Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go.

"blahblahblah" Character's dialogue

blahblahblah Character's thought

Important note before reading:

1. In the previous fics (I'll be back and He is back), Hikaru called Yongha as "Ko". However, one of my dear readers told me that it isn't what they call each other in Korea. So, in this fic, Hikaru will call Yongha as "Yongha"the same way that Suyong calls him in the original anime.

The story will come from different POVs. However, since this is a part of the "Yongha's series", the story will mostly come from Yongha's POV. Each Character may refer to a certain character in a different way (e.g., when Hikaru thinks of Yongha, he will refer him as "Yongha", when Akira thinks of Yongha, he will refer him as "Ko Yongha").

Previously in "He is back"

May 2003, Seven Star Hotel, in the garden

"I just want you to know that you two… that you two have my blessing and my support," Hikaru smiled widely, his heart full of happiness.

"And I'll never ever come between you guys… So please stop fightingwith each other," he said seriously, "I'm so proud of you, both of you. A long distance love must be very hard," Hikaru let go of their hands, "Okay, I don't want to be the third wheel anymore. I'll leave you two alone. Bye," he grinned before running back to the lobby as fast as he could.

……………

……………

"Wait a damn minute!" The duo shouted.

Should I be back?

Prologue

It is said that when a man is in a life and death situation like when he is about to die in a deadly car accident, he will see his past in a flashback. Strangely enough, although Yongha was far from any danger, he was one hundred percent fine without any injury; he kept seeing his memories run quickly in his mind.

What happened? How did he get himself into this mess?

Now he remembered.

It was all because of Shindou Hikaru.

He had first met Shindou two years ago at the first Hokuto Cup Tournament. He wouldn't call it a sweet encounter. The Japanese boy had kept looking daggers at him. He had been mad at him, thinking that he, Ko Yongha, had insulted the great Honinbo Shusaku. Yongha had been annoyed, to put it mildly.

Not knowing the whole truth, without hearing his side of the story, Shindou had judged him to be a bad guy based on that stupid reporter's words only. From this ignorance, Yongha had thought the blond was nothing but a brainless brat, another shallow boy who had become arrogant just because he had managed to pass the Pro exam at the age of fifteen.

Then Shindou had surprised him.

Yongha hadn't known how the younger pro had convinced Kurata or what he had done. Somehow, he had been chosen to be the first board of the Japanese Team to play against him. Shindou had showed him that he was far from shallow. Each move he had made had been well calculated, profound and sharp as a blade. His skill was impressive… and lethal too. He had even succeeded to shake his confidence. It was something that had never happened before, not when he played with a lower-Dan, let alone with a boy around his age. In the end, the match had finished. It was a good game, not because Yongha had won but because the game itself was beautiful.

The tournament had ended. He had gone back to Korea, bringing pleasant memories of a certain Japanese pro back home with him.

Months had passed. No matter what he had done, he hadn't been able to cast the image of Shindou and his green eyes off his mind. It hadn't surprised him though. After all, he had been waiting for someone who was intriguing enough to light a fire inside of him, someone who was strong enough to compete against him, someone who could be his long awaited rival… someone like Shindou Hikaru.

So, he had decided to come to Japan, not only to search for the boy, who had preoccupied his mind, or to get over his obsession with that boy, but also to clean his name.

However, God surely had a twist sense of humor. His fixation over the boy hadn't ceased even the slightest but had grown stronger instead. In Tokyo, he had met Shindou again. He had found that the Shindou-pro, who had been promoted to a 3-Dans now, was indeed a very attractive and likeable young man. He was open minded enough to listen to the Shusaku-misunderstanding-incident from his perspective, and generous enough to forgive him for his rudeness during the opening party of the first Hokuto Cup.

They had decided to overlook the past and get to get acquainted with each other again. They had gotten along well and had quickly became friends. Shindou had showed him around Tokyo: they had gone to Tokyo Tower to view the city, and had gone shopping at Harajuku together. Those two days had been enjoyable; he had had a great time.

