[gosden]
A FAIRY TALE
by wingdance
Hikaru had been startled to realize that things like fairies actually existed, but not too surprised. He found them in his room, toppling over his goke, and when he'd made a loud noise, (not a shriek, no matter what his mother said,) one of them fluttered up to his nose and began lecturing him sternly in high-pitched gibberish while the other two argued over where to place one of the black stones, which was as big as their heads.
When the first fairy finished scolding him, she grabbed a lock of his blonde hair and tugged him towards the opposite end of the board. The others finally figured out where they wanted the stone, and they all sat in seiza on the side of the goban, staring at him.
Scorn, Princess, and Giggle, as he later began calling them, actually needed a five stone handicap, but they got very upset if he tried to get them to use it.
They came in through his window around noon, usually only once or twice a week, and left before dusk, causing their games to last weeks, especially since Hikaru wasn't always home when they visited. He always knew when they'd been by - another black stone had been placed, and very often, he'd find his manga and kifu laying around on the floor. He always left the window open for him, and after reading in a book that fairies were rumored to like sweet foods, he began leaving a small bowl of fruit juice next to the goban every day. (This practice stopped when Giggle mimed out Scorn drinking the juice and becoming drunk from it, while the actual Scorn glared at Hikaru with her arms folded and looked angrier every second. When Scorn zipped out of the room at the end of the miming, both Giggle and Princess collapsed into fits of squeaky laughter.)
It had become another odd but regular part of his life, nothing he gave much thought to, until Scorn's seemingly eternal frown became an 'oh' of surprise at one of Hikaru's moves. She fluttered onto the goban and landed next to the stone that he had just placed, ignoring Princess and Giggle's complaints, and babbled out a sentence that had only one recognizable word, said with a measure of deep respect.
Sai.
"How do you know Sai?" he asked eagerly, too loud for the tiny creatures and their delicate ears. All three of them clapped their hands over their ears and grimaced, then chittered loudly at him and buzzed out the window. He begged them to wait, but they either didn't listen or didn't understand, with the same result. Hikaru was left sitting on his bed, staring out the window until the sky was dark and his mother called him down for dinner.
He cancelled all of his daytime appointments for the next two weeks and refused to leave his bedroom from ten in the morning until the sun had set far below the horizon. His mother, perplexed by his behavior but heartened by the fact that he went out at all when something was so obviously wrong, was gentle when she spoke to him and brought Hikaru's lunch up to his room every day.
It was almost at the end of the two weeks that Hikaru had allotted for himself when the three fairies came back through his window, and five more besides. Giggle was zipping around as she tended to do when she was in a good mood, Scorn quickly came in and settled down on Hikaru's nightstand, and Princess was giving orders to five fairies carrying a scroll of thin paper tied by a very small ribbon.
Hikaru restrained himself from snatching the scroll away and waited until Princess's retinue placed it in front of him.
"Dear Hikaru -"
That was as far as he had gotten before he heard a knock at his door. All nine people in the room froze. "Shindou," Touya called from behind the door, sounding polite but restrained, a tone Hikaru usually heard when Touya was trying not to tell him what an idiot he was in public. "Your mother asked me to come over. She's worried about you, and so am I."
"I'm fine, don't come in!" Hikaru called, his voice slightly high-pitched. He made shooing motions at the fairies, who took a second to shake themselves out of being stunned before moving into actions. One of the retinue actually tried to tug the letter out of Hikaru's hand and found himself being angrily lectured by Scorn as Princess ordered everyone back out the window. "I'm, um, not dressed!"
"At three in the afternoon?" Touya asked skeptically. "And what's that noise?" The door opened a second after Princess managed to drag Giggle out the window. Hikaru smiled brightly at Touya as he came in, the letter hidden behind his back.
"What noise? Hi!"
Touya opened his mouth, closed it, then shook his head. "Are you over whatever has been wrong with you?" he asked wearily.
"Yep."
"What do you have behind your back?"
He shoved the letter into his back pocket. "It's, um, nothing." Hikaru's eyes were fixed on a point behind Touya, where Giggle was fluttering back up to the window. She squeaked as three fairies yanked her back out of sight.
Touya turned around, then looked back to Hikaru. "What was- no, never mind."
"Let's play a game!" Hikaru said, hoping to distract Touya from any pointed questions. His goban was still in the middle of the floor. He looked down at it to make sure that he knew where all the stones had been placed, then started flicking stones of each color to opposite ends of the board while Touya smoothly placed them back in their respective goke.
He expected the rest of the day to fade away in a haze of joy, with the serene knowledge in the back of his mind that, somewhere, Sai was doing okay as Hikaru played a game of go with his eternal rival and best friend. He thought that they would play and argue, and after Touya left he could read the letter, and everything in his life would be perfect again.
He didn't expect the game to be put off due to Touya's first encounter with a fairy who seemed very angry about the fact that Hikaru had cleared off the board, or to have to plead with Scorn to stop yelling, keep Touya calm and try to offer an explanation, and stop Giggle from playing drunkenly with Touya's hair, all at once.
