A Tale of One (Two, Three) Boys (Kishimoto/Mitani)
Title: A Tale of One (Two, Three) Boys
Pairing: Kishimoto/Mitani, vague hints to Mitani/Shindou
Rating: PG
Words: ~5600
Summary: Mitani meets Shindou, and then he meets Kishimoto.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Hikaru no Go. The title is of course a reference to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
A/N: Thank you to mu51ng_drag0n for inspiring the pairing, to verloren1983 for making me sign up for blind_go, to lenta_85 for spell-checking and to ai_ling for the awesome beta which made this fic so much better. Originally posted here, this version has one very minor edit. lots of grammar editing, thanks to viridian_magpie!
The first time Mitani becomes aware of Shindou, it's because of his annoying habit to be overly familiar with strangers. Shindou drags Mitani to his stupid Go club and tries to make him come to a boring tournament.
Mitani just wants to be left alone, so he cheats during his game, in the hopes of that driving Shindou and his friends away.
(It's not that Mitani really thinks that school clubs are rubbish or something. He's just not a very friendly person, so it's difficult for him to join group activities. That's why he likes Go, anyway - it's all about individualistic talent.)
But Mitani is wrong about Shindou. He doesn't leave Mitani alone, but comes to look for Mitani at his usual Go salon.
"What did you come to see?" Mitani asks. To see if I really cheat when playing? Fine, I'll show you.
Then his opponent turns the tables, and Mitani looks horrified as he sees himself lose 10,000 yen (10,000 yen!). And Shindou is there to see it.
This is more embarrassing than that one time when Mitani was eight and in a shop with his mother and screamed loudly that he wanted to get a certain red shirt. His mum had to point out it was girls' clothing, and remembered to tell the story to every relative for the next five months.
When Mitani is running home with tears in his eyes, he knows that Shindou has become his least favorite person in the world and one he'll never want to see again. He has lost face so completely.
*
"How did you get it back?" Mitani asks.
Shindou rubs his neck embarrassedly and tells obvious lies. But if he wants to keep the way of getting back 10,000 yen for Mitani a secret, Mitani won't start questioning him.
He also can't refuse joining the Go club, though there's no way he'll go to any tournament.
However, when everyone looks down on Mitani because Shindou told them about his cheating habits (though really, doesn't it just make him cool that he has the nerve to do that?), he feels a sudden, strange urge to prove his real skills to them.
Before he notices, he has promised to join their tournament, as well.
*
After all, the Go club isn't that bad, really. Mitani comes almost every day, and though he tells himself it's because he can't go to the salon anymore, he won't look at that explanation too closely, because Tokyo is filled with other Go salons that aren't owned by senile old men who invite people to trick their customers and who Mitani wants to avoid ever seeing again.
"I resign" Shindou sighs, and Mitani smirks at him. He's by far the best player in the club. No wonder they wanted him so badly.
Playing with Shindou is nicer than playing with Tsutsui, Mitani thinks. Tsutsui is better, but Shindou is more excited and he shows his feelings, joy as well as frustration, in a way Mitani never could. Somehow Mitani finds himself enjoying the way the boy grins when he is doing something he likes.
Still, outside Go, Shindou drives him crazy. Mitani sticks firmly to that opinion.
*
"I didn't think you'd come!" Shindou shouts delightedly, when he notices Mitani. Mitani sneers, because Shindou isn't happy to see him but the necessary third member of the team. Even if Mitani will be the one ensuring they don't get their asses kicked.
For some reason he is happy to see Shindou, though. It can't be because he's starting to like having Shindou as a friend, because he isn't. Shindou's too loud.
Shindou asks him to play a game, and because Mitani is too busy to tell himself he shouldn't be feeling happy and excited, he declines out of habit. Then he realizes that that might have helped to take his mind off of other, more unnerving thoughts. Before he can think of a graceful way of changing his mind, though, the Kaio people arrive. The guys he's here to beat.
There's a boy who tells Shindou he's there just to play him, and Shindou stares at him with an intensity Mitani wouldn't have thought possible for the easy-going Shindou.
This boy's, Touya's, face isn't one bit less intense, and for some reason the other pupils of Kaio make a big deal of all this 'I'm here for you' stuff even though it's ridiculous, obviously, because otherwise Mitani being there for Shindou would mean something extraordinary, too.
Therefore, they are clearly just a bunch of idiots too full of themselves, and Mitani makes his opinion known (though when Mitani looks at Shindou, it's clear that his world has suddenly narrowed down to one where only those two exist. It annoys Mitani.)
Someone from Kaio steps out and shakes hands with Mitani. He's their captain, Kishimoto, who looks down on Mitani now but who Mitani will crush, undoubtedly. He has no other option.
When he loses, and his team is humiliated, he decides Kishimoto just made it to his "Top Ten People I Hate" list.
*
Even though they lose the tournament, or maybe because, Mitani continues in the club.
Until the summer holidays come.
*
"That friend of yours sure is enthusiastic about Go!" Mitani's sister Kiyoko says as she is setting the table.
Mitani gets that uncomfortable feeling he has been getting every time Shindou is mentioned since he started to play him frequently. Speaking of friends shouldn't have that kind of an effect, should it?
"How so?" he mutters, reluctant to egg on the conversation.
"He has been coming to the café every day when I'm there!" Kiyoko says. "He doesn't seem the type to want to spend the entire summer holidays in front of the computer, but I guess you can't always tell… But anyway! You should come and drag him outside for swimming or something some day, it's not healthy for him to just sit inside."
"Don't wanna," Mitani says, and while that's true, he doesn't want to spend too much time pondering why.
Kiyoko doesn't let go that easily, though. She bothers Mitani almost daily about this.
"But Yuuki! You never do anything with your friends! Shindou-kun would certainly like to do something with you, just go and ask him!"
"He isn't asking me either," Mitani points out.
His sister makes an exasperated sound, like Mitani's reasons aren't valid, though Mitani just offered her the one and only true one.
*
"Yuuki, you have no excuses! He is your friend because I let him use our computers every day for free!"
Mitani glares at his annoying sister. "Well, then stop letting him!"
"That's not the point! I like him, he can use them all he wants, that's not bothering me. You and your Go obsession are. You never spend time with your friends. Just come and say hi to him, at least, please, Yuuki."
"Fine," Mitani says darkly.
"The summer holidays end soon, so you better come by tomorrow," she warns him.
*
The next day finds Mitani slouching towards Kiyoko's Internet café. He wasn't going to go, despite promising her, but apparently she had told their mum, who practically threw him out of the house after lunch.
"Mitani-kun," says a drawling voice and makes Mitani stop. When he realizes who it is, his expression darkens.
"Kishimoto," he grunts.
"What a coincidence, running into you like this." Kishimoto is standing at a traffic light with a cup of coffee in his hand and what looks like a heavy stack of books under his other arm.
"Yeah…"
"I wonder if you'd fancy a game," Kishimoto asks, his eyes sharp.
Mitani wants to say yes, because their last one was far from satisfying, but he has already imagined what he'll say to Shindou, and…
"Uh, no, I'm on my way to see Shindou now, you see, so if you'll excuse me…" Mitani stammers.
