Ai No Kimochi

BluAyu

One

Akira Touya looked at the Go Board as if he was in a daze, he had him on his mind again. And it aggravated him like hell. Hikaru Shindo wasn't better than he was in any way... There was no proof of that being possible. And yet, Shindo had beaten him once before, that was enough proof, but Akira had beaten Hikaru many times before. It was Shindo's sick twisted game he'd play and Akira was getting tired of it.

"If you keep playing this bad with me I'm afraid I'll have to resign on purpose," said Meijin Touya.

Akira snapped out of his trance.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking," he replied quickly.

Meijin looked at his son seriously.

"What's on your mind?"

Akira looked down at the Go Board…his eyes cast only on the board and not his father.

"I was thinking about him. He plays that sick twisted emotional game with me all the time, it's absolutely impossible to understand it. Shindo has no idea how much he wrecks me up," he replied coldly.

"I see, you need to get your mind off him for awhile son, just let everything fall in it's place," said Meijin.

Akira nodded silently.

"And it seems like I've won this game, I hope to see a better game played tomorrow morning," said Meijin standing up.

Akira bowed to his father before walking out of the room, sliding on his Kaio school uniform jacket that he had hung on the back of the chair so he'd be ready when he decided to head for school. He glanced back at the door in which behind it lay his father, and then walked out the door down to the subway train that led to the upper part of town.

The ride was silent and uneventful, the time at school was uneventful as well. Akira had always done well in his studies, he was good at everything, and Akira himself knew that he had a much better life than others. Then why did he feel so ungrateful? Maybe because his life was too perfect out in the open. Akira was actually going through a lot, his mother died a year ago when he was in the middle of his second year at Kaio. His father was getting old too, and Akira would pray that Meijin would live longer… And then Shindo would get on his nerves…that's what was messing him up at the time. Akira knew that he shouldn't think about Shindo, but they were having a game at the Go Salon in an hour so it was sort of hard to avoid the matter of thinking about him.

Akira walked out of the school grounds and took the next subway down to the plaza in which the Go Salon was at. When Akira got there, Shindo was waiting for him in the more private section of the Go Salon, two bowls of what Akira guessed was ramen were on the table.

"Touya you made it! Good I bought us some food," said Hikaru, his golden brown eyes gleaming.

Akira gave a small smile, "Arigato Shindo-San, Itadakimasu."

Hikaru nodded giving a murmur of, "Itadakimasu, thanks for the food."

The ate in silence and Akira joked around saying, "Shindo, I thought we were here to play Go, not eat to our hearts content."

Hikaru would grin goofy and reply, "We are, I thought we should eat first though, I mean you I know never eat much so I decided to make sure you got some food before we played. You do know that eating before doing something that requires the mind helps you think right?"

Akira sighed nodding.

"I dunno maybe I'm stalling my defeat against you," added Hikaru teasingly.

Akira's eyes looked into Hikaru's for a slight second.

"You're not confident?" he asked.

Hikaru was about to respond when Otaga came in, he was paler than usual, he looked frightened.

"Touya, urgent news," he said.

Hikaru and Akira stood up at the same time.

"You can tell me in front of Shindo right?" asked Akira

Otaga nodded.

"I think it's best for him to know as well, Akira your father had a heart attack before you left school and died. We tried to contact you at school but you had already made it here," he said.

Akira's eyes went blurry on him and we stumbled to the ground. He was going to be sick, right then and there, he could already feel the ramen coming back up, but he wasn't about to let himself get sick in front of Shindo.

"Touya, are you okay?" asked Hikaru, kneeling down beside his friend.

"I-I'm fine," Akira whispered.

"Touya, would you like me to take you home?" Hikaru asked.

Akira nodded. Hikaru helped his rival off the floor, their hands intertwining each other. Otaga looked at the two and Hikaru walked to the door and glanced back at Otaga.

"I'll take care of Akira, don't worry," he said before both of them walked out the door.

Akira glanced at his rival as they walked down the corridors leading to outside.

"You don't have to do this," he said.

"I want to though. Touya, your father just died, you have nobody else to help you unless they end up being adults. My father died when I was little and I know how it feels, trust me…I know how it is to loose someone," said Hikaru, sadness all in his voice.

"No, you don't know how it feels Shindo, you lost your father when you were little, I doubt you even remember it," snapped Akira, pulling away from Hikaru's grasp.

Hikaru looked hurt.

"I lost someone recently just as well, it wasn't a family member though, it was my sensei," he said.

Akira looked shocked for a second.

"Sensei?"

Hikaru nodded.

"He ended up mysteriously disappearing after I got into a fight with him over something stupid. I looked everywhere for him but he was nowhere to be found," he said.

Akira sighed.

"That would be terrible, to not know weather someone you cared about is alive or dead, I'm sorry Shindo," he said.

Hikaru smiled.

"It's okay Touya," he said as they walked amongst the crowds and hordes of people. For the first time in Akira's life, he felt loved…truly loved. Shindo was taking care of him, he thought. Maybe it was because Shindo thought it was the right thing to do, and Akira most definitely knew that he did not want pity from anyone. Akira dreaded going home, if anything the corpse of Meijin Touya was already removed from the house, but people would be there along with other things. Akira was going to have to take care of everything on his own now. He couldn't help but feel a little bit grateful that Hikaru was walking him home.

(A/N: That's the first chapter...um...I bet I made everyone OOC...> Forgive me! It'll get better in the end.)