~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&&~Hikaru no Duel Monsters~&&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! and Hikaru no Go though I wish I did
Summary: Two boys, each hiding their own little secret; two ghosts each happy to find something new and a frustrated rival, unhappy with the sudden changes in his life. RERWITTEN
After receiving your reviews I decided to modify the story a little. Maybe I did hurry a little in telling Hikaru's and Yuugi's secrets so now Yuugi doesn't know about Sai and the other way around.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&&~Hikaru no Duel Monsters~&&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"3-16" started the dark haired boy with bleached bangs.
"16-16" responded the other one with spiky brown hair.
"16-4" continued the bleached boy as their three member group stepped out of the Go Institute and made their way to the nearest train station.
"17-5" said quickly the other one.
"That's exactly how you started our game the other day Waya, and I won. You might try something else" pointed out the bleached boy.
"Yeah I know but I thought about it last night and I built a strategy that will work. Trust me." said the one with spiky hair.
"All right, if you say so…17-3"
"Hey Shindou, how come you're not going to see that Touya bastard today?" asked the boy named Waya.
These oral go games were something very common between these two pro go players who also happened to be very close friends. It seemed that Waya Yoshitaka was constantly trying to prove himself that he was a better go player than his younger friend Shindou Hikaru and he challenged Hikaru every time he had a chance. The time they needed to get from the Go Institute to the train station was no exception. They only needed their feet to get to the station not their brains too so Waya decided to put their brains at work saying that it was a good practice.
Their other friend, Isumi Shinichiro, the oldest of them, preferred to concentrate on the activity at hand, meaning walking, since someone actually had to make sure that they didn't bump into someone by accident or worse, cross the street on the red light or get on the wrong train.
"I saw him yesterday and I think I had enough of him for this week" the bleached boy answered.
"You two fought again huh?" It wasn't really a question, more like a statement. They all knew how fired up were the games between the two rivals.
They would always meet at Touya's go salon, play a game and then Hikaru would storm out soon after they would start discussing the game. Actually it was more like shouting and busting their lungs out at each other for almost every move they made during the game, since almost every move their rival made seemed to be a reckless one and not the best choice at the time.
And yet they were still rivals and Shindou would still go to Touya's salon and they would still take it all from the beginning over and over again.
"I mean can you believe him?" started Hikaru all fired up "he actually said that he met amateurs who were playing better that me and that he should start looking for a worthy rival in his father's go salon."
"That bastard, I told you that you should stop spending time with him, it's not worth it. He thinks so high of himself just because he's the Meijin's son" started Waya with anger in his voice "that spoiled little brat" then mumbled clenching his fists.
"He is a good player, the best among the lower dans. You should give him credit for that" spoke Isumi for the first time since they left the Institute.
"That doesn't mean he can be so cocky about it" shouted Waya as if he was the one insulted by the Meijin's son, not his friend.
"Hey guys, look over there" Hikaru seemed to have forgotten about his anger and was pointing his finger toward a boy about Waya's age coming from the opposite direction. "Look at his funny hair" he chuckled.
The other two turned to look in the direction pointed by their friend and the site of the boy with three colored spiky hair seemed to make Waya lighten up a bit.
"Look who's talking" he mumbled referring to Hikaru's bleached bangs.
"Hey, my hair is not that weird" Hikaru defended himself.
"Right…" teased Waya.
"He looks lost" Isumi pointed out. The boy seemed indeed to be both lost or looking for something since he was looking right and left at the buildings instead of where he was going.
"Maybe he's not from around here" Waya gave a guess "Let's find what he's looking for then, shall we?"
"Wait Waya, what do you want to do?" asked Isumi a little concerned but it was too late. Waya went up ahead and bumped into the boy who wasn't watching his step, knocking him down.
"I'm sorry" started the boy "I wasn't watching where I was going."
"No, no! I'm sorry" said Waya sheepishly gesturing the 'no' with both hands "I wasn't looking and I knocked you down" then he got up from the ground and gave a hand to the other boy helping him up. "I'm really sorry."
By now Hikaru and Isumi were just a step behind their friend and were watching the entire scene wandering what their friend was up to. When Waya Yoshitaka made up his mind about something there was no turning back and no one, not even his friends could make him change his mind. Why couldn't he mind his own business and leave the boy alone. He was just a regular boy with a weird haircut, nothing out of ordinary.
"If there is anything I can help you with tell me ok? I want to make it up to you" The boy looked a little puzzled, anyone in his place would. I mean it's not like you bump into a total stranger everyday and they offer to help you just to make it up to you.
"Well, I guess you could help with something. I'm not from this city and I'm looking for a game store."
A game store? Now that was unexpected. Waya had been hoping for more. He didn't know why he hoped that the boy with weird hair would make his day more exciting. Maybe that was because Shindou did that and Shindou had weird hair too.
Yes that's right. Whenever he spent a day with Shindou he had more fun than on any other day. Maybe that was one of the many reasons he hated Touya Akira so much. Akira was Shindou's rival and Shindou would meet Touya at least twice a week to play go and sometimes on those certain days Waya wanted to go out and eat sushi with his friends or play team go and Touya was just in his way.
Isumi was his best friend but there were things he couldn't do with Isumi. For starters Isumi didn't play video games and he didn't check out the internet too often either. He was a good partner to play go with and Waya learned a lot from him but he sometimes wished Isumi were a little more outgoing.
