Kifu #2: Introducing Shindou Chiharu. In this chapter, she is six years old. The song is from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, Yoko Kanno's Memory.
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The spring morning came all too quickly, and Kaoru clasped her father's hand with a grip like steel, enough for the young pro to wince and soothingly try to tug his playing hand out of her grasp.
She was young then, six or so, and had never strayed too far from the house for anything aside from school, and her mother's house. Places like the Go Institute seemed far away and scary, something that made her heart tremble in fear and clasp her hands to her father's even tighter. She had tried to stay in the car, but her father had eventually wrestled her out with some ounce of exasperation.
"It looks scary." She commented in her sweet, childish voice. The tall building loomed before them, and the 7-dan sighed.
"It's not as bad as it looks." He brushed a long wisp of dark hair out of her bright blue eyes. They blinked up at him with fear, and he wondered why she was so scared. "Natsuko-chan is here, do you remember her?"
Natsuko was Kaoru's on again, off again baby-sitter, who came over perpetually whenever the young pro had to take a leave. The two didn't seem to overly fond of each other, Natsuko being a typical boy loving, vapid blond who was more into the latest fashion style then go. Sometimes he wondered how such a girl could be born from Ogata, resident go-playing, womanizing hermit. But then, how did he end up never married, twenty-six, with a six-year old daughter? And how did Shindou end up married with two kids, becoming the responsible family man? The wonders of growing up...
He picked her up when he realized the young child wasn't budging from her spot staring at the door, and cradled her into the institute lobby.
Immediately he recognized Shindou, with his blonde fringe talking to Kurata near the steps. He also noticed what seemed to be a set up of children. Natsuko, Sai, and Chiharu had all plopped into the far corner by the window, seated at a long table and looking as if they were so used to being here that it didn't bother them.
"Shindou." Akira called, noting how his rival faced him with utter relief.
"Touya!" He walked over, pleased at an excuse to move away from Kurata and his ego. "Is that little Kaoru-chan?" He bent down until he was eye level with the girl cradled to his chest, who sent him a petulant glare that came out more cute then angry, with her cheeks flushed and her hair tied up in a mass amount of ribbons.
As Touya watched Shindou coax words out of his usually silent daughter, he mused that Shindou was surprisingly good with kids, considering his lack of tact when he was a teenager.
"—is my daughter Chiharu. She's your age!"Shindou was saying with a smile, before he turned to the little brunette playing on a gameboy. "Chiharu, why don't you say hello?"
The little girl looked up, immediately hopping off of her chair and bouncing over to where the three of them were making a spectacle in the middle of the lobby. She tilted her head upwards the moment Kaoru tilted hers downwards, the two of them locked in some sort of undercurrent of unknowable wisdom only six year old girls could understand.
Touya eased his little girl down, hoping that she wouldn't bolt for the door. She didn't, and instead stared curiously at the strange, yet familiar creature in front of her with straight cut bangs and auburn hair down to her shoulders. Chiharu was wearing a pink sweatshirt with a mouse on the front, jean shorts over striped stockings that tucked into her pink rain boots. In contrast, Kaoru had her hair done up in extravagant curls that were pulled up with pink ribbon, standing in a dress that was decorated with frills and bows and a pluming skirt with ruffles all the way down to her knees, wearing a pair of sparkling red dorothy shoes. Her mother was the one who bought all the clothes, and Kaoru never spent a day without wearing at least one dress. Akira didn't complain, because he hadn't the slightest idea how to shop for a six year old girl, much less for himself.
"Come on!" The young Shindou ordered. "Play pokemon with me!"
She tugged Kaoru's hand, and lead her past Natsuko, who had her headphones in her ears as she tilted her chair back, scrawling an essay on the book in her lap., backpack haphazardly opened at the foot of her chair and papers sprawled out. Sai was Shindou's eight year old son, named after the elusive netgo player that Hikaru was still yet to completely disclose the relationship he had with the unknown character. He was seated next to Natsuko, looking deep in thought over his homework.
Kaoru followed curiously, as Chiharu leaped onto the over-sized chair, and swung her legs idly as she began the game anew. "This is my pokemon, he's a Charmander. He's super, super cool, but I don't like to use him because my Arcanine is a lot better. And this is my Dragonair, he evolves into Dragonite but I don't let him because he's prettier as a Dragonair. And this one's Vaporeon, she's my favorite because she looks like a kitty cat—
Touya sighed in relief when Kaoru seemed pacified this, and for once since the morning, began to let his mind think solely of go.
"They're killer, huh?" Shindou seemed to read his mind, rubbing the back of his head. "Once upon a time, it was go, go, go, first-person shooter games, and more go. I had a one room apartment that had the coolest shit in the world and another girl every other day of the week." He eyed the ring on his finger with fondness. "Look at me now..."
"Don't complain." Touya rolled his eyes as they made their way into the elevator. "You know you're happy."
Hikaru grinned. "Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't."
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huh.
