Ok, so this was SUPPOSED to be an entry of mine into my roleplay site's cliché contest, but I forgot to post it before the due date so….whatever. After a site vote, the cliché's we were allowed to write for were Caught in the Rain, Best Friends, and Rivals, and it was supposed to show the two characters 'getting together' somehow. I figured Hikaru and Akira could fit all three. :P

The contest ended in November, but it hasn't been judged yet due to real life difficulties on the part of our mod. The other one I wrote, which I did post in time, is for the movie Cursed, so whenever the contest is finally judged I'll post that….or when I get tired of waiting for the results.

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Title: It Was Raining

Fandom: Hikaru no Go

Pairing: Hikaru x Akira

Cliché(s): Caught in the Rain, but also Best Friends and Rivals

Arthur's Notes: This takes places well after the series ends, but Hikaru still lives at home. I don't know when a typical Japanese guy is supposed to move out….Also, I gave Akira a Japanese-style take on love: it's something traditional families don't usually say or convey well. Hikaru is more modern, so he uses the word a bit more freely.

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When Hikaru had left the house this morning, his mother had told him to take an umbrella because the weather report forecasted rain. He hadn't listened. He had a game today and he was running late.

When he'd left the Go Institute after winning his game, the sun had been high and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He went immediately to Touya's Go Salon to go over his latest game and play his eternal rival in a new, heated, diverse game of Go that would reach out toward heaven, searching for the Divine Move. They couldn't find it by themselves. You need two people to play Go; two people with the same intensity, always striving forward, always searching, pulling and pushing each other along, together forever. Akira Touya and Hikaru Shindou: they couldn't stay away. They couldn't turn and walk away; they'd tried and it was hard and painful and empty without the other up there striving with them. So they played and fought and hated and loved and it was amazing and magnificent and perfect.

They had played all afternoon…well, except for the ten minute argument that had come up over a tiny move Hikaru had made in his pro game that Akira had thought was the stupidest move in the world. Funny. He always came up with a new 'stupidest move in the world' every time they argued.

Ichikawa had managed to calm them both down when she offered them tea and they'd sat glaring at each other for the five minutes it took them to drink their tea like the supposedly-well-raised Japanese boys they were. Afterward, without a word, they had both moved into playing a new game, their game. This was why they came together every day: to face each other over the board, to speak through the stones and discover the universe in their game. They didn't talk until they were well into the match, and that was only when one of them was criticizing the others moves, or complimenting them….which only happened once, from Hikaru to Akira.

The day wore on but neither young man noticed. They were too wrapped up in each other, in the world made up of only them and a goban; where there were no secrets, only half-hidden truths and screaming desires clattering across a board. Hikaru only noticed the time when Ichikawa asked them to close up the Salon once they were finished. It was already the last moments of sunset outside, and clouds dotted the sky. There was something foreboding about the clouds, but Hikaru couldn't remember for the life of him why….Akira called his attention back to the game, and Hikaru ignored the clouds for the much more interesting task of attempting to whoop Akira's butt.

He lost, but he felt great about it. The game had been a fantastic one and he only lost by 1-moku.

The clouds came back into play the moment Akira opened the front door. It was pouring rain outside! It was coming down so hard that Hikaru couldn't see the street only a few feet from the glass of the door. Akira shut the door and stepped back to stand by Hikaru as they stared outside in shock.

"I vote we wait until it lessens up a bit," Hikaru offered, staring wide eyed at the door even as Akira turned and took a seat at their normal game table. When he realized Akira had moved, Hikaru turned to see where he'd gone and let himself take in the image of Akira relaxing in the chair for a moment.

His dark green hair brushed his shoulders gently as he lowered his head to stare at the empty goban on the table. He was wearing one of his awful argyle sweaters, a maroon one with black and white strips from the shoulders to the waist, tucked into his grey dress pants with a white dress shirt underneath. He always dressed to impress, even if no one was there to be impressed. Hikaru smiled. It was for him. Akira was trying to impress him.

"Touya," he called. When Akira looked over at him, Hikaru waved him over. "Come here for a minute."

Akira glanced around the room a moment before lifting himself from the chair and walking cautiously over to where Hikaru still stood by the door. When he was next to Hikaru again, Hikaru leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Akira in a hug. Akira tensed.

"Shindou?" the slightly older Go-Pro asked in a breath.

Hikaru shook his head where it rested against Akira's shoulder and just stood there for a moment. When he pulled back, he shook his head again so Akira could see it. "It's nothing." He turned, setting his hands in his pants pockets, to look outside at the rain. "I was just thinking…I was thinking about Go, and fate…about you and me."

Akira tilted his head minutely to the left, his hair falling that way as well. "What do you mean?"

Hikaru shrugged, moving to lean against the glass of the door and face Akira again. The glass was cold with the rain outside. "You're my rival; my eternal rival." He watched his shoes as he spoke, a little smile on his face. "Ever since we were twelve, we've been revolving around one another, like the Earth and the Moon. We can't escape each other, no matter what we do. You're the most amazing player I know, and I wouldn't want it any other way. But…besides that….Touya…." Hikaru lifted his eyes to look at Akira standing before him. "You're my best friend."

