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Warning: This contains SLASH. For this one, that means girl/girl romance. If you don't like it, don't read. Also, the main theme of this is the Asian game of Go, or I-Go, but you don't have to know the game to be able to understand the story.
Rating: PG-13
Like Go Stones
“Congratulations, Gabrielle, another perfect score.”
Gabrielle accepted the paper from her teacher with a shy smile. “Thank you.”
The teacher gave her a return smile and moved on to the desk behind her. “And you too, Senka, well done.”
“Thanks.”
Gabrielle turned and gave her twin a small smile, glad that they’d gotten the same grade, but Senka didn’t bother to look at her. Instead, she resolutely stuck the paper into a black folder on her desk and turned back to the song she’d been working on.
With a sigh, Gabrielle turned back around and scanned over her paper without really seeing it. Lately, Senka had been ignoring her more than usual, which really wasn’t saying much since they hardly ever spoke in the first place. They might be twins, but they had completely different lives and got along rather poorly. The most that was usually said between them in a day was common courtesy, since they did share a room and a bathroom. But lately, Senka hadn’t even spoken that much to her. In fact, Senka seemed to try to avoid her most of the time.
It hurt to have Senka avoid her so much, more than it should. Why? She was in love with her sister. Not platonic love or sympathetic love, but romantic, sexual love. With her sister. And though she knew that Senka would never love her back, and that most people considered it wrong and disgusting, it hurt her to the core to have Senka avoid her so much.
As soon as class was over, Senka stood and headed straight for the door, pushing her way though the other students. Gabrielle, who was slower to pack her books away, watched her sister leave sadly. She hurriedly shoved her books in her bag and shuffled out after the rest of the class.
“Senka, wait!” she called to the black-clad figure that was her twin. Senka took a few more steps before she paused and waited for Gabrielle to catch up.
“We have Go club today,” Gabrielle stated as they began walking down the wall together. Senka rolled her eyes and began walking faster so that Gabrielle almost had to jog to keep up.
“Are you going to come?” Gabrielle tried again. “I don’t feel like playing with any of the other members today. None of them really knows what they’re doing.”
Senka remained silent but nodded once in response. Subtly, her fingers twitched on the handle of her guitar case, as though they longed to pick up smooth Go stone after Go stone.
Gabrielle smiled brightly. “Great! So, I’ll see you there?”
Senka nodded again, her green eyes flashing in annoyance at her sister. Gabrielle speedily stopped and turned back the other way before her sister decided to do anything; she could be a tad violent when she was incensed. Their lockers were on the opposite sides of the school anyway.
“Onegaishimasu,” Gabrielle murmured, the customary greeting at the beginning of a game, as Senka sat across from her and took her customary bowl of white stones. Senka merely nodded and waited for her to make the first move. Gabrielle sighed as she placed her stone, unsurprised when Senka countered immediately; she’d probably been waiting to play all day.
Go, a game of territory and capturing, where black and whites stones were placed alternately on the board to surround that territory; a world where a novice could easily win against the right player and a veteran could lose against the wrong one. A world that Senka desperately wanted to join. Gabrielle knew well that her sister dreamed of becoming a professional player. In fact, whenever they played online against Japanese insei–students of Go planning to go pro–they both usually won. But she had never had the same love of the game that her sister had. For her sister, there was Go and music. For herself, Go was fun, but it was more about the designs the stones made on the board that she could later manipulate on her canvas. For herself, there was only art and her sister.
As she placed another stone on the board, she realized how odd it was for her to be using the black stones. Since they were about the same strength, they never used handicaps, but they never seemed to choose for color either; every time they played, they merely played with the same colors, Senka: white, and herself: black. It should be the other way around. She was the lighter of the two of them, the ‘good’ twin: naturally blond and bouncy to go with it, always dressed in bright colors with a smile on her face, the valley girl type, extroverted, but still extremely intelligent. Senka, her opposite: a self-proclaimed Goth, her blond hair dyed black and red to match her dark clothes, multiple piercings, a mix of hard metal and trance streaming through her speakers day and night, flippant at school yet still with top grades, introverted and emotionless as the cold stones constantly between her fingers. They were the stones on the board, white and black, light and dark, unable to truly live without each other, yet they always seemed to pick the color that was their opposite. And they’d never once thought it odd.
Until now, she reflected as she looked over the board. Now she felt it was odd to have the black stones between her fingers when they contrasted her so completely. Not only that, but in terms of strength, Senka should have been using the black stones ages ago. There was a time when they were the star pupils of their teacher in Los Angeles, and she would certainly be proud of their progress. But Gabrielle didn’t want to be a pro, so she’d neglected her study of the game, and now Senka was pulling ahead of her. Bit by bit, she was going to realize her dream and leave Gabrielle behind her.
Yet the game ended in a tie, without compensation points, like it always did.
Senka sighed, but didn’t seem too upset, and began clearing up her stones. Gabrielle almost chose that moment to ask what was wrong, but didn’t in case the problem was herself, in which case asking questions would just set her sister off. They cleaned up in silence and left with a brief goodbye to the other members.
“Do you have band practice today?” Gabrielle asked and they walked. Senka glanced at her and shook her head. “So you’re coming home with me today?” A nod at that. “Great!”
Senka remained silent as they reached Gabrielle’s pale blue pickup and climbed in, her guitar slipping gently behind the seats. As soon as Gabrielle started the truck, Senka’s hand darted forward to press the preset button for her favorite radio station and crank up the volume. Recognizing this as a tactic to force them not to talk, Gabrielle didn’t protest like she normally would as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed home to their mansion.
