A/N's: Okay, here we go: A Hikaru No Go Story – AkiraxOC
NOTE: This takes place AFTER Hikaru beats Akira for the second time in the manga.
Summary: Hikaru has defeated Akira in a match when Akira was assured of his victory and Akira goes into a slump. But to Akira, Go is still his life, his world, and nothing can replace it. But when a young, rich girl challenges Akira to a very strange game of Go, could something replace that passion for the game? AkiraxOC, slight HikaruxAkari.
"Oh, hello Akira-sensei!"
"Oh…hello Namba-san…"
"Could you play a teaching game with me? I want to try out that new trick you taught me," the young woman at the other end of the Go table in the parlor smiled and waved to Akira. Akira sighed heavily, but forced a smile on his otherwise sullen looking face.
"Sure," he sat down and pushed the black stones to the girl, "How much of a handicap do you want?"
"Oh…umm…how about 7 stones or so?"
"That sounds fine," he sighed again as she put down her stones. His eyes darted across the board, thinking about how he could teach her more about the game.
But at the end of the game, Akira had murdered her, and she looked almost hurt at the fact that Akira had been so hard on her, "I resign…" she told him and gathered up the stones, "Wow Akira, you're really on fire today, of course you're always on fire…" she put the stones away and got up. She waved to him slightly, "Bye…"
As she walked out of the parlor, Akira sighed and gathered up his stones as well. The reason that he had been so harsh on her was because he hadn't even been focusing on what he was doing. All he had been doing was relying on his instincts to win the game and to claim as much territory as he could. He hadn't been able to play for days.
Ever since Hikaru Shindo had beaten him in their last match, Akira had been off his game. Not that he had been playing weakly. On the contrary, his moves were more mechanical and better than ever. But he hadn't been able to find any passion, any feeling in his moves, no thought to what he was doing. Just a solid, rigid, cold want to be the best; to win.
He felt like Hikaru had left him behind…completely running ahead in his skills and leaving Akira in the dust. Like Akira was stuck at a road block and Hikaru kept sprinting along with his skills.
All he could do was want to win.
"I resign," Akira bowed his head to his father as their game concluded. It had lasted only around 10 minutes before Akira found several mistakes in his game and revealed the fact that he couldn't win.
"Akira…" his father sighed, "You could have attacked at a number of places you neglected…you're off."
"I understand Father," Akira bowed his head, still not showing his blank eyes. His robotic response echoed through his ears.
"This is because of Hikaru Shindo no doubt…" Akira's head shot up like a bomb as Hikaru's name was mentioned by his solemn father. His father's worn, nimble hands carefully collected the stones, not focusing on his son, but the board and the small glass pieces. Akira could only nod and bite his lip in response. "Well…the only way to end a slump because of a loss is to beat the person that beat you in the first place."
"I know that father," Akira sighed, "But…but…"
"You don't know if you can?" Akira's father asked and Akira was forced to nod. "Son, if you don't have the courage to face Shindo now…you'll never be able to defeat him…"
"I understand…father…" Akira nodded to his father and bowed, "Thank you for the game, I think I'll do my homework now…"
"Akira-sensei!" Akira's head looked up from his book bag to see his mail man, Sokamoto-san waving at him, "Are we still on for that teaching game on Saturday?"
"Hrrmm…" Akira nodded, "Why do you ask?"
"Well you got a letter," he smirked and handed Akira the letter, "From a "Hikaru Shindo"… Got a hot date with the little lady?" Akira blushed.
"Sokamoto-san…Hikaru is a boy in my acquaintance," Akira took the letter, his hand shaking.
"Ooops, my bad," he waved his hand to Akira as he got back into his truck, "Have a nice day at school Akira!"
"Thank you…" Akira mumbled, looking at the letter, his hand still shaking slightly. He turned the letter around and fumbled when opening it. He took out the folded paper and carefully opened. The message inside made Akira's eyes bulge and made his body sweat.
Akira –
I know that you're off since you lost our last game. Get some dignity man! Jeez! So what if you suck at Go? Get a life!
If you really want to have a rematch, meet me at the Go Parlor on Ryuuzaki Street. I'll play you there… Be there on Saturday at noon.
Don't chicken out.
