[bonito]
by ee970
Curiosity and the Cat
[Sunday]
One hot, lazy Tokyo afternoon, Shindou Hikaru was laying out a game (read: dozing) at his grandfather's house when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Snapping his head up, he found himself face to face with a pair of clear, inquisitive violet eyes.
Hikaru threw himself backwards with an undignified yelp. The eyes merely blinked. They were attached to a small kitten that perched on the goban as if it had emerged from the board itself. Its fur was pure white, save for jet black ears and a dark tuft at the top of its head. It assumed a regal bearing, switching its tail around to cover its face like a folding fan. The teen stared at the kitten, and the cat stared right back. The tail flicked away, and the cat took a deliberate step onto the intersection 17-8, a move that incidentally would have turned the tide of the game.
"S-Sai," Hikaru breathed.
The kitten jumped into Hikaru's lap and purred.
+ + +
Curiosity and the Cat
a Hikaru no Go spamfic
+ + +
[Monday]
"Tell me again why you've brought this animal into our home," Touya sniffled, wiping again at his red nose.
"How was I supposed to know you were allergic?" Hikaru protested. He placed the cat back on the goban, watching closely the placement of its right foot.
"We aren't allowed to have pets in this apartment," Touya said stiffly. "I didn't think it would be a problem." He punctuated this with a trumpeting blow.
"Life is full of surprises," Hikaru tossed back, placing another stone and chewing on his lower lip. He didn't understand this formation at all. "Take a chill pill...or maybe a Benadryl."
"Ha ha," Touya said, the sarcasm somewhat undercut by how nasal his voice sounded. "What are you doing, anyway? ...Why is the animal on our goban?"
"It's on my goban, and obviously we're laying out a game."
Touya just stared, pausing as if unable to parse this latest round of silliness. "Cats don't play go, Shindou."
"Duh," Hikaru replied, sticking out his tongue. He wasn't playing go with a mere cat. He was playing go with Sai, in the body of a cat. That was completely different. And if the pattern of the go happened to be somewhat imparsable, well... Maybe he just needed time to brush up. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?" he quickly added.
Touya gave a flat look. Hikaru tossed a pillow in his direction, then turned back to the cat, which was now sniffing and scratching at the tatami. "We don't have to take this," Hikaru said, pulling the cat up with some difficulty and placing it back on the goban. "Now, what's the next move..."
+ + +
[Tuesday]
Progress was slow, but the cat was improving. During one of the day's games it had managed to reinforce a small formation built in the upper right quadrant...though Hikaru was easily able to tear it down a few moves later.
In general, the cat's moves were half-brilliant, and half-insane. But who knew how long it took to get used to using higher mental functions with a feline brain? And the cat was plenty curious and affectionate, just like Sai. Hikaru decided not to push things and instead call it a night.
The kitten slept curled tight against him, the rise and fall of its little kitty chest pressing warmth into his belly in a way the ghostly Sai never could. His emotions felt vaguely turbulent beneath the surface, but before he could concentrate on any one thing, the faint sound of the kitten's breathing (and Touya's congested wheezes) had lulled him to sleep.
+ + +
[Wednesday]
"Touya." Hikaru snapped his fingers in front of the dark-haired boy's face a few times. "Oi, Touya!"
The teen started, rousing himself with a somewhat nasal cry. "Wha? What. You're yelling."
"You totally phased out there," Hikaru complained, annoyance already fading to curiosity. "You feeling okay? I can't believe you're that bored with go."
"I've been taking that allergy medication since you insisted on keeping that animal here. --Did you know I woke up this morning with it sitting on my chest? It tried to smother me!"
"I don't think the cat is trying to kill you," Hikaru deadpanned.
"Not 'trying,' succeeding. And now I feel like that time Ogata accidentally gave me champagne instead of sparkling grape juice."
"'Accidentally,' right... Anyway, what's the problem? People drink booze all the time, for fun."
Touya shook his head, nose wrinkled. "It's like my head is all foggy. I can't concentrate...I can't figure out what shapes you're building at all." He shook his head again, then squinted back at the board. "To be honest, I don't think that has anything to do with the antihistamine. What are you trying to do, Shindou?"
