A/N: Today comes the fourth and last part of Chapter 2.Some things about Akira will come clearer in this chapter, at least I hope so. I mean, there are lots of reasons for his behaviour, beginning with the fact that being 16/17 never is an easy age,the talk with Waya in that extra chapter about the price onehas to pay for the mastery of the game at such a young age sowed first doubts, his stress adding... but still there is someting that's the last straw... but then, he finally manages to trust in Hikaru (the poor Hikaru tried so hard:-) ).

Thanks to BlackWingedGabriel for betaing again!

Enjoy reading!

Chapter 2. Part IV

"Waya!"

"Shindou? Is that you again?" Waya and Isumi exchanged a gaze. What was wrong now? "Didn't I tell you to not call - unless…?"

"I'm not dumb!" Shindou burst out, "I did figure something out!"

"Oh," now Waya truly was surprised. "So?"

"You won't believe it…"

"I won't?"

"About the stress part you were right…"

Hikaru and Akira strolled through the nightly city along one of the main roads at leisurely pace. Having picked up some coffee at a small twenty-four hour shop along the way, they drank it only for the sake of the caffeine, because not even vast amounts of sugar and milk could rectify the disgusting taste. They strode along each other in silence and Hikaru patiently waited for the very quiet Touya to talk. When they discarded their empty coffee paper-cups, the black-haired pro pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants. The night still was so warm that it didn't matter to him that he only wore a short-sleeved chemise.

They reached a traffic light and Akira decided this was a bad point to start talking. He felt uncomfortable only thinking of speaking. Should he really tell Shindou? What use was it? Would it make any difference? Didn't it hurt enough just so?

Pah... with a shake of head he tried to chase the doubts away. As in the movement his hair suddenly flew in his face, he noticed that at some point he must have lost his hair tie. Taking his hands out of his pockets he brushed it back, tucking it behind his ears. It was ridiculous. He had already decided to tell Shindou and he never went back on his decisions. There was no use in hesitating.

They had crossed the street and now strolled on.

"To make it short," Akira started and sensed his companion tensing attentively, "I don't like to admit it, but I've been in some sort of stress for…," he hesitated, trying to remember, "about one and a half years. Since I started that Korean and Chinese and English language classes additionally to playing Go."

So Waya was right, Hikaru thought, a bit surprised, "I didn't know you were doing that much crazy stuff!" he said, then suddenly added, "Ah… now I remember. You were talking Chinese and Korean at the Hokuto-Cup! …Ha-ha," embarrassedly laughing he scratched his neck with one hand, "I guess you had to learn that at some point."

Akira resisted the temptation to roll his eyes and as calmly as possible continued, "I did. And I managed to juggle that quite well with my obligations of being a Go pro. Right now, I can't really remember how I did it," he said with a dismayed frown, "only that when… when my girlfriend dumped me, I suddenly couldn't cope with anything anymore. Everything just…"

"Wait…" Hikaru interrupted, "What!"

He stumbled. Akira steadied him with one hand. At his questioning gaze, Hikaru pointed at a place on the dark pavement. "There was a hole in the asphalt."

Akira tried to pierce the darkness with his gaze, but didn't see anything.

Hikaru sighed. "I stumbled over my own feet. I was surprised – a lot!"

"Why?"

"Because your girlfriend dumped you!"

Akira had problems to suppress the urge to twitch uncomfortably. He wished he had never started talking, but now there was no way out anymore. "So?" he tried to sound nonchalant, "Girlfriends usually do that when you're not good enough for them."

"That's beside the point," Hikaru exclaimed with a kind of awed shock Akira had troubles to comprehend, "Not even Isumi-san has or had a girlfriend."

By the spicy smell in the air it was evident that their path led them by a park. The trees and bushes formed a grey-black wall beside them.

"Saeki-san has a girlfriend," Akira pointed out, hoping to get the topic away from him.

"Yeah… but he's much older than we are! And he doesn't hide it."

"…" Akira tried to decide on answering the lesser discomfort, "She was almost two years older than me."

Hikaru stumbled again. "What?"

Akira steadied him with his hand. "It didn't hold any longer than five months anyway," he said, and then quickly added, "What about you? Do you have a …girlfriend?" Through the hand on his rival's shoulder he felt his chest rocking, just before he heard a slight chuckle. "Are you kidding? When I need all my time and energy catching up to you!"

