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31_days2007-09-26 11:59 pm
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-09-26 11:59 pm
[26 Sept] [Hikaru no Go] And the Waves Crashed on the Goban 26/?
Title: And the Waves Crashed on the Goban 26/?
Day/Theme: 26 Sept/Your hair was long when we first met
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Hikaru/Akira, Isumi/Le Ping
Rating: General
"Are they asleep?"
Even as he asked the question, Touya Kouyo reflected that it was not so long ago when he had asked, "Is he asleep?" every night--that was when Akira was still a small child, of course, and accustomed to being put to bed by his mother. Once Akira was safely asleep, they could talk.
Later, as Akira grew more serious about Go, he had grown frighteningly independent, and a formality had sprang up between him and his mother, but their ritual remained nonetheless.
"Yes," Akiko said, sitting down opposite him and accepting the cup of tea he had made for her with a smile. "Hikaru-san was more inclined to argue, but he agreed to lie down when I suggested it. He was asleep in no time."
Kouyo kept to himself the thought that Shindou Hikaru was actually scared of Akiko. He had witnessed the alarmed look he first gave when Akiko started saying 'Hikaru-san' instead of 'Shindou-kun', perhaps misconstruing this change of address as veiled hostility. He still caught Shindou mouthing 'Hikaru-san?' whenever Akiko spoke to him. Shindou had no way of knowing that this was Akiko's way of accepting him into the family, and he was clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It was extremely amusing.
"It's been a difficult time for them," Kouya said after a while. "First the accident, and then this."
Akiko shook her head, her eyes sobering at the reminder of the accident. She and Kouyo had visited daily while Shindou was in a coma, out of concern for both Shindou and Akira, who seemed determined to wait until the end of days, if need be, for Shindou to wake up. "As for the rumours, isn't it just a ploy by the newspapers to increase circulation?" she asked.
"Some people would have seen it that way, but for the publication of the kifu and the appearance of Sai on the internet."
"Sai..." Akiko fell silent.
Kouyo himself had not heard of that until an impertinent reporter called to ask what Touya Kouyo, retired pro, thought of Sai's 'return'. Then he had seen Shindou and Akira's sleepless faces, and the guilty twitches both made when he asked.
"Sai was the man you played with years ago, wasn't it?"
Kouyo had stopped wondering years ago how it was that his wife, though she didn't play Go, knew so much. He nodded. "Yes," he said and hesitated, then went on, "Shindou was the one who arranged that game. I made that promise with him, my promise to retire if I lost." He glanced at his wife to see if she was angered.
It was such an outrageous promise to make, though one he had undertook with the utmost seriousness at the time. But married life, he was given to understand, was generally meant to consist of mutual discussions on life-changing decisions such as early retirement.
"Oh!" she said.
She didn't sound angry. That was always a good sign.
"I knew it couldn't be the heart attack," she went on, in a tone of realization. "I did wonder, later, if it was the shock of losing to Sai, but you looked fine, and, well-" she smiled around her teacup, "you were excited about playing in China."
"Sai was an opponent worth waiting for," Kouyo said.
She frowned, as though she had suddenly remembered something. "Is he the reason you kept so many late nights, staying up by yourself in the study?"
He didn't answer; she took it for admission. Indeed, she had been very patient with him. Kouyo wondered if she would try to take his temperature if he admitted that he had been waiting for Sai to materialise--somehow--and play with him.
"But why is there so much publicity and accusations about Shindou being Sai? They are not the same person."
He allowed himself to lean back just a little. "Not everyone thinks that," he said.
There was that outrage now. "And just because of that, reporters have been making up their own stories? They have no idea what they're doing to Hikaru-san, do they?"
"Reporters are fond of their freedom of speech," he said. "And the timing is unfortunate."
"Nasty little insinuations about the convenient appearance of Sai on the internet right soon after Hikaru-san plays like Sai?" she asked. "If Hikaru-san were truly Sai, he wouldn't have showed his hand like that."
She had a point. Kouyo didn't tell her that the kifu, published in Go Weekly, had showed a style of Go that had been uncannily similar to the Go he recognized as Sai's.
"Tabloids," she muttered in a rare show of temper. "Once they've repeated themselves a few times, they think it's the truth."
Kouyo wondered how Shindou would feel if he heard her. Perhaps he would be reassured--even relieved--to hear her defend him.
"It'll blow over," he said. "Soon some other scandal will come out, and people will forget."
"I'm sorry for the next person they attack, then," Akiko said. She tossed her head, finished her tea, and took the empty cup to the sink.
