Title: Sequence 4/?
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: future Hikaru/Akira/Hikaru
Disclaimer: Belongs to Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi. I do not own them.
Comments: Asumi Nase appears and has her suspicions about Shindou and Touya's lost it for some unknown reason. Yashiro recieves hints, but doesn't quite get it.

Dedicated to Middles, because she requested this part for her birthday. Happy late birthday!

Shadow Ruins 0 is going to go under revision, because it needs tweaking if I'm going to continue it.

ssssssssss

Shindou was forcing a smile at the teenager in front of him, his face full of unnatural, straight lines that meant he had to be making a great effort from blowing up. Trying to be professional, despite the fact that he probably wanted to dump his go ke upon the boy's head. His finger was jabbing towards his lower left corner on the goban.

Asumi shook her head and swept the last of her stones into her go ke. She escaped from her seat quickly, waving off a younger man who had been about to approach the other side of the goban. He looked disappointed and not about ready to give up, so she retreated quickly. Nase Asumi was done playing shidougo for the day and she was done with the flirting and the men trying to gaze down her shirt. A Go convention geared towards pulling in the younger generation, right. Most of the boys had been more interested in her than in the game. She knew she was attractive and she didn't mind flirting -- not in the least -- but today she had been here to play Go, not to pick up a boyfriend which most of the male population seemed to think.

And next time she would wear a shirt with a higher neckline.

A two-day Go convention and this was only the first day. She had an amateur tournament to help out with in - she glanced at her watch - three hours. Tomorrow would be another morning of shidougo with hopefully better results.

She would worry about that later. It was time for lunch and Shindou looked prepared to resort to drastic measures.

As she approached behind him, she could hear the grinding edge to his voice.

"No," Shindou said, "connecting here was a bad move. It allowed me to invade your formation in this area and set up to take your key stone. Do you see?"

No, Asumi could tell the boy didn't, because he was no longer paying attention to Shindou or the goban, but watching her come to stand at Shindou's side.

Shindou must have noticed to and he turned his head, managing a surprised expression at seeing her two feet away and only a little behind him. "Ah, Nase-chan!"

"Shindou-kun," she nodded and then leaned over his shoulder to study the game laid out upon the goban. It was full of beginner mistakes from black's side with white taking very few of them. Still, the game had ended before yose and she could easily see the reasons why. She hoped that Shindou wouldn't mind her invading his personal space too much, along with taking over his discussion. "Maybe I can help?"

He didn't appear to care, merely slumped in his chair and mumbled a "You can try."

"Nase Asumi, beginner-dan," she introduced herself to the boy and without waiting for a like introduction from him, she pointed at the clustered grouping of black stones that Shindou had been. "You moved to connect here with a hane, am I right?"

The boy nodded, not looking at the goban, but at her. She wasn't up to demanding him to pay attention and she thought that this was probably more response than what Shindou had gotten out of him.

"Two reasons why this was a bad move. First, you concentrated on a corner of the goban and forgot about the rest of it and white was able to invade your formation over here with an ogeima, allowing him to isolate off your key stone. Second, you were thinking about gaining stones, not territory." All the kos and attempted kos and they weren't attempts at ponnuki either. "You should have taken your attention to here and used a hanging connection to stay off white's attack."

"If I'd moved there, I would have won?" Now he was looking at the board.

"You would have had a greater chance at winning, yes."

"I see." He probably didn't.

Shindou's hands were creeping towards the goban, ready to sweep the stones back into the go ke. "Thank you, Nase-chan." He nailed the boy with a too big smile. "If you don't mind, we have to head for lunch before the evening programs."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure!" The goban was quickly cleared and the boy stood . . . snd stood some more. Studying her. The warning signs. "Nase-san?"

Carefully, she placed her hand upon Shindou's shoulder, feeling him tense at the surprise contact, and whispered into his ear, "Don't do anything."

"Yes?" she pitched her voice low and placed her cheek alongside Shindou's, raising a questioning eyebrow.

The boy paled and backed away. "Thank you for the discussion."

