a/n: Three separate clichés all in one. Yes, the Mary Sue is about as blatant as she will be for the entire rest of the series (I hope). Thank Heaven I am done with this arc (just the arc, though – the story will continue a bit lighter for a while after this). It took a surprising amount out of me, and I don't want to get that heavy again for a while. As always, comments and criticisms are appreciated.
Part 10. Go Should Not Be Used This Way, end
three days later...
She had fallen asleep at four o'clock in the morning. That Kinume had stayed awake and studying until then was a testament to her dedication – or perhaps desperation. Touya had left her only twice to attend to prior engagements, and both times had returned to find her still hard at work. When at last she had succumbed, he hadn't moved her from her place beside the goban for fear she'd reawaken. Instead, he'd tucked a blanket around the slumbering girl, removed the board and turned off the lights in silence.
Dawn found her nestled in the blanket, head pillowed on one arm. For several moments, her mentor watched without speaking, understanding the tiniest part of what his rival feared losing. He had tried to locate Hikaru – to let him know of his daughter's whereabouts, and perhaps offer support – but the man had been like a ghost. According to Hikaru's friend, Kawai, he had probably gone to Hiroshima, but that was as much of a lead as anyone had. Even so, Touya had no fear that he would be at the game today. There was no chance he could leave this child behind.
"Kinume." She rolled over, and curled her other arm tightly over her head. "Kinume, you should probably go home and change." The arm was thrown up as eyes flew open.
"I fell asleep?! Touya-san, why didn't you--"
"You needed rest." He interrupted her accusation. Perhaps the child's bad habits were contagious. "It's impossible to play well when exhausted." She sat up, and he walked past her to the kitchen.
"I'm still not good enough, am I?" Her voice was resigned as she opened her backpack and placed it on the kitchen counter, pulling clothes and a small bag that smelled vaguely floral from the depths. Her hands shook slightly and Touya was quite certain three hours' sleep had not been enough. He considered her question carefully before answering.
"When your father was a child, and supposedly not very good at go, he occasionally played amazingly advanced games when under intense stress." Touya had not thought about those early games in quite some time, but they seemed very pertinent now. "Perhaps that same Shindou talent will be with you today," he offered. She smiled.
"You're not a very good motivational speaker, Touya-san, but I'll pray to Sai anyway, if you think it'll help." Her face split in an echoing yawn. "I'm borrowing your bathroom." She left before he could say anything.
---
They arrived at Kinume's great-grandfather's home just a little before ten in the morning. Kinume had grilled her teacher about go and her father's playing style for the duration of the train ride, but when they'd left the station to walk the last little ways, she'd grown quiet. When the door opened to her knock, the aged gentleman on the other side stared at her and her choice of companion for almost a solid minute before speaking.
"Kinume-chan, welcome." He seemed to realize he was staring, and opened the door wider, beckoning them to enter. "And this is?" His tremendous curiosity was as clear as the fact that he recognized Touya Akira. Kinume did not smile, but answered coolly.
"Ka-san said I could bring a friend. This is my friend, Touya Akira-sensei. Touya-sensei, this is Oji-san." The old man smiled at her faintly challenging tone, then closed the door behind them and took their coats.
"Your parents are playing a game before your match... are you okay?" She did look pale, and the fact that she'd left the dark purple highlights of her bangs long, framing her face, did not help. She looked about ready to collapse, but the steel in her eyes belied it.
"How would you be? He's taking me seriously, huh?" She smiled and her great-grandfather chuckled. Touya guessed that practice games between the Shindous must be a regular preface to important matches, and wondered at the insights he continued to learn about his rival, even after all this time. The girl and the old man were walking ahead, and he followed them, temporarily forgotten.
It was an exceptionally lovely day. The goban had been set up in the living room, just inside, with the shoji open to the early spring sunshine. Akari and her husband were framed in the light, their eyes fixed on each others' hands. The casual intimacy of long practice hesitated like a phantom in the moving of stones, but the absence of warmth or smiles from the players prevented it from settling in. Even as the two newcomers entered, Akari resigned. Hikaru touched her hand as she began withdrawing her pieces, but she didn't acknowledge him. He sighed and cleared the board.
