On Go
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts at all, or Hikaru No Go
"Stay where you are and don't move!"
Roxas held the Keyblade at the tri-color-haired boy, the latter now whimpering in fear.
"Whoever you are, please don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want: I swear!"
"SHUT UP!" Roxas struck the man across the face, then pointed the Keyblade at his heart. "You know what I want."
The boy nodded. "Yes, but-"
"No buts! Are you gonna hand it over or not?"
How had it come to this? How had he crossed the line from being a Nobody to just plain heartless? What was he doing wrong to begin with?
He thought back to earlier in the day, when Xemnas had given him his mission:
"Roxas! Come to me." The wiser, older Nobody called out to Roxas.
"Yes, Superior." Roxas walked inside the Chamber of Repose, where Xemnas was sitting on a big, white chair with his hood covering his face. "You called for me?"
Xemnas nodded. "Roxas," he began, "there is a special task I need you to do for me." He stroked the armrests of his chair.
It was then that Roxas noticed the armor resting just a few feet away from the chair, and the oddly-shaped Keyblade next to it. "Sir, what's that armor doing on the-"
"I asked you a question, Roxas! I would expect you to respect your superiors and not interrupt them when they are talking," the Nobody threatened, with a tone of disdain and frustration in his voice.
Roxas gulped. The last thing he wanted to do was insult his Superior, the one who had given him a life when he had nothing else. "Yes, sir." He bowed respectfully.
"Good." Xemnas sounded pleased. "As I was saying, I have a task for you."
"There exists a board game called Go. Have you heard of it?"
"Go?" Roxas asked. He had never heard of a more stupider title for a board game. "Isn't that a verb, sir?"
Xemnas shook his head. "No, you idiot," he scolded. "Go is a special board game that was created a long time ago by the humans. Apparently it is very popular among them, as some have played the special 'divine move', which brings the user eternal peace if played."
This really got Roxas intrigued. "Eternal…peace?" Now that was something he wanted dearly, more than anything else. He started to smile, a creepy smile at that. Only something as big as eternal peace could make a Nobody so inclined towards emotions as fake as pure delightment and greed.
But was he greedy? No, he didn't think so.
Xemnas smiled. He must have sensed Roxas' inner thoughts. "I take it you understand what you must do now?"
Roxas shrugged. "I guess." In actuality, he had no idea. But he didn't want to look stupid in front of the boss.
"Your mission…is to find the world's best go player and steal his heart. Then we can use it to gain eternal peace."
The boy's eyes widened. "W..what?" He was shocked. "But sir," he began, "we've only taken the hearts of Heartless so far. To take the heart of a human-"
"-is what you must do, if you still want to wear that black coat upon your shoulders! You will do as you are told!" Xemnas slammed his hand into the right armrest, cracking the armrest as a result.
Roxas took a step backward at this display of strength.
"Do not cross me, Roxas. Or you will pay the price…" The high-ranking Nobody had an ominous tone in his voice when he said this.
After a moment of thinking, Roxas nodded. "Yes, Superior…"
Present Day
So that was how he found Hikaru.
Apparently he was some prodigy, according to some go players he met. Some say he won his first go match against a high ranking kid named Akira or Ayuka or something like that.
It was unreal, how he had kidnapped this kid. First, what he had done was kidnap Hikaru's mother and keep her tied up. Then, he sent the kid a ransom note, that he come back home alone with one hundred thousand yen. But he let the mother run off about a minute before Hikaru showed up.
The rest was easy.
Now the entire living room was in shambles. Everything was torn apart; the windows were smashed into pieces, the couch was cut in multiple places, and Hikaru was nearly battered to death.
"Now will you hand it over or not?" But inside, Roxas was screaming in agony, for he did not want to hurt this innocent human being. But he had to. It was his job.
Wasn't it?
Hikaru did something unexpected. He looked Roxas in the eye. That's right; he looked him in the eye. Him. The one who should be cowering in fear at this point.
Roxas tried to look away. He couldn't bear to face this innocent boy's eyes.
He was unprepared for what the boy would say next.
"You don't want to kill me; do you?"
Roxas flinched. He made eye contact with Hikaru and looked at him with confusion. But he did not say anything.
Hikaru asked again."You don't want to kill me; do you?"
Slowly, without realizing it, the Nobody shook his head.
What did I just do? Roxas thought. Groaning, he put a hand to his forehead and sank to his knees.
Hikaru got up and stood over the kneeling young man. "You were forced to kill me…"
Roxas looked up. "W…what?"
"Did he threaten to kill you?"
Roxas' eyes widened.
Hikaru smiled and nodded. "That's what I thought." But his smile was a sad one, and he immediately looked down at the ground. "Did Akira hire you?"
Roxas shook his head. "No, it was someone else." Speaking for the first time, he got up so that he was at eye level with Hikaru. "Akira had nothing to do with it."
