Prayer to the
Gods
By: fruor
Summary: Touya Akira was always one step further than the rest but when faced with death, Shindo Hikaru was miles away.
Rating: K+ (mentions of death)
Genre: Angst
Pairing: AkiHika (if you try to look)
Disclaimer: HnG is written by Hotta Yumi and illustrated by Obata Takeshi.
Note: I wanted to try some canon Akihika but it's been a long time since I've seen the manga so I don't know if it's in character enough. Personally though, I don't think it's Akihika-ish enough XD
Touya Akira was thankful for being invited. It was a proof that Shindo Hikaru had valued him past their rivalry. But kneeling in front of a small shrine and saying prayers to a person he had never known felt too awkward and inappropriate that Akira found himself wishing that he had never come in the first place.
Beside him, Hikaru whispered his last words – words which reached Akira's ears in the form of incoherent mumbles. He stood up in solemn silence and walked away from the memoir. Akira followed suit, dusting away the non-existent dirt on his black trousers. Behind them, the line moved forward and the next batch kneeled down and paid their respects.
Hikaru unknowingly led his rival through the house, passing corners and corridors with ease. He walked around in a strange uncharacteristic silence that made the crowds in the halls part like the Red Sea. Akira remained quiet and simply followed his rival, fixing his tie and straightening the sleeves of his coat nervously every time the guests place their eyes on him.
"Isn't he one of those go pros?" He heard one of the old men say.
"Must be one of his friends." Said another, nodding his head slightly towards Hikaru, "I heard he's also a pro, a famous one in fact. Who would've thought?"
On the corner of his eyes, Akira saw the other nod, "Yeah. He was so proud of him, he'd spend most of his time bragging about him to us. After all, he continued his dream."
"Well, pro or not, he was still one good go player." A chorus of agreements was the last thing Akira heard before Hikaru finally led him far from the mourners and into an empty part of the house. Hikaru had, in the same silence, sat upon floor and stared absently at the single window in the barren room.
Akira looked at the other and wondered if he remembers that he followed him. He closed the door behind him as quietly as possible but the old and rusted hinges created a long and wailing creak that bounced through the empty room. He waited for Hikaru to react – a glance, a nod of his head or even a simple grunt – but the usually obnoxious teen remained mesmerized by the window view. Akira then released the breath he didn't knew he was holding.
Touya Akira had always been a man of patience but waiting for Hikaru to make the slightest noise or movement had tested his limits. It was strange, having a silent moment with one of the loudest go players that existed in their time. He found himself wondering if he should be here. Hikaru must be mourning for the loss and he knew, by ethics, that when a person is mourning, it was only right to leave him to his thoughts. Give him space, so to say.
With a soft sigh, Akira pushed himself from the door his back was leaning upon. He gazed one last time at the silent and still form of his rival then wrapped a hand around the brass doorknob to his left.
"Wanna play a game, Touya?"
Akira blinked a couple of times before turning his head back to Hikaru. He opened his mouth and waited for words – any kind of word – to come out but all his throat came up with was a barely audible croak.
"I said, do you wanna play a game? There's a goban in the closet." Hikaru jabbed a hand to his right. He looked at the other with such clear olive eyes that Akira doubted Hikaru and his solemnity a moment ago.
Unable to force any sound out of his mouth, Akira nodded and Hikaru stood up, roughly dusting off his black jeans and polo, and conjured up the goban he had spoken of from the closet. With a bright grin, he placed the board in the middle of the room and sat down cross-legged in front of it. He lightly tapped the wood with his trademark fan which he took out from somewhere within his clothes and smiled at his rival: an invitation for a game.
Akira sighed, kneeled down across the other and sat in perfect seiza position in front of the board. The two go players bowed their heads over the goban, said their honorary greetings and, with Akira taking black, they started the game in a silence that Akira himself found uncomfortable.
"Was he…" Akira started, just right after the fifth stone was placed, "…was he the one who taught you how to play?"
"Hmm?" Hikaru placed another stone, "Who did?" he mumbled, barely taking his eyes away from their game.
Akira frowned and felt as though such disrespect was given to him instead of the forgotten. He placed his next stone quite loudly on the board, "Your grandfather, Shindo."
