Mizu indou

By Frost Wright

The journey was over. The three of them had traveled all across Japan only to nearly loose their lives to a cause of a girl who was just growing up. To think, it had all been her trick to drag them along like bodyguards, to ensure her safe delivery to her doom. Had it not been for him, she would have been sleeping underneath the folds of the earth with her father. Jin was a man of his word, and while he offered his protection of the girl, he had never taken it seriously up until a few weeks ago. Funny, he had almost lost his life three times before fate had finally pulled its hand away from his neck and allowed him to live a little while longer. Whether it had been luck or not, the young samurai had outlived the obstacles that came at him.

Now that all the challenges were gone, Jin wasn't sure what to do with himself. It had been so long since he was allowed to do anything of his free will, and while he had a feeling of what he desired to do, he had put it off for quite some time. Mugen was long gone to own devices, and Fuu had hopefully found a nice stable place to settle down and re-start her life. They all had plans, even him.

He was just too early to complete his task.

Jin had traveled back the way he came, catching sight of all the recreation around him. He hadn't noticed all the trouble Mugen and himself had caused, though at least nothing was completely obliterated. It wasn't their fault that they had a promise to keep, if they wanted anyone to blame, it was Fuu, whom had headed north and away from the places she had visited. Still, it was nice to not have to fight over food or who got what money over the small oddball jobs they did. There wasn't any need to support two other people, and surviving by yourself wasn't too much of a bad thing. It was just lonely.

Not that he had denied any form of comradely, he understood the meaning of friendship, and that it came at the most unexpected times. He knew that already from the moment he had stepped into that small rainy village. Friendship, even love was easily attainable when you least expected it. It was just painful when you lost it.

Standing afoot of an old dirt road was the tall thin young man. His head was canted back and his lips were parted a degree to take a taste of the wind. It was clean and crisp; much like it had been the they him and his companions had first entered it. At the time it had been raining and Fuu was complaining that if she didn't get something to eat that she would fall over. There had been word that this town had an underground gambling routine going on, and like usual, Mugen seemed interested in quick and easy money. Now it seemed like the town had cleaned up a bit, as the few words he had gotten from passing peddlers was that it had been snuffed out by the shogunate, and that even the brothels had been dispersed.

Sure, they had gone under once he had done all of the work to save just one woman.

Jin had entered the town before hand to recall a few faded memories in regards to his short time in the town. He had never really believed that he would allow himself to fall for anyone. Of course it was when he was passing by a whorehouse is when he would drift into the insecurity known as affection. She had been such a strong woman, even when he had first met her. Shino, the fancy in his most secretive thoughts. It made him wonder if she would have lived a normal life had she stayed in the brothel while he went on with his journey. It was gone now by the looks of the small restaurant that stood in the buildings place. Or would she have been in the hands of her toothless husband, being pawned off for more shillings of money. He had been glad he saved her, and while the last he saw of the woman was a brief glance through a lake of fog, he had the will the return to her. Three years in a monastery for a purification process. Sure, it was a typical quarantine and training process to make her one of the temple attendants, and after she was done, she had the option of continuing her enlightenment or leaving for less 'religious' matters.

It had only been a few months since then, six or maybe seven at best. Jin hadn't realized that time didn't drift by as fast he thought it would, and that here he was waiting for someone who still had years before she was allowed to leave the grounds. He had wandered the calm streets in quiet thought, wondering if she would even remember him, or that his affection had turned into something more vile. It wasn't an obsession, could it?

Jin had found the streets that eventually turned to paths, and while his thoughts wandered he found himself peeking over a murky waterway. It had at one time been a massive river that the town often survived on, now it just seemed like a canal that most traders used for easy way of travel. No one ever ventured off pass the peninsula, where they knew that the monastery lay. It was a huge establishment that anyone could see its towering architecture from miles away. She was there, somewhere. It wasn't his right to intervene, or to even snag her away from the place she had probably grown so fond of. It wasn't like him to do something like that.

"Are you alright there, young man?" An old yet firm voice called off to the samurai's right. It was enough to drift him from his thoughts and to slide his gaze into his direction. He was a small man who was perched onto a small boat. He had been shipping cargo as he could see from the empty crates that sat still behind him. Jin hadn't provided any form of reply other then a nod before looking back out to the water. He had never been a man to converse without reason.

