Disclaimer: All characters and specifics of "Hikaru no Go" are copyrighted Hotta Yumi, Obata Takeshi, Shueisha and Studio Pierrot. All rights reserved. This fanfiction is property of Shikami Yamino and is not intended for any monetary purpose nor an infringement of copyright laws. No one is to post/host/use any aspect of this fanfic without explicit permission from the author.

Notes: Returning you to the scheduled clueless Hikaru and Akira ^_^ As always, my gratitude to the reviewers!

Hikaru no Go: "Blind Descent"
 by Shikami Yamino

Part 5 - If You Don't Want To...

"Kaa-san! I'm home!" Hikaru called into the house as he let himself in. Dropping his backpack onto the floor, he bent over to untie his shoes, hung up his winter coat, and then padded softly towards the kitchen in his socks. "Kaa-san?"

Hikaru's mother looked up from where she was chopping vegetables at the counter when her son walked into her field of vision. "Oh! Hikaru!" She reached over to turn off the radio that had been playing softly in the background and motioned Hikaru to a kitchen chair. "I thought you weren't going to get home until later."

Pulling off his suit jacket, the nineteen year old professional go player plopped down onto the kitchen chair with the same amount of grace as he had possessed in sixth grade; that is to say: none. "Yeah, game finished early so I thought I'd come earlier instead of right before dinner."

"No plans with Touya-kun today?" It was an established routine that the two young men would replay each other's games at the Touya Go Salon after they were finished with their morning matches. It was the reason why Hikaru usually never made it to his parents' house before late afternoon.

"Nope. Touya didn't have a game today so he's off doing a tutoring session at some girl's house."

Surprised, Hikaru's mother raised her eyes to her son. This was the first time she had ever heard Hikaru refer to someone being tutored by a specific gender. Usually it was just 'someone' that he or Touya-kun tutored, not specifically 'some girl'. "Is she a friend of his?" she probed delicately.

Hikaru snorted mirthfully, shaking his head as he rose from his chair and walked towards his mother at the counter. "Uh-uh. But she is friends with Ogata-sensei. I think he's trying to set them up."

"Well," his mother replied, returning to what she was doing. "It's good for you two to get out a little and get to know a few girls. It's not healthy for two nineteen year old boys to not have social lives."

"Kaa-san~~" Hikaru protested. "We have social lives! We go to go conventions and get together with Isumi-san and Waya and everybody all the time!"

She gave him a look. "I meant things that don't have to do with go."

Hikaru made a face. "Girls take up too much time. I mean, look at Mitani! Every time I see him, he's always got Akari on the brain. We don't have the time for that with our schedules and everything." With that, he swiped a cucumber stick from his mother's platter and grinned angelically when she frowned at him.

Behind the frown however, Hikaru's mother was examining her son curiously. She understood that Hikaru's friendship with Akira was a close one, forged by the mutual understanding of each other not only as boys, but also as successful go pros. Yet, it never ceased to amaze her how effectively each had inserted himself into the other's life; so much so that sometimes she felt as if she had two sons instead of one, especially since Akira's parents were so often overseas.

Sometimes though, she wondered if maybe they had inserted themselves deeper into each other's lives than could be termed proper for mere best friends. While it could be somewhat explained by an almost rabid devotion to go, she couldn't help but notice that neither Hikaru nor Akira showed any genuine interest in members of the opposite sex. But then it was best not to speculate about that. As a mother that had long since fully accepted, despite being puzzled by, her son's choices about his life ever since he was twelve, she certainly wasn't about to dictate his life to him now.

Focusing her thoughts, she decided to turn to another topic of conversation. One that was ultimately more pressing given Hikaru's glaring deficiency in basic culinary skills. Looking her son up and down critically, she asked, "Are you sure you're eating right?"

Swiping another cucumber slice, Hikaru rolled his eyes with a slight smile. "Yes I am eating right!! You worry too much Kaa-san!"

"I'm your mother! I have a right to worry!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're eating instant stuff again, aren't you?"

"Kaa-san~!!" Hikaru complained. "Yes, I eat instant stuff sometimes. But even Touya eats it sometimes! And he knows how to cook!!"

Hikaru's mother blinked. "You had dinner at Touya-kun's again?" It also didn't escape her notice that Akira tended to pop up in Hikaru's speech with remarkable frequency.

