A/N: First off, my sincerest apologies that this chapter is so much later than usual. The only reason I have to offer is "writer's block sucks." Really. XP

Fortunately, though, I have finally brainstormed my way through it (with much useful feedback from my lovely beta), so we should be set for another nice long run before (I mean if) this happens again. :) And to get back into things--may I present for your reading enjoyment the obliviousness that is Hikaru. Yes, you may throw things. Although I doubt bricks would penetrate his skull. ^_^ Also, new characters!

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Stepping Stones

~19~ In which Hikaru questions Sai's past ~

"Hey, Sai. What's up with you haunting a goban?" Hikaru idly wondered aloud, placing a stone on the board between them.

The ghost just gave him a petulant scowl, presumably either because he wasn't paying appropriate attention to their game or because he couldn't understand the question, and Hikaru wished briefly for the ease of communication with his laptop. He was currently doing his best to pretend his laptop no longer existed for the moment, though, so that was out. The quality of Jaro's online opponents had actually dropped dramatically since they issued their challenge to the good ones out there. Hikaru couldn't tell if the ghost was heartbroken about it or just pouting like a five-year-old, but for himself scorn had done an excellent job replacing the last vestiges of his fear and he was determined to get those players to do what he wanted somehow--exactly how was a bit iffy, but he'd think of something. Stupid faceless online population.

But for the moment he just sighed, summoned his patience and organized his garbled double vocabulary, and repeated the question in Japanese.

Sai gave him a surprised blank look. Hikaru resisted the urge to drag out his battered old translation dictionary, determined to get through one conversation with the ghost without having to revert to a hunt-and-point approach, even if for some reason it was harder to understand than most of the other people he'd tried talking to.

But finally the ghost started picking through an answer, suddenly looking preoccupied and distant as though he had forgotten he was actually talking to Hikaru at all, which Hikaru pieced together as involving the goban, Sai, a "hokano igo no sensei" which he interpreted as just 'Go teacher' and someone named Shuusaku Torajiro. He also thought Sai mentioned "Heian," which he was pretty sure was some old period of Japanese history, and wondered if such a childish spirit could really be that old if it meant it was from that period.

"Oh," he said, when the ghost finished, feeling that that had not been particularly revelatory or even interesting. "So you just kinda hang around playing with people who find you or something. Okay."

He went back to the game, no longer curious. Sai gave him an annoyed look, probably because he couldn't understand the English and Hikaru didn't bother translating. Or maybe the ghost's backstory was more interesting to itself--definite difference from real people then.

Then again, it lived in an old storage shed. Playing and remembering games probably really was the most fascinating its life got.

Hikaru shook his head to himself and resolved to somehow definitely get real pros involved in Jaro's online challenge. Maybe take the poor thing out for soccer-dodgeball again too, just to give it some fresh air. Or did ghosts even breathe...?

Briefly, the teenager thought about asking the spirit 'How did you die?' But that had probably been extremely traumatic--who would want to remember death, after all--and even Hikaru wasn't that insensitive. "C'mon, let's keep play--"

A sudden rapping on the shed door interrupted him. For a second both Hikaru and Sai sat there staring at each other in surprise, then Hikaru got up to open it, thinking it must be his mother and wondering what she could possibly want. She'd always treated the shed as his private clubhouse before.

But it was the neighborhood kid he'd lured in before to test Sai's visibility standing there, with another few kids behind him. "Hey," the lead kid said bluntly, in Japanese of course, which Hikaru automatically tried to concentrate on understanding even though his mind had gone blank. "You playing that game? They want to learn it."

Hikaru considered for a second, wondering if he had heard right. "'Scuse me," he said even though they wouldn't understand English, closed the door, turned and grinned at the ghost hovering by the goban, looking on with an anxious expression. "Hey, Sai," he said nonchalantly. "Wanna teach a bunch of squirts Go? I can place stones and talk for you."

It was the perfect distraction to get the ghost's mind off their recent less than stellar online matches, maybe even enough to let Hikaru start using his laptop again without having to move it back to his room or feel guilty. Assuming Sai had any teaching ability, of course. But Hikaru could probably help out a little there if need be--it had been sort of fun lecturing those bunny insei that once a while ago.

Sai said something uncertainly that sounded like a question. Hikaru almost didn't even mind having to translate himself to Japanese again, so pleased was he by his new idea.

The ghost's face bloomed into thrilled disbelief and it started chattering a mile a minute, waving its fan around every which way. Hikaru opened the shed door again, smiled genially down at the gaggle of kids, and told them cheerfully, "Sure, come on in."

.

