Reaching Ithaka
by For Eden

Chapter 3: Children of the Sky

Even though Hikaru was a regular presence within his home, Touya Kouyo found it curious how Akira and Hikaru managed to evade meeting one another without purposely trying. It had been over two years since he had taken the young girl as his student and still Akira and Hikaru had not managed to run into one another outside or inside of his home, let alone meet.

It was not as if the two children did not know of the other's existence. Quite the contrary, both Akiko and he spoke of Hikaru and Akira to the other frequently. They spoke to them about the other so often that the two had a general sense of the ongoing happenings in the other's life. They would occasionally even inquire politely about the well being of the other.

Even Ogata, who made visits to his home two or three times a month, managed to have a brief run-in with Hikaru. The young girl nearly plowed the man over with her school bag as she was running out of his house at the same time Ogata had arrived. Luckily his former student had taken Hikaru's rudeness lightly. The go professional had been quite curious about where he was able to find such a cute, energetic female student that was willing to learn go.

After that run in, the two had met up with one another a few more times. None of the encounters were long enough for his two students to sit and talk (Hikaru seemed nervous about others knowing she was his student, from what she had said she was afraid that she would embarrass him due to her poor go playing skills), but their meetings were enough for even Ogata to mention the young girl to Akira at the institute now and then. What else Ogata might have also said to Akira about the girl, Kouyo didn't know.

However, as strange as it was, it was not completely unreasonable that Akira and Hikaru had not managed to cross their paths over the years. Given that the two youngsters were quite busy with his and her life respective lives, the two did not spend much time under Kouyo's roof.

Akira had taken the exams to become a professional a few months after Kouyo's meeting with Hikaru. His son had entered the go world with a bit of a bang. He had a spotless record, passing the pro examination with no losses on his record. Then, as a go professional, he had continued to stir the waters by steadily working his way up the ranks, devastating the lower dans with his skills. If Akira had strictly adhered to playing only the official games assigned by the Go Institute and taking only the jobs given to him by the Institute, Kouyo's son would have had a lot more free time in his hand to spend at home. Perhaps then he might have been able to interact with Kouyo's most unpredictable student. However, Akira was never one to sit idly by and so he spent the greater portion of his waking hours away from home and any accidental encounters with Kouyo's guests.

Akira had managed to stay on top of all his schoolwork even as he worked as a professional go player. Even though he missed at least oneday during the week, his son always brought home high marks on his exams and assignments. His son had also taken extra jobs in addition to the ones given to him by the institute. Akira also made sure to continue to visit the go salon whenever possible so he could interact with the regular patrons there, many of them individuals that he had known since before he could remember. Another of his son's commitments was the time he dedicated to share with Akiko and Kouyo, himself. Of course the bonding time Akira spent with Akiko was doing something Kouyo was glad he wasn't also dragged along with while his own bonding time with Akira had always involved sitting in front of a goban and experiencing his son's growth as a go player.

However, now with Akira's higher rank, all the extra things that Akira used to do had been cut down considerably as his games and assignments had increased exponentially since he had left the lower dans and started competing in title matches.

It was a bit sad for Kouyo to see the time between the games he would play with his son had grow considerably. However, while that was true, he was at the same time both happy and proud to see his son make a place for himself in the go world. Akira seemed quite happy doing what he was doing, even if Kouyo's wife did complain about her son not having a social life.

Hikaru, on the other hand, had a calmer schedule compared to Akira. The young girl did not have the responsibility of being a go professional to weigh her down so she had more time to do things girls her age might do. Like Akira, Hikaru attended high school. From what Kouyo could gather, the partly blonde girl was not an ideal student at school. She studied only when she had to and tended to get average marks on almost everything, only excelling in literature or history.

Whatever Hikaru lacked in academics, she made up in social skills. The young teen had numerous of friends that she would spend time with, doing things that high school girls might do. Kouyo would sometimes hear Hikaru animatedly gush about her outings with her friends to Akiko, who listened attentively to the young girl's words. Akiko had definitely taken a shine to the exuberant teen and could sometimes be found letting out heavy sighs about how she wished Hikaru was her daughter. And, just as frequently, Akiko would also mention how marvelous it would be if Akira would one day marry the bubbly girl so that her dream would become a reality.