Senka got out to grab the mail once they got there and was already rifling through it when she climbed back into the truck. As she turned into the driveway, she thought she heard a strangled gasp come from Senka, but when she glanced over, her sister looked as passive as ever. As soon as the truck came to a stop in their garage, Senka jumped out and headed inside, even forgetting her guitar in her hurry.
Gabrielle frowned in confusion and moved more slowly, taking her time to grab her things before following her sister inside. She was rewarded for this; by the time she had reached the kitchen, Senka was already there, staring at the papers in her hands with a look of astonishment. Gabrielle glanced at the envelope on the counter that they must have come in, but the only writing on it that she could see was in Japanese.
“What is it?” she asked, moving to stand at Senka’s side. But even as she glanced at the paper and read the few kanji she could understand, she had a good idea of what this was.
Senka beamed at her, her weeks of silence somehow forgotten. “I did, Gabi! I made it in!”
“In what?” Gabrielle asked, a sick feeling forming in her stomach as she looked over the papers she was handed properly. It was what she’d feared; a letter from the Go Institute in Tokyo, Japan.
“The pro test!” Senka answered excitedly. “I sent in my application a few weeks ago, and they’ve accepted me!”
“That’s great!” Gabrielle said, trying her best to sound excited for her sister, but it was hard; Senka was going to be taken away from her.
“The prelims are in two weeks,” Senka continued, pointing at a line of kanji. “I’ll have to leave in a few days so I can get a hotel room and get acclimated and–what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” Gabrielle murmured with a faint smile, shaking her head. “I’m really happy for you, Senka! You’re going to pass for sure!”
Senka beamed at her again, gave her a swift hug, and dashed out, heading for the computer room so she could prepare.
Gabrielle waited until she was out of sight to let her true feelings show on her face. She really was happy for her sister, but she could help but feel miserable; Senka would be leaving, first for a couple weeks, then for two months, then for at least a year. She was slowly going to be deprived of the only person she truly cared for, one who had no idea how she felt. It would be like playing against a top pro who kept taking her largest groups of stones, one after another, until only one color remained on the field and she lost.
“Gabi!” Senka’s voice called, sounding distant and muffled. “Could you call the school and tell them I’m going to be gone for three weeks, starting next Monday?”
Gabrielle sighed as she moved to follow the instructions, as much as she didn’t want to. As miserable as she felt, this was still her sister’s dream come true and she couldn’t do anything to prevent it from happening.
Gabrielle yawned as she sleepily answered, ending up with something that was probably incoherent. It was five something in the morning, after all.
“I won my game again today! If I win tomorrow too, I’ll pass!”
Gabrielle smiled faintly on her end; it had been a couple months since Senka had left for Japan and the pro test, and every day she had a game, she’d called home to tell her sister the news, whether good or bad. It was almost as though Senka had never left, except that the house was much, much quieter now.
“That’s great, Senka!” Gabrielle said as enthusiastically as she could half-asleep. “I’m sure you’ll win tomorrow, and then you’ll be the fifth American pro!”
“Yeah, I can’t wait!” Senka was quiet for about a minute before she started talking again, this time with a more subdued tone. “I’ve been telling everyone here about you. I think I may be driving them crazy, actually.”
Gabrielle blinked; she was sure she’d be the last thing on her sister’s mind. “You have?”
“Yeah, and they all think it’s kind of cool that we’re both so good at Go. I’ve got a nickname now too: ‘Go Twin One.’”
“That’s…interesting…”
“Uh-huh. And they all think it’d be great if you came and took the test next year, so we can be pros together. ‘The Go Twins.’ We’d move up the ranks in no time. You’re just as good as I am, and I’d wait for you to pass before advancing.”
Gabrielle frowned slightly, glad that her sister couldn’t see her. “Senka, I never wanted to be a pro. That’s always been your dream.”
“I know, but you can’t survive just on your paintings, and mom’s not always going to be there to pay our expenses. Being a pro pays good money, and you could paint in your free time.”
“Senka…” Gabrielle sighed, wishing that her sister wasn’t so right. She wasn’t good enough to live off her paintings alone.
“Please, Gabi? I’ll be back next week and we can start making preparations. Schinichiro said he could get us an apartment for cheap.”
Gabrielle frowned at the wall. Her sister sounded so insistent. “Why do you want me to come so much?”
The other line was quiet for quite a while, almost until she thought Senka had hung up on her. Then her sister’s voice said softly, “I really miss you, Gabi. I didn’t think I would, but I do.”
“You’re just not used to having me around–”
“No! That’s not it!” The line was quiet for another long time. “I love you, and I don’t want to be away from you for so long. A year’s a really long time, Gabi.”
Gabrielle’s breath caught and she almost pulled the phone away from her ear to stare at it dubiously. She...did she really mean that? “You...love me?”
“Yes, for a year now. I thought you might hate me if I told you, but I miss you too much. Please come stay with me. You don’t even have to be a pro if you don’t want. Just please–”
“Senka,” Gabrielle interrupted, slightly breathless. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was sure she would faint. “I’ll come to Japan. I’ll even become a pro. I love you too.”
She was sure she heard a faint “yes!” on the other line, but before she had time to be sure, Senka’s voice squealed, “You are the best, Gabi, the absolute best! I’ll be home in a week, and we can talk about everything then, kay?”
“Okay.” Gabrielle gave the phone an amused glance as Senka immediately hung up, then set her one back in it’s cradle. She couldn’t wait for her sister to get home now.
