Author's note: I honestly did not mean to leave everyone hanging. A lot of stuff happened in real life (no, it was NOT the flame that made me stop! It's a work of fiction; not everyone is gonna like it. That's that.) Good news is that I got promoted at work and no longer have to slave away on the phones. Bad news is that I still don't have one of those super cushy jobs that allows me to sit and write fics all day, like my room mates do. (Hey, I have a shiny "supervisor" line on my resumé now. :D They don't!)
I also went to ACEN this past weekend. I was on the fanfiction panel, and I had a blast blabbing about the Inuyasha and Hikago fandoms ^_^;; I also got my picture taken with Yasunori Ide since I was the ONLY Mizuho Kazami cosplayer in the entire frickin' con, and she was on everyone's badges and everything in celebration of his first trip to the US . . . o_O I'm still in shock over that one.
Anyway, when real life bites, it bites hard. One side note to future flamers: Please leave the other readers of this fic out of it. Flame me all you want, as I'm fireproof, but leave them alone since they didn't write the thing that so offended your eyes.
* * *
As he sat down before the go board, Hikaru knew that this was one game that he could not afford to lose.
He recalled Sai once telling him about a daydream he'd had -- where he had played his final game against Tsuyujima differently, taking no stones in the heated battle. He had imagined the court laughing as he pointed to the empty lid, saying, "Um, I don't see anything here, do you?"
Now Hikaru and Tsuyujima sat before the Emperor, who was behind a screen. Next to him was Michinaga and several attendents. The floor below was smoothed wood, although the two go players had cushions to kneel upon. A solemn tension filled the air, and Hikaru found it a little difficult to breathe.
"Please," Tsuyujima said, and they chose stones in the manner of an even game -- Hikaru ended up with black.
The sleeves of his Heian court rob drifted against the wooden floor as he placed stone after stone, his eyes darkened with concentration as he sought out Tsuyujima's weaknesses. Igo is a representation of the heart of the player, and the war fought with shale and shell on the board is a battle of will more than anything else.
Hikaru glanced up and saw the eyes of Tsuyujima, and felt his first stab of doubt. This man was Sai's rival, even if he had resorted to cheating to make sure he retained his favored position in the court. Tsuyujima's eyes held a weight to them, a weight which could drag the heart of his opponent down into the glooms of despair if they fell into them. It was the same look that Akira's eyes held, only colder and somehow more frightening. An opponent had told Hikaru that his eyes took on the same look when he was really serious.
Hikaru was stronger than most go players, however, and resisted the dragging menace of the older man's stare.
I have to win this for Sai, he told himself, as he placed another stone, gritting his teeth as paths of black and white formed before his eyes. I have no alternative to winning!
Those same words had not been able to help him win many times before, but perhaps for the first time Hikaru honestly believed them. Failure was not an option.
* * *
The Museum of the Heian was in a comfortable building across the street from the south end of Imperial Park. Akira had not known quite what to expect, but he was pleasantly surprised to learn that they not only had a small shrine to go, which he studied thoroughly for at least an hour, but also a small public library full of records, similar to that in the Go Institute in Tokyo.
Akira's curiosity overtook him, and he selected a tome dated from the late Heian. The actual book was a reprint from the 1950s with the written language changed from the Chinese characters and record writing to modern kana and kanji. While spoken Japanese hadn't evolved all that much in the past thousand years, at least beyond the multitude of imported words as far as the modern scholars could tell, written Japanese had not settled into the current form until much more recently. Genuine Heian documents, or more likely copies of them, were all but impossible for someone not trained to understand them.
Restlessly, he began to read about the reign of Regent Michinaga.
* * *
They were nearing mid-game. Hikaru was holding up well despite the ruthless onslaught from an opponent who had little honor; the game was still within his favor by a few moku, although in a modern game Hikaru would actually be behind by several due to the komi advantage given to white.
They had played in silence until then, but as Hikaru placed a stone in a spot that seemed to almost glow with power, Tsuyujima said softly, "You were a student of Sai's, were you not?"
A few motes of the magic seemed to escape from Hikaru's fingers as Tsuyujima continued. He had gained at least two definite moku with the move, leaving them with a game that was even by modern standards.
"I can see the power in you, the same strength that existed in Sai."
