ext_9800 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
31_days2007-09-29 01:15 am
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-09-29 01:15 am
[27 Sept] [Hikaru no Go] And the Waves Crashed on the Goban 27/?
Title: And the Waves Crashed on the Goban 27/?
Day/Theme: 27 Sept/The complexity of your twilight
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Hikaru/Akira, Isumi/Le Ping
Rating: General
----"The complexity of your twilight"----
"I don't care about the rumours, you idiot," he said.
Shindou had given him an offended look at the 'idiot', but his expression had relaxed, as though he had been tense without knowing it.
"Let's see if the accident has scrambled your brains, instead," he went on.
That had been more than enough to get Shindou to turn his outraged attention to the game.
Though he counted Shindou as one of the few pros worthy of playing with him, there were times when Kuwabara could not help feeling his years. He had been in the Go world for a long time after all--with much of those years as a highly respected teacher and professional--and he had seen many pros come and go.
Even scandals. The same year he won his title, there had been a huge fuss over the suspicion that Ueda Meijin had secretly consulted his students in his two-day title games. Eventually the Go Institute had cleared him, and the doubts had died when Ueda managed to keep his title for three years running. And who had not forgotten Shirokawa Hajime, who left the Go world due to his unprofessional behaviour (he stalked one of the game recorders until she made a police report)?
Under the guise of looking at the goban, Kuwabara judged the young man sitting opposite him through narrowed eyes. The sole concession made to Shindou's previous injuries was that they were playing on a desk and sitting on chairs. Kuwabara had grown accustomed to sitting on the floor. It was the only proper way to play Go, after all--one could study the goban and at the same time keep track of the shifts in posture made by one's opponent in order to predict his future hands.
Shindou's game was strong--Kuwabara did not care whether he was supposed to have played like this person 'Sai'--and that was both reassuring and annoying at the same time. Reassuring in that his brains seemed intact; annoying in that he was giving Kuwabara a challenge that was too forceful to work though at eight in the morning.
"Not too bad," Kuwabara said when they were entering chuban. "Maybe you'll manage to defend your title from Touya's son after all.'
Shindou gave him a look. "You're going to lose, old man," he said with the brash confidence that Kuwabara openly deplored (but secretly liked).
"Losing and winning are unimportant when a good game has been played," he said.
Shindou gave an audible--rude, that was--sniff of disbelief. "Yeah, right," he said. "Will you still say that if you win? You hate losing."
Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at him.
Instead of growing abashed, Shindou only grew bolder. "That's how you kept your position for so long," he said. "It wasn't just because your Go was better--it's because you hate to lose more than anyone else."
"Do you subject all your opponents to your erroneous psychological analysis?" Kuwabara asked.
Shindou reached into the go-ke, extracted a black stone, and placed it, all in one smooth motion. "Nope. But it provides a good distraction, don't you think?"
Kuwabara scowled. "Leave it for Touya's boy," he said.
Shindou eyed him for a moment. "You know, it's scary to think that you're older than Touya-sensei," he said. "Just think, one day Touya-sensei is going be like you: playing scary Go while making rude comments."
The 'scary Go' part pleased him. "Good. Think of what you have to look forward to. Touya's boy is just a copy of his father, after all."
"He is not!" Shindou protested, looking dismayed. "You horrid old man, you-"
Kuwabara took the opportunity to slap a stone down, next to Shindou's biggest group of stones.
"Hey, that's unfair!" Shindou protested, his gaze turning abstract even so, a sign that he was busy calculating potential counter-moves in his mind. After a moment, he countered.
"It's not fencing, boy," he said. "There's no honour on the battlefield. It doesn't have to be fair." He was feeling generous, so he added, "As you've no doubt found out for yourself."
Shindou got it immediately. Almost by instinct, his hand went to the wooden fan at his side. He took it, squeezed it in his fist for a second, and put it down again.
"It's not even a very interesting scandal," Kuwabara said reflectively.
Shindou's stiffening shoulders indicated that he was offended.
Young people made everything so complex, Kuwabara thought. Look at Ogata and the myriad ways he had though of to counter Kuwabara's teasing. He didn't seem to have realized that all he needed to do was to work on his Go, and it would all fall into place. No, he kept trying this and that, convinced that there was a magic bullet.
Only Isumi was direct like that. Kuwabara liked him. In his twilight years, he had grown tired of the jostling for ambition, especially when people did it in such a clumsy way. "It'll blow over soon enough when people realize they don't have any evidence at all," he said to Shindou.
Shindou raised his eyebrows. "And you know this from your wide-ranging experience of being accused of unprofessional conduct?"
"Brat," Kuwabara said. "In Go, there is no single attack that takes the whole goban. Just as it is for life."