"Huh?"

"Ha, well," Hikaru chuckled again, a bit deeper, and with a wistful undertone, "At least I did until you started forgetting how to play…"

Akira flinched. Even if I thought the same, hearing it said... is worse. He fought to keep breathing even, but felt heat rise into his face. If I just could run away now…

He didn't answer to Shindou's comment.

The uncomfortable silence between them stretched longer. They continued their way into the park. Even though it was badly lit, they could still clearly see the way. The air was better here, and not as hot as it had been on the streets.

"So…" Hikaru said finally, in his voice controlled resentment. "It was really she, that girlfriend, who put these strange ideas into your head?"

"She didn't like Go."

"Bad luck for her."

"She didn't understand when I had to play a game, or had to prepare for one, and no time for her…"

"Why didn't you explain it to her!"

"I tried," Akira sighed, hoping his pain wasn't too obvious in his voice, "All she said was Go was annoying and boring. She'd rather do Karaoke, or such stuff, so we did that."

Hikaru's voice was sarcastic as he asked, "And then you decided to think too Go was annoying and boring?"

"No!" Akira vehemently gainsaid. "Go's my life! But…" he halted.

They reached a small pond, like a pool of black ink lying languidly in the weak light.

"But…?"

Argh… Akira thought. Do I really have to do this? He swallowed the lump in his throat. Let's see it through till the end.

"When she …ended it," he uncomfortably cleared his coated voice, "she rather frankly said that even though I was really nice and she liked me a lot, being obsessed with a board game, I was too boring by her 'standards'." He frowned in pain, "She said it in a lot more uncomfortable words which I don't care to repeat."

Hikaru had been about to pluck a leaf from a bush they passed, but stopped his hand in midair. He took it back to his body as he turned to scowl at his rival.

"She's stupid," he didn't bother to hide his distaste.

"No!" Akira exclaimed, "She…she was…"

He fell silent, a lost, lonely look meeting Hikaru's gaze.

His half-blonde companion stared at him for a few moments, understanding and compassion dawning. "She meant a lot too you, didn't she?" He quietly asked.

"Yes…" Akira's voice was barely more than a whisper. Growing uncomfortable under the other's gaze, he looked at the pond. He blinked away some tears, before they could escape his eyes. He wished Hikaru would say something, and at the same he time he wished he wouldn't.

He didn't want to admit how anxious he was for his rival's reaction.

But after some time the rival only inquired, "Who else knows about her?"

"No one. Her friends."

"Why didn't you tell anybody?" Hikaru sounded really clueless, "A girlfriend is rather someone to brag about not to be ashamed of - or why ever you didn't tell."

After a short pause he decided to admit the truth. "I didn't want my father to know." Said openly, the reason sounded strange.

"Ha-ha…" chuckling, "I can understand that. I always liked keeping things from my parents too… my mother didn't even know that the pro exam existed until I was half-through with the prelims."

Even though Akira didn't really think that Shindou understood his reasons, his rival's laughter made him breathe more freely, as if he had just put down a heavy bag. Talking suddenly became easier.

"After how I played the last few weeks, I even less want my father to know," Akira shook his head and quietly said, "I think I could have handled a simple defeat, but what she said…" he pressed his lips together, "hurt. Made me lose my balance entirely. I'm not proud of it."

"I told you she was stupid. You should have asked me before!" Suddenly more sensitive, he added, "But then it's always hard to be spurned by someone you admire."

Only when Touya stared at him in shock, "You mean…?" Hikaru realised how his words had been interpreted. He certainly hadn't thought of the incident after the internet-Sai episode, at least not consciously so, and he laughed. "Now that you mention it… You'll never again look at me that way! That's a promise I made to myself long ago."

Akira snorted gently at the rebuke, but smiled.

They stood at a point where they could overlook the little pond. The water murmured gently against the shore and sometimes it giggled lowly when a fish's fin touched the surface. The trees whispered in an almost intangible wind and the city outside of the park sleepily purred in the background.

"Could you really love someone who would make you stop Go, if she could?"

Some leaves let go of their branches and slowly swivelled downwards, glimmering silvery until they landed softly on the inky water.

Akira looked at his rival, standing beside him.

And his friend.

"No…" It was a sigh of relief.

