Mizu

**Mizu** is the main protagonist in the Netflix series, *Blue Eye Samurai*, who is voiced by Maya Erskine. The titular blue-eyed samurai, she is a half-Japanese, half-European sword-master who has sworn herself to a quest of vengeance.

## Biography

#### First Years

Mizu was born in Japan around 1637-38 to a Japanese woman who was raped by a white Western trader. There were only four such men in Japan at the time of her birth, and all Westerners had officially been forbidden from entering the country since 1633. Due to being seen as a half-breed monster or demon for her heritage, Mizu has usually concealed her blue eyes with a mask, wide-brimmed hat or tinted glasses, though she does not need them to aid her vision.

Shortly after her birth, Mizu was targeted by an assassination attempt, which claimed her mother's life instead. She was given to a maid, who posed as her mother, by an unknown individual, and taken into hiding at the fishing village of Kohama. As a child, she lived with her 'mother' in a hut at the edge of the village, forbidden to go out or the 'bad men' would find her. Though they had moments of warmth, her 'mother' became Increasingly addicted to opium at the brothel she worked at, hitting and reprimanding Mizu if she even went near the windows. She eventually shaved Mizu's head to make her resemble a boy, since she claimed the 'bad men' would be looking for a girl.

One day while her 'mother' was in a drugged stupor, Mizu ventured out and encountered several local children, who were frightened by her unusual appearance; her more rounded blue eyes were usually only depicted in *oni* or other dangerous supernatural beings in Japanese folklore. Soon after, her hut was set aflame; she escaped, but having heard her 'mother' screaming and unable to find her afterward, assumed she was dead. Although she made a grave marker for her 'mother' and swore to avenge her even if it cost her life, Mizu was left with no options but to scavenge the refuse-heaps and gutters of Kohama to stay alive, hiding her eyes behind a makeshift mask and growing her hair back. The town children, led by Taigen, mercilessly bullied her, eventually chasing her to a cliff's edge during a rainstorm and tearing off the mask, comparing her eyes to a dog's and calling her 'mother' a whore who killed herself for bedding a "white devil". When she unexpectedly lashed out in response to their cruelty and fought them, Taigen prepared to bash her head with a rock, but he and the others were suddenly frightened off by a meteorite that crashed into the cliff nearby.

#### Meeting a Mentor

Later that night, the blind sword-smith Eiji arrived to collect the metal ore within the meteorite. Noticing his struggles to retrieve it, Mizu helped him dig it out and cart it back to his forge, where he gave her a meal. When she claimed she had somewhere to go, he dismissed her; Mizu started to leave, but then snuck back into a corner of the forge, deciding to shelter from the rain and her tormentors a little longer. When she remained in the morning, Eiji began indirectly giving her a few preparational tasks around the forge, then suggested she hammer out the impurities in a piece of white-hot steel, keeping time with his tongs. Though tapping her (lightly) on the head with his tongs whenever she made a mistake, he gradually encouraged more of her involvement in sword-crafting, giving her life a sense of structure, shelter and skills she had lacked before.

Mizu proved a quick, observant learner, and Eiji increasingly confided the subtleties of the art of swordmaking to her, telling her a sword was the soul of the samurai and that its' edge was the difference between life and death. Over the years, she became Eiji's trusted apprentice and he her foster parent, with her referring to him honorifically as "Swordfather." He emphasized to her the importance of not making steel too "pure" and hard, or it would become brittle; thus, some "impurity" would always be needed at the center. When Mizu began forging kitchen knives on her own but soon became discouraged, he teasingly told her to perfecting her skills by making 1,000 kitchen knives until she was ready to make a sword. He told her "a smith signs his name", but Mizu chose to engrave her blades with the same insignia as her master.

Mizu didn't reveal her mixed heritage or her real gender to Eiji, fearing he would reject her. She also noted that, despite his decades of experience, he was unable to work the meteorite ore into proper sword-making metal, to his frustration.

Eiji wasn't the only one she observed, however. Whenever a client samurai came to him seeking a blade, Eiji would have them demonstrate all aspects of their particular combat style, so he could match the sword to the man; Mizu would watch them from the edge of the hut, fascinated by the weapons' precision and power. At night, she attempted to imitate their movements, teaching herself a vast range of sword-fighting styles and blending them to her advantage.

When she was reaching adolescence, Eiji caught her practicing, to which she responded that she must become the world's greatest swordsman. When he asked why, Mizu revealed her half-white heritage (describing herself shamefully as "made of mixed metal" and "a monster"). Having learned that there were only four white men in Japan at the time of her birth, she was determined to avenge her 'mother' by killing her unknown father. Eiji reminded her that "the strongest sword is a *blend* of steel" implying he had already guessed her status as a social outcast and did not care, and stated that even if she might be something shameful, she might also be strong. He told her she could continue to practice by night.

One day a man named Chiaki arrived, asking Eiji to forge him a sword; he claimed his father was a bookbinder who'd been slain by a drunk *ronin*, and Chiaki wished to avenge him, claiming he would at least have a chance with one of Master Eiji's blades, even if it cost him his own life. Eiji agreed to forge a sword, but later stated to Mizu that Chiaki was hiding something.

When he saw Mizu practicing with a bamboo rod behind Eiji's forge-house, Chiaki gave her some basic instructions in sword handling, breathing and footwork- but then used his superior size and skill to undermine them and beat her, mocking her as a 'soft' half-breed. Demoralized, Mizu later noted how her body was changing due to puberty. She began binding her breasts painfully flat with *sarashi* to further disguise herself as a man, recognizing that, even with her mixed heritage hidden, her social status as a woman would greatly limit her options. Frustrated over her slow progress with swords, she forged weights to tie around her forearms and calves, to strengthen her limbs and accustom herself to the weapon's heaviness.

Chiaki's sword was well-crafted but ultimately broke before it was presented to him. When Mizu blamed herself for the failure (having carried out most of the forging process while her emotions were in a turmoil) Chiaki struck her, only for Eiji to catch his wrist. Having felt Chiaki's hand, Eiji sternly stated that he was no book-binder but an assassin. Chiaki's angry mood suddenly became smug and amused as he confirmed the blind man's words. He took the broken blade, eager to be known as "Blood-soaked Chiaki who carries Master Eiji's broken blade". Eiji dismissed Mizu's rage over Chiaki's disrespect of her master, saying, "a soul like that is drowned in blood."

A few years later, now reaching young adulthood, Mizu had perfected her sword-fighting skills, and told Eiji that she would begin her quest. Despite his protests (fearful she would get herself killed) she insisted she was ready, adding that she could never repay his years of kindness to her. She attempted to reveal her gender and apologize for making his blades "unclean" (women touching blades would supposedly 'sully' them in some eyes), insisting she could not part with him on a lie. However, Eiji cut her off (possibly implying he had already guessed she was female) and sent her on her way, though telling her to take one of his swords if she had to. Mizu responded that she already had one, and drew a beautifully crafted blue-steel *katana*. When she rang the edge against the forge-stones, Eiji recognized the sound and immediately realized *she* had managed to shape the meteorite into crafting metal, succeeding where he had not. Mizu bade him farewell and departed.

#### Love and Betrayal

Mizu at first tried to be diplomatic in her search for the white men. She located a nearby black market and attempted to pay for information (having earned her share of money while serving Eiji), but despite her male disguise, she had forgotten to conceal her eyes; her unusual appearance and dangerous questions quickly drew hostility from the traders. Mizu protested that she was not there for trouble, but being unused to actual combat despite her training, she was beaten, stabbed in the side and thrown out. Weakening from loss of blood, she staggered through the forest, as passersby ignored her requests for help. Stumbling to a bridge among a *sakura* grove, Mizu encountered a group of well-dressed prostitutes/courtesans who were slightly kinder to her. She instinctively approached the last one, only to receive a shock when she turned around, revealing herself as Mizu's 'mother'. Although she quickly recognized and acknowledged her, Mizu fainted from exhaustion and blood-loss.

