Title: DIFFERENT ROADS, SAME DESTINATION
Author: Lady Addiction
Fandom: Hikaru no Go
Pairings: None
Warnings: GEN, AU, angst, people with disabilities
Dedication: In thanks to the Lord for his many mercies in my own life.

Hah, this chapter is posted quickly (for me) in part to thank those who took the time to review, especially the ones who pointed out what they liked about the fic! It was really fantastic to read your comments and very encouraging as well. So I hope that this chapter will be good for you as well.

One thing perhaps I need to explain: There were about three to four chapters that were already written out before I broke my arm and had to stop. Then, after I healed, not only did I not write for a long period of time, but my computer crashed so many times that I thought I lost those chapters. Thus, there is most likely this sense of disjointedness in the chapters and in the story itself because my approach now is different from then. I still hope that you may continue to like the fic as it progresses---you'll probably see more weird tangents in the future too. And yeah, there are several plotholes---thank you for pointing them out. I'll try and fix them when I can.

Caveat: I did look up Japanese elementary school, but not all the details here are completely factual since I didn't attend one.

WWW

VI.

Home Economics was one of Fujisaki Akari's favourite subjects because she had a lot of fun learning to cook and bake, sew and embroider, and even help at the small vegetable garden assigned to their class.

Today was a sewing day, but Akari was finding it very difficult to concentrate on her sewing project. Instead, her eyes kept moving away from the embroidery frame to watch the boy seated next to her.

Hikaru was acting strangely. Actually, he had been acting strangely ever since he got out of the hospital after he became ill suddenly. Akari couldn't understand it; Hikaru had been sick before, like the times when the two of them had measles and chicken pox. What so different now?

First, he quit the soccer team. Akari knew Hikaru loved soccer and playing, yet he quit the game for no good reason and decided to sign up for swimming lessons at the local recreation center. On top of that, she was walking past one of the studios at the recreation facility towards her ballet class on a late Saturday afternoon and saw Hikaru struggling in an adult's beginner yoga class! Hikaru and yoga?!

Akari had tried to ask Hikaru about it, but he just brushed her off. The more she insisted, the more he got angry until he finally shouted that she was the 'most stupid, annoying girl he ever knew' and that he hated how nosy she was. Stung and hurt, she fled to the washroom and cried. Their other friends had then ganged up on Hikaru, telling him how terrible he was but he had just ignored them and kept quiet for the rest of the day.

Hikaru's mother was also of no help. When she tried to ask during one of her visits, Oba-san had just smiled and hugged her, asking her to keep an eye on Hikaru and to take care of her. Akari had replied frankly that she always took care of Hikaru anyway, and Oba-san chuckled softly before leaving. Akari gave up asking.

However, that didn't mean she forgot all about it. Instead, more and more she watched Hikaru carefully, trying to figure out what was going on all by herself. She could do it too! After all, she was the second-best student in the class!

Right now, Hikaru was quietly struggling with his embroidery frame. Like all the other boys, he had chosen one of the animal patterns, while the girls went with flowers. While Akari's lily was blooming steadily underneath her hands, Hikaru's tiger seemed to be writhing in pain.

The boy looked up from his frame and saw Akari staring at him. Hikaru scowled ferociously. "Leave me alone, Akari! I don't need your help!"

"But, Hikaru, look you're---"

"I said leave me alone!" He yelled. The class quietened and everyone stared at them. Minami-sensei walked towards them. "Is there a problem, Akari-chan, Hikaru-chan?"

"No, Sensei, I was just helping Hikaru with his tiger," Akari replied. Hikaru ignored the two of them and looked down at his frame. Minami-sensei looked back and forth between them before finally saying, "Please keep it down. And Akari-chan, there are other people who may be wanting more help than Hikaru-chan."

"Hai, Sensei," Akari mumbled, looking down and flushing. She sent a nasty glare at her friend, but the boy never looked up.

That was one of the things that had changed in Hikaru. Before her friend was more cheerful and energetic, though he was also very impatient and proud. He tolerated the classes, but he was more eager to go out and play than study. He also never had a problem with her trying to help him in their classes before, especially for Home Economics. In fact, Hikaru more often than not tried to get her to finish his projects for him, but she was the one who refused. Now it was the other way around.

Akari gnawed at her lower lip and decided to concentrate on her project right now. It wasn't any of her concern if Hikaru handed in a mutated tiger.

As she continued to sew, she recalled an incident three weeks ago.

