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: *nervous wave* Hi... ^^;;; Yes, I'm still alive, though after half a year of no updates, I'm not sure how many of you would still believe it *L* Unfortunately, the rest of 13 is still being written as we speak (or rather, as I sit here and type ^^) so this is just a teaser ^^;; Note that it's an extremely extremely rough draft subject to changing, re-writing, cleaning up and/or what not when the rest of it gets done, but please consider it a peace offering *L* BD will be finished! More notes afterwards, as per usual.
Hikaru no Go: "Blind Descent"
by Shikami Yamino
Part 13 - [As of yet untitled] ~ teaser
Not many people would have equated a bunch of professional go players with a video game arcade and gotten any kind of harmonious co-existence. After all, pro go players were more widely associated with the silence of places such as the Yuugen no Ma than the almost deafening sounds of electronic games and young people pounding at plastic keys to the cheering of their surrounding friends. Nevertheless the local arcade was the chosen place for the gathering of a number of the new wave of go pros. And with no ties or suits or magnetic go boards in sight, not many people would have picked them to be go players anyway, so society was free to amble happily along in its mistaken ways.
Not that Waya Yoshitaka 5-dan actually gave a damn about society or its mistaken ways. He was currently concerned with more important matters. Like the elusive Naruto plushie that was being adamant in evading the claws of his UFO Catcher machine.
With the tip of his tongue sticking out of the side of his lips, the brown-haired go pro's face was a mask of intense concentration as he carefully manipulated the keys to watch the claw descend over the object of his frustration. Then as the claws gripped and began to rise, the childishly hopeful expression on his face turned to one of dour aggravation. The drawn-on laughing eyes of the plushie seemed to almost mock him while the claw returned once again, unsurprisingly empty, to its base position.
"ARGH!!" Throwing up his hands, Waya turned scornfully away from the machine to rake his brown gaze over the crowded arcade for any sign of his friends.
Most of the old gang from the Insei classes had made it for the get together, which was rare considering their conflicting schedules. Only Ochi's presence would have made the gathering complete, the younger man having excused himself by reason of a prior commitment. Waya had simply rolled his eyes when he'd heard Ochi's excuse, surmising that the uptight little brat probably wouldn't know what to do with himself in an arcade anyway.
There was Honda-san, who was currently duking it out with Fuku over the tennis game. From Fuku's gleeful expression and Honda-san's intent eyes on the screen, Waya gathered that the former was currently kicking the latter's ass.
Moving on, his eyes picked out Isumi's familiar profile, straddled over the seat of one of the motorcycles. Waya smiled to himself as he admired the lean length of his lover's form, absently noting that it looked good seated almost expertly on a motorbike. It was good having him back, especially since the apartment had begun to feel too large and empty over the last few days.
Seated next to Isumi, obviously racing on the same course, were Komiya, Nase and Iijima-san. Fuku had told him that Iijima-san quit being an Insei soon after the pro exam that had passed him, Shindou and Ochi. Funnily enough, it was only after Iijima-san had quit that he had muscled up the courage to ask Nase out for a date, despite having been Insei classmates for six years. Since then, they'd been a pretty steady item even though Iijima-san had chosen to continue with his studies while Nase successfully pursued her professional go career.
A commotion to his left caught his eye and he looked over to see a laughing Fujisaki Akari attempt to draw her vigorously resisting boyfriend Mitani Yuuki onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine with her. From the sidelines, a cheeky Shindou Hikaru was loudly cheering Akari on, all the while making sure that he was safely out of her arm's reach.
Sensing his approach, Shindou turned around and gave each of his hands a glance before grinning at him. "No luck?" he called over the music of the DDR machine.
"Shut up," Waya growled at his friend good-naturedly.
Laughing, Hikaru turned back to the spectacle Mitani was making of himself as he tried valiantly to free his hand from Akari's grasp, refusing to be pulled onto the platform.
"Yuuki! Please!" Akari was pleading.
"No, no and no!" Mitani answered with mild scowl.
"Just once!"
"No!"
"For me?"
As soon as Akari turned on the puppy-dog eyes, Hikaru knew that Mitani was a goner. The orange-haired boy could never resist Akari's puppy-dog eyes; had never been able to ever since she'd convinced him to remain at the Haze Junior High Go Club after Hikaru left.
"Go Mitani!!" Hikaru couldn't resist shouting as his friend stepped reluctantly onto the platform. In return, he got a glare which promised direly that as soon as Mitani was able to get off this machine, he'd be out looking for Hikaru's blood.
Well acquainted with Mitani's glares, Hikaru merely laughed the threat off, grinning as his friend went through the torturous process of song selection. He was just getting ready to make another comment at Mitani's expense when Akari's bright voice broke in.
"Waya-kun will play with me after this, right?" Akari smiled winningly at the brown-haired pro before directing a pout Hikaru's way. "Hikaru threatened to run off if I even suggested it to him."
Hikaru held up his hands, still chuckling, in the surrender position. "Hey, you've got Mitani! What do you need me for?" Then he turned a mischievous expression onto his brown-haired companion. "Waya might indulge you though."
To the contrary, Waya was almost sweating at the suggestion. Needless to say, there was no conceivable way that he would ever willingly let himself be roped into playing a game like DDR. He looked around nervously for an exit before latching onto Shindou and hastily steering the bleached-blonde in the direction of a vacant King of Fighters machine. "Uhh, sorry Fujisaki, Shindou and me were just heading off to play a game."