Hikaru gently lifted his fingers off the stone, wishing the magic would stay for more than just a few seconds. "I have never met the person named Sai," he half-fibbed. He had met the ghost, but not the man. He would never see that person, even if the kami had given him this chance to meet a Heian go player . . .
Why had the gods listened to his half-joking prayer? he asked himself again. Tsuyujima placed another stone, almost tempting Hikaru to capture it, but he knew about the traps that his opponent could lay. Go relied on honor, trust, and honesty between two opponents. When one opponent proved capable of violating that trust, he lost his honor.
Perhaps, Hikaru mused as he attacked Tsuyujima with a daring push deep into the other player's territory, the gods wanted to give me a chance to avenge Sai's honor.
"If you did not learn igo under Sai, then I am a wandering warrior," Tsuyujima finally replied. He had been analyzing the board, and with a start Hikaru realized that it did, indeed, look on par to a game that Sai would have played. There were a lot of modern moves intertwined with Sai's distinctive domination patterns, but the imprint of Sai was in every black stone on that board.
I owe it to Sai to get this bastard, Hikaru thought suddenly with a grin, and then attacked even deeper into Tsuyujima's territory. "I bet you're a better warrior than you are a courtier, anyway," Hikaru taunted. "Without go, you'd be all but useless here at court!"
Tsuyujima's eyes bugged out at the verbal attack, but he managed to control his temper with several deep breaths. "Better to be a useless courtier than a false interloper of no rank who cuts his hair short and wears borrowed clothes!" he hissed.
Hikaru almost burst out laughing. Tsuyujima's insults would have probably stung if he hadn't been born in the 20th century. "You're a thousand years too early to get the best of me," he said, and slammed down another stone.
"There should be more thought as to the current time and place for a petty fight," one courtier in the front row whispered to another.
"There will be silence in the court!" the regent called sternly to the speakers.
Obviously, their conversation had been overheard by Michinaga even though it had been spoken in hushed tones.
Tsuyujima glared at the board. He'd lost face by forgetting his temper in front of the Emperor. They probably would not drop his ranking or exile him, but now it would be a long time before was promoted again.
"Sai wouldn't have gotten angry," Hikaru whispered as a parting shot.
That did it.
Hikaru heard a quiet sound as Tsuyujima picked up an extra stone from his bucket -- a black one that had purposely been mixed in with his white prior to the game, no doubt -- and dropped it into the lid where all his other captured stones had been stored.
Hikaru was about to cry foul, and Tsuyujima looked as though he were about to accuse Hikaru of what he himself had just done, when the Emperor's firm voice rang throughout the court.
"I saw that."
"I did too!" Naritada said, glaring at Tsuyujima, who had turned an interesting shade of gray. "Just like I saw it four years ago when my nephew Sai faced this player!"
The court immediately burst into murmurs as several of the other courtiers nodded in affirmation. They'd had no choice but to believe Tsuyujima at the time, but privately everyone had agreed that Sai would never *need* to cheat.
"Lies!" Tsuyujima cried out, his face an interesting shade of purple.
"So you're saying His Majesty is lying?" Hikaru said with a smirk. "Not the smartest thing to do right now, dummy."
Michinaga stepped out from behind the screen, his expression unreadable. It probably grated on his nerves that the plan to discredit Sai was now coming back to haunt him, but Tsuyujima had acted without Michinaga's support in this case and could not count on him to bail him out.
Michinaga stared at the board for a few moments.
"The outcome of the game is clear. Shindou no Hikaru's igo is stronger. Sugawara no Akitada, for lying in front of the Emperor, the punishment, as you know, is exile. For six months in this case."
Hikaru nearly jumped when he heard the name; he hadn't realized that Tsuyujima was the man's formal title. Nearly everyone in the court went by a formal title, but Sai had never mentioned one for himself, and so Hikaru hadn't though to ask for Tsuyujima's real name.
"I'll go." The defeated courtier rose with a curious dignity, his shoulders held high as he left the chamber.
It was then that Hikaru made the worst mistake he possibly could have.
"Just don't drown yourself like Sai did!" he called out across the court, which immediately fell into deadly silence.
Open mouth, insert foot. Hikaru felt his blood freeze as every pair of eyes in the court bored through him.
Naritada paled. "How do you know that Sai drowned?"