She later awakened in a hut, where her 'mother' (sporting healed burns on her neck and jaw that had been hidden by makeup) fed her and attended to her wound. She explained she had fled after the fire, claiming that she knew Mizu would be better off on her own (being harder for her enemies to track), but that the gods had led them back together. While happy to see her again, Mizu noted her 'mother' was still addicted to opium (which she referred to as "medicine for my headaches") and tried to dissuade her from the brothel lifestyle, saying she'd earned her own money.

Her need for vengeance diluted, Mizu abandoned her male clothing, donned a woman's *kimono* and rearranged her hair while living with her 'mother', though she still kept her sword close. However, the money she'd saved was soon depleted (possibly due to her 'mother' spending it on opium). When Mizu confronted her over this, her 'mother' dismissed her concerns as she had found her a husband (Mikio) for whom her "looks" would not be a problem. Mizu was greatly displeased by this, having been able to make her own choices living with Eiji, and claimed she still had to follow her vow and was no one's wife. Her 'mother' retorted, "What woman doesn't want a man to take care of her? Of her mother?" and warned that the men who'd hunted her as a child might come after her again if she drew any attention to herself. After she guilt-tripped Mizu by threatening to go back to prostitution to support them, Mizu reluctantly accepted the betrothal to Mikio, and they traveled to his isolated horse-ranch in the mountains.

Mizu was informed that Mikio, somewhat older than her, was a samurai banished in disgrace over some transgression with his overlord; as a fellow outcast, he would keep her hidden and safe, and could use her help around the house and farm. Despite her trepidation, Mizu was pleased by the beauty of the rural environment, but her first impression of Mikio was not a good one; on riding up to them, he bluntly remarked, "You're not as hideous as I expected" to which she retorted, "You're much older than *I* expected." The wedding ceremony duly proceeded (with only her mother in attendance) but Mikio went back to work immediately afterwards. Nervous on her wedding night (she had her sword under the blanket) Mizu was surprised when Mikio didn't sleep with her, as he claimed "I'm not a brute"; she appeared both relieved and slightly rejected.

Mizu struggled to adapt to her life as a housewife and farmer. She was more than strong enough for the physical demands of the job, but never having learned to cook from anyone except Eiji, her first attempts were a disaster, causing Mikio to immediately return to his work with the horses and earning ire from her mother for her failure. When Mizu tried to approach while Mikio was working with a new inexperienced horse, Kai, she accidentally startled her, causing him to order her away from the horses. Though he didn't outright insult her again, she felt increasingly rejected. However, when she approached Mikio and Kai again later and asked about the unruly horse, she was able to tease him in the conversation, and sympathize with his dream of finding the perfect horse to win back his *daimyo*'s favor. As time went on, Mizu's cooking improved slightly; while Mikio still found it distasteful, he would cover his reaction by laughing it off, softening the awkward atmosphere. He still didn't share Mizu's bed, though it was increasingly clear this was intended to avoid forcing himself on her.

After granting her request to feed Kai, both were surprised and pleased at how quickly the horse warmed up to her. Mikio began teaching her how to ride, which she enjoyed immensely, and they rode regularly through the mountains to a peach-tree, where he showed her how to cut down the fruit with a thrown *tanto.* Noticing her mother's increasing withdrawals and dependency on opium, Mizu discussed it with Mikio. They agreed not to give her more money for opium when she went to the market, causing Mizu to look away when her mother glared at her. They continued to grow closer and more affectionate emotionally, if not physically.

After a little over a year of living on the ranch, Mizu successfully tamed Kai, and began to ride her; she immediately proved the fastest of the horses on Mikio's ranch. Riding out to the peach tree near the end of summer, Mikio remarked that his overlord would be very pleased with the team of horses they had raised. Mizu remarked that Kai might be the 'perfect horse' he was wishing for to win back his position. However, Mikio stated that Kai was too good for any lord, and he was saving her for his wife. Moved to tears, Mizu suddenly embraced and kissed him, which he returned; that night, they finally consummated their relationship, having fallen in love.

Later, Mizu decided to discuss her past with Mikio- her mixed heritage, her years spend with Eiji learning how to craft and use swords. When Mikio asked if Mizu wanted to be a man, she replied that she had to live like one so she could have her revenge against the men who "made me this way... a *monster*." . Mikio was both amused and intrigued, and said he wanted to see every side of her, not just what her mother *wanted* her to be. When she dismissed that "all I ever did, was train with a sword", he asked her to show him.

As autumn came, they went out to the peach tree with a *naginata* and Mizu's *katana*. Mizu remarked that she'd never faced a *naginata* before, and Mikio replied it was the best weapon to have when outnumbered. Underestimating her skill level, he offered to start slow, keeping their weapons sheathed and using only the butt end; however, Mizu amusedly told him not to hold back. Though he briefly knocked her off her feet, Mizu tore her *kimono* skirt to improve her maneuverability, exposing her legs. Mikio refused her request to unsheathe the *naginata* (saying he didn't want to hurt her), to which Mizu laughed and unsheathed her *katana*; within a few minutes, she had managed to disarm him twice. Taken aback by her skill and enjoyment of combat, Mikio tried to end the fight, but Mizu tossed him her sword and provoked him to attack with a teasing jab about his lost title. Even keeping the *naginata* sheathed, it quickly became clear she was far more skilled than Mikio, even on her first time using it. The duel ended with her straddling him on the ground with the polearm's unsheathed blade against his throat.

Exhilarated, Mizu leaned forward and kissed her husband, but he suddenly shoved her away violently, to her shock. Unnerved, and feeling angry and emasculated at being defeated by a woman, Mikio verbally rejected her as a monster and left her behind. The next day back at the farm, her mother (smoking opium again) curtly informed her that Mikio had left to take the team of horses to his overlord- including Kai, the horse he'd promised Mizu. She berated Mizu for not being a 'proper' wife to him, saying "I made you tea of golden leaves, and *you* spat in it."

Hurt and hoping to win back her husband's love, Mizu dressed as femininely as she could the next day, putting on her wedding *kimono* and makeup and waiting for him. She soon heard a group of horses approaching, even though no one ever came to Mikio's farm. Concealing a kitchen knife in her *obi*, she emerged from the house to see six samurai riders dressed for battle; their leader recognized her as their target by her eyes. When Mizu asked, "which white devil do you work for?" and asked if her mother had given her location, the samurai replied that the bounty on her head was a sum few could resist. As they closed in on her, Mizu saw Miko ride onto a nearby hilltop, and happily assumed he was there to help her. However, after staring at her for a moment, he rode off in another direction.

Mizu's tears of grief at his rejection and apparent betrayal, quickly gave way to rage; she slashed the throat of the samurai closest to her, then took up Mikio's nearby *naginata*. Within minutes, she had slaughtered the other five, drenching her white wedding *kimono* red with blood. Hearing footsteps behind her, she whirled to see Mikio, sword in hand; he hastily laid it on the ground, claiming he had been a coward before but had come back to help, and asking her forgiveness. When Mizu accused him of turning her in, he accused her mother, based on her recent return to opium. Her mother in turn, accused Mikio, saying he had turned Mizu in to win back his overlord's favor. Mikio insisted he would never betray his wife, but when her mother called him weak, he angrily grabbed her, calling her a "lying whore", and they began to struggle. Feeling too hurt, enraged and betrayed by both of them to care, Mizu dropped the *naginata* and started to walk away, but paused when she heard Mikio stab her mother with his *tanto*. As he approached her from behind again, pleading that he loved her, Mizu whirled around and threw her kitchen knife into his chest, killing him. Weeping at having lost everything and everyone she loved, she collected her sword and slowly walked away from the farm, as an autumn thunderstorm gathered on the horizon.