" You don't look like you're fine, are you searching for something?"

Apparently the old coot had a reason.

" I was, until I found it." He blinked back from the temple finally and restored his full attention to the small feeble man whom had hopped off the boat and took its snout before dragging it onto the shore beside the small dock. He had an old fashioned sakkat over his brow to hide away the sun, though judging the day's progression; it was due to be nightfall in a few hours.

" Let me guess, ya lost it. Young folks these days… you can read em' like a book." After securing the vessel, had had gone to stepping towards the samurai, his lips parting into a wrinkled grin. Jin had taken note of his words, and forced a small smile underneath a few hiding strands of black hair. The old may be strange, but they were often wise.

" Perhaps. Though I wouldn't call it lost." He shifted away from the waters edge and offered a simple regarding to the man that was there. Once each had gotten a good look at one another, the elderly fisherman blinked and tipped back the edge of his rice hat.

" You look awfully familiar. Did you used to wear glasses?"

The fact that the old man spotted something that he hadn't worn in over three months, Jin took him a bit more seriously and gave another nod, " I did."

" Ha! I knew it. You're one of the fella's that caused a ruckus in our village a long time ago. There were wanted posters up everywhere-that is, until the shogunate showed up and turned our town around." The old man had turned off by that point and waved off a hand for him to follow. While Jin had the inclination to stare at the water and think for the next few hours, his foot took to following after him.

" So your village is officially owned now…" The young samurai had never liked officials much, as he felt that an establishment could take care of itself without having a high and might emperor watching over and waving his hand over the land saying it was all his. Anyone could do that; it was just whether or not they had the authority and the money.

" Ohh, I wouldn't call it owned, we're under protection. I know how you ronin folk work, so I won't bother yapping about how much the town has changed since you and your friends were last here. By the way, where are they?"

" We went our separate ways." It was a simple enough answer, all that an old man needed to know.

" Ohh, so your adventure ended and you decided to come back here?"

The question made the samurai pause in his steps a moment. He had came back here for several reasons, " I'm just passing through." There was no need to stay any longer then necessary; she had her own life now. Still, the response made the old man gurgle out a small refrained laugh and had started up a small dirt path.

"That's not what your eyes say. Maybe you should go back to hiding behind those specs you had earlier."

That made Jin frown, though he only continued in following the fish merchant up the path, having noticed there was a small cabin not too far up the road. It must be where he lived. Still, the lack of response made another laugh from the old man, " You sure are accepting, huh? Aren't you going to ask where I've seen you before?"

" You said you were in the town when everything happened." Even if he hadn't seen him personally, not too many people could afford glasses, much let alone cause as big of a ruckus as he did. Even a wanted ad would show something of that sort.

" Nope, I wasn't, I was asleep in my cabin until you and your girl ran off with my boat." They had been a few feet from the small establishment when folded wrinkled eyes slid back to where the samurai had been. Jin had looked on edge for a moment, mostly because he hadn't thought of anything when he darted down to the shore with Shino. The boat as there and that was all that he needed. He didn't take into consideration on whose boat that was.

" I'm sorry-" He had started an apology, but the old man started up into another gargle of laughter, a hand having gone to untie the strap that kept the had to his head.

" The whole town went running down to the shore at that point, how could an old man like me sleep? I got there just in time to see you cuttin' up a few poor souls and watch my boat and –your- woman sail off into the distance." The hat had been removed to reveal a balding head with a few spouts of graying hair. Perfect or a man who had more sloth features then human.

" I hadn't thought of who-" Jin hadn't gotten to finish his second statement, as the old man cut in and went to chatting once more, " Well-I got it back, didn't I? So no need for explanations. I know why ya did it, which is why I didn't go chasing after you with my walking stick, " he was cocky, too, " Any who, don't you want to know how I got it back?"

It took a considerable amount of time to wonder if the ramblings of a lonely fishermen were worth hearing, though his instincts drove him to nod carefully.

" Well good, because I was gonna tell ya anyway! Now lets head inside and I can make us some tea. You look like you haven't eaten in a week." Sad, but he hadn't been that far off. Without any real form of a job, Jin hadn't much to get by with. So the opportunity of having something to drink was enough to tolerate story time from a man who was three times his age. The cabin held something of a small yet cozy appearance, with walls that were painted a dull red and the wooden floors had a few fur rugs thrown here or there, it wasn't so painful to the eyes. In fact, it was rather nice.

