Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go. Otherwise, I'd know a little more about Go than I really do.
Story: Hikaru was turned to the hacker world at an early age. Haunted by Sai, she reluctantly integrates Go into her carefully crafted world. Of course, she uses multiple personalities as an excuse to everyone else, seeing as how she has the bad habit of being a con artist.
Set AU.
Spoilers: Probably.
Warnings: Age difference and anything else that comes up.
Pairings: Eventual Ogata/Hikaru, though plenty of one-sided Others/Hikaru
Split Hack
Chapter Ten: Shirayuki and White Snow
She'd always said that miracles were unlikely and would never happen for real.
Hikaru really wished a miracle would happen for her right then.
She debated the merits of darting passed them and heading towards her room, barricading herself in there…but doubted she'd get passed them. She was small and nimble, and pretty fast, but they were both rather large and bulky, with long limbs, and if they didn't block her way, they would just catch up to her.
"I'm really into computer stuff," she said slowly, mind working quickly. "I like researching stuff related to computers and experimenting. That virus was one of those experiments," she wasn't going to say it had been a deliberate experiment though.
"Wow! That's really interesting," Ashiwara said, completely interested. "You're really computer savvy, aren't you?"
She grinned at him. "Yep!"
However, Ogata was still watching her closely with narrowed eyes. Damn, this man…
Thankfully, after that, Ogata had to bring Ashiwara and his computer back to the other man's place, and Hikaru sighed in relief.
"Saaafe!" Sai cheered, throwing out a v-sign.
Hikaru gave him a withering look. "You were no help."
He grinned sheepishly at her. "…Let's play Go?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hai, hai…" she led the way up to her room.
Meanwhile, after Ogata had dropped off Ashiwara, he headed over to Touya Meijin's Go salon, where he hid his snort of amusement as he saw Akira staring in despair at the Sai Wall.
"I thought you said you were okay with waiting for him?" he asked dryly, coming up to the younger boy.
"I did," Akira said morosely. "I didn't say it would be easy. I'm going crazy waiting."
Ogata easily looked over to the spots that was where he'd made small, unnoticeable additions that were easily missed, like the shade of green Hikaru/'Sai's' eyes were, Sai was a girl, her real name was Shindou Hikaru, and to the upper left area he'd written she was attending Kaio with Akira…
"You appreciate life more now, don't you, though?" he asked suddenly.
Akira smiled slightly, ducking his head a little bit. "Yeah…I mean, I even made a friend on the first day of school, at the beginning of this week. I can't see her much, since she's in the advance classes…but she somehow manages to open my locker and leaves odd, silly notes. They're rather funny…I still wonder how she gets into my locker though…"
Ogata hid his twitch. "Yeah, she does that…" he muttered under his breath to himself.
He wondered if he had to add computer expert somewhere on that wall. He really should have thought of it, seeing how she'd managed to get all that information on him before.
He shook his head and left Akira behind, picking up his stuff in the backroom. Once he was done, he headed to his apartment and set up his coffeemaker, heading over to his computer to turn it on after. While waiting for the coffee to brew, he went to his search engine and decided to do some of his own info searching. He frowned to himself and typed in Shindou Hikaru, but nothing much came up. It seemed…oddly filtered.
On a whim, he typed in Shirayuki, seeing as it was her NetGo account. A bunch more stuff came up and he decided to narrow it down by adding 'computers' to the search. His eyes nearly popped out of his head at the results, where crazed fans and a bunch of computer enthusiasts and experts talked about this Shirayuki, who was an infamous computer hacker with amazing 'cracking' skills. And he managed to learn the difference, since he hadn't even known there was one.
Going further, he typed in 'Go' along with the other search words, and then he began seeing results popping up of people linking the hacker and NetGo personality together, and how and why that was.
He knew he'd found another piece to the puzzle that was Shindou Hikaru, though it also made her even more boggling.
When he'd gone to pick her up the next morning, she seemed entirely too innocent to be real, and had steadfastly ignored the happenings of the night before.
"I got your coffee, Megane-chan~ At least you drink it better than Megane-chan Junior," she said teasingly, but he froze and blinked.
"Megane-chan Junior? Who's that?" he asked, though he would deny to anyone that it sounded anything remotely aggressive.