#### Beginning the Hunt

From then on, Mizu focused everything she had on her vow of vengeance, against her unknown Western father. Returning to her male disguise and adding orange-tinted glasses to conceal her eyes, she trained herself in various arts of stealth and infiltration, including climbing and lock-picking. She pursued leads much more efficiently and ruthlessly than when she'd first set out. She always traveled alone, training constantly with her sword, and never let herself become close to anyone else, as the only person she still cared for was Swordfather Eiji, back in Kohama. And she was always quick to lash out, rather than retreat, if anyone mocked her features or compared her to an *onryo* (vengeful ghost).

After some time, she managed to track down and kill one of the four white foreigners (later confirmed by Abijah Fowler to be "Violet"). Mizu subsequently tattooed her left forearm with a dotted X, intending to mark each of the targets she had eliminated.

## History/Synopsis

#### Episode 1

Mizu travels to a small village not far from Kyoto, in the middle of winter; she is followed by a group of children intent on harassing her, but they quickly scatter when she gives them a brief glare. She stops at a soba tavern, where she is served "bad tea, *great* soba" by the handless, talkative and friendly cook Ringo.

When Ringo accidentally spills soba on a customer, Hachiman the Flesh-Trader, Hachiman draws a flintlock pistol. Mizu interrupts his threats to kill Ringo (whom he refers to as a "dog", an insult she has often been called) by loudly pushing her table back, approaching and stepping between them to comment on the weapon's unusual (and probably illegal) design, since it is more advanced than any Japanese firearm. She then reveals she's been following him for some time. Uncomfortable with her inquiries, Hachiman tells her to fuck off and sits down, but when Mizu demands to know who sold the weapon, he jumps up, aiming at her. Before he can fire, Mizu snatches up a cleaver and chops off both the pistol's barrel *and* two of his fingers, claiming he doesn't deserve to be cut by her *katana*.

As Hachiman howls in agony, she slams him against the table and demands the name of the pistol's seller again, lowering her glasses to reveal her eyes. Given the name "Heiji Shindo", she releases Hachiman and starts to go, already knowing where to inquire about the Shindo Clan. However, Hachiman makes the mistake of calling her a "dead-eyed, half-blooded demon bastard" and saying she looks like an *onryo*, not realizing how this will trigger her past trauma involving her 'mother' and Mikio. Mizu whirls around, slashing off two more of Hachiman's fingers with her *katana* before she leaves.

Mizu travels some way into a frozen bamboo forest before she realizes Ringo is following her, and stops him at sword-point, telling him to go home. He claims he hates home and can be useful to her, but she dismisses him, saying "A breeze, can throw a crane off-course. You... are a *typhoon*." Ringo tries to empathize with her by saying they are both "deformed" but strong, and implores her to let him serve as her apprentice, but she simply ties him to a tree and continues. She makes a brief stop at a Shinto shrine and lights an incense stick, asking the Gods to watch over "Swordfather" Eiji, to guide her to the men she seeks, and to either give her the strength to kill them, or let her die. By the next day, she comes within sight of Kyoto, the Imperial Capital and her next destination.

Joining the queue at the gates, Mizu notes a basket saleswoman and her daughter denied entry to sell their wares in the city (her husband being dead, and women not being allowed to travel without a man despite having her husband's travel pass). Not having a travel pass, Mizu bribes her way past the guard and enters Kyoto. Unable to find directions to the Shindo Dojo from passersby, she soon runs into a trio of arrogant samurai from the Dojo, who insult her. They misdirect her to the Shindo House, a brothel run by the same clan; she refuses the prostitute's invitations and finally receives directions to the actual Dojo. However, she is interrupted by a disturbance caused by Ringo, who managed to get free and follow her into Kyoto. Exasperated at having to deal with him again, but correctly guessing he is a virgin, Mizu pays the prostitutes to keep Ringo busy for three nights, giving her the chance to lose him again. Crossing a bridge along the way, she is told to make way by a procession of porters carrying a gilded palanquin, and spots Princess Akemi through its' windows.

Mizu hikes to Shindo Dojo in the hills on the city's outskirts. Knocking at the door, she is told they are not admitting new students, but Mizu claims to have a message for the Dojo's master which she can only deliver personally. She is directed inside to the Master's second-in-command, who tells her to leave the message with him, as he speaks for the Master and the Master will not see anyone in person. Mizu insists she cannot deliver it to anyone secondhand and the Master will make an exception for her, provoking the Second's anger at her 'disrespect' of the Dojo's prestige. He tells his followers to throw her out of the school, but she points out that they are obliged to feed travelers who visit, and she is tired and hungry after her journey. The students lead her to a cold, dark room and leave her a meagre bowl of rice gruel, telling her to eat, then leave. As she eats, Mizu watches the students training in the courtyard and smiles, recognizing their combat form (Shindo-Ryu) as one she observed at Eiji's forge as a child.

As soon as she has finished eating, the three swordsmen try to force her to leave, but prove physically unable to. When she insists it would be easier on them if they let her see the Master, they use her 'threatening' response as an excuse to kill her, drawing their swords. However, Mizu easily bests them without even drawing hers, throwing them through a screen and into the main training hall of the Dojo. She faces eight students armed with wooden *bokken,* taking one up herself and dismissing their Shindo-Ryu combat form as "trash... easily learned, easily defeated". Using her knowledge of a wide variety of *kendo* forms (having watched swordsmen from all over Japan come to practice at Eiji's forge), Mizu outmaneuvers the students, using her hands and *bokken* to break bones, noses, teeth, and in one case put out a student's eye *with* a broken tooth. Ignoring their demands to know what Dojo she learned at, she is finally challenged by the Second with a sword, but refuses to draw hers, saying he will die if she does. Mizu quickly drives the Second off with a heavily bruised face.

While defeating more of the students who challenge her, she is confronted and knocked down by Taigen, the Dojo's champion (who the Second had summoned to deal with her). Mizu recognizes Taigen as her chief childhood tormentor from Kohama, and remarks that he's "climbed some heights... to be the prize of a *miserable* lot." Taigen dismisses her request to see the Master, saying she will only leave as a corpse. Despite being slightly drunk (having been celebrating his new engagement to Akemi) he proves much stronger and more skilled than any of the Dojo's other students, and both he and Mizu take lumps from one another until he finally throws his *bokken* and breaks hers, throwing her backward and knocking off her glasses. With her blue eyes revealed, Taigen finally recognizes her and is startled. The Second insists Mizu must die so that neither Taigen nor the school are disgraced, and the duelists move to the Dojo's snow-covered courtyard, drawing their *katanas.* Taigen is astonished to see that Mizu's is apparently one of Master Eiji's blades by the hilt inscription (unaware that she forged her *own* blade), while she thanks him for the chance to fight, saying no opponent has *deserved* her sword yet.

