A new chapter!
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I disclaim, and own nothing.
It was the third day after they'd docked in Tokyo Bay, and Alfred had yet to see the Emperor.
Not that he expected to meet him, but he'd expected the man to at least come out to the ships. Alfred knew Perry had letters to give him that the Japanese leader was evidently able to collect, because the Commodore was holing himself up in his office, refusing to speak with the Japanese delegates who had been sent, saying he would meet only with the Emperor himself.
Can't fault the man for getting straight to the point, Alfred thought. He sat in what had become his usual spot on the deck, a slightly elevated level that overlooked the main space of the ship. Currently, the Marines were exercising in battle station positions, as they had every day since their arrival in Japan.
Meanwhile, out in the water, another group of Japanese guard ships was herded away from the Mississippi by the ever-vigilant American sailors. The locals were also prohibited from visiting, something Perry had made quite clear the first time they'd tried. Gifts sent by the Japanese officials were rejected, the Commodore refused requests to relocate to Nagasaki (the previously designated foreign port), and the Japanese could to absolutely nothing about it, because the Americans were armed to the teeth.
All in all, Alfred was growing bored of Perry's brand of diplomacy. But Charlie, with his wealth of random knowledge picked up in school, had mentioned something far more interesting shortly after their arrival:
"Whales."
"What?"
"Y'know, great big blue fish that're really mammals," Charlie said, before pointing to something out in the water. "Those."
Alfred squinted, then wiped his glasses to clean them of saltwater in hopes of seeing clearer. "Those grey lumps out there?"
"Yep. I'm pretty sure they're why we're here."
"I thought we were here for diplomacy?" Alfred asked, brow furrowing, still squinting into the distance.
"That too, but the diplomacy's really just a cover for our whale-hunting agenda. I think they use them to make oil and corsets." Charlie shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to me either way, but it's pretty important to the politicians."
"That's not very friendly."
"You think?" Charlie laughed, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We show up an arsenal fifty times the size of theirs practically invading their country, our leader pouts in his office because he can't see the Emperor, and we lead parades of all things—"
"No, I mean to the whales."
Charlie stopped. "The… whales?"
"It's not very nice to go around killing them for oil and corsets," Alfred continued, frowning. Suddenly, he brightened. "I know! I'll make friends with them! Then they'll know we're not all out to get them!"
Sputtering, Charlie couldn't do much more than gape. "Make friends—with whales? Are you completely crackers, Alfred?"
"I don't think so, but I once met this girl in San Francisco who claimed she could speak Humpback, and everyone thought she was."
Charlie shook his head and walked away, muttering about sharpest knives and loony bins, and missed it as one of the grey lumps in the distance suddenly flipped into the air, making a tremendous splash and looking surprisingly graceful for such a big thing. Alfred whooped, and spent the rest of the day thinking about his new quest.
_V~-~-~V_
"They aren't leaving, Honda. Why aren't they leaving?!"
"I do not know. Perhaps they are not as accepting of our compromise as we thought they would be."
The Emperor of Japan stalked back and forth across the wooden floorboards, as Kiku kneeled in what seemed like relative calm. Two of the princes sat nearby, shrinking away as their father grew angrier.
"This is my country, mine! And if I don't wish for foreigners to come in, wrecking my forefathers' system with their ideology and fancy things, they'd best stay out!"
"I do not think they will." Kiku was at a loss, his best Japanese stalling techniques failing in the face of the American military. "Perhaps it would be more beneficial to just accept their request to meet you."
"They do have a great many guns," piped up one of the princes, Toda.
"I know they have guns!" the Emperor spat. "The question is what to do when faced with them, and we will not balk! Where is your samurai courage and honor?" he asked, directing his wrath at his son.
"Honor aside, if they start shooting at the port, we would be powerless to stop them, and many men would die trying to defend the country," the other prince, Ido, added. The current restless state of the populace went unmentioned.
