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31_days2008-05-07 11:21 pm
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2008-05-07 11:21 pm
[May 7][Hikaru no Go] Stones in Narrow Spaces 7/?
Title: Stones in Narrow Spaces 7/?
Day/Theme: May 7 - The only constant I am sure of is this accelerating rate of change
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Akira/Hikaru
Rating: General
--------------
"I don't get it," Shindou said on the train back to Tokyo.
Touya resisted a retort along the lines of 'That's obvious' on the grounds that it would almost certainly lead to a pointless argument. While he and Shindou enjoyed their spats over the goban more than they would admit to anyone else--though it was not foreplay, no matter what people in certain quarters speculated--they were not in the habit of squabbling without reason either.
"I only went to Innoshima because of the rumours about the goban on the internet, but suddenly it's my fault that the goban was stolen?" Shindou said, his aggrieved tone suiting the shadows under his bloodshot eyes to a fault. Though the swaying of the train seemed to lull one into sleep, he was obviously trying to stay awake.
Touya debated inwardly whether he should try again to explain the connections that Kuwabara had laid out for them, and dismissed the idea. Instead, he asked something that had been on his mind since the occasion of his father's birthday. "Why did you decide to give the goban to my father?"
Shindou blinked blearily at him. "You want to know that now?"
"Yes. After you told me..." about Sai, "I thought that it was the last thing you would ever give away. Wasn't it your only connection-"
Shindou took out his fan.
"Ah." Touya said.
"For a long time after, I kept thinking that if I touched the goban in a certain way, maybe..." his voice lowered so that the sound of the train seemed to drown it out. "I thought maybe he'd come back. Then I thought if I sneaked up on it--I was skulking around Grandpa's warehouse so much that one time, he thought there were rats. But that didn't work either.
"It wasn't much later that I could admit to myself that it really was nothing more than a goban. He was really gone." Shindou's chin sunk so that he was talking to his shirt.
Touya couldn't help but admire Shindou's strength in admitting that. The way he had accepted Sai's departure, the way he had grown--those were the things that made Touya love him all the more. That was the one constant about Shindou: that he grew and made himself bigger, stronger, wiser... "My father-"
Shindou looked up. "It was only when you told me about your father that I realised that I was not the only person who knew S-Sai."
Other people knew him too, Touya wanted to add, but he understood. His father was the only person who was a worthy opponent for Sai. If things had been different, perhaps Sai and his father would have been rivals, the way he and Shindou were.
"And I-" Shindou looked down at his fan. "I had this. But Touya-sensei had nothing. So I-" he shrugged, lost for words.
"Thank you," Touya said. He meant, 'thank you for telling me' but as the silence continued, he knew he meant, 'thank you for giving it to my father' too.
Shindou nodded as though he had heard Touya's thoughts. He put the fan back in his bag.
They sat and swayed with the movement of the train until they were back in Tokyo. To their surprise, Fujisaki Akari met them in Shindou's apartment.
Shindou's goban had been stolen, she said.
(TBC)
Day/Theme: May 7 - The only constant I am sure of is this accelerating rate of change
Series: Hikaru no Go
Character/Pairing: Akira/Hikaru
Rating: General
--------------
"I don't get it," Shindou said on the train back to Tokyo.
Touya resisted a retort along the lines of 'That's obvious' on the grounds that it would almost certainly lead to a pointless argument. While he and Shindou enjoyed their spats over the goban more than they would admit to anyone else--though it was not foreplay, no matter what people in certain quarters speculated--they were not in the habit of squabbling without reason either.
"I only went to Innoshima because of the rumours about the goban on the internet, but suddenly it's my fault that the goban was stolen?" Shindou said, his aggrieved tone suiting the shadows under his bloodshot eyes to a fault. Though the swaying of the train seemed to lull one into sleep, he was obviously trying to stay awake.
Touya debated inwardly whether he should try again to explain the connections that Kuwabara had laid out for them, and dismissed the idea. Instead, he asked something that had been on his mind since the occasion of his father's birthday. "Why did you decide to give the goban to my father?"
Shindou blinked blearily at him. "You want to know that now?"
"Yes. After you told me..." about Sai, "I thought that it was the last thing you would ever give away. Wasn't it your only connection-"
Shindou took out his fan.
"Ah." Touya said.
"For a long time after, I kept thinking that if I touched the goban in a certain way, maybe..." his voice lowered so that the sound of the train seemed to drown it out. "I thought maybe he'd come back. Then I thought if I sneaked up on it--I was skulking around Grandpa's warehouse so much that one time, he thought there were rats. But that didn't work either.
"It wasn't much later that I could admit to myself that it really was nothing more than a goban. He was really gone." Shindou's chin sunk so that he was talking to his shirt.
Touya couldn't help but admire Shindou's strength in admitting that. The way he had accepted Sai's departure, the way he had grown--those were the things that made Touya love him all the more. That was the one constant about Shindou: that he grew and made himself bigger, stronger, wiser... "My father-"
Shindou looked up. "It was only when you told me about your father that I realised that I was not the only person who knew S-Sai."
Other people knew him too, Touya wanted to add, but he understood. His father was the only person who was a worthy opponent for Sai. If things had been different, perhaps Sai and his father would have been rivals, the way he and Shindou were.
"And I-" Shindou looked down at his fan. "I had this. But Touya-sensei had nothing. So I-" he shrugged, lost for words.
"Thank you," Touya said. He meant, 'thank you for telling me' but as the silence continued, he knew he meant, 'thank you for giving it to my father' too.
Shindou nodded as though he had heard Touya's thoughts. He put the fan back in his bag.
They sat and swayed with the movement of the train until they were back in Tokyo. To their surprise, Fujisaki Akari met them in Shindou's apartment.
Shindou's goban had been stolen, she said.
(TBC)