After both of them attempt to counter-predict each other's strikes, Taigen charges when a snowflake blurs Mizu's vision, but she uses her sword to create a diversionary spray of snow, disorienting him. In the initial clash, she draws first blood by grazing Taigen's neck, but when they lock blades he slices the front of her left shoulder and throws her back, disarming her. Holding his sword to her neck, he claims she will die today, then kicks her and moves away, offering her the chance to pick up her sword before he delivers the killing blow. However, Mizu suddenly unbuckles the armored training weights around her calves and forearms, revealing she was fighting with a handicap the entire time. They charge again, and this time Mizu cuts Taigen on the leg *and* side within seconds, disarms him, and pins him down with her blade against his throat. Before she can kill him, she is interrupted by the Dojo Master, Lord Shindo, who finally allows her to deliver her message. Mocking that his students "need better training", Mizu reveals she actually came with a question: where to find his brother Heiji Shindo, a black market merchant. Astonished that she wreaked so much destruction on his school for one question, Shindo reluctantly reveals his brother is on the island-fortress of Tanabe, protected by the Genken clan, and predicts that she will never reach Heiji alive. Unperturbed, Mizu sheathes her sword, bows and starts to depart, but pauses when Taigen shouts after that she is "*still* a dog." Whirling around, she slices without fully drawing her blade and perfectly severs Taigen's *chonmage*, marking him as defeated and disgraced. As she leaves Kyoto by nightfall, she comes across the girl and her mother from earlier, huddling together for warmth outside the gates; she leaves them a decorative gold comb that Taigen had used to decorate his topknot.

Journeying through the wilderness, Mizu comes across an *onsen* and stops to rest. Removing her disguise, she disrobes and enters the hot water, bathing and stitching up her shoulder wound. However, while relaxing she hears a disturbance nearby and snatches up her sword. Confronting the intruder despite being naked, she discovers it is once again Ringo, who is astonished to learn she is actually a woman.

#### Episode 2

In "An Unexpected Element", Mizu follows the road through a cedar forest. She ducks off the path in an attempt to lose Ringo (who is still following her) only to run into him, remarking that he moves quietly despite being so large. Irritably telling him to stay away, she rebuffs his attempts to be "useful" to her and ignores his endless questions about her white heritage. Ringo promises she can trust him and that he will always keep her secrets, but when he nearly mentions the fact that she is female, she cleaves a small tree in two and points her sword at him, threatening to kill him if she sees him again.

Not long after, Mizu reaches a guard checkpoint at a river crossing. As she withdraws her money, Mizu notices a man ahead of her being seized and sentenced to flogging for trying to bribe the guards. She attempts to backtrack away from the checkpoint, but the guard grabs her shoulder, demanding her travel pass. Before a fight can break out, Ringo steps in with his father's travel pass (which covers two), claiming Mizu is his apprentice cook and forgot hers ("He's a bit dim"). Allowed through, Mizu attempts to lose Ringo at a nearby cemetary, only to run straight into him yet again. She warns him "You will not find what you seek at my side" and that she will stop at nothing for her revenge. Ringo naively says he loves revenge, dismissing her warnings of the carnage ahead and saying he can train and help her, just as he did under his father. Mizu points out making soba is very different from war, but Ringo argues that his entire *life* has been a battle, to overcome and adapt to his disability. Unable to argue that, Mizu reluctantly lets him tag along, to Ringo's delight.

They make for the coastal fishing town of Mihonoseki, where Mizu hopes to hire a boat to Tanabe island. As they traverse a treacherous path along the cliffs, she remarks that he doesn't have to be here, clarifying that she isn't after Heiji Shindo, but the white man he protects; if she can hire a boat, she can reach Tanabe before dawn. Noticing Mihonoseki's checkpoint and guard towers are unmanned, and its outer suburbs seem deserted, they soon realize the entire town is gathered at the center in celebration of the New Year. Mizu dismisses Ringo's interest in the festivities, reminding him they aren't here for fun. She find two drunken fishermen willing to take them to Tanabe, but they refuse to leave until the next day. Mizu insists she must travel now, but the fishermen explain that business is closed for the *Hadaka Matsuri* festival, wanting to purify themselves and celebrate the *kami* to avoid a bad New Year. Noting that all the other boatmen are similarly inebriated, Mizu agrees not to leave until morning. Running into Ringo again, she buys a silver bell from a curiosity stand and ties it around Ringo's ankle to announce his presence, telling him that if he takes it off, he is discharged as her 'apprentice'. Intending to train in her spare time, Mizu heads back to the cliffs surrounding the town, but tells Ringo he should stay and enjoy the festivities; she suggests he might enjoy a life here more than his father's village, and would be safer than staying with her, saying "there's no shame, in making a home here." Ringo insists he should not leave his master's side and will rejoin her tomorrow, but is quickly distracted by the festivities.

Setting up camp on the eastern cliffs, Mizu trains among a grove of gnarled trees, visualizing them as attacking samurai. She cuts through nearly all her targets on the first strike, though a thicker one stops her. She goes down the the seashore and strips to her undergarments, immersing herself in the frigid sea for a short while. Reminiscing about her time with Eiji (remembering his words that "we can only mind our *own* soul") and her encounter with Chiaki, she emerges more focused. Replacing her clothes and returning to the forest grove, she practices a one-handed handstand atop a stump, then performs a handspring maneuver off of it, cutting through an even *thicker* tree in the process. Hearing a rustling sound nearby, she advances, only to discover a sparrow. She walks away- not seeing Taigen watching her through the trees.

Resting at her campfire at sunset, Mizu dreams of attacking and killing one of the white men, only to see that her target has *her* face, jolting her awake. She taps the X tattoo on her arm, reassuring herself that the white man will die tomorrow. Hearing the drums signaling the *Hadaka Matsuri* in the town below, she considers going down to watch the fun- only for a thrown *dao* broadsword to pierce the tree right behind her. Springing up, she draws her *katana* as the Four Fangs- a private company of masked assassins- emerge from the trees. Mizu remarks that she doesn't know them and has no dispute with them, but the Fangs' leader replies that she has made wealthy enemies. He tells her to remove her glasses, saying they know who she is and that all of Kyoto is talking about the unnamed samurai who cut through Shindo Dojo. Acquiescing, Mizu says that she *has* a name, but the leader replies that no one will know it. After two brief clashes, they back her toward the edge of the cliff. As the leader cackles (a laugh Mizu recognizes) she suddenly jumps backwards, landing on a narrow ledge partway down the cliff.

One by one, the Four Fangs jump down to various ledges above, below and around Mizu, encircling her. However, with her lighter build and better balance, she has the advantage. Maneuvering precisely along the cliff as they try to approach, she cuts the throat of one of the Fangs and severs another's arms. The remaining two force her further down the cliff, then begin throwing their *dao* at her. Mizu deflects two, but the third slashes her right shoulder, causing her to lose her balance and fall. However, she catches herself on an upraised rock, using the same single-handstand technique she practiced in the forest earlier. As she struggles to hold her balance, one of the two remaining Fangs jumps down, d*ao* raised for the kill. At the last minute, Mizu performs her handspring maneuver, launching herself upward and spinning to cleave him in half as he drops past. However, she has no time to catch herself again, slamming into the cliff several times as she falls. She finally lands on the shore, dazed, but the waves lapping her face quickly wake her. She rises just as the Fang's leader jumps down to face her.

Acknowledging that Mizu may actually deserve his 'true' blade, the leader draws a familiar-looking broken *katana,* revealing himself as Chiaki. Mizu remarks that his sword is stolen, but Chiaki cackles and removes his mask, saying she is still 'soft.' Taking fighting stances, they charge; Mizu holds her own against Chiaki despite his greater bulk and her wound, maneuvering through their clashes and locking blades briefly before she forces him back with a kick. However, as they charge each other again, she notices Taigen hurrying behind a rock nearby. Her distraction allows Chiaki to slash her hip; battered and bloodied, Mizu staggers to her knees, dropping her blade.