Until Touya Akira had decided to enter the scene.

To be honest, even if he and Touya hadn't had a terrible past together –like him and Shindou, Yongha had never liked him from the start. Touya Kouyo's son had such a bad taste in fashion, judging from his haircut. He had spent his last two days in Japan with both Shindou and Touya. As his affection for his former opponent had strengthened, his hostility towards this new acquaintance had risen. Yongha hated his attitude towards Shindou. Even if Touya had known the 3-Dans for years, was it necessary for him to flaunt that way? What a show off! The girly prodigy had acted as if Shindou was his alone, and Yongha hated him for that. Shindou was a good friend as well as a good rival; there was no way Yongha would ever let him go.

They had competed for Shindou's attention. In the end, no one had won but neither of them had lost. It had been a draw. Once again, Yongha had flown back to Korea. His heart had split in two: one yearning for Shindou, one loathing Touya.

Then he had returned; he had come back for the second Hokuto Cup (which had officially ended thirty minutes ago). To his delight, Shindou had become more attractive than the last time they had met. While Touya, from his point of view, was even more irritating, resulting in another notorious speech by him.

He hadn't known why he had behaved that way. Although he disliked the boy, he had known that he shouldn't have provoked him in the middle of the party like that. Even he himself hadn't understood until his mentor and his team manager, An Te-son, had confronted him about his antagonism toward Touya Akira and his rudeness that tainted Korea's reputation again. It was then when An Te-son had shed some light on his behavior. According to the older pro, he had deluded himself that he hated Touya because of his arrogance, while, in fact, he had gotten jealous of him and his long history with the blond. In addition, the fact that he liked both pretty girls and Shindou (who was obviously a boy) had showed that he was a bisexual.

Yongha had been numb with shock. He, Ko Yongha, was a bisexual? It meant he could do it with anyone with two legs? It sounded so… needy… and horny too. He had been so worried. What if his fans knew? What if his friends knew? What if his father knew that his only son swung both ways? What if the press knew?! What if, what if, what if?! He had kept questioning himself, almost causing himself to lose a match. Luckily, Touya had been distracted as well; eventually he had managed to win by a moku. The discomfort of being ambidextrous*had been bothering him all night.

Then Shindou had smiled at him.

Suddenly, as if his bright smile had a magical effect on him, his anxiety had vanished in a blink. Maybe being a bisexual wasn't a bad thing. It meant that he saw a person for what he/she really was, not because of the gender; that he was attracted to the goodness in a person's soul rather than being captivated by an outer appearance, and that he possessed the purest heart that a man could have, right? He was awed, he had known he was a good man but he had never imagined he was this good.

He had gone to the club called Gemini with Shindou that night (along with Touya and Yashiro too, but he decided not to mention them). Somehow, it had turned out that he had spent the whole night on the same bed with Touya Akira!? It really freaked him out. It was the something he didn't want to ever experience again, not in this lifetime or the next one.

However, it couldn't compare to the shock he got when Shindou had given him his blessing for being with Touya. How did he come to that conclusion? He had to clear this up; he might be a bisexual but there was no way he would let people think that he was in love Touya Akira!

By the way, where is Shindou now?

"Damn it! Shindou! Wait!" Yongha shouted and ran after him all the while cursing his intelligence for falling for a stupid boy like Shindou Hikaru.

Unlike Yongha, Akira had gotten used to the blond's stupidity very well.

One thing Akira had learnt from three years of knowing his rival was that Shindou Hikaru, although being a Go genius with unbelievable depth of understanding and amazing ability to read a game, was an annoying, ignorant, rude and stupid brat.

Yet, never in his wildest expectation, he had imagined him to be this stupid.

