Go? But I'm a Soccer Player!

Summary: Hikaru was a MVP regional soccer player when he met Sai. He took up go on the net to appease the hopeful ghost. Three years later, Sai left and Hikaru got an offer to the B-leagues. Now, a year a half later, Hikaru once again encounters the go world by chance.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hikaru no Go and never will no matter how much I want to own it.

Since a lot people says that they can't tell when someone is speaking or when one is thinking so:

"Speaking"

"Thinking"

'This is it.' Hikaru thought, straightening his uniform. He had dreaded this day since his interview with Akira. Today, he can no longer hide in his house and not come out. He's expected to return to school today. 'On the bight side', he mused, 'soccer practise is back on today too.'

Fiddling with his tie, he caught sight of the piece of note he stuck on his calendar and sighed. His grandfather had walked in during his little breakdown after his game with the former Meijin to investigate in the commotion. After reassuring Hikaru's grandfather that everything was ok, the former Meijin had extended Hikaru an invitation to his study group in an effort to lift his spirits. The elder Shindo made sure that Hikaru accepted the proposal. Glancing at the piece of paper, Hikaru massaged his aching head in frustration. He knows that the elder Toya had meant well, but Hikaru really didn't want to go. Go might solve all problems to someone as obsessed as the former five title holder or Sai, it doesn't work for everybody. In fact, Hikaru has a feeling that the invitation would only become a burden.

Hikaru pushed the matter to the back of his head, the study session was not until tomorrow, he'll face it wehen it comes. A bigger challenge lies right ahead: How to get through his first full day of being in public since the interview.

Although two weeks have already passed, the heat has yet to die down like many other headlines about him after the World Cup. Many parents had saw Hikaru's interest in go as a chance to motivate their children to take interest in more brain-stimulating activities. The Go Association only added oil to the fire by providing other media back ground information on the Sai vs. Meijin game in order to keep the attention on go.

Had Hikaru not been so frustrated over the growing media coverage, he would have found it amusing to see all the parents who disliked him just weeks before finding him to be the perfect role model for their child. Role model… Hikaru shivered at that thought.

Putting on his usual over large baseball cap and sunglasses, Hikaru walked outside the house. Even though he is an up and coming soccer hot shot, Hikaru's parents still tried to make him live as much like a normal teenager as possible. Therefore, instead of being driven, Hikaru takes the public transit. Walking to in the subway, he paid close attention to the headlines of various sport magazines, hoping that the buzz over the interview had died down a little. He was disappointed. Fuelled by the fact that he is returning to practise today many of the paper not pertaining to sports picked up this story again. All in all, there was even more coverage then the day before.

Upon arriving at the school, Hikaru noted with horror of all the reporters waiting at the gate. Hikaru cursed himself for not seeing that coming. Luckily, none of the reporters seems to have considered that Hikaru might be on foot and most of them were paying close attention to all the cars driving by, especially the nice ones. For once, Hikaru was glad that his parents had forced him to take transit.

He managed to sneak into the school relatively easily when all the reporters were busy trying to get a picture of a particularly nice black sport car driving by, only to realize that the car belonged to yet another rich student who happens to attend the school.

He managed to get through the school to his class quite easily too. The halls were almost empty as most students were gathered at the gate along with the reporters trying to get the first glimpse of the new school celebrity. He hoped that he'd have the same luck and sneak into class without notice too. He was out of luck.

As soon as Hikaru entered his classroom, he stopped dead in his track.

Unlike the rest of the school, Hikaru's class was almost all present. After all, why would anyone want to get squeezed to death by all the other people when he can just sit and wait for Hikaru to come to him? Other then that, this was Kaio's famous "celebrity class", as the media referred to it. While the entire school is full of extraordinary smart people, there's a class, ranging from ten to fifteen students, in every grade who are an exception to that.

They are the people who are exceptional in other aspects and famous for it in some circles. Kaio had grouped them in a single class for two different reasons. First of all, it's not very likely that many, if any of them will be able to follow the smartest kids of their age with all the other obligations they have to keep their talents sharp. Having all of them all in a single class will lessen the pressure of school work and save their spirit form being crushed for feeling lost everyday. Secondly, the school feared that if any of them ended up in normal classes, their presence and/or constant need to miss class for different reasons will hinder the progress of the other students.