Chiaki charges her from behind for the killing blow. At the last second, Mizu snatches up her blade and hurls it behind her, impaling Chiaki through the chest. As she approaches him, he weakly protests that he doesn't deserve death "by an impure hand" but Mizu simply withdraws her blade, deadpanning "Goodbye, Blood-Soaked Chiaki" and leaving him to die. She starts to limp away, then stops as Taigen emerges from behind the rock. When he claims he is owed his honor, Mizu coldly challenges him to come take it. However, as they charge each other, she suddenly collapses, weakened by exhaustion and bloodloss. Taigen raises his sword, but cannot bring himself to kill a defenseless opponent.

#### Episode 3

In "A Fixed Number of Paths" Mizu is carried to an abandoned mountain shrine by Ringo, flickering in and out of consciousness and flashing back to her childhood with her 'mother', the burning of their home, and her first encounter with Taigen. Ringo brews her medicine to bring down her fever, and sutures her wounds.

When she awakens, she immediately confronts Taigen- who is writing a contract for a future duel between them- and holds her blade to his neck. He points out that she's still recovering from her wounds and that he could easily have killed her before, but didn't. Claiming she owes him a legal, witnessed rematch, he asks how much time she needs before she's "well enough to die." However, Mizu quickly gets under his skin by referencing their previous battle and his severed hair, which he blames on being drunk due to his now-canceled engagement- which he, in turn, blames Mizu for, along with his lost position at the dojo and dishonor. He demands to know how long, to which Mizu replies "two days", and he offers three. Mizu scornfully remarks he *should* have killed her when he had the chance, reasoning "the time to kill your enemy, is when you *can*." which Taigen claims is dishonorable (for not following *bushido*). Mizu scoffs that he wants spectacle, not revenge, and that when she finds *her* target, she won't waste a second on ceremony. Taigen retorts "Then *you* are not a samurai at all... still a stray *dog*, eating out of my trash."

The next morning, Mizu downs the medicine Ringo brings her, then observes Taigen practicing with the broken blade taken from Chiaki (which, unknown to them, *she* forged). A sudden disturbance sets them all on guard; when a giant thug wielding a war-club emerges from the trees, Mizu and Taigen prepare to confront him together until he offers an invitation to Mizu from Heiji Shindo to meet him 'for tea'. Despite her injuries causing her visible pain, Mizu takes one of the horses offered by Okiyama (the giant), ignoring Taigen's protests that the entire thing is almost certainly an ambush, and that he is the only one allowed to kill her. She argues that Shindo is a direct line to one of the men she is hunting, and "Revenge does not hesitate."

As they pass through the wintry mountains, Taigen recites a Buddhist sutra referencing Mt Sumeru (a sacred mountain in Buddhist cosmology) while Mizu remains impassive. Taigen tries to make conversation about their childhood home, Kohama, describing his dislikes and reasons to forget it, including his abusive father and the constant stink of fish. Taigen claims he only ever saw two paths for himself as a child, the fishing net or the sword; hating the former and viewing it as no different from his father, he saw the latter as the only alternative. Unimpressed by his explanations of his character, Mizu responds darkly, "I *remember* Kohama" (referencing his bullying her as a child) and moves ahead of him.

As they make camp for the night, Mizu grows tense when Okiyama approaches with his war-club, but he simply leaves it next to her as a gesture of good faith, then leaves. Taigen scoffs that Okiyama could easily kill her barehanded. He further mocks her for the near-certainty that they will be killed by ambush, either by night or tomorrow, ruining their chance to duel. Mizu counters that she can kill him now if he prefers (eliciting a chuckle from Ringo). Taigen insinuates that Mizu let him tag along (which runs counter to her mantra of "revenge doesn't hesitate") because she needs his help, due to being 'weak' and insisting she's still "a malnourished urchin." Removing her glasses, Mizu counters that she can beat him now with any weapon he chooses, from a spear to a rock- then suddenly throws one of Ringo's chopsticks, with Taigen barely catching it before it hits his face. Taigen assumes a fighting stance and charges, but Mizu easily maneuvers around his strikes, trapping and twisting his wrist. Frustrated, Taigen strikes his free hand against Mizu's wound, momentarily gaining the initiative. However, Mizu quickly turns the tables, throwing him over her shoulder to the ground, pinning him down and holding her chopstick first against his groin, then stabbing at his face- only to retract it between her fingers, merely striking him lightly on the forehead with her knuckles.

Humiliated, Taigen angrily throws her off him, snaps both chopsticks in half and lunges at her; they roll through the snow and over the edge of the campsite. Pushing her down, Taigen sneers that he and the other children of Kohama used to scare each other with stories about the "monster boy" and his "whore mother" provoking Mizu to kick him off. She lunges at him, only for him to dodge, punch her stomach and push her against a tree, saying the children would dare each other to approach the hut, until it burned down. With each blow, Mizu experiences more flashbacks of her first encounter with Taigen and the destruction of her hut by the 'bad men'. Taigen finally denounces her as a dog, scavenging Kohama's gutters. Enraged, Mizu suddenly knees him in the gut, then knocks him down with a punch to the face, breaking his nose; however, her hip wound has re-opened. Beaten, but content at having gotten under Mizu's skin, Taigen concedes "*Your* round" and walks away, leaving Ringo to attend to his Master.

The next day, they soon reach a dark, icy ravine between the mountains and dismount. Confirming Heiji Shindo is within, Mizu enters it against Taigen's protests; he soon follows, with Ringo and Okiyama remaining behind. Expecting battle, they emerge through the ravine to a wide, enclosed space surrounded by cliffs; Shindo is waiting for them alone at a small encampment, leading Mizu to deadpan to Taigen that she was "just in the mood for tea." Taigen scoffs that it is still a trap as they join Shindo. He serves them tea and asks Mizu to remove her glasses, saying they have no secrets. Mizu lists his professions and commercial interests, then accuses him of being middleman to illegal Western traders. However, she clarifies she isn't looking for *him*, but the white man he protects. Shindo smirks that there are no white men in Japan, as that would be illegal, but then gives her the name "Abijah Fowler." She clarifies that Fowler must be one of the three white men in Japan when she was born; when Shindo corrects that there were *four*, Mizu replies "There are three *now*," and that she intends to kill the rest.

Shindo claims he can't let her sabotage his dealings with Fowler unexpectedly, but Mizu dismisses both him *and* his business as worthless to her, and confirms that she killed the Four Fangs. Heiji points out he can simply keep hiring expensive cutthroats for her to kill, which will waste *both* their resources, or they can make a deal. At his request, the Shogun (whose advisor is in Shindo's pocket) will appoint Mizu *daimyo* of the Sendai doman (in northern Japan), whose current *daimyo* is "a debauch". Heiji also offers Mizu 50,000 golden *ryu*, in cash. In exchange, she must cut off her right thumb (rendering her unable to wield a sword) as an assurance that she will not attack Shindo or his clients.

Mizu considers the offer, but finally refuses, saying she has no desire for money or power and "no interest in being happy... only *satisfied*." As a master of commerce, she notes that Shindo would have expected this, and will have either an ambush or a less attractive counteroffer ready. Smirking, he asks how she plans to attack Fowler's fortress on Tanabe, detailing its' treacherous terrain, weather and eight levels of unique defenses. He claims she would never make it inside without help, revealing a *sake* barrel: the intention being to smuggle her into the castle. Taigen protest that this offer is a suicidal trap, but Mizu adamantly claims any path to Fowler is a good one for her. She poses several questions to Shindo, the first being how she can be sure he won't betray her; Shindo responds it is a calculated risk she must take, as storming the castle isn't an option. She then asks why he wants Fowler dead when he makes Shindo so rich, to which he admits he has come to hate Fowler after twenty years of dealing with his repulsive personality and habits. He explains that the *sake* barrel 'smells bad' because it is a cheap brand he serves to prostitutes brought to service Fowler. Taigen interjects, asking how Mizu is supposed to escape the castle afterward, but Shindo counters that he will only guarantee Mizu a way in and a *chance* to kill Fowler, and that their business ends there.