There seemed to be a lot more kids around his age running around everywhere in Tokyo, which made Hikaru slightly nervous until he realized that what with Christmas and New Year's coming up their school system must have some kind of winter break just like America's. (That probably also explained, come to think of it, why he seemed to keep hearing the same annoying music here and there and all the new little traditions his father seemed to be puttering around trying to set up--not that Hikaru had been paying any attention.) He relaxed further when he realized that with all the other kids around no one was paying any attention to him, so he was even almost able to feel cheerful as he headed toward the Go institute despite their presences reminding him of his impending return to school.

Then, of course, he found that he hadn't paid enough attention and gotten off at the wrong station--again--only after walking several blocks in what probably would have been the right direction to reach the Institute and therefore planting himself smack dab in the middle of unfamiliar territory. He set off to find another station, grumbling to himself in a mix of English and the few Japanese swear words he took great pains to never practice at home.

He therefore assumed it was the English that attracted the attention of the group of girls sitting outside a restaurant when he noticed them glancing at him and chattering to each other, but instead of pretending they didn't exist and just walking by he stopped suddenly and stared. He was, in fact, so moved that he actually approached them voluntarily just to make sure, gesturing to the beautiful golden arches behind their table with breathless hope, "Mickey D's?"

"Makudonarudo," one of the girls agreed, making the familiar word sound weirdly foreign with Japanese pronunciation, looking like she was suppressing a giggle. The others at the table definitely were. "Amerikajin desu ka?"

"Ye--hai," Hikaru agreed. For the first time he realized he was speaking with Japanese kids his own age who didn't know English, not to mention being girls, but that made it a bad time and place to lose his cool so he just went with the first thing to pop into his head. Which was introducing himself. Danielle had actually specifically taught him how several times, even though he'd never used it with anyone else. "I'm Hikaru--Shindo Hikaru desu." No -kun when referring to himself, and was that one phrase 'pleased to meet you' or 'how do you do,' and why did they have to sound so different... "Hajimashite?"

A couple of the girls giggled again, but they all looked fascinated. Hikaru wished, probably for the first time in his life, that they thought he was cute or something rather than an exotic zoo specimen. But he was still communicating, apparently successfully, which was cause for celebration all on its own.

No, wait... darn it. He'd forgotten a syllable in there somewhere, whichever phrase it was. No wonder they were laughing at him.

"Hajimemashite," the first girl replied with a smile that didn't seem too amused, and then they all introduced themselves before he realized that was going to happen and so he only caught pieces of their names. The first one started with Fuji, which unfortunately distracted him by reminding him of Sai, but he was pretty sure her first name was Kari. Since he figured he couldn't make any bigger a fool of himself he tried repeating their names and getting them corrected, in the middle of which he somehow wound up sitting down with them in an extra chair beside A-kari, drinking a triple thick milkshake despite the cold weather that sent him into heavenly bliss and wallowing in beautiful fantasies of endless hamburgers, french fries, and ketchup. Even though he really was still heading to the Go institute.

"You go to Haze?" he fairly confidently understood one of the girls (Kumiko, unless that was the one sitting beside her and she was Naara) ask when they were done laughing at his mangling of their names. He blinked in surprise, recognizing the name as that of the school he was being consigned back to after winter break was over.

"Wait--you guys go to Haze?" he asked in return, dumbfounded. He couldn't possibly now be sitting and getting along with some of the kids who had made his life torture there before, could he?

The girls just giggled again, of course--honestly, they were reminding him why the only girl he'd ever actually liked was Ami, but he was still too pleased with his interaction to mind.

"American!" one of the girls (Suzu) repeated in a triumphant sing-song tone, as if she had just won an argument.

"You're the transfer," another one half-checked, half-explained to him, which unfortunately suggested that the students still remembered his disastrous first try at attending. He'd been trying to convince himself that no one would.

"We thought you were..." Akari confessed, before adding a word that he could only guess translated to either 'cool,' or 'stuck up,' both of which made no sense, and then looked at him with something weirdly like shyness. "Transfer from America, your--hair--" she gestured toward his bangs, "--never talking to anyone. You don't know much Japanese?"

"Nope. Only the very basics," Hikaru agreed, relieved and incredulous. They hadn't realized he had no idea what any of them were saying? Wouldn't that have been obvious when the teachers had dragged him up in the front of the class each first time and made him stand there in hideous silence for a moment when he was presumably supposed to have been introducing himself?

"Oh, you're fine," one of them encouraged, followed by another's, "Keep trying." The third, who he noted as probably the most honest one, told him, "Your accent is bad," and Akari, beside him, suggested, "Are you coming back soon? We can help if you need it."

"Thanks," Hikaru told them, gratified, mostly just because it would be nice to recognize friendly faces when he had to go back in the classrooms. Even if they were girls. "Yeah, I'm going back after New Year's, but I'm a little busy now... do you know where the nearest train station is? Back down that street?"