He fled and once out of sight, Asumi pulled away and stretched. Shindou's face was flushed and she laughed kindly.. "Sorry, Shindou-kun, but I'm tired of dealing with hormonal boys and that was the quickest way to get rid of him. Unless they're really stubborn, if they think I have a boyfriend, they back off."

He was rubbing his cheek and giving her a displeased look, which abruptly changed to frantic as a group of girls appeared in front of the table. "Only if you get me out of this," he hissed.

Asumi smiled brightly and wrapped her arms about one of his, tugging him from his chair and pressing up against his side. She giggled at the girls. "Sorry, but we have to eat."

Their faces fell and she and Shindou hurried away.

"What is it with this convention?" Shindou groused as Asumi pulled away from him. "The girls are -" he shuddered. "They're crazed."

"So are the boys." She glanced at him. "You don't have a girlfriend, yet, do you?"

He tripped over his own feet and nearly fell to the floor, a bandaged hand against the all saving him. Shindou yowled and cradled his hand against his chest. Through a strained voice, he still managed, "You don't have a boyfriend, do you?"

"You're lucky you can pick up stones with that hand." It was a prime time to switch subjects.

He grimaced, "I'm lucky I don't have a game for a few more days. That hurt." Shindou was limping -- no longer babying his hand. A reference to his knee, she thought. "Where do you want to eat?"

"Isn't there a ramen place nearby?"

"Yes!" She would have thought that an affirmation if she hadn't heard from Waya's own mouth about Shindou's ability to thrive off the food. He dug a cell phone out of his pocket. "Let me call Yashiro and tell him. He said he would join me for lunch today since he's at the Institute filling out paperwork for his transfer and touring the building."

"We're lucky the convention's so close," she stated and then waited for Shindou to call his roommate, listening to him give directions. He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"I know," she wished he would stop limping. "Speaking of touring, are you one of the guides on the tour to the Institute tomorrow?"

"No. More shidougo."

"Same here. Tonight I have an exhibition match against Ashiwara-san."

"Mm, helping out with the amateur tournament."

The ramen place was fairly empty and they found a table quickly. After telling the waitress that they were waiting for one more, Asumi grinned and toed Shindou's chair. "This means I finally get to meet your roommate, right?"

"Do you mean Touya or Yashiro?"

If she had been less restrained she would have thrown the soy sauce at Shindou's head. He was doing this on purpose. "Stop being a brat."

Shindou crinkled his nose at her. "I told you Yashiro was meeting us for lunch. What do you think?"

"I think you deserve to have all those girls hounding you."

"Hey!"

He didn't look too pleased with her comment. "You know, Shindou-kun, most guys would be ecstatic to have so much attention from so many cute girls."

"Aren't girls supposed to like boys who think they're pretty?" he said defensively.

"Not when their only goal is to get into our pants."

He hunched his shoulders. "Well, Yashiro or somebody can have all the girls."

"And Touya?"

"Sure." He wasn't meeting her eyes. It was strange for someone like Shindou and it gave her suspicions. The door chimed as it opened and Shindou was up out of his seat as soon as he saw the young man that walked through. "Yashiro! Over here!"

The few patrons shot him looks and Asumi shook her head. So this was Yashiro. She had heard of him -- the Hokuto Cup was a big event for younger Go pros, for the entire Go world, actually -- but had only seen pictures of him put into Go Weekly. They didn't do him justice, though she imagined he would look even better if he didn't have that scowl etched onto his face. Or if he had looked he had actually slept sometime during the last week.

"Shindou," he hissed as he sat down.

"What?"

"You got me lost, you idiot. Can't you give directions?"

"I did! You just can't follow them."

Asumi decided this would be a good time to clear her throat. "I take it you're Yashiro-san? I'm Nase Asumi, beginner-dan."

The frown on his face swiftly altered to a polite smile. "Yashiro Kiyoharu. I'm 2-dan. I apologize for being so rude, Nase-san. It's a pleasure to meet you."

This was certainly a change of pace from the group she usually hung out with. "He was manners, Shindou-kun. Maybe he and Touya will rub off on you."

"We can only hope," Yashiro added.

Shindou crossed his arms and glared. "You two aren't being fair."

