Disclaimer : I don't own Hikaru no Go.

Chapter 16 : The deal

August 2000, The Ochis' manor house

Hikaru and all her friends had passed the Pro exam preliminaries since last month. Everyone intended to play their best in order to pass the exam, they all wanted to be a pro. Although no one actually said it out loud, they all knew they had to compete against each other for the position, it was an unspoken understanding.

However, Ochi Kousuke wanted more than that, simply passing to the exam wasn't enough, he wanted to pass it with a perfect record. So he and his grandfather came up with a genius plan, why didn't they hire a skillful to be his personal tutor? Speaking of the most talented young pro nowadays, who else could it be but the great Touya Akira?

" Thank you for coming, Touya-Sensei," Ochi's grandfather said respectfully, " Here, please have some tea,"

" Thank you, sir," Giving his typical cool smile in return, Akira received a cup of hot tea from the old man. They had finished their post-discussion already, the lesson for today was over now.

"………………." Ochi's eyes still fixed on the Goban, how could he lose? Though it was Touya Akira whom he had played with, how could he lose ?

Looking at his strong-minded student, the 2-Dans in a dark gray suit mentally argued with himself, To ask or not to ask? In the end, the curious Akira won, " The Pro exam will start soon, am I right?"

Placing a stone on the board, the insei boy in a long sleeved Polo shirt replied indifferently without looking up, " It'll start next week,"

" Good," the polite prodigy pretended to smile, " I heard that you're the 2nd rank insei, it's a very promising position,"

" If I only wanted to pass the exam, I wouldn't call you," Ochi answered back sharply, " I want a straight winning,"

"……………." Sitting uncomfortably, the older boy with black hair asked hesitantly, " So…how's the other doing?"

Looking up from the game, the rich boy sniggered and slowly leaned back on a big soft armchair, " You mean how your girlfriend is doing?" he was very quick to catch on things.

Though Akira felt irritated a bit, he denied with a composed manner, " We are friends," Thanked Amano, he didn't put that infamous picture in Weekly Go, yet, everybody who had been there talked about it, from one to another, making the news about Touya Junior having an insei girlfriend spread out widely.

" Whatever,"

" Kousuke!" the old man exclaimed, his spoiled grandson shouldn't be rude towards the son of Touya Meijin like that.

" !" Narrowing his poisonous eyes,theyoung teacher sipped his hot tea to conceal his frustration.

Yet, Ochi was a very observant boy, nothing could escape his notice. Though most of people found this habit annoying, he himself was proud of it since it was an essential qualification that every good Go player should have, " Don't worry, your girl is doing fine," Seeing his tutor letting a light sigh in relief, he reported him, " She's on rank 4th now,"

4th? With her strength, she should be the top insei. How come she's stuck on the 4th?

" I don't think she's the one we should worry about," He had played with the girl for quite a while now. In his opinion, she was good but wasn't that good, " It's Isumi-san, I'm worried about," That was correct, if someone could break his record, it should be the black-haired boy who had been the top-insei for 2 years.

" If you take her too lightly, you'll lose!" Raising his voice, Akira defended his girl….no, his friend.

" Maybe you're right, maybe I shouldn't underestimate her," the troublesome boy took a small sip of hiscoffee and smirked wickedly, " After all, she is Touya Akira's girlfriend,"

" She's not my girlfriend, we're friends," the reserved pro in a suite stated dryly.

" Telling you this, I'm positive that I can beat your girlfriend," Pretending not to hear Akira's protest , the arrogant student declared boldly.

" !" You don't know what you're talking, you're playing with fire. Akira thought.

" What? You don't think I can do that, do you?" Ochi questioned, hecould tell that from the disbelieving look on his personal teacher's face, " Well, let's make a deal then," he proposed.

" A deal?"

" Yes, a deal," he confirmed, " If I beat her, you gotta let me join the Meijin's study group,"

Maybe,it's a good chance to test her true strength… " Fine, if you win, I'll personally introduce you to my father by myself," the future-Meijin saidintensely.

" That's great!" Trying to loosen up the pressure, the old man faked a laugh, " The Meijin's study group is the best, if Kousuke can join in…"

" But you have to teach me seriously," Cutting in his heavy grandfather,the inseiset a strict condition, " Giving me the best lesson, no holding back,"

" You have my words," Akira spoke firmly, he wasn't a liar, he always kept his promise.

" It's a deal then," Ochi concluded.

" It's a deal," the prodigy repeated with a still tone.

A/N : Another short chapter! This is an introduction of the Pro exam, that's why it is so short? And the secret of Hikaru's unique Go started to unfold. So, guys, No picture in Weekly Go, Com'on, do you actually think thatAmano will do something like that?

Well, Let me explain about the " Suffix" in This fic:

Kouyo-Akiko : Honestly, I don't know how Akiko calls him, since she is polite enough to call her son as " Akira-san" ( in Manga, chapter 169), I made her call her husband as " Kouyo-san".

Hikaru-Akira: Actually, Akira should call her as " Shindou-san,", however, the picture of Hikaru being a rude boy had already registered into his head, so he call her " Shindou" instead of " Shindou-san,". You know, it's about the1st impression. Normally, Hikaru calls Akira as " Touya-kun" but when she gets really angry, she will call him as " Touya!" like she's blinded by wrath, people can do anything when they're angry, right?

Hikaru-Nase : They call each other using " Chan", although they aren't at the same age, I think, it's okay 'coz they're close friends who always have a girly girly talk.

Hikaru-Waya : Waya only wants to be polite by calling her " Shindou-san". Although, he's older than her and can be counted as her Sempai in Morishita group, I don't think that he wants her to call him as " Waya-san" or " Waya-Sempai". So, he lets her call him " Waya-kun" here.

C.M Aeris Queen of Insanity: I update everyday :) Another short chapter, sorry.

Kireshai-chan837: " It is gonna be AkiHika, right!" Grinning :)

hy-nguyen: I like Akira when he's little dense like this.

Lady Adako : " I wonder how Sai will react to the fact that everyone is saying that his little sister is the future daughter-in-law of the man that he considers to be his rival?" Gotta find out! ( Smirkning evilly)

Eadha Ohn: " Hikaru's dress up because of Akira." Haha, I'll let the possessive Sai answer this one, hey, Sai, do you have anything to say about this?

" Hikaru's dress up because of Touya-kun?" Sai repeats, " Nooo! It's not like that! She's 15 now! It's normal for the 15 girl to get dressed up, isn't it? She doesn't do that for Touya-kun!"

Mira-hime andRebbi : Sorry, no picture :( This is Weekly Go, people! not Elle!

Aya-Mikage2002: " he was just very go obssessed" Yeah, lucky that he's good looking, if not, Akira is nothing but a Go nerd with a bad taste.

Daniel Song: " I'd LOVE to see how Touya's parents react to meeting Hikaru" I just finished typing that chapter today. "the wedding" They are only 15!

dragon shadows: That's right.

Chibura : how can we meet Syuong and Ko Yongha agian?" That's easy, just wait till the second part of this fic come out.

xiar : Opp, another short chapter, sorry.

kathy stgqvk : Here come the pro exam.

zeynel : Ican updateeveryday is I've already finished written it, so I can gurantee you that I won't ditch my fic for sure:)

Giftfrombelow : She did call him " Akira-san". I've already checked with the English Version and Thai Version to make sure of that.

karin1004 :Thank you :)

Lilac-Blossom-Neko: Akiko and Mitsuko are such a typical housewife, don't you think?