Hikaru hummed, swallowing a bite of his scrambled eggs before answering. "A sempai at school. He wears glasses too~ I made friends with him on the first day of school."
"B-but I thought I was Megane-chan," he blurted out, and immediately he had to fight the urge to face palm. Really?
She giggled. "Are you je~al~lous, Megane-chan? It's alright. I don't really call him that, I was just describing him kinda. He's just Kaoru or sempai. Mostly sempai though."
"You call him by his first name?" Ogata asked, feigning curiosity. "What year is he in anyway?"
"Hai! And Kaoru-sempai is a third year."
"Isn't he a little old to be friends with a first year?" he asked, trying to be nonchalant.
"Eh? No way. Besides, I approached him first," Hikaru shrugged. "It's okay! Don't worry, Megane-chan. He's completely safe. Awkward and really lonely and lost, but safe. I think he played Go, but doesn't like it anymore. I wonder why…"
"Don't be nosy," he told her, though he was still frowning about this 'Kaoru.'
He dropped her off, still musing about the recent stuff he'd learned, though he'd tried to watch her after she left, to see if he could spot this Kaoru kid…
She left him, wondering what was wrong with him and what was on his mind. Seriously. Something must've been up. He was acting weird that morning.
Glad that she was early, she looked for Akira's locker and was delighted to see him already there.
"Akira-kun~" she bounced over to him. "You're here! I'm so happy."
She glomped him happily, ignoring his bright red blush and awkwardness in her arms.
"We never get to see each other," she pouted. "You're in none of my classes!"
Sai glared at him. "Yeah! Where are you, Touya-kun? She's always pouting about that!"
Hikaru inwardly pouted too. She wasn't always pouting about it.
"S-Sorry. I'm not in any of the advance classes, so I wouldn't be in any of yours," Akira smiled shyly.
It was so adorable, and she had the urge to coo and pinch his cheeks.
"Choose at least one of them! I'll help you," she urged. "Come on, Akira-kun. It's still early in the year; you can choose one my classes!"
"I'll try," he promised. "I like all the notes."
She beamed at him. "You do? Good, good! How come you don't answer back though?"
He looked startled. "Am I supposed to? I'm sorry! I didn't know. W-what am I supposed to write back?"
She shrugged. "Anything. You write whatever you'd like."
"How'd you get into my locker though?"
"Oh, look! That's my homeroom sensei, I think I see. Gotta go!" Hikaru said hurriedly, and rushed away. Thankfully, she really did see Yun.
"Hikaru-chan," he greeted her.
"Morning, sensei! Where are you going?"
"To class," he said dryly. "You know, the room you magically transform every lunch? And yet somehow it's all back to normal in time for class…"
"My team work wonders," Hikaru nodded sagely.
"I wonder though, why you seem to play so nonchalant in club. Even Sai…" Yun prodded. "At your level, you are definitely more than good enough to challenge the top members."
She smiled mysteriously, which Sai echoed, although his was marred by giggles. "Sai and I agreed to lay low…Until today."
He blinked. "Today?"
"For the tournament today. Laying low means being underestimated…And I can slaughter them and choose next week's snacks."
He inwardly paused and reran that through his head again, before he stared at her as they continued walking.
"…You…"
"Ramen~"
He shook his head. "Speaking of your strength, even though I'm glad you're in the club and playing against others your own age and getting in more practice…I'm not sure you should enter into the club's team. It would be…unfair and rather traumatizing for the others to play against you for a spot, and it would be easier to keep your involvement in last year's tournament quiet."
Hikaru nodded in understanding. "Okay, Yun-sensei. I got it!"
"Did you finish your English homework?" he asked, remembering it.
Her smile looked oddly stiff then. "E-English homework –y-yes! I-I did."
Actually she wasn't sure, since she and Sai had been up all night playing simultaneous games on NetGo and also with each other.
"Oh, look at the time! I think I have to return a book to the library before school starts. Bye, Yun-sensei!" she said while looking at her bare wrist, and then quickly hurrying away.
Sai urged her to hurry.
Thankfully, she actually had managed to at least do half of her English homework, and hurried to finish it before school started. After that, school was rather uniform and nothing exciting happened until lunchtime. There, each of them was working on various things on the computers, though the General was working on fixing a computer given to them by the teacher next door, which was having problems.
Kishimoto, as had become the usual, was once more by her side.
