Disclaimer: Don't own Hikaru No GO

Thanks to Kickkid3, abc, StrongNerd and Chidoriochibi for reviewing this fic! Well, I guess lots really hate Yuii for doing what she is doing right now... ;p but actually I am the creater of Yuii, I am glad no one blame me for creating her. LOL!

Let's see what happened to Akari and Touya right now...

Chapter 26

Akari wrapped the woolen jacket closer as she hiked up the mountain slowly with a small bag in her hand. It had been a long time since she returned to this place and it was still the same. The quiet, clean fresh air, the pine trees and the stillness of the atmosphere gave Akari a solitude feeling. When the small Japanese style house that was build next to a skiing inn, came to view, Akari couldn't help but smiled at the sight.

The morning sun was shining through the mountains giving an almost blinding glare on the white snow. A lonely girl with brownish red hair very much younger than Akari, around the age of junior high school, was sweeping the front porch of the snow-filled inn. She looked up when she heard the sounds of boots crunching on the snow and saw someone approaching. Her eyes were widened with surprise and her face brightened immediately at the sight of Akari.

"Akari-nee?"

"Itoe-chan," Akari called as she smiled slightly.

"Obaba, obaba!" Itoe called excitedly. "Akari-nee is home!"

"Akari…?" An elderly voice came from the inn and a friendly looking old lady walked out. "Oh my, Akari? Is it really you?"

"Tadaima obaba…"

"Okaerinasai…" Akari's grandma gave her a hug and ushered her into the inn with Itoe bouncing behind her happily.

Touya was anxious to see Akari again as he rushed to her café early the next morning. He was devastated when Mitani told him that Akari had taken a long leave from work. Staring at her almost incredulously, Touya nearly fell to the floor from his weak knees.

"Did she say where she is going?"

Mitani shook her head. "I am sorry."

"Arigatou…" Touya bowed slightly before going out slowly.

Touya went to Akari's apartment and tried knocking on her door again. This time, the stillness and silence in the apartment told Touya that she may not be inside. He still waited with hope that she will open the door, until Akari's next door neighbor came out.

"Fujisaki-san left very early this morning." The elderly woman said. "I saw her leave myself. She carried a small luggage so I think she must have left for the holiday."

Touya bowed at the elderly woman and she went back inside. He felt his heart shattered to know that Akari was no longer in Tokyo. Where did she go? He leant forward resting his head on his arm that was placed on the door. He looked up when he heard footsteps coming closer. When he saw Hikaru approaching him, his heart sunk again. Even though he held a slight hope that Akari might return home, he knew that was impossible.

"Any luck?" Hikaru asked. "I tried calling her this morning but her phone is not in service."

"I know." Touya replied rather miserably. "I tried too and got the same result."

"Come on Touya, knowing Akari she just needs sometime to cool down." Hikaru said putting an arm around his shoulders and lead him out of the building. "Let's go for a game of GO. Take your mind off this matter for a while."

Touya nodded, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to forget about this until he saw Akari again and he wished with all his heart that he will…

At the skiing inn, Akari worked at the front desk helping her grandma since the place was always packed during the holiday seasons. Itoe loved to work at the dining hall but today, she helped Akari at the reception area. She chatted away happily since she hadn't seen Akari for a long time.

"So what brings you back to Sapporo?" Itoe asked curiously. "You wouldn't come back here unless something bad happened in Tokyo. Nothing bad can happen, can't it Akari-nee? We know that you are getting married in spring next year! Your parents called early this month."

Stalling at her work, Akari's shoulders were stiffened at the conversation.

"Akari-nee, is something wrong?" Itoe asked worriedly when she saw Akari looking tense suddenly.

"Iie, I just came home to visit everyone." Akari replied. "I know how you all come here during the holidays to help obasan and I thought it would be great to catch up with everyone's news again."

"Ok," Itoe said in a rather unconvinced tone. "Whatever you say."

"I believed you had finished elementary school. How did your junior high school exemption exams go?"

"Great, I got into the school I want to go." Itoe replied enthusiastically. "It is one of the best too."

"Congratulations…"

"You know, my brother was always saying…" Itoe went on again without stopping in her joyful chatter but Akari's mind had wondered off again. She could not concentrate on a single word Itoe was saying.

