Well, it's my first attempt at HNG fan fiction, and my first attempt at any fan fiction in a long time. The fact that I have not written anything about HNG before should make it blatantly obvious that I don't have anything to do with the manga which has been running for quiet some time. If I did it would consist entirely of blank pages. So please don't sue me.
This is simply me deciding to make characters from HNG very unhappy.
Also I know very little about go, which means that any game I write about will be complete nonsense. Please ignore this.
Also, I'm a shonen-ai fan. Which means this fic will hopefully contain Hika/Aki. And possibly slight Sumi/Waya. Flames will be used to torment my baka muse, Emirath. Much to his boyfriends amusement. Constructive criticism will be used by my muse to torment me, but is welcome all the same.
Lastly, I appologise for any spelling mistakes or switched words and for any bad grammer. I've re-read it carefully and it's been run through the spell check but that's never perfect. And I don't write nearly enough to have a beta reader. Nor do I have any plans to in the near future. I'm writing this because it's a plot bunny that wont go away. I'm more an artist that a writer.
My site can be found here: www.page8studios.co.uk
Hikaru blinked the sleep from his eyes. He'd dozed off, the motion of the minibus and monotony of the scenery lulling him into sleep. He was not the only one, across the narrow isle Touya Akira was bent forward, head resting on crossed arms, using the large bag in his lap as a pillow. A couple of loose kifu still clutched in one hand, the rest now scattered on the floor. Hikaru smiled sleepily at the scene. Somehow seeing Touya with kifu made the whole situation, a cramped bus overfilled with go pros and luggage, seem perfectly normal.
Hearing murmuring voices behind him he turned stiffly in his seat. Most of the occupants were either asleep or gazing out of the window blankly at the dark scenery. At the very back of the bus sat Touya's parents, the former Mejin and his wife, chatting quietly. Touya's mother looked up and smiled at him, before turning back to her husband and pointing at an article in a go magazine that, as far as Hikaru could tell, was in Chinese. Stretching as much as was possible in the confined space he resettled him self in the seat, flexing one foot until the pins and needles in it subsided to a slight tingle.
It was much darker outside than when he had dozed off. The road was mostly deserted except for the occasional flair of light at a car passed, hurrying home. It had still been light when they set off. The convention was being held at a large hotel in Osaka. The arrangements had been rather hurried. Originally it was to be held in a hotel just twenty minutes from the Go institute, until a fire had largely destroyed the convention hall. With just a week to go it had been too late to book anywhere else. Until that was, a reporter from monthly go had pulled in a favour from a cousin and managed to get them the main hall at the Osaka hotel. It had, however, been too late to book a flight for the twenty people who needed to get there.
In the seat in front Waya snorted and twisted in his sleep. As he turned one arm collided with the side of Isumi's face, knocking his glasses of and waking him up with a start. Sighing he bent forward to pick them up, only to have Waya slump sideways on to his back. Hikaru sniggered at Isumi's grumbling as he shoved a sleepy Waya upright so he could sit up. Minutes later he was asleep again, and Waya had once more slumped sideways, this time onto his lap.
Entertainment over Hikaru turned back to the window. Trees, cars and the occasional small village flashed past as he was slowly lulled back to sleep by the sound of Ogata snoring beside Touya. Dimly he heard the sound of some one, perhaps the driver, swearing violently as sleep claimed him suddenly.
Bright light streamed uncomfortably through his closed eyes. *Must be morning* he thought dimly. Yawning he raised one hand to rub at his eyes, gritty with sleep. The long journey had given him a headache, and left him somewhat disorientated.
Actually it had left him very disorientated. So much so that when he opened his eyes the whole interior of the bus seemed to be at an odd angle. Through the front window the dark road seemed tilted so that it ran near vertically. He blinked again. *Dark?* He checked again. Yes, there were definitely still stars in the black sky, and yet the interior of the bus was well illuminated.
*We've stopped moving.* His headache throbbed worse and he felt something drip across his face. he raised his hand again to wipe at it.
Red smeared his hand.
Slowly the scene clicked into clarity around him. The bus was lying on it's side. Bright head lights from and overturned lorry shone through one shattered window, lighting the haphazardly strewn interior. His seat belt was tangled around him trapping him in the seat so he could hardly move, except for one free arm.
*This can't be happening. This didn't just happen.* The whole scene seemed to have the consistency of a dream. Not real and far to vivid. He screwed up his eyes, but when he opened them the scene remained unchanged.
