An XXXHolic/Hikaru no Go X-over
By Lady Addiction
WWWW
CHAPTER 2: SECRETS TOLD
When Watanuki came to the grassy area the next morning, he almost missed seeing Shindou. The other boy was sitting right at the edge of the canal-way, dangling his legs over the side. Watanuki made a point of calling out and tromping loudly towards the green-eyed boy so that he didn't inadvertently startle Shindou and cause him to fall into the canal waters.
Shindou looked back at him and waved. Soon, Watanuki was settling cross-legged besides the other boy. "Hey, I know you don't know how to play Go but I can teach you now if you like."
Watanuki was taken aback. "But I don't have anything to play with."
"That's okay. We can play with this." Another flashing grin and Shindou was assembling a small magnetic board between them. Watanuki looked at the entire process doubtfully, but diligently tried to listen as the other guided him through the basics.
Probably because of the other's too-casual manner of dressing, Watanuki had inadvertently underestimated Shindou's ability to teach. A surprisingly patient teacher, Shindou had a way of explaining so that Watanuki understood easily and became more and more interested, rather than less and less. Within two hours, they were playing teaching games and Watanuki found playing Igo with Shindou to be both challenging and fun.
Three games later, Shindou put away the set and Watanuki opened up his bentou box. He had packed double the amount, but although his new friend looked at the dishes longingly, he refused Watanuki's offer. Confused but hesitant to push, Watanuki decided to eat his share and give the rest to Shindou later, or serve it to Yuuko-san.
Finally, there came the time of hush-hush, when there was nothing left for them to do but sit back and relax. Watanuki kept thinking about Shindou's secret, but he refused to open that discussion.
"You know, when I was in the middle school, my very best friend was a ghost," Shindou said abruptly. Watanuki tensed, then forced himself to relax and listen. He hmmmed his response.
"He was the spirit of a Heian master Go player and man, he was really obsessed with Go. Day and night, he wanted to play and play and play! At first, he drove me crazy! All I knew about Go then was that my grandfather was really good at it, but it was dull and boring! All I liked then was soccer."
Watanuki hmmmed again. He was beginning to think that there was something really odd about Shindou, at the fact that here he was telling ghost stories, and Watanuki did not feel the slightest urge to flee hastily.
"Then I met this kid my age, and he was just as obsessed about Go as Sai. That's the name of my ghost, by the way. Anyway, to make a long story short, this kid and Sai, well, they made me learn about Go and love it enough to try and become a professional. It was…a very long, painful, but…satisfying trip…"
Shindou paused, taking several deep breaths. Watanuki eyed him with concern, but he couldn't find anything to say so he kept quiet. The other continued, but there was a quiver present in his voice.
"Then one day, Sai disappeared. Gone just like that! Poof!" He flailed his hands to demonstrate, then became still again. "I looked for him everywhere, but I couldn't find him. I knew, I just knew he left because I became selfish and I refused to let him play anymore!"
The other boy opened his mouth to try and refute that, but Shindou rolled on, "I quit Go then for a few months, but a friend showed me that just because Sai was gone, didn't mean I would forget all about him. Sai taught me Go, and so I can see him in the games I play."
Watanuki looked up at the cloudy sky. He felt hollow inside. Hearing Shindou like this made him remember that very special friend he had made in elementary. He was the one who told him how to exorcise ghosts with salt, who kept him company for over a year, making the lonely nights without his parents and any siblings bearable. He had been Watanuki's very first friend.
"I, I had a friend like that, too," Watanuki said quietly. "He was with me for about a year and we had a lot of fun together. But on April 1st, my birthday, he left for the..the Other world, I guess you could call it. My first and only present from him was a piece of his bone which I kept until it became dust. Then I threw the ashes towards the cherry trees he liked so much…I wished he could have stayed forever…"
"Sai left me something too," Shindou replied quietly, "in a dream, he came to me. He didn't say anything but at the end, he passed me his fan. It was the fan that he used to play Go with all the time, so I knew it was very special. Of course, when I woke up, there was nothing so I bought this instead." Reaching into his pockets, Shindou took out a plain paper fan with a subtle embossed rippling pattern. He handed it to Watanuki, who handled it reverently before giving it back.
"I guess ghosts aren't all that bad," Watanuki said with a sigh. "Sometimes, they bother me so much that I just want to be rid of them, to not be able to see them anymore. But then, I wouldn't have been able to meet that friend of mine." And maybe I wouldn't have been able to meet Yuuko-san and Syaoran and the others. He wondered whether that would have been such a bad thing.
"Well, I'm glad for one that you can see spirits," Shindou replied, a strange smile on his face.
Watanuki cocked his head and eyed his friend quizzically. "Why is that?"
"Because then you wouldn't have been able to see me."
A short thud followed that calm announcement.
WWWW
On to chapter 3...
Comments?
