"Meow," Tsusaki greeted us. Akira picked him up.

"You can nyan all you want but It's not gonna make my scratches heal," He said. I laughed a bit and Akira brought the cat over to his food bowl, filling it up. "Was he like that when you got him?" I asked, pointing to the jet black pet, who upon further examination had only one eye, a chipped ear and bandage wrap around his front left leg. Akira nodded.

"My mother said I could get a cat to celebrate going pro," He laughed a bit. "Once I did, instead of going to a store with fluffy month old kittens I went to the shelter," he stood up and shrugged off his coat. "Tsusaki was about 2 at the time, and had a broken leg, and I felt really bad, so..."

"I bet your father thought you had a screw loose when you came home with a cat with one eye," I laughed a bit.

Akira smiled and shrugged, "I've done crazier things," He said, tone hushed slightly. That got me curious.

"Ooh, Akira Toya, crazy?" I sat down on his living room couch. Usually we would go up to his room but ever so often I would have to wait so he could make sure Tsusaki got taken care of. After all, his parents were gone almost all the time. It was like he was living alone. I never got a very good look but tried when I could. In the center of the floor, tucked in nicely under the coffee table, was a goban. We could play go out here if we wanted to.

Akira stretched as he began to walk back towards me, "I was a pretty weird kid, is all I'm gonna say," He laughed a bit. "Didn't get out enough. Lack of oxygen. Played too much go," he smiled.

"Why's his foot still bandaged if it was broken a few years ago?" I asked, referring to the cat again. Akira turned and glanced at the happy little guy chowing on his kitty meal. He shrugged. "I could take it off, but he runs away from me when I try. It also looks kinda cute, so it makes him stylish," I laughed.
"Now all he needs is some hipster glasses and he'll be completed," I commented. That made Akira laughed.

"Fuck, I wish I had some of those now," He smiled at me. "Buy me some, would you? The fate of the universe depends on it."

I gave him a thumbs up. "I already have a pair!"

"No way," Akira said, in amusing admiration.

"Yes way," I replied back.

He went over and wrapped his arms around my neck from the side. "You are the best boyfriend ever. I will never let you leave me," I laughed and turned towards him, pointing towards the goban. "Why don't we play on this one? It doesn't look like it's been used much," I frowned as if to mimic its feelings. Akira blinked.
"Oh, okay" he answered. "If you wanna. Tell you what, you set it up and I'll make us some hot beverages to combat the cold weather."

"Deal," And so we sealed it with a kiss. He walked into his kitchen as I slid to the floor and pulled it on to the smooth carpet. I grabbed the stone containers and set them on top. "Black or white?" I asked Akira.

"Choose for color," He responded, as I was expecting.

"Okay," I picked up two black stones. "Think of a number,"

"69," He responded. I laughed a little. "You're white,"

"No, I'm Japanese, can't you tell the difference?" He made me laugh again.

"Okay," I couldn't help but smile. I set the container of white stones on the side Akira was going to sit. As I waited, I double checked both containers that their weren't any stray other-colored stones in each. If there was one thing I learned from Sai, that was it. Because it may be the thing that makes you lose a game and drown yourself in a nearby river. (Sai was so inspiring, wasn't he?) As I looked around, I noticed next to the couch there was a stand with a lamp on it. Next to the lamp, there were a few family pictures, as were on a stand on the other side of the couch. Since I wasn't an expert by any means on my boyfriends family, out of plain curiousity I craned my neck and took a look at these photos. There was one with Akira sitting at a goban, legs crossed, hovering over the board so his dark locks would fall over his face like they did so often, in the middle of placing a stone on it. He must've been around five then. And, OH MY GOODNESS he was so cute. Five year old Akira. Is. The cutest thing. In the universe.

Looking at the one next to it, I recognized Toya Meijin off the bat. It was a family picture, and next to him was who I assumed was Akira's mother, and in the lower half if the picture was two children. One was Akira, which took me but a minute to deduce. It didn't look like happy-go-lucky child Akira though. He was looking towards the corner of the picture, and, get this, he was wearing a beanie. It was stripped black and yellow, like a bumble bee, and cupped his head and hair nicely. But, I had to say, it was cute. He looked a bit older in this one, maybe 7 or 8, and had his arms crossed, looking like he did not want to be there. Toya Meijin would never let his son do that for a family picture, much less wear a hat. So what was going on? I felt like a detective.

