Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.

Chapter 14 : Boys and girls

Here, Akira was, at the insei class, waiting for Hikaru to arrive so that he could apologize to her like a gentleman. But the first word that came out from her was…

" Not you again,"

Not you again? I have been waiting for 30 minutes but all she said was, " Not you again?" God! Why is she so irritating!

" Hikaru, I think he only wants to offer you an apology," Sai said serenely in a brotherly way, " I know that you are not that mad, why don't you just give him a chance?" he suggested. After all, no matter how girly he looked, this captivating ghost with long shinny hair and rosy lips was a man too, he secretly took the boy's side.

" It's not that I'm still angry, Sai," That was right. Hikaru was quite short-tempered, she maybe got angry easily, on the other way round, she forgot about it easily, " It's just... it's not a proper place and proper time!"

" Proper place and proper time?" the naïve man repeated stupidly.

" Look around you!"

Sai looked around as he was told. Many insei were eyeing them, some were hiding at the corner, some were gossiping with their friends trying to keep their voice down as much as possible. There must be at least 20 pairs of curious eyes staring at the celebrated Meijin's successor and his assumed girlfriend.

" See?"

" Shindou, Listen," Akira started first. Just say it!

" Look, Touya-kun, I don't think this is an appropriate time," Cutting in, the bleached bangs girl said matter-of-factly, " The class is about to start in any minute," she informed him, it was true anyway.

" Wait, I just…,"

" I gotta go now," " I don't wanna be in the spotlight," Disregarding the boy, she ended the conversation, " Good bye," Turning her back on him, she walked to the insei room.

Akira couldn't stand the annoying frustration of being ignored anymore, he had tried numerous times ( Actually, only twice) to say sorry to this girl for something he truly believed that it wasn't his mistake. But look at the way she reacts! She doesn't even bother to waste her precious time to listen to me! " Why can't you just listen! I don't know if this is because you are really angry at me or you are just playing hard to get!"

Once again, he blurted out without thinking. He was always polite to anyone but when it came to this girl, he simply completely forgot everything about good manners that his mother had taught him since he was little and spilt it out without restraint.

As soon as she heard it, Hikaru stopped walking immediately and slowly turned around, " What-did- you- just- say?" she emphasized every word she said. " Playing hard to get? How dare you!"

" Yes! Touya-kun, this time you've gone too far!" Saitook his little sister's side without second thought.

Oh! I shouldn't have said that, did I really say that? the boy whom everyone praised him for his courtesy had just realized what he had unintentionally said. What's happening to me? It's not me at all to say such a thing! He himself wondered too.

" Who do you think you are? How dare you say such a thing to me!" Shindou Hikaru was shaking with wildrage, her normal cheerful green eyes now flared up with burning wrath, " Do you think that you're some sort of high and mighty prince-charming or something?" Raising her voice, she spoke insultingly, " Well, let me tell you this, You're not! Playing hard to get? Who do you think you are? I'm not interested in you, not even in the smallest corner of my heart!"

" Okay, Hikaru, that's enough," Sai instructed in a serious tone of voice, apparently, this time it was his dearly loved sister who was being rude. The impending doom is coming inevitably, I can sense it.

Pri…Prince-charming? I've never thought like that! Though Akira didn't consider himself as one, he knew many did, that was why the other players ( Especially, guys) extremely loathed him. Do you think it's easy to be me? To live my life everyday among tons of pro who hate me and wish me death! " Glad to hear that! At least we have something in common then!" For God's sake! She's so frustrating!

" Touya-kun!" the mature ghost exclaimed, " You too! Stop it!"

" Good!" Snapping back straight away, the pretty girl glared back at him heatedly.

" Hikaru!"

" Good!" Akira himself countered back with an even fiery look, " I'm leaving then! Sorry for bothering you!" He shouted loudly before walking off the cross girl to the elevator.

" Good day then!" Hikaru cried behind his back before she stormed angrily into the class room, she looked really bloodcurdling like she was ready to kill anyone who was in her way.

Not in the spotlight at all, Hikaru. Shaking his head in mocking hopelessness, the reasonable ghost heaved a despairing sigh as he noticed the startled but nosy insei gossiping behind their back as if they were some kind of snooping gossipy neighbors. If she had listened to Touya-kun in the beginning, this would have never happened.

In the insei room,

Closing her eyes, Hikaru took a nice deep breath to calm down herself. " 12,13,14…" She counted the number.

" Having another fight?" Nase said from aside, waking up her friend from her trance. The night before, she, who had received an order from Waya, had called the blonde in an attempt to get the truth about the fight she had had with the famous Touya Akira during the tournament but all she had gotten as an answer was " It's nothing, just a stupid fight, let's forget about it," Her red-headed friend wasn't satisfied with the answer at all. Although everybody in the class kept saying that Hikaru was Akira's girlfriend, Waya was clever enough to know that he shouldn't question the girl about this touchy subject, so he kept his mouth shut and told himself to believe in her word. Yet, he still highly doubted about it.

" You saw it too?" " How embarrassing!" Dropping her eyes to the Goban before her , the green-eyed girl avoided to face the older girl directly.