He was a quiet person. He didn't talk a lot, and preferred to just let Hikaru jabber on. He liked listening to her; he'd even told her so. He would tell her that she was really lively, and comment how sunny she was. She wouldn't think anything of it, but somehow she thought that maybe he was just so used to being alone and living a static life, that maybe that's why he really didn't mind her butting into his life and forcing him around (though really, he seemed much more willing to follow anyway). He would tell her often that she brightened his life up and that life in general was much more than it was before for him.
It was kind of sad and made her worry for him.
She tapped a few keys, entering the code in for the new program they were installing into the computers. She was just about to finish the installation, when a message for "Shirayuki" popped up. She had kept a screen up, though minimized, for Shirayuki's messages to be sent through, but hadn't expected any at that time. So it was a surprise to see it.
She glanced up and watched Yun warily, but he was busy on his own laptop. She bit her lip and carefully turned in her seat to look at Kishimoto, who looked back at her surely, though a bit curious. But his mouth remained close and he didn't ask her any questions.
That day, she learned yet another thing about him. Sempai could keep secrets.
Hikaru opened up the message and read it in plain view of her sempai, and quietly and quickly penned a message back as Shirayuki, and then closed the window. She went back to finishing the installation without a glance back at her companion.
Time passed by almost too quickly, but school could do that. Things remained static for her too, on certain things. She was happy spending almost all her time at the Go salons, outside of her schooling. She had nothing else to do, and no one and nothing at home for her.
Sai was rather sad about that, but loved all the Go time they had and had all but decided that it was okay anyway –he at least could be there for her.
Yun still tutored her sometimes at the Korean Go salon, though mostly he practiced English and Korean with her instead. Ogata was just everywhere, and she didn't want to admit that it would probably feel strange if he were to suddenly not be in her life anymore, since he'd practically shoved himself into it and made himself a presence (and one that wouldn't go away).
He was still the enemy.
Kishimoto was still so shy and lovely, but she was working hard on opening him up. He was even harder to break out than Akira, who was just shy and not used to being social, as opposed to Kishimoto who was withdrawn and introvert, preferring to be alone or be by her.
As for Akira, she was delighted on the progress she was making with him. He was becoming much more social with her help and prodding, and had managed to reach out to his other classmates and at least be on good terms with them, rather than being shunned and isolated, and therefore becoming further awkward. It made the mission of helping him live life more, that she'd assigned herself right after playing their last game together, be that much more successful. She'd finally decided after the game that she'd been much too hard on him, and then had come up with the mission, and was quite satisfied with how it was going so far.
However, though she was amused and entertained that he had still not recognized her, she was seriously debating on springing the truth on him after New Years, if he still hadn't figured it out –really, she hadn't thought anyone could be that dense and forgetful. Was her looks that changed? All she did was dye her hair mostly blond, cut it short, actually wore girly clothes and spoke and acted normally around him…
He had also agreed to transfer into her English class, and though he was struggling just the slightest, she was helping him along. And the notes he'd sent back! He left her his response notes in his locker for her to pick up, and they were all both adorable and sweet. Akira, not sure what to write or how to come up with something that would be normal, had taken to writing kifu back to her. Sometimes, the notes were outright responses to what she'd written to him, or he'd write a notation about a class or something that had come up, or even a Go saying. More likely than not, the notes had something to do with Go.
She wanted to pinch his cheeks all the more, like some terrible aunt or other relative.
But all the time passing by, had made it quickly enter winter. The cold had come swiftly, and now even snow had started to drift onto the streets. It was nearing Christmas as well…
Despite her name, Shirayuki, meaning 'White Snow', Hikaru herself hated snow and the cold. Once upon a time, she admitted she used to love the snow, but time and memories had made her more bitter and resentful of it, and even holidays of the season. She especially hated the winter holidays.
"Hikaru?" Sai asked hesitantly, his hand tentatively reaching out to grip her shoulder.
She gave him a brief halfhearted smile, before going back to gazing outside with darkened green eyes. Sai frowned and floated closer, hugging her from behind. He kept his ghostly arms wrapped around her as he laid his chin on her head, and together they both watched out of the window.
"It's cold," she murmured, and Sai was sure that she somehow wasn't really meaning the temperature.
"It is," he agreed anyway.