Was he blind? Didn't he see the way he and Ko Yongha had fought over his attention? What possessed him to think that he liked Ko Yongha anyway?! As a Go player, he hated him for making Shindou's interest stray away from him. He hated him for trying to take away his rival. As a person, he hated him for trying to steal the only friend he had ever had – who was also his not-so-secret crush. He hated him for trying take his place in Shindou's life. He hated him for trying to be him. To sum it up, Touya Akira hated Ko Yongha more than words could describe. He didn't even want to look at his face! Then why on earth would he even bother to have a secret long distance relationship with him out of all people?! Besides, his life was freaking complicated enough since he had to deal with Shindou's foolishness and clean up the problems Shindou had caused while refraining himself from killing the blond trouble maker he called a friend! Hah! As if he wanted to have a love affair with the bigheaded Korean to mess it up even more!

Akira staggered backward few steps. Suddenly a wave of dizziness had hit him, and thinking about this made his headache. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. Today, he learnt not to underestimate the stupidity of Shindou Hikaru, for the said boy was much more stupid than he or anyone else could speculate.

Speaking of him, where was the source of his headache?

Akira looked around. Ko Yongha was sprinting toward the lobby calling out, "Shindou! Wait!"

His eyes narrowed. If Ko Yongha thought he would let him be alone with Shindou, he was so wrong. With that, he dashed off.

Seven Star Hotel, in the lobby

By the time Yongha arrived at the lobby, he found his crush talking to an unknown man in a white suit while the Japanese's third board, whom he didn't even bother to remember his name, stood next to him in silence.

Who is he? A Go pro?

"Ogata-san?" came the puzzled voice of Touya Akira from behind. The Meijin's heir then hurriedly walked to join the group; Yongha didn't hesitate to follow him.

"Touya! Yongha!" Shindou called out, grinning at him (actually he was smiling at Touya too but Yongha chose to overlook such fact). Seeing his charming smile and those sparkling green eyes of his nearly made him melt. "Everything's all right, I guess?" he said with a wink.

Now you ruined the mood. Yongha thought, feeling like someone had splashed him with cold water. He peeked at Touya who wore a frustrated expression on his face. Apparently his nemesis felt the same way.

"…Can you believe that? I mean, we've just finished the Hokuto Cup and now they want us to go to Osaka!" Shindou grumbled. "Do I have the word 'Go-Playing Robot' on my forehead? Hello, I'm just a boy, with flesh and blood. I need some rest. I can't…"

Eh? What? What is he talking about?

"Slow down, Shindou," the 5-Dans held his hand up to stop Shindou's whine, "what are you talking about? You're going to Osaka?"

I should thank you for asking him the question… but that's not going to happen, Touya. Not even in your dream.

"Not only me, you too, Touya," Shindou added, "Ogata-Sensei and Yashiro too."

"Eh?"

"It seems that those guys at Kansai Association can't bear seeing us get all compliments from organizing the Hokuto Cup so they're organizing a Go seminar in Osaka," the man in a white suit, whom Yongha suspected to be Ogata-Sensei, elucidated, "but it will be rude if they didn't invite anyone from our association, so they invited us."

"I see," Touya nodded. Yongha noted that, contrasting with Shindou's childish behavior; Touya was mature enough not to complain about an overload of work. He accepted it with arms wide open, like a professional. But he was not going to compliment him or anything – he would rather die. "When does the seminar begin? When do we leave?"

"We'll leave tomorrow," the white haired pro, whom Yongha still couldn't figure out his name, informed them. "The seminar starts the day after tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Touya frowned, "Why so rushed? Why didn't I hear about this before?"

"Because we wanted you to focus on the Hokuto Cup," Ogata elaborated, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. Yongha remembered its package. It was dark brown on both sides of the box with reddish brown color in the middle. It was Davidoff cigarette from Europe.

Hmm, someone has expensive taste. He commented silently.

Ogata brought out a cigarette. Fine-grounded tobacco wrapped in small pure white paper. He held it loosely between his lips. "We didn't want to distract you kids from the game in front of you," he reasoned, "not that it helped though," he snickered while lighting the cigarette with his silver Dunhill lighter, "since your team still lost, and to his team as well." He pointed at Yongha with the lit cigarette.

"Oh!" Shindou cried out suddenly. " I'm sorry,Yongha, this is Ogata-10-Dans," he introduced.