"Oh, of course," Kishimoto says and waves his hand. Mitani feels uneasy walking away from a challenge but banishes that feeling.
When he arrives at the café his sister tells him that Shindou's not there.
"Some other boy came here and they had an argument, and then he left. Geez, you should have come earlier!"
Mitani snorts and goes to buy ice-cream before heading back home.
*
When Mitani sees Shindou again, he wishes he had gone to see him during the summer after all. Shindou has developed so much (…in his Go), and Mitani wishes he had been there to see it. Now it comes as a shocking surprise that Shindou beats him with a three-stone handicap.
It makes Mitani excited about the future.
*
"You play Go?" Mitani exclaims, and people in the classroom look around to see what the commotion is.
Natsume nods, a bit abashed, and Mitani grins widely. "Then why aren't you in our Go club? You really must join!"
"Ehhh, I don't know… I'm not very good, I just started…"
"That doesn't matter! See, we only want new members because we need three to join a tournament, and we don't have that many, not unless you join, so you will, right?" Mitani looks expectantly at Natsume. "Right?"
"O-okay," Natsume says, and Mitani claps his shoulder in delight. This is a good day for Mitani, first his mum agreed to buy him new sneakers, and now they got a new member! Not even getting the results of a history exam he blew can dampen his mood.
Nothing, until Shindou tells his little surprise to the club.
"Become an Insei?! You can't!" Mitani shouts and tries to shake some sense into Shindou.
After all he has manipulated Mitani into doing, after pretending that he's Mitani's friend, he doesn't think twice before throwing it all away.
For Go, and Touya Akira.
Mitani shouts at Shindou, trying to make him understand what he's losing. What Mitani is losing.
But Shindou looks helplessly at Mitani, and the words 'Touya Akira' are written in his eyes. Mitani's Go simply isn't good enough for Shindou, and so Mitani isn't either.
"Kaga!" Tsutsui shouts, as some weirdo kid interrupts them by jumping in from the window. After some fuss Mitani finds out that this is some dumbass who is strong at Go but prefers shougi. Mitani dislikes him immediately. He's loud like Shindou. And probably strong only compared to Tsutsui, anyway.
"Oh, you should totally become an Insei!" Kaga exclaims, like he knows anything, and Mitani wants to throttle him.
"If he quits, I'm quitting too!" Mitani shouts. There would be no point, no point at all, in the Go club if Shindou weren't there. He's the reason why Mitani is there - because he forced Mitani to come, of course, not because Mitani likes playing with Shindou or anything, of course not…
Mitani turns to walk away from all those morons.
"Mitani, wait, play a game with Shindou," Tsutsui-senpai says.
Mitani snorts and his steps don't even slow down.
"Mitani, play!" Shindou pleads, and his voice stops Mitani. Fine, he'll show Shindou that just because he's not Touya Akira he isn't worthless!
But even when Mitani gives everything he has, it's not enough.
"I lose," he whispers. And not just the game.
He stares silently at the board. He fights back tears, because he doesn't want to humiliate himself when all these people are present, but he feels so helpless.
Shindou is going away to chase others, leaving Mitani behind. Because Mitani isn't good enough.
That day, when Mitani leaves school he sees Kaga and Tsutsui walking away together.
Tsutsui is so much worse than Kaga, Mitani is much closer to Shindou's level than Tsutsui's to Kaga's, and Mitani doesn't understand why they can be friends if he and Shindou can't. Why does skill have to mean so much to Shindou?
Well, Mitani had better start forgetting Shindou now, and the Go club as well, because that's something he won't have ever again. He wants it that way.
***
It's March, and Mitani is debating whether to buy Morning Musume's CD or not, when someone stops next to him. He glances up casually, and is shocked to find Kishimoto looking at him with an amused smile on his face, like Mitani is a good joke.
"How is your Go improving?" he asks, by a way of greeting, and for a while Mitani is tempted to feign that he doesn't recognize Kishimoto. He annoys Mitani with all his assumptions.
"I'm not playing anymore." He looks back at the CD in avoidance of Kishimoto's eyes, and tells himself there's no reason to feel embarrassed because it's just a stupid old men's game.
Kishimoto is silent for a moment before saying, "Shindou became an Insei."
Mitani feels a blush creeping up his cheeks, and nods reluctantly. Trust Kishimoto to figure something like that out, even though he doesn't know Mitani at all, that annoying guy.
Then Kishimoto's hand is at Mitani's chin and he forces Mitani to look up, to meet his eyes.
"You didn't start playing Go because of Shindou Hikaru. That's why you can't stop playing it because of him, either." His eyes are cold, and commanding. Mitani shivers, and tells himself he's just bristling with anger.
Kishimoto's fingers are cold, but it feels like Mitani's skin under them is burning. He wants to say something, but his brain moves ten times more slowly than usually. All he can do is look stupidly back at Kishimoto.
"Eep!" squeaks some random girl who has turned around the corner and noticed them. Kishimoto averts his gaze from examining Mitani's face, and Mitani takes this opportunity to back away.
"I need to go," he mutters and nearly runs away from the shop.
At home, he lies in his bed and rubs his chin.
Kishimoto has very grey eyes.
*
When the other people in the Go club start pestering Mitani, he remembers Kishimoto's words. He decides that there was some wisdom in them and re-joins the club. He thinks of how Kishimoto would radiate silent approval if he knew.
And so he's happy with the decision, even if that new girl drives him crazy. At least he gets to shove it in Shindou's face that he has something Shindou can't have.
*
When Mitani sees Kishimoto the next time, it's a month and a half since their last meeting. A month and a half and still Mitani's face starts to tingle where Kishimoto touched him.
Kishimoto is standing outside a movie theater. Mitani walks up to him, trying to look as bored as possible despite the fact that his blood is rushing in his veins. He remembers vividly every little detail of their last encounter.
Kishimoto notices Mitani before he has reached him. Kishimoto probably sees right through his bored expression.
"Why, hello there, Mitani-kun," Kishimoto drawls and Mitani feels like all air has been punched out of him.
"Did you go back to your school club?" Kishimoto asks.
"Yeah," Mitani squeaks. He blushes and coughs. "Yeah," he repeats.
"I'm glad," Kishimoto answers.
Mitani fidgets uncomfortably, and opens his mouth to say something (probably very, very stupid) but Kishimoto beats him to it.
"Play one game with me, please," he says, and it's not a request. Not really.
Mitani straightens his spine and nods determinedly. Finally he can accept this challenge.
He will show that his Go has improved since his last defeat.
*
They find a Go salon and before Mitani has had time to take out his wallet Kishimoto has already paid their fee and is heading for a table in the corner.
They nigiri, and Mitani gets to start the game.
When Kishimoto plays a ko, Mitani feels himself hurled back to the time he faced Kishimoto as first board.
Mitani looks silently at the goban.
Shindou, wanna go get hamburgers today?, Mitani had wanted to say but had said nothing.
You should come and say hi to Shindou some day, Mitani's sister would say, but Mitani wouldn't go until it was too late.
Mitani, please play a game with me! Shindou would say, but Mitani would be too stubborn to do that.
Mitani looks at Kishimoto, and plays a ko threat in answer. I'm not afraid to confront you, the move says.
Kishimoto smiles that cold smile of his.
