Chapter Text
Mizu opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar room. She sat up slowly on the bed. Everything hurt, especially her leg. Her mouth was parched and her head felt heavy. What had happened? She rubbed her forehead and tried to remember.
After the Great Fire of Edo, she had taken Fowler prisoner and, with sufficient payment, secured him on a merchant ship. That payment had also been enough to keep Taigen from being thrown overboard when he had been discovered as a stowaway. The journey had been a long, tedious one. Their days had been spent assisting the crew with chores, sparring, learning how to shoot a rifle, and studying English with Fowler.
Fowler had seemed to view his circumstances as a game. Since he had lost his chance of running the shogunate, he figured he could start anew in England. He offered limited knowledge of Routely and Skeffington, though he claimed he had an interest in seeing his old "friends" again.
After nine long months, their ship had finally docked at a London port. All the Japanese on board, crew and passengers alike, had been relieved to be able to bathe regularly again. While happy to finally be in London, Mizu had not been impressed by the city. It was loud, crowded, and foul smelling. However, it was also fairly diverse. There were people of various colors and features sprinkled in among the white skinned locals.
Fowler had been their guide, assisting them with securing clothing, breeches and linen shirts, and shelter. Though, he travelled with them on occasion, he was not given any weapon, no swords or guns, and his hands remained bound. Neither Taigen nor Mizu had forgotten how dangerous he was.
Using Fowler's tips, they managed to get a lead on Routely within the first two weeks. He ran several brothels around London that catered to various clientele. The first time Mizu saw Routely outside a high-end brothel, she was struck by a sense of familiarity. Fowler had commented before on Routely's "pretty eyes", an all too familiar shade of blue. "It's him, isn't it?" Taigen had whispered from beside her in the narrow alley, back pressed against the brick wall, rifle in hand. "He has your face...and your eyes".
It took them another two weeks to establish his routines and patterns of behavior. Under the cover of night, they had finally ambushed him in his favorite brothel.
They hid themselves behind the dark, velvet curtains of the window alcove of his favorite room. Routely had entered the candle lit room, clutching a young, copper skinned girl by the hair, and proceeded to throw her on to the massive four poster bed. Once the door had closed, and Routely was busy trying to subdue the girl, Mizu had struck. She had launched herself out from the alcove and hit him across the temple with the handle of her dagger. Taigen had pulled the girl from the bed and covered her mouth with one hand. Mizu had Routely flat on his back, one hand gripping his hair, the other holding the dagger on his neck. When his cold, blue eyes had widened with recognition, she slashed his throat.
Afterwards, girl in tow, they had shimmied down a rope to the cobblestone path below. The girl had run off and they'd made their way back to their hideout.
Upon arrival, they had found Fowler in a pool of blood, stabbed through the neck and stomach. Six men, Routely's men, had emerged from the shadows. Apparently, while they had been stalking Routely, Routely had also had his men following them.
The ensuing brawl had been fast and chaotic. It wasn't until the room was silent, the floor littered with bodies, that Mizu had realized her vision was getting blurry. The last thing she saw was Taigen reaching for her, desperately calling her name.
*
Mizu looked around the small room. The daylight pouring in from the window told her it was just past dawn. There was a wooden chair next to her bed that someone must have been occupying. A pitcher of water and a empty glass sat on the nightstand beside her bed. Feeling thirsty, she eyed it warily. What if it was poisoned?
Of course, if someone had wanted to kill her they could have simply let her bleed to death. She filled a glass and began to sip.
Wait...who had saved her?
She began to examine herself. Someone had changed her in to a white, cotton shift and tended to her wounds. Her left thigh was stitched and wrapped, along with various other cuts. There was a faint, herbal smell of ointment emanating from them. Her brown tresses were open, and chest unbound. Her cheeks flamed at the thought that Taigen had done it, before she realized she must be in some sort of infirmary. Or perhaps someone's home?
The door opened at that moment, and Taigen shuffled in, looking relatively unscathed. His tired face brightened instantly upon seeing her awake. "Mizu!" He stuck his head out the door and called out "Joan, shes awake!", before hurrying over to her bedside. He sat in the chair beside her and grabbed her hand. "Mizu, you're finally awake." He said her name with such tenderness that she averted her eyes, unable to meet his gaze. Instead, she gently slipped her hand from his. "What happened?
As he explained it, by some stroke of luck, he had come across a carriage that had been driving by. Its passenger, a half-breed named Henry, had directed the driver to take them to his terrace house. He had quickly called for a physician friend of his who, with Taigen and Joan, the housekeeper, had worked to stitch her up.
Joan, an older, plump woman with grey hair and prominent laugh lines, entered then, carrying a large, metal bowl and glass of herbal mouthwash. "Good to see you awake, dear. I've called for the physician to come check on you. In the meantime, I thought you'd like to freshen up. I'm sure you need to relieve yourself too. Taigen, give us a minute, love."