"Ahem," Oji-san cleared his throat, and the two looked up, startled. "Your daughter and her friend have arrived." Then several things happened at once as Akari stood to hug her child and Hikaru turned to stare at Akira, confusion practically painted on his face. The girl and her mother exchanged whispered words into each other's hair.
"What are you doing here?" Hikaru didn't raise his voice, but that seemed due more to an inability to fully accept the fact of his rival's presence than to any sense of propriety. It suddenly seemed like a very good question. This was about as personal as a family event could be, and despite the closeness Akira had come to feel to this particular family, the fact remained he was not a member. Finally, he dragged a few words from his throat.
"I came to watch you play." Not a good reason. Not even a truly rational one, but it was all he could think of. Hikaru's eyes widened in disbelief just as Kinume interrupted.
"I invited him," she said, and her father seemed to truly notice her for the first time. Something passed between them as eyes locked, but Akira could not begin to fathom what it was. Emotions had never been his strong suit, and he was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. "You always play your best in front of your rival, and I don't want Ka-san backing out and saying you cheated if by some tiny chance I win." Then her voice softened and she turned beseechingly to her mother. "Unless, of course, you'll let us stay without this? Please?"
"I can't let him take you for granted, Kinume-chan." If sadness were an ocean, Akari was the Pacific.
"Are you sure you're not the one taking her for granted?" Hikaru's voice was as bitter as salt. The spouses faced each other, and their grandfather moved to intercept, but it was Touya's emotionless voice that broke their contest.
"Go should not be used this way," he admonished quietly. Akari looked stung, and Hikaru despairing, but their grandfather nodded his approval. Consequently, none of them saw Kinume take her place at the goban. All were startled by her soft reply.
"I want to play you, Hikaru-chan." The voice was wrong for boisterous Kinume, terror of the duck pond. Her posture at the board was rigidly still and her eyes stared at the ancient grid with a curious fixity.
"K-chan..." her father hesitated, while her mother sighed and sat on a cushion to watch. Shindou's grandfather motioned Touya to another cushion, before pulling out a tea tray for the three of them. Akari began to pour as Kinume looked up from the board to meet her father's eyes.
"It's been a long time since we played, but it's going to be okay." She smiled strangely at him, from her pale, exhausted face. At least, reflected Touya, the fear seemed to have left her. Hikaru seemed to think for a moment, then pulled his cherished fan from the pocket of his jeans. He held it out to her.
"For luck," he offered. The girl took it and flicked it open once before gently folding it shut.
"You're going to need it." The folded fan concealed her gently curving lips. Her father took his place across from her, and they offered the ritual greeting.
She reached for the first black disc, raised her hand... and hesitated. It was only the slightest fraction of a second, and only Touya, who had seen her play dozens of games in the past four days, noticed, but for one instant, she had paused.
Shindou didn't see it. He and the other family members were impressed that she knew how to hold the stones at all, let alone play a decent opening move. He responded readily enough with a white reply, and Kinume took a second stone. This time she placed it quickly, and Touya decided the initial pause had been nerves. Her father once again responded quickly, and she followed along with opening moves that had an odd feeling of long practice. It was when they were seven hands in that Akari and Shindou's grandfather began to realize that the child knew a great deal more than they had guessed.
Touya wondered whether Shindou would suspect him, but looking at his rival he realized he should not have worried. Kinume was playing exceptionally well, and the emotions had gradually leached from her father's face until only the intense concentration and excitement of playing remained. If Akari had been worried her husband would lose on purpose, she was delusional. Shindou had forgotten his opponent, the stakes and everything else. He was playing to win.
Kinume for her part, looked stressed, but determined. Every now and then, her eyes would flicker to her right, glancing towards her mother. Occasionally, her hands would hesitate before a crucial move. Sweat darkened her purple bangs to a shade that was almost black, but she smiled as she played. She seemed almost excited, enjoying this dance of stones and spaces in a way that reminded Touya very strongly of her father as a child.