Yashiro said, "You'll live," and gestured to a passing waitress.

They ordered and Asumi leaned forward, resting her chin on the palms of her hands. "Shindou-kun said you were transferring here."

"Yes."

That certainly wasn't a detailed answer. "I saw the kifu of your game from last year's Hokuto Cup against China. You made a wonderful play, forcing that snapback near the end of joseki. Very innovative."

"I thought it would be enough to win, but my opponent managed to hold on. It was a tough game." Yashiro sighed and settled back in his chair, his face drawn. His face twisted into a grimace and his voice wane. "I haven't improved much since then."

If he had reached as far as he could reach that would be a problem, but Asumi remembered his game and very much doubted it. That much talent should not have an end. But she smiled and shrugged. "I bet you could still beat me. I merely had a good run of luck when I went through the pro exam and that was barely enough."

"Stop it, you two," the third member of their party demanded. "Both of you are being stupid."

Whatever else he was about to had was going to have to wait for later, because the waitress appeared with their orders. Shindou dug in unceremoniously, while she and Yashiro ate at a slower pace.

Thoughtfully, she finally asked, "What's it like living with Shindou and Touya, anyways?"

Shindou gulped down his mouthful of food and answered for Yashiro. "Touya short sheets beds."

Had Shindou said what she thought he said? Maybe she had heard incorrectly. "What?"

"It's true," Yashiro confirmed. "We came home and both our beds were short sheeted. I don't think he liked the idea of ramen for dinner."

"I know, but I bet Akari gave him the idea." Biting at the edge of his lip, Shindou studied her carefully. "We still need to get him back."

A blind man could have seen what he was suggesting. Asumi raised her hands in front of her defensively. "Oh no, don't look at me. I'm not a part of this at all. Not. At. All."

"Nase," Shindou begged, "please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!"

"Let it go, Shindou," Yashiro interrupted. "She doesn't have to help us if she doesn't want to. Though all we would need is a little help . . ."

Damn it, he was pleading her with his eyes. Why did he have to be so good-looking? And Shindou had resorted to begging her silently, his green eyes round and pathetic. Why did he have to be so cute when he did that? She was never going to hear the end of it if she didn't help them. Why did she have to be so weak-willed? "Maybe, so long as it's nothing too drastic."

"Yes!"

She frowned at Shindou, "And only if you promise that you'll hold a study night at your place sometime soon."

He and Yashiro shared a look before he nodded. "Okay, okay. Trust me, you'll like it." He wiggled in his seat. "Hey, do you think Honda-san would help? His place is closer, so it would be easier to move stuff over there."

"Move stuff?"

"Hang on a minute. I have to go to the bathroom." He pushed himself up out of his chair and pointed a finger at Yashiro. "Don't tell her anything until I get back, okay?"

"Okay," Yashiro answered, amused, but Shindou was already heading for the bathroom.

Asumi watched him leave and turned to Yashiro when she was sure he wasn't in hearing distance anymore. "Is Shindou -" she caught herself and studied the tall young man across from her. Would he know and if he did would he even tell her? Was it any of her business asking? She shook her head, ignoring his puzzled look. "Nevermind."

She had no right nosing about.

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Kiyoharu could hear the voices in the room next to his rising in volume and he thought it might not be long until someone in one of the neighboring apartments complained. As usual, Shindou and Touya were at each other's throats over a game discussion. They weren't the best roommates, Touya was too quiet and focused on every aspect of his day and Shindou was too loud and exuberant even over the simplest things, but Kiyoharu found himself between them. Often less restrained than Touya and more controlled than Shindou. He was a buffer between the two and he wondered if they would have killed each other had he not been there. Currently, all he could hope for was that one of them would run out of steam.

Unless he became aggravated enough to go and interrupt them and that was a fearsome thought. Their anger was well-matched and he disliked confronting them when they were in a fight, because it turned that anger on him.

He was tired of being yelled at.

As he shrugged into his t-shirt, he heard Shindou and Touya's argument end with the slamming of their door. Finally. He didn't understand why they had to play a game right before bed.

