Life changes

Cherry blossom love
Ch.1

Tokyo was alight in the splendor of the early evening, as I was in a cab heading away from the international airport, heading into the sprawling immenseness that was the crowning jewel of the orient.

This had been one hell of a trip, took me over 20 hours and then some to get to Japan, which was not counting the stop over in Hawaii for a couple of hour and a bit which was the most boringness ninety minuets of my life. Too many tourists were crowding everything.

I had came here to live with a rich uncle of mine, my mother’s only brother. Uncle Taji Akiro was a good man, that I had met when I was young. Now with my mother’s death, I needed to live with someone, and sadly he was all I had in the world.

She had raised me, working two jobs and all. My mom had married a man in Canada, then he died soon after I was born from a car accident near our home, after that, she moved me to Toronto and took care of me all by herself while working as a teacher during the week, and teaching a class on Japanese culture and literature on the week ends at a local community hall in the heart of the metropolis. She was a remarkable woman, my mom was, simply remarkable.

Mom had just died from a illness that was sudden and thankfully very short on the suffering she endured even in a small space of time. Both sides of my family had no other real relatives in Canada. That is why I’m here. Being just half a year and a little shy of 16, as I am, this is very overwhelming. Going to a strange new country was just icing on this cake that was called life. It does not give you any slack, no how.

The house of my Uncle, which was located in a quite afluant part of Tokyo was one of those that combined west and east styling of architecture. Sloping roof with a larger than life bay window did just that. It stood, looming in the darkness just outside the cab’s window. There was my home now, and it was awsome!

I got out, and carried the two suitcases and went back for a couple of duffle bags I had to the door, after paying the driver the almost sixteen thousand yen for the ride. Our prices back home were not this fucking steep. Oh well.

A man met me at the door to the Japanese equivalent of a mansion. He was a short man, with overly thick glasses and dressed in a suit that would have payed for my flight over and then left some for a wild party. This was my Uncle Taji, my only living relative in this world.

Even though he was shorter than me, and fully Japanese. You could tell the family resemblance right off. In his younger days, he would have been a very handsome man..
“ Good to see you again, Hiroaki.” He said, puffing on his cigarette, as he normally did. It was his trademark. “Welcome to Japan.”
“ Good to see you, Uncle-san.” I said, bowing.
“ I see your Japanese has been perfected, Since I had seen you last.” He said, letting me pass in to his house. “ Come on in.”
“ Mom taught me well, as you Know Uncle-san.” I said, trying to put a small bit of good thought, instead of the sadness of the last few weeks.
“ That she did, lad, young man It is quite evident of it, by you command of our language.” Was his reply, as I entered the house.

The house was rather large, especially by Japanese scale. I just looked at all of the opulent furnishings that adored the interior. It was a curious mix of Western, Classic Japanese and even a small smattering of French was how the house’s interior was decorated.

I just looked around. It was my Uncle in a nutshell, totally. One solitary word was the way to describe my Uncle: eclectic. That says it all.

Uncle Taji led me through the house, making small talk as he proudly gave me the buck fifty tour. He said he was going to show me to my room where I could stow my bags and such, but it seemed that he was taking a detour to show me all of this.

He finally showed me to my room, which was on the very top floor of this bi-level, after showing me the various features of the main floor as he passed each one, almost proudly boasting about it all. Up the stairs we went, as he led me.

It was more Western decor that the room was dressed up in, yet it was slightly smaller than my old room back in Canada. It had a stereo, desk and chair, a western style bed and a small tv that was on a rather large oak box at the foot of the bed. Hardwood floors went wall to wall, and they gleamed cleanly- showing that it had just been waxed with in the last couple of hours or so. The bed was definitely western, yet the pillows and blankets still kept with the oriental feel of where I was living now

It was all the luxury that a teenager could ever had wanted, but never had back home. I even spotted a telephone on the night stand next to the bed, along with a small bar sized fridge in the corner. This is a place I will surly feel fully at home, I chuckled to myself.

I just put down my bags, and looked around. I guess it was a pretty good room, I thought to my self.
“ It’s a good room, eh?” He said, smiling.
“ It is wonderful.” I said, looking around and actually liking it all. “I really think I can make myself feel right at home here, Uncle San.”
“ Good!” Said Uncle, as he turned. “ Come and eat, it should be ready by now. You can unpack after you have eaten, or in the morning if you so desire to.”

I followed him in to a room downstairs, a middle aged woman was setting the table with steaming food. I had to admit, I was starved at this time.
“ Sit, and eat... you must be hungry.” he said, adding. “ My maid, Yuko has made a fine late supper for us, she is an exceptional cook.”
“ I am, Uncle...” I smiled, noticing that my stomach was rumbling away. Airline food was not filling, and if the truth must be told, tasteless as hell. I was looking forward to a real meal.
We ate mostly in silence, as that woman ran ferried in food in silence. It was eerie just sitting in the room this way, but I did not know just what to say, even a conversation topic did not enter my mind once. This was definitely one of those ‘extremely awkward moments’ my mom had talked about for so long. Now how do get the ball rolling to break the tension in the room was my dilemma.

