[Fic]: The Long Awaited Game (1/?)

[zinkini]

Title: The Long Awaited Game
Fandom: Hikaru no Go
Rating: G
Summary:  After earning four titles only in his twenties, Touya Akira didn't think he would find anyone who would match his strength, until an eighteen-year-old boy challenged him. AU where Shindou and Touya didn't meet until later in Touya's life.
Disclaimer: Hikaru no Go and its characters are not mine.



Touya Meijin greeted Ichikawa-san as he stepped into the Go salon.

"Touya-sensei," Ichikawa-san greeted, her once young and uninhibited smile now matured into something warm and motherly ever since her engagement. "You got back early."

Akira remembered the days when she used to call him, "Akira-kun," and would buy him ice-cream and pat his back whenever he had a particularly bad day, or sneak him some candy when he stopped by after school, even though Akira had insisted that he was too old for it (he was seven). Akira was definitely too old for that now, but there were old remnants he would like to keep. "Please, just 'Akira' is fine," he said. She had known him and had taken care of him way too long for formalities.

"Akira-kun," her smile grew brighter at his words. "How was your game today?" She asked, more out of politeness than true inquiry, since in her mind Akira-kun would never lose.

Her assumption was correct. "Kurata-7 dan played very well," Akira said courteously. He didn't need to voice the fact that he had won by a large margin, again. There had not been a true challenge to Touya Akira since he had surpassed his father.

Akira knew that he was going to go high, up to a place where no one in the Go world right now could reach, but not high enough to achieve what he truly wanted. All of the games that he had played so far, with the exception of his father's and Kuwabara-Honinbou's, had been unsatisfying, lacking in something that Akira didn't yet understand, but knew that he was searching for.

"How is Shimane-san?" Akira asked, preventing himself from straying too far into his own thoughts. He was glad that Ichikawa-san finally found someone that made her happy. They were going to get married in June, a nice, small summer wedding.

Akira smiled as Ichikawa-san began to retell a story involving her fiancé, their cat, and the wedding planner. It was nice to see her doting less on him and more on her own life. Ichikawa-san had done so much for him that he didn't know if he'd ever repay her enough. She was a sister that he'd never had.

"Ah!" Ichikawa-san clasped her hands. "There's someone here to see you."

"Who is it?" Akira asked, more out of habit than of curiosity. Aside from Go professionals, customers, reporters, and some occasional brave fans, Akira didn't expect anyone else.

"It's a boy," and here Ichikawa-san bit her lips to hold back a laugh. "He wants to challenge you to a game."

"Is he an Insei?" Akira asked, not interested. It wasn't everyday that random children challenged him, for there was always a sense of respect and fear that came with the age gap and Akira's titles. He looked at the clipboard of customer sign-in, seeing the only name in a chidish scrawl, one that wasn't a regular customer.

Shindou Hikaru. Unranked.

"No, he isn't," Ichikawa-san said. "But he is quite insistent that he must play a game against you."

"I see," Akira said. Why not? He had a free afternoon; he could indulge in a simple game today.

"He's in the back, at your favorite table," Ichikawa-san said, and Akira immediately headed there, not catching the last of her words. "But Akira-kun, he-"

Akira caught the sight of a young boy with loud blond bangs and an even louder orange jacket, sitting hunched over the goban on Akira's favorite table. The boy barely looked eighteen-his limbs were too gangly, his cheeks too round, and if Akira had to make an assessment, he would say that the boy probably had no idea what to do with a goban. Nevertheless, Akira understood that an opponent couldn't be judge through anything but a game.

At Akira's approach, the boy snapped his head to look at him. "Touya!" he jerked upright in his chair, then, realizing how rude he sounded, he quickly corrected himself. "Touya Meijin," he ducked his head. "My name is Shindou Hikaru."

"It's nice to meet you, Shindou-san," Akira said gently, although Shindou's recent outburst sent warning bells in his head. He took a seat across from the boy and offered a smile. "I heard that you've come to challenge me to a game." Akira kept the amusement from his tone, even though it was difficult.

"Y-yes," Shindou nodded.

"Shall we?" Akira opened his goke, and, seeing that it was black, passed it to Shindou. "How many handicaps would you like?"

"Umm, actually, I would like to play an even game," Shindou scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I know that you're the Meijin and all, but, ummm, I really want an even game. Against you. I mean, you're only a few years older than me-" he trailed off.

"I see," Akira said, and it was even harder to keep down his amusement now. "How old are you, Shindou-san, may I ask?"

"I'm turning eighteen this fall," Shindou replied.

Akira was in his twenties. Nevertheless, age was not comparable to experience. Akira managed to defeat many opponents twice his age, and still held on to his four titles against them.

"Alright," Akira said. "Nigiri?"

"Yes!" Even with his oddities, Akira had to give the boy credits when it came to enthusiasm.

Shindou got black, and they proceeded with the game.

Akira noted that Shindou played a strong opening, although his joseki was a bit outdated. However, despite his old-style, several moves were more in tune with the current style, as if Shindou was playing the classics with a modern twist.

Interesting.

Shindou played surprisingly well for someone his age. His Go was shaky, but confident; wild, but effective. If Akira had to guess, he would say that Shindou was at the level of a 4-dan.

That was, until Shindou placed a mistake in the upper right territory.

Akira was disappointed. He had expected better from this boy, but perhaps he had been hasty in judging his abilities. Unluckily for Shindou, Akira wasn't one to go easy on anyone. He quickly attacked that spot of weakness, unrelenting in his aggression. The game continued with Akira ahead by five moku, and Akira calculated that the gap will widen once they reached mid-game, and this match wouldn't even reach yose, even though Shindou's ability to stand his ground was quite impressive.