As always when Hikaru mentioned friendship, Akira shifted uncomfortably and rolled his eyes. Hikaru thought it funny: Akira said they weren't friends, that Hikaru used the term too lightly…and yet they'd ended up in bed together so many times Hikaru'd lost count. His logic didn't make much sense at times.

"Shindou-"

"No," Hikaru stopped him. "Listen to me for a minute." He leaned his head against the glass too and just felt the drops hitting the glass for a moment. Hikaru took a deep breath and sighed. "I've known you for years….for nine years, Touya. You know more about me than anyone else."

Touya shook his head a bit sadly. "I highly doubt that."

"What's my favorite food?"

Touya raised an elegant eyebrow. "Ramen."

"Color?"

"Yellow."

"City?"

"Innoshima."

"My least favorite day?"

"May 5th."

"How did I get into Go?"

Akira paused for a moment. "You wanted to sell your grandfather's old Go board for money to buy a new video game…and wound up with a ghost from the Heien Era who taught you to play Go instead."

Silence engulfed the room, broken only by the rain against the glass. Akira heard Hikaru take a deep breath. "That," he breathed out. "Throw out everything else you know about me….and that last answer proves it."

Akira knew he was right, he just didn't want to admit it. Everyone knew the answers to those first questions, but only Akira knew the last one. It was only two years ago that Hikaru had managed to tell him about Fujiwara no Sai, the ghost that had possessed a portion of his soul. He could remember clearly how Hikaru's hands, his whole body, had been shaking, how tears had poured from his eyes in the end, how sincere he was and how afraid he'd been that Akira wouldn't believe him. Akira had already been head over heels in love with Hikaru for years, and seeing all of that emotion come from someone who so often forced himself to be happy all the time….he couldn't bring himself to doubt a word Hikaru said. The more he thought about it, the more it all made sense. 'Someday' had arrived, and Akira welcomed it with an open mind and an open heart. The fact that Hikaru had told him about Sai meant more than any other thing in the world: even when Hikaru had first said he loved him.

"Akira," Hikaru said softly, catching Akira off guard. "Lying in bed, before the sun's come up, when everyone else is still sleeping….We've exchanged our lives in whispered breaths. I don't know how you feel about that but…That means a lot for me." He locked his eyes with Akira's. "I just wanted to let you know….I'd be prepared to spend the rest of my life with you, if that's what you wanted."

Akira felt the breath leave his body. He couldn't speak. His heart was barely remembering to beat, his lungs to breathe, his soul to remain in his body. Hikaru….

Hikaru was the fun one; the one with friends outside of Go; the one who understood pop culture references and movies and comics. He, even at twenty-one, had issues focusing on anything but Go for more than twenty minutes. He was always moving, always talking, always active. Akira was the boring one with no friends who barely knew the world existed outside of Go and dressed like an old man and would rather sit and drink tea and study Go than play soccer or hang out with friends or go to the arcade. How was it that, out of all the people in the world, Hikaru was choosing him to spend forever with?

Hikaru let out a noise, something he tried to hide but failed, and Akira was drawn back to reality. Hikaru's eyes were on the ground, shut tightly closed against the emotions welling up within him. It was silly of him: stupid. Akira wasn't the most emotional of people. It didn't mean anything that it was taking him this long to react.

Akira physically shook himself and took a step closer to Hikaru. Maybe it was the added body heat or the added weight, or however the door worked, but suddenly the glass slid open and Hikaru went tumbling backward into the pouring rain and onto the sidewalk with a yelp of surprise. Akira jumped and ran to check if he was ok, running into the downpour himself.

Hikaru opened his eyes when the rain stopped hitting his face and saw Akira hovering over him, blocking the rain like an umbrella, his hair framing both of their faces. "Are you alright?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yea. Just a bit wet," he assured Akira with a grin.

Akira held out a hand and Hikaru accepted it. He was hoisted to his feet but neither of them moved to go back inside. They were already drenched through to the bone, it wouldn't make any difference if they went back in now. Akira stared at Hikaru, at his blonde bangs and black hair, at the water soaked clothes slipping down Hikaru's arms to show off his neck and shoulders, and took a deep breath before leaning in to kiss him on the lips. It was wet, but warm, and familiar in a way that was both easy to understand and yet hard to explain – from more than just the number of times it had happened. This was something bone deep and real, lasting for an eternity and beyond.

He pulled back and kept eye contact with a stunned Hikaru. "I just thought you should know," he said breathily, barely audible over the rain, "I've never been happier in my entire life than just now."

Hikaru blinked a few times, trying to keep the rain from his eyes and the tears from leaking out, and finally managed a bright smile. "Really?" he asked hopefully.

Akira nodded, a smile alighting on his face as well, and then motioned toward the door. "We should probably go inside before we catch pneumonia and die."

Arms draped around Akira's neck, shocking him, and Hikaru laughed breathily in his ear. "I don't care. I'd die happy." He squeezed Akira tighter in the embrace. "I love you, Akira Touya. I love you."

Akira wrapped his arms around Hikaru's back and held him close, hiding his face in Hikaru's neck and closing his eyes. "More than the entire world, Hikaru," he sighed out before planting a kiss to the skin against his lips.

If you asked any of Hikaru's friends, they would tell you Hikaru and Akira had a strange relationship revolving around Go that really made no sense to anyone outside of the duo. No one understood them like they did. They were eternal rivals in Go, and now they were eternally together in love.

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Fin. Please review!