So, when Hikaru's coach informed Kaio of Hikaru's wish to enrol, he was automatically placed in class 1-F, otherwise know as the "famous people class" or to those who exist to study as the "Failure class". While it is true that all the students in class 1-F were famous, such as the national junior ballet champion, the two B-league soccer players, the Olympic gymnast, the internationally ranked diver, Hikaru's recent bout of fame shadowed most of them. That's why when he stepped into the room, all eyes focused on him.

However, that's not why Hikaru froze in the doorway. No, he stopped because sitting in a corner next to the window staring, no, glaring at him, was Akira Toya.

At that moment, the teacher took notice of Hikaru and smiled. "Hello Shindo-kun, I'm glad that you can finally join us. Since that you had an interview with Toya-kun just a few days ago, why don't you sit next to him." The teacher said, unknowingly putting Hikaru in the situation he fears the most.

A look of terror made itself onto Hikaru's face, he reluctantly moved Akira's desk, cursing his luck, and the teacher who thought that she was doing him a favour. Dumping all of his books onto the desk next to Akira's, he sighed and managed an awkward smile at his need seating partner, only to get a unnerving stare in return. Luckily the teacher broke up the uncomfortable moment by starting the lesson.

While it can't be said that Hikaru likes school, he didn't particularly hate it either. That is, until today. Having dropped out three weeks before his junior high graduation, Hikaru was quite rusty at going back to school life. Having Akira Toya diligently taking notes beside him did not help his concentration either.

Four agonizing hours later ('Five minute breaks between every hour have no use!' Hikaru internally seethed), lunch break finally came. Hikaru was the first to bolt outside of the classroom.

Two minutes later, Hikaru realized that bolting out of class might not have been the best idea. He found himself not only lost, but also surrounded by fans who were yelling out questions and asking for autographs. With in the midst of people he thought that he also saw a few hateful glares.

"Hikaru-sama I'm a great fan –"

"Shindo-san can will… will you sign this –"

"I love you –"

"Will you marry me –"

"You're my hero –"

Hikaru flayed his arms wildly hope to get a path to open to no avail. He felt a had grabbing his arm with an iron grip and tried to pry it off until he realized that the hand, of the owner of the hand was helping him out of the crowd by dragging him. After much shoving, Hikaru and his mystery rescuer finally made it out of the crowd in the confusion. He turned to thank his saviour only to choke on his words when he realized that the hand belonged to Akira Toya. Indignant, he was about to demand an explanation before he found his mouth covered by the same hand that was gripping his arm.

"Do you want to be surrounded by fans again?" Akira whispered, although his expression looked like he was growling. "Come with me." He continued.

Seeing no other options, Hikaru followed the go prodigy. He was led through a maze of hallways that he couldn't keep track of and a minute later, was stopped in front of what looked like a storage closet. "What--" before he could finish his question, Akira briskly opened the door and more or less shoved him into the "storage closet".

Hikaru gawked at the sight that greeted him. The room, despite its shabby look from the outside looked like a miniature cafeteria and inside were the entire class 1-F and a couple dozen other students that he assumed to be the F-class of other grades after recognizing the familiar faces of another three B-league players. "This," Akira stoticly informed him, "is where all of the F-classes eat lunch. The school had remodelled this room expecially for all of as so we could avoid the crowds."

"Wow…" Hikaru looked around, "So… all of you were hounded by fans too eh? So nice of the school to be so considerate."

Hikaru's exclaimation was greeted by the humourless smile of most of the students gathered there.