His bag had slipped from the chair and was tangled uncomfortably with his legs. He wiggled his toes. He could still feel them. *That's a good sign, right. We crashed, that's all, everything's alright.*
He flexed the fingers of his trapped arm. They responded. *I'm OK. it's all OK. We're going to miss the convention, that's all.*
Something inside him felt oddly hollow. It took him a minute to realise that it was because he wasn't feeling anything. No fear, no alarm just an odd hollow hole where he suspected there ought to be panic.
The seats in front of him were empty. For a moment the panic flooded the empty hole inside of him, then he spotted the door, now an empty twisted hole in the side of the bus. *They got out.* The panic faded away.
Ahead of him, the other seats were also empty. Out side the window he could see a small group of people sitting or laying on the grass at the side of the road. Most were starring off into space in a vague, dazed way. Oddly similar to how they had been gazing out of the windows earlier. No one seemed to be doing anything.
"...n...dou" The voice, barely above a whisper, seemed to filter through the silence from some where above him. Hikaru twisted in the tangle of seat belt until he could see it's source.
Green eyes in a white face met his. Touya Akira was pinned to the seat, once across the isle, now above him. The seat had twisted during the accident so that Touya's body was bent awquardly. The seat belt pressing against his face so that he was trapped starring off somewhere behind Hikaru's seat. He was watching Hikaru through the corners of his eyes. They held eye contact for a moment before his gaze slipped back to somewhere near the back of the bus.
"you..'re...awake..." Hikaru could see the seat belt pressed tightly against Touya's neck. Making it difficult for him to breath.
"Yeah, I'm awake." He answered. Touya didn't respond. The silence hung thick for several minutes before he broke it. "How long...?"
Touya shrugged as best he could, then winced. "Minutes... Hours... Don't know." He continued to stare at the back of the bus. Hikaru looked down at what was once the floor of the bus. There was a kifu still trapped there. pinned under part of the seat. It was one of Shuusaku's. It was stained red in the harsh light. Touya continued to stare behind him.
Hikaru grabbed onto the tangled seat belt and twisted as best he could to wards the back of the bus.
He turned back, wishing he hadn't. A chilly, sick feeling building inside him. Above him, blood trickled down Touya's face in a twisted mockery of tears, eventually reaching the seat belt that gripped his head. Forcing him to stair at the back seat. At his parents.
The former Mejin and his wife were dead.
Touya's eyes wavered closed, his breathing paused, missing a breath in it's raspy pattern. The panic welled up full force inside Hikaru as he saw the spreading blood on Touya's shirt. somewhere in the distance sirens sounded. Faint and far away.
"Touya! Touya wake up!" Green eyes opened again, meeting his for a minute before returning to their grim vigil. Hikaru felt something resting against the fingers of his trapped hand. His fan. "Touya, I'm white, top right star."
For a minute, Hikaru thought Touya wasn't going to answer. Then green eyes met his again. "Lower right... 3-4..."
The sirens were louder, people were moving, shouting. Hikaru ignored it. Concentrating only on the next move. As the rescue crew worked to free them, He and Touya played on. Only when they were wheeled into separate ambulances did the game pause.
"Shindou! You're here, you're OK?"
The door to the ward slammed open as Waya charged through them, startling the rest of the patients, and skidded to a halt by the bed. Hikaru blinked startled out of his thoughts by the sudden arrival of a flushed Waya dressed in hospital pyjamas, slippers and a plaster cast on his left arm. Isumi followed at a more sedate pace catching the door before it could slam shut and limping over to the bed.
"Waya?" Hikaru stared up at the dishevelled boy.
Waya paused for breath as he looked over the bewildered boy. "Hmm, good color, no plaster cast," He held up his own for emphasis, "one little cut on the head... And a typically gormless expression. Isumi, he'll be fine."
"Waya has, apparently, decided that he's going to give up the life of a Go pro in favour of medical school." Isumi stated, lightly thwaping Waya round the head. Hikaru smiled as Waya glared back at the taller boy. "Seriously though, how are you Shindou?"
"I'm fine. Bit of a headache, but that's it. I guess I got lucky" *Luckier than Touya...* He pushed away the depressing thought and turned back to the other two. "What about you? What happened anyway?"
Isumi sat down on the chair, leaving Waya to perch at the end of the bed. He sighed and rubber his face before looking up again. "Apparently we crested a hill to find a lorry heading towards up on the wrong side of the road. The driver tried to swerve out of the way, but lost control of the coach. It ended up widthways across the road and the lorry crashed in to the back end. knocking us over. At least that's what the police said."
