Clak!

Clak!

Clak!

Akari looked desperately around the Go board.

She sighed. "I have nothing..."

"Wow Akari, you really stink" Hikaru Chided.

"Oooh! Its not like I'm an Insei!"

"Yea no kidding! Look at this stone you played here" Hikaru puts his finger on the board. "You practically forfeited when you did that."

"Ah..."

"Really now Hikaru, you don't have to crush her EVERY time" Sai said. "At least try to teach her a thing or two"

Before Hikaru could respond, his mom came into the room. "Hikaru dinner's ready... Oh hey Akari"

"Hello Mrs. Shindo" Akari was polite as always.

"Will you stay for dinner? Were having chicken dumplings with miso soup."

"Oh, that sounds great Mrs. Shindo"

"Well come on you two, before it gets cold."

---

Akari helped Shindo set the placings on the table, and they both sat down across from each other. Shortly afterwards, Hikaru's mom came out carrying two steamy loads of food, and had a seat at the head of the table. (Sai sat on the vacant side of the table, not that it mattered though). She poured everyone a bowl of the miso soup.

"Help yourself to some of this rice, the dumplings are on the way" She said.

"Thank you for having me, Mrs. Shindo" Akari said.

"Oh anytime Akari... by the way, how have you been? This must be the first time you've been over here in a while... at least that I know of" She winked at Hikaru, much to his dismay.

"Yea it has been a while. Hikaru offered to play Go with me today after school"

"Well what he should be doing is having you come over to help him with his homework... Your grades have been slacking mister..."

"Aw cmon mom..." Hikaru pleaded. "Who needs school when I can play Go"

"Well... It's always good to have an education" She replied, as a loud buzzard went off in the kitchen. "Oh, that'll be the dumplings."

She stood up and went into the kitchen. Before long she emerged, with a plate of steamy chicken dumplings in hand.

"Help yourself" She said as she set the plate down on the table.

There was a noticeable silence as everyone gathered a pile of dumplings onto their plates.

"So..." Hikaru's mother started to grin. "Are you two going steady yet?"

Akari started to turn bright red as Hikaru put his hand on his face.

---

After dinner, back up in Hikaru's room:

"Well Hikaru it's getting late" Akari said. "I should probably get going now..."

"Yea..." Hikaru replied. "I suppose... I should walk you home"

Akari smiled. "I'd like that"

The pair walked out of Hikaru's room and down the stairs.

"Mom! I'm gonna walk Akari home!" Hikaru yelled as they went out the front door, not even waiting for a response.

The sun had just set and a brisk cool evening air had enveloped the city. The two walked in relative silence for a couple blocks, until a thought crossed Akari's mind.

"You know Hikaru..." She said. "I was thinking about what your mom said about your grades..."

"Oh no... your not gonna get on me about that too are you?" He asked.

"No, no... It just made me think" She said. "Just about graduation coming up..."

"Well, what about it?"

"I was just wondering what you're gonna do after you graduate middle school"

"Hmm... i just figured I'd play Go... You know I got the Pro Exam coming up... I'll be set if i can become a pro"

"Yea..." Akari looked somewhat saddened.

"Why, whats up? What are your plans, Akari?"

"Well, i applied to a handful of high schools... I've already been accepted to most of them..."

"So thats great! Thats what you wanted isn't it?"

"I guess..." Akari still seemed somewhat disappointed. So obvious was it that even Hikaru's thick head noticed.

"You liar"

They both stopped walking, and faced each other.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I can tell you don't really wanna do that"

"Huh? No... I mean, I do..."

"Yea right... I can read your face"

Akari look down and thought briefly to herself.

"Its just that..." She began. "I'm not really good at anything... I mean, you've always been good at sports and now your gonna be a pro Go player..."

Hikaru just looked at her, not knowing what to say.

"Yea, I have the best grades in our class" She said. "But... thats all I can do... I cant – well you don't want to hear all this..."

"Akari..." Hikaru said as he grabbed her hand. She looked up at him, surprised. "I've always wished I could do as well as you in school. When we used to hang out I always figured that you would be the one to go off and be successful. I just think I got lucky for having a talent in playing Go" Hikaru thought of the whole situation with Sai, and how he DID get pretty lucky, but couldn't tell Akari about it for obvious reasons.

"I never thought of it like that..." Akari said.

"Geez Akari... I don't see what the big worry is. You'll probably end up making more money than me anyways"

The two proceeded to continue their walk to Akari's house, talking about their futures. They finally arrived at Akari's front gate, and both realized that they were still holding hands. Akari couldn't help but smile. After all, the boy she has liked her entire life, was holding her hand. She could have stood there for hours.

"We'll... I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow" Hikaru said.

"Yea..." Akari didn't want it to end, but knew that it eventually had to. She turned around and started to open the gate.

"Akari..."

Akari turned around and immediately found herself in Hikaru's arms, hugging her tightly. She was taken back at first, but soon returned the embrace, follow by her usual deep blush. After a few moments they finally detached.

"Well, uh... so long!" Hikaru said as he ran off, most likely trying to hide a blush of his own.

Akari watched him go. She could have died right then and there and it wouldn't have mattered, because she was the happiest girl in the world.

"You made quite the exit Hikaru" Sai said, trying to keep up.

Shut up Sai...

To Be continued...

Yea so i dont remember if Akari lived next door to Hikaru, or a few blocks away, so i made them live about three blocks apart. On another note, this chapter probably seemed kinda short. Thats because i wanted to get this whole little fluff scene out of the way, so the next chapter can be by itself. And REVIEW DANG IT... ive had like 400+ more hits on this story after i posted the last chapter and only like 5 people reviewed. Flame me if you have to. I dont care. Ive been through worse. Trust me. Lemme know if the OOC thing is getting better too. I aim to please...