Title: Sai Once
More
Author: Cheska
Chapter 5
PG-13
Disclaimer: Obata-san and Hotta-san own Hikaru no Go.
Author's Notes: Sorry for not updating for a while. I had 11 straight days of work and was terribly tired, not to mention the mouse on the computer was broken. Yes, yes I could still write even without a mouse but I found it weird and unnerving.
~.~.~.~.~
Hikaru was usually the one considered as an optimist. His bright nature, his smiles and cheerful attitude drew others to him. But there was always something else that made others take an interest in him. Maybe, it was his sudden appearance in the Go World and acknowledgement of the higher dan players like Touya Meijin, Kuwabara Honinbo, and even Ogata-9dan or just his sudden interest in Go after spending most of his life reading manga and playing video games. Quite possibly, it may even be the mysteriousness that shrouded him during his early years and suddenly vanished by the time he turned Pro. His insane drive in trying to become the best and being recognized as a rival to Touya Akira, and not to mention the oddity his face molds into whenever it has anything to do with Honinbo Shuusaku or the mysterious Go player in the internet. Whatever it was, it can't be helped that Shindo Hikaru was different from all others.
At the moment, his jovial manner was replaced by solemnity as the young 16 year old boy dug his hands into his pockets. His expression not at all pleasant, his mood clearly stating that he wasn't up to anything relating to fun and games. And by the slump in his shoulders it told anyone around him that his day wasn't going the way he wanted it to be.
"Shindo…?"
Startled from his reverie, the bleached haired boy perked his head up and turned to his side. A mixture of shock apparent on his face before it calmed down to indifference.
"T-Touya."
(What is he doing here?)
That was the first thing to pop up in his mind, first voicing out his name followed by wonder on why his supposed rival would show up before him unexpectedly. This usually occurred from time to time ever since they first met in Touya Meijin's Go Salon and the young Go Pro couldn't help but let out a bemused smile from sheer memory as he gazed at his rival.
Taking his hands from his jeans pockets, Hikaru waited for the other boy to speak knowing that he was probably concerned over his condition. It made him wonder why he would care in the first place, but he let that thought from becoming voiced out. After all, he didn't feel like starting another argument at this point of time. His mind was filled with too many things to go into a fight.
Touya Akira was always considered as a polite young man. He was formal, cordial, and he usually knew what to say and do at all times. He was the one people looked up to and admired; an idol you could say. However, he had one flaw about him that couldn't be deterred: his rival. Yes, his rival was his flaw. The one person that could bring him down and make him act out of character was Shindo Hikaru. Every time they were together, there was a heated exchange between them. The exchange was not out of anger, but deeper…more complex, a special emotion that only the two of them understood and acknowledged.
"A few weeks ago, the final day of the Pro-Exams you said a name: Sai."
Hikaru, at first, widened his eyes but it quickly faded to uneasiness as he cast his head to the side suddenly taking an interest on the gray pavement.
"Why did you call Merodi, Sai?" Touya questioned, his green eyes steadily focusing on his rival.
"Sai…" Hikaru croaked out his name, the name of his dear companion that had recently filled his thoughts ever since his return.
(Shindo, what are you hiding from me now? When we first met, I knew that you were special. Especially after beating me two times in a row. I chased after you and then…one day during that competition in Kaio Junior High, I stopped believing in your abilities. That's changed, especially when you appeared to me again and this time with a new form of strength that spurred my interest in you. Now, now when that mysterious girl showed up again after disappearing so many years ago you go ahead and call her…Sai? Is she, Sai?) Touya wondered to himself while waiting for the young boy to answer him.
(But…Sai. I thought he was a man?)
This greatly confused the longhaired Go Pro, frowning after hearing no response from the bleached haired boy.
"Sai…and Merodi…they're…" Hikaru began as he slowly raised his head up. Sadness unfathomed could be seen shining within his eyes as he still refused to meet Touya's gaze.
(I don't know how I'll get out of this one, but I can at least try…)
"They're different people, so if you're thinking they're the same then stop it."
Hikaru swung his head around and turned to face him, finally, as intensity seeped into his eyes.
"It's just that when I saw her, Sai just popped up in my head. I thought, for a brief moment of time, that I saw Merodi play like Sai…and figured…" Hikaru left a trail of his words.
"She plays like him, doesn't she? When I last played her, I thought I saw the old you in her as well as the internet Sai," Touya replied and at his words, Hikaru let out a sigh of relief knowing that he had managed to escape the hold that Touya briefly held him in.
"Sometimes I do wonder if she is Sai these days…" Touya added wistfully before realizing that he let himself be out of character for a brief moment and immediately regained his composure.