Hikaru looked unconvinced, but he brushed it aside. "Sit down." When Roxas found a chair that wasn't broken, he sat down.
"Wait here." Suddenly, Hikaru ran upstairs as fast as he could. Roxas almost ran after him, but then thought otherwise. He wasn't supposed to listen to his victim, but he didn't want to disobey him either. It didn't make sense. Not one bit.
Hikaru finally returned a few moments later, carrying a portable case under his arm.
Roxas pointed at the case and asked, "What's that?"
The other boy smiled. "It's a portable go set. For when I'm on the road."
He had no idea what that last phrase meant, so he further inquired. "What is on the road?"
Whenever he asked questions like this, Roxas expected people to call him stupid and a bunch of ridiculous names. Roxas looked down, expecting the worse…
But Hikaru merely laughed whole-heartedly. "Silly! On the road means when you're traveling to other places, when you're not sitting down somewhere. It means you're moving towards a destination that's not here. You understand."
Thinking no further about the subject, Roxas merely nodded and shrugged.
Hikaru nodded in response. "Good." Then he placed the go set on the table, which had somehow survived Roxas' wrath. Upon further examination, Roxas saw that there was an opening in the case. Hikaru opened the go set, revealing two plastic containers, one containing black pieces, the other containing white pieces.
Roxas was dumbfounded. This boy – no, this man- had challenged him to a game of go. The same boy-man- who he was supposed to kill, whose heart was vital to the goals of the Organization.
What was he going to do? He didn't even know how to play Go in the first place.
"W..What?" Roxas asked. "But I can't play!"
Hikaru did not respond; he just placed the black pieces next to Roxas' hand.
"Listen to me! I can't do it! I'm just hopeless!"
Hikaru flipped the set so that the board was facing upward.
"Are you even hearing anything I am saying! I am saying that-"
"Enough." Hikaru put a hand in front of Roxas' face, ordering him to silence
It was not an angry order. It was hardly an order at all. It was more like a request, from one friend to another. Roxas almost laughed at the irony in that. His victim becoming his friend. That was too rich.
Hikaru took the lid off and placed it next to the bowl. Roxas saw this and repeated what Hikaru did.
Then the former closed his eyes, a look of peace planted upon his face. "Black goes first…" He pointed to Roxas' black pieces, which was odd considering that Hikaru's eyes were closed. "And then…we play."
Roxas nodded. He put a hand through the pieces, allowing his mind to clear. Breathing in and out, he emptied his mind of all thoughts expect those relating to the game. Then, he slowly took one piece and placed it on the dark circle mark in the middle of the board.
Click.
The piece connected to the board like magnets connected to refrigerators. Roxas suspected that all the pieces were magnets, and this board was like a refrigerator. This caused a smile to creep upon his lips.
Clack.
Hikaru had made his move almost immediately. Roxas was startled. He had barely had time to open his eyes, let alone play his move in time. But there was a stern look in the man's eyes, that of maturity and determination. That was most unnatural for people his age, Roxas thought.
He could not underestimate this youth under any circumstances.
Click.
Clack.
Click
Clack.
A few moves later, Roxas was trailing behind. Hikaru had already captured one of his black pieces and were starting to move in on him. Roxas started to sweat. If this was how his starting moves were, he hated to see how this game would turn out.
Click clack.
Click clack.
Click clack.
Click clack.
It was now midgame. Hikaru was still in the lead, and Roxas could do nothing to change the game in his favor. Every move he made was cornered by the more experienced player.
But the odd thing was, he didn't care that he was losing. In fact, he was marvelling at how elegantly Hikaru was attacking. So beautiful were his moves, so incredibly flawless, that Roxas couldn't help but feel jealous of him. How he wished his moves could be as beautiful.
Click click clack.
Click clack clack.
Click click clack.
Click clack clack.
The game was nearing its conclusion, and Roxas was sad. Not because he had not defeated his foe, but that he hadn't last long enough to witness more incredible moves by his foe.
Every move Hikaru had made counted. Every time he moved the fingers across the board, Roxas could not help but tremble in anticipation for what art those fingers could cast upon his soul.
Roxas would have said heart, but he wasn't even sure if he had one or not anymore. He wasn't sure of anything anymore.
But if he did have a heart, he was sure that it would be touched and at peace, after this wonderful game that was called Go, the game that had touched the hearts of millions.
When Hikaru counted the points, Roxas got up to leave.
"Wait!"
The Key of Destiny turned around. "Yes?"
"What about what you came for? What about my heart?"
Chuckling, the Nobody opened the door and stood in the doorway. The moment before he created the dark pathway back to his cold, miserable existance, he reflected on one of the few happy moments that gave it meaning and purpose:
"I already found what I was actually looking for."
"And what was that?"
"Peace."