"Uh . . . that is, I, um--"
"You'd better explain, young man," Michinaga said, raising one eyebrow.
* * *
End chapter 7
Wow! So there will be a chapter eight! Heck, I'm more surprised than you guys probably are.
I also went to ACEN this past weekend. I was on the fanfiction panel, and I had a blast blabbing about the Inuyasha and Hikago fandoms ^_^;; I also got my picture taken with Yasunori Ide since I was the ONLY Mizuho Kazami cosplayer in the entire frickin' con, and she was on everyone's badges and everything in celebration of his first trip to the US . . . o_O I'm still in shock over that one.
Anyway, when real life bites, it bites hard. One side note to future flamers: Please leave the other readers of this fic out of it. Flame me all you want, as I'm fireproof, but leave them alone since they didn't write the thing that so offended your eyes.
* * *
As he sat down before the go board, Hikaru knew that this was one game that he could not afford to lose.
He recalled Sai once telling him about a daydream he'd had -- where he had played his final game against Tsuyujima differently, taking no stones in the heated battle. He had imagined the court laughing as he pointed to the empty lid, saying, "Um, I don't see anything here, do you?"
Now Hikaru and Tsuyujima sat before the Emperor, who was behind a screen. Next to him was Michinaga and several attendents. The floor below was smoothed wood, although the two go players had cushions to kneel upon. A solemn tension filled the air, and Hikaru found it a little difficult to breathe.
"Please," Tsuyujima said, and they chose stones in the manner of an even game -- Hikaru ended up with black.
The sleeves of his Heian court rob drifted against the wooden floor as he placed stone after stone, his eyes darkened with concentration as he sought out Tsuyujima's weaknesses. Igo is a representation of the heart of the player, and the war fought with shale and shell on the board is a battle of will more than anything else.
Hikaru glanced up and saw the eyes of Tsuyujima, and felt his first stab of doubt. This man was Sai's rival, even if he had resorted to cheating to make sure he retained his favored position in the court. Tsuyujima's eyes held a weight to them, a weight which could drag the heart of his opponent down into the glooms of despair if they fell into them. It was the same look that Akira's eyes held, only colder and somehow more frightening. An opponent had told Hikaru that his eyes took on the same look when he was really serious.
Hikaru was stronger than most go players, however, and resisted the dragging menace of the older man's stare.
I have to win this for Sai, he told himself, as he placed another stone, gritting his teeth as paths of black and white formed before his eyes. I have no alternative to winning!
Those same words had not been able to help him win many times before, but perhaps for the first time Hikaru honestly believed them. Failure was not an option.
* * *
The Museum of the Heian was in a comfortable building across the street from the south end of Imperial Park. Akira had not known quite what to expect, but he was pleasantly surprised to learn that they not only had a small shrine to go, which he studied thoroughly for at least an hour, but also a small public library full of records, similar to that in the Go Institute in Tokyo.
Akira's curiosity overtook him, and he selected a tome dated from the late Heian. The actual book was a reprint from the 1950s with the written language changed from the Chinese characters and record writing to modern kana and kanji. While spoken Japanese hadn't evolved all that much in the past thousand years, at least beyond the multitude of imported words as far as the modern scholars could tell, written Japanese had not settled into the current form until much more recently. Genuine Heian documents, or more likely copies of them, were all but impossible for someone not trained to understand them.
Restlessly, he began to read about the reign of Regent Michinaga.
* * *
They were nearing mid-game. Hikaru was holding up well despite the ruthless onslaught from an opponent who had little honor; the game was still within his favor by a few moku, although in a modern game Hikaru would actually be behind by several due to the komi advantage given to white.
They had played in silence until then, but as Hikaru placed a stone in a spot that seemed to almost glow with power, Tsuyujima said softly, "You were a student of Sai's, were you not?"
A few motes of the magic seemed to escape from Hikaru's fingers as Tsuyujima continued. He had gained at least two definite moku with the move, leaving them with a game that was even by modern standards.
"I can see the power in you, the same strength that existed in Sai."
Hikaru gently lifted his fingers off the stone, wishing the magic would stay for more than just a few seconds. "I have never met the person named Sai," he half-fibbed. He had met the ghost, but not the man. He would never see that person, even if the kami had given him this chance to meet a Heian go player . . .