"Do you play Go anywhere else than your school's Go club? Do you frequent any Go salons?" Kishimoto asks after a few more moves.
"Er, yes. I usually go to a Go salon near the Tawaraya supermarket," Mitani answers.
"Hmm," Kishimoto says and plays his next stone.
*
The next time Mitani sees Kishimoto, it takes him a while to realize who he is.
This is because he is too busy looking at his clothes, or more specifically, at how very well his green sweater clings to his waist and even shows off a little bit of skin between the shirt and trousers, to notice who is wearing them.
When he realizes that it's Kishimoto he feels mortified. This must be the first time he has seen Kishimoto without his school uniform.
Luckily, Kishimoto hasn't noticed him yet because he's paying for a magazine to a street vendor, so Mitani is saved from the embarrassment of having been caught ogling his… senpai? Friend? Acquaintance? What is Kishimoto?
Mitani's frantic thoughts are interrupted by Kishimoto turning and noticing Mitani.
"Mitani-kun, nice to see you," Kishimoto says. "Are you on your way to somewhere?"
"The Go salon; it's right around the corner."
"Oh, really? May I accompany you there? It'd be nice to play another game with you."
Mitani can't really refuse, nor does he want to. Defeat by five moku, he wants to get revenge for that.
*
Kishimoto should be forbidden from playing Go in casual clothes. They are very much a distraction to Mitani, whose eyes stray away from the goban to linger on Kishimoto's shoulders, or his fingers, or his hair. The formal attire would make Mitani act more formal, too. Kishimoto isn't just a normal boy like everyone else, dammit, and Mitani shouldn't forget that.
*
When they are finished with the game and saying good-bye in the lobby (Mitani figured he'd be losing by seven moku so he resigned), Kishimoto shakes Mitani's hand like a grown-up.
"Thank you for the game, Mitani-kun," he says.
Then Mitani reacts without thinking. He clasps Kishimoto's hand with both hands and stretches up to kiss Kishimoto awkwardly on his left cheek.
Then he turns tail and runs.
By the time he gets home, he has already devised sixteen scenarios what he should have done instead. Four of them include not kissing Kishimoto at all, two of them aiming his kiss better and running away, two of them apologizing to Kishimoto right away after the kiss instead of running away, and eight not ending the kiss so quickly but instead twining his hand around Kishimoto's neck and running his fingers through Kishimoto's hair and deepening the kiss and Kishimoto moaning and touching his body and pushing him against the wall and…
Mitani wants to die.
He keeps touching his lips all evening.
*
Their next meeting is a planned ambush by Kishimoto. He is waiting for Mitani when he's walking home from school.
Mitani only notices Kishimoto when he grabs Mitani's arm and drags him inside a café. He pushes Mitani in one booth and sits next to Mitani instead of facing him - probably to block Mitani's way out, to prevent him from escaping. It's very good thinking from Kishimoto.
Mitani is too busy being shocked and feeling mortified to say or do anything before Kishimoto has ordered a soda for both of them.
When the waitress leaves, Kishimoto takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.
Mitani wants to die, so he shrinks back in his seat and looks down. Maybe his eyes can drill a hole into the ground where he can disappear, if he concentrates enough.
"How did… how did you know," Kishimoto takes a deep breath, "that I'm homosexual?"
This is something Mitani wasn't expecting to hear, so he looks up surprised and answers truthfully, "But I didn't. All I knew was that I liked you."
Kishimoto looks at Mitani, and Mitani looks at Kishimoto.
The café around them is busy and noisy, but to Mitani it all feels very distant, like they're in some sort of bubble of their own.
"I--," says Kishimoto.
Mitani smiles and puts his hand in his.
*
When Mitani gets home, he is three hours later than usual and he feels like he is hovering two inches above the ground. Kishimoto's phone number is burning in his pocket.
"Yuuki? Where have you been?" His mother appears from the kitchen.
"I… er," Mitani turns to hide his blush. "I was playing Go. Sorry I'm late."
"You shouldn't do that when you have homework to do," his mother reprimands him, but with a tired voice of someone who knows it won't do much good.
Mitani nods, but then he can't help smiling because he can't help thinking about Kishimoto, and thinking of Kishimoto makes him feel all warm inside, now, instead of cold horror it did for the last six days or confused frustration it did for a way too long time.
He runs upstairs to his room.
But instead of doing the homework he really should (Hanari-sensei will probably give him detention tomorrow) he curls up in his bed and concentrates on feeling happy.
*
"Kishimoto residence," answer a female voice. Mitani's heart is beating at least two hundred times a minute.
"…is Kishimoto Kaoru home?" he asks timidly.
"Sure, wait a second." Mitani hears the woman shouting 'Kaoru! Someone's calling you!'
Mitani waits anxiously, and is relieved when a familiar voice answers, "Kishimoto Kaoru speaking."
"Oh! Um, hi, it's me, Mitani." Mitani plays nervously with the phone cord.
"Hello," Kishimoto says solemnly.
They are silent for a while. Mitani feels giddy listening to Kishimoto's breathing.
"Was there some special reason you called me?" Kishimoto asks.
Mitani blushes furiously. He's such an idiot for calling Kishimoto already, when it's been just twenty-six hours since Kishimoto gave him the number.
But then he thinks of Kishimoto's smile when they are playing Go together or sitting in the café, and he gathers his courage.
"No, I was just wondering if maybe perhaps you'd like to do something… with me. Tomorrow. You know, it's Saturday…"
This time Mitani can practically hear Kishimoto's smile. "That would be nice."
"Oh! Um, great. So, er, shall we--"
"We could meet by the gates of Murakami Park at noon, if that's okay to you."
"Perfectly," Mitani answers, and thinks his heart will soon burst out of his chest.
*
They go to a movie. In the darkness, Mitani leans carefully against Kishimoto's shoulder and eats popcorn.
Afterwards, they are standing on the pavement and Mitani wonders if this is the moment they say goodbye, or if Kishimoto still wants to go do something with him.
"Wou-" Mitani starts.
"Kishimoto!" a girl materializes in front of them. "I haven't seen you in ages."
"Hidaka," Kishimoto says and smiles warmly. "How are you doing?"
The girl launches into explanations about her new high school and their Go club, and Mitani remembers that she was in the tournament, too.
Kishimoto nods to her opinions, and Mitani feels very short and young next to them.
"…and oh, what are we standing here in the street for, let's go get something to eat and catch up that way, eh?" Hidaka says and takes hold of Kishimoto's arm.
"I'm sorry, but we were on our way somewhere," Mitani says coldly, like only he can to people who annoy him.
Hidaka looks taken back and stammers an apology. The moment she lets go of Kishimoto's arm, Mitani seizes his other and starts walking away, nodding to Hidaka as a goodbye. He is prepared to drag Kishimoto away, if need be. Kishimoto looks very amused and bids Hidaka a more formal goodbye.
"And where is this place we were on our way to?" Kishimoto asks after they've left Hidaka behind.
"To my place. We can play video games," Mitani says determinedly and finally lets go of Kishimoto's arm.
"Okay," is all Kishimoto says.
They walk silently to Mitani's home, shoulders brushing from time to time but otherwise maintaining a respectable distance.
