Affair of Honor
xXx
A boy with dark hair and blond bangs looked at the poster in consideration. The Hakuto Cup? Reading the description, the boy's eyes widened. China and Korea as well as Japan. If it was Korea then he would be there.
He grinned and entered the room where he would proceed to obliterate his opponent in a crushing defeat.
xXx
The Korean teen lounged on his bed, reading the magazine with little interest. There was more news about the rise of two young go pros in Japan. He had been watching for a while and had been shocked when the younger of the two had forfeited several games, preparing to book a flight to Japan to beat some sense into the fool when the boy returned to go. And he had returned with a vengeance. No one had lost to him yet in an official game.
The teen smiled. This would be interesting if he played in the Hokuto Cup.
xXx
Two boys sat staring at the goban. The one with silver blond hair bowed his head in defeat.
"I lost." Yashiro looked up into the emerald eyes of Hikaru Shindou.
The said boy nodded, knowing no words would help. He just began the meticulous process of separating the stones and after a moment, Yashiro helped.
Only when the task was done and Yashiro walked out of the room did he hear the commotion.
"I want to play him!" Ochi growled at the nervous man in front of him. 'I need to see if I can beat him' were the unspoken words.
Yashiro agreed.
He won.
The three players for Japan were chosen. The stage was set.
xXx
Yeong-ha listened to the translator trying to decipher the reporters words. He wished for the tenth time this interview that he had taken the time to learn Japanese. For all he or the reporter seemed to say, the translator was very brief.
While the reporter spoke again, Yeong-ha tried again to understand the words, any words. When he heard the name Shusaku, he hardly paid any attention to what else was said, trying to come up with the right words.
When it was his turn to speak, Yeong-ha tried to convey his respect and admiration of the Japanese legend while addressing the problem Japan seemed to have. He frowned when once again, the translator seemed to hardly convey anything. In fact, it seemed like he was struggling to speak Japanese at all.
Disappointed and suddenly losing interest in the interview, Yeong-ha declared it over, the translator more than happy to relay those words to the shocked reporter.
xXx
Akira looked at Hikaru's face. The usually loud and energetic boy was suddenly very quiet. The 4-dan was startled by the expression on the other boy's face. It was unlike anything Akira had ever seen Hikaru look like.
A slight frown pulled at the other boy's lips, eyes over shadowed by his blond bangs but glimmering slightly.
In rage? Akira wonder. Hikaru had always had an obsession with the Honinbo but this was unreasonable.
"Yeong-ha said that?" The shorter boy asked, an unrecognizable strain to his voice.
The reporter spoke again but both boys ignored it, Hikaru lost in thought and Akira watching his rival.
A range of emotions flickered on Hikaru's face and Akira wondered what he was thinking about. Rage, sadness, joy? Some of the emotions didn't seem to even make sense.
Hikaru was suddenly happy, smiling brighter than he had all day, Akira supposed, when suddenly his expression turned serious. He turned to Akira.
"I have to play him!"
xXx
The training at Akira's house was intense. Ever since Hikaru had found out about Yeong-ha's words, he had been playing non-stop, hardly taking enough breaks for necessities like eating or sleeping.
Kurata found himself wishing that Hikaru was slightly less enthusiastic as he tried to stay awake long enough to finish the current game he was playing with the shodan.
Akira and Yashiro were already asleep and Kurata found himself envying them as Hikaru put down another yawned again.
"Go." Hikaru said impatiently, gesturing to the goban.
"Fine." Kurata grumbled, placing a stone down halfheartedly, knowing it was too soon to resign another loss to Hikaru. "But after this we are both going to bed."
xXx
It was finally the day of the Hokuto Cup. Hikaru fingered his tie nervously. He stared at the hotel. Why was he feeling so worked up? It was just a hotel.
There were too many people when he entered the lobby, probably all here for the Go event. A receptionist walked over to check him in. Hikaru didn't pay attention to he as he spied familiar faces.
"Su-yeong!" He called the younger first and was surprised to see Yeong-ha leave quickly without a word to him.
"Shindou!" Su-yeong answered. "You owe me a game!"
