Summary: Hikaru gets to witness the not very tearful reunion of a grandfather with his grandson in the entrance hall of the Nihon Kiin. Coincidentally, he is also the cause for said reunion.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go. Neither do I own Yu Yu Hakusho. And I don't make any money from this.
A/N: Don't know what came over me. Blame a sudden infusion of psychotic humor.
Grandfathers and Grandsons
"Oi! Gramps, wait up!"
Nearly the whole entrance hall of the Go Institute froze and turned to look at the guy who had just shouted at full lungs. 15-year-old Hikaru did so, too, because he had thought he was the only one who was this rude - and loud. Alright, that had been quite a bit ruder than even Hikaru's normally was, but that gave more of a reason to stare.
And there definitely was reason to stare, even when not taking the volume or language into account.
In two words, the guy was tall and ugly. Even sitting down hidden behind several people, Hikaru could make out those distinctive features. A face that looked like it had become close acquaintance with one fist too many, a sharp chin, narrow eyes, red curly hair that was styled in some horribly outdated Elvis impression, and high widow's peaks. All that, and the guy didn't look to have hit his thirties yet. His clothes were comprised of a heavy leather jacket, a Megallica band t-shirt, and draw-string pants.
And boy if Hikaru had ever seen someone that ripped. The guy practically burst the seams of his jacket, so broad were his shoulders.
But he also looked so out of place that it wasn't even funny. Hikaru thought the guy should have been at home at the back of some dingy alley waiting for unsuspecting tourists to mug. But not in the entrance hall of the Go Institute that was frequented by suit-clad, overly polite, studious people.
To make his whole appearance even more ridiculous, there was a short, meek, blue-haired woman in very traditional clothes and geta clinging to his arm. Her kimono was fancy and richly decorated, and she looked around shyly from behind her bangs. How much had the guy paid her to be in his company?
"Well, well, well, who do we have here!" a thin old voice cackled, and Hikaru rolled his eyes. He knew that voice. It was pretty unmistakable, both due to its thready age and the slightly malignant amusement clouding it. "Kazuma-kun, and lovely Yukina-chan. Made her your wife yet?"
The tall guy scowled while the crowd parted for the two speakers as if someone had called Moses. "You know as well as I do that the wedding was two years ago, gramps. I can recall a certain instant where you got along a bit too well with Genkai-baasan."
Again that cackling laughter. At least this time Hikaru could see clearly thanks to the Moses reenactment, and he wasn't very surprised that the tall guy was talking to shriveled old Kuwabara Hon'inbou.
The old coot hobbled closer and squinted up at the other with a devious smirk. "And I can recall that I asked if you made her your wife yet, not if you married her."
Hikaru wasn't the only one who turned bright red when he got the meaning. The tall guy's face looked like an over-ripe tomato, and the girl on his arm blushed endearingly. "Grandfather!" he hissed. The Hon'inbou only cackled again.
Looking from one to the other, Hikaru tried to see the family resemblance between them, if that guy was really Kuwabara Hon'inbou's grandson. At least they were both ugly enough that it might be possible (did ugly run in the family?), and the Hon'inbou didn't have any hair left to judge if it was the same color.
But their body size alone should have rendered any comparison obsolete. Also, Hikaru really couldn't remember anything about Kuwabara Hon'inbou being or having been married, let alone having children. Hikaru shuddered at the thought of that old geezer engaging in any sexual activity, which he undoubtedly must have done to get a grandson.
He really didn't need that mental image…
When the tall guy had recovered again, his scowl only turned deeper and he crossed his arms. His upper arms were about as thick as Hikaru's thighs, and Hikaru felt envious for a moment. Then he thought that if the body came with that visage, there maybe wasn't that much of a reason to be envious.
"Nice to see you're as crass as ever. Now, why've you called me here? There's gotta be more than insults and innuendos."
The Hon'inbou's shifty eyes negated the pseudo-serene smile on his lips. "Can't I want to talk to my grandson and his absolutely lovely wife?"
Tall guy huffed. "That's what phones are for. And you never called in the last ten years. Next try."
Gradually, Hikaru became aware that he was listening to a private conversation, even when it was being held in the middle of the entrance hall of the Go Institute. The politeness his parents had drummed into him (they really had, although one might not get that impression on first glance) demanded that he turn his attention back to the Go Weekly magazine he had been reading before, now that his first bout of curiosity was satisfied. At least, most other visitors of the Go Institute were going back to what they had been doing before. The security that had closed in on the tall guy walked off, too, after it was clear that he wasn't there to cause any mayhem.
Pausing in his thoughts for a moment, Hikaru realized how ridiculous he was being. There was some obscure saying about curiosity and cats being killed, but heck, he was a teenager. And teenagers lived for rule breaking. Anyway, was it his fault if they talked loud enough to be overheard?
With a light smirk on his lips, Hikaru listened intently while pretending to study some kifu.