The door to Kiyoharu's room swung open abruptly and he gazed in surprise at Shindou. His face set in determination, the shorter young man closed the door and leaned back against it, stating, "Touya's a bastard. I'm not sleeping in there."

A big fight, then, but what was he doing telling Kiyoharu this? "That's nice."

"I'm sleeping in here."

"Shindou. No." In Kiyoharu's home there had been boundaries and manners taught. Shindou had obviously been taught the same manners at some point in his life, but he tended to throw them away when it suited him in Kiyoharu's observation. Like now. "You can sleep on the couch."

"The couch isn't comfortable," he whined.

"Then sleep in your own room on your own bed."

"I can't. He keeps glaring and huffing about and I'm going to kill him if I stay in there."

"Huffing?" Kiyoharu found it near to impossible to imagine the collected Touya actually huffing. Shindou had to be over exaggerating the situation. "You two are fighting over a game, suck it up and deal with it."

Shindou sighed and rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes. "I don't know." He frowned. "It started out over the game, but then everything I did seemed to annoy him. I tried to ask him what bug crawled up his ass and it got worse."

"If you phrased it like that, I can imagine why."

"Please, Yashiro." He clasped bandaged hands together and Kiyoharu found his eyes drawn to them. Shindou had taken off the bandages earlier -- a day ahead of the time the doctor had suggested -- and Kiyoharu had almost had to wrestle the shorter Go pro to the ground to make him put them back on. Shindou had a habit of taking unexpected leaps, but Kiyoharu would be damned if he would let him go against doctor's orders when Shindou's injuries were his fault. The hands hadn't looked too bad, most of it scabbed over, nothing that really needed bandages, but it was too great a risk to allow any chance of infection setting into Shindou's hands. So Kiyoharu had forcibly made him put new ones on again. Touya had come in near the end as Kiyoharu had finally squashed Shindou into submission by sitting on his stomach and had gifted both of them a cool look before immediately retreating into his room.

"Shindou . . ."

"Please? He's driving me nuts. You can use my bed. Just this once?"

"Fine." But he was only doing this because he felt guilty over the ordeal between his father and Shindou, he told himself. He owed him something. "But only this once."

"Thank you."

Kiyoharu rolled his eyes and pushed past Shindou. "Yeah, yeah. Good night."

The light coming from underneath the door to Touya and Shindou's room was the only sign of Touya being awake. Other than that, dead quiet issued from the room.

Opening the door slowly, Kiyoharu stepped in and spotted Touya on a bed, reading a book. Touya looked up and narrowed his eyes. They didn't speak for a moment, merely studied each other.

"What are you doing?" Touya finally asked.

A blizzard would have been warmer than Touya's presence, Kiyoharu imagined. "Sleeping in here since Shindou decided to invade my room and bed."

If anything, Touya's expression grew colder. "Is that so?"

Maybe Shindou had been onto something. "Yes."

Sitting down on Shindou's bed, he caught Touya with a twisted expression on his face, perhaps looking for something else to question. Apparently, unable to find anything to latch onto in Yashiro's one-worded reply, he was silent.

Kiyoharu stretched his body across Shindou's bed. Not bad. The pillow was fluffy without being overwhelming.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Touya shooting glares at him, the kind that might have killed if they could have, and while he tried to ignore it, it eventually made him want to grind his teeth together. Sitting up abruptly, he gave Touya his own look. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing."

From the tone, Kiyoharu translated it to mean 'shut up and die'. Touya was too polite to say it out loud. "Right."

"Are you suggesting I'm lying?" Touya was out for blood.

"From your behavior, I'm suggesting a bug's crawled up your ass." Echoing Shindou's words, Kiyoharu wondered if the other young man was rubbing off on him a bit too much.

Touya paled, his fists clenching and releasing. He opened his mouth to say something and just as quickly shut it.

Kiyoharu let out a growl and rolled off Shindou's bed onto his feet. "Forget this. I can understand why Shindou left."

Stalking out of the room before Touya could find something else to attack, Kiyoharu returned to his own room to find the lights out and the lump on his bed that was Shindou already sleeping.