Hikaru
Akira's fist enclosed on the letter, crumpling it. "Damn him…humiliating me like that!" He stuffed the letter into his pocket. "I'll be there all right." He looked at the note, "I'll have to tell Sokamoto-san that I'll be canceling after all…"
Akira sighed as he stepped out his father's car and looked at the Go Parlor standing smack dab in front of him as if to say, "Wanna get out of a slump? Come here!" He waved to the driver nonchalantly and took a careful step toward the sliding doors.
One careful step became two, and two became four, and four became eight and finally, after what had seemed like a two hour walk, it had only been two seconds, the automatic doors flew open and Akira was ready to face his opponent. Hikaru Shindo would be defeated today…
Akira stepped into the room and saw many people, mostly adults sitting at their boards, playing games. A whole aura of tension that Akira was more than used to filled the room. He surveyed the place, looking for him…for Hikaru Shindo…
But he wasn't there.
Akira guessed he was just late. That's the type of person Hikaru was… He sighed slightly and walked over to a pretty black haired lady to check in. "Hello," he told her, "I'm here to play…"
"Okay, that'll be 500 yen for youths," she told him, waving the clipboard on the table and flipping the pages in her magazine. Akira coughed up the money from his wallet and signed his name, "Thank Mr…" she looked at the name and gasped. "You…you couldn't be! Akira Toya!"
Being a national Go celebrity had its rewards…but right now, Akira was having trouble thinking of them.
"Can I have your autograph!"
"Could you play a teaching game with me!"
"Can I take your picture!"
A mob surrounded the poor Akira and he felt he was going to puke any second now. All the players at the parlor he usually went to knew him and were used to him, but these people were all over him like a cheap suit! He tried to escape, to run out the doors, to find some way to escape the mob. But they were packed too tightly. All he could do was scream to whoever would listen, "HELP!"
"Come with me…" he felt an arm tug on his elbow and in a second he was thrust out of the Go Parlor, the mob following him. A blur of colors and images filled his eyesight and the next thing he knew, he had been thrown into the back seat of a black leather clad shiny limousine. He refocused his vision and saw that the car was already starting to drive off, the crowds of people left behind.
"Thank you so much for saving me…" he turned and caught his breath. He found that his rescuer was a girl who was about the same age as him with long flowing platinum white blonde hair. It was so light, Akira thought she was Albino until he noticed that she had bright black eyes. On the top of the girl's white head was a black rimmed hat. Akira noticed that she wore a very expensive looking skirt and tank top, both white and long white boots with black soles. A black leather jacket clung tightly to her torso. A white scarf completed the look, along with a white bag, of which the brand name was on the tip of Akira's tongue.
"What?" she laughed at his confused expression, "Never seen a girl wearing 500,000 yen worth of clothing before?"
"Well…um…actually no," he stumbled, "But thank you for saving me from that mob."
"No prob," she smiled and took out a drink from a cup holder. She opened up a black chest freezer and waved her hand to the drinks inside as if to ask him if he wanted one. He shook his head and she closed the cooler with a shrug. After she took a drink, making sure not to break one of her perfectly manicured nails, she smiled at him, "After all, I couldn't just leave you hanging there."
"I guess not…" Akira nodded.
"Sanami Matsu'ura," Sanami held out her hand and Akira tentatively shook it, then went back with an expression of shock plaster upon his face.
"Wha-what! You do-don't mean Matsu'ura as in…as in Gosho Matsu'ura, the CEO and billionaire! Are you Gosho Matsu'ura's daughter!"
Sanami pouted slightly, "Well that depends, are you Toya Meijin's son?"
Akira blushed, nodded, and turned away. "So that's why you're so rich…"
"It's not like you're hurting for money either," she took another sip of her soda. Silence partook the back seat, Akira refusing to look at Sanami, until Sanami finally spoke, "You play Go right?"
Akira blinked a couple of time, astonished that she didn't know, but nodded in spite of it.
"I play Go too." Akira had to conceal a sigh. Another player that was going to ask him for a game. He didn't want to beat this girl like he had beaten Namba-san, after all Sanami had saved him. "Want to play a game?"
Akira stumbled, "Bu-but we have no board or stones!"