Things only got worse when Touya heard Scorn mention Sai again.
by wingdance
Hikaru had been startled to realize that things like fairies actually existed, but not too surprised. He found them in his room, toppling over his goke, and when he'd made a loud noise, (not a shriek, no matter what his mother said,) one of them fluttered up to his nose and began lecturing him sternly in high-pitched gibberish while the other two argued over where to place one of the black stones, which was as big as their heads.
When the first fairy finished scolding him, she grabbed a lock of his blonde hair and tugged him towards the opposite end of the board. The others finally figured out where they wanted the stone, and they all sat in seiza on the side of the goban, staring at him.
Scorn, Princess, and Giggle, as he later began calling them, actually needed a five stone handicap, but they got very upset if he tried to get them to use it.
They came in through his window around noon, usually only once or twice a week, and left before dusk, causing their games to last weeks, especially since Hikaru wasn't always home when they visited. He always knew when they'd been by - another black stone had been placed, and very often, he'd find his manga and kifu laying around on the floor. He always left the window open for him, and after reading in a book that fairies were rumored to like sweet foods, he began leaving a small bowl of fruit juice next to the goban every day. (This practice stopped when Giggle mimed out Scorn drinking the juice and becoming drunk from it, while the actual Scorn glared at Hikaru with her arms folded and looked angrier every second. When Scorn zipped out of the room at the end of the miming, both Giggle and Princess collapsed into fits of squeaky laughter.)
It had become another odd but regular part of his life, nothing he gave much thought to, until Scorn's seemingly eternal frown became an 'oh' of surprise at one of Hikaru's moves. She fluttered onto the goban and landed next to the stone that he had just placed, ignoring Princess and Giggle's complaints, and babbled out a sentence that had only one recognizable word, said with a measure of deep respect.
Sai.
"How do you know Sai?" he asked eagerly, too loud for the tiny creatures and their delicate ears. All three of them clapped their hands over their ears and grimaced, then chittered loudly at him and buzzed out the window. He begged them to wait, but they either didn't listen or didn't understand, with the same result. Hikaru was left sitting on his bed, staring out the window until the sky was dark and his mother called him down for dinner.
He cancelled all of his daytime appointments for the next two weeks and refused to leave his bedroom from ten in the morning until the sun had set far below the horizon. His mother, perplexed by his behavior but heartened by the fact that he went out at all when something was so obviously wrong, was gentle when she spoke to him and brought Hikaru's lunch up to his room every day.
It was almost at the end of the two weeks that Hikaru had allotted for himself when the three fairies came back through his window, and five more besides. Giggle was zipping around as she tended to do when she was in a good mood, Scorn quickly came in and settled down on Hikaru's nightstand, and Princess was giving orders to five fairies carrying a scroll of thin paper tied by a very small ribbon.
Hikaru restrained himself from snatching the scroll away and waited until Princess's retinue placed it in front of him.
"Dear Hikaru -"
That was as far as he had gotten before he heard a knock at his door. All nine people in the room froze. "Shindou," Touya called from behind the door, sounding polite but restrained, a tone Hikaru usually heard when Touya was trying not to tell him what an idiot he was in public. "Your mother asked me to come over. She's worried about you, and so am I."
"I'm fine, don't come in!" Hikaru called, his voice slightly high-pitched. He made shooing motions at the fairies, who took a second to shake themselves out of being stunned before moving into actions. One of the retinue actually tried to tug the letter out of Hikaru's hand and found himself being angrily lectured by Scorn as Princess ordered everyone back out the window. "I'm, um, not dressed!"
"At three in the afternoon?" Touya asked skeptically. "And what's that noise?" The door opened a second after Princess managed to drag Giggle out the window. Hikaru smiled brightly at Touya as he came in, the letter hidden behind his back.
"What noise? Hi!"
Touya opened his mouth, closed it, then shook his head. "Are you over whatever has been wrong with you?" he asked wearily.
"Yep."
"What do you have behind your back?"
He shoved the letter into his back pocket. "It's, um, nothing." Hikaru's eyes were fixed on a point behind Touya, where Giggle was fluttering back up to the window. She squeaked as three fairies yanked her back out of sight.
Touya turned around, then looked back to Hikaru. "What was- no, never mind."
"Let's play a game!" Hikaru said, hoping to distract Touya from any pointed questions. His goban was still in the middle of the floor. He looked down at it to make sure that he knew where all the stones had been placed, then started flicking stones of each color to opposite ends of the board while Touya smoothly placed them back in their respective goke.
He expected the rest of the day to fade away in a haze of joy, with the serene knowledge in the back of his mind that, somewhere, Sai was doing okay as Hikaru played a game of go with his eternal rival and best friend. He thought that they would play and argue, and after Touya left he could read the letter, and everything in his life would be perfect again.
He didn't expect the game to be put off due to Touya's first encounter with a fairy who seemed very angry about the fact that Hikaru had cleared off the board, or to have to plead with Scorn to stop yelling, keep Touya calm and try to offer an explanation, and stop Giggle from playing drunkenly with Touya's hair, all at once.
Things only got worse when Touya heard Scorn mention Sai again.