Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go.

" Blahblahblah" character's dialogue

BlahBlahBlah character's thought

/ BlahBlahBlah/ Sound effect


Chapter 3: Life at the Meijin's Go salon

Ichikawa had known Akira for a long time, back from the day he had learnt how to hold a stone. She had watched him grow up, from a toddler to a boy, from a boy to a young fine man he was today. These old players at the Salon had teased her, saying that she had fallen for a boy who could have passed as her nephew. She had brushed them off, she would have never allowed their ridiculous jokes to jeopardize their platonic relationship.

To every parent, Akira would have been such a blessing. He was good-looking. He was intelligent enough to enter into one of the most prestigious junior high schools in the country. Besides, he was hard-working too, he even secured his position as the first rank student of his year. Anyone who was in his place had every right to be arrogant but he was nothing like that. On the contrary, Akira was the most polite teenager Ichikawa had ever encountered.

And his Go, his dreamlike strength was a legend. He was a genius, everyone admitted that fact. Everybody, literately, pros and amateurs, they all acknowledged his ability.

To say that Touya Akira was perfect wasn't an overstatement; he was, after all, an attractive handsome gifted rich boy. Still, Ichikawa had pitied him. Touya Akira was not perfect, not even near, at least in her eyes. He had lacked what was the most important, yet, the simplest thing.

A life.

To him, everything was for Go, every single minute in his life had been devoted for Go and Go only. When other kids had watched an anime in the evening, he had practiced Go with his father. When they had gone to a playground, he had gone to Go Association. When they had gone to see a movie with their families, he had gone to see the Meijin defending his title.

Touya Akira hadn't had a life….a real life that was full of laughter, tears, friendship and love.

The most heartbreaking thing to witness was that the boy himself hadn't even realized it, as if the life without life had been natural for him. It was not right, not at all. Ichikawa had wanted Akira to see the world, to learn that life wasn't about playing Go only, to learn that Go wasn't life.

If Akira hadn't been able to see this truth by himself, he had needed someone to show it to him.

Touya Akira had needed a friend, Ichikawa had decided

She, too, had wanted to be his friend, unfortunately, she hadn't been able to. How could have she befriended with a Go maniac when she didn't even know how to Nigiri?

Plus, it would have been better for him, if he had a friend at his age rather than someone who was old enough to be his mother's little sister. However, the hope of finding a suitable buddy at Akira's age who was not only good at Go but also understood him had been frail….very frail.

So she had silently prayed, hoping that one day Akira would have find someone to stand by him, someone whom could truly be called "a friend".

Years went by, finally, her prayer was heard and answered.

Of all people, God sent a girl.

Of all girls, God sent her.

Shindou Hikaru

Of course, she was grateful that Akira finally had a friend, if someone was capable to accomplish this impossible task (also secretly known to her as the "Swaying Akira from Go and dragging him out to the outside world Project"), that person could be no other than the persistent blonde. At first, she had questioned God's sanity though, seeing they were so different in every ways she could think of. When they had been little, Hikaru had been mistaken as a boy, while people had often confused Akira with a girl. (To be honest, she was positive that even now, at the age of fifteen, many people still took him for a girl, only they didn't voice it out loud.) Hikaru was avant-garde, Akira was conservative. Hikaru was outgoing, Akira was socially-inept. Hikaru wasn't rude but she wasn't diplomatic either, if she hated someone, she didn't make an effort to hide it. Akira, on the other hand, would smile and shake the hand of a serial killer if he was asked to. Hikaru had good taste in clothing, Akira, obviously, had not.

In spite of that, with an incomprehensible plan of God, they got along and balanced each other well. People even called them as the Prince and Princess of Go. Thanked to Go Weekly, everybody thought they were together. Although they kept denying it, no one believed them. Well, they aren't a couple…yet. Ichikawa smirked. Their kids will be beautiful, Akira is gorgeous and Hikaru-chan is so adorable. She rested her chin on her hand and gazed lazily at the girl. She is adorable. An ugly ducking that turned into a swan..No..that's not right. She's never been ugly anyway, even two years ago, when she came here and we all thought she was a boy. God it's weird to see a boy we know turns out to be a girl…Like she had a transsexual surgery or something…. Wait! What the hell am I thinking?! She shook her head to throw off the crazy thought out of her mind and went to prepared drinks for both teens. As she approached them, the said Prince and Princess were….

