Disclaimer: This will be a Hikaru no Go/ Hitsuji no Uta crossover. I will try my best with the story, and I would appreciate constructive reviews. I do not own any characters in this story, nor does either series belong to me.
Call of Blood and Bonds of Family
"Ne, Hikaru, where are we going? I really want to play go again", Fujiwara no Sai asked in a childishly cheerful manner.
"Oi, oi, hold on. We'll be going to a go salon or something like that. Just wait a little longer. We're almost there." Hikaru answered.
"But I want to play now!" Sai whined.
Holding back an urge to sigh, Shindou Hikaru ignored the ghost and walked on. It had not been too long ago since that day he had investigated the goban in his grandfather's attic. Now, he sometimes wished he had not. His life had taken a strange turn, having to share his mind with a go-playing ghost, who was still obsessed with it. Hence, he found himself trying to find a go salon trying to satisfy Sai's craving.
Thankfully, in a few more moments, he finally found in and stepped in.
"Excuse me, are you new here?" Ichikawa asked
"Um, hai, I was wondering if I could play here." Hikaru asked.
"Of course you may. You will have to pay a fee of entrance, though." Ichika replied.
Hikaru paused. He had not brought any money with him today. "Um, I-"
"That's all right, Ichikawa-san. This is first time. I'm sure it can be overlooked", cut in a boy with deep, emerald eyes.
Ichikawa blinked and replied, "Well, if you want, I guess that's all right."
The boy nodded and spoke to Hikaru again, "Watashi wa Touya Akira desu. Hajimemashite."
"I'm Shindou Hikaru. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"I can guess you are a beginner. Well, let us go to the back and prepare a goban."
Since Akira had first appeared. Sai's attention was focused on him.
'This boy, somehow his scent seems very familiar. Yet, why does the smell of his blood seem so…tainted? Unless he is…no, he could not possibly be, or could he?'
'Oi, Sai!', Shindou said mentally, breaking Sai's train of thought.
'Hai, Hikaru?'
'You're going to play go now. Happy?'
'Hai. This boy seems to have great talent and potential for age, among other things.'
'Other things? Such as?'
'It is nothing important. If it does become vital, I will disclose my thoughts. Now let us play.'
Hikaru shrugged off Sai's evasiveness and sat down. This other boy, Touya Akira, interested him. He was so calm and collected, elegant and dignified, an exact contrast to Hikaru. There something magnetic about him.
They prepared the goban and prepared to start. Just then, Hikaru hand slipped and apparently cut itself on some sharp surface.
Slowly, blood started to ooze out of the wound, and time seemed to stop. As Akira looked at the blood flowing, suddenly his chest contracted, his breathing starting to quicken. Something was stirring inside of him. He could feel it coursing through him, the sight of the blood driving him insane with an alien thirst. Hand over his mouth, he suddenly shot up from the chair.
"Anou, daijobu desu ka?", Hikaru asked, startled and afraid.
"Watashi, watashi wa-", Akira could not reply properly as imaged of blood reverbrated through his mind. Unable to withstand it any longer, he suddenly blacked out.
Several hours later, Akira awoke to find himself lying on a couch somewhere in the back of the lounge.
"Are you all right? I was really worried when you fainted" Hikaru asked.
"I, I am just a bit dizzy these days. I'm slightly anemic. I'm sorry to have caused you this trouble."
"That's all right. You're fine, so that's what matters."
Seeing that Akira looked drained, Hikaru continued, "Perhaps we should call it a day? Maybe I can come back another time?"
Akira nodded gratefully. He was feeling too lethargic to continue, added to the headache he was starting to develop.
"Feel free to stop by then, Shindou. I'm here quite often. Excuse me, I need to go home now."
Akira bowed, collected his belongings, muttered a brief excuse to Ichikawa, and left.
Hikaru turned to Sai, surprised to see that the ghost had a stern, anxious look on his face. Furthermore, Sai was staring after the retreating boy, seeming quite distressed.
"Sai, what's wrong? You look unhappy?"
"There is nothing wrong, Hikaru. Perhaps you should go home as well."
"Ah? Didn't you want to play go? We can find someone else."
"That's fine, perhaps another time. In the mean while, I have some matters to oversee. I will be back in your room later, Hikaru."
With that, Sai disappeared, leaving Hikaru utterly befuddled.
Sai hurried after Akira, was with him unseen as the youth boarded the train.
'Is it possible, Touya Akira? Are you a descendant of that particular bloodline? I had prayed with every bit of my soul that this would not have gone on, that the agony and pain would not continue. Please, let it have ended. Let him to have been the last. I do not wish for anymore of that clan to suffer this curse of blood.'
Perhaps an hour later, Akira stepped off the train and wandered in a semi-daze to some final destination.
'What am I doing? This is not the way home. Yet, I seem to have some vague memories from the time when I was a mere babe. Going to this place where I was born. I cannot continue like this. Lately, I've been listless. I've lost my appetite. I can't seem to be motivated to do anything. And now, these panic attacks, these fainting spells induced by blood. I can't continue like this. I need answers. Somehow, by going to this place, I think I will find them. What is happening to me?'
Somehow, Akira managed to find his way to an old house. Stopping at the gate, he read the sign, noting that it belonged to the Takashiro clan.
'Takashiro, where have I heard that name before?' Akira thought.
Sai's eyes widened in horrified recognition as he read the name, 'Kami, no, please don't let the boy be one of them. Don't make me go through the pain of watching this happen again. Don't let his innocence be torn to shreds.'
"Sumimasen, do you live here?" asked a pale, solemn boy, with straight hair, interrupting the thoughts of the two.
"Anou, iie, I just felt an urge to come here, perhaps to return here? Gomen nasai, is this your house?" Akira answered.
"Not exactly, I felt pulled to come back to this place, my old house…By the way, I'm Takashiro Kazuna."
"I should have introduced myself before. I'm Touya Akira. I was just hoping someone would be here. Perhaps-"
"What are you two doing at my house?" broke in a third voice.
The two boys turned, seeing that the voice belonged to a young, pretty girl, with long, straight hair spilling over her shoulders. She shared the pale complexion of the two boys, along with their somber, moody expressions.
Akira responded first, "Gomen-nasai, demo, I don't know how to explain this. Somehow, I felt pulled to return to this place, a very hazy memory. I felt that perhaps I could find the answers I seek here. I'm-"
Chizuna interrupted, "Yes, you're Akira. I know. The boy with you, Kazuna, I know as well."
She paused briefly, before giving a bitter smile, "It's been a long time, my two otoutou."
Sai watched the exchange with warring expressions of desperate denial along with frustration and pain.
He thought, 'Kami, damn you! I prayed day and night, and still the gods have forced them to continue suffering. Why them? Why did it have to be the Takashiro clan?! That curse has passed on to these three siblings. The taint courses through their very blood. Why did the future generations of the bloodline have to suffer? Why these three innocents? They are only children!'
Unheard to all, a long, frenzied scream of anguish erupted from Fujiwara no Sai's throat, as tears of hopeless misery streamed unceasing down his cheek.
