a/n: And now for a lighter interlude. Cliché? I have no idea. My thanks to therhoda for putting my plotbunnies in a better mood. The lilies will come at some point, I promise.
Part 9. Highlights
"Touya-san!" Kinume stood in the open doorway, smiling from ear to ear. Her glee at seeing him was a little overwhelming, but not nearly as baffling as the twists of tin-foil interspersed seemingly at random through her dark, almost burgundy hair. He would never understand youth fashions. "Are you here for Tou-san?"
From further back in the house, Shindou's voice yelled, "Let him in and shut the door! You're letting all the heat out!"
"Please come in, Touya-san," she said in a very proper voice. The grin on her face and her lack of any accompanying bow or polite gesture detracted from the effect, however. He crossed the threshold anyway, and stood in the entryway. There was no sign of Shindou in the front room, but his backpack and jacket sat piled against the wall beside the coat closet. "Ka-san's out, but I'll make you some tea, if you think I should." Her eyes were questioning. She had a tendancy to look to him for instruction where etiquette was concerned, since clearly, no one stood on ceremony in the Shindou household.
"No need, thank you. We have to leave as soon as possible." He peered anxiously past the girl in the direction of the rest of the house. "Is he ready?" She glanced at her watch, and Touya experienced a sinking feeling. Shindou was perpetually nonchalant where time was concerned. Touya liked to be at least fifteen minutes early. He had called twice last night and once this morning to make certain that Shindou would be ready and waiting when he arrived with the car, but it did not seem to have worked.
"He's got about twelve minutes to go," confirmed Kinume. Touya resisted the urge to storm past her into the home and drag his rival out by the ear. Instead, he resigned himself to the situation and shuffled out of his shoes. His student gave him a conspiratorial smile.
"I'll be out in a minute!" came Shindou's muffled shout, even as his daughter whispered, "You wanna see something cool?"
"We are going to be late!" Touya yelled back, knowing it was futile. He nodded to Kinume, and she placed a finger to her lips. When he nodded again, she lead him back to the study and sat before her laptop. For a moment, he saw the display of an English-language web comic site before a click of the mouse revealed a net go game in progress. Touya's eyes flicked to the room's entrance.
"Don't worry, he can't hear me in here – he's in the bathroom," she said, but kept her voice low and one eye on the door. "Check it out, though. I'm playing Waya-san."
He looked over her shoulder at the screen, even as she scrutinized the board and made a play. The game appeared fairly straightforward, but Kinume was winning by two or three moku.
"What was the handicap?" he asked. At her offended look, he tried a different tack. "Are you sure that's Waya-san?" She smiled.
"I kinda hacked Tou-san's 'friends' file, so I know it's him. He wasn't paying too much attention at the beginning, though." Her grin faded slightly. "He's probably a lot better in person, huh?"
It was true this game was slightly below Waya's usual standard for competition, but it was certainly at the level of his recreational play. The thought of sponsoring Kinume into the insei program surfaced again, but given the current circumstances, he would never suggest it. Akari had left "on business" almost two weeks ago and her daughter's fate was uncertain enough without his unwanted interference.
That neither of her parents had informed Kinume of the currently tenuous nature of their relationship came as no surprise. Akari's business trip had actually been scheduled for this week, and they'd obviously used it as an excuse. Touya knew that Shindou was not dealing with the situation particularly well, but at least his daughter would be happy for a few more days. He noticed abruptly that the girl was staring at him, and realized that getting lost in thought in her presence could be hazardous.
"Is something wrong, Touya-san?"
"Your father is taking far too long. We're going to be late," he sighed, hoping she'd be convinced. "Your skills are improving, though," he motioned to the board, and she beamed. "There's a good chance you could win this game. Have you played any other of your father's friends?"
"Played my friends at what?" Shindou stood in the doorway, looking surprised to see Touya and his daughter nearly cheek to cheek at her laptop. Touya was equally surprised, but it had more to do with the numerous tin-foil rectangles encasing Shindou's bangs than with the suddenness of his appearance. Kinume was the only one not phased.