"Uh-huh. Last night. When I ran out of - " he caught himself just before he mentioned anything resembling the word 'instant', " - groceries." He attempted another innocent grin. "We had curry."

But Hikaru's mother knew her son too well to be fooled, frowning at him in mild disapproval. Inwardly, she made a mental note to send some food over to Hikaru and Akira's apartments in the future; it was the least she could do given how often Akira seemed to accommodate Hikaru at his dinner table.

~~

Later that night, Touya Akira strolled up and down the aisles of the local convenience store, basket in hand. Into it went the necessary items such as milk, bread, tea and all the other things he had discovered he was running low on. Then he happened upon the instant foods aisle.

Dumping a few more packets of instant curry and soup into his basket, he was surprised when he caught himself proceeding to inspect the instant ramen packages. He certainly didn't have a liking for ramen, instant or otherwise, to compare with the one Shindou had. Conversely, if he had any sort of partiality for instant food to speak of, it would have to be for instant curry. Despite this, he still found himself reaching for a few ramen packs and letting them drop into his basket.

Rolling his eyes in exasperation at himself, he fished out his wallet as he approached the register. It stood to reason that he should have a few packs on hand just in case Shindou ever showed up for dinner when he hadn't prepared enough for two. But as the assistant bagged his purchases and took his money, he idly wondered when feeding his rival had become a habit.

Carrying his groceries home, he had just let himself into his apartment when the phone began ringing. Toeing off his shoes quickly and leaving his bags at the door, Akira strode quickly to the phone. If Shindou was calling from his parents' house to say he'd forgotten to do something yet again, Akira certainly didn't want another earful about how he was an idiot for not hearing the phone ring. "This is Touya."

"Umm... Touya-san, this is Nakamura."

Letting out a held breath, Akira lowered himself to perch on the arm of his couch -- an action that would have won him his mother's disapproving frown had he still been living at home. "Nakamura-san, I didn't expect you to call again so soon." He had just finished her go tutoring session barely a few hours ago. "What can I do for you?"

"I just... wanted to say thanks for coming over today on such short notice."

"That's fine Nakamura-san, it was my pleasure."

"Ummm... I was also wondering if maybe I could treat you to dinner sometime next week to say thanks? It'd be the least I could do since you didn't take the fee my parents offered for the lesson today."

Akira ran a hand awkwardly through his hair. To be quite honest, he hadn't felt right taking the fee when the girl had spent more time staring at him than at the go board. It was obvious from the start that the girl only possessed a passing interest in go, and he would have been tempted to leave had it not been for the favors he owed Ogata-sensei. To her credit, she had improved by the end of the lesson. Nevertheless, Akira had still found it disconcerting to tutor when he would look up to see her eyes centered on him rather than the stone he was gesturing at. "That's really quite all right Nakamura-san, you don't have to go to the trouble - "

"It's really no trouble at all!" she cut him off. "Perhaps we could go to that new restaurant near the park? Do you know the place Touya-san?"

"Yes, I know the place." He had pointed the restaurant out to Shindou a few times while they had walked past only to be dragged off in favor of Shindou's favorite ramen stand. "But really, Nakamura-san, it's really not necessary - "

"I insist! Please Touya-san, it would really make me feel better about taking up your time today."

"I suppose..." Akira began uncertainly. It was habit left over from his younger days that he really needed to dispense with, but it had always been easier for him to concede to insistent females about things not related to go rather than fight it out using his limited arsenal of social skills. He also didn't have the heart to deny the girl when she sounded so upset about it.

"Thank you Touya-san! Does Wednesday night around seven sound all right to you?"

"That's fine Nakamura-san," Akira conceded again with sigh.

"Then it's settled! Thank you again Touya-san!"

Hanging up the phone as the conversation ended, Akira raised a hand to rub at his temple, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. Shoulders slightly slumped, he went to bring the groceries in from the hallway. As he began putting them away into their respective cupboards, he wondered what Shindou would have to say about his 'date'.

~~

Tuesday night, two young pros faced each other from opposite sides of a goban in Shindou Hikaru's apartment, embroiled in a tough battle. The heavy silence in the room interrupted only by the rustle of stones in the go-ke and the 'pa-chi' of stones being placed on the board.

As yose drew to a close and it appeared that the outcome would be in Hikaru's favor by a moku and a half, Akira mentally prepared himself for the shouting match that would follow. After four years of fighting with Shindou over the go board, it had almost become a tradition for the discussion to turn into a battle of who was the more stubborn; even if, in the process, it also turned into a battle of who was more immature.

