Books and Bossa. Theme #4: Shindou Sai. I skip around a lot. Unless I say otherwise, the normal timeline is Chiharu and Kaoru are fourteen, making Sai sixteen, and Natsuko seventeen, and Kazuki…twenty?
Fujiwara Sai, his father had explained to him before, was a man that was entirely overwhelmed in Go, an enigmatic creature that only existed to play the illustrious board game.
That's what Hikaru had told him, anyway, back when he still wanted to hear bedtime stories, he and his sister peeking their heads out of the covers as their father spun stories about whatever suited their fancy. Sai had asked him about his namesake once, and Hikaru had this delighted grin as he recalled the tale of Fujiwara Sai, a young man of the court in the Heian period, whose only wish was to play Go. Back then, Sai really believed that he was named after this man who lived hundreds of years ago, who reincarnated into the best Go player alive, and eventually wandered the plains until he found his father.
As Sai grew older, he realized that, more then likely, that bedtime story was a metaphor of sorts, or a euphemism for something else. He never questioned why his father spun the story like he did, believing it was the result of his father's overactive imagination.
"Sai, come here for a sec."
The boy broke out of his musings, as he moved over to where Touya Kaoru was shifting through the book store.
He'd met the dark-haired girl when he was eight, and never really took interest in her, seeing as though Chiharu usually had her claws sunk into the girl every other moment of the day. But he'd admit that he'd much rather spend time with Kaoru then any of the other girls Chiharu was friends with—the airy, popinjay kind of girls with exiguous amounts of clothes and rapacious smiles—because at least she could understand the complexities of go, and take them for what they were.
"Which match is this?"
He looked up, to where the girl was pointing to the television screen.
His father was on, and an old man he didn't recognize.
"Kisei league." Sai responded, before taking some of the books from her hands. She had about seven, all the size of tomes, and looked quite precociously balanced on her thin arms.
"Thanks." She smiled at him sheepishly and he only nodded. Kaoru moved closer to the register, and he followed suit. "Anyway, how's the exams?"
"Easy." He scoffed.
She smirked at him over her shoulder, eyes bright and blue. "Cocky, aren't you?"
"I mean, no one there is of any challenge." He shrugged. "Except for Kazuki. We're the only two that are certain to pass."
"Kazuki…" Kaoru echoed softly, a thoughtful look on her face. "Kuwabara, Kazuki?"
"Yeah, that's him." Shindou blinked, as if he was surprised that she even remembered him. Sai and Kazuki were good friends, mainly because they shared the same interests. Go, soccer, video games. Normal stuff. "How do you know him?"
"Isn't he," She began slowly, almost deliberately, as she set the books down on the counter. "Natsuko-chan's boyfriend?"
"Maybe," The boy began absentmindedly, helping her with the books, before; "what?"
Kaoru paused and looked back at him. "You didn't know?" She asked, and made him feel infinitely more stupid and out of the loop then usual.
"Why would I know something like that?" He scowled lazily. "They're going out? Like… dating?"
"Yes, like dating." Kaoru rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't know anything about it, now would you?"
"Hey." He blinked, then frowned as he caught the joke. "Hey."
She giggled. "I'm kidding!"
He shrugged it off though. "Wait, so when did they start, like, dating? I mean, does Ogata-sensei know about this?" The thought brought forth a terrifying image of Ogata's face when he found out.
As she paid, Kaoru skewered him with a flat look. "What do you think?"
"Okay, no." He frowned then. "Does Kuwabara-sensei?"
"I don't think he cares, really." The young Touya grabbed her bag and beckoned him to follow her out into the busy street. Cars were crawling in the never ending traffic, and Kaoru was already heading down the street. Shindou plodded sullenly beside her. "It's Kuwabara-sensei, he's crazy."
"It's just strange to think about." Shindou shriveled his nose. "Natsuko's like… really mean. She's bossy and angry all the time and for god's sake, she looks like Ogata-sensei as a girl. And Kazuki's just… laid back and cool with everything."
As he thought about it longer, he whispered. "I can't help but feel bad for him."
Touya nodded wordlessly, pulling into a café.
Ogata Natsuko, currently seventeen, relatively short, blonde (naturally, mind you, much unlike Chiharu, who regularly dyed her hair outrageous colors) perpetually annoyed, spiteful, bossy, with a legendary left hook.
The girl walked into her house and was met with eerie silence. The two bedroom apartment was nothing special, and cozy to the point of squished. It hadn't always been like that. When she was younger, she loved being so close to her father. At this point, she was dying to get away from him. If anyone asked for her opinion on the Juudan, her immediate response would be "He's annoying, he get's up way too early, and smokes a lot." But inwardly, she's become rather fond of him. Even if she'd never say it aloud.
