"Akari?" Hikaru pressed gently from the left side inward. "Do you see what this move is leading up to now?"
Shidougo with Akari was a gentle cushion for his dan matches, both the exhausting and the tedious.
"Hmmm…it isn't a direct assault on my shape, but rather…" Akari indicated a random island of white stones amidst her black formation. "This section is immediately weakened by the threat of those connecting from the top. I'm…very trapped now, aren't I?" She let out a frustrated groan. "Why didn't I see it before?"
"Don't worry too much about that; reading ahead is an important skill, but you haven't had much practice with that yet. Really, I'm trying to help you fend off trouble when it's right at your door. This isn't so much about out-reading me as it is defending your territory successfully."
"More life and death problems?" She was still upset with him. "Hikaru! I can handle more than that at this point! I'm second captain right now in my University's Go league!" She was pouting, and Hikaru couldn't help but laugh a little bit.
"I know. You still just play for fun though, so if you're not careful…" He trailed off and pointed to the space he was going to play next. Akari looked haughtily at it and then blanched considerably.
"…I resign." She hung her head, groaned, and stood up. "You're way too much. I don't feel like I'm improving at all; you're so far above me now…" She added a smile on the end. "So you better not lose to Akira-kun anymore."
"I get it, I get it." He started sweeping up the Go stones and returned her smile. "So don't lose to Mitani anymore."
Akari made a peace sign and smirked. "I beat him by 3 moku the other day!"
"So don't say you're not getting any better!" Hikaru scolded. "Just who am I wasting time for every week?"
"Oh, don't say 'wasting'. You used to hate playing with anyone but Akira-kun, but now you're getting better at teaching games, right?"
"If only you had the focus of some of my other students…" Hikaru sighed. "I can't imagine you sitting in on one of my real lectures."
"Well, seeing as how I'm never invited, I don't see how you can say anything!" She stuck out her tongue. "Even Akira-kun invited me to his junior study sessions."
"Yes, I'm second always to 'Akira-kun,'" Hikaru scoffed.
"Well…he's a much better teacher," Akari muttered, feeling very red in the face. She flopped down on Hikaru's bed as he made a somewhat adorable face of disgust.
"Just forget about next week's lesson, then," snapped Hikaru without meaning it. And Akari knew it.
"Grow up already, Hikaru. You'll never catch up to him if you keep behaving like that." Her tone was harsh, but Hikaru brushed it off as usual. They had gotten very used to such bickering.
"You still have to buy me ramen, you know."
"Hikaru! You're mom's cooking downstairs right now!"
"Yeah, you're right. I'll just put it on your tab then."
"You know, Yuki will start getting suspicious if I'm always buying you food."
Hikaru shrugged with a devious grin growing on his face. "Mitani's a big boy. He'll get over it."
"Hikaru!" Akari shouted at the same time that his mother opened the door.
"Dinner, you two," she said kindly. "Akari-chan, is oolong tea okay?"
"Of course, Shindou-san."
'All smiles when Akari's here…' Hikaru thought bitterly. "Me too, kaa-san," he said instead, placing the goban and the goke out of the way. As his mother withdrew, he asked, "Akari, can you ask Mitani to come too next time?"
Akari made a hesitant noise in her throat. "I can ask, but he really wouldn't want to come…"
"Please, at least ask for me. I haven't seen him in ages. And I would hate for him to get the wrong idea about what's going on here." He took a last look at the lonely goban as he followed Akari out the door without bothering to listen to her reply.
"Onegaishimasu." The Go salon was oddly empty for a Saturday evening, but all the remaining clients were so crowded around their game it was hard for either player to notice the surrounding area, but it all faded into a giant haze as Hikaru slapped the first stone down on the board.
Akira responded almost immediately, as if by instinct. A rough bout of speed Go ensued as neither pro could stand taking longer than the other in this, their first match in weeks. Touya had been away in Hokkaido for some kind of promotional tournament and Hikaru's play had stagnated considerably as a result.
After a few hands, Hikaru hesitated as he replayed the last dozen moves to puzzle out his opponent's strategy. He completely obliterated Akira's seemingly innocuous assault on the right. Touya growled and took the next three moves to salvage his formation. Hikaru seized the opportunity to stretch out and connect downwards.
