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SOMEWHERE IN THE HIMALAYAS, ABOVE THE CLOUDS 1108 DAYS LATER... (3 years, one week and 6 days ^_^)

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"What do you want Parvati?" Shiva asked without opening his eyes. She'd been

standing there for quite some time now, a week at least. He was hoping that if he ignored

her long enough she might go away. No such luck.

"I haven't seen you in a while so I thought I might check up on you," she replied.

"It's only been a few hundred days," he said in exasperation. She was beginning

to get needy.

"1108," she corrected softly. He sighed. He knew why she was here. She wanted

to make sure he hadn't gotten his hopes up too high. "Are you still watching them?" she

asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Yes," the stoic god told his wife. "And they're doing quite well." A smile nearly

crept onto his face. The Meijin's son, Touya Akira, had already started playing go. He

was, as expected, already growing by leaps and bounds. It wouldn't be long before the

toddler began crushing his less talented opponents. Touya Meijin was a good teacher.

The other boy, Shindo Hikaru, lived outside Tokyo, very near the Meijin's son (or

as near as he had been able to get on short notice). He had not yet discovered the game

but that would change soon, and he could still catch up. It was Hikaru's birthday

tomorrow and he was going to visit his grandfather's house, his GO playing grandfather's

house. Shiva could not suppress his smile. Everything was falling into place...

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THE NEXT DAY: TOKYO, JAPAN.........

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Shindo Hikaru sat on the floor surrounded by boxes in brightly colored paper. He

liked all the pretty ribbons and shiny wrapping paper. The young boy (who even at 3

obviously had ADD) began to tear at the boxes, carefully watching to make sure the

grown ups didn't see what he was doing. They might try to stop him. Grown ups were

weird like that sometimes. He wasn't too terribly concerned with what was IN the boxes,

he just wanted to get the paper off so he could play with it.

"Not yet Hikaru!" a kind looking woman said gently as she bent down to pick him

up. He had been so close too! He felt hot tears begin to rise up to his eyes. He wanted to

play with the paper NOW! His lip started to quiver. Knowing he was about to cry the

boy's mother quickly made an attempt to calm him. "You can play with your presents

after cake."

"Cake?" the little boy asked uncertainly. He liked cake but he had been promised

that before but his mom had forgotten to mention the fact that he had to eat something

GREEN before hand.

"Mmm hmmm," she nodded, smiling.

"Do I have to eat anything green?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nope!" his mother replied brightly. She already knew cake wasn't enough to get

him to eat his vegetables; she'd since resorted to hiding them in the ramen her son had

suddenly started to eat.

Hikaru smiled widely at this answer. He didn't like vegetables. He liked cake.

This was a good arrangement.

"Just sit here with your grandfather while I finish putting the icing on, alright?"

she asked as she set the boy down beside the man who smelled like Vaseline and

medicine. Hikaru wrinkled his nose and was about to complain but his mother had

already gone into the kitchen. He shrugged and got up to walk away from the smelly old

man with the shiny head.

"Whoa! Not so fast little fella'" the old man cried out happily, catching the little

boy by the cuff of his shirt.

//Rats!// baby Hikaru thought to himself as he squirmed to get away. The old man

merely laughed at his efforts, which just made Hikaru want to get away from him more.

Lifting his only grandson up under his arm in one hand, he brought the boy, his legs

flailing wildly, into the other room.

"I want to show you something," his grandfather said, pride in his voice. "You

should see the stock you come from!" He beamed as he set Hikaru down on the floor and

proceeded to open a box filled with shiny trophies, certificates, two covered bowls and

even another box. The toddler cocked a curious eyebrow as he bent over to study the

contents. He liked shiny things. He could see another person in them who copied

everything he did. It was funny. The dark haired boy smiled, his soft brown bangs falling

in front of his gray eyes. He giggled as the boy in the trophy made a stupid face at him.

"Hikaru, look at this" the old man said. Shindo reluctantly drew his attention

away from the other boy in the shinny cup.

"What's that?" he asked, looking at the wooden box with legs his grandfather

pointed to.

"This is a goban," the old man explained as he removed the covers from the two

bowls beside them, revealing hundreds of black and white colored stones.

"A goban?" the toddler repeated uncertainly.

"Yes, you use it to play go"

"Go?"

"Yes, go!" the old man replied excitedly. "Did you know that your grandfather

was the only one able to defeat Inoue-san from Kutsuwa city!" he continued proudly. The

old man rambled on about his past victories over people Shindo had never heard of. The

little boy peered over into the cup of stones curiously. "Go is an ancient game of the mind!

It takes skill and thought and.."

"BORING!!!!!!!!!" the little boy shouted as he picked up a fist full of stones and

tossed them into the air. "Let's go play soccer!" the toddler exclaimed as he took the

opportunity to escape the smelly old man and run into the yard.

"Oh well, I guess he's just not interested in go," his grandfather said softly to

himself, slightly disappointed. He had been hoping to teach his only grandchild the game.

"Cake time!" the old man's daughter cried cheerfully from the kitchen.

"YAY!!!! CAKE!!!" Hikaru screamed excitedly as he ran back into the house.

Somehow in the course of a few unsupervised seconds the boy had managed to get mud

all over his once clean yellow shirt and smeared across his face. His grandfather sighed.

Maybe if his daughter had any other children he could teach THEM how to play...

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MEANWHILE.... SOMEWHERE IN THE HIMALAYAS, ABOVE THE CLOUDS:

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Shiva stared off into nothing, his mouth open and at a loss for words. What had

just happened? He didn't even TRY to play the game! Why didn't he even TRY to

play?!?!

Parvati sighed. She was afraid that it might turn out like this. Actually... she

had no idea THIS would happen. She just assumed both kids would WANT to play go,

but she figured that somewhere along the way something would foul things up. Though

she hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

"Shiva..." she said softly.

"It's just a set back," he replied. "The grandfather obviously didn't know how to

get his attention. It's just a set back." His voice trailed away.

It was going to happen this time. It HAD to!

************************************************************************

Ok, so no Akira this time.. Next chapter definitely though! I PROMISE!!!!!!!! Please read and Review!!!!

* P.S. I figured Shindo didn't have bleached bangs yet... he IS only 3 after all.*