The Emperor seemed to contemplate that for a moment, then deflated slightly. "Fine." Turning to one of the servants who was always ready in the corner of the room, he ordered, "A special building is to be swiftly constructed to receive these foreigners. I intend to listen to their demands, but they will not roam Edo unchecked."
Then facing his two sons, he declared, "You both will take the Imperial barge out to meet these foreign military men and arrange such a meeting. Leave immediately." The princes hastened to their feet and bowed their way out of the room.
Finally, he addressed Kiku. "You dealt with the Englishmen and the Dutchmen when they came in the past, correct?" Kiku nodded mutely. "Excellent. You will now be coming with me, to deal with these Americans."
_V~-~-~V_
When the royal barge appeared, Alfred had expected to finally see the Emperor, but got two princes instead. Apparently, this was enough for Perry, and he had finally agreed to leave his cabin for such an exchange.
Alfred found the meeting itself rather dull, an awful lot of pomp, circumstance, and even a special pavilion just so Perry could deliver President Fillmore's letters to the princes, who then promised to take them to the Emperor.
"The letters are not treaties, but avowals of friendship," the Commodore had said, which was then translated by nervous Japanese man (who'd learned his English secondhand from another Japanese man, who'd first learned it from the Dutch). "Seeing as you will be departing from age-old custom if you see it fit to eventually draft a treaty, I am willing to give you until spring to reach a decision, which I believe is sufficient time."
The Japanese delegates had nodded, listened to a few more broken translations of Perry, and then politely asked the Americans to leave as soon as possible.
But Perry was stubborn. "I leave on no terms but my own," he'd announced to the American fleet, and had waited three days more, while completing hydrographic surveys of the Japanese coast.
Currently, the ships were anchored back in Hong Kong for the winter, a place warmer than even California, and still Perry worried.
Alfred had come to his cabin at his request, and wondered if it was in his list of stewardly duties to listen to his commanding officer worry and complain out loud. He glanced at the large clock that somehow Perry had gotten on board, past all military regulations. An hour and sixteen minutes and counting.
The man was surely gunning for Lucretia's record.
"—and remember that news we received back in November? The Russians were visiting Nagasaki! And as for the French, I saw their frigate leave myself from this very harbor bound for Japan, the nerve of them! And 'sealed orders,' my great-aunt's left big toe! They were just trying to keep it secret that they wanted to get a treaty with Tokyo before I do, those snail-eating frogs…"
"Y'know," Alfred cut in, finally irritated enough to go against military regulations himself, "most countries run their diplomacy under 'sealed orders' because that's how you get things done without other countries mucking about in your business. And the Japanese don't like the Russians, you said so yourself twenty minutes ago, so the chances of anything happening there are smaller than your great-aunt's left big toe."
Perry paused in his pacing. "Yes… I suppose you're right. But!" he resumed his pacing, this time it more purposeful. "We will still leave earlier than planned, yes, mid-January sound nice. That way we can make a side trip to Okinawa with time to spare before we reach Tokyo… a bit earlier than we are expected, but no matter. Yes, this should do nicely, thank you Jones," he said dismissively, and paced himself straight out of his office.
Alfred sighed and followed suit, intent on finding Charlie, even if he'd holed himself up in the cold storage again because the heat was "downright godawful."
_V~-~-~V_
Kiku had been nervously waiting for a good half-hour when the American military men arrived, promptly on time and dressed in their fancy uniforms as always. Of course, he too wore his nicer robes, but this, not to mention the guns, set a whole new standard of assertiveness that Kiku's moderate sensibilities did not approve of at all.
There were guards outside too, he could hear them clanking about, the nasal consonants of their loud English grating on his ears. He'd learned to speak it long ago, of course, but thought himself rather out of practice. Hiding in a blanket fort could do that to a person.
