a/n: 'kay, so... fandom cliche. Might bother some folks. If you're one of them, my apologies. Yes, I'm talking about Akira and Hikaru's relationship. Yes, it's still friendship. Yes, there's also more to it than that. No, still not "twu wuv".
Part 23. Before You Leap
They sat in the dining room, facing each other from opposite sides of the low table. Sakamoto-san was the picture of refined womanhood, in a pale green suit and tasteful pearl necklace. Her hands rested in her lap and her face wore a faint smile beneath demurely downcast eyes. Touya was likewise well dressed and carefully proper. He observed his fiancé in minute glances, while his attention remained ostensibly on his aunt, where she sat between them, chatting away.
Of course, it would have been horribly improper to have an unchaperoned date, at least if his relatives were to be believed. Even so, Touya could not help wondering if his fiancé would ever manage to tell him enough about herself before the wedding for him to at least succeed in presenting her with a wedding gift she might actually like. So far, about all he knew was her name, the fact that she was twenty-seven, that her father was a wealthy lawyer, and that Sakamoto-san herself worked in the secretarial division of the firm. Other details, such as what the woman did for fun or where she liked to eat had yet to arise, let alone what she might expect from her husband beyond the traditional stable home, strong sons and chance to serve his every need.
Aunt Midori was now rambling on about the lovely kimono she'd worn to her own wedding decades ago and how beautiful Sakamoto-san would look in such a garment. Touya tried not to sigh. He wondered if there were any tasteful way at all to extricate his fiancé or even himself from his aunt's presence for the rest of the afternoon. It did not seem likely. In his mind, Aunt Midori was a formidable arrangement of black pebbles so flawlessly defended as to be unconquerable. He found himself considering white moves anyway.
"TOUYA-SAN! You can't pretend you're not here if your door's unlocked, and I have a game you really have to—see." Chaos and the death of etiquette stood frozen in the doorway to the dining room, having noticed his guests. Kinume's baby-doll t-shirt and dangerously short skirt were almost violently at odds with the reserved gathering, and Touya noted the disappearance of his aunt's eyebrows with amusement as the matron took in these details. "Er... hi?" She smiled with the sudden uncertainty of a teenager who remembered this house was a touch more formal than either of her own.
"Shindou-san, allow me to introduce my Aunt, Sato Midori-san," Kinume bowed quickly and his aunt returned it with a nod, "and my fiancé, Sakamoto Haruki-san." At this, Kinume's eyes went wide and she stared at the woman with frank curiosity. Sakamoto-san, for her part, smiled politely at the girl, waiting.
"Holy Sh- I mean, um... Congratulations on your engagement, Sakamoto-san," Kinume managed before bowing.
"Thank you, Shindou-san," the woman replied in her soft voice, eyes faintly amused, and lips curved in a very correct smile.
"Um... you're welcome," the girl answered, her voice smoothing into a more ladylike tone and her posture straightening, even as her eyes took on the slight edge they acquired when she began a game.
"Kinume-san, was there something you needed?" Touya decided to intervene. Ladylike behavior from his student seldom boded well and he did not think it wise to let her spend too much time with his guests. The gaze she turned on him was all but begging for information, but she smiled casually.
"Well, we had a lesson this afternoon, if you remember." Her tone was just accusative enough that Touya suspected his message to her mother had never actually reached his pupil. "But I don't want to interrupt your date. I'll just grab some kifu and head home, if you want. We can reschedule for this weekend sometime?"
That seemed like the best course of action to Touya but before he could voice his agreement, his aunt was babbling excitedly.
"Ah, you are one of Touya's students? How wonderful! I had been telling Haruki-chan of her fiancé's love for go, but we have not yet managed to get him to play for her. It seems to me that watching a teaching game might be a lovely way to show her his skill. Please, Akira-chan, why don't you play your student for us?" She phrased this last request with matriarchal emphasis and Touya's chest twinged at the sudden sinking feeling. Kinume's eyes lit up.
"I'm not sure Sakamoto-san would find it at all interesting, and you did mention you had another acquaintance to visit this afternoon..." Touya knew from long experience that non-go players generally found the game about as interesting as chartered accountancy. He also knew Kinume was far too distracted by his fiancé to truly concentrate on a game.
"Oh, I think I can leave you three alone while I meet my friend. It won't take more than an hour or two, and I'll return to pick up Haruki-chan before it's dark," his aunt smiled. "Besides, you play Go, don't you Haruki-chan?"
"Ah, I have played it, yes. Although only for fun, and I'm afraid I am not terribly skilled." She was looking at the table again.