The phone rang, and Yuko answered it. She handed the receiver to my Uncle, then raced to refill my tea. I just thanked her dumbly, as I was not use to having someone wait on me like this.

Uncle handed the receiver over to Yuko, and looked at me.
“ Some business has came up, I have to go and deal with it before the start of the workday work tomorrow.” He said, standing up and having the maid hand him his shoes. “ You just stay around here, and I will give you a better tour around the house later... then maybe we will go out for a late supper?”

I nodded to him, to let him know that I understood. With that, he raced off, a cell phone on his ear to alert his car service. He was always quite abrupt, and I just knew that he did not even see my agreement nod, as he left to attend to his work. He was in a hurry, but never was he rude either.

With Uncle gone for how long, I was bored. Even though I had jet lag like hell, I did not want to go sleep right now. I decided to just sit on the front step and just see some of the sights that were to be seen from my new home. Anything was better than seeing the inside of a 747 airliner

The night air was very warm and almost breezeless. I could smell the moist salt air coming from the ocean that was across the city from me, as it tickled my nose with it’s crispness. I just sat and enjoyed all that I could see.

A small mini-van pulled up to the house across the street, stopping under the street lamp that was directly in front of the house. I watched curiously, hoping to see the neighbors I will have.

A man got out, dressed in a smart suit, just like the one that my Uncle would wear when off to work. Four other figures got out of the side. They were four girls of different ages that piled out of the side of the van like a synchronized swim team.

The first girl was the oldest looking, about a year older than me, maybe more. She wore a dark, business like dress and had her hair up in a bun with chopsticks to hold it all in place. She looked beautiful, as her makeup less face showed just what prettiness she had despite her professional dress did. Her sleek body lines were almost invisible to anyone who was trying to see it, yet I suspected that there was one hell of a lean and mean body under all of that fabric and hoped she did not dress like that all the time.

The second girl seemed to be right at my age. She was long of haired, which was tied back in a ponytail and wore a very tight fitting track suit. Her small, yet lean body was a pleasure to behold but she seemed to be trying too hard to be like a tomboy, regardless of how womanly her form was becoming. No clothing could ever have covered that up, and as a male, I was very glad that it did not.

The third was younger than me. Her dress was very conservative, as was the round glasses she wore that took over a large portion of her face and her just passed shoulder length page boy cut hair gave her a bookwormish look. She had a large stack of books crammed in her arms, clutching them to her chest for all she was worth so they would not dump on the ground. She just stood in silence, maybe being way too shy even around her apparent family to say a word. I think she would be very pretty, if she would change her looks a little.

The last one was about thirteen... maybe even twelve or less too. It was hard to gauge her age for she was wearing younger than she was clothing. She was the one that stood out among them, and for very good reasons I might add.

She was wearing a brightly colored dress and carried a small beaded handbag. In her pigtails and snapping of the bubble gum that she seemed to really relish, she was definitely the sparkplug of the group. She seemed to be the only one bouncing and jabbering constantly, even though it seemed that no one was really paying any mind to her, probably having lots of practice doing so.

They all stood, waiting as the man locked up the vehicle, seemingly very impatiently towards what seemed to be their father.

All four girls suddenly spotted me. They seemed to finally be talking amongst one another, and I had a thought that I was the topic of there impromptu meeting. I thought of waving, to be neighborly, but the man ushered the group in to the house quickly, oblivious of what they were talking about.

The street once again, fell silent and still. I just stayed out on the step for a long time, pondering my new surroundings. It was actually very quiet, except for a small taste of noise wafting from the downtown core.

I soon got tired of sitting, and just entered back in to the house. Yoko met me at the entrance.
“ Your uncle just called...” She said, her voice hardly over a whisper tone but still very audible. “ He will not be back until very late.”
“ Uh... Thank you. “ I said.

She bowed lowly. I just looked ast this quite lovely middle aged woman who was standing in front of me.
“How long have you worked for my uncle?” I asked the lady, as she seemed to be really understanding of my uncle.
“ Almost ten years, Hiroaki- san.” She said, her tone being inviting and motherly in its tonality. “ My husband drives for your Uncle too.”
“ And you like working for him?”
“ I have had no qualms with your Uncle. “ She explained, with a broad smile that she was happy where she worked. “ He is a very good boss and always has been.”

I nodded, as she looked at me.
“ You want anything else, Hiroaki-san?” She said, her smile was as gentle as my mother’s had been. She was calming and seemed to really like what she did. “ I can make you more to eat? Or perhaps you would like to go and watch a bit of television?”
“ No, Thank you.” I said, holding back a yawn, so as not to be rude. “ I think I will just go and retire to bed for the night.”
“ I will let Akiro-san know that you have went to bed when he arrives home, then make my way back to my home.” She said, bowing. “ Good night to you, Hiroaki-san”

Tiredly, I climbed the stairs as the maid disappeared into the next room. I just was looking forward to the sleep. Even in a strange bed, I knew that once I closed my eyes, sleep would be upon me like the first mosquitos of the year back in Canada.

I undressed and opted for no pyjamas in my fatigued state, my boxers would do just fine for tonight. Crawling in to the bed felt good. I closed my eyes and was swiftly asleep.