The next ten minutes were filled with thinly and not so thinly veiled insults, taunts, and blackmail attempts, which oddly enough both parties seemed to enjoy. More than once, Hikaru had barely stopped himself from guffawing when something especially hilarious was being said. Were those two some kind of stand-up comedians?
Hikaru learned that Kazuma had been in America for the past eight months, the reason he hadn't come any sooner (apparently, old Kuwabara had written to him three months ago and had expected a prompter response). He also learned that, even if the Hon'inbou didn't state that it was urgent in his letter, it was supposed to be assumed that way unless he specifically declared the situation not urgent.
And, according to Kuwabara senior, Kazuma had never been too bright in school. Nevertheless, it seemed to have been enough to get into one of Tokyo's top universities, so Hikaru was beginning to wonder what kind of brightness standards one of the world's premier Go names expected.
Probably somewhere in Akira's league, if the Hon'inbou's grumbles were any indication.
When the two of them suddenly fell silent, Hikaru involuntarily broke his pretense of reading to check what was going on now. They had been in the middle of some especially vicious backhand insults, which reminded Hikaru of a strange Go match. To his surprise, Kuwabara jr. even seemed to hold his own reasonably well - at least, he didn't seem to be floundering for words like Hikaru always was when faced with the Hon'inbou.
In Hikaru's opinion, age and treachery really went hand in hand. Which made it even more surprising when the small woman on Kazuma's arm managed to stop them dead by merely putting a second hand on her husband's forearm.
(Hikaru just couldn't get old Kuwabara's entrance question out of his mind, whether young Kuwabara had made her his wife yet or not.)
Maybe she said something. But if she did, it was too soft for Hikaru to hear, and her face was turned away from him. For such a small lady though, her impact was astounding.
Her husband's face turned tender and loving, but it was still ugly. And for a brief moment, the old coot didn't look very shifty and devious anymore in favor of a nice, grandfatherly smile. But he was still ugly, too.
However, that moment was gone as quickly as it had come. Kuwabara Hon'inbou smirked, and suddenly there wasn't a doddery old man anymore but a sly experienced Go player with a presence that was right at the top of the crop. He leaned closer to his grand-son, until Hikaru could barely make out his words. "I think… spiritual power… think about him?"
To Hikaru's surprise, Kuwabara senior pointed directly at Hikaru's seated form, with Kazuma's eyes following. One mal-formed eyebrow rose. "That bleached Go shrimp?"
The Hon'inbou laughed throatily and smirked at Hikaru.
"He can hear you," the old coot commented to his grand-son.
Kazuma didn't look very surprised, also smirking at Hikaru. "I thought Go players had enough manners to not listen in on private conversations."
Hikaru took that as his invitation to join their conversation. He doubted there was any other 'bleached Go shrimp' sitting behind him.
When a year ago Hikaru would have exploded in a yelling outrage, he now had enough control to only glower back at them. "And I thought you had enough sense to know you're talking in the middle of a moderately crowded entrance hall. Can't help it if you're too loud to ignore."
Thankfully, neither of them took offense. Instead, they came closer and it took a second for Hikaru to realize that Kazuma had extended an arm for a hand-shake. "Kuwabara Kazuma, nice to meet you."
Well, the guy had been in America for the past eight months, so Hikaru took it gingerly in the hopes of not getting his fingers crushed in those meaty paws. He was pleasantly surprised that Kazuma's grip was firm but not too firm. "Shindou Hikaru, shodan. Likewise."
What did they want? The old geezer with his squinty eyes definitely was watching them a bit too closely for Hikaru's comfort. Was that a tactic to freak Hikaru out? Then again, why would the Hon'inbou do that? Hikaru wasn't going to play him anytime soon; as shodan, Hikaru just hadn't reached the tournament levels yet where he would meet higher dans.
"This is my wife Yukina," Kazuma continued his introductions, "and I'm sure you know my gramps."
Hikaru nodded towards them, and Yukina bowed back at him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Shindou-san."
Her voice was soft and melodic, a contrast to her husband like day and night. Hikaru wondered how the two of them had found each other, and how such a beautiful woman had fallen for such a rough guy. If she had fallen at all and wasn't a bought Yakuza bride. Not that Hikaru thought that ugly guys couldn't get good-looking women, but those two were on extreme ends of the spectrum.
"Eh, yeah, you too." Hikaru couldn't help the slight blush that settled on his cheeks when she smiled sweetly at him. He cleared his throat. "So. Why're you here?" He stopped a bit and thought about how rudely that had sounded. "Eh, not that you aren't allowed to be here or that I'm asking you why you've come to Japan or Tokyo. More like me. I mean, talking to me. Why."
His verbal coherence didn't get any better, so Hikaru decided to shut up for good now before he embarrassed himself even more. The woman was already covering her mouth with her sleeve, and Hikaru remembered all too well that Sai had always done that when he was trying to hide his amusement. Kuwabara senior cackling in the background didn't help, either.