"Don't you 'Oh, that's right,' me! How could you not see that move!" shouted angrily Akira, "And you call yourself a Pro?"

"Ha! Look who's talking! You didn't even notice the trap I set at the bottom-left either!" Hikaru retorted with equal heat.

………..Arguing…….

"You forgot to defend me at the center too!" the 3-Dans spat furiously at his rival who often dropped by at his father's Go salon to have a game with him. Like every times, after a challenging but friendly game, there was a sophisticated post-game discussion. "Honestly, how many times did you say 'Oh, that's right,'?! 3…No! 4 times!"

the Princess snapped out at the boy's face fiercely, " Did not!"

" Did too!" Akira yelled back, his hands were on a table,

" Did not!"

" Did too!"

" Arrz! You're so annoying!"

" I'm not! But YOU are!"

" Here is your soda, Hikaru-chan." Ichikawa handed her a can of Pepsi, "Here is your tea, Akira-kun." she served him a porcelain cup of green tea, hoping in secret that her beverages could distract them and end the fight.

It worked like magic. Thanked God.

"Oh, did you hear about the Hokuto Cup?" Hikaru mentioned, obviously forgot about the earlier fight.

"Of course, I heard about it." Akira answered, uninterested.

"Good! This time I'm gonna crush you!"

"I don't think that will happen since I won't play in the selection round."

"Eh?" Now the girl was confused.

"They've already offered me a seat."

"What?!" Shocked, she cried out.

"It's normal, Hikaru-chan, considering that Little-Sensei is a 3-Dans now." Kitajima spoke up.

"Not to mention that he plays in the Honinbo league now." Hirose supported his best friend.

"But that's not fair!"

"There's a difference between those who are in the League and those who are not." Ichikawa knew that Akira merely meant to state the truth, he didn't mean it to sound like an insult.

But it did.

"What?! Why you..!!" The blonde-2-Dans jumped up, knocking her chair down on the way. " You….!" Eyes narrowed, she growled through her clenched teeth. For once, Shindou Hikaru was loss of words, not because of surprise but anger.

"Look, Shindou-san, I…"

"I'm leaving." she cut in with an eerie calm voice, she was unexpectedly quiet, Ichikawa thought she even looked scarier, "I won't come here anymore, not until I pass the selection round and become a member of Japanese team like you." the girl walked towards the counter and retrieved her bag from her, "I'll walk slowly along this path but I won't stop." she said without turning back, "Not until I reach the Hand of God." Then she run off, Akira's gaze followed her, but he didn't say anything to stop his only friend.


January 2002,

"Happy New Year, everyone." Akira greeted as he entered his Go salon.

"Happy New Year." Ichikawa and many of regular players responded back.

"How are you today, Akira-kun?" Ichikawa asked him.

" Japanese, Chinese and Korean confuse me." He said with a weak smile. He had just started taking Chinese and Korean classes couple weeks ago, he believed it would be useful in the future so he took them.

"Hmm, it's pretty late now." Hirose, one of the players, mentioned with a scowl, "Too late, I think she won't be here then."

Slapping his hand on his forehead, the boy groaned silently. Oh, no, here we go again.

" Akira-kun, why don't you…," Kitajima, Hirose's best friend, was about to say something but Akira knew what it was and he didn't want to hear it again for…only God knew what time it was!

"No, Kitajima-san," he interjected, "I won't apologize." Fixing his famous threatening glare at the skinny man, he stated intensely, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"But, Little-Sensei, Hikaru-chan…" Hirose whined like a five year old.

"Will come back once she passes the selection tournament." Akira informed him, repeating Hikaru's promise.

"But that's in April!!" Kitajima exclaimed, looking at the boy as if he lost his mind.

"Then she'll be back in April." The Meijin's heir declared with a sharp tone, feeling indifferent.

Two older men exchanged glances; they let out a heavy sigh in defeat and continued playing their game.

Touya Akira was officially frustrated.

From the day Shindou Hikaru had stepped into his peaceful and simple life, nothing had been the same.