" Go on, take a seat and I'll be there in a minute, just gotta put the kettle over the fire." There had been a large stone fireplace set to the side. It was something he hadn't seen of that style before, and had only blamed it on western cultures. They were invading everything now days, as if they didn't have enough land of their own to play in. Still, the young man had taken a seat by one of the rugs and tugged at his sword to lay down beside him. He hadn't a whole lot of reason to worry, unless there was a group of assassins that blended into the walls of the building waiting to ambush him. Then again, one could ever be too cautious. Once the feeble merchant had settled things to get ready for tea, he had flopped down by the samurai, having cast his hat off to where a small bed matt was placed.

" Well, it's a funny thing actually.. I know a lot of the monks that work at the temple up on the hill. I often go and get them rations from the market place back in the village, and I couldn't do it because I didn't have ma' boat! I was pondering swimming my way across when one of the workers was wandering back with it. Imagine that, lucky day for me!" It seemed like it was turning into a typical story that didn't hold too much significance, but Jin's patience remained and he kept listening regardless.

" Anyway, he came back with a mighty fine story himself. He had said that the night before that they all got woken up by a pretty young woman who beggin' to be admitted. Sound familiar?" The old man leaned over a bit, his lips pulling into another wrinkled grin. That had gotten Jin's attention, and for a moment, his nerves twitched. Was she not okay? " Yes." He said quickly enough, hoping that the old man would continue.

" Well, she caused one heck of a racket, and if it wasn't for the woman's strong will, she would have been on that boat ride back and then sent to that brothel again. She became a rather nice pupil there once she got a hold of how to work everything. I've have a few talks with her, and if you want to get technical, she apologized for the boat stealing a long time ago." The old man had tilted his head back in another fit of laughter. The story did seem to put the samurai's mind at ease, even though it only had confirmed his beliefs in not interfering.

The kettle had started in a low whine and the elderly man had risen up from his perched spot, pulling it from the fire before it's cry got any louder. Once it was settled onto what seemed like a tiny counter top, the old man had gone to pulling a few glossed clay cups, " So what's with all the silence? You sound like death warmed over and your holding your breath waiting for him to leave. You're a poor kid, aren't ya?" He had pulled a small sack from a roped loop and pulled out a few tealeaves, having deposited them into the cups before pouring the water.

" I was going to work for my lodgings in the village." Jin had thought it was possible to do just that before going on his way. Though it seemed the old man had a plan, as he could get the odd grin on his face as he came back with the tea and offered it out.

" Why don't I give you lodgings and you can help an old man fish and carry cargo back and forth for a while? If you need the money, I'll split what we get."

Jin had taken the tea and bowed his head before looking down towards the clear contents. He had offered him a job, and while it was tempting, he wasn't sure whether or not to accept, " .. Thank you, but I don't intend on staying here for long.." He gradually sipped the liquid, only to take sight of the man's sour face.

" Just passin' through, right? Well I think you should reconsider. It's not every day a man looses what matters most to him and gets another chance to take it back. Take it from an old lonely boatman. When you loose something and can't get it back, it's something that will never leave you. No matter how strong a heart is.. it will always be there, lurking behind you." He did however sit back down to drink his own tea, allowing the moment of silence to drift between them.

He had a point.

" Why do you want to help me?" It seemed so unlikely for a man who knew nothing about him would be so willing to offer a hand to bridging together a broken past. It wasn't normal.

" ..Cus' I lost what was precious to me a long time ago. You're still young, and have a chance. Besides, when a pretty young woman asks me of something, I can't say no." He had finished his drink with a large gulp and started off in another chuckle, having gone to set his cup off to the side. The comment had left the young samurai in careful thought. There had been the possibility that she remembered and willed him to return, though what was factual and what was rickety about his story is what made him wonder.

"What's your name?"

" Bashi. So that means you'll help an old fool? What's you're name anyway?" The fisherman offered a large toothy grin back into his direction, having gotten up to his feet and offered out a small cracked hand. It was odd, to consider it helping him, while Jin was the one who was receiving aid. If it meant passing the time for her release, it was at least something for him to do.

The young swordsman had set his own cup to the side and stood slowly enough, offering out a hand towards the man and having clasped them together in a firm shake. Odd, for a man of his age, he had a good grip.

" Jin."