Watching her back, Kouyo was reminded that she used to have shoulder-length hair when they first met. She was endlessly patient and understanding then--and still was. Behind her, he silently toasted her with his teacup.
Day/Theme: 26 Sept/Your hair was long when we first met
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Hikaru/Akira, Isumi/Le Ping
Rating: General
"Are they asleep?"
Even as he asked the question, Touya Kouyo reflected that it was not so long ago when he had asked, "Is he asleep?" every night--that was when Akira was still a small child, of course, and accustomed to being put to bed by his mother. Once Akira was safely asleep, they could talk.
Later, as Akira grew more serious about Go, he had grown frighteningly independent, and a formality had sprang up between him and his mother, but their ritual remained nonetheless.
"Yes," Akiko said, sitting down opposite him and accepting the cup of tea he had made for her with a smile. "Hikaru-san was more inclined to argue, but he agreed to lie down when I suggested it. He was asleep in no time."
Kouyo kept to himself the thought that Shindou Hikaru was actually scared of Akiko. He had witnessed the alarmed look he first gave when Akiko started saying 'Hikaru-san' instead of 'Shindou-kun', perhaps misconstruing this change of address as veiled hostility. He still caught Shindou mouthing 'Hikaru-san?' whenever Akiko spoke to him. Shindou had no way of knowing that this was Akiko's way of accepting him into the family, and he was clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
It was extremely amusing.
"It's been a difficult time for them," Kouya said after a while. "First the accident, and then this."
Akiko shook her head, her eyes sobering at the reminder of the accident. She and Kouyo had visited daily while Shindou was in a coma, out of concern for both Shindou and Akira, who seemed determined to wait until the end of days, if need be, for Shindou to wake up. "As for the rumours, isn't it just a ploy by the newspapers to increase circulation?" she asked.
"Some people would have seen it that way, but for the publication of the kifu and the appearance of Sai on the internet."
"Sai..." Akiko fell silent.
Kouyo himself had not heard of that until an impertinent reporter called to ask what Touya Kouyo, retired pro, thought of Sai's 'return'. Then he had seen Shindou and Akira's sleepless faces, and the guilty twitches both made when he asked.
"Sai was the man you played with years ago, wasn't it?"
Kouyo had stopped wondering years ago how it was that his wife, though she didn't play Go, knew so much. He nodded. "Yes," he said and hesitated, then went on, "Shindou was the one who arranged that game. I made that promise with him, my promise to retire if I lost." He glanced at his wife to see if she was angered.
It was such an outrageous promise to make, though one he had undertook with the utmost seriousness at the time. But married life, he was given to understand, was generally meant to consist of mutual discussions on life-changing decisions such as early retirement.
"Oh!" she said.
She didn't sound angry. That was always a good sign.
"I knew it couldn't be the heart attack," she went on, in a tone of realization. "I did wonder, later, if it was the shock of losing to Sai, but you looked fine, and, well-" she smiled around her teacup, "you were excited about playing in China."
"Sai was an opponent worth waiting for," Kouyo said.
She frowned, as though she had suddenly remembered something. "Is he the reason you kept so many late nights, staying up by yourself in the study?"
He didn't answer; she took it for admission. Indeed, she had been very patient with him. Kouyo wondered if she would try to take his temperature if he admitted that he had been waiting for Sai to materialise--somehow--and play with him.
"But why is there so much publicity and accusations about Shindou being Sai? They are not the same person."
He allowed himself to lean back just a little. "Not everyone thinks that," he said.
There was that outrage now. "And just because of that, reporters have been making up their own stories? They have no idea what they're doing to Hikaru-san, do they?"
"Reporters are fond of their freedom of speech," he said. "And the timing is unfortunate."
"Nasty little insinuations about the convenient appearance of Sai on the internet right soon after Hikaru-san plays like Sai?" she asked. "If Hikaru-san were truly Sai, he wouldn't have showed his hand like that."
She had a point. Kouyo didn't tell her that the kifu, published in Go Weekly, had showed a style of Go that had been uncannily similar to the Go he recognized as Sai's.
"Tabloids," she muttered in a rare show of temper. "Once they've repeated themselves a few times, they think it's the truth."
Kouyo wondered how Shindou would feel if he heard her. Perhaps he would be reassured--even relieved--to hear her defend him.
"It'll blow over," he said. "Soon some other scandal will come out, and people will forget."
"I'm sorry for the next person they attack, then," Akiko said. She tossed her head, finished her tea, and took the empty cup to the sink.
Watching her back, Kouyo was reminded that she used to have shoulder-length hair when they first met. She was endlessly patient and understanding then--and still was. Behind her, he silently toasted her with his teacup.