"That's why you lost to Ogata 10-dan, by the way," Hikaru taunted without breaking stride. "You have to be a lot more intricate with that kind of sneak attack."
"Oh?" Akira snapped, threatening Hikaru's bottom formation in just four moves. Hikaru managed to reconnect, but ended up sacrificing almost a third of the territory. "And that is why you're still a 4-dan, Shindo."
"What? I know you've been coaching Ochi again, and I beat him by 6 moku. And it'll be by even more next time."
"You're being irrelevant." Akira jumped over the conflict at the top to instigate new trouble on the right.
Hikaru froze, rethinking his entire strategy again. He sent a cursory glance up to Touya's face. The fierce blaze in his rival's eyes sent a harsh chill into his ribcage, and Hikaru felt his breath catch when his green eyes locked with Touya's glare. Even after all of those years, the intensity was enough to paralyze him with doubt. He set his jaw and scowled back.
The crowd, anticipating a fight, thinned considerably though it didn't disappear.
A few more hands played out with Akira leading Hikaru in dizzying circles around the board, breaking his established rhythm at scattered intervals just to throw the other pro off. He had flipped the game completely around in a matter of minutes. Hikaru frowned, thumbing his fan and slapping it against his palm.
"What's wrong?" Touya goaded at his opponent's sudden halt. Shindo barely noticed the barb.
'Such wild Go…I can barely keep up.' Hikaru clenched his teeth around a grimace. 'This must be punishment for insulting his match with Ogata-sensei.' He swallowed deeply, flipping his fan and taking a metaphoric step away from the board, weighing his options. The right was now very vulnerable, but not in immediate danger thanks to cracking Touya's foundation early on. The attack on the bottom needed to be resolved still, but he'd already lost enough territory down there without calling Touya's attention back to it. The center was still waiting for encroachment, but a direct play there would be an invitation for Touya to take the entire bottom right. Victory had to lie in the left. Hikaru started from the top right, playing what looked like an obvious block to Touya's attack. But had he taken too long to think of it…?
"Shindo, you're too obvious yourself. Where is your ingenuity today? Such a stupid attempt…" Akira connected the top to the right and started to trickle his stones to the middle.
"Gotcha…" Hikaru grinned after a few hands' play. Touya blanched as suddenly he was faced with a giant wedge in his formation in the top. A section that he had assumed was dead was now miraculously revived right at the base of his territory.
Akira bit his thumb as he considered his options. He placed a cursory stone to flank the base of the wedge, but they both knew it was already too late. As Akira focused on salvaging the top, fortifying the left, and battering at the right, Hikaru had reclaimed the bottom and forged to the center. It would be a close game. The onlookers made all kinds of noises that Touya grimaced at. If he lost…
"Half a moku. That's it, Touya," his rival murmured. They both slouched back in their chairs, expelling the accumulated tension from the match. Another victory for Touya Akira, but by such a slim margin…
They analyzed the game briefly as the other patrons congratulated Touya and sidled off, very accustomed to how passionately the pros could discuss their matches.
"You nearly had me there; it was a very good game," Touya complimented his rival, hand over his mouth as he leaned over the board. "I was too confident in my foundation on my lower half…"
"Still underestimating me, eh?" Shindo teased, indicating the instances that he had cracked his rival's structures. "You're still a bit distracted. But you had an amazing streak that took forever to break. It was very…uncharacteristic. How did I appear to hold up?"
"Your play wasn't bad, just a bit scattered," Akira commented, focusing on the bottom. "You followed my lead for a good bit of chuban, but a few of your responses seemed almost tame in regard to your usual play. Of course, you did manage to break up my game with this move, but it just wasn't aggressive enough to stop me."
"You were planning too much at the same time for me today. I spent too much time doing shidougo yesterday…shit. I could've…" He muttered the last bit, walking through the game again. Akira heard anyway and shook his head.
"Shindo, you can't get too caught up in instruction. It is not your strong suit and you always fall behind when you shift gears too quickly."
"Why do you think I'm practicing with you today? I've got my match with Isumi in four days…" Hikaru leaned back, slapping his knee with his fan. "He's going to destroy me again…"
Akira considered his friend closely for a moment. "What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked almost too casually.
"…Why?" What torture did Touya Akira have set aside for him?
"There's going to be a viewing at my mother's family's estate."
