Title: Tricks and Traps
Author: Luce Red
Series: Crossover of Petshop of Horrors and Hikaru no Go
Disclaimer: Petshop of Horrors is the work of Matsuri Akino; Hikago, Hotta and Obata. Characters appear here for non-profit entertainment only.
Type/Notes: General fic. Zero sex, zero violence.
Summary: Hikaru and his ramen cravings land them in the strangest places.

-------------------------

"This is Chinatown, Shindou," Touya said. "I don't think you can find Japanese food here." Much as he hated to complain, his feet were tired after being dragged around the crowded place for the last hour.

"The concierge said there was a Japanese restaurant around here," Shindou said, his face grim with determination. "The right one."

Touya deduced that it was futile to tell Shindou that one could also find Japanese food at the hotel, or at any number of fine Japanese restaurants in the city area. Since arriving in America, Shindou had been on a near-obsessive search for ramen.

Not just any type of ramen: the broth had to be from the best beef bones that had been simmered for up to eight hours, flavoured with seasonal vegetables and, of all things, apples. The ramen itself had to be handmade, of the same type found in Japan. Even the naruto had to be the exact same size and texture. Shindou appeared to have an encyclopedic knowledge of what made ramen, ramen, and had declared those tasted so far to be inferior. Touya had heard less exhaustive descriptions of Go games.

"This place is confusing!" Shindou grumbled, after they had gone round the same block twice. "It's like a maze, how can anyone get around here?"

Touya refrained from pointing out that it was not confusing if you had a rudimentary sense of direction, and basic navigation skills. "Shindou, let's go back. You can look for it tomorrow."

Shindou shook his head. "No, the tournament starts tomorrow, and we won't have the time," he said. He looked around, as if expecting a ramen stand to appear out of thin air. "Damn, it's starting to rain," he said, glancing up.

Sure enough, heavy droplets were starting to fall, faster and faster.

"Here," Shindou said, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a shop. "Let's wait for a moment first," he said. "Maybe we can ask the shopkeeper to call a taxi for us… uh."

Touya turned around to see what Shindou was looking at, and belatedly realized what a strange place they were in. True, many of the shops in Chinatown had heavy, obvious Chinese décor, but Touya had the feeling that the beautifully furnished room was not merely the work of an overzealous decorator with a generous budget. More than that, there was the man who seemed to have appeared from the back of the shop, who seemed to be even more exotic than any single item in the shop.

He had a young-looking face, but did not give the impression of youth. He had long black hair that fell almost to his shoulders, giving him an almost feminine look, but even the long dress--a cheongsam, Touya realized--he was wearing, he did not give the impression of someone weak. On the contrary, he looked dangerous. He felt dangerous. Touya did not realize he had taken a step back until Shindou muttered, and Touya glanced down to see that he had stepped on Shindou's foot.

"Welcome to my pet shop," the man said in English, approaching them with a smile. His voice was low and melodious, and it seemed to Touya that he was trying to tone down whatever impression of himself that he had projected to the two of them. And there was no doubt at all in Touya's mind that this man was highly skilled in letting other people see only what he wanted them to see in him. Maybe it was because he was so used to seeing behind appearances in Go, that he could see how that carefully manicured image of harmlessness, of an exaggerated Oriental exotic air, was not harmless at all. Touya's nerves tingled.

"Er, hi!" Shindou tried to respond in his English. "We, er, came in," he gestured outside, and whispered to Touya, "how do you say, 'we came in to avoid the rain?'"

Touya stared. Shindou seemed entirely unaware of the unusual aura that surrounded the shopkeeper.

"Ah, you're Japanese!" the shopkeeper exclaimed in fluent, unaccented Japanese, evidently having overheard Shindou's question. "I'm Count D, and this is my pet shop."

"Oh," Shindou glanced once at Touya, and grinned widely. "You can speak Japanese. Cool! We, er," he gestured at the door. "We wanted to avoid the rain," he said, and bowed a little. "Sorry for the intrusion."

Touya bowed as well. It seemed the right thing to do.

"Not at all," Count D smiled, and came forward.

Touya noticed that one of his eyes was violet, and the other yellow--almost golden. He shivered a little, and both eyes focused on him, for a split-second. Touya swallowed. Then the Count asked, "You're visitors to our fair city, then?" and the moment was lost.

