“Come here. Come here. Shhh, stop struggling. Let your big sis love you, naughty boy!”
“Nooo, Nee-chan, nooo,” Giyuu protested weakly, smiling all the while as she nuzzled into his hair and gave him her kisses. He had the idea in him that, as a ‘mature adult', he should definitely not be cuddled to sleep by his sister, and Tsutako definitely did not agree. She still loved to give him as much affection as she could, and when Giyuu was younger, she made sure to indulge that with cuddles, kisses, tickle fights, and bedtime stories. This week, the week before Tsutako’s planned wedding ceremony, was one of the last nights they were going to spend together as siblings in the same house, and Tsutako wanted to spend her limited time with her little brother Giyuu as productively as possible.
Unsatisfied with his aloofness, Tsutako grinned at him in warning. “I’m going to get my daily dose of sugar, whether you like it or not!”
Giggles and squeals were all Giyuu could respond with as Tsutako mercilessly dug her fingers into his armpits, under his neck, all the weak spots that she knew very well from their play fights of old. Giyuu screamed with laughter and flailed his limbs, but he was no match. He couldn’t fight back against her onslaught and was quickly subdued. The day’s fatigue caught up to him fast, and he called uncle quickly. Once he was thoroughly winded, Tsutako pulled him in for the finishing blow: a bear hug, so tight that Giyuu wheezed, and she hugged him like that for a long time.
Eventually she had mercy on his protests of suffocation and released so he could climb into his futon for the night. Giyuu, placated from the play fight, settled in to the blanket and let out a comforted sigh.
After patting his head once last time, Tsutako made to extinguish the candle. “Good night, Giyuu. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to sleep yet,” Giyuu protested weakly.
His slurred words obviously showed that he wouldn’t have much of a choice soon, but Tsutako let out a dramatic sigh and sat back down to the ground. She went back to petting his hair as she talked to him. “We still have lots of work to do before my wedding, and I’m going to need you to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for all the things we need to do. You need your rest.”
“But…” Giyuu protested again, and his words trailed off, his silence heavy.
Tsutako was going to be leaving the Tomioka household and joining a new house soon, and even though it was a nearby family, Giyuu wouldn’t have the chance to be with his sister nearly as much. He didn’t voice this to her out of a childish desire to seem mature, but Tsutako knew what he wanted to say, and was also sad about their inevitable parting. She expressed that by loving on Giyuu as much as she could in the weeks before her wedding.
“Shh,” she hushed him quietly, petting his head all the while. Her touch calmed Giyuu and seemed to melt away all of his fears.
“Tell me a bedtime story,” he murmured. As childish as he viewed those, this was a special occasion.
Tsutako let out a long hmm and thought for a moment. She didn’t really know many bedtime stories off the top of her head, but there were a few that maybe Giyuu didn’t know yet, and she managed to piece one together roughly from what she remembered of it. It was probably going to be different from the original, but that was of little importance.
“Okay,” she finally said, laying down next to Giyuu and getting comfortable. “I’ll tell you a fairy tale. A story about hero, but who was small like you.”
“Huh?” Giyuu questioned her.
“Mhm. Someone so small, you could hold them in the palm of your hand.”
“What!” exclaimed Giyuu, indignant. “I’m bigger than that! Actually, I’ve never been that small!”
“Well, such a squirt like you looks like that to me sometimes!” growled Tsutako playfully, before continuing. “I’ll tell you a story about Issun-bōshi, Little One-Inch, so listen closely.
Once upon a time, a couple who were a lot like our mom and dad wanted a baby. But, when their baby was born, he was as small as your thumb. Look at your thumb, Giyuu, imagine how tiny he was!”
“I’m not that small,” repeated Giyuu sourly.
Tsutako ignored him, flashing him a grin, and continued. “Even though he was so small, when he grew up, he was very brave. He wanted to be a warrior. Sound familiar?”
Giyuu continued to grumble, but he was admittedly interested in the story. “Not going to be much of a warrior when he’s as big as a thumb,” said Giyuu.
“Well, when you’re small and weak,” said Tsutako, “people think you can’t be a warrior, and that you can’t protect others. That’s not true at all. Issun-bōshi wanted to protect people, too, so he took up his sword, which was actually just a tiny needle, and sailed away from home in a bowl.