One of the men before him he recognized as Commodore Perry by the number of little trinkets on his chest and the way his upturned collar seemed to be suffocating his cheeks, just like the princes had said. The other trinket-wearing military men were clearly his associates of some sort.
But there were two who confused Kiku. Young and blond, without the pervasive air of stuffiness that the others had, one sat just to the side of Perry himself, blue eyes unfocused as if he was not particularly concerned with the momentous occasion of the day. The other was also blond, but with dark eyes, and he was positively scowling.
Kiku placed a comforting hand on the translator's shoulder as the man trembled beside him, and they waited for the American to speak.
"We thank you for agreeing to meet with us, and hope you've reached a conclusion," the man said, which the translator repeated in Japanese. He continued on for a few more minutes, even mentioning the French and Russians who had visited a few months prior, and looked relieved when the translator assured him that they'd been denied access to the island.
Finally, he reached the meat of the matter. "Steward, please list the benefits of trade for these fine delegates, and the reasons for our arrival."
He looked at the young blond man, but he was staring into space. "Steward," he said, a bit more sharply this time. The younger started.
"Yessir?"
"The list of benefits and reasons?" Perry made a little go on now gesture. The young man grinned.
"Oh, right!" He looked straight at Kiku, choosing to fix him with those too-blue eyes as he spoke. "The world is a really amazing place, you see! Ever since I started traveling, every day's been exciting, really, with so many people and cultures and all that to explore, and you're missing all that by keeping your country closed!"
"And the reasons?" Perry asked, rather pointedly.
"We've come to make friends with your whales!" the steward exclaimed. The other young man elbowed him sharply, and Kiku could have sworn he heard a hissed, "Alfred!"
"A-and," he continued, looking sheepish, "we also want the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to be opened for American supply and coal stops, we want a nice embassy built in Shimoda, we want you to trade with us at the ports we agree on, we want you to assist shipwrecked American sailors and return them to the proper American officials, and we want American sailors to be free to move about in the treaty ports, so no arresting them or anything, because they're our citizens and not yours. And also whaling rights."
He finished this practiced speech with a dazzling grin, but Kiku didn't really notice as the weight of the demands impressed themselves on him. The translator finished slowly, as if he too couldn't believe the sheer audacity of the Americans to ask so much, in exchange for so little.
"Are they mad?" one of the senior delegates asked, incredulously.
"Go home," Kiku replied flatly.
The translator, good as he was, gave a nervous grin. "It's lovely to have grand hopes and dreams, but please pursue them in your own country. Japan is not yet ready at this time."
"Try the Japanese diversion tactic," Kiku whispered to the translator.
The man nodded. "This esteemed delegate wishes us to put this discussion aside for a moment. Would you like some tea?"
"Oh, I've never had Japanese tea before!" the blue-eyed American exclaimed, but his friend again elbowed him. "A-actually, I believe this discussion does need to be continued, tea can wait."
But the discussions didn't get any farther that day. The Americans continued insisting that the Japanese agree, while Kiku and his delegates insisted that tea was a wonderful beverage, and that the rock garden out back was truly too beautiful to miss.
Kiku would have also consulted the Emperor on this manner, but Mito grumpily informed him that he was leading another prayer session at the Imperial Court. Aizu then tried to convince Kiku to drop the obstructionist tactics, causing Mito to mutter something about driving the Americans out instead, which led to an argument that didn't stop until Osaka had shown up and dragged them off.
As it was, Kiku just wanted to go back to his blankets and quiet house in Kyoto, but that future seemed more and more unlikely.
_V~-~-~V_
Twenty-two days and counting had passed since their return to Japan, and still no agreement had been reached. Alfred had given up after the first week, after finding that the meetings were taking up the time he wanted for his personal quest.
And it was on the twenty-third day that Charlie found him standing on the edge of a dock, with a whale not more than a few feet away.
He stopped and stared, not willing to get any closer to the frankly massive creature. "What are you doing? And what is that doing?"
