(no subject)
And once again it's time for some Hikago fanfiction. xD What is it in this series that makes me write? (And once again, I don't quite know what to call the fic. Why is it there has to be such things as titles? *mutter*)
Title: Boy's Best Friend
Characters: Akira (and Hikaru. Kinda.)
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1816
Summary: Young Akira's had a bad day. Luckily he runs across something golden, bouncy and eternally cheerful, which helps make it better.
Disclaimer: not mine, you know.
Boy’s Best Friend
One fine Thursday evening, after a seemingly normal day of school and go, Akira Touya was shuffling his way toward home. Of course, this clearly indicated that the day hadn’t been as normal as one would have expected, something untoward must have happened. Even at the age of twelve, Akira Touya did not shuffle. When he walked, he walked briskly, though not too fast, and always with a good posture. The fact that he not only shuffled, but was well aware that he did so and simply didn’t care, was rather unprecedented.
He stared blankly at the gray pavement as he went on, another hand limply holding the strap of his always spotless backpack, and, at times, when he saw a little stone on the pavement he gave it a good kick.
Five more minutes, and he’d be home. Dinner would be ready, and then he might play a game with his father, or maybe they’d discuss some professional game played on that day. Then he’d go to sleep, and the next day he’d wake up, play a game with his father, go to school and after school to the go salon, then back home for dinner and some more go, and then bed and then school and then…
He kicked a stone.
As it rolled onward on the pavement, something golden flashed by him after it. Akira stopped. A dog, possibly a golden retriever, was sniffing at the stone, tail whisking from side to side as it investigated the stone closely. For a moment Akira was afraid it was going to eat the stone, but then he realized the dog already had something in its mouth. As Akira stared at it, it raised its head and looked right back at him.
The boy glanced around. There were other people on the street, but none of them seemed to be missing a dog. And as he looked more closely, he realized the dog didn’t have a collar.
“Did you run away?” he asked, and the dog wagged its tail. Akira shrugged and, deciding it wasn’t his problem, walked on. The dog followed him, trotting energetically by his side. He stopped. “Look, where’s you master?” He shooed with his hands. “Go! Go home. Find master.”
The dog gave him a long look, head tilted. Then it dropped the object it had in its mouth: a somewhat ragged tennis ball. As Akira stared at the ball, confused, the dog raised its hopeful eyes up at him and barked.
“What?” Akira looked at the dog, then at the ball, and at the dog again. It had backed off a little, still staring at him eagerly, tail wagging wildly, begging for play. “I’m not going to touch that.” He stared at the slobbered ball. Then he gave one more look at the dog, and kicked the ball as hard as he could. The dog bounced after it like a golden arrow, barking as it went.
“Silly thing,” Akira muttered as he watched after it. Then he turned back toward home.
It didn’t take long, though, before the dog dropped the ball again in front of his feet.
‘Play!’ its bark seemed to say. As he walked on, ignoring the ball, it didn’t give up but bounced backward in front him, staring right at his eyes as if trying to hypnotize him. ‘Let’s play!’ it barked again.
“I don’t have time,” Akira told it. “I need to go home for dinner.”
The dog stopped, and for a moment Akira hoped he’d finally got rid of it. But then it was by his side again, it had simply gone to get the ball. He was decidedly not looking at the dog as he walked - maybe it would go away if he ignored it. But still, out of the corner of his eye he could see the dog watching him, and its big, sad dog eyes clearly reflected the heartbroken question, ‘No play?’
Akira sighed. Stopped. Maybe he would have time to throw the stupid ball for the stupid dog a few times. Not here on the street, though. A silly animal like that, it would probably run right in front of a car after the ball.
“Come here,” he said, and turned to a nearby park. Luckily there weren’t that many people around. He didn’t want anyone complain about him keeping his dog free. After all, it wasn’t even his dog.