When Mizu notes the perfect cut of the flower pinned to Shindo's kimono, he suddenly drops his pleasantries, demanding she enter the barrel and saying she cannot refuse: his joke about having archers on the cliffs earlier, was in fact true. Raising a ribbon, he claims that if he drops it, they will rain arrows on Mizu and Taigen, ordering her to get in. As Taigen urges Mizu to call his 'bluff', Shindo grows more insistant and hostile, finally grabbing Mizu's arm. Immediately, she draws her *katana* and cleaves off his right forearm with the same stroke, declaring, "You bed with the *devil*" but then notices the sound of arrows being loosed from above. As Shindo runs away, Mizu and Taigen take shelter behind the iron lid of his massive tea-kettle, shielding themselves as arrows pour down on them. They carry it across the clearing- Mizu telling Taigen to count the time between the archers' fire and reloading- enduring more volleys before they finally reach the ravine entrance. Though the archers can no longer volley directly at them, many arrows ricochet off the ravine's walls, forcing them to use their swords; Taigen cleaves one arrow in half before it can hit Mizu, but takes another in his thigh. As they both realize they will be exposed as soon as they leave the ravine, Taigen urges Mizu to use his body as a shield and escape, saying that there's no reason for both of them to die, to her surprise. However, Ringo suddenly rides into the ravine (shielding himself and the horse with extra saddles) and rescues them, riding away into the mountains; Mizu repeats his mantra, *"Useful*", back to him.

When they stop in the forest, Taigen and Mizu awkwardly compliment each other- he for her knowing to count the archer's timing, her for his deflection of the arrow away from her. She claims, "the broken blade fits well in your hand" but Taigen gives it to her, as she won it in battle. She remarks of Heiji, "Men like him like to talk so much, they eventually tell you how to destroy them" revealing that Heiji's answers about the cheap *sake-* and the prostitutes it was meant for- gave her an idea for how to infiltrate the fortress.

Admiring her guile, Taigen points out it's a pity their duel is set for tomorrow, as it will hinder her revenge plans- only for Mizu to suddenly knock him out, with the broken blade's pommel. Taking his orange scarf, she leaves him with Chiaki's sword and a letter, praising him as a worthy opponent and offering the proper duel he deserves. Mizu promises to meet him at the shrine on the second of autumn once her business is complete, and she can give him full focus. She and Ringo continue onward.

#### Episode 4

Mizu and Ringo arrive in a large harbor-town (stopping briefly to give alms to flute-playing monks) in time to witness a duel to the death between two samurai. Mizu recognizes the technique of the victor, the "Painter's Signature", and compliments his mastery of it. She does not notice Akemi among the crowd, who begins to follow them. As evening falls, she dismisses Ringo's suggestion that they find an inn, seeking a brothel instead; she deliberately picks the seediest one in town, run by an *oiran* named Madame Kaji. Mizu requests to see *her* rather than making an appointment with one of the prostitutes, deciding to wait when told Kaji is booked. She pays for boarding, then tells Ringo he may go amuse himself, though he insists on staying with her. Noticing the samurai who won the duel earlier, role-playing with a 'motherly' prostitute, Mizu rebuffs the other women's attempts to catch her interest, until Madame Kaji finally approaches her after several hours.

Kaji rebuffs Mizu's suggestion that her brothel caters to 'peculiarities' and merely allow men to make fools of themselves, pointing out that all desires, especially those rarely displayed, are human, and that denying it is denying their nature. Mizu scorns the idea of sex as an 'art' (admittedly, having very limited experience with it herself) but Kaji provides Mizu access to peepholes in each of the occupied rooms to prove her point, noting that indulging in desire can bring other benefits besides sexual satisfaction. Mizu claims "Desire is beyond the need of *my* purpose" but is caught off-guard by Kaji's response: "If you are only a *sword*, are you even a man, or a mere *demon*?" Witnessing several sexual/physical exchanges between clients and both male and female prostitutes, Mizu has a brief flash of her last tussle with Taigen.

Drawing Mizu into an empty room, Kaji suggests she reveal her desire in writing if she cannot say it; Mizu writes Abijah Fowler's name, saying that Kaji's 'peculiar' teahouse was the most likely one to service Fowler, given that his 'loathsome' tastes in entertainment requires a 'specialist'. She deduces from Kaji's expression that Kaji has been to Tanabe island and seen Fowler in person, and demands to know the castle's entry points. Kaji quickly recognizes that Mizu means to kill Fowler and says she will not aide the killing of an important client (despite finding Fowler despicable herself), dismissing Mizu's assertion that he 'deserves to die': "If you killed every man I've seen who couldn't *come* 'til someone bled, you'd wear your blade to a *stump*." However, before she can leave, Mizu mentions her encounter with Heiji Shindo; guessing that his similarly repulsive tastes might have caused him to abuse either Kaji's girls or Kaji herself at Tanabe, she reveals that she took off his right arm. Providing a quick demonstration of her skill with a blade, she offers her services with a sword in exchange for information against Fowler and Shindo, reasoning that Kaji may have enemies she would prefer dead.

Kaji leads Mizu into the streets, pointing out a gambling house run by a ruthless *yakuza,* Boss Hamata, who is the informal town overlord. Six months before, Hamata had taken a deaf-and-mute girl, Kinuyo, whom Kaji had taken in as her foster daughter and protected. Mizu assumes Kaji wishes her to kill Hamata to set Kinuyo free, but Kaji clarifies that "under the law, revenge is a luxury reserved for *men*" and that as a woman, she has to be more practical about what she wants. She startles Mizu by telling her she wants *Kinuyo* killed, rather than Hamata, and that it must look like an accident; even if Hamata were killed, his 'Thousand-Claw army' would recognize Kaji's involvement and kill her, Kinuyo and everyone else in her care. Mizu swears to carry out the assassination, promising to be 'like smoke', in exchange for Kaji's way into the fortress. She and Kaji then return to the brothel, where Kaji gives her a quiet room to wait until nightfall. She instructs Mizu to make the hand signs for "I love you" to Kinuyo before killing her, saying she will recognize it as a message from Kaji to give her peace.

Shortly afterward, Mizu's meditation is interrupted by Akemi, who offers her hospitality, pretending to be one of Kaji's newest women. Despite Akemi's makeup and acting prowess, Mizu quickly realizes she is familiar and makes the connection when Akemi mentions Kyoto (where the two women briefly encountered each other before). She rebuffs Akemi's flattery toward her unusual eyes and repeated offers of (drugged) sake, claiming she doesn't drink, and only pretends to relent when Akemi, in turn, pretends to drink with her. However, Mizu interrupts herself from actually taking a drink by offhandedly mentions her recent encounter with Taigen, disparaging him as caring more about his severed topknot than his engagement, and claiming she killed him. This provokes Akemi into an attack which Mizu easily intercepts, pinning her down and confirming Akemi's identity and motives. Scornful of Akemi throwing away privileges that most women dream of (in exchange for an arrogant and potentially unfaithful young man), Mizu reveals she didn't actually kill Taigen, then ties Akemi up and leaves Ringo to guard her while she goes to fulfill her mission.