"No prob," she smiled widely an opened up a black compartment to reveal a Go board and two buckets of stones. Akira sighed, there was no getting out of this now. "How str" he started, but was cut off.
"Hey Akira," Sanami smiled as she set up the board, "You usually play Go with white and black stones right?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Well…yes…" Akira nodded.
"Have you ever played with another color stone?" she asked him.
He pondered this for a second, "Well in the fundamentals of Go, I suppose it doesn't matter what color stones you use."
"Good," she smiled as she inserted the last stubby leg into the board, "Because I use different colors in my game than white and black."
"What colors?" he asked and Sanami thrust the bowl of stones into his arms.
"Take a look," she pointed to the lid and Akira cautiously looked down at the bowl. With the utmost carefulness and caution, he meekly opened the lid.
The stones were gray…
"Well…I guess this is fine, what color are y" His eyes widened as Sanami opened her lid to reveal the same colored gray stones… "You're crazy!" he told her, "No one can play Go when their opponent is the same color!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," she waved her finger at him, as if reprimanding the young Go player's actions, "This is my house and at my house," she leaned close into his face, her lips almost level with his and she whispered, "we play by my rules."
"This is ridiculous," Akira slammed the lid down on his bowl, "I'm leaving."
Khchack, chack. Every door in the limo locked from the inside and Sanami jingled the key in between her fingertips as Akira made a futile effort to get out of the car. "You can get out…" she grinned, "If you beat me."
Akira scowled at her and her 500,000 yen outfit, "Fine!" he opened his pot of stones, "Onegai Shimasu…"
"Onegai Shimasu…" she smiled, her eyebrows raised, from across the board and put a gray stone on the lower right star point. "The game has begun."
The game waged on for a few minutes, and Akira was getting more aggravated by the second. Sanami was a master at her trade, she made moves quickly, having her hand slightly cover the other pieces so Akira couldn't exactly see where she had put her piece. He could see her eyes darting back and forth across the board. He remembered that he had once been bullied into playing Go without looking at the board, but his opponents had called out their moves, and he was able to keep in the flow of the game. But Sanami gave him no such courtesy with her lightning fast moves. He placed another gray stone near one he thought was Sanami's and she smiled as she placed another gray stone to connect with one at the opposite end of the board. "And I capture seven of your stones…" she quickly took the pile of stones in her hand and Akira's eyes widened.
"Hey!" he told her, "You're bluffing! There's no way you remember all that!"
"But I do," she told him, "I remember each and every move I make. I'm a master at my game."
She's got to be bluffing… He thought to himself, Well…two can play at that game. He defiantly threw down a stone and started to collect the stones in the middle, "How careless of you, I capture eight of your stones."
"No you don't," Sanami told him, pointing to the board, "I remember, I made this move right here, you didn't trap them at all." She pointed to the stone, and Akira remembered when she had made that move. "See?"
"I…see…sorry…" he grunted and put the stones back. The game waged on for the next few minutes and Akira just kept trying to remember Sanami's moves. But it was hard as she made choppy moves that were to be expected from a beginner.
"I pass…" Akira spoke.
"I pass too," Sanami told him, "Shall we count?"
At the end of the game, Sanami, who had counted for Akira, Akira now remembering each move as she explained it, had 58 points while Akira had gotten a total of 10. It was a pathetic slaughter. "Hmm…are you sure you're Akira Toya?" She collected the stones with a disappointed look on her face. "Cause I know Akira Toya is better than this. I'm just a beginner and you still couldn't beat me."
"I played your stupid game, can I go now!" he screamed to her, jiggling the door handle again, "That game of Go is ridiculous…"
"Nope!" She smiled, "You lost, fair and square at my game, which means that I win our bet!"
"What bet!" Akira asked, "We didn't make any bet!"
"Yes we did," she rolled her eyes, "You're just as bad at remembering stuff as you are at Go."
"Then tell me," he scowled, "what bet did we make? Refresh my memory…"
"If you won," she told him, "I would let you go…and if I won, which I did," she boasted, making Akira's ears turn pink, "Then you had to be my friend and play Gray Go with me every Saturday!"
"Please!" he screamed, "Like I'd ever hang out with a spoiled brat like you!"
