Disclaimer: All credit goes to Shingo Nanami, the author of Sengoku Strays, and フクロウ, the author of these drabbles. I am merely just a translator who got permission to upload フクロウ's stories to this wesite. Make sure you go and comment on her website!

うたた寝

Catnap

Nobunaga+Kasane+Nobuyuki

"Oya?"

Nobuyuki softly murmured when he discovered Kasane peacefully sleeping against one of the pillars on the veranda.

"Fufu, even if the weather right now is quite lovely, you'll catch a cold if you sleep here," he faintly chuckled and placed his haori over her. Kasane made no signs of waking up and continued sleeping on.

"Such an innocent face…" he whispered as he gazed over her sleeping form. He would usually think of her as pleasant and openminded, but somehow her serene sleeping face was just made her look so adorable.

"Nobuyuki."

"Aniue*?" He turned towards the authoritative voice. There stood the lord of Owari, owner of Nagano Castle and his older brother, Oda Kazunosuke Nobunaga.

"…So the girl found another weird place to sleep again," Nobunaga exasperatedly sighed at the sight. Nobuyuki gave him a strained laugh.

"She must have been tempted by this clear and mild weather."

"So because she was tempted by this weather, she decided to nap on the veranda where countless of strangers would happen to pass by? …There's a limit to how careless you can be."

Considering his elder brother's words, Nobuyuki agreed. Indeed, this wasn't the ideal place for a young girl to sleep at.

"…I feel bad for her, but let's wake her up."

"Wait."

Before Nobuyuki could wake Kasane up, Nobunaga restrained him back. Nobuyuki glanced back at his brother with questioning eyes.

"This sort of content face makes me want to play a prank on her."

"M-molest**…!?" Nobuyuki cried out in alarm. "A-aniue! T-to do such a thing to a sleeping girl…! She's just a maiden who doesn't know anything about men! P-please rethink…!"

"…What are you talking about, Nobuyuki?" Nobunaga sent a dreary look at the frantic, red-faced Nobuyuki. In return Nobuyuki replied, "Eh?" and gazed back baffled.

"….So you weren't going to…?"

"…You fool. I only wanted to play a practical joke on her."

"A practical joke…?"

"This." Nobunaga suddenly took out an ink stone and writing brush.

"Aniue, you must be joking…" Realizing what Nobunaga was planning to do, Nobuyuki visibly paled.

"I should start drawing the mustache first."

(A, Aniue-!)

Nobunaga paled to a sickly blue color as a determined Nobunaga was set on drawing on Kasane's face. He lamented that he could not stop his strange and mischievous older brother.

"Hn…"

Just before Nobunaga's brush touched Kasane's face, she squirmed a little which was enough to halt his movements.

"Nobuyuki-san…"

Hearing his name, Nobuyuki gazed at her in astonishment. Then feeling a bit abashed, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and laughed uneasily.

"Fufufu…" Kasane chuckled, seemingly happy at what she's seeing in her dream. Nobuyuki wryly smiled and ruffled his hair.

"I wonder what kind of dream she's seeing right now…"

"…"

Surely no man will do something bad to a girl who just happened to happily sleep and call out someone's name. But contrary to Nobuyuki's broad smile, Nobunaga's brow crinkled.

"…You sure have guts to call out Nobuyuki's name in front of your owner."

With one glance towards his fuming and obviously irritated brother, Nobuyuki immediately shrank back.

"…Hn… Tono-sama…"

Hearing his name name, Nobunaga's eyes widened.

"…It seems that Aniue is now in her dream, huh."

"…Seems like it," he murmured back.

"…Looks like she's in a nightmare though."

"…"

Just as she called out Nobunaga's name, Kasane had scrunched up her face and groaned uneasily in her sleep. She was obvious seeing a bad dream. Unsure of what to say, Nobuyuki turned to Nobunaga.

"…A-aniue…"

"Such foolishness…"

Losing interest, Nobunaga and decided to walk away, but was stopped by Kasane, whose hand now gripped onto the sleeve of his kimono.

"…"

He halted his movements and moved his gaze at the girl.

"Masamune…"

"…"

Nobunaga's eyebrows twitched while Nobuyuki bursted out laughing in spite of himself.

"M-masamune is… if I recall, Kasane's brother right? To think she would actually grab you… and c-call out her y-younger brother's name…!"

Unable to contain himself, Nobuyuki clenched his stomach and continued to laugh. Enduring Nobuyuki's laughter, Nobunaga's bad mood only worsened.

"Kotetsu…" This time Kasane took hold of Nobuyuki's clothes. The latter immediately stopped laughing, his face now troubled by this new development.

"…Looks like you're Kotetsu now," Nobunaga snorted out a laugh as Nobuyuki withered under his brother's cold eyes.

"However… What should we do now, Aniue? Now we can't move…"

"We either wake up the girl or force her off of us."

He tried to pull his sleeve away, but at the same time Kasane's grip tightened.

"…"

"…Aniue, we still have some time before the afternoon meeting, so why don't we join Kasane-dono for a while?" Nobuyuki gently suggested. Nobunaga once more glanced at the sleeping Kasane before making his decision.

"…Hmph." Nobunaga snorted, crossed his arms and sat next to the girl. Nobuyuki chuckled at the scene. Just as he thought, no matter how much Nobunaga would deny it, his older brother is kind…

"…What're you grinning about?" Nobunaga asked. Catching Nobuyuki's expression, he made an unpleasant face. Nobuyuki frantically straightened his back.

"I'm sorry Aniue…!" He hurriedly sat next to Kasane's empty side. The content girl made no sign of waking up. But even so, her tiny hand still clenched onto their sleeves.

"…Now that I think about it, it's been a long time since I was able to talk to you like this."

"…Really?"

"Since Aniue became the successor of Owari, we hardly had the time to have these kinds of conversations."

"…"

Nobunaga silently gazed at the garden.

"…Now that I think about it, I should probably thank Kasane-dono for creating this opportunity for us." Nobuyuki calmly smiled and looked down at her. Nobunaga's gaze turned towards the pair.

"…Nobuyuki, don't get attached to that girl. She will once day leave this place." He narrowed his eyes and glowered at Nobuyuki.

"Even if she ceases to exist from this place, as long as she is here we all want to connect to her. Isn't that what humans are?"

"…A foolish notion," Nobunaga curtly controverted.

"If men are sentiment towards others, it's because they except some sort of repayment in return… You on the other hand, might be different."

Nobuyuki's eyes widened at those words, "Repay…ment?"

"That's why I will not show any compassion to her," Nobunaga gingerly brushed Kasane's hair. He ran his hand through her silky, short black hair settling it back in place. "Because I won't get any payment in return."

Nobuyuki faintly smiled at his brother's words. When Nobunaga gave him a questioning glance he replied, "I believe Kasane-dono's innocent sleeping face and her happy smile to be a sufficient enough payment for me."

As Nobuyuki brightly smiled, Nobunaga relaxingly looked downwards. As usual, his younger brother was a good and selfless person.

However.

"For you to be satisfied by just that, you're such a simpleton."

Nobuyuki looked up and gazed steadily at his brother. He saw an unusually pleasant smile carved across Nobunaga's face.

"…That makes two of us then."

In the end, once a woman smiles, men turn into simple and idiotic creatures. Nobunaga grudgingly conceded this faintly in his heart.

*Aniue: Old fashioned way of saying "elder brother"

**Here Nobunaga says "Itazura" which can mean pranks, tricks, mischief, lewd behavior, sexual misconduct, etc.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was difficult for me to translate the last few sentences, but hopefully it worked out... Ahahaha... Again please feel free to check out her website!