" I think at least 10 people saw it," Sai added.

" Thank you for telling me that!"

" Wanna talk about if?" As a friend and a big sister, Nase proposed.

"……Nah," Hikaru shook her head tiredly, " It's just…boys," Baka Touya!

" Ahh, I know exactly how you feel," Sitting by the chic blonde , the brown-haired girl said understandingly, " They are incredible, aren't they? And I don't mean it in a good way,"

Sai's apprentice smiled as if to say " Tell me about it,"

" They know everything about car but they don't know whether the one who drives it is straight or gay," Nase illustrated.

" Haha, that is a good example,"

" They can remember every small detail about their favorite football players… their first names, their middle names, their last names, their birthdays, their nationalities, the teams they play for, the positions they play…blahblahblah," the older girl in jeans babbled in boredom, " But they can't remember their friend's birthday,"

" Ah-hah," Hikaru finally saw the daylight, " So, that was what happened, huh?"

" Isumi-kun, Waya, Honda, Fuku, Komiya, Ochi, all forgot," Nase stressed, "...but I didn't expect Ochi to remember anyway,"

" What about Iijima-kun?" the long-haired girl with golden bangs uttered. Although her friends didn't show any sign of romantic affection while they were in the class, everybody knew they liked each other but didn't dare to admit it.

The brown-eyed girl made a look as though she wanted to say, " Need to ask?"

" Hello girls," Accompanied by Waya, Honda, Fuku and Ochi, Isumi greeted warmly as always, " How are you doing?"

The girls didn't say anything in reply, they just looked at each other , shook their head in despair and sighed in harmony, " Boys," they got up and separated to their seats.

" Eh?" Completely lost, Isumi asked his friends, " Did I say something wrong?" The others just shrugged their shoulders. How could they possibly know?

In the same time, not far from the Association

Walking rapidly, Akira grumbled moodily, " I can't believe it! It's been over a year but she doesn't change at all," No, that's not right, her appearance does change but her character doesn't! She's still the same frustrating person! " Arrz! She's so immature!"

/ Beep Beep/ A car horn made a loud sound.

A classy red sport car slowed down and parked be Akira's side, the side-window slowly slid down, then the driver called out, " Need a ride?"

" Ogata-san?" the unhappy boy uttered with a slight surprise. What is hedoing here? Anyway,since he had no reason to decline the invitation, he got in the fancy expensive car. Telling the truth, he needed a companion.

" Home or the salon," Accelerating his beloved car, Ogata asked his passenger.

" …The salon, please," Akira replied softly but intensely, " I hope I don't cause you any trouble,"

" If you do, do you think I will pick you up in the first place?" the cold-hearted man said, " This is me we're talking about, Akira, I'm not that kind," This boy is so boring, why does he have to be so damn polite? " So, what are you doing here? Did you go to the association? You don't have the game today, if I'm not mistaken," he questioned the touchy subject.

"……I went there to talk to Shindou," the newly pro halfheartedly answered.

" Talk? About what?" Heading to the main road, Ogata asked inquiringly.

" …To apologize, actually," Stealing a quick peek at his Sampai, Akira reluctantly came clean, after all, it was no use to hide anything from this sharp-eyed man.

" Apologize? Why?" Driving along the road, the 9-Dans kept interrogating with great interest, " What did you do to offend her?"

" Well, I…" the black-haired boy just noticed something important. Her? Her? He knows Shindou is a girl?...Wait! Yesterday, he was the one who showed me her game. He knew who she was, it means that… " Ogata-san!"

" Yes?" The traffic light was flashing in orange, the speed-ster put his foot to speed up the car.

Akira thought his heart stopped beating for a second, didn't this man know that an orange light meant slowing down? " Err, about last night,"

" Yes?" the man with bronze hair changed up and drove even faster.

" How did you know which insei was Shindou?" the young genius demanded, in the same time, he started wondering if he was able to arrive at his salon alive and well.

" How could I not know after seeing that dramatic fight?" the sly man asked back teasingly.

"…………"

" She changes a lot, pretty cute, don't you think?" He curved his lips into a small smile.

"…………." Somehow Akira didn't like that smile….it was…strange, he didn't know why he felt this way but he just…didn't like it.

" She is a real-life ugly duckling," Turning to the right without giving the signal, Ogata mentioned with a quiet chuckle, " It's not that she was ugly or anything, I mean, who would ever imagine that a tomboy like her would grow up to be such a pretty girl like this,"

This is just my imagination or Ogata-san seems so… happy? Ogata-san, Happy? The boy wondered. Normally, this distant guy didn't talk much unless he was drunken, " Ogata-san,"

" Yes," Slowing down his sport car, right now they were stuck in a traffic jam.

" It seems to me that you're not surprise at all," Akira sensibly marked.

" Surprise?" Okay, now the man with glasses was surprise, " About what?"

" About Shindou being a girl,"

" Why should I? It's not that I…!" Ogata Seiji was a very clever man…too clever, sometimes his cleverness could be creepy, " …never known that before…,"

"……………."