Then, just as quickly and unexpectedly as he had jumped into Akira's life, Shindou saved the cluster of stones that Akira thought was going to die in two moves, and quickly close the gap between the two of them. Akira responded, but Shindou finally bared his fangs, shredding his camouflage and revealed his true strength.

It was a trap, Akira realized with a shaky breath. A very well constructed one, hidden deep in the board since the beginning of the game and slowly gaining strength over time, feeding gradually from Akira's overconfidence until it was strong enough to maul Akira's neck. Akira felt his hands shaking in shock and excitement, as Shindou placed his next move, his Go morphing into the predator that it truly was.

This.

This was the game that Akira wanted to play, the game that Akira had been waiting to play. This thrill of battle had been missing in all of his games so far. Whoever Shindou Hikaru was, he was the opponent that Akira was waiting for. He studied the boy in front of him, taking note of his intense expression, eyebrows furrowing and eyes dark, and thought that perhaps Shindou would grow into the rival that Akira had always wanted.

Akira's Go growled back, challenging Shindou to come after him again. Shindou prowled around Akira before launching forward for another attack, but Akira wasn't going to let Shindou catch him by surprise a second time. Akira swiped back with a swift move of his claw, taking away a part of Shindou's territory, but Shindou quickly hopped back on his feet and went for Akira's throat again. Shindou was too hasty in going for the kill this time, because Akira had anticipated his attack and quickly responded with a clean cut in Shindou's upper left. Shindou suffered great damage, but Akira knew that he wouldn't give up so easily, and, just as he expected, Shindou wiped the blood dripping at the corner of his mouth and struck again.

In the end, Shindou lost by four and a half moku, not an unusual margin when Akira played with other opponents, but...

Akira felt his breaths and his heart still racing fast with the adrenaline from the game as he studied the board, black and white clashing in the fiercest battle he had ever played. His eyes traced the path of each stone, relived each second of the battle well-fought, and knew that he was willing to replay this game over and over again.

A sudden movement from Shindou snapped Akira out of his thoughts. "Thank you so much for the game," Shindou bowed hastily before rising abruptly on his feet, knocking his chair over as he did so. "You completely went above me." There was something in his voice, something like disappointment and a tinge of self-loathing. "I don't deserve to play this game."

"That's not true," Akira clenched his fists. "Why don't we-"

"I'm sorry, Touya-sensei, for wasting your time," Shindou turned away from Akira.

"Wait!" Akira said. "We haven't discussed the game." They had to discuss this game. Akira needed them to discuss this game.

"There's nothing to discuss, Touya-sensei," Shindou said, bangs covering the emotions in his eyes from Akira. He backed away from the table. "I really should have known-it really should have been him who plays you instead."

Shindou wasn't making any sense. They had played a good game, an excellent game. Shindou had played brilliantly, not more skilled than many pros, but definitely more special.

"Wait!" Akira rose to his feet, and that was Shindou's cue to run toward the entrance. "I'd really like to play another game with you!" That made Shindou paused momentarily, but before Akira could get close to the boy, Shindou bolted, scrambling past Hirose-san and out of the door.

Akira went after him, going past Hirose-san. "I'm sorry, Hirose-san," he said quickly before pushing through the door. Akira rushed to the street, glancing back and forth for the familiar blond bangs and loud orange jacket, heart racing.

But the boy was gone.

Akira scanned through the crowd of pedestrians, frantically searching for the boy but finding nothing. He was gone, just like that, leaving nothing behind but a name.

Damn it.

Akira let out an angry breath. If only he had been quicker, if only he had stopped Shindou before he managed to get away….

Akira walked back into the salon, feeling dejected. He could feel the other patrons' eyes on him, knowing that he had made a scene, but he couldn't muster the will to care at the moment. That boy-that Go that he wanted to fight against-had escaped from his grasp.

Shindou Hikaru.

Who was he?

Ichikawa-san gave him a worried look, but Akira ignored it in favor of gripping the sign-in clipboard tightly, staring at the one name on the paper as if it would give him answers.

"Akira-kun, what happened?" Ichikawa-san asked gently.

Akira didn't answer her. He suddenly felt younger than his age, wanting to throw a tantrum, but restrained himself from doing so because he was old enough to control his emotions. It was the first time that Akira had ever felt so young, so energetic, like a child chasing another in a game of tag. He tightened his grip on the clipboard, feeling the plastic digging painfully into his palm.

"The game-" Ichikawa-san said slowly as if she was afraid that bringing it up would upset Akira again.

"He lost," Akira said flatly. But it was a brilliant game.

"Oh, of course," Ichikawa-san said, still looking unsettled with Akira's answer. "It is his first time playing, after all, and to think that he wanted to challenge Akira-kun-"

A heavy slam made Ichikawa-san jerked in surprise and momentary fear. The entire salon became completely silent, all eyes on Akira, who had just slammed the clipboard against the counter.

"His. First. Time. Playing," Akira said each word with such fervor that Ichikawa-san had to take a step back.

"Akira-kun?"

"Ichikawa-san," Akira hid his eyes behind his bangs. "Are you sure?"

"Y-yes," Ichikawa-san said. "He said that this is going to be his first game. I tried to stop him from challenging you, but-" She trailed off, eyes widening in concern as Akira's shoulders began to shake. "Akira-kun?" She was worried. Akira-kun, in all of the years that she had known him, had never acted this way before. "Is everything al-" But she couldn't finish her sentence, because...

Because Akira was shaking in excitement.

There was a fierce look in his eyes, a frightening fire that Ichikawa-san had never seen on him before, not even in title matches, not even against his father or Kuwabara-Honinbou or Ogata-san. Whoever this Shindou Hikaru was, Ichikawa-san knew that he was special.

Akira clenched and unclenched his fists.

Shindou Hikaru.

I will find you.

Part 2.