•Eraser Tales•(Aizawa)

Prince of Horses change (41)

"Of course, just a great sorrow for such a brave stallion to end his days in a coal mine..."

Lord Matsushita rubbed his chin then fanned his face so his lips are obscured. "You must leave tonight from port but the stallion is yours, for an agreed amount of gold. The stallion will be at the docks tonight at midnight..."

And that is how Aizawa Shota, a fallen samurai and now Japanese war horse, headed over the ocean to the distant country of Portugal.

~When the Way comes to an end, then change - having changed, you pass through.~Samurai proverb

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Mausu=mouse
bodily functions get mentioned.

The trip took longer to get back to Portugal due to the Monsoons coming early. If Shota had been still human he thought he might have been retching a couple of times. It is how he learned that horses can't vomit hence an upset stomach from eating too much or getting sick would kill the animal. There wasn't really anything appealing about being a horse except how fast they can run. Yet he would still choose being a horse over the Kitsune as a lover. He wondered how Cho, his little 'butterfly' was doing with her new life. Hopefully her future husband would treat her well?

The only company Shota had was a cabin boy named Kevin, terrified of him and the Captain. The two males had an uneasy agreement. Shota let him be groomed and check his hooves. More than once, Lucio commented on how Shota was more like a giant cat in the body of a horse. Aizawa snorted as it was funny but wasn't funny. He happened to love cats and been told on occasion he acted like a neko.

How long did horses live anyway?

He was twenty five in human years. It was so frustrating to not even be able to do simple conversation. He wasn't much of a conversationist but he missed it now. He missed so many things he took for granted as a human.

The Captain came down into the hull and tacked Shouta up in his Japanese tack. Then he wrapped a chain over his nose (yes a chain over the nose is used to control stallions) and covered his eyes with a dark piece of cloth. Aizawa had been an ass loading on the ship. Shouta didn't fail to be an ass getting off the boat. Lucio didn't mind. The stallion pranced and jigged lively off the boat. Once off the gangplank, Toshi Lucio removed the blindfold so that Aizawa could see. Once again it was a crowded dock with people scurrying around except he was the foreigner and he couldn't understand a word being said. Lucio had at least spoken Japanese to him when he groomed and spent time with Shota.

It was at a total moment of utter chaos it seems time stopped. A small Mausu of a woman compared to the rest of the people in the crowd, barely old enough, approached Captain Lucio.

"Good morning Captain Lucio. You finally were able to get a stallion from Japan!" she said excitedly but with a soft voice.

"I did, his name is Shota. His master was Shota Aizawa. A young prince and samurai warrior killed defending his lord. As you can see he still needs some medical care and work. The stallion was found wandering on the battlefield."

And as if they made a point, Shouta decided to paw the ground and try to 'shoo' the girl away. Her response?

Mausu slapped him on the right shoulder and said, "That is enough out of you! Behave!"

Shota froze on all four feet. No one had spoken to him like that since being a kid! No one spoke to him like that even now being a horse!