A/N: Not much here. Decided that I was going to throw a little bit of romance into the mix. Thought this story needed it. Thanks to marnika and xiar for your wonderful reviews. Special thanks to De Luna for your continued support. I appreciate it guys.

Ah and I don't have a beta reader so this is probably full of mistakes. Hope you all like it even with the mistakes.

Disclaimer: I hate having to say this time and time again but –sniffle- not mine. Never will be. Dang. This series would have definitely turned out yaoi if it were mine. So it's not. I'm just borrowing the wonderful characters.

The New God of Go

Chapter 2

Touya Akira placed a black stone with a loud pach-ink. It must have been a bit too hard because the old men playing Go next to him jumped and gave him odd looks. Akira gently ground his teeth in frustration and placed a white stone. He paid no attention to the worried looks being circulated around the room.

He paused in his game to look at the clock. Nothing showed on his face other then what he chose to be there but inside he was seething. Leave it to Shindou to invoke these feelings. Shindou who was half an hour late. His hand trembled with the amount of force it took to remain calm. Pulling a black stone out took more effort than it usually took but he pulled it off like normal. He just placed the stone when the doors whooshed open.

His head snapped up when he heard Shindou's voice stammering his hellos. Shindou finally appeared before Akira and he felt himself immediately calm in the presence of that smile. He couldn't believe how much his attitude changed by the mere existence of Shindou.

Mentally he shook off those thoughts. They were too uncomfortable to think of. He stood up and glared at his rival. Shindou let out a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck ruefully.

"Sorry Touya. Something came up and that's why I was late. I really didn't mean to be late this time." Shindou's voice was nervous.

He knew he had on his series face because it always made Shindou act this way. "You idiot. Let's just play already."

Akira paused for a moment. Something was different. He couldn't explain it but he felt a presence coming from Shindou, something pressing. He walked over to his rival and got close to his face trying to determine what the difference was.

"Uh, T-Touya!" A faint blush spread across Shindou's cheeks.

Akira was trying to figure out why Shindou was acting that way when he noticed how close their faces were to each other. They were less then an inch away. Akira's hand immediately shot to cover his mouth. What the heck was he doing! He jerked away from the smaller man.

"S-sorry. There's… just something different about you." Akira settled into his chair nervously.

He didn't like feeling nervous. He'd never felt that way before. Again, only Shindou invoked these feelings. He straightened his tie so he could give himself the excuse to look anywhere but Shindou. That was embarrassing.

"Different?" Shindou asked cocking his head in askance.

Again, seriously, Akira replied, "Yes, different. I felt… I don't know. I think it felt like another presence." Akira shook his head to show Shindou that he was confused.

Akira was staring straight at Shindou so he didn't miss the blush that returned. Shindou was hiding something. The one thing he learned about Shindou was that he was a terrible lair at everything but Go. Shindou could never lie to him.

Shindou laughed but it sounded strained. "Presence? You must be dreaming."

Akira pierced him with a glare. "I know you better then anyone Shindou. I know what's real and what's a dream."

There wasn't a sound coming from the entire center. Akira reviewed what he'd just said and a blush stained his own cheeks. He lowered his head so his hair would hide the blush and his expression from the rest of the center.

Wordlessly, he grabbed a handful of white stones and released them on the table. He head Shindou lay some stones on the table as well. When he felt that he calmed down enough, he looked out from under his bangs to see that Shindou had black. He gathered the white stones he'd laid on the goban and replaced them in his container. Slowly he could hear the sound of the other players resuming their games.

Akira let out a mental sigh of relief. He'd nearly said too much. It was true that he probably knew Shindou better than his own parents so that sentence was understandable. At the intensity he'd said it was another matter altogether. If people decided to read deep into that sentence they would have been able to put two and two together. But, thankfully, they took in account at he was Touya Akira and he'd never think things like that. Shindou on the other hand, Akira was sure he had an inkling about something. Ah well. He'd just act like they normally did. That would clear up a lot of confusion.

