7.

For the next day or two, everything went back to what could only be described as relatively normal. He'd gone back to trying to avoid his rival but he hoped that this time it was just a tad less obvious. He'd promptly forgotten his mental promise to take the other man out to eat as thanks and shied away from the memory of that night. Still, he'd made it a point to not walk around at night and always be around someone whenever he could. The only barb in the entire situation was that he still couldn't shake the feeling at times that someone or something was watching him.

And that was why it was only relatively normal.

He sighed as he sunk into the chair that Waya had saved for him. "Thanks." He muttered before sprawling out on the bit of free space that was left on the table's top surface.

"Conventions like these suck." Waya started conversationally, his amber eyes tracking the front of the little restaurant. Isumi had yet to finish his tutoring game. If it could even be called that. Hikaru moved around slightly and closed his eyes. The convention was really nothing more than an open house to teach the general public what go was and to try and lure any potential players…

It meant hours of dealing with little kids that couldn't stand still for a second let alone sit long enough for any of the game to make any sense to them. It also meant dealing with giggling school girls and boys (poor Nase and Touya, some of their admirers had been blatantly making passes at them) who thought the professional go players they had chosen as 'tutors' were cute enough to try and learn this "old and boring" game. And then there was dealing with the older population who thought they knew something and really—really they didn't know squat.

The worse were the giggling girls. He'd mainly dealt with them. Waya he knew, had dealt with some giggling girls but mainly he'd dealt with older players. He didn't even know why. Sometimes he thought that it was just because they enjoyed nagging the redhead about his wild hair clashing with the professional attire or that his attitude didn't fit the somber, serious nature of the game …

He was dying for a real game at this point. Anyone with even the slightest bit of talent or go knowledge would be preferable than dealing with crowds of whatever they could be described as.

He felt Waya tense beside him and then move. Ah, apparently Isumi had been freed long enough to make a run for it. Good for him. Hikaru wasn't ready to open his eyes though. He'd do that when someone came to ask him what he wanted to eat.

"Hey." The voice startled him since he'd been expecting Isumi. He opened his eyes and sat up despite his every inclination to not do so. A slightly rumpled looking Touya sat opposite of him with Isumi by his side. Nase was pulling up a chair and waving rather enthusiastically to a nearby waitress. How the hell did she still have that kind of energy? And what the fuck was Isumi thinking in dragging Touya along? He gave Waya a sideways glance but did not find the expected frown there. He gave a minute shrug at that. Maybe the redhead was too tired.

"I'm glad to be calling it a day." Isumi broke the awkward silence. Nase hummed her agreement and reached to grab a menu.

"I can't believe we do this for a living sometimes."

"Oh it's not that bad." Nase muttered, flipping to the second very colorful page. He'd never known ramen could come in that particular color. "I'd rather be doing this than being an insei again."

"True." Waya muttered. "So how many guy's number do you have in your collection there Nase? Find the guy of your dreams in that packrat you had going on around your table." The girl didn't even have the grace to blush at the teasing. She simply smiled mysteriously over the menu and stuck her tongue out.

"Worried?" She asked in such a way that made Waya choke on his water. On cue, as if Isumi had been expecting this very thing to occur, he passed several paper napkins to the redhead. Hikaru smiled at that and rolled his eyes.

"You wish…" Waya hissed finally around some muffled coughs. "Tch." He slumped back in his chair, shaking his head.

"Touya had more people around his table than I did." Nase added finally. "Did you get lucky?" His rival had clearly been ready to be ignored the entire time and he looked distinctly uncomfortable at the unexpected turn of events. And poor Nase had only been trying to be nice and include him in. Hikaru internally winced and braced himself.

"I wouldn't say that. It's very hard to discern how many people there were…" He trailed off as Waya snorted.

"You had a friggin' line that nearly went around the entire building Touya. Don't know how you can deal with it. You had all three categories too—annoying grampas, giggling teens, and the brats!" Waya rested his head on his hand, regarding the taller teen seriously. "I can barely handle the grampas. God…" Waya groaned. "I swear to god if I heard another one of them asking if I was seriously a pro and what was wrong with my hair…" His amber eyes flashed dangerously and he didn't really need to end the sentence. The tension that had been making Touya's shoulder a bit higher than normal became more relaxed and the slightest hint of a smile touched his lips.

