Summary: What is Go, exactly, in this strange universe?
Enjoy!
As they free fell through the inky darkness, Hikaru kept up a live stream of consciousness all the while.
"Well, now I wonder what will happen...I'm not in Grandpa's house anymore, though I don't know how that could be. When will we land? Another question, where? Yet another question, on what kind of surface? Will it be soft, and I'll live? Will it crush me? I hope not. What would Sai do without me?" (He rather thought the ghost seemed ignorant of the modern world and unable to defend himself) "Well," He added thoughtfully. "I suppose I'll be reunited with him either way..."
The wind whistled in his ears as he fell, and wondered if he would just keep on falling forever, when he suddenly hit ground. It was jarring or even painful; instead, he seemed to sink into it like it was a feather bed. After a few seconds, it changed and rippled again, becoming hard, and Hikaru sat up dizzily, bracing himself on the hard substance he hadn't gotten a close look at yet.
"Sai?" He mumbled drunkenly.
"I am here..." Sai's woozy voice came from behind him. "Are you alright…um..."
"Hikaru," Hikaru supplied, rubbing his head and shaking off the after-affects of the fall. "Hikaru Shindo. And yes, I'm alright."
He stood up and took a look around. They were standing in the middle of a forested clearing, the trees around them incredibly thin, only as thick as the lead of a pencil. The leaves were tiny and intricate, the shade of mint gum, and the grass was brittle and dusty brown. For a moment, Hikaru could only stare transfixed at their surroundings before remembering what he had been after.
"The Crane!" He cursed loudly. "I don't see it anywhere! How am I supposed to find a bird in this forest?!"
"But Hikaru, there are no birds in this forest." Sai remarked, standing up and walking to Hikaru's side. "In fact, there doesn't seem to be any wildlife at all."
Hikaru looked around and saw that his ghostly friend was right. There were no birds in the sky, no worms in the dry ground beneath their feet, not even an anthill. But that's all right, Hikaru thought to himself. I don't like ants much, anyways.
"How odd." Sai said softly, lifting a fan to his lips.
Hikaru sighed and began walking on through the forest. The trees were so close together that Hikaru had to step to the side of almost every clump of trees in order to pass it (Sai had no difficulty; he just walked right through them). After a while, Hikaru found that he could simply break the trees in half with his bare hands, and that made travel much easier. He snapped and smashed his way through the forest, Sai worriedly tutting every time Hikaru broke a tree.
After maybe hours of cutting, they broke through the tree line. They were on a long cliff overlooking more frail forests. The sun was setting, the stars just starting to peek out. Hikaru gave a great sigh and collapsed heavily on the grass.
"We still haven't found the Crane..." He grumbled.
Sai gracefully took a seat next to the flustered little boy. "If you are looking for something to do, I could teach you how to play Go." He offered.
Hikaru gave him a dubious look. "I'm not yet that desperate."
"Go is fun!" Sai exclaimed, his eyes shining. "At least let me show you."
Hikaru begrudgingly nodded, and Sai rose to walk a little farther out on the ledge. For a moment, Hikaru was worried Sai would fall over the edge, and then berated himself for thinking it because he was already dead. Sai looked up into the sky and gazed at the first few tiny stars beginning to come out. Then, he reached out towards the heavens, fingers twitching slightly, trying to grab hold of something invisible. There was a tiny flash of light, more like a twinkle, and Sai closed his fist. He beckoned to Hikaru, and the boy scrambled up to see what the ghost had caught.
When Sai opened his hand, Hikaru gasped openly. The ghost held a tiny, shivering star in his hand, gleaming and perfect. Hikaru tentatively poked the star with his pointer finger, and it felt warm, almost alive to the touch.
"How did you do this?" Hikaru breathed.
Sai gave one of his gentle smiles. "It is easy if you know how." He reared back his hand like he was throwing a baseball, and gave it a casual flick. The star shot out into the sky and came to rest exactly where Sai had aimed for it.
"Is that Go?!" Hikaru demanded, staring up incredulously at the star.
"Go is creating your own galaxies, games, out of almost nothing. It is fighting, instructing, playing, and living all at once. You don't need a board or stones to do all those...if you know how to catch stars, all the better." Sai said while taking another tiny star from the ever darkening sky. He continued to throw and place stars in the sky, and Hikaru could see they were taking on a pattern, spiraling and flowing into shapes and formations that meant nothing and somehow everything to his inexperienced eyes.
He turned to his ghostly friend. "Why did you haunt a Go board for years if you could do that?"
Sai's features took on a note of melancholy. "I...I can only play with tiny stars, you know." He gestured to the feebly flickering game half played in the sky above. "Death changes some things...Stars are odd creatures. The little ones can break if they are put under too much stress. I cannot play a full game with them…"
"And so you need me," Hikaru said, catching on.
Sai nodded.
