The Crane
Searching for mysterious cranes in the middle of the night wasn't Hanbei's idea of a good time, but with an impulsive young Lord, he didn't really have much of a choice. He could only hope it wouldn't take all night...
If someone were to ask Hanbei what the hardest part of being a retainer was, he would laugh and answer that it was the irregular sleep patterns. That answer would likely be accepted as a joke, but the truth was, that really was it. Hanbei may have had a long list of complaints about his Lord and the way he ran things (or didn't run things actually) but the only thing he would outwardly show annoyance towards was having his precious sleep interrupted.
So he really didn't appreciate his Lord suddenly waking him up in the middle of the night and dragging him on a wild goose—or rather, crane chase.
Hanbei wasn't really sure what had gotten into Lord Tatsuoki, and in all honesty, he didn't really care. All he knew was that while he was having pleasant dreams in a well-earned sleep, his Lord had been visited by feathered apparitions and now, without any regard for the time, he was eager to act on them.
Tatsuoki hadn't been listening to any protests or attempts at reasoning when he was demanding his retainer get dressed at once. If there had been some kind of emergency, Hanbei would have acted a little faster, but as Tatsuoki's obnoxious grin dispelled any such notions, he opted to take his time in hopes that his Lord would get fed up with waiting (as he usually did) and go bother someone else.
He didn't.
And so in the middle of the night, Hanbei found himself sneaking out of Inabayama Castle with his Lord, his compass, and a lantern and heading off to gods only knew where.
Tatsuoki was in high spirits as he raced along the lantern-lit paths with Hanbei trudging along behind. He was now aware that protesting and purposely slowing them down was only going to delay his desired sleep, but he was too groggy to keep up. Fortunately, Tatsuoki at least had some decency to wait. The climb down from Inabayama castle was full of cliffs and twists, so it wasn't some open field one could go carelessly running around in.
"If I remember correctly, and I do of course, the crane was around here somewhere," Tatsuoki suddenly stopped near a cliff edge, and held the lantern up to look around better. The lone flame didn't illuminate much, but the moon and stars above allowed for some vision. He could see shapes of rocks and trees all around him; typical Inabayama scenery.
"What crane?" Hanbei asked, leaning forward to catch his breath.
"The one in my dream. I know it landed somewhere around here," Tatsuoki explained absently, still searching. He took a few steps forward.
"A dream…" Hanbei repeated the word with a long heavy sigh, "Kinda sounds like what I want to do right now."
"You can do it later," Tatsuoki quipped, "Right now we need to find two large boulders. The crane landed between them."
"We? Was I in this dream of yours as well? Is that why you woke me, of all people, up?"
"Of course not, you're just here as my bodyguard. A Lord can't just walk around by himself." Hanbei clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"So instead of waking up one of those large beefy toadies who'd kiss your foot if you asked, you chose to wake up the smallest, weakest and most disagreeable of your retainers? Your taste in bodyguards is most unusual, my Lord."
Tatsuoki just grunted in response, the sarcasm probably lost on him anyway. With his Lord's attention solely on the scenery around him, Hanbei took the brief moment of rest to plop onto the ground. Despite what he'd said, Hanbei was well aware of his role. He'd made sure to keep an ear open in case anyone got any bright ideas. But it seemed that everyone from the bandits to the merchants to the squirrels was sleeping soundly in their beds. Lucky them.
Hanbei watched Tatsuoki carefully, vaguely wondering what he did to deserve this. Tatsuoki rarely even ventured into the castle town, never mind out of it.
It figures the first time he'd willingly leave his room, it'd be for something like this, Hanbei lamented.
"Hanbei, your Lord is looking for something," Tatsuoki suddenly snapped, "Don't you think you should help?"
"My apologies, I didn't realize a mere bodyguard had to—" Hanbei suddenly jumped up, "Tatsuoki, watch out!"
His words came too late. In the darkness of the night, Tatsuoki wandered a little too close to the edge and before he could register the warning, he lost his footing and started to fall. Hanbei quickly leaped to grab his arm, but the difference in their sizes only sent him tumbling after him. As they skid along the side of the mountain, Hanbei quickly turned on his compass's flight mode. It couldn't support both of their weights, but it decelerated their tumbling enough for both men to come out relatively unharmed, if not a little dazed.
"Okay, now I'm awake," the strategist groaned, "Are you alright, my Lord?" Between the two of them, Tatsuoki got the better deal. Despite being the one to drag them both down, he'd managed to land on Hanbei and get a nice soft cushion for his fall. And he was really quickly overstaying his welcome.
"Huh, we're alive? Hmph, good work, Hanbei. I knew I could count on you," he stood up to brush himself off.
"I'm alright too, Lord Tatsuoki. Thanks for asking," Hanbei muttered icily. Wearily, he got up as well, taking in his own damages. His white clothes were dirtied and his hands were stinging from some scrapes, but thankfully that seemed to be all. His compass didn't suffer any damage either.
"I found it!" Tatsuoki suddenly cried out with all the awe and enthusiasm of a child.
Hanbei looked up. "The crane?"
"No the boulders! Hanbei, what do you think?" Hanbei walked up beside him to get a better look. There, in the middle of all the trees were two large stones with a small open space between them. Other than that, he couldn't find anything remarkable and said as much.
"Ha! Shows how little you really know," Tatsuoki was absolutely smug, but Hanbei didn't feel like knocking him off his pedestal just yet, "What do you think of this location?"
Hanbei glanced back. "It could use less cliffs," he retorted with a shrug.
"Hmm, yes I suppose you're right about that," Tatsuoki agreed, "But other than that it's perfect right?"
"I guess? Lord Tatsuoki, do you mind telling me what this about already? Did you really wake me up in the middle of the night to show me rocks?"