The remaining time Hikaru had left in her schedule was dedicated to playing tennis or else playing go with or for Sai. It wasn't surprising that Hikaru spent a considerably greater amount of time playing go than she did with anything else in her life. From what he could observe from the girl, Hikaru really wanted to make sure that Sai was happy, and playing Go always made the ghost happy. However, it seemed the ghost also made sure that he wasn't too demanding on making her do everything for him. Kouyo had witnessed one sided conversations where the unseen and unheard participant still encouraged Hikaru to play tennis as a member of her school's tennis club, though she was not a regular on the school team. With her status of a causal member of the club, Hikaru was not required to attend all the club practices and would play hooky and skip practices more often than she should have.

Kouyo would have reprimanded Hikaru for her lack of responsibility if it wasn't for the fact that Hikaru mostly skipped practices in order to catch a game with him. In a way he was pleased that Hikaru thought highly of the time he spent teaching her and liked how she wanted him to play with Sai as much as possible, however he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for encouraging such behavior from the girl.

"It's not that big of a deal," Hikaru brushed it off when he told her that maybe she should start taking tennis seriously. "It's my cousin that told me to join the team. He's likes teaching me and he's a bit … strange. I think he wanted me in the club so he can keep a closer eye on me."

Kouyo raised his eyebrow at her words. It seemed like Hikaru did a lot more things for the sake of others than just playing go. "Don't you get in trouble for not attending practice regularly though?"

"Hahaha," she nervously chuckled. "My cousin … is strange. They won't say anything because they don't want to be on his bad side. Plus, I'm not a regular member so it doesn't matter as much …"

She shrugged. "It's no big deal. Besides, there's nothing else we can do … you're busy sensei. And I much rather spend time playing go with you and Sai than play tennis."

It was endearing the way Hikaru had warmed up to Go the way she did. She had started out as someone who knew of the game, but did not know the game to someone who showed extraordinary skills in playing Go. Her tactics and strategies were unorthodox and compelling to witness and play against. However, what was more amazing was the amount of time it took her to build up her skill in go. While Akira's current skills had been developed over his lifetime, Hikaru had risen to her current level far more quickly by comparison.

It would not surprise him at all if Hikaru had decided to take the professional examination in the upcoming year and passed it without much difficult at all. He was quite proud of the girl and couldn't help but wish she would consider a career as a go professional. She would create waves, similar to the ones that Akira had created. She would also be able to show everyone even more of Sai's go.

He could hear the sound of the front door sliding open before a telltale "tha-dunk", undeniably it was the sound of sneakers getting thrown haphazardly by the door, followed. It was definitely Hikaru that had just arrived at his home. He couldn't help but take a look at his watch as well. It had been nearly ten minutes since Akira had left for a two day conference a few towns north of here. The two had barely missed each other yet again.

"Sorry for the intrusion." The bubbly voice echoed in his house. Kouyo got up from his chair, placing the book that he had been idly reading before she arrived on the table. His musings were forgotten as he began to focus on the reality of his young student rather than his private meanderings. She was a fascinating little enigma in theory but far more interesting in person, most especially when she was on the other side of the goban.

AN:Sorry for the delay! Work and school has kept me busy and writing this fic takes a bit more time than one would imagine. If it wasn't for Draegyn (my saving grace) helping me fix up my oddities in the chapter, I might have rewritten the entire thing for the seventh time this month.

I hope many questions are answered: yes, people know about Hikaru. Yes, Akiko knows and absolutely adores Hikaru. Yes, it is quite weird how Hikaru and Akira have yet to meet (so much that Ogata likes to bring up his chance meetings to Akira whenever he can).

Thank you all for the reviews. I loved reading them and hope I can crank out another chapter as soon as possible.

Beta's note: Three cheers for Anna! Another awesome chapter! Isn't it cure how Hikaru's spending time at the Touyas'? Feed Anna and I reviews- we love them!! 3 Torina Archelda