As Hex made her way up to the deck of the boat she glanced around.  The boat was silent as most of the crew had gone ashore to sample the culture as most sailors do.  The smell of ocean and fish was normal however the sound arising from dock below was not.  Where she had expected to here English instead was far from it.  Something about someone’s dong?  That wasn’t right.  It took only mere moments for the Russian Brujah to realize that she was in Japan instead of the West coast of America as she had planned.

 

/I thought that trip had been fast, now I see why.  I’m in the wrong damn country!/

 

Giving a sigh of annoyance she made her way off the ship.  She knew being here was not a good thing so her next step was to find the quickest way to America from here.  Luck for her she found a warehouse with cargo in it.  It them took a couple more hours to find one she could read.  It wasn’t due to be shipped out for another three days.  If it left on time at all meaning the ship that was due to pick it up had to be on time.   As much as she wanted to stay here she knew it was a bad idea.  Too much risk of being seen and too many people work at dock during the day.  That point crossing her mind she opted to venture into the smaller villages that appeared to stretch further along the coast. She stood out way too much to stay in the city itself. 

 

Traveling along the coast was not the most fun nor was the little fact that the sun would be rising in a couple of hours and she still hadn’t found a safe place to sleep. 

 

/Why didn’t I just stay on the ship?/

 

Looking ahead once more she saw something shadowed against the night sky.  Looked like a stone wall. And upon closer inspection, yes it was, indeed, a stone wall.  Knowing she was short on time Hex jumped up on top of it to see what was on the other side.  To her amazement was a shrine of some kind.  After going around the wall a bit it was not just a shrine more of a home that just had large shrine attached to it.  The house it’s self was not grand but it was of decent size a courtyard with a pond; a funny little thing that would fill with water then dump it’s contents into the pond beneath it making a hollow dunt sound as it hit the rock it was on and began to fill with water again.

 

The shrine was not well used.  It look as though it was cleaned regularly, but the mat in front of the alter was not worn much.  Feeling more closely along the floor she felt what she was feeling for.  A loose floor board.  It came up rather easily when she pulled and she slipped under it and prepared to sleep for the day.

 

After nightfall, Hex crept from her hiding spot thankful she had not been found.   Once she was sure everyone was asleep she set out to find some breakfast.  It would draw too much attention to find a nice juicy human to feed off of so she resigned herself to stick with the wildlife.  Hoping a few missing dogs was normal.  As she returned to the place she was hiding she finally started to look around at the shrine.  More so at the alter.  On it, sitting on a stand was long sword. The blade slightly curved.  When she picked it up she could tell it was old.  The handle was faded and worn but still in great condition.  Removing the sheath to examine the blade she was surprised again.  It was sharp, still.  Now this was a sword.  She wanted it.  In fact she was going to take it with her when she left.  It would do no good to take it now when they would find out it was missing tomorrow.  No she could wait and take it tomorrow when she left back to the ship.  For now it was time to sleep.  So she did and was granted another good days rest.

 

On her third night she waited for the vibrations in the floor to stop and peeked out from the floor.  Seeing no lights or otherwise burning candles she deemed it safe to come out.  Snagging the sword from the alter she bolted for the wall.  She was almost there when a soft growl caught her attention.  Stopping she looked around to see a small dog baring it’s fangs at her.  In the ever so Brujah way she returned the favor.  The dog backed up a step or two intending to run away but Hex had other plans.  Grabbing the poor animal in one hand she tossed him over the wall, following quickly after.  There was a soft yelp as the dog hit the ground and it was too stunned to do anything when Hex once again picked it up and bit into it.  Hex made sure to bite into the windpipe to stop further sounds form the weak thing and continued to run back to the dock and the crate headed to America.

 

Her trek back to the boat was interrupted as she stumbled upon a camp site. She knew she was spotted as one of the apparent fishermen called out to her.  There were only three of them and two of them were asleep.

 

/This could be a great chance to try out my new toy./

 

Hex stayed just out of the campfire’s light, knowing that the fisherman would wonder about the blood on her clothes and face and she really didn’t want to get that close to the fire.  She of course had no idea what the man stepping towards her was trying to say to her but she smiled at him, knowing his fate.  She slid the sheath off the sword keeping it hidden behind her back.  She thought about not killing the men but she couldn’t very well leave them alive if they say her.  They might try and follow her and she had know idea how good their tracking skills were.

 

/Do sivdanya/ she thought with a smile.

 

 Even now she could see the other men stirring.  She waited for him to come within reach of the blade behind her back.  Stepping forward slightly she brought the sword around; her second hand joining her right; dropping the sheath along the way.  The man barely had time to see the firelight reflect off the blade before his head was cleanly removed from his shoulders.  It was a smooth action.  Her strength and the sharpness of the blade were a good match.  She slid back into the shadows and waited to see if the other two were truly going to wake up.  Seeing as they merely shifted and ten began to snore again she doubted they would wake before morning.  Oh the surprise that waited for them.  She didn’t stay and admire her work as she wanted.  The sent of blood was bound to attract other predators and she wasn’t worried about you ever night wolf either.  It was hard to resist the sweet smell herself as she had only had animal the last couple of nights, but she needed to get out of there.  And she really needed to get out of Japan.

 

Her luck held as she slipped into the warehouse to find her crate.  Well now that she really looked at it, the crate was more of a large trunk and they had yet to apply the seal sticker.  Another stroke of good luck.  And it appeared that the latch latched itself every time it closed.  Perfect.

 

Opening the lid she smiled.  Inside was full of fabric, silk to be exact.  Climbing in she immersed herself under the fabric so she would not be seen if opened.  Pulling the lid down she listened as it latched and gently pushed up on the lid to ensure it was closed.

Satisfied she slept.

***

Once morning hit, only an hour or so later, the trunk was tied shut and given a seal sticker. And unknown to Hex sleeping inside the trunk was loaded into the boat and several other crates and boxes were loaded on top.  Yeah Hex was in for a long wait.  And she had no idea.

 

Much later on when Hex tried to get out of the trunk and even with her strength could not escape she couldn’t stop the last few thoughts that crossed her mind.

 

/I knew my luck wouldn’t last./

/I am never traveling by boat AGAIN!/