When his home is already in sight, Mitani realizes to his horror that he hasn't cleaned his room in a week and that it's a mess.
Would it be horribly rude to cancel the invitation now and suggest something else?
Maybe if he can come up with some other excuse than 'I don't want you to see my dirty underwear'?
But Mitani's brain moves too slowly, and his mother has already noticed them (she's outside doing gardening).
So Mitani has no other option but to go inside and hope to keep Kishimoto out of his room.
"Yuuki, how nice of you to bring a friend home," his mother says and smiles at Kishimoto. Now Mitani feels that Kishimoto will think of him as a loser who never brings friends home.
"Mother, this is Kishimoto. He is, um, he plays Go," Mitani says as an explanation. "Kishimoto, this is my mother."
"Pleased to meet you, Mitani-san," Kishimoto says solemnly and bows deeply to Mitani's mother. She has always appreciated politeness, and looks approvingly at Kishimoto.
"Would you like to have something to eat?" she offers, and Mitani realizes that staying in the kitchen is a perfect reason for not going to his room.
"Yes!" he says relieved, before Kishimoto could (politely) decline.
They go inside, and Mitani's mother fusses, and Mitani is kind of starting to regret his hasty decision to eat something because she is just driving him crazy.
Luckily she leaves them alone as soon as she has put everything on the table. She kisses Mitani on the top of his head before going and Mitani wants to die.<;br />
"You have a very nice mother," Kishimoto says. Mitani looks murderously at him through his lashes, daring him to say anything.
Kishimoto just sips at his tea.
Then Mitani's sister bounces into the room. "Hey, Yuu-- oh, hello."
"Nice to meet you," Kishimoto says and stands up. He bows. "I'm Kishimoto Kaoru."
Mitani's sister giggles. "My name's Mitani Kiyoko."
She looks curiously at Mitani as she sits down at the table. "So, you are Yuuki's friend, then?"
"We played against each other at one Go tournament," Mitani says. Kishimoto smiles and nods.
"Oh, really? Maybe you'll play with me some day!" Mitani's sister looks thrilled at the idea. She smiles beautifully as she tilts her head questioningly. She's flirting with him, Mitani realizes.
"No way!" Mitani yelps.
His sister looks hurt, and Kishimoto surprised at Mitani's strong reaction. "I wouldn't mind," he says softly.
"We are here to play video games, not Go," Mitani mutters. He drags Kishimoto with him as he leaves the room, not forgetting to give his sister a Look of Disapproval.
Now that they're out of the kitchen and Mitani made such a fuss, he hardly has any other choice but to take Kishimoto to his room.
"Sorry about the mess," Mitani mutters. He quickly picks up some of his clothes and throws them in one corner.
"That's quite alright," Kishimoto laughs a little. "You should see my room."
Mitani smiles nervously, because he doesn't quite believe Kishimoto's room could be anything but perfectly clean.
Kishimoto pushes his glasses up with his finger. "So. Video games, huh?"
Mitani stares blankly at Kishimoto. Right. "Er, actually I only have Bubble Bobble 2."
Kishimoto smiles that small smile of his that makes Mitani weak at his knees and pulls his eyes to Kishimoto's curving lips like gravity pulls elephants.
"I spend my money on CDs rather than new games," Mitani says.
Mitani wants to kiss Kishimoto, now that they're in private for the first time, finally, but he doesn't dare, because what if Kishimoto then thinks he invited him over just so that he could make out with him (which might be true to some extent but Kishimoto doesn't need to know it) and Mitani isn't even sure he knows how to do it. The last time wasn't exactly a success, and he doesn't want to embarrass himself. So he flops down on his bed (because Kishimoto hasn't taken his eyes off of Mitani, and has kept that knee-weakening smile on his face) and looks awkwardly around.
"We… could play Go instead," he suggests meekly.
"Or," Kishimoto says as he sits down on Mitani's bed and his knee is touching Mitani's thigh, Mitani's body informs his brain gleefully, "we could- -" Kishimoto stops abruptly and looks down at the floor. His cheeks turn slightly, but undeniably, pink.
Mitani sucks in a quick breath. He raises his hand to touch Kishimoto's neck softly, and then it all happens so quickly Mitani's brain has barely time to process how it happens. Kishimoto's mouth presses against his, and Mitani moans greedily for more. His legs have lost all their strength already, and then his spine does the same, and Mitani drags Kishimoto with him as he drops down to lie on his back.
Kishimoto pulls back, but not much so that he's still practically breathing into Mitani's open mouth. Mitani doesn't stop caressing his neck with his fingers. "Mitani-kun," Kishimoto says huskily, and Mitani trembles.
"Yes," he whispers, and tugs Kishimoto down impatiently by his shirt of which he has a steady grip with his other hand. It was going so well, their kiss, their first real kiss, and he doesn't want to give Kishimoto too much time to think of all his issues he's bound to have about propriety or how Mitani's family is at home now, he just wants to continue kissing because--
And Kishimoto kisses him again, softly this time, as he settles into a more comfortable position on the bed and on top of Mitani, and Mitani whole-heartedly approves of these actions. Kishimoto's lips are soft, and they send shivers all the way down to his toes.
It's a very nice Saturday.
***
Mitani is snuggling against Kishimoto, his arm around him, and reading Go Weekly.
When there is an article with a big picture of Shindou's face, he hurriedly turns the page. Not fast enough, apparently, because Kishimoto grabs the magazine and flips it back.
"Hmm. It says that Shindou-kun is playing in a public Go event in Asakusa. We should go and watch that," Kishimoto says casually.
Mitani stiffens. "I don't want to."
"But I do."
Mitani sighs and admits defeat.
*
'5-17'
'6-10'
'11-12'
Mitani stares at the board in fascination. Shindou's moves… they are above breath-taking. Maybe for a casual on-looker, they are just normal moves expected from a 3-dan pro, but for Mitani, who still remembers how Shindou held stones with four fingers or grinned when he managed to make Mitani pause to think of his next move, it is painfully sweet.
He squeezes Kishimoto's hand and doesn't let go.
*
After the game, when they're waiting to get their coats, an incredulous voice asks, "Mitani?"
Mitani turns. "Shindou." Shindou is smiling at him. "Nice game."
Shindou runs his hand self-consciously through his hair and laughs. "Thanks."
Kishimoto turns and wraps his hand around Mitani waist. Shindou's eyes linger at his fingers touching Mitani's hip before looking at his face.
"Shindou, you remember Kishimoto, right? I came here to watch your game with him," Mitani says.
"Oh, right, Kishimoto from Kaio! Of course I remember!" Shindou grins. "Actually, it's practically thanks to him that I became a pro. He made me realize that I'd have to go after Touya with everything I have, and that made me become an Insei, you know." He looks at Kishimoto. "I guess I should thank you, eh?"
Kishimoto smiles his polite smile. "No, no, I'm just glad my words had such an effect on you."
"Shindou-sensei! Could I have an autograph?" some old man interrupts them then, and Mitani and Kishimoto excuse themselves, leaving Shindou to do his work in peace.
"You made Shindou leave the Go club and become an Insei, huh?" Mitani asks pensively. "Why?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Kishimoto turns to look at Mitani. "He was occupying your thoughts way too much to my liking," he says, and kisses Mitani's nose.