"How does she know..." Akari murmured, but her gaze remained fixed on the players.
"Well, she is nationally ranked in chess... do you suppose that might explain it?" Shindou's grandfather didn't sound as though he particularly believed this theory, and was obviously as baffled as Akari. For several moments the sound of their speculation was almost as loud as the contemplative silence of the go players. Then two pairs of eyes fixed on Touya: one amused and one incensed. He ignored them both. The game filled the board like a glass-blower's breath; an instant's inattention, and the world could shatter.
---
Something was wrong here. An hour had passed. The match was well into the middle phase, and while Shindou was obviously playing an excellent game, his daughter was winning. Like the artful poses of a Noh actor, her moves were cunning and elegant. The game itself had a depth and intricacy that easily surpassed anything Touya had seen her play. The grid was like a darkened stage where players met and spun away, only to meet again. Their footsteps were playful, yet intimate; a courtship of partners long estranged. The curious down-to-the-wire brilliance of the Shindous appeared to have returned.
And just like that, it was over. Shindou and his daughter stared at the board with near identical looks of fearful fascination. She blanched, and he began to smile.
"Arimasen," Shindou bowed to the shaking girl, with a look of joy and wonderment.
For several moments, no one breathed. Shindou's grandfather was smiling, while Akari looked somewhere between shock and wistful regret. Finally, Kinume answered.
"T-Thank you for the game." She glanced to her right, shook her head and then looked again, her eyes seeking her mother's. "Ka-san..." she began, but her mother wasn't looking at her. Instead, Akari was focused on Hikaru, drinking in his amazement and excitement and enjoyment of the game that his daughter had given him.
"Perhaps I am the one who was taking her for granted," the woman whispered, as tears formed in her eyes. Hikaru saw and went to his wife. He took her hands in his.
"Let her stay, Akari. Until you're ready to come back, please let her stay with me." His voice was soft, but firm.
"How could she... when was there time...? How long did you lie to me, you both?!" Her words broke in a sob, even as her eyes grew heavy with loss and betrayal. "You ch--"
"I did not throw this game." He cut her off mercilessly, his sympathy and pain retreating behind defensive sharpness. "Ask Touya, if you don't believe me."
They turned to the remaining spectators, only to discover the cushions empty. Touya and Oji-san had moved to support Kinume Shindou, who sat laughing weakly at the empty air beside the goban. "We did it, we did it," she laughed in exhausted hysteria. "Touya-san, I'm sorry." Her eyes were just the smiling side of mad. "Oji-san, this board..." Her great grandfather took her hand and held it firmly, but as she stared across the goban one last time, her wandering gaze finally rested on her father. Leaning forward, she held his fan back out to him, her arm nearly grazing the abandoned stones. "Tou-san..." he knelt to take the fan from her, even as Akari saw the depth of her child's distress and gasped.
"...Sai..." The girl's lips whispered. Then silken purple flowed over the stones as her arm went limp and her head fell to the board. Only Touya's quick reflexes saved her skull from hitting hard. By the time he moved his arm to release her, Kinume was fast asleep.
Akari choked, and her grandfather-in-law escorted her away to the kitchen to compose herself and help him brew more tea. At the goban, Hikaru set his fan aside, and took his daughter from Akira to cradle in his arms. For a time, he simply held her, rocking gently, uncaring of the propriety or the company. Then he looked up, and acknowledged his rival.
"Was it worth watching, Touya?" There was an edge to the question. It seemed to invite and banish all at once. There were no words to answer such a question, and they both knew it. There was no denying the kind of miracle still scattered across the grid. Instead, Shindou's rival chose a question of his own.
"Who is Sai?" The rival's gazes locked for a moment. An old challenge balanced on the understanding between them. Then Shindou smiled, burying his face in his daughter's hair. His eyes closed and Touya knew he'd be ignored again. He heard Akari and Oji-san returning, but beneath their footsteps, he heard Shindou's faint reply.
"Good question..."