Author's Notes: The challenge was to write a non-yaoi, non-shounen-ai, PG Hikaru no Go fanfic. This is my first attempt. I'm not happy with it since it's so short and the premise has probably been done 20 million times before. I have another fanfic in the works to fill this challenge and don't know what I'll do with this fic one the new one is done.
Rating: PG
Pairing: None
Written: 2004
Shindo Hikaru entered the Go parlor with little fanfare. Outside rain poured steadily down from the sky, blocking the sun. The light inside the Go parlor came from water-glazed windows and dim overhead lights. The two sources provided light that was cool and watery, barely more than enough to see the black and white stones on the board.
Those players that were currently engaged in battle remained focused on their boards. Those that were not playing nodded in acknowledgement. Hikaru nodded back as he put his still dripping umbrella in the holder by the door.
"Oi! Shindo-sensei. Where's your rival today?" one of the younger players called out. Hikaru shook his damp bangs, before giving up and moving them out of his eyes with his hand. He'd have to get them cut again soon. Ichikawa gave the young player a look while he laughed nervously. Hikaru handed over the slightly damp playing fee and smiled.
"He's not here already? I thought I was the one who was always late" Hikaru blinked around in the dim light, looking for the familiar fall of dark hair. He didn't find it. "Ah. Touya did say he might not be able to make it today." The note of disappointment in his voice was barely there.
"Would you play a game against me, Shindou-sensei?" another young player, a girl, asked. Hikaru grinned remembering his hostility towards Akari when she had first wanted to learn how to play. He had been wrong to discourage her though he would never admit it to her or anyone else. So ever since then, he'd made a special effort to encourage young female Go players.
He was beginning to think it was giving him something of a reputation.
"Sure. How many stones do you want to lay down?" Hikaru said as he took a seat. The girl blushed and smiled.
Soon the plinks of the Go stones and the soft murmur of discussed games were the only sounds in the Go parlor. Hikaru quickly reassessed the level of the girl he was playing. She had gotten stronger since the last time he had played her. He adjusted his own playing accordingly, turning it into a more advanced game of shidougo. Making it a learning experience rather than a humiliating one for either of them.
"I resign. Thank you for the game."
"Thank you for the game," Hikaru responded. "You've been practicing. I can tell." The girl blushed and Hikaru grinned. Then he settled down to explain the game. "See this move here? That's where you ran into trouble."
"Oh! Well, what if I had moved here instead?"
"Then I would have moved..."
Both teacher and student continued the game, exploring different routes and conclusions in their heads until both were satisfied that the student had been correct in resigning. It wasn't until they were done, and the girl had once more thanked him for the game before leaving, that Hikaru noticed that they had had an audience.
It was a boy, not more than eight or nine. His hair was so dark it was almost a purple black, and it stuck out from around the edges of a backwards baseball cap. His shirt was a jersey with the number 12 on it. It was stained in a few places with dirt and was damp from the rains outside. But what Hikaru noticed most was the way the boy was watching the play of stones on the goban with narrowed, intent eyes.
He seemed familiar. Maybe the kid had been in here before and that's where Hiakru knew him from. Hikaru decided he would ask the kid if he wanted to play a game as soon as he cleared the board. His hand was in the process of reaching for the stones when the kid spoke.
"White resigned too early."
"Huh?" Hikaru said, looking up at the boy and then back at the stones. "You think so? Okay then, what should have been white's move?"
The kid reached out to grab a stone from one of the bowls, obviously intent on placing it on the board. His hand froze in mid-air, and a frown crossed his face. Then instead of getting a stone, he pointed one slightly chubby finger to a space on the goban. Hikaru blinked. Then he pulled the other container closer to him and obediently placed a white stone to where the boy had pointed. His own black stone soon followed. The boy pointed to the goban and Hikaru placed another stone.
Déjà vu.
Three stones into it, and Hikaru was sure the kid was placing stones at random. Six stones into it, and Hikaru was beginning to see a pattern emerge. Nine stones into it, and Hikaru knew where this game was heading and what each move would be. The kid was both right and wrong. There had been a way to win the game, but there was no way the girl who had stopped playing was skilled enough to have found it. Hikaru hadn't been skilled enough to find it.
"One and a half moku. White wins." Hikaru barely breathed the words.
"Yep." Hikaru looked up to see the cocky grin on the boy's face. Then is disappeared as the boy shifted nervously and looked towards the front of the Go parlor. He was already starting to edge towards the entrance. "Thank you for the game. I need to go."
"Wait!" Hikaru yelled. Several heads in the parlor came up from their games at the sound. The boy moved even more quickly towards the entrance. A few of the regular patrons had begun to get to their feet, wondering if maybe the boy had done something offensive.
Hikaru came up from his seat so fast that his knees hit the edge of the table. Everything on the table jumped, including the goban. Go stones scattered across the table, skittering to the floor. Seconds later, one of the containers teetered off the edge spilling white stones all over the floor. The word that came out of Hikaru's mouth when he saw the mess caused several of the younger players to laugh and several of the older players to shake their heads.
"Stop. Hey you kid!" Hikaru paused for a moment, torn between catching this obviously brilliant kid and picking up the scattered Go pieces. He wanted to dash across the Go salon, but didn't dare for fear of crushing some of the pieces underfoot. In the back of his head he could hear Touya scolding him for disrespecting the game. "What's your name? At least tell me your name!"
By this time everyone in the salon was staring at them. Ichikawa looked like she might come around the counter and physically stop the boy. For his part, the boy paused at the door, holding it half-way open. He cocked his head to one side, looking over his shoulder at the same time. His eyes were still shadowed by his bangs. "My name?"
"Most people call me Fujiwara Toshiro." The boy tilted his head up then. Even from across the salon, the color of the boys eyes was apparent. Violet eyes, bright and full of mischief, met Hikaru's startled gaze. "You can call me Fujiwara no Sai."
Then with a laugh, the boy was gone, dashing out into the still falling rain. Hikaru sat back down in his own seat. Hard. It couldn't be him? It couldn't. How? After all these years... why now? Why like this?
"Shindou? Did that boy try something?" Ichikawa asked. Hikaru shook his head, staring at the broken remains of the game on the goban. "Did he play a game? He didn't pay the fee."
Then Hikaru started laughing.
More than one of the patrons gave him a look, and Hikaru could only imagine what they thought. He began to pick up the Go stones, replacing them back into the bowls that held them. Chuckles still escaped him as he straightened everything in preparation for the next game.
If his hunch was correct, if his instincts were right, the world of Go was going to get a lot more interesting in the future.