Shindou nodded in answer to his question. "We've been here for three days," he said.

"What brings you to Chinatown?" the Count asked, then stopped as though reminding himself. "Where are my manners? Please, have a seat. Since you came in to avoid the rain, you're not here to purchase a pet."

For some reason, he sounded faintly regretful and indulgent at the same time. Touya couldn't help feeling that he would be wise never to buy anything from this man.

He soon found himself sitting on an elegant chaise made of some kind of dark wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Beside him, Shindou was regaling the Count D about his adventures in finding authentic ramen.

"Some tea, perhaps? You must be thirsty after searching for a whole afternoon," the Count said, setting down a tray of cups suddenly.

Touya did not even see where he got the tea from.

"I think I might know which place you're talking about," the Count said finally. "Mrs. Chen's son-in-law is from Japan; I understand he opened a small restaurant last year. I shall give you the address later."

"Really?" Shindou asked. "Thank you very much!" he said with his usual enthusiasm.

"Now, you said you came to America three days ago," the Count said, smiling with polite curiosity. "You're not tourists, are you?"

"Nope," Shindou said. "We're here for the World Go Tournament. It's being held in Los Angeles this year."

The Count raised a hand to his lips in an artful gesture of surprise. "You play Go?" he asked. "Both of you?"

"Yeah," Shindou eyed Touya. "We're the Japanese representatives. And one of us is going to beat the other."

If anything, the Count's eyes grew keener. "Ah, that explains it," he said, glancing at Touya.

"Explains what?" Shindou asked, taking up his cup of tea.

The Count continued to smile. "I was just thinking, when I first saw the two of you just now, that you couldn't just be friends. You're rivals as well, right?"

Shindou blinked in astonishment. "How did you know that?"

The Count replied, "I am a businessman, and I need to seize up my customers quickly, to make a sale. But you're not customers!" he was quick to assure them. "I'm afraid I can't sell you anything, as you will be in the country only for a short period."

"Wouldn't have wanted one anyway," Shindou said, before he turned red. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I can't take care of a pet properly anyway. I play too much Go."

"Oh, yes. An intriguing game, I've always thought," the Count said. "One can lose count of the time when the game is right," he added.

Shindou groaned. "I know the feeling. One time Touya and I played so much that we forgot about the closing times for the subway, and I had to spend the night at his place." He brightened, as he belatedly realized, "You play Go, too, Count D?"

"Of course," the Count gestured, and gestured.

At a far corner, there was a simple looking Go board, beautiful in its starkness. Touya stared, sure that the corner had been empty just moments ago.

-----------------

The Count's Go board was of Chinese design, wide and heavy, with low legs so that it could be placed on a table, with the legs carved to resemble bamboo and on the corners decorated with bamboo leaves. It was superbly made, and, Touya was sure, unique in the world.

"Shall we start?" the Count asked, after arranging the Go board on the table below to his satisfaction. He took a seat opposite them, every movement languid and dainty, and inclined his head politely with a smile.

There was danger in that smile. Something told Touya that the Count was no amateur at the game. Despite his young-looking face, the Count gave him the impression of someone who had played hundreds and thousands of games, and had triumphed in them without the least difficulty. Odd, because surely no ordinary human should have been able to give that impression of experience.

Shindou nodded eagerly. "Yeah, of course," he said, leaning forward in anticipation. "Shall we nigiri?"

"Ah, but my dear boy," the Count said, tittering. "You are a professional. Highly ranked, I'm sure. Don't you think you ought to give me a handicap?" he teased.

Touya swallowed as all signs turned to 'danger' at that. The Count, he was sure, was tricking Shindou into insulting him. Shindou, he wanted to say, don't give him a handicap. And without knowing how, Touya sensed that it would be deadly to offer this Count D an insult.

Seconds passed. Shindou stared at the Count in perplexity. "A handicap?" Shindou asked in genuine confusion. "Why?"

Touya remembered belatedly that in all the years he had turned pro, Shindou had never seen the necessity of offering a handicap except to his students. Even with amateurs, strangers, and other challengers, Shindou always took them at face value, and played with them without compromise. It earned him a dangerous reputation, as he often ending up defeating other players in no time.