Mizu narrowly manages to infiltrate Hamata's heavily-guarded gambling house, while Kinuyo disrobes and is covered with smoldering moxibustion plasters to treat sores from Hamata's attentions. Narrowly avoiding encounters with Hamata's thugs, Mizu makes her way to the house's rafters; she accidentally disturbs a sparrow nesting there and is forced to kill it to keep her presence hidden, which saddens her slightly. Mizu waits until the doctor leaves (Kinuyo having fallen asleep under the treatment), then enters the room and kills Hamata's bodyguard with Kinuyo's golden hairpin, startling the girl awake. Motioning for her to be silent, Mizu makes the sign Kaji asked her to, but rather than being relieved, Kinuyo shakes her head, looking suspicious and afraid. Worried about the approaching *yakuza,* Mizu offers her hand, mouthing *"I'll protect you*." Kinuyo shakes her head again, but on seeing lamplight from a patrolling guard behind the screens, finally takes Mizu's hand. As the patrol passes, Kinuyo exhales and leans into Mizu's shoulder for comfort. Mizu embraces her, moving her hand gently across the back of her head... and then, snaps her neck as quickly and quietly as she can. Although this is clearly intended as a mercy-kill, Mizu is deeply affected by her actions, holding Kinuyo's body for several moments afterwards with a look of sorrow and remorse on her face. She arranges the bodies to make it look like Hamata's bodyguard strangled Kinuyo, and that she stabbed him with her pin in self-defense.

Dejected and distracted, Mizu is noticed by small boy passing by as she moves away from the gambling house at dawn. She tells him to report an accident, then tells Kaji that the deed is done and Kinuyo is at peace; Kaji in turn gives her instructions and a map to the secret entrance to Fowler's castle on Tanabe. However, the boy reports Mizu to Hamata, causing him to send his Thousand-Claw Army to Kaji's brothel.

#### Episode 5

In "The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride, Mizu initially confronts the Thousand Claws outside the brothel. Fueled by her rage- both at Hamata's cruelty, and her own failure to keep the mercy-killing a secret- she quickly dispatches the first five of the *yakuza*, causing the others to hesitate long enough for her to retreat inside and bar the door. Madame Kaji berates her for having brought doom on all of them, but Mizu orders everyone to hide in the cellar, giving Ringo a kitchen knife to defend them, having used it herself to great effect in the past. She then douses the lights and moves into the darkest corner of the brothel, lying in wait. As Hamata's men break down the door, she experiences flashbacks of her childhood spent in hiding, and the loss of her home and 'mother' during the fire.

As the *yakuza* advance through the teahouse, Mizu ambushes them one by one or in small groups, killing five more before their leader manages to intercept her attack, trapping her sword between his Tiger Claws, grabbing her throat and pinning her against the wall; he then stabs her in the left hip, exactly where she was originally stabbed by the black marketeers years before, causing her to cry out in pain. Managing to wrestle herself from his grip, Mizu dodges his blows and finally severs both his claws, fleeing deeper into the brothel to catch her breath, even as more Thousand Claws enter the building. Briefly remembering her reunion with her mother and her wedding, Mizu moves through the house until she corners a teenage Thousand Claw*,* who she reluctantly spares. Discovering a hidden passageway, she retreats inside it and briefly sits, but is soon discovered and cornered by a group of six *yakuza.* She manages to kill all of them, but is left weakened; as she gets up, she is attacked and throttled by the leader she declawed earlier.

As she loses consciousness, she dreams of her awkward marriage to Mikio and their subsequent growing closeness, even as Akemi rescues her by stabbing her attacker; she does not stir when the Princess slaps her. However, as two *yakuza* advance on them, Mizu suddenly wakes up, cutting them both down and offering Akemi her hand. They flee through the hidden passage back to the main room, where Mizu tells Akemi to run to the others when she 'strikes' by smashing an urn. As another team of Thousand Claws arrives, Mizu draws them away from Akemi, towards the door. Cutting down one of the support beams to delay them, she pulls the fallen door up behind her and jams it back into place with a burst of strength.

However, as she struggles to hold it against their assault, she sees that the rest of Hamata's thugs are still waiting in the street, right behind her. A sudden lunge by those inside knocks Mizu down, trapping her underneath the door, and the *yakuza* pile in top of it, slashing at Mizu around its' edges and slowly crushing her beneath its' weight. As she begins to black out, she remembers the day Mikio rejected her, the samurai who came to collect the bounty on her head, and the betrayals by her husband and/or her 'mother'.

Experiencing another adrenaline-fueled burst of rage, Mizu manages to cut the legs from under one of the *yakuza* and knock him down, displacing just enough weight to flip the door *off* of herself. After clearing some space with swipes of her *katana, she* removes her calf-and-forearm weights, relieving herself of her handicap. Remembering Mikio's advice that a polearm is the best weapon when outnumbered, she swiftly rolls the weights into interlocking sections of pipe around her sword-hilt, transforming it into a *naginata*. Engaging the Thousand Claws, she cleaves relentlessly through their ranks, killing everyone who comes at her. As the remaining two flee from her, she comes across the teenage *yakuza* she spared earlier, and stabs him in cold blood.

Making her way to Hamata's gambling house, she drags the now-undefended and hopeless crime lord out into the streets, leaving him at the mercy of Madame Kaji and her women for what he did to Kinuyo; Kaji praises Mizu as "more man than *any*, come through my door." As they finish Hamata, Mizu staggers away, briefly collapsing from exhaustion and dreaming of her mother and Mikio's deaths. Ringo wakes her and expresses his astonishment at her achievement. Mizu dismisses his uneasiness over the 'darkness' he felt when killing a Thousand Claw to protect Akemi, saying he cannot hide from the dark if he wants to be like her.

Suddenly, a pair of riders sent by Akemi's father, Lord Tokunobu, arrive to retrieve her; Akemi claims she isn't going anywhere, looking to Mizu for help. However, Mizu makes it clear she has no quarrel with the Tokunobu samurai, and wearily lets them take Akemi, ignoring the young woman's cries for help. When Ringo protests her inaction, Mizu claims Akemi is 'better off' and starts to leave. Ringo angrily says she is no samurai because her action wasn't honorable, but Mizu snaps that she never *said* she was a samurai in the first place; Ringo merely assumed she was. She declares she is on the path of revenge and has no time for love, friendship or 'weakness', clearly alluding to Ringo's compassion. Insulted, Ringo removes the bell she gave him, ending his allegiance to her; after staring at it for a moment, Mizu accepts it and angrily leaves- alone again.

## Personality

Mizu is led by her mind, much more than her heart. She is quiet, calculating, independent, strategic, confident, and dismissive of any emotions. Though she has a talent for manipulating people into giving her information and is capable of stealth when necessary, Mizu often takes reckless, brazen risks to reach her goal, usually relying on her sheer skill in combat and infiltration to overcome any obstacles rather than planning around them. While she *does* usually overcome said obstacles, this approach is not foolproof, and has often left her with serious injuries or alerted enemies. In at least two circumstances, she almost certainly would have died if not for Ringo's timely assistance.

She cares nothing for the fate of the larger world or communities around her, viewing all powerful individuals as privileged and corrupt. She holds Akemi in contempt initially due to her wealthy status and impulsive willingness to throw it away for Taigen, and doesn't bother to help her when she is captured by her father's men. In the Season One finale, Mizu is also indifferent to the fate of Shogun Ito despite seeking to kill his enemy Fowler, blaming the Shogun for covertly letting Fowler into Japan in the first place. After the tragic end of her marriage (perhaps the only brief time in her *adult* life when she was happy), Mizu's only goal is fulfilling her personal quest of revenge, even if she dies in the process; she tells Heiji Shindo "I have no *interest* in being happy... only *satisfied*."