*
Comments as well as concrit are very welcome!
Pairing: Kishimoto/Mitani, vague hints to Mitani/Shindou
Rating: PG
Words: ~5600
Summary: Mitani meets Shindou, and then he meets Kishimoto.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Hikaru no Go. The title is of course a reference to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
A/N: Thank you to mu51ng_drag0n for inspiring the pairing, to verloren1983 for making me sign up for blind_go, to lenta_85 for spell-checking and to ai_ling for the awesome beta which made this fic so much better. Originally posted here, this version has one very minor edit. lots of grammar editing, thanks to viridian_magpie!
The first time Mitani becomes aware of Shindou, it's because of his annoying habit to be overly familiar with strangers. Shindou drags Mitani to his stupid Go club and tries to make him come to a boring tournament.
Mitani just wants to be left alone, so he cheats during his game, in the hopes of that driving Shindou and his friends away.
(It's not that Mitani really thinks that school clubs are rubbish or something. He's just not a very friendly person, so it's difficult for him to join group activities. That's why he likes Go, anyway - it's all about individualistic talent.)
But Mitani is wrong about Shindou. He doesn't leave Mitani alone, but comes to look for Mitani at his usual Go salon.
"What did you come to see?" Mitani asks. To see if I really cheat when playing? Fine, I'll show you.
Then his opponent turns the tables, and Mitani looks horrified as he sees himself lose 10,000 yen (10,000 yen!). And Shindou is there to see it.
This is more embarrassing than that one time when Mitani was eight and in a shop with his mother and screamed loudly that he wanted to get a certain red shirt. His mum had to point out it was girls' clothing, and remembered to tell the story to every relative for the next five months.
When Mitani is running home with tears in his eyes, he knows that Shindou has become his least favorite person in the world and one he'll never want to see again. He has lost face so completely.
*
"How did you get it back?" Mitani asks.
Shindou rubs his neck embarrassedly and tells obvious lies. But if he wants to keep the way of getting back 10,000 yen for Mitani a secret, Mitani won't start questioning him.
He also can't refuse joining the Go club, though there's no way he'll go to any tournament.
However, when everyone looks down on Mitani because Shindou told them about his cheating habits (though really, doesn't it just make him cool that he has the nerve to do that?), he feels a sudden, strange urge to prove his real skills to them.
Before he notices, he has promised to join their tournament, as well.
*
After all, the Go club isn't that bad, really. Mitani comes almost every day, and though he tells himself it's because he can't go to the salon anymore, he won't look at that explanation too closely, because Tokyo is filled with other Go salons that aren't owned by senile old men who invite people to trick their customers and who Mitani wants to avoid ever seeing again.
"I resign" Shindou sighs, and Mitani smirks at him. He's by far the best player in the club. No wonder they wanted him so badly.
Playing with Shindou is nicer than playing with Tsutsui, Mitani thinks. Tsutsui is better, but Shindou is more excited and he shows his feelings, joy as well as frustration, in a way Mitani never could. Somehow Mitani finds himself enjoying the way the boy grins when he is doing something he likes.
Still, outside Go, Shindou drives him crazy. Mitani sticks firmly to that opinion.
*
"I didn't think you'd come!" Shindou shouts delightedly, when he notices Mitani. Mitani sneers, because Shindou isn't happy to see him but the necessary third member of the team. Even if Mitani will be the one ensuring they don't get their asses kicked.
For some reason he is happy to see Shindou, though. It can't be because he's starting to like having Shindou as a friend, because he isn't. Shindou's too loud.
Shindou asks him to play a game, and because Mitani is too busy to tell himself he shouldn't be feeling happy and excited, he declines out of habit. Then he realizes that that might have helped to take his mind off of other, more unnerving thoughts. Before he can think of a graceful way of changing his mind, though, the Kaio people arrive. The guys he's here to beat.
There's a boy who tells Shindou he's there just to play him, and Shindou stares at him with an intensity Mitani wouldn't have thought possible for the easy-going Shindou.
This boy's, Touya's, face isn't one bit less intense, and for some reason the other pupils of Kaio make a big deal of all this 'I'm here for you' stuff even though it's ridiculous, obviously, because otherwise Mitani being there for Shindou would mean something extraordinary, too.
Therefore, they are clearly just a bunch of idiots too full of themselves, and Mitani makes his opinion known (though when Mitani looks at Shindou, it's clear that his world has suddenly narrowed down to one where only those two exist. It annoys Mitani.)
Someone from Kaio steps out and shakes hands with Mitani. He's their captain, Kishimoto, who looks down on Mitani now but who Mitani will crush, undoubtedly. He has no other option.
When he loses, and his team is humiliated, he decides Kishimoto just made it to his "Top Ten People I Hate" list.
*
Even though they lose the tournament, or maybe because, Mitani continues in the club.
Until the summer holidays come.
*
"That friend of yours sure is enthusiastic about Go!" Mitani's sister Kiyoko says as she is setting the table.
Mitani gets that uncomfortable feeling he has been getting every time Shindou is mentioned since he started to play him frequently. Speaking of friends shouldn't have that kind of an effect, should it?
"How so?" he mutters, reluctant to egg on the conversation.
"He has been coming to the café every day when I'm there!" Kiyoko says. "He doesn't seem the type to want to spend the entire summer holidays in front of the computer, but I guess you can't always tell… But anyway! You should come and drag him outside for swimming or something some day, it's not healthy for him to just sit inside."
"Don't wanna," Mitani says, and while that's true, he doesn't want to spend too much time pondering why.
Kiyoko doesn't let go that easily, though. She bothers Mitani almost daily about this.
"But Yuuki! You never do anything with your friends! Shindou-kun would certainly like to do something with you, just go and ask him!"
"He isn't asking me either," Mitani points out.
His sister makes an exasperated sound, like Mitani's reasons aren't valid, though Mitani just offered her the one and only true one.
*
"Yuuki, you have no excuses! He is your friend because I let him use our computers every day for free!"
Mitani glares at his annoying sister. "Well, then stop letting him!"
"That's not the point! I like him, he can use them all he wants, that's not bothering me. You and your Go obsession are. You never spend time with your friends. Just come and say hi to him, at least, please, Yuuki."
"Fine," Mitani says darkly.
"The summer holidays end soon, so you better come by tomorrow," she warns him.
*
The next day finds Mitani slouching towards Kiyoko's Internet café. He wasn't going to go, despite promising her, but apparently she had told their mum, who practically threw him out of the house after lunch.
"Mitani-kun," says a drawling voice and makes Mitani stop. When he realizes who it is, his expression darkens.
"Kishimoto," he grunts.
"What a coincidence, running into you like this." Kishimoto is standing at a traffic light with a cup of coffee in his hand and what looks like a heavy stack of books under his other arm.
"Yeah…"
"I wonder if you'd fancy a game," Kishimoto asks, his eyes sharp.
Mitani wants to say yes, because their last one was far from satisfying, but he has already imagined what he'll say to Shindou, and…
"Uh, no, I'm on my way to see Shindou now, you see, so if you'll excuse me…" Mitani stammers.
"Oh, of course," Kishimoto says and waves his hand. Mitani feels uneasy walking away from a challenge but banishes that feeling.