Today was not one of those days.
She toed off her trainers at the entrance, and made a left into her room, dropped her bag, and blinked sleepily before realizing she was hungry.
Judging from the pair of dress shoes at the door, her father was around here somewhere.
But she was more interested in the food which lurked in the inner depths of the fridge, past the beer, to the right of the eggs. She remembered the bento she'd made for tomorrow, and decided today would be a better opportunity to indulge in its splendor.
"How was school?" Asked the Juudan, as he lurked from behind the computer.
"Fine." She answered tonelessly, walking past the door to the study with quick, hurried strides.
She caught a glimpse of the unnatural light from the fish tank—what kind of middle aged man kept tropical fish, anyway?—when something caught her eye.
Her father was lounging in his chair, studying a neon green sticky note which resembled the ones she carried in her school bag, and looked awfully familiar—
"What are you doing with that?" She cried, and made a leap to snatch it out of his amused hands.
Expecting this, Ogata pulled it out of her reach, a sly smirk on his face.
"What's this?"
Her face flushed as he turned his head, scowling as he took great pleasure in reading aloud: "My parents cut off my phone. Guess we've been talking to much. Here's my grandfather's home phone." And then, with great relish, he mimicked in his most girliest voice. "Call Me. Love, Kazuki."
"Dad." She bemoaned aloud, head sinking onto the cool wood of the desk in utter embarrassment. "Come on."
"So who is this Kazuki?" Ogata pondered as he eyed the note. "A boyfriend, perhaps?"
After a beat of silence, a squeaked, "Maybe." Was his reply.
An evil grin. "And when can I meet this, Kazuki?"
Another silence.
"Never."
"That's not very polite of you." He sniffed, clearly enjoying watching his daughter's mortification. It wasn't every day she got so flustered over something.
She said nothing, before making another grab for the note. It was to no avail.
While she struggled for the paper, he took his other hand and dialed the number. When Natsuko heard the dial tone, she near died.
"You wouldn't!" She cried, this time grabbing for the phone.
"I wouldn't?" He echoed with relish. "How long have you known me again?"
On the other line, the phone was picked up. Ogata grinned, and Natsuko wanted the floor to swallow her whole, where she could then melt down into the earth and swim among the dinosaur bones. Her father opened his mouth, and she cringed, remembering the last episode of father vs. boyfriend, involving a timid young boy opening the front door to stare in horror at the monstrous looking man, who glared, and slammed the door. Or the other time when Sousuke-kun from Class B came over for dinner, and her dad did nothing but stare silently, until Sousuke politely excused himself to the bathroom (and never came back).
There was a reason that Natsuko never brought boys home.
"Hello?"
"Do I know you?" Came the blunt reply.
Ogata paused. This 'Kazuki' kind of sounded like an old man, and awfully familiar. He supressed the shiver. "No, I'm calling for my daughter—
"No—I'm sure I do." The boy interrupted. "Familiar…very familiar…"
Ogata scowled before continuing. "I'm calling for my daughter, Ogata—
"Ogata!"
The Juudan pulled the receiver away from his ear at the scream.
"Yes," He began again irately. "Ogata Natsuko."
"Oh, this is wonderful! Fantastic!" Another chuckle. "Who knew my Kazuki—young chap—was dating Ogata Natsuko! No wonder you sound so familiar! It's nice to hear from you Seiji! How'd you get this number, eh?"
"E—Excuse me?"
"What, don't remember this old man? To think what young love does these days, ho, ho, ho, ho…"
Natsuko watched with morbid fascination as her father's face lost its pallor, turning to a ghastly shade of white.
"No, you can't be…" And then, "Kuwabara Honnibou!"
More cackling from the other line, and Natsuko clasped her mouth with both hands to stop from dissolving into laughter.
"I'm not the Honninbou anymore, Seiji!"
Natsuko fell to the floor in dry heaves. Her father was limp in the chair.
"Why don't you come over tomorrow? Have dinner with us? It's only natural, you know, meeting the family—but we won't have to, will we old friend? I've known you since you were still Koyo's little genius!"
Seeing as those her father was comatose, Natsuko picked up the phone.
"Oh, Kuwabara-san, we'd love to." Her eyes gleamed perniciously as her father's face contorted into horror. "It sounds like so much fun. How does eight o'clock sound?"
"Sounds excellent! I'll see you then!"
She shut the phone with a beastly smile, placed it back into her father's twitching palm, and walked out the study.
Before she crossed the threshold, she stopped.
"Just to let you know," The saccharine was edible off of her words. "I really like this one, daddy! I think we'll even get married and have lots of kids! Won't that be wonderful? You and Kuwabara-san will be almost related!"
