Mori Motonari thought at first that he was still dreaming. What a sweet fantasy come true to awaken with the rays of the morning sun warming his face and the scent of the sea on a gentle breeze. The serenity was heightened to perfection by the sounds of gulls crying overhead and the waves crashing gently on the nearby shore. Ambient, though it was, a dream would be the only logical explanation for why he was here, lying against the heated sand of some beach instead of home in Aki, safe in his bed.
HIS land- no one would take it from him. It was safe for now, even after his uncalculated defeat at the hands of the pawn, Sanada Yukimura. Following that encounter, the warlord had gone home to that land to lick his wounds, as it were. He should have been awakening in bed there now.
Slowly, his long brown lashes parted to reveal his hazel-brown eyes. They stared at the clear blue sky in bewilderment for just a few moments, but then narrowed at the sound of the last voice he would want to hear.
"Goodmorning, Sunshine!" It was a gruff, masculine voice suited to a ruffian who was forever yelling crude things—a man who referred to his followers with such an undignified term as "sons of bitches".
"Chosokabe Motochika…" Motonari spoke the name with scorn as he sat up slowly. He felt that his kabuto was gone, but the lack of headgear was not his biggest concern at the moment. Both hands felt around him for his weapon. However, he found none, much to Chosokabe's apparent amusement.
"Looking for your hula hoop, Mori? You won't find it. Here, let me."
His first thought was to slap the hand away, and that would have been a gesture that Motochika would have expected. The two were as far away from being friends as Aki was far away from Oshu. Any gesture of kindness was typically outright rejected. However, Motonari surprised the more muscular man by taking his hand and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.
"There," Motochika smiled, his one visible blue eye gleaming playfully as he started to smile. In response to this, the smaller man scowled.
To put it bluntly, Motonari hated Motochika's face. It was not that it was an ugly face. The demon part of the man's title as "Demon of the Western Seas" came more from his behavior, strength, and prowess in battle than anything to do with his appearance. Chosokabe's face was a hated one because it was Chosokabe's face. That was that, and as such, Motonari took great pleasure in slamming his head into it.
"What the he-" Motochika began before a right hook was taken to the rippling muscles of his abdomen. As if this wasn't enough, Mori's fist slammed under the silver-haired pirate's chin and then the left palm was thrust into his nose. All of this happened so fast that the so called demon was left stunned as he backed away.
"Hmph, so long as I have the divine protection of the sun, I need not even a weapon!" Motonari gloated.
"In that case, I hope it starts to storm, you bastard," Motochika complained as he held his now bleeding nose. It couldn't be said that he didn't know why this was happening to him. Mori was not just a son of bitch to Motchika. He WAS the bitch. The question was why hadn't the pirate seen this coming?
The general in green stood in a defensive stance, ready to show off his prowess in unarmed combat. Something did not feel right, however, and this caused him to calm down again. Standing up right, he felt along his arms, realizing that his sode were missing. Now more confused than anything, he turned to the pirate for answers.
"Chosokabe, where is your weapon?" He couldn't recall a time when he had seen the brute without the crude spear-like weapon he had fashioned from a ship's anchor and a length of chain attached to a pole.
The pirate had been advancing on him with one fist raised, meaning to clobber the smaller daimyo upside the head. He was stopped in his tracks by the question, however, and now stood with a puzzled expression that quickly gave way to a good natured shrug.
"We're in the same boat, huh, Mori? I woke up here just as confused as you are."
"Here," Motonari repeated as he started to look around. As far as he could see, there was nothing but palm trees, sand, and rocky cliffs further back. Nothing about this land appeared familiar at all. Had they been marooned? "If I am stuck here with you…"
"Yea, I know. Seppuku is your preferred option, right?"
The damned pirate seemed far too amused with all of this for Motonari's tastes. Much to his chagrin, the other man even sat down on the sand with his legs crossed and then leaned backwards onto his elbows as though the two were on some sort of vacation.
"If you have anything to do with this…" Motonari's eyes narrowed slowly as he gazed upon the slacker.
"Not a thing," Motochika shrugged. He then made a loud snorting noise and spat blood upon the ground, disgusting his fellow warlord. "I'd say I'd like to meet the son of a bitch that carried me here, but I already know 'em, I think."
"Well?" Motonari was becoming impatient.
Hate is such a strong word, and that is why it was perfect to describe what he felt for his rival. The perpetrator of such a cruel joke as placing these two together needed to pay with their lives.
"The last thing I remember was having drinks with Maeda Keiji."
"Then I will assume he is to blame and obliterate him with the power of the sun," Motonari spoke simply. Then, folding his arms, he started off into the jungle of palm trees with every intention of leaving Motochika behind.