"Eh?"
"…'eh'? What do you mean 'eh'?" Akira's anger made his rival blink. "The sakura, you fool!"
It took Hikaru a moment, but then he brightened considerably.
"You mean it?" he asked excitedly. "When? When?"
Now it was Akira's turn to blink at the sudden excitement gushing from the other pro.
"Well, I was going to be leaving tonight, and I had thought that you could perhaps join me…"
"Sure thing, Touya," Hikaru agreed easily with a bright smile.
"Really?" Akira was taken aback. He hadn't expected Shindo to accept so easily to his last minute plans.
"Of course! I asked you first, didn't I?" He started getting really excited. "How long can I stay? What should I bring? What are you even supposed to wear to a formal viewing?" He trailed off, questions all forming a giant mumble, and Akira smiled faintly.
"Kimono, of course. Just pack one. I have obligations on Tuesday, so I'll have to return Monday evening. Bring whatever makes you comfortable. Just remember that you'll have to carry it with you on the train."
"Train?" Hikaru grinned fiendishly. "We'll be taking my car."
And suddenly Touya Akira realized just how frightening his rival could be.
"You could have at least slowed down near that residential area, Shindo!" Akira scolded, getting his luggage out of the trunk.
"It was one house, Touya, and I did slow down a little."
"You almost mauled a pet dog."
"Well, why wasn't it on a leash?"
"Because you're expected to drive slowly!"
'Just arrived and already bickering,' Hikaru thought blandly. 'How wonderful.' He couldn't even admit to himself how much he enjoyed arguing with his rival.
The estate wasn't very large, but it was nicely furnished. The landscaping out front was notoriously well-kept. As he and Touya took off their shoes, Hikaru noticed several wall scrolls that his grandfather would have envied in his collecting days.
"And this is your mother's family home?" Hikaru asked his friend in awe.
"Yes," Akira replied, adding absentmindedly, "She and my father are sure to be about."
Hikaru wondered for a moment how he would greet the former Meijin after their previous encounter, but they'd parted civilly enough; he decided it wasn't an issue.
"Shindo?" Akira called. "We should change into our kimono now." Hikaru nodded, following after his rival to their room. They encountered only one futon when they got there and Hikaru turned to Akira questioningly.
"Was I expected?" he asked dryly.
Touya shook his head slightly. "No, but it won't be a problem. I'll tell the housekeeper to prepare an extra for you in here. Now, hurry and change. Traffic delayed us a bit, and I'm anxious to see my father again."
Hikaru cocked his head at his friend, not finding a connection.
"He's been recovering here in Nagoya to avoid any public attention. It's been advertised that he's on vacation," Akira explained, not even needing to see Hikaru to know that he was completely bewildered by the circumstances and hadn't even thought to ask until just then. "I haven't seen him since before you visited him." He removed his kimono from his suitcase as he spoke, laying it out to breathe before making sure Hikaru was doing the same. Hikaru, on the other hand, was completely lost in thought, hand frozen on the top of his suitcase. "Shindo?"
As if he had just woken up, Hikaru shook his head and whipped around to throw a sheepish grin at his friend. "Sorry, Touya. I guess the drive got to me. You should go and see your dad while I rest a bit."
"…Sure, Shindo." And suddenly, Akira realized why his rival had been so strange in the preceding months: his grandfather had died during the winter. There wasn't a sensible reason for the sudden death, it had just occurred out of nowhere, and Hikaru had been particularly devastated.
Akira opened a sliding door that let out to the porch and the courtyard. Benches and porch swings lined the way sporadically, and Hikaru caught on near-instantly, taking his leave to sit out and admire the rock garden and the newly blossomed sakura trees. Akira stepped quickly into an adjoining room to don his kimono and then set off to find his father. He wasn't out the door before he heard—
"Touya," Hikaru called gently, "over here."
Akira poked his head out to see Hikaru put a finger over his lips and then point across the courtyard. There, Akira saw his parents standing together, admiring the garden together, his mother loosely gripping his father's hand in both of hers. They were smiling. Akira let out a relieved sigh that made him feel so much lighter. Hikaru beckoned for him to sit on the bench beside the pro, and Touya complied, suddenly content to watch his parents from across the way.
