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31_days2010-03-14 11:49 pm
issen4.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2010-03-14 11:49 pm
14 March/Hikaru no Go/Spirited Away crossover/Twice the River 13/?
Title: Twice the River 13/?
Series: Hikaru no Go/Spirited Away crossover
Day/Theme: 14 March/How do you define something that never really had a name?
They stopped walking so abruptly that behind him, Sai could hear Hikaru stifle an exclamation as he tried not to crash into them. Touya-kun made a sound of annoyance, too obvious to be truly annoyed.
The lack of traction between the ground and their feet was a sign that they did not truly belong in this place, every step they made seemed to be wrapped in cotton. It also meant that when Hikaru and Touya closed the last bit of distance between him and Ogino-san, there was virtually no sound, and Sai saw Ogino-san raised her head sharply when she finally noticed Hikaru at her elbow.
"I'm sorry," Hikaru said, glancing at Sai as though to judge his reaction, his brows drawing together.
Sai smiled to himself. For all that Hikaru had matured since Sai last remembered him, there were still times when he reminded Sai of the boy who did not know how to hold Go stones.
Then much louder, a boy's trick to hide uncertainty, "But why--" He stopped.
Sai saw that Touya-kun had touched Hikaru's shoulder once, as though in reminder, and the expression on Hikaru's face calmed a fraction.
"Um, Sai," Hikaru said, "and Ogino-san. Why did we stop suddenly? I thought--" he gestured ahead, towards the continuing length of old Kyoto street and its row of street lamps, "I mean, we haven't come to the end of the street, have we?"
So he had deduced for himself that the street went on indefinitely. Of course; Hikaru already knew more about Ogino-san's predicament than had been explicitly told to him, and it seemed that as on a goban, here he had learnt to see more than what was obvious.
Ogino-san, after several seconds to stare and determine that what her instincts had long told her was accurate, ignored the question and walked ahead.
Right into a wall.
Sai heard Hikaru and Touya-kun's intakes of breath, but he smiled at both of them, noting in his peripheral vision that she had merely disappeared from view. "Come and see, Hikaru, Touya-kun," he said, and gestured to the space between the shops.
It was Touya-kun who, after a glance at Hikaru that held both reassurance and challenge, stepped forward. Just as Sai expected, Hikaru was close on his rival's heels. "I don't see any--" Hikaru began, then his voice grew muffled as he and Touya-kun both squeezed inside. Sai took his last look of the street scene that looked like Kyoto but was really not, and followed.
The space between the shops would have been opened up to a balcony of immense length, almost certainly a match for the street outside, should both--either one--be measurable. That was not the surprising part. The surprising part was how high they were.
Leaning over the plain wooden railing, Sai could see, below them, rows and rows of windows in various sizes arranged in different configurations, as though the inhabitants had all been building on top of each other, as in an anthill. It came to his mind that this was really a cliff, and as soon as he thought that, he could see how the window openings looked as though they had been carved from the cliff.
And rising up the sides of the cliff was something Sai had never thought to see.
Sai heard Ogino-san's mutter, as though she was speaking the name of someone under her breath.
"What is that?" Hikaru said. "It looks like it should be a river, but it can't be. Rivers don't float. Or fly. Or look like that."
"You can't define something that doesn't really have a name," Touya-kun said, his eyes seeming to shine as they reflected the sparkling stones that were part of the floating miasma. Looking much like Go stones until one realized that each was about the size of a dinner plate, the river of stones shot past before all of them continuously.
Ogino-san stood and watched.
Sai could hear a swooshing sound that seemed to come from very far away, and for a while he envied those, for gods they must be, who must be playing with such oversized stones. "There's no name that I know of for this," he said softly.
Touya-kun nodded. "Right. You can't name--"
"I can," Hikaru argued. "It's a river, a river of stones. And Ogino-san has been looking for a river."
Series: Hikaru no Go/Spirited Away crossover
Day/Theme: 14 March/How do you define something that never really had a name?
They stopped walking so abruptly that behind him, Sai could hear Hikaru stifle an exclamation as he tried not to crash into them. Touya-kun made a sound of annoyance, too obvious to be truly annoyed.
The lack of traction between the ground and their feet was a sign that they did not truly belong in this place, every step they made seemed to be wrapped in cotton. It also meant that when Hikaru and Touya closed the last bit of distance between him and Ogino-san, there was virtually no sound, and Sai saw Ogino-san raised her head sharply when she finally noticed Hikaru at her elbow.
"I'm sorry," Hikaru said, glancing at Sai as though to judge his reaction, his brows drawing together.
Sai smiled to himself. For all that Hikaru had matured since Sai last remembered him, there were still times when he reminded Sai of the boy who did not know how to hold Go stones.
Then much louder, a boy's trick to hide uncertainty, "But why--" He stopped.
Sai saw that Touya-kun had touched Hikaru's shoulder once, as though in reminder, and the expression on Hikaru's face calmed a fraction.
"Um, Sai," Hikaru said, "and Ogino-san. Why did we stop suddenly? I thought--" he gestured ahead, towards the continuing length of old Kyoto street and its row of street lamps, "I mean, we haven't come to the end of the street, have we?"
So he had deduced for himself that the street went on indefinitely. Of course; Hikaru already knew more about Ogino-san's predicament than had been explicitly told to him, and it seemed that as on a goban, here he had learnt to see more than what was obvious.
Ogino-san, after several seconds to stare and determine that what her instincts had long told her was accurate, ignored the question and walked ahead.
Right into a wall.
Sai heard Hikaru and Touya-kun's intakes of breath, but he smiled at both of them, noting in his peripheral vision that she had merely disappeared from view. "Come and see, Hikaru, Touya-kun," he said, and gestured to the space between the shops.
It was Touya-kun who, after a glance at Hikaru that held both reassurance and challenge, stepped forward. Just as Sai expected, Hikaru was close on his rival's heels. "I don't see any--" Hikaru began, then his voice grew muffled as he and Touya-kun both squeezed inside. Sai took his last look of the street scene that looked like Kyoto but was really not, and followed.
The space between the shops would have been opened up to a balcony of immense length, almost certainly a match for the street outside, should both--either one--be measurable. That was not the surprising part. The surprising part was how high they were.
Leaning over the plain wooden railing, Sai could see, below them, rows and rows of windows in various sizes arranged in different configurations, as though the inhabitants had all been building on top of each other, as in an anthill. It came to his mind that this was really a cliff, and as soon as he thought that, he could see how the window openings looked as though they had been carved from the cliff.
And rising up the sides of the cliff was something Sai had never thought to see.
Sai heard Ogino-san's mutter, as though she was speaking the name of someone under her breath.
"What is that?" Hikaru said. "It looks like it should be a river, but it can't be. Rivers don't float. Or fly. Or look like that."
"You can't define something that doesn't really have a name," Touya-kun said, his eyes seeming to shine as they reflected the sparkling stones that were part of the floating miasma. Looking much like Go stones until one realized that each was about the size of a dinner plate, the river of stones shot past before all of them continuously.
Ogino-san stood and watched.
Sai could hear a swooshing sound that seemed to come from very far away, and for a while he envied those, for gods they must be, who must be playing with such oversized stones. "There's no name that I know of for this," he said softly.
Touya-kun nodded. "Right. You can't name--"
"I can," Hikaru argued. "It's a river, a river of stones. And Ogino-san has been looking for a river."