anonymous fanfiction guide material #1
"When writing a fanfic and getting an awesome inspirational thought forget about style and grammar for a while, you can always revise it later on. Those idea birdies are rare things."
A/N The rest of the first chapter is some kind of introduction to get a feel of how their relationship develops. 2nd chapter onwards will have more of Go.
Disclaimer: See prologue
It had been nearly one year since young Hikaru had met Sai. The boy still had to chuckle when he thought about both their reactions after the dooming words "Oh it's only a goban" had left his lips. That time he had really believed that Sai was about to suffocate, the poor guy's face had turned nearly as purple as his hair after all.
After his first (but not last, alas) moment of ineptness was over he finally noticed that the Fujiwara heir was a very beautiful person. Hadn't he worn men clothes Hikaru would have mistaken him for a woman immediately. His face was elegant and well-shaped yet humble and perfectly suited the room's interior. Well, with the one exception that the room's interior was mostly white and brown, not purple. Even if Hikaru was dense, and he certainly was, he wasn't THAT thick not to understand that Fujiwara's current fit was entirely his fault.
"Uh… I mean, it's true… kinda…ehehe." Hikaru gracelessly tried to diffuse the situation. Rubbing the back of his head awkwardly he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind in a placating frenzy: "I mean, after all the trouble grandpa went through he gave you something old men play their last years away with?"
If his words didn't calm the guy down (which would seem pretty unrealistic), they at least did achieve something. Now there was a pondering expression on Fujiwara-san's face and the contemplating dark gazes Hikaru received made him want to run for the door… or the window. Not knowing what a stranger was thinking and being on the receiving end of such blatant regard would make anyone want to run for his money.
Out of the blue Fujiwara neatly rose up from his sitting form and crooked one finger at the boy, and then poked the same one at a western styled chair standing on the other side of the room. Looking confused from one thing to the other Hikaru exclaimed, pointing at himself: "Me?!"
Mauve eyes danced, suddenly amused, at him as if to say: 'Do you see anyone else in this room?'
Admittedly, he got a bit curious. The cautious yet merry stranger fascinated him in some inexplicable way, and the modestly furnished room had done a lot to calm down his raging nerves. Even though the boy was the epitaph of an outdoor person, seeing a normal room in a house like this was like having soccer practice after an especially nerve-racking test in social studies.
'Maybe it won't be too bad to give in to his will for now.' He thought uncharacteristically, for the moment having entirely forgotten that he was supposed to be a brat and leave for his well-earned dinner and money, and not necessarily in that order.
Pulling the chair over he warily sat down and peaked shyly at the other person. Said person merely smiled in some mysterious way and took the remaining tools out of the package.
"Ano… what do you need me for?" Not being known for his patient nature it didn't take the boy a long time to pose this particular question. Still relinquishing nothing Fujiwara put away the sports magazine he had been reading intently before Hikaru arrived and instead used all the space on the desk for the goban and bowls. Only then he slowly took up his writing utensils again.
'I merely want to listen to the heavenly sound Go stones make, touching this Goban's surface once again.' Sai wrote, and even his writing had taken on a melancholic note, if such a thing was even possible.
"Then why don't you just play by yourself?" Hikaru asked, insensitive like always. Yet the man didn't seem offended. Secretly liking the boy's honest nature he put down, his face animated with some kind of inner light.
'A Go board is meant to be played by two people. Like the game itself it's supposed to exist for a meeting of two minds.'
"Really?" Despite his inner aversion to the game he reluctantly was awed by this fierce statement.
'Please play a game with me.'
"But I can't play!"
'It doesn't matter, just let us put down stones of one color in turns.'
"I at least do know THAT much."
Seeing the honesty in the boy's statement Sai smiled, knowing his instincts had been dead on this time.
"Tadaima! I'm hungry, mom!" He shouted brightly, not waiting for the customary "welcome back" he kicked off his shoes and jogged up the stairs towards his room. "Hikaru?" Came his mother's muffled voice from somewhere downstairs. "Where have you been for that long?"
"Helped jii-chan with his delivery!"Hikaru yelled back.