"Hey Charlie!" Alfred exclaimed. "I made friends with a whale!"
Charlie sputtered, "You… you actually did it? Befriended a whale?"
"Yep! I tried imitating that girl I was telling you about from San Francisco, and it was pretty difficult, but I think he likes me now!" He paused for a moment, glancing at the animal. "I think I'll name him Whale."
"How original," Charlie replied, rather faintly.
"Thanks!"
Charlie rolled his eyes, then stopped, glancing out across the water instead. "You know… if you really wanted friends so badly… I kind of already am one of yours, at least, I like to consider myself your friend… and I know I can be nasty sometimes, but maybe I could at least…?"
A soldier arrived at just that moment, stopping his run abruptly and standing ramrod-straight. "Mr. Jones, Mr. Wetherby! Commodore Perry had just concluded negotiations, and commands your presence for the signing of the treaty!"
Alfred glanced at Charlie, then back at the approaching soldier, his glasses glinting in the morning sun. "We'll be right there!"
Turning back to Charlie, he grinned. "That's a nice idea and all Charlie, but… nah!" Alfred exclaimed, then took off after the soldier.
"Bastard!" Charlie called after him, before breaking into a run to follow.
"After all," Alfred yelled, as if he hadn't heard, "you're practically my nephew or something! We're already automatically friends!"
Charlie couldn't stop himself as the scowl melted off his face, replaced with a tiny smile. "Bastard," he repeated, but quieter and with no venom. Then he thought about the whole statement. "Wait, Alfred! Why am I the nephew when we're the same age?! You've no seniority at all!"
_V~-~-~V_
The expedition lingered for a few months after Perry finished negotiations, mainly to figure out the particulars and precise regulations that the agreement entailed. Meanwhile, he'd put Alfred in charge of gifts, who he was to distribute to a Kiku Honda and anyone with him.
He'd met Kiku Honda privately, and the Japanese man had looked surprised when Alfred had announced his name, but had hidden it so quickly under a mask of politeness that Alfred was altogether unsure that he'd seen it at all. Regardless, he felt a bit like a street vendor as he displayed the gifts.
"And these," he declared, holding up a mesh bag, "are potatoes. Easy to grow, keep through the winter, and edible in almost everything!"
There was a collective noise of acknowledgement from the knot of delegates around him. Behind them, Charlie was teaching members of the Imperial Court how to operate a miniature locomotive on a track, and various others were poking curiously at a telegraph, farming implements, stoves, and a telescope. One of the princes was even flipping through a copy of Birds of America.
"And this," Alfred continued, "is tea. You've already got that, of course, but maybe you've never tasted American tea."
"More like European, really," Charlie interjected, his job with the locomotive complete judging by the court member currently making his way around the tracks on top of it, ceremonial robes trailing behind him.
The man Alfred had been introduced to as Kiku Honda made his way forward. "We too have gifts to present," he announced through a translator, and soon the American delegates were all crowding around samples of Japanese food, handicrafts, silk, and porcelain.
Alfred snapped open one of the Japanese umbrellas, twirling it over his head. Charlie poked it, and announced his surprise that it wasn't made of cloth. "You think those slats would let the water through," he wondered aloud.
The Japanese had become considerably friendlier once the agreements were made, and once okayed by the government, even the citizens grew more enthusiastic.
All told, Alfred was rather reluctant to leave the country and Whale behind, but Perry had begun to look a bit under the weather from all the stress, and they were supposed to leave for Hong Kong any day.
It was early summer of 1854 when the expedition finally departed, bound first for Okinawa and then for the east coast of America.
_V~-~-~V_
Honda Kiku was exhausted. "One does not simply get used to all of these visitors after living so long alone," he confided in Osaka, before attempting to retire once more to the comfort of his dimly lit room and warm blankets.
But it seemed like no sooner than he had gotten comfortable that Osaka arrived at his door again.
"Another delegation is here, Honda-san."
