I didn't present everything in my last post, guys. :) This is the bare-bones of a Hikaru no Go fic that I began writing in France. I won't say much on the subject (I just really hope that the background for this alternate universe is clear...), beyond the fact that I had fun playing with reversing Hikaru and Sai's roles... sort of.
As always, (***) indicates text that still needs to be written.
Also, I could still use comments/ suggestions! I still need some ideas for this thing, but I really would like to finish it...
***********
( “Hikaru… you play.” )In all honesty, the boy had been nothing before: average-to-poor grades, average skill at sports… His only saving grace was that he was spiritually sensitive (and foolish) enough to allow a possession to take place.
Now, he walked among the best of the best. The spirit of Fujiwara no Sai was – and is, but one has a tendency to use past tense with the deceased, even if they are still among us – considered one of the best go players of both his time and ours (one can also include his time with his last medium, in which he first rose to prominence and took the title of Honinbou, although it was not known to be him at the time).
It was a pity, really, that Shindou Hikaru wasn’t more……
(***)
He was also painfully… visible. Fujiwara was visible too, of course, but in that faded, old-photograph sort of way that ghosts appeared to the world. Ghosts could only be captured on film with great difficulty, and only recently had digital camera technology become advanced enough to record those who had become known as _____.
(***)
Fujiwara was oddly attached to the boy, though. It was a strange business, the sharing of souls. You would think that he would know better than to get attached to someone whose spirit would just get consumed in the end.
(***)
The boy was just baggage, really – a pair of hands and an anchor for a more important spirit.
Fujiwara-sensei was rather famous, after all. To be sure, Fujiwara was far from the first soul to have come back from the land of the dead to wander amongst the living, but he was certainly the oldest. Why, he even remembered a time when spirits could hardly be seen, and were exorcised at the first opportunity! How strange!
Faced against over a thousand years of experience, very few living people could challenge him at go; only a few of the older – and deader – pros could really put up a decent fight without any handicaps. He was also one of the oldest non-malignant spirits that mediums had come across. Currently, research was being initiated into the possibility of inanimate object possession as a replacement for human mediums to further prolong the “death spans” of the spiritually destined.
(***)
To the delight (and/or horror) of many in the go community, Kuwabara --- dan came back after suffering a heart attack at the tender age of 87, possessing a hapless young shodan by the name of Isumi .
(***)
Fujiwara looked deceptively young. If one ignored the Heian robes that he wore, and conveniently didn’t see his body’s slight translucence, one would think that he could be barely twenty five years of age.
(***)
Another reason that Fujiwara-sensei was so well-liked among the living go community was that he didn’t look… “creepy”. He had drowned himself, and so didn’t have any bloody, gaping holes in his person, nor was he missing… pieces, and so forth. The most obvious indication of the manner of his death was an occasional look of dampness in his robes or hair, and even then it wasn’t striking. Sometimes, it was even possible to forget that he had died.
(***)
((At one point, Sai gets really disappointed/depressed by something. He is quickly brought out of his funk, however, when his medium tries to discretely throw up in the corner of the room. Then, Sai is all smiles and forced cheerfulness, trying to make Hikaru feel better. Those watching don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Akira is the only one who later finds out that the emotions of the spirit strongly effect the constitution of the medium. He hadn’t realized that it was such a difficult “job”.))
(***)
Spirit’s voices were notoriously quiet. Oftentimes, a special recording device had to be used to amplify their words. It was that or have the medium repeat what was being said.
It wasn’t always evident when the great master was speaking. Sometimes, one would look over, and see Fujiwara’s mouth moving silently to form words that only the boy who shared his soul could hear. Although why Fujiwara should feel the need to discuss anything with so lowly a person, especially considering that they already shared thoughts, nobody had any idea.
(When asked by Akira about why they talk to each other aloud, Shindou/Fujiwara replies “It makes us feel like normal friends.”)
(***)
Then, Fujiwara smiled, bringing up his fan to hide his mouth modestly. His eyes remained determined, over the paper and wood.
“Hikaru… you play.”
At first, there was silence. Who was Hikaru…? Then, the medium sat down in a perfect seiza in front of the goban. The child’s eyes were very serious.
Fujiwara expected him to play his medium? Was this a joke? Was he trying to gauge he – Touya Akira’s – pride fullness?
(***)
(Hikaru’s seiza didn’t last)
(***)
While Sai was being interviewed by reporters regarding (***), Akira hesitantly turned towards the medium.
“So you… don’t like being Fujiwara-sensei’s, uh….” Akira stumbled, never having addressed someone of… Shindo’s class before. Sure, they were around, but you never talked to them.
“Spiritual anchor?” Hikaru smiled ruefully. “Well, Sai keeps me sane, really. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if it were anyone else. Sai is the only good thing about this whole business. If it weren’t for him, I’d just be playing soccer. They say that I’m nothing without him.” His gaze hardened. “But not for long.”
(***)
‘spiritual slave’
(***)
Technically, Fujiwara and Shindou shared the same body and soul, and were thus, legally, one person and therefore Shindou was already a pro. However… this situation seemed to be unique. No other medium had displayed such a level of autonomy from its spirit.
(***)
“I want him to be recognized as an individual person.” Fujiwara told the reporters seriously.
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