In the Forests of the Night
A Hikaru no Go Ghost Story
Part 2: Into the Forests of the Night
Of all the places Hikaru did not want to be, a cemetery at night, alone, and bereft of his normally ever present (if somewhat deceased) mentor currently topped the list. It even ranked above taking all his finals at once or having a blindfolded, heavily komi-handicapped Touya Akira beat him in a full out tournament. Hikaru rubbed his arms as the air became even colder. A harsh wind had sprung up, and it whipped and snapped his hair painfully into his face. As if to emphasize the seriousness of his situation, all the cemetery lights abruptly shut off with a sharp crack, leaving Hikaru completely blind. He had seen enough horror movies to know that his current predicament was not a good one.
Let's see, I've been separated from my companion, all the lights just went out, and it's gotten reeeeally quiet. Crap. I might as well drench myself in soy sauce and wasabi; I'm human sushi to the next monster that pops up.
"Sai!" he yelled again, sending out the cry both mentally and with as much of his voice as he could muster. "Saiiiiiii!!"
He wanted to run back towards the cemetery gates, but that meant leaving Sai behind. Torn, Hikaru crouched down on the path and clasped his hands together to stop them from shaking. "Sai, this isn't funny! Okay, so I was wrong about going through here as a shortcut. Do you hear me? You're right, I'm wrong, I'm sorry, so come back so we can get outta here!"
Only the scraping sound of wind driven leaves replied him.
"Sai ..." Hikaru whispered. He buried his head within his arms. "Please ... don't leave...m-"
"Never," a warm voice washed over his thoughts. Hikaru's head popped up as he twisted around. Unfortunately, he also completely lost his balance and toppled over, landing with an ungainly thump on his rear.
"Waaaaah!" He yelped, rubbing the offended body part gingerly. It was definitely Sai behind him, although the spirit looked decidedly ... different. When did Sai start glowing in the dark?! Hikaru wondered offhandedly. A flickering green phosphorescence surrounded the ghost. Bright, multi-hued sparkles danced within the light, like fireflies gone to flame.
"What do you think you were doing? Why did you leave me? HOW could you leave me?!" Hikaru's face flushed red with fury. "And why are you glowing like that?!"
"Gomen nasai, Hikaru." Sai dipped his head submissively. "I didn't leave you, I just went to look around the bend up there," he pointed at where the path curved away slightly, "and I didn't know you had lost sight of me, not until I heard you yell."
"I yelled for a long time, though, and you didn't reply!"
The ghost blinked, a perplexed look stealing across his features. "Eh? I only just heard you now. I responded as soon as you finished."
"But I called and called ..."
"Gomen, gomen ... I really didn't hear you.You know I don't always tune into ALL your thoughts. I don't even tune into most of them ... just the ones you direct at me. I try to give you privacy ..." Sai narrowed his eyes and his voice lowered, sure signs that the ghost was extremely offended.
"But I did direct those to you." Hikaru ran his hands down his arms again. Has it gotten even colder? he wondered. "I think we should leave. Now."
Sai abruptly dropped the argument as well. "Yes. I feel ... odd."
"I'll say.You look like a giant bug zapper!" Hikaru blurted as he scrambled to his feet.
"I don't know why I'm glowing." Sai glanced at his sleeves in bewilderment. "But I don't think that's the only thing that's changing ... Hikaru, look!"
Hikaru, who had begun to pick his way back towards the cemetery gates, swayed in place as he glanced downward. The ground looked like it was ... rippling ... underneath his feet, threatening to send him back on his behind again.
"The path! What's happening to the path?!" he choked. The jagged stones were melting away, leaving a narrow dirt trail in its wake. The gravestones themselves were disappearing as well. Trees materialized in their place, slowly at first, but growing with increasing rapidity, branches shooting through the ground, arching upward, until they seem to reach the sky. Their naked branches snapped and hissed as the wind rattled them.
"What's going on?! Why is everything turning into the set of Monoke-hime?!" Hikaru huddled down on the dirt trail. He could no longer see where it led as it twisted away through the trunks.
"Hikaru, be quiet. Or at least talk with your mind and not your mouth." Sai ordered.
