Gray Stones Chapter 2

I'm so glad that all of you have been reading and reviewing! (gigantic smile) Thanks to everyone for their criticism, compliments, and encouragement! I'm already ready for my next chapter, and I must say that this one is going to roxx my soxx! (Sorry for the silly spelling there.)

Anyway, thank you to the two reviewers who pointed out mechanical problems with the story, I shall do my best in the future to correct the errors! Thank you so much for helping me improve in stories about games!

P.S. I made a mistake in the first chapter. Akira is no longer in the sixth grade, he's now in the seventh grade and enrolled at Kaio. We're spinning off the part in the manga when Akira is in Kaio's Go club.

Now! Onto our second chapter!

Gray Stones – Black Names

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see Monday," Akira sighed as he walked into school that Monday morning. "As long as I'm at school, Sanami can't bother me."

Akira had thought that he would only have to see Sanami for an hour or so every Saturday, and when Sunday came, he was almost relieved to think that he had six more days until he would have to hear, see, or be with her again.

But, such luck doesn't last long.

"Akira," his mother poked her head into Akira's room as he sat at his desk, reading. "You have a phone call."

"Thank you, mother," Akira took the phone from his mother and held it to his ear. "Akira Toya speaking, may I help you?"

"AKIRA!"

Akira yelped and pulled the phone at least a foot away from his ear. He looked at the receiver, as if knowing exactly who was on the other end. He put the phone back to his ear cautiously. "Sanami?"

"Yep! It's me! Thought you'd seen all of me, eh?" she laughed haughtily over the phone and Akira had to stifle a groan.

"How'd you get my phone number?"

"I have connections," Sanami said. "Wasn't our game yesterday so much fun?"

"What do you need now?" Akira asked sternly.

"Nothing," Sanami said, acting hurt. "I just wanted to talk to you, my bestest friend in the whole wide world!"

"Sanami, I have no time for this, I'm hanging up," Akira reached for the "Off" button on the phone, but Sanami stopped him.

"Wait! Don't hang up! Sorry I teased you!" She pleaded over the phone, and Akira sighed, feeling almost sorry for her. "Are you still there?"

"Yes…" Akira said, as if not believing it himself.

"Good!" Sanami laughed. "This morning I saw a really good movie! My butleropened up my private theaterand Igot freepopcorn and candy and a gigantic cup of soda!"

"Very nice…" Akira bit his lip, as if wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible.

"And then I went bowling! It was SO much fun! I got three strikes! That's like, my record!"

"Great…"

"And after that, I played video games inmy personalarcade for hours and hours! I played Soul Caliber II, and I won eight rounds in a row! You know who the best character is? It's totally Ivy, not only because she's cool, but because she has that awesome sword move that-"

"Sanami!" Akira snapped. "I'm doing my homework, is this ALL you wanted to tell me?"

"No!"

"Then what?"

"Guess what I ate for dinner!"

Akira hung up.

So here he was, back at Kaio Middle School, finally away from where Sanami could reach him. As he walked through the school doors, he gave a heavy sigh of relief that there were no platinum blonde haired girls in sight.

"I feel that today is going to be a good day," Akira smiled to himself.

"Funny! I had the same feeling!"

Akira's eyes widened as he turned slowly around to see none other then Sanami, wearing the Kaio school uniform, standing behind him. "Hey bestest buddy."

"Sanami!" Akira rasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I go here," Sanami furrowed her brow. "What? You didn't think rich girls went to school?"

"I've never seen you before," Akira narrowed his eyebrow.

"Well, I don't stand out much," Sanami shrugged. "At least I don't try to. You see, I'm different then you. Everyone just thinks I'm a rich snob, so they stay away. Half the student body, the female half, adores you to death."

"I can't believe it!" Akira slapped his hand to his forehead. "You had this planned all along!"

"And guess what?" Sanami asked, a wide grin on her face. "I got my schedule changed by Daddy! We're in the same homeroom now!"

"WHAT?"

"Now we'll really be best friends!" Sanami gave Akira a huge hug around the waist, making him blush crimson and try to pry her off.

"Sanami! You'll do anything to get what you want!"

"Yeah? So?"

"You're such a brat!" Akira snarled.

"Am not!"

"You are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not times infinity times a million!" Sanami stuck out her tongue at Akira. "So there!"

"That's so juvenile!" Akira shouted.

"C'mon best friend!" Sanami linked arms with Akira and shouted a little more loudly then necessary. "Let's head to class together!"

"Sanami! I need to put my books away first!"

"Does anyone have any questions on the lesson?" the teacher asked, standing in the front of the room. Akira hadn't been paying a bit of attention to the day's lesson as he had been constantly crumpling up notes from Sanami that said things like: "u r my best bud! (heart)" or "I (heart) you Akira!" or "Best friends forever!" Sanami must have already used a notebook full of paper.

"No questions?"

"I have a question!" Sanami called out, standing up in her seat. The teacher sighed at his misfortune of having the girl in his class.

"Yes, Miss Matsu'ura?"

"Akira Toya and I are best friends!" she shouted and the entire class turned to Akira, who was blushing redder then a cherry.

"We-we are not! Sanami!"

"He knows her first name!"

"It must be true!"

"Woah, I'm so jealous of Matsu'ura!"

"Miss Matsu'ura, head to the Principle's office for disrupting my class!" the teacher pointed sternly out the door.