CRACK!
Sanami's hand slapped hard across Akira's face and Akira felt himself rubbing his cheek. Sanami looked at her nails carelessly. "You…you slapped me…"
"And you made me chip my nails," she showed him her perfect white polish, a chip now in one finger, "How dare you! Now you'd better come and play with me!"
"I made no promise to play with you!"
"It was part of the bet!" She told him, "Don't go back on your word!"
"I made no word to you!" He insisted to her, "So I'm not going back on it! Let me out of this car right now!"
"No!" She pouted, "We're going back to my house and we're going to play more games!"
"I'm not here to play child's games!"
"Then why did you go to that Go Parlor?" she asked and Akira grimaced, "To play Hikaru Shindo?" Akira's eyes widened with fury and he turned around.
"You…"
"Yeah, I sent the note," she told him, looking slightly guilty, "So sue me…I…I just wanted to see if you could match up against me in Gray Go…that's all."
"Well obviously, I can't," he told her, "Now let me out before I waste more of my afternoon!"
"But you have to play more games with me!" She told him, tears forming in her eyes, "You lost! You have to play with me every Saturday!"
"I don't have to play anything!" he told her, scowling, "Let me out!"
"No!" She told him, pouting and finally crossing her arms and sitting in her seat, "We're going back to my house, and that's final! DRIVER!" she called and opened the limousine's window, "Drive back to the house now, will you?" She shut the window and looked back at Akira, her face in an undisguised pout. "You have to play more games!"
"No, I don't!" he told her, still jiggling at the handle of the car.
"I've got a big house!" she told him, as if urging him to come along with her, "And lots of food, and games! And a huge indoor pool!"
"I don't care how many indoor pools you have!" Akira snapped, "I'm not going!"
"Please?" Akira spun around to face the girl, and he saw her, her hands clenched, pleading with him. "Please play with me?"
Akira paused and bit his lip. He looked at her, tears now threatening to come out of her eyes and he sighed, "Fine…I'll play with you…"
"Yes!" She laughed and punched her fist into the air.
"But only once every Saturday," he told her, "Just once!"
"Uh huh!" She nodded to him, still excited that he was coming over, "C'mon, we're almost there!"
"Here we are!" Sanami laughed as the car pulled into a large circular driveway. Sanami threw open the door before the car even came to a stop and jumped out. Akira, still with a grudged look on his face, stepped out of the car with her, and gasped the minute his eyes rested on Sanami's house.
Or a mansion. More like a city! It was the biggest house Akira thought he would ever see in his life. With white brick on the outside of the huge house, it had two oak doors that looked foreboding, framed by two large glass windows that reminded Akira of a cathedral. The garden, filled with perfectly trimmed hedges and more flowers than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Akira almost gulped in the presence of the giant place. The house looked to have at least four stories, and with many windows, all perfectly clean and spotless, Akira thought there must have been millions of rooms. But Sanami didn't stop for Akira as she bounded up the stone path and up to the door. Akira followed her, stopping occasionally to ogle at something. Finally, he reached the front door with Sanami and she smiled at him. "Welcome to my house! I've never had friends over before!"
"Let's get one thing straight Miss Matsu'ura," Akira scowled, "We are not friends."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Sanami waved her hand, "And call me Sanami! I call you Akira!" She grabbed the handle and with all her strength, pulled the door open to reveal a large marble hall. A white pearl covered carpet carpet decorated the floor, and a flight of stairs could be seen. Expensive looking paintings hung all the way down the gigantic hall, but Akira had no time to look at them as Sanami grabbed his arm and led him upstairs. "Let's go up to my room!"
"Sa-Sanami, let go!" Akira called as she dragged him up the stairs.
"Yay!" Sanami cheered, "You're calling me Sanami!" The girl continued to laugh playfully as she led Akira up two flights of stairs until they reached a white door with a sign on it that said, "Sanami's Room! KNOCK! Or else…" "Welcome to my sanctum!" she laughed and threw open the door to reveal her room. A white bed with white sheets and a white canopy filled most of it, but a black desk and bookshelf also was in the room. A computer was in the corner of the room, and Akira could see a white door that led to the bathroom. "C'mon!" she told him, finally letting go of his arm and throwing open her drawer. She rummaged around on the top shelf and took out a Go board and two bowls of stones. "Let's play!"