Next to Akira on the left was a girl about his age. She was smiling at the camera and making a peace sign. She looked pretty cute, but nothing near Akira. See, I'm incredibly gay. Besides her hair, which was held up in pigtails, she and Akira could've been twins. His cousin, maybe? I know he was an only child. But if his mom and dad were also only children, which I didn't know if they were or not, then he couldn't have any first cousins.

After a few more moments of me pondering these questions Akira came back with a tray of tea. For once he wasn't drinking coffee, I thought. He smiled at me warmly and sat down across from me.

I decided to ask. "What's with this photo?" And the blood rushed out of his face.

He blinked at me. "Ah... What about it?" He said cautiously.

I gulpped and looked at it, then at Akira. "You look like you don't wanna be there. What was up with that?" I asked, hoping the question wouldn't upset him. It seemed touchy.

To my surprise he smiled a bit and picked up his cup of tea.

"Everyone goes through a rebellious stage, I suppose," He said simply. This blew me away. "You had a rebellious stage?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Compared to like, the rest of my life. Is it that hard to believe?"

I nodded slowly," Well, you just, don't seem the type. You're perfect."

Akira frowned. "I am not."
I smiled. "You're perfect to me, Aki-chaaaaan," I said annoyingly. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

I looked back at the picture. "Who's the girl?" I asked pointing towards the picture.

Akira didn't respond for a few minutes, and just stared at the board with a solemn smile on his face.. It looked like he was hiding pain, though. "If it's all the same to you, Hikaru, I'd rather not talk about that." He still smiled politely as he said it, though."Maybe some other time," he added, sipping his tea. I nodded and didn't push. I blinked and had an idea, though.

I reached over and grabbed his freehand lightly. "Let's make a deal," I said, looking up at him. "When you're ready to tell me, I'll tell you my secret, okay?" I smiled warmly and he blinked in surprise. I knew he had always been curious about that, but he never forced me to tell him. He just nodded and responded quietly, looking almost straight down at the board, "Okay."

I decided to change the subject again. I glanced back at the picture. "So what kinda things would rebel Akira do?"

It took him a minute to register the subject change, then he half smirked. "Ah, mouth off. I got in trouble a lot. My grade school teacher at the time hated me," He laughed. " I think I climbed over fences and went into stores after hours a lot. We never took anything, but left notes like 'We were here.' I had a lot of time since I refused to play go so I took guitar lesso-"

I blinked at him and knit my eyebrows. "Why would you refuse to pl-Wait, you can play guitar?" I gapped at him.

He laughed a little. "I used to be pretty good," he shrugged. "I haven't played in a few years so I probably suck now anyway."

I knocked my knuckles on the go board as if to get more attention on the subject. This interested me. "Do you still have one? Can I hear you play?!" I asked excitedly. He smiled and laughed a bit.

"If you really want," He took another sip. "We can go upstairs and fetch it out of my closet," He replied. I nodded my head quickly.

"Pretty pretty pretty please," I said. He nodded. "Well, alright," and stood. I followed suit and scurried up to his room.

He opened the door to his closet and coughed as a hoard of dust flew out of it. I laughed a bit as I coughed into my sleeve. "You haven't been in your closet for awhile, have you?"

Akira gave me a little smirk as he knelt down and started shuffling through things."Not since I was 13," he replied.
I blinked. "Really? That long?"

Akira glanced back up at me and smiled. "We're not talking about the metaphorical closet, are we?"

I blinked and blushed. "No, no, your actual closet. This one," I tapped the door.

Akira nodded and laughed a little. "Well, maybe... A few months at this point. I only really use the other side of it for my suits, so I don't touch this side much," He shrugged.

I am the master at changing the subjects. "You've been out of the closet since you were 13?" I asked. I knew him since he was 12, maybe 11, so I must've knew him then. Then why didn't I know he was gay until he told me? Until we started dating? That's strange.

He looked at me and it took him a minute to realize the change in subjects. "That's right," He nodded, scooting closer in the closet. It must've been hidden somewhere, I guess.

"How come I didn't know?" I asked with a pout.

He paused in his search. "I didn't want to tell you," he answered hesitantly.