Mizu struggles with self-loathing, due to the social limitations placed on her by being a woman (hence her practical decision to give herself more flexibility by disguising herself as a man), and the ostracization she has always faced due to her 'foreign' appearance, blaming it entirely on her unknown white father. She often dubs herself a 'monster' for her heritage, but ironically has only reinforced this perception of her- though less by her appearance and more by her cold, aloof personality, brutal and unorthodox style of combat and relentless drive for vengeance. For all her emotional control in combat, certain insults trigger her, particularly comparisons to the *onryo* of Japanese folklore (a vengeful demon-ghost of a wronged woman, paralleling her experience with Mikio)- causing her to lash out violently in response. In hating herself as a 'monster', Mizu often forgets Eiji's unconditional acceptance and teaching of her as a child despite any physical or personal 'flaws' (she fears he was only so accepting because he was blind)- particularly his mantra that "the strongest sword is a *blend* of steel, pure and *impure*."

Due to the trauma she endured as a child *and* as an adult, Mizu is highly mistrustful of people in general, and avoids making emotional attachments, seeing them as distractions from her quest for revenge. She *does* sympathize with the underpriveleged and fellow social outcasts (such as her disgraced husband Mikio, the handless Ringo, the blind Eiji, and Madame Kaji's prostitutes) but avoids involvement, and certainly does not make assurances for bystanders' safety unless she has given her word or they are part of her plans. While she increasingly treats Ringo with respect and allows herself to trust him enough to keep her secrets and assist her, she avoids becoming close to him as a friend. She scorns Taigen's *bushido* codes of honor and chivalry and is willing to take any opportunity to strike she can, not trusting others to honor their agreements. The only people she has every allowed herself to love unconditionally and be completely vulnerable with, are her 'mother' and her husband Mikio, both of whom ultimately betrayed her trust in multiple ways. Unable to determine or care which one gave her away to bounty-hunting samurai, Mizu's trauma from this provoked her to leave her mother to die, and then kill Mikio in cold blood when he followed her- leaving her with nothing but loneliness, grief and mistrust. Ultimately, she walled these emotions up behind her childhood desire for vengeance, seeing it (at first) as the only way to move forward.

However, despite cultivating a cold, indifferent personality, Mizu is certainly *not* heartless. In the first episode she shows kindness to a mother and daughter who were unable to get into Kyoto by giving them the gold hairpin that she took from Taigen in their first duel. Despite having been away from Master Eiji for some time, she voiced prayers for his safety and health at a Shinto shrine on her journey, indicating how much she cared for him. She saves Taigen many times despite being enemies, and in the finale tells him to seek his own safety and that his pursuit of the life of a samurai will only get him killed. She also continues to show relative kindness to Ringo, her apprentice. When she mercy-killed Kinuyo at Madame Kaji's request (in exchange for information), despite knowing she was saving the girl from a much more prolonged and painful fate, she held the girl's body for several moments afterwards, with a look of pain and remorse.

During Abijah Fowler and Heiji Shindo's coup, Mizu intervenes to divert Fowler from killing the Shogun's son, saving his heirs as well as Taigen and Akemi. When Fowler points out to her that Edo is burning "in a blood sacrifice to your revenge" (since she set Edo Castle alight while pursuing him) she shows shock and regret over the destruction she inadvertently caused, in contrast to her earlier dismissal over the fate of the Shogunate. Despite her vengeful rage toward Fowler, when she finally corners and cripples him, she ultimately decides not to kill him *yet* due to his possible use in tracking down her other two potential fathers, showing that she is beginning to act with more strategy and less brazen impulse- and to learn and care more, about the wider world she once viewed with total indifference.

## Appearance

Mizu is a tall, slender, pretty Hāfu (half European, half Japanese) woman with an athletic build, light skin, blue eyes, an oval shaped face with a pointed chin and long black hair which she ties up in a bun. Her regular attire, a male disguise consists of orange tinted spectacles with round frames, to mask her blue eyes, dark grey arm warmers, a dark blue haori tied with a lighter blue obi, baggy black trousers, with darker black stockings and sandals, a white scarf tied around her neck to disguise her lack of Adam's apple (which she later exchanges for Taigen's orange scarf) and a plain brown kasa (large hat) with a dark blue cape, when traveling outside in cold conditions. Mizu nearly always carries a blue-tinted *katana* made of meteorite ore, with a wave pattern along the edge, which she wields in battle. She stops carrying it after Episode 6 when it is broken, melting it down to re-forge a new sword when she is ready. During her married life with Mikio, she wore a dark blue women's kimono with socks and sandals.

## Relationships

### Eiji

Mizu has a deep respect for Eiji, honorifically dubbing him "Swordfather". After he took her off the streets as a child and began training her as his apprentice, she saw him as a mentor and a father figure in her life. He raised her and taught her various skills from metalwork to various life lessons. At first she hid her mixed heritage from him, fearing he was only accepting of it due to his blindness and would reject her, but when he learned of it after catching her training herself in combat, he did not care (having probably guessed it already). Before she left on her quest, Mizu tried to reveal her real gender to him as a demonstration of her trust and loyalty, but Eiji cut her off (again, implying he may have already guessed).

Despite the trauma of her betrayal by Mikio and her mother and her resulting mistrust of people in general, Mizu still showed concern and affection for Eiji even after their years of absence, praying for his well-being at a Shinto shrine she stopped at. When they met again, she was initially angry that he refused to provide her steel for her quest of revenge (having nearly gotten herself killed, consumed by her anger and drive for vengeance) but when he met with her later, she lamented how the world saw her as a demon, and that she shared that opinion herself. Eiji reprimanded that he did not train her to become a demon but an artist, and that as an artist one always has the chance to begin with something new. When she was melting down her broken sword to a re-forgeable ore, Eiji offered her his preferred set of forging tongs to melt down, as a contribution. Though Mizu succeeded in melting her sword down shortly after, she recognized that she was not ready to re-forge her weapon until she'd dealt with her internal conflicts, and left the steel with Eiji, promising to come back for it.

### Mikio

Mikio is Mizu’s ex-husband. Mizu married him as requested by Mama, being told that they were perfect together because they were both outsiders. On their first night as a married couple, Mikio saw that Mizu was tense sleeping near him, so he moved his mat and sighed, “I am not a brute.” At first the two were awkward and Mikio spent all his time on his horses. Mizu started helping him tame a horse named Kai and the two started to open up. Eventually, they fell in love and Mikio gifted Mizu her a horse, Kai. However after Mizu told him her past and beat him in a duel, he said that she was a monster and stormed off, ultimately selling the horse he promised her to his Lord. After Mizu was attacked by samurai attempting to collect a bounty on her head, she witnessed Mikio riding away during the duel, betraying her. Though he returned once she had killed them, calling himself a coward and begging her forgiveness, Mizu had lost all trust in him. When he and her 'mother' each accused the other of turning her in to the samurai (which ended with Mikio stabbing her) Mizu killed him when he tried to approach her again. She grieved the loss of Mikio and her mother, but she never trusted or showed affection for anyone except Eiji afterwards.

### Ringo

Ringo is Mizu’s loyal self-proclaimed apprentice. Mizu at first is annoyed by Ringo’s ability to never shut up. She sees him as a liability. However he proves to be useful with cooking, medicine, and carrying heavy objects. Mizu ends up trusting Ringo after he promises to always be loyal to her and even promises to keep her gender a secret (he is the only living person apart from Abijah Fowler and *possibly* Eiji, to know she is a woman). Mizu cares for Ringo, whether it is giving him the ability to have fun at a brothel, at the capital, or just letting him come along for the ride.

### Abijah Fowler

Mizu hates Abijah Fowler. Since he is one of the four men that could possibly be her father, she has sworn to kill him. She does not care who she has to go to, she will get her revenge. She thinks of him as a brutal, barbaric white man who has made her into a monster. She only keeps him alive at the end to get information out of him about the other white men.