He awoke. It was still dark, so he couldn't have slept more than an hour. Eyes half-closed he looked around his room, wondering what had made him wake up. Suddenly he noticed that Touya, on a futon on the floor beside his bed, was awake too. His eyes were open and aglitter, and his arms folded behind his neck, he stared at the ceiling.

"Touya…?" Hikaru murmured and sat up in his bed. "Why don't you sleep?" He slid his feet from his mattress that they dangled from his bed. It was too warm to use a blanket.

"I don't sleep well… lately," his friend, clad in a borrowed nightshirt, admitted. His voice was low and raspy. "My thoughts keep jumbling and tumbling without peace."

"Touya…" Hikaru was shocked, yet pleased to see his rival vulnerable and totally without defence. It probably wouldn't happen often. With a sleepy smile he climbed from his bed and sat down beside Akira who made place for him. He lay down on his side, his head propped up on his hand. He knew what it felt like to lie awake in the night, unable to think of anything else than the pain seemingly forever attached to your heart. He would have given much for someone to comfort him.

He watched Touya's profile, mostly dark, except for some highlights from the sparse light from outside.

"I wouldn't have thought you were that fragile behind your professional façade," Hikaru suddenly said.

"I wish I weren't," Akira whispered.

Hikaru snorted lowly, "You think I wouldn't too?" The alarm clock on Hikaru's nightstand bleeped a full hour. It was five o'clock. "Sooo," Hikaru stretched the syllable expectantly, "We're awake anyway so let's play a game. I'm black, 4-4, hoshi."

Akira didn't answer for some time, so Hikaru asked, "You've not slept in now, have you?"

Akira suddenly started to chuckle freely. "No, I'm not sleeping." He too rolled onto his side, so he faced Hikaru, his hair tousled funnily, "Today was the last game you ever won against me, I promise! 16-16, hoshi!"

"Ha-ha… You dreaming with your eyes open now! 17-4."

"You know that I'm better at blind-Go than you. 4-16, I'll crush you."

"You dream!"

"Just wait and see."

…

When Waya and Isumi came back from China, both victorious in the games they had promised Akira Touya to win, the study group that had been postponed during their absence, started again.

When Akira entered Waya's apartment, he should have immediately caught on the situation, judging by Shindou's gaze that instantly went back to intensely studying the kifu in his hand, and the wide, mischievous smirk appearing on Waya's face.

"Hello," he said and sat his bag down beside the door.

"Hi, Touya," Waya greeted, propping his hands behind him so he could lean back and get a better view of the just arrived. His eyes were aglitter. "So tell us, who was she? What did she look like? I imagine pretty good, ne?"

For some moments, Akira truly was bewildered. Waya later told him that the look on his face had been priceless.

Akira shook his shock off. "Shindou!"

Hikaru wreathed under Akira's deadly glare, "Eh? Yes?"

"Leave him, Touya," Waya said, his smirk only growing broader, "It's not like he had any choice."

"So, how was she? Did she kiss well?" Saeki asked, grinning.

"Er…"

"Did she have big …" Waya made an unmistakable gesture at his chest.

Isumi, blushing slightly, tried to rescue Akira – Akira made a mental note to thank him for that later, "What was her name?"

"Where did you get to know her?" Isumi quickly dug deeper, because he noticed Waya opening his mouth. Waya clapped it shut and shot Isumi a poisonous glare.

Akira almost winced as the bombardment of questions never seemed to cease. When he really had to answer he kept his words vague, sensing they only wanted to tease him. It didn't bother him as much he would have expected. It was greatly embarrassing and 'uncomfortable' would be an understatement of his situation. He even fleetingly thought if he shouldn't simply kill Shindou. But then, once gotten used to the rather crude humour of his fellow young men…

It was Waya who asked, and Akira promised himself to crush his friend mercilessly in their next game, when the room had been silent for some seconds, "Touya, did you do …it… with her?"

Akira almost forgot to breathe, but immediately felt heat rising from his neck up into his face. "Waya…" he growled lowly, trying to paper over his considerable embarrassment over such a personal question, "by just how many moku do you intend to lose in our next game?" His thought his ears and cheeks must have been a glowing red, and he wouldn't have been surprised to discover that Shindou sitting beside him had to feel the rise in temperature too.

"Ouw… Touya, don't be mean," Waya groaned, and everyone started to laugh. "Come on, tell us!"