Hikaru blinked at the Japanese coming from the Korean's mouth. Last time he hadn't been able to speak Japanese at all.
"Ah." He replied, looking back at the retreating teen.
A hand grasped his sleeve. "Let's play now." Su-yeong dragged Hikaru in the other direction.
xXx
There was a tension in the air. The nine players for the Hakuto stood together in front of the crowd, eying each other warily. Hikaru watched Yeong-ha, Yeong-ha watch Akira, Akira watched Yeong-ha and Hikaru , and Su-yeong watched Akira, Hikaru and Yeong-ha. The other players watched all of them watching each other.
Akira was startled to find it was time for him to speak and the passionate words of encouragement for his team and desire to win were replaced by politeness.
China's Lu Lee spoke, and Akira found himself ignoring the words as he watched Hikaru and Yeong-ha again. The two were caught up in a staring contest that looked like neither wanted to loose.
A hand on his shoulder alerted Yeong-ha that it was his turn to speak. He walked up slowly, forming the word in his mind.
"Even though Shusaku is held in high esteem," He paused, looking straight into Hikaru's eyes. His eyes nerrowed and everyone missed the slight smirk on his face. "If he was alive today, he wouldn't stand a chance against me."
Hikaru narrowed his own eyes at the teen.
For a moment the room was silent. They couldn't understand the words but could tell from the reaction of the Korean players and vocal nuances Yeong-ha used it was provocative. Finally the translator repeated his words and the room erupted into noise.
Amongst the chaos, Yeong-ha stepped off the stage and walked towards the Japan team. Su-yeong tried to make his way over to stop him but was stopped because of the reporters.
The teen stopped in front of the boy with dark hair and blond bangs. There was a moment when neither moved before Hikaru took a step forward and his hand went across Yeong-ha's face. While the teen brought his hand to his face, eyes widening in surprise, the room quieted to see the stand off between the two young pros. Su-yeong reached Yeong-ha, unsure of what to do. Akira and Yashiro tried to pull Hikaru back but he stopped them and stood in front of Yeong-ha defiantly.
The entire room was silent as they waited to see what Yeong-ha would do.
"Ahh!" Hikaru cried as he was pulled into a headlock. Yeong-ha used his free hand to mess up the other boy's duel coloured hair.
"You brat!" He growled in Korean.
Whatever the spectator were expecting, that was not it. Even Su-yeong and the other Korean team members looked surprised. What startled them more was when Hikaru responded. In perfect Korean.
"Let me go! It's your fault you said such stupid words. I had to hit you, hyeongnim."
xXx
The Press had been having a field day since it came out that Hikaru Shindou and Yeong-ha Ko were somehow connected. When either of them were asked, they would just smirk at the reporter, leaving the questions unanswered.
Now they were all silent as Hikaru and Yeong-ha walked to the goban. They both sat down without a word, each preparing to play. The board was cleared, and as both grabbed the stones to nigiri, Hikaru's hand tightened on his fan.
He placed two black stones onto the board.
Yeong-ha dropped the white stones one by one. 18. Hikaru would go first.
He looked at Yeong-ha.
The teen smiled, genuinly for once. "Show me how you have improved."
Hikaru nodded.
"Begin!"
xXx
xXx
In case you didn't know, hyeongnim means brother in Korean.
Sorry about any grammar of spelling errors, it's 2:30am and I don't speak Japanese or Korean to understand the spelling of their names/words. It's far to early and French project still isn't done but I couldn't get this idea out of my head.
The whole time I wrote this I was trying to remember how the manga went and eventually looked it up half way through since it's been a few months since I last read it. I recall have no idea where this came from other than a thought of "Wouldn't it be cute if Yeong-ha and Hikaru were like brothers?" The answer is yes although I couldn't get into much of the siblingness, you might be able to see some hidden throughout.
I don't have anything much planned more with this - either sequel or prequel - but maybe that will change.
I know some of you probably hate me for writing something new that isn't CoM but I've been trying to finish school and haven't had much free time. (I said before it's 2:30am and I'm supposed to be doing French.) You should be able to expect a new chapter in a couple of weeks after exams if not sooner.
Thank you for reading and please review!
- REW