Chapter Text
Taigen hated boats. He hated the musty smell of the old wood, the flapping sails in the wind, the salt in the sea air, and especially the sound of the waves crashing against the sides. As the son of a fisherman, he’d become painfully familiar with all these things and more. He’d helped his father on the boats as a child. He’d repair nets and cast them, hoping there’d be enough fish in the nets that his father would pass out from his drinking rather than being sober enough to beat him. Taigen would never forget the smell of alcohol on his father’s breath as he’d hit him if that net was empty. His screams often blending in with the crashing of the waves.
His father always kicked him when he was down. The other fishermen would laugh. He was outnumbered and could not fight back. When away from his father he’d kick the stray dogs in town. His friends would laugh. He was the leader and that made him feel strong. When he couldn’t find the dogs he’d throw rocks at Mizu. He always kicked Mizu when he was down. It made him feel bigger, stronger, and as though he had some power in the world. Taigen thought he could cut himself out of his father’s net when his father was someone he’d already become. He shuddered at the memory.
It was because of Mizu that he’d gotten back on a boat. Not a simple fishing boat but a ship to a place called London. Taigen knew nothing of London except that it was a world away and Mizu’s father may or may not be there. Hopping on a ship to cross the ocean at the suggestion of as horrid a man as Abijah Fowler was both foolish and impulsive. Definitely something Mizu would do.
At the very least Mizu had left him a letter explaining his plan to him and Ringo. It detailed how he planned to take a ship to London and kill the men he feared could be his father and that he would be back by the fall and they would have their duel.
“Yup, that sounds like Mizu. Mizu is…a man. A man on a mission.” Ringo had laughed nervously as Taigen read the letter out loud. Only Mizu could make returning from such a voyage within the year sound like a certainty. Taigen was less inclined to take a chance.
Now Mizu was the reason he’d gotten on one of those boats he hated so much. He’d left Ringo on his way back to master Eiji’s and stowed away in a barrel to be loaded onboard. As far as he knew Mizu had no idea he’d followed him onto the ship. Mizu would have tried to talk him out of it. Taigen was as stubborn as Mizu was impulsive.
He’d fallen asleep in the barrel, silently, where no one noticed him. In that sense his childhood was good for something. Taigen knew how to stay out of trouble on a boat. Still, the waves crashed against the side of the ship. Wherever they were, they were hours away from the shore. Wherever they were going, there was no going back.
Taigen took it as a sign to crawl out of the barrel. He stretched out and looked around. It was good to be able to stand again. It was dark, but still some light crept in through windows in the side of the boat. Enough to see he’d been loaded in with provisions for the journey. Judging by the amount of provisions it was going to be a long voyage. “Mizu, what have you gotten yourself into?” Taigen whispered to himself, looking at a large box with bars on the window. A cage big enough to be a prison cell. Against his better judgment he looked inside.
“Well lucky me, I’ve got company for entertainment.” In the cage was a voice Taigen never wanted to hear again.
“Fowler.”
“Oh, you thought your friend killed me. I’m sorry to disappoint,” he stared out the bars to his cell. Green eyes glowing cruelly in the dark.
“How?”
“I can open doors. In London. In Europe. I’m worth more alive than dead. Oh the things I could tell you about your blue-eyed friend.” Fowler laughed. Taigen was ready to walk away from the madman. He wasn’t in the mood to be taunted. If nothing else, Mizu was smart enough to keep him in a cage.
Having had enough of Fowler, it was time for a bit of fresh air. Taigen found his way out of the cargo hold, quietly avoiding the sailors. It was a clear day and the sun was shining through the windows of the ship. It was still unwise to go up all the way to the deck so he hid and watched the sailors go up and down to and from the deck. A glimpse into a life he could have had had he not cut himself out of the net of a life at sea.
After a few moments of quiet he heard another set of footsteps on their way up to the deck of the boat. This time it was Mizu he was able to get a glimpse of. Somehow he looked younger. He’d changed his hair, wearing the same bangs he had as a child. The child that Taigen had called a dog and thrown rocks at.
Growing up, Taigen wanted nothing else but to escape his father and the town that made him. But how could he escape something he’d already become. It was as though the net he was trying to escape was carved into his skin and he’d have to rip it out the way Fowler’s goons had ripped out his fingernails. Both were more painful than he realized. He didn’t owe Mizu a duel. He owed him a debt.
Sailors came and went as did the day fading into sunset. The first day of a voyage Taigen assumed would last many days. He wasn’t ready to talk to Mizu yet. He had no idea what to say. But, by the time they reached the shores of London he knew he’d have a chance to figure it out.