"Quite the opposite actually," Houtaru Kimisuke (1), a short, thin girl from his class snorted. Hikaru remembered seeing her on TV a few month back. She was ranked 7th on the balance beam for women's gymnastics in the most recent Olympics. "the school did this to keep our mouths shut. You see, unlike you, most of our sports are not so popular with rest of the student body and our… reception… is not met with such… enthusiasm." At Hikaru's blank look, she rolled her eyes. "To put it bluntly, this is the place we hide from bullies during lunch time. Akira here," she nodded at Hikaru's companion, "thought that you could use a place like this too. Although if you'd rather be with your… fans, you are free to leave. We would appreciate it if you keep the knowledge of this room to yourself."

Hikaru blinked, surprised at her bluntness and obvious unhappiness. "You mean… you guys are bullied?" he asked with shock, "But… but I thought that you guys were all famous. Why would they bully you?"

"That's exactly the reason." Hikaru whipped around to see Akira sitting down at the table beside him. "We are "famous" as you put it," he explained, "but unlike you, we are famous only in a very limited circle. To the general student body, our… achievements are nothing important. However, unlike them, we were granted entrance to Kaio without having to go through the grilling entrance exam like the rest of them. To them that's extremely unfair. Therefore, it caused quite a bit of hatred, which they chose to take out on us."

"Yeah…" A blond boy Hikaru recognized, Alexei Tanami (2), a half Russian player in the B-leagues that has yet to rise to the A- league due to citizenship problems continued, "Kaio doesn't really want this to get out so they renovated an old staff room into a cafeteria just for us. Since we'd probably have the same problem in other schools too we figured that we'd just let it slide."

"Oh…" Hikaru didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Well, ok… guess I can live with that." Unnerved by all the attention on him, Hikaru quickly slid down into the closest seat, which to his dismay happens to be once again next to Akira Toya.

Fifteen minutes later, after finishing his lunch Hikaru looked around in boredom trying to figure out what to due with the forty minutes left of the lunch break. He had planned to brush up his soccer during this time, but after the incident in the hall, he didn't think that it would have been the best idea to leave the room. It was then that Akira rose from his seat and moved to another corner and brought out a, what Hikaru recognized as a set of magnetic portable goban and stones.

Setting it down beside him the go prodigy quietly asked over the den of the cafeteria, "You look bored. Up for a game of speed go?" Meeting Akira's gaze Hikaru shrugged. While he didn't like playing go in front of an audience, being used to net go and quiet games with Sai, he really didn't have anything better to do. He did promise himself that he'll pick up go again and right now he's so bored that just about anything to do sounded appealing. So he quietly shuffled around to face the 7-dan.

"Onegaishimasu," Akira nodded."

Hikaru blinked, confused before hastily coping Akira. "Onegaishimasu," he mumbled.

Akira placed and a single stone on the board and Hikaru, remembering what Sai explained to him as nigiri after he memorized a go book Hikaru had bought for him, grabbed a fist full of stones and laid them out on the board in columns of two. There was none left over. Hastily switching the stones, Hikaru opened the game.

Klack. Klack.

Klack.

Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack.

Klack.

Klack.

As the game proceeded, the sound of the stones gradually attracted the attention of everyone in the room. Houtaru moved from the wall where she was stretching, Alexei moved from the corner where he was bouncing the soccer ball with the other B-league players, Shinichi, Wanataka, Kazuo and Takuma (3) and most other people moved from their respective tasks to look at the game. However the neither of the two players seemed to notice the increasing attention. Both were too absorbed in their game.

For Hikaru this game took him to five years ago. The sound of the stones, the smoothness of them between his fingers, the thrill of the unknown… all of those took him to those afternoons when he and Sai would play. It reminded him of all those years when he first fell in love with go. "It like I'm god and I'm creating a unverse..." Hikaru remembered telling Sai one summer afternoon.

Every hand, he saw the Childish ghost. The traces of the presence of the greatest go master in history can be seen in many of his own hand, abet that they were much more immature. To Hikaru, it was like having Sai back again.

He remembered why he fell in love with the game. After all, go is fun.

Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack.

Klack.

'What would Sai tell me to do?' Hikaru thought, looking at the board. He had carelessly walked into a trap that thirty moves later will threaten hi entire cluster on the left. Breathing deeply, Hikaru imagined the childish ghost cheekily pointing his fan at the place that will turn the tide of the game everytime he resigned. 'There!' Hikaru thought. '6-7! It'll protect the cluster and act as a trap the the same time. That's what Sai would say.'