"It's really sweet," Hikaru murmured as if complimenting Akira for his parents' behavior. "So simple, but they're just…happy."
"Yes. It's…refreshing," Akira agreed decisively. "They only understand one another in places like this, where the rest of the world might as well not exist." The young pro allowed his posture to relax to mere moderate severity.
"That's…" Hikaru trailed off, blond bangs tumbling to cover his eyes.
"Shindo?" Akira turned towards his friend. He was slouched and looked terribly uncomfortable, but could he have possibly fallen asleep? "Hi—…Hikaru?" He scooted closer to Hikaru. A hand darted out and snatched the sleeve of Akira's kimono at the shoulder. "Hey, Shin—"
"Just for a little while," the boy asked, fingers trembling through the fabric to cut off Touya's protests. "I just need…a little while…" Hikaru sounded exhausted. 'Stay with me,' his voice said without making the words.
"…Mm…" Touya consented quietly, alternating between keeping his chin slightly down and stealing glances over at Hikaru's face. The other boy wasn't crying, but his hair effectively covered his expression and that hand wouldn't stop shaking. It worried Akira to his bones and he was so thankful that he'd decided to invite him.
Touya Kouyo, however, stayed over on the other side of the courtyard, smiling and laughing with his wife and seeming utterly carefree. Dusk approached quickly and Touya gently shook Hikaru's shoulder.
"Shindo? You need to get dressed now. I believe dinner will be soon."
Hikaru started, clutching at Akira's sleeve for a moment before realizing what he was doing. Then he blanched, saw Akira, and jumped up, turning exceptionally red.
"Sorry, Touya! I was dreaming…I think…" His embarrassment became confusion. "A daydream…maybe…? Or was I sleeping…?" His gaze drifted upwards. He couldn't concentrate. "Oh yeah!" He looked Touya directly in the eye suddenly, startling the other pro. "I need help putting on my kimono."
Touya's eyes were wide at the sudden request, but he burst out laughing just as suddenly, nodding when he was finally able. "I'll show you. It's not too complicated." He rose and Hikaru gave him that same sheepish smile, following him back inside.
Soon enough, Hikaru could get his obi tied by himself and Touya led him to the main dining room where Touya-sensei and Touya Akiko were already sitting, drinking tea with what Hikaru presumed were Touya's grandparents as well as scattered adult relatives that could have been related in any way. Hikaru saw many of Touya's softer features all over the room, but only one other set of eyes could even be compared to Touya Akira's: those of Touya Kouyo, and they were staring right at him.
"Shindo-kun? What a surprise!" he said cheerfully. "Akira didn't mention that he would be bringing anyone along."
"Sorry, father. It was rather…spur of the moment." Akira sounded rather embarrassed to have been so uncharacteristically whimsical, bringing a laugh out of his father.
"No matter, we have plenty of places set," Akiko said airily, bidding them to sit. "Hiroshi?" she gestured towards a young man that Hikaru presumed to be the house-keeper. "If you could prepare an extra futon in Akira's room, please…" The man bowed slightly and went to do so as Hikaru and Akira sat down at the table, kneeling in the proper seiza that Hikaru could still never be completely comfortable with.
Akira cleared his throat quietly and asked, "How have you been, father?"
"Things are quiet and I have been quite well," was the response. "I can soon return to China to resume my playing schedule. I've already had to drop out of two tournaments, so I'm hoping to be able to pick up another before returning to retired life."
"And will you be returning to Tokyo soon?" his son continued as his mother poured tea for him and Hikaru.
Hikaru sipped mindlessly at his, keeping his nose far outside the discussion. He could tell from the somber look that Akira's mother had that things weren't perfectly well. From Akira's expression, he could see that Akira was intensely worried about his father and wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it.
"I'll be spending another three weeks in China and then heading straight for South-Korea for an international amateur title tournament. So…" the former Meijin calculated in his head for a moment. "I should be back home in about two months."
Akira swallowed hard and lifted his tea cup to his lips. "I see," he said before taking a sip. At the other end of the table, Akiko picked up conversation with her mother about Akira's cousins.
"So, Akira? How did you find your match against Ogata-kun?" Touya Kouyo asked.
"As always, I find his method of play rather difficult to match," Akira admitted, earlier signs of distress successfully masked now. Hikaru took another sip of his tea. "He never seems to let me get into the flow of the game."