"I refuse to play that abomination of a game," Akira told her, "It's an insult to Go."
"Don't be mean!" Sanami told him, sitting him down on her fluffy bed, "Play just one game, then we can do what you want to do!"
"I want to go home!" Akira snapped and she sighed.
"Just one game…please?" She asked, her eyes growing large. Akira looked at her, at the board, and then sighed.
"Fine…one game…"
"Yay!" Akira fell back as Sanami threw her arms around his neck and flattened him against the bed. Akira blushed and so did Sanami. She quickly got up from him, blushing furiously. "Kay!" she smiled, her face still red. "Let's play!"
"Sanami!" A knock and a call came on the door and Sanami sighed as she went to the door. She opened it, and Akira noticed a man with dark black hair and dark eyes to match looking at Sanami disapprovingly. He wore thick framed glasses and his hair was slicked back. "Sanami, what are you doing in here?"
"Oh…hey Kosuke…" Sanami sighed, "I'm just having my friend over to play."
"Sanami," Kosuke looked at Akira with an eyebrow arched, "your father doesn't approve of you having friends over…"
"I've never had any over so I don't see how he could disapprove of them," Sanami shrugged.
"Who is this…boy?" Kosuke asked, coming into the room, eyeing Akira, who then stood up and smiled.
"Akira Toya, sir," he told him, bowing. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Akira Toya?" Kosuke asked. "The famous youth Go Player?"
"I am he, sir," Akira bowed to the man once again, "I am a friend of Sanami here."
Sanami's eyes lit up for a second, then she smiled, "Yeah…he's my friend, we were just playing."
"Please," Kosuke told them both, "Keep it down. Your father is working." With that, he shut the door behind him and Sanami stuck out her tongue.
"That's Kosuke Shibahime," she told Akira, sitting back on the bed, "my father's personal secretary. I see more of Kosuke then I do of Daddy, really…"
Akira didn't comment as he opened his stone both and sighed as he saw the same Gray stones. "Onegaishimasu," he told her and she nodded.
"Onegaishimasu!" She smiled and put down the first stone…
Once again Sanami had demolished Akira in the game, taking almost every point of territory for herself. "Yay! I win again!" she cheered and Akira tried his best to look as though he didn't care.
"Well, good for you, now I'm going home." He started to count the stones to make sure that there were an equal number of them in each pot.
"Oh, don't bother with that," Sanami said, grabbing the board and emptying the stones all into her bowl. "I'll have the servants sort them later. C'mon, let's do something else fun!"
"I told you – I'm going home!"
"We can play video games in the living room! I've got lots! Or I could have our cook make us something to eat! Do you like Strawberry smoothies? I can get some for us!"
"I don't want to play video games – they're annoying and ridiculous. I don't want to eat anything – I'm full. I don't like strawberry smoothies – they're too sweet! I want to go home please!"
"I know!" Sanami smiled. "Let's go bowling downstairs!"
"Miss Matsu'ura, I'm leaving!" Akira stood up and walked toward the door. He threw it open and began to walk briskly through the hall, Sanami at his heels.
"C'mon! Don't leave! Please!" Sanami ran up to Akira, tugging at his arm as he stalked through the hallways. "C'mon!"
"I'm leaving!"
"FINE!" Sanami stopped and sat on the ground, cross legged and not looking at Akira. "But you have to come every Saturday! You promised!"
"You're acting like a child," Akira scoffed. "And what if I choose not to come?"
"You promised!" Sanami insisted.
"And if I don't?"
"You can…you don't have to come anymore…only if you beat me!"
"Huh?" Akira turned around to face her. "What do you mean by that?"
"Just what it sounds like," she turned her nose upward. "You can only stop playing with me if you beat me."
Akira stared at her, glowering down upon her sitting form with an utmost look of disgust. "Fine! I'll beat you at your stupid game."
"Good! I'll show you to the door!" She smiled and stood up.
"I can find the way out myself, thank you," Akira snapped, and walked briskly through the halls, not turning back.
A/N's: Okay! The end of chapter 1, don't forget to review now!