Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Warning: Same with the first chapter. I hope the grammatical mistakes didn't ruin the storyline.
Chapter III – A Go Playing Dog?
Touya Akira was in one of his rarely seen full wrath mode and nothing that Shindou Hikaru said could calm him down enough. Even telling his rival about his promotion did little to appease the 7-dan. It had taken the whole night to convince Touya about the dog. And right now, Hikaru was already run out of words. He could no longer count how many times he had convinced Touya that he was only going to keep the dog until he could find the owner.
"Tomorrow I have a match against Kurata-san on the Meijin league, Shindou, and I'll need a good sleep tonight. How can I sleep well if I can't stop sneezing through the night." Touya said with malice in his tone, then after a while added suspiciously. "This isn't one of your dirty tricks to get me off the league, right?"
"Of course not!" Retorted Hikaru angrily. "You should have known that I'm not that low, Touya. Besides, you have only sneezed twice since you're back three hours ago, so stop exaggerating already!"
Touya was silent by the realization that what his rival said was true. Sure, he had sneezed when he got too close to the dog but it wasn't bad at all compared to his last exposure to a fury pet, namely Fujisaki's cat.
Seeing his rival confused face, Hikaru grinned smugly. "I had called a vet as soon as I returned home. She said that as long as I washed the dog often enough and it didn't get too near to you, it wouldn't cause you much trouble. She also offered a vaccination to lessen your allergy if you wanted it."
Touya looked undecided for a few minutes. He stared at the dog, then at Shindo, and then back at the dog again. Said dog only gave him the hopeful look, similar to the one that he used to melt Hikaru's heart, and hoped that it would also work on Touya.
Finally the raven hair Go prodigy let out a sigh of defeat and said "Have you checked with the proprietor yet? I'm not sure that animals are allowed here?"
"I will do that tomorrow. But I do know that the old man on the second floor own many parrots, so I think it'll be okay." Answered Hikaru with a convincing note.
"All right, it can stay here, but only until you find its owner." Akira said tiredly. "And you better start to do that tomorrow."
"I will. Thanks Touya, I'm sure Sibe is also very thankful for your kindness." Said Hikaru with a grin.
"Sibe? Is that what you called the dog." Asked Touya. And after seeing Hikaru's nod of affirmation, he added ironically, "How very creative of you Shindou."
After that, the raven hair pro decided to retire for the day and went to his bedroom. But before closing his bedroom door, he added, "Oh, and congratulations on your promotion."
And with that last sentence, Touya Akira closed the door to finally have his much needed beauty sleep. As soon as the door was closed, Hikaru gave a wide grin to the dog that answered him with a cheerful 'whoo'.
"You're lucky, Sibe. I think the only reason that Touya allow you to stay is because you're a Siberian Husky. I might not be able to convince him if you're not." Said Hikaru while he petted the dog's head. "But he's right, I'll have to find your owner soon. Or if I can't find them, finding you a new master."
As if the dog understood his last remark, the small Husky placed his head sadly on Hikaru's right thigh. The bleached bang pro could only smile at the dog's intelligence. He knew that dogs were smart but this dog seemed to have an unnatural intelligence. Somehow, it was too smart even for a dog. But once again he shrugged it out of his mind. He got better things to do than pondering about a dog's intelligence. And with that thought he too decided to go to bed. It was already late and he would have a long day tomorrow.
000
Fujiwara no Sai was thinking hard. Right now, he was on the floor in Hikaru's bedroom and the young man was already fast asleep on his bed. He had finally found Hikaru but if he couldn't find of a way to make the 5-dan realized whom he was, he would soon be sent away. Talking was out of the question now, so he had to find another way to communicate. But what could he done to make Hikaru recognized him?
His ex-pupil would recognize his Go but… That thought made Sai paused in his musing. Of course! He could use Go as a way to communicate. Both of them had played hundreds of games together, that he was sure Hikaru would know his style liked the back of his own hands. Yes, he would try it and as soon as possible. And Sai only allowed himself to fall asleep on the plush carpeted floor of Hikaru's bedroom after he had carefully think about the way on how he could do it.