After he put away his bag and took a brief shower he came jumping down the stairs into the kitchen. That's where his mother was too. When she noticed that her only son was being even more bouncy than usual, her light brown eyes got a worried gleam to them.
"Dad didn't make you do something weird again, did he?" She half-joked. "Like offering you sake or making a bet for money or…" "Geez, don't worry mom!" Hikaru interrupted her, suddenly intent on defending his overly chatty grandpa. "He just complained a lot like always. Oh and he made me deliver something to a friend of his!"
Mitsuko looked even more worried now. "You did behave yourself, didn't you?"
Brashly grabbing one maki from a plate he stuffed it into his hungry mouth and answered confidently: "Oph cous."
A short pause. Mitsuko was looking at him in a decidedly amused way now.
"Mom?" he continued after having satisfied his worst hunger.
"What is it, Hikaru-chan?" "Will you pack me something of this for lunch tomorrow? It's awesome stuff."
The next day at school he slept away half of the lessons. This was nothing new though and about every 5 minutes he got poked into his right side by a heavily determined girl. "If you sleep now I won't let you copy my homework any longer." She hissed at him. "Oh come on, Akari." The boy groaned after an especially hurtful poke near the second break.
But the girl didn't cave. "It doesn't matter much anyway, because we have the last big text in social studies tomorrow."
"Really!?" Hikaru felt trepidation. "I got 8% on the last test, if I bungle this one up I'm done for!" She looked at him in an affectionate yet exasperated way. '8%? Geez…'
Hikaru groaned again, this time feeling real doom approaching stealthily.
The following day found Hikaru groaning again, this time over an innocent looking piece of paper. 'Crap, who was that guy again? Who decided this reform? Who wrote The Tale of Genji? When was I born again? ARRRGH!' His poor brain was working rapidly, but its output still remained the same. Nada. Nothing. Ruffling his bleached bangs he was about to give in to frustration. His parents had threatened to cut off his allowance if he managed something less that 80% on this test. And he wasn't all too sure if he could drive the score even up to 2%. Peeking quick glances at his neighbours he saw that they had already filled in more or less most of the answers but were mulling it over a lot. Didn't look all too good for his class this time…
"Shindou! Why is your sheet still empty?" The obnoxious voice of the teacher reached his ears. "Geez, alright, I'll start on it now!" Not much hope for that.
Life almost never went as one expected it to, and the current location of one Shindou Hikaru, devoted P.E. student though mightily slacking in academics, proved this platitude once more to be true.
Fujiwara Sai was just returning from the kitchen down-stairs, a tray with two glasses of juice in hand, only to find the boy that had invaded his sanctuary so recently in deep thought.
It was his second visit to the Fujiwara mansion and the last some minutes Sai had voluntarily listened to his time filling 'blown out of proportion' tales of every day occurrences, even smiling tentatively and nodding enthusiastically at some points. Hikaru got a satisfied feeling in his chest when he saw this happy impression on the other's face. Not that he would admit to it. Being mushy like a girl was really not cool after all.
For an unknown reason this guy had closed himself off in mind and even in body too. And for whatever reason Hikaru seemed to be the only person whose presence he truly appreciated, according to his grandpa at least. He had had mixed feelings about returning here, but his grandpa had dramatically exclaimed about how lonely his best friend's little boy was, how happy he had seemed after Hikaru's first visit, how much he needed an outgoing young person like Hikaru as a friend blabla yapyapyap…
"Sai-kun has been raised as a specialist in Japanese culture, you know?" Heihachi added inconspicuously. "Sai-kun?" That earned Hikaru a head nut: "Baka! You delivered the goban to him only 2 days ago, remember?" "Ah this girly looking rich guy!" the boy exclaimed, thumbing his fists together in an age old heureka fashion.
His grandpa sighed. "And to think that my daughter raised you… you wouldn't even recognize manners if they hit you in the head."
"Geez, his name's strange too." Hikaru muttered, now sulkily rubbing his head, even if just to make a point. He had actually already forgotten about his visit two days ago. It wasn't that Fujiwara hadn't left any impression on him, it just got pushed away by all the other things he had done since then.