"I don't want to!" Sanami pouted, throwing herself in her chair. "I'll go only if Akira goes with me!"

"Miss Matsu'ura, please act your age."

"I'm only thirteen! I should have fun while I'm young!"

"Miss Matsu'ura!"

"I'll go with her, sensei," Akira stood up, his brow furrowed in frustration. "C'mon Sanami." He grabbed her arm and led her out the door, the entire class watching them go.

"What in the world were you doing?" Akira asked as soon as the pair had rounded a corner. "Have you sense of dignity or respect for the teacher?"

"He's old and talks too much," Sanami shrugged. "But c'mon! We have to go the Principle's office!"

"Sanami! You really should stop using your name to get whatever you want!" Akira snapped. "Is that how you want to be treated? Like a name? Like a snob?"

"No!" Sanami said, growing angry. "You wouldn't understand."

"So, because no one understands, you have the right to act this way?" Akira asked, raising his eyebrow. Sanami looked at her feet and said nothing. "You use your father's money and name to get whatever you want."

"You're the same!" Sanami finally blurted out. "You're only famous because of your dad!"

"That's not true!" Akira said, hurt by the comment.

"Is too! There are loads of Go prodigies, you're just famous because your dad is too!" Sanami said, looking slightly guilty, but saying it none the less. "You're not so great!"

"I've made my own success, I don't depend on my father's name for anything," Akira defended.

"But deep down, don't you feel weird when someone treats you different or special?" Sanami asked accusingly. "And maybe not because you want to! But you would just feel weird right?"

"That's not true," Akira shook his head. "If someone treated my normally, I would have no problem."

"Then why do you freak out when I treat you that way?" Sanami asked and Akira stopped, as if shocked that she had just insinuated such a thing.

"Normally? You practically stalk me!"

"At least I don't squeal over you and start fan clubs with your name in the title!" Sanami stomped her foot and Akira blushed. "At least I don't treat you special!"

"I don't have time for this," Akira turned on his heel. "I'm going back to class."

"And you act normal around me!"

Akira stopped, looked up, and turned around to face Sanami. "That's absolutely ridiculous! I always act this way."

"I bet you never yell at people!" Sanami snapped. "Only me! Because you hate me!"

"I don't hat-" Akira stopped and found himself blushing red. "I…I don't hate you! I hate the way you behave."

"Nobody treats me normally!" Sanami cried. "They all just think I'm a rich snob before they even get to know me!"

"Then don't act like a rich snob!" Akira snapped and Sanami stepped back, surprised from his sharp words. "Don't just sit around and pity yourself! That does no good! Maybe if you acted nicely then people would want to get to know you!" Sanami looked at her shoes and didn't answer. "Mouthing off to the teacher and wearing 500,000 yen worth of clothing isn't a good start."

"Why did you get to know me?" Sanami asked and Akira paused, as if thinking over the question. "I acted like a rich snob… And a brat."

"You didn't leave me much choice," Akira sighed. "Look, Sanami, maybe you're right. You treated me differently and I guess…I guess that kind of made me want to understand why." He looked up at her and flashed a light smile. "You got me. Happy?"

"You're right too," Sanami smiled and pumped her fist. "From today on I'm not going to be a rich snob anymore!"

"Glad to hear it," Akira smiled.

"But!" Sanami hopped up and down for a second. "For now, I'm not going to change!"

"HUH?"

"If I do, then you won't want to get to know me better!" Sanami laughed, grabbing Akira's wrist. "C'mon! We've got a Principle to get in trouble with!"

"Woohoo!" Sanami cheered. "We BOTH got detention even if the Principle was in a meeting and couldn't see us!" It was lunch time and Sanami and Akira had proudly walked out of the Principle's office with Detention slips. Or at least Sanami was proud. Akira was more of mortified.

"My mother is going to be so angry," he shook. "Detention? This is horrible! I didn't even do anything!"

"But we'll get to sit next to each other!" Sanami cheered. "It'll be so fun! Best buds, doing crimes and serving time!"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"Man, you sure are overreacting," Sanami pouted. "It's just one detention! If you want I can get Kosuke to…" She stopped and looked at her detention slip. Akira stopped with her and tried to find what she was staring at. Finally, Sanami looked up and smiled. "I guess we'll just have to put up with it, won't we?"

Akira stopped, paused, then smiled. "Yeah…I guess we will."

"Just like everyone else!" Sanami cheered and Akira returned the grin.

"Just like everyone else." He stopped and his eyes widened. "Uh oh…this detention is scheduled for the time I have Go club."

"You're in the school Go club?" Sanami asked skeptically. "What are you trying to do, humiliate everyone?"

"I…have my motivations," Akira said sternly. "The tournament is coming up in a few weeks."

"It is?" Sanami asked. "And of course you're not entering!"

"I…am…" Akira said and Sanami swiveled her head.

"Huh? What happened to the nice and humble Akira? You're just trying to beat the pants off of everybody!"

"Look, I have my reasons," Akira assured her. "Anyway, I'll have to apologize to Yun-sensei later."

"Go club…" Sanami pondered. "C'mon! Let's go get some lunch!" She grabbed Akira's arm and led him swiftly down the corridor. "I'm starving!"

End of chapter 2! No Go…strangely…sigh. I hope you'll all enjoy the next chapter that'll be coming soon!

Sammy