When he arrives at the café his sister tells him that Shindou's not there.
"Some other boy came here and they had an argument, and then he left. Geez, you should have come earlier!"
Mitani snorts and goes to buy ice-cream before heading back home.
*
When Mitani sees Shindou again, he wishes he had gone to see him during the summer after all. Shindou has developed so much (…in his Go), and Mitani wishes he had been there to see it. Now it comes as a shocking surprise that Shindou beats him with a three-stone handicap.
It makes Mitani excited about the future.
*
"You play Go?" Mitani exclaims, and people in the classroom look around to see what the commotion is.
Natsume nods, a bit abashed, and Mitani grins widely. "Then why aren't you in our Go club? You really must join!"
"Ehhh, I don't know… I'm not very good, I just started…"
"That doesn't matter! See, we only want new members because we need three to join a tournament, and we don't have that many, not unless you join, so you will, right?" Mitani looks expectantly at Natsume. "Right?"
"O-okay," Natsume says, and Mitani claps his shoulder in delight. This is a good day for Mitani, first his mum agreed to buy him new sneakers, and now they got a new member! Not even getting the results of a history exam he blew can dampen his mood.
Nothing, until Shindou tells his little surprise to the club.
"Become an Insei?! You can't!" Mitani shouts and tries to shake some sense into Shindou.
After all he has manipulated Mitani into doing, after pretending that he's Mitani's friend, he doesn't think twice before throwing it all away.
For Go, and Touya Akira.
Mitani shouts at Shindou, trying to make him understand what he's losing. What Mitani is losing.
But Shindou looks helplessly at Mitani, and the words 'Touya Akira' are written in his eyes. Mitani's Go simply isn't good enough for Shindou, and so Mitani isn't either.
"Kaga!" Tsutsui shouts, as some weirdo kid interrupts them by jumping in from the window. After some fuss Mitani finds out that this is some dumbass who is strong at Go but prefers shougi. Mitani dislikes him immediately. He's loud like Shindou. And probably strong only compared to Tsutsui, anyway.
"Oh, you should totally become an Insei!" Kaga exclaims, like he knows anything, and Mitani wants to throttle him.
"If he quits, I'm quitting too!" Mitani shouts. There would be no point, no point at all, in the Go club if Shindou weren't there. He's the reason why Mitani is there - because he forced Mitani to come, of course, not because Mitani likes playing with Shindou or anything, of course not…
Mitani turns to walk away from all those morons.
"Mitani, wait, play a game with Shindou," Tsutsui-senpai says.
Mitani snorts and his steps don't even slow down.
"Mitani, play!" Shindou pleads, and his voice stops Mitani. Fine, he'll show Shindou that just because he's not Touya Akira he isn't worthless!
But even when Mitani gives everything he has, it's not enough.
"I lose," he whispers. And not just the game.
He stares silently at the board. He fights back tears, because he doesn't want to humiliate himself when all these people are present, but he feels so helpless.
Shindou is going away to chase others, leaving Mitani behind. Because Mitani isn't good enough.
That day, when Mitani leaves school he sees Kaga and Tsutsui walking away together.
Tsutsui is so much worse than Kaga, Mitani is much closer to Shindou's level than Tsutsui's to Kaga's, and Mitani doesn't understand why they can be friends if he and Shindou can't. Why does skill have to mean so much to Shindou?
Well, Mitani had better start forgetting Shindou now, and the Go club as well, because that's something he won't have ever again. He wants it that way.
***
It's March, and Mitani is debating whether to buy Morning Musume's CD or not, when someone stops next to him. He glances up casually, and is shocked to find Kishimoto looking at him with an amused smile on his face, like Mitani is a good joke.
"How is your Go improving?" he asks, by a way of greeting, and for a while Mitani is tempted to feign that he doesn't recognize Kishimoto. He annoys Mitani with all his assumptions.
"I'm not playing anymore." He looks back at the CD in avoidance of Kishimoto's eyes, and tells himself there's no reason to feel embarrassed because it's just a stupid old men's game.
Kishimoto is silent for a moment before saying, "Shindou became an Insei."
Mitani feels a blush creeping up his cheeks, and nods reluctantly. Trust Kishimoto to figure something like that out, even though he doesn't know Mitani at all, that annoying guy.
Then Kishimoto's hand is at Mitani's chin and he forces Mitani to look up, to meet his eyes.
"You didn't start playing Go because of Shindou Hikaru. That's why you can't stop playing it because of him, either." His eyes are cold, and commanding. Mitani shivers, and tells himself he's just bristling with anger.
Kishimoto's fingers are cold, but it feels like Mitani's skin under them is burning. He wants to say something, but his brain moves ten times more slowly than usually. All he can do is look stupidly back at Kishimoto.
"Eep!" squeaks some random girl who has turned around the corner and noticed them. Kishimoto averts his gaze from examining Mitani's face, and Mitani takes this opportunity to back away.
"I need to go," he mutters and nearly runs away from the shop.
At home, he lies in his bed and rubs his chin.
Kishimoto has very grey eyes.
*
When the other people in the Go club start pestering Mitani, he remembers Kishimoto's words. He decides that there was some wisdom in them and re-joins the club. He thinks of how Kishimoto would radiate silent approval if he knew.
And so he's happy with the decision, even if that new girl drives him crazy. At least he gets to shove it in Shindou's face that he has something Shindou can't have.
*
When Mitani sees Kishimoto the next time, it's a month and a half since their last meeting. A month and a half and still Mitani's face starts to tingle where Kishimoto touched him.
Kishimoto is standing outside a movie theater. Mitani walks up to him, trying to look as bored as possible despite the fact that his blood is rushing in his veins. He remembers vividly every little detail of their last encounter.
Kishimoto notices Mitani before he has reached him. Kishimoto probably sees right through his bored expression.
"Why, hello there, Mitani-kun," Kishimoto drawls and Mitani feels like all air has been punched out of him.
"Did you go back to your school club?" Kishimoto asks.
"Yeah," Mitani squeaks. He blushes and coughs. "Yeah," he repeats.
"I'm glad," Kishimoto answers.
Mitani fidgets uncomfortably, and opens his mouth to say something (probably very, very stupid) but Kishimoto beats him to it.
"Play one game with me, please," he says, and it's not a request. Not really.
Mitani straightens his spine and nods determinedly. Finally he can accept this challenge.
He will show that his Go has improved since his last defeat.
*
They find a Go salon and before Mitani has had time to take out his wallet Kishimoto has already paid their fee and is heading for a table in the corner.
They nigiri, and Mitani gets to start the game.
When Kishimoto plays a ko, Mitani feels himself hurled back to the time he faced Kishimoto as first board.
Mitani looks silently at the goban.
Shindou, wanna go get hamburgers today?, Mitani had wanted to say but had said nothing.
You should come and say hi to Shindou some day, Mitani's sister would say, but Mitani wouldn't go until it was too late.
Mitani, please play a game with me! Shindou would say, but Mitani would be too stubborn to do that.
Mitani looks at Kishimoto, and plays a ko threat in answer. I'm not afraid to confront you, the move says.
Kishimoto smiles that cold smile of his.
"Do you play Go anywhere else than your school's Go club? Do you frequent any Go salons?" Kishimoto asks after a few more moves.