Waya nodded. "I woke up to find Isumi tugging on my arm to pull me out of there. The broken arm I might add!" He glared pointedly at the accused. "Any way, we tried to get you free but every thing was completely jammed. We got out, had to jump from the top, well side of the coach. That's how Isumi twisted his ankle. Ogata phoned for help, there were ambulances, now we're all here..." He sighed and lent back against the foot rail of the bed "... More or less..."
Out side the ward doors a nurse was shouting for assistance for a patient who was bleeding heavily. Inside silence hung in the air at Waya's words.
"You mean the Mejin..."
"Yeah."
Isumi looked up at Hikaru. "Have you seen Touya since...?"
Hikaru shook his head. "He was still in intensive care last time I tried. They wouldn't let Ogata in either. It's been two days." He paused, chewing his lip. "How, how long was it from the time you got out till the ambulances arrived?"
"Huh?" Isumi looked startled at the question. "I'm not sure. About half an hour I think. Maybe a bit longer."
"It wasn't more than an hour I'm sure." Waya nodded in agreement. "Why did you want to know?"
Hikaru stared down at the plain white sheets, debating weather to tell them. *They'll probably find out eventually anyway.* "Did you look at the back of the coach?"
Waya shook his head, confused. Isumi nodded, looking several shades paler. "Touya saw, didn't he."
"Yeah, he was trapped staring at... them."
Waya looked up sharply as he realised what they were talking about. "You mean, his parents?" The others just nodded. "Shit."
The silence was interrupted several minutes later by a nurse. "Excuse me, but were you the one who wanted to see the dark hared boy?"
"Yeah, has something happened?"
She opened her mouth for a minute then seemed to change her mind about something and began again. "He's out of intensive care and has been moved to a private room. You can see him now."
Hikaru looked up at the other two, nodded once and climbed out of bed. "I'll see you later." He called over his shoulder as he followed the nurse from the ward.
Behind him, Isumi moved from the chair to sit on the bed. Waya lent sideways to rest his head on his shoulders and Isumi rapped an arm around him as the watched their friend leave.
"Shit."
Ogata was waiting out side. He nodded to the nurse who hurried off to her duties then waved Hikaru after him. An awkward silence hung between them as they set off down the busy corridors. Walking beside the smartly dressed pro Hikaru felt out of place in the flimsy hospital pyjamas. He wished he'd had the sense to put on some slippers at least, as his feet went quickly numb on the cold tiles.
"How much did the nurse tell you?"
Hikaru nearly jumped at Ogata's voice. Looking around he saw that they'd left the main corridor and turned into a deserted side passage. Ogata stopped walking and lent against the wall. Arms folded in front of him as he turned to regard Hikaru.
"Well?"
"That Touya was out of intensive care and had been moved to a private room."
"I see." Ogata frowned slightly. "She left it to me to tell you."
"Tell me what? What's happened!" Hikaru felt the panic from the coach return full force.
Ogata regarded him for a moment before his face softened a little. He turned away from Hikaru to stair at the wall opposite. "Touya was moved to a private room yesterday evening, though he was still unconscious at the time."
"What! Why didn't they let me see him when I asked this morning then!" The words burst from his mouth before he thought them through, echoing slightly in the silence corridor.
"The doctors didn't want him disturbed, they didn't let me stay for more than a few minutes..." Ogata sighed and looked side ways a the young pro, still fuming at his exclusion. "He woke up about twenty minutes ago. Alone."
Something inside Hikaru went cold. *Loose you're family, stare at their dead bodies for nearly and hour. Then wake up alone... Please, let me be wrong.* He looked up and met Ogata's eyes. "He, he tried..." the words stuck in his throat.
"He took a knife to his wrists" Hikaru slumped against the wall, felling sick. "One of the nurses found him before he could do any damage but..."
"Where is he."
Ogata stood upright again and walked to a door just down the corridor. "He's here."
Well, I guess this means I'm a sadist. But then I think the same is true for the majority for fanfic writers. Most like to tourture their favourite characters... And the ones who write Mary Sue fics like to tourture *us*. Emirath shut up! I didn't know any better and she was never, ever going to date any of the gundam wing boys... EVER. And I stopped writing it once I realised what a terrible thing I was inflicting on every one.
I hope my writing hasn't been too much torture for you.
If people like it I'll try my best to continue. If it goes the way of some of my other fics where I got about two reviews... I probably won't try so hard. So please read and review. Please, I have done very little writing and unless some one out there tells me whats good and what needs improving then I'm unlikely to get better.
Byebye
Enigma O