"Hey, that's okay. I only play for fun," commented his student with a sincerity that made Touya want to kill her, if only a little. Playing go and getting rid of his aunt all at once was almost enough of a reward to assuage the doubts in his mind. Including Kinume in the plan, however, could be like exchanging the frying pan for the fire.
"Ah. Well, I would enjoy seeing Touya-san play, if he would not mind." Sakamoto-san sounded almost as sincere as Kinume, and Touya gave up.
"Very well." They all stood, and Touya lead the way into the living room. His aunt said her goodbyes with giggling confidence, while Kinume set up the goban. Then the three were alone.
Kinume looked at the engaged couple. "So, should I leave you two alone?" she asked, looking at Haruki. The woman hid her mouth with one gloved hand, but at least did not blush.
"Oh, no, whyever would you do that?" Her tone was a little too blatantly innocent, and Touya hoped Kinume would take the hint. She didn't.
"So you can chat or write poetry or make out on the couch? If it were me, I'd take every chance at alone time I could get. I mean, you are planning to spend the rest of your lives together..."
"Kinume-san!" Touya had wanted to maintain his flawlessly calm and polite exterior in front of his guest, but somehow nothing short of blatant rudeness ever seemed to reach the Shindous. That time, she did get the message, and had the decency to look slightly apologetic.
"Sorry. I'm sorry if I offended you, Sakamoto-san."
"That's quite all right. I am not offended. Your offer is most generous, but I'm afraid it would simply be inappropriate to accept it right now." That said, she settled herself onto the cushion Kinume had set out for her. Touya took that as a sign and took his place at the board, followed by his student a moment later. They chose for color and began. Kinume was white.
"So, Sakamoto-san, have you been watching Touya's matches lately? I've been catching up on my Weekly Go for the past few days, but from the looks of it, he's had a couple really impressive games." She played as she spoke, and Touya wondered how poor a game this would be.
"Ah, I'm afraid I don't follow the game in its professional form." Haruki watched the stones intently but with no sign of truly understanding how the play was progressing. Kinume stared at her.
"But you really like Go, right? I mean, you really like playing it at least?"
"It is a very honorable game, but I find I usually prefer to play cards." Haruki smiled at no one in particular while Kinume arched a pointed eyebrow at Touya. He slapped a stone onto the kaio, forcing her attention back to the board. She smiled, and placed an immediate reply, brushing purple hair behind one ear. Then she looked back to the older woman.
"I know what you mean. I prefer chess, myself, but my father thinks I should play go. I'm sure Touya's told you all about him." The pro in question had in fact been concentrating on the board and missed the comment.
There was something troubling about that last hand. He strengthened his position in the upper right, and watched as Kinume continued to lay out a pattern that was at once strangely familiar and utterly incomprehensible. It wasn't bad, precisely, but rather it seemed unusually complex for her. Even so, the hidden barbs and elegant traps began to appear as they sped into the middle game. It was only after another ten or so hands that he realized he had been ignoring the conversation.
"--thought Touya was trying to corrupt his daughter, so of course, I wound up having to take a break from studying with him. But Tou-san's impulsive like that and the two of them worked it out eventually." Kinume was chatting along with even less regard for politeness than usual, and more frighteningly, his fiancé appeared to be listening intently to every word. "Of course, I guess it didn't help that I fell asleep in Touya's f--"
"Ah, I'm sorry, I seem to be neglecting you, Sakamoto-san." The very proper young woman looked up at him in surprise, a slight blush coloring her cheeks in the first show of genuine emotion he could remember seeing from her. Kinume grinned.
"Oh, not at all," Sakamoto-san reassured him, "I'm sure you're concentrating on ensuring that your student is learning correctly." But she sounded rather amused and curious.
"Kinume-san is quite advanced, although perhaps not as good as she believes herself to be. I find it a fun exercise to continue to challenge her." As if in reply to this, his student had the audacity to smirk as she placed her next move. It was brilliant, and for a moment, his attention wavered again, but he forced himself to listen to his fiancé.
"Ah yes. She was telling me that her father is also a go player, and that the two of them were recently in China for a match."
"The TSC Invitational, I believe. Shindou Hikaru is another highly skilled professional. If his daughter would follow his path a little more closely, I believe she might have a great future in the game." He tried to emphasize this point to his student, but she was playing again and pretended not to hear. It was another daunting move and he suddenly recognized an almost inescapable trap in her formations. The elegance of it stunned him.