Too scared to even begin getting angry at Sai's tone, Hikaru inched closer to his friend. He stopped, however, when he noticed the full change in Sai's state. If it was possible for light to thicken, then the green flames had achieved this around the ghost, so much so that Hikaru instinctively shielded his face as if trying to avoid the nonexistent heat. Hikaru winced even more when he noticed Sai's expression. His mentor's face had taken on the intensity only seen when he was deepest into a game. His eyes sparked with a fire that burned even brighter than that which surrounded him, and his hands twitched at his sides, as if reaching for a sword. Every last trace of the normally cheerful, slightly scatterbrained, and annoyingly Go-minded Sai had disappeared. Something else had taken his friend's place, something very old, wary, and just the slightest bit dangerous.
Can a ghost be possessed?! Hikaru felt a spate of hysterical hiccups churning up from his stomach; things had moved beyond the realm of insanity into a new level of mind warping weirdness.
Seeming to notice Hikaru's increasingly frightened state of mind, Sai made a visible effort to calm himself. His movements became slower, and his stance straightened.
"Gomen ne, I didn't mean to snap at you," his voice softened. "But don't panic or talk loudly. We don't know what's out there, and we don't want to attract any attention."
Hikaru nodded feverishly. "I'm a little s-scared. B-but only just a l-l-little." To his mortification, however, the hiccups chose that moment to grow worse. Hikaru wrapped his arms around his sides, trying to control the involuntary shaking.
"Well, I'm very scared. But being scared can't help us now. We'll get through this together, ne?" Sai's mental tone remained neutral, as if he was simply instructing Hikaru on the best placement of a Go stone. "So take a deep breath, calm down, and let's do our best to get out of here, forest or not."
As it had in countless Go matches before, Sai's gentle coaching helped Hikaru regain some semblance of control. The hiccups gradually subsided as his breathing slowed and evened.
"Where did the forest come from?" Hikaru finally managed to ask, though this time he sent the query through his thoughts instead of opening his mouth. He could almost sense that something out there was watching them, perhaps listening ... the thought made him as itchy as if a sea of fleas had crawled onto him.
"It looks like -- well, like it's forest from old Edo," Sai replied. "As it was in my time, as it was before ..."
"What?! We went back in time?!"
"No ... I don't think so. Something's not quite real," the ghost gestured at the trees "See how the outlines are rather vague, as if someone can't remember exactly how the branches should go, or how the light should fall into shadows. It's like everything's an illusion, frozen in a place outside time. Almost like a memory. I can't explain it except ..."
"Except?!"
"That's what my instincts are telling me." Sai stepped in front of Hikaru. "Stay close. The ancient forests of Edo are no place to be unprotected at night."
Glancing around, Hikaru was inclined to agree. He never noticed how quite dark night was before. A city child at heart, he had never been too far away from the electric hum of the next neon sign or the translucent halo of a street lamp. Even during its most quietest hours, the sky never dimmed over Tokyo; the city carried a glow that penetrated the cloudiest of moonless evenings.
The ancient forests of Edo, on the other hand, were a place where the essence of darkness itself seem to spawn and spread. Overhead, the overcast sky muffled both the stars and the moon. If Sai hadn't been glowing, Hikaru knew he probably wouldn't see his own hand even if he smacked himself in the face with it.
Without Sai, he gulped, I'd be totally blind. Of course, walking around with a giant, glowing bug lantern kinda makes me stand out. Oh crap, I am gonna get eaten, and it'll all be stupid Waya's fault, and I'll never get to beat Touya, and all they're gonna find is my mangled body.
Wonder if they'll write about it in Weekly Go.
As things stood, new noises filled the spaces between the tree trunks -- branches crackled and leaves rustled. Unearthly hoots and howls drifted through the darkness accompanied by the occasional snapping sound of something moving through the undergrowth. Real or not, the place came with rather convincing sound effects.
Feeling completely vulnerable, he shifted uneasily behind Sai. But what can Sai do, if something DOES come out of the shadows? he thought with a shudder. After all, Sai wasn't exactly corporeal.
Taking a deep breath, Hikaru reached out a hand to steady himself. He gasped in amazement as it passed completely through a nearby tree trunk.
"What the --- hey!" Hikaru said. Hope bubbled bright and hot inside him. "Maybe it really is just an illusion. If I keep walking back toward the entrance, maybe it'll disappear totally."
