I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, Black Lagoon, or Hikaru no Go. Rated for Black Lagoon.
Chapter 4: The Fateful Steps
On the bow of the docked ship, Shindō Hikaru felt bored.
Like, really bored.
His brown eyes gazed across the waters in a vain attempt to engage his mental capacity, having long since put his portable Goban away after playing out the games of the past few years to hone his playing instincts so he'd stay in top shape.
Unfortunately, he was very much alone in this endeavor. The other passengers on the ship kept to themselves, rarely interacting with their fellow passengers so that he couldn't tell if there was another Go player on the ship to relate to.
His family wasn't of any use either. None of them knew how to play and all three of them had declined when he offered to teach them.
Well, Keiichi and Keiko politely declined; Yūsuke merely responded with a "hell no".
He finally gave up looking at the ocean, making his way down the stairs back towards his room with a resigned expression on his face.
While there was good food and music, he'd really hoped that this "honeymoon" would have been a little more exciting. The only ones content were Keiko, who delighted in the sights and sounds of their journey, and Yūsuke, who'd made up for lost time with his wife by testing out the very comfortable beds, much to the chagrin of Hikaru and his virgin ears.
Continuing his way downward, he cast a glare at the shore where the ramp had been lowered at the dock of whatever random city they were at.
It wasn't enough that he was bored to tears from the lack of activity, but now they were stuck at shore with repairs underway and they were told to stay on the ship because of things like "insurance" and "personal responsibility to the customers".
Sighing, Hikaru folded his arms and wondered what Sai would have done in this situation.
Aside from playing Go 24/7 in their room with no breaks.
He'd probably throw a fit if I hadn't brought a goban or Go stones to use, he thought, briefly snickering at the mental image of Sai pitching a fit and waving his arms madly like Armageddon was upon them and they had nowhere to run.
With all of his energy, he probably would've run around, poking things, asking way too many questions, exploring…
He suddenly stopped as he had an epiphany, and not the kind that Sai would have come up with at all.
Hikaru turned his head towards the sight of the ramp, a mischievous grin stretching across his face as a decidedly un-wise plot made its way into his mind. After all, he was not known for his self-restraint back at the institute.
Rushing back down the steps now, he sped quickly to Yūsuke and Keiko's room to share his plan.
He found himself regretful the minute he opened the door without knocking.
"Oh god, my eyes!"
Stepping backwards with his hands over his eyes, he missed the peeved expression on Yūsuke while Keiko flushed and hastily covered her breasts with the sheets.
"Is this the only thing you two do in your spare time or what?!"
Slipping on his boxers at lightning speed, Yūsuke scowled.
"We usually don't have assholes running into our rooms in the afternoon like tools!"
Folding his arms, he glared at his cousin.
"Do you have anything to say, or is this just some dumbass habit of yours?"
Hikaru merely crossed his arms in an X shape defiantly while keeping his eyes closed.
"No way! Get all of your clothes on first and then we'll start talking!"
He rushed outside and slammed the door, leaving Keiko and Yūsuke to slip all of their clothes back on in a very awkward atmosphere.
A short while later, they came out to see Hikaru looking impatient and still red-faced, looking like he was about to burst.
Strolling over to him, Yūsuke narrowed his eyes. "Now will you tell us what's got you in such a mood?"
They were both a little surprised when a grin slowly formed on his face despite the redness of his cheeks.
"Well, the truth is that I'm really fucking bored."
Taken aback by his use of profanity (that Sai would have a conniption over), he continued over their shocked faces.
"The crew is keeping us all in the dark and stale with these 'technical problems', and we've nowhere to go unless…"
He nodded his head towards the ramp.
"…we do a little exploring to break the boredom."
Quickly grasping his point, Yūsuke mulled over the idea for all of two seconds before stretching his own grin as an answer.
"Well, I don't see what harm that could do."
"Oh no, you don't!"
They both turned around to see Keiichi stomping towards them looking very cross and reminding them both of what their teachers look like when they're angry.
"Hold up," Yūsuke spoke, "how long have you been listening? Hikaru only just told us about this and I doubt you managed to just catch the last part with your ears. Are you so bored that you're eavesdropping on other people just to kill time?"
"N-n-no!" Keiichi responded with a red face, fooling absolutely no one. "However, you're the ones who are going to disobey orders and go gallivanting Kami-knows-where despite the fact that we have no idea where we are or how long the repairs are even going to take!"
"Exactly!" Hikaru interrupted. "We're already bored to tears so if we break a couple rules and explore to get a little energy, I don't see what kind of trouble we could get into! Besides, I seriously doubt that even if we are late that the crew is just gonna sail away without us on it. Wouldn't be good for business and all."
Gritting his teeth, Keiichi turned to look for support in the only other responsible family member in Keiko only to see her stroking her chin looking positively contemplative.
Mouth agape, he said "Keiko, not you too!"
Staring back at her agitated cousin-in-law, she simply sighed while shrugging her shoulders.