Mizu rinsed her mouth with the mouthwash and spit into the metal bowl. To her horror, she discovered she did require Joan's assistance to get to the chamber pot as she could barely get out of bed herself. Once she was clean and back in bed, Joan allowed Taigen back into the room. As he returned to his position at her bedside, he immediately noticed her clenched jaw and fists. "You just woke up after two days, Mizu. Give it time. You'll be up on your feet soon."
She grunted in annoyance before shooting him a sharp, side eyed glance. "Taigen?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm surprised you haven't said anything yet."
"About?"
She glanced down at her unbound chest and gave him a pointed look.
"Ah" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I was surprised to say the least. But then I realized, when has anything about you made sense?"
"You're not angry?"
He smiled wistfully. " Don't worry. This changes nothing between us."
Soon after, there was a knock at her door. "Good morning." A handsome man, clearly of mixed heritage, entered. He had light brown skin, high cheekbones, a slim nose, and warm hazel eyes. "We have all been rather worried about you. No one more than Taigen though." To Mizus's surprise, he took one of her hands in both of his. She felt Taigen tense up beside her. "I am Henry. Welcome to my home."
Mizu hoped she wasn't blushing. "Taigen told me about you. Thank you for your assistance."
"Please don't thank me. I'm just glad I was there at the right time." He pulled up another chair and sat beside her.
Henry, as Mizu learned, was half Indian, half English. His father had been in the Royal Navy, and during his venture in India, had gotten a young, Indian woman pregnant. Knowing what fate would befall her if he left her, he brought her back. She had died upon giving birth and Henry had been raised by Joan, who had originally been his nanny. Henry himself was an author which provided him with a decent living. His father had left him the terrace house in London, and a cottage in the country side. Though Mizu had never been partial to people, she had taken to Henry rather quickly, even granting him a small smile.
As they were conversing, his physician friend stopped by. Henry politely stepped outside while Taigen volunteered to remove the wrappings around her wound for examination. Mizu wondered what prompted him to do so, but she was grateful nonetheless. She didn't appreciate strangers touching her, much less strange men. Taigen remained tense and vigilant beside her while the physician looked her over.
Upon the physicians orders, Mizu was required to rest in bed until her major cuts healed. An order Henry enforced by refusing to return her clothes to her when she attempted to leave her bed.
" Can you believe this?" Mizu seethed as an amused Taigen brought her food. "Keeping my clothes from me like some sort of deviant!"
Taigen passed her a bowl. "He wouldn't have to if you would just be reasonable."
She scoffed. "Why is he making us stay here anyway? Feeding us, having a doctor tend to our injuries. In my experience, people are not so generous. It cant just be because we're foreign." She spooned some chicken soup into her mouth.
Taigen watched her eat. "Oh he has a reason. He writes peoples stories. He has mixed blood friends and he's written their parents stories. He's been asking me questions about us, but I figured I would let you decide how much we should reveal to him. He'll likely ask you himself today."
As predicted, after dinner, Henry asked her permission to write her story. She agreed under the condition that he help them find her target.
"A manhunt? A revenge tale? How thrilling! I have contacts among the constables and Justices of the Peace. If your target is as dastardly as you say, surely they will have information on him. I will write to them at once!" Henry exclaimed, eyes wide with intrigue. "It will likely take at least a fortnight to hear back from them. Until then, you must stay with me. We can head for my cottage in the countryside in a few days and await their responses there."
From there on, Henry began visiting Mizu daily to ask questions, quill, ink, and paper in hand. Mizu answered as well as she could with her rudimentary grasp of English. Taigen added to her story as well, offering details or context as needed. Henry was fascinated by their recollections of battles. As he told it, being an author, he was more of a lover than a fighter. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be of much help in a fight myself. A fact that, no doubt, has my father rolling in his grave."
When discussing how she met Swordfather, Mizu omitted Taigen's name when mentioning the night of the meteor.
"Why didn't you tell him I was the boy with the rock?" Taigen asked quietly as he passed her a bowl of stew.
Mizu shrugged. " I didn't want to give him a bad impression of you. You can do that yourself."
He turned away then with a slow inhale before facing her again. " Was I the reason you chose to live this way?"
"The world is unkind to mixed breeds, Taigen, even more to women. I would have chosen this path regardless", she said with her usual stoic expression.
"Still..." Taigen fisted his hands on his knees, before bowing his head. "Mizu, I'm sorry".
She glanced at him. "For?"
The remorseful expression he bore caught her off-guard. "Everything".
"Taigen..."
"No, listen, I felt bad enough about how I treated you when I thought you were a man. But now, knowing you were a little girl, just trying to survive, being harassed, almost murdered by a bunch of boys-!"
The touch of Mizus hand on his forearm stopped his apology. "You were a child, Taigen. A fucking brat, but a child, nonetheless. I've thought a lot about that night. If you hadn't chased me up that cliff, maybe I would have never met Swordfather."
Taigen slowly smirked. "Are you saying you owe your greatness to me?"
Mizu rolled her eyes and continued eating.