, which was really un-Watcher-like of him. Guess they didn't have a chance to give him the full indoctrination and remove his sense of humor.

Then, as they began walking to the exit, Minamide turned serious. "Actually, there's a demon infestation at the Higurashi Shrine in the outskirts of the city."

"And no Slayers in the area?" As soon as she asked, Buffy guessed the answer.

Koji's face fell. "There were a number of Potentials here...at one time...but..."

"But the Bringers killed them last year," Buffy finished for him. "I'm sorry. They killed a lot of girls...a lot of Potential Slayers." She sighed, remembering the long, bitter months of battling the First Evil. "Okay, so what kind of demons am I going to be dealing with here?"

Buffy hoped that Koji had weapons, because she had been forced to leave all of hers behind in California. Airport security and all that...how could you explain the need for a sword or an axe in your luggage these days?

"Different kinds." He grimaced. "All native to Japan, but not usually found in close proximity to one another."

They reached the sliding glass doors, and emerged into the smoggy sunlight of an autumn afternoon. A white Toyota sedan pulled up to the curb, and popped the trunk.

As Buffy slid her backpack in and closed the lid, Koji continued: "We've had some problems there before--including a monster that destroyed several firetrucks and killed a number of firefighters and police officers last year--but the family who owns the shrine has been able to, ah, deal with problems as they've arisen. This time, however, it's not just one or two demons. It's dozens so far, and they keep coming."

"Sounds like a portal may have opened somewhere," Buffy observed as she followed Koji around the car and got into the backseat.

"That would be my guess, also," Koji said, from the front passenger seat. "If you wouldn't mind taking a look around for a Hell-gate while you're, er, fighting, we would very much appreciate it."

He said something in Japanese to the driver, a middle-aged man with a gold tooth.

"It is very nice to meet you, Miss Summers," said the driver in heavily accented English, nodding stiffly to her.

"Likewise," Buffy said, as they pulled away from the curb, and merged into fairly heavy traffic. "Say, Koji, your English is really good. Did you go to school in America?"

"Thank you, but I went to university in Australia--Sydney Uni."

Buffy smiled. "Hey, I'm headed to Sydney next. Maybe you can give me some pointers after I'm finished with the demon extermination?"

"It would be my pleasure." Good, he smiled again. He was definitely growing on her...if only he'd lose the tweed jacket. "Now, it will take us about an hour to reach the shrine. What do you need to know before you go into battle?"

Buffy ticked off points on her fingers. "Any weak spots on the demons. What kind of weapons I'll be using. Whether the shrine family knows about Slayers. Oh, and what are Slayers and demons in Japanese? My phrase book is okay for stuff like shopping and ordering a meal, but it sucks when it comes to dealing with the supernatural."

Koji turned around to address her, resting his forearm on the back of his seat. "I'll answer your last question first. Demons are called 'youkai,' and demon-slayers are 'youkai-taijya.' I've heard legends that there used to be an entire village somewhere in the mountains that specialized in youkai-taijya..."