Part 2
Notes: Paragraphs in italic are thoughts of Sai's past during the Heian era.
Hikaru was sitting in the middle of his room, with boxes of different sizes scattered around. He was packing and had almost completed this task. His clothes, books, magazines were all packed neatly into boxes already. The only thing left was his goban. Somehow, he left it to be the last item to be packed. His hands trailed over the goban with longing. If I could just play against him once more…
Staring out at the window, Hikaru let his thoughts wander freely. Sai, it has been two years since you left. I miss you so much, but I guess you're not coming back.
Two drops of tears fell on the goban. Hikaru quickly wiped his eyes, half surprised at himself that he still cried over this. Today was supposed to be the day he put down the past and moved on. He was moving out today. He had decided he was old enough to be independent. He really looked forward to moving into his new apartment and living with his new roommate: Akira.
Hikaru snickered at the thought. It will be interesting… The attraction was there. He knew it. Akira knew it. However, neither him nor Akira had made the confession yet. Maybe they were trying to see who would admit it first. It was their competitive nature that got them together in the first place after all. He had nearly spilt it out when he had asked Akira to "live with him". It was a weird moment as Akira waited for him to say more… but nothing came out.
Maybe it was time to move on. Sai, I will always miss you, but I can't stay here forever waiting for a chance that I know doesn't exist. You are gone and you're not coming back.
X X XX X
Little Sai about 10 years old was running around the house in excitement
"I will be going to the palace tomorrow! The palace!"
"Sai! Sai…" his mother called him with a slightly worried expression on her face.
"Yes, mother?" Sai immediately stopped in front of his mother
"I will have lots of chances to play Go. I will play with the Go sensei, the princes and even the emperor!"
"Sai, the palace is a very different place…" Sai's mother sighed as she realized there wasn't a way to explain her worry to a little boy whose world resolved around goban and nothing else.
"Just… be careful, ok? Sai. you're much too young to be parted from your parents and to go to live at a place like the palace" Sai's mother said, "You will have no one to watch over you there…"
"I will be careful and I will be fine, I promise…" Sai didn't understand his mother's worry but he nodded obediently.
X X XX X
"Ah…" the man lying on the bed groaned softly. Ogata put down his Go magazine and walked across the room.
"Hey you, are you ok?" he pushed the man gently. The man seemed to be trapped in some bad dream. He didn't expect the man to suddenly rise up and grab him into a tight embrace.
"I was scared… I was so scared…" the man mumbled in a trembling voice, blowing hot peppermint breath against Ogata's ears.
X X XX X
Little Sai was scared. The palace wasn't what he had expected. The first day that he had arrived, he had been sent to stay with the other Go players. There were other slightly older teenagers among them, and they decided to show him their "hospitality".
They carried him into the palace garden and threw him into the lake there. Naked. They called it the "welcome ceremony". It was nearly winter and the lake was cold. Little Sai shivered in the chilling water.
That was not the end of it. Each of the boys had a toad in their hands
"Toads!" little Sai screamed as toads after toads were thrown at him. A big fat toad landed on his head and another one was making a jump for his face.
"Hahaha! Look at him. Pathetic! He is crying like a baby" they laughed, "Baby boy, or baby girl, seeing how you squealed like a girl, go home. We don't need a weakling at the palace here!"
"Help!" little Sai cried frantically, wiggling around trying to get rid of the toads.
Suddenly, a pair of strong arms pulled him out of the freezing water. A hand picked up the toads on him and threw them into the lake. Then, removing his own cloak, he wrapped it around little Sai's naked body.
"Who started this?" a voice that commanded authority spoke coldly.
It was now the turn for the group of teenagers to be terrified and they shivered under the stern glare.
"Hm.… we…we…"
"There will better not be a next time" those words carried the deadly promise that the consequences would be terrifying if this order wouldn't be obeyed.
"Yes, of course. It won't happen again" the teenagers all bowed and quickly removed themselves from the scene.
"Are you ok, little one?"
"Huh?" Sai finally realized that question was directed at him.
"I'm not little and I'm fine" he pouted.
"Oh yeah?" the man raised an eyebrow and picked him up.
Little Sai stole a glance at his saviour. The man was in his early twenties, tall, lean and quite handsome. He decided to trust this guy and rested his head comfortably against the other's chest.
"Who are you?" little Sai asked curiously.
"Me? You don't know me?" the man smiled, "Then you really don't know much about the politics around here."
Little Sai shook his head. What were politics anyway?
"I only know about Go."
"Ah yeah, the little genius whose whole world revolves around Go. I've heard of you…"
The man carried little Sai with ease and started walking towards where the Go players were staying.
"I'm General Ogata."
"Oh? So you're a general" little Sai asked, "Are you good at Go?"
"Yeah, you can say that."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's play a game!" little Sai beamed.
X X XX X
"Hey, hey, are you ok?" Ogata finally managed to untangle the man's death grip from him.
The man opened his eyes and blinked. Once again, Ogata found himself holding his breath as he watched those magical purple eyes staring back at him.
"Where … Where am I?" the man looked around, a genuinely confused expression on his face. His sight finally landed on Ogata and his eyes widened.
"Ogata Jyudan?"
"You know me?" Ogata asked, "… Sai…?"
Sai swallowed hard.
TBC…