"People are transient, you know? They flitter in and out of lives…I met so many wonderful people, and I know I like them all…but they are transient. Temporary and fleeting. They're here now, but like everyone else, they will all leave. I'll be abandoned again," she muttered that last part so softly, he was sure she hadn't meant to say it aloud, much less for him to hear.
"Okaa-san, Otou-san, please come back…come back! Please…Don't leave me here…"
She closed her eyes and laid her forehead against the glass. Winter…they all left her…Otou-san during winter, when the first drop of snow fell…and Okaa-san during Christmas…
It was always so lonely during this time…
"Hi-ka-ru~ I'm here now," Sai said melodically, injecting slight cheer into his voice.
She blinked and turned her head towards him, eyes a little more bright and attentive.
"You…you are, aren't you, Sai?" she murmured, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time. "Promise…promise you'll never leave me?"
"Hai," he nodded enthusiastically, hugging her tighter. "I've been here for around a thousand years, Hikaru. I'll be here for a thousand more," he was certain. He would definitely never leave her side.
She leaned her head against him and tried to hide her sniffle.
"Arigato, Sai."
She should call her grandfather. Usually, at this time of the year, he would be in Kyoto with his old friends. He had always invited her, but she always declined…but maybe this year, she could at least give him a call…
She did so and he was delighted, asking after her and even after Sai, though he was still asking if she needed an exorcist –especially since that friend of a friend was there with him, and he could ask right then and there. She laughed and said no, while Sai pouted beside her.
After she hung up, she was surprised when her door was knocked on and she and Sai opened it to find Kishimoto on the other side. His face was bright red as he thrust a present at her.
"My-my family and I are going to out of the country for the rest of the holiday break, and I wanted to drop this off to you," he said quickly, face still bright red.
She smiled widely and took the present, setting it down before going forward and hugging Kishimoto tightly, surprising him and making his red face become redder.
"Thank you, sempai! Have fun with your family and on your holiday!"
He gave her a brief grin and a nod, and then he was jogging back down the walkway and to the waiting car. She closed the door after and picked up the present, coming with Sai back to the living room.
"It's cold, it's cold! So let's sit under the kotatsu!" Sai sing-songed, dancing around her.
She giggled slightly and went to the kotatsu, sitting there and putting the present in the middle. She smiled a little as she lay her head down on the kotatsu and poked the present.
"Maybe a little holiday spirit isn't bad…"
After that, she was continually surprised. Akari, who was out of town with her parents, called her and wished her 'Merry Christmas,' and that her and her family's present was hidden in Hikaru's own backyard, which Akari had decided to hide there as a joke. A string of phone calls reached her from patrons of both the Heart of Stone and the Korean Go salons, wishing her happy holidays and their own presents waiting for when she next visited the salons. Shirakawa had even called her, sounding rather flustered as he apologized for forgetting to give her his present when they'd last had Go class together, in which a holiday party had been held instead and a specially made chocolate cake for her had been made by some of the students. Even her father, which more than shocked her, had sent her an email, though she was dubious and skeptical if it was really from him and not his secretary.
Akira called as well, which pleased her immensely. He sounded awkward and shy as he greeted her 'Happy Holidays,' and had said that he had her present with him, and that he'd give it to her when break was over, and apologized that he didn't know where she'd lived so he could bring it over. She just waved off the apology and happily told him her address for next time.
She felt like she might be falling in love with snow again.
The doorbell rang again, and she headed towards it, wondering who it was this time. Seeing who it was, she should've known. Though she rolled her eyes, this time she even smiled widely.
"Ogata-san, you're here. Welcome inside."
He blinked at her and huffed straight after, burrowing further into his scarf that hid the lower half of his face, as he glared at her with his glasses falling down his nose a bit. He was holding a large container in his arms that looked rather heavy.
"Don't call me that," he huffed again. "I'm too used to this 'Megane-chan' business. If you change suddenly, I might think something's wrong and I'll have to drag you to the emergency room at the hospital."
She couldn't help genuinely laughing, letting him inside.
"Baka! You talk strange, Megane-chan. Just put whatever that is over there," she pointed at the kotatsu.
However, he went to an empty space on an empty stand, and placed it there. Taking off the lazily wrapped paper around it, he revealed the container to be a large fish container that housed a few tropical fish already in it. He set it up and plugged it in.
She didn't know to be amused or to be in shock.