Shindou looked as though he was about to protest. Then he shook his head. "I'll hold you to that," he said, then played a hand that wiped out a quarter of Kuwabara's defenses.
Day/Theme: 27 Sept/The complexity of your twilight
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Hikaru/Akira, Isumi/Le Ping
Rating: General
----"The complexity of your twilight"----
"I don't care about the rumours, you idiot," he said.
Shindou had given him an offended look at the 'idiot', but his expression had relaxed, as though he had been tense without knowing it.
"Let's see if the accident has scrambled your brains, instead," he went on.
That had been more than enough to get Shindou to turn his outraged attention to the game.
Though he counted Shindou as one of the few pros worthy of playing with him, there were times when Kuwabara could not help feeling his years. He had been in the Go world for a long time after all--with much of those years as a highly respected teacher and professional--and he had seen many pros come and go.
Even scandals. The same year he won his title, there had been a huge fuss over the suspicion that Ueda Meijin had secretly consulted his students in his two-day title games. Eventually the Go Institute had cleared him, and the doubts had died when Ueda managed to keep his title for three years running. And who had not forgotten Shirokawa Hajime, who left the Go world due to his unprofessional behaviour (he stalked one of the game recorders until she made a police report)?
Under the guise of looking at the goban, Kuwabara judged the young man sitting opposite him through narrowed eyes. The sole concession made to Shindou's previous injuries was that they were playing on a desk and sitting on chairs. Kuwabara had grown accustomed to sitting on the floor. It was the only proper way to play Go, after all--one could study the goban and at the same time keep track of the shifts in posture made by one's opponent in order to predict his future hands.
Shindou's game was strong--Kuwabara did not care whether he was supposed to have played like this person 'Sai'--and that was both reassuring and annoying at the same time. Reassuring in that his brains seemed intact; annoying in that he was giving Kuwabara a challenge that was too forceful to work though at eight in the morning.
"Not too bad," Kuwabara said when they were entering chuban. "Maybe you'll manage to defend your title from Touya's son after all.'
Shindou gave him a look. "You're going to lose, old man," he said with the brash confidence that Kuwabara openly deplored (but secretly liked).
"Losing and winning are unimportant when a good game has been played," he said.
Shindou gave an audible--rude, that was--sniff of disbelief. "Yeah, right," he said. "Will you still say that if you win? You hate losing."
Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at him.
Instead of growing abashed, Shindou only grew bolder. "That's how you kept your position for so long," he said. "It wasn't just because your Go was better--it's because you hate to lose more than anyone else."
"Do you subject all your opponents to your erroneous psychological analysis?" Kuwabara asked.
Shindou reached into the go-ke, extracted a black stone, and placed it, all in one smooth motion. "Nope. But it provides a good distraction, don't you think?"
Kuwabara scowled. "Leave it for Touya's boy," he said.
Shindou eyed him for a moment. "You know, it's scary to think that you're older than Touya-sensei," he said. "Just think, one day Touya-sensei is going be like you: playing scary Go while making rude comments."
The 'scary Go' part pleased him. "Good. Think of what you have to look forward to. Touya's boy is just a copy of his father, after all."
"He is not!" Shindou protested, looking dismayed. "You horrid old man, you-"
Kuwabara took the opportunity to slap a stone down, next to Shindou's biggest group of stones.
"Hey, that's unfair!" Shindou protested, his gaze turning abstract even so, a sign that he was busy calculating potential counter-moves in his mind. After a moment, he countered.
"It's not fencing, boy," he said. "There's no honour on the battlefield. It doesn't have to be fair." He was feeling generous, so he added, "As you've no doubt found out for yourself."
Shindou got it immediately. Almost by instinct, his hand went to the wooden fan at his side. He took it, squeezed it in his fist for a second, and put it down again.
"It's not even a very interesting scandal," Kuwabara said reflectively.
Shindou's stiffening shoulders indicated that he was offended.
Young people made everything so complex, Kuwabara thought. Look at Ogata and the myriad ways he had though of to counter Kuwabara's teasing. He didn't seem to have realized that all he needed to do was to work on his Go, and it would all fall into place. No, he kept trying this and that, convinced that there was a magic bullet.
Only Isumi was direct like that. Kuwabara liked him. In his twilight years, he had grown tired of the jostling for ambition, especially when people did it in such a clumsy way. "It'll blow over soon enough when people realize they don't have any evidence at all," he said to Shindou.
Shindou raised his eyebrows. "And you know this from your wide-ranging experience of being accused of unprofessional conduct?"
"Brat," Kuwabara said. "In Go, there is no single attack that takes the whole goban. Just as it is for life."
Shindou looked as though he was about to protest. Then he shook his head. "I'll hold you to that," he said, then played a hand that wiped out a quarter of Kuwabara's defenses.