“Alright…” He placed his backpack on the ground and took gingerly the wet ball the dog had again dropped in front of him. The dog stared at it with such a great intensity that one would have imagined the old, dirty ball was the greatest treasure of the entire world. “There you go!” The moment the ball left his hand the dog was already bouncing after it, and in a short moment proudly trotted back with it.
“Okay, again?” Akira stretched his hand for the ball, but this time the dog didn’t drop it. “Come now, if you want me to throw it, give it here.” He attempted to take the ball from the dog’s mouth, but it didn’t let go. Tail wagging it pulled back.
Akira straightened his back, frowning. “What’s this? Don’t you want to play anymore? Fine…”
But right then the dog dropped the ball and looked up at him expectantly. Akira shrugged, bent for the ball - and the moment he almost touched it, the dog suddenly snatched it and jumped a few steps away.
“What, you…!” Akira glared at the dog. He could have sworn it was laughing at him, the obnoxious creature. “Give it here. Give,” he said in the most commanding tone he could and made a move for the ball, but the dog avoided him nimbly.
He stopped and looked at it with narrowed eyes. “I see,” he muttered. “So that’s the kind of game you want to play. But I’ll have you know that no mere dog will ever defeat me!”
And he jumped at the dog, this time getting a good hold of the ball.
...
Quite a long while later Akira was sitting underneath the park’s trees, trying to catch his breath. The dog lay beside him, gnawing a stick, and he lazily rubbed its furry stomach. The tennis ball had been destroyed a long ago, and pieces of it were spread all over the park.
“You’re pretty fun, in the end,” he admitted, and the dog paused from the gnawing for a moment to shot him a glance.
He sighed and leaned his head against the tree, watching the sky. “Overall, this day really… sucked.” That wasn’t a word he normally used, but it seemed to describe the day pretty well. “Or… it started well enough but… you know, I was playing at my father’s go salon, and then this boy came to challenge me.” He looked at the dog and was surprised to see it had ceased gnawing the stick and was looking at him attentively.
“I was really excited,” he went on. “I thought he might be good. He said he’d won the children’s meijin tournament. Can you imagine! Best of a 2000 children. But…” his voice fell, and he dragged his knees to him, hugging them, “he wasn’t that great. At all. I guess father’s right in not letting me take part in those tournaments. I just had hoped…”
The dog sat up as he fell silent, and looked at him with a tilted head. It let out a small, questioning whine, and Akira smiled a little wryly and scratched its ears. “Never mind,” he said. “I just thought it could have been fun. If there had been someone my age I could play with. Evenly, you know. Someone who could fight against me, and… someone… someone who could… be my friend…” His eyes fell to the ground and his hand to his lap. “I guess that was silly. And it’s not like I needed a rival… or a friend… I’ve got my go, and that’s…”
His sentence was left unfinished, as suddenly he had a wet dog tongue on his face. “Hey, wha… stop!” He rolled aside, laughing, and the dog jumped on him, barking and wagging its tail, and trying to lick his face again.
“You silly creature.” Finally he managed to sit up, and he took a good hold at the scruff of the dog’s neck and stared at it intently. “I’ll let you know if I need to wash my face, thank you very much.”
Once again the dog made a move toward his face, and he pulled back with a laugh. “You’re the best, aren’t you?” He took the stick the dog had abandoned and threw it in the air, watching with a smile how the dog jumped to catch it.
It probably wasn’t a golden retriever, after all. Though he really didn’t know much about dogs. But for one thing, it seemed too small. And its ears were funnily half-pricked. And there was this weird, long hair on its forehead, hanging in front of its eyes almost like bangs.
“I wonder what your name is,” he muttered, as the dog brought the stick back to him. “You need a name. I can’t just call you doggy…” He watched how the coat of the small happy creature shone in the sunlight, and smiled. “How about Hikaru?” he asked, and the dog barked. “Great!” he laughed. “Hikaru it is, then. I…” Suddenly he froze. Glanced at his watch. “Oh d…” He almost cursed, but caught himself just in time. “I’m late for dinner!”
