Danzaburo had not slept per say, rather he had mediated. He had been sent to bring in the Chinese Shapeshifter, that had been the best possible outcome after all, and Danzaburo always aimed high. But now he was thinking of his next course of action. The shapeshifter probably wanted nothing more to do with him, probably because he had nearly killed the kit in cold blood over him not being a tanuki. What a stupid reason to die for. Then again it was stupid to kill someone for being a tanuki as well. He sighed and pushed back a lot of memories. Right now they would only cloud his judgement. And his judgement would have to be clear.
On one paw he could give up and go back to Japan (that of course was a course of action he was never going to take).
He could commit suicide after admitting failure (but Danzaburo was too stubborn to admit failure).
Or finally he could just continue trying to carry on with his mission. It was the only option left after all. He sighed and began meditating on how he would proceed with his mission.
Two minutes later he rose and grinned. He already had a plan.
Saras woke up to the sound of someone banging on his door.
Leave me alone, he grumbled into his head. After the fight he had spent the rest of the night pulling tar off his cheek, and licking and bandaging his poor paws. His nose he had cleaned of all the dried blood and he had had about two hours of sleeps when the banging made him wake up. Muttering bloody murder he opened the door, and gazed from under drooping eyelids at the form of Kenji, who looked extremely pleased with himself. Uh oh.
The old brown duck smirked with simple pride. "You promised you would one day repay the long overdue rent", his smirk became a grin at the look of horror on Saras' face. "I now have a way you can do just that".
Saras gulped, the shock had shaken away his sleepiness, but now he was wishing the fight with the tanuki had ended differently.
"I think you could start with scrubbing all this from top to bottom", said Kenji with barely hidden delight.
Saras blinked at the pile of dirty dishes heaped onto a large pot filled to the brim in soapy water. He felt his eyes droop and shook his head to keep them open. Then Kenji handed him a wet tea towel and with a large grin on his face,said something which Saras was too tired to hear and finally left the kitchen to the shapeshifter.
Saras nearly fell asleep but then remembered that he had a job to do. Picking up a dirty wok pan he got to work.
Lao Pi was the inn's first customer as he strolled inside, cracking his knuckles. He had come to the conclusion that the fox might have actually been Danzaburo, who had of course tricked him in order to get away. The first thing he saw the kitchen door standing slightly ajar, inside he could see the fox kit working at a huge pile of dishes. Lao Pi pulled up a chair and decided to watch and wait. After all the kit would be going nowhere.
Saras soon learned that the easiest way to scrub the dishes clean was if the water was hot, that way the heat itself would clean away half the dirt. He shapeshifted and chose his dragon form, before breathing a steady bolt of flames onto the large metal pot, heating it. He watched with minor satisfaction as steam started rising out of the pot. Transforming back into a fox he selected a wooden spoon and wiped it once with the towel. Impressed by the results he proceeded to morph back into a dragon, and dry it with a gust of flame. He forgot however that wood was flammable. He shook the spoon in the air as gradually the flames licked it's wooden stem black. He dropped it back into the boiling water. Kenji wouldn't miss one wooden spoon would he ?
Lao Pi couldn't help chuckling a little at the kit's inability to dry a wooden spoon. Watching and waiting seemed like a good course of action after all.
When he wasn't dealing with flammable objects the process was rather simple. Fox form;clean, dragon form; dry. He was finished nearly as soon as he had begun, and had burnt only one wooden spoon and two pairs of chopsticks. He was feeling rather proud of himself when Kenji walked back in, tut-tutting.
"Tsk tsk, very slow,very slow. An hour and a half to clean a few dishes. Good thing you're not a servant".
Saras bit back a retort, knowing quite well that there was no way he was going to be let off dish duty if he answered back.
The duck strolled into a cupboard and came out with a broom. "Now you can sweep this place up until it gets busy". The avian practically shoved the shaft into the vulpine's paws. Saras whinced at the jolt of sudden pain, but ignored it, forced himself to nod and got to work.
Lao Pi couldn't help but smile a little. Serves him right, the young whippersnapper getting his tail handed to him by his elder and better.
The floor wasn't even dirty, but Kenji kept the kit going at it for a good half hour, with a series of never-ending remarks of 'you missed a spot' or a 'oops, I guess you'll have to start again', after the duck 'accidentally' spilled a pot full of old soup.
By then however Saras still received no mercy. "Good, we have a few customers now. I think one day of hard work should be enough for the fifty yuan you already owe me, don't you agree"?
Saras opened his mouth to retort, but Kenji passed him a dusty apron that somehow fit him, with the symbol of sleep stitched onto it.
"What are you waiting for, go grab some orders"!
Saras walked off with as much dignity as he could muster. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that his first customer was Lao Pi. He gulped and began walking far slower than he normally would.
The gibbon wore a big smile on his face when Saras came to him. "What will you be having"? Saras asked with gritted teeth.
The simian's smile grew a bit bigger after that. "I think I'd like something extra special you know, it's not everyday I get to eat here. Let me see". He searched in his head for the most complicated recipe he had ever heard of. Then he saw the pained look on Saras' face and took some pity on the kit."Noodle soup".
Saras would have sighed with relief, but he had no idea how to make it. He walked back into the kitchen, where Kenji placed a scroll in his paws and sat back to watch him. Saras opened the scroll to find a recipe. He read it quickly.
Ingredients:
medium carrots, sliced celery ribs, sliced fresh thyme sprigs bay leaves block of tofu water noodles fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped salt and pepper
Instructions
Heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir; add tofu. Cook until vegetables are softened, but not browned. Add water and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, add noodles and simmer. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley before serving.
Saras stared at it. It couldn't be that hard could it ?
Two hours later.
Saras never looked worse for wear as he walked out of the kitchen. His paws had burns all over them, somehow he had cut himself, noodles clung to his face, which was also coated in a thick layer of black ash.
"Here's, your order", he said with a throat full of dust, and handed Lao Pi a bowl of soup that looked like everything the fox wasn't. The gibbon pinched out the fire on Saras' tail, trying not to laugh. At least now I'm certain he's not Danzaburo.
Saras watched in shame as Lao Pi slurped up two hours of work in under five minutes. The gibbon rose. "It was a good soup." He said simply. "Though making your customers wait isn't exactly a good business plan." Saras went red under his mask of ash. The gibbon turned to leave, but then felt the need to impart some wisdom into the youngster. "Be careful. Life is always dangerous, especially for one with your talents. Keep what's good about you close to you. Remember that."
Saras felt like the gibbon was just giving him a really long speech about not getting a job in a noodle shop. But nodded anyways.
He turned back to the kitchen. He opened the door to find the place he had scrubbed clean only a few hours ago, the biggest mess ever. He had burnt five wooden spoons and two woks in the process of making what Lao Pi deemed 'good soup'. He gulped and turned to Kenji, who was grinning bizarrely. Then he heard words he would never expect to hear.
"Go back to bed". Saras ripped off his apron and handed it to the duck, before leaving. He was once again exhausted.
When the kitchen door closed what he didn't notice was the duck transform into a tanuki. Danzaburo grinned. The time meditating had been well spent indeed. He only pitied that the gibbon had had to wait so long for his food. Moving over to the pot he pulled up a ladle-ful and drunk deeply. Good soup.