The Count smiled a little. "I was thinking that it might make it fairer to me," he suggested in his friendliest voice.

Touya shivered.

Shindou blinked, and shook his head. "No need." His hand went to the fan in his pocket, and brought it out. "In fact," Shindou continued, his eyes narrowed for a second, his grip on the fan showing how serious he was. "I think you should give me a handicap."

The Count stared at him for a second, his eyes widening to their fullest, as though to take in all of Shindou in one look. "Me? I'm just an amateur," he said.

Shindou hesitated, before glancing at Touya as though to ask, 'Am I crazy?'

Touya wondered if there was a way to convey the message, "DANGER" mentally.

With an almost imperceptible nod, Shindou turned to the Count again. "Yes, really," he said, as though to an unspoken question.

The Count's eyes narrowed for a split-second, before he seemed to regain his calm, and even smiled. "Two stones, shall we say?" he asked in an amused voice.

"Pathetically insufficient," Shindou declared, sounding as though he had decided to enter into the spirit of the exchange. "But I'll take it."

Touya watched as Shindou exchanged his white stones for the black ones and placed two stones on the board. His hands went back to his fan, holding it as he bowed. "Please give me your guidance."

The Count eyed the fan, before breaking into a soft laugh. "Ah, let's see how you'll play, then," he said, and waited.

--------------

The game exploded with a speed that should have been astonishing, but wasn't.

After only five hands, Shindou gave a soft, muffled "huh", and laid down his fan on the table.  It was the earliest Touya had seen him do that yet. 

The Count glanced at the fan once again, before a smile crooked his lips.

Touya watched, his eyes wary.

The game had spread with the suddenness of water ripples floating across a pond, the lines of black and white seeming to waver but their shapes ever-changing. 

The Count did not seem to play with conscious intent, but he eluded Shindou's attacks just the same, with an ease that was nothing short of miraculous.  The white stones seemed to float across the board, thwarting Shindou's shape as naturally as a bird flying free of a mis-cast net.

Finally, Shindou seemed to shift slightly in his seat, and he smiled, rueful.  "I should resign, shouldn't I?" he asked, almost cheerful.

Touya could have sworn that he saw a flicker of surprise appear in the Count's face at that.  It seemed that he wasn't expecting Shindou to say that yet.

The Count said, "You have keen eyes."

"Well, I would have to be pretty stupid not to see, you know?" Shindou retorted, exchanging a glance with Touya.  Touya returned the look warily, wondering what was going to happen now.  Maybe they could make a run for it...

"Really." 

The dry, indifferent tone made Shindou turn back to the Count.  "But I thought I'd give it my best shot, just the same," Shindou went on.  "I mean, you gave me a perfect opening by asking me for a handicap.  You. Asking. Me."

"Ah.  And so the handicap you asked me for--that was your preemptive attack, wasn't it?" the Count asked. He sounded inwardly amused.

Shindou set his chin.  "Yeah," he said in his most aggressive tone.

After a split second, the Count chuckled.  "Well done.  Not every Go player appreciates the fact that a game will begin even before the first hand is played."

But Shindou seemed dismissive of the approval.  "Much use that is, with this game," he said, looking down to study it again.  "I don't think I can continue."

Touya had to admit that Shindou was right, even though the Go enthusiast in him rebelled at the idea of stopping the game, just like that.  There were plenty of hands one could play, but as things stood now, the ending was the same.  Nonetheless, the game bristled with potential, as though the perfect path was about to appear the very next moment.  He wondered what it would be like if he had been the one to play.

"What if I accept reverse komi?"

Shindou's head snapped up, his eyes flashing at the Count's words.  "Are you serious?"  He exchanged a glance with Touya, who was just as shocked. 

It was unheard of, to change the rules of the game half-way, and in such an crucial way too.  The existence of komi--or its lack, as in a handicapped game--was essential to the way a player planned his strategy and timed his attacks.  For White, to add a reverse komi to the handicap of two stones was a very great concession, and in some cases, it would almost be insulting.

The Count shrugged.  "I've rarely had such an interesting game.  It would be a pity to end in mid-game, don't you think?  I suggest we take it to the end."  His eyes flickered to Touya.  "I think your rival feels the same way."