Before he tipped his head down, in a vain attempt to hide his tomato-face, he saw Waya staring at him with an evil-yet-good-natured grin, Saeki looked friendly curious, Honda indifferent, Ochi really disgusted, but Isumi – thanks to God of Go for at least one decent person in the room – looked almost as embarrassed as he felt.

Into the expectant silence Akira mumbled, his eyes still on the floor, "I refuse to answer that question."

Saeki laughed freely. "Caught!" The other's quickly joined. If possible Akira's face grew even redder, but he managed a faint smile nevertheless.

"Pah," Ochi emitted a derisive snort, "Who would want to know that anyway?"

A steep crease appeared on Waya's forehead, but Saeki was faster, teasing Ochi, "What little shrimp? Jealous?"

"You wish."

"Now that I think of it," Saeki continued, grinning, "What about you, Shindou? You're Touya's rival after all."

"What? Me?" Hikaru twisted in surprise at being spoken to. And I managed so well being invisible until now.

"Yeah, you," Waya reinforced Saeki's statement, "What about your love interests?"

"You can't let Touya get that far ahead of you…" Isumi smiled.

"Who said I had to be his rival at everything!" Hikaru exclaimed to his defence, while Saeki laughed, "Ha-ha… Isumi, sweep before your own door first!"

Now that the conversation had moved away from him, Akira could quite enjoy it. He was glad that his decision had been right; even if Ashiwara and Ogata had been disappointed when he had announced them that he was quitting their study group.

Doubt is the greatest enemy of a Go player… He would advance step by step, gaining independence from his father's overwhelming influence, forward into his own life, with his own friends, But if you've overcome it, you'll be stronger than before.

"Waya, let's play a game!" he said.

Waya flinched. "Err… do I really have to…?"

"Revenge is sweet…" Isumi muttered under his breath.

Akira smiled sweetly. "Yes."

"Hey, and what about me?" Shindou complained. Ochi only looked more disgusted at how Touya immediately answered.

"Do you so desperately want to make up for your loss at blind Go last week?"

"It was five in the morning, no wonder I couldn't remember that stupid move of yours!"

"My move was brilliant, and the time was the same for me!"

While they bickered away, Waya unobtrusively nudged Isumi in the side. "Hey," he muttered and leaned closer, "play with me before Touya remembers me… I don't think I've trained up enough to face him when he's furious with me…"

"O – Okay…" Isumi stammered, never before having seen Waya squirming out of a game. But he knew how greatly Waya admired Touya as player and he did, too. It was the determined battle-look in the younger man's dark eyes that had spurred them into ever better performances on their visit to China.

"No way…" Saeki chipped in. He put an arm comradely around Isumi's shoulders, "Isumi plays with me!" Into his ear he whispered gleefully, "I want to see that game! Play along and I might consider introducing you to a hot chick I just got to know recently…"

Waya realised that there was no way out. For a few moments he nervously eyed the still quarrelling Touya. Then he gathered himself and the look in his eyes became fierce as he punched Touya in the shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, you were wanting to play me, so stop fighting with Shindou and play!"

"Ah, yes, yes…" Touya turned to the Goban and accepted the bowl of stones Honda quietly handed to him. "Sorry!"

"I haven't been sitting in China with my arms crossed, I'll show you!" Threateningly he pushed a handful of white stones onto the board to nigiri.

Akira narrowed his eyes. "I hope so."

End of Chapter 2
A/N: Reviews are most welcome

Some notes on this chapter: I had the basic idea for this chapter last year in late June - really a long time ago. :-) I wrote some kind of one-shot in German, which never turned out good enough to be posted. But letting the idea and my perception of the characters ripen, it finally came to point onappearing in this story! I'm so glad, it's like a dream finally fulfilled:-)
Hm, yeah, I don't know how you feel about Akira having had a girlfriend. I really think it' possible and probable (or I wouldn't have written it...:-)). I really don't put it past him. I know that in most fics he's portrayed rather socially 'retarded' and in some ways I agree, but I think people are exaggerating - a lot. And I don't agree with that. :-)
For the time-line: He got to know her shortly after he came back from Europe, in his Korean class (you probably guessed, but it's not very clear in the story nor is it very important (there is a little hint in part two, at the beginning...)), and he got dumped pretty much at the beginning of part one of the second chapter, when Hikaru says, Akira's playing 'strange'...
Well... that's it for now. If you have any question, just ask, or comments, they are appreciated.
And I hope you liked it all:-)
Thank you for reading!