First, she had beaten him without having him knowing that it was a teaching game. Then she had insulted all Go players by saying that she wanted to win a title just for the prize money. They had had another game, she had gained another victory over him, practically destroyed him. He had been furious. Never before had his Go ever disappointed him like that time. It had taken him a while to get over his anger and his depression. He wasn't a quitter; he was Touya Akira. If he faced an obstacle, he would overcome it and got another step closer to the Hand of God. He wanted to play her again, he wanted a rematch. But she was nowhere to be found. After the said fateful day, she had never come back to his Go Salon for the second time, she just …..disappeared.

A year and a half later, suddenly, she had just stood there, in front of him at the Young Lion Tournament, greeting him casually, growing long hair and wearing a…a..skirt!! So what? Even he took her for a boy, it wasn't his fault, was it? The one who led people to misunderstanding was at fault. Still, he had made an apology for a crime he hadn't committed. Not only she hadn't accepted it, they had ended up fighting in the middle of the tournament! Akira always controlled himself and behaved well towards anyone for the reason that he had a reputation to save, a reputation of his father weighted heavily on his thin shoulders. Because of Shindou Hikaru, all was ruined.

Since then, people kept talking, gossips followed him everywhere he set foot on, rumor had it that she was his girlfriend. Akira didn't know the reason why but it seemed like all people on this planet was on her side. They didn't even know what had happened between them but they said he was the one to blame anyway. It made him even angrier, if possible. Kuwabara-Honinbo had even accused him for her loss in Beginner-Dan Series.

Apparently that Shindou Hikaru had an ability to enchant whoever she talked to. Even Akira's fans failed to resist her charm. This Go Salon, the very Go Salon that belonged to his father had always been his sanctuary. It had been his second home. Even if his parents weren't home, fine, he would stay at the Salon surrounding by trustworthy adults who adored him. After school, if he didn't feel like going home, it was okay, he would give the regular players some teaching-games. If he didn't have anything to do on weekend, he would hang out at the Salon all day. Ichikawa had joked that he spent his time here more than at his home. He had smiled in reply, saying nothing. She was correct but he didn't mind in any case. He knew all players here, they were good people and they worshipped him.

It was a history though. He wasn't their favorite any longer. It was Shindou Hikaru whom they idolized. Akira had, somehow, turned into an abusive husband whom was condemned by the rest of the world.

When he thought about the girl, her speech rang out in his mind. Hikaru had been unusually quiet, as strange as it might sound. Akira found that he liked it better when she shouted like a lunatic…very strange indeed.

"I'll walk slowly along this path but I won't stop, not until I reach the Hand of God."

He didn't want to sound like a sexist. Yet, hearing his rival saying something so profound like that was….odd …and hard to believe. Who would ever imagine that a girl who wore a yellow tank top with glittering number five on it would say something like that?

Keep walking, Shindou-san, I'll meet you there……at the Hand of God!

/Pachi/

Akira then hit a stone hard against an expensive Kaya board.


Words: 2315

A/N : I don't know if you can sense it, but I think my style has changed, and I'm not talking about the POV only. I don't know what caused this but I hope you like it. The pace of the story is a bit slow, as you can see we have minor changes here and there. As the fic goes by, you will see more and more changes. Therefore, please be patient :)

Thanks to my hard working Beta, Noemie.


CeciliaP : "By the way why do you only upload once a week?" Haha, if I update it everyday, the fic will end in no time, is that what you really want?

ady: "WHEN did Hikaru actually meet Suyong in your previous fic?" I change the time line a bit. Hikaru just met Suyong in this sequel After she became a Pro.

kathystgqvk : "but I have to wait a whole week for a new chapter." However, it means that you will have a fic to read for a while, right?

redfeather: Ogata? LOL, No, Ogata doesn't like Hikaru. If he does Hikaru, this fic will turn out to be "There's something about Hikaru"! Way too much confusing for me to write :)

an old reader: "Just don't stick too close for too long." Well, to be honest, as I said in author note, the pace of the fic is a bit slow at first, please be patient. There will be major change in late chapter, I promise. Please don't get bored. (Giving you a puppy look) "I love Isumi's reflection " I'm VERY happy to hear that! I spent 3 days thinking about Isumi! Now that you said you loved it, it's worth it :D