He could felt tears in his eyes. The familiar feeling of creating a universe on the criss-crossing lines as he once described it to Sai was like going home after a long trip. He sighed and let his instinct run while he loosed himself in the world of black and white that he never realized that he fell in love with.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack.

Klack.

Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack.

For Akira it was an entirely different experience. Ever since he could remember, go played an important role in his life. From when his hands were just big enough to hold the stones, his father had trained him to play go. Go was his life. Yet as he grew and gained notice of the world of go, he began to feel the pressure of the expectations that came with being the son of Toya Meijin. All the elder generation looked to him as the hope of the future of Japanese go. His peers offered no comfort. His level of play set him on a high throne that many young players struggled to one day reach. His position attracted no comfort, only jealousy or pressure.

Sometimes Akira couldn't help but to blame his father for teaching him go at such an young age. But he always pushed those thoughts back, striving to become strong enough to become the rival that his father longed for. He never admitted to himself, but his father was not good enough. He wanted a rival of his age.

Yet all his life, Akira had been alone, untouchable by those his age. Until now.

Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. .

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack.

Akira narrowed his eyes, the move Hikaru just played went beyond his level just seconds ago. He felt a cold sweat broke. 'Well, let's see how you handle this,' he thought and placed a stone at 12-4, attacking another cluster of Hikrau's, temperarily abandoning the former cluster, 'This should force him to pull back.' While he expected this level of skill, or even higher, from Hikaru ever since the interview, Akira still didn't know what he thought of having the rival he longed for coming in the form of a soccer player of all people, but he didn't dwell on it. Right now he was living the game that he longed for. Loosing himself in a world of black and white that he fell in love with years ago.

Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack.

Klack.

Klack. Klack.

Klack. Klack. Klack.

Klack.

As if sensing the great emotions that both players were putting into the game, the normally noisy cafeteria was all quiet except for the sound of the stones connection to the board. Although none of them could understand the game, they were absorbed by the intensity of it. As athletes, they all understood the devotion one can have towards their game.

Lunch block was over and none noticed. The game was also approaching the end of yose. Akira sighed as he laid down the last stone, unwilling to break the perfect illusion that hung during the game. Hikaru sighed too. "70-65, adding the moku, I win by 0.5." Akira breathed not registering what had just happened. He couldn't quite remember the last that he had such a close even game. His father told him of the game he played against Shindo, yet Akira couldn't help himself but to be surprised by the soccer star's skill. Although it was just speed go played under an hour, the game to him, held so much more.

He looked to his opponent only to see the tears rushing down his eyes.

Before Akira could ask his opponent what was wrong, Hikaru wiped his eyes and smiled, "He was here all along." That was quite a strange statement to make in the situation.

"..." Akira did not quite know what to say after that. He was saved from his indecision by the single set of clapping hand that led to a thunderous applause. Looking around, both Hikaru and Akira finally noticed the audience they had. The applause seemed to snap Hikaru out of the trance that he seemed to be in. Pointing his head to the younger Toya, he stuck out his tongue and asked cheekily, "Ok... I made some stupid mistakes... shall we discuss the game?"

Before Akira could give his answer, the door to the cafeteria burst open and three teachers burst in demanding to know why they weren't in class yet. Only then did the entire room of star athletes realize that they are in fact late for class.

As everyone filed out, Akira told the bond banged boy, "I have a game tomorrow so I will miss school. My father informed me that you would be joining his study session tomorrow. We shall discuss the game there."

The rest of the day Hikaru was lost n thought, relishing the stimulating game he just played. It wasn't until the teacher called upon him did he snap to attention in class.

When afternoon came, Hikaru threw the go game to the back of his head as he bounced to his first soccer practise in two weeks. His team-mates gave him a hero's welcome. Hikaru could tell that a few of them were dying to ask about his most recent bout of fame from what they thought of as a board game, but none did. Whatever questions his team-mates had died when practise started. Oh how he missed soccer. How he missed the rush of running in the field with sweat and grass-stained jerseys. Hikaru rushed along his team-mates adrenaline rushing in his veins falling back to his old routine. All was good.