"Hey wait, Mori! It's dangerous to go alone!"
Neither party would care all of that much, to be honest. Thus, even the pirate was not sure of why he had bothered to shout that. Aside from believing that Keiji had placed them in this situation, Motochika was as clueless as his rival, and he was also as reluctant to share his company. However, he had his honor, which would not allow him to sit by while an unarmed man wandered alone. Besides, the only other option was to sit on the beach by himself.
Mori had taken to walking slowly so as to carefully observe every last detail of his surroundings. This thoroughness was soon rewarded with the sight of a tree with a stripe of red paint along the trunk. Of course, this had to have some meaning, and so he began to scan the area for another, ignoring Motochika's blabbering as the other caught up to him. A few yards away, there was yet another tree with this marking. Now it was obvious that someone had marked a trail for them.
While Motonari did all of the work of finding the marked trees along the trail, the pirate talked and talked, even though he was being actively ignored. It wasn't a very long walk. About five trees in total were marked with red paint before the pair finally came upon one marked with green. Beneath it, the earth formed a soft mound, giving evidence to someone having buried something here recently. Folding his arms, the smaller daimyo turned to Motochika and cleared his throat.
"What?" The pirate stared back. He had the feeling that he was being subtly ordered around.
"Obviously, a pirate is more suited to dig things up from dirt," the other shrugged.
The thinly veiled insult was not missed. However, rather than fight about it, Motochika knelt and started to move the soft earth aside with his hands. Mori, in the meanwhile, stood by impatiently. After a few moments, the purple pirate held up a small wooden box, which he then had to yank out of the smaller man's reach.
"What are you doing? I dug it up, so I should be the one to know what's inside of it first!"
"Like a child," Motonari rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and open it!"
Motochika chuckled to himself in triumph as he carefully lifted the lid to reveal the fruit of his labor. Finding a rolled parchment, he dropped the box onto the ground. Of course, Mori started to reach, but being the taller man, it was easy for him to hold what was clearly a map away from the daimyo in green.
"There's treasure! I'll tell you what, Mori. We'll split it, me and you."
"Of course," Mori even smiled a little, but he was not as sincere as he was playing to be. He would cooperate with the pirate, or rather he would allow him to do all of the work in locating the treasure. Then, if it was something good, he would take it all for himself and leave Chosokabe high and dry.
Such plans look great on paper. However, neither of the men had any idea of what they were in for.
His smile faded entirely as a heavy arm settled around his shoulders, and Chosokabe's face was suddenly near his ear.
"Yup, it will be an adventure—just you and me, Mori! You'll get a taste of the pirate's life!"
"I'm thrilled," Motonari said as he ducked away from the other's arm. Of course, his voice said otherwise. Still, Motochika's enthusiasm didn't waver.
"Alright, let's get started!"
Chosokabe took the lead and Mori followed with a small smirk. Just as planned. Let the dumb pirate do all of the work. Pretending to enjoy the adventure would be a small hassle compared to the reward, or so he thought, anyway. He had still yet to consider what the so called treasure could be in the first place.
Their path took many twists and turns through the thick gathering of trees and other plants. A few birds were disturbed here and there, which reminded Mori of that ridiculous looking bird that was usually with the pirate. Where was that thing, anyway? What was their kidnapper's goal in stripping them of their weapons, armor, and the bird? Why a treasure hunt? Really, was Maeda Keiji trying to make the pair bond through a childish game like this? How typical of him.
The passing of time was hard to mark, but it seemed to the self-proclaimed child of the sun that about an hour passed before the duo came upon a lagoon. While Mori hung back to watch, Chosokabe went to the water's edge and knelt, dipping both of his gloved hands inside to ladle some of the clear liquid to his mouth. This was consumed with an undignified slurp and then followed by a loud belch.
"It's freshwater. Have some Mori," the pirate turned to the other man, insistent.
Well, after all of that walking, he was a bit parched. Thus, Motonari joined his rival at the bank with no complaint and knelt to scoop up some of the water into his own hands. It was indeed free of the sea's salt, but there was a slightly funny taste to it.
Seeing the expression on the other's face, Motochika rolled his eye. He wasn't stupid, of course, and had realized that the other man was making him do all of the work and likely planning to try to make off with all of the treasure. He wouldn't let Mori get away with it at all, but still, he was trying his best to make the most of this situation and be friendly.
"I realize it's not water from Aki…"
"Not at all," Mori grumbled as he drank another handful. Unbeknownst to Motochika, he was really not trying to go out of his way to be a nag, as it seemed. The water really did taste funny to him, but then, he was truly used to drinking either sake or water from the supply in his homeland.