Why had the gods listened to his half-joking prayer? he asked himself again. Tsuyujima placed another stone, almost tempting Hikaru to capture it, but he knew about the traps that his opponent could lay. Go relied on honor, trust, and honesty between two opponents. When one opponent proved capable of violating that trust, he lost his honor.
Perhaps, Hikaru mused as he attacked Tsuyujima with a daring push deep into the other player's territory, the gods wanted to give me a chance to avenge Sai's honor.
"If you did not learn igo under Sai, then I am a wandering warrior," Tsuyujima finally replied. He had been analyzing the board, and with a start Hikaru realized that it did, indeed, look on par to a game that Sai would have played. There were a lot of modern moves intertwined with Sai's distinctive domination patterns, but the imprint of Sai was in every black stone on that board.
I owe it to Sai to get this bastard, Hikaru thought suddenly with a grin, and then attacked even deeper into Tsuyujima's territory. "I bet you're a better warrior than you are a courtier, anyway," Hikaru taunted. "Without go, you'd be all but useless here at court!"
Tsuyujima's eyes bugged out at the verbal attack, but he managed to control his temper with several deep breaths. "Better to be a useless courtier than a false interloper of no rank who cuts his hair short and wears borrowed clothes!" he hissed.
Hikaru almost burst out laughing. Tsuyujima's insults would have probably stung if he hadn't been born in the 20th century. "You're a thousand years too early to get the best of me," he said, and slammed down another stone.
"There should be more thought as to the current time and place for a petty fight," one courtier in the front row whispered to another.
"There will be silence in the court!" the regent called sternly to the speakers.
Obviously, their conversation had been overheard by Michinaga even though it had been spoken in hushed tones.
Tsuyujima glared at the board. He'd lost face by forgetting his temper in front of the Emperor. They probably would not drop his ranking or exile him, but now it would be a long time before was promoted again.
"Sai wouldn't have gotten angry," Hikaru whispered as a parting shot.
That did it.
Hikaru heard a quiet sound as Tsuyujima picked up an extra stone from his bucket -- a black one that had purposely been mixed in with his white prior to the game, no doubt -- and dropped it into the lid where all his other captured stones had been stored.
Hikaru was about to cry foul, and Tsuyujima looked as though he were about to accuse Hikaru of what he himself had just done, when the Emperor's firm voice rang throughout the court.
"I saw that."
"I did too!" Naritada said, glaring at Tsuyujima, who had turned an interesting shade of gray. "Just like I saw it four years ago when my nephew Sai faced this player!"
The court immediately burst into murmurs as several of the other courtiers nodded in affirmation. They'd had no choice but to believe Tsuyujima at the time, but privately everyone had agreed that Sai would never *need* to cheat.
"Lies!" Tsuyujima cried out, his face an interesting shade of purple.
"So you're saying His Majesty is lying?" Hikaru said with a smirk. "Not the smartest thing to do right now, dummy."
Michinaga stepped out from behind the screen, his expression unreadable. It probably grated on his nerves that the plan to discredit Sai was now coming back to haunt him, but Tsuyujima had acted without Michinaga's support in this case and could not count on him to bail him out.
Michinaga stared at the board for a few moments.
"The outcome of the game is clear. Shindou no Hikaru's igo is stronger. Sugawara no Akitada, for lying in front of the Emperor, the punishment, as you know, is exile. For six months in this case."
Hikaru nearly jumped when he heard the name; he hadn't realized that Tsuyujima was the man's formal title. Nearly everyone in the court went by a formal title, but Sai had never mentioned one for himself, and so Hikaru hadn't though to ask for Tsuyujima's real name.
"I'll go." The defeated courtier rose with a curious dignity, his shoulders held high as he left the chamber.
It was then that Hikaru made the worst mistake he possibly could have.
"Just don't drown yourself like Sai did!" he called out across the court, which immediately fell into deadly silence.
Open mouth, insert foot. Hikaru felt his blood freeze as every pair of eyes in the court bored through him.
Naritada paled. "How do you know that Sai drowned?"
"Uh . . . that is, I, um--"
"You'd better explain, young man," Michinaga said, raising one eyebrow.
* * *
End chapter 7
Wow! So there will be a chapter eight! Heck, I'm more surprised than you guys probably are.