"You and I both know once Yūsuke gets an idea in his head it's nigh impossible to stop him from doing it. I'd only be wasting energy trying to talk them out of it. And besides…" she said, moving her hands to her hips, "…my nerves are just all bunched up from staying inside all the time. There shouldn't be any harm in it, and it's not like I could have grown up with Yūsuke and not broken any rules in my life."
Putting his hand on his head, Keiichi stood there muttering with words like "unbelievable" and "bad influence" while the others stood across from him waiting for an answer.
After one solid minute, the eldest cousin sighed and made eye contact with them with a hint of steel in his eyes.
"I'm coming with you."
Even more shocked than they were with Hikaru's swearing, said Go professional spoke with a great amount of surprise in his voice.
"What do you mean?! Didn't you just complain about how stupid this idea is?!"
"Exactly; that is why I'm coming with you."
Ignoring their confusion, he continued, "If you're going to get into trouble, you need someone whom can at least keep an eye on you to make sure you don't get lost or hurt yourselves."
More than a little peeved that he was going to tag along like he was babysitting them, Yūsuke and Hikaru opened their mouths to protest.
"If anything did happen to you, your parents would undoubtedly kill me and burn my corpse."
This stopped them from protesting any further, while silently admitting that there was no way now that they'd be able to take off without him.
They turned to see what Keiko would say only to sweat-drop at the wide sappy smile that had appeared on her face.
"Aaaawwwww, you really do care about us!"
Blushing furiously, he stuttered "N-n-no, I am just concerned about how this will affect the entire trip, that's all!"
Once again, none of them were fooled in the least.
Stroking his chin, Hikaru suddenly had a realization.
"So when are we gonna sneak out without getting caught?"
Surprisingly, it was Keiko who responded while rubbing her hands together and gesturing all of them to huddle closer to her space.
Leaning in, she whispered (unnecessarily) "It's really simple. We're going to…"
:::A Short While Later:::
One of the deck hands fidgeted at his post on the ramp, wondering how long the captain was going to have him stay here guarding the ramp.
It seemed rather unnecessary. It wasn't like any of the guests were going to disobey them. They had come here for a cruise, not a sight-seeing trip.
He couldn't help but wonder how they could have stopped. He was one of the staff members who looked over the engines before setting off and there was nothing wrong with them then…
A sudden noise caught his attention. He turned around, looking at the ship railing. It sounded like a larger-than-normal splash, more than you'd hear from a rock or some littering.
It was better to be safe than sorry.
He walked briskly towards the railing when he suddenly felt something on his ankles.
It rather felt like a piece of rope.
By the time this had registered in his mind, he was tumbling towards and over the railing, landing with a loud splash.
Later on he would feel incredibly stupid about the whole thing and refuse to talk about it.
Meanwhile, the perpetrators came out of hiding and sprinted towards the ramp.
"I wasn't sure that would actually work."
"Of course it did. I'm surprised, Keiichi, that you were able to mimic a sound like that. It's rather talented."
"Well, I couldn't very well let you dump a spare television in the ocean to use as a distraction."
"It's not like anyone would miss that piece of shit. It broke on our second night here."
Pausing briefly at the top of the ramp, they looked around to make sure no one else was in sight of the ramp to get a glimpse of them.
Satisfied, they started walking down as quickly and silently as possible.
Hikaru turned briefly to the right. "Do you think that guy will be okay? It looked like a long drop."
Yūsuke waved a hand dismissively. "He'll be fine. It wasn't that big of a drop. And besides, someone who's at sea all the time definitely knows how to swim."
Walking further down the ramp, they finally hit the ground and all of them let out a collective sigh. Despite the vacation they'd signed up for, they only felt comfortable when their feet were on solid ground.
Moving at an even pace, they followed the dirt path that would undoubtedly lead them towards civilization they glanced at their surroundings to find it surprisingly sparse and seemed to possess an air of hopelessness.
A minute passed with silence on everyone's part, due mostly to anticipation of a new city experience, but also due to the fact that all of them could feel a shiver of warning, almost like their collective hidden sixth senses were telling them to turn around (sans Yūsuke, because he never really paid attention to subliminal warnings). Despite everything, they ignored these feelings and continued, as though possessed by restless energy that needed to be worked off.
Pushing on ahead, Hikaru paused briefly to brush his bleached bangs away from his eyes when he caught sight of something that was both grand and grossly neglected.
"Hey, guys? Is that…a statue of Buddha right there?"
Walking up next to him, Yūsuke glanced at it with an air of indifference while Keiko and Keiichi were scandalized that a Buddha image would be defamed and obviously uncared for in such a manner.
"Well, it's not like it's easy to reach or clean," he said flippantly, ignoring his wife's glare. "Let's just get into town. I wanna see what kind of booze they've got."
Keiichi bit his lip nervously, his eyes flickering from his family to the statue. "Maybe we should turn back. I mean, if this is any indication…"
Hikaru dismissed his cousin's worries with a wave of his hand.
"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Keiichi. How much trouble could an off-course port town possibly have?"
Fin
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