Ahh, so this is Ogata-10-Dans, the youngest Japanese title-holder right now. How could I forget him? "I'm Ko Yongha. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person," Yongha bowed his head to show his deep respect.

"I know who you are," Ogata replied, his mood suddenly hostile. "Anyway, back to the topic, I will chaperone you guys to Osaka but I have a game tomorrow morning so this is what we are going to do," he inhaled the cigarette smoke and breathed out, "you kids meet me and another two people at two pm. at Tokyo Station. We will spend two nights there, understood?"

"Another two?" Touya questioned, "You mean, it's not just the four of us?"

"Waya and the guy named Isumi are also invited," the third board answered.

Who are Waya and Isumi anyway?

"I see."

Shindou is going to Osaka with him? Not good. God knows what Touya would do if he gets a chance to be alone with him. I have to do something about this… That's right! "Excuse me, Ogata-Sensei," Yongha spoke politely, "If it won't be such a burden to you, may I accompany you to Osaka?"

"EH?" Shindou and the third board exclaimed with shock.

"What?" Touya didn't look so startled with the idea; 'upset' was more appropriate to describe him at this very moment.

Ogata merely raised his eyebrow, showing mild interest.

"I think it will be a great experience for me to meet other Japanese pros. Besides, it's not every day that I have a chance to witness the game played by Ogata-10-Dans. There's still so much more to learn about Go and I am certain that I will be able to learn a lot from you, Ogata-Sensei," Yongha explained smoothly, not forgetting to put his silver-tongue to good use.

"Hmmm,"

"Money won't be a problem either," Since I've just kicked Touya's ass and got the prize money. "I have some. If the hotel is full, I can share a room with Shindou. I'm sure he won't mind, right, Shindou?" he turned to Shindou, smiling at him.

"Huh?" the younger pro blinked, taken aback that he had unexpectedly become the main subject of the conversation, "Err, yes, I guess."

"Great,"

"However, Yongha-san," Touya's dry voice rose, "Going to Osaka with us means that you have to prolong your stay in Japanese for another two days. When we come back from our trip, you'll have to fly back to Korea alone," he spoke in a cold tone.

Yongha pretended not to see the we-don't-need-you-here-why-don't-you-get-it-just-go-back-to-Korea-already glare and responded innocently, "I appreciate your concern, Touya-san. However, Suyong will remain in Japan for another week at his uncle's. An Te-son Sensei, too, will spend a couple days more for sightseeing. I can fly back with one of them; you don't have to worry. I'm sure, I won't be lonely during my way back home," he smiled smugly, "but thanks anyway."

"What about your gam-"

"I don't have a game until next week," he interrupted.

"Fine with me then," Ogata shrugged.

"Ogata-san! But he-"

"Why not? I don't see why he can't come with us," The title-holder argued. He exhaled smoke. "Plus, those guys at Kansai Association will practically jump up high if they know that Ko Yongha of Korea will come to their little event," he remarked with a hint of sarcasm. "Make sure to be there on time then."

"Yes, thank you, Ogata-Sensei."

"I have to leave now," Ogata turned back and walked away from the boys, "see you kids at the station." He waved his hand as he headed to the entrance.

"Isn't that great, Touya?" Shindou grinned from ear to ear, "Yongha can come to us!"

"Yes," Touya hissed in reply, "Fantastic." He looked like he was ready to kill someone. Though Yongha wasn't sure which one he wanted to kill most: Ogata, Shindou or him.

Seemed like the battle between the two stars had just begun another round.

Words:3109

Special Thanks: To my beta, sany and Rickaz

AN: First of all, I apologize for the delay. I was very busy, my beta readers were busy. In short, everyone was busy.

That's why I'm recruiting new beta reader here. I'm desperately in need of beta readers since now none of my beta reader is available. The more (beta readers), the better coz it will lessen the work each beta has to revise for me. If you're interested, please send me a PM or an e-mail.

*Glossary: Ambidextrous (adj): Able to use both hands with equal facility, slang for bisexual.