["Oi, there's a fifth-grader fighting with Hirose-sempai behind the school!"

"Are you serious? Hirose-sempai from the baseball club?!"

"I'm serious! I heard it's the kid with the weird hair! Do you want to go see?"

"Of course!"

The bamboo broom clattered loudly onto the class floor. Akari found herself shaking as she realized that they must have been talking about Hikaru. She ran from the classroom, ignoring her classmates who yelled at her.

She skidded to a halt at the edge of a small group of students gathered at the backyard of the school. Akari pushed her way through, a loud pounding in her ears competing with the shouting and cheering. When she made it to the front, she stood still, staring at Hikaru.

Her friend had a blackened eye and a bleeding lip which he wiped with his sleeve. His opponent was big for a sixth-grader, bulky at the shoulders with an evil expression on his ugly face. There was bruising in his right cheek. Right now, the two of them circled each other warily.

"Who do you think you are, a hero?" the older boy sneered at Hikaru. "We don't need stupid heroes like you at this school."

"Heh, come and get me then or are you afraid a fifth-grader's going to blacken your eye?" Hikaru taunted.

"Hah, I'm the one who's going to blacken your other eye!" The older boy rushed in with a punch, but Hikaru ducked to the left. He brought up his own fist and it made a loud smacking sound as it hit the other boy's left eye. Hirose shouted in pain and tried to launch himself at Hikaru again, but the younger boy hooked his foot around one of the other's ankles and tripped him. Hirose landed with a thud on the dusty ground.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Students scattered as the P.E. teacher marched towards them. He stopped near Akari and glared down at Hikaru and Hirose. "WELL?!"

"This little kid tried to break my nose!" The sixth-grader shouted. "You should expel him!"

"Oh really? And Shindou-kun just tried to break your nose without reason, Misato-kun? That's not what I heard from Kobayashi-kun. Misato-kun, you've been warned twice already about your bullying. The two of you will come with me right now to the nurse's office and then we'll deal with your punishments." Akari followed after them, totally bewildered about what was going on.

"Ne, Hikaru, why did you fight with Hirose-sempai?" she asked him as they walked home from school. Hikaru had been warned against fighting and his mother had been called, but he was free from other punishments. The sixth-grader, however, was given a week-long suspension and was pulled from the baseball club.

"He's just a stupid bully," Hikaru replied dismissively. The nurse had fussed over him particularly, warning Hikaru about 'aggravating his condition' and 'not overexerting himself'. Akari had listened to the admonishments and she knew that her worries about Hikaru were correct.

"Hikaru, what did the nurse mean when she mentioned 'your condition'?"

"It's nothing, Akari."

"Hikaru, why aren't you telling me?! I'm your friend, aren't I?! I'm not going to tell anyone!"

"I said it's nothing, Akari! Now come on, I don't want Kaa-san to be even madder at me if I come in late!" With that, Hikaru ran off, leaving a very frustrated Akari to follow.

Akari had been forced to ask their classmates about what happened. It seemed Hikaru had come upon the sixth-grader beating up on the fourth-grader and had jumped in suddenly. The fourth-grader had run (smartly, she thought) for a teacher, while Hikaru continued to face off against the bully. Hikaru never mentioned the incident, though Akari heard rumours that her friend had told off a few of the lesser bullies but there were no more fights.

And then there was last week when Hikaru's mother called her house. She said that Hikaru was sick and that he won't be going to school for a week and asked if Akari wouldn't mind picking up Hikaru's homework. Akari had agreed; however, every time she attempted to visit him, Hikaru would always yell at her to go away. What was even stranger was that Hikaru was back at school three days later and he looked perfectly fine. She had wondered if he was faking, but she didn't think Mitsuko-obasan would let Hikaru get away with not going to class after he'd missed so much already without good reason.

She yelped as she accidentally stabbed her thumb. She stuck the digit into her mouth and sucked away the blood. Hikaru was so annoying! He was always changing before her! First, he gets all mad because she asks him if something's wrong and then, he starts acting friendly and asking her about jobs and grades of all things! Hikaru never cared before!

Akari knew there was something going on here. It was like those novels she read: her journalistic instinct was telling her that there was a big story with Hikaru and a good journalist never allowed a lead to go unexplored.

WWWW

This is more vignette-ish, a lot more in line with the first chapters than the one before it. Re-reading was kind of interesting as I rarely write from a girl's pov nowadays. I hope it worked out.