I'm back again!

So soon? I thought we got rid of you for now!

OMG! Reviews :dies:

Mika: hehehe. Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see… (yes, I'm evil)

Jade Tatsu: Yes, the spaces between my notes and the stories! I had them there, but when I uploaded, it all disappeared! I feel sorry for you readers. It must be very confusing. And if he'll get a body or not... I just don't want to say yet. Although I do have a plan!

Mystic Light: You think it's good? Kyaa! Thank you so much! Oh, and longer chapters? I'll try. Sorry, I'm used to writing short stories, cause that's what I mainly write at school/exams. I have no experience in writing anything longer than 8 hand-written pages. But I'll do my best to write looooong chapters, for your sake.

Lawdski: He'd cry? Hmm, yeah, maybe you're right. I guess I just prefer to write him being happy, cause it's easier to poke more fun out of it. Ah, the power of being an authoress.

Night-Owl123: See? I'm continuing!

Barmy in a Butcher Shop: Gyahaha, love your nick. And yep, Sai is DA MAN! I bawled my eyes out when he disappeared. It was too cruel a fate. Glad you liked my sadistic Waya. And yep, pretty much any paring rocks except Hikaru/Akari. :nodnods:

Thank you, my very first reviewers! You have no idea what this means to me

:warms self on fuzzy feeling from reviews:

Disclaimer: I really am too tired for writing, so I probably shouldn't. But please don't sue me for that reason. And I don't own any HikaGo. Sorry 'bout that. So don't sue me for that either. I'm making no money; I'm just doing this for my own, selfish reasons. Also, there is – eventually - some shounen-ai, a.k.a. boyxboy-love. Don't like; don't read. It's as easy as that.

Sorry, I won't tell the pairings yet, although some of you might have ideas already…

But, on to the story!

Chapter 2: Skipping, lies and evil computers

As Hikaru was making his way down the street, he was too happy to notice all the people turning and staring at the strange boy who was still skipping, at his age. Some children pointed at his back, and started to say something, only to be shushed by their worried mothers.

Some questions just weren't asked. After all, people skipping down the street like that were probably high on some sort of drug.

…Of course, happiness can be a drug as well, can't it?

Sai is coming back! He still had some small, nagging doubts at the back of his mind, but he pushed them away violently. Sai would never lie to him. He started to whistle a happy tune, not noticing all the strangers around him who were wincing at how out-of-tune the strange little melody was.

Hmm…So who else should I tell? There are so many people who'd die for some news about Sai. Hmm… I guess the next person to know should be Touya, nee?

Yeah, that seems fair.

So he started off for the Go-salon where he was pretty sure Touya would be, teaching some old geezers, or something like that. He couldn't wait to tell his rival. And he would make sure to get some amusement out of it, too.

Oh yeah, this'll be fun!

"Touya!" Hikaru shouted as he entered the Go-salon, making sure that he was extra noisy.

The woman at the counter just looked at him, wondering what it was this time. And in the innermost corner, a green haired boy winced, before turning towards his noisy friend, who was now running towards him.

"What is it, Shindou?" he said, warily. He wasn't really up for another impact of loud noise, on account of having a rather evil headache. Touya didn't daydream much, but sometimes, when he had one of his god-awful headaches, he pictured the evil ache as a wiry old man, and then proceeded to kick the guy's behind in Go. To think that people thought of him as unimaginative and single minded…

"He's coming back, he's coming back!" Hikaru realized that the more he thought about Sai's return, the more… Well, giddy he became. Wait a second, I did NOT just think that! Boys aren't giddy! It almost made him wonder if he should cut his "spread-the-word" list short, out of pity for the last to hear the word. On account of him probably having the mentality of a 3-year-old at the end of the day.

"Could you please rewind just a tad, and fill me inn on who this person coming back is, why he is coming back? Oh, and where this person has been would also be a nice question to have the answer for."

"Hey! Don't be rude! If you're gonna be like that, then I won't set you up for a game with him," Hikaru said, with a small pout, although he was grinning inwardly. Man, this is fun! I can see why Waya likes to tease.

"But who is it you won't set me up for a game with! Don't speak in codes, Shindo!"

"I'll tell you, but I want to answer all your previous questions before you kill me with new ones! So hold your horses, 'kay?"

Hikaru glanced at Akira, who nodded, before continuing to speak.

"Well, I know that you've heard of this guy, and it's really cool that he's back." Akira shot Hikaru a glare. "Okay, okay! I'll tell you his name! Geez, no reason to get grumpy. It's Sai."

He beamed at his rival and friend.

"Sai! Sai's coming back? How do you know? And where has he been? What..?"

"Hey, didn't I tell you to go easy on the questions? I hate answering multiple ones… Let's see. Yep, he's coming back, I know cause he told me, he's kinda my Go-sensei, and where he's been…. Weeeell.. That's.. uuhm…."

Quick, Hikaru! Think!

"Uuhm, yeah! He's been sick, so he could only play Net-Go. So he's been away to… get it fixed. Yeah! Although I dunno if he did manage to fix it that well…"

Please, please, please, let him fall for that. I can't possibly tell him that Sai's a friggin ghost!

"…Okay…" Akira said, doubt lacing his voice. Hikaru decided that a change of subject would be in order.

"So I can probably set you up for a game, okay? Well, maybe it'll have to be Net-Go, cause I don't think he managed to fix his problem. I don't know, really. He didn't say…"

Akira still looked rather doubtful, so Hikaru decided to end the conversation while he still had some credibility. Of course Akira wouldn't let go of a fact that bothered him. He was probably the least easily sidetracked person in the world!

"So I'll see you later! I have some stuff to do," Hikaru said to Akira, while backing out of the Go-salon.