"Chess," she said with the perfect confidence of a child who has mastered the art of keeping her parents from knowing things they do not need to know. "I was telling Touya-san how I kick your... er... how I always win at chess with you and Ka-san," (Touya noted with some amusement that she glanced at him and not her father as she corrected her language), "and he was wondering if I'd played it with any of your friends."
"Well, you did play Kaga that one time... Anyway, can you check these for me?" He seemed slightly embarrassed at his rival witnessing what was obviously some strange sort of Shindou family ritual, but nevertheless made a deep bow. Kinume leapt from her chair, skipped, landing in front of her father, and picked open one of the odd metal envelopes with the look of a quality control engineer scrutinizing the work of a hopelessly incompetent worker. At last she nodded, condescendingly.
"They're not quite done, but if you wash them off now, they'll probably still lighten a bit as they dry." With a last inspection, she relinquished his hair, then squealed as her father took advantage of her proximity to grab the girl in a playful hug.
"You're such an expert." And he kissed the top of her head. Abruptly, Kinume noticed Touya still standing in the office, and flushed bright red.
"Toooooou-saaaaan! Not in front of company!" she hissed. Shindou gave a slight squeeze, but then let go. He stood up to look at her.
"Such a lady, today," he sighed, with feigned sadness that had an unfortunate hint of truth to it. Kinume didn't seem to notice.
"Anyway, you're going to be late, and Ka-san told me to take good care of you while she was away, so go back into that bathroom and wash out your bangs before they fall off. I already finished your lunch and it's in your backpack, and I put in some vitamins, since you've been run-down lately and I saw this commercial that said they work really well for that." She paused for breath. "Oh, and I called Oji-san and he said I could come over any time after noon, so that's where I'll be, in case I'm not here when you get home okay?" Shindou nodded.
"Just don't forget to take those out before you go," he gestured to the tin-foil twists in her own hair. "Touya, if you want to wait in the entry, I'm just going to rinse these and then we can leave. I promise, I'll only be a minute." He looked to Touya who sighed and shrugged. Shindou grinned and left the room. Kinume waited until he was out of sight, then quickly darted behind the laptop to make another move in her game before once again hiding it behind the comic site. She stood, gave Touya a last, secretive smile, and then lead him back out to the step in front of the door.
"You're dying your hair too?" he asked, oddly curious about the tin-foil. He also wanted to discuss the excellent move she'd made with seemingly no time to consider, but decided that secrets would have to wait for another day. She laughed.
"Yep. Ka-san never lets me, but Tou-san said just this once I could. I chose purple," the girl grinned. "I think it's gonna be really pretty, but I'm worried what Ka-san's going to say," she looked at Touya as if he would know, but he simply shrugged. She mimicked it. "Oh well. When she gets home, the secret's out, one way or another, huh?"
Indeed, thought Touya, but he merely nodded.
---
A few responses to reviewers:
First of all let me thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story. Your comments, suggestions, requests and criticisms have added a lot to the writing experience thus far. I look forward to hearing what you think of the next installments. I don't often post notes to reviewers, but there are a few I thought needed answering (whose email addresses I don't have).
Kireira: You noticed the names! Yea! Actually, it is deliberate. If you pay attention to the time first names are used instead of last, you'll probably see the trend.
Joana Seta: Wow. Thank you for the praise. Thank you further for giving a story a chance, despite its being out of your usual preferences. I've gotten a number of comments to the effect of 'Hikaru/Akari pairing bites,' but few have looked beyond that. Personally, I've never thought that that relationship could be a perfect (or even an easy) one, but since I like conflict, I had to go with it. Perhaps chapter 8 held truer to your perception of those two?
stlWill: The time change between episodes has been duly slowed. laughs It will probably speed back up again once they've all dealt with the current insanity. Please don't hate me for chapter 8.
e, mika, luce, shimmer-rain: yes, I will keep updating... at least for now. Just remember that in a story about ordinary life, there can be only one true ending. evil, if somewhat sad, smile