"Enough about Merodi, let's head off to a Go Salon and play, Touya. I know a place nearby," Hikaru grinned; he had seen Touya not be himself and took that opportunity to take him some place else other than their usual playing field.
Seeing that he won't get out of this, Touya relented and let himself be lead through the busy streets of Tokyo and soon to a Go Salon. It was indeed a short distance away and therefore, he couldn't complain to the grinning boy in front of him as he showed the door that barred the way between the elevator they had just gotten off at and the entrance to the salon.
"Hey, can me and my friend play?" before long Hikaru had gone inside leaving Touya to trail after the happy boy. The sadness that he once possessed had apparently disappeared once more, just like the last time he met him.
(When was the last time I saw him be sad and had him change his attitude? It's nice to see him change like that…) Touya unconsciously stated to himself before it dissipated once he set foot inside the Go Salon.
"Sure thing, that is if you'll play us afterwards!" laughed a dark haired, bearded man who came up beside the owner and ruffled the young Go player's hair.
This display of friendship briefly shocked the conservative boy but he hid it as he shyly stood by the doorway.
"Kawai-san!" protested Hikaru, struggling to get out of the older man's hold and as he did so he noticed his friend and competitor awkwardly looking at him and the room he entered in.
"Oi, Touya! C'mon let's play!" Hikaru cried out, ushering the boy inside.
"Touya?" a few customers were shocked to hear the famous name be uttered and thus turned their heads away from their current games to stare at the longhaired pro.
"Shindo, didn't know that he was the friend you were referring to," the manager of the Salon commented.
"Aa, we usually play someplace else but it's too far away from where we met at."
"Thank you for letting us play in your Go Salon," Touya politely stated to the aging man before taking a seat that his rival chose for them.
"No problem, with the two of you playing here I'm sure that we'll be getting more customers soon," the man replied with a wave of his hand.
In turn, Touya couldn't help but blush before sitting down and waited for Hikaru to nigiri.
"Two…even," he heard him say before placing the two black stones down.
"…2…3…4…" Touya counted his white stones and in the end, Shindo Hikaru won and was to be black.
"Onegaimashu," the two said to one another before their calm expressions disappeared and an intense glare settled in, startling the gathered spectators at how much they were going to be serious with this informal match.
"I heard that those two were rivals," one of the men commented to another who nodded knowingly.
"I guess that rumor was true after all," whispered another.
Before long, the game was under way with the first 'pa-chi' of a Go stone.
~.~.~.~
Her eyes stung after staring at the monitor for a while and got up from her chair to go to the kitchen despite her friend's facial expression of annoyance and frown of disapproval. She knew that by leaving the chair, it signaled that she was getting tired and wouldn't feel like doing his bidding by playing more games against invisible opponents and indeed she didn't. After all, playing 14 straight games in a row against challengers could be quite tiring, even if you weren't playing it yourself. The redundant clicking of the mouse and roving of her eyes against the glowing monitor was a bit boring, even though some of the games themselves were quite beautiful.
"Merodi…!"
Ignoring the plea that the ghost cast her way, she took a drink of her favorite drink: root beer before turning her attention back on the fridge and taking some time to get something to eat while she was at it. Seeing an unfinished teriyaki, she took it out and began to heat it in the microwave for a few seconds.
"Merodi!"
This time the noise was closer but she clearly didn't want to notice him just yet and waited patiently for the microwave to finish its heating process.
"I want to play some more!"
"…and I want to eat first, Sai. So just wait awhile, okay?"
"You're bored with the internet, aren't you?"
Ignoring that statement, the young 14 year old girl side-stepped the ghostly form and took her food out of the microwave and scooped out some rice from the rice cooker and proceeded to eat.
"I'm just tired, Sai. The form of humans can easily become worn-out if they're not treated well. Obviously enough, my body is beginning to get tired from the amount used just by sitting in one place. I promise you, after a few moments of rest, I'll return with you to the computer and get ready to play. After all, we need to study as much as we can before January in the Beginner Dan Series. Even if it is a reverse komi…" Merodi tried to assure her friend that she was still willing to comply to his requests of playing as much as he desired.
"Arigatou, Merodi-chan," Sai affectionately stated, clearly telling her in his own way that he appreciates what she's doing for him.
~.~.~.~
The rest of the week was spent playing opponents through the internet; there were rare moments when the kindly spirit and the girl would take time off to do something else. Like right now, where Merodi and Sai were at a Go convention.
(Ahh, look Merodi-chan they're playing Go!) Sai hurriedly went over to table where two players were playing Go.
(Well we are at a Go convention, Sai…) Merodi responded with a shake of her head and stared down at the game.
