//Sorry for the slow update my life went to hell last month. I also waited with my betaed chapter three, thank you again Cindie until I had the next chapter, so that those of you with story alerts wouldn't have nothing new to look forward to. Hopefully I will be better with the next chapter.//

Chapter 4 Hikaru no Go fanfic

"Haa, Haa, Haaa," Hikaru panted his arms giving out, Akira's body slipping from his arms onto the sofa. "My god…haa… you are so going to owe me for this. How much do you weight? You look slim as a twig but you've definitely got some weight on you." Hikaru collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion, carrying Akira from the elevator had been a workout.

"Hey… Akira… Akiraaa … Akkirraa wake up," Hikaru said shaking Akira's shoulder. He had to get him conscious and some water down him otherwise he would have a terrible hangover. And then Akira would never go drinking with him again. Finally giving up, Hikaru decided to take his own advice and poured himself a glass of water. After he refilled it he grabbed some crackers from the cabinet, trust Akira not to have and junk food. Why was his kitchen so healthy? Akira was still only eighteen; there was no reason for him to eat like middle aged woman watching her diet.

"Akira, wake up and open your mouth," Hikaru declared firmly aspirin and water in hand.

Akira on the other hand was still out of it only mumbling and turning over his hand tugging at his collar uncomfortably. Hikaru sighed, putting the medicine down on the table he leaned over to loosen Akira's shirt undoing his first couple of buttons. Hikaru struggled with Akira's stiff buttons after pushing his arms to the side. When he was done Akira looked the most undone Hikaru had ever seen him. It didn't help that he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath his shirt, his collarbones completely exposed and vulnerable. He had still looked put together drunk, go figure for that middle aged teenager. Akira, finally awakened by Hikaru treating him like a doll, groaned up at Hikaru's silhouette illuminated by the bright overhead light.

Hikaru realizing the reason by Akira's pained groan turned off the overhead light so that they were sitting in the living room illuminated only by the moonlight and light pollution of the city. Akira seeing the pills immediately swallowed them, taking a gulp of water. Hikaru, taking the previously abandoned snacks and his own glass, settling onto the sofa by Akira's feet. "Make sure you drink it all," Hikaru said.

"Wha?" Akira asked still drunk.

"It's so you don't have a hangover the next morning. Drink as much water as you can, it will help and eat some crackers if you can," Akira obediently took a large gulp from the water glass, water spilling down his neck to slide towards the back of his neck. Akira startled by the cold water running down his back sat up quickly and choking. Hikaru moved closer and slapped his back.

"Ha … cagh. Stop, stop. I'm alright. It just went down the wrong way," Akira said, swaying in his upright position. Hikaru immediately put his arm around Akira pulling him back to lean against the sofa next to him.

"Really, so drunk you can't even drink water."

Akira pouting spilled some of his water on Hikaru's chest. "Oh, looks like I can't even hold a glass," Akira said taking another sip of water. Hikaru growled at Akira and took his T-shirt of leaving him in his white undershirt.

"Hikaru … Hika-Ru … Hi –Ka- Ru, are you mad? I was just teasing you," Akira said plaintively peering up at Hikaru from his position of almost sitting in Hikaru's lap.

My god he sounds like Sai when he's drunk. "I'm not mad. You look cute like this, and if you remember this you won't be look me in the eye tomorrow morning."

"Hika-Ru. Hika-RU. I like that, it almost sound like Pikachu. You know the way he says it in the anime, Pi-ka-Chu."

"Akira … when did you every watch anime, especially Pokemon?"

Akira melancholy, sighed. "I had a friend in grade school. He was a bit of a misfit, just like me. He would go off in the corner and read manga every day. And every day I would go off in a corner and look at Kifu and GO problems. We ended up competing for the perfect reading spot, until we finally decided to become friends and share. I ended up reading some of the manga he thought was interesting so that we would have something to talk about. He was my first friend." Akira sighed again, his previous jubilant mood completely deflated.

"What happened?" Hikaru asked curious. He could swear that Akira didn't have any non-GO related friends now, or even when they had met back in middle school.

"Well… being a social misfit, he was bullied. I didn't really notice at first but it got worse and worse, his manga were ripped up and stuff drawn on his desk. In reality it could just as well have been me, except I was the teacher's pet. Not that I knew it at the time, but I was precocious. So the rest of the kids avoided talking to me but anything else would have brought the teachers attention. Finally as I started to really notice how every day he seemed to have a new bruise. Until one day we met again underneath our favorite tree and talked about Doraemon, his favorite anime, and the next day he was gone, transferred out to a new school."

"I guess you didn't have a charmed like either then," Hikaru said, "though I always thought you had."

"Ha, Ha. Your life is charmed, not mine," Akira replied his tone almost jealous.

Hikaru laughs bitterly thinking about Sai. Life with Sai had been tiring, busy, and a nest of lies that would take him a lifetime or more to straighten out, but it had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. Without Sai he would be just another college student, if he even made it to college, wonder what to do with his life. Maybe working the occasional part time job, but without drive. Sai had been more than good for him, which was why when Sai left it had torn him apart. Life without Sai always by his side had been lonely in a way he had never known before and probably would never know again. It had taken him months beyond even when he started playing GO again not to wake up in the morning expecting to see Sai next to him. Or even worse, he would turn excitedly to his side to show off the move he just played only to see Sai's place beside him empty. "No. My life hasn't been charmed either. Everyone experiences up's and downs."

Akira's mood plummeted, thinking of his own downs, most notably his father's heart attack and subsequent retirement. He would never play an official game with his father again. It was like the shadow he had been chasing all his life disappeared before he could even get close to it. He had been chasing his father's shadow for so long, at first in a need for attention and then in the pursuit of a student trying to overcome his master. At least his father was still alive, even if his shadow had disappeared from the world of Japanese GO. He didn't even want to think about his father's death.

Hikaru deciding that they have sat in depressed silence for long enough got up and dragged a stumbling Akira to the bathroom. They brush their teeth in companionable silence, Hikaru borrowing a tooth brush. Finally Hikaru helps Akira take his clothes of after Akira's drunken fumbling managed to send quite a few buttons skittering across the floor. Leaving Akira in his boxers, Hikaru grabbed pajamas for himself and Akira. Akira was getting more and more sleepy. Hikaru finally fed up with Akira's attempts to resist help, dragged Akira to his laid out futon.

After Hikaru tucked Akira in he paused before getting in the guest futon, "Akira, we should have these conversations when we both aren't drunk out of our minds. It's what best friends do."

"Mmmh, we should," Akira agrees sleepily. He had always imagined best friends sharing secrets, especially in the dark.

"Speaking of which, in exchange for the lift Ogata gave us today I have to pierce my ears."

Akira startled into almost wakefulness exclaimed, "Whaat? Pierce your ears. My god, you will never be able to live this down at the institute. Everyone is going to think you are a punk."

"Personally, I think that was the point of Ogata's demand. But I will be fine, I might have to dye my hair back to all black again though. Otherwise my mother might kick me out."

"That should look pretty good," Akira laughs. "I look forward to your new look." Akira mumbles a bit more but it became unintelligible. Hikaru sat up for a second, pushing Akira's hair out of his eyes. It was a privilege to see him so tousled, his hair all over the place. His privilege. Only his.

We should really try this again. Maybe without too much liquor next time… Hikaru thinks as he drifts off to sleep.

Next Chapter

Isumi figures out they were the couple in the closet.