Wow!

Snow Weaver again with the happy review. I am soooooooo happy you're liking this as much as I am! Lots of hugs to you! Yes, I have to admit that when I was writing that last chapter I, like you, almost thought he might lose against Captain Hanaka as well! And I was writing it! LOL.

Anywho, chapter 4 is up so peruse and enjoy! Oh, and just in case anyone other than Snow Weaver is reading this, please consider reviewing. I would looooove to hear from you. : )

Trixie21

Okay, you all know the drill. I have to take up valuable space and time to say that I do not own any part that is the coolness of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. That honor goes completely to Kazuki Takahashi. Authoress as she bows subserviently before her shrine of great creators... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy"

This Old Man: Sugoroku's Story

Part 1: Japan

4. The New Lesson…

When Sugoroku made it to his Shoji class with Captain Hanaka that last day he found the man in a distracted mood, staring out the window.

The boy, taught not to question his elders and most especially a military officer, slid into his seat quietly and waited. It was several minutes before the captain walked over and sat down to begin the game with Sugoroku but the boy could tell that his mind was not on the game at all. He made half hearted moves that seemed to mean nothing and at other times he let the boy make the move for him.

Sugoroku was worried. This was not the captain's style to so easily roll over a game. He was normally an almost ruthless player with intense drive toward the win and after waiting for almost five minutes for the captain to turn away from the windows to make his next move the boy could stand it no longer.

"Sir?" he asked cautiously.

The captain sighed but did not look at the boy.

"Mutou, this is your last year of grade school, yes?"

Sugoroku nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Let me ask then, what are your plans?"

"After this year sir?"

"Yes. When this year ends what will you do?"

"I am not sure sir. My father wishes me to go to higher schools but we can not afford it. I may only go to his work and help earn money."

The captain nodded.

It was an all too common thing for the poorer families. Most of the children of this school would be done their basic mandatory education in only a few months and they would then become workers often in the same factories as their fathers. The girls would stay home and do more learning under the eyes of their mother and any other female members of the family until she was another few years older and asked for in marriage.

"Mutou, opportunities will come and go in your life. When they come, never be afraid to grasp hold of it and put everything you have into it. You must put nothing less than your very best towards it and never falter if the course you take is true."

The captain suddenly turned his head back to Sugoroku and stood leaning over the board. His eyes seemed lit with a fire that the boy could not remember ever seeing before and when the man spoke again his words were spoken with urgent insistence, almost demanding.

"When you find what it is you were called to do, do not just do it. Live it. Do not just think it is your duty to do it, believe it is your duty to do it. Do not just put your mind on the matter, put your heart in it as well. There may come a day when lives will depend on your abilities and if you only put your mind to it and forget why, for who and the fact there are those risking themselves on your decisions then they will die and you will lose. There are those who think the mind is the most powerful friend a person can have, but I do not believe that at all. It is only in combination with one's heart that one can truly be great. There have been many emperors in our own empire possessed of the greatest of learning and knowledge and yet they had no compulsion against setting in motion ideas that would bring death to thousands. There were those that by the strength of their heart could not use their head competantly and so again brought the deaths of many. But when the two work together, when they are aligned, the most magnificent of accomplishments can occur and man is propelled forward to the highest levels of success. Mutou, you have the mind. I have no doubt about it, but you must use your heart as well. The mind can only lead one so far and then the rest is up to your heart. Live your life to the fullest, believe you can, and you will. Just like in the game. Believe you can win, trust yourself to win, trust your heart and you will. And so will those around you."

Sugoroku sat mutely staring at the captain. He was sure what the man was saying was something truly important but truthfully he wasn't really sure what. Everyone had always stressed to him to learn as much as he could, develop his skill. No one had ever mentioned his heart and believing in it.

"Mutou, today is our last day together. My regiment will be leaving tomorrow in the morning and I will never see you again. I will not have the honor of seeing what your ingenious mind comes up with in the coming years but promise me that you will remember what I have said."

Sugoroku nodded silently. This last bit of news was to surprising for words. He did not ever expect that the captain would be leaving. Strangely enough, he found he did not in anyway relish the idea. Captain Hanaka had presented him with a challenge no one else had ever been able to give him and even better he had taught him to be a better player than he had already been. He had been so blissfully caught up in someone who could actually beat him he never even stopped to consider once that it would ever end.