A day later… after dinner in front of the Toya house

Staring at the gate of the grand tradition home of the Toya household, Hikaru began to have doubts on whether it was a good idea to show up at all. True to his words, Akira did not show up to class that morning, the teacher said that he had a, what was it? Kisei? 2nd preliminary to attend. Yesterday night Hikaru began to have doubts on showing up to the study session despite the amazing game he played earlier that day. Although both the elder and the younger Toya seem to think that his go is something to be recognized, he just wasn't sure that the other pros would think the same.

However, he made a promise to Akira, and no matter how he is insecure of his abilities, a promise is a promise.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed that doorbell pushing back the ominous feeling that he is walking towards his execution. "Who is it?" A female voice rang out.

"Uhh…." Surprised, Hikaru quickly regained his composure and replied, "Err, Hi, I'm Hikaru Shindo… Toya-sensei invited me to his study session…." Hikaru inwardly groaned at his pathetic introduction.

"Ah…" the female voice didn't seem to have the same opinion, "Koyo mentioned that you'd be coming. Akira had been looking forward to you being his since yesterday." The door opened and a petite woman stepped out, "Come in Shindo-kun, I'm Akira's mother."

Not quite sure of how to respond, Hikaru hastily stepped inside that room.

Before Hikaru could put his shoes away properly, Akira had appeared and proceeded to drag him to the study room. Stepping into the room, (really it was more like being shoved into the room by the usually polite go prodigy), Hikaru found himself to be the unwilling center of attention of the entire room other than Koyo Toya, who seem to find his usually composed son's impatient quite amusing.

The dignified man forever in a montsuki introduced him to everyone. Ashiwara seemed like a nice enough player but the blonde man, Ogata, gave Hikaru a bad feeling.

"Shindo-kun," the respective once 5-title holder started, "I've been told that you played a game of speed go against Akira yesterday."

"Yes… err… Toya-sensei," Hikaru stuttered a little intimidated by the atmosphere of the room, "I lost though," he continued, "by 0.5 moku."

That sent the room in to quite whispers. Hikaru thought that he even heard Ashiwara utter a soft, "Wow!"

"Akira also tells me that you have yet to discuss the game and had arranged to do so today, is that right?" The elder Toya asked.

"Yes father," Akira answered before Hikaru could even form his thoughts, "I was hoping that you'd give us some pointers."

"Of course," The impassive player nodded, "you may recreate that game on the goban where we were discussing the game between Kurata and Morishita," he nodded at the said goban, "I'm sure many of us wishes to see that game too."

As soon as his words ended, Akira got up to the said goban and started to clear it. Hikaru hurried to join him.

While the two of them replayed their little game, they unknowingly started the "discussion", which to the amusement of all the adults gathered sounded quite like an argument.

"What was that move at 8-12," Akira hissed, "9-12 is obviously more influential."

"Oh yeah?" Hikaru retorted, "Playing 9-12 would have given you the perfect chance to attack the upper right corner. What about you move at 4-2? That was poorly thought out; playing 4-3 would have gained much more influence."

"Well," Akira snapped, "I think it's an excellent move. And 9-12 would have put you in a better position to secure the middle of the board."

"Really!" Hikaru exclaimed angrily slowly raising the volume of his voice, "Well, had you played 4-3, I wouldn't be able to play 6-4, that would have given you two more mokus."

"This would have given you the chance to attack that cluster at 3-3!" Akira almost yelled back. "4-2 effectively stopped you from attempting to cut at 3-3 it is an excellent move."

"No, it is not!" Hikaru screamed at Akira, banging his fist on the floor.

"It is too!" Akira retorted gripping the goke so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is t—" Akira's angry come back was interrupted by a loud laughter from Ashiwara. Both Hikaru and Akira suddenly became aware of their audience and blushed deep crimson. Akira was horrified that he had acted so childish in front of so many of his senpais.