"I'm not doing anything," Hikaru said, trying his best to be patient. "There's gotta be a pattern here, we've just gotta figure it out."
Touya nodded automatically, then shook his head. "Wait, what do you mean, 'we'? Don't tell me you're just placing down stones willy-nilly! I may not be at my best but there's no need to be disrespectful!"
"No," Hikaru snapped. "Look, there's something deeper to this! Sai wouldn't play like this without a reason." Oh, maybe he shouldn't have said all that.
"Sai?" Touya's eyes perked up, the haze seeming to clear. "What's Sai have to do with this?"
Crap, of course Touya would've caught on to that part... He'd have to come clean now. "Sai..." Hikaru sighed. "The cat. The cat is Sai." Probably. He looked down at the kitten who was meticulously cleaning its paws.
"The...cat?" Touya blinked, then blinked again. When he spoke next, his voice trembled with emotion. "...You've had me playing go with the cat."
"No! ...Yes." Hikaru chewed on his lower lip. "I can't get him to play a straight game with me. I thought you might have better luck." As if illustrating his point, Sai leapt onto the goban and into Touya's lap.
Touya froze, eyes wide. "Shindou..."
Hikaru smirked, torn between amusement at Touya's horrified expression and a feeling not unlike rejection. "He likes you," he said sweetly. "Pet him."
Touya gave another expression of distress, but gingerly stroked the kitten's back. It purred before curling into Touya's lap. "Shindou," he repeated, sneezing despite the allergy medication. "You can't leave me with this thing!"
Maybe Sai was tired of go. For now, Hikaru certainly was. "You guys have fun," he tossed off, rising and leaving, ignoring Touya's failed attempts at going after him or even extricating the kitten from where it had hooked its claws into Touya's pants.
Outside, Hikaru just walked aimlessly, chewing on his lower lip and going over the unfinished game in his head. It didn't make sense. None of the games they'd played made sense. It was almost reminiscent of his own first few games...or some of Akari's. He rubbed his chest, grimacing. There was a different pattern emerging, and it was one he wished he couldn't read so clearly.
+ + +
[Saturday]
Touya cleared his throat for a third time, and Hikaru relented, finally accepting that he would have to wake up. The none-too-gentle prodding at his side (most likely by Touya's foot) did nothing to discourage this conclusion. Had Hikaru had the presence of mind to think of it, he would've wondered why Touya was bothering him in the first place, since after their first month together, Touya had long given up on seeing Hikaru in the AM unless he had an early game.
Hikaru reluctantly unwrapped himself from where he was twisted up in his sheets just enough so that he could blearily look up at his roommate. "Whassup," he mumbled, certain he didn't have a match today.
Touya's face was oddly blank (if red and puffy), his arms folded. "Either the cat goes, or I go."
Huh? Hikaru scrubbed at his face. "Huh?"
"I can't live like this. I am allergic to its dander, it shredded my favorite argyle sweater, and it just used my bedding as a litter box."
Oh. That sucked. But... "When did all this happen?"
"That's exactly it, you've ignored me ever since you got that accursed thing. I thought we became roommates because we--" He broke off before letting off a string of violent sneezes.
Hikaru scrubbed at his face again. "Touya, you can't possibly be asking me to choose between you and Sai."
The dark-haired teen's face went dark. "You don't have to choose. Have fun with your cat," he called, stalking away.
"Touya--" Hikaru tried to twist himself out of the rest of his blankets but ended up even more tangled. The front door slammed shut before he could scooch himself over.
Dammit.
+ + +
The cat was gone by the end of the day.
It was a hard choice, to be certain. But when it came down to it, Sai's reincarnation or no, the cat probably couldn't come up with 50,000 yen for rent and utilities every month. Not with those go skills.
So, back to Grandpa's house it went. To make things especially neat, just as Hikaru showed up, there was a call regarding the lost cat posters he'd been forced to put up. A little girl ran up a few minutes later, cheeks tear-streaked and ponytails askew. "There he is! My Tora-chan!" she cried.
Hikaru automatically pulled the kitten closer, but it wriggled out of his grip, leaping into her outstretched arms. "Thanks for finding my Tora-chan, mister!" she burbled, bowing and sticking out a dubiously-clean hand. "I missed him so much!"