Resisting the pushing, Hikaru smirked knowingly over his shoulder at the older pro. "We were?"
Chocolate brown eyes glared back at him with a sense of urgency. "Yes, we *were*."
Hikaru snickered before acquiescing and tossing the other two a wave. "We'll see you two later."
As soon as the two were out of sight of the DDR machine, Waya raised a hand to cuff his friend lightly in the back of the head. "Some friend you are! I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Ha!" Hikaru crowed, sitting down and shoving his ¥100 coin into the machine. "I'd like to see you try!"
Waya's eyes narrowed. "This means war, Shindou!"
"You're on!"
~~
Several minutes and ¥100 coins later, amidst muttered curses and near-violent button bashing, Waya was ready to give up and accept the fact that today just wasn't his day.
Hikaru, on the other hand, was having a ball as his on screen character engulfed Waya's in another fiery gout of flames. When the screen flashed white and the large "K.O." sign appeared, he threw up his arms in victory. "Yeah!! Take that!" He punched Waya's shoulder lightly and reflexively ducked the return blow. "Did you see that last combo?? That was great right?? I so kicked your ass!"
Caught up in the moment, Hikaru laughed at Waya, who was rolling his eyes, before swivelling on his chair to look excitedly over his right shoulder. "What'd you think?? Pretty cool - " He cut himself off abruptly when he realised that no one was standing behind him to share his enthusiasm.
Waya blinked at the sight of Shindou staring over his right shoulder almost in a state of stupor. Following his friend's line of sight and not seeing anything or anyone of interest, Waya frowned in mild concern. Shindou really hadn't been himself these last few days, constantly looking over his shoulder and then shaking himself with a rueful smile when he obviously didn't see what he'd been looking for. Normally, he'd have asked Touya about it, considering that if anyone knew what was wrong with Shindou, it was probably Touya. But since Touya wasn't here, it was slowly beginning to worry Waya.
"Shindou. Oi Shindou! What're you looking at?"
"Huh?" Hikaru turned back to Waya with still slightly glazed eyes until his brain was able to process the question. "Oh! Nothing. It was nothing. Don't worry about it!" Laughing a little, he raised a hand to wave off his friend's obvious concern.
Waya didn't look convinced. "You sure?"
"Yeah yeah! I'm fine! Don't worry!" He rose from his seat and turned towards the exit. "Hey, I'm gonna go get something to drink. You want anything?" At Waya's shake of the head, Hikaru shrugged. "Okay. I'll be right back!" With that, he was off striding towards the exit.
Waya tracked his friend's departure with quizzical eyes before shaking his head again and getting to his feet to find his lover. Maybe Isumi-san would have some ideas about what was bugging their long time friend.
~~
Absently punching a button on the vending machine, Hikaru bent to collect his drink as it clunked into the tray. He smiled a little as he popped the top and took a long sip, rolling his eyes at himself.
It was almost funny how he kept expecting Touya to be standing behind him when he knew full well that his rival wasn't even in the country. Coming to the arcade just didn't feel the same without the other pro's feigned expression of suffering and raised eyebrow as if to say 'Remind me why I'm here again?'
Hikaru chuckled under his breath at the thought, slumping to rest his weight against the wall beside the vending machine. Touya was never partial to coming to the arcade, preferring to watch whatever Hikaru was playing rather than wander off to play anything himself. He said it was a place where he felt distinctly out of his element, to which Hikaru had always snickered just loud enough to earn himself a hooded glare.
But all that being said, his rival had never once refused to come when invited. And once Hikaru'd explained the controls, the dark-haired go pro was a speed demon on par with the best of them on the Daytona race track. It was getting to the point when racing Touya Akira was becoming synonymous with challenging him to go as a mere lower-dan -- ten to one odds said you were gonna get creamed.
The only one who'd ever managed to come close or even beat Touya on occasion was Isumi-san. It was a fact which never failed to prompt Waya into grousing good-naturedly that it was *always* the quiet ones you had to watch out for.
With a little wistful quirk of his lips, he idly wondered what his rival was doing right then. Knowing Touya though, most likely in his hotel room, still hunched over whatever game he'd played today. His rival was a go freak like no other.
Except maybe Sai.
Come to think of it, Sai had always been excited to come to the arcade. "Look! Look! Hikaru! There are people dancing in this box! And it's snowing in the other one!" He'd always cheered whenever Hikaru played something, but would nevertheless be begging to go to a go salon soon after. "Ne ne Hikaru! Let's play go! Hikaru~~"
If he closed his eyes and thought hard enough, he could almost hear the last syllable of his name being dragged out as phantom arms with billowing sleeves encircled his neck. And the answering "Wai!!" when he finally acquiesced.
Sai's almost child-like enthusiasm toward go had always been able to bring a smile to Hikaru's face, however grudging it may have been. After all this time, the memory was no different, even if the smiles they induced were no longer the same.
Nowadays, they were almost always bittersweet; sometimes a tad regretful, other times a touch guilty, but never as carefree as they had once been.
End Part 13 teaser... to be continued.
Author's Notes: This teaser will be taken down and then incorporated into the finished part 13 when it is ready to be uploaded. As for Hikaru, suffice it to say that he has a few issues to work through before I'm ready to bring Akira back ^_^ At the present time, the May deadline for BD still stands (refer to the journal entry in my profile). Any changes to it will be updated in my profile.
Once again, thank you to everyone for your continued patience and support!