Her mind was snapped back to focus again when someone yelled her name in an almost astounded and excited voice.

"Akari!"

Akari looked up to see her older cousin staring at her with wide eyes and mouth agape.

"IS that really you?" She shouted, running to her and gave her a hug. "OMG, why are you here?"

"Yumi-nee, yes it is me…" Akari smiled at her cousin's enthusiast and hugged her in return.

"OMG, OMG!" She exclaimed. "Why are you here really? Is everything alright in Tokyo?"

Akari turned to Itoe who, in turn, raised her eye brows, pursed her lips and gave Akari an 'I told you so' look. Everyone knew that this place was Akari's place of depression, a place where she came to hide from the harsh reality. They wouldn't believe that Akari would return just to visit them unless she was invited, which no one really bothered to.

In truth, no one needed to invite a relative to return to their hometown, but Akari had always loved Tokyo. She could never stay more than a few days in Sapporo because she wasn't use to it. She rather stayed in Tokyo, unless she had to leave for some painful reasons.

"Yumi, leave Akari alone." Her grandmother came to her rescue then. "I need you in the kitchen, come on, it's almost lunch time. You don't want our guests to wait, do you?"

"I am not finished talking to you," Yumi said. "And if you are wondering, my husband is fine. He is at the skiing booth renting out skis."

Akari watched Yumi walking off with her grandma and turned to Itoe who seemed rather quiet while she was piling up the customers' files. Once in a while, she gave Akari an 'I told you so' look with a mischievous grin.

Akari could only smile wearily and returned to her work.

It had been weeks since Touya saw Akari last. Those are the longest and loneliest weeks that he ever had. Every day, he came by Akari's apartment to see if she had returned but there was still no sign of life inside. One morning, feeling rather defeated and questioning his purpose, he was greeted with a most pleasing surprise when he came over to Akari's place.

Her apartment door was opened.

Touya ran towards her apartment and stopped at the door to see if Akari had returned. He only saw Kuniko who was packing some stuff into boxes and luggage inside the apartment. His heart sank rather drastically. Kuniko turned towards him when she heard someone coming in. She smiled rather sadly at him.

"I am sorry, I am not who you think I am." She said.

"Where is she?"

"I can't tell you." Kuniko looked away and continued with her task. "I promised her that I won't tell you."

"You know where she is?" Touya's heart leapt while he was striding over to her. "Please tell me."

"I can't." Kuniko shook her head. "I was only told to come here to pack her things back to her parents' place."

"Is she there?" Touya hadn't gone to her parents' house. He did not have the courage to face them after what happened, but he hoped that she may still be in Tokyo.

"No, she is no longer in Tokyo." Kuniko replied. "I am sorry Touya-kun."

Touya's heart sank further.

"Here, she told me to return this to you." Kuniko turned to Touya and she handed him a small blue velvet box. "I think its best you keep this for now until Akari-chan is ready to see you again."

Touya flipped open the box to see her engagement glittering inside and he shut his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them again. He studied the beautiful ring inside, beautiful like her. His Akari…. He will never call off the wedding, never in a million years. The wedding still holds and that was all it mattered. He would die trying to get her back, no matter what. Snapping the lid shut again, he looked up to see that Kuniko was studying him curiously.

"Akari also told me to give these things to you." Kuniko passed him a receipt after Touya stopped inspecting the engagement ring. "This is the receipt for your watch at a repair shop. The address and phone number of the store are on the paper. She had called the place earlier asking them to give you a call when the watch is ready to pick up. Here is your house key."

"When will she return?" Touya had a feeling that Akari may still care about him or she wouldn't even bother about the watch. He looked down at the new watch she gave him and sighed inwardly.

"I don't know, weeks, maybe months," Kuniko shrugged her shoulders and returned to her packing. She closed the boxes and taped the top with brown packing tape. "I really don't know."

"MONTHS!" Touya looked at her, his eyes widened with shock and dread. "She can't stay away for months!"

"I hope so too." Kuniko whispered. "But I have a feeling that she might since she told me to return the apartment keys to the landlord and pack her belongings back to her parents' house. She may even plan to stay forever from how she sounded."