"Why not? I thought you didn't like hiding and everything."

Akira was silent until he retrieved the wooden acoustic from the clutches of the evil closet. He looked up at me and sighed. "It might be hard for you to believe, since I don't care what people think about me, but I've always cared what you think, Hikaru." He said. Even though it was simple, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I sat down on the floor with Akira. I wanted to ask Really? But by the way he said it I knew it was true."Akira..." I reached over, and touched his cheek gently. "Why?"
He smiled a bit bittersweet at me and took my hand gently, giving the back a long peck. "You've always been important to me, Hikaru. Even if I acted like you weren't sometimes. I could never get you out of my head," he confessed, with a little laugh, trying to make light of the conversation.

Before I'd only really thought about how he felt around others. Never really myself. I thought about all the times I'd see him chase after me, on the game board and in real life. All the times he showed up out of nowhere. When he came to my school, asking if we could play, and I turned him down so I could play in my go club and win a tournament... When he beat the real me in that same tournament, that he fought tooth and nail just to get there and play against me, and how disappointed he... Was he in love with me then? No, he said 13. He became a pro at 13, after that tournament...Did he say he always cared what I thought? Does that mean he liked me then? He told me awhile ago he liked me for a long time, but... he never went into detail. But... When I was in the internet cafe playing for Sai, and he came up behind me, and grabbed my shoulder, that was after he went pro, right? Right after he passed the exam, I think. And how after that, he told me I'd never have to see him again, and that look on his face... that look of total spite, of disappointment. And then he turned, and left. I felt bad at the time, but if Akira... If Akira was asking to play a game like he was asking if I wanted to go out with him...

"I'm sorry," I said quietly to Akira, my eyes filling with tears. I flung my arms around him and held him closely, and hesitantly he hugged back, not clear what I was upset about.

"Hikaru?" He asked softly.

"I-I didn't know," I hiccuped, feeling embarrassed for letting my tears fall. "I feel like an ass."

He took a minute to respond. He just patted my back. "It's okay, Hikaru. What are you upset about?"

I sniffed and tried to calm down. "I-I didn't want to play you," I took a deep breath. "When we were 12... D-Did it... feel like I rejected you?"

Akira blinked and pulled me back gently. "Hikaru..." He wiped my cheeks gently. "Are you really getting upset over something that happened-what- four years ago?"
I frowned and thought about it. I took a deep, some what shaky breath and looked down, giving a small nod. "You're right," I answered. I smiled a bit and punched Akira on the arm lightly. "Let's go back downstairs. I wanna hear you play. And our tea's getting cold.."

He smiled and kissed my nose. "I'm warning you now, I pretty much suck."

I laughed and shook my head, then stood. Akira did the same, stretching a bit and shutting his closet door. We went back down stairs and sat on the floor, him cross legged in front of the goban, but with enough room for where I sat in between, facing him. He was tuning the strings, and after brief consideration he grabbed a white stone from over me and started strumming with it.

I blinked. "What are you doing?!"

"I don't have a pick," he replied. "It'll hurt my fingers if I don't play with a pick," he reasoned. I took a breath. "Alright... Now play! Play!" I urged happily. He smiled a bit and started strumming. I just realized, he would probably sing. I really, really, want to hear him sing. Even if it's absolutely terrible I wanna to hear him sing.
"We've waited so damn long..." He began, and it sounded like he practiced this song. He might've been lying about not playing for so long. Later he would tell me the song was called Collar Full by Panic! At the Disco, some punk band from the U.S. And yeah, there actually is an exclamation point in there. So that's sorta cool. But I was absolutely amazed at his voice. It was quiet, like he wasn't trying to be heard, but it fit perfectly with his playing in harmony. So go wasn't the only thing my boyfriend could play well. I really wanted to interrupt him and kiss him, but as fate would have it, he was just getting to the chorus when he had to stop.

"-Show me your love, your love, before the world catches up. 'Cause there's always time for second guessing, I don't wa-" He paused. "Someone's at the door," And with quick reflexes, he set down the instrument, grabbed my hand, stood us both up and opened the door. "Hello?"

Yoshitaka Waya stood at the door, in complete confusion. "Hikaru?" He said as he saw me. Then he glanced down. "Why are you guys holding hands?"