And she wondered how in the world he had managed to carry it without spilling water everywhere. It was already filled with water and the fish, and it must've been some feat…
Especially in his shiny, expensive car and his horrific driving.
"Merry Christmas," he deadpanned, turning back to her.
She blinked. "Shouldn't you have kept it wrapped and revealed it until it's already Christmas?"
"I got impatient and I had to set it up quickly anyway."
He looked around and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of house is this? Nothing's festive."
"I don't usually celebrate this time of the year," she answered honestly.
He huffed again and pulled his scarf up to further hide his face, which by now only his eyes and glasses (and up) could be seen.
"Tch. Figures. C'mere, brat. We're fixing this place up."
She didn't know how to feel about fixing her home with Ogata, who intruded and yet didn't feel like an intruder. Her home was cleaned up, and soon Ogata had found Christmas decorations lying around somewhere and then they were actually putting up decorations around the house. They didn't have a tree, so Ogata just rolled his eyes and went into her backyard, finding not only Akari's present but also a small flower that he placed into a cup and hung small ornaments onto the cup, placing both present on the kotatsu and the "Christmas tree-flower" in the middle of the kotatsu.
Having almost forgotten, he shoved a handful of coupons for a ramen bar at her, said it was from Ashiwara as a thank you for fixing his computer, before also shoving a friendship bracelet made from also Ashiwara, which was a Christmas gift and an outreach of friendship from him to her. She gushed over it, making Ogata stomp into the kitchen and start baking, after finally discarding his huge winter coat, gloves, and scarf.
She wondered what his problem was.
All in all, it turned out to be a better Christmas than she'd been expecting, especially in comparison to previous years. She had a great Christmas dinner, comprised of soba (as close to ramen as she could get right then), fried battered shrimp tempura, rice, and ended with manju for dessert. They drank matcha tea with the meal, and afterwards felt rather drowsy. She was surprised and a little thoughtful as to why and how quickly she offered to let Ogata sleep over, and he was too tired to protest too much anyway. In fact, he'd collapsed onto her couch and sprawled all over, immediately dead asleep as soon as his head hit the couch's armrest. His long legs easily reached over the other side of the couch and its armrest, and his arms were haphazardly dangling to either the ground or over the back of the couch.
Hikaru was laughing quietly to herself, while Sai was shushing her.
She settled herself under the kotasu, letting her legs sprawl out in front of her under it, and lay her head down on her arm which lay on the surface of the kotatsu. Her other arm slowly reached out, and she used a single finger to lightly trace the flower cup, a small smile playing on her lips as she drifted to sleep. Sai smiled himself, relaxing next to her as he also happily sat under the kotatsu in enjoyment.
When morning came, Ogata was still out but Hikaru was quick to open her eyes. The window showed the outside was coated in a thick layer of snow, and she let herself smile and enjoy it for a bit. Then there was an unexpected knocking on her door, and she went to answer it in confusion. Sai followed after, also wondering.
She paled quickly once the door was opened, and a police officer was the first person she saw.
"Shindou Hikaru? You are under arrest for electronically 'breaking and entering' into the PSIA systems. Please come with us quietly, and do not resist arrest."
She barely refrained from cursing aloud, nervously glancing at the still dead asleep Ogata as she hesitantly walked forward and was gently turned and handcuffed. Sai was still watching horrified.
"It shouldn't be too bad," a younger officer chirped up, once she neared the police vehicle. At least it was extremely early in the morning, and everyone was still asleep and wouldn't see this. "I hear they'd like to draft you as a consultant, and you might get to help them and the DIH out."
The officer she'd met at the door and was the one leading her to the car shushed him, and then she was put into the car.
Well, her anonymity was definitely blown now.
Started 5/20/13 – Completed 5/20/13
A/n: Wee~ That was a doozy. I can't think of much to say, other than I have to skip updating next week, in order to create more chapter summaries for my outline for this fic (since I caught up). Thanks to everyone and I hope everyone enjoyed! Please drop a review!
To anon: Yep, totally backed into a corner. She had to explain, but she somehow got out of it. Not that it helped much XD
To Oreo: Giggles are fun :D As for them living together under a roof, it might be better if she would stop seeing him as "the enemy." You're welcome! I try to reply to everyone.
To anon (2): Glad you can understand it better, and that you still like my fic more :)