000
Shindou Hikaru had spent the whole morning of the next day for Sibe's sake. First, he talked to the proprietor to make sure that it was really okay for the dog to stay at the apartment. Then, he made a simple 'dog found' poster. And after that, went to photocopy the poster.
By the time he was finished, it was already 11.30 and the summer sun was already blasting at full heat. So he decided to take a lunch break and waited until the afternoon to start spreading the posters.
It was still midday when he finished his lunch and he got nothing else to do until the afternoon so he could do whatever he pleased. He considered reading the newest issue of Shounen Jump but then decided to replay yesterday's game instead. After all, now that he was a 5-dan, he would definitely face more of the higher dan opponents soon. So it was best to practice more and made sure that he was ready for it.
Sibe followed him when he entered his bedroom and sat in front of his goban, and it stared determinedly at both of the gokes that Hikaru had placed on his right side. Seeing the dog's look Hikaru could only smile.
"Interesting isn't it? This game is called Go and I think it is the coolest game in the world. I'm going to replay a game now so please don't disturb, okay Sibe?" After saying that he moved the lids from both of the gokes and returned his attention back to the goban.
The young pro had placed the first stone when the dog ran into the goke of the white stones and knocked it down so that the stones were scattered all over the floor. The dog then bit one of it. Thinking that the dog was about to eat the stone, Hikaru shouted angrily.
"Sibe, don't do that! Bad dog, bad dog!" he shouted while trying to keep the dog away from the scattered stones.
But then the unimaginable happened. Instead of chewing on the stone, the dog put it on the goban and then went to sit at the opposite side from Hikaru. The bleached blond was dumbstruck, but then a thought occurred in his mind. The smart dog was perhaps so fascinated by his action and wanted to do that itself. Sibe might think that this was some kind of a game of putting stones on a board.
He was starting to grin at the dog's silly act when he saw where exactly the dog had put the stone and his grin faded. Sibe didn't just put the stone randomly; he had actually put it on the upper-right hoshi, as if answering to the komoku position on the lower-left of the first black stone.
"Did you? No, no, no, it can't be right… A dog playing Go? That's just plain silly." Stuttered the now confused pro.
He once heard that there were Huskies that could play poker. But Go? That was just insane and if Hikaru were a logical person, he would simply drag the dog out of his room and closed the door to play in peace. But Shindou Hikaru was definitely not a logical person, or at least his logic had always been slightly different from the others. So after pondering the possibility of trying to play the dog for a few minutes, he decided to screw logic and gave it a try.
He then cleared the white stones from the floor and placed them back into the goke. After that he carefully pushed the goke to the dog's side.
"So you want to play. Let's see how good you are." Challenged the 5-dan to the dog.
Yesterday's game completely out from his thought, he quickly placed his next move and half hoped that the dog wouldn't respond. But his hope wasn't fulfilled because the dog quickly buried its snout inside the goke to pick up a stone and then placed it on the goban. It was a drool coated move but still, a real one.
Still slightly unsure, Hikaru proceeded to place his next move and the dog replied quickly, and they kept on playing until they reached the middle of the game when Hikaru suddenly paused from placing his stone. He recognized this playing style. This was Sai's Go. The dog played exactly like his old mentor. So I caould only mean that the dog was…
"S-sai?" The young man asked breathlessly.
And to his surprised and joy, the dog nodded enthusiastically. It's tail wagging happily at finally being recognized.
"Sai!!!" Shouted Hikaru with tears of joy. "You have returned! This is, this is AWESOME! I really missed you. Even 'till now I still hope that I'll see you again…"
The dog cut the young man's blabbering by jumping to his chest. And Hikaru could only shout with glee while the little pup glomped him. Loud and cheerful laughter, accompanied by happy yowl could be heard from the room for a long time.
TBC
Author's note: I can't play Go to save my life so please excuse me if I've made some mistakes.
The Huskies that could play poker sentence is a tribute for Old Jack from 'Eight Below'. I love him so much that I cried when he died.
Next Chapter: Sai meets Akira.