Shindou placed a stone and the game was on. He led Akira on a merry chase but in the end he won over Shindou like he always did.

"Now here and here, if you'd just followed my advice and went over here than you might have had a chance." He told the smaller boy patiently.

Shindou's eyes sparked with fierceness. "No, those moves were ok. But over here you placed this and that stone and I totally took out most of your area with these moves. I told you to watch out for those moves but you never listen to me!" Shindou was yelling by now.

Akira crossed his legs and put his finger on his chin. "I really don't like the shape of that outcome, Shindou." He said.

Shindou rolled his eyes. "What did I tell you about liking and not liking? That's what get you in trouble."

Akira's head shot up and captured Shindou's eyes with his own fierce gaze. "Yes, me liking and not liking definitely get me in trouble. I know that but I can't do anything about it because that's how I was raised."

Shindou shot up, his eyes never losing Akira's. "Well, you can change your way of thinking. Just because you were raised a certain way doesn't mean that that's how you always have to think and act."

Akira stood up as well, pushing his chair away with a skid. "Well it's difficult to change the way I was raised. People often judge the way I play with the way I was raised. That puts a lot of pressure on me."

By now the center was deserted. Akira didn't know what they were discussing anymore. Their faces were once again only inches away from each other. Both of them were breathing hard from the seriousness of their discussion.

Suddenly, Shindou blushed deeply and announced in a loud voice, "I'm leaving!"

Stunned, Akira could only watch as Shindou turned and left the building. What stunned him wasn't the fact that Shindou left but his actions before he left. That blush confused him. He tried to think it out rationally and ended up confusing himself further. In the end, he sat back down and began to recreate some games, fully intending to forget about Shindou's visit.

Hikaru took off from the center at a run. He didn't stop running until he was at the train station and only then because his train wasn't there yet. He found a spot to sit down where it wasn't too crowded to wait for his train to come.

"Sai? Why'd you say that?" He whispered to himself.

Well, it's the truth. You two acted more like a married couple then rivals. And did you see how close you two were. Hikaru could feel the mischievousness emanating from Sai.

Hikaru's blush got worse. "We were just arguing about the game. Nothing more, nothing less. We do it all the time."

Oh really? That was a little bit too much information. He could feel the smirk.

Hikaru's face turned an unnatural shade of red at that. "SAI!" Several people around him turned to look at him. He grinned helplessly and hoped they'd go away. "Sai. I never knew you were like that."

Like what Hikaru?

Hikaru sighed. "Now what? I have you inhabiting my mind and Touya as a rival." He paused in case the teasing ghost wished to say something about Touya being his rival. Hearing nothing, he went on. "What's so different from before you disappeared." As usual, the heavy ache returned when he thought about Sai's disappearance.

He could feel Sai's sadness. I'm sorry Hikaru. He changed the subject. Well things are different. For one thing, I'm merged with you. That sort of means that I can take over your body sometimes.

"Nani!" Hikaru whispered fiercely.

Sai sighed. We're now two personalities dwelling in one body. The gods did tell me that I had the option of pushing your soul out when I moved in but I strongly disapproved of that. The other suggestion was for us to share the body. Gods cannot be ghosts.

Hikaru sighed. "It makes a strange sort of sense."

That also means that after over a thousand years of not being able to touch a Go stone, I'll be able to touch one. I'll be able to play as me.

There was a deep excitement in his voice that Hikaru didn't want to damper. He couldn't image what it was like to have to go a thousand years without being able to really play his most beloved game. Hikaru sighed, defeated.

"Once and a while. You hear me? I have my own plans for my life."

He felt Sai's eager acceptance. Hai!

The trained whistled its arrival, ending their discussion. "Let's go home Sai."

And play a game of Go? Asked the hopeful ghost/god.

"Of course. It'll be the first time in over three years." Hikaru stated.

He nearly fell with all the happy ruckus the ghost/god was making in his head. To say Sai was overjoyed to be playing his favorite game was an understatement and a half. Hikaru grinned to himself. It was good to have Sai back even if it would interrupt his life once more.