Stars in the Sky
Disclaimer: Not mine.
It was always the same. Always, the calculated click of his stone onto the goban, the anticipation as he tried to predict, try to peek into the others thoughts and decide where white would play. But always the result was the same. Silence. He sat facing nothing, a stone already balanced between his fingers. White never played. Sai never responded.
Yet still, every night, he place a black stone on the intersecting lines, a black mote on the board, and sat, back straight and waiting. And every night he fell asleep, anticipating Sai's move.
But this time, as he snapped the stone to the board, a white one followed, the chink of the piece to the wood clear and chiming in the empty room, the delicate hand snapping back, the rustling slide of fabric over flesh as Sai drew his hand back. And he didn't consider the intangibleness of the situation, he simply moved, responded, a direct connect from his mind to his fingers placing a black piece down.
And the game played out, the pieces falling to the board, arranging themselves like stars in the sky. No thought, just instinct and passion guiding his fingers, his mind no more than action and reaction, the strategy and traps not formulated, just played.
But the game ended, and when he looked to face his opponent he saw only the flutter of an open fan. He closed his eyes, dipped his head, and when he again looked around the room seemed different, as though time had tilted sideways and only just righted itself. And there, on the goban, like stars in the sky, was the game.
He stood and went in search of kifu paper so he could record the game he had been playing in his mind for uncounted nights.