Touya was nearly paralyzed from shock to hear the word 'forever'. Akari was never coming back to Tokyo? To him? But it cannot be…

"Please, you have to tell me where she is!" Touya pleaded.

"I can't," Kuniko shook her head. "She trusted me and I don't want to loose her trust. She will never tell me anything again if I do. You still can get her news from me, Touya-kun. So, just keep it that way, alright. She is doing great right now and that's all I can tell you. Please give her time if you love her."

Kuniko packed the last of Akari's belongings into her luggage and boxes before the landlord appeared to collect the keys. Touya watched Kuniko hired some men to carry Akari's stuff into a van to be sent over to her parents' place. After the van had driven away, Kuniko turned back to Touya.

"I have to go now and you should take care of yourself, Touya-kun. You don't look really well."

"How can I look good when Akari is not here?"

Kuniko smiled sadly before she walked away.

"I will keep in touch with you." She said without looking back.

The professional GO player felt rather forlorn and lost as he watched Kuniko walking away, like he watched Akari running out of his life that night. Kuniko was the only person who knew where Akari may be but she was unable to tell him…

Late in the evening, the entire family gathered around the Japanese style table where a steaming clay pot sat on an electric burner. The soup was bubbling and the contents were ready to eat. Akari and her family had gotten the oden ready together and they were now digging in happily since everyone was hungry after a long working day. (Oden; something like steamboat)

"It is good to have oden in the winter!" Yumi gushed out happily at the heat providing by the stove. "It was freezing at the renting house."

"I told you to go inside." Yumi's husband replied.

"So, Akari-nee, what brings you here?" Itoe's brother, Inoue asked. "It was a big surprised when I woke up in the morning and there you were."

"Not only you, I thought I saw a duplicate when I saw her this afternoon." Yumi said.

"All of you are exaggerating." Akari replied rather indifferently fishing out some veggies from the pot. "I came home to visit everyone, of course. It had been a long time since I was here."

Akari's grandmother watched Akari rather quietly at her nonchalant acts and smiles that never reached her eyes. A force smile that was so obvious because she looked rather pain to keep smiling when she actually didn't want to. There was silent moment when everyone looked at one another.

"The last time you came home because you couldn't skate again." Itoe said. "I was very young but I still remember. That is like almost five to six years ago?"

Akari gripped her chopsticks in her hand rather tightly until it shook.

"Ah, please don't tell me you have problems with your fiancé?" Yumi cried. "Did he cheat on you?" She laughed. "Nah, I don't think that could be possible."

Akari clenched her jaw. No one seemed to notice since the conversation was carried on.

"You can't trusts guys too much." Itoe said in a rather knowing voice. "Untrustworthy group of species."

"Hey," Inoue cried rather heatedly. "That is not fair to say things like that."

"I agree with Inoue-kun." Yumi's husband replied. "Right Yumi-chan?"

Yumi elbowed him to keep quiet and turned to Akari who stared callously at the pot of boiling food. She had stopped eating.

"Akari?" Yumi called when she saw her strange look.

"Huh?" Akari looked up and saw everyone staring at her. She quickly smiled. "Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu…" Everyone chorus looking at one another knowingly.

Something really happened in Tokyo and it was caused by her fiancée? They all noticed that she did not wear an engagement ring. That had already proved it but they weren't sure. What actually happened so bad that made Akari flying back to Sapporo?

After dinner, Akari was helping her grandma with cleaning up the dinning table while the others chatting none stop about the schedule for the next day. Akari somehow was rather quiet while she piled up the plates next to the sink in the kitchen.

"Let me wash these, obaba. You must be tired by the endless chores and preparation for dinner."

"Don't worry, Akari." She smiled kindly at her granddaughter. "I am use to it. Go catching up with your cousins."

Akari looked rather daze. She looked down at the plates motionlessly and her grandma looked at her more closely when she did not answer.

"Akari?"

"Huh?" Akari looked up and quickly smiled at her grandma. "Hai, right…."

With that, she turned away and walked out of the kitchen halfheartedly. Her grandma watched her retreating back with a concerned look. When she disappeared out of sight, only did her grandma go back to cleaning the dishes. She was wondering what might have happened in Tokyo to take away the glowing brightness and radiance her granddaughter once had.