Kazuma was smiling crookedly at him, leaning in conspiratorially. Up close, Hikaru could really admire all those scars and deformities of his face. "Yeah, Yukina tends to have that effect on men. Took me about three years to hold a half-way coherent conversation with her, so don't worry." Hikaru decided in that instant that he liked the guy, even if he did look like a fifties bad-boy reject crossed with a heavymetal Elvis. "Why we're here? Say, have you ever seen ghosts or demons or some other unexplainable things?
And it was this quickly that Hikaru reversed his judgement of Kazuma. The guy had said all that with a straight and earnest face, so he just had to be a nutcase. Sure, there had been Sai who had vanished five months ago. Hikaru was still mourning the ghost and secretly hoped that he'd be back one day. But there was no way Hikaru was saying anything. Especially not when it was probably part of some kind of ploy by the old geezer.
He donned a slightly bemused, indulgent smile. "Ghosts or demons? Are you for real?"
"Well, whatever you want to call them." Kazuma didn't seem offended. However, he was watching Hikaru way more closely - and seriously - than he would have liked. Was he some kind of occultist?
"Ghosts are dead people that either try to talk to you or possess you or haunt you. Most of them can't affect the physical realm beyond interacting with those sensitive to them. Demons are very strong humanoids, most often with inhuman features like green skin or three eyes, and doing demony things. Like eating people, killing for fun, stealing, stuff like that." Kazuma waved his hand as if Hikaru knew what he was talking about.
If Hikaru hadn't spent three years with Sai, he would have thought the man stark raving mad. As it was, he was still staring at the guy like he was stark raving mad, because the demon bit certainly did sound a bit insane. And he'd never let on to Sai's existence.
How had the guy said everything with such a straight face?
Hikaru thought he would be better off if he gained a bit of distance between himself and Kuwabara's grandson. And pronto at that, because there was no way he was going to involve himself with either a mad-man or someone who was playing some stupid prank on him. Or someone who got him involved in any more spiritual stuff. One ghost had been enough, thank you very much.
"Well, unless you want to call your wife a demon because she's got blue hair, I've never seen one." Hikaru smiled and knew that it was clearly visible that it was a fake smile. "And, not to be rude or anything, I'm not looking to join any occult religion. Also, I've got to meet someone in ten minutes. So, if you will excuse me, it was nice having met you."
He got up and bowed to them perfunctorily before beating a hasty retreat to the sound of Kuwabara Hon'inbou's cackles.
So what if he was high-tailing it out of there - this was getting a bit too creepy for his comforts. Because Kuwabara Junior's lopsided smile had turned into a smirk, and it was only then that Hikaru saw his relation to the Hon'inbou.
Creepy bastards. Both of them.
Thankfully though, none of them tried to bar the way or grab for Hikaru. Kazuma's wife even shot him an apologetic look that he returned nervously. The Go Weekly laid forgotten on the table.
"Hey, Shindou-san!" Kazuma called after him just when Hikaru thought he had gotten away.
Hikaru thought it was safe enough to stop, but he was prepared for anything. "What?"
Kazuma was still smirking. "If you ever meet one and need to get rid of them, tell gramps. He knows where to reach me."
"Thanks. Will do," Hikaru lied behind gritted teeth and walked off as quickly as he could. Only when he had reached the safety of the elevator car and the doors had closed behind him did he relax again.
Yeah, definitely related to the old coot. He wondered what Akira would have to say about that encounter of the third kind.
"Well, what do you think of him?" his gramps asked shrewdly.
Kazuma shrugged, still staring after the boy who had practically fled the premise. "He's definitely got high spiritual awareness. I think he's unconsciously recognized that Yukina's no human. Don't know though if he has consciously met any spiritual beings."
"There is no ghost around him that teaches him Go, or one that might take him over?"
This, Kazuma could answer definitely. But he wondered what had prompted that question. "Nah. At least not for the past four to five months. Anything earlier than that, I can't tell."
"Is that so…" his gramps drawled. He looked to be deep in thought, but Kazuma knew that the man would only tell him what he was thinking when he was ready to. "Any chance he could develop enough strength to become some rowdy fighter like you?"
This time, Kazuma held back a loud guffaw. He turned incredulous eyes on the older man. "Have you seen him, gramps? There's no way in hell that a shrimp like him could become any good in a fight. At least not in a physical fight against demons. In strategy or Go? Now, I'd say that's more your expertise than mine."
"Indeed it is." His grandfather cackled that insane laugh Kazuma just knew he had worked on long and hard for its utmost effect. "Now, boy, was nice seeing you again, but I've got a game of my own to get to. And you should use that time to make sure it's really a woman you've got on your arm."
Kazuma shook his head bemusedly while he watched his gramps walk off.
Go players. He wondered what Urameshi would have to say when he told him of his grandfather and the kid.
A/N: I saw the two names, Kazuma and the old Hon'inbou, and thought they just had to be related. Even though there're probably several thousand unrelated Kuwabara families in Japan. Blame my muse. And their ugliness. Honestly.