"Maybe," Sai said. But he did not sound altogether certain. Instead, he reached out a slender hand ... and both of them heard the soft, fleshy smack as it hit the wood. "But I seem to have a different problem."
The ghost ran his hand down the trunk again and again, not pausing even when the bark tore at his delicate skin.
"I can feel it," he said in awe. "It's rough, against my fingers. And the air, it's so cold ... it tingles when I ... Look Hikaru!" He pointed at himself in excitement. "I can breathe! But ... not really. I don't feel the need to do so, and it doesn't produce a mist." Sorrow clouded the ghost's voice. "I guess some things can't change. Still, to feel the world again, instead of drifting through it ..."
Hikaru hesitantly reached out his own hand towards Sai. Perhaps, if the ghost could now touch things ... perhaps he could ... he yelped as an electric tingle shot through him.
"Hikaru!"
"Oooow! Okay, NOT doing that again," he said as he cradled his still numb hand to his chest. "It looks like ... I'm the one who's the ghost here ..."
His words seemed to snap Sai out of his fascination with the tree trunk.
"We should probably leave," he said, although he cast a wondering look back at the tree.
Hikaru's eyes widened another howl sounded through the trees. "Errr... Let's leave fast."
Sai merely stared at him, as if waiting.
"Umm, Sai? You're the only one who knows the way," Hikaru tried to summon a smile, but it felt more like a grimace instead. "Now you're the one with the body."
"But ... I don't know the way. I lived in ancient Heiankyo, not in Edo. And I've never been in such a situation like this before. It's neither your time nor mine," Sai folded and unfolded his fan. His nimble fingers seemed unusually awkward and tense as they fumbled at the slats. Hikaru licked his lips. Sai was definitely worried.
"Just try, okay?" Hikaru glanced around, trying his best not to shudder. "Besides, I need you to be a human torch for me. I can't see anything out there."
"Yes. Unfortunately, the night is just as dark as it ever was in my time, and the surroundings just as wild. I bet the night creatures out here are still the same too." As if to emphasize this point, a sharp, snapping noise began in the distance, as if something big and heavy had lurched to life. Both ghost and boy immediately started moving faster, and both blew twin sighs of relief when the noise appeared to be moving away from them.
"You just had to say that, didn't you?" Hikaru muttered as, for once, he found himself in the odd position of trailing after Sai. "I swear, if you say something like It can't get any worse now' or let's go into that abandoned building over there,' I'm going to smack you, no matter how much it gonna hurt me."
"Why would I say that?" Sai sounded truly perplexed.
"People always do, in situations like this," Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck, casting a furtive glance behind him. Was it his imagination, or did something flicker there, a shadow that had nothing to do with the trees ... "Saaaiii, d-do you think if we keep following the path, we'll get to the gates?"
Sai shrugged. "Maybe. But I don't know how far this forest stretches into the distance, or if it even ends ..."
"Okay, that's another thing you shouldn't say in situations like this. It's enough that we're lost, in a wood that shouldn't really be here, and we've switched roles ..." Hikaru rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was seeing things, he had to be. The shadows were NOT following them.
"I don't even want to think about a forest that never --ACK!" He hadn't be watching where he was going and had promptly walked through a tree. "Did I mention how weird it is to be a ghost?"
Sai raised an eyebrow before answering. "No, but I think I may have an idea. Actually, I think it's this place which is the ghost. Perhaps people are not the only things that can pass an image or a memory through the centuries. Perhaps the very ground itself can remember what it used to be."
The spirit's progress was much slower than Hikaru's; his long robes and equally long hair became snagged and snarled by each passing branch. Yet, Sai took in all the minor obstacles with something approaching awe in his eyes. Occasionally, he would reach out to touch a tree trunk or bend down and pick up a small stone. He would roll it in his fingers, before letting it drop again. However, the ghost did not seem to notice the strange, shifting darkness around them, or if he did, he said nothing about it to his friend
Hikaru could not totally begrudge Sai his first sensory input in a millennium but he, himself, could barely keep his panic and fear at bay. The shadows danced and swayed as Sai's ghostlight flickered by them. Sometimes, they even seemed to scurry out of the way when Hikaru tried to look directly into their depths.