He didn't know if Shindou realised it, but for Akira, who had grown up in much more reserved surroundings, these moments of immaturity were almost treasured for their intensity. It was a brief but welcome respite from the control that dominated the majority of Touya Akira's life.

But this time, as Akira raised his head to meet Hikaru's eyes, all he saw in the green depths were concern and genuine annoyance.

"What's wrong with you?"

Akira blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing..." Akira replied, confused by his rival's irritated response. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

Hikaru scowled. "Touya, I know you like the back of my hand. And this!" He gestured agitatedly at the black and white stones. "Is not your usual go." He stared almost accusingly into Touya's surprised blue eyes. Then his own green ones softened slightly, as did his voice. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Akira replied absently as he examined the board. No, it had not been his best game. To be honest, there were one or two stones that, though the placement wasn't bad, could have been put to better use. While any other player wouldn't have picked up on this, it was different for Shindou. Given the sheer number of games the two had played against each other, Shindou was almost as familiar with Akira's style of play as his own, and vice versa. It was what allowed the two to strive to best the other, knowing that the other would be able to recognise and exploit any sign of weakness in their game.

Hikaru probed his friend with a few more searching looks before sighing loudly and flopping until he was sprawled on the floor of his apartment, staring up at the ceiling. "You know, if you really don't want to go tomorrow, you should just tell her."

Startled out of his thoughts, Akira fixed his eyes onto the bleached-blond boy on the floor. "What?"

"Tomorrow. You know, that dinner thing with the Nakamura girl." Hikaru turned his head until his eyes met Touya's. "If you don't want to go, you should tell her."

"I never said I didn't want to go!" Akira said indignantly.

"Yeah, but you never said you wanted to go either," Hikaru pointed out. Rolling to his feet, he made his way to his fridge, pulling out a soda for himself and a can of Akira's favorite Oolong tea. "From what you told me, you weren't exactly eager to say yes when she first offered."

Passing the tea to the long-haired boy, Hikaru leaned backwards on the windowsill next to the go board as he looked down at his rival. Taking a drink from his soda, he asked seriously, "Do you? Want to go, that is."

Akira stared down at the can in his own hands before sighing and shaking his head. "Not really..." Taking a sip of the tea, he got up and walked towards the window until he could rest his elbows on the windowsill next to Hikaru's, staring out into the dark sky.

Hikaru rolled his eyes in exasperation, shaking off the serious expression that had presided over his features. "Then just tell her that you don't want to go and get it over with!" At Akira's look, he shrugged his shoulders. "Look, it's like playing go against someone who just doesn't want to play. Neither of you are going to get anything out of it and neither of you are going to have any fun. Might as well just avoid the whole thing altogether."

Glancing at Hikaru out of the corner of his eye, Akira felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. "Since when did you become an expert?"

Hikaru grinned at the twitch, good humor restored. "Since I've been talking to Mitani and he started dating Akari."

Hiding a smile behind the action of taking another drink from his can, Akira turned his head to look at the clock. Blinking at the time to make sure he'd seen right, he turned back to the window with dark eyes. "It's too late to do anything about it now... it's eleven already."

Taking his own confirming look at the clock, Hikaru let a little more of his weight slump onto his elbows. "Yeah... I guess..."

The two stood together comfortably, lost in their own thoughts for a while, occasionally sipping from their drinks. At last, Akira pushed himself away from the window. "I'd better head to bed. There's that game tomorrow morning and then the interview."

"You going straight from the interview to dinner?" Hikaru asked, eyes tracking his rival as Akira dropped his can into the rubbish bin and made his way to the front door.

"Yes."

"Don't forget your umbrella. It's meant to rain tomorrow night."

"I won't."

As the front door closed after Touya, Hikaru drained his soda in one large gulp and turned to stare out the window. Staring out into the darkness as his rival had moments before, he tapped the empty can gently against the windowsill, a vaguely unsettled shadow lurking in his eyes.

End Part 5... to be continued.

Author's Notes: Not much fluff-fluff to speak of in this chapter ^_^ merely some comfortable-fluff to use as a spring-board into the next bit of the plot *L* Coming up: a minor dose of SumiWaya cuteness, and the morning after the big 'date'.