As Akira watched Hikaru's exit, he couldn't help thinking about his really weird mixed feeling. Part of him was incredibly excited that the infamous Sai was coming back. Part of him was jealous, since Hikaru seemed so close to the legendary Go-player. Another part of him hurt, cause Hikaru hadn't told him that he knew Sai. And yet another part was hurt – and this mystified him – because Hikaru was so incredibly happy to see someone else than his rival. He really couldn't understand that feeling. Or why he had it.


Must be the headache clogging my mind…

His train of thought was interrupted by one of the other Go-players in the salon, asking for a game of Shidougo (1).

Ah, well. I guess I'll have to think more about this later…

Hikaru walked home on the still-busy streets. He had decided not to spread the word personally any more that day, partly because of being on the verge of emotionally unstable, and because he didn't really want to answer all those boring questions again, and again… And again.

Winter was slowly, but surely coming, and he could feel a slight chill, even though it was still early. But he didn't think too much about it. His mind was too busy thinking about Sai. How he was gonna show him how good he was at Go now, and how he would definitely let Sai play more games this time around. Yep, he'd thought out lots of improvements and situations. He was even thinking about buying a computer for some of the money that he got for being a pro, too. The net café's were too risky. That had been proven several times.

Hey, I might as well go look at computers right now! It's better than staying at home, waiting. I'll probably go insane if I do.

So he changed his direction a little, and after a short – yet cold – search, he found the store he was looking for.


Man, how will I know which one to pick? I've never been big on computers. I just can't understand them!

But after talking to one of the salesmen for a while, he finally walked out of the store with a brand-new laptop.

It had Internet, it had lots of some stuff the salesman called GaoGai-bytes (2) or something like that, and it could play CDs and stuff. It had lots of other gadgets too, according to the scary salesman, but Hikaru had been lost in the stream of unknown words, technical phrases and fast speech.

It hadn't been too cheap, but it wasn't the most expensive one, and it wasn't too big, either, so it was easier to carry.

He had also been talked into buying an extra-terrestrial mouse (3), or something like that, although what he was supposed to do with a rodent from another planet was beyond him.

Hikaru was now lying on his bed, trying to make some sense of the user's manual that followed his brand-new laptop. Truly an annoying little thing. No, scratch that, the think looked like a goddamn thirty-piece encyclopedia! And with all those weird words in it, it might as well have been one. He sighed, and then threw his new object of hatred across the room, silently enjoying the loud 'smack' as it hit the wall, and how crumpled and bent it looked when it settled on the floor after its quick journey down his wall.

Ha! Take that, you spawn of Hell! Ah, what the heck, I'll just try to start the gadget. What can possibly go wrong?

…Besides, real men don't read the manual…

…No, 'cause real men are too stupid to…

Hikaru just blinked, while wondering when he had managed to get himself one of the infamous 'inner voices'. Especially one that seemed to be a feminist.

Hours later, he was very much willing to take back his earlier statement about how nothing could go wrong. He blamed it on forgetting about Murphy's law, and now it seemed as if the famous captain and engineer (4) was back with a vengeance.

He had tried calling Waya for help, since his friend seemed to be more experienced in computer matters than he himself was.

Unfortunately, the mixed feelings of excitement and annoyance over his new computer had carved a hole in his memory; the part where he had said "It's Sai" to his friend, before skipping out of... eer, exiting the hamburger shop. So he had no choice except hanging up on the hailstorm of questions and accusations.

Hours later yet again, the laptop he had dubbed Hellspawn was now up and running. How, he didn't know. It was kind of like the old gamer saying "Plug and Pray" (5), although he didn't really know of its existence. But if he had known, he would've agreed.

His mother called for him, saying he had a guest. He glanced at his watch and was very surprised. Not only because of the late guest, but also because of the actual amount of hours he had spent on Hellspawn. If time really did pass quickly in good company, then the opposite had to be true as well. Little Hellspawn was not what he'd call 'good company'.

He walked down the stairs to greet whomever was at the door, while trying to bring life back to his neck, shoulder and back muscles, when he was interrupted by a pleasant voice saying:

"Hi!"

Ahahaha! The cliffy! I truly am evil… XDXD

I had actually planned to write another scene in this chapter, and end it with that, but all the filler material I came up with (the computer, among others) sort of ruined my original ending, so sorry, you'll have to read about the original last chapter title hint ("insanely tight pants") next time. Sorry 'bout the wait, I had zero inspiration. ; Hope this is long enough!

Shidougo: learning go. The point is not to win, but to teach the lesser player.

I'm assuming Hikaru likes to watch anime, so that GaoGaiGar would be more known to him than GB's.

External mouse. Cause the pads on laptops are too sucky to use. Yes, Hikaru's childhood was full of watching ET… :rolls eyes:

Yes, I will now enlighten you on the origins of Murphy's law: Edward A. Murphy was a captain and engineer in the American Airforce in the late 40s. Murphy was feeling a bit annoyed after a technician made a mistake that really screwed up a lot of stuff, and said something along the lines of "If there is even the slightest possibility for mistake, he will find it". The project leader had already collected a lot of quotes from Mr. Murphy, and called his collection "Murphy's Law". Later, he re-wrote the sum of his quotes to "Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong". Yes, that was today's lesson on useless facts. Thanks to Jon Almaas, and his collection of facts "Bare så du vet det" for this tidbit of information.

Older games, computer accessories etc. often had the label "Plug and Play", which implied that they were easy to set up. Of course, labels often lie; so many people re-named this as "Plug and Pray". I don't know if these two terms still exist, though. :feels ancient:

Oh, and yes, I know how terribly illogical some of this stuff is. Like him buying a computer on impulse. Sure, he has the money, and he is quite a bit older now, but still. My excuse is that I find Hikaru impulsive enough to do something as silly as that.