She noticed that Sai wasn't paying attention and so with great resignation, followed the kind spirit to the table and looked at the current game. It was played well at the moment and as time passed saw that, there were several moves that could use some work.
"Not bad," she whispered under her breath once the game was over.
The two players bowed to one another and cleaned up the stones and as that went on, she took the time to stare up at Sai whose expression changed from elation to solemnity. Frowning a bit, she wondered to herself what the matter was but decided not to press the manner any further.
(Sai, is something wrong?)
He shook his head and instead insisted on watching another game further into the convention.
Biting the bottom of her lip, she could only consent to his proposal; she followed the spirit down the long aisles, and pass the many people who attended. Looking around, she noticed that there were many people than she would have thought there would be. It dawned on her that the cause for this was because of the new wave that had overcome the Go World. Obviously, it's because of the new players that there were many more observers and prospective people around.
Sai had stopped after wandering around over to where some Pros were playing Shidougo. She did not realize most of them and so just quietly followed Sai who peered from time to time over the games that the Pros played with their fellow 'students'. Some of the games appeared interesting to her but whenever she thought that Sai would watch that alongside with her, he'd merely let out a grimace of disapproval before continuing downwards the aisle. It made her wonder with great uncertainty over what her ghost was searching for in all of this mess.
(Sai, what are you up to?) She wondered to herself but then stopped her thoughts when she noticed his eyes lit up and he hurried over to a game that was progressing two seats down from their current position.
It was a game between an 8-dan and a regular kid and as she walked to the table and watched it, she realized why Sai's eyes had lit up. It was a rare game to see at this point of time and she could see the genius of the match between the two players. Not many could rival a Pro if you were only a regular person but with handicaps who knew what could happen? And as she peeked down at the game, she knew it was one of those few matches where two different people could reach neutrality.
The game continued for a long time and as she studied the board and then to the players she knew that each was trying their best to win the game. It was no longer considered Shidougo, it went beyond that and instead into an actual match. This made her smile and as she stared up at Sai she knew that he was filled with glee as well. Then once it reached into yose and into the final stages of the game, the game came to be a tie.
(It's expected, the game was, after all, a handicapped game.) Sai sighed as he took one last glance at the game and then moved forward.
"If it wasn't, it'd still be a great game…" Merodi smiled before following the spirit who glanced down at her.
(We'll have our game soon enough.)
"Uhn, against Ogata Jyudan…" Merodi stated and tipped her head up as she glanced at the blue sky up above.
They would go home now, after seeing that match against the customer and Pro player, it had created a feeling of great contentment to settle within her self and the spirit. It was with those rare games that could create a new feeling of determination and great passion for the game of Go.
Yes, tomorrow they would enter the Go Institute with renewed confidence and love.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Go Institute:
~.~.~.~.~.~
Light snow fell down from the clouds up above to the granite-paved streets in front of her as she stared from the window inside the Institute. Sai had insisted that she come early to calm down and prepare for the match against Ogata-san. In truth, Sai was the one who was truly eager to arrive to the Institute. After all, it would be him playing against the blonde-brown haired man with the tinted spectacles. She would only need to learn to control her emotions when placing the stones, simple enough really. And if she was lucky, she could possibly create tension inside the room because her expression would cause the older man to be quite dubious at seeing her not being able to express emotion during a heated game, even with a 5.5 reverse komi.
(All I have to do is be calm throughout the game, even smile if need be…) she grinned inwardly at the possibilities to psyche the older man up.
"You seem happy," a familiar voice stated from behind her.
Turning around she saw the kind smiling face of Touya Akira. For a moment, shock enveloped her body but it slowly faded away when a thought of wonder popped in her head. When did he arrive, isn't she standing in front of the Go Institute's window that faced the front?
(Merodi? Merodi!) Sai's insistent voice prodded in her head, shaking her from her reverie.
(What?)
(Touya is staring at you…)
Letting a small blush adorn her face, she looked at his intense glare. It appeared that she had spaced off longer than expected.
"When did you come here?"
"About ten minutes ago, I had to do something in the Institute. Amano-san wanted to see me about an upcoming match," Touya answered.
"An upcoming match with whom?"
"Shindo." With that answer, his face appeared to have darkened at the mere mention of his name.
(They truly are rivals, aren't they Sai? I can feel the tension…his aura is radiating with great power.)
"Amano-san wanted to discuss with you; your match against Shindo Hikaru?"
"It seems that he's interested in Shindo as much as the higher dan players," Touya replied with a straight face but the twitch at the side of his lips said otherwise on what his true feelings were.
"Not only the higher dan players but the lower dan as well now that Shindo has gotten stronger," corrected Merodi with a twinkle in her eyes.