He grasped his backpack and started running toward home. The dog ran after him, barking happily.
As he reached the front gate and dug out his keys he was really nervous. Would his parents be angry with him? How angry? He couldn’t really tell, as nothing like this had ever happened before. For one thing, he was late, and for another… there was a green stain on the knee of his school uniform from the grass.
Even if she wouldn’t be angry, mother would be displeased, he was sure of that.
“I’m home!” he shouted hesitantly as he entered.
“Finally!” came his mother’s voice from the kitchen. “Where have you been?”
She appeared in the doorway, followed shortly by his father. Akira ran his fingers through his hair, abashed - was that a leaf in his hair? Oh d… drat. “I…” Then he saw how their expressions changed from strict to amazed to clearly… amused. Was his father in fact chuckling aloud? “I…” he tried again, confused, and picked another leaf from his hair, trying to hide it in his hands. Then he heard a bark behind him, and glancing back realized that Hikaru had followed him in. He looked at the dog and then at his parents.
“Er, this is Hikaru, and… he followed me home. Can I keep him?”
THE END. Maybe...
Heh, I gotta say I had fun with this one. And now I’ve got an idea for a relative crazy sequel, too... we’ll see. It would involve Sai. ^^ EDIT: And the next chapter is HERE.
But anyway, this fic... Yesterday I was walking home when I passed this old lady and her dog (a Yorkshire terrier, I think.) And when I say old, I mean old. Her back is bent at least 45 degrees (usually more), she always has two Nordic walking kinda sticks - not for sports but for support - and as she has no hand free for the leash, the dog is tied to her waist. But every day she walks her dog, I’ve seen them many times before.
Anyway, this kind of made me think about dogs in general, and how great it is she still has this dog as her companion (years ago, she used to have two of them...) and how she, despite of her age and condition, still takes the dog on a walks... and then, as there is this current blind go round and my mind’s kind of preoccupied by Hikaru no go, I got the idea for this story. And had to write it, of course.
Title: Boy's Best Friend
Characters: Akira (and Hikaru. Kinda.)
Rating: G
Wordcount: 1816
Summary: Young Akira's had a bad day. Luckily he runs across something golden, bouncy and eternally cheerful, which helps make it better.
Disclaimer: not mine, you know.
Boy’s Best Friend
One fine Thursday evening, after a seemingly normal day of school and go, Akira Touya was shuffling his way toward home. Of course, this clearly indicated that the day hadn’t been as normal as one would have expected, something untoward must have happened. Even at the age of twelve, Akira Touya did not shuffle. When he walked, he walked briskly, though not too fast, and always with a good posture. The fact that he not only shuffled, but was well aware that he did so and simply didn’t care, was rather unprecedented.
He stared blankly at the gray pavement as he went on, another hand limply holding the strap of his always spotless backpack, and, at times, when he saw a little stone on the pavement he gave it a good kick.
Five more minutes, and he’d be home. Dinner would be ready, and then he might play a game with his father, or maybe they’d discuss some professional game played on that day. Then he’d go to sleep, and the next day he’d wake up, play a game with his father, go to school and after school to the go salon, then back home for dinner and some more go, and then bed and then school and then…
He kicked a stone.
As it rolled onward on the pavement, something golden flashed by him after it. Akira stopped. A dog, possibly a golden retriever, was sniffing at the stone, tail whisking from side to side as it investigated the stone closely. For a moment Akira was afraid it was going to eat the stone, but then he realized the dog already had something in its mouth. As Akira stared at it, it raised its head and looked right back at him.
The boy glanced around. There were other people on the street, but none of them seemed to be missing a dog. And as he looked more closely, he realized the dog didn’t have a collar.
“Did you run away?” he asked, and the dog wagged its tail. Akira shrugged and, deciding it wasn’t his problem, walked on. The dog followed him, trotting energetically by his side. He stopped. “Look, where’s you master?” He shooed with his hands. “Go! Go home. Find master.”