"Er, yes. I usually go to a Go salon near the Tawaraya supermarket," Mitani answers.
"Hmm," Kishimoto says and plays his next stone.
*
The next time Mitani sees Kishimoto, it takes him a while to realize who he is.
This is because he is too busy looking at his clothes, or more specifically, at how very well his green sweater clings to his waist and even shows off a little bit of skin between the shirt and trousers, to notice who is wearing them.
When he realizes that it's Kishimoto he feels mortified. This must be the first time he has seen Kishimoto without his school uniform.
Luckily, Kishimoto hasn't noticed him yet because he's paying for a magazine to a street vendor, so Mitani is saved from the embarrassment of having been caught ogling his… senpai? Friend? Acquaintance? What is Kishimoto?
Mitani's frantic thoughts are interrupted by Kishimoto turning and noticing Mitani.
"Mitani-kun, nice to see you," Kishimoto says. "Are you on your way to somewhere?"
"The Go salon; it's right around the corner."
"Oh, really? May I accompany you there? It'd be nice to play another game with you."
Mitani can't really refuse, nor does he want to. Defeat by five moku, he wants to get revenge for that.
*
Kishimoto should be forbidden from playing Go in casual clothes. They are very much a distraction to Mitani, whose eyes stray away from the goban to linger on Kishimoto's shoulders, or his fingers, or his hair. The formal attire would make Mitani act more formal, too. Kishimoto isn't just a normal boy like everyone else, dammit, and Mitani shouldn't forget that.
*
When they are finished with the game and saying good-bye in the lobby (Mitani figured he'd be losing by seven moku so he resigned), Kishimoto shakes Mitani's hand like a grown-up.
"Thank you for the game, Mitani-kun," he says.
Then Mitani reacts without thinking. He clasps Kishimoto's hand with both hands and stretches up to kiss Kishimoto awkwardly on his left cheek.
Then he turns tail and runs.
By the time he gets home, he has already devised sixteen scenarios what he should have done instead. Four of them include not kissing Kishimoto at all, two of them aiming his kiss better and running away, two of them apologizing to Kishimoto right away after the kiss instead of running away, and eight not ending the kiss so quickly but instead twining his hand around Kishimoto's neck and running his fingers through Kishimoto's hair and deepening the kiss and Kishimoto moaning and touching his body and pushing him against the wall and…
Mitani wants to die.
He keeps touching his lips all evening.
*
Their next meeting is a planned ambush by Kishimoto. He is waiting for Mitani when he's walking home from school.
Mitani only notices Kishimoto when he grabs Mitani's arm and drags him inside a café. He pushes Mitani in one booth and sits next to Mitani instead of facing him - probably to block Mitani's way out, to prevent him from escaping. It's very good thinking from Kishimoto.
Mitani is too busy being shocked and feeling mortified to say or do anything before Kishimoto has ordered a soda for both of them.
When the waitress leaves, Kishimoto takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.
Mitani wants to die, so he shrinks back in his seat and looks down. Maybe his eyes can drill a hole into the ground where he can disappear, if he concentrates enough.
"How did… how did you know," Kishimoto takes a deep breath, "that I'm homosexual?"
This is something Mitani wasn't expecting to hear, so he looks up surprised and answers truthfully, "But I didn't. All I knew was that I liked you."
Kishimoto looks at Mitani, and Mitani looks at Kishimoto.
The café around them is busy and noisy, but to Mitani it all feels very distant, like they're in some sort of bubble of their own.
"I--," says Kishimoto.
Mitani smiles and puts his hand in his.
*
When Mitani gets home, he is three hours later than usual and he feels like he is hovering two inches above the ground. Kishimoto's phone number is burning in his pocket.
"Yuuki? Where have you been?" His mother appears from the kitchen.
"I… er," Mitani turns to hide his blush. "I was playing Go. Sorry I'm late."
"You shouldn't do that when you have homework to do," his mother reprimands him, but with a tired voice of someone who knows it won't do much good.
Mitani nods, but then he can't help smiling because he can't help thinking about Kishimoto, and thinking of Kishimoto makes him feel all warm inside, now, instead of cold horror it did for the last six days or confused frustration it did for a way too long time.
He runs upstairs to his room.
But instead of doing the homework he really should (Hanari-sensei will probably give him detention tomorrow) he curls up in his bed and concentrates on feeling happy.
*
"Kishimoto residence," answer a female voice. Mitani's heart is beating at least two hundred times a minute.
"…is Kishimoto Kaoru home?" he asks timidly.
"Sure, wait a second." Mitani hears the woman shouting 'Kaoru! Someone's calling you!'
Mitani waits anxiously, and is relieved when a familiar voice answers, "Kishimoto Kaoru speaking."
"Oh! Um, hi, it's me, Mitani." Mitani plays nervously with the phone cord.
"Hello," Kishimoto says solemnly.
They are silent for a while. Mitani feels giddy listening to Kishimoto's breathing.
"Was there some special reason you called me?" Kishimoto asks.
Mitani blushes furiously. He's such an idiot for calling Kishimoto already, when it's been just twenty-six hours since Kishimoto gave him the number.
But then he thinks of Kishimoto's smile when they are playing Go together or sitting in the café, and he gathers his courage.
"No, I was just wondering if maybe perhaps you'd like to do something… with me. Tomorrow. You know, it's Saturday…"
This time Mitani can practically hear Kishimoto's smile. "That would be nice."
"Oh! Um, great. So, er, shall we--"
"We could meet by the gates of Murakami Park at noon, if that's okay to you."
"Perfectly," Mitani answers, and thinks his heart will soon burst out of his chest.
*
They go to a movie. In the darkness, Mitani leans carefully against Kishimoto's shoulder and eats popcorn.
Afterwards, they are standing on the pavement and Mitani wonders if this is the moment they say goodbye, or if Kishimoto still wants to go do something with him.
"Wou-" Mitani starts.
"Kishimoto!" a girl materializes in front of them. "I haven't seen you in ages."
"Hidaka," Kishimoto says and smiles warmly. "How are you doing?"
The girl launches into explanations about her new high school and their Go club, and Mitani remembers that she was in the tournament, too.
Kishimoto nods to her opinions, and Mitani feels very short and young next to them.
"…and oh, what are we standing here in the street for, let's go get something to eat and catch up that way, eh?" Hidaka says and takes hold of Kishimoto's arm.
"I'm sorry, but we were on our way somewhere," Mitani says coldly, like only he can to people who annoy him.
Hidaka looks taken back and stammers an apology. The moment she lets go of Kishimoto's arm, Mitani seizes his other and starts walking away, nodding to Hidaka as a goodbye. He is prepared to drag Kishimoto away, if need be. Kishimoto looks very amused and bids Hidaka a more formal goodbye.
"And where is this place we were on our way to?" Kishimoto asks after they've left Hidaka behind.
"To my place. We can play video games," Mitani says determinedly and finally lets go of Kishimoto's arm.
"Okay," is all Kishimoto says.
They walk silently to Mitani's home, shoulders brushing from time to time but otherwise maintaining a respectable distance.
When his home is already in sight, Mitani realizes to his horror that he hasn't cleaned his room in a week and that it's a mess.