Later, he met a family whose daughter had gone missing. They told Issun-bōshi that she had been kidnapped by a demon.”
“And so Issun rescued her,” cut in Giyuu.
Tsutako smiled at him. “That’s right, Issun-bōshi wanted to save the girl, just like you would have wanted to. You’re kind, just like he was. But when you’re so tiny, how can you stop a demon? What would you have done, Giyuu?”
“I would have been sneaky,” admitted Giyuu, a little shame in his voice. “I’d try to sneak up on the demon. It doesn’t feel very good, but the demon would eat the girl, so I would have to.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Tsutako in response. “Lay low and be quiet, wait for the right moment. That’s close to what Issun-bōshi did. He tried to sneak in and save the girl while the demon was sleeping. But the demon woke up.”
Tsutako paused for dramatic effect, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “And then, he swallowed Issun-bōshi!”
A twinge of fear entered Giyuu’s eyes as he imagined himself being eaten by a demon. That would be the end for him, and the girl he wanted to save.
“Don’t worry,” said Tsutako, patting Giyuu. “Think about it for a second. How big is Issun-bōshi, again?”
“As big as my thumb,” recalled Giyuu.
“Right. And the demon was so big, as big as our house! Imagine it, Giyuu. Imagine what would happen next.”
Giyuu thought a little, imagining himself as Issun, wielding that little needle, and facing the demon. “Issun didn’t get chewed up!” he exclaimed in realization. “He was swallowed whole, and then-“
“You got it. Little Issun-bōshi was clever. He got swallowed by the demon on purpose, and stabbed him inside. The demon couldn’t even fight back.”
Giyuu gaped at Tsutako for a moment, bewildered. “That is so weird,” he stated.
“It is weird,” agreed Tsutako, “and it was dangerous. But Issun-bōshi defeated the demon safely, climbed out, and then saved the girl. He knew that being strong wasn’t important. It was being clever, and being brave.”
Tsutako puffed up proudly, satisfied with how she applied the story to Giyuu’s own life. But, the parable seemed a little lost on Giyuu, who was too curious to know what happened next. “Did Issun kiss the girl?” he asked expectantly.
“You can’t save girls just because you want to kiss them, dummy,” chided Tsutako, pinching his nose and making Giyuu flail at her to swat her hand away.
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Yes, Issun-bōshi and the girl got married,” said Tsutako, putting her hand flat on his face to quiet him, but that only made him more agitated. “They got married, but only after Issun-bōshi found a magic hammer and become big.”
Giyuu shoved Tsutako’s arm off him and huffed at her. “See, that was a valid question,” he said, accentuating his speech to show off his lexicon. “It’s not bad to help people because you want something in return.”
“You’re right,” said Tsutako, a little nonchalant. “It’s not, really, because it’s still a good deed. But Giyuu, I want you to help people because they need it, not just because you want kisses.”
As Giyuu glared at her, she continued with a smile. “Nee-chan will give you lots of kisses and hugs anyways. Don’t worry.”
It seemed like Giyuu had reached his limit of teasing for the day, for with a huff, he turned his body away from Tsutako. “Helping others is exactly what people should do, anyways! It was obvious without saying!! Thank you for the story,” he stated in mock politeness. “Good night!”
Tsutako smiled warmly at Giyuu’s back. Pride for her little brother’s kind, gentle nature overwhelmed her and tears pricked at her eyes. He maybe didn’t know it, but she was going to miss him so much when she got married, and every ounce of teasing she gave him was an expression of her love for Giyuu. Even if he didn’t really understand her preaching through that fairy tale, Tsutako wasn’t worried in the slightest for him. Giyuu was the sweetest little brother she ever could have asked for, and it was precious moments like this that really reminded her of how lucky she was.
“It is that time,” she sighed, and started to get up.
Tsutako blew out the candle that lit the bedroom and gave Giyuu’s hair one last ruffle. “Good night, Giyuu. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
A moment’s pause, and then she could hear it: the tiniest little “good night”, a sigh into his blanket as he drifted into sleep.