"You don't waste time, do you?" he murmured to his friend, considering what to do. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. The couch was a possibility, but like Shindou said, it was uncomfortable. Or the floor, which was even worse.

Kiyoharu was almost heartless enough to wake Shindou up and kick him off his bed, but he had given his word and he tried hard not to go back on his promises.

But he really, really didn't want to sleep on the couch.

He eyed the bed. It certainly wasn't big, but Shindou wasn't taking up too much space. He wondered if Shindou would care and doubted it. His parents would probably have objected, but he was no longer under their thumbs -- something twinged inside of him -- and he was plain tired. The whole thing might be considered inappropriate, however he couldn't bring himself to care.

Making his choice, he pulled up the blanket and shook Shindou's shoulder. "Hey, move over."

A disgruntled mumble issued from his mouth, but Shindou didn't budge.

"Shindou," he gave another shake, "you're right. Touya's being a bastard. Now move over."

A harder shake that seemed to rouse the other young man. Somewhat. Shindou blinked at him with bleary eyes. "Wha - Sai? Don' wanna play. La'er."

Sai? An unknown friend of Shindou's maybe? Kiyoharu nudged Shindou on the shoulder again. "It's Yashiro. Move over."

With a grumble, Shindou complied, rolling over on his side to face the wall. Kiyoharu slid in next to him and stared at the ceiling, briefly uncomfortable against the heat coming from Shindou's body. It soon went away against the onslaught of sleepiness that washed over him.

He relaxed into it and even as it pulled him in, mumbled to his sleeping friend, "Touya's going to get it."

ssssssssssss

The opening of the door woke him up and Kiyoharu had a hard time disconcerting features on the dark figure silhouetted by light. He knew who it was, though.

"Touya?" he croaked.

The figure shifted and the background light struck his face enough for Kiyoharu to see it was full of sharp edges, mouth drawn in a tight light and eyes thin and narrow. "Shindou has the convention today. He needs to leave in an hour."

Evidently that bug was still up Touya's ass. Kiyoharu glanced to Shindou's side of the bed, finding him in the same exact position that he had rolled into last night. Solid sleeper. "Sure, I'll get him up."

He sat up and yawned before noticing that Touya hadn't budged. Kiyoharu stretched his arms, observing that Touya was not studying him, but Shindou. It was an intense look, but not like the glares of last night and he thought it strangely closed off. "I said I'll get him up."

Touya started and took a step back. "Of course." He drew in an audible breath. "I apologize for last night, Yashiro-kun. I was in the wrong."

Kiyoharu watched his eyes go back to Shindou and then dart away. "Yes, you were," he said. "I thought you more restrained."

"I was caught by surprise by something and . . . did not react well. I should not have acted towards you and Shindou as I did." Kiyoharu recognized the edge of pain and shame in Touya's voice.

What could catch Touya by surprise? "You have to apologize to Shindou, too. I don't want him running into my room anymore. I like having my bed to myself."

"I know and . . . understood." A lighter tone had entered Touya's voice. "But since you offered, you get to wake him up. I'm going to take a shower."

"What's that supposed to mean?" but Touya was already gone by the time Kiyoharu asked it. Bastard.

"All right. Shindou, wake up." No response. He tugged on the blankets and while Shindou moved, it was away from him and most of the bedcovers except for a thin sheet. So, Shindou needed a physical wake-up call. Kiyoharu grasped his friend's shoulders and shook. "Wake. Up. Shindou."

Shindou grunted and swung an arm wildly, landing a glancing blow on Kiyoharu's nose. "Not time."

Kiyoharu fell backwards, a hand covering his nose. It didn't feel broken, but that had hurt. He was not going to deal with this all morning. Climbing to his feet, he leaned over the bed and plugged Shindou's nose with his thumb and forefinger. "WAKE UP!"

Shindou lurched awake, gasping for breath and flailed violently. Releasing Shindou's nose, Kiyoharu took a step back, but it was too late and Shindou tumbled off the bed, catching Kiyoharu in the waist.

He abruptly found himself on his rear with a pile of barely awake Shindou in his lap. Green eyes blinked at him. "Yashiro?"

"Get off, Shindou."