"Americans again?" While Kiku hadn't much liked the excitement (he was getting too old for such things, after all), the Americans had turned out to be nice enough, once they got what they wanted.
"No, Honda-san."
"Then send them away."
"I'm sorry, Honda-san, but they simply won't go until they receive a treaty like the Americans."
"Who are they, then?" he asked, extracting himself from his bed and donning nicer clothes.
"The Russians, Honda-san."
Kiku could hear the grimace in Osaka's voice, but all he could think of was the intimidating representation of an empire who was sure to be at his door.
"Is there a tall man wearing a scarf among them?"
"I believe that Russia-san has indeed returned."
Spirit deflating, Kiku pushed open the sliding door and made his way to the receiving hall, Osaka trailing behind him.
And there he was, standing immediately as Kiku entered, rising to his full height, violet eyes twinkling in that sweetly sinister fashion that so few could come close to imitating.
"Privyet, Mister Honda. It is a pleasure to see you again. You see, I heard that you gave little Matthew a treaty, and I cannot let him have all the fun, yes?"
_V~-~-~V_
They were nearly home when Alfred first noticed that something was wrong.
He'd been feeling slightly ill lately, but attributed it to not having been at sea for a while, but it had persisted, a nauseous feeling growing in his stomach that refused to go away no matter how much fresh air Charlie advised him to inhale.
And now, just below the angry burn scar that still knotted over his heart, was a faint pink line, broken in places, but stretching resolutely straight across his stomach.
It had been growing in intensity recently, and Alfred could no longer just assume it was from sleeping awkwardly or a bad mattress spring.
He just hoped it was nothing serious, even as a tickle of foreboding began to grow in the back of his mind, slowly itching its way forward as they drew closer and closer to home.
V/~-~-~\V
Whew! Another slightly-longer-than-average chapter, as a double thank-you for all of your kind wishes!
History, as always:
Perry basically put himself in isolation, refusing to see anyone but the Emperor, and turning away all delegates, gifts, and polite requests to remove himself from Japanese waters. But while doing that, he also had the Marines practice at battle stations every day, as a sort of hey-look-we've-got-all-these-guns kind of intimidation.
The Americans used whale oil in candles and whale bone for corsets, and they'd basically depleted their own whale population to next to nothing, so they went after Japan's instead. They also wanted all of the things mentioned, and the demands (after years of not listening to anyone) were rather unbelievable for the Japanese.
The two princes really did initiate the meeting, and a special building was built for the presentation of President Millard Fillmore's (whose birthday is also January 7th, by the way) letters of friendship and list of benefits that trade with the US would offer, in which he basically ordered the Japanese to give in or they would be shot.
The Americans did give the Japanese a few months break of them while they stayed in Hong Kong, but returned sooner than expected when news of France and Russia arrived. Neither of those countries was given access to the country at that time.
The negotiations between Kiku and Alfred, as well as the whale scene, are basically canon, with a few of my own additions, so credit to the amazing Himaruya for those scenes.
Mito and Aizu are two Japanese clans who have personifications in canon as well. In the time of the Shogunate, they functioned rather like American states do now, except without the democracy.
The gifts given by both sides are all real, as is the account of members of the Imperial Court riding around on the miniature locomotive.
Commodore Perry did take ill on the return journey. He was known to suffer from severe arthritis, and died in 1858 of rheumatism that had spread to the heart, as well as complications of gout.
Quite soon after the Americans left, the Russians immediately also used intimidation to get their own treaty with Japan. France was flat-out refused in their second attempt.
And if any of you caught both of the small Finding Nemo and Lord of the Rings references, I will bake you a metaphorical cookie.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter, I (honestly and truly this time) promise the prelude to the American Civil War will arrive. I hope you enjoyed seeing Japan, Russia, and China, because they won't be involved for a while as the focus of this story narrows again.
Thank you all for reading, and as always, if you've any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to review!