The dog gave him a long look, head tilted. Then it dropped the object it had in its mouth: a somewhat ragged tennis ball. As Akira stared at the ball, confused, the dog raised its hopeful eyes up at him and barked.
“What?” Akira looked at the dog, then at the ball, and at the dog again. It had backed off a little, still staring at him eagerly, tail wagging wildly, begging for play. “I’m not going to touch that.” He stared at the slobbered ball. Then he gave one more look at the dog, and kicked the ball as hard as he could. The dog bounced after it like a golden arrow, barking as it went.
“Silly thing,” Akira muttered as he watched after it. Then he turned back toward home.
It didn’t take long, though, before the dog dropped the ball again in front of his feet.
‘Play!’ its bark seemed to say. As he walked on, ignoring the ball, it didn’t give up but bounced backward in front him, staring right at his eyes as if trying to hypnotize him. ‘Let’s play!’ it barked again.
“I don’t have time,” Akira told it. “I need to go home for dinner.”
The dog stopped, and for a moment Akira hoped he’d finally got rid of it. But then it was by his side again, it had simply gone to get the ball. He was decidedly not looking at the dog as he walked - maybe it would go away if he ignored it. But still, out of the corner of his eye he could see the dog watching him, and its big, sad dog eyes clearly reflected the heartbroken question, ‘No play?’
Akira sighed. Stopped. Maybe he would have time to throw the stupid ball for the stupid dog a few times. Not here on the street, though. A silly animal like that, it would probably run right in front of a car after the ball.
“Come here,” he said, and turned to a nearby park. Luckily there weren’t that many people around. He didn’t want anyone complain about him keeping his dog free. After all, it wasn’t even his dog.
“Alright…” He placed his backpack on the ground and took gingerly the wet ball the dog had again dropped in front of him. The dog stared at it with such a great intensity that one would have imagined the old, dirty ball was the greatest treasure of the entire world. “There you go!” The moment the ball left his hand the dog was already bouncing after it, and in a short moment proudly trotted back with it.
“Okay, again?” Akira stretched his hand for the ball, but this time the dog didn’t drop it. “Come now, if you want me to throw it, give it here.” He attempted to take the ball from the dog’s mouth, but it didn’t let go. Tail wagging it pulled back.
Akira straightened his back, frowning. “What’s this? Don’t you want to play anymore? Fine…”
But right then the dog dropped the ball and looked up at him expectantly. Akira shrugged, bent for the ball - and the moment he almost touched it, the dog suddenly snatched it and jumped a few steps away.
“What, you…!” Akira glared at the dog. He could have sworn it was laughing at him, the obnoxious creature. “Give it here. Give,” he said in the most commanding tone he could and made a move for the ball, but the dog avoided him nimbly.
He stopped and looked at it with narrowed eyes. “I see,” he muttered. “So that’s the kind of game you want to play. But I’ll have you know that no mere dog will ever defeat me!”
And he jumped at the dog, this time getting a good hold of the ball.
...
Quite a long while later Akira was sitting underneath the park’s trees, trying to catch his breath. The dog lay beside him, gnawing a stick, and he lazily rubbed its furry stomach. The tennis ball had been destroyed a long ago, and pieces of it were spread all over the park.
“You’re pretty fun, in the end,” he admitted, and the dog paused from the gnawing for a moment to shot him a glance.
He sighed and leaned his head against the tree, watching the sky. “Overall, this day really… sucked.” That wasn’t a word he normally used, but it seemed to describe the day pretty well. “Or… it started well enough but… you know, I was playing at my father’s go salon, and then this boy came to challenge me.” He looked at the dog and was surprised to see it had ceased gnawing the stick and was looking at him attentively.
