Gray Stones
Hey all you guys! I'm glad you're liking the story so far! It's only getting hairier from here! Akira's stuck with a brat who's playing a strange game of Go! Let's see what today holds for us!
Chapter 3 – White Polish
And so, every week, Akira had to spend one Saturday in Sanami's presence. These weekly visits (not to mention how she pestered him at school) usually consisted of her begging him to play with her in one way or another. A simple game of Go did not suffice. She had to do at least an hour of complaining.
"How come you're leaving already?" she whined that Saturday, sitting on her carpet as Akira took his jacket in his arms. "It's only noon!"
"I have to go," he told her. "I've got practice."
"You go to the Go Club like a bajillion times a day!" she exaggerated. "How come you need to practice?"
"You wouldn't understand if I told you," he tried to brush her off. Of course, in Sanami's case, that was impossible.
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"
"No, no, no, no!"
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me…"
"Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" Her constant whining of "Tell me!" followed Akira as he hastily walked down the hall of her large mansion, the words vibrating in his ears. He felt a migraine coming on. "TELLLL MEEEE!"
"NO!"
"Are you practicing to beat that Hikaru Shindo guy?" Sanami asked and Akira's eyes widened, as if he was taken aback. "I thought you would have already beaten him!"
"No…" he spoke softly. "But I will. The Kaio Go tournament is coming up a few weeks from now… Then I shall face Hikaru Shindo again."
"You're so SERIOUS!" Sanami yawned and Akira turned on the spot. "It's just a game!"
"Go isn't just a game!" he snapped. "It's what countless people devote their lives to! Including my father!"
"But it's just a game!" she reminded him. "You get it in a box at a toy store! Why are you so uptight about it?"
"Go is my passion," he responded, his eyes narrow and cold. "Tell me, Miss Matsu'ura…"
"Sanami."
"Fine, Sanami, why did you become such a master at your game of Go?"
Sanami stopped and looked at Akira, as if pondering whether to answer him or not. She bit her lip and shook her head. "None of your beeswax!"
"Fine, then I shall take my leave."
"We just got a new pool table installed today!" she told him, running up to block his path. "Want to play?"
"No."
"Want to watch a movie? I've got popcorn and candy."
"No."
"MAN! You never want to do ANYTHING with me!"
"I thought you said that you were going to try and be less selfish!" Akira snapped.
"I said I was going to act less like a rich snob!" Sanami reminded him. "Poor nice people can be selfish!"
"You're so naïve!"
"Am not! I have an excellent taste in clothes!"
Akira didn't even retaliate at that comment, he just bolted down the stairs, not wanting Sanami to catch him. "Hey! Why are you running?"
"Because you're following me!" Akira yelled over his shoulder and Sanami ran down the stairs after him. "I'm leaving! Get over it!"
"You STILL haven't told me why you joined the Go club!" Sanami snapped and Akira stopped. "You just want to beat this guy! Then challenge him to a game, it's no big whoop!"
"It is a "big whoop"," Akira said, sighing dejectedly. "You wouldn't understand."
"You know…" Sanami tapped her mouth with her finger, as if thinking. "I'm not in any school clubs."
"Oh, really? I thought you were a social bee," said Akira sarcastically.
"No need to get nasty!" Sanami stuck out her tongue and turned her back. "You can go now if you want. See you on Monday!"
Akira was dumbfounded as Sanami rushed up the stairs to her room. Had she just released him from her villainous teeth? Was he actually free to go without another hour or so of pestering and complaining?
Not wanting to miss his chance, he ran out the door, leaving Sanami and her white stone house behind.
"Now listen up everyone," Yun-sensei called to the Go Club Monday afternoon. The entire room looked up, as did Akira from his table in the back. His eyes focused on Yun-sensei, and then, the girl next to him. He gave a huge gulp as he saw none other then Sanami standing in front of the room, smiling and waving to the class of students. All of them were eyeing her with wary looks. "We have a new member here today. I know it's a little late in the year, but she practically begged to be let into the club."
'Yeah, I can imagine Sanami doing that…' Akira thought bitterly, grimacing as Sanami gave him a wink.
"Her name is Sanami Matsu'ura. I hope you'll all make her feel welcome." Yun-sensei nodded to Sanami who nodded back to him. Akira stood up to go talk to Sanami and hopefully force her out of the club.
"Sanami!" Akira hissed as he made his way over to her. "What are you doing here?"
"I told you I wasn't in any school clubs," Sanami pouted. "I thought I should join one! And why not join the same one as my best bud?"
"Akira, you know this girl?" Yun-sensei asked, looking at Akira questioningly.