"Ah, but I am sure his skill cannot match yours," Sakamoto-san was saying, with almost ritual politeness. Touya bit down his irritation at having to split his attention enough to demure from the praise as expected. His fiancé insisted, as per the dictates of polite conversation, and he marveled at how boring and dishonest the exchange was when compared to the sharper discourse on the grid in front of him. Kinume was about to massacre him in a way he had not experienced in years, and his oblivious guest would not stop talking.
Across from him, his student grinned, transforming her face into the image of her father's smugness and slammed a stone down. He could not help the excitement and appreciation that the move engendered, even as he wondered if there were any hope for him at all. There was certainly something of her father's reckless brilliance in the move, but still a certain elusive quality...
"--play three times a week, but they haven't lately. Tou-san still usually plays at least six hours a day. That's pretty normal for him. Then when he's not playing in matches or teaching, there are study sessions and practice and analyzing kifu and traveling. It's a pretty busy life."
"Ah, but I'm sure your mother is proud of him," Haruki commented. Her conversation with Kinume seemed undeterred by the girl's playing.
"Actually," Kinume considered for a moment, before cutting off her teacher's carefully considered advance with a clever hane, "it broke up their marriage. They've been separated for almost five years now. It was just too hard for her to always come second, but maybe you won't mind so much." The girl noticed how serious her tone had become and laughed lightly. "Of course, my parents are very good friends, these days, so I guess it worked out okay."
Haruki smiled in response, but her voice was a little less confident. "I am sure I will succeed in providing Touya-san with a household in which he will enjoy living."
"Oh, yeah. I'm sure you guys will be fine." Kinume's voice was too cheerful, but Sakamoto-san did not know her well enough to recognize the tone. As for the man who should have noticed, he was too involved in the life-or-death struggle on the goban. The multi-faceted battle went well beyond the simplicity of speed go or a teaching game, and his mind played out hundreds of possibilities in search of hope.
"Would you like some more tea? I think he's going to be a while on his next move, and I could use some peach juice." Kinume was stretching her legs out one at a time.
"Oh, I can get it, if Touya-san would tell me where. I don't wish to interrupt." Sakamoto-san looked to her fiancé, but his gaze was focused on the goban. His student smiled.
"Don't worry about it. I know where everything is. Back in a second." The girl stood in a cascade of purple hair and went to the kitchen. Behind her in the darkening living room, the betrothed pair sat alone together for the first time. Touya was vaguely aware of his fiancé and the way she was watching him, but the game controlled his attention. This was far beyond Kinume Shindou. The elegance and beauty of the shapes reminded him slightly of her father's games in May, when he'd been studying the old kifu and feeling nostalgic. Nostalgia... It hit him with a sudden, blinding force where he had seen this style before, and when he looked up, the eyes watching him as they approached, canned drinks in hand, were ancient and mischievous.
"I brought you one too, Touya-san," she said, handing him the can and breaking the silence all at once. "He doesn't like peach juice, but he always has some in the refrigerator for me."
"That's very thoughtful of him," Sakamoto-san was accepting a can of chilled oolong, the same as the one handed to Touya.
"Yep. He's always been nice to me. Well, when he's not tongue tied and gaping at the board like a pithed frog. Oi! Touya-san!" She was laughing a little, as though his distraction were not unusual. Sakamoto-san actually smiled at his consternation, but the beleaguered teacher failed to notice. He was too busy cataloging all the little clues he had somehow missed while playing. Kinume shrugged. "Anyway, you see what he's like. He and Tou-san are both like that. Whatever else is happening, go always seems to come first. Just something you might want to think about."
"Ah, thank you for your concern, Shindou-san, but I'm certain such details will be worked out in time." Sakamoto wore what could only be described as an indulgent smile for the younger girl. "A lady can always take her husband's mind off work." Kinume shook her head at the older woman's incomprehension.
"But it's not-"
"Kinume," Touya spoke up suddenly, "Did you play your father on your trip?" Both women looked at him in surprise, but he ignored it, attention riveted on the younger one. "Did he teach you anything?"
Sakamoto-san hid her dismay at their host's inattention well, but Kinume noticed. The eyes with which she met her teacher's gaze were sharp. "You know, I really should let you guys talk. My dad and I aren't nearly as important as your fiancé, and besides, you can see us any time, right?" She placed another stone. Touya ignored her words, instead concentrating on the game. The bleak outlook had not changed.
"Go is a rather intense game for professionals, isn't it?" Sakamoto-san commented quietly. Kinume nodded.
"You don't know the half of it." Her eyes remained on her teacher. He placed a stone, and she placed her reply, smiling a bit grimly. "It's what people like my father live for. Over the years he has spent more time with Touya-san pursuing the perfect game than he ever spent with my mother or I. He remembers the details of his life by the games he played at the time. All of his friends, all his good memories from middle school on, are somehow related to go... I think if you cut him, he'd bleed go stones." Kinume smiled with wistful amusement, and Sakamoto-san returned it, for all that her face had become even more thoughtful.