"Well, then," said the captain as he sat back down, "Let us have one more game. A great game. One like no other. Let us play from our hearts."

As Sugoroku and the captain reset the board his melancholy all at once lifted and there was an air of expectation that ran through him. It was then that he felt it. What this game would mean to the captain.

This was his last game. The man knew and somehow Sugoroku now knew. But more than that, he now understood.

The life of one cannot be more than the lives of the many and in his duty Captain Hanaka was called forward to put his life aside that his nation would go on. His mind was certain that he would not return and now at the end of his life he was passing on his last personal thoughts to another. It was his last personal duty before he left to perform the last of his social and military duty. And here at the end of it he was telling Sugoroku to seize the moment and live it for all its worth, to never doubt himself, to believe in a higher plane and strive for it. He wanted the boy to be a great person and someday a great man and had put it to words as best he could.

With no other way to say more he asked for the last thing he possible could do to show the boy his belief in him.

Sugoroku took a deep breath.

If it was a great game the captain wanted then it would be a great game the man would get. Sugoroku would show no quarter and give no advantage. He would show himself worthy of such notice by this one man and like his own father he would not rest until the day's work was done. It would be a game he would forever remember.

-

Sugoroku lay quietly on his bed that night looking up at the ceiling when his mother peeked in.

"Sugoroku," she called softly.

The boy looked at his mother.

"He is leaving?" she asked.

Sugoroku nodded.

The woman looked down at the floor before stepping in and taking a seat on the edge of his bed.

"You must not let your sadness overwhelm you. Even if he does not come back, you should be happy for him because he is finally following his path and ready to do the duty for which he lived and believed in."

"I do not think he truly believes in the war."

"Many do not believe it is the right choice."

"But then why does he go? Why should he not have a personal choice?"

"Because we are a nation Sugoroku. While we are many, we are still one. Like a puzzle. He may not believe in the war itself but he believes in the ideals that the military stands for. To uphold our traditions and our country's independence from all other nations. He believes that one must act for the greater good of all rather then for himself. Because of that he goes off to war at our emperor's command to prove his beliefs and loyalties are true."

"So I will never see him again because he believes that to follow his orders is right."

"For the country, yes. And perhaps for you too."

Sugoroku's eyes widened.

"He fights for me?"

"I think so, yes. He fights for his belief in you. He fights for your possibilities, your future, your life… I do not pretend to know what goes on in the mind of any man but I think you gave him something when you played Shoji with him."

"What?"

"Hope."

Sugoroku blinked in surprise.

"Well, its time for bed. You still have school tomorrow so try to sleep. Good night Sugoroku."

With that his mother left.

Sleep was a long time in coming to the boy that night. In his head he kept trying to understand how he could possible have given the captain hope. He was in the army. He was trained to fight and wage battle with men at his command who would die should he tell them to do so. Why would he need to find hope from a little boy?

Is that why he had played their last game like it was the most incredible thing he had ever done? Because he then felt hope that he did not have before? Perhaps that his true destiny was now already fulfilled?

Sugoroku ran through the game and now in reflection he marveled at what he had missed earlier. During that final match, the captain had smiled nearly the entire time. He had openly praised Sugoroku's most cunning moves and he had laughed when he had let himself slip and found himself trapped more than once. His eyes had sparkled like he was just now living for the first time and though he had always played like a devil before, this game he played with the deftness of a god. It been a marvel to watch him flick his eyes across the board and with a dramatic sweep of his hand make his move like it the very best one in the world.

In the end Sugoroku had lost, but not by much.

Yet, it did not feel like a loss. Instead there was the sense of victory, of achievement.

When the captain had tousled Sugoroku's already mussed up hair in a friendly way before turning and leaving, he had been smiling and for the moment Sugoroku had smiled too. There was no sadness in that last moment. Rather it felt like a beginning. A new adventure. As if something amazing was just on the horizon.

But now that it was over the thrill had left him and instead he felt the biting sting of regret. In the darkness of his room his solitary heart felt tears and silently he lamented his loss.

It was not the loss of the game that he mourned or even the loss of a man.

It was the loss of a friend.

Next Chapter: The Headmaster