"Uhh…kind of…"
"Hmm…" Yun-sensei looked at Sanami. "First, I should see how strong you are. Let's see here…who should I partner you with?" Yun-sensei looked at the classroom of girls, looking for someone that Sanami could play.
"Yun-sensei!" Akira rasped to his teacher and Yun-sensei turned to him, his eyebrow quirked in confusion. "This girl…is extremely strong. I think you should play her yourself."
"Myself?" Yun-sensei questioned, looking at Sanami. "Miss Matsu'ura is really that strong?"
"Yes," Akira nodded. "I strongly suggest that you play her yourself."
"Fine," Yun-sensei smiled at Sanami, who smiled back. "Shall we play a game Miss Matsu'ura?"
"Whoo! Sure! But, can I play against my best buddy, Akira?" she asked, hugging Akira around the neck to his dismay.
"Heh, no, I think it would be better if you played against me," Yun-sensei pulled out a chair for her and she took it, staring at the Go board as Yun-sensei passed her a bowl of black stones. "This is just to test how strong you are. Akira here seems to think very highly of your abilities."
"He'd better!" Sanami grinned. "I beat him loads!"
Yun-sensei looked up, slightly shocked at Akira, who opened his mouth to explain, but Yun-sensei didn't bother. "You really have beaten Akira?"
"More then once!"
"My…" Yun-sensei smiled with anticipation. "You are a very strong player then. Shall we safely say that you shouldn't put down any handicap?"
"Yep! That's fine with me!" Sanami smiled. "Who goes first?"
Yun-sensei blinked, then chuckled. "You're a funny girl. Surely, you must know that black always goes first?"
"Oh!" Sanami nodded and picked up one of her stones. "Sure! I'll go first!" She placed her stone down, and the game began.
"I…I don't understand…" Akira breathed heavily, looking down at the Go board that Sanami and Yun-sensei had been playing. It was impossible! The game had been completely one-sided! It was obvious who had the advantage… "SANAMI, YOU'RE REALLY HORRIBLE!"
Sanami laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head as she looked down at the board that she and Yun-sensei were playing on. It was obvious, Yun-sensei had demolished Sanami in only the first five or six minutes of the game. "Don't give me a hard time! I don't know how to play real Go!"
"R-real Go?" Yun-sensei asked, then turned to Akira. "How in the world did you lose to Miss Matsu'ura? Was it…perhaps a pity game?" He looked at Akira suspiciously. "Or did you have a collateral?"
"NO!" Akira shouted, blushing a bright red at the connotation of Yun-sensei's accusation. "Y-you don't understand!"
"Well…" Yun-sensei stood up. "Miss Matsu'ura…I believe that you're still a beginner. Maybe you should play with…"
"Akira!" Sanami grasped Akira's arm firmly. "I want to play with Akira!"
"Miss Matsu'ura…Akira is…umm…a little too strong for you, I'm afraid."
"But I beat him!"
"Yes…yes…" Obviously, Yun-sensei did not believe her. "But I think that you'd be much better paired with Maki or Chikage…"
"No!" Sanami shook her head, still clinging to Akira's arm. "I want to play with Akira!"
"Miss Matsu'ura, I'm afraid I'll choose who you are to play…"
"I'll play with her," Akira sighed, shaking his head. Sanami gave a small cheer and nuzzled her cheek next to Akira's. "If I don't, we'll never get her to shut up."
"Akira, I can force her…"
"You can't force this girl to do anything," Akira shook his head. "She's completely crazy. C'mon, Sanami…" He led Sanami over to his table in the back and she sat down, smiling widely and throwing her school bag loudly on the ground.
"Who's that?"
"That's the new girl. Matsu'ura."
"How come she gets to play with Akira?"
"It's not fair!"
"Look!" Sanami giggled and pointed to a few girls who were eyeing her with a look of utmost contempt. "They're jealous! Hah!" Sanami pulled down her eye socket at them and stuck out her tongue. They grimaced and returned quickly to their games. "C'mon Akira, let's play!"
"No, I'm busy," Akira snapped, pulling out his book of old Go games and taking out a stone. He placed it on the correct spot and looked at the book again. Sanami looked at the book, then at him, then yawned and started to move the stone around the board. Akira only noticed her doing this after he laid the second stone. "Sanami! I told you not to bother me!" Akira snatched the stone away from her and slammed it back on the correct spot.
"You're being boring!" Sanami snapped.
"And hey…" Akira put down his book and quirked his eyebrow. "How come you're so awful at Go?"
"I'm not awful!" Sanami retorted. "I beat you didn't I?"
"I mean at regular Go!"