"Your father sounds like an interesting man."
"Yeah. I guess." She watched her teacher carefully place a cautious counter-move. "Almost as interesting as my teacher, eh?" The girl sighed and set a white stone on the board. Sakamoto-san stared at it, as though trying to understand, but it was clear that she could not read the other conversation that had been happening as they talked. "Anyway, it was very nice meeting you, Sakamoto-san." Kinume stood, stretching.
The movement brought Touya's attention back to the people in the room, and he looked at her.
"You're not staying to finish the game?" His tone spoke volumes regarding his disapproval.
"I already have." Her eyes met his, steadily, then glanced at the lower left corner of the goban. He followed her gaze, and understood, but when she then nodded to the woman sitting to the left of the board, he missed the connection. Kinume sighed again, before smiling with false brightness. "Anyway, I've got to get home to help Ka-san with dinner. Tou-san's coming tonight, so we're going all out." She spoke this last with a conspiratorial wink to Sakamoto-san. The older woman smiled in reply.
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Shindou-san. I hope your evening will be an enjoyable one." Sakamoto-san nodded to her, and the girl made her way to the entryway. Touya nodded slightly to his fiancé, then followed his student to the foyer, where she sat pulling on a pair of high-heeled boots.
"We need to discuss this game, Kinume-san. Your play was--"
"You need to discuss your future, Touya. With your fiancé." The girl's smile was gone, and suddenly Touya wondered just how much he had missed while playing her. Even so, whatever it was paled in comparison to the discovery he had made. Somehow, his rival's daughter had played like the ghost of Sai, and the secret--
"Oh, and Tou-san won't be meeting you at the salon for a while," she continued. "He told me to pass that on." Her face was hidden by the angle of her shoulder as she bent to zip up one boot, but her voice was strangely distant. When she looked up, her eyes were an odd mix of cold and concerned. "Your fiancé's a real lady, Touya-san. Don't screw up her life."
"I don't intend to. And in any case, my private affairs are no concern of yours." He hid behind formality, but realized it was a weak move. Kinume's eyes flared with the annoyance and disgust of a teenager discounted.
"Fine. I'm leaving. But just to phrase it so you'll understand: if your opening is really as weak as it looks, even a brilliant middle game won't save it, and yose will tear your heart out and feed it to you," she shook her head, standing and grabbing the door handle, more angry than he'd ever seen her. "Even I know when it's better to resign." And with that, she left.
---
When Touya returned to the living room, it was getting dark. Sakamoto-san remained sitting patiently on her cushion, a polite smile on her lips as her eyes stared out into the distance.
"Shall I turn on a light?" he asked, feeling unsettled and irritated by his student and curious and frustrated by the game. Sakamoto-san turned to nod at him, and he flicked the switch, filling the room with the warm glow of a tasteful paper lamp.
"I hope my presence did not interfere with your game," she began, the soft sound of her voice oddly emphasized by the vacuum left in his student's wake.
"It didn't." He stared at the stones, replaying the hands in an attempt to pin down the pivot point, the moment at which his loss began.
"Ah." The stillness of the room grew faintly sad. Graceful, gloved hands resettled themselves on the smooth green fabric of her skirt. Across the board, he could not seem to find what he was looking for, and wondered why his mind continued to fail him. The woman beside him finally spoke again. "Thank you for showing me the game. Your student is a very interesting person, and the play was really quite exciting." Her voice was light like a flock of birds, and as inconsequential. They both felt it, but Touya grudgingly pulled away from his contemplation to answer her politely.
"Her manners are lacking and her go could use work, but I am glad her company did not disturb you." Somehow the expected dismissal of his student's talents rang more hollow than usual.
"Shindou-san was a wonderful addition to our afternoon," Sakamoto-san replied, completing the ritual of roundabout compliments almost inescapably. "But of course, I always enjoy your company."
"You honor me with your presence," Touya answered, feeling the walls of formal politeness once again surround them. The pattern of comment and response was as regimented as an opening game between professionals, and he remembered his student's words. "Sakamoto-san, would you care for a fresh cup of tea?" It was an uninspired move, and even he could see the weakness of the formations they were forming.
For a moment, the woman met his eyes searchingly. A terrifying minute stretched while he wondered if she would say something unexpected – somehow change the nature of their game into something more dangerous or interesting or fun. But then her eyes resumed their polite opacity, and her face smoothed into it's mask of perfect composure.
"Thank you, no."