Hikaru was glad when the waitress came and asked what they wanted. It was the perfect timing really. The conversation changed and dwindled to nothing when their meal arrived. And he was relieved. Better the silence than finding out if somebody had gotten lucky enough to earn Touya's attention off a go board.

…

Japan was not what she had expected. But then Mary-Lynette had not quite known what to expect for this impromptu voyage. She still didn't. She was just relieved that the interminable flight had finally reached its end. She got up a bit shakily, thankful when Ash's warm hand offered only the slightest support. She wondered how he could still look that gorgeous, hair in place, not the slightest trace of how long and tiring the flight had been. And he was tall! He'd hardly had the needed amount of legroom… She sighed.

The stewardess had definitely noticed Ash and from the beginning of their flight had made her interest in him known. She kept throwing him the flirtiest of looks. When he did catch them he would just return them with an amused glance and then tug at Mary-Lynnette's hair as if sensing the jealousy that she was trying so hard to quell.

Eric tried to get up and hit his head rather hard on the low ceiling. The sound made the rest of them grimace and Thea nearly reached to rub her own head before she shook herself and turned to him. "You ok?"

"Just fine…" He muttered between gritted teeth. "Can't wait to actually be able to stand up straight."

"They're opening the door now." Ash added helpfully while he tried to hide his grin. Eric caught it though and reached over the seat to mess up his hair.

"Laughing at my pain will ya? Jerk."

"Boys…" Thea started but apparently changed her mind and simply shrugged. She slipped out in an opening in the crowded aisle and reached for some of their bags in the overhead compartments. Moving slowly but carefully, Acadia made her way to her side as well. Mary-Lynette didn't know quite what to make of the other witch either. She was as young as Thea as far as she could tell but Thea always looked slightly in awe of the young woman. She would have asked if she could but it almost seemed rude to.

She shrugged to herself inwardly and moved forward to grab for her own backpack.

"How much time to our hotel?" Eric moaned in such a pained voice that she had to smile sympathetically at him.

"Oh about an hour or two of cramped taxi time." Ash yawned the answer out. "But it'll be worth it baby… it'll be worth it." Eric made a slightly disbelieving and disturbed face.

"It better be… and don't call me baby."

…

Touya managed to get a hold of him just as he was about to walk out the door. He bit his lip and turned to face the other, hoping that his confused look would be convincing enough to let him off the hook. Waya, Isumi, and Nase (lucky bastards) hadn't noticed that they weren't following.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" He shrugged the hand off his shoulder.

"Avoiding me." Figures Touya would go straight for the jugular.

"Touya, seriously? I'm tired, I'm cranky, my butt is sore from all the sitting that I've just done. I just want to go home." He sighed. "I saw you two days ago and we went over it that time too. I'm not doing anything…We've just been busy and our schedules are clashing. It'll pass." He pushed the door open again and walked out. He hoped his last words were true. That it would indeed pass. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever and…

"I know we saw each other two days ago." Touya's voice was quiet but firm. "But its…" He sounded frustrated and puzzled, much like the time when he'd come in asking if he'd been having trouble sleeping. The memory of that night came to him full force and he stopped walking, turning to stare at his rival. There was the anxious tugging of the sleeves, those long fingers… "Forget it. I apologize for wasting your time." Touya finally stated his tone of voice deceivingly blank. "I hope you have a goodnight's rest." And with that he turned away and walked in the opposite direction.

Hikaru watched him go for a second or two, unable to walk away or to call out. He felt trapped again and his heart thundered.

It was only when Waya started to call out to him that he was able to move from his frozen spot. He nearly bumped into a girl with golden like hair in his haste to catch up with his group of friends and only missed her by inches because of the young man beside her. He was short, stocky and yet lanky looking at the same time. Like a large cat, a predator. He moved fast, grabbing the girl's shoulders towards him and giving Hikaru a look that was less than friendly. He jabbered an apology realizing that he was staring at the foreigners before running away.

He vaguely wondered what they were going to do here. They hadn't looked like tourists. And damn… he'd never seen that big of a group that were so attractive. Maybe they were models? Or actors? The thoughts disappeared as Waya caught him in a headlock and dragged him the rest of the way home.

To be continued….