Would it be horribly rude to cancel the invitation now and suggest something else?
Maybe if he can come up with some other excuse than 'I don't want you to see my dirty underwear'?
But Mitani's brain moves too slowly, and his mother has already noticed them (she's outside doing gardening).
So Mitani has no other option but to go inside and hope to keep Kishimoto out of his room.
"Yuuki, how nice of you to bring a friend home," his mother says and smiles at Kishimoto. Now Mitani feels that Kishimoto will think of him as a loser who never brings friends home.
"Mother, this is Kishimoto. He is, um, he plays Go," Mitani says as an explanation. "Kishimoto, this is my mother."
"Pleased to meet you, Mitani-san," Kishimoto says solemnly and bows deeply to Mitani's mother. She has always appreciated politeness, and looks approvingly at Kishimoto.
"Would you like to have something to eat?" she offers, and Mitani realizes that staying in the kitchen is a perfect reason for not going to his room.
"Yes!" he says relieved, before Kishimoto could (politely) decline.
They go inside, and Mitani's mother fusses, and Mitani is kind of starting to regret his hasty decision to eat something because she is just driving him crazy.
Luckily she leaves them alone as soon as she has put everything on the table. She kisses Mitani on the top of his head before going and Mitani wants to die.<;br />
"You have a very nice mother," Kishimoto says. Mitani looks murderously at him through his lashes, daring him to say anything.
Kishimoto just sips at his tea.
Then Mitani's sister bounces into the room. "Hey, Yuu-- oh, hello."
"Nice to meet you," Kishimoto says and stands up. He bows. "I'm Kishimoto Kaoru."
Mitani's sister giggles. "My name's Mitani Kiyoko."
She looks curiously at Mitani as she sits down at the table. "So, you are Yuuki's friend, then?"
"We played against each other at one Go tournament," Mitani says. Kishimoto smiles and nods.
"Oh, really? Maybe you'll play with me some day!" Mitani's sister looks thrilled at the idea. She smiles beautifully as she tilts her head questioningly. She's flirting with him, Mitani realizes.
"No way!" Mitani yelps.
His sister looks hurt, and Kishimoto surprised at Mitani's strong reaction. "I wouldn't mind," he says softly.
"We are here to play video games, not Go," Mitani mutters. He drags Kishimoto with him as he leaves the room, not forgetting to give his sister a Look of Disapproval.
Now that they're out of the kitchen and Mitani made such a fuss, he hardly has any other choice but to take Kishimoto to his room.
"Sorry about the mess," Mitani mutters. He quickly picks up some of his clothes and throws them in one corner.
"That's quite alright," Kishimoto laughs a little. "You should see my room."
Mitani smiles nervously, because he doesn't quite believe Kishimoto's room could be anything but perfectly clean.
Kishimoto pushes his glasses up with his finger. "So. Video games, huh?"
Mitani stares blankly at Kishimoto. Right. "Er, actually I only have Bubble Bobble 2."
Kishimoto smiles that small smile of his that makes Mitani weak at his knees and pulls his eyes to Kishimoto's curving lips like gravity pulls elephants.
"I spend my money on CDs rather than new games," Mitani says.
Mitani wants to kiss Kishimoto, now that they're in private for the first time, finally, but he doesn't dare, because what if Kishimoto then thinks he invited him over just so that he could make out with him (which might be true to some extent but Kishimoto doesn't need to know it) and Mitani isn't even sure he knows how to do it. The last time wasn't exactly a success, and he doesn't want to embarrass himself. So he flops down on his bed (because Kishimoto hasn't taken his eyes off of Mitani, and has kept that knee-weakening smile on his face) and looks awkwardly around.
"We… could play Go instead," he suggests meekly.
"Or," Kishimoto says as he sits down on Mitani's bed and his knee is touching Mitani's thigh, Mitani's body informs his brain gleefully, "we could- -" Kishimoto stops abruptly and looks down at the floor. His cheeks turn slightly, but undeniably, pink.
Mitani sucks in a quick breath. He raises his hand to touch Kishimoto's neck softly, and then it all happens so quickly Mitani's brain has barely time to process how it happens. Kishimoto's mouth presses against his, and Mitani moans greedily for more. His legs have lost all their strength already, and then his spine does the same, and Mitani drags Kishimoto with him as he drops down to lie on his back.
Kishimoto pulls back, but not much so that he's still practically breathing into Mitani's open mouth. Mitani doesn't stop caressing his neck with his fingers. "Mitani-kun," Kishimoto says huskily, and Mitani trembles.
"Yes," he whispers, and tugs Kishimoto down impatiently by his shirt of which he has a steady grip with his other hand. It was going so well, their kiss, their first real kiss, and he doesn't want to give Kishimoto too much time to think of all his issues he's bound to have about propriety or how Mitani's family is at home now, he just wants to continue kissing because--
And Kishimoto kisses him again, softly this time, as he settles into a more comfortable position on the bed and on top of Mitani, and Mitani whole-heartedly approves of these actions. Kishimoto's lips are soft, and they send shivers all the way down to his toes.
It's a very nice Saturday.
***
Mitani is snuggling against Kishimoto, his arm around him, and reading Go Weekly.
When there is an article with a big picture of Shindou's face, he hurriedly turns the page. Not fast enough, apparently, because Kishimoto grabs the magazine and flips it back.
"Hmm. It says that Shindou-kun is playing in a public Go event in Asakusa. We should go and watch that," Kishimoto says casually.
Mitani stiffens. "I don't want to."
"But I do."
Mitani sighs and admits defeat.
*
'5-17'
'6-10'
'11-12'
Mitani stares at the board in fascination. Shindou's moves… they are above breath-taking. Maybe for a casual on-looker, they are just normal moves expected from a 3-dan pro, but for Mitani, who still remembers how Shindou held stones with four fingers or grinned when he managed to make Mitani pause to think of his next move, it is painfully sweet.
He squeezes Kishimoto's hand and doesn't let go.
*
After the game, when they're waiting to get their coats, an incredulous voice asks, "Mitani?"
Mitani turns. "Shindou." Shindou is smiling at him. "Nice game."
Shindou runs his hand self-consciously through his hair and laughs. "Thanks."
Kishimoto turns and wraps his hand around Mitani waist. Shindou's eyes linger at his fingers touching Mitani's hip before looking at his face.
"Shindou, you remember Kishimoto, right? I came here to watch your game with him," Mitani says.
"Oh, right, Kishimoto from Kaio! Of course I remember!" Shindou grins. "Actually, it's practically thanks to him that I became a pro. He made me realize that I'd have to go after Touya with everything I have, and that made me become an Insei, you know." He looks at Kishimoto. "I guess I should thank you, eh?"
Kishimoto smiles his polite smile. "No, no, I'm just glad my words had such an effect on you."
"Shindou-sensei! Could I have an autograph?" some old man interrupts them then, and Mitani and Kishimoto excuse themselves, leaving Shindou to do his work in peace.
"You made Shindou leave the Go club and become an Insei, huh?" Mitani asks pensively. "Why?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Kishimoto turns to look at Mitani. "He was occupying your thoughts way too much to my liking," he says, and kisses Mitani's nose.
*
Comments as well as concrit are very welcome!