Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go belongs to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi. Not mine.
Author's Notes: Written for the 10 inspirations livejournal community (phrase prompt #1: Once bitten, twice shy).
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Unneeded
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Pa-chi.
Pa-chi.
Pa-chi.
The go stones made sharp, resonant sounds as they connected with the wooden board. Akari watched as Akira took her captured black pieces almost casually, further reducing her already endangered territory.
She was losing badly, and she knew it. Not that she had expected the outcome to be any different.
It was almost funny, she thought as she laid down another stone. Her first love had also been a brilliant go player, and it was that game that had separated their paths. Logic dictates that she should now have, at least, a kind of wariness when it comes to establishing relations with people like that—people with goals and passions that she couldn't begin to understand, who will reach places that she couldn't even see.
And yet there she was, forging a friendship with another one of them. She wondered if she should worry, or feel afraid.
A soft clatter of stones and another firm pa-chi, and another part of her territory was lost. Akari shook her head and resigned. Akira thanked her for the game and started gathering his stones.
As the two of them sorted the pieces, Akari glanced up and caught his eye. He paused for a moment and carefully held her gaze, as if silently asking what was wrong. She shook her head slightly and smiled.
No, she didn't need to feel afraid at all.
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