Hikaru's eyes reflected the twinkling stars. "Well..." He said slowly. "I don't suppose there could be any harm in learning a little...
Hikaru soon found out that learning how to catch stars was easier said than done. They seemed to slip through his fingers like water, trickling around his fingers and glinting merrily every time he swore from pure frustration.
"You must feel for the stars, Hikaru." Sai chided him again and again. "You need to concentrate. Focus every nerve in your finger tips."
"I am trying!" Hikaru snapped. "It's not working!"
Eventually, Hikaru lay down in the grass, out of breath. The moon eventually came out, as well as more and more stars. They were very pretty, all silvery and shiny against the velvet black or night. Hikaru dearly wanted to catch just one.
"How about I practice catching those?" Hikaru suggested, pointing directly up at them.
Sai looked down at him, flabbergasted. "You couldn't possibly! That would be like handing kami-sama a knife and asking to be stabbed, dear child!"
Hikaru felt slightly affronted. "Why not?"
"Because, you, a beginner, wouldn't be able to hold the stars, of course. They would crush you like a rock does a sunflower seed. You will work yourself up to it."
Hikaru sighed, staring at the seemingly innocent shiny bright stars. "It is not like a have a great desire to learn, you know." He stated. "I'm only doing this so you won't bug me at all hours of the day."
Sai shrugged, not altogether convinced. "If you say so, Hikaru."
They both stayed there a while, looking up at the sky, before Hikaru rose to try again.
When the sun rose again the next morning, it found Hikaru peering over the edge of the cliff. He was talking to himself airily and debating the pros and cons of jumping to see what it was like at the bottom, Sai anxiously shaking his head.
"Hikaru!" Sai finally said exasperatedly. "Come on, let's go!"
Hikaru spoke without looking away from the ledge. "Go where?"
"Somewhere. Let's go find somebody to play go with!"
Hikaru stood up and turned to make his way to the forest, meaning to just give in to his ghostly friend's wishes, but a voice stopped him dead.
"Where are you going, young man?"
Hikaru glanced over his shoulder and saw what he had thought was bush was actually an old woman. Her hair was stringy and more gray than silver, and she was hunched over as she rose from her little hiding spot.
"I'm going to find somebody to play go with, hag." Hikaru deadpanned.
The old woman cocked her head slightly. "Come closer. My eyes are not what they used to be."
Hikaru wearily stepped closer to the woman. She smelled like compost and nature.
"Now...what is you said?"
Hikaru didn't know why the woman had referenced her eyes if she didn't hear him, but said nothing of it. Instead, he raised his voice. "I'm going to find somebody to play go with me!"
The woman fixed him with a sharp gaze. If her eyes are not what they once were, Hikaru thought, they must have once been diamond cutters!
"Go?"
"Do you you of it?"
The woman snorted. "Know of it? Of course I know of it. How can I not, when the stars in the night sky shine as brightly as they do?"
"I don't know," Said Hikaru, taking her sentence literally. "I would never have known it existed if it weren't for my grandfather."
The old woman barked a laugh. "I have never met anybody that paraded their ignorance like you, boy!" She paused. "No, that is a lie. In Wonderland, you have met everybody." She mulled that one over before speaking again. "No, that is also a lie. You have always met almost everybody."
"You enjoy lying, don't you?" Hikaru commented dryly.
The old woman raised a finger. "Lying is an art in itself! If you know how to lie, you can do almost anything! If you lie that you managed to catch a pixie, than you caught a pixie."
"But you didn't really," Hikaru pointed out. "You're only saying that you did."
"Nobody else knows that. To them, you really did catch a pixie, or wrestle a bear." The woman chuckled, then grew suddenly serious. "Learn how to tell a good lie, boy. It will get you out of many situations in life. 'Always lie', that's my motto!"
Hikaru smirked. "I don't think my mother would agree with that motto."
"Lie about not hearing it." The woman suggested.
Hikaru nodded and began backing away, before Sai tugged on his arm and whispered in his ear.
"Oh, yes I almost forgot." Hikaru said turning back to the woman, who looked at him inquisitively. "Do you know how to play go?"
The old woman shook her head and wagged her finger. "No. But I may be lying."
"Then do you know anybody that does?" Hikaru said, a little peeved.
The old woman thought a while and slowly nodded her head. "Yes. A dragon that lives on a mountain not far from here...oh, but you are definitely not good enough to go up against him!"
"How do you know?" Hikaru boasted, feeling confident in Sai's abilities.
The woman shook her head. "I know. However, he does have a son. But you aren't ready for him, either."
Hikaru grinned. "Thanks, but I think I'll be more than a match for him."
And with that, he turned and walked into the forest.
A dragon and his son...that will surely be interesting! Sai, I think I am happy to have fallen into this new world!
Ah-ha-ha-ha-haaa, here comes Akira Toya, the only (seemingly) sane person in Wonderland!