Go forever

(Chapter 2: The truth and its disbelievers)

Had Hikaru known that Akira would think him insane and put him in for 72 hour observation, he would've never suggested the ride along the countryside to allieviate their boredom, even if it meant never seeing Sai. After all, Sai seemed happy at that farm, he hadn't been eaten, and it didn't look like he would've either, after all who would dine on a rarity like a Go playing chicken. He'd survived for a while without his former companion he could've done so for much longer. But he had gone, he'd found and purchased his beloved Sai, he'd told Akira everything, and he ended up in the psych ward of the local hospital. That's what you get for telling the truth.

It all started that morning, the Go festival that they had been hired to attend had just ended abruptly after several people got food poisoning. They had their rooms booked for the next two days, and leaving early would've just been a waste. After about an hour of nothing to do, they became extremely bored and began suggesting activities that they'd rather be doing at the moment. The suggestions ran from the purely insane (Stapling a tarantula to Akira's eyeball while BASE jumping) to the purely mundane (sorting Hikaru's manga collection into something resembling numerical order). Finally one suggestion appealed to the both of them, a scenic ride through the countryside (Chasing the wierdo in red, who constantly stole Hikaru's ramen, down the well at the Higurashi shrine again was out since it was all the way in Tokyo, they'd have to go home to do that).

So less than two hours later they rented a car and headed out with no particular direction in mind until they noticed a sign that loudly proclaimed SEE THE AMAZING GO PLAYING CHICKEN and not so loudly proclaimed next left, last house on the road.

Upon reaching said house, Hikaru leapt from the car, ran up to the porch knocked on the door eagerly, and as soon as it was answered begged to see the Go playing chicken.

He was promptly led out back to see the astounding bird, and Akira sedately followed. Upon hearing that it was 500 yen to play the animal, he forked over the cash, and sat on the other side of the Go board from the bird and gave it a ten stone handicap. The bird looked as irritated as it was possible for a chicken to look at this, and it clearly showed in its playing.

While Hikaru was rapidly discovering that the bird was his lost friend Sai, Akira was ignoring the game and asking pointed questions about how they trained the chicken to play Go, and not believing the response that they didn't, it just started playing on its own.

Having not watched the game, Akira didn't know why Hikaru had a look on his face that was torn between laughter and tears, or why he purchased the talented barnyard fowl for such an exorbitant amount of money. Hikaru's tale about the chicken being a reincarnation of Sai didn't help. When he got to the hospital he didn't answer Hikaru's increasingly agitated questions about why they were stopping there. The questions didn't stop until Akira checked him in and a doctor led him away. "Don't worry Hikaru, I'll take care of the chicken for you until you get out" Akira called over his shoulder as he left the hospital for the hotel where they had been staying.

Author's note: I could totally see Akira having Hikaru committed, after all, if someone told you that their new pet chicken was a Go player from the Heian era wouldn't you question their sanity? Sure the creature reputedly plays Go, but he didn't see the game, ergo no proof. Sorry about Inuyasha popping into this, I've had Inuyasha on the brain recently, and suddenly got a mental image of Inuyasha wandering around Tokyo stealing random people's ramen, taking Hikaru's and getting chased all the way back to the well. Hmm, maybe I can make a story about that it might be interesting.

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