“I was really excited,” he went on. “I thought he might be good. He said he’d won the children’s meijin tournament. Can you imagine! Best of a 2000 children. But…” his voice fell, and he dragged his knees to him, hugging them, “he wasn’t that great. At all. I guess father’s right in not letting me take part in those tournaments. I just had hoped…”
The dog sat up as he fell silent, and looked at him with a tilted head. It let out a small, questioning whine, and Akira smiled a little wryly and scratched its ears. “Never mind,” he said. “I just thought it could have been fun. If there had been someone my age I could play with. Evenly, you know. Someone who could fight against me, and… someone… someone who could… be my friend…” His eyes fell to the ground and his hand to his lap. “I guess that was silly. And it’s not like I needed a rival… or a friend… I’ve got my go, and that’s…”
His sentence was left unfinished, as suddenly he had a wet dog tongue on his face. “Hey, wha… stop!” He rolled aside, laughing, and the dog jumped on him, barking and wagging its tail, and trying to lick his face again.
“You silly creature.” Finally he managed to sit up, and he took a good hold at the scruff of the dog’s neck and stared at it intently. “I’ll let you know if I need to wash my face, thank you very much.”
Once again the dog made a move toward his face, and he pulled back with a laugh. “You’re the best, aren’t you?” He took the stick the dog had abandoned and threw it in the air, watching with a smile how the dog jumped to catch it.
It probably wasn’t a golden retriever, after all. Though he really didn’t know much about dogs. But for one thing, it seemed too small. And its ears were funnily half-pricked. And there was this weird, long hair on its forehead, hanging in front of its eyes almost like bangs.
“I wonder what your name is,” he muttered, as the dog brought the stick back to him. “You need a name. I can’t just call you doggy…” He watched how the coat of the small happy creature shone in the sunlight, and smiled. “How about Hikaru?” he asked, and the dog barked. “Great!” he laughed. “Hikaru it is, then. I…” Suddenly he froze. Glanced at his watch. “Oh d…” He almost cursed, but caught himself just in time. “I’m late for dinner!”
He grasped his backpack and started running toward home. The dog ran after him, barking happily.
As he reached the front gate and dug out his keys he was really nervous. Would his parents be angry with him? How angry? He couldn’t really tell, as nothing like this had ever happened before. For one thing, he was late, and for another… there was a green stain on the knee of his school uniform from the grass.
Even if she wouldn’t be angry, mother would be displeased, he was sure of that.
“I’m home!” he shouted hesitantly as he entered.
“Finally!” came his mother’s voice from the kitchen. “Where have you been?”
She appeared in the doorway, followed shortly by his father. Akira ran his fingers through his hair, abashed - was that a leaf in his hair? Oh d… drat. “I…” Then he saw how their expressions changed from strict to amazed to clearly… amused. Was his father in fact chuckling aloud? “I…” he tried again, confused, and picked another leaf from his hair, trying to hide it in his hands. Then he heard a bark behind him, and glancing back realized that Hikaru had followed him in. He looked at the dog and then at his parents.
“Er, this is Hikaru, and… he followed me home. Can I keep him?”
THE END. Maybe...
Heh, I gotta say I had fun with this one. And now I’ve got an idea for a relative crazy sequel, too... we’ll see. It would involve Sai. ^^ EDIT: And the next chapter is HERE.
But anyway, this fic... Yesterday I was walking home when I passed this old lady and her dog (a Yorkshire terrier, I think.) And when I say old, I mean old. Her back is bent at least 45 degrees (usually more), she always has two Nordic walking kinda sticks - not for sports but for support - and as she has no hand free for the leash, the dog is tied to her waist. But every day she walks her dog, I’ve seen them many times before.
Anyway, this kind of made me think about dogs in general, and how great it is she still has this dog as her companion (years ago, she used to have two of them...) and how she, despite of her age and condition, still takes the dog on a walks... and then, as there is this current blind go round and my mind’s kind of preoccupied by Hikaru no go, I got the idea for this story. And had to write it, of course.