"Ah...no problem," Hikaru said. "Just...keep a better eye on him next time, okay? You never know when he could disappear."
The girl nodded emphatically, then reached out and gave him a brief and somewhat sticky hug. "I will!" And then they were gone.
+ + +
Touya was back by the time Hikaru returned to their apartment that evening, albeit with a new futon. He didn't even seem to hold a grudge after seeing Hikaru's melancholy mood. Apparently regaining the ability to breathe freely did much to improve one's demeanor.
"So, the animal got taken away?" Touya asked, sounding much more hopeful than sympathetic as he finished his nightly routine.
"Mm-hmm," Hikaru mm-hmmed, crawling into his futon and turning out the light.
"...Sorry?" Touya offered.
"No, you're not," Hikaru answered flatly. That was true, so Touya didn't really respond, just shifted a bit. Hikaru sighed, staring up at the darkened ceiling. "I wanted me and that cat to work out so bad. We had a real bond, you know?"
"Shindou..." Touya shifted, turning towards him. When he spoke, his voice was gentle. "Now it has a bond with that little girl. You can't really fault them for that."
Indeed, he couldn't. While it was true that while he missed Sai a great deal, sometimes a cat was just a cat. "Sorry about all this, Touya. You're right...cats can't play go." And, Hikaru decided, he was alright with that.
"Either way, it's in a better place now," Touya continued.
"You make it sound like it's dead."
"Hmph," he scowled. "It destroyed my favorite sweater."
Hikaru snorted. "It did you a favor, that thing was hideous."
A second later, he was beaned in the head with Touya's pillow.
+ + +
[months later]
On a cool, crisp Tokyo afternoon, Hikaru ran into a familiar little girl carrying a very familiar cat--at the Kiin, of all places.
"Hey mister, guess what! Thanks to Torajirou here, I'm gonna be an insei," she grinned, scratching the dark tuft on the kitten's head. "Wish us luck!"
Hikaru blinked, staring after where the pair skipped off.
"...Sai!?"
Curiosity and the Cat
[Sunday]
One hot, lazy Tokyo afternoon, Shindou Hikaru was laying out a game (read: dozing) at his grandfather's house when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Snapping his head up, he found himself face to face with a pair of clear, inquisitive violet eyes.
Hikaru threw himself backwards with an undignified yelp. The eyes merely blinked. They were attached to a small kitten that perched on the goban as if it had emerged from the board itself. Its fur was pure white, save for jet black ears and a dark tuft at the top of its head. It assumed a regal bearing, switching its tail around to cover its face like a folding fan. The teen stared at the kitten, and the cat stared right back. The tail flicked away, and the cat took a deliberate step onto the intersection 17-8, a move that incidentally would have turned the tide of the game.
"S-Sai," Hikaru breathed.
The kitten jumped into Hikaru's lap and purred.
+ + +
Curiosity and the Cat
a Hikaru no Go spamfic
+ + +
[Monday]
"Tell me again why you've brought this animal into our home," Touya sniffled, wiping again at his red nose.
"How was I supposed to know you were allergic?" Hikaru protested. He placed the cat back on the goban, watching closely the placement of its right foot.
"We aren't allowed to have pets in this apartment," Touya said stiffly. "I didn't think it would be a problem." He punctuated this with a trumpeting blow.
"Life is full of surprises," Hikaru tossed back, placing another stone and chewing on his lower lip. He didn't understand this formation at all. "Take a chill pill...or maybe a Benadryl."
"Ha ha," Touya said, the sarcasm somewhat undercut by how nasal his voice sounded. "What are you doing, anyway? ...Why is the animal on our goban?"
"It's on my goban, and obviously we're laying out a game."
Touya just stared, pausing as if unable to parse this latest round of silliness. "Cats don't play go, Shindou."
"Duh," Hikaru replied, sticking out his tongue. He wasn't playing go with a mere cat. He was playing go with Sai, in the body of a cat. That was completely different. And if the pattern of the go happened to be somewhat imparsable, well... Maybe he just needed time to brush up. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?" he quickly added.
