Chasing a Shadow by Cienna

Chapter 1 - Heat

Disclaimer - Unforunately, I don't own Hikaru No Go and will be making no money from this story. It's purely for my own enjoyment. Please read and review.

Shindou Hikaru laid his stone on the Go board almost lazily, suppressing the urge to yawn. It had been a long day at school, and he had been up late the night before studying for an especially difficult history exam. He knew he wasn't playing his best, but his best just seemed to require too much concentration at the moment, especially when he was playing against someone who was difficult to keep up with on a good day.

Hikaru glanced at his opponent across the table and immediately began to regret his thoughtless move. Touya Akira was playing with an intense look in his green eyes, his face slightly flushed. Hikaru watched his response with a mixture of apprehension and ambivalence. He was losing so badly at this point that he just couldn't bring himself to care about the game. Hikaru hesitated before making his next move, wondering if he should just resign. Before he could do anything, however, he was interrupted by Touya's voice.

"Why did you invite me over here if you weren't even going to try?" His opponent's voice was a hint sharper than usual.

Hikaru looked up from the Go board surprised. Touya was usually so calm and composed. Most of the time anyway. "Sorry, Touya, I'm kind of tired today." Hikaru felt bad, but what was he supposed to say? He usually gave every game his all, at least against Touya. But he could feel his eyelids getting heavier and heavier and all he really wanted to do was curl up on his bed and go to sleep.

"That's no excuse. I'm tired too Shindou, but I would never give a game anything other than my complete concentration. You're wasting my time."

Hikaru glared at him. He was beginning to get angry. What right did Touya have to talk to him like that, when he had invited the other boy over to his house just so they could play without all the people staring at them in the Go Salon. "What's your problem? I said I was tired, and I'm sorry if I'm not concentrating once out of the hundred times we've played each other. If I'm wasting your time so much, then leave. I'm sure you can find lots of people who would pay to play you. You don't need me."

"I don't want to play other people. Why do you think I'm here? And I don't understand you. Someone who won't even concentrate on Go doesn't deserve to play at your level." Touya's words came faster, his face pale except for two spots of color that darkened his cheeks.

"What's with your holier than thou attitude today? I said you can leave if I'm not playing up to the special Touya Akira standards." Hikaru realized that he was now shouting and wondered how their argument had escalated to this point. Or what it was even about. He felt a rush of shock when Touya stood up abruptly, knocking over the Goban and sending stones flying everywhere.

"Fine. I'm leaving. I'll never understand you."

"Well I don't understand you, so I guess we have that in common. You pretend to be my friend and then when I invite you over you yell at me for no reason. Why don't you go play your father a few more times? Better that he deal with your obsessiveness than me. Don't you ever think about anything besides Go?" Hikaru actually felt bad as he saw his comments register on Touya's face. The anger in Touya's expression seemed to disappear and was replaced with a cold indifference that Hikaru found even more disturbing.

"I said I was leaving." Touya's voice was soft, but Hikaru heard something in it that caused his breath to catch. It was pain. And he had been the one to cause it. He felt a sinking sensation in his stomach that made him feel almost ill.

"Touya, wait!" His hand reached out to catch the edge of Touya's sleeve, but just as he touched it Touya turned and seemed to lose his balance. Hikaru barely had a moment to catch him before he fell. He gave a small gasp as he felt Touya's body pressed against his, Touya's warm breath against his neck, his dark hair brushing Hikaru's cheek. He held Touya gently to keep him from collapsing to the floor. Hikaru brushed his hand to Touya's forehead, registering the heat there and the fact that he must have a fever. Maybe that explained why Touya was acting completely irrational.

Touya's voice was barely above a whisper now and he had to lean in to hear it. "I'm sorry Shindou, I don't think I'm feeling very well. You're right. I shouldn't have come. I just wanted to see you."

Hikaru tried not to focus too much on the fact that Touya had said "see you" instead of "play you." "Don't be stupid! I'm sorry for what I said. Lie down here." He helped Touya move carefully over to the bed. "I'll call your father."

"No, please, I'm fine, I can walk home. Just give me a few minutes." Touya pushed himself up to a sitting position with Hikaru's assistance.

Hikaru looked at him incredulously. "What are you talking about Touya? You just fainted. There's no way I'm letting you walk home. Why do you act this way anyway? It's not like you're immortal or something, even if you play Go that way."

"Please." Touya's eyes opened and locked into his with an intensity that seemed to reach inside him. "I just want to stay with you a little longer."

Hikaru's breath caught in his throat at Touya's words. He began to become uncomfortably aware of how close they were sitting. They were so close he could even see the flecks of amber in Touya's green eyes. They were still glittering with that scary intensity that Hikaru knew was more than just the fever. Unable to move, he could only watch as Touya leaned forward slightly, his lips brushing gently against Hikaru's. Everything else in the room seemed to melt away as he felt himself focus on that small point of contact. A wave of heat passed through Touya's lips that seemed to rush into him, making his whole body tremble. Touya pressed harder against him and Hikaru felt like he was burning, like the fever had spread to him and left him unable to escape. He found his hands tangled in Touya's hair as he leaned into the kiss and began to lose all semblance of control. Touya's eyes met his with a burning intensity as Hikaru pushed Touya down to the bed, his desire to keep touching him overcoming his reason. Suddenly he heard a knock on the door and froze.

"Hikaru! Touya's mother is on the phone wanting to know when he is coming home. What should I tell him?"

They froze and Hikaru fought to catch his breath as he disentangled himself from Touya. "Ummm..Touya's not feeling well. Could you ask his mother to come pick him up, please?"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'll let him know."

Hikaru was still trembling as he realized one of his hands continued to stroke Touya's dark hair. What had he been thinking? Touya was sick, how could he have taken advantage of him like that? The burning in his lips moved to his cheeks as he felt the sting of embarrassment. He moved over to apologize and saw that Touya had closed his eyes. His cheeks were flushed and his usually neat hair was in disarray.

"Touya?" He tried to keep his voice steady as he questioned Touya. "Are you okay?" It was no use. Touya had fallen asleep. Hikaru took a deep breath as he wondered what exactly they had started.

tbc