[Hikaru no Go] Fic: The Silent Path

[flonnebonne]

My vanilla yoghurt tells me that it contains "the active and unique BL(tm) culture." Hm.

Anyone who is anyone is kicking it oldskool at dancedance_fan (a com for reccing animanga titles & fandoms) where it is now officially Slam Dunk week! Today is canonland, so you can download the first volumes of the manga in today's postings. SD is pure shounen awesomeness, the sports series that defined sports series, and also one of the funniest damn things ever.

Speaking of kicking it oldskool, I've recently started reading some of the works of Tezuka Osamu, the "God of Manga" and "God of Anime" who wrote Astro Boy. His second volume in his Phoenix series, entitled Future, is absolutely magnificent. The scope of the story-telling is amazing--it goes from microcosmic to macrocosmic in the blink of an eye. The first half of the story seems fairly "normal," but the second half heads into superbly imaginative territory. I actually cried near the end of it, not because I felt pity for the characters (which I did), but because I was so flabbergasted by the plot and Tezuka's concerns about humanity's future. It's easy to make me cry for the characters, but to make me cry for the storytelling? That's something else.

Oh yeah, and fic of the day:

Title: The Silent Path (previously known as "Untitled")
Fandom: Hikaru no Go
Characters: Sai
Genre: AU
Spoilers: None
Summary: What if Sai had not been allowed to play Go?

The Silent Path

Sai had wondered, when the boy and girl had found his goban, what kind of host the God of Go would give to him this time. He should not have expected another Torajiro.

Sai learned that the modern age was filled with many things, too many things, ice cream parlours and video games and cell phones and internet, school and homework and clubs and entrance exams and I'm sorry, Sai, I can't play Go anymore.

It was sad, so sad, these children who had forgotten how to love Go.

There were birthdays and first dates and first kisses, first days of spring and rainfall and umbrellas (some things did not change, he thought nostalgically), and there was that first car accident when Sai was so scared and helpless, a ghost who was useless for anything but Go.

I'm okay, it's okay, I'm okay, weak smile that was like Torajiro's smile before death had claimed him, the smile of a child who loved and loved well.

Sai was so sad in the days following the accident that the doctor had had to prescribe a double dose of nausea pills, because there was one thing that Sai could do aside from play Go, he could make his host sick with his sadness, and Sai wondered if he'd long ago killed Torajiro with his sadness, tears and blood mingling on a goban, which only made him sadder still until the dose of nausea pills tripled.

Sai asked his child: Do you wish you had never met me?

No, of course not, you're my best friend, Akari answered sweetly, and as soon as she got out of the hospital Sai was allowed to play NetGo until his sadness went away.

-End-

Comments

[shinra-lackey.livejournal.com]

Set while Akari is still playing NetGo as 'sai'.


Akari stepped over the threshold of the Internet Cafe, happy and care-free that her exams were finally over and her summer vacation was about to begin. Even though she would still have to attend cram school everyday, this still left a lot more time for her to indulge her best friend in his favorite past time.

"Sai," Akari thought to her companion, "now that I have summer vacation, we can play NetGo a lot more often."

"Really, Akari-chan? How often?" Sai asked excited and practically vibrating with energy.

"Well, not everyday. I still have to go to cram school, but maybe once or twice a week. And I'll still play go with you at night. I'm still playing you with a four stone handicap, but I'm getting better."

"Really? Wai! Wai! Thank you Akari-chan!" Sai said happily dancing in a little circle.

Heading to the counter, Akari looked up to see Mitani-kun's sister manning the register. Pulling out her fee, Akari made small talk, asking after Mitani-kun and how he was after they had parted ways in Junior High. While Akari was never able to convince Mitani-kun to join the Haze Junior High go club, she still had fond memories of Mitani Yuuki.

Being later in the afternoon, there were many other students milling around, chatting in groups around computers. Some were playing online role-playing games, others were giggling over their emails, and there were even a few grandmas surfing online for patterns for their next knitting projects. Akari passed all these casual users, aking a free computer in the back of the building. Facing the entrance, Akari sat down ready to watch her friend do what he loved.

Watching Sai play go while on the net was always a delight to Akari. So many people would challenge Sai as soon as she logged in, and while she would usually pick one at random to let Sai play, she would always look out for the ones who gave Sai the most challenge. Whenever Sai played against a strong opponent, he would get a fierce expression on his face and would be bouncing off the walls when they got home.

Not spotting any of the challengers that Sai truly relished, Akari and Sai played a few easy games with some amateurs whose level were not that far off from Akari's. Akari would always feel a little amazed when she thought of Sai's devotion to the game and his seemingly endless patience when dealing with weaker players. He never pushed her into learning more than she was willing to handle, and while Sai would sometime talk wistfully of the players who would challenge Torajirou, Akari would look that much harder for a challenging NetGo player for Sai.

Logging off from the NetGo website she was using, Akari wanted to check her email quickly to see if Myuki and Sora had any plans for the weekend. Having a few minutes before she needed to leave, Akari looked up as she heard a commotion up by the front counter. A weird gaijin had walked in and seemed to be arguing with Mitani-kun's sister about something. Not being quite able to hear what they were talking about over the other conversations, AKari hoped that Mitani-chan was okay. Watching discretely as the two settled down, and Mitani-san got angrier and quieter, the gaijin soon left in a huff.

Closing her email and looking back worriedly at Sai, Akari headed over towards Mitani-chan to see what was the matter.