Touya gave a flat look. Hikaru tossed a pillow in his direction, then turned back to the cat, which was now sniffing and scratching at the tatami. "We don't have to take this," Hikaru said, pulling the cat up with some difficulty and placing it back on the goban. "Now, what's the next move..."
+ + +
[Tuesday]
Progress was slow, but the cat was improving. During one of the day's games it had managed to reinforce a small formation built in the upper right quadrant...though Hikaru was easily able to tear it down a few moves later.
In general, the cat's moves were half-brilliant, and half-insane. But who knew how long it took to get used to using higher mental functions with a feline brain? And the cat was plenty curious and affectionate, just like Sai. Hikaru decided not to push things and instead call it a night.
The kitten slept curled tight against him, the rise and fall of its little kitty chest pressing warmth into his belly in a way the ghostly Sai never could. His emotions felt vaguely turbulent beneath the surface, but before he could concentrate on any one thing, the faint sound of the kitten's breathing (and Touya's congested wheezes) had lulled him to sleep.
+ + +
[Wednesday]
"Touya." Hikaru snapped his fingers in front of the dark-haired boy's face a few times. "Oi, Touya!"
The teen started, rousing himself with a somewhat nasal cry. "Wha? What. You're yelling."
"You totally phased out there," Hikaru complained, annoyance already fading to curiosity. "You feeling okay? I can't believe you're that bored with go."
"I've been taking that allergy medication since you insisted on keeping that animal here. --Did you know I woke up this morning with it sitting on my chest? It tried to smother me!"
"I don't think the cat is trying to kill you," Hikaru deadpanned.
"Not 'trying,' succeeding. And now I feel like that time Ogata accidentally gave me champagne instead of sparkling grape juice."
"'Accidentally,' right... Anyway, what's the problem? People drink booze all the time, for fun."
Touya shook his head, nose wrinkled. "It's like my head is all foggy. I can't concentrate...I can't figure out what shapes you're building at all." He shook his head again, then squinted back at the board. "To be honest, I don't think that has anything to do with the antihistamine. What are you trying to do, Shindou?"
"I'm not doing anything," Hikaru said, trying his best to be patient. "There's gotta be a pattern here, we've just gotta figure it out."
Touya nodded automatically, then shook his head. "Wait, what do you mean, 'we'? Don't tell me you're just placing down stones willy-nilly! I may not be at my best but there's no need to be disrespectful!"
"No," Hikaru snapped. "Look, there's something deeper to this! Sai wouldn't play like this without a reason." Oh, maybe he shouldn't have said all that.
"Sai?" Touya's eyes perked up, the haze seeming to clear. "What's Sai have to do with this?"
Crap, of course Touya would've caught on to that part... He'd have to come clean now. "Sai..." Hikaru sighed. "The cat. The cat is Sai." Probably. He looked down at the kitten who was meticulously cleaning its paws.
"The...cat?" Touya blinked, then blinked again. When he spoke next, his voice trembled with emotion. "...You've had me playing go with the cat."
"No! ...Yes." Hikaru chewed on his lower lip. "I can't get him to play a straight game with me. I thought you might have better luck." As if illustrating his point, Sai leapt onto the goban and into Touya's lap.
Touya froze, eyes wide. "Shindou..."
Hikaru smirked, torn between amusement at Touya's horrified expression and a feeling not unlike rejection. "He likes you," he said sweetly. "Pet him."
Touya gave another expression of distress, but gingerly stroked the kitten's back. It purred before curling into Touya's lap. "Shindou," he repeated, sneezing despite the allergy medication. "You can't leave me with this thing!"
Maybe Sai was tired of go. For now, Hikaru certainly was. "You guys have fun," he tossed off, rising and leaving, ignoring Touya's failed attempts at going after him or even extricating the kitten from where it had hooked its claws into Touya's pants.
Outside, Hikaru just walked aimlessly, chewing on his lower lip and going over the unfinished game in his head. It didn't make sense. None of the games they'd played made sense. It was almost reminiscent of his own first few games...or some of Akari's. He rubbed his chest, grimacing. There was a different pattern emerging, and it was one he wished he couldn't read so clearly.