"Huh.  Yes, it's a pity," Shindou stared at the Go board again, his eyes flickering as they traced the paths made by his black stones, measuring them against the white stones.  He looked up.  "Five-and-a-half moku," he said.

The Count raised his eyebrows.  "I believe the current rules call for eight-and-a-half moku," he said.

Shindou nodded.  "Yeah.  If we were at the tournament.  But this is reverse komi, and we're not at the tournament.  Besides, Touya is playing with me."

"Shindou!" Touya hissed, alarmed.

There was a second of silence, before the Count nodded.  "The game has continued.  You are already countering my hand, Shindou-san.  Audacious."

Shindou said, holding the Count's gaze steadily, "Not at all."

Then the Count smiled, rather like a Cheshire Cat.

Shindou grabbed Touya's left hand as his gaze sharpened on the Go board.

Touya had never played a game together with anyone else before; both he and Shindou were much too competitive to do anything except play against each other.  He knew the principle of it--paired games were extremely popular among some players--but he had never felt it was for him, or for Shindou.  This time, though, he could feel the rhythms of the game flowing through his mind.  The tight, warm grip on his hand seemed to telegraph Shindou's thoughts, and Touya took heart from that.

Sometimes they placed the hands in turns, and sometimes Touya took the lead, disengaging them from the Count's deceptively elegant traps with the experience learnt from playing the best of Japan's pros.  Sometimes Shindou took over, countering the formal, almost traditional set-ups with abrupt slices, and sometimes they consulted each other in low mutters, but that was almost unnecessary.  He and Shindou had been able to anticipate each other's Go before, but never as perfectly as this.

Reverse komi opened up the game to dizzying possibilities, yet Touya fancied that the brightest path seemed to leap out at them simultaneously.  The sensation of being surrounded by shimmering lines almost overwhelmed him.  He felt light-headed--could it be that they would finally reach the Hand of God, like this?

Time seemed to pass like a roar in his ears; the constant 'pachi' of Go stones echoed as though in a great hall.

Touya knew, without looking, that Shindou's concentration was intense, almost eerily so; even the sound of his breathing was unusually quiet.  But he knew these things as though they were from a great distance: the game was in him, and he was in it--he thought he might even be able to see the paths on the Go board before they appeared, if only he watched carefully enough.  Droplets of perspiration collected on his own face, turning his eyelashes wet; he shook his eyes clear, and kept playing, his senses in sync with Shindou's.

This time, it was the Count who blinked first.  Touya had looked up, sensing the change in the atmosphere, just in time to see the bright golden eye flare with a sudden light.  He tensed; the shining paths in his mind receded like flowing water, leaving him drained.  He must have made a sound.

Shindou's hand, in the action of reaching into the go-ke, hesitated as he glanced first at Touya, then at the Count.  "What..." he said, and his voice was husky, as though he hadn't spoken for a long time.

"Interesting," the Count said, as unruffled as ever.

"Er," Shindou said, looking again from the Go board to the Count, and then to Touya, as though in confusion.  Shindou had always been capable of throwing himself so thoroughly into a game that he became disoriented when the game ended.  "What happened?" he asked.

"I think, Shindou-san, Touya-san, you best see for yourself."  Without seeming to move, the Count was suddenly standing behind them, looking down at the Go board from their side.

Touya caught his breath.

Shindou was frowning.  "But we haven't reached the end," he said, then blinked as he studied the game anew.  "I could have sworn..." he glanced at Touya.

The game looked as though it could have been played in three dimensions at once.  The patterns of black and white stones laid up against each other, as though they could leap up and engage in an a fight in mid-air, and fall back onto the Go board.  Ordinary shapes and walls of defenses metamorphosed, like optical illusions if one squinted, into battalions and underground struggles.

"How did that happen?" Touya whispered. 

Shindou said, "I didn't realize it would be like this."  He frowned, and reached instinctively for his fan.

Both of them stared as the fan disintegrated, leaving nothing but a elongated pile of dust.

"There's an interesting story associated with Go," the Count said into their amazement.  He was now sitting at his side of the Go board again.

Shindou swallowed.