"Oh…" Sanami sighed sheepishly. "Umm…well, I don't usually play regular Go. I don't like it very much."
Akira realized that the fact that Sanami was such a beginner to regular Go only added to her prowess at Gray Go. Basically, as long as she made circles of territory and captured the other person's stones while confusing them, she could win. The fact that her moves were practically beginner's, she didn't allow her opponent the luxury of feeling the flow of the movements of the game. "Why don't you like it?"
"Because it's boring," Sanami said, picking earwax out of her ear with her pinky and flicking it off. "And I might lose. I don't like losing."
"That's it?" Akira screamed in a whisper as not to disturb the others. "You don't play it because you might lose?"
"Well, yeah. I like being the best at things. I don't like losing."
"Nobody likes losing," Akira agreed. "But everyone does lose. It's part of life. You shouldn't resist trying something because you might lose."
"Huh, what did you say?" Sanami asked, jumping out of daydream land to face Akira. Akira, now flustered that she hadn't even been listening, returned to his book, his face red and hot from anger. "Man, what's your problem?"
But Saturday came faster then Akira had ever thought, and the next thing he knew, he was standing in front of Sanami's white stone house, looking extremely displeased. His finger lingered on the doorknob, not sure if he should press it or not. "What am I doing this for?" Akira sighed and pressed the button.
"AKIRA!" The next thing Akira knew, Sanami had thrown herself on top of him. Akira had gotten more then used to this type of behavior, and he had to admit to himself that he was not surprised by it. "Akira! Let's play!"
"Fine, fine…" Akira grimaced as Sanami jumped off of him and ran upstairs to her room. He dragged his feet, following her, spending an extra long time getting off his shoes and putting on his slippers. He trudged up the stairs, Sanami poking him to go faster the entire time. "I'm coming…"
"Here we go!" Sanami pulled him through her door in which the Go board was already set up in the middle of the room. "Let's play a game! Let's play a game!"
Akira sat down on his side of the board and grabbed a bowl of gray stones. He set it in lap, almost as if he was more then used to the bowl being there, and opened the lid. "Do you want to go first?"
"Oooo, yes!" Sanami nodded. She placed a stone down, and Akira responded with his move.
Then he stopped and smiled. "Oh wow Sanami…that opening move was really great."
"You think so?" Sanami laughed. "You ain't seen nuttin' yet, boy!" She placed down her next stone, and Akira put down his, not paying much attention to where it fell.
"That move was even better. I don't think I can win."
"You never win, silly!" Sanami laughed, placing another stone, connecting to her others as to form a net of territory. "Hah! I bet THAT one was good too!"
Actually, that move was something that would be expected of a monkey, but Akira was not about to say that. It was the beginning of the game, and Akira knew that in a few minutes, Sanami would start to get wild with placing stones all over both their territories. "You're on fire today Sanami. That's it," Akira smiled and put down his bowl. "I resign. You win. I'm going home now."
"HUH?" Sanami asked, her eyes wide. "Y-you what?"
"I resign," Akira smiled pleasantly, obviously extremely pleased with himself. "That means I forfeit."
"Y-y-you mean you lose already?" Sanami asked and Akira nodded.
"So now that we've played our game, I think I'll just go."
"You can't resign!" Sanami pointed at Akira and Akira quirked his eyebrow and smirked.
"You can always resign in Go. It's a basic rule."
"Not in Gray Go!" Sanami retorted and Akira turned back to her. "In Gray Go, there's no resigning!"
"Says who?" Akira asked, now obviously flustered and frustrated.
"Says…says the official rule book!" Sanami told him.
"What "Official Rule Book"?" Akira asked skeptically. "You never showed me a rule book!"
"That's because it's all right up here," Sanami tapped her head and Akira sighed dejectedly.
"Then, tell me, Princess of the Rule Book, what other rules are in this game?" Akira asked and Sanami paused for a second.
"Umm…Rule One! No resigning is allowed!"
"Yes, yes, I know that one. Any others?"
"Uhh…" she gave a longer paused and bit her lip. "Uhhh…Rule Two! You have to play with Gray Stones!"
"Yeah, I kind of picked that up," Akira sighed, shaking his head. "Any others?"
"Umm…" Sanami paused, tapped her head, and then nodded. "Rule Three! Any other rules may be added by the creator at any time!"
"WHICH BASICALLY MEANS YOU CAN ADD ANY RULE YOU WANT WHENEVER YOU WANT!" Akira bellowed, blowing Sanami over. "I bet you just made up that "no resigning" rule to keep me here!"
"Hey! I'm the creator! Rule Three says I can add any rules I want!"