+ + +
[Saturday]
Touya cleared his throat for a third time, and Hikaru relented, finally accepting that he would have to wake up. The none-too-gentle prodding at his side (most likely by Touya's foot) did nothing to discourage this conclusion. Had Hikaru had the presence of mind to think of it, he would've wondered why Touya was bothering him in the first place, since after their first month together, Touya had long given up on seeing Hikaru in the AM unless he had an early game.
Hikaru reluctantly unwrapped himself from where he was twisted up in his sheets just enough so that he could blearily look up at his roommate. "Whassup," he mumbled, certain he didn't have a match today.
Touya's face was oddly blank (if red and puffy), his arms folded. "Either the cat goes, or I go."
Huh? Hikaru scrubbed at his face. "Huh?"
"I can't live like this. I am allergic to its dander, it shredded my favorite argyle sweater, and it just used my bedding as a litter box."
Oh. That sucked. But... "When did all this happen?"
"That's exactly it, you've ignored me ever since you got that accursed thing. I thought we became roommates because we--" He broke off before letting off a string of violent sneezes.
Hikaru scrubbed at his face again. "Touya, you can't possibly be asking me to choose between you and Sai."
The dark-haired teen's face went dark. "You don't have to choose. Have fun with your cat," he called, stalking away.
"Touya--" Hikaru tried to twist himself out of the rest of his blankets but ended up even more tangled. The front door slammed shut before he could scooch himself over.
Dammit.
+ + +
The cat was gone by the end of the day.
It was a hard choice, to be certain. But when it came down to it, Sai's reincarnation or no, the cat probably couldn't come up with 50,000 yen for rent and utilities every month. Not with those go skills.
So, back to Grandpa's house it went. To make things especially neat, just as Hikaru showed up, there was a call regarding the lost cat posters he'd been forced to put up. A little girl ran up a few minutes later, cheeks tear-streaked and ponytails askew. "There he is! My Tora-chan!" she cried.
Hikaru automatically pulled the kitten closer, but it wriggled out of his grip, leaping into her outstretched arms. "Thanks for finding my Tora-chan, mister!" she burbled, bowing and sticking out a dubiously-clean hand. "I missed him so much!"
"Ah...no problem," Hikaru said. "Just...keep a better eye on him next time, okay? You never know when he could disappear."
The girl nodded emphatically, then reached out and gave him a brief and somewhat sticky hug. "I will!" And then they were gone.
+ + +
Touya was back by the time Hikaru returned to their apartment that evening, albeit with a new futon. He didn't even seem to hold a grudge after seeing Hikaru's melancholy mood. Apparently regaining the ability to breathe freely did much to improve one's demeanor.
"So, the animal got taken away?" Touya asked, sounding much more hopeful than sympathetic as he finished his nightly routine.
"Mm-hmm," Hikaru mm-hmmed, crawling into his futon and turning out the light.
"...Sorry?" Touya offered.
"No, you're not," Hikaru answered flatly. That was true, so Touya didn't really respond, just shifted a bit. Hikaru sighed, staring up at the darkened ceiling. "I wanted me and that cat to work out so bad. We had a real bond, you know?"
"Shindou..." Touya shifted, turning towards him. When he spoke, his voice was gentle. "Now it has a bond with that little girl. You can't really fault them for that."
Indeed, he couldn't. While it was true that while he missed Sai a great deal, sometimes a cat was just a cat. "Sorry about all this, Touya. You're right...cats can't play go." And, Hikaru decided, he was alright with that.
"Either way, it's in a better place now," Touya continued.
"You make it sound like it's dead."
"Hmph," he scowled. "It destroyed my favorite sweater."
Hikaru snorted. "It did you a favor, that thing was hideous."
A second later, he was beaned in the head with Touya's pillow.
+ + +
[months later]
On a cool, crisp Tokyo afternoon, Hikaru ran into a familiar little girl carrying a very familiar cat--at the Kiin, of all places.
"Hey mister, guess what! Thanks to Torajirou here, I'm gonna be an insei," she grinned, scratching the dark tuft on the kitten's head. "Wish us luck!"
Hikaru blinked, staring after where the pair skipped off.
"...Sai!?"