"Hey, I can't play you tomorrow, okay?" Hikaru said casually in the middle of one game.
Akira frowned then raised an eyebrow in question, "And why is that?"
Hikaru shrugged then placed his next stone, cutting his opponent's territory. Akira was ready with an angry reply but Hikaru had spoken first, eyes still rested upon the goban, "My grandfather just died. We're holding the memorial service tomorrow."
At that moment, Akira nearly dropped his stone. He glanced at his rival but found no change in his expression and voice. "I'm so—"
"Do you wanna come?"
This time, Touya Akira really did drop his stone on the wooden surface of the goban, a soft patter of pa-chi reaching both of their ears.
Hikaru turned his eyes to his rival, blinked a couple of times and, to Akira's shock, burst out in loud laughter.
"No, no! Jii-san tried to teach me how to play but I was so bored. I spent those times sleeping instead." He shook his head vigorously as hearty laughter echoed through the empty room. "You must've heard them talking about jii-san playing go. The only times I've played him was to get some extra cash." He said, grinning like a mischievious cat, "And you of all people should know who my teacher is!"
Sai. It was Sai, Akira knew, but still, it unnerved him to see his rival laughing so normally. He didn't know what was worse: Hikaru escaping his sorrow through laughter, or Hikaru neglecting his grandfather's death. "How can you laugh like that! Your grandfather just died, Shindo! You should be ashamed of yourself for acting like this!" Oh, he hoped Hikaru wouldn't act this way if he died.
"Sheesh, calm down, Touya!" Hikaru raised his arms in mock surrender, chuckling softly under his breath, "Why the hell are you so angry? Whose grandfather died anyway? Ain't it mine, not yours?"
Akira couldn't take it. Returning back the stone in his hand to its respective go-ke, he dropped his arms sharply to his sides and said, "Why are you acting like this, Shindo!"
Hikaru stared at his rival with sudden calm eyes that dropped the room into a pool of silence. He carefully pressed a white stone between his fingers and placed it on the board then he spoke, "How should I act, Touya? Depressed and regretful? That I should show my mourning in every way possible?"
Hikaru's voice was calm and serious, the type of voice Akira could only remember hearing from his own father, and it made him freeze. "It would be better than escaping it." He noted vaguely the sudden meekness of his voice and the slight shaking of his hard fists as he slowly unclenched them.
"But I'm not." Hikaru replied, a slight whine edging his tone before he spoke, once again, in the same calm and serious tone, "Depression would only eat your soul. Regret would drag you down. The value of mourning could only last for so long…." He sighed a long and heavy sigh, "I've already said my prayers, done my part and that's it, nothing more."
A soft smile that was somewhat sad yet utterly peaceful flashed across Hikaru's lips, as though he remembered a pleasant memory. "And the only thing you can do…" he said in a voice considerably softer than the one he spoke with before, "…is move forward because there's nothing you can gain back there."
Shindo Hikaru was a mystery of the world, Akira had always believed. He was, most of the time, obnoxious and forgetful like a careless spoiled child but there were some moment that Akira would wonder just how long his rival had lived on this world with the unusual wisdom that passed through his lips.
Akira wondered if there was enough time in his life to fully understand his rival.
"That, and jii-san would probably kill me if I lose my games because of his death." Hikaru grinned brightly, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand, "He won't be happy in his resting place if he has nothing to brag about no matter how happy the place could be!" his laugh reached his moon crest-shaped eyes and Akira found himself smiling back.
Dark eyes scanned the formation of their stones on the goban. Akira mildly noted the natural beauty of their play and his smiled widened at the slightest. He took a black stone from the wooden container at his side and responded to his opponent's latest move with a soft pa-chi of his stone.
On that day, Touya Akira lost against Shindo Hikaru in more than just the go game.
Damn, it came out kinda angsty. I guess that should be expected when dealing with death. I'd like to make one of Akira's own if I have time though it might not be a continuation of this :)
As for Waya and Isumi not being invited, I just don't think Hikaru is the type of person to mention a family death unless asked. Well, family deaths aren't really conversation material so, yeah.