In order for us to truly accomplish our destiny, we must first be open to accepting it.
Today was a beautiful day. And, at any other time, Hikaru probably would have noticed it. As it were, the weather might as well have been wet and rainy for all he cared about it.
He stormed through the unlocked door of his childhood friend's house, rudely not pausing to remove his sneakers at the genkan.
"Sai, check upstairs!" he called over his shoulder to the spirit, running across the living room and out of sight. The spirit nodded, going to as told, while both Waya and Touya stood in the entryway, watching their frantic friend reappear into the main part of the house, unsure of what to make of his sudden behavior. Waya kicked off his sneakers automatically, taking a few steps into the family space as behind him, Touya bent to remove his loafers and then stood, with them in hand.
"Shindou!" Touya called, hoping to slow him down.
Hikaru stopped his tirade through the house. "What?" he snapped, glaring at his rival in a way normally only seen in the moments prior to an official game.
Touya took it in stride, calmly ignoring the look that had caused Waya to cringe, "Calm down and think," he urged, "you know her better than any of us; where is she likely to be?"
"I don't know," he hissed, angry more at himself than at Touya. Akari was his childhood friend, damn it! And he couldn't find her?
Before his rival could reply, Sai reentered the room at a near gliding pace, and Hikaru looked to him hopefully. Sai shook his head, and Shindou ran an angry hand through his hair, shooting a glare towards the floor.
"Shindou," Waya said then, "I hate to say it, but Touya's right," he shot a brief glare in Touya's direction before he continued, "You need to think."
That was the last thing he wanted to do. If he stopped to think, his mind would run through all the horrible possibilities of what could have happened to her. In hope, he glanced to Sai again, only to see the same urging look on his face as the others. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and ignored what years of hearing his parents talk about the nightly news had done to his immediate thought process, and instead focused on what he knew, to think logically.
Then suddenly his eyes shot open in epiphany, "The shed!" he declared, and ran towards the back of the house, the others following.
In the backyard, there was a small, tin shed painted grey, used for storing a small push-mower and some gardening tools. When they were little, Hikaru had won every game of hide-and-seek they'd ever played, because no matter how many times she was told to hide somewhere different, Akari would always hide in the shed. He remembered also, when she had found out about her parents divorce that this was where she had been. How could he possibly have forgotten?
The door to the shed slid open on a rusty track, squeaking harshly in the otherwise quiet atmosphere, allowing light to flood the small space. From the corner, someone gasped, and Hikaru stepped inside, easily pinpointing Akari.
"Don't come any closer!" came Akari's high-pitched warning.
"Akari, it's me, Hikaru," he said, taking another step.
"Don't come any closer!" she screeched again, ignoring his introduction, "If you do-if you do, I might kill you, too!" a sob was wrenched from her throat, and two, hot, thick tears fell down her cheeks.
"You think you killed your grandpa?" Hikaru asked in disbelief, dropping to his knees to kneel in front of Akari, "Akari, your grandpa's fine. He's at the hospital now, and he's perfectly fine,"
She stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes, "Really?" she asked, and when Hikaru nodded, launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a desperate hug.
Shocked, and unsure what to do, he glanced back at his friends for help. Both Touya and Sai failed miserably, looking just as lost as him, but luckily Waya, his saving grace, mimed a helpful motion, and he wrapped his arms comfortingly around her.
Akari walked out of her grandfather's hospital room a while later, her cheeks still damp with the tears she had shed earlier. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, looking at the Go players who had accompanied her here.
"He's fine," she said at last, with a smile, "he forgot to take his heart medication, and didn't even see what I did."
Curiosity peaked once more, Hikaru looked at her and asked, "What did you do?"
Her previous elation at her grandfather's wellness vanished, and she looked to the ground, "I…I don't know," she told them.
"If you don't want to tell us, Akari, you don't have to," her friend promised.
At that, Akari looked up, suddenly urgent. "It's not that! I really don't know what happened. I…I was angry about something, and then I threw my hand out, like this, you know?" she motioned slowly with her right arm, "And then, I don't know. This-this bright, purple light shot out of my hand—it, it didn't hit anything, just disappeared, but the next thing I knew, Grandpa was on the floor, and everyone was screaming, and worried—so I ran, and I hid in the shed."
Akari had closed her eyes, so she didn't see it as all three of the pro's glanced toward Sai in a questioning manner; could she see him, too? Was she another of the "chosen few"? But if she could, wouldn't she have said something by now?
Akari turned and started down the hall towards the elevator, prompting the others to follow her.
"But anyway," she said, sounding considerably more cheerful as she tried to place the event out of her mind, "Aren't you going to introduce me, Hikaru? I already know Touya-san from when we were in the Go club," she added as an afterthought.
"Go club?" Waya asked, confused, "But Touya went to Kaio, didn't he? And Shindou, you went to Haze? Did you meet in a tournament, then?"
The girl shook her head, "No, actually he—"
"Akari!" Hikaru said quickly, cutting her off, "Nobody needs to hear about that."
Everyone looked at him oddly. He was so used to keeping the secret of Sai, that he had automatically cut her off. Sai leaned over, and whispered into Hikaru's ear, "Hikaru, it's alright. You were going to tell them soon anyway, right?"
Knowing he was right, Shindou laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I…well, back then," he said to the group at large, "Touya was the one chasing me, only I didn't want to play him—not until I was good enough, which is weird when you consider the fact that for someone to chase you, you have to be better than them in the first place, but Ill explain that later," he promised, as he realized he was rambling, "But because I wouldn't play him, he showed up at school one day and that's how Akari knows him."
If possible, Hikaru's rushed speech only caused them to start more.
Waya was first to come out of it, shaking his head to clear it of the confusion that was Shindou, and finally introduce himself to Akari.
"It's nice to meet you—you became a pro with Hikaru, didn't you?" At Waya's nod, she smiled, "Good to know my memory isn't as horrible as Hikaru always claimed," then, ignoring Hikaru's indignant shout of "Hey!", she did something unexpected, and turned to address Sai, asking for his name.
And then, this time, it was her turn to be stared at. "What?" she asked, suddenly feeling stupid, "Did he already say his name and I'm just being ditzy?"
"No," Sai said gently, going around Hikaru to stand before Akari, to look her in the eye, "No, I haven't. My name is Fujiwara no Sai, and it's a pleasure to finally be able to introduce myself to you, Fujisaki Akari," Sai's happy smile broadened, even while Akari looked at him, more confused than ever.