Author's Notes: Silverthunder made a few observations and asked a few questions about Touya's hair in an entry on my LJ. This short piece was inspired by it.
Rating: G
Pairing: None?
Written: 2005
Touya Akira’s hair is always falling forward. He would put it behind his ears, but he doesn’t like the way it exposes his neck to stray breezes. Air moving the fine hairs against his skin irritates him more than having his hair in the way. So he tolerates it.
As he grew Akira learned to ignore his hair in the same way he learned to ignore everything when focusing on Go. He doesn’t have a nervous twitch like some players. Akira never reaches up to push his hair out of his face; doesn’t fiddle or twirl it when he plays. It would seem strange to him to not see the board framed by the loose strands of his hair, so he leaves it alone and channels all his energy into the game.
It took something special to get Akira to notice that his hair was in his way. Extreme fatigue, when every little thing was irritating, would do it. Getting something stuck in his hair especially if it was gum. Mornings when working out the tangles seemed like more trouble than it was worth.
All Shindou had to do was open his mouth.
“Doesn’t your hair bother you?” Shindou asked. They were discussing their latest game in his father’s Go salon. It hadn’t disintegrated into a full-blown argument. Yet.
“My hair?” Akira reached up and touched it. “Why?”
“It’s always falling in your face and stuff. I’d go nuts if it was me,” Shindou said.
“I don’t even notice it.” Akira paused, noticing for the first time how long his hair actually was. Not real long, but longer than Shindou’s. Longer than a lot of people their age. “Maybe I should cut it,” Akira said more thinking out loud than planning on doing the deed.
“Don’t.” That single word caught his attention. Akira looked up, meeting Shindou’s pale eyes. His rival was uncomfortable, but didn’t back down. He met Akira’s stare head on. “It looks good on you.”
“Ah,” Akira said. He smiled for the rest of the day. Even when he pointed out a flaw in his rival’s game and Shindou wound up yelling about it.