"Um…I think we just passed by one didn't we guys?" Waya turned to ask his friends "Go strait forward and the first street on the right" he continued without waiting for the answer.
"Thank you" said the boy bowing slightly.
"No problem. Actually…why don't we just take you there…since you are not from around here…" he changed his mind.
"That's all right. I don't want to be a bother. I'm sure I'll find it."
"No problem at all. We have nothing better to do anyway. Right guys?" Waya turned to the others waiting for their affirmative answer.
It was true that they had nothing important to do so they might just as well help the boy out so they all started walking back the way they came from. Meanwhile Hikaru and Waya resumed their unfinished game.
"It's my turn right? 16-10"
"What?" Hikaru seemed to have forgotten about their game but he soon remembered it and made his move "Oh yeah 4-10"
"15-4"
They walked for a couple of blocks and stopped in front of a toy store. The boy entered first and since they came all the way the others followed.
"What are you looking for? A present for someone?" asked Hikaru who by that time burned with curiosity.
"No. I'm looking for rare cards."
Rare cards? What was that kid talking about? Poker cards weren't rare; tarot cards weren't rare either. What other cards were there?
They all looked around for cards that might interest the boy but they didn't find anything that would be described by the word 'rare'. The boy didn't seem to be satisfied with what he found either and turned to leave, the others close behind.
"What cards are you looking for anyway?" Hikaru decided to get the answers they all seemed to want.
"Duel Monsters cards" he stated the obvious "But they didn't have any. I was hoping to find some rare cards here in Tokyo but I didn't find any in neither of the game stores I entered." The boy looked really disappointed and the news he was going to get wouldn't make things better.
"You won't find anything like that here" explained Hikaru.
The fact that Hikaru seemed to know what the boy was talking about made Waya and Isumi curious since they had no idea what Duel Monsters was. Of course they assumed it was a game since the boy was looking for those cards in a game store but other than that they were totally clueless.
"Hey Shindou, you know that game?" asked Waya.
"Yeah, I saw something about it on the internet once. There are all these monster cards and then the players would take out a monster each and the stronger one wins while the other loses life points. When one player gets to zero life points the game is over" explained Hikaru, or at least he attempted to.
"Is that so? Sounds boring, like a game for three years old kids" puffed Waya displeased. Following this kid was all just a waste of time.
"Actually Duel Monsters is more a strategy game rather than a game based on dumb luck. You have to build your strategy with what you have at hand and believe in the heart of the cards."
Heart of the cards? What the hell is that? The next thing he would say is that there is a heart of the goban too or maybe a heart of the stones? Yeah, that's right. A heart of the stones that would tell you the best choice for the next move. Oh please!
They all gave each other a strange look but didn't let the other boy know that they found him…well…odd.
They soon reached the point where Hikaru and his friends went their separate ways and then said their goodbyes. Waya and Isumi lived closer to each other so they would split up later.
"You coming this way?" Hikaru asked the boy not sure if he wanted to be in this boy's company anymore.
"Yes" he answered.
Well, the boy wasn't going to leave so he could at least find out his name.
"I'm Shindou Hikaru. What's your name?"
"Mutou Yuugi. Do you mind if I ask you what were those numbers all about?"
"Numbers? Oh yeah" he said as he remembered the game he was playing with Waya earlier. "We were playing go. Sometime on our way home we do that."
"Go? Don't you need a board or something for that?"
"Nah. We're pros. Besides these games are not serious, they're just for passing time."
"And I thought that only old people played that. It's strange to find that there are kids my age who are already professionals. It's supposed to be a hard game."
Hikaru chuckled. "Yeah, I used to think that too until a few years ago. You'd be surprised how many children and young people play it" he said amused. "By the way where are you from?"
"Domino City."
"And don't you have go salons there?"
"We do but you won't find any children there. My grandfather owns a Game store and we actually live there so I help him out and sometimes we get orders for go boards from salons. I'm helping with the delivery too but I've never seen kids my age there."
"Then what do kids do for fun in your city?"
"A lot of people play Duel Monsters, then there is Capsule Monsters and Dungeon Dice Monsters. The last one is also very popular."
"Really? Then you should show me that game too!" said Hikaru with sudden interest in the new game. Why does every one of the games have 'monster' in it? It just makes it sound scary, he thought.
Duel Monsters…it might not be a bad idea to give the game a chance. Hikaru couldn't remember the last time he tried a new game. He spent most of the time playing go. He played cards with his friends at school and sometimes with Waya too. There was even a time when he couldn't get the poker game out of his mind and he tried to teach it to Touya but the other wouldn't even listen.
With Touya it was like that: either go or nothing. Sometimes Hikaru thought that Touya needed a break. His all life seemed to be meticulously scheduled, from the day he was born until the day he was going to die he ate, slept and breathed go.
It was the main reason they weren't friends in the first place. It wasn't the shouting and yelling that bothered Hikaru the most, it was the fact that he couldn't talk about anything else with his rival and he couldn't do anything with him but play go.
He didn't want to become like that so he decided to spend some time with Yuugi and learn this new game. It might turn out to be fun. He might even call Touya and tell him that he can't make it at their next meeting. A break would be good for both of them.
He had no games the next day so he decided to meet the other boy and try the new game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&&~HnDM~&&~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~