"How did your social studies test go?"
"Don't ask…"
"So you aren't planning on visiting Sai-kun again?"
"What does one thing have to do with the other?" The man was kinda weird and he really didn't plan on playing boring Go again.
The old man sighed. "Hikaru, you're really dense."
"First I'm silly now I'm dense?! Why do I have to make that guy my business anyway?" Heihachi did his exclamation away as being completely rhetorical.
"Why don't you ask him for help with your studies? He's really nice and good at explaining, you know. Plus he might regain something from your presence."
…
For the second time in a two-day period of time Hikaru was rudely awoken from his mid day slumber by something poking into his side.
"Ah, yes!" Hearing a toneless giggle he grinned brightly at the other guy. "Gomen, I was kinda uh… remembering something."
'It's alright.' This time a smiling Fujiwara was using a small note pad he easily held up. Someone had been prepared.
"So…um…" He began, nearly drawing a face. With all those negative thoughts being sent outwards Hikaru would be surprised if the old fox hadn't a merry sneeze parade about now.
'Heihachi-san sent you, right?' Someone was amused too. 'He told me. He sometimes comes over, but not too often.'
"Ah… that's right… hehe." Great, now he started to feel bad that he had to be forced into it. "Um… that is… Fujiwara-san…" 'No need to be so formal. Call me Sai.'
"Alright… Sai." Why was it so damn hard to ask this guy for a favour anyway? "Please help me with studying!" He blurted out.
'Go?' Even this one word seemed to be dancing a happy impromptu. Now he remembered why… "Hell, no! You remember I told you about this test in social studies, right? I have to redo it and if I fail again my parents will probably never allow me to see the outside of my home until I get it right."
Fuji… Sai looked disappointed for a second or two. The thought of teaching a young student like Hikaru again was somehow tempting. But first he had to get rid of this annoying reluctance of his… By now he had sat down and was busily scribbling away on his new medium. Hikaru gulped. He didn't like this determined gleam in the other's eyes… at all. And for sure, the next message read: 'Only on one condition.'
He eyed the sentence warily, as if it might bite.
'You'll let me teach you Go.' Bingo!
"Why would I want to learn Go!"
'Go will help you to learn memorizing things too. With your current memorization skills even I might be challenged. Hence before each lesson we will play a round of Go.'
This sounded like one hell of a boring next weeks, but Hikaru would do about anything to get his allowance back. Even play some weeks of Go.
"Alright." He agreed heavily. 'Good.' Smiling, Fuj…Sai repeated his old ritual of clearing the desk for goban and bowls. 'Let's start with shidou Go.'
"Shidou Go?"
'In shidou Go you don't aim to win but to teach. Winning is not encouraged in shidou Go at all.'
"That means when you play that way I will win against you?" The boy asked eagerly. Go might be one heck of a boring game, but a free win was always a good thing.
Sai smiled mysteriously, raising a cheerful array of words.
'You can always try.'
Chapter 1 END: The meeting of Hikaru and Sai
Hm… might rewrite it later on, but it's OK for a first attempt *YAY*
[1]
Thanks for your support! I'm sorry to say that I can't fulfil all your wishes in one go (haha, that's not a pun), but some of them will actually come to fruition in this chapter.
I'll take all your wishes and recommendations into consideration, but in the end there is a lot of plot pieces already planned through.
By the way, I'll update about every week. I want my chapters to be more than 3 pages long from now on and I'm known to prefer writing short stories, so there…
Concerning the "having a student like Hikaru again" thing. Sai DID have students, but always more than one at once. The summary is kind of misleading, sorry for that^^
Oh and his quick reaction to Hikaru: Sai is a very veeery fast writer ;)
[2]
Tadaima.... customary greeting when you arrive back home from somewhere
Ano... A speech filler, especially when you are unsure, asking a question, when you want to grab someone's attention…
Jii-chan… affectionate way to say grandfather
Shidou-go… teaching Go
Gomen… sorry
Tell me if I got it wrong :)