Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.

Chapter 11 : Reunion

/ Sighing/

Sitting on a bench next to a vending machine, Touya Akira leaned his head against the wall with a can of pure orange juice in his hands.

It was not that Honda wasn't good, it was just he was better… much much more better so he won… again. Akira didn't mind winning, who hated winning anyway? But to win without trying? It was nothing than another worthless victory.

To be honest, Akira didn't want to play in this tournament. Playing against the insei and the lower Dans? Right, it was so challenging. Yet, he had to take part in it because it was a part of his job, not to mention what the organizer would say if he skipped it. He would rather stay home playing with his father instead of being here. He had to practice hard, he needed to be prepared for the true worthy game against his destined rival.

Closing his blue eyes, he kept thinking of the one who had beaten him...twice. Shindou, where are you? Though father said that you would enter the Pro world sooner or later but it's been a year now, you know… No, a year and a half, to be precisely. Shindou, where are you? Why don't you become a pro? What are you waiting for? Why didn't you come back to the salon? God, please tell me, where is my rival ? Give me back my rival. He prayed in silence.

Well, Akira was about to know that God did really exist.

" Sai, there, he is," Hiding around the corner, Hikaru beamed happily," Oh, my goodness, he doesn't change a bit! Still wears that haircut, still dresses neatly," She noted once she noticed that Akira zipped up his long-sleeved jacket to the neck, his gray pants were perfectly ironed.

" But he's taller," Sai marked, " Boys grows up fast anyway,"

" Should we say hello to him now?" the girl with long loose hair wasn't sure if it was the right time or not, " Looks like he's having a break now,"

" If you want to, you'd better hurry," Whispering into the girl's earas if he was afraid that the boy could hear him, the clever ghost suggested quietly, " the 2nd round will begin soon,"

Taking a mouthful of air, Hikaru made up her mind ," Okay, here we go,"

Although his eyes were close, Akira could still feel Hikaru's presence. He slowly opened his eyes as he knew that there was someone standing in front of him. The first thing he saw was a cute girl around his age, she had big green eyes and ridiculous bleached bangs which reminded him of the one who he longed for.

" ? Ano…may I help you?" Blinking in confusion, the blue-eyed boy questioned courteously.

Giggling cheerfully, Hikaru asked back in a friendly way, " You don't remember me, do you?" " I'm not surprise, I had short hair back then,"

Sai remained silent. He had been living for over 1000 years, he knew from the experience that it was definitely not because of her hair.

" Err...r, Have we met before?" Akira posed hesitantly. He had met many girls…too many. How was he supposed to remember all of them? It was impossible? Besides, he didn't want to waste his precious brain just to remember the name of someone who didn't matter to him. Who is she? Another crazy fan? Leave me alone, will you?

" It's me!" With both hands at the chest, the pretty blonde declared with a lively laugh, " Shindou Hikaru!"

" WHAT?" Shindou? Did she just say Shindou Hikaru? Getting up straight away, Akira looked at her with his wide-eyed shock, "You…you are Shindou Hikaru?"

Nodding eagerly, Hikaru grinned blithely, " Yes, I am!"

" Yes, she is!" Sai confirmed.

" You…you…!" Losing his track, the traumatized pro stammered.

" Yap! I'm an insei," Winking playfully, the sparkling insei smirked, " Surprise?" she got it all wrong, the boy was obiviously surprise but it wasn't because of that.

An insei? Shindou is an insei? No, most importantly…" You're a girl!" Following his instinct, Akira blurted out without thinking wisely.

" ….! What?" Hikaru exclaimed while the famous pro covered his mouth with his hand once he had realized what he had just said sloppily.

………….

There was no word between them, only a short silence with weighty tension. In the end, Hikaru got the whole picture," You thought I was a boy?" Frowning, she slowly uttered in disbelief.

" I…." Though Akira didn't know what he should say in this awkward dilemma, he knew that he had to say something. Unfortunately, talking was definitely not his strong point, plus, the girl didn't wait for any explanations.

" You did think that I was a boy," Breathing deeply, Hikaru mentally counted 1-10, Sai taught her to do that whenever she felt like killing somebody.

" Well, I…"

" I can't believe it," Moving her hands in the air, she said mockingly, " You're saying that for the past 366 days you thought that I was a boy?"