"Well, I think we should keep moving, so if you've quenched your thirst there, Mori, let's go."
Now the daimyo wanted to be difficult, and so he took a third and a fourth handful of the water, even though he didn't like the taste and was no longer thirsty. It was simply of matter of not allowing himself to be ordered around. He would go when he was ready.
Once he was satisfied with himself, he pressed a fist to his mouth to silence his belch. Then smirked to himself as he started to walk again. The pirate was clearly annoyed enough to roll his eye, though he said nothing in favor of being off on their way.
Fifteen minutes of silent travel passed before Motochika slowed his pace to walk closer to the other man. In truth, he really did not want to do this. However, he was a social creature by nature and used to the constant rowdiness of his crew. Thus, it could be said that he was a bit desperate for conversation, even if it meant having one with his enemy.
"Mori, what do you think Keiji has in mind for us?"
"Hmph, you're are foolish as he if you can't figure that out on your own," huffing, Motonari crossed his arms.
"You think that anyone who isn't named Mori Motonari is a fool," the pirate fired back.
"And so they are," Mori shrugged.
"You're going to die alone, Mori," Motochika shook his head. "Alone and surrounded by cats. Not even your grandchildren will visit you."
Motonari immediately turned smug, "This is good for me. I don't like children and I don't like cats, so if you would leave that out of your fantasy of my death."
"You deserve to be as miserable as you make others. There are cats in my version of your death."
"Hmph, how childish," Motonari turned up his nose.
While that signified a victory for Motochika, he realized that it was still a sort of loss. The conversation was over and now the silence had returned. Cursing his luck, he wondered how anyone could end up so aloof and cold. Mori was apparently incapable of even casual conversation without hurling insults. Did he have any friends or anyone that he trusted at all? Even the warriors of his clan were expendable to him, so it was likely that he did not. Such an existence seemed sad to the warm hearted and friendly pirate. With this in mind, he was sure that he knew what Keiji was hoping for. It was just unfortunate that Chosokabe didn't believe it could happen.
Mori was capable of managing long periods of silence because he was such an introverted man and a deep thinker, at that. Unfortunately, there was not much to ponder beyond the jungle and their possible destination. He did wonder what sort of treasure they would find and whether it would be something useful. Knowing Maeda, it was probably going to be some cliché, sentimental garbage that symbolized friendship or something like that. What a waste of time that would be.
Within the hour, the duo reached a clearing and stepped from the jungle onto the white sand of another beach. Ahead of them was a single house, which appeared to be abandoned. Staring at it, Chosokabe checked the map and then stopped to scratch his head.
"Well, Mori, I think we're supposed to go here."
"What? Give me it."
The pirate didn't fight at all when the map was snatched from him. He was too busy trying to figure out this new development. In the meantime, Mori narrowed his eyes as his finger retraced their trail exactly to this domicile. Really, he should have given Chosokabe's navigational skills more credit, but then, he was almost desperate.
"The treasure must be in the house," the man in purple reasoned.
"Yes, of course. Either the treasure or Maeda Keiji." Thrusting the map against the pirate's chest, Motonari rushed for the house and let himself inside through the sliding door. Naturally, he found no Keiji, but he did find a table with a gourd of sake and a small box. Opening the latter, he found a letter, which he scowled upon reading.
"What is it?" Motochika had caught up quickly and now noticed the other's discontent. Not a single word was said as the paper was thrust into his face. Taking it in both hands, the pirate began to read aloud. "Chosokabe-kun and Mori-kun, I know you are very confused about what is happening, but I ask that you please trust me. In this house, I have left enough supplies for the two of you to live comfortably for the next few weeks. I know it seems impossible, but…"
"FOOL," Motonari cut in as he grabbed the paper and balled it up to throw into a corner. "Obviously, he believes that our disputes will be resolved this way. I haven't the time for this."
With the paper so rudely taken for him, Motochika knelt before a crate and popped it open to find it filled with various supplies. From it, he pulled a box of rice balls and started to eat, leaving his partner in this weird game to rant to an audience that wasn't listening.
Once he realized that he was being ignored, Mori settled down and took a rice ball for himself. Come to think of it, this would be his first meal of the day. He might as well try to enjoy it. It didn't even occur to him that he sat on the floor right next to his rival. Honestly, he was too hungry to care.
"So we are stuck here for weeks like this," he sighed mostly to himself.
"We are," the pirate nodded. "I wonder which of us will kill the other in his sleep."
Mori narrowed his eyes and moved away from his rival, "You're serious… It's going to be a long night for you, Chosokabe. I will be awake, watching you!"
[AN: It was only a matter of time before I wrote a Sengoku Basara fic. There we go!]