"True, Shindo has gotten stronger over the years since I met him," the voice of Nase inputted as she strode from down the hall and over to them.
"Nase-san, what are you doing here?"
"Hey, can't I watch your Beginner Dan Series game with Ogata-san?" she grinned in reply.
"I never did ask you who you were going to play next week for your match."
"Morishita-sensei and Fuku will be playing Kuwabara-sensei," Nase stated.
"Kuwabara-sensei?!" Merodi's face widened at the name of the defender of the Honinbo title.
"Yup, he'll be crushed…" Nase grinned.
"Totally!" the elated voice of Fuku came to them as he wandered over.
"Don't you ever get depressed?" another voice entered in the conversation and turning her head slightly to the side, it was Shindo.
"Kon'wa!" Fuku chirped, completely forgetting the words that Shindo had said when he came up to them.
"Kon'wa," echoed Touya and Merodi.
(Hikaru…) Sai greeted with a smile on his face.
"Oh, Aerea-san, I forgot!" Nase came close and then pushed her away.
"What?" she looked back to see all the curious faces of her friends.
"Your picture taking, you have to go downstairs. Amano-san told me that if I should see you to send you down to them by the gates. You know where it is, right?" she continued to lead her to the elevator.
"Ahh, I completely forgot!" Merodi cried and got out of her hold as she ran down the hall and towards the elevator.
"Didn't even say good-bye," Nase chuckled.
"Well we didn't say good-luck either," Fuku added.
"Not that she needs it," Shindo muttered before turning to look at Touya who had been silent ever since any of them came in.
"Hey Touya, you here to watch the game?" Shindo questioned.
"Hai," he nodded.
"I knew it! Haha, well let's go to the room and watch then…" Shindo exclaimed and grabbed Touya's arm before leading the way to the observation room with Fuku and Nase in tow.
"Are any of the others going to come?" Nase asked.
"Mmm, Isumi and Waya aren't coming nor Ochi. I guess it's just us," shrugged Shindo before taking a seat near the television set.
"Must be because they don't know that much about Aerea…I mean Merodi," Nase corrected herself.
"She hates being called by her last name, says it makes her feel old," laughed Fuku before plopping down in front of Nase and next to Touya.
(Isn't she old?) smirked Shindo as he stared at the Goban before him.
"Nigiri," he heard Touya say to him from across.
"You want to play a game now?"
"Until they start their own game," Touya shrugged.
Nodding, Shindo dipped his hand into his Go-ke and pulled out two stones before setting it down on the board.
~.~.~.~.~.~
*click*
*flash*
Spots danced before her eyes as the flashes of light from the cameras came her way. For the moment, Ogata-san and she were posing for the cameras while Sai stood behind one of the cameramen, studying the strange object. He had seen it before when he was with Shindo Hikaru but it still gave him great delight just by looking at it.
"I've heard you've been undefeated so far," Ogata conversed after their posing was done.
"Hai, but I'll be playing you today Ogata Jyudan. It will be most difficult compared to my Insei and Pro-Exams," Merodi told him before entering the elevator.
"Please sit," one of the observers, told them and at once, they sat.
(Sai?)
(Hai, I'm ready) Sai sat next to Merodi and stared at the board long and hard.
Dipping her hand into the Go-ke, she produced a black stone and held it in between her fingers. She closed her eyes, waiting for Sai to make his first move in what would soon turn into an all-out war.
(Upper right corner, komoku!) Sai commanded, his eyes changing from that certain calm expression to one filled with desire and ferocity.
(Yosh, let's do this!) Bringing her head up, a deathly calm expression settled on her face as she brought her hand forward and to the desired spot.
*pa-chi*
"Who will win this game? Ogata Jyudan or Aerea Merodi?" inquired Nase as she stared at the TV screen and copied the first move.
"Well Merodi gets the advantage with the reverse komi, doesn't she?" Fuku chirped as he responded just as Ogata-san placed his stone.
"Hai, but Ogata-san isn't like the other Pros who let lower dans win, right? So maybe he might win this one even with that disadvantage," Nase thoughtfully reminded the young boy.
"No," Touya quietly uttered bringing the occupants of the room to stare at him questionably.
"He's right," Shindo Hikaru agreed with a nod of understanding.
"…?" Fuku could only stare with a blank expression, signaling that he didn't understand.
"Merodi will win, even if Ogata catches up…" Shindo answered and picked up a black stone and copied the next move that the young girl put down with a soft 'pa-chi'.
To be continued…
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Well there's that, the next chapter. *smiles*
Pairings:
Akira/Hikaru: 3
Sai/Hikaru: 4
OC/Akira: 6
OC/Hikaru: 3
Nase/Hikaru: 3