"I understand. I've had similar difficulty with him over the years. Not so much recently, but…" the man's eyes hazed over a bit in recollection, "he always does put on a show."
"Have you ever played against Ogata-sensei, Shindo?" Touya asked politely, aware that Hikaru had been uncharacteristically silent for the entire discussion.
"Only…only once, but he wasn't taking me seriously at the time," Hikaru admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "We haven't seemed to match up in the title tournaments yet."
"Well, there is still a chance for that to happen," his rival encouraged. "You're still in the prelims for the Honinbou and Ouza titles, correct?"
"And Tengen," the young pro added shyly.
"Ogata-kun mentioned his match against you to me," the former Meijin began ominously. "He had interesting things to say about your play, but…" he broke off to chuckle a bit, "…he was incredibly drunk at the time, right?"
Hikaru nodded emphatically. "His game was terribly off. It wouldn't even compare to his usual style."
"When was this?" Akira asked with genuine curiosity.
"Just after he had won the 10-dan title, he and I were scheduled at the same event." Hikaru hastily drank more tea before he had to remember the match any more than he ought. It had been Sai's last game before…
Hikaru choked a bit on his tea, instigating a small coughing fit that drew the entire table's attention to him.
"Sorry, please excuse me a moment," he managed, leaving the table in desperate search for a bathroom. He walked down a hallway, turning a few times and managing to get himself completely lost. He coughed weakly, looking around helplessly for a moment.
Abruptly, Touya had his elbow in a strangely firm grip and pulled him back a ways and into a bathroom. Hikaru didn't have a chance to express his gratitude before falling to his knees and throwing the toilet seat up just in time to escape fouling it.
"Shindo?" Akira asked shakily from where he still stood in the doorway. He stepped inside and closed the door, moving to kneel beside his friend.
Hikaru was still spluttering and coughing, face well inside the toilet rim. His fists clenched and unclenched uselessly as his stomach poured out a few more times. He felt soft pressure on his back and tears on his cheeks as he regained control of his heaving gut.
"Sorry about that, Touya," he huffed, wiping his mouth with a bit of toilet paper. "That happens from time to time." He wiped his tears with his sleeve, surprised to find Touya's hand still on his back.
"'Time to time'? What does that mean?"
'Leave it to Touya to find the right questions.' Hikaru couldn't explain the fact that his deepest emotions pulled physical reactions without explaining the peculiarity of his connection with Sai, and even more than that, he doubted that the other pro would believe such a thing.
'When did it happen that I stopped feeling Sai's feelings?' he wondered for a countless time. 'It was always this powerful before, but when was it my own sadness that—' Hikaru broke off the thought as another wave of nausea shook his body. He managed to stave off another round of vomiting, but he still found himself in a cold sweat. The gentle pressure of Touya's hand was now moving in small circles, anchoring him to the warmth of the sensation.
"Do you want me to get someone?" Akira asked calmly.
"No. Just…give me a moment." Hikaru grimaced, clapping a hand over his mouth and breathing heavily through his nose. Akira made to break away but his rival's hand was fisted in his hakama, keeping him there.
"What can I do?" Touya's hands rubbed harder against his rival's back. "Shindo?"
"Just stay…with me…" Hikaru panted through his fingers. He leaned heavily on the other pro, trying to steady his breathing. He was relieved that, though his friend tensed at the request, the gentle hand moved to squeeze his shoulder while Touya's other hand wiped the sweat from his face and neck with his kimono sleeve.
"Are you going to be okay?" Akira asked patiently as Hikaru's breathing eased considerably.
"Yeah. I just react to altitude change sometimes," Hikaru lied easily. He used Akira's aid to stand up slowly. "I guess I just have a weak constitution."
Touya made a noise in the back of his throat that was almost a scoff though he didn't make a comment. Instead, he said, "Hurry and straighten yourself up then. It's rude to keep everyone waiting to eat."
And though Hikaru knew he should smile at his friend, he just couldn't make his face obey. He ended up staring hollowly at the space between Akira's eyes, unwilling to acknowledge or meet the concern he would find within the fiery aqua there.
Hooray for subtext! Sorry if it seems slow. I'm trying to ease into what's happening. More soon~
Disclaimer: fanfics on a fanfic site? Appalling. :P