"'Once, a woodcutter in China stopped in a forest to watch two men playing Go.  He had leant his axe against a tree, but when he finally thought to take it up again, he found that the wooden handle had rotted away, and when he reached his village, he found that a hundred years had passed.'"

There was a finality to the Count's voice as he told the story, and his hands rested gently on the table.

Touya and Shindou exchanged a look, the game forgotten.  They had nearly forgotten how timeless this pet shop had looked like, at first glance.  As one, they raced for the door.

-----------------

The door opened into a field of stars.

At least, that was what it looked like, a blackness dotted by hundreds upon thousands of pinpricks of light twinkling and flickering in and out of view.  There was a sudden coldness, a whoosh of air that smelt metallic and plastic at the same time.  Touya froze, feeling as though his heart had stopped beating as his lungs came into contact with the unbearable iciness.

Beside him, Shindou gave an involuntary, hoarse-sounding exclamation.

There was a sound of a door being opened, then closed, from somewhere far away, and suddenly they were falling, out into that star-lit darkness.

Touya landed on a hard surface with a jolt that made his knees protest.  He reached out like a man blinded, and bit back a sound of relief when his hands found Shindou.  "Are you all right?" he asked, placing both hands on Shindou's shoulders.

"Yeah."  Shindou's voice came out shaky.  "Something... someone pushed us out," he said.  "How about you?  Are you hurt?"

Touya shook his head, then realizing that Shindou might not be able to see him.  "No, I'm fine. Where are we?" he asked, linking arms with Shindou as he tried to look around.  It was so dark...

"I'm not sure.  I could have sworn that the door led to the street outside, but now I can't make anything out at all," Shindou said.  "It's so bright..."

Touya tightened his grip on Shindou's arm, the warmth on his right side a comforting weight.  Try as he might, he still couldn't see anything clearly--he could see the faint outline of Shindou's jacket and shoes, but he couldn't see anything else.  He blinked again and again, but twinkling lights were just too distracting.

"Maybe we should try walking ahead," Shindou suggested after a while.  "We might see something familiar."

"Hm."  There was nothing to be gained by standing like this, Touya reasoned. "All right," he agreed.

They took a small, careful step forward, then another.  Touya's heart was in his mouth, and he imagined that even Shindou could hear his pulse racing.  Any step now, they were going to lose their footing, and fall into a pit, perhaps, or into something more dangerous.

"There are so many lights," Shindou said after a moment.  "If it weren't so cold, I would say it looks totally like..." he stopped talking, and his body went rigid.

Touya asked immediately, "What is it, Shindou?"

There was no answer, but he could sense that Shindou was looking at the right, almost on the verge of pulling away.

"Sai?"  Shindou's voice was thin with disbelief, reedy with concealed eagerness.  "Sai!"

Touya tried to get his vocal cords to work again.  "Shindou," he asked urgently.  "What are you saying?"

He sensed, rather than saw, Shindou glancing back at him for a second.  "It's Sai," he said.  "I can see him."

"Shindou, what are you saying!" he jostled Shindou's arm, trying to shake him.  He looked in the direction Shindou had been facing, but saw nothing except lights and blackness.

"He's there, see!" 

Touya could feel by the cast of Shindou's shoulders that he was pointing into the emptiness.  He wanted to protest again but did not, his mind jumbled by confusion.  What was going on?

"Sai, look, this is Touya," Shindou was saying in a young, eager voice.  "You still recognize him, right?" he tugged at Touya, as though to push him forward in whatever direction he saw Sai. 

Touya hung back, his mouth dry.

"We're still playing Go together," Shindou continued. "We're searching for the hand of God together... Sai, wait, don't turn away!"  He reached out, taking a half-step forward.

Touya found himself dragged along.

"Sai, don't go... don't disappear again!"

Shindou tried to pull away, but Touya tightened his grip on Shindou's arm so much that he could feel the shape of Shindou's bones beneath his jacket.  "Shindou," he whispered.

"Sai!"  Suddenly Shindou walked towards his right, unheeding of the unseen paths before him, the sheer force of his movements nearly pulling Touya off his feet. 

"Shindou!" Touya protested, but he did not let go.  Instead, he found himself stumbling with Shindou, taking one uncertain step after another.

"Do you see him?" Shindou asked, pointing as they walked.  "He was there..."

