Title: The Wildly AU-ish AU Doings of Shindou Hikaru I, II, III, IV & V
Series: Hikaru no Go
Disclaimer: I really would not want Hotta or Obata to know of this.
Warning: I use the expression "AU-ish" in a rather AU way. You're forewarned.
The pros' names are from Prince of Tennis.
Length: 100 words each
Notes: karabana is in no way responsible for these drabbles. But thanks for the fic bunny.
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I: Saying Goodbye
“Goodbye, Hikaru. I must leave you now, to seek the Hand of God.” The ghost faded slowly from view, flickering in the last seconds like a malfunctioning television.
Hikaru extracted the cigarette butt out of his mouth and dropped it to the pavement, grounding it with his heel. “Damn, there goes another one,” he muttered. Looking down at the goban—now restored to its former perfection, free of scratches and bloodstains—he raised a foot to kick it, but managed to stop himself. “Hand of God, my foot,” he growled, pulling out a flashy red cellular phone from his pocket.
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II: Life Goes On
“Yo, Shindou-san,” the seedy-looking man said as he entered. “I managed to sell that goban you gave me. Got a good price, too. You restored it nicely.”
“What do you want, Kai?” Hikaru asked.
“The goban you were looking for. I got it. You still want it, right?”
Hikaru sat up. “Of course I want it,” he said impatiently. “Where is it?”
The goban looked terrible. It was old, caked with dirt on one side, and the top was covered with scratches and brownish stains. Hikaru inspected the signature on its underside.
“Mizuki Hajime, huh.” He started rubbing the stains.
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III: Employee Training
Mizuki Hajime, a Tokugawa-period Go player, had an annoying tendency to flick his hair.
“Look, here’s the deal,” Hikaru said. “I’m a Go pro… wait,” he said as the ghost opened his mouth. “I’m in Go to win money… wait, wait till I’m finished. And I need you to play on my behalf… wait, okay? In return, I’ll help you to find the Hand of God, how about that?”
“The Hand of God?” Mizuki echoed, his eyes brightening. He flicked more hair. “Yes, I’ll do anything to find the Hand of God.”
“Good.” Hikaru lit a cigarette. “Sucker,” he muttered.
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IV: 'I Only Play When I'm in the Zone, Okay?!'
“ ‘Restoring antique gobans’ ?” the event organizer read the business card.
“Hey, it’s a living,” Hikaru said. “You’d be surprised how many antique gobans there are in the world.”
“But you’re a Go pro, Shindou-sensei, and you want to advertise your goban restoration skills instead? You could play a game with Touya Akira at our Children’s Day event.”
“Uh… no. I’m sort of between gobans for now,” Hikaru mumbled.
“What?”
“Nothing. Touya doesn’t like the way I play. He thinks I change my style too often.” Hikaru lit a cigarette. “I can’t imagine why he’d think so, can you?”
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V: I've Seen Them Before
Touya was reading out loud. “ 'The minor Go players of the nineteenth century included Wakato Hiroshi-' ”
“Showoff nutcase,” Hikaru muttered.
“ '-Taichi Dan-' ”
“Whiny girl-”
“ '-and Sanada Genichirou.' ”
“Sadistic jerk.”
Touya looked up. “Shindou, it sounds like you know them quite well.”
“Me? Just er, what I know about them from ah, restoring old gobans, you know.”
“Oh. I see that you are working on another one of those,” Touya said, motioning at the dusty-looking goban that had been pushed to one corner of the room. He leant forward. “Looks like a stain of some sort…”
“Wait, Touya! Don’t touch it!”
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