"Stop whining. You like these kinds of things, don't you?" Hanbei grimaced.
"Yes my Lord, I love going on secret midnight sightseeing dates in lieu of sleep. How ever did you know?"
Tatsuoki paused. "This is not a date!" he yelled, "Listen Hanbei, since you clearly don't know, I'll enlighten you. A crane appeared in my dream and landed in this exact spot. That means if we were to dig here, we'd find a hot spring!"
Hanbei's ears pricked up at those words. Hot springs definitely ranked high on the list of things he liked. In fact, he would even put them in second place, behind sleep. But as nice as it sounded to have a hot spring near the castle...Hanbei's smile twitched.
"Yes well, good luck with that then, Lord Tatsuoki," he remarked, "If that will be all, I'm going back to bed."
"No, that will not be all!" Tatsuoki snapped, "What's wrong with this idea? You like hot springs, don't you? And you've been working so hard lately; I figured this would make you happy."
Just whose work do you think I've been working so hard on! Hanbei yelled in his head. If being woken up on a whim was the reward he got for his endeavors, he seriously needed to rethink his work ethic.
"A ready-to-use hot spring would have been one thing, but this is…Lord Tatsuoki, first of all, your reasoning for thinking we'd find a hot spring here is because you dreamt about a crane. That kind of logic is fundamentally flawed," Hanbei made sure he had Tatsuoki's full attention before continuing, "Second, do you think you can just dig and dig until you hit water and call it a day? There's a lot of work that goes into a project like this, you know."
"O-Of course, I know that!" Evidently, he didn't.
"Nice try. There's no way you would put in the effort needed for this." Tatsuoki scowled.
"Hanbei, y-you...Fine I'll prove you wrong then. This'll be the biggest hottest hot spring in Japan, and when it's ready, I won't let you use it!" he declared proudly, "So? What do I need to do?"
"Seriously? You just took away all my motivation to help you, and now you want my advice?" Hanbei rolled his eyes, "But alright, if you insist. First we'll assume there really is a hot spring here since the crane went through all this trouble. You'll need to clear this area out and then dig up the spring. Then there will need to be a bathhouse built, and you will need to supervise the construction sight regularly and then..." As Hanbei listed more and more tasks and how they would need to be done, Tatsuoki's eyes grew wider. His strategist didn't even any lighting to know he was growing pale with dread.
"Alright enough already. I don't to hear anymore." Hanbei obliged with a nonchalant shrug. He hadn't expected anything else, really.
"Whatever you say, your Dopiness," he finished calmly, "Come on, we should start heading back now." Tatsuoki didn't move and just stared at the two boulders. "My Lord?" It was too dark to see his face (especially since they'd lost the lantern in the fall), but Hanbei could easily picture Lord Tatsuoki crestfallen.
Such a petulant child, he sighed.
Tatsuoki was a naive fool, but he had meant mostly well with this impulsive endeavor, even if he didn't have any motivation to follow through on his whims. And all this talk of hot springs made Hanbei want to soak in one too. It would have been a nice reward after all the work he'd done. He wasn't going to suddenly agree to take care of this project for Tatsuoki (he wasn't stupid), but...
Hanbei really spoiled him too much.
"Alright, I get it, stop pouting already," Hanbei rubbed his temples, "You won't get a hot spring here unless you seriously work for it yourself, but there are a few nice places in Mino. If you really want to go to one that badly, we could take a short trip."
"Go on," Tatsuoki said quietly.
Hanbei raised a brow at this, an idea forming in his head. "It's too bad there's so much work to be done around the castle though," he remarked, "Not everyone can spend all day playing like you, my Lord. I really want to go too. I once accompanied Lord Dosan to a hot spring that had a mixed bath and—
"Hanbei! Tell me about this place immediately!" Tatsuoki bad mood was gone in an instant.
Hanbei tilted his head, grateful that the darkness was hiding his grin. "Maybe later. I haven't had a good night's rest in days. I can't remember much right now."
"Fine I get it. You're just going to keep it to yourself, and sneak out of the castle later," Tatsuoki grumbled seething.
"That's mean, Lord Tatsuoki. You're more than welcome to accompany me. But..." Hanbei placed his hands at the back of his head. "There really is a lot of work to do..."
Tatsuoki suddenly nodded in understanding (taking the bait). "Ah so you just want me to help you. And here I thought you geniuses liked to handle everything yourselves."
"That's only because good help is so hard to find," Hanbei replied in the same arrogant tone, "But I do appreciate you helping me with your work, my Lord." This was probably the best he could do to get Tatsuoki interested in his own province, and though he'd lose interest quickly enough, it would be fun to see how long he lasted.
"Let's go back," Hanbei said, "If you're not back by morning, there will be a panic." This time Tatsuoki didn't protest and obediently followed along. Hanbei could only hope he'd keep that attitude while he tried to figure out just where they'd fallen and how to get to a more familiar looking place.
"Hey Hanbei, tell me more about that mixed bath," Tatsuoki was practically drooling.
Hmm...Or maybe he really could stay motivated long enough for them to take that hot spring trip.
Hanbei made a note to thank the crane for this.
Thanks for Reading
I got this idea from an SWC2 event I heard about from Professor Tammi on tumblr, so a big shout out and thank you to her for inspiring this story!
I don't really have much to add. I just wanted to write something short, cute, and with Hanbei. My one regret though is that since I really prefer not to write with honorifics if I could avoid it or use gratuitous Japanese, I couldn't really work in Hanbei's "Bakatono-sama" insult to Tatsuoki... It's just a very cute sounding insult! ^^
So um, yeah. Thanks again for reading! I'd love to hear any feedback :)