"You just made up that dumb rule book!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Look, I'm not getting into this," Akira threw his coat over his shoulder and opened Sanami doorknob. "I lost the game, so I'm leaving."
"There's no resigning in Gray Go, I told you that! That's Rule One!" Sanami stuck out her tongue. "You have to keep playing!"
"Fine!" Akira slammed the door shut and sat in front of the Go board, throwing a stone on a random point. "There, happy?"
"Very!" Sanami smiled and placed down another one of her stones.
"Pass."
Sanami frowned, then placed another stone next to her other one. A complete beginner's move.
"Pass."
Sanami pouted, placing another stone.
"Pass."
"Arrgh! You're deliberately trying to make this game frustrating!" Sanami folded her arms.
"What?" Akira asked, looking thoroughly upset that he had been forced to play this stupid game even longer then he thought he would have to. "The "rules" don't say that I can't pass repeatedly. In fact, the "rules" don't say anything about passing."
"Well, new rule!" Sanami decreed. "Rule Number Four: No passing until the game's over!"
"That's stupid!" Akira snapped. "The game's over when neither player can make a move and they both pass! Either that or when they run out of stones."
"Duh! That's why I said 'when the game's over'!" Sanami stuck out her tongue and placed another stone. Akira sighed loudly and placed another stone. He might as well get this over with.
"Hey! I've got an idea!" Sanami smiled at Akira. "An incentive to make you want to play!"
"There is nothing, I repeat, nothing, that can make me want to play this drivel. I would rather play 'Pong'."
"Rule Number Five!" Sanami stated, sounding overly official. "When the challenger, that's you, wins against the champion, that's me, the challenger no longer has to play unless he wills so!"
Akira's eyes shot up at that. "You mean, if I win, I don't have to play anymore?" He stopped. "Wait…I remember now. I had completely forgotten but…"
"You can…you don't have to come anymore…only if you beat me!"
"Huh?" Akira turned around to face her. "What do you mean by that?"
"Just what it sounds like," she turned her nose upward. "You can only stop playing with me if you beat me."
Akira stared at her, glowering down upon her sitting form with an utmost look of disgust. "Fine! I'll beat you at your stupid game."
"That's right!" Sanami nodded. "So you should try to beat me!"
Akira sat up, his spine completely straight. 'Now I have to win…' he thought, nodding to himself. 'But how… It's the color of these stones…if only there was a way that I could attach a color to them, I would demolish her. She's so inexperienced at the real game…'
"Okay! It's your move!" Sanami smiled, pointing to the board. Akira stared down at it. He hadn't been paying any attention in the beginning, in fact, he remembered that he had basically thrown his stones wherever they might land, so he could hardly remember his moves. But, since both were only in the very first moves of the game, he was able to retrace the moves to the best of his ability. He placed a stone down. "Goodie! My turn!"
Sanami grabbed a stone from her bucket and placed it on the board. Akira reacted with his move, and Sanami with hers. But, before Sanami placed her move, she gave a dramatic yawn and moved her hand across Akira's face, placing her stone on the board without him seeing. Akira narrowed his eyebrows. "That's cheating."
"What's cheating?" Sanami asked, fanning her face with her hand. "The rules don't say anything about yawning being cheating."
"Oh yeah, and you have to stick your hand in front of my face in order to block your move to yawn!"
"I wasn't doing that because I was yawning!" Sanami snapped, then showed Akira her fingers. Akira looked down to see black polish decorating each fingernail perfectly. "I'm drying my nail coating! I don't want them to chip, do I?"
"Of course," Akira grunted, placing his stone down. Sanami placed hers down, and Akira once again looked at Sanami's black painted nail place the stone down.
His eyes widened and he smiled. "Hey Sanami, is black your favorite color?"
"Hmm…well, I like white and black," she smiled. "That's why my room's white and black."
"Weren't you wearing white nail polish just the other day?" Akira asked, still being overly pleasant.
"Yep! I have two bottles, black and white!" Sanami nodded. "Which do you think looks best on me?"
"Oh, black, definitely," Akira smiled, doing his best to hide the fact that he was chuckling uncontrollably on the inside. "It definitely looks best on you. Oh…by the way…"
"Hmm, what's up?" Sanami asked, smiling, obviously happy that Akira was being much nicer to her now.
"Can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure! It's right through that door!" Sanami pointed to a white door in her room and Akira nodded, getting up and going through the door. "Come back soon! We're still playing!"
"Oh, of course we're still playing!" Akira nodded, smiling as he closed the door.