That's stupid. Shadows don't scurry, he thought. But if shadows didn't scurry ... then what does?And why -- when I'm not listening carefully -- why does it almost seem like the forest is calling my name ...
Unnerved to a point almost beyond fear, Hikaru wrapped his arms around himself, shuddering. He didn't like the way he could pass through normally solid objects, or the fact that only Sai's footsteps held any sound or weight. He didn't like how the air seemed stale without scent and was neither hot nor cold against his skin. He could not feel the wind on his face, no matter how fast he moved. It was as if the world no longer existed for him ... or perhaps, it was the other way around.
Hikaru gulped as he glanced quickly at his hands. He twiddled his fingers, slightly fascinated, but mostly relieved beyond words at the simple motion. His body, or whatever it was currently, still worked somewhat right ... but for how much longer? How did a ghost keep together what wasn't there? What if he wisped away to nothing?
"If you feel like you're coming apart at the seams," Sai said softly. "Don't worry. You're still there. Like I said, I don't think you're a ghost. Even if you were, you're far too stubborn to let yourself drift apart, trust me on this."
Hikaru stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I know I'm not a ghost! But I'm telling you one thing, if I get out of this, I'm NEVER EVER watching the Blair Witch Project again. I won't even watch Tonari no Totoro." He swore vehemently. "Nope, nothing with enchanted woods, trees, ghosts, or things that go rum-pum-pum in the night."
He jerked to a complete stop as his mind finally caught up with his mental "voice". Rum, pum, pum?!
Sai halted as well. "You hear that too, Hikaru?"
"Yeah," Hikaru's eyes widened. "It's kinda hard not to."
The forest had gone completely silent, save for the thudding beat of a distant drum. The sound was a sharp, hollow one, as if it had been forced to rebound through a long, wooden pipe. It struck steadily, like a heartbeat devoid of blood.
A heartbeat which was definitely getting closer . . .
"What IS that?! Don't tell me someone's having a concert in here." Hikaru turned in a wary circle. The sound seemed to come from all around them, as if someone had spread out and had ringed them in.
"Shh, Hikaru," Sai's expression grew distant as he gazed into the woods. "I don't think this is good. Something's coming."
"No really, Detective Conan?" Hikaru waved a hand before Sai could ask. "Nevermind about the Detective Conan thing! Now what?!"
"Maybe you should hide somewhere ..."
"Don't you mean we should BOTH hide? You're the one that can touch things here ... what if they can touch you back? And you're not exactly invisible with the entire flashy glowing blinking thing you have going on there!"
"That's my point. Whatever's out there is going to find me without too much difficulty. I don't think you should be around then."
The pounding drum drew ever closer and closer. Rum, pum, rum, pum, rum- pum- pum, it vibrated through the night.
"We should just run. The entrance can't be too far off ..."
"Didn't you pay attention to any of those ghosts in the electric box? You can't run from supernatural beings. They don't even move in the same way that you do. Running will just draw their attention."
"But..."
"Hikaru. Listen to me." Hikaru blinked as Sai's mental voice dropped to its lowest register, one which resonated through his thoughts and silenced any protest. It was a voice he had never heard the ghost use before, a voice that he imagined Sai must have used in the days of the Heian court ... a voice of nobility, used to giving orders and being obeyed. "I'm not leaving you, but if the drums mean what I think they mean, we could be in for a rough time. "
"What?! What DO the drums mean?"
"Your time has forgotten how to believe in ghosts and other wanderers of the night. You think they exist only in books, or in those electric boxes, or on the giant screens. But back when I was in the Heian period," Sai sighed.
"What you think of as only ghost stories, we knew as reality. Imagine every night being like this one, filled with a darkness beyond darkness, to the point where a candle's flame would shed more shadows than light. You could hear things moving out there, things with human-like bodies but not human souls, which could wear the faces of your friends, enemies, lovers, which could steal your very identity -- and the only thing between you and them were thin paper screens and whatever prayers you could produce. And in the darkness of the night, you hoped ...you hoped that whatever was out there had no interest in mortal flesh or worse yet ... mortal souls."