"How about playing at 3-2 instead?" Ashiwara suggested eyes dancing with amusement. "It could accomplish both." He pointed to the board.

"That's walking right into my/his trap!" both Akira and Hikaru snapped at the same time. They looked, no, glared at each other before turning their heads in opposite direction.

"They are right Ashiwara," the impassive voice of the former Meijin cut in. "However consider that this is a game of seed go that's played in underneath an hour, it is quite impressive. The Meijin continued the discussion, pointing out several places that could have turned the tide for either of them effectively silencing both fuming teenagers.

Ogata stared at the board. His sensei had already shown him the game he played against the soccer star. While Ogata was quite shocked at the display of insight that the blonde-banged player showed, Shindo's somewhat sloppy moves at the beginning and inconsistencies during the entire game made think that the whole incident with Shindo was quite overblown. He had marked the move at 8-12 as a mere fluke.

However, this game was different. Sure, the readings were still a little sloppy looking at it from a high-dan's point view, both players showed a depth of reading that could rival most high-dan. He literally watched Akira's growth, so the level that Akira showed was no surprise to him. But Shindo was different. While Ogata would never admit it, he had studied the interview. For a player who only started playing four and a half years ago and just started playing again after a one and a half year pause to be able to stand head to head against Akira, who was raised to play go seemed quite implausible.

Also, both of the games Shindo played reminded him of Sai. 'Especially that move at 6-7,' Ogata mused, 'that was positively Sai-ish. I must admit that Akira's decision to temporarily abandon that cluster was quite an interesting but also intellegent move. It was a correct decision that many high-dans would probably fail to make. But Shindo's move at 6-7 though was quite different.' While Shindo's skill was no where near Sai's level, there is an uncanny resemblance between their go. Shindo was almost like a watered down, more unconventional version of Sai. He smirked. 'Shindo,' he smirked could be the break through to Sai's identity.

'However, right now,' Ogata mused, 'Sai could wait. It's much more fun to make Shindo and Akira-kun squirm for being caught in such a childish fight.

All in all, after the "little" fight, nothing major happened during the study session. Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that no one seemed to look down upon him just because he wasn't a pro.

With a promise to come back, Hikaru left he Toya household.

To be continued…

(1) I know about most people's feelings for OC. No, she most likely will not play a major role in things. She will have a very minor role and we will not see much of her outside of Hikaru's class or school.

(2) He might be a little more important that Houtaru, but he probably has no important role in the story either. I'm just trying to create a more realistic environment.

(3) Those four are of no significant importance other than to serve as Hikaru's school friends.

So yeah… I'm not dead. Slowly peak above the desk and quickly ducks down to avoid flying objects.

As for why I took so long to update…. Well, let's just say that not only did I contract the plot bunny but normal life also caught up. Right now I'm so busy with university applications, scholarship stuff and AP courses that I have virtually no time to write anything. The good news though, is that I have managed to successfully defeat the plot bunny.

So… yeah sorry for the long absence and hopefully this extra long chapter somewhat makes up for it. I spent over five months mulling over the study session scene. I'm still not happy with it at all. But I figured that after spending so long mulling over it, just deleting it is just pathetic. Anyhow… I'm expecting flames for that awful Ogata blurb… it's beyond horrible. I can't seem to grasp him and I really couldn't bring myself to make you people wait another five months while I mull over him.

Anyhow, this is probably going to the only update for quite a while. I'm just so busy! (I really don't know what possessed me to sign up for the AP exam… sigh….)

Since I feel terrible for not updating in so long I'm going to tell you that in the next chapter, the Japanese national junior soccer team (which Hikaru is a memeber of too) is going to play a game with the Korean team.... Since Hikaru will be going to Korea...(cough Ko Yangha cough...).

Well, hope you are happy with what you've got and please review. (I seem to be getting an awful a lot of inspiration form them lately.) Thank you to everyone who reviewed for the past three chapters and I'm really sorry for never really getting around to replying them. (While I do feel kind of guilty, I'm assuming that you guys rather have a new chapter sooner.)

Please feel free to give me any suggestion!

Shiho signing off!