The minute the door shut, Akira turned on his heel and threw himself to the make-up cabinet. He threw it open and started to sort through the huge amounts of make-up contained in its drawers. "Why in the world does she have this much make-up?" Akira asked, coughing as he knocked some strange powder to the ground.
Finally, Akira found what he was looking for. A bottle of white nail polish. He had to help himself from laughing as he opened the bottle and took out the brush. He clumsily painted each one of his nails on his hand and then screwed the cap back on. Thrusting the bottle back into the chest, he smiled triumphantly at his job.
"The stones may be gray…" Akira smiled. "But with this, as long as I keep a sharp eye on Sanami's hands, I can differentiate her moves from mine. All I have to do is remember which color put down which stone."
"Man, you took a long time!" Sanami pouted as Akira walked out of the bathroom and sat down in front of the board again.
"Shall we continue playing?" he asked, taking his bowl in his hands.
"Ooo, eager to lose I see?" Sanami smirked, grabbing the bowl in her hand.
"We'll see who loses," Akira smiled, placing down his stone. 'White moves.'
"Hah! Sharp words!" Sanami smiled, placing down her stone.
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
It was working. The colors started appearing in Akira's eyes and he could see the board. This had to be the cleverest trick he had ever come up with. Sanami hadn't even noticed the polish on his fingers! The game wore on for a few more minutes, and Akira didn't take any mercy on Sanami, as she already had taken a large amount of territory. He was slowly starting to catch up due to his much higher skills then Sanami.
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
"I've gotta go to the bathroom too," Sanami frowned, standing up and walking to the bathroom. "Don't move any stones while I'm gone, got it?"
"Oh, I don't have to cheat," Akira smirked as Sanami closed the door. "She knows I'm winning. She's probably freaking out in there." He laughed to himself. "Sorry Miss Matsu'ura, you're about to lose your unwilling playmate."
A few minutes passed, and Sanami came out of the bathroom, smiling. "You didn't cheat while I was gone, did you?"
"Of course not."
"Good!" She plopped down in front of the board and took her stone. "It's my turn! I'll play." She put her stone down, and the game resumed.
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
Akira smiled. Just like before, he was dominating. It was obvious, in a few more moves, that he would overtake Sanami. He could kiss these Saturday afternoons of hell goodbye. He would have to remember to send as much money as he ever got in his life to the creator of nail polish.
'White moves.'
'Black moves.'
'White moves.'
'White moves.'
'White moves.'
'White moves.'
'White moves.'
"Huh?" Akira whispered to himself, looking at the board. White had many more moves then black. What was going on? He looked up at Sanami as she placed her stone down, and Akira's eyes widened.
Sanami's fingers were also painted white…
"YOU LITTLE CHEAT!" Akira shouted, ready to tear out his head. The entire game was thrown off. For the past twenty moves, Sanami had led him to believe she was playing white as well!
Sanami laughed, sticking out her tongue. "Hah! Serves you right for trying that dumb trick and going through my make-up cabinet!"
"You only pretended not to notice!" Akira grimaced.
"Actually, you caught me off guard for a while there," Sanami laughed. "Too bad for you. If I wasn't as smart as I am beautiful then you probably would have won!"
"Wh-who says I've lost?" Akira asked, growing extremely flustered.
"Let's see at the end of the game…"
"Well, that was close!" Sanami laughed as she escorted Akira out of her room. "But I still won! It was because you got thrown off towards the end! That nail polish thing was smart though!"
"God damn it…" Akira grimaced. "Another Saturday of you and your game."
"Just get better!" Sanami pouted. "Get your head in the game!"
"My head is perfectly in the game, thanks very much."
"No it isn't!" Sanami snapped, and Akira turned around to face her. "You know, I'm really pissed off at you!"
"Wh-why?"
"Because when you're over here, I know you're only paying like…like half you maximum attention to me!" She snapped, folding her arms. "No matter what! Half your brain is off in la la "I gotta beat Hikaru Shindo" land!"
Akira's eyes widened and his complexion grew pale. He turned away from Sanami; his hair hiding his downcast complexion. "I'm leaving. Goodbye."
"Hey! Wait!" Sanami followed him as he went briskly down the stairs. "What're you so upset about? Just forget about him!"
"I can't!"
Akira snapped so suddenly that Sanami stepped back, looking hurt. Akira realized that he may have gone a little overboard, but he didn't bother to apologize. "I…I can't forget about him. Not after what he showed me." He shook his head. "I…must defeat him."
Akira didn't say another word as he walked down the rest of the stairs, past the marble floors, to the door, and out onto the front porch. For the first time in what seemed to be forever, Sanami did not follow him.
The End of the chapter:D I hope you all enjoyed it!
Don't forget to review please!