" Infact, it's been a year and a half," Akira corrected her and quickly recalculated, " So it's 549 days," Yes, he was very good in Math, it was the advantage of being a Go player. But when he saw the girl's murderous glare, he realized that instead of saying what he should have said, he had just said what he shouldn't have said…again. Who said that lighting never striked twice? It did…Well, at least to him, " I..I means,"

" Do I look like a boy to you?" Demanding dryly, Hikaru inquired with a really scary tone of voices, " Do I?" " Do I look like a boy to you Sai?"

" Absolutely not," Shaking his head in denial, Sai confirmed firmly. However...telling the truth, the first time hehad met the girl under the attic, he too, had thought that she was a boy. Present tense, not past tense, so she asked me about her current look, right? In this case, I'm not lying to her, right now, she doesn't look a boy at all.

" You wore your hair short," Getting frustrated, Akira gave her an excuse. He knew that she was angry but everybody made a mistake at least once in a life time, why couldn't she just forget it and forgive him? After all, it wasn't his fault since she was the one who misled him.

" Ha! Look who's talking! Your hair is long," Hikaru retorted sarcastically, " But did I confuse you with a girl? No, I did not!"

What? Okay, this is too much! " You wore jeans and sneakers!" Growing angry, Akira's blood was up now, the blonde had just crossed the line. If you are a girl, why didn't you act like one?

" Welcome to the millennium then!" Straightening out her arms, Hikaru declared mockingly.

Both of them didn't say anything further, they were too angry to speak, they just glared at each other as if they wanted to melt the other by their deadly rebellious stare.

" I can't believe it, I've never been this insulted in my life,"Hikaru was the one who broke the silence, she grumbled moodily, " You know what, I'm leaving, Goodbye, Touya Akira," then she quickly jogged back to the game room with heavy steps leaving Akira behind.

Placing his hand on the forehead, Akira slowly let himself drop on the bench. He still didn't believe that everything that had just happened 5 minutes ago was real. First, there was a girl popping out from nowhere, telling him that she was Shindou Hikaru , the boy whom he considered as his rival. Then he foolishly had asked her if she was really a girl, before he had realized what had been happening, their voice had raised and they had gone into a fight. Is she really Shindou? Or she just tried to fool me? But why? How? There're only 2 persons in this world who know about my games with Shindou, father and Ogata-san. This is some kind of a joke? No, that can't be. Father never does such a thing and Ogata-san isn't a kid anymore, they don't do something like that…….Then she's Shindou? Shindou is a girl? Really? In Akira's memory, Shindou Hikaru was a golden-bangs boy in tasteless bright-yellow t-shirt and baggy cargo jeans. Although, he was very talented, he was just rude boy who only wanted to play the game for money only.

Of course, Akira expected to see his rival again but he had never expected that he was a she, a girl. It was hard to believe that the loud-mouthed rude boy whom he had met a year and a half before and the adorable girl who he had just met less than 10 minutes ago was the same person. She had nothing like the boy he had known. She dressed nicely…and girly too. Even she wore a white jacket over her orange slim-fitted t-shirt, she still looked so slim, her mini-skirt was faded blue. God, she looked so cute!

….She has those big green eyes and that bleached bangs like him…Is that so? Shindou is really a girl?...Akira chuckled quietly. Come to think of it, she must be Shindou, who else can piss me off easily like that?

………….

………...

" I can't believe it, I've never been this insulted in my life," Hikaru's word rung in his thought.

" Oh! No! I'm so rude!" Raising to his feet, Akira ran after the angry girl to the game room. I have to apologize to her.

Just for the record, Touya Akira had never been rude towards anyone before.

A/N : I think it's more fun if Akira didn't know that she's a girl, don't you agree?

Rebbi and Zeynel: So is this chapter worth waiting for?

Aya-Mikage2002: To be honest, I haven'thad a plot for the continuation ( about Hokuto cup)yet- - " Just writing this first part takes so much energy.

Kinlin Child of Youma: So, what do you think will happen next? ( Grinning evilly again)

Xiar : You're one of my most loyal fan, how could I not love your review? I'm very grateful to you all who waste your time to give me a review, I bet the others writers feel the same.

Lady Adako: Chill out,girl. I promise,as the storygoes by,Hikaru can dress up as she wishes, especially when she becomes a pro. Oh, by the way, how old is Run ( in Gals) is? 'Coz right now, Hikaru is only 14.

thuyhy-thuyhy : " What will happen next?" Yeah, that's the right question.

Kathy: Now you know what happen.

panatlantic: You know what, you are like the sixth or the seventh person who call me that.

Giftfrombelow : New Year? You mean, Chinese New Year?

To all of you : Okay, let's talk about the continuation, do you guys want Suyong in or out?