The hope in his voice made Touya stare, too.  And then he swallowed, for within the darkness, he thought he saw a faint figure, all in white.  Some far-off figure with a black hat, in a traditional Japanese costume, almost as Shindou had described him.  Then the image faded, and he made a sound of protest.

Shindou's voice was excited. "You see him, too, right?" he said, pulling Touya further along.

Then there came a sound so unexpected that both of them stopped at once.  A plaintive growl, like from a puppy.  Or perhaps it was a squeak, from a mouse.  Or a purr, from a cat.  It sounded like all of them.  Touya stopped trying to identify the sound when something small and soft brushed past both their legs, making them jump.

"W-what was that?" Shindou said.  "Wait, what's happening?"

Touya felt like asking the same question, for it seemed as though the pin-pricks of light were getting brighter and brighter.  Closer and closer, he thought.

"I can't see anything at all," Shindou said, raising a hand to rub his eyes.  "Touya, what about you?"

As it got brighter, Touya thought he could see a path ahead, though it was like being surrounded by thousands of bonfires.  Swallowing, he said, "Let's try this," he said, this time pulling Shindou along.

He was reminded of something Shindou had said before, about Go stones being like stars, as they walked, because it was as though he was looking for paths out on the Go board.  The arrangement of lights at his left could have been an avalanche formation, and the one above, a ladder.  Guided by him, they took one step together, then another.

A bright rectangle of yellow light appeared right in front of them, accompanied by the faint sound of door hinges creaking.

"There you are," Count D said.  "It's time to finish the game."

---------to be continued---------------

They stumbled back into the room, which now looked dim and wan compared to the brightness of the stars outside.

Predictably, perhaps, Shindou was the first to recover.  "What was that outside?" he asked, his voice high and breathless.

"What do you mean?" the Count asked, his eyelids falling over his eyes and rising in a slow blink.  The oddness of his eyes--purple and yellow, and surely too intense in colour to be real--was more striking than ever. 

"That... that!" Shindou pointed at the door.  "Sai... I mean, the stars," he said in a smaller voice.  "What did you do?" he asked, regaining his composure and ire.  "How did you make all... all of..." he stopped, and waved his arm at the door in a semi-circle, once, as though to encompass the entirety of the world outside.  "Chinatown.  Disappear."  His other hand, enclosed now in Touya's grip, trembled, but not with fear.

One of the Count's eyebrows rose slightly over his purple eye, before it fell, and his face was bland politeness again.  "Disappear?  I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Shindou-san."

Shindou's eyes narrowed.  "But that's-" he stopped when Touya dug him in the ribs with an elbow.  "Ow, Touya!" he complained, before he turned to Touya.  "Don't stop me," he said.

"Shindou," Touya said urgently.  "Don't..."  They were on dangerous ground.

Shindou shook his head. "No!" he shouted.  "I don't know what you did, but you better reverse it!"

The Count took a step forward. 

Touya dug his fingers into Shindou's forearm and dragged him back, nearly pulling him off his feet.  Shindou was making protesting noises, but Touya ignored him, and renewed his grip.  The scene outside was incomprehensible, but inside, in this room, there was danger.  Touya dragged Shindou back another step, and they stumbled against the low table with the Go board, rattling the stones in the go-ke.

"The game," he said suddenly.  An idea teased at the edges of his mind.  "We have to play the game," he said, meeting the Count's eyes.

He could feel Shindou staring at him in amazement.  "What are you talking about, Touya?" he asked.  "How can you think about that when-"

Touya stepped on his foot, deliberately, while maintaining eye-contact with the Count.  "It's time to finish the game," he said, echoing the Count's earlier words.  "Isn't that right, Count D?"

A cool, satisfied smile appeared on the Count's face.  He inclined his head, and waved a hand to the table behind them.  "Please, have a seat."

They sat in the seat they had vacated--was it hours ago?  "Touya, you've thought of something," Shindou said to him, his voice pitched low.

Touya only watched as the Count gracefully seated himself.  "The game, Shindou," he said clearly, looking directly at the Count.  "It was wrong of us to stop the game so suddenly.  We should continue it."  Sitting so close, he could sense the exact moment Shindou got it, in the twitch of his back muscles as Shindou suddenly straightened.