They corrected his guess, with slightly complicated and confusing directions given at least two of them seemed to be talking at once around each other, but Hikaru finally got free of their company and was on his way again, mind already refocused, this time resolved to pay closer attention to the right stop to get off at. The location of the McDonald's, though, was already permanently seared into his memory at the same level as Shangri La. He could stop by again on the way home and get a Big Mac for dinner. Then he could find a reason to go out tomorrow morning and get a bacon egg and cheese for breakfast... or pancakes... oh, pancakes... syrup...

.

The receptionist lady at the Go institute, rather than kindly ignoring Hikaru when he arrived, actually took notice of him the first time he hoped she wouldn't to tell him, "Food and drink only allowed in the lunch room."

Hikaru gave her a very insincere smile meant to indicate that of course that was where he was going and hurried on up the stairs, clutching and sucking on his milkshake possessively. He felt a bit like a baby with the straw clamped between his teeth, but that wasn't nearly enough to make him let go of the first true sugar rush he'd gotten in heaven knew far too long. Then he wandered around, having to duck to the side every time an adult passed who might have noticed his milkshake and therefore, of course, getting lost. He might have felt slightly grumpy wondering why a Go building had to be so big anyway if he'd been operating on his usual priorities, but as long as he was still holding Mickey D's Golden Arches between his hands everything else was just petty, earthly concerns.

He discovered a new room as he surreptitiously poked around for anything familiar, and was drawn in from sheer curiosity when he discovered shelves upon shelves of what appeared to be records of some kind--if they were accounting type stuff, why would there a whole room full of them? And why not organize them in filing cabinets or electronically? Just further proof of Japanese old people following tradition instead of getting with the times?

He pulled one paper out a little at random to see what it was, and was instantly hooked. A Go game--a finished one, judging by how full the board depicted was, and with the moves apparently labeled to explain the order every stone had been placed in. It took a little work to figure out the system, but Hikaru barely even noticed. What a great idea, recording matches. Was the entire room full of Go records?

Reluctantly, but far less reluctantly than he would have been just a moment before, Hikaru sucked on his milkshake hurriedly one last time, registering the slurp of air as his cup emptied, then set it aside by the door and wiped his wands on his jacket. He couldn't get wet fingerprints on the paper; whoever noticed was sure to want to kill him. Maybe these were pro matches documented here; maybe he could get an idea how he really leveled up to them. And pick up a few tricks to try against the ghost to maybe actually give him an edge for once. And Sai--he could probably tell if Sai could beat the players too, surely? and maybe even figure out if Sai's best opponents online even were pro level.

Hours later, Hikaru's stomach finally prompted him to leave behind the game records for a while and he managed to wander, not into any area he recognized, but into Waya. "Konnichiwa!" he said cheerfully, at which Waya grinned and replied something he couldn't focus hard enough to catch.

"I was looking for you, actually," he continued, guessing the subject, not bothering over the language barrier for once since his mind felt it needed to rest after concentrating so long. "Didn't have anything in particular to do--" originally, anyway, "--so I thought I'd drop in and see how that pro test thing is going for you guys. You must be done by now, right? How long is it supposed to be again? I was thinking about it and I can see maybe taking all day for a test, but unless it's like a series of them..."

Waya knuckled his head, which made Hikaru automatically duck and scowl, and slung his arm over Hikaru's shoulder as he sauntered into a hallway the younger teen thought might be sort of familiar. A moment later Isumi approached, looking first surprised and then pleased as he spotted them.

"Konnichiwa!" Hikaru repeated.

"Is evening now, Shindo," Isumi remarked with a polite but suppressing-amusement expression. "Better to say 'konbanwa'."

"You can tell me, and I bet I'll totally not remember this time tomorrow," Hikaru said with undaunted cheerfulness. "My brain is not taking lessons right now. I'm starving. You guys wanna head to this McDonald's I found if you're done here? My treat even."

Waya and Isumi both readily agreed. Along the way to the station Hikaru asked again about their pro tests, and received an unapologetic snort of laughter from Waya and another valiantly attempted but unsuccessful suppression of amusement from Isumi. "We explain," Isumi assured him while Waya was still laughing, before Hikaru could grow annoyed if he felt like it and contemplate doing something to get him back. But then, instead of doing so, he glanced around and asked, "Where are we going to?"

"Mickey D's," Hikaru reminded him. "You'll love it. I found one at... ahm..." He managed to remember and pronounce the directions successfully, which made him proud of himself.

Isumi looked slightly puzzled. "Okay, but is one closer."

Hikaru came to a dead stop. "What? There is? There's more than one? You guys know McDonald's? Could I have been getting real food all along if I'd just known to go looking?"

Isumi tried to look apologetic and just related the conversation to Waya instead of answering him.

"Why didn't you ever say?" Hikaru demanded petulantly, not wailing but only by force of will.

Waya just started laughing at him again.