Akari returned to the lounge where her cousins had settled themselves, chattering happily about how their day went. She smiled at the sight. They were always so cheerful. That was the reason why she wanted to come back here. They always could bring a smile to her face with their unruly attitude and, sometimes, their weird sense of humors. Gradually, Akari moved over to them and sat down by the fire near the hearth to keep warmth. She joined in their conversation trying to push a person that kept invading her thoughts, out of her mind.

Touya sat on his bed. He bowed his head clutching on Buffoon, the very first gift that Akari had given him, in his hand. It was a toy that made him laughed every time he opened the lid of the box, but somehow it wasn't working this time.

"I miss you so much, Akari…" Touya whispered, lying down on the bed hugging Buffoon close to his heart.

It took Touya a rather long time to fall asleep and he was greeted coldly by an unwanted nightmare; watching Akari running out of his life and never come back. With a jerk, Touya woke up from his nightmare, drenched with perspiration. Taking several deep breaths, Touya tried to calm himself down before lying back onto the bed. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't go back to sleep again. He was afraid of getting caught in one of those bad dreams that visited him very often these days. Finally, he reached for the phone on the side table and dialed a familiar number.

"Moshi moshi?" A grouchy voice answered.

"Shindou? I need to play a game of GO."

"Touya?" His voice was rather incredulous. "Are you crazy? It's three in the morning!"

"I need to do something…." Touya replied rather urgently.

There was a short paused and a soft sigh before Hikaru answered.

"I'll be there in half an hour."

"Domo."

Akari sat up on her tatami breathing rather heavily. She looked around the room where the moon shone in through the paper window giving an eerie glow in the Japanese decorated room. She could see Itou still fast asleep not far from her on the tatami and wished she could sleep as soundly as she could. She pushed the warm cover away from her and slipped on a warm yakuta over her pajamas. Akari got up from her tatami, as quietly as she could; slid opened the shoji door, and stepped out the room before sliding the door shut. She padded down the corridor quietly until she reached the lounge of the inn and settled down on the floor next to the dying fire from the hearth.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Someone spoke behind Akari and she turned to see her grandma dressed warmly in thick yakuta and gi over it. Her grandma walked towards her. Akari smiled gently at her grandma's concern.

"I just got a bad dream."

"Want to talk about it." Her grandma asked sitting down on one of the couches.

"Iie, it's nothing much." Akari replied softly hugging her knees to her chin. "I do not want to recall it."

"Something really bad, huh?" Her grandma said nodding her head understandingly.

Akari did not answer her grandma's inquiry. The image of Touya being on top of Yuii wouldn't go away and it had invaded her mind most of the time. She hated herself for remembering it. She knew that as long as it remained in her mind, she couldn't make herself going back to Tokyo. To see him…

"I am not going to ask what happen, Akari" Her grandma continued knowledgeably. "You have grown to be the most wonderful young lady I had ever seen and I know you will make the right choices. You were born here at night and I know, Akari, even you were brought into the world in the dark night, you will always bring a light to your life, no matter how dark this world is. You also provide that light to others around you, but there are times when others can also give you that light."

"I don't understand."

"You will find the answer you look for, Akari." Her grandma got up from the couch and walked over to her. "Our eyes may tell us something is wrong or something is right, though sometimes we have to perceive beyond what we see."

With that, her grandma leant down and planted a gentle kiss on top of her head. She then headed towards the exit that leads to their small Japanese house.

"Oyasumi Akari."

"Oyasuminasai obaba." Akari responded.

After the little conversation she had with her grandma, Akari sat near the hearth watching the dying fire. She pondered in her thoughts about what her grandma said earlier. She wondered what her grandma was trying to tell her. She sat there throughout the night until the first sun light peeked out the mountains and brightened the lounge. Akari was still unable to sleep a wink and she was still deep in her thoughts.

"Perceive beyond what we see…" Akari spoke softly before she got up, went back to the room that she shared with Itoe to prepare for another new day. She still couldn't decipher its meaning.

TBC

Thanks for reading!

And also thanks to my beta reader who had taken her time to proof read this chapter. Huggies and Kisses! Credits of improvement goes to her...