"Ah."  Now Shindou was looking directly at the Count too, all signs of anger gone as though they had never been there.  "I apologize for our rudeness, Count D.  You're right, it's time to finish the game."

The Count nodded once in acknowledgement.  He turned his attention to the Go board, and contemplated it for barely a second.  "It's my move, I believe," he said, and laid down a white stone.

There was no hint of Shindou's fan, not even the faintest mark of dust on the polished surface of the table.  Touya studied the game anew, Shindou at his side.  Could it be that he was right?  The formations, the ringed territories... Touya could remember the stars outside, shining out of the dark night, and even as he thought of them, the countermoves came to him.  Shindou muttered his agreement when Touya murmured his ideas.  They had taken the game as far as they could--building spires with nothing more than than flattened stones and blocking off territories with pure thought--now they were going to do more. 

The game flew on.  Sometimes the Count made a brief comment; both of them ignored it.  Touya placed the stones more often now; a whispered word or two seemed to be sufficient to convey his intentions to Shindou, and vice versa.  Shindou's hands, though, twitched emptily on his knees, as though longing for something to hold.  Touya stretched out his free hand to close Shindou's fingers in a tight grip, and continued playing.

They had started by building territories along the sides, and the middle ground was increasingly filled up, becoming crowded.  They were on the verge of yose, Touya knew, as he searched and analyzed--it had to end, and soon. 

The Count played a white stone.

This time, both he and Shindou saw it: their hands reached for the go-ke at the same time.  Shindou's lips stretched lengthwise in a tight smile; Touya paused, gave a nod, and it was Shindou who reached inside to take up a black stone between his fingertips.  Firmly, he played it on 10-10.

Tengen.  The source of the sky.

The Count stopped.

Touya held his breath, knowing that Shindou was doing the same. 

Very slowly, the Count blinked.  "Very good," he said softly a second later.

There was a tiny 'pop' in Touya's ear, as though he was ascending in an express elevator.  Though he could not swear to it, there was a sense that the room--maybe the entire shop--was moving around them in a circle, before settling back on its foundations, making him dizzy. 

"So, do we pass?" he heard Shindou ask, and winced at his blunt tone.

The Count gave a soft chuckle.  "Oh, you pass," he said.  "The two of you."

Something in Touya relaxed at that.

The Count continued, "For mere mortals to play a game such as this, and to play a hand such as that... It was well-played, Shindou-san, Touya-san."

"Thank you," Touya said, before Shindou could say anything disastrous.  They had surprised the Count, perhaps even entertained him, but it would be dangerous to assume they were on safe ground just because of that.

"But I have been keeping you for too long," the Count said, standing up.

"We can leave?" Shindou asked.

The Count looked surprised.  "But of course."

"R-right." Shindou stood up, and Touya followed mechanically.  They were almost at the door, when Shindou turned back.  "What about my fan?" he demanded.

Shindou!  Touya thought in panic.

"Your fan?" the Count asked.  "Isn't it on the table, where you left it?"  He was smiling.

"What!" Shindou's voice rose, before his eyes went to the table.  Sure enough, beside the Go board, there was an ordinary-looking paper fan.  "B-but..." he started, before thinking better of it.  Two long steps took him to the table, where he grabbed the fan as though it were going to disappear--or disintegrate, Touya thought hysterically--and rejoined Touya at the door.  "Thank you," he said, his voice only a little hoarse.

"Thank you for the game."  Suddenly reminded of his manners, Touya bowed.  Shindou, after a split second's hesitation, followed.

"Such polite mortals," the Count said.  He raised a hand towards the door, like a magician about to reveal some trick.  "I believe you were looking for a ramen restaurant?  You'll find it at the right corner, once you leave this shop."

Shindou and Touya exchanged glances.  Unconsciously taking a deep breath, and turning the door knob together.

It swung inwards, Touya noted.  He followed Shindou out, his heart beating fast.

It was dark outside.  Night, Touya realized after a moment.  Not entirely dark, however: he and Shindou were staring at a huge panel of blinking fairy lights that spelt out the words "AUTHENTIC BEIJING DUCK RESTAURANT".

-------the end--------

Luce (redacanthus@yahoo.com)