" You didn't know she is a girl, didn't you?" he smirked evilly.

"……………..." the uneasy Akira wondered why the damn traffic light didn't turn green yet.

" That's why she got angry!" the sharp guy put on the theory, unfortunately for Akira, he got it right, " You didn't remember her since you thought she was a boy!"

"……………."

" Don't tell me that you did something stupid like asking her if she was a girl," he was only joking but when he saw a red blush on Akira's embarrassed face, he knew he had just hit the golden jackpot, " I can't believe it," He secretly laughed inaudibly, yet, Akira could see him chuckling with amusement. It seemed that he really enjoyed about this.

Finally, that damn traffic light changed into green, the 10-Dans wanna-be speeded up the red car, " You know what, Akira, for someone brilliant at Go like you, that was really stupid thing to do,"

" How…how was I supposed to know?" Akira said defensively, " She…she had short hair!"

" Said by the boy with a bob hairstyle," the bronze-haired guy retorted.

" She wore pants! Jeans!" God! He sounds like her!

" It's year 2000, Akira," he snapped back with a tranquil tone, " Welcome to the new millennium," he sniggered.

He even says the same line! The refined boy mentally screamed irately with annoyance, " Are you and Shindou related?" he questioned suspiciously.

" No," Ogata replied, " What make you think like that?"

"…Nothing,"

" I bet it really shocks you deeply, right? She is a girl, an insei girl," he brought up the new subject.

Insei! Yes " Ogata-san!" All of a sudden, Akira cried out noisily.

We're sitting only a foot away, you don't have to shout. Although Ogata thought sarcastically like that in silence, he answered evenly to the boy, " Yes, Akira," Getting annoyed, he replied. He talks a lot today, is it because of Shindou?

" About the game," the young pro abruptly changed the topic, " What do you think about it?"

" What I think isn't important," Moving faster, the Meijin's right hand man overtook a big truck in front of them, " What important is what you think about it," God, this man was so cunning.

" To be honest, I'm very surprise," Akira frankly confessed, " I didn't expect her to lose since…,"

" Since she beat you… twice," Ogata finished the line.

" ……Yes, but, there's something about that game…the style…it changes…still," the legendary whiz kid thought back about the game he had seen the day before, " The pattern is very complicated. When I try to figure out how she played, I feel like getting lost in a maze," he uttered inaudibly.

" So, do you want to figure out the maze? Akira," the older pro snorted, " Don't waste your time, God works things in a mysterious way, you know,"

God? " Excuse-me?" God?

" Especially, when it comes to women," he accelerated the car, " Women are the most mysterious creature in the world,"

" …………….." What is he trying to say?

" They never tell us directly what they really want from us," he said professionally as he had learned it from his own experience. He had many love affairs, yet, none of them had ever developed into a lasting serious relationship. He himself didn't know why, " You have to read between the line,"

"……………" What does it have to do with her game anyway?

" They are innate liars, if they tell you that they aren't angry," he put into picture, " It means they are definitely angry,"

" ……………" I think we are talking about her Go? Aren't we?

" If they tell you that you are too good for them," he turned to take a steady look at the confused but curious boy, " It means that they are too good for you,"

"..." Oh, is that so?

" If they tell you it's not your fault but theirs," he continued his lecture, " It means it's certainly your damn fault," he heavily stepped on the accelerator, the car nearly flied.

"..." ...But in my case, she implies that it is my fault, so what does she mean? Is it her fault or mine? I'm so confused.

Apparently that both of them totally completely forgot that they were talking about Go just a minute ago ,"….What if," the inexperienced boy decided to learn it from the expert, " What if they refuse to talk with you?"

Ogata smirked and replied with mocking voices, " It means that you'd better accept your fault, kneel down and beg for forgiveness,"

"……….Girls," Akira hissed.

A/N : What a long chapter! But I like this one . Just like Ogata says, women are the most mysterious creature, that's why her Go is even complicated and unpredictable than Hikaru-boy's Go, don't you think it fix for an innate liar?

thuyhy-thuyhy : Naruto?

Ookami Fuu : " ...that's gotta hurt a lot on her pride..." Yeah, Akira only made her become more angry when he recalculated the day, stupid boy.

Giftfrombelow : "...enough mild sexism, great chapter..." Thank you! By the way, I'm a girl.

Kinlin: "... i like Akiko-san's reactions... " Me too, actually that chapter is for Akiko, I want her to have more role here.

ady : Well, what can I say,Like father like son, Ne? "...I wonder why he's SO irritated with apologizing to Hikaru then?..." Now, you know.

Lady Adako : "No matter what it is always the guys fault!" Right! Good answer! "...I kind of feel sorry for Akiko-san though, having a dense husband and son like that..." Hahaha, by the way, talking about Akiko, isn't she TOO young for Kouyo?

Xiar : Men in The Touyas are only clever when it comes to Go - -"

Kathy : "...when will the newspaper be out?" Easy, girl, the Tournament has just finished!

Lilac-Blossom-Neko :Thank you, I'm glad that you guys like the idea of the dense Meijin :)