Sai gripped his fan with both hands, his expression grim. "We told ghost "stories" to warn each other, so we wouldn't forget those who move in the darkness and the respect that must be given to each of them. I was a Go tutor, and my position ... well ... what you see now as a "game" of Go ... in the past, we believed it had a connection to the spirit world, and that the patterns that were played echoed the designs of fate and destiny. A player could even part the gates of time and see into the very universe itself, if he or she was talented enough. Remember, Hikaru, at its heart, Go is a game of soul against soul. Great power can be released, once one is put against the other."
"Don't tell me this has something to do with Go .. that would almost be like the plot of some B-grade horror movie! Revenge of the Ghostly Go masters!" Hikaru smacked his forehead. "I can't believe I just said that! This can't be happening ..."
"Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with Go. But the other things I told you still hold true. We don't know whether the things out there have an interest in mortal flesh or mortal souls. I don't think you want to find out."
"But not you ... you could get ...well not KILLED, but ...!" Hikaru smacked his forehead again. "NO! We're not splitting up! In those movies, that's the first thing that goes wrong; everyone splits up!"
"Hikaru, I don't have time to explain now. Maybe they won't notice you if I can distract them ..."
"And just how are you going to do that?!"
"By giving myself up."
"Wait! Sai! That's the most STUPIDEST plan I've EVER heard! SAI! Are you listening to me?! SAI!" Hikaru waved his arms like a maniac, but Sai merely reached out and pushed him down. Or more accurately, pushed through him. The resulting shock wave brought Hikaru to his knees.
"One more thing, Hikaru. If they do find you, try not to look them in the eye. All right? Don't look them in the eye. They don't like that."
"What kind of crappy advice is THAT?! What do you mean don't look them in the eyes'?! Just what is out there?" But before he could recover enough to get to his feet, Sai had left, taking all the light with him. Unable to do anything else, Hikaru closed his eyes. He could hear the ghost pushing through the underbrush, and from far away, he could hear something crashing forward to meet them.
"Sai! Don't leave me here. It's dark, and there's something weird about the shadows! Sai? Can you hear me? Don't ... don't leave me ...please..."
Rum, pum, rum, pum, rum-pum-pum ...
Oh God, please ... I don't want to be here. Please. He didn't usually call upon a higher power for help, but then again, he usually wasn't lost in an ancient forest, and he usually didn't have his life and the life (or more accurately, the afterlife) of his best friend at stake. Please just get him and me out of here. Please. I don't want to be here ....
I don't want to be here ...
He tried to force his mind away from the sound. Maybe if he believed he was somewhere else ... Yes. He was somewhere else. He was dreaming, that was it ... he had fallen asleep watching The Sixth Sense with the Waya family. If he concentrated enough, he could shape his dream into something better. He tried to envision himself finally marching up to the stage and receiving his Pro certificate. Or better yet ... he was in the Touyas' Go Salon, and he was playing Touya Akira ... and winning. He could see the goban in front of him, visualize the probable moves and countermoves, hear the click of the Go stones against the wood ...
Rum, pum, rum, pum, rum-pum-pum, rum, pum, rum, pum, rum-pum-pum
The image of Touya and the Go Salon melted away, to be replaced by a night of infinite darkness, and the ever thudding of the approaching drum. Hikaru scrunched into a tighter ball, holding his hands over his ears, but just has he hadn't be able to block out Sai's earlier wailing, he could not stop the empty pulse from reverberating through him.
Rum, pum, rum, pum, rum-pum-pum, rum, pum, rum, pum, rum-pum-pum
Louder, and louder, beyond where he could even hear himself think ....
RUM-PUM!
And just as abruptly as it had begun, the beat stopped, though Hikaru could still hear its phantom echo in the racing of his heart. "What's happening? Sai!" He called mentally. He waited, but nothing echoed back to him. "SAI! Answer me!"
Nothing. Not even the wind replied him this time.
God? God? Please ... please just get me and him out of this okay. Please.
I don't want to be here anymore ...
Please ...
But the voice that answered certainly had no intention of granting him that wish.
"Kiyii! And what have we here?" a voice purred out, curling lithely in the air. "Why, I believe it is a little child ... a little mortal child. How perfect, how wonderful, how utterly ... deliciously ... delightful."
"Sai! They found me!" Oh great, this is just great, I wonder what it wants to eat first, my flesh or my soul?! Hikaru's thoughts wailed miserably. "Saaaaaai!"
He had a horrible feeling, however, that the answer would be both at the same time.
to be continued ...