An XXXHolic/Hikaru no Go X-over
By Lady Addiction
WWWW
CHAPTER 7: GO IS EVERYTHING
Even after all he had experienced at Yuuko-san's shop, Watanuki found himself shaking as he headed for the small shrine beside the well. The shrine consisted of a small wooden house structure balanced atop a stone pedestal. At four corners stood slender bamboo poles from which a hemp rope wrapped in twisted strips of white paper hung around the shrine. There were no indications of what kind of house-spirit resided in it.
The boy knelt before the shrine. Slowly, he put down two bottles of good quality sake. He opened one bottle and poured out a small quantity onto the ground. He felt a little stupid and more than a little fearful as he called out "Tanuki-san, tanuki-san," quietly under his breath. In his mind, he cursed Doumeki-the-ass and his idiotic idea for calling out a spirit, and the book for not mentioning how else they might be able to call a spirit to them. It didn't help that Mokona's idea of encouragement was waving a banner with the words "YOU'VE GOT GUTS, WATANUKI!" energetically on Doumeki's head.
The three of them waited.
An hour passed. Then two.
Finally (frankly, Watanuki had been surprised he hadn't done it sooner), Shindou stepped forward and told Watanuki to get away from the holy site. He stomped his way to the shrine but, to his companions' surprised relief, refrained from kicking it down or even trespassing. Instead, inches away from the hemp barrier, Shindou raised his head and called out in a loud, challenging voice: "Oi, tanuki or whatever you are! Come out! I'm here to challenge you to a game of Go to free my friend, Fujiwarano Sai!"
Three times, Shindou repeated variations of this. On the third time, a cold wind blew and the trees around them rustled. Leafy whirlwinds exploded around them, and one flew towards Shindou's face. The boy grabbed at it and then yelped as he felt a thick furry texture. He threw the leaf away, thinking it contained a large caterpillar. His companions rushed to him, only to find that a small upright creature with a bamboo hat and gleaming black eyes looking at them malevolently. A bottle of sake hung from a rope-belt around its waist, and its enormous testicles were like overinflated balloons beneath its corpulent belly. Mokona eeped and hid in Doumeki's hair.
"Disrespectful, ugly humans," the spirit sneered. "I am no tame spirit to come at an offering like this!" He jerked a paw towards the sake. "And you, you human-spirit! You are the one he is looking for!"
"You mean Sai! Yes, I'm Shindou Hikaru and I demand that you release him!"
The tanuki seem to swell even wider in fury. "You vile trespassers! You are in my territory! DO NOT PRESUME to make orders here!" It began to drum a raucous, furious drumbeat on its testes that had them clutching their ears in agony. Watanuki closed his eyes at the sight.
"I don't care if I go deaf!" Shindou howled. "I'm staying here until I free Sai!"
The insane drumming halted and the spirit cocked its head to the side. "You have one chance to persuade me to a game of Go, the same game your treacherous friend had tricked me into losing!"
"Sai doesn't cheat!" Watanuki, Doumeki, and Mokona winced as their friend continued to yell.
"Be quiet!" The demon-spirit began to run around at lightning speed. As the three humans watched him with wide eyes, he halted back in front of the green-eyed boy and held out a bowl containing a pool of coins with different denominations. "In this bowl, there is one coin that was once a pebble. The rest are leaves. Find me the pebble, and I will battle you in Igo," the creature challenged smugly, puffing out its round cheeks.
"This…this is…" Impossible was what Watanuki wanted to say. But for some reason, the word caught at his throat. With a chill, he recalled that incident with the twin sisters, where he discovered that words bound people and themselves to certain paths. Especially the wrong ones.
Instead, he clenched his teeth and watched. Doumeki, appearing tense and taut beside him, remained silent as well after a sidelong glance at Watanuki.
Then, after closing his eyes for a moment, Shindou moved away from the trickster. They watched him calmly walk towards the riverbank and pick up a pebble. He fisted it, holding it tight for several minutes, before letting it drop. Then he returned to his position before the tanuki-spirit and without hesitation, plunged his hand into the bowl.
His hand moved around in circular motions, causing the coins to chink and tink, before he suddenly pulled it out, finger curled tight against his palm. He held out the fist to the tanuki and slowly opened it. Watanuki held his breath, barely aware of Doumeki doing the same thing.
The demon looked at the small 100-yen coin and angrily threw the bowl of coins onto the ground. The magic dissipated as, rather than a loud crash, a rain of green leaves fell slowly to the earth. On Shindou's palm was a small, round rock.
"Come then, human-spirit, and we will have a match."
"I want to see Sai first!" demanded Shindou. Watanuki closed his eyes, feeling the unsettling sensation of butterflies in his stomach.
The demon-spirit sighed. With a flick of his hand, the bamboo grove closest to the shrine shimmered and transformed into a cage holding a white-clad form that was kneeling on the grassy floor.
"Sai!"
The spirit's head jerked up and Watanuki gasped, astonished by the delicate beauty of that pearlescent face. Beneath the moonlight, the mysterious ghost seemed to glow, his long curtain of purple hair gleaming like the highest quality silk. Long-fingered hands clenched on the bamboo poles that encased him. "Hikaru? Hikaru!"
"Sai!" With a joyous laugh, Shindou ran to his friend. But a mere foot away, he was repulsed by an invisible barrier, landing with an 'oof!' on his rear. Quickly, he got up and began hammering at the unseen wall. "Sai! Sai! Are you alright! Sai!"
"Hikaru! What-what are you doing here! And yes, I'm fine, I'm fine! But, Hikaru, you-you—" Sai was turning pale with horror as he looked at the scene before him. Watanuki met captivating lavender eyes for an all-too-short moment before Sai turned back to Shindou.
"Sai! I found you, Sai! Finally, I found you! Don't worry, Sai, I'm going to beat this tanuki spirit and free you!"
"Hikaru, no! This is- This is-" Suddenly, Sai's voice was cut off. His mouth moved, but no noise came to them.
"Ah-ah-ah," interrupted the demon, grinning. "I hate to cut this reunion short, but we still have things to do, young Shindou. Fujiwarano may watch as you lose and forfeit your Go ability."
"What!" Shindou's mouth dropped.
"The wager between us is Fujiwarano's soul's freedom and your own Go ability," repeated the tanuki in a mocking tone.
"What-what does that mean!"
"It means that when you lose, you will never be able to play Go like you can right now ever again. You will be able to pick up the stones, and you can relearn the game, but the prodigious talent that now makes you a powerful player will be forfeit. You will forever be the has-been who could have been one of the Greatest!" The tanuki's beady eyes gleamed. "Are you still willing to enter into a match with me?"
Sai was now beating at the cage bars. Shindou was watching him, his face half-hidden by swaying shadows.
Watanuki felt absolutely helpless as he stood there and witnessed the events unfold. The price demanded by the tanuki had made him wince and Doumeki hitch a breath, but he had no doubts as to what Shindou would